Alright, everyone, we're on Tuesday. Because I was missing two days of practice with TDR in Paris, I had to run twice on my own there, each time for an hour. Of course, anyone could figure out that sending me for an hour long run by myself in Paris was not a good idea. Erik had brought his roller blades with him though, so at 8:00 on Tuesday morning we went out in Paris; him with his roller blades and me with my running shoes. Just running through the streets of the city at that time of the morning was fun, because it was like the city was just waking up. There were all these moms dragging their little kids to school, people walking in business suits, and street sweepers. The street was busy, but it still was somehow quiet everywhere. We first ran in one direction along the Seine, and then after half an hour turned and ran in the other direction. But, since I'm me, nothing works out the way it supposed to (not that things don't work out, they do, just not usually the way they're supposed to). Right at the beginning of the run when we got to the river we decided to go down so that we could run right next to it. I didn't even think of it, and left poor Erik way behind trying to make his way down the completely rough cobblestones on his rollerblades. After about five minutes I realized that there was no way he could rollerblade there, and that was probably why he wasn't with me anymore. I turned around and ran back the way I had come but... surprise, he wasn't there anymore. I ran back and forth for about five minutes and finally found him again at the end. There were definitely a few minutes though were I thought to myself, "Okay, so I'm in the middle of Paris, alone." That didn't last long though, and the rest of the run was so beautiful. On the way there the Eiffel Tower was in front of me, and on the way back the sun was rising over the city and all the bridges on the river.
Tuesday morning, and every morning after that, we met for breakfast around 9:30 in the downstairs apartment. Every morning someone would by regular croissants and then croissants with pieces of chocolate inside. We were in France, eating croissants and drinking coffee with the Louvre right outside our door. Besides the coffee drinking and croissant eating, there was also quite a bit of discussing what we were going to do that day. When the discussing was finished it ended up decided that we were going to see Notre Dame in the morning.
We walked (prepare yourselves, I'm going to say "we walked" a lot in this novel about Paris) to the church and went inside, of course it was incredibly beautiful. I was a little bit disappointed by the outside because I was expecting there to be huge gargoyles all around like in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" but you could hardly see the gargoyles, they were so high up. Inside was absolutely beautiful though, walking into a church like that makes me understand why the churches were able to hold so much power over people back in those days. If you're living in a time with no machinery and technology, but you sit and listen to a preacher in a building like Notre Dame every week, then I think it's impossible not to believe in a higher power.
After Notre Dame we went shopping, though there really is not much to tell about that, because I learned a Dutch saying about shopping. The saying is, "kijka, kijka, niet kopa." That means, "look, look, don't buy." Generally, I wouldn't really agree with that, I'm definitely the buying type of girl. But new money comes at the beginning of the month, and it is the end of the October...
What's the first thing you think of when you think of Paris? The Eiffel Tower (for me at least). On Tuesday night we went to the Eiffel Tower after dinner. It was just starting to get dark when we got there, and there were lots of people everywhere. In front of the tower are tons of immigrants with these cheap metal Eiffel Tower keychains that they're trying to sell to everyone. These guys would seriously come up to you and grab your arm, or call your name if they heard someone else saying it. And they're so desperate just to sell something that when people bargain with them they sell their things for almost nothing. Anyway, we waited in line for a super long time. I was so scared, because I thought we were going to have to walk up the stairs inside of it... I hate walking up high places with open stairs. Instead though, we went in the elevator first to the second level, and then all the way up to the top. Which, the eleveator was also incredibly scary, but I survived. Looking down from the top of the Eiffel Tower you could see so much of Paris, and all these lights from the city everywhere. If you stood outside it was pretty scary because there was a lot of wind and you felt like you were swaying, so mostly I stayed inside and looked out from the glass. And, fun fact, there's a bathroom at the top of the Eiffel Tower for people like me who always have to pee in impossible places. But isn't that crazy? I used the bathroom at the top of the Eiffel Tower!
Look forward to the following chapter of my Paris novel!
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Saturday, October 24, 2009
*Paris: Chapter One*
From Spooner, WI:
One and a half hours in the car will bring you to Duluth or Eau Claire. Christmas shopping, anyone? In two and a half hours you can get to Minneapolis. There's the airport there, so you can fly away to Sweden, or Florida, or The Netherlands. Or, you can go to America's biggest shopping mall. You can go to a water park, you can go to the Children's theatre, or to an art museum. You can go to Ikea! Four and a half hours in the car will bring you about to Houghton, Michigan, to Green Bay, or to Madison. In Houghton we can cross country ski if there's not enough snow in Wisconsin. Of course the Packers are in Green Bay, and Madison is Madison- the capital of Wisconsin, home to the Wisconsin Badgers, delicious bagels, and state street. Nine hours in the car will bring you to Kansas City, Missouri. There're Grandma and Grandpa, good Thanksgiving meals, and ideal Christmas shopping.
From Spooner, WI:
Eight hours on a plane will bring you to Iceland, then another two hours will bring you to Sweden. Three hours on a plane will bring you to New York, and then another seven hours to Switzerland, another hour to Holland. Three hours on a plane will bring you to Florida.
From Akersloot:
5 minutes by car will take you the Uitgeest train station. 30 minutes by train brings you to Amsterdam central station. Then 4 hours on a super speed train brings you right to Paris.
