Week 1 Wrap Up
June 3 - 12
Well the first week is over, actually a little over a week. I
have to say that it feels like we have been here for at least
three weeks. I've met a lot of people and it seems like I
have known them for a while now. Both Scott and I are
enjoying our stay here in Finland after the first week, which
is a good thing. We lifted 5 days this week during the
afternoon at Nautaulis, the place where we have a
membership. It has everything we need, but the ceilings
are a little low, so we have to watch our heads in some
places. The rest of our downtime is spent mostly on the
internet and Playstation Madden 2004.
Special thanks to Thomas, Mikko, Rio, Kimi, and Tomi for
taking time to make sure me and Scott are doing well here
in Finland. Also, thanks to the rest of the team for making
us feel at home here.
This weekend we had a bye week and there is also a
festival in town mainly down by the dock (small river runs
through Turku). There are tents set up everywhere for
people selling all kinds of things. Many people come from
around Finland to Turku to party. All of the bars,
nightclubs, and streets are just packed with people. They
have big fishing boats that are outside bars where people
can hang out and drink. I took a few pictures tonight
(Saturday) and will post them on here a little later on a
seperate page..
On Friday, we went to a place they call Young House, which
is like a YMCA. This is a place where kids can do activities
all day and play sports with all their friends. Yesterday
was a special day specifically for football, so Scott, Kimi
(Offensive lineman, center), Seikko (defensive back) and I
went and were suppossed to teach some kids how to play
football. Well it was a crappy day, but about six kids were
there. They were all pretty shy or "too cool" to try
something new, so some of the workers had to force them
to do some activities. Once they got into it they really
enjoyed themselves. One little guy, named Errki, started to
run some routes for me. He was pretty shy to start and
Kimi made him do the first 2, but after that he wanted to do
that all day. So me and Errki threw for about 45 minutes
even when everybody was packing up to go home. He
couldn't speak english that well, but he knew "go deep"
and "this is fun." So it was cool to play with those little
guys for a while.
On Saturday Scott, Kimi, and I had to help out with the girl's
flag football games. There were 4 games in a row. (4
teams, each team plays twice). Scott and I started out on
the chain gang. To be honest, at first it was funny seeing
girls play flag football so seriously. The only girls football I
have ever seen is Intermurals at Hanover where the girls
do more giggling than playing football. This was quite a
change. I refereed the third game with one other guy and
that wasn't as boring as doing the chains. By the end of
the day I was enjoying myself somewhat, however, it was
probably in the low 40's, it was so cold for June 12th. But
seeing girls playing flag football so seriously is something I
will never forget. Next week we play Jaguars and I've
heard that they aren't any good, but we still have to play
well.
Special thanks to my man Kari for getting the pictures
from the games and Young House.
Well the first week is over, actually a little over a week. I
have to say that it feels like we have been here for at least
three weeks. I've met a lot of people and it seems like I
have known them for a while now. Both Scott and I are
enjoying our stay here in Finland after the first week, which
is a good thing. We lifted 5 days this week during the
afternoon at Nautaulis, the place where we have a
membership. It has everything we need, but the ceilings
are a little low, so we have to watch our heads in some
places. The rest of our downtime is spent mostly on the
internet and Playstation Madden 2004.
Special thanks to Thomas, Mikko, Rio, Kimi, and Tomi for
taking time to make sure me and Scott are doing well here
in Finland. Also, thanks to the rest of the team for making
us feel at home here.
This weekend we had a bye week and there is also a
festival in town mainly down by the dock (small river runs
through Turku). There are tents set up everywhere for
people selling all kinds of things. Many people come from
around Finland to Turku to party. All of the bars,
nightclubs, and streets are just packed with people. They
have big fishing boats that are outside bars where people
can hang out and drink. I took a few pictures tonight
(Saturday) and will post them on here a little later on a
seperate page..
On Friday, we went to a place they call Young House, which
is like a YMCA. This is a place where kids can do activities
all day and play sports with all their friends. Yesterday
was a special day specifically for football, so Scott, Kimi
(Offensive lineman, center), Seikko (defensive back) and I
went and were suppossed to teach some kids how to play
football. Well it was a crappy day, but about six kids were
there. They were all pretty shy or "too cool" to try
something new, so some of the workers had to force them
to do some activities. Once they got into it they really
enjoyed themselves. One little guy, named Errki, started to
run some routes for me. He was pretty shy to start and
Kimi made him do the first 2, but after that he wanted to do
that all day. So me and Errki threw for about 45 minutes
even when everybody was packing up to go home. He
couldn't speak english that well, but he knew "go deep"
and "this is fun." So it was cool to play with those little
guys for a while.
On Saturday Scott, Kimi, and I had to help out with the girl's
flag football games. There were 4 games in a row. (4
teams, each team plays twice). Scott and I started out on
the chain gang. To be honest, at first it was funny seeing
girls play flag football so seriously. The only girls football I
have ever seen is Intermurals at Hanover where the girls
do more giggling than playing football. This was quite a
change. I refereed the third game with one other guy and
that wasn't as boring as doing the chains. By the end of
the day I was enjoying myself somewhat, however, it was
probably in the low 40's, it was so cold for June 12th. But
seeing girls playing flag football so seriously is something I
will never forget. Next week we play Jaguars and I've
heard that they aren't any good, but we still have to play
well.
Special thanks to my man Kari for getting the pictures
from the games and Young House.
Pictures from Young House Football Day
Group picture: (left to right) Kimi, Seikko, Scott,
Brett, Mirva, and Anni.
Brett, Mirva, and Anni.
Errki tossing one
deep
deep
I'm teaching the
grip
grip
Kimi making the big tackle... even though it was flag
football
football
Doing a one-on-one
drill
drill