November 2024

Lisbon, Losing Players, Thanksgiving

Welcome Back to another edition of Dodson Diaries!

I finally got my media day photos! I was pleasantly surprised at how they came out.

All photos by @mariamentxaka

In this newsletter, I will be talking about Lisbon, losing players, and Thanksgiving.

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Lisbon

Since I am overseas for 8 months, traveling is easier. However, two days off in a row is very rare, we always play on the weekends and off days, especially after games, and often I want to rest. The best time to take advantage of travel is during the National team breaks. There are one or two breaks during the season. These breaks usually last two weeks each and allow players playing for their national team to play in tournaments with them. I often get confused with the schedule of the tournaments. I know during this team break there were Eurobasket Group Play games. While the break is two weeks, I was given off about 4 days. It depends on the team because some teams might get longer like 10 days (but I do not think it is common).

Some Americans take this time to go home, but I have decided during the National team breaks to travel to different places or countries. For me, the break is not long enough to want to take the 9+ hour trip home, and I often find more things to do while in Europe compared to being home. Also, I am privileged that my parents always come to visit me, so I do not feel the need to go home.

While I was in Poland, I stumbled upon some black women traveling vlogs that gave me the confidence and inspiration to try to solo travel myself. This season, I decided that I would try solo traveling for both national team breaks. During this break, I decided to go to Portugal. In the United States, I only hear mostly about visiting Spain, so I did not know much about its neighbor. From my home airport Bilbao, I looked at what cities in Portugal I can directly fly into. Since it was my first time traveling alone, I wanted to make it easier and not have to worry about connecting flights. Furthermore, with my ankle, I wanted to limit the airtime. The only direct flights were into Lisbon. When I asked people about the city, they said it was a wonderful place, so that is where I decided to spend my break.

Lisbon, Portugal is the capital of Portugal. I stayed for about 2.5 days. The hotel I stayed at was in Chiado the touristy area of Lisbon. Next time, I would like to stay farther out to get a more authentic experience, but I liked the location of the hotel for this first trip. I felt more comfortable walking around later at night in a populated area especially since I went during the week. Lisbon is a very hilly city, a place that can be down the street could be 10 minutes up a steep incline. A lot of the roads were older, uneven cobblestone, so with my ankle I had to be extra cautious. Instead of doing a “traditional hop on/hop off bus”, I mapped out the places I wanted to go beforehand. Then depending on where they were located, split them up between the two days I was there. My itinerary was as follows:

First Day:

• The Praça do Comércio

  

  The whole courtyard was enormous and stunning with the yellow walls. A lot of places to shop and eat were concentrated in this area.

• A Ginjinha

  

  Ginjinha is a famous cherry-like liqueur in Portugal. I would think more touristy than anything else. I was expecting a sweeter flavor, but it was not bad.

• Estufa Fria

  I definitely picked the wrong time to go to the botanical garden in the fall. There wasn’t much to see, but I still enjoyed walking around in the greenery.

• Marqués de Pombal and Eduardo II Park

  

  The statue named after Marques de Pombal statue is in the front of the park. The park is not a crowded place to sit and enjoy nature (at least when I went during the week). The only thing is that the park is on an incline. I had a fun time walking to the entrance of the botanical garden located in the park.

• Fado Restaurant

  Fado is a type of song originating in the Alfama District of Lisbon. The songs are ripe with emotion because they talk about themes like sailors lost at sea. I went to a Fado Restaurant in Alfama called Fama d’Alfama and enjoyed it tremendously. Every 15 minutes or so the lights dim and the restaurant service stops so they can perform.

Second Day:

• Pink Street

  

  I had to take a photo of the pink street. This place is famous just for that.

• Jeronimos Monastery

  

  I was pleasantly surprised by how much I loved going inside the courtyard. It was beautiful. When it was used as a monastery it seemed like a place perfect to sit and read a book or relax on a sunny day (if that was allowed). I wasn’t able to go into the church but I was satisfied with what I did get to see.

• Pina Colada Stand.

  I got suckered into getting one like the other tourists. I almost paid 12 euros for the one that came inside a pineapple with pineapples on top. At the last minute, I found some self-restraint. The larger one was enough for 2+ people to drink, so I am happy I got the smaller one.

