Money Money MONNEEEY!

This is the saying I repeated after our last win.. over and over! With each euroleague win we get a bonus, so with our latest win we got another bonus :)

Now I know its not always about money, but its nice to be rewarded sometimes. So heading into Christmas break, we had our last euroleague game on Wednesday. We played a team from turkey, and the last time we played them it was a blow out by them, so we wanted to prove that we were a team  not to be steam-rolled. We always play well at home, so it was a good opportunity to get a big win before the holiday break.

The game started out well for us, and we were up at halftime and shooting the ball well. Everyone on our team was doing well, and it continued in the second half. Although they started to make some big shots and tried to comeback... our team continued to hit big shot after big shot to never let the lead slip.

When the final buzzer went off we were very happy, and danced to the vici theme song... Yes I guess the fish company has a little jingle they play during commercials and what not. This part reminds me of when I was at UVM and we danced all the time, so it was nice to have some similarities.

I got to start again, and play a lot, and I played pretty well so I was happy to contribute to this win.

Here are some action shots of me playing in the game:

 Yes I am using my left hand :)

 Dont know whats going on with my right hand, but still a nice shot

 Still using my left hand :)

 I like this one, even though Im not doing much...

 You might think Im left handed if you saw all these photos. lol

 Calling out a play.. no big deal.. its only Seimone Augustus...lol

 I am proud of this picture only for the fact that Slyvia Fowles ran into me, and she ended up on the ground.... she wasen't injured on the play so I can be happy about this pic!

 This is from our game against the Spain team, but I recently found them.

A nice general action shot.

Here is the link to the video of our game if anyone wants to take a look at it:

http://www.basketnews.lt/video/ziureti/vici-aisciu-tritaskiai-padejo-iskovoti-pergale-kaune.html

So the other big event of the week was our team Christmas party after our game on Wednesday. Now this was a fancy Christmas party, which included me having to wear a dress.. which everyone who reads this knows is my favorite thing to do!

The party was a lot of fun, it including drinking lots of wine or champagne... exchanging our secret Santa gifts, eating, and A LOT of dancing! I did not participate in the dancing part too much, as I did not want everyone to be subjected to the awfulness of it! the best dancer was by far our coach.. who came out of nowhere to surprise me as a good dancer!

So here are some pictures from the party, I know everyone wants to see my dress! lol

 Me and Amanda showing off our new dresses!

 Me and Marina, showing off our sign for making three's!

 This was when it was after midnight, and technically ONE week till I was going home.. I had to document my excitment!

 Most of the team before we headed home.

Amanda, Indre, me, and one of our sponsors!

So that was the Exciting Wednesday I had, now its 4 days until I am home and I have one Lithuanian league game left to play and some practices... So time to start packing!!!! :) :) :) 

Until next time (which wont be for awhile),

Courtnay

P.S MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEARS to everyone!!

When I get home....

So the title of this update is appropriate as I am so excited to get home! I cannot wait to see my friends and family, but I am also very excited to have the wonderful little things back in my life for a week.

Me and Amanda spend a good amount of time talking about what we will eat, or where will go when were home, so I figure I would let everyone else know what I am looking forward to most:

1- SUBWAY... everyday... Chicken Bacon Ranch sub. I have missed this delicious place, and it has been WAAAAAY to long since I had a sub. (Dad- hint hint.. since your picking me up from the airport... ;)

2- Cool Ranch Doritios- Don't ask me why, but since I have been in Lithuania, I have craved this.. It isin't even something that I had often when I was home, but it sounds delicious to me.

3- Uncle Dans ranch dip and veggies- My mom's specialty for whenever I get home from a trip, so I am putting in my order to have a whole plate of veggies to myself, because I will destroy it.

4- Yellow Mustard & Ranch- I have missed these in my life, and I cannot wait to be able to have a sandwich and put on a condiment! Oh and I will be taking some back here with me.

5- Bagels- All I want is a soft bagel... There is no such thing here, and I once again have missed these in my life.

6- MOES- doesn't  a calorie filled burrito sound delicious? I think it does! Since I no longer live in VT, I cannot get these delicious treat, so it is on my list for when I take a visit to UVM.

7- Tim Hortons- I will order a hot chocolate, then a bagel, and then possible 5 donuts (maybe im exaggerating)... I will then order this everyday until I leave.

