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:
-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.
-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
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