"Why does she only speak English and not German?"

I went to a school this morning with my teammate Hici. A woman that works for our club and the schools has done 5 baskeball sessions with a second grade class and this was their last one. So they did a few different games and drills and we played along and helped them out. At the beginning the woman introduced us as professional basketball players and the kids went crazy… It was so funny. It was like they saw us as being famous. Then at the end we all sat in a circle and they asked us a bunch of questions. The questions were in German, so Hici had to translate most of them to me. They asked things like: do we play with guys or just girls, how many points have we scored individually and as a team, when did we start playing, etc. One girl asked why I only speak English and not German. It was funny because she looked at her teacher as she said it…. But I could understand what she was asking, and I answered, "Ich komme aus U.S.A," which means I come from U.S.A... and then it made sense to her. It was fun being able to reply to her and I think I kind of surprised her. Then the woman had Hici and I hand out "Basketball diplomas" to each kid. We alternated reading their names and the total points that they earned in the different categories of shooting, dribbling, and passing. I did pretty well with the names and numbers. I was proud of myself. :) It was really fun and the kids were really cute!

Poster Signing and Another Crazy Game

On Friday night after practice some of our team went to this big department store called Ahrens where there was a big sale and longer hours for the day. We set up a few tables in the athletic wear area and gave out team posters that we signed and had our team calendars for sale. Afterwards I walked downtown a bit with Lori and Sascha. There were tons of people out and the whole town was lit up with cool lights and there were shops and restaurants open late and things going on outside because of the beginning of Advent. It was really fun, and it made me wish that I had fam and friends here to share the experience with.


Yesterday we traveled NW to Chemnitz about 5 hours away. We were losing for most of the game but took the lead in the 3rd or 4th quarter. By the end of the 4th quarter 4 of our players had fouled out. At the end of the 4th we were down by 1 point and Mirka got fouled. She made 1 free throw and then in our next possession she was fouled again and this time made both free throws to put us up by 2 points. With 20 seconds to go, the best player on the other team fought to get open to get the ball and then fought her way to the basket and banked a shot in just in time for the buzzer to tie the game. In over time we were the ones shooting a majority of the free throws unlike during regulation where Chemnitz was always at the line. So we pulled off the win by about 7 points. The entire game seemed pretty unorganized which I'm not really used to and was pretty frustrating for me, but at least we got a win.

On the way to Chemnitz we stopped at a stop that used to be an area where people who were crossing from East to West Germany had to cross the border. It was really interesting and there was a little model image of the border patrol and highway. I think that only people from West Germany could cross the border and it was very strict. One of my teammates who is now 32 remembers crossing there when she was little. She was from Berlin which is in the East, but owned by West Germany and she remembers her dad being very protective of her at the time. It was a pretty interesting and humbling experience to learn about that history.

Cup Game and Rivalry on the Radio

We played our second cup game tonight against Mainz and won. The German cup games start out with 32 teams; divisions 1, 2, and 3, teams are randomly selected to play each other. These games do not count toward the league game record… they're played on Wed. nights and league games are on Saturdays. These games are single elimination and we've played 2 so far. So now there are only 8 teams left including us. Whoever wins the German cup championship goes on to play in European cup games. It would be really cool to be able to travel to other European countries to play, so I hope that we continue to win! :)

Tonight I listened to the NMU home game vs. MI Tech. girl's basketball online. I have great memories of playing against Tech. and great memories of playing in that Arena at NMU. During the 1st half I thought about the Athletic Director and decided to send him and e-mail to see how he is doing and to wish him and the athletic department Happy Holidays. He must have checked his e-mail pretty soon after I sent it, because during the second half the radio announcers said hello to me and announced that I was listening to the game from Germany. :) It was really cool! The 2 girls that are still on the team (Maria Kasza and Al Carol) that played with me, played great, and it brought back good memories of playing with them. One of Tech's best players (Sarah Stream) actually made a recruiting visit to NMU when I was a Senior there and I happened to be her host that night and she stayed over at my house… so it was fun to hear her playing well too. The game was awesome to listen to, but unfortunately MI Tech. pulled out the win in the end.

