Feb. 1, 2008 – Words can’t express…
The other day, Michelle (my friend from Canada who’s visiting) and I were in the grocery store debating over which baguette to buy, when an elderly man in his 70s with a few front teeth came up and asked where we were from. We said, “Canada BC,” and he was like, “Oh, not Quebec? That’s why you are speaking English.” He asked why we were here and had to switch over to French because he did not understand that I was a basketball player in English. Then, he appeared to leave only to turn around and serenade us with a victory song. That’s right! The words were something like victory, victory hallelujah over and over. Each time we thought he was finished, he would get louder and walk back towards us. Michelle asked if this happened a lot over here, but it was definitely a first for me.

If that story wasn't weird enough for you, just yesterday we decided to head to my practice a little early so that we could vacuum out my car. We arrived in town and we were the second car waiting to pull into the round-about when all of the sudden 15 tractors pulled in and blocked off all the exits. No, I am not kidding! Imagine just sitting in your car driving and all of a sudden all you can see are giant tractors. We both just started laughing. Michelle pulled out her camera to capture this, because at this point, we were thinking this would never happen again. Our laughter turned into pure shock when all the drivers got out and shared beer. Then, one policeman on his motorbike appeared and about 20 angry tractor drivers started yelling at him. Things cleared up (all lasted around 20 minutes) and the men got back into their tractors and took off. Since we had been boxed in for so long, I decided we should head straight to practice and joked that you never know what could happen at the next round-about!

Well, the same thing was happening elsewhere… police had blocked off the road so everyone was pulling illegal turns to go down a different road. Everywhere we turned we couldn't move forward as there were more tractors and police road blocks. There were even some people walking around with flags draped around their necks. Finally, after 45 minutes of navigating the back roads, we made it to practice (drive takes 10 minutes). The whole event seemed so surreal. After asking around, I found out that there is a new mayor and the farmers want more money…who knows. It was some serious excitement in that town for the day.

January 28, 2008 – In Flanders Fields…
We won our final Belgium League game the other night in convincing fashion. It was pretty fun. We only had six players and they (opposing team) were our rivals, also from the city of Namur. Michelle (my friend) came into town the day before so my Mom, Dad and Michelle headed into Brussels to show Michelle the city and train system.

Yesterday was a day off, so we were headed into Ypres, Belgium to check out Flanders Fields. The drive takes about two hours, so the family wanted to leave at 9 a.m. If someone told me I was leaving at 9 a.m. the day after a game, I would wake up around 8:50 and be ready to go by 9. However, there were runs and showers, so the alarm was set for 6:45! I was in a mood in the morning, as it takes me a long time to fall asleep after games. That meant I was going on about five hours of sleep and would be the driver, never good. I had a little coffee, and we were off by 8:50, impressive. My dad was the co-pilot and everything was good until we got into town and the directions faltered a little bit. We wound up getting a little lost, but finally found the town and parking. We went into a little bakery to grab a snack and headed for the tourism office, the actual museum was closed during December and January so we couldn't go there. Instead, we bought a driving map for 2.50, which was really good because without it we would not have found anything!

We turned the wrong way in town, and I was driving around a round about multiple times waiting for someone to tell me where to go (stressful driving when you have no idea where you are). After a while, we finally stopped in for gas and the man at the station set us on the right route. After almost passing the first stop, we pulled an illegal u-turn and were at Essex Farm Cemetery, the site where John McRae wrote the poem in Flanders Fields. There was a plaque commemorating him, about 1,200 burial headstones and some bunkers that you could go into. The second stop was the German cemetery, and there were TV screens that gave a little history about the land and the quote, "Enemies in life, Friends in death." The cemetery was wild. There were 44,000 buried in the cemetery and 24,000 were in mass graves. It was all so much to take in. Another highlight of the trip was the Tyne Cot Cemetery and Memorial. It is the largest of the British Commonwealth Graves with 12,000 buried there and 8,000 unidentified. There were many other sights along the way including the Menin Gate, where the names of 54,000 Commonwealth soldiers all have their names inscribed. It was a really neat experience; overwhelming for sure!

