we're here

Impressions so far:

- EL AL Israel Airline is kind of ridiculous about how they handle infant car seats.
- I have never been on a plane with so many children. I have also never been so glad that Daniel spent US$300 to buy a noise-cancellation headphone that I used to block out all the crying children and airplane droning.
- Kosher airplane food is delicious.
- Jet lag seriously takes days from my life. I'm tired of traveling such long distances.
- Cheeses in Israel tend to be white, tastes differently from the ones found in the US, goes really well with sliced raw cucumbers for breakfast, and are also delicious.
- The ultra-orthodox Jews who favor riding on EL AL Airline are kind of rude and pushy...
- Apparently there's a lot of tension between the religious Jews and the secular and Messianic Jews. I have to say, given all the stories I heard from Kirsten, the friend of a friend who welcomed us to Haifa with open arms and her and her husband's apartment at 3:30 in the morning, I'm on the latter's side. There're some horrendous things being done in the name of rabbinical studies.
- Israeli grandmothers who kept chattering to me in Hebrew and then feed my son alongside their grandchildren are adorable.
- I should really learn Hebrew so that I can at least read bus information and simple conversation with other playground caretakers.
- Haifa's just as hot as Taiwan during the summer, except the former has much cooler breeze due to the Mediterranean.
- This everything closing down for Sabbath and then working on Sunday may take some additional adjustment for me. Kirsten's so kind to do some grocery shopping for us so that we'll have things to cook over the weekend.

I hope Daniel's research will go really well here, and that our little family may thrive.