Two Scrimmage Week, Teammate Touches, and Chill Weekend in ZG - Blog #36 (Sep. 15 - 21)

Basketball Update:

We had two games this week. Our first was a rematch on the road on Wednesday in Wrocław, who is the team we lost to at the end of last week. We went there and got smacked by roughly 20. We actually did not play too badly, but they pulled away late. Coach was not too discouraged by the loss, and we had a quick turnaround for our game at home against a Czech team. We played Decin in front of our fans in our second gym because the main arena was busy, but it was still fun to play in front of some fans. We honestly did not play too great but ended up getting the W by about ten. I still have to find out how to stream games and stuff for the season, and I will make sure to put that info in next week's blog. One more preseason game on Friday at Szczechin. It is the former club of several of my teammates and head coach, so it should be fun for them.

Leadership Lesson:

Being in my second year overseas, it has been interesting to examine some of the differences between the two teams. My team this year does way more high-fives. It sounds silly and maybe a weird observation, but everyone is constantly high-fiving one another. You make a free throw? High-five all your teammates at the basket. You want to go right to your water bottle during a break in practice? Nope, high-five all your teammates first. The purpose of a team is connection, and no one was better at this than Steve Nash. The two-time MVP was the ultimate connector. He was notorious for high-fiving, fist-bumping, and touching his teammates. He did it so much that there were studies being conducted on the relationship between physical touches with your teammates and team success. It was found that the two do go together. I feel as though my team is intentional about connectivity in this way whether we realize it or not. It encourages good energy and communication which is something I find very important to team success. It will be interesting to see if it results in some wins this year, but we will see. Link about Steve Nash: https://youtu.be/53VigZ1e4No

Top 5 of the Week:

Favorite Chores

1. Taking out the trash - This is a nice chore. Simple, relatively easy, and makes you feel manly for some reason.

2. Cleaning counter after cooking - This is an easy one and is very satisfying to do. It is nice to have a clean stove and counter area that looks good after making a mess.

3. Cleaning gutters - Really fun to get to climb on the roof and a satisfying chore as well.

4. Unloading dishwasher - I used to really dislike this one, but a really easy, chill chore. Easier in Europe because the dishwashers are smaller too.

5. Mowing the lawn - A little disingenuous because I did not do this a lot growing up because my dad really enjoyed doing it. While I have limited experience, it is very satisfying to do and nice to listen to music/podcast during it. Plus, the smell of fresh cut grass is amazing.

What Else Did I Do This Week?

We had an off day Saturday, and I spent the morning going on a nice walk in this nature area nearby. There was a cool river that I walked along and more wooded areas. I also stubbled upon the Zielona Gora gridiron. The team's season is not until spring, unfortunately which is sacrilegious in my opinion. You have to play football in the fall. Anyway, I will still definitely check them out in the spring. I also saw a windmill when I was walking around which made me miss Nikki and the Netherlands a little bit. Later, I went to go see the new movie, The Conjuring: Last Rites, with my teammate Phil. I went to a movie with Nikki a couple of weeks ago, and I think we were the only two people in the theater. This was not the case on Friday. The theater was packed, and Phil & I got the last two seats in the house in the front row. It was very scary but a fun experience nonetheless.

We had practice Sunday, but in the afternoon some of us had a photoshoot around ZG for the team. We walked around the old town center and a winery to snap some good flicks. It was chill and everything, but I have realized that media stuff does not interest me as much as it used to. This was cool though to go around the city and take pictures. I was able to catch most of the Packer game after practice too. Oof, that was a tough one. Some of us were punching our Super Bowl tickets a little bit early.

Top Meal of the Week:

I made a really good salmon bowl a couple of times last week. I didn't take a picture of it, but it's marinated salmon with edamame, cucumber, rice, avocado, romaine, and some siracha mayo. It is delicious.

One Difference Between Europe and the States:

It is a pretty weird thing, but they don't do screens in Europe. My windows and patio doors have been cracked because it's been nice weather out, and they stay open all night with no screen to keep bugs out. I get a few bugs in my apartment but nothing like we have back home in Wisconsin. It is strange because they have mosquitoes here, but I think they're just not as bad as they are in the US. Thanks for reading!