Fire, Fire, Fire

Hey all,

As some of you might now there has been a huge fire raging in the hills southeast of Haifa for the past day and a half. How it started is not all clear but there are some different theories anything from a gang that lit tires to a fire in an illegal dumpingsite that went wrong. Anyhow yesterday morning it started and spread very fast because of the strong winds here and since its been the driest november and summer for many years the forrest lit up like candles. The kibbutz Bet Oren is completely destroyed however it was evacuated in time and no personal injuries has been reported. That was not the luck however for a buss full of prison-personal that were on their way to assist in the evac of the prison in the area. Their buss was caught on the road in a flash fire an the 40 ppl inside didnt stand a chance. The same faith hit the police chief in Haifa when she was on her way to help somewhere and she has burn to roughly 80% of her body. Thats the general news that has been circling all day.

When it comes to us we live very close to the fire and have seen it grow and die for the past day. Its a really tricky thing because of the nature of fire combined with the wind. When Adi came home yesterday we choose to evac ourselves to a friend i northern Haifa close to the beach and there we've spent the day watching the TV for news. Now in the evening we have returned to the house and the fire comes and goes. I will now post a few pictures in chronological order of how it has looked from our neighborhood the past days.

Yesterday day and afternoon (pic 1 and 2)

Yesterday night, from a house on the same road as us

Yesterday night, from a house on the same road as us

Yesterday night, from a house on the same road as us

Yesterday night, from a house on the same road as us

Today in the morning from a house close to our house

The planes fighting the fire with sea-water and powder

The planes are from many different countries as Netanyahu has asked for help from abroad.

Another plane

A picture from today afternoon.

So here you can see what we see from the living room and right now it seems that the fires have died a little and the wind might be turning but with mother nature you'll never know. If it comes closer we will leave again. I have more pictures on my cellphone but my bluetooth on the laptop has decided to evac and right now wont work.

Have fun,

Carl

November...

Hi All,

So this past week not a lot of new things have happend. I've been running, looking for jobs and sent some CV's and learned some hebrew. Today I was also on an job interview for a coffe-shop in one of the neighbourhoods in Haifa. I've never worked in a Coffe-shop before so if I get it it will be an interesting learning experience and I'll get some well needed cash. Its a little frustrating sending CV's and not receiving any answers but that is how it works here in Israel they call you if they need you, not like in Sweden where people confirm emails and then tell you that the position has been filled.

Last night med and Adi went to Noam's house and watched two Israeli movies. The first one was the Bubble from 2007ish. It was about three people living in Tel Aviv on Shenkin Street and their daily life in the "bubble" that exists where day go on living their regular lives until different things and loves interests throw their world-view upside down. Its a really good movie and hard to explain without giving away to much so instead of me writing about it go see it! The other movie was Eskimo Limon (Lemons Popsicle) from 1978. This movie is about three 17-year old guys and their quest to find girls, girlfriends or anything to share their lives with. Its like Grease but without the cars, high-pitched singing and John travolta. Quiet different from the Bubble but still a good movie.

Right now I'm listening to the final game of the Allsvenska and so far its 0-0 which is OK table-wise but finishing with a win is never wrong. During the weekend me and Adi have also started a new puzzle so now infront of me there is a Panorama picture of Harbour in sunset in Brittany in France. Hopefully by the next time I write i'll have something more fun to write about until then Have Fun!,

Carl

Looking for more jobs...

Hey all,

So I had one swedish-class before the student realized that due to his family situation he couldn't continue. So now I'm back to where I was a few weeks ago but some experiences richer. Maybe Berlitz will give me english-classes later but at the time the demand is low but I'm still a part of their team. The past week another few things have happend. Me and Adi have become Sushi-masters over the past few months and are making sushi on our own at least once a week. We get better at it each week and invent new combinations with different kinds of fish, shellfish and vegetables.

On friday night me and Adi went to the Cinemall in Haifa and saw the movie "You again" a predictable yet fun movie. The problem was the parking tho all the parking houses were full and the regular parking lots were full. So we had to be a little creative and find a piece of ground were we could park and cross our fingers that the parking-police were somewhere else which the fortunately were.

On another note I have started to run again after avoiding it for a few weeks due to the warm weather we've had the past month. Now the weather has cold of a bit and is like swedish summer which is nice for me and a little cold for Adi. Later on today I'll tune into the Swedish Radio to listen to Elfsborg vs. AIK the next to last game of the Allsvenska and 3 points are really important. Across the atlantic this past week has been a good Montreal week winning 4 games in a row until last night when the Panthers ended the streak, but Montreal still remain on top of their division and conference.

Til you read again,

Carl

Started to work =)

Hey All,

Sorry for not writing for a while, I don't know why I haven't posted anything until now. Today I started working as a swedish teacher at Berlitz, a well known international language learning school. I'm teaching an israeli guy swedish so he can communicate better with his swedish girlfriend and their son. I didn't really know what to expect sense the level of his swedish was sort of unknown to the Berlitz center, so it was a little hard to plan the lesson but it turned out great, so now I know how to continue.

During the time in later september when I wasn't writing in the blog loads things happend and now I will tell one part of the story. Me and Adi decided that we should try to do a hike sense we've done it before on our own and liked it. So we started to scan the net for good hikes in Israel and found the Sea to Sea-hike. This hike takes you from the Mediterranean-sea to the Kinneret-lake in the east of Israel, a hike of some 75 km. We bought a tent, a compass, a map etc and made our way to the shore of the Mediterranean. As its very warm in this country even in september we packed lots of water and sunscreen. We woke up with the sun every morning and went to bed early. The hike took us 4 days and three nights in our tent. We also brought a gas-stove and cooked many different combinations of simple but still tasty food. The hike was in some parts really hard as the weather was warmer then it used to be and the sun shone as hard as it could. The scenery surrounding the hike was really a mix of valleys, roads, mountains, forrest, rivers, dried out rivers and car-roads. We also saw some different animals, but we managed not to meet the evil boars, which was good as they are kind of violent. On the afternoon of day 4 we saw the Kinneret and around 4 o'clock in the afternoon we dropped our bags and ran into the sea =) It was really nice after 4 long hard days of walking.

On another note the NHL has started over in Canada and the US so now I'm watching Montreal-games a few times a week which makes me happy or sad depending on the outcomes of the games. As of now I'm also listening to Elfsborg vs. Djurgården (2-1) in of the last season-games of the Allsvenska. Right now I'm sort of tiered and I need some sleep. I'll keep on updating you ppl more frequently from now on.

Til you read again,

Carl

The Blog isn't dead....just resting!

Hey All,

I know I haven't been writing for some weeks its not because a lack things happening rather the other way around. In the coming week I'll update you all on most of it, but as of now I'm again packing my bags and tomorrow I fly back to the Holyland and Adi =). I've really nice week in Sweden reconnecting with old friends from back in the day. I've also spent much with my family and grandma's whom I hadn't seen for a long time. This is all for now I have a bag to pack...

