Happy Birthday Mom!

I would like to start this blog off by saying..HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BEAUTIFUL AND WONDERFUL MOTHER!!! I love you tons mom and I miss you so much, I hope you have a great birthday.

Not much went on this past week. It rained almost every other day and when it wasnt raining it was still freezing outside. On wednesday there was a break in the rain so Amanda and I went to the gym and then biked over to Berkel and I showed her around there and we found a nice cafe and had a late lunch. It was delicious food and we had a good time. On thursday we had to practice in the hall because it was pouring rain so bad and there were literally pools on the fields. We had a really good practice and did a lot of hitting. I didnt wear my batting gloves because I didnt think we were gonna do so many stations and I ended up getting a blister but it was my fault for not getting my gloves sooner! It still sucks though.

Amanda and I were invited out thursday night to go back to Breda with the guys but we decided not to go because we were so tired and it was too much to figure out. My coach downloaded the movie Grown Ups for me because she heard me saying I wanted to see it so we watched it instead and it was hilarious. I recommend everyone see it, it was a good movie.

Friday night we went and watched Niels' last softball game at the Orioles and then came back and got ready to go out with the boys. We were supposed to bike to the Orioles to meet Henk and then bike to bowling in Rotterdam to meet the others and then go out after. Well, as soon as the two of us walked out of the house to get on our bikes to ride to meet Henk it started raining HARD. I'm not exaggerating it was raining so hard. We were soaked within minutes but still kept going. Our hair was completely messed up and we were soaked. By the time we got to bowling we were as wet as can be. Neither of us wanted to bowl so we just drank and watched the guys bowl. It was Wouter, Henk, Dennis, Rick, Mark, and then later Bas and Jens came out with us. Amanda and I ordered a pitcher of beer at the bowling alley and when the guy asked us if it was just for us 2 and we said yes he put 2 straws in our pitcher and just handed it to us. It was super funny. Once they bowled a few games we went further into Rotterdam to the usual club we go to which is VIP. We had a lot of fun and it was worth the freezing cold bike ride, although it didnt help the cold that i'm getting now. Here are pics from last night...

Today we had games away at Wassenaar. They have the worst field in our league, it is all grass except for a little bit of dirt by the bases and pitching mound and home plate. I pitched the first game and it was actually a pretty hard day. They were fouling off tons of balls and it was getting exhausting, I wish most of them would've just been fair so my team could get them out faster! We didnt really hit the first pitcher and only won 1-0. It was a very stressful game especially when we got to the bottom of the 6th inning and had bases loaded with NO outs. I thought my heart was going to stop but I tried to stay relaxed and just throw strikes and no fatty balls down the middle. The next batter grounded the ball to 3rd and she threw it home so we had one out and bases loaded when the next batter hit a line drive to our shortstop who then threw it to 2nd for the double play and we won, and then all needed our hearts checked! It was very tense. The second game was much better. I dont know the exact score but we beat them a lot to zero. Anja pitched great and I was glad because I was exhausted from the first game. Amanda hit and played right field and she did great, had some really nice hits..crushed the ball pretty much. Els, our center fielder, hurt her knee running the bases so in the 5th inning Gyselle put me into right field and moved Amanda to center field so we got to play next to eachother. That also put me batting 3rd in the lineup and Amanda was 4th so it was cool. Except for the fact that my one at bat I struck out. The other team put their pitcher from the first game back in and she threw pretty hard..I battled a little bit and then swung at an outside curve and missed so that sucked but oh well! We have to win one more game to solidify that we are being promoted to the next level so next sunday after we play and beat the Red Lions at home we are having a celebration party and going to dinner. It should be a lot of fun, i'm looking foward to it. I cant believe I have 4 games left in my softball career. My body is ready for a break though since I have been playing since January without a break now.

We arent doing anything tonight, we are exhausted and going to bed soon. It still feels weird that tomorrow is sunday and we dont have games since im so used to playing on sundays not saturdays here. I dont know what to do with myself! ha kidding. BUT I did get to talk to my family today on the phone. Amanda has a calling card so we planned to call my house and sing happy birthday to my mom so we sang to her and then talked to my mom, dad and sister for a bit which was very nice and weird to talk to them on the phone and not see them on skype! Anyway, i'm off to bed..enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Doei

-Olivia

you cant really tell from this pic but im in right field and amanda is in center field.

