Final Game

   As we went into our final game, we knew we needed to win. Unfortunately, the game ended in a tie, which meant that we would not be advancing into the higher league. The mood after the game was somber to say the least. Many girls were crying and visibly upset, others were angry and pounded their fists into the ground. I was in shock and didn't quite want to believe that all our hard work seemed to be for nothing. The second half of the season started off so promising that I believed we would make it into the top league with no trouble at all. We did have our fair share of problems throughout the season. Of the 20 girls that had started the season, only 10 remained. Many had torn their ACL's or had some other sort of injury. Also, we played multiple games with one substitute because girls had become sick during the week. I can't even imagine what would have happened if Marissa and I hadn't come over when we did.
   I know everyone felt upset after the game, but I think Marissa and I felt even worse because we felt responsible. They brought us to Sweden to accomplish a goal, and we failed to meet it. We had one job to do and we couldn't get it done. I know the girls didn't blame us, and some even tried to say it was a good thing that they didn't move up, but there was still an overwhelming feeling that we had let everyone down.
   Since our team didn't move up into the higher league, that means there is no chance for us to return. There is no money to bring in Americans because we won't be getting more sponsors. It was so hard to say goodbye to our new friends and coaches. After 3 months I really felt like we were starting to form connections with the team and it would have been fun to come back and play for a whole season.
  As for now, I am not really sure what I will do next.  I have moved back to Tampa and am working part-time for my mom at a catering company. There would still be an opportunity for me to return to Sweden, just not with Kungsbacka. The Swedish league also doesnt start until March, so there's a chance I wouldn't know if I was returning until a week before I would fly out. Right now I am just enjoying being in warm sunny Florida for the winter. It's been a while since I've experienced clear blue skies and 70 degree temperatures in November.
  Even if I don't return to Sweden to play soccer, I definitely plan on returning to visit. Sweden was filled with some of the nicest and welcoming people that it would be hard for me not to return.

One Game Left

   Our last 2 games have been disappointing, to say the least. Both games were ones that we should have won, but lost instead. Now we find ourselves in a position where it is crucial to win our game tomorrow. If we win, there is a good chance that we will finish in the top 6 and be able to move up to the higher league next season. If we lose, there is an opportunity to maybe play a relegation game to decide if we move up or not,  but a win tomorrow would be the best outcome. All week we have talked about how we should feel both focused and excited going into the game. The team we are playing is in second place, so it will definitely be a challenging game. There has been a lot of energy and hard work during our training sessions this week from the whole team. Tomorrow will be a test to see if we have what it takes to move up next season.

A Tie is better than a Loss

   We had yet another challenging game this weekend. We left early Saturday morning to make the four hour bus ride to our game against  Östers . When we arrived we took a short walk on the field. It was a very impressive stadium. The girls on the team informed us that up until today, only the men's team had played in the stadium. Consequently, instead of the crowd attendance of about 50 people for a women's game, there was now going to be close to 1,000. They even had a section of about 20 guys who chanted, sung and heckled us all game.
   We started the game off very slow, and they managed to score within the first five minutes. The second goal came from my cross into one of my teammates, who then passed the ball into another one of our teammates who easily scored. It was a good goal that came from a lot of possession on our part. Their second goal came from a low shot that our keeper barely missed, then hit the post and slowly rolled into the goal. It's hard not to keep your head down when it feels like every time we score a goal, we just get one scored on us too. We were putting a lot of pressure on them in the last 15 minutes and it managed to work. Marissa managed to break free from one of their defenders and shot the ball in the upper left corner. It seemed like the ball was moving in slow motion as we waited to see if she would score. The ball barely missed the keeper's reach and dropped below the crossbar in perfect timing. We scored in the 86th minute and managed to keep the tie until the whistle blew.
  It was a good tie for us, but of course we would have liked to win. This upcoming weekend we have free, so hopefully that will give some of our injured players a chance to recover and play out the final three games.

Action shots from the game. 

Good header, not the best face. 

The stadium we played in. 

