Day 1 in Europe, Munich

Well Tuesday turned out to be a very long day. Went to work for a full day and then off to the airport for my 6:40 pm flight. This doesn't seem too bad until I realized that I was going to get to Munich on my direct flight until 8:50 am Wednesday. Knowing myself, I don't sleep well on planes, trains or automobiles, I didn't figure I was going to get much sleep. Just as I thought, other than maybe 30 minutes, there was no sleep, although I was sure the Jonas Brothers movie they were playing would have put me out, but alas even that didn't work. Other than no sleep it was a very smooth flight, one of the best I have been on. We landed at 8:40 am Munich time, waited for everyone to get all of their luggage, and got onto the bus. It was about 45 minutes to get to downtown Munich where we were meeting a tour guide to take us on a bus tour of the city. This ran from 11:00 - 1:30 and included a look at some of the beautiful archetechure, and a trip to the first of several castles we are going to get to see. I am amazed at how beautiful the city is, so will likely spend some time going for a walk this afternoon, before we go to hofbrauhaus for dinner.



For those who like beer, it seemed like every place we went past the guide was saying there was a beer garden there, they range in size from small (500 seats) up to large (9000 seats) so there is always someplace to get a cold drink.

I did get some pictures, and will try to post them at some point over the next week. Won't be today though, as I am too tired to go through them all.

After spending the day in Munich today, we are going to head out to Fussen tomorrow. Will be another day of site seeing, so should give us time to adjust to the jet lag before reffing our first game on Friday evening.

I was happy to see all my bags arrived, as did the extra bag that I brought for Karen (her reffing stuff) so we should be good to go. Out of the 100 or so bags that were travelling with our group, only 1 didn't make it (a players clothes) so all in all, that isn't too bad. At least nobody is going to be off trying to buy new skates.

That is all for today, I am off to see the city.

Finally got the IRF rules

Well it is Monday, July 27th and we are leaving tomorrow. I got an email from the Technical Director of the IRF that included what the expectations are in terms of what we are supposed to wear away from the rink (although the other Canadian referee left on Saturday, thankfully they fell within the guidelines we expected), and she also sent through the 42 page document that listed the IRF rules. I hadn't put too much thought into this previously however, there are some subtle changes from the Ringette Canada rules, which are going to be very difficult to switch back to. Ringette Canada made some rule changes 2 years ago, which took most referees 18 months to have become habit, as they were some significant changes in the way we do things. Well, for this event we now get to switch back. On top of everything else, this is going to add a large amount of stress. Most referees at higher levels react to situations, as you need to see, process, decide what you are going to call and make the call all within a half second. Not a lot of time for thinking, so most of our actions are because everything is so ingrained it can be just a reaction. Any time we change things, it becomes consious thought and is much more difficult. Well, we will have to see how easily we can switch back to the old way of doing things. It could be interesting.

Decided to take the family out for dinner last night, as it was my last night at home. They had talked about wanting to go to Red Lobster when I got back if they all behaved, so I surprised them with a trip there last night. Everyone had a good time, although, it is still distrubing when they have to give us a party table (as we need 7 seats, which generally means a table for 8) just for my family.

I finished the last of the laundry last night so that it was all done for the family before I left, and was able to finish packing. I also finished up the "honeydo" list, so now it is just time to get some sleep and then one more day of work, before it is time to go.

Very exciting.

Busy weekend before I leave

Well this past weekend was a very busy one. I was trying to spend some time with the kids before I had to leave, had to start packing, went to the gym, and was also getting a bunch of work done on the house (new windows on Saturday and new roof on Monday) so it was quite a crazy weekend. Didn't really get much packing done until Sunday night, but that is okay, I generally don't put too much thought into these things.

Are we supposed to wear our polyesters and stripes for two weeks?

This was the quote from an email from the other Canadian referee on Friday when she realised that we were allowed 23 kg of baggage total. As our referee bags come in around 20 kg, her question was whether we were supposed to wear our ref pants and striped shirt for the entire time we were there. After some clarification, we found out that they did have a excess baggage allowance for the players and coaches, but had forgot to include the referees. Thankfully, after a few hours of worrying (excess baggage is at a cost of $15/kg) we heard back from Ringette Canada indicating that they got us included with the excess baggage allowance. Yea, we can bring clothes as well as our ref stuff. Thanks for the help Nathalie & Stephanie...

