Summer 2011

Wow! So this blog update is WAAAAY past due! I apologize for not blogging this summer! I have been busy, and then when I did get some time off I wanted to spend it with friends and family.

This will be a long one, as I have a lot to recap so bare with me if you can!

So without further a due…. I Give you my summer travels!

First trip: Spain and France!

So with the Canadian team we went to Spain and France to play 6 games, against some of the best European teams. We went 1-5, but all our games were close and for it being our first games together in a year it went well! My highlight of the trip was getting to spend a day in Madrid! I have fallen in love with Spain, and would love to play there for a year or two.  France was nice too, but we spent a little amount of time there and did not get to see the city we were in.

In Madrid some of the girls went on a GPS go kart tour of the city, and I went with my roomie Krista, and got completely lost!! Everything we tried kept bringing us back to a dead end, so we ended up driving around in a little go kart on the main streets of Madrid trying to find our way back out! Needless to say we still got to see some stuff, and have a story to tell!

 Not of me.. but this was the go kart we drove around in!

 Getting some instructions from coach in one of our games

On the court, after a huddle

A couple of the girls explore Segovia, Spain

Had to pose for a photo with them! :)

1^st Break: So after this we had 6 weeks off! I was shocked that we had this much time off, but I was soo happy to finally be home for more then a week! I spent the majority of time at home, working out and catching up with friends and family. I could never tell you how much this meant to me! I also planned a couple trips as I went to Syracuse for some shopping, and then went to Vermont, Indiana, St. Louis, and Boston to visit friends.

This break was crazy! I got to see a former enemy (Carlee Cassidy, who played at UMBC) we are now friends. Funny how things change when the competition is taken out of it. I got to see most of the UVM girls, and the freshman… it is still weird to walk into Patrick Gym and know I wont ever be playing there again. 

I got to see my old room-mate Meghan, who I had not seen in two years! It was so great to see her as I have kept in touch and finally got to hang out with her.  Highlight of that trip was being able to go see the Hoosiers gym. ANYONE who likes basketball knows this movie, and being able to see the gym where it was filmed was amazing.. Yes I bought a Jimmy Chitwood shirt :)

I saw Sarah Madey in Boston, who I played with for two years and we spent an amazing weekend together at the beach and just hanging out. Also watching the newest Chronicles of Narnia movie!

Lastly, I visited Amanda (my team-mate in Lithuania) in St. Louis to celebrate her birthday! I had a blast with her and loved getting to meet/see all the places she had talked about. Now next summer Amanda is coming to visit Ottawa (hint hint)

 Hoosiers Gym in Indiana

 Meghan and I in the locker room

 Out for a little sundae treat

 Had to go to the Cardinals Stadium...

 At the Arch.. of course we had to have our jumping photo

 Yes.. I went up in the Arch.. this was the view :)

At the St.Louis zoo.. who knew it was legit?

Second Trip: Japan and China!

So I was back at it with Japan and China trips with Canada basketball. We went 1-2 against both Japan and China, but again all the games being close and competitive. These games I really saw a difference in our team, you could see the hard work we’ve been putting in coming together. Japan was a very neat country, and we stayed in Nagasaki, and got to see ground zero where the US dropped the bomb years ago. It was so neat to see the monuments, and how the city has rebuilt itself.

China was a bit different, it was a little dirtier, and there was the constant layer of smog in the air. Also we had what we would call one or two star hotels to stay in. At least we had a roof over our heads and a bed (even if it was like sleeping on concrete). I also got to experience the crazy drivers in China.. it’s really is organized chaos…. Honking everywhere, passing cars with oncoming traffic, and not obeying red lights… it was scary to begin with, but we got use to it, or you just looked down when driving.

The highlight of the trip was for sure going to see the Great wall of China! Man is it big!! I am so lucky I get to see all these famous monuments, and wonders of the world! I was taken a back from the Great Wall! We didn’t even walk a lot of it since we had practice later that day, but it was a great experience.

