Ola!

A & D are back for another edition of The Adventures of Portugal!! So this is Dan and I'll get the volley news out of the way and then pass the microphone over to Alli.

So we had two matches this weekend. The first was against Castelo Do Maia who is the same team thats Meers played for when he was in Portugal. They are considered one of the top teams and the game was away so we knew it'd be a good one. Anyway, the match started off very lousy as we were not clicking as a team and Castelo came out very hot. They took the first game pretty easily. Luckily, we rebounded nicely in game 2 and pulled out a win. Game 3 was the turning point. It was back and forth the entire time and there were some huge rallies. We were neck and neck at 22-22, and then lost 3 straight points to lose the game. We weren't able to maintain our level in game 4 and lost the match 3-1. Sunday brought new hope as we played the worst team in the league and our first true home game (our other home game was in a different gym due to the acrobat gymnastics). We came out smoking and took game 1, 25-11. I think I failed to mention that our backup setter injured himself 2 weeks ago so our assistant coach has been backing me up since. He's about 35, balding, with a nice big gut. Anyway, when we were up big that first game, my coach pulled me out and put him in to set. The crowd went crazy when he went in! I'm hoping it's cause he was going in and not cause I was coming out! Anyway, it was fun to be a part of. We took the next two games and won fairly easily 3-0.

Hey, it's Alli! Just wanted to add a couple of things that Dan forgot to mention about the volleyball part. First of all, and most importantly, Dan is getting his ankle and knee taped for preventative reasons. The best (or worst) part about this is he had to shave his legs! haha. He definitely does not look Portuguese now with his white legs exposed with the short volleyball shorts. Secondly, he is playing pretty well! I may be just a little biased, but he is really starting to play well with his teammates and you can tell that they trust him and are happy he is on the team. Hugo's wife told me that Hugo likes to give Dan a hard time because Dan is so tall! Dan is more often than not, one of the tallest in a match. This picture is at a Brazilian restaurant with Hugo to Dan's right along four other teammates.

We went to a Brazilian restaurant in Porto to celebrate Rui's 34th Birthday. Almost the entire team was there, plus all three coaches, and most girlfriends and wives. It was all you could eat and drink... 8PM-1:15AM for a birthday dinner on a Monday night! There was live music and it was really fun! The favorite Portuguese and Brazilian drink is called a "kipanena" (I definitely butchered the spelling, but that is how it is pronounced) with some kind of vodka (you can choose black or regular vodka), lime, and tons of sugar. Needless to say, it was delicious. They also had red and white sangria which was better than any sangria I have tried (well better than the cheap boxed sangria that Annie and I would buy in college). However, the guys told me that they recommend the boxed sangria here and they fill your cup all the way to the brim just like Annie likes! Annie, another reason why you need to come visit! Okay the food was amazing. Rice, beans, meats, scallops, fish, skewers of shrimp, peppers, onions, potatoes, salad, and lots of other things that we have no clue what it was. The coaches were having a great time drinking with the players... oh how things are different here than at home! Some of Dan's teammates who said they don't speak English well were chatting with us like crazy! I told them that their English is better when they drink and they agreed because they aren't conscious about their accent! haha. Overall it was a really fun night and everyone was asking all about America and how they want to come visit. I actually think that a few of them might!

Since I have a little bit of time on my hands, I am becoming very knowledgeable about Portugal's history and learning about different landmarks, etc. So, running through all of Vila do Conde are these arches.... there were 999 to be exact. These arches served as an aqueduct back in the day (see how educated I am) to bring water from the lower grounds to the higher grounds. How it worked is beyond my wisdom because I would think that the law of gravity would make it difficult to move water to a higher ground (Dan and his teammates agree and don't know how it would have worked either).. Anyways, the arches are huge and beautiful with most still standing and remnants of others. This picture is taken right outside of the gym where Dan's team plays. I am also learning how to perfect my Portuguese accent. For example, Dan and I went to a bakery for breakfast. We got the order of things wrong as apparently you are supposed to order your coffee and then tell them what bread you would like to have with it. However, we just walked right up, pointed to the bread we wanted and then went to get coffee. I decided that we needed to eat the bread on a plate like everyone else, not just out of the bag. So I got out my dictionary and asked for what I thought was "two plates please". So the lady brought us over two sweet rolls. I am still learning...