Just a little bit more than two months ago, I was in Spooner. In four hours I could have gone to Minneapolis and almost all the way back, to Houghton to visit Jess and Seth, to Madison, or halfway to Kansas City. But last Monday, four hours took me to Paris. There's so many times since I've been here that I feel like Dorothy from Wizard of Oz. At the part where she looks down at Toto and goes, "Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." Going to Paris was definitely one of those moments, and being in Paris, it was like that the entire week.
Last Monday morning our train left from Amsterdam Central at 8:30 in the the morning, by 1:00 in the afternoon we were at our apartments right by the Louvre in Paris. Just walking in the metro station in Paris is something new. Everything is dirty and smells bad. But walking right through all the gross dirt, and right past the drugged out homeless people sleeping on benches are some of the most glamorous people that you've ever seen. The station was really close by our apartment, so we walked there from the station with our suitcases. Milja's sister Marja and her family got there right when we did, so that made nine of us. Milja, Taiana, Milja's friend Peter, Taiana's friend Esmee, me, Marja, her husband Erik, their daughter Adrienne who is twelve, and their youngest daughter Joleen who is nine. The apartments weren't ready for us yet, so we left all of our suitcases and things there and then walked to the Arc de Triumph. Which is... well, an arc of triumph. It was a pretty long walk to get there, and on the way we stopped and had crepes from a stand. I had mine with chocolate, what else? They were amazing. Once we got to the Arc de Triumphe we had to climb a lot of stairs to the top. At the top though you could see all over Paris, we saw Notre Dame, and the Eiffel Tower, and the street that had followed all the way there. We spent quite a bit of time on the top, and then took our time walking back to the hotel.
Okay, chapter one is over now, because we're eating dinner. Hopefully chapter two will be a little bit longer. We don't want more than say... five chapters in this novel!
One and a half hours in the car will bring you to Duluth or Eau Claire. Christmas shopping, anyone? In two and a half hours you can get to Minneapolis. There's the airport there, so you can fly away to Sweden, or Florida, or The Netherlands. Or, you can go to America's biggest shopping mall. You can go to a water park, you can go to the Children's theatre, or to an art museum. You can go to Ikea! Four and a half hours in the car will bring you about to Houghton, Michigan, to Green Bay, or to Madison. In Houghton we can cross country ski if there's not enough snow in Wisconsin. Of course the Packers are in Green Bay, and Madison is Madison- the capital of Wisconsin, home to the Wisconsin Badgers, delicious bagels, and state street. Nine hours in the car will bring you to Kansas City, Missouri. There're Grandma and Grandpa, good Thanksgiving meals, and ideal Christmas shopping.
From Spooner, WI:
Eight hours on a plane will bring you to Iceland, then another two hours will bring you to Sweden. Three hours on a plane will bring you to New York, and then another seven hours to Switzerland, another hour to Holland. Three hours on a plane will bring you to Florida.
From Akersloot:
5 minutes by car will take you the Uitgeest train station. 30 minutes by train brings you to Amsterdam central station. Then 4 hours on a super speed train brings you right to Paris.
Just a little bit more than two months ago, I was in Spooner. In four hours I could have gone to Minneapolis and almost all the way back, to Houghton to visit Jess and Seth, to Madison, or halfway to Kansas City. But last Monday, four hours took me to Paris. There's so many times since I've been here that I feel like Dorothy from Wizard of Oz. At the part where she looks down at Toto and goes, "Toto, I have a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore." Going to Paris was definitely one of those moments, and being in Paris, it was like that the entire week.
Last Monday morning our train left from Amsterdam Central at 8:30 in the the morning, by 1:00 in the afternoon we were at our apartments right by the Louvre in Paris. Just walking in the metro station in Paris is something new. Everything is dirty and smells bad. But walking right through all the gross dirt, and right past the drugged out homeless people sleeping on benches are some of the most glamorous people that you've ever seen. The station was really close by our apartment, so we walked there from the station with our suitcases. Milja's sister Marja and her family got there right when we did, so that made nine of us. Milja, Taiana, Milja's friend Peter, Taiana's friend Esmee, me, Marja, her husband Erik, their daughter Adrienne who is twelve, and their youngest daughter Joleen who is nine. The apartments weren't ready for us yet, so we left all of our suitcases and things there and then walked to the Arc de Triumph. Which is... well, an arc of triumph. It was a pretty long walk to get there, and on the way we stopped and had crepes from a stand. I had mine with chocolate, what else? They were amazing. Once we got to the Arc de Triumphe we had to climb a lot of stairs to the top. At the top though you could see all over Paris, we saw Notre Dame, and the Eiffel Tower, and the street that had followed all the way there. We spent quite a bit of time on the top, and then took our time walking back to the hotel.
Okay, chapter one is over now, because we're eating dinner. Hopefully chapter two will be a little bit longer. We don't want more than say... five chapters in this novel!
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Another Novel...
I have to start with what I can remember from this week, it doesn't feel like very much!
On Tuesdays we have a different trainer than usual, and he does a lot of stretching type of exercises with us for the first hour of practice before we run. Then he always tells us the long Latin medical terms for the muscles we're strengthening- not that I can ever remember any of them. This Tuesday we did all sorts of the stretching exercises with these huge metal bullets. Squats, arm circles, stretches, everything. I definitely felt it the next day. After we did the first hour or warming up our work out was 2x2400 meters. As if that's not hard enough by itself, we were supposed to start with a 100 second lap, then do a 96 second lap, a 92 second lap, 88 seconds, 84 seconds, 80 seconds. That didn't happen! I tried though, but once I fall far enough behind, it's hard to keep up with the times, or even close to them. I'm hoping that in a few months I can keep up better.
