I Understood What You Said!

    Nothing exciting has been going on because well, class has started. Sigh. We have our first quiz in Hebrew this week so that means I actually have to do homework this week.

    Since I only had about ten minutes worth of Hebrew homework, my friend and I decided to go shopping at the mall (don't worry dad, I didn't buy that much clothing). The mall we went to has the best name in the world, HaGrand Kenyon. "Kenyon" means mall which is why the name is so awesome. When Americans say the name of the mall they say "The Grand Canyon" and the Israelis don't get it.
    We took the 37 to Horev where we needed to switch buses. So I needed to ask for a transfer ticket (Caritisia Ma'avar, in case you're wondering, Mom) and did so by using my nifty Hebrew skills. This was just the beginning of the Hebrew I was going to use. When we got to Horev, we couldn't find the stop where the 23 would pick us up and take us to the mall, so I asked some people. The first lady didn't speak English so I went to my default, an Israeli soldier. It took three people to tell us where the bus stop was. Once at the Grand Kenyon, we walked through various stores and salespeople would ask us in Hebrew if we needed help, and I would either say "lo" or ask if they spoke English because there is no way I can say "do you have sweaters?" in Hebrew. Most of them spoke English so it was no problem, but at one store I wanted to ask if there was a discount, but the lady didn't speak any English. Most people who say they don't speak English can actually form a sentence or few to say so, but this lady was just like "no English". She got someone from another store to translate for her. The answer to my question was yes, so me and my friend each got an Israeli skirt for 5 dollars. Then in Hebrew she started telling us, or I guess me because my friend doesn't speak any Hebrew, how today was the last day of the sale. And that everything in the store was half off. She said she was sorry for not speaking English. She was Russian not Isreali. For some reason though, it took her a long time to say just that and yes, I'm sure that's what she was saying. But it was exciting that I could understand what she was saying. We also went into Tower Records and the guy asked if we needed help and then I got really excited when I saw that they sold posters. My walls are white and have nothing on them so I bought a Green Day poster and my room now looks a little more homey, with just that one poster. Anyway, I asked how much it was, in Hebrew, and he answered, and I understood and then he asked me something else and that was the end of my Hebrew, but he was like "Oh, you speak English too." He must not be a Native Israeli. All the Madrichim make fun of us Americans for our accent when trying to speak Hebrew. I say Americans and not another nationality because some of the Danes, French, and Brazilians, can pull off the "r" sound.
    Today I felt very Israeli (read: pushy). For homework in my psych seminar, we had to email the professor our homework and tell him who we were. So I received an email back saying that I (still) wasn't on the roster and to figure everything out by the end of this week because Thursday is Final Registration. Today, I finally got a chance to go see the director of the International School and told her my problem:

me: Hi. I sent you an email about this at the beginning of semester. I'm Jill...Weiner. I wanted to know if I was in the honors psych program because my teacher says I'm not on the roster, but it's ok if I'm in the class as long as I'm in the program.

her: you sent me an email?

me: yea, at the beginning of the semester.

her: Ok, hold on a second.

she leaves for five minutes while I awkwardly stand in her tiny office.

her: Are you in Psych of Conflict?

me: yea

her: Unfortunately, we can't let you into the program. You have only taken 4 psych classes and you need 6.

me: Even if I understand everything that's going on?

her: We say 6 classes because we want it to maintain an honors level

me: Because when I went to the class, I understood what was going on and I learned some of the stuff last year.

her: Wait, you went to the class?

me: yea, I didn't know if I was in the program or not so I just went.

her: ok, hold on.

she leaves and comes back.

her: It's going to be a while. Why don't you sit outside.

me: Ok. Oh, I also took 5 classes. I took a class over the summer

her: we don't have that. So can you send the transcript when you get a chance.

me: yea

So I wait for like ten minutes and then go back into her office.

her: We're going to make an exception for you.

me: thanks

her: I want to let you know that if you weren't in the class it would have been much more difficult to be in the program. Because you have taken five psych classes, we're going to make an exception.

me: thanks so much!

Personally, I think she let me in because she didn't remember the email I sent her, the conflict class that I'm taking counts as a 6th class, and the psych department is run by someone else. I'm glad I was persistent.

The Month in Review

    Ok, so I have been here for a month. I can't believe that time went so quickly and now the real hard stuff starts...that thing called, ummm, oh yea class. Anyway, I have gotten used to a few things since I've been here:

1. Cooking meals--not ramen noodles and macaroni, but Real Food, like pasta and chicken and, well, a lot of hummus and pita but that's only because it a hundred times better here than in the states. I have to enjoy it while I can.