Also with the time on my hands, I am becoming a chef. Dan and I eat wheat pasta, pre-made meatballs, and a vegetable for dinner twice a week. ha! I will become more Portuguese once someone shows me how to cook one of the dried, salted codfish that line about 6 shelves in the grocery store. We do enjoy our dinners that overlook the water and sunsets! We are also learning how to use the timer on my camera so that we can have pictures together, not just the awkward solo ones by a cool landmark. So here is a picture of us having dinner with the sun setting in the background (although it didn't turn out well in the picture). Oh ya, I am also playing volleyball with a women's team (the team Lia is on and a couple other girlfriends of Dan's teammates) about 45 minutes away. They don't have much money so I don't think they can afford the USA volleyball transfer fee to have me play with them, but they are looking into it. Either way, it is fun to practice with them a couple times a week! We hope everyone is doing well at home! Happy Birthday to my mom on Thursday, October 22 and Happy Birthday to Dale (Dale O'Dell, not Dale Dillon) on Friday, October 23. Oh and Dan wants to make sure that I say Happy 1/2 Birthday to him tomorrow. Love and miss you all!

Love,

A & D

The Fun Stories!

Ola everyone, it's Alli! I will be the one writing about the fun events/crazy Portuguese things. Sorry for those who have read a couple of my emails for parts may be redundant!

The apartment is really cute and nice overall! There are just some weird things about it... there is a twin bed behind a door that has a room the size of a walk in closet that barely fits the bed. The shower window opens up into one of the bedrooms instead of outside. The water heater is literally in a kitchen cabinet and when you turn on the water you hear a clicking sound and when you look, flames actually turn on. For some reason, the cupboard door doesn't even get hot even though it looks like the place should burn down...which would be bad considering we are on the 5th floor, 65 stairs up, no fire escape that we are aware of, and no elevator. The apartment is big with two bedrooms, large living room, and the best view! The sunsets are unbelievable every night. I know how to get back to the apartment from all directions of Vila do Conde which is amazing considering a) my sense of direction and b) there being no street signs. Okay, so I may take the round about way every now and then, but it is healthy for me to be walking!

It is so weird to have to time doing laundry with the weather! There was a pretty intense rain/thunder/lightning/wind storm for 3 days in a row. I thought it was crazy and that the building was going to fall over in the wind and Dan thought it was a “pretty good” storm considering where he comes from. So when it is a sunny day everyone has laundry hanging out to dry (dryers are rare and those who have them only use them during very rainy weather)! During the storm, and during random nights, the electricity likes to go out for about 30 seconds… just enough to make our doorbell ring, make me freak out that someone is outside (not outside our door but down 65 stairs and outside the building trying to have us buzz them in), but then realize that it just does that every time the electricity goes out. Also, many locals have told me that this is a very safe city/country and that currently many Brazilians are moving here to live a better quality of life away from gangs and violence… so not to worry. It makes me feel better but I still like to freak out every now and then.

The first day I was here, I went with Dan to the gymnasio (1.25 mile walk) where he went to lift weights and where they normally play. It is a pretty big, nice arena. They were playing somewhere else for a few weeks because of the European gymnastic/acrobatic competition! Oh my god the coolest thing ever! I watched for an hour! I saw the polish, belorussia, and great britain teams practice. It was insane!! These kids were so tiny. The girls probably weighed 60-80 pounds and couldn't be older than 12, so strong and just doing the most flexible, strong, insane things like a handstand on a girls head with one arm. The guys were short and stalky and flung the girls all over the place and did these crazy lifts. Dan thought I was gonna get kicked out for sitting in the stands, but since they thought I was Nastia (haha just kidding), no one came to talk to me and just let me watch! Dan and I also went back a few days later to watch the finals.