4 Games Left

   On Saturday, we lost to IFK Norrkoping in a game that we should have won. The score was 2-3 and they were even a man down for the majority of the game. They scored within the first 15 minutes off of a header from a corner kick and we were down 1-0. Shortly after, we were fouled in the box and got a penalty kick while their defender received a red card and was out for the rest of the match. We scored our penalty kick, but then with 5 minutes left in the half, they scored off a 1v1 with our center back. In the second half we came out with a lot of momentum and scored to tie the game up. Unfortunately, after a scuffle in the box where we just couldn't clear the ball, they scored late in the game and ended up winning. We had many chances through out the game, including a break away that ended in a shot that hit off the post. I think I prematurely cheered twice during the game, only to realize the ball had barely ricocheted off the post pr crossbar. All in all, it was a very disappointing way to lose the game. The weekend before we tied the number one team and were fighting for every ball the whole time. It seemed like during this game, we expected to win and just didn't come out with the energy that we needed.
  We only have 4 more games left so each one is extremely important. The table is so tight, with only a a few points separating the top teams. Hopefully we can win tomorrow, and then we have off next weekend so it will give us a chance to rest and get some of our injured players back.

Mallbacken IF vs. Tölö/Kungsbacka DFF

       The week before we played Mallbacken, training went on as usual, but in the back of our minds we knew that we were going to be playing the first place team in our league on Saturday. We also had a semi-final district cup game to play on Tuesday. The team was in the second division so we were able to rest some of the starters. We won the game without much of a problem, but unfortunately, one of our starters and also one of the girls who scored against Mallbacken in the spring, sprained her knee in the cup game. She attempted to train over the next couple of days, but it was no use, she was going to have to miss the game.
    On Saturday morning, we all met at the train station to board the bus for the 5 hour drive to our game. It was 6:45 a.m. so my thinking was a little hazy, but it seemed like our bus looked a little empty. When we stopped at our first rest stop of the trip, the absences on the bus were explained for. The starting left midfielder was at at wedding, Frida was not there due to her knee injury, the starting center midfielder was sick, as was our head coach. Our only 2 substitutes were a girl who had joined our team that week and our back-up goal keeper. As if the game wasn't going to be challenging enough, now we were down 3 starters, 1 coach and a full bench.
    The game proved to be difficult as we had predicted. The first half was off to a great start when we scored in the first 12 minutes. It was good to get an early goal and let out a little sigh of relief. The rest of the half was difficult, but we managed to fend them off and our goal keeper only had to make a couple of saves. The second half was a different story. They came out with a vengeance and started to break us down. The relentless attack from Mallbacken, along with our inability to keep any sort of possession, resulted in a goal for them in the middle of the second half. We were visibly tired and made our only substitution of the game shortly after the goal. I was thankful when the final whistle blew and the final score was 1-1. It was the 3 points we wanted, but it was good to get 1 point against a team at the top of the table.
   After the game I was excited to see a former Gator teammate Katie Fraine. We were only able to chat shortly, but it was great being able to see her. She has been in Sweden since the beginning of the season so it was interesting to hear how she was liking it. She said her team is located in a very small town. That was apparent to me from our drive there. As we neared the field, the roads became smaller as they cut through woods, mountains and alongside lakes. It seemed like we were going to be lost in the woods before we finally turned a corner and saw the field surrounded by fences and nets. Katie explained the fences were there in order to keep the moose off the field. Besides being in such a small town, Katie said she was having a good time. We arranged to meet up in Gothenburg after my game on Saturday, so we will have a better chance to catch up and exchange stories of life in Sweden.

Took a quick picture after the 1-1 tie. 

Gators in Sweden. We couldn't resist haha. 

   Once everyone had showered and boarded the bus, we drove about 20 minutes to the restaurant where we would be eating dinner. Before the game, our manager walked around and asked everyone, fish or meat for dinner. I was in the middle of napping so I didn't inquire into exactly what the meal entailed, but quickly answered meat and went back to sleep. When we got to the restaurant, it turned out to be a cozy hotel with a spacious back porch overlooking a picturesque lake. We were led down a flight of stairs to a private room with a long table set with lighted candles and cold pitchers of water with lemon. They served us salad and bread as soon as we sat down. Next came our meals of fish and meat. The fish turned out to be a cold salmon with broccoli and carrots. Then came my meal. When they placed it in front of me I thought it looked delicious; it looked similar to the giant meatballs that our frequently served where we eat lunch. But I was quickly told that they were not meatballs, but in fact, they were moose, or in this case, mooseballs. I was hesitant to try them but they actually turned out to be quite good, and even had the same consistency as a meatball would. The meat wasn't tough at all and even had a good flavor. The girls on the team thought it was strange that Marissa and I had never had moose before, but then our manager made a good comparison He said that it was probably similar to me eating alligator in Florida. As soon as he said this, the girls were shocked that we eat alligators and wanted to know what they tasted like. After dinner, we continued our drive and arrived back in Kungsbacka around 11:30 p.m.
      This weekend we have a home game at 4 p.m. It will be nice to win and get another 3 points!


