Frankfurt Weinachtsmarkt

Last weekend we went in to Frankfurt and went to the Weinachts(Christmas) market there. After going to the one in Wiesbaden a while back we wanted to go to another big one after visiting a couple small ones around our area. The Franfurt one was packed. Since we went on a Sunday there were so many people there. It was fun to see all the different stands and see what they had to offer. There were many food stands and places that sold different drinks. The most popular drink at this time of year is called Gluhwein. They have this at the Weinachts markets and many people go to the markets just to have Gluhwein. We found out that every stand has there own Gluhwein, but we didnt find that out until after we tried it. The stand that we stopped at, we tried the Gluhwein and did not like it at all. It is a sort of apple wine but it was very tart and did not taste good. After we got home we tried the bottle of it that we bought at the store and that wine was much better. We warmed it up on the stove and it wasnt as tart and tasted much better, and I think we would get it again in the future.

At the market we also got some Christmas presents and were amazed at some of the neat stores. We would defintiley go to more markets if we are here again in the future, maybe try some of the other well-known Christmas markets that go on in Germany around Christmas time.

Schnee!!!! (Snow)

Schnee!!!!!!!!!! This past weekend we got some snow. It wasnt 12-17inches like some places in Wisconsin got, but we got probably 1-3 inches. We both agreed that the snow was great and really makes it feel like it is getting close to Christmas. Today, however, it has been raining and the forecast for Christmas is for rain as well. I am just hoping it will get cold enough to snow so we have snow for Christmas because the rain has melted a lot of the snow. Only 3 days left!!!!!!

Past 2 week's games

Well the past two weeks have been very successful for Katy's team and for my team we split the games.
In the past two weekends Katy's team won both of their games. I would tell you exaclty how many points and rebounds she had in each game but I was not able to see either game. Two weeks ago she played at 6 and I played at 8 so I wasnt able to see it. Then this weekend she played on Sunday. Even though my team didnt have a game we had a Christmas Lunch with the team and I was only able to see part of the 4th quarter. In both games though I guess she had about 20 or so points and I am guessing a double double in rebounds in both games. She now has a long break (3 weeks off) over the holidays until she plays again.
For my team, we won our game 1.5 weeks ago against ULM. Even though I wasnt able to play because of my ankle it was still an exciting game and we ended up winning by 1 point. This past weekend we played on the road, at Bamburg, but didnt do so hot. We actually played pretty poorly. I think for us it is just important to move onto next week and start preparing for that game. This was the first game back for me after missing some time for an ankle sprain. Even though it wasnt totally recovered it felt good to get up and down and play.

1 up, 1 down

This past week we had two games. One on last Saturday and one on Wedensday. The game last Saturday wasn't good for two reasons. We ended up losing the game and gave up way more points than we usually give up. We tend to hold teams to a low amount of points a lot of the time and if we can get some offence going we will win. Well not the case on Saturday. We scored our fair share-90 some points-but the other team scored 105. Usually if we score in the 90 we will win but not this weekednd. The game was also a bummer for me as I sprained my ankle. I got subbed in on a free throw and when the guy missed the second of his two shots I jumped up and tried to grab the rebound. When I came down I came down on someones foot and got my ankle pretty good. Usually when it gets twisted it hurts for a little while then the pain goes away if I walk around on it, but on Saturday I couldnt put any weight on it and the pain didnt go away. I got a X-ray and an MRI done and luckily it was just a sprain. It does stink though having to sit out, but I know I want to make sure my ankle is somewhat better so I dont hurt it anymore.

This week we also played a road game in Braunschweig on Wednesday night. At stretches the game wasnt pretty but in the end we pulled it out. At the end of the game the other team was at the free throw line quite a few times and missed many free throws. Earlier in the year this is what happened to us when we lost game so it was nice to have the tables turned for once. I guess this is also the first road game Giessen has won in like 3 years, so it was a big win for us.

Now this weekend we play Ulm. One of the players who was on our team last week, Austin, is now playing for Ulm and so it should make for an interesting game.

Weinachts markts (Christmas Markets)

After going to the Christmas market in Wiesbaden this past weekend we thought we would take advantage of me not having practice on Tuesday night and go to Marburg, a nearby city, for their Christmas market. We thought there was going to be many booths and we went armed with some money this time so we could get some gifts. When we got there we found something a little different. While there were booths, there might have been 15 or 20 of them and at least half were food stands. While we enjoyed walking around the base of the Cathedral (where the market was) it wasnt quite what we had in mind when we went there. We didnt get anything as there wasnt really much that interested us.

Even though the market was much smaller than we had hoped we still had a good time. On the street adjacent to where the market was they had a "tobaggon run" set up. This is a 60 meter run, on ice, where you sit on a saucer and go down the run. Katy and I both did it and enjoyed it. Below is the video of Katy's ride.

Since we didnt spend as much time in Marburg as we thought we would we decided to head back to Giessen and go to their Christmas market in the middle of town. In Giessen there are a couple booths but it is mostly food stands inbetween stores. We did have a good time though walking around and seeing the city center decorated for Christmas.

