I can’t believe we have already been here for one week – it flew by! It was very busy but really fun, too! We are surrounded by extremely friendly and helpful people which makes everything so much more enjoyable.
On a typical day, we have shooting practice/skill work at 10:30. Then we have the middle part of the day to eat, rest, go to the grocery store, or pretty much do whatever we want. Our evening practice is usually around 7:30. After practice, Jen and I eat dinner at a restaurant near the gym and then go home. The bus stops are very conveniently located near the gym and our apartment, but sometimes we just choose to walk home from practice because it’s so beautiful outside. I don’t know how much longer this beautiful weather will last before it starts to cool down so I’m going to enjoy it while I can!
Today (Saturday), we had a preseason scrimmage against another team in our league (Montijo). Their gym was about 30 minutes away. We drove with our GM, his wife, and our coach (José). It has been about 4 and a half months since Jen and I played in a basketball game so it was nice to get back out there. It certainly wasn’t the prettiest game in the world, but it was important to have a chance to get to know our teammates a little better on the court and move a step closer to being in game shape. Our coach loves to run the floor on offense and press on defense so there is never a chance to relax – it’s a very fun style of basketball!
I enjoyed the drive to and from the gym in Montijo. We still have not explored the city at all so it’s fun driving to places and seeing our surroundings. We drove over a bridge today, and they told us that it’s the longest bridge in Europe. They also have a bridge here (we can see it from our apartment) that looks exactly like the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Our coach told us that that bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge were built by the same company around the same time. I haven’t been on it yet, but from a distance, they do look very similar.
When we got back to Algés, our GM took us out to lunch. Lunch was delicious. We had steak, broccoli, and french fries (and we tried some different kinds of fish – sardines, cod, and some kind of fish head! Jen loves fish so she really liked it. I’m not a huge fan, but it wasn’t bad). It was fun just eating and hanging out getting to know people better. After lunch, we went home and took naps! I felt like I slept for a whole night, but it was really only about an hour and a half.
We went to Mass at 7:15 at a church called Cristo Rei (Christ the King). It is right on our way to practice so that’s amazing! I had never been to Mass in Portugeuse before so that’s one more language I can add to the list J The universality of the Catholic Church is so beautiful! We are excited to go to the center of Lisbon and see the Cathedral, but for now we better stay close to home because I’m not sure we could find our way back! J
We have our first day off tomorrow so hopefully we will find something fun to do, but honestly, just laying around the apartment with my feet up sounds pretty fun at this point!!
I hope you are all having a great weekend!!!
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. As high as the heavens are above the earth, so high are my ways above your ways and my thoughts above your thoughts.” –Isaiah 55:8-9
This is where we scrimmaged
Cristo Rei (Christ the King Catholic Church)
Walking home after dinner
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