June 20th,
It's back to business today. After an early breakfast, we had practice working on our strategy to defeat our first opponent, Bulgaria. Everything is becoming more official now. We were shown to our locker room for the competition and after practice, a photographer took a team photo. Some of the players also got interviewed.
On our way back to the hotel we stopped at the local grocery store for fruit and snacks. They sell most of the same foods that are in grocery stores back home except with different names. The team is feeling more comfortable conversing with Czech people and using their money system. The only word I know still is how to say thank you but it's a start!
Once back at the hotel it was a quick turnaround. I had time to hang up my wet laundry to dry and then went to lunch. During our meals, music plays in the background and most of the songs are surprisingly in English. Today we sang along to Britney Spears! At lunch I saw and waved to one of the friends I made from the youth world championships two years ago in Turkey. She's on the Italian team.
After lunch, it was back to the gym to scrimmage Nigeria. Each country we have seen, play or scrimmaged has a unique style of play that we must adjust to. We won all three sets then took pictures with the Nigerian team. They are all so friendly. We shared a bus to return to the hotel and got to talk with the Nigerian players and coaches.
It's nice how even though our teams are competing against each other we can still be friends. I hope to get to know some of the other countries' teams.
We are now just relaxing, listening to music and hanging out until dinner. Robin stayed to chill with us and we taught him a few card games. We also watched part of the first Star Trek movie. After dinner we started watching film and preparing for our second opponent, Brazil. The tournament starts tomorrow and we are ready to compete! Go USA!
Allison