Hello Everyone,
LIFE
I have come to the realization that I have way to much time on my hands. I have tried to pick up a new hobby of educating myself on different topics. This week I read up on the U.S. national debt (it is pretty astonishing). I also viewed a couple of documentaries on 9\11. I must say after watching these videos my view of what happened that day has completely changed. Now, I’m not going to be that crazy person that always tries to pass on his ideas to you. I believe people don’t listen to those people for three reasons. One, they don’t want that person to be smarter then them. Second, their thoughts and believes are deeply rooted with people who they trust, or third the person really is crazy (Loren used to be this person for me). Trust me I will spare all of you my views and stick to life and the team.
We played two games this week one at home and one on the road. The one on the road was actually at the Olympic facility for French Athletes. It was a little run down, but they said they are rebuilding it after the 2008 Olympics. There was no direct route to get there we actually went up, around, and through the mountains. Out of nowhere small towns would just pop up. It was a beautiful drive. We ate at the facility after the game some pork and broccoli with of course bread and fruit (It was like a cafetiria).Loren would fit in here well as four of my teammates do not eat pork.
This week driving to practice, I saw a kid sporting a Reggie Miller on the outside court. Reggie retired two years ago, but I guess his legacy has made it all the way to Mulhouse, France. The highlight of my dinner this week was when I splurged at Dominoes after our home game. I bought a pizza, cheese bread, wings, and a tub of Ben and jerry’s. They put tomatoes on my pizza so I also got a free drink. For all those concerned about my diet I needed that meal. This week’s menu has some Alfredo, spaghetti, salmon, and pork chops on it. We actually have the weekend off, but I did not make any plans for travel. I’m going to get in touch with some people in Germany that know a good family friend of ours. As for the rest of the weekend I’m going to walk to the city center and grab some dinner at a restaurant, clean up my apartment of all the trash, and also do laundry (not to exciting).
The Team
GAME ONE
We were supposed to play a high level Switzerland team, but they canceled due to injuries on the team. We played the team we played the week before. The first half is one the whole team can forget pretty easily as we were giving up fast break lay-ups and threes like that was our game plan. We were down one at halftime to a team we really should never have been down to. The second half was a lot better as we won it 20-5. We went on to win by 20 some. I personally had a pretty good game in the second half. A lot of my points came off lay-ups and free throws. I did hit a couple of jump shots, with a couple and 1’s. I also had a quite unbelievable and 1 except the ref called it on the floor. The officiating here is some of the worst I have seen (it still does not compare to Florida and ISU). They drew a play up for me at the end of the third where I would come off three screens. I missed the shot short (imagine that), but it came back to me and I hit the three with no time left. I ended with 18 or 19 points. I am averaging a charge a game and I believe close to 2 or 3 steals a game.
Game Two
We played a Pro-B team in France which is one level above us. They were pretty big and physical. We played with them most of the first and then they started pulling away. I believe they got up by nine points. We started getting some stops and I hit three 3’s and we pulled to within two at half. The second half was much like the second half of our other game. We were playing well with each other making the extra pass and scoring pretty easily. We regained the lead and extended it to 8 in the fourth quarter, but with about 3 minutes remaining we were up by 2. We went back and forth to the end where I gave up a lay-up and fouled him. They were within in one and decided not to foul so I dribbled the clock down to 1.7 seconds when they fouled me. I only hit one free throw and they missed the final shot. It was a good win for the team. I personally shot the ball really well (including a shot clock beater from about the same place as the Maryland game). I hit six three’s and had 26 points. I kept my one charge average and added some more steals.
Future
We have a rematch with the same Pro-B team this week and another game with a team in our division. These are still exhibition games as the season starts the 8th. I know I mentioned I was heading to Basil this weekend, but I found out that you must buy a pass for your car to drive in Switzerland. I did not want to risk it, so I will be working on getting that soon
This is BC gone for now
Aug 25, 2007
Aug 19, 2007
Life is GOOD
Hello Everyone,
LIFE
I believe I left off last time with me going to watch the French National Team in Strasbourg. It was about an hour drive, which I wish I had cruise control, but I guess that does not come with stick shifts. I must say the drive over was more exciting then the game. It was a friendly game between the two teams and they were scheduled to play again in two weeks for qualifier so it was not taken very seriously. The drive over was very nice with mountains on all sides. It looked like the pictures that you see growing up of France with the different color houses and crops on the mountain side. On the drive over we also passed a Lilly plant that had an Indianapolis steak house next to it. I might have to make the trip over there when I need a taste of home. They allow four wheelers on the road here, Heath would like that. We did not get to see much Strasbourg, but it looked rather big and had some nice buildings downtown. It was nice to get out of Mulhouse and see the game.
