Final Romanian mobility report

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Şcoala Gimnazială nr. 62 Str. Potârnichii, Nr. 3, Sector 2 B u c u r e ş t i Tel/Fax: 0040.021.255.36.35 / 0040.021.255.29.09 E-mail:[email protected]

ROMANIAN MOBILITY REPORT

3rd – 7th FEBRUARY 2013

COMENIUS MULTILATERAL PROJECT “HAVING CULTURE AS A KITE, WE TRAVEL EUROPEAN

SKIES” 2012-2014

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SUNDAY, 3RD FEBRUARY 2013

Sunday, 3rd February was the day of the arrival of our partners’ delegations. There were two teachers from our coordinator school in Cyprus, the headmistress, Mrs ELLI HATZIPAPA PARPA and Mrs. SOTEROULA MARATHEFTI, five teachers from Greece: the headmistress PAPANIKOLAOU EFTYCHIA, APOSTOLOS KRASSAS, CHRISTELI ZOI, , SIDIROPOULOU IOANNA, VOITSIDOU SMARO, five teachers from Italy: Mrs Luciana SOLDO, Mrs Maria Antonia GIANNANTONIO, Mr Giuseppe FILIPPO, Mrs Caterina SANSONE, two teachers from Estonia: Mrs. SIRJE LEPIK , Mrs. PIRET JAAGU, three teachers from Poland : Joanna Klimiuk, Teresa Kowalik, Wioletta Grochowska and four students: Kacper Osial, Jakub Jodełko, Kołnacki Kamil, Śpiewak Michał.

MONDAY, 4th FEBRUARY 2013 On Monday morning, School No 62, from Bucharest, Romania, was ready to welcome all our partners. At 9 o’clock a group of boys and girls wearing Romanian popular costumes welcomed the guests with bread and salt.

The kids, and the staff and the principals of the hosting school, accompanied the guests to the main Comenius corner of the school, where all our national symbols and traditions were combined together in a happy reunion. The logo of the European Lifelong

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Program was everywhere in all the posters from the Comenius corners, everywhere in school and in classes. And so was the logo of our own Comenius project, the kite.

Then we all went to the Council’s room to make acquaintance with the Romanian

school staff and present each one of our guests. Then the Romanian coordinator, Nicoleta Mocan, made a presentation of her school activities which were carried out so far in our Comenius project.

At 10 o’clock, the school from Greece, Dimotiko Scholeio Ormylias, exceptionally called the Romanian school on Skype and we had a videoconference.

At ten thirty, the Romanian school’s assembly of popular dances, coordinated by Alexandra Radu (a professional dancer) and Liliana Radu (the Romanian language teacher), danced for all of us, showing their skills acquired during the first months of our common Comenius project. They showed us two Romanian popular dances: “Ciuleandra”, and “Oltenia”.

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At eleven o’clock every delegation was accompanied to the classes ready to receive them with warmth and love and to present their work connected with the culture, language, geography, history, folk traditions and customs of each of our partners. Class VI B and their form teacher Radu Lialiana received the Cyprus delegation in their class properly decorated with our Cypriot partner’s national and cultural symbols. All the classes were in fact properly decorated to make our partners feel at home, showing how much the Romanian kids knew about the our partner’s countries. The whole school was full of kids’ drawings, kites and all kinds of decorations illustrating the theme of our project “Having culture as a kite, we travel European skies”. Together with the students of class VI B, Liliana Radu had the honor to host the delegation of Cyprus. Mrs. Aurelia Iliescu, the vice- headmistress, was also a special guest of this workshop. - The kids and the teacher arranged the classroom; the right corner was reserved to Cyprus and the left corner to Romania. - They exposed some magnets with pictures from different parts of Romania, specific objects and a folk costume. - In the corner dedicated to Cyprus, they put six cups and six saucers from Cyprus with the image of this island; and also a painting representing Cyprus flag - 3D origami picture (hand-made) which was a delight for our guests. - Between the two, they placed a blue kite ¬ (130cm x 75 cm) - symbolizing, on the one hand, the colors of the European Union, on the other hand, the Comenius project we are part of; - The cupboard on the right side was decorated with pictures of Cyprus, with the island shapes and olive leaves (symbol of peace) painted and cut by the students; - On the blackboard there were glued several objects: magnets depicting places in Cyprus, pencils and glasses with the inscription “Cyprus”; + A3 paintings, 3D paintings on paper. - At the back of the class: the names of the two countries with letters built by pupils; and the colored flags and emblems the national days + the logo of our project. -The right wall was decorated with the flags of other participating countries in the

