May 15, 2009
We started our journey on Thursday morning. After a quick flight to Dallas, we began making our final calls home to friends and family, knowing that we would have limited communication over the next two weeks. We then boarded a nine-hour red-eye flight to Santiago, Chile.
As soon as the plane landed, there was no time for rest. We went through customs and other various checkpoints and jumped onto our bus. We drove to the hotel, which resembled a dorm room with six of us to a room.
We ate lunch at a small caf, where we tried a typical chicken and rice dish. It was nothing that any of us had expected. The salad was served without dressing and the dessert consisted of rice milk flavored with cinnamon.
We took a walking tour of downtown Santiago with our tour host, Dave. The city is very pretty, with many historical buildings and statues. The city also has many parks, in which the residents pass the time on unique stone benches. We visited the Plaza de Armas, a square scattered with artists selling paintings and various vendors selling hats, scarves and other knick-knacks. People are very friendly here, waving and asking us about volleyball as we walk around.
After our tour, we headed to the main highlight of the daya match against the Chilean National B team. We played in the brand new Chilean Olympic training center for an informal exhibition match, in which the crowd consisted of table tennis players and athletes of other various sports. We won in three games, working out the kinks of playing international volleyball.
Jorgan Staker
