ah -hah!

ah-hah is in 'ohhh thats interesting. While there are many different items of interest, I will focus on a couple.

1) Here around Haifa there are beautiful towns and a glorious city. Just 10 km out are Arabic villages that are a little less scenic. However, the flee markets are wonderful and the fruit stands are cheap. We drove through the Druze inhabited villages of Ufsia and Daliat el Carmel. They aren't as well kept...there is trash all around...little hope for recycling. Some say this is due to the apathy of the arabs; however, there is the factoid that villages like these receive less money from the government. It is the Druze I find intriguing. They are a tribe which is extremely loyal to the customs of the country they inhabit. They seem like wonderful acomodating people. Most even serve in the army of Israe. From my experience they make fantastic pita and labneh with zatar. They can only marry other Druze to ensure the survival of their culture (which is fairly religious). One cannot become Druze, they must be born to Druze parents. This begs the question of intermarriage between cousins. Apparently Israel is having the Druze draw blood for matches before they marry their partner. This begs the question...is survival of a race and culture really survival when the procreation of future generations will lead to mutations and other defects? We had a druze man come to class today to answer our questions. Since I didn't know enough Hebrew to ask the question that was burning in my mind and searing the tip of my toungue, I instead asked: "Ma Shem-ha?" He replied: "my name is Abude- Abude"....damn language barrier. hmmmmmmoving on.

2) I need sunglasses real bad. The sun here is nothing to f*%k with. I apologize for the language...I know better than to end a sentence with a preposition. Anyway, I have been searching for some sunglasses. Today I went to the grand Canyon (Hebrew word for mall). I was looking for those little stands that are in the middle of the mall walkways. You know, those little kiosk-tent things where there is one person sitting there, all day, trying to sell you hair wraps, or a dress to wear in a million ways, or your face on a mug, or cheap sunglasses. There are no little kiosks in the malls here. It is a choice between mega cheap flea market glasses or ultra-expensive, high-end, store-bought glasses. The fact that these kiosks don't exist here is ironic due to the fact that most of those little kiosks in the states are manned by Israelis!