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middle being that of Cyprus, the sequence was completed two paper kites, which included the six countries; - The door: graffiti board (100cm x 80cm) - containing Greek greetings translated into Romanian. - The door: crosswords, the flag of Cyprus (A3) and “Welcome” in Greek. - The hall was decorated with printed images from Cyprus, with handmade drawings and sketches. The lesson was conducted in 3 languages: Romanian - English - Greek. The Cyprus delegation was welcomed with greetings in Greek (Kalimera / Kalos Orisate). The kids a game of colored cards cut to shape a kite. - On the left board there were glued letters of different colors, with the message “Welcome to our School. 62”. - The students were invited by the teacher to the board, and there was the EU flag (creation of a student). The flag was surrounded by the cards above; - Students had to choose one kite, specify its color in Greek, read the message on the back in Romanian / English (word / expression + numbers) and then find each Greek counterpart. - After this game, they tried to translate spoken words from English to Greek (greetings, colors, days of the week, months, the verb to be, numbers and common sentences – a little phrasebook). - This activity was followed by mini-dialogues among students in teams; - They continued the program with a PowerPoint presentation in English and Romanian entitled “Let `s visit the beautiful Cyprus!” (Geography, flag - history and meaning, landscape, climate, administrative divisions, transportation, history, religion, culture, education, kitchen, cities and sights). -The two ladies from the Cyprus delegation Mrs. Elli and Mrs. Soteroula intervened, giving us information about the country and its customs, something that has delighted the pupils, encouraging thus optimal interaction. - The PowerPoint presentation was followed by a game – a crossword ¬ - to provide feedback (students divided into 4 groups receiving cards with questions to solve it and finally they found the word “CYPRUS”); each group, received a EU flag. - During the lesson, students had portfolios with images, culture, history and civilization of Cyprus; - Finally, accompanied by members of the delegation, the kids and the teacher got up and sang the National Anthem of Cyprus; They finished the lesson in the steps of the Greek dance “ Zorba the Greek”.

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Our Estonian teachers, ladies Sirje Lepik and Piret Jaagu, were kindly invited and accompanied by the headmaster Dumitru Ungureanu to the workhop prepared by the class VII C and teacher Mocan Nicoleta, called “ Me armastame Eesti” – “We love Estonia”. Our headmaster Dumitru Ungureanu stayed with us during the entire workshop. First the kids and the teacher Nicoleta Mocan greeted their guests in Estonian language: “Tere hommikust”, “Tere tulemast”, “Meeldiv kohtuda”. Then the class and the teacher Nicoleta Mocan sang with pride and love the Estonian National Anthem. The decoration of the classroom itself fully illustrated the dedication of the Romanian teacher and kids to the national language, culture and traditions of our Estonian partners and friends. The kids then talked about the geography of Estonia, pointing out the main natural beauties of the country. The kids were then eager to show that they’ve learnt many Estonian words and phrases: the greetings, the numbers, the personal pronouns, and the day to day conversations had no mystery for the kids. The teacher then invited the kids to make an insight into the history of Estonia. Using the interactive whiteboard the kids answered to the task of three exercises prepared with the computer program HotPotatoes. This way, another aim of our Comenius program, that of improving the kids IT skills, was achieved. During the discussion about Estonian history, the kids realized that our two people have many things in common: both our countries fought for independence and freedom all through our history. The kids also pointed out that our Independence Days are very close to each other: 24th February 1918 for Estonia and 1st of December 1918 for Romania – both of them being now our National Days. They also made a promise to the Estonian teachers to have a common videoconference with the Estonian teachers and kids close to the date of 24th February this year. Our Comenius project is also about folk songs and traditions, so we talked about the Estonian folk song form called regilaul. We all listened then an Estonian folk song called Lauliku Lapsepõli (Singer’s Childhood) which entirely illustrated the form called regilaul. Regilaul was also the form used in the National myth of Estonia, Kalevipoeg. The kids told the story of Kalevipoeg and they depicted the main parts of the myth with the help of the pictures carefully chosen to illustrate the story. This helped the kids come in contact with the treasure of national myths and stories, because one of the tasks of our Comenius project is to discover the beauty of all our fairy-tales, myths and stories. Of course, we’ve anticipated this way this task that will be approached the second year of our project. We then talked of other Estonian custom and traditions and we discovered that the rituals of Jaanipäev or St John's Day are very similar to those of the Romanian Day of Harvest Feast and St Demeter. The people of our countries both light fires to have prosperity the following year. We then made a virtual trip to Tallinn

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(the capital city of Estonia) to see what was happening there those days. We discovered they had a Festival of Fire and Ice right while we were having the project meeting in Bucharest. The children were very enthusiastic about the pictures of buildings in Tallinn, especially about the Old town. Our guests said that our kids would never get lost in Tallinn or Estonia whatsoever, because they know the language and lots of things about the country. We wanted to thank our guests in a special way, so a group of kids sang two beautiful popular songs: “I would die, but not right now” and “Let’s go, let’s go by carriage”. The time of the workshop unfortunately ended and it was time for the Traditional arts and crafts workshop, but the kids wouldn’t like to part from our Estonian teachers. A bondage was formed during that hour and we will always remember the moments spent together in total friendship, unity and understanding.

