Published: May 17, 2007
HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam
Hello Loved Ones,
Today was our first day off after five days of intensive games.
So we woke up early at got on the buss to take us to one of the
hottest spots in town – the Caravelle Hotel’s swimming pool. We had
about three hours before our match with Hong Bang University so we
took advantage of it. Some of us were lucky we were able to tan,
while others got burned and the rest, well, the sun didn’t help
them much.
But we just didn’t lay out in the sun, we used the pool, too,
and the person who dominated the pool was Coach Joanne
[Persico-Smith]. She took the “day off” to beat Coach Li [Chen] and
Coach Mario [Treibit] in a freestyle swim. They can say whatever
they want, but hands down, she beat them fair and square.
When finally leaving the Caravelle, we noticed a KFC, Vietnamese
style. Actually, it is really the same thing, except for a couple
of menu items and the ordering process. That could have been really
challenging if we didn’t have Dr. Le and our hostess Nguyen to
help.
Later in the afternoon, we played a friendly match against Hong
Bang Unviersity. The first game was really close, but we won. Coach
Joanne was our setter and Coach Li subbed in, but the MVP of the
match was our athletic trainer Jennifer [Hamilton]. She played
defense like a true defensive specialist. Way to go Jen! The second
game was really fun because we mixed up the teams. Alanna [Rutan],
Ruisa [Scheffel], Jenna [Schweitzer] and I joined one half of the
Vietnamese team and the rest of our girls played with the other
half. Our team was in a disadvantage most of the game, but we found
our way and won the game. The hardest thing by far and something
that I appreciate a lot more now in our team was communicating.
However, we have something in common. We all love playing
volleyball and know what we have to do to win.
From the gym we drove back to Caravelle Hotel to get ready for
dinner. After we were all dressed, we walked towards what was the
highlight of the day – a dinner cruise. We sat and interacted with
our fan from Hong Bang University and our fans from home, the
psychology students. We ate a lot of seafood and sticky rice, which
I like a lot, and then there was fruit for dessert.
Our final destination after the cruise was our hotel. Everyone
is probably sleeping by now. We need our rest for tomorrow’s match
against Japan. To all the moms and dads back home reading this, I
know many of the girls wish that you were here to share in this
experience with us.
Good night for now.
Dana DeMayo #5