Dzień dobry!

Dzien Dobry! :) Or as we say back in the states, Good Afternoon! My name is Carrie Moore. I am currently playing my first year with AZS PWSZ in Gorzow. I graduated in May with a bachelor's degree in journalism. I have always loved to write. And along with that talent, has always been my love for the game of basketball. I played four years at Western Michigan University, a mid-major Division I University located in Kalamazoo, MI. I finished my senior season as the all-time leading scorer in WMU history with over 2,000 points scored. A year ago I was named Mid-American Conference Co-Player of the Year and also led the nation in scoring with 25.4 points a game. I was invited to the Phoenix Mercury training camp this past April and was cut the final week of camp. I spent most of my summer working basketball camps, working out on my own, and spending time with friends and family back home in Detroit. But, I have had plenty of time off and I am more than ready to get it going with my new team. But enough about me... It is another beautiful day here in my little Poland. I've come to call it that because this beautiful place is slowly, but surely, becoming my own. I am making the best of this experience everyday and continue to wake up each morning with an open mind in order to truly take in what this place has to offer. Happy October! :) I've already been here a month. I can't believe it.The two-a-days here with AZS PWSZ really do make the days fly by! I miss home very much. Moving half way across the world has truly made me appreciate and value many of the things in life that before now, I may have taken for granted. It's just a whole other world over here. And for the first time in my life, I have truly felt the gap between myself and those that I love most. Like Dorothy used to say in the Wizard of Oz, there truly is no place like home. Although the grass isn't always greener on the other side, as some people choose to think about change, I have surprisingly found this place (Gorzow) to be pretty darn green. HA! I spend most of my time in the gym or in my flat, aka home, apartment, house, or the place I lay my head at night. I have come to call it "the attic" because to describe it in a nutshell, the place is rather small, cozy, and one of the walls above my bed in caved in with a small square window carved in the ceiling that looks up at the sky. The place is also on the top floor of a three story house and has a balcon that looks out at the city street down below. In other words, the place is lovely. It's just right. Not too big and not too small. It has a clean bathroom with a steady and powerful shower head, clean carpet, sink and kitchen table, and my own little living room with a desk, computer chair, television and bed. I have more dresser space than I have clothes to fill, and I have tons of peach and white wall that I hope to be covered with pictures and posters of some kind within the next month or two. I don't turn on the television much because I can't really understand any of it. But, when i do, its usually on one of the sports channels we have. I did, however, find the polish version of "Dancing With the Stars" on last night, but didn't recognize one "star" on the show. Ha! The city is rather beautiful. In my eyes, It's a small town with nothing but the friendliest people in world. Everyone is so very nice here and welcoming. There are times when I walk down the street with my teammates and little kids will just stop and stare, but they do it in the most polite way you can imagine. There are also many elders that walk Gorzow to me is the part of downtown the river runs through. It's absolutely amazing. It's a long and rather wide stream of water, called the Warta River, that runs directly through the city. I pray every night for sunshine. I do this because this place is so much more enjoyable when the sun is out. It just lights up the town and al those people in it I feel like. Maybe thats wherever you go, but the first couple days here, it rained all day and night here, and was pretty hard to get my spirits up. The breezy fall is on its way and the cold winter here is hard to avoid, but the skies have not thrown me anything yet that I am not used to or can't handle. The weather has been absolutely wonderful. Finally... hoops. The tool I used to bring me here. Each day on the court is a new challenge and overall learning experience for me. The language barrier is tough because I can't really understand what the coach says most of the time and really just go off the tone of his voice and the motions he makes. But, the girls are all very friendly and three of them speak very good English and talk me through most of what coach says and his directions toward me and the other players. It was tough at first, but it gets better each day. Anyways. time is flying by here and I need to get in my mid-day nap before our second practice of the day this evening. M W and F, we do a circuit in the weight room and have a shooting workout in the AM, followed by a tough practice in the evening. T and TR is conditioning and shooting in the AM and practice in the PM. I'm sure the schedule will change next month when our polish season begins. But for now, if it's not that, then I'm usually around the attic just hanging or out exploring the city somewhere. Pretty loose huh? I might have to pick up a hobby or something! :) This kind of writing will do for now... Until next time from my little Poland, Carrie