Here we go agin. After getting a whopping three and a half hours of sleep, I got up for food and warmups. I made it to the fields around 9:15 and began warming up down by the beach fields (our game against Germany was on the main stadium field, but it was occupied). Anyway, the Germans had played a game already that day, so we knew they'd be warm and that we couldn't afford to come out cold against them. Well, we were probably more ready for this game than any other of the tournament. We started out on O (as was our want seeing as we were playing timed games with no halftimes) and converted. On our first D point I guarded Rue and got a D when they had to try a bail out huck to him. We then converted the break and were on our way to victory. Somehow, I wound up guarding more handlers than cutters latter in the game because we had a lot of tall guys on D. Anyway, the strategy they were employing in terms of dumps was to break the mark without having the handler move. After a lot of yelling by one of the masters guys watching the game (I heard he coaches Florida), we adjusted and started playing right on the dump's hip. Well, this adjustment led to me getting a layout catch D on a dump pass then throwing a goal. Over all, I think this was my best game of the tournament, we wound up winning 11-7.
After the game we had a great rapport with the German team, and, luckily, we had a great cheer that was set to an old German drinking song. Well, after hanging out with the germans for a bit we had a long break until three, at which point we were to play the Canadian team.
Going into the tournament we had all assumed that the Canadian team would be strong, and that playing both them and Germany on the same day would really test us. Well, much to our surprise, the Canadians were floundering for the first few days of beach worlds. Our game with them wasn't necessarily representative of their abilities due to the very windy conditions on the beach fields that day. I don't remember too much about this one, I think Tucker got his callahan in this game (another tall guy eats up a floating upwind dump pass), and we won easily 10-2.
Well, after having only two games we all stuck around the fields to watch the game between Great Britain and the Philippines on the showcase field. It was the only game going on at the time, and as such had a huge crowd. It was during this game that everyone at the tournament fell in love with the Philippines team. They had a total of 8 players, one of whom was a woman, and another was a water boy during important games. So, they were playing one of the top four open teams at the tournament with a rotation of 6 players, and because there were only 60 seconds between points, the Philippines players would drink water on their way back to the line.
The O that the Boracay Dragons ran was very give and go heavy and made great use of the amount of touch they had on their throws. Basically, they'd overload one side of the field with 4 players, letting the 5th rest upfield from the disc on the far sideline. They'd then throw as many quick passes as they could to gain yards, and when the D adjusted they'd either reverse the field and use the resting player, or they'd swing, and the player who wasn't involved would cut deep. Every possession they had was a ton of fun to watch with multiple rediculosly athletic plays. Also amazing was how GB kept hucking, assuming they could get jump balls over the smaller Philippino players, but inevitable, one of the Dragons would make a sick play, and they'd get the disc back. I think my favorite part of the game was when the game was clearly already won by the Boracay Dragons and the relented to the crowds chants of "Number 9! Put her in!" It was really cool to see the whole team get playing time, especially in such a big game.
Well, after the game we had an impromptu west vs. east us scrimmage, which turned out to be very fun, with the west dominating (I don't actually remember how it went down, but I'll at least claim we rocked house). Anyway, after the fun, we headed back to the hotel to freshen up then off to a team dinner at pretty nice Brazilian all you can eat place. The food was good, and it was nice to hang out as a team. After dinner we went as a team to the party. I really enjoyed the dinner to party transition, it lead to a warm team bonding sort of feel to the whole night, and I think it translated well onto the fields in the following days.
The party that night was at a large beer themed bar that had a very fancy all you can eat place in the back (if only we had known that ahead of time). The place had a very classy feel with good lighting, hardwood floors, a large outdoor patio, and a stage and two bars inside. All the classiness and chillness almost made me feel bad for sneaking in some jungle juice, almost. There was a cover band playing classic rock like the Beatles and Pink Floyd. They rocked some harder stuff towards the end of the night, but it was all good. I think it helped the social atmosphere, but there was still a sweet dance party. The biggest effect the music had was determining who won the party. Even though some of our team stayed until the end, the swiss were there in force, rocking out. It was a decided swiss victory.
The next morning we had an early 8 am start (our first of the tournament) against the winless host team Brazil. It was a chill game, and we wound up winning 18-3. I don't remember to many stand out plays, but there is a big one I'll shout out. Grant got a layout callahan on a dump pass, where he landed on his knee, thus staying in bounds for the goal. So, that made four of us with callahans on the tournament, we joked we should make "I got a callahan in Brazil" T-shirts, I still think it's not a bad idea.