Lost in Weisbaden (pronounced vees-bah-den)

This weekend Katy had a basketball game in Weisbaden, the capital city of Hessen (the state we live in here in Germany). Her game was in the evening so we left early in the afternoon to go and get soe sightseeing in. We got there 3 or 4 hours before her game and drove to the center of the city. There they had their Christas market going on and across the street they had a skating rink set up where you could rent skates and go ice sakting. We decided not to do that but did look around the Christmas market. The market was around the big cathedral in Wiesbaden and had manz little booths/stalls there. Each shop had somehting different to offer. Many had food, some had ornaments, and there were others that had interesting and original goods. We were really impressed as we had not seen anything like this back in the U.S. We didnt have much money with us as we didnt know we would be looking to buy anything and so couldnt get anything. We decided we would have to try to make it to another Christmas market closer to Giessen.
From there we took off to find the gym where aty played. We left plenty early as the GPS that we go from the team isnt working and we just had hand written directions. We drove around for quite some time until we found one of the roads on Katys directions. From there we meandered our way around until we found a small gym in the middle of a bunch of apartment buildings. We walked inside and there was no one there. Katy texted some of the girls on the team to ask if they had gotten there yet and they said they just got there. Looks like we were at the wrong place. Turns out the directions we found online were the wrong ones. I think someone needs to update the site where the directions were. Luckily we turned aroudn and found a gas station where Katy's coach was nice enough to come and get us and drive us to the game. We made it 45 minutes early so Katy was able to get a good warmup in.
The game started off a little rough for the girls but they picked it up as the game went on. They ended up winning by 10 or so. The other team had a girl that just couldnt seem to miss. If you would have told me before the game that the girl was going to make a lot of shots I wouldnt have believed it. She had a wierd looking shot and didnt look like that good of a player, but somehow she was able to make shots. In the end though Katy's team was just too tough. She actualy had a really good game as well. She ended up with 21 points and 23 rebounds. She tied the most rebounds she had in LaCrosse. I gave her a little guff for not beating it but she played very well and it was fun to watch. Who knows, maybe we'll have to try and get lost before every game.

3 in row at home

This weekend we won our third game in a row at home. We beat a very good team as well. We played Oldenburg who won the league last year. In Europe what happens when you win your league is, you also get to play in the Euroleague, which is the best team from each league across Europe. So you are playing the best teams. Well Oldenburg is in the Euroleague this year but we didnt let that intimidate us and came out hard and played well. It feels good to get two in a row and three in a row at home. This next weekend we travel to Tunigen to hopefully extend our winning streak.

Deer Hunting

Well this weekend is the last weekend of deer hunting. I just wanted to wish those who havent gotten a deer or are going back out to try and get another the best of luck and hopefully you will get one.


A song for the second weekend of the deer season.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb9yhhflmvY

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!! (Happy Putentag - Turkeyday)

We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Here we had our own little Thanksgiving. On Thursday the Americans got together after our practice finished at 8:00 and went over to one of the guy's apartments. There we had dinner. Earlier in the day Katy and I went over to his house and cooked so the food would be all ready when we got done with practice. We cooked a turkey, stuffing, mashed potatos, gravy, broccoli and cheese sauce for it, green bean casserole, pumpkin pie, banana cream pie. Every thing we made had to be from scratch as they dont have any stuffing mix, pumpkin pie filling, French's onions, pie crust. It made it kind of fun to make it like that though. Then one of our teammates made candied sweet potatoes, a ham, he had a little cranberry sauce, and made a yellow cake. Another couple of teammates brought rolls and drinks so we were set. We were a little worried that we were not going to have enough food, but in the end it was just about right. For some of the stuff there was no leftovers, but I think everybody got as much as they wanted on the night so it was great. There were eight of us and it was a great night. Made even better by the Packers getting the W. We were able to watch the game as the guy's place we went to had ESPN America on his TV and we were able to watch it live. It was awesome. One of the guys on the team is Cowboys fan so we watched that game as well and they won too. So everyone was happy.

Katy's game - 21st Nov

Last weekend Katy played on Sunday afternoon. It was great that we didnt play on the same day so we could watch each other. Her game was a pretty good game. They ended up beating the other team by 15 or 20, but they probably could have won by 40 or 50. They missed quite a few layups, a couple of them wide open, but they played pretty good defense were they didnt let the other team get close to them. Katy had a really good game. The paper said she had 16 points, but I had counted 18, so anyway she scored well. I think she also had over 10 rebounds and 10 assists. So this was Katys first triple double ever. She is having a good time playing and really helps her team out. Maybe next week will be even better, if it can get any better. Check back to find out how she does this weekend.

2

This past weekend we got our second in of the season. Last Saturday the 21st we played the Artland Dragons. When we played them they were sitting atop the league. We started off a little shaky and went down by some in the first quarter but then fought back. The team played pretty well and towards the end of the game it felt like we were in control. We ended up winning by 9 points. It was a great feeling beating the best team in the league. After many close games with good teams it felt good to win one.
Next weekend we will have another tough game as we play the team that won the league last year, Oldernburg. They are doing pretty well this year but if we play well we should be able to get 2 in a row. It would also be nice as this would be our 3rd game in a row at home.

Opener

Just want to wish everyone back home the best of luck with opener this weekend. Hope to hear a lot of good stories (that ended up with getting one or more) in the weeks to come. Wish I could be hitting the woods with ya.
Good Luck!!

