Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Saransk

We left Sunday night for a city north east of Voronezh called Saransk.  We got on our bus to travel about 1 hour to a different city to board a train that would take us to Saransk.  The train was again a night train and it took us about 14 hours to arrive here.  This time Simone (my travel roommate) and I were not so lucky to get nice bobushkas we had shared a room with before.  This time unfortunately we were with a man and woman who enjoyed wearing clothes that accentuated their large figures.  Both of them wore shirts that their stomachs hung out the bottom of and the girl shorts that were much too small.  I dont know why this is but one thing I have found is that tight fitting clothes generally add to bad body odor... and their clothes confirmed this hypothesis.  The train smelled terrible.  It is hot here now and the heat does little to make an over night train experience pleasant. All of the windows were fogged up and all of the people in our wagon were standing in the hallway because the rooms were even worse.  Which made the hallways crowded and uncomfortable.

I have a hard enough time sleeping in comfortable beds at home... so I never look forward to these over night train excursions. I watched a calming movie trying to go to sleep but as soon as the movie finished and I rolled over to go to sleep the man below Simone began his snoring....

This video is when I finally just got up with the sun at 5 AM and spent the rest of the morning in the hallway with a dixie cup of coffee trying to get some fresh air and peace and quiet.  The train arrived in Saransk at 8 AM where we boarded another bus and came to our humblest abode so far.  Let me just say I miss the 5 star hotel in Turkey. Usually after those train rides the first thing I want to do is shower, but upon walking into our bathroom, I decided against it. The shower is a shower head connected to the sink with a drain in the middle of the bathroom floor next to the toilet hole. Its really quite pleasant.  



So we tried to get some shut eye and make up for the lost sleep from the night before in time for our game at 6.  We left at 430 for the field.  The field we played at was called Start Stadium which was a stadium used when Russia hosted the olympic games.  It was a really nice stadium with a beautiful turf field.


The game was not a good game.  We did not play well.  We had many opportunities and were winning 2-0 with about 15 minutes left.  We ended up losing 3-2 after some crucial mistakes we made.  It was a slow game and could have been a completely different game if we put our chances away. I assisted the second goal and had many opportunities, although I wouldnt say it was my best game, I thought I played well. But, now we have to win our upcoming games to be sure to stay in 2nd place in league.

Our next game is even further east in a city called Perm and so we will not be going back to Voronezh before traveling again.  Instead we are staying here for a few days to train until we fly to Perm.  Apparently Perm is on the Russian border between Asia and Europe and is the furthest East we will be traveling.  So, today we got the morning off.  Simone, Ximel and I took the morning to walk around and see Saransk.  It is a beautiful city.  Very clean and very calm.  We walked through their main city center and through a big attraction park.  

 Saransk recently hosted the World Race Walking Championships and they still had the stands lining the streets, so naturally we utilized them for car/ people watching.  Real exciting!

 This is the central cathedral in Saransk

 This Russian family was so welcoming to us...
 And this I had to take a picture with because it reminded me of my mom! Hi mops :-)
 Saransk is home to one of Russia's most famous fairy tale authors.  This park was dedicated to him and his stories.  
 Then we walked down their river for a while, enjoying the sun and peaceful nature of Saransk.
 This is their WWII memorial 
Just like in Voronezh they had small farmers style markets that sell an assortment of everything.  But Saransk has an indoor store for them.  We walked around enjoying the colors and fresh food!

So we will be in Saransk for a few more days before boarding a flight that will take up to Perm to play another game.  We will play the team that we played in the semi finals of the Russian Cup.  We need to get a win and with most of our team back from national team commitments, it will be a much better game and performance for us.  I look forward to telling you more stories from our travels as we fly east!

Hope all is well back at home!! 

All my love!

Cheers!

Danielle 

Saturday, May 26, 2012

VIDEO!!!!

As I told you in the previous blog, there is one bit of work that I have put most of my free time into lately.  It is the video I have linked below.  Please feel free to share your thoughts and comments on it...even if you dont like it... but dont be mean, I worked hard. I hope you all enjoy it!!

Football with FC Energy: Trivial Tribulations of Football  

Cheers!

