Xmas Market!!!!

Hello Everybody!!!!

Sorry for taking so so so long to post but things here have been crazy!!! Anyway, today (dec, 7th) I went to the Xmas Market! this was the second time i have been there but the first time someone had a camera. This hot chocolate was amazing!!!!!

We played last night against Schwerin and lost 3x1. My good friend Ivnna plays for schwerin and it was really hard to lose!!! However, I must say that it was nice to see this friend that i have not seen in about 8 or 9 years!!!! Funny how things seems exactly the way we left soo many years ago!! Ivnna was my setter when I was in high school so you can imagine how long ago that was!!! I also saw Louse which is another brazilian that plays for Schwerin, by the way she did awesome!!! Nice to see you Louse!!! But next time we will beat you!!!

We returned today from Schwerin which is a 8 hour bus ride!!! We arrived at around 2pm. I went home, unpacked and rested for a little while. Sheila Shaw and I decided to go out to eat and to go to the xmas market!! By the way Sheila was a Badger (starting to like these ugly little criatures!!!) played for the University of Wisconsin (Madison) and I always played against her and known who she was but didn't know how great of a person she really is! Anyway as you can see (pictures) we had a great time!!!

mein Geburtstag!!!!

Hi Everyone!!!

It's my birthday!!! I guess i should say it was my birthday!!! I just wanted to take moment to say thanks to all that tried to make this a awesome birthday! Mom (family) and Cleve, I know that you guys could not be here but in my heart you were. I love all of you!!

So, my day started early at 7 am (have to make the day as long as i can since I have to 364 days every year) with spinnig class yupi!!! Then I went home and decided that I was going to take a long shower and go out to buy myself a gift which was a new cell phone (or should i say Handy like the germans do!?). I walked for a while in the city center, bought my phone and it was time to go meet Tina (friend and personal trainer) for lunch. She took me to this little vietnamese restaurant and she told me for today I could eat whatever I wanted!!!! Yupi.....Thanks TIna you are awesome.

After lunch, we had a meeting to watch video at 4pm and then practice until 8:30 pm. This was ok but afterwards the girls decided that we were all going out to celebrate. So we did.....these are te pictures from my little "party". It was awesome and I hope you all like it!! I had tons of funs!!!

Cheers!!






Erica and I had a lot of fun with my mini muffin cake!!

Ich Bin ein Berliner!!!

Hello!!!

long time huh!?!!? Many things have happened in the last few weeks including......we lost the first 2 matches!!! and I chipped (broke) a little bone on my elbow!!!

Anyway, this weekend we played in Berlin which was great because i really wanted to go there. We left Wiesbaden thursday and on friday mourning we took a quick tour of the ciy center. First we walked by this beautiful government building ( i forgot the name) but check the picture maybe you guys can help me!

We then walked around this building, and surprise!!! There was the Berlin Wall! I mean at least whatever was left of it (the bricks in the middle of the street simbolizes where the wall used to be). The black car on the right of the bricks is on the East side of Germany (or Communist Germany) and the white car in on the West side. So, when this picture was taken we were stading on East Germany. This was amazing experience!! I had goose pumps when i saw this site because i remember when I was 7 years old, watching the fall of the wall in Brazil on TV and actually being there where it happened was an amazing feeling!!!!

Now, the picture below we were on the West side (Pariser Platz)

We then finally crossed the wall (or should i say the bricks!?!) and we could see the famous Brandenburg Gate.

One of Berlin's most famous sights, the Brandenburg Gate is located on the western edge of Pariser Platz just inside the former East Berlin. Rising up from behind the Berlin Wall , it was a potent symbol of Berlin's division. From the construction of the Wall in 1961 up until 1989 the Brandenburg Gate was inaccessible to the general public.

Like I said this was a quick tour of Berlin I promess to have more pictures next time!!

After this amazing experience we went on to lose our match later that day but I was really happy and excited for all the important places that we got to go and see!!

Rhein River

Hi all!!!

sorry for taking so long to post but the last week or so things have gotten really hard!!!! We are working hard and I am also tired all the time. Anyway, enough of me complaining!!!