Game on the 14th

This past Saturday we played in Trier, which is a couple hours (3 or so by bus) away from Giessen. Trier is currently 4th in the league so we knew it was going to be a big game, but a game that if we play well we could win. For me personally it was a tough game. I couldnt seem to walk on the court without getting a foul, and ended up fouling out in a limited amount of time. Our team played pretty tough for the whole game. With a couple minutes to go were neck and neck. Down the stretch we had our chances to go ahead but just missed out on them. A guy on the other team hit a big 3 with only a little time left to pretty much seal the game. In the end we lost by 4 points. It was tough, it was a game that we could have won if we would have done a few things differently. We seem to play good teams tough, now we just have to find a way to get the game in the end. This next weekend we play the Artland Dragons, who are sitting at the top of the league. So, it would be a huge win for us if we could get it.

First Win

A week and a half ago our team got our first win! We played against Paderborn. We played pretty much even with them the whole game. They hit a shot at the at halftiem to go up by a few. Then in the second half it was close again. I think in the 4th we had a small lead most of the time. In the end we were able to hit our free-throws and won. It was a greta feeling especially as we have been very close in many other games. 2 in overtime and lost by only a few in many others. After a win they have a 'tradition' here is Giessen where you look up at the crowd and hold your hands straight out towards them. You shake your hands for a couple seconds and then wave your hands up and down. The fans are doing this at the same time back to you. You do it 4 times, one for each group of stands (the 4 sides of the court). The atmosphere, as you can imagine, is so much better after a win. After the game, we meet as a team and have dinner in the VIP area. They have served ham, chicken, shnitzel, and goose already. Its really quite good food. It was nice because even in there the atmosphere was much lighter and more fun. Looks like we'll just have to win some more games.

Bowling - Round 2

This past Wednesday night we went bowling as a team again. This time the teams were a little different. We didnt do a USA vs Europe again but rather divided the teams up from who was playing. Not everyone played as some were resting injuries. We played two games. In the first game it was close. The other team finished before my team did. They totaled up their score and wound up with a 467. As our last bowler finished, he bowled a spare and then a strike in the 10th frame. We were pumped. We added our score up in our head, but we werent sure if it was right as it was close. So somebody got out the phone and added the score up. 468. We beat them by one pin. We thought that was pretty crazy. 4 people, 10 frames, and it comes down to 1 pin. I guess every pin matters. The second game wasnt that close, the other team beat us by 50. I think I am getting a little better though. I had a 130 something and then a 175. Maybe if we win again we will get to go bowling next week and I can try to work on that 300. Although I have a long way to go before I get there. I will have to take Katy bowling one of these nights. And watch she'll come in with a 200 or something, and beat me with big smile on her face.

New poll question - Leave comments here

If you want to leave comments about our routine do it here. Our routine has been brought to you compliments of Abby Johnson from Wisconsin...thanks Abby you rock!!

Katy's game

This past weekend Katy had another game. She played at 6:00 on Saturday evening. Her coach said if they were up by 25 at three quarter time she could leave and come to my game (as we started at 8:00). Needless to say they were up by 25. Katy said their team ended up winning 80 to 30 or something like that. In the 3 quarters that she played she was able to rack up 10 points and were not sure how many rebounds she had, but I am sure she grabbed quite a few. Before my game a reporter from one of the papers here came up to me and said that Katy was a very nice player, that she had a good game, and that he wanted me to play like she did in her game. I thought that was pretty cool.

US vs Europe

Last wednesday night our team had a night off and instead of going to practice we went bowling. We played the US versus the Europeans. One of the guys on the European team had never bowled before. Wednesday was his first time ever. Well call it beginners luck or what you will, but he bowled a 135 and a 150 in the two games we played. Another guy on the European team bowled under 100 the first game and then came back with a 192 the second game. We, the US team, thought we had a chance but the Europeans won both games.

I bowled a 130 something in the first game and a 150 something the second game. Next time Ill have to go 300. If we go bowling as a team again we will have to have a rematch and not let them win this time.

My game last weekend

Two weekends ago we had a really tough game. We played Ludwigsburg, which are a decent team. We played pretty well, we had our bad stretches but in the end of regulation it was tied and we went to over time. We had a good luck at the buzzer (the end of regulation) but it bounced in and out, so we went to overtime. In overtime we played the other team even and it was back and forth. With a couple seconds to go they had the ball and the game was tied. I ended up guarding the guy with the ball. He drove the ball to the hoop and with 3 seconds left shot an off-balance shot. I thought i played good defense and other people said I did as well, but the ref called me for a foul. The guy then went to the free throw line and made one of the two foul shots and ended up beating us. We thought it was a game that we should have gotten, but sort of had it taken away from us. It was frustrating to say the least! But, the ref made the call so we have to live with it.
Our next game was this past weekend and we knew we had to put that one behind us and focus on the next game.

See post about Katy in Cologne - 3 posts down

Katys First game

Katy played her first game last weekend and did very well. Since I played on Friday and she played on Saturday I was able to go watch her play. One of the guys on the team went with us as well. Katy started off on the bench but came in and really helped her team and gave them a boost. In the end they won and Katy ended up with 17 points. I am not sure how many rebounds she grabbed but I think she grabbed quite a few. My guess is that she ended up with a double double.

She really likes playing with her team and says the girls on the team are fun. Last weekend she went out with some of the girls and got to know them a little better and said they were fun to hang out with.

