Dale Adrian! Dale!

Right now I'm in colonia Uruguay where were having our volleyball tournament. We arrived yesterday at 7:30am and I didn't sleep the night before because of a show I had to go to for my theatre class, so when we arrived, I slept, then we had our first game later that day. The city of Colonia is really cute and super clean in comparison to Buenos Aires. It's really clam and miniature. Also, they don't have traffic lights....or I haven't seen any, at least. People just govern themselves on the road. But it works, so it's cool.

Today we had two games, and the second one was against what I'm pretty sure was a Middle school team. Now, to be honest, I'm not sure if we've won any games or not. I really can't tell. Everyone's a super good sport and were all just happy the game went well I guess. So I can never tell who won because nobody's mad or any other type of empotional.

So we get out there with this middle school team, and during the warm up, we could tell that they were good. Plus, they looked like the worked out, so they were serious. Obviously, no one was planning on taking it easy on anyone, because if you think about it, what does that mean? Am I just not gonna hit the ball a few times and let you get some points? No. Are you gonna take it easy on me because I'm in college? Didn't think so. So that was settled. I was thinking, they probably wanted it more anyway, because we're so much older than they are.

So each round, we have to switch sides, and the water bottles get transported back and forth so they're available for the players during time out and whatnot. And everyone was sharing all the waters, but I bought my own, so I would just take mine and set it out of the way. So finally the big waters got low, were on the sideline, listening to the coach, then the inevitable happened. Someone reached for my bottle, the only one with water still in it. She took a drink, but didn't put her mouth on it. "ok" someone else reaches for it, and I stand there helplessly, while my personal water passes in slow motion from sweaty mouth to sweaty mouth, dripping down sweaty chins, spit water splashed back into the bottle followed by a tired, heavy breath. And I'm the only one noticing while everyone else listens intently to the coaches directions. Finally, a team member finishes it off and the agony is over. But F if I'm about to buy another bottle. It was like 30 pesos. So I just had to wash it off when I got back. I was so disgusted.

Anyway, so the game begins, its going well, we're playing pretty much equally. Todo bien. Time goes on, and they start to get ahead of us, but we had played a game earlier and were tired, so no one could hit the ball over the net... So the coach keeps pulling us aside "I know you're tired physically, but you gotta get your bead in there" or some thing to that effect in Spanish.. So we keep getting these pep talks, pep talks. Each time we go out there, were more intense. Everyones on point. Were making all the points, the Middle schoolers are getting discouraged, were coming up. Meanwhile, the crowd on the sideline has gotten bigger, we have a huge screaming section, the middle school team's, fans grow. People have found things to make more noise with. Banging on the floor, the walls, clapping. The other university students start shouting the school song. Now we have a makeshift band/chearleading squad. We're pumped. Middle school up by two. Now it's a pride issue. We have to win. We get out there. Ball over the net, middle school girl hits the floor misses the ball. "Yeah" everyone's watching. No one can miss a second. Now were equal, one point left. Ball served from the middle school side. Teeters on the net. One of our girls goes for it, misses. There's a lot of celebration. I think we lost.

All together, it was a pretty fun weekend though.

TB