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).
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