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...