Ok, so I promised to write more blogs this year and as you can see...I have failed miserably. My life has been a little crazy lately, which should be the perfect time to write! So, in the last week I have moved from Oberhausen Germany to Hafnarfjordur, Iceland. People have told me "Professional Basketball is a business and blah blah blah" I've only heard stories of this and never really thought it would happen to me. It's tough for me to accept partly because of my competitive nature and also because of the part of me that feels the need to please everyone. About 3 weeks ago, I was released from my team in Oberhausen. I didn't see it coming so it was a pretty tough situation for me. Luckily I have made some really great friends while I've been in Germany so I had several people who were willing to be there for me.
All of a sudden I had some pretty big decisions to make. I could call it quits and go home and move on with my life....which I considered very strongly. Or I could stay in Germany for a month or so and wait to see if any teams had openings and wanted to sign me. I decided to stay and wait for a little bit while I decided what I really wanted. While I stayed in Oberhausen with 1 of my teammates, I tried my best to be an adult about the situation and to handle it gracefully. Trust me, it was not easy. It was a very pride swallowing ego reducing few weeks. Although painful, it was good for me. I continued to workout and practice with the team to stay in shape. I even went to their games, which was almost physically painful to watch because that was my team out there and I wanted to play so badly.
I think one of the hardest things about playing overseas is how hard it is to leave. I mean, I have made so many great friends at each place that I have played. Some will even be friends that last a lifetime. Because I'm here to play basketball, I'm with my team way more than I'm with my actual family and friends back home. I see these people everyday, and sometimes several times a day. And if you live with a teammate, you are always together, so you tend to form strong bonds fairly quickly. So essentially when you are in my profession, you are constantly saying goodbye to someone, either family and friends at home or friends that you meet in your new place. It's also a positve, because now I have friends all over world (thank goodness for facebook and skype)so I should always have a free place to crash when I travel, haha.
After about 2 1/2 weeks of waiting I signed with a team in Iceland. My new team is called Haukar, and I live just about 10 minutes outside of the capital of Reykjavik. Although this year has not turned out how I thought it would, in any way. I feel blessed to be where I am right now. I know that God is in control of my life so who am I to question it. So now I'm facing all the new challenges of moving to a new country where I know no one. I was really feeling comfortable in Germany, I knew my way around pretty well, I was really starting to understand the language and I have alot of friends there. Now, I'm having to basically start over, which can be a little intimidating. I just try not to think about it to much, ha. The good thing is is that I'm automatically on a team so I'm immediately involved with a group of people. Of course I'm having to go through all the steps that it takes to make new friends and again feel comfortable in a place far from home. It's the little things like learning the best places to eat, how to drive different places, how a team practices, finding the foods you like at the grocery store because now all the brands are different and everything looks different, and of course the language. Really just adjusting to a new way of life. Luckily I was born with the personlity trait to adjust well to new situations and to be sensitive to new cultures and to fit in fairly quick.
So here's to a new chapter and adventure in my life. I promise that there will be new blogs weekly. I am going to do some exploring this weekend so I should have some good stories about Iceland coming soon..........
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