German Bongo Bands and Paul the Octopus

       We made the four hour drive to Hamburg worth the effort, coming up with a nice road win Sunday night. We jumped out to a 14 point lead at the end of the first quarter, but then started to play down to the competition and ended up only leading by 1 going into the half. After an emotional half-time speech by Coach Borris, we turned things around in the second half and won by 13. I couldn't hit a three to save my life, but I got to the charity stripe 13 times. Unless your name is Shaquille O'Neal, or you shoot your freethrows with your eyes closed (or both), 13 freethrow attempts always helps the stat line. 

       The clear highlight of the game was the 20+ member bongo drum band that played for 23 consecutive minutes from introductions through the ENTIRETY of the 1st quarter-including freethrows and time outs. A loud crowd is one thing, but the methodical, repititious beats of a german bongo band composed primarily of 40+ year-old women is a whole nother monster (if there was one picture I need to complete my blog this is surely it)!

       At the hospital I have been stitching up a few more patients. Dr. Hoffman even went so far as to call me a professional. I thought about asking if that meant I should be getting paid...but didn't want to push my luck.

       I also made it out to the Oberhausen aquarium the supposed home of Paul the Octopus. Paul gained world fame this summer by correctly predicting the outcome of Germany's seven World Cup games. 

    Unfortuntaley it seems all of the fame had taken its toll on Paul and he moved on to Octopus Heaven (where I am guessing they don't serve calamari) a few months ago. Although I was extremely disappointed that I was not able to meet Paul, I was able to pay my respects at his grave site.

I guess if you can predict soccer games in Europe your ashes are forever enshrined in a gold statue of yourself.

I was also able to find Nemo...

And found an intimidating outfit...

So all and all it was a successful day.

We have a quick turnaround this week, playing at home on Friday with the chance to get revenge on Alba Berlin. Hopefully this time we finish the game with more than four players on the court...

Victory, Green Bees and European Haircuts

   After blowing a late lead in our midweek game we lost our second game in a row for the first time all season. Needless to say this led to some frustration...

...but after getting a few more practices under our belt, we were able to right the ship and take an easy victory on Sunday night. We finally started to shoot the ball well-hopefully a sign that our Christmas rust is rubbing off. 

       A less likely, but still plausible root for a regained shooting accuracy could have been the inspiration of our new mascot.

    It is unclear how this gumby-bumblebee hybrid resembles anything close to a lion, but nonetheless, we are undefeated in his presence so no one is complaining.

    During warm-ups before our last game, one of my teammates brought me over to half court and started pointing towards the opposing team. I thought he was going to talk about a particular part of the scouting report or defensive assignments, but instead he bluntly informed me that I barely lost the competition for worst haircut in the gym to this guy:

    Oh the Germans and their sense of humor!  With this, I decided that my new euro look needed to at least be shaped up a little and I built up the courage to brave the German hair salon. I brought in a picture of Tom Brady and hoped for the best. Unfortunately, as I suppose is usually the case with this particular strategy, it didn't work. Once the barber started to cut my flowing locks there was little I could say (literally) or do to stop him. I guess it just wasn't meant to be.

At the hospital I stitched up my first patient! It was just 6 stitches on the wrist but it was still pretty cool. For having learned how to stitch on youtube they were pretty straight and clean...

