Wednesday, May 25, 2011

icelandic national team, volcano, and our 2nd reg. season game... oh my.

Hello all. Well I have some updating to do, so going to start with training last week, national team game, volcanos, and lastly our game last night. :) 


I'll start with last week, since we won our first regular season game that I wrote about we started training for our next game which we played last night. We had a hard week of training last week which was awesome, love those hard practices. Only makes you better!! After one of our training sessions last week we got to go watch the Icelandic Women's National team play against Bulgaria. It was pretty neat being in the stadium and surrounded by the icelandic fans. Iceland won 4-0 I think was the final, they were definitely the better team and were taking advantage of Bulgaria weaknesses. A girl on Stjarnan that I play with, got called up to train with them all week but didn't make the final game-day roster, but it was still pretty exciting for her and neat to know someone that was pretty much a member of the national team :) 


Later on Saturday is when their was some excitement and news in Iceland. A volcano that is about 4-5 hours from where I live, erupted which also caused 50 earthquakes. The day of we couldn't tell anything had happened, but it only took a day for the ash to layer the sky by us too and soon fill the sky. It was pretty crazy, you could see it just sit in the sky and start settling on the cars and stuff. Pretty neat to be able to say I was here while a volcano erupted!! :) I want to do some exploring and go check out a volcano while I am here (obviously an inactive one) haha..... So with the volcano erupting they had to shut down the airports for a couple days, now for our team this wouldn't have been much of a problem BUT because we were expecting our last player to get here on Sunday it was.  She was stranded halfway through her traveling in London because of the airports being closed down. Our new player is named Ahkeela and she is from Trinidad!! Luckily the airports didn't have to stay shut that long, so she finally made it to Iceland by Monday night. 


Now yesterday, TUESDAY, was our gameday. We played at home, hosted our 2nd game of our regular season. Stjarnan vs. Thróttur we won 4-0. In the first half I got a ball on the outside of the field, and crossed a ball in to Inga who put the ball right insides the goalpost to make the score 1-0. Then maybe 20 minutes later we got a corner kick, Soffia took the corner and bent the ball inward with the help of the wind taking it as well the ball found the top of my head perfectly while i was far post to head it in. 2-0. HALFTIME. We came out in the second half, the better team like the first. I think we did get lazy and little sloppy not our best game, but we got two more goals to finish the second half. One by Inga, and the fourth one by me. A pair of goals each for Inga and I :) Final was 4-0 and another W for Stjarnan. Now we will use the rest of the week to start preparing for our next match which is on Tuesday, against a very good team. Valur, who we will be playing has come in first in the league for the last 4 or 5 years. Since I have been here we have beat them twice, in the preseason game & preseason tourney cup. So it will be an exciting game to play!!! 


                            Stjarnan vs Throttur  4-0W  May 24, 2011
 




This link below is in icelandic but you can attempt to google translate it haha. Still trying to work on a website that is in english, but no luck so far. 


http://www.fotbolti.net/fullStory.php?action=viewStory&id=108824


That is all for now.  
Love from Iceland. 
xo ash. 
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Sunday, May 15, 2011

1st Regular Season Game

On Saturday the 14th we played our first regular season game. It was a home opener against Fyklir. We played well, better then we did the first time we faced them, but still not up to our full potential. First half, a midfielder crossed the ball across and our right mid was there to knock it in. A similar set up happened in the first half, the same midfielder Inga, sent the ball across the face of the goal and I was there to knock it in. Ball was in the back of the net, but it got called back because it was claimed to be offsides. We clearly didn't agree, and after the game some Fyklir people that our coach knows even agreed that it should have counted and I wasnt offsides. But that happens in soccer so just gotta keep playing. At half it was 1-0 Stjarnan. Second half we played alright, we received a corner and I got on the far post to head it in to make the score 2-0 :) Then maybe 10 minutes later I got the ball to my feet on the right side of the field and my defender was coming at me the last one one back on the field..... I saw one of our midfields in the middle starting to run up, I chipped the ball over my defender into the space behind there defense and our midfielder got there and ran it in for a great 1v1 shot with the goalie and scored!!! The midfielder Soffia that scored off of my ball, was the same girl that took the corner kick I got on the end of, so it was a Soffia and Ashley connection in the second half :) The game ended 3-0, took away our first league game WIN, now looking forward to the next game which is next week Tuesday. This week will be full of hard training to prepare for that game, which is at Home, before we hit the road for our third game. Here is a link, although in Icelandic you can try to use a translator to change it to english, but basically what I just tried to explain about the game! haha.  

pregame lineup handshakes 





After the game, we went to Ingas house and all hung out, ate some food, and watched Eurovision! The girls were so so excited about it, its kind of like American Idol, but their is one person/group from each europe country that represents and sings. It was the season finale so everyone was so excited to see how Iceland would do! Iceland had a group of like 6 guys that represented the country. They were a cute little group of guys like middle aged, I thought there performance was one of the best ones, but they didn't win unfortunately. It was still a really good time hanging out with the girls and getting to know them more. 

