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.

Amsterdam take 2

Today was a very long but great day. We all went to Amsterdam (the fam + Elmo). We had to wake up at 8am so we could leave the house by 8:45 to be sure we would have plenty of time today. We parked around the area that Margreet grew up in (in Amsterdam) and then took the tram from there to the center of the city.  We got out a few stops before the center so that we could walk over to Anne Frank's house.  There was a long line but it moved fairly quickly..we stood in line for about 1.5 hrs. It didnt seem that long though because I was talking with Margreet the whole time. Elmo and Niels went off and did their own thing for a while and Frans was on his phone, so it was just us 3 girls in line. Only Lotte and I went in because the others went last year with Jenna (the last american girl here). You werent allowed to take pictures inside which kind of sucked but I did get a picture of this before we went in...

It really is shocking to see how small it actually was where they all had to live and to think that they could never go outside or even open their windows. They couldn't even open their curtains an inch or else they might be noticed by a neighbor. It gave me the chills walking through there. They still dont know to this day who it was that told on them that they were living upstairs. It was a really sad but moving experience and I was glad to be able to see it.

Afterwards we walked back towards where we got off the tram and met up with the boys and sat down to have some lunch, and took some pictures of course..

After lunch we walked over to the shopping areas. I really wanted to start finding souvenirs for my family/friends so we kept an eye out for souvenir shops and I had some things in mind that I was looking for (which im not going to mention bec its supposed to be a surprise!!) so we went in and out of quite a few shops and I ended up finding what I wanted for my family and some friends. Only a little shopping left to do but I am going to do that in Rotterdam. Anyway, we did that for quite a while and worked our way closer to where we were taking the canal tour on the boat. We all went on it except for Margreet, she waited for us on the terrace. I am so glad we went on the boat tour it was so beautiful and peaceful. It gave you the chance to really see Amsterdam away from all the busy tourist spots everywhere crowded with people and shops. We got to see a few of the canals and all the awesome buildings that are so old all along the water. It really is such a beautiful place. There are over 1,000 bridges in amsterdam and 100 canals (fun fact I remembered from the tour). We weaved in and out of canals before we came out into the harbor. It is one of the biggest harbors. Just like in Rotterdam, many of the things coming into Europe come through there from shipping. Once again I took a million pictures so here are just a few from the boat tour..

and due to the fact that there is not enough housing in Amsterdam for all of the population (as well as in other places) many people choose to live on houseboats on the canals instead. We saw many boats that were being used as houses and others that had been turned into houseboats, similar to ones I have also seen in Rotterdam. Here is a picture of one of the houseboats I took a picture of..

Anyway, its been a long day and I have to be up semi early tomorrow to go to my coach's house in Hoek van Holland for the clinic she is putting on. Hopefully I will get to take pictures tomorrow of some of the clinic. Until then..Doei!!

-Olivia

Practice, Lessons, and Triples

Well the rest of the week after visitng Madurodam on Monday went pretty fast. Tuesday we had our usual practice with the same 5 that are usually there. It went pretty well and I finally started getting some good hits during hitting practice that felt soooo good coming off the bat! I've started going to the gym here with Lotte so that has been nice to work back into my routine and it is a very nice gym. It has multiples of almost every machine and its not like its ever crowded in the morning when we go. I ran home from the field after practice on Tuesday since we did not go to the gym on Tuesday. Margreet greeted my in the garden with a cold water bottle.

Wednesday it rained on and off so we didnt really do anything. I did go to Berkel with Margreet and Lotte so that I could get a few things I needed and Margreet was doing her usual shopping. Wednesday night I started up giving pitching lessons again. I had 4 girls there. The 2nd softball team didnt practice because there were only 5 of them.

Not much happened Thursday either besides practice at night and I ran home again after practice. On Friday Lotte and Margreet went into Rotterdam to do shopping for Lotte so I was home with Elmo and Niels. The three of us went by bike to Berkel because I wanted to learn how to get there myself. While we were there I went with Elmo to the grocery store to get more raw green beans because I ate some for a snack earlier in the week and he decided he really liked them so we got more and then biked back home and watched a movie.

Saturday we all went to go watch a game of the top league for softball here. It was the Eurostars vs the Haarlem Sparks. I was pretty impressed with how good they were. The Eurostars sucked and the american girl on their team was not impressive either. But the Sparks were a very good hitting team and both of their pitchers threw hard and had different pitches that they threw. The Sparks won the league already so they were just having fun out there but the Eurostars needed to win and they got killed both games. If you are on the Dutch National team here you have to play on the top level so I think thats why there was so much more talent. It started pouring inbetween games but we were safe under our umbrellas but by the 5th inning we were over it and left.

Today we had 2 games against the Red Lions who are last in our league. They are the team I threw my perfect game against earlier this summer. I threw the first game and we won 12-0. I had another perfect game going for me until the 5th inning when I threw a fatty riseball to big momma up to bat and she hit a double. It was a good hit, I will give her that. We easily kept her at 2nd base and got the next 3 outs. I dont know the exact number but I know I had at least 11 strikeouts today. No walks. One hit. Not a bad day.