8- East Side Mario's- Best Garden Salad.. that is all I want from there :)

9- A DRYER- All my clothes will be thrown into the dryer, just so I can value the soft and fluffy feel of all my clothes again! It has been so long since I havent had a crusty sock to put on.

10- Walmart- Yes.. I miss this place greatly.

Yes I realize this mostly has to do with food I will be consuming, and I could go on for another 20 things.. but I figured my top 10 will do!

I will be updating soon, with details about our latest win, and with pics from both the game and our teams Christmas party.. but I figured this post has you salivating for food, and you now need time to go grab some delicious food for yourself.

Until next time,

Courtnay

9 days :)

I figure a quick update would be nice! Me and some of the other girls on Sunday went and did a commercial/ handed out flyers in the city's old town center. Me and Amanda had not really ventured out there yet, so we were pretty impressed that we found the place all by ourselves (without getting lost) AND by the center itself.

Now if I was back in Vermont passing out flyers for an upcoming game, I would be outgoing and chat up a storm with anyone or anyone who would listen. Here it is MUCH more difficult, as all I can manage is "laba diena" and hand a flyer to them. If someone starts to speak Lithuanian back to me... I just shrug and say "english". Most people just walk away after that.

Needless to say it was a lot of fun, and as promised here is the link to the video and some photos:

http://www.basketnews.lt/news-35156-vici-aistes-kelyje-i-pergale-pasikinke-arkli-video-foto.html

I got some bad news last night, as Jackie was unable to come today since her visa issue was not sorted out. If she came she probably would have been deported... which would not be good... so this week its just two games and team Christmas party. Not a bad week to me!

Also almost all my Christmas gifts are done, just a couple more and then im DONE!

Until next time,

Courtnay

A week of Excitement!

So time is flying by here in Lithuania! This past week has been awesome for me personally! First of all we won our Euroleague game against Spain on Wednesday :) Again it was in dramatic fashion as we won in overtime. I got to start my first Euroleague game, so I was very excited about this. Let me tell you after playing an average of maybe 12-15 mins in all the other games, I was a little tired after playing 14 mins straight! I will not complain about it, but shout out to Amanda for encouraging me!!! There were positives about our game.. of winning is nice, but we also get a bonus for our win! Must say its nice to get more money just for getting a win :).  The win didn't come without its setbacks though, our star player Ausra was injured towards the end of the game, and is out for the rest of the Euroleague season... :( It will make it tougher to get more wins, but it will makes our team better as we all have to step up now.

Thursday was a very interesting day for me and Amanda. It was one of those days that we were both giddy, so it made for many laughs. The best way to describe our day is from the Facebook post I sent her after the day:

Recap of day: wearing moccasins outside in the snow= wet feet and moccasins. Encounter with grumpy cashier man who was a dick and tried to sell lottery tickets to us. Drive around all of Kaunas on one-way unploughed streets, almost making me have to get out and push the car out of the snow. Finally find our destination..... only to find out later that its a no-go. Show up to practice an hour late.. NBD. Beat our male coach in bench press.. Gotcha? almost break my ankle trying to be quick at OPTIONAL practice. One chatty cathy a.k.a God with an A. Having to sit in a left turning only lane, wanting to go straight- only to be stared at by 15 year old punks crossing the street. Pulled over by cops.. for NO reason, of course they speak english! New glove purchase.. another failed donut attempt... almost leaving keys in the ignition...and almost losing wallet- only to find it in between the door and seat of our car.. oh ya the car that the BRAKES dont work.. and we've resorted to praying that people dont cross the street, or cars back out... ONLY IN LITHUANIA

Sorry if you don't understand  the post completely, but it was a great day! After a game Friday, we had one practice on Saturday morning, and then the rest of the weekend off! So Saturday was spent SHOPPING! I am glad to say that most of my Christmas shopping is done, and I am very excited to give them to the people I love.

Also.. Jackie finally officially purchased her ticket :) She will be here Tuesday and leave Saturday... I CANNOT TELL YOU HOW EXCITED I AM!!!!!  I cant wait to finally see one of my best friends, and I know I will have plenty to post about our week.

