Overdue

Hi Friends and Fam!

It's been a long time since I've updated, but I'm writing this from my same living room in Dresden! But here's my attempt at a quick and dirty update in fast-forward since April 29 (I doubt this will be quick, or dirty!!:)



Our team had a roller-coaster end to the season. We lost to Suhl on the road in the semi-finals of the championship, but then won in 4 at home and won an exciting golden set to move on to the finals (Sophie was here to witness that, maybe she was our good-luck charm!). We shot ourselves in the foot by losing again on the road in Schwerin, which put our backs against the wall to win at home and win another golden set for the championship. We couldn't make it happen a second time, and ended up with silver medals around our necks while watching the team from Schwerin celebrate their win. It was definitely not what we all had planned for the end of such a successful year! But moving on...



I got a relatively minor knee surgery the week after the championships, and Sandra accompanied me to the Asklepios Klinik in Berlin for a wellness-spa/operation weekend. I really felt like I was in a 5 star hotel and not a hospital, the only difference was that I blacked out for a couple hours while Dr. Labs cleaned out my left patellar tendon, something that has never happened during a hotel stay :)



On the Monday after the surgery, I flew to Klagenfurt for a month of vacation with Marco. We spent a lot of time with his family, did some painting at the nest, enjoyed some sunny days at the lake, and started an epic Scrabble battle that has yet to be won by either side (but who are we kidding, I am TOTALLY in the lead). I also got to visit Sophie and stay with her family in Graz, which was an awesome overnight adventure.










On June 27th I flew to Boston, where my cousin Kendall picked me up from Logan airport and brought me to Mimi's house in Braintree... I mean what better place to go after a transatlantic flight than grandma's house?? I slept like a baby and ate like a king and the next day Auntie Sue picked me up to fetch Marco and Matthias from the airport, who were flying in for a friend's wedding in Albany.

Over the next 3 days we tried to see as much of Boston as possible, and had a great time while Auntie Sue, Mimi and Aunt Marie showed us around the city. I really don't think many people could do see as much of the city as we did in 3 days, many thanks to the helpful (but sometimes not-so-sharp) people at OnStar :)



On Friday the 1st we rented a car and set off for Albany where we met my mom at the airport cell-phone lot and ate lunch at a typical New England diner (they don't have those in California!). Marco witnessed fries being dipped in gravy for the first time (something I don't think they do in Austria), and the boys enjoyed what I think was their 5th giant American hamburger of the trip.

We said goodbyes and I took off for North Bennington with my mom to kick off an awesome weekend at Grandpa's. My Aunt Karen, Uncle Brian and cousin Eric were also there, so it was definitely a full house and something I haven't gotten to do for more than a couple years now. We visited Auntie Barbara in Stockbridge, visited the old Highland Farm, picnicked on Lake Shaftsbury with June, and played cards after a delicious dinner complete with Grandma's rolls, among other things that you can only do at Grandpa's.



On Sunday morning I took off for Sharon, VT with Aunt Karen and Eric, where I got to meet Eric's adorable kids and then took the Dartmouth Coach direct to Boston. It worked out perfectly that I could hop on an evening bus to the Cape, where my Dad, Cath and the kids picked me up in Barnstable. I was there for the morning of the 4th when Cotuit is covered in red, white and blue for the annual parade, and we enjoyed a couple days of perfect beach weather (kayaking to the spit, sailing to Samson's Island) before taking off for Portland, Maine on the 7th.



Portland brought another awesome family reunion, as all the Cmaylo's came to town to watch Rebecca and Graham get hitched! Talia met us on the morning of the 8th after riding up from NJ with Aaron, and Uncle Dave and Carolyn came all the way from California, Caleb in tow! Having lived overseas for the past 4 years, I don't see my family very often, and even more rarely are we all together in the same place! So thanks Rebecca and Graham for the excuse to all get together!

On the afternoon of the 9th we watched a beautiful wedding on a grassy hill over-looking the water, and they became Mr. and Mrs. Botto! It was fun to see my Uncle Butch doing the ceremony, and they had a great 4-person string band playing the soundtrack. It was super relaxed and super cute, and afterward we enjoyed a reception full of food and cider and dancing!



