Bringing Home Bronze!

Thursday:

JoJo and I woke up around 9:45am and had breakfast around 1020, kaptin Fatn (one of the coaches) gave us a hard time because she thought we were really late, but in reality the rest of the crew came down around 1045, so it was pretty funny. I am pretty sure these girls LOVE to sleep in, some of them say they sleep in until after noon sometimes which is so funny because they are all 25 years old. I have learned that people stay up late and sleep late in this country. And I am definitely okay with that! We spent the breakfast talking to Kaptin Fatn who has limited english too..so I am sure it is a good image to picture..me with 2 women who don't know much english, it was either really silent, simple questions were asked or they were just speaking Arabic and again I just looked confused- but was loving it at the same time. I got to find out more about Fatn's family who is all from Egypt but they have moved to the UAE. She invited me to Egypt anytime..so looks like I have some traveling in my future :)

A few of us sat by the pool for about an hour and it wasn’t too warm so I didn’t wear my suit or anything but it was nice to just lay in the sun and get a few rays! Around 1pm we left for the match vs. Bahrain. Like I said before, this was an important match because if we won we would be 3rd in the tournament and therefore get a bronze medal.. I wanted to bring one home to the USA. Well..we won 3-0!! Bronze medal!! We were so excited and it was so fun to celebrate with the team, Kaptin Amina was so excited too and I felt like we made her really proud. She always comes up to me after matches, smiles, shakes my hand and says "good job Alex, thank you!" or sometimes in Arabic "Mabrouk Alex, shukran!" That right there is something I will miss. Amina is the founder of volleyball in the UAE and is the head manager for all 3 clubs in UAE; I am happy to make her proud!

Kaptin Amina sporting my sunglasses and me in her glasses!

We had to stay the whole time until another volleyball match and 2 basketball games were over. AKA forever! The medal ceremony didn't start until 10! But Amina took me back to the hotel so I could shower before the ceremony. We ate dinner but I couldn’t eat with them because I can’t stand to share a plate with everyone dipping their hands in. (haha) But they were kind enough to get my own separate plate and fork again! I got to spend some time with the younger girls a lot, they are so great. The ceremony was AWESOME! They announced us and we walked toward the podium to receive our medals. Amongst the people giving us the medals was the Princess of Bahrain, Princess of Dubai, and the President of Sharjah's wife. Pretty amazing. We took so many pictures with our medals. These things were heavy, we felt pretty special to be in the top 3 of the tournament. I forgot my iPhone to take pictures, but I am getting some sent to me..so be patient they will be here soon! The coolest part was when girls from our club and different teams wanted pictures with me...me! Like I was special or something..well I felt very loved and special to say the least. It was great that these people could impact me so much, and I hope I have impacted them. Tonight was a bittersweet night because I had to say bye to some people that I really cared about and got to know very well the last 2 weeks. It was sad..but I told each of them that I will see them again..I know I will.

Bronze Medal..among royalty :)

After the ceremony, I got ready and got in a taxi to meet Kristen (American friend) and Tamara (Kristen's Jordananian Teammate) at Atmosphere in the Burj Khalifah (remember, the tallest building?). Yes, I was in a taxi alone...but it was totally safe I promise mom! The girls were very concerned about how I was getting downtown but they were okay when I said I was going in a taxi. Yes, they worry about me..I kind of love it. The taxi smelled like B.O., my taxi driver was from Pakistan and acted very nice. Until we got to the Burj when he informed me that he accepts American dollars but he totally changed the exchange rate on me. He tried to trick me but there were a few guys opening the door for me who advised me the right amount I should pay so I don't feel totally ripped off. Thank goodness they were there! I finally stepped into the building and the people at the front told me there was a dress code and I needed to wear heels in order to get in. WHAT?! I stood there, pouted a little and explained to them that I didn't bring heels and I can't walk in heels so that's why I'm not wearing any. It sort of worked..finally the man said, "ok, let's go..just don't walk around, make sure you sit in your seat." This was crazy! My pouting paid off and I finally found my friends, who were with 2 Jordanian guys. We were on the 126th floor!!! So surreal. My ears even popped as we were going up in the elevator. We sat there for a little bit and then decided to go to a club/disco to get our dance on at another building in Dubai. It was pretty entertaining to say the least. A bit different from the USA..especially the people! Turned out to be a really fun night with the girls and it was a good way to end the trip. We took taxi’s home at the end of the night. I got home at 5am..so needless to say I didn't get much sleep. But it was all worth it.