My last good news I received this week, was that I am home from the 23rd to 1st (possibly the 2nd)! This is longer then I thought, so I was very happy! My ticket has been booked, but not yet bought so I am still hesitant to say this officially, but Im coming home!!! :) 

Well I am off to adventure into making a commercial with some of my team-mates... Not sure how this type of thing works in Lithuania, but we will see. Then a little more shopping! :).

 I will leave you with some pictures to look at!

 A bit of an awkward shot, but you can notice the lack of shorts I have to wear..

 I think I am about to drive.. but again short shorts.

Don't want to post this one, but I know my parents will be angry if I don't... A poster for our upcoming game this week. Yes that is me in the middle.. 

 11 DAYS TILL IM HOME! :)

Until next time,

Courtnay 

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas..

There is not much to update in the last week, as it has been full of traveling, but I will do my best to share some stories.

This week we we went to Moscow, Russia. I had the pleasure of experiencing Russia in the summer a few years back with Canada Basketball. I can't say all my memories of that trip were so positive, so I was looking forward to making some good ones! The biggest thing was stepping off the plane in Russia and feel the brisk minus 30  with snow weather! I am glad to say i have been proudly supporting my Vancouver Olympic mittens, so they kept me warm during this trip.

As a Canadian, I know all about cold weather... and I think it is just knowing to be smart and bundle up that makes me enjoy the cold weather, and snow. My team think I'm a little crazy to be all bundled up to head outside, but at the same time I am not complaining about being cold like they do. :)

The game did not go well at all for us as we got beat badly. It is for sure frustrating losing, but you can't do much when the reigning MVP of the WNBA goes 5 from 5 from behind the arc.

One thing that Russia had was a mall right across from the hotel, so on Thursday me and Amanda took the trek to the mall and found Starbucks :) It was great to enjoy a little NA (north american) treat. We also tried to get McDonalds breakfast... but they apparently do not serve it..?

After finally getting back from Russia late Thursday night...we arrived to a little warmer weather, but still had snow on the ground. So I was happy that everywhere I go it really does look like Christmas, which makes me excited to go home.

Our game on Saturday went well, as we once again won by 40 or so, and we got rewarded with the day off on Sunday!

Me and Amanda decided to go to the mall once we got back from our little day trip for our game, and to our very pleasant surprise we walked into some sort of concert in the mall. With some guy singing Micheal Jackson songs (the first song we heard was Dirty Diana)! It was interesting to see so many in the middle of the mall so into his performance, and we indulged ourselves for a few minuets!

Other then that, I am excited to finally get my new credit card, so I can finish my Christmas shopping for everyone back home!

Sunday (today) me and Amanda ventured out to try bowling. It is basically the same as bowling in NA. Me and Amanda split the 4 games we played, so no real winner came from it, but we will go again and have a winner come out on top! We also went out and got a small Christmas tree to put in Amanda's apartment, so decorations and all will be put up along with stockings. We will have our own little Christmas party before we head home.

Speaking of home.. only 2 weekends left here, and 18 days till I am home! :) Cannot wait!

Until next time,

Courtnay

Gobble Gobble!

Before I get into the good stuff, let me just recap my trip to France. The trip itself wasen't too bad, as both travel days I slept on the planes/buses the majority of the time. We lost our game by 4. Needless to say it was a tough game that we felt we could have won. We just didn't bring the energy needed the whole game.

We put that behind us, and played a game on Saturday for our Lithuanian League. We won by a lot like usual, and got Sunday off which meant me and Amanda could finally make our Thanksgiving dinner for a couple team-mates!

Me and Amanda have had this planed for awhile, but finished our last minute shopping for it on Saturday (along with going to see the new Harry Potter movie).  Amanda is a huge HP fan, so she was much more excited then I was to see it.

Sunday had finally arrived, and off to cooking we went! Of course I was going to host the event, since my apartment is a bit bigger.. but my oven decided to stop working earlier this week... go figure! So I went to Amanda's figured out how to cook the turkey, and PRAYED it would turn out.

Back to my apartment to get the appetizers and some other food ready. I must say it was a great feeling to be blaring Christmas music, and cooking. I felt like a real suzy home-maker (no apron tho..). Two of our teammates came to celebrate with us, and we finally got all the food in one place, and shared our delicious meal with them. The menu was: Turkey, green bean casserole, twice baked potatoes, corn, rolls, and carrots. We also had deviled eggs and cheese and crackers for appetizers. Dessert was delicious brownies made by Amanda. We of course had to served them Budweiser, to have some sort of North American drink!