Wednesday: I remember now! Milja and I got up at 6:30, and drove to her office in Amsterdam, because I had to take the PSAT's at the International School of Amsterdam at 8:30. We were a little bit early, so we walked through Milja's office and I met some of her co-workers. Everyone was nice, and said nice things about my Dutch, though I think a lot of times people just pretend to understand me when they actually don't. Her office there is really big and fancy, with a big reception desk, and a nice coffee room with twenty different kinds of tea that you can choose from. We drank coffee at her office, and then drove to the International School. It was neat just walking into the school because there were all these little preschoolers there with their rich parents from all over the world.
There were probably about 40 kids taking the PSAT's, and I didn't get a chance to talk to very many of them, but everyone spoke perfect English, without a accent at all. I think a lot of the kids who go to there are only living in the Netherlands for a couple years or so, and their parents are working here temporarily. The test went okay, I think. The reading comprehension parts weren't very hard, and the most of the math sections were okay, it's just that there wasn't very much time.
Taking the test felt weird, because being here, it feels like college is incredibly far away. And here I was taking a test that has to do with going to college. I don't want to think about that yet! When I come home I want to be home for a while, and not think about leaving again. We had to write down what we want to major in at college on the test. What is that all about? I'm only sixteen, I don't know what I want to do with the whole rest of my life!
Thursday I had to go to school again, but my first hour of class was canceled, so I got to stay home for a little bit longer. School was fine, same old, same old. Then practice which was at the fitness center again, so that's always hard, but a good workout.
Friday, again school. It got shortened quite a bit though, so we all got to go home around 2:00. It was lucky, I don't know if I could have made it much longer. Kind of like when you have to do push ups for a certain amount of time and you know that you're super close to being done so it just gets harder and harder. That's how school was getting. But now we have fall vacation for one week. School starts really early in the fall here, and ends really late in the summer, but they have way more vacation time than we do at home. There's this vacation that we have in the fall, then we get two weeks for Christmas. In February we get one week, then there's an Easter break, and I think we get another week in May. It will be hard though when it's the middle of June and I'm still sitting in school.
Friday night Taiana had to work, but after she got done she came back home and got me, and I went with her and one of her friends to this bar in a nearby town. A lot of her friends from work were there, and it was fun to go out and to meet them. But don't worry, I was a responsible drinker!
Saturday morning I woke up and went to the gym. Surprise, Jim from the gym was there! He talked to me for a little bit when I was biking. He was just asking me things about football games, and my school at home, and all of that. Of course, because I was speaking English, everyone else in the gym was looking at us too. I'm starting to get used to that by now though, whenever I'm in school people are always looking at me, either because I'm speaking English, or because I speak Dutch so weird.
It's really nice at the gym here, it's a lot smaller than the one at home, but everyone who goes there knows each other and is always talking while they're working out. And every evening they do a fifteen minute ab workout session, so people just put their mats on the floor in the middle of all the weight lifting machines and we do abs together.
In the afternoon on Saturday, Peter and Milja had decided to take me around to some different tourist places. Originally we were going to go to the Anne Frank museum, but the tickets were sold out, so we have to go there some other time. Originally, I was also going to ask one of the other exchange students who live around here to come with me, but the girl I was going to ask was gone, and by the time I was got around to thinking about asking someone else it was a little bit too late, so the three of us just went together. The first place we went was to these old mills that are pretty close to Akersloot. You can go inside the mill and look at the places where people used to sleep, and then you can see the water churning underneath you from the mill moving. We also climbed up almost to the top of the mill, and saw how everything turned inside. I've always had a little bit of a fear of climbing up high places with open stairs, but I made it.
After the mills, we went to the "Zaanse Skaans" (or something like that... I think that's how it sounds, it's probably not how it's spelled). It was basically a bunch of streets of houses that are part of a town called Zaandem, but on the streets where we walked it is only old houses, and inside a lot of them there's museums. You can look across the water and see all of these house that people actually live in now. (Fun fact: the town of Zaandem is where the Dam tot Dam race I did a few weeks ago finished). Saturday night, Milja's parents came over, along with the friend of Milja whose class I went to visit, and her daughter came over for dinner. Nasi (fried rice, meat, and vegetables) for dinner, and tiramisu for dessert.
This morning after coffee, a bread roll, and some yogurt, I went out the door to bike to the place where I always meet my coach on Sunday mornings so he can drive me to the dune training. There's all these hedges around the yard of our house, and then there's a really narrow little path that goes out to the road with a sharp turn at the end. Taiana can always go through the path on her bike, and lately I've gotten pretty good at it too. I would say about fifty percent of the time I can make it to the end and around the corner. Milja has gotten used to how entertaining it is the other fifty percent though, so usually she sits at the table and watches me bike away. Today, unfortunately, was one of the other fifty percent days. Except today, instead of just having to stop and walk the rest of the way, I went right into the bushes and tipped over. Milja, being as nice as she is, ran out to make sure I was okay, and picked up my bike. She saw the whole thing of course. Embarrassing moment (not that I don't have a lot of those every day)!
