Whirlwind....

Soo its been a crazy two weeks or so since I last updated… So I will do my best to recap it all!

Olympic Qualifiers: so we rebounded and won the bronze medal against Cuba, which means we will go to the world Olympic Qualifier in June! There are 12 teams and the top 5 will get the bid to London. It was very disappointing to not get the bid in Columbia, but I am happy with how our team played and cant wait to get back with team Canada and accomplish our goal.

 me versus Jamaica 

 family...

 team Canada 2011

2 days home: I flew back from Columbia and then had about two days home before I flew back to Lithuania. Let me tell you.. those two days were packed full!!! I had already packed a bit prior to leaving, so I had to do some laundry and pack the rest of my stuff. It is soo hard to pack all your life into two bags… and only 50lbs each.

I also saw my family and friends for the last time till Christmas. This never gets easy, always leaving the people you care about the most gets tough, but I had such support from them, that I always feel like they are with me wherever I go. Some highlights of my few days home were a last family meal at my dads (steak was of course served) ,Wings and drinks with friends while watching football (doesn’t  get better then that), sleepover at Jenny’s (just like my childhood), and going back to my high school.

Back to Lithuania: So I started my trip back to Lithuania, I went to Toronto, then Poland, then Lithuania. It was about a 16 hour trip in total, and overall was not to bad.. although I wish I slept a little more on the planes. I was greeted with our team manager/guy who helps us with everything. We were then off to figure out my Lithuanian citizenship, and passport. I am proud to say that I now am a citizen of Lithuania!

I finally arrived at my new.. AMAZING apartment I share with the American and my good friend Amanda.  It is a step above from my apartment from last year, and even has an extra room for visitors (so come visit)! I had signs all over the house waiting for me, telling me all the great features of the house.

A gift from Amanda at our house.. (more pics to come)

My team was already in Turkey, so I spent my first night in the house alone, and packing to go to Turkey the next day.. another 17 hour travel day……

Turkey: I finally got to Turkey the next day around 11:30 pm, and was reunited with all my old teammates and met my new ones. So begins a new year with Vici Aistes!

Vici-Aistes 2011

Reunited with Legend and Star

I spent a week in Turkey and we had our first Euroleague game against a team that had Diana Taurasi, Tina Charles, Ephianny Prince, and a couple big European stars…. Now it was a stacked team, but our team fought hard for the majority of the game. It was the last 5 mins of the game when they blew the game wide open… it was disappointing to start the season off with a loss, but I think we have so much room to grow that it will be exciting to see the progress.

Our first game.. trying to guard Taurasi... (didnt work too well)

So I think that is enough updates for me for one post… Off to Spain next week for another Euroleague game! 

Thats it for now!

CP