8/12/09
My bags arrived today! It was disgusting going Monday and Tuesday without washing my face or taking out my contacts and wearing the same clothes since Saturday morning on the plane. Today was my first day of practice, it was kind of nice to be able to miss two days of the training camp because I was able to try to get my sleeping pattern right and also get a feel for everything by watching. Practices at training camp have been lot like an Anthony Katz practice, my JV coach in high school and my favorite coach, lots of shooting, learning offense and that’s it! I actually am surprised how easy it has been first couple of days. I expected it to be like a rocky movie, crazy training, all day, and crazy hard practices, but so far it was been a pleasant surprise, its actually easier than USC was.
My schedule usually looks like this...
Breakfast 8:45 am
Basketball Practice 10:15am-12pm
Weights 12pm- 12:30pm
Lunch 2:45pm
Conditioning 5:45pm-7pm
Dinner 8pm
In Room 11:30pm
After weights I come to my hotel room and watch movies or Entourage. I finished season 5 in one day because that series is the best show of all time. It’s so funny I can’t get enough of it. I can watch it over and over again; it never gets old to me.
Then after lunch I come to the room and take a nap before conditioning. I feel so rested and healthy because of the sleep I am getting and the food I am eating and the schedule I am on. This is the first time I have been in bed at 12pm since high school!
After weights I come to my hotel room and watch movies or Entourage. I finished season 5 in one day because that series is the best show of all time. It’s so funny I can’t get enough of it. I can watch it over and over again; it never gets old to me.
Then after lunch I come to the room and take a nap before conditioning. I feel so rested and healthy because of the sleep I am getting and the food I am eating and the schedule I am on. This is the first time I have been in bed at 12pm since high school!
My eating usually consist of this with basically no variations…
Breakfast- Scrambled eggs, Sausage, Bread rolls covered with chocolate and
chocolate filling and fake orange juice and pineapple juice
Lunch- Soup, Bread, Meat (Pork or Chicken), Rice, Potatoes, and Carrots
Dinner-Bread, Meat (Deer, Chicken, Pork, Steak), Potatoes, Rice, Apples, Peaches, Grits and Carrots.
The food doesn’t have much flavor; there are many other options but things that I don’t like such as fish, tomatoes, coleslaw, peas, and all types of weird cheeses. They have soup and bread at every meal except breakfast its crazy and when they get the soup first they put head down and literally power it down without even looking up, it’s pretty funny. Also, they have chi tea with every meal as well. There milk is always warm, so I can’t have cereal because cereal with warm milk is so nasty to me. They don’t like drinking anything really cold either, so their water and drinks are all room temperature, its very different.
The guys speak barely any English at all, I mean like Hi and Good Job is about it, but they are getting more and more friendly as we are just getting to be around each other more often. The athleticism of the guys is seriously like high school but the attention to detail is unreal. The head coach speaks pretty good English is a very smart guy. I think he will be really good for me; he has me setting lots of pick and pops and also coming off a down screen for 3's and trailing for 3’s. The assistants and trainer speak basically speak no English as well, but we are getting more comfortable and it’s a lot showing and doing, not much talking. The head coach shouts directions, but again its in English and Russian so it takes longer to do things and it gives you an extra second to catch your breathe. My two American teammates Kevin Bridgewater and Jerel Allen, I feel like I know them so well because we are always together and talk about everything with each other because we obviously understand each other and its only been 2 days but I feel like I know them better than some teammates from SC because of the extraordinary situation.
My roommate is Jovan Kopravica, he is older brother of Nikola Kopravica the euro that plays on Washington State #4. He is 27 and has played professionally since he was 15, he is a Serbian and speaks very good English and is an extremely nice guy. He is really funny and he is kind of like Abdoulaye (Upperclassmen at SC when I came in to SC as a freshman) and he has taken me under his wing and been extremely helpful with everything and mostly translating things for me. Its crazy how much I have learned about Europe and Serbia from him in just 2 days and how things are so different all over the world...really has opened my eyes already.
The girls here are gorgeous, they are so natural here and they have pure beauty, not much makeup and they still look amazing and the color of their eyes are unreal! Blue, green with dark hair is a killer. I haven’t talked to any or gone out at all, but just seen them walking around and there has been a treat.