December 10, 2007 – Win #2 and a chat with the Big Man!
Alright, well this was a rough one tonight. We played a bad Belgium team that we actually almost lost to. I felt like I couldn't get my wind in the first half and was kind of struggling. Nobody was really playing all that great, and we were only up by 10 at half. In the second half, Coach tried to rest the starters as we have a big EuroLeague game on Wednesday, but all the sudden the other team was up by one point with four minutes left in the game, so I went back in. I had not played so stellar on offense up to this point, but this was my Christmas break on the line, so I started driving and scored a little. We ended up winning by four. Hey, a win is a win, so whatever, it’s over! After the game, of course I get called over by the President (the equivalent of being sent to the principal’s office when you were in school…you knew you were in trouble). So he says, "I know you’re a good player, but you need to lead like you did at the end of game all through the game. You’re good and we need good from you. This doesn't mean shoot every time, but you need to play good all game.” Then a high five!

We head to Valenciennes tomorrow for a game Wednesday. This is the big one!

December 9, 2007 – 1 down 5 to go…
The day after we lost, coach informed us at practice that we have six games remaining before Christmas, and if we win all six, we can stay at home longer! So, instead of going back to Belgium on Dec. 27th, I could go back on Jan. 1st. This is his way to motivate us, and it has worked for me. I’m ready to go. I wish all the games were in a row to take away the suspense. Four of the games are Belgium League games, so we should be able to handle them. The other two are EuroLeague, and we can beat these teams, but it will be pretty hard! The first EuroLeague game is Wednesday, in France, so hopefully it all turns out great!

I went to my first Christmas market today in Brussels. Apparently, the Christmas market in Brussels is one of the best because of its size and quality. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it did blow my mind…it was so clean and neat! One of the girls who plays on my team sometimes lives in Brussels with her boyfriend, so she met us and showed us around. This was really helpful as we avoided getting lost! My other teammate, Jen, and I were driving together…and parking has never been one of my strong points. Well, we had to parallel park and I really don't do that well, so after five failed attempts, and the car perched up on the curb, I got out and let Jen have a go at it. She got it on her first try, and I was mildly embarrassed! The market stretched out over a few blocks and was broken into three main parts. A lot of it is little crafts that people make and food. I finally saw the Grand Place in Brussels. It was covered in lights, really pretty, and it also had a big manger display with live sheep! Emilie (teammate from Brussels) said they normally have a live donkey, as well.

Emilie also told us the legend behind the famous Manneken Pis in Brussels. Apparently, during the war, the building caught fire and legend has it that this little boy urinated on the fire and saved the building; thus the statue, postcards, bottle openers and shirts of him. We then ate at the Greek market and headed out for a white chocolate covered waffle. It was so good…I can't even put into the words the taste of these waffles. I also tried my first chestnuts roasting over an open fire (just like the song), however, they were the one food of the day I would never eat again or recommend.

Emilie had a game in town, so we checked out a bit of her game and then contemplated a movie, but there wasn't really anything good playing (movies here are way behind). The choices were Georgia Rule, Beowulf, Mr. Brooks and a few others. With nothing striking, we headed home mighty proud that we didn't get lost once over the course of the day!

December 6, 2007 – Delirious
We had our first official blow out in EuroLeague yesterday. I know it is bad to make excuses, but I am going to throw some out there.

A 14 hour bus trip resulted in some serious grumpiness exhibited by the coaching staff. The night before the game, at practice, we got a lecture about our last Belgium League game and how we were taking too much rest and that maybe we weren't in shape and that’s why we have been losing at the end of the games! Then, we set up into all sorts of defensive slides, half court one-on-one and then right into 5-on-5 full court. Not my favorite type of practice, but acceptable. However, it being the night before a game, I found it ridiculous. I woke up the next morning sore and not feeling ready for a game.

t shootaround we spent 10 minutes shooting and the rest of the time running through all our offenses!

Needless to say, we were down by 11 points in the first five minutes (mostly on fast break baskets!!!), so it was unfortunate.

