Chapter 1: The Haifa life-Arrival

Haifa, Israel at night.

Coming into Israel feels like coming into America with the name of Mohammed Hussein-bin-Laden. At the airport from Frankfurt to Tel Aviv, they had a special security gate just for the Tel Aviv flight. Luggage open, laptop on, and anything metal in the tray. I went through the metal detector, and no peep was made and I thought I was in the clear, but that was just the start. Mr Security Guy underwent the standard operating procedure of wand over every inch of you, shoes off, their wanded and inspected, especially the soles. Next my friendly new date puts two fingers inside me waist line and gives me a complete circle, tryhing to feel for what I have no idea. The lady in front of me got the same kind of treatment, but she had a much cuter female security guard. The high heels seemed to get much more attention from the wand than my beat up old sketchers--Jimmy Choos probably always will.

The next hurdle was off the airplane and into customs. The customs lady gave me quite the grilling in the cheeriest demeanor--it was so creepy. Think of it like going to the proctologist with giggles the clown as the doctor. Why you here? business Where you going? haifa Staying how long? about a month Why that long? research traing Who is your contact? Can we call her? Can we call her RIGHT NOW? If you want....The questions went on like that, and I bet there is a little sign right in front of her that says "remember to smile!" The questions would start out with eyebrows flexed and intent, but the face would suddenly morph into the "Im so glad you're here smile" that that effect looked like something designed from photoshop.

But once in, I felt great, like I just passed a pop quiz! The weather was warm and extremely dry. This is a welcome respite from the sweat popping humidity of Singapore day in and day out.

Transportation was a breeze as the train station is located right into the airport, but I still had to be x-rayed and wanded as I passed though the entrance. An hour ride later, I was in Haifa, home of Technion, the The Israel Institute of Technology.

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