   

Island Adventures Part 2

    After touring the lighthouses and the islands from afar, we took the RIB boat in for a closer look and docked at the main island. A few of the passengers were staying the night in the cabins, and the rest were spending the day on the island like us. Stefan helped some of the guests to their rooms and then met us back at the main building, which is used for different events by the companies holding retreats there. From the outside the building looks like an old worn down house, but once you're inside you realize that the whole interior has been refurbished. When you enter the building there is a staircase straight ahead, with a kitchen to the right and a dining area to the left. Upstairs is a cozy loft with candles and over-sized couches. There is even a little nook with a seating area near a window that you have to hunch over to get to.
   When we got done exploring the old house, Stefan had set up a spread of food for us. There was cheese, butter, some sort of condiment that you squeezed out of a tube and tasted like a sweet mayonnaise, and meat that looked like and tasted like a stick of salami, but with a consistency more like pâté. Then he pulled out 2 different herring dips. One looked like a white tartar sauce and the other looked like someone scooped   out algae and pieces of herring straight from the ocean and tried to call it a dip. Despite having a less than appetizing appearance, both dips actually tasted pretty good. I wouldn't go to the store and buy them, but they were still fun to try. 

The 2 different herring dips

    Once we finished our lunch, we decided to go kayaking. We had seen a few seals laying on some rocks as we neared the island, so we decided to try to paddle out to them. As we started paddling toward them, they started jumping off the rocks and into the water. We were still pretty far away from them so it was hard to tell where they went, but soon little heads started popping up around us. We had paddled about halfway to them before they jumped off the rocks and met us. They didn't come up close enough to touch, but they were definitely very inquisitive and kept an eye on us. I had only ever seen seals at SeaWorld so it was definitely an experience for me to see them up so close. Stefan said that normally there are hundreds of seals on those rocks in early June and July, but we were there in late July so we only saw about 20. 

The tiny dark spot that is a little right of the center is actually a seal head. They were so hard to take a picture of because they kept popping up for a second and then going back under the water. 

Marissa and I kayaking. 

Relaxing in the kayaks. 

   After we were done kayaking, we went back to the main island. From there we were able to tour a couple of the lighthouses and go to the very top. There was an amazing view of the entire island from the top. In the late afternoon we packed up and headed back to the harbor. 
    The next weekend, we were invited out on a boat by another one of our teammates. This time we only went about 15 minutes from the harbor and stopped at one of the closer islands. When we neared the island, we threw in the anchor and secured the boat by wedging a hook into a crevice of a rock. We unloaded our necessities from the boat, which included towels, folding lawn chairs, and a lunch basket. Lunch consisted of    slices of flat bread with different flavored cheeses that came in a tube. There were 3 different flavors; bacon, ham and salami. We also had a thermos of coffee and peaches. 
    Our first activity when we got there was to go exploring. It was like a game trying to find the different rocks that connected and would lead you higher up to the top of the island. There were also little paths that lead you down to the water, although we didn't go in. For one, it was very cold, and two, there were red jellyfish all over. We were told that there are 2 different types of jellyfish; red and blue. The blue ones are harmless, and the red ones will sting you. We did put our feet and legs in. The water is so cold and crystal clear that it seems like it is coming from a natural spring. Even when you take your hands out of the water, it doesn't feel salty and dry like it does from the salt water in Florida.

Marissa and I at the harbor after boating to the island. 

   It was kind of strange to see so many boats docked at these rock islands and people sitting in lawn chairs everywhere. It is not the typical islands I am used to where you pull up to a beach and lay out on your towel on the sand; you pull up to a massive rocky island and sit in a lawn chair on top of a giant boulder. Although it was not what I am normally used to, it was still a lot of fun and a cool experience. 