With our victory against Brazil we secured an afternoon by and our spot in the finals. Still, we were left with a final pool play game against the Spanish team that was ineligible for the finals. We had to play them on the windy beach fields, and they were incredibly motivated to beet us. Well, we had a turnover riddled windy zone-y game and they wound up winning. We had a lot of trouble stopping their three woman possession oriented O, and he had even more trouble scoring up wind. This was also the first time we didn't come out strong in a game, something that was troubling, especially since our only remaining game was the finals. Well, even though we were humbled by a loss, I don't think it helped us in the next game. After the game I went to lunch with Kali before her women's devision semifinal with Australia. After lunch we went back to the fields where I watched and supported the other US teams in their bids to make the finals.
After the games ended that evening there was a lot of drinking and a pickup game between the pickup teams at the tournament (Currier Island and the Peace Team). I played with my hommies on the peace squad, and I'll say we won the battle of the pickups. I then headed back to the hotel before going to the trade night at the point.
Trade night was held in the cleared out banquet room at Hotel Ponta Verde (the sight of player registration). The room was very bright and different teams had their own sort of trading stations set up around the room. Also, Michele played some music for the people. I had a blast and got to see a lot of sweet jerseys and shirts from around the world, and I also arranged trades for Brazil shorts and sandals, and a Philippines jersey. After the trading I headed out to dinner with the guys from the Peace Team, some of the younger guys from the US open team, and J9. We had dinner at the all you can eat place close to the fields. Dinner was light (relatively) and I capped it off with an espresso before heading out to the party.
Due to some confusion and accidental misinformation we thought that the party bar was close and easy to get to, so we decided to walk. Well, it was relatively close, but out walk was mad sketchy, and we probably should have been a lot more nervous then we were. I guess we were to excited about meeting sweet people and being in Brazil to be overly concerned about where we were walking. We wound up making it to the bar after about 20 min.
This party was awesome. All the teams that had been eliminated were getting real shitty (especially the US guys and the Australian women). Anyway, for a team with an early finals game the next day we made a great showing. Dave, Ken, and Erol were their with the Brazilian girls they had met earlier in the week, X was there being his usual 24 hour party self, and J9 and I were busy meeting new people (and trying to mediate the stolen hat affair going on between the US open team and the Australian woman's team). Well, despite our presence, we were outlasted by one German man. That's right, in the battle for the party, we lost because one guy from the other team held down the fort (to be fair, he was their with his hot girlfriend from the Spanish team).
Well, we all made it back in time to get at least 6 hours of sleep before the finals the next day. I guess that wraps up pool play, at least I made my personal goal of getting this post up before the end of January. Still, I have to write another Brazil post and a Lei-Out recap in the coming weeks.
P.S. I hope you enjoyed my lack of proof reading.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Thursday, January 24, 2008
What I Did This Week
I arrived home from LA Tuesday morning to find cold weather and a need to restock the wood piles (downstairs inside and out, and upstairs) . What I didn't anticipate was my dad's back acting up and the need for me to take my mom to Stanford for her 8:00 a.m. appointment on Wednesday morning. Without much time to relax, I updated myself on the world through the internet, then hauled some wood out in the cold.
Stacking and hauling wood affords me the opportunity to reflect on life; it's the time when I'm most introspective. I usually think about my house and what I want it to be like. I look out at the woods and picture what they could be like; I think about a vibrant and healthy forest. I look back towards the house and picture it in different colors, with different decks, and with a better kept garden. Basically, I picture my house as my paradise. I think this process is my way of dealing with loss. I think about what things will be like in a few years, how they'll change, and what will be good.
After finishing the wood it was time to head over to Palo Alto for the night. My mom and I left around three, just avoiding traffic, and got into Dinah's Garden Hotel around 4. I don't like dealing with people I don't know well (and even more so when they know of me), especially if what I'm doing is a personal matter, so when we arrived mom checked us in while I waited in the car. Through my parents frequent visits, my mom knows the whole staff of Dinah's Garden Hotel well. In particular, my parents have become friends with the concierge, David. David is an ex-navy man and, according to my parents, an exceptional concierge. He's in his late 40s and wears a smart blue suit, a buzz cut, a sizable belly, and small glasses with a strap the connects the ear pieces. After checking us in he showed us to our room and told us that we should feel free to ask if we needed anything.