The Italian delegation participated to the Comenius workshop entitled “To know Italy” performed by the class II B and their teacher Simona Todoran. The activities performed by the Romanian kids and their teacher for the Italian guests were: 1. Discussions about Italian cities: Rome, Naples, Venice (they watched photos from these cities: Rome – The Colosseum, Trajan's Column, Fontano di Trevi, Venice - Basilica San Marco, Bell Tower, Bridge of Sighs, Rialto Bridge) (discussing various legends about some monuments watched on the computer). 2. The kids listened to music composed by Vivaldi and Toto Cutungo. And they also listened to Italian folk music. 3. The class II B sang in Italian for their guests: 'O Dolce Napoli “and ‘Funiculi funicula " 4. Activities for groups of students: A. Group I - Italy - collage with specific images for Italy - pizza, Tower of Pisa, spaghetti, gondolas, etc.. B. Group II – the painting called” Venice "- made of glazed paper. They also made the silhouettes of monuments in Venice: Rialto Bridge, Basilica San Marco, San Marco Bell Tower, gondolas. C. Group III - Carnival Masks. D. Group IV - painting gondolas from Venice. E. Group V - modeling - La Bocca della Verita ' from modeling clay.

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The teachers from the Greek school were welcomed by the class IV B and their teacher Alina Oncescu. The activity had the following stages:

1.Presentation of the teachers from the Greek delegation and of the framework of the lesson. 2. Dynamic game – the play of presentations: - Students gathered in the middle class and formed a circle; - By turn, each student takes a step forward, says his name and makes a gesture to represent himself with; - Then all students repeated the gesture and said the name of the colleague who introduced himself. 3. The announcement of the title, “Discover Greece” and writing it on the board; translation of the title. 4. Mini phrasebook in Greek: - Presentation and reading the Greek alphabet with the students. - Discovery of similarities / differences between the Greek alphabet and the Romanian alphabet. - Reading words and phrases on the board: ☺ Ελλάδα - Greece - Greece ☺ Καλημέρα - Good morning – Buna dimineata / Buna ziua ☺ Καλημέρα - Good evening – Buna seara ☺ Ευχαριστίες - Thank you - Multumesc ☺ Παρακαλώ - Please – Te rog ☺ Καλώς ορίσατε-You are welcome – Bine ati venit ☺ πολύ καλά - Verry well – Foarte bine etc. 1 - μία - ena 6 - έξι - EXI 2 - δύο - dio 7 - επτά - EFTA 3 - τρεις - tria 8 - οκτώ - ohto

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4 - τέσσερις – Tesera 9 - νέα - enea 5 - πέντε – pende 10 - δέκα - Deca - These words were translated from Greek into English and then in Romanian - Learning new words and new expressions in Greek language ("Athens", "school", "Europe", "big", "tomorrow", "friend", "Hello” “ My name is ..." Nice to meet you”, " Where are you from?"," I'm from Greece / Romania "," Hello "). 6. Imaginary journey through Greece: - Greece and Romania are marked on the map of Europe using post-it cards - Identify, using the flags of Greece (flags were made by students), the major sights in Greece. ☺ Thassos Island - Emerald Island Singing a song with the role of energizing the students. The song is called "Friend" and is sung in Romanian, English and Greek. ☺ Thessaloniki - Ormylia - Poligiros - Sarti - Kassandria etc. ☺ Mount Athos - important monastic center ☺ Meteora - the most important monastic center of the Orthodox Greek territory after Mount Athos. ☺ Larissa - important industrial city located midway between Thessaloniki and Athens ☺ Athens - capital of Greece, important cultural, historical center ☺ Crete Island - the island where Zeus is said to have been born - It is a major tourist center - The purest olive oil is extracted from here - One of the schoolgirls had some photos that she and her family made two years ago when they visited Crete

1. ☺ Rhodes Island - Colossus of Rhodes, one of the Seven Wonders of the World. - The kids read some of the essays that they have prepared in reading classes, with information about places / resorts / important Greek dishes 7. Musical moment: - Girls sang a Romanian song "Last night I bought a headscarf for you” - All the girls sang the song "I love the Romanian popular dances”. - All students sang the traditional Greek song "Palamakia" ("clap your hands") - The boys danced "Sirtaki" - While the girls sang , the boys colored the statue of Zeus and while the boys danced , the girls colored the statue of goddess Athena. 8. The final evaluation of the lesson, impressions, photographs.

