14,400 Minutes and counting..

I will be coming home for Christmas break in a week and a half, or in other words ten days, or 24o hours, or 14,400 minutes... Well you get my point. I am excited for my trip home, to spend time with my family, hang out with my friends, and get to watch my Alma Mater's play (Kickapoo High School and Iowa State of course). I am also excited to be able to celebrate my first New Years without having basketball practice the next day, not sure where I will be celebrating at but just as a for warning it could get crazy...

Due to my recent counting down of the days till I head home, the last week went by somewhat slow for me. It didn't help that our midweek game was cancelled which slowed down the week even more for me. We were suppose to play an away game on Wednesday in a town that is about 3 hours to the north, but due to the snow/ice storm that decided to hit that day it was postponed until this week. Hopefully the weather cooperates this time!

This weekend was the first game of the Subway Cup, a lose and your out kind of tournament. We played host to Valur and after a less than impressive first quarter we were able to pull out the win and move on to the next round. Aside from the first quarter I thought we played a really good game, especially against their box and one defense they decided to play. I finished the game with 25 pts, 9 rebs, 6 asts, and 5 steals but more importantly we finished the game with the win!

After the game a couple of the parents planned a surprise mystery trip for the team. We received a list of things we needed to bring with us but had no idea where we were going, which only made the trip more fun. The list included the following: (see if you can guess where we were going before you continue reading)

-Swimsuit

-Make-up

-Comfortable Shoes

-Warm Clothes

-2,000 ISK (about 15 dollars)

-Alcoholic Beverages if desired

-We will leave at 3:45, no exceptions and be home by midnight

So any ideas on where we went? One of the most popular guesses was the Blue Lagoon but once we started driving we realized that was definitely not it as we were going in the opposite direction. First stop was the huge geothermal energy plant east of Reykjavik. We received a guided tour of that plant as well as a science lesson in how the plant exactly works. If you didn't know Geothermal energy is one of the "greenest" forms of energy production and something many other countries should look into. After that we jumped back in the van to continue the trip, we were starting to get a little restless in the car and there might have even been a few beer cans popped open but finally we made it to our next stop... the Riverside Spa in Selfoss. We spent a little over 2 hours at the spa, which was a pretty good deal for only having to pay 2,000 isk for it. It was so nice to relax at the Spa and enjoy some quality time with my teammates. I made my team play the question game while we were sitting in the HUGE hot tub. Questions included what everyone wanted for Christmas, What the traditional Christmas dinner included, and When everyone's birthday was. I think my favorite quote from the questions was during the answers of what people wanted for Christmas. A teammate of mine said she needed some stuff for her kitchen like a toaster and stuff. A few answers later someone said they were asking for a trip to Spain and Spanish school. We were all pretty amazed with this Christmas idea which is where the quote comes from... "Damn that sounds a lot more exciting than a toaster." It was probably one of those stories that you had to be there for but I wanted to share it anyways cause it made me laugh.

After the Spa we knew the next stop had to be food of some sort but we just didn't know where. Then the light bulb came on in one of my teammates heads and she asked the driver (A teammates Dad) if we were going to his families summer house, he quickly stuttered out an answer "umm we, we don't have a summer house". Everyone immediately started cheering as they knew that he did have a summer house and it was where our final destination was. Of course during the whole story above I had no idea what was going on (I am still working on my Icelandic) but I was soon informed, thanks!

We arrived at the summer house and the best way to describe it is kinda funny but as a winter cabin you would find in Wyoming. It was a beautiful log like cabin out in the middle of no where. The best part was when we stepped out of the van to walk inside, the Northern Lights were noticeably displayed across the sky. It was one of those "awe" moments in my life and even though some of my teammates made fun of me for my excitement level, I took every minute of them in.

The rest of the night we enjoyed a delicious dinner followed by an assortment of games. Some of the younger girls on the team tried to play a trick on me, but like most people know I am a pretty big trickster myself and its hard to trick me, which the rookies found out quickly. After that I organized a game of catch phrase, which ended up being a big hit and it was followed by a game of "actionary" before we finally called it a night and headed home. Overall it was a great trip and a lot of fun, there are some great parents out here that take care of us!

Other than that I have spent most of the past week throwing a few things here and there into my suitcase to start packing for home. As well as doing some research for my 13 hour lay over I have in NYC on my way home. I am planning on going down to Times Square and Rockefeller Center during this layover but gotta figure out all the fine details that starts with the train getting there, as well as finding somewhere to store my luggage... Still a few details to iron out but I think it will work out which I am excited about! I have also spent a lot of time lately looking online for Christmas gift ideas and trying to decide if I will wait till I get home to buy anything or if I should just order online. Tough decisions tough decisions. Which reminds me I am planning on doing a little shopping here in Iceland tomorrow, hopefully I can find a few things for a few people on my list.

Well I think that is all for now, I will leave you with some pictures and until next time have a great week, stay warm if you are in the Midwest as I hear there is a huge snow storm coming, and take care!

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Group Photo

HUGE touch screen at the Geothermal Plant

The Spa..

Rookies trying to play a trick on me

Setting up Catch Phrase