How Swimming Changed My Life.... Again.

After so many years of swimming competitively and years of polo, I can credit my time in the water with many formative experiences in my life.  Swimming shaped my life for so long that I thought it was done.  But no.

Recently, I've been trying to get back into some sort of shape.  Not my old swimming shape but just back in the water.  Since there's a pool at the moshav, I have been able to swim 1500 a day and to slowly start stretching my swim muscles again.  After a day or so off, I really didn't want to go to the pool but Haley convinced me to drag my butt over there.  When I arrived, the lifeguard (Ronen) who I had spoken to very briefly a few times (since I'm at the pool every day) called me over to talk with him.  There was one other man sitting there as well.

We got to talking about why I was in the Arava in the Summer if I'm interested in Agriculture and  I told them about Peace Corps.  "But you don't have a job planned now?" the other man asked.  His name is Gidon.  Turns out he's a researcher.  He works with acacia genomics and population markers that might correspond to drought stress.  There's other work at his research and development station working on salinity gradients and drought stresses for crops and they're doing work on solar powered desalinization.  It's all pretty cool.

So I thought maybe he was looking for a lab tech.  Turns out he is.  But he's also trying to get this fellowship started whereby Jews from around the world come to Israel for their masters or PhD.  So he invited me to go sampling in the field with him this morning to discuss the option of me working and living in Israel for a couple of years.

After an hour or two of him quizzing me on my background and my work at Texas A&M he told me that I was the perfect person for this fellowship.  A broad interest in ecology and agriculture in semi-arid environments.  He told me to talk about the idea with my family and we would discuss the details later but this is how the fellowship would work (theoretically):

I would pick a concentration and project and Gidon would either help me meet an advisor elsewhere or set me up with a lab at his research and development center.  I would get the degree through either the Ben Gurion International Institute for Desert Studies or I would find another University where I might be able to study without learning Hebrew.  Gidon would help me to apply kind of belatedly which mostly just involves sending over my transcripts and CV.  It would pay for my school, housing, most travel, 50% of a trip home annually, and a stipend of 3000 (ish... very tentative of course) shekels per month.

Now this sounds too good to be true.  It's all very vague right now.  But if this is real.  If this happens.  Well, then I would just stay on and not come back to the US.  I would start research in August or September and I would start classes in October.  I would graduate with a M.Sc. in 1.5-2 years with no debt left from UNC and no debt from graduate school.  Gidon also works with Dr. Ward who works with Acacias in South Africa and is interested in a network of researchers of Acacias spanning Africa and the Middle East.

So I know that crazy things have a tendency to happen to me.... but isn't this a bit much?

I'll keep everyone posted on how real this is but right now it feels pretty insane(ly possible).