My parents have already come and gone. The time really flew while they were here but we packed in a lot of touring, basketball, and back scratches while they were here! They arrived late last Saturday night before our Fenerbache game. They were real troopers when it came to jet lag and stayed up for the late practice we had. We gave the top ranked team a run for their money but couldn't pull off the upset in the last couple of minutes. Mother nature wasn't very kind to us in Istanbul when we wanted to tour around as a blizzard hit the weekend we were there. Seb and her roommate Gulsah took us around anyways and saw a lot of the sights around the city. The Blue Mosque and the Grand Bazzar highlighted our tour. The Blue Mosque is similar to the Mosque here in Adana but much older. We were prime targets in the Bazzar for shop owners to hassle with. Seb then took us out to a beautiful dinner overlooking the Bosphorus.
When we got back to Adana our team sports marketing guy was able to take my parents out while I was at practice so they've now seen things that I have yet to see. They saw their second game of ours and we won. They then spent one final day in Istanbul to see some of the sights that were closed the week earlier. i think all in all the trip was memorable for all of us.
In other news, I've signed a training camp contract with the Phoenix Mercury. Getting invited to a camp is the first step so I now I still have to make the final cut. I'm excited for it this year and much more prepared than last year. I think I know more of what to expect and now have a year's experience of playing overseas. More on that at the end of April!
Happy Leap Year!
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Happy Valentine's Day!
Hope everyone will have a happy Valentine's Day. I wasn't for sure if they celebrated it here in Turkey but I found out that they do. You wouldn't know it though like you would in the states with hearts, chocolate, roses, and candy being seen everywhere you look. I guess they don't market it like they do in American. I did see a blanket being sold on the streets saying "Seni Seviyorum" (I love you), but that's the only reminder of Valentine's Day so far.
Well, we couldn't pull of another upset win in Euro Cup play against the Croatian team so we are now playing only in Turkey for the last two months. The European travels have been one of the highlights of my experience overseas. I didn't know what to expect out of Croatia but the small town, Gospic, we played in was very beautiful. Mountains surrounded the town and the sky was strangely bright blue. The mountains seemed very close to the city and not some distant spectacle and they were everywhere and not just on one side. I took some pictures and will be putting those up soon. After coming back from Croatia we played Ceyhan, the other team in Adana. We won in overtime. We were down 4 with less than a minute to play and we go two steals and force the overtime. Quite a game for the fans! We play the undefeated number one team in the league on Sunday. My parents are flying in on Saturday to see that game and another game in Adana. They will be here 8 days. My manager and coach was nice enough to let me stay in Istanbul for a day after the game so my parents and I can wander around the city. Seb will be there too to help us out. So I'm definitely looking forward to that.
Happy Heart day to everyone!
Well, we couldn't pull of another upset win in Euro Cup play against the Croatian team so we are now playing only in Turkey for the last two months. The European travels have been one of the highlights of my experience overseas. I didn't know what to expect out of Croatia but the small town, Gospic, we played in was very beautiful. Mountains surrounded the town and the sky was strangely bright blue. The mountains seemed very close to the city and not some distant spectacle and they were everywhere and not just on one side. I took some pictures and will be putting those up soon. After coming back from Croatia we played Ceyhan, the other team in Adana. We won in overtime. We were down 4 with less than a minute to play and we go two steals and force the overtime. Quite a game for the fans! We play the undefeated number one team in the league on Sunday. My parents are flying in on Saturday to see that game and another game in Adana. They will be here 8 days. My manager and coach was nice enough to let me stay in Istanbul for a day after the game so my parents and I can wander around the city. Seb will be there too to help us out. So I'm definitely looking forward to that.
Happy Heart day to everyone!
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Happy February
I can't believe that we are already one month into the new year and I have a little more than 2 months here in Turkey until I head back to the states where perhaps more basketball might be awaiting me. I've had so many great experiences and plan to have many more but I'm anxious to get home too. But before I do that my parents are planning a visit in a couple of weeks. They will fly over and watch a game in Istanbul and then fly back down to Adana and watch another game. I'm very excited to see them and have them see Turkey. Although I'm able to see and talk to them through my computer, the actual thing will be much better I'm sure.
I think I left off on the last blog about my ankle. It's slowly getting much better. I'm able to practice the entire time without much pain. The tendonitis and the swelling is what is taking the longest. I'm going to therapy pretty much everyday. In therapy they do some stem treatment, some laser treatment, compression, and ice. All I have to do for this is lie down and let them work on my ankle for about an hour. I'm getting some good reading in though so I don't get too bored. In the past couple of weeks I've finished some very good reads, "A Thousand Splendid Suns" and "A Long Way Gone." The latter is a memoir about the author who grew up in Sierre Leone during a civil war and was forced to become a soldier at 12 years of age. It's horrific the things he had to do because of the brainwashing that occurs. It makes me realize how lucky I am.
We just had our first of two games against the Croatian team for the Euro Cup round of 16. We lost by 3 points which means if we want to move on then we must win by at least 4 point in Croatia. That will be a tough assignment but we believe that we can do it if we play to our potential. We've already made history by playing in the round of 16 but we want to advance further. We had a lot of support for this game as the gym was packed with Turkish flags. The newspapers were calling our team "Europe's Queens." Pretty exciting stuff! Anyways, we leave Wednesday for the game on Thursday and then must return and head right back into Turkish league play.
I think I left off on the last blog about my ankle. It's slowly getting much better. I'm able to practice the entire time without much pain. The tendonitis and the swelling is what is taking the longest. I'm going to therapy pretty much everyday. In therapy they do some stem treatment, some laser treatment, compression, and ice. All I have to do for this is lie down and let them work on my ankle for about an hour. I'm getting some good reading in though so I don't get too bored. In the past couple of weeks I've finished some very good reads, "A Thousand Splendid Suns" and "A Long Way Gone." The latter is a memoir about the author who grew up in Sierre Leone during a civil war and was forced to become a soldier at 12 years of age. It's horrific the things he had to do because of the brainwashing that occurs. It makes me realize how lucky I am.
We just had our first of two games against the Croatian team for the Euro Cup round of 16. We lost by 3 points which means if we want to move on then we must win by at least 4 point in Croatia. That will be a tough assignment but we believe that we can do it if we play to our potential. We've already made history by playing in the round of 16 but we want to advance further. We had a lot of support for this game as the gym was packed with Turkish flags. The newspapers were calling our team "Europe's Queens." Pretty exciting stuff! Anyways, we leave Wednesday for the game on Thursday and then must return and head right back into Turkish league play.
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