sâmbătă, 5 februarie 2011

Diary....

The big day-The trip to Turkey
I wake up at 4.20 am and I have a feeling that I slept only for a few minutes…I feel sick, I have throat hurts, but Turkey, here I come! At 5.00 am, in the front of the Primary School Number 2 Codlea , kids and teachers, gathered with our beloved ones. A bus arrives; it will take us to the airport. In the back it has a trailer for the bags. After we get on the bus and say goodbye to our parents we ride towards Bucharest. On the trip we sing happily. The boys feel sick and…they fall asleep…..finally...they are quenched! When we arrive at the airport Otopeni, the car stops and suddenly the emotions begin to emerge. I am the first from my family that flies with a plane, the first who visits Turkey!!! We take our bags from the trailer and enter the building to wait for our plane. We go to check in , but we conclude that in our front there are lots of people so the plane is going to have a delay to wait for all its passengers. When our turn arrives, we find out how heavy our bags really are - mine has 19.5 kg! We get our passports and our tickets and we find out that we will stay really close to each others. After we are going through a maze we reach a large table with many baskets were we have to put our hand bags, jackets, jewelry, phones and our passports to not arise questions at the metal detector. To my surprise, the rest are controlled and barefooted because they have metal on the soles of their shoes. I, to my relief, passed unnoticed with my braces…After we all passed and dressed up, we move forward. Teacher Mary’s procure were checked, and she was asked again why she is leaving with so many kids…and we continue our trip. After another hour has passed (because of fog everything is delayed), we go to embark. After our tickets are checked, we go through a tunnel and suddenly we’re in the plane. We take our seats a little bit confused. My seat is next to Ovidiu and Madalina that are very relaxed. After we are announced by the pilots of security measures and we fasten our belts, the plane is going to fly. We are moving very slowly (we are very surprised how the plane will fly with such a “speed”?) then suddenly the plane starts to gain speed and pushes us in the chairs. When the plane flew my ears clogged. The sensation was really strange and I took a lot of photos! Another good thing was the food from the plane. All of us think it was a matter of psychology-to distract us-the dinner lasted the entire flight. They had very good cookies - I love Turkish Airlines! After we descend from the plane, we go to the next check-in and we find out that the next flight, the one to Kayseri, will be delayed too, because of the weather. We sit down and we start to take photos while the boys were waiting for Hagi that of course didn’t come! Eventually the players from Galatasaray and Razvan precipitated starts to take some pictures with some of them. We find out that the airport from Istanbul is HUGE!!!It is like a city, many people from all nations are moving on the conveyor or walking…It is incredible! We walk from a gate to another one…we are waiting, waiting…”Change the gate!”…hearing this for “n” times is annoying so we are keeping the eyes on the display table not to miss the boarding! The fog is destroying all the flight schedules…After many hours we succeed to fly. We arrive at Kayseri, quickly find our bags and we go outside, were a luxury bus is waiting for us. It is taking us to a hotel in Urgup. I call my parents and tell them that I am OK - I already miss them! I take a shower, take some medicines and fall asleep with tears in my eyes. I am not so brave anymore as I was when we left…it was 2 am….
The first day in Turkey
I wake up at 6 a.m. because of the Muslim prayers. I continue to sleep until 7 a.m. Because we didn’t find flight tickets, we, the Romanians, arrived one day ahead of the others in Turkey. So we have one day to explore. I change my clothes into sporty ones, but I find out that only at 11 a.m. we can have breakfast, so I start to talk with the rest of the group. At 11 a.m. we eat and then we take a trip to see the places. We go into the mosques, visit souvenir shops, climb on the Mount of Wishes, were Razvan makes over 40 wishes. I make 2 wishes too - hoping that they will come true! The landscape is amazing and the hills are full of old houses dug into the rock and we will go to visit them…I have evidence!! I took many photos…hope that I set the camera well! We continue our trip in the city were we see markets with 1001 of spices and more. We visit a museum were we see elephant and mammoth teeth, we discover pots and old money, weapons, jewels (I love them!). After that we visit Bazaar were we see rugs, clothes, jewels, again (I fall in love with 3 necklaces), traditional dolls in traditional costumes, rings, drawings with Turkish dancers in white costumes. It is already evening…We go back to the hotel were the school bus will take us to our “families”. On the road we met with a boy that leads us to Naile’s house. After that I find out that he was her brother. Naile looks like a colleague of mine from Romania. She is really a nice person, voluble…but…because of emotions, she can’t speak in English…so…she speaks in Turkish with me! We try to understand each other what we are saying, but…lost in translation…A friend of Naile that can speak English arrives and she saves me translating them what I am saying. I manage to talk with my parents over messenger…they speak with Naile too….in Turkish! With Google translation’s help…what a day..!!!
