NB: Um, I think it was just the fact that it was a small group of us and we were like, “Oh, we have time. Let’s go do something fun and cool and learn about the local, you know, history or culture, experience something cool that…” And everybody else was like, “Oh, I’m gonna sit at home on our day off.”
LA: As someone who was obsessed with Bend It Like Beckham as a teenager, when they get to go play in Germany and have that night out is like, cemented in, on my brain.
NB: [laughs].
LA: What was it, what was it actually like when you were all together in Germany and when you were in China? Like, you- you know, you were going out and trying to experience those places when you could. But I’m assuming it- it was probably more than just like, one slightly disastrous night in a nightclub.
NB: [laughs] Yeah. Um, honestly, China was so long ago, it- it’s hard for me to remember that too much. And I think for me, that was my first, you know, big team that I made. So just to be on the World Cup team was like, my eyes were probably about this big with everything that happened.\
Um, I don’t remember us honestly getting out and doing too much there, and, because part of it with the World Cup is y- you have a lot of games and you’re traveling a lot between games. I think the one thing I do remember that we did get to do was, we got to go to like a panda sanctuary and just kind of see what they do there and how they save pandas. And we got to interact with a panda. Um, but again, that was all before the tournament started. And then once games start, it’s just down to business. And you’re just so busy, you’re tired, you’re traveling.
LA: I have to ask, you know, when I’ve done like a really long distance flight, I feel like absolute dog shit [laughs] when I get off the plane. And you know, I, the last thing I can kind of fathom is trying to do a run. And you know, your b- y- your body just feels so sort of drained. How do you make sure you arrive feeling in good shape and feeling energized? That must be really hard.
NB: It is. It’s tough. Um, I mean, there’s only so much you can do. I think you kind of control what you can control and know that you’re probably not gonna feel your best when you get over there, ’cause you have long travel. You’re s- you’re spending a lot of time sitting. You’re dealing with timezone changes. So it- it’s probably one of the toughest things, at least for me. I don’t sleep a lot as it is, so like, I only sleep during certain windows, and if you miss it, you… Man, I- I feel awful. They’re always on us about, “You- you may be tired, but don’t sleep, because you’ve gotta get yourself adjusted to the timezone.” You know, so a lot of times we would just go out and, if we were in a place where we could walk around, we’d go out and just walk around to move and- and be active and- and stay awake and try to get adjusted.
