The Kemezys are coming to town!!!

This is just a quick post, but I can't update my blog without sharing the most exciting upcoming news-- MY PARENTS ARE COMING TO LITHUANIA IN 2 DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yep, I'm just a little excited!! ;) They get here Sunday, Feb 27 and stay til Monday, March 7. They'll get to see 2 home games and hopefully we are going to be able to meet up with our Mazeikai family too. Other than that, there are no huge, exciting plans, but I can't wait to be able to show them all around town and share my life here with them!!! The team is so excited to meet them also, and my parents are looking forward to meeting all these people that have become my family the past few months. All in all, I just can't wait for them to get here so I can get 2 huge hugs!!!

Lithuania and I are waiting for you Mom and Dad!!!! :)

Checks on my Bucket List

This past weekend we were in a tournament called the Federation Cup. Courtnay and I actually didn’t find out we had games that weekend until just the week before, but this tournament turned out to be kinda a big deal. This was not the finals for the Lithuanian League, but most of the other LMKL teams along with some other teams had apparently been playing games over the past few weeks to get into the finals of this tourney, but we got a bye into the Final 4. So we had a semifinal game which we won 108-49 (I know, right?!) and then ended up winning the championship by about 40 points. So needless to say there weren’t any real dramatics in these games, but the celebration afterwards was awesome!!! There was a big medal/trophy ceremony and when we received ours, they set off a big confetti machine and also showered us all with champagne. You would have thought we won the world series! Then, once in the locker room, we filled up the big trophy with champagne and all passed it around to take a drink out of. Um, call me crazy but that has ALWAYS been a dream of mine!!! And come on, all you other athletes out there know you’ve thought the same thing! There was tons of paparazzi around snapping pics of the excitement so I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. But a confetti/champagne shower after a win and drinking from a trophy are 2 things that I can now cross off my bucket list! So all in all, another great, happy celebration with my Vici family!! :)

Big American smiles!! :)

The Fab 5!!!
(Courtnay, Lina, Giedre, Marina, Me)

We're stars ;)

We EACH got a huge 1.5 liter champagne bottle!! Holler! :)

CHAMPS!!!! :)

Champs falling over...

This picture was on our team website with the caption "Amanda Kemezys drinks too much champagne". Embarassing...haha.

Dream come true!!!

I’m in Vilnius trick

Now that Euroleague is over, we do have a little more free time on our hands which has allowed us to travel a little more. Two different weekends a few of us went to Vilnius, the capital and biggest city of Lithuania. It was nice to be able to finally explore that city a little and mainly just to get out of our every day routine in Kaunas. We had some good times enjoying the nightlife and also doing some sightseeing. Not much else to explain, but here are some pics from all our great times!!



Road trip #1!!



Court and I before going out



In front of Vilnius castle



Proud Lithuanian/American :)



"I'm on top of the world!!!!!!!"




View from the top



Love the shirt I bought! Pretty accurate minus the BMW

The crew for trip #2!! (Me, Courtnay, Lina, Giedre)

 Loving life!!! <3

Family Finally!!

I’ve always been a huge believer in that God has a much bigger plan than we are aware of ourselves, and once again this reigns true. At the end of January I got a call from my Mociute that her brother had passed away. He actually lived in Kaunas but had been very ill for a long time so it was never possible for me to meet him. The rest of my extended family here lives in the city of Mazeikiai, about 2 or 3 hours away, and although I knew of them, and they knew of me, we never were able to get a hold of each other or plan a meeting. I was fortunate enough to be able to go to the funeral, and although it was a very sad time for the family, it was also one of the most meaningful times I’ve had here.

Even though I had never actually met these people before, they welcomed me in instantly like I was their own long-lost daughter (literally, they pulled me into their arms like off a movie). I got to meet Mociute’s two sisters and then a few other aunts, uncles and cousins. Luckily my cousin’s wife, Edita, speaks fairly good English so she was able to translate for us. I spent the whole day with them- first at the funeral, then for dinner, and then to a basketball game with a few of them. It really is hard to put into words the loving power that family has. I was so touched to have finally found my family members here, especially to be united with my Mociute’s sisters who remind me so much of her and who treated me just like their own granddaughter. If I can’t have my Mociute here, then they were the next best thing. :) My Mociute talks with her sisters pretty regularly and all my life they have heard stories about me from her, so I think it was just as special for them that they could actually meet me. I was also very happy that I could go to the funeral on behalf of my own Mociute. I know she really wanted to be there, so the fact that I could go for her and then tell her about it, meant the world to me (and I think to her too). So although it was a sad event that brought us together, God obviously had it in His plans, as my life was forever changed from that experience and from being able to connect with my Lithuanian family members.

Me with Mociute's 2 sisters. So happy! :)
(And yes, they're short just like her!! :) )

Updates!!! (Jan- Feb)

So if you’re still joining me, this is the first blog of my "blog resurrection". Apologies for it taking so long, but I’m gonna try to go back and hit all the big points that have happened the past 2 months, and of course include a lot of pictures! Enjoy! :)

Bittersweet Euroleague

The Euroleague season didn’t end up exactly how we wanted since we missed making the playoffs by a head-to-head tie breaker, but I can speak on behalf of everyone (on my team and pretty much in the basketball world) that we definitely exceeded expectations this season. We ended up 4-6 after winning our last game versus France in another thriller (aka Vici-style :) )

A quick recap of the France win- it was a close game throughout, and back and forth most of the 4^th quarter til Courtnay hit a 3 with about 25 seconds left that put us up by 1. France then had the ball and played for a last second shot. The girl's shot actually went in but was milli-seconds after the buzzer. We all knew (or were praying) that the refs would call it off, but rather than immediately waving it off, there was a good 30 seconds of dramatics where they huddled to talk about it. I have to say- my heart was pounding the whole time, hoping that they’d make the right call. As you can see at the start of the video (in the link below), as soon as they announced it, mayhem ensued and we all started celebrating like we’ve come to love so much! :) Also in the video, at about the 2:35 mark, you can see me getting a little testy with the refs after a (BOGUS!) foul call on me. I guess Dad and Uncle Arvid have rubbed off on me. Haha.

http://www.basketnews.lt/news-36172-vici-aistes-palauze-prancuzijos-cempiones-bet-nepateko-i-kita-etapa-video-foto-komentarai.html

Right after they called off the final basket and declared us winners!!!



Best feeling ever!!!! :)



Also, here is a pretty good article that sums up  our surprising Euroleague season- http://www.fibaeurope.com/cid_KNce8jInH7Qj1EsyH5rjn2.compID_jr6ZiXqeGhMBtfq1yxqV83.coid_,4n0pGUzHR-JHsIuDOueb2.articleMode_on.html

This all means that the Euroleague season is over for us, so since the end of January we have only been playing Lithuanian League games, where we are currently 19-0. This means we practice a lot and then have pointless blowout games on the weekends. So February has been kind of a blow basketball-wise, but I’m still loving life nonetheless. :)