Taking a Time Away from Crowdedness
When was the last time you took time away from crowdedness? Everyone needs to take a break from the daily routine and spend a wonderful time in a quiet place. Therefore, in vacations most of the people like to travel to unfamiliar places. In the same way, when I was a child, I used to go on many trips, but the most trip that I liked was the annually Alexandria trip with my church. Alexandria is located on the southern coast of Mediterranean, 111 miles north of Cairo, and it is Egypt’s second largest city. Every summer, I used to go to Alexandria, Egypt for a one week in a place called Beit Yael. At that place, I prayed, had fun, enjoyed myself and made new friends. In my childhood, I went to many nice places, but that place made me feel different feelings, such as joy, hope, peace, inspiration, and satisfaction. At Beit Yael, everything was different and interesting.
Beit Yael was surrounded by a concrete fence, and behind it was a very large and beautiful yard which was square in shape, and it was covered with a beautiful green grass. It was divided into many areas. For example, swimming pool, football, basketball, and playground area. I was living in Cairo in an apartment in a large building without any backyards, so I liked that place because it had a large yard with green grass and enormous number of huge trees. I remember that in 1994, when I was ten years old, I used to play under those trees with my friends in the morning because it gave us a natural shade and protected us from the sun. When I was child, I was woken up by the cars horn in Cairo. In contrast, in Beit Yael I was woken up by the sound of birds. In fact, the bird sound is one of my favorite sounds because it makes me more relaxed and comfortable. Starting the morning with bird sounds reduces stress and makes me alert, and it is such an awesome way to start your day.
On the left side of the yard, there was a main building which had four floors. It had four rooms in each floor, and six beds in each room with two bathrooms. At my home in Cairo, I shared a room with my sister, but on the church trip I shared the room with five people. Every room was supposed to be for one adult leader and five children with the same gender, but not from the same town. Although I like to have some privacy in my life, I enjoyed sharing the room with five people because we had a lot of fun. For instance, speaking together until we sleep, sharing our life stories together, and singing holy songs together. Also, we played a lot of board games, such as dominos, chess checkers, connect four, and Uno. I always went to that trip with my older sister so in the first day of the trip, we would know which room we would have, who would be our room leader, who would share the room with us, and in which floor would be our room. Then, we moved to our room, and everyone had to choose the bed that she liked. The room wasn’t just a place for sleep, but it was a place for talking, playing, and sharing our own stories.
Next to the main building there was a wide restaurant. The restaurant was an open-air restaurant, so when we were eating there, we could smell not only the smells of food, but we could also smell the smell of nature. Moreover, it had a kitchen behind the counter. In front of the counter there were about twenty rectangular tables that were made from wood, and two wooden benches for eight people. There were no walls, but there was a wooden ceiling with fresh green plants that were hung from it. In addition to the nice decor, the food was fresh, tasty, and delicious. Every time we went to the restaurant, we could choose any table to sit at, which gave us a chance to make new friends or choose our friends to enjoy a meal with them. Therefore, it was a very nice place to have a meal at.
On the other side of the restaurant, there was a small building like a small church which had only one floor for praying and having lectures about the bible. It was a long rectangle with tall walls, an arched roof, and many pictures of Saints which had been hung on the roof and walls. At that place, I learned many things about Jesus Christ and the Bible. Indeed, I liked that place because I could pray, sing holy songs, and have many lectures about Jesus Christ there. That place improved my spiritual health and gave me an opportunity to strengthen my faith. It wasn’t just a place of worship, but it was a place of happiness, peace, and relaxation.
If the church is the place of mind and soul relaxation, the swimming pool is for body relaxation. There was a large rectangle swimming pool in front of the main building. In fact, swimming has many benefits for our body health and fitness because it engages most of the muscle in our bodies. For this reason, every day on our trip we had two times that we could use the swimming pool. The first time, was at eleven o’clock AM after the first bible lecture. The second time, was at five o’clock PM after the second bible lecture. I remember that we used to do many races in the swimming pool, one of them was we held our breath and saw who could swim the longest underwater race. My sister always beat me at that race. I remember in sunny days; the sun rays and the summer breeze made a light and rainbow waves through the water. Really swimming pool was a perfect place to refresh and have fun.
In conclusion, the church trip time was the most wonderful time in the year because on that trip I spent a special time of my childhood. I have many amazing memories of all fun activities I did in every area at Beit Yael. For example, the yard area, where I played basketball and football, the main building area, where I shared a room with five people who became my friends, the restaurant, where I ate delicious and tasteful food with the nature smell, the church building, where I learned many things about Jesus Christ and the bible, and the swimming pool area, where I swam and had a lot of fun with my friends .For me Beit Yael was unforgettable place and it brought out the happiest part of my childhood memories, which stick with me for a life time. In fact, there is nothing more comfortable than spending time in a place away from crowdedness.
