It's beginning to look A LOT like Christmas..

If you're like me, then you probably scoff when the local Macy's subtlely starts putting up Christmas (excuse me, Holiday) decorations the week before Thanksgiving while silently counting down the days until December 25th. In Denmark, however, I've found that you scoff when a stores decorations aren't in full swing by November 20th. Downtown Bjerringbro has a Christmas tree wrapped around every light post, and giant balls of lights strung up between wreaths hanging over the street. (Don't worry, pictures to come) All of this is without even mentioning the amount of snow that covers EVERYTHING, or the Danish & American christmas carols playing where ever you go.

At our school, Bjerringbro Gymnasium, we (along with the entire school) took off the hour before lunch to participate in Christmas arts & crafts, eat æbleskivvers, pebernødders, and sing Christmas carols. A girl from our club, who saved us from our awkward American walk around the cafeteria/auditorium/main area, was extremely suprised when we told her that this would never happen in a US school. She explained to us that every class in Denmark does this, and until 9th grade, you take off the full day to have classroom 'hygge.' When we brought up that the school can't even allow Christmas carols to be played because of seperation of church and state, she made the point that in Denmark, Christmas isn't just a holiday, but a part of the culture. After that, we shut up and enjoyed the chance to meet some new people, eat, and pretty much fail at making paper stars.



These took us about the entire hour..

Christmas hasn't just invaded stores and schools, either. At home, I'm responsible for not one, not two, but THREE different 'julekalender's or Advent Calendars. These aren't your average Advent Calendars, either. One is the typical US Advent Calendar with small square chocolates mesauring roughly 1/2 inch square, one that typical US Advent Calendar, but on steroids. It's about 16 inches high, and 2 inches wide, and made by 'Tomsen' chocolate-meaning that I get an epic mini european chocolate bar every day. Example: Today, I got a full sized chocolate frog filled with caramel. My final julekalender is less like an Advent Calendar, and more like a scratch and win lottery ticket. A giant scratch and win lottery ticket. Pretty much, for every day until December 24th (Did I mention Danes celebrate Christmas the 24th?) there is a little scratch off box, where you hope to uncover a little Christmas tree. Uncover 9 of them-10,000 Dkr. Uncover 4-1,000 Dkr. etc, etc, etc. Pretty much, they are like Advent Calendars for Grown-ups.

It's so weird to think that in less than 2 weeks, I'll be headed back to the states. (Pending some visa issues, I may be coming back in January :) ) What seemed so weird when we first arrived here now seems normal(Tucking our sweatpants into our socks, walking or riding bikes everywhere, the Danish language, just to name a few.) Bjerringbro has been so good to us, and I cannot explain how at home we all feel here. Not only has the club opened it's arms to us, as well as the families from our team and people from the school, but the community in general has welcomed us. We've been blessed to have families open up not only their homes, but their lives and their schedules. Both Amber Turner & I have had times when we needed to go to a doctor (Her with swimmers ear, which I am still dumbfounded as to how she managed that, and myself with my knee injury) and our host mothers have set up appointments for us to be seen. They've fed us, housed us, done our (my) laundry, driven us around, and treated us like family. We've had so many adventures here, so many good times, so many experiences, and I know I'm not alone when I say thank you so much to the Bjerringbro community, to BFH, and Bjerringbro Gymnasium, for this trip has truly been life changing. I know that personally, going 'home' is starting to feel a lot more like leaving it.

Handball-it's not for wimps.

Today had been a beautiful day in Bjerringbro. Temperatures of nearly 8 degrees, and some weird shiny thing in the sky that Danes call 'The Sun.' It rarely appears in Denmark, but on the off chance this 'Sun' decides to show itself, it is only to cast a deceiving glow across frigid land.