The good news was that Hamchétou Maïga-Ba (former Monarchs player and current Houston Comets guard/forward) played for the opposing team, so it was so nice to see her. I really wish we could have stayed the night and I could have hung out more with her, but we had to bus home. Maïga-Ba is a really neat person, and she was so helpful and encouraging my first year, so it was great to catch up with her and see a familiar face!

Now onto the bus ride back home. Our coaching staff, president and fans take our losses hard, so when we lose they take the stat sheet and let us know where we went wrong! We were supposed to depart at 10 pm, so the whole team was waiting in the lobby and at 10:30 a teammate went down and told the staff that we were supposed to be leaving. They got a little upset and told her they were in charge and we would leave when they were ready. New departure time: 11:30 pm. We all waited in the lobby, as we had already checked out at 10pm. In the end, we made it home in one piece so it is all okay.

My body, however, has no idea what time of day or day of the week it is, so I am off. Until next time…

December 4, 2007 – All Lies!
Sleeper Bus (def):  A sleeper bus is a type of coach used to transport bands and their roadies between cities and shows. In Europe, these vehicles are full sized coaches, but are only designed internally to carry between 8 and 18 passengers. There are always full galley facilities, comfortable lounges and bunk beds to allow the passengers to eat, relax & sleep.

The bus we rode on:  A glorified school bus (maybe that’s a little harsh… we did have a bathroom). The seats supposedly reclined, but never stayed that way as they always crept back into the upright position. I had really hoped that this bus was going to be amazing, but I set myself up for disappointment.  I don't know what I was thinking, but as soon as we boarded, I knew I was in trouble. Luckily, I wasn't one of the players who had to share seats (because all the people who travel with us were taking their own seats!).  Most of the players staged a takeover in the early morning hours and won their own seats. This was after they slept on the bus floor for a few hours. As promised by coach, we did get to watch film!! A full two hours was devoted to watching us screw up. This fun ended at 1 a.m. when coach was threatening to put on a scouting tape for our game tomorrow. Luckily, it turned out to be “The Mummy 2,” and I tried to fall asleep listening to the sounds of the movie. At around 4 a.m., following three hours of tossing and turning, I found myself worked up in an angry rage at a number of things:

1 – Who thought of leaving at 10 p.m. and sleeping through the night?
2 – How many hours of sleep am I going to get?
3 – Who is snoring?
4 – How in the world did our coaches call this a "nice big sleeper bus?”

I get really grumpy when I haven't had my sleep, so it took a little while for me to settle down. I did manage to doze on and off until we stopped at a gas station. It was there that we found out that the bus ride wasn't the original 20 hours we were told, but only 14. The first positive! I was thankful because we made it to the Czech safe and sound. Apparently, we drove through some nasty snow storm (I guess I slept for a while!) and were barely moving and sliding a bit over the road! Well, I need to go for another walk…trying to stay awake so I can sleep tonight!  Until next time…

December 2, 2007 – Swollen Nose
I am writing this today with an ice pack on my nose as I got a good hit in the game last night. I was going up for the rebound and this girl came down on me and my nose started gushing, so I turned to the bench right away and asked for a sub. The refs didn't notice though, so I had to run back on defense with blood flowing all over the place. I finally knocked the ball out of bounds and just walked to the bench. This is where my trainer pulled something that resembled carpet out of his kit and ripped a piece off and shoved it up my nose.  I said, “What are you putting in my nose?” because we do NOT have that in Canada. He just laughed at me and said my nose wasn’t broken, just swollen.    I am looking forward to tomorrow as we start our 20 hour bus ride to the Czech. Somehow they worked out (in their heads) that it would take just as long to fly…so we will bus (or our version would be that it would be cheaper to bus). Coach said in pregame yesterday that we will watch film on the bus ride. I am scared as we have 20 hours to watch film, which cannot be good! He always says we will only watch 10 minutes, and we end up watching over an hour.  I just wish coach wouldn’t lie...I mean, let us get mentally prepared to sit down and watch a full hour of film -- don't tease us with the in and out 10 minute film session.