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RHIAN'S SOCCER JOURNALS:

BACK TO NORWAY'S SNOW AND SOCCER 8th April 2009

The trip back to Norway from La Manga was a sad occasion in that we were leaving the sun and sea behind us and heading back into the snow. However, the trip back was also exciting as D, Maria and I were moving into our new place in Oslo.

For the past few months the three of us have been squatters, of sorts. We have been staying in apartments in and around the Team Strommen area, waiting for our apartment to be vacated and opened up for us. Now, we are back, the apartment is free, and it is great to be able to move all our stuff into a home - albeit a temporary one. I need to know that there will not be any more moving of houses ... at least for the next year.

6th April was D's birthday, and this is an exciting time as it meant that I could eat cake and be guilt-free. To celebrate her big day, we went snowboarding, both of us for the first time, and under the expert tutelage of teammate Mari Knudsen.

It turns out that D is actually quite a good snowboarder: No big shock there. D just seems to be naturally gifted at all sports. But, I proved to be a terrible boarder. Everyone had already told me that my butt was going to be sore. Of course, they were wrong. I never fell on my butt. I used my face instead.

After the experience, my derriere was fine, and it was my face that hurt. The hill we were on was officially closed for the season, which meant that there were no tow rides up the slopes. Instead, we had to trudge up them. We learned on our first trip up the hill, that snowboarding boots MUST be untied while climbing, or you will get the worst calf cramps possible. All three of us were in agony by the time we were only a third of the way up. It took at least 10 minutes of vigorous massaging to get the blood flow back to our legs, and we did not make the same mistake again.

In all, it was a great day, and made better by the fact the snowboards were borrowed and so the day was a free one.

That evening we had a few people over for supper, birthday cakes (yes that is plural), and cards. We made a giant pork and broccoli stir-fry with toffee cake, chocolate cake, apple pie and ice cream for dessert. To say that we were full hardly begins to describe how we were feeling by the end of our gorging.

The past few days have been rest days off from Team Strommen, but of course, not from training. We have discovered a soccer field at the end of our road, and we have been making full use of it. I have not enjoyed the actual workouts, and I am certainly no masochist there, but I am loving how close I am to our actual workout area.

Tomorrow, the soccer world returns as we have a game tomorrow against a Swedish team. This will be our last pre season game before the Topserrien season starts on Tuesday. Tonight we have a walk through session. This does not promise to be much fun as it is teeming with rain. Grey days are depressing.