Saturday, May 17, 2008
Game Day #1
womeneagles.com has an update report of our game results today.
it was a rainy and cool day for rugby, which is the weather for Amsterdam so we weren't to surprised. we ended the day as the top seed, out of 4 pools of 5 going into tomorrows tournament. we are looking forward to tomorrow, playing with each other for each other.
from the Women 7's Eagles
it was a rainy and cool day for rugby, which is the weather for Amsterdam so we weren't to surprised. we ended the day as the top seed, out of 4 pools of 5 going into tomorrows tournament. we are looking forward to tomorrow, playing with each other for each other.
from the Women 7's Eagles
Friday, May 16, 2008
Tired and Happy on Tour
We started Thursday tired of the same breakfast and well...tired in general. But we fueled up with the same healthly food we ate yesterday and had a good, intense practice. We scrimmaged and had the traditional "Coke vs. Pepsi" game. The "Coke" team are the seasoned and wise older players. While the raw young talent make up the "Pepsi" team. We won't talk about the results out of respect for our elders.
We took the afternoon off to recover mentally and physically. We did alot of eating and sleeping. The team then met for a an egg toss in the courtyard. The goal of this competition was to reconnect as a team and have some fun before another team meeting and serious rugby talk.
Today we are off sight seeing and deepening our team cohesion. All is well in Amsterdam!!
Christy
We took the afternoon off to recover mentally and physically. We did alot of eating and sleeping. The team then met for a an egg toss in the courtyard. The goal of this competition was to reconnect as a team and have some fun before another team meeting and serious rugby talk.
Today we are off sight seeing and deepening our team cohesion. All is well in Amsterdam!!
Christy
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Day 5: It's a small world after all
We had several goals starting this trip. One of which was to find the high school sweetheart of our head coach , Jules. She last had contact with the elusive sweetheart five years ago when she received an email from him stating that he now was living in Amsterdam and working for a multinational oil company. And when she found out that she was coming to Amsterdam she tried to locate the elusive sweet heart herself, using all of her technological expertise. She failed as you may have guessed. So she gave this task to the computer generation.
At the US Consulate, she asked the Vice Consul of Immigration and American Services if he knew all the Americans in Amsterdam because she was looking for her elusive high school sweetheart. Just so you know her sweetheart has a very unique first and last name, which are being hidden to protect the innocent. The Vice Consul said he knew a lot of Americans but could not divulge that information to protect the innocent again.
A few nights later, Ines, our resident people finder/cyberstalker decided to take on the task. With about 30 seconds, which included turning the computer on, she found the elusive sweetheart, pictures, phone number, email, and children's name. Wow, Google really is amazing. When asked again Julie steadfastly denied the allegations that she had spent no time looking for the elusive high school sweetheart. She has now spent the last 45 minutes talking to the elusive high school sweetheart who turns out to be a baseball coach in the Netherlands. It turns out both coach non traditional sports in their countries of residence.
Soulmates or not you decide. Task accomplished
Half of the Tulip Crew
At the US Consulate, she asked the Vice Consul of Immigration and American Services if he knew all the Americans in Amsterdam because she was looking for her elusive high school sweetheart. Just so you know her sweetheart has a very unique first and last name, which are being hidden to protect the innocent. The Vice Consul said he knew a lot of Americans but could not divulge that information to protect the innocent again.
A few nights later, Ines, our resident people finder/cyberstalker decided to take on the task. With about 30 seconds, which included turning the computer on, she found the elusive sweetheart, pictures, phone number, email, and children's name. Wow, Google really is amazing. When asked again Julie steadfastly denied the allegations that she had spent no time looking for the elusive high school sweetheart. She has now spent the last 45 minutes talking to the elusive high school sweetheart who turns out to be a baseball coach in the Netherlands. It turns out both coach non traditional sports in their countries of residence.