The last thing that we had to do for our workout at practice today was a two kilometer tempo run (that's what the coach said. I'm pretty sure it was more like three though). Usually, there's at least one person that I can keep in sight when we go for a longer hard run, but today the girl I might have been able to almost keep up with was hurt, so I was on my own. They gave me super clear instructions for which way to go though, and I kept the other runners in sight for about half the way. Somehow, right when I should have been about done, I realized that I was not where I was supposed to be. About ten minutes later, I did end up back where we had started, but coming from the complete other direction than I was supposed to. Everyone else was looking the other way all expectantly, but I came up right behind them. The thing is, I know I was going the right way! I don't know how I ended up in the wrong place... But hey, I got my two kilometers in.
Oh gosh, this got really long again. I'm going to start working on writing shorter blogs more often. Then it won't take an hour to read what I write, or to write it. We'll see how that works out.
Tot volgende week!
xoxo
P.S. Get ready for a blog about Paris. We leave tomorrow morning!
On Tuesdays we have a different trainer than usual, and he does a lot of stretching type of exercises with us for the first hour of practice before we run. Then he always tells us the long Latin medical terms for the muscles we're strengthening- not that I can ever remember any of them. This Tuesday we did all sorts of the stretching exercises with these huge metal bullets. Squats, arm circles, stretches, everything. I definitely felt it the next day. After we did the first hour or warming up our work out was 2x2400 meters. As if that's not hard enough by itself, we were supposed to start with a 100 second lap, then do a 96 second lap, a 92 second lap, 88 seconds, 84 seconds, 80 seconds. That didn't happen! I tried though, but once I fall far enough behind, it's hard to keep up with the times, or even close to them. I'm hoping that in a few months I can keep up better.
Wednesday: I remember now! Milja and I got up at 6:30, and drove to her office in Amsterdam, because I had to take the PSAT's at the International School of Amsterdam at 8:30. We were a little bit early, so we walked through Milja's office and I met some of her co-workers. Everyone was nice, and said nice things about my Dutch, though I think a lot of times people just pretend to understand me when they actually don't. Her office there is really big and fancy, with a big reception desk, and a nice coffee room with twenty different kinds of tea that you can choose from. We drank coffee at her office, and then drove to the International School. It was neat just walking into the school because there were all these little preschoolers there with their rich parents from all over the world.
There were probably about 40 kids taking the PSAT's, and I didn't get a chance to talk to very many of them, but everyone spoke perfect English, without a accent at all. I think a lot of the kids who go to there are only living in the Netherlands for a couple years or so, and their parents are working here temporarily. The test went okay, I think. The reading comprehension parts weren't very hard, and the most of the math sections were okay, it's just that there wasn't very much time.
Taking the test felt weird, because being here, it feels like college is incredibly far away. And here I was taking a test that has to do with going to college. I don't want to think about that yet! When I come home I want to be home for a while, and not think about leaving again. We had to write down what we want to major in at college on the test. What is that all about? I'm only sixteen, I don't know what I want to do with the whole rest of my life!
Thursday I had to go to school again, but my first hour of class was canceled, so I got to stay home for a little bit longer. School was fine, same old, same old. Then practice which was at the fitness center again, so that's always hard, but a good workout.
Friday, again school. It got shortened quite a bit though, so we all got to go home around 2:00. It was lucky, I don't know if I could have made it much longer. Kind of like when you have to do push ups for a certain amount of time and you know that you're super close to being done so it just gets harder and harder. That's how school was getting. But now we have fall vacation for one week. School starts really early in the fall here, and ends really late in the summer, but they have way more vacation time than we do at home. There's this vacation that we have in the fall, then we get two weeks for Christmas. In February we get one week, then there's an Easter break, and I think we get another week in May. It will be hard though when it's the middle of June and I'm still sitting in school.
Friday night Taiana had to work, but after she got done she came back home and got me, and I went with her and one of her friends to this bar in a nearby town. A lot of her friends from work were there, and it was fun to go out and to meet them. But don't worry, I was a responsible drinker!
Saturday morning I woke up and went to the gym. Surprise, Jim from the gym was there! He talked to me for a little bit when I was biking. He was just asking me things about football games, and my school at home, and all of that. Of course, because I was speaking English, everyone else in the gym was looking at us too. I'm starting to get used to that by now though, whenever I'm in school people are always looking at me, either because I'm speaking English, or because I speak Dutch so weird.
It's really nice at the gym here, it's a lot smaller than the one at home, but everyone who goes there knows each other and is always talking while they're working out. And every evening they do a fifteen minute ab workout session, so people just put their mats on the floor in the middle of all the weight lifting machines and we do abs together.
In the afternoon on Saturday, Peter and Milja had decided to take me around to some different tourist places. Originally we were going to go to the Anne Frank museum, but the tickets were sold out, so we have to go there some other time. Originally, I was also going to ask one of the other exchange students who live around here to come with me, but the girl I was going to ask was gone, and by the time I was got around to thinking about asking someone else it was a little bit too late, so the three of us just went together. The first place we went was to these old mills that are pretty close to Akersloot. You can go inside the mill and look at the places where people used to sleep, and then you can see the water churning underneath you from the mill moving. We also climbed up almost to the top of the mill, and saw how everything turned inside. I've always had a little bit of a fear of climbing up high places with open stairs, but I made it.
After the mills, we went to the "Zaanse Skaans" (or something like that... I think that's how it sounds, it's probably not how it's spelled). It was basically a bunch of streets of houses that are part of a town called Zaandem, but on the streets where we walked it is only old houses, and inside a lot of them there's museums. You can look across the water and see all of these house that people actually live in now. (Fun fact: the town of Zaandem is where the Dam tot Dam race I did a few weeks ago finished). Saturday night, Milja's parents came over, along with the friend of Milja whose class I went to visit, and her daughter came over for dinner. Nasi (fried rice, meat, and vegetables) for dinner, and tiramisu for dessert.
