AIRPORT IN PARIS

I am sitting at the "Café France" at the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, waiting for a baguette and a café ole… lol… just kidding. I am waiting for a plane to take us back to Brno via Vienna Airport. As I am writing this, 12 hours have passed since we came up short on the scoreboard at the Bourges Palais des Sports last night.

It was a surreal game, as I felt that we had a legit chance all game long to win it, but for some reason we were never able to grab a hold of it. Bourges played well and I don't want to knock their efforts at all. I believe that they are a great team, but I also believe in our team and our talent.

I only played 3 minutes, which was a little disappointing—I am not going to lie, but as I am new to this team I gracefully "sucked it up."

This series is a best of 3, so we'll have one more chance this Friday at home to make it 1-1, and get another chance to redeem ourselves at Bourges, and to move on to the quarterfinals. I hope that we'll make the necessary changes to help us win.

I'll check back soon, with hopefully some great news.

Sleep-Less-Ness in Frohlich Land

It's Sunday and it's the first day off that I am enjoying here in my new apartment in Brno. I was looking forward to sleeping in long and nicely today, but that was not going to happen. As I live in the center of Brno, I am surrounded by churches that love to welcome their visitors with an hourly flood of bell ringing. Starting at 7 am when the early birds were getting ready to praise God. And as mad as I wanted to get for being torn out of LaLaLand, I was constantly reminded that it was a sign of people worshipping God… and I surely couldn't get mad at that!

So, I've been up for a while now, cooked me a nice breakfast (yeah, I did… I used the word "cook" and "I" in the same sentence), watched a random movie where Kate Hudson and Naomi Watts are in France, and now I am starting to pack my bag for our upcoming trip to Bourges, France. We are going to leave tomorrow morning at 6am...I've got to leave the house at 5.30!!! Well good thing I practiced the early wake-up today….lol… see, all things happen for a reason! And the game will be on Tuesday.

This is going to be my first Euro League game after a two months break, so I am a little excited… if not a little nervous! But that's alright, because a little nervousness usually helps with the concentration.

Things have been good and I like it out here. The snow has melted and been replaced by drizzling rain. But the (previously highly praised) team jacket has been keeping me dry and warm.

I have internet and my German television channels have been set up.
So I've been happy. Luckily a new season of the GERMAN IDOL ("Deutschland sucht den Superstar") has just begun, so I am having many episodes to look forward to.

Linda's Real World BRNO

SNAPSHOTS FROM BRNO

Taking advice from a teammate... Teammate Timi is showing me where I need to be.
She's one of the 5 post players (PIVOTKA in Czech)

CAREER RECORD:
So far Brno has proven to be the team with the best team jacket. I love it!! It has many pocket and is waterproof. (Well, as you see it's still the little things that matter in life)

Caught in the act... looks like the photographer got me

LINDA'S NEW YEARS RESOLUTION

Hello everyone.

Welcome to my blog.

My New Year’s Resolution has been to become better at blogging regularly, let’s see how long that will last.
Depending on my hair day, I am going to either video blog or write something.

I hope that you guys had a good holiday season and were able to rest up after all the festivities.

My break has been outstanding. My husband made sure to treat me like a queen 24/7 and I got definitely spoiled.

Now it’s time to go back to work though and I am back in Europe. I have just arrived in Brno, Czech Republic, where I am going to spend the next 3 months playing basketball for Gambrinius Brno.

I just got in. After a 15 hour flight trip… which actually wasn’t too bad considering that I was flying from Los Angeles to Prague. I was picked up by HDAFHD who is the FJSDLF of the team. It took us 1 hour to get from the Prague Airport to Brno. I have unpacked, made some calls and am now enjoying the comfort of modern technology, where you can be (almost) anywhere in the world now and still be connected to your home. I remember back to my first years overseas when internet was a luxury and took forever with a dial-up connection… hahaha.

I am so proud to be part of this team, which has had such a great reputuation in the last couple of years.
I am excited to play with my old teammate Tamika (Miko) Whitmore again, and see what we can get done under the basket.
I am finally on the same team as Maiga-Ba Hamechetou, who had been my roommate during the WNBA draft in 2002… so we go waaaaaaay back ;)
And then Leilane Jansone- my Latvian sister, which I like to call her, even though she doesn’t know it yet… but because my mother grew up in Riga, Latvia I have always felt a special bond with all the Latvian players… which probably makes them think that I am this big freak ;)
Also, Hana Machova, which I have enjoyed watching for years. We’ve never really met, but have been playing at the same tournaments since the sweet age of 13.
And all those who I haven’t met yet, I am eager TO meet.

One big problem that I foresee having is that I probably won’t be wearing my dearest number 13…unless I win against FOS in a fist fight. She’s been number 13 for Gambrinus and the nationalteam ever since I can remember, so I doubt that she’ll give it up without a fight.
So we’ll see how I will be able to cope… or she ;) Lol.

Anyways, I think that should do for today.
Tomorrow I will have to undergo the routine physical, and hopefully also meet the team.

Thanks for reading my blog… and until next time,
Linda

I AM OFF TO THE CZECH REPUBLIC