December 11, 2007

Edfu




Today we got the chance to sleep like normal people after an exhausting day. While we slept, the ship was moving south, from Luxor to the direction of Edfu. We had an 08:00 o’clock breakfast which was amazing as the other ones! The sight of breakfast in the Peace Camp won’t stop amazing me. Everyone is talking to each other, laughing, sharing. I LOVE IT. We went upstairs the lounge to have our Peace Camp Session #3 – Religions.

Brooks did quick overview about what religions do we have on the boat:
Muslims – Shiite and Sunni, Christians – A Lot of types! , Jews – secular and conservative and Buddhism. We spread into groups of 10 and started the session. I was with Mickey! We started talking about what is religion, and what part does it have in out individual lives. Samar from Bahrain talked about the Islam and explained what is the different between the two big streams. Naturally, the conversation just really “flowed” and everyone listened to everyone and respected each other very much! I have never participated in such a good dialogue that the conversation actually was on the same subject all the time, and it didn’t end up at being really mad at each other. We talked about the Christianity in Poland, how does the mixture of religion and government goes in different countries, why is Islam is separated, are there any Jews in South Korea, and do they accept Islam in Romania? In the end of the dialogue we talked about how does the media affects the opinion of others about religions and stereotypes and how history can be easily twisted.

Right up next we had some free (best) time! I took a really long video of us hanging out in the pool, getting some tan or just sitting with each other on a cup of tea. Seeing the Nile from the top deck of the ship was amazing! Beautiful clear blue sky in the background of Egyptian agriculture fields separated by some sand hills. I got refreshed in the modest sized pool and did some crazy jumps to the water with Kareem and Mahmoud from Egypt. Later on we got the liberty to sit in the captian’s chair and blow the horns of the ship! Yay! We got photos and everything, don’t worry!

Right up next! Lunch…which was amazing as “usual”. Then we had Peace Camp Session #4 about problem solving. Again we spread into groups of 10, and we had to choose a Leader from a group and 2 observers to watch how the team works together. We were handed out papers which one of them was a problem and the rules of the solving the problem, and on the other a list of items. The problem was: out space ship was damaged during flight to the mothership, and we had to do a crash landing on the moon, in a point which is 300 kilometers from the mother ship. We needed to rank the items in the list from 1 to 15, which 1 is the most important thing we should take and 15 is the least important. The rules were – we got 5 minutes to rate individually every item and then 20 minutes to agree on a Team rate for the list. Plus, we can’t make any votes and we can’t compromise! I was chosen to be the leader after a hard party campaign and debates, and Vince and Randa were the observers. After we ranked individually, we started to make the team rating. We all agreed the most important thing from the list was the tanks of oxygen and then water. We had in the list stuff like Food Concentrate, 45 Caliber Pistol, Solar FM transmitter, Magnet compass, 20 meters of nylon rope , etc. we did work as a team and everyone was heard what did they rank and in what number and we explained everything we did to everyone. After some arguing about the rating of the life raft in comparison with the condensed milk, we decided that the Pistol was the last thing we need to take in order to get to the mothership. After we finished, Brooks read the rating that NASA did for this list of items and we were pretty close at the start but after he read their explanations we noticed that you can’t really neither eat nor drink in space since you have the big spacesuit on! Plus there is no magnetic field on the moon, so using a compass is useless.

Out observers told us that we really worked well, everyone had the chance to speak and we elaborated on everything.

Yep, another great day in Peace Camp. LOVE RESPECT PEACE!

Alon – Israel






After our fourth Peace Session we came together to share in an open mic time. It is so incredible hearing the stories and experiences every person has to share. There is so much support and understanding amongst us all that quite a few students who vowed not to share have been prompted to come up and tell tales that have touched us all. Peace Camp really is “interconnectedness” on a whole new level!
Our only outing today was to the Edfu temple. After hearing bits of Barb’s visit to the monument I was sure that it would be amazing. But honestly, I cannot begin to describe the wonder and the beauty of the structure. It is the only fully preserved Pharaonic temple; from a distance its architecture seems no different to other ancient Egyptian structures, but once inside one can really appreciate the Greek influence and design as it was built by Greek Egyptians after Alexander the Great invaded Egypt. At the time it was built it would have been the tallest temple in Egypt as it is three stories high.

Our tour guide, Ahki, shared myths and guided us around the hieroglyphic-covered walls. As we left we all had a bit of time shop for galabeyyas, an Egyptian dress, in preparation for tomorrow’s dinner.

Michelle Vogelzang – South Africa

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

How terrific it is for all of you to participate in something so wonderful. To my friend Salma (from Iraq), I am so happy that you get to experience such a fantastic event. To All: have fun and be safe!

Anonymous said...

Brooks -- great picture of your introduction of religion to the students. Maybe you can give the team at HQ a similar presentation in April?!

We're glad everything is going so well. Thanks for posting on the blog! Give Barb a hug! :)

Rosanne

Anonymous said...

We whould like to thank the organizers of this Peace Camp on thier great initiative and wisdom.

We seat here and love what we read and see what our boys and girls achieve by meeting and talking... and we send you all our blessing and hope for a better peaceful world for us and our children..

Love you son.

From Dafna, Jacob, Hila, Hed, Hadar and Lachan and the dogs...

Anonymous said...

Hi Alon!
I'm so proud of you!
I enjoyed your post, very interesting, and I'm so glad that you'r having fun, and usuing your virtues, and making new friend from all over the world..
I can imagin your excitment when you'll be back!
Miss you very much!
Hila (sister)