Fireball

October 14th, 2008


Benjamin Franklin once said, “Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of.”  

Thinking about this quote really hit home to me because I have a lot of free time on my hands.  We are able to shoot from noon to 1pm, lift, attend fitness classes, and of course we practice at night, but only 3 times per week.  When I am bored my solution is to go and do something active, but I can’t workout every hour of the day because I’m pretty sure that my body would start to loathe it’s very existence.  So, this past week I took it upon myself to take advantage of every opportunity thrown my way.  

Every Tuesday night at the fitness center there is a kickboxing/self-defense class, offered to anyone who wants to attend, so Polona and I decided to go.  It was the first class that I have attended where the number of men out numbered the women, perhaps guys just like to hit things, I don’t know.  Anyway, it was a lot of fun!  In the beginning we did a lot of punching, kicking and jumping without using a punching bag.  There was a big mirror that we were all facing which made it possible for me to look around and check out who was in the class.  I really don’t want to hate on women, obviously I think we are great, but the couple of women that were in this class were not blessed with one once of coordination.  I really wouldn’t doubt it if they were simply there in hopes of meeting a guy.  I managed to stifle my laughter and focus on my own technique;)

Wednesday, after shooting and lunch, my friend Cinthia (pronounced Chin-see-ah) picked me up and took me to a place called Monte Generoso, which is a mountain that is about a 15 minute drive from my apt.  In order to get up the mountain you can either take the cable car, drive to a spot and then get out and walk, or ride your bike.  We decided to drive and walk.  The weather couldn’t have been nicer, it was a sunny, crisp, fall day, however, I wouldn’t say that it was nice enough to lay out in your bathing suit and tan, which was what a few women were doing.  These women were laying out on their towels and of course they were all donning thong bathing suits, not that it surprised me too much, I mean I am in Europe and each to his own, right?  

Besides the half naked bodies that were sporadically sprawled out upon the mountain, what truly captured my attention were the exquisitely warm colors that engulfed us from all sides.  It seems that the trees have decided to burst into flames, yellows, oranges and reds dance with gusto on the long branches and quite frequently they shoot from the trees like sparks and brush up against your clothes before disappearing to the earth below.  Standing 1,000m above the city I was unable to hear the everyday hustle and bustle, instead all I heard was the sound of the wind and the rustle of the leaves.  Everything was peaceful, beautiful, serene.  I am hoping to venture to more of these places before all the beauty retires.  

Thursday morning I accompanied our VP to his elementary school, where he teaches a class of about 25 8,9 and 10 year olds.  For an hour and a half I had the kids all to myself, in the gymnasium.  We played games like knock-out, dribble tag, relays and also did some ball handling, shooting and passing.  The kids were incredibly well behaved, everyone participated and nobody complained!  I thoroughly enjoyed it and plan on returning many more times.  

Then, in the afternoon, I taught Keisha how to drive the stick shift!  Teaching someone how to drive stick was really fun for me because she reminded me exactly of myself when I was learning.  Of course she killed it a couple times, got honked at while having to restart the car in the middle of an intersection, and inadvertently revved the engine multiple times, but she did it!  And here she is, our lovely car, Blanca.

In the evening I went and helped out at a basketball practice for people with Special Needs.  This was by far my favorite part of the day.  Each player on the team was unique in their own way and they all had such strong personalities.  One young man was constantly rubbing my head and telling me how pretty I was, while another guy was constantly wanting to give hugs, and yet another was so excited to see me that he just didn’t seem to be able to get the words out of his mouth fast enough!  

There was one individual, however, that stood out from the rest.  He was a very small man and his hands were probably the size of my palms.  He didn’t say much but you could tell it all by looking at his face.  He had the funniest facial expressions and was constantly defying his coaches by not doing what they asked him to do.  If they wanted him to run, he would walk, if he was supposed to stand he would sit and so on.  The coaches have been coaching this team for the past 14 years and have had the opportunity to work with this particular man for quite some time.  Well, we were playing lightening and I just happened to find myself behind this little ball of fire.  When it was my turn to shoot I purposely tried to miss it, but to my dismay the ball bounced around the rim and went in!  Fire ball over here was NOT very happy.  He chucked his ball against the wall and STORMED off the court, I could practically see the smoke billowing out from his ears!  I felt HORRIBLE! Ha, but the coaches just laughed and we kept playing.  The next game, however, he promptly stood right behind me and the first chance he got he made sure to get me out;)  REVENGE is so sweet;) Here I am with Mr. Fire Ball himself.

We also played 5 on 5, and let me tell you, that was absolute CHAOS! ha, but it was so much fun to see them running up and down the floor, passing, smiling and making the occasional basket.  I had to laugh at myself several times because I catch myself getting caught up in the game and talking in English to the players around me and then I realize “Leslie, what are you doing? Nobody can understand a word of what you’re saying!” ha!

Saturday was our game against Neuchatel, the best team in our conference and we got creamed by 30pts.  They were not bigger than us, but they were definitely faster.  Neuchatel has about 8 foreign players so at any one point during the game they have 5 strong players on the floor.  Their team has a lot of money and so they can afford to buy more players.  They also practice twice a day, every day.  I think we had 16 turnovers in the first half.  2 of the girls played for the University of Washington so I had played against them twice in college.  This was the team that my team beat to win the championship game last year.  I am not sure how they did it, but hopefully when the end of the year comes around we will have figured it out by then.  That’s about all I can tell you about the game.  I am sure that the newspaper articles will be up on the website on Monday and you can check out the stats too.  I have no idea what my stats were, maybe 16 or 18 pts and the rest I couldn’t tell you.  Glorious Switzerland, on the way to our game.

1 quick question/fact: In the States can you buy hard boiled eggs at the grocery store?  I have been making egg and cheese sandwiches in the morning and I went to crack my egg into the pan this morning only to find out that it was hard boiled!  I guess I’ll have to ask what the status of the eggs are next time before I buy them!