He left us outside the apartment that was to be our room for the night. I was excited that we had an apartment, because I knew that whatever the room looked like, I was stuck with it as my stomping grounds for the next 18 hours or so. Basically, there was no way I would be roaming around Palo Alto looking for things to do. The space was nice. The living room had a couch, a typical hotel TV, and a nice desk. The kitchen was attached to the living room, in fact, the only reason it wasn't part of the living room was the floor changed from carpet to linoleum tiles. The kitchen was fully furnished with a small table, a stove, a microwave, and a full sized fridge stocked with soda, wine coolers, juices, and a coupe of Heinekens. The bedroom was sizable with two beds, and the bathroom was a typical hotel bathroom.
After having a quick look around, I helped my mom mover her stuff then settled down for a night of internet browsing and IM chatting. I had brought a couple of books, but I didn't feel like I had the focus it would require to read either of them. The night went on uneventfully and I eventually went to sleep around midnight. The following day was simple and went according to pan. I took my mom to the hospital then returned to the hotel. To my pleasant surprise I had the focus to read while I waited to go and pick up mom. When the time came, I went back to the hospital, picked up mom, then we went back to the hotel to pack and check out before heading home.
When we finally got home I went strait to work then had a typical Santa Cruz do nothing night.
Okay, so what's the point of this post. Well, I've started reading Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg and I decided to write a little something now, and compare how I'd write similar things as I continue to read. Basically, I'll try and write little "What I did this week" posts every once and a while, and we'll see what happens. I think the first thing I've noticed is that I need to be more descriptive in my writing. I guess I'll see where this all leads, hopefully it'll make my blog a bit more readable.
Stacking and hauling wood affords me the opportunity to reflect on life; it's the time when I'm most introspective. I usually think about my house and what I want it to be like. I look out at the woods and picture what they could be like; I think about a vibrant and healthy forest. I look back towards the house and picture it in different colors, with different decks, and with a better kept garden. Basically, I picture my house as my paradise. I think this process is my way of dealing with loss. I think about what things will be like in a few years, how they'll change, and what will be good.
After finishing the wood it was time to head over to Palo Alto for the night. My mom and I left around three, just avoiding traffic, and got into Dinah's Garden Hotel around 4. I don't like dealing with people I don't know well (and even more so when they know of me), especially if what I'm doing is a personal matter, so when we arrived mom checked us in while I waited in the car. Through my parents frequent visits, my mom knows the whole staff of Dinah's Garden Hotel well. In particular, my parents have become friends with the concierge, David. David is an ex-navy man and, according to my parents, an exceptional concierge. He's in his late 40s and wears a smart blue suit, a buzz cut, a sizable belly, and small glasses with a strap the connects the ear pieces. After checking us in he showed us to our room and told us that we should feel free to ask if we needed anything.
He left us outside the apartment that was to be our room for the night. I was excited that we had an apartment, because I knew that whatever the room looked like, I was stuck with it as my stomping grounds for the next 18 hours or so. Basically, there was no way I would be roaming around Palo Alto looking for things to do. The space was nice. The living room had a couch, a typical hotel TV, and a nice desk. The kitchen was attached to the living room, in fact, the only reason it wasn't part of the living room was the floor changed from carpet to linoleum tiles. The kitchen was fully furnished with a small table, a stove, a microwave, and a full sized fridge stocked with soda, wine coolers, juices, and a coupe of Heinekens. The bedroom was sizable with two beds, and the bathroom was a typical hotel bathroom.
After having a quick look around, I helped my mom mover her stuff then settled down for a night of internet browsing and IM chatting. I had brought a couple of books, but I didn't feel like I had the focus it would require to read either of them. The night went on uneventfully and I eventually went to sleep around midnight. The following day was simple and went according to pan. I took my mom to the hospital then returned to the hotel. To my pleasant surprise I had the focus to read while I waited to go and pick up mom. When the time came, I went back to the hospital, picked up mom, then we went back to the hotel to pack and check out before heading home.
When we finally got home I went strait to work then had a typical Santa Cruz do nothing night.
Okay, so what's the point of this post. Well, I've started reading Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg and I decided to write a little something now, and compare how I'd write similar things as I continue to read. Basically, I'll try and write little "What I did this week" posts every once and a while, and we'll see what happens. I think the first thing I've noticed is that I need to be more descriptive in my writing. I guess I'll see where this all leads, hopefully it'll make my blog a bit more readable.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Brazil III - Pool Play (I)
Well getting the next post up quickly really didn't happen, but I can blame the massive power outage I went through for that one. Anyway, I'll try to tackle at least the first few days of pool play.
