Well, its been a while since my last blog so I have a lot to catch you up on but I won't get into to much detail. I had a great summer. I had the chance to see a lot of family and friends which I was extremely happy about. That's one of the greatest perks in my line of work is getting the summers off. The first month and a half I was back in the states I spent most of the time in Redding, but traveled to Arizona 2 times to visit family and attend Carp's graduation. The second month I spent in Santa Clara. I tried to begin training again but wasn't real consistent with that attempt. Had some teammates from Switzerland visit during this time and it was nice to show them everything I had told them about while we were playing. The third month I moved back to Redding to spend some more time with my family because during the middle of June I flew to Starogard Gdaski, Poland for a week long tryout. I later found out this would be my destination for the upcoming season so I wanted to get as much time in with them as possible. Which leads me to where I currently reside. I arrived here on August 4th to play for SKS Polpharma Pakmet-Starogard Gdanski (http://www.sportowa.com.pl/). When I arrived here I was greeted by the President of the club and the website operator/ Translator. We stopped at the Polpharma factory and the town square to take pictures for the team website. After that they showed me my new home away from home. A nice modern looking 1 bedroom flat. We then proceeded to the gym where the team was practicing. Luckily I had the night off, it's pretty tough after a 15 hour trip and the time change to jump right on the court. I was interviewed by a Polish Journalist at the gym and after that they took me back to my new home. I didn't have a chance o eat dinner the first night because the restaurant's slash pub below my apartment complex kitchen was closed. Bummer I was starving the next morning. Anyway, the first practices have gone decently well. They're introducing a lot to me right away. I have to be a good visual learner because everything is explained in Polish. I am one of two Americans on the team so I think this will be a challenge all season. Fortunately, broken or not, there is a few people who speak enough English to comprehend what is being said.
As for the town, it is a smaller town with a population around 50,000. I haven't had much of an opportunity to site see yet. I am still trying to get adjusted to the time change so I I've been sleeping during the day. But what I have seen so far of Starogard seems to be a little bit older and not as current as the towns of other countries I have visited. Not that I m disappointed because I open for anything to experience. It is all part of the journey. I am anxious to learn about the history of Poland and hopefully get a better idea of what eastern Europe is like. This situation seems a little more time consuming than what I was used to last year. I don't believe I will have the freedom I had last year to travel and some of that can attribute to my location last year and Switzerland being central Europe. Regardless, I am excited to be here playing a sport I love. I already miss my family, friends and America a ton. Hello to everyone back home and I look forward to skyping, emailing, facebooking, etc... with all of you soon. Please keep me updated on your lives. I love hearing about everything that's going on back there. Even though I might not ask I am always wondering. Until next time. LOVE
"Enjoy the Journey"
Love
Bud
Love
Bud