Coachless Game

Yesterday we drove 5 hours to Frieburg to play a game at 7:30. During the first quarter our coach got 2 technicals and was ejected. The first one was because she was complaining to the refs, but the second one was called because she was yelling something to us at half court. From then on, it was a crazy game. That ref. seemed to call a lot of fouls to their advantage, and to top it off, our assistant coach didn't come with us because he had to coach a lower division team somewhere else. So, we basically coached ourselves. We played pretty well, but were down by 10 points at half time. In the 3rd quarter we made a great comeback, and in the 4th I hit a 3 to bring us within 1, and then we took the lead soon there after. Unfortunately, we didn't keep the lead very long, and ended up fouling a lot near the end. Although we lost, we played pretty well without a coach.
We didn't get back until 3 am, so I slept for about 4 hours and then went to church this morning. Although I was pretty I'm really glad that I was able to go. After church Lori and I are made our substitute Thanksgiving dinner, with chicken, mashed potatos, green bean casserole, bread, and cake. I am very excited to go home for Christmas in 3 weeks!

Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving, and its my dad's birthday, so I am missing my family and the celebration a lot. Today I had a basketball workout in the morning and then I went to our fitness center. I had a 20 min. walk home from there and I thought a lot about what I'm thankful for and how many blessings I have in my life. It was a little chilly and drizzling the whole way home, but it really didn't seem that bad or very long because I had so many things to think about and to be thankful for. :)

Today at practice a group of young guys from Honduras who are in a band came to our practice to meet us. Our club is sponsoring them and they are all orphans and really making something out of not having much. They performed a concert last night in Marburg and I guess they're becoming a big hit in Hondurus. They brought us some really cool Spanish carved wood, and said a few things through a guy who translated for them. Dani, one our teammates spoke some Spanish to them too… then they sang a little for us. It was really good. I was impressed.

Wednesday I had to work with the school kids in the gym all by myself for 3 hours. Usually I'm there just helping out Hans and don't have to run everything alone. So it was quite an experience. The first hour and a half was young kids, but two 14 year old girls from our club came to the gym and helped me out with the translating. It turned out to be pretty fun. The second hour and half group of kids were easier to work with because they understand English much better. Time actually went by faster than I thought it would and it was ended up being pretty fun.

4 Games In

So we're 4 games into the season now, and we've won 3 and lost 1. There are 12 teams in our conference and we play each team twice. We beat Leipzig, Zehlendorf, and Mainz, but we lost to Saarlouis by 5 points. It was a crazy game. It was so loud in the gym that would could barely hear the ref blow the whistle, which made communicating with our teammates pretty hard...These girls were all over us and were very aggressive on offense and defense, and unfortunately had us back on our heals. They were playing well, and the inconsitency in the reffing didn't help. Our coach got so frustrated with the refs. that in the 2nd quarter she kicked the air, and her shoe flew off and landed about 40 feet away on the court. So, technical foul and all, we were down by 18 at half time. Somehow we dug ourselves out of that hole, but it took the entire 2nd half. With about 30 sec. to go we were down by only 2 points. Lori drove to the basket, made the shot, and the ref. blew the whistle.... We were already celebrating because we thought this was our chance to take the lead, but then we looked at the ref, and realized he was calling an offensive foul on her. So, we ended up losing that game... but it was a good learning experience. I like playing with my team a lot. You can really tell that everyone is playing because they love the game, and that they really want to be here. One great advantage I think that we have is more depth than most teams in our league, so they get tired quicker.

It has been hard adjusting to the style of play and the way the game is reffed. There are also some rules that are different, and some of them I've learned the hard way. Like one time I threw the ball in bounds from the left side of the half court line, to my teammate, who was on the opposite side of the half court line, and the ref. called a backcourt violation. Another thing that I learned in a game without anyone telling me is that each team gets 5 fouls per quarter before the other team is in bonus. Then it starts over in the next quarter, instead of 7 per half. Oh, and traveling... that has been a tough one... but only when you take off.. if you pick up the ball after you were already dribbling it seems like you can take about 5 steps before they call it. And I feel like I'm in the NBA the way they allow continuation of scoring after they blow their whistle for a foul.

Although it gets frustrating at times, I'll never take for granted this great oppurtunity that I have... and I try to take as much from it as I can. You know that term, "You learn something new everyday?" Well, it has more meaning to me now. :)

Luxembourg

While you were sleeping at 5 am Eastern Time (11 am our time), Sunday morning, our team was 3 km away from France, in the country Luxembourg, playing against Belgium's best team. It was such a cool experience... and probably the best we've played as a team since I've been here... we ended up winning by about 15 points. Our two players who have been away with the German National team are back and played with us this weekend, and I like them a lot, as people and as teammates. On Saturday night we played against one of Luxembourg's best teams and won that game in over time. I'm really excited for the season to start next Saturday, especially after seeing how well we can play together with these 2 girls back.