To the disappointment of my sister I have not been able to try much French cuisine. I mostly have been cooking at home the basics which resemble a lot of American food. We don’t get paid till the first off the month so I have not been able to splurge going to restaurants yet. Also, I thought I was not going to be able to watch my American shows, but a friend of mine gave me a website that has every TV show you would ever want along with some movies. I watched the Bourne Ultimatum the other day. I have pretty much figured out the city and get anywhere I need to. Life is good and I have no complaints.
Today, I made the trip to Freiburg, Germany. I thought I was really good with directions, in fact I used to brag to Morgan and my mom quite a bit, but France is really testing me. I started going the wrong way actually heading to Paris. When I figured it out I could not find an exit for the life of me. I passed like four rest parks and two gas stations. The gas stations are like a rest park, you get off and right back on. Finally, I came to a toll booth, I paid the 2.60 and of course there was an exit right after that. I turned around and paid 2.60 again and headed the right way. Freiburg is about 30 minutes from Mulhouse, but it took me about an hour in 15 minutes. Once I got to the city it was very nice. It had a lot of graffiti on the buildings that was the only down side. I found my way into the downtown part and parked (I had to dodge the 40 million bicyclers). I swear there were more bicycles then cars. The roads downtown were made of brick on other stones. There was a huge, and I mean huge church in the middle of the city. The architecture was really neat through out the entire downtown. It was mostly walk, tram, or bicycle. Cars were not permitted that is similar to the city center in Mulhouse as well. They had a small canal system running through it as well about as wide as my foot is long. They also had plenty of fountains and shops. Of course it was Sunday so many of them were closed. One would feel out of place if they did not have an ice cream cone in there hand. I did not want to feel out of place so I bought two (not at the same time). There were about 50 shops selling ice cream and pastries. I also saw my first Starbucks and Burger King (they had subway and McDonalds as well but that is in Mulhouse, too). The tram system was crazy they had tracks crossing roads and other tram tracks. They were going every which direction, Trams had to stop for other trams. I had never seen anything like that. It was a really nice city and I’m sure I will be making a couple trips over.
The Team
We had an exhibition game on Tuesday. We won by one point, all though we were leading by 12 to 15 almost the whole game. I played well scoring 23 points, 7 rebounds, and some assists (not sure how many). I did have 6TO which is way too many. Coach Lick would not have been happy with that. The team definitely needs to get better on defense guarding the pick and roll. Offensively we looked ok but need improvement as well. It was a good test because we have had only had 12 practices together. I injured a tendon in my shoulder and have been out since Wednesday. I have been getting treatment on it and will practice tomorrow. We have two games this week on Thursday and Friday. We play a pro A team from Switzerland and a pro B team from France. The team has been fighting the injury bug as we had one player come back yesterday and another who is out for another 2 weeks with a torn abdomen muscle. I like the system that we run and I feel we defiantly have a chance for success. This week will be a great test as we are playing two teams who are considered to be at higher levels then us.
Future
I plan on making a trip to Basel, Switzerland sometime this week, maybe on Sunday. I believe I will be updating my blog every Sunday that seems to be the best time.
This is BC gone for now
LIFE
I believe I left off last time with me going to watch the French National Team in Strasbourg. It was about an hour drive, which I wish I had cruise control, but I guess that does not come with stick shifts. I must say the drive over was more exciting then the game. It was a friendly game between the two teams and they were scheduled to play again in two weeks for qualifier so it was not taken very seriously. The drive over was very nice with mountains on all sides. It looked like the pictures that you see growing up of France with the different color houses and crops on the mountain side. On the drive over we also passed a Lilly plant that had an Indianapolis steak house next to it. I might have to make the trip over there when I need a taste of home. They allow four wheelers on the road here, Heath would like that. We did not get to see much Strasbourg, but it looked rather big and had some nice buildings downtown. It was nice to get out of Mulhouse and see the game.
