It's beginning to look a lot like Weihnachten!

Hello Friends and Family!

It's been over a month and the awesomeness of Christmas in Germany is in full effect! I don't know what it is about this country, but they know how to do the holiday season better than anyone else. I mean Rockefeller Center is great, as is Union Square in SF and Paradise Drive in Napa, but nothing I've seen can compare to the Dresdner Striezelmarkt, which is just a 5 minute walk away from my house.

They had a beautiful Christmas market in Klagenfurt last year, but the one in Dresden wins purely because it is absolutely ginormous! Set-up for this seasonal festival began in early November, and it officially opened on our Thanksgiving Day, so you can tell how serious these people are about making sure the holiday season lasts as long as it possibly can!

To give you an idea of what a Christmas market is, you have to picture a the downtown area of your nearest city. Now think about all open space in the downtown, perhaps the main large city square, or maybe just the areas between large buildings. Now picture 10'x10' wooden huts constructed side by side across these open spaces, until small wooden-hut villages have taken over the entire downtown area and you feel like you're hanging out in the North Pole for Christmas season... that's what a German Christmas market is like!



While these little Christmas villages are everywhere right now, "Striezelmarkt" is the biggest market that has taken over Dresden's main square. There are hundreds of vendor huts, selling Christmas gifts, ornaments, roasted nuts, bratwurst (and other delicious German foods), crepes, and of course GLUEHWEIN (hot spiced wine which is delicious but causes unexpectedly bad hangovers). A bunch of us met up for the Striezelmarkt back in November when all of you back home were sitting down to carve the turkey, and Tesha and I have been frequenting the place ever since!

There are a couple downsides to having an amazing Christmas market outside your door, the biggest being that there is traffic in Dresden ALL THE TIME. As in traffic that makes a 15 minute drive into a 45 minute drive, just to get across town! It's unreal. Plus, there's NO PARKING ANYWHERE. Ok, there are a couple spots here and there, but the snow-plows have used most of them as their dump sites, so unless you have a plow attached to the front of your car (I don't!) there's absolutely no hope for getting into them. Therefore, I've been relying on parking karma (it always comes through in the end), and I've been walking into the city in the bitter cold and 2 feet of snow even more frequently than I did when it was sunny and 70's out!

Despite these bummers, I wish Striezelmarkt would stay until March or April or whenever it gets warm again in this cold cold land! The snow makes everything harder: it's harder to drive, it's harder to walk, it's harder to use your hands in the morning, it's harder to get out of bed, you get the idea. But when there's a party going on 24/7 in downtown, under the guise of providing kitchy Christmas gifts for tourists in Dresden, it is so much easier to find motivation to leave the house!

For example, on any gray day when I would otherwise cuddle up with a movie in bed, Tesha and I find ways to lure each other out.. "Oh, Tesha, you need to go to the pharmacy? Let's stop and get a Gluehwein!" "Oh... great idea Lo! (have I mentioned that my team here calls me "Lo"? as in Cmay-Lo?) And then let's eat at Vapiano's, and for dessert lets get crepes! Sounds like a plan!" Basically, Striezelmarkt, Wintersdorf (a market strictly for alcoholic beverages and wurst) and the generally awesome holiday atmosphere that they have in Dresden makes these cold winter days so much easier to endure.

In other news, I'm living and learning, mostly with regards to driving in the Arctic. Here I'll share some of my latest lessons, in DOs and DON'Ts:

• DO wipe that fresh layer of snow off the top of your driver side door before opening it. Otherwise, you might be sitting in a cold, wet seat all the way to practice. Not fun.
  
• DON'T be over-confident in your ice scraper. It is not made of titanium, it is made of plastic, and plastic will break if you make too many violent attacks on the iceberg that has somehow attached itself to your side mirror. This could lead to shards of plastic coming dangerously close to your eyeballs, and your coach might get mad if you go blind during season.
  
• DO splurge on a car with seat-warmers. Ahhhhhhh.
• DON'T get all excited about the great parking options on the street where no one walks. It might look like prime real-estate, but once you get half into the spot and your tires are spinning out both forwards and backwards, you're going to need a nice passerby (or two) to help push your helpless self into (or out of) that spot you were just so excited to find.
  