This morning after coffee, a bread roll, and some yogurt, I went out the door to bike to the place where I always meet my coach on Sunday mornings so he can drive me to the dune training. There's all these hedges around the yard of our house, and then there's a really narrow little path that goes out to the road with a sharp turn at the end. Taiana can always go through the path on her bike, and lately I've gotten pretty good at it too. I would say about fifty percent of the time I can make it to the end and around the corner. Milja has gotten used to how entertaining it is the other fifty percent though, so usually she sits at the table and watches me bike away. Today, unfortunately, was one of the other fifty percent days. Except today, instead of just having to stop and walk the rest of the way, I went right into the bushes and tipped over. Milja, being as nice as she is, ran out to make sure I was okay, and picked up my bike. She saw the whole thing of course. Embarrassing moment (not that I don't have a lot of those every day)!
The last thing that we had to do for our workout at practice today was a two kilometer tempo run (that's what the coach said. I'm pretty sure it was more like three though). Usually, there's at least one person that I can keep in sight when we go for a longer hard run, but today the girl I might have been able to almost keep up with was hurt, so I was on my own. They gave me super clear instructions for which way to go though, and I kept the other runners in sight for about half the way. Somehow, right when I should have been about done, I realized that I was not where I was supposed to be. About ten minutes later, I did end up back where we had started, but coming from the complete other direction than I was supposed to. Everyone else was looking the other way all expectantly, but I came up right behind them. The thing is, I know I was going the right way! I don't know how I ended up in the wrong place... But hey, I got my two kilometers in.
Oh gosh, this got really long again. I'm going to start working on writing shorter blogs more often. Then it won't take an hour to read what I write, or to write it. We'll see how that works out.
Tot volgende week!
xoxo
P.S. Get ready for a blog about Paris. We leave tomorrow morning!
Saturday, October 10, 2009
This is real!
Yesterday, I did a four mile race in 28 minutes and 32 seconds. The first Dutch man to finish raced a time of 18 minutes and 41 seconds. So approximately... ten minutes faster than my time. Incidentally, this is the same man who brought me my race number and chip (which I somehow managed to drop in a soaking wet parking lot on Thursday night) so that I could do the race. The reason he had my information is because he lives at the race headquarters of Team Distance Runners. Is everyone understanding this? I'm training with the same organization as a man who runs a sub 19 minutes four mile time! There are runners with this organization that are national champions and European championship finalists. Every time I think that I can't be any more impressed, something more impressive comes along.
These athletes run in zones, they drink protein shakes, and time their laps. They keep training logs, keep track of their goals, meet with their coaches, and so much more. Every minute I spend with the runners and the coaches of Team Distance Runners I learn something new.
Yesterday, before our race, we went to a meeting for "invited athletes" or all of the top of athletes at the Groninge race. A group of African runners walked right by us to get to the front, and when the meeting started they were introduced. They all had olympic places, world championship places, or they held some sort of record. From the minute I walked into the room for the meeting, until the minute the race started, the same thought was going through my head, "How did I end up on this team?"
The race yesterday had 16,000 people and we were the very first ones to start. The runners from our team were all packed in at the starting line with the professional runners, and we went out right with the first gun. No one was wearing spandex under running uniforms, or long pants, like we do at home when we race cross country. All of us wore tank tops and short spandex shorts, but because we warmed up so well, it wasn't at all cold at the beginning.
It started so fast, I was supposed to keep up with two of the girls from our team. One of the girls took off right away, and I stayed close enough to the other girl that I could see her for maybe half the race, but then she was gone too. The whole time I was running as hard as I could and people were flying by me like I was standing still. It was fun though, with lots of music, and people cheering, and so many fast runners.
After the race I stood around and froze for a while because there was a total mess of people and trucks everywhere, and I had absolutely no idea where to go. Also, instead of the long pants and long sleeved shirt I would usually wear, I was wearing that skimpy little spandex outfit which made it extra cold (though, I have to admit, it probably did make me go faster- I felt way more intense). I wandered around for a little bit, and then found some of the other people from the team. Finally one of the coaches found my clothes, and then put one of the guys on the team in charge of walking me back to the hotel where our cars were parked. The poor guy was probably just wondering how he got stuck babysitting the clueless American girl, but he was friendly anyway. The long walk back to the hotel wasn't bad, because Groninge is a beautiful city. We walked over all sorts of bridges, there were house boats in the canals, and the leaves are just starting to turn here.
Once we finally got back to the hotel, everyone wanted a shower, but they wouldn't let us in to take one. In the end, the coaches finally bought two hotel rooms for us to shower in, but that whole process took a while. Then, we drove to this absolutely enor
mous Chinese restuarant. Let me tell you, I don't think I've ever been somewhere with that much food that I wanted to eat. The dinner was a buffet. And there was a sushi bar, a stir fry bar, and (get this): a chocolate fountain. We sat at the restuarant for three hours, and I ate so much food. The food was great, but most of all it was nice to sit with the other girls from the team and just to talk. I know enough Dutch by now that when they have a conversation I can understand enough not to feel left out.
