Westerstede Arrival

***found in drafts***  We finally found the clubhouse and were greeted by our host families. After drinks and snacks that they provided everyone went home with their host families. We haven't heard anything from them (and see that a few have been on FB) so we're figuring they are doing fine.

Leaving On A Jet Plane....

We leave Brussels in just a few hours for the good ole' U.S. of A. No matter how many good memories or good friends we've made, I think we're all anxious to get home. See you soon....

Leaving Sweden

We are waiting at the school we've been staying at in Sweden for our bus that will take us to the airport. Then we have a short flight to Brussels, a short bus ride, a short train ride and we're at our hotel for the night. I think we're all ready for a nice night in a hotel before our long flight home.

I Am Now Caught Up...

It feels good to finally have caught up on the BLOG. There are no more photos to post as of this writing. Friday has been a "kick back" day since we didn't have a game scheduled. Some of the girls played the boys from Venezuela - in the rain - this morning. There was a shopping trip and a couple trips to the store but other than that most of us are laying low. First due to the rain this morning and second we're just tired. I think we're ready to come home. We have all been talking that if we knew then what we know now we might have rearranged the trip a bit. In reality that was not possible due to the schedule of our German host families, dates of the Gothia Cup, and the fact that many of our girls return to school just two weeks after we return home. Mariah and I have agreed that Sweden has IKEA and Volvo but we're not sure what else....... We've had some laundry problems. The Gothia Cup website makes it appear that there is a laundry service and/or do-it-yourself laundry facilities available. After hauling our laundry around, finally scheduling an appointment (which we found out was requried), we arrived to find out they would only do "match clothes." This meant jerseys, shorts, and socks - no warm-ups, sliders, etc. When I asked about a do-it-yourself place to wash other clothes (most of us needed a few things to make it through the week), I was curtly told that there were no such places as "everyone in Sweden owns a washer and dryer." WELL, la-ti-da. Not wanting to go to Swedish jail (though the bed and food situation may be similar), I just turned and walked away. We washed a few things out in the sink at our school, bought a t-shirt or two and are just looking forward to being back in the U.S.A. where we can have access to our washers and dryers!

Thursday Night

Thursday night was mostly for "hanging out." Some of the girls made friends with some boys on the Venezuelan team which conveniently "live" on our floor. the night included food, music and at least three arm wrestling matches that I saw. All were boys vs. girls and Mackenzi won one and Christina won two.

Our Final Game

The girls played well but still could not hold off the other team. A highlight of this game was that afterwards there was a snackbar that sold hamburgers. Most of us were happy to see any kind of food that looked like "home."

Later on Wednesday

Each day after playing we return to the school that we are staying at and rest a little, get ready for dinner, the girls get ready to go shopping or to the "disco" or whatever is planned for the night. Every afternoon Ivan dozes off again. He says he is very tired which none of us really understand since we know he is sleeping at night as we can all hear him snoring. His daytime naps are much the same. The girls say they have to turn up their iPods to drown it out. On Wednesday afternoon Alexis, Sabrina and Jennifer had an idea to try to stop the snoring.....