Haifa (Part II) and This Week in Jerusalem

Now, where was I when I last left off? Oh yes, our week so far, starting off Saturday morning in Haifa (Part II).  After a pretty good night’s sleep, we woke up and went downstairs for a huge breakfast buffet at the hotel. The buffet was filled with typical Israeli breakfast foods (16 types of cheeses, 10 different salads, and 6 fish items – I counted) plus some of the boys’ favorites from the States (French toast, hot chocolate, and sweet pastries). We ate a big breakfast and had lots of hot drinks; the WK counted that with the natool coffees, teas, and hot chocolate, our family consumed 10 different cups of liquid at breakfast (and that’s just the hot drinks!)

It was still raining when we left the hotel shortly before 10 am and walked about 50 meters to the Tikotin Museum of Japanese Art. Pentheus had heard of the museum and very much wanted us to take a look. We used the museum passes that we had bought on Thursday and were able to enter the museum without paying. Although the museum was small, the Tikotin was very interesting. There was a photography exhibit we enjoyed, and we saw the 1965 and 2003 “reprise” of Yoko Ono’s performance art "Cut Piece" wherein members of the audience used scissors to cut off pieces of Yoko’s clothes until she remained in a bra and tights on stage. Like I said above, very interesting!

After the Tikotin, we returned to our hotel to relax a bit and then check out. We moved our belongings to the car and gathered the food we had purchased on Friday, so that we could have a picnic lunch later in the afternoon. We headed out to the Baha'i Gardens and Shrine (about a 7 minute walk), where we had made arrangements for a tour in English at 12:30. The Baha'i faith, which began in Persia in the mid-19th century, believes in the unity of all religions and sees all religious leaders (Christ, Buddha, Muhammad, Moses, and most recently Baha' Allah) as messengers from G-d who were sent at different times in history to fit the changing social needs but who brought substantially the same message. (http://www.bahai.org/) I'm not sure you can tell from the pictures below, the Baha'i Gardens and Shrine are on the side of a mountain in Haifa. One can enter from the top of the mountain and view the gardens on the way down to the Shrine or vice-versa. Unfortunately, when we arrived there, we were told that both the Gardens and Shrine were closed for the day, due to the heavy rain and concern about the steps being too slippery.

We were very disappointed, especially because it wasn’t really raining at that point, and there were lots of people waiting at the gate with us who felt the same way. We weren’t sure what to do next, as every other museum (except for the Tikotin which we had just seen) closed at 1 pm on Saturdays, and because it was Shabbat, we weren’t going to drive anywhere else in the area. I consulted the section of the Frommer’s book on Haifa, and announced we were going to walk to "Mitzpeh Shalom" (Peace Park) to start our picnic lunch earlier than planned. The walk to Mitzpeh Shalom took 45 minutes, with a bit of stopping and starting. Mitzpeh Shalom is lower on the mountain than the Ba’hai Gardens entrance, but there are no steps going directly down. Instead, we had to walk from the Ba’hai Gardens entrance all the way to the end of the street and make two quick right turns, so that we could then walk all the way in the other direction to Mitzpeh Shalom.

Our picnic lunch was good – yogurt, bread, cheese, fruit, pretzels and a couple of Israeli candy bars to split. It wasn’t raining at this point, and the sun was out. The boys were able to run around a bit, and we all looked at the various sculptures in the park. There were other people enjoying the park as well – a man was playing guitar next to his girlfriend and there was a group of Arab men barbecuing and enjoying a water pipe.

After killing a few hours at Mitzpeh Shalom, we continued down the street (and down the mountain) until we came to the lower entrance to the Baha'i Gardens and Shrine. We had hoped that because it wasn’t raining anymore, that there was a chance they would open up the area to visitors again, but that wasn’t the case. At that point, the only thing we could do was to turn around and walk back up the mountain (the same way we came down) to wait for Shabbat to end when we could get into the car to leave. We took our time getting back to where the car was parked (particularly because we were walking uphill), and there weren’t too many complaints from the boys. As we walked by the Baha'i Garden entrance, we saw that the gates were open as were the steps to the first viewpoint! Although we could only see a bit more of the Gardens from the bottom of the first set of steps, the views were great, and we were so glad we got to see something!

