U-18 Blog#3

Hi everyone!

We started day 4 in Iceland off with a two hour morning practice, which was run by the Icelandic coach of the team we played against for our first game here. It was good, we started off with a warm-up, he stressed how important a good warm-up is. We did some passing and shooting and then we finished off with a little scrimmage. After practice, we headed over to the facility where our next game would be played. We had a few hours to kill before our game so we took a walk outside, saw a heated outdoor pool and a little river where some of the girls took pictures. Once we went back inside, we started playing some card games. They got a little rowdy, I got a battle wound. Our game was against the U-16 Icelandic National A team. We lost 32-14, it was a very fast paced game. They are by far the most aggressive team I have ever played against, lots of us are covered in bruises and scratches. My jersey is even ripped. Regardless, it was a very fun game and an awesome learning experience. After our game, we watched the U-16 Alberta girls play their game. Once their game was done, both teams headed downtown for some shopping. There are lots of tourist shops, which we took advantage of. Most of us visited a little café where you could get Nutella hot chocolate, Nutella covered crepes and ice cream and whatnot. Everyone said it was delicious. On our way home, we stopped at a massive church to take a look at the outside and take some pictures. Once we got back home, we ate dinner, had some time on our phones and the headed to bed. Most of day 5 was spent at the Blue Lagoon. It’s an awesome place, beautiful inside the building and outside with the water and rocks and the nice mountains in the background. The water is so warm and there is mud everywhere that you can put on your face. We spent some time in a little cave where they had information about the Blue Lagoon. It was so relaxing. There’s a waterfall that you could stand under and get a shoulder massage, it was pretty powerful. Paul Chan took some nice team pictures of both teams in the water together. Jill and I made these weird exfoliants for each other made out of sand and mud, and then we both broke out after, which completely defeated the purpose. Rachel and Rachel saw the vine famous Jerome Jarre. A bunch of us saw him later and ran after him to try and get a picture but he had already gone into the men’s change room. I’m heartbroken. Brenna, Rachel, Rachel and Lindy got a picture with him later. We took some pictures up on the viewing platform, it was freezing but we got some good pictures. We’re back at the house now waiting for dinner, and then we’ll head out to watch a bonfire and the New Year’s Eve fireworks. We’re all looking forward to it. Thanks for reading Katya & Jill Hunter’s blog about day 4 & 5 in Iceland!!!

U-16 Blog 3

Hi guys,

Today, we are wearing matching blue and white hummel socks. 3 hours before the crack of dawn, we embarked on our journey to the gym where we played the first day. (While that sounds extremely climatic, really the sun rises at 11:30). When we arrived at the gym, we got a surprise as we found out we would be coached by an Icelandic coach for practice. We had a two hour practice with the coach, later to be joined by another Icelandic coach who helped with the backs. Some of the girls found this coach extremely attractive (cough Taylor Sterling…. Brandon watch out!!) After this, we drove to another gym where we would later play a U-18 and a U-16 game against the Icelandic National Teams three hours later. While we were waiting, we played a card game called spoons (but we didn’t have spoons so we played with pens) and we went for a stroll to a nearby heated pool that went from indoors to out (pretttttty cool!) The maintenance people didn’t want us to get the floors dirty so we got to wear these snazzy plastic blue coverings over our boots. We played the U-18 game, then the U-16 game right after. The Icelandic team is very big, and extremely fast. It was a pretty good game and we fought hard. After the games, all of us went downtown, where we found this amazing ice cream shop that made the most delicious crepes. Lindy bought a raccoon hat for $50, a troll for her boyfriend (Cole, she’s a keeper!) and golf balls for her family. Thanks to our spectacular chefs, dinner has been awesome! After 3 days of handball, everyone was exhausted so we headed to bed pretty quickly. Today, we headed to the Blue Lagoon, a geothermal spa! When we got there, the lady gave out these super neat wristbands that could scan our lockers to lock them. She had the sweetest accent, like a secretary from a spy movie that was explaining the high tech gadgets to us. Everyone in Iceland has perfect eyebrows. We waded around for about 5 hours in the giant pools of hot water and put silica mud masks on that made our skin feel super smooth. It was such a nice and relaxing day. We went to Domino’s for pizza, but they were closed today, so we’re getting a homemade stew for dinner. After, we are going watch a bonfire that looks like a burning house, and giant fireworks that Icelanders spent 15% of their income on! We’re so excited, and we hope everyone at home will have an amazing New Years!! Love Ava and Andrea

U-18 Day 2

Hello Alberta! Today was our second day in Iceland which began dark as always (here). The sun rises here at 11am and falls at 4pm so the Vitamin D levels are taking their toll. We got to sleep in today and got about 10 hours of sleep to recover from the flight here. After breakfast, which was cereal and toast with Nusco (Icelandic Nutella!!!! Mmm…), we went for a walk to the harbour. We took lots of pictures right next to the Atlantic Ocean. The ice was pretty slick (go figure, we ARE in Iceland) but no one wiped out. After that we packed our lunches and went to the Pearl (Icelandic translation: Pearlan) which is famous for heating the majority of the city, which explains our heated floors. We had a great view from the top of the Pearl and Paul snapped a few pics of us with the wind blowing our hair every which way. Next we went to the gym to play our games. The U-16 team played first and tied their game 6-6. Our game was against HK; we didn’t have a good first half but played better in the second half unfortunately losing the game 26-17. It turns out that our game started early so when the gym closed we waited outside. Though the temperatures here don’t compare to Edmontons balmy weather, we were all a little cold and formed penguin huddles for warmth (team bonding at its finest). We finished off the day with some shopping where the stores all seemed to sell fur covered apparel. We are looking forward to fettucine alfredo pasta with a side of tossed salad and balsamic viniagrette dinner tonight. Handballin continues tomorrow, Yasmin & Gill