Haifa, Chaplin, Falafel and friends

This is a picture I took while we were driving. In the distant left you can see the water, but I'm not sure how well. Everyday I wake up to the incredible views that Haifa boasts of. I remember being so disappointed when I learned Ulpan Akiva in Netanya closed this year. Come on, I only waited ~15 years to go to it! But as usual, things once again turned out for the best. I am closer to most of my friends here in Haifa, the city is great and very easy to learn, and the program has been superb.

I have put a few miscellaneous pictures together for your pleasure. I hope you enjoy them and my explanations...


I had to take this picture for Jeff! I have no idea what Chaplin is doing in the Druze village or what kind of store it is!!

If you look in almost the center of this picture, you will see the new dental office I am going to be working at. NOT! But it wouldn't be bad because it's right next door to the best falafel restaurant in Israel, which is the following picture.

The all time best falafel in Israel is found in the nearby Druze village. Shwarma too.

Sorry Zack-I only got the falafel when I was went there!

Mmmmmmmmmm! What can I say? Freshly made falafel is the best! Crisp on the outside, tender inside and hot. Lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, hummos, cabbage, cucumbers, tehini....

Diet? What diet?! This picture is going to do me in when I am back in the States!

Gloria Silver Mazor and me. Gloria and I have been friends since we were 15. We pick up where we left off whenever she comes in town or I come here. It's a special relationship that has stood up to the years and distance apart. And, she's got me beat! She has 5 grandchildren, kena hora!

This is from the outside courtyard of the Castra Mall that Gloria took me to for lunch. It's a mall that has a lot of art in it as well as a fascinating exhibit of dolls, portraying Jewish history from the Torah onwards up to present day. The lighting did not allow for pictures :(

This is my roommate Lisa. She was born in Germany and now lives in Belgium with her Israeli husband and five children. One of the interesting things about her is the way she speaks. Everything is spoken in such a grand manner! Things are "mahvelous" or "brillant!" When she got upset about the way we were told that we needed to clean our rooms before we leave or we'll be fined, her reaction was "It's absolutely scandalous!" and continued saying that numerous times. I mean really, how mad can you sound when you're walking around calling the action scandalous!?

Now this was no small feat for me to tackle when I first started to go online. Forget about learning how to blog! How the heck do you type in your name and password on the right side of the screen? Doing this was small compared with FaceBook. Aside from signing in with only Hebrew on the page, they keep asking if I want to have all of your posts translated into Hebrew (I should say not! How do they even know that I'm in Ulpan??) Then with my blog, I had to read all the Hebrew words to find out where to click to log in without deleting everything.

Yes, merely being in Israel has made me think and breathe Hebrew. Two of the weirdest things lately are 1) I often start to write English on the right side of the paper and 2) There have been times where I write a Hebrew word transliterated when I'm writing totally in English. Talk about confusion! I think I better go rest now :)