Snowboarding in France, Riding Bikes in London, 5 Game Winning Streaks in Boston

Greetings Globalites, male and female, young and old and inbetweeners. I know its been a long time since you've heard from me old friends. I've been hard at work procrastinating this post. Although procrastination can be a terrible thing, its given me a ton of things to talk about right now. First off I must give a shoutout to my brother Geoff, who was recently offered a job in Indianapolis. Congrats broski. On to my life these days.
I just finished the first half of my final term here. I came back from break with six weeks to get through before vacation, and now those six weeks have come and gone and so has vacation. I can't believe it, but I only have 6 more weeks of work. Last week was incredible, I took an overnight train with my friends Crandon and Evan to a town in France called Bourg-Saint Maurice for a couple days of skiing in the Alps. The beauty of that place was absolutely breathtaking. Apart from Bow, New Hampshire, it was definitely the most gorgeous place I've ever been to. I'll post the photos I took on facebook so you guys can see it all. The only complaint I have was the train rides. Well only the train ride back. On the way there we were very excited and made good friends with a bottle of whiskey (which also made the sleep much easier). On the way back I wasn't blessed with a sleeper cabin like my companions, and was forced to sit in a seat for 8 1/2 hours next to a snoring and farting Frenchman. Oh well, an experience is an experience no matter how stinky and unpleasant it may be. We did a lot of searching for places to stay while planning our trip and definitely found the right place. We stayed in a hostel for 25 euro a night and to be honest, I would have paid more. It was such a cool little place with really easy access to the mountain as well as a bunch of other young people staying there. We had a great time with them the first night there and they were all really friendly. I'll include some photos of the hostel in the album. The conditions on the mountain were terrific. We really lucked out as they hadn't had snow for 8 weeks prior to the day we arrived. As it was, we had loads of fresh powder and all the trails on the mountain were open. This was the first time I've snowboarded above the treeline and it was crazy being able to go pretty much anywhere without worrying about slamming into trees. In addition to the skiing, we also had some fantastic meals, despite them averaging about an hour and a half a piece.
Here in London, things have been great as well. I took one of my days off to go check out the Tower of London and ended up staying there for about four hours. That place is incredible. I would recommend it to anyone visiting London as an absolute must-see. There are tons of things to see like the royal armory, the crown jewels, beefeater tours and loads of other historical items. After that I met up with Greg Acone for yet another wonderful night of dinner and drinks. Its always great when he has a night in London and hope there are more to come.
A couple weeks ago I met up with Crandon and Evan for what proved to be another memorable night. We rented bikes and rode them all over the city. It was great riding past places like Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, the London Eye, Tower of London and Tower Bridge, as well as cruising along the River Thames. Its a great way to get around the city, as long as your careful to avoid the ridiculous amount of cars and other bikers. My bike had a huge pile of bird poop on the front but I didn't let that ruin my fun. Another great time was the night we went to a roller disco. This place was fantastic. They had 2 skating floors and 3 bars. Everyone was in all sorts of crazy costumes (I went with the classic look of jorts and a sleveless flannel, lots of thigh exposed...sexy) and we were as giddy as school girls as we skated around. Its definitely a place I will be returning to in the short remainder of time I have here.
Work and lacrosse have been going well. The up and down season of the Purley Pride has continued as we went undefeated for the first 3 weeks of the new year before getting absolutely smoked in the next two games. But we're fresh off a win and hope to win our last 3 games to finish on a high note. The kids are pretty crazy at times, but I've been getting better about keeping them under control and definitely feel like I've become a much better coach from this experience.
I refuse to comment on the demise of the New England Patriots as the wound is still fresh, but will definitely talk about the Boston Bruins. They are playing fantastic hockey right now and anyone who says they aren't cup contenders is an absolute fool . A 5 game winning streak and David Krejci looks like the superstar he deserves to be. Also playing great is my fantasy basketball team, Chainsaw's Bonesaws. My fantasy hockey team, 2 Girls 1 Stanley Cup, is ok. Good not great. Not that you guys care.
Thats it for all the big things that have been happening to me lately. Going forward I have much to be excited about. A power-convoy of Joseph, Laurie, Geoffrey and Molly McDonald, as well as Josephine Unger and Kyle Patrick Kirwin are only 11 days away from their visit and I am absolutely thrilled for their arrival. I can't wait to be with them all and am sure it will prove to be a week I'll never forget. Following that, I'm off to Prague at the end of April for a box lacrosse tournament, and am in the process of planning the other traveling I will be doing when I'm done with work. I'll keep you all posted as it unfolds. In the meantime, stay classy, go bruins, keep on keepin on, farewell, take it easy, good night and good luck.

