As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words, so here's a look at how happy I've been lately--
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| LOVING LIFE!! |
The last week or so here has been so crazy so let me try catching you up…
Merry Christmas from Vici!
Once again we got videoed passing out flyers to people advertising our game. And once again, it was awkward seeing that it mostly consisted of me saying “laba diena” (“good day”) to people and then pointing at the flyer as I hand it to them. Haha. As much as I enjoy PR stuff like this, and always ate that kind of stuff up at SLU, its definitely a little harder here with the language barrier but still fun. The cool thing about this shoot though was that it was in the old town center which has turned into a big Christmas area. There are little hot chocolate booths set up, a small ice rink and of course a huge Christmas tree in the middle. And the coolest part about this tree is the bottom portion. It’s hollow, just covered by netting, and is a place where kids come to leave all their letters to Santa. I really wish I could read Lithuanian because they all seemed so cute, but nonetheless it was adorable (see photos). The video did turn out cool though because Courtnay, Giedre and I got to ride in a little horse drawn carriage handing out flyers down the main street. Anyways, here’s a link to pictures and the video even though you can’t understand much. Oh except for a quality shot of me looking at the camera saying “I don’t know”. Haha. Yep, pretty standard. :)
I’ll have another steak dinner please!!
Yep, that’s right- ANOTHER EUROLEAGUE WIN!!!! This time against the Turkey team, Galatasaray- who beat us 82-58 at their place when we first played. Right ouch… I don’t know what it is, but home court advantage seems to be a big deal for us. This game was even more home-y for us because it was in the gym we practice in every day, not the big Kaunas Sports Hall. We were joking before the game- saying that these big-time, big-money players would be laughing at our tiny little gym in our tiny little country. But I guess we can now say that we got the last laugh! For those of you keeping track of my name-dropping, this is the team with Seimone Augustus and Sylvia Fowles on it. I got 11 minutes this game and my stats (in ascending order) were 2 rebounds, 3 points and 4 fouls. I know, i know- it’s not good to have your fouls be your biggest stat, but for this game that was kind of part of my role. Ha. And although she still had 19 points, we kept Fowles to only 4 rebounds which is a pretty big feat itself. And again, it was pretty cool playing against such a high profile player. Anddd of course even better beating them! Also, you gotta love a halftime speech that ends with- “we all want more money for Christmas right?! So let’s win!” Hahaha.
I actually got some pretty good action pics from this game, most notably the one at the beginning of this blog. I usually never like any pictures of me playing because I always have a nasty look on my face, but this picture will probably be my all-time favorite. I just think it’s so cool that they captured the emotion perfectly and shows how happy I am, surrounded by my teammates after a big win. Here are a few other good shots from the game…
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| Here's that nasty in-game face I was talking about...haha. |
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| Me and Big Syl |
Also, here's the video link from the game. And yes, that's me dancing around like a fool at the end with Natalia, the little (hilarious) old lady who does our team finances. Awkward but awesome. Haha. http://www.basketnews.lt/video/ziureti/vici-aisciu-tritaskiai-padejo-iskovoti-pergale-kaune.html
Christmas Party
To top off the excitement of the big win, that night was also our team Christmas party! The cool part too is that it was at the Hotel Daniela, the place that I had stayed for my first couple weeks here. So it was kind of neat that the week before heading home I would return to my first Lithuanian “home”- kind of making my whole experience come full-circle. Anyways, the party was a total blast, as expected. It seems like no matter what we all do, this group is always up for a good time. It was a semi-fancy party too so it was fun seeing everyone all done up in their dresses. The night consisted of:
-Having some food and drinks. Although I steered clear of the egg salad concoction (yes, it still haunts me from my first day), there were some other good Lithuanian snacks to try and you can never go wrong with champagne and boxed wine. Lol.
-Secret Santa gift exchange. Jurga, our assistant coach had me and got me a book on Lithuania (go figure. Lol). I had Vita’s name which I was pretty excited about. She’s definitely like the standard older, hilarious, surprisingly-inappropriate-at-times teammate so I got her a few gag gifts that were a hit and definitely caused her face to turn red. Haha. Also, at the grocery stores here they give out little stamps at the checkout, similar to like Tom’s in Mascoutah. Vita is a huge collector of these and about once a week she’ll ask if anyone has them to give her. So ever since I picked her name a few weeks ago Courtnay and I have been saving all of ours and I ended up with around 35 stamps to give her in her gift that she was extremely excited about! Ha. And in case you’re wondering family, yes I pulled the whole “walk around the room to try and fake out who you think my gift is going to” move that we enjoy so much! Lol.
-Flattery game. Migle had a bag of acorns/nuts that she went around the room and had everyone take a handful of. Little did we know that this would turn into a game. However many nuts you took, you had to say that many good qualities about yourself and then say that many good qualities about the person sitting to your left. It was fun to hear what people came up with, even though I only understood bits and pieces that were translated for me by the girls around me. I personally hate this kind of stuff because I don’t like talking about myself at all, but since I had only picked 6 nuts (not 19 like Lina!) it was ok. Rima talked about me and said some nice things and then I had to talk about Marina which was fun and easy. So overall it was a fun team experience.
-Dancing. Finally, after all that stuff, we got to the real party which involved us making a big dance circle like it was either a club or an 8th grade dance, all taking turns to dance in the middle. With the drinks pouring, this turned into a pretty hilarious event, especially since the best dancer BY FAR was Mantas- yep, our head coach. Haha. I’m not sure where he learned his moves (we’re guessing youtube) but I definitely have to give him some props. This video doesn't even do him justice but gives you a little taste of the festivities.
Him and Migle were a hit!!
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| Lithuanian North Americans! |
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| Giedre and I traded smiles- my Lithuanian, her American :) |
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| Kristina, Indre, Milda and Marina with the Hotel Daniela owner |
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| Lina, Migle, Marina and Courtnay |
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| Group at the end of the night- great times!! |
Overall it was such a fun night and the perfect way to wrap up the first half of our season and get us ready for Christmas!! A Euroleague win and a great team party- yep, Merry Christmas to Vici! :)
Oh and of course to top it all off I will now (God-willing) be home in just THREE DAYS!!!! No worries, I've got one more blog in me before I leave that will fully detail my excitement! :) But it's not too soon to start saying prayers for safe (and ON TIME!!) travels!
Oh and of course to top it all off I will now (God-willing) be home in just THREE DAYS!!!! No worries, I've got one more blog in me before I leave that will fully detail my excitement! :) But it's not too soon to start saying prayers for safe (and ON TIME!!) travels!
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