The hockey...
Hockey is hockey wherever you are in the world. Sure the systems and style of play may vary, but in the end everyone is out on that ice for the same reason. The beginning proved to be challenging even to do a simple drill because of the language barrier and, well, lack of a good sharpie!! The coaches and most of the players did not speak English, so I spent most of the drills sticking to the back of the line doing the old “watch and learn” strategy. Luckily our Captain was on my line serving as our Center and also a GREAT translator!!
Our league consisted of many teams in Europe, and also for many interesting road trips. Cruising across countries in Europe was just another day for my teammates, but for me, it couldn’t get much better. We came across a couple more canucks playing abroad just like us who shared the same thought, “can’t get much better than this”. Taking weekend trips to the Alps for a snowboarding, or jumping on a train to Oktoberfest….everything is so within reach, it’s great!
We juggled through a couple coaches throughout the year which was somewhat of a downfall for us. Each would try and coach us (or not coach us) in different ways of course…with an end result of confusion for most of the girls. We finally landed a great coach at the very end of the year. He helped us come together as a team and take home the Hungarian Championship! For the women who have been playing on this team since the beginning, decided this to be their last season. Taking home the gold was the icing on the cake for them. They went out with a bang…
Women’s hockey in Hungary may be struggling to stay alive as a sport, but the passion of the players will never fade.
The city…
This city is great, and does not get enough attention. For me, the entire lifestyle was a bit different, we had to adapt a little bit. The history was amazing, the architecture, dining, entertainment, nightlife, etc.; honestly, we never had one boring night when we went out! There is so much to do and discover. We even managed to get invited out to a local farm! (Their pigs do not look anything like ours.) That’s another story that probably won’t get told in a very long time….
Unfortunately we had to leave just in time for the summer months. I feel as though I have not even experienced the city because we only arrived in August at the end of their summer. I MUST go back there during summer months.
