"Oh praise Him all His mighty works. There is no language where you can't be heard. Your song goes out to all the earth. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah."
Interests:Yeshua, reading, theology, music, playing with my nephews and niece, hanging out with my siblings and other friends, all things Jewish, Hebrew, Chinese, volleyball, Israel, Taiwan, politics, being a nanny, exploring Baltimore, singing in my choir, TESL. Expertise:-I am growing in my ability to make children behave with just a look.-Making kids laugh by dandling them on my knee, improvising silly songs about whatever activity we are doing, making silly faces, and generally making a fool out of myself Occupation:Education/training
Ok, as anyone who has been reading my Facebook status or blog knows, I've been really into the 21st Summer Deaflympics games that are here in Taipei this week. I was mostly interested in going to watch the volleyball, but at morning staff meeting last week, my coworker mentioned that the U.S. was going to be playing Israel in basketball that night. Of course I had to go, so I fashioned a sign that has the Israeli flag on one side and says "Israel is in my heart" in Hebrew on the other side. I went to the first game with my coworker Stephanie and roommate Linda. It was a rough game, both because I was cheering against my own country and because my own country trounced Israel, ultimately winning by a large margin.
Here I am with my sign after the game ended. Afterwards, we waited around until the players came out and I got to talk to some of the people from the Israeli contingent. I sorta stood out in the crowd, on account of my being one of the few Israel supporters at the game.
Here is a column with the basketball logo.
This is the Israeli and U.S. team shaking hands before their game.
So yeah, it was a bummer that they didn't win, but Stephanie and I went back again the next night to watch Israel play China. This time, they won! Again, we hung out on the steps outside and got to get some autographs and pictures with the basketball players. We also met some local high school girls who are in love with #14, the top Israeli player, who is in the picture below.
The high school girls wanted to take a picture with the 3 players on the left (Or, Yaniv-#14, and Guy Korach). I took this one, and Guy asked to bring my sign into the picture. I guess they liked it! My coworker Stephanie is on the right, and next to her is another player, Guy Maor, in the blue shirt. All the players were very nice and friendly, and I got autographs from Yaniv and Guy Korach, as well as from Elad (#6), my favorite player, shown here:
Ok, the China game on Sunday was pretty exciting, but things got even better on Friday. Stephanie, Linda, and I went back to watch the U.S. play Spain and Israel play the Ukraine to make it into the semifinals. The U.S. beat Spain pretty easily, but the Israeli team seemed little match for the extremely aggresive Ukraine team, and trailed by about 10 points for most of the game. During halftime, I got to meet some more of the Israeli athletes who were cheering on the basketball team, and learned how to sign several words in Israeli sign language. Things started getting better for Israel in the last few minutes of the 4th quarter, when they managed to steal the ball several times and slooooowly edged their way closer to Ukraine. In about the last minute, their star player Yaniv (#14) managed to get Israel 1 point ahead AND got fouled, allowing Israel to win by 2 points in the last few seconds of the game! As Linda put it, it was like watching a Disney movie. I don't think I've screamed that loud in a long, long time! It was especially satisfying since the Ukraine had SO many supporters, and Israel only had our little band. After the players got done celebrating, they made a point to thank those of us in the stands for our support. The only bad part of the celebration is that Yaniv (#14), who had played the whole game with a bandaged arm, fell down and injured his shoulder really badly.
Again, we hung around after the game, and, along with our Taiwanese high school friends, got a picture with Israel's coach (the tall guy in the middle). He is hearing and speaks English. He was pretty bummed out by the news of losing the star player, but he was nice enough to take a picture with us. As Linda snapped this shot, he said (slightly sarcastically) "Tag me on Facebook!" We would, if we could find out what his name is. There is a surprising dearth of articles online about the Deaflympics, and only the actual athletes have their names listed on the official website.
The players were much more excited after the amazing, David vs. Goliath win, and they were happy to take some more pictures with us. From left to right, we have an Israeli coach whose name I don't know but who I've talked to several times, Stephanie, Guy Maor, another guy in the Israeli contingent, me, my favorite player Elad, Linda, another Israeli coach, and then 3 more Israeli guys not on the team.
Another shot, this time with a few more players: Guy Korach (#5), Steph, Beni, Shlomi (also one of the top players), Guy Maor, another Israeli athlete, me, Netanel, Elad, and Linda. Here you can see my Israel b'libi sign as well. You will notice that I look very happy. That is mostly because Elad has his arm around me. I might have a bit of a crush on that man. I think it all started when he told me he loved me after Game 1, but that's really a story for another day.
Tonight I went to the semifinals, with a brand new sign that says "Go Israel!" in English, Chinese, and Hebrew. The U.S.A. barely beat Greece, and Israel lost by over 50 points to Lithuania. Besides losing Yaniv to the shoulder injury, they had 2 other good players out sick (one with swine flu!). I still cheered proudly, though, and again got to talk with them after the game. I wrote a note in Hebrew to let them know that I can't be at their match tomorrow (they will play Greece for the bronze) because they play at 3 and I don't get off work until 4:30. I feel really badly because I'm like a fixture at their games, but I do plan on asking if I can leave school at 4 when all the kids are gone, and that way I can at least make it to the 4th quarter and, hopefully, cheer them on to one last victory. This week has been amazing, and I'm sad that they have to go home. It's all making me miss Israel, so I thought I'd end this post with a picture of me up at the Sea of Galilee, on the Mount of Beatitudes:
From Columnist Bill Whittle, via the Danegerus blog:
"You know, the one thing that I learned from this last election is that if you have a young, hip, likable, historic candidate, and you promote him through CBS, ABC, NBC, CNN, MSNBC and all the rest, not to mention stand-up and late night comedy, the entire music industry, university, high school and even elementary school teachers, just about every major movie and television star ... and run against the oldest candidate in the history of the Republic, despised by the base of his own party, a man unwilling to take the fight to the only fields in which he can win, and representing the incumbent party responsible for two unpopular wars, a two-term President with historic disapproval ratings, in the middle of the 'worst economy since the Depression...' Well, you put all of those forces in harness and you, sir, will attain 53% of the vote!
Recently, my dad started a list of all the countries that my parents, my siblings, their spouses, and I, have been to. I just finished double-checking the list for accuracy, and decided to make one of those "countries I've been to maps" for our whole family. It's fairly impressive. Altogether, we've been to 43 nations and territories, which is 18.2% of the world . My brother's wife, Leyla, is clearly the most traveled among us, with 22, while Tom and Amy are tied for second with 13 apiece, and Joel is close behind with 12. Dad and Dave and I would be tied for 4th at 8 apiece, though I guess I should count Judea and Samaria (known to some as the West Bank or the Palestinian Territories) as separate (for now), so that would bring my total up to 9, and would make Dad and Dave tied for 5th place at 8. Mom and Sarah have spent the greatest percentage of their lives in the U.S., having been in 3 and 2 countries, respectively. We've been to every continent except South America and Antarctica (Sarah, you game?). As I am beginning my trip to Taiwan today, I am making it my goal to add at least 2 countries to my list this year: China? Thailand? Korea? Who knows? Without further ado, the map:
A brand new drug from the makers of Stimulex. It hasn’t been tested, no one knows who the designers are, and not even the CEO is sure what’s in it. But there’s no going off it once you start. What could go wrong?