Ejections, Staples and Sutures

     Given the circumstances, the game on Saturday went about as well as expected.  Our first real practice of the week was a 'secret' practice on Friday in a gym of a team our Coach had worked for a few years ago.  The team had apparently not changed their locks, so we snuck into the closed gym and got some shots up, attempting to get our wind.
       Thankfully the roof didn't collapse, but the extra shots weren't enough to get our game back. We ended the first half going 1-12 from the three point line, but were still only down 5 at halftime. Marcus also entered the locker room with a technical foul for arguing a charge call. In the second half, he received another call he disagreed with, yelled something, and then shot the ball in a high arc towards the ref. Unfortunately the ref was recording the foul call with the scorers table and didn't see the ball coming his way until it had already hit him on the head and bounced off. He promptly gave Marcus a second technical, and against better judgement Marcus went over to give him a peace of his mind.  Somewhere between the third and tenth, "YOU SUCK REF," the referee lost his patience and gave Marcus his third technical and ejected him from the game.
      As a result of this little incident they got 6 freethrows (2 for the initial foul and 2 for each of the technicals) and the ball back. They converted all the freethrows and scored on the inbounds, completing the unheard-of-but-i-guess-possible 8 point possession. After going to a 2-3 zone (against a very hot three-point shooting team, I am not sure of the logic of this) we were quickly down by 15. To make up for this deficit, our Coach put us in a 3/4 court trapping zone and told us to push the pace on offense. This normally would have been a smart plan, but having not really practiced for 3 weeks, and having only 6 guys left in our rotation, no one was prepared for this kind of running. With tired legs, we somehow bested our first half shooting, going 0-10 from behind the arc, and got blown out of the gym.
     Coach Borris said that after "crawling in the league administrator's butt," he was able to get Marcus's suspension reduced from 3 games to 1. I am not sure what this action entailed, and I am not sure I want to know, but I am happy that I will only be left out there alone for one game.
    Back in the hospital things have been going great. The other day we were operating on an obese ladies leg when the Doctor handed me a stapler. I thought he just wanted me to hold it until he was ready. Then I heard him impatiently exclaim "Haallooo," and motion towards the skin he was holding together with the end of his tweezers. I gathered that he wanted me finish the job, so without further instruction, I began to staple this poor woman's knee back together. All the staples stayed in and they were in a relatively straight line, so I guess it was successful. I am starting to realize more and more that surgery is just an advanced hybrid of arts and crafts and woodshop. I never took woodshop, so I guess it is good that I did kindergarten twice to gain more expertise in the various skills needed to properly operate scissors and staplers. I guess everything you need to know in life you really do learn in kindergarten.

     After the stapler incident, the Doctor asked me what I knew about suturing. I told him I had no experience but that I wanted to learn. He wisely suggested I start practicing on inanimate objects first, and gave me a glove filled with gauze and my first set of medical scissors to take home with me.  After a few youtube tutorials, here are my first few attempts:

The one on the right is the second one, that is what I call progress!

We have a game tonight to make up for the one that was cancelled before Christmas, and while the sutures were OK, hopefully my jump shot is a little more accurate!

Return to the Motherland

After 24 hours of traveling over 9 time zones I returned to Germany and was welcomed back with loads and loads and of snow.  Being back in the States was awesome; I ate all the Mexican food I could find, spent some quality time with friends and family, and enjoyed the extra leg room that American SUV's afford. This made it all the more depressing to return to my mini me car was sandwiched between two huge piles of ice that I had to thaw out with hot buckets of water (from my 3rd floor apartment) and some serious shovel work. 

The Germans must read U.S. sporting news because apparently the accumulation of snow was so bad that the gyms in my town were closed down for fear a Minnesota Superdome repeat. So instead of getting back into shape and sync on the court to play the second place team in our league, we drove thirty minutes to an indoor sand pit and played beach basketball on 9 foot rims...

Despite the fact that it hasn't snowed since I have been back, our gym isn't scheduled to open until next week. We managed to get a short practice in Tuesday night in a small gym and scrimmaged a team 30 minutes away last night, but have today off because there is no place to play. Supposedly we have a gym Friday for our first real practice in three weeks before our game Saturday night. Should be interesting especially since we have 3 games next week to make up for the one that was cancelled before break. Also, the manager told us that if we win on Saturday the drinks for us and our girlfriends will be free at the team fan party on Sunday at noon. I'm not sure if warm German beer at noon on Sunday is an incentive or a deterrent, but I guess if I don't want it I can always get gassy water...

Good luck to the Ephs this weekend as they bring the noise to the Lord Jeffs, (Everyone out here still thinks it is hilarious that my mascot was a purple cow, thus validating the rumor that Germans have an off-based sense of humor) I am hoping for snow at our opponents gym so that I can pay $15 (approximately 12 euros) to catch the webcast of the game Saturday night!

