More fun in weeks 8 & 9
Trip Start
May 26, 2008
1
9
14
Trip End
Oct 01, 2008
Munich,
Germany
Monday, July 28, 2008
First off, softball has been going well. We played our last in-season game last Thursday and we won, so we secured 2nd place in the league. This is good for us, because now we play the 3rd place team from the north league. It's a best of five series to find out who goes to the championship. Another good thing is that we play the first two games away. That means that by the time we play the next game(s) at home, we'll finally have dugouts! I never quite realized until I came here how spoiled I was at the UofR. Here we have to set up dugouts (we put up tents and set up benches), set up the fence, do the field, set up concessions. It's not all that hard if everyone helps out, but MAN, did I have it easy before!
Anyhoo, that ended our regular season. Yesterday, Saturday, we played the best team from Austria. They placed 4th in the European cup last year (the number one teams from each country-- Germany, Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, etc-- from the previous year play in an international tournament.) So, they were good. And they had better be good, because they had about 5 Americans in their starting infield. We only had two and still held them to 2-1 our first game against them. Missy pitched, and the only hits they got were bunts. We had a rally one inning, but a couple of errors killed us, and they scored two. The second game was a run rule... I think our German pitchers might have been a little intimidated. And they had me for a catcher because all of our real catchers were either hurt, tired or hung over. Marin-- I could have used you.
On the other side of the city on Saturday, Ryan's team was playing their last regular-season games. They played a good team and struggled with pitching so they didn't win, but that's ok because they have more games. The good thing was, Ryan got to play! Their catcher was tired and a little beat up, so Ryan got to play (and show them his stuff.) From what he told me, he played well for not picking up a bat for a few months. Unfortunately, that was his last game of this season, but maybe now they'll REALLY want him to come back. : )
So baseball and softball are going relatively well for us Americans over here. Other than that, Ryan and I haven't had that many days where we both had off. I still have a couple of fun stories:
-One day last week, Ryan and I walked over to the lake by our place and sat on a park bench to read. When you picture it, you're probably thinking of an old couple... but really, we were playing with an I Spy book that Ryan brought from home.
-For dinner one night, Ryan made some delicious chicken with a really good sauce. I gobbled down my first wing, but it wasn't until I looked at the second that I noticed... It still had feathers! So, I plucked the two or three tiny feathers out and finished my meal.
-Ryan and I went to a fair that was held in Gauting, the town his team plays in. Besides the beer and donuts, the best part of the festival was definitely the school band that was playing the "Tequila" song when we walked up. That, or the booth that was surrounded by teenagers where you could send secret messages to people.
-On Friday, Ryan, some of his players and I went to a really nice lake near Gauting. It's called Lake Starnberger. This is actually a famous lake. If you read my stories from Salzburg, I talked about visiting Neuschwanstein Castle-- the castle that Disney designed his after. King Ludwig II, who commissioned the castle, mysteriously "drowned" in Lake Starnberger. The lake only went up to my shoulders. Questionable.
That's all of the stories I have for now! I'll keep you updated better now. This weekend my team plays the 3rd place team from the north, and I hope we win both! Hope all is well, and I will talk to you soon!
PS
Here's a website to see some pictures from our games against Dornbirn, the Austrian team: http://sports.webshots.com/album/564542776qBUTIm
Comments
Sharx...
I used to play for the Sharx in my day. I would have loved to play but I would have been torn being that the Sharx is one of my teams.
Glad to hear you're having fun!!
Sharx...
I used to play for the Sharx in my day. I would have loved to play but I would have been torn being that the Sharx is one of my teams.
Glad to hear you're having fun!!