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Scott Greenman diary part 2.

July 5th:

I am going to apologize in advance for the writing style of the following diary entry. It will be all over the place and will not be covering things in any type of chronological order. Because I’ve haven’t written in a while, I’m going to try to cover a decent amount of things in this entry, however, it may be difficult to follow. Sorry again.

Once again, I apologize for the long delay, but I wanted to wait until we had played a few games to relay the update to everyone. We are currently 4-0 and have absolutely crushed our competition to date. We won the first game against Canada by forty and the second game against Australia by nearly sixty. We then beat the other USA team by about thirty. And we play in the Gold Medal game on Sunday night against Canada. So, barring some sort of basketball-related disaster, we should be in good shape. The other United States team was pretty good, as everyone either plays or did play in college. But we had a huge run in the second quarter and they could not come back from that. Australia had two players on their team that would be considered division-1 players (one of whom is playing professionally in Australia). However, our depth and height completely overpowered them and the game was basically over by halftime. So, unfortunately, I don’t have any great stories about the games in which we’ve been participating.

Sydney is an extremely large city, and we have been doing our best to explore every section of it. We’re staying at the Vibe Hotel on Rushcutters Bay, which is about a ten minute cab ride to the “downtown” part of the city where everything really happens. Our area is decent, but has somewhat questionable surroundings and there are some “interesting” locals hanging out about three blocks from the hotel on a “hip” strip of bars and other institutions of entertainment. However, for the most part, we’ve managed to find the solid parts of the city and have had a great time going out.

Every athlete competing in the Maccabi games is staying in the aforementioned hotel, essentially ensuring mayhem. With over 500 athletes, most between the ages of 18-25, all living together, you can imagine what the hotel atmosphere is like. Add that to the fact that we’re all Jewish, and you have one very large contingent of loud, boisterous, and probably somewhat annoying group of young adults (each of whose mothers and grandmothers are hoping they come home with a future Mr. or Mrs. Goldberger, Steiner, etc.). But it’s definitely making for a great time, and even though it’s inherently built into my religion, I can’t complain at all.

The opening ceremonies were amazing. They were held at the Sydney Opera House, one of the most famous opera houses in the world. Due to security measures, the participating athletes and coaches had to be there about 3 hours before the ceremonies even began in order for them to lockdown the opera house and make sure only credentialed people were entering. The opening ceremonies were a recognition and celebration of the past and present participants (athletes, coaches, chairmen) of the Maccabi games. Besides the moment of silence and recognition for those who died in the 1997 tragedy (in which a bridge collapse caused over 10 deaths), the occasion was filled with uplifting festivities and numerous performances by Australian entertainers. Though, like all opening ceremonies of which I’ve been a part, they could have cut the performances in half and nobody would’ve been disappointed. For the last forty-five minutes, you could hear grunts from the crowd every time a new performer made his/her way on to stage. However, I must admit, though I never thought I’d say this in my life, the six male tap dancers that came on stage and performed for twenty minutes had some pretty remarkable skills.

Last Friday, there was a mandatory synagogue service at an amazing Sydney synagogue, which was undoubtedly the most stylish and impressive synagogue I’ve been to in my life. It was an orthodox synagogue, which essentially means that most of the service is conducted in Hebrew (rather than a mixture of English and Hebrew) and perhaps most differently from either Conservative or Reformed services, the men sit on the first floor while the women must pray from the balcony. The rabbi was from Queens, New York, so the combination of a Jewish New York and Australian accent was pretty classic. The service was a great experience, as the entire United States delegation had to attend.

Afterward, in groups of four, people attended Shabbat dinners at local Jewish families’ homes. We were picked up from synagogue by the family and went back to their apartment for a great meal. Within ten minutes of being there, I spilled the host father’s red wine all over the table and directly onto probably the most white carpet I’ve ever seen in my life. I explained to them that in America, that is how we display gratitude for someone’s hospitality, but I don’t think he believed me. This set the tone for the night, as throughout the rest of the meal, whenever anyone passed any food or drink, they would skip me and make sure I was not touching anything on the table. My teammates were pouring me water, wine, and were taking my plate and putting the food on it for me. It was extremely funny and seemed to break the ice for the meal. As the meal went on, the hosts (mother, father, two daughters) explained to us a lot about their culture and we made sure to find out from them what we should do during our stay. They gave us the names of some great areas to see some Australian wildlife, city tours, and of course, we asked their opinion on which bars and clubs they thought would be most entertaining. Overall, it was a great night, and definitely one that will not be forgotten.

Scott Greenman

Nikki Weiner said,

July 10, 2006 @ 9:00 am

Hi Scott,
Thoroughly enjoyed your writings. Sounds like you are having a great time and wonderful experience. Hurry up and come home safely...minus a bride..lol..(for now anyway)
Went to Mikey's last game yesterday. His coaches do not have a clue. Even I could have coached his team. I'm sure your parents will tell you about it.
Your mom is the best! I hope you know how lucky you are..Dad's ok too! (LOL)
Allan brought Bobby Woolum to the game after they golfed. He's all grown up..It just means I'm way over the hill. Australia sounds beautiful. Please give my regards to Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban.
See you soon..Love, Nikki

Judson Wallace said,

August 8, 2006 @ 1:36 pm

Scotty, hit the weights. Jud

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