It is extremely humbling not being able to communicate with people. I feel like an idiot. It is not the same as spanish at all! I told one of Dan's teammates "gracias" when he picked me up from the airport and he started laughing and said it is "abrigado/a". I am gonna keep reading my portuguese books to try and learn some of the basics so I don't just have to smile and say "abrigado" over and over. Also, a trip to the grocery store takes about 2 hours with the walk there and using my dictionary to translate the simplest items... yup I am just standing there in the aisle trying to figure out which crackers are wheat crackers or if they even have oatmeal. I bought what I thought was oatmeal and later found out from Lia, the wife of Rui (one of Dan's teammates) that it is baby food! Awesome! However, Dan and I did discover black vodka at the store... it is blueberry vodka but has less alcohol content of regular vodka. It was tasty and fun to celebrate his first Portuguese victory with!

We walk everywhere. I mean we are talking anywhere from 3-6 miles a day. So I have been trying to find a pair of size 49 or 50 shoes for Dan to walk in. I have struck out at 3 different places with responses such as, “what size? You crazy! That is not possible! Haha no way! Oh My God! Are you sure?” Apparently there are outlets somewhere around here that has his size….Anyways, it is great exercise and fun to have the time to walk and explore! We go to a café everyday for internet, wine, or a café. It is really fun because cafes are everywhere! There is a bakery down the street from us that we ventured to… this could be trouble. It smells unbelievable and they make a million kinds of bread all day long. I tried the popular dessert, of course, called “Bolos Berlin” or something like that. It was delicious… bread with sugar and filled with custard. Wow. Sounds gross, but it is fabulous. Actually, there are "pasteleria's" everywhere and the smell lures me in! I have to have strong will power to just say no! I also explore during Dan’s practices and have seen such beautiful parts of the city, churches, and fun little restaurants and cafes. I love the salmon toast they make! We will hopefully venture to church soon, especially since a church shaped like a boat is just down the street!

For the first week and a half I was here, about 10 times each day, preferable during siesta time and actually a time when Dan does nap, these cars like to drive by with a megaphone/megaspeaker.. I have no idea. But it would blast some random talking or music and was so weird. Or the best was when a caravan of about 30 cars would drive by with flags out their window, honking and yelling something. Dan and I thought it was for a futbol game since the fans are CRAZY. So I eventually asked a nice waiter who spoke English what it was… if it was for a futbol game… he got a good laugh out of me. So it is for the election that took place on Sunday. The chaos has finally finished!

EVERYONE is so nice and helpful here. It is amazing. It does not compare to any place in America. Literally, if you ask someone something and they don’t speak English, they will walk into the nearest store and get someone who does. They will write stuff out for you with the best directions possible, give you names of places to eat, shop, exits to get off on the metro, and in my case their “911” number which is “112”. We are starting to recognize people in our little city… and they are starting to say hello to us in the morning too! Except for Dan’s landlord who told one of his teammates, in Portuguese, “That guy has a Portuguese girlfriend?” His teammate tried to tell her that I am not Portuguese and she just kept saying that yes, I was Portuguese! Ha! Got her fooled with saying ola! And a te amana!

As Dan talked about, his team seems to be getting better! He is getting more comfortable attempting to lead a team of 10/12 non-english speaking players. A few other guys know enough English to have a little conversation, but when they start yelling stuff out on the court, Dan has no idea what is going on! Dan’s coach is about 5’6” and craazzyyy. Apparently he is telling players he will punch them in the face, shoot them in the head, and every other word he says is “fodus” which is the F word. If he isn’t saying he will kill you, then he is patting you on the back and clapping because he is happy with what you just did. Yes, he got yellow carded at their game and yes I thought one of Dan’s teammates was going to punch the down ref. haha. Dan’s coach, his name is Hugo, has the cutest 3 year old son named Afonso who wears a little team jersey and runs around wild and was even sitting in the ball cart at one of the practices. The line that Hugo likes to say to Dan when he is mad is, “Dan, you have eggs between your legs? Eggs between your legs?!?!” Supposedly it translates better in Portuguese… meaning are you a girl? Then the next play he will run around with his hands above his head and clapping because Dan did something good. Hilarious little man! After Dan’s team won, he said the team was celebrating like they won the super bowl: kisses on the cheek, Hugo ran and jumped into the arms of a player, and to top it off, Hugo ran up to Dan, smiled and slapped him across the face, followed with a hug. Hahaha.

