Despite the Rain, It’s Been a Pretty Dry Week

The realization has begun to set in that I have seen most that there is to see here in Paris and now I am just working in a foreign country for the next month by myself. That said, I am going to my first office party tonight. We've all been invited over to one of the women's houses for dinner and such. It makes me feel pretty grown up. Then, tomorrow night I leave for Namur for the weekend and return Sunday morning. Monday and Tuesday will be quite busy as it is the conference Operation 1005 about how the Nazis tried to erase the evidence of the holocaust. Yahad-In Unum is co-hosting it and it is being attended by people from around the world. My job will be to assist those attending and help out where I can. The conference is taking place at the College des Bernardins, a Catholic College here in Paris. I went for a small orientation for the conference on Tuesday and sat in one of the classrooms and was immediately thankful for the carpeting in all SHU classrooms. It's an unadvertised aspect of SHU, probably because it should just be a given, but a necessary one nonetheless. While people were talking in this small room echoes bounced off the stone walls, the tile floor, and the stone ceilings. It's hard enough for me to understand conversational French, but when it is bouncing off the walls, well then I pretty much give up. I caught the necessary words though, and got my duties for the conference. One of the groups co-sponsoring the conference is the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in D.C. If you've watched the news in the past 24 hours you'll probably have heard that mentioned. It seems a white-supremacist walked into the museum yesterday and opened fire, killing a security guard. Reports from different news agencies all point to the alleged shooters web site. There, you can find many writings and events that prove what a strange man this was. He supposedly has writings denying the holocaust and makes other anti-Jewish statements. It's a tragic event in the few days before we are about to talk about how someone could deny the holocaust and try to erase the evidence. It's the work of Fr. Desbois that is really going to be the ultimate testimony that this did occur and the atrocity of it. I'm interested in hearing people in the office discuss the story and listen to their points of view.

I hope all is well back in the U.S., I hear weather is tough, and you would be happy to know that it has been rainy here as well. The week of wonderful weather ended, and this week has been quite dreary. We'll have to see what next week has in store. Being here six weeks allows one week of bad weather not to ruin the trip at all. Lastly, in a hopeful attempt not to jinx them, I would like to note that the Red Sox beat the Yankees for the seventh consecutive time this season, making us 7-0 against them so far. Though not a shutout like the night before, a win is a win. And oh, the best thing about the win is that we have captured first place in the A.L. East.

Comments

[Linda Cavaliere]

Sam,
I've been following your journey and I must admit, I am fascinated by all this.You really make it interesting.Hang in there and remember all of us still hard at work here. Stay safe.

Linda Cavaliere