Hi Everybody,

Today was hooooot!!! GA hot even. The kids had a full day of workouts and they are tired. Susan and I kept the Brita pitcher going full blast all day, trying to keep them hydrated. We’ve been freezing water bottles half full of filtered water and pouring water over the ice at dinner time, giving us ice water to go with dinner.

Things were a bit subdued today, as the coaches were preoccupied with club duties during the morning. We weren’t sure what was going on, but by afternoon, everyone was happy again. Several of our athletes took the opportunity to explore the city during the afternoon break, which was not what Coach Zebet wanted them to do; he wanted them to use the afternoon time to rest and prepare for the final practice of the day. This is the same thing that Coach Claudiu has been telling them since Mid-Winter camp, but some just weren’t listening. Starting tomorrow, all athletes are required to rest for two hours after lunch and no athletes are allowed to go into town until the end of final practice.

Today was, finally, laundry day!!!! It had to be, as Susan and I were down to nothing. LOL We took our round buckets of laundry down and placed them by the laundry door and presto! a few hours later the girls brought them up, all clean and ready to hang out. I wonder if this laundry genie would like to come live at my house? Hanging out the clothes was a true work of art. We had Susan’s, Holly’s, and my clothes all done on the same day, so we had to find room to dry all of them on the same day. Heather remarked that our balcony finally looked like everyone else’s, with clothes hung on every available surface.

Susan and I took our daughters out to lunch today, something we had not done before. We went to the same restaurant we went to for Holly’s birthday celebration, but this time we were in search of the elusive cheeseburger. The other athletes had been there several times and they just raved about this wonderful chicken cheeseburger that they had had. Apparently, there is very little beef available and most of it is made into sausage, so cheeseburgers are made of chicken. The chicken was very, very thin and placed on a wide, crusty bun and topped with French fries, mayonnaise, and ketchup. It might sound weird, but it was scrumptious.

Take care,

Marcy

I am sorry that we haven’t been able to contact you, but Orsova has had some Internet outages and one of them has messed up the downstairs computers. Coach Zebet has someone coming tomorrow to fix the problem. The kids (and grown-ups) are starting to show signs of withdrawal, so hopefully everything will be back to normal tomorrow.

Today was the first official nap day. The kids had their first practice early at 7:30, then a supplemental paddle at 10:30. By the time they cooled off and ate lunch, no one was complaining about taking a nap. It was really hot again today and there is no air conditioning, so it took a little while for everyone to get comfortable and settled in. The girls went sound to sleep and slept the full two hours, waking up only when Susan and I called them.

At breakfast this morning, we were out of cereal. Heather, our designated interpreter and gofer, went to the kitchen to ask for more. She came back to report that they were out. She and I thought we would just run to the little store at the end of campus and buy some. We went to the store and got the cereal and were in line to pay when the head kitchen lady came in and insisted that we not pay. We tried to assure her that we didn’t mind and it wasn’t a problem, but she would have none of it. Believe me, language was no barrier there – she MEANT we weren’t going to pay. At lunch, we saw that the shelves where food items for us are stored was FILLED with cereal. Folks, we are going to have to reach HIGH when we have the opportunity to offer these folks our hospitality, because they sure have bent over backwards to take care of us.

Favorite team activity (is it just me, or do they look older than when they left?)

Rebecca has found a new way to finance her future trips. She bet Heather 5 lei that she could chug 2/3s of a bottle of peach soda, then proceeded to do so. While she enjoyed using her hard earned money to buy an ice cream later, I don’t think she will want anything peach flavored for a while. LOL

Y’all will be glad to know that Susan and I purchased more detergent today, and tomorrow Sheaffer plans to see that the boys take their laundry down to be washed. The boys are not particularly enthused about this, but I don’t think Sheaffer intends to give them much choice. As I said in an earlier post, more than one of the boys has a cloud of, well, stink, that follows him around. I know that they are showering at least semi-regularly if for no other reason than to cool down, so I am pretty sure that the worst of the odor is from their clothing.

Coach Zebet mentioned tonight that someone is coming to interview us tomorrow. Sheaffer was interviewed on TV during the regatta, but this will be a first for Susan and me.

Take care,

Marcy

Hot, Hot, Hot!!!! And feeling more like home everyday.

The weather here is very similar to GA – muggy and hot. We are watching the athletes very carefully to make sure that they are staying hydrated and coated in sunscreen. We don’t have a readily available source for Gatorade or Powerade, though Anna and Sheaffer finally found one bottle of Powerade at a small store. Heather got to meet the Orsova team doctor today when she became dizzy and nauseated while doing weights. She had only eaten cereal for breakfast, had gotten very hot and a bit sunburned while paddling, and had completely overheated in the weight room. The doctor gave her some sugar water to drink and told her to take a cool shower and rest. She did as instructed and was feeling much better after her nap.