The morning after the wedding we headed back to New Jersey (all 7 of us in the GMC, brought back memories of road trips from long ago), and spent a couple days at home in Madison. Jack accompanied me for a trip into NYC to visit my friend Lizelle, which was a blast. We met up with Tesha and the rest of the family came into the city for dinner, so it was fun to see my worlds colliding!

On the 15th Jack and I flew to Austin to spend 10 days with Talia in the Texas capital. We had been planning the trip for a while, so we knew it was going to be fun, but we couldn't have anticipated how much fun it would be! We went climbing, swimming, paddle-boarding, biking, Jack got poison-ivy, played with dogs, played tennis, ate some amazing food including Torchy's Tacos and Tres Leches cake, toured the university and the capital building, played laser-tag, got stuck in a downpour, watched a billion bats flying, went to a roller-derby, and had a midnight glow-stick (bike light) dance party. It was a pretty full 10 days.



On my final leg of USA trip 2011, I spent 10 days in California, soaking up the last bit of time off before coming back to start season again. I had an excuse to go to Santa Clara when Jordan came in from Boston for a wedding in Santa Rosa, so I picked her up from the airport and swooped down to campus for a short reunion with my old coaches before we drove back up to Napa. We went for an awesome hike at Alston Park before I dropped her off at her wedding, so it was a short but sweet visit.



I was also introduced to the newest member of the California family, a boat named Talianna (original, right?) docked in Emeryville (where they make emery boards, right Talia?). I went down a couple times with my mom and Anthony, where they worked hard to fix-up some stuff on the boat and I worked hard to enjoy the view :)



On August 7th it was already time to say goodbye again, and after a short visit to Amanda and Tim's in the city, mom and Anthony left me off at SFO for a red-eye to Munich, during which I slept a record 8 hours (woohoo!!). I think I should've knocked on wood after such an awesome flight, because the next one, a short Air Dolomiti leg from Munich to Klagenfurt, was probably the scariest flight of my life. We were flying over the Alps in a thunderstorm, and I honestly thought I was going to die at any moment. I even started thinking about the movie I had (unfortunately) watched about the Uruguayan rugby team and whether I would be able to eat my fellow passengers if I were to survive (still can't answer that!)....

OK, so maybe I was getting a little ahead of myself, and by now you know that I didn't die (phew!), but I was probably never so happy to get out of the plane and see Marco as I was that night, and that's saying a lot!!! I didn't pee my pants probably solely because of the really nice American guy who was sitting next to me who did a good job keeping me calm and unsoiled :)

We made the most of my 4 days in Klagenfurt, starting out with an overnight trip to Jesolo, Italy. We had planned to go to Cinque Terre at some point, but we just couldn't seem to make it work out with our schedules, so Jesolo was a last-minute substitute, but we enjoyed it all the same! We also tried out Marco's new baseball bat and gloves, and used the Breithuber family as models for Bell Wine Cellars merchandise :)



On August 13th I flew from Klagenfurt back to Dresden, and on the 15th we started practice. While the beginning always brings the random excitement of calendar photoshoots and PR appointments with sponsors, otherwise since then it's been a pretty consistent schedule of volley, eat, volley, sleep, volley, eat... you get the idea. We finally started league play last Friday in Stuttgart, but unfortunately lost that in 3 as well as our first game at home against Suhl in 4.



We do have a couple new team members which is exciting: Robin and Judith are from the Netherlands, Anne is from Dresden but has played in Italy for the last 2 years, and we have 3 young local girls (Schwabi, Magda and Boini) who are playing on the first league team for the first time. We have a fun group of players, but now we just need to figure out how to win games!

OK, that was a novel, but it needed to be done. I hope all is well wherever you are, and feel free to send me an update email of your own :)

xox

Anna

Time Warp

Hello Friends and Fam!

I have been a bad blogger, which means I'm looking back at almost 2 full months of life that has passed by without being recorded. Moments like this always leave me wondering how 2 months have flown by so quickly! Now I'm looking at the last 2 days of April on my calendar, thinking about the upcoming playoffs for the team, and planning out my personal Summerfest 2011!

