Druggie

     Sunday was our last regular season volleyball match. We played Katrineholms, which is the 2^nd place team in the league. We lost in three, 11-25, 23-25, 15-25. We did not play well in the first, but we really stepped it up in the second set. I think we played the best in that set that we have since January. It was good to see that we do have the ability to play with a really great team. We still just need to learn how to sustain that level of play for a longer amount of time.

     After the match, a lady came up to our coach and all I heard was “blah blah blah Johannah Bangert blah blah blah.” Our coach then informed me that this lady had picked me to be drug tested, along with my teammate, Sofie (she had no problem and peed right away!). Apparently, there is something about me that just screams DRUGGIE!!! This happened at Illinois too. Every single time people were picked to be drug tested, I was always picked. I was drug tested by the University of Illinois. I was drug tested by the Big Ten. I was drug tested by the NCAA. And now, I was drug tested by the Swedish Sports Confederation. Back in the states, a computer randomized who got picked. Here, the people doing the test picked which two girls they wanted to test. I still don’t understand what it is about me that makes computers and people think I do drugs?!

     This might be too much information so I am sorry, but I have a very small bladder. If you have spent any time with me, you would know that I have to pee all the time. This is not the case when I am drug tested. The first time I was tested, it took me over 2 ½ hours to be able to pee. Once I finally peed for the test, I honestly peed every 5 minutes for an hour because I had drank so much water and Gatorade to be able to pee for the test.

     I told the lady that I was not ready to pee yet and asked if I could shower first. She said that would be fine, and then told me that she would have to come with me! Yes, she had to come and watch me shower! In America, I would find out one afternoon that I was going to be drug tested and then the test would be the next morning. Here, they told you right on the spot and you are not allowed to be out of their sight until you take the test. I drank 2 big water bottles, a bottle of Powerade, and I ate a juicy apple. After an hour and a half, I finally felt like I really needed to pee. It was to the point where my bladder was really starting to hurt because it was so full! But when I sat down, I still couldn’t go. It was a very small bathroom, and I felt like the lady was standing on top of me.

     She said that we could go and walk around some because that helps sometimes. We walked out to where my team was all waiting for me. I ate a few french fries, but I was so uncomfortable that I couldn’t eat. I had to pee so bad! After lots of encouragement from my teammates, I went to try again. She said that we could go to a different bathroom too if there was a bigger one somewhere. We found a handicap bathroom and… I finally peed!!!!! The drug tester lady and I walked out of the bathroom triumphantly, and my whole team started cheering and clapping. I felt victorious. After filling out a little more paper work and properly packaging my sample, I was free to leave. It took my just under 2 hours! Before I could even get on the bus, I had to pee again! I was very worried because our bus had no bathroom. I am very proud to say though that I made it an hour and a half before I had to pee again! It was also the only time that I forced our bus to stop on the three and a half hour drive.

     In school, I always viewed myself as a good test taker. When it comes to drug tests, it is a totally different story!

23 1/2

     Saturday was my half birthday!!! It also means that I have lived in Ljungby for just over 6 months. It is amazing how fast the time has passed. I can’t believe that our season is going to be over very soon, and I will be returning to America. In some respects, I can’t wait to come home. On the other hand, I am going to be extremely sad to leave here. I have made so many friends. I can’t imagine not seeing them every single day. It makes me sad to think about it right now even! So enough about that and back to my half birthday!!!

     I like my half birthday more than I like my real birthday. My real birthday is September 3^rd. It normally falls around Labor Day, which is nice because in school it meant a 3-day weekend, but I actually don’t like it still. My birthday is too soon after the start of something new. When I was in school, it was always the 2^nd week after school started. I normally have the first birthday of my friends from when the school year starts. There is too much novelty around that time that nothing special normally happens for my birthday. It was the same way here in Sweden. My birthday was the first weekend I was here so I wasn’t really friends with anyone yet. This is how it normally is for my birthday, but not for my half birthday! By the time March 3^rd rolls around, I have lots of friends in the new place that I am in. This year was no exception. I had a fantastic half birthday!

     It started out by traveling to Lund to coach the B team. Meghan and I went to Lund back in November (you can still read my blog about that crazy adventure). I remembered seeing a mexican restaurant on our drive back to Ljungby so I asked our driver if we could stop there on the way home. He said yes! Anyways, the B team played really well, and we won in 3. Every girl got to play, and every girl played really well. I think it was the best we have played all the way around. Our communication, defense, and offense were all really good. And the girls had fun playing too!

     Now I have to take you back to my tragedy on Wednesday night so that you can truly understand my happiness from Saturday. Two weeks ago, I met an American guy that is living and studying in Ljungby. It’s really nice to hang out with someone who understands all of my jokes and references! Erik, Meghan, and I went to Harry’s on Wednesday night to have a drink. I was also a little hungry so when I saw on the menu that there were nachos, I decided I needed to get them. It said that it came with 2 dipping sauces too. I thought it sounded great! I can’t even describe to you my disappointment…

As you can see, it was simply cheese-flavored chips with fake guacamole and sweet chili sauce. They literally bought it from the grocery store and just put it in the basket. Did I mention that it cost over $10?! I was so upset.