• DO try kaki (persimmon) if you haven't tried it before (I said it was mostly about driving!)
  
• DON'T underestimate the importance of gloves. They can make the horrible job of digging your igloo car out of the snow so much more bearable. At the same time, a lack of gloves can render you too frozen and numb to even push the "unlock" button to open said car.
• Finally, DO say a little thankful prayer every day for the person who thought of putting heated wires in a windshield. What a wonderfully life-saving little piece of technology right there!

Besides my world being turned into a total Winter Wonderland, life in Dresden is pretty normal! We started our German league (Bundesliga) matches at the end of November, but we also play in the German Cup (Pokal) and a European Cup (CEV Cup), which means that we're really busy with matches right now! So far, within Germany we've played matches in Suhl, Sinsheim, Berlin, Potsdam and Hamburg, and we've also traveled to St. Niklaas, Belgium for a match against Kieldrecht. We've been dealing with a couple unfortunate injuries and illnesses on the team, but despite those setbacks we've been playing well and are constantly working to keep a good rhythm.

We play again tomorrow at home against Aachen, and then in Sonthofen on Wednesday, which will be our last game before Christmas break for 3 days. I'm feeling pretty darn excited especially for the game in Sonthofen, because Marco will be picking me up after our game for a 3 day Christmas vacation in Klagenfurt! While it would be wonderful to spend time at home in the states for the holidays, I'm really looking forward to celebrating with Marco and his family, and spending a few days out of the volley routine.

Other fun things that I've done since my last post:

• gotten kicked out of a club at 2AM because it was "Totensonntag," or "Dead Sunday," when apparently everything is supposed to be... well... dead....?

• got an amazing visit from my long lost cousin Nina (Uncle Boris' side) at our game in Hamburg

• tried eierlikoer, or the German version of eggnog, which I had also never tried.. verdict: yummy!
• hosted Thanksgiving dinner at my house with some awesome friends! Wasn't quite the crazy ordeal as last year, in fact Tesha and I put it together in just an hour and a half after practice, but it was a blast! (Story of the night: the base fell out of the spring form that Tesha was using for baked mac-and-cheese right as she was putting it into the oven... that led to a total noodle, cheese, milk, cream, preheated oven hot mess. HA)

• read "Wuthering Heights." LOVED IT!

Hope you are all having a wonderful pre-holiday week, and that you have fun and non-stressful plans for the upcoming week. Need a last-minute gift idea for that special someone who lives in a cold cold cold place? Nothing says love like a heating pad.


XOXOX

Anna

PS: If you want to see some funny volleyball pictures from some recent games, here is a link to a gallery from a volley photographer. My team is in black :)

Birth Month, time to celebrate!

Hello Friends and Family!

It’s now early November, and winter is most definitely coming to Dresden! Today is clear and chilly, about 9⁰C outside, and getting colder every day. Rumors are spreading about snow being spotted in the hills or in villages around the city, and I’m trying my best to look forward my favorite parts of winter (gluehwein in the city, Christmas Markets, pretty snow on trees, pretending I’m Queen Frostine) as opposed to focusing on my least favorite parts of the season (cold hands, cold feet, cracky skin, lack of motivation to get out of bed, did I mention cold hands?). Positive thoughts, positive thoughts!

This main pic is of a system of drains that runs down the back of a building in Neustadt, and I think it's pretty amazing!

Since my last update, life has been full of volley, traveling for volley, and trying to do fun things when we have a break from volley!

Possibly the most exciting event was the unexpected weekend off from Alex, which gave me the opportunity to make a quick trip to Klagenfurt for a chance to visit my much loved home-away-from-home. I made it there by 1pm on Saturday and left again at 5pm on Sunday, so it was a fast turnaround to say the least, but somehow everything worked out so that I was able to watch my old team play at home on Saturday night AND have lunch at Marco’s family’s house on Sunday before he had a home game that evening. The 28 hours flew by, but I made the most of it, and it was an awesome way to spend my weekend off!