To the disappointment of my sister I have not been able to try much French cuisine. I mostly have been cooking at home the basics which resemble a lot of American food. We don’t get paid till the first off the month so I have not been able to splurge going to restaurants yet. Also, I thought I was not going to be able to watch my American shows, but a friend of mine gave me a website that has every TV show you would ever want along with some movies. I watched the Bourne Ultimatum the other day. I have pretty much figured out the city and get anywhere I need to. Life is good and I have no complaints.
Today, I made the trip to Freiburg, Germany. I thought I was really good with directions, in fact I used to brag to Morgan and my mom quite a bit, but France is really testing me. I started going the wrong way actually heading to Paris. When I figured it out I could not find an exit for the life of me. I passed like four rest parks and two gas stations. The gas stations are like a rest park, you get off and right back on. Finally, I came to a toll booth, I paid the 2.60 and of course there was an exit right after that. I turned around and paid 2.60 again and headed the right way. Freiburg is about 30 minutes from Mulhouse, but it took me about an hour in 15 minutes. Once I got to the city it was very nice. It had a lot of graffiti on the buildings that was the only down side. I found my way into the downtown part and parked (I had to dodge the 40 million bicyclers). I swear there were more bicycles then cars. The roads downtown were made of brick on other stones. There was a huge, and I mean huge church in the middle of the city. The architecture was really neat through out the entire downtown. It was mostly walk, tram, or bicycle. Cars were not permitted that is similar to the city center in Mulhouse as well. They had a small canal system running through it as well about as wide as my foot is long. They also had plenty of fountains and shops. Of course it was Sunday so many of them were closed. One would feel out of place if they did not have an ice cream cone in there hand. I did not want to feel out of place so I bought two (not at the same time). There were about 50 shops selling ice cream and pastries. I also saw my first Starbucks and Burger King (they had subway and McDonalds as well but that is in Mulhouse, too). The tram system was crazy they had tracks crossing roads and other tram tracks. They were going every which direction, Trams had to stop for other trams. I had never seen anything like that. It was a really nice city and I’m sure I will be making a couple trips over.
The Team
We had an exhibition game on Tuesday. We won by one point, all though we were leading by 12 to 15 almost the whole game. I played well scoring 23 points, 7 rebounds, and some assists (not sure how many). I did have 6TO which is way too many. Coach Lick would not have been happy with that. The team definitely needs to get better on defense guarding the pick and roll. Offensively we looked ok but need improvement as well. It was a good test because we have had only had 12 practices together. I injured a tendon in my shoulder and have been out since Wednesday. I have been getting treatment on it and will practice tomorrow. We have two games this week on Thursday and Friday. We play a pro A team from Switzerland and a pro B team from France. The team has been fighting the injury bug as we had one player come back yesterday and another who is out for another 2 weeks with a torn abdomen muscle. I like the system that we run and I feel we defiantly have a chance for success. This week will be a great test as we are playing two teams who are considered to be at higher levels then us.
Future
I plan on making a trip to Basel, Switzerland sometime this week, maybe on Sunday. I believe I will be updating my blog every Sunday that seems to be the best time.
This is BC gone for now
Aug 11, 2007
Geting settled
Hello Everyone,
I figured it was about time to update the Blog, now that I am pretty much settled. I have a car now along with a washer. I think my washer actually is broken because my socks are not getting very clean. I will have to talk to management about that, but they have been real professional about everything. It is really a comfort to see that as I have talked with other players who were lucky to even get their money. I have set up my bank stuff and now have a visa for Europe. I will have no idea how to use it at first because the system is a little different here. I have been able to go to the store and have more food then just pasta and peanut butter, which got me by for the first few days. I have picked up a French tradition of putting plain yogurt on my cereal (Fromage Blanc is the name of the stuff). I also had one of the desserts which is very similar to a doughnut with pudding in the middle (not even going to try and spell that one). I have picked up some French, like the numbers, couple easy sayings like “It is over” and “It is working”. I say that a lot during the morning workouts because they never quit. Also, have some of the colors along with “good” and very good”. It will not take long to learn more as I am immersed in the culture (the spelling will be a different story).