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The Polish guests were greeted by the class VI-C, the teachers Parvu- Filote Maria and Vasilica Mateescu. The students addressed welcome greetings in Polish; the Polish ladies received a rose and they used other phrases in Polish. The hosts were served with sweets by the guests. The Romanian kids already prepared PowerPoint reports showing images with various tourist attractions in Poland. The musical soundtrack of this workshop was composed by a great personality of our guest’s country, Frederic Chopin. The kids from 6C had various dialogues in English, presenting the general information about Poland. They had dialogues in Polish, using phrases pronounced impeccably, arousing rounds of applause from the guests. They also read poems in Polish, arousing admiration from the audience once again. Previously knowing that the ladies love a Russian song “Ocii ciornaie” (Очи Чёрные), the children learned and sang it with great pleasure. The guests challenged the hosts to play so the school hall became for a while an actual playground, where adults became children again by singing the song “Stone Bridge”. It was also a happy reunion of Romanian and Polish kids, discovering they are all alike. Upon leaving both Polish teachers and students received Romanian popular music CDs, so when they arrive home, they can prolong the joy of our meeting.

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At 12 o’clock all delegations were invited into the Traditional Arts and Crafts workshop. One of the other aims of our Comenius project is to craft traditional objects used for various folk traditional celebrations. Miss Daiu Anisoara is the coordinator of this workshop.

These activities took place in this workshop on the day of February 4, 2013, during the visit of Comenius partner countries: 1. Painting on wood- national motifs were executed the on the following items: spoons, salt shakers, napkin holders, chest, jewelry box, bracelet, mirror, eggs holders, hairbrush, and kitchen grinder. Icons were also painted. 2. Glass painting - Byzantine icons were made. 3. Pottery-painting: plates, pots and planters were decorated in traditional Romanian pottery style. 4. Painting on plaster – objects were made by Miss Daiu by pouring plaster into molds (Christmas ornaments and Easter themed objects) that students have painted 5. Braided rope, braided rugs (used as holders for decorations made by students) and masks by knotting string 6. Mărtişor - made of red and white wool yarn (the peasant and the peasant girl, dressed in traditional costume Romanian costume) 7. Corn leaves - angels and flowers were made of corn leaves 8. Leather objects –leather + sandals were made, Romanian specific shoes used today in more remote areas, mostly in villages. 9. Paintings on paper and canvas – they were decorated with berries and seeds and other natural materials 10. Coarse muslin -stitch - bookmarks were made with traditional models, which can be found on Romanian folk dresses. The most important thing that took place during this workshop was again, like in the lesson about Poland, the friendship between the Polish kids and Romanian kids. The Polish kids immediately joined the Romanian kids in painting activities. These were the most successful pictures of the day: the Polish kids playing with kids from VI C and painting together with the kids in the arts and crafts workshop. The teacher Daiu Anisoara dares to say that the overall activity of the workshop, which took place in a rustic full of history and tradition, to please the guests, was successful, as evidenced by the exclamations of wonder, smiles, congratulations and gratitude to the children from our partners.

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When this workshop finished, we all went to the Council’s room to exchange impressions of the day and to have lunch. After lunch, at 2.30, we had another Comenius project meeting. Our coordinator from Cyprus, Soteroula Marathefti, revised with us every activity that we had to fulfill and it was on our Comenius schedule so far, from the very beginning until the meeting in Romania. All the activities were carried out by the partners and if any activity wasn’t on our website yet, we had to put it on Smilebox and update our website as soon as possible. It was also reminded the role of Poland and Romania in creating the common cook book. The conclusion of the meeting was that all partners did their best to follow each step of our common Comenius project. Then our guests were accompanied to the hotel and later that evening at 7.30 we all had dinner together.

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TUESDAY 5th FEBRUARY 2013

Tuesday was the day for the cultural and documentary visits to the Royal Court of Târgovişte and Bran Castle. We left Bucharest in the morning and set towards Târgovişte, our first stop of the day. Around 10 o’ clock in the morning we arrived at the National museum complex “The Royal Court of Târgovişte”. This is an architectural ensemble, history and monumental art. The Royal Court represents the best kept medieval auditorium ensemble from the Romanian territory and has functioned with intermission for more than three centuries (1396-1714) as a residence and a Royal throne. The guide told us that the town of Târgovişte is one of Romania's foremost historic locations. The capital of Wallachia for approximately three centuries (14th - 17th), Târgovişte also hosted the residence of 33 rulers, from Mircea the Oldest to Constantin Brâncoveanu, said the guide.

We saw the main monuments: the Great Royal Church, Chindia Tower, The Royal Palace, and the Small Royal Church. The Great Royal Church still boasts its frescoes with portraits of Wallachian rulers, and a cannonball stuck in its walls, in testimony of past wars. One of our Cypriot guests noticed the Greek letters on the walls, and we explained that it was the old Slavic alphabet which derives from the Greek alphabet. It was like a lesson of history but also brought all of us together, in noticing that we have things in common. We all saw the tombs of a royal family at the entrance. And then we saw the ruins of the Royal residence, its gardens and its fountains. The guide took us to the basement of the Royal Palace, a place where people used to keep their food and also they hid themselves in case of attack.

