Problems this season "at a glance":
the team has been months late on paying us, then the club got mad at us for striking for two days, we put up with the tardiness due to the global economic crisis, within one particular week we had a broken nose, broken finger, then a car accident and 3 broken ribs with a slightly perforated lung, we have not won a game since october, and our head coach has been sick for about two months now. Talk of me getting traded even made it into the national sports newspaper, so my future with the team wasn't always certain. Other things may come to me later, but basically it's been a rough season. We may have been the only team...no, the only workers who were so behind in payments and then practiced on Christmas Day. Our Coach is separated from his family, so he has nothing to do...ever... For this reason, we have to put up with it and understand the situation. From every single one of my teammates comments, this will be their worst season of their careers, "hands down".
But you know what? With all these problems and frustrations, it's still not too bad. For the last three weeks, on Wednesdays I've had a group of Italian teammates over for dinner to watch "Amici" which is basically like American Idol. My Australian buddy was cut from the team, but we still have an awesome group. I now speak and understand Italian enough to hang out with both groups, and it was such a cool experience for me to have such a simple dinner with Kiki the other night. We ate a huge piece of "buffalo" mozzarella cheese (THE BEST mozzarella cheese in Italia!) with just some bread, prosciutto, and cherry tomatoes. Such a simple, healthy, and different meal that I probably would have never experienced otherwise. Delicious!
We haven't been able to travel too much, but I did get to do a little when my mom and aunt came over (which is when we took the pictures shown in Alia, from where the Montagninos originated). I'm here because of basketball, but I'm glad I'm building relationships and having some fun as well. That's what I hope to remember later on in life in addition to the competition.
Kristen would love that...big cheesestick, she would be on a plane tomorrow! Ha! I couldn't imagine all the different situations that you and your team has encountered this season. You have endured a lot to live a dream of playing, but you continue to grow from it. I am so glad that you hang out with your teammates and just have more people to be around, I know that is a huge boost. How are your teammates at guitar hero? Ha! Keep your head up and hopefully the pay check will come soon. Keep ballin and doing what you do best...overcoming.
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