I know I know... I'm due for an update!

Sorry that I have been brutal with this blog this month! After the New Years hangover wore off, we just weren't up to a whole lot so I didn't want to bore you with lame updates! And then, I just got a bit out of the blogging habit after that. But I'm back! And now there is lots of time to recap. So I'll start from the beginning... of the new year.

The New Year's party was a complete wasted fest as suspected. The team had rented out the entire bottom half of a restaurant, which was really nice and we all just stayed there the whole night. I ended up taking zero pictures but Shannon has an entire camera full of some really embarassing ones. After having been in Hannover for New Year's last year, I knew a little of what to expect with the midnight fireworks, but it was even more insane by us this year. The air was so foggy with firework smoke and so loud with the bangs that it really did feel as if we were in a bit of a war zone! It's such a cool thing that they do that here. Dangerous! But cool.

Like I said before, after New Years, it was pretty boring around this place, we didn't get up to a whole lot. One of Kevin's best buddies and old teammate from Hannover, DJ Jelitto and his fiance came up for a day trip the week after New Years. It worked out perfect too that it just happened to fall on one of my days off. We go to show them a bit around downtown Hamburg and made them dinner before they were on the road again back to Hannover. A short trip, but a pretty awesome one... at least we thought so!

We do have a bit of big news to share. We are coming back to Hamburg next year! The Freezers have picked up the option to have Kevin back next year and we couldn't be happier! We've known this for a little while, but it was finally made public last week. Complete with a cheesy photo in the newspaper of Kev and I by the Alster. I will also continue working for the Scherenbergs next year which I am really excited about! 

Speaking of hockey, the team is currently in 5th place in the league. More importantly, what I know all of you are dying to hear about... it was "ladies' night" at the game this past Friday. The male strippers were not nearly as entertaining as the chicks from men's night, but it was still pretty funny to see. When the guys were in the stands during intermission, I actually felt a bit akward and embarrassed for them as they were walking aimlessly without shirts trying to find women to dance with. Still, the on ice lap dance was pretty great, especially when one of the dancers pulled his undies just low enough to show a little crack! I forgot my phone that game and my camera battery was dead so I don't have anything good of my own to show of that night. Everything below is from the Freeers facebook page!

Kev has a game in Berlin today and I actually have to get going because Shannon and I are leaving in about 15 minutes to go to it. We are headed to the game and then spending the night there with the guys to explore Berlin tomorrow for their day off. I'll have a lot to write about then! And my camera battery is charging now, so I'll finally be taking some pictures of my own again! Hopefully, when we come back, Kevin will be able to call himself an uncle. His brother Matt and his wife, Shannon, are due to have their baby any time now!Enjoy your Sunday! Tschüss!

My luck with rookie sport experiences

A couple summers ago I lived in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina and was able to play my first ever round of golf on beautiful courses at the Sea Pines Resort. The view looked like this:

Kev got to play here too!

Well, in a couple weeks, we are taking a vacation to Austria, where I will ski for the second time ever. In Kitzbühel. Which is only one of Austria's most well known winter sport resort towns, home to the annual world cup ski races. With views and skiing that look a little something like this:

The ski resort at night

According to Wikipedia, we will have, "56 cableway and lift facilities and 168 kilometres of slopes available as well as 40 kilometres of groomed cross-country skiing tracks."  Needless to say, I am an extremely lucky girl to be able to have my first golf and skiing experiences at such amazing locations! Hope everyone is having a great weekend. Tschüss!

Article Translation!

Finished! Termine! Done! Is it a perfect, exact translation? Not a chance! Do I care? Not one bit! For those of you that don't know, Kev had an article in the arena magazine this past month (see here). I had been attempting to translate it to English so our family and friends could understand it. I would probably have given up if I hadn't promised Harry/Pop (Kev's grandpa) that I would finish it for him. By Wednesday night. Well, it's now into Thursday here, but thank goodness for that 6 hour time difference because it is only 6:30 p.m. (or 5:30 if we want to do Wisco time!) on Wednesday back home! I made the deadline. So here it goes and no one is allowed to make fun of me for things that sounds silly, I did my best! :-)

Kevin Schmidt - Hamburgs Next National Player? (Kevin Schmidt came in the Summer from the second division club Hannover Indians and has in a short time been considered by the National Coaches)

It was October 21, when national coach Jacob Koelliker took a seat in the O2 World for the first time and looked for himself at the potential national player of the Hamburg Freezers. By the 3-2 victory against the Hannover Scorpians, a man stood out, who hadn't actually been on his radar. After the game, Koelliker asked the GM Stephane Richer about Kevin Schmidt. Not without reason: the defenseman is one of the rising starts of the current season. Many believe the new addition will make the jump to the national team. Certainly, the statue allows DEB Schmidt to become a national player in the middle of 2012, he must be an active pro for 2 years in the nation before he becomes eligible for "Team Germany."