The highlight of the week was getting my grandparents, mom, dad, and Morgan on Yahoo Messenger. Now, they can talk to me while also viewing me on my webcam. It is unbelievable some of the things you can do with a computer. I have become a pretty good driver with stick shift now as well. The first day I had the car I scraped the door handle on the garage. Now when I say garage I mean an area a little bigger then a cardboard box. It is really hard to pull in and out of. It takes me five minutes to accomplish this. A lot of my time is spent on the computer, but I have found the tram station and the train station along with a Chinese restaurant. I have not been able to eat there yet, the day I went it was closed. Tomorrow is our first day off since I have been here and we are going about an hour away to watch the France national team. I’m looking forward to getting out and seeing something new.
Practice is going really well and I have been playing really well. We either weight lift or run in the morning practices. They are some killer workouts, but I know it will pay off. Night practices consist of a lot of 3 on 3, 4 on 4 drills. Like I said earlier the team has a lot of energy and seems to be meshing very well. I have no idea about the competition we will face, but I know we will never quit. We have about 8 exhibition games with the first being this Tuesday. We are in a couple of pre-season tournaments as well. I’m ready to start playing some games. We had a team meal & meeting today where we paired up with a team member and found out about them. It was good to learn about all these different people and learn about there culture. The setting was very funny to me though, we were in a small nightclub with the couches and purple and orange lights. Our pasta was served to us in a Chinese food box, but outside appearance is not everything my salmon pasta was excellent (this is where I had the new doughnut treat).
I do have kind of a funny story. When I went to the market (grocery store) I had a cart that was filled to the top. When I was at the check out the lady was trying to speak to me. I had no idea what she was saying so I just showed her the Euros. She still would not check me out and got the manager who spoke a little English. He asked “do you have money?” I was like “yes” and he said “well that is all you need”. He started telling the lady to go, then looked at me and said “money will usually get you around here”, which is an accurate statement where money is the universal language. It just struck me as very interesting.
On a sad note, I found out that I will not be able to watch my ABC shows online as they are not available out of the states. Guess I will have to be informed on Grey’s anatomy from others.
This is BC gone for now
Good job to those who guessed #9. I really have no idea where the number 13 came from out of some people ;)
For anyone who is intersted my address is -16 Rue Leon Bourgeous
68100 Mulhouse France
I figured it was about time to update the Blog, now that I am pretty much settled. I have a car now along with a washer. I think my washer actually is broken because my socks are not getting very clean. I will have to talk to management about that, but they have been real professional about everything. It is really a comfort to see that as I have talked with other players who were lucky to even get their money. I have set up my bank stuff and now have a visa for Europe. I will have no idea how to use it at first because the system is a little different here. I have been able to go to the store and have more food then just pasta and peanut butter, which got me by for the first few days. I have picked up a French tradition of putting plain yogurt on my cereal (Fromage Blanc is the name of the stuff). I also had one of the desserts which is very similar to a doughnut with pudding in the middle (not even going to try and spell that one). I have picked up some French, like the numbers, couple easy sayings like “It is over” and “It is working”. I say that a lot during the morning workouts because they never quit. Also, have some of the colors along with “good” and very good”. It will not take long to learn more as I am immersed in the culture (the spelling will be a different story).
The highlight of the week was getting my grandparents, mom, dad, and Morgan on Yahoo Messenger. Now, they can talk to me while also viewing me on my webcam. It is unbelievable some of the things you can do with a computer. I have become a pretty good driver with stick shift now as well. The first day I had the car I scraped the door handle on the garage. Now when I say garage I mean an area a little bigger then a cardboard box. It is really hard to pull in and out of. It takes me five minutes to accomplish this. A lot of my time is spent on the computer, but I have found the tram station and the train station along with a Chinese restaurant. I have not been able to eat there yet, the day I went it was closed. Tomorrow is our first day off since I have been here and we are going about an hour away to watch the France national team. I’m looking forward to getting out and seeing something new.
Practice is going really well and I have been playing really well. We either weight lift or run in the morning practices. They are some killer workouts, but I know it will pay off. Night practices consist of a lot of 3 on 3, 4 on 4 drills. Like I said earlier the team has a lot of energy and seems to be meshing very well. I have no idea about the competition we will face, but I know we will never quit. We have about 8 exhibition games with the first being this Tuesday. We are in a couple of pre-season tournaments as well. I’m ready to start playing some games. We had a team meal & meeting today where we paired up with a team member and found out about them. It was good to learn about all these different people and learn about there culture. The setting was very funny to me though, we were in a small nightclub with the couches and purple and orange lights. Our pasta was served to us in a Chinese food box, but outside appearance is not everything my salmon pasta was excellent (this is where I had the new doughnut treat).