The weekend after my trip to Klags, Nikki and I celebrated the end of October with my first gluewein of the season (again, winter is HERE), and we had a free weekend where we had a fun girls-night at a local club. We were in Czech Republic from Wednesday to Thursday for two scrimmages against the team from Prostejov, and on Friday we watched our local basketball team play. Over the weekend we played at home in the first rounds of the LigaCup, which is a preseason tournament with all of the teams from the German league. We won from the 4 teams playing in Dresden, which means that this weekend we’ll play in the final round in Suhl against the other finalist teams. Fingers crossed! (or in Europe, thumbs clenched into a fist, which means the same thing as fingers crossed :)

Hope you all enjoy the new pics, and I loved getting emails from those of you that sent me messages after the last update! (hint hint.. email me!)

XOXO

Anna

Ps. Almost forgot! It’s my birthday on Sunday! Hope you all are going to be celebrating with me (in spirit?)

Hello Friends and Familia!

Yesterday my little brother and sister turned 9… THAT IS CRAZY! I swear they used to just be little babes that were the size of nerf footballs, and now they’re real functioning human beings who are smart and funny and entirely awesome 9 year-olds! Anyway, my head is spinning thinking that it’s been 9 years since Chase and the Lump of Love (Tyler, though that nickname was ixnayed by Mimi, who said that it would affect his self-confidence down the road) first entered the world as two peas in a pod (no really, they got out of the hospital and were “two peas in a pod” for Halloween!), and I’m happy to report that they’re getting cooler by the minute!



My last post went up before we took the road for a tournament in Wroclaw, Poland, which was a 3-day lesson in how to play volleyball as a team :) Before that weekend, we had yet to practice in a full 6 player rotation, so it was test that would reveal some of our strengths as well as many of our weaknesses!

As you can imagine, our performance reflected our lack of playing experience, as we lost to a team from Kieldrecht, Belgium, then beat a Champion’s League team from Czech, lost a close one to the home team from Wroclaw, and then lost another to Kieldrecht. In the end, the only match we won was against team that eventually won the tournament! Needless to say, it was a roller-coaster performance, and we returned after a long ride home knowing that we had our work cut out for us if we wanted to reach our team goal of becoming German Champion this season.

[sidenote: I don’t have many pictures from the Poland trip (ok fine, I have exactly 1 picture from the Poland trip), mostly because I didn’t have much to take pictures of! We drove between 45 min and an hour everyday between our hotel and our playing sites, with our bus crawling along bumpy one-lane roads that zig-zagged mostly through farmland dotted with tiny villages before we would reach the host city (village?) of Twardogora. We played in the city of Wroclaw in our match against the home team, in a gym that reminded me of the church-gyms from CYO league back in grade school. The sidelines pressed up against the bleachers, and there were several floors overhead with viewing decks for the fans. It was definitely a different feel from the openness of our Margon Arena in Dresden!)

(my one pic from Poland)


Back in Dresden, I was excited to find out that my new apartment was ready to move into! I am now feeling quite at home in my new place, and I’m trying to make it homey-er everyday.

The following Wednesday, we went to a charity Eisfussball (Icefootball, or ice-soccer for Americans!) event, which was pretty hilarious. Coaches and administrators from four of the pro teams in Dresden (the American football team, the soccer team, the hockey team and us) played against teams from the city of Dresden and the Deutsche Red Cross in mini-games of soccer on an ice rink while wearing running shoes and dressed in hockey and/or football gear… totally normal! The event benefited the Red Cross, but was also a good way to get the various teams together to mingle with the fans. We had a chance to cheer on the DSC team from the bench, and I think we all had a pretty good time.


Alex gave us that weekend off, so after a year of plans that have fallen-through, I was finally able to schedule a visit to my dear friend Jazmin who is living in Berlin! Dresden is only about 2 hours from the capital city, and I was able to spend 2 days in the alternate universe that is Jazmin’s life there.

