Latvia Tournament

As you all know, Heath has been in Latvia for the last 10 days or so.  Their team played in a tournament with a lot of top league Latvia teams.  They were staying a little outside of the main city of Riga.  Heath took some snapshots from inside their bus.  Looks like America!

Out of the five games they played in Latvia, they finally won their last game!  These games don't count as regular season so that's the good thing.  The coach is playing the team similar to how they would play in a scrimmage- giving everyone equal playing time.  I'm not a basketball pro or anything, but I'm guessing that is so he can tell who plays well together for when regular season games start in October. 

Heath is enjoying his time there!  Well as much as he can without me :)  He is currently on his way back to our apartment in Kapshagay, Kazakhstan.  They left for the airport at 6:30 AM Latvia time and had a connecting flight in Kiev, Ukraine.  Their layover was close to eight hours so the team left the airport to hang out in town.  Heath's favorite part was getting to eat at a McDonald's.  He devoured a double cheeseburger, chicken nuggets and French fries.  He said it tastes just like home!  

Heath also discovered they serve dried fish with their beer in Kiev.  As foreign as it was to him, I'm actually familiar with the smelly fish jerky.  My grandma used to make some at home when I was younger.  Either fish or beef, she left them covered outside to dry into jerky.  Funny thing is my parents just had some fish jerky as part of their dinner last week.  It's usually paired with rice (as is everything else) at our house.  And no, I've never tried any.  I can't get over the smell! 

I'm glad Heath gets to have such great cultural experiences while he's been over there.  Just like all of his trips in the past, you want to learn about new cultures as much as you can!  I can't wait to get there so I can share those moments with him.

He should be arriving in Almaty ("the city") in a couple of hours, and then will be taking the bus about an hour outside of the city to the apartment.  They have the next two days off so I hope he finally does some exploring!  He and Nate made friends with one of their teammates from Russia (originally from Africa), and plan on going to "the city" tomorrow to hang out.  This teammate also speaks English so Heath has found that really refreshing! 

This down time will be good for them because they leave, yet again, for another tournament in Jordan on September 11th.  They will be there for 12 days I think.  Please keep Heath and his team in your prayers so that they are safe, strong, healthy and relaxed amidst all this travel.  Also, we are still fervently praying for my letter to come in.  I've been learning patience for exactly four weeks now...

Until next time,