Here are some other shots of Haifa, (especially for you, MKG) - Haifa is truly a beautiful city.

We left Haifa around 5:30 when Shabbat had ended, and we drove to Givatayim, a suburb of Tel Aviv, to have dinner with Colonel Aharon and Rachel Bar Nir, good family friends of Pentheus’s family. The Colonel and Mrs. Bar Nir are probably in their seventies, and it felt like we were having dinner with any set of grandparents. Mrs. Bar Nir worried the boys didn’t eat enough healthy food (to be honest, the food wasn’t so great), but the boys certainly enjoyed the chocolate cake with frosting and the chocolate candy she gave them. We had a lovely time with the Bar Nirs and were so glad that we saw them. We had been trying to find a time to get together since we arrived in August, but our schedules hadn’t matched. We left the Bar Nirs about 8:30 or so and drove back to Jerusalem. Both boys fell asleep in the car, and it was nice to have some quiet for a while. When we returned to our neighborhood, Pentheus easily found a parking place, and the boys went right to sleep. Pentheus and I unpacked from the weekend and watched some college football on TV. (I couldn’t get the Michigan-Ohio State game, for which I understand I should be thankful!)

Sunday morning the boys went back to school, and I had Ulpan. In Ulpan we watched a video on ynet.co.il about the "y'reed m'cheerot“ (street fairs) that were being held in Tel Aviv. At these “street fairs” shopkeepers, artists, manufacturers, etc. from Southern Israel brought their products to Tel Aviv to sell their wares in an effort to recoup sales that they lost when their business were forced to close during the recent rocket attacks. From the video we learned words and phrases such as "mechamem et halev" ("warms the heart"); "lefargen" (to award/reward); and "sheetapone" (flood, as in of people or water). We also learned the word "m'ahdahniya" which is the word for "deli", but almost everyone in the Ulpan class challenged our teacher and said that the word is never used. Our teacher insisted that it was, so I wrote it down. Little did I know that within the next 24 hours I would see the word used not once, but twice, to mean exactly that - "deli" or maybe "smorgasbord":

In the first picture, the sign says that Italian deli take-out food is on sale on Fridays, so that it can be eaten over Shabbat. ("M'ahdahniya" is the first word in the second line of the sign. Note that Hebrew is read from right to left.) The second sign at a store near the Emek offers a "deli of soap products" available at the store. ("M'adanhniyot" [the plural] is the first word in the first line.) Guess the word is used!

Sunday afternoon, Pentheus and the boys went bowling in Talpiyot and then returned the rental car. They called me from outside the rental place to invite me to join them for dinner. We went to a restaurant called Little Italy, and I thought it was great. I ordered a lamb, sweet potato and arugula pizza which was delicious! (I thought I had taken a picture of the pizza but I don't see it on my camera.) The CK liked my pizza more than the pasta he ordered, so I ended up sharing my meal with his - the sacrifices a mother makes for her son. J We'll definitely be going there again before we return to the States!

 Before going home from Little Italy, I stopped by the Inbal Hotel, across the street, to make an appointment for a massage! When Operation Pillar of Defense and the "tseva adom" started, good friends in Cambridge sent me a voucher for a massage to let me know "in a hands-on way" (their words, not mine) that they were thinking of me. It was a very sweet idea, and on Wednesday, I had an awesome massage! The voucher allowed me to use other facilities at the spa, so before the massage I used the treadmill, and after the massage, I sat in the sauna before showering. It was a very relaxing few hours! The gift was much appreciated, and I definitely needed it.

