Icelandic New Year!

Well it looks like I have some serious updating to do since my last post was about Thanksgiving! First of all, I was able to go back to Phoenix for Christmas which was wonderful and much needed. It was so great to see all of my family and friends. Being away from home makes you really appreciate every little moment. The weather was wonderful while I was home, and I think I managed to soak up enough sun to get me through the rest of this dark Icelandic winter. I had to be back in Iceland before New Years, so I was able to witness how Icelanders reign in 2012. I have one work for you...fireworks! The chairman of Hamar invited KG (she is my newest teammate) and I over to his house for a nice dinner. Then we were taken to the town bonfire where the tradition is to burn all of your stresses and worries from the last year and start anew. After that they set off fireworks. We then went back to the chairman's house because it was only 10:00 p.m. Together we watched some Icelandic news program that recapped the top stories around the world during 2011. Guess what...Arizona made the cut with our crazy haboobs lol. At around 11:30 p.m. more of the chairman's family and friends came over to eat, drink, celebrate, and of course set off their own fireworks. Between four families they spent over $1,000 dollars on fireworks. I was told that the money spent on fireworks did go to charity so that was nice. Basically, every house on the block was competing to see who had the best personal display of fireworks. It was pretty hilarious and impressive, but I felt like it would never end. The funniest part is that even a week later, I still hear random fireworks being set off in town lol. Overall, it was interesting to see how people from another country celebrate the New Year.

Our team is still struggling. We have added a new Icelandic player, Iris. She is not really a new player because she has played on this team for years, but she was traveling in Africa for the first half of the season. She's older and adds maturity to our team which is much needed. We also hope to add another Icelandic player soon. Her name is Fanney, and she could make a huge impact because she is a good post player. We have a game tonight against Keflavik, the top team in our division. Hopefully, we can upset them because it is the last time we will play them at home this season. We are also competing in a tournament at the moment. We played a game last weekend and won, so that means we're through the first round. These games don't count towards our record which is unfortunate, but it was nice to get a win.

The weather here has been CRAZY! At first, the weather didn't bother me because it was new and exciting, but now I just want to see the sun. I feel like it rains or snows just about every day. It is the worst when it rains and then the rain freezes overnight. The roads are impossible to drive on. Our game actually had to be postponed because it was too dangerous to drive on the roads. KG and I are not used to snow, let alone this much snow. We were trying to get to practice one night, but the snow was so deep the car got stuck so we had to walk. Again, it wasn't funny at the time, but I can laugh about it now. Another day another adventure :) Anyway that's all I've got for now, until next time.

Bless, bless! (That means bye bye in Icelandic).

Thanksgiving in Iceland

Hello everyone! I know Thanksgiving was over a week ago, but I have to tell you about my Thanksgiving in Iceland. First of all, it snowed! This was my first legitimate experience with snow. Sure I have seen snow, but I have never played in snow. Hannah, Louie, Elle, and I had a snowball fight, and decided to make a snowman. We wanted to make a giant snowman with four tiers, so everyone started working on their own snowball. I was clearly the rookie of this whole operation, seeing as my snowball was half the size of everyone else's after ten minutes. However, mine was the most circular, and it was decided that it would serve as our snowman's head. After two hours we had created a monster. Our Frosty was over 7 feet tall! The whole neighborhood admired him and I think it put everyone in the Christmas spirit.

Hannah and I accepted the fact that we would most likely be eating pizza for Thanksgiving dinner since it is not celebrated in Iceland. So we were pleasantly surprised when some of our teammates invited us to their church for Thanksgiving dinner. They were members of the Mormon church and the Mormon missionaries had cooked an entire Thanksgiving dinner. It was so good to eat a traditional Thanksgiving food; it made me feel closer to home. After we stuffed ourselves we went over to our teammate's house and watched a movie. I would say it was a great day!