One exciting piece of news: I recently signed a contract to come back to Dresden for the 2011-2012 season! As one of the most indecisive people in the history of the world, I despise having to make big decisions, and find myself questioning my decision-making skills at every turn. But in the end I decided that my situation in Dresden is too good to throw out the window in search for something better, and I'm excited about the future.

One of the best things about coming back for a second year? I feel justified making those purchases that nomads tend to avoid! 1st came a vacuum cleaner.. that was a HUGE step. But now? The options are endless! A bike to get around during nice weather? I'm currently scouring the Dresden version of Craigslist! Clothes that won't make the trip back to the states due to luggage weight restrictions? No prob! I can just leave them here over the summer! Curtains to replace the sheets that I have hanging over the windows right now? I'm not going to get too carried away, but the possibility is there! I think I hear IKEA calling my name :)

Other than the re-signing process madness, March and April had some other exciting moments:

1) Klagenfurt-related excitement: The first weekend of March I was able to spend a weekend in Klags, spending some good time with Marco and Sophie and getting to see some other awesome friends. I watched as Marco successfully de-boned my whole fish dinner at Firenze, and as Floki successfully downed 2 (two!) tiramisu desserts at DaPietro even after appetizers and main course! That was a great start to the spring-ish season.

2) Hockey-related excitement: As I may or may not have mentioned, Dani and Tesha and I were lucky enough to get to know some of the guys from our local hockey team this year, and we got to watch their playoff run in March til mid-April. Fortunately for all of us, the DSC--Eis-Loewen (Ice Lions) friendship extends into the team administrations, so we were able to get VIP tickets to almost every home game that we were able to attend, and that was where we spent many Friday evenings!



When their season ended with a loss in the 2nd round, we got to celebrate with a big group of them before they took off for their respective homes. This meant several crazy nights (Pier 15, Shamrocks) and a couple awesome days (Schillergarten beer gardens, and Markus receiving bets to swim across the Elbe!)

A couple of them have already re-signed to come back next year, which is great news for me because it means I'll have some friendly faces to see when I come back after summer. (What a novel idea, not having to start my social network from scratch for once??) But several are already looking towards options outside of Dresden, whether hockey-related or not, so I was bummed to say goodbye!

3) Berlin-related excitement: You might think that I would get tired of being a tourist in Berlin, but apparently that's not possible for me. In mid-March we took a girls-trip to Berlin, and it was a BLAST. Tesha lived in Berlin for a year, so she was no newbie, and Sandra is from Dresden so she has obviously done some traveling there in the past. But Dani had never been, so we made sure to see as many tourist attractions as possible! We had lunch at the Hard Rock for some American nostalgia (although the waiter's bathroom jokes make Tesha nauseous and unable to eat her Bacon Cheeseburger) and stopped at Dunkin Donuts (only in Berlin!) before heading home that evening. But my FAVORITE part of the day was a trip from Brandenburger Tor to Alexanderplatz on an 8-seater bicycle, lead by an awesome head-peddler/tour-guide!





After the hockey season ended, our friend Markus headed back to his home in Berlin for the summer, which gave us another excuse to visit last Friday, while Marco was here visiting! Once again, we had a first-timer on board, and I was excited to get a chance to show Marco some of the awesome capital city. Thankfully this time Markus was our expedition leader (which meant absolutely no organizational stress for Anna/Sandra/Dani/Marco!), and we rented bikes (single seaters) and spent the day riding through the city. We also managed to squeeze in a boat tour, which was beautiful!





4) Talia-related excitement: On April 19th, Talia turned 26!

5) Marco-related excitement: After Marco's season ended the last weekend of March, he found himself with a little more free-time on the weekends, as well as a week of basketball-free Easter break. He chose to use some of this time to come visit me in Dresden, and I couldn't be more thankful. It was great to have him here for a weekend at the beginning of April, and during his Easter break week he got a chance to spend some time with the people that I spend so much of my time here with!

