Arrival in Haifa

It is now Saturday night, a little after 9 p.m., and Debby and I have just finished our first Shabbat in Israel. We are staying at a family friend's house in Ra'anan, a town north of Tel Aviv, which seems to be made up of many people who have made aliyah to Israel and still maintain their English, which was very helpful for Debby and me.
Our flights were very smooth, despite our 2 hour delay in Boston due to one of the engines failing. Although Debby and I were sure we were going to miss our connecting flight from London to Tel Aviv, we ended up sprinting through Heathrow airport in under 40 minutes, and made the trip very successful.
When we got to Tel Aviv, we met with an old friend of my dad's, named Sue Gordon, whose hosting us for the weekend. She picked us up at the airport and gave us our first tour of Israel on the ride to Ra'anan. After two days of traveling, Debby and I slept for almost 13 hours straight.
Friday morning we woke up and spent the day in Tel Aviv with Sue, shopping at a shuk (marketplace), which had rows and rows of fresh fruits and vegetables, clothing, cigarettes, fish, along with handmade Judaica. After some shopping, we walked along the beach and got our first taste of the Mediterranian Sea. Although it wasn't sunny out, it was in the high 60s, which was an amazing break from snowy Massachusetts.
Friday evening we got ready for Shabbat, and walked to the local Orthodox temple, where Debby and I sat with Michal, Sue and her husband's oldest daughter, in the upper level of the synagogue, since men and women are not seated together during temple. After the short services, we walked back home for a traditional Shabbat dinner. Sue and her family are Shomer Shabbat, which means they don't use electricity during the Jewish day of rest, so we spent the evening reading before the timer on the lights shut off.
Our first Shabbat was very relaxing; Debby and I decided to sleep in instead of going to temple in the morning, and then ate a big lunch, followed by some more reading and resting until dinner.
Tomorrow morning we are headed to move onto our campus at Haifa University, so the next update will be coming to you from the top of Mount Carmel!

Love and miss,
Elyse