I do have kind of a funny story. When I went to the market (grocery store) I had a cart that was filled to the top. When I was at the check out the lady was trying to speak to me. I had no idea what she was saying so I just showed her the Euros. She still would not check me out and got the manager who spoke a little English. He asked “do you have money?” I was like “yes” and he said “well that is all you need”. He started telling the lady to go, then looked at me and said “money will usually get you around here”, which is an accurate statement where money is the universal language. It just struck me as very interesting.
On a sad note, I found out that I will not be able to watch my ABC shows online as they are not available out of the states. Guess I will have to be informed on Grey’s anatomy from others.
This is BC gone for now
Good job to those who guessed #9. I really have no idea where the number 13 came from out of some people ;)
For anyone who is intersted my address is -16 Rue Leon Bourgeous
68100 Mulhouse France
Aug 3, 2007
Hello everyone!
WARNING!! This post may be extremely long due to the amount of information I would like to give everyone on my trip so far. Unless your husband is the boss ;) you may want to wait till you can home from work to read this. I am going to break it down into sections to make it easier to read and follow. I must say as I am typing this I have a rejuvenated spirit. Today was a very long day, but very good. I will talk more about that in the end, but first we must tell you how much I love airports!!
The Trip Over…
I had a nice send off at the airport that turned for the worst right at the beginning. I was carrying two bags on which were filled to the brim with different things. That did not sit well with security. While I waited they checked inside and took almost everything out to make sure I was not a terrorist (they are usually good at picking the right ones). I did not let this bother me as I was early and would have to wait for about a half an hour, or so I thought. That half an hour turned into about two in a half as we set on the runway waiting for clearance. Still I was in a great mood and excited so again this did not bother me. I had about three and half hour wait in Philadelphia, or so I thought (this will be a common theme to this trip). When I arrived in Philly I had about an hour so I got some food and relaxed. Well that hour turned into two in the airport (Morgan did not mind gave her a little extra time to talk). I had never seen so many airplanes on the runway at one time, there had to be close to 60. Needless to say we left Philly close to four hours late. Again, I was in a great mood so it did not bother me then the late trip turned into one of the worst of all time. I had a drunk lady in front of me trying to get vodka from the stewardess anytime they walked by, then I had four French teenagers in front of me. I did not think this would be a problem until they could not keep there hands of the call button. I kid you not they were pressing that from the moment we left to the moment we landed. I watched a couple good movies so I was still in a good mood. Then I entered the Paris Airport about two hours late. I did not think this was this big of a deal because the lay over was three so I figured one hour was plenty of time. I WAS SO WRONG!! I started heading to the other terminal, I had to board a bus and wait on the bus for about ten minutes. Then we headed for the other terminal which was about another ten to fifteen minutes. I had a half an hour left so I thought I was good. When I got to the desk they told me the gate was 15 minutes walk and that I would not make it. Now I am getting frustrated. They wanted my bag tags so they could change the bags, I could not find them. They were able to get them from U.S. air direct and after a six hour wait to catch the next plane to “Ma-louse” I finally landed to meet a guy who barely spoke English and only one of my bags. If I never have to go through another trip like this it would be great.
Mulhouse-The City
The drive in from the airport was very nice with the mountains in the background. The city itself is very old, but very nice. There is a canal running through the city that is very nice. The city is very FRENCHY. Meaning you would not want to come here to just visit unless you knew French. Barely anyone speaks English in fact I have only spoke with one person other then someone affiliated with the team that spoke English. The town has a couple of McDonald’s which I had to have a couple meals at not by choice, but by necessity. However, my first meal was at a restaurant that sponsors the team. It is actually pretty unique it has bad mitten courts and racquetball in the restaurant. The meal was chicken with cream sauce and mushrooms with a salad and fries. They made fun of me about using ketchup; they have it but do not use it like we do in America. The city does not seem too big, but I’m not sure I have been the same way more then once yet. The streets here are crazy, they just go every which way and are also very narrow. It is defiantly going to be a little bit of a challenge to adjust due to the language barrier. It is hard for me to order at a restaurant, but luckily a teammate took me to the store and they have similar products or at least enough for me to know what to buy. My car has been on a little bit of a delay, but I’m not too worried about it because people drive crazy here, there are intersections where there is no sign. The car just comes up looks and goes, kind of scary. Overall the city is beautiful and should fit me fine.
