A great Friday

So, yesterday was a great day.

I got up in the morning and met some people from ulpan (language class) to show them where the indoor market was. I got some more dried beans, rice, and oatmeal. I also ended up getting some ground chicken (14 shekels per kilo) however, there's about a half hour ride back to campus, and I still wanted to buy some milk. I also didn't want hot raw meat. So I bought some cheap-0 popsicles (1 shekel a piece) which were deep frozen, and put them in my bag, turning it into a refrigerated bag :). Problem solved.

After dropping my things off at my apartment, I went back into the city and tried to stop by the tourist information center, but I got there at 1:30, and it closed at 1:00. Then I found a bike shop I was looking for, but it didn't have much selection, and when I asked for a catalog, they said they didn't have one... hmm... so then I wandered around some more and stumbled upon a park that was very nice. see pictures in the second half of the facebook album available here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2070049&id=141300373&l=2197b4bfdc

Then, at a little before six, I came back to Beit Eliyahu, a messianic congregation in downtown haifa. They had a special dinner and service, and then I helped them clean up a little afterwards, and then some of us went to an apartment and had a prayer meeting for a few hours for christians in the west bank and gaza. I ended up getting home around 1 am or so then.

Great day.

so much to say.

well, let's see.

It's early tuesday morning, and I've got a quiz in Hebrew class today, so I got up early to study, which I will do RIGHT after I finish this post.
On Friday I went to the market again, and this time I took a picture and a video.

The video is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In2Mc9e52Vg

I bought too much food, but hey, I won't have to go shopping for a while. I also mixed up the words for 1/4 and 1/2, and bought a half kilo (little over a pound) of Parmesan cheese instead of a 1/4 kilo. Oh well.
Saturday afternoon, I went to the Israel Science Museum, where there happened to be the Body Worlds Exhibit, which I totally didn't know was even here now. Anyway, I did go to see it, and it was kinda weird/interesting. Some of the most amazing parts were the ones where they filled arteries and veins with a poly mer then removed the flesh... the delicate network, especially in the fingertips and the intestines was just incredible. Anyway, there was a sign that said no photography... but I did sneak one picture. Because maybe not everyone wants to see people w/o their skin on, I'm just going to link to the picture here:
http://www.freewebs.com/knowledge_sharers/PHOT0025.JPG
This set of three people playing poker (note the passing of an Ace under the table) makes a cameo in the James Bond film Casino Royal.
The science museum proper was quite nice. Not nearly as big as the London one, but pretty well done. In particular, they have a puzzle room with oversize wooden puzzles that was one of the best collections I've seen. The biggest disappointment was that there were many "push teh button" exhibits which were not working. They also had a really great outdoors area, with a really fun energy storage toy using a big flywheel... see the video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvgIpXHL-ms

There was also a great sound wave demo, like one they have at all the cool science museums, but this time i got a video of it, available here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4itkvYnuGQ

Then, later that night I went to the German Colony, a sorta touristy place in Haifa, and ran into some friends from class, so I joined them for a dessert at one of the outdoor seating restaurants. I came back to the area on Sunday, looking for a church that someone told me about, but couldn't find it. Then, however, I was able to take some pictures, as well as visit the Haifa subway, the only underground in Israel. It was definitely interesting, but I'm afraid I didn't get too many very good pictures due to the fact that I was kinda freaking out about having just lost my camera case. I set it down with my map somewhere and I have no idea what happened to it.

More pictures have been posted at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2070049&id=141300373&l=2197b4bfdc

Mid-week activity report

allrightythen.

I mentioned before about the hike that I took Sunday night. Here's some pictures:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2069717&id=141300373&l=6d52a68871

On Monday, I mostly slept. It was crazy.

On Tuesday, after Ulpan, I stopped by the visitors' center on campus and picked up a map of haifa, and looked around a little bit. It's actually got a lot of stuff there, like a mini-museum. I'll have to go back and take pictures etc.

Then, several of us from Ulpan class took the bus down to the beach. It was great.
The waves weren't quite as big as when I was in Africa. but we did see a few people surfing, and there was good swimming with a nice shallow grade into the sea. The sand was spectacular... very fine and not too hot at all. On the way back to campus we stopped and got falafils. Today, I'm going to do laundry, and I'm researching different options for transferring money.

The Second Half was Better.

