Update from France

Hey everyone.. I wanted to give you all an update on how things are going over here in Gravelines, France. We had our second game of the season last night which was also our home opener vs Chalon. It was an amazing and very intense game that came down to the wire. It was back and forth throughout the whole game neither team being able to extend the lead significantly. It all came down to the end of the 4th quarter when Chalon hit a shot to go up by 2 points with 8 seconds to go. We called timeout and set up and high screen and roll with myself and our 5 man J.K Edwards. I caught the ball at half court as J.K. (our 5 man) came up and set a high ball screen at the top of the key. I refused the screen and took it to the basket and scored a left handed contested lay up with 4 seconds left to tie the game and send it into overtime. We jumped out to and early 5 point lead in OT but Chalon had a lot of fight in them and they ended up going up by 1 point with 19 seconds left. We had the ball with 19 seconds to go and we really couldn't get a good look when one of our other guards Yannick Bokolo drove to the basket and made a great wrap around bounce pass to J.K. who laid it in with 4 seconds to go and putting us up 1 in OT. Chalon ended up not getting a shot off at the end of the game and BCM Gravelines came away with a win. As I said early it was quite an exciting game and our fans were so crazy I just loved the atmosphere. I am really happy that our team got a W and we are back to 1-1 in our league. Hopefully we can continue to build off of this win tonight. Thats pretty much the exciting news in the basketball world over here in France.

Off of the basketball court, things are going well. If I am not at practice I am usually relaxing watching some episodes of Lost or catching the Twins games. I have ESPNAmerica which is nice because I can catch the latest sporting news The only bad thing is that the Twins games come on over here so late with the 7 hour time change it is difficult for me to catch the end of the games. I continue to make my own breakfast, lunch, and dinners. I need to start getting creative since I really just rotate between: pasta, chicken, and hamburger. However, my teammate J.K. Edwards invites me over to his house to grill and eat with his family quite often which breaks up the routine. I am definitely thankful for that family. But basically what I'm saying is I MISS MY MAMA'S COOKING haha! Any ideas for some dinners please don't hesitate to give your opinion haha :).

All in all my life over here is great. I'm enjoying the basketball side of things but I am also loving the opportunity to live and experience a different country. I will give you another updated later on this week and give you more details about my townhouse and my city. I'll throw some pictures of my place in as well in the next blog. Take Care and God Bless!