Tel Aviv

On Wednesday we only had one class (Old Testament) that ended at 9:15 (it started at 7:30, ugh) so almost all of the students went on a trip to Tel Aviv for the day.

I went on another very Ephrata-like drive, but instead of ending up in the beautiful Jerusalem, or the very dry and bare Ephrata (sorry, Grandma) we stopped at the Mediterranean Sea. Wow. I've seen the Atlantic and I've been in the Pacific, and now I can add the Mediterranean. It was beautiful; we got to the beach around 10:30 or 11:00 and stayed until 2:00-ish. The sand is really fine, and the water was so warm. I don't think I've ever been in water that warm, it was so pleasant. We brought lunches with us, so we ate lunch on the beach (cool) and I read C. S. Lewis for a while after we played in the water. We split up into smaller groups in the afternoon to explore Tel Aviv (I really don't think 81 students should explore together).

I ended up with seven other people and we walked all over the place. We went through several markets/bazaars and looked at different foods and jewelry and things; one girl bought a nice silver ring and some of the guys got soccer jerseys. We ended up getting lost looking for an art fair, but were really close to the Shalom Tower (I think the tallest building in Tel Aviv, if not then it's close) where we went up to the top and looked out on an amazing view. After the Tower we walked through the Russian section of the city, which we figured out when I started seeing matryoshka dolls in the store windows. The Great Synagogue (Grand Synagogue? I can't remember) is very close to the Russian section of town, and the rabbi who was there let us come in even though we were not appropriately dressed (we were fine except none of the girls had head coverings with them, we didn't think about it beforehand). The synagogue was beautiful. The woodwork on all the benches and doors and alters were amazing, and the fabrics they use were very ornate and in gorgeously rich colors.

We wandered back down through the city and the bazaars before they all closed at 7:00 (as it is still Ramadan, none of the Muslims work around 7:00 because that is when they break their fast). We decided to go back down to the beach to watch the sunset, which was the best decision of the evening. Two of the guys with us swam out to some rocks in the ocean to try and watch the sun set from there, but they didn't make it quite in time. Either way, it was beautiful. My first Mediterranean sunset.

We split up for dinner, and I ended up with three other people at a little place called Miguel's Hotel & Bistro, up near the US Embassy. Our waiter was hilarious, he made fun of one of our group when he asked if they had ketchup (apparently on his mission in Brasil ketchup was not always available and he assumed Israel would be the same), and was just very friendly the entire night. I ordered Middle Eastern kabobs, which were really good (the "mushed potatoes" they came with were excellent as well). We made it back to the rest of the group in time for our taxi-van ride to the Center and got in around 10:45. Except for early classes the next day and a sunburned back, the trip was absolutely fantastic.
And here's just one more...