Til you read again,

Carl

Happy New Year

Hey all,

So this past week has been full of holidays and good food. On Wednesday night it was the Jewsih New Years Eve so a big part of the family gathered here in the house and had a nice dinner filled with songs and laughter, however there were no fireworks....which I find werid. On New Years Day we went to Danit's family house for a nice bbq-lunch and more discussions and laughter. On friday me, Adi, Moti and Maya drove 1 hour north to visit Yossi, Yael, Maya and Ella who were in a Zimmer for the holidays. The Zimmer had a pool and we spent a lot of the time in the pool playing different games and of course we also ate a lot of good food, it was a really nice day except for the fact burnt my back a little bit.

During the week me and Adi has found a new passion in life as well....Puzzels! So every night for the past week we worked on an old puzzle that we found in the basement and sunday night we finally finished it but realized that sometime before three pieces of the puzzle had been lost. So after finishing the puzzle on sunday I went to get a new on yesterday and found a really good one in Puzzle-Store in one of the malls here so when Adi comes home its Puzzletime!.

I also have other news for you swedes reading...I'm coming to Sweden on the 29th of sep and staying until the 7th of October so if you feel like hanging out or do something cool please contact me and we'll see what we can do. Now I gotta go plan a CISV-activity for some youth here in Haifa.

Until you read again,

Carl

Looking for work...

Hey all,

Another week has passed and I've been looking for jobs. So far I found a few and emailed them all but havent yet received any good information. I went to an interview last week and it went well but the pay was really low and the travel time was a little to much. While I'm looking for work I'm also learning more hebrew on my own, which is not as much as fun learning together with others but its ok.

This weekend me and Adi went to the CISV Israel leadership training. We meet a lot of CISV friends and some newcomers. The training was for the CISVers from both Haifa and Tel Aviv who are now old enough to create and hold weekly activities with children. So the training consisted of lots of different things ex. what a good leader is or how to talk in front of a big group etc. It seemed to me that the people there learned a lot and had loads of fun doing it.

Last week we also went to the wedding of Orit and Guy this time it was a more regular wedding. It was a night full of food, dancing and people. Everybody seemed to have a lot of fun specially Orit and Guy.

Yesterday I went to Herzelia for a conference called "Who is a friend of Israel?" That was organised by the Heinrich Böll Stiftung. What was talked about was just the fact about who is a friend of Israel, what a "friend" is and what "Israel" they in that case were friends of or wanted to be friends with. There were three different panels with 5-6 ppl in each and theses people were famous and important Israeli politicians, historians, journalist etc, there were also politicians from the German Green Party there sense the Stiftung is german. For someone like me who is a Political Scientist it was really interesting both listening to the panels but also to the crowd that was there and asked questions. The crowd consisted of ca 100 people from all ages and political views and their questions and stories and thoughts really made me realize again how many different views there is about Israel among the Israeli's themselves. After a long day at the conference Adi picked me up at the train station and we went home to have a nice and calm evening. Today I haven't done to much some hebrew, some laundry, some cooking and just now I picked up Adi from the train. Tomorrow I'm going to try to find a stream so that I can watch Sweden vs. San Marino in the EC-qualifications.

Til you read again,

Carl

Visit, Visa, Voting...

Hey All,

I haven't written in a while so this text might get long as I have to describe the past two weeks and a lot of different things did happen. As I wrote in my last update a friend of mine was coming to visit and sure she did. I picked Ida up in the middle of the night from the Haifa train station after she had travelled for almost a day as it was the cheapest flight. When she was here we did many different things like visiting the beach, going to Jerusalem and hiking to the spring here in the Carmel Park in Haifa. We also talked a whole lot about what had happend in our lives over the past month and just regular things that we usually discuss. Ida stayed for a week and did a lot of tanning and sitting out in the warm weather that Sweden seemed to have been without this summer. She left a little reder, warmer and charged up for a cold fall in Sweden.

Last week Adi also had her birthday on the 26th of August. Some days before that Adi had invited some friends for a bbq and I was in charge of the grilling itself and after som assistance from Nir we managed to grill all the 6 kgs of meet that we had and everybody seemed delighted with the food so we were happy. During the evening we ate and talked and had a lot of fun. On the birthday it self me and Adi went to her pizzeria that makes gluten-free pizzas here in Haifa, we grabbed the pizza and took it to a lookout out point in the Carmel Park and had a nice lunch. Later in the evening I took Adi to nice restaurant here in Haifa called Bazarella translated into englis it becomes something like Meatarella basically a nice meat restaurant. We had a really nice meal and an awesome evening.

The day before we also had our 6 months anniversary and as a nice gift the Interior Ministry decided to give me a work-visa for a year YEAY! So now Im looking for a job on a bigger scale. I also printed some pictures of us and got a nice picture frame to put them in so now we have more nice pictures of us on the wall. On the 25th we also went to Adi's cousins "Henna"-prewedding party that is a tradition for Moroccan Jews. It was a party with good food, lots of loud music and interesting clothes and of course the Henna. The tradition is that you put the Henna on your hand and tie a bow around it in celebration of the couple and I still have a big brown blob in the middle of my right hand and its going to stay like that for a while.

On friday me and Adi drove to Tel Aviv to visit Raz and Nir but also to pick up Moti and Maya from the airport on the saturday as the trains were not running. In Tel Aviv as it was Sabbat not a lot of stores or restaurants were open and no buses were running so in the evening when me and Adi wanted a dinner we went on a little excursion from Raz's apartment to an open resturant, the walk there took around 1 hour but we got a really nice meal and good evening out of it and btw....we took the cab back. The next day we went to Nir's place watched a movie and hung out and then went Ben Gurion Airport to pick up Moti and Maya. Yesterday I went to Tel Aviv to vote in the upcoming Swedish elections. I voted at the embassy and all went well, I also gave them my CV hoping they have a job for me, fingers crossed. The night before a guy also called me about a job so I went from Tel Aviv to Herzliya for a job interview and all went well and later in the week they will call me back and we'll see what happens.

On another note the first EL-game vs Napoli went well only a 1-0 loss in Italy but in the return game in Sweden again Napoli won and the final aggregate of the two games were 3-0 and Elfsborg is out of the Euro-league and now the focus has to move to Allsvenskan and aim high for a another shoot for in a Euro League next year. Last week I also had my last lesson and test in the Ulpan at the University so now I'm back to learning hebrew on my own. The Ulpan thought me a whole lot and I'm going to build on it.

Til you read again,

Carl

Ulpan and Hikes =)

Hey All,

Another weekend has passed here in Israel and its been an exceptionally hot one, when I say that i've been sweating buckets im not lying. The week in the Ulpan has been great and another midterm has been passed with a good result 88/100, so right now im pretty pleased with myself. This week the University is closed so almost all the building are locked up. This means that we have had to move our class to a different building and a different classroom. Later this week I'm supposed to hold a presentation about whatever I like and so far I dont know what...suggestions anyone?