The only thing that did not work out so well, was the cranberry sauce.. still not sure on why it didn't but oh well! Happy everything else did!

We spent the rest of the evening playing card games. I have missed playing cards, and it was nice to have someone to play with and others who got equally as intense as I do! All and all it was a great day, and I am truly thankful for everything in my life. Everything in my life has taught me something, and I am grateful to be able to have opportunities that most people do not get to experience.

So now that Thanksgiving is officially done, the Christmas music is on full blast and 24 days till I am home for Christmas! :)

 Our game of spoons...Lots of yelling occurred...

 Me in front of the tree in the mall.. can't wait for Christmas!

 The feast :)

Right before we chowed down!

Until Next time,

Courtnay

Quick Update!

Just a quick update for all my followers out there.. (basically my parents and Leesa)!

We are off to France tomorrow, another hectic traveling schedule. We leave at 4 am, to drive to Vilnius and fly out early in the morning, and after a couple flights we get to France, and another 2 hour bus ride to our destination. On the way back, we leave early on Thursday morning after our game Wednesday night and do not arrive back until 2pm on Thursday. Such a quick travel for just one game, but another new country and city to visit!

We lost our last game in Euroleague against the Prague team. It was a closer game, but again our team did not play well and we just didn't get the job done.  We are hoping to rebound in France and get another win!

The only real excitement... well disappointment that has gone on this week, is me losing my wallet.  Don't worry my credit cards have been cancelled... BUT I freaked out a bit, not being able to find it. I went back to the store I last used it at, and it was no where to be found... not in my apartment, the car, or the gym.. :(. I apparently have the knack for losing things... although I am baffled how I lost my wallet this time.

Thankfully Amanda has let me run a tab on her, and once my new cards get sent over (HOPEFULLY SOON)! I will gladly be paying her back. It is frustrating not having any money, and now having to replace all the things lost in my wallet.. :(

First purchase when my new cards arrive.. a new wallet... I guess that's just how life goes...

I will update everyone soon after our trip to France!

Miss everyone, and I will be home soon! :)

Until next time,

Courtnay

Great Day! :)

So Today has been a great day, so I am even more inclined to actually pry myself away from watching movies or t.v shows online to finally sit down and blog!

So what have I been up to this past week... well I can't say its been too exciting, like other weeks but we did get to go to Istanbul, Turkey for a game. It is nice to travel to a new country every other week, and see the world! We unfortunately lost our game again, but we will rebound for a better game this week.

I did not get to explore Turkey like I did with Spain, as I elected to workout instead of go to the mall (go figure). I do have to say the fitness center in the hotel we stayed at was amazing! There was a full weight room, which I had to myself and jammed out while having a nice long lift. There was also a nice pool, sauna, and cardio room. I was pretty happy with my decision to workout, instead of spending money I don't really have.

I know it probably isin't entertaining to hear about how much I like the fitness center, but it was that note worthy to talk about. When we got back from Turkey on Thursday night, me and Amanda had an encounter with the cops, as we were pulled over for speeding. There are no signs posted anywhere about speed limits, so we didn't really know 50km was the limit... Needless to say we freaked out when we first saw the cop motioning for us to pull over, as we are always told to bribe the cops if you get pulled over. We didn't have to and everything worked out, but still had our hearts beating fast for awhile.

During our off day, me and Amanda went and saw the movie Unstoppable (the train movie). It was good, and always good to get out of are apartments. We also went to this Steak House before the movie, which all of you know my love for steak so we were very happy when we discovered this place. It was a neat experience, as you order the steak you want and then they bring the raw steak out on a hot marble slab and it cooks in front of you, and your free to take it off whenever its the way you like it!

Needless to say that will be a place that we will be going back to! We also have found some other interesting places to try some food. We found an upscale restaurant that we stumbled upon when driving around looking for a new place to try. It was attached to a hotel, and had a nice atmosphere to it. The food was good, but WAY TO SMALL of portions of food. Along with it being on the pricey side, we probably wont be going back there.

One of our favorite places to go is the Sandwich bar. Now this place is amazing, you can order many types of sandwiches and they make it for you on the best bread ever. It is served warm, which makes it that much better, and I usually get a smoothie to go with it. We go there at least once a week, and love it every time. Whats even better is that they have free wi-fi!!!