Zlatibor reminds me a lot of Oregon in the summertime. It is very green and has lots of big green trees and smells so fresh. The weather has been about 80 and very nice and sunny. It is raining tonight and a little bit of thunder, but it will be gone by the morning.Best time for me to Skype is 12pm-2pm at home in California because I have basically from 9pm till 11 30pm my time to be on internet and its weird because I am 9 hours ahead here in Serbia. It has been wild though going on Skype and Facebook chat these last couple of days because I have been able to see my parents and friends faces and talk instantly, literally half way around the world. It has been amazing and thank god for technology because it has made this transition much easier for me. I am surprised I have not been homesick at all yet, maybe because I am super busy or having a good time, but I think about home a lot but have not gotten homesick yet. I have looked through my pictures and video my friends made me before I left about 20 times and just laughed and definitely missed certain things like my yellow lab Sumo, food and the beach but I am loving this new experience so I haven’t dwelled on any of that stuff.
Dinner-Bread, Meat (Deer, Chicken, Pork, Steak), Potatoes, Rice, Apples, Peaches, Grits and Carrots.
The food doesn’t have much flavor; there are many other options but things that I don’t like such as fish, tomatoes, coleslaw, peas, and all types of weird cheeses. They have soup and bread at every meal except breakfast its crazy and when they get the soup first they put head down and literally power it down without even looking up, it’s pretty funny. Also, they have chi tea with every meal as well. There milk is always warm, so I can’t have cereal because cereal with warm milk is so nasty to me. They don’t like drinking anything really cold either, so their water and drinks are all room temperature, its very different.
The guys speak barely any English at all, I mean like Hi and Good Job is about it, but they are getting more and more friendly as we are just getting to be around each other more often. The athleticism of the guys is seriously like high school but the attention to detail is unreal. The head coach speaks pretty good English is a very smart guy. I think he will be really good for me; he has me setting lots of pick and pops and also coming off a down screen for 3's and trailing for 3’s. The assistants and trainer speak basically speak no English as well, but we are getting more comfortable and it’s a lot showing and doing, not much talking. The head coach shouts directions, but again its in English and Russian so it takes longer to do things and it gives you an extra second to catch your breathe. My two American teammates Kevin Bridgewater and Jerel Allen, I feel like I know them so well because we are always together and talk about everything with each other because we obviously understand each other and its only been 2 days but I feel like I know them better than some teammates from SC because of the extraordinary situation.
My roommate is Jovan Kopravica, he is older brother of Nikola Kopravica the euro that plays on Washington State #4. He is 27 and has played professionally since he was 15, he is a Serbian and speaks very good English and is an extremely nice guy. He is really funny and he is kind of like Abdoulaye (Upperclassmen at SC when I came in to SC as a freshman) and he has taken me under his wing and been extremely helpful with everything and mostly translating things for me. Its crazy how much I have learned about Europe and Serbia from him in just 2 days and how things are so different all over the world...really has opened my eyes already.
The girls here are gorgeous, they are so natural here and they have pure beauty, not much makeup and they still look amazing and the color of their eyes are unreal! Blue, green with dark hair is a killer. I haven’t talked to any or gone out at all, but just seen them walking around and there has been a treat.
Zlatibor reminds me a lot of Oregon in the summertime. It is very green and has lots of big green trees and smells so fresh. The weather has been about 80 and very nice and sunny. It is raining tonight and a little bit of thunder, but it will be gone by the morning.Best time for me to Skype is 12pm-2pm at home in California because I have basically from 9pm till 11 30pm my time to be on internet and its weird because I am 9 hours ahead here in Serbia. It has been wild though going on Skype and Facebook chat these last couple of days because I have been able to see my parents and friends faces and talk instantly, literally half way around the world. It has been amazing and thank god for technology because it has made this transition much easier for me. I am surprised I have not been homesick at all yet, maybe because I am super busy or having a good time, but I think about home a lot but have not gotten homesick yet. I have looked through my pictures and video my friends made me before I left about 20 times and just laughed and definitely missed certain things like my yellow lab Sumo, food and the beach but I am loving this new experience so I haven’t dwelled on any of that stuff.
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