Warsaw

Well, a lot has happened since my last post. We settled into our little city of Wloclawek and we've been living in a temporary apartment until we move into our place on Thursday. D had two days off this weekend (which never happens) and they just so happened to fall on our five year anniversary weekend (really, this NEVER happens) so we decided to make the two hour drive to Warsaw.

Warsaw is such an amazing city. Researching about the history of Warsaw and discovering that 90% of the city had been demolished during WWII, I kept reading people's opinions that it isn't a particularly beautiful place. I'm not sure what I imagined but Warsaw by far exceeded my expectations. I kept saying "Wow, I don't feel like I'm in Poland" or "Wow, I don't feel like I'm in Warsaw". Why do we say things like that? How would I know anything about what Poland is supposed to "feel" like (after living in just one small city)? It's funny to think about all the preconceived notions we have about places we've never been to.

At the largest shopping mall in Central Europe

Warsaw City Center

Gorgeous Old Town

We stayed in the most beautiful, modern hotel right in the center of the city and spent the weekend eating amazing food and walking around the Old Town and the City Center. Warsaw has such a different look to it than any other European capital I've been to. You can definitely tell it has been through it's fair share of turmoil, but I think this only adds to the beauty of it all. I loved walking through the City Center with its skyscrapers, designer stores and massive shopping malls and then only a few kilometers away being in the middle of the Old Town with its cute cafes, gorgeous old buildings and cobblestone streets. I really felt like I was in two different cities at once. It was an amazing weekend and I can't wait until D's next day off because my list of Polish cities to visit is growing extensively long. (Friends, feel free to come visit and we can make this happen as well).

Sofitel Warsaw

Amazing Meal at Nolita, Warsaw

Video of the Old Town Square

On another note, I've noticed some hilarious things about Poland so far. First off, I went to dinner with D and some of his teammates one night and we all ordered a draft Polish beer. I thought it was odd when the waiter delivered the beers to our table and mine was served with a straw while all the other guy's beers were not. I didn't think much of it, I just took out my straw and made a funny face. It wasn't until this happened to me 3 MORE TIMES, at 3 DIFFERENT RESTAURANTS  that I realized, apparently girls in Poland are expected to drink their beer out of straws? I find this really odd, and I'm not quite sure the reasoning behind it but it is hilarious, nonetheless. I will continue to feel like a badass by removing my straw and drinking beer like the guys.

THIS IS A REAL THING, GUYS!

Another funny thing about Poland is how absolutely impossible it is to properly pronounce any Polish city name just by sounding the word out. As difficult as the Lithuanian language has been for me, at least words are spelled exactly like they sound, so I don't sound like a complete idiot whenever I read something. Not the case here. The first city D played right when we arrived here is spelled "WROCLAW" which I know you just read in your head as "roe-claw". You, like myself and Deividas, couldn't be any more wrong. This city is pronounced "vrots-waf". Additionally, the city "ŁODZ" is pronouned "woodge" and our town, Włocklawek is pronounced "vrots-wav-ek". I find this all completely confusing and I am constantly wishing Poland could pull it together in the phonetics department.

Unlike in Vilnius, English speakers aren't too easy to come by in our town. I spent twenty minutes in a "CVS-like" store the other day trying to describe to the young girl that worked there that I was looking for a lip liner sharpener. When I finally google imaged "pencil sharpener" she started hysterically laughing. Turns out my charades skills aren't as good as I once believed.

Another interesting moment happened when Deividas was out of town for a night last week at an away game. Of course in the two weeks that we've lived in our temporary apartment, nothing out of the ordinary has happened, yet as soon as he goes away and I'm left alone, the flood gates to weirdness open up. First off a loud, crazy alarm kept going off at the school across the street from our house. I kept going out to my balcony and looking at the school to see what the problem was. My first guess was a fire drill but when I noticed no one was actually evacuating, I dismissed that thought. The alarm continued to go off throughout the day and I still have absolutely no clue what it was for. 

Later that night I got a knock at my door and I peeped through to see a man standing with a clipboard. I opened the door and he of course, said something in Polish to me which I replied "sorry, I only speak English". He kept pointing to some badge around his neck and I just kept shrugging and telling him I didn't get it. He then knocked on my neighbors door and had him come over to try to translate for me. I've never met my neighbor and frankly, if he's the best English translator in our building than this place could really benefit from some Rosetta Stone. After about twenty minutes of charades, I somewhat understood the man worked for the city and needed to check the numbers on our heaters. I let them both in and realized that I was standing in my living room with two Polish men, having no idea if they're here to kill me or not. The neighbor tried to make some small talk with me which went something like this..."Deutschland"??? he kept saying, asking if I spoke German. When I kept telling him "no, only English" and that I was American, he replied "AHHHH......Iraq...twenty years...ooohhh..hmmmm" and I found myself really questioning what he could possibly be telling me. Was he voicing his political opinion on the Iraq War or is something extremely lost in translation here? Just in the knick of time, mustached-cityworker was done with his business. I happily signed his paper, realizing I could be promising him my first born, but all the while ecstatic he didn't turn out to be Ted Bundy. Needless to say Deividas didn't find this story too funny and insisted I don't open the door for strangers anymore.

