Project Comenius G.A.M.E.S. Anthology
1
Index of the Anthology 3 4 9 29 29 48 70 91 113 122 126
1. Introduction.............................................................................................. 2. Presentation of the schools...................................................................... 3. The history of each country.................................................................... 4. National characters.................................................................................. 5. Christmas short stories............................................................................ 6. Scientists.................................................................................................... 7. Artists........................................................................................................ 8. Articles about each meeting (by students and/ or teachers)................ 9. Questionnaires and statistics.................................................................. 10. Traditional food..................................................................................... 11. Dictionary............................................................................................... Annexes: CDs Posters Photos Games Recycled materials
2
1. Introduction Having as objective the compilation of all the work that was done in this Comenius School Partnership by all the partner schools, we decided to create this common anthology which is divided in two parts: one is in paper support and the other in digital support. These two supports shouldn‘t be regarded separately, but as a complement. In what concerns to the common anthology in paper format, it‘s organized in several topics that are chronologically organized according to the works that had been made in this two-year project. The annexes that follow this anthology are a set of cds and posters, among others, that give extra information about thye work done, containing PowerPoint Presentations, videos, etc.
3
2. Presentation of the schools 2.1 History of Saint Agustin school Saint Agustin School has a long history and during this time has had many different locations. Since, its beginnings in the 70‘s the school has given classes in three different and distinct buildings but has always been based in the town centre in La Oratava. Saint Agustin School found a new site and was opened on 29th September 1999. The school is situated in the expanding town centre, in the north side of the town. Located on Iberoamerican Community Avenue in the Urbanization Carmenaty, an area of new buildings and a growing population. The Urbanization is constituted as the best for family houses and has a population of medium to high economic level. All of the centre is well maintained and is surrounded by a beautiful square, a secondary school and a centre for disabled people. Adjacent to this building there is a centre for special needs children. In actual count there are 100 dining registrations where a big percentage of those registrations belong to infants through to first cycle of primary. In the dining hall there is a cook, an assistant cook and four dining auxiliaries. The dining hall is not just a service that facilitates the overall nutrition of the students but also has an educational point of view, which forms part of the school. The dining hall has a series of objectives and rules that are regulated by the staff. The library is run by two primary teachers, one of those orders informational books from the program ABBEES and the other orders with care relevant books, organises and maintains the upkeep of the books. The school has a transport service for the children that have disabilities. They are collected from their homes and brought to school in an ambulance. The school has 16 teachers; three infant teachers, six personal tutors and seven specialist teachers. The school has 11 main classrooms: three for infants, six for primary and two for PT. There are rooms for music, theatre and watching educational programmes, a computer room, and two rooms for small group work, Secretary‘s office, Head/Deputy Head‘s office, and an office for AMPA. There is also a main playground, vegetable garden, sports centre, indoor gym and courts for tennis. The school offers extra activities after school finishes, from three to five o‘ clock. These activities include: Information Technology, Dancing, various types of sports, English and Patchwork with the parents.
2.2 Eichendorff-Gymnasium Ettlingen The Eichendorff Gymnasium is a grammar school in Ettlingen. It has about 950 pupils and a staff of about 70 teachers. Pupils attend our school from year 5 (ten years) to year 13 (18 years) . The final exam (Abitur) entitles you to go to university. We have a range of different subjects (e.g. English, French, Spanish and Latin as foreign languages and science subjects such as Physics, Maths, Biology, Chemistry, etc.) At year 8 students have to decide if they want to take a more language oriented course or if they prefer a science course. Our school also offers different extracurricular activities, such as different kinds of sports, music, choir, drama, chess, jazz band, etc. Lessons start at 7.45 in the
4
morning and finish at 12.55, except for one or two afternoons with lessons . Then pupils leave school at about 15.30. The pupils from class 11 have more lessons in the afternoon. During their breaks students can go to the Coffeeshop which is a kind of cafeteria run by students and parents where they can get something to eat. We have a school exchange with a French school in Epernay and offer short excursions to Great Britain where students do some course work. Next year we will start an exchange with a Spanish school in Vitoria Gasteiz, which used to be a Comenius partner school.
2.3 Ghindeni school Background information about the Romanian educational system The educational system represents a priority in Romania. The Romanian state stimulates and motivates the students, by integrating all the children according to the international legislation and the conventions on the rights of children. Education is both free and non-discriminatory. The students benefit from free textbooks to classes I to X, social scholarship, disease scholarship or merit scholarship. All the preschool pupils and the first eight classes‘ students benefit from a free daily governmental programme, called ―lapte-corn‖ (milk and biscuits), which consists of different food for students. The government also comes to support the modest-income families, delivering free school supplies. Another governmental programme, for students at schools and high schools, is ―EURO 200‖, which helps families with buying computers for their children. All the students get an allowance for the entire school period. For high schools, there is the ―Money for high school‖ Programme, a kind of a scholarship, consisting of 100 euro for the students of low- income families, with the condition they have very good marks at school and do not have any absents. Grading system is from 1 to 10, 1 being the lowest mark. The educational system is divided in: 1.
Preschool (pupils from 3 – 6 years old)
2.
Primary (the first four classes, with pupils aged 7 – 11 years old)
3.
Gymnasium (the 5th - 8th classes, students aged 12 – 15 years old)
4.
High school (9th – 12th classes, students aged 16 – 19 years old)
5.
Post – secondary schools of 2 years long
6.
College/ Faculty
7.
Post – universitary, MA and PhD studies or the second faculty
5
Information on the socio-economic situation of the area Our school building, located in the village center of Ghindeni, was built among 1968 – 1970, with the help of the community. Before that, the educational process was held in the old mansion nearby, being confiscated by the communism in the past, but recently claimed by its owner. The school also has a kindergarden, in the same building with the Ghindeni Hall. Ghindeni has around 2,500 inhabitants and it is situated at a 20 km – distance from Craiova, in the south – west of Romania. The school has 172 students – 125 students and 47 preschool. The students are between 6 and 15 years old. The village of Ghindeni is not a prosperous one, from an economical point of view, as the villagers‘ main preoccupation is agriculture (Beekeeping, livestock, grain growth, viticulture, horticulture, floriculture), but the products are quite cheap comparing with the labor done. Because there aren‘t any micro enterprises for attracting workers, their standard of living is very low, the community confronting with social problems such as unemployment and poverty. Many young families have decided to work abroad, and so either leaving their children behind to some friends or relatives or taking them into another country too. In spite of all these problems, the social background our school has its activity is a normal one, where most of the students are eager to learn new things, as they see in the educational institutions the hope they will live better than their parents, and have a better destiny. Both preschool and school students have participated in many contests and won different prizes at painting, dancing, Math, Romanian, Religion, Sports or English. The general development of our school and the community relationship Our school follows the collaboration with local authorities, by developing some projects and joint activities, with the implication of the representatives of the local administration. With the help of the social work of the Hall, not only we solved some problems concerning some students in difficulty, but we also managed to make the school plan, by motivating and bringing to school new students. We were also helped by the community with equipment, repairs, solving some administrative problems, such as warming and running water. The school has also a good collaboration with the Clinic, the Police, the Community Center, and the Church, through partnerships and joint activities. Besides the partnerships with some schools in our county, we are also glad to have an international one (within the Comenius Programme), with school from other European countries: Portugal, Spain, Turkey, Poland and Germany. Organizing the school schedule The teachers‘ and students‘ activities are held during one shift. From September, 15 th to June 15th, the daily programme is between 8.00 – 12.00, for preschool and primary with a 10 minutes break and a 20 minutes lunch break. The schedule in gymnasium is from 8.00 to 2.00 p.m., with the same breaks.
6
2.4 NECATİ-FİKRİYE
DALAMAN( KARATEKE) İLKÖĞRETİM OKULU, HONAZ- DENİZLİ/TÜRKİYE
The date of foundation : 1944 The number of pupils : 194 Type of School
: Public
Nursery
: 5-6 year-old 20 pupils Karateke Primary School, founded in 1944, is a public, non-profit school. Our small, rural school is situated in the village Karateke, which is close to our district, Honaz, and the city center of Denizli. Our school is dedicated to providing a broad, high quality education for children from 6 to 14 years old. There are two school buildings. The original one was built in 1944 with the help of the peasants. In 2006 it was pulled down and new modern one was erected by a benevolent bussinesman, Turgut DALAMAN and opened in a few weeks for education. The current school building was built in 1991 and since then, it has been actively involved in education. The school has 16 individual classrooms.The purpose of our school is provide a happy,caring and safe,and safe environment,in which
the children are encouraged to adopt a positive approach to learning and achive their best..
2.5 - Escola El-Rei D. Manuel I – Alcochete/ Portugal The Escola E.B. 2,3 El-Rei D. Manuel I is located in Alcochete and it is the headquarter of a large group of schools (9 schools) from the Kindergarten to the 9th year, night school for adults who want to return to school in the program ―New Opportunities‖ and special classes for adults who want to learn more. This school group has about 2100 students and 165 teachers, it is called Agrupamento Vertical de Escolas de Alcochete and it was formed in 2007. The head-office school is the only one for the students from the 5th to the 9th year, it is 30 years old and it has got 39 classes, in which we include 3 professional classes and 2 alternative curriculum classes. It has got about 900 students.
7
2.6. Escola Secundaria de Castelo de Paiva ( see CD) 2.7 Zespol Szkol Sportowych Gorzow (see CD)
8
3. The history of each country 3.1 Spain The history of Spain spans the period from Prehistoric Iberia, through the rise and fall of the second global empire, to Spain's current position as a member of the European Union. Modern humans entered the Iberian Peninsula more than 35,000 years ago. Waves of invaders and colonizers followed over the millennia, including the Celts, Phoenicians, Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, and Visigoths, with a few Vikings or Norsemen. In 711, a Berber and Arab army (known collectively as moros, Moors, by the Spanish) invaded and conquered nearly the entire peninsula. During the next 750 years, independent Muslim states were established, and the entire area of Muslim control became known as Al-Andalus. Meanwhile the small Christian kingdoms in the north began the long and slow recovery of the peninsula by Christian forces, a process called the Reconquista, which was concluded in 1492 with the fall of Granada. The Kingdom of Spain was created in 1492 with the unification of the Kingdom of Castile and the Kingdom of Aragon.[1] In this year also was the first voyage of Christopher Columbus to the New World, beginning the development of the Spanish Empire. The Inquisition was established and Jews and Muslims who refused to convert were expelled from the country. In the next three centuries Spain was the most important colonial power in the world. It was the most powerful state in Renaissance Europe and the foremost global power during the 16th and most of the 17th centuries. Spanish literature and fine arts, scholarship and philosophy flourished during this time. Spain established a vast empire in the Americas, stretching from California to Patagonia, and colonies in the western Pacific. Financed in part by the riches pouring in from its colonies, Spain became embroiled in the religiously-charged wars and intrigues of Europe, including, for example, obtaining and losing possessions in today's Netherlands, Italy, France, and Germany, and engaging in wars with France, England, Sweden, and the Ottomans in the Mediterranean Sea and northern Africa, among others. Spain's European wars, however, led to economic damage, and the latter part of the 17th century saw a gradual decline of power under an increasingly neglectful and inept Habsburg regime. The decline culminated in the War of Spanish Succession, where Spain's decline from leading power status was confirmed, although it remained the leading colonial power. The eighteenth century saw a new dynasty, the Bourbons, which directed considerable effort towards the institutional renewal of the state, with some success, peaking in a successful involvement in the American War of Independence. However, as the century ended, a reaction set in with the accession of a new monarch. The end of the eighteenth and the start of the nineteenth centuries saw turmoil unleashed throughout Europe by the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, which finally led to a French occupation of much of the continent, including Spain. This triggered a successful but devastating war of independence that shattered the country and created an opening for what would ultimately be the successful independence of Spain's mainland American colonies. Shattered by the war, Spain was destabilised as different political parties representing liberal, reactionary and other groups throughout the remainder of the century fought for and won short-lived control without any groups being sufficiently strong to provide a lasting settlement. Nationalist
9
movements emerged in the last significant remnants of the old empire (Cuba and the Philippines) which led to a brief war with the United States and the loss of the remaining old colonies at the end of the century. Following a period of growing political instability in the early twentieth century, in 1936 Spain was plunged into a bloody civil war. The war ended in a nationalist dictatorship, led by Francisco Franco which controlled the Spanish government until 1975. Spain was officially neutral during World War II, although many Spanish volunteers fought on both sides. The post-war decades were relatively stable (with the notable exception of an armed independence movement in the Basque Country), and the country experienced rapid economic growth in the 1960s and early 1970s. The death of Franco in 1975 resulted in the return of the Bourbon monarchy headed by Prince Juan Carlos. While tensions remain (for example, with Muslim immigrants and in the Basque region), modern Spain has seen the development of a robust, modern democracy as a constitutional monarchy with popular King Juan Carlos, one of the fastest-growing standards of living in Europe, entry into the European Community, and the 1992 Summer Olympics.
3.2 Germany In its long history, Germany has rarely been united. For most of the two millennia that Central Europe has been inhabited by German-speaking peoples, such as the Eastern Franks, the area now called Germany was divided into hundreds of states, many quite small, including duchies, principalities, free cities, and ecclesiastical states. Not even the Romans united what is now known as Germany under one government; they managed to occupy only its southern and western portions. In A.D. 800 Charlemagne ruled over a territory that encompassed much of present-day France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. Medieval Germany was marked by division. As France and England began their centurieslong evolution into united nation-states, Germany was racked by a number of wars among local rulers. The Habsburg Dynasty's long monopoly of the crown of the Holy Roman Empire provided only the frame of German unity. Within the empire, German princes fought wars against one another as before. The Protestant Reformation deprived Germany of even its religious unity, leaving its population Roman Catholic, Lutheran, and Calvinist. These religious divisions caused endless military strife and finally led to the Thirty Years' War (1618–48), during which Germany was completely devastated. The Peace of Westphalia of 1648 left German-speaking Europe divided into hundreds of states. During the next two centuries, the two largest of these states—Prussia and Austria—competed for dominance. The smaller states sought to retain their independence by allying themselves with one, then the other, depending on local conditions. From the mid-1790s until Prussia, Austria, and Russia defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in 1813 and drove him out of German territory, much of the area was occupied by French troops. Napoleon's officials abolished numerous small states; as a result, in 1815, after the Congress of Vienna, German territory consisted of only about 40 states. During the next half-century, pressures for German unification grew. Scholars, bureaucrats, students, journalists, and businessmen agitated for a united Germany that would bring with it uniform laws and a single currency and that would replace the absolute power of the rulers of the small German states with democracy. The revolutions of 1848 seemed at first likely to realize this dream of unity and freedom, but the monarch who was offered the crown of a united Germany, King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia, rejected it. The king, like the other rulers of Germany's kingdoms, opposed German unity because he saw it as a threat to his power. Despite the opposition of conservative forces, German unification came more than two decades later, in 1871, following the Franco-Prussian War, when Germany was unified and transformed into an empire under Emperor Wilhelm I, king of Prussia. Unification was brought about not by revolutionary or liberal forces but rather by a conservative Prussian aristocrat, Otto von Bismarck. Sensing the power
10
of nationalism, Bismarck sought to use it for his own aims, the preservation of a feudal social order and the triumph of his country, Prussia, in the long contest with Austria for preeminence in Germany. By a series of masterful diplomatic maneuvers and three brief and successful military campaigns, Bismarck achieved a united Germany without Austria. He brought together the so-called "small Germany," consisting of Prussia and the remaining German states, some of which had been subdued by Prussian armies before they became part of a Germany ruled by a Prussian emperor. Although united Germany had a parliament, the Reichstag, elected through universal male suffrage, supreme power rested with the emperor and his ministers, who were not responsible to the Reichstag. When in 1912 the Socialists had come to have the largest number of representatives in the Reichstag, they and the Center Party made governing increasingly difficult for the empire's conservative leadership. In World War I (1914–18), Germany‘s military strategy, involving a two-front war in France and Belgium in the west and Russia in the east, ultimately failed. Germany‘s defeat in 1918 meant the end of the German Empire. The Treaty of Versailles, the peace settlement negotiated by the victors (Britain, France, and the United States) in 1919, imposed punitive conditions on Germany, including the loss of territory, financial reparations, and a diminished military. These conditions set the stage for World War II. A republic, the Weimar Republic (1919–33), was established with a constitution that provided for a parliamentary democracy in which the government was ultimately responsible to the people. The new republic's first president and prime minister were convinced democrats, and Germany seemed ready at last to join the community of democratic nations. But the Weimar Republic ultimately disappointed those who had hoped it would introduce democracy to Germany. By mid-1933 it had been destroyed by Adolf Hitler, its declared enemy since his first days in the public arena. Hitler sensed and exploited the worries and resentments of many Germans, knew when to act, and possessed a sure instinct for power. His greatest weapon in his quest for political power, however, was the disdain many Germans felt for the new republic. In January 1933, leading conservative politicians formed a new government with Hitler as chancellor. Within a few months, however, Hitler had outmaneuvered them and established a totalitarian regime. Only in 1945 did a military alliance of dozens of nations succeed in deposing him, and only after his regime and the nation it ruled had committed crimes of unparalleled enormity known as the Holocaust. In the aftermath of World War II (1939–45) and following occupation by the victorious powers (the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain, and France), Germany came to consist of two states. One, East Germany, never attained real legitimacy in the eyes of its citizens, fell farther and farther behind economically, and had to use force to prevent its population from fleeing to the West. The other, West Germany, had become very successful. Within two decades of defeat, it had become one of the world's richest nations, with a prosperity that extended to all segments of the population. The economy performed so successfully that eventually several million foreigners came to West Germany to work as well. In 1990 German unification overcame the geographic separation of the two German states, including an infamous wall between West Berlin and East Berlin, but economic integration still has not been achieved satisfactorily. In the first decade of the twenty-first century, the forces of globalization are posing a renewed challenge to the social-market economy in place throughout the nation. Source: Library of Congress (adapted)
11
3.3 Romania Romania is situated in Central Europe, in the northern part of the Balkan peninsula and its territory is marked by the Carpathian Mountains, the Danube and the Black Sea. With its temperate climate and varied natural environment, which is favorable to life, the Romanian territory has been inhabited since time immemorial - traces of human presence dating back as early as the Lower Paleolithic (approximately two million years BC). The Romanian people created, in time, a remarkable culture, whose proof is the polychrome pottery of the "Cucuteni" culture (comparable to the pottery of other important European cultures of the time in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East) and the statuettes of the "Hamangia" culture (the Thinker of Hamangia is known today to the whole world).
The Thinkers of Hamangia (Neolithic statuette)
In the former half of the first millennium BC, in the Carpathian-Danube-Pontic area - which was the northern part of the large surface inhabited by the Thracian tribes - a northern Thracian group became individualized: it was made up of a mosaic of Getae and Dacian tribes. Strabo, a famous geographer and historian in the age of emperor Augustus, informs that "the Dacians have the same language as the Getae". The contact of the Geto-Dacians with the Greek world was made easy by the Greek colonies created on the present-day Romanian Black Sea shore: Istros (Histria), founded in the 7th century BC, Callatis (today: Mangalia) and Tomi (today: Constanta); the latter two were founded a century later. Burebista (82 - around 44 BC), who succeeded to unite the Geto-Dacian tribes for the first time, founded a powerful kingdom. Dacia was at the peak of its power under King Decebal (87-106 AD). After a first confrontation during the reign of Domitian (87-89), two extremely tough wars were necessary (101-102 and 105-106) to the Roman empire, at the peak of its power under Emperor Trajan (98-117) to defeat Decebal and turn most of his kingdom into the Roman province called Dacia. Trajan's Column in Rome - the birth certificate of the Romanian people. The Romanian language is one of the major heirs of the Latin language, together with French, Italian, Spanish; Romania is an oasis of Latinity in this part of Europe. At the time when the Daco-Roman ethno-cultural symbiosis was achieved and finalized in the 6-7th centuries by the formation of the Romanian people, in the 2-4th centuries, the Daco-Romans adopted Christianity, the first Christian nation in the region. In the 4-13th centuries the Romanian people had to face the waves of migrating peoples - the Getae, the
12
Huns, the Gepidae, the Avars, the Slavs, the Petchenegs, the Cumanians, the Tartars - who crossed the Romanian territory. The Romanians belonged to the Orthodox religion so they adopted the Old Church Slavic as a cult language, and, beginning with the 14-16th centuries, as a chancery and culture language, but the Slavic language was never a living language. Beginning with the 10th century, the Byzantine, Slav and Hungarian sources, and later on the western sources mention the existence of statehood entities of the Romanian population kniezates and voivodates - first in Transylvania and Dobrudja, then in the 12-13th centuries, also in the lands east and south of the Carpathians Wallachia, Moldavia, Transylvania. To keep their unity , Romanians had to fight with the neighboring empires. In the second half of the 14th century a new threat against the Romanian lands emerged: the Ottoman Empire. After first setting foot on European soil in 1354, the Ottoman Turks began their rapid expansion on the continent, so the green banner of the Islam already flew south of the Danube in 1396. Alone or in alliance with the neighboring Christian countries, more often in alliance with the neighboring voivodes of the other two Romanian principalities, the voivodes of Wallachia Mircea the Old (1386-1418) and Vlad the Impeller (Dracula of the Mediaeval legends, 1456-1462), with Stephen the Great and Holy (1457-1504), the voivode of Moldavia and Iancu of Hunedoara, the voivode of Transylvania (1441-1456) fought heavy defence battles against the Ottoman Turks, delaying their expansion to Central Europe. Unlike all the other peoples of south-east Europe, the Romanians were the only ones who maintained their state entity during the Middle Ages, along with their own political, military and administrative structures. The end of the 16th century was dominated by the personality of Michael the Brave. He became voivode of Wallachia in 1593, joined the Christian League - an anti-Ottoman coalition initiated by the Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire and he succeeded, following heavy battles (Calugareni, Giurgiu) to actually regain the independence of his country. In 1599-1600 he united for the first time in history all the territories inhabited by Romanians, Vlad the Impeller - Voivode of Wallachia
proclaiming himself "prince of Wallachia, Transylvania and the whole of Moldavia." In the 18th and early 19th centuries huge economic and social changes took place, the feudal structures were deeply eroded, the first capitalist enterprises
emerged and at the same time Romanian goods were attracted step by step into the European circuit. The union of part of the clergy in Transylvania with the Catholic Church (the Greek- Catholics), achieved by the House of Hapsburg in 1699-1701, played an important part in the emancipation of Transylvanian Romanians. Their fight for equal rights with the other ethnic groups (although the Romanians accounted for over 60% of the principate‘s population, they were still considered "tolerated" in their own country) was begun by Bishop Inocentiu Micu-Klein and continued by the intellectuals grouped in the "Transylvanian School" movement: Gheorghe Sincai, Petru Maior, Samuil Micu, Ion Budai-Deleanu, a.o. The quest for renewal in Wallachia was expressed in the revolution led by Tudor Vladimirescu (1821), which broke out at the same time with the Greek‘s movement for liberation. The Romanians elected on January 5/17, 1859 in Moldavia and on January 24/February 5, 1859 in Wallachia Colonel Alexandru Ioan Cuza as their unique prince, achieving de facto the union of the two principalities. The Romanian nation state took on January 24/February 5, 1862 the name of ROMANIA and settled its capital in Bucharest.
13
After the abdication of Alexandru Ioan Cuza (1866), Carol of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, a relative of the royal family of Prussia, who was supported by Napoleon III and Bismark, was proclaimed on May 10, 1866, following a plebiscite, ruling prince of Romania, with the name of Carol I. Romania declared its full state independence on May 9/21, 1877. On the territory of Romania Soviet troops were stationed and the country was abandoned by the Western powers, so the next stage brought a similar evolution to that of the other satellites of the Soviet Empire. The whole government was forcibly taken over by the communists, the political parties were banned and their members were persecuted and
arrested; King Michael I was forced to abdicate and the same
day the people‘s republic was proclaimed (December 30,
1947). The single-party dictatorship was established, based
on an omnipotent and omnipresent surveillance and
repression force. The industrial enterprises, the banks and the
transportation
(1948),
agriculture was forcibly collectivized (1949-1962), the whole
economy was developed according to five-year plans, the
main goal being a Stalinist type industrialization. Romania
became a founding member of COMECON (1949) and of
the Warsaw Treaty (1955). At the death of Gheorghe
Gheorghiu-Dej (1965), the communist leader of the after-
war epoch, the party leadership, which was later identified
with that of the state as well, was monopolized by Nicolae
Ceausescu. In a short period of time he managed to
means
were
nationalized
concentrate into his own hands (and those of a clan
The Romanian Revolution of December 22
headed by his wife, Elena Ceausescu) all the power levers of
the communist party and of the state system. The victory of the Revolution in December 1989 opened the way for a re-establishment of democracy, of the pluralist political system, for the return to a market economy and the re-integration of the country in the European economic, political and cultural space.
3.4 Turkey Turkey is a transcontinental Eurasian country. Asain turkey made up largely of Anatolia, which includes 97% of the country, is separated from European Turkey, by the Bosphorus the sea Marmara and dardanelles(which together form a water link between the blacksea and th mediterranean ).European Turkey,(eastern Thrace or Rumelia in the Balkan Penunsula)includes 3% of the country. Turkey is bordered by eight countries: Bulgaria to the northwest, Greece to the west, Georgea to the northeast, Armania, Azerbaijan, and Iran to the east, and Iraq and Syria to the southeast. The Mediterranian sea and Crprus are to the South, the Aegean and Archipeloga are to the west and the Blacksea is to the North. Due to its strategic location astride two continents, Turkey‘s culture has a unique blend of Eastern tradition. Turkey is a democratic, secular, unitary constitutional republic whose political system was established in 1923 under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal ATATÜRK. The Anatolian Penunsula ( also called Asia Minor) comprising most of modern Turkey, is one of the oldest continually inhabited regions in the world due to its location at the intersection of Asia and Europe. Turkey is a parliamentary representative democracy, since its foundation as a republic in 1923.The Turkish armed forces consists of the army: The Navy, and the Air Force. The capital city of Turkey is Ankara. The territory of Turkey is subdivided into 81 provinces for administrative purposes. The provinces are organised into 7 regions for census
14
purposes; however, they do not represent an administrative structure. Turkey is geographically divided into seven regions: Marmara, Aegean, Blacksea, Central Anatolia, Eastern Anatolia, Southeastern Anatolia, and the Mediterranian. The population of Turkey stood at 71,5 millions with a growth rate of 1.31% per annum, based on 2008 census. Eduacation is compulsory and free from ages 6 to 15.Turkish is the sole official language throughout Turkey. Turkey is an officially secular republic with no official state religion; The Turkish constitution provides the freedom of religion and concience, but doesn‘t represent or promote religion. The population of Turkey is predominantly Muslim(99%).The majorities are sunni(75%),and a large minority is alevi(15– 16%).The remainders of the population are mainly christian and jews. The most popular sport in Turkey is football. Turkey‘s top teams include Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe, and Beşiktaş. In 2000,Galatasaray cemented its role a major European club by winning the UEFA cup and UEFA super cup. Other mainstream sports such as Basketball and Volleyball are also popular.The traditional Turkish national sport has been the Yağlı Güreş (oiled wrestling)since Ottoman times.. About the Turkish Cuisine, is largely the heritage of Ottoman Cuisine, which can be described as a fusion and refinement of central Asian, Middle Eastern and Balkan Cuisines. Turkish cuisine also influenced these cuisines and the other neighbouring cuisines as well as western European cuisines. Taken as a whole, Turkish is not homogeneous. Aside from common Turkish specialties that can be found throughout the country, there also many region-specific-specialties. The Blacksea region‘s cuisine is base on corn and anchovies. The southeast is famous for its kebabs, mezes, and dough-based desserts such as baklava, kadayif, and künefe. Especially western parts of Turkey, where olive trees are grown abundantly, olive oil is the major type of oil used for cooking. The cuisines of Aegean, Marmara, and Mediterranian regions display basic characteristics of Mediterranian cuisine as they are rich in vegetables, herbs, and fish.
3.5 Portugal Formerly known as ―Lusitânia‖, it was part of the Roman Empire and was occupied by the Visigoths and later on by the Moors. Independent since 1139 (recognized by the King of Castila in 1143 and by the Pope in 1179), Portugal is Europe‘s oldest nation. Portugal‘s independency was assured two centuries after with the defeat of the Castilians in Aljubarrota, in 1385, and its sovereignty was questioned after a succession crisis, in 1580, which put the kingdom in the hand of the Spanish (Philipin Dynasty) under jurisdiction of a political union; it was finally restored in 1640 and the thrown was given to D. João IV. With the approach of the terrestrial conquers to the Moors, Portugal started to conquer by sea, where it became dominating; inspired by the infant D. Henrique, the Navigator, their navigators discovered maritime ways to America, Africa and to the East; therefore, it got economical, political and cultural supremacy in those days. During the time of expansion, the Portuguese established commercial enclaves in remote places such as Molucas and China, while claiming for Brazil, located in the New World, discovered in 1500 by Pedro Álvares Cabral. It was in Brazil that the Portuguese Royal Family took refuge when the French invaded Portugal in 1807. King D. João I returned to Portugal in 1821 and in the following year, his son D. Pedro was announced Emperor of the independent Brazil. Portugal was a monarchy until 1910, when a revolution in Lisbon obliged the young king D. Manuel to renounce. After several years of political instability, with wars of labourers, riots,
15
rebellions, political assassinations and financial crisis, the Army assumed the power, in 1926. The military regime nominated the Financial Minister Dr. Oliveira Salazar, professor at the University of Coimbra who soon was nominated Prime Minister (1932). While restoring the finances, he transformed the country in a semi-fascist ―Corporative Republic‖, under his personal dictatorship. In 1968, when he got deeply sick he withdrew and Dr. Marcelo Caetano succeeded him in the ruling of the country. However, the civil discontent was spreading in the continent and the colonies, where several ― liberation movements‖ obliged Portugal to a military presence. In spite of the critics of some of the oldest officials of the Army, among whom General António de Spínola, the government seemed to be determined to continue this policy. With his book ―Portugal and the Future‖, where he defends the unsustainability of a military solution in the colonial wars, Spínola was discharged, which aggravated the atmosphere among the young Army Officials who on the 25 April 1974 unchained a coup d‘état which threw down the Government. It is now a national holiday. In the next two years, the revolutionary process was observed and controlled by the Movement of the Military Forces; it was a period of a huge political instability, with six provisional governments, several rebellions with different aims, the fast termination of the Colonial Empire (accomplished in 1975) and the progressive neutralization of the left wing, until the elections in 1976. Its winner was the Social Party, whose leader, Mário Soares, took care of the government, while Ramalho Eanes was elected President of the Republic. Nowadays, Portugal is a member of the European Union (its adhesion was in 1986) and it was one of the twelve members which were part of the Euro Zone and whose language is one of the twenty official languages of the European Union.
3.5. Portugal (Alcochete) Alcochete is located in the south bank of the Tagus estuary. It is parte of the Metropolitan Area of Alcochete. It has a privileged access to the capital city through the Vasco da Gama Bridge, which was opened in 1998, before EXPO 98. The building of this bridge led to a large increase of the population. Alcochete has an area of 128,5 Km2 and it composed of 3 parishes – Alcochete, Samouco and S. Francisco. It has about 16.000 inhabitants. The parish of Alcochete includes the localities of Passil and Fonte da Senhora, which have all the rural characteristics that are in the origin of the municipality of Alcochete. The village is on the border of the Natural Reserve of the Tagus Estuary, which is one of the most important in Europe for several water birds. It is the best place for those who like to enjoy unique moments in the Nature. It used to be a great producer of salt and nowadays it still has a small production, just to keep the tradition.
Nowadays the saline area is the house of many birds, namely the
pink flamingos, which contribute to a unique landscape
for those who cross the Vasco da Gama Bridge. It was also the
location for several factories where people dried cod,
which is very traditional in Portugal.
16
The actual site of present-day Alcochete was already occupied during Roman times with a clay production facility. Its name is thought to derive from the Arabic word for oven for reasons not yet understood. It became a vacation site preferred by the Portuguese royalty and the future king D. Manuel I was born in the village. The largest outlet mall in the Iberian Peninsula, Freeport Designer Outlet, is just outside town. Alcochete has a huge bullfighting tradition and it even has flamenco dancers. You can eat fresh grilled fish, rice pudding and ―fogaças‖ (a traditional cake). This cake lasts for a long time, being eaten by the fishermen who went to the North Sea to catch codfish. You can also find here the Sporting‘s Academy, which was the home for the Portuguese Selection during Euro 2004 and the future Lisbon Airport.