After that, we climbed the stairs of the 27 meters tall Chindia Tower. The guide said that it’s also called the Sunset Tower, because at sunset the guards would make sure that the people living next to the Royal Court wouldn’t go out on the streets, so the ruler of the country was safe within the walls of his Royal Court. Of course, the main role of the construction was the military, defense role, although it served concurrently as a watchtower, a prison and a repository. We learnt that it was built during the rule of Vlad the Impaler. We mostly enjoyed the panoramic view from the upper platform after we climbed 122 stairs. We all experienced unique feelings, because this tower is also a museum, hosting an exhibition dedicated to the two reigns of Vlad the Impaler. It was an absolutely unique feeling that all partners in this multilateral Comenius project came in touch with the Romanian history and Romanian heritage. We all had a glimpse of the Romanian past, we learned how people lived back then, we opened a window towards the customs and traditions of Romanians. So, by our first stop in Târgovişte we achieved one of our project aims, to increase our knowledge of all our traditions and customs, to be aware of our national heritage.

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We left Târgovişte and we went on our road towards Bran Castle. We reached the

Carpathians, the mountains where the Romanian people took refuge so many times before, when they were under attack. We even went past a mausoleum, built to honor the Romanian young men who died in First World War. Everywhere we were going, the land was unraveling its stories of the past. We entered Rucar-Bran pass and there it was, one of the Romanian old fortress, Bran Castle situated between Bucegi and Piatra Craiului Mountains. The first documentary attestation of Bran Castle is the letter written in 1377 by the Hungarian Ludovic I D'Anjou, giving the inhabitants of Brasov some privileges. The castle has also links to Romanian rulers of the past: Mircea cel Batran ( Mircea the Oldest), Iancu of Hunedoara, and finally in 1920 the Brasov Town council donated Bran Castle to Queen Maria of Great Romania, who lived there with the royal family till 1947. It was like a symbol of the inhabitants of Brasov’s gratitude for Queen Maria’s contribution to the achievement of the Great Union of 1918. Then, in 1938, Queen Marie left with will the Bran Castle to Princess Ileana, who owned it until 1948. Since 1948 the Castle is opened as a museum. In 2006 the castle was given to Dominic of Habsburg, Princess Ileana’s successor. Residence of Romanian royal family and so many rulers of the past, Bran castle is also an open page of history. We climbed our way towards the cliff that the castle so imposing stands upon. We saw some furniture pieces that used to belong to the Habsburg family. The Crown, the Scepter and a golden dagger that

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belonged to King Ferdinand, Queen Maria’s husband and the King of the Great Union of 1918, were among our favorites. We might mention also a portrait of Princess Ileana with her signature upon it, a bed cover, several furniture items and a guest book that belonged to Queen Marie, old fireplaces, and collections of ceramics, weapons and armor. We climbed the secret staircase and we admired the costumes of the royal family. The medieval room of torture made us all very curious. The well in the backyard was also an attraction. We all signed in guest book and wrote some impressions of our visit. We all understood that the Romanian people protected firmly its ancient rights over this land, just like this castle stood firmly on the cliff it was built upon.

We all had lunch in place that offered us a panoramic view over the beautiful

mountains covered with snow. It was a unique and impressive view for all of us, especially for the Estonian ladies who told us they have no mountains in their country, so this experience helped them realize not only the uniqueness of Romanian history but also the beauty of its nature. Then we returned to Bucharest, through Sinaia route. It was a day full of history, like an open page to the Romanian ancient customs and traditions.

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WEDNESDAY – 6th FEBRUARY 2013 Wednesday, 6th February was the day for the Comenius workshop “We cook together”.

Each delegation went to classes ready to cook traditional recipes from each country. It was yet one of our Comenius project aims that the kids make surveys into the traditional recipes of our partners. A special guest from the Local Council of Sector 2, Bucharest, Mrs. Mioara Sufer, took part in all the activities of this day.

Class VI B cooked together with our guests from Cyprus. Liliana Radu, their teacher gave them all the indications. The headmaster, Mr.Ungureanu Dumitru, also participated to the workshop. The students were given recipes (in a PowerPoint presentation-in Romanian and English) for Souvlaki and Tzatziki - Greek famous dishes. - The teacher told the “disciples" what to do; divided into teams, the boys began to cook Tzatziki and the girls, Souvlaki. The recipe for Tzatziki (for the boys) Ingredients for Tzatziki 1 long cucumber (or 3 small cucumbers) 200 cream or Greek yogurt 2 cloves of garlic (or more to taste) 2-3 tablespoons olive oil some dill salt Tzatziki - Preparation 1. The boys grated cucumber, squeezed it well and mix it with yogurt, crushed garlic, oil

