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