I hadn’t seen her in over a year, but once we get together, it always feels like no time has passed. We started the reunion off right by cooking a breakfast feast of eggs with cilantro (the smell reminds Jazmin of home cookin) and “purple rain” (Jazmin has a thing for Prince) berry scones. Jazmin did her normal thing by introducing me to the music that she thinks is awesome at this very moment (she’s been doing that since we were 13 years old). We then went to rent a bike for me to use for the day, and set off on a tour of Kreuzberg, pedaling past the wall towards Mitte, and other parts of the city that Jazmin now calls home. We were able to stop at some various spots to meet some of the friends that Jazmin has met there, who come from all over the world and are doing lots of different things.




I had never been to Berlin before, but after my tour, I can definitely understand why Jazmin doesn’t want to leave… It’s a big beautiful city, full of young people who all seem to be doing cool stuff (or maybe those are just the young people that Jaz hangs out with?) and enjoying life. A repeated topic of conversation with Jaz and friends was the fact that an absurd amount of “hanging out” goes on in Berlin, because so many of the young people don’t have real strict schedules to keep and would frankly much rather spend the day sipping coffee outside a café or lounging by the river. In the words of Robyn Ah-Mow from our meeting in Switzerland 2 years ago, they “do what they want…”

I thought about my life in comparison: I have a strict schedule for training, physio, etc… I eat and sleep in pretty regular patters, and haven’t been out dancing til 6AM in quite a while, because I’m usually expected to sideout the next day. I mean I have willingly chosen a career in which a major part of my life is dictated by someone else: my coach. In other words, I do what I want in very small doses compared to Jazzy G and some of her friends in Berlin!

As you can see, I had a blast getting a peek into the new life of one of my oldest friends. I also had a blast stepping out of the monotony of my uber-volley life in Dresden into the life of my ridiculously insanely creative friend in Berlin. Definitely a successful weekend!

The last 2 weeks have been pretty standard. I took a break from hitting after getting back from Poland, in an attempt to kill any tendon inflammation that was starting to flare up. Over the weekends we had two tournaments nearby, first in Dippoldiswalde and then in Lichtenstein (town not country!). The girls played great and ended up winning both of them! I hated being out, but it was a learning experience to be on the sidelines as a towel/watergirl, because you can always get a different perspective as a spectator than you do as a player. At the same time, I am ready to start playing again, and I’m excited to start hitting again this week!

On a final note, fall is definitely showing it’s beautiful colors all over the place, and I’ve been trying to capture it on film. I hope you enjoy these totally autumn scenes as much as I do!



Xoxo

Anna

Ps: email me friends!!! acmaylo@gmail.com :)

Life in Dresden!

Hello Friends and Family!

I've been in Dresden for almost a month now, and it's almost starting to feel like it might maybe possibly one day feel like home!

Volleyball started almost immediately after arrival, which has been exciting and exhausting at the same time. I haven't experienced a rigorous schedule like this since double days at Santa Clara, so I definitely went through a period of adjustment during which I had to get used to 4-6 hours of training per day! But now it seems normal, and it's great to be back in team training mode. While off-season is always wonderfully relaxing, there's nothing like the feeling of getting back in the gym and actually playing volleyball again.

With all those hours spent in the gym, I'm feeling lucking that I have a nice group of teammates and trainers to spend my time with! There are 12 girls on the team, 9 German girls and 3 Americans (including myself!). I'm sure I'll introduce everyone in time, but for now I'll stick to my fellow yankees: Tesha is a middle blocker from New York who has been playing in Germany for 6 years, of which 2 have been in Dresden. Dani is an outside hitter from Nebraska who spent a couple seasons playing in Indonesia while bouncing back to the States to coach, and who also played in Dresden last year. Though I had never met them, the fact that two girls had chosen to play here for multiple years was a big part of my decision to come to Dresden, and I'm thankful that they're both here!

We have several girls who grew up in and around Dresden, so they've been playing for DSC (Dresdner Sport Club) for their whole careers, which is pretty awesome. It's great to be surrounded by girls who know Dresden as home, because they can help me with all the little things that can be confusing when moving to a new place.. Best cheap restaurants? Best grocery store? Best cellphone plans? Best parking lots where the man will give you a discount because you're a volleyballer? Just ask in the locker room and the team will come up with an answer!

