I arrived in Haifa, Israel on Friday, November 9, 2012 at 5 o'clock in the morning after 1 hour long train journey from Tel Aviv. And before that, I was on the plane for a little over three hours from Kiev, Ukraine with almost no sleep from 11 pm to 3 am.
This is my first visit to Israel. When I told friends that I was coming to Israel, many reacted with excitement, curiosity and some with envy, especially when I said I was going to stay for six months. The next question people asked me was this: Why Haifa instead of Jerusalem?
This -- why I chose to live in Haifa, not in Jerusalem wile I am in Israel -- is one of the few reasons I am starting this new blog after my first blog, En Route to Fukushima that I started during my first trip to Fukushima one month after the 3/11 triple disaster (earthquake, tsunami and then ongoing nuclear crisis) in 2011.
I arrived in Haifa 132 days after I left Vancouver, Canada via 34 cities in 9 countries in North and South Americas, Asia and Europe. I came to Haifa with amazing stories of some unknown local heroes of faith in all these places to write about while I try to rest, pray, learn some Hebrew and make some local friends. And of course I shall enjoy the great Mediterranean cuisine that Haifa offers! (then why did I buy Japanese miso at the supermarket yesterday?!)
It started raining when I got off the train at Hof HaCarmel station(yes, this is the same Mt. Carmel of 1 King 18th chapter in the Bible) and it was still dark at 5 am. My local hosts, Leon and Nina, came to meet me at the station.
"It's the first rain of the year that we've been waiting."
What a great welcome, I thought, that I came with a good news of rain. Do people in Haifa feel about the rain still the same way as the people of Israel waited for three and a half years on that day of great victory Elijah won against the false prophets of Baal a few thousand years ago? I don't know. I will find out.
Leon and Nina are one of many Russian-speaking Jews who left the former Soviet Union after the collapse of the USSR and Haifa is the city most Russians have settled in Israel.
People in Jerusalem pray (due to many places with religious significance).
People in Tel Aviv play (due to high concentration of young people and universities).
People in Haifa work.
Haifa, the third largest city and the largest international seaport in Israel, has gained this reputation of industrial focus with its blue-colour working class majority. Let's see how I rest in the city of working people!
I slept for a few hours in the morning and Leon and Nina came to pick me up to go shopping for my apartment before all shops closed for Shabbath. Then we went to a Shawarma restaurant run by an Arab family for late lunch in one of the main streets in the industrial area. Leon said to me, "During the war with Lebanon in 2006, missiles flew back and forth over this road but only a few people (less than ten) were killed." Praying for Shalom does feel different when you are in such a place like this.
For the first time I learned 'pita pocket sandwich' is only for kids, not for grownups!
This is my first visit to Israel. When I told friends that I was coming to Israel, many reacted with excitement, curiosity and some with envy, especially when I said I was going to stay for six months. The next question people asked me was this: Why Haifa instead of Jerusalem?
This -- why I chose to live in Haifa, not in Jerusalem wile I am in Israel -- is one of the few reasons I am starting this new blog after my first blog, En Route to Fukushima that I started during my first trip to Fukushima one month after the 3/11 triple disaster (earthquake, tsunami and then ongoing nuclear crisis) in 2011.
I arrived in Haifa 132 days after I left Vancouver, Canada via 34 cities in 9 countries in North and South Americas, Asia and Europe. I came to Haifa with amazing stories of some unknown local heroes of faith in all these places to write about while I try to rest, pray, learn some Hebrew and make some local friends. And of course I shall enjoy the great Mediterranean cuisine that Haifa offers! (then why did I buy Japanese miso at the supermarket yesterday?!)
It started raining when I got off the train at Hof HaCarmel station(yes, this is the same Mt. Carmel of 1 King 18th chapter in the Bible) and it was still dark at 5 am. My local hosts, Leon and Nina, came to meet me at the station.
"It's the first rain of the year that we've been waiting."
What a great welcome, I thought, that I came with a good news of rain. Do people in Haifa feel about the rain still the same way as the people of Israel waited for three and a half years on that day of great victory Elijah won against the false prophets of Baal a few thousand years ago? I don't know. I will find out.
Leon and Nina are one of many Russian-speaking Jews who left the former Soviet Union after the collapse of the USSR and Haifa is the city most Russians have settled in Israel.
People in Jerusalem pray (due to many places with religious significance).
People in Tel Aviv play (due to high concentration of young people and universities).
People in Haifa work.
Haifa, the third largest city and the largest international seaport in Israel, has gained this reputation of industrial focus with its blue-colour working class majority. Let's see how I rest in the city of working people!
 |
| Take a peek! (View to the industrial area from my apartment before the sunrise) |
 |
| View to the Mediterranean Sea and the port from the balcony of my apartment in the morning |
 |
| A main street in the industrial area (shopping mall in the right, and the hills of Mt. Carmel, residential areas at the back) |
For the first time I learned 'pita pocket sandwich' is only for kids, not for grownups!
 |
| Nina and Leon at the abundant table of Shawarma and other delicious food! |
 |
| First rainbow after first rain on the hill in the late afternoon (Beautiful landscape of residential areas on Mt. Carmel) |
 |
| View to the port at 10 pm (or the state of my mind at the end of the long first day in Haifa) |
No comments:
Post a Comment