Another week

I'm sorry. As it was pointed out to me, I forgot to include a Hebrew lesson in the last post. Later on, I will have an extended one in order to make up for it. Also, thank you for warm wishes for my birthday. Just to reiterate, I love reading any and all feedback I get from you. As far as my birthday is concerned, I spent most of it near Haifa; just resting and catching up on emails. It did begin with an interesting class though. The teacher talked about Babiy Yar. It's been 65 years since then, but it's just as painful and emotional to hear about such an unthinkable massacre. What's even more frustrating is that not a lot of people outside of Kiev know much about it. The whole conversation kind of threw me off and it was tough to get back to studying. Nevertheless, at the end of the class, I was given a chocolate bar and everyone drank some wine in my honor. The teacher found it a bit symbolic that 40 years after Yom Kippur in 1941, I was born on Rosh Hashanah. She seems to genuinely like me. It's gotten to a point where she's pushing me to learn more by putting me with the advanced students and I'm loving every moment of it. I've even decided to totally break away from most of the ulpanists and start eating with my coworkers. I need to work harder now, just to justify her efforts.
This week, we had a trip to Haifa. As always, I liked it, but I'm starting to see that this city is slipping down the list of my favorite places in Israel. I keep comparing it to Chicago and I'll try to do it again. US has places like New York and Los Angeles that are grander than Chicago. It also has Miami which is hotter. There are godforsaken places like Casper which are more naturally beautiful. What Chicago has is unique architecture, attractive surroundings and workmanlike attitude. To me, this is Haifa in a nutshell. Great in all aspects but not quite the best in any of them. So just like Chicago, Haifa is the Second City. (Jerusalem has no place. It's beyond anything that can be logically measured.) Not to say that I didn't enjoy it very much. We were taken to the Baha'i Gardens, German Colony and Wadi Nisnas. Latter is an Arab neighborhood that has served as an example of coexistence between Jews, Muslims and Christians. We had Falafel there and it's actually a very delicious food when done right. Before Haifa though, we visited a Carmelite monastery and took in an incredible view, and drove past a Druze town. (Remind me to talk about the Druze later on.) We had a very good Russian guide and he had a lot of interesting information that unfortunately my brain is refusing to recall right now. The only memorable thing I do remember has to do with a valley near a Megiddo mountain. Apparently, it has been a place where a lot of battles took place throughout history and which many people believe will end up being the final battleground between the forces of good and evil. In Hebrew, the word for mountain is Har with "H" being more or less silent. Therefore the name would be Ar-Megiddo (Armageddon). That's the thing about Israel; a lot of places are referenced in people's everyday lives without most of them even knowing it.
On the kibbutz, there is nothing new for me to talk about. I don't hear the roosters anymore even though I'm pretty sure they haven't gotten quiet. I guess, I just learned to block them out. Therefore, at this point let me teach some Hebrew.
Nahon - means correct.
Betah - means certain.
Illustrated is the difference... Let's say that one is asked where they are from and they say from the United States. The next question is "Ata medaber Anglit? (Do you speak English?). One can say "Ken, Nahon" or more powerfully "Ken, Betah!" (Yes, Of Course!) Although nahon would very rarely be used in such an example, I just wanted to illustrate the point. Mevin? (Understand?) To complicate things, the verb for to be certain is Betuah. But a lot of Israelis use a slang expression of Sagur which is translated as "closed". So if the second question would be "Anashim beArzot Habrit medabrim Anglit?" (People in the United States speak English?) one can say "Ken, Ani betuah" or "Ken, Ani sagur".
Yes, I know, I managed to confuse even myself. Again.