2. Israelis-- this is in two categories
    a. Israeli time-- Class is supposed to start fifteen minutes after the hour and end 3 hours later, but not in Israeli time. Class starts around when it's supposed to (usually 5 or 10 minutes) and then we get a break after an hour and a half. And there's no set time for break. The first class, we had like half an hour and then last time it was twenty minutes. Class lets out like fifteen minutes before it's supposed to. So instead of a three hour class, we have a two hour class. And if people come in a few minutes later, the teachers don't really care. They know that's how Israel time work. I have noticed that when I say "Be there in literally a minute" It's actually another five minutes before I get there whereas before Israel it was a minute or two.
    b. Israeli manners-- or lack thereof. I have become a little but more pushy when comes to lines and crowds. When coming back from Jerusalem, there was a clump of people, lines don't exist here, waiting to go through security. In the US it would have easily been a half hour wait. I was through in less than ten minutes. But at least I say "Slicha" (excuse me) and mean it.

3. The cats--ok, not really. But I've learned how to get rid of them. All you have to do is stomp really loudly and the piddle away pathetically meowing.

4. Hebrew-- I have gotten used to the fact that I can only understand half of what is being said, but hey, it's better than nothing. At least, I can understand what the lifeguard is saying. Two of my friends moved into the "no swimming zone" because of the current and they couldn't understand what the lifeguard was saying and they were too far away for us to scream. (The only reason it "no swimming" is because the life guard can't see you, which doesn't make sense given the situation, but whatevs.)

5. Laundry-- Instead of quarters, or half shekels as the case might be, we have to use a token that looks like wavy Lays potato chips. There are like six different places where you can put the detergent. It may not necessarily help the clothes, but you can try. I still have no idea how to work the driers. I think you put how long you want it to dry/cool for and the temp. Except it's in Celsius and even if I did know what temperature it's at in Fahrenheit, I still wouldn't be able to convert it.

6. Taking the buses everywhere--If I want to go grocery shopping where things aren't over priced, I have to leave campus. If I want to go out for dinner, I have to leave campus. If I want to go the beach, I have to leave campus. If I want to go anywhere at all, I have to leave campus. Are we seeing a pattern? At least at Umass, I can walk to the center get what I need and walk back, but here even if I wanted to walk, there would be no way that I could carry everything back up the hill without either breaking my back or my backpack.

7. Jews--duh! It's so nice knowing that mostly everyone is Jewish. In Jerusalem, random people would say Shabbat Shalom to us, but I think that's probably because we were dressed in appropriate clothing. But even in the SuperSol (the grocery store, like Market Basket or Big Y) the cashiers would say Shana Tova (Happy New Year). [And speaking of grocery stores, here you have to bag your own stuff, which I guess is fine, but if you have a cart you don't bring it through the line with you. You just put your stuff on the counter and leave the carriage and someone picks it up. It's so weird.]

8. I was going to say warm weather and sunshine all the time, but it poured today. Not a summer shower of fifteen minutes. Nope. It drizzled this morning, but it was only enough to get the ground moist, but tonight after class it downpoured like there was no tomorrow for a good three hours. Israel needs the rain because there has been a drought for four years and even the Dead Sea is drying up. But the storm was accompanied by lightning and thunder that crackled like a fire being put out. Getting back to my room was an adventure. I had to go down one flight of stairs and then some to get to my room. I got wetter than I do when I shower. My hair was dripping and I could squeeze a good glass of water out of my clothes. To make matters worse, my key had fallen off my keychain. On the way down a heard a cling, but I just thought it was my keychain because it always does that, but when I got to my room, no key. We keep the apartment itself unlocked so I was inside, but then I had to go all the way back and find my key, which I did, but got even wetter. So I was sitting on my bed waiting for the storm to settle down before doing homework, checking email, etc. when a voice came out of nowhere. Apparently there is a loudspeaker in every apartment. I mean there's a bomb shelter so I guess it makes sense, but still, I was freaked especially since it was in Hebrew. Me and my roommate waited for the English to come on. It was just an announcement to not use the elevators because they were flooding. There are a lot of stairs and no doorsnhere so if there is water, it's going to flow downward and collect at the bottom of the staircases and the elevator lobbies.

