A nice taste of home....

Hey everyone! It's Alli. My mom has arrived! She has been here for 5 days and how nice it is to have a taste of home! I mean obviously it is so great to see my mom, but I mean a literal taste too. Not only did she bring jars of peanut butter, but half her suitcase was stuffed with the essentials: ranch dressing packets, taco seasoning, tortillas, gum, deodorant, granola bars, trail mix, and the best part... a leopard printed Snuggie for me!! Now she realizes what a great gift this is since our apartment is as cold as I told her it was... we are working on getting a heater :)

Portuguese is a very hard language... maybe harder after some serious jet lag. Dan and I have been trying to teach my mom the basics here, but she continues to say, "hello! how are you? gracias. peso." The best part of the language barrier/confusion/frustration/attempts happened on Saturday late at night. Dan, my mom, and I were coming back to our apartment after a few drinks and I was talking to Dan about 20 stairs up to the 65 and my mom reminded me to be quiet because my voice was echoing and not to wake the neighbors. By the time we got to stair number 65, my mom's adrenaline was flowing, and she slammed our door so hard on accident that I am pretty sure everyone in our building woke up. To make it all better and to apologize, my mom continues to open the door and yells, "mosquito". After ten solid minutes of laughing/crying, we cleared it up with my mom that "desculpe" (desh-coolp) is sorry, not mosquito. It was really funny... maybe you had to be here. Good times.

My mom is amazed with our fishing village. The women in our village are what we like to call Fishmonger Wives. They dress in all black, are all very overweight, it seems very difficult for them to smile back at you, and often times carry fish on their heads. My mom and I were walking into my favorite bakery the other day and a Fishmonger Wife was leaving... she proceeded to ramble on to us in Portuguese. After what we thought was politely telling her we do not understand, she hit my mom on the leg with her bag of bread about three times, continued to talk in Portuguese, and then left. Yup, we are still confused about what happened, but got a good laugh.

On Thursday we had a great day touring the city of Porto with Rui and Lia. We had a great lunch of sardines, duordo (some sort of fish), potatoes, meat (for Dan) and then walked all around. It was a "quick" tour of a couple hours.. just enough to let us feel our way around and want to go back for days at a time! It is a beautiful city with more history than I could imagine! We will be heading back to shop, wine taste, maybe take a boat ride, and stay in a hotel.

Friday market in Vila da Conde! My mom got to experience the crazy Friday market with everything imaginable. We just bought some scarfs and Portuguese pot holders, we tried to stay away from the skinned rabbit, salted/dried codfish, and ducklings. Then we went to Dan's game. My mom enjoyed it because after our 1.5 mile walk, a cold beer for one euro was delicious. Unfortunately, Dan's team lost to the team that is tied for number 1 in the league :( Anways, Dan played well and my mom had fun whistling since that is normal at games.

We had a relaxing weekend. Sometimes a Catholic mass can be difficult to follow/pay attention the whole time. I know a lot of you agree. Well, input Portuguese plus sitting under Jesus nailed to the cross with blood and guts showing... it was a little bit distracting/confusing/scary?
My mom enjoyed the mall. It almost felt like home... except when we bought whole shrimp, heads included, for dinner. That is the major difference. Oh and that Mc Donalds has beer.

Today we walked up to Povoa de Varzim and did some shopping, staring, tourist photo taking, sunset watching, etc. Another great day! It was raining all morning and then cleared up for us to go explore! We even took the bus home... after mile 5 of the day,we were desperate for a ride home and figured it out. Now we are making dinner for Dan... he is so spoiled having two Dillon women live in his apartment! haha. We are having so much fun but the time is going by too fast! Too much to do and too little time :) We hope everyone is doing well and has a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Ciao,
A & D (&M)

More Food...

