GOODBYE TAIWAN

Wednesday was the last day in Taiwan. It is hard to believe that 3 weeks have gone by and now I am leaving to go home. I was happy and sad at the same time. I was excited to go home and see my family and friends but I know that I will miss everyone and everything about Taiwan! Being there for 3 weeks have changed my life. I will never forget the memories and friendships that I have created throughout my travel for the Deaflympics! It was the best experience that I ever had!!! :) We left the hotel at 12pm and our flight was at 3:45pm. We waited around a few hours to get ready for our long 11 hours flight home. On the flight home, I barely got any sleep. I purposely stayed awake so that I could be really tired when I get home. The plane ride was way too much fun! The flight attendants were like bartenders and were serving us free beer, wine, vodka. It was like a party on the plane since most of the athletes were standing around drinking and playing games. Aaron and I with some athletes played a card game called Phase 10. It was a lot of fun!

Our airplane traveling back to the USA

Waiting around at the gate in Taipei

Me and Hugh hanging out on the plane

Me and Robert hanging out on the plane

We arrived in Los Angeles around 12pm and received our luggage shortly thereafter. I said goodbye to everyone and got ready to leave Los Angeles at 4:15pm. I arrived home in Wisconsin at 11:45pm and went to bed at 1:30am. My Taiwan trip is over! :( But I hope to compete for the 2013 Deaflympics in Athens, Greece! :)

SO LONG TAIWAN!

CLOSING CEREMONIES!

Tuesday was the last day of the Olympics! In the morning, we took a team picture at a memorial site in Taipei. It is a very beautiful memorial area. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera and was not able to take pictures. After taking the team picture, we took a bus to a local high school in Taipei. At the high school, all the children greeted us with a cheerleading performance and a juggling act. Team USA president thanked the crowd for cheering us on at the Games. Towards the end, many of the children wanted pictures and autographs from the USA athletes. I was in many of the pictures so it was cool to be recognized. We took the bus back at the hotel and had the afternoon off. Aaron and I wanted to chill and relax at the hotel so we ended up just hanging out and watching TV. For lunch, Aaron and I had a nice meal at the hotel restaurant. I had a club turkey sandwich with fries. It was quite delicious! Then we got ready for Closing Ceremonies!
Me and Mark on the bus to Closing Ceremonies

Me and Kyle with his Bronze Medal in Wrestling :)


When we arrived at the Closing Ceremonies, we sat at the table in the middle of the stadium and was served food throughout the ceremony. They had many performances and fireworks while all the athletes exchanged pins, clothes, etc with other athletes from other countries. It was a very cool experience.


The athletes hanging out at the Closing Ceremonies

One of the performances at the Closing Ceremonies

Me and Roman at Closing Ceremonies

Me and a guy from Iran at Closing Ceremonies

A short video clip of the Closing Ceremonies

After the ceremonies, we headed back to the hotel. Aaron and I decided to have one last drink at the hotel and just chat for a little. We both had a Mai Tai. It was very good! :) Then I packed and went to bed. Tomorrow I leave to go home.

Until next time...

MONDAY: A day with the security girls!

On Monday, Aaron decided to spend a day with his parents so I spent the day with our security girls, Ya-Wen and Yu-Shieh. In the morning, I slept in and had a breakfast buffet at the hotel. Then the girls and I went shopping at the Taipei City Hall to look for some Deaflympics items. Here below is a blow up giant Deaflympics mascot :)

The giant Deaflympics mascot and me at the City Hall

The girls wanted to show me this city called Tamsui(pronounced Tam-Shay) so we took an hour subway drive to the city north of Taipei. The city is located off the harbor right across from a mountain and the ocean. It is very beautiful! We went into town and went shopping at many different souvenirs shops. The city is older and had a very antique look.

The subway station at Tamsui

The view of the mountain with Tamsui River

Me with the view of the mountain and river

Tamsui City next to the River

A city by the river

We had McDonald's for lunch in Tamsui City and visited a temple where people go to pray in front of their GOD in Taiwan.

