Krampus

Another tradition that they do here at the beginning of December (on December 5th) is the Krampus. A Krampus is the scary creature that travels along with St Nicholas and punishes kids, whereas St Nicholas gives gives gifts and brings good.
The Krampus in Bad Mitterndorf where we went with some friends dress in a big black outfit that covers there whole upper body. Then they have a scary looking carved wooden mask. In their hand they carry a group of sticks/twigs which are bundled together. When the Krampus come around to you the tell you Pieten (pray) and if you pray you are let go but if not they take their broom thing and flog your butt or your legs. (Many times the Krampus will go up to people and
just grab them and start hitting them - usually people in their teens or our age, as there are a lot of Krampuses that age). Katy was protecting me with my busted leg and another girl that went with us who was pregnant, so she took a lot of hits (We were told the guys behind the masks like to go after good looking girls, so I think that might have had something to do with it as well.
In Bad Mitterndorf they also have another kind of Krampus.
These Krampus get dressed up in straw and look like a big broom. Hopefully you can see from the picture but the broom is about 15 feet tall. These guys carry around a whip and snap it in the air. They dont come after people like the other ones do, but look pretty cool when they are standing in a group snapping their whips.
The big group of the 2 types of Krampuses and St Nicholas (and the angel and devil that go with him) walk around town and stop at 4 different places and put on a show - The Mitterndorfer Nicholasspiel (The Mitterndorfer Nicholas show). They tell kids what is good - doing your homework, helping with the dishes and listening to your parents, and if you dont you then you will be in trouble). We were at one of the places where they did their show and it was
really interesting to see. Even though we couldnt understand it all (the people we were with did translate some if it for us) it was great to be there and to see it.

Christmas

This year Katy and had a nice Christmas here in Austria. Even though we really missed family and werent able to spend it with them we were still able to celebrate with some friends.
This year on the 23rd we went to a friends house, who lives right below a ski hill (part of the alps). On the 24th he always does the ski patrol (rescue) for the ski hill. So on the 23rd night we took the ski lift up to the top of the hill and spent the night in a little hut up in the alps.
Then on the 24th Katy was going to do some skiing with a friend with the skis she rented but the weather was warm and there was so much fog you couldnt see more than about 10 feet in front of you. So on the 24th (the day they celebrate Christmas here in Europe) we hung out on the mountain for most of the day - did a little walking around but couldnt see too much.
Then in the afternoon, right before we were going to go down the mountain the fog lifted a little and Katy was able to ski down the mountain.
Even though her legs were a little tired at the bottom she said she had an awesome time skiing down one of the alps.
Then at night we went over to our friends parents house for dinner and present opening. In Austria in addition to decorating the tree like we do with ornaments and garland, over here they put chocolates on the tree. And they dont decorate the tree and put presents under it right away as soon as they get the tree home - they decorate it, with candy and ornaments (also candles and sparklers), on the 24th and put the presents underneath it at that time as well. They tell the kids they need to leave the room the tree is in until they are called back in. Then the parent puts the candy, the other decorations, the candles and the sparklers on the tree and just before they tell the kids they can come in they put the presents under the tree and light the sparklers and the candles. (when they let the kids in they say they Kriskind - Christ child - has come) Now you're probably wondering like I was how/why the tree doesnt start on fire. The Christmas trees they have here arent quite like ours back - where they are so full and without a lot of space inbetween each branch.
Here the trees have more space and the branches that sitck out a little further than the others or that have some space inbetween are the ones that get the candles and the sparklers.
Then on the 27th we got to celebrate Christmas with some other friends and learned a few other traditions that some families do: before the kids leave room when the tree is going to be lit they sing silent night and recite a little poem/skit about Mary and Joseph trying to find a room at an inn. We got to do this and even though didnt understand all the German - we still enjoyed being a part of it.
Even though we didnt get to celebrate Christmas with family and it was very hard not being home, it was nice that we had some friends to celebrate Christmas and have a good time with.

Catch Up

Its been a couple weeks since my last post so I have to try and get caught up.
After losing 7 in a row we are back on track with 2 wins in a row. It was tought when we were on that losing streak, but I hoping that we can change things around and make it 7 wins in a row. Our next game is on the 26th of December so we really dont get that much time off for Christmas. We will get off tomorrow evening and the whole day of the 24th but then it is back to it to get ready for the game on the 26th. It seems strange that we will have practice on the 25th, on Christmas day, but over here they celebrate Christmas on the 24th (so I guess you could say we have off on Christmas). Katy I will be going tomorrow ot a hut up on the mountain and spend the night there and celebrate Christmas with some friends there. (more about our experience after we get back).
Katys team won their last game and technically won their last two games even though the game 2 weeks ago went down as a loss. I'll explain.
Katys team was up by 1 point with 2.6 seconds left in the game. The other team had the ball on the baseline, out of bounds and the girl passed the ball into the corner (where the 3 point line meets the base line). The girl then dribbled up the 3 point line until she was even (parallel with the top of the 3 point line). She then passed to a girl at the top of the three point line. This girl caught the ball and dribbled around her defender and down past the free thrown line into the paint. She then passed to a girl just under the hoop and the girl caught the ball and shot a lay-up. It went it.
The refs were not watching the clock, if they had the would have seen that time was out (when the girl under the hoop caught the ball I looked up at the clock and it already said 0.00), nor did the hear the horn in the gym go off (in Katy's gym the horn is located behind the scorers table and is very quiet. Since there were some fans at the game and making some noise I think it was hard to hear. After the shot the people at the scoreers tabel were telling the refs that shot wasnt off in time but the refs decided to let it count and Katys team ended up losing.
So they got a loss but actually won. Never seen anything quite like it.
Go figure.
It was the first chance I have had all year to see Katy play, and its easy to see that she still really enjoys it and has a good time out there. Not to mention that she is a very good player and really helps her team.
Now Katys team has a break for about 2 weeks and then they will start back up again.