But enough about the weather, let's get to the good stuff. Every Tuesday and Thursday we have "college' training, seperate from training with our respective teams, to balance out our practice schedules. These practices consist of 1 hour of physical training (cross-training using gymnastics, CrossFit, and body weight excercises on Tuesdays, traditional weight training on Thursdays) and 1 hour of personal handball skills including, but not limited to one-on-one moves; shooting; footwork; and personal defensive skills. These practices also give us U-16 and U-18 players to shoot on US National Team goalie Natascha King. This last Thursday focused quite a lot on shooting drills, and during the last five minutes of practice it was decided that the girls would practice penalty shots. Personally, I think I've got a pretty good shot-somewhere close to 10 years of water polo will do that for you. I love shooting around, over, and under defenders, as well using one-on-one moves to blow past them, but if you give me a big open goal with a goalie in front of it..we've got a problem. Handball is not a sport that you can spend hours an hours perfecting your shot to the top right corner, and expect the ball to go in when you shoot that corner in a game. (I learned that with the first practice penalty shot I took.) Handball, as I've mentioned before, is a game of opportunities, and therefore you must take the shot based on the opportunity you are given-not the shot you've practiced. Anyways, we lined up for penalty shots, and despite the fact that-had my ball continued- it would have been perfectly in the top right corner of the goal, but Natascha's hand was in the way. Bummer. We lined up for shots again, and this time I decided to pull out the big guns. Thanks to stickum (harpiks), I've figured a nasty way to move the ball in which my hand goes one way and sends the ball, with brutal force, in the opposite direction. It's useful when passing (to mess with a defender, especially in 5-1 defense) or shooting on a goalie (hand goes right-goalie goes right, ball goes left.) I lined up to take the shot and let'er rip. My hand went right, and the ball went left-unfortunately, so did Natascha. This time, however, her hand was not in the way-it was her face. Again, a picture is worth a thousand words...

I personally believe this photo does my damage no justice-she's got two black eyes and something we'll describe as a partially broken nose. Natascha refuses to take a picture with me, so a small amount of Facebook creeping (with her permission) will have to suffice. I'm torn between feeling bad for the amount of pain and inconvinience I caused Natascha, and, well, pride. I mean, c'mon, that ball had to have been going pretty damn fast.. I fully recant my previous statement to goalies.

Weather Update

I don't have a clever way of putting this, but for all you Californians-rain when the temperature is below freezing does NOT always mean snow. There is a point between rain and snow, which is pretty much shaved ice falling from the sky. I'm not a meteorologist, but my best guess is that somewhere over Denmark, someone is trying to make a snowcone in an open air biplane, and failing miserably.
Current temperatue: 2 degrees celsius, 1 degree celsius with windchill
Yesterdays temperature: 0 degrees celsius most of the day, -5 degrees celsius with windchill.

Rødgrød med flød revenge

If you ever happen to stumble across a Danish person, chances are that, sometime in conversation, they WILL ask you to say Rødgrød med Flød. Let me tell you now, it is impossible to say. I personally believe that it's all a giant conspiracy against non-Danish speaking people, because every time someone new says it, they sound COMPLETELY different than the last Dane who brought it up.

However, I have come up with the perfect anti-Rødgrød med Flød weapon: Hippopotamus.
That's right, Danish people lack the ability to say hippopotamus. Usually, the first response is "What?" followed by "ep-po-tep-po?" then "hap-po-nap-po-nas" ending with a cacophany of flustered attempts before you finally break it down for them -Hip-po-pot-oh-mus.
Don't worry, they still don't get it after that.

Bjerringbro FH 13-Viborg HK 13

First off, I'd like to apologize for starting my last two blogs with the words 'First off.'..

Tonight our team played against Viborg HK, a game not nearly as close as the score indicates. Our team opened up beautifully-settling into a rythm, looking for the open player, speeding up and slowing down as necessary, and an amazing defensive flow. All these things led us to an 8-1 lead at halftime. That's right, we were outscored 5-12 in the second half. Though I can't exactly put a finger on where we went wrong, I have to give props to the girls from Viborg, who came in for a strong second hald. Though my positioning on offense was fine, I had trouble communicating with my backs- my sole providers of the ball- which I take full responsibility for. The defensive end was definitely more of un upside for me. Since being in Denmark, defense has become my favorite part of the game, and I never miss the chance to hit someone (yes Mom, that's allowed in Handball) or attempt for the shotblock. This game was no different, as I pulled out many key hits and shot blocks in our game.