• Monument to the Discoveries

  

  My favorite monument I saw. It was breathtaking how it was positioned near the water. The detail in the stone structures was unbelievable.

• Family Albums: Photographs of the African Diaspora in Greater Lisbon Exhibit

  

  I stumbled upon this when I went to the Monument to the Discoveries and was excited to be able to visit an exhibit that centered on black voices. Unlike Spain, I was immediately surprised not only by the amount of black people that were there but the variety. Since it was an exhibit of pictures, no photos were allowed but it was worth going to.

• Belem Tower.

  

  It was not my favorite place to visit. Granted it could be because I walked about 15 minutes from the Monument of Discoveries and was tired at that point.

• LxFactory

  

  It had some cool artsy shops and novel restaurants highly recommend it!

• Bertrand’s Bookstore

• It’s the oldest operating bookstore in the world. I was set on finding a book after I heard they stamp it. The book I bought is called The Wind Whistling in the Cranes by Lídia Jorge a Portuguese writer. It was recently translated into English and I like it because even though it is a fiction book it is set in Portugal and has some parallels to real events.

• TimeOut Market

  My social media said to go here. It isn’t worth the time in my opinion. Very touristy. I only went because it was on the way to the bus I needed to take to the Belem Tower. When I saw one of the food options was American donuts I knew it was a waste of time.

• Vegan Nata.

  

  Nata is a famous Portuguese dessert that is like a custard cake. I tried the original one last year because one of my teammates was from Portugal and brought some back. However, this year I have cut out a lot of dairy and eggs because I have developed an intolerance. I was excited when I saw this place right next to my hotel. The original is better, but still worth it.

In my opinion, Lisbon is a large enough city that walking everywhere is a hassle, especially with the hills, so using public transportation was a lifesaver. At the train station, I bought a Zap card that I could use for any of the public transportation which made everything easy. You just load money on it and go. I wasn’t planning on going on the Tram 28 (a famous old-school yellow tram) because I heard it could be very busy with tourists and the tram is small. However, since I visited in the fall a less popular vacation time, I got to ride it multiple times and there are many places due to the hills and narrow streets only the Tram is an option. Unless you want to walk up and down hills for 20 minutes.

I had a wonderful time in Lisbon and hopefully, I will be able to go back. There were still things I wasn’t able to experience due to the short amount of time. First time traveling solo and it went very well. It gives me the confidence to make some more solo trips. For our next national team break in February, I am planning to go to Paris!

Losing Players

The past three seasons of playing overseas I never had to deal with teammates leaving the team. Let alone two in a couple of days. It was also difficult because the other American left so in a way I felt like I lost a connection to home. I considered myself closest to her on the team, so when she left the first couple of days I was mourning the loss in a way. The first national team break is a common time for people to leave because there is a break in play (American players often can go home so makes a perfect way to not come back) and it is not too far in the season that there is a better possibility to find another team. One of my teammates jokingly told me that every team break we have she is going to put an Apple Tag to make sure I don’t vanish now. A reminder of how this is not college athletics. Yes, people can transfer, but it is highly uncommon during the season. Furthermore, during my collegiate years, no one transferred except after my final season, so I never had to deal with the emotions that can come up when people leave that you thought would be your teammate again.

Thanksgiving

I was on a hunt to find something for Thanksgiving. This was the first year I celebrated it alone, so I wanted to try to do something. It helps me feel more connected to home that way. My first stop was to Costco! Yes, they have a Costco in Spain and I was able to use my membership card. I found a Thanksgiving meal box, but it was for 8-10 people. I thought about getting it and hosting a Thanksgiving dinner, but with us having practice I knew I wouldn’t want to deal with it. Furthermore, I have been staying away from dairy and eggs which most of the sides had. Better not to have stomach problems, a couple of days out from a game. Ultimately, I got some rotisserie chicken, potatoes, and bread from Mercadona, a supermarket in Spain, and enjoyed my meal Facetiming my family. At the start of the day, I was feeling sad about not being with my family and having to practice, but by the end of the day making the effort to make a Thanksgiving meal and spending time virtually with my family made all the difference. I kept my mother company while she got all the Thanksgiving food together just like if I was there in person. Next year, I want to plan to order StoveTop stuffing and gravy in advance.

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Thank you for reading my newsletter. Until next month :)