Ammendment

I need to make an ammendment to an earlier post. Previously I had said that one of the things that is different about driving here in Germnay is that you will see 4-wheelers driving through town here, and it is legal. I also said though that they would probably be just for town and you really wouldnt see them on the highways. I stand corrected. This weekend Katy and I went to a nearby city and on our way there, on the autobahn, we saw a 4-wheeler. We got a big kick out of it and even though the guy wasnt going that fast it was still funny to see him cruisin down the highway. Of course we snuck a picture ->

Katy in Cologne

A couple weeks ago I had a game in Dusseldorf. Katy was able to go and grabbed a ride from somebody here in Giessen. On their way to the game they stopped in Cologne which is only a little ways a way from Dusseldorf. Cologne is home to a huge, beautiful cathedral known as the "Cologne Cathedral" and Katy was able to tour it. She said it was beautiful and really enjoyed getting to see it. The Cathedral was started in 1248 and didnt get finished until 1880, more than 600 years. Katy said the detail on the Cathedral was amazing, bth inside and out. During WWII the cathedral took 70 hits from bombs but did not get destroyed. There were many places that needed fixing but the overall structure remained.

Games up to this point

Well, we havent been off to the best start so far...0-6. We have the guys to do well, its just that we seem to wait until the second half to really start playing. We will go down by 10-15 points right away and then try to fight back. In the second half we usually fight back to within a couple points or tie it up, but it the end it gets us as we went down by too many right away and it is just too big of a deficit to fight back from. If we can put 4 solid quarters together I think we will do quite well. You see it when we play well we are a good team, now we just have to bring that for the whole game. Our next game is this weekend vs. Ludwigsburg so hopefully we will be able to get back on track and get a mark in the win column. Check back next week to see how we did.

Driving in Germany

Another thing that is different about driving here in Germnay is thaty when you are driving down the road all of a sudden you will see a four-wheeler going past you. After you do a double take of it driving down the road in the middle of town you see that it has a liscense plate so it must be registered. I havent seen a lot of four wheelers here but there have been a couple. Too bad they didnt let you drive a 4-wheeler on the roads back home, it would be perfect. You drive your 4-wheeler to where you are going to hunt and then just drive it out into the woods. Perfect.

Internet down

Our internet has been down recently so I havent been able to make any posts...so I will try to fill you in on what has been happening.

Driving in Germany

Driving in Germnay is similar to driving back in the U.S. There are some differences though. Here in Giessen when you are waiting at a red light instead of just getting a green light when it is time to go, the light goes from red to, yellow and red at the same time, then to green. When I first got here I asked what this meant and was told it is sort of like "on your marks, set, go." (I guess since a lot of people drive sticks here they do it for that reason so people can shift into gear and then go on green).

Another thing that is different: back home when you pull up to a set of lights you have lights on both sides of the intersection (on the same side as your car at the intersection and then on the other side, where people coming at you would be stopped. So you have two sets of lights, or if there is only one it is usually across the intersection so it is easy to see). Here it is a little different. Most interesctions, almost all, have the lights on the same side as your car. There is a white line where you are supposed to pull up to and stop when waiting for lights. Just like back home you are supposed to wait behind this line. Well back home it doesnt really matter if you cross the line and I think almost everyone does. Here if you go past that line it is very hard to see the lights directly above you or on the side of you. Even if you stop at the line, many times you are looking out the top of your windshield to see the lights.

Also here there are a lot of bike paths and a lot of people that ride bikes.

One thing they have here that they dont have back home is the autobahn. The autobahn isnt just one road, every big highway is an autoban and even some of the back roads dont carry a speed limit. So far both Katy and I have been on the autobahn a number of times. The fastest I have been in a car was 220 km (just under 140 mph) and I think Katy has been almost to 200 kph (125mph), but it was in a nice car and when you have a nice car it doesnt seem like it is really fast (it is quite smooth). When you are driving though you have to check your review mirror quite often, even though you think you maybe going fast, as people still come out of nowehere. When we went to Oktoberfest we were going about 160 kph (so about 100mph) and people were flying by us like we were standing still. If someone is coming behind you they flash their highbeams and that means move over, and you should move over soon as they might be coming very fast. Even though people can drive really fast there arent as many accidents as you would think.

In our apartment building we also have a garage in the basement of it. You pull your car in-need your key to open the door-and then pull into a spot. Each spot is actually 2 as where you park is on a hydraulic lift. The lift can be raised or lowered depending on if there are already people parked in it. The first time I parked in the garage I had no trouble getting in, but when I left to drive out I could not find a button or a spot to put my key into to open the garage door. As I had to get to practice and could not figure out how to open the door, I had to walk around and open the in-door with my key and drive out quickly that door. Needless to say we have since figured it out, but I was a little worried that first time that I might have to call coach and tell him I was stuck in my garage. What a call that would have been. :)

It is a little bit different than back home but a lot is the same. There are difference but some of the differences make the experinece that much better.

