Aus deutscher Sicht möchte ich versuchen bereits vor der Verunreinigung einzugreifen. Ich möchte mich engagieren, dass die Verschmutzung nicht so schlimm wird. Das wir mehr von unserem Wasser – unserem Lebensträger erhalten. Das bedeutet auch, dass es darum geht, nicht zu früh den Stöpsel zu ziehen und … [weiterlesen]

Because of today, the 22nd of August 2010, you may decide to read on in German or in English. Please be my guest.

“Straßenverkehrsregeln scheint es keine brauchbaren zu geben. Zumindest nicht in Nazareth. Wichtig ist: wer im Kreisverkehr drin ist, hat Vorfahrt und an einer roten Ampel wird gehalten.” (Weiterlesen …)

It is the day before the 23rd of August. My night was far to short.  I didn´t sleep well. At 7 am I met my new Italian friends at the NSc. I am very thankful, that they stayed at the Nazareth Scout Center. They (you) inspired me for my stay in Nazareth. They (you) reminded me, why I decided to move to Israel in the first place. I was even more astonished when Agnese got up from the group and gave me their neckerchief as a present, telling me, that they were very happy to meet me. From their impression I symbolize hope – hope for change. I am still overwhelmed with emotion.

I was out for lunch today with Abuna Simaan and Sister Martha. Normally, one would not celebrate on the day before a big day. But this is different. I spent a very good lunch in Akko. Sitting alongside the waterline, enjoying Arabic cuisine, drinking Arabic drinks and ending it with a small piece of cake, a sparkler, birthday music and lots of laughing.

This day stays overwhelming with emotions!

Wonderful! I felt the scouting spirit at the NSC this weekend. We were scouts from different nations. We spoke different languages and met eachother using the English language. They were eager to translate everything for us. We played games like: “Jack is in the kitchen with Lisa”, “Fakiro Casimo” and “Evolution”. We sang, danced and laughed together. They reflected their days in Nazareth by putting their thoughts into small acts. I understood much of what they were talking about, even though their mother tongue is Italian.

I met 26 scouts from Italy. They came to visit the NSC. First 5 of them stayed for one night. Then, 21 arrived and stayed two nights. They were leaders from different age groups on a journey “Route di Terra Santa”, orgnized by “Compagnia di San Giorgio”. One important stop was the Basilica of the Anounciation.

Throughout these days we were one group. We talked about harmony and distrust. We looked for solutions. We talked about our fears – freely – without knowing eachother for longer than 15 Minutes.

How is that possible?

As a scout I trust in the scouts that I meet. I don´t fear that he or she will harm me. I trust that my dialog partner tells me the truth. I don´t have to do everything. Somebody out of the group will take the responsibility for us. Together we do our best to have a good time. Either we descide together who is in charge or we democrately elect somebody. In the end, it breaks down to trust in each other.

This state of mind sets the scouting spirit free. It enables me to laugh, to feel comfortable, to think about life in detail or in general, to play childrens games, to meet people from all over the world, to be quiet, or to be loud, to be sad, to be satisfied, to smile and to believe. In fact, the scouting spirit helps me to be who I love to be: a caring, openminded man living in peace.

I am very thankfull, that I was able to spent time with these Italians. If you should read this blog: “Thank you very much for enlightening our world”.

Today, I took a good luck at my hand. I noticed that it shows how I feel: comfortable! I don´t always feel comfortable. There are days when my hands hurt. My left hand, for example also shows scarrs.  But at the same time, I can see and feel, that my skin is soft, my hands are clean and the finger nails are cut properly.

“Mach Deine Hand auf und halte sie Dir vor Dein Gesicht. Was kannst Du sehen?” I posted a small blog entry for Phil and Lotta on the idea of watching your hand grow.

From my perspective, it is our view on life, that is important.

I want to start off with a very stupid example: Let us say there would be 10 Granny Smith apples lying on the table. The table would be in a nice room with radiant white walls. This room would have 2 big open windows. There would be 8 people (like you and me) in the room. It would be a nice sunny day.