The weather has been absolutely amazing lately. For it to be almost November and still warm enough for only a light jacket, I'm in heaven. D's team is now 3-0 and they upset one of Poland's best teams last week. D led the team with 9 rebounds which was awesome and kind of hilarious at the same time. Feeling thankful for a great month, optimistic for an even better November and missing friends and family at home a whole lot!

From D's first home game

Poland?

I’m starting to fear how I will every get readjusted to a normal life. You know.. the kind of life where you don’t have to pack up all of your belongings and move to a different country overnight...This has become my normal and honestly, it’s kind of terrifying imaging life without the possibility of these insane things happening. D’s agent has been working to get him loaned out to another team where he will play more. We’ve been mentally prepared to leave Vilnius behind and move within a moments notice, yet its still something you can’t be completely prepared for.

We had been negotiating with a team in Wlocklawek, Poland early last week yet it wasn’t until Friday that things became official. Deividas parents came up to Vilnius Thursday evening to help us pack in case the deal went through. They’ve been there for us every time we’ve moved and I’m honestly so grateful for them. I have the best in-laws in the world. Packing in our house goes something like this...Deividas is begging me to leave stuff behind, bribing me that I can buy new things in Poland..I agree then when he isn’t looking, I secretly put things back in my bag leaving him wondering how in fact my bag is, yet again, so overweight. Something tells me I’m not as sly as I think, and that Deividas is indeed a smart man who has realized marriage involves picking your battles and overweight luggage is not one of them. 

Friday morning we were all packed up and just waiting for the phone call telling us if a) things went through and b) what time we would be leaving. Around noon we got the call that we would be leaving at 3:30 pm.. that day. We arrived at the airport to discover Tucker (our chihuahua/reason for breathing) hadn’t been booked on our flight and that he couldn’t be because there was already another dog on board. While I’m having a mental breakdown alone in the corner, Deividas (clearly the logical one in the relationship) booked us on the later flight where only first class seats were available. Something told me this was all a secret ploy by Tucker to get more leg room. Regardless, we finally made it to Poland around midnight.

We flew into Wroclaw, one of Poland’s larger cities where D’s team was playing an away game the next day. Rather than have us fly into the city we’d be living in, they wanted D there right away for their game so I had to accompany them on the team trip. Anyone who’s significant other plays some sort of sport knows how awkward this is. The team stays in a hotel together, eats together and prepares for the game. Wives aren’t exactly welcome there, and honestly I don’t want to be anywhere near these people while they’re in “game mode”. To top things off, I knew what kind of first impression I would make on D’s teammates and the staff when I showed up to the hotel with 5 suitcases, a huge Fendi bag and a chihuahua in an American flag sweater. Luckily, they were all really welcoming to me and made sure I was comfortable the whole time. 

We arrived at the gym a couple hours early for the team to warm up. I sat in the corner while the arena staff was setting up for the game hoping no one would speak to me in Polish or ask why the hell I was there so early, sitting alone. D’s new coach told me this was a huge rivalry game and that the teams had been going head to head for years. I didn’t think much about it until I started seeing the fans piling in right before the game started. The atmosphere was unbelievable. I felt like I was back in an ACC college arena again. The announcer would scream into the microphone so forcefully, I realized I would never be able to distinguish his “HOLY SHIT THIS ARENA IS ON FIRE, EVERYONE EVACUATE!!!” voice from his “TODAY WE HAVE A SPECIAL ON POPCORN” voice. Here he is introducing the home team, it was too good not to film:

The enthusiasm is real, folks.

Sitting alone.. in a dark arena, before the game.

team huddle 

The fans got so crazy that the refs kept having to pause the game to control them. They even yelled at the announcer (who clearly should’ve been casted for the movie 300) multiple times, asking him to simmer down a little. The home team fans weren’t the only ones in the crowd...there were two huge bus loads of fans from D’s team, Anwil, who had traveled 4 hours for the away game. I can tell we have some extremely intense fans and I can only imagine what the home games will be like. (Side note: what is it about sports that make grown men think its a great idea to take their shirt off regardless of the weather or their own physique?) We ended up winning by 12 and everyone was happy. On my way out of the arena to get back on the bus, there were about 50 cops with rifles and shields ready to take down any fights that may occur. To be honest, this freaked me the hell out and after several attempts at requesting I get through their human barricade to board the bus, they finally let me through.


We all went to dinner in Wroclaw after the game and I got to talk with some of D’s new teammates. Both Americans on the team went to college in Florida, so here I am in the middle of Poland talking about friends we have in common and the best places to eat in Palm Beach. Crazy, crazy, small world, I’ll tell ya. After dinner we boarded the bus for our four hour drive to our new city, Wloclawek. So here I am, the only girl on a bus full of 15 huge basketball players, the coach and all male staff, and my five pound chihuahua, wondering how the hell life has brought me to this moment. But realizing, I wouldn’t have it any other way. This is my normal.

