Right now,......the highlight of my LIFE

Can you guess what I did this evening for 2 hours that has made me so glad?!.....

You may think, out on the town?....no no no Perhaps shopping? Wieder das ist nicht stimmt (Again that’s not correct) (although I did partake in a bit of that this afternoon, I’ve decided I need to find a way to make some money living so close to so many AMAZING stores…..yes Dad I do try and budget but, I am my mother's daughter ;) Alas, I will give you the answer if you have not already guessed it……………………….VOLLEYBALL!
2 hours of excellent volleyball my friends!

I ventured to another part of the city, not quite sure what to expect. Online, all info had been in German so I got to play that guessing game, where I take a shot at understanding the big idea.

I found the location but the only people I saw were 2 girls and a guy standing outside a building that did not look like a gym. Anyway I went up and asked them and sure enough I was in the right place!!

Now, I’m going to stray a little bit here….one thing this experience has made me really comfortable with is breaking into circles of unknown people. There really is a bit of strategy to it,….here are some tips/strategies I have come up with:

#1. You have to feel out the friendliness of people.
For example-today. I asked if this was where the volleyball was at, they answered yes and then didn’t talk to me. Therefore, I decided not to be overly friendly OR try and invade their “groupy” with too much vigor, because they would probably get turned off and annoyed…instead I took the silent approach knowing that at some point once inside I’m sure we would have to talk, and hoping that my skills would somehow earn their acceptance.

#2. Its much easier to start a conversation with only one person…
For example today- at the initial meeting, one of the girls left for a moment and the guy was talking someone else, so I jumped at the chance to talk to the girl beside me. Just ask a simple question about how this volleyball works, how long it is, blah, blah blah….at least you’ve made a connection (do this in a friendly manner but not super gushing ☺ Now that I have talked to her, it is easier to talk to her and her friend, therefore slowly integrating myself into the group.

#3. OTHER NEW PEOPLE!
They are you ticket in! As soon as I saw this girl and guy who also looked like they had never been here before, we comprised our own group of “new people” which was almost as big as the group of “old people”…therefore we are no longer alone and helpless in the corner

#4. Smile, smile, smile
Smiling is the key factor establishing new friendships…..even if you are picking yourself up off the floor because the ball was just spiked specifically just out of your reach….THAT is some thing to smile about ☺

Yes, those are my best tips, its kinda cool, I can see a bit of my initial shyness of meeting new people rubbing off. It really is true that the more you practice even this kind of thing, the easier it gets.

Anyway, back to volleyball….everyone playing was pretty good and it was like our rec. sports where you come, pass the volleyball around in a circle with your team for 5 minutes and then play a game for an hour….we did all the actual hitting, serving and bumping warm ups! That was half the fun!

So I can not wait till next week! I think I may sign up for it twice a week actually!! ☺