On a sadder note, Hannah blew her knee out and went home last Sunday. It was sad to see her go, but she hopes to be back playing in Iceland next season. Games without her have been rough. Thankfully we just got a new American on Friday! Her name is Katie and she will be playing a 3/4. It's weird that I am the Veteran American now because I still feel so new to the town. Once our car starts working I will show her around and teach more of the ropes. We have 3 games left before Christmas break and I plan on winning them all. This also means I will be coming home in 16 days! I cannot wait to see everyone! That's all for now. Bye.

Hot Springs

Hello everyone! I apologize for not updating more often. I do have some stories to share with you. I'm going to start with my hiking adventure with Hannah. A week ago we had the day off from basketball, so we decided to go hiking. If you saw where I'm living you would understand that you could pretty much hike wherever you want; this town is very much open country. Anyway we decided to hike this one trail that followed the hot springs. It took us about 3 hours to get up the mountain and back. The most amazing thing about this trip was that we experienced every kind of weather along the way. The sun was shining, but then some clouds rolled in and it started raining. Next, It snowed! Hannah is from Colorado and didn't think it was that big a deal, but I was so excited because I have only seen/felt snow fall a couple times. The flakes were huge, but once they hit the ground they pretty much melted. It was still awesome. Like I said, the trail we took was along this hot spring. In order to get to the top of the mountain we needed to cross the shallow spring. There was no way of doing this without getting our feet wet. However, the temperature of the water was like that of a hot tub while the temperature outside was around 30 degrees Fahrenheit. It was so strange because you just don't expect the rushing spring to be so warm. Anyway, once we crossed the springs, we hiked all the way to the summit where the ground was covered in a thin layer of snow. I was pretty exhausted by the time we returned to the car, but of course we ran out of gas! So we hiked some more to the closest gas station and filled up our gas can. I have never hated a car more than this one. I would say we had quite the adventure!

On the basketball front, I think I'm am playing better each game. It took some time to adjust to the extended 3 pt. line, but my percentages have been improving. Our team went on a two game winning streak, but unfortunately Hannah hurt her knee in our last win. She sat out of the game this week and we lost by 7. I was still really proud of the way we played as a team, and I think that we are getting better each game. Hannah is getting an MRI this weekend, so we're all praying it's nothing serious.

On a brighter note, I come home in 31 days! I am so excited to see everyone, and share some other stories about my experience in Iceland.

Cultural differences

Hello everyone! I have several new stories to share since I last posted. I always like to start with food stories first because I am constantly amazed. We had an away game on Sunday (we lost by 10 ) and it took three hours to get there. Anyway, Hannah and I packed some food because we didn't know if meals would be provided or we would have to buy them ourselves. Hannah packed a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, a staple food in the states. One of our teammates asked what she was eating and when Hannah told her she said, "I've never had that before, it sounds gross." Basically, the consensus was that no one on our team had ever had a PB&J sandwich before, and to them it sounded like a disgusting combination. Needless to say, Hannah and I were shocked. I guess Icelanders prefer lamb liver and sheep's head over Pb&J!

Last time I mentioned that the price of gas out here is ridiculous. Well one little detail I failed to mention is that the gas gauge on our car is broken. Hannah and I share the car with a British boy on the men's team, Louie. Collectively, we split the cost of gas. We have developed a system that usually works to combat this gas gauge problem. No matter what we always fill up the gas can in the trunk! That way if we run out of gas we will have enough in the can to at least get us to a gas station. It sounds pretty ghetto because it is, but we have to make do with what we've got. The system is foolproof, unless someone forgets to refill the can which happened the other day. Hannah went out last night when the car ran out of gas and there was nothing in the can, so she ran home and left the car on the side of the road. Our car is still stranded on some residential street because Louie didn't fill up the gas can after he used the car. I guess our system needs some more rules.

Our game on Sunday was probably our best performance as a team. We had a big lead in the first half, but they switched up their defense and it slowed us down. I think this was my best game so far. I feel like I'm getting back into a rhythm. We still have a lot to work on, but I think things are going to turn around in the next couple weeks. We play tonight at home so hopefully we can get our first win of the season!

