Back in the USA!

Hi everyone!

Approximately 2pm est the team flew into JFK International in New York. They had to take a shuttle bus to LaGuardia, and had a 7 hour stayover until the flight later this evening to get to the Lake Placid area.

Heather called, and said "...the trip on the plane was long but nice.". She also reports that the rumors about the acquisition of cheeseburgers were untrue. She said she planned on "... eating one of everything on the $1 menu!"

The Decize International Regatta results are linked here.

I hope to get a call from Marcy when they get settled, and perhaps they can fill in the details of the last couple of days, as well as continue the blog from Lake Placid.

If anyone hears any word about our Atlanta-bound travelers, please let me know at chucklana@mac.com and I'll post it here!

10:20pm update:

Kelley Foote (Blake's mom) reports the Atlanta-bound part of the Romania team have returned safely! Also, Ms. Susan may have lost her luggage (yikes!) and yes, Blake is VERY happy to be back home, and he did indeed eat a cheeseburger in Germany.

It's great to have y'all back home.

10:30pm update - The Lake Placid group has arrived in Albany, and is waiting for Claudiu at the airport to take them the rest of the way to the Training Center. The plane they took was apparently, well, one of the SMALL ones and she reports it felt like the ground crew had to come over & push it away from the gate when they left New York.

She also mentioned some of the team took the opportunity to snooze a bit more.

On their way home

Hi everyone!

I'ts about 2:30 est and we still have no word from the team in France.

The Decize International Regatta's site shows no new entries, and there were to be events today up until 3pm est. Hopefully, the event team updates its web site & provides final results today.

Again, as soon as we hear anything regarding the team, we will post it here.

7:30 update:

Blake Foote called home on Ricky's phone (the only Euro-phone the team has), and he reports the team has left for the airport. Apparently our LCKC athletes did well at the regatta. We will find out more once the team gets back to the US. But one thing we did find out stands out amongst all - they all got their cheeseburgers in France! WooHoo!

10:11pm update:

Marcy called from Paris! The team is at the airport, and will be flying back to the States tonight. They'll be back at about 2pm est. The team had a great time in France, and she said that the regatta went "... really really well."

Decize International Regatta - Day 1

Hi everyone!

We've not yet heard anything from the team in Decize. However, the French national canoe/kayak organization has lots of info about the event (and Google gives a hand with translations):

"...Over 1400 boats participating this weekend to the famous international racing Decize. The opportunity for paddlers to try one last time before the French championships. Over 410 races are coming at a furious pace all weekend! ... Once again everything is done to make this race a success ..."

Paddlers on the course in warmup area

We've downloaded the day 1 race order (and perhaps results - we can't tell since there are no times listed). As we get access to more data we will publish it here and on the LCKC website.

Day 1 Results (I think...)

By the way - one of the French tourism sites have a note about Decize:

"Decize is a charming little town that sits on a rocky island in the middle of the river Loire. It is surrounded by some fantastic countryside that is home to the famous Charolais cattle that produce France's finest beef."

B E E F ?!?!? Oh my goodness. Considering how cow-hungry the team is - they MIGHT want to warn the farmers! Lock up your cattle! Here comes LCKC!!!

No word from Decize

Bonjour!

Decize on the Loire River

The team should be in Decize, France today. I'm not sure if the team is actually staying in Decize, since it is a very small town on the Loire River. If we get any word from our folks there, I will update the blog.

6pm update:

Coach Claudiu reports that he spoke with Coach Zebet yesterday. At that time, they were two hours outside of Desize.

The trip was going well, and they would be practicing in town today. Claudio also reports that the trip to Lake Placid went well, and our team there is currently practicing hard and doing great.

The long hard road - trip update

Hi folks!

The team left Orsova yesterday afternoon at 4pm our time (approx.) on the way to France. Marcy reports the ride took over 24 hours (with 3 stops), through Romania, Austria, and Hungary. The bus has stopped in Karlsruhe, Germany (near the French border) to stay at the Radisson Hotel.

LCKC team hotel

The team is looking forward to a good nights rest, and some hot food. They will enter France tomorrow. Marcy said she'll try to get a blog entry on the trip together for posting soon. The Internet access at the hotel has been swamped with users, so they've not had a lot of access to it since they arrived there at 3:30pm our time.

