Game Week!

The bye week time passed as usual. I am spending quite a bit of time at after school programs right now playing football with kids that understand very third word I say. I still think it's pretty amazing they are 10 years old and grasping the basics of what I am saying and formulating a response. They neat thing is that the longer the players are around me, the more comfortable using English they are. Yesterday was one of the more fun ones I would say. We had about 15 kids, and they all had a blast. It started off with me signing an "autograph" for a little girl. I had no idea what to say, but I wrote a nice message in the pink marker I was handed and made her day. Then her and her friends joined us on the field. It was funny because the girls would go against each other in WR-DB one on one, and they were more fierce in grabbing and trying to get the ball, and then more consistently catching the ball. A couple of the kids left early so they could go home before coming out and trying out a Gold Diggers practice, so that is awesome they are enjoying it. At the end, there are always 3 or 4 kids that are just loving it so much and get sad when it ends. They generally are the really athletic ones, so hopefully they come out. It's just rough timing with the season ending soon and all. So I've been to 3 different schools so far about 5 times.

Thursday was a big day as it was the election here. From what I have read an gathered, a new party has taken over in what was a really tight vote. That's all I feel qualified to talk about.

Stall from Pusher Street in Christiania

As far as last weekend---Friday was an absolute gorgeous day. I started off by going to the National Museum and spending 3 hours there. It was so huge and I was wandering everywhere.
It's really neat as it takes you through time and different regions of the world. I really like all the old Asian stuff, they seemed to have some really lavish stuff. There were also some crazy old bodies that were found that are on display. I really enjoyed the modern history stuff as well. Crazy to see a Playstation 2 and computer in a museum. It was pretty neat, even though I am not a big museum person; I prefer to interact with things rather than read.

From there, I went to the City Hall to go inside and take a look around and snap a few pictures. It was awkward as there were other tourists in there, but no one that looked like security or anything, so I just wandered around a bit. Pretty neato place.

Rosenborg Castle from the Round Tower

After that, I walked to the Round Tower- an old observatory built by Christian IV in the 1600s. Wikipedia does a good job explaining it. It's cool in that its a spiral ramp up to the top and not a crazy big staircase. The top offers up some good views of the city. It's awesome being up there and recognizing the building knowing what they are. I guess I really should by now, but still, good feeling. It was a perfect day for that as it was sunny and not raining. When I came down from the tower, I walked into a bookstore for the hell of it. As usual, they are wildly expensive. I had no desire to buy a book, but I was curious as to how much they cost.

Saturday the battle took place. The U19 team went on a paintball excursion. I can sum up my abilities in one word-horrible. I couldn't hit the water if I fell out of a boat. It was a bit of just no experience, mixed with unluckiness, and just plain being bad. I tried all strategies---charging swiftly, planning where I will run, or just improvising. Nothing seemed to work. One of the guys that was never on my team played in like leagues before so he was a badass. I think I may have shot 5 guys guys, and got shot a good 7 times.
The worst fail ever took place in a close quarter shootout. As I steathily snuck into an occupied house, I saw the enemy. I opened fire 3 times from say 4 feet away. I aimed for the legs, and I hit him, however the stupid paintballs didn't explode, so no kill. We chased each other and I guess someone else got him, but that was pretty much the story of my day. How do the paintballs not explode from 4 feet away--I was so frustrated. From there, we went to watch the Tomahawks play their final regular season game. It was super cold and kind of rainy, but I made it. They didn't play well at all, losing the game by a score I'm not aware of. It wasn't a good predictor of what we will see, as they were using some of their players on the senior team, who was playing in a game to move up to the National League. I think out guys will be hungry, and we win the numbers game as they have about 15 guys. Hopefully we can wear them out

Sunday was time to take down the election posters. That was so much easier than putting them up. It took about 2 hours to take down compared to the 5 to put up. I really wanted to keep one, but felt a little weird carrying a poster of the former Prime Minister around on the Metro. The used posters get sent to Africa to build huts. Funny to think that cow poop will be smeared all over pictures of these people's face. Good to hear all of them go to good use though.

Monday and Tuesday were school and practice days for me. On Monday, the senior guys were low on numbers so we did some scout stuff and special teams, and some conditioning. Tuesday was a regular day. It's a bit difficult getting to the stadium now because the World Cycling Championship is taking place, even more specifically, in the municipality of our stadium. Therefore, our earned home game in the semifinals has to be played at Herlev, the home of our opponent the Rebels. Should be an exciting game, but I am confident in our team and our preparation. Hopefully we can secure the win and earn a spot in the Mermaid Bowl. Immediately following our game, I will be scooting down to the U19 game, arriving probably right about kickoff. Sunday morning, I have to work security with some guys for the cycling. Shouldn't be anything too excruciating.

So, there is a chance this could be my last football game ever. Hopefully it won't be, and I have the opportunity to play with these guys one more time. The way we've been practicing, I think we'll be okay!