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and chopped dill. Add salt to taste. Souvlaki (girls) Ingredients: • 400 grams of lean pork • 1 tablespoon dried oregano • 6 tablespoons olive oil • salt • freshly ground pepper Serving: • 2 Greek pita bread • 1 large onion • 2 tomatoes • chips (optional) • tzatziki • 1 lemon preparation: 1. Cut the meat into cubes. 2. Sprinkle the meat with oil, salt, pepper and oregano. Allow the meat to marinate for 15-20 minutes. 3. Divide the pieces of meat on metal or wooden skewers soaked in water 10 minutes. 4. Sprinkle again the skewers with olive oil and roast them on the grill 5. Peel the onion and cut it. 6. Cut the tomatoes into slices. After everything was ready the kids and the guests ate tzatziki and souvlaki. - Students, dressed appropriately (as cooks) worked in teams. - We received an electric oven, with which we were able to prepare souvlaki in 30 minutes. - Our special guest from Cyprus, Mrs.Elli was very pleased, as she was involved in the act of cooking. She arranged a traditional plate for us. The class VI A and the teacher Vasilica Mateescu had a typical Polish dish to prepare. They chose Polish salad. The recipe is as follows: Ingredients: Carrots - 2 pieces beets- 2 pieces 1 piece of celery parsnips - 1 piece apples - 2 pieces mayonnaise - 300 g Preparation: Wash and clean thoroughly vegetables then grate them on a small grater. The same

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applies with apples. Celery is recommended to be baked in the oven. Mix all with mayonnaise. After preparing the salad, the children and the guests from Poland tasted the Polish salad served with cake appetizer, cheese, salami and olives. During the meal, the teacher Vasilica Mateescu presented on the whiteboard images from Poland, the most important cities in the country, such as: Warsaw, Krakow, Gdansk, Torun, Wroclaw, Katowice, Posnan.They all listened the music of Frederick Chopin's sonatas. Polish personalities who have made an important contribution in various fields were also shown on the interactive whiteboard: Pope John Paul II, Nicolaus Copernicus, Marie Curie Sklodovska, Frederic Chopin.It was yet another opportunity for the Polish children to work together with their Romanian peers. The Romanian cuisine was illustrated by a group of children from VII C and the teacher Luminita Theodorescu. One teacher from each partner delegation took part into cooking a Romanian recipe. The recipe they chose was a Romanian traditional dessert: Poale-n brâu - Open-topped flat pie. The kids and the teachers followed the recipe step by step: Ingredients for the Dough 500 grams of flour 50 grams of sugar 15 grams of yeast 3 eggs 500 milliliters of milk 50 grams of butter (in order to grease the baking tin and the faceplates) 200 grams of butter Salt (as much as it is necessary)

- The yeast is put in a jug with warm water, and then it is mixed with 1 spoon of flour and a tea spoon of sugar; leave it to swell for a half an hour.

- Separate the yellow yokes of the eggs - On the flour that remained pour the yeast, the warm milk, and the yellow yokes of

the eggs, the salt and the sugar; knead for a half an hour. - Then, add the warm melted butter, little by little - Leave it to swell, covered, 1 or 2 hours

The composition 500 grams of cheese (Cheese mixed with salt) 2 eggs Instructions:

- Mix the cheese with the eggs - After the dough has swelled, roll it and cut in pieces with a dimension of a small

apple - Grease the faceplate with butter - Put each piece of dough on the faceplate and fill it with a spoon of cheese

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- Put the dough above the cheese and stick them; leave them there for a half an hour - Grease a baking tin with butter, put the pie, smear them with the egg white and put

them in an oven, on a moderate fire, for about an half an hour. As we don’t have a kitchen in school, one kid who lived nearby, went home to put

the pie in the oven. Anyway, it was an interesting experience for the guests to taste the flavors of Romanian cuisine. For the Italian delegation, class VII B and teacher Daniela Nitescu prepared the following recipes: bruschette with tomatoes and ricotta with nuts. The bruschette are slim slices of bread rubbed with garlic and sprinkled with extra virgin olive oil. The first topping: - tomatoes cut into cubes, mixed with basil, pepper, salt and oregano. The second topping: - Ricotta cheese mixed with parmesan and grounded fried nuts.

The bruschette are then decorated with arugula (or “rocket" lettuce) and prosciutto( Italian ham). Then they cooked tuna salad with oranges. They took tuna from a tin, they mix it with slices of oranges, red onion and fennel. Then the kids added salt and pepper to taste and sprinkled it wit olive oil and lemon juice. During the entire time of the cooking lesson, they all watched video projected images from the region of Basilicata – the region of our Italian friends and partners and they listened to the music of Antonio Vivaldi. The film was made by the Romanian kid, Dinca David. Class V A and teacher Elena Dona cooked with our Greek partners a Greek recipe: tzatziki. They used the following ingredients: 500 gr. Greek yoghurt