Apartment
The apartment is actually pretty nice. I have hard wood floors and two bedrooms, living room with dinning room table with a nice couch, and a kitchen. The kitchen is under equipped. The refrigerator is a small one which will make it hard for freezer items. I do not even have a microwave, but that will be changing soon as I talked with the team about that one. The bathroom is separated, there is an entrance for the toilet that looks like a closet and the same for the shower part. Also, they did not have a washer in here, but they are locating that as well. It came with two beds and two fans (fans very huge for me). The TV is just basic cable with all French or other languages. I get BBC and a music channel that sometimes plays American music. I should be pretty up to date with the world which is not all bad. For the purpose of the apartment I am very satisfied.
The Team
The team consists of about four other people I will deal with besides the players. Serge is the do it all man in America he would be called like a manager except he does everything for the team. He was the one that picked me up from the airport and has been running me around certain places. The funny thing about Serge is he knows little English. For those of you who have met Julian’s father his English is much like that. He has mastered the saying “Follow Me”. I joke with him about it now and it is pretty funny. A funny story with him is that he took me to the bank so there were two guys neither spoke good English and I was signed up for a credit card and a bank account after that he took me to the internet and cable place where we signed up for that as well with me doing little but acting like I knew. However the cable was very easy to understand so I was good with that. I was a little nervous about the bank stuff. Later I had to take the contract and all the papers to the secretary of the team, Stephanie, who told me what all the papers said. Stephanie was the one who met us at the restaurant the first night and had the keys to let me in. Her English is not bad and she can communicate which make things a lot easier on me. She handles the marketing for the team as well. It is a very small operation there are no assistant coaches, the coach’s right hand man is jeun perre who is a police officer in the city. I had lunch with him the second day I was here. His English is a little battered to, but with a little concentration one can understand. The players on the team are all very young. I think the oldest guy is like 25, which is very young compared to other teams in the league. With just a couple practices in I feel like we can be a very successful team. The coach reminds me a lot of how Coach Lick coaches (that should be very good for me). I was a little nervous at first about being since I am the only American and all the players speak French, but I have been able to form some connections with the team and I am a more comfortable now with the situation.
I am sorry for the length of this, but I just wanted to let everyone know what it is like a little bit. Plus this is my only connection to home right now so I enjoy doing it. I will try an update in about a week after I have had some more practices and get a real feel for the team.
This is BC gone for now.
P.S. the numbers here go from 4-15 so let me know if you can guess my number.
WARNING!! This post may be extremely long due to the amount of information I would like to give everyone on my trip so far. Unless your husband is the boss ;) you may want to wait till you can home from work to read this. I am going to break it down into sections to make it easier to read and follow. I must say as I am typing this I have a rejuvenated spirit. Today was a very long day, but very good. I will talk more about that in the end, but first we must tell you how much I love airports!!
The Trip Over…
I had a nice send off at the airport that turned for the worst right at the beginning. I was carrying two bags on which were filled to the brim with different things. That did not sit well with security. While I waited they checked inside and took almost everything out to make sure I was not a terrorist (they are usually good at picking the right ones). I did not let this bother me as I was early and would have to wait for about a half an hour, or so I thought. That half an hour turned into about two in a half as we set on the runway waiting for clearance. Still I was in a great mood and excited so again this did not bother me. I had about three and half hour wait in Philadelphia, or so I thought (this will be a common theme to this trip). When I arrived in Philly I had about an hour so I got some food and relaxed. Well that hour turned into two in the airport (Morgan did not mind gave her a little extra time to talk). I had never seen so many airplanes on the runway at one time, there had to be close to 60. Needless to say we left Philly close to four hours late. Again, I was in a great mood so it did not bother me then the late trip turned into one of the worst of all time. I had a drunk lady in front of me trying to get vodka from the stewardess anytime they walked by, then I had four French teenagers in front of me. I did not think this would be a problem until they could not keep there hands of the call button. I kid you not they were pressing that from the moment we left to the moment we landed. I watched a couple good movies so I was still in a good mood. Then I entered the Paris Airport about two hours late. I did not think this was this big of a deal because the lay over was three so I figured one hour was plenty of time. I WAS SO WRONG!! I started heading to the other terminal, I had to board a bus and wait on the bus for about ten minutes. Then we headed for the other terminal which was about another ten to fifteen minutes. I had a half an hour left so I thought I was good. When I got to the desk they told me the gate was 15 minutes walk and that I would not make it. Now I am getting frustrated. They wanted my bag tags so they could change the bags, I could not find them. They were able to get them from U.S. air direct and after a six hour wait to catch the next plane to “Ma-louse” I finally landed to meet a guy who barely spoke English and only one of my bags. If I never have to go through another trip like this it would be great.