1st weekend

This past weekend we had our first games of the regular season. One on Friday night and then another game on Sunday afternoon.
On Friday night we played Hagen. Right away we dug ourselves into a hole. I think at one point we were down by 18. Throughtout the game though we chipped back and in the 4th quarter got the score back to within 1 or 2 points. In the end though it was just too big of a deficit to overcome and they ended up beating us. It was our first game and our first home game so it was dissapointing to lose in front of all the fans (as the stadium was pretty packed), but hopefully our next home game will be a different story.
Then on Sunday we drove to Frankfurt and played against the Deutsche Bank Skyliners. This game we played well for 3 quarters but at the beginning of the 4th we sort of fell apart. We let them get up by about 10 and just couldnt get back into it, and ended up losing.
It was a dissapointing first weekend, but I think we learned some things from it that will heopefully help us out with our following games.
This coming week we are pretty busy with games. We play Friday, Sunday, Tuesday and then Friday again. It will be a busy strecth but its what you look forward to as a player (playing games) and I am excited for the next week.
Check back to see how we do.

First Weekend

This weekend we start our season. We play our first game tomorrow night (Friday) at home against the Pheonix Hagen and then play again on Sunday against the German Bank Skyliners in Frankfurt.

Check back after the weekend to see how we did.

Decorating Success

Based on your help and your opinion we have decided to go with Picture Zwei, as it won our poll. Thank you for your help in decorating our apartment!

Rest of Oktoberfest

If you want to see all of the pictures from Oktoberfest click on this link: http://picasaweb.google.com/kajowerner/Oktoberfest?authkey=Gv1sRgCMuarYintoyZTQ#

Oktoberfest

This past weekend the team had off on Sunday so Katy and I decided that this might be the only chance we get to see Oktoberfest. Being the travelers that we are we decided we had to go see it. So we set the alarm for 4:00 am and woke up early to get on the road. Our trip took us 3.5 hours by car to a city called Ingolstadt, then from there we got on a train into Munich (about 45-50 minutes from Ingolstadt to Munich,and then about a 15 min walk from the train station to the Oktoberfest grounds). Everything that we read on the internet said that you shoudlnt drive to Oktoberfest because it would be almost impossible to find a place to park, so we took the train.
We got to the grounds at about 10:00 and we couldnt believe how big it was. On one side of the grounds there are lots of rides that you would see at a fair, and even some roller coasters. Then on the other side of the grounds is where all the beer tents are. There were quite a few. I think we read somewhere that there are 34 of them. Needless to say we went to everyone we could, even if it was only for a quick peek. When we got to the grounds there was also a huge concert going on with 400 Bavarian musicians (Oktoberfest is in Munich which is in the state of Bavaria in Germany). There were even guys that were playing the huge horns like you see in the Ricola commericals. We watched this for a little bit but decided to check out what the tents were like instead. The first tent we went to was one of the Paulaner tents. Here Katy got her first beer - at Oktoberfest they dont go small on the beers, each beer is 1 liter (cost is 8.60 euros). Even though it was early it was still a livley atmosphere in the tent. People were singing and doing some chants. After this tent we went to some others and throughout the day stopped so Katy could have a beer at 3 different tents.
We met people from all over. Some air force guys from Tennessee, some younger people from Italy, some older men from Italy who loved to dance (one even serenaded Katy with a song he sang inbetween the band playing in one of the tents). We met quite a few people from Germany (obviously) and a group of people from Serbia. It was fun to meet these people, especially as we could not speak their language and many could not speak ours. We did try to communicate however and were able to get across some things. Even though we could not speak fluently together it was still fun to try, and to be honest I think might have made it even more enjoyable. Whenever you dont know what to say just smile and nod. :)
The Serbians who invited us to sit at their table even bought Katy a rose, and the guy from Italy who danced with her a time or two also bought her a rose...lucky girl.
Outside of the beer tents there were many souvenier stands and food stands. We thought there would be many different types of interesting foods to try, like at the state fairs back home, but there were many stands that had the same thing....brats, hotdogs, sausages, that sort of stuff. There was one thing we tried that we havent heard of anywhere else...a half meter long bratwurst. The bun that they gave us was big, but it couldnt even fit the whole brat in it. It was good though and didnt take us long to get through it.
At 6:15 we started heading back towards the train for our ride back to Ingolstadt, and then our drive back to Giessen. When we got on the train we met this older couple and we told them we came to Munich just to see Oktoberfest for the day. The offered us to go out for a drink with them in Ingolstadt and then stay at their place that night, as it was getting dark, then take off in the morning. It was a nice offer and if I wouldnt have had practice the next morning we might have taken them up on it, but we had to get back. So when we arrived in Ingolstadt we parted ways and hopped in the car for the long drive back. We got home after 11:00 and pretty much crashed as soon as we hit the pillow.
I have to say it was an awesome day and we got the chance to see one of, if not the, biggest party in the world.

Please Help!!!

We are tyring to decorate our apartment and Katy would like your help. This is a tough life decision so please answer pronto. We couldnt imagine making this choice without your help.

Which picture do you like better?

Vote Here -> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> -> ->

Picture Eins -------- or -------- Picture Zwei

Katy is here!!!