Then, I start to eat one of these apples. The person next to me will hand me the other 9 apples and will watch me while I am throwing these delicious apples out of the window. It is so much fun to throw green apples out of the window.

Now what? – This example sounds really stupid!!

But what happens in our day-to-day life? What happens to the water resources that are literally thrown out of the window? What happens to the chemicals that we use to clean our buildings, churches, houses, appartments, cars and clothings? What happens to the garbage that we throw onto the streets? Which space does it take up? Will it get burned or burried? What happens to the air that we pollute with burning garbage, grass lands, forests or villages?

Can we point our finger at politicans and say: “Please, change the rules and regulations”? No, from my point of view we have to stand in front of a mirror and point at ourselves.

Peace is all about how I encounter you. Do I respect your environment? Do I recognize that your environment is also mine?

It is one thing to notice the inequity that countries like Israel or the United States of America come up with against certain parts of their population. And it is another to STOP the common and easy way of life and to proceed the sharing and respectful paths that may lead to equity. Perhaps with more equity peace will also have a chance to develop.

I entered my new appartment. Finally, I will be in my own appartment again. Yet, it is still not clear when exactly this will be. Words on paper may be a contract in Germany. But this is not Germany. This is not Frankfurt.

The first picture I had in mind, when I entered the appartment was a wet cat. Boy, Billie never had this smell on him. But I sure remember some cats, who had this intensive odour.

Today, I just wrote about my thoughts >>on how we live<<. Perhaps, if you can read German, you would like to follow through. You can click on this link.

During the months in Cologne I´ve learned about tools and techniques for conflict analysis. They are supposed to encourage us humans to analyse conflicts and at the same time enable me personally to get a grip on the day-to-day life in this part of the world.

I arrived at Ben Gurion Airport on the first of May. I stayed at the Paulus Haus in East Jerusalem for 13 days. Then I moved to Nazareth. There I am staying at the Abuna Faraj Guesthouse. My life feels good.

Exploring East Jerusalem, taking the adventure of wandering through the old city and its´ suq in mid of the Arab population, I felt save. I became friends with a Muslim. We talked about the wheater, the people, the children, our lives and our believes. Continuing the adventure of setting an end to my transfer from Aachen to Nazareth, I wandered through Nazareth. There I met many friendly people. They are generous and courteous.

Just yesterday my neighbours invited me to meet their relatives. They were sitting on the patio infront of the house, offered me a chair, some water, coffee, dinner and included me into their happy athmosphere.

Is this the Israel I prepared for?

I want to use a metapher to emphasize what I am aiming at. Imagine an ant trail. Then imagine how the ants react when something blocks their trail. The ants respond directly and adapt a new trail. They arrange themselves with the given situation.

From my point of view humans are not different to ants in this behaviour. We try to get the best out of our life – for our family and for us.

Thus, it is not unusal that on first sight one can feel comfortable wandering around Israel, leaving out the sites where the military is involved.

But there is far more to it! Hate and misunderstandings, conflicts, are dwelling under the surface or in the open. Sometimes these social injustices are present to the media and are captured in world surrounding news for a while. But most of it is not.

There are conflicts based on territories, on not being recognized as a part of the society, on being expelled, on water, on economic resources, on human rights et cetera.

Is it fair to title this blog entry “identifying the white spots”?

Taking into account that the colour white commonly symbolizes purity, cleanliness and innocence, “identifying the white spots” refers to areas of knowledge about local conflicts which are not developed yet.

The tools and techniques for conflict analyses are designed to help here. Fisher et al. suggest several factors, why there is the need to analyse. Here are their strong points:

• To understand the background and history of the situation as well as current events.
• To identify all the relevant groups involved, not just the main or obvious ones.
• To understand the perspectives of all these groups and to know more about how they relate to each other.
• To identify factors and trends that underpin conflicts.
• To learn from failures as well as successes.