To totally chance the subject:
For Simchat Torah, literally "Happy Torah", in which we celebrate the finish of reading all five books, my friend said that some family friends invited her to a synagogue and with nothing else to do, a bunch of us decided to go with her. It turned out that it was the same place I went to for Yom Kippur, but it was better because we could eat and the singing was even more amazing. We got there after the evening service and just in time for the dancing. While dancing, we met a few girls around our age and they invited us to a dinner downstairs afterward. Not wanting to turn down the opportunity of free food, we obliged. After challah, gefilte fish, schnitzel, entertainment, pot roast, and sherbet, our stomachs were stuffed, but satisfied. We walked back to campus to go to a birthday party of one of the people that was with us. I didn't stay too long because my eyes were closing as we were walking back, but for the time I was there, it was fun. We managed to fit 18 people in the room that is probably the size of my Orchard Hill dorm.
    Anyway, the next day after doing homework all day (read: procrastinating for most of the day and then doing HW), we went to a celebration at night to the same place. Where the guys who sang the night before were singing again, but this time they had mics and background instrumental noise so it was even better. Plus there was free food.

Traveling About the Holy Land

    The day after Yom Kippur, I began my week and a half vacation from classes. For the weekend, I went to Jerusalem. The moment I stepped off the bus from Haifa, I knew that I was in Jerusalem. Not because of the Dome of the Rock. I couldn't see that. Too many buildings. But I suddenly could understand what people were saying. Everyone was speaking in English...American English at that...with no accent. It felt like I was back in the US and with the exception of mobs of Black Hats, it was. I got on a bus in Jerusalem with no idea where I was going. I had directions to  "get off right after the gas station", but the buses don't stop at every stop if there is no one there and I couldn't just press the button until I found the gas station. The person across from me was speaking in English and Hebrew so it was good bet that she knew her way around J'lem so she told me where to get off. The buses in Israel all have air conditioning. Not only because it's hot, but because on Friday afternoons everyone thinks that they will never be able to eat again and so the shuks are crowded and everyone squishes onto the bus. I eventually found my friends in the German Colony and we put our stuff in the apartment, where we were staying. My friend's cousin had recently bought an empty apartment across from her own so that her mother could move in, but she hasn't yet and so the apartment was bare.
    The family we were with is originally from New York so they all spoke English. As a matter of fact, the part where they live basically is New York. Everyone speaks English and jaywalks, which is illegal in Israeil. For lunch, she took the four of us to a a really good falafel place. After picking out dessert and doing last minute shopping, my friend from the plane and I got ready to go to Kabblat Shabbat at a synagogue where her mom's friend works. Somehow everyone knew that they were supposed to harmonize so it sounded amazing. We got back to the apartment and were fed a delicious dinner of chicken and noodles and other yummy delights. It was like being at home for a few hours.
    On Saturday, we went to the Kotel (Western Wall). Being there was great, but. There was only one guy in our group (he loved the shopping part oh so very much) so he went to go do Shacharit (morning service) which is all fine and dandy, but us three girls had to go to the women's side---obviously. Honestly, to me it felt like I was in jail trying to peek in/over hear the Torah service. When the Torah was raised I couldn't see it. The only reason I knew was because I could just make out the prayer. I stood because it's the Torah, you're supposed to stand. But I felt very segregated and the whole Mechitza thing always turns me off from Orthodox Judaism.
    After an hour, we met up again and walked around the Arab and Christian quarters. In the Arab quarter there were lots of pretty scarves and bags and handmade jewelry. There were also tons of candy stores. We ended up eating lunch on the border of the Arab and Christian quarter. My friend's cousin made us a lunch of schnitzel and tabouli salad and cucumbers, oh and hummus too of course. After lunch we walked around the Christian quarter a little more then went back for some R 'n' R, 'cause we haven't had enough of it during our week off. After showering and Shabbas, we went to Ben-Yehuda Street, where we ate pizza at The Big Apple. After dinner we walked around looking for good things to buy. Ironically, only the boy was successful, probably becaue he knew exactly what he wanted and we didn't. Ben-Yehuda is a popular place to go after Shabbat. There were lots of Orthodoxy roaming the street and it was kind of like Boston with people playing music and magicians and of course the sketchy homeless people haggling you for money. After dinner and walking around, we decided to go to a bar, called Zumi's. It was a very chill and relaxing place, I definitely recommend it to anyone who comes to Jerusalem.
