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.
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 :)
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 :)
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 :)
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.
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| Club Ajman before the Iraq match...Bet you can't find me :) |
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 :)
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| With Houria (front), Amoona (left), Asma and Sam in Dubai! |
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| In front of the Burj Khalifa!! |
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