8th Grade Mt. Sinai Trip

Every year the 8^th grade class takes a trip to Mt. Sinai and the Red Sea. Last year I was one of the chaperons on this trip but for whatever reason I didn’t blog about it. However, this year Seth and I were both chaperons so I got to go for a second time.

This is a very different kind of trip than most of our socially elite students are used to. No four star resorts or restaurants, no overly indulgent shopping sprees, and worst of all no cell phones! Instead, we climb a mountain, sleep outside under the stars, cook our own food and do our own dishes.

We spend weeks leading up to this trip every year preparing the students. Their P.E. class is amped up to prepare them for the long hike and they spend some time talking about healthy eating habits, a little known concept around here. Since these kids have never hiked or camped before they are required to bring in their bags to school the day before. We got through and make sure they have everything on the packing list and send home all the miscellaneous things they do not need. We show them how to properly pack their backpacking bag and attach their sleeping bag.

We loaded up the bus early morning Friday and left Alex shortly after 6:00am for the ten hour bus ride to the Sinai Peninsula and Mt. Sinai. Since the Sinai Peninsula still has the potential for an area of conflict, we have to get government permission to travel through it and there are several check points along the way. It is a little disconcerting when armed military guards board your bus of 15 thirteen year olds that you are responsible for and you can’t easily communicate with them. But we had no problems, and the guards whom could speak a little English with us usually joked with us about they’re glad they weren’t in our shoes being in charge of all those kids.

We finally arrived at Mt. Sinai a little before 4 o’clock. We had to hire a local Bedouin guide to lead us up the mountain. It didn’t take very long into the hike for the group to spread out, leaving Seth in the very back with the slow-pokey climbers. With the rest of the group too far ahead to see, Seth and the slow-poke took the wrong trail, luckily we had borrowed some walkie-talkies (illegal in Egypt by the way) from a friend and quickly got them back on track. It took just a little over three hours to get to the top. This was a lot faster than last year and since we had left earlier we didn’t have to do the final 150 Step of Repentance in the dark….MUCH better and safer.

We ate our packed dinners at the top of the mountain, enjoying the last few remaining rays of color from the sunset. Most brought Cup-O-Soup (knock off brand) and bought boiled water from the Bedouins who had propane heaters up there. It had gotten quite chilly at the top, especially once the sun went down, so the warm noodles were very nice!

We rented mattresses for 10LE and rolled out our sleeping bags under the stars. It was the first time for any of these kids to sleep outdoors, and without the light pollution from the city, they were amazed at the expanse of all the stars.

Around 3 o’clock in the morning, we were woken up by large tour groups coming up the mountain. At 5:30am we woke all our students up to go to the very peak of the mountain to watch the sun rise. There is a small Orthodox Church and mosque at the summit. We ate our packed breakfasts and descended the mountain. Wow, going down is a lot easier.

At the base of the mountain we stopped and visited St. Katherine’s Monastery. The Monastery of St. Katherine is the oldest continuously inhabited monastery in the World and its library has the largest religious collection after the Vatican. It was built by the Byzantine Emperor Justinian in the 6th century AD, although there was already a church at the site of the Burning Bush erected by the Empress Helena in 330 AD. Byzantine Orthodox monasticism has even earlier roots, and the area is sacred to all three monotheistic religions, Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The Chapel of the Burning Bush, the most sacred part of the monastery, is a small chamber that lies below and behind the altar of the church. The bush, protected by a stone wall, is of a bramble species, the like of which is not to be found in all Sinai; it neither blooms nor gives any fruit, although carefully tended by the monks. It is said that this bush is a descendant of the original Burning Bush and is several thousands of years old.

Then we loaded back onto the bus and drove another 2 hours to the Red Sea and Basata, the eco-lodge we spent the remainder of our trip at. Basata in Arabic means simple and that is exactly what Basata is. We stayed in bamboo huts on the beach with no electricity. There is a larger bamboo building that acts as the kitchen, dining room, and living room for all guests. It is a place to come, relax by the tranquil sea and enjoy good old fashioned conversation with people from all over the world, and enjoy Egypt at its cleanest and finest. Dinners are provided and served family style to all guest s in the traditional Bedouin style, meaning sitting on rugs and pillows around a low table. Breakfasts and lunches are cooked yourself and you are expected to clean up after yourself and do your own dishes - something most of our students are not used to. Yes, we did have to teach some how to scramble and egg and how to wash their plate.

The area is completely secluded by geographical location and by two rocky mountains that extend out to the sea on either side of their property. It is known to have one of the finest beaches in all of the world, with a very soft shallow sandy shelf that extends for over 100 meters into the sea before flourishing sea grass community and then a beautiful coral reef that has been protected and less damaged than most in the Red Sea.

At Basata, they have their own water refinery and waste water management system. They recycle everything, well actually, you are expected to sort and recycle all your stuff. They have their own small farm which they feed the leftover bio waste to the goats, camel, donkeys etc. Also getting their own eggs from their chickens, no meat is eaten at Basata except fish. They have their own greenhouse where they get all of their vegetables and even their own school. It only has grades 5^thth currently (because that’s what grade their children are in) but they are trying to expand to a full school to support more of the local community. and 11

Mr. Sheriffe, the owner of Basata, has really done a wonderful job. He is really passionate about what he does and cares a lot for his home country of Egypt and sees the potential if only he can get the rest of the country to care to keep Egypt clean and support more eco-tourism. Due to his success with Basata, he has started his own NGO which manages all the waste from tourist resorts and locals from Hurgada to Dahab!!! They feed the bio waste to the Bedouin’s animals and take the rest to his recycling plant where everything is sorted and sold to companies who can recycle the materials in Cairo.

Most of our time at Basata the students and ourselves had free time where they enjoyed bonding with each other, swimming, playing sand soccer, sand volleyball, reading, and playing games. I saw three Lion Fish while I was swimming and a Moray Eel! We did spend some time each day working on journaling and other assignments from their teachers.

Our second day at Basata we took a jeep ride to the Colored Canyon and hiked through it. It’s a beautiful canyon that is only wide enough for one person at a time and winds and snakes it way through the mountain. The kids really enjoyed this hike, we saw a few lizards, a snake and there are a few challenges like wiggling their way through a small hole created by a fallen bolder that they really enjoyed.

After our hike we stopped at the Hemeya Recycling Center, Mr. Sheriffe's NGO. We watched a promotional video about the center and got a tour of how they sort and process the recycled materials.

Over all it was a great trip and I have to say went a lot better than last year. It was easier knowing was to expect from my experiences last year, changing a lot of the things that didn’t work well, and it’s very nice chaperoning with your spouse. It’s fun taking these kids out of their element of five star resorts and shopping and Prada and seeing them enjoy hiking, camping, cooking their own food and cleaning up after themselves.

When we finally arrived back home after a 12 hour bus ride, we had another nice surprise. And as a reward for reading our blog, you will be the first to know! Seth had an e-mail from his old school district Shawnee Mission asking Seth to call them soon. Seth is currently on leave but with the current education situation in Kansas we thought (and were told) that there was little chance of him getting reassigned. However, somehow everything worked out and they did have a position for him at Hocker Grove, the middle school he first taught at 12 years ago! Of all things, he’s taking the position of one of his best friends so that she can take a leave of absence and will be in the same classroom! Of course, since he accepted this position he has gotten several other calls for interviews at other schools…such is life.

So it looks like the plan is that we are heading back home. We’ll be back June 21^st and I’ll start looking for a PTA position soon.