(Maybe if one of these guys could have came off the mountain and blew their horn at the end of the game Katy's team would have won. Maybe we'll have to try and find one for their next home game)

Rehab

Even though I started rehab on Friday, 1.5 weeks ago, last week was my first real week with rehab on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. It was the first time that I have really used my leg since the injury and surgery. My muscle has gotten a lot weaker and now I have the long process of trying to get it strong again. Last week was tough as my leg wasnt quite used to all the movement and the things the therapist had me doing and because of it my leg was quite sore. I am sure with time though it will get better as I get stronger. Rehab for me right now isnt just a 1/2 or 1 hour thing. Some days I am at rehab for 4 hours. It is a pretty intensive program but I think it is great and will really help me come back strong. It is nice too that the rehab place is only 5-10 minutes (depending on traffic) from our place and easy to get to.
.
Funny story - Last week before one of my appts I was sitting in the waiting area for the therapist to call me in. I had my crutches laying against the table next to me, so they were close when the therapist called me. A lady from the other side of the room said something loud so I looked up - she was staring at me and obviously talking to me. I didnt understand what she had said so I raised my ebrows as to say, "what was that?" She repeated it again, a little bit louder this time over the row of chairs and people we had sitting inbetween us....nope nothing, didnt understand a word this time either. So, I said sprachen sie english - do you speak english? She frowned at me like I did something wrong and said (now this I understood) warum, wir sind in Österreich.....which translates to Why, we are in Austria.
There was nothing I could do but smile and sort of chuckle to myself.
( I guess the crutches were sticking out into the walkway/hallway a little bit, about the same distance as my feet were, and the lady didnt like it so after she put me in my place she came over and moved them) :)

Schnee

The last week have had snow, it seems like almost everyday. The snow most times isnt real big flakes and takes quite a while to accumulate but is very pretty to see. Today we are getting snow right now.
As I look out our window I can see quite a bit (tiny flakes) coming down. People say that here in Wels they dont usually get that much snow, but I am hoping that this pattern continues and we keep more and more each week. The temperature does seem to stay around freezing so many times during the day the snow melts, or at least some of it does, and doesnt give it a chance to really pile up. I am hoping that it stays just below freezing and we get some more so we can have a white holiday season. In shady areas the snow would probably be about 3 inches deep. Now we just have to hope to get more and that it will stay.
Funny how the weather report says a 20% chance of snow today, yet it has been snowing all morning.
Last year when we were in Giessen they werent used to that much snow either, and because of it, not everybody had shovels. I saw quite a few people, regardless of how much snow there was, sweeping the snow off the sidewalk with a broom instead of shoveling it. I wonder if it will be the same way here. More on this later.....

1st Advent Sunday

This past Sunday was the 1st Sunday of advent and we were invited over to a friends house for dinner with some other people as well.
Before dinner we lit the 1st advent candle and then ate a very nice meal of different kinds of salad, spaghetti and meat sauce, and a vegtable & turkey curry. Then dessert was brought in the form of a birthday cake with a large sparkler/roman candle as the candle in it. It was the birthday of one of the people we went to visit and we all sang Happy Birthday. The cake was a chocolate cream cake and everybody said it was delicious. After eating we played Wii bowling and finished off the night with a big game of Tick (card game). It was a great night and a very nice way to celebrate the first Sunday in Advent.

Katys Team Innsbruck

This weekend Katy had a game in Innsbruck.
Innsbruck is located about as far west as you can go in Austria - took her 3 hours to get to her game from Wels. She said it is built at the bottom of a really big mountain and it was really cool to see. The gym, on one side, had windows that you could see out to the mountain and she said it was really pretty. The team they played this weekend, they had a good chance of beating but they ended up losing by 10. Katy fouled out but got most of her fouls in the last minute, trying to foul the other team so they could get the ball back and have a chance to win. I think it was frustratin for the team because they know they could have beat that team. Maybe the next time they play them. I wasnt able to go see the game but I saw online that she scored 18 points and was high-scorer on her team. Her team is off this weekend and play next week (three games - Wednesday, Saturday & Sunday).

2 points

This weekend we had a game against Oberwart and lost by 2 points. I think, even though I havent seen a couple games, that this was the best we have played -as a team- in a couple weeks. If you looked at the stat sheet after the game you would have thought we won. We had better numbers in many of the categories with few turnovers and the most assists we have had all season. At the end of the game it was tied and the other team took a shot with a couple seconds left to go. The guy missed the shot but a ref called a foul at the end.
There were 2 or 3 of our guys around the shooter when he shot, but I had a clear view of the release and there was no foul. After the foul the crowd was screaming at him and he made a motion with his hands to show that their player was fouled on the shot, that his hand was hit. Maybe if he would have said the foul was on the body I wouldnt be able to say anything, but I saw the release...and no foul. The ref was also down on a knee watching the play and called the foul from his knees.....????? Anyway this is not the first time this has happened to us and I dont understand why refs insist on calling fouls and deciding games. Dont get me wrong, if it is a definite foul than it needs to be called but I think sometimes certain refs forget that people come to watch the teams play and are not there to see them. Of course if we would have played a little better at times we would have won and you cant always blame the refs I know, but I just dont understand why this keeps happening.
Anyway, we play the same team again on Monday on national TV and hopefully we will be able to turn the tables and get a win.