Guten tag,
After 4 weeks of being apart, Katy finally flew out here last Monday. It is great to have her here!!! She had a great time at home spending time with family and friends and said Sherri's wedding was a lot of fun. It is great that she was able to spend time at home but we are both glad that she is here now.
This week we got our apartment settled, got stuff set up where we want it to go and I think we pretty much have everything where we want it. This week I took Katy around and showed her some of Giessen. On Friday morning we didnt have practice but I went in and shot around so I took her in to see the gym where we have morning practice. We went to a couple different groceries stores this week so we could try and see which one we would like best, and even found one pretty close to our place (within walking distance) which I didnt know was there. On Friday I also took her to where we eat lunch at-at Gasthaus Braueri-and had lunch. It was good food and I was glad Katy was able to see what it was like where we eat as a team everyday. This week we also had to go to city hall to get registered with the city of Giessen and checked out the tourism center to see if we could find some things around her to do. We got some information but the tourism place didnt have as much as we thought it might. We should be able to find some things to do though from what we got. We also got some information on Hessen, the state we live in, so it will be fun to look at that as well.
Katy is having a tough time adjusting to the time difference. Some of the guys on my team also found it hard. Katy said she thought it wouldnt be too hard, especially coming from Australia where you are on a plane for a long time, but so far I think this has been harder. She cant get to sleep right away at night or wakes up in the middle of the night very hungry, or is dead tired in the middle of the day. I am sure with time though it will get better.
For basketball, this past weekend we had two games...we didnt play so well. The Saturday game was so-so, we played okay defence but had a tough time scoring. Then on Sunday we played a team that we probably should have beat. We just came out flat and could not get it going. It was not a good weekend. Hopefully the things we did and worked on at practice this week will help us refocus and do better from here on out. We have a game today in a couple hours and hopefully we play a little better.
Then it is a day off tomorrow that Katy and I will hopefully be able to take advantage of it by getting out and seeing some of the country-side.
Well thats all for now...hope all is well.
Tschüs - bye

Opener back home

Just want to say good luck to everyone taking to the woods for opening bow hunting this weekend!
And Go Pack.

3rd Week in Giessen-part2

This week for basketball was another busy week. On Wednesday night we had our first home game. Even though it was a practice match there was still quite a few fans at the game. We ended up winning in overtime. The game probably should not have been as close as it was but at least our fans got to see a win. The Friday night we scrimmaged the other team from Giessen. Here in Giessen there is a team in the first division, my team, and then a team in the third division as well. The head coach of the team in the third division is the assistant coach on my team. So we set up a game between the two of us and played last night. Today we had a 40 minute run and then I stuck around afterwards and lifted weights. Tomorrow we have a day off from basketball, but have an appearance in the middle of town. On Sunday in Giessen everything is closed. Tomorrow however they are having all the sporting teams meet in the center of town, say hi to the fans an sign some autographs. A lot of the shops I guess will be open as well, so I think it is a pretty big thing. Should be fun.

There is only little over a week until Katy comes out and I am looking forward to her coming. We get married so we could spend time together, not apart, so I am looking forward to her arrival an I know she is to.

Well we are a week closer to the season starting and I am looking forward to it.

Check back next week to see how this week will go and how we will do in our upcoming practice match.

3rd Week in Giessen-part1

Well the third week here in Giessen has been another busy one. Early this week I moved out of the Hotel, Hotel Ludwigplatz, that I was staying at and into my apartment. I am very happy to be in our new apartment, but I do miss the free breakfast in the morning.

Our apartment isn’t the biggest thing in the world but it will definiltey work. We have two rooms. One is our bedroom and the other is our living room. Then off to one side we have a small kitchen and to the other side a small bathroom. When I first got to the apartment building I was told that there was laundry in the basement, it costs 1 euro to work it. So I went to the basement as I had dirty clothes from living in the hotel (where they would do my laundry once every 4 or 5 days). Well I went to he basement and couldn’t find it. Frustrating, especially as I needed my clothes washed. So, I got out the soap and washed some of them in the sink. After a day or two of doing this it gets pretty old pretty fast. Needless to say I found the wash machine so things are better now.

From our apartment it is only 10 or 15 minutes to where we train (both gyms), so not bad at all. And about 10 minutes away from the place where we get lunch every day.

Another thing that stinks about moving out of the hotel is that I don’t have access to internet now. One of the my teamates gave a USB Vodafone stick that connects to the internet through a cell phone signal, but it is not fast at all. So basically, if I want interent I have to take my computer over to basketball training at night where there is free interent. We have the interent service ordered but I guess it takes 4-6 weeks to have it installed here. Crazy if you ask me, but oh well what do you do.