When people ask why I am here and I explain that Dan is playing volleyball for Vilacondense a few people have responded and said “oh yes, the American!” There was a little article on Dan in the local paper last week with his picture in it and something saying how the team has an American that is 201 cm tall and a blurb about his bio!

I went to the Friday “market” in the center of the city. What a site! A huge area just covered in tents with fresh fruits and veggies, shoes, purses, socks, live chickens and hens for sale (with ladies dressed in all black, swatting at the chickens whenever they tried to fly out of the box, even though their wings are clipped), clothes, ladies embroidering and making lace table cloths, kitchen ware, fresh fish and meat, pastries and fresh bread…. And tons of people! It was fun chaos! I was too overwhelmed to buy anything… just got a few of the tiny little wine glasses to drink Port wine with for 0.75 Euro. What a deal! The market is right next to a huge, beautiful church where Lia and Rui got married.

The church is very, very old, built sometime in the 1400s and is right next to the club headquarters for Dan's team.

I spent an entire Saturday with Lia when Dan was out of town. It was great! She speaks English! She called to see if I wanted to have lunch. Well, it turned out I was gone from 10 AM- 1 AM. We went to a fish market (literally octopus and all kinds of fish just lying there on ice... I made Lia stand by it so I could take her picture) where she bought some fish and made me a fabulous lunch… fish baked in tons of salt. I mean the fish cooked with the head, skin, and tail on it… I got to see her house, her dog, go to her volleyball game (she plays for a team about 40 minutes away) and then went to her sisters house for dinner! It was quite the Portuguese experience! We laugh because Lia bought a Portuguese/English dictionary as well so that when we are trying to explain something to each other and can't find the word we just say "stop!" and look it up. For example, Lia told me we were going to eat "puppy" for dinner at her sisters. You should have seen my face! She realized it was the wrong word, and with the help of the dictionary realized that she meant "hot dog". Lost in translation.... She is honestly one of the nicest people I have met and her family is the same way. Her sister speaks pretty good English and Lia’s 11 year old nephew is going to the English academy so he practiced a little with me. They invited us over for Christmas. All they wanted was for me to keep eating… haha… and dessert and coffee and tea and more dessert.

Overall Portugal is beautiful and everything is so historic! I am going through my Portugal book and finding places we need to visit and also getting recommendations from the locals… the list is coming along, especially with Lia having her own list of places Rui and she wants to take us! Dan has a weekend off this month of games so I am sure we will take advantage and go explore the country (if he doesn't have practice)!

On about 3 different corners near our apt are ladies holding buckets of fish on their head and barrels of fish on the ground around them, selling them to crowds of people! It's nuts.. I wish I knew how to be-head a fish, skin it, and make something delicious out of it. Oh and crossing the street, you think the cars will hit you, but they don’t. They love to drive super fast and brake hard. They also drive past you when you are 6 inches away from the car.

We are having a great time now that we feel settled and laugh at minimum two things a day that just amaze us! We are VERY spoiled in America. When people think we are from England, then find out we are from America, and where from, etc.. they say, “wow. It is like another world!” and one guy asked Dan why he is so white if he is from California. Haha. We think the guy had been drinking… while working… at his café, which is normal at any time of the day here.

Welcome!!

Hey Everyone!

So Alli and I were thinking that it would easier to simply create a blog instead of filling up everybody's email accounts. This way we will be able to make updates more frequently and you all can check as often as you like.

First off, I'd like to thank all of those who offered to send us some peanut butter. However, after visiting multiple grocery stores, we were able to find a half size jar of Jiffy for about 5 dollars. Not the best bargain but we will survive if ever the craving gets too big.