Last day in Orsova

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to make sure that everyone remembers that we are leaving for France this evening about 9 pm. The kids are about to bounce off the walls, so I doubt that there will be much Skyping going on tonight. I’ll be holding most of the kids back with one hand as they crowd on the bus and trying to drag Heather on the bus with the other hand. Heather has decided that she must be part Romanian and she doesn’t want to leave. Coach Zebet and Coach Bebe have thoroughly spoiled our kids, especially our girls.

Driving on the E60 (in parts) to avoid the Alps: Passing through Hungary, Austria and Germany to get to France

As far as I know, we will drive thru tonight, but we will stop in Germany on Weds. night. We will be stopping at a hotel (please, God, let it be air conditioned with a real shower and internet!) and, if possible, we will Skype and email then.

All the kids are currently off of restriction WOOOHOOOO and are free to run their errands until 5:00 pm tonight. Moms, please prepare yourselves for their conversion to European culture. LOL

Take care and keep us in your prayers as we travel,
Marcy

Lazy days - Sunday, June 21, 2009 Recap

Hi Everybody,

Today was a lazy day. Everyone seemed to get a late start, and breakfast was rather quiet. We found out that Coach Zebet had arranged for us to go on the 2 pm river cruise, so we all came in early for lunch. The roast chicken and rice were as good as always.

The cruise was very nice. We sat below deck this time, where the coaches met on our last cruise. We could go out the front or sit below at almost water level. This time the boat didn’t turn around at the monastery, but went several miles beyond before turning around.

Mraconia Church - on the Danube

After the cruise, everyone pretty much went to take a nap until dinner time. Though they’d die rather than admit it, all of the athletes have gotten accustomed to napping from 2 to 4. We met at 6:30 and went as a team to Demera, our favorite pizza joint. We have been there so many times, the waitress pretty much knew our order, though Sheaffer and I mixed her up a bit by ordering pasta, rather than any of our normal dishes. The first time we had her, she made a mistake with Blake’s order, but she has never gotten it wrong again; she seems to take pride in getting everything just right.

Sheaffer waited with me while I stopped and bought a drink. I drew his attention to the haze covering the mountains and how it seemed to be moving. He grinned and said, very politely, “Mrs. Lana, that’s rain.” And then the heavens opened up. LOL It was a beautiful rain, one we would have loved to have had in GA last year. It cleared the air of pollen, cooled things off, and, hallelujah!!! shut the dogs up. It was the best night’s sleep I’d had since I got here.

It's a rainy night in... Orsova...

Just before bed, Sheaffer came running into the meeting room to tell us that we are leaving Tues. night, not Weds., as we had thought. This makes more sense as we will probably travel thru the night on Tues., then stop in Germany for Weds. night. We have enjoyed our visit here, but we are looking forward to seeing someplace new before we go back home. Heather and Holly were the only ones who weren’t ready to go; they have made a bunch of friends here, and they hate to leave them. Hopefully, these friends will be among those coming to stay a LCKC in October.

Take care,

Marcy

Kill it! - Saturday, June 20, 2009 Recap

Hi Everybody,

The kids had time trials this morning and, while none of the times were great, most were a decided improvement over the times from the earlier trials and the regatta. I think that when our athletes get home to their own boats, they are going to be very pleased.

We did a team dinner last night at a new restaurant and it was very good, but hot and slow. Most of the kids ate pizzas, but some of us tried the spaghetti carbonara. It was definitely different than any other version of that dish that I have tried. Not bad, just different.

After dinner, we came back to the club and I had an amazing revelation. Last year, for the Peachtree City Dragonboat Festival, Chuck set my laptop up to act as a wireless router. Both of us had completely forgotten about it until tonight. I was whining, again, about not being able to load any new books on my iTouch, and looking online for some way to get around the need for wireless. One of the book sites mentioned turning your laptop into a wireless device and DING!DING!DING! the light went on. So, now my machine is broadcasting like a wireless router and Susan, Sheaffer and the other LCKC folks with a laptop are able to access the internet via a wireless connection. Of course, this presumes that the internet is working to begin with, something not to be taken for granted.

