Saturday, July 22, 2006

Migration South

I'm still in Ashdod. We're planning to return to Haifa this evening, but the family is putting a lot of pressure on us to stay here in the centre/south.
I just spoke to my friend from Haifa and he says they have already experienced two air raid warning sirens today - one at 10:45 AM and the other at 11:10 AM. They were both false alarms though. However, even here in Ashdod, we cannot avoid the news (nor do we want to) and know that other cities in northern Israel were hit today.

Because of these ongoing missile attacks on the north, many Israelis from anywhere south of Haifa are hosting family and friends.
My wonderful friend Pnina, a woman whose heart is an open door with a big welcome mat in front, is one of these people. Her family, which consists of her, her husband and three children, are also hosting her brother-in-law's family (husband, wife, four children), her sister and her three children, at some point also her daughter's boyfriend, and her parents were over for a visit. On top of that, she has also invited my boyfriend and me to stay with them. Yesterday when we visited them on our way down to Ashdod, there were 18 people in her home.
Another friend of mine who lives in Tel Aviv is currently hosting her mother, two of her sisters, and their children, all from the Qrayot (suburbs of Haifa who are also experiencing rocket attacks), in her small apartment.

Many hotels and guest homes south of Haifa are also reporting a 100% occupancy rate.

More of my friends have left Haifa in the last couple of days.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

And in the meantime...
2 more sirens, 10 minutes apart starting at noon. No landings reported.

Enjoy as much as you can in Ashdod!

Anonymous said...

carmia, she sounds like home to me stay with stay safe.