     Ok, back to the happiness of Saturday! After the match we stopped at Taco Bar: A Small Piece of Mexico.

I didn’t want to set my expectations too high after my disappointment on Wednesday. I was amazed to see that the only menu items were nachos or nachos deluxe, but I was not disappointed in the food this time! Of course, it was no Chipotle. It was by far the best Mexican food I have had in Sweden (I don’t include my own cooking in this haha). I was so happy after eating it. I was as full as can be, but I was so happy that I didn’t care!

     When we got back to Ljungby, I took a nap. It was also the best nap that I have had in a long time. It was one of those naps where you are completely out! If Meghan hadn’t woken me up, I think I would have slept all the way until the morning. It’s a good thing that she woke me up though because it was time for my ‘party’! We had balloons all over the apartment, and our friend, Joel, was coming over. We had a lot of fun with the balloons!

I made Kickin Tequila Shrimp (click on it for the recipe) for dinner. It was really delicious!

Meghan’s mom had mailed her some Funfetti cake mix so Meghan made Funfetti cookies for my half birthday too! She even decorated them and had candles too. They were super yummy.

Notice there are 23 1/2 cookies :)

We finished off the night by watching one of my favorite movies, Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

I had a fantastic half birthday!!! Maybe even the best half birthday ever…

Well Hello There

     I am here to admit that I have been failing BIG time with my blog! I have an excuse... I have not been enjoying volleyball that much. The main reason: we have won 2 of our last 14 matches. We had some matches where we played really well and fought hard, but that hasn't been the case recently. We have lost 3-0 for the past month. Since volleyball is the main reason that I am even here, I have been struggling a little bit. No one has been enjoying it, and we have lost sight of the accomplishments we have made this season.
     Last night really helped to change all of this. Our coaches saw that we were not having fun playing anymore, and that it was really effecting our level of play. So they let us have a fun practice last night! We started practice by watching a picture slide show from our season. It was fun to see our ugly faces in the action shots and our happy faces in the cheering pictures. In the gym, all we did was play fun games! We started by playing cross-court. My team won all 3 of those games!!! Next, we split up into teams of 2 to play half court doubles. I was paired with Selma (one of our liberos). We won our first 2 games, but we lost to Meghan and Lisa in the 3rd round. This made both of the teams 2-1 so we had to have another round for the championship. It was a very intense game, but Selma and I won!!! We also got a prize for winning! :)

     It was really nice to play volleyball and just have fun. I don't remember the last time that had happened. Tonight we are not having a normal practice either. Instead, we are all participating in a dance/exercise class! I think this is the little break that our team has needed to be ready to push through the rest of the season. We have one last regular season match on Sunday against the #1 team in the league. It will be a really tough match, but then it is on to playoffs! It is amazing that we have made playoffs in our team's premier season in this league.
     I am now ready to compete hard for the rest of the season!!!

Best. Christmas. Present. Ever.

     Remember when I told you that I received the best Christmas present ever this year? Well, I can finally tell you what I got!!!

     When I arrived in Paris and met the Milligan family, Mrs. Milligan told me that she was instructed to give me this gift as soon as she saw me! After I opened it, I started crying immediately. They were tears of joy. Instead of telling you what I got, I will just show you instead!

      In case you still don't understand... I am going to be an aunt again! And this time, a Godmother as well!!! I cannot wait! My sister is due on July 14th. Congrats to Jessica and Luke and soon to be big brother Noah! I love you all so much! <3

Guestbook

Hello Everyone! Once I return to America, I am planning on making a scrapbook about my time in Sweden. I would really love a list of everyone who has been reading my blog. I have created an online guestbook that you can go and sign. Feel free to leave a message also!
Most importantly!!!! Leave YOUR NAME and THE COUNTRY(where you are reading my blog from).
Here is the link: http://www.guestbookking.com/cgi-bin/host/firebook.cgi?account=5449
Thank you very much!!!!!

Fish Tacos

     Last Friday night, I had the team over for dinner. Not everyone was able to make it, but the majority of the team was there still. Ljungby has a tradition of eating tacos on Fridays. The only thing is that they don’t have a true grasp on Mexican food. For the Swedes, tacos are just ground beef. I wish I could take them to a Mexican restaurant in America to show them all the different kinds of tacos and Mexican food. Meghan and I participate in Taco Fridays, but I mix it up and make beef, chicken, or fish tacos. When the Swedes heard about fish tacos, their immediate responses were all ‘what in the world!?’ They had never heard of fish tacos before and thought it was the strangest thing. So I decided to have them all over for dinner and make them fish tacos!