Artist's rendition of killer Romanian spider from last night

I have to tell y’all about my new hero, Susan. Last night she valiantly defended me from a spider the size of Godzilla. We had been in bed about 10 minutes and I was just dropping off to sleep, when something brushed my arm a couple of times. I thought it was just a couple of mosquitoes….until multiple legs ran across my hand. I came out of that bed so fast I left the covers floating above the mattress. I shined the light from my iTouch on the wall above the bed, and there, on the wall, was Spiderzilla. No joke, the unblessed thing was about 4 inches across. Susan jumped out of bed, took one look at Spiderzilla, and grabbed her shoe. She smashed that booger until he resembled the pate they serve in picnics here. So here’s to Susan, mighty spider killer, and my hero.

Take care,

Marcy

Two all beef patties, special sauce... - Friday, June 19, 2009 Recap

Hi Everybody,

Well, today is almost over and that is the best thing I can say about it. PHEW!!! 8 teenagers + 19 days halfway across the world from home = 1 tired team momma. (and possibly one greying 19 year old team captain.)

The RO athletes told our kids about a nearby town that had a Nike/Adidas/Puma outlet and a KFC, and our kids have been dying to go ever since. Today, Coach Zebet arranged for his driver to take Susan, Sheaffer and I to this town. Our driver arrived about, oh, 3 hours earlier than we thought he would, so we were a bit disorganized getting away. The town was only about 20 km away and it only took us a few minutes to get there, but it was very different than Orsova. Think the difference between Rabbittown and Gainesville. The town was beautiful to look at, and we really enjoyed the drive. Apparently, there is a big difference between the RO and American definitions of outlet.

Our driver/host, Pedro, and his daughter, Roxana, graciously took us to a number of stores that carried the above brands, but we couldn’t find RO soccer jerseys or any spandex for Tanner. We did manage to find a tiny bakery that had the most divine pastries and pretzels. Sheaffer and Susan went for the pretzels, but I had a fabulous, fresh-baked chocolate croissant. My mouth just waters thinking about it.

Sweet dreams are made of this...

It was a good thing we had a snack, because we missed lunch at the club. The three of us went for lunch when we returned at our favorite pizza joint. They know us so well there, they just asked if were having cheeseburgers, fried chicken, or pizza. Today it was the chicken cheeseburgers. I love sitting there on the patio, sipping either a cold drink (yes! They have ice there now) or an espresso. Susan and I agree that we are beginning to feel like rich exiles. After all, a full meal with coffee or drink is only about $5, less than one Starbucks’s venti breve cappuccino.

Ba da ba ba baaa - I'm missin' it.

The kids are tired of being away from home and everything familiar. They have enjoyed their visit, have made good gains in their practice, but they are ready to see something familiar. McDonald’s is the most requested site, followed by their pets and Moms. Tempers are a bit sharper than earlier in the trip, and tears seem to come easier. Still, I think everyone is looking forward to France and a bit of new scenery.

Take Care,

Marcy

Thursday, June 18, 2009 Recap

Hi Everybody,

Today was a very nice day, probably my most favorite since we got here. The weather was pretty - a little hot, a little windy, but nice overall. The kids paddled in the morning and did weights before lunch, then had their afternoon nap. After the nap, they were free to explore the town and do some shopping.

Blake did have an upset stomach last night, but it wasn’t as bad as we had feared. He felt better by this morning and was grinning at his mistake. Heather was ok for part of the day, but didn’t feel so great in the evening. She decided to skip dinner and just sip some tea.

Susan and I had a lovely afternoon. After lunch, we went to our favorite place and I had a coffee and Susan had a soda. She says she can’t drink coffee that is so thick you can stand a spoon in it; I think that describes the perfect cup of espresso. LOL Oh well, different strokes and all that. Tomorrow, we’ll go to the other café where they make a cappuccino she likes. We spent a couple of hours at the café, sipping our drinks and talking. The kids knew where we were and they waved at us as they came by. Some stopped in and had a soda, but you don’t think they sat with us old folks do you?!

