Clinic

Yesterday I helped my coach with the mini clinic she put on. She lives in a foster home where she has 4 foster children right now that her and her husband Ian take care of until they are 18. Her house is in a community with other foster homes that are all surrounding eachother and there is an open area in the back of all of them where we put the clinic on at. The clinic was for all the foster kids in the homes and there were about 30 of them there. Lotte, Niels, Elmo, Jamie (Ian's son), Ed (gyselles dad), Gyselle and I were all there to do the clinic. Jamie and I were partners at the throwing and catching station, Lotte and Ed did hitting, and Niels and Elmo did baserunning while Gyselle walked around and got things ready for the bbq that was after the clinic. Ian was in charge of the music so we had music going all day long.

It was really fun, and hard at certain times. Since most of the children were not older then 12 most did not speak english at all so I really couldnt communicate with them that well but I tried. There were some adorable children and also some children that I could have done without. It was a rewarding experience to do something fun like this for all these children who didnt have their parents for some reason or another and it was also very sad. As the day went on and I saw all these children, from all different ethnicities and ages and problems, it just kind of sank in that this was their reality and they wouldnt have what those of us putting on the clinic had. I think its a really cool thing that my coach did that for all these kids and that all the other parents helped bring them together and put on a bbq afterwards.

The weather was fine until we started our last station of the day and then it started sprinkling and quickly moved to pouring. But we stayed out there and kept playing because the kids didnt really care that they were getting soaked. Eventually we stopped and had to wait for about 2 hours to start the bbq because we were hoping it would stop raining, but it didnt so we ended up moving into one of the houses and hanging out outside when it sprinkled and then moving to coverage when it got harder, but at least we had  music the whole time!

While we were sitting in Gyselles house waiting for the rain to stop before the bbq one of her foster kids Franklina decided that me and Jamie needed to date and get married so that they could go on holiday in America and Gyselle agreed because then she said I would have to come back to Holland. I thought it was hilarious and kind of cute. Ashley (gyselles 5yr old daughter with Ian) also said that it would be ok if me and Jamie got married and I was her sister. It was really funny and now it is a huge joke, although someone has to break the news to his girflriend haha.

Towards the end I was standing outside the tent with the music and I noticed 2 young girls standing there looking at me and they waved me over to them so I walked over and they were very giggly and shy and finally the one that spoke better english asked me if I knew Justin Beiber and Miley Cyrus. I said no I didnt know them but I knew who they were and they said that they were their favorites. Then Lotte walked over and started speaking to them (in Dutch) and when she told them I was from California they immediately said 'Katy Perry'! Do you know Katy Perry? Once again I had to let them down and tell them no I didnt personally know her. Lotte told me that they thought because I was from America that I was friends with all kinds of famous people. Sadly, I had to hit them with the reality that I didnt know any of their favorite pop stars. It was pretty funny though.

As the day came to an end one of the foster moms brought all of us who helped a wrapped present which was very nice and unnecessary but it was an adorable present. We all got little wood picnic tables that had a ketchup and mustard holder and salt and pepper conatiners as well. Mine also included a little pair of dutch shoes that say Holland on them and have windmills. It was very nice and a very cute gift. I dont think that I will be bringing the picnic table back with me though, I doubt it would survive the trip in one piece. But here are some pictures of what it looked like..

Ian took pictures at the clinic so he said he would put them on a CD or something for me so I can have them. As soon as I get them I will be sure to post them on here.

Lucienne, a woman on my team, took pictures at our games against Red Lions on sunday and here are a few she had of me..and yes my tongue still sticks out like it did in High School (no need to blow these ones up any bigger Mike Ray) haha kidding.