3.6 Poland The history of Poland as a state spans well over a millennium, but humans have lived in the glaciation disrupted environment of north Central Europe for many thousand years. In prehistoric and protohistoric times the area of present-day Poland went through the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age stages of development, along with the nearby regions. Settled agricultural people have lived there for the past 7500 years, since their first arrival at the outset of the Neolithic period. Following the earlier La Tène and Roman influence cultures, the Slavic people have been in this territory for over 1500 years. They organized first into tribal units, and then combined into larger political structures. The historically recorded Polish state begins with the rule of Mieszko I of the Piast dynasty in the second half of the 10th century. Mieszko chose to be baptized in the Western Christian rite in 966. Following its emergence, the Polish nation was led by a series of rulers who converted the population to Christianity, created a strong kingdom and integrated Poland into the European culture. Mieszko's son Bolesław I Chrobry established a Polish Church province, pursued territorial conquests and was officially crowned in 1025, becoming the first King of Poland. This was followed by a collapse of the monarchy and restoration under Casimir I. Casimir's son Bolesław II the Bold became fatally involved in a conflict with the ecclesiastical authority, and was expelled from the country. After Bolesław III divided the country among his sons, internal fragmentation eroded the initial Piast monarchy structure in the 12th and 13th centuries. One of the regional Piast dukes invited the Teutonic Knights to help him fight the Baltic Prussian pagans, which caused centuries of Poland's warfare with the Knights and then with the German Prussian state. The Kingdom was restored under Władysław I the Elbow-high, strengthened and expanded by his son Casimir III the Great. The western provinces of Silesia and Pomerania were lost after the fragmentation, and Poland began expanding to the east. The consolidation in the 1300s laid the base for, after the reigns of two members of the Angevin dynasty, the new powerful Kingdom of Poland that was to follow.
17
Beginning with the Lithuanian Grand Duke Jogaila (Władysław II Jagiełło), the Jagiellon dynasty (1386–1572) formed the Polish–Lithuanian union. The partnership brought vast Lithuania-controlled Rus' areas into Poland's sphere of influence and proved beneficial for the Poles and Lithuanians, who coexisted and cooperated in one of the largest political entities in Europe for the next four centuries. In the Baltic Sea region Poland's struggle with the Teutonic Knights continued and included in 1466 the milestone Peace of Thorn under King Casimir IV Jagiellon; the treaty created the future Duchy of Prussia. In the south Poland confronted the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Tatars, and in the east helped Lithuania fight the Grand Duchy of Moscow. Poland was developing as a feudal state, with predominantly agricultural economy and an increasingly dominant landed nobility component. The Nihil novi act adopted by the Polish Sejm (parliament) in 1505, transferred most of the legislative power from the monarch to the Sejm. This event marked the beginning of the period known as "Golden Liberty", when the state was ruled by the "free and equal" Polish nobility. Protestant Reformation movements made deep inroads into the Polish Christianity, which resulted in unique at that time in Europe policies of religious tolerance. The European Renaissance currents evoked in late Jagiellon Poland (kings Sigismund I the Old and Sigismund II Augustus) an immense cultural flowering. Poland's and Lithuania's territorial expansion included the far north region of Livonia. The Union of Lublin of 1569 established the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, a more closely unified federal state. The Union was largely run by the nobility, through the system of the central parliament and local assemblies, but led by elected kings. The beginning of the Commonwealth coincided with the period of Poland's great power, civilizational advancement and prosperity. The Polish–Lithuanian Union had become an influential player in Europe and a vital cultural entity, spreading the Western culture eastward. In the second half of the 16th and the first half of the 17th century, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was a huge state in central-eastern Europe, with an area approximating one million square kilometers. The Catholic Church embarked on an ideological counter-offensive and Counter-Reformation claimed many converts from Protestant circles. The Union of Brest split the Eastern Christians of the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth, assertive militarily under King Stephen Báthory, suffered from dynastic distractions during the reigns of the Vasa kings Sigismund III and Władysław IV. The Commonwealth fought wars with Russia, Sweden and the Ottoman Empire, dealt with a series of Cossack uprisings. Allied with the Habsburg Monarchy, it did not directly participate in the Thirty Years' War. Beginning in the middle of the 17th century, the nobles' democracy, subjected to devastating wars, falling into internal disorder and then anarchy, gradually declined, making the once powerful Commonwealth vulnerable to foreign intervention. From 1648 the Cossack Khmelnytsky Uprising engulfed the south and east, and was soon followed by a Swedish invasion, which raged through the core Polish lands. Warfare with the Cossacks and Russia left Ukraine
18
divided, with the eastern part, lost by the Commonwealth, becoming the Tsardom's dependency. John III Sobieski, fighting protracted wars with the Ottoman Empire, revived of the Commonwealth's military might once more, in process helping decisively in 1683 to deliver Vienna from a Turkish onslaught. From there it all went downhill. The Commonwealth, subjected to almost constant warfare until 1720, suffered devastating population losses, massive damage to its economy and social structure. The government became ineffective because of large scale internal conflicts (e.g. Lubomirski's Rokosz against John II Casimir and rebellious confederations), corrupted legislative processes and manipulation by foreign interests. The nobility class fell under control of a handful of powerful families with established territorial domains, the urban population and infrastructure fell into ruin, together with most peasant farms. The reigns of two kings of the Saxon Wettin dynasty, Augustus II and Augustus III, brought the Commonwealth further disintegration. The Great Northern War, a period seen by the contemporaries as a passing eclipse, may have been the fatal blow destined to bring down the Noble Republic. The Kingdom of Prussia became a strong regional power and took Silesia from Saxony. The Commonwealth-Saxony personal union however gave rise to the emergence of the reform movement in the Commonwealth, and the beginnings of the Polish Enlightenment culture. During the later part of the 18th century the Commonwealth attempted fundamental internal reforms. The reform activity provoked hostile reaction and eventually military response on the part of the neighboring powers. The second half of the century brought improved economy and significant growth of the population. The most populous capital city of Warsaw replaced Danzig (Gdańsk) as the leading trade center, and the role of the more prosperous urban strata was increasing. The last decades of the independent Commonwealth existence were characterized by intense reform movements and far-reaching progress in the areas of education, intellectual life, art, and especially toward the end of the period, evolution of the social and political system. The royal election of 1764 resulted in the elevation of Stanisław August Poniatowski, a refined and worldly aristocrat connected to a major magnate faction, but hand-picked and imposed by Empress Catherine II of Russia, who expected Poniatowski to be her obedient follower. The King accordingly spent his reign torn between his desire to implement reforms necessary to save the state, and his perceived necessity of remaining in subordinate relationship with his Russian sponsors. The Bar Confederation of 1768 was a szlachta rebellion directed against Russia and the Polish king. It was brought under control and followed in 1772 by the First Partition of the Commonwealth, a permanent encroachment on the outer Commonwealth provinces by the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia and Habsburg Austria. The "Partition Sejm" under duress "ratified" the partition fait accompli, but in 1773 also established the Commission of National Education, a pioneering in Europe government education authority. The longlasting sejm convened by Stanisław August in 1788 is known as the Great, or Four-Year Sejm. The sejm's landmark achievement was the passing of the May 3 Constitution, the first in modern Europe singular pronouncement of a supreme law of the state. The reformist but moderate document, accused by detractors of French Revolution sympathies, soon generated strong opposition coming from the Commonwealth's upper nobility conservative circles and Catherine II. The nobility's Targowica Confederation appealed to the Empress for help and in May 1792 the Russian army entered the territory of the Commonwealth. The defensive war fought by the forces of the Commonwealth ended when the King, convinced of the futility of resistance, capitulated by joining the Targowica Confederation. The Confederation took over the government, but Russia and Prussia in 1793 arranged for and executed the Second Partition of the Commonwealth, which left the country with critically reduced territory, practically incapable of independent existence. The radicalized by the recent events reformers, in the still nominally Commonwealth area and in exile, were soon working on national insurrection preparations. Tadeusz Kościuszko was chosen as its leader; the popular
19
general came from abroad and on March 24, 1794 in Cracow (Kraków) declared a national uprising under his supreme command. Kościuszko emancipated and enrolled in his army many peasants, but the hard-fought insurrection, strongly supported also by urban plebeian masses, proved incapable of generating the necessary foreign collaboration and aid. It ended suppressed by the forces of Russia and Prussia, with Warsaw captured in November. The third and final partition of the Commonwealth was undertaken again by all three partitioning powers, and in 1795 the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth effectively ceased to exist. While there was no separate Polish state at all, the idea of Polish independence was kept alive throughout the 19th century and led to more Polish uprisings and other warfare against the partitioning powers. After the failure of the last uprising the Polish nation, divided under three foreign administrations, preserved its identity in nonviolent ways. After more than a century of rule by its neighbors, Poland regained its independence in 1918, internationally recognized in 1919 with the Treaty of Versailles. The Second Polish Republic was destroyed by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union by their Invasion of Poland at the beginning of the Second World War. Nevertheless the Polish government in exile kept functioning and through the many Polish military formations contributed significantly to the Allied victory. Nazi Germany's forces were compelled to retreat from Poland as the Soviet Red Army advanced, which led to the creation of the People's Republic of Poland. The country's geographic location was shifted to the west and Poland existed as a Soviet satellite state. Poland largely lost its traditional multi-ethnic character and the communist system was imposed. By the late 1980s Solidarity, a Polish reform movement became crucial in causing a peaceful transition from a communist state to a capitalist system and parliamentary democracy. This process resulted in the creation of the modern Polish state.
20
4. National Character 4.1 Germany One of the famous posters of Albert Einstein shows him when he was photographed sticking out his tongue. Although he was a renowned scientist at that time he still found time to make fun of people. This is one of his character traits that young people in particular admire about Albert Einstein. When he was young he had to leave school in Munich because he didn‘t accept the authoritarian teachers at his school. Still he managed to become one of the greatest physicists of all time. He was awarded the Nobel Prize but had no time to accept it because he was on a lecture tour. Although he had been offered professorships from various distinguished German universities and had become a famous international scientist he decided to turn his back on Germany when Hitler came to power. He emigrated to the USA and worked at the university of Princeton where he later openly criticized America for its nuclear involvement. He even wrote a letter to the American president calling for disarmament. Because of his many scientific discoveries and his talent to explain complicated matters in a simple way he was regarded a genius by many people. So when he died his brain was stolen by a pathologist who wanted to find out why Einstein was so clever. If you want to find out more about Einstein have a look at the quiz about the scientists.
4.2 Turkey Nasreddin Hodja is a folk philosopher with excellence. Many of his stories, as lessons in moral conduct and as witty practical jokes give critical annotations on streo typed social thought and behavior with points of view about imaginative alternatives. His wisdom influences all sections of society. Turkish people are very familiar with the jokes and the stories of Nasreddin Hodja. People have been hearing his jokes since their childhood. His jokes are part of Turkish culture. According to some account, he lived probably in the 13th century. Some of the historical documents from Turkey also indicate that his exact birth date or exactly how he lived is not clear. According to some other stories, he was in life when Tamerlane invaded Anatolia in 15th century and was born in Sivrihisar. People from this town have been well known for their ridicule and uniqueness. In 1237,it is said that he moved to Akşehir, where he died in the islamic year 683(1284 or 1285). The jokes were part of his daily life and they became accepted by the public since then. He was a man with the great humour, he was very clever and had an answer to almost all the problems, and the dillemmas of his time. Even today, about 600 years, after he lived and passed away, people in Turkey still laugh and think about his tricks, common sense, anecdotes, and ingeniousness. He has used his wit to make everybody aware of the other side of reality. That is why, his jokes are still alive today. Nasr-ed-Din means ―victory of faith‖,Hodja means,‖master or teacher‖.He has received this honorable title later in his life. He was also qualified to become ―Kadı‖which is the person who distributes the religious law. Today, these jokes belong to Turkish people and to the world. His stories reflect not only his life as a native of Anatolia, but also his time and the life of the Turkish people living at that time in Anatolia. His jokes and his stories are told today by the people of different countries and his jokes have been translated to many languages. Every year in July,
21
from 5th to 10th,the international Nasreddin Hodja Festival takes place in AkĹ&#x;ehir, where his tomb is.Turkish artists have been using Nasreddin Hodja in the theater, comic strips, music, and paintings.
4.3 Romania Harap Alb- Symbolic character-with human values The Story of Harap Alb has its origins in the works of the well known romanian writer of the 19th century, Ion Creangă. The hero is a young man with a good nature, he had made errors which he learnd from. In his story we find common experiences, but they hide the problems that every teenage boy faces. Given his lack of experience , acustommed with the warmth and openness of his family , the young hero has the courrage or madness to fight his destiny being defeated by it to end up triumphant. In this way the story becomes a buildingroman of coming of character , developing his personality, turning our hero into a man. Harap Alb decides to leave his home after his father- a wealthy man recives a letter from his brother asking for one of his three sons to make him his heir. His two elder brothers prove themselves to be cowards when their father tries to trick them disguised as a bear in order to see how they react in the face of danger. Reeding the dissapointment on his father face , our hero decides to try his luck and follow his destiny to become himself the heir of his wealthy uncle. When his father appears dressed as a bear, Harap Alb is ready to face the danger whit the cost of his life. Immpressed by the courrage of his youngest son the father prepares him for the long journey offering him his withe clothes and the horse that had been his companion in the fights. He advices him not to trust nobody and especially the insistent and flattering ones. The boy is determined to learn only from his mistakes. Due to the fact he is a innocent soul, sincere and full of trust in the good will of the people he was given the name of HarapAlb-Harap White. So, our hero starts his adventure joined by his innteligent horse, that advices and keeps him out of troubles. After many hours of riding when it is getting darker and darker, the young prince reaches the forrest. The shadous, the noises, the wolves he hears begin to frighten him. A strange man appeared from the deep woods and with a fllatering voice asked him where does he go and offerd to be his servent or at least his guide. Afraid of dark, Harap Alb accepted easely his offerig, ignorig the advice he has received from his father. As they walked trough the wood, they become thirsty.The stranger ask Harap Alb to give him some water to drink, but as he tastes it, he spits it and throws away the bottle arguing that te watter was foul and he knows a fountain near by where they could drink fresh watter. When they arrive at the fountain, the stranger goes down with a rope, drinks and invites Harap alb to join him. As soon as Harap alb enters the fountain, the stranger atacks him, asks about his identity and manaces to kill him if he does not agree with the change of
22
their identity. So the master becomes slave and and it will be named from now on Harap Alb.The stranger takes his clothes and forces him to wear servant clothig, as they continue their ride to the wealthy uncle. In their journey they met some very intriguing characters, who soon become their companions: The boy-who-can-touch-the-sky, The bird man, The thirsty man, The hungy man, The frost bitten man, The wise elf. They all become friends and together decided to carry out the plan and soon they reached the king‘ s palace.They were received very well, although the king was a little suspicious about the way the stanger treated his servants. He invited them to dinner and at the wicked proposal of the stranger forced them to eat more then enough but they were helped by their friend The Hangry man, who ,,cleared ,, the tables. The king prepared them then a room to sleep in but it was a oven room.The frost man blew over and cooled the air.The next day amased that his plan failed, the stranger ask the king to lock them up and use them at work. The guardian lock them and put the key in a hook on the ceiling. The boy- who can- touch -the sky reached for the key and released his friends .In this time the wise elf hided under the king‘s table and heard how the stranger and the king‘servants planed to murder his friends calling them thieves. The elf dressed up as a clown and entered the king‘ room and revealed him the truth.Furious and outraged the hing ordered that the wiecked stranger to be send to prison for ever.The horse that hated to seve him hit the stranger and throw him in a lake.The king recognised then his real nephew and invited him and his friends to celebrate their reunion and to live at the palace. Harap Alb: „I salute you! Let me introduce myself. My name is Harap Alb. I come from a world of fairytales. I‘ m real now. Can you see me? My heart is as large as a house. Here it is place for everyone: Germans, Turkish, Spanish, Portuguese, Polish and many others. It‘s not place for bad people. Before becoming a stranger‘s slave, I wasn‘t too wise. My father‘s horse was smarter than me. As you can see, I‘m wearing Romanian traditioinal clothes. Here it is a sword which protects me from evil and especially from myself, as from enemies I know to defend myself. I‘m very brave and also prudent. Here is my story: I was rich, I left home to be independent, I ignored my parents‘ advice and I became a slave. I turned free again with my friends‘ help and now I‘m very rich. It‘s quite normal, when you have many friends and a rich experience. Let me introduce them: „This is Hungry-Man: „I eat both my food and the others‘. Between a saucepan of food and a beautiful girl, I prefer….guess…the first one. This is me. I‘m already hungry. Is there something to eat around here?― This is Thirsty-Man: „I drink water all day long. I‘m not fond of alcohol. My best friend is Hungry-Man, whom I help with the soup…― This is my friend Frost-Bitten-Man: „I wear many thick clothes, even when it‘s hot outside. So look after your coats. They might be useful for me. Whose is that coat?―
23
Here is Wise-Elf: „I can see everything very clearly. I am very courageous. I even watch movies forbidden for underage children. I like girls. So look after your girlfriend! I might like her a lot!― This is Urechila: (Long ears) „I have big ears, as my parents whisper all the time. Why so many secrets? Dear parents, if you want your children not to have large, long ears, try not to be like mine. As a matter of fact there aren‘t too many secrets left for me―. Here is Pasarila (the man who can touch the sky) : „I‘ve just caught a bird. Unfortunately, it was already dead. I‘m a dreamer and birds sit on my head when I sleep standing―. Harap-Alb: „We haven‘t been so intelligent till now. Together, all our brains used to make one single normal person. But,….today you can see haw smart and funny we‘ve become. We feel great in our shoes. Learn from our experience! Be a team! Succes!―
4.4 Portugal Martinho Pinto de Miranda Montenegro Martinho Pinto de Miranda Montenegro was born in 1845 in the House of Boavista in Sobrado. He was son of the Nobleman Jose Pinto de Bernardo de Miranda Montenegro Vasconcellos and Lady Ana Angelina Soares. He was owner of several farms and houses in several land beyond the Castelo de Paiva, for example Cinfães, Porto, Valbom, etc. he studied, and took the Supeior Curse of Agriculture. He married with Lady Brites Arrochela Vieira de Almeida, daughter of the Arrochela‘s Count, of whom had three daughters. Martinho Pinto de Miranda Montenegro was responsible for the creation of roads which connect all villages, construction of bridges and viaducts, and the buildings of the Town Hall and the Post-house in Sobrado. He also was the Mayor of Castelo de Paiva and the Civil Governor of Aveiro. He died in 1923, with 78 years. Due to its importance for all he has done for the town, a statue was sculpted in the main square of Castelo de Paiva with its image. The statue was carved by Master Teixeira Lopes and it‘s still regarded as an important place in Castelo de Paiva
24
4.5 Poland Maria Curie-Skłodowska urodziła się w Warszawie 7 listopada 1867 r. Była córką nauczyciela fizyki w gimnazjum. Ukończyła szkołę średnią w Warszawie ze złotym medalem, po czym przez 8 lat była nauczycielką. Wstępne przygotowania do badań eksperymentalnych z chemii i fizyki odbyła w laboratorium przy Muzeum Przemysłu i Rolnictwa w Warszawie. W latach 1891-95 r studiuje na Wydziale Matematyczno Przyrodniczym w Sorbonie, otrzymując licencjaty nauk fizycznych i matematycznych. W domu prof. Kowalskiego poznaje Piotra Curie, z którym bierze ślub w roku 1895 r. Przyjmuje obywatelstwo francuskie. Trudno powiedzieć, jak potoczyłaby się historia promieniotwórczości, gdyby w końcu 1897 roku Maria Skłodowska-Curie nie zdecydowała zająć się systematycznie tak "nieciekawym" zagadnieniem, jakim wydawało się wówczas promieniowanie uranu. Skończyła właśnie swoją rozprawę dyplomową na temat właściwości magnetycznych hartowanej stali i gdyby kontynuowała te badania, zapewne jej nazwisko nie przeszłoby do historii. Jej pierwsza samodzielna praca na temat promieniotwórczości (nazwa właśnie przez nią zaproponowana) to zerwanie z praktykami ówczesnych badaczy nowych promieni. Po pierwsze, Maria Skłodowska-Curie użyła do badań precyzyjnego i czułego elektrometru zamiast metody fotograficznej, która ze względu na jakość ówczesnych klisz dawała tylko wyniki jakościowe, niepowtarzalne i często, jak widzieliśmy, błędne. Po drugie, postanowiła zbadać dostępne minerały, skały i inne substancje. To zerwanie z przeszłością przyniosło od razu przełomowy wynik. Okazało się, że natężenie promieniowania w różnych minerałach zawierających uran nie jest proporcjonalne do zawartości tego pierwiastka. Na tej podstawie wysunęła śmiałą hipotezę, że istnieje nowy, nieznany pierwiastek promieniotwórczy. Ponadto, dzięki systematycznym badaniom, stwierdziła promieniotwórczość toru. Tego odkrycia niezależnie dokonał również niemiecki fizyk Gerhard Schmidt, który stosując metodę fotograficzną analogicznie do Becquerela stwierdził ponadto, że promienie torowe ulegają załamaniu i odbiciu (rozpraszaniu), lecz nie dają się polaryzować. Utrwalił więc częściowo błędne wyniki Becquerela. "Okazało się, że wyniki, do jakich mnie ta praca doprowadziła, odsłaniają widoki tak ciekawe, że pan Curie, odstępując od swych robót, będących w biegu, przyłączył się do mnie i odtąd wspólnie nasze usiłowania skierowaliśmy ku wydobyciu nowych ciał promieniotwórczych i ich zbadaniu" - napisała Maria Skłodowska-Curie we wstępie do swej rozprawy doktorskiej "Badanie ciał radioaktywnych". Tak więc, to właśnie pierwsza jej publikacja, ogłoszona w maju 1898 roku, ponownie skierowała uwagę badaczy na promienie Becquerela. Dwa miesiące później, po niezwykle uciążliwej pracy mającej na celu wydzielenie poszukiwanej substancji z blendy smolistej, małżonkowie Curie donieśli o odkryciu nowego pierwiastka promieniotwórczego: "Niektóre rudy, zawierające uran i tor (blenda smolista, chalkolit, uranit), są bardzo aktywne pod względem emisji promieni Becquerela. W poprzedniej pracy jedno z nas wykazało, że ich aktywność jest nawet większa od aktywności uranu i toru i wyraziło opinię, że fakt ten należy przypisać jakiejś innej, nadzwyczaj aktywnej substancji, która znajduje się w tych rudach w bardzo nieznacznej ilości [...] Przypuszczamy, że ciało, które wyodrębniliśmy z blendy smolistej, zawiera nieznany jeszcze metal, zbliżony do bizmutu pod względem
25
właściwości chemicznych. Jeśli istnienie tego metalu się potwierdzi, proponujemy dla niego nazwę "polon" od nazwy ojczyzny jednego z nas." Odkryli też drugi pierwiastek, który nazwali radem W okresie, gdy kobiety miały trudności z dostaniem się na wyższe uczelnie i kiedy odmawiano im wielu praw, zwłaszcza studiowania na równi z mężczyznami nauk ścisłych, wielu ludziom wydawało się mało prawdopodobne, by wspaniały pomysł systematycznego badania promieniotwórczości mógł się zrodzić samodzielnie w głowie młodej Polki. Wśród Francuzów częste było wtedy przekonanie, że to wybitny uczony Piotr Curie podsunął swej żonie temat badań i czuwał nad nimi, a Maria spełniała tylko rolę pomocniczą. Jednak wszystkie znane fakty świadczą, że jest to przekonanie błędne i niesprawiedliwe. Maria Skłodowska-Curie, według powszechnej opinii osoba niezwykle skromna, a przy tym kochająca żona, niemal zawsze podkreślała, że odkrycia w dziedzinie promieniotwórczości są ich wspólnym dziełem. Z jednym wyjątkiem - właśnie gdy chodziło o sam pomysł zajęcia się promieniotwórczością. W swej "Autobiografii" napisała: Zdecydowałam się wreszcie na temat mojej rozprawy doktorskiej. Uwagę moją zwróciły ciekawe wyniki badań Henri Becquerela soli rzadkiego metalu uranu. Odkrycia polonu i radu rozwiały wszelkie wcześniejsze wątpliwości na temat istnienia nowych pierwiastków. Teraz z kolei wielu fizyków uznało, że promieniotwórczość to bardzo fascynujący temat. Sam Becquerel po dwóch latach powrócił do badań uranu i 27 marca 1899 roku przedstawił w paryskiej Akademii Nauk komunikat, w którym odwoływał swe poprzednie doniesienia na temat załamania i polaryzacji promieni uranowych. Podał także ważny wynik, że aktywność soli uranowej w jego laboratorium pozostała nie zmieniona od maja 1896 roku. Rok 1897 przyniósł nowe odkrycia. Liczba prac na temat promieniotwórczości zaczęła szybko rosnąć. W Paryżu André Debierne odkrył kolejny pierwiastek promieniotwórczy, aktyn (wyniki przedstawiono 16 października 1899 roku na posiedzeniu Akademii Nauk). Największe znaczenie dla rozwoju badań promieniotwórczości miało jednak zaangażowanie się w nie Rutherforda, który wkrótce (w 1900 roku) doniósł o odkryciu emanacji toru, a potem wraz z Frederickiem Soddym opracował pierwszą teorię przemian promieniotwórczych. W 1903 roku Becquerel oraz małżonkowie Curie otrzymali Nagrodę Nobla z fizyki. Po przedwczesnej, tragicznej śmierci Piotra Curie w 1906 roku Maria Skłodowska-Curie kontynuowała badania samodzielnie. W 1911 roku została uhonorowana drugą Nagrodą Nobla, tym razem z chemii. Trzy lata wcześniej Nagrodę Nobla z chemii otrzymał Ernest Rutherford. Wtedy było już wiadomo, że badanie promieniotwórczości prowadzi do przewrotu w nauce o budowie materii. Prócz działalności naukowej Maria Curie-Skłodowska prowadziła szeroką działalność organizacyjną i społeczną. Współpracowała przy tworzeniu Pracowni Radiologicznej Towarzystwa Naukowego Warszawskiego. W wyniku jej usilnych starań w 1912 r rozpoczęto budowę Instytutu Radowego w Paryżu, w którym zorganizowała dział badań nad fizycznymi i chemicznymi właściwościami ciał promieniotwórczych oraz zapoczątkowała dział biologiczny. Podczas I wojny światowej zorganizowała, jako kierowniczka służby rentgenowskiej ministerstwa spraw wojskowych, około 200 nowych lub ulepszonych stacji radiologicznych oraz wyposażyła we własnym laboratorium i przekazała armii 20 ruchomych ambulansów rentgenowskich. Dzięki jej inicjatywie w szkole pielęgniarek w Paryżu utworzono pierwszy we Francji wydział radiologiczny (1916). Do końca wojny pod jej kierunkiem wyszkolono 150 laborantek radiologicznych. Zapoczątkowała oddział radoterapii w Instytucie Radowym (1916). Przeprowadziła szkolenie
26
radiologiczne dla amerykańskich studentów medycyny przebywających na froncie w Europie. Podobne kursy kontynuowała przez pierwsze dwa lata po wojnie, szkoląc młodych rentgenologów z całej Europy. Olbrzymią pomoc w tych pracach okazywała córka Irene. Po I wojnie światowej rozpoczęto w stolicy nowo odrodzonej Polski budowę placówki naukowo leczniczej Instytutu Radowego, który otwarto w jej obecności w 1931r. W 1947r założono jego filie w Giwicach, a w 1951r w Krakowie. Na efekty odkrycia Marii Curie Skłodowskiej nie trzeba było czekać długo. Już w 1905 r chirurg Robert Abbe dzięki naświetlaniu kontaktowemu po raz pierwszy wyleczył histologicznie stwierdzonego raka szyjki macicy. Sukces ten powtórzył w 1913r , w obydwu przypadkach używał 70 mg radu. Wcześniej już w 1896 r Niels Ryberg Finsen założył Instytut Badania nad leczeniem za pomocą światła, (będąc niejako pierwowzorem dla radioterapii) uprzednio odkrywając wpływ i zagrożenie światła błękitnego fioletowego i UV oraz pozytywny wpływ czerwieni. W 1895 r. pierwszy raz zastosował, skonstruowaną przez siebie lampę, do naświetlań prom UV gruźlicy skóry. Ogromnym krokiem naprzód, zarówno w terapii jak i w diagnostyce, było odkrycie promieni X przez Roentgena 8 listopada 1895 r. Już rok później Freund zastosował w celach leczniczych promienie X, w efekcie czego, pojawiły się ciężkie owrzodzenia skóry. W grudniu 1899 r. Sjögren zaprezentował pierwszy przypadek wyleczenia raka płaskonabłonkowego za pomocą promieni X. W 1902 r. Senn i Pusey uzyskali poprawę u chorej na białaczkę po terapii prom X. W ochronie przed narażeniem na promieniowanie 12 maja 1925 r. w Niemczech wprowadzono ustawę o ochronie przeciw promiennej. W Polsce w 1921 r. powstaje Komitet do Walki z Rakiem wydający swoje czasopismo i organizujące coroczne dni walki z rakiem.
W wyniku kilkudziesięcioletniej pracy z radem była jedną z
pierwszych śmiertelnych ofiar choroby popromiennej. Jak można wnioskować z dokumentacji zmarła na ostrą białaczkę leukopeniczną na tle nabytej pancytopenii, w wyniku długotrwałego działania promieniowania jonizującego 4 lipca 1934r. Rad został odkryty w 1898 r. przez Marię Skłodowską - Curie i Piotra Curie. Symbol radu: Ra. Liczba atomowa wynosi 88, liczba masowa najtrwalszego izotopu 226. Temperatura topnienia: 700°C Temperatura wrzenia: 1140°C Gęstość: 5 g/cm3 Jest to metal srebrzysto biały. Jest pierwiastkiem promieniotwórczym. Odkryty został w smółce uranowej przez Marię i Piotra Curie. Znanych jest 27 izotopów radu. Najtrwalszy izotop 226Ra ma okres półrozpadu T1/2=1620 lat. Własności chemiczne: Wartościowość: 2 . Stopień utlenienia +II. Pierwiastek aktywny chemicznie. W powietrzu ciemnieje na skutek utlenienia. Łatwo reaguje z chlorem, fluorem, fluorowodorem. Do najważniejszych związków radu należą: RaO, Ra(OH)2, RaCl2, RaBr2, RaCO3, RaSO4
27
Metaliczny rad i wiele jego soli świeci w ciemnościach bladoniebieskim światłem. Sole radu barwią płomień na karminowo.
28
5. Christmas short stories 5.1 Spain The Wise Men (Spain) (Children's Version) During the time when Jesus was born there was a very mean king who ruled the land, his name was King Herod. Remember his name, because we will talk about him later. Soon after Jesus was born, wise men were traveling on their camels; one night they noticed a very strange star in the sky. They knew that this star meant that the King of the Jews, the One who would save the world had been born. When the mean King... (what was his name again?) Herod heard this he got very worried. He called a meeting with all the other important people in the area and asked them where this special baby had been born. The people replied, "In Bethlehem, because they heard that one day a special person would come from there and take care of all the people." Then King Herod called the wise men to a secret meeting and found out from them exactly where they saw the star. He then told them, "Go and find this child. As soon as you find him, tell me, so that I can go and worship him." After they had spoken to the King, the wise men left to find the baby. They didn't know exactly where the baby was, but at night they followed the star in the east. They followed the star until it hung right over the very place where Jesus was. When they finally had arrived they were very excited and happy. They found Jesus laying in Mary's arms, and they bowed down and worshipped him. After that they opened the gifts they had brought Jesus. They were gold, frankincense and myrrh. These were very expensive gifts, gifts that you would give to a King, not to a baby. Mary thanked them for bringing the gifts for Jesus, and the wise men went to find a place to sleep for the night. As the wise men were sleeping, they each had the same dream. They were not to go back and tell King Herod where they found Jesus. King Herod didn't want to find Jesus to worship him, he wanted to kill him because he was jealous that this baby would someday be better than him. So the wise men went home another way so that Herod would not know where they had come from. They also decided that they would not tell King Herod anything about what they had seen. When the wise men had left, an angel appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," the angel said, "take Jesus and Mary and run away to Egypt. Stay there until I come to you again, because Herod is going to search for Jesus to kill him." Joseph immediately got up and woke up Mary, and she gently picked up Jesus so he wouldn't wake from his sleep. They left in the middle of the night for Egypt, so no one would see them. They were safe in Egypt, and after King Herod died an angel appeared to Joseph and told him could go to a place called Nazareth. And that's where Jesus grew up.
