It's been a very eventful 2 days--as you can all imagine. The flight from the States was entirely uneventful -- despite all of our baggage. All in all it was probably our easiest flight ever! When we arrived at the airport we were greeted by May Taherzadeh and Ryan Lash -- both of whom lived in New Paltz several years ago. May actually lived in our home for a few months. It turns out that they had no idea in advance who they were picking up from the airport so it was as much a surprise to them as is was for us. There could have been no better way for us to be welcomed into the country and feel immediately at home.
After 2 hours or so of driving we arrived in Haifa at sunset and took in the absolutely beautiful view of the Shrine of the Bab -- one of the two holiest places in the world for Baha'is. It was only after we arrived at the 2 bedroom apartment which was assigned to us did we discover -- much to our amazement -- that we have stunning views of both the Mediterranean Sea from our living room window -- and the Shrine of the Bab from our Kitchen and Bedroom!
Two views from our living room window:
Two views from our kitchen and bedroom windows:
We also happened to arrive during a day of celebration for Israelis -- so much of the night was spent gazing out over the bay of Haifa and watching miniature fireworks all over the city. On every street corner children and parents were lighting firecrackers and occasionally someone would light up the sky with more elaborate displays. Although the timing was purely coincidental, the celebration perfectly matched our feelings about Arriving at our new home.
The morning after we arrived (Wednesday) we unpacked all of our things and later in the day visited the Shrine of Baha'u'llah -- where the Prophet-Founder of the Baha'i Faith is buried (and the Holiest place in the world for Baha'is) -- which is located across the Bay of Haifa. As this was our first visit to this Shrine since our arrival, we decided not to bring our camera so we could focus on prayer and meditation. The next time we visit, we will share photos of this very beautiful place. As you'll see, all of the Baha'i Holy Places are surrounded by very lush gardens, which are designed to help visitors meditate on the beauty of God's creation.
For those of you who do know much of why we came here in the first place, Haifa is both the spiritual and administrative center of the Baha'i Faith. Baha'i pilgrims come from all over the world to visit the Holy Places associated with the lives of the Founders of the Faith. So although we have come here to work in the administrative offices, we have the benefit of saying prayers and meditating at these Holy Places. No doubt we have thought of you in our prayers for the past few days.
The next few days will be spent finishing getting our apartment set up (we have our computer working but the dial up access we have right now is quite slow--hopefully we'll have a faster connection in the next few weeks). We officially start our new jobs on Sunday.
