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