In Haifa

Alright. First blog post from Israel. This might be long.

I just got to Haifa and moved into my dorm today, but I've been in the country for three days already. The plane ride was pretty uneventful except for the fact that it was full of rowdy Young Judea kids. I looked out the window just in time to notice when we were flying over the Cape and got all emotional.

Shimon picked me up form the airport on Thursday and took me to Tel Aviv. (a quick explanation for any of my friends who might read this and not know who I'm talking about-- Lois is my mom's cousin, Shimon is Lois's husband, and Samadar, Michal, and Hillel are their kids. Jeremy is Samadar's husband, Eitan is Michal's fiancee, and Anat and Avigail are Hillel's wife and daughter. Lois and Hillel's family are in the states right now so I haven't seen them yet.) Anyway, we went to Michal and Eitan's apartment and I fell asleep for a couple hours, and then when Michal got home from work we went out to pick up Samadar and bring her home and walk around. Michal and I went to this really good gelato place and met Jeremy, who is a dogwalker and had just found a puppy that had apparently been abandoned in an apartment building. So we walked around a bit with the puppy and named her Phoebe, but later in the day Samadar convinced Jeremy to bring her back to where he found her because she probably belonged to someone. Turns out she did, but they're obviously not good owners because they left her locked out of their apartment and wandering in the building, and everyone else in the building felt sorry for her. (Samadar and Jeremy have a big fluffy white dog named Merlin who is very sweet, and I've been telling him how much I miss Kenai.)

That night I went out to Mevasseret, where Lois and Shimon live. Everyone gathers there for Friday night dinners, so Friday was nice and relaxed. I slept a lot and actually by now I'm pretty well adjusted to Israel time. Yesterday (Saturday) I went into Jerusalem with Michal, Samadar, and Jeremy. We walked around the Old City, in the market and the Jewish Quarter, and went to the Western Wall and the church where they say Christ was buried (I forget the name of it). Everything is so old there; the stones are worn smooth from so many people walking on them. And basically everything in Israel is built out of tan stone, so everything looks light and bright. Israel is also full of showers with handheld sprayers, toilets with buttons, super concentrated juice that you mix with water, walls along the streets, and wild cats. Not to mention cucumbers, tomatoes, and hummus.

Anyways, I just moved into my dorm here in Haifa a few hours ago and I don't know anyone at all yet. So hopefully I'll meet some people sometime. I have an oral placement exam tomorrow and then I start class on Tuesday. I miss home and everyone there a lot. It'd be cool if you could leave a comment or something if you're reading this--I want to stay in as close contact as possible. I don't know how often I'll update here, but maybe I'll have more to say in a few days. I miss you all!