Pizza, Chilli, and Hide and Go Seek.

Last weekend Jackie and I decided to get out of the apartment and go to this restaurant called Pitta Pizza. As soon as we walked in the owner started talking with us and wondered where we were from. As soon as we said we were American he started making an American pizza and we could have whatever we wanted on it. Apparently the owner, Chris, lives 7 months out of the year in New Jersey where he has his own pizza chain called Chris' Pizza. He loves the US and he even had an American flag for us to use as our table decoration. Jackie and I went in for either gyros or pizza and we got both. They just started making gyros, pizza, fries, and kebabs. Everything tasted really well and the company was great. One of the workers there, George, talked with us for about two and a half hours while we ate. It was really entertaining. George even tried to read our verbal body language to see what we are all about. He was right about a few things but he thought I had a temper or that I should watch out for my temper in the future. So we will see if he is right. Anyways we will be back to Pitta Pizza soon.

Jackie, me, George, and Chris at Pitta Pizza.

On our day off on Sunday, Trent, Jackie, and I went to our coach Loizos house for dinner. Trent made me drive all the way to Paralimni although both Jackie and Trent did not make the trip very easy for me. They like to not tell me where to go and complain about my driving skills. I had to pull over and refuse to drive if they didn't tell me where to go. Finally they decided they wanted to eat so we were on our way. We did make it safe and sound as I am a much safer driver than Trent! When we got to Loizo's house we were treated to chili, corn bread, fries, and cookies. It is really nice to be able to spend time with Kendra (Loizos wife), Loizo, and their daughter Elainey. It is so nice of them to have us come and eat their great food and enjoy their company. After spending a few hours playing with Elainey and watching college basketball we decided to head back home and of course they made me drive again. Again no treat to drive with Trent and Jackie complaining all the time but we made it back again safely.

This weekend it was our roommate, Kalle's, birthday. Krista and Kalle made lots of food including potato salad, tuna bruschetta, a biscuit cake, and jello shots. We had dinner and then decided to go bowling for his birthday. So all of the roommates (all six of us) went to the bowling alley to see who was the best bowler. We bowled two games and Jackie came out on top. It was fun to do something together and to celebrate Kalle's birthday. After bowling we came back to the apartment and played a few games including hide and go seek and Jackie, Kalle and Krista also made a fort. Apparently when you turn 29 you can still play hide and go seek and build forts. Happy Birthday Kalle!

On the volleyball side of things, we have started our cup games and league playoffs. On Tuesday and Friday we played AEL for the cup championships. To move on to the finals you need to win more sets out of two matches. Unfortunately for our team we lost both matches in three so we are out of the cup. Next we have the league playoffs where we have to play AEL again so hopefully the third time is the charm. I am still enjoying practicing but I wish I could play.

Well I hope everyone is having a great time back home in the states. Stay tuned for another blog soon.

Carnival!

This past week it was Carnival here in Cyprus. It's similar to Halloween back home in that everyone dresses up in a costume. Our coach told us a lot of the guys will be dressed as women and he sure was right. There were a lot of times that I was not sure if it was a girl or a guy. The day of carnival fell on Valentine's Day, which was when Jackie and I decided to go on a date with a couple of American basketball players (Trent and Brandon) that play for our club team. We called it our "I love America" date and decided to go to an All-American place TGI-Fridays. It was pretty fun and nice to talk to other Americans. After dinner we decided to check out the crazy Cypriots all dressed up in downtown Larnaca. We saw a lot of things including a baby goat, a crazy Lebanese guy, many guys dressed in drag of course, a giant butterfly, the band KISS, and the Taliban. It was very entertaining to say the least and we took a lot of good pictures.

Me shooting up the Taliban.

Jackie, Brandon, Trent, and I on our "I Love America" date.

The next morning we had practice which was pretty difficult due to our late night. Practice was surprising since we only had 6 players and two of us can't even play in the matches. Oh well, the team won on Tuesday against the second to last place team. The match on Tuesday concluded the regular season so now up ahead are the cup championships and the league playoffs. The postseason here is a little different so I will try to explain it. There are the cup championships which the first round has already been played. It is like a bracket in that when you lose you are done. The top four teams in the league have all won so we are still in the cup. We have to play the second place team AEL two times, once at home and once at their place. Its basically the best of ten games so whoever has the most sets out of those two matches wins and moves on to the next round. So next Tuesday and Friday we play those matches.

Now for the league playoffs, this is really weird. So the top four teams play each other and the bottom four play each other. It goes all by points that have also been accumulated through out the league. Because we are the fourth place team we have no shot and winning the title because even if we win all our games the best we can do is fourth place. The way it is set up is so that there are to surprises for who wins the league playoffs. So the best we can do is shake up the top three teams and hope for third if we win all of our matches and they lose all of their matches. So it will be interesting to see what happens.

Some exciting news is that I just booked a trip to Athens, Greece in April. I am going by myself because Jackie has already been there and I found some cheap tickets. I may possibly meet up with Sherisa Livingston who used to play for the Badgers as she is playing on a professional team in Athens. Hopefully her team is still in the playoffs and she will still be there. Jackie and I are also thinking about taking a trip to Egypt to check out the pyramids. I have a few things to look forward to and see while I am here in Cyprus.

The weather is starting to warm up here, it was about 70 today and sunny. We went to the beach and went swimming. I am hoping for many more days as today. Well I think that is all for now. Stay warm and talk to you soon!

