Back from the wild?

Spent 5 days in Inter-civilizational youth engagement prgramme 2008 (IYEP2) http://www.just-international.org/iyep2008.cfm . I had so much to tell, experienced a lot that i dont have words to sum up everything. all i can say is i feel and experienced enough to make up for one month holiday til next semester. the fact is i dont feel like writing. but one of my best friend already reminded me not to forget to write about it once i'm back. well lets start with bad news first: i didnt participate much like i anticipated before. lets just attribute that to culture shock. lol.
Day 1
i was the first to arrive at the JUST office in PJ (punctuality is my middle name. lol). had to wait for some time before everyone and the bus arrived. then it took forever for the bus to move (impatience is also my middle name). then i was so excited to see kuala selangor again after so many years that i thought it took ages to get there. i noticed the driver detoured into KL from PJ then to KS. once arrived, we went into the ballroom- listening to briefing and had lunch. it was my first time seeing Dr. Chandra Muzaffar in person so i was kinda shy to went and speak to him. he was very friendly to everybody though. after that the discussion started. i just dont want to elaborate further on this because i get tired of it after five days. suffice to say that i learned a lot about people during the discussions. quoting Adel and Hassanal 'information overload'. i would like to add 'discussion overload'. haha. i was kinda lost on every topic because i wasnt involved in any particular association and done anything about environment. my last minute application is also the cause that i came unprepared. however, i did come to learn. and learned i did become.
Day 2
one of my best day because i love the activity. i was pleasantly surprised at the sight of the funny looking 'bus' after breakfast:

the bus took us to the Kuala Selangor Nature Park: http://www.nature-escapes-kuala-lumpur.com/Kuala-Selangor-Nature-Park.html
i love the park because i fit in so well with the nature and i feel a lot at ease by myself. it kinda remind me of my childhood where i play in the jungle much thicker than the park:
Later in the morning, it rained quite heavily. luckily i borrowed a quite broken umbrella from the hotel (it was the only umbrella from the hotel). so i wasnt drenched. but i feel uncomfortable with the dampness of my jeans and shirt. when we went back to the hotel the rain hasnt stopped. i showered again and changed into dry clothes. but once i reached the ballroom (i prefer to call it brain lab) i got dampen by the puddles. i was quite cranky for the whole day after that that at the end of the day i skipped the Walk to the Lighthouse. i feel unhappy about having not gone to the lighthouse because sight-seeing is the highlight of my day there but when i'm cranky i am tired and its better if i dont communicate much. so i just stayed in the room. later that night had dinner and amused myself with free performances and went to bed earlier than everyone.
Day 3
Feel like i have reached the end of my wits and have nothing more to contribute to the brain lab. feel happy that some people must prepare the solar cooker. so i am the first to took off for the making of solar cooker. now this i can relate to. lol. i pretty much had fun doing everything other than be part of brain lab. but after that had to be back to brain lab. feel sad that it was so easy building the solar cooker. i wish it was more difficult so i can play longer. anyway, i forgot to mention another activity that i prefer than brain lab is eating five times a day. now, i didnt say that i am used to eating five times a day. by myself, i only ate 3 times max a day. but even eating here sometimes disappoint me because the food was weird and when its not weird and tasteless its just plain tasteless. but there are times i enjoyed it too and there are times when they are tasty. but all in all, i just enjoyed eating for the meeting people part. and it doesnt stopped me from eating a lot too. i think i had an addition of at least 1kg per day. today, the highlight of the day was the trip to fireflies park/river: http://www.journeymalaysia.com/MR_kampungkuantan.htm
for the first time of my life i climbed into the sampan. to sum things up, i had a really amusing companions in the sampan and pretty much laughed all the way to and fro. i catched one firefly. i let everyone on the sampan see it inside my hand and after that half-intentionally let it go. i didnt take much pics because it was pitch black and i dont have high definition camera.
Day 4
brain lab as usual and also time to make use of the solar cooker. i had a dream the night before that we successfully cooked fish soup with the cooker which i told Irfan that it means we will not successfully cook anything. it was pretty cloudy that day and we put the solar cooker at the tennis court. i forgot to mention that we practically live with two species of monkeys so when we came back to check the rice that we tried to environmental-friendly cook one of other group's solar cooker was already attacked by monkeys. i saw their hand prints everywhere. later that day, it rained. to sum up, none of us successfully cooked any rice. which also goes to show that trying to be environmental-friendly is a trying journey. plus, costly to be successfully implemented. i'm talking about having a workable solar system in each homes to cook etc.
Day 5
In total agreement with the speech by Dr. Chandra Muzaffar on spirituality. this is the one element of the programme that i can relate to and his speech was the only thing on spirituality that i agreed. however, i didnt participate during actual discussion on this element because i didnt agree on some people's view on Islam, plus we're having diversity of faith here. I purposely avoid talking about faith because i feel that if we didnt know about other people's faith we shouldnt talk about it, when we are of different faith but know a lot about other faith we musnt also talk too much on that other faith either, and when we are of that faith but having not completed our knowledge on it we should not brag...we shall only explain when asked. this is very important because faith is a delicate issue and being careful means to avoid insulting and be insulted back. i was personally insulted when a particular person babble alot about my faith when such person is not even a believer let alone practiced my faith and i noticed that such person was sometimes wrong in facts. i was also annoyed when one person claimed directly and indirectly that such person was a devout muslim that he is qualified to be a wali but in practice i saw a lot of discrepancies in action. Islam embodies the element of humility. but all i saw is vanity. in Surah al-Najm (Verse 32) Allah said, what can be translated as, "Do not complement yourself, He (Allah) knows best of those who are pious."

Islam has legislated a number of rules that a Muslim should abide by when he talks to others, while always remembering with unshaken belief that everything he says is accounted for and he will be rewarded if what he says is good and will be punished if what he says is evil. Allah (S.W.T.) says in Surat Quaaf, (Verse 18), what can be translated as, "Not a word does he (or she) utter, but there is a watcher by him ready (to record it)."

The Messenger (S.A.W.) warned us that talk is very dangerous. In an authentic hadith reported by Imam At-tirmithi and Ibn-Majah, that he said, "A person may say a word that is pleasing to Allah (S.W.T.) and he may not think much of it, but Allah (S.W.T.) will, (because of that word), bestow his pleasure upon him on the Day of Judgment, and a person may say a word that is displeasing to Allah (S.W.T.), and he may not think much of it, but Allah will have, (because of that word) his wrath and anger on him on the Day of Judgment."

Talk can be dangerous. So, we should control it within the limits of Islam, guided by Allah (S.W.T.) and his Messenger Mohammed (S.A.W.).

Quote: http://members.cox.net/ameer1/mannerst.html

i feel i have the right to comment on this issue because i have at least some legal background on the Shariah. although some people say education is a waste of money and refused to educate his/her self in the 'conventional way;, at least i made RM26,000 loan for my legal studies knowing that i learned about Islam and Shariah from legitimate and certified sources and once i graduated i shall receive a certification that shows i can talk on Islam more profoundly that people who dont have it. some people may say that this is of trivial nature. but for me, with regards of my faith nothing is trivial. and every little hiccups goes into establishing a prima facie case against 'the accused'. hence i rest my case.

so on the last day there is no longer brain lab but we all sat down to check the 'cover letter' of our soon to be memorandum on the outcome of our five days discussion that embodies our opinions on what should be done to save the environment. i dont exactly have any idea to whom this shall be addressed but i guess its for the government, business org and the public at large.
later that day, we checked out of the hotel and detoured to Sekinchan to see paddy field. i took a lot of pictures there. then we're off to PJ.