the end...for me at least..

wow...how time flies when you are having fun...

we spent the day yesterday (Friday) at an outdoor beach club. was really cool! we jet skied, hung out, swam, drank and just had an overall good time. zoheb attempted to jump on the jet ski with me after I had specifically said I did not want to go with another guy and he tipped the whole thing over. I managed to cut up my chest and legs, but it made for a good laugh. 

we hung out at the plastik (the beach club) for the entire day. ended up staying there way later then any of us thought we would. i managed to barely get back to the flat, pack my bags and make my way to the airport.

i took a cab because it was quite late and no one was really in any shape to drive...probably wasn't the best idea because the cab driver started dozing off on the high way. either way, i finally made it to the airport and started the journey. am about half way thru. still got the leg end of the trip to go.

anyways...its been a ball. hope this has been as entertaining to read as it has been to write. i'll be seeing all (most) of you soon.

holla!

DOOO-BYE

wow...so this place is everything and more of what people have described it as. 

we got off the plane on monday at 7pm and it was 102 F outside. like just nuts. there was a sandstorm a few days back so everything looks hazy. you cant really see things in the distance. 

our arrival was overshadowed with some really sad news. a good from from home was beaten and shot. his body was found on the side of a high way not from merritt. RIP SALIM K. YOU WILL BE MISSED!

monday night we just hung out. went and got some food, talked and planned out the week. tuesday, we were fortunate enough to get a boat tour of the world islands. that was nuts. wow. like just unbelievable. the things that are happening here will blow your mind. this entire city is really built on money.

for the rest of the day, we just hung out, checked out the mall and got a hair cut. at night, we went to buddah bar for dinner (AMAZING) and then to a club called 400 (just like a vegas club). you know how they say everything is bigger in vegas ( or something like that)...in dubai, when you order a bottle of alcohol in the club, the music stops and two guys bring out the bottle (which is for some reason 3 times bigger then any bottle i have ever seen) with sparklers on their shoulders. just insane!

wednesday i got to meet up with a friend from van. that was nice. once again, so freakin' hot again. spent the day going around and exploring some more of the city. went out for dinner again and then out. crazy night. went to this guys house at the end of the night. this guy and his brother bought four apartments in this huge building. tore down some walls and made it into three suites. 1 for one brother, the other for the other brother and one for the maids. this guys place is just insane. like the craziest gadgets i have ever seen.

its actually really interesting. going from one of the most dangerous and under-developed countries in the world to one of the safest and richest. stores here are left open when no one is in the store, no security systems in the stores...its just really interesting to see. i really hope that does not change. another thing, gas is sooooo freakin' cheap here. a 4 x 4 costs the equivalent of $25 cad to fill up! now thats s'awesome.

today we are going go-karting on this guys private track. his karts go up to 125 km/hour. this should be really interesting.

will keep you updated on how that goes and if we survive.

end of round robin, quarters, semis and finals!

well since it seemed like there wasn't internet anywhere in kenya for 48 hours, i thought i would put together a couple of posts to let everyone know how the games ended up. i kept some notes so i should be able to summarize everything.

thursday night:

zohebs team beat pakistan by a boat load, but was beat by USA red that day. USA red has been killing teams by 40. they have got a really good team. we played USA blue and won by 3 points. it was a good game. i didn't play too well. my heel has been bothering me a lot. hopefully i can get some rest and be ready to play for the quarter finals. 

they ranked all 8 teams together from both pools based on wins and points scored. the final round robin standings looked like this:

1. USA red

2. Canada A (Zoheb)

3. Canada B (Zaheen)

4. USA blue

5. Tajikistan

6. Syria

7. Kenya

8. Pakistan

therefore, 1 vs 8 (game 1), 2 vs 7 (game 2), 3 vs 6 (game 3) and 4 vs 5 (game 4). from there, the winner of game 1 plays the winner of game 4 and the winner of game 2 plays the winner of game 3.

as for other things going on, didn't do too much. hung out at the hotel, met some people, you know, the regular.

friday:

we came out really flat. no energy...maybe it was that we thought we could walk all over them. that was not the case at all. at half, we were down by 12 to syria. after a "stern" pep talk from coach, we came out with a lot more energy and ended up winning by 15.

zohebs team took the liberty of blowing kenya out by 40.  i think they saw it coming...prior to a regular game, the team huddles, and usually says a few words before doing a quick team cheer. the kenyans cheer was "DESTROYA". 

both USA teams won their quarter final games as well. that means, that for the semi finals, canada a will play canada b and USA red will play USA blue. the semis and the finals will take place on saturday.

after the quarter final game, we just tried to take it easy. went out to eat as a team for some kenyan style bbq and a few drinks. got back to the hotel at a reasonable time hoping to stay focused and be ready to play. 

saturday:

the semi final game was a battle the whole way through. back and forth from the get go to the final seconds. the upset was pulled off. we ended up winning by 3 points after being up by as many as 10. what a game. no one really thought it would happen, but we did and it happened. zoheb played well. he got in early foul trouble on some bogus calls...but i guess that happens. we had a meeting with USA red later in the afternoon to play the finals.

in between our semi final game and the semi finals, the canadian girls beat the syrian girls to win the gold medal.

we tried to get as much rest as we could before the game. the gym was packed. people were sitting along the baselines all around the court. USA red jumped out to an early lead. they were up by a many as 20 points. we battled back though and cut the lead to three. in the end, they proved to be a lot to handle. we lost by 10 and took home the silver medal. it was disappointing to have made it that far and not won, but we worked hard and really came together as a team and that was great to be a part of.