My name is Ryan McDonald and I'm a candy addict

So Globalites, I must first apologize for taking so long to write this next blog entry.  I've just gotten into such a routine now and I doubt you're all interested in reading things like "Today I woke up early, then I went to a school, then to another school, then I had practice....."  But there have been some things of interest that have gone on.  For example, my car rebelled against me and I had to take a taxi to all of my schools for the 2 weeks it took for it to get fixed.  I was driving out to Canterbury to run a practice with their university team when I noticed that my car was no longer accelerating.  Peculiar, I thought.  I was in the far right lane of what was pretty heavy London traffic on the highway and had to get three lanes over to the left without the ability to accelerate at all.  After a barrage of honks and a middle finger from a fellow driver (drivers can be pretty rude over here at times), I made it into the breakdown lane.  I had no idea what the problem was with the car, but when I would try to turn it back on it wouldn't turn over whatsoever.  Now I'm no mechanic, but I think that's generally a pretty bad sign.  So I called up the roadside assistance service, and was told to expect someone to be out to me in a half hour.  Well a half hour passed and nobody came.  Then an hour, then an hour and a half, then two hours, and finally after two and a half hours help arrived.  That was terrible.  So the guy towed me and my car back to Orpington (he actually lived on the street over from me, small world) and I was left to overpriced taxi transportation until I was able to my wheels back Saturday.  It turns out the cylinder head was cracked, and after replacing that as well as doing some other tune-ups, this whole ordeal has cost the club 1,200 pounds with an extra 200 or so paid for cab fare.  Thank goodness I don't have to pay for these things.

On to lacrosse.  Wins continue to be hard to come by for us over here at Purley.  We dropped our last two games, both in frustrating fashion.  First against Blues, 12-6.  We had a tough time getting things going offensively and let them get on a 5-0 run in the third quarter.  The following weekend we dropped a heartbreaker by a goal vs. Reading.  Again, the thing that did us in was letting them get on a run.   We battled back at the end to tie it up in the final minute, but gave up a tough transition goal which ended up doing us in.  If we can eliminate these runs during different parts of the game we should be able to get a bunch of wins, but until that happens its going to be tough.  

Outside of our lax woes (which sounds a lot like lax bros) things have been good for me.  I've made some good friends over here and its great to spend time with them all, but I really can't wait to come home for Christmas.  It has been tough being away from you guys for so long but I'm home in four weeks and it will be glorious.  In unrelated news, I think I have a candy problem.  I've always had a sweet tooth, but I've been eating so much candy its ridiculous.  Top culprits are Snickers, Peanut M&M's, Haribo Gummies and Skittles.  I fear I'm reverting to the 5 year old kid that was caught by Buckeye stuffing his face full of fudge only to turn, mouth full, and exclaim "shut the door."  Other than the candy vice, I've been eating pretty healthy.  I've really started to love Indian food and have it for dinner a couple times a week.  Other than that, I've just been crushing eggs.  I go through about 15 eggs a week.  

I'm trying to work out a way to get together with Erin for Thanksgiving.  It's tough that I wont be home, and its the 2nd year in a row I've had to be away for one of my favorite holidays.  (I was in Florence last year visiting sweet Josephine).  I have a game on Saturday though and am not so sure I'm going to be able to get up to Manchester.  But we shall see, I'd really love to spend it with her and Ryan.

So thats it for now Globalites.  Four more weeks till I'll be able to see you guys and it will be great.  For now, I must go get some sleep.  7 am always comes too soon.  Happy Thanksgiving, go Bruins, go Patriots and see you all before you know it.

