another week gone by..

Another week has flown by here in Lithuania! We had a euroleague game in Spain, so we had some more flights and long travel days… The game did not go well at all for us. The team cohesion is just not where it should be, so hopefully we will clean that up before our next game.

Spain is an amazing country, and I really would love to play there someday.  We were able to walk around the hotel area and enjoy the weather a bit. Walking around in shorts and a shirt in October is always nice.

Here are some photos from out travel, as we flew through London on the way there and Italy on the way back!

 Krispy Kreme donuts for the team!

They had a London 2012 store... didnt buy anything because I will be there in the summer

Only in Italy would they have pizza's in a vending machine... made fresh!

I am looking forward to being in Lithuania for a whole week without travelling on a plane! I have seen too many of them the past two weeks. We play Prague this week at home… our first home game, and I think we will all come out with something to prove.

So I promised some more photos from my lovely house in Lithuanian, so here they are!

 Once I arrived.. our kitchen and dinning area

 The sign I walked into once I entered the house..

 our small tv and fireplace

Upstairs.. my room (before I set anything up)

We also had out lovely photo shoot this week, where we had the entire hair and makeup done for us again, although this year was not as bad as last year.. and we had our photo shoot in a car dealership, so the pictures should be interesting.. (they will be posted when I get them).

 Our team photo- Vici Aistes 2011-2012

My head shot... number 13 this year.

Well that is all for me now.. Hope all is well back across the ocean!

Courtnay

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

What doesn't kill you makes you stronger

Hi all!

So as many of you know... we lost our semi-finals last night by 2 against Argentina. This could have been one of the most disappointing games i've been in a LONG time!

Normally I wont complain about the ref situation, but we felt like the outcome would have been different if the ref was aware of the situation at the end of the game. Needless to say it didn't work out that way, and we lost. Like the title of my post says... what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Our entire team was upset, anger, and frustrated after the game. It is always tough to lose, but when you feel like you deserved to win.. its even tougher.

With that said, we play in the third place game tonight, and were looking to bounce back and finish strong. I absolutely love this team, and know that next summer we will qualify for the Olympics in the world qualifier!

My team-mates have worked so incredibly hard to earn this, and we know it will come for us.

Thats all for now,

Courtnay