slow start

Just like the weekends here in Hungary, I had a slow start to my world cup progress. I didn't do well last weekend in Serbia which I personally attribute to the jitters. Even seasoned athletes can get a case of the nerves.

A good friend of mine, who is a very successful fencer, told me he often considers bad results to be a fluke and good results to be the norm. Positive thinking is a must in sports-it's a must in a lot of things. I will definitely take his advice since he just took a silver medal at a recent world cup.

Right now I am spending the week getting ready for the next world cup which is this weekend in Salzburg, Austria. I'm excited to see my sister Felicia, who will be stopping by Austria on her way to London. Apparently we are a family of travelers and of never sitting still.

This week I decided that I had enough food from the Turkish restaurant downstairs and felt like this was a good week to cook my own food. Last night a few friends and I made a chicken dinner for the team and this evening I made some pasta with meat sauce for myself and my roommate. Cooking really makes you feel like this place is home and each day that goes by I feel more and more comfortable in my surroundings here in Hungary. It's too bad that I can't speak his language-and I thought I was good at picking up different languages.

Our team get together included some members of the US men's sabre team. It turns out that they aren't too bad at charades and Pictionary.

There is much work to be done and I should get offline to catch some zzzz's (a letter they use a lot here in Budapest).

Big hugs to my family and friends in the states.