The first day in a Turkish family
I wake up at 5 a.m. without sleep, and at 6 a.m. I hear the beginning of the Muslim prayers from the mosques (in Turkish “canii” but it is pronounced “giamii”).At 7 a.m. Naile wakes up and I go to change my clothes. We have at breakfast fries with vegetable pasta (zacusca), cheese, butter, jam and of course tea with a lot of sugar. At breakfast I see Naile in the school’s uniform…a skirt with gray plaid and a shirt with yellow-green fluorescent vest. I start to get used to their way of pronouncing my name - a sort of Ioahhna…After we eat we take our school bags and go to school. When I arrive there I start to talk to the rest of the group about our Turkish families, but we don’t have too much time so we start the activities. We see how they start the day: They sing the Turkish anthem, after that all the students and the teachers go to their classes…We teach the Turkish kids how to play “Ratele si vanatorii” (The ducks and the hunters), we visit the English laboratory, we make a tour of the entire school, Ortahisar Fatih Primary School, and we assist at a presentation of the Turkish education. They have compulsory only 8 classes, they stay every day from 8 until 16 o’clock and the breaks are like our lunch break (15 minutes)…their lunch break is taking one hour and 15 minutes or even one hour and 30 minutes…..in this period of time the kids can go home and eat and the teachers stay in the office and eat what they brought from home. We went at 12 o’clock to eat at a restaurant. We ate a mint soup,  a little pie with mint and potatoes, then some sheep meat with tomatoes and rice, and at dessert some sort of pudding with rice and milk - it was very good! After that we go to visit a museum in the restaurant, about the Turkish traditions, Ortahisar Cultural Museum Restaurant. After we get back to school we watch a program presented by the Turkish students, a funny sketch with “Superman and the psychiatrist” and we have a surprise to hear the song “Alunelul” in Romanian. We sing then together English songs and we are surprised to see that we learnt what our Comenius partners learnt at their English classes! In the evening, at the proposal of teacher Mary’s suggestion, we go to the town with our Turkish friends to know each other better….and I taste their famous apple tea…that tastes like apple nectar, just that it is hot…it is very good and flavorful! You drink very much while you are talking with your friends, because there are many things to find out and English to practice!


The second day in a Turkish family
I wake up at 6.50 a.m. and after 10 minutes Naile wakes up too. I change my clothes in more comfortable ones and I put my traditional costume in my bag. At breakfast we have an egg with bread, tea and jam. At 8 o’clock we arrive at school and after the anthem and greetings we go to the English classes were we make masks, drawings, bracelets and we talk….in English! After that we teach our friends the clock and other stuff in English with our teacher Dan Bejan, after this we go to assist or play volleyball. We go after that to lunch. At the return we find out that we will play our sketch and we have to change our clothes into our traditional costumes. All our friends were excited about our program, because it was in English, we sang in English and our teachers sang and danced with us. Our traditional dances amazed the Turkish people and brought them into our dance (hora).The young students presented us some traditional Turkish dances, and the Bulgarian students presented us their sketch, a classic Turkish story in English. It is already 17 o’clock. We go to a park with the Turkish students were we have fun doing exercises at the apparatus from there, because it is a park equipped like a fitness room! Arriving at Naile’s house, I discover that I have to visit her grandmother that lives one floor below. There all the family is gathered, plus her uncle, who has a hotel and who speaks English, so we start to talk. He asks me what kind of job my parents have - my father works in oil industry as a salesman, and that he asks me if my father sells petroleum (oil).YES, we have a probe behind our house! After some time we have to go home and I started to write my journal. I learn Naile a Romanian song:” In codrul verde\Amintire cu haiduci “by Valeriu Sterian and I show her how to draw humans…she is excited! (they even posted one of my drawings at school).