One of our most visited restaurants, is one of the sponsors of the team- Charlie Pizza. We normally go there after games, and use our 40% off card to get a quick, cheap meal. Me and my stomach do not get along with Lithuanian dairy for some reason, so i have had to expand my options away from Pizza, which is delicious at Charlie's, but its still got some good things for me to have!

We have also found this Burrito place, that we have not tried yet. The reason being that when we saw the sign for this place, we were so happy that we found a place in Lithuanian that makes burritos, as me and Amanda have both been craving a burrito from our respective homes. Naturally we went back to try this place the next time we could, and as we are getting closer to it.. we realize that it is a shack! Not a legit restaurant, but a shack. So at 9:30 at night after a long road trip, we decided that going up to a dark shack looking for "fresh" meat would not be a good idea.
     We will still try this place eventually, but maybe during normal hours of the day! Now all this food talk has got me hungry!

Now the real reason why I am so happy today, is because I received 3 packages today, and also found out my best friend from college (the one and only Jackie Thode- a.k.a my wife) is coming to visit me soon (about 3 weeks). The dates have not been finalized yet, but I AM ECSTATIC!
Now the packages, one was a gift I ordered that finally arrived, and then one package was from my dad and Nicolette- although it was a tad late it was full of fun Halloween goodies. Yes me and Amanda even listened to the 8 year old Monster Mash cd on our way to practice!
The last package was from my amazing SID Lisa from UVM! She sent me two Vermont shirts, and reminded me of my "roots". I am happily wearing one shirt as we speak!

So getting packages from people back home and in Vermont was great, and brightened my day up! I do miss everyone back home, and can't wait for Christmas to come to see everyone!

We have another Euroleague game tomorrow against the team from Prague, but luckily its at home and we did not have to travel this week! So its bed time for me!

Pictures will be coming on the next post...

Until next time,

Courtnay :)

The adventure continues..

I have to apologize for the lack of updates this past week. As most of you know, I have had a concussion this past week, so I haven't had the energy or will power to sit down and blog about life.

After our huge win, we played on Friday in the Lithuanian league and won our game by a lot like we were suppose to. We were scheduled to have one practice Saturday morning, and then off until Monday. I was very excited to have some time off and do some more exploring. Welllllll.. Plans changed as during practice on Saturday I was blindsided by a screen (set by my assistant coach who was practicing with us). I don't really know what hit what, but the combination of my nose and head hit her shoulder is my best guess.
Now... I dont like to make a spectacle of things when I get injured. I usually try and be too tough and walk it off, but there was no hiding this one. I just walked straight off the court. I literally thought I got hit by a bus or something!!! So after I got my nose to stop bleeding, I sat and watch the end of practice, thinking that I should just take it easy for today (yes I was going to try and get back into practice)!

Well once I got home, is when the hit really HIT me (haha). I immediately passed out, and stayed in my bed all day wanting my headache to disappear. This was true on Sunday as well, although I did force myself to get up and go to the Lithuanian zoo.... Lets just say there was not many animals out, and the zoo resembled something you would see in a horror movie, where its creepily quiet and dark.

Me and Amanda still found some fun in it, and enjoyed the few animals that were around.... Here are some pics of the zoo:

 The donkey, that took Amanda about 5 mins to get to look up and not look like he was being tortured!

 A lion, that was in a small cage all by himself.. no wonder he was just sitting there!

 Me being my goofball self, and posing for the camera!

The seal that didn't seem to be enjoying his life. I wouldn't either if I lived in that dirty water!!

On Tuesday morning (4am to be exact) our team met to drive to Vilnius- which is about and hour or so away, to go to the main airport and head off to Spain! It was my first road trip with the team, where we got to stay in a hotel and all that fun stuff! We flew from Vilnius to Amsterdam, we had about 4 hours in Amsterdam, so we got to explore a bit but mostly me and Amanda played cards the entire time. I am happy to find out that Amanda knows how to play Euchre, so I am sure we will teach some others on our team how to play!