6) Volleyball-related excitement: Despite the amazingly crazy luck we've had this year with regards to injuries and illnesses, our team has held on to the #1 ranking in our league, and with the points we've accumulated, we're actually now locked in to the #1 seed going into playoffs. It's easy to say that now quite matter-of-factly, but this is the result of many months of hard work and several important unexpected wins along the way! When our 1st setter was out with mono, our younger setter Linda stepped up to the plate and did great. Since one of our starting outside hitters went down with an ACL tear, we've had several girls come through with game-changing performances that kept us on top. Dani, who has been struggling through shoulder rehab, has come in with clutch plays in tough situations, all while battling pain!

Volleyball is definitely a team-sport, but when everyone is healthy and fit, sometimes it can come down to the same 7-8 people making all the points on the court. But this year, everyone has been called upon to play a big role at some point or another, and we're all hoping that we can keep the ball rolling through the playoffs and end up on top!

OK, I think that's all the excitement that I can think of at the moment. Our weather has been up and down, but I think we're in a slow warming trend, to where I feel comfortable wearing a t-shirt on most days! I'm very aware that our season is coming to a close, and I'm trying to enjoy my last few weeks with Dani and Tesha around, since I don't know who is going to be sticking around with me here next season. Other than that, I'm looking forward to making a great run in the championship, and then to the adventures that await me this summer. Should be a blast!

Hope all is well wherever this post finds you!

XOXOX

Anna

....and now it's March!

Hello Family and Friends!

I'm writing this in my neighborhood Starbucks, where a Caramel Frappuccino tastes EXACTLY THE SAME as at home.. Ahhh the small American comforts :)

I can't believe that January and February flew by so quickly, but I'm excited to report that the signs of spring in Dresden are no longer just a figment of my imagination.. Today was so sunny and almost downright warm enough for us to sit outside while sipping our Starby's treats! I think Mother Nature knew that if she didn't chill out with the winter wonderland-ness, I might have either: a) gone into real serious hibernation; or b) gone entirely bat-crazy. Either way, thanks Mama Nature!

The end of January saw an important birthday for Tesha, my awesome teammate who celebrated the 10 year anniversary of her 20th birthday! We stretched it out over the course of a couple days (possibly a couple weeks), and it culminated in a fun bowling party at a local alley with the team and a night out with a couple guys from the local hockey team. Despite all the "grandma" jokes that more and more people make on a regular basis, T is a trooper and is embracing her new decade of life.



In early February I got a visit from Marco, and it worked out to where he got to watch a home game. It was great to have him around to see where I spend so much of my time (Margon Arena, our gym!), meet a couple of my friends in the VIP room after the game, and enjoy some sunny but cold February weather.


On Valentines Day we decided to dress up for a fancy schmancy Sushi night with our friend Markus, a hockey player. Sandra surprised us all in the morning with roses and cryptic invitations left at our places in the locker room that morning, and in the evening Markus surprised us also with roses. As always at the "Sushi and Wine" buffet, the food was delicious, as was the company, and it was a great Valentine's Day!

From the 16th-21st of February I had a visitor in the shape of an old high-school friend.. Koryn! We met in the spring of 2000, while we were both at the Vintage High campus to take our placement tests for English and Math classes. We were both the tallest girls around at the time, and a mutual friend introduced us by proclaiming that I didn't like Koryn because she was so tall, and vice versa. Ahh Kristina Weber, thanks for that! Anyway, sounds like high-school, right? In the end Koryn and I became friends, and besides being the tall chicks in school, we found out that my birthday falls on her half-birthday, that we both love rice with ranch dressing on top, and we would later both commit to spending 10+ hrs/week driving to volleyball tournaments together with Empire Volleyball Club. That is a good equation for a long-time friendship!

Anyway, when we met up last summer for dinner in San Francisco, she had mentioned a possibility of coming to visit sometime this year, but so many people say that that I hardly take it seriously anymore! However, I got an email in October or November asking for details, and whadya know, a couple months later I was spending almost a week hanging out with her in Germany!

