Season 2: Invasion of Turkey: Culture Shock "HELLOOOO KEBAPS!!!"

After a very long trip I finally arrived in Ankara, Turkey.  It looked just like a typical European city so it wasn't a real shock like it was last year.  But, I met my coaches and they took me to dinner.  First thing I thought of was "Ohhhhhh goodness what the hell kind of food do they have here!"  So we get a very good Kebap restaurant and they ordered me chicken and beef kebaps.  They brought out that plate my eyes lit up!! Meat! Meat! Meat! Rice! Ekmek! I wish I had a picture of it! Boyyyyyyyy that food was DELICIOUS!! Oh my goodness the food here is off the damn chain!!!!!!!!!! I was like man this is going to be a great time!! I might even gain weight here!! Sooo I said goodbye to the burnt frozen pizza and french fries from spain and hellllllllo kebaps!!!!!

The coaches told me that my apartment wasnt ready and that I had to stay in a hotel.  I was cool with that because I could have the internet and meals paid! I was excited because shoooot the food is great!  I stayed in the hotel for 2 weeks and finally got my apartment.  The apartment is soooo nice! I would post pictures but somehow my camera cord got lost in the flight.  I'm looking in the little bitty kitchen like where is the oven?? The oven is the size of a mini microwave! But hey I don't know how to cook so it don't even matter!  That was the only thing that stood out ohhhh and the washer machine is in the bathroom...weird. 

The problem now is the language.  I think Turkish has to be the hardest language everrrr! At least I spoke and understood Spanish but this right here man o man o man is tough!  The only thing I can say is yes (evet) hello (marabar...selam...gunyden) and that is all.  I know I spelled them wrong but oh well.  I have no clue what is going on nor what they say which is bad because I have no idea if they are talking bad about me.  I've been here a while now and I haven't even picked up on words. 

One thing about this place is that it is very Americanized.  The music stations are in english and people know alot about rap and hip-hop which surprised me.  I would have thought they only knew pop music (which i definately CANNOT get jiggy with).  I was listening to "I'm A Flirt" by R.Kelly feat. T.I and T-Pain and my manager Ozar took one of my ear plugs and was like oh R. Kelly! I'm like whhhhhhat?!?!? What you know about R. Kelly?? He was like I know R.Kelly! I was shocked.  So it is a little bit of influence here music wise .

I went to one club and if you have been to one club over here you have been to them all.  Rediculously loud, extremely crowded, zero dancing just jumping around.  Definately not my type of party.  I told them to take me to a hip-hop club because I LOOOOVVVEE dancing.  Plus hip-hop clubs you find other americans and I need all the connects and friends I can get.

Rules and Regulations by the Government: Now this right here is what killed me.  The government regulates what you can and can't look at on the internet.  You talking about mad, I was heated!!  The government banned youtube.  That is the most rediculous thing I have ever herd in my life.  Overseas, my life revolved around a couple websites...YOUTUBE!!! and the usual facebook, twitter, JUSTIN.TV (which is also banned) Ustream (banned), Sticktv (banned).  Now the last couple of websites I mentioned are all of the websites that streamed live sports games from home.  I am very upset that I can't watch the NFL on sundays or I can't watch my alma mater (Mizzou) or any college basketball.  Its truly a travesty and its not fair.  I get punished that you Turkish government for taking away my freedom and rights that I hold true from America and make me feel like a prisoner in my own freaking house.  How you gonna tell me what I can and can't watch yall crazy as hell.  I'm a internet buff and I have my ways I know how to look at youtube now and the only thing left is for me to figure out how to watch sports online.

The only thing I can say is that you appreciate the little things from home when you are overseas.  I will say this: THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.  God bless it!!!!!!!!!!!!

Season 2: Invasion of Turkey: How Did I Get Here??

WOW! It has been quite sometime sense I have updated the world! Well, my travels have ended up in Ankara, Turkey this season and it almost didn't happen...

This summer was a mess for me to sum it up.  My knees were messed up from Spain I mean playing 7 months on a concrete-like surface is no good for the body.  I ended up having to go to therapy for 6 weeks thinking that would help my knees but it didn't work.  Plan B: minor surgery on both knees. Soooo I ended up getting a procedure done called the OssaTron Laser Surgery on both my knees.  I was good in about a month but the first time I worked out was mid August! So my summer was not a productive one for basketball BUT perfect for being girly!  For the first time in my life I grew my nails out (they couldn't break from basketball!) my feet finally looked nice (no blood blisters, an crust, and regular blisters from basketball) my hair grew completely out and it looked GREAT (didn't sweat out my perm from playing basketball!!). I'm getting off track but anyways all summer I didn't hear anything from my agent.  I would call periodically and ask is there any interest and the response "NOPE".  I was confused because I had a excellent year last year in Spain and I didn't even have interest from my league and I lead the league in rebounding!! So out of 32 teams none of them? none of them?? Nope none at all.  So time passing and my agent isn't telling me anything and its mid-september so I told my best friend (former teammate at Mizzou) Christelle N'Garsanet that I would go to the Ivory Coast, West Africa with her to play in a tournament in October.  So the day I am suppose to leave for Africa my agent up and calls and say "We have a job for you in Turkey we are working on the contract right now".

The team wouldnt wait for me to finish the tournament in Africa so by now I'm at the airport about to check in and I decided to come to Turkey at the dissappointment of my friend.  I had to do it though because the tournament is only a couple of weeks and Turkey is an entire season.  So I go home and on that Monday I got another call from my agent saying that I leave tomorrow.  I'm like you can't be serious.  I needed my hair done (that was the most important thing to me), and time to go run errands and pack for 7 months stay.  I was upset but I had no choice.  I found somebody to do my hair, it wasnt my usual hair dresser though. Did the best I could to say goodbye to whoever was around and I hopped on a plane didn't know where I was going, never saw a contract, all I knew is that I took a major pay cut and I was going to yet another 2nd division team (which both hurt my spirit).

Said Goodbye to my mom and my brother and I hopped on the plane...Let the Journey Begin!!!