Wednesdays lessons went great. There were only 3 that night but it was actually better for me because its easier to watch each of them when there is less going on. I've got them doing different drills and understanding what their bodies are doing when they are pitching and its so great to see how far they are coming along. One of my girls, Demi, has really come a long way. She is getting more control on her pitch (she only has one) but she has gained speed and accuracy. It makes me feel better at the end of the day that i'm doing something right..hopefully!
I absoloutely hated our practice last night (thursday). Not only was it freezing but there are just old habits that are hard to break for me that i'm used to and do not happen here. For example..when you're late to practice and everyone is running bases..dont walk up to the field and take your sweet time to put your cleats on and then take your time stretching and chatting while we are all warming up our arms and then stand there waiting for 2 people who came late to slowly warm up. We all literally stood there in the cold while it started sprinkling while 2 ladies were warming up..then we did defense which was ridiculous and boring. Ed, our coach's dad and also an assistant coach, was there and Gyselle wasnt because she just had surgery last week to get her tonsils removed so she cant talk yet. Anyway, they always have us do the same things and its so boring and they always put me in positions that are boring where I do almost nothing and it irritates me. So after we got done with infield they decided to play this game where we were in 3 teams of 3 and you had to hit the ball on the ground in the infield before it hit the outfield for it to count and if you reached 2nd your team got a point. Well I SUCKED at this game. I either popped up or hit line drives to the outfield. I did not get on base once and the competitive side of me was getting pissed. They were like, well if you hit like that in a game those are great hits..and I said yes but im losing at THIS game! Then when we were on the field I was the backup in outfield and a ball bounced up and hit me and went in between my legs, so then I fell over and proceeded to yell that I "hated everything about the stupid game" while everyone laughed at me. I refuse to ever play that game again. I'm glad that practice is over with. I love tuesdays much more!!
Since we are moving up a level next season they are trying to recruit different people from other teams to move up with us and play with us and one of them is a pitcher from Wassenaar. She hasnt decided what she is going to do yet but Jennifer Weber was telling me at practice how when she called her she was more worried about when I was going back to the states. She said she kept trying to get it out of her when I was leaving and was I going to be here the whole season. They want to win and know that isnt going to happen while i'm here so we were laughing about that before practice.
On the way home from practice Lotte taught me how to count to 10 in dutch, and say the days of the week and the months. We are going to keep practicing and they said that I dont say it with an accent (which is a good thing) so I guess i'm pretty much bilingual now :]
This morning I went to the gym then just hungout around the house. Before I knew it we were eating dinner and then I went to the "forest" with Margreet. They call it the forest but it's not really what we would think of as a forest. It is beautiful though, there is water and swimming holes for the dogs, as well as many different paths and fields, etc. She takes the 3 dogs here everyday and its so cool to watch because they know exactly the paths they are going to take and they listen to Margreet so well that they dont even use leashes for any part of the adventure. There are bike paths and trails just for horses though so she has them trained where she says the word for "stop" and all 3 will stop wherever they are and then wait for her to say the word for "go" and they will all cross the street/path/trail at the same time together. I was impressed the first time I saw it and she as telling me how people usually are surprised that they listen because little dogs here dont listen to their owners but she thinks that they do because of the oldest dog, which is a bigger sheep dog, so they have followed what she does since they were puppies and now they all do the same thing. Anyway, later during our walk in the forest we came across another big path and she told them to "stop" and then "go" before the 2 people that were walking on the path crossed by us. Immediately after that happened, the man that was walking there started talking to her, and what do you know..he spoke in a southern accent! What are the chances I meet another American in the middle of this forest in Bergschenhoek. haha. He asked her what she just did and how did they listen so well and how no dog in the states would do that and blah blah. It was funny..Margreet and I laughed about it as we walked away. I'm gonna take a video of her doing it before I leave so I can show everyone.
No plans for tomorrow yet, Im sure we will do something or watch some games somewhere though. Sunday we have home games and then a team BBQ after. They want me to bring something "American" but I told them that a)I am not a chef and b) I dont know what is "American" to bring?! So we will see if I can think of something before then. Ill let you know how we do on Sunday. Until then..here are some pics from the forest.
Doei!
Olivia
<----these are Bocce Ball courts
Bobo, Senna and Josie..tired and wet after the forest
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