Glücklich Putentag

Happy Thanksgiving!!
Or as we are saying over here Glücklich (happy) Putentag (turkey day)
Hope you enjoy your food!
Did you know:
Average person consumes 4500 calories on Thanksgiving
20% of cranberries for the year are consumed on Thanksgiving
There was no pumpkin pie at the first thanksgiving
FDR tried to move Thanksgiving up a week, but failed
Benjamin Franklin wanted to make the turkey the national bird of the U.S.

Tough Week

Last week was a tough week for out team. We played 2 games, against Graz and Gussing, and lost both of them.

Games that, on paper, we were supposed to win. The good thing is that it is early in the season and we will get more chances to play these teams. Hopefully we can get back on track this weekend.
For me, my leg is doing pretty well, tomorrow (Friday) will be three weeks after surgery, and I can start rehab. I am really looking forward to being able to start doing something with my leg again. Rehab will be 3 times a week for me and not just for 1/2 hour or an hour a day, I will be there for a couple hours or more each day. It will be a big program but I know it will help.

Opener

Just want to send a message to those headin out for deer the hunting opener this weekend. Hope to hear lots of stories (that involve getting a deer).
If anybody from Austria is reading this and goes deer hunting or knows someone that goes hunting here, I would love to go. Even though I cant really walk I could sit somewhere and I think it could work.
Some people have asked me about deer hunting back home and these are 2 pictures of friends back home with some really nice deer they got.








And since "its getting to time of year....eh?" I thought I would put a song on here
Hope you enjoy!

Game in Gmunden

We played in Gmunden the other night for our 2nd cup game. After a not so good game on the weekend we were looking to get back on track with a win. The game started out very similar to the game we played with them 1.5 weeks ago where we were down by 2 points in the 1st quarter. But after that the game really didnt go the way we had hoped. Gmunden didnt score a lot - only 62 points but we didnt score much either - only 38 points. It wasnt the best game for us. I didnt see it, as I was at home resting my knee, but I guess we had some turnovers that hurt us. But, I am confident we will get back on track. Its better to have a rough patch early in the season rather than late in the season.

Last taste of Summer

This past weekend we had temperatures here that hit the low 20's (degrees celcius)
°C ---- °F
5 ----- 41
10 ---- 50
15 ---- 59
20 ---- 68
25 ---- 77
I told somebody here that back home when it starts getting cold and you have a period of a few warm days we call it an indian summer. He told me that here they call it an old woman's summer.
So I did some looking and its called different things in many countries.
Old Womans Summer - Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Croatia, Hungary
Gypsy Summer - Bulgaria
Brittsommar - Sweden
St Martins Summer - France
Summer of Old Ladys - Lithuania
Re-summer - Latvia
Pastrami Summer - Turkey

Weekend Game

This weekend we played against Graz.
Last year Graz was one of the bottom teams in the league. However this year they are doing much better. Coming into this game they had the same record as us. The game started off pretty good, I think we went up by about 8. But, then it started to go the other way. The other team was able to get easy lay-ups and slowly pulled away. We made a couple pushes where it looked like we were going to come back, but in the end they were just too much for us and beat us 90-76. Graz played pretty well but I think we contibuted a little to it - where we beat ourselves. But the good thing is that there is another game tonight (Wednesday night), Austrian cup game against Gmunden, and we dont have to wait a whole week to have a shot at getting back on track.
We played them 1.5 weeks ago and lost by 1 at the end of the game. I think they outscored us 10-0 in the last 3 or 4 minutes. So I know we will be hungry to get a win against them, and if we play well I know we will win. For me unfortuantley I wont be going to the game - instead staying home to rest my knee. But thank goodness for live stats so I can follow along online.

Friends

Here in Wels we have been blessed to meet a lot of great people and make some great friends. I wont mention any names but we had many people come to visit us in the hospital and said they would be willing to help us if we needed anything.
While I was in the hospital some friends even let Katy stay at their place as their place is only a couple minutes walk from the hospital and it was easier for Katy not to have to find a ride every day. They also picked us up when we needed a ride to and from the hospital and were there no matter what time. Being in the hospital can be a hard thing but it was made a lot easier by people more than willing to help out. We cant say thanks enough and really appreciate it!!!!

2nd visit

On Monday I was realesed from the hospital and it was nice to be home in the evening to eat dinner with Katy and watch a movie. The night was a different story. I laid down and tried to go to sleep. However I Could not lay on my back. If I tried this I was not able to take more than 1/2 a breath and everytime I tried to breath it felt like my back muscles would lock up and I wasnt able to take a breath. I was quite scary. We almost decided to go to the hospital but thought we'd give it 20 more minutes. I tried the couch and luckily I was able to find position (legs stretched out on the couch, with me leaning my left shoulder and the left side of my head on the back of the couch) and was able to get a little sleep.
The next day I called the doc who did my surgery and told him what had happened. He said I should go and get it looked at right away (he didnt say at the time but was very worried for a blood clot in the lung). He set everything up for me and when I got to the hospital had some tests done. Blood was drawn (from the vein and from deep in my wrist - from the wrist is no fun) and a CT scan. Then they put me in a room for the night just in case. (and told me I couldnt drink or eat anything - I think it was in case it was a blood clot and I had to have surgery soon). Well the tests came back looking pretty good, but wouldnt you know my back started up just like it did the night before. This night the only thing I could do to relieve the pain was to lay my chest on legs (like I wsa bending over to touch my toes), this is the only way I found some relief. This night was worse and there were sometimes I was scared as I couldnt find a position to be able to catch a breath. I tried sitting up, which had worked the day before and it made it worse. The only way I ws able to relax was after some pain and inflammation medicine. Then finally I was able to get some sleep.
Yesterday doc told me that I have an inflammation on the outer membrane of my lung and once I relax and I breath my body feels this and knows something is wrong. Since the back muscles are sensitive they can tell something is wrong and "lock up" to protect it. Luckily he said that with only 1-2 weeks of anti-inflammatory drugs I would have no more problems.
It was nice that I was able to go back to the hospital to get this taken care of, and to find out that I didnt have a blood clot. But, I dont want make it a habit, or a 2nd home, of having to go to the hospital.