5.2 Germany The elves and the shoemaker (Germany) There was once a shoemaker who, through no fault of his own, had become so poor that, at last, he had only enough leather left to make one pair of shoes. That evening he cut out the shoes so he could work upon them the next morning. Then he lay down quietly, said his prayers and fell asleep.In the morning he went into his shop to work upon the shoes.
29
But what did he see ? Why! The shoes were standing on the table all sewn and polished. The shoemaker was amazed. And he did not know what to think. Who could have done them for him? He picked the shoes up in his hand and examined them more closely. They were so neatly sewn that not a stitch was out of place. They had been done by a masterhand. Later that day a rich man came into the shoemaker's shop. He was so pleased with the pair of shoes that he paid twice the price for them. Now the shoemaker had enough money to buy leather for two pairs of shoes. He cut them out in the evening and the next morning went into his shop to work upon them. But he had no need to. For when he got there, the shoes were already finished. Both pairs were so handsomely done that they were quickly sold. And then the shoemaker had enough money to buy leather for four pairs of shoes. Again he cut the leather out in the evening, and again he found the shoes all finished the following day. And so it went on. What he cut out in the evening was finished in the morning. Soon the shoemaker was a rich man. Now it happened that one evening not long before Christmas the shoemaker said to his wife: "Let us sit up tonight to see who is making the shoes for me." He cut out the leather, and then they hid in the corner of his shop behind some clothes which were hanging there. At first all was dark and still. Then at midnight two little men came. They sat down at the shoemaker's table, took up the cut leather and began to stitch and sew and hammer so neatly and quickly with their tiny fingers that the shoemaker and his wife could not believe their eyes. They did not stop until everything was finished. Then they ran away quickly. When they had gone the shoemaker's wife said: "The little men have made us rich and we ought to show our gratitude. The little men were running about with nothing on. It's nearly Christmas and so very cold, and they must be freezing. I will make them little shirts, vests and trousers. And I will even knit each of them a pair of stockings and you can make them shoes." The shoemaker agreed. When evening came they had everything ready. They went into the shop and put their presents on the table and hid. At midnight the elves came again. But instead of leather, they found the clothes the shoemaker and his wife had made for them. At first they were astonished. Then they were very happy. With the greatest speed they put on the clothes and then they sang "Now we are so fine and neat why make shoes for others' feet?" Then they hopped and danced about and they jumped over chairs and tables and out of the door and the shoemaker — never saw them again. But you may be sure they had many merry Christmases and so did the shoemaker, for he did well as long as he lived.
5.3 Romania Christmas tradition in Romania Like in many other countries, in Romania the old people have been highly respected, especially in the past. The respect towards them goes beyond their death. That is why some of them have become a sort of demigods, whose recollections remained untouched in the collective memory. A kind of a famous character is Christmas, a mythical Shepard, whose legend merged with the Birth of Christ.
30
The legend says that, without her husband‘s agreement, Lady Christmas, hosted Virgin Mary, offering her shelter in the stable. Finding out this, Christmas cut her wife‘s hands, but Mary managed to put them back. This miracle converted Christmas to Christianity. Full of joy because his wife was cured by the Virgin, Christmas lit a fire from fir tree wood in his yard and began dancing together with his servants. After the dance, he gave his family gifts: milk, pot cheese, cow cheese and cream. From this legend comes the transfiguration of Christmas into a saint, bringing presents to the children in the day of Christ‘s Birth. The songs sung by the servants were transformed into carols. The 25th of December – The Christmas Singing carols In the morning, it is waited ―Steaua‖(the Star) and groups of grown-ups singing carols. ―Steaua‖ is a carol which begins to be sung in the day of Christmas and ends at the Epiphany. This carol talks about the three magicians who were guided by the East Star ray.
The Star Carol The star rises up Like a great mystery The star shines brightly And tells the world That today The innocent Virgin Mary Gives birth to Jesus. As soon as magicians Have seen the star They’ve gone after it To see Jesus. And on their way They‘ve met Jesus They‘ve gone inside And worshipped Him. They‘ve brought gifts Meant for Christ And taken great joy, Joy wished to be here From youth to hoary age. The 22nd of December – The Opening of the Graves
31
In Romanian tradition, it is thought that before a great fest, the gate between the world of the alive and of the dead opens. In the county of Oltenia a staff/rod is put into a grave for the soul of the dead person to have a support in his voyage among the alive. The 23rd of December – the Knot-shaped bread of Cristmas On this day Knot-shaped bread are made for the Christmas, during a complete ritual for the sacrifice of the wheat soul. The 24th of December – the Old Christmas Eve. The carols are sung in the Christmas Eve. In some parts of the country, the children start singing carols early in the morning, while it is still dark to remember Jesus‘ Birth at night, in the presence of the animals, stars, shepherds and angels. The Romanian Christmas customs and traditions impress through their emotions. Besides carols, there are a number of practices to influence the luck in the villages. Early in the morning, the man brings a bunch of hays. They are thrown into the fire while it is repeatedly said:‖as many hays, as many lambs, as many pigs, as many bulls, as many sheep, as many caws, as many shepherds‖. In Muntenia and Oltenia, the women prepare, before breakfast, ―the lucky water‖. This water is prepared from holy water mingled with an infusion of plants – mint, lavender and pelargonium. The house lord says a prayer, before eating and his wife sprinkles the house with this infusion. From memorable times it is accustomed to put a vase with a bunch made of wheat, fir tree branches, mint, basil and parsley in the middle of the table. This bunch is tied with a red ribbon and a thread of golden tinsel. Above the bunch the Christ Sacred Image is put. After the Epiphany the bunch is kept near the icon both to bring prosperity, and to get rid of bad luck in that house. Another tradition is ―Vicleimul‖. In some places, during Christmas, we can hear the religious singing called ―Vicleim‖ or ―Irozii‖, where the participants are the children. This religious drama shows us the mystery of Jesus‘ Birth. The characters of the drama are Irod and his group of ―Vicleims‖, an officer and Roman soldiers, three magicians: Melchior, Balthazar and Gaspar, a Shepard, a baby, and in some places a clown. Then, Romanians have their well-known ―Capra‖(the goat), a traditional mask dancing. As in many other mask dances, beside the traditional masks – the goat, the Shepard, the gipsy, we can also notice devil and old men masks. The participants, through screams and funny movements increase the humor and joy of the event. In the past, it was a pagan ceremony, played for prosperity both in animals and harvest. The goat plays after the whistle sound, and in the end, after the boys and young men dance with the lady of the house, the girls and the servants, they thank and leave. ―The pigs Ignat‖. The sacrifice moment of the pigs or ―The pigs Ignat‖ is a good proof of the way in which a pagan practice managed to be associated with a Christian feast. In the old Dacian religion, the pig was sacrificed as a symbol of the dark divinity, which weakened the Sun, in the shortest day of the year, the Winter Solstice. To help the Sun, people sacrificed pigs. After this ritual, the day began to be longer, so Christmas became a feast of light and life. It is the tradition that, after it is burnt with fire and hays, a blanket is put over the pig and the little children climb on it and enjoy, in order to be eaten with pleasure. The women usually cut the meat after the men make a cross on the forehead of the animal with the knife and say: ‖ God, help us to eat it healthy‖. Everybody should enjoy and cheer around the pig, in order to be eaten with great pleasure.
32
Christmas witchcraft practice -During Christ‘s Birth Celebration there are a lot of witchcraft practices, each and every one with a specific importance for those who believe in them. In Oltenia, in the day before Christmas Eve, the women wake up early, before the sun shines on the sky and throw food to the poultry from the East. They do that in order not to make any damage to the harvest during the spring when the ground is cultivated. -Early in the Christmas Eve, when the pig is cut, people go to the neighbors and sit on hay for their hens to hatch. It is said that if a woman sits, there will be more hens, and if a man sits, there will be more cocks. - in the Christmas Eve all the family members, no matter male or female, come around the fire, saying a magical incantation: ―G‘day to Eve For it‘s better than Christmas‘ Fat pigs And healthy people. Wooly sheep, milky cows Good horses, strong bulls As many sparkles, as many lambs and piglets.‖ -Another practice is connected with ―colinda‖ or ―the stick for carols‖. It is something good to touch the legs of a lamb or a calf to cure from any desease. Or to touch with it the stomach of a cow, in order to have a beautiful, healthy calf. -In the Christmas Eve you should pay attention not to lend anything to anyone, as it is considered that they want luck at stealing next year, without being cut. -on the table you should put salt, fish, wheat and a glass with water, as it is thought that the family dead come to eat them. But, you must not put alcoholic drinks, as they were invented by the devil, which may come to mock the dead. - In the Christmas day, if it is believed that an animal from the house is bewitched, then you should take some water from the pots in the kitchen left unwashed and wash the sick cow or sheep, hoping that it will be better. - Between Christmas and Epiphany no one should spin in a house where there lives a virgin as it is thought she won‘t marry next year.
5.4 Turkey After modernisation of Turkey,The islamic calender and fiscal calender were replaced by the Gregorian calender,and new year eve celebrations started in late 1920s.The celebrations became very popular in Turkey and the christmas trees were brought into Turkey as a New Year Eve tree..Since then,the habit of setting a New Year tree for the new year
33
is a traditional event in Turkey.It is usually set up between the 15th December and the 15th January,the mid-date being New Year.Also,the habit of giving presents at Christmas Eve,has been changed to New Year Eve presents in Turkey. The Turkish people celebrate New Year Eve with close members of their family at home. Family and friends Exchange gifts in celebration of a good year new beginnings. Taksim Square is the heart of New Year‘s Eve celebrations in Istanbul, Turkey. Fireworks light out the sky in every city centers at New Year‘s Eve. However, many typical conservative Turkish people may not like to celebrate the New Year Eve. They would rather sit at home with the family members and close friends, watch TV, eat popcorn, fruit, special Turkish desserts, and have some drinks. In general, children play bingo, so do their parents. You may see this scene in most of the families in Karateke.
PURE DREAMS COME TRUE It was a cold winter morning. There were a lot of children outside who were laughing, smiling, chatting, and playing snowballs. There was a little girl who was sitting in front of the window watching them. It was Ayşen who was so lonely… She didn‘t have any brothers or sisters. She was the only child. Other children were not willing to be her friends, because her father was arrested as a murderer. It was just a week ago. When the police came and arressted him Ayşen was shocked. She did not believe that her father commited a crime. Her father said to her before police took him away: ―Ayşen,I am innocent I am not a bad person.Believe me and pray for me!I am sure your little praying hands and your lovely innocent heart will help me get out of this trouble.‖She remembered the the words that her father tolld:‖Pray form e my little girl.!and she prayed in tears.She was not happy.The new year was going to start next week.However,her daddy would be behind the bars in prison.She was trembling.She thought ―if my daddy were here,he would warm my hands‖At that time,she heard a voice coming from outside. ―Ayşen, come out and help me here!‖. It was her mother, Cennet. She went outside. Her mother was packing the fruits and vetetables for market place to sell them as much as she could. They finished packing all the things. Her mother asked her:‖will you come to the market place to sell these things?‖.Ayşen said:‖Okay mom, I‘ll come with you and help you out selling these fruits and vegetables!‖. She put on her old coat. It was really chilly. Last year, her dad had promised herto buy a new coat. She wished… if only, if only her dad were here with them… She did not want anyhing else but her dad. Every weekend, her parents used to go to market place. She was always with them. Whereas, this time, it was so different. Her dad was not here. It was only she and here mother… They arrived to the market place. She was trembling again… Her mother started to shout: ―Tomatoes are 1 lira, eggplants are 75 krş. come, come they are so fresh!‖.
34
Time passed and they could only sell 5 kilos of eggplants and 3 kilos of tomatoes, that was all. That meant they earned 6 liras and 75 krş… In the market place, Ayşen saw two smartly dressed girls. They looked like twins. She thought they must be the same age as her. They were talking about Christmas and the new year… Christmas… What was that? She had not heard about it before. Was it a game? Was it a gift? Was it a party? She continued overhearing those two girls:‖Tonight, I am going to hang a pair of socks and make a wish, in the morning when I wake up, my dream will come true and I will get a nice pink bag. Right mom? Will I mummy? ―Yes sweety, you will.‖her mother replied. Socks?What was it all about?She did not know anything.Christmas..hmmm.She wanted to try, too.But,it must be kept in secret.In the evening,She and her mother came home.They were so tired.Her mother was in the kitchen cooking dinner for themselves.Ayşen looked for socks all around the house…But the socks of her father…Finally,she got a pair of socks of her dad.She thought and thought…Where could she hang those socks?A place,her mother could not see them.She decided,her bed was the perfect place fort hem.First,she got a paper,started to draw something.It was a human…A man…A tall,thin man with a moustache…She finished drawing.Then she colored the Picture.Now it was time to cut it out.She did it carefully.Then,she wrote something back of the drawing.‖my dear dady‖,and put it into the sock.For the other sock,she wished to have the new coat.A new coat,which would protect her from the freezing cold…She crept under her bed.There were two springs just like hooks.She hang the socks there and prayed for her father.She said:‖Dad,I wish you dad,I wish you were here with us.W are not happy without you.‖At the same time,she heard her mother calling:‖Ayşen,sweety,dinner is ready,come down here!‖While they were having their dinner,they were watching the news on TV.The newscaster was talking about the Christmas in the world.Christmas…Ahaa… Ayşen asked her mother:‖Mom, do you know anything about christmas?‖. Her mother replied:‖It is a holiday christians and they celebrate it‖. She asked again:‖What do they do at Christmas? Her mom replied:‖All the family members get together and they have dinner. they laugh. sing, and dance…‖ Ayşen said:‖How happy they are! Their fathers with them, too, right? Mommy, my dad is not here, I wonder about him. When will I see him again, mom?‖. Her mother said:‖I wonder about him, too, sweety. I don‘t know, maybe we can visit him next week.‖ It was getting late and almost time to go to bed. She said good night to her mother and went to bed. She thought about the socks under her bed. She felt happy. I only her dreams could come true… She would be the happiest girl in the world if she could see her dad again. When she woke up in the morning, she saw someone was sitting on her bed. She opened her eyes and started to scream. It was her father sitting on her bed. ―Daddy, I can not believe, you are here!‖she yelled. ―Yes dear, thank god, I have been acquitted, sweety‖.said her father. There was a gift-wrapped and her father said:‖Open it, sweety, It is for you!‖. She opened the package quickly. It was a new, pink coat. She was in tears. She hugged and thanked her father. Her pure dreams had came true.
35
5.5 Portugal Christmas in Castelo de Paiva Besides buying a Christmas tree, exchanging presents and sharing love with your beloved ones, there‘s (so) much more about the holidays when you live in Castelo de Paiva. Food Well, first of all we are Portuguese. Therefore, most of our Christmas gastronomy follows our nation‘s tradition. At Christmas Eve, every single Portuguese family gathers for the traditional Christmas supper and eats codfish. However, things have changed a bit lately. Globalization affects everything, so that it is usual nowadays to see many families eating turkey, too. And as far as cakes, sweets and candies are concerned we never go to bed with an empty stomach. Rabanadas and sonhos (―dreams‖ in Portuguese) are among the most popular ones.
36
But Christmas doesn‘t end here. On the 25 th December the family is gathered again for the traditional Christmas lunch and eats farrapo velho (―old rag‖) which consists of the remains from the supper. Decorating When it comes to Christmas decoration in our small village, we basically stand for what is done all over the world. People ornament their houses with a Christmas tree, some flashers on the outside and some props in their furniture. However, it‘s not unusual to see some families who stick to the religious traditions and decorate their homes with a crib. Twelfth day In Portugal, the 6th January is
highly
celebrated by the people and it‘s
popular
and
called Dia de Reis (Kings‘
Day). it‘s
tradition in the north of
Portugal that groups of people
wander every single home,
store, coffee shop and restaurant
of their village singing the
Reis (Kings) and the Janeiras
(―Januaries‖), being usually
During
this
season
rewarded with a small amount of money. There‘s also typical gastronomy for this specific holiday. It‘s the Bolo-Rei (―King-Cake‖) which is a simple fruit cake, whose name was given for being the traditional cake of ―Kings‘ Day‖. By Marco Jorge a Portuguese student
37
Once upon a time... Once upon a time there was a little girl called Olivia, who wanted to have a different Christmas. On that Christmas she wanted to do something special, she didn‘t want only to open the presents, decorate her tree, help with the decoration of the Nativity Scene (called ―Lapinha‖ in the Archipelago of Madeira) of her neighbourhood, and on the next day attend ―Missa do Parto‖, listen to the Philharmonic Bands and feel that Christmas Day had passed away without any meaning . But that year everything turned out different, just the way she wanted! One day she was very sad and her mother, called Augusta, asked her: ―What‘s the matter, Olivia?‖ ―Christmas is getting closer and I‘m afraid that my wish won‘t come true‖, answered Olivia feeling unhappy. ―Come on, darling! Is it any especial present you want and you think you won‘t get? Is it that Barbie with Ken or that one with that beautiful boat?‖ ―It is not that mum... to have a different Barbie isn‘t my concept of a different Christmas.‖ As Olivia said this, she left to think about this subject. During her walk, little Olivia watched how pretty Madeira became on Christmas Season. The way the wind blew smoothly on Madeira‘s people‘s faces and the sun warmed their hearts, made the cold and her worries disappear. On her way home the sun was setting down and Madeira was even more amazing! The lights and the sparkling of the stars completed themselves and Madeira looked like a little piece of a charmed land lost in the middle of the World. While Olivia was walking around, Augusta thought about what she could do to make that Christmas real special. They remembered how big her daughter‘s heart was and decided to ask for help to all the people in the neighbourhood, to make Olivia‘s wish come true. But she couldn‘t tell her anything to make this a surprise. She talked with her husband, Carlos, and they agreed to pretend that her talk with Olivia had never happened. They prepared that Christmas as usual, but when Olivia wasn‘t there they talked with the neighbours and distributed tasks among them. They talked with Mrs Cristina, who lived in front of them and made probably the best ―Bolo de Caco‖ (a typical cake from Madeira), in all Madeira Island. They also talked with Mr Guilherme of the bakery at the end of the street to contribute with his ―honey cakes‖, that were delicious. The Oliveira family would contribute with their ―espetada‖ of beef meat and the best potatoes (people from Madeira call it ―semilhas‖) of all Madeira. Everyone would contribute with what they had. Olivia‘s parents‘s idea was that she would spend Christmas helping people in need, organizing a big banquet for them. On Christmas‘ Eve Olivia was very sad not only because she thought that her wish wouldn‘t come true, but also because she thought her parents had forgotten her wish. Not even all the magic and joy that Madeira had on that season made her feel better. While she was feeling sorry, her parents and the entire neighbourhood was very busy preparing the surprise. Before dinner they were all prepared for the party but Olivia was still sad, she didn‘t have the spirit to get dressed and go down for the party. When she finally decided to go down, her mother said: ―My little angel, you thought that we had forgotten your wish. But that is not the case. You didn‘t notice but I, your father and the entire neighbourhood prepared a surprise for you.‖
38
Then she opened the door of her house and Olivia‘s eyes started to shine not only because of the Christmas‘ lights but also because her wish of a different Christmas was right there in front of her. On that night they reached the true Christmas‘ spirit through the food offer, the exchange of affection and the exchange of life experiences. They forgot everything, all their problems and they focused their attention on the true Christmas‘ essence: LOVE. by Portuguese students
The birth of Jesus Mary and Joseph lived happily waiting for the child to be born. Some months later, the Roman emperor August, who governed the country, passed a new law to control the population: all had to register in the city where they had been born, otherwise he wouldn‘t be able to charge taxes in the coming times. Joseph‘s family had to go to Bethlehem having thus to return to their home. They loaded some things on a donkey and left. Mary, who was about to give birth to Jesus, was mounting the animal. It was very late when they arrived to Bethlehem and Mary was very tired. The city was full of people, because all of them had also come to register themselves. Joseph tried to find one room in the some inns, but he found no place. They continued to ride on the streets looking for a place to stay. They knocked at the door of the last inn, but it had no vacancy. Nevertheless, there was a stable close to it and it was clean and sheltered. Joseph took Mary to the stable and helped her down. Then, he made her a bed with straw that he covered with a blanket. There they would rest. At midnight, Mary‘s son was born. Mary wrapped him up it in a cloth and Joseph filled a manger with clean straw and laid the baby down on this special bed. They called the baby Jesus as it was proclaimed by the angel. By Portuguese students
The pine legend Once upon a time, when the Holy Family was persecuted by the soldiers under King Herods‘ Command, several plants provided shelter. And, according to the legend, one of them was the pine tree. This is the story I‘m going to tell you: The Holy Family tried very hard to escape from the soldiers. They were therefore extremely exhausted. Virgin Mary could hardly feel her feet ad her fragile arms could hardly hold baby Jesus. Before this, Joseph, the husband decided to stop near a pine tree forest, so that his family could rest for a while. Joseph discovered then, an old pine tree whose trunk was hollow and offered housing to little birds in spring. As the trunk was hollow, it was the perfect shelter. Joseph told Virgin Mary to go with baby Jesus inside the trunk. As soon as Mary entered, Joseph followed her. Some time later they heard the threatening trotting of the soldiers‘ horses. They feared for their lives. Suddenly, there was a miracle! The old pine tree bowed its branches and covered the entrance. Because of it, the soldiers passed by and didn‘t see them.
39
When the soldiers were far away, Joseph and Mary left the hiding place and continued their journey. Then baby Jesus, who Virgin Mary held tenderly in her arms, blessed the old pine tree that has saved them by touching it with his tiny hand. As a gratitude for this blessing, the Pine tree kept this divine sign. If you cut a pine, you will see baby Jesus‘ hand engraved in it. by Portuguese students
Three wise kings Three wise men, who studied the stars and the sky, lived in a distant country. One day, they observed a new shining star. They thought it was a sign that something special had happened. They had perceived that a new king was born. The three wise kings, Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar, took gifts and followed the star that guided to the city of Jerusalem. There, they asked for the King of the Jews as they had seen the star in the sky. When King Herod knew that these foreign kings were looking for the child, he felt angry and threatened. Then, Herodes summoned with the three wise kings and asked them to tell him when they should find this child, because he also wanted to worship the new born king. The three wise men agreed and left, following the new star until it stopped. Then, they knew that the King was there. When they saw Jesus, they knelt and offered him what they had brought: gold, incense and mire. After worshipping the new born king, the three kings returned to their kingdoms. At night, when they had stopped to sleep, the three magus kings had a dream: an appeared in their dreams and informed them that Herod intended to kill Jesus. In the morning, they loaded the camels and didn‘t pass by Jerusalem in their return journey. Joseph also had a dream. An angel told him that Jesus was in danger and that they should fly to Egypt, where they would be safe. Joseph woke Maria, prepared everything and left at night. When Herod knew that he had been deceived by the three wise kings, he was furious. He feared that this new king would take his throne. He commanded his soldiers to go to Bethlehem and to kill all the one-year-old boys. The soldiers obeyed to their king and killed all the new born children. The people did not like Herod and started to hate him even more. Mary and Joseph had arrived well to Egypt, where they lived without any problems. Then, times later, Joseph had another dream: an angel told him that Herod had died and that it was then safe for them to return to Nazareth, their homeland. After the long return trip, they had finally arrived at home. by Portuguese students 5.5 Portugal (Alcochete) Christmas Light According to the legend, many years ago, in the beautiful city of Mirandela, during one more Christmas night, a priest, called Amaro Ribeiro, was praying the traditional ―Missa do Galo‖ (Rooster‘s Mass), like he did every year.
40
The clock struck twelve times and everyone started to get into the church. Priest Amaro was preparing the Mass. All the families of the city were getting together and talking with each other before the Mass. The children were running all over the place, playing games, feeling anxious and disobeying their parents. Gradually they were arriving, every citizen from Mirandela: the kids of the orphanage, the poor ones and the rich ones. On that night everyone forgot their prejudices and got on well, even knowing that on the following day, everything would be the same as before. The church was finally full. Priest Amaro was preparing his entrance while the last citizens were getting in, through the church‘s doors. When Priest Amaro opened the Bible on the altar, the doors were already closed and all the presents kept quiet. - We are here gathered… Priest Amaro was saying the first words when, suddenly, everyone listened to loud knocks on the church‘s doors… everybody was scared. Suddenly the doors opened and... there was nothing. - It‘s just the wind. - said priest Amaro trying to calm down the people. Once more there were twelve knocks on the church‘s doors. Inside the church people panicked. A blow of wind put out all the lighten candles while the lights went out. This caused panic among every citizens and priest Amaro tried, again, to calm everyone down: - Calm down, calm down, it must be a storm! Suddenly, a very strong light got into the church and the people couldn‘t run away because something was blocking the door. The light said: - Sinners, if you confess, your life will change. The population of the city kept quiet, and, suddenly everyone in that room, was confessing. Priest Amaro was surprised, because all the population obeyed to what the white light had said. They confessed all the bad things that they‘ve done during their lives, and then they were forgiven, some people, received the news that their children have recovered from their health problems, other that their sons have returned from war and even others that their financial and economic problems had been solved. Everyone thanked the light for the gift it gave them. Priest Amaro asked the light why did it do that and who was it? The light answered: - I‘ve done it due to the kindness of this population and the pain that they were suffering. I‘m not going to tell who I am, because it doesn‘t matter. The important thing is that this population has found happiness and joy in their homes. The people were forever grateful to the light because that day forward, they could finally breathe because all their problems were solved.
41
Priest Amaro felt that this Mass main purpose was to make many people confess and the get peace back into their homes. On the one hand he felt happy but on the other hand he was a bit upset because that was what he had tried to do all his life, without success. But as he saw the happiness of the population of Mirandela, he thought:‖ This is the true spirit of Christmas‖! Once he saw that is mission in Mirandela had been accomplished, he decided to move to another city where the population had the same problems. Johnny’s Story About 150 years ago there was a rich family there was a rich family: the Moradias. Their only problem was their son, who had a rare Alzheimer disease. Because f that Mr and Mrs Moradia gave him everything. Johnny – everyone treated him like that – had a difficult childhood ill the age of 12. He was misunderstood and mocked by his school colleagues. Christmas was the hardest time of the year for him. He hardly spoke with his parents, so they didn‘t know what to offer him. But one day everything changed. It was Christmas Eve and Johnny woke up early. He ate alone for the first time, because usually his mother had to feed him. On that day he went to school with his father and said ―good morning‖ to all his colleagues, even to the bad guys of his school. After school, when he arrived home he asked his mother: - Mum let me help you with Christmas! His mother, surprised with the words of her son, went to the attic, picked up the Christmas decorations and called her husband to ask him for a pine tree. Johnny, with the help of his father, put the stockings on the firewood while his mother was preparing the pine tree. Then the three of them decorated the tree, arranged the Nativity Scene and had dinner. Dinner was the traditional boiled codfish with potatoes and vegetables. After dinner his mother arranged the left-over so that she could prepare ―Roupa-velha‖ a traditional Portuguese dish for Christmas. Some hours later they had supper. For supper they had a lot of good things: sweet rice, trifle, turkey filhó, cakes, lamb and many other sweet things. His mother advised him not to eat too much. In the end his father said: - Ok, it‘s time to sleep. Tomorrow morning we will see the gifts Jesus brought us. Johnny went to bed and his mother told him a story about a little boy who was born in Bethlehem. He fell asleep and dreamt with the wonderful day he had and with the presents he would receive the following day. Miraculously Johnny was totally cured on that Christmas day and, from that day on, he was a boy like any other. His parents thanked God for that wonderful Christmas.
42
At Christmas everything is possible Arobed and Aidil were two young people who met on the internet. Arobed was a fun and adventurous boy, who loved Internet and looked for girls who liked the same things he did. Aidil was a super fashionable girl. She was always following the latest trends, she didn‘t miss a fashion show and she always knew what was in or out. They had fallen in love but, due to their pride, their love had never been fulfilled but they still loved each other. One day, while Aidil was in the mall looking for the latest trends, she saw the blouse of her dreams. Her eyes shone as if she was a child who had been given a lollipop. She ran in its direction while something strange happened, she began listening to the music "I Believe I can fly". She was almost getting the shirt when she stumbled on a hanger that was on the floor and she fell off, with her face on the floor. This was probably the biggest humiliation of her life! Arobed, who was also in the mall, looked at the girl on the floor and recognized Aidil. He got near her to help her and she exclaimed: - Arobed is it really you? - Yes, it is me! We haven‘t seen each other for a long time. I miss you - said Arobed. - Do you want to have a Hot chocolate? - No, sorry, I have lots of things to do – answered Aidil. Arobed, heartbroken, went to the city center to cry next to the big, pink, silvered tree. It‘s a great tree with purple and silvered leaves and big balls. Arobed was sitting in one of the large roots of this tree crying when a beggar, smelling to garbage but with a big smile on his face, passed him. - Don‘t cry. Do not forget that magic happens at Christmas. - said the beggar with a big smile. Then Arobed cleaned his tears with the sleeve of his shirt, got up and went to the mall to buy that shirt that Aidil wanted. When he arrived at her house he rang the bell. She opened the door with her beauty mask on the face and curls on her hair, eating biscuits with nuggets of chocolate and wearing her satin robe. Aidil asked if he wanted to come in, and, of course, he accepted: - So it was because of this that you were busy, wasn‘t it? - asked Arobed. - You know, my late afternoon mask needs to be made at the right hour - Aidil answered. - This was for you, but you probably don‘t want it anymore....- said Arobed. But suddenly Aidil put her hand on his shoulder, grabbed him and asked: - Why don‘t you want to stay a little longer? - You know I am still hurt but ok, I‘ll stay! Arobed came in and said: - Let‘s go out, it‘s Christmas and the streets are beautiful, There are pink trees all over the place ... we could go skating on the track near the big pink tree?
43
-I would love it - said Aidil - give me 5 minutes to get ready. Half an hour later there was Aidil. She was so beautiful. She looked like Aphrodite, the goddess of love. Her hair was curly, her skin was smooth as peach and she was wearing a beautiful red dress. They went skating on the ice.. Aidil did not know how to skate so Arobed gave her a hand but Aidil dropped it. Arobed wasn‘t paying attention because of what was happening and did not notice the kid in front of him. He crossed over him and hit against the post, hurting himself. After a very good afternoon Arobed took Aidil home. - Look, I have an idea, my parents are not at home on Christmas Day. I thought you could be my company at my Christmas party, what do you think? -That‘s fine with me - Arobed said. - Do you want me to bring something for the Christmas party? - Yes, if you don‘t mind! - Okay, I‘ll bring roast lamb with potatoes, clams in the cataplana and for dessert ―Torta do Algarve‖ and sweet rice with almonds. - Cool !...- agreed Aidil – I‘ll take care of the decoration. Later on, that night, Arobed was already climbing the stairs of the luxury apartment of Aidil to go to the party, when he met the cleaning lady. She was catching some of the feathers of Aidil pink scarf. - This scarf looses more feathers than a chicken! ... The lady exclaimed. Arobed laughed. Aidil‘s door was open and inside he could see the great silvered tree white violet decorations and sparkling ribbons. Arodeb got in with his violet smoking and white tie and when he saw Aidill he almost fainted, she was really beautiful, she had the blouse that Arodeb had given her. She looked like Cinderella. - Let‘s have dinner? - Asked Aidil. - Yes, I‘m starving, but where are the others? – asked Aidil amazed. - They will come later, I hope you don‘t mind. - Of course not - said Arodeb, as a matter of fact he preferred it like that. Suddenly Arodeb took out of his pocket a small box and said: - I have wanted to ask you something for a very long time, but my proud didn‘t let me. Do you want to be my girlfriend? Aidil didn‘t look the same. She was so confused that it looked like she had never seen a diamond ring. Then Aidil understood that money and all other goods don‘t buy love (only the clothes).
