I am currently playing for Lotos, Gdynia (Poland), where we just had 3 days off for Easter. It was not enough time to go home, so I thought I would do the next best thing: go to Israel. I am very open about my Christian Faith, so I thought it would be a unique experience to actually see the places I have always read about.

First of all, the hardest part was actually getting there. Although I was not really scared to travel, I guess the airlines were a bit scared of me—you see coming and going I had to go through extra security checks where it took a couple hours to convince them that my ipod speakers were NOT a bomb. Once I arrived, I was immediately approached by a taxi driver, who kindly offered his services for a “special” price. Since I was in for an hour ride, I asked to look the sports page—to my surprise there was a huge article about Shay Doron (3rd round draft pick for the New York Liberty). There was a lot of national pride for the first Israeli woman to be drafted in the WNBA. I also learned that game 1 of the finals for the women’s league was taking place that night, so of course I made plans to go . . . ironic that I couldn’t escape the WNBA, even on my vacation.

The match-up was Ramla, Plenette Pierson (Detroit), Latoya Thomas (San Antonio), and Monique Currie (Chicago) against Ramat Hasharon who sported Mwadi Mabika (L.A.) and Deanna Jackson (Chicago). Uncertain of what to expect, I was pleasantly surprised. The gym was packed, on one side there were mostly young men (yes, I said men) who stood the whole game, cheering, jumping up and down, and of course harassing the opponent and the officials. The other side were more of average fans, families, and sponsors. Although it was a hard fought game, Ramla came out with the first win of the series.

The rest of my weekend consisted of a few tours, from Old Jerusalem, to Nazareth, to the Dead Sea. I was deeply impacted by the “past” and “present” of what I was experiencing. As I walked down the Via Dolorosa with thousands other people on Friday, retracing the steps that Christ walked, I found myself in awe of the events that had taken place there. For such a small country, it boasts an amazing amount of historical sites.

Then, there was the “present” of the situation. Staying in Jerusalem during the Passover, taught me a lot about the Jewish religion. As I walked though the streets I couldn’t help but to be amazed at the contrasting yet integrated blend of class, culture, and religion. It was a combination of the Orthodox Jew the Muslim and the Christian. Looking around, there were literally people from all around the world, most of which couldn’t communicate if they wanted to, yet they were bound together through the bond of a similar faith (respectively). There are very few things that universally unites people in a way were words are not necessary: Faith and sports are unique in this area.