Thats all for now. 

Love from Iceland.
xo ash.

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Monday, May 9, 2011

Google Translator = Entertainment for the night

Hello WORLD :) So today was pretty great day in Iceland. Woke up and went to do a pool workout, success. Then I got to skype with Steve, which is always nice. After that one of my roomies and I went to get our eyebrows waxed, it was a really neat place and the girl was super nice. When we went to pay we werent sure if we should tip, so we quick called a icelandic teammate and she said you DONT tip like at restaurants her no tipping. Weird right? But kinda nice too haha.... Once we got back we hung out a little and then headed to afternoon training. It was a good session, got to play little 7v7, shooting, and fitness. When we got home we ate dinner and then naturally hit up a little facebook. On facebook all the members of our team have our own private page to write to each other and post pics etc. Well we just got added to it so I was super excited, the wall is full of messages from teammates to each other, so i thought to add my first message!!!! Instead of writing in english, I thought why not have it look like the teams, right? So i went to google translator, and typed in what i wanted to say................. READ THE CONVO BELOW!!! HILARIOUS. right after i posted on the wall, a bunch of teammates liked the post :) so i was like awesome..... when really....... google translator........... READ BELOW. 


Love from Iceland. 
xo ash. 



WHAT I POSTED 


Ashley Bares halló nokkuð ladies Takk fyrir að vera ógnvekjandi. lætur sparka rass í fyrsta leik okkar á laugardagskvöldinu! PEACE LOVE SOCCER :) ♥
12 minutes ago ·  ·  · 
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Sunday, May 8, 2011

Hello all :) I Woke up and it was a beautiful morning in Iceland :) sun is out and the sky is blue. I went and volunteered at the gym with the kids again, it was awesome. The kids are so great. When we were at the gym we asked a teammate if they have mothers day here.... she didn't think so, haha. But we do have mothers day :) if I'm in Iceland or not, so  HAPPY MOTHERS DAY mom!!!! Thinking of you today, hope its a nice day like it is here in Iceland today. It's a perfect day for horseback riding here, i'll go for you :) haha. xo 
                                                       HAPPY MOTHERS DAY <3 



This last week has been pretty good, like I posted about our game we won the preseason cup, first time ever in Stjarnan history. Yesterday, we had a really good, hard workout and training we are getting ready for our first league game on Saturday, home opener against Fyklir. It will be a tough game, so on Tuesday we are scrimmaging a mens team to help us prepare for it. 

Last night, one of my teammates invited my roomies and I to an airbrush painting make up showcase. I was super excited it was downtown and started at 22:00 so I got to check out some of the nightlife for the first time since I've been here. I was excited to see all the neat makeup and how they do the airbrushing. When we walked in it wasn't really what I expected... first, it was in a nightclub. ha. Second, there was a runway where these girls were walking down showing off the airbrushing. Not just their faces were airbrushed, they were naked and painted. There whole body was airbrushed!!! it was at first shocking, and once I was past that surprise it was so cool to see! There was so much time put into the art work done on the people walking down the runways. Models of all shapes and sizes, all with there own creative designs and themes airbrushed on them. After this got done, there was a hiphop dance group that came on and performed, pretty awesome job done by them as well. It was really fun being able to checkout downtown and see the art showcase at the club, only in Iceland you'll find the people straight naked walking the runway with some paint on, seriously love peoples confidence in their image here and own unique style :) I think that is all for now, i'm going to try my best to post once a day for now on and a lot more pics on here too! It is starting to become nicer out everyday so more picture taking will happen. Takk (thanks in icelandic) for reading. 

love from Iceland. 
xo ash. 
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Tuesday, May 3, 2011

 
                                      STJARNAN after our victory. Preseason Champs!!
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STJARNAN preseason champs ★

Tonight our team, Stjarnan played in the championship game for our preseason tournament against Valur. We got down 0-1 in the first half, second half Valurs goalie came out to challenge one of our players going to goal and took her out. Valurs goalie got a red card and we were rewarded a pk. We made the pk and tied up the game 1-1. With 5 minutes left one of our captains got in the box on the end of a cross and scored!! That put us up 2-1. We finished off the game and won the Preseason Tourney Cup for the first time for Stjarnan, men or womens team. It was a great feeling after the game with my team, champions for the night. Now we have to focus on our season that starts May 14 and keep working hard and winning games. Hopefully tonight is just the beginning of big things for Stjarnan this season!! :)

Love from Iceland.
xo ash.
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national futbol stadium in Iceland 


the beautiful Icelandic sky at 21:30pm
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Faith Forwards: I pray you enough...

