2 months!

Wow! I can't believe we've been here two months. July flew by a lot quicker than June did. We are doing well and still enjoying the sunshine everyday.

Last night we went down to the waterfront and there was some "folk dancing" going on. As the sun set behind us, we sat and watched as they did some cultural line dancing. It was interesting to watch their faces. They all seemed pretty serious and intense on the dance. It wasn't a specific group that were dancing, just bystanders who know that every 7pm on Saturday night there will be music to dance to. Young and old they all joined in the dance. I wished we had one of our neighbors with us who could have told us more about the dance. The first few songs seemed to be very traditional and I wondered how far back dances like this were done in Israel.

Yesterday we tried to go to the Gardens in Haifa. It's an amazingly manicured area and apparently you have to have a reservation :-( We decided to try and see Elijah's Cave instead. We drove around and ended up at a small chapel at the top of the hill. The map indicated there was a trail to the cave across from the chapel. After looking a bit, we didn't see any trails so we asked one of the tour guides at the chapel and she said there was a small dirt path across the street we could follow. There happened to be another tourist (25yrs old?) there who was looking for the same place so she joined us on our adventure. Hiking straight down hill on a dusty path. Just before we left the guide told us to beware of snakes! Yikes! It was a pretty humid day, but the hike was down hill and somewhat shaded. After 20 minutes we reached the bottom and went inside the cave. Although this is a tourist spot it was all in Hebrew and we really couldn't understand the plaques on the wall or why the scarves were hanging from the ceiling. There was a bookshelf with lots of books in different languages so that people could read and pray. I didn't find any English books. It was also divided men on one side women on the other. The other tourist with us didn't know much Hebrew and couldn't explain what was being said either so we didn't stay to long. Back up the hill.... Uggh! Actually it was a nice hike and we did have some water with us so we were just fine. It was nice to meet another tourist. We gave her a ride to the German colony (which I was sorely disappointed when I visited as you couldn't go into any of the buildings) and then went to the market for some falafel. It was a fun day.