Day 14

Where am I? What time is it? What day is it? Which way is up? Why do I feel like I was just involved in a 12 round title bout? On Mr. Dressup, why could we hear Casey's voice while his lips didn't move yet Finnegan's lips moved but we couldn't hear him?

All critical questions that must be answered. 

THis leg of the journey started at 8:30 am (canadian time) on Tuesday and it is now Wednesday night at 9pm in Jiangyin China.

The flight was long long long but went fairly well. Hard to sleep but I did manage a bit. Trip was going smooth until a young child in the same row as me began crying uncontrollably. The mother couldn't get him to stop until a man with a french accent from a few rows back came and volunteered his assistance. He turned the baby over and did some sort of massaging on his lower back and within 30 seconds the baby was completely quiet. Very impressive.

We landed in Shanghai and the first thing that hit us was the heat. Very warm with HIGH humidity. We made a very interesting drive for 3 hours after we arrived. The scenery was interesting with many different types of housing and neighborhoods. Some of it made me think of how good we have it in Canada.

The driving itself was interesting as there are many big trucks moving in and out of traffic. I dozed off along the drive for a while and woke up just as we were getting to Jiangyin. We drove by the coliseum where we will play and it looks impressive. The city looked very nice coming in and we arrived at our hotel. It is very nice with a welcome for us on the marquee at the front of the hotel. Everyone is extremely nice and helpful here. We arrived at 6:45 pm with our first meal scheduled for 7:00pm. We quickly made our way to our rooms and then off to our meal. It was an interesting culinary experience. I didn't ask a lot of questions but I know I ate some things that I have never experienced before. I also ate something that was incredibly spicy and I have had heartburn ever since. 

After the meal a group of us decided to walk around the city a bit. It was very hot and humid but the walk was nice. Your senses get bombarded by the sights, sounds and smells in the area. MAny little shops and restaurants around our hotel. There are also some very impressive park areas which I will try and check out in the daylight tomorrow. We certainly stood out as we all had the same shirts on and were clearly noticeable. It was fun walking behind Krysten Boogaard on our team who is 6'5" tall. People stop and look at her, some snickered and some wanted their picture taken with her. All in all a very interesting walk. Tomorrow I hope to take some pictures to display when I get back home.

The kids seem to be in good spirits but I am sure fatigue may hit them tomorrow. We have breakfast at 8:30 am and then practice at 10AM I believe. We will take the afternoon off to rest and get ready for game 1 on Friday. That will be an interesting experience..

Now I am off to finish our video for tomorrow and then get some sleep.

The journey continues

Coach