We finally arrived in Salamanca, Spain. It was such a nice little city, and had a nice center that we got to explore a little bit before the game. It was also warmer, which was enjoyable :). We played Wednesday, and we lost the game by 20. It was not our teams best performance, we just were not hitting shots and allowed them to dictate the tempo of the game. I did not get to play in the game, as my head was still scrambled. I wonder how I made it through all 4 years at UVM with not missing a game!!!

I have to write about the atmosphere at the game. the arena was packed, and there were screaming fans, to blow horns, to big loud drums! It was a very loud gym!!!! My head did not appreciate this, and I had to sit and watch the game with cotton balls in my ears to drown some of the noise out. 

Here are some pictures of the team in Spain:

 Me and our team trainer Migle in front of some random statue.

 Part of the center.

 The center again.

Most of the team, before we adventured out.

We got back from Spain on Thursday afternoon, and practiced Friday and then had a game Saturday.  We won our game Saturday (it was a Lithuanian league game), but I must explain the gym we played in. It was interesting to say the least.. there was debris falling from the ceiling the whole game, and wasen't cleaned up. Also the gym was so small, that when you sat on the bench your feet were on the court. No it wasn't just a toe or something on the court, your knees and feet were clearly on the court, so the out of bounds was not really a factor!

We had Sunday off, so me and Amanda decided to go SKATING! Well its was more of me dragging Amanda to come. She has avoided skating all throughout her childhood, so I was determined to teach her how to! There is an indoor skating rink in the mall, so we somehow communicated with the people, and figured out how to pay and get the right size of skates. 

Skating brought me back to my younger years, and made me want to be able to skate on the canal in Ottawa, which i have not been able to do since I was a young kid. It was fun to teach Amanda, although I don't know how much she enjoyed the experience, but I still had fun. Im hoping we get to go again soon, Amanda was able to skate on her own at the end of it.. so maybe persuading her wont be so difficult!

Well Sorry for the long post! But it had been awhile, so lots to share! We are off to Istanbul, Turkey for a game this week, and I am happy to say that I have fully recovered, and will be practicing Monday.

Until next time,

Courtnay

HUGE WIN!

Our team had our first Euro League game yesterday, and we were in tough. We were playing the 4 time defending champions of the league.. so basically the best team in Europe! Nothing like starting with the best!

Now, I cannot go into full detail about the game, but it was one of the better games I have been involved in. We won by 2 on a buzzer beater layup! We were up the whole game and then they rallied back to tie it, and then we made the layup to win the game... It was a HUGE upset, and nobody expected us to compete.. let alone win! Our team rushed the court like we just won a National Championship!

Mind you there team was missing two of their best players, but they still had 2 WNBA players, and some really good Russian national team players, and our team does not have any WNBA players.. but we played as a team and prevailed! We got rewarded with a day off today, so that was nice. We have a Lithuanian league game tomorrow, so another chance to play! :)

 The Dog Pile that ensued after we won the game!

Me playing in the game, a nice action shot. 

Here is a link to the story about our game, you can scroll to the end of the page and watch the video of the layup!

http://www.basketnews.lt/news-33752-bimbaite-ir-vici-aistes-parklupde-daugkartines-eurolygos-cempiones-video-foto-komentarai.html

Well thats all for now,  hope everyone is well back in North America!

Until next time,

Courtnay

Differences

So,

I figured i'd write a little bit about the differences between Lithuania and North America. Although the difference are not big, some of them are quite funny.  One of the ones I have been meaning to write about is the fact that when you walk into a mall or a grocery store here, it is not so easy as you'd think!
Two situations occur... One you either have to enter on the left through automated doors, and then instead of walking straight through the next set of doors, you have to walk to the right and enter where you in North America would be exiting... weird! Of course there are obstacles in your way.. like 5 atm's so it just doesn't make any sense! The second thing that could occur, would be the sliding doors open up as you approach, but only open a bit making it hard for two people to fit through at the same time. Again it just doesn't make any sense.

Another difference is the way that sex appeal is displayed. We were at a team dinner at our trainers house, and we got a gift for her husband who was cooking for us. We gave him a set of shot glasses... normal enough, except they were shaped like nude women. I was shocked that we were giving a married man something like that. I would expect that at a college party, or a bachelor party. He loved the shot glasses, and explained to me that this was totally normal.

Also there are many what I would call racy photos around the city, even in our weight room we have pictures of girls or guys that you would NEVER see in North America unless your reading a magazine from the top shelf! Also I have seen multiple shirts that have naked women on them in clothing stores. I do not think that would be okay in North America.