So, we had a great week of practice 2 weeks ago. We trained with a team from China. they were really good and fast and think it was a great experience for our team. The chinese were here for 1 week training with us and helping us get better. We also had some fun and that's the purpose of this blog today.

Saturday mourning we (chinese and us) went on a boat ride on the Rhein River (rio Reno). We had a little bit of time to get to know one another a little more. It was a difficult task since they only speak chinese!!! But I was determined to learn a little bit more about them. So, I tried using my hand and make signs and stuff like that. One thing that I found to work pretty good was to smile. They could not understand anything that I was trying to say but it was very rewarding to interact with them and understand that they were happy to be here.

We also had a water fight (as shown on th picture below), at the end Steff and I were soaked!!!

This is the Chinese coach, he is a great guy and I really liked him!!

Hope you all enjoyed the pictures and I hope to post another blog soon!!!!

The apartment by Erica Lott!!!

hi all...since I have been real lazy i thought i would just "copy" my roommate's blog. So please if you would like to take a look at our apartment please go to www.ericalott.blogspot.com

Beijos

1 Interesting Day in Cologne/Koln

Today (saturday) we had the day off!! Aleluia!!! So, Erica and I decided that we had to take advantage of this miracle and go somewhere. The destination chosen was Cologne.

Here is a little history on this city (thanks to Wikipedia)
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city after Berlin, Hamburg and Munich, and is the largest city both in the German Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants. It is one of the oldest cities in Germany, having been founded by the Romans in the year 38 BC.

World War II
During World War II, Köln was a Military Area Command Headquarters (Militärische Bereich Befehl Hauptsitze) for Military District (Wehrkreis) VI in Münster. Cologne was under the command of Lieutenant-General Freiherr Roeder von Diersburg, who was responsible for military operations at Bonn, Siegburg, Aachen, Jülich, Düren, and Monschau. Cologne was the Home Station for the 211th Infantry Regiment and the 26th Artillery Regiment.

Devastation of Cologne in 1945
Main article: Bombing of Cologne in World War II
In World War II, Cologne endured exactly 262 air raids by the Western Allies, which caused approximately 20,000 civilian casualties and completely wiped out the center of the city. During the night of 31 May 1942, Cologne was the site of "Operation Millennium", the first 1,000 bomber raid by the Royal Air Force in World War II. 1,046 heavy bombers attacked their target with 1,455 tons of explosive. This raid lasted about 75 minutes, destroyed 600 acres (243 ha) of built-up area, killed 486 civilians and made 59,000 people homeless. By the end of the war, the population of Cologne was reduced by 95%. This loss was mainly caused by a massive evacuation of the people to more rural areas. The same happened in many other German cities in the last two years of war. At the end of 1945, the population had already risen to about 500,000 again.
By that time, essentially all of Cologne's pre-war Jewish population of 20,000 had been displaced. The synagogue, originally built between 1895 and 1899 by architects Wilhelm Schreiterer and Bernhard Below, was severely damaged during the pogrom of 9 November 1938 (Kristallnacht) but ultimately destroyed by Allied bombing between 1943 and 1945. It was reconstructed in the 1950s. The Cologne synagogue was the stage of a historic event in 2005, when the German-born pope Benedict XVI was the second pope ever to visit a synagogue.

Cologne Cathedral (German: Kölner Dom) is the city's famous landmark and unofficial symbol. It is a Gothic church, started in 1248, and completed in 1880. In 1996, it was designated a World Heritage site; it houses the Shrine of the Three Holy Kings that supposedly contains the relics of the Three Magi (see also [1]). It is interesting to note that the residents of Cologne call the cathedral "the eternal construction site" (Dauerbaustelle). They predict that, by the time the renovation of the building has finished, the end of the world will be upon us!