Island Adventures Part 1

    In the weeks before I was planning on arriving in Sweden, I kept a constant watch on the weather there. The forecast seemed to remain a consistent 60 degrees and raining in the weeks leading up to my arrival. When I actually stepped off the plane, I was shocked to see the sun was shining and the temperature was in the mid 70s. Our teammates informed us that this was the first good week of weather they had in Kungsbacka all summer, and it was already late into July. I tried to take advantage of our opportune timing by going down to the harbor as much as I could. It was nice being able to lay out on the grassy spots of the small island in between the rocks, but I soon longed to be out on one of the dozens of boats that were constantly going back and forth from the harbor.
     Luckily, on our day off, Marissa and I were invited out to an island by the owners of the hotel we stay at. They own the hotel on the mainland, but they also rent a few buildings on an island off the coast, about a 20 minute boat ride from the harbor. They take people to the island by a rigid inflatable boat, or RIB boat, which is the type of boat you see used a lot by the military and the coast guard. People generally spend the night on the island for a day or two and then are picked back up by the boat when they are ready to leave. A lot of companies also hold conferences there.
   Our tour guide and captain of the boat for the day was Stefan, who is the owner of the hotel and also the father of Antonia, a girl on our team. On the way to the main island, we stopped near a few smaller islands with lighthouses on them. Stefan told us a story about one of the islands in the 1800's, which was only about 50 yards long and 30 yards wide. The island consisted of a lighthouse operated by 2 men. There was also a small house on the island for the men's 2 families. When the children would play outside they had to tie a rope around their waists so they wouldn't fall into the water. Can you imagine living with close to 12 people in such a small vicinity, and the only way to leave was by boat?

The island that 2 families lived on. Talk about close quarters. 

   Another area we stopped at was a lighthouse located in front of the main island. Right next to it was about a 10 yard section of pebbles that formed a tiny island. Stefan said that at that spot, 2 different water currents collided and pushed the pebbles together. Every time he goes there, the pebble island will change sizes, and at some times of the year it is almost none existent. Then about 10 yards to the left of this little island, the water gets dramatically deeper and is the start of a reef that continues to the main island and then to the other side of the island. The main island is also made up of the same type of rocky pebbles as the tiny island. Stefan said that after the ice from the iceage melted, these rocks remained and came to form the island.

To the right of the lighthouse is the tiny pebble island. Farther back to the right is where the main island begins. 

   Now on this island, there is a lot of history of different lighthouses being built and torn down. It was probably the most vital spot for the lighthouses since the reef stretched out along the coast of the island and caused hundreds of shipwrecks. When the fog was so thick that the lighthouses' signals could not be seen, they would set off 3 cannon shots as a warning for the ships not to come any closer. It took many different men to manages the lighthouses and cannons, so the island was soon populated the families and children. They even needed a teacher to come at one point.

One of the newer lighthouses that operates automatically. 

An example of the rocks that make up the base of the island. Some parts toward the center  of the island managed to start growing grass and other vegetation.

2 of the older lighthouses that are no longer used. We climbed  up the inside and at the very top is  a place where people can sit and hang out with candles and seat cushions. 

Automatic lighthouse. 

A hot tub on the island! 

View of the island from the top of a lighthouse. Way out in the distance you can see  the lighthouse with the tiny pebble island I mentioned earlier. 

  Today, the remaining houses are rented by the hotel, but maintained by the government in order to preserve the original state of the buildings. Half of one of the buildings is rented out to a bird watching association, which tracks birds all year long. A special species of birds originally only known to live in the cliffs of Norway have made their home on this island too. It is the only place they are found in Sweden. They look kind of like seagulls, but have softer features and are much cuter.

This is where most of the birds from Norway live. You can see one in the corner of the middle window of the lighthouse. 

The other stone lighthouse. Marissa and I think that the birds stopped hear on the way back to Norway because the rocky outer structure of the lighthouse reminded them of the rocky cliffs they lived on in Norway. 

First 3 Games

  Our fall season has been off to a pretty good start. We won our first game with a goal late in the second half against our rival team. The second game didn't go as well when we lost 2-1.  It was an improvement from losing to them 4-1 in the first half of the season, but it was still disappointing. This past weekend we won 9-0 to a team at the bottom of the table. It was a good game to get our confidence back and rack up some points for the goal differential. After our game we had a team party at our training fields and locker room. We played Swedish drinking games and attempted to sing some traditional Swedish drinking songs. I also learned a few Swedish sayings, but luckily the girls decided that they would speak in English the rest of the night. I thought it was a really nice gesture considering there was only 2 of us who couldn't speak English and over 20 of them that could. It ended up very long day, but it was good to bond with the girls on the team.
   This upcoming weekend will be a true test of the competition in our league. We play the first place team at their home field. It will be a long bus ride on Saturday to get there, but we will have to be ready to play.