Match vs. Kuwait & Birthday Celebration

Wednesday:

I think I am becoming the professional packer and hotel changer! We packed up again today and headed to a really nice hotel called Radisson Blu- in UAE standards it is a 5 Star hotel, which by the looks of the rooms I am really not sure what their standards are. My room smelled like smoke and was just an average room. But the amenities were what I think got them to 5 star status! The hotel is right on the beach with a fantastic pool and workout facility.  After hanging out and getting settled in the new hotel, we piled in the car and went to the Sharjah Ladies Club to play our crossover match vs. Kuwait. Since we got 1st place in our pool, we have to play the 2nd place team in the other pool which is Kuwait. This match was super important because if we won, we would be playing in the championship. But...our team decided not to show up 100%, we lost 0-3 to Kuwait. Yeah, they were good, they had a Bulgarian girl that was pretty good, but we also didn't play our best match. The team was really bummed. Asma was screaming in the hotel in Arabic to some of our teammates (not at them but just in general) and she was just venting about the game, that is about all I got! As bummed as we all were, we still had the chance to get 3rd place in the tournament, which meant that I would get to bring home a bronze medal..we have to face Bahrain again tomorrow, and we all knew that isn't the easiest task. Kaptin Amina still bought us food even though we lost (ha..ha.) and it was rice and meat once again. The girls all gathered around on the floor and ate with their hands...and of course, I had my own separate plate and fork. :)

After hanging out with the team for a bit, a girl comes up from the elevator with gifts and a sleigh (yes, literally a mini sleigh) with presents all over it and balloons. I was so confused, but then they said she was JoJo's best friend and it was JoJo's birthday..I was like ohhhh wow, friends are pretty amazing here. So we set up the room and made it all 'birthday like' and surprised JoJo with decorations, gifts and a cake! She was so surprised and thankful. We celebrated, talked, hung out..it was a perfect night. Probably the day where I officially realized how blessed I am to be here. These girls are amazing..they embrace me like a sister and friend even though we have only known each other for a a little over a week. They are special!

JoJo with her British themed cake and cupcakes!

 I had a mountain dew, yes mountain dew, that was spelled in Arabic (obviously), I was so excited that I had to take a picture.. 

Well after that mountain dew I was pretty wired, so that made for a pretty fun rest of the night. We took a ton of pictures and goofed around like teenagers. The girls even decided to put the wrap on my head and take pictures..they thought it was so funny. I thought I looked a little scary but they told me I looked "beautiful"! They are way too kind.

I think I fit right in...except for the blue eyes

Probably my favorite night so far! Even better, is that JoJo decided to stay over in the hotel (she always goes home) and we were roommates! Her english isn't as strong as the other girls, so it was definitely a challenge to make conversation..but we made it work! She is an incredible woman and I was so happy to get to know her a bit more, she is my setter after all :) Great great night..I can't believe I only have 2 more days in this wonderful place. Until tomorrow..

Desert Visit & Karak Tea

Tuesday: Today was one of the best mornings yet! Huda, our team friend, brought us Karak tea, which has turned into my all time favorite drink. I had it a earlier in the trip but I have just realized how much I love it. It is chai tea and hot milk..yummm! I am definitely going to try and figure out how to make it this good when I go home. Haya brought us some typical Arabic breakfast foods, which is basically either cheese, veggies or meat wrapped in bread. Pretty simple, but really good. We all just sat around chatting and I made them listen to some American music..just some relaxing Jack Johnson and maybe some Justin Bieber (guilty!) It was a pretty awesome morning. 

KARAK TEA!

We didn't have any matches today, so we just had a training session in the afternoon. We got to the gym around 2:30, when we thought our training was, but apparently we were supposed to be there at 1pm..oops!! Palestine actually had the gym reserved for 3pm so we literally stretched and hit a few balls and then we had to be done. Pretty funny actually, but very typical Arab style! 

After training, Huda told us she was going to go make her infamous pasta dish and I couldn't wait. She arrived at our hotel around 6pm and, let me tell you, this was so incredible! I can't even begin to describe it..but maybe a couple pictures will suffice...

After I was completely stuffed, Kaptin Amina came in and told us we were going to take a trip to the
desert. Immediately I thought of camels and Arabian nights.. I really didn't know what it would actually be like though! We piled into a few cars, drove for 20 minutes and all of a sudden we pulled over to the side of the road..and there was the 'desert' AKA mounds of sand everywhere. We climbed over away from the road and set up camp. We made a bonfire, lit some torches and ate more food and drank more Karak. The girls and Kaptin Amina brought drums, and they started singing some traditional Arabic songs..it was really cool. I just sat there and embraced it all, and smiled while listening to them sing and play music. This is a typical night for them and it was very enjoyable! 