Last weekend was full of fun stuff. On friday I went with the Ulpan to Sippori, Yodfat and Akko. Sippori was the only city in the Galilee that surrendered to the romans during the Jewish Uprising in 66-72 AD. This saved the city from complete destruction as was the case for the cities that did not surrender. The cities inhabitants and commanders was seen as traitors but they lived to keep the traditions and life of the early Jewish state. The buildings that survived are also very special as they are full of Roman mosaics that show different things. I'll upload the pictures later. After Sippori we went to Yodfat a city not to far away and to much unlike Sippori before the Uprising, however Yodfat made the deadly choice to fight the Romans and as a result the city and its inhabitants were leveled to the ground or killed. As the story goes there was only one survivor, the former commander of the Jewish "army" in the north, Josefus Flavius. Josefus surrendered to the Romans when he was the only one left alive. He was brought to Rome to be processed and most likely executed but he persuaded them some how and he survived and became a historian who would live to the the story of the Jewish Uprising and irs thanks to him and some other writers that we know what we know about the siege of Masda, Yodfat and Jeursalem. In Yodfat nothing is left but the cistern that they kept their drinking water in. After Yodfat we went to Akko Beach for some swimming and tanning however as I and Adi had made other plans for the weekend she picked me up and me, her Raz and Noam took the car more north.

Yodfat or what remains...

One of the "smaller" Mosaics found in Sippori

My favorit Mosaic (above)of Sippori can be found in the Roman Villa, it depicts the Roman God Bacchus and Herkules having a drinking game, but it also has the Mona Lisa of Middle East, created almost 1500 years before Da Vincis.

Mosaic in the Synagogue in Sippori

View from Yodfat

On friday afternoon we drove from Akko to the Kinneret lake to camp for the night, which was really nice. We made our own food and had nice calm evening. Our goal for the saturday was to hike the Nahal El Al. Its a stream that runs through a river valley in the Golan Heights. Along the stream there are a two major springs/waterfalls. They are called the Black Fall and the White Fall. They both get their names from the color of the rocks the water flows over and down. The Black Fall is made up of volcanic rock and the White Fall of Limestone. Both of them have smaller pools at the bottom that you can swim in, we swam in both to cool down form the extreme heat. Except for the heat the hike was really beautiful and fun, I took some pics that you can see further down. We got home last night completely exhausted and fell into a bed after a nice long shower.

The Black Fall

The Road ahead of us

One of the beautiful views...

The White Fall

Another nice view...

Also I just remembered that we went to Caesera, the huge port the King Herodes built, on tuesday. It was a really nice trip and the guide told us about everything that happend there over almost 2000 years. First King Herodes built it, the construction took 11 years but afterwards he had mighty port and the city grew to include a hippodrome, a palace, a market and a big bathhouse etc. When the Herodes died the city deteriorated and some hundreds year later the Byzantines took over and restored and rebuilt the city and became yet again a mighty stronghold had trade area. After the Byzantnies came the Crusaders that fortified a smaller area and used it as a stronghold for their campaigns however they were run over by the Sultan Baybars how leveled the city which is why not a whole lot survived from the Crusader time however under the dust and rubble archeologists have been able to find much from the time of Herodes. Ill give some pictures to illustrate it.

The ground of the Hippodrome

The main road of Caesarea

View of the Roman City from the outer port

A Muslim prayer tower one of many evidences of Caesarea being used by many different cultures.

The hugh moth and a Castle wall that the Crusaders built.

On another note one of my dear good friends from Sweden is coming for a visit this week YEAY! It will be fun to catch up and talk some swedish and see what sort or mischief we can get ourselves into. Also last night IF Elfsborg ran over Kalmar FF with the score of 4-1, its looking good for the EL-game vs Napoli on thursday.

Til you read again have fun,

Carl

New Ulpan =)

Hey all,

So the new Ulpan started on wednesday. I'm now in a new class, one level higher then last time. The new class is combination of two classes from the last Ulpan, so a few of my friends and me are still in the same class. We also have a new teacher, Shlomit and so far its all good. We are still using the same textbook and I'm actually still in the same classroom which is making it feel a little more homely. On wednesday me and Adi also went to a bonfire that the Ulpan made. They made a fire and baked pitas on it and later also smores. Many people were there and we met some new faces. On Tuesday we will also go Caesera which is an old Roman city not far from Haifa that has an amphitheater.

This weekend me and Adi's family also had a family-dinner to celebrate the fact that Maya and Moti have been married for 30 years but also to gather the family for a last meal sense Maya and Moti are going to Alaska fore some weeks and Shay and Danit are going to China. On friday night me, Adi, Noam and Raz went to a bar and nice evening of talking and drinking.

Today Elfsborg will face of against Halmstad in the Allsvenskan and hopefully it will go alright. Last thursday Elfsborg also qualified for the 3rd leg of the Euro league by beating Tektes by 2-1(total aggregate of 7-1) now in the next stage Elfsborg will face of against Palermo from Italy. Which will be a great challenge and if they go through they will qualify for the groupstage.

Til you all read again,

Carl

Vacation from the Ulpan

Hey all,

Another busy week has passed. On thursday I had my final test for the July Ulpan, it felt good but so far we havent received the results. I really feel that I have learned a lot but I've also realized that there is much more to a language then how I remembered it so its going to take time to master this somewhat irregular but at the same time beautiful and logical language. The new classes start on wednesday this week so right now im in the middle of my "vacation". Last week some of my new friends left Haifa since they were only here for the July Ulpan some of them however will stay here in Israel, some for the army, some for the next Ulpan and some for school. But I'n pretty sure i'll make some new friends in the new Ulpan.

Yesterday me and Adi took a hiking trip to a spring "nearby". By nearby I mean like 1 km by the wings of a bird, however since we cant fly we had to walk it which was more some 4-5 km. Not to bad you think and usually I'd agree but we are forgetting something and that is called August in Israel. Which means its not just warm its freakin hot even at 9 a.m in the morning. The walk itself had some pretty views so it was still a really nice hike but both me and Adi could have done without the heat. The spring itself is a natural source of water here in the Carmel National Park. The spring is inside of a cave and if you are willing to and not to fat you can climb through a hole in a wall and go on a discover trip into the mountain which I did after some very unacrobatic moves. Adi took some pictures and here they are.

Me further in the Spring...

Me inside the spring...

The entrance to the Spring

Today I havent done to much. I've studied some hebrew in the computer program that I used before the Ulpan and now its more easy to understand which is good. Later I will also listen to IF Elfsborg vs. Gefle. After a draw and a loss in the lost two games in the series beating Tetkes in the Europe League with 5-0 reinstated some happiness and belief that it might be a fun last half of the Allsvenska and Europe League anyway.

Til you read again have fun,

Carl

Final Week of the Ulpan pt.1

Hey all,

So this past week a few new things have happend. When I stopped writing last time I wrote about the upcoming game for IF Elfsborg vs. Örebro this game ended 3-3 with Örebro scoring in the last minutes of the game, which sucked. On the other hand Elfsborg just passed through the first stage of the qualification for the European League( former UEFA-Cup), by beating Iskra Stal in two games, 2-1 and 1-0 for an aggregate of 3-1. In the next round they will face a Moldavian team that also should be fairly simple. Okey enough football for a while as it is just not interesting to some of you =)

The Ulpan keeps it pace and I'm learning new things constantly. Its hard and challenging but I can feel how a new world is sort of opening up around me as I now can read and understand most of the signs on stores etc around me. I can also listen into conversations around me and sort of understand what it is about. This week its final week of the July Ulpan so many of my classmates will soon be leaving for home or other missions around the world. The final exam is on thursday and then I have a small break until classes start again sometime the week after, with new classmates and new challenges.