LCKC athletes waiting on the cruise to start

Coach Zebet had arranged for a driver to take Susan and I on a tour of a nearby town. I wasn’t able to go as I wasn’t comfortable leaving when Heather wasn’t feeling well, so Holly went in my place. The town they went to had everything named after various gods and goddesses, and featured a very large statue of Hercules. They also got to visit a fountain that had wonderfully pure, cold water to drink, and pools that were mineral springs heated by thermal vents.

Susan took a lot of photos of the statues and architecture, but also took a great photo of a cow. The kids have discussed various ways that we might catch and eat said cow, as beef is not a meat that is eaten a lot in this area of Romania. I think we all finally agreed that all we needed was a fork, knife, salt and a Bic lighter, and we could eat the whole thing, hooves and horns included. LOL Parents, please plan on taking your athlete to Longhorn or Outback on the way home from the airport. (Editors note: I considered calling this Blog entry "Beef - It's What's GONNA be for dinner!" but I chickened (sic) out of it.)

The Stern Taskmaster takes time out from whipping the team into shape to pose for a moment.

The RO boys have no practices until Monday, but Sheaffer is having the LCKC boys continue with their practice. He wants to be sure that they don’t suffer any loss of speed due to the slow first week. None of us had realized just how hard it would be to get over the jet lag and altitude adjustment. The girls have the afternoon off, but will resume practice with Coach Bebe tomorrow morning. Even with free time, athletes are required to rest from 2 to 4. The kids grumble some, but I don’t think they really mind.

I don’t know if y’all have heard about how mean I’ve become, but apparently I am right up there with Attila the Hun. I have limited the kids time on the club computers to 30 minutes a day, not including the time they spend skypeing their parents (which can’t be done on the club’s machines, anyway). The club only has 5 working computers and there are over 50 athletes waiting to use them. When one of our kids shows an interest in the computers, the RO athletes get up and give them the machine. I hate to admit it, but our kids have been taking advantage of this, which is why I mandated the time limit.

Take care,

Marcy

Hi Everybody,

Our Internet is completely dead again except the Skype is working. Chuck says it has something to do with the DNS settings and the fact that Skype uses fixed IP addresses. I don’t care why, as long as we have some way to communicate with the folks back home. Today was a pretty exciting day for the adults as we were interviewed by a journalist for a local paper. He brought a previous edition of the paper with him and, on the 3^rd page, there was a picture of our girls receiving their medals from Susan. Cool, huh?

Susan and I made a trip with Coach Zebet’s driver into the mountains. The scenery was beautiful and our translator, Roxana, was able to discuss whatever we wanted. Unfortunately, I have a tendency to get carsick on mountain roads and this time was no exception. Still, I think I got some great photos.

Tuesday night we announced that if anyone was more than 10 minutes late to a meal, their food was up for grabs. We did this for two reasons. First, some of the kids were ignoring dinnertime in order to play longer on the computer games downstairs. Our hosts insist on having some of their athletes clear the table when we are done, and the latecomers meant that these folks were having to make multiple trips upstairs. This was just plain rude and didn’t need to continue. The 2^nd reason is that some of the kids have been making trips into town and eating there, so they weren’t hungry at dinnertime. If they didn’t let us know, the food just sat on their plates and got cold. This was rude not only to our hosts, who went out of their way to provide for us, but also to their fellow diners who would have very much enjoyed having the extra portion. Please understand, this rule does not apply if an athlete isn’t off the water or is involved in some sort of practice at dinnertime.

Last night we had an athlete ignore the dinner hour. He was playing a game he enjoys on the computer and just chose not to come up to eat. He was not happy when he came thru the door, 20 minutes after dinnertime, and was reminded of the rule. There was plenty of bread, vegetables, and sliced meats, but his hot dinner entrée had been divided among his fellow athletes EXACTLY 10 minutes after the assigned dinnertime. He took his ribbing with grace and many promises of retribution, but, clearly, the point had been made. Today, this athlete was first in line for breakfast and lunch.

The RO boys have no practices until Monday, and they are very much enjoying their holiday. It is NEVER quiet here; there is always some sort of music playing. Today, though, must be a record day for the number of music sources playing really different types of music at the same time. Every possible window is open to catch whatever breeze there may be, so I am getting a full dose of RO teenager. On one hand, I have something about a girl with Apple bottom jeans and boot with the fur, and on the other I have something that resembles a temple chant combined with a driving bass beat. I think my fillings are rattling. Am I showing my age?

(Editor's Note - Shorty Got Low is not on Marcy's iPod playlist. Or is any Euro-Techno Trance. I believe the wildest thing she has this trip is Air Supply. :-D )

Take care,

Marcy