The set up at the desert! Beautiful!

Check out the video of the girls singing their traditional Arabic songs around the bonfire....

Victory + Princess= Amazing!

Monday: Match day vs. Bahrain... We had breakfast an hour earlier today down in the lobby and at the end, Asma looks at me and says "You have your bags packed right? We check out today." I look at her with a blank stare and I nod my head with my eyes wide open in surprise. Once again..last minute. But gotta love it. So I go up and pack pretty quick because we are checking out so we can go to a hotel closer to the gym. We will now play at Sharjah Ladies Club, which is the main site for the tournament where Basketball is also played. I was kind of bummed to have to leave the Centro Hotel, it was starting to feel comfortable and of course it is really really nice. So we packed up in Houria's car and headed to Sharjah Ladies Club for our match.

While we were in the car I remembered a few things that shocked me about their driving habits:


1. They don't wear seat belts! Fatma, one of my teammates, even buckles her seatbelt in permanently and sits on her seatbelt so her car doesn't beep at her.
2. More on the seatbelt thing...if they don't buckle their seat belts, the car beeps every 2 minutes, and don't do anything about it! So we will be driving and it'll beep the whole time..how does that not irritate them??
3. They have no hesitation when it comes to honking at people.. they honk just to honk I think.
4. They use their brights for different reasons than us..we use ours to let's say see better... they use their brights to signal to people they are on their butt..like if they are in a lane and someone is going "too slow" they go right on them and flash their brights...how rude! :) But I just laugh because it is frankly very funny to witness.

Gotta make friends with the police women at the match!

Well...after huge anticipation we beat Bahrain 3-0, they were actually the best team we have played but we really played as a team today and really well! We got 1st in the pool..yay! I stayed to watch the Kuwait match to prepare for Wednesday, because we play them in the crossover match. Meanwhile, I got invited to lunch with the coaches at the restaurant at the club and got to take in the beautiful scenery there. I would compare it to a country club, except only ladies are allowed. I ended up sitting with a few younger girls who are 16,15 and 14. They sit on our bench and wear our uniforms so they can learn about the team and be involved to see what it is like to play volleyball for Ajman Club. They are so precious and have REALLY good english. So we enjoyed lunch talking about their hobbies, school, boys and they asked me many questions about the USA. It was fun to be able to talk to them and made me realize that across the globe all teenagers are exactly the same..so awesome :) 

The view from our restaurant at the Sharjah Ladies Club

After lunch we all walked back over to the match and it was actually just about to finish, but another match was starting (Sharjah vs. Palestine). I decided to stay with the coaches again and we sat in these big red comfy chairs that were just for the higher up people in society (I assumed). I was definitely right about that because as I crossed my legs when I sat down she whispered to me, "don't do that..we are in front of a princess." I looked at her like what?! And she said "yes, right there." And 2 people down from me was the princess of Dubai. She came over to talk to my coaches and then they introduced me to her! She spoke perfect English and we talked for about 20 minutes about UAE and USA. She was a very interesting woman and actually took my email address and phone number because she wants to "teach me more about their culture and the Arabic language." I was honored!

Shamsa, the Princess of Dubai :)

So back to real life...Remember when I said we had to check out of our awesome hotel? Well we headed towards the new hotel, which I was expecting to be pretty nice, but me, Asma, Fatma and Sam came up to the hotel, went to our room and once the lights started flickering amongst the darkness we decided this would not be a good place to stay. So apparently all you have to do is call Kaptin Amina and she gets right on it! We checked out in 30 minutes and drove to a new hotel which was much better. They are hotel apartments, so I am in an apartment with 2 other girls but I have my own room. The hotel is pretty old school and does not have wi-fi just "wired" internet as they say. So I have to have the internet plugged into my computer..I know I am a poor thing. But it's been fun to all be together! I am going to miss this place and especially the wonderful people.

Rest Day & Rice

Sunday: Today was our rest day..but we still had training in the afternoon. I got up as late as possible to still catch breakfast at 10:15 before it closed. I get an omelet every morning, they are so good here! So is the coffee. The girls actually wanted to sit by the pool with me, which for them means sitting under an umbrella and chatting. Apparently they don't go in the sun! But they made a spot for me to sit where I could at least somewhat catch a little sun tan. I showed them some pictures on my computer and of course showed them this blog..they cracked up at everything I say on this (because it is about my honest thoughts!). After about 30 minutes, yes just 30 minutes they had enough and left me at the pool, but I was okay with it. We had training at 2:30 at the American University Sharjah. I learned that they speak only english here and by the looks of the inside of some of the buildings it is very "Americanized". So it kind of felt like home. The gym was so nice (per usual here haha) and we just did some hitting and some serve and pass. The girls kind of stroll in late to practices, which is very new for me, but I don't mind that they are so laid back and relaxed here!

