We don't really have a spring break here at JUC, scheduling being what it is, but we do occasionally have the odd weekend off. This was one of those weekends. All of the new students were in Galilee for 4 days and us "old-timers" had some time to do something on our own. As an added bonus we had just finished midterms and were ready for a vacation. So it ended up that 4 of us headed down to Dahab for a long weekend.
I would recount all that we did while down there but I'm afraid that it would be terribly boring: "Today I sat and read and wrote and talked and thought and walked along the sea and listened to the wind and the waves and drank tea and played rook." It was lovely, but perhaps not all that interesting to hear about. :) Among all of the relaxing we did have a few adventures, though.
1. For me, coming from a state where public transportation is all but nonexistent, it was a new experience to ride buses and taxis. We had a few adventures in that department. Like the guy that gave us a ride from the bus station to the border crossing at Taba told us that he loved Saddam Hussein, I think because Saddam killed many womens' husbands...leaving more unattached women? Well, then. Or in Egypt trying to talk the taxi drivers into giving us a better price...and failing miserably. Or having problems figuring out what bus to take from the main station in Jerusalem to get back to campus. All sorts of little adventures. :)
2. Snorkeling. Words fail me. Years ago in sophomore gym class they taught us to snorkel. I guess it was a nice break from swimming laps, but I didn't think I'd ever get to snorkel anywhere as cool as the Red Sea (which, for the record, is supposedly something like the second snorkeling location in the world). We rented snorkel equipment for $3 a day and entered the water from the beach. Wow. It was incredible. I mean, for me, to be able to see and breath while (at least partially) submerged in water is amazing enough. And then I saw a fish swimming towards me! I'm pretty sure I squealed in excitement, which isn't necessarily a good idea in snorkeling gear. And THEN we actually started swimming along the reef, with all colors and shapes of coral, fish, and various other creatures. Sea anemones and urchins (echinoderms!) and mollusks of various types. It was absolutely incredible. We snorkeled twice on our second day there, and the wind and currents were fairly strong so we didn't go as far. The next day we snorkeled again, this time in much calmer water, and made it much farther along the reef. I've decided that I want to be a marine biologist when I grow up. Ok, well, not really. But I have decided that I need to learn more about the different sea creatures that I saw and that, given the chance, I would love to snorkel, or even scuba dive, more.
3. As it turned out, because of a couple last-minute cancellations, I was the only girl on the trip...that made for some interesting times...but really, in general, it was good. They were very kind and took very good care of me and even condescended to laugh at my jokes occasionally. It was also nice to get to know some people better in a smaller group. It takes less effort to add to a conversation if there aren't already lots of people taking part in it. I like people, but I think I do better with smaller groups, at least at first.
4. We had really cheap rooms ($4 per night per person) with rather lumpy beds, questionable sheets and towels, no blankets, and public bathrooms in the courtyard which occasionally had toilet paper. Not the most hygienic place I've stayed, but sufficient. It added to the adventure. There were also some pretty cool bugs that hung out in our rooms once or twice. :)
5. I think that this was perhaps the second real "vacation" of my adult life without my family, the first being the weekend my old roommates and I spent at my parents' house in Lewistown. This time, as then, the goal was not to see the sights or be busy doing anything. We did some things, but a lot of time was spent just sitting and thinking or reading or talking. It was lovely to get away from many things, including, of course, school and the work associated with it. In addition, I enjoyed getting away from my computer and the internet. We also avoided the tyranny of time. We had no set schedule. We went to bed when we were tired, woke when we were rested, ate when we were hungry, and sometimes refused to even look at a clock. I started reading Les Miserables which, well, I'm only about 150 pages into it, but it's very touching and thought provoking so far.
6. It was a good time to gain some perspective. This semester has been, well, different in many ways. So it was especially nice to take a step back. I think we humans like to avoid our problems. Which is probably why we like changing our location. We go somewhere else and we say, "Ah, this is the life. If only I could stay here forever." We forget that our problems eventually follow us (or we eventually get new ones). They just take a while to catch up. The newness is exciting and the any discomfort is different than the normal discomfort and is therefore easy to ignore for a while. So we go to our vacation spots and think that if we could stay there forever, then maybe life would be just perfect. But eventually we have to go back home, back to the daily grind, back to normal. And then, though we may be sad to leave our vacation spot, we realize that we are actually glad to get back to home, back to the normality and comfort we find there. We are glad to get back to work because God made us to work. We are, hopefully, even glad to get back to the same old problems, knowing that God allows them in our lives for a reason. So I enjoyed Dahab a lot, but I am glad to get back to Israel and Jerusalem, which I am learning to love more. I am glad to get back to school and have another chance to work diligently and learn a lot this semester and make the most of the time God has given me here.
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