Go Amsterdam, Go Purley, Go Bruins

Hello to all you crazy Globalites out there. The 28th marked two full months of my stay here in London-town. Boy oh boy how the time does fly. Top news stories since my last post include a big win on the lacrosse field, and a trip to Amsterdam. I'll begin with the latter.

Last week was my first vacation since I arrived here and I joined some of the other Americans here for what turned out to be an incredibly interesting and entertaining vacation. We boarded a plane on Tuesday for a shockingly short flight (only 45 minutes) over to Amsterdam. We arrived late Tuesday night and checked into our hostel around 11. First thought: I've never seen so many bikes in my life. Second thought: Its cold, I wish I brought warmer clothing. Third thought: David Krejci is a fantastic hockey player. We then went out for a couple drinks and attempted to situate ourselves in this strange city. Wednesday brought buckets of rain but we soldiered on and were able to do some solid sightseeing. My favorite part of the day, and what turned out to be my favorite part of the trip, was the Van Gogh Museum. I splurged for the audio tour and spent a lot of time learning about all the incredible artwork. Now I've never pretended to have an eye for art, but these paintings were amazing. With the audio tour providing me with, for lack of better words, an Idiot's Guide to Vincent Van Gogh, I was able to have a very interesting, fulfilling and educational experience. Next stop was The Heineken Experience, which was a tour of the Heineken Brewery. All in all the tour was entertaining, but in retrospct, I would have liked to have substituted it for something else. There was so much to see there and with only two full days to do so a big part of me wishes The Heineken Experience didn't make the cut. But what can ya do? I had fun regardless. After some dinner, we wandered into the infamous Red Light District. I will not go into full detail about the debauchery that goes on in that place, but I remember asking myself 'Is this real life?' I promise you though Globalites, no window shopping for this guy. My dignity remains in the hands of you Ungy. But it was a strange place indeed, and I'm glad I got to see it with my own two squinty eyes. Thursday ushered in some much better weather and a chance to walk around more and do some exploring. We started by going to the Rijksmuseum, which is a museum dedicated to Dutch life in the 16th century. Unfortunately. a good portion of the place was closed for renovations, but the parts that were open were definitely worth the visit. There were all sorts of weapons, artwork, clothing and treasures on display and I had a great time taking it all in. From there we walked around for a while taking in the beauty of the city and attempting to avoid the thousands of cyclists flying down the streets (don't need a repeat of the events that transpired in Croydon a couple weeks ago). I then made the solo-trek down to the city centre for a canal cruise that lasted about an hour. The boat took us through most of the city's canals while we were told about it's unique history. I later met up with the rest of the group and we went out for some drinks and had a jolly ole time Thursday night. After a 5 am alarm Friday morning, it was time to make the journey home. Looking back, I'm really glad I went. Its a unique opportunity I've been presented here with so many amazing places in such a close proximity. I can't wait until I get the chance to ramble on to the next one.

On to our glorious lacrosse victory. Saturday we played a team called Hampstead, which consists of American players that are living here in London. They had loads of talent and, from what I am told, really had a field day with Purley last year. But our team is slowly building and improving and I felt confident going into the game. The game went back and forth and towards the end of the fourth, after a knee injury to our goalie, they battled back from a 4 goal deficit to tie the game. Visions of losses I'd suffered through at St. A's were slowly creeping into my mind as we tried to get the momentum back. But we won a timely faceoff and were able to get a big goal with 30 seconds left to regain the lead. After withstanding a barrage of shots towards the end of the game, the final whistle blew and sweet sweet victory was ours. It was a huge win for the club and hopefully we can build on it going forward.

A comment must be made about the Boston Bruins, number 7 on ESPN.com's Power Rankings, number one in our hearts. I've only been lucky enough to watch 3 or 4 games in their entirity, but these boys sure are playing some great hockey. If you're not on the black and gold train yet, hop on, theres always room.

Thats it for the real newsworthy events in the life of old csbs here. This week I'm back to work for another 6 week period before I get to come home to all you great people for Christmas. Happy November to all, I really wish I could spend Thanksgiving with you. And bundle up Globalites, the cold is a-comin.

