February 27, 2009 (Varese, Italy)
Ciao Tutti! Please, please, please forgive my lack of
correspondence—I’m learning how easy it is to feel completely absorbed in
living abroad! There are many lessons that I am taking away from this
experience both water polo related and not. But, before I get into that here is
a brief update on how the season is progressing.
Our team, Yamamay Varese, is currently tied with two other teams right in the
middle of the pack, making our next few games very important. For each win a
team earns three points, for a loss, zero, and for a tie, one. In the beginning
of April, the play-offs begin. The teams in the top half of the league (those
with the most points) will go to “play-off” for first place, those in the
bottom half with go to “play-out”, where a team can only place 6th-12th. This
system makes it extra-important for a team to accrue as many points as possible
during the regular season, so that team is not automatically denied an attempt
to win the league. Also, the team that loses the “play-out” can potentially be
knocked-down out of the first league for the next calendar year. As of now, our
team has taken two very good wins against closely matched teams in February,
and tomorrow’s game against Bologna
will be equally important. In March we will have our final four games before
the playoffs begin.
Water polo is continuing to go well, I’m enjoying playing and getting to know
my team better each week. In addition to getting used to the different styles
of play, the language, I’m finding that I am making life-long friends and
learning a bit about living somewhere so different from home. Sometimes feeling
like a true foreigner and being so far away from home can be utterly
discouraging and lonely, there were moments when I didn’t want to leave my
apartment because of how difficult it can be to find a place without asking for
directions (and then not understanding them).
Learning how to take the buses and trains was a challenge in the beginning, but
now I feel as though I really do have a firm grasp on how to get around, speak
to people in cafes, stores and restaurants, and find out what I need. In the
past I’ve spent a lot of time traveling and studying in Italy (since I
took the language in college and studied Art History, I was fortunate enough to
have the opportunity to come here for a few summers), I’ve seen many of the
major cities and loved them. Now I am really enjoying living in a small town,
getting familiar with the culture of life here as opposed to just the art and
history. My teammates fill me in on the musicians to listen to, the local spots
to see and all of the different holidays and festes. In fact, this weekend
there is a huge celebration in Varese
for Carnivale, so there have been little stands selling Halloween-like costumes
all week for the children to have a parade. Apparently different cities hold
their celebrations on various weekends throughout February, so I will have
plenty to report on next week! Ciao for now!!
=========================================================================
January 18, 2009 (Varese, Italy)
Ciao Tutti!! I’m sorry for the
delay since my previous entry, I hope I haven’t lost any followers. I’m just
wrapping up my first week back in Italia with the first “W” of the year!
Yesterday we played Messina Fontabla and finished victorious 11-7. The game got
off to a little bit of a rocky beginning—we were down 3-1 after the first
quarter. This I will attribute to a long winter break and recovery from the
long plane ride to
Europe, as well as a
million things that were done over the holidays: training, weddings, birthdays,
family gatherings, and trips from
Arizona-to-Michigan-to-Arizona-to-California-to-Italia! Whew, I’m surprised I
made it out alive! The highlight of being home was definitely my ability to
attend the weddings of two very dear friends, my former collegiate coach was
married on New Year’s Eve in Michigan, and then my teammate from these past two
years was married in California just last weekend!
It feels great to be back in
Italy—no doubt I was happy to be home, I ate burritos on multiple occasions and
when I was sick of Mexican food I filled up on peanut butter—two of the things
that I miss the most about home (not together obviously). But, now I am once
again treating myself to toasted paninis and delicious breakfast pastries on a
daily basis. Obviously more than the food has welcomed me back to
Europe, it was great to see all of my teammates again and
settle into my routine of training and game preparation. The next two games we
have will be in
Florence, one of which is
currently amongst the top-most teams in the league, many of these players we
faced this summer in our game against
Italy
in
Beijing. It
will be exciting to meet these players again under a different set of
circumstances, I’m very much looking forward to it.
