Backtrack Part II: Home to Haifa

Upon arriving home to Israel, we were brought to the Youth Hostel for one last night. The next morning, we realized the chaos caused by 550 kids being shuffled to new homes across the country. Eventually I successfully loaded my bag onto the proper bus and embarked for Haifa. We stopped at many other placements along the route dropping kids off, and the last stop would be my home for the next three months. 

My neighborhood is called Kiryat Eliezer. It's a largely Russian immigrant area, so I'll need to brush up on my Russian. We live down the road from the soccer stadium, and you can see the Bahai Gardens (a $250 million shrine to the Bahai religion) from my street. There's a central square with a market and many shops and grocery stores. I also live 2 blocks from Ben Gurion Street, a major center of town. The best feature of my neighborhood is the remarkably close proximity to the beach. 

As the third largest city in Israel, there are dozens of museums and areas to explore in Haifa. There is also an emphasis on peaceful coexistence between all the different ethnic groups of the region. 

My first several days were marked by unpacking, exploring the city, touring the Bahai gardens, and celebrating Thanksgiving. My group invited many friends from their placements all over the country to join us for a home-cooked Thanksgiving meal. We experienced the pleasures of cooking, cleaning, and preparing for the over 20 people who would be joining us. It ended up being very fun, and a delicious memory looking back on my year. 

Over the weekend my friends and I visited the famed "Science Museum" of Haifa. It is a 600 exhibit giant museum which occupied my interest for many hours, and I fully expect to return at some point.

The following day I got on a bus early in the morning, and headed to Jerusalem for my ambulance training course.