 Our view from our hotel in Japan

 Before one of our games in Japan, they had such good crowds

 The great wall... The picture does not do it justice

 A couple of us posing for a pic!

 Another team photo

 After we had walked up part of the way

Before a game in Japan.

 Organize chaos in the streets of China

The team on our sightseeing day in China

2^nd break: So now I have 3 weeks off at home, and I have been busy getting everything ready to go back to Lithuania (as I go right after the Olympic qualifiers). Also back to see my friends and family again, which I always nice! J I have a trip to NYC planned with Jori and to meet up with Jackie, so that is very exciting. Other then that I have been at home relaxing and working out. Nothing too crazy for me this trip!

 My two best friends and I back together!

 Having a feast of a BBQ :) Little things like this I miss when im away

 Playing Cranium with friends.. 

 Jori and I enjoying Ottawa night life 

Evan and I posing for a pic.

Well If you are still reading this blog! Good for you!! I know its long, but I tried to put in lots of photos to help with the reading!

I will be blogging more often.. not daily like some people have requested (not naming names), but I promise it will be much more frequent from now on!

Courtnay

Some more visits!

 This past week has been filled with lots of excitement for me! last weekend I had Jackie my best friend from college come visit me (a.k.a my wife). Then I had my trainer from Canada basketball come visit me on Tuesday and Wednesday!

The weekend with Jackie was a lot of fun, and it was so great to see her after not seeing her for almost a whole year! Its funny how you can go so long without being around someone, but everything goes back to normal when you see them again! Jackie and I were both back to being our silly goofy selves as soon as we saw each other!

Amanda and I spent a few hours in Vilnius with Jackie after picking her up from the airport, which was nice. We had practice that night, so it was a quick visit for some lunch, and of course a few pictures.

Jackie came to practice with us, and got to see us practice with 6 people and just have shooting competitions. After that Amanda and I took Jackie to Bajorkemis, which is a traditional Lithuanian restaurant. We both have taken our parents there to try the Cepelinai (national dish), so of course Jackie had to try it. Of course she loved it!

Saturday we had a morning bike workout (sidenote.. Amanda and I decided to dress a little crazy to this.. just for fun). After that we got in our car, and headed back to Vilnius to try out this water park that our team-mate recommended. We had so much fun in this water park, it had the slides coming out of the building and then back into it. We spent a fair amount of time trying all the slides, and then sat in the hot tub for a bit. We then ventured to the swim up bar! I have always wanted to be able to go to a resort on vacation and have a swim up bar... why not just do it in Lithuania!!

After that we went to the Brazilian Grill all you can eat buffet, and enjoyed some delicious meat there. We of course looked around in the mall for a bit... took more photos, then headed back to Kaunas to see the late movie of Water for Elephants. The movie was a lot better then I had anticipated it being from the previews, so that was good!

Sunday was an off day, so we got back in the car and drove 2 hours to Klaipeda, where we took a ferry over to Nida and walked along the Baltic Sea, and saw the sand duns. The sea was awesome to go visit, although it was a bit chilly, it was great to be able to see the sea. (no pun intended).

We had an early dinner in the city, then headed back home! It was a very busy weekend, and was so nice to be with a great friend again and show her where I have been living for the past 7 months!

Here are some photos from Jackie's visit!

 Jackie and I

 Jackie and I by the Baltic Sea

Making fun of the fact that we are married on facebook!

 In Vilnius right after Jackie arrived!

 Jackie, me, Amanda right before we went to eat at Bajorkemis

 Amanda and I.. Yes we can jump high!

 Amanda and I putting our feet in the Baltic Sea

 Me being silly of course!

 Love you mom! (Had to get some brownie points)!

Of course there are about 200 photos of us from the weekend, but these are some of my favorites!

Jackie left Monday morning, and then Tuesday morning I picked up Joan and had another busy two days!