(FISHER, S. et al. (2007): Working with Conflict. Skills & Strategies for Action. Zed Books, London)

At the same time that I want to get a grip on the day-to-day life, I want to share with you what occurs, what I think about and how I reflect on the given situations. I want you to benefit, while I am benefiting. I want us to extent and to develop our knowledge.

I merged the pages “es passiert!” and “it happens” and renamed it “coorire”. New title – same content.

“Coorire” is Latin. It translates into to appear, to originate, to arise, to break out (bad), to be born, to spring forth, to attack.

I am looking forward to informing you there in German about what I am thinking, what I am experiencing and what my conscience tells me.

What else is new?

I´ve added a new page: “Phil”. There I will write little messages for my nephew and later for my niece. I want to enable them to hear more about me, this side of the world and the intercultural highlights.

There they are, my distractions. They keep me from writing. I experienced so much in these past weeks:

Tel Aviv

Stefan and Nuray flew in to spend their holidays with me here in Nazareth. Yes, one can relax a bit in this place. Okay, they stayed only a night and then we took off to Tela Aviv together.

What a difference to Nazareth! Everything is different: the language, the street signs, the buildings, the people, the weather, the water, the hotels, the food, the stores, the museums, the sidewalk, … Even though all these differences are so numerous, I recognized one parallel with Nazareth: the parking ticket.

Anica´s birthday party

We celebrated Anica´s 30th birthday in Jerusalem. It was a nice evening. Thinking back to the most of the birthday parties I have gone to, I mostly remember girls dancing first. Not there: men love to dance there. Great! Then the women join in. All of us, including us sitting, clapping a rhythm, enjoying them dancing in the street.

Scout meeting on Saturdays

The following saturday, after Anica´s Party, I worked at the Nazareth Scout Center (NSC). I was supposed to meet Sarah and 4 women, who wanted to clean the NSC after the renovations. Unfortunately, they didn´t come. The day did not go smoothly. It would have been nicer to spend the day in Jerusalem.

After finishing my day´s work, I stepped out of the NSC. I was ready to drag myself home. Outside I met my neighbour from across the NSC. He asked me: “Where do you want to go?” He was sitting in his car and offered me a ride home.

Even though it is just four minute´s walk, I got into his car. He turned around and drove me home. How kind of him!

This small gesture showed me once more how important it is not to judge a day by its work. I´m glad that I´m getting to know him and his family.

Italian Scouts in the NSC

From the point of view of working on Saturdays and Sundays, the following weekend was not better. Here is what I did: on Saturday I cleaned about 50 chairs outside the NSC. Then I prepared the dining room. Later that day I went shopping with the President. Man, was I exhausted on Saturday evening.

Sunday morning I started at 9:15 in the NSC. Sarah and I finished the guest rooms, the bathrooms, the dining room, the corridor, the stairway, the kitchen and the paperwork. 4 Scouts from Kana also came to help. They did a great job!

Later that day, in the early evening, the Italian Scouts from Merano arrived at the NSC. 22 Scouts starting their trip through the Holy Land in Nazareth. After discovering their way to the roof-deck, they decided to celebrate a Holy Mass up there. Sarah and I took part.

Altogether we were sitting in a circle on the floor tiles of the roof-deck. They spoke, prayed and sang in Italian. Their priest impressed me. He poured wine into a tin Scout cup. He celebrated the Eucharist with all his love. The setting was very simple. Yet, this is it. This is what I am longing for. Simplicity.

Sitting on the roof-deck, listening to the Italian Scout chant, overlooking Nazareth in the sunset. I felt at home. الحمد لله

What´s this about? Old shoes? Holes? Fading out colour? Is it about getting older? What happens to old chucks?

It´s about the feeling. It´s about companions that accompany your path without questioning you. It´s about lifestyle. It´s about my choices in life.

Please feel free to build your own opinion.