Another difference, is the fact that when driving you have to stop ANYTIME for pedestrians, whether there is a crosswalk or not. As your driving you have to slam on the breaks as someone comes sauntering across 4 lanes of traffic. Now yielding to pedestrians is not something we don't do in North America, but we also do not take it to this level. We have been warned many times from the girls, that the cops in Kaunas will pull you over and ticket you for not doing it.

That brings me to my next point. With this warning about being pulled over for not stopping for pedestrians, we were also warned about the police. We were told that if we ever got pulled over to call our team manager, because all they want is a bribe. So if we ever get pulled over, I will be sure to pull some money out to give to the cop, so no trouble occurs. Could you imagine handing over money to a police man in North America??!?!!

One difference, which really isn't that big of a deal, but for some reason bothers me every time is the amount of receipts you get after a purchase!! I literally get 3 or 4 receipts every time I go to any type of store... Again not that big of a deal, but has become one of my pet peeves. Also when you get change back from the cashier, they do not hand it to you.. they religiously put it on a plastic table thing for you to take along with your pile of receipts.

5...3...2

 

5 3 2.. Let me tell you..... this drill has been the death of me and Amanda the past couple days. We have had to do this drill at the end of the practice the past couple days, and it has provided some frustrating times, but also a good blog opportunity. The drill itself is not to difficult, two players take alternating shots and you have to hit 5 middle shots, then 3 threes and then 2 fouls shots. You have to hit them all in a row, so 10 shots in a row.  Of course anytime there is partner stuff Amanda and I go together. The first time we had to do this drill it took us 45 mins to finish. (I am not lying….or exaggerating!) Our partnership was the last to leave, and everyone was already in the locker room changed and ready to leave. They all laughed a little at us for taking so long.

Now I know Amanda and I are good shooters, but it was a case of us not being on the same page. I would hit my shots, and she would miss and then she would hit her shots and then I would miss. It was just not working out to our advantage. We have since done this drill about 3 more times.. and yes the same result, us being the last pair to finish. I find it a bit funny now that I look back on it, but needless to say Amanda and I were frustrated while doing it.

Now that I have shared my fond memories of 5 3 2, let me tell you about my weekend. On Saturday I went to my first movie here in Lithuania. Yes the movie was in English, but it had Lithuanian subtitiles. I saw the social network movie, and I quite enjoyed it but the fact that we have movies being made about facebook shows just how much society is reliant on technology. We have a movie making money off how a internet site was made, I wonder what my kids will grow up with, that I will think is ridiculous!

Sunday, Amanda and I went to the center to walk around. The shops were closed because it was Sunday, but it was nice to go see it, and we got to eat at a nice restaurant (even though the service was SOOO slow). We will be adventuring down there when we have a day off during the week, for some serious shopping.

We then spent the day in my apartment, where we started off by baking cookie and brownies. Now we had some difficulties…..like the directions for the cookies being in German… not Lithuanian…and the cookie sheet not fitting in the over, OR having to put cardboard in the oven (? Who knew that was normal for brownies)? The cookies did not turn out so well, but still eatable. The brownies turned out great and we shared them with our team the next day.

While these goodies were cooking, we started carving out pumpkins! Now I don’t remember the last time I actually carved a pumpkin, let alone was able to celebrate Halloween. Amanda was VERY excited to start, so she was in beast mode the whole time we were carving. I on the other hand was not as excited, but still had a lot of fun carving my pumpkin and I am happy with the way it ended up. (note- Halloween in Lithuania is Nov 1st, and is a somber day.. no costumes, but instead go to church and pray).

We also had big daddy playing in the background, so I was happy about watching this movie, as it truly is one of the funnier movies I have seen!

We ended the evening with cooking a nice meal for us, and then we had to end our lovely weekend and get ready for the week ahead of us.  I know this is a long blog, so props to those who have read the entire thing! 

Now here are some pictures of this lovely weekend!

 

Me on a bridge with the view behind me.

 Me posing with a bench in the center

 Amanda and I drive by this everyday, so we had to take a photo.. I think we will go towards Kaunas.. were we live

 Me being me, and being silly. I do love this photo!

 A random statue, but nice view behind it.

 A statue in the center.

