First Day in Haifa

Today was my first actual day in Haifa. We went to the Baha'i gardens which are absolutely beautiful.

After the gardens, we went to the Arab market to do some shopping. I got some extremely fresh fruit there as well as some parts for the hookahs that were left in the room. I really like the city. The view from the mountains is gorgeous and the people are very friendly. There's a good mix of religion and secularism here which adds a unique dimension to the city that places like Tel Aviv and Jerusalem don't have. One one side of the street there were Arabs and Jews haggling over produce and on the other side there were ultra-orthodox Jews walking to their synagogue, which is something that probably isn't seen anywhere else in Israel. There were also young Muslim boys celebrating the end of Ramadan by lighting fireworks in the street. I have to admit that it was somewhat of a shock to hear the fireworks going off, but as long as it's just fireworks it's fine.

I had a delicious falafal sandwich in the market. The falafal balls were hot and soft and had a great garlicy flavor to them. The tehina sauce that came with it was by far the best I have ever had. And the pita was baked fresh down the street. All for 15 shekels ($4.50ish).


I'm on my 6th cup of coffee today. That's what this place does to you. I started drinking coffee last year when I first came on Birthright, and now I'm drinking it whenever I can. The water boiler in our room is basically a pitcher with an electrical coil in it, so I can have instant coffee, which for some reason isn't too bad in Israel, anytime I want. My roommate and I are going to meet with the housing people tomorrow to try and get our room straightened out. We decided that we're going to ask for the equipment we need to clean the place up completely. Our stove is not self lighting, and I'm afraid to light it. I'm a little gun shy after burning my arm hair off a few months ago at home lighting the barbecue. I guess I'll have to get over it. It's also covered in grease and I don't want to start a grease fire. Maybe the university will replace it.

I got a call from British Airways baggage services. They said they haven't found my bag, but found something similar. They asked if I owned a pink women's sweater. I don't. I hope they find it. My towels are in there. And so is my water bottle and my coffee mug. I feel bad using Styrofoam cups and plastic water bottles all the time without being able to recycle them. Plus, I start Hebrew in a few days and will desperately need my copy of 501 Hebrew verbs.

For some reason, the public internet here doesn't support AIM or picture uploads. I wanted to put some pictures on here, but they wouldn't load. Maybe next time it will work, once I get my WiFi access card.