Well, there was a rain storm the night before our games started, and we lost power for a while (meaning the AC turned off and I woke up all sweaty, how lame). Anyway, it was relatively clear when we woke up for breakfast but you could definitely see stormy weather on the horizon, Our first game was against Ireland and conditions were clear when we started. Games were to time with no half so we chose to start on O. We scored the first point easily, then got the break right away. Things were looking good and it seemed like we would role. Then the weather happened and we all know that wind is the great equalizer in ultimate. Anyway, we began trading down winders, but somehow it still felt (to me) like we were rolling. I guess we just came out of the gates quickly so I figured we continued. Well, the eventually got a wind break, making to score close, but we were able to get it back and score downwind to win 8-6 (the games were like 50 min long).
After the game we had a spirit circle, as is costume in international ultimate. What our captain didn't know is that the wining team's captain is supposed to summarize the game with what worked and what didn't, then the other team's captain talks, then the teams to the gifts and such. Well, this lack of knowledge made out first day's spirit circles kind of awkward, but I think things got better after that. Also, we were blessed to have someone who's a cheer expert on our team, and always had great songs for our opponents.
I think it was after this game the J9 decided we should mix a bunch of jungle juice (how American, right) and give bottles of it as gifts to our opponents. After the 10:00 am game we had a long bye until 3:00 then another game at 5:00. We used our huge bye to go to the super market and buy ingredients to mix some delicious jungle juice. Our first attempt at mixing our gift involved stealing the large trash can from the hall and a big trash bag from the kitchen. Well, this round wasn't incredibly successful, that is, we lost a lot of the juice in the poring process, but it was delicious. Well, we finished with two 1.5 leader bottles of our new gift, and just in time to get to the fields and not warm up for our game (we also learned that we needed to make some sort of funnel).
Our 3 o'clock game was against Great Britain, and we went into it really confidently; we had done well against them a couple of nights before, and that was without our whole team. The game went by smoothly, I had my first layout D of the tournament in this game, and I scored a few goals. We wound up winning 18-3 (no wind makes a big difference). Chilling with GB after the game was maybe better than with any other team, I guess there just isn't as much of a culture gap.
Our Last game of the day was in the arena against Trevor and Tyler's team, the Peace Team (a pickup team that also volunteered to do some outreach stuff in Maceio). This time our start wasn't as strong, it seemed like they lulled us into playing pickup style disc, still, we never trailed. the game was 4-3 then there was a hell point where Xtehn and I were the guys for our team and Trevor and Tyler were in for their team. It was really fun playing against those guys, and we eventually got the break to go up 5-3. After that we went on a huge run (partly because we had a lot of depth, and with Trevor and Tyler tiered from the hell point, they had lost two of their top three guys). It was 10-3 before anyone really noticed. We closed out the game kind of slowly and wound up taking it 13-6.
With our games for the day over and the sun setting we all headed back to the hotel and the adjacent little burger stand for showers and dinner. After dinner J9 and I got to mixing jungle juice for Ireland, our opponents for the next day, and to have at the party that night. Our refined mixing technique involved a smaller trash can that we got from one of the bathrooms, a 1.5 liter bottle with the top cut off and turned upside-down to create a funnel. We also began to rock a new recipe with a 12 pack of beer, a fifth of Pitu (cane sugar rum), and a lot of powdered flavor packets. So, with our concoction in hand we went to the party.
The party was at a small bar on the beach front, and it was a good thing that we pre-gamed // brought our own drink. The party was fun and full of dancing. As it wound down there was a skinny dipping group (not my thing), and I also threw my fire at this party (a story for another time, all you have to know is that I wanted to throw my fire in Brazil, and I made it happen). I wound up leaving around 1 a.m. and got to bed by two so I could be ready for that 10 a.m. game.
We had the same buys on day two as we did on day one, so that was nice for our internal clocks. Our first game of day two was against Austria. I don't remember too many details from this game, I just remember that it was very clear, and they didn't like the level of physicality we played with. The final score was 13-1 and I know they were disappointed with how they played, but they also said that we were much more physical than they were used to, and they felt that we were unspirited because of that. As I see it, we were a lot less physical than is typical of ultimate in the US and we toned it down more so when they asked us to. I also think that it shouldn't be fully on us to change they way be play. People play the game differently in different places, and everyone has to realize that. I understand that international ultimate is less physical than US ultimate, but I also think that a lot of teams didn't give us a chance and had decided how they would perceive our play before the game started.