Last friday the final stage of Adi's grandmas funeral was also made. What happend was that the final stone and the engravings were made on the headstone and the final covering stone. The Rabbi read from the holy texts and Adi's father held a speech about his mother that I wish I could have understood more of but the parts I understood were really beautiful and moving.

Last night me and Adi went out to celebrate our 5th month anniversary of being together. We went down to Cinemall in Haifa which is a huge mall with many stores but also has a huge Cinema complex with more then 18 different lounges. We saw Toy Story 3 in 3D which was cool. The plan was also to go out and eat but we felt tiered after the weekend and just grabbed a pizza on the way home and coused up in our couch instead. Ohh and the reason we were tiered from the weekend was that we had Raz here for a visit as she came here on her day off from the CISV Village here. This village is now coming to an end and I know that they have had their ups and downs but in the end they have had an awesome time.

Til next time,

קארל אנדאלן

Ulpan continues....

Hey all,

So a week has passed since I wrote the last time, a couple of things are new. The Ulpan is really working out great and i'mm learning more and more for everyday and the language has started to make way more sense than used to. Last week we had a midterm and today we got results and I'm pretty happy about my score which was 87/100. Within the Ulpan there are also a few trips and party's arranged. The day after my last blog-post we went to Nazareth to see the city and its sites. As I had been there before and know many of the stories form there I choosed to walk with an all-hebrew guide to see if I had a snowballs chance in hell of understanding him when was talking about different things and is it turned out I did understand at least half of what he said.

Last friday we went to Safat and a hike in Nahal Amud. Safat is one of the four holy cities in Israel and it is said that this is the place that the messiah will reappear ones he/she/it does. In Safat we were guided around to see different parts of the city, like the fort on the top of the hill that has been of much historical importance for many hundred years and its been sieged by both crusaders, mamluks, arabs, british and israeli troops. We also saw a couple of synagogs and other older parts of the town. The hike in Namal Hamud was beautiful. Fo those of you who are unfamiliar with the area its basically a river valley/crossing with high hills around. On top of the hills few things grow but the further down and the closer to the streams you get the more vegetation and bugs appear. You could also see old mill-houses, terraces and buildings. The hike itself wasn't so hard but the heat made the walk a real challenge.

This weekend we also had three kids from CISV Village here in Israel staying at the house. It was fun time and I think they did enjoy themselves, Maya and Adi took them to many different places. Yesterday we drove them back to the campsite to drop them of but also to help cook the evening meal. As we were cooking I first cut my thumb while chopping onions for the pasta-sauce and the some half hour later we ran out of gas for the stove so we couldn't boil the past so in the end all they got was big salad, bread and different sauces.

Yesterday the swedish football league started again after the World Cup break. Today Elfsborg are facing off against Örebro, a team that is usually in the mid of the table but after a really good spring they are currently placed as nr.4 and Elfsborg as well all now are nr.5 so hopefully after todays games the places will be switched.

Til you all read again,
Carl

Ulpan and other things

שלומ

Sorry for not updating you all in the past three weeks but a lot of things have been going both very good and some very sad. Last time I wrote we had just been to Shay and Danits wedding and I had finalized my application for the hebrew Ulpan at the Haifa University. A week after Shay and Danits wedding something really sad and depressing happend as Tzipora, Adi's grandma passed away after being sick of and on during this spring. her leaving left a huge hole in this family sense she was such a sweet and unselfish person that always looked after you and your well being. I only knew her for some 4 months but she was always happy to see me and to try to speak german and hebrew with me. Her passing also showed me how you grief within Judaism, which again is different from what I know from before. The burial is hold as fast as possible and then its an open house for 7 days in the passed persons house. Were friends and family can come to grief and send their condolences to the family. So for a week me and Adi spent many hours in Tziporas apartment together with family and other relatives. When the 7 days had passed we went back to the graveyard to say a prayer over the grave and when 30 days will have passed the final stone will be put on the grave to mark the end of the burial.

On a happier note I have also started the Ulpan at the University so right now all that is spinning in my head is hebrew, homework and new friends. Which is one of the reasons I havent written in the blog there has been no time. At the Ulpan there are some 180 people from 24 different countries. The 180 people are split over 12 classes depending on your prior knowledge of hebrew. I'm in class with 8 other people and our teacher Ornit. It really good class and we are learning lots every day. When its not class time the University had fixed with different sorts of entertainment such as Movie nights, trips, volunteering and barhopping. Tomorrow theres a trip to Nazareth that I'm going on hopefully its gonna be really great.

Another happy story is about the CISV Village that is taking place here. Me and Adi have been out there three different times helping them out with cooking and preparing the campsite. This weekend it was also the Open Day so we were there to help them out. What is always impressing in CISV Israel is the amount of people that show up on an Open Day, last year for the seminar some 200 people showed and for this Open Day some 450-500 people showed.....its Insanity! Anyway the show was good and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

A lot of more things have happend over the past weeks but right now I need to take a nap and then do my homework...and btw congrats to Spain for winning the World Cup even thou I thought that Webb played to much with his cards and that spanish players "fall" to easily.

להתראותת
קארל

Wedding...

Hey all,

Last week a lot of things has happend and I will try to recall them all in the stories below. On Monday me, Adi and Maya went to the Interior Ministry again to hand in even more papers and we are hopefully now done with handing them papers. Next time we get there we are apparently going to be interviewed separately so that they can get more information to base their decisions on. On Wednesday Adi, Maya and Tzipora(grandma) had a pedicure each for the upcoming wedding, this took place at Tziporas apartment. Before going there me and Adi had printed some pictures that we now have decorated our room with.

On thursday the big day that has been planned for in the last couple of months came, the day of Danit and Shay wedding. During the day Adi, her mother and some other people went to the hair and makeup-dresser for most of the day while I prepared my suit , shoes and hair at home. The wedding was at a khibutz close to Haifa. As I haven't been to a wedding in many years I did not know what to expect and what happend during the night blew me away. When I asked Maya who was coming? she said everyone...and that was very true, the entire area was filled with friends, cousins, grandparents etc all in all some 450ish guests. As this was of course a Jewish wedding I had little to no idea of what was going to happen and compared to what I remember from the last wedding I was at many things were different. First thing at a jewish wedding in Israel, no-one brings gifts. But as soon as you enter the wedding/party-area there is a table with papers, envelopes, pens and safe-box. You write down something nice and then place the note together with a check or regular cash into the envelope and then you put it in the safe-box. So instead of giving gifts the guests gives money to the soon-to-be-married couple. The religious ceremony in itself was of ourse also different, but one thing was similar the bride and the groom drove/walked together to the Chupa( a "house" with an alter). When it was all about to start Shay and Danit came driving down a road in there oldskool WV Beetle and the music playing was something that I thought I'd never hear at a wedding, but what was playing was nothing less then Europes - Final Countdown. The religious ceremony went on some wine was drunk, rings were exchanged, a glass was broken and after that everybody came up to congratulate the newlyweds. After the ceremony dinner, dessert, drinking and dancing took over the night and everybody really enjoyed themselves. When we came back home we were completely spent and some people even woke up with some muscle fever on friday=)

