Merry Christmas, Wesołych Świąt in Rupinow, & The Boys Are Hot!! - Blog #46 (Dec. 16 - 28)

Basketball Update:

We had two home games that sandwiched Christmas since my last blog... and I stayed out of foul trouble in BOTH of them if you can believe it. Our first game was on the 22nd. We played the top budget team in the league, Anwil. They are in a unique situation because they fired their coach a few days before our game. However, the fired coach was literally a dead man walking in the game against us because the new coach is unavailable until New Year's. It is a very weird situation. Anwil has underperformed this season, hence the change. They are still a very talented team with the best offense in the league, so we had to be ready. We had our best crowd of the year and played a great game. Chavaughn played awesome again. We won 91 - 82. Big win for us, and it is always good to win going into the holidays to keep the good vibes.

Our next game was against Krosno, the last-place team in the league. They just got promoted from the first division (second division but called the first division) last season. However, any team in this league can beat anyone. The Polish league is different than a lot of leagues in Europe in that there is much less of a gap between the best team and the worst team in the league. "Upsets" happen very regularly, so we had to be prepared. Games around Christmas tend to have a weird vibe because a lot of guys are distracted. We started the game slowly and had to fight to go into the half up 1. We took control in the 3rd quarter and kept control the rest of the game. We won 98 - 84. The boys are officially rolling right now! Three more games until the field for the Polish cup is set and the first round of games is over. Big three games coming up here.

Leadership Lesson:

I learned a valuable lesson about accountability this year. I realized that, for me, it is helpful to give myself some accountability when I set a goal by telling people about my goal. My New Year's resolution for last year was to read 12 books. I told Nikki, some family, some friends, and even a couple of my teammates. I know myself, and I know that I am more likely to complete something if I tell people about it. It is honestly not ideal, but it is a truth that I have learned about myself. I would like to think that I do not care much about what people think of me. However, I do care about what the people who are closest to me think about me. I used this to my advantage for my resolution. Telling people helped me tremendously with my goal. It gave me a boost of motivation when I needed and provided me with the necessary accountability to be persistent to finishing my goal. It was a close call because I am writing this on Dec. 31st, and I finished my last book this morning. I am happy I provided myself with more accountability, apart from just myself. Now, I am twelve books smarter! ;) This may honestly not be useful for everyone. You may feel unnecessary pressure from telling others or simply find that using others for accountability is not useful at all. However, it is important to know yourself as a person and a leader and to know what motivates you. I have found this to be useful. I would encourage you to know yourself better so you can implement things that can help you meet your goals.

Top 5 of the Week:

Numbers

1. Twelve - My basketball number and the number of my favorite athlete ever. Also has a great look to it if you ask me.

2. Four - This is not because of Brett Favre, or at least I don't think. I kind of just like the number. It is a fun number to use to tier things too. I like making a "Mount Rushmore of ...". I know that is ironic, seeing as though I have been doing top fives.

3. Twenty-Three - I am just now realizing that this may be difficult to do without making it about sports, but oh well. The GOAT's number. Need I say more?

4. Twenty-Four - Kobe and the number of hours in a day, so it kind of just feels right.

5. One - Simple, elegant. Much deserving of a top-five rank. I will try to think of something better to rank next week. Recommendations are encouraged!

What Else Did I Do This Week? / Cultural Difference:

I had about as good a Christmas, considering the circumstances of being in a foreign country with no family around, as I could have had. We had a great team dinner back at il Viccolo for our team Christmas celebration. They made us a great Polish Christmas dinner with all of the traditional dishes. Some great soups, meat dishes, side dishes, and desserts. il Viccolo is unbelievable, and it was fun to have a good meal with the guys. The duck with this sweet cranberry sauce on top was one of the best dishes I have ever had.

Coach graciously gave us Christmas Eve and Christmas morning off from practice, even though we had a game on the 27th. Christmas Eve is the big day of celebration in Poland. There are a bunch of Polish Christmas traditions that are part of the Christmas Eve evening which is why I included the cultural difference section of the blog in this one. I drove to Magda's family's house in Rupinow, Poland, which is an hour south of Krakow. For those who may not remember, Magda is my cousin-in-law who is married to my cousin Craig. They have two kids, Leon and Oskar. At Magda's parents' place, they were hosting Craig and Magda's family along with Magda's two siblings and their respective families. There were fourteen of us total. I got in late on the 23rd because I drove after practice. It was roughly a five-hour trip.

Christmas Eve was a really fun day. I was able to rest a bit and hang out in the house playing some card games with the kids. We also went for a walk around the house to check out there entire property and get some good mountain views. The house is in the Polish foothills before the Tratas. They have a guest house that I stayed in with Craig and Leon. The house is really big with a bunch of bedrooms that is perfect to house a lot of people. It snowed a bunch in Rupinow. We also had a snowball fight that was interrupted a couple of times by accidental face shots (none by me, surprisingly). Then, we did some sledding in their yard. It was an awesome time screwing around with all the kids in the snow. It felt a bit like being back in Wisco!

The evening was the main event. It is a Polish tradition that the dinner must have 12 dishes served. There were like six courses served in total. The meal was outstanding. However, before the meal were a few other Polish traditions. If you still believe in Santa, skip these next few sentences... Their version of Santa is the Christmas Star. The Star comes while the kids are getting ready for dinner. It puts the parents and myself (because I got roped into helping put presents under the tree) into a much more high stress situation. One adult has to make sure none of the kids are looking while they are getting dressed. Then, we transferred all of the presents under the tree. My heart was beating out of my chest, thinking that I could possibly be the reason that someone stops believing in Santa. We made it work with no issues. Then, we had to complete a very strange tradition. Each person gets what is basically a big cracker. It is the same substance that the host is made of if you have been to Catholic Mass. You go up to each individual person. You take a piece of their cracker, and they take a piece of yours. Then, you exchange well wishes for the year to come. It is also the time for you to get something off your chest if you want and apologize for anything you may feel guilty about towards an individual. It was actually really nice to get a little sentimental with everyone. It was slightly weird because I had never met most of these people before, but it was mostly awesome. Then, one of the kids read the nativity story in Polish. At last, it was time to pray and eat.

Food was amazing, as I mentioned. After dinner, we sang some Christmas carols (mostly in Polish). Craig and I taught them a Cartier classic, "Must Be Santa". Then, the kids went to bed and all of the adults played a fun card game before hitting the sack. Amazing day.

I had a quick breakfast Christmas morning before giving Leon & Oskar their Christmas presents. I got them remote control cars, which I think they really enjoyed. Then, I had to hit the road. They were amazing hosts to me, and I really felt like I was part of their family for a couple of days. It was a bit sad doing the long drive on Christmas because I really am missing family and Nikki. They all had a great Christmas back home, and I Facetimed in plenty to kind of make it feel like I was there. Made it back for practice and had leftovers that Magda packed me for dinner. I am really happy I got to experience that part of Polish culture because their Christmas celebration is unique and fun.

Top Meal of the Week:

While il Viccolo was great, nothing could have topped this Christmas Eve dinner at Magda's. It felt like a Thanksgiving meal with how much food there was. My favorite dish was probably the pierogi. A Polish speciality dish that is insanely good, especially when homemade. I also really loved the two soups we had (beet and mushroom) and the carp dish. The only slight downside to this meal was that you cannot eat meat on Christmas Eve in Poland. Thanks for reading!