Mulhouse-The City
The drive in from the airport was very nice with the mountains in the background. The city itself is very old, but very nice. There is a canal running through the city that is very nice. The city is very FRENCHY. Meaning you would not want to come here to just visit unless you knew French. Barely anyone speaks English in fact I have only spoke with one person other then someone affiliated with the team that spoke English. The town has a couple of McDonald’s which I had to have a couple meals at not by choice, but by necessity. However, my first meal was at a restaurant that sponsors the team. It is actually pretty unique it has bad mitten courts and racquetball in the restaurant. The meal was chicken with cream sauce and mushrooms with a salad and fries. They made fun of me about using ketchup; they have it but do not use it like we do in America. The city does not seem too big, but I’m not sure I have been the same way more then once yet. The streets here are crazy, they just go every which way and are also very narrow. It is defiantly going to be a little bit of a challenge to adjust due to the language barrier. It is hard for me to order at a restaurant, but luckily a teammate took me to the store and they have similar products or at least enough for me to know what to buy. My car has been on a little bit of a delay, but I’m not too worried about it because people drive crazy here, there are intersections where there is no sign. The car just comes up looks and goes, kind of scary. Overall the city is beautiful and should fit me fine.
Apartment
The apartment is actually pretty nice. I have hard wood floors and two bedrooms, living room with dinning room table with a nice couch, and a kitchen. The kitchen is under equipped. The refrigerator is a small one which will make it hard for freezer items. I do not even have a microwave, but that will be changing soon as I talked with the team about that one. The bathroom is separated, there is an entrance for the toilet that looks like a closet and the same for the shower part. Also, they did not have a washer in here, but they are locating that as well. It came with two beds and two fans (fans very huge for me). The TV is just basic cable with all French or other languages. I get BBC and a music channel that sometimes plays American music. I should be pretty up to date with the world which is not all bad. For the purpose of the apartment I am very satisfied.
The Team
The team consists of about four other people I will deal with besides the players. Serge is the do it all man in America he would be called like a manager except he does everything for the team. He was the one that picked me up from the airport and has been running me around certain places. The funny thing about Serge is he knows little English. For those of you who have met Julian’s father his English is much like that. He has mastered the saying “Follow Me”. I joke with him about it now and it is pretty funny. A funny story with him is that he took me to the bank so there were two guys neither spoke good English and I was signed up for a credit card and a bank account after that he took me to the internet and cable place where we signed up for that as well with me doing little but acting like I knew. However the cable was very easy to understand so I was good with that. I was a little nervous about the bank stuff. Later I had to take the contract and all the papers to the secretary of the team, Stephanie, who told me what all the papers said. Stephanie was the one who met us at the restaurant the first night and had the keys to let me in. Her English is not bad and she can communicate which make things a lot easier on me. She handles the marketing for the team as well. It is a very small operation there are no assistant coaches, the coach’s right hand man is jeun perre who is a police officer in the city. I had lunch with him the second day I was here. His English is a little battered to, but with a little concentration one can understand. The players on the team are all very young. I think the oldest guy is like 25, which is very young compared to other teams in the league. With just a couple practices in I feel like we can be a very successful team. The coach reminds me a lot of how Coach Lick coaches (that should be very good for me). I was a little nervous at first about being since I am the only American and all the players speak French, but I have been able to form some connections with the team and I am a more comfortable now with the situation.
I am sorry for the length of this, but I just wanted to let everyone know what it is like a little bit. Plus this is my only connection to home right now so I enjoy doing it. I will try an update in about a week after I have had some more practices and get a real feel for the team.
This is BC gone for now.
P.S. the numbers here go from 4-15 so let me know if you can guess my number.
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