So, after having a fairly rocky start to sunday, I took some steps to turn it around. I played a card game with some of the other english speakers, and then I had a mango for an early dinner.
Mangos are where it's at. Seriously. And fruit in Israel is great! I would say that the mango that I had yesterday was even better than the mangos that I had in Liberia. (Just in case anyone else cares, the title is deliberately ambiguous, and refers to both the day and the mango.)

Then, I took a hike in one of the parks on campus that goes up the mountain toward Haifa University. It was great fun, and I have a few pictures, but I'll upload them later. I even saw some of the wild pigs that live on the mountain, though I didn't get a picture of them. I had to turn back b/c it was getting dark, but I plan to go back and explore a little more in the woods.

Today so far has been a lot of errands, and I definately need to review some of the Ulpan lesson. I also plan to go visit my advisor (if he's in) and see the Mechanical Engineering building.

a good Shabbat, and a bad Sunday (so far)

The Campus Jewish organization Chabad hosted a shabbat meal on Friday night and saturday noon. There were several of the international students who came and it was a good time with far more food than we could eat. It was kind of interesting, sitting at the table with friends from Ulpan, none of us really understanding hebrew much yet, but having a good time. There were two or three from Germany (I think Anna-Maria, Christoph, and Daniel were all there), and Traci, who is from Scotland, but did her graduate school in the US and is doing postdoc now at the Technion. There are also the Erdos brothers, who are both from Missourri and doing a masters in EE. It was a good time. On Saturday, there was the meal and then we were going to a do a scavenger hunt around campus, but something got messed up with the clues, so we're gonna try again. It should be great picture fodder of some of the more scenic parts of campus.

Also of note, it took 5 days before I had someone call me a genius. I think that's a new record.

I've noticed that there is a disproportionate number of people who salute me as a greeting. This has included military persons, employers, professors and peers. It kinda creeps me out a little bit. But anyway, Saturday was the first salute in Israel. maybe it won't be as common here. We'll see.

But on to the bad news.

I woke up late today... partly because the battery in the alarm clock that I brought died 3 days after I arrived. Then, while biking my way to class, I was looking for a turn and hit an irregularity in the pavement which caused me to wipe out. All through class I just wasn't really able to concentrate, and about halfway through, we got the bill for the Ulpan, which is 1500 sheqels, or about 400 dollars. (which, incidentally, is $100 cheaper than Rosetta Stone).
Anyway, I got the impression that we were supposed to pay it today, but when I went to the post office to pay, they said cash or check only and no, an american check wouldn't work. (even though it worked for the deposit with the application). Anyway, I went to the bank on campus then to see if I could convert some money, but it was closed. Eventually I found out that no, it's fine to take care of it whenever.
Then I needed to get some pushpins at the bookstore, but on my way there, I wiped out on my bike again.. I think partly b/c I was tired and not watching my speed very carefully. Minor scrapes is all, but it's still frustrating. Oh yeah, and my bike lock that I bought on Friday broke. Not during one of the wrecks, no, that would make too much sense. It broke when I accidentally tried to turn the key the wrong direction. I think a swift kick would have defeated it. So, another trip to find another bike lock.
Oh yeah, I forgot about the part where I had to leave class early to go talk to Rodica, the foreign students coordinator, but even though her office is open until 12:30, she's only there until 12. Go figure.
I did accomplish at least one thing today: I found out what my mailing address is:

Mordecai Veldt
193-1-5
Nave America
Technion
Haifa 32000
Israel

Into the City

This morning (Friday) I woke up nice and late, and then my housemate took me into Haifa on the bus to a market. Markets are one of the best things about cities. It's so much fun to walk around and see all the different goods, and is by far the fastest way to get a good handle on what is available and how much things cost.

Sorry, I took my camera, but didn't take any pictures... except for one of the McDonalds a few streets over from the market. **edit*** inserted pic

Here's a pretty good map of Haifa: http://www.tour-haifa.co.il/eng/uploads/maps/HaifaEng.pdf
The market is in grid I-7, and the McDonalds is a little northeast of the intersection of Herzl and Balfour Streets, in grid H-7.

So, just as a reminder, a New Israeli Sheqel (NIS) is about a quater, roughly. (3.8 sheqelim to the dollar)
Also, a kilo is 2.2 pounds.

So, meats and fish are around 40-50 NIS/kilo which works out to around 5-7 dollars/ lb
Carrots were almost universally 2.8 or 3 NIS/kilo which works out to around $0.33/lb
Small potatoes could be found for as low as 2 NIS/kilo, but were usually more like 2.5 or 3, and large potatoes are more like 4 or 5 NIS/kilo.

