Birthday! (and pics from Venice!)

Elena, Simona, and I
On the main street/canal on the taxi boat
The famous Piazza San Marco!
Start of the day with Elena
This is now my second birthday in a row in Italia!  My buddies do a good job of not making me miss home though.  Last year, we had a huge group go out to dinner on my b-day night, along with a few presents, and this year... well, first we have to RE-play a game.  Yeah, let's talk about that one first.  So, our roof is leaky in the gym.  It's really one beam in the ceiling that seems to drip water on the floor in a straight line from wall to wall.  When it rains really hard, very small puddles form, which is SO dangerous for basketball, even if it's just a few drops.  On top of that, it just happened to be the first very warm day in Ribera, so as the game went on, the court sweat more and more from the condensation and humidity.  Needless to say, people were slipping and falling right and left.  In the first possession of the game, before it was understood that someone had to wipe the floor every possible time, my leg slipped, and as I was standing up, they scored because I wasn't in "help-side" defense.  I knew it wasn't going to work.

As time went on, we would slip, and they would score, then they would slip, and we would score.  Both teams were under the same conditions, but it was NOT a fair game.  They really needed to win, and it just wasn't worth it to some of us players to go 100%.  The risk of a serious injury is way too high.  They talked before the game, at half-time, and then again in the middle of the third quarter about postponing the game, but it wasn't until with 8 minutes left, and we were down by 20 points that they decided to call it (which I learned from Eric and Pam's experiences is NOT the first pro games to get rain-delayed, but probably the first this millenium!).  The other team was furious. 

So, today is the day we replay the whole game.  On my birthday.  But afterwards, Daniella and Fabrizio invited me, Kiki, and Elena over to their family's house for dinner to celebrate the day.  We also have a team party scheduled for Thursday to celebrate mine and Simona's special day, which is April 4th.  Still no word on whether or not we won against Viterbo for sure, so we would need to win this game or the "last" game in order to continue our season.  Fingers crossed everybody!