Well, the Sound Mind Sound Body Europe football (ad)venture is finally taking off. Literally. Terry and I started our trek across the ocean to Switzerland by jumping on a flight from Detroit to Atlanta. That was followed by a two or so hour layover where we naturally found a bar.
Kind of a fancy one – I guess that is the way they do it in the international terminals. You know high class stuff for such upper crust guys like us. I think I saw James Bond in the booth across from us. You know it is possible – who knows world travelers like us might be in the same racket.
We then boarded our overnight flight (is this technically a red eye?? – perhaps a reverse red eye??) to Milan, Italy. It is a nine-hour shot and obviously it is pretty interesting because you fly in the dark and wake up to breakfast and the wonderful scenery of the Swiss Alps.\
I guess Curtis and his sister – the other part of our American side of SMSB-Europe (Maybe we should call it Sound Mind Sound Body – “Europa” – that sounds a little fancier to me) should be getting started on their own version of the trip.
Curtis had just finished running a SMSB session in Flint, Michigan for a friend of his who lives there. I am pretty sure he put it on for free and was somehow tied into the water crisis they suffered there. One thing you can count on with Curtis Blackwell – he is always doing some good deed. The man is special.
Curtis needed to have an extra day to get his house in order and he and his sister were flying a different course than ours. I think they were flying into Zurich and then directly into Lugano. We will all be spending time there until Friday when we travel a short distance to Tenero and the Sports Center for our football extravaganza!
Giorgio picked us up and whisked us away from Milan up thru the northern Italian countryside and into my second homeland – Switzerland.
We dropped by “The American School of Switzerland” (Or TASS) as they say over here. One of the most elite schools in all of Europe with students from all over the world. This is a very impressive place carved into the side of a mountain (montagna in Italian) and also built atop of it as well.
Giorgio is a PE teacher there….and he is obviously one of the most popular people on campus as we saw as he showed us the beautiful campus. (I don’t know how he drives on those streets in the winter. They are like one of the alleys on the side of the Roxy Theater in Northampton, Pennsylvania.
His wife Joselyn is working there as well and it was fun to visit with her for a little while. Did not get to see her on last quick visit to Switzerland last November. Wonderful person and she has raised two amazing children in Giovanni and Katarina. (Katarina is in ninth grade and speaks four or five languages already). I’m just glad I can figure out one language!
We motored up (and I mean up…I mean Up…I mean UP) to Giorgio’s mountain house – that road is all switch backs and if you look too hard you might go right off a cliff. (As we used to say in high school – “I shit you not!) It is straight up and down off of the main road to his cabin!” There are literally areas where if a car is coming the other way – someone has to back up to find a wider area because the road can handle only one car. Apparently the car going up has the right of way!
Along the way we picked up our other Swiss partner….Fulgenzio. (Isn’t that the greatest Swiss Italian name ever!)
Now we are up here….doing what we do! Drinking beer…..eating a steak! (Noi beviamo birra e mangiamo il bistecca!)
Tomorrow we go into Lugano to pick up our other partner Curtis – zip over to Tenero and the Sports Complex to make sure everything is in order for our even.
Bye the wan, tomorrow is the Swiss National Holiday – August First. Fireworks, parties, concerts….hmmmm I guess some more beer drinking as well. Hell, why not.
HAH! WHAT A LIFE!
With an awesome facility and a scenic backdrop we are really happy to try and make our exchange of ideas and football concepts a great experience for everyone involved.