Hospital

The hospital here is a little different than it is back in the States. Here they have public healthcare instead of having to have private insurance. For my procedure in the States it would have been a day proceudre where I would checked into the morning into a clinc had the procedure and gone home again the same night. It was nice to be able to spend a couple days in the hospital afterward. If I needed anything there was either a doctor or a nurse only the push of a button away. And the nurses in the hopsital were very frienldy and kind to me even though I didnt speak any German.
They did speak some english but luckily the person ithe bed next to me was younger and he spoke english - so it was all goodThe Hospital here is a little different from back home, in the sense that in the rooms they are no sheet or curtains that seperate the 3 beds from each other (I was in a room with 2 other people). On the wall of the hospital was a crucifix and a picture of Mary and Jesus. I dont remember what hospitals are like back home, but it was nice to see that on the walls. I think the Hospital was actually a Catholic hospital.
During the day I read a lot and when Katy came to visit (which was a lot - it was greta to have her there!!) we played games. We had a TV in the room but you had to pay 1 euro a day to watch it and I didnt think it was worth it as I couldnt understand it anyway. (if the others would have wanted to watch it they would have gotten a set of headphones - thats what the euro was for. You could have the tv on but the sound was disabled and you could only hear it if you paid the euro and got the headphones). One of the guys tried the TV but no sound.
For meals the food wasnt too bad. It was a little different than what I am used to though as they had their big meal for lunch - and it was pretty good. Breakfast was some slices of bread and either a few slices of turkey or some jam. Then dinner was either a cheese tray or a meat tray with some soup. Katy was nice enough to bring me in some Chinese one night as I was a little hungry at night. .


Even though it was a little different than it would have been in the states I am happy so far with the way the operation/hosptial stay has gone. Now I just have to work hard to rehab my knee and make it as strong or stronger than before the injury.

Surgery

On Thursday I checked into the Hospital. Then on Friday I went under and had my surgery. I sort of remember talking to the doctor when I came to adn from what I remember he said the surgery went well. Everybody that I had talked to said that the doctor I had was excellent. He had done this suregery many, many times before and he does it for the Austrian ski team when they tear their ACLs.
I felt very comfotable with how the surgery would go befroe I went under. When the doctor reconstructed my ACL he also looked at the other ligaments and structures in the knee and told me that nothing else was wrong. Which even thouhg it sucks that I tore my ACL is great news for the rest of my knee.

Katys TV game

Katy also had a game on TV on Monday. The team they played was one of the best in their league. Katy said they played hard and the outcome didnt really reflect how the game felt. They ended up losing but Katy had 22 points. She said she even had 2 threes. Sharp shooter.
There is a link on the web that you can watch some of Katys highlights.

Katys team was is off this past weekend and then off again next weekend so they will back on again in 2 weeks.

Last Monday

Last Monday we had a game against Traiskirchen at home.
It was an extremley exciting game and come down to the very end where we hit a game winning shot at the buzzer. It was also a tv game. Since the shot was so close to the end of the game the refs reviewed the shot on replay and saw that our big guy had gotten the shot off with .2 or .3 seconds left. It was a fantastic win for us especially as we were down by 20 points at one time. for the game we shot 29% from 2 and we shot 82% from 3. We had a lot of 3's especially in the 4th quarter and thats how we were able to come back and win.
For me, I didnt have as much luck personally as we had as a team. In one play I went up and grabbed a rebound.
When I had the ball in my hands and was coming down a guy on the other team grabbed my arm and pulled me down. With all of my weight coming down and his weight pulling me down my knee couldnt bear the weight when I came down (must have been at a strange angle) and my knee buckled inward. It was pain right away and I was pretty sure something was wrong as I heard a big pop. The doc looked at it and said he thought maybe it was the ligament and the MRI on Tuesday showed I had torn my ACL. And surgery was scheduled for Friday.

Team Website

Katy is playing with a team (SK-Kammer) in the first league here in Austria this year. Here is the website for Katy's team. I will actually give two. One is the link the League's website where you can see the standings and some info about all the teams.
http://www.awbl-basketball.at/
And the second one is her team's actual website:
http://www.skk-basket.at/

Susses fur alles

Yesterday was Halloween. Here in Austria it is not as big as it is in the U.S. but we still tried to keep the spirit. We went over to one of the local grocery stores and bought two big pumpkins. Katy carved a goofy face in her pumpkin and I carved a scary one in mine. The last couple nights we have the pumpkins in the window and with the candles lighting them up from the inside, it looked pretty cool.