Greetings Globalites.  It seems its been a couple weeks since I last checked in, so I'll start off with the most interesting news and work from there. 

First and foremost, I received an email from Craig Dufour the other day that was beyond terrific.  It appears as if Craig will be planning a visit here during November, most likely Thanksgiving time.  After a tough battle with mono, Craig is back to his old self and I couldn't be happier to hear he'll be coming over here.  Craig if you're reading this, get ready for a wonderful stay here in London.  I hereby pledge to show you a great time.  

Next, I must report that I next week is my first vacation and I will be using it to visit Amsterdam.  I picked up a travel guide at the library today and am looking forward to taking in all the city has to offer.  

Last weekend I was lucky enough to make my second trip to Wales in as many weeks.  I left around 10 AM with two of my teammates to make the 3 1/2 hour trek to Cardiff for a league game.  Unfortunately, many of the players on my team were not able to do the same.  We arrived with 10 players including a goalie.  In our lovely game of lacrosse that means you are without subs for your 60 minute marathon of a tilt.  Needless to say, it was exhausting.  We had a really slow start and found ourselves down 3-0 after the first quarter.  Quite the hole to dig yourselves in with such small numbers.  But we battled back and controlled the rest of the game and were able to cut their lead to 1 towards the end of the 4th quarter.  Unfortunately it was too little too late and we lost 6-5.  In happier news, my ankle felt alright and I played the whole game, chipping in on 4 of our 5 goals.  We then loaded up for the trek home, and adventure that saw me finally reaching home at 10 pm.  I was in bed by 10:30.  It was a tough Saturday, but I got through it in one piece.  Speaking of getting through things in one piece....

I was recently on the receiving end of an unfortunate exchange that turned into one of the most utterly preposterous experiences of my life.  Before I tell this story, I must offer a disclaimer, some Globalites will think this is quite funny, others will be slightly horrified by it.  So to set the scene, a bunch of my fellow Local Development Officers were in town this weekend for a youth tournament.  We went out for a couple drinks in Clapham Saturday night, and after a good old time with these friends of mine, a couple of us were making the trip to some of my friends house in Croydon.  We'd had our fun and we were ready to call it a night.  What happened next can only be described with one sentence: Some people are freaking crazy.  I was walking next to my friend Nick on the sidewalk, minding our own business when a lunatic riding a bike comes flying into Nick's back.  An accident (the bikers fault) but an accident nonetheless.  Well the biker went flying over his handlebars and hit the ground.  Nick was laying on the ground next to him, I imagine because getting hit with a bike doesn't feel too good.  I approached the two of them, and before I knew it, this mysterious evil prick of a biker jumped up, punched Nick in the side of the head and suckered me right in the forehead.  And as mysteriously as he arrived, he was gone.  This kid literally made the quickest escape I'd ever seen or heard of.  So me and nick are left there first, wondering what the hell just happened, and second, nursing our respective wounds.  The cut to my pride was bad, but the cut to my forehead was much worse.  I suspect he was wearing a ring or something because my cut required hospital attention.  My friend Lauren was nice enough to accompany me to the hospital where I did not receive stitches (and as someone who knows stitches quite well, I feel that they would have been the best route to take).  Regardless, we were there until four.  I didn't get to bed till five and had to wake up at 7:30 to go pick a bunch of kids up for this all day lacrosse tournament.  So I coached a team until 4, didn't win a game, and dropped all of the kids off to finally see home by 6.  I was banged up and exhausted, but no worse for the wear.  In the words of Charlie, the hero of the animated movie "All Dogs Go To Heaven", you can't keep a good dog down.

So here I am, bandaged forehead, flu-like symptoms, almost 8 weeks in, and loving every minute of it.  I wont complain about the freak punch to the head, because hey, shit happens.  I won't complain about the fact that my lax team hasn't had a league win yet, because I'm having a great time playing and our first W is on its way.  And I can't complain about anything else really, because I have a great job and am happy over here.  Well I do miss you guys, but you don't want to hear me complain about that.

PS -  Jen and Jordan, I watched handball on TV today, it was fantastic.

