Haifa, Israel

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July 1, 2004.
I'm living in Le Meridien Hotel in Haifa, www.lemeridien.com. I am housed in room 1354, a single bedroom suite fully furnished and the place is pretty comfortable already for me. I spend most of my time in the bedroom though, sleeping, being online, sleeping again, TV, and even eating. I rarely use my dinner table for eating. I have a really nice view of the mediterranean sea, and I'm living the life! I've always dreamed of living beside the sea and I'm living it right now. I swim at the beach anytime I want to, and there are 2 indoor pools in the hotel, plus a spa, gym, lounge and all the amenities. I am also tanner here, minamaya maya ko kasi kakaswimming dito but it's super fun pa rin! Hehe kahit nga mag isa lang ako nagswiswimming ako. Living here in the hotel is so comfortable that I will surely miss this when I go back to Phils. Living in Israel though is an entirely different story. There are a lot of "bawals" here, and boy do I appreciate the Philippine democracy now! I had to make a lot of adjustments here, and the first one is to watch what my mouth is saying because some things are harmless for me, but can be offensive to the israelis/jews.

There is also no pork out in the open here, so restos don’t normally serve meals with pork. Kosher is a jewish way of food preparation where they don’t include pork in their meals. Also they don’t mix dairy with meat so goodbye lasagnes and pastas ako. But I can cook my own though at the comfort of my room. But when eating out, we have to be extra careful not mixing those two because jews find it offensive. Food here is not good…I starved myself for a few days, pero ngayon medyo sanay na ko. There is McDonalds here…and the cheapest meal costs 32 shekels (320++ pesos). I have a favorite chinese restaurant here, and the meal also costs 32 shekels per meal, but it has 2 dishes already, rice and drinks. That is the cheapest I could get, and that's the best asian-like food that I can get here. My favorite there is the sweet and sour chicken with yang chow rice. There is also spaghettim, my favorite italian restaurant here which serves non-kosher food. I often indulge with bolognese and carbonara there. Arabian food is also everywhere here, from Shawarma to the more exotic ones. And of course, the Israeli cuisine which serves food with humuos, falafel, pita bread and olives.

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