Yesterday was an awesome day! We organized a trip to Tel Aviv and spent a lot of the day at the beach. Tel Aviv seemed like a really cool, modern beach city- looking far more westernized than Jerusalem. We walked the city a little and went to one mall, but most of our day was centered on the beach.
I love the Mediterranean Sea! I thought it may have been just my limited beach experience that made me think it was so incredible, but even seasoned beach-goers in our group quickly fell in love. The white sand was really fine and soft, and the water was super clear, warm and calm. There were lines or rocks a little farther out that sort of blocked the big waves, and the water stayed pretty shallow all the way out- not really ideal if you want to surf or something, but still great. That made it really fun to just swim out there and stand on the rocks. I had never seen water like that before, so pretty and clear! I just wish all the men here wouldn’t insist on wearing Speedos. Nasty! In our walks, we also saw a separated beach. It is all blocked off, and has different swimming days for men and women. Very Israel. Later at night we made our way back and just sort of walked along the edge of the water and sat in the sand. We also saw a big, beautiful almost-full moon above the buildings. There are restaurant/bars along the beach and they have chairs and lights out on the sand, so that was fun to see. We also saw a group of people dancing on the beach, which may have been a dance class or maybe just a little party. It looked like a blast!
For dinner I had a falafel, my first one! Tragically, I think it may also be my last. People kept talking about how delicious they were, so I was really excited. I didn’t find it totally gross, but it wasn’t terribly appetizing either. Next time I’ll try a shawarma . . .
Another first for the day was that an Israeli guy at the beach asked me out. Yikes. It actually was not nearly as creepy as that makes it sound, but if you know anything about my dealings with males in general (Drew), you will understand how uncomfortable I felt. haha!
The Tel Aviv trip was lovely, and a great thing to do for the official two weeks in Israel celebration. I even managed to avoid sunburn for the most part, and our van driver narrowly avoided killing us on the ride back to Jerusalem. I’ll just say again, the Mediterranean was nothing short of magical! I was thinking last night on the beach about how I had this idea that being here might sort of satisfy my craving for travel, but in actuality it has made it lots stronger already! I think I have a problem. An addiction? Whatever it is, I’ve got the bug! I love being here and seeing this very different part of the world. Next week I’ll be in Egypt !!
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