I still can't believe I was in Wales for the Ryder Cup

This last week could have only been capped off in one better way -- If our American team hadn't gotten demolished Sunday at the Ryder Cup.  Sure they made a valiant attempt at a comeback Monday, but I didn't get to witness that, instead I saw six matches with 5 American losses and 1 tie.  But all is well, I experienced what was definitely the best day since I've arrived here in the UK.  But I'll get to that later faithful Globalites, to keep things chronological I'll update you on everything else thats been happening first.

First comes the worst of the news, Kaeden did not make the top 10 in the Sunbeam contest.  A big thanks to all who voted and don't worry, he doesn't seem too worked up about it.  And hey, 40 out of 25,000 aint bad.  I like to think he placed 11th anyways.  

I've started getting some kids together for a tournament at a nearby club on the 17th.  I'm aiming to have 2-3 teams to compete in the u-12, u-14 and u-16 age groups.  Its been difficult getting commitments out of the kids, but they have really started to enjoy playing and I think some of them are really excited.  I brought my helmet and stick in to my last couple sessions and the kids absolutely loved them.  They thought they were just the coolest things they'd ever seen and all took turns passing them around.  Its nice to see them getting so excited about it all and it definitely makes my job 10 times easier.  

On to this weekend, and what a hectic but terrific one it turned out to be.  I laid low Friday night and just hung out with my friend Nick, who is the LDO at a nearby club.  Saturday we had a game at 2:30 against Hillcroft.  We would have been the favorite going in but most of our players were in Prague for a big annual box tournament.  As it was, we played with two subs.  It didn't take long for me to twist my ankle again and I was done for the day.  We lost 11-4 and it was a frustrating game top to bottom.  We played way too much defense and had a tough time getting things going offensively when we did get the ball.  At the end of the day we had a lot of shots sail wide and a lot into the goalies stick.  But we're back in action next Saturday out in Wales against Cardiff and hopefully will be able to right the ship and get to winning some lacrosse games.  Post-game I ran home and after a quick shower and some take away fish n' chips, I was on a train bound for Reading.  I stayed in Reading with some of my LDO friends Saturday night to cut off a good portion of the journey to Wales for Sunday's Ryder Cup action.  My friends Pete and Scott had two of their buddies visiting from Manchester (one of which is actually the LDO at Erin's club) and we all had a fun night together out in Reading.  I woke up Sunday and hopped on a train for Newport, Wales and began one hell of an adventure.  

The train ride to Wales was about an hour and twenty minutes.  From the train station, I jumped on a shuttle bus over to the course.  As I'm sure many of you saw on TV, Celtic Manor is absolutely gorgeous.  It's surrounded by rolling hills covered with big green patches of farm plots and little country homes.  It was almost as enjoyable taking in the scenery itself as it was watching the incredible caliber of golf being played.  I posted up for a while at the 12th hole where I was able to watch each group come through.  12 Is a shortish par 4 with a hazard in front of the green.  I was able to see the tee shots in the distance but the real excitement was watching these guys hit their approach shots.  It was incredible, out of the 6 groups I think I saw two guys miss the green.  I was standing right behind the pin on the back of the green and was about 15 feet away from the players when they were closest to me.  I watched them scientifically line up their putts, always conferring with their teammates and taking no less than five minutes on each one.  When a European would sink one, the place erupted.  When an American would sink one, myself and about five others could be heard cheering.  But I did get a head nod out of Dustin Johnson.  After the last group had come through 12 (Mickelson and Folwer), I hiked up to 17.  17 is a 200 yard par 3 that the European team completed dominated.  I saw Rory McIlroy and Grahame McDowell lock up a win against Zach Johnson and Hunter Mahan on a big birdie put by McIlroy, as well as Ross Fisher and Paddy Harrington complete a win over Dustin Johnson and Jim Furyk.  After all the remaining groups had finished up on 17 I watched the end of the day's action behind the 18th green.  All in all it was a tough day for the Americans, but a great day for me nonetheless.  As I hiked back up to the Bus pickup, Celtic Manor sitting in my rearview, I thought about how lucky I was, and how I'd never forget my day spent at the Ryder Cup.  