Amanda up to bat.

Thari.

Dorien.

Anja.

Anja, Kim and Amanda on the field.

We went to Burger Kind for dinner after the games with Thari and her boyfriend and Gyselle, Ian and Ashley and we got the crowns and took a picture on Amanda's phone. It turned out pretty cute. Frans also got tons of extras for next sunday because once we win the first game Gyselle said we could wear them at the game, and I decided I want to paint them orange so this week that will be my activity!

Busy, Busy, Busy!!!

Well Amanda has been here since last wednesday night and so far it has been great having her here. Practice on thursday was one of our harder ones, we were very tired afterwards and planned on coming home and showering and then just hanging out. I came up to my room to shower and checked my dutch cell phone here and I had some texts inviting me and Amanda out that night to go into Rotterdam so we showered quick and got ready even faster. We only had an hour to get ready from when we found out about it so we were rushing around trying to get ready fast, we were pretty proud of ourselves for managing to do it. Wouter met us (by bike) at the house then we met another guy, Bas, at the Orioles and then met up with a couple others in Rotterdam. We went to this bar/club that was having 1euro beer night so that was legit for sure. We were there for a very long time and it took us almost 2 hours just to ride back because of the difficulties on the way. Amanda cant really ride a bike sober so when shes been drinking its even tougher! but very funny. Here are some pics from that night..

Friday we just hugout at the house, we were pretty hungover and the weather wasnt that nice so it was a good day to just do nothing! We stayed in and went to bed fairly early. We were both in our room on our computers and I thought I saw something out of my peripheral so I looked and it was a HUGE spider next to my bed on the wall. I freaked out and jumped out of bed, almost throwing my computer and also scaring Amanda at the same time. I turned on the light and we saw the spider and freaked out so I ran downstairs to where Niels, Elmo and Rodderick were and told them that there was a spider as big as my face in my room and I needed them to kill it. So Niels came upstairs, walks in my room where Amanda shows him where the spider is and he immediately turns to me and goes, "really? as big as your face?" haha it was hilarious. I might have exaggerated a LITTLE but it was a big spider. Way bigger then the size of a quarter. After he killed it and left we both had energy because of the adrenaline running through us so it took longer to fall asleep.

Saturday afternoon we went to the club and watched the boys baseball game and then hungout talking for a while after. We werent planning on going out since we had games the next day and we were still not too excited about drinking after thursday. We watched tv downstairs for a while and then Wouter and Henk invited us out and we werent going to go until Wouter made the point that I didnt have much time left here, so we decided we would go with them and this time we had 15 minutes to be ready to go. Once again, we managed..thankfully we were pretty much ready to begin with because we had gotten ready for the game earlier that day. We ended up going to a city called Breda, and we had to bike a short distance to the tram stop, then take the tram to Rotterdam Centraal Station and take a train to Breda. It was about a 45 minute trip. It was so much fun though, the two of us loved it! There were just huge groups of young people coming off the trains there and going out and it was almost like a college town atmosphere. There were tons of clubs and bars along the alleys and me and Amanda found this bar that played oldies music that we loved and it was super chill and not sweaty and loud so we hungout there for a while and then met the guys at their sweaty, loud club down the alley! Here are some pics from Saturday night..

Sunday we had 2 home games against the Blue Stars. Last time we played them was at their place right after our break and I pitched the first game and had to go in and close the 2nd game in the last inning with bases loaded and one out. This past sunday was slightly similar. When we woke up around 8:30 it had just started to rain and we were worried we wouldnt get our games in but miraculously we did. The weather was ok during our warm up and then right when we started it began to rain and eventually got so hard we had to wait in our dugouts for about 5 or 10 mins before resuming the last half of the 1st inning. I pitched the first game. I made 16 of the possible 18 outs that game. I had 15 strikeouts and then I caught an easy line drive in front of me for the 16th out of the game. I threw another PERFECT game :] my 2nd one here, it was a lot of work but it felt really good afterwards and everyone on my team was very happy for me and hugging me. We won that game 4-0. The second game was a little different. For some reason we just didnt really hit the pitcher that well and kept popping up even though she was the same girl from the 1st game. It was 0-0 until the 4th inning I believe when we had runners on 3rd and 2nd and Amanda hit a 2 run double to left field. My coaches told me that I would be going in to close the game in the 6th inning so I got myself ready and then Anja asked if she could try and close it herself so Gyselle told her if anyone got on base I was going in. Well the first batter up bunted the ball and our 3rd baseman didnt get there in time so I immediately was put into the game. The girl stole 2nd base and eventually 3rd base..but I struck out the next 3 batters so she never got past 3rd and didn't really matter. We won that game 2-0. I ended the day with 18 strikeouts. Even though the weather sucked, it was a great day for me on the field!!  When we play the Red Lions in 2 weeks and beat them we are secured in 2nd place and for sure move up, and then we are having a celebration party so I cant wait for that!!