Anyway, our next game was against Scotland and it was also pretty uneventful. The Scots were a really young bunch and they relied a lot on hucking to their athletes, the only problem was we were more experienced with better athletes. That is, I don't remember much, and it was windy. I think Erol got our first callahan of the tournament in this one, it was on a floaty dump pass in the up-wind endzone. The final score was 13-4.
Our last game of the day was against Switzerland. They had beat us in the little three team round robin scrimmage thing, so we got up for this one. We came out really strong and played hard D and efficient O. I got called for a couple of travels during this game, and the guys explanation was "you're taking 3 or 4 steps after you catch the disc every time." I said I'd try to stop faster, but I was going left right left then pivoting to throw, so I wasn't really traveling, but good spirit // ambassador of the sport and so on. I also got a callahan by getting a layout catch D on a dump pass after a stoppage (would that sentence be at all readable if you don't play ultimate? I didn't think so).
The post games activities were the same for day two as day one, small time dinner and big time drink mixing. This time the party was at a legit club, so we all took cabs that way after dinner and partied it up. There was a small issue with getting in because the people who were working at the club hadn't communicated well with the owner and didn't understand the tournament party thing, but it just resulted in a sweet 30 min outdoor party and dance circle, so all was good. This night was by far the biggest for me. After leaving the party around 2:30 or 3:00 we went to a little stand on the beach for late night food and drink. I think I wound up not going back to the hotel until the sun was rising around 5:30 a.m.
Anyway, that gave me plenty of time to rest up for our 10 a.m. game with Germany. I'll discuss that along with the rest of pool play next time.
Well, there was a rain storm the night before our games started, and we lost power for a while (meaning the AC turned off and I woke up all sweaty, how lame). Anyway, it was relatively clear when we woke up for breakfast but you could definitely see stormy weather on the horizon, Our first game was against Ireland and conditions were clear when we started. Games were to time with no half so we chose to start on O. We scored the first point easily, then got the break right away. Things were looking good and it seemed like we would role. Then the weather happened and we all know that wind is the great equalizer in ultimate. Anyway, we began trading down winders, but somehow it still felt (to me) like we were rolling. I guess we just came out of the gates quickly so I figured we continued. Well, the eventually got a wind break, making to score close, but we were able to get it back and score downwind to win 8-6 (the games were like 50 min long).
After the game we had a spirit circle, as is costume in international ultimate. What our captain didn't know is that the wining team's captain is supposed to summarize the game with what worked and what didn't, then the other team's captain talks, then the teams to the gifts and such. Well, this lack of knowledge made out first day's spirit circles kind of awkward, but I think things got better after that. Also, we were blessed to have someone who's a cheer expert on our team, and always had great songs for our opponents.
I think it was after this game the J9 decided we should mix a bunch of jungle juice (how American, right) and give bottles of it as gifts to our opponents. After the 10:00 am game we had a long bye until 3:00 then another game at 5:00. We used our huge bye to go to the super market and buy ingredients to mix some delicious jungle juice. Our first attempt at mixing our gift involved stealing the large trash can from the hall and a big trash bag from the kitchen. Well, this round wasn't incredibly successful, that is, we lost a lot of the juice in the poring process, but it was delicious. Well, we finished with two 1.5 leader bottles of our new gift, and just in time to get to the fields and not warm up for our game (we also learned that we needed to make some sort of funnel).
Our 3 o'clock game was against Great Britain, and we went into it really confidently; we had done well against them a couple of nights before, and that was without our whole team. The game went by smoothly, I had my first layout D of the tournament in this game, and I scored a few goals. We wound up winning 18-3 (no wind makes a big difference). Chilling with GB after the game was maybe better than with any other team, I guess there just isn't as much of a culture gap.
Our Last game of the day was in the arena against Trevor and Tyler's team, the Peace Team (a pickup team that also volunteered to do some outreach stuff in Maceio). This time our start wasn't as strong, it seemed like they lulled us into playing pickup style disc, still, we never trailed. the game was 4-3 then there was a hell point where Xtehn and I were the guys for our team and Trevor and Tyler were in for their team. It was really fun playing against those guys, and we eventually got the break to go up 5-3. After that we went on a huge run (partly because we had a lot of depth, and with Trevor and Tyler tiered from the hell point, they had lost two of their top three guys). It was 10-3 before anyone really noticed. We closed out the game kind of slowly and wound up taking it 13-6.