Sunday was the kind of day that for a while makes me feel confident that I can stay here and be happy for a whole year. It doesn't make me miss anyone at home any less, but it makes me feel like I belong here too. Sunday night when I was sitting there, completely stuffed with chocolate and sushi, it felt a lot like the weekends we spend at home during the ski season or the evenings after a cross country meet. It was familiar, but different too. I never would have dreamt that I was going to come here and find a running team like Team Distance Runners, and that I would get to be a part of a team like this. There's been so many moments when I'm with the team, and actually all over here when I just have to stop for a moment and think, "I'm really here, this is actually happening to me."
To sum it all up, this was a good week. There were the regular moments when I felt frustrated and stupid (for example, how did I lose my racing chip five minutes after walking out of a meeting about dedication and focus?). Before this week though, every time something frustrating like that would happen, I would start to be homesick right away. Something about this week was different, I'm not really sure what, but it can only be good. I can never tell, maybe two weeks from now I'll be more homesick than I've been before. For now though, we'll count it as a step in the right direction.
Slaap lekker!
xoxo
These athletes run in zones, they drink protein shakes, and time their laps. They keep training logs, keep track of their goals, meet with their coaches, and so much more. Every minute I spend with the runners and the coaches of Team Distance Runners I learn something new.
Yesterday, before our race, we went to a meeting for "invited athletes" or all of the top of athletes at the Groninge race. A group of African runners walked right by us to get to the front, and when the meeting started they were introduced. They all had olympic places, world championship places, or they held some sort of record. From the minute I walked into the room for the meeting, until the minute the race started, the same thought was going through my head, "How did I end up on this team?"
The race yesterday had 16,000 people and we were the very first ones to start. The runners from our team were all packed in at the starting line with the professional runners, and we went out right with the first gun. No one was wearing spandex under running uniforms, or long pants, like we do at home when we race cross country. All of us wore tank tops and short spandex shorts, but because we warmed up so well, it wasn't at all cold at the beginning.
It started so fast, I was supposed to keep up with two of the girls from our team. One of the girls took off right away, and I stayed close enough to the other girl that I could see her for maybe half the race, but then she was gone too. The whole time I was running as hard as I could and people were flying by me like I was standing still. It was fun though, with lots of music, and people cheering, and so many fast runners.
After the race I stood around and froze for a while because there was a total mess of people and trucks everywhere, and I had absolutely no idea where to go. Also, instead of the long pants and long sleeved shirt I would usually wear, I was wearing that skimpy little spandex outfit which made it extra cold (though, I have to admit, it probably did make me go faster- I felt way more intense). I wandered around for a little bit, and then found some of the other people from the team. Finally one of the coaches found my clothes, and then put one of the guys on the team in charge of walking me back to the hotel where our cars were parked. The poor guy was probably just wondering how he got stuck babysitting the clueless American girl, but he was friendly anyway. The long walk back to the hotel wasn't bad, because Groninge is a beautiful city. We walked over all sorts of bridges, there were house boats in the canals, and the leaves are just starting to turn here.
Once we finally got back to the hotel, everyone wanted a shower, but they wouldn't let us in to take one. In the end, the coaches finally bought two hotel rooms for us to shower in, but that whole process took a while. Then, we drove to this absolutely enor
mous Chinese restuarant. Let me tell you, I don't think I've ever been somewhere with that much food that I wanted to eat. The dinner was a buffet. And there was a sushi bar, a stir fry bar, and (get this): a chocolate fountain. We sat at the restuarant for three hours, and I ate so much food. The food was great, but most of all it was nice to sit with the other girls from the team and just to talk. I know enough Dutch by now that when they have a conversation I can understand enough not to feel left out.Sunday was the kind of day that for a while makes me feel confident that I can stay here and be happy for a whole year. It doesn't make me miss anyone at home any less, but it makes me feel like I belong here too. Sunday night when I was sitting there, completely stuffed with chocolate and sushi, it felt a lot like the weekends we spend at home during the ski season or the evenings after a cross country meet. It was familiar, but different too. I never would have dreamt that I was going to come here and find a running team like Team Distance Runners, and that I would get to be a part of a team like this. There's been so many moments when I'm with the team, and actually all over here when I just have to stop for a moment and think, "I'm really here, this is actually happening to me."
To sum it all up, this was a good week. There were the regular moments when I felt frustrated and stupid (for example, how did I lose my racing chip five minutes after walking out of a meeting about dedication and focus?). Before this week though, every time something frustrating like that would happen, I would start to be homesick right away. Something about this week was different, I'm not really sure what, but it can only be good. I can never tell, maybe two weeks from now I'll be more homesick than I've been before. For now though, we'll count it as a step in the right direction.
Slaap lekker!
xoxo
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
I decide to play volleyball.
There's two girls I know that live really close to me in Akersloot. One of them is in my class, and I bike to school with her in the morning, and the other one is in my Spanish class. Actually, they're the girls I made cookies with last week; Annemarieke and Danique. Both of them play on a volleyball team in town, and they always talk about how much fun it is. The team only practices Monday nights for a couple of hours, and it only costs like five Euros per month. How could I resist?
So yesterday night at seven I went out in the rain, and biked to the gym in Akersloot. There were only like eight girls or something there, and a coach.
In case there's anyone reading this who doesn't know, I'm horrible at volleyball. Absolutely horrible, terrible, not good at all. Is that clear? But, on this team, I wasn't the worst. I felt like a volleyball pro or something, people kept telling me how good I was. After we played for an hour or so just with us, we played with the older ladies who actually have a pretty serious team.