    The next day, Sunday, was a regular normal work day for people so when we got up there was traffic and people in the streets. We went out for delicious breakfast of omelets so we got a late start. We went back to the Old City so that I could my souvenir at Hadaya (a famous jewelry store that only Americans know about) and re-visit the Kotel. I wanted to put a note in the wall and I couldn't do that the day before because there is no writing on Shabbat. We then went to walk around the New City and got a little lost finding the King David Hotel. Once we found it, we walked around the lobby and it was beautiful and I think that if I'm a billionaire, I still won't be able to afford it. We then walked back to the German colony and while everyone was napping, I went to visit my friend who worked at Umass last year. She lives/works off the main street that we were off of so don't worry mom, I wasn't roaming the streets of Israel by myself. It was good seeing a familiar face. We went to Aroma, which is the Starbucks of Israel, only better. I got shocolat cham, which translates to Hot Chocolate, but this is hot milk and melted Israeli chocolate that you have to mix yourself. It is so good and I will be drinking it again.
    For dinner, we met up with a friend of someone in the group. The person we met up with, I actually knew from hebrew school and from Umass. She goes to Hebrew U and unlike us has class so she left right after dinner. We went to a movie theater a whole three minutes from the place we were staying. We saw the new Brad Pitt movie, I think it's called Burn Before Reading or something like that. It was ok. Again, it was the experience that mattered in this case, not the actual movie. Unlike American theaters, Israeli movies have intermission which is good when you really need to pee and the seats are assigned when you buy the ticket and they are comfortable. I heard that Israelis like to talk through movies because they just have to read the subtitles, but it was quiet. In Israeli standards.
    We left Jerusalem after a big "free" breakfast of bagels at Tal's Bagels (transliterated exactly like that in Hebrew). We went with my friend's cousin's daughter who offered to pay if we helped her move stuff into the unfurnished apartment so we agreed. We left Jerusalem behind with it's people hustling around to get ready for Sukkot. It was really cool to be there then. In Jerusalem, apartments are built so that the patios aren't all on top of each other. This is so the Sukkah can be built and you can see the stars. There is also a law in Jerusalem that you cannot build a permanent building and they define this as a place to eat and sleep, which is what you do in a sukkah so they get around the this by saying that you can't have a permanent building up for more than seven days. Once in Haifa, we slept and packed for our trip to Masada. Well, not exactly sleep.
    On Wednesday we had to be at the bus at 6am sharp so we all had to get up well before that. It rained, I mean poured, that day. The second time that it has rained so it was exciting to see, but it was also the second time that it rained while we were leaving for a trip. Although, I thought that it was ironic that it rained the day after the beginning of Sukkot. We only left half an hour late, which is not bad at all and after sleeping for two hours we were already in Jerusalem and it was only another hour and a half from there. By the time we were at Masada, it was sunny-ish, hot, and humid. The weather was actually perfect for climbing, not too hot and there was wind. We took the ten-minute Roman path up and the snake path down. The tour guide told us to be careful going down because you can fall a few thousand feet before hitting the ground. Once on the path, I realized how many more difficult/steep paths that I have actually been on. After Masada, we went on an hour hike through a small nature preserve. This was just the preclude to the next day's hike. The path was a stream so those of us who were wearing sneakers got a little damp. As the sun began to set, we made our way to the Dead Sea where we had to pay to change so a bunch of other people and I just put our feet in. For the night, we drove to a Bedouin tent in the middle of nowhere, literally. After a dinner of hotdogs and hummus and pita, we made s'mores. Because not everyone on the trip is from the US, not everyone knew what s'mores were or how to make it so we had to teach them. The marshmallows were strawberry flavored and kind of gross, but with both Israeli chocolate and chocolate cracker-cookies it tasted just fine.
    The next morning, we woke up at 6:30 and the sun was so bright that it looked like it was the middle of the day. We did our seven hour hike in Ein Gedi and it was sweaty and wet. What would you do: wear flip-flops in the water and then walk on rock with them for twenty minutes before reaching water again and risk slipping or just suck it up and get your shoes wet? I decided to get my shoes wet after tripping over rocks. I had hiked through ice cold snow in wet shoes. I could do warm water. Besides the sun was hot enough to dry them off pretty quickly. There was a lot of down time at the pools/waterfalls so that's why it took so long, but it was fun. We got back to Haifa at around 9pm and after eating dinner and interneting, I went to sleep.
    With an empty fridge, my friend and I went to a shuk in Hadar. I had only been there once and she had never been there. I am proud to say that we didn't get lost! And the bus systems here are confusing...
   

