Arriving in Ankara

Ankara, Turkey - I arrived in Ankara dry eyed and sleepy around 8pm Turkish time. After waiting at the luggage carousel for 15 minutes with seven other people we soon realized that our luggage had not arrived.

I was not looking forward to having to explain what my luggage looked like in English to a Turkish lady after she had just been yelled at by six other Turkish passengers. Luckily my general manager was able to walk through customs (which apparently don't exist on Sundays in Turkey) and help explain to her what hockey gear looked like. Despite his multiple attempts to describe what a hockey stick looked like (he even sketched a stick on a piece of paper), we left the customer service rep with a confused expression on her face.

Anil then lead me to a friend in the parking garage who then drove us to our temporary flat in Ankara. While driving the through the beautiful city, Anil explained to me that the team might be relocating to Istanbul because of ice scheduling conflicts. The rink here doesn't want to give us the practice times we want and Istanbul just completed two new rinks. It would be hard to relocate because the team is so settled here.

So I arrive at my temporary flat that is surprisingly very modern and located in a four story apartment building. The place had marble and hard wood flooring, kitchen, two bedrooms, bath and large living room (which is my temporary bedroom). This is the coaches flat for the season. The players flat has not been purchased yet because the team is waiting for a response from the federation on our relocation.

I drop off my backpack and laptop by my bed and Anil tells me the Swedes are across the street at a pub celebrating Nicholas' birthday. We have cake and beer and share some laughs. I realize again that the world of hockey is a small one when we start sharing stories. I get to meet the head coach, presidents (husband and wife), other goalie (presidents son), and one other Turkish team mate. Then to bed to try to sleep off my jet leg and pray that my luggage shows up soon because my clothes are starting to talk to me. The Swedes have to stay the night in the flat with us because the hotel they are staying in locks at midnight. They share the figure skating coach’s room because he is Scotland waiting for the federation to decide on the ice time. Yes, three Swedish hockey players sleeping in a queen size bed together. Looks like this will be a close team.