Also I have heard reports that the email subscription box on the blog doesn't work very well so just check back in on Wednesdays or Thursdays for a weekly update.

'River' Rematch, Big Christmas Trees and Blue Santa

       Last weekend marked the half-way point in the season, so on Saturday we had a rematch with our opening day opponent. This time when everyone was talking about what sounded like the 'river' match, I knew they meant rivalry, and the sold out crowd and rowdy fans confirmed this. Thankfully, we jumped out to an early lead, got the crowd behind us, and ended up with a 40-point win.  We are still in a 4-way tie for first, with one game left before Christmas. We play Friday and I fly back to the States on Sunday. Can't wait to get home!

    Our fair-weather fans were all cheers after the rivalry win and after the game, we did some kind of chant with the crowd where we sat on the ground and basically yelled back whatever they yelled at us.

As you can see, Marcus and I lack the intensity and passion of our teammates in the front row, probably because we have no idea what is going on.

     On Sunday, Marcus and I were invited to the under-12 team's Christmas party, where we had to dress up as Santa and a reindeer. As is pretty evident, I got the worse of the two costumes, and before the last minute addition of the antlers, I looked more like one of the three wise men with a bath mat on my back than Rudolph.

 I also made it to Dortmund to see one of the largest Christmas Markets in Germany, and supposedly, the largest Christmas tree in the world. It is actually 1,700 Christmas trees combined on multiple levels to create one tree over 150 ft tall. That is one tree I would not want to have to decorate.

  While the Christmas tree and the rest of the market were impressive, the spelling was sub-par...

   I was also informed that Santa Claus used to be blue until Coca Cola started marketing it with their red logo. The facts behind the transition from red to blue are hard to confirm, but my research does indicate that Santa's rosy red cheeks didn't always match the rest of this outfit.

     I am sure everyone will be very disappointed to hear that this will be my last post until January. I have spent the last 3 months camped in front of my computer, so I plan to do as little of that as possible over break. You can however keep checking the blog if you like, so that I can feel cool about the number of views I get!

Back On Top, Christmas Markets and Scrubs

        Despite a few moments of frustration...

  We were able to take care of business this weekend, and with a little help from Stansdorf, who took an unexpected loss, we moved back into a three way tie for first place. We jumped out to an early lead, ahead 20 after the first quarter, and never really looked back. It was great to get a win after last weekend, and especially nice not to have to travel (both on the court and off it).

    Apparently it has never been so cold, so early, here in Germany, so I guess it is just a case of good timing on my part.

 

         In another stroke of luck, the fuse in our windshield wipers broke. This made driving in blizzard conditions even more difficult (don't worry mom we got them fixed so we are safe now!).

         One of the best things about December in Germany is the Christmas Markets that spring up in every town center. The size of the markets are relative to the size of the towns, so Marcus and I decided it would be best to get out of tiny Herten to see a real Christmas Market. We drove down to Essen and were not disappointed. The Markets are open every night and have all sorts of Christmas shops and food. Every third store sells chocolate, beer or the traditional beverage of choice, gluhwein.

Me with my gluhwein outside an ornament store. It is basically warm red wine with cinnamon, honey and nutmeg. I am glad I tried it, but I'm not going back for seconds.

    My job at the hospital got very exciting this morning. I was casually washing my hands before entering the operating room for the second case, when the Chief of Surgery told me to wash them extra well because I was going to be assisting with the next patient.  As he walked out of the room without further explanation, I thought that he must had been joking. All I had done so far was stand up against the wall and try not to get in the way, how could I have shown any indication that I was ready to help him?

      However, I didn't want to look like an idiot if he was genuine, and thought it would be better to be fooled being too eager than too lazy, so I scrubbed my arms down and came into the room with them raised up near my shoulders like all the other surgeons were doing. Waiting for laughter from the others in the room, I was instead greeted by one nurse holding out a gown to put my arms through, and another waiting to tie me up in the back. It was exactly like they do in scrubs, except way cooler. 