Israel Strikes Back: The Yom Kippur Version

    More like the teachers strike back. On Tuesday evening, when all universities were closed for the holiday, we got an email saying that the teachers all over the universities are on strike. I'm not sure for what because it was in Hebrew, but apparently this means that the Israelis, who were supposed to start November 2nd, do not have a start day for classes. I've talked to a few Israelis who are already in the dorms because of summer classes and they said they didn't care. They had plenty of stuff to do. Anyway, this strike means that a lot of the University's facilities are going to be closed, ie the library, the gym, the cafeterias. They say that it's not worth it to keep these things open for less than 150 students. The gym and the cafeterias, I can understand, but the Library? That's an essential learning place! It's the only place we'll be able to find research materials and print paper. (Ok, ok so we can both those things with the computer lab, but still, it's nice to have a hard cover book in front of you when you are learning about Menachem Begin)
    In addition to the strike, there was a riot in Akko on Yom Kippur. An Arab was driving through a pre-dominantly Jewish area and since most Jews in Israel do not drive on the holiest day of the year, this act was not welcomed. As a consequence, the driver got stoned and there was a rumor that he was killed eventhough he wasn't. As a result, dozens of vehicles and stores were smashed. As of now, Israeli officials are deciding what to do next.

*                             *                                *

    Yom Kippur, The Day of Atonement, began Wednesday night and ended Thursday night. Kol Nidre, the first of many services, began at 5 (that's 5:30 Israeli time). A friend and I cooked dinner for these two Danish boys who were so grateful because it was their first real meal since Rosh Hashannah. After eating dinner at 3:30, we met up with basically the rest of the students from the International program half an hour to a new up and coming synagogue, which is barely "up" and unlikely to be "coming" in the following months. Kol Nidre, at least for me, is supposed to be a beautiful welcoming of Yom Kippur and admitting to ourselves thee sins that we committed the previous year. It reminds me a lot of the welcoming the Shabbas Bride, only prettier. The rabbi who sang Kol Nidre, literally "all vows", was an old Charedi Orthodox guy from a shtetl in Russia. He had to be by the "yisroiel". Anyway, he sounded like a tea kettle that was almost ready for tea. Y'know the squeaky annoying high-pitch right before it actually beings to whistle? That times ten. In addition, he would add "ay ay ay" and to make it interesting "doy doy doy" and even "blee blee blee" at one point (there's no di di di here) in the middle of a word. And if he didn't feel like saying part of a prayer he wouldn't. Like in Aveinu Malkenu, we read random parts of a line outloud. And it wasn't the mumbling in an undertone. He was legit chanting.
    In addition to being an Orthodox shul with separation of the men and women (which was fine because it's an Orthodox temple), there were not enough prayer books for the women, and there weren't enough seats for anyone. All the non-Jews who went to experience Kol Nidre, were turned off completely. The good thing, though, was that the service was only an hour and a half instead of three. That meant we got back a little after seven and didn't know what to do with ourselves. One of the Israelis told us that we should go down to Horev because everyone hangs out there, but it was an hour walk down (the reason we didn't go the Conservative synagogue there) and with the dry air I was already thirsty, despite the numerous gallons of water I had earlier.
    Thursday morning, seven of us walked down to a synagogue in Denya, the one we should have gone to. The moment we saw the Beit-Kenesset, all of us were grateful that we could not only hear singing, but harmonizing and real stain-glassed windows! This service, although still Orthodox was so much better. The cantor and his son harmonized beautifully together and between this, the fasting, and overlooking the mountains and beach, it was almost as if you could feel G-d in the synagogue writing our names down in the Book of Life. (Ok, so I had a spiritual moment)
    This time we were smart and borrowed some Machzors (prayer books) from the synagogue in the dorms, but these books are falling apart and are at least a few decades old so either some of the prayers weren't in the book or they would be in a different order than the newer books. Also, they were obviously alllll in Hebrew so it eventually became a blur of letters especially when I lost my place, which was frequent. What I am still trying to figure out is how we ended the first service so early. The Torah service was at 10:15/10:30, like at home, but we ended a little before 1:30 with Yizkor and everything. There was no talking of sermon which cuts half an hour, but still my temple is rarely done at 2 on Yom Kippur.
    Not wanting to walk back after Musaf (the end of the morning service), the seven of us hung out for three hours. It actually wasn't that bad. By the time we figured out where we wanted to sit (sun or shade, grass or concrete), it was actually only two hours. When on a walk, we found a park three minutes from the temple so we plopped ourselves down on the grass. Then during Mincha, the afternoon service, someone else led and let's just say that my slow motion playback on my computer goes faster than that. It got exciting/scary when some lady fainted, but she's ok, don't worry. As soon as she blacked out someone shouted "Is there a doctor?" and as my friend said "do you really need to ask if there's a doctor in a house full of Jews...we can get her a lawyer too if she wants." We were surprised that no one jumped the Mechitza to help her and instead everyone magically had food in their hands and began giving it to her. 5:30, almost two hours after it began, Mincha still wasn't close to being over and the fast was supposed to be over at 6:01 so we left because we had to walk back up to campus and knew that by the time we got back, it would be time to eat. The best food is always after you haven't eaten for twenty-six hours.

