ok, so for you friends reading this who are not in haifa and who have not read the ishikawa blog, here's an interesting look at how israelis are living their lives during this period of conflict. part of reason why i think the bwc staff is so calm during all of this conflict is because the rest of the people around them are living life with such resilience. for example... (lifted right off the july 20 post on the ishikawa blog. hope it's ok shingosan)

One of the burger places in Haifa sent the text message to all their customers telling them that they still are delivering.

Thai food guy still delivered food to our place.. and didn't even ask for more tip.

Yesterday, as soon as alarm was all clear.. we see bunch of people walking their dogs outside. Just the general attitude of people are so great that we can all learn something from them.

They are now complaining that WWF exhibition match may not come to Tel Aviv this summer.. (well I guess wrestling fans are)

Many of the local bands have come to north to perform at people's bombshelters to provide entertainment.

Speaking of bombshelters.. many house has built bombshelters since only way to build extension to your flat is to have bombshelter... so many houses were using bombshelter for a spare room, office, guest room etc.. not too shabby really equiped with tv, dvd, and computers and comfy bed.

Most of Israeli people support the government's choice of not giving into prisoner exhange.. and want's Hizbullah to disarm at all costs.. even though their home and lives are in danger shows they really wants this to be over completely not half done... depite they may suffer more.

Mayor of Eilat (south most city.. vacation city for most of Israelis) urged everyone there to open their home for people from North to come and stay during this time.People in the central areas are urged to adoped abandaned pets..

so yeah

so not too too much to report on these days. i'm keeping pretty busy with aliyah and shopping. well, "stock up" shopping.. the kind that i do when i come here once a year. it's interesting how hard it is to find nice casual clothes in haifa.. so that's one thing i try to get when i come here... along with certain art supplies, developmental toys, *english* books for aliyah, just to name a few. i've barely called any friends since i got here (sorry guys!) it's just been quite busy with all the family and children being here under one roof.... i had a little "getaway" hour this afternoon. got my first pedicure. ever. have it say i wasn't all that impressed. but it was nice to have that hour to just relax... ("relax" while someone is sticking sharp objects in the crevices of your feet).
i've updated aliyah's blog (link on the right) where you can see pictures of what she's been up to....

correction

ok. i was wrong. i said there were no sirens here. but there are. i had completely forgotten about the saturday noon siren. i never understood why, but every saturday at noon, the sirens go off here. usually i think it's to test them out and make sure everyone's watches are in sync. today i think it's just to find out how loudly my heart can pound in my ears... again... for only a split second.

mezzo mezzo

so it's taking a little time to adjust to life in a city that's not under attack. it's only been a day, so i'm still half in the hatch at camp katyusha and half in this boiling oklahoma summer. i walked into target yesterday and at the particular moment that i walked in, the store looked deserted. my first thought was, "no one's going out because of the rockets..." just for a second i forgot that there were no rockets in oklahoma. occasionally there are sounds outside, like an engine roaring or some machinery being used, that resemble the very beginning of the rocket warning sirens that go off in haifa.. for a second i brace myself and think, "oh no."

aliyah's also a bit confused, but not in any way related to the attacks.
today she saw a white boxy post office truck drive down the street and she started yelling to me, "sherut! sherut!" :o)

it's nice to be here though.... last night was the first night in about a week that i slept so well... not wondering if sirens would go off and that i'd miss hearing them. today as i was doing my eyebrows i couldn't believe how out shape they were.... until i realzed that today was the first day in a week that I was looking at myself with daylight...

somebody give me some ice

i've been back in Oklahoma for about a day now and all i can say is, people, it's HOT. i don't remember the last time i felt heat like this... walking in outside, you feel your skin sizzle. it's not like the heat we experienced in florence in the summer of 2002 where all you wanted to do was sit in a chair and just spray yourself with water in front of a fan.. that was unbearable. this is more like the feeling of hot, but bearable, sand under your feet at the beach.. but all over your body. it's a dry, biting heat. it reminds me of a trip to masada a couple months ago.. i could feel the heat of the sun reflecting up onto my face from the light colored earth below me. here i feel that same intense reflected heat, but coming from all directions...

so yeah... it's so hot that i have to keep aliyah inside most of the day..... feels a bit like being in the bomb shelters again....except for, well... the sirens and rockets.

class reunion

this morning our marriage class who victor and i were a part of for a year got together to say good-bye to a couple-turned family who will be leaving haifa at the end of the month: evelyn, santana and rocco. this class of six couples had one child (aliyah) between us when we were having class. now within a year, there are four beautiful children... it's amazing how much this group has grown in just one short year.

a hot cool friday...

victor was still feeling a bit under the weather so he stayed home while martha, theresa, hediyeh and i went to visit at Baha'i holy place in akka. the house of abbud.


then for a short short stop at aroma for a quick coffee...

the roi cut

jp and shaads, i think of you every time. ;)

VIVA ITALIA!

italy won the world cup tonight and with all the cheering and car honking outside in haifa, i can only imagine the sheer bliss the streets of italy are tasting right now... we are sooooo happy!!!!

FORZA AZZURRI!!!!

bye negs

one of my closest friends here, negar sapir, just left the world centre tonight... it's really hard to believe she's actually gone.. one minute you're sipping chai together at douzan and the next minute, you're saying good-bye for who knows how long with the cab driver patiently waiting... and so it is....