Summer Break

So I've been on the summer break for over a week now. Last week didn't feel like much of a break since I was busy from about 8am when I would wake up until 5:30 when I would get home. It was great having something to do, because I would probably lose my mind if I didn't work the camp. It's nice having something to look forward to when getting out of bed.

I know I explained the camp a little bit from my first impressions on Monday. It was pretty much the same all week. Some of the kids were afraid of hitting someone else and hurting them, some were afraid of getting hurt, and some just really wanted to watch what was going on. Don't get me wrong, there was a fair share of kids going hard and enjoying every minute of it. As the week went on, kids got more of an understanding of the game and realized they won't get hurt if they get hit, and a lot of them just bounced back up. The big event of the week (for the coaches as much as the players) was a game between two teams drafted by the coaches. It was me and a senior team RB against two U19 players. We drafted a solid O-Line players, but what they lacked in OL/DL, they made up for in athletes. As much as I hate to say it, we lost the game HUGE. Our 1st, 3rd, and 5th pick, who was our RB, QB, and Center, did not show up for the game. We couldn't even get the ball back to the QB. We had one OL guy who really understood the concept of things, but really didn't execute. Our best OL was a receiver who played OL because he just wanted to hit someone. The hardest part of it all, was I could not communicate that well with them. The kids knew our plays by name compared to the other guys (who would huddle them up and show them cards of the play) which was great, but no one blocked anyone and when we did, it was a straight tackle, so it was funny. Towards the end, I just started using a white board to draw plays, and they seemed to work out alright. Defensively, we were always there, but our tackling consisted of reaching out and grabbing, hoping they would fall down. The best part though, was the kids enjoyed themselves and were introduced to American football. Hopefully some of the kids join the Gold Diggers, cause there were a few athletes (all on the other team).

Nothing too eventful happened besides that until Saturday. Esben and I were planning on going to the beach, but the weather forecast told us not to. About 3, we went to Netto to get some food and it was beautiful out, and we were kicking ourselves for not going. About 6pm, it gets dark and stars POURING down rain. It was the wildest storm since I've been here. There was actually thunder and lightning, which is something I hadn't seen too much of during storms. It was a solid downpour for a long time. It died down and I went with Esben to one of his friends apartments. They were all very nice and welcoming of the American. They all seem to have studied in American at some time. The best part was some other Americans showed up. I didn't really catch their full story, but they were studying somewhere in Copenhagen. They went to Oregon, so they enjoyed football, so Esben and I had to try to get them to come to a Gold Diggers game after the break. We may have got a few new fans!

Sunday, I went to the U17 National Team tryouts with Esben out in Herlev. It was super nice day, but very humid still. There were a lot of kids there, and our senior RB coach and our U19 head coach are coaches on the team. Johan, the Rebels head coach was out there, so I talked with him and Esben most of the time.

I celebrated the 4th practically the same way I would in America--with a BBQ by the water. I found my way out to Vedbæk, which is where we went out on the boat a couple weeks ago.  I was proud of myself, because the trains running for my ususal station, Nørreport, were not running due to the storms, so I read the stuff in Danish and found my way to another station, where the trains were running from. It's so simple, but I get super pumped when I do something cool like that. I brought a couple Budweiser and some sausages for the grill, however, there were already burgers and potato salad there. Quick aside about potato salad, I never really knew I liked it, and maybe it's different here or something, but I have enjoyed it very much when I have had it. It was a gorgeous evening there with Kim and his parents, Esben, Thomas (one of the coaches) and his family, and Johan and his wife. I ate like a champion and we made some s'mores and had some sparklers and firecrackers and those little spinny things that are a bunch of different colors. I thought it was funny because they asked what I usually do on the 4th, and I was just like well probably the exact same thing, just with different people (obviously). It was a fantastic evening, and I arrived home tired from all the eating.

The rest of the time, I have been relaxing. I do some Yahoo! Mock Fantasy Football drafts. Basically, they don't matter and its for practicing draft strategies or something. There are people that take it super seriously. I do it to make those people mad. Basically, I join the draft, and I draft only QBs. So I'll end up with like Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning, and Tom Brady before some people realize. It doesn't kick in until later when people are looking for QBs and realize I have them all. Some find it funny and others get extremely mad over the person messing around in a fake draft. It's mildly amusing for me and a good way to kill some time. I have also been cleaning some to make sure the place is presentable for Audrey. I'm super excited as she arrives tomorrow, nice and early in the morning. I keep telling her I'm going to make her wait in the airport for 4 hours like she did to me in London. I also gave her directions to my apartment, just to make her think I won't actually be there (of course I'm going to be there). I'm really excited because now it seems the summer vacation is starting, and I get to be a European tourist. I'll do my best to keep this thing updated as much as I can. So far in Denmark, we are going to Kronborg Castle on Friday with Kim and Saturday we are going to Esben's parent's house for some BBQ. I'm looking forward to that. Everyone has been throwing out things we need to do, so we will plan out how we will spend out Copenhagen time.

Hope everyone had a fun, safe 4th and the summer is going well!