Bom Dia! Alli here...Just want to share a few fun tidbits that we have experienced over the past couple of weeks. Almost everyday Dan and I go to the same cafe across the street. We really like the husband and wife that own it and the cafe looks at the water. Andrea, the lady who owns it, has about the same set of English skills as I do Portuguese. Therefore, our conversations involve smiling, ordering cafes, laughing at each other and ourselves trying to communicate, (I say: Ola! How are you?Andrea: My name is Andrea.) and a lot of hand gestures. Sidenote: only American music is played here on the radios, at the games, etc. So, needless to say, it is a little ironic when Andrea is sitting with her laptop out, blasting Beyonce songs, and singing every single word in English.. or something that sounds close to English.

Yesterday I traveled with Dan's team to Caldas, (call-dish) at 9:00 AM for a 5:00 PM match (Dan's team won easily in three games!). It was a lot of traveling, but some ridiculously funny situations. The bus made pitstops along the 2 1/2 hour journey for smoking, cafe and bathroom breaks. When we arrived, we went to a very cute restaurant. I had the privilege, if you would like to call it, to sit with the team president, his wife, the father of one of the coaches, and the bus driver. One person at my table was able to speak broken English... just enough to where I was pretty sure he did not know what he was saying. For example, he kept telling me about the Caldas' city emblem... "dolls with breests and boy dolls with pissa's (portuguese word for male part)" and he just kept laughing because I just kept saying, "excuse me? I don't understand" I ended up asking one of Dan's teammates what this man was talking about and he said it was true... they sell many things with private parts on them (ie: coffee mugs, dolls... you know, the usual..)

Lunch was delicious.. I had some vegetable soup, bread, two whole little tiny fishes, vegetables, and red wine. It took me about 5 minutes to perform the autopsy on one fish... take off the skin, bones, etc. It was fine with me but apparently the man next to me was not okay with it. He asked if he could prepare it for me. I tried to tell him "no thank you, I would like to learn" but he told me "no patience" and continued to take my knife and fork from me and told me to watch as he literally cut up my fish for me. Perfect timing for Dan to look over from his team's table and ask what was going on?! After this feast, I was pretty full. Then the president gestured for me to try some sort of codfish casserole; after politely declining and saying I was full, he literally rolled his eyes and did some angry hand gesture, and I was pretty sure he was angry with me. One person was able to tell me that he did not think I ate enough. So after I tried the codfish, it was time for dessert. I was able to get away with just ordering fruit. The same debacle continued at dinner.. same restaurant after the game. This time they ordered me duck and rice, wine, bread, cheese, and fruit. Again, I could barely breathe. But no, I did not want to offend the president so I tried some of his wife's dish (some extreme garlic soaked meat) and ordered real dessert and tried more cheese and marmalade. Don't get me wrong, the food was all very delicious and then I just slept most of the way home on the bus.

It is a definite challenge for me to ever carry on a conversation about politics. Now, try to put yourself at my table with my four lunch and dinner partners, one person speaking broken English as translator, and discuss views on Obama so much, George Bush, etc. Then they wanted to know how many people talk about European politics in America... and what leaders we talk about... I just laughed and tapped Dan on the shoulder to come rescue me. Finally, they couldn't resist the temptation to talk about fat Americans and fast food (they weren't too slim themselves). And lastly, one man told me if I keep eating like this I will be fat in a few months, yet they force food down my throat.... so much confusion.

We continue to hang out with Rui and Lia as much as possible. After a game a couple weeks ago, they wanted to know if we wanted to go to lunch. I told them they must have meant dinner since it was 7:00 PM. Dan and I agreed as we were both very hungry. We ended up at some pastry shop/cafe. I was so confused as they ordered sweet pastries and coffee. I asked why they weren't ordering dinner? The said it is lunch time. Dinner is not until 9:00 or 10:00 PM so this is time for lunch. Finally, it was clear that the order of meals in Portugal are: breakfast, lunch, lunch, dinner. Oh the things we learn....