The third day with a Turkish family
I wake up at 6.50, eat some sort of vegetable cutlets and go to school. Today we are divided by the program: some go to visit the Governor, Mayor and the Directorate of the National Education, some on a trip. Arriving at school, we go on a trip to a Christian underground city. There we have to walk with our heads bent down, but we see a school and the place were the Christian children were baptized thousands of years ago. It is amazing!! The next trip it is at the Castle. There we climb some stairs and quickly arrive to the top. I take many photos with the landscape, I am not tired of admiring it, but we have to go. We will visit some Christian churches, the first churches and monasteries. It is an outdoor museum, Goreme, and I adored it because of the landscapes. The landscape and the drawings were incredible. I buy 20 views from there with the icons and landscapes for the teachers and friends from home. We return to school were we assist to the presentation of the educational systems from Poland and Bulgaria. Our teachers have lots and lots of questions to ask for their colleagues and we are listening with attention the explanations and sometimes we ask for translations. Arriving at Naile’s house, I talk on internet with Alisa (my best friend) and with my mother then I show Naile and her family photos from Romania. I show them some pictures with my family, explaining them who was in the photos: me, my brother, my sisters….At the next photos, were I was appearing, all were saying ME, when it was appearing Paul - MY BROTHER…it was really funny…THEY WERE SO NICE!
The fourth day in Turkey
We wake up at 7.15, eat fries and after that we go to school. I attend to Mrs. Roinita’s physics lesson and I help her with the translation. We visit a modern kindergarten and I take some photos. After that we go to another school were we find out new techniques to learn English that students, in the teacher’s mind, will never forgive in their lives - by songs (I prefer to write them 100 times and to be sure that I memorized them).We observe games used for learning English and we participate together with the students from that school. Even our teachers are caught in the game…of the English. After that we go to visit the city and Mrs. Dan (teacher Mary) wants to show us something: EBRU. We enter a little room, directly from street and until we get to see what it is, we have the mouths opened in wonder: a lady was painting on WATER. We watch with attention the entire skill and I may try to paint…at the beginning I thought it was difficult, but it was fascinating….I paint a flower and I may take it home. It was so great that I could discover this technique…I will tell this story to my art teacher when I will arrive home…in Romania. Arriving home…in Turkey, I eat some spaghetti with tomatoes and a tomato pickled in alcohol - something traditional. Amazingly, now they can pronounce my name correctly - Ioana…we knocked down another barrier! After dinner I start to pack a part of my bag for the next day so that I will have less work. I talk to my mother on the internet and find out some news from my school. Naile’s mother serves us with tea and biscuits.
The fifth day in Turkey
We wake up early. We eat and I put my traditional costume in my school bag and we go to school. There is Romania’s turn to present the school, city and country. We find out how many projects we had prepared, by us and our teachers. Our partners were very interested about Romania and they asked many questions! All our partners want to visit Romania and our school as soon as possible. The initial planning was changed…the next meeting…..ROMANIA, May 2011!!Then we discuss about the activities already made and about the ideas for the next activities that will come. After lunch we go to a wedding hall, were we dress up with our traditional costumes and go on stage. As audience we had the kids from our host school and the ones from the schools that we visited and a lot of Mayors. Mrs. Dan (teacher Mary) it is not feeling too good, and we are not healthier but we try to do our best. Again everybody danced with us. Uf! We did it again! After we all play again in that fitness park, we go to our Turkish families to pack our bags. I and Naile are going to visit her grandmother and aunt that are living on another street. There I play with her cousin that had 9 months and I take the dinner with them - I loved the food…it was like a lasagna but without pasta…it was with a sort of bread. Arriving at home I talk to my mother and I make the last checks at the bags.
Leaving Turkey
I wake up at 7 a.m. and I change my clothes for the departure to Romania. Naile’s father takes us to school by car. From there we will go to the airport. Arriving at school I meet with the rest of the team and their partners and we exchange our messenger addresses again, to be sure! We put our bags in minibuses and we go to the airport. We stay with the Polish teachers. With them we redo the entire sketch and we start to become better friends with them. Arriving at the airport from Nevsehir, we stay a little bit and then fly with Turkish Airlines. The flight was very nice, maybe because we started to get used with it! There wasn’t even fog and the flight was smooth. Arriving in Istanbul some of us went to walk while others remained on the bench and read. We already felt tired…we attended a concert of some young talented artists - they sung excellent! Now…we have to fly from Istanbul to Bucharest…we already feel like we are in Romania! The city is so beautiful at night, a sea of lights. We stay to pick up our bags more that we stayed when we left; after that a long trip from Bucharest to Codlea - Brasov is waiting of us…At midnight we finally arrive at school, were our parents are waiting for us. WE ARE FINALLY HOME!!
As a conclusion…it was a great experience, I saw great landscapes, I learnt special things and I met great people! I wait impatiently the arrival of our “Comenius” friends in Romania.
Ioana Bodean, 7-th grade