Hi together!

Last Monday, one of the master students submitted his thesis, so we spontaneously went out that evening to have a drink. As a change, not at Nola, but on the other side of the street at Shannan. Also a nice place :) And tasty food :)

On that occasion, we decided to have a 'weekend-beer' every Thursday, with all Master/PhD students. It didn't work out last Thursday though :D

Wednesday was the first time, I went to a doctor/physician to get some appointments. As I shall (may/need/want) to learn diving (YEAH!!!) here, some examinations are needed. That makes obviously a lot of sense, yet until now I didn't know what I'd need. My Israeli PhD-colleague, who is supposed to dive as well, figured that out now. As I've not been to any doctor here yes, it wasn't so easy to get those appointments and examinations done. I'll report the results on the next update...

Thursday. In the evening, I went shopping with my friends from Greece, Switzerland and Nigeria :D That was really funny :D After that, we had dinner at Nola. They have hot (mulled) wine there now...or something similar :)

Israeli hot wine

That consists of red wine, cidre, apple juice, cinnamon and dried apple rings. Not really related to German hot wine, but it tastes really good :D

By now, I also got the contract for my shared-flat-room. Problem: that thing is in Hebrew. So I met with my future flat mate and he translated it for me. But only in his own words. To sign the contract, it has to be a written translation...if I sign this way, it's basically invalid, as I don't understand what is written there. Interestingly, I could open my bank account that way anyway...

Saturday evening I visited the Greek girl. She stays in Haifa over Christmas and therefore got some Christmas-stuff to decorate :)

Greek Christmas tree in Israel :)

Yesterday was the first day of Hanukkah. Yet, it doesn't feel much like a holiday. The schools are closed this week, but besides that, everything is open. Hence no problem to buy groceries :D

In the streets, you see a lot of those things now:

Hanukkah menorah in Haifa

Those are Hanukkah menorahs. With the candle/lamp in the middle (additional 9th candle) the other candles get lit up, one every day. 8 days in a row, for each Hanukkah day one candle :)

This weekend it actually got quite cold. At night, the temperature was below 10°C at university. Yes, I know. In Germany, that is normal :D But...I didn't bring a winter jacket with me. Ups. Who knows, that it'd get that cold here. I didn't think that far. Luckily, I finished my scarf+hat (on Friday), otherwise I'd freeze quite a bit here...

Here a link about the weather, just so you know, how it is here:

https://weatherspark.com/y/98243/Average-Weather-in-Haifa-Israel-Year-Round

By the way, Christmas feelings are not sparking up yet...despite hot wine and Christmas tree :(

Lots of love,

Eleen