i say hello, i say goodbye

As a professional volleyball player playing overseas every year there is one thing that you must do every year that does not get easier, saying goodbye. You go there not knowing anybody, not knowing the town, not knowing the culture, and not knowing what the team will be like. But come April you have made many friends, have your facorite places in the town, take some of the culture home with you and have to say gooodbye to your team who has become like family to you. You see them everyday. You go through ups and downs with them. You experience the highs and lows of playing volleyball with them. You win and lose with them. You go out and play wii and crazy card games with them. You make lasting memories with them.

This past season was no exception. Some of the friendliest people I have ever met. The girls and the town were so welcoming and everyone on the team clicked right away. Whenever you walked through town at least one person would say hi or talk about the last game or the games coming up. The support the team had from each other and from the town was a great feeling! I think this is one of the reasons why we did so GREAT this season!
I will miss this team more than any other team I have played for. But I know that I will keep in touch with most of them for a long time to come! From the first meeting of the girls at the practice and trying to remember all thos Finnish names, the "carnival" we had at practice, crazy nights at the best place ever..Cirkus, paintballing in the woods, cider and carpo lonkero and tequilla shots and blueberry shots (yuuuuuuuum!!!), "mita muuja, mika boogie" all the time, hockey games, road trips and bus rides,snow and sauna parties, winning the silver medal and to the friendships made; it was an unforgetable season!


So to the amazing girls and teammates of HPK, the fun coaches, my favorite coaches kid Ville, the amazing announcer, my favorite bartender in Hameelinna who makes the best hot chocolate in town Teemu, one of the nicest guys I have ever met Lasse, to the fun and hot hockey players who had an amazing season, especially #38, to the best basketball team that Hameenlinna ever had, my tall friend Ettu or Eddy, to the amazing town of Hameenlinna, to the wonderful delicious pizza at Koti pizza,to my friends that work at Subway since that was my go to when i was hungry, to the workers who constantly were working in my apartment, to the doctor who reminded us of "teddy" from prison break, to that lil kareokee bar, to that great Apollo bar in Helsinki and to that cute lil reindeer place: thanks for a fun and memorable 8 months!! I love you all and will miss Finland so much!!

more final pics

great fans!!!

here are some of the professional pics from the finals.

The Finals!

We made it to the finals!! yay!! We faced a tough tough team, Salo. We ended up losing in the finals but hey a silver medal is not too bad!At the end of the game we lined up at the endline and recieved our silver medals and roses and then went to congradulate the other team. We had some up and downs during the finals but it didnt diminish what a great season we had. I loved playing with these girls and it was one of the best seasons I have ever had! Even though we lost in the Finals we still had a great time and enjoyed playing our last games as a team together. Here are some of the pics from the Finals.

MoM's visit

My mom arrived in Finland safe and sound. The day she came it was snowing! So right away she got a taste of what I have been living with the last few months! The day she got there i still had a practice that night since we had started the finals. But I think it worked out perfect because she needed a nice long nap! The next few days we just walked around my town and I showed her what my life has been the last 8 months. We walked around the castle, around the lake, went shopping a few times,went to a hockey game to watch my friends in the semifinals, ate at the lunch place i eat at everyday, visited my friend/bartender at the bar next to my apartment and showed her a few of my favorite things in town.



Once the finals ended we were able to go outside my town to the bigger cities. We spent a day shopping and walking around Tampere, one of my favorite cities. It was perfect weather for sightseeig and walking around. We also ate at a yummy restaraunt for dinner that has great food and also brews its own beer!





One of the days my friend had hooked us up with a day at a reindeer park! I was so excited to go see the reindeer and have my mom see them too. What comes to mind when you think Finland....reindeer!! So we had a great time at the reindeer park feeding the reindeer, petting them (they were so friendly!), learning to lasso a reindeer, trying some reindeer food and then finally the owner of the reindeer park insisted that I try on some traditional outfit worn by the Sami, a group of people that live up north in Finland. The owner of the park was real nice altho he didnt speak much English, but we made it work and im sooo glad we got to spend the day there!!





The last part of our trip we headed to Helsinki for a few days. My mom, Thais,Anni(libero on our team) and me stayed at one of the girls on my teams home and they took us sightseeing thru Helsinki. We walked around and saw many churches, museums, the parliament, and went to one of the bigger shopping malls. We then had some nice Finnish meals at her house that her mom had cooked for us!!





We had a great time while my mom was here visiting but I think we are both looking forward to going home!!

sidenote....

My mom is coming on Wednesday and staying for 2 weeks and then we will leave together on the 21st!! I am soooooo excited for her to come out here and see where I have been living the last 8 months, meet the team and amazing friends that I have made here, watch the finals and just experience life in Finland!

Playoff update!

Going to the 'ship!!! HPK is in the finals!!! We had a great semfinals series, taking the series to 5 games. We won 4 and lost 1. The first 3 games were close going back and forth and those 3 games going to 5 sets. The last 2 games that we played our team definitely came together and played great to win in 3 sets! It was nice to get done with the semis in 5 games so we would have at least a week to rest. We had played 5 games in about a week!

We start the Finals tomorrow against a really tough opponent. They have gone undefeated the whole year! It is a best of 7 series. Our team has been playing great lately and we are all excited to play in the finals and have a chance to break their undefeated streak! One team, one dream!!! Simply the best!!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone!! Out here in Finland they celebrate Easter all weekend. Everything is closed all weekend, except for Sat. and everyone is spending time with their families. I spent my Easter weekend by practicing, weights, spending time with some of the girls, and even trying some Finnish specialty foods for Easter. One dish was an appetizer called Mammi, and they say either you hate it or you like it, but most people hate it and if you like it, it is because it is an aquired taste. But to my surprise I actually liked it!! :)

On Easter Sunday I decided to make myself a nice yummy Easter brunch. I made an egg and bacon casserole, deviled eggs (my favorite and i always make them for easter), apples, oranges and cinnemon rolls. It was delicious!


Once again I am away from home on another special hoiday, but the great thing about this holiday is that I can celebrate it one on one with my God! It was a great to take time out and thank Him for the life He gave and the life He has given me. When I was cooking I had my worship music on and when the song Above All by Micheal W.Smith came on it really made me stop and think about the events of His death and resurrection. It is amazing to stay still and think about His love,sacrifce and power!

Above all powers, above all kings, above all nature and created things,
above all wisdon and all the ways of man, You were here before the world began.
Above all kingdoms above all thrones, above all wonders the world has ever known above all wealth and treasures of the earth, theres no way to measure what Your worth

Crucified, laid behind a stone, You lived to die, rejected and alone, like a rose trampled on the ground, You took the fall and thought of me above all