Countdown to Feb 11...43 days

It has been a while since I posted I tried to avoid the computer while I was at home! I will start from the beginning the night before I left we had a game and after the game the president came up to me and said "big problem we don't have enough money to pay for you... so you can leave after Christmas or come back for half your salary! I just took it all in while thinking I have people visiting in Jan and Feb this is not good. I asked if I could finish out euroleage (with my regular salary) which ends in Jan and hten head home. This agreement appears to work and I couldn't be happier about it! Apparently we lost money when we didn't win euroleage games which coming in I was told we would be lucky to win one so I don't know if they were just overly optimistic or what. It all works out great for me I will be outta here on Feb. 11 and I think as of right now I will have the first 10 days in Feb to explore Europe with Michelle and Jen because my contract ends but they will let me stay in the house and keep the car until then. I would love to say it is generous of them but I don't have a whole lot of respect for the way they handle things around here so I won't. I will spend the spring trying to heal my stubborn foot that has been acting up quite a bit as of late and hanging out in Salt Lake with Ben.
Christmas was great so good to see everyone all my connections were good I made the trip to Salt Lake and back and while I wasa overly jetlagged that was it. I got a lot of dvds and books which is great I have been busy watching them inbetween our practices. I I am quite ready to be done with this season just a frusterating experience!
I am heading to Paris tomorrow we practice early and then have the 1st off so we are driving down and spending New Years there! I am quite excited about this.
I am still trying to adjust to the time here I think I fell asleep around 4 this morning and had to get up at 8 for practice so I am hoping tonight will be a little better!

I am going to watch more Heroes, these shows are all so addicting!
I hope everyone has a safe and happy New Year!

1 more sleep!

Alright well the day has finally come I have one more game and I am out of here it is in less than 12 hours I leave I really can't wait. We lost another euroleage game our team is crazy some people really don't try so it should be interesting to see if coach actually fires people or what happens after Christmas. It was a frusterating game one of those teams where one cut and I was open but nobody was really looking for it so what can you do!
Nothing much else has happened this week I had my first dental expereince in Belgium. It was interesting I honestly feel like I have a rotting tooth not a cavity that was a few weeks ago maybe a cavity it came to the point where I couldn't drink or eat anything on that side of my mouth so I finally got in. The dentist was in a guys basement of his house with equipment that looked a little old but I guess I have been spoiled. The exam started with him hitting me on the face in different places then looking then an xray (took a good 8 minutes to produce) and he said nothing wrong with your tooth. I was like no something is wrong it is killing me apparently I have a sinus infection. I was pretty skeptical and I felt bad because if it was my dentist from home I would have believed him but the way hte exam went and the location I was skeptical. However mom convinced me this is an actual diagnosis so now I just have to find out somebody who can heal it for me! THe dentist gave me a "colgate shot" I don't really know how to describe it but it made me feel better for a few hours and now the rotting tooth is back. I have learnt how to drink water and eat with only one side of my mouth and I have been researching some home remedies for this. The internet is crazy some of the stuff was like witches potions all the ingredients you had to put in others were steam rooms what not so I have been doing hte steam thing but so far still in a lot of pain! Hopefully my trainer understood me last night and is bringing some medicine tonight.
I leave tomorrow get to see the fam quick in the airport and then I am off to see Ben!! I really can't wait I hope all my connections go smoothly and it is a good travel day.
Merry Christmas everyone!

some pics

I am posting some pictures of the Christmas markets I went to last week in Brussels. There is a picture of one of the 20 cocktail bars in the market. A roasted pig with Christmas decorations stuck in him... I don't need to say anymore. The grand place in Brussels, the Pis Mannekin in Brussels, and the live sheep in the Christmas manger.

We have 6 practices left and two games I am just trying not to pull a muscle and stay alive... it is like preseason college all over again!! It appears as though I have switched sports and am now training to become a sprinter! Coach actually said hte other day "your body can die many times before you actually die so he never again wants to hear that our legs are sore or tired" apparently he knows some people who do triathlons and they told him this! My body has died and I would love to call up one of these triathletes and find out when it is going to come back to life because coach never mentioned it. Ohh did I mention we end this week with back to back games...

time has stopped!

My Mariah Carey Christmas CD has been playing non stop for about a month now and time appears to have stopped, I do'nt think the days could go by any slower. I can not wait to go home but it feels so far away!

My body is a mess! I am laying in bed aching all over after yet another hard practice wondering what happened. The days of walking into a gym lacing up the shoes and throwing up shots are oficially over. My body creaks and groans every morning when I roll out of bed and then the process of walking down my tiny stairs trying not to put too much pressure on my left foot because if it is not warm pain shoots through it rocketing me to cling onto the frail railing as I wait out the discomfort. I never used to understand stretching and jogging before you start it is all clear to me now! That was also when I thought I would play until I was in my thirtys, Not going to happen!!!!

We lost again tonight but it wasn't my turn to play so I just sat on the side and watched it all unfold, our team seriously has way too much drama it is a production but it's just a job! The loss means we will have an incredibly hard practice tomorrow most likely all defense... can't wait!