Besides my time spent playing volleyball, I have gotten to do some pretty interesting stuff here already! On my first day, Alex (coach) brought me to my car, a stick-shift Ford Fiesta (super cute, I love it!) so I had no choice but to learn how to drive it! Anyway, cold-sweats while driving with a stick for the first time: CHECK.



During my second week in town we had our team photoshoot, which was several hours of primping and posing in our uniforms. The following week we had our calendar shoot, which was an intense process of make-up, hair and styling like I have never experienced before. It was a long night... we didn't finish my shoot until 3AM (!!!!) but it was just one of the many things the club does to help get exposure for the team and keep people interested! Photoshoots: CHECK.





The following weekend I had an entirely unexpected (but entirely welcome!) visit from Marco, who came to town from Friday night until Monday morning. We spent the weekend exploring Dresden, from the inner old city, to the new city, to the famous blue bridge (the "Blaues Wunder"), to the city's largest park (the "Grosse Garten"). It was great to show him around my new neighborhood, and a wonderful weekend surprise. Unexpected but entirely welcome visitors: CHECK.




Other than that, I spend most of my off-time with the girls, relaxing between practices or on off-days. Dani, Tesha and I had one day of adventure that brought us to NY Bagel Bar, Starbucks, and then Chemnitz (a neighboring city)....




...and yesterday several of us got together for a picnic next to the Elbe (the river that runs through Dresden), so we do find things to entertain us! Adventures and sunshine: CHECK CHECK.




Tomorrow we practice in the morning before leaving for Wroclaw, Poland, where we'll be playing in our first preseason tournament. We're dealing with some injuries right now, so our roster is a little thin, but hopefully we'll be able to make the most of it!

Hope all is well wherever you are, and as always, I'd love to hear from you! (acmaylo@gmail.com)

xoxox

anna

ps: Cobblestone streets are so cute right? yeah, I thought so too.. But until you live on a cobblestone street, you don't realize that those cobblestones are actually made to amplify the sound of any wheeled machine rolling over them.. seriously, they make a 2-door hatchback sound like an 18-wheeler! Anyway, it was worth capturing...

Holy Guacamole

It's September 1st and I'm updating my blog from my apartment in Dresden, Germany. When I was younger I would laugh when adults would talk about time flying by, but man oh man they were right!

After nearly 3 months on hiatus, I'm now mentally preparing to recount the last 3 months of my crazy life. In fact, in order to open this post, I had to delete drafts of posts that I had started writing earlier in the summer and never actually finished! I'm determined not to let that happen again...

I set off for California in early June, after spending 3 weeks with the fam in New Jersey. I spent a week in Napa, where I got to hang out with my mom and Anthony and the best dog on earth (Tadgh, pronounced TY, it's Gaelic duh), which was a blast. Then I finagled my way into getting a ride to LA with Crystal, but making a stop over in Santa Clara for graduation weekend! It was really fun to see so many familiar faces after being away for so long, and we had a great time getting nostalgic together!



Mid-June saw the beginning of my time with Crystal in Redondo Beach, California, in a house only 2 blocks away from the house where my Uncle Dave once lived. (How bizarre is that?) I was hoping to find a temporary job of some sort, but life without a car in Los Angeles is difficult, and I ended up spending the summer sans employment. This can be seen as a terrible misfortune or a stroke of luck, depending on where you're sitting! The bad news was that I turned into a total tightwad, and my friends would laugh at my stinginess. The good news was that I was living completely without a schedule, and I found some cheap but fun ways to amuse myself!

My days were usually pretty lazy, often playing beach volleyball with Crystal or the other girls to whom she introduced me. I tried to touch the sand everyday based on the idea that I may never have a chance to live so close to the ocean, and I think I was successful! I got to visit with a lot of old friends who live in and around LA, which was wonderful, especially since I won't see them for at least another year now!

On the 4th of July, I got a visit from my awesome Canadian roommate in Austria: Kristina! She spent a week with me in LA, and I had a great time sharing part of my California life with her! We went to the Getty, did Hollywood with Crystal, ate with some celebs in Malibu, and did all the touristy stuff that we could find in the LA area. Of course her departure date came far too soon, but it was great just to have her around again for a little while!