My team had its first match a week and half ago against the 2nd place squad from a year ago. Needless to say our team still has a lot of new players and is trying to find our rhythm. It was a pretty frustrating match as we lost in 3 games and didn't really do anything well (pass, set, attack, block, serve, etc.). A little funny story though which may or may not have contributed to my play not being too great. The night before our game (which started at 4pm on Saturday Oct. 3rd), we got out of practice at 10pm. Alli had been telling me how we should go to the movies sometime and of course I agreed. Well one of my teammates, Rui, was going to drive us home and asked if we wanted to go to the movies. Alli and I both responded of course, thinking that later that weekend we would go to the movies with Rui and his wife, Lia. Well one thing we have discovered is the Portuguese culture typically stays up a little later. So Rui decided to take us that night to see the movie. We drive 40 minutes to pick up Lia and then another 20 to get to the mall where the movie was playing. We grab a quick bite (Burger King!) and head to see Inglorious Bastards showing at 12:35am. Rui explains how all the movies are in English with Portuguese subtitles so we'll be fine. The movie starts a little late and then when it begins, we discover that over half the movie is in French and German, all with Portuguese subtitles!!! So we watch a 2 and half hour movie which we don't even understand what's going on through most of it!! Alli was going in and out of sleep while I was desperately trying to figure out what they were saying (didn't go so well). We all laugh about it when we left the theater and thought it was a great way to start our Portuguese movie going experience. Got home at 4am ready for my first ever game in foreign lands.

Anyway, enough about the first game. It wasn't pretty and I wasn't too happy about so I had to put it out of my mind. Practices began to get a little better the next week as my connections with a few of the hitters started to get better. We were traveling to the Azores islands for our next match against a team with a few Portuguese National Team players and was expected to be a top 5 team in the league. Luckily for me, I was able to go to bed a little earlier the night before .... 2am. Texas Hold'em Poker has just arrived to Portugal and everybody wants to play so thats why the late bed time.

So the team we're playing, Bastardo, had beaten us in preseason 3-0 so we knew we were going to be underdogs like we would be a lot this year. We started off the match very strong though and managed to squeak out game 1, 25-23. Game 2 found us with all the momentum and them struggling and we smoked them 25-13. The next game they regrouped and the game was back and forth the entire time with them winning a very long rally near the end of the set and taking the game 25-23. We came out sluggish in game 4 and Bastardo took it to us the whole game and took us down 25-15. Going to game 5. To set this up a little more, our team, which finished tied for last place last season, went 0-9 in game 5's. But not this year!!!! We played well every rally of the game and never let up and took the game 15-10 for our first win of the year!

Now for the interesting part. Portuguese people can be crazy at times, but I think it is just the culture. As soon as we won the last point, everyone on our team charged the floor. My head coach, Hugo, ran and jumped into the arms of one of our hitters with his arms straight up in the air and legs out. I wish I had a picture. Everyone else was jumping on each other and going nuts like we just won the super bowl. It was bonkers! During the celebration, I got randomly kissed by two teammates. Then Hugo came up to me with a big smile, slapped me HARD across the face, and gave me a hug. I didn't know what to make of this as I was kinda PO'ed cause it hurt, but I thought about how much Alli would enjoy the story so I was over it. Needless to say, I wonder if my team will get used to winning or if every win will be a crazy celebration. I hope for the latter.

So we're now 1-1 and have 2 matches this weekend. Should be a good weekend for volleyball and hopefully our team can continue to improve as we grow more used to each other. Or at least as they grow used to a setter who speaks english!

Another frequent question I got in response were for websites to follow the team. Here is the main site for our league:

http://www.fpvoleibol.pt/index_2009.htm

-If you scroll down on the left you'll see a section labelled Campeonato Nacional which contains information our league. If you click Todas as Divisoes, and then Masculino - Div. A1, our schedule will come up. We are the team labelled GCV. If you want to see results, click Resultados Online. Those get updated pretty quickly but not sure how long they stay up as our first week result has been taken down already.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/40812357@N02/sets/72157622433820145/

-I found this yesterday. It is some photos of our last match vs. Bastardo. My team is in the black jerseys and I am #6.

There are Cafe's everywhere. Coffee is very popular here but not Starbucks type coffee. It comes in a little cup and saucer about the size of a shot glass. I have actually started to drink "cafes" (Portuguese for Coffee), while Alli gets them "com mayo leite" (with lots of milk). We enjoy the one across the street that is oceanfront.

OK That's it for now!! I'm sure Alli has plenty to add. She has been keeping a journal of our time here and has a lot of good stories to tell. We'll do our best to update this site on a regular basis with pictures as well. Hope everyone enjoys it!!

A & D