I received this poem in an email from my aunt sometime in the last year or two. Today when I was going through some of the pictures, quotes, and things I brought to  Iceland there was a copy of it printed out. :) Thought I'd share it with all of you. Appreciate life, every little thing in it. I'm so blessed.  

I Pray You Enough...
Recently, I overheard a mother and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure. Standing near the security gate, they hugged, and the mother said, 'I love you, and I pray you enough.'
The daughter replied, 'Mom, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I pray you enough, too, Mom.'
They kissed, and the daughter left. The mother walked over to the window where I was seated. Standing there, I could see she wanted and needed to cry. I tried not to intrude on her privacy, but she welcomed me in by asking, 'Did you ever say good-bye to someone knowing it would be forever?'
Yes, I have,' I replied. 'Forgive me for asking, but why is this a forever good-bye?'
'Well...I'm not as young as I once was, she lives so far away & has her own busy life. I have some challenges ahead, and the reality is - her next trip back will be for my funeral,' she said.
'When you were saying good-bye, I heard you say, 'I pray you enough.' May I ask what that means?'
She began to smile. 'That's a prayer that has been handed down from other generations. My parents used to say it to everyone.' She paused a moment and looked up as if trying to remember it in detail, and she smiled even more. 'When we said, 'I pray you enough,' we wanted the other person to have a life filled with just enough good things to sustain them.'
Then, turning toward me, she shared the following as if she were reciting it from memory.
  • I pray you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray the day may appear.
  • I pray you enough rain to appreciate the sun even more.
  • I pray you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive and everlasting.
  • I pray you enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger.
  • I pray you enough gain to satisfy your wanting.
  • I pray you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess.
  • I pray you enough hellos to get you through the final good-bye.
Then, she began to cry, and walked away.
They say, it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, but an entire life to forget them.




Love from Iceland. 
xo ash. 



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Sunday, May 1, 2011

Playin some futbol with some great kids

Today, Sunday morning, I woke up with my roomies and we went to the clubhouse by the stadium and got to play with kids that are autistic or have a disability. A girl on our team and her family organize this every Sunday for kids to come play soccer. It was awesome seeing these kids and how happy they were when they scored a goal, or to kick the ball. It was a great great way to start this week, I'm so happy I could be there to play and help them. Even though they didn't even speak english and I couldnt speak Icelandic, soccer was our way of communicating. 

This week is going to be a great test for me and our team when we play in the preseason tournament finals on Tuesday night. I'm so blessed to have this opportunity and to be living my dream here. I know I am so lucky to have family, Steven && friends that support me and my journey in Iceland. It is great, only thing better would be to have them actually here cheering me on, but I know they all are from the states :) 

Love from Iceland. 
xo ash. 

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Mountain && Stoplight Pics

beautiful view from the flight to our away game 


how cute is this stoplight!!! this town was so peaceful and relaxing :)
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Preparing for Thor Semifinals game

After our game on Saturday against Fylkir we had Sunday off. Then Monday back at training to prepare for our semifinal game on Thursday. Now that I have adjusted to sleep schedule and settled in, we started doing morning workouts, weights, treadmil, and pool workouts. Then we have training in the afternoon. Our trainings were ok, one day it was really windy so it made it really really difficult to move the ball. The weather has been so up and down here, I guess it is the first time in years that there spring has been so bad. Being from WI has helped me prepare for that though lol.

For our game on Thursday Thor is 4-5hr drive, but instead we were going to take a 40min flight. We arrived at this small airport at 1:30 our flight was at 2! At the airport there was one baggage claim and one gate it was cute and small. You were allowed to have liquids and didn't go through security or anything, crazy because normally airports are a mess and take forever traveling with teams. So we are all checked in and waiting to go, but then our flight gets delayed because of the wind. We sat at the airport and our coach got a call from the soccer association saying the game was going to be moved to Friday instead because of the weather conditions. So at that point, coach sent us home and we had to meet the next day to fly out, and because we had to change our flights 5 of us had to fly out earlier so my roommates and two others were picked to fly out earlier.