Then came the difficult part -- getting home.  The mad rush was on at the train station as hundreds and hundreds tried to board the train back to London.  It reminded me of a video I once saw of an unfathomable amount of people cramming into a Japanese Subway train (here's the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8FQsg12hoY&feature=related ).  I had to stand shoulder to shoulder with people for the next two hours until I finally arrived at Paddington Station in London.  From there I hopped on the Tube (underground) to London Charing Cross where I boarded a 15 minute train to Orpington.  Once I was back in Orpington it was only a quick taxi ride home.  After a 3 hour journey, my bed has never been so comfortable.

So that basically brings me back to now.  Very tired (I stayed up last night for most of the Pat's game, great win by the way), and ready for bed.  A special thanks to Mom and Dad for making this weekend possible with the best early Christmas present of all time.  Also a shout out to the one and only Josephine Unger, the girl has been an absolute champ since I've been here.  Hope you're all well out there Globalites, wherever you may be, and I'll check back in soon.  Chainsaw Bonesaw, over and out.

Breaking News: Kaeden voted in top 40 cutest babies in Sunbeam contest

As a testament to Kaeden's pure cuteness he has been picked by The Sun into the top 40 out of about 25,000 entries.  He needs your vote to make it into the top 10 Globalites.  Lets get this adorable little cherub in there.  I've included the link below, click on the link to view slideshow.  He is the 3rd one in the slideshow.  I know, I know, he's adorable.  You can go back to the main page and clink the link that says click here to vote then vote Kaeden Kordiak and vault him to superstardom.  Here is the link: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/woman/2519316/The-Suns-Sunbeam-competitionSunbeamsThe-Suns-cute-baby-competition.html

A great week capped by a visit from Greg Acone

Hello to all, sorry for the delay but things have been pretty busy over here.  I'm into the thick of it with all of my sessions and really enjoying my work.  Sometimes I can't believe I'm being paid for this stuff, it really is a lot of fun teaching the kids how to play.  In unrelated news, I have developed a moniker for all of you followers of my blog.  From this point forward I will refer to you as Ryan Goes Globalites, or just Globalites for short.  On to what I have been up to:

I was able to get into the city Friday for a day of solo sightseeing and had a lot of fun.  I started out at the British Museum, where I was able to see thousands of artifacts from all over the world.  Most had been "rescued" and "salvaged" (more like stolen) from their original homes during the height of British Imperialism.  I spent about 2 hours in there walking around and seeing the different exhibits, my favorite were Ancient Egypt (complete with the Rosetta Stone), Rome and Greece.  After I left the museum I went and checked out Leicester Square then on to Trafalgar Square.  Trafalgar Square was really cool and I've included some photos in an album I've added on Facebook (yes I'm finally back on it).  From there I made the short walk over to the river and went and saw the London Eye as well as Parliament and Big Ben.  I ended my day of exploration with a pint of Guinness at a nearby pub and a train ride home.

Saturday night I enjoyed a visit from Mr. Acone.  He was in London and we met up in Leicester Square for dinner and a couple drinks.  It was great to see him and seeing such a familiar face lessened the sting of homesickness substantially.  The good food, good beer and good conversation was also a big plus.  We ate at a place called Steak & Co.  then made way to a pub for a couple pints before we had to catch our trains back.  We ended the night with a solid man-hug and took our respective trains in opposite directions.  Thanks for the visit Greg, it really was a great night.

To end this entry I will make brief comments on unfortunate events that took place this weekend in the American sporting world.  First, the brutal and repulsive display of football put on by the New England Patriots in the 2nd half of Sundays tilt vs. doughboy Rex Ryan's New York Jets.  I was beside myself while watching that mockery of offense and defense.  The only team that had a worse performance was Gryffindor House, my own fantasy football squad.  After a dynamic week one performance, my team laid an egg this weekend.  They really let me down Globalites, they really did.  But its a long season and I look forward with confidence. I will chalk this one up as an anomaly, a complete and total aberration, a perfect storm of underperformance that will never be repeated.  After all, they say lightning never strikes more than once in the same place.

So thats all for this week Globalites, I'll check back in soon.  In the meantime, I wish you all the best.