This picture is of Dan and I in front of a "castle/fort" that was built for defense of incoming ships during the war days. It is in Povoa de Varzim, the city about 2 miles north of us. On many corners, people are cooking with coal this Portuguese fruit called "castanha" that is only available this time of year. You must remove the hard outside shell (looks like a large walnut) and the inside part is edible with a texture similar to potato but a lot more sweet. Dan is holding the newspaper funnel (difficult to see in the picture) they serve them in on a street in Povoa de Varzim. Oh and one last thought... personal space does not exist here. Not only is a woman greeted by a woman or man with a kiss to each cheek, with even strangers, but people talk very close to you. Sidewalks are very narrow and two people will be talking in the middle of the sidewalk and make no acknowledgement of you needing to get around them (I have learned to just walk in the street past people), and when I go for a jog, bikers will ride past me coming within 2 inches. It's amazing.. so close to being plowed, but it hasn't happened!

On TV!

Hey Everyone,

Just wanted to let everyone know that my match tomorrow is going to be on TV here, which means you should be able to find it online. The game is at 11:15am though so 6:15am ET and 3:15am PT. I believe if you go to www.justin.tv you may be able to find it if you search voleibol or Vilacondense or Benfica. I know this is early but not sure how many televised matches we have. Also, Benfica is #1 in the league so it will be a tough one.

Dan

Thriller Domination

Boa Tarde!

Time for another little update of this past week. Not too much has happened but certainly some stories to share.

Alli and I went out for some drinks anddinner on Monday since we were both off and thought it'd be fun to hop around to different places. We started at this fancy cafe/bar/dance club? on the ocean. It was very small and basically a big room right on the beach that looked like any other cafe except there was a huge DJ table in the corner. Needless to say there was no music or dancing going on when we were there. Alli tried to take me to the Moroccan restaurant after that but it was closed and didn't open until 9 so we just went to my favorite pizzeria where I get the pizza topped with ham, salami, bacon, and egg. We got our picture taken as we were walking along the boardwalk as well.

One thing I forgot to mention in the last blog was something really amazing that I got to do in my trip to Madeira. So my teammate Rui is a flight attendant for TAP Air, the Portuguese Airlines. When we got onto our flight heading out to Madeira, he asked me if I wanted to sit in the cockpit during the takeoff. OF COURSE I WOULD!! So Kleber, our Brazilian middle, and myself got to sit during takeoff. It was a great experience. There was buttons and switches everywhere and I also was amazed by how much the planes fly themselves. The pilots obviously know everything that is going on but they basically just monitor the situation the whole time while the planes do the work.

My team had one match this weekend against Esmoriz whose starting outside hitter was none other than Michael Jackson circa 1980's! He was black with a jheri curl and looked just like MJ in his Thriller days. We started off poorly in game one as our passers were fighting the sun out of their eyes which was coming through the windows. We lost game one but when we switched sides, our game immediately picked up. Took the next 3 games with them never scoring more than 19 on us. After the win, Hugo came up to me and said that since I didn't have anymore hair (I buzzed it off this week) that he would just slap me in the back of the neck. After a few solid hits, I started hitting him back then had him in a minor headlock while we cheered.

Yesterday marked the big professional debut of Alli!! Her team played a team from Madeira that looked much more impressive in warmups. However, Alli's team came out showing some actual hustle and effort which many of those same girls never do in practice. They managed to pull out a win in 3 games! Alli didn't get in but I think her coach isn't the most intelligent around. For example, the other team was coming back in game 2 after one OH shanked several passes in a row. So he made a substitution (the only one of the match) taking out his front row middle for another middle. I was baffled in the stands. Oh well, a win is a win and Alli is now undefeated!

Not sure if we have mentioned it yet but the people are crazy drivers here. It's amazing the amount of car accidents that result too. When we drove to and from Alli's game yesterday, we came across 6 accidents! It was crazy. People try to drive fast and brake fast here, yet clearly they don't seem to be getting the message that that doesn't work. Even today when we were walking home from weights, a guy on the motorcycle tried to turn right into a traffic circle and fell off his bike. Luckily he wasn't hurt bad, but still crazy. The weather has been lousy lately so the roads are slick but nobody seems to adjust their driving style because of it. Oh well, hopefully nobody gets seriously hurt that we know!

We hope everybody is well back home! Maureen (Alli's Mom) is coming to visit us next week so we are very excited to have her come stay with us and get to experience some of this unique and interesting European culture! Also, Stevie has a big volleyball match tomorrow so good luck to him and hope he does well!