Here Trick or Treating really isnt that big however some kids still do it. I think we had maybe 12 kids come to the door yesterday. We had our pumpkins in the window and so people knew they could come to our place. Instead of saying Trick or Treat though, the kids that came to the door said "susses fur alles" - or sweets for all.
Last night I did have to give somebody a ride to the other side of town and on my way there and back there were some kids (and even some of the parents) that were dressed up with their faces painted or with scary masks on.
And of course for dinner last night we had to have brain and eyeballs in blood sauce - Yummy. (spaghetti and meatballs in a tomato sauce).
Hope you had a good Halloween!

Split

Well, since Tuesday we have had two games. We won one and lost one. On Tuesday we played Furstenfeld and lost by one in double overtime. Then on Saturday we played in Vienna and won by double digits. We didnt play the greatest at times in that game maybe could have won by a little more, but we'll take the win. Tonight we have another game - against Traiskirchen at 7pm. This will be a national TV game here in Austria. Katy also has a game tonight at 4pm. Her game is also a national TV game. Too bad its not possible to get Sky Sports Austria online for free because if it was you would be able to watch both of our games online.
Katy also played this weekend, however her team didnt do the best. She said the other team's defense was pretty good and they had a tough time getting the ball acrosse half court. Hopefully her game today will be better.
Check back soon to see how we did.

2

Yesterday was a good day for Katy and I. We both got wins. Katy had her first game yesteday and they won by 2 points. She didn't know how many points or rebounds she had, but they won. Then after the game their team went to a new asian restaurant that just opened up outside of wels.
They were able to get nice seafood and meat (all-you-can-eat) and veggies and then the chef their cooks what you have picked out.
We also got a win yesterday. We played St. Poelten. We were ahead the whole game, up 11 at halftime, and then at the end of the end of the game they tied it. I think the last minute or two of the game actually took about 20 minutes. In the end though we pulled it out and got our 4th win in a row. Now we have a 2-day break and then we have another game on Tuesday. Katy's next game is next Saturday.

Visitors

Earlier this week Katy and I had some visitors here to our place in Wels. A family member, Katys second cousin came to visit. She is out here with another friend from Wisconsin visiting a lady who now lives in Switzerland (who used to live in Wisconsin). I think the 3 ladys used to all work together.

Anyway there were able to come Sunday night for our game. Then Monday, since we had off, we were able to spend the day with them. We had them over for breakfast Monday morning and the in the afternoon/evening we went to Salzburg. When we got to Salzburg we walked around and saw some of the old city. We ended up talking a little too long at breakfast and got to Salzburg a little late. We went to Mozart's birth house and were going to take a tour through it but we got there too late. We got there at 5:10 but the last tour was at 5:00. We'll have to try and do it another time.
Before we left the 3 ladys at their place they were staying for the night we went to eat and had a good time sitting and talking. It was great to spend some time with these ladys and hang out with a relative that Katy has not seen for a while (and for me get the chance to meet her).

Stylish

Yesterday after morning practice we went out to H&H Menswear wear we were each given a black suit. We got to try on different size jackets and pants and were each fitted for a suit. The suits look sharp and I once I get a picture, sometime down the road, with everyone in the suits I'll post it on here. But for now thanks H&H.

Oktoberfest

A couple weekends ago, the first weekend in Oktober, Katy and I drove to Munich for the last weekend of Oktoberfest. AS you can imagine we drove around and around trying to find a parking space. But once we found one it was great.
The day we were there was the second to last day of the fest. Even though it was Sunday it seemed like everybody and their brother was there. This year we took a ride on the ferris wheel they have there. Once you got to the top you could see all the people and it was ridiculous how crowded it was. When you walked around at pretty much no time was there ever a lot of space around you. It seemed as only a few feet seperated you and other people.
After taking our Ferris wheel ride and of course getting an authentic bratwurst we headed into one of the tents - the Lowenbrau tent.
The first tent we tried to go into told we couldnt go in because our camera was too big.....what? There were lots of people with a camera our size. Oh well. The tent we ended up going to - the Lowenbrau tent - was awesome (and it was the first year that it was no smoking in the tent - an even bigger plus). The first table we sat at only allowed us to stay for one drink and then we had to leave because somebody had reserved it. So we moved. The second table we found was great. There was a guy from Switzerland and a family from Munich and we had a good time together singing and dancing on the benches. The famly from Munich even invited us to another tent the next day where they had a table reserved. Unfortunatley we couldnt as we had to get to Wels for work. Who knows maybe we'll see them next year. We had such a good time we ended up stayiing a little later than we wanted to, but it was great.
We had a good time when we were there last year but think this year was even better!

Win

Well we got a win over the weekend. We played the team that we beat on Thursday by 50. The game wasnt as good as the one we played on Thursday, acctually a little sloppy at time but we were still able to win by 22 - 92-70. One guy on our team, one of the other big guys, had 35 points and 17 rebounds! Great game for him. With the win we move to 2-1 in the league. No one is unbeaten at this point with a lot of teams at 2-1.
The next week will be a busy week. From Saturday we will have 3 games in a week and are preparing for St. Poelten on Saturday.

Driving in Austria

Driving in Austria is similar to driving in Germany. Most of the cars are smaller and most are manual transmission. Here they also have the stop lights that go from red, to red and yellow at the same time, to green. The ready set go lights. Here though when the light is going to turn to yellow it doesnt just turn from green to yellow. The green light blinks 3 or 4 times first to let you know it is going to go to yellow. Then it goes to yellow and then to red. It is pretty nice when you are driving. It probably seems like it is not that big of a deal but it is a nice addition to the lights we are used to. Unlike Germany there is a speed limit here. You cant go as fast as you want to on the Autobahn. Here you have to go 130 kph on the main highways and 100 kph on the 2 lane highways.