The coach of their team came up to me and introduced himself. "Hello," he said. "I am Jon. I am a bitch." I really did not know what to say to that at all, so I just kind of nodded a little bit. Also, I couldn't talk, because I was trying not to laugh. I guess he didn't really understand that wasn't an appropriate thing to say the first time you meet someone.
Unfortunately, when we actually started playing with the other women, I wasn't all that good anymore. Whenever I hit the ball this one lady would say, "Well. At least you made a try." That doesn't sound very encouraging, does it?
And that's the end of my adventures with volleyball, though I guess there might be more to come.
A few of my friends at school have told me that I should play volleyball instead of run when I go back home. I don't think they understand that the Spooner Rails volleyball team probably wouldn't be very happy to have me. I'm probably more wanted on the cross-country team... so that's where I'm going to go. No worries, anyone!
So yesterday night at seven I went out in the rain, and biked to the gym in Akersloot. There were only like eight girls or something there, and a coach.
In case there's anyone reading this who doesn't know, I'm horrible at volleyball. Absolutely horrible, terrible, not good at all. Is that clear? But, on this team, I wasn't the worst. I felt like a volleyball pro or something, people kept telling me how good I was. After we played for an hour or so just with us, we played with the older ladies who actually have a pretty serious team.
The coach of their team came up to me and introduced himself. "Hello," he said. "I am Jon. I am a bitch." I really did not know what to say to that at all, so I just kind of nodded a little bit. Also, I couldn't talk, because I was trying not to laugh. I guess he didn't really understand that wasn't an appropriate thing to say the first time you meet someone.
Unfortunately, when we actually started playing with the other women, I wasn't all that good anymore. Whenever I hit the ball this one lady would say, "Well. At least you made a try." That doesn't sound very encouraging, does it?
And that's the end of my adventures with volleyball, though I guess there might be more to come.
A few of my friends at school have told me that I should play volleyball instead of run when I go back home. I don't think they understand that the Spooner Rails volleyball team probably wouldn't be very happy to have me. I'm probably more wanted on the cross-country team... so that's where I'm going to go. No worries, anyone!
Sunday, October 4, 2009
"Gefeliciteerd"
Saturday morning I was feeling pretty ambitious when I woke up, so I got right out of bed and put on my workout clothes. Once I actually had my workout clothes on, I didn't feel all that ambitious anymore. So then I ate breakfast, went on Facebook for a while, read through some of my PSAT material, went on Facebook again, checked my e-mail, and then finally went out the door and on my way to the fitness center. When I got there, it turned out that they were actually having an open house for their free trial of spinning classes that they're just getting there. Spinning class is one of those things that I've always thought sounds really hip and cool. Kind of like yoga, and pilates, and especially pole dancing classes (the kind for exercise!). And, since they didn't have any open fitness, it was the perfect opportunity for me to try spinning, just like I've always wanted. I guess though, that everyone else who was going to the free trial class had already done it. Leaving... only me. Luckily, the instructor is this really friendly guy (Jim from the gym), who always helps me when I go there. So, he did the lesson for me anyway. Spinning is just as hip and cool as I thought. You bike to the beat of the music that they play and there's three phases: climbing, speed, and jogging. I couldn't really tell the difference between the climbing and jogging phases, but the speed phase was not fun. Basically you start by pedaling as fast as you can, and at the end of it the bike is pretty much pedaling you, because your legs are going so fast and the pedals won't stop, and if you try to make them stop you would probably fall of the bike.
When I got home from the gym, Milja and I went to the grocery store, and Taiana and Peter went to Alkmaar to get Taiana some new pants. Then later in the afternoon, we all drove to Milja's sister's house for her niece's birthday party (she just turned nine). It was a family party, which I guess you always have for someone's birthday. Oh, I have to add that I drove to the party with Peter in this extremely cool car he got to use for the weekend. BMWz4, which doesn't mean anything to me, but maybe it will to someone who's reading this. I'll put a picture up here after we take one with it.
Today is Sunday, and I've decided that Sunday is officially one of my favorite days of the week. First of all I have the training in the dunes, which I think I've already mentioned that I love. Then in the afternoons, we almost always do something nice, and in the evenings we can just relax. Also there is this show called "Farmer Seeks Wife," about these farmers that are trying to find wives (obviously). It's funny though because it's not like any of the American reality shows. Half of the farmers are old and overweight, and the ones that aren't old and overweight aren't even remotely cute. Then women who want to try and be their wives write these letters, and the farmers pick the ones that they want on the show. Except some of the farmers only get ten letters or something. But anyway, then they do these dates and stuff with the farmers. Kind of like the Bachelor, except I don't think they make out with as many people. Anyway, the nice thing we did this afternoon was we went shopping in Alkmaar for a winter coat. That was fun, but it was so busy everywhere. I have a new coat now, though, which is lucky, because it's starting to get really cold here.
Ik mis jullie!
xoxo
When I got home from the gym, Milja and I went to the grocery store, and Taiana and Peter went to Alkmaar to get Taiana some new pants. Then later in the afternoon, we all drove to Milja's sister's house for her niece's birthday party (she just turned nine). It was a family party, which I guess you always have for someone's birthday. Oh, I have to add that I drove to the party with Peter in this extremely cool car he got to use for the weekend. BMWz4, which doesn't mean anything to me, but maybe it will to someone who's reading this. I'll put a picture up here after we take one with it.
