New House, New Bed, New Roomie

Hey, back again. It’s been awhile again, I realize this and I am profoundly sorry, but we somehow continue to stay unbelievably busy even though we have no jobs. My respect continues to grow for those of you who hold down a daily grind and manage to participate in a life outside of work. I think you are talented and I’m proud of you.

We had a good weekend of handball come and go. ESV Weil am Rhein continues to climb the league ladder to the top. Despite only sporting 9 players and playing on the road we were able to dominate a game and come away with an easy victory 35-28. I played better, probably my best game of the year save the last 2 minutes. First 58 minutes I played good solid defense, scored a couple of fast break goals and a goal from the circle in half court offense and overall felt pretty good about myself and the team. Than I either missed or the goalie saved 4 shots all of which were no farther than 7 meters and at least half I was free for. Shot in the gut for my confidence and a great opportunity for my teammates to make fun of the American’s handball skills the whole ride home. Although, it’s not so bad when you don’t understand all they are saying. Regardless, we are now 3-3, win streak of 2, 6th in the league and we play at home this weekend. TV Grenzach managed to go on the road without two of their better, more experienced players due to injury, and snare a win from a team near the top of their league. Jen felt really good about her defense, said she played very comfortably, yet aggressively. Also felt like she played well on offense, creating for her teammates and even earning a couple of 7 meters. She wasn’t able to put one in but she did not take many shots and she was able to contribute in every other aspect of the game. They also play at home this weekend and are looking to garner another 2 points (it’s Europe style scoring, instead of going off of record, they go off of points which they get from your record, whatever). Neither one of us has been home for a month so we are pretty excited to play in front of the home crowd.

We enjoyed a big first in our relationship this last week. We officially have our first bedroom set together. The best part of the whole deal is that my teammates spoke amongst themselves and decided to use some team money to buy it for us (we couldn’t afford it). So not only do I think they like me, but we also got the set at no cost to us other than a little manual labor, which I will gladly do for free stuff anytime (I’ll be home for 2 weeks over Christmas if you need a laborer). The second best part being the set contained a real bed; we have been sleeping on a couch for the last four months and for those of you who do not know us, we are not small people (combined height over 12 ft, combined weight around 400), hence, this has been very uncomfortable. The last two nights have been amazing, I can lay my legs straight and I don’t have to worry about falling off. The third best part is that by the time I have a job my dress clothes may have a fighting chance at becoming unwrinkled since they are now hanging in a closet and not folded up in my bag. Needless to say Jen and I are very thankful to my teammates and friends and are very happy and excited to own and be able to use our own furniture. The last best part was that we were able to put together the 20+ piece 8 X 8 X 3 ft closet thingy all by ourselves without directions and without wanting to kill each other. We are steadily progressing in this relationship thing.

We also entered my favorite time of year during the last week. And not because the end of fall is beautiful, or because I like the cold or winter. I don’t like fall and trees changing colors doesn’t do it for me, I hate the cold and the snow, unless I have a 4-Wheel Drive vehicle or a sled and I have neither. No, the reason this time of year is my favorite is because starting with Halloween, there is an exciting event that occurs on average about once a week until January comes. We kick it off with back-to-back great days. First, Halloween, which stunk this year, no candy, no dressing up and no college parties, but still it’s Halloween and it’s great. Second, November first brings about NO-SHAVE NOVEMBER, and considering I don’t have a job that makes me shave at the moment so I figured I would take the opportunity to participate. The beard will bring warmth (not much, admittedly), and save me time in the morning and money in the store, both of which I have little of. It’s a win-win. Than comes Thanksgiving and than my birthday and than Christmas time and family and than New Years and friends. Not to mention the World Series, both football season’s in full gear, NASCAR races are exciting to ready about (Newman!) and college basketball begins soon with the Jayhawks on the top of the totem poll. What’s not to like? (Other than the weather). I got a feeling things are gonna swing my way the next two months and I am pretty excited about it.

Onwards; we have quite possibly moved in with the best roommate ever. She cooks, she cleans, she plays PS2 and she speaks English. She’s like having two Jen’s around the house, it’s working out really well for me. She is from Hungary and she is blunt, but honest and she has a very good sense of humor and she is easy going. 2 things put her over the top though; 1. She makes fresh coffee, all the time, whenever we want it and it’s phenomenal. Espresso, Coffee, Milk-Coffee, whatever you like. 2. She is not a native English speaker (it’s her third language so far and she is working on her German), but she has thick skin, so she has agreed to let us write down all of the funny things she says and perhaps share them with you. She is a riot as is but when you throw in the lost in translation effect, things get outta control and I find that enjoyable. As I am writing this, the thought occurred to me you may smile and even chuckle when you read the funny quotes but you won’t have been there and therefore you will never be able to enjoy these situations as much as we do. This has made me rethink even sharing them with you. To be continued…..

In other news, Jen has officially received the invite to join the Junior National Team going to Poland in 10 days. This is very exciting news for us, especially for her (I won’t be going on the trip) and she is thrilled to meet all the new faces and players from the States. She is hoping to be able to provide good leadership for the young ones and the experience that comes from playing in previous International Matches and Tournaments. She knows how important it was for me to have players like Mark Ortega, Gary Hines and Adam Elzoghby provide leadership and experience on my first trip this summer and she looks forward to filling that role for the relative newcomers making this trip. The trip will consist of 8 days of practices (2 per day most days) and games against the Junior Teams from Poland, Norway and the Check Republic. It will be another good learning experience for Jen and a chance to showcase the progress she has made in the short time we have spent over here.

In other handball news, Mark Ortega played in his first game for his new team Pulheimer SC last weekend. Pulheimer SC plays in the Oberliga, the 4th Division in the D-Land. He saw around 25 minutes of pt, scored 3 goals, and all-around felt pretty good about his contributions, especially on the defensive end. He was very excited to play again following the lay off after his knee surgery, which he said felt fine. He is hoping to get more pt this weekend. Gary Hines has continued to dominate his league, playing for DJK Waldbuettelbrunn. From what I can gather he is averaging 10+ goals a game and is well on his way to earning his second straight MVP. His team is 3-3 in the league I think. Here are the websites to both of their teams, http://www.psc-handball.de (mark) and www.djk-waldbuettelbrunn.de/ (Gary), good luck navigating your way through them. Unfortunately, I do not have information for anybody else off hand and for that I am sorry.

We just had amazing burgers and fries, cooked by yours truly, with our roomie and her boyfriend. It is Saturday afternoon, which means it is time for us to prepare for our games. Catch ya later.