Later on friday me and Adi went to the final CISV Haifa Meeting of this term. We meet some people played some games and just talked about different things. After the meeting was done we went to a sushi-bar together with Gil and Dor to have dinner, it was really nice. On saturday me and Adi went home to Iris to help her prepare the invitations for the Open Day for the CISV-village here in Israel this summer. We prepared some 300 envelopes with an invitation and a map so hopefully if you live in Israel one will arrive to you soon. Later in the day me and Adi took a sherut(minibus-taxi) to Tel Aviv, we couldn't take the train or the regular bus as it was shabbat. We went to Tel Aviv to meet with Vinh from Denmark who was here on a seminar for work. Vinh is a good CISV-friend of mine that I hadn't seen in a while so it was nice meeting him. We all meet to have dinner in a restaurant in Tel Aviv and had a really good night. At the dinner also Raz, Nir and friend of theres were present together with Yael who staffed the seminar-camp in Israel with me last year. Me and Adi slept at Razs place and sense it was sunday Adi had to go to her base in the morning. I meet up with Adi for lunch and then I started a little trip for myself. The goal was to get from the Azraeli-mall to the beach and after asking some nice people about what bus to take I was successful and ended up at the beach resting for some hours before me and Adi took the train to Netanya. In Netanya we meet up with Maya and some other people who were doing a benefit-show to raise money for the CISV-village this summer. It was a successful evening and we did not get home until midnight and we fell asleep fast.

Today I have finaly finalsed all the papers for the University I believe and I will hand them in tomorrow and then I will hopefully get more information on what the next step is. On another note so far the World Cup has been a little of a disappointment but it looks like its picking up so hopefully todays games will be better.
Til you read again,
Carl

Bachelor Party and other fun things...

Hey all,

So another week has passed here in Haifa and some news things have happend. When I stopped writing last time I told you I was heading to Tel Aviv for a musical and here the story of what happend. I took the bus to the train station with the help of map that Adi made for me, some broken hebrew also helped me buy a bus ticket. The train to Tel Aviv take around 1 hour when I got there Raz picked me up and we went to pick up our tickets and get some food. Like a half hour before the show Adi came to join us. If you havent seen Avenue Q, which was the name of the musical, you should its awesome! The characters are hilarious and songs are lots of fun. Razs boyfriend Nir played two of roles and did an awesome job. Me and Adi spent the night on Nir's couch and in the morning Adi went to her base while I was still sleeping. When Raz woke me up it was around 11 and we had to leave as she had to get to work and I needed to go back to Haifa. On my way to train station I texted Adi and we decided to have lunch together before I left. It was really nice. Later I took the train back to Haifa and again with some broken hebrew I managed to catch the right bus to Denia, the part of Haifa were we live.

On Wednesday I was back in Tel Aviv as I needed a doctor to fill out a medical form for my application to the Summer Ulpan at the Haifa University. We tried finding doctors that could do it in Haifa but no luck, they were either to greedy or didn't have the possibility to do it. Maya drove me and Adi to Tel Aviv as she needed to go to the American Embassy to get a travel-visa for an upcoming trip to Alaska. Before Maya was finished at the Embassy me and Adi could have lunch again in Tel Aviv =)

On friday I went to the Kineret with Shay and some of his friends for his Bachelor Party. We put up some tents and got a a bbq going just on the beach of the Kineret. The Kineret is the biggest fresh water lake in Israel and it was nice to swim in water that was not salty. The night was spent eating and drinking and having a really nice time talking about many different things and the upcoming wedding on thursday. On Saturday morning we drove back to Haifa and came just in time for Shabbat-lunch =) The rest of the day me and Adi spent cleaning the AC in our room that has started to leak water for some reason, however cleaning it did not solve the problem, sitting in this room without and AC almost makes me wish that we could borros some winter winds from Sweden to cool down.

Today I also finalized and handed in my application to join the Summer Ulpan at the University of Haifa. During an Ulpan you learn hebrew but also about the life and culture here in Israel. Hopefully I'll be accepted and then classes would start on the 5th of July. As most of you know I also enjoy watching and playing football and now as the World Cup has started I'm glued to the tv whenever there is a game on Today im planning on watching Algeria vs. Slovenia, Serbia vs. Ghana and later in the evening Germany vs. Australia.

Til you read again,
Have fun,
Carl

Back in Israel =)

Hey All,

So now after little more then a week in Sweden I'm back in Haifa together with Adi =). The trip here was an interesting one, I took the plane from Gothenburg to Riga in Latvia. Latvia is a place I've never been to before but just visiting the airport doesn't count as a visit to the country in my book, so you could say I spent 7 hours in limbo. After a longtime at the airport we boarded the plane to Tel Aviv and landed at 4.10 am local time. Adi was at the airport to pick me up and we took the train to Haifa and slept for a few hours and then headed out to do some errands. Yesterday we went and visited Raz to hang out and get some dinner which was really nice.

Its interesting to be back in this place considering what has been going on the past weeks in waters outside of Gaza and Israel. The news you read in Sweden and the news you read here are very different also the discussions about what really happend and what was/is right and wrong are also different. Its hard for me to keep my head straight in this mess but one thing is for sure I really don't envy the people who are really caught up in this mess.

Today I'm going to take care of some things that were left behind when I left and maybe ill go for a run since the sun is actually covered by some clouds. Tomorrow I'm going to Tel Aviv to watch a musical play called Avenue Q with Raz and some other friends, unfortunately Adi cant come which sucks. I'm also looking into applying for the Summer Ulpan here at the Haifa University to learn hebrew and some more about this country. Also today is the 6th of June =) Happy Independence Day Sweden!

Til you read again,
Have fun

Sweden

Hey all,

So the past days I've been back in Sweden doing many different things and here comes the story of some of them. I arrived back in Sweden on monday after an interesting trip with KLM, where the K does not stand for K(c)ommunication. We flew out of Tel Aviv 30 mins late and that made me miss my connecting flight in Amsterdam, funny thing is that the people on the first flight said there is no way I could make it to the other flight and told me to go to KLM-desk. At this desk I was told that I easily could have made that flight if I wanted so the K(c)ommunicaiton between the KLM in air and on ground are not working to well. So this gave me some extra 3 hours on Schipol, which were spent eating lunch and looking at expensive things.

On Wednesday I went to meet an old friend in the city where I grew up, Borås. We had a fun day and evening cooking food and catching up on the past months. The day after I continued my friend tour a little more west to the city of Jököping were another friend of mine lived. We also caught up on the past months and watched some movies. On Friday I was back in Göteborg and in the evening I met up with some old friends at bar in the center of town. We sat outside in the sunshine as it kept on shining almost the entire evening until we got cold and went inside the bar instead.

