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!