- a spoonful of vinegar - one teaspoon dried mint - 1 cucumber - 2 – 3 pieces of garlic - A little olive oil. They followed the instructions: they washed the cucumber and grated it. They put a teaspoon of salt and rubbed the cucumber until all the juice is drained from it (leave it in the strainer if necessary). They put the yoghurt in a bowl and added the garlic and the cucumber, mixed it all, added the remaining ingredients (salt, pepper to taste). When it was ready, they put some olive oil on top, but they didn’t mix. The kids from III A the teacher Nicolescu Angelica and the Romanian coordinator Nicoleta Mocan, welcomed the Estonian lady, Sirje Lepik. Mrs Piret Jaagu was kind enough to take part in the Romanian cooking activity. Teacher Angelica Nicolescu and the kids prepared themselves before this activity: they searched for information about Estonia and they even wrote some essays – geography, natural resources, inhabitants, traditions, language, images of important towns of our Estonian partners. They searched for a traditional Estonian recipe and translated it in English. They gathered all the ingredients for the recipe. They used the Internet to learn Estonian

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words and expressions. They made some posters and some panels. They made small flags and kites. The activity of that day was organized in groups.

- Team no 1 “Skilful cooks” prepared the Estonian salad called Rosolje. It’s a special salad eaten on Christmas in the country of our Estonian friends. And it was special for us, the Romanians, as well, when teacher Sirje Lepik told us that it is her favorite salad. We were very proud to cook it for her. The kids cleaned the vegetables, cut them to pieces, mixed them together, decorated the salad and gave it to all the other teams to taste. Our guest, teacher Sirje Lepik told us it was delicious. Team no 1 had some of their parents involved in the activity.

- Team no 2 “The Estonians” grouped words together from three languages: Estonian, Romanian and English.

- Team no 3 “The ambassadors of friendship” made bracelets using threads in the colours of the Estonian and Romanian flags and offered them to the teachers as a symbol of friendship between our two countries.

- A parent, Mr. Draghici, took pictures and made a film of all the activities. The “basic” ingredients of all the activities were: involvement, diversity, interaction and learning new things.

And now we offer to all of you the recipe of our Estonian salad, “Rosolje”: 2 cups boiled beets, cubed 2 cups boiled potatoes, cubed 2 cups of cold meat (pork, roast or boiled), cubed

2 cups of cubed apples 2 cups cucumbers pickles, diced 1 cup chopped herring 1 cup sour cream (approx.) and 1 cup of mayonnaise Salt and pepper, to taste chopped parsley and/or green onion If desired, add: - boiled carrots, diced smoked sausage, cubed boiled egg, chopped hot mustard Mix everything together. Garnish with parsley Serve cold. HEAD ISU! GOOD APPETITE! After the tasty lesson, all our guests received their certificates of attendance to the Romanian mobility.

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At 11.30 we arrived as officially agreed at the Parliament Palace, a masterpiece of the Romanian people. The Romanian art and the Romanian's creativity have been gathered in this magnificent building. We were assigned to a guide who gave us all the information in English. She told us that the Palace of Parliament was built with great cost, effort and sacrifice by the Romanians. It displays the true wealth of Romania: stone, marble and wood from the Romanian mountains and forests. The Marble from Ruschita sent its reflections from the floors and columns to the walls and ceilings. The oak, mahogany and beck wood welcomed us with the warmth of their refined sculptures that may be equaled only by the plaster work or the crystals and the beauty of the chandeliers The pompous halls and galleries were generously decorated with monumental sculptures, golden plaster, laced ceilings, brocharts, tapestries and heavy carpets, which harmoniously overwhelmed us. We were offered the standard tour plus the underground. We wanted to visit the terrace as well, but it wasn’t opened to the public in winter. We were very impressed by the huge size of halls and stairs, by the big chandeliers and the long and heavy carpets. We all understood that this building is a tribute to the hard work of the Romanian people, built with Romanian resources only. Every piece in it was purely Romanian. We went down the stairs to the underground, where we could learn step by step through pictures and explanations the various stages of building this unique Palace. The immensity of the Palace left its print on our souls and we left it with the feeling that we visited yet another miracle of the Romanian people.

We went to the Museum of the Romanian Peasant afterwards. We could now see firsthand the way that the Romanian peasants lived, their everyday life objects, all aspects of life in the Romanian countryside. We found the richest folk art collection in Romania, with over 90,000 artifacts that trace the colorful and diverse cultural life of the Romanian peasant. We all admired the pottery collection, the folk costume collection from all the regions of Romania. Old agricultural tools, carpets, icons, furniture, gave us a complete picture of Romanian folk culture and traditions. The items we saw spoke us more than a thousand words about the real life, customs and traditions of the Romanian peasants. So, this documentary visit helped us more than anything else to make further investigations and surveys into the theme of our multilateral Comenius project, the theme of culture, customs and traditions. We were pleasantly surprised to see in one of the galleries, a real wooden church, a real wooden house and even an old village school class with old desks and wooden blackboard!