Here is a link to the table and results:
http://svenskfotboll.se/cuper-och-serier/information/?scr=table&ftid=35358


This is one of the current popular Swedish songs we were listening to at the party:

Alina Devecerski - Flytta på dej

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfcDvOzU6pQ&list=PL56BBAADCD3CB7FF4&feature=mh_lolz

Swedish Life

       I have been living in Sweden for about 3 weeks now, and I am finally in some sort of routine. Most of our games are on Saturdays at 3 p.m. and then Sunday is free. On Mondays we have training at 6:20, beginning with knee strengthening exercises for the first 20 minutes. They implemented this for the fall season because there were many ACL injuries in the first half of the season. Tuesdays we have training a gym in the city center. Our team has a strength trainer who gives each player an individualized workout to do. We haven't had our assessment yet, but so far we have done treadmill sprints, cycling, and followed along with our teammates' strength and agility programs. Wednesdays and Thursdays we have training at 6:45 p.m. and Fridays are free. We also have the option to have individual training with one of the coaches at anytime during the week. My roommate, Marissa, and I have been going about twice a week at 10:30 a.m. Our coach has drills planned for us, but we can also suggest areas we need to work on. The intensity of the training sessions vary depending on the day and the week. The best part of the sessions are that we are always moving and constantly have the ball at our feet.
    After the morning sessions, Marissa and I go to lunch at a restaurant in the city center where they have set up free meals for us. The restaurant looks like an old house and is very quaint inside. The food is set up in a buffet style with a salad bar and soup, and a choice of 2 different entrees. The salad toppings are always different but always delicious. There are a lot of black bean and pepper dishes, sprouts, feta cheese, cooked mushroom dishes, olives and feta cheese. The entrees are usually some sort of fish and meat dish with peas and cranberries, and boiled potatoes with a heavier cream sauce. Last week they served 2 different types of salmon, one in a sweet sauce and the other was a type of casserole with cheese and spinach. It was hands down the best salmon I had ever tasted. On the menu today were homemade Swedish meatballs that were the size of my fist. Needless to say, I stuff myself every day during lunch and don't often have to eat again until after training.
       In my spare time I have been watching the Olympics on our TV, which is smaller than the screen of my laptop. I can't understand anything the announcers are saying, but I can pretty much figure out what is going on. We get about 4 channels which have been dominated by the Olympic coverage, but now it is back to normal programming. One of the stations frequently shows American movies in English with Swedish subtitles, which is a big difference from Germany where they dub the voices to German.  I have also been able to watch a lot of American TV shows on my laptop. When it is nice out I walk down to the harbor and sit in the sun on the rocks there. No matter what time of the day or week, people are always at the harbor trying to soak in as much sun as possible.

These are some pictures from the harbor. There are a couple restaurants and ice cream shops there, but people mostly head to the giant rock islands. You only have to walk 5 minutes over a tiny bridge and you are there. 

There are a few docks and structures built to jump off of into the water. It is very different from Florida where you can slowly wade into the ocean and get acclimated to the water. Here, you just  have to jump off giant rocks into the water and hope that it's not too cold, which normally it is.

View from the rock island back to the harbor with all the boats. 

A statue near the rock island.

This is a map from the hotel Web site showing a layout of the grounds. The reception area has a restaurant, a mini golf course out front, and is also where we walk to do our laundry. We are in the red building, right where the arrow points to Studios 14-25. All of those beige colored buildings in the middle are school/daycare centers for little kids. It makes it pretty hard to sleep in when there are little kids right outside your door yelling in Swedish. 

This is where I live. There are actually four different rooms in this building and you have to walk around the back to enter our room. 

From Germany to Sweden

      After a disappointing finish to my season in Cloppenburg, Germany, I knew it was time for a change. I had been with Cloppenburg since January of 2011 and had really hoped that after the 2011-2012 season that we would advance into the top league in Germany. We came very close, but didn't quite make it. It was a very hard decision for me to leave Germany. It had become like a second home to me, and I had made so many amazing friends there. Although it was sad knowing I wouldn't be playing with the same girls again, I knew it was the best decision for me to try something new. As I left Germany at the end of May, I had no idea what was in store for me in the next couple of months. I had talked with my agent and he said we would explore other options in Scandinavia, but we wouldn't know anything for sure. I was excited to be going back to America, but I was also nervous about finding another team. What if I had made a terrible mistake by leaving Cloppenburg and wouldn't be able to find another team?