Back online

We finally got interent back about 1 week and half ago. We had it for a short time at the beginning of our time here and then in went out, so we were stuck without it. But, its back, so i will be able to get the blog going again.
so far for our season we are off to a 1-1 start and won our first game for the cup.
The cup is a tournament that is played over here within the country. So we will be playing for the Austrian cup. (In the other countries in Europe there is a cup as well). We played our first game for it on Thrusday night and won by quite a bit. It was something like 53-110. Now in a month or two will play our next cup game - this will be the quartefinals. Then in February it will be the final four and the championship game. It is sort of a tournament within the season, but it is a pretty big deal. If you win the cup it is almost like winning the championship at the end of the year, just not as big. (at least that is what I have been told)
Tomorrow, Sunday, we have our 3rd game against the team we just played on Thrusday (for our first cup game). Even though we beat them by alot on Thursday they didnt have 2 of their best players so we will have to play another good game tomorrow and if we do we should win.
Check back next week to see the results.

Day off - Gmunden

A couple weeks ago we had a day off on a Sunday. Where we are in Austria, we are about 25 minutes away from the start of the alps. So Katy and I decided that we would go there for the day and check it out.
The city we decided to go to is called Gmunden. It is a very picturesque place as it is located right on a lake with mountains surrounding the lake. The city is kind of like the beginning to the alps (at least in this area).
The water of the lake is very clear and you could see right through it to the bottom. They had a little walking path by the lake and an area where you could sit and relax, so we did that. From where we were sitting we saw two guy hop into a small boat and head out fishing. We should have brought our poles :) - next time maybe.
After we relaxed for a while we crossed a foot bridge and went out to the restaurant/hotel that was on a tiny island. It was really nice. The had a big rocking chair on a dock and you can bet we took advantage of that for a while.
Then instead of heading back we decided to take a drive up into the mountains a little ways. We werent really too sure where we were going just wanted to see what we could see. Turned out we on the road to another beautiful lake - Langbathsee. This one was surrounded by woods and had one lone lake house on the other side. The water here too was very clear and when we put our hand into it, very cold like it had just run down from the top of the mountain.
We are definitley going to head back to the alps (try a different place next time) when we have another day off.

Catch up

I have been pretty slow at getting this thing up and going so I will make sure that I keep writing on here and doing one a week.
So far we have been really getting after it. Still going most of the time with 3 a days, unless we have a game. Then it is just practice/shooting in the morning and the game at night. We have had 4 pre-seaon games so far. We won our first one by 30 and then have lost our last three. The 2nd game we lost by 2, the third game we lost by 2 and last game we played on the teams from the German league that we played last year in Giessen - Gottigen - and lost by 12 or 14.
Aside from the 1st pre-season game that we played we have not had all of our players...namely our big guys. The 2nd pre-season game that we played one of our big guys was out sick. Then the third game the one big guy was still out sick and the other one didnt play as he had really bad migranes. Then last game I didnt play and wont be playing in tonight's game either.
I have plantar faciitis in both of my feet. According to Mayo Clinic plantar faciitis: involves pain and inflammation of a thick band of tissue, called the plantar fascia, which runs across the bottom of your foot — connecting your heel bone to your toes.
For me it was really bad last week. Especially in the morning it was hard to walk without pain. My feet are getting better, my right one feels pretty good, but my left one still has pain. Its not like when you sprain your anlke and you can go back and play even when there is still some pain. With this I have been told that you have to let it get better, otherwise it will just get bad again and then you have to start the healing process all over again.
The danegrous thing with this is, if you dont let it heal or keep playing when its sore the ligament can tear and then you will really be out for a long time. I guess this team had a guy a couple years who did tear his. He was originally told he would be out for 6 weeks but it turned out to be 3 months. Obviously I dont want this to happen so I am trying to be smart about it. I do have to say though it is hard sitting out of practice and watching the guys play. Maybe a couple more days and they will be back to normal.

In safe

Well we made it over here safetly. After an awesome summer it is back to work. This was our first summer in three after 5 winters in a row and we were able to do a lot. This summer we went camping with Katy's family a couple of times, went to 2 Brewers games, got some time away and were able to get away for a long weekend up to th north of Wisconsin, Katy and I ran our own basketball camp back in Chippewa, had a wedding, did some babysitting of Katy's nieces, went to summerfest, had visitors and almost got into a tornado, Miller Brewery tour, went to the PGA Championship, Leinenkugels family reunion, a welcome back party for Katy, Andrew and I, relaxed on the boat, did some water skiing and got quite a bit of fishing in. We tried to spend as much time with family as we could and were really able to have a good time.

After an awesome summer we are back here in Europe and we made it here safetly.
We have been going hard, with 3 a days, and it has been very tough but I think will payoff once the season starts.
Last night Katy and I went down to the Volksfest - the carnival that is happening here in town. They had the tents like they do in Oktoberfest and had some bands playing. We had a really good time there hanging out and listening to the music and sampling some of Austria's drinks. We even sat down and grabbed something to drink at a place called Werners. (You know it was a good place with a name like that).
Today we are just relaxing and enjoying the day off.