Soulmates or not you decide. Task accomplished
Half of the Tulip Crew
Wednesday's Adventure to the Tulips
After practice yesterday, seven of us (Stacy, Sadeana, Chris, Tyshawn, Lindsey, JoAnn, Melissa) set out to see the tulips since they will shortly be cut and sent all around the world. We had plans to take a 45 minute bus ride outside of Amsterdam, but were lead astray by the 192 bus driver. After a 10 minute bus ride he told us to get off. He forgot to mention to us the that all the other buses were on strike. So we set out on an adventure to see a nearby garden, which a local directed us to after informing us of the strike. Instead of seeing tulips or a garden, we ended up in a quaint little town where we took a tour of a windmill and had a nice dinner. On our way back to the Tulip Inn Hotel, Tyshawn decided to walk to the next bus stop and ended up getting on a bus going in the opposite direction just as the rest of the group was passing on the other bus. Luckily she has a good sense of direction and quickly noticed she was going the wrong way...making it back to the hotel shortly after 8pm. We wrapped the day up with a team video session and talking about our offensive system.
Another great day in Amsterdam!
Melissa
Another great day in Amsterdam!
Melissa
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Wednesday
Today was another beautiful day with perfect rugby weather in Amsterdam. The picture above was taken on Monday morning during our first training session at the practice fields. We spent the morning working on our offensive system. It was a long practice this morning that lasted a few hours, but we got the afternoon to do whatever we wanted which was much needed since we've been working really hard since we have been here. Things looked like they were coming together by the end of practice, so we went into the rest of the day feeling pretty good.
The team broke into two groups for the afternoon. Some set off to see the tulip fields...however the bus drivers were on strike and sent that group off with wrong directions and they ended up at some wind mill museum. The rest of us stayed around the hotel and entertained ourselves with top model photo shoots, getting to know you games, and a walk around the local neighborhood we are staying in. The afternoon off was nice as we go into a scrimmage against Brazil first thing tomorrow morning...speaking of which, it's late and this little wing's off to bed.
Good night,
SBJ
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Monday, again
Monday, apparently I was tired from our two practices, and passed out before I could manage to post my blog. And then I couldn't figure out how to do the blog. So, this is for Monday.
Like I said, Monday we had two practices- our only day scheduled to do that. We did lots of contact work which of course was loads of fun, but the most fun of the day was hanging out at lunch. We were at the top of the bleachers from which we could see the semi-pro Amsterdam Pirates as well as the not-as-pro mini Pirates who were very precious. We enjoyed playing the Whose Line Is It Anyway prop game (where you act out as many things as you can think of with the props given) with our Body Blades. A team favorite was Ines using them to try to fly… Hopefully we can get a video of that.
Basically, Monday was a great day to start off the week, both in terms of rugby and having a good time off the pitch!
-Jessica
Like I said, Monday we had two practices- our only day scheduled to do that. We did lots of contact work which of course was loads of fun, but the most fun of the day was hanging out at lunch. We were at the top of the bleachers from which we could see the semi-pro Amsterdam Pirates as well as the not-as-pro mini Pirates who were very precious. We enjoyed playing the Whose Line Is It Anyway prop game (where you act out as many things as you can think of with the props given) with our Body Blades. A team favorite was Ines using them to try to fly… Hopefully we can get a video of that.
Basically, Monday was a great day to start off the week, both in terms of rugby and having a good time off the pitch!
-Jessica
Day 3
Today was an "easy" day because we only had practice for 2 hours and 30 minutes and we had relatively no contact. Compared to yesterday's tackling and scrumming practice for 4 plus hours I was ecstatic to have the afternoon to roam about the city. Well, not really roam but we did venture out to the American Consulate and the Van Gogh Museum as a team. The Van Gogh Museum was beautiful and full of fascinating information. Following our visit to Van Gogh we ate dinner as a team at a Middle Eastern restaurant. This was the first time many of the players were truly full. Well, everyone except for Drew who thought the food was a "tad bit spicy." Soooooo, after a long day practicing and experiencing the city, we ended the evening with a quick video and air your pet peeves session.