When we arrived Friday morning it was great being able to hang out and get to know my teammates a little more. Inga and Gunny are the two teammates that flew out with us early, Ingas grandparents live in the town we were flying to, so she was there to pick us up and take us to town, see some stuff and grab lunch. It was seriously beautiful, the mountains were awesome, and it is the popular place to go snowboarding and skiing I guess. Also, the town houses were cute and what you see in the movies. At the traffic lights, the stop lights light up as hearts!! <3 cutest thing ever, I ran out and took a picture I will try and post it. Everything was just so relaxed and easy going. At lunch we heard a bunch of kids yelling and screaming and we looked out the window and kids were in a wagon getting pulled by a tractor all dressed as pigs!! Reminded me of homecoming back in the country haha. But we asked what that was about and Gunny and Inga explained that they were graduating high school, and on the last day of high school the kids meet at 6 in the morning and start drinking. then they meet at school and there teachers make them breakfast haha. After that they go back downtown and drink and then come back to have dinner and drink with there teachers. hilarious right? only in Iceland!!! :)

After lunch we went back to Ingas grandparents house and got to rest a little while we waited for the rest of our team to fly in, it was perfect got to sit down and watch some of the royal wedding which was absolutely stunning, her dress and everything was elegant and beautiful!!! Once the team landed, the bus came to Ingas grandparents house to pick the 5 of us up to head to the stadium.

Gametime. We met in the locker room before the game and they were all talking about it in Icelandic, Joi always tells me in english and Laki just gives me a handshake. :) In the starting lineup I was pretty excited for the game because I had never played them before. They had some crafty players on their team and a good strong defender that could kick the ball all the way to the other end of the field if you gave her the time. They got a corner kick and a girl got a head on it and scored, you could tell the girls were pissed and it got to them. We were down 0-1. We didn't play well and weren't winning 50/50 battles. Halftime came around, and Laki was upset, which we all were. He spoke loud in Icelandic, but whatever he said worked.
We came out second half on fire, like we played against Valur. We scored a goal to tie it up in the first like 5 minutes. Then I got a goal to but us ahead 2-1. Not much after that I stole the ball from a defender and took it down to the goal, I saw Inga in the middle of the field running in and laid it back to her and she scored. We took control and were up 3-1. Then with 20 minutes left, our defense stepped up but the ball got through and Thors forward got it and was on a breakaway. Our goalie came out to challenge the ball and took her out, our goalie got a red card, kicked out of the game, and can't play in the finals!! We ended up pulling off the win without our keeper, and it ended 3-1. Stjarnan is headed to the finals where we will face Valur again!! The game is on Tuesday at 7pm.

Now my blogs will be up to date and posted when things happen, I was just trying to catch everyone up so far on what has happened. :) I will try and post pictures too! Also, if you want I am on twitter and tweet everyday, my twitter is ashleybares.

Love from Iceland.
xo ash.
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First Full week in Iceland

So after a 3-0 victory against Valur, we had a week of training in front of us to get ready for the game on Saturday against Fylkir. Training sessions have been in the afternoons. They are short and sweet which is different then in the States. Here you go hard for the set time you are on the field and then thats it. We normally do warmups with Joi our assistant coach, laps around the field to warm us up a little, then some cone accelerating stuff. Then we get right into drills during training. After training, there are the ice tubs and hot tubs. The hot tubs/pools are on like a roof of one of the buildings connected to our locker rooms. It is pretty neat is cold out but you sit in the hot baths and its perfect, so relaxing. This is also where there is a pool to swim laps, so in the mornings before afternoon trainings it is great to go swim laps for an extra workout without wearing down my body. 

During the week I got settled in more and focused on the training so I haven't done much touring of Iceland yet, but plenty of time for that to come. And then the weather will warm up a little so it will be perfect. 
So Saturday was game day against Fylkir at Fylkir so it was neat seeing a different stadium. We played poorly first half and at halftime it was 0-0. Second half we picked it up a little but still seemed tired. It was not like we played against Valur. With less then 15 minutes to go. One of our midfielders got the ball out wide and crossed it in. I saw a teammate sliding in ready to knock it in, at the same time I continued my run far post just in case it somehow got through, as I was running I saw the two girls slide for it and both missed. I slid for it far post and got my foot on it and scored. We won the game 1-0. It wasn't a pretty game, hopefully got the bad game out of our system so we can play well rest of the preseason tournament. With the win Stjarnan headed to the semifinals against Thor. A team that my team played two weeks before I got here and lost 0-4, they have a talented team, crafty and also have two very good americans!! So big game ahead of us to prepare for. 

