Love and the Beach

Monday was a real treat for me. I got to hang out with some new friends. You may know them, Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh? Yeah, no big deal.

The FIVB beach volleyball Olympic qualifiers tour made a stop in Moscow over the weekend and I was able to go on Saturday and on Monday. Saturday was qualifiers, so there were lots of teams playing, mostly men's teams. Monday was the women's playoff day and by far my favorite.

What always strikes me as funny about beach volleyball fans is the fact that they are ready to play. It's like they're just waiting for Phil Daulhausser to get injured so they can stand up and say, "Good think I wore my board shorts today... Sub!" In the land of Speedos, I have never seen so many pairs of board shorts. Not even in our coastal town back home. So strange.

I went on my own, packed a lunch and basked in the sun. It was heavenly. Speaking of Heaven, I then heard some people behind me speaking English! I don't normally go up to people when I hear them speaking English, as tempting as it is some days. Mainly because people are weird. Even English speakers in a foreign country like Russia. In fact, in my experience, I'd say it's a pretty good indicator that one is bat-shit crazy if they're in Russia and English is their first language. But I was in a pretty specific group of people and after finding some courts, I was really jonesin' to find people here to play with.

They ended up being really nice! The guy was from Belgium and his girlfriend or wife was from Russia, but a small town outside of Moscow. We chatted about living in Moscow, volleyball and, of course, Hubs. I still can't go five minutes without dropping a Hubs Bomb into the conversation. My new Belgium friend played beach ball on the national level until he his achilles ruptured. (I can hear the collective virtual "oooooowwww" from here...) Then he moved into coaching. When I told him about the courts in Gorky Park, he seemed excited to play!

After the tournament, I went for a quick walk around Victory Park, where the tournament was being held. It didn't have the garden-like atmosphere I found at Gorky Park, but it was nice all the same. Lots of food and trinket stands, memorials and people eating ice cream and strolling around. The park has a rich history and is a place to pay respects to vetrans of war as well as the strength of a nation. Napolean himself camped out here back when he had the city surrounded and waited for the people to give him the keys to the Kremlin. Now, it hosts fountains and monuments to great wars and vistories. It really is a special place.

So, even though we didn't win (Walsh/May-Treanor came in 2nd to China), it was a fantastic day. I still haven't heard from my new friends, and I might not. but the conversation alone is another indicator that I'm gonna be ok. That life isn't so different here. And to wrap it all up, I got to take in a pretty amazing view of a pretty amazing city. A pretty amazing home.

Cheers to new places, faces and views.