Handball.... what IS that?

Hey Sports-fans-hand-ball-of-many-types!

> Haha, yes, you and Michael have brought back
> memories.... I think I used to play the
> *other* form of handball (smacking a tennis
> ball against the wall) at school,
> informally. Though we called it
> "downball" -- I'm not precisely
> sure if it's the same game

***Moving from New Jersey to California when I was 15 brought culture shock and sports shock into my life. Living in a beach community, I soon found volleyball was revered, and no "monkey ball" was allowed...the game was about strategy, strategy, strategy! To this day, I can still remember when I mastered "The Dig"...what a great feeling that was!

I also remember learning Racquetball, which was a new sport for me. I have this challenge with spacial/distance stuff, so I always chose racquetball over tennis (our options in high school PE). Our outdoor courts were really beautiful...you could smell the salty ocean water less than a mile away....and one day I was slated to play with a macho surfer dude. YOUCH! It was the first time one of those little monsters disguised as racquetballs made a huge impact on my thigh! Talk about black and blue.....

Sure helped my speed, though. Only happened to me once!

Memories.............

JULIE
PS-I really enjoy watching people cheer on their teams. In another "team sport" presenting an oral report on a class when I was in college I had a favorite internationally flavored experience. It was an International Economics course, and I was paired with a couple guys I had taken another course with taught in Spanish. We often would converse with them speaking to me in Spanish and me responding in English. Made for interesting looks from the people around us anyway!

As we practiced one morning, I remember Cesar from Peru clapping for me as I warmed up (I was the Introductory Speaker in our group) chanting, "Yulie! Yulie! Yulie!" That "J" sound is a tough one to make. In classes where Spanish is the language of choice, I am always the Spanish "Julia"....even so many years later I remember Cesar cheering for me.

By the way, we got a B+ on our report on the Mexican economy, which was raised to an A- when our professor read the Wall Street Journal the day after we delivered our report. I thought we should have gotten very high marks as we were the sole completely international team...a Peruviano, a Mexicano, and a Norteamericana!

Hi Julie!

Ah, beach culture is pretty big here too in much of Australia.... Surf, sun, and fun, it's a nice lifestyle... :) Because the Australian interior is mostly desert, most Aussies live on the coast.....

I also really enjoy watching the crowd at festivals and huge events like the Olympics.... I took a lot of photos yesterday, especially of the crowd, people draped in flags of their country and "getting in the spirit".... :)

I've been so exhausted.... I had a full day yesterday. I saw some basketball, then in the evening (Aussie time) at my brother's suggestion I caught some of the free entertainment which was associated with the Olympics....

The highlight was -- how do I describe this.... An abseiling acrobatic group, called "Legs on the Wall," which in the evening "walked" down one of the buildings in Sydney (the AMP building near Circular Quay). They "stood" parallel to the ground, as if they were "standing" on the wall.... Then they would "jump" off the wall, and do somersaults in the air and so on.... It's hard to describe, but being held by their cables, their bodies parallel to the ground, gave the illusion that they were in a low-gravity environment, like they were on the moon, jumping high and doing aerial spins.... It was fantastic!

Thank you Julie for sharing your experiences.... I'm very much an "internationalist" at heart too! I LOVE different cultures.... I find them fascinating. I get a real buzz from going to a completely different environment, even if I don't speak the language.... I ought to do more of it.... :)

Okay.... Sydney is partying and we're heading towards the Olympics closing ceremony, but it's time for me to get back to getting things done.... :) (I'll be writing an article on some of my experiences from handball and basketball.... it's already partly written, and soon to be unleashed! :)

Dien