Week 7 - Pihtipudas

Week 7 is in the books.

       I think this has by far been one of the best weeks here. It seems that the days are going faster since we are having friendly games at the end of the week. This week of practice went by super fast.
We hosted a mini-tournament yesterday with Pujio and WoVo. We won both games 3-0, and it seems that things are really starting to click out on the floor. Both of these teams will be our first opponent during league play. This upcoming Wednesday, we have our last friendly game versus OrPo.

       The league starts in a little less than two weeks. To further explain to those that don't understand how it works overseas:

  • You have a league that you are in (aka conference) in which teams are dispersed around the country. Our league is Mestaruusliiga Women. We have a total of 11 teams in our league.
  • We will play everyone in our league close to 3 times each. Our "league" season lasts from September 27th to March 5th. 
  • After league play is over, playoffs start. The games are best 3/5 for each round you play. So you could potentially play the same team (up to 5 times) just to try to advance to the next round.
  • While the league is going on, based on your results from last year and how you are currently doing, you can be "selected" to participate in another tournament going on: such as CEV, Europe Championship, or Challenge Cup. This means that you can end up playings teams in other countries. If any of you know Edina Begic, her team won the CEV cup last year!
The link for our league live scores, schedule is the following:

       On the non volleyball aspect of things, I got some surprises this week. I got my first postcard in the mail from Thiago. I also got a big "surprise" package from the Thiltgen family this week. It got held in customs for a little bit, but it finally arrived. I went and picked it up, and it was so sweet. Lots of tears fell and I am just so thankful for the little things. You can tell that they really know me because of what they sent in the box. First off, they are the REAL MVPs because I have vanilla coffee creamer!! Coffee is so much more enjoyable now thanks to them. Hopefully it will last me awhile. A few exploded in the box, but I am so thankful for them--and for everyone who has been checking on me. People will let you know they care if you are truly important to them. I mean this by just the small things: ex. a quick text, message, comment— a quick thought. 






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