Friday, March 25, 2011

Island Adventure

A few weeks ago, I had the chance to attend a two-day conference on peace education.  Aside getting to hear a lecture from an Israeli professor who researches/teaches peace education between Israelis and Arabs, I must say that I found the conference rather somewhat disappointing.

This was ok, however, because the conference was held 1) on a Baltic Sea island 2) roughly 500 meters from the Polish border.  As can be expected, I had several adventures....

Starry, starry night.  Upon taking an evening stroll with a co-worker, I discovered that being in the middle of the countryside on an island makes for spectacular star viewing.  I didn't have my camera with me, but no picture could have done it justice, anyways - I've never seen so many stars and of such brightness in my life.  I was in awe, so much so, in fact, that I couldn't resist laying in the grass to take it all in, despite the below-zero temperatures and a brutal sea wind.




The next morning, I proceeded with one of my new favorite pastimes: walking across national borders.

Poland beckons.


'National Border'
If I were them, I would add 'Please don't invade us.'

My Polish expedition was, alas, rather lacking in cultural enrichment, as I didn't have enough time to get much further than the gardening community next to the border.


The day continued on a rather sober note with a tour of the Golm War Cemetery.  The cemetery is the final resting place for as many as 14,000 victims of a US Air Force bombing raid on March 12, 1945.  The bulk of these victims were German civilians (residents of the town of Swinemunde as well as countless refugees fleeing the Red Army in East Prussia), forced laborers from the Netherlands and Poland, and injured German soldiers.

'Die frierende Frau im Soldatenmantel'
'Freezing Woman in Soldier's Coat'


On a lighter note, following the conference, I had about half an hour to spend at the sea.  Although I would have loved to stay longer, it's probably for the best that I couldn't because it was SO COLD!  So cold, in fact, that the Baltic Sea (a miniscule portion of it, at least) was frozen.  And thus, even more enchanting than normal.

This is likely as close to Eskimo living as I'll ever get.

Frozen waves!

Such views are worth the risk of frostbite.

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