44
- Finally! I was thinking I had to ask you that. Of course I DO!!!- said Aidil. Aidil grabbed Arodeb‘s face and kissed him violently. At that moment Arodeb remembered the beggar and what he had said: "At Christmas everything is possible"
Once upon a time... Once upon a time there was a little girl called Olivia, who wanted to have a different Christmas. On that Christmas she wanted to do something special, she didn‘t want only to open the presents, decorate her tree, help with the decoration of the Nativity Scene (called ―Lapinha‖ in the Archipelago of Madeira) of her neighbourhood, and on the next day attend ―Missa do Parto‖, listen to the Philharmonic Bands and feel that Christmas Day had passed away without meaning But that year everything turned out different, just the way she wanted! One day she was very sad and her mother, called Augusta, asked her: ―What‘s the matter, Olivia?‖ ―Christmas is getting closer and I‘m afraid that my wish won‘t come true‖, answered Olivia feeling unhappy. ―Come on, darling! Is it any especial present you want and you think you won‘t get? Is it that Barbie with Ken or that one with that beautiful boat?‖ ―It is not that mum... to have a different Barbie isn‘t my concept of a different Christmas.‖ As Olivia said this, she left to think about this subject. During her walk, little Olivia watched how pretty Madeira became on Christmas Season. The way the wind blew smoothly on Madeira‘s people‘s faces and the sun warmed their hearts, made the cold and her worries disappear. On her way home the sun was setting down and Madeira was even more amazing! The lights and the sparkling of the stars completed themselves and Madeira looked like a little piece of a charmed land lost in the middle of the World. While Olivia was walking around, Augusta thought about what she could do to make that Christmas real special. Then she remembered how bi her daughter‘s heart was and decided to ask for help to all the people in the neighbourhood, to make Olivia‘s wish come true. But she couldn‘t tell her anything to make this a surprise. She talked with her husband, Carlos, and they agreed to pretend that her talk with Olivia had never happened. They prepared that Christmas as usual, but when Olivia wasn‘t there they talked with the neighbours and distributed tasks among them. They talked with Mrs Cristina, who lived in front of them and made probably the best ―Bolo de Caco‖ (a typical cake from Madeira), in all Madeira Island. They also talked with Mr Guilherme of the bakery at the end of the street to contribute with his ―honey cakes‖, that were delicious. The Oliveira0s family would contribute with their ―espetada‖ of beef meat and the best potatoes (people from Madeira call it ―semilhas‖) of all Madeira. Everyone would contribute with what they had. Olivia‘s parents idea was that she would spend Christmas helping people in need, organizing a big banquet for them.
45
On Christmas‘ Eve Olivia was very sad not only because she thought that her wish wouldn‘t come true, but also because she thought her parents had forgotten her wish. Not even all the magic and joy that Madeira had on that season made her feel better. While she was feeling sorry, her parents and the entire neighbourhood was very busy preparing the surprise.
Bolo Rei Bolo Rei (which we can translate as ―King Cake‖) is a traditional Portuguese cake, due to its ingredients. The original recipe is French but the Portuguese adapted it and added some ingredients. The Portuguese Bolo Rei is baked of soft, white dough with raisins, various nuts and crystallized fruit. It also includes the ―fava‖ (what we may call in English as the broad bean), which means that, according to the tradition, whoever finds the ―fava‖ has to pay for the Bolo Rei next year. This cake is usually eaten from Christmas Eve until ―Dia de Reis‖ (which we can call Day of Kings)~on January 6 th, the day the three kings gave their presents to Jesus.
The Rooster The Rooster is a character that represents the Midnight mass which is celebrated at midnight on Christmas Eve. This Mass is called ―Missa do Galo‖, which we can translate as ―Rooster‘s Mass‖. According to the tradition among the first to witness the birth of Jesus was a rooster, and being this the one to announce this birth, so people began to call this Mass, that celebrates the birth of Jesus, as the ―Rooster‘s Mass‖. The ―Missa do Galo‖ is celebrated all over Portugal, including Azores and Madeira, the two Portuguese archipelagos.
5.6 Poland It was Christmas eve and everyone was waiting for Mrs. Smith to serve the turkey. She was the maid in the Oleary`s house. Frank and Cary Oleary had three children. Their names were Danny, Paul and Samantha. Danny was six years old, Paul was seven and Samantha was nine years old. While Mrs. Smith was serving the turkey no one realized that Samantha was gone. She went outside to wait for Santa Claus. When everyone had already finished eating Paul shouted out that Samantha was gone. The whole family started looking for her. Nobody thought that she might be on the porch waiting to meet a jolly red man with a white beard. Suddenly she was surprised by a strong red light. Samantha realized that it was Rudolph`s nose shining and that Santa was coming. The little girl called her whole family and they met Santa Claus in person. The children got presents but their parents got coal. The day before Christmas the whole town gathered at town square. Most families like to be with themselves but people from this particular town all know each other so they`re like family. They all came to sing Christmas carols and share food with one another. This was their most cherished tradition. People were there from 12 o`clock to 3 o`clock p.m. The main event of the afternoon was a performance of a professional ski jumper. He had an artificial hill so he could show his tricks in many places. Unfortunately during his first jump he
46
fell and broke his arm. Everyone was sad and they went home. No one helped the ski jumper so he had to walk all the way to the hospital by himself. He got to know that people in this town didn`t care about anyone from outside the border of their town. At midnight Christmas eve Mark went to see if Santa Claus left any presents. He was surprised to see that there were many toys and other things laying under the Christmas tree. Mark decided to go outside and check if someone perhaps wasn`t leaving this moment. He was very unsatisfied to see that his neighbor Tomas who was fifty nine years old came to place them presents and pretend to be the jolly old saint Nick. Mark was so shocked that he went back to bed and in the morning he didn`t race to the presents that gave joy to most of the kids in the world. He was the first child that didn`t believe in Santa Claus. That`s how there became doubts about the existence of Santa Claus.
47
6. Scientists 6.1 Spain Esteban Terradas I Llla was born in Barcelona, 15 September 1883 and died in Madrid, 9 May 1950. He was a well known mathematician, scientist and engineer. He researched and taught widely in the fields of mathematics and physical sciences, working not only in his native Catalonia but also in the rest of Spain and South America. He held two doctorates in maths and physics as well as two degrees in engineering. He was a professor of mathematical analysis and later of mathematical physics at Barcelona Central University. He studied at Charlottenburg in Berlin, Barcelona and Madrid. He was known to be an exceptional student and entered the University on 1898 when he was only 15 years old. In 1909 he produced his most famous work entitled Emisíon de radiaciones por cuerpos fijos o en movimiento. He became a founder member of the Sciences Section of the Institute of Catalan Studies in 1911 and he also participated in the Minerva Collection where he published ―The Radium‖. He was fascinated by the theories of quanta and relativity. He wrote many books and articles throughout his career.
Mathieu Joseph Bonaventure Orfila was born on the 24th April 1787 and died on the 12th March 1853. He was a Spanish born French toxicologist and chemist, the founder of the science of toxicology. Orfila was born at Mahon in Minorca, Spain and he was the son of an island merchant. He decided to study medicine and he studied at the universities of Valencia and Barcelona with great success. The local authorities gave him a grant which enabled him to follow his studies at Madrid and Paris. Four years after he graduated he became a lecturer on chemistry in Paris. In 1819 he as appointed professor of medical jurisprudence and four years later he became professor of chemistry in the faculty of medicine at Paris. His fame rests mainly on Toxicologie générale (1813) which was published when he was twenty seven years old. It was a mine of observations on the symptoms of poisoning of all kinds, on the appearances which poisons leave on a dead body and the means of detecting them. He died, after a short illness in Paris on 12 March 1853 and was buried in the cementary in Montparnasse.
6.2. Germany Friedrich Gauß was born in Brunswick in 1777. Already at the age of 14 he was so brilliant at mathematics that he was invited by the Duke of Brunswick to show his skills. He was given a scholarship to study mathematics and astronomy at the university of Göttingen. He did a lot of research work on mathematical problems the results of which are still valid today. In 1807 Gauß was appointed director of the observatory in Göttingen. There he was able to calculate the orbit of a star very precisely in advance. He also developed instruments for land surveying and worked in the field of electricity and magnetism. Gauß died in Göttingen in 1855.
48
Justus Liebig was born in Darmstadt in 1803. As a young boy he began to take an interest in chemistry and started an apprenticeship at a chemist‘s shop. When he caused a fire there after an experiment went wrong he had to leave. But in 1819 he was able to start studying chemistry in Bonn and later he even got a scholarship for the Sorbonne in Paris which was the leading university for chemistry at that time. At the age of 21 Liebig was offered a professorship for chemistry in Giessen. His lectures were so good that even students from the USA came to study there. Among other scientific discoveries Liebig developed fertilizers which helped to increase agricultural productivity in Germany. Because of his international reputation he was offered chairs from different universities including London, Vienna and St. Petersburg. But Liebig refused to go abroad and became professor at Munich university because the Bavarian king offered him his own institute and financial support for his research work. Liebig died in Munich in 1873.
Albert Einstein was born in Ulm in 1879. He went to school in Munich where he excelled in natural science but failed in most other subjects. He left school at the age of 16 and later managed to study physics in Zurich. He was very interested in scientific work and in 1905 he published his famous theory of relativity. Later he was appointed professor of theoretical physics at the university of Bern in Switzerland. Ten years later he was offered a professorship in Berlin where he found more financial support to do research work. In 1921 he was given the Nobel Prize in Physics. When he was on a lecture tour in the USA, Hitler came to power. Einstein decided to stay in the USA for good and started to work at Princeton university. When the USA dropped the atomic bombs in Japan Einstein started a movement to promote the peaceful use of nuclear power. He was also involved in the Zionistic movement and later was offered the position of the state president in Israel which he declined. In 1955 Einstein died in Princeton.
Bernhard Grzimek was born in NeiĂ&#x;en in 1909. He studied veterinary medicine in Leipzig and in Berlin where he started working at the ministry of agriculture dealing with farm animal diseases. At the same time he developed an interest in the behaviour of wolves and apes and wrote articles about his findings in scientific journals. In the Second World War he studied the perception of military horses and continued working for the ministry of agriculture. As he had helped Jews to flee from the Gestapo (military police) he had to leave Berlin and hid in Frankfurt. After the war he was offered the position as director of Frankfurt zoo. Only twenty animals had survived the bomb attacks of the war and so Grzimek was forced to make the zoo attractive for visitors. He introduced circus performances, festivities and even dancing events at the zoo. Later Grzimek became famous when he had a TV show of his own where he presented his own films about animals. He also went to Africa quite often to make films about animals and to study their behaviour. On one of his trips his son Michael died in a plane crash. In 1958 one of his films received an Oscar. In 1987 Grzimek died in Frankfurt.
49
6.3 Romania Henri Marie Coandă (June 7, 1886 – November 25, 1972) was a Romanian inventor, aerodynamics pioneer and the builder of world's first jet powered aircraft, the Coanda1910. He discovered and gave his name to the Coandă effect. "These airplanes we have today are no more than a perfection of a child's toy made of paper. In my opinion, we should search for a completely different flying machine, based on other flying principles. I imagine a future aircraft, which will take off vertically, fly as usual, and land vertically. This flying machine should have no moving parts. This idea came from the huge power of cyclones." Henri Coandă born in Bucharest, Coandă was the second child of a large family. His father was General Constantin Coandă, a mathematics professor at the National School of Bridges and Roads. His mother, Aida Danet, was the daughter of French physician Gustave Danet, and was born in Brittany. He was later to recall that even as a child he was fascinated by the miracle of wind. Coandă studied at the Petrache Poenaru Communal School in Bucharest, then (1896) at the Liceu Sf. Sava (Saint Sava National College). After three years (1899), his father, who desired a military career for him, had him transfer to the Military Lyceum in Iaşi. He graduated from that institution in 1903 with the rank of sergeant major, and he continued his studies at the School of Artillery, Military, and Naval Engineering in Bucharest. Sent with an artillery regiment to Germany (1904), he enrolled in the Technische Hochschule in Charlottenburg, Berlin. Coandă graduated as an artillery officer, but he was more interested in the technical problems of flight. In 1905, he built a missile-aeroplane for the Romanian Army. He continued his studies (1907-1908) at the Montefiore Institute in Liège, Belgium, where he met Gianni Caproni. In 1908 Coandă returned to Romania to serve as an active officer in the Second Artillery Regiment. However, his inventor's spirit did not comport well with military discipline. He solicited and obtained permission to leave the army, after which he took advantage of his renewed freedom to take a long automobile trip to Isfahan, Teheran, and Tibet. Upon his return in 1909, he travelled to Paris, where he enrolled in the newly founded École Nationale Superieure d'Ingenieurs en Construction Aéronautique (now the École Nationale Supérieure de l'Aéronautique et de l'Espace, also known as SUPAERO). One year later (1910) he graduated at the head of the first class of aeronautical engineers. With the support of engineer Gustave Eiffel and the mathematician, politician, and aeronautical pioneer Paul Painlevé, he began experimenting to the aerodynamic techniques: one of these experiments was mounting a device on a train running at 90 km/h so he could analyze the aerodynamic behavior. Another experiment used a wind tunnel with smoke and an aerodynamically balance to profile wings to be used in designing aircraft. This later led to the discovery of the aerodynamic effect now known as the Coandă effect. In 1910, using the workshop of Gianni Caproni, he designed, built and piloted the first 'thermo jet' powered aircraft, known as the Coandă-1910, which he demonstrated publicly at the second International Aeronautic Salon in Paris. The powerplant used a 4-cylinder piston engine to power a compressor, which fed two burners for thrust, instead of using a propeller. It would be nearly 30 years until the next thermo jet powered aircraft, the Caproni Campini N.1 (sometimes referred to as C.C.2).
50
At the airport of Issy-les-Moulineaux near Paris, Coandă lost control of the jet plane, which went off of the runway and caught fire. Fortunately, he escaped with just a good scare and some minor injuries to his face and hands. Around that time, Coandă abandoned his experiments due to a lack of interest and support on the part of the public and of scientific and engineering institutions. Between 1911 and 1914, he worked as technical director of Bristol Airplane Company in the United Kingdom, where he designed several airplanes known as Bristol-Coanda airplanes. In 1912 one of these planes won the first prize at the International Military Aviation Contest in the UK. In 1915, he went again to France where, working during World War I for Delaunay-Belleville in Saint-Denis, he designed and built three different models of propeller airplane, including the Coandă-1916, with two propellers mounted close to the tail; this design was to be reprised in the "Caravelle" transport airplane, for which Coandă was a technical consultant. In the years between the wars, he continued traveling and inventing; inventions included the first jet-powered sleigh, and the first luxury aerodynamic railroad train. On October 8, 1934 Coanda received the patent, Procedure and device for the deviation of a fluid inside another fluid. This procedure has so many applications that it is difficult to pick the most important ones: changing thrust direction for modern aircraft (thrust reversal), the lowering of noise levels for reactive engines (or for experimental stands) for high speed aircraft, and the lift of aerodynamic surfaces can be increased to name a few. This patent related to the Coandă Effect. In 1935, he used the same principle as the basis for a hovercraft called "Aerodina Lenticulara", which was very similar in shape to the flying saucers later developed by Avro Canada before being bought by the United States Air Force and becoming a classified project. In 1969, during the first years of the Nicolae and Elena Ceauşescu era, he returned to spend his last days in his native Romania, where he served as director of the Institute for Scientific and Technical Creation (INCREST) and in 1971 reorganized, along with professor Elie Carafoli, the Department of Aeronautical Engineering of the Polytechnic University of Bucharest, spinning it off from the Department of Mechanical Engineering. He became a member of the Romanian Academy in 1970. Coandă died in Bucharest November 25, 1972 at the age of 86. Bucharest's Henri Coandă International Airport is named after him. Inventions and discoveries 1910: A mobile platform for aerodynamic experiments, mounted on the side of a train, running at 90 km/h on the Paris - Saint-Quentin route. Effectively, this gave him a wind tunnel; using smoke and a photographic camera of his own design, he was able to test the stability of designs for airplane wings. 1910: The Coandă-1910, the world's first thermo jet aircraft (which crashed on its only demonstration). 1911: A two-engine, one-propeller airplane. 1911-1914 as technical director of Bristol Airplane Company, designed the Bristol-Coandă airplanes. 1914-1916: at Delaunay-Belleville, designed three more types of airplanes, including the Coandă-1916, with two motors near the tail.
51
He invented a new decorative material for use in construction, ―beton-bois‖; one prominent example of its use is the 1926 Palace of Culture, in Iaşi,Romania. 1926: Working in Romania, Coandă developed a device to detect liquids under ground, useful in petroleum prospecting. Shortly thereafter, in the Persian Gulf region, he designed a system for offshore oil drilling. Probably the most famous of Coandă's discoveries is the Coandă Effect. After the crash of the "Coandă-1910" airplane, the first jet propelled airplane in the world, Coandă observed that flames and incandescent gas emitted by the fire tended to remain close to the fuselage. After more than 20 years studying this phenomenon along with his colleagues, Coandă described what Albert Metral was later to name the "Coandă Effect". This effect has been utilized in many aeronautical inventions and is crucial to successful supersonic flight. All these achievements can now be seen in Bucharest at the Technical Museum ―Professor Dimitrie Leonida‖. Awards and medals 1956: In New York, Coandă was honored as the inventor of the first jet airplane: one speaker lauded him as "the past, present and the future of aviation." 1965: At the International Automation Symposium in New York, Coandă received the Harry Diamond Laboratories Award. Award and Grand Gold Medal "Vielles Tiges". UNESCO Award for Scientific Research The Medal of French Aeronautics, Order of Merit, and Commander ring
Gheorghe Titeica was born in 1873, October the 4th, in Drobeta-Turnu Severin, a port to the Danube river, situated in the south- west of Romania. His father was a ship mechanic. At that time, there was a german colony with a kindergarden and a school in the city. Here little George began to study, in the autumn of 1879. He was a very good pupil getting only good marks during the primary school. The first 4 years showed Titeica's parents the way the child would go. In the autumn of 1885, Gh. Titeica was admitted to the impressive „Carol I‖ High School from Craiova. He got the first prize at the end of all school years, having special skills especially in Mathematics. From the very beginning, Gh. Titeica proved an uncurbed knowledge. As a student, he studied the violin in a methodical and perseverant manner. Craiova at that time was characterized by a rich and varied artistic activity, the music being his pleasant refuge after the hours of both scientific research and study. While studying at the Carol I High School in Craiova, he contributed to the school's magazine, writing the articles on mathematics and studies of literary critique. On June the 15th, 1892, teenager Ghe.Titeica received the reward of his remarkable activity as a student : Graduation Certificate of Carol I High School. In 1892, after graduation, he passed the admittion exam at the Superior Normal School in Bucharest. At the same time, he entered the Faculty of Sciences, the mathematics department, where, with the same hard work, he attended the courses of some great teachers, such as: David Emmanuel, Spiru Haret, C. Gogu, Dimitrie Petrescu and the general Iacob Lahogary. He is much impressed by Spiru Haret, about whom he even published some studies, being also his succesor at the Academy. In June 1895, he obtained the diploma of
52
bachelor of mathematics after only three years, then he was a high school teacher in Bucharest for a year. Praised for both his profound preparedness, knowledge and his qualities as a researcher, he was advised by teachers and friends, to go to Paris to finish his studies. He arrived at the Preparatory School from Paris, as internal stipend student, in 1897, being a student at Sorbona University in the same time. Among his mates we recall Henry Lebesque and Paul Montel, who wrote great articles about Titeica in the newspapers of the time, both in Romania and in France. Here Titeica became again a bachelor in Mathematics and in 1899 he gets the doctorate title at the well-known professor Gaston Darboux , having also famous professors, such as: Henri Poincaré , Appel, Goursat, Jacques Hadamard, Borel, Tannery. He is especially preocupied by Geometry, having remarkable results, from the very beginning as a student. Ever since, he geban to write scientific articles accepted and published by the Science Academy in Paris. Later, all these articles were included in his Doctorate thesis – „Over Cyclic Congruations and about the Triple Conjugate Systems‖, which he presented in front of a board of led by the famous mathematition Gaston Darboux, in June 1899. In the same evening, after his thesis presentation he left for Romania where he had in intense activity in Mathematics. At the end of the year he began teaching a course about the integral and differential calculation, being appointed assistant professor at the University of Bucharest. At the age of 27 he was promoted to full professor on May 4th, 1900,teaching Analitic Geometry and Spheric Trigonometry, retaining this position until his death in 1939. He also taught mathematics at the Polytechnic University of Bucharest. The scientific work of Ŝiŝeica counts about 400 volumes, of which 96 are scientific projects, most addressing problems of differential geometry. Carrying the researches of the American geometer of German origin Ernest Wilczynski, Ŝiŝeica discovered a new category of surfaces and a new category of curves which now carry his name. He also studied Rnetworks in n-dimensional space, defined through Laplace equations. Member-correspondent from May 1909, Gh. Titeica was elected on May the 15, 1913, when he was 40 years old, permanent member of the Romanian Academy, after Spiru Haret's death. He held many important duties within the highest scientific forum of the country: he was the vice-president of the scientific section, in 1928 he was the vice-president and in 1928, the general secretary of the Academy. Among his most important and famous studies we mention: The projective differential geometry of lattices, 1924 Introduction to differential projective differential geometry of curves, 1931, both published in Paris, in French. Ŝiŝeica was elected correspondent of Science Society from Maryland, USA, correspondent of the Association of Sciences of Liège, Belgium, and doctor honoris causa of the University of Warsaw, Poland. Known and apreciatted in the world Mathemathics, the Romanian scientist was invited to particitate at many scientifical reunions organizated in diferent countries of the world. He was the president of the Geometry Section at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Toronto (1924), Zürich (1932), and Oslo (1936). In 1926, 1930 and 1937 he gave a series of lectures as titular professor at the Faculty of Sciences in Sorbonne, Paris. He also gave many lectures at the University of Brussels (1926) and the Universityof Rome (1927). Man of science, Gh. Titeica was elected, many times, the president of the "Mathematical Association of Romania", of the "Romanian Association of Science", of the
53
"Association of the Development and the Spreading of the Sciences", vice-president of the "Polytechnics Association of Romania" and member of the High Council of Public Instruction. He was co-founder of the Mathematics Magazine – its first number was publisher on the 15th of September 1895, in the same day with the school beginning in Romania. Among its articles he wrote maths theories, 121 original problems for different student contests,etc. Even his main preocupation was in high level Mathematics, he also wrote problems for both gymnasium and high school students, thus incouraging and apreciating the students‘ talent in Maths and publishing their solutions of solving the problems. One of his well-known problems is the „the problem of the 5 lei coins‖, a real jewelry of the domain, for the chapter of Circle. This problem have been published for three decades in all the Maths textbooks. Its name comes from a random discovery made by Titeica, while he was participating in a quite boring conferince, when he was playing with a coin. Beginning with 1905 till the end of his life he promoted science, by writing for different magazines, like „Natura (Nature)‖, where he proved a special literary and scientific tallent. In order to familiarize these areas among students and teenagers he published numerous articles (more than 120), including even moral and household or practical advices. Some of the titles in the magazine are: „Maths and art‖, „Famous Mathematics Problems‖, „Archimedes Life‖. Even he kew the appreciation and fame of his time, he was a model of modesty in his private and career life, being apreciated by all his colleagues, students and acquantances. Perhaps in the nowadays context such moral models should be better known among pupils, students and even teachers. He was a pioneer in Differential Geometry. He is considered a co-founder of centroafine geometry worldwide. Great professor and scientist, Ghe. Titeica enriched Geometry with new subjects of study and he initiated the research of modern Geometry in Romania. In 1941 Romanian Academy dedicated Titeica a book entitled „Gheorghe Titeica‘s Masterpieces‖ , underlining his famous results in Geometry. For his moral and scientific prestige he was elected Dean of the Science College, University of Bucharest (1919 - 1923) and President of the Romanian Board of The Cultural Cooperation Institute of The National Society in Geneve. His scientific works are hard to be presented in a few pages . He is considered the creator of ways in Afina, Projective and Differential Geometry.
Nicolae Teclu (pronounced [nikolae teklu] was born on 11 October 1839 in Braşov, Romania and died on 13 July 1916, Vienna, Austria). He was a Romanian chemist, who gave his name to the worldwide-used "Teclu burner".He studied engineering and architecture, and then chemistry, continuing his career by becoming professor for general and analytical Chemistry in Vienna. He also contributed substantially to the worldwide development of chemistry. He studied Chemistry at Vienna Polytechnic Institute and later changed to architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich and Berlin. After that, he studied general and analytical Chemistry at Vienna University. His dream was to return in Romania, to value his knowledge and his experience. But the Romanian authorities at that time didn‘t offer him the
54
appropriate conditions for his researches. After a short time in Romania he went back to Vienna becoming, in 1871, a professor for Technical Chemistry at the Commerce Academy and professor for Chemistry of pigments at the Fine Arts Academy in Vienna. He met in Vienna the great Romanian writers, Slavici and Eminescu. They told about the interest Romanian students in Vienna showed for Teclu courses. He used to tell them about the Chemistry as ―the mother of industry in a country with so many resources‖. In 1892 he published his invention of gas burner with a mechanism to control the respective amounts of methane gas and air. His burner produced a hotter flame than the Bunsen Burner, thus making it superior. The usage of Teclu burners is very common not only in Romania, but also in many other parts of the world. This invention was brevetted in Austria. His domains of study included: The resistance of paper and wood fibers Mineral pigments Oils utilized in paintings Combustion of gases (alkanes)- a machine for signalize the blend of methane in air in order to avoid the ―grizu‖ gas explosion in mines. He was also the inventor of several other laboratory items, kept now at the University of Bucharest. Among these items are: a tool for the detection of methane gas; machines for the preparation of ozone using the electricity. These machines made ozone using scintilla or obscure discharging. a tool for preparing the solid carbon dioxide a tool for the determination of the transparency of the objects, named ―Teclu Apparatus‖(1898), which used a light bulb with a filament of platinum-iridium; a tool for synthesis and dissolution of the water; gas generators for big pressure; gas generator for a continuum drift of gas; The Teclu Burner
tools for preparing the detonator mixture of gases;
Many didactical machines. Nicolae Teclu was a pioneer of the modern criminology, creating some methods for reading the written or imprinted signs on carbonized papers. He helped at the spectacular solving of some controversial judiciary causes. He was elected member of the Romanian Academy in 1879. In any high level Geometry Courses, there are mentioned Titeica‘s surfaces, curves and networks.
55
His name entered in the cultural and scientific patrimony of our country, he became known worldwide , being our greatest geometer, the creator of differential Geometry in Romanian school, famous professor and scientist.
Emil Racoviţă (born November 15 1868, Iasi, d. 17 November 1947) was a Romanian scientist, explorer, naturalist and speleologist, considered the founder of biospeleology (the study of subterranean wildlife - caves and groundwater aquifers of water). He was elected academician and president of the Romanian Academy. Born in Iaşi, and spent his childhood in Şurăneşti, Vaslui.He began his education in Iasi as a student of Ion Creanga and later of Grigore Cobalcescu, then continuing with the high school ―United institutes‖. Former student of the geologist Gregory Cobalcescu, he studied at the Faculty of Law in Paris, and after his father‘s wishes, he also attended courses at the School of Anthropology. After the success of his bachelor degree, he registered at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Sorbonne, Paris, after graduation(1891) working in the laboratories Arago, in the marine biological station of Banyuls-sur-Mer, where carried out a series of diving to a depth of 10 m with the classic equipment- Siebe Gorman, to study the underwater life. He presented his PhD thesis in 1896. At the age of only 25 he is elected member of the Zoological Society in France. He is recommended (1897) to participate as naturalist of the Belgian Antarctic Shipments (1897-1899) on board of the ship Belgica, led by Adrien de Gerlache. This expedition, which started in Antwerp on 10 August 1897, had an international feature, as besides Belgians, also attending the Norwegian Roald Amundsen as a second afficer, the American doctor Frederick Cook, the Polish meteorologist Antoine Dobrowolski and the geologist Henryk Arctowski. During stopovers made in Chile and the Magellan Strait shores, he carried out complex researches on the flora and fauna. Near the country Palmer in the Antarctic, th scientists discovered a strait which has received the name of the ship ―Belgica‖ and a few islands (an island called ―Cobalcescu‖ by Racovita). The expedition also ―recorded‖ the Wiencke island and the country of Danco on the incomplete map of Antarctica, at that time, after the two members who had lost in this journey. During the period when ―Belgica‖ was the prisoner of the ice (March 1898 – February 1899) the naturalist of the expedition, together with the other scientists, had made numerous notes and scientific researches. The materials gathered then became a collection of 60 published volumes, representing a scientific research larger than any other anterior Antarctic expeditions at a place. The Romanian scientist made a complete study over the whales, the penguins and other Antarctic birds, which brought him a well-deserved fame.
Important Works The 1300 copies of flora and fauna collected from the investigated regions by Racovita have been studied by many researchers that have described hundreds of types unknown until then, in the world of plants and animals. On his return he published an important paper on cetaceans, especially whales. In 1900, became Deputy Director of Oceanological Laboratory ―Arago‖; in Banyuls-sur-Mer, France. Following the discovery of new species of crustaceans in the cave ―Cueva del Drach‖ in Mallorca, visited in 1904, the research field fascinated him and he surrendered oceanology in order to dedicate to the subterranian ecosystems.
56
In 1907, he would publish ―Essai sur les problemes biospeologiques‖, the first important wark dedicated to biospeleology in the world. Thereafter, he would initiate an international research program called ―Biospeologica‖ to study the fauna caves, initially as a private activity, but in 1920, he established in Cluj the first Institute of Speleology in the world. In addition to many Romanian researchers, Racovita brought to Cluj a team of famous biologist friends, two Frenchmen (Jules Guiart, René Jeannel) and a Swiss (Alfred Chappuis).
Meanwhile, he also wrote an evolutionist treaty with some original approaches to the subject. In August 1940, through the Vienna Dictate, Cluj became part of Hungary, and Emil Racoviŝă will move in Timisoara, while the Speleology Institute would be led by his Swiss friend (thus neutral) Alfred Chappuis. After the returning of the Northern Transylvania to Romania‘s territory, he returned to Cluj, trying to reorganize the institute, but he died before the end of it, at the age of 79. ―Essai sur les problemes biospeologiques‖ (1907) Biospeologica (1927) Evolution and its problems (1929)
Scientific researches: During the expedition in Antarctica, Emil Racoviŝă had the opportunity to study the life of the huge aquatic mammals, and the penguins. He remained in the history of science as the discoverer of lipped whale. Positions held: Senator, the University of Cluj 1922-1926 Rector of the University of Cluj 1929-1930 Chairman of the Romanian Academy of Sciences 1926 - 1929 Director of the Institute of Speleology 1920 - 1947 Member of several scientific associations.
6.4 Turkey Cahit Arf, who was born in 1910 in Salonica, completed his high education at Ecole Normale Superieu in 1932.He worked at the Galatasaray High School as a Math Teacher. He also worked at the faculty of science in Istanbul University as a Professor candidate. He did hi doctorate degree at Goettingen University in Germany in 1938.After his graduation, he started working at the faculty of Science in Istanbul University for Math Department. He became a Professor in 1943 and became a distinguished Professor in 1955.He won the Inonü
57
award in Turkey for is successful Works. During this time, he was elected a membership of referendary at Mainz Academy in Germany. After his retirement in 1962,he continued working at Robert College as a teacher in Istanbul. He was elected for science rm of the presedency at Scientific and Technical Research Institution in Turkey in 1964.He did some research at the Institude for Advanced Study in Princeton, USA between 1964 and 1966.He occured as a visiting professor at the university of California and Berkley around 1966 and 1967. He came back to Turkey in 1967 and became a teaching staff at the Middle East Technical University(METU) in Math department. Arf, who did many successful Works in Algebra and number theories, published more than original editions. Synthetic geometry, Arf rings, and Hasse-Arf Theorem are some of his well known Works in Mathematic Literature.
Feza Gürsey was born on April 21,1921 in Istanbul. He gratuated from Galatasaray High School in 1940 and recieved his degree in Mathematics. He went to the faculty of science in Istanbul Universty and got his degree in 1944.He received a scholarship through the Turkish Ministry of Education while he was an assistant at Istanbul University. He pursued a doctorate degree at the imperial College of London in the United Kingdom. He completed his work on Application of Quaternions to Quantum Field Theory in 1950.After spending the period 1950–1951 for postdoctoral research at Cambridge University, he worked as an assistant at Istanbul University, where he married to Süha Pamir who was an assistant in physics deparment as well, in 1952.And he acquired the title of associate professor. During 1957–1961, he worked at Brookhaven National Laboratory, institude for an Advanced Study in Prenceton, New Jersey, and Colombia University. He worked on the Nonlinear Chrical Lagrangian in 1960 and produced Results of Relevance to Quantum Chromodynamics. Returning to Turkey in 1961,he accepted the title of Professor from Middle East Technical University(METU) and took part in establishment of Theoritical Physics department at METU. Continuing his work as a lecturer there until 1974,he formed the research group. Being offered the position at Yale University in 1965,he started to work in both Yale University and METU, until 1974.When he decided to give up his position in METU, he settled in the USA to continue with Yale University. During these years, he took part in the formulation of E(6)Grand Unified Theories. Gürsey died in 1992,in New Heaven, Connecticut, USA.