First two weeks in Giessen

Well the first two weeks here in Giessen have been pretty busy. We have been going twice a day pretty myuch every day to get ready for the start of the season which tips off in about 3 weeks time. In amongst all of our trainings we have also been pretty busy during the days as well. One day we had pictures as a team, about every other day or so we go lift as a team at WOF (world of fitness), we went and picked up our cars one day (the car I got is a puegot-when I picked it up from the dealership it had either 1.2 or 2 km on it, so about a mile. It is the newest car that I have ever driven. It is a little 2 door, manual, car. I have to say that it has been great on gas so far. There is a gauge that tells you how many kilometers you have until empty and it is nice to see that it doesnt go down that fast), opened bank accounts and have been shopping a few times.
It is a little hard to tell people if I need something in the grocery store as I dont know much German but people are pretty helpful and even if they dont speak english I can usually get my point across...at least I have been able to a couple of times. When go through the checkout lines I just smile and try to watch how much the cost of my food is on the screen/scanner because I dont understand when the lady tells me the number in German. Good thing everywhere I have went to get food so far has had something that I can see the total cost. Otherwise I might just hand the person the biggest bill I have and wait for change. Food is pretty similar here, they do have a lot of wursts and sausages and that sort of thing though, as you might expect. And we have been to McDonalds and no they do not serve sauerkraut there if you were wondering.
We stopped at McDonalds after our first practice game last Saturday and the menu seems similar to what it would be in the states. I got a salad, yogurt parafait and 2 milks. It was pretty good.
Today we had a 40-45 minute run this morning and then I lifted afterwards so I am just hanging out for the next couple of hours. Then at 4:00 our assistant coach, who also head coaches another team, has a game with that team so I am going to go watch. Well....I should say I am going to drive around and try to find the gym. If I find it I will go watch but if not...well, at least I will have seen a little more of Giessen.
During the week we get a free buffet at one of our sponsors restaurants. (picture to left) It is pretty good food and of course the all you can eat is right up my alley. We just have to buy a drink and we can eat all we want. Pretty good deal if you ask me. Currently I am still in the hotel as my apartment is getting new carpeting and the team is furnishing it. I was told I shuold be moving in on Monday. So between staying at the hotel and eating breakfast for free in the morning (as the provide it) and going to eat lunch druing the week for pretty cheap (cost of a drink 3 euros) I am doing pretty in not having to spend a fortune at the grocery store. Well see what happens when I move into the apartment and dont have breakfast anymore.
Katy is still 2 weeks away from making the trip over the water, but I am very much looking forward to it. I dont know how the military people and their families do it. I am have been away for 2 weeks only and am already really looking forward to 2 more weeks when she can come.
Well thats all for now. Check back again next week to see how we did in our first practice match at our home gym (game is on Wednesday).
Tschuss (pronounced chus which means bye)




(View from my hotel room)

Giessen

Last Sunday Katy and I accepted a job with the Giessen 46ers in Giessen Germany, in the top league in Germany. This will be a huge opportunity for us. I am actually writing this post lying on my bed in Germany.
Last week after we lost our game at Knox Katy and I found out that we got this job for sure and that I might be able to get some time at home. Originally I thought I would have to leave stragith from Melbourne and fly to Frankfurt, but we found out Monday that I would be able to go home for a couple days. So, after finding that out on Monday we made the decision to fly home on Tuesday morning. It was a whirlwind night with trying to give the stuff back we borrowed from people, to packing and then finally cleaning. Even though I was only able to head back to Wisconsin for a couple days it was great.
I flew out yesterday on Air India and got in this morning. Katy is staying around back in Wisconsin until the 20th of September as she is in a wedding on the 19th, then she will fly out and meet me.
The flight was good-I had my own personal tv and it worked, unlike the United flight Katy and I flew on when we came back from Australia where the TV/movie system was broken and we had nothing to watch for the 13 hour flight back, except a world map that showed where we were along our journey.
My flight was good and somehow got in 1 hour early. I have heard of flights getting delayed, but you dont usually hear about early flights. It was nice. My coach picked me up and we had a 30 minute ride on the Autobahn from Frankfurt to Giessen. Because the apartment isnt ready yet I am staying in a hotel for the first week.
Today I met two of the guys from the team as we headed over to the gym where we will lift at this year and got a short lift in. The guys seemed pretty nice and speak pretty good english (from Serbia) although some of the things I said were tough to understand.
Then tonight I went to grab a bite to eat at the restaurant downstairs. The menu was all in german and the server didnt speak english, so I just pointed to something on the menu and smiled. To drink, I ordered water. (Because I didnt say still water I got mineral water-not the biggest fan, but I'll know next time). When my food came I was happy to see that I had picked well. I had three different pieces of meat with rice, green beans, and coliflower in a brown sauce. The meal was good. I could have eaten two more just like it but it was good. I wanted to get to the grocery store but everything is closed on Sunday here. There are no shops, no little cafes open, nothing open. The reason the restaurant was open is because it is attatched to the hotel, good thing otherwise I would have been starving. Then at the end of the meal I got this little bottle of yellow liquid. I tried a sip of it thinking it might be a fruit drink, or an after dinner sweet drink to help with your breath...wrong. It tasted like very strong booze. I put a little in my mouth and had to spit it out-nasty. I dont know what it was but I dont think I will try it again.
Now I am heading to bed as we have practice nice and early tomorrow morning.

Award

Link to article about rebounding award for the year:http://www.kilsythbasketball.com.au/index.php?id=21&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=441&tx_ttnews[backPid]=210&cHash=7c4aed84b7

Final against Knox

This past weekend was a tough game for us. We played our final game against our rival knox. From the start they were able to build a little bit of a lead that we just had trouble bouncing back from. In both the 3rd and 4th quarters we got the game back within 2 or 3 but just couldn't get over that hump. In the end they got us by about 15. It was a hard-fought game and it was a little dissapointing because I thought we were going to get it.
Link to story:http://www.kilsythbasketball.com.au/index.php?id=21&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=440&tx_ttnews[backPid]=210&cHash=ca80581bd6

Vanderbilt

This week on Tuesday Vanderbilt came to Kilsyth to play. They are out here doing a tour in Australia before they start school in a couple weeks and came to Kilsyth to play an exhibition game. While I didn't play as we have a final this weekend as didn't want to take the chance on injury, the game was still fun to watch and we had a pretty good crowd.