Joan was out visiting me and another national team member, just coming to look at little injuries, and do some assessment before we head into the first camp in middle of May. Also we worked on putting some ideas from a nutritionist into my daily life, so we did a lot of cooking, and treatments!

Tuesday I had a game, so luckily Joan was able to see that, and Wednesday we had off so we spent it do some body assessments and cooking up some delicious pasta sauce and some even better shrimp!

Tuesday and Wednesday flew by, and I have just dropped Joan off at the train for her to head back to Toronto.

Our team has the last 2 games on our finals Friday and Saturday, and then I am leaving early Tuesday morning to head HOME! :) I am soo excited to be heading home, and cannot wait to see all my friends and family again!

Until next time,
CP

Champs.. once again!

So this past week has been filled with basketball, and not much else. We had been preparing for our Final Four weekend, and to win the Baltic League championship!

We had our first game on Friday, where we were playing another Lithuanian team so we knew them well. This was the fourth or fifth time that we have played them, so there was nothing new from either team. We struggled in the beginning of the game and couldn't hit anything! So needless to say the first half was an ugly one, as we missed one wide open shot after another, while the other team seemingly hit everything.

The second half was better, and we came back and ended up winning by 12. We were all happy that game was over, and that we could play the next day for the championship!

We ended up playing a team from Russia (Spartak). They have some very talented players, including a WNBA player so we had our hands full. We started out the game pretty well, and after the first quarter took it to them and built a 12 point half time lead. Everyone was playing so well, and held their best player to 3 points in the first half!

The second half we continued to press, and opened up a bigger lead. Spartak of course made a run at us, and hit some key shots to keep them in striking distance. After a couple big shots by us and defensive stops, we had our lead to 13 again and we had won the game!

The celebration was pretty much like the DnB cup! This time we got T SHIRTS!! We got some shirts that say 2011 Baltic League Champions, so as we celebrated.. we were getting t shirts handed to us! It was like I was back in college again :)! We had the medal ceremony and trophy presentation, along with the confetti again, so of course we felt like rock stars again... I must say I do not get tired of this!

Here are some Photos from the celebration....

 Probably one of my all time favorite photos! Me and Marina goofing off

 The team, Marina had to show off for the camera!

 The team with our trophy :)

 Marina, me, Amanda, and Geidre enjoying the confetti!

CHAMPS! Before the medal presentation, with our sweet shirts!

Here are a couple links for video of the game/celebration!

http://www.basketnews.lt/news-38543-vici-aistes-apgyne-bwbl-cempioniu-titula-video-foto-komentarai.html (the video is all the way at the bottom)

http://www.lrytas.lt/videonews/?id=13023616381300812956

Well that was my weekend!! Now we only have left the Lithuanian playoffs, so hopefully another Championship!!!  Then Jackie comes to visit on Friday, and then my Canada Basketball trainer will visit next Tuesday.. then HOME!!!!!!!!! 

I still don't have a ticket home yet, as we don't know when our last game is.. but its about 2 weeks till I will be home! :) So exciting!

Until next time,

Courtnay

Baltic League Semi Finals!

So our team recently went to Belarus to play in the Baltic League semi finals. We had to play 3 games in 3 days, so we were all ready to be plenty tired and sore after the weekend! We had to win 2 games, to move onto the finals which are coming up on the 8th/9th of April.

So the beginning of the trip began with Marina, Giedre, Amanda, and I all going to the Sandwich bar to get some sandwiches and smoothies for the ride. It was there when Amanda realized she didn't have her white uniform.. so the adventures began! Amanda and Giedre left to get the jersey and make it back in time for the bus, while Marina and I waited for the sandwiches and headed off to the bus.

When we got to the bus, we were all expecting our small (VERY small) bus that we take to LMKL games... but were pleasantly surprised to find a comfortable party bus.. okkk not a party bus, but it had leather seats, and kitchen, and the back of the bus had a half moon set up with a table.. kinda like you were VIP at a club! Everyone was excited to know that our 5 hour trip would be in style!