On Saturday morning me, my brother and dad packed ourselves into the car and drove to Linköping, where my cousins lives. My mom was already there as she was working in Stockholm the day before. We drove there since my youngest cousin was celebrating his first communion, the protestant-Christian version of a Bar Mitzva sort of. First we went to the church for the service and in the afternoon and evening there was a party at their house with family and friends. The next morning my dad took the train to the airport as he is now finally in China, earlier he was stopped by ash from the volcano in Iceland. After he left me, my brother and my mum drove back to Göteborg. In the evening me and my brother went to a bar to meet some old friends and catch up on the past month.

On monday I woke up read the news and went back to bed as the news I read was not the news I wanted but the once I had predicted the day before. Now we'll see what the end of this tragic event will be but one thing is for sure...don't believe the hyped up scrap-crap-media and read something else and hope for an investigation that is free from any bias opinions or conclusions. On another note I'll be back in Israel early friday morning YEAY!

til you read again,
have fun!

Three months =)

Hey all,

Some almost three months ago I left a Sweden that was covered in snow and still logging minus degrees in two numbers. Now three months later I'm on my way back after a wonderful time here in Israel. A lot of things has happend, some that I've told on this blog and some that at the time were forgotten and therefore didn't make the blog. I will be Sweden from the 24th of May to the 3rd of June and I hope to meet many of my old friends and of course my family. So what has happend here the past week you might wonder? I'll tell you all now.

This week was a little bit different as yet another Jewish holiday made its appearance, this one is called Shavuot (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shavuot). It is sort of a harvest celebration and a lot of dairy products are consumed. Anyway this meant that Adi had tuesday and wednesday of from the army. So on monday night we went to a restaurant to be just us two and having a good and nicley prepared meal. It was a really nice night. On tuesday Ella and Maya the two young girls that was with us in the Zimmer in the Golan came to stay with us as their parents took a short vacation. We played some different games during the day and in the evening we had some people over to celebrate the holiday, later in the evening Raz came to join us and we went out to bar for another calm and nice night. On wednesday Ella, Maya and Moti and Maya made a trip before their parents came to pick them up.

On thursday Adi went to the army and I took a nice run, running my usual track here close to the house, fun thing about it is that some of the streets here are named after countries so I run both on the Sweden, Finland and Liberia street. On friday me and Adi went to the beach for some tanning, swimming and chesbesh. The water was really nice and the shadow was good to me as well the sun and I are still not good friends after almost 25 years of knowing each other. Yesterday not a lot happend but me and Adi made a non-gluten Chocolate cake that was really tasty. Today I was running on the sidewalk on the beach again which was nice not so warm this time tho, later plans for the is to pack my bag with only the real necessities so that I can bring more things with me back here on the 3rd of June.

The next blog will most likely be written in Sweden...
til you read again,
Carl

Talking Swedish...

Hey all,

So another week has passed...time seems to fly over here and in like a week I'll be flying back to Sweden for visit =) This week Adi has been coming home everyday sense she has finally got her military-job. She will be working from a base in Tel Aviv and go back and forth everyday until we might find another solution.

Tonight I will listen in to another football game the one vs. GAIS. The last game I wrote about vs. Mjällby didn't go so well but the last one vs. AIK was a brilliant victory 4-0. Another good story comes from the other side of the Atlantic, my favorite hockey team of all time Montreal Canadiens have been bashing the former champions Pittsburgh Penguins and the presidents trophy's champions Washington Capitals and they are now in the finals of eastern conference vs. the Philly Flyers.

On friday me and Adi took the car and drove to a neighborhood close Jerusalem to view some art and speak swedish =) We found this event on Facebook and decided to go. It was an open house event and one of the houses we visited was owned by a swedish family so I got to talk swedish and we also had swedish-fika (some waffles and dammsugare). It was really nice and I got to talk to the family about their history, how they moved to Israel in the late 1940s, got offered jobs in Sweden in the 1960s and then later the family moved back to Israel in different steps. We also saw some pretty paintings, photos and sculptures. When we got back home we took a nap and later we met up with Raz and headed out to really nice bar in downtown Haifa, it was really cosy and sort of irish inspired which made me think back to the time I spent in Ireland.

Today I was running on the beach-sidewalk which was better for my knee then running on the sand as I used to. On another note while we were at the beach we saw a thermometer and the summer is really on its way here or what else would you call a rise from 23 to 28 degrees between 7.30 to 8 am in the morning =) Now I'm happy that I'm inside and the AC is on.
Til you read again,
Carl

Finished Army Course and tickets to Sweden =)

Hey all,

So this past week not a lot has happend but here comes the short story about it. When I left last time I was going to listen to ÅFF and Elfsborg this game turned to to be a draw as did the game vs. Malmö later in the week. Later today i'll also listen in to the game vs. Mjällby AIF hopefully it will generate 3 good points.

Its been sort of a slow week sense I havent been able to run because of my knee and my toenail turning blue...but today I ran for the first time in over a week and it worked out well so were back on track. Today Adi will also get to know where she is going to be working for the coming two years as an army-computer expert. On thursday Adi finished her course and me and Maya went to the ceremony which looked a lot like an american graduation with speeches and hats thrown in the air, the big difference being the presence of army personell and weapons. Later in the evening me and Adi went with most of her friends from the course to the graduation-course-party like one hour outside of Haifa. We had a lot of fun and came back early in the morning the next day.

Last night me, Adi, Maya, Shay and Danit plus most of Danits family went to a concert to hear an old Israelian rockband that has been around for some 30 years. They were good and I really did enjoy it even though I didn't understand most of the lyrics, but music has a way of being non-lingual so that you get it anyway. It was a nice way to end an another wise sort of slow week.

As I wrote in the last post I said I might be coming back to Sweden in the end of May and guess what its the truth, I'll be back on the 24th of May and I'll stay until the 3rd June so if you wanna meet up give me a call or two =)
Til you read again,
Have fun!,
Carl

Birthdays, Interior Ministry and Fires on the beach =)

Hey All,

When I left you last time I told you that I would be listening to the game between IF Elfsborg and Trelleborgs FF and as I predicted it was an easy victory 4-1, later in the week Elfsborg also beat Brommapojkarna with 1-0 so its been a good football week and hopefully tonight the luck will carry on when Elfsborg faces of against Åtvidabergs FF.

As I've written previously in the blog Moti and Maya went to China for some days with a group of friends. They got back home on tuesday morning with a lot of things that they bought and some funny stories about life in China. They had had a really nice time with an excellent group and tour guide. I ran twice last week and my knee has been acting up so I've taken a decision not to run on sand anymore as it seems to be to uneven and soft for my running to be healthy.

On thursday me and Maya went to the mall and grocery store to refill the house again. The mission we had in the mall was to print pictures for me and Adi's meeting with the Interior Ministry that was today. Two months earlier we had been there asking them how we could get me a work-visa and they gave us a list of things we needed one of them where photos of us together and the stories of how we met plus some other important bureaucraticall documents. We thought we had all that we needed when we went there today but apparently a paper from the Swedish Police Agency isn't legit enough without a stamp from a "notarius publicus". These "notarius publicus" I've learned after some googleling exists in every swedish county and their mission is to stamp papers to make them legit within a certain Haag-convention. How we are going to solve this problem now as the paper is here and the "notarius publicus" is in Gothenburg I'm not sure of yet, but I'll think of a solution.