It was fun to experience another country, especially such a small one... it is only about the size of Rhode Island. Its about 1,000 sq. miles and the population is around 470,000. It is a very wealthy country with very low unemployment and crime rates. Everyone there speaks 4 languages: Luxembourgish, German, French, and English. That's pretty amazing to me since there are so many people in America that don't even speak 1 language that well.... haha....Something that I saw there that I've never seen were tons of vinyards on hillsides... They're on such steep slopes that everything has to be done by hand. Maybe that's common, I'm not really sure, just thought it was cool because its something that I've never seen.

Marburg

I was really hoping to go somewhere cool like Frankfurt or Hamburg yesterday since we got this weekend off, but then we ended up having that event at 2:00pm (or should I say 14:00 like they do here)..... so later on last night I walked all around Marburg with my bookbag and my camera by myself, and felt like such a tourist.

Just in case you're curious about Marburg's history like I was here's what bcanet.org says about it, "Located in the wooded Lahn River valley in the state of Hesse, Marburg is picture-postcard gorgeous. Marburg is one of the best-preserved medieval cities in Germany; its many architectural gems include Germany's oldest Gothic church, the Elisabethkirche. An ambitious project to restore the city's half-timbered houses has added tremendously to Marburg's immense charm. On a hill high above, the city is dominated by the Landgrafenschloss, an imposing 13th-century stone castle. Formerly the home of Hesse's rulers, today it's a museum and a student residence. With a population of 80,000, Marburg offers the friendliness and convenience of a small city. But as a university town, Marburg also offers plenty of culture and nightlife."

Dogs and Brats

In Europe dogs really are man's best friend. Dogs can go everywhere that people go here, including grocery stores and restaurants.....but, I've been hearing dogs bark all weekend and I've been seeing them walked around the neighborhood a lot more than usual... at first I thought it was a little strange but then I realized that they were having a German Shepherd Expo. at our stadium which is right around the corner from our apartment....and actually the window of my bedroom is at the backside of our building so, I'm facing the stadium. Anway, I'm not really sure exactly what the Expo entails, but from what I could see it was like an obedience and "looks" competition. I never thought about the fact that "German" Shepherds would be such a big deal in Germany.

On Thursday night we had a preseason home game against Goettingen, a team that is in our league and is supposed to be very good.... we won by 10 points. It was a very fast paced game, and it was probably the best we've played together as a team since I've been here, so it was really fun. They happened to put a pic. of me from the game on the website next to the article. ;) Our next and last preseason games will be next weekend in Luxembourg.... I looked online at Wikipedia.org and found out that Luxembourg is a small landlocked country bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany, and it has a population of under half a million people in an area of about 2,600 square kilometres (1,000 sq mi). It'll fun to travel to another country, and I'm sure I'll have to take some more pictures ;).

On Saturday (yesterday) 5 of my teammates, my coach, and I went to a promotional day for one of our sponsors.... We have their logo on our uniforms, so they wanted us to wear our uniform to the event... there were a lot of people there from the community and they had a bunch of stands, a D.J., and some food and drinks. We sold some things of our own and signed a bunch of autographs.... and then later had some games and shot around with about 40 little kids on a portable basketball hoop. It was really fun. One thing that I thought was kind of funny was that almost everyone was eating a bratwurst on a baguette type roll... so both ends of the brat. were sticking way out of the ends of the roll and had ketchup and mustard all over their faces... so of course I had to try one, and it was pretty good. ;)

Church

Today was the first time that I have been able to go to church since I've been here. There is an American family that lives in Marburg that I was put in contact with through some missionaries (who I happened to run into downtown one day). Their names are the Rytings, they're from Kansas, and they have 3 young girls. They couldn't give me a ride this week, but a 27 year old girl named Bianka, who is studying literature at the local university, gave me and another girl Lena a ride to church. Our church is about 30 minutes away and starts at 9:30… its in a town called Wetzlar. Bianka is very good at speaking English and traslated for me a bit today. Once a year, the little kids in the church do a presentation and it happened to be today... it was very cute. A missionary translated for those who speak English and I wore some headphones during the speaking parts… It was fun being able to recognize the songs that they sang in German, from singing them when I was little.