Link to story about Vanderbilt's trip (where their head coach paid for the entire trip out of his own pocket) to Australia on ESPN:http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=4391834&name=katz_andy

SEABL recognition

Link to interesting article about some recognition from SEABL:http://www.kilsythbasketball.com.au/index.php?id=21&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=436&tx_ttnews[backPid]=210&cHash=f327983937

Also, our roomate recieved SEABL Defensive Player of the Year: http://www.kilsythbasketball.com.au/index.php?id=21&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=439&tx_ttnews[backPid]=210&cHash=6364188d79

Final Preview - Knox

Link to this weekend's final game against our rival Knox: http://www.kilsythbasketball.com.au/index.php?id=21&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=437&tx_ttnews[backPid]=210&cHash=9ab4a81adf

Newspaper Story

Link to a story about the two of us in the La Crosse Tribune. http://www.lacrossetribune.com/articles/2009/08/05/sports/00lead.txt

One Down a Few More To Go

Preview for this weekend
This coming weekend we play our rival Knox in our second final. This should be a big game with a lot of people there. The game we had this past weekend, there wasn't quite as many people there as I thought there would have been for a finals game. But I do have to say that the people who made it to the game were very loud and made Kilsyth a good place to play Saturday night.

I am not sure how many people Knox holds, a few thousand, but Kilsyth are only allocated 180 tickets. So, it should be a lively atmosphere full of a lot of Knox fans and an intense game.

http://www.kilsythbasketball.com.au/index.php?id=21&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=432&tx_ttnews[backPid]=210&cHash=6628985f75

Our First Final vs Bendigo this past weekend

Last night we played our first finals game against Bendigo. It was a very physical match. Right from the beginning Bendigo came out hard and played pretty tough for the whole game. We came out from very strong right in the beginning and never really looked back. We had a couple guys who have some small injuries. Because we played pretty tough some of these guys were able to get some rest and didn't play a ton of minutes, so hopefully everyone will be available and ready to go for the big game this coming weekend. In the end we ended up winning by about 20 and it was a great way to finish off the last home game we will have this year.

Link to the story:http://www.kilsythbasketball.com.au/index.php?id=21&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=429&tx_ttnews[backPid]=210&cHash=fc4e299f65

Katy's coach retires

Katys coach decided that this year would be his last year, as has retired from coaching the SEABL women's team now that the season is finished.
Link to story:http://www.kilsythbasketball.com.au/index.php?id=21&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=427&tx_ttnews[backPid]=210&cHash=a0e5707bae

Finals game preview

Our finals game is this Saturday at 7:30 against Bendigo. We are hoping that there will be a lot of people there and it will be a good atmosphere to play in.

Link to preview:http://www.kilsythbasketball.com.au/index.php?id=21&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=428&tx_ttnews[backPid]=210&cHash=51618480ff

Watch one of our games online

Not many of the games we play here are available to watch on the Internet and I don't think you can watch any live. However you can watch one of the games we played a week and half ago. Kilsyth vs Geelong.
http://courtlive.net/player/seabl.php?event=SEABL_M_20090718_GEELONG_KILSYTH&height=480&islive=false&stretching=exactfit

Finals schedule

Men's finals schedule:http://www.kilsythbasketball.com.au/index.php?id=21&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=425&tx_ttnews[backPid]=210&cHash=75ef3971c8

Last weekend of the regular season

This weekend we had the last weekend of the regular season. Katy's team played their last game of the regular season on Saturday night. The men's team played Saturday night and then had their last game of the regular season on Sunday afternoon.

Saturday night the girls played at Kilsyth against Dandenong. They beat Dandenong about 1.5 months ago by 20 or so. Dandenong however did not have all of their players. This time they did. They had one girl about 6'5" and three girls over 6'2", who are all good players. Katy's team played pretty hard but they only shot 18% in the first half. Because if it they got themselves into a little bit of a hole and just couldn't dig themselves out of it. Again I got to see the first half and Katy played quite well. She again played hard and had her hand on a lot of balls. She got some good playing time n this game as well. So it was fun to get to see her play. In the end they ended up losing by just over 20 points, so I was glad I got to see some of it as it turns out it was their last game.
For the girls to have made finals they either needed to win or have one of two other teams win. Because both teams they needed to win lost, Katy's team didn't make it. Its pretty sad but I think she is looking forward to being able to come to the men's game this weekend (which she would have had to miss if they would have had a game).

For the men's team, we won both of our games this weekend. For both of the games we even had a couple guys who were out because of injuries, resting up for finals. So hopefully when they get back this weekend we will do even better. Saturday's game against the Northwest Tasmania Thunder was a battle for the full 48 and Sunday's game against the Ballarat Miners was a tough one as well. Sundays game was an emotional one for the other team as they had two guys from their team playing their last game at their home court. If they would have beaten us we would have played them the first round of the playoffs this Saturday. Since we beat them though we knocked them out and now play Bendigo.
We have beaten Bendigo twice so far this year so hopefully we will be able to add a third win, and get our first playoff game (a home game for us).

Link to the women's game:http://www.kilsythbasketball.com.au/index.php?id=21&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=423&tx_ttnews[backPid]=210&cHash=8035b4bdb8
Link to the men's game:http://www.kilsythbasketball.com.au/index.php?id=21&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=422&tx_ttnews[backPid]=210&cHash=87cacd4b03