A 5-pack of pita is around 3.5 NIS, and 10 small loaves of bread is about 12 NIS.
A perogi-type thing (potatoes or meat cooked in a bread container) was around 4-5 NIS.
Figs are around 5-7 NIS/kilo.

Also.. don't pick up the weird prickly pear looking things, because you'll have little stingers in your hands for hours. I don't know how people work with those.

The McDonalds prices seemed a little high.

I had some fun wandering around the shops. Sometime next week I plan to go down to the beach. (that's the mediterranean beach...)

Progress?

Ulpan is going well, and fast. I'm still doing Rosetta stone in the evenings, which helps to reinforce things.

A few details:
So far I've eaten in a few of the "cafeteria" places around campus... actually small restaurants. They all seem to have about the same options, with some minor variation and difference in prices.

You can get a large plate full of one meat dish, some rice, and two sides for about 16-20 shekels. That works out to about 4.50-5.50 for a good sized meal. A sub-style sandwich is usually around 7-10 shekels. (it's about 3.8 shekels to the dollar).

Today I visited the pool, where I can get in free until august 1. After august 1, it's a few hundred shekels for the year. It's an olympic sized pool, and pretty nice. I also visited the two saunas. One was a dry sauna and one was a steam sauna. If you want the same experience, just stick your head in the oven. For the steam sauna, stick your head in the oven with a pan of water that's been there a while.

After swimming, I was hanging around the cafeteria thingy attached to the pool, and I met a Computer Science/Mathematics student from Japan, who was folding modular origami. He shared a few pieces of paper with me and I showed him a new modular piece and made a vase. Then I was going to go to a free Jazz concert... but I misread the email, and it was yesterday. :(

I'm still waiting for an email back from a few people about churches and details.

monday update

The plane from London to Tel Aviv was not only on time, but was 35 minutes early getting into Ben Gurion. However, all of that time was taken up standing in line at the passport control.Also, my camera battery was still dead, so I didn't get a picture of the sweet miniature they had of the old wall and temple, and it was only after I left that area that I remmebered I could take pictures if I hooked the camera up to the computer through usb. (I suppose, in retrospect, I could have just taken it with the webcam even, but I doubt that it would turn out very well. 1.3 Mp versus 6.0So, using the usb connection, I was able to get some pictures from Ben Gurion, which is a sweet airport. Airports in my experience have typically been really neat or really not fun at all. For instance, even though the Dayton airport doesn't have too much in teh way of awesome architecture (though the new tower they've built definately qualifies), but they DID have FREE, no strings attached, email stations at the gate. Chicago has some pretty nice lounges, and notifies you of gate numbers several hours in advance. London has some sweet hinged 3d truss elements to support the arching roof sections, and Ben Gurion has some sweet water things and awesome pillars.However, in Liberia and Russia, the airports were painful and dirty and small and just generally not fun. Maybe there's some middle ground somewhere, but I don't feel like I've run accross it. I'd have to think a little harder about Columbus, Cincinnatti, Newark and Brussels, since I HAVE beenh to them, but I don't have any really striking memories--a key hint that maybe I only remember the extremes.I was hoping to sleep on the ~5 hr flight to Tel Aviv, but I never was able to fall asleep. They had the little screen s with the remotes, but after about halfway through the flight mine stopped working. They're running some kind of a linux distro with custom airline software... I got to see the sys start screens a few times since tehy reset it to try to fix it, but I was too uninterested to notice much more than the penguin. Were I a true coder, with a black belt in hacking awesomeness and presenting a lecture at DEFCON, I probably could have told them the problem as well as using my little remote to code in a custom tetris app while I waited for the meal.Also, a question: can matthew mcconahay ?sp? be in anythign that isn't a chick flick?so I think I've been telling people that I was going to take a bus to haifa... well it's actually a train... just got it a little mixed up in my head. Good reason to have things written down.It's gonna be a long day. --written at 6:30 am

After the train ride, I had to lug my bags over to the bus station accross the street, where I ducked into a bathroom to changed *attempt* to clean up a bit after 2 days on airplanes etc.
At the bus station, I met Marjon (pronounced "maryon"), a new Technion student from Macedonia. We chatted with an Israeli girl in the army who was waiting at the same bus gate, who was asking about why we had come, etc. Just as we had to leave for our bus, she asked "why Israel? a tiny country full of soldiers?" All the answer I had time for at that point was "yes, but an important country."