Sh*t People Say to Basketball Wives

You may remember the hilarious YouTube trend last year where various groups of people made fun of stereotypical conversations had by other certain groups. There was first "Shit Girls Say", then "Shit Guys Say", and eventually the phase had expanded across all social and ethnic groups to include  "Shit People Say to Tattooed People", "Shit White People Say to Asians" and even "Shit People Say to Asexuals". 

The video that started the trend

To a person unfamiliar with our lifestyle, I suppose it's interesting to hear about someone playing professional basketball abroad. I recently stumbled upon an other basketball wife's blog where she documented her version of "Shit People Say to Basketball Wives". I'm always asked some hilarious questions which prompted me to consult with some fellow basketball wives to write our own version of "Shit People Say to Overseas Basketball Wives".  Some are basketball themed while others I'm sure any expat can relate to. We've heard it all....

So...what do you, like, DO over there?
This one kills me. People are always asking if I work and when I tell them no, they can't fathom what I do with all my time. Deividas has two practices a day, one in the morning and one at night. Therefore, he's home with me most of the day. It pretty much rules that he doesn't have a 9-5 job where he's gone all day long so we get to hang out and explore the city together. When he's not home, I'm usually cooking, taking Lithuanian lessons, working out, talking with friends back home, and reading. Trust me, I stay busy :)

So where exactly is _______?
I get it, Lithuania isn't some huge country but nonetheless you should at least know which side of the equator it lies on. When I say "Eastern Europe", I often get a puzzled look back alongside a "so that's next to what"? I hope most Americans know how much the rest of the world makes fun of them for their abysmal geography skills.

"I'm going to _____ [insert any country in any of the other continents besides North America], is that close to you"? Geography, people.

Do they have _____ over there? [insert: cars, washing machines, dishwashers, McDonalds, malls, Starbucks, Doritos]
I know it's hard to believe, but there is "westernized" life outside of the United States and the well-known European countries. Lithuania has all the modern commodities that any large European country has and although there is much less processed food (Alleluia), you can still get your junk food fix if you're into that sorta nasty stuff.

So why doesn't your husband just play in the NBA?
Another favorite. A lot of basketball players have dreams of playing in the NBA and for the majority playing overseas, it's the end goal. Tons of players from Europe go over to the NBA every season and visa versa. I would absolutely love to live back in the states and D has always dreamed of playing in the NBA but playing in Europe has a lot of added bonuses that the NBA doesn't. European teams pay for your housing, car, insurance, agent's fees, plane tickets, etc. It's been nice starting our marriage living bill-free.

I also get:
Why doesn't your husband just play in the D-league?
For those who don't know, the NBA has a developmental league throughout the states where players can "develop" their skills and be called up to the big leagues. While this is the right choice for many players, it definitely isn't for us. We have no problem living overseas, and actually love having the opportunity to see the world. It also doesn't hurt that a month's salary overseas would equal an annual D-league salary.

Do they celebrate Christmas over there?
Dear Lord, people. Think before you speak. Christmas is a Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus, therefore it is celebrated by Christian people. This has nothing to do with where you live and everything to do with what religion you practice. Lithuania happens to be about 80% Catholic, so yes, those people do celebrate Christmas.

Side note: Lithuania celebrates more holidays than Hallmark himself (or is it herself?). I once told Deividas this and he replied "that's not true". The following day he told me it was "grass day" in Lithuania and my point was proven. They also have "name days" to celebrate people with certain names (the most popular being Jonas Day). I laughed at how this would never work in the US, as we have people trying to get all creative naming their kids Apple and North and what not. Something tells me I wouldn't be included as well.

You're so lucky you don't have to work.
Of course I feel blessed to be in the position where I don't have to work but quite honestly, I would much rather be working if I could be. I'm always so jealous of my best girlfriends back home who are getting started in their career, and they probably get sick of me telling them how lucky they are to be working when they complain to me about the long hours, their sucky bosses, creepy coworkers, etc. Eventually I'm going to have to make some sort of career moves over here to keep my sanity, but until then, I'll just envy my friends and their working lives, while they're constantly telling me how jealous they are of my jet-setting lifestyle. The grass is always greener I suppose...

What do you eat over there?
Believe it or not, we do have grocery stores. They are monstrous and have almost anything a US store would have. Yes, it does take me at least twice the time it would take me to grocery shop in an American store, as I'm constantly translating labels and getting lost but I usually end up finding everything I need.  Additionally, we have some fantastic restaurants serving international cuisines from all over the world.

Then there are some funny remarks that don't even warrant a response:
OMG your a basketball wife just like Khloe Kardashian!!!! This one makes my skin crawl...
So how tall is your husband?
So how much does your husband make?
I'm too independent to do what you do.
Aren't all professional athletes cheaters?

Not to mention the famous: Are there any cute single guys on your husband's team? ;)

Hope this has answered some of your questions, or at least made you laugh.