The following week was great because it brought a trip to go see Talia in her awesome town of Springdale, Utah, home of Zion National Park! I spent 4 days there, in which I got to meet her friends at Zion Adventure Company, swim in rivers with said friends, hike in several canyons, eat fish tacos, and basically catch up with the sister who I so rarely get to see nowadays! I stole my/her/our car (the Silver Bullet!) from her, and drove it back to LA (8 hours! alone! in the desert! eek!) so that I could have it when Marco arrived :)



[Sidenote: Right before I left to see Talia, I had gotten a call from my agent about a first league team in Germany that was looking for a middle blocker. After spending all summer practically certain that I would be returning to my club in Klagenfurt, this threw me for a loop, but I told my agent to let me know if any great contracts were thrown on the table...]

Halfway through my stay in Zion, I opened my email to find an e-Ticket roundtrip from LAX to Dresden, Germany! Apparently I was going for a tryout, which was exciting! I spent the last week of July in Dresden, where I got to meet the team, meet the coaches, and obviously practice a bit. At the end of the week, I signed a contract to play with DSC (Dresdner Sport Club) for the 2010-2011 season! Then, I set on my way back to LAX for one final weekend before Marco came to the states!

That final weekend was a big one, because after arriving on Friday evening (and meeting Frankie in the airport before Kendall picked us up), we started a group celebration of 6man! We had dinner at the Union Cattle Company, Crystal's temporary employer and a delicious restaurant with an electric bull in the middle of the floor. Unlike in years past where our team had been comprised mostly of Santa Clara girls, this year we joined a team that was sponsored by Zico Coconut Water and had plans of actually winning the tournament! Due to extreme jetlag and an overwhelming number of girls on the team (40?!?!), I didn't end up playing on Saturday, but I loved watching Crystal and the other girls, and I loved seeing all the volleyball people that 6-man helps bring together for one weekend every year!



On Sunday I shook off the jetlag and played in a AA tournament with Kristen Luxton-Hinman. We had played in one tournament earlier in the summer in Long Beach, and we had so much fun hat we swore to play in at least one more! August 1st was our last possible weekend together, and we made the most of it! Despite a rough start, we ended up playing really well together, and we took second place (don't ask us who we lost to, they were born post-1995, I'm still feeling ashamed), which meant a big bag of random prizes: gift certificates to restaurants, a bathing suit top, a free massage, etc (a big consolation because the amateurs couldn't accept their first place prizes! HA!). Anyway, it was a perfect day of volley and we finished in time for me to get the sand out of my hair before picking Marco up at LAX!



So it's now September 1st. One month has passed since that awesome day. But somehow it seems like only 3 days.. MAYBE a week. Holy guacamole!

Marco's arrival marked the start of an unforgettable cross country trip that brought me to see a big chunk of my awesomely large and dispersed family, and a chance for Marco to see a lot of the US!

We spend 3 days in LA, full of beach runs, BBQs with the Hinmans, the Staples Center, Universal Studios, a tour of the Oakley Headquarters with Megan, a trip to Venice/Muscle Beach, and me dragging Marco around to introduce him to all of my friends :) We then took off on a road trip to Vegas, where we stayed in the Flamingo hotel/casino and spent the evening walking the strip before eating dinner at NewYorkNewYork. The following day we drove from Vegas to Talia, where we went on a hike in the Narrows, which is definitely one of my favorite parts of Zion!



After one night with Talia, we left the car with her and took off for Vegas on a shuttle that would bring us to our flight to San Francisco. My mom and Anthony picked us up from the airport, and we drove through the city on our way up to Napa where we had a feast at Fume, one of our family's favorite restaurants. After dinner, we went home to freshen up before heading up to the Lincoln Theater at the Veteran's Home in Yountville where we watched a spirited performance of "The Pirates of Penzance." Initially, I think Marco was a little unsure of whether he would enjoy this part of the trip, be the performance was wonderful, and we all had a great time.

