Play on!

Wow! What a day of exercise. I tried my hand at a bunch of stuff today.

I had previously arranged with the Dutch AFL association to umpire the practice match they were scheduled to have today. I had to get our friends to give me a lift to the game, because the player that was supposed to give me a lift was caught in traffic, so I couldn't attend the pre-match training as planned. Good thing though, because it didn't eventuate!

There were 20 guys there to play the game - about 8 ex-pats, 4 Gaelic footballers from Ireland, a couple of English boys (one was only 14) and the rest were Dutchmen. They played a 9-a-side game with mixed teams, on a ground marked with standard cones. It was a pretty large field, and I had a pretty torrid time keeping up with them. There were some group photos taken after the game:

The Dutch AFL team

After the game, I hung around at the canteen with most of the team, and plans were made to go back to one of the guys' apartments to watch the Fremantle vs. Geelong game from earlier that day. I arranged to join in, and tried my hand at 'dinking'. It's what the Dutch call riding side-saddle on the back of another person's bike. Unfortunately I was terrible at it, and it was reorganised so I had a bike to ride.

We stopped by a supermarket for supplies and ended up ordering pizzas at the apartment and settled in to watch the game on their projector. We watched the whole game, which was an absolute nailbiter, going down to a kick after the siren to win the game. After the game finished we decided to watch the second half of the Port vs. Sydney game, also from earlier that day. It wasn't quite as close, but still a good quality game of footy. The Dutch guys found it great to be able to turn to me and ask me to analyse every decision the umpires made. By the way, they seemed to think I went alright today.

Eventually I decided to make my way home. Conveniently, there was a cross-town bus that left from a stop very close to the apartment just after midnight. It was only a 20-minute trip back to the apartment where I was staying.

Tomorrow we will leave Amsterdam and embark on a two-day trip from Amsterdam to Avranches, on the coast of Normandy in France. From there we'll explore some of the northern French coastline. Internet in Avranches will be spotty, so blogs might be a bit sporadic. Until next time!