One Week

Matt has now been in Spain for one week and a day. I miss him! He had a rough time for the first several days with traveler's sickness, just a combination of jet lag, different water, no sleep, and altitude sickness made him not feel so great. Normally not a big deal, but throw in two a day killer work outs and conditioning and he wasn't feeling well. It made me sad that he was by himself in a foreign country and he was sick! I wish I could've been there for him. But he's tough, he made it through, and he's feeling all the way better now.

A little background...this is pretty much all I know.... The first division in Spain is called the ACB, then there is LEB Silver and LEB Gold, then some other divisions below that I haven't learned yet. Divisions in Europe are different that college Division 1, 2 and 3 here. They are all professional teams, and they are all pretty good from what I hear.

Matt was with Fuenlabrada, an ACB team, the first 3 days he was in Spain. They did heavy two a day work outs with lots and lots of running and conditioning. Fuenlabrada is the name of a city right outside of Madrid, and that is also the name of their basketball team. This team has already signed the amount of foreign players (2 or 3) they can have on the team, but they took a look at Matt which could be for something in the future. Also, Avila, an LEB Gold team where Matt is playing now, is related to Fuenlabrada (Same GM maybe? and players can practice and play with both teams, regardless of which team they are actually signed to?).

On Wednesday night Matt went to Avila (again, name of a city about an hour outside of Madrid, and also the name of the team) which is an LEB Gold team. He's been practicing with them ever since Thursday and finally got a day of rest on Sunday. He feels like he's been playing really well, and we are hoping for a contract maybe sometime this week.

I got Matt to give me a virtual tour of his apartment via Skype, and it looked pretty nice. The buildings outside looked really pretty too. He says Avila is a beautiful city and that I would love it. He also really likes the coach and his teammates, so hopefully this will be where we end up!

Matt didn't have Internet for a few days this week while moving from Fuenlabrada to Avila, so we went without communication for a few days. He found a way each day to let me and his family know he was okay, but it was hard! I took for granted the fact that I could Skype with him every day at first. Now he has Internet again, so I'm trying to not take for granted every time I get to talk to him! We are waiting for him to officially sign a contract, and then I will turn in my two weeks notice at work. It's so weird because this is my first job, it feels strange to think about leaving it. At least I would be leaving because I would be moving to Spain instead of leaving to work somewhere else.

My sister came down this weekend to visit me, and I was so glad not to be alone! We went to Jacksonville and saw our cousins, aunt and uncle, then came back to Orlando and went shopping which was really fun. It was fun to have her around, especially after being alone for a week in my apartment! Also, we went to the library and found a DVD that teaches Spanish - it is awesome! I've already learned a lot, so I'm really excited to have something to do and work on while I wait to go meet up with Matt.

 I definitely miss Matt a lot! Right before he left, it hit me that if he were here while we were moving, he would be the one to get the U-haul, hook it up to his car, and figure out what should go in the U-haul first, and make sure the power got cut off on the right day... and I'll have to do all that without him. It just made me realize how connected we have gotten in only two years of marriage. There are so many ways that we are joined together, we just do life together. He has certain things he does, and I do other things, and together we have our life. And we love it, and it works well. So that said, I am missing him for everything he does, but also just having him around. He loves me and treats me so well, I miss coming home from work to him waiting for me. But hopefully all that will change and soon I'll get to join him in Spain!

I think this has been long enough. Hopefully I will update again soon if we get a contract!