Trips to Turkey and Hungary

The last month has flown by as we have begun playing our regular season in the Ukraine Super League and the Eurocup. We are currently 6-1 on the season. We are 3-1 in the Ukraine League and 3-0 and in first place in our group in Eurocup. Playing games twice a week really makes time go by as we travel more often and practice less. We play the Ukraine games on the weekends and the Eurocup games on either Tuesdays or Wednesdays.

In this first round of Eurocup we play each of the 5 other teams twice, which makes ten games, and the top 3 teams advance to the next round after Christmas.

We began the Eurocup slate with a game on the road in Ankara, Turkey. We played a great all around team game and won by 24. The city seemed pretty modern and lively from what we were able to see. One of the best parts of this trip was flying through Istanbul on the way and being able to get some Starbucks. I brought Erin home some packs of the coffee which she enjoyed. A happy (almost) wife is a happy life is what I am told.

Our next Eurocup game was at home against a solid squad from Russia. We won by 2 points in a close back and forth battle. This was a big win for the club as it was the first home Eurocup game in club history. The Russian team featured Brandon Paul who I played many games against at Illinois and also a big man who was a bit older who played for the Detroit Pistons for a few years.  I was glad we were able to get the win for the fans. I was able to hit a 3 pointer at the buzzer to end the 3rd quarter which got the crowd and our team going to get the win.

This past week we traveled to Hungary for a game against Alba. In this match we jumped on them right away and got up by about 15 points and never really looked back. We won the game by 13 points and I was able to hit 4 three pointers in the contest. The city we played in seemed quite small but the city we stayed in was really quant and nice on Lake Balaton. The view from the hotel over the lake was one to see.  It reminded me of a lake town in Minnesota. To get to Hungary we traveled through Vienna, Austria which seemed like a great city. We even passed a Nike factory outlet on the way that everyone was hoping the bus would stop for….no such luck.

Our games in Ukraine are quite adventurous and excrusiating as we have many long bus rides on back roads. The roads are bumpier than a Scrabble board for the blind. (yes it did take the whole 6 hour bus ride for me to think of that analogy). Some of the gyms we play in are very small. Our gym in Yuzhny is relatively new and a very nice modern complex with a great court. The gym we played in last night reminded me of the gym in the movie Hoosiers when Shooter walks on the court. It’s a great experience though.

Tomorrow we head to Thessaloniki, Greece for a Eurocup match on Wednesday. This is a big game for us as they are 2-1 in our group. It would be a great way to put some separation between us and the rest of the group.

Not much is new in Yuzhny. We have explored Odessa a bit more and found a great Japenese Steakhouse this past week. I am very glad and thankful to have Erin here with me on this journey. She has been doing great here making some new friends and cooking and working out a lot. Today it was really nice out and about 70 degrees so we took a walk on the beach. A couple of days ago while we were on the road she was on the beach with one of the wives and her daughter and they ran into a washed up dead dolphin on the beach. Something you don’t see everyday..

We are looking forward to my parents coming over to visit at the beginning of December. It will be great being able to see them as we miss our families a lot.

Good night from Ukraine. Below are some recent photos.

Matt

 

Erin and I in front of a war monument on the drive from Yuzhne to Odessa

Downtown Ankara, Turkey. They had Mcdonalds, Starbucks, Buger King and Sbarro. Nice American touch on the city

View of Lake Balaton in Hungary