Dani


Friday, May 25, 2012

Art is my Salvation

Certainly playing any sport has its ups and downs.  That is why we compete in sports.  We enjoy the thrill of the ups and with that unfortunately comes the despise of the lows.  I can say that I have had such a blessed career that has been filled with more ups than downs.  I have been a part of a team that won back to back national championships and remains some of my closest friends, I have been able to pay next to and against olympians, world cup players, champions league players and some of the best players in the world.  Played for one of the best college programs in the US and in front of the best women's soccer fans in the world.  I have met some of the most awesome people I will ever meet because of the teams I have been a part of.  Yes, football certainly has brought me so many amazing and wonderful blessings.

Unfortunately, with all of those highs it has also brought me the lows.  As an athlete, our responsibility is our body, as I have said before.  We push our bodies to the limit.  We wake up some mornings unable to get out of bed without feeling sore muscles that we didnt even know existed.  We watch what we eat, denying temptations for a delicious treat, or a good, fat hamburger.  And, although it sounds crazy, we actually like doing that.  But, this game that we like doing all this for, not only puts our bodies in pain, but it can sometimes attack our spirit and our emotions.

I think everyone experiences these emotions in their own way, but all athletes share this particular connection.  In a recent conversation with my grandma she told me that some people want to ride the roller coaster of life and some people want to ride the mary-go-round.  She said she was happy staying on the mary-go-round but I was a roller coaster rider.  And I thought that was a funny way of putting the tribulations of a sportsman's life.  We seek the roller coasters because the highs feel so good but the lows feel so bad.

The reason I bring all of this up is not to make you think that I am down or something, although my moods do vary greatly day to day here... but rather to show you how I have dealt with them. I have always had a great appreciation and passion for art, in so many different ways.  I wish I could say that I am an artist myself, but I think the only art I can truly say I am good at is soccer.  Other than that, I simply try to create, even though its not that good.

So, when I feel these ups and downs in their most extremes I usually have to find someway of expressing them, otherwise they consume me. You all have seen some of my writing which has been a great outlet for me. I read, as you all know, I finished the Harry Potter series in a ridiculous and pathetically fast amount of time and am now reading a book called "Shantaraam" which is AMAZING!! I play the guitar or the piano, sometimes playing loud and hard and sometimes slow and in minor chords letting it sound like my mood.  I draw, sketch something, allowing my hands to move and create (usually it ends up looking out of proportion but it feels good to try). And recently, I have been taking photos with my new camera.

Some of the scenery around the base






The graffiti in Russia is amazing....





How Ximel and I pass time....








the trampoline is called a studsmatta in Swedish... Ximel loves it!





     
And lastly, I listen to music... and have put together a list of some of my favorite songs that have spoken words that I could not find.  I suggest you all listen to them if you can!  But a word of caution... I have quite a random and strange taste in music, so some of it is probably not on the top charts of everyone's personal list....Enjoy!!!

The Love Song........ K-OS
King of Wishful Thinking...... Go West
The Lime Tree.............Trevor Hall
The Promise......... Ben Howard
Woman Go....... Joe Purdy
Ragged Mile.......... John Butler Trio
The Summer We Raised You.........Years Around the Sun
Jesus is the Only Answer.......... Bela Fleck
Djorolen...... Bela Fleck
Highway Man...... Hoffmaestro
Come Rain or Come Shine...... Billie Holiday
32 Flavors...... Ani DiFranco
Uncle John's Band...... The Grateful Dead
Street Fighting Man..... The Rolling Stones
Beija Eu......Tribalista
I Get Out.... Lauryn Hill
Heartbeats...... The Knife
Mighty River.... Railroad Earth
One Day.... Matisyahu


There is one other thing that I do to consume my free time... but it is not ready yet so you will have keep checking in to see my last and probably my best piece of work, off the field.  I will show it to you as soon as possible!

Anyways, I hope you all enjoy my art choices and if you dont... well I guess thats the beauty of art... its not for everyone!

I would like to give a special shout out to my parents right here because they are doing a sweet bike race this weekend in Durango, CO and I just want to say that I wish I could be there sharing the experience with them!  Cant wait to see everyone when I get back!

Cheers!

Dani



Sunday, May 20, 2012

Rossiyanka Game

Two days ago we had our big game against the first place team, Rossiyanka.  We played them at home, and it was the first game I was able to play in at our stadium! As we were only a few points behind them it was an important game for us and we spent the whole week leading up to it working hard to be ready for it.  Unfortunately, the game didnt go as hoped but I was happy with the way we played.  I thought it was one of our best games yet.  We were all working hard, created several chances (many of which were probably harder to miss than make) and played good solid defense.  Unfortunately, in the 65th minute they received a free kick outside of the box on the side of the field.  I was marking their Brasilian center back (who was a good 6 inches taller than me).  The cross was served to the back post and as I was going up for the header, I lost the ball in the sun and it hit off my chest and went into the goal.  Needless to say, I have continued my scoring, unfortunately, it was for the wrong team this time.  The game finished 1-0, that being the only goal scored.  

