I haven’t blogged in three weeks, not because I have nothing to say, but because I’ve been up to many different things… which is definitely good with the amount of free time I have during the day. Between basketball, traveling, shopping, coaching and more, I have been keeping myself very busy.
In the past few weeks, I have made strides in learning a little more Luxembourgish. I have “moyen” (hello) and “addi” (goodbye… tough one to remember, I know) down, but I decided I wanted to talk more during practice. So, I am learning to count! Yes, very elementary, but still tough. Every Tuesday before practice, we lift as a team, and this time has become my new language learning session. We lift in partners, so my partner would say the number and I would repeat it. I can understand the numbers up to 20 when I hear them, but I still have a tough time remembering 13-20 on my own. In honor of my mastering 1 to 12, below are the top 12 highlights of the past three weeks.
1 (Eent) To start my fifth week overseas, I decided to take a trip to Brussels, Belgium. It was a three-hour train ride from Luxembourg, so I got up early, worked out, and hopped on the train. I didn’t even check the train stops and was caught off guard when I realized that there were 5 different stops in Brussels. Panic-stricken because I was alone and in a train car by myself, I quickly ran to the next car to see if anyone could speak English and help me. Lucky for me, an older couple told me right where to get off the train to sightsee. I wandered out of the train station and ran right into a beautiful cathedral (a staple of any town or city in Europe). From there, I wandered through the shops, sampled some delicious chocolate, and took pictures of some architecturally interesting government buildings. Brussels was an amazing place, with great food/desserts and picturesque streets, and I certainly plan on heading back there soon.2 (zwee) After my Monday trip, it was back to real life for the rest of the week. The second highlight of the past three weeks was getting new workout buddies during my morning sessions. Instead of shooting around by myself, I joined the Americans on our men’s team for their morning workouts run by their coach. Some guys from other teams come to the workouts as well. It’s been so much better and more enjoyable now that don’t have to chase the ball around the gym by myself. Oh, and I lost 10 Euro in a half court shooting contest after one of the workouts. I am determined to get that back… Coach Flores didn’t teach us how to shoot those shots for nothin’!
3 (drai) Week 5 was also the start of the regular season. We played Esch, a top team in the league. We battled for 40 minutes, but ended up losing by 14 (the score was closer than that the whole game though). I had 16 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists, but learned that I must play more efficiently. My shots just weren’t falling, and it definitely cost us. Besides the L, I thought our team showed good upside potential in how hard we played.
4 (veier) On Sunday after the Esch game, I participated in a “Fun Run” with little kids from Walferdange. It was a 10k, 5k, and “fun run” event for the whole town, and the women’s basketball team was there to show our support. Our job was to form the human barrier of a starting line with a hundred or so little kids pushing and kicking us to try to gain an advantage and start first. My new number skills came in handy during the countdown, as I knew when to start running so as not to get trampled by a million little kids. It was an awesome way to see what the community of Walfer was like and I’m glad I woke up so early to do it.
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| The canal in Vianden |
5 (fennef) Sunday afternoon I was taken to a Nut Festival in Vianden, a small town with a famous castle. You are probably wondering what a Nut Festival is, and so was I. Every year, there is a festival in Vianden dedicated to the harvesting of different types of nuts. There are roasted nuts for sale along with nut cakes, cookies, and liquor… that’s right, nut liquor. Basically, the rest of my Sunday consisted of tasting different types of food and drinks while listening to techno music alongside a canal, watching older drunk people dance on balconies and younger drunk people fall into bushes. An uneventful Sunday, I know :). I had a great time and wish every there were a festival every weekend!
6 (sechs) Week 6 started with a bang as well. Monday night was ladies night at the movie theatre so a few of my teammates and I went to see the film. Before the movie, we went to a restaurant that serves “all you can eat” wings on Monday nights. Coach Moore had told me about this place, and for Luxembourgish hot wings, they were pretty good. Stuffed and ready to watch a movie, we headed into the theatre. Ladies night is a night where only girls can go to see this particular movie (normally a chick flick, and yes, I had to explain to my teammates what a chick flick was), get a goodie bag filled with coupons and champagne, and enter to win raffles before the show starts. Though the movie was the typical chick flick, I still had a lot of fun… and thoroughly enjoyed watching Mich, our 6’2 center, take all the bottles of champagne out of bags left on empty seats at the end of the movie.
7 (siwwen) On Tuesdays and Thursdays starting from Week 6 on, I am training young kids before my practices. They are elementary to middle school aged kids with a ton of energy. It’s tough, however, because they do not learn to speak English until high school, so there is a bit of a language barrier. With the help of one of my teammates and with a few of the kids who know a little English, drills get translated and skills get practiced. They are a lot of fun!
8 (aacht) Toward the end of the week, our team was preparing for our first double-game weekend. Friday’s game was against Contern, a team who won their opening game. I came out on fire, hitting my first 4 shots but fizzled out for the remainder of the game. Poor shooting plagued us again, but we were able to rally from 12 down in the fourth quarter to pull out a win. We showed a lot of fight. Some things I learned in the Contern game were that players cannot call timeouts (I had two 5 second calls while trying to do so) and that being a smart player in the States doesn’t equate to smart plays in Europe (running out the clock is tough when there is an 8 second backcourt rule). After the game, I was informed of the rest of the rules that were different from the States (though I thought I was told most of them after our first scrimmage). It made for some good laughs with my teammates. Lessons learned are always better when they are learned after a win!
9 (neng) Etzella was our opponent on Sunday. A one day rest led to a battle during the game. Tired legs didn’t help us shoot lights out, but again, we gutted out the win powered by a great defensive effort. My shots weren’t falling again, but I was saved by the stripe. Ten for ten from the free throw line with two to seal it at the end capped off a good team win. Though I thought I learned all the new rules, the travel call in Europe still got me good. Four turnovers on four travels… apparently they have a thing for calling it on the Americans.
10 (zeng) After being beaten up pretty good from the long weekend, I decided to walk out my soreness with a trip to Strasbourg, France. Accompanied by a new travel buddy, Cerie Mosgrove, the American player on the Dudelonge team, I got up early and we made the 2 hour train ride to France. Strasbourg is a beautiful city with waterways running through it at multiple points. We visited the shopping malls, churches, cathedral, and ‘Little Paris’. Amazing pastries were on display in shop windows, and naturally, we had to try a few. Desserts over here are AWESOME! We also tried our luck with some street food. Cerie speaks a little French, so we decided we would try to order in the native language. As she was teaching me how to pronounce the type of sausage I was going to get, the little Frenchman in front of us turned around to tell us that “they probably speak English,” in a snooty voice. Typical French move” is what I was told later by some of my teammates. No matter what language we ordered in, the food was delicious and very satisfying after a long walk around the city.11 (elef) Mousel Pikes was the game that awaited us at the end of the week. They've been the top team in the league for the past few years, and they showed why right from the beginning. A ten point run after the tip knocked us right on our heels. I felt like we were a little intimidated, so I tried to calm the team down with a few strong takes and by knocking down a few jump shots. The score in the end ended up being very lopsided. But, it’s early in the season, and it shows us what we have to work on!
12 (zwielef) My favorite thing about these past few weeks has been getting to know and spend time with my teammates. They really don’t have to take me along to everything, but they do. They always ask me if I would like to join them, whether it be to the movies or to a meal, and I have met so many nice people through them. To that I say "Thank you" or I should say "Merci". Merci, Merci, Merci times zwielef (that is as high as I can count so far).
Those are the top zwielef things about the last few weeks… and to my mom and dad, “yes, I am still loving it here; and no, I’m not homesick yet.”
Addi,
Addie
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