Tevfik Karabag was born in 1911 in Kars and graduated from the higher agricultural institude in 1934.He did his doctorate degree at the faculty of natural sciences in Ankara. Tevfik Karabağ became an associate professor at the same university in 1948.After 5 years, in 1953, he became a professor at the faculty of science at Ankara University. He worked at the British Museum in England between 1949 and 1951.He started to work at the faculty of science at Ankara University in 1953 until 1981.He worked there as a dean of faculty as well. He was a head of bench for systematic zoology between 1957 and 1966.He also worked as a general secretary at TÜBITAK(Scientific and Technological Research Institutions of Turkey).He had an active role for establishing the Dicle University in Diyarbakır. He had also a membership of the ―Royal Entimological Society of London‖and‖Entimology Association‖.Professor Dr.Tevfik Karabağ had a valuable contribution to the World of Science for the systematic research and study on insects. He passed away in 2003.
58
Remziye Hisar was born in 1902 in Üsküp. She was the first woman chemist in Turkish Republic and first Turkish woman who graduated from Sorbonne University in France. She was such a very clever student that she finished three-year-primary school in one year. After that, she went to the Inas Junior High School in Emirgan, Istanbul. She applied for the university and studied two years for preparation class for two years. She was the smartest student in the class and because of that, she tutored for the other subclass students in mathematics and geometry. She studied chemistry at the university. The reason why she chose chemistry was that, There was no Turkish scientist who was famous around the world. She wanted to be a well known Turkish scientist one day. It was her dream. During her study at the university, she went to Bakü with one of her teacher and classmates. She found herself into the war there. She did not give up even though there was a hard living conditions. She started working there as teacher in the teaching school for the boys. She met her husband Reşit Süreyya Gürsey, who was a doctor, while she was in Russia. Remziye Hisar and her husband came back to Turkey. After a while, she had to go to Adana and worked there as a head of the school. It was very for her to work there though. While she was working there, her husband got ill and had to go Paris for his treatment. She also went there with her husband. Since she was there, she decided to continue her education and studied chemistry at Sorbonne University hoping to be well known one day. She took lessons from the famous lecturers such as Langevin and Madame Curie. She got her sertificate in biochemistry. Remziye Hisar was getting a scholarship then. When she was about to start her doctorate degree, she lost her scholarship and had to return to Turkey. Then, she started working in a high school as a chemistry teacher. After a rigorous effort, she went back to Paris again for her doctorate. She finally recieved her degree. After she completed her doctorate thesis, she returned to Turkey and worked at Istanbul University as an associate professor in chemistry and physical chemistry. In 1947,she worked at ITU(Istanbul Technical University).She became a professor in 1959 and retired in 1973.Remziye Hisar, who was the typical Turkish Republic woman, is the mother of Feza Gürsey, who is worldwide known physicist and Deha Gürsey, who is a phychiatrist. She won a TÜBİTAK(Scientific and Technological Research Instituation of Turkey) award.
6.4 Portugal Carlos Manuel Baptista Fiolhais is a famous Portuguese physicist that has been assuming a very strong position in Science. He was born on 12 th June 1956, in Lisbon, Portugal. Seven years after his birth, his family moved to Coimbra where he eventually attended high school between 1966 and 1973. Later he graduated in Physics at the University of Coimbra in 1978 with an average of 18 values on a scale from 0 to 20. After his graduation he obtained a Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics at the University J. W. Goethe Frankfurt/Main, Germany, in 1982. During his stay in Germany he lectured Portuguese for foreign people, translated German and taught several classes of high schools for the second generation of emigrants; he was particularly interested in the Portuguese emigration issue. His scientific area of interest is Computational Physics of the Condensed Substance, and he is so good at it that he has received countless invitations by several universities and institutions to discuss and argue his areas of expertise. Furthermore, he has also received innumerable awards for his work and dedication by national and international institutions related with high education and physics. Among those awards is the Degree of Grand Official of ―A Ordem do Infante D. Henrique‖, which he received from the Portuguese president himself in 2005. In order for him to acquire all his knowledge he has also participated in dozens of scientific meetings and taken several scientific stages and workshops.
59
Carlos Fiolhais has also published books for children ("Playing Science" for instance), and school textbooks on Physics and Chemistry from the 8 th to the 12th. In what concerns to books related to his areas of expertise he has published "Foundations of Equilibrium Thermodynamics", in co-authorship, at Gulbenkian Foundation and "A Guide in Science and Technology". Besides, he made scientific revision of many other books. Of course we cannot forget his articles; in fact, he is the author of 90 scientific papers for international journals and more than 300 pedagogical and science outreached articles. Moreover, Carlos Fiolhais was the founder of the Center for Computational Physics of the University of Coimbra, and responsible for the installation of the biggest Portuguese computer for scientific research named ―Centipede‖. Nowadays one of his tasks is to supervise several M.Sc. and Ph.D. students at the Univertisity of Coimbra where he has spent many years researching and where he is a board teacher since 2000. Since 1999 he has also been the director of the magazine ―Gazeta de Física‖ that belongs to the Portuguese Society of Physics and in which he has published many articles, and member of the editorial boards of "Europhysics News", bulletin of the Physics European Society. He is the Head of the Research Council of the Institute for Interdisciplinary Scientific Research of the University of Coimbra, member of the Scientific Council of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and member of the directive board of the International Forum of Portuguese Researchers. Finally, nowadays he is the Director of the General Library of the University of Coimbra.
José Paiva born on 17th September in 1933, in Cambondo in Angola, Jorge Américo Rodrigues de Paiva degree in Biological Sciences in the University of Coimbra and Ph.D. in Biology by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment in the University of Vigo. He was principal investigator in the Department of Botany, University of Coimbra, where he taught some subjects and he was also an invited teacher in the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Coimbra, where he taught also in the Departments of Biology at the Universities of Aveiro and Madeira, the degree Landscape Architecture from the University of Vasco da Gama of Coimbra, Department of Environmental Engineering of the Instituto Superior de Tecnologia of Viseu and the Department of Natural Resources and Environment in the University of Vigo, Spain. José Paiva worked for three years in London in the Kew Gardens and the Natural History Section of the British Museum as a fellow of the National Institute of Scientific Research. As phytotaxonomist he has traveled to Europe, particularly to the Iberian Peninsula, Macaronesian Islands, Africa, South America and Asia, and he has also visited Australia. He belonged to the Editorial Committee and the Editorial and Iberian Flora Cabo Verde Flora, as well as some scientific journals. He has been also collaborator in some African floras. Thus, he has integrated the international group of researchers in studies of material and crops of field, not only in the Iberian Peninsula but also in some African, Asian and American Peninsulas. He was awarded by the OPTIMA (Organization for the Phyto-Taxonomic Investigation of the Mediterranean Area) with the Silver Medal as the best work on Mediterranean Flora published in 2003, he worked too as co-author in the "Catalogue des Plantes Vasculaires du Nord du Maroc". As palynologist, he cooperated with the Department of Pulmonology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Coimbra, where two of works that were distinguished, were produced in collaboration with the clinical staff of the Faculty with the first Prize of the Portuguese Society of Pathology and Respiratory first Annual Prize SPAIC/UCB
60
STALLERGENES-1994, another work of collaboration. As environmentalist, he is very well known for uncompromising defense of the Environment, and he is an active member of several associations and committees both national and foreign. This activity in protecting the environment was distinguished in 1993 with the "National" award of Quercus (National Association for Nature Conservation) in 2005, with the "Career" award of the National Confederation of Associations of Environmental Protection; in 2005, with the "Friends of Prosepe" award by Prosepe (Draft awareness of the school population) and in 2001 and 2002, with the honors of the National Environmental Prize "Fernando Pereira" conferred by the National Confederation of Associations for the Defense of environment. He has already published more than five hundred works on phyto-taxonomic, palynology and environment, and the most relevant, the monograph with 62 new works phyto-taxonomics and environmental education. He presented several communications and delivered lectures at several scientific meetings, congresses, symposia or educational activities.
Pedro Nunes, who was born in Alcácer do Sal in 1502 and died in Coimbra on 11th August 1578, used the name of Petrus Nonius (his Latin name). He was a Portuguese mathematician and one of the greatest scientific characters of his time, which contributed decisively to the development of navigation, essential to the Portuguese Discoveries. He was also devoted to problems of mathematical cartography and the inventor of several measuring devices, including the Nonius, his name in Latin. In 1537 he translated into Portuguese the Treaty of Sacrobosco sphere, the initial chapters of the New Theoretical of the Planets by Purbarquio, and the first book of Ptolemy's Geography. In 1544 he was given the chair of mathematics at the University of Coimbra, the highest distinction of the season which a mathematician could have. There are still doubts about the origins of Pedro Nunes‘ family. Ascending or not from a Jewish family the fact is that his grandchildren, Matias Pereira and Pedro Nunes Pereira, were arrested and convicted by the Inquisition under the accusation of being Jews. The first was arrested between 31st May 1623 and 4th June 1631, the second in Lisbon, between 1623 and 1632. Pedro Nunes‘ childhood is not known. He is said to have studied at the University of Salamanca from 1521 to 1522, and at the University of Lisbon (which later became the University of Coimbra) where he made his graduation in medicine in 1525. In the sixteenth century, medicine used astrology, and so he learned astronomy and mathematics. Pedro Nunes continued his studies in medicine, but he taught various subjects at the University of Lisbon, including Morality, Philosophy, Logic and Metaphysics. When, in 1537, the University returned to Coimbra, he was asked by the University of Coimbra to teach Mathematics, a post he held until 1562. This was a new subject at the University of Coimbra and was created in order to provide the necessary instructions for the navigation, which had become a topic of great importance in Portugal during that period, as the field of maritime trade was essential to the country. Mathematics became an independent subject in 1544. In addition to being devoted to education, he was appointed as the Royal cosmographer in 1529 and Head of cosmography in 1547 until his death. In 1531, the King João Pedro Nunes III commissioned him the education of his younger brothers, Luis and Henrique. Years later, he was also responsible for the education of the king‘s grandson (and future king), Sebastião. It is possible that during his stay in Coimbra, Christopher Clavius had attended Pedro Nunes‘ classes, being possibly influenced by his work.
61
Pedro Nunes lived in a period of transition, in which the science had changed from a theoretical nature into the provision of experimental data, both as a form of information and as a method to confirm the existing theories. Nunes was, above all, one of the last great commentators, as shown in his first published work, but he also acknowledged the importance of experimentation. Nunes believed that the scientific knowledge should be shared. So, his original work was printed in three languages: Portuguese, Latin, and his Book of Arithmetic in Algebra and Geometry in Spanish, which was considered surprising by some historians since Spain was then the main rival of Portugal in the domination of the seas. Much of Nunes‘ work is related to navigation. He was the first to understand why a ship that maintained a fixed route could not navigate through a circle, the shortest path between two points on earth, but should first follow a winding route called rhumb lines, also known as loxodrome. The subsequent invention of logarithms allowed Leibniz to establish the algebraic equation for the rhumb lines. In his Tratado em defensão da carta de marear (Treatise defending the sea chart), Nunes argued that a nautical chart should have parallel circles and meridians drawn as straight lines. He also showed himself capable of solving all the problems this caused, a situation that lasted Mercator developed the projection of Mercator, the system that is used nowadays. Nunes worked on several practical problems of navigation, on the correction of the route while trying to develop more accurate methods to determine the position of a ship. He created the nonius to improve the accuracy of the astrolabe. Nonius was used for a while by Tycho Brahe, who, however, considered it too complex. It was later refined by Pierre Vernier in its present form. Pedro Nunes also worked in various mechanical problems from a mathematical point of view. He was probably the last great mathematician to make significant improvements to Ptolemy‘s system (a geocentric model), but it lost importance due to the Copernicus heliocentric model, replacing it. Nunes knew the work of Copernicus, but he only made a small reference in his published work, stating that it was a mathematically correct model. By doing this, he was apparently avoiding commenting on the question whether the Earth or the Sun was the center of the system. Some historians argue that he had probably feared the Inquisition, since he was a "new Christian". He also solved the problem of finding the day with the shortest twilight duration, for any given position, and its duration. This problem per se is not greatly important, yet it shows the geometric genius of Nunes as it was, independently, tackled by Johann and Jakob Bernoulli more than a century later with less success. They could find a solution to the problem of the shortest day but failed to determine its duration, possibly because they got lost on details of differential calculus, still a recently developed tool at that point in time. Nunes was also a pioneer in solving maxima and minima problems, which only became common in the next century using differential calculus. Most of Nunes' achievements were possible because of his profound understanding of spherical trigonometry and his ability to transpose Ptolemy's adaptations of Euclidean geometry to it.
6.5 Poland. Nicolaus Copernicus (19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was the first astronomer to formulate a comprehensive heliocentric cosmology, which displaced the Earth from the center of the universe. His epochal book, De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres), published in 1543 just before his death, is often regarded as the starting point of modern astronomy and the defining epiphany that began the scientific revolution. His heliocentric model, with the Sun at the center of the universe, demonstrated that
62
the observed motions of celestial objects can be explained without putting Earth at rest in the center of the universe. His work stimulated further scientific investigations, becoming a landmark in the history of science that is often referred to as the Copernican Revolution. Among the great polymaths of the Renaissance, Copernicus was a mathematician, astronomer, physician, quadrilingual polyglot, classical scholar, translator, artist, Catholic cleric, jurist, governor, military leader, diplomat and economist. Among his many responsibilities, astronomy figured as little more than an avocation — yet it was in that field that he made his mark upon the world. Copernicus' birthplace in Toruń, Poland. Copernicus' uncle, Lucas Watzenrode. Nicolaus Copernicus was born on 19 February 1473 in a house on St. Anne's Street (now Copernicus Street) in the city of Toruń (Thorn). That city, situated on the Vistula River, had since the Second Peace of Thorn (1466) been part of Royal Prussia, a region of the Kingdom of Poland. Nicolaus was named after his father, who about 1458 had moved to Toruń from Kraków, then the capital of Poland, in Lesser Poland. The father was a wealthy copper trader who had become a respected citizen of Toruń. Nicolaus' mother, Barbara Watzenrode, had been born into a wealthy merchant family that was part of the city's patrician class. Nicolaus' father died between 1483 and 1485. After that, his maternal uncle, Lucas Watzenrode the Younger (1447–1512), a church canon who would later become PrinceBishop of the Warmia, took young Nicolaus under his protection and saw to his education and future career. Nicolaus was the youngest of four children. His brother Andreas became an Augustinian canon at Frombork (Frauenburg). His sister Barbara (named after her mother) became a Benedictine nun. His sister Katharina married Barthel Gertner, a businessman and city councilor. Nicolaus Coppernicus' signature at the election of bishop Mauritius FerberNumerous variants of the name of the astronomer and his relatives are documented. During his childhood, the name of his father (and thus of the future astronomer) was recorded in Thorn as Niclas Koppernigk. At Bologna in 1496, he was registered as „Nicolaus Kopperlingk de Thorn" in the German natio. Maximilian Curtze, in the foreword of the German translation (1879) of De revolutionibus, comes to the conclusion that the family name should be spelled Koppernigk, and the astronomer with the Latinized spelling Coppernicus (with two p), as he used mostly (in 23 of 31 documents studied) two p when signing his name, especially in official documents. Late in his life, the name appears also shortened to one p, and on the title page of De revolutionibus, Rheticus had published the name as Nicolai Copernici. The Polish version of his name is Mikołaj Kopernik. The surname means "one who works with copper", which was his father's trade. Jagiellonian University's Collegium Maius, Kraków, PolandIn 1491 Copernicus enrolled in the Kraków Academy (now Jagiellonian University). It was there that he probably first encountered astronomy with Professor Albert Brudzewski. Astronomy soon fascinated him, and he began collecting a large library on the subject. Copernicus' library would later be carried off as war booty by the Swedes during the Deluge; it is now at the Uppsala University Library. After four years in Kraków, followed by a brief stay back home in Toruń, Copernicus went to study law and medicine at the universities of Bologna and Padua. Copernicus' uncle, Lucas Watzenrode the Younger, financed his education. Copernicus, however, while studying canon and civil law at Bologna, met the famous astronomer, Domenico Maria Novara da Ferrara. Copernicus attended Novara's lectures and became his disciple and assistant. Copernicus' published the his first astronomical observations, made with Novara in 1497, in De revolutionibus.
63
Bertel Thorvaldsen's Copernicus with compass and armillary sphere, before the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw. Latin inscription on pedestal: "To Nicolaus Copernicus from a Grateful Nation".In 1497, Watzenrode was ordained Bishop of Warmia, and Copernicus was named a canon at Frombork Cathedral. But Copernicus remained in Italy, where he attended the Jubilee of 1500. He also went to Rome, where he observed a lunar eclipse and gave lectures in astronomy and mathematics. Copernicus returned to Frombork in 1501. As soon as he arrived, he obtained permission to complete his studies in Padua, where he studied medicine with Guarico and Girolamo Fracastoro, and at Ferrara where he received a doctorate in canon law in 1503. One of the subjects that Copernicus must have studied was astrology, since it was considered an important part of a medical education. However, unlike most other prominent Renaissance astronomers, he appears never to have practiced or expressed any interest in astrology. In 1503, Copernicus returned to Warmia, where he resided the rest of his life. From 1503 until 1510, he was secretary to Lucas Watzenrode and resided in the Bishop's castle at Lidzbark Warmiński (Heilsberg). It is there that he started work on his heliocentric view of the heavens. In 1510, he moved to Frombork, a town in the north and downstream of Toruń on the Vistula Lagoon. The Prince-Bishopric of Warmia enjoyed substantial autonomy, with its own diet, army, monetary unit (the same as in the other parts of Royal Prussia) and treasury. Some time before his return to Warmia, he received a position at the Collegiate Church of the Holy Cross in Wrocław (Breslau), Silesia, Bohemia, which he held for many years and only resigned for health reasons shortly before his death. Olsztyn CastleDuring 1516–21, Copernicus resided at Olsztyn Castle as economic administrator of Warmia, including Olsztyn (Allenstein) and Pieniężno (Mehlsack). While there, he wrote a manuscript, Locationes mansorum desertorum (Locations of Deserted Fiefs). When Olsztyn was besieged by the Teutonic Knights during the Polish-Teutonic War (1519–1521), Copernicus was in charge of the defenses of Olsztyn and Warmia by the Royal Polish forces. He also participated in the peace negotiations. Copernicus before Olsztyn CastleCopernicus worked for years with the Royal Prussian diet, and with Duke Albert of Prussia, and advised Poland's King Sigismund I the Old on monetary reform. In his capacity as canon, he traveled extensively on government business and as a diplomat on behalf of the Prince-Bishop of Warmia.[citation needed] He participated in the discussions in the East Prussian diet about coin reform in the Prussian countries. One question that concerned the members of the diet was who had the right to mint coin. The matter required diplomacy, but was resolved successfully. Some difficulties were caused by political upheavals in Prussia at the time, including the 1525 establishment of the Duchy of Prussia as a Protestant state. In 1526, Copernicus wrote a study on the value of money, Monetae cudendae ratio. In it he formulated an early iteration of the theory, now called Gresham's Law, that "bad" (debased) coinage drives "good" (un-debased) coinage out of circulation—70 years before Thomas Gresham. He also formulated a version of quantity theory of money. Copernicus' recommendations on monetary reform were widely read by leaders of both Prussia and Poland in their attempts to stabilize currency. Two years before Copernicus' death, Duke Albert summoned him to Königsberg to treat one of his counselors, who was ill. The patient recovered in about a month, and Copernicus returned to Frombork. Throughout this period in his life, he continued to make astronomical observations and calculations, but only as his other responsibilities permitted and never in a professional capacity.
64
In 1551, eight years after Copernicus' death, Erasmus Reinhold would publish, under Duke Albert's sponsorship, the Prutenic Tables, a set of astronomical tables based on Copernicus' work, which astronomers and astrologers quickly adopted in place of their predecessors. Copernicus made available to friends his Commentariolus (Little Commentary), a six page hand-written text describing his ideas about the heliocentric hypothesis. It contained seven basic assumptions. Thereafter he continued gathering data for a more detailed work. In 1533, Johann Albrecht Widmannstetter delivered in Rome a series of lectures outlining Copernicus' theory. The lectures were heard with interest by Pope Clement VII and several Catholic cardinals. On 1 November 1536, Archbishop of Capua Nicholas Schönberg wrote a letter to Copernicus from Rome: Some years ago word reached me concerning your proficiency, of which everybody constantly spoke. At that time I began to have a very high regard for you... For I had learned that you had not merely mastered the discoveries of the ancient astronomers uncommonly well but had also formulated a new cosmology. In it you maintain that the earth moves; that the sun occupies the lowest, and thus the central, place in the universe... Therefore with the utmost earnestness I entreat you, most learned sir, unless I inconvenience you, to communicate this discovery of yours to scholars, and at the earliest possible moment to send me your writings on the sphere of the universe together with the tables and whatever else you have that is relevant to this subject . By then Copernicus' work was nearing its definitive form, and rumors about his theory had reached educated people all over Europe. Despite urgings from many quarters, Copernicus delayed publication of his book, perhaps from fear of criticism — a fear delicately expressed in the subsequent Dedication of his masterpiece to Pope Paul III. Scholars disagree on whether Copernicus' concern was limited to physical and philosophical objections from other natural philosophers, or whether he was also concerned about religious objections from theologians. De revolutionibus, Nürnberg, 1543. Melanchthon Copernicus was still working on De revolutionibus orbium coelestium (even if not convinced that he wanted to publish it) when in 1539 Georg Joachim Rheticus, a Wittenberg mathematician, arrived in Frombork. Philipp Melanchthon had arranged for Rheticus to visit several astronomers and study with them. Rheticus became Copernicus' pupil, staying with him for two years and writing a book, Narratio prima (First Account), outlining the essence of Copernicus' theory. In 1542 Rheticus published a treatise on trigonometry by Copernicus (later included in the second book of De revolutionibus). Under strong pressure from Rheticus, and having seen the favorable first general reception of his work, Copernicus finally agreed to give De revolutionibus to his close friend, Tiedemann Giese, bishop of Chełmno (Kulm), to be delivered to Rheticus for printing by Johannes Petreius at Nuremberg (Nürnberg). While Rheticus initially supervised the printing, he had to leave Nuremberg before it was completed, and he handed over the task of supervising the rest of the printing to a Lutheran theologian, Andreas Osiander. Osiander added an unauthorised and unsigned preface, defending the work against those who might be offended by the novel hypotheses. He explained that astronomers may find different causes for observed motions, and choose whatever is easier to grasp. As long as a hypothesis allows reliable computation, it does not have to match what a philosopher might seek as the truth. Frombork Cathedral, where Copernicus was buriedCopernicus died in Frombork on 24 May 1543. Legend has it that the first printed copy of De revolutionibus was placed in his hands on the very day that he died, allowing him to take farewell of his life's work. He is reputed to have awoken from a stroke-induced coma, looked at his book,
65
and then died peacefully. Copernicus was reportedly buried in Frombork Cathedral, where archeologists long searched in vain for his remains. In August 2005, a team led by Jerzy Gąssowski, head of an archaeology and anthropology institute in Pułtusk, after scanning beneath the cathedral floor, discovered what they believe to be Copernicus' remains. The find came after a year of searching, and the discovery was announced only after further research, on November 3, 2008. Copernicus' Latin epitaph in Frombork CathedralGąssowski said he was "almost 100 percent sure it is Copernicus." Forensic expert Capt. Dariusz Zajdel of the Central Forensic Laboratory of the Polish Police used the skull to reconstruct a face that closely resembled the features — including a broken nose and a scar above the left eye — on a Copernicus self-portrait. The expert also determined that the skull belonged to a man who had died around age 70 — Copernicus' age at the time of his death. The grave was in poor condition, and not all the remains of the skeleton were found; missing, among other things, was the lower jaw. The DNA from the bones found in the grave matched hair samples taken from a book owned by Copernicus which was kept in the library of the University of Uppsala in Sweden. On November 21, 2008, National Public Radio reported that confirmation had been made that the skull was indeed Copernicus'. The NPR website contains a portrait, reconstructed on the basis of the skull, of what Copernicus may have looked like.
Stefan Banach (1892–1945) was a Polish mathematician who worked in interwar Poland and in Soviet Ukraine. A self-taught mathematics prodigy, Banach was the founder of modern functional analysis and a founder of the Lwów School of Mathematics. Among his most prominent achievements was the 1932 book, Théorie des opérations linéaires (Theory of Linear Operations), the first monograph on the general theory of linear-metric space. Notable mathematical concepts named after Banach include the Banach–Tarski paradox, Hahn–Banach theorem, Banach–Steinhaus theorem, and Banach space. Stefan Banach was born on March 30, 1892, at St. Lazarus General Hospital in Kraków, then part of Austro-Hungarian Galicia. Banach's parents were Stefan Greczek and one Katarzyna Banach, both natives of the Podhale region.Stefan Greczek was born in Ostrowsko near the town of Nowy Targ and at one time was a soldier in the Austro-Hungarian Army stationed in Kraków. Stefan Greczek's father, Józef, was a farmer and a village mayor and Józef's wife, Antonina (née Borkowska) bore the Pomian coat of arms. Banach's mother left him after baptizing him when he was four days old. Her name on the birth certificate is Katarzyna Banach. Later in life Banach would ask his father to tell him his mother's actual identity but would only be told that he had taken an oath of secrecy about it. Stefan Greczek would go on to marry twice and have a son by his first wife and four children by the second. Unusually, Stefan's surname was that of his mother instead of his father, though he received his father's given name. Since Banach's father was a private and was prevented by military regulations from marrying, and the mother was too poor to support the child, the couple decided that he should be reared by family and friends. Family legend says that Banach spent his early childhood in Ostrowsko with his grandmother, to whom he was very close. When she became ill, his father sent him to Kraków to live with Franciszka Płowa and her daughter, Maria, although Banach would continue to visit his grandmother up to her funeral. Franciszka worked in a branch of the Tęcza laundries while her husband was the
66
manager of the Krakowski Hotel. Together, they were able to give Banach what was a relatively comfortable life for the time. Contacts between Banach and his father were polite and cordial; though Banach loved his father, he did not show him much warmth or filial affection. As a child, Banach was introduced to Juliusz Mien, a French intellectual who had moved to Kraków in 1870 and who was a guardian of Maria Płowa. Mien guided Banach by teaching him French and supervising his education without charge. Mien likely nurtured Banach's early mathematical skills, and he taught him to speak French so fluently that later in life Banach was able to impress foreign colleagues with his knowledge of the language. In 1902 Banach, aged 10, enrolled in Kraków's Henryk Sienkiewicz Gymnasium no. IV where he became known as a prodigy. The school specialized in the humanities, including languages such as Latin, Greek, and German as well as subjects such as History and Geography along side some Mathematics. Despite this shortcoming, Banach and his best friend Witold Wiłkosz, a future mathematician, would regularly work on mathematics problems during school breaks and after school. In 1906 Banach, aged 14, was studying higher mathematics and two years later he had started in on several languages, both western and eastern, however he was especially fond of Latin. After obtaining his matura at age 18 in 1910, Banach went with Witold Wiłkosz to Lviv, then the capital of Galicia, intending to enroll in engineering at the Lwów Polytechnic. However, as Banach had to earn money to support his studies, it was not until 1914 that he finally, at age 22, passed his half-diploma exams. When World War I broke out, Banach was excused from military service due to his left-handedness and poor vision. When the Russian Army opened its offensive toward Lwów, Banach left for Kraków, to spend the rest of the war there and in other Galician towns. He made his living tutoring at local gymnasiums and working in a bookshop. He may have attended lectures at the Jagiellonian University, but little is known of that period in his life. In 1916, in Kraków's Planty gardens, Banach encountered Professor Hugo Steinhaus, one of the renowned mathematicians of the age. Steinhaus became fascinated with the self-taught young mathematician. The encounter resulted in a long-lasting collaboration and friendship. It was also through Steinhaus that Banach met his future wife, Łucja Braus. Steinhaus introduced Banach to academic circles and substantially accelerated his career. After Poland regained independence, in 1920 Banach was given an assistantship at Kraków's Jagiellonian University. Steinhaus' backing also allowed him to receive a doctorate without actually graduating from a university. The doctoral thesis, accepted by King John II Casimir University of Lwów and published in 1922,[11] included the basic ideas of functional analysis, which was soon to become an entirely new branch of mathematics. The thesis was widely discussed in academic circles and allowed him in 1922 to become a professor at the Lwów Polytechnic. Initially an assistant to Professor Antoni Łomnicki, in 1927 Banach received his own chair. In 1924 he was also accepted as a member of the Polish Academy of Learning. At the same time, from 1922, Banach also headed the second Chair of Mathematics at University of Lwów. Young and talented, Banach gathered around him a large group of mathematicians. The group, meeting in the Scottish Café, soon gave birth to the "Lwów School of Mathematics." In 1929 the group began publishing its own journal, Studia Mathematica, devoted primarily to Banach's field of study — functional analysis. Around that time, Banach also began working on his best-known work, the first monograph on the general theory of linear-metric space. First published in Polish in 1931, the following year it was also translated into French and gained wider recognition in European academic circles. The book was also the first in a long series of mathematics monographs edited by Banach and his circle.
67
Following the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, Lwów came under the control of the Soviet Union for almost two years. Banach, from 1939 a corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, and on good terms with Soviet mathematicians,[citation needed] had to promise to learn Ukrainian to be allowed to keep his chair and continue his academic activities. Following the German takeover of Lwów in 1941 in Operation Barbarossa, all universities were closed and Banach, along with many colleagues and his son, was employed as lice feeder at Professor Rudolf Weigl's Typhus Research Institute. Employment in Weigl's Institute provided many unemployed university professors and their associates protection from random arrest and deportation to Nazi concentration camps. After the Red Army recaptured Lviv in the Lvov–Sandomierz Offensive of 1944, Banach returned to the University and helped re-establish it after the war years. However, because the Soviets were removing Poles from annexed formerly Polish territories, Banach began preparing to leave the city and settle in Kraków, Poland, where he had been promised a chair at the Jagiellonian University. He was also considered a candidate for Minister of Education of Poland. In January 1945, however, he was diagnosed with lung cancer and was allowed to stay in Lwów. He died on August 31, 1945, aged 53. His funeral at the Lychakiv Cemetery turned into a patriotic demonstration by the Poles who still remained in the city. Banach's most influential work was Théorie des opérations linéaires (Theory of Linear Operations, 1932). In it he formulated the concept now known as "Banach space," and proved many fundamental theorems of functional analysis. Besides being one of the founders of functional analysis, Banach also made important contributions to measure theory, set theory, and other branches of mathematics. He was also one of the founders and editors of the journal, Studia Mathematica.
Edward Janczewski (Edward Franciszek Janczewski-Glinka) (b. December 14, 1846 in Blinstrubiszkach, Samogitia, d. July 17, 1918 in Kraków) was a Polish biologist (taxonomist, anatomist, and morphologist), rector of the Jagiellonian University, and member of the Academy of Learning. He married Jadwiga Szetkiewicz (1856-1941). In 1862, Janczewski obtained a degree at Vilna (Wilno). Afterwards, he studied natural sciencies in the Jagiellonian University, and in Saint Petersburg. He became a professor of plant anatomy and physiology in 1875 at the Jagiellonian University, wherein he was rector from 1902 to 1903, and worked there until 1913. In 1876, Janczewski entered to the Academy of Learning, wherein he became an active member in 1885. Janczewski was also member of other international scientific societies, among them: The National Academic Society of Cherbourg (―Societé Nationale Académique de Cherbourg‖), the Edinburgh Botanical Society, and the parisian Académie des sciences. His works included the discovery of how plant roots grow and initial genetic research in the area of plants. He also researched algae and mushrooms. Probably, one of his most important works was Monographie des Groseilliers (Geneve, 1907), which contains the results of his work on genus Ribes. In that monograph, Edward Janczewski described 133 species and 21 hybrids of currants and gooseberries, according to him, approximately half of world's taxa. Many species were first described by him. This monograph is still one of the most important publications regarding taxonomy of genus Ribes. In the Botanic Garden of Cracow, Janczewski maintained a vast collection of different species of Ribes from all
68
around the world. The herbarium includes species from Europe, Asia, North and South America, many of them collected by Janczewski himself. Others were obtained thanks to his worldwide contacts with herbariums, botanic gardens and scientists, such as the Mexican naturalist Fernando Altamirano.