I was pretty bummed after the game and did my best to get some sleep that night... but like, I am sure, Robben and Schveinsteiger feel right now after last night's Champions League final, sleep was hard to find.  If you couldnt tell from the abundance of pictures I have been taking since I have been here, photography has become a new past time of mine when I need to get away from the base and from people.  With a poor internet connection, the Harry Potter series completed, and a guitar that you cant really just take on walks with you, I have been spending my time outside of the base photographing almost everything I see.  So, I decided to upgrade from the iphone to a Nikon 3100 series!  It is awesome and so much fun! I have been taking it everywhere and learning as much as I can about how to use it.  Grandpa Foxhoven and Tracey, if you guys read this, I have gotten much inspiration from the photos you guys have taken and I wouldnt mind some pointers if you feel like handing them out!  So, expect some better photos in the future!  

We have another resting period between games again until the 28th.  We will be traveling for those games so I am not sure what our schedule will be.  As my time here is beginning to wind down I am doing my best to soak in the Russian culture and make the most of the time I have left.  It is crazy how quickly time has passed, and yet, being back in America with my friends and family seems like years ago.  I am both looking forward to the end coming near and already not wanting to leave here.  What strange feelings traveling alone can create. 

I hope all is well back at home, I miss everyone!

Cheers!

Dani

Monday, May 14, 2012

Big Game...Frustrating Loss

Well we had a tough loss yesterday against the team in 3rd place, Zurkey.  They are a team from Moscow, so we took another 10 hour night train on the night before our game.  We had training earlier in the day, finished our packing, ate some dinner and then headed off for our train that departed at about 10 PM.  We basically just got in our bunks and went to sleep.  When we woke up in the morning at 7 our train was arriving in Moscow.  We gathered our things and headed to a hotel for the day.  Again, once we checked into our hotel we slept until about 12 and got up and went to lunch.

After the last game when I scored 3 goals it has become a joke about my pre-game meal of cucumbers and tomatoes so, naturally (and because we were served pasta and chicken) I ate cucumbers and tomatoes, some cheese and some of the chicken.  After lunch we got dressed and drove to the Zurkey stadium.

We played on a small turf field.  It made the game really fast and hectic because there was so many people in such a small area.  From the very beginning it was clear that we were playing at Zurkey's field because the refs were happy to show them some love.  They got an early PK because of a foul in the box.  It was a controversial call, to say the least.  Then just before half time our forward, Njoya, was tackled hard in our box and given a PK... on what probably should have been a red card.  I stepped up and took the PK and scored to tie it 1-1.

In the 2nd half both teams had many chances and the game was really fast, but broken up by so many ridiculous calls that it was really frustrating.  There was no flow to the game and it felt so choppy that everyone was frustrated with the amount of stoppages.  Then in about the 65th minute they were given another PK for a supposed hand ball in the box.  They again went up, this time leading 2-1.  We were pushing hard to get a goal back.  In about the 85th minute a cross came in and I was perfect on the far post with a defender in front of me.  I jumped heads above her and scored a great header goal and was running back celebrating with my team when the ref called it back.  I had no idea why it could have even been called back... I knew I was not offsides and I didnt even consider the probability of a foul because I didnt even touch the girl in front of me.  But the ref said that I pushed her before the ball came in.  So it got called back and we ended up losing 2-1.  It was a really frustrating result to a good and hard game.

I know enough about myself now to know that I am a terrible loser.  I do not like it at all and I think it is one of the worst feelings.  But I have also found that I love winning and it is one of the best feelings.  I love competition because it is like every game I am betting on myself and my team to win, using my emotions as betting money.  When we win I get my good emotions back with the good feelings that were bet from the other team.  But when we lose all I get back in my bad emotions and that sucks.