After we took forever to get through the boarders...we finally got to our hotel 5 hours after we left Kaunas, and were greeted with smoked filled air, and what seemed to be a very sketchy country in general! Spending 4 days here would definitely be interesting!

So now the games... We won our first two games against two Belarus teams by 20 and 30.. They were not our best games, but it was great to play someone other then the Lithuanian teams! Our third game we were playing against the best Belarus team, who had 6 of the Belarus national team players that I had played this summer.

The game was very competitive, and was back and forth most of the second half. Our team got a couple crucial defensive stops and hit some big three's to give us the lead towards the end of the game, and we held onto the lead and won the game by 6! It was great to finally play a competitive game, and be in a battle! It was just like euroleague again :)

Now our team and the team we just beat are both going to the Final Four which is being hosted in Kaunas, and we will have another Lithuanian team along with a Russian team. The winner is the best of the Baltic League.. so more competitive games coming up!

My thought on Belarus as a country, is that I don't really feel the need to go back ever again in my life! It made me appreciate North America for sure... The girls tell us that the country is about 10 years behind Lithuania in most things, so we were not in a modern country by any means. Also there public toilets are really just a hole in the bottom of the floor, and you have to squat down to pee.... I refused to go to the bathroom... I waited until we got back to the hotel!

So thats it from our Belarus trip! We have a Lithuanian playoff game Tuesday, and then Baltic League Final Four Friday and Saturday.. Things are finishing up quick!

P.S 22-25 days till IM HOME :)

Until next time,

Courtnay

My week with my dad!

First of all, let me apologize for not blogging in awhile... I have been pretty busy lately! Now I have some more free time, so I will fill you in on my dad and Nicolettes wonderful trip to Lithuania!!

Nicolette and my dad first stopped in Holland for a couple days, so I had to wait till Tuesday to go pick them up from the airport. I had practice in the morning, and then Amanda and I busted out of there very fast to drive the hour to Vilnius to pick them up. I was so excited that I ran and jumped onto my dad, I think I startled him as he didn't see me coming!

Now I didnt have as much time as I wish to show them around Lithuania, seeing as I had two practices most days, but we made do... The day they arrived, Amanda and I dropped them off to explore downtown a bit while we practices, and then went to this traditional Lithuanian restaurant to get the National dish- Cepelinai... Needless to say it is very filling!
 

So the next day I had practice in the morning and then the rest of the day off, so we decided to go to Trakai.. It is about 40 mins away from where I live and it is a very famous castle in Lithuania and  Vytautas the Great helped finish it, and also died in this castle. (my dad knew ALL the history, and told me what the castle was all about.. but of course I tuned him out most of the time and can't remember exactly he said). It was a lot of fun, Amanda, Lina (one of my team-mates), and I went around taking silly photos and whatnot, while my dad and Nicolette stopped to read all the historical stuff. It was great to see something I had not yet seen!

Here are some photos:

 Lina, me, Amanda on our way to the castle

 Lina and I excited to get the day started!

 Right as you walk into the Castle.

 Dad and Nicolette before heading over to the castle...

 The castle from a far, it really was a nice view!

 Picture inspired by AK...

Taking a break from touring the castle with my dad  :)

Once we were done with Trakai, we headed back into Kaunas to meet up with some of my team-mates for dinner. I wanted my dad to see my friends not just from a basketball standpoint, so it was nice to go out and relax for the night. Of course Nicolette and my dad had to have their first fried bread and beer tower experience all at one of our teams sponsors: Charlie's Pizza!

 Dad, me, and Nicolette after their first Charlie's experience

 The fab 5 :)

 The beer tower... HAD to have dad experience this!!

