The First Few Days

Ok, so I won't have any pictures for a while because it turns out my laptop uses 15 more watts than my adapter could handle, so now my laptop is out of batteries and my adapter is dead. Oh well. I apologize for the various spelling errors in that last post, but I was in a hurry to write something before my very few minutes of internet access ran out. So, in more detail, here's how my first few days in Israel went:

The flights were pretty uneventful, except for when I was waiting for the plane to Israel in Newark. During this wait I guess the time came for all the Hassidic and Orthodox Jews on the flight to pray, so they all went to the window and started chanting and bowing. I didn't quite get what was going on at first and my confusion was compounded by the fact that the airplane happened to be outside that window, so they appeared to be chanting and bowing at the plane. But other than that the flights weren't that interesting.

When I arrived in Tel Aviv I got through customs without any problems and went outside to the train station. Fortunately, my extended use of the trains at home this last summer allowed me to figure out the ticket robots here pretty easily (they're all built along the same lines). The problem, however, was figuring out the train schedule. I got around this by following a woman who was also from California (though she was originally from Argentina) who was having a similar problem. She enlisted the help of an Israeli girl who showed us how to get to the right platform. When I got on the train the first thing I noticed was a guy with the very large gun sitting in one of the first available compartments. Apparently you can bring guns onto public transport here so long as they aren't loaded, or at least I assume so because there was also a man with a handgun in his waistband on the bus to the university. Anyway, once I got over that I moved down the train and sat down. Eventually I realized that I didn't know which stop was the one I wanted, as most of the signs were in Hebrew (this has been a recurring problem). Fortunately, a nice little old lady told me which stop I wanted. It was funny because she didn't speak English, instead she dragooned random passengers near us into translating for her. When I reached my stop I started to walk towards the hostel and proceeded to get very lost very quickly. This was because all the street signs were in Hebrew (like I said, it's a problem). So I walked for a while, uphill the entire way and finally asked a person in a car for directions. They knew which hostel I was looking for and told me how to get there (it turns out I was about 2 blocks to far south). I then reached the hostel.

Now, I don't really know from hostels, but this one seemed really nice. The only real problem was that my sleep schedule was off in such a fashion that I wasn't tired at all the entire night and the room I was in was also occupied by several large, balding Russian men who snored. That was one of the longest nights of my life. The next morning I walked downstairs, realized that I couldn't breath because of the humidity, then ran back to my sort of air conditioned room to change into shorts. I didn't get breakfast that day, which was a HUGE mistake, so I eventually left the hostel in search of food. Now it turns out that none of the restaurants (or at least none that I found) serve breakfast in Haifa until after 9:30 or so. I, of course, went out foraging at about 8, so I was left to wander the streets of Haifa for an hour and a half until I found a restaurant that was open (this restaurant was right next to the hostel as I had been dragging myself back to wait til later to find food). The menu was in Hebrew (blast) but the waiter recommeded the omlet so I got that and it was AMAZING. Unfortunately, I got terribly sick about half way through the meal (also a recurring problem). I then went back to my room and fell asleep for several hours, which meant that I didn't sleep that night either. However, during my absence all the large Russians had been replaced with quiet Austrians so it wasn't as irritating as the first night. There isn't much to tell about the 2nd day. I ate breakfast, read a bit (I have read the same book 4 times so far on this trip) and then fell asleep aroudn noon inspite of my best efforts. That night however, about half of the Austrians had been replaced with American Archeology grad students who had just finished their respective digs. The grad students were going out to some bars/restaurants and they invited me to come along, so I did. That was easily one of the strangest experiences I have ever had. It turns that archeological digs are strange and bewildering places where nothing is quite what it seems (unless you happen to be an archeologist, then everything makes perfect sense). For instance, one girl was going on and on about how they were finding 2000+ year old boats at the bottom of the Black Sea. She was saying things like "2000 year old WOOD and ROPE, it's AMAZING." Later in the evening, her friend mentioned that she likes Hellenistic philosophy and this same girl seemed completely bored by it. This seemed odd to me because this girl had been ready puke with exictment over old rope while bragging about some neolithic old growth forest beneath a lake near her house, but Hellenistic philosophy bored her. Whatever. She was also a hippie from Seattle who wanted to spit on peopel who owned Humvees, so I spent most of the night biting my tongue instead of correcting her many inaccurate opinions. We all returned to the hostel and I (again) didn't sleep for more than 3 hours.

The next morning I was sick, very very sick. I don't know what I did, but it felt like I had the flu something awful. So I eventually managed to drag myself out of bed, get dressed and begin the arduous trek to the bus station (which nearly killed me). Once on the bus, I realized that, while I knew that that line went to the University, I didn't know which stop to get off on or what the University looked like. But again, fortune smiled upon me and a random blond girl heard me asking a guy (who turned out not to speak English) about the university, and said that she was going there as well and offered to show me around. Her name was Shaylee or possibly Shirley (it was heard to hear and she had an accent), and she had recently graduated from the University of Haifa and was going back to visit some friends before going to New York in September. It was a very good thing that I met her because it turns out that the Unviersity on the complete opposite side of the city from where I was and the bus ride was about an hour long. I would have freaked out and gotten off at the wrong stop had I not been told not to. Also, after the University stops the bus goes to some Druze village way out in the hills, so I would have been screwed even if I stayed on the bus. Anyway, she showed me to the security stand where I met the guy who would show me to my dorms. Keep in mind that, this entire time I was on the vegre of throwing up. I kept drinking water, but still felt horrible. I really need to find a sports drink of some sort, but I can't read the labels on anything and nothing here looks Gatorade-ish. Also, I think I strained some muscles in my back lugging my luggage around, but none of the stores aorund here carry aspirin or any pain killers of any kind that I can discern (again, I can't read anything). But I digress.

It is important to remeber that the Unviersity of Haifa was built on top of Mt. Carmel. Because of this, there is very little (and by very little I mean there isn't any) level ground. So the dorms (which is to say each individual dorm complex) are built in sets of four terraced buldings each bulding containing several apartments and connected to each other through random stair ways. The combined effect is something like low income housing crossed with one of those psychology mouse maze things crossed with an MC Escher drawing. Of course, my room is on the bottom most floor of the bottom most terrace and has weird smell which reminds me of the Grove in Northern California. To get there I must take an elevator and go down at least 3 flights of stairs. Because the dorms are on the opposite side of the campus from EVERYTHING else, I have to take 2 elevators and go up abotu 7-13 flights of stairs to get to the classrooms, foodcourts, etc. I predict that I will get incredibly lost several times in the near future.

I think that's about everything so far. My laptop is down until I can find an adapter, but there's wireless in pleasent air-conditioned rooms in some of the dorms. I'm hoping they also have wired because wireless sucks for watching TV, which is what I mainly use the internet for. Orientation was today and that went well. There is still a party later, but not for a couple more hours. Oh, one other thing. I didn't bring any sunglasses with me because I thought I would just buy them here, but it turns out that was a terrible plan. Sunglasses here cost between $40-$60 for stuff like what you would find at Wal-Mart. It's astounding. Also, I put a fan together today without any instructions (they were in Hebrew) and using my keys as a scrwdriver. I'm very proud of myself.

More to come later.