The second game we won 9-0. I was the relief but Anja didnt need me today, she pitched very well. I was sitting on the bench thinking about how badly I wanted to be doing something and it was almost as if my coach read my mind. We were the visiting team so during the bottom of the 5th while we were on the field she turned around to me and told me I was going in as the DP next inning and that I would be hitting. She made me promise her at least 5 times that I would be carfeul running and not hurt myself in any way. I started off the top of the 6th and as I stepped up to bat I could hear my whole team cheering for me. They all know how badly I want to hit. I swung at the first pitch and fouled it off, then watched a changeup outside for strike 2. The next pitch was a ball way outside and after that she threw me another outside pitch that I fouled off. Finally the next pitch came inside and I turned on it and I hit all the way back to the fence for a stand up triple!!! I was so excited and all I could hear was my whole team in the dugout going crazy for me. It was a great feeling. Especially when I hit the ball, it felt so good! The next batter easily hit me in to score and that was how I got to end my day on the field. It was awesome. With these wins we moved to 2nd place and are ahead of Sparta/Feynoord by one game. We play them next Saturday so it should be intense!

I have a busy week ahead of me. Tomorrow the whole fam and I are going to Amsterdam. Tuesday we are helping my coach who is putting on a clinic for 40 kids at her house in Hoek van Holland. Wednesday I have to give lessons/coach practice. Thursday I am going to Volendam with my coach and Lotte. Friday I get to relax, and Saturday evening we have games!! busy busy busy but I will try and update the blog sooner next time!

Greetz,
Olivia xoxo

Madurodam

On Monday Frans, Lotte, Margreet, Elmo and I went to Madurodam. It is "the smallest town in the Netherlands". This is because it is actually a birds eye view of the Netherlands, everything is precisely 25 times smaller than in reality. Everything has been exactly replicated, with 35 people employed full time to build and maintain the models. Madurodam is a war memorial opened in 1952 to commemorate war hero and resistance fighter George Maduro who died on February 9, 1945 in the Dachau concentration camp.  His parents financed the miniature town intending to donate the profits to good causes, and to this day supports charities related to young people.

Each year since 1980 there is a new mayor chosen for the town of Madurodam since Princess Beatrix who was the first mayor of Madurodam since its opening until her coronation in 1980.  Since then the new mayors are chosen by a concil of Madurodam that consists of 22 seconday school students from The Hague.  The mayor is responsible for opening new models and exhibitions. There are 198 different places to visit inside.

This truly was one of the coolest places I have been since being here. I took almost 300 pictures!! There was so much detail to every little thing that the pictures don't really do it all justice. Every little detail was thought of, from the smaller waterways, to train tracks, to the people in the towns all the way to the billboards on the roads. It was so cool to see the places that I have already visited and see how it is in comparison to the whole city. Everything is entirely realistic and you can also put pennies into machines at each place that makes things go in motion in the town. One of my favorite places was seeing the airport. It was fun to see how it was all laid out and how big it was, since when I arrived there I was half asleep and stressed out. The airplanes were all there and they even moved on the runway with sounds of the plane. I tried uploading the videos I took but it wouldnt work!

speaking of detail, this is a picture I took of the Red Light District. They actually had a little prostitute in the window. Frans and I thought it was hilarious.

Anyway, here are just a few pictures. I cant even begin to post them all and it was very hard picking which ones to show because there is a story for all of them! Hope you enjoy.

this is the hotel where I went with Frans and Niels on my second day here in Rotterdam.

this building is the ING bank office which took them four years to build to put in here. It is in Rotterdam and I have passed it many times but it is even huge when reduced to 25 times smaller.

<---the euromast

Movin On Up!

I cant believe it is already August 2nd! Time is flying!

On Saturday I went into the center of Rotterdam with Frans and Lotte to watch the Carnaval. It is basically a 5hour long parade through Rotterdam with people from the Caribbean on floats and walking along the street. They are all dancing to different music and wearing costumes. It kind of reminded me of the 4th of July parades except everyone in this parade was black, drinking while they were walking/riding, and wearing less then half of their clothing. We only watched about 2 hours of the parade before calling it good and heading back home. Here are some of the pictures I took, although there are plenty more..

We had 2 games on Sunday against Wassenaar. The weather finally got warmer and it was pretty humid throughout the morning. I threw the first game and we won 2-0. I did well but I still walked a few girls and hit another girl although it barely grazed her. During our second game I was the relief pitcher so I just had to stay warm during the game. We were winning 3-0, then had some dumb defensive errors and our other pitcher Anja was struggling hitting her spots so with the score tied 3-3 my coach put me in to throw the last 2 innings. I got through the last 2 innings pretty quickly and it started to sprinkle during the top of the 6th and was downpouring by the end of the game. The end of the game was pretty itense, we had bases loaded and 1 out and the pitcher of the other team ended up walking in our winning run! It was very exciting. We are now 5 points behind the 2nd place team and should be caught up to them by the end of this weekend when we play the Red Lions. They are the team I had my perfect game against earlier. Here are more pics from our game on Sunday..

Oh and Jennifer's parents came to our games (just like she said they would) so I was finally able to meet her mom, who is from Roseville. She was born in Sacramento and grew up around the Roseville area. Her mom is in a home in Auburn so she is flying back to the area in a few weeks to visit her and stay with a friend in Citrus Heights. I still think its so cool I met someone here from back home. Here is a picture we took with all 3 of us together..

Anyway, thats an update from the weekend. Hope everyone had a fun and safe weekend as well! Doei!

-Olivia