We did a bit of shopping before we returned to the club. We ran into Ricky and Stanton at Penny’s and they showed us the right orange juice to buy for the team. I have been trying to make sure we keep OJ on hand for when the kids come off the water a bit shaky and needing a fast sugar hit. Earlier in the week, I misread the label and purchased a brand of juice that didn’t meet their expectations, so the boys wanted to make sure we bought the right stuff.

It was so much fun the local dogs wanted to join in...

After dinner was my favorite part of the day. I mentioned to Sheaffer that I wished we had some cards and, lo and behold, he had some. He brought them into the meeting room and he, Susan, and I were going to play. Tanner, Heather and Blake wandered in and sat down to play, so Susan and I sat at the other end of the table and dj-ed the music. I have an eclectic collection of music on my laptop, and I played a varied selection. The kids knew a lot of the music and made requests for other songs they knew I had. For about 2 hours, the four of them laughed and cut-up as they played Hearts. By curfew time, we had the whole crew up here, laughing and enjoying the music. It was such a nice way to end the day.

Take care,

Marcy

Nausea, Heartburn, Indigestion... - Wednesday, June 17, 2009 Recap

Hi Everybody,

Today was so windy, I was absolutely amazed that they went on the water this morning. Out they went, though. We had a lot of high winds during the night and a bit of rain. The wind upset the dogs and they spent most of the night barking wildly. Can you guess how much sleep Susan and I got? The kids slept like the dead, though, and awoke amazed at how hard the wind was blowing.

Heather went to bed queasy, and woke up still feeling ill. She went out and did the warm-up, but Coach Zebet didn’t want her in a boat, feeling so ill. Her nausea didn’t get better until it first got worse, but by supper she was fine. Susan was also a bit under the weather and spent most of the day resting in the room.

Plop, plop, fizz fizz... Whoops! Wrong ad!

Blake discovered that a lot of the trees on the side of the street are cherry trees, and they are loaded with fruit. He picked a bunch of the tiny green fruits, ate some, and brought the rest upstairs to share. I asked him if he had washed them, and, being a boy, he hadn’t. His teammates and I advised him not to eat any more because we were fairly sure that these particular cherries are RED when they are ripe. He agreed not to eat any more tonight, so we’ll see how his stomach does overnight.

At supper last night, the kids agreed to split the extra cutlet 4 ways. Stanton told us that he should be the one to do the dividing because he was, and I quote, “an expert chicken cutterer.”He must have been as good as his word, because no one fussed about the size of their portion.

I spoke with Coach Zebet today about the trip to France. He is planning on leaving next Wednesday and spending the night somewhere in Germany. We will pass thru Austria, Hungary, and Germany on our way to Decize, France. On Saturday there will be some heats, but most of the day will be for the 5K race. On Sunday, the heats will be in the morning and the finals will be in the afternoon. The races should be done somewhere around 6, then he will take us to Paris. Hopefully, we will be able to drive around the city and see something of the monuments.

Take care,

Marcy

Sweet Dreams - Tuesday, June 16, 2009 Recap

Hi Everybody,

Today was a bit of a crazy day, as far as training goes. The boys’ coach was not at practice for the second morning in a row. We have been concerned that his wife, who was our interpreter on the cruise and who is expecting their first child, may be ill. All of us hope that that is not the case.

Susan voluntarily ran to the monastery today. She is trying to stay in shape while she is here, so she made her second trip up the mountain. I wished her well and made sure we had cold water ready when she got back. She said the view was beautiful, but the run up the hill was rough. Since having to run to the monastery is our preferred method of discipline for our athletes, I know the kids were dying to ask what she did that was so bad SHE got sent to the monastery, but they didn’t ask. LOL As tired as they are with training, I don’t think they can imagine someone making that run for fun.

After lunch, while the kids napped, Susan and I walked to one of the restaurants and had an espresso and watched the river flow. Well, I had an espresso; Susan had a water. She says she can’t drink a coffee thick enough to stand a spoon in. I don’t know what the problem is as I think the coffee is divine, but, then, I am a coffee fiend. Yesterday she and I found a neat little dessert/ice cream place, but we have vowed not to go back again as we are unable to resist. The desserts at this place, unlike all the other desserts we’ve tried here, were sweet. Dangerous, indeed.

