1/19/11 (Wednesday)

 

The team on the first day

The last three days have been very similar. We wake up at 8 for breakfast, eat breakfast, go into Pale (a short walk from the hotel), do some exercises which Luka (my coach) calls “footing”, eat lunch, go to practice, rest, eat dinner, and then hang out. We are practicing with a team in Pale that are ranked second in the Bosnian league. From what I have been told the Bosnian league is like two or three times better than the league in Montenegro. So, we are training and competing against team that is probably better than all the teams in Montenegro. The team is pretty good, but we are playing with them. Most practices include warming up, hitting lines, serving, playing four or five sets, and some type of workout. The gym is freezing, but it has been fun playing again. Also, check out the bathroom in the gym. Layne and I were super confused when we first saw it, but have since become pros. Another thing I have learned on this trip is that you must bring your own toilet tissue. Most places, like the bathroom at the gas station we stopped at on the way or the gym, do not provide toilet tissue. This was very unusual to me!

 The "toilet"

Today warrants a blog post due to the food offered during the meals. The interesting thing about all of this is that the first couple days Luka made a rule that everyone had to finish everything on their plate. Usually this is not a problem for me and before today it was not that bad. However,  the day started with probably my least favorite food ever: hot dogs! Who thought they would serve hot dogs for breakfast? Anyways there were three of them on the plate, and I managed to eat about half of one cut up between two large pieces of bread. And in between each bit, I took a large drink of apple juice. Luckily we did not have to eat all three hot dogs. To say the least, I still do not like hot dogs. Next, for lunch we were served a bean and meat soup. Beans are probably my second least favorite food right after hot dogs. Layne tried it first and said that it was actually good, so that was encouraging. In all actuality, the soup was pretty good. I finished all the soup, but that was mainly because it was the only thing offered and I knew that we would not be eating again until dinner. The beans did not have much flavor, but I am not sure if I will choose to eat them in the future. Finally, dinner was the best meal of the day with goulash, potatoes and peas.

After playing numerous rounds of Rummy with Layne over the past few days and finishing my book, Layne and I planned a Blink tournament for the team. Blink is a card game in which you race against your opponent by getting rid of all your cards first. You can get rid of your cards by placing them on the two piles if they match the top card in color, number, or shape. Each game is super fast, and we set up a bracket. We even bought prizes for the top four winners. The tournament was a lot of fun and broke up some of the monotony. At the end, several of the girls performed a routine to a popular Serbian song which was their thank-you to us for planning the tournament. Despite the food situation, today was a fun day. 

 Winners of the Blink Tournament with prizes (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th)