Israel 35,
April 20, 2024,
Hi Everyone,
I worked hard for the last 5 days, hanging on inside of an ambulance, so I decided to take it easy yesterday. I woke up at 8:00, rather late for me, and spent the next few hours catching up on emails and writing my blog. In the early afternoon, I took a walk on the beach for 2 hours. Swimming has been prohibited up until last week. There were signs everywhere but this did not prevent people from going into the water. I would swim out to the breakwater and back, which is a 20 minute swim, on days when the water was calm. On other days, if there were breakers, I would do some body surfing. Yesterday, the life guards were out so the prohibited signs had been removed. Some beaches were black flagged so you could not go in the water there or you would be whistled out. Some beaches are for swimming and others are reserved for surfers, kite surfers and wind surfers. It was blowing 15-18 knots past the breakwater and there were sail boat races. The breakers were coming in, 3-4 feet high. I swam out 100M to where the 16-18 year olds were. They seemed to know the good spots for waves. If you see a wave coming and swim fast, you can catch it just before it breaks. Eventually, it will catch you and break on you. The hard rippling water and thunderous noise as it breaks on you are thrilling.The wave can carry you about 20 feet before it passes over you. It gets to be like a drug, you just have to keep returning for more.
Last evening I was invited to dinner at my cousin Richard’s place in Rehova, 25K from Tel Aviv. We first went to synagogue, a place that I have not been to in 60 years. The service was orthodox, as the women sat separately. There were many English speaking worshipers there from the US and Canada. I recognized many of the hymns and read the English translation. I met Richard’s family for the first time. He came to Israel when he was very young and served in the arm as a tank commander. He has 4 children, 1 of whom is in the army now. Everyone takes the current situation in their stride. This is what living in Israel is all about and you have to just accept it and get on with your daily life.
Love,
Brian
gobriantravel 