A Down Day

Today was an off day, so I went to the gym to flush out the lactic acid from yesterday's oh-so-strenuous labor, and then I did some scrapbooking. Around 2:00, Jimmy and Lina came to the apartment and we all ventured into town to enjoy an afternoon drink. There are so many kinds of drinks--it's a little overwhelming! I went with a standard cider. There was a market set up in the square so we did a little browsing. It was a very relaxing day.

I had some time to reflect on yesterday's practice and my conversations with my teammates. While on the run yesterday, I talked to Anjelica, a 23 year old student, and she was very curious about America. She had been to NYC and was VERY impressed by all of the big buildings and lights. Most of the girls know friends who have au pair'ed (?) in the US. It's pretty incredible how pervasive the American influence is. With respect to softball, they basically hand over the keys to us and rely on our knowledge to advance the club. They ask us for new drills and want us to come up with practice plans. I'll be going to practice an hour early to work with two of the younger pitchers. I don't know how much English they understand (since they haven't learned as much English in school), but I do a lot of demonstrations. It is fun to have a purpose this summer--to not only win games but also to better the program.

Earning my keep

Diane and I walked around the nearby lake at 10:00 am while the baseball guys worked out and had a good chance to get to know each other. It was so beautiful that I have to share another picture.

At 11:00, we, along with 6 other teammates, got put to work! We walked into the ice hockey arena and saw the floor was made of 4’x 4’ wood jigsaw flooring pieces, and our task was to remove them all and stack them in crates. THE WHOLE FLOOR!!! And the pieces were just heavy enough and just awkward enough to be too much for one person, so Diane and I used the buddy system to lift and stack. The Skovde team agreed to move the flooring in exchange for the city's funding for new batting cages near the field. Dad, I’m sure you’re thinking “wimp” in your head, and yes, I know you did manual labor every summer on the farm, but you coddled me too much when I was growing up, so this was hard! Aside from one ice cream break, we worked pretty steadily until 3:00. With our fingers blistered, backs broken, and quads burning from the squatting, we were happy to sit at lunch and eat delicious Swedish…calzones (?). I’m still waiting for some meatballs! Here are some photos of our labor from start to finish! I'll definitely sleep easy tonight. And good news--we are getting bikes! 

 

Green, green, green

Today was an off-day until 4:30 when I went with Lina to Gothenburg to pick up the other American softball player, Diane, from the airport. It is about a 2 hour drive, and these pictures just don't do the scenery justice. The whole drive is soooooo incredibly green that I could look out the window the whole 4 hours, which I basically did. It was good bonding time and we listened to mostly American music along the way. Of course, "Call Me Maybe" came on the radio several times, leading to several discussions about the Harvard baseball video.

 

Major find of the day: my all-time favorite candy from my first Euro trip--MALTESERS (really good Whoppers). You can see that John Harvard really enjoyed them. This also shows my first attempt at drawing the church in downtown Skovde. Many more to come I'm sure. Bed time now! 

"I Work Out"

Before I begin, I want to say that I will try to keep my posts short and hopefully interesting. I’ll try to have a theme for each day, so if you have suggestions, email me! (rachelbrown03@gmail.com)

So for today…I was very active. Here is my day, broken down by workouts.

1.       10:00 am—a trip to the baseball fields with Jimmy, Juha and Gabe. I threw the baseball a little and even hit a round of baseballs. Not bad for 6 years off of hitting!

2.       2:00 pm—after lunch at Prima (kabob sandwich!), I went to the nearby gym for a workout. Cardio, cardio, cardio, and stretching. One great upside of graduation is no more summer workout manuals that include squats, hang cleans and chin ups.

3.       5:00 pm—MY FIRST PRACTICE! There were around 10 girls there, and ages ranged from 15-35 or so. We started with agilities, then did batting stations (yes, I will get to hit this summer, and I will probably be pretty good on the team!!), and then I pitched some. I got to help one of the younger girls learn to pitch. I learned how to say “Good job” in Swedish: “Bra jobbat.” But it sounds like “Brrrrah yo-baht.” We finished practice by running about 2 miles around a gorgeous lake. I will definitely make it back there on an off day to sit by the water and maybe sketch or paint. I also got my Skovde Saints warm up suit (pictured below). I’d say I look pretty official.

At the fields in the morning for baseball practice. (This is the softball field, though).

I'm a Saint! (And you can see I decorated my room with some photos today).

A Day in Photos

Home, sweet home.

I decided to go for a walk and explore my surroundings in the morning. I walked for a long time trying to find the softball fields and got somewhat lost, but I was reminded of a favorite quote of mine: "Not all who wander are lost."

Finally, I made it to the softball field! Success! The outfield was being used for a HUGE soccer tournament. There were thousands of people both on these fields and on fields right beside this.

On my way home, I tried stopping at the grocery store to pick up breakfast and lunch foods, but as you can see above, it was a little overwhelming. Food doesn't look the same. I walked around in circles for a while before settling on bread, apples and yogurt. Oh, and nectar of the gods diet coke. It didn't really taste the same so I don't think I'll get that again.

I included this picture from the super market trip because it was by far the strangest thing I've seen in a grocery store. It looks like Bacon in a tube...

Around noon, two baseball players, Jimmy and Yuha, came to 'the dungeon' and offered to walk Gabe (the American baseball player) and me around downtown. We stopped for a drink, or 'breakfast' as Jimmy referred to it, and then walked to the other end of town to eat at the sponsoring restaurant, Prima. Good pizza, burgers and salads.

At 6:00 pm, it was still so gorgeous out that I went for another walk with my nice camera. There was a cute pond nearby and a cemetery that reminded me of the Secret Garden.

Another gorgeous location. I finished up the walk around 8 pm, but it was still light out. Even as I write this at 10:30pm, there is still light coming in my window. I'm so exhausted both from travel and the walking that I'm going to watch some NCAA softball and fall asleep. Good first full day!

I made it!

I've arrived in Sweden! I left Boston at 9 pm on May 25, had a layover in Iceland and arrived in Sweden at 12:45 pm. Two of my teammates, Lina and Molin, picked me up at the Stockholm airport and we drove the 4 1/2 hours back to Skovde. I have a sneaking suspicion that I may be an illegal Swedish visitor since I never was directed through customs, and by the time I was in the car, it was too late to go back...Adventure number 1?

I moved into my apartment, affectionately dubbed "the Dungeon" by the softball and baseball teams because it is a basement apartment. My room is small, but there is a kitchenette and common space with couches and a TV. Cool discovery--the WiFi in the apartment allows me to iMessage my friends and I can still play Scramble with Friends! Lina picked me up just before 9 pm to go over to another teammate's house to watch a popular European show, Eurovision. It was the finale where every country has a representative, and one of the greatest ones was the Russian group. Here is a youtube link. Sweden ended up winning, so Sweden will host the contest next year. I headed home around 12:30 and could barely keep my eyes open. Headed to sleep now while watching the South Florida/Hofstra Super Regional game. I have tomorrow off, so I'll explore a little bit, hit up the sponsoring restaurant, Prima, and get my bearings.

Hej hej! (Bye, I think)