October 4, 2007

Kerri Regehr
October 4, 2007
It’s hard to say that today was my favorite day since arriving here, because there are so many amazing days, but it was definitely one of my favorites. Classes this morning were informative as usual, but I was excited for them to be over. When Brother Huntington let us out of class early, I ran down to my room to collect my things for the beach. A group of about twenty of us had decided to go to Tel Aviv today and I was really excited to play in the waves and lay on the sand.
As we drove the short distance to the coast in our bus taxi, we listened to Ace of Base and sang and talked. By the time we got to the beach I was so excited to be doing yet another thing I didn’t expect to do in my life: I was going to swim in the Mediterranean. We walked along the beach until we found a nice spot to put our things, then I ran into the waves (despite the “swimming prohibited” sign I kept seeing on the beach). I was met with the surprising realization that the water was warm! I guess I was expecting it to be something similar to the only beach I’ve been to, which is in California, and it just wasn’t! We played in the waves for a while, and I think I swallowed more of the Mediterranean than I was swimming in, if that is possible.
After a short while we were all getting pretty hungry, owing to the fact that we had forgone lunch at the Jerusalem Center to have more time at the beach. We wandered around the streets for a while until Brian led us to a great hamburger place he had eaten at before. The burgers were, of course, Israeli style, but it was the closest thing I’ve had to real American food in a long time. We returned to the beach with full bellies and triumphant smiles, ready for more fun in the water. I swam a bit more, and then Spencer, Mike and I worked on making a sand castle. Mike made a stunning recreation of Y Mountain, and Spencer rebuilt the JC with amazing accuracy. After playing in the sand I spread out my towel and lay down on the beach. Caitlin had music playing, I think it was Taylor Swift, so I quickly fell asleep basking in the warm rays of the sun.
When I woke up, I’m not sure how much later, we decided to go find some ice cream and then return to the beach to watch the sun set over the water. We found some great ice cream, and I had mint, which made my whole day better, if that’s possible. After eating our heavenly snack, Stefi, Brian, Danny and I sat on a big stone wall and watched the sun fade away in splendor. It also occurred to me that it was the fourth of October, and just one month previous I had started out on my adventure to this wonderful land. I thought it was appropriate to celebrate the one month mark in the place where I first set foot in the land of my dreams.
The drive home was pleasant, probably because I was so relaxed from being at the beach all day. We weren’t able to make it back in time for dinner, but that was ok because it gave us the opportunity to order pizza from Dominos! It’s funny what American institutions we’ve found over here. Anyway, the pizza was the perfect way to top of my day of relaxation and fun, and I think I slept better that night than I ever have before.