69
7. Artists 7.1 Spain Manuel de Falla y Matheu was a Spanish composer of classical music. He was born on the 23rd of November 1876 in Cádiz. His mother was his first teacher of music. At the age of nine he was introduced to his first piano professor. Manuel de Falla never married and had no children. From the late 1890s he studied music in Madrid, piano with José Tragó and composition with Felipe Pedrell. In 1899 he was awarded the first prize at the piano competition at his music school. When he was in Madrid De Falla became interested in native Spanish music, particularly Andalusian flamenco. From 1907 to 1914 De Falla stayed in Paris where he met a number of composers who had an influence on his music. He returned to Madrid at the beginning of World War I. In Madrid he composed several of his best known pieces, including ‗Nights in the Gardens of Spain‘, ‗Love the Magician‘, ‗The Magistrate and the Miller‘s wife‘, and ‗The Three-Cornered Hat‘. From 1921 to 1939, Manuel De Falla lived in Granada and it was here that he wrote the puppet opera, ‗Master Peter‘s Puppet Show and produced the orchestral cantata ‗Atlantis‘ which he considered the most important of all his works. In 1939, De Falla left Spain and moved to Argentina. He died on the 14th November 1946 in Alta Garcia, in the Argentine province of Córdoba. In 1947, his remains were brought back to Spain and entombed in the cathedral at Cádiz. One of his lasting honours to his memory is the Manuel de Falla Chair of Music in the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Madrid.
Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra was born on the 29th September 1547, in Alcalá de Henares, a Castilian city about 15 miles from Madrid. He was the fourth of seven children. His father, Rodrigo de Cervantes was a surgeon. His mother Leonor de Cortinas was the third daughter of a nobleman, who lost his fortune and had to sell his daughter into matrimony. Cervantes was a brash young man and possessed a very idealistic nature. He spent most of his time moving from town to town with his family. In 1569, Cervantes moved to Italy in order to further his career. In Italy he was able to focus his attention on art, architecture and poetry. By 1570, Cervantes had enlisted as a soldier and was stationed in Naples. Cervantes became involved in a battle when he was on board the Marquesa. As a result of fighting he received two gunshot wounds – two to the chest and one which left his left arm useless, resulting in amputation. On the 12th December 1584, he married the much younger Catalina de Salazar y Palacios. Her Uncle Alonso de Quesada y Salazar is said to have inspired the character of Don Quixote. During the next twenty years Cervantes worked as a tax collector and as a purchasing agent for the Spanish Armada. He suffered bankruptcy and was imprisoned twice. In 1606, Cervantes settled in Madrid where he remained for the rest of his life. In 1605, the first part of Don Quixote appeared and although it did not make him rich, it brought him international appreciation as a man of letters. In 1615, the second part of Don Quixote made its appearance. Don Quixote, also known as the knight or the man of La Mancha is a noble minded, an enthusiastic admirer of everything good and great, yet having all of these fine qualities accidentally blended with a relative kind of madness. A famous quote by Don Quixote is ―Every man is as Heaven made him and sometimes a great deal worse.‖
70
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso was born on the 25th October 1881 in Málaga and he was the first child of Don José Ruiz y Blasco and María Picasso y Lopez. Picasso‘s family was middle class; his father was also a painter. He was known simply as Picasso and is one of the most recognised figures in the 20th century. Picasso‘s creative genius manifested itself in numerous ways, including painting, sculpture, drawing and architecture. He became extremely famous and made a lot of money throughout his life. Picasso demonstrated uncanny artistic talent in his early years, painting in a real life manner. From the age of seven, Picasso received formal artistic training from his father in figure drawing and oil painting. Picasso became so involved in his art that his school work suffered. In 1895, Picasso‘s family moved to Barcelona after the death of his sister. Picasso‘s father persuaded the officials at the School of Fine Arts to allow his son to take an entrance exam for the advanced class. This often took other students a month to complete but Picasso completed it in a week and he was only 13 years old. Picasso‘s father decided to send the young artist to Madrid‘s Royal Academy of San Fernando, the country‘s foremost art school. In 1897 at the age of 16 he set off for the first time on his own, but his difficulties for accepting instruction from his teachers stop him from attending class soon after he started at the Royal Academy. In the early 20th century, Picasso divided his time between Barcelona and Paris. Picasso married Olga Khokhlova who was a ballerina and they had one son. His marriage to Khokhlova soon ended. Throughout his life Picasso was married twice and had four children by three women. Pablo Picasso died on 8th April 1973 in Mougins, France and he was buried at the Chateau of Vauvenargues near Aix-en-Provence. Picasso‘s work has been categorised into periods. The most famous periods of his work are the Blue Period (1901-1904), the Rose Period (1905-1907), the African influenced Period (1908-1909), Analytic Cubism (19091912) and Synthetic Cubism (1912-1919). Picasso‘s most famous work is his depiction of the German bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. Picasso‘s final works were a mixture of styles and became more daring, more colourful and expressive. The total number of artworks he produced has been estimated at 50,000. In 2003, relatives of Picasso inaugurated a museum dedicated to him in his birthplace, Málaga Spain, the Museum Picasso Málaga
7.2 Germany Albrecht Dürer was born in Nuremberg in 1471. He first picked up his father‘s trade of a goldsmith but them he turned to painting and engraving. As a young man he travelled to the south of Germany where he improved his skills by working with contemporary masters. He also went to Italy where he produced his first landscape painting. When he returned to Germany he started copper and wood engravings and concentrated on themes from the bible. He was commissioned to do altarpieces by various rich people including emperor Maximilian I. later he illustrated prayer books that were printed in Nuremberg and so he became famous all over Europe. Dürer died in 1528 in Nuremberg.
Richard Wagner was born in Leipzig in 1813 and studied music at the local university. Between 1833 and 1839 he worked at different opera houses. As Wagner used to live beyond his means he often had to borrow money which he couldn‘t pay back. Because of these debts he left Germany and lived in London and Paris where he started to compose operas himself. When he returned to Germany in 1842 one of his operas was successfully performed in Dresden. There he was appointed director of music at the local opera house.
71
After Wagner had taken part in a political uprising that failed he had to leave Germany again. He went to live in Switzerland where he continued to compose operas. In 1864 the Bavarian king Ludwig II. who admired Wagner‘s music offered to pay all his debts and even to support him financially. Wagner‘s dream to build a festival hall where all his works could be performed eventually came true with the help of the king. In 1872 Wagner‘s opera festival opened in Bayreuth and has taken place there ever since. Today the Bayreuth festival is organized by Wagner‘s great-great-granddaughter Katharine Wagner. In 1883 Wagner died in Venice.
Günter Grass was born in Gdansk (Poland) in 1927. At the age of 15 he fought in the Second World War and became prisoner of war of the Americans. In 1948 he started to study sculpture and graphic art at the Academy of Art in Düsseldorf. Ten years later he turned to writing and published his first famous novel ―The Tin Drum‖ which was even turned into a film that received an Oscar. Grass continued writing and was also politically active. He supported the Socialist Party and some of his books reflect his political attitude. In 1999 Grass received the Nobel prize for literature. He was also awarded a prize for his active involvement in the rapprochement policy between Germany and Poland.
7.3 Romania George Enescu, known in France as Georges Enesco - 19 August 1881, Liveni – 4 May 1955, Paris, was a Romanian composer, violinist, pianist, conductor and teacher. He was born in the village of Liveni (later renamed "George Enescu" in his honor), Dorohoi County at the time, today Botoşani County. He was the eighth child of his family. His grandfather was an orthodox priest and a good player of violin. He showed artistical talent from early in his childhood. A child prodigy, Enescu knew to write at the age of four and he created his first musical composition at the age of five. Shortly thereafter, his father presented him to the professor and composer Eduard Caudella, in a very important cultural cityof Romania, Iasi. At the age of seven, he entered the Vienna Conservatory, where he studied with Joseph Hellmesberger, Jr.,Robert Fuchs, and Sigismund Bachrich, and graduated before his 13th birthday, earning the silver medal. In his Viennese concerts young Enescu played works by Brahms, Sarasate and Mendelssohn. In 1895 he went to Paris to continue his studies. He studied violin with Martin Pierre Marsick, harmony with André Gédalge, and composition with Jules Massenet and Gabriel Fauré. He won the First Prize of Paris Conservatory. Enescu – the composer Many of Enescu's works were influenced by Romanian folk music, his most popular compositions being the two Romanian Rhapsodies (1901–2), the Œdipe opera (1936), and the suites for orchestra. He also wrote five symphonies (two of them unfinished), a symphonic poem Vox maris, and a lot of chamber music (three sonatas for violin and piano, two for cello and piano, a piano trio, quartets with and without piano, a wind deceit (French, "dixtuor"), an octet for strings, a piano quintet, a chamber symphony for twelve solo instruments). There still exists a certain discrepancy between the obvious value of Enescu the composer – as it occurs to everyone who is studying and is familiar with his creation – and the rather
72
limited audience he is enjoying in the concert life of great musical centers, on Radio & TV channels, in the CD‘s production, not to mention the production of video-cassettes. The reasons for this situation are many, but they could be essentially classified in two categories: on one side the adjacent causes, more or less due to fate, on the other side the intrinsic causes, specific to the creation of this artist. Among the first ones, the following could be mentioned: the excessive modesty of the musician‘s entire life, his lack of enthusiasm in embracing one or the other of the up to date trends, the weak support he received from his publishers in Paris (even today it is extremely difficult to obtain some materials and scores for many of this important works), finally his belonging to a country which was subject to a lot of historical unfortunate events, hard to believe for anyone who did not experience such kind of situations. Although being a great specialist in polyphony (see for example the Suite no.2 for orchestra), Enescu developed very quickly a new concept; the heterophony, which represents with no doubt an absolute premiere in the European symphonic and chamber music. For those who are less familiar with the term: heterophony consists in performing simultaneously, by two or more voices, the same melodic line, but with small melodic, rhythmic or register differences. The roots of this phenomenon are in the folk music, but Enescu developed the concept for beyond the folkloric melodies. And far from being a regress as against the classic contrapuntal proceedings, heterophony is a new and original step in the evolution of polyphonic language. His spiritual configuration is based apparently more on an oriental type of vision over the world, than on a western, Cartesian one. And speaking about ―oriental‖, we mean a genetic and cultural inheritance of the ancestral psychology (of Thracian and Dacian populations). According to such a mentality time passes in a different way, categories are not so firm as we know them, causality and deduction can always be replaced by dreams and contemplation. All those elements are leading to a great inner freedom, rather hardly comprehensible to minds educated in the western way. The real understanding of this author must absolutely surpass the false appearances: behind the civilized, educated and polite-man, is holding a very temperamental, original and sensitive human being. When Enescu died in 1955, only a few of his compositions were known in Romania; not even a quarter of his significant creation, and mostly works of his young days. A few decades were necessary to re-discover, perform, publish, record and comment his whole creation. Maybe for the rest of the world a similar period will be required. But in the end we could witness the fulfillment of one of Lord Menuhin‘s most beautiful sayings: ―Enescu will be one of the great discoveries of the XXI century‖. In 1923 he made his debut as a conductor in a concert given by the Philadelphia Orchestra in New York City, and made frequent visits to the United States subsequently. It was in America, in the 1920s, that Enescu was first persuaded to make recordings as a violinist. He also appeared as a conductor with many American orchestras, and in 1936 he was one of the candidates considered to replace Toscanini as permanent conductor of the New York Philharmonic. In 1935, he conducted the Orchestre Symphonique de Paris and Yehudi Menuhin (who had been his pupil for several years starting in 1927) in Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major. He also conducted the New York Philharmonic between 1937 and 1938. In 1939 he married Maria Rosetti (known as the Princess Cantacuzino through her first husband Mihail Cantacuzino), a good friend of the future Queen Marie of Romania. While staying in Bucharest, Enescu lived in the Cantacuzino Palace on Calea Victoriei (now the National Museum
73
George Enescu, dedicated to his work). He lived in Paris and in Romania, but after World War II and the Soviet occupation of Romania, he remained in Paris. He was also a noted violin teacher. Yehudi Menuhin, Christian Ferras, Ivry Gitlis, Arthur Grumiaux, and Ida Haendel were among his pupils. He promoted contemporary Romanian music, playing works of Constantin Silvestri, Mihail Jora, Ionel Perlea and Marŝian Negrea. He contributed a lot in organizing a Philharmonic Orchestra in Iasi and to the development of the Romanian Opera in Bucharest, where he conducted Lohengrin. On his death in 1955, George Enescu was interred in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris. Today, Bucharest houses a museum in his memory; likewise, the Symphony Orchestra of Bucharest and the George Enescu Festival—founded by his friend, musical advocate, and sometime collaborator, the conductor George Georgescu]—are named and held in his honor. Recently, Bacau International Airport was named George Enescu International Airport. The famous Ysaye's "Ballade" or Solo Violin Sonata No. 3 was dedicated to Enescu.
CONSTANTIN BRANCUSI was an internationally well-known Romanian sculptor, whose works – which blend simplicity and sophistication, led the way for modernist sculptors. Brancusi grew up in the village of Hobita, Gorj, near Targu Jiu and the Carpathian Mountains; an area known for its rich tradition of folk crafts, particularly woodcarving. The simple geometric patterns of the craftsmen are seen in Brancusi‘s mature works. At the age of 9, Brancusi left the village to have different menial (low status) jobs in the nearest large town. At 13 he went to Craiova, where worked at a grocery store for several years. When he was 18, impressed by Brancusi‘s talent for carving, his employer financed his education at Craiova School of Arts. There he discovered his love for woodworking, taught himself to read and write, and graduated with honors in 1898. He then enrolled at the Bucharest School of Fine Arts, where he received academic training in sculpture. He worked hard, and quickly distinguished himself as talented. One of his earliest surviving works, under the guidance of his anatomy teacher, Dimitrie Gerota, was exhibited at The Romanian Athenaeum in 1903. Though just an anatomic study, it foreshadowed the sculptor‘s later efforts to reveal essence rather than merely copy outward (obvious) appearance. In 1903 Brancusi traveled to Munich and from there to Paris. In Paris, he was welcomed by the community of artists and intellectuals, brimming (filling) with new ideas. He worked for two years in the workshop of Antonin Mercie, of the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, and was invited to enter the workshop of August Rodin. Even though he admired the eminent Rodin, he left his studio, after only two months, saying:‖Nothing can grow under big trees‖. His first commissioned work, ―The Prayer‖, was part of a gravestone memorial. It depicts a young woman crossing herself as she kneels, and marks the first step toward abstract, non-literal representation, and shows his drive to depict ―not the outer form, but the idea, the essence of things‖. He also began doing more carving, rather than the method, popular among his contemporaries, that of modeling in clay or plaster which would be cast in metal, and by 1908 he worked almost exclusively carving. In the following few years he made many versions of ―Sleeping Muse‖ and ―The Kiss‖, further simplifying forms to geometrical and sparse objects. Around 1920, he began crafting the bases of his sculptures with much care and originality, because he considered them important for the works themselves.
74
He began working on the group of sculptures that are known as ―Bird in Space‖ – simple forms representing birds in flight. The works are based on his earlier ―Maiastra‖. In the Romanian folklore Maiastra is a beautiful golden bird which foretells the future and cures the blind. Over the following 21 years, Brancusi would make around 20 versions of the ―birds‖, out of marble and bronze. Edward Steichen, a prominent photographer, purchased one of the ―Birds‖ in 1926 and shipped it to the United States. However the customs officers did not accept‖the bird‖ as a work of art and placed a duty upon its import as an industrial item. However, Brancusi‘s work became popular in the U.S, and he visited America several times during his life. Worldwide fame in 1933 brought him mission of building a meditation temple in India for Maharajah of Indore, but when Brancusi went to India to complete the plans and begin the construction, the Maharajah was away and then lost interest in the project when he returned. In 1938, he finished the World War I Monument in Targu Jiu, where he had spent much of his childhood. ―Table of Silence‖, ―Gate of Kiss‖ and ―The Endless Column‖ commemorates the courage and sacrifice of Romanian civilians who in 1916 fought off a German invasion. The restoration of these monuments was spearheaded by the World Monuments Fund and was completed in 2004. In 1956 Life magazine reported:‖ Wearing white pajamas and a yellow gnomelike cap, Brancusi today hobbles about his studio tenderly caring for and communing with the silent host of fish birds, heads and endless columns which he created.‖ In 1952, Brancusi became a French citizen in order to make the caregivers his heirs, and to bequeath his studio and its contents to the Musee National d‘Art Moderne in Paris.
MIHAI EMINESCU. Fundamental value and perennial Romanian spirituality. Mihai Eminescu (born on January 15th, 1850,in Botosani d. June 15th, 1889, Bucharest) Romanian poet, novelist and journalist, is appreciated by the Romanian people and literary writers as the most valuable Romanian writer of the Romantic literature, named " the paragon of Romanian poetry ". It is the seventh of eleven children of George Eminovici, originated from a Romanian peasant family from Northern Moldavia, and Raluca Eminovici‘s , the paternal line, descended from Transylvania and Bukovina, who emigrated because of serf exploitation, military obligations and religious persecution. Between 1858 and 1866, Eminescu intermittently attended National Hauptschule school (Eastern Orthodox Primary School) at Chernautsi, between 1860 and 1861 being also registered at Ober Gymnasium, the German school of that city. From 1869 until 1872 Eminescu was a student in Vienna. He attended as an "extraordinary auditor" the Faculty of Philosophy and Law, but he also participated to courses of other faculties. Then, from 1872 to 1874 he was an 'ordinary' student in Berlin, benefiting from a grant/ scholarship, provided to take a doctorate in philosophy. The poet attended it with sufficient regularity two semesters, but failed to appear for exams. Therefore, in 1874,he returned to his country, occupying, in turn, more jobs, such as director of the Central Library in Iaşi, substitute teacher, school inspector for the counties of Iasi and Vaslui, editor of the Courier newspaper of that city. Eminescu's literary activities began in 1866. In January 12th/24th Aron Pumnul(the Fist), the Romanian language teacher, dies.
75
Students put out a brochure,―Lăcrămioarele învăŝăceilor gimnazişti‖ (―The little tears of the gymnasium students‖) (Tears... at the grave of their beloved teacher), in which appears the poem "The grave of Aron Pumnul" signed M. Eminoviciu. On February 25th / March 9th he writes the poem ―If only I had‖ in the "Family" magazine of Joseph Vulcan. Later, Joseph Vulcan convinces him to change his name from Eminoviciu in Eminescu. He continued to publish articles to "Literary Talks", became good friends with Ion Creanga, whom persuaded to write, by introducing him to the literary society "Junimea‖. At that time Eminescu fell in love with Veronica Micle. Eminescu's financial situation had become precarious. He had trouble in the family (some of his brothers died, including his mother). In 1877 he moved to Bucharest, where until 1883 he was editor, then editor-in-chief (in 1880) at the newspaper "Time". He had an extraordinary publishing activity, but that ruined his health. This is the time when Eminescu completed his great poems (―Letters‖ series, ―Luceafarul‖ (Morning star) etc…). The years between 1883 and 1889 are years of disease, with recoveries and collapses. Mihai Eminescu died on June 15th, 1889 ( 4:00) at Dr. Şuŝu health home. He was buried in Bucharest, in Bellu cemetery. Affinities with German poetry and Sanskrit literature Although related to national tradition, Eminescu's poetry is part of Europe. Particular affinities are recognized in with German lyrics, highlighted by brilliant critics. Thus, some of Eminescu‘s lyrics seem to ―Trost in Tränen‖ of Goethe's. The ―Morning star‖ poem that addresses to all genres, although rooted in Romanian folklore, reminds of the poem of Schiller's ―Teilung der Welt‖ or Hölderlin's ―Hyperion‖, and the pessimism of the ―Letters‖ originates in the reading works of Schopenhauer, ―Welt als Wille und Vorstellung‖ ( "The World as Will and Representation"). Approximation of Eminescu and Schopenhauer was expressed so many times, that it can be seen today as a current fact of literary history. Eminescu finds about Schopenhauer‘s philosophy at an early age. This contact with Schopenhauer was established in the fall of 1869, when as a first semester student in Vienna, he recommended to his friend, John Slavici, to read : Die vierfache Wurzel des Satzes vom zureichender Grunde; Die beiden Grundprobleme der Ethik şi Parerga und Paralipomena.. The feeling of living which through Eminescu's poetry enriched our literature with a unique lyrical thrill, found its theoretical justification in the philosophy of Schopenhauer and the poet had to remain linked to the philosopher with whom he could focus better on the mysteries of astonishing senses. Schopenhauer was a teacher for Eminescu in other ways, too. Through him, a way towards wisdom and literature opened for our poet. This fact was recognized and approved with different occasions. Hence, whenever you cannot determine precise approaches, contrasts that we could find both in Eminescu‘s poems and Rig –Veda‘s or Mahabharata pages, the influences remain problematic and could be of Schopenhauer. The Creation Hymn of Rig Veda is nevertheless one of the sources of Eminescu. He includes indeed, the evoking of the obscure beginnings of the world when Being/Existence did not differentiated from Not-Being/ Not-Existence, and he served as a model to Eminescu, at least for some of the lyrics in the cosmological ―Letter I‖. The Research on Eminescu‘s works and manuscripts established some Indian sources of inspiration for Eminescu, for example, the history of Indian
76
Buddhism by E. Burnouf and German translations of Vedic hymns. To these may be added a number of texts and commentaries in German and French, which were widespread at the time of Eminescu and therefore could have been accessible for him. Of bibliographic information that we have available, it may be noted that Eminescu could know at that time the translation and comments into widely circulated European languages of: Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, several major Upanishads, Ramayana and Mahabharata, the two major Sanskrit literature representative epics), in particular the Bhagavad Gita, some Puranas, Dharma Manava SASTRA (Laws of Manu), Kālidāsa‘s six works, the history of Buddha's life, told in Lalita vistara, the fundamental Buddhist book Dhammapada and a number of works on the history of Indian culture, including Weber‘s ―Akademische Vorlerungen Literatur Geschichte über indische‖. Eminescu has read a large part of these works. Intending probably to resort to these sources, he began to learn Sanskrit and also to translate the Sanskrit grammar of Franz Bopp. The first signs of Indian influence in the works of Eminescu are shown in the writings in Vienna. The novel ―Deserted Genius‖ started before, was finished in Vienna, and the poem ―Venere and Madonna‖ (1870) seems to be partly inspired by Kālidāsa's ―Sakuntala‖, who exerted a great influence on the great German romantics as Goethe and Herder. In fact, the re-encounter scene of the two heroes ―Calin‖ poem (1876) resembles, more or less, to the last act of Sakuntala. In the poem ―Icoana si privaz‖, written in this same year, Eminescu praises the Indian poet. The emotional attitude towards nature in ―Cezara‖, ―The Lake‖, ―Freamat de codru‖, etc. (Forest Uproar), the Romanian poet approaches to the Indian one, which is an interesting parallel. Also during his stay in Vienna, the Buddhist thinking makes its first appearance in the Eminescu‘s vision and he remains linked to it forever. Source of inspiration for lyrics of epigones (1870) was followed in May by far the introduction of Indian Buddhism's theory Burnouf (Paris, 1876).Eminescu's intense passion for the Buddha and his doctrine was reported by several chronicles and analysts. And in later works, such as ―A Dacian‘s prayer‖ (1879), ―Glosa‖ (1883) and ―Ode in ancient meter‖ (1883), the poet is more impressed by the Buddhist ethics and philosophy. In addition, Eminescu used, it seems, some Buddhist myths as fantastic framework for building materials in ―Poor Dionis‖ (1872). Eminescu excitement to enter the mystery of creation begins around the year 1872, when he used to study ―the Vedas‖, which it endorsed the years spent in Berlin, and thus reached the last step of Indian studies. "Luceafarul‖, approved by The World Records Academy. "Luceafarul‖ by Mihai Eminescu, was approved by The World Records Academy as the world longest love poem (98 stanzas). On the official site of The World Records Academy it is recorded: The legend" Luceafărului " is a story about a young princess who prayed to Luceafăr(The Morning Star/ Paragon) every night. The Paragon falls in love for her and he is ready to give up immortality for her, but during the poem he realizes that pure love which is for a young girl can not be shared in a material world. World Records Academy describes "Luceafarul‖ for the
" Today Youtube generation ", as " a combination of story- movies such as "Gone with the Wind" (romantic drama), "Star Trek" (SF story) and "Love Story" (poem
ending romantic drama, and movie fame).
77
With over 100 years old, Eminescu's linden tree from Copou Park in Iasi, called "the lovers tree ", is also remembered by World Records Academy, as it is described as a place where Eminescu found its inspiration, and now, it is a place of pilgrimage for lovers. "It's a miracle how this tree has survived so much," said Mandache Leocov, former director of the Botanical Garden of Iasi. "Tourists from all over the world including countries as far away as Brazil and Japan come especially to" Eminescu's linden tree "to kiss in a place that will bring lucky lovers," he added. Also, NASA has put the name of Mihai Eminescu, to a crater on Mars, because it is a "successful and influential poet, considered the national poet of Romania." However, 2000 was declared by UNESCO "Year of poet Mihai Eminescu" . Christina Zarifopol Ellias, associate professor of classical studies and Romanian Language at Indiana University (Bloomington, USA), has discovered the correspondence between Mihai Eminescu and Veronica Micle,and so she made the most precious cultural gesture of the century. Nevertheless, the first and most important revelations were made by the literary critic Nicolae Manolescu. It's about the 93 letters to the Veronica Micle from Mihai Eminescu, 15 letters from Veronica Micle to the poet, two letters of her to Harieta Eminovici, a short note, a letter of Titu Maiorescu to Eminescu, unknown to anyone until 2000. Finally, Romanian literature has an authentic and true romance. Eminescu honored at an international symposium of turcologie/turkish This year, the prestigious Bilkent University in Ankara organized with the young university in Yalova, an international symposium devoted to the state foundation, on July 27th. The event was attended by professors from Turkey, USA, France, Romania, Bulgaria etc.., 5 rectors of Turkish universities and the event was actively supported by the county governor and mayor of Yalova. At this scientific meeting, prof. Dr. Mihai Maxim, Director of the Romanian Cultural Institute "Dimitrie Cantemir" in Istanbul and the Turkish Studies Center belonging to the University of Bucharest, together with the writer Ali Narçın in Istanbul, the recent translator of Eminescu in Turkish, have presented the communication "dream of Osman Gazi at Eminescu‖, Romanian national poet, inform ICR Istanbul. While the image of "the unique poet " was reflected on a screen, the Romanian historian presented in Turkish Eminescu's personality, the historical sources that the great poet used as the documentation to the "dream of Osman", read in 1881 at ―Junimea‖, presenting then some Romanian lyrics. There was also the writer Ali Narçın who read out the Turkish version of whole famous begining of "Letter III‖. The enthusiastic public response, especially the Turkish, who are very fond of history, has resulted not only in warm applauses, but also in the immediate requests for television interviews in Yalova and Bursa, facts which prove that a fundamental and enduring value of the Romanian spirituality increasingly penetrates the consciousness of beauty and truth fans in Turkey.
78
Eve On The Hill
(Sara pe deal) Mihai Eminescu
Dreary the horn sounds in the eve on the hill, Sheepflocks return, stars on their way twinkle still, Watersprings weep murmuring clear, and I see Under a tree, love, thou art waiting for me. Holy and pure passes the moon on the sky, Moist seem the stars born from the vault clear and high, Longing thine eyes look from afar to divine, Heaving thy breast, pensive thy head doth recline. Tired with their toil, peasants come back from the field, From the old church, labourer's comfort and shield, Voices of bells thrill the whole sky high above; Struck is my heart, trembling and burning with love. Ah! very soon quietness steals over all, Ah! very soon hasten shall I to thy call, Under the tree, there I shall sit the whole night, Telling thee, love, thou art my only delight. Cheek press'd to cheek, there in sweet ecstasy we, Falling asleep under the old locust-tree, Smiling in dream, seem in a heaven to live, For such a night who his whole life would not give? (1885, Translated by P. Grimm) You can listen this beautiful poem in the interpretation of a great Romanian singer, Tudor Gheorghe (born in Craiova), at http://www.trilulilu.ro/ruby/b3c020cba9b862
7.5 Turkey Ibrahim Çallı was born on 13th of July,1882 in Çal, Denizli. He completed his primary education in İzmir. Then, his parents sent him to Istanbul for the military school. He was enthusiastic about art so that he started taking art lessons from some of the art students who were staying at the same place where Çallı was. Things did not go right an when he lost his money, he had a hard time living in Istanbul. He had a financial problem. Because of that, he had to work in different kinds of jobs to pay his expenses. After a while, he met an Armenian artist and took lessons from him. He also took lessons from the other well known artists as well. He attended the faculty of Fine Art at Architect Sinan University in 1906
79
with his tutor‘s support. After the second constitutional declaration, he became a membership of Ottoman community of artists which is the first organization of Turkish artists. In 1910,he got the scholarship with his Works of‖Çıplak Adam‖ and ―Hareket Ordusunun Muhafız Alayından Maksut Çavuş (Movements of the Guards regiments in Army, Sergeant Maksut)‖.He was sent to France to continue his art education at Fernand Cormon Studio between 1910 and 1914.After World War I started, he had to return to Turkey. Ibrahim Çallı, who was assigned to school of fine art as an assistant of Vallaury, exhibited his Works of art in Vienna and Istanbul to point out the development of Turkish Community in 1917.He won a trophy of Fine Arts with his six Works. The generation of 1914 was remembered as a ―Çallı Generation‖.Not only was Çallı a good artist but also, he was a good teacher. He was retired in 1947 and died of gastric bleeding on 22nd of May,1960 in Istanbul. He had a memory with Atatürk about One of his fine art Works ―Zeybekler‖: Çallı opened an exhibition for Atatürk‘s wish. When Atatürk saw the painting he said: ―We did not even have a peice of bread to feed ourselves, how come the horses are so well-fed in this painting?‖ Upon this, Çallı took his brush and repainted the horses in nothing but skin and bones.
Orhan Pamuk was born in Istanbul n 1952 and grew up in a wealthy yet declining buorgeous family; in experience, he describes in passing in his novels ―The Black Book‖ and ―Cevdet Bey and His Sons‖ as well as more throughly in his personal memoir Istabul. He completed his secondary school at Robert College in Istanbul. He studied architecture at Istanbul Technical University, since it was related to his real dream career, painting. He left the architecture school after three years, however, to become a full-time writer and graduated from the Institute of Journalism at Istanbul University in 1976.From ages 22 to 30,Pamuk lived with his mother, writing his first novel and attempting to find a Publisher. He is a Muslim, and he describes himself as a cultural one who associates the historical and cultural identification with the religion. On 1st of March,1982,Pamuk married with Aylin Türegen, a historian. From 1985 to 1988,Pamuk assumed the position of visiting scholar at Columbia University while his wife was a graduate student there. Using the time to conduct research and write his novel ―The Black Book‖at the University‘s Butler Library, this period also included a visiting fellowship at the University of Iowa. Pamuk returned to Istanbul, a city to which strongly attached. He and his wife had a daughter named Rüya, born in 1991,whose name means‖dream‖ in Turkish. He and Aylin divorced in 2001. Pamuk returned to US to take a position as a visiting professor at Columbia in 2006.He is currently a fellow with Columbia‘s Commitee on Global Thought and holds an appointment in Columbia‘s Middle East and Asian Launguages and Cultural Department and at its school of arts. On 12th of October,2006,Swedish Academy anounced that, Orhan Pamuk had been awarded the 2006 Nobel Price in Literature. He held his Nobel Lecture on 7th of December,2006 at the Swedish Academy, Stockholm. The lecture was intitled ―Babamın Bavulu‖(My Father‘s Suitcase)‖and was given in Turkish.
80
Özay Gönlüm was born in Kızılcabölük, Denizli, which is famous with its weaving, in 1940.He was married and had two children. When he was sixteen, he had met with Muzaffer Sarısözen, who was the founder of Yurttan Sesler, which is Turkish Folk Music Choir. Özay Gönlüm had taken part in the programme of Yurttan Sesler as a guest musician with Sarısözen‘s invitation. Özay Gönlüm who the most beloved member of TRT(Turkish Radio Television) family. He had also won our loves with his Aegean folk songs, stories anecdotes, with his local accent, and mimics. He had been in selection and evolution committee of most exams TRT and served for Ministery of Culture as a member of repertory committe. His last regular programme broadcasted on channel TRT, was a music programme named ―Istekler Programı‖. Özay Gönlüm was an inventor of a musical instrument under name of ―Yaren‖which is unique to himself. He had gathered the folk songs from Aegean Region, especially Kütahya and Denizli provinces. Most of these songs took their parts in TRT repertory. Some of them are ;‖Denizlinin Horozları, Çil Horoz, Çöz de al Mustafa Ali, Asmam Çardaktan, Cemilemin gezdiği dağlar meşeli‖. Gönlüm died on 1st of March, 2000 at faculty of medicine at Ankara University.