On Monday, I left the house at 7:45 am to walk the boys to school and didn't return home until after 2:30. I sat at Cafe Duvshaneet for a few hours in the morning, drank my natool, and wrote the previous blog post. Then I walked to the Emek and did a bit of shopping. The CK had a birthday party to attend, and I bought a birthday present for him to bring. I also went into one of the gift shops on the Emek and bought "chapatzei noi" (gift items - I can't think of what we call them in English - they are nicer than just knick-knacks but not super fancy. Feel free to supply the English word for me.) for the boys and a pair of earrings for me. I had the "chapatzei noi" shipped to the States so that they will have something from Israel waiting for them when we get home. I then met my friend, Jessie, for lunch at the Grand Cafe. Jessie and I had a great time, as we always do. I have loved seeing her while we have been in Jerusalem, and I will miss her a lot when we go back.

On Tuesday, while Pentheus and the CK were at the birthday party for one of the girls in the CK's class, the WK and I did a bunch of errands and kept busy. The CK needed a few new textbooks and a stencil with geometric shapes for school. I had been to 3-4 different stores near the dira but hadn't been able to find the stencil, so the WK and I went to a store further away. After the store, we went to "Canyon Malcha" (the Malka Mall) to buy some wine glasses (because I have somehow managed to break 4 of them from the dira!) and went out to dinner. I think I have mentioned this before, but I love the fact that all of the restaurants in the Food Court at the mall are kosher. The WK and I split a steak sandwich from Roza's and then bought gummy candy for dessert. (Gummy candy, another thing I will miss a lot when we return to the States.)

Last night I went to my first book club in Israel. Jessie had invited me to join the group temporarily, and I enjoyed meeting the other women. All of them, except for one woman, have made aliyah to Israel from the United States. Only a few of us had read the book, so after about 20-30 minutes, we started talking about other things. All of the women are very interesting, and I liked listening to their stories about what brought them to Israel and what their lives here are like. I'll be in Israel for one more book group, and I look forward to meeting with them again. 

Nothing too exciting today. The house cleaner came again, which was good, because we're having company to Shabbat dinner tomorrow night and a couple of guests to Shabbat lunch on Saturday as well. I went to the grocery store and to Ace Hardware to get a few things we needed. (By the way, "mafteach bragim" is Hebrew for wrench.) I had a splitting headache when I returned from shopping and tried to lay low this afternoon. I had asked the CK to go to the department store with me this evening because he desperately needs some new clothes. He has outgrown almost everything we brought from Cambridge, except for some of the shorts and t-shirts which he can't really wear now because it isn't warm enough. I had planned for the CK and me to have dinner out when we were shopping, but the CK really wanted to stay at home to read his book. Instead, the WK and I went to dinner at Katamon HaYashan (The Old Katamom) café. The WK and I spent a lot of time talking, and we enjoyed being together.

Despite the fact that the boys’ behavior hasn't been so great for a lot of the time we’ve been in Israel, it’s still been amazing to watch the boys grow and change during this experience. The boys have clearly gained more independence, in more ways than just going to Park HaMoshava or the “makolet” (corner convenient store) by themselves. I’m not sure if it’s good or bad, but the boys have adopted a more “Israeli” manner in the way they communicate. It’s not just that both the CK and the WK are much more likely to speak out about something they don’t like (see note above about not knowing if this is good or bad!), but they’re also more curious about what’s going on around them and more likely to think about things from a different perspective. Sometimes I think Pentheus and I have been so focused on our day-to-day living in Israel, that we forget about the big picture. I wish we could see into the future and hear what the boys as adults will tell their families and friends about the crazy 5-month adventure during which they lived in Jerusalem!

It's just after midnight early Friday morning, and the UN General Assembly just voted 138-9-41 to recognize Palestine as a non-member state. I can hear the fireworks in Jerusalem as those who supported the UN resolution celebrate. I can't say that our time in Israel has been boring!