Wesolych Swiat!

I thought I'd give all of you a sample of some of the Polish language I've learned here in the past four months. Those two words aren't all I've learned, but with the holiday season upon us, I was eager to learn how to write and say the phrase above. This language is not easy, but I'm giving it a really good try. I can already count to 100, I know the days of the week, I had please and thank you down the second I stepped off the plane, my teammates don't have to translate every basketball term that coms out of my coaches mouth anymore, and I hope to have all of the month's memorized by the end of the week. Wish me luck... So much time has passed since my last journal. Our playing schedule has kept me pretty busy the past month and we've been on the road a lot. We've been to three different countries in the past month for three European cup games. I think we all got a bit tired of being on our bus, but in the end of it all, we won some big games against good teams in front of their home crowds. We've also grown a lot closer as a team through each victory. It's been fun. Less time on the road means more time in the gym here in Gorzow...and even more time in the weight room. HA. Our strength coach told us last week that any player who benched pressed 60 kilograms would not have to do it for the rest of the year. So, a couple of my teammates (Aga and Kiki) and I threw on the weight immediately after hearing that comment. I even put up 65 kilo's this morning, but I'm pretty sure I'll be right back laying on the bench on Friday. We knew it sounded too good to be true. But, today must have been my lucky day because I not only put up record weight here in Poland, but I finally made my half court shot at the end of practice this morning! :) Our morning shooting workouts consists of a lot of pair shooting competitions and at the end of it each pair gets two shots from half court. A hand full of girls have already made it, including Justyny Zurowskiej, who threw up a hook shot with her right hand, standing on two feet at half court and hit nothing but net! I would have to say hers was the most creative shot I've seen, but mine looked just as nice as I aimed it perfectly off the backboard and into the net. HAHA. So there's a look at some of the fun we've been having. We're also working with Ola Chomac on her dunking skills...that and her free throws. HA. But, I still can't believe she almost dunked in a game! Anyways...we all hope the fun continues through the week and our team continues to get better on the court. We have a BIG game against Grospic, the team from Croatia that is tied for first place with us in our pool at 3-1. We lost by over twenty points in their gym, but haven't lost a game since. So were looking forward to the challenge this week. Wednesday is also the day of our team Christmas gift exchange. :) After doing a "secret santa" swap in college for four years around this time of year, I was excited to see my team here taking part in such a similar tradition. Still can't believe it's Christmas time already. It's almost time to go home...19 days. :)