But in saying that, I have found that even in tough losses, if the other team is better than us and they deserve the win I feel at least content taking my sorry losing emotions.  But when the game is lost (or even won, for that matter) because of a third party like the referee, I just feel cheated.  It is such a frustrating thing to have a game decided by a force outside of the teams playing.  Like two little kids playing together and sharing a toy and an adult coming in and taking away the toy from one of the kids and unfairly giving it to only one of the kids to use.  It leaves the other kid feeling unfairly treated, cheated and incomplete.  Thats how I felt about this game... I ended the game feeling more incomplete and treated unfairly than anything else.  Despite the tough travel and the amount of running that should have left me feeling exhausted, I just felt unfairly treated, which is a terrible way to leave a game.

After the game was over we showered and got back in the bus and made the long trip back to Voronezh, driving through the night.  My body feels battered, bruised and swollen but I must recover quickly because we play the 1st place team on the 18th.  So, guess what we have today...?  Yes, the sauna.  And hopefully massages.  Then we will be getting prepared for the big game on the 18th! Onward and upward, as I always say!!

Hope all is well back in the states!  Take care, thanks for reading!!

Cheers!

Dani

Thursday, May 10, 2012

9th of May

Yesterday, on the 9th of May, I experienced one of Russia's most proud and patriotic days... I unfortunately cant spell nor pronounce what the day was called, so we will just stick with the 9th of May.  But, it is a celebration for the day that Russia defeated Germany in WWII.  It was, what is called a "Red Block" day which means that all businesses and schools were closed.  We unfortunately didnt get this same privilege as we still had to tend to our bodies... we had a morning sauna (again) and a meeting in the evening... but for the majority of the day we were allowed to celebrate this great Russian day!!
The 9th of May
The City Center
Lenin's Statue
Again, Ximel and I walked the distance into the city center which takes about 2 hours.  They have one main road that goes through the heart of the city which is normally packed with cars, busses, stray packs of dogs, people and trash... but yesterday it was closed off to all cars and became something similar to a "Last Thursday" but Russian style.  Every block there was a stage set up for Russian style dances, singers, and other performances.

Tricksters
A Russian war song....
A robot-techno song
Some performers
the Russian chicken dance
some bobushkas
These two men didnt have a stage, but they were by far the best performance we saw


There was bobushkas selling authentic food such as "perogees"stuffed with anything from "capoosta" which is stewed cabbage and onions to "cooritsta" which is chicken.  They also sold a Russian specialty drink called "kvas" which is a drink made from stale bread and it tastes like a mixture of a flat pepsi mixed with some non-alcoholic beer and stale bread.  It was very interesting.... thats all I can say about it, interesting.

They also had a challenge, for those Russians who felt bold enough, to put their strength to the test.  In order to enter you pay 150 rublies which is equivalent to about $5 and if you succeed you win back your 150 and an extra 150 rublies spending money. The challenge was simply that you must hang for an allotted amount of time (girls for 1 minute and boys for 2) from what looked like a regular pull up bar... the catch was that the bar twisted when you forced it to roll.  I know what you are thinking..."well that sounds pretty darn easy..." I thought so too... but you are sadly mistaken! This was not an easy task.  I unfortunately had spent my money on a glass of kvas (poor investment choice, I know, but I can now tell you that it was not good and I will thus be saving you from buying a glass yourself if you ever get the chance) so I didnt get to give this challenge a try.  But we watched many, many people give this their best shot... men who were very fit, very capable of hanging for 2 minutes from an ordinary bar, failed miserably at this.  One of the people in our group gave it a try and made it just over 1 minute before his fingers started slipped and the bar rolled... once you started the bar rolling there was almost no saving it... for those of you who have ever played that Mario Party mini game where it is 1 vs 3 players and 3 players try run on a barrel that the single player is trying to roll back and forth to throw the other 3 off.... it reminded me of that... once the bar started rolling there was no saving it.  But it was entertaining to watch.

There was also a scary moment for me and Ximel when I thought there was a riot breaking out because a large group of young people came running down the street with flags waving and military hats on.  I jumped to the side of the road and pulled out my camera.  They stopped their run in the middle of the street and spread into a huge circle forcing everyone on the street to the sidewalks and out of the way.  Then they put their arms around each other and started yelling something all together and then... this happened...


 Then after we had walked the whole City Center street we jumped on the bus and headed back to the base for a meeting and dinner.  The night finished with us making one last trip back to the bridge to watch a spectacular fire works show with some of the girls on our team! Overall Ximel and I probably walked 7 or 8 miles, but it was a really fun day and I am so glad I was here to experience such a celebrated day and important day in this culture!!




 Waiting for the fire works!


Cheers!!

Danielle