Part II: DaNang
After meeting the team, I promptly forgot their names. I know I'm a terrible person (Janice=Shelly Hill) for not making an effort, but I'll figure it out eventually, there's only 11 of them. Well, 10 right now. One of them is still in China waiting on a visa. BTW: she does make it to the airport to fly to DaNang with us. After walking about the day before, and taking in the sights in the morning we have a team lunch before heading to the airport. If you've ever eaten with me, you know I like to take my time. All those years of wolfing down dreadful Army chow have caused me to slow down and really enjoy my meals. I didn't realize it at the time, but this pre-flight lunch was going to be brief. I ordered beef pho. I finally got it with 15 minutes left on the clock. No time to slurp the broth. Season it, let it cool a bit, and scarf it down. Don't tell my mom I had pho while I was there. And if you do tell her, you heard me say it's not as good as hers. Score one for me because I put a little too much hot sauce on it, and as a result I was sweating on the air conditioned bus. Gotcha Vietnam, spicy foods make you sweat, thus cooling you off. I should listen to my mom more.
Remember, we're working with mostly professional athletes on this team. So while waiting for the plane, they convene and arrive at a consensus for their offensive system lingo. They drew it up and shared it with the group. At this time, I think I have all their names down, but now have to relearn the names of sets, gahhhhhh. We got on a plane, landed in DaNang, and made it to the hotel. Somewhere in there were flowers, a welcome committee, more photos, a bus ride, water buffalos, and super hot gymnasium. Our first practice we just let some rust loose and caught a glimpse of the pageantry in the main gym. The boys rehearsed their pre-game and floor cleaning routine. Yes, all boys. Not a single girl on the crew.
From watching this team, it's clear to me that they are all quite good at volleyball and I realize that this is going to be a great ride. BTW I've got my first misfire, Holly from Michigan becomes Molly. I told you, names are my kryptonite. Icebreaker games make it worse because I try to combine all that information into one word and make a name from it. Molly is just one example. Carlyle becomes Carl, not Grimes from the Walking Dead, but because Lyle reminds me of Lyle Alzado, look it up. And it seems volleyball is such small world that some of them have actually played together, four of them are from KC, two pairs of them played at the same university, and you can get to each person well within less than four degrees of someone other than Tim Kelly, founder and owner of the BIP agency.
Yes, I'm going to talk about the lavatory in our room. There's window into the main room in the bathroom fortunately with privacy blinds. The faucet's cold water is actually warm and not cold. The hot water is actually scalding hot water. The shower is distinctly English with only half a pane of shower glass to contain the shower water. I resolved to sit while holding the sprayer so that I wouldn't leave a lake in the bathroom for my roommate. Why am I talking about the bathroom? I spent a lot of time in the bathroom because Vietnam is hot, and because it is so hot, I had to drink a lot of water. When you drink a lot of water, you have to use the toilet, a lot.
Coach Val discovered the convenience of instant coffee and electric kettles. Instant coffee here contains sweetener and creamer premixed in the powder. I use it at work because some troglodyte always fluffs the coffeepot so I prefer to boil water and drink instant. She also discovered the 20th floor where there's a cafe and better wi-fi. After the Ao Dai (o-e-i) fitting, welcome dinner, opening ceremonies, and prelim training we fell into this routine of training, pre-game, and competition.
Our team liaison Van Dai aka Radio was our translator and facilitator. She attends briefings to make sure we have the correct court times and tends to the needs of our team. Whether it's ice, match volleyballs, towels, or ensuring that our athletes with food allergies have safe options; we have by far the best liaison out of any other team in this tournament. Mind you she doesn't do all the running about, but she knows who/how to ask for stuff and exercised great patience and care with our team. She even took pictures with Coach Val's phone during some of our matches. Her presence and service was indispensable and I'm glad I got to meet her and learn her story.
That's one of the joys of traveling and meeting new people in new places. You learn their stories. All the while you become part of their stories, and they in yours. It can be a sentence, a paragraph, a chapter or ten, but whether spoken or thought, you're in there somewhere. Your story is richer because of it and becomes part of a larger story that connects us all. It's one of the few things I take pleasure in while in the company of other people.
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