Recap in Pics

So here are a few pics of stuff that's gone down the past 2 weeks (pic first, then story).

CAR 

Guess which one's mine... :)



Well obviously everyone knows of my beloved car that I left back in the states, my little red "Go Kart". I can touch every window sitting in the driver's seat and she wheezes pretty bad in the winter, but that baby has been a team bus/mom van to countless teammates over the years and has served me well to zip around in. It's seen hubcaps come and go and even was sportin a "nub" for a passenger door handle for a good year (It has to be known that is was actually my MOM who pulled that one off...literally. Lol). Well I guess God wanted me to feel like home here and brought a new little Baby Blue into my life. I've come to terms that I am now destined to always have a small car with no hubcaps on it (at least until I actually buy my own car. I might even get a Hummer just to put my past cars to shame...;) ). As promised, when we returned from that tournament in Slovakia at the beginning of last week, I got my car the next day. It's actually a car that Courtnay (the Canadian) and I will share, but at least it's our own to drive around. I have to admit that I've missed my one-on-one chats with Migle on all our car trips, but it is definitely nice to have some more freedom and be able to go more places around the city as I please. No worries, it is an automatic (possibly the only one in the city) and they drive on the right hand side of the road just like in the states. Whew, glad for that similarity too!


________________________________________________________________

PHOTO RELEASE

Well, there I am, in all my glory. As promised, here is the ridiculous picture of me from our team photo shoot (see: "Lithuania's Next Top Model" blog entry). Yes, it's strange for a basketball photo shoot and no, I don't think I'll look quite like this ever again (or wear a periwinkle blue wool poncho ever again either...). But like I had said, it was for sure an experience to remember. And with the way things get around/are found on the web these days I figured I'd rather share it freely than try to hide it. (Let's just hope Perez Hilton doesn't get his hands on it.)


Also, although this is just being released to my blog friends, I had originally emailed it to a small circle of peeps and have to say that the best response I got came in from Louisburg/KC, Kansas at the hands of La (Lauren Brown, sister of Liv Brown so that makes her my best friend-in-law? :) ). Here's what the creative gal came up with that gave me a good laugh...

Love it La!!

_________________________________________________________________

YOU SPEAK ENGLISH, EH??

Sorry for my awkward smile...



This picture is actually out of order, but this past Tuesday my English-speaking friend finally got here! Like I had said before, Courtnay was ballin it up with the Canadian National Team at the World Championship so her arrival was delayed about a month but she is now finally in Kaunas! I've tried to show her the ropes around the city and we laugh about how much easier her transition has been than mine was. Although all the Lithuanian girls are great, it is nice to have someone to speak slang English with and to practice broken Lithuanian with. :)

_______________________________________________________________

AFTERNOON MIDNIGHT MADNESS

Migle getting announced, all of us loving her. :)

VICI vs Kaunas Politicians

 This past Thursday we had what could be considered a "Midnight Madness" type game. It was mostly a publicity thing as our opponents were all men (of various ages) who worked for the city of Kaunas. There was a big pre-game ceremony where we were announced and walked out with a little boy from some Kaunas team (hence the first pic). Even though I had no idea what was going on or being said for most of this, the spirit of it all was pretty cool as we exchanged gifts with the other team and presented Vici jerseys to a few big-wigs. Even though we still played just as hard it was a fun game that was mostly light hearted (but no worries we still killed them by 20. No matter the venue, it always feels good beating guys :) ).

Ps- this game took place at 4:00 on a Thursday afternoon and I have never seen so many people at a "matinee" game! But of course in Lithuania I guess basketball is a priority! :)____________________________________________________________

DON'T BE TARDY FOR THE PARTY

Back: Marina, Courtnay, Me, Giedre
Front: Lina

Last night was the first night going "out" out in Kaunas. As all athletes know having a Sunday off is absolutely clutch because it means you get to go out on Saturday night. Fortunately, that thinking is the same here too. :) I was obviously a little nervous not having any idea what to expect, but I figured this was a good opportunity to embrace something outside of my norm (Maybe I'll change the name of my blog to Eat Play Party?? :) ). The evening started with Giedre picking up Courtnay and I, then picking up Marina and heading to Lina's apartment where her, her sister and another friend were already waiting. We introduced them to the term "pre-gaming" and the night was rolling from there! It was so good to feel like I was back in college again, hanging out with friends on a Saturday night. Everything was just the same as a good ole Grand Forest party except they had like legit appetizers- fried bread, cut up cheeses, etc. compared to our party food standards- usually some Grippos provided by Katie Pags and of course my favorite white cheese dip. :) Courtnay and I took this opportunity to share some of our sacred North American customs with them in the form of some good ole fashion drinking games. I'll leave out all the juicy details but basically all the girls loved them and it led to a pretty interesting night! After awhile we headed out to a club that was downtown which basically reminded me of the Library Annex back at SLU's campus. In fact, if I hadn't known otherwise, this seemed like any other bar/club in the states, playing all US music, including some awesome throw backs like Hot in Herre and even the Men in Black theme song! Could it get any better?! All in all it was an awesome night with great friends. I obviously know my purpose here is to play basketball but having a little extracurricular fun is all part of the experience right? :)