we decided to go out at night. went to a place called carnivore. some of my kenyan friends arranged for a bus to take our basketball teams to and from the restaurant/club. it was amazing. a huge place. mostly outdoor with some indoor areas. we had a lot of fun (except for the fact that four people had their pockets picked!!!!). as usual, got home at a ridiculous hour...probably not the best as medal winning athletes had some ceremonies to attend early the next day.

sunday:

medal winning athletes and  teams were asked to attend some ceremonies, most of our team slept in the bleachers. some of us had come straight to the ceremonies from the night before. you could see the regret in their faces. i personally was fortunate to get 1.5 hours of sleep...s'awesome. the rest of the day was spent getting pictures taken with select individuals who were sponsors for the games. the security is crazy around here. men with guns all over the place and crazy guys wearing ear pieces and suits (in 35 degree weather). 

when i left the hotel in the AM, zoheb was still sleeping. i think he slept until 3 and then went out with some guys from his team. i got back to the hotel at 4 slept until about 7. we all got ready and went to the closing ceremonies at about 9. 

the closing ceremonies were crazy. no one was allowed into the town (parklands) after 8.30 pm (security reasons). there were check points everywhere and security all over the place. the ceremonies themselves were nuts. so much work went into them. crazy performances, singers, and speeches by a lot of people. the ceremonies ended with some fireworks. we then went back to the hotel, packed, and went out to a bar with everyone that we had met during the trip. we met a club owner in the club who wanted us to bring all of our friends with us to his club. he opened it up and it was a free for all. we were behind the bar, spinning the music and just running the whole show. it was pretty crazy. got back home quite late. we had to catch our flight early the next day.

let the games begin...

so...well tajikistan...what can i say. they were super rough. we were winning by 15 at half time. in the fourth quarter, their star player dropped 25 points and they won by 4. what a dissapointment!!!!!!

we had our second game against kenya today. they had a canadian player on the team. 6'6, 230 pounds. huge guy. we came to play though. we won by 40! tomorrow we play USA blue (team from dallas). that will be a good game. they are pretty good so it should be nothing short of competitive.

zohebs team played awesome today. they played against syria. they won by 40 as well. he played really well. they have two games tomorrow. 1 against pakistan and 1 against USA red (all star team). their second game tomorrow will be really good. USA red is really good and big as is zohebs team.

interesting to see all these people from around the world. like as i am sitting right now, a pakistani man is sitting on the phone next to me. yelling in the phone....doesnt that sound familiar? hmmm...other then that, not much to report on. round robin for basketball ends tomorrow. the quarter finals and semi finals start after that. i will post tomorrow and let you all know how we finish. should make for a really interesting day.

i think we are finding it hard to adjust to life here. you have someone to do everything for you. someone picks up your dishes, your clothes, your garbage. its tough. i picked up a plate the other day after i ate at someones house and i got yelled at! anyways...destroya (read earlier posts) and i are rolling out in a bit so i must go shower.

internet access for real...

whoo hoo....we checked into the hotel today and finally got real access. its slow, but its better then what i was using earlier.

a lot of different countries are represented here. its crazy. who would have thought!

we got the schedule for our games. basketball has two pools. canada a and b are in seperate pools. we play tajikistan first game. followed by kenya and one of the two usa teams. from my understanding, all teams make the playoffs and go from there. games start on tuesday. zohebs team plays syria first game, then pakistan and then the other usa team. we wont play eachother until the playoffs...thats if we do play eachother.

the hotel we are staying at is ghettttttoooooooo. i think its a 2 star hotel in the heart of downtown nairobi...the dangerous parts. its really messed. kinda scary at the same time. the hotel doesnt have hot water all the time...great. cold showers are awesome before basketball. really looking forward to that in the AM. we had some good weather today. nice and sunny...like van city on a nice day.

for those that dont know about nairobi...there is no such thing as a middle class. there is high and low. its sad to see the low, but makes you appreciate what you have at home.

got lots to tell...will touch more on it tomorrow.

JAMBO!!!!!

finally i got access to the internet....but man oh man...is it ever slow.

its been pretty cool out here. we were fortunate enough to meet some locals and they have been taking zoheb and i around. its been pretty crazy actually...real eye opener (more to come on that at a later date). i only got a couple minutes, so let me just give you the high lights. zoheb got a new name given by the kenyans (they actually play on the kenya basketball team)...they call him DESTROYER (they say it like "destroya") its hilarious when they shout it in their accents. we played with the kenya team against some africans. that was pretty cool. we smoked them.

anyways, i got to run. will get back to you all soon....

SAWA!

in transit

finally in amsterdam! took a while to get here. first thing we saw when we got off the plane...A CASINO BAR. crazy. i think we were both really tempted to go, but its like 7 am here and it wasn't too busy. so we decided to utilize what little common sense we have...instead, we had mcdonalds...not too sure how well that worked out because now i kinda feel like puking. zoheb almost cried (for those that know him know his love for ketchup) when they told him there was an extra charge, it was a lot to swallow.

the flight itself wasn't very bad. just long. we initially were sitting on opposite sides of the plane...but after some smooth talking from big brother (i asked the front counter person if there were two available side by side), we were moved! zoheb slept most of the way (what a surprise)...wait, this might be worth touching on. before zoheb slept, he was reading. that in itself is really odd...but when i saw what he was reading, i almost pissed myself laughing. he is reading the book version of PS I LOVE YOU. poor guy only managed to get to page five...not sure if thats because he was tired of because of my laughing. i watched some movies on my in-seat entertainment system for most of the flight and slept for a bit. not too shabby. there could have been some better movies though.

anyways, we have some time to kill before taking off to nairobi. the flight is about 9 hours. we ran into some of zohebs team mates in the airport. hmmm...well not really much to say about them. made for an awkward conversation in the middle of the airport. 

anyways, i will attempt to update this again later on. see if we can get a connection in nairobi.