Friendship and Basketball

I am a bit over half-way through my week of being an attaché for the German basketball team from the University of Constance in southern Germany!

(I was told that I would look more like an authentic attaché if I were wearing glasses)

I cannot show a lot of pictures because at least one of the teams that is here cannot be photographed. But it has been a very interesting experience thus far! We have two more days of games, then we'll spend a day touring in Jerusalem before everyone heads back to their home countries.

The first night we had a masked "speed dating" event to help all the participants get to know different people.

A couple of nights later we had a boat cruise on the Red Sea. There were water sports and swimming and the amazing thing was that we could see Israel, Egypt, Jordan, and even Saudi Arabia all at the same time! (In this photo you can only see Egypt and Israel though, oh and a plane flying into Eilat at sunset)

I believe that all of the participants are having an absolute blast!!! There has been a lot of dancing and music. In fact, I think the music has brought these groups together even more than Basketball.

I hope that these interactions make a difference. I hope that this isn't just an excuse for a holiday by the sea with no take-away. I hope that relationships are built across divides. Not just relationships that last a week, but relationships that continue long into the future. These are my hopes as I look towards the last couple days of the tournament.

How Busy Could I Possibly Be?

Oh, so, so busy!!!

I accidentally/unavoidably have overbooked myself until August. How could I help but do so when incredible opportunities were presented to me! I regret nothing!

What I originally would have been working on are final projects/exams for 7 classes. That translates to a 15 minute presentation (done!), one final exam (July 1st), 5 papers whose total will be at least 48 pages of writing (I've turned in 3 of those papers which is 25 of those pages...actually 31 pages though). So, I'm doing fairly well at completing my obligatory tasks.

Now to discuss the extra-curricular ones:

Continuing with FluenTLV events

I need to complete 17 more hours of translation work for a scholarship that I got

I'm going to Eilat for 8 days with The Friendship Games as a Hebrew/English liaison for one of the teams. Hopefully I'll be able to work on my remaining papers in the midst of basketball games and various trips/activities that they have planned for us! I feel so gratified that my Hebrew is opening these types of doors for me!

A few days after I get back from Eilat, one of my friends from Tanzania is coming to visit me for 8 days!!!

On July 15th, the same day that all of my assignments are due, I leave for the States! Not for a relaxing visit but to work for Jerusalem Peacebuilders as a camp counselor in Vermont for 2 weeks! I will be working with Israelis from Muslim, Jewish, and Christian backgrounds.

I am a bit overwhelmed, not just because of how much I need to get done, but because of the incredible opportunities I have this summer to work directly in conflict resolution programs!

I will probably consume too much coffee in the coming weeks and I hope they are all as beautiful as this one I had the other day:

So, here's to possibly the craziest, busiest, most intense 6 weeks of my life! I'm looking forward to it!