With our games for the day over and the sun setting we all headed back to the hotel and the adjacent little burger stand for showers and dinner. After dinner J9 and I got to mixing jungle juice for Ireland, our opponents for the next day, and to have at the party that night. Our refined mixing technique involved a smaller trash can that we got from one of the bathrooms, a 1.5 liter bottle with the top cut off and turned upside-down to create a funnel. We also began to rock a new recipe with a 12 pack of beer, a fifth of Pitu (cane sugar rum), and a lot of powdered flavor packets. So, with our concoction in hand we went to the party.
The party was at a small bar on the beach front, and it was a good thing that we pre-gamed // brought our own drink. The party was fun and full of dancing. As it wound down there was a skinny dipping group (not my thing), and I also threw my fire at this party (a story for another time, all you have to know is that I wanted to throw my fire in Brazil, and I made it happen). I wound up leaving around 1 a.m. and got to bed by two so I could be ready for that 10 a.m. game.
We had the same buys on day two as we did on day one, so that was nice for our internal clocks. Our first game of day two was against Austria. I don't remember too many details from this game, I just remember that it was very clear, and they didn't like the level of physicality we played with. The final score was 13-1 and I know they were disappointed with how they played, but they also said that we were much more physical than they were used to, and they felt that we were unspirited because of that. As I see it, we were a lot less physical than is typical of ultimate in the US and we toned it down more so when they asked us to. I also think that it shouldn't be fully on us to change they way be play. People play the game differently in different places, and everyone has to realize that. I understand that international ultimate is less physical than US ultimate, but I also think that a lot of teams didn't give us a chance and had decided how they would perceive our play before the game started.
Anyway, our next game was against Scotland and it was also pretty uneventful. The Scots were a really young bunch and they relied a lot on hucking to their athletes, the only problem was we were more experienced with better athletes. That is, I don't remember much, and it was windy. I think Erol got our first callahan of the tournament in this one, it was on a floaty dump pass in the up-wind endzone. The final score was 13-4.
Our last game of the day was against Switzerland. They had beat us in the little three team round robin scrimmage thing, so we got up for this one. We came out really strong and played hard D and efficient O. I got called for a couple of travels during this game, and the guys explanation was "you're taking 3 or 4 steps after you catch the disc every time." I said I'd try to stop faster, but I was going left right left then pivoting to throw, so I wasn't really traveling, but good spirit // ambassador of the sport and so on. I also got a callahan by getting a layout catch D on a dump pass after a stoppage (would that sentence be at all readable if you don't play ultimate? I didn't think so).
The post games activities were the same for day two as day one, small time dinner and big time drink mixing. This time the party was at a legit club, so we all took cabs that way after dinner and partied it up. There was a small issue with getting in because the people who were working at the club hadn't communicated well with the owner and didn't understand the tournament party thing, but it just resulted in a sweet 30 min outdoor party and dance circle, so all was good. This night was by far the biggest for me. After leaving the party around 2:30 or 3:00 we went to a little stand on the beach for late night food and drink. I think I wound up not going back to the hotel until the sun was rising around 5:30 a.m.
Anyway, that gave me plenty of time to rest up for our 10 a.m. game with Germany. I'll discuss that along with the rest of pool play next time.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Shelter From The Storm
The big west coast storm did a pretty good job messing things up around Santa Cruz county yesterday morning. The power was out in most of the town and roads were out everywhere. So, if you know where I live, it' not surprising that my house has been without power since 8 a.m. yesterday. Around 1 p.m. yesterday I realized it was going to be questionable whether or not I would be able to make it of the mountain for much longer, so I sought refuge in town. I went to Robin's house to grab a shower (they had watter but no power) then spent the rest of my day at the climbing gym (luckily the power was on in their part of town). Well, knowing I wasn't going home I decided to get good and drunk last night and rely on my friends for a place to stay (I was already stuck in town, i might as well get drunk was the logic I was using). Anyway, the power is still out at my place, and will be until tonight. I'm just thankful that robin has let me chill here at his house, even while he takes his girlfriend to the airport. Basically, I might be out of touch for a while.