7.6 Portugal (Castelo de Paiva) Amadeo de Souza Cardoso (November 14, 1887 - October 25, 1918) was a Portuguese artist, working in the style of the vanguard of his time. Although he lived a short life, his workmanship was legendary. He was born in Mancelos, a parish of Amarante. At the age of 18, he entered the Superior School of Fine Arts of Lisbon and, two years later, he went to Paris, where he intended to continue his studies but soon quit the architecture course and started to study painting. In Montparnasse, he experimented with Impressionism and later with Expressionism and Cubism, and dedicated himself exclusively to painting. His first experience was drawing, especially caricatures. He became close with artists and writers such as Gertrude Stein, Juan Gris, Amedeo Modigliani, Alexander Archipenko, Max Jacob, the couple Robert Delaunay and Sonia Terk Delaunay, and Constantin Brancusi, as well as the German artist Otto Freundlich. He was also befriended with the Italian Futurists Gino Severini and Umberto Boccioni. He travelled to New York City, Boston, Chicago, Berlin and Germany. In 1913, Amadeo de Souza Cardoso participated in two seminal exhibitions: the Armory Show and the Erste Deutsche Herbstsalon at the Gallery "Der Sturm". Both exhibitions showed modern art to a public that was still not used to it. Amadeo was among the most commercially successful of the exhibitors at the Armory Show, as he sold seven of the eight works he showed there. Amadeo returned then to Portugal where he married Lúcia Peretto. He maintained contact with other Portuguese artists and poets such as Almada Negreiros, Santa-Rita Pintor and Teixeira de Pascoaes. On October 25, 1918, at the age of 31, he died in Espinho, victim of the Spanish flu. His early works, under the tutelage of the Spanish painter Anglada Camarasa, were stylistically close to Naturalism and Impressionism. Around 1910, influenced both by Cubism and by Futurism, he became one of the first modern Portuguese painters. His style is aggressive and vivid both in form and colour and the compositional structure of his works may seem random or chaotic at first sight but are clearly defined and balanced. His more innovative paintings, like "Trou de la Serrure" look like collages, and seem to pave the way to Abstractionism or even Dadaism. In 1912 he published an album with twenty drawings and, after that, he copied the story of Gustave Flaubert, ―La Légende de Saint Julien to l'Hospitalier‖, which were ignored by appreciators of art. In 1913 he exhibited eight works at the Armory Show in the USA, some of which are now in American museums. The following year, he returned to Portugal and initiated a great
81
and meteoric career in the experimentation of new forms of expression. In 1915 Amadeo and other artists such as Santa-Rita, Fernando Pessoa and Mário de Sá-Carneiro joined to shape Orpheu, a magazine which had only two editions and is considered by many to be the exponent of Portuguese Modernism. Amadeo also participated in another magazine, Portugal Futurista, which had only one edition published. In 1916, he displayed in Oporto 114 artworks with the heading ―Abstraccionism‖ that also was displayed in Lisbon, one and another with newness and some scandal. Cubism was in expansion throughout Europe and was an important influence in his analytical Cubism. Amadeo de Souza Cardoso explored Expressionism and in his last works he tried new techniques and other forms of plastic expression. In 1925, a retrospective exhibition in France of the painter‘s artwork was well received by the public and critics. Ten years later in Portugal, an award was created to distinguish modern painters: the Souza-Cardoso prize. Amadeo de Souza Cardoso was a visionary. His ink drawings, richly decorative but always figurative, allow a relationship to those of Aubrey Beardsley. His artworks are characterized by exotic landscapes with prodigious styles, decorative and surprising aspects with cubism drawings which transmitted elegance, mystery, imagination, emotion, poetry and symbolism. After his death, his work remained almost unknown until 1952, when a room dedicated to his paintings in the Amarante Museum gained the public's attention. It is said that Amadeo crossed the modern painting like a comet: brief but intense. Although little known internationally, he is one of the most innovative artists of his time. Selection of artworks - Retrato de Francisco Cardoso ( Portrait of Francisco Cardoso ) - Menina dos Cravos ( Carnation girl ) - Cozinha da Casa de Manhufe ( Manhufe's kitchen ) - Entrada ( Entrance ) - Pintura (Painting) (Brut 300 TSF) - Os falcões ( The Hawks ), álbum XX dessins, publ. In Paris, 1912 - O castelo, ( The Castle) 1912 - Pintura ( Painting ): Coty, 1917 - Máscara de olho verde ( The green-eyed mask ), 1916
Amália da Piedade Rodrigues was born in Martim Vaz, in Lisbon, Portugal. She was the fifth in a family with nine children. The date of birth is ignored and in official documents it is stated that she had been born on July 23 but Amália had always considered that she was born on the first day of the month. Amália was a Portuguese fado singer and an actress known globally as the Queen of Fado. Amália was the daughter of a musician and of a shoemaker and before she was born her father tried his luck in Lisbon, but 14 months after Amália's birth, their parents went back to Fundão, leaving Amália under the care of her grandparents in the capital. In 1929, Amália began studying at the elementary school, and it was at a school party that she sang for the first time in public. After having finished the elementary school, in 1932, she got a job as embroiderer and a year later she worked in the cake factory of Pampulha, in Lisbon. In 1934, Amália decided to live with their parents, and to help her family she began to work, then a fifteen-year-old girl, in the area of Rocha's wharf, selling fruit; being known for her distinct voice, she was integrated in the popular march of Alcântara, in 1936. In 1938 Amália met Francisco of Cruz, an amateur guitarist, with whom she married in 1940. Amália was invited to sing at the most famous fado house then, Severa‘s retreat,
82
having refused the invitation and only, in 1939, did she sing at that house. Starting from there, her career began and, in 1940, she made a debut with the play ―Ora vai tu‖ at Maria Vitória Theatre. There she found Frederico Valério, the composer of many of her fado songs. Although her career was in a good road, three years after her marriage, Amália got divorced, and that was the date of her first performance out of Portugal, accomplished in Madrid, Spain. In 1944 she got a role in the operetta "Rosa cantadeira" and, in September, she acted in the Copacabana casino, in Rio de Janeiro, together with the conductor Fernando Freitas. At the age of 26, Amália already had a show exclusively for her that had plenty of success. Amália recorded albums, sold in several countries, and her internationalization increased in 1950, with the participation in the Marshall plan shows, where they announced great artists of each country. In 1952, after having stepped many stages, Amália made a debut in New York, on the stage of "La vie en Rose", where they were 14 weeks in scene. In 1953 she sang for the first time on Television (NBC), sponsored by Coke that Amália had to drink and that she had not liked at all. Amália sang the great Portuguese poets such as Camões and Bocage, and the poets that wrote for her like Pedro Mello and David Ferreira. In 1969 she married with César Seabra, an engineer from Brazil. In 1974, she recorded the album ―Encontro‖- with Amália and Don Dyas. After April 25, people paid her great homage; at the same time, she faced financial problems and she saw herself forced to undo some of her patrimony. With the passing of the years she saw her composer, her poet and her husband, with whom she had been married for 36 years, disappear. In 1997 her final album for Valentim de Carvalho was edited with unpublished recordings accomplished between 1965 and 1975 (I whisper), she also published a book of poems (verses), and it was done a national homage in the national exhibition of Lisbon (Expo 98) for her. In 1999, Amália was decorated in the French cinematic by the many shows that she gave in that city and she was due to her that France began to appreciate Fado. On October 6, in 1999, Amália died, at home, aged 79. National mourning was declared for three days by António Guterres, the Prime-Minister then. She was buried at the Prazeres cemetery, and, in 2000, her body had been moved for the National Pantheon in Lisbon. Amália represented and still represents Portugal all over the world, from Lisbon to the Rio de Janeiro, from New York to Rome, from Tokyo to the Soviet Union, from Mexico to London spreading thus the Portuguese culture, language and fado.
José de Sousa Saramago is one of the most prestigious Portuguese writers and a Portuguese glorious reference. He is the son and grandson of poor countrymen. He was born in Azinhaga, which is in the Ribatejo region, on 16 th November 1922; however, his birth registration states that his birth date is on 18th November 1922. When his parents immigrated to Lisbon, he was not 2 years old, then. The majority of his life had been spent there, in Lisbon, but the period for what he was becoming an adult was spent in his birthplace. José Saramago studied until the high school and since then he couldn‘t continue because of his economic difficulties. In his first job, he worked as a mechanic locksmith and after that he has also worked as a draughtsman, as a translator, as a publisher and also as a
83
journalist. His first book, a romance whose name is ―Terra do Pecado‖, was published in 1947. In that same year his daughter, Violante, from his first marriage, was born. Then, he lived a long time without publishing any book, until 1966. During 12 years he used to work in a publishing house where he presented services in the literary direction and in the production. Furthermore, José Saramago collaborated as a literary reviewer on the "Seara Nova‖ magazine. In 1972 and 1973 he was a member in the editorial office of the ―Diário de Lisboa‖ newspaper, where he was later a political commentator. Besides, he had coordinated the cultural supplement of that same newspaper for about one year. José Saramago also belonged to the first direction of the Portuguese Association of Writers and he was, from 1985 until 1994, president of the General Assembly of the Portuguese Society of Authors. Between April and November of 1975 he was assistant director of the ―Diário de Noticias ― newspaper and since 1976 he began living just for his literary work, firstly as a translator, then as an author. The book ―Memorial do Convento‖ is one of his most important productions because of its story which has definitely won the respect of readers and reviewers; that‘s why it is nowadays studied in the Portuguese schools by the students who attend the 12 th form. José Saramago is singular in his writing since he uses his own methods to write, ignoring somehow the ordinary rules of punctuation of the Portuguese language. One of his recent books ―Ensaio sobre a Cegueira‖ (Blindness) was adapted to the cinema in 2008. In February 1993 José Saramago started to share his time between his usual residence in Lisbon and the Lanzarote Island, in the Canarias archipelago (Spain), but currently he is definitely living on the Lanzarote Island. José Saramago was honored with the Nobel Prize for Literature, in 1998. He also won the Camões Prize which is the most important literary award of the Portuguese language and the one which attributes the highest distinction to the Portuguese writers. Saramago is considered the responsible for the current international recognition of the prose in the Portuguese language, too. Currently, he is 87 years old and he‘s married with Pilar del Río. José Saramago wrote: Dificílimo acto é o de escrever, responsabilidade das maiores.(...) Basta pensar no extenuante trabalho que será dispor por ordem temporal os acontecimentos, primeiro este, depois aquele, ou, se tal mais convém às necessidades do efeito, o sucesso de hoje posto antes do episódio de ontem, e outras não menos arriscadas acrobacias (...) [Writing is the most difficult act, one of the greatest responsibility (…) It’s enough to consider the exhausting work that is to set the events chronologically, first this, then that, or, if it is more convenient to the needs of effect, today’s success should be placed before yesterday’s episode, and others not less risky acrobatics (…)] in Saramago, A Jangada dePedra, 1986
7.6 Portugal (Alcochete) Graça Morais was born on the 17th March 1948 in Vieiro, a small village in Trás-os-Montes, a region in the North of Portugal. She got into the primary school in Vieiro in 1955, when she started painting objects from her daily life. Between 1957 and 1958 she lived in Mozambique with her family. While they were living there she was offered her first watercolours box by her father. When the family returned to Trás-os-Montes she went to the school of Vila Flor. In 1961 she got into the high school in Bragança. In 1963 she painted the sceneries for the performance of a play by Gil Vicente. This was a very important moment in her life, because she was recognized as a painter from then on. In 1964 she decided that she would like to study fine-arts. Finally, in 1966, she got into the Fine-Arts Academy of Porto. She suffered a huge influence of the painters Marc Chagall and Van Gogh. In 1970 she made her first travel away from Portugal, visiting London, Paris and Amsterdam. In 1971 she finishes her degree in painting.
84
She got married with the painter Jaime Silva and she taught at the Ornamental Arts School of Soares dos Reis in Porto. In 1972 she decided to live in Guimarães where she taught Visual Arts and participated in many exhibitions. Her daughter was born on the 19th April 1974, on the edge of the Portuguese revolution that happened on the 24 th of April. In 1975 she was one of the founders of the group Puzzle, with 8 artists and a critic of art (Albuquerque Mendes, Armando Azevedo, Carlos Carreiro, Dario Alves, Fernando Pinto Coelho, Gerardo Burmester, Jaime Silva, João Dixo e Pedro Rocha). This group made several exhibitions during the following 2 years. Between 1976 and 1978 she lived in Paris with a Scholarship from the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. In 1979 she returned to Portugal and decided to live in Lisbon. Since 1980 she has exhibited her works not only in Porto and Lisbon but also all over the world, as for instance São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Madrid, Washington, Cidade da Praia, Mindelo, and Macau, just to name some. Besides painting she made several other works related to the arts: - She illustrated books. - She made the poster for the celebration of the 25 years of the Amnesty International. - She made the drawings for several tapestries that were performed by the industry ―Manufactura de Tapeçarias de Portalegre‖, which can be found in Lisbon as part of the collections of the Parliament, the Town Hall, Technical University, the bank Montepio Geral and Mário Soares Foundation or in some private collections. - She made a painted diary of her visit to Japan which was printed in 1993 with texts from Jorge Borges and Alberto Vaz da Silva. - She was the painter of several wall tiles, which can be seen in the headquarters of the bank Caixa Geral de Depósitos in Lisbon; in the train station from Seixal; in Bragança in the town market, in the building of the bank Caixa de Crédito Agrícola Mútua and in the town Theater; in the town library of Carrazeda de Anciães; in the Astrophysics Centre and Planetarium in Porto; in the overpass in Rinchoa/Rio de Mouro; in the Hydroelectric Power Station of Vilar de Frades and in the Belarus subway station of Moscow. - She created several sceneries and wardrobes for some plays directed by Carlos Avillez. Graça Morais is known as the greatest living Portuguese painter. In 2008, in her honour, the Portuguese government built a house in Bragança to exhibit her works.
85
José Rodrigues dos Santos is a journalist, a lecturer at Universidade Nova de Lisboa, a public University in Lisbon, and a writer. José was born in Mozambique, in April 1964, when this African country was part of the Portuguese Empire. His father was a doctor who travelled around war-torn Mozambique providing medical assistance to local inhabitants. It was in Mozambique that José first experienced the harsh realities of war, which would have an impact in his life. After the collapse of the Portuguese empire, in 1974, José moved to Portugal; then, five years later, to Macau, a Portuguese colony in China, close to Hong Kong. It was here, at the age of seventeen, that he began his journalistic career working as a reporter for Radio Macau. He returned to Portugal in 1982 to take a degree in journalism before moving to the UK in 1986 to work for the BBC in London. This was to be a crucial step in the development of his journalistic and writing skills, including radio drama. In 1990, José returned to Portugal where he was hired by RTP, Portugal‘s public television station. He also began teaching television journalism and radio drama at the University. At RTP he began as a reporter for Telejornal, RTP‘s Evening News, but within a few months became a presenter for 24 Horas, RTP‘s Late News. It was while presenting this programme in January 1991 that he gave the first news of the Gulf War. His presentation of the ensuing dramatic events instantly brought him to national attention. As a result, José was soon promoted to presenter of Telejornal, becoming RTP´s main anchorman, a position he still holds today. In 1993, while working for RTP, he became a regular CNN World Report contributor, filing stories from around the world to the American Television news station. He became involved in war reporting, a situation he was familiar with, as a result of his childhood in Mozambique. He covered war and crisis in South Africa, Angola, East Timor, Iraq, Kuwait, Israel and the Palestinian territories, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia and Lebanon. His last conflict was the 2008 Russian-Georgian war, which he covered from Tbilisi and Gori. In 2000 he finished his Ph. D. Dissertation on war reporting, which he later published in 3 volumes, entitled War Chronicles. Over the years José Rodrigues dos Santos he has won several awards, both academic and journalistic. He was awarded twice by the Portuguese Press Club – in 1986 with Prémio Ensaio and in 1994 with the Grande Prémio de Jornalismo. In 1987 he won the American Club of Lisbon Award for Academic Merit, by the American Club of Lisbon. He also received several awards for the best television news presenter in Portugal, as voted by the public. Internationally, he won 3 CNN awards: in 1994, the Best News Breaking Story of the Year for the story ―Huambo Battle‖, set in the Angolan civil war; in 1998 the Best News Story of the Year for the Sunday, for the report ―Albania Bunkers‖, set in the 1997 civil unrest in that country; in 2000, the Contributor Achievement Award in recognition of his career. In 2002, a friend involved in a literary magazine asked José to write a short story for him. He had read War Chronicles and believed José was a novelist in waiting. So, drawing from his journalistic writing and radio drama scripting, José began writing a short story for the magazine. After a while, however, he realized his short story, written in two weeks, was 200 pages long. It became his first novel, The Island of Darkness, the story of a family in East Timor during the years of the Indonesian occupation.
86
This first novel wasn‘t a bestseller, but it gave him the writing bug and two years later José finished his second novel, The Captain’s Daughter. This was a story of love and betrayal set in World War I. After The Captain’s Daughter, all José‘s novels became instantaneous bestsellers, sold for translation to 15 languages. In 2005, José published Codex 632, an historical thriller focusing on the true identity of Christopher Columbus and his Iberian Jewish background, and based on actual documents. His next novel, The God Formula, is a scientific thriller set in Portugal, Iran and Tibet concerning the Iranian nuclear crisis and the biggest quest of them all: the search for the scientific proof of God‘s existence. José‘s 2007 novel, The Seventh Seal, is another thriller set in Antarctica, Portugal, Austria, Siberia and Australia and concerns the biggest immediate threats to human civilization: global warming and the end of oil. In the following year he published Life in a Breath (126.000 copies), a story set in Portugal in the 1930s, involving a love affair, a murder, a political persecution and the Spanish Civil War. His latest novel, The Wrath of God, deals with two questions: what if Al-Qaeda has got the atomic bomb, and what if true Islam is radical Islam? It was reviewed by a former operative of Al-Qaeda, the man who carried out Bin Laden‘s first attack in Europe. This novel won the 2009 Porto Literary Club Award. Overall, José has sold more than one million books in Portugal.
Xutos e Pontapés In the end of 1978 Zé Pedro (bass), Kalú (drums), Tim (bass) and Zé Leonel (vocals) formed the musical group Xutos e Pontapés. They gave their first concert on the 13th January 1979 in the main room of the dance group Alunos de Apolo. They started off in the local punk rock scene and set the trend, as the "successors" of Faíscas (a local punk band, well known in the scene, who left the stage in their last show for Xutos to play their first), singing rock tunes in Portuguese. After 3 decades of studio and live albums, Xutos & Pontapés continue to be considered Portugal's top rock band influencing new generations of Portuguese bands. In 1981 Zé Leonel left the group and the bass player Francis got in. Tim became the vocalist of the group. In 1983 Francis left the group and the bass player João Cabeleira joined in. During the 90s the group had an internal crisis as their members start having other projects. In 2004 the band was awarded the Order of Merit by the Portuguese President Jorge Sampaio, for their 25 years of career achievements. On 26 th September 2009 they played to a packed football stadium, to celebrate their 30th anniversary. They played for 3 hours, each hour marking a decade of their steadily successful career.
87
The current members are mostly the ones from the original line up: Tim (bass/vocals), Zé Pedro (rhythm-guitar and founder of the band), João Cabeleira (he is the lead-guitar since 1983; former he belonged to the group Vodka Laranja), Kalú (drums) and Gui (sax). Former members include Zé Leonel (vocals, when Tim was only the bassist), Francis (lead-guitar), and, occasionally, Rámon Galarza (keyboards in the 90's). The fans refer to the band as Xutos; and Xutos is pronounced 'shootoosh'. Both 'xutos' and 'pontapés' are words in reference to two types of kicks (although the first one is more commonly used to refer to kicking a ball, the second one might be used to any kind of kick). They have sung several themes for Portuguese films and series. In 2009 they won the MTV Europe Music Award in the category ―The Best Portuguese Act‖.
7.7 Poland Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin, the Polish composer and pianist, was born on 1 March 1810. His birthplace was the village of Zelazowa Wola near Sochaczew. The manorhouse in Zelazowa Wola belonged to Count Skarbek, and Chopin's father, Mikolaj (Nicolas) Chopin a Polonized Frenchman, was employed there as a tutor. His mother Tekla Justyna Krzyzanowska was the housekeeper for the Skarbek family at Zelazowa Wola. He had three siblings. The musical talent of Fryderyk became apparent extremely early on, and it was compared with the childhood genius of Mozart. Already at the age of 7, Fryderyk was the author of two polonaises (in G minor and B flat major). His first professional piano lessons, given to him by Wojciech Zywny, lasted from 1816 to 1822. From 1823 to 1826, Fryderyk attended the Warsaw Lyceum where his father was one of the professors. He spent his summer holidays in estates belonging to the parents of his school friends, where he revealed a particular interest in folk music and country traditions. The young composer listened to and noted down the texts of folk songs, took part in peasant weddings and harvest festivities, danced, and played a folk instrument resembling a double bass with the village musicians. In the autumn of 1826, Chopin began studying the theory of music, figured bass and composition at the Warsaw School of Music. This was the period of the first extended works such as the Sonata in C minor, Variations, op. 2 on a theme from Don Juan by Mozart, the Rondo à la Krakowiak, op. 14, the Fantaisie, op. 13 on Polish Airs (the three last ones written for piano and orchestra) and the Trio in G minor, op. 8 for piano, violin and cello. Chopin ended his education at the Higher School in 1829, and after the third year of his
88
studies Elsner wrote in a report: "Chopin, Fryderyk, third year student, amazing talent, musical genius". Chopin, already free from student duties, devoted himself to composition and wrote, among other pieces, two Concertos for piano and orchestra: in F minor and E minor. Then Chopin resolved to go to Paris. The most important source of Chopin's income in Paris was, however, from giving lessons. He became a popular teacher among the Polish and French aristocracy and Parisian salons were his favourite place for performances. As a pianist, Chopin was ranked among the greatest artists of his epoch, such as Kalkbrenner, Liszt, Thalberg and Herz. He disliked public performances and appeared rarely and rather unwillingly. In July 1837, Chopin travelled to London in the company of Camille Pleyel. Soon afterwards, he entered into a close liaison with the famous French writer George Sand. In 1839, due to unfavourable weather conditions, Chopin became gravely ill and showed symptoms of tuberculosis. His rapidly progressing disease made it impossible to continue giving lessons. In the summer of 1849, Ludwika Jedrzejewiczowa, the eldest sister of the composer, came from Warsaw to take care of her ill brother. On 17 October 1849, Chopin died of pulmonary tuberculosis in his Parisian flat in the Place Vendôme. He was buried in the Père-Lachaise cemetery in Paris. In accordance with his will, however, his heart, taken from his body after death, was brought by his sister to Warsaw where it was placed in an urn installed in a pillar of the Holy Cross church in Krakowskie Przedmiescie.
Jan Matejko ( 1838 – 1893) was a Polish painter known for paintings of notable historical Polish political and military events. His most famous works include oil on canvas paintings like Battle of Grunwald, paintings of numerous other battles and court scenes, and a gallery of Polish kings. He is counted among the most famous Polish painters. Matejko was born on the 24th of June 1838 in the Kraków. He first worked for the Wodzicki family in Kościelniki Poland, then moved to Krakow where he married the half German, half Polish Joanna Karolina Rossberg. Jan was the ninth child from eleven that his parents had. He never mastered a foreign language and did not do well even with his native Polish language. In 1860 Matejko issued an illustrated album, Clothing in Poland, a project reflecting his intense interest in historical records of all kinds and his desire to promote such interest among the Polish people in an effort to intensify their patriotic feelings. Altogether Matejko authored 320 oil paintings and several thousands drawings and watercolors. Finally he painted a monumental polychrome in St. Mary's Basilica, Kraków (1889-1891). His most important paintings were hidden during World War II (Bitwa pod Grunwaldem was buried in Lublin). After 1945 majority of his works was found and subject to restoration. They are now mainly in Warsaw's National Museum. His works, disseminated in thousands of reproductions, have made him one of the most famous painters in Poland, and became almost standard illustrations of many key events in Polish history.
Stanisław Lem (12 September 1921 – 27 March 2006) was a Polish science fiction, philosophical and satirical writer. His books have been translated into 41 languages and have sold over 27 million copies. His works explore philosophical themes; speculation on technology, the nature of intelligence, the impossibility of mutual communication and understanding, despair about human limitations and humankind's place in the universe. Lem was born in 1921 in Lwów, Poland (now Ukraine). He was the son of Sabina Woller and Samuel Lem. While Lem was raised a Catholic, he later became an atheist "for moral reasons ... the world appears to me to be put together in such a painful way that I prefer to believe that it was not created ... intentionally". After the Soviet occupation of Eastern Poland, he was not allowed to study at the Polytechnic as he wished because of his "bourgeois origin"
89
and only due to his father's connections was accepted to study medicine at Lwów University in 1940. During World War II and the Nazi occupation, Lem survived with false papers, earning a living as a car mechanic and welder, and becoming active in the resistance. In 1945, Polish eastern Kresy were annexed into the Soviet Ukraine and the family, like many other Poles, was resettled to Kraków where Lem at his father's pressure took up medical studies at the Jagiellonian University. Since he refused to tailor his answers to the prevailing Lysenkoism, Lem failed his final examinations on purpose so as not to be obliged to become a military doctor. Earlier he had started working as a research assistant in a scientific institution and writing stories in his spare time. Lem made his literary debut in 1946 as a poet, and at that time he also published several dime novels. Beginning that year, Lem's first science fiction novel Człowiek z Marsa (The Man from Mars) was serialized in the magazine Nowy Świat Przygód (New World of Adventures). Between 1947 and 1950 Lem, while continuing his work as a scientific research assistant, published poems, short stories, and scientific essays. However, during the era of Stalinism, all published works had to be directly approved by the communist regime. Lem finished a partly autobiographical novella Hospital of the Transfiguration (Szpital Przemienienia) in 1948, but it was suppressed by the authorities until 1955 when he added a sequel more acceptable to the doctrine of socialist realism. In 1951 he published his first book, Astronauci (The Astronauts); it was commissioned as juvenile SF and Lem was forced to include many references to the 'glorious future of communism' in it. He later criticized this novel (as well as several of his other early pieces, bowing to the ideological pressure) as simplistic; nonetheless its publication convinced him to become a full-time writer. Between 1956 and 1968, Lem authored 17 books. Lem died in Kraków on 27 March 2006 at the age of 84 after a battle with heart disease.
90
8. Articles about the meetings (by students and /or teachers) GORZOW WIELKOPOLSKY By Maria ILIE Gorzów Wielkopolski este considerat unul dintre marile oraşe de provincie, situat aproape de graniŝele Germaniei, fiind traversat de râul Varta. Oraşul - un adevărat centru administrativ, economic social şi cultural – este un nod de drumuri care leagă Germania de ŝările Baltice. Se află la circa 100 de km de Berlin, Poznan şi Szczecin, fiind înconjurat de localităŝi precum Slubice, Swiecko, Kunowice şi Kostrin. Gorzów Wielkopolski se întinde pe o suprafaŝă de 86 de Km pătraŝi şi are o populaŝie de aproximativ 130.000 de locuitori. Complexul şcolar Zespół Szkół Sportowych (NB - denumirea Liceului cu program sportiv din Gorzów Wielkopolski) - vizitat şi cuprins în acest proiect internaŝional - a fost creat în aprilie 2005, elevii începând cursurile în luna septembrie a aceluiaşi an. Aici se învaŝă şi se practică sporturi de apă, precum înotul şi canotajul. Şcoala colaborează cu trei cluburi sportive reprezentative: Slowianka, Admira şi Academic Sport Club. Directorul şcolii, Jacek Kieckana, a spus că ideea înfiinŝării acestei unităŝi de învăŝământ cu program sportiv a fost întâmpinată cu entuziasm de autorităŝile locale, care depun toate eforturile pentru a o susŝine din punct de vedere financiar. Astfel, în timp record, prin rezultatele obŝinute, aceasta a ajuns să fie considerată de polonezi o adevărată şcoală pentru campioni. Unitatea de învăŝământ este democratică şi tolerantă, pregătindu-i pe elevi pentru viaŝă, pentru o lume în continuă schimbare, în spiritul armoniei între corp şi minte. Are mai multe structuri şi funcŝionează în două schimburi, şcolarizând elevi cu vârste cuprinse între 7 şi 13 ani, respectiv, 14-18 ani. Mai mult, în acelaşi liceu cu profil sportiv, pot lua lecŝii de sport alte câteva sute de elevi din şcoli care nu au acelaşi profil. Zespół Szkół Sportowych, o şcoală de campioni În ziua de 16 aprilie, 2009, delegaŝiile din toate ŝările participante în acest proiect internaŝional (directori, coordonatori, profesori şi elevi) au fost primite la Zespół Szkół Sportowych, în sala de sport, în cadru festiv, unde au fost întâmpinaŝi de olimpicii şcolii sportive, elevi premiaŝi cu medalii de aur, de argint şi de bronz la competiŝiile naŝionale şi internaŝionale. Gazdele se mândresc cu campionii care le-au adus în 2007 nu mai puŝin de 45 de medalii, dintre acestea 20 fiind din aur, 13 din argint iar 12 din bronz. Aceştia au oferit oaspeŝilor tricouri, mape şi cadouri personalizate, cu numele şcolii, după care i-au dus să viziteze şcoala în care învaŝă cei peste 600 de elevi. Clădirea are trei nivele ( parter, etajul I şi etajul II). Pentru un liceu cu profil sportiv, dotarea este nu una corespunzătoare, ci cu mult peste medie: săli de masaj, de gimnastică, sală de sport, săli de recuperare, săli specializate, bazine de înot etc. Cu toate acestea, directorul Jacek a afirmat că şcoala, din punct de vedere al dotării şi amenajării, este departe de ceea ce şi-a propus el să realizeze. De asemenea, în curtea şcolii există o bază sportivă corespunzătoare exigenŝelor pentru obŝinerea performanŝei. Unul dintre etaje are toate sălile modernizate, dotate cu logistică. Şcoala este renovată doar parŝial, imobilul având o vechime de aproape 40 de ani, iar ferestre din termopan există numai la unele săli de clasă. La parter există sală de mese unde este servită mâncare adusă de o firmă de catering. Sportivii beneficiază de gratuitate, în timp ce elevii ceilalŝi pot mânca la şcoală, contra cost. În fiecare zi, după terminarea cursurilor, elevii fac lecŝiile la şcoală, asistaŝi de cadre didactice. Au consilier psiholog, medic, stomatolog şi fac cursuri de igienă aplicată, asistată de diriginte şi de un cadru medical. Numărul de elevi la clasă este, în medie, de 25 de elevi. Şcoala este înconjurată de spaŝii verzi, neexistând riscul ca elevii să fie accidentaŝi. Am fost impresionată de faptul că aceşti
91
copii au obŝinut atâtea performanŝe, dar şi mai impresionată de faptul că acestor copii li s-a dat şansa de a-şi demonstra aptitudinile, de a se dărui în totalitate carierei alese. Simultan, am trăit sentimente de admiraŝie şi de respect pentru aceia care au investit în copii, dar m-a cuprins şi tristeŝea, gândindu-mă că, în ciuda faptului că s-au realizat atâtea lucruri în şcoala pe care o conduc, nu am reuşit încă să ofer elevilor şansa de a-şi descoperi aptitudinile, în lipsa unei baze sportive elementare. Îndrăznesc să-mi imaginez că şi la Ghindeni s-ar putea naşte un campion mondial, dar, fără să i se dea o şansă reală, nu avem cum să aflăm acest lucru. Avem nevoie de un teren de fotbal, handbal, de coşuri pentru baschet, ca să nu mai vorbim despre dezideratul suprem: o sală de sport. Învăŝământul preuniversitar polonez s-a reformat încă din 1999 şi continuă să se alinieze la sistemele ŝărilor dezvoltate din UE. Salariile personalului didactic din Polonia sunt cu mult mai mari în comparaŝie cu cele din sistemul de învăŝământ românesc. În ceea ce priveşte disciplina, aceasta se situează în limitele normalităŝii, însă la curăŝenie şi la educaŝia pentru mediu şi demonstrarea în practică a acesteia înving categoric, polonezii având altă mentalitate. Sunt mult mai civilizaŝi, mai pragmatici, influenŝa ŝărilor occidentale fiind vizibilă. Turcii credeau că românii se trag din India În cadrul activităŝilor proiectului, printre altele, elevii din ŝările participante trebuiau să-şi demonstreze cunoştinŝele despre istoria şi geografia ŝărilor din care proveneau şcolile partenere, completând nişte jocuri de rebus, prin tragerea la sorŝi a unei ŝări. Şi uite aşa, noi am nimerit Portugalia, iar turcii au nimerit taman România. Întrebările lor despre tratate ne-au dat mare bătaie de cap, dar, în cele din urmă, ne-am descurcat. Majoritatea participanŝilor în proiect au remarcat ambiŝia şi tenacitatea documentării a delegaŝiei din Turcia, însă, nu mică le-a fost uimirea să „afle― de la dascălii turci că românii erau consideraŝi indieni! Imediat, am ripostat cu eleganŝă, explicându-le vecinilor şi prietenilor noştri despre originea şi formarea poporului român şi despre originea şi dezvoltarea limbii române. Polonezii au scăpat de surprize de acest gen, pentru că au avut inspiraŝia să realizeze un mic ghid englez-polon, pentru a-i familiariza pe străini cu limba lor. Astfel, şi-au promovat inclusiv preparatele culinare, intraductibile în cuvinte. După activitate, elevii români şi străini s-au dus la înot, apoi, însoŝiŝi de cadre didactice, au vizitat oraşul. Pragmatismul polonezilor În cursul zilei de 17 aprilie, am fost invitaŝi să vizităm Primăria Gorzów Wielkopolski, unde am fost primiŝi de doamna viceprimar. În expozeul său, aceasta a punctat aspecte despre instituŝiile oraşului, despre infrastructură, investiŝii, despre artă, cultură şi învăŝământ. Am aflat că pentru administraŝia locală, învăŝământul este prioritar, investind în diversificarea şcolilor, în dotarea şi modernizarea acestora, punând accentul pe educaŝia sportivă, artistică, tehnologică şi lingvistică, fără să diminueze importanŝa cunoaşterii limbii materne. Astfel, ŝinta polonezilor este de a forma un elev sănătos, moral, cu dragoste şi respect faŝă de ŝară, faŝă de artă şi de cultură, cu abilităŝi de comunicare în limbi de circulaŝie internaŝională (engleza şi germana), familiarizat cu mijloacele moderne de comunicare, un elev cu spirit pragmatic, apt pentru cerinŝele pieŝei muncii din Polonia şi din ŝările membre ale Uniunii Europene. Nu întâmplător, în oraş s-a înfiinŝat inclusiv o fabrică de computere care să corespundă exigenŝelor pieŝei din UE. Polonezii, mai aproapiaŝi de şcoala europeană de muzică clasică
92
Gazdele ne-au condus la Şcoala de muzică, unde elevii artişti ne-au prezentat un program artistic de interpretare a unor lucrări pentru pian, vioară şi chitară, aparŝinând unor renumiŝi compozitori polonezi, precum: Fr. Chopin, Z. Noskowski, J. Garscia, M. Karlowicz, W. Zelenski şi H. Wieniawski. Am fost impresionaŝi de prestaŝia artistică a unor copii din şcoala de muzică, îndrumaŝi de profesoara de pian Marina Rusak, de profesorul de vioară Joakim Wrobl şi de profesoara de canto, Beaty Gramzy. Aici, o dată la doi ani, se organizează Concursul Internaŝional de Interpretare „Johann Sebastian Bach―. Am remarcat că elevii polonezi sunt mult mai aproapiaŝi de şcoala europeană de muzică clasică, însă elevii români sunt mai talentaŝi. Arta culinară poloneză Fiecare participant la proiect a primit - de la gazde - un orar culinar cu meniul ce aveau să ni-l servească la masă în fiecare zi a săptămânii, pe întreaga durată a şederii noastre în Polonia. Astfel, într-una din zile, la cantina şcolii am fost serviŝi cu supă de roşii, caşcaval umplut cu carne tocată, cartofi, salată, apă cu lămâie şi mere, iar în ziua următoare am fost invitaŝi la un picnic, în afara oraşului, pentru a gusta dintr-un purcel umplut cu arpacaş şi condimente. Mare ne-a fost uimirea când ne-am trezit cu străchini mari în faŝă, pline cu untură de porc şi jumări topite! Am crezut că este o glumă proastă care devine istorică, însă, ne-am liniştit atunci când i-am văzut pe polonezi cum înfulecau cu poftă. Surpriza a apărut la prânz, când fiecare a primit o sarma cât farfuria de mare şi un fel de cocă umplută cu tocătură şi sos de roşii. Apoi, ca desert, ne-au servit cu jeleu cu fructe. Cina interculturală Seara, „bucătari― din toate ŝările participante - elevi şi profesori, deopotrivă - pe „echipaje―, au început să pregătească masa tradiŝională. Astfel, turcii au preparat halva de casă şi alte ciudăŝenii, ceva ce semăna cu nişte teci uscate pe care le-au măcinat şi le-au preparat sub forma unui amestec. Portughezii s-au lăudat cu un fel de pâine neagră şi dulce, cu aromă de scorŝişoară, brânză afumată, din lapte de capră, vin roşu şi acru, de Porto, cârnaŝi afumaŝi şi apoi pârliŝi pe flacăra focului întreŝinut cu alcool. Nemŝii au pregătit nişte pliculeŝe din cocă, umplute cu carne tocată, servite cu supă, iar ca desert au pregătit budincă, aceasta rămânând întreagă, pentru că au uitat să adauge zahăr. Polonezii au pregătit şi ei pirogi ruseşti ( plicuri din cocă), umplute fie cu varză, fie cu brânză ori cu ciuperci, fie cu carne tocată sau cu dulceaŝă de zmeură. Noi am reuşit să punem pe masă patru platouri cu salată boeuf, ouă roşii, cozonac, două farfurii cu brânză, o sticlă cu vin roşu de Ghindeni şi două sticle cu „Vin de la Dinescu― (roşu şi alb). Deşi a fost foarte multă mâncare pe mesele celorlalŝi, toată mâncarea făcută de noi a avut succesul scontat. Nefiind obişnuiŝi cu celelalte feluri, fiecare a început să mănânce din mâncarea sa, însă, paradoxal, doar peste câteva minute, la masa cu steagul României, cadrele didactice din celelalte ŝări europene au făcut coadă, iar vinul lui Dinescu, după ce a fost degustat, a dispărut instantaneu. Astfel, dascălilor români nu le-a mai rămas nici măcar o picătură. Dascălii din ŝările europene participante la proiect mi-au solicitat detalii despre farmecul vinului dispărut, dar nu am ştiut să le explic decât că provine din celebrele podgorii ale poetului Mircea Dinescu, apreciat în Europa pentru harul său incontestabil şi pentru disidenŝa sa din ultima perioadă a regimului comunist.
