Hoofing it in Haifa

6:45 WHY AM I AWAKE? I don't think I have class today, right? Great! I must've just turned my alarm on accidentally. I'll turn it off and go back to bed. Zzz...OH! We're going to Haifa!

7:15 "Elisa, someone is here!" "WHAT?" I walk out, bed head hair sticking out in all different directions. "Why are you here so early? I still have 15 minutes! Go away!"

7:30 I speed out of my room after downing a cup of hot tea and we head to catch a bus.

7:45 We pass a ton of security guards standing around looking worried. An ambulance is on its way. We look concerned, then get on the bus.

8:00 One of my guy friend's grabs my face cause he knows that it annoys me. I proceed to lick him. The Hasidic man sitting next to us looks incredibly disturbed. Then moves.



8:25 We are at the bus station.

8:30 We are on a bus! The 4 of us literally got the last 4 seats on this random bus that we hopped on. Other people decide to get on the bus anyways and spend the trip standing in the aisles or, when they cannot deal with that anymore, sleeping in the aisles. I sit next to an adorable Korean woman ("At medeberet ivrit?" "adssdfajwoefjlkajwflk Korean!" "Cool!") and pass out.

10:30 Arrive at a bus station. Realize we have no idea where we are, that the place that we are at is not on the map at all and that we are unsure of which direction to walk in. Ask directions and start hiking towards what looks like the center of town. On the side of the highway.










11:00 Decide that it would be much faster to just get on another bus to go to Haifa's Central Station.

11:30 Get on ANOTHER bus after eating some delicious sufganiot (jelly-filled, powdered-sugar covered donuts that are EVERYWHERE right now and are irresistible and only 3 shekels).

12:00 Are told to get off the bus by our very cranky bus driver. He had earlier answered an old lady's question than shut the bus door and drove away, leaving her, mouth open, probably wondering how she had not ended up on the bus. We begin to walk, enjoying being in Haifa. Have now seen pretty much all of Haifa thanks to our very long bus ride. Ask for directions to the Baha'i Gardens. Like all directions given in Israel, they began with "Yashar, yashar, yashar"="Straight, straight, straight". So we trekked straight, straight, straight down the hill where we spotted a sign to the Baha'i Gardens pointing up the hill.

12:30 We had obviously missed the tour, but turned up to trek up the hill nonetheless, laughing at the hilarity of our journey. We decided that we would go get food and would come back later to catch the Hebrew tour.

12:31 We trek up the hill again, past the musicians playing on the side of the street, to a delicious looking pizza place that we had spotted.














12:40 Found a fabulous look out spot and sat down to devour our pizza.

1:30 Back at the Baha'i Gardens, this time in time for the tour. And we were off, learning about this new religion that celebrates the earth, peace and unity. Ironically, in my eyes, the beautiful gardens were some of the most controlled that I had ever seen. But they held their own beauty, I suppose.

2:30 We hop in a taxi and find ourselves zooming back along the coast back to the Central Bus Station, where people are sprinting all over, trying to catch the last buses before Shabbat begins.

2:55 We hop on a bus, chat, stare out the window at the beautiful blue Mediterranean Sea, the green open fields and rolling hill.













3:02 We are all passed out.

5:30 Arrive back in Jerusalem. Of course nothing is operating as Shabbat has begun. The bright white full moon is already shining brightly in the sky. Hop in another taxi and are told we must take a longer route because the religious have caused one of the major roads to be blocked off for Shabbat. My companions complain about the influence of the religious. I grit my teeth and stare out the window.

6:00 Shabbat dinner has been moved to my apartment! I am tired and cranky and do not want anybody to come over. But, 10 people do indeed show up with tons of food. And we begin eating. A delicious salad with parmesan cheese and dressing (we have really diversified our recipes! A salad at the beginning of the year used to mean you cut up and put two vegetables together), a delicious vegetable stew, blue cheese biscuits, veggies and dip, spiced couscous, rice and eggs, lentil and carrot soupiness made by me, rum/chocolate/peanut butter/granola balls rolled in coconut or sprinkles, buttery cinnamon bread, and lots of tea. Phew. We were full, to say the least. We talked and chatted and sang and laughed.

And set off a firecracker! It was one of my roommates' birthdays last week and another of our roomies bought tons of decorations. She couldn't resist buying something that looked like a cracker. It turned out to be a firework. Everyone who wanders into our apartment is very curious about it and asks and the temptation grew to be too much. We all cowered behind furniture, a bowl of water at the ready, lights off, cameras trained. Someone lit it and we all screamed as the sparks started pouring out of the top. They grew higher and higher until they touched the ceiling and the light. We screamed again, worried they would get higher. Luckily, they died out and we were left laughing hysterically, trying to disperse the smoke and to assess the damage done on our floor. Luckily, its not too bad and we didn't even set off a fire alarm. Woohoo, the stupid things college kids do!

Ended the night watching one of my family's favorite episodes of "The Vicar of Dibley". It is all about a woman who is invited to 4 Christmas lunches and eats the maximum amount at each. Needless to say that she struggles. We thought we were full till we watched that!

I woke up this morning and my stomach still hurt from eating so much! Went on a run and am now enjoying the delicious laziness of Shabbat. With no where to go until tonight, I am catching up on e-mails, hanging out with friends, thinking about doing homework (should probably start...), and drinking lots of tea. Shavua tov, all! (Good week)