Veliko Tarnavo

A Coach's World

And our season keeps chuggin' along...

Coach Jones and I had our third real game (4th if you include the teachers vs. student game) of the season tonight and it went quite well. With lots of guys missing recent practices, we went with a different starting five, but that didn't stop us from getting out to a quick start and building up an early lead. Using all 15 guys, we were able to really take it to Sofia Classical School. It wasn't always pretty, and I'm pretty sure 90% of our team has really no idea how to run our press, but they worked hard, played some defense, and every single player scored, with two guys lighting it up from the outside. That leaves us with an official record of 2-1, 3-1 if you want to count our mopping up the floor against the teachers. Our JV squad is undefeated at 1-0. The lone loss was to 35th school, and we played close to 25 guys, which is an anomaly if ever there was one in bball. So, I'd like to think that things are coming along quite nicely.

With each game I keep learning about our kids and about coaching and thus far it's been a great experience. Sometimes it's frustrating, as the athletic culture is much different from the one I am familiar with in the US, but the guys are coming together and hopefully we can get some good practice time in and continue to improve.

We've got a big trip to Bucharest for a few games against the American School of Bucharest and the American School of London. We are taking 10 guys, jumping on a bus, and heading north to Romania. I'm looking forward to this trip and hopefully the team will do well.

A Wintry Tale...

On Sunday a group of us took a trip to Lakatnik, about 60 km north of Sofia, for a winter's hike. We caught an early morning train north, heading out of the dull grey that has defined Sofia these past two weeks, and after about an hour emerged from a tunnel into glorious sunshine and blue sky. Armed to the teeth with enough winter essentials to climb Everest, and having just sucked down some rocket-fuel that Bulgarians call coffee, we embarked on a 2 1/2 journey up the hill, exploring massive
caves and old war monuments, stumbling on and through a hidden/lost/imaginary village, and after all that, given the altitude and cold, we were unable to avoid an onslaught of barking (and one Cujo-like) dogs. It was a great little get-a-way and another reminder of Bulgaria's untapped (tourist wise) beauty.

Here are a few of my favorite pics:

Still freezing...

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/12/world/europe/12bulgaria.html?ref=europe

I walked outside and the local bank clock/thermometer read 7:10 am (blink...pause) -10 degrees C'. Ouch.

School was back on today after two days of cancellations. It was my first time ever delivering a lecture where each word was tangible - you could see my breath with each line from Othello read; my first time where students were frozen to their seats, literally, and not because they absolutely love Of Mice and Men.

Supposedly Russia will turn the lever to ON tomorrow, but it will be another few days until the heat arrives. In the meantime the students freeze, the teachers freeze, and we eat Bulgarian soup in popsicle form for lunch.

The City of Trees to the CIty of Angels

Thank You Mr Putin

Over here in Bulgaria we are just re-enacting the good ol' days with freezing temperatures and no heat. Our friends over in Russia are having a little dispute with their disliked neighbor, the Ukraine. At 3 am all gas supplies from Russia through the Ukraine were stopped. That gas is used by numerous nations over here on the west side. So, Bulgarians, along with Romanians, Hungarians, Macedonians, some Greeks, a few Turkish, and many others, are without gas. No gas = no heat. Not such a big deal in 74 degree weather, but when it's 25 degrees, it matters.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/08/world/europe/08gazprom.html?_r=1&hp

A law in Bulgaria says that all classrooms need to be above a certain temperature, and today we dipped below that mark, forcing ACS to shut down for two days. We have been awarded a four day weekend, although these days will be made up.

Some optimists believe that Bulgaria has the ability to use other sources for heat, however I seriously doubt that within the next week or two they can get their diesel power going. The ONLY way this ends is by massive international pressure on Russia. Who knows what Mr. Putin will do, but he is as likely to resist all of this as he is to cave to the pressure.

So, my California butt is bundled like it has never been bundled before, and we wait, and tonight we celebrate with bowling and beers.

Nas Drave,
Branch