Okay, back to our second half fiasco. I know it's never fair to blame the ref's, but..well..c'mon, this kid was honestly 15 years old, at least 4 inches shorter than I am, and a solid 30 lbs heavier. Our team managed not one, not two, but THREE double 2-minute suspensions leaving us to play defense 4 on 6- a task which we managed to complete fairly well. On the other side, we were able to earn merely 2 or 3 suspensions againt Viborg, despite their lack of trying. More than once I was legitimately picked up in the process of pivoting, and dropped on my face-all while I'm attempting to shoot-only to earn ordinary foul after ordinary foul. Looking back, this may have been fair enough, as I managed to miss BOTH penatly shots I painfully earned-I'll admit one was simply a misread shot in which the ball hit the lower left post and ricocheted out, and not in as I had intended. The other shot however, is proof of the lack of competence by said baby ref- My base foot (When taking a handball penalty shot, one shoot-usually your lead foot-must stay planted throughout the shot. Your other foot may move freely, as long as it stays behind the penalty line) was planted roughly 3 inches behind the 7-meter penatly shot marker. I took the shot, my loose foot never touching the ground, and only after I made it did the referee call that my base foot had moved over the line. I had not yet moved, and therefore I was able to look down and note that his call was fully incorrect. I could write quite the rant about this ref, who also happened to be the same kid who judged the game in which I hurt my knee, but it's gone midnight here.




End Note- Goalies, please stop complaining about getting hit in the face, you choose to stand there. This game was the third time I've gone up for a shot block and succeeded in blocking the ball with my face, and I'm closer. Love, Molly. : )

Busy, Busy, Busy!

First off, I'd like to open this blog congratulating all players who have been selected to represent the United States this coming December when USA plays Canada to try and qualify for the 2011 Pan American games, and send my best wishes to those travelling to Cuba to try their hand at qualifying for the World Championships.

It has been a busy few weeks in Bjerringbro-Amber Turner, Gaby Rapp, Jennie Bergsma, and I traveled to North Carolina for 5 days mid-October to participate in the Womens National Team Try-out, as well as the Tar Heel Invitational womens handball tournament, hosted by UNC Team Handball. I was unable to play in neither the try-out nor the tournament, though there were moments where I was itching to rip off my brace, throw on some shorts and play some handball (Okay, when I say moments I mean the whole freaking time!)  It was painful to have worked so hard in Denmark and not be able to show my improvements, but I still managed to learn quite a lot from watching. I was a part of of the new Handball club from Colorado, Dynamo HC, which gave me the chance to work with people who paved a road in the U.S for Womens Handball, such as Chryss Hires and Sam Jones, current Handball legends Anca Stevens, T Ebuwei, and Sarah Gascon, and future Handball heroes Stephanie Hesser and Sophie Fasold. Losing only twice, both times dropping close games to Alberta, Canada, Dyanmo took home Bronze medals.

After returning from North Carolina, I recieved some excellent news-I'm able to play Handball again! Through the obvious language barrier, there was a miscommunication, and I did not get an MRI as I thought I would, but the doctor gave me his tentative go-ahead to play, which I have taken full advantage of.

 My doctors appointment was Friday morning, and Friday afternoon I was on my way to visit a family friend in Berlin. The trip to Berlin included a train from Bjerringbro to Århus, Århus to Padborg(where my train would be delayed enough to make me miss my connecting train in Hamburg), Padborg to Hamburg, and Hamburg to Berlin. From Århus on, each train ride averaged around 2 and a half hours. After arriving in Berlin, and some slight trouble actually meeting up with my friend, I was able to enjoy a relaxing weekend sightseeing, sleeping in, and just relaxing. Berlin was full of History, and it was great to finally see some of the sights I've heard so much about!