Inside the Temple where the GOD is sitting in the front

A closer picture of the GOD

After the visit of Tamsui City, we took the subway back to the hotel and I got ready to watch the Men's Basketball Final. Team USA won the GOLD!!!

Team USA in White

I went over to watch the Women's Soccer final after the game but ended up missing the game because both games were playing at the same time. The USA Women's soccer team won GOLD too!!! :)

I headed back to the hotel and went to bed.

Until next time...

SUNDAY: exhibition match, basketball game, track meet and many more...

I wanted to inform everyone that I am finally home from Taiwan! I am sorry for not being able to update the blog the last couple of days but I am excited to share with you what happened.


Sunday was a very busy day. Aaron and I had things planned for the day then more new things came up and Sunday ended being a busy but really fun day! In the morning, I had an exhibition tennis match against a girl from Greece. It was fun to go out and play some tennis especially against someone that was also in the tennis tournament. It started raining that day so we ended up playing a set. I was up 5-1 against her and was very happy with how I played. She is a very nice and solid tennis player and it was nice to see that I could have done well in the tournament if I had a better draw. The match motivated me to want to continue playing tennis for the 2013 Deaflympics in Athens, Greece!

Me with the girl from Greece

After the match, Aaron and I headed back to the hotel and ordered pizza hut. It was delicious as usual! Then we got ready to watch the USA Men's Semifinal basketball game against Greece. The USA team was down the whole game until about 4 minutes left in the 4th quarter when USA took the lead. The USA team held onto the lead and won the game for a place in the final. There were plenty of chants of USA and Greece!

USA Men's Basketball (in blue) against Greece

USA Men's Basketball

The Basketball Arena in Taipei



After the basketball game, Aaron and I went to watch Track and Field. We saw the Women's 4X100 Meter Relay, Javelin and High Jump. It was fun to sit in the Taipei Stadium and watch Track. The stadium is beautiful!

The Track and Field Stadium

Track and Field Stadium


After Track, we headed back to the hotel for dinner and a movie. Aaron and I with some of the soccer players watched Bedtime Stories with a soccer player's younger siblings. It was a lot of fun! After the movie, Aaron and I with the wrestlers went out to a bar called The Brass Monkey. There were so many athletes from around the world at the bar. We had a good time. Then I was off to bed...

Until next time...

My last Saturday in Taipei

I have been in Taiwan for over 2 weeks! It has been AWESOME and I can't believe it's almost over. :( Today was my last Saturday in Taipei. Aaron and I decided to go watch the Women's Volleyball team against Japan. The USA team won 3-1 and are off to the FINALS for a chance at GOLD! After the game, we decided to shop around the area for shoes. We ended up not getting anything but enjoyed a nice meal at McDonald's! haha. Aaron and I had a strawberry sundae and a chocolate sundae respectively. It was delicious! :) We headed back to the hotel to relax then went out shopping around the hotel with Aaron's parents. We ended up going to a shopping mall and found an American flag on a stand. We thought it was so cool so we took a picture of it!

Me with the American Flag

Aaron with American Flag

The tunnel underground in Taipei

After shopping, we headed back for dinner at the hotel. Tomorrow I am playing an exhibition tennis match against a girl from Greece for fun! I am excited to go out and play tennis with other players for an exhibition match.. Then I will watch the Semifinals of Men's Basketball. It should be another fun-filled day tomorrow! :)

Until next time...

FRIDAY: Wrestling and Basketball

Friday was another fun day in Taipei. I woke up early to take a 7:30am bus to the Wrestling site. Aaron and I wanted to watch Kyle and Mark wrestle freestyle in the middle weight and heavy weight divisions respectively. Wrestling freestyle is wrestling using your whole body so it is far more intense and fun to watch. Kyle won the BRONZE medal in his division!!! We are all so proud of him! :) After wrestling, I headed back to the hotel to relax. The wrestling site is farther away from the hotel so I was tired from traveling bus to bus.

