we nearly went to oz today

So here we are in the desert, AZ, I seriously don't know how people live here - it's not even summer yet and it's like 40C it's insane. you could seriously get heat stroke walking to your car! today we played Stanford and lost by like 6 goals, had a good first and last 1/4 but were lackin in the middle a wee bit. Still though we're playing a lot better this week and it feels a lot better too, we're all on the same page and lovin eachother and it's sweet.

yesterday we beat san jose state so now we're goin to the 'ship! yay! we did it! after all the drama of this season we actually pulled through and have played a little bit like what we're capable of. it's really nice to know you're not as delluded as you sound : )

so today in the middle of our game we had to get out because there was a dust storm. it was pretty cool, half way through the 2nd it got really cloudy and everyone was stoked because there wasn't any more glare and anyways, but the sky went orange and i was like, is there a fire somewhere? because the air got plump like it was guna rain but it wasn't wet. so i didn't know. and then the refs said we had to get out for 1/2 an hour for it to pass. when we got back in the water was pretty gross and at the time it was all very dramatic. we had to go inside, we hung out in this random room that i called the bomb shelter : )

haha, above is ryan and right is me and kristen getting scared. lol, i got a fringe last week so now when my hair isn't done i look like joe dirt : ) haha!

um... I'm trying to think what else. Did I tell you we're going to nationals!!! woop woop!!

nearly done with school, just 1 day left. then it's finals time and then it's all over! and then we might go to world league in China or I might go home for a few months! either way I'll be SO stoked.

peace

Trade Winds

The other morning in practice, it was like 7something am and we were just sitting in the dive well passing the ball around, the air was quieter than usual and the sky really beautiful and clear, the sun just popping out over the bleachers, and it felt like summer is coming. For the first time since being here at this time of year, it feels like summer is in the air... yay!

School is nearly done, polo is nearly done for a wee while - just 3 more tournaments - conference, nationals and then the first round of world league in China. And then I have like a whole 5 weeks at home! home! yay! even though it will be winter and I'll have to find a job and won't have a car yay!

My cousin got engaged last weekend yay! I'm so excited for them! it cracks me up though because now tali is like my only close christian single friend so at the age of 22 i'm pretty much a spinster at church. I'm going to be the girl everyone feels sorry for and tries to set up on blind dates lol : )

I cut my hair and got a fringe. I like it, still not quite used to it but it's what I wanted and it'll grow and you only live once don't you : ) have been thinking lately that I sincerely hope that as I grow older, I get more adventurous and more open to trying anything. Like my parents are like that so I guess that's a good sign for me. They always surprise me because I always think they're pretty conservative but then they go and do something crazy cool that makes me smile.

Meike is leaving forever in like 2 weeks I'm really going to miss her. And Kezia and Alyssa and Juliana and Christel and Kim and Liz...next year is going to be really strange and hard. But I won't think about it yet

must go pack, we're leaving again. Arizona this time - something new

For Tals

When I was home last, inspired by Alex's tatoos I had a conversation with my dear friend Athalia about whether or not we would get one. She is the only other person I have ever met who would get one on the bottom of her foot! Hers was the fish and mine was the southern cross - if we were ever motivated enough to save the money and actually go through with it.

so anyways, in one of our many hours driving last week, I got bored. I think the photo turned out pretty sweet anyway : )

5-0 streak

so we just got back from a 8 day road trip, in which we played 4 games. It was a really long trip and involved a lot of driving and most attempts to do school work just didnt' work out for me. So here we are again, now 6 weeks behind in school work, but since we only have 3 weeks left of school I'm searching for a motivation that just doesn't seem to be there. We won all of our games, which is a new record for this season - 4 wins in a road trip, and now we have won 5 games in a row. the games were pretty shocking we were losing to a div 3 team at half time. but we won so I will be happy.

in other news, I'm not really enjoying this whole traveling so much thing. I was feeling really down and disconnected from the world for the whole week and didn't really understand why until I realised that the longest I've been in one place since december is 3 weeks. So it's no surprise really. I just wish I had more time with my friends who are leaving hawaii this semester, it's going to be so hard without them. I had a cry with my other dear friend who is kinda feeling the same way and we decided that we actually can't think about tomorrow, we must only take each day as it comes. And so I won't talk about that anymore.