On friday me and Adi also went with Raz to celebrate a birthday of one of Adi's army friends. It was a nice evening in another city next to Haifa. The pub was called Churchills and the pub next to it was called the Beatles....sort of interesting I thought. On Saturday night there was another holiday here which looked very similar to the one that was celebrated in Sweden on friday, Valborg. What happend here was that many people gatherd on the beach, lit many fires sat around and played music, bbq food and talked. It was a nice evening, looking out at the water sitting next to a warm fire.

So this week is the last week for Adi's army course, meaning that from next week on she is probably coming home every day which is really nice and makes me happy, its been a little boring and lonely here during the weekdays. On another note for those of you in Sweden reading this blog its very possible that I might show up in Sweden in the end of this month as I miss you all. If you want to meet up please call me on my swedishnr. when I get back or send me something on Facebook or my email.

Til you read again,

Carl

CISV Israel Minicamp

Hey All,

So after a fun weekend doing some different stuff I will now continue to tell you what happend. On thursday Adi was coming, one day earlier then usual because everynowandthen you get thursdays of in the army. She thought she was coming around 2-3 so we planned to go to the beach and maybe ran some errands. It turned out however that the army need Adi and friends to sit around the base and do not so much. She instead came home around 8, but when she got home I had made her dinner. So we had a nice evening anyways. Something new and interesting about this country that I have discovered in the last days has been to go get the mail, might not sound so fun but I'll tell you why. When I've been out running in the neighbourhood I've never seen a single mailbox infront of a house and that got it's explanation this wednesday when Maya handed me the keys to the their postbox which is at the local postoffice next to a small grocery store some 10 minutes walking from the house. At the post office all the boxes for the entire neighbourhood is located so there was a lot of boxes.

On Friday we did ran the errands we couldn't do on thursday and visited Adi's grandma in the hospital again, she is feeling much better. Later in the day we drove to the Kihbutz Givat Haviva to visit the CISV Israel MiniCamp for kids in the ages of 10-15. It was a lot of fun and I actually ran into two of the participants, Roi and Hila, from Israeli delegation that I had in the village that I staffed in Denmark in 2007. It was fun seeing them again unfortunately the other 2 couldn't make it to this camp and Dani who was their leader was stuck in Jerusalem. As me and Adi hadn't been planing any of the activities that took place in this camp we just sort of floated around and helped with what ever was needed, and I also got to buy new CISV-Israel comfy pants. They are awesome! On saturday midday we came back to Haifa and drove past the hospital to check on Adi's grandma and talked to her for some time. We also picked up the mail and later in the evening cooked food for Adi to take to army, she only has roughly two weeks left of training and then she will find out where they are going to place her and exactly what she will be doing.

Today I plan to run if my knee will let me, but also to learn some hebrew and in the evening sit down and listen to IF Elfsborg beat Trelleborgs FF =)

Til you read again,

Carl

Army Friends, Memorial Day and Independence Day

Hey all,

The past couple of days have been sort of hectic with a lot of different stuff going on and I will tell you all about it now. When I stopped writing last time I said that we might be heading to Tel Aviv for the night, this was in one way right we where going out only that Tel Aviv was not the goal of the journey. Me and Adi drove to a city in between Haifa and Tel Aviv where Adi's friend from the army lives to have a nice evening. Some of Adi's other friends from the army was there plus some other random people. It was fun to meet the people Adi talks about when she comes home and finally get a face on most them. The morning after we drove to Haifa and rested for the rest of the day. On sunday Adi again went to the army by train, the train station in Haifa is right on the beach so me and Maya took the chance to exercise, me running my usual track and Maya walking with a friend. Later we went to do some shopping and visiting Adi's grandma in the hospital and she was doing fine. When we got back I studied some hebrew and finished the first level in the program that I've been using for the past 2 months.

On sunday it was Memorial Day here in Israel, where they remember the soliders and civillians that has lost their lives fighting and living in the state of Israel. In the evening me and Maya went to Adi old school where they had a military memorial service for the soliders who had died that went to that school. Family members told their stories, some songs were sung and the over the PA came all the names of the soldiers that had died. All in all a pretty sad and "interesting" evening. I say its "interesting" cause as far as I know we have nothing that compares to this in Sweden, which might have something to do with the fact that we haven't seen a war on our soil for more then the past 200 years.

On monday morning I returned to the same school for another memorial service, this time it was made by the students of the school. There was a lot of people there and almost the same things transpired this time as the night before. Now you might wonder why I went to almost the same thing twice. I went to the first one with not knowing what was going to happend and was sort of impressed, so when Adi told me that there was another one, and that this was the one she had been participating in for the past 4 years so I went to see that one to. One difference between them was also that the first one was during a cool nice evening and the second one was during a warm summer morning. A result of this was that some students that had not been drinking enough water beforehand passed out or where close to as result of dehydration as they where standing at attention on a football field without any shadow for like an hour. But this was well organized as there where medics standing by on the field to take care of the people that seemed in need.

Later when I was back at the house I heard a familiar sound, a sounds that can be heard on the first monday of every month in Sweden, the air alarm. No worries tho here this noise is not to warn people of incoming missiles of planes, this noise is sort of a silent minute. As soon as its sounds everybody drops what they are doing and stand in silence, even cars and trains stop in the middle of the road or tracks and drivers etc get out in remembrance.

In the evening some friends dropped by to celebrate the evening of the Independence Day here, the 62nd one. We had a nice evening talking and drinking and later we went down to the beach to take a look around. On tuesday morning we woke up late and got prepared to go to BBQ-lunch at Adi's cousins house some 5 mins walking distance from here. At the house the BBQ was burning and a big part of that part of the family was there eating and having great time to celebrate the Independence Day. We ate a lot of good meat of the BBQ and different salads and hummus. After gaining some 2 kilos in one sitting we went to visit Adi's grandma at the hospital again and she doing better, we stayed for some time and talked about many different things in both hebrew, german and english. Last night some other friends dropped by and we sat outside talking and finishing of the Independence Day in a calm and nice manner.

On another note as there is no ash clouds from volcanos over here Maya and Moti had no problem making their trip to China as planned and they left on monday night. I find it sort of interesting that as far as technology has come that a cloud of dust basically can keep most of the planes grounded and many airports closed. I've also been told that there was a football match last sunday but I choose not to recognize it as it didn't happen =)

Til you all read again,

Carl

ps. If you want to get Spotify Premium for free use this link: http://www.gratispremium.com/?ref=140570 ds.

Hebrew and Running

Hey All,

So another slow week has passed. I've studied more hebrew, but its hard for me to pronounce not weird sense its not even close to my native tongue =) I've also been looking into something called Ulpan, which is a school where you learn Hebrew,about the jewish life and the state of Israel and its history. Today also I took my first run after a smaller heel injury and sickness, it was fun but my body is gonna kick my(its) ass.