Me, Marina, and Giedre :)

So the next day I had two practices, so Nicolette and my dad decided to go visit Klaipeda, another city in Lithuania that is about 2 hours away. It is known for its water, as it connects into the Baltic Sea. Also it is known for its Amber, so it was a must see for them! They had a great time and enjoyed the day to themselves. Later that evening when they got back.. we stayed in and made dinner in my apartment and watched the movie Burlesque. These are the times I miss about home.. just being able to sit at home and "veg" watching a movie with my dad. 

Friday was game day, so my dad and Nicolette went and visited Old town in the morning, and then Amanda and I made them breakfast for when they got back. I must say, I have gotten a bit better at cooking while I've been living on my own! Next stop was to show my dad around the gym where I spend all of my time! My dad loved it, and was happy that he got to see the yellow, red, and green chairs...

More photos to document the gym I live in:

 Chatting away about something basketball related...

 Dad and I at center court <3

 Look its Vici!!

 Vici Aistes.

 My dad was literally soooo happy to see the gym!

Of course... the red, yellow, and green chairs.. Ha ha

After stopping at the gym, my dad and Nicolette followed the team bus to Vilnius, where our game was being played. They then got to see my play in one of our Lithuanian league games. We won by 50, so it wasen't too entertaining, but of course my dad was just happy to see me play! 

 Dad and I after my game :)

 Amanda, me, and my dad! Go North America! :)

Amanda, Lina, and I (yes I know how white I am)!

So Saturday was my dad and Nicolette's last day in Lithuania, and Amanda and I drove to Vilnius to meet them after our practice Saturday morning. We went to lunch at this pancake place, where it serves all kinds of crepes filled with whatever you want. It was delicious! Next we walked around the old town of Vilnius looking at souvenir shops, and of course the linen and amber shops.  

Then it was off to dinner, to get some more Lithuanian food and then to the Sky bar... which is on the top floor of a hotel, and has the best view of Vilnius at night. We spent the night there just talking.. okay maybe the occasional argument about technology and my age group...  Either way we had a lot of fun on their last night here. 

 Starting the evening off at the hotel bar, LOVE my dad :)

 Ya.. got my dad to have a cosmopolitan...:)

At the restaurant, enjoying the last night!

So my dad and Nicolette's trip has come to an end :(. It was a great time, and had some great memories! I will be home soon enough to see everyone at home, but it was nice to have home in Lithuania for a few days!

I am so grateful to have parents who love me, and support me halfway across the world :) My moms just waiting for me to play in a warmer place :) (don't blame her)!

This past week has been crazy for basketball, we went to Belarus for the Baltic league semi-finals. We won 3 games in 3 days, but I will blog more about that soon!

Hope everyone is doing well! :)

Until next time,

CP

Linas visits Lithuania :)

So, this past week hasen't had much entertainment. We had one game which we won by 40 against the second best team. It was great to be back on the court and play.

We had two days off this weekend.... which was so nice to be able to sleep in and just relax. No crazy adventures, but I did spend a lot of the weekend cleaning getting prepared for MY DAD :)

I am soo excited too see my dad and Nicolette. They come tomorrow until Sunday, so I will have plenty to blog about next week.

So another short post, but I promise an exciting blog after this week.

Until next time,
CP

Not so much new..

Im just writing a quick little something to say that really not much has been going on here.. We've had 3 Lithuanian games since the tournament... we won all 3.

I didn't get to play in the last two as I had a minor injury, so didn't want to risk getting hurt more to try and push through the two games.. This week I should be able to get back to normal and start practicing. Its funny how much you miss something when you cant do it for a couple days.

Other then that Amanda's parents were here all week, so that was awesome to finally meet her parents, and of course we explored the city more, and even found some new places for us to visit.. A nice restaurant, paintball, and a new mall! :)

My dad and Nicolette come a week on Tuesday, so I am praying I will be able to clean my apartment before they get here.. and of course Im really excited to see them, and show them around!

Thats all on my end! I hope everyone is enjoying North America.. I will be back soon!

Until next time,

CP