On a lighter note, I love my team. Even though for some reason we're not playing very well, I just really love getting to know each of them a little more and getting some one on one time with each of them and just being around these girls who see all my weaknesses and the worst possible side of me that I'm sure most people think doesn't even exhist ; ) but still love me. I hope they feel as safe with me as I do with them and that I have something to offer each of them, wherever they're at.

Coralee and Alex have set a wedding date, and I can go!!!!!!!!! woop woop! It's a week after Michelle and AJs, which is on my bday and it's just guna be the coolest week ever! it will even get me an extra few days at home over xmas without causing a kerfuffle with school. I can graduate in May, I think I'm going to do all but my senior thesis next semester (4 french classes and 1 pols) and that way if I don't end up playing next season I could probably graduate without having to be here, if I don't want to hang out in Hawaii. It would be really really hard to be here during season without playing.

k thats my news
big loves
A xxox

Where Am I?

So, I'm not exactly sure why because I thought that I was a travelling machine and was not the kind of person to suffer from jet lag or have trouble adjusting to time differences, but I guess after a couple of months of only being in one time zone for 2 weeks max takes its toll on even the machiniest machines...





We're in LA at the moment on our last road trip before our conference finals. We had a big win last week against Cal (10-9) which means that if we win our next 3 games then we probably won't cross over with them at MPSFs (conference finals) which means we have a really really good chance of going to nationals. So I really hope that we can do it. Our game against Cal was pretty good, I must say it was a bit of an out of body experience for me, we just got back from Melbourne the day before (10 hr flight) and were pretty dead. And somehow I managed to score 3 goals so I guess I should do that more often? I'm really glad we pulled it together for that game, it showed us what we're capable of - we created a lot on offense and did some really good defense so even though I think we could have won by a bit more, everyone is a bit more excited now. Today we played Santa Barbara and we were up by like 4 goals the whole game and then in the last 4 minutes they came to within one goal, luckily we managed to keep it together for the last minute and come away with the win. It was a bit disappointing because we were in control the whole game and the goals they scored at the end were just from foolish errors (mostly mine). But live and learn right? So on thursday we play CS Northridge and Saturday we play Hartwick and Cal Baptist. It will be good to see the kiwi girls again and have a wee catch up after worlds again. I kinda miss them.





The end of worlds was fun. We lost to brasil - we got wasted by brasil. We lost like 14-9 or something horrible like that. It was a horrible game, we were up 4-1 after the 1st 1/4 and then I duno what happened everything just started falling apart. We started yelling at eachother and stuff, which never happens, and yea it sucked. But we had a big talk after the game and sorted everything out and came together for the last game against Germany, which we lost in over time 10-9. Another disappointing loss but at the same time, it was a good, hard fought game and everyone was forced to give their best. So we came 12th at the 12th FINA world championships.






Our last night in Melbourne was a lot of fun, I even went out! I was even the last one standing! We were hanging out with the Kiwi guys and also the South African guys and it was a lot a lot of fun. I am a sucker for a safa accent and they were pretty good lookin and none of them were sleazy I just had the best time dancing the night away. The next day we had a bit of a sleep and a bit of a gossip session with everyone about the previous night's events and then were off on the plane back to Hawaii.

School hasn't been too hard to catch up on, just had a couple of essays to write and now have like 3 exams to make up but hopefully they'll be ok. I'm just really gutted that we're always coming and going, I don't have much time at all with my friends who are graduating which is really sad. But at least I know to cherish the times we do get together. I just feel a little disconnected - a month is a long time to be away in the middle of a semester and then to only be around every other week, it's hard. But such is life. This time is so weird, it's like high school all over again exept now we have to be grown up once we graduate and start making the right decisions and scary stuff like that. Lucky for me I think I still have a few months before I have to find my way in the big wild world.