love from iceland. 
xo ash. 
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Welcome to Iceland

Hello everyone :) I am going to write a new blog weekly to keep you updated on my adventures and experiences in Iceland. I am here playing Pro Soccer for Stjarnan of Icelandic Úrvalsdeild League. I arrived in Iceland on Friday, April 15 at about 7am Icelandic time, so that means I started actually traveling on Thursday. I flew from Milwaukee, WI to NY then NY to REK, Iceland. When I arrived, the first thing I noticed was how modern and very clean the airport was. It had wood floors, clear glass door everywhere. Pretty cool looking airport :) The chairman of our team was there to pick me up and take me to what would be my new apartment for the next 6 months. He was very nice and friendly, he told me a little about Iceland and our team while we drove. The view out the window while we drove was amazing. Mountains, open land, && beautiful horses. 


When we arrived at the apartment one of my roommates who is also an american was there to let me in and greet me. She is a goalkeeper, she graduated from UCLA in 2008, named Ashley. Once i got my 3 bags in to my new room I got to take a nap for about 2 hrs. Then I had to wake up to go to the immigration office and get my picture taken for documents. 
After this, Ashley took me to the grocery store. This was my first encounter of the icelandic money and language. I found a few things like cherrios, bread, ham, rice and chicken. I figured breakfast, lunch, and dinner haha. I will admit I was a bit overwhelmed at first by the language, figuring out prices for food, and the money. 


Once we got back I made myself a sandwich and then got to crash again and try to catch up on a little more sleep for 2hrs. Nap time was then over because it was time for training!! Time to meet my new coaches and teammates. I was anxious and excited, I had been training and working very hard with my "MU Family" for months before arriving to Iceland hoping I would be ready for what was to come. 


So, I arrived to the stadium with my roommates, the two other americans on our team Ashley and the other named Kristen. That is when I met Laki, or that is what we call our head coach, it's short for Thourlakour or something like that haha. He is very straight forward guy, serious and likes winning. All things that I also agree on, so it was good to hear. Joi is our assistant coach and lastly Einar our chairman who picked me up from the airport. They greeted me and told me that the team was going to be running the cooper fitness test at training (2 miles in 12 min.) and because I just flew in they all agreed I wouldn't run it....... well me being stubborn of course I asked them if I could try. I knew I was tired, and straight of the plane, but I thought why not try and jump in right away. They told me I could run some laps, but not to push it and overdue it. I went by the team and found a spot  to run towards the front of the group. My goal was to try and stay near the front/middle. Lap after lap I was still in the front, I ran the whole thing and finished in the top 5, passing the cooper fitness test. That was day #1 of training... welcome to the team, welcome to Iceland :) 


Following day, Saturday, we had a light training because we had a game on Sunday against Valur. The training went well, different playing with new players after being with my Marquette family for 4 years, but it was fun, new, and exciting. After training we had a team meeting to talk about the game. The day before games our coaches give the meeting in some english so we can understand the plan for the game and what we needed to know. On game days there is no english spoken in the locker room by the coaches only Icelandic. When the meeting was over, coach Laki pulled me aside and said the coaching staff and captains were pleased and impressed by my fitness test and asked if I would be ready to play in the game, or if it was to soon because it was only my third day there. I smiled, its been what I've been waiting for!!! Valur the team we were playing on Sunday has been #1 top in the league for the past like 4 years, and hadn't lost in a very long time, so it was a big game. 


GAMEDAY, at Marquette we would say Championship Sunday! My first game in Iceland with my new team, I was so excited, not even nervous really just very anxious to see what it would be like. Game starts, first half I get in and I'm on the pitch playing. In my head I just told myself to just work my butt off. Halfway through the half a midfielder on our team got the ball and took it down the side and was pressured by a defender but managed to get a cross off. I came running across the face of the goal with a defender on my back, but got to the ball first and hit it one time into the back of the net. Goosebumps. It happened so fast. So Stjarnan was on the board up 1-0.  Before the halftime we got another goal, a midfielder played a thru ball and found a teammate, who was 1v1 with the goalie. Halftime Stjarnan up 2-0. We dominated first half and it was awesome soccer. Second half wasn't as good but we got one last goal and ended up winning the game 3-0. First game here against a rival team and we got the WIN, it was awesome.  So then all week we would train to prepare for our next game which was on Saturday  April 23 against Fylkir. Winner of that game would go to the semifinal game for the preseason tourney. 


Love from Iceland. 
xo ash.
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