Haifa

          Travel is exciting, as your senses are constantly flooded with exposure to new things, whether it be food, music, activities, history, religion, etc. but it can be daunting sometimes too.  There’s a whole world out there?  How are you supposed to choose?  And when you do, there’s a whole country or region.  What if you never have time or money to make it back out here?  You must pack it all in.  See it all.  How do you do that? 

            Now in the way the modern world works, we Google our destination to narrow down our intended itinerary.  We check out top ten lists and tour guides and pick what seems manageable.  Or alternatively, tour companies charge you a fixed fee (plus add-ons) to zip you around, handling the arrangements (the perceived hard part… and don’t get me wrong, it often is) while you sit back in a tour bus, listen to (or sleep through) a bunch of historical tidbits you’re either entranced by or possibly bored by… They drop you off at the end of the day at your accommodation so you can get a handle on your exhaustion unless they have the evening planned out for you too… And that can be an amazing way to see a country.  It’s crazy how many things and places you can’t partake in without a predetermined plan and big enough group.  And how much time you lose in a day when you’re getting lost or dawdling. 

            Simultaneously there’s a lot you don’t get when seeing the world that way.  I can name a couple of countries—not many, but a few--- where I never got to know a local, where I never had time to just wander...  Because I was in and out on a tour in a couple of days or just sitting on a beach at a resort somewhere. 

            A few weeks ago, when I was in Jerusalem, I met a few people who were casually travelling around.  After long enough, they lost the attitude I sometimes have—the constant need to go, go, go, pack the itinerary so deep, you thoroughly saw it, but did you?  Did you turn your phone off and ride the public transport to the end of the line?  Did you throw your itinerary completely out the window and take off somewhere else?  Did you stop for an hour to sit at a random table in a random library at a not so random university to plug your phone in and write a blog post with a pen and scrap of paper?  (Not to mention that I am literally amazed by my dependence on my phone when traveling, albeit not surprised.  Sometimes, in Israel, it felt like, if my phone were dead, I would just give up every time and take a taxi because it was so hard to navigate otherwise.  Next time I visit, my goal will be to figure out how to navigate without my phone… The answer to this riddle may be a greater fluency in Hebrew).    

            But back to the question of going with the flow instead of sticking to a strict regimen of tourism, in Haifa, I did just that.  At one o’clock, thoroughly exhausted from walking around the city (I didn’t believe everyone when they told me how exhausting it is to walk up the side of a mountain… Seriously, so many steps…), I winged it and went to the Technion, where I walked around, got really jealous of the program they have that allows students to raise golden retriever puppies until they reach adulthood so they can go to training to be seeing eye dogs (because they’re going to be seeing eye dogs, they can take them to class and on public transport… yes please!). 

            After letting my jealousy subside, I walked into the library (WPI’s is so much cooler; just saying) and read the giant display about their Engineers without Borders (we definitely need one of those at WPI).  I thought it was really cool that not only did students at the Technion work on projects in Ethiopia and Nepal, but also in Bedouin towns in the Negev Desert (that desert in the middle of Israel).  In one case, they focused on a Bedouin kindergarten that didn’t have heat.  Because it wasn’t heated, Bedouin mothers couldn’t send their children to school on cold days and as a result, they couldn’t hold down jobs.

 

             As you recall, I had already been to Haifa, albeit incredibly briefly.  One of my biggest motivations for going back there was to see the Bahai Gardens more fully this time around.  Since the lower gardens and the shrine close at noon, I checked out of my hotel early after checking out Shuk Talpiot (no offense, but way lamer than HaCarmel and Machane Yehuda, but still had a few tasty offerings), I meandered slowly towards the gardens, peaking my way in and out of shops, looking for small gifts for family and friends. 

            I honestly knew almost nothing about the Bahai Faith going in.  For one, I assumed it would be this incredibly old religion that I assumed was younger than Judaism but at least stemmed back as far as Christianity or something.  But, it was founded in the 1800s.  I guess, it’s more of a philosophy than anything.  And walking through those gardens, it’s easy to understand how it’s a holy place.  The peaceful tranquility on the side of a mountain.  A place that’s beauty is showcased to tourists from all backgrounds, but has particular portions only open to the Bahai people. 

            After the gardens, I wandered down into the German Colony and had lunch, headed to the Technion and then headed off for my next adventures.