Ok ma'am: please step away from the pastry...

The second practice this morning was the 5^th practice, so the kids had the afternoon off. After their naps, most went off to explore the city and shop for souvenirs. A couple ran errands for us; strangely, we had no problems finding volunteers to go buy toilet paper, orange juice, and ketchup, as those are things no one wants to run out of again.

A storm is trying to move in and the wind has really picked up. I think it was raining a little while ago, but it seems to have stopped for the moment. The dogs have been restless and barking, but the girls don’t seem to have any trouble sleeping thru all the noise. I hope the boys are sleeping as well as the girls are. I don’t want to ruin anyone’s images of our delicate angels, but more than one of the girls, well, snores. LOL

Take care,

Marcy

Back to work - Monday, June 15, 2009 Recap

Hi Everybody,

Well, today it was back to hard training for everyone. The boys’ training included a mid-day run up to the monastery, and the girls’ practice included some time in team boats. I am not sure which was harder.

The boys came by the room to get water and to let us know that their practice would be longer today. They wanted to make sure that their lunch was not subject to the ‘10 minute rule’. Of course, that rule does not apply when someone is late because of training, so I guess they were just making sure we knew they were training. The run was timed and it was brutal. The sun was very bright and hot, and the boys were doing their best to get respectable times. Sheaffer and Tanner were the first finished, and they were absolutely wiped out. Neither could eat for some time after they got back. Considering that yesterday’s lunch included their favorite - breaded chicken cutlets - that really says how exhausting the run was.

As to the team boats, y’all may not all be aware that two of our girls, who are great friends off the water, are not friends at all in a team boat. Heather and Holly just don’t get along in team boats and never have. They are, however, making a supreme effort to get along here so that they don’t embarrass Claudiu or themselves. Susan and I can each tell you that it took a lot of effort on each girl’s part not to fall into their old habit of squabbling on the water. The team boat practice was hard, and all the girls were very tired when it was over. They were not so tired, however, that they couldn’t eagerly count down the minutes until Anna was 10 minutes late. Anna foiled them however, by arriving exactly 30 seconds before the 10 minute mark. LOL

Note the distance here. This is A Good Thing.

Given the hard morning workouts, it won’t take much imagination to figure out how the kids spent the rest period. Yep, snoozing soundly. Neither heat nor noise seemed to bother any of them. Susan and I went out for a bit, and arrived back just as the girls were due at practice. When we saw that none were downstairs, we hurried to our room to check on them. There, we found 3 Sleeping Beauties, snoring peacefully. They jumped up and got ready for practice in a flash, and made it downstairs just before the other girls headed to the docks.

After supper last night, the kids took turns Skypeing family back home. Over the past few days, these conversations have become more like team events than private conversations. I try to clear the room so each person can have some privacy, but their fellow team members want to make sure that they are telling the stories “correctly,” so they tend to try to stay in the room. Now that we can Skype in the meeting room, we aren’t using the headphones as much and everyone seems to feel free to comment on the conversation. So far, none of the parents seem to be offended or upset by this, but I hope they will let me know if they want to have a private conversation with their athlete.

Take care,

Marcy

Lazy Sunday - Sunday, June 14, 2009 Recap

Hi Everybody,

Everyone slept late today, so we had breakfast a bit later than normal. Table talk centered on how much fun everyone had on Saturday night, and how they want to play the game again before we leave. The weather is cool and breezy, nice for walking.

After breakfast, some of the kids got to jog to the monastery. After running 4+ km uphill and back, the runs around the parking lot back home should be a breeze.

A monastery on the Danube - from the cruise

The day was pretty quiet, with everyone resting and getting ready for this week’s training schedule. Our kitchen ladies served lunch, then left picnic lunches again for dinner. So, we went out for dinner again. One group found an Italian place, complete with pasta, and the other group went back to the standard pizza place. The girls and I were feeling adventurous, even though we went to the stand-by place, and we found a new dish. We were so excited about the lightly breaded, then fried chicken breast served with fries, you would have thought it was prime rib. Still, no fresh veggies, though.