Anyway, just wanted to educate a little!!aahahhhaa

Back to my interesting day...... The trip tp Cologne was 1.5 hours. We arrived around noon and decided that we wanted to grab something to eat. Erica's friend recommended that we have a Doner Kabob which is some sort of Turkish sandwhich. We parked the car which by the way was not easy but we managed. After that was accomplished we walked around a little looking for a place to have some Doner Kabobs. While walking Erica and I almost got killed by a granite slab that felt over from this building that was under contruction, 5 seconds earlier and I would not be here to write this blog!! Anyway, after this scare we finally got to eat the Doner Kabob which was great!!!

We ate and then decided to walk to the Cathedral. On our way to the Cathedral we had another scare.....Next to the church there were some sort of leftist and anti-islam people protesting about something... check this link http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3658793,00.html and then all of sudden The German Police/Swat team come over and some people started to scream Nazis Out!!!! Erica and I were freaking out. We also felt like we were back living back during the Nazi Regine. (see video)


The Cologne Cathedral (Kolner Dom) was magical and I have no words to decribe other than I was in owe with the magnitude of this church (proud to be a catholic by the way!!!). See video.

Due to difficulties caused by the Nazis and leftist and anti islam people we were unable to go to the Chocolate Museum!!! Which was probably a good thing since they give out free chocolate.

After, the cathedral we decided to take a visit to the place were Cologne No 4711 was created. This was a really cool thing because growing up my mom and grandparents used this perfurm and it was really nice to see how it all started since it brings back good childhood memories!!!! see pictures (this is for you mom)

Anyway, the day was great and we had a lot of fun!! Hope to see you all here soon.....

Relaxing afternoon

On this day we took the bus around the city of Dornbirn, Austria.

Dornbirn is the largest and busiest city in Vorarlberg. It is an important commercial center and shopping mecca. Dornbirn is located near the borders to Switzerland, Germany and Liechtenstein. It has a population of 43,583. The river Dornbirner Ach flows through the city and later into the Lake of Constance (Bodensee).

We walked along the lake Constance and I took these awesome pictures!!! The afternoon was great and realxing which we needed in order to be ready for what was to come!

Novica Rebelde

Today (sunday), we took out first trip and it was to Austria!!! Yupi!

We met at noon to take the bus to Austria. The bus ride was really long about 7 hours but it was a great time to get to know the teammates a little bit better and to see different things. First of all I must say that i was really impressed with the organization at the public bathrooms. It costs 50 cents to use it but it is money well spent. The toilet cleans itself automatically and it is very clean!

About 2 hours in our trip we made our first "pipi stop" and i decided to buy credit for my pre paid cell phone. Let me just say that it was a little bit of challenge but nothing like my good friend Bojana couldn't help me with. We then went back to the bus and I decided that i wanted to call Cleve to say how much I miss him! Well, the call was really short (about 40 seconds) and it costs me 2 euros!!! But it's ok i would spend much more to talk to him.

Now, that i was really happy that i talked to Cleve the bus ride was even better. I must say that the ride was long but Nature helped by keeping me busy with such an amazing scenery!!

We finally arrived in Dornbirn Austria at about 7:30 pm. We then had dinner and then a meeting. The day was long but definetly worth it!!! Tomorrow hard work starts at 7 am with a jog and then practice from 9-12. After that lunch and then practice again from 3-6pm. See pictures!!

Hope to see you all soon!!!

Frankfurt!!

Today was a great day! First, i woke up at 8 am and worked out which was a pretty hard one. After weights I looked for a cell phone which i decided not to buy at the moment but soon!! By the time i arrived home was about 1 pm and my roommates were still asleep!!!! Off course i had to wake them up........after i woke them up we decided to take the train and go to Frankfurt!

We got to the train station and the first problem arrived...we could no figure out which train to take.....these Germans are not as organized as the Americans are!!!! Anyway...being the smart women that we are we figured it out!!! ahahhaaha

By the time we arrived in Frankfurt which took about 30 minutes we were pretty sleepy but nothing that the history and the city would take care of. As soon as we steped out of the train we could see how nice and pretty things were. Everything was so different and cool at the same time! It was hard to take all the history behind everything!

We first decided that we wanted to go see the Opera House (see picture) which was a amazinha piece of architeture!! After that we were overhealmed with everything.