    After a couple weeks of intense waiting (well not that intense, I was mostly at the beach) I finally got an answer. A team from the small town of Kungsbacka, Sweden was interested in having me play for them. I was both excited and nervous at the chance to play there. I didn't know much about Sweden and immediately went to Google to check out my potential new home. What I gathered from Wikipedia was that there were 19,057 inhabitants in 2010 and that there was an infamous fire in 1846. To say the least, I was a little bit alarmed after reading this information. Nevertheless, I thought I would give it a try. If I hated it there, my stay would only be for 3 months since I was only going for the second half of the season.

     When I got to Sweden, I was met at the airport by one of our coaches and one of the girls on the team. I immediately noticed what amazing English they both spoke. By comparison, when I first arrived in Germany my coach showed up at the airport with an Ipad in an attempt to translate. Already, I knew things were going to go much smoother than in Germany. Another pleasant surprise was when we were driving through the city. It was way bigger than I thought and has almost 70,000 inhabitants. Gothenburg, which is the second biggest city in Sweden is only a 25 minute train ride away.

     My home for the next 3 months is a small cabin at the Gottskar Hotell. The parents of one of the girls on our team owns the hotel. Another American and I share the little cabin. We have a small living area and kitchen and share the same bedroom to sleep in.  It is about 25 minutes outside of the Kungsbacka city center and at the moment we have been taking the bus to get back and forth. The area I live in is a 5 minute walk from a harbor and place to go swimming.

     So far everyone has been extremely nice and eager to help us settle in. I am excited for the upcoming training sessions to see how I fit into the team.

Final Days

After playing for BV Cloppenburg for a year and a half, it is now time to say good bye. We set a really high goal for our team, and although we didn't make it into the first league, we did finish in third place, which is a long way from almost being relegated last season. Our last game was on Sunday against Herforder SV and we won 5-1. I even managed to get an assist. Before the game they handed out flowers to all the players who are not coming back to the team next year. It was a bittersweet moment. Many of the girls who are leaving have been with the team since the very beginning. I was also very sad when I received my flowers, but I am also excited to move on to new things.
Our team party was held later that night. The party was complete with German sausage, Jagermeister, and Schlager music. Every time I took a shot, my glass would be refilled within minutes. We were that last ones to leave around 3:30 a.m. It is hard to think that I have spent a year getting to know a lot of these girls, and there is a good chance that I might not see them again. I now have only 10 days left here. Hopefully I will a try-out with a team moving up into the first league soon. But as of now, I am not certain what I will be doing 2 months from now. On one hand it is scary not knowing what will come next, but on the other hand, I have the ability to do whatever I choose.


Here is a link to one of my favorite Schalger songs. Mainly because I know the words, and it plays non-stop in our locker room.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sQjGn_e2Vg

Duisberg

   After an incredible win against the first place team last week, we managed to lose 1-0 to Duisberg, who is currently in 9th place. We are still in third place, but that loss makes it virtually impossible for us to move up to the first league, especially since Gutersloh won yesterday. The game was a huge disappointment. We couldn't manage to get much going in the offense, and they scored their only goal on a free kick. After the game you could feel a shift in our entire team's attitude. Everyone knew the significance of what losing meant, and we only had ourselves to blame. Now we have to focus on trying to win our final 3 games. Our next game is home against Bremen on Sunday. All we can do is learn from our game yesterday and finish out the season with three more wins.

Turbine Potsdam

We did it! We beat Turbine Potsdam, the first place team in our league. We prepared all week and got the results we wanted. We even had help from the assistant coach of the men's team and the coach of one of the boy's youth teams in the club. Both played a huge part in our teams' success. They will continue to help us while we are still in the race for first place. The three points we gained from winning will be crucial as our season comes to an end. We have four games left and are still 3 points behind the top two teams. The top two teams are Gutersloh and Potsdam who are tied with 42 points. The unfortunate thing is that Gutersloh's final games are with teams that are in the bottom of the table. All we can do is just hope they tie or lose, and we can do our part by winning the rest of our games. Despite that news the Gutersloh won their game on Sunday too, it was still a huge victory for our team to beat Potsdam. We celebrated by having a party at the Austrian girls' apartment. There was plenty of Jagermeister and Beck's to go around while German schlager music, or popular German songs you can sing to, played in the background. Winning that game helped remind us to still have hope and to continue the fight for first place.