In the afternoon, Aaron and I went to watch Men's basketball against Spain. The USA team won their quarterfinal game! It was a hard fought game until the 4th quarter when the USA team pulled away. While I was at the game, I met an Australian guy and a Britain guy. The Australian guy was here as a fan and the Britain guy is a media for the Great Britain team. It was pretty cool to learn about their country as I talked to them. After the game, I headed back to the hotel for dinner then I chatted a few hours with some of the USA soccer guys! It was a fun day overall.

On a side note: check out the USA Deaflympics website at http://www.usdeaflympics.org. There are some photos of me and Aaron playing tennis. Click on the photos on the homepage then click on the tennis gallery. Here below are some pictures:

Hitting a forehand at practice

Hitting a forehand volley

Hitting a backhand

Hitting a forehand during a match


Until next time...

U-S-A...U-S-A...U-S-A...

This morning I went to watch USA Men's Soccer play against Russia with Aaron and his parents. Unfortunately, the soccer team did not play good and lost 5-0 to the Russians. Now, they are playing for 5th place in the tournament. It was such a tough game to watch because the team was in high spirits after defeating Great Britain, the #1 team in the world, the game before then to lose this badly to Russia. The USA team looked kinda lost on the field and just didn't have it today against Russia.


USA Men's soccer getting ready to play

Men's Soccer against Russia

After the game, I went shopping and ate at Subway with Aaron and his parents. We headed back to the hotel after lunch and I took a nap. Then we went to watch the Women's Volleyball team play. They won 3 games to zip.

Aaron is happy about his sub sandwich!

USA Women's Volleyball team in Red

USA Women's Volleyball team


Tomorrow I have another busy day. Aaron and I are going to watch Mark and Kyle's Wrestling matches and also watch the USA Men's Basketball team play against Spain. For the weekend, Aaron and I might play some tennis for fun against other countries that are eliminated from the tennis competition like Greece and Chile. It should be fun to go out and play against these teams so we hope that we get a chance to do that over the weekend. Well, I am off to bed since I have to get up early tomorrow.

Until next time...

Last Day of Tennis Competition at the Deaflympics

Today Aaron and I bowed out of the mixed doubles tournament at the Deaflympics. We lost 6-1, 6-0 to the Germans. With this loss, we are officially done with the tennis competition at the Deaflympics. We were happy to win at least 1 match especially for our first time being at the Deaflympics. I am a little bummed out that I couldn't advance farther in singles and mixed doubles but I am very proud of how hard me and Aaron played and that we never gave up during our matches. The experience meeting other deaf tennis players from around the world and playing for my country was amazing! I am so glad I was able to go and play for USA! Perhaps, maybe I will represent USA for the 2013 Deaflympics in Athens, Greece!!! Now, I can enjoy being a fan and watch USA soccer, basketball, volleyball, etc for the duration of the Deaflympics! It should be fun! :)

After our match, we took a taxi to try to watch Roman fight in Taekwondo. Unfortunately, we missed his first match and he lost which means he is out of the competition. It is a bummer because we were looking forward in watching Roman fight.

To pass time waiting for the bus, Aaron and I and our security girls decided to have fun doing some funky handshakes. Aaron and I would always slap high fives after our matches and today we remember a handshake that was very popular in Elementary School...we were teaching our security girls how to do it. We took a video of it. Enjoy!


Me and Aaron with our handshake


Yu-Shieh and Ya-Weng learning the handshake


Me and Yu-Shieh doing the handshake


After we headed back to the hotel, Aaron and I decided to order Pizza Hut and eat in the hotel room. Then we took a cab to watch USA Men's Basketball against Turkey. USA won 114-42! Tomorrow we are going to watch USA Men's Soccer against Russia in the Semifinals and also the Women's Volleyball Team. It should be another fun day tomorrow!!! :)

Until next time...

Cheering for my country!