Now for the real reason for this post. Drew, I've already read a book this year. That's right, Joaq 1, Drew 0 :). I know I'm going to loose this race so I have to gloat while I can.
EDIT: Still no power, staying at a hotel. Life is surreal.
Now for the real reason for this post. Drew, I've already read a book this year. That's right, Joaq 1, Drew 0 :). I know I'm going to loose this race so I have to gloat while I can.
EDIT: Still no power, staying at a hotel. Life is surreal.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Brazil II - The Tourist Days
My first few days in Maceió were amazing and really touristy. After raging the buffet and getting settled into our rooms, Sunya and I went back to meet up with Trevor and Tyler. We met up around 10:00 am and spent the rest of the morning tossing on the beach and swimming in the warm ocean water (it was my first time being around warm ocean water, and it was amazing). After finally accepting we were in brazil, we decided to get lunch and a nap before evening pick-up (yeah, there was international beach pickup, under lights, on the arena fields. Well, some teams didn't participate and instead just practiced, but we all know that's lame).
So, we hit up the local fare (burger/sandwich-y things with mayo) and parted ways for some (barely)afternoon napping. Well, I hit the bed around 11:45 and read maybe 10 pages of my book before passing out hard. So, how the hotel we were in worked was, you had to slide the key into this port thing in the room for the electricity in your room to work (well, luckily, the mini-fridge was exempt from this rule). Anyway, I wanted the electricity for the air-conditioner while I was napping, so I had the key in the room. Apparently, at some point in the afternoon my roommate wanted to get some things, but couldn't because I slept through him banging on the door for like 15 minutes. My plan was to be woken up for some beach chillin' before evening pickup, but that never materialized. Luckily, I woke up just as one of my teammates (with a bike) was leaving for the pickup/scrmmages. It was on the way there that I realized there are lights all along the beach-front at night. Also along the beach there is a bike/skate park, volleyball courts, basketball courts, and three soccer pitches (two of which had sand trucked into them so they could become beach ultimate pitches).
We got to the fields just as Switzerland was wrapping up beating GB for the second time (apparently Switzerland, GB, and us were playing a round robin with games to three and a three wins and your out rule). Well, after Switzerland beat GB we were up to play them. I jumped in on the first point (a D point) rocking a sunburn and some sweet DTB shorts. We wound up getting the turn and I went deep and caught a sweet huck from Kenbrah. We didn't get the second break in a row, but we managed to score our O point without turns, then get a break to win the game. This brought us to what our leadership (who was present at the time) built up as the important game of the night. Apparently us loosing to them with our skeleton squad was unacceptable, and we needed to lay the hammer down. Well, we didn't quite shut them out, but we did get one break so we won 3-1 having started on O (I'd like to think my showing up made the difference, but I actually think it was just our team respecting them and deciding to really play). After beating the Swiss we took care of GB again then called it a night (in terms of ultimate).
After playing we headed across the street to one of those all you can eat meat places and gorged ourselves on some delicious food. Brazilian all you can eat restaurants are super sweet. How it goes down is you hit up the buffet for some appetizers, then the waiters start coming around with different cuts of meat on these huge skewers and you just say if you want some. When you do they cut you some meat and there you have it. It was also at this dinner that I was introduced to the Brazilian national drink, the Caipirinha (fermented sugar cane with limes and lots of sugar). After dinner I was once again exhausted, and didn't make it out the the clubs that night, instead retiring early with my book for a good night's sleep.
The next day was awesome. We got up at a reasonable hour, hit up the breakfast then made our way out to the reef on a sweet $7.50 a person boat tour. What happens is you head out to the reef area where all these boar tour boats park and snorkel around with the option of ordering food and drinks from the kitchen boat. Now, these boats aren't motorized, actually there really rickety little sailboats, and the experience is awesome. Our boat tour lasted al morning and involved a lot of waist deep tossing with Grant from L&C. One of the best parts of doing the reef thing was spending time together as a team. I think hanging out together was more valuable than playing together could be. We acted like a team all week, it didn't matter how much we had played together, just that we all got along and gelled well socially.
