It's been a really busy few days. Yesterday, thursday, was our ulpan midterm (yes, the month long intensive hebrew is half over!)--so we had a nice quiet night before--took the midterm bright and early--think it went well enough. Yesterday was one of the clearest days we've had yet and from campus you could easily see הר הרמון (har--mount hermon). Eshkol tower--the 29 story tower on campus has one of the best views of all of northern israel, and we went up after class to take pictures, although I forgot my camera. When i can get copies of the pictures taken, I'll post them. Then I did something rather unusual---I went running in the Carmel nature preserve with some friends---it was actually great, even as much as I hate running. The only bad part was when my friend Adina got a bloody nose and we had to stop for a bit and got covered in bugs while we waited. Then we went back to דליה (dalia), the druze village nearby where I bought a really nice rug for my room for 35 shekels (about $8.50)--it makes it look much less barren.

We went to sleep relatively early to get up this morning to go on a trip to ציפורי (tziporri) and נזרת (nazareth). It was really cool---some pictures follow, but first I'll talk a little bit. Tziporri was a city that was at times Jewish, Roman, and Arab. Following Israeli independence in 1948 (or the nakba--the day of catastrophe as it's called by many Palestinians) the much of the old city was excavated and that's how it stands today. The city is mainly notable for the many beautiful mosiacs that line the floors of the sidewalks and indoor areas (likely markets at one time) and even the synagogue there--notable for the fact that it has human and animal figures on it (forbidden according to Jewish law) and even the zodiac.

At the top of the hill stands the citadel---started under the view of the Jewish king Harrod and later expanded by the crusaders when they came. The name tziporri likely comes from the hebrew word ציפור (tzipor--bird) referring to the view from the top of the hill. We started back down the hill and visited the ampitheater there---the acoustics there are really as amazing as they say---our tour guide gal (also one of the מדריחים--madrichim--guides/counselors for the entire ulpan) told us about the most fun thing they did in the ampitheater pointing out a pipe nearby---to tell of great sea victories for the roman empire, they'd flood the ampitheater and would retell the stories of the battles using model boats---they also involved naked ladies somehow. When there were no sea battles to be recounted they got rid of the boats entirely and then there were just naked ladies.

From there we went to נזרת Nazareth---birthplace of Jesus. We got let off at a very nice little open area and quickly went to get שוורמא (schwarma) the most delicious food known to man--I'm sure I'll devote a whole post to it later---it's shaved lamb (although it's usually just turkey with lamb fat for flavor) with חמוס (hummus), סלט (salat--israeli salad of cucumber and tomato), בצל (betzl--spiced onions), and חריף (harif--spicy!). The very best schwarma has צ'פס (chips--french fries) in the wrap. It's either inside a פיטא (pita), לפא (laffa--a flatbread style wrap), or בגטא (baguette). Keep in mind that unless you've visited the middle east, you've never tasted hummus like this, and even the worst (there really is no worst...just not the best) schwarma is on pita, laffa, or baguette equal to the very best you can find in the states. You can also get פלאפל (felafel)the same way---also unparalleled by anything you can find in the states except maybe amsterdam felafel in DC.

Enough about food...nazareth is about 62% muslim and 38% christian---and they have a serious rivalry. As we were eating we simultaneously heard huge bells coming from a church and the muslim call to prayer---then we walked back to where we'd been dropped off---now filled with worshipers at an outdoor mosque--apparently they've been trying to get a building permit for 10 years, but due to various political tension, they've been unable.

After that we went to the church of the annunciation---built in 1952 directly over (I mean directly---they didn't demolish it---the new building encloses the older stone church) the older byzantine church on the same spot, built over an older church there, built over a building believed to be the childhood home of Mary and the site where the annunciation occurred---where the angel Gabriel came down and announced to Mary that she would give birth to Jesus--the son of God.

Soon we'll have a nice shabbat dinner in our apartment with about 15 people---gotta get cooking! And then I think we're planning on going out to a dance club to celebrate two birthdays amongst us.


This is what a sidewalk looks like in excavated tziporri---they just don't make them like they used to. This is a "big" mosaic because the stones are relatively large---about 3/4 of an inch square.


The main street (cardus--like cardiac) in the old roman city of tziporri---it's hard to see in the picture, but there are grooves in the street from chariot wheels wearing down the stone.

The truly impressive mosaic---the festival of the nile. These stones are tiny! Maybe 1/4 of an inch square--apparently it's believed that this mosaic celebrated a particularly high flood of the nile (which means more rich soil deposited on the banks for next year's crops). In the center is the nile river, just above is a column--likely depicting one used to mark off how high the flood is--on the column someone is carving the greek numbers for 17 (guess it was a good flood?) On the left, a rider is lighting the beacon at the castle, also with that number 17. The castle looks like the type the Jewish king harrod liked to build indicating that the mosaic was done around that time. This was probably the floor for a market. See what happens if you take this picture to your local safeway and tell them to step it up with the floor decoration.


Me! Atop the citadel of tziporri--a building started by harrod and extended by crusaders, indicated by the fact that the second story has rounded corners---like the crusaders liked to do. Behind me is...some village...it's pretty.



The main hall of the church of the annunciation. This picture doesn't really convey the stunning size or beauty of the church---the dome above goes up what must be 100 feet and it's hard to see, but there's a hole in the floor below that opens down to the floor that houses the childhood home of mary.