                                                        

         The gym at American University Sharjah                                                                                  




      The outside of the AUS Sports Complex

After each practice we have to get on the sideline and face towards the bench and the coach. The coach talks to us about the practice and then told us that we have to be in bed by 10pm because our match the next day is very important. After, Sam, the captain looks at us and says a chant "Kaptin!" and we respond with "Shukran!" which means thank you- their way of thanking the coaches I have figured out..that ends practice.

The rest of the day was spent watching a few movies at the hotel, reading and just relaxing (they do a lot of that here..) Kaptin Amina bought us dinner in one of the girls rooms, which was typical Iranian food..meat, chicken (there is a difference between the two here!) and rice. Which by the way...they sit on the floor and eat the rice with their hands! I kind of feel like vomiting when I watch it, and it is really the only thing I refuse to do here. I will sit on the floor and eat with a fork, but everyone digging out of the same rice plate...gross. I am pretty sure my mom would have to leave the room because she would be so grossed out. haha. Tomorrow we have a huge match against Bahrain to be 1st in our pool! Go Club Ajman!!

Match vs. Iraq & Late Night Visit to Dubai

Saturday- I met the team downstairs in the lobby for breakfast again and enjoyed parts of the conversation that were translated for me...it is always so interesting just listening and trying to guess what they are talking about. I usually sit with Kaptin Hanan, Asma and Sam..and then Fatma strolls in late as usual! Our match starts at 4pm, so I definitely have some time to kill and some skin to burn (sorry mom). So I headed out to the pool, it was such a nice day out! Of course the little shop had no sunscreen, and I didn't think to bring any..so as a result I got pretty burned. But, being the justifier that I am, I told myself that my skin needed a little burn because I was SO white. Yeah, probably not true, but it really did need some color. I am getting really into my book "Catching Fire", the second book of the Hunger Games series.. I love it so far, so it was very enjoyable at the pool. As I was laying there on the lounge chair, I had a minute where I reflected on how lucky I was to be A. Sitting by a pool in February B. In the UAE, a place us Americans never even fathom visiting C. I get to play the sport I love, in a different country!

Continuing with the tradition of not getting any information prior to meeting the team in the lobby, I take a guess and figure that we are supposed to eat lunch at the hotel... I was right! All the girls came down and we ate a good buffet lunch together. It has been 5 days and I am finally feeling very comfortable with the girls and coaches. Haya (the manager) is someone I especially give a hard time to and have become comfortable around.. at lunch she walked inside with her big sunglasses on, and of course I had to ask her "is it bright in here??" and she looked at me...paused..and laughed and told me that she didn't like how her face looked at the moment. So for the last few days, she always asks me if it is bright, must not be a normal thing to ask because she gets a kick out of it! Oh at lunch, I figured out why all the cars seem to be white here... because of the heat most of the year, they like to keep cool, also because since darker cars show dirt easier (according to Haya) they prefer white cars, helps impress the men and/or women I guess!

Our second match was vs. Iraq. They had one really good player on their team that we had to defend. So I was told by the coaches to "follow her and block her"..because it is THAT easy right? So that is what I did, I really wasn't outside or right side, I was kind of everywhere depending on where the girl was..something very new but created some excitement in the match! For some reason (haha), I really wanted to beat Iraq, so we made sure that happened and beat them 3-1.

Club Ajman before the Iraq match...Bet you can't find me :)

 I have picked up on a few words that they like to repeat during the game, one is "yallah" which means "let's go", so all I hear sometimes is yallah yallah yallah!! Pretty easy word to say I think. I have learned some other words during my time here..the joke with the team is that I at least learn one word each day. So far I have learned:
1. Maa' (pronounced my)= Water
2. Shookran=Thank you
3. Yallah= Let's Go, come on
4. Wallah= I promise (by God), I swear- (They say this all the time!!)
5. Inshallah= If God is willing, or hopefully
6. Mabrouk= Congratulations

That is it so far..but pretty solid I would say :)

With Houria (front), Amoona (left), Asma and Sam in Dubai!