Must say thanks Cleve for the GPS which saved us a couple of times!! Love you honey!!

Anyway, we walked and walked and took as many pictures as we could.....sorry i could only post a few!!!! Hope that one day people can experience this amazing city!!

Now, it was time to eat (as you can see on the pictures).....I had some chicken.

Later on, we found out that there was a festival by the Main River. We walked over and it was great.....there was food from everywhere in the world (too bad i had already eaten!!!) There were a lot of peple and the scenary was unbelivable...the river with bridges and amazing churches around....I will never forget! We enjoyed the festival but around 8 pm we were really tired and decided to get back home.

Not so fast!! We had to stop at the bookstore to buy a map from Germany and one from Europe. WE wanted to hang them up in the living room and use them as guide to which countries and places we want to visit!!

We finally, made our way back to Wiesbaden. We decided to take a Taxi home and sure enough we had a crazy taxi driver!! Thankfully we got home safe!!

Now, it's late and I am really tired so have a great one and hope that you come back soon!!!

Another day in Germany

Hi Again!!

So today we had lunch with out sponsors. All the girls had to look nice so it was good to see everyone wearing something other than spandex!!! It was nice to see them but i could not undestand a word of what they were talking about. Then we had to introduce ourselves in German!!! Can you imagine me trying to say anything.....Ich Bin Paula, Ich bin volleyball spielerin...anyway it was bad!!!

After, lunch Liv, Erica and I decided to go out to try to buy a map from Germany.....we walked and walked and couldn't find anything.....we were finally tired and decided to go home but on our way home we could smell the fresh baked bread so we had to stop and get some!!! It was delicious!! Almost as good a fresh brazilian bread!

We finally got home and rested a little...but soon we had to get ready to go to practice. Off we went......practice was hard but good!!

Enough for today...hope you guys enjoy it!! Attached are some pictures! On the top is a picture of my roommates (left is Liv and right is Erica)

Bis Bald!!

2nd Day in Deutschland

Today (thursday), we wanted to wake up at around 10 am to go to the Bakery to get fresh bread however, the plan went down the drain because we didn't get up until 1 pm!!!!

We then decided that we had to go grocery shopping. Off we went......took us about 20 minutes walking to get to the store. As soon as we walked in the store I really realized how little German i understood!!!! But thank god that fruits and veggies looks the same everywhere!!! Anyway, it took us about 2 hours to finish and as we walked to the cashier we realized that there were no bags!!!!!!! So, i spotted some laundry baskets and since we needed some we decided to buy a couple and put our groceries in it!! Great plan right!!! Yeah.....but half way home our arms were really tired and then I saw in the middle of the bushes a grocery cart (see picture) we couldn't believe it!!! We, put the stuff in the cart and took it home.

By this time we are already late to go to the German lesson and to make matters worst we had to take the bus!!!! Thank god we got in the right bus but we were 30 minutes late for the lesson which by the way I understood barely nothing!!!

After lesson we headed to practice. Practice was hard my arms are all blue and black but at last i am doing fine!! Enough for today.....hope to hear from you!! leave your comment!!

First Day in Germany

Hi all!!!! It's Paula
I arrived in Frankfurt on wednesday mourning and Heike and Rudy picked me up!! They took me to breakfast where i had some omellet and some wonderful german rolls!!!! After that they took me to my apartment where i met my wonderful roommates, Erica (from the US) and Liv (from Brazil). We have really clicked and seems like we have been friends for a long time!

Later that they I practiced with the team and it was good. The other girls are awesome and they come from many different parts of the world such as: China, Hungary, Poland, Serbia, Czech Republic, USA and Brazil, ops almost forgot and a couple from Germany. So, I hope by the end of this season I can speak a little bit of everything!!!! Anyway, after practice i was really tired however, took me a long time of fall asleep due to th 7 hours difference!

Even though I am in Germany and it has been great i can't stop thinking about my love, Cleve in minneapolis! It has been really hard not to have him around but i am sure that soon i will be able to see him!!! Love you honey!!!

Guys, i think is plenty of writing for now..........come back later!