Love,

A & D

Two week update!

Bom Dia!!

Sorry it's been two weeks. My team was off last week so I didn't think there would be too much to write about but actually a lot has happened in the two weeks. I'm going to leadoff with some volley updates and stories on my crazy head coach and then Alli, who is a much better writer than myself, will talk about her exciting news and the interesting things that we've done recently.

So volleyball items. We were off the weekend of Oct 24th, which meant the practices the week leading up to our off week involved lots of soccer. I guess this is common since everybody here plays but being a volleyball and basketball player, let's just say I'm not too good at soccer. It is fun though to change up the pace every now and then and I keep trying to tell Hugo (my coach) that we should play some basketball instead one time. I doubt I'll get my wish.

Now we had two matches this weekend in the Madeira islands which are absolutely gorgeous. Maybe the prettiest place I've ever been to. I didn't have the camera though so sorry I couldn't capture any pics. Anyway the matches were very important for us since the teams were close to our level and if we din't play well we would certainly lose. Plus they were road games making them tougher. All this meant that Hugo would be ultra intense all week since he is part crazy, part just wanting to win so bad that he can't control himself. Also, his English is only so-so. During the week of practice, if I started playing bad or he thought I was being lazy, he would consistently ask me if I was on "Holiday." He would say this over and over since he only has a few sayings he repeats. This seemed to culminate one day in practice when one of my hitters hit a few balls out and Hugo got mad at me for not cussing out my hitter for messing up (not really my style of course). So he stops practices and says to me, "Dan, you're mister nice guy. Eat chicken, drink beers, get sun, everything cool, everything cool. No Dan!" Everybody on our team was laughing and I was doing my best not to laugh. So since then he still repeats that now when I don't get mad at my teammates..... eat chicken, drink beers ...

Now for the matches! At the start of the first match vs. Maritimo, I counted 14 people in the stands. Regardless, we came out strong and jumped to a big lead. Up 24-19, we managed to let up 6 straight points and the other team took a 25-24 lead. Frustrating yes, but we managed to turn it around and still win the game. Won the next game, lost the next two, going to game 5. Game 5 was a sideout battle the whole time with us holding on to a 1 point lead the whole time. Fianlly up 15-14, we forced them into a bad pass situation and their big opposite hit the ball out. Victory! After the match, we were celebrating in a huddle and Hugo came to me and grabbed my hair and was just yanking on it painfully until he stopped and gave me a hug. I don't think he realizes how much pain he can inflict.

The next match was against Machico who had already beaten Maritimo so it should be a tougher match. Plus they actually had fans who were loud and screaming at us often. Game 1 was similar to the previous night. Up 8-1 at first TO break, up 16-5 at the next and then up 24-17. Again, we don't like having game point and they came back and tied it at 24!! Then we sided out and managed to win the set 29-27. Game's two and three we played much better and rolled to a 3 game victory. At the end of the 3rd set, Hugo yelled at me for smiling. The score was 24-12, one point away from the win and myself and the libero were joking with each other. Hugo kept saying, "What are you smiling for? Only smile after the game." Little does he know that him saying things like that makes me want to laugh more. Anyway, we won and after the match we were celebrating and he grabbed my hair harder and longer this time. I had tears in my eyes. I'm buzzing my head today. Also, all that said with Hugo, I actually really like him and think he is a very good coach. He is quite demanding but he does so because he is very competitive and wants to win. Our team is now 4-2 and in 4th place in league. Not bad considering we have already matched last seasons win total!

Hey everyone! It's Alli. So, Dan and I finally made our way into Porto during his weekend off. Wow, it is a beautiful city with so much history, near the ocean, and it also has a river running through it. We took an exit off the metro and had no idea what to do or where to go... so we just started walking, staring, stopping on corners to stare some more, take some pictures, you know.. just being tourists. We ventured into a Spanish restaurant to hopefully get a taste of some food similar to Mexican. Ha! We ordered a tortilla and it was this huge thing that looked like a chicken pot pie.. filled with tasteless egg and potato. The Sangria made up for the "fake" tortilla. Then we stumbled across city hall.... it is in the center of Porto and is an amazing building. We literally could not get the whole building in the picture (that's me in the picture!).