The Internet and Skype were up tonight, so we were able to contact most of the parents. The kids look forward to talking with the folks back home, though some are more forthcoming than others. The boys seem to be a lot quieter and stingy on the details of the trip, while the girls are perfectly willing to discuss the smallest details. At the dinner table, though, there is no difference in talking.

Sheaffer and I have been going over the details of the France trip. Should the rides to Paris not work out, we, with the help of Terri, have lined up a train ride. I am hoping that we will get to see some parts of Paris before we head to the airport, but I am not certain that we will. Sigh, that’s what happens when you travel with kayakers: you get to see water, water, and more water. LOL Oh well.

We had a team meeting last night and reminded everyone of the rules. We only have 10 days left, and we don’t want any mistakes now. By bedtime, everyone was ready to turn in.

Take care,

Marcy

Hey hey HEYYY! - Saturday, June 13 Recap

Hi Everybody,

Today was much cooler than yesterday. There was a strong breeze, which felt wonderful, but was rough on the athletes on the water. Luckily, the girls only had one practice today, and it was before the wind picked up. Sheaffer took the boys back up the mountain to the monastery, but this time he let them go a bit slower and stay long enough to buy souvenirs.

There is no such thing as too much sunscreen. Really.

This morning, breakfast conversation consisted of what everyone wants to have for their first breakfast when they get back home. Blake and Sheaffer’s description of their grandmothers’ biscuits and gravy had everyone drooling. Don’t get me wrong, our breakfasts here are wonderful – cereal, fresh bread, a meat platter, Nutella, etc – but there is just something about home cooking, know what I mean?

All practices were finished by noon, but our kids weren’t sure if the nap in the afternoon rule still applied. Most spent the time napping, but some just read quietly. By 3 o’clock, everyone was up and ready to go. Susan and I walked to one of the cell phone stores to see if they had wireless modems, but the store had closed at 1:00 pm. We continued on to the Spar Market for a coffee and a Coke, then some shopping. On the way back, we stopped and sat in the neatest little park and watched the children play. We were feeling very nostalgic about our babies, but that ended when the crying began. LOL The park was so pretty, with lots of roses everywhere. When I think of Orsova, I will definitely remember the roses.

Orsova - from the Danube cruise

Apparently the ladies who handle the housekeeping and cooking here leave early on Saturday. We came in sometime after lunch, which was wonderful, to find little bags with picnic fare stacked on the table. While the food was good, we decided to take this opportunity to go out to dinner. We went in groups so as not to overwhelm any one restaurant, but, strangely enough, we all ended up in the same place – the pizza/ chickenburger place. YUM! The kids came in during the evening and ate their picnics.

I am going to tell y’all about the game the kids played with the RO athletes tonight, but I understand that the description can not possibly convey just how much fun they had playing this. I know it will sound bizarre, but they played it for HOURS, laughing loudly the whole time. Only the boys played; the girls sat on the side and cheered. Heather filmed a lot of it, but I don’t know if the video turned out.

Ok, first athlete stands with his back against the wall and a pillow held over his stomach and “parts.” Second athlete bends at the waist and puts his head against the pillow. Third player puts his head, well, between the second player’s legs and holds on to the second player’s hips. This continues until the first team has formed a chain several athletes long. The second team’s athletes, one at a time, get a running start and jump as far up the chain as they can, landing on the backs of the other team. The first team loses if they break the chain and the second team loses if any of their athletes touch the ground. Weird, huh? Honestly, they played this for hours. Stanton and Blake were talking about how fun it was and how they hoped it would be played again before we leave. They wondered if Claudiu had ever played this and if he would let them play it at our club. Yeah, I promise to get pictures if they play it again.

(Editors note: Having played this with members of my highschool band, I immediately recognized this as the game called 'Buck Buck' made famous by Bill Cosby. Check this entry on Wikipedia for more info, or click here to hear Cosby's version.)