I was so happy to have the day off of tennis today because Aaron and I were able to watch Kyle wrestle and the USA men's basketball game. All the USA athletes are competing at different times and different days so it was nice to spend the day being a fan instead of an athlete. This morning, Aaron and I went to watch our friend Kyle wrestle against a guy from Russia. The type of wrestling that Kyle competed in was called Roman-greco which is wrestling from the waist up. You can't wrestle using your legs so it is more difficult to wrestle in this style. Kyle had a very tough opponent and he lost his match but he was able to go for the Bronze in another match. Unfortunately, he lost the bronze title match and got 4th at the Olympics. Still, WAY TO GO KYLE! After wrestling, I went back to the hotel to relax and have dinner. Then Aaron and I went to watch USA men's basketball compete against Israel. It was a packed house at the basketball arena. The USA team played great and beat Israel 101-68. It was a lot of fun to watch! I was able to videotape the wrestling match and basketball game. Here below are some pictures:

The wrestling facility

The basketball facility

Team USA in white against Israel


Tomorrow(Wednesday) I have another big day of tennis. Aaron and I have our mixed doubles quarterfinal match! I look forward in playing tennis again.

Until next time...

Got Rackets?!? It's Time for Tennis!

Tennis has officially started! On Monday, I had my first Deaflympics singles and mixed doubles matches!!! :) Overall, it was a great day. Unfortunately, I lost my singles match 6-2, 6-1 against the #1 seed who is a former Deaflympics champion. I was very happy with the way I played especially against a very solid tennis player. I just had a bad draw. There were some other players that were there that I know I can beat and it is just too bad that I drew the #1 seed first round. I can't really do much about the singles draw. On the other hand, Aaron and I won our mixed doubles match against Turkey 6-2, 6-1!!! :) We were so HAPPY!!! I never smiled so much in my life. We couldn't stop smiling all day long! It was such an awesome experience to be able to win a match at the Deaflympics! The experience being on the court with line judges and an umpire was very cool. Aaron and I played pretty good doubles. I know we can play better but I felt like we had a good match. We are in the doubles quarterfinals! Our next opponent is from Germany. They are a very solid team so we will have our hands full. But if we stay aggressive and under control and keep moving our feet we can definitely beat them! We play Germany at 12:30pm Taipei Time (11:30pm Wisconsin Time) on Wednesday.

Below are some pictures from the matches.

My red USA tennis outfit

My red USA tennis outfit from behind

Me and my singles opponent with our coaches

Aaron and me in matching mixed doubles clothes


Aaron and me warming up for our mixed doubles match

We won!!! 6-2. 6-1

We were so happy we won that we had to let everyone know on the dry erase board at the hotel lobby! :)


After the matches, we headed back to the hotel for dinner. There was also an ice cream/dessert party for all the athletes and their parents/friends at the hotel so I attended the party. Then I was off to bed.

Until next time...

One Busy Sunday

Sunday was the first day of tennis competition. Aaron had a singles match in the morning while I had the day off of tennis. I was able to watch Aaron play tennis. After the match, we took some pictures with the Deaflympics sign. The Deaflympics sign is really funny and we decided to be goofy in the picture. Here below are a few pictures:

Me with the Deaflympics sign

Aaron and me with our security ladies

We headed back to the hotel around 2pm and I had the whole afternoon and evening free. I decided to tour and shop at the Taipei 101 building/mall with Aaron's family. Aaron decided to chill at the hotel so I just went along with the family for the afternoon. They were kind enough to have me tag along with them. It was a lot of fun! I was able to go to the top of the building on the Observatory Deck to see Taipei City. I was amazed how beautiful the city looks. Taipei 101 also has the fastest elevator in the world! I videotaped a lot of Taipei 101 especially the view from the top. I could also see the tennis courts from the top of Taipei 101 by zooming in very closely with my videocamera. It was pretty cool. Aaron's brother, sister and I took a funny picture with the Taipei 101 building. I was laughing so hard at the picture. After visiting Taipei 101, I headed back to the hotel and chatted with a few soccer players from the men's team and went to bed. BIG DAY TOMORROW! I have my first ever Deaflympics tennis match! :)


Taipei 101 up close

The view of Taipei City from Taipei 101

Another view from the top. Taipei city and the mountains

Another view of Taipei with the bridge and tennis courts

Aaron's brother and sister (Mason, Tiffany) and me. Ahhh! I'm so scared of Mason! haha!


Tomorrow I will post about my tennis matches and add pictures.

Until next time...