After the match the girls surprised me by deciding to take me into Dubai for some night sightseeing! (Later on I realized that the coaches said we were not allowed to go because we are in a tournament..so it was very sneaky of them!) I can't even begin to explain how cool this place is. They took me to the Dubai Mall area where there was an awesome fountain playing with music and I got to see the tallest building in the world called Burj Khalifa, it is featured in Mission Impossible 4 by the way. All the restaurants had seating outside and next to every table was what looked like hookah pipes, and people were just smoking it freely..so crazy to see. After walking around there and taking lots of pictures, we drove around and went to a really good food place and went to the beach to eat it..it was freezing but still really awesome view of downtown Dubai. Then we drove through Atlantis resort which is HUGE! It is a row of hotels and is just amazing. They were very good tour guides, making sure we stopped at every important site to take pictures :)

In front of the Burj Khalifa!! 

These girls and coaches are the nicest people I have met. They are so caring about me and always ask me if I need anything and take me everywhere! Amoona, one of my teammates, even bought me an awesome white puma watch..how the heck did she know my taste?! Well I don't know but she really did- how thoughtful of her! I am already realizing the very short time I have left here..and am already getting sad and anxious about never seeing these people again. But I know I will..I have already invited all of them to the USA and I bet at least one will come! Shallah :)

First Match vs. Jordan

On Friday we all had breakfast in the hotel lobby at 10am because it was a game day. We had our first match of the tournament against Jordan. I really didn't know what to expect the volleyball to be like when I got into the gym, but it was very different compared to college..to say the least. We met in room 110 to hang out a bit before heading to the match. Gosh that was so fun! It was just us girls sitting around talking...well besides me..but actually I was talking if you count asking questions as talking! I asked them about boys of course, a little more about the Islam religion and what they like to do for fun here. Basic stuff, but those subjects definitely got them talking. They gave me a drink to try called Karak, which is their chai tea with hot milk...it was SO good! They told me they like to drink it before games, so I said okay!  Before we left the hotel to head towards the game, Haya asked me if I had shorts and she pointed toward her knees, so I assumed that meant NOT spandex or nike shorts. Luckily, I brought my pair of knee length black nike dry fit work out pants. This was quite the outfit, let me tell you. That paired with my white knee pads, white shoes, and huge jersey. I was stylin'. Thank goodness I could snag the #8 at least.

  Here I am with Fatma, the all star on my team, also my new best friend!

  She is an amazing woman! Also..check out my outfit..can't get any better :)

We beat Jordan 3-0! Wow was that a good and interesting first match playing for a different country. We had cheers that I slowly learned, and everything. These matches are televised, because here the tournament is such a big deal, so there were TV timeouts and normal timeouts. AKA a lot of timeouts for me to stand there and be really confused as to what Captin Hanan was telling us (our coach). All part of the experience! We are supposed to put our right hands in the middle, Sam says "1, 2, 3" in english for me and then we say "AJMAN!" (our team). Pretty pretty awesome. On the other team there was a girl speaking english, I could tell she was from either Canada or America, so of course I went right up to her after the match and we both simultaneously asked each other where we were from. Wow! Someone that I don't have to talk slow like a robot to..incredible. We end up talking for a while, and I find out she is living in Jordan getting her PHD in Political Science and is from California. She said "wow, so you are getting paid??" I said, "yep..but it's been much more than that! that's only a bonus." It was just refreshing to talk to an American, we are hoping to get together before they leave to go back to Jordan after the tournament.

One of the many observations that I want to express into words, is that these Arab women, about 95% of them wear their head dresses and their whole body is still covered even if they are playing volleyball. (per the picture above). Wow, can you say warm?!? It was hard for me to get used to, because when we have training, they don't have to be all covered up because it is just women in the gym, so when they are in game apparel it is very different! Again, very eye opening for me. Also, there is no set defense (for you volleyball players out there, we know how important having a perimeter/rotation or just a set defense is!) Yeah, confusing. I was all over the place trying to defend the ball, especially because I am not sure these girls are used to digging hard balls. During the match, I try my best to cheer and to encourage if we make a mistake, but of course it is all in english and I am not sure they understand. But lately they have understood me when I say "swing!" or "get up!" The girls are loving it; they routinely make fun of me saying those things, but said they love when I talk, so I will keep doing it!

After the match, we gave all of our fans hand shakes and say thank you (must be tradition). Our fans consist of the girls' friends and other mostly women who just like to watch. Sidenote: speaking of hand shakes, that is what you do here. They either give hugs, or you shake hands with people who you see for the first time that day..especially your superiors like coaches or managers. So when I see any of the girls in the morning I give them a low five/hand shake..not very formal, kind of more relaxed like saying "what's up!" I really like it and have gotten used to it, it just makes everything that much more family like and respectful. I think I might try and start that tradition with my friends..we will see how it goes :)