For Sunday school, I attended an English New Testament class that is taught by an older missionary couple. There were only a few people in the class… I guess the local military base in Geisen is being shut down and some of the American soldiers and families that came to church here have been leaving the area gradually. There was a guy who is part of the U.S. army from Indiana in the class who was visiting his girlfriend. He was recently released to go home for now, from Iraq…. I'm still not really sure how they know each other, but it was cool having someone from a framiliar place in the class.

About 45 minutes after church there was a baptism of a girl named Jenny. I think she's 19 or 20. She has been attending church here for 7 years now, but has not been able to be baptised until now, for some reason which I'm not sure. I don't think that her family agrees with her choice, but she has a lot of support from the people here… Almost the entire congragation was at her baptism. It was great to see her joy and realize her spiritual strength…It was a very nice service.

Anyway, overall I had a very long, but very good first experience at church here. It was a bit frustrating at times not being able to understand some things in German, but it was fun to talk to a few American missionaries and hear about their experiences and where they're from. I am looking forward to getting to know people better, and hope to be able to communicate better with them eventually.

Berlin

My team had a tournament in Berlin this past weekend and it happened to be right around the corner from the U.S. Embasy (shown right). We played a team from Poland and 3 teams from Germany. We ended up winning 2 games and losing 2 games. Our first game was after a 5 hour drive against the Polish team and they were pretty mean and tough. Unfortunately we lost that game and the next, but stepped it up and played better for our last 2 games. I've been able to get a lot of minutes, and it has been a lot of fun. We stayed at a teammate's parent's house instead of a hotel while we were there, and it was really nice. This house was definately on the expensive end of housing in Germany.

On Saturday night we ate dinner together and then drove downtown. It was an awesome city and I was able to see a lot of historical landmarks. Everyone pretty much gave Lori and I a guided tour/ history lesson as we drove around. Haha. It was pretty amazing seeing where the Berlin wall used to be, and seeing a brand new, huge train station there. Unfortunately I wasn't able to take any good pictures because it was night time... but I really hope to go back sometime.

Last Friday I did athletic testing on a group of 12-16 year old girls that play basketball in our club. I tested their vertical jump, standing broad jump, overhead squat form, 20 meter sprint, a basketball court shuttle run, push ups, and sit ups in 60 seconds. I'll be working with them on strength and conditioning for about the next 20 weeks, so it should be a lot of fun for me. They seem like great girls and understand English pretty well.

Downtown & 4 Exhibition Games

Today's September 11th. I think for the rest of my life the sound of the date 9/11 will have a bad feeling to it.

Well, I've been here for 2 weeks. I'm getting a little more used to things. I can get around town on the busses by myself. Last week was pretty busy. On Wednesday I had my first practice with the young kids. I coached a session of boys who were between 13 and 17 I think. It went well because they understand English and they've done a lot of different drills in the past. I also had to go downtown a couple of times with Dani to get my insurance, and bus pass, and student passport taken care of. I've been downtown a few times to eat with Lori too and I've had some really good food. We had some brocolli auflauf at a place called 1900 (in pic.). We have also had pizza and pasta at Youssef's (Lori's boyfriend) restaurant. It was really good... but the best was probably the Gilato place we've been to a few times and had some Italian Ice Cream.

We had a Home Tournament this weekend. We played 4 teams. We played a Czech team called Kara Trutnov on Friday night and won, then on Saturday at noon we played Zehlendorf from our conference and lost by about 5 points. On Saturday at 6:00 we played Oberhausen, which is one of the best teams in our league and won. Then on Sunday we played at 6:00 again against Mainz, who we beat last weekend and won by about 10 points. We actually lost to the team that had only one win, which is really weird. But, we ended up tournament champions. It was a lot of fun, and it was good practice for us to play 5 on 5, and to learn how we each play. I feel like I played very well at some points and very bad at some points.

On Saturday night we had a little party or get together at the gym with all of our sponsors. The president of our club introduced them all and our coach, and then our coach introduced each player on our team. Afterward there was some food and drinks, and people just kind of mingled and talked to each other. A bunch of little girls even asked for our autographs…. They were so cute. And the woman who owns a big restaurant that sponsors us gave us each a necklace with a dolphin on it. There are a lot of people in the community that helped out with the tournament setup and selling food and drinks. Everyone has been so nice and I hope that I can show my great appreciation somehow.