Not much planned this week. Weather is still sucking off and on. I've got practice tuesday/thursday, lessons on wednesday and we play at Wassenaar on saturday afternoon. If anything exciting comes up before then I'll be sure to update! Here are some pics from the games sunday.

Doei

xoxo Olivia

My Room

Since Amanda is coming tomorrow night I cleaned up my room today so that Frans can take apart my desk tonight to make room for the bed we are going to put in here for Amanda. This motivated me to finally take pictures of my room, so here is a little look at my house. I plan on taking more pics of the town, fields, and house later on and posting them before I leave but for now this is what you get! I live on the 3rd floor with Lotte and the laundry area is also up here on the other side of my room.

my tulip picture!

this is the laundry area

this is only one of the 2 sets of steep stairs I have to climb multiple times everyday. I've fallen down the other set of stairs a few times already. More pics of the stairs are to come later...

This is a view from my bed to Lotte's room..that is her door with the mirror on it.

The windows in my room..and the view I have is below:

my view of our garden (and everyone else's).

the school across the parking lot..Margreet works there part time and whenever they go on "recess" it sounds like they are in the house with you, so I wake up to that almost everyday.

this is a better view of our garden. Elmo's bike is on the left and mine is under the overhang, you cant really see it except for the handles a little bit.

Well, hope you enjoyed seeing around my room and a little bit of what I see everyday!

Another One Bites The Dust

We won both of our games today! It was a beautiful day for once on game day..very warm and a little breezy. Since it has been 3 weeks since our last game, today was a little shaky. It felt like a long day and both games had the feeling that we were struggling even though the scores said differently. We won the first game 9-0. I pitched the first game and I did not do my best. I didn't ever really feel in control of my pitches today but at least we won. I walked 2 girls and I think there might have been 1 or 2 hits. My back has started hurting me again so tomorrow night I will go to the chiropractor again, thank god! It was also a little hard today because Denise (our catcher) went back to America for her last year of college last week so now Lotte is catching and she does a good job but its just a little hard with pitch calling and thinking back there. So we are all having to adjust!

We won the 2nd game 10-1. Anja pitched and she did a good job, our defense fell apart a little bit and didn't really support her that well but she got out of it. There were only 10 of us today so the 2nd game I got to be the DH. I was SUPER excited. My first at bat I hit another triple, with an RBI :] it was almost an in the park homerun but it would've been close and my coach doesnt want me sliding and hurting myself since I havent slid in like 5 years. My next 2 at bats I walked so I didnt get a hit again but at least I got on base all 3 times. At one point in my 2nd at bat I fouled a ball off and it was on the ground and then as I was going to get back in the box, Ed (who was coaching 1st base) yelled out that that was the first ball i've hit on the ground. it was really funny because he was making fun of me since I SUCKED at the game we played in practice thursday where you had to hit it on the ground and I never did. So I got a good laugh about that and everyone was really supportive haha.

After the games we showered and then had our BBQ, but not many people could stay so there were only like 7 or 8 of us and their families. I was sitting with Thari while we ate and we got bored so we started making houses with our food. Here are some pictures of our creations..(mom I know you're proud of me for playing with my food ;] haha )

This is our Indian faces for our TP that we made..we also put tomato's on sticks and put them behind our heads but you cant really tell.

After finishing playing with our food we went outside and took lots of random pictures. Here they are!

Barbara, Me, Thari, Lotte, Devon

Thari, Lotte, Me

Thari, Lotte, Devon, Me, Demi

Thari, Me, Lotte..helping dry the dishes after the BBQ

It was a very fun day and i'm glad we won both of our games. Amanda comes to visit for 3 weeks on wednesday and will probably play with us as well so we are getting ready for her arrival. Crazy how time is flying! Have a safe Labor Day Weekend.

xoxo Olivia