Anyway, there was a ton of people at the party, most of them who I didn't know at all. The thing is, apparently at these parties, when you get there you have to walk around and say "gefeliciteerd" to everyone. Every single person who's there! It took Milja two times of telling me that I had to do this before I actually realized that I HAD to do it. Once I stumbled through this big long word about five times, it wasn't so bad, but it was scary at first. You all know I'm not really a shy person, but that's one of the big cultural differences that I've noticed. At home we are not as friendly to people when we first meet them, and here they are extremely friendly. When I think about it though, it's a lot nicer the way that they do it here. Within five minutes of a party, you've already said something to everyone, and the whole atmosphere is a lot nicer.
Today is Sunday, and I've decided that Sunday is officially one of my favorite days of the week. First of all I have the training in the dunes, which I think I've already mentioned that I love. Then in the afternoons, we almost always do something nice, and in the evenings we can just relax. Also there is this show called "Farmer Seeks Wife," about these farmers that are trying to find wives (obviously). It's funny though because it's not like any of the American reality shows. Half of the farmers are old and overweight, and the ones that aren't old and overweight aren't even remotely cute. Then women who want to try and be their wives write these letters, and the farmers pick the ones that they want on the show. Except some of the farmers only get ten letters or something. But anyway, then they do these dates and stuff with the farmers. Kind of like the Bachelor, except I don't think they make out with as many people. Anyway, the nice thing we did this afternoon was we went shopping in Alkmaar for a winter coat. That was fun, but it was so busy everywhere. I have a new coat now, though, which is lucky, because it's starting to get really cold here.
Ik mis jullie!
xoxo
Friday, October 2, 2009
Hmmmm...
I'm pretty sure this blog is supposed to be here so that everyone can read about my exciting life in the Netherlands and all the exciting things that I'm doing. I really am sorry to let you down, but between this Monday and today, I don't have anything all that exciting to write. It feels nice actually, that nothing all that exciting happened. Exciting things are good, but because there aren't any, it also feels sort of like I'm settling into life here. I'm used to going to school every day, so that isn't very exciting. I'm used to going to running practice, I'm used to the meals we eat (but, I'm still not so used to the cookies, candy, and desserts that I've stopped eating them all the time). Of course, everything I do here still feels different. But most things aren't scary, and I've gotten a lot of the "first time" things over with. For example, though, I still feel incredibly cool and European every time I ride my bike to school, or wear a scarf, or a pair of boots. The point is, I'm getting into a routine, and that's the sort of thing that makes me feel at home.
I did learn a few new things this week though. At running practice, I learned that the girls on the team stick together. If you start a work out with four people, you end the workout with four people. Even the girls who could run twice as fast as me if they wanted to will wait if we started the workout together. The miracle is, the fact that they're waiting for me makes me go so much faster than if they just left me behind. Also at running practice, I learned that the first time you do a circuit of 12x 30 second strength stations, it's not all that hard. But, the third time you do it it's very hard. (Brooke- they do box jumps on three foot high boxes!) And the build up run you go for after that is even harder. The coach always says to me "Kom op, Sofie!" Which is like "come on!" He's nice and helpful, and so are the other coaches. There's so many though, I don't know them all taht well.
At school, I learned that the girls here are really honest and upfront with each other. If someone asks a question about their hair, or the clothes their wearing then they give an honest answer. Or, if they don't like something that someone's doing, they just come right out and say this. I learned this while sitting through a twenty minute argument between some of the girls in this group project we're doing. It was so civilized though. Us girls at home mostly just role our eyes, and gossip about each other. But they just said everything they needed to say, and then the problem was completely fixed. Crazy how that works!
Okay, what else have I done this week? Hmmm...
On Friday I had two girls from my grade over to my house. We made chocolate chip cookies (everyone here wants to try American chocolate chip cookies), and then watched Never Been Kissed. It was a lot of fun, and the cookies were good, of course. I've decided I really shouldn't make any more American cookies though. If I'm going to consume that many calories, then I really should do it through Dutch food, and not American food. Personally, I think that pretty much any Dutch cookie is better than any American cookie. Any day!
I did learn a few new things this week though. At running practice, I learned that the girls on the team stick together. If you start a work out with four people, you end the workout with four people. Even the girls who could run twice as fast as me if they wanted to will wait if we started the workout together. The miracle is, the fact that they're waiting for me makes me go so much faster than if they just left me behind. Also at running practice, I learned that the first time you do a circuit of 12x 30 second strength stations, it's not all that hard. But, the third time you do it it's very hard. (Brooke- they do box jumps on three foot high boxes!) And the build up run you go for after that is even harder. The coach always says to me "Kom op, Sofie!" Which is like "come on!" He's nice and helpful, and so are the other coaches. There's so many though, I don't know them all taht well.
At school, I learned that the girls here are really honest and upfront with each other. If someone asks a question about their hair, or the clothes their wearing then they give an honest answer. Or, if they don't like something that someone's doing, they just come right out and say this. I learned this while sitting through a twenty minute argument between some of the girls in this group project we're doing. It was so civilized though. Us girls at home mostly just role our eyes, and gossip about each other. But they just said everything they needed to say, and then the problem was completely fixed. Crazy how that works!
Okay, what else have I done this week? Hmmm...
On Friday I had two girls from my grade over to my house. We made chocolate chip cookies (everyone here wants to try American chocolate chip cookies), and then watched Never Been Kissed. It was a lot of fun, and the cookies were good, of course. I've decided I really shouldn't make any more American cookies though. If I'm going to consume that many calories, then I really should do it through Dutch food, and not American food. Personally, I think that pretty much any Dutch cookie is better than any American cookie. Any day!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
