June Second

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Yesterday (Tuesday, June 2nd)
We began the morning with a visit to the Bahai gardens in Haifa, which were very beautiful. I do wish that we had had a bit more time there, as it was lovely, and very peaceful, even in the middle of the city. We then shuffled back onto the bus and drove off. We made a quick stop at the monastery above the Cave of Elijah and made a quick jog down to a lookout, back on the bus, and to the Tomb of Elijah. Forgive me for skimming through these things, but the sop following Elijah was really wonderful, and, in my opinion, the best stop we’ve made so far. We drove out to a midsize Arab town to stop at a college for educating teachers in the hopes that we could do a little tour. Honestly, I’m getting tired of quick tours, so I wasn’t very enthused. But tour was very very quick, and then we went to a classroom where they had a presentation set up. Best part: they split us up into discussion groups and we got to speak in teeny little groups with the students, who were all women. I had a wonderful time. I met a great woman named Gihan who was getting her second degree. Her first degree she got at the University of Haifa, met her husband on a study abroad program in Germany (they were from the same village), and now she has two kids, one on the way, and is back in school to become a teacher. There was a lot there that reminded me of CWC, although the students there were overwhelmingly women. To my understanding, it wasn’t completely a women’s college, but that everyone is more comfortable having it almost entirely women, rather like when the women’s colleges in the States were first integrated. We talked about a ton of stuff; religion and perceptions of our beliefs, women’s place in her culture, but also mine, and our families. It was great. We also met a couple of students that are going on a study trip to MSU! Why MSU I don’t know, instead of a bigger University, or at least a more diverse place... Anyway, that was a great experience, and my highlight so far, I think. We headed south after that, to Beer’Sheba and the University there. We saw a presentation there about the film industry in Israel. Actually, that sounds very boring. What it was was clips from films by Israeli filmmakers, and someone involved in the making of it would then talk about it. It was very fascinating. We went back, had a great dinner at our Guest House, and then Ruth and I went out on the town, so to speak, which meant that we hiked around for a hour and a half trying to find a bar, and ended up at a bowling alley for a while, then went to a pretty sweet bar. Bu they are impossible to find here, definitely not on the main drag like it is at home! I’m having a GREAT time, and today we go riding camels!

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