"There aren't many good German Offensive-defensemen and Kevin is still young. He has a promising future for himself," says Richer. Schmidt himself takes such praise with much goodwill if equal to knowledgeable about the national team topic, almost a little embarrassed. "It would be an honor for me, to be able to represent my country on the ice. And I fully admit this is a goal I pursue," says the German-Canadian, who has a German passport since 2010. His father, Horst, was born in Stuttgart and emigrated at the age of 3 months to Canada. From there, the Schmidt family pursued ice hockey, now the career of their 25-year old son. The defender regularly reports to his parents and especially his brothers, Jamie, Michael, and Matt, who all played hockey, how well it is going for him with the Freezers and how much he likes and can learn from Ex-NHL-players Schubert and Traverse. "My family, of course, is very happy for me. It was a big step in the DEL and I'm very happy that I'm off to a good start here," says Schmidt, grateful that he gets so much ice time and is able to be in the Powerplay. "I want to justify the trust of Benoit Laporte. I work at it every day."

It was already clear to Schmidt at a young age that hockey would take him to Germany, sooner or later. Due to lack of perspective in North America, he moved to Germany in 2010. Actually, it was hoped by the defensman, he wanted to make the direct jump into the best days of German ice hockey. In retrospect, he is glad to have taken a detour in the second division. "It was good to gain experience on the big ice surface. Perhaps the direct jump to the DEL would have been too great. The hockey is just different here than in North America," says Schmidt who achieved 11 goals last season for the Hannover Indians. (I couldn't understand the next sentence but it said something about not yet scoring a goal in the higher league but waiting to do so and is still a hit in the Freezers jersey.) "The guys naturally joke about my stoppages (?)," says "Schmidty," as his colleagues call him. "In which: So I'm not completely without a goal. In the game against the LA Kings, I've finally taken care of a goal!" he makes clear. "That was a very special moment, I will probably report (?) for a long time: Jerome Flaake saw me at the far post, passed, and then it was easy!"

Similarly, it was easy for the defensive talent to makethe move to the Elbe. With girlfriend, Autumn, the 25-year olds like to explore the city, go shopping, or enjoy a coffee. "Hamburg has a great history, amazing architechture, and is just worth living," says Schmid, who grew up just outside of Toronto and is an avid supporter of the Maple Leafs. So it's not surprising that the high-school-graduate was early on skates. At three years old, he took his first steps on the ice. He practiced on a frozen lake with hs grandfather. As a teenager, Schmidt also tried in the meantime to be a Lacrosse player. "Who knew, I would become as well as professional. But today, I am happy about my career as a professional Hockey player," says Schmidt who makes no secret of hw ambitious he is. He's part of a team that has a chance at the title, he says. "And that, I always dreamed of. That was my goal!"

SO! I'm so glad that's done. It's just too bad that I have to thank Google Translate way more than I had hoped. Sorry about things that sound silly or completely incorrect. It's definitely not the perfect translation, but I hope it is close and even more, I hope you all enjoyed my attempt! Seeing as it is now almost 1 a.m. and I'm exhausted from German, I'm headed to bed. Gute Nacht!!!

Less than a week will be the New Year!

We had a pretty fantastic, jam-packed busy weekend (which is why it is almost noon and Kev is still in bed!). Kevin was away Thursday and Friday for a game against Mannheim (won in a shootout) so I was on my own to play Christmas music and bake and cook for the weekend. Since they bussed to Mannheim, Kev didn't get home until after 5:30 a.m. Saturday morning. He didn't sleep well on the bus and couldn't fall asleep when he got home right away which wasn't great since I then got him up at 9:45 a.m. to go to the Christmas Eve skate organized by one of the other girls.