Vienna, Austria

   One of the best things about living in Germany is that I get to travel around Europe. The weekend of April 1st we didn't have a game, so my roommate and I went to visit Vienna, Austria, or as we call it in Germany: Wien, Österreich. Our flight left on Thursday from Hannover at 7 in the morning. That meant that we needed to take the 10 p.m train from Cloppenburg that got us into Hannover at 1 a.m. because any other train would have gotten us there too late. So we pretty much spent the night in the airport, and proceeded to sleep on the plane to Vienna and then even on the bus ride into the actual Vienna city center. Needless to say it was a long night and after a long day of sightseeing on Thursday, we both fell asleep at 8 p.m. The next morning we went on a wine tour to the Wachau Valley. The valley is about an hour outside of Vienna and has the Danube River running through it. I think the wine tour was my favorite part of the trip. We biked through vineyards, tasted the local white wines and even hiked up to a partially destroyed castle. We got back Friday evening and decided to bar hop to some bars our native Vienna teammates recommended under the U-Bahn, or the Metro system. There were so many different types of people and a wide variation of music. On Saturday we explored the city and the major tourist sites, including the Schonbrunn Palace and State Opera House. At night went to some clubs in the Stephansplatz area which seemed to be a place where young working adults went out. Our trip ended on Sunday, but not before we tried some authentic wiener schnitzel at the famous Schweizerhaus. Schnitzel is my favorite food in Germany so I was pretty excited to try it in Austria. The main differences between the schnitzel in Germany and in Austria is that in Germany the schnitzel is made from pig and generally served with a ketchup, mushroom, cheese, or onion based sauce. In Austria, the schnitzel is made from veal and is cooked thin and crispy with fresh lemon. The schnitzel, combined with golden french fries and Austrian beer was the perfect way to end our trip in Vienna. It was such an amazing city and had such friendly people. I definitely want to try to make another trip to Austria sometime soon. 

Austrian Beer 

Schnitzel from the Schweizerhaus

      

Biking through the vineyards in the Wachau Valley.

Ruins of the Durnstein Castle 

Schonbrunn Palace

View of the Wachau valley from our hike to the castle ruins. 

This was one of our stops on the tour. We tasted the homemade chocolate and  Apricot liquor. 

We passed through about 4 different little towns on our tour. 

More of the vineyards in the valley. The Danube River runs along the other side. The bike trails along the river are major paths that people use when going on bike tours throughout Austria and even to other countries. 

We didn't see any grocery stores or major buildings in the towns, but we did ride pass this soccer field.  There is literally nothing else around except a few houses and the vineyards. 

A cathedral we saw while sightseeing. 

Easter Weekend Match

          Easter in Germany is pretty much celebrated the same as in America, except that here they call it Ostern and both Friday and Monday are national holidays. They have Easter egg hunts, lots of candy, and normally a big party on Saturday night. I only participated in the candy eating part because we had a game on Monday. Our game was in Jena so we drove about 7 hours on Sunday to get to the hotel around 8 p.m. Our hotel was a Best Western and even had a partially American style breakfast complete with bacon, sausage, eggs, and hash browns, which are hard to come by at a typical German breakfast. We didn't stay for long, though, because our game was at 11 a.m. In our pregame talk I learned that I would be man-marking not only Jena's top scorer, but one of the top scorer's in the league. Right from the beginning our team came out strong. We fought for every ball and completed many long pass sequences. We scored right before the half ended, and carried that momentum into the second half. Jena didn't have many chances offensively, and after we scored the second goal, any hope they had of winning seemed to deflate out of them. We celebrated our win by passing around a bottle of Jager on the bus and drinking German beer. I can tell you that the ride back to Cloppenburg was much more enjoyable than the ride there. 

          Now our next challenge, and quite possibly one of our most important games is against Potsdam. They are currently in first place, and with good reason. Our first encounter with them did not turn out so well and we lost 5-0. But now we will be playing them on our home field and this time we know we have a lot more to lose if we don't win. This week will be all about preparing for Sunday and hopefully our hard work will pay off and we will get the results we need. 

Easter Market in Vienna

There were dozens of crates filled with intricately decorated Easter  eggs.

Another Easter Market in Vienna near the Schonbrunn Palace. 

Fahrrad Fahren

While being injured for 2 weeks, I was limited to riding my bike around the city and in the gym for exercise. While driving my bike, or in German, fahrrad fahren, I would ride around paths through the city. Since I have lived in Germany for a little over a year, I sometimes forget that I am in another country because you just get used to every day life here. But when I ride my bike through some of the paths in the country, it really reminds me that I am living in a small country town in Germany. 