Krystal Treberg & I in front of the Brandenburger Tor

Returning from Berlin was an adventure in itself. I bought my ticket to Århus at Berlin Hauptbrauhof at around noon, my train was scheduled to leave at 2:48..damn. I managed to kill an hour peddling around and buying chocolate for my parents, and then another 45 minutes buying a Döner Kebab and Coke "Light" and conversing with a couple traveling from Texas. After that, I was still left with an hour to kill, and waiting on the FREEZING cold platform was NOT an option, which resulted in me walking around the station as slowly as possible, creepily staring into every store window and reading every train schedule and map. After 45 minutes of that, I finally descended down to the platform for the 18 coldest minutes of my life-and then, the worst possible thing to hear echoed over the PA system. My train was experiencing engine trouble, and would be 15 minutes late..then 20 minutes late..then 30..then 45..and so on, so forth, until my train was expected to be 80 minutes late. It may have been the cold, but I had never felt more homicidal than at that exact moment. Luckily, an ICE (direct) trian to Hamburg was coming through on the next platform at 3:37. After much pleading with the ticket taker on the ICE train (BEFORE it left), he agreed to let me take the ICE train without paying the fare diffrence (roughly 150 Euros..). I arrived in Hamburg 15 minutes AFTER my train to Padborg was supposed to depart. Lucky me, trains in Germany really hate leaving on time, and I was able to hop on, and STILL wait an hour before it departed. (Mr. Underhill, if you're reading this-you were wrong. Trains in Germany are late ALL THE TIME!) Finally, the train engine started up, and we were on our way. I shared a compartment with a German couple who found it quite novel that I could speak German. Needless to say, there was not much sleeping. When I finally arrived to Padborg, my train to Århus had already left (On time, imgaine that! You go Denmark!) I waited roughly another hour for the next train, with put me into Århus past 11 pm. Surprise, trains don't run to tiny towns that late. I found a cab to the Idrætshøjskolen, and turned up on Julia Taylors doorstep. I'm really lucky to have such good friends, who also happen to be major Handball studs! Congratulations JT!!! The next morning I hopped on a bus to the train station, missed my stop, walked back to the train station, and finally got on a train to Bjerringbro around noon- more or less bringing my totalt travel time between Berlin and Bjerringbro to 24 hours.

Wednesday brought my first handball game since I had hurt my knee, against the number one team in our league. It was an embarassing game for everyone on our team, losing 9-17. The only player on our team deserving any praise would be Chanel Turner, who tallied her first 2 Danish goals at right back. The rest of our team had trouble settling into a rythm, and therefore it was a selfish game with many opportunities missed because a player would shoot instead of passing. Coach Greg Morava, once told me "Handball is a game of opportunities" and with the amount of opportunities our team missed, it's no suprise that we lost.

Friday was another party at the Gymnasium, and the beginning of Halloween weekend for Team USA in Bjerringbro. We did not have classes on Friday, so Amber Turner, Jennie Bergsma, and I took the short trip to Viborg to finalize our Halloween costumes. After a day of searching, we happened upon a kids toy store which carried childrens costumes, just like those you would find in the US. A picture is worth a thousand words, and since this post isn't quite over..

After we got back from Viborg, we started getting ready for our Gymnasium party. It's still a trip to see the lunch lady tapping kegs to sell beer to students, but the loud euro-pop and laid back nature of the dances gives us a chance to connect with our Danish counterparts outside of Handball & School. Well, that, and I must say Amber Turner and I are pretty good dancers...

On Saturday, my host family-The Risgaards- hosted a Halloween party for BFH's U-16 Piger (The U-16 girls from my club.) It was alot of fun, and although the Americans were slightly dissappointed with the lack of Danish costumes, dance games on the Wii and good company more than made up for it.


Not the last time our costumes would be put to use...



3 costumes...3 Americans...Apparently overly-teased hair counts as a costume in Denmark.



Myself with Sofie Lauge




Wii Just Dance-Cotton Eyed Joe.




Food-the perfect way to attract teenage athletes.

After our Saturday night Danish Halloween, the Americans still had one thing to cover-real Halloween. A sad attempt at Trick-or-Treating wielded 1 bar of dark chocolate, and the 10 remaining cookies of a package of 50-yes, we marked it a success.