Lindsey
Lindsey
Monday, May 12, 2008
Video of the Day: Amsterdam Day Two
Late last night, after our room was nicely tucked into our cots, there came a tap tap tapping at the door. Who should it be but our trusty manager, Sadeana Greene, carrying a rather large periwinkle plastic "thing". That "thing" turned out to be an inflatable rucking pad. I was given the instruction "That has to be blown up for practice tomorrow". Early this morning, being the thinker that I am, I tried (in vain) to blow it up using a handpump. Needless to say, that didn't really work. We decided that the best thing to do was to split up the project between the four of us since it might kill one person to do it on her own. This video chronicles what ensued...
Enjoy, Ines
Enjoy, Ines
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Day 1: From home to Amsterdam
36 hours and counting
It's 11pm in Amsterdam on Mother's Day. Yesterday, I woke up after 5am with a laundry list of things to do before I left for the airport later that afternoon: Pay bills, go to the post office, pack my second bag of civilian clothing. Fast forward to later in the day, I met Jo and Phaidra at LaGuardia. Flew to Boston where we met Christy, SBJ, Stacy, and Mike. A bland "lactose free" meal of chicken, rice, and vegetables, along with cheddar cheese and crackers awaited me. The flight was uneventful.
Shortly after 8:00am we landed in Amsterdam. Upon arrival, I discovered Lindsey made the flight too. Most of us collected our baggage, except for Stacy. Her main bag with kit, clothing etc. was lost in transit. Making our way to the hotel via train, tram, and foot was a testament to our "effort" and "endurance." Since we arrived early, we could not check into the hotel until mid afternoon. We left our bags and headed back to the tram to head into the city for some food and sightseeing. Teena joined us. The group left the hotel moments before she arrived. But she was able to catch up and met us at the tram.
We were tourists for a bit: starting at the DAM, making our way to New Market, the Red Light district for lunch- this was an accident- followed by a very quick tour of Rembrandt Huis, and then back to the hotel for practice.
Back at the hotel more of the tour party arrived: Sadeana, Jess, Melissa, Ines, Chris, and Drew. By the end of practice we were complete, Jules and Ellie were the last to arrive.
There was dinner, curry chicken mostly and some beef. Stories were shared. Jess has learned about nenehs, bunnies, smartasses, and biggins. There was a team meeting and now it's time for bed. I didn't sleep much on the plane. So I've been up for 36 hours more or less. Although, this has been one of the longest first days of a tour, I'm really excited to be here.
Good night,
Tyshawn
It's 11pm in Amsterdam on Mother's Day. Yesterday, I woke up after 5am with a laundry list of things to do before I left for the airport later that afternoon: Pay bills, go to the post office, pack my second bag of civilian clothing. Fast forward to later in the day, I met Jo and Phaidra at LaGuardia. Flew to Boston where we met Christy, SBJ, Stacy, and Mike. A bland "lactose free" meal of chicken, rice, and vegetables, along with cheddar cheese and crackers awaited me. The flight was uneventful.
Shortly after 8:00am we landed in Amsterdam. Upon arrival, I discovered Lindsey made the flight too. Most of us collected our baggage, except for Stacy. Her main bag with kit, clothing etc. was lost in transit. Making our way to the hotel via train, tram, and foot was a testament to our "effort" and "endurance." Since we arrived early, we could not check into the hotel until mid afternoon. We left our bags and headed back to the tram to head into the city for some food and sightseeing. Teena joined us. The group left the hotel moments before she arrived. But she was able to catch up and met us at the tram.
We were tourists for a bit: starting at the DAM, making our way to New Market, the Red Light district for lunch- this was an accident- followed by a very quick tour of Rembrandt Huis, and then back to the hotel for practice.
Back at the hotel more of the tour party arrived: Sadeana, Jess, Melissa, Ines, Chris, and Drew. By the end of practice we were complete, Jules and Ellie were the last to arrive.
There was dinner, curry chicken mostly and some beef. Stories were shared. Jess has learned about nenehs, bunnies, smartasses, and biggins. There was a team meeting and now it's time for bed. I didn't sleep much on the plane. So I've been up for 36 hours more or less. Although, this has been one of the longest first days of a tour, I'm really excited to be here.
Good night,
Tyshawn
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