Away From Home for the Holidays
This winter, the Chicago Sky has several players overseas playing basketball and working on their game to get ready for the 2010 WNBA season. While most of those players were able to come home, at least for a couple days, to see their families and celebrate the holidays, Mistie Bass was not so fortunate.
Mistie stayed with her team for the holidays. Even though she didn’t get to go home, she still celebrated the holidays.
This winter Mistie, a forward on the Chicago Sky, is playing for ASA Jerusalem in Israel, about a 15 hour flight from her home in the United States. She’ll be in Jerusalem until at least March 3. Depending on how her team does in the playoffs she could be there until April.
Mistie has never before missed spending the holidays with her family.
“It was my first time away and I can say I really understand the importance of family and the love I have for my family,” she said. “Being away from home and family during the holidays was pretty depressing.”
This Christmas Mistie visited The Old City. The Old City is a small section of modern Jerusalem that is home to significant religious sites including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre for Christians, the Temple Mount and the Western Wall for Jewish people and the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa Mosque for Muslims.
Within The Old City, Mistie walked down Via Dolorosa to the Holy Sepulchre. A small street where it is believed Jesus walked while carrying a cross to his crucifixion and where he was buried.
“I felt that if I couldn’t be with family, I would be in good company there,” Mistie said. “Being that close to what I learned about from an early age was truly a blessing. I prayed for my family and friends while there.”
Mistie, who is averaging 16 points and eight rebounds in three games with ASA, also visited Jaffa. The ancient port city believed to be one of the oldest in the world. It made her feel like she had traveled back in time.
“It was absolutely amazing! The small walkways had so much history. Walking them felt like I was in another time period.”
In addition to playing basketball, Mistie’s learned quite a bit too while in Jerusalem. She’s learning a little bit about the Jewish faith every day. For example Jewish people keep kosher there; they never mix dairy and meat so cheeseburgers are out of the question. And they observe the Sabbath by resting from sunset on Friday night to sunset on Saturday night. The Sabbath is taken very seriously. One of her teammates even walks to practice on Saturdays because her faith tells her she cannot get in a car.
“The majority in Jerusalem is Jewish and celebrates Hanukkah, a celebration of a miracle where one day’s worth of oil lasted for eight. Of course there is more to their traditions than what I’ve observed, but I’m excited to continue learning!”
Even though Mistie didn’t get to celebrate the holidays with her family this year, she was able to experience several historical places and learn valuable lessons about a culture different than hers.