Because no one has any practices tomorrow, Sheaffer allowed everyone to have until 11:30 before they had to be in their rooms. All of the athletes were literally just outside the Club building and easily in view of Susan and me. I have to admit, there were times we just stood on the balcony and stared at them, wondering at the game and how much fun they were having. The only thing needed to play was a pillow, and Stanton said they didn’t have that at first. Forgive me if I go on and on about it, but it just tickled me to see them all out there, laughing and cheering for each other, no matter if the person was Romanian or American. Just kids, having fun on a Saturday night.

Take care,

Marcy

Flo-Rida, Gone Romanian - Friday, June 12th Recap

Hi Everybody,

Our Internet is completely dead again except the Skype is working. Chuck says it has something to do with the DNS settings and the fact that Skype uses fixed IP addresses. I don’t care why, as long as we have some way to communicate with the folks back home. Today was a pretty exciting day for the adults as we were interviewed by a journalist for a local paper. He brought a previous edition of the paper with him and, on the 3^rd page, there was a picture of our girls receiving their medals from Susan. Cool, huh?

Heather and the girls in the 3rd place 500m K4 - From Saturday's race

Susan and I made a trip with Coach Zebet’s driver into the mountains. The scenery was beautiful and our translator, Roxana, was able to discuss whatever we wanted. Unfortunately, I have a tendency to get carsick on mountain roads and this time was no exception. Still, I think I got some great photos.

The coastline of Romania at dusk

Tuesday night we announced that if anyone was more than 10 minutes late to a meal, their food was up for grabs. We did this for two reasons. First, some of the kids were ignoring dinnertime in order to play longer on the computer games downstairs. Our hosts insist on having some of their athletes clear the table when we are done, and the latecomers meant that these folks were having to make multiple trips upstairs. This was just plain rude and didn’t need to continue. The 2^nd reason is that some of the kids have been making trips into town and eating there, so they weren’t hungry at dinnertime. If they didn’t let us know, the food just sat on their plates and got cold. This was rude not only to our hosts, who went out of their way to provide for us, but also to their fellow diners who would have very much enjoyed having the extra portion. Please understand, this rule does not apply if an athlete isn’t off the water or is involved in some sort of practice at dinnertime.

Last night we had an athlete ignore the dinner hour. He was playing a game he enjoys on the computer and just chose not to come up to eat. He was not happy when he came thru the door, 20 minutes after dinnertime, and was reminded of the rule. There was plenty of bread, vegetables, and sliced meats, but his hot dinner entrée had been divided among his fellow athletes EXACTLY 10 minutes after the assigned dinnertime. He took his ribbing with grace and many promises of retribution, but, clearly, the point had been made. Today, this athlete was first in line for breakfast and lunch.

The RO boys have no practices until Monday, and they are very much enjoying their holiday. It is NEVER quiet here; there is always some sort of music playing. Today, though, must be a record day for the number of music sources playing really different types of music at the same time. Every possible window is open to catch whatever breeze there may be, so I am getting a full dose of RO teenager. On one hand, I have something about a girl with Apple bottom jeans and boot with the fur, and on the other I have something that resembles a temple chant combined with a driving bass beat. I think my fillings are rattling. Am I showing my age?

(Editor's Note - Shorty Got Low is not on Marcy's iPod playlist. Or is any Euro-Techno Trance. I believe the wildest thing she has this trip is Air Supply. :-D )

Take care,

Marcy

Feeling Hot Hot HOT! - Thursday, June 11th Recap

Hi Everybody,

Hot, Hot, Hot!!!! And feeling more like home everyday.

The weather here is very similar to GA – muggy and hot. We are watching the athletes very carefully to make sure that they are staying hydrated and coated in sunscreen. We don’t have a readily available source for Gatorade or Powerade, though Anna and Sheaffer finally found one bottle of Powerade at a small store. Heather got to meet the Orsova team doctor today when she became dizzy and nauseated while doing weights. She had only eaten cereal for breakfast, had gotten very hot and a bit sunburned while paddling, and had completely overheated in the weight room. The doctor gave her some sugar water to drink and told her to take a cool shower and rest. She did as instructed and was feeling much better after her nap.