Perspective

Well the hope of a long Christmas break is gone we lost at Valenciennes... it was a bad game. Things got crazy today coach some players didn't pass the ball and didn't really try, subbed themeselves in a total prodcution so we all got chewed out and spent 2 hours working on D. After the game I was really frusterated I rushed my shots in teh second half and thus didn't make any of them so I am just trying to find my shot still. I was trying to see the big picture that our struggles all happen for a a reason so I will be stronger when I push through this. All this was running through my head on the drive home. I was driving with a teamate and there were 3 cars following each other I was the middle car. It was a really really foggy night couldn't really see well and we were a litlte lost the coaches were still eating adn drinking (120am) so we took off and got directions. We came to a road with a yield sign and the first car went thorough I slowed and drove through and saw headlights I was like wow they are kind of close and then a second later in my rearview mirror I saw our third car get completely t-boned, the sound too of hte cars scrapping together so I stopped the car right away and my teamate and I sprinted to the car whch after the hit roated and was perched up on a solid cement street sign. The other car was going about 90 (or 65 for the Americans) so it looked awful. Thank God they were both alright albeit shoken up freaked out and the player in teh passenger seat has a bump on the back of her head.

It was crazy though normally another girl on our team sits in that seat in their car but since she is from France she drove with anotehr teamate so she could load up her car with Christmas decorations. The back is where the otehr car hit so if she was in the car it could have been really bad. The police came and our coaches and we wound up getting home around 3am. I certainly could not sleep just really shooken up watching it happen it is so crazy how life can change in a second so I stayed up until around 5am talking to my parents and Ben.

I was woken up this morning at 1030 by two policemen who were coming to confirm where I lived and my identity as I am just now getting my working papers! I answered the door my hair a mess just looking like I had 5 hours of sleep!
Today the president came to practice and gave us our "official car insurance papers" good timing!
Everyone... please drive safe!

Win # 2 and a chat with the big man!

Alright well this was rough one tonight... bad Belgium team that we actually almost lost to. I really felt like I couldn't get my wind in the first half was kind of struggling and nobody was really playing all that great so we were only up by 10 at half. In the second he tried to rest the starters as we have a big euroleague game on Wednesday but all the sudden they were up 1... with 4 minutes left in the game so went back in. I had not played so stellar on offense up to this point but this was my Christmas break on the line so I started driving and scored a little at the end we wind up winning by 4. Hey a win is a win so whatever its over! After the game of course I get called over by the President (the equivalent of being sent to the principals office when you were in school you knew you were in trouble) so he says "I know you good player but you need lead like you did at end of game all through game. I know you in your mind (with hand actions and facial expressions) because 2 bad years in WNBA but you good and we need good from you. This doesn't mean shoot everytime but end of the game good now do this all game." Then a high five! Ohh man I feel bad but I think I may have given him a little attitude I mean he is really cute and nice and then he talks.
We head to Valencienne tomorrow for a game Wednesday... this is the big one!

1 down 5 to go.....

The day after the beating we took at Gydnia coach informed us at practice that we have 6 games left before Christmas and if we win all 6 we can stay at home longer! Instead of coming back on the 27th I could come back on the 1st. This is his way of motivation and it has worked for me I am ready to go I wish all the games were in a row to take away the suspense. 4 of the games are Belgium league games so we should be able ot handle them all two are euroleage and we can beat these teams but it will be pretty hard! The first euroleague game is Wednesday in France so hopefully it all turns out great!

I went to my first Christmas market today in Brussels. Apparently the Christmas market in Brussels is one of the best because of its size and quality. I wasn't sure what to expect but this did blow my mind... it was so neat! In Belgium you can have some players on your team that play on lower division teams and one the girls that plays with us sometimes lives in Brussels with her boyfriend so she met us in Brussels and showed us around. This was really helpful as we avoided getting lost! My other teamate Jen and I were in the car together and parking has never been one of my strong points well we had to parallel park this I realy don't do well so after 5 failed attempts and the car perched up on the curb I got out adn let Jen have a go at it... first try I was mildly embarassed! The market stretched out over a few blocks and was broken into three main parts a lot of it is little crafts that people make, food, and of course beer. There were full on bars in this market I will post some pics later but people were walking around drinking shots, full bottles of beer, so funny! I had my first sample of hot wine pretty good I guess they add a different liquor as well as the wine there is a hint of apple cider taste in it but better than apple cider for sure. I also sampled my first hot beer. This sounds a little nasty but I figured if anybody knows about hot beer it would be teh Belgians as I never really liked the taste of beer but Belgian beer doesn't taste like beer so much better. The hot beer had lemon, cinnamon, and apples in it it was also pretty good I was surprised. I bought some beer I am thinking about trying to bring it home in my suitcase underneath... any suggestions and how much beer can I bring back into Canada? I finally saw the Grand Place in Brussels it was part of hte market it had a bunch of lights up it was really pretty and it also had a big manger display with live sheep! Emilie (teamate from Brussels) said htey normally have a live donkey as well.
Emilie was telling us the legend behing the famous pis mannekin (little boy peeing statue) apparently during the war the building caught on fire and legend has it that this little boy peed on the fire and saved the building thus the statue and postcards, bottle openers, shirts of him. We ate at the the Greek market and then headed out for a white chocolate covered waffle... so good I can't even put into the words the taste of these waffles. I also tried my first chestnuts roasting over an open fire (just like the song) however they were the one food of the day I would never eat again or recommend.

Emilie had a game in town so we checked out a bit of her game and then contemplated a movie but there wasn't really anything good playing (movies here are way behind) the choices were Georiga Rule, Beowulf, Mr. Brooks and a few others nothing striking us so we headed home... mighty proud that we didn't get lost once over hte course of the day!

Game two tomorrow.... Go Dexia!