Then we kept wondering around and came across a cool looking building that groups of people were taking pictures outside of. So we decided that we should take our picture too! Then we found out, as we walked into the "building" that it was actually the Cathedral of Porto built in 1110. We walked in and it was literally breathtaking. The pictures do not do it justice. Not only was it huge, but the detail was amazing: balconies, everything embellished with gold, old pews, a smaller altar on one side, religious statues everywhere... beautiful. So our first trip into Porto was a success. Next time we will go with someone who knows where they are going and get a better sense of our way around :)

We went to a family party at Rui and Lia's house. So much food... oh my gosh. Everything was made from scratch... they love all kinds of meat and bread and shrimp and chocolate and tea and salmon and more bread and meat. Not so much the vegetables. It was a nice time to meet 30 family members and humbling to just smile at the little kids when they come up to talk to you and you have no idea what they are saying....

It was a pretty mellow party with everyone just sitting around and watching the Portuguese version of American Idol, eating, eating more, and more sitting. Everyone, as usual, was really nice!

So the exciting news is that I am now a Portuguese volleyball player for Ala Gondomar! Senor Nelson, the owner of the team I think, was able to pull some strings with the Portuguese volleyball federation, etc to cut the fees for me to be able to be cleared to play while I am here. Dan and I met Senor Nelson for lunch two times this week. It was fabulous.. super nice restaurants with the real Portuguese feel. One restaurant overlooked the river and considering there were tanks of fish, lobster, and codfish (the most popular fish here), I knew it was pretty fresh. So, I had codfish for the first time! It was delicious. Dan had meat... he was nervous to have codfish. However, Dan did say yes to a cafe after lunch since he is so Portuguese now... being against any type of coffee at home and now loving it here. I was trying so hard not to laugh as Dan mimicked Senor Nelson with stirring the sugar for about a minute straight and sipping it down in three quick sips without setting the cafe down. Lunch was tiring both days with trying to communicate with Senor Nelson... even though it was difficult at times to communicate, he is such a generous, nice guy. He took us to have a tour of the Portuguese volleyball federation building, drove us through Porto and around the river, and then to two doctor appointments to get me cleared to play. The first was with the best doctor in Portugal, the doctor for the Porto futbol team. I got an ECG done on my heart which is mandatory for all upper level athletes here... I was literally nervous considering a) the nurse didn't speak English and b) she started putting suction things all around my heart and metal clamps on my wrists and ankles and I had no idea what was going on because I have never had that test done before. So the doctor saw something a little funny in the report, but said not to worry, I would just need to get an ultra sound to rule it out. I told him maybe it was because I was a little nervous in there... Senor Nelson said maybe it was because I am in love! I think the doctor was just being extra cautious because this past week a 23 year old American guy playing for a Portuguese basketball team had a heart attack in the locker room at half time of his game and died. So, after some stress, my ultra sound came back fine.. paperwork went through, I got my uniforms, I got a beautiful gold heart charm to wear as a necklace (the emblem from the city my team is from) and will hopefully have the license finished to play this coming weekend. The only downside is the team practices 45 minutes away and from 9-11 PM. My position on the team is unclear being that I warm up as a setter, I play middle and left back defense, and also rotate to the front to play outside hitter. I am back to my glory days of the big 13 year old outside hitter....

On Friday I went to sushi with my friends!! (Lia and Elsa - also my teammates) The sushi is not as good as at home, but is still nice to eat familiar food. Then, being that it was 11:30 at night and they had to travel to one of the islands for a game the next day, I thought they were driving me home. But no, we pulled up to some Moroccan restaurant to have some tea. This restaurant was so cool! The decor and ambiance was amazing... maybe it was the belly dancer that performed about every 20 minutes, the restaurant only lit by candle light, the satin pillows you sit on, or the cute little silver tea pots they brought our tea in. It was a fun night!

PS: Happy Birthday to Andrea O'Dell, who is carrying our soon to be niece or nephew!!