The Tie

Last Sunday was our game against SV Meppen. The outcome was disappointing to say the least. We ended up tying Meppen, and therefore accumulating only one point, at a time when every point is crucial. It was especially hard because I had to sit in the stands and watch due to my ankle injury. It was difficult having to sit there and not being able to do anything to help our team. But that is only a slight bump in the road on our way to moving up in the league. This past weekend was free, and now we will play Jena this upcoming weekend. Jena, Germany is about 500 kilometers away, which is about 5 hours driving, probably longer in the charter bus we are taking. Whenever we ask a German person how far away a place is, they always give us the answer in kilometers, even if it is just down the road. In America, I always say that something is about 4 hours away, or a 5 minute drive. We think that the reason they give us the answer in kilometers is because they have the Autobahn and how fast you get to a place varies on how fast you drive. Since it is so far away, we will be leaving on Sunday, playing on Monday, and driving back after the game. It is very important that win the rest of our games and get the most points that we can.

Winning!

  After the first 3 weekends of games, we have accumulated 3 wins and are now third in the table. Potsdam is in first with 36 points, followed by Gutersloh with 33 points, and then Cloppenburg with 32 points. Potsdam has another women's team in the first league, so if they finish in first place, they will not move into the first league. The second place team would then get to move up. The top few teams are all pretty close in points so every win is vital. This upcoming weekend we will play the fifth place team, Meppen, at home. Unfortunately I will not be playing because I injured my ankle in the game on Sunday. I jumped up for a header and when I came down, my ankle rolled and all my weight fell onto it. I went out of the game for about 5 minutes while the trainer taped it and then I went back in to finish the game. The next day it was very swollen and I went to get an X-ray at the doctor's office. His diagnosis was an Aussenbandruptur-Sprunggelenk. Which is basically a partially torn ligament in my ankle, but instead of tearing completely down the middle, a tiny piece of bone was torn off. He said I should be able to play again in 4-6 weeks, but I am hoping for only 3 weeks. I am starting physical therapy 3 times a week and icing it whenever I can. Another thing I am doing is rubbing a sport gel on my ankle before I go to sleep at night. In America I had never really used creams for injuries, but here they recommend using it more so than ice. Hopefully it works and I will be back playing in time to play the top teams in the table.

This is a link to the current standings in our league:

http://www.dfb.de/index.php?id=500676

Learning the Language

           After living in Germany for over a year, many of my friends and family ask me the same question: Are you fluent in German yet? And the answer is no, not even close.

            But let me explain. I have been going to a German language course since August. The course is 12 hours a week, plus about an hour of homework every night. There are 5 people in my class; me and 4 Polish girls on my team. We used to have class every day for a couple hours, but now we have it 3 days a week for 4 hours each day.

In class, we spend a lot of time learning proper grammatical German. We also spend a lot of time learning which words are masculine, feminine and neutral, or in Deutsch: der, die and das. For example, a table is masculine, a door is feminine and a house is neutral.

            One of the most difficult things for me to grasp is the fact that there are 4 different cases in the German sentence structure: Nominativ, Genativ, Dativ and Akkusativ. I can’t even begin to explain the amount of problems these cases cause me when trying to construct even a simple sentence.

            Another difficult thing is actually trying to decipher what people are saying when they are speaking. An example of this is a phrase that our coach uses on a daily basis. She will say alles zusammen, which means all together, like when she wants us to come in and explain something to us. For the longest time we thought she was saying, All is Susanna. Now when I actually learned these words and what they meant, it made a lot more sense. It has now become a running joke on our team to say AllisSusanna when we come together.

            Now that isn’t to say that I haven’t learned a lot while being here. If I was to have a normal conversation in German, I would be able to communicate just fine. My main problem is that I don’t always put the words in the correct places. I could say a sentence in German with all the correct words, but I would use the structure of an English sentence. But compared with the amount of German I knew a year ago, which was none, I have really come a long way. It is such a gratifying experience to be able to go to the market and communicate what I need, or to see signs that I looked at every day a year ago, and actually be able to read them now.  

My 3 course books, complete with "German Phrases" Cd's that like to pop up when I hit Shuffle on Itunes.  

First Game

        After months of preparation, we finally played our first game on Sunday. We tried out a new formation; a 3-5-2. I played right defender for the full 90 minutes. We managed to pull off a 2-1 victory against Magdeburg. The game started out well and we put a lot of pressure on our opponent, but things became a little hectic when Magdeburg added a second forward late in the second half. They got a good cross in and managed to score, but we were able to pull off a second goal shortly after. All in all, it was a good win at home and a good start to our season. This upcoming Sunday we will be playing Mellendorf at their stadium.