Eye on the Prize....

Wow....sorry guys. Technical difficulties in Izzy-Indo land, but I'm back.

So this past weekend, we were in Bandung, a city about 2 hours by car from Jakarta....well, that's what they say. What I've discovered is that there really isn't the greatest concept of time over here. If someone tells you they'll be there at 7:30 I wouldn't expect them before 8. And if they're going to be late, don't expect a phone call. Although when it really comes down to it and the meeting is crucial (ie. leaving for the airport, meeting for a match) they'll be calling you 10 minutes before the scheduled time wondering where in Allah's name you are! Estimating the distance of a car/taxi ride is much like bartering with a knock-off salesperson in China.....you can divide by 7 to get a more precise travel time!

Anyways, as I was saying...Bandung hosted the Final 4 tournament. This is a 3day-3match round robin with the top 4 teams in the league. All 4 teams play on the final weekend in Jakarta, but whether it's for 1st place or 3rd place depends on the results from final four. Our team played exceptionally well, beating Jakarta BNI in 3 straight sets on Friday and beating Gresik Petrokimia in 3 straight sets on Saturday. This automatically put us in the final the following weekend, but we first had to play a grudge match with Jakarta Elektrik PLN to see who would get the no.1 ranking. In regular season, they beat us 0-3 and we beat them 3-2, but with a loss to BNI early in the season, PLN lost one more match than we did and we finished first in the league. These guys were pissed after last weekend's loss and were swearing redemption....as was their crowd of red-shirted balloon knockers!! It was a slow start for us as we entered the game tight and nervous. Once we lost the first 2 sets, and realized that this game actually didn't mean much, we relaxed into our groove and managed to squeek out a 23-21 victory in a 5 set nail-biter.

Good thing? Bad thing? I dunno.....coaches can analyze it over and over....going in as the underdog, going in as the favourite, it all really doesn't matter. Although we make these circumstances into front page stories and let them play a role in motivation, it all just comes down to the day. One team may practice 2 times a day for the entire week, the other team may take 4 days off....one team may work out some last minute tactical changes (not likely as we're in Indo) the other might work on reinforcing their block (also not likely as, well, we're in Indo)....but any way you cut it, there is no way of knowing what is the right way, what is the winningest way, which road the high road.... what caused the last ball to bounce on this or that side of the court........

....I leave that philosophy up to you.

I have been relocated and little did I know that when I left Surabaya, my home for the past 2 months, it was for the last time (sniff). Since I left and went to Singapore to renew my visa I haven't been back there. We've been living in Bandung for the past couple weeks at the lovely Naripan hotel, which is conveniently located across the street from Bank Jabar. This bank used to have a team as well and Mr. Huang used to be the coach here. Well lucky for us, depending on how you look at it, it has it's own gym as well as fitness centre. We wake up, walk across the street and train 2x a day, eat 3 times a day and sleep about 5 times a day.....it really is Indonesian volley heaven! Unfortunately it took me until today to discover that, while my room couldn't get a wireless internet connection, the rooms across the hall all could.....good times.

So as I count the last few days away before I head off to Bali, I find myself being ever more present to the small moments, as I realize that yet another chapter has gone by.....all in all it's pretty amazing that I'm playing professional volleyball in Indonesia. I mean how many people in the world actually get to experience that!

My life is great!