Well, That's all for now, folks!

I'll try to send up another quick update tomorrow after our game in Viborg!

Go BFH!

NOTE: While I was in North Carolina, I got the chance to meet many people who have been following my blog through the USATH website. It definitely motivates me knowing that I'm entertaining someone besides my mom and my grandpa, and possibly providing insight to USATH youth thinking about travelling abroad for training in the future. 

Thanks, guys!

27-6 Løvskal, 9-13 Overlund F

First off, let me apologize for the space in between my updates. Between school, handball, and the fact that everything now takes me 3 times longer to do it (keep reading!), I have not had much time to update.

2 weeks ago, Amber Turner and I were lucky enough to get to go visit a good friend of ours in Århus, Julia Taylor. I shared a room with JT this summer during our training camp in Colorado Springs, and it was great to see another familiar, English speaking face! JT is training seriously for handball at the (try and sound this out) Idrætshøjskolen in Århus. October 1-3 was the schools "Family & Friends Weekend," so Amber & I gladly made the trip to act as JT's family, spending Saturday night with her in her dorm room. We met lots of people from all over the world, including members of Men's National Teams from Iceland, Great Britain, Estonia, and Kenya as well as handball and soccer players from Denmark, Norway, Ghana, Germany, Luxembourg, and Brazil. All the people were incredibly friendly towards the "American Girls," so we felt plenty at home.
  JT met us at the train station in Århus, and we did a little shopping and looking around before heading back to the school. We always seem to make interesting friends in Dowtown Århus...


Amber Turner & I



Julia Taylor



Myself with Ben 10

After our night with Julia, Amber and I had to get a move on Sunday morning to get back to Bjerringbro to meet for our game against Løvskal. We made it, and went on to a 27-6 route of Løvskal. This was not a completely positive occasion, however, because after a slightly more than 'controversial' 2-minute suspension awarded to me for fixing my shirt, and missing not 1, but 2 embarassing free shots, I twisted my knee awkwardly in the final minute of the game. This resulted in my first trip to a European Hospital! (NOTE: I was given pain medication, got X-rays, and received a brace & crutches in under 3 hours-my quickest roundtrip in the ER, EVER-Woo Danish Health Care!) I'm out of handball, wearing a brace that makes my left leg look bionic, and on crutches for 2 weeks (1 down, 1 to go!) until they will re-assess. This, sadly, does mean my trip to North Carolina for the Pan American team try-out and Tar Heel Invitational tournament will be only as a spectator..

  This last weekend, however, has been fully positive! (Not saying that I didn't have fun in Århus with JT and Amber! I love you both!) My host Mother, Helle, Stine, and I ventured into Viborg on Saturday to do a little shopping, and visit the biggest store I have EVER seen. This Wal-Mart meets Costco meets JC Penny's type store was probably the size of 2 or 3 American Football fields-HUGE! I got some socks (Europe has given me a new obsession) and a new release movie for the equivalent of 8.00 USD.

  After our shopping excursion, we made it back to Bjerringbro to watch my team play Overlund F, again, this time for real. Sadly, this game did not go as expected. We started out slowly, unable to find a rhythm in offense or defense, and found ourselves too far behind to catch up. It was not a good game for anyone, and in the end Overlund F came away with the win, 9-13. It was a bummer watching my team struggle on our home court and not be able to play, but in 7 days, you best better believe I will be out there again! On a happier note, our team was able to reschedule this game for a Saturday so Chanel Turner, who cannot play Sundays due to religious reasons, was able to play! : )
 
  Tomorrow, Gaby Rapp, Jennie Bergsma, and I will hop on our plane to North Carolina! We're all very excited to go back to the States for just a few days.

  Also, if you are following this blog on it's original server-blogger.com- and not the USATH site, please take a few minutes to sign up as a follower! I'd really appreciate it, as I know I'm writing for more than 6 people, and I'd like to know who my audience is. Towards the top of the page, on the left hand side, under the title, you're given the option to sign up with your Google account. If you do not have a google account, click 'sign in' and then 'create a new google account' Thanks Guys! : )