 I was not impressed with taking all the insides out of the pumpkin... Forgot how long it takes!

 Amanda And I with our pumpkins! I think we did a great job.

 A great Saturday evening! A puzzle, and some American beer along with listening to the Texas football game! Doesn't get much better then this!

 A view of the city.

 Waaaaaay to excited to start baking.

 The center.. It reminds me so much of Church St in Burlington, just longer!

 Kitchen full of goodies!!

I saved this picture for last for a reason. This is the BIGGEST bottle of alcohol I have ever seen! I thought we take drinking seriously... apparently in Europe this is OK to sell???? 

Well That is a nice recap of my adventures so far... Here are a couple links to some videos of the photo shoot, so you can see some behind the scenes of that day.

http://tv.delfi.lt/video/Q5ZAXWYz/

http://www.basketnews.lt/news-33418-lmkl-rinks-zaviausia-krepsininke-foto-video.html

Until next time,

Courtnay

First Lithuanian Game

So, Just a quick update! We played our first game today for our Lithuanian League. We won 112-48. The Lithuanian league is not suppose to be very strong, so this was no surprise to the team. We basically use these games to work on stuff to play in the other league (euroleauge).

One funny moment, was when they brought our uniforms to us before the game, along with some needles and thread. Apparently there was not enough time for one last patch to be sewn (? I have no idea if this is how its spelt.. my English has gotten worse since being over here)!
Anyways, we literally all took our jerseys and got to sewing the patch on. It was quite a funny sight to see us all sitting down sewing away right before a game. My patch didn't last long, as after the game it was falling off. Lets see if it makes it through a wash without completely falling off!

So games have officially started, and of course every basketball player loves this because it means less practice and more fun! I will keep you updated along the way as much as possible.

This is our team photo, that we had from our photo shoot the other day. Not something you'd see in North America for sure, but I still think it turned out nice.

Until next time,

Courtnay

The First Week!

Now that you have seen my apartment, I figured Id tell you about some of the things that have gone on in my week here!

Practice- we practice twice a day typically.  It is usually easier in the morning including weights, agility, and more shooting. The evening practice is harder, which has lots more of 5 on 5 and going over our plays and our defense.  The language barrier is a little bit difficult when im trying to understand the exact reasoning for things, but im adjusting to it so far.

One of the gyms we practice in.

Photo shoot- So we had a photo shoot for our team photo. First of all it was in a restaurant in the local mall… so that’s a weird place to have it, secondly there were about 4 cameramen, and a video guy. It felt like the paparazzi was all around us.

Once I got there, I spent about 45 mins to an hour getting my makeup and hair done. Now ANYONE who knows me… knows I do not do makeup, let alone do my hair that often. So sitting for almost an hour to be done up, was not high on my list of things to do. Once I was done with that I changes into my uniform, and had some photos taken. Mostly head shots, but the best part was the people in charge clipped my uniform back to make it even tighter on me. Sex appeal in Europe is crazy. So you can imagine how uncomfortable I was with my hair done and my makeup done, in tight clothes…

It was still a funny experience to go through, and I did have some fun with it. Of course Photos were taken to document this, since I don’t plan on it happening again anytime soon.

 After the photo shoot, before we headed to our apartments. You get the Idea.....(we are blowing kisses, because our last team photo, we had to "give kisses". Clearly we are mocking it).

Night Life- We had Sunday off, so Saturday Amanda and me went out with three of the other girls. It was a scary experience, not knowing what to expect and going out in a city not knowing where you really are, or how to speak the language. The evening started with us going to one of the girls house to get “ready” for the evening. Amanda and me taught the girls some North American card games, and how we partied in college. They enjoyed it for sure. Needless to say I survived and it was a memorable first night out! 

 Me and my teammates before we headed out.

Midnight Madness?- Well its not exactly like midnight madness in college, but our team had an afternoon game against “politicians” All I know is that one was the mayor, and Im not quite sure who else was playing. It was fun to just get out and play a friendly game J We also got to have our team introduced, and it was definitely a new way to be introduce. We had to grab a little boy and walk out with him, when our name was called out. We also got gifts and flowers before the game. I could get use to this!!!

 Me playing against the Politicians.. You can see how short my shorts are...:S

Well that is all I have for now! First game is Friday!!!

Until next time,

Courtnay