It does mean that all the bags need to travel together, and I need to take Karen's (other referee)bag with me to accomidate that (as she was going to Paris for a few days of vacation first), but that isn't a big deal, at least they will get there, and we won't be paying $300 per bag!

Less than a week to go

Well it has been an odd week, I have managed to make it to the gym every day this week, although wasn't sure if I was going to make it Tuesday, as I had to take my 1 year old to the hospital late Monday night as he spiked up a fever that wasn't being helped by Tempra and Motrin, but none the less, I was able to make it. Generally I am feeling better about how the training is going. I do about 45 minutes - 1 hour of solid cardio a day, so I think I am on the right track. I have never been the weight lifting type, and really my biggest concern was around my cardio. Hopefully come next week, I will at least have a fighting chance.

I have also now done some of the running around required before the trip, ordered some small amounts of each currency that I am going to be needing (as Czech currency has to be ordered 3 days in advance at the bank), I also picked up a plug adaptor and read a nice tip about bringing a small North American powerbar as opposed to picking up multiple adapters, this should allow me to plug in all the electronics that are a reality of trying to travel and still get work done. I have also been working with the kids to prepare them for Daddy being gone for 12 days. The 1 year old isn't going to understand, although the 3 year old says she understands I don't think it will be real until I am gone. I think the older 3 (ages 6 1/2, 8 1/2 & 10) all get that I will be gone for quite a while, although they too likely don't really know how it is going to effect them. They have trouble when I am gone for a weekend early in the season, and even more trouble when I am gone 8 days for CRC's, this should be a real test. Sharron hasn't really said too much, she knows this is a big opportunity for me, although leaving her at home with 5 kids isn't easy. I guess this would be the mixed blessing of this particular opportunity, I wish I had the finanical ability to take them all with me, but it just isn't going to happen. Hopefully it all works out well, and they will all survive while I am gone.

Finally found a gym

Well we went up to the cottage for the weekend, so there wasn't much excersising going on, but it was nice to spend some time with the family. Got home on Sunday and did the normal domestic stuff (Sunday is laundry day, and with a wife and 5 kids it usually takes me a significant amount of time to get it all done), but I was able to spend a little while in the afternoon continuing my search for a gym that would sell me a 1 month membership. I don't know why this is a difficult concept for gyms to do, but I guess they all bank on people signing up for a year, and not using it after a month. After going to 4 different places, and almost having to finalize with a 3 month, I stopped in at Premier Fitness (in the old Deville's for those of you in the Whitby area). Didn't have time to work out yesterday, as I had to get home to finish the laundry, but did get signed up with the intention of going before work on Monday.

So this morning, I got up at 5:45 and off to the gym I went. I had planned on doing some time on the bike as my main focus is on cardio. I ended up spending 45 minutes on the bike at a pretty good speed and heartrate. I am not sure if I can rely on the distance the computer told me I went, as I did 8 km last Monday and felt like I was going to die on a real bike, and this one said I did 30 km in my 45 minutes, and I feel really good. In any case, after the pain I was in running last weekend, I didn't want to kill myself again (as I still have to go into work afterwards). Overall I was happy with the workout. Will be back again tomorrow and have to push things a little bit harder.

Back on the ice

Well last night I skated two games in Waterloo. It has been a month since I have been on the ice at all, and I have only done 3 games in the last 3 months, so needless to say, headed off to u19's is coming with some concerns. Karen and I made the drive out to do our games, fairly uneventful, but I was certainly feeling not being in mid-season form. The feet were hurting part way through the first game, and my cardio just isn't where I would like it to be. But alas there isn't much I can do about that now. My feet actually started to feel better partway through the 2nd game, I am not sure if that is because they hurt so much I couldn't feel them anymore, or whether they actually got used to the skates jk, but it is still the cardio side that I need to do something about. As it was a long drive home (thanks to various construction along the 401 in the summer) I had a fair bit of time to think, Karen and I covered most of our talking points in the 1 1/2 drive there, so there wasn't much left to chat about. Not to mention it was 11:15 at night when we left Waterloo so we were both tired. I came to the decision that I was going to try and join a gym for a short period, just to have a place I can get on a bike and ride. Unfortunately finding a place that offers a one month membership just isn't all that easy to do. I will keep trying, but may have to stick to the old fashion training.

11 days until I leave, still have a lot to get in order, have to get a couple power adaptors, get to the bank, figure out if I want to use my blackberry over there, and figure out what I am going to be bringing with me. I am sure the time is going to fly by, so I should probably get started on this soon.