That's all for now, bye!

Some Pics!!!

Learning the Ropes

Hey everyone, sorry I haven't updated lately. I am happy to say that I have been keeping busy. The last time I wrote, I told you about Iceland's love of lamb liver. Well since then I have also been introduced to chocolate soup! Hannah and I thought it tasted like cake batter, cocoa, and pudding combined. Needless to say, it brightened my day! I told the chef that he needs to make more of it lol.

Anyway, I also went sight seeing yesterday. As most people know, Iceland is home to many active volcanos and geysers. Hannah and I went exploring with our teammate, Reggie. Her father happens to be a tour guide here in Iceland, and I think she would have made her father proud because she did a great job educating and chauffeuring us around. We saw two different waterfalls, the names of which I couldn't even try to pronounce, let alone spell for you lol. Just know that they were awesome! We also saw this massive hole in the ground where a volcano had previously erupted. Reggie said that when a volcano erupts it also imploads on itself, and it created this massive hole in the ground. Now the bottom is filled with water. It honestly looked like a meteor crashed into the ground. We also went to see the geysers which Iceland is also famous for. One of them went off every eight minutes, so I got to see that a couple times. Overall, I think we saw a lot of cool places. Iceland really is a beautiful and
interesting place, rich with history.

On the basketball front, things have been rough. We lost by about forty in our last game.
Granted we played the number one ranked team and they probably shot 80 percent from the field, but still it was a tough loss. Bottom line, our team is young and we have a lot of work to do. The good news is we will play this team at least three more times and I plan on winning. I have started lifting at least four days a week and I try to shoot as much as possible, but
it's hard because everyone uses the same court. Our first home game is on Wednesday, and I think we have a good chance at winning. I'll let you know how it goes.

The weather has been pretty nice this week. When the wind let's up, Iceland weather is bearable. It sprinkles often, but it hasn't rained hard so hopefully that continues.

Interesting fact, Iceland gas is around $2.30 a liter ( because everyone uses the metric system except the U.S). Anyway, Hannah and I figured that gas here costs almost $8 a gallon! Sucks that is the one thing I have to pay for, so I've started walking more often lol.

Getting Acclimated

TGIF! Today is day five of my stay in Iceland and I think I'm starting to get used to the weather, town, etc. The one thing that has been difficult is the food. I mentioned last time that I get free lunch everyday at the community center, but the menu is different from what I'm used to in the states. Yesterday the main dish was lamb liver! Ok so not only does that sound disgusting, but keep in mind this is usually my first meal of the day. Yumm love the smell of lamb liver in the morning haha. Needless to say I passed on eating or even trying this Icelandic delicacy. I try to stick with my favorite food...eggs. I eat some usually everyday, especially on game days.

Speaking of games, we played on Wednesday and I'm sorry to say we lost. We played KR, a team that is ranked second in the league so it was a good test. Don't worry we have three more shots at beating them since there are very few teams in the league. I don't think I played that well , but it was my first real game since March and I only practiced twice with the team. Hopefully things will get better. I played for probably 39 minutes and 30 seconds out of 40 minutes which means if I wasn't in basketball shape already, I will be soon lol. My team is young and I'm already noticing that the teams usually double or triple team the Americans on defense. So if you are the only American on the floor, you are sure to be swarmed by the other team. It will be an interesting season for sure.

In my spare time I have started coaching the elementary school children with Hannah. We play with the kids every Wednesday and Thursday. They love basketball! Mostly, we play "striker" which is their version of bump out. I have been coaching the girls because they speak English very well. I'm impressed that most of these kids understand English, but I guess it is a requirement in school.

Ok I'm going to do some laundry for the first time, talk to you all soon.

Oh by the way it has been hailing on and off all day today, got to love Iceland weather!