     As soon as I got over how excited I was, I became nervous that I might actually have to do something.  These guys did realize that I had no practical medical experience right? 

     I ended up just holding open wounds and cutting the ends off the sutures, but it was still awesome sitting next to the Doctors, watching exactly what they were doing, and having them thank me for my help (in English) afterwards.  In only my third day there I was getting more hands on experience than I have ever had in the U.S. I don't know what this says about the safety precautions of German hospitals, but I am not complaining. And you better check in next week, because at this rate I will performing solo surgeries by then.  I even bribed both the surgeons with tickets to the game this weekend, so brain surgery before Christmas is not out of the question. Wish me luck this weekend because if I show an unsteady hand under pressure, I may be relegated back to the corner observations in the operating room!

Turkey Day, Turnovers, and Too Many Fouls

       We are 2 for 2 in Berlin, but not in any positive statistical categories. In both games, we had 17+ turnovers, and more impressively, had 4 people foul out of each game (this had to be some kind of record). Thankfully, this time we brought 10 players, so we didn't have to finish the game with 4, but it was still ugly none-the-less. The game was for first place in league, and after an early wake-up call and a 6 hour van ride, we weren't exactly begging for any more challenges. When Marcus and our big man, Hack, both picked up two fouls in the first 2 minutes, I knew we were in for a long night. Despite losing three starters to foul outs, and gifting some egregious turnovers to the other team, we managed to stay in the game down the stretch. Stahnsdorf had the ball up 1 with 16 seconds to go and for some reason it took us 12 seconds to foul them. The refs managed to give us over 30 fouls that we didn't want throughout the course of the game, but for some reason, swallowed their whistles the one time we actually needed one. Their point guard made both freethrows, and we were out of timeouts, so we just chucked the ball in to Vince, he took two dribbles and swished a three from 4 feet inside half court. The refs initially said it was no good, and the other team tried to shake our hands real fast and run off the court, but we refused to shake their hands, and the refs had to change the call after even the home team's scorekeeper said Vince clearly let the ball go before the clock went off.

Me trying desperately not to foul.

      Mike quickly picked up his fifth foul in the opening seconds of overtime, leaving me (barely, I had been playing with 4 fouls for 10 minutes) as the only starter not fouled out. After our first basket, our offense, and defense for that matter, completely broke down and we ended up losing by 4. The good news is that we get another shot at these guys at home, but that didn't make the 5 hour ride home much better. The city of Berlin has been one of my favorite places to visit, but has not been too kind to us from a basketball standpoint. We have to go back one more time after Christmas so hopefully it will go better, I guess it can't go much worse. Next weekend we play the last place team at home, but if I have learned anything out here it is that anything can happen. Apparently the team just brought in a third American last weekend, tough timing for us...

    Two hilarious quotes from our Coach during the game and my hypothesized translations:
"If we all pull on the same string we will WIN!"
-If we are all on the same page/have the same goals, we will win.

"If he shoots another three from the corner I will make you a head shorter!"
-I will cut your head off if he shoots another corner three.

These are especially entertaining in the heat of a mid-game timeout. All Marcus and I can do it look at each other and laugh.

    Last Thursday while everyone was enjoying delicious feasts of everything that is Thanksgiving, I concocted a little meal of my own. Obviously no one out here celebrates Turkey day, and Marcus decided if he couldn't do it right, he wasn't going to do it all, so I was left to fend for myself. Knowing the limits of my culinary skills, I kept it simple: smoked turkey from the deli, homemade rolls (from a box), and a quart of milk.

Thanksgiving of Champions

Nothing to brag about, but it got the job done.

   I started working at the hospital this morning. I think it will be cool to see how hospitals and doctors operate over here, but the language barrier is definitely going to be a problem. The Doctors can all speak at least rough English, but I feel bad asking them to translate all of their interactions with patients. Hopefully I will at least get to watch a few surgeries.