Our Comenius project meeting started at five o clock in the afternoon. We decided that our third project meeting will take place in Poland, from the 15th to the 20th of May 2013. Then, the fourth project meeting will be in Estonia, in the second week of October 2013. We will have further discussions about the mobilities in Italy and Cyprus, after we all get the structure of the next school year. We then talked about the tasks ahead of us; we have to update our common websites with evaluation material of our videoconferences and our recipes and with all other activities that we made so far. Pie charts were preferred for evaluation purposes and Smilebox for our video materials. We exchanged Cd-s with the

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recipes of our common Cook book and with videos from our videoconferences. We decided upon the template of our common Cook book. We will order the recipes by countries: each country will present 3 recipes for main course and 3 recipes for dessert. There will be a small text of introduction at the beginning, an outer cover as well. The introduction will be about or project and about our countries. We will make PowerPoint presentations that will be transferred on Calameo afterwards –Calameo is an e-book. It was decided the size and the contents of the book: on the left there will be pictures of children cooking and the recipe will be on the right of the page.

Luciana Soldo, from Italy, showed us the last updates to our common website and how to upload materials on our own. Bigger video materials could be shared among us using dropbox. We shouldn’t forget to add the Lifelong Learning Programme logo because everything we do is under their supervision.

Soteroula Marathefti, our project coordinator from Cyprus, told us that we should make further surveys under the name of “Foreign food in every country”. We have to take our kids to local shops and see if we can find products from our partners’ countries. Moreover, in Poland we have to be ready with our Cd-s of popular songs and dances: 3 different popular songs and 3 different popular dances.

Finally, the Romanian mobility was evaluated. Soteroula Marathefti, our project coordinator from Cyprus, said that our second mobility in Bucharest, Romania ended successfully! All the partners said that our project's aims were fulfilled and our friendship was strengthened! Many thanks were offered by all the partners to the Romanian school, the Directors, the staff and the students for the warmth hospitality, the superb hosting of the mobility and the hard work that they did and presented to all of us. As for Nicoleta Mocan, as the coordinator of the Romanian school, was responsible for everything. Despite the fact that it was the first time that the Romanian school participated in a Comenius project, it was obvious that the Romanian coordinator, Nicoleta Mocan, organised every activity with great professionalism and she worked hard in order to have everything under control. Congratulations were offered to the Romanian coordinator and the Romanian school from all our partners.

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THURSDAY, 7th FEBRUARY 2013 Thursday was the day of school festivities dedicated to the Romanian popular songs and dances but also to all our partners’ popular songs and dances. At 9.00 o’clock in the morning the sports hall of School No 62 was teamed with kids willing to show all our partners their dedication to all our folk tradition of songs and dances. It was a happy reunion, and the Romanian kids showed all their affection towards our partners. The school festivity started with our Comenius anthem, “The kite”, enthusiastically sang by everyone.

Then, the class II B was welcomed to the stage. They all wore Romanian popular costumes, as all the kids who took part at the festivity. Their choir sang Romanian popular songs: “The girls from Căpâlna”, “The small jacket”. Chiru Simona sang the popular Romanian song: “I am a pretty girl”. Then the kids danced two Romanian traditional dances:” Alunelul” and “The thorn”.

The kids from IV B proudly took the lead from the little ones of II B. They sang three Romanian popular songs: “Last night I bought you a headscarf”, “Rose from Moldavia” and “I love the Romanian popular dances’. They also sang a song for children:” Friend, friend, one, two, and three”. Then they showed their love towards our partners’ popular songs and dances, they sang the Greek folk song “ Palamakia”, and they danced the Greek traditional dance “Sirtaki”. The kids from VI C, coordinated by the teacher Parvu-Filote Maria, sang an Italian song, “Volevo un gatto nero”. The school popular dances assembly performed again in front of all the kids, staff and guests. They danced three Romanian popular dances:” Ciuleandra”, “Oltenia” and “ Boiereasca”. They also danced the popular and well-known Greek dance” “Zorba, the Greek”. A group of kids from VII A and VII C, under the coordination of Nicoleta Mocan, sang two Romanian popular songs: “I would die, but not right know” and “Let’s go, let’s go by carriage”. We think that by this festivity we also achieved one of our Comenius project aim, that of learning our national popular songs and dances. We all sang again our Comenius anthem and the atmosphere was incredible. The Romanian embraced their guests and they wouldn’t let them go. The entire experience of being together in this project meeting was in itself a valuable product of our Comenius project. The photos we took during our partner’s visit can be found with just a click on these links:

https://plus.google.com/photos/109277748303906255048/albums/5847803879830699073

https://plus.google.com/photos/109277748303906255048/albums/5847879320844516449

https://plus.google.com/photos/109277748303906255048/albums/5847896369680720049

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https://plus.google.com/photos/109277748303906255048/albums/5847950498047019617

With love and dedication towards our partners and our Comenius project, ROMANIAN PROJECT COORDINATOR, PETRUTA NICOLETA MOCAN

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.