Elevele din Ghindeni, cele mai admirate fete
93
După masă ne-au aşteptat surprizele pregătite de elevi şi de dascăli. Polonezii au deschis programul cu un grupaj de versuri patriotice despre Mama Polonia, cântece şi piese interpretate la vioară de Marcel, un băiat dolofan şi talentat, extrem de serios, elev în clasa a IV-a. Elevii germani au interpretat piese vocale acompaniate la chitară. Portughezii ne-au pregătit dansuri populare naŝionale, de o eleganŝă neobişnuită. Dacă nu i-am fi cunoscut înainte, în cadrul activităŝilor, am fi crezut că ne aflăm în faŝa unor adevăraŝi profesionişti. Costumele populare erau cele specifice regiunii din care proveneau. Seriozitatea şi transpunerea în rol ne-au impresionat, smulgând ropote de aplauze. Trupa de dans modern a elevelor din România (Ghindeni), „RRC Girls― - alcătuită din Cristina, Roxana şi Raluca - a avut o prestaŝie artistică de excepŝie. După ce
şi-au învins
emoŝia, firească oricărui artist, au arătat cât sunt de elegante, de frumoase şi de talentate. Acestea au dansat pe melodia „Dracula, My Love― (compusă de Marius Moga şi interpretată de Andra şi Smiley), coregrafia originală aparŝinându-le în totalitate. Succesul a fost incredibil. Băieŝii străini ovaŝionau în picioare pe scaune, pentru a le admira şi a le vedea mai bine, însă băieŝii români le-au păzit straşnic, din gelozie, dar... colegele de şcoală nu i-au băgat în seamă, acestea având alte ŝinte din Europa. Şi băieŝii români s-au făcut remarcaŝi în Polonia: la fotbal, la forŝă, la campionatul de râs şi la mâncatul cartofilor, cu care chiar i-au speriat pe toŝi. Chopin, simbolul luptei pentru libertatea Poloniei Următoarea zi a fost destinată unei călătorii în zona Bogdanieck. Acest nume pare să nu fi fost pus la întâmplare. În limba slavonă Bog înseamnă Dumnezeu, iar Dan înseamnă dar. Un adevărat dar de la Dumnezeu era acest peisaj de un pitoresc greu de descris în cuvinte. Pădurile pline de brazi şi arŝari păreau o binecuvântare, o adevărată oază de oxigen, de linişte, care înălŝa sufletul. Mă simŝeam mai aproape de Dumnezeu. Pentru o clipă am avut senzaŝia că am descoperit misterul care l-a inspirat pe Chopin în compoziŝiile sale şi că pot înŝelege melancolia melodiilor care încântă lumea şi fac sufletul să tresalte şi să suspine de aproape două veacuri. Nu ştiu dacă geniul lui Chopin provenea din interior sau din afară, sau erau amândouă la un loc, la care se adăuga harul divin. În faŝa acestor frumuseŝi nu-ŝi rămânea decât să taci, pentru a nu tulbura armonia divină. Gândul îmi zbura la versurile lui Blaga, din poemul „EU NU STRIVESC COROLA DE MINUNI A LUMII―. Aici era un fel de Grădină a Edenului, un loc care farmecă sufletul, dătător de echilibru interior, locul care face posibilă unirea tuturor contrastelor, idealul nordic lipsit de prejudecăŝi după care au tânjit, până la moarte, personajele baladei lui Ion Barbu, Riga Cripto şi Lapona Enigel. Pentru polonezi, genialul compozitor Chopin înseamnă mult mai mult. Acesta este considerat simbolul suprem al luptei pentru libertatea Poloniei, un adevărat erou naŝional. De aceea, inima lui Chopin este conservată şi păstrată într-o urnă de cristal, „zidită― într-unul din stâlpii Bisericii Sfintei Cruci din Varşovia. Ludwika, sora celui mai valoros compozitor romantic din toate timpurile, a adus inima legendarului în Capitala Poloniei, respectându-i dorinŝa. Trupul său a fost înhumat la cimitirul Père Lachaise din Paris, francezii încercând să-l revendice cu orice preŝ. Inima „zidită― a lui Chopin a rezistat celor două conflagraŝii mondiale, în pofida bombardamentelor masive. Lacrimile unei despărŝiri anunŝate Marŝi, dis-de-dimineaŝă a trebuit să ne luăm rămas bun de la prietenii noştri din Polonia. Câte lacrimi în ochii adolescenŝilor care au jucat, pentru o săptămână, rolul de fraŝi şi de prieteni adevăraŝi, alungând senzaŝia de singurătate şi golul din sufletul semenilor, problemă cu care se confruntă cei mai mulŝi dintre ei! După aproximativ două ore de plâns şi de
94
tăcere stânjenitoare, am ajuns la Berlin, iar aici toate drumurile s-au ramificat. Turcii nu păreau prea afectaŝi de despărŝire, pentru că nu se acomodaseră îndeajuns cu un mod de viaŝă diferit de al lor, iar abilităŝile lor de comunicare în limba engleză lăsau de dorit. Portughezii au plâns aproape tot drumul. Românii, deşi nu legaseră prietenii, stând mai tot trimpul împreună, păreau că nu simt dorul de casă, motiv pentru care au fost foarte tăcuŝi. Am lăsat bagajele la hotel şi ne-am grăbit să valorificăm cele câteva ore, vizitând cât mai multe obiective. Oraş liniştit, frumos, cu oameni calmi, fără frunŝi brăzdate de cute şi fără priviri îngrijorate, centru de civilizaŝie europeană, în care războiul pare doar o legendă. În timpul zilei, oraşul pare aproape pustiu. În schimb, seara, atât berlinezii, cât şi turiştii, ies din toate ascunzătorile, fără să facă mare zarvă. Persoane de toate vârstele merg să se plimbe de-a lungul Oderului, îşi duc copiii în parcuri, îşi beau cafeaua într-o companie plăcută, lăsând, parcă, impresia că trăiesc un vis al împlinirii spirituale şi profesionale. Cât despre noi, ce am putea spune mai mult? Am rămas uluiŝi de această lume plină de echilibru, în care normalitatea pare la ea acasă, lume în care curăŝenia şi disciplina nu sunt impuse. Nu ştiam dacă elevii au observat curăŝenia şi civilizaŝia de acolo, însă, la întoarcerea în ŝară, aceştia au început să remarce gunoaiele împrăştiate, detalii care altădată le păreau lipsite de importanŝă.
A two-year “GAME(S)”, started and ended in Portugal By Simona Negru, 15th March 2010 I went with emotion in the ―GAMES‖ in January 2007, when, together with Aura, I landed on the airport in Oporto. Here we were expected by Belmira and Filipe, with a mark - paper on which it was written ―GAMES‖… So the preparatory visit began, during which we were going to fill the application form for this project. We were led to Castelo de Paiva, on a road sided by orange trees. The orange trees were the first thing we were impressed of in this beautiful country. The following days we met teachers from Agrupamento Vertical de Castelo de Paiva, very friendly people, whom we changed impressions about our countries and about the project which we intended to realize together. Then I met the Polish partners, too, Jatzek and Slawek, then Cristina and Olivia, from Alcochete School. The meetings went well, the ideas exchanges were intense, in the end resulting a well-done project, which was approved to the majority of the participating countries, except for Bulgaria. As a result, the first meeting of the project was held in Craiova (Ghindeni School), in January 2009, at a -10 degrees temperature. For all those in our school it was a joy to be the hosts of the 31 participants and we did our best for that week spent here to be pleasant, and to remain with a beautiful memory about Ghindeni School, about Craiova and about Romania. The next meeting was in Gorzow Wielkopolski, where the Romanian delegation celebrated with cake and dyed red Easter eggs during intercultural dinner. Our students experienced many ―firsts‖: first travel abroad, first flight, first contact with other European countries (Germany and Poland), followed by being hosted by many families, visits to schools, interaction with foreign students, Polish cuisine (very tasty, in our opinion), a visit to the German bunkers and the beautiful landscapes with forests and lakes of the region visited.
95
More than this, a fortunate and happy event was the night spent in Berlin while waiting for the flight to Bucharest. Thus, we had the opportunity to go on the river Spree by boat, during which we were presented important monuments in East Berlin and crossing to West Berlin, we saw the Brandenburg Gate, visited the Berlin Philharmonic, Alexanderplatz, Berliner Fernsehturm (television tower in Berlin), and the impressive traces of the Berlin Wall. In the summer of 2009, in July, teachers from schools participating in the project met in Germany, in Ettlingen, to write together the progress report of the first year of the project and to determine the future activities. It should be noted the great hospitality Mirko and his students involved in the project showed. The entire program took place perfectly, things went quiet and natural, behind which it was a huge work done by Mirko which was known and appreciated by everybody. We visited the College of Ettlingen, where we noted the importance given to education by the German government, the teachers and students‘ conscientiousness and sense of work. Such an example was the exhibition about Ireland, exhibition organized by students inside the school. In four rooms you met with the Irish history, customs and traditions, religion, sports, culture, and even with the Irish language, all presented in an attractive and original way. Particularly interesting was the visit to ZKM Karlsruhe, a multimedia art museum, where you hardly wanted to leave. Going on the river Neckar to Heidelberg was a real joy for our eyes, because of the beautiful landscapes, forests, castles, holiday homes spread along the river. Heidelberg impressed us with its beauty as an old city, the cathedral and the castle being the main attractions. It may be noted here the visit to the famous resort of Baden-Baden. We tasted the famous healing waters, we visited the resort and had a pleasant surprise finding here an Orthodox church, built by the Romanian Prince Sturza, ― Sturdza Capelle‖. From Germany you come back home with the impression of a country where everything works perfectly, where people do their duty seriously, and, most importantly, treat you with respect and friendship. The second year of the project started with the meeting in Turkey, in Denizli, in October 2009. The entire Romanian delegation, consisting of 7 students and 3 teachers, was eager to know this country full of mysteries and with which, historically, the Romanians had much interference. Students were hosted in families from Karateke village, where the partner school is located. Our students established there some friendships with the Turkish, Polish and Portuguese pupils. They participated to different events of the village, to a wedding, had a picnic, played football and handball. The most impressive thing in Turkey seemed to be the muezzin song of the mosque, a prayer that, even incomprehensible, had a soothing and divine effect over us. The working meetings were interesting, in a relaxed atmosphere. During all this period of one year and a half of the project, friendly relations have developed among the participants; we got to know better, so that our meetings have become more and more pleasant. Looking back now, I can remember with a great pleasure about the impressive mosques, the Turkish bath, the ―Ataturk‖ Museum of Ethnography, the natural park of Denizli, and on the first place, of course, being the wonderful Pamukale. The most pleasant memory of this visit was the great friendship shown by our hosts, the Karateke school teachers, the school of Honaz, who hosted us for the dinner and the intercultural evening, the musicians of the Conservatory of Denizli, and last but not least, the officials who received us with open hearts and gave us the opportunity to know their hospitality. The end of the project will take place where it has been started, in Portugal, in April 2010. Once again, we will be a large delegation of 11 persons. And this can say something about the impact it had in our school, where the interest and participation in activities and meetings abroad increased both among students and teachers.
96
We look forward to – some for joining, others for the first contact with this sunny country, with its wonderful landscapes, with shores washed by the Atlantic, with more football and people full of life. Of the countries participating in this project, Spain, represented by CEIP San Augustin in Tenerife and its school manager, Esther, is the only one we did not get to know ―face to face‖. I want to mention it as Mrs. Esther involved with passion and dedication to all the activities, presented the work made by her students and the beauties of the island she lives in, rising our desire to get to visit it some day. Ending with these impressions, I feel sadness with the approach of the end of the unique ―happenings‖ in my life, which, with all the weight, with its hard work, brought me a lot of joy, many friends, helped me learn new things, made me understand more about diversity and its beauty. Thanks to everyone who made these two years be more beautiful then I ever expected!
Un “joc” de doi ani inceput si sfarsit in Portugalia De Simona Negru Am intrat cu emotie in acest ―GAMES‖ in ianuarie 2008, cand, impreuna cu Aura, am aterizat pe aeroportul din Oporto . Aici ne asteptau Belmira si Filipe, cu semnul de recunoastere- hartia pe care scria ―GAMES‖… Incepea vizita pregatitoare in care urma sa completam formularul de aplicatie pentru acest proiect. Ei ne-au condus la Castelo de Paiva, pe un drum presarat cu portocali. Multimea de portocale a fost primul lucru care ne-a impresionat in aceasta minunata tara. In zilele urmatoare am cunoscut profesorii de la Agrupamento Vertical de Castelo de Paiva, oameni foarte prietenosi, cu care am schimbat impresii despre tarile noastre si despre proiectul pe care intentionam sa-l realizam impreuna. Tot atunci i-am cunoscut si pe partenerii polonezi, Iatzek si Slawek, si pe Cristina si Olivia, de la scoala din Alcochete. Intalnirile de lucru au fost fructuoase, schimburile de idei intense, in final rezultand un proiect reusit, care a fost aprobat majoritatii aplicantilor, cu exceptia celor din Bulgaria. Aceasta exceptie a adus la Craiova si la Ghindeni prima intalnire din cadrul proiectului, in ianuarie 2009, la o temperatura de -10 grade. Pentru toti cei din scoala noastra a fost o bucurie sa fim gazdele celor 31 de participanti si am facut tot posibilul ca saptamana petrecuta aici sa fie placuta, iar ei sa ramana cu amintiri frumoase despre Scoala Ghindeni, despre Craiova si despre Romania. A urmat intalnirea din Gorzow Wielkopolski, unde delegatia romana a sarbatorit Pastele cu cozonac si oua rosii vopsite in cadrul mesei interculturale. Elevii nostri au trait multe premiere: prima iesire in afara tarii, zborul cu avionul, contactul cu alte tari europene(Germania si Polonia), gazduirea la familii, vizitarea unor scoli, relationarea cu elevii straini, gastronomia poloneza (foarte placuta gustului nostru), vizita la bunkerele germane si minunatele peisaje cu paduri si lacuri din regiunea vizitata. De asemenea, o intamplare fericita a fost o noapte petrecuta la Berlin in asteptarea avionului spre Bucuresti. Astfel, am avut prilejul sa facem o plimbare pe raul Spree, in cursul careia ne-au fost prezentate monumentele importante din Berlinul de Est si trecerea in Berlinul de Vest, am vazut Poarta Brandenburg, am vizitat Filarmonica din Berlin, AlexanderPlatz, Berliner Fernsehturm (turnul de televiziune din Berlin), si impresionantele urme din Zidul Berlinului. In vara anului 2009, in iulie, profesorii din scolile participante la proiect s-au intalnit in Germania, la Ettlingen, pentru a scrie impreuna raportul primului an de desfasurare a proiectului si pentru a stabili activitatile ulterioare. Trebuie remarcata deosebita ospitalitate de care au dat dovada Mirko si elevii sai implicati in proiect. Tot programul s-a desfasurat
97
perfect, lucrurile au decurs linistit si firesc, in spatele acestora aflandu-se o imensa munca depusa de Mirko, care a fost recunoscuta si apreciata de toata lumea. Am vizitat colegiul din Ettlingen, unde am remarcat importanta data invataturii de catre Guvernul german, constiinciozitatea si spiritul de munca al profesorilor si al elevilor. Un exemplu graitor a fost expozitia despre Irlanda organizata de elevi in pavilionul expozitional al scolii. In patru sali faceai cunostinta cu istoria Irlandei, obiceiuri si traditii, religie, sport, cultura, chiar si cu limba irlandeza, toate acestea prezentate intr-un mod deosebit de atractiv si original. Deosebit de interesanta a fost vizita la ZKM Karlsruhe, un muzeu al tehnicii multimedia, de unde cu greu voiai sa mai pleci. Plimbarea pe raul Neckar pana la Heidelberg a fost o adevarata bucurie a ochilor, peisaje minunate, paduri, castele, case de vacanta insirate de-a lungul raului. Heidelbergul ne-a impresionat prin frumusetea de oras vechi, catedrala si castelul fiind punctele de atractie. Mai trebuie remarcata aici si vizita in celebra statiune Baden-Baden. Am gustat renumitele ape tamaduitoare, am vizitat statiunea si am avut placuta surpriza sa gasim aici o biserica ortodoxa, construita de printul roman Sturza, ―SturdzaCapelle‖. Din Germania revii acasa cu impresia unei tari unde totul functioneaza perfect, unde oamenii isi fac datoria cu seriozitate, si, cel mai important lucru, ii trateaza cu respect si prietenie pe straini. Al doilea an al proiectului a inceput cu intalnirea din Turcia, Denizli, in octombrie 2009. Intreaga delegatie romana, formata din 7 elevi si 3 profesoare, era dornica sa cunoasca aceasta tara plina de mistere si cu care, de-a lungul istoriei, romanii au avut foarte multe interferente. Elevii au fost gazduiti la familii in satul Karateke, unde se afla scoala partenera. Au stabilit foarte repede relatii de prietenie cu copiii turci si cu elevii polonezi si portughezi. Au participat impreuna la evenimente ale satului, la o nunta, au fost la picnic, au jucat fotbal si handball. Cel mai impresionant lucru in Turcia mi se pare cantecul muezinilor din moschei, o rugaciune care, chiar neinteleasa, are un efect linistitor si inaltator. Intalnirile de lucru au fost interesante, defasurate intr-o atmosfera destinsa. Pe parcursul unui an si jumatate de desfasurare a proiectului, intre participanti s-au dezvoltat relatii de prietenie, ne cunoastem mai bine, astfel incat intalnirile noastre devin din ce in ce mai placute. Au fost impresionante moscheile vizitate, baia turceasca, Muzeul de Etnografie ―Ataturk‖ , parcul natural din Denizli, pe primul loc aflandu-se, desigur, minunea Pamukale. Amintirea cea mai placuta din aceasta vizita a fost deosebita prietenie aratata de gazdele noastre, profesorii scolii din Karateke, ai scolii din Honaz, care ne-au gazduit pentru masa si seara interculturala, de muzicienii Conservatorului din Denizli, si nu in ultimul rand, de oficialitatile care ne-au primit cu inima deschisa si ne-au oferit prilejul sa le cunoastem ospitalitatea. Finalul proiectului va avea loc acolo unde i s-au pus bazele, in Portugalia, in aprilie 2010. Vom fi din nou o delegatie mare, 11 persoane. Si de aici se observa impactul proiectului asupra celor din scoala noastra, pe masura ce s-a desfasurat, a crescut si interesul participarii la activitati si la intalniri peste hotare. Asteptam cu nerabdare, unii reintalnirea, altii primul contact, cu aceasta tara insorita, cu peisaje minunate, cu tarmuri scaldate de Atlantic, cu mult fotbal si cu oameni plini de viata. Dintre tarile participante la acest proiect, sigura in care nu s-a realizat o vizita este Spania, reprezentata de CEIP San Augustin din Tenerife si de directoarea acesteia, Esther. Tin s-o amintesc aici, deoarece ea s-a implicat cu mult suflet si daruire in toate activitatile, a ajutat la desfasurarea acestora, ne-a prezentat cu toate ocaziile activitatile elevilor sai si
98
frumusetile insulei, starnindu-ne dorinta de a ajunge candva sa o vizitam. Odata cu aceste impresii, simt tristetea apropierii finalului unei ―intamplari‖ unice din viata mea, care, cu greutati, cu munca multa, dar si cu foarte multe bucurii, mi-a adus multi prieteni, m-a ajutat sa invat lucruri noi, sa inteleg mai mult diversitatea si frumusetea acesteia. Multumesc tuturor celor care au facut ca acesti doi ani sa fie mai frumosi!
MEETING IN ROMANIA The first Project meeting that all the participants and the coordinator came together was in Craiova, Romania. It was between January 10–17, 2009. The teachers, Nihat Demirbilek and Emel Yalın, the students Fatma Özdemir and Semra Kaygılı, represented Necati Fikriye Dalaman Primary School. The coordinator, Filipe Fernandes, talked about the problems about the project and solutions. During this 7-day-meeting, there were the introduction of the schools, school tour, presentations of the schools, meetings about the Project and some social activities. At the end of the meeting, the importance of games in education was emphasized. It was also stated that students can learn and have information in an enjoyable way. During the meeting, we successfully showed our culture in Turkey. We gave information about Nasreddin Hodja, who is the symbol of the sense of humour in Turkey.
MEETING IN POLAND We were very excited about our trip to Poland. It was a very good opportunity for our students to see different places, to meet new people and get an experience about the cultures and habits. Our students Ayşen and Cennet got adopted very easly during their stay in Poland that even they had a chance to learn a few Polish words. After a quite tiring flight, we finally arrived to the airport. Slawek was there for us who was going to take us to the hotel, where we were supposed to stay during our meeting in Poland. It was very great feeling someone meeting us there at the airport very early in the morning. We were very appreciated his being there for us.I was personally excited about our trip to Gorzow.Even though I was very tired and sleepy,I tried no to fall asleep to see around even in the dark during the two-hour driving to Gorzow. The time when we arrived to hotel, the host family was there for our students. We were very thankful about their hospitality. The city was spectacularly beautiful. The weather was so beautiful that we really enjoyed being there. We were lucky. Not only had we a chance to see different life styles, cultures, visiting so many interesting places, but also we had a chance to meet
99
such wonderful people that I considered them the best friends from Germany, Romania, Portugal, Spain, and Poland… Oh my, each of them is so friendly, in full of energy, and lovely that they are all in our hearts… I personally remember, the time we spend together most of the time as a good memory… We are very thankful for the teachers and students who are involved in this Project, during our stay in Poland, about their efforts, trying to comfort us and they all did their best for the Project. We were deeply impressed of their hospitality and beauty of the city Gorzow. We really enjoyed our stay there. It was a good experience for all of us. Thanks to this Project that we gathered and knew each other. MEETING IN GERMANY We went to Antalya Airport by bus in July, 2010 and flew to Frankfurt in Germany. We arrived at Ettlingen, the meeting place, by train and went to our hotel. On our second day, we got together for the meeting in the school. The German school was introduced and there was also a school tour. We did a general evaluation of the previous meetings. After the dinner we went to our hotel. On the third day, we arrived at the school after a short Ettlingen tour. In the meeting, the students and the groups were given their duties. Also, the parts of the game were divided between the groups. On the fourth day, there was a boat tour on River Ren. After this nice boat tour, we visited the castle, an important historical building which was bombed during the World War II and turned into a museum at present. The next day, there was the evaluation of the works of the participants about the famous scientists, writers, etc. After that, it was decided that the dictionary would be sent to Turkey from Romania and then, to Germany from Turkey. In the afternoon, we visited the Technology Museum and on the next day, there was a meeting with the Mayor of Ettlingen who gave information about the history of the city and information about the city itself.
MEETING IN TURKEY The meeting in Honaz, Turkey was between the dates October 3–9, 2010. On the first day, the guests were taken from Adnan Menderes Airport in İzmir. After the school tour in Karateke Village, an evaluation of the previous meetings was done. The groups had a tour in the village. Next day, we took our guests to Pamukkale and Laeodikia, and showed the guests the historical and cultural heritage of Denizli. On the next day; the games that were played by children were performed in the school. Some students made their presentations on games. On Thursday, we made the decisions about the next meeting in Portugal. That evening, we had the intercultural evening where everybody prepared their traditional food. There was also a visit to the Mayor of Honaz. The last day of the meeting ended with a nice city tour and shopping.
A Week in Poland Finally, the expected day arrived. We could no longer tolerate waiting for so long. As time went by, we got more and more nervous. How are the people with whom we are going to stay during the week? How are our host families? There were so many questions in our minds during that long trip. After approximately a day of travel, we arrived to Górzow at about 9 o‘clock in the evening. We were immediately divided by the several host families that were waiting for us. They were also with high expectations. The following day,
100
almost everyone knew each other already. It was easy to communicate with the people with whom we would spend one of the most spectacular weeks ever. We can say that we made friends for life. We lived experiences that we will never forget. We met new places, new cultures, and new habits. We could also say that we increased our gastronomic culture in the intercultural dinner, in which we tried meals from different countries. We can say that it was an unforgettable week to all those that participated in it, filled with good moments, but also with some work on everybody‘s behalf. We have to say THANK YOU, to our host families that were always ready to help us, by providing us with accommodation, and by being excellent at us. They were amazing. Now we are anxiously waiting for the following year, when we will meet everybody once again during the project meeting at our school. I‘m sure it will be an unforgettable experience, just like this one. by Ana Laura, a Portuguese student
A Week in Romania Well, it happened. The first intercultural meeting took place in Romania between the 10th and the 17th January. It was a different and very, very interesting week. It was also the outcome of hard work. The meeting went fine. By the end of the week we could see everyone was pleased with the hospitality of the Romanian people and the hardworking spirit of the Romanian teachers who organized the week schedule. As predicted, the exchange of culture and ideas were established by the interaction among the different participants of the different countries, which was very fascinating, since it was actually the first time some of us met people from different countries, cultures and backgrounds. During the week, it was necessary to use the European Travel Insurance Card due to a sudden sickness of a student, which clearly shows that this card is obligatory while travelling. About the weather conditions, it was cold in Romania, but that didn‘t unable the project to continue, with the exception of Wednesday, since the schedule of that day had to be postponed to Friday. The activities during the week were, as already mentioned, very attractive; In fact, all the museums, cathedrals and historical monuments we visited improved our knowledge about the Romanian people and about Romania as a country. They have also allowed the visitors to understand the rich Romanian culture and its way of living. Another important issue was the gastronomy. During the meeting, the food was always very good and tasty, especially the traditional meal cooked on Tuesday which was delicious. Moreover, we won‘t forget the meals presented by the different countries during the intercultural dinner. In conclusion, the week was extraordinary and we are already missing it.
101
Comenius-Projekt in Rumänien Südrumänien im Januar 2009. Die Temperaturen liegen bei minus 10 Grad, im Klassenzimmer der kleinen Dorfschule in Ghindeni sind es ein paar Grad wärmer. Lehrer und Schüler tragen Handschuhe, Schal und warme Kleidung.Die fünf Schüler des EG sitzen dicht neben einem Kachelofen, der gerade mit Holzscheiten angefeuert wurde und etwas Wärme abgibt. In einem kleinen Verschlag vor der Schule wird stündlich Holz gehackt, damit die Klassenzimmer bis zur letzten Stunde am Nachmittag nicht völlig auskühlen. Das Trinkwasser für die Schüler wird aus dem Dorfbrunnen geholt. Auch so kann Schule sein – typisch zumindest für viele Dorfschulen in