Levice, Slovakia

Yes, we are in yet another new country! I always wondered if I'd regret not studying abroad in college.... looks like I made up for that!
Dior is playing on a team in Levice, Slovakia for the remainder of the season. This team actually plays in two different countries in one season, Czech Republic and Slovakia. Last season this team won the championship in the Slovakian league so they were promoted to the Czech league. Dior will play all the Czech games but if he has no game and the Slovakian team has a game then he also plays in the Slovak league. Very tricky.

I get to go to their game this Wednesday at home, which is great since we live within walking distance of the gym.  Also, all the games are streamed live on the internet in case you want to catch one. Levice Basketball
Click that link and on the main page scroll down.. on the right side in GREEN it will say live broadcast. The live broadcast isn't posted until gametime.


We went exploring the other day and checked out the cities castle. The castle is small but extremely awesome to see. Unbelievable that the castle was built in the 13th century and is still in good condition. Since its small I doubt it ever housed anyone important but after a little online research I think the castle was used by the cities guards. Hopefully I can check out the inside of the castle.

This is the picture I took.

This is a picture I found online.

Levice is not a big city so everywhere I need to go is within walking distance even the big grocery store.  We did a couple trips to the store this week and its similar to the one we had in Belgium! Yay!

Tesco- giant grocery store with other stuff (similar to Walmart!)

New Years Eve 2011 was our second in Europe and I must say Slovakia takes the cake on fireworks. We live in a tall building with a great view of the city so we were able to watch all the fireworks from our balcony. There were small fireworks going off all day but the big ones started at about 10 p.m. and didn't end until close to 2 a.m. I've never seen so many fireworks in my life... not even at Disneyland! I would like to post a pic of the awesome fireworks but I'd rather not show the internet world where I live. (my blog isn't private)

On a side note, Dior is finally wearing glasses after 10 years of contacts! He loves his glasses especially when he wakes up and just throws them on instead of having to go through the hassle of contacts. Thank you Tia Mago for convincing him to give his eyes a break!!

We wish you all the best in the new year!

Quality Mall Time

Apollo mall in Dnepropetrovsk.

In all the malls there are large grocery stores, in one called Varius I found frozen apricots!

Add caption

 Buying seafood and chicken is different from the way we do it in America.....

You pick up your own fish or you can have them clean it for you.

To buy chicken you put a plastic bag over your hand and put the pieces you want in a bag.

In Dnepropetrovsk there is a coffee shop "Coffee Life" chain similar to Starbucks. The coffee is yummy and Dior loves coming with me to use the wifi internet.

Mocha! I always have pictures of me drinking coffee!

Adjusting to Dnepropetrovsk

Its now October and after a rough start we seem to be adjusting. We've been learning how to take public transportation and thankfully haven't ended up on the wrong street. The buses here are very small and don't have designated stops just specific routes. You can pretty much walk out to the street and wave them down. Then when we are ready to get off we simply tap the driver and say STOP please. We are trying to learn how to say it in Russian but sometimes we forget.

A bus on a main street in Ukraine.

Dior's team had their first home game and WON! The gym is small which I actually like because it makes the fans really loud.  Their team plays again at home tomorrow night so I'm hoping we come away with a second home win!
 

Dior's Team- DniproAzot

Here We Go Again...

I could not have asked for a better summer! I spent my summer with my family and friends who did a great job keeping my mind off the inevitable future of returning to Europe.

Little love of my life!! I hope she stays tiny until I get back.

Road trip with mom and cousin Len to Yosemite!

  After having the best summer with my family and friends we are now off to start a new season in Ukraine. I arrived a couple days ago and words can not explain this country. Ukraine is a place that can only be understood when you actually see it but I can try... Cars make up their lanes on the (bumpy) road so your better off taking a local bus or taxi, people are always walking outside day and night, the apartment buildings look run down on the outside but the actual apartments are quite nice on the inside, NO ONE SPEAKS ENGLISH, the malls are immaculate (complete with a ton of American brand stores!) and the currency conversion is much more in our favor than in Belgium. We went to the grocery store and bought everything we needed for the apartment for about 760 hryvens which is about 94 dollars! I will post pictures soon :)

p.s. Dior and I are ENGAGED now!!! :)

Bears in the Playoffs!

Our first season overseas is now coming to a victorious end! The Leuven Bears have made it to the playoffs! We secured the last spot in the playoffs when we beat our rival Pepinster on the road. Last year the Bears were a last place team so we are definitely the underdog for the first series of playoffs. The first round is a best of three game series, we played the first game last night on the road and lost. Tomorrow we play at home and I’m confident we’ll do better on our own court.

In all honesty making the playoffs and losing in the playoffs is a win-win situation. If we win then we have the potential of getting a championship! On the other hand, if we lose I’m that much closer to going home (A little selfish of me). There has been so much excitement surrounding the team and all of the players are pumped to be in the playoffs. The fans have rallied together for the team from making t-shirts to taking several fan buses to the away games. I can only imagine how exciting tomorrow’s home game will be!

Birthday and Resurrection Day!

Happy Belated Easter and Birthday! During the last weeks of April we have had the best weather! Dior and I have been taking full advantage of the sunshine and have been spending most of the days walking around town. We discovered a new coffee shop that makes yummy iced drinks so we usually head there in the morning before Dior has practice. While all of you Americans were paying your taxes we spent our April 15th celebrating our birthday! We went to see a movie for our birthday and the next night I had a girls night out!

Malu and I.

Jamie, Hailee and Malu :)

The night before Easter we spent time hanging out with the Tofi family. The Tofi family is from San Francisco so I’m very much looking forward to seeing them back home in our natural habitats! Easter Sunday Dior and I spent a relaxing day together with a good meal and movie night. However, Easter Monday is also a holiday in Belgium so we headed downtown for dinner with Dior’s teammate Cass and his girlfriend Hailee. We had the biggest sushi dinner imaginable!

Round 1 of the endless sushi!

Hailee and I look tiny.

Dior’s team is neck and neck with a team named Pepinster for the last spot in the playoffs. The anticipation is killing me! Interestingly, our last regular season game is against Pepinster so I’m hoping the playoff spot is decided before that final game. Before I forget, I would like to say that in America I had never been alcohol breathlyzed and in Belgium I’ve been breathlyzed SEVEN times. The drinking age in Belgium is 16 so perhaps that has something to do with all the testing. hmmmm.

Oh the Places We'll Go

After a whole season of waiting for their visit my parents arrived in Brussels! Dior and I couldn’t wait to take them everywhere and anywhere. Their visit was for two weeks so I pre-planned our trips to make the most of every day. My mom fell in love with Paris and surprisingly my dad loved Amsterdam!

The three of us flew to Milano and took a city tour that included a visit to the Last Supper by daVinci...

From Milano we took a train to Rome where we spent three days walking every inch of Rome.


Trevi Fountain



Vatican

We visited several cities in Belgium: Antwerp ( the diamond capitol), Brugges (the “Venice of the North), Charleroi and Brussels. Of course they spent a lot of time in Leuven (where we live) and said it was definitely one of their favorite cities.



Brussels

I loved all of the sightseeing but (so cheesy) more importantly I enjoyed spending quality time with my parents. We were only missing one thing... TURI!