My language skills are getting
warmed up again, I’m afraid I was a little timid after three weeks of only
English. I’ve actually found a language school in
Varese that offers “Italian for Strangers”,
so I am going to investigate this week. As I mentioned before, I can get by on
my own with what I know, but it would be nice to have an external force pushing
me along as well.
That’s all for now ragazzi, you can
expect more after next week’s game!! Ciaooo!
========================================================================
December 17, 2008 (Varese, Italy)
Three games down and one more to go until my team,
Yamamay-Varese, breaks for the holidays. Unfortunately we came up short this
Saturday, losing to Padova 10-7. Losing is never fun—no matter what—and
since it was the first loss I’m sure that’s
why it stings a little bit extra, but now it’s time to move forward and use
this week to prepare for our
final
game of the year against Ortigia—in Sicily!
I’m very happy to have had this past month or so here to adjust to the
lifestyle; when I return in January for the long stint, nothing will be a
surprise, I can pack a few extra sweaters, waterproof jackets, and boots (there
is seriously a massive amount of rain here) and make my master reading list.
The wet
days however haven’t stopped me from taking long walks, daily, throughout the
city. I’ve invested in a quality umbrella and have learned how to efficiently
dry my shoes and socks on top of the radiators. This week I moved into my own
apartment and now I live right in the center of the city. It’s about a ten-minute
trek to the pool, across the street from the super market, and surrounded by
dozens of little restaurants, cafes and pasticcerias—so everyday I embark on a
journey to find a new spot for a cappuccino and croissant, it’s been
marvelous!! My Italian continues to (slowly) improve, I’m trying to be really
diligent about expanding my vocabulary since I’ve found that I can get by
pretty easily with a slight mastery of several major verbs—so, instead of
plateau-ing I’m trying to keep up with conjugating the different tenses and
learning vocabulary that don’t have to do with food or the weather.
I also
learned a little bit about the various football (soccer) teams here in Italy,
which as everyone knows is an
obsession here—I’m looking forward to going to see Inter play in Milano, as I’m
told they are the best team by far (although I think my sources may be a little
biased). But, that will be one of the first things I do when I return after the
New Year, they will play Rome
at the end of January. Other than that, I’ve really just been allowing myself
to adjust to being here on this portion of the trip, and next year will hold
many adventures I’m sure, now that I know the ropes a little bit…ciao tutti!!
======================================================================
December 7, 2008 (Varese, Italy)
It’s been a little over one week now that I’ve been in Italy
and I think I’m adjusting well. There hasn’t been a day so far that I haven’t
had a delicious espresso, fresh mozzarella and prosciutto, or some kind of
miniature little pastry. Today as I was walking around my little
town—Varese—and I even stumbled upon a chocolate festival! Seriously, there was
chocolate of all shapes and sizes—spaghetti, salami, scissors, wrenches,
olives, and every Christmas figure imaginable. It was such a pleasant little surprise!
More
importantly water polo wise I’m enjoying it all very much. My trip over here
all happened so fast, I got an invitation to which couldn’t say no, and two
weeks later I was playing in my first game! But, getting over here required
uprooting me from my new job just as I was beginning to get used to being a
“proper adult”. Since I’ve arrived we’ve had two games and won them both—the
first against a team from Rome, and the second against Imperia. Both games were
close and seeing as how I just arrived, as you can understand, a little
chaotic. Playing with a completely new team is difficult, let along one that
you can speak with in your native language. My two years of studying Italian in
college are serving me very well, and now after a week and a half of practices
I’m feeling recovered from the jet-lag and getting used to the acoustics (once
again) of the indoor pools.
These
initial weeks will serve me very well, I get to go home for Christmas and
attend a few special weddings and then come back here in January for the
long-stay, through April or May depending on how my team does. It’s a little
lonely to be so far away as the holidays approach; it’s always a time of year
that I enjoy spending with my family and friends. But both Varese and Milan (a
very short trip by train or car) are decorated for the holidays with lights and
decorations all along the streets and shops so I feel like I’m getting into the
holiday spirit—I even “rented” a few movies from iTunes so I’ll light some
candles and make some cocoa for the hours that I’m not training.