Clubbing and Barbecuing

After I left you last a few things have happened here in Cyprus. On Thursday night we decided to head to another city to watch to our roommate's boyfriend play his volleyball match. They were playing the first place team that included another American on the team. The gym was pretty packed to so it was cool to see a lot of fans having fun. The match ended up being pretty close going to five games. Josh played really well and basically shut down the American player so it was fun to watch. I got into the match and was yelling with the crowd "ANAGENESEE" or something like that. Even though it was a close match Josh's team did not win, but it was still a cool experience.

We had practice Friday night and Saturday morning. Our practices were fun but we only had about 6 or 7 at each practice so we only played triples or quads each practice. It's crazy that a lot of the locals just don't show up to practice. Oh well I still had a good time.

Saturday night we decided to venture out to the city center to see what the nightlife is like in Cyprus. I found out that all Cypriots wear black when they go out, the girls like 80's style hair, and middle schoolers also like to check out the clubs. The first club we went to it was 17 and older and it showed. I felt really old. Oh well, we found a way to still have fun. We decided to meet up with our teammate Chryso at another club called Geometry, although no learning was taking place at Geometry. My roommate Triin and I somehow got split up from Jackie and our other roommate Krista. Triin and I got in just fine however, Jackie and Krista did not have such luck. Jackie could not get in because she had "sportsman" shoes on. She had on chuck taylors and apparently they require some other form of footwear. Needless to say Jackie was not too happy so we decided to leave the math class and head home. Either way it was pretty fun to dance and just see what the nightlife is all about.

Jackie, Triin, Krista, and I at the club.

The next day we got up and decided to have a barbecue by the beach and this really scenic place called Cape Greco. Everyone who can cook prepared the food and we got in our tiny cars and went for a drive to Paralimni. As we got closer, the weather got worse and worse and it started to rain. Our great idea of a picnic was not as cool with the rain and cold weather. We did see some really cool scenic areas which I will show below. After we checked out Cape Greco we went to Josh's apartment to cook our meal. We borrowed a pretty nice grill from our coach and sat in Josh's freezing apartment. The food was really good but it was quite the experience.

Jackie and Triin cheering at the soccer game next to our sweet grill.

On Tuesday our team had a match against a bunch of 13-18 year olds and one 40 year old. I am not kidding. AEK played Grammar School and apparently they don't have any money to pay any professionals or get any locals above the age of 18. The scores were 25-8, 25-6, 25-9 and some of our younger kids came in the match and played. I guess next weeks match will not be much better than Grammar School so it should be interesting.

Today Jackie and I decided to take a super long walk to the city center and of course shop. We went to an Adidas outlet store but didn't have any luck. Hopefully there will be some good sales coming up. After shopping we decided to go to the cineplex and watch a movie. Our roomates Krista and Cullah went to see Avatar so Jackie and I had some time to kill at the theater before our movie, Up in the Air, started. There was a bowling alley there so we bowled one game, then ate at the KFC at the theater and then watched the movie. We had a pretty All-American day so we felt like we were back at home.

I hope you aren't too bored with all of my ranting. Stay warm and look for another blog next week!

Beach or Mountains?

After my first couple of days, the practices went well. After our Thurs, Fri, and Sat, practices we have some conditioning to do. All of it was fairly simple but it still made me sore which is good. It has been nice being able train for something and have some motivation to exercise. My teammates have been really nice and cool at practices. The locals are pretty funny in that they speak very loudly, laugh a lot, and are pretty goofy during practice. I just wish I knew what they were saying.

Anyways, after Saturday morning's practice we had off until practice on Monday night. On Sunday we decided that since it was a nice day we (Jackie, Josh, Triin, Trent, and the dogs) would drive to Limassol to either go to the Troodos Mountains or the beach. My vote was for the beach but I was in the other car without any say. So we ended up at the Mountains which was freezing and there was snow on the ground. I have only been here a week so I haven't been feeling that homesick to go and see snow. We got up most of the way to the top of the mountain and let the dogs out to relieve themselves, I got out and only had a t-shirt on so I put the beach towel around me to stay warm. Jackie, Trent (who is an American basketball player on our club team) decided to head back down and not see the summit. On our way down we found some waterfalls to look at. It was a pretty scary drive down there because a few times it looked like we can fall off the mountain in our tiny European car. We did make it safely and it turned out pretty cool. After the waterfall we went down the mountain to the city center of Limassol and walked around. We saw a bunch of cats again and Jackie's dog Sloan was messing with them. After walking around we decided to head back to Larnaca and have dinner.

Jackie, Trent and I at the waterfall.

Valley by the Troodos Mountains.

Trent, Jackie, and I went to this restaurant called Wanted Saloon which is owned by a woman from the US. I had a burger which tasted kind of like a gyro. I guess when they have burgers here they put the herbs from gyros on the burgers which makes them taste weird to me. After dinner Trent tossed me the keys and said I could drive home which I was excited about, at first. Then Jackie and Trent decided to have me try to get back to our apartment without any help from them. At the start of my little trip, I decided to take like four right turns in a row which was pretty dumb. Jackie and Trent had a good laugh at my expense. I did make it back safely by finding the grocery store, and the soccer stadium by our house.

On Monday we had practice and I found out that I am not able to play in the matches. Jackie and our team manager talked with USA volleyball and thought that maybe I wouldn't be considered a foreigner because I have not played any USAV and therefore not a member of USAV. We did get a letter from USAV saying I haven't played any so we were hopeful that it worked. However, the Cyprus Volleyball Federation said it wouldn't work in the middle of the season but it would work for the beginning of the season. So for the rest of the season I will just have to watch from the bleachers and cheer on AEK. Well that's it for now, hope everyone is staying warm back home. Will talk soon!