Day 1 & 2

Well, Katy and I made it safetly to Switzerlad. Last night we slept in a place called Gimmelwald at the Mountain Hostel. To get to the hostel we couldnt drive, we had to take a big gondola part way up the mountain. the place we are staying at is 1400 meters up. It has some sweet views and since it rained you can see waterfalls coming off the montains pretty much every where you look. A lttle one here a little one there.
oday more of switzerland and some more waterfalls
...more later

Were in

This past weekend we had two games...We played Bamburg in Friday night and then on Sunday.

We knew that if we won one of teh game we would basically be in the league for next year. (As we havent done that well and were close to the bottom of the table - the last two teams drop down to the league below). Friday night we played Bamburg and they are lose to the top of the league and we knew it was going to be a tough game.

We ended up beating them though. We came out tough right away and built ourselves an early lead. They made it close at half time but then in the second half we pulled away again and ended up winning by a lot. It was an awesome win and felt great.

Sunday was a little different story, we ended up losing but after the game (our last home game) the 46ers had a little party outside the gym and a lot of the fans stayed around. They brought us up in front of the Mic and asked us questions and we passed out autographs and took pictures if people wanted them. It was fun.

The best part of the day was knowing that we had made it in for next year.

Sunday

Yesterday we had a busy but fun day. At 11:30 in the morning the sponsors cup started. Over at where we play our games the sponsors who put a team together had their own baskteball tournament. It was quite big. There were 17 teams there and each team had way more than 5 people. Some teams were a little smaller, but there were also teams there that had 13-15 people. A fast food place that serves salads - Tom and Sallys - has been the reigning champ for a number of years and they won it again this year. Katy and I went over for about an hour and watched some of the games. Some of the teams were pretty serious while others looked like they were there more so to have a good time. Katy's coach, for the team she played on here, in Krofdorf, was playing. Some of the guys and girls on his team were wearing big afro wigs, or funny hair wigs, when they were warming. We got a laugh out of seeing them warm up with their big hair flopping everywhere. We were hoping they would wear them in the game, but I think that might have been illegal. The tourney reminded us of the alumni tournament back home. One of these years we'll make it back.

After the Sponsors tourney we went over a family's (that we meet here around Giessen) house and had a barbeque. The weather was great and as soon as we stepped out our car at their place we could smell and it was fantastic. Even though its been a while for us it reminded us of summer and grilling out. So we sat with them and had a great lunch. Here the lunch tends to be the big meal and dinner is just something a little bit lighter.

One of the families relatives was over and he took us out for a drive. I had mentioned before that I thought it would be fun to drive on the autobahn fast, as the car we have doesnt really go that quick. Well the relative is part of a drving school and had his car, the driving school car with him. He let me drive it on the autobahn over to his place and it was cool to have gone quite fast, as it was a nice car. Then he pulled his convertible out of the garage and we took it for a ride. We drove around the state we live in here in Germany, Hessen, and got to see places that we didnt know about and see some new castles that were pretty cool. It was a gorgeous day for it and we had a good time. One place we stopped at was on top of a hill and you could see so far in every direction. He said it was his special spot, but we know where it is now :)

When we got back we sat down and had some dinner together and tossed the football/baseball/volleyball around the yard, all in turn with the kids. Katy even bounced on the trampoline a little and might have even got a flip in there.

Bad 3rd Quarter in Ulm

This weekend we played Ulm at their place, about 4 hours or so away. We didnt play all that well and it was a good chance for us to pick up an important win, but we just couldnt take advantage of it. We played okay the first half. At times we were quite good but at other times we let the defence slide a little. At halftime I think we were down 2 points. In the third quarter though they pulled away. Our defence struggled and we let them get ahead of us by double digits. We tried to fight back but it ended up being to much to overcome. The last three games that we have will be tough games but if we can play tough defence I we should be able to do well.

Go Karting

Two weeks ago on Sunday for a promotion/team event we went out to the go-kart place in town and had a race. Go-karting here i a little bit different than it is back home. Here the ccourse is a little bit longer, and you dotn have people on the course watching you. Here there are no tires on either side of the track/road, so if you take a corner too sharply or go too wide on a turn you would end up in the grass. Before we had our chance to go the professional were out on the track tuning their cars up for the season. The day that we were there was the first day that the track was open. The professionals basically fly on the straight aways. We asked the owner of the place how fast their karts can get up to and he said some of them go 150 kph on the straight aways. He said that they are geared more for acceleration so they can speed up fast in the curves, but they can gear them for top speed where they can go 200 kph. Fast!!!!
We had a lot of fun and I theres a chance we might be able to go again in the next weeks. It was fun as carts didnt go as fast as the professionals but our got up to about 60 kphs and we had a blast. There were some photographers there from the newspaper but I havent seen any pictures. If I can find some I will put them on here for you to see.

Sarah and Joey Part II

After we got back on Monday I wasnt able to go with them the rest of the week, but they had a great time.
On Tuesday they went to the Buchenwald concentration camp. They said it was very moving and poweful when they were there on the grounds. They spent the day there and got to see the ruins of the camp and learn about its history. From there they went to Point Alpha and got to see part of the old border of East and West Germany. They said someone was shot trying to cross the border there and got to see what a checkpoint was like.
The rest of the week they went shopping around Giessen and went to the awesome ice cream place that Giessen has here in town.
Since I had to leave for my Saturday game on Friday we werent able to go out to eat on Friday night and opted to go on Thrusday night instead. We went up to Burg-Gleiburg for dinner, the castle that is only 15 minutes away from Giessen and where we live. After we got done eating we walked around the old castle ruins and took a ccouple pictures. It was really cool to see the ruins and the city of Giessen in the night lights.

