blog.marcoha.com

Man, it’s been difficult to find time to write anything on this blog! There’s wifi everywhere, but hardly any computers I can use. This computer is in the hotel lobby. I have to stand up to use it, pretty inconvenient.

Trip’s been amazing. We’re almost back to where we started, in Monterey bay. Tomorrow we’ll visit the aquarium and move to Santa Cruz.

We’ve been to Lake Tahoe, climbed Half-Dome in Yosemite, saw giant Sequoias, skated on Venice Beach in LA, went to the Universal Studios theme park. And of course, we drove. A lot.

Almost every day we move to a new hotel. It hasn’t been too difficult so far. We usually manage to find a room where all three of us can stay. Tonight we have two king-size beds and a sofa-bed. I drew the short straw tonight so I get the sofa-bed. No worries though.

We don’t plan too much, so it’s always a bit of a surprise where we end up. For example, we never expected to end up at Buck Owen’s Crystal Palace, a fake western country club in Bakersfield.

Most amazing thing we’ve done? I guess the climb up Half-Dome. That was like a vertical marathon, a walk of 36 km (if we believe the signs) up a mountain. This was my second time, but last time we did it in two days, this time in one. The views were amazing, the waterfalls stunning.

We’ve got loads of nice photos and videos but no way to upload them, at the moment.

We beat the Paris team and came third! Our defense was just perfect and Andreas managed to score two crucial goals. It started off badly, with a Paris lead of 1-0, but we kept our cool and pressed on. We won the $1000 price! We never expected to get this far, so we were quite chuffed.

The final was between Marseille and USA Red, Zack’s team. Again, nobody really expected the USA team to be able to match up against Marseille, but they came out really strong! It went all the way into penalties. Like a cheesy movie, Zack, the founder of rollersoccer, actually scored the winning goal. It was the best game I ever saw. As you can imagine, there was a lot of partying afterwards.

I took a ride across the Bay Bridge with June, Zack’s wife, on the back of her motorbike, with just a skating helmet on. Crazy, and I promise I won’t be doing that again. Fun though, weaving through all the traffic like that.

Milton and I are at the hostel’s computers at the moment, waiting for Joost to wake up. He’s been partying a bit longer than we have. And then we’re off! First, to pick up Milton’s motorbike somewhere up north and then east to Lake Tahoe.

We’ve had three tournament days so far. My team is starting to feel the strain: we’ve got no substitutes! We have reached the fourth place and have been playing really well. Our extra team mates, Andreas from Germany and Javier from London (although really a Spaniard), are really good players, so the level is quite high.

We beat Belgium, the team we lost from in the Paris world cup! Also, to relieve one of my team mates, I played up front for one half and scored within as minute, and another later on. Feels good to score. Doesn’t happen that often when you’re a goalie. I also played in the last match today. Milton was in goal, he couldn’t skate anymore, his ribs were hurting so much.

We’ve got one more match, to determine the third and fourth places, against Paris tomorrow. With a crippled team, I wouldn’t bet on us winning.

We don’t just play of course. Watching the games can be just as much fun. Belgium vs US went into overtime and then penalties today, really hair-raising. In the end Yuri, the 11-year old talent scored the winning goal. Must have felt good!

Some results are here. More later, I assume.

Yesterday evening we also did the local FNS, which was really great! Uphill, downhill and really crazy!

We’ve also discovered Vietnamese food. Why don’t we have that back home? It would sell! I love those rolls.

Monday we’re heading out, towards Lake Tahoe.

Greetings from San Francisco. Francisco with a ‘c’, not an ’s’ after then ‘n’, as I might previously have written it. Shame on me, I’ve spent three months close to here about ten years ago, I should know how to spell the name of this place!

The flights went smoothly. After travelling about 22 hours, we arrived at our hostel. We managed to hold off sleep until eleven, so today we haven’t suffered any jetlag. We’re in a youth hostel in the city center, in a dormroom with four bunkbeds. The fourth person in the room is some French dude. He warned us this evening: tomorrow morning he’s going to take a shower at five. Sigh.

We skated around town today. Crossed the Golden Gate Bridge (despite the no-skating sign) for instance. Loved it! My favourite though were the sea lions at Pier 39. Lazy bastards! Except the males, they wre always busy fighting and pushing each other into the water.

After al the sight-seeing we went to Treasure Island to see where we’ll be playing the next couple of days. It’s a bit like Ijburg in its early days: bit of a sand-heap. Turned out we had to help setting up the boarding. Tomorrow morning we’re intending to arrive early, to help with the rest of the preparations. At least, that’s the plan.

Packed and ready to go! Skates? Check! (What more do I need?)

We’re leaving at around 11 this morning, making a stop in Philadelphia and then off to our final destination: San Fransisco!

We just heard that the German team has befallen a family tragedy. They were already there and some of them had to return home. So now we’re forming a team consisting of Dutch, English and German players. The New York players we were originally supposed to be playing with are forming a team with US players. We’re still playing rollerbasketball with the New Yorkers though.

Another family visit yesterday. My mom this time. Last time I see her before she heads back to Ireland. We rented a bike and went cycling around Amsterdam. Through the modern architecture of the Oostelijke Eilanden, through quaint Noord and back with the ferry. We parked her bike outside last night. I hope it’s still there.

One more day at work. Last day at this office. When I get back I have to cycle west, not east, when I go to work. I feel a bit melancholy about it. I might need more podcasts to get me through a week of cycling to work, as the distance has increased.

Linda, Marc & Daan came over for a visit yesterday. The plan was to go to Artis, but we never made it. Never mind, Daan was more than happy with all the things he could see while we were strolling in town. We took a bike-taxi back to the Jordaan, like real tourists! It was pretty convenient though, so I might do it again if I have visitors. 10 euros for two people.

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