"Squeeze the World"

Alright, so I took a trip to Haifa yesterday and had QUITE an experience. I was with two girls from the congregation, and one had been to the city before, but wasn't familiar with any of it. The monit (shared taxi) dropped us off as a bus station, and we had no idea where we were going. We knew that we wanted to swim and see the city, so the girls started asking people how to get to "the center." Since Haifa's a big city, everyone had their own idea of what "the center" was, so we ended up boarding a bus that looked right and meeting a lady who told us that she would show us the right place. So, she took us to a street and told us there were good stores, the beach being over ten kilometers away. So we found a nice park and were trying to find our next plan of action when we met a couple from the Phillipines. He had been in Haifa for a year and was showing his lady friend around, so he invited us to see a few sites with them.

A little later, we found ourselves going to a nice garden with a huge Bahai temple on top. That was... interesting. We were given a long list of instructions when we entered (don't drink water, don't chew gum, don't spit, don't touch the water... etc), and there was a big fence on one side blocking several stairways leading to the temple. We got to the fence for a better view and met a man from North Ireland about to ascend. He told us a few things about our inner prisons and we moved on. Our new friends (not including the Bahai guy) took us to a hill for a beautiful view, then he dropped us off in the right area of town, giving us directions toward the beach. The directions included paying for another sheroot (another term for shared taxi) so we opted out and walked, of course getting lost along the way. We came to a place marked "Quiet Beach" and saw that it was quiet because it didn't have the usual accomodations of a beach (bathrooms and sand) but it did have a creepy guy who tried to follow us for a while. After we lost him and asked several other people for directions, we got on the right path and found it. Hooray! Swimming in the Mediterranean was pretty amazing, and it was absolutely gorgeous. I'm having some internet issues again but hopefully I'll get my pictures up soon.
After our time at the beach we grabbed falafel and realized that we needed to get back home somehow. Some taxi drivers tried to rip us off, then we ended up grabbing a bus back to the station, which is where I realized that my wallet was not with me. Then we were rushing frantically about the place and the coordinator of the station told us to go back to Tiberias, and he'd call about it later. So we went back, and I sat next to a soldier who tried to convince me to learn Russian, then I waited at the station for the phone call. The results came in negative, and I am still mourning the loss of my wallet.

Enough talk of that, I'd rather not dwell on it. The rest of the trip was great and I shall not let my memories be tarnished by the situation. Today, T and I took the bus to Nazareth to help out for a day. It was fun to revisit and see everyone again. Things seem to be picking up again and if we get more rain it will turn all green and pretty in the spring. Again, the trip back was the most exciting part. The bus was insanely late, so we were standing in the middle of downtown Nazareth for about fifteen minutes during the last night of Ramadan. Oy. I've never actually gone onto "the Ave" during Apple Blossom, but this seemed to be the Middle Eastern version of it. The most unnerving thing was that little Arab boys were running between cars shooting each other with pellet guns. I still find it a little uncomfortable when soldiers walk by with guns, so this was just crazy. Also, firecrackers were being let off up and down the streets, giving a nice war-zone atmosphere to the whole scene. I don't get how a society can allow it, especially in their situation.

Tomorrow I have time off, so I plan on devoting it to Hebrew studies and catching up on my sleep, with some socializing on the side. Oh yeah, and fixing my connection. Blarg.