Week with Joey and Sarah - Part I

Two weeks ago Katy's brother Joey and sister Sarah came for the week. They flew in on Saturday and got to see us win against Trier. That night they enjoyed the food and drinks of the VIP room and had a good time sitting and talking to everyone.
Then the next day after a workout in the morning we decided to take a little trip. We drove down the romantic road until Augsburg where we stayed the night in the Ubernacht hostel. We didnt have a room when we got there becuasse we didnt know where we would be staying. It was fun to drive around and check out the prices of different places as we made Katy's brother run into all the places and ask. We got a little laugh at this as one of the places was not well lit and something out of a scary movie - kind of.
During that day on our drive down we stopped at a couple places but the place we liked the best was a big wall from a castle that surrounded an old city. We were able to climb the wall and walk around it. We got some cool pictures and had fun imaging we were archers back in the day protecting the city from the little windows along the top of the wall.
From Augsburg it was off to Fussen and Castle Nueshwanstein. The castle was awesome and we loved getting to see what the Walt Disney Catle was modeled after. To see the inside you had to take a guided tour so we did that. It was interesting to findd out that only 17 out of the planned 100 rooms were finished as the King Ludwig died an early mysteriuos death (all casltes and things that were being built were then stopped when he died). The castle was beautiful and very picturesce as it was located in the German alps and near to another castle only a couple 100 meters away. We have never seen the alps before and loved getting to see the white mountains and how they rose out of the ground really high and really fast, even though the area leading up to the alps was relativley flat.

2 Points

This weekend we played Tubingen. We had a slow first quarter where we let them score quite a few points. But luckily we were able to stay only a couple points behind. At half time we fell back even more more and I think we were down by 11 or 13 or something like that. In the second half, especially in the 4th quarter when we picked up the D. At the end of the game it was tied and with 16 seconds to go we fouled a guy and he went to the line for 2 free throws. Luckily for us he missed them both, and we grabbed the rebound. With a couple seconds to go our point guard drove the ball and hit a little floater as the time ran out. We ended up winning by 2 points. It was a great feeling, especially as we have been on the opposite side of some close games earlier in the year. We only have 4 games left and are hoping to rack up some more wins.

Mistake

In one of my posts I said that there is no speed limit on the bacck roads through the country, but I was wrong. One of our friends here told us that the speed limit is 100 kph. Probably a good thing to know. :)

Grocery Store Part II

This post will continue on what I was saying about the grocery stores from the last post.

Milk - Here the majority of the milk is the long-life milk that comes in boxes. It is not kept in the refrigerator, rather just on the shelf in one of the aisles. It doesnt need to be refrigerated until you open it. They do have some milk in the cooler but basically it just the long-life boxes taken off the shelf and kept refrigerated. I really havent seen any milk in a plastic or glass container in the cooler. The taste is a little different than the great milk back home, but Katy and I have gotten used to it and we love our milk.

Drinks - When we in Australia they had something a little different than back home, which was new to us. It was hard alcohol, like jack daniels, jim beam,vodka, or something else, mixed with cola. It was very common to see someone drinking a can of these two things mixed. Here they have something like that, which is new to us but yet a little different. Instead of doing hard alcohol mixed with cola or something flavored, here they have beer mixed with flavors. So they have beer mixed with bannana, beer mixed with blood orange, lime, apple and ginger, energy drink, cola, dragon fruit. Pretty much any common flavor is mixed with beer...and contrary to what you might think they are not that bad. They do have less alcohol in them and I think somebody one time even called them ladies drinks. But if you want something that isnt quite as bitter as beer it might be something to try.

People - This can be quite interesting. When you are in the grocery store it seems at times the people can be a little rude. Back home if someone is looking at something in aisle and you need to cut in front of them more than likely you would say excuse me or pardon me or something like that. Here it doesnt happen, in the 7 months we have been here I dont think I have heard it once. Sometimes we get a kick out of it. As we will be almost touching the food, choosing what we would like, and someone will cut right in front of you. I wonder maybe if we are ghosts sometimes and people cant see us. There have been a couple times where I thought someone was going to tackle me into the dairy case. We get a laugh out of it and try to have fun with it. This past week I was walking into the store...and here at the store we go to there is a big revolving door where there is plenty or room for you and your shopping cart to pass through. I was walking in and about to take my place in between the glass panels of the spinning door when I looked to the side and saw a lady take 3 almost running steps to push her cart in front of me and cut me off. For a moment I thought I was going to get lit up and looked around to see if anyone else had seen. Maybe I exaggerate a little but it made me chuckle a little after the fact. Sometimes people just go about there business and dont worry too much about the rest.
We asked some German people here if it is just us, or what is going on. They said that it is just the way people are. That in general something that we would consider to be polite, like saying pardon me, just doesnt happen. That if you say excuse me (in german of course) they might look at you funny as it isnt said that often in the grocery store. Its not that it is good or bad, it is just a different way. Just the way things are and interesting to see.

Check out - Here when you check out they dont have baggers to bag your groceries for you. They also dont have paper or plastic bags for you to use. You either need to bring your own or purchase the ones they have at the checkout counters. The people here at the checkouts can also fly when they check you out. We have a hard time keeping up with them when they check us out. We will have only part of of our food bagged when they give us our total and we have to pay. Then we are stuck scrambling to try and finish bagging while they are ringing up the next person. We should make a game out of seeing if we can get it all bagged before we have to pay....next time.

Thats all for now...If I can think of anything else I will post it in another post.