The following days in Napa were somewhat relaxed, which was a welcome change from our daily schedule of travel! We ate delicious meals, worked out at the local club, went to the library for internet, shopped at the outlets, saw "Dinner for Schmucks" and got In 'n Out Burger, among other relaxing activities! I introduced Marco to pulled-pork sandwiches at the Golden Bagel Cafe (he is a FAN!) and we drove through the valley and over to Santa Rosa to find the nearest mall, which was a good bit of touring for both of us.

On Wednesday of that week, my mom and Anthony were awesome enough to book a room at the Hilton in Fisherman's Wharf for Marco and I, which gave us a chance to explore San Francisco! We stopped in the Marin Headlands on the way in for a foggy photoshoot, then walked halfway across the bridge for some more Kodak moments. We then spent the afternoon walking around the Wharf, Pier 39 etc, and had an unplanned marathon adventure down the Embarcadero to AT&T Park (whoops! Sorry Marco, it's further than I thought...) That night we had dinner with Koryn, an old friend from high school, at a small Italian place in North Beach. It was a perfect day in San Francisco!



The next morning we set off on Highway 1 South, which hugs the coast all the way down California. We drove through Pacifica, down to Half Moon Bay, and eventually got to Santa Cruz, where we met my Uncle Dave, Carolyn and Caleb for a walk around town and some pizza before heading up over Highway 17, which brought us to my old stomping grounds of Santa Clara University :) Once there, we walked around campus, got some new gear from the bookstore, and I got to practice with the girls!

Friday afternoon was wonderful because we spent it at the winery playing bocce and BBQing with my mom and Anthony. But alas, our week had to end, and on Saturday we piled into the truck once again en route to Oakland Airport and a redeye to JFK. We stopped for a delicious last meal of dimsum (why has no one ever told me that Peking Duck is SO YUMMY!?!?!), and then we said our last goodbyes for 2010 and jumped on our JetBlue flight east!



Our arrival Sunday morning is worth recounting because it was such a comedy of errors. The family was up in Cape Cod at the time, so my dad had left his car for us at the house, along with specific instructions on how to get to our house using the train. We had originally planned on spending the day touring around NYC, but a combo of sleep deprivation and gross weather quickly helped us change our minds to set off straight for home. We managed to make it on to the right train to Penn Station, where we were again successful at choosing the right train towards Madison. However, upon exiting the train, Marco's suitcase stopped cooperating (the handle broke off entirely), and it got pretty funny (for me!)!

The situation wasn't helped by the fact that we had a 2 mile walk home, uphill, on the streets of Chatham, NJ. Of course Marco had a nice rolly suitcase, but those suitcases aren't really made for adventures on asphalt/uneven pavement! Sans handle, he was using the strap from my purse to drag his suitcase behind him, when all of a sudden, the zipper broke completely and the whole thing popped open. Needless to say, he was a little bit frustrated (understatement of the century!), so I left him with the luggage on the side of the road while I ran home to get the car and make our lives a little bit easier!




Naps and food made us feel a little better, and we spent the afternoon at the Short Hills Mall, looking for a new suitcase for Marco. We weren't too excited about the idea of a "little investment" of $750.00 (!!!!) for a Tumi bag, so we left the mall empty handed and laughing about the Tumi saleswoman actually spending 10 minutes trying to pitch the sale to two twenty-somethings in jeans and t-shirts with flip flops and baseball caps.

We got dinner that night in Madison, where Marco experienced a FiveGuys Burger, which he gave a 9 out of 10 on the delicious scale. We also went to see "The Other Guys," which was pretty funny!

The next morning we took off for Verona, NY, where we would be visiting my Grandma Cmaylo! All was going well when the odometer hit 260,000 mi (those Toyota Landcruisers last a LONG TIME!), but at 260,002, the accelerator stopped working entirely and I had to pull over to the side of the road. I had never broken down before, so of course I was a little concerned about what to do, but with Marco by my side and a few calls to Dad, we got the State Trooper out to see us and a then a tow truck came to haul us to the Toyota dealership in Johnstown, NY. What a detour!



We were hoping that we could get in and out and back on the road, and tried to kill some time having lunch at Friendly's. However, when we got back to the dealership, the fix-it guys had decided that our alternator was shot, that they didn't have the part they needed, and that we wouldn't be leaving Johnstown that night. Fortunately, an Enterprise rental place was a couple towns over, and they came to pick us up for a one-day rental so that we could get to see Grandma!

