Thursday, June 2, 2011

Rosetta Stone is for overachievers. Yeah, I said it.

This feels acutely familiar. I’ve been here before. Packing my entire existence into an embarrassingly telling number of small, disheveled brown boxes and loading them into my beloved Trooper. Then, just an unsophisticated 17 year old, rough around the edges at best, with a hoop dream and something to prove, I left home certain about little and impossibly naïve. 5 years later, little has changed I’m afraid. I loaded that same dependable Trooper yesterday struck by the fact that my brown disheveled boxes seemed to have shrunk in number, unbelievably. And yet somehow, I am leaving with so much more—none of which could fit into a box. I feel like understanding at least that much, means the past 5 years haven’t all been for naught.

It has only been a little over a week since my first entry and since I began working out, but it’s amazing, though not entirely surprising how quickly it all comes back. Unfortunately, here, I am not referring to the proverbial "it" as mentioned previously. It has only been about 9 days, I'll have to ask you to at least be realistic with your expectations of me. No, I am referring to the anxiety. It's amazing how quickly it begins to consume my thoughts, dictate my actions and overwhelm my nerves. I’ve barely signed my contract and I can already feel the unmistakable pregame butterflies accompanied by its old friend, nausea. Oh how I’ve missed it. Seriously...I have. There's nothing like a good dose of nausea to really jump start my day. Am I right?

The first thing everyone has been asking me upon hearing about my German news is "how well do you speak German?" First of all, unless you are following that question up with an offer to buy me Rosetta Stone, this is a lousy first question. Regardless, it's not without some relevance. So, as I prepare for my foreign getaway, I thought it might be smart to begin familiarizing myself with the language. So after careful consideration, I made choice selections of phrases I anticipate using copiously. I have included some:
1.     Sie kochen fur mich? à Will you cook for me?
2.     Woher kommt Dirk leben? à Where does Dirk live?
3.     Nein, sie konnen nicht meine telefonnummer. à No, you can’t have my phone number.
4.     Ja, ich bin beruhmt. à Yes, I am famous.
I think you will agree that if I can master these, I will be on my way to self sufficient in no time at all. 

I have amazing friends. I know everyone says that, but this week was rather illustrative of this fact for me. And not just the kind of friends who will tell you that "you don’t look fat in those jeans", but more importantly, the ones who will tell you just how fat you look! The kind of friends that remember your birthday (without the convenience of facebook reminders) because they’ve surprised you with inappropriate gifts each year. The kind of friends you laugh with till it hurts and cry with till it doesn’t. The kind of friends that occupy a piece of your heart. I’ve undoubtedly made such friends and this past weekend we said goodbye. For now. But that is the beauty of these kinds of friends—goodbyes are always temporary, though never less difficult. Fortunately, my friends know how to make difficult a little more fun. Bow chicka wow wow. Just kidding.
If that doesn't scream fun, well frankly I just don't know what does.

So this post has been really long, lucky for you. I will end with this: here is a link to my team website...in German. Ha! The second link down on the website includes an article about me and another girl the team signed. Basically it just says how great we are. Feel free to do what I did though and copy and paste the article into a german-english translation website. Nifty things they are. Chemcats website: http://www.chemcats.de/home.html. Stay classy. 


5 comments:

  1. If this Bball thing doesn't work out, you can try writing...what an outstanding post!!

    Pizza party is this coming Monday, so I'll share a couple of snippets with the 5th grade girls so they can root you on.

    Oh, as I write this, it looks like Dirk might be back in Germany a bit early. Looks like Dallas will soon be down 0-2 :-( Bummer..would love to see the Heat get beat.

    btw - I used Babylon Translate to convert your teams comments about your signing, and got the below. I think Babylon needs some work :-)

    "Adds the new ChemCats team to a picture together. With Sami whitcomb and Nevena Saponjic two key players could be directed to Chemnitz. The originate from the United States is 78-84 can be used as a versatile Außenspielerin. They can be both as a structure to bring the ball forward and steer the game as well as on the wing to perform. "This flexibility enables us to better rotate", is called trainer Scheidhauer a reason for the obligation of Sami."

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  2. Thanks Brian! I am so bummed I will miss the pizza party, I was looking forward to seeing those girls. Looks like Dirk came back! So maybe I won't see him after all :(

    Thanks for the translation! Tell all the girls hi for me! Talk soon :)

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  3. Know a person's friends and know the person. I'm sure you're every bit the amazing friend. Probably you'll leave a lot of little empty spaces in a lot of people's lives. Your bloggy thing will make it more bearable no doubt.

    And now some QnA
    - How are the ChemCats? Have you seen video?
    - Which league are they in? How did they rank in '10? How many teams?
    - Are you getting paid in Euros? If yes, awesome!
    - I've never seen you wear red. How do you look in red? You were always brilliant in purple.
    - Never knew you got pregame willies. Sure doesn't show once you hit the court.

    Til' next time- get busy in the gym. I want to see a resting pulse of 45bpm!

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  4. Aren't you just a little sweetie pie. Thank ya :)

    You wouldn't be you without some QnA.
    -ChemCats did not make playoffs last year, that is all I know. Have not seen film, though I asked for some.
    -They are Div 1 DBBL, no clue how many teams (though I probably should) -I am getting paid in Euros.
    -I look pretty fantastic in red, I won't lie. I did look pretty good in purp huh? totalllllly kidding.
    -Thank you.

    Best believe I'll be keeping busy ma friend :) Be well till next time.

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  5. It's true. I am a sweetie pie :)

    I found this helpful thing-
    http://www.sportstats.com/basketball/germany/dbbl-women-2010-2011/standings/

    If I remember right, you look nice in the jewel tones- Amethyst, Sapphire, Peridot, etc. Now what color laces with the shoes, earrings silver or gold, and what are you going to do with your hair?
    My brother and I would make jokes like that when we were little and it made my Dad really nervous. Especially when we dressed up as brides and ran around in the front yard.
    kidding.

    When you pass by Berzerkley give a wave to your left!

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