This week is also jam packed with Swedish football games. On Sunday Elfsborg went to Olympia in Helsingborg to face of against the current league leader. It went all kinds of bad...from the radio it sounded that there was only one team on the pitch and unfortunately that was not Elfsborg. So the first and hopefully only loss of the season has now been done. Today however it was a completely different ballgame. Djurgårdens IF came to Borås for a visit they will late forget. Altho of to a bad start, a penalty-goal in the 4th min. The players in Elfsborg woke up and before the halftime it was 2-1 and when 90 mins was up the final result was 3-1 from the radio it sounded like DIF was never even close, and yes the broadcast was working perfectly.

Tomorrow Adi comes home =) We have no real plans for the weekend but maybe we are going to Tel Aviv tomorrow...i'll let you know more later.

Til you read again,

Carl

Army and Illness

Hey all,

So the Pesach-holiday was over on tuesday morning and everyone returned to the army or to work. The week passed on as it has done the last couple of weeks, with running and studying hebrew but also helping Maya with different things. I also managed to charge my phone with credits, which is done in a completely different way from what I'm used to. In Sweden if you want to charge your phone with money you go to almost any store and say, Hi can I get credits for 100 SEK and they give you a recite with a number that you text to the company that you have. Its a different ballgame here...Since I have the company Orange I figured ok lets go to the Orange-store in one of the malls downtown, but the guy in there said no, you'll have to downstairs next to the gasstation to the cellphone store. So I went there guessing it would work like home but no, when I told them I wanted to charge with 70 NIS, he asked me for my phonenumber wrote some on his computer and two seconds later my cellphone pinged telling me that I now have 67 NIS on my phone, I asked him why not 70? and he said thats not how it works. Anyway a new experience has been learned.

On thursday night some CISVers gathered outside in a nice place to make a fire, sing some songs and here all about EJBM that some ppl had come back from. We also said goodbye to Gil who is now joining the army...Later on in that evening some of us headed downtown to bar and grabbed some beers. A very fun and nice evening! Adi came home on the friday and we ran some errands and then took a nap when I woke up I felt not so good anymore, I was feverish, had a headache and my stomach was not in sync with the rest of my body so I spent the rest of friday and saturday in bed, trying to eat and drink enough. Today I feel much better but my stomach is still not a 100% okey, next stop is some breakfast and stomach pills and keeping my fingers crossed that it will be good.

Till you read again,

Carl

Hey Again,

So we just arrived home from a 4-day trip in the north of Israel. We stayed at a Zimmer in the Bet Hillal area, a really nice place. It situated in the middle of the Golan Heights so we had "mountains" all around us and since the summer hasn't yet started for real here it the trees and grass was still green so it was a beautiful sight, we also saw snow on top of the highest mountain. With us on the trip was Yael and Yossi and their two kids Ella and Maya. Yael is originally from Germany so the kids and Yael spoke german so I have been able to train both my hebrew and brush up on my German as the kids didn't talk english yet.

We arrived at the Zimmer sight, which is a gathering of houses and room with nice gardens and a common area, on friday afternoon and unpacked our bags and then went for dinner. Once we where back me and Adi sat outside our room in the night talking about many different things having some wine and smoking some shisha....allinall a nice day. On saturday morning we woke up and had breakfast around nine. Afterwards we went walking next to a river that ran close by, it was really hot outside so I had to use a lot of sunscreen not to get burnt and it succeeded. When we came back in the afternoon we where all tiered so we went for a nap and showers before dinner. The dinner was at a really nice place with a great view over the river, the food was also really nice. In the evening me and Adi watched a movie from the Jacuzzi that was in our room =) reallyreally nice...and the evening ended out on the porch with leftovers from the restaurant.

The River

Me and Ella

Adi outside our room

Yesterday we woke up and had breakfast outside with and decided on what we would do. Later we drove to a memorial for a Helicopter Crash that killed 73 soldiers in the area in February of -97, when their two Helicopters collided in mid air. Later me, Adi, Maya and Moti rented two 4-wheel ATV's and drove on a guided tour in the area. It was really nice I have never drive an ATV before, it was scary at first but I got used to it pretty fast and then it was pure joy! When we got back to the Zimmer we where really dirty cause all of the dust and sand that the ATV's had been throwing around so we looked really tanned, before we showered. Later that night we went to restaurant and then up the mountain to the Nimrod Fortress for a guided tour in the dark. The view from up there over the valley in the dark was really nice. The castle itself was built but the son of sultan in the mid 13th hundreds, and it was built to protect from outer threats as the mongols had just pillaged their way through some years before. The tour was in hebrew but I found signs in english that I could read and Adi, Moti and Maya also translated a bit. We got back late at night and fell into bed immediately after a long day.

Driving ATV's

Today we packed up all our stuff and headed home to Haifa as the Pesach holiday ends today. On the way home we stopped in an older city, where all the houses where in stone, all the roads where of cobblestone and there where narrow passages and lots of stairs. A nice places but it was really hot. We had lunch that we got for free sense the waiter and kitchen failed to gives us the food we asked for and also undercooking some of it, but it was a good meal nonetheless. So now we are back in Haifa tiered but happy.

Til you read again,
Carl

Pesach, Zihkron and the WaterCompany of Israel

Hey All,

Right now its the Pesach holiday here in Israel which means that many people have vacation, some stores are closed and that you can't buy any bread that is leavened. Since I wrote the last time a couple of things have happend. On monday all of the family(uncles, grandparents, cousins) gathered in the apartment of Adi's grandmother to have the special Pesach-feast meal. For someone like me that has never done it before it was really nice. Everyone was sitting around the table and the oldest man at the table read from the Haggadah, the book that tells of the jews escape from slavery i Egypt. During the reading you drink some glasses of wine and in the middle of the story you eat the great meal. Which is a lot of typical good food, when the food is finished the story continues and ends with a lot of singing and a last glas of wine. It was a really great night and we had a lot of fun and ate very good food.

At the Pesach dinner =)

Last night me, Maya, Shay (Adi's brother) and Danit (Shay's fiance) and her family met up in a city next to Haifa called Zihkron where there was sort of a carinval/market in the main street to celebrate the holiday. We where also there to check out a band for Shay's and Danit's wedding later this year. It was fun evening seeing a lot of people, music and art in the street.

Local band playing old jewish songs on the street in Zihkron.

Today me, Maya, Danit and some friends of Maya went to the WaterCompany of Israel to get a tour at their site. As you might know there is a lack of fresh water and fresh water sources in Israel, they have ONE larger lake compared to Sweden that has well over 7,000 lakes, so they have to have really good technology to be able to clean and find it the little water they do have. The biggest sources is the ground water that has to go through many cleaning stations before it can be used, the second source is the lake. Because of the lack of water there is only one company, which is owned by the government that has the right to work with this. The tour was all in Hebrew but thanks to some translations, pictures and models of the plant I understood most of what was going on. After the tour we went to some small village close by and ate really-really good Humus, with pita, meat, sallad etc.

As I said in the beginning its a holiday period here so tomorrow most of the Ronen-family are going north to what you in Israel call a "zimmer" which is a large cabin in the nature. Exactly what is going to happen there I dont know, but I've been told that there is a pool, a river and that it has beautiful surroundings so I'm guessing its going to be awesome, I'll let you know what happend when we get back.

Til you read again,

Carl