Startin' to Figure this Stuff Out

So, onto the basketball. All of my teammates and coaches speak English at practice, which I really appreciate. We have lifting or running every weekday morning and practice at night. Two of our teammates are still playing on the German National Team, so they won't be with us until the end of Sept., and we've been practicing with 7 or 8 players. It is a bit frustrating not being able to play 5 on 5, but we have done a lot of 3 on 3 and 4 on 4. I like my coach a lot. She is very basketball smart and likes hard workers. I am still getting used to the way things are done a bit differently. Not only is it a different philosophy, but it is hard adjusting when you played for the same coach for 4 years in a row. It is also frustrating when she corrects other players in German, because I would like to learn from what she's telling them. The rules are very similar to what I'm used to, but the 3 point line is a little farther back. One of the main things that I really like though is that our coach has us work a lot on our athleticism. Everyday we do something to work on flexibility, foot speed, agility, and/or jumping…. And we also have the endurance aspect when we do long runs with heart rate monitors and have to make sure that we are keeping a certain heart rate while we run.

Today we had practice early and in the evening we went to a banquet/party that one of our sponsers, Pharma Serve, was holding for their employees. They introduced us and even took us outside and we played 4 on 4 against some guys who were close to our age. Everyone there was excited about it, and it was a lot of fun. Afterwards we had dinner... The whole night was a Mexican theme, so they had Mexican food, and it was really good. Lori and I rode there and back with the man who is the president of our club. He is a really nice and funny older man (pictured above).

In Europe they have different levels of professional, like we have different levels of NCAA. Our club is one of 12 division 1 teams in Germany. We are all in the same conference, called the Damen Basketball Bundesligen (DBBL) and we play each team twice. Our season starts Oct. 7th and goes until March 17th. We play games almost every Saturday, and we have 2 weeks off for Christmas break. After the regular season are playoffs. During September we have preseason ("friendly") games on the weekends. Our first preseason game is this Sunday, and I'm very excited.

Something's Different

So, I've been here for almost a week now. Everyone has been very nice, and very helpful. Things have been coming together kind of slowly, but I can't be picky in the situation I guess. We got our phone on Tuesday night, and we got our washer last night. It took us about 4 loads to actually figure out how it works, but we finally did. We have to take baths, because our shower curtain is too small and water would get everywhere if we took a shower. We are still waiting on our wireless internet router to get here in the mail, so we have gone once to an internet/phone place, where you pay per minute to use their computers or phones, and we have also gone a few times to a place called Hugo's. It’s a pretty nice café/restaurant where you can use wireless internet for free. I have finally figured out the bus system and gone down town a couple of times on my own. The downtown area goes uphill and at the top there is a castle. There are a lot of brick streets and sidewalks and a lot of the streets are very narrow here. It is very frustrating at times not to know what people are talking about; and I feel bad when I'm at a store or restaurant and have to ask the person helping me if they can speak English.

There are a lot of things that are very different here. It is not very common for people to have a clothes dryer. The toilets are different and flush differently. There are no SUV's. The food is obviously different. Not much fast food, but a lot of bakerys and pastry shops. I think I'll slowly try new foods. There aren't very many people here that are overweight. I think people are more healthy overall and walk a lot. People go grocery shopping often, so they only get a few things at time. People drink bubbly water here… which seems weird to me, because its like flavorless soda, but I'm getting used to it... and all drinks are usually at room temperature. A very common drink is to have apple juice with some seltzer water in it…my teammates even drink that at practice and at workouts. They are very power and water saving conscience here, and also separate garbage into paper, plastic, and other. I'm still getting used to the Euro. They have 5, 2, and 1 Euro coins, unlike our 5 and 1 dollar bills.

1st Timer

So, I'm in Europe for the first time in my life. It is about 8:00pm here but I'm 6 hours ahead of the United States. I've decided to leave my laptop on U.S. time, so that it can help me remember what time it is at home. I have recently signed a contract to play for the Marburg Blue Dolphins women's professional basketball team. My flight left Detroit about 24 hours ago. When I arived in Germany, (1 am U.S./7 am Germany) the club manager Bjorn and his girlfriend Christina picked me up and drove me about an hour north here to Marburg. I'm living in an apartment with Lori Crisman, she's from Illinois, but played at Western Michigan University. Everyone has been really nice to me. It feels kind of strange to know that most people speak English but I don't speak their language. I am going to try to learn as much German as I can. I'm really excited to play! I'm going to try to make the most out of this oppurtunity as possible.