I must say that I was struggling with my hostess skills because my days were interrupted with training, physio appointments and the like, but Koryn was a pretty easy guest. We spent a couple days exploring Dresden, during which she met a good portion of my friends here. On the last day of her visit, a Sunday which we had free from training, we drove to Berlin with our setter Mareen as well as her boyfriend, and spent the day sightseeing. We were able to meet up with another old friend Lizelle (she, Crystal and I were partners in crime in Rome 2 years ago), who was visiting for the weekend from her volley-home in Switzerland.

The funniest small-world moment came that evening, when we squeezed in a quick coffee (seriously, quick=15 minutes, and actually mine was green tea) with Jazmin, who is headed home from Berlin this week to spend several months in the states. So first it was me and Jazmin, who met on the first day of 7th grade while on the bus from Vintage to Silverado Middle School. Total opposites but bffs for life. Next was Koryn, who, along with Jazmin, was one of my best friends throughout high-school. Finally was Lizelle, who is one of the funniest girls I know, and who I manage to rendez-vous with in all corners of the world. My mind was exploding as I thought about all of us sitting at a table at a tiny coffee shop in Berlin called "Hotel" (what kind of name is that? I dunno).

Koryn's trip was over quickly, but it was great to share my life here with her, and I'm glad I got to give her her first taste of Europe!

On the volleyball side of my life, we're doing pretty OK. We lost a close game in Suhl in late-February, which was a major bummer, but also a good reminder that we have to keep working towards our goal of winning the championship in May. We're struggling with a couple key players being sick/injured, but we're kind of at that point in the season where our bodies are getting worn down.. I also have the feeling that we're having to work harder to get the same results, which is frustrating, but thankfully Alex gave us this week essentially free from ball-training to give those of us who are pretty healthy a better chance of staying healthy, and those who are sick/injured a chance to take some steps toward recovery...

As a complete and total surprise, Alex gave me the thumbs-up to fly to Klagenfurt this weekend, where I will have a chance to spend some time with Marco as well as with Sophie, my long lost Austrian-sister :) I'm hoping I'll have more pictures from this trip than I have from the last 2 months, the winter made me lazy!

Hope all is well, and sending love from Germany!

xoxo

Anna

Christmas in Oesterreich, Silvester, and now it's almost February...

Hello Friends and Family!

By now it's pretty old news, but Happy 2011! (FYI 11 is one of my favorite numbers, and I love seeing it on clocks and calendars... 11:11 is my favorite time on the clock [12:34 is second], so you can imagine that I'm pretty excited about having the number around ALL year, and I'm especially excited for November 11th at 11:11.. can't wait!) The Dresden Christmas excitement is over (wahhwaaaah), but we're moving on towards the tunnel through which you can see signs of spring! We're not really in that tunnel just yet, but it's all about positive thinking, right?

The end of December was spent enjoying the holiday spirit with my teammates in our typical fashion: hangouts in the city with gluehwein and eierliqour! We also got tickets to a Christmas Circus, where Tesha, Nikki and I made friends with an elephant. We had a cute Secret Santa exchange before our trip to Sonthofen on the 21st, and after winning in 3 sets on the 22nd, we said goodbye for a little Christmas break....



Marco was there to pick me up (6 hour drive each way, what a trooper), and we pulled into Klagenfurt around 4AM on the 23rd. I got to have coffee with Sophie before she took off for home, and then we repeated "Pumpe Night" from Christmas Eve last year.The same traditional Austrian bar, the same crowd (Matthias & Flocki), the same amount of hilarity. I'm a fan of this Christmas Eve tradition!



On the 24th we fulfilled my xmas wish of building a snowman, but we decked it out as a pirate. In the afternoon we headed over to Marco's family's house, where his mom had prepared a meat fondue feast, complete with the special dipping sauces that make it extra super delicious. We ate until we couldn't eat anymore, and then it was time for gifts, because most Europeans open gifts on the 24th (great idea, right??). I was surprised with a package from Napa that was waiting under the tree for me, and brought me a little taste of home for the holidays :) Then we presented Marco's family with their requested gift, which was a self-written holiday-themed song. Marco and I performed a remix of "The 12 days of Christmas," while Marco's brother and his girlfriend performed "Silent Night" in sign language. Given that none of us are really musical talents, both performances were pretty funny, and I think everyone enjoyed it!