Later, we got off the bus and went to Rodica Levy's office, where we met Iliya, who is an Israeli student who GREATLY helped as we scurried around getting a bank account and room forms and keys. Then we had to take the luggage UP to the houses, which was rather strenuous, especially owing to the fact that Haifa is on the coast and therefore inescapably humid.

More about the house later, but we also visited a convienience store on campus and then I fell asleep at about 7pm.

Sunday Update

** I typed this earlier, on my laptop as I traveled.
my oh my... where to start
Wednesday I found out that there was still a small leak in the water chlorination system. However, I went ahead (per the advice of my advisor) and did a few test runs with the blue dye concentration anyway. However, this had the unfortunate side effect of me ending up with a right hand that looked like a smurf. It was at this point that I had to wait before doing anything else with the project, so I joined John Gray and Malaika at John's favorite restaurant, a little chinese buffet in Xenia. (It's called the China Buffet...very original.)You may note that I still had a blue hand for this outting.Thursday was spent writing the report, and my loving mom and sister finished emptying my apartment in Cedarville. Then Friday was dedicated to me packing and trying to get through organizing my possessions. Oh yeah, and the goodbye party. Thanks to everyone who was able to make it--I had a great time.The last of my party obligations ended at about about 11:20 or so. It was then that I started the final packing and the clothes selection.Through some careful packing, I ended up with two bags that weighed in at the airport as 50.0 lbs (the limit). I'm not really looking forward to manhandling them on the bus from tel aviv to haifa.I got to bed around 3:30 am, an dthen got up at 6:30 in order to attend prayer breakfast. Then, we packed the car and stopped by the millers' reception on the way to the airport.My flight from dayton to Cicago was fine.. really really short, but left and arrived on schedule.However, my flight to london, which was supposed to leave at 9:15 Chicago time got delayed until 10:45pm chicago time, since the plane was late getting to the airport. That meant I had an extra long layover in O'hare. I played some Red Alert 2, read and bought a salad, which was actually quite good and not as terrible a deal as I was expecting.Then today, I arrived at London Heathrow, and took the Piccadilly line in to South Kensington, where I spent a spectacular 4 hours at the Science Museaum. Special thanks goes out to Tom Harris, who tipped me off on its free entry and general awesomeness. Facebook and/or Picasa photo albums will be coming soon. Unfortunately, my camera battery died long before I got to the most awesome section of the museaum, the "launchpad" -- it's basically like COSI used to bo.. really great demos, really hands-on and really kid-friendly. As I finish this up, I'm back in London Heathrow, waiting for the gate to open for my flight to Tel Aviv.

partly just for Andy Hoover

First off, Partly Just for? what was I thinking? Is this possible? It sounds like a budget clause at a rally.

I'm typing this from the Technion Library, where I have free internet.

However, I have several well-developed entries which I have prepared on my laptop, so this will be kept short to minimize the anachronisms. Interestingly enough, I have been mostly awake for.... gave up on tryign to figure it out with time zones and my current state of tiredness. In fact, I just stopped typing for a few minutes, to be awaked by what sounded like a ping pong ball burting from my skull with a decidedly happy popping sound. However, it would seem that I was drifting off into dre

more later

setbacks are a way of life.

Yesterday I was going to mass the dye for the known, calibrated solution that makes measuring possible for the water chlorination project. However, the person with the keys to the lab wasn't in his office. I figured, hey, try again tomorrow at a time that's not as close to 5pm.

Today I found out that he's on vacation for this week.

Wouldn't be a huge problem, but everyone else that has keys to the rooms is at the faculty/staff luncheon. So I'm pretty much stuck until 1pm.

Also, the "for drain or sewer use only" size of flexible connector is only strong enough to hold onto the main pipe up to about 10 gal/min, which is about 1/6 of what we would like to test.
It really needs to be glued, but I don't have time to do that. Right now my goal is to get a data point, and to type up the documentation.

Tomorrow my mother comes down to help me finish moving out of the Cedarville apartment, and then I'll be packing at home, until the party friday night. Then I leave on Saturday. Crazy.

First post

I have started this blog in order to (hopefully) encourage some healthy writing and updating while I carry on with pursuing a master's degree at the Technion, in Haifa, Israel. We'll see how well it goes--past blog/journals have had an average lifespan of 1-8 months. For the sake of family, friends, personal memories and sanity, I hope that this one will have a little more staying power.

I will count this a success if I can consistently post more than once a week.