Our night in Verona was pretty uneventful, besides the delicious burgers and apple pie that Grandma had waiting for us. The next morning we went on a run around Verona (no really, we ran AROUND Verona), and I got to show Marco some of the classic sights (the bull that has quarters coming out of it's nose, Uncle Joe's house, the fire station, etc). We then took off back to Johnstown to pick up the car which we were hoping would be finished by noon!

Of course, it wasn't ready 'til 5ish, which tested both Marco's and my patience! But at 5 we jumped back in the car and headed towards North Bennington to see my Grandpa Hewitt. Upon arrival, my Uncle Brian prepared a feast of ribs and corn on the cobb (so yummy!) and we watched the Red Sox game before going to bed. The next morning, we went on a run around the Harvest Hills Drive area, down to the old farm and back up the hill, starting our day of touring Bennington!

My Grandpa is basically the best tourguide, because he knows everything about everything in Bennington (possibly in general), and we stopped at the Bennington Monument, the Old First Church, and Bennington College before meeting June for lunch at Kevin's in downtown North Bennington. Then we stopped for some pictures by the pond before going back to Grandpa's to pack our stuff!

We said goodbye to my Grandpa and Uncle Brian and took off for Boston, where we would meet old roommate Jordan for the Red Sox game that evening! The game was great, and again I got to introduce an old awesome friend to a new awesome boyfriend, which never got old. Post-game, we took a night drive to Mimi's house in Cotuit, which would be the final stop on our cross-country adventure. Despite some driving confusion, we made it there by 1AM, and I fell asleep to the sound of the ocean :)



The next day was spent at the beach with Jack and the twins. We went kayaking to the spit, and BBQed that night with the Turnbull girls. Then Marco impressed the group with his Austrian army fire-starting skills when we went to the beach for a bonfire and s'mores. Marco roasted a marshmallow for the first time, and now he understands the delicate but wonderful balance of graham cracker, Hershey's chocolate, and roasted marshmallow deliciousness!



The following morning we woke up early for a round of golf with Jack. After our plans of a nicer club called Quashnet were squashnetted (ha), we settled for the 9 crossing fairways of Cotuit Highgrounds, and it was a BLAST! Of course the Austrian who had never played before beat both Jack and I by about 15 strokes, but we all had a good time and made it back to the beach by noon.



That night we had our last sunset in the states, and celebrated with a dinner at the Chart Room in Cataumet with Mimi, Aunt Marie, and the Moussa clan. It was a pretty funny night, as both Tyler and Chase ended up getting sick and later falling asleep at the table, but the ride home was probably one of the funniest parts!

The next morning we were up early to pack and head to Boston for our flights from Logan. Chase was still feeling a little under the weather, so the boys and I piled into the car for the last time! We dropped Marco off for his flight around 11, and then the rest of us went into Boston to walk around and have some lunch since my flight didn't leave til 8. It was a great end of my time with the family, and then I set off back to Euroland!



I spent 3 days in Austria with Marco, mostly helping him organize stuff for his new apartment. This meant several trips to IKEA, a trip to the paint store, and endless chatter about possibilities of seating arrangements in the living room :) I also got to spend some time with Sophie, one of my teammates from the Klagenfurt Widlkatzen. But Wednesday night brought my flight to Dresden, after which Alex picked me up and brought me to my new (temporary) apartment on Neubertstrasse, next to the Elbe and 2 kilometers away from downtown Dresden!

So far it's been pretty interesting, and I'm definitely still getting used to my life here. Practices are extremely challenging, and there are great expectations for everyone, individually and as a team! But the girls have been wonderful, and the city is beautiful, and I've learned to drive a stick shift, and I'm back to learning German, and... so, I can't really complain!

I had a wonderful summer, and hopefully this season will bring me as much fun and as many adventures as the last one did. Now I'm off to spinning, then practice, then home for some food and sleep before I wake up and do it all again tomorrow. Ahhh, volley life.

XOXO

Would love to hear from you! Email me!!! (acmaylo@gmail.com)

Anna