The 25th was a day of feast once again, but this time we ate the traditional Christmas meal of roast goose, along with an Austrian version of stuffing (just as delicious!). By this point I was having to loosen the button of my jeans, so we went home to watch a basketball game with some friends for my last evening in Klags...

The morning of the 26th came waay too quickly, and before I knew it I was on the train to Munich where I would catch a flight to Dresden. Sandra (our manager) picked me up just in time to make it to evening training, and all of a sudden it felt like I had never left!

We lost a heartbreaker in the semi-finals of Cup in Stuttgart on the 30th, which was definitely a bummer. Our New Years was pretty low-key, since we had practice on the 1st and a big home game against Schwerin on the 2nd, but a group of us gathered at Kiki's, where we definitely enjoyed some delicious food, champagne, and fireworks!

We went on to beat Schwerin at home, then lost at home in quick sets to our CEV Cup 2nd round opponent, the team from Krasnodar, Russia. The day wasn't totally ruined, however, because Dani, Tesha and I went out to dinner post-game with the American and Brazilian from the Russian team, and had a great time! That weekend we played a league match in Stuttgart, where we won in 4 sets, which made us all feel a little better about the fact that they eliminated us from Cup!

The following Tuesday we set out for Krasnodar, where we would play the Russian team again on the road. The trip there was fine, and we surprisingly all got into Russia OK. We played well against them on Wednesday, but lost in 4 sets, and set out early early Thursday morning on our way back to Dresden through Moscow and Berlin.

Apparently an easy trip home wasn't in our cards, because the day was fraught with errors, delays, and miscommunications! First, upon arrival at the airport at 4AM, we were told that the fog in Krasnodar was so heavy that our plane couldn't land, and our 6AM flight was delayed until 10:30 (or later). That meant that we wouldn't be able to make our connection in Moscow, so after 3 hours of sleeping on the marble floors, the airport director showed us toward a bus straight out of 1983, and already packed full of other people who were trying to catch flights. Fortunately we made our way to another bus (this on was from 1989), where we promptly stowed our baggage underneath and reserved seats for the entire team. We then sat for almost 4 hours in the 20 year old bus, constantly reminded of our whereabouts by a lingering smell of vomit and smoke, mixed with the smell of vodka coming from the back where some men with gold teeth were taking advantage of the 4 hour hangout session. When we stopped for breaks, said men would use the side of the bus as a urinal! It was unreal.



When we arrived at our destination, which was a secondary airport on the shores of the Black Sea, we were able to check in to a flight to Moscow, where we still weren't sure if we would catch a flight to Berlin. Fortunately we were able to take off, and ended up in Moscow around 6:30pm.



Once in Moscow, we had a delicious dinner at an Italian airport restaurant (sidenote: when I say it was "delicious," I'm not sure if it was really that good or if it was just the feeling of hunger being satiated AND comparison to the other food that we had been offered that day), and were able to organize a connection to Berlin. We fooled around and used the internet, but we were ready to get out of Russia and back to the big Germ ASAP...



As soon as we were called to board that connection, we all got excited: the end of our nightmare journey was near! The Aeroflot gods had other plans, however, and we sat on the ground for an hour and a half as they fixed something that they explained in Russian.

Finally, FINALLY we took off to Berlin, where our baggage came out unharmed, and our bus driver Mikey was waiting! Our new, clean, vodka-free bus had never looked so welcoming :) We made it back to Dresden around 2AM, which was the 24 hr mark from leaving the hotel in Krasnodar the morning prior. Ahhh nothing like 24 hours of travel!

Since that nightmare, we won a home game against Potsdam on Saturday, and then traveled to Vilsbiburg where we lost a close 5 set match last night. Today the weather is reflecting our moods post-loss... it's gray and beak once again! (After a December of blizzards, the last 2 weeks have been speckled with amazing spring-like weather, and we've all gotten used to it! But alas, Mother Nature has come to her senses...)

I hope you all had an awesome Christmas and an exciting New Years, and I hope that you don't have any nightmare travel stories to rival mine! (But if you do, it might make me laugh, so feel free to send me an email with the info :)

xoxox, lots of love from Dresden!

Anna