     Everyone loved them! They were all asking how I made them step-by-step. One of the spices that I used on the fish is from America. One of the girls asked if she could buy my thing of seasoning! I also made Oreo balls for dessert.

      I am happy that everyone enjoyed all the food, and we all had a nice night just hanging out together!

Volleyball

We have had three matches since Christmas break.

     The first match was at Svedala on January 7^th. We were missing all three of our outsides for this match. Lisa had the flu that turned into double pneumonia that turned into a pulled rib muscle. Malin had been sick many times so she was still resting to try to get healthy. Sofi’s back was really hurting so she too was resting. Because of these injuries, we brought some new girls to the team. Anna, Daniel’s sister, played outside for us. She played the last time that the team was in the Elitserien, but has three kids now. Jessica played right side for us. She has been coming to our practices once a week. She mostly played beach volleyball, but she has great ball control. We also brought Elin onto our team. She had been playing outside for our B team. We played really well in this match winning 25-20, 25-21, 25-21. I scored 10 points with 8 kills, 1 block, and 1 ace. I got the MVP award, and as usual, my prize was quite interesting! This time I got a can of hairspray and a pen. It was like a $25 can of hairspray though! It also came in handy because I didn’t have any hairspray so I guess it was an ok prize. To view full statistics, go to http://www.cupassist.com/pa/livescore/women/stats.php?year=2011&id=M_W11_47-1112.htm.

     Our second match was at home against Gislaved. We fought hard, but unfortunately we lost in five 25-23, 19-25, 25-21, 25-27, 11-15. It was a really fun match to play! We had 498 fans at the match. Our gym was packed! The best fans were our local floorball team. There were about 10 of the boys at the match with drums. They were playing drums and cheering the entire match. We were playing great volleyball up until 24-21 in the fourth set. We did the same thing as we did against Engelholm, where we just couldn’t finish the match. We had match point 24-21, but lost the set 25-27. It was very disappointing and frustrating. We lacked the mental toughness to finish the match. We couldn’t fight back in the 5^th set, losing 11-15. We did earn one point though for taking them to five sets. There were two best players on each team for this match. One was picked by one of our sponsors; Malin got that award which was a gym bag. Our club manager picked me as the other player. Of course, I just got flowers! I gave them to my teammate, Linn, because it was her birthday and given the circumstances, I didn’t really want them! I scored 27 points with 18 kills, 3 blocks, and 6 aces. To view full statistics, go to http://www.cupassist.com/pa/livescore/women/stats.php?year=2011&id=M_W11_53-1112.htm.

     This Sunday, we had a match at Örebro. We beat them in four sets the first time we played them, but they have gotten two new professionals since then. We still won in four sets earning our team 3 points! The sets were 20-25, 25-19, 25-22, 25-17. We boarded the bus at 7:30. I stayed awake for almost the entire 5-hour ride as we watched one of my favorite movies, Despicable Me. We also stopped at a mall for a little over an hour where we also ate lunch. The drive was nowhere near as bad as I had expected. We got to the gym 2 hours early so we took a nice long walk before our 16:00 match. The gym was very different than we are used to. It had very high ceilings and bright lights that made it difficult to see at times. We did not play great during the first set. We allowed Örebro to control the play during the first. After that set, we pulled together and played as a team. It wasn’t our best volleyball, but we truly played as a team and supported each other no matter what was happening. We had control for the rest of the match. I got the MVP award and definitely got the best prize that I have gotten so far (but that’s not saying too much!). It was a large pink box that said Sex In The City on it. I started freaking out a little bit because I thought it was going to be the DVDS, but it ended up being some body wash, lotion, and perfume. This is the first perfume that I have ever owned in my whole life! I scored 20 points with 15 kills, 4 blocks, and 1 ace. My favorite part of the match though was that I got to play back row! I really love playing defense. I got to play middle back the majority of the time, which also allowed me to attack from the back row. It was a lot of fun, and I hope I can continue to play some defense! Overall, it was a great team victory. To view full statistics, go to http://www.cupassist.com/pa/livescore/women/stats.php?year=2011&id=M_W11_59-1112.htm.

     Our next match is on Wednesday against Hylte/Halmstad. We lost to them in 5 at their place. We are really hoping to have great fan support again this match. It will be a really important match for us to win.

Sidenote: The rankings in our league are by points scored. If you beat a team in 3 or 4 sets, you get 3 points. If you go to 5 sets, the winning team gets 2 points and the losing team gets 1 point.

Here are the current rankings:

            Team                                    Pts.            Record

1.     Katrineholms                       31               10-2

2.     Engelholms                          29               10-1

3.     Lindesberg                           24               8-3

4.     Falköping                            21                7-4

5.     Gislaved                              20                7-5

6.     Hylte/Halmstad                  19                 7-5

7.     Ljungby                               15                4-8

8.     Sollentuna                             9                3-8

9.     Örebro                                  6                 2-10

10. Svedala                                 0                 0-12