public transportation

i have been here now for a month, its kind of crazy! just when we think that we have the public transportation down.. well we don't. yesterday was our day off so after work we thought we would go to the mall. instead of taking us 20 min to get there it took us an hour an half, because we took the wrong bus lol. once we got to the mall we had a good time... but then on the way back we took the wrong bus again! lol but we didn't know that there were two 3422 buses. the nice bus driver finally helped us after he noticed that these crazy americans didn't know what they were doing. to sum it up... we spent more time on the bus then we did at the mall!

fiesta in Spain...

on monday my roommates informed me that we were having a team dinner on saturday after the game... and then going to fiesta after. sam and i were excited to hangout with the team off the court because we really hadn't done any team things yet. but team dinners are a little different outside of college and the states. we sat down to eat at a great Italian resturant at 11:30 pm and had a 4 course meal and finished eating at 1 am. then went to 3 different clubs/bars... didn't get home til 4:30 am. not exactly what sam and i expected! lol we had a really great time hanging out with everyone and learning some spanish from the girls. with only a few creeper experiences lol..

tasty olives that you get when you sit down

place setting and the menu (we got on in english) :)

the pizza 

this wasn't mine.. but its what coffee (cafe) looks like, and its very strong.

the younger girls on the team!

after dinner

fiesta until 4:30 am!! and that is normal :) lol

roommates

dancing to american music 

this was outside a club/bar.. people we just drinking and smoking outside. it was packed, you couldn't even move! 

this is inside a club

walking to a game?

in all the years that i have played basketball never have i walked to a game, until now lol. we had just one game on saturday against a team that is close to the apartment, hints why we walked. it was only about a 10 min walk it was just very different.

teammates/roommates

the busy city..on the way to the game

a motor (motorcycles) show with loud music all day

this gym was just in the middle of the city Leioa. it wasn't very big, but it did have wood floors! :) this is actually our younger team that is playing in the white uniforms. the younger team won. we lost. 

interesting events of the week...

working:
well we didn't know that we would have to have a job coming into this... we thought basketball was our job but... four days a week sam and i go down to the school and 'coach' basketball for hour. an hour that doesn't sound bad but these kids are like wild animals! not only are they screaming little kids, they are screaming little kids that are speaking Spanish! only about half can speak and understand english. it is a challenge for the both of us.. but oh well. they love playing the game knock out which they call K.O... sam and i thought that they were saying cow, later we found out that it sounds like cow because of the sounds of the letters k.o. in spanish. on thursday my group of about 7 kids were playing k.o., the kids started to yell at each in spanish, and i had know idea how to handle that. so i gathered them together and said that i don't understand what they are fighting about because i don't speak spanish!! so stop yelling! they listened i think because after i said that there was no more yelling lol. its pretty stressful working with a group of 8 & 9 year olds when you speak the same language...imagine not speaking the same language.
most of these experiences are so hard to explain in writing, sometimes you just have to be there and see it for yourself :)

walks to practice:
this week there has been a lot of walking to practice... where we practice is easily a 25 min walk.

actual practice:
practice this week and has been interesting as always. drills that don't really make sense, aren't really making us any better... but finally we have started to practice our plays more on 5 on 0, so that the coach luis can actually stop and fix what we are doing wrong. the girls are starting to help more when we have questions on whats going on, on the court...and off.

shopping in the city!

this week our day off from practice was tuesday, so we took a break from the topless beaches and went shopping! it was about a 20 min metro ride. here are the pictures :)

sam and i in the center of bilbao

this huge fountain was in the middle of the city with flowers & plants...very pretty!

first thing i saw when we got off the metro..love at first sight :)

a veryyyy good ice cream place

the ice cream always tastes so fresh here, and its very creamy

yummmmmmmmmmy:)

during our afternoon of shopping we made sure to take pictures of the buildings. they are all so different. and i don't know when anyone works because there are always people out walking around.

on monday our coaches mother passed away. so after shopping we met up with the team to go to the funeral, it was in Bilbao. it was a Catholic funeral.. and we didn't understand a thing, but we felt like it was important for us to go. after it was over that concluded our day off... are feet were killing us as we jumped back on the metro to head to our houses.  

more games..

last weekend we had another tournament, it was in Zaragoza, Spain about 3 hours away from Bilbao. we won a game and lost a game. the first game we won by a lot and the second game we should have won, it was close...but we'll play that team again during the season. the hotel was nice, but very small. the pictures will explain it all.

to use the lights and the tv in the room you had to put the room key in this thing...

 field next to the gym we played at

inside of the bus, it was pretty nice. they use buses like this for school buses too.

the bus

the city

Zaragoza city

little baby tv

beds.. it was 2 twins pushed together...very strange

bathroom @ the hotel

where we played.. green rubber floor

most of the team walking around Zaragoza

breakfast & the beach :)

fresh squeezed orange juice and a potato thing... i can't remember the name but it is basically potatoes, and eggs... very popular!

on the search for dominos!

after the game on sunday we had no food at our houses and all the stores were closed.. most of them. when sam was on her way home she saw a dominos sign on a car, from that moment we were going to find the dominos! we were seriously looking from light til dark! someone tried to tell us but OF COURSE in spanish... didn't go so well. then we were going to order online well the web page was in spanish, OF COURSE... so then we were sure that if we called, someone would speak english to order over the phone, OF COURSE  they didn't. so we finally got a hold of our coach to help us and we found it after all, is was a little taste of home... is what sis called it. 

YES! :)

before...

before.. so so good

after...we had never been so full Spain

after :)

first tournamnet

we played on saturday and sunday... it was pretty interestng to say the least. there a lot of things that are different in Spain when it comes to basketball...well pretty much everything. but the court was not wood it was like rubber, it was very hot, you can travel like crazy, and fouls they are just outta control! it is going to take some getting use to. we won on saturday night by a lot, the team wasn't very good. on sunday for 1st place we played a much better team... not amazing! but they are usually in the 1st league, they are waiting for their wnba players to come over to Spain. by the way i am in 2nd league. here are some fotos of the weekend... :)