On the Streets of Haifa

I just thought I'd include a few more shots of Haifa.

1st: This is walking down the street I lived on, about 6 blocks from the Port Inn. The funky      looking building in the distance makes it into a lot of pictures of the Haifa skyline. 

2nd: Ben Gurion Street.  This is one of the main tourist streets. It is full of cafes and  restaurants.  Directly behind me is the bottom of the Bahai gardens.  

3rd: I don't know what this business is, but their name does not work as well in English.

4th: These signs are everywhere. This is how they warn people not to climb towers with wires  on them.  

5h: A flavor of Magnums they didn't have in Australia. Chocolate, chocolate, and more  chocolate. 

My last day in Haifa I met up with two Australian brothers I met at the Jerusalem Hostel.  They are staying with their Grandma in Haifa for a while.  I took a bus to the mall to meet them and we went bowling.  I kicked butt and beat both of them.  Then they took me to their Krav Maga class that they attend weekly.  Krav Maga means "close combat" in Hebrew and is a form of hand-to-hand combat.  It emphasizes neutralizing the threat quickly and works with real life situations where losing could potentially be fatal.  Some of the people at the facility were learning moves to use if someone is pointing a gun at you.  The class was pretty intense. There were about 20 guys and 3 girls. It started with a warm-up of light jogging and stretching. Then we did 40 push ups, 40 sit-ups, and 40 crunches, repeated 3 times.  Then we did some kicks and punches followed my some knees and elbows.  It was all in Hebrew but the instructor and his assistant (not guys you'd want to mess with) also spoke English so they came around and helped if we needed it.  For the most part, it was pretty easy to just watch and do what they do.  We practiced a couple scenarios where someone would choke you from behind, or push you against a wall, and you had to try to escape and injure them.  When the instructor came around to watch he told me that I picked it up fast and asked if I'd taken any type of martial arts before.  I guess I'm just naturally good at kicking butt. For the last 10 minutes we practiced blocking and punching, although we just tapped them instead of punching.  I had a lot of fun and it definitely was not something I would have found if the boys had not brought me.  I also got to do the lesson for free as a first time trial.