I have more to write about, I just don't want to make this post longer than it is so I'll post more later with pictures.

And the Wicked Child said "What does Rosh Hashanah mean to You"

   
    Over the weekend we went to Golan Heights and being on a trip with Jews we of course had to eat every hour. It took us about two hours to get there, but once we were there we went on a hike through the mountains. We stopped at two waterfalls which were so cold. I only went swimming in one of the waterfalls because I didn't want to hike too long being wet. We then went to Avital and Tal overlooks where we got to see Syria and our tour guide explained how Israel got the land in 1967. For the night we went to a religious Moshav and made dinner, had Shabbat services, and hung out before going to sleep in the tent. The next morning, we went on a five hour hike down (and back up) more mountains and more waterfalls. At the end of the trail, which happened to be behind the Golan winery, was an ice cream truck and, well, the dude manning the truck made a ton of money. After we got back, there was an Israeli movie, Bonjour Monseiur Shlomi, which was really good especially since there was food type substances.    
    This week we had no classes, hence procrastination of homework. For Rosh HaShanah, I went to my cousin's house near Tel Aviv. I never met her before, but my mom and she had talked over the summer a few times. For dinner Monday night, we went to her husband's house for dinner where none of the family memebers spoke any English, but I could understand about half of what everyone was saying. Tuesday was just a hang out day so I read my book for most of the day and I went home on Wednesday.
    At first, I wasn't really sure what to make of my experience. It felt like I was doing something wrong. Usually, I go to services and then we have a big lunch at home and see relatives on both days. But we didn't do that. When I think about it, Rosh HaShanah isn't just about going to services and eating (although it is a lot of eating). Maybe it's just about contemplating about the pros and cons of the previous year and deciding how you can make yourself a better person for the next year. Maybe it is welcoming whatever may come and forgetting about the bad things that happened. Or maybe it's just a day of reflection. Like on the last day of school when you think about the first day and all the days that accumulated to form the experience of the last day, maybe Rosh HaShanah is just a day where you think about your year and all the events that build up to determine the day of reflection and that in turn determines the occurrences of the next year. I am still not sure of what to make of my absence from services, but I did do some reflection and I think that really is part of what the holiday is about. (I can't put into words what I am/was feeling and I'm just blabbering trying to make sense)
    Anyway, so when I got back to Haifa on Wednesday, I just hung out, but on Thursday, me and a friend went hiking. Except that we got lost. There is a national park literally two minutes from the University so we found the trail and walked down and halfway down decided it would be awesome if we could make it to the bottom and as a motivator didn't want to walk up. (As a reference, it's a 25 minute bus ride down the hill). We ended up at a cow stable and found where the trail broke off and then continued to the bottom. We then walked for about an hour to the Haifa Mall (where all the buses are) and found out that we originally ended up in Tirat Carmel. Once at the mall, we took a taxi back and then I showered and went to dinner with some other friends. Today I had another hard day of going to the beach. The water was really warm because unlike the Atlantic, the Mediterranean Sea is above 50 degrees. The beach itself was really nice. The sand was perfect and there were these really big wooden umbrella type things for shade, which was good for us fair-skinned people. After getting back to Haifa, it was almost time for shabbat so I showered and went to services and then went to a potluck dinner. Now I'm going to bed to get ready for another day at the beach. (Don't worry mom, I put sunscreen on and didn't get burned too badly)

Shabbat Shalom!

I've put pictures up!