Curling in Belgium.
The Czech women's national team is spending a few days in Belgium as part of a preparatory camp in conjunction with the tournament. It is hosted by the town of Zemst and a nice hall with a three-lane track. Yesterday we had a training day, spent four hours on the ice and another time sitting in the hall. There is a very friendly atmosphere, we have a list of drinks on the wall that are available at the bar, and since we are often alone here, we take what we need and make lines in the appropriate boxes. At the end we pay for it all. The first game is against Luxembourg and so far we've got it fairly under control. Tomorrow will be tougher, three games. But we're used to that from the World Cup. It's three degrees in the arena (really cold), the ice has good speed and shows some minor irregularities. So we are testing our ability to read the ice. A few friends remember us from the Adult camps in Prague or from other meetings at international tournaments or European championships. It's nice here, just the indoor stages could be more.