I was dangling all over Kev before this shot

It wasn't mandatory to go to the skate but we were glad we did because it turned out to be so much fun! I even got out there with a stick in hand and passed the puck around and took some shots on net. Hard to believe that after almost 4 years around Kev, this was my first time messing around with a hockey stick. Actually, it was probably only my second or third time even on the ice since we first started dating! It was so much fun though and there was some food after and a secret santa exchange for the kids. We had to leave the skate early in order to make one last trip to the grocery store before they closed for the weekend. The stores here closed at 1 p.m. Christmas Eve and didn't open again until today, so we really had to plan in advance! Nothing done last minute around here! Kev napped in the afternoon and I got things ready around the apartment for our guests that evening. I cooked a ham for the first time since we were having another couple over for dinner. After dinner 2 more couples came over for drinks, snacking, and to play some silly games. Even though we all miss our family this time of year, it's great to get together with all of the other couples that don't have family visiting as well.

Kev and some teammates

Christmas card worthy!

Christmas day we got up to have a mini-Christmas together before we headed to the Scherenbergs for brunch. It was really nice to spend Christmas with them and we got to experience a very typical German brunch. There was a cheese plate, bread plate, fish plate (cooked but cold), a cold cut plate, along with different spreads and fish salads. I don't eat food like this often so I was excited to try everything and I really enjoyed it! Kev isn't a big seafood (especially cold) fan, but Oliver made him some scrambled eggs and bacon so all was good! Han's really loved the Freezers gear we gave him and we came home with an amazing Hamburg book. We were there up until Kev's practice in the afternoon. When Kev got home later, we had about a 3-4 hour date with Skype which was absolutely amazing. We were able to talk to all of Kev's family and all of mine. We even got to see my dad, brother, Suzzanne, and Sheridan open their presents from us on camera! Pretty cool, what would we do without Skype!? We really missed everyone but were lucky to be around so many great people this time of the year.

Hans gets picture shy but loved his Freezers stuff!

Ida, the next Mrs. Clause

She is so precious!!!

Yesterday was a bank holiday here as well, so the Freezers had a game. We were pretty lucky it was a home game too. The guys won and are alone in 4th place in the DEL now. Kev has 2 more games yet this week, one tomorrow and Friday. I have the rest of today and tomorrow off and it is back to work for me on Thursday. My classes have been on break this week also, which has been a nice vacation so far. Anyway, that's all for here! I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day for all you Canadians! Tschüssy!

All I want for Christmas... is the German language to be easier!

Kevin had an article in the monthly arena magazine this past month. After sending some home for family members, I thought I would try to translate it without typing it all into a translation website. Not only for our family to actually be able to read it, but also because I thought it would be good practice for me! Well, I'm more than 2 hours into my process and I only have a bit over 1/3 of it done. As much as my German improves with my class and spending time with Hans, this attempt was quite the awakening that I am still extremely raw and basic. I don't even know more than one tense to speak in! Not to mention that there are so many different ways to use a word and specific ways to have a saying. I'll keep trying for everyone but in the meantime.. here are some photos of the article!

 

I have already been able to attend 2 Christmas parties... in addition to the markets, so we are still feeling festive over here. Over a week ago, we had the team's party with all of the sponsors, team management, players, wives/gfs, and even some fans I think. It was at a beautiful hotel near the Reeperbahn and was such a great time! It started with speeches by the head of the fan club and some of the management (which they translated in English also so we knew what was going on). The speeches were all extremely nice and everyone seems very proud and supportive of the team. They had an amazing spread of food and after the speeches were done, the drinking began! Being a "work" party, I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was so much fun and even a little wild!

Kevin's back-up career to hockey: a rockstar

Last night, I went to one of the other girls, houses for a Christmas party/Cookie exchange. Her home was beautifully decorated and there was a great spread of food and wine for us all. We had a gift exchange and all in all a great time together! Her husband, Serge, made an appearance to serve us our champagne.

what a trooper!

Our food and cookie spread at the end of the night

I'm by myself tonight since the boys are playing in Berlin. They are currently in a 3-way tie for 4th place in the league. The standings are pretty close, but hopefully we get a big W tonight! We have a pretty busy rest of the week coming up as well also! Kevin leaves Thursday for his game on Friday against Mannheim. Saturday morning, we have a Christmas Eve skate/potluck with the rest of the players and families. Saturday night we are having another couple over for dinner and drinks. Sunday is Christmas (holy moly, already!!) and we are headed over to the Scherenbergs for brunch before Kev's practice that aftenoon. And the day after Christmas, the guys have a home game. Busy busy! I still have a tiny bit of Christmas shopping left and lots of cooking and baking to do! The Christmas markets close on Friday as well, so I'm obviously dying to get down there at least once more before they close. I don't know what I'm going to do without them when January rolls around! Anyway, have a great week everyone, tschüss!

And since I may not blog again this week,

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

FROHE WEIHNACHTEN!