After the boat tour we had a really low key day hanging out at the hotel, going to the grocery store, and the flea market thing. After lazing about all day we hit up the little burger place next to the hotel for dinner before going to the opening ceremony. The opening ceremony was really nice, all the different countries marched through with their flags and formed a huge circle. The TD then gave a speech, and finally it turned into a party. There were frisbee drinking games being played on the beach stadium pitches, and Michele (of Paganello fame) played songs for the crowd. I think the music played until around 1:00, then got some food with J9 (this was probably the best food I had the whole trip, and only because we just asked for the same thing as what the locals just got). Well, we got back to the hotel around 1:45 to get some sleep before our 10:00 am game with Ireland.
Well, that does it for the pre tournament festivities and posts, I'll get to posting about the games soon, and by soon, I definitely mean there will be less time between this post and the next.
So, we hit up the local fare (burger/sandwich-y things with mayo) and parted ways for some (barely)afternoon napping. Well, I hit the bed around 11:45 and read maybe 10 pages of my book before passing out hard. So, how the hotel we were in worked was, you had to slide the key into this port thing in the room for the electricity in your room to work (well, luckily, the mini-fridge was exempt from this rule). Anyway, I wanted the electricity for the air-conditioner while I was napping, so I had the key in the room. Apparently, at some point in the afternoon my roommate wanted to get some things, but couldn't because I slept through him banging on the door for like 15 minutes. My plan was to be woken up for some beach chillin' before evening pickup, but that never materialized. Luckily, I woke up just as one of my teammates (with a bike) was leaving for the pickup/scrmmages. It was on the way there that I realized there are lights all along the beach-front at night. Also along the beach there is a bike/skate park, volleyball courts, basketball courts, and three soccer pitches (two of which had sand trucked into them so they could become beach ultimate pitches).
We got to the fields just as Switzerland was wrapping up beating GB for the second time (apparently Switzerland, GB, and us were playing a round robin with games to three and a three wins and your out rule). Well, after Switzerland beat GB we were up to play them. I jumped in on the first point (a D point) rocking a sunburn and some sweet DTB shorts. We wound up getting the turn and I went deep and caught a sweet huck from Kenbrah. We didn't get the second break in a row, but we managed to score our O point without turns, then get a break to win the game. This brought us to what our leadership (who was present at the time) built up as the important game of the night. Apparently us loosing to them with our skeleton squad was unacceptable, and we needed to lay the hammer down. Well, we didn't quite shut them out, but we did get one break so we won 3-1 having started on O (I'd like to think my showing up made the difference, but I actually think it was just our team respecting them and deciding to really play). After beating the Swiss we took care of GB again then called it a night (in terms of ultimate).
After playing we headed across the street to one of those all you can eat meat places and gorged ourselves on some delicious food. Brazilian all you can eat restaurants are super sweet. How it goes down is you hit up the buffet for some appetizers, then the waiters start coming around with different cuts of meat on these huge skewers and you just say if you want some. When you do they cut you some meat and there you have it. It was also at this dinner that I was introduced to the Brazilian national drink, the Caipirinha (fermented sugar cane with limes and lots of sugar). After dinner I was once again exhausted, and didn't make it out the the clubs that night, instead retiring early with my book for a good night's sleep.
The next day was awesome. We got up at a reasonable hour, hit up the breakfast then made our way out to the reef on a sweet $7.50 a person boat tour. What happens is you head out to the reef area where all these boar tour boats park and snorkel around with the option of ordering food and drinks from the kitchen boat. Now, these boats aren't motorized, actually there really rickety little sailboats, and the experience is awesome. Our boat tour lasted al morning and involved a lot of waist deep tossing with Grant from L&C. One of the best parts of doing the reef thing was spending time together as a team. I think hanging out together was more valuable than playing together could be. We acted like a team all week, it didn't matter how much we had played together, just that we all got along and gelled well socially.
After the boat tour we had a really low key day hanging out at the hotel, going to the grocery store, and the flea market thing. After lazing about all day we hit up the little burger place next to the hotel for dinner before going to the opening ceremony. The opening ceremony was really nice, all the different countries marched through with their flags and formed a huge circle. The TD then gave a speech, and finally it turned into a party. There were frisbee drinking games being played on the beach stadium pitches, and Michele (of Paganello fame) played songs for the crowd. I think the music played until around 1:00, then got some food with J9 (this was probably the best food I had the whole trip, and only because we just asked for the same thing as what the locals just got). Well, we got back to the hotel around 1:45 to get some sleep before our 10:00 am game with Ireland.
Well, that does it for the pre tournament festivities and posts, I'll get to posting about the games soon, and by soon, I definitely mean there will be less time between this post and the next.
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