LCKC athletes waiting on the cruise to start

Coach Zebet had arranged for a driver to take Susan and I on a tour of a nearby town. I wasn’t able to go as I wasn’t comfortable leaving when Heather wasn’t feeling well, so Holly went in my place. The town they went to had everything named after various gods and goddesses, and featured a very large statue of Hercules. They also got to visit a fountain that had wonderfully pure, cold water to drink, and pools that were mineral springs heated by thermal vents.

Susan took a lot of photos of the statues and architecture, but also took a great photo of a cow. The kids have discussed various ways that we might catch and eat said cow, as beef is not a meat that is eaten a lot in this area of Romania. I think we all finally agreed that all we needed was a fork, knife, salt and a Bic lighter, and we could eat the whole thing, hooves and horns included. LOL Parents, please plan on taking your athlete to Longhorn or Outback on the way home from the airport. (Editors note: I considered calling this Blog entry "Beef - It's What's GONNA be for dinner!" but I chickened (sic) out of it.)

The Stern Taskmaster takes time out from whipping the team into shape to pose for a moment.

The RO boys have no practices until Monday, but Sheaffer is having the LCKC boys continue with their practice. He wants to be sure that they don’t suffer any loss of speed due to the slow first week. None of us had realized just how hard it would be to get over the jet lag and altitude adjustment. The girls have the afternoon off, but will resume practice with Coach Bebe tomorrow morning. Even with free time, athletes are required to rest from 2 to 4. The kids grumble some, but I don’t think they really mind.

I don’t know if y’all have heard about how mean I’ve become, but apparently I am right up there with Attila the Hun. I have limited the kids time on the club computers to 30 minutes a day, not including the time they spend skypeing their parents (which can’t be done on the club’s machines, anyway). The club only has 5 working computers and there are over 50 athletes waiting to use them. When one of our kids shows an interest in the computers, the RO athletes get up and give them the machine. I hate to admit it, but our kids have been taking advantage of this, which is why I mandated the time limit.

Take care,

Marcy

Recap - Wednesday, June 10th

Hi Everybody,

I am sorry that we haven’t been able to contact you, but Orsova has had some Internet outages and one of them has messed up the downstairs computers. Coach Zebet has someone coming tomorrow to fix the problem. The kids (and grown-ups) are starting to show signs of withdrawal, so hopefully everything will be back to normal tomorrow.

Today was the first official nap day. The kids had their first practice early at 7:30, then a supplemental paddle at 10:30. By the time they cooled off and ate lunch, no one was complaining about taking a nap. It was really hot again today and there is no air conditioning, so it took a little while for everyone to get comfortable and settled in. The girls went sound to sleep and slept the full two hours, waking up only when Susan and I called them.

At breakfast this morning, we were out of cereal. Heather, our designated interpreter and gofer, went to the kitchen to ask for more. She came back to report that they were out. She and I thought we would just run to the little store at the end of campus and buy some. We went to the store and got the cereal and were in line to pay when the head kitchen lady came in and insisted that we not pay. We tried to assure her that we didn’t mind and it wasn’t a problem, but she would have none of it. Believe me, language was no barrier there – she MEANT we weren’t going to pay. At lunch, we saw that the shelves where food items for us are stored was FILLED with cereal. Folks, we are going to have to reach HIGH when we have the opportunity to offer these folks our hospitality, because they sure have bent over backwards to take care of us.

Favorite team activity (is it just me, or do they look older than when they left?)

Rebecca has found a new way to finance her future trips. She bet Heather 5 lei that she could chug 2/3s of a bottle of peach soda, then proceeded to do so. While she enjoyed using her hard earned money to buy an ice cream later, I don’t think she will want anything peach flavored for a while. LOL

Y’all will be glad to know that Susan and I purchased more detergent today, and tomorrow Sheaffer plans to see that the boys take their laundry down to be washed. The boys are not particularly enthused about this, but I don’t think Sheaffer intends to give them much choice. As I said in an earlier post, more than one of the boys has a cloud of, well, stink, that follows him around. I know that they are showering at least semi-regularly if for no other reason than to cool down, so I am pretty sure that the worst of the odor is from their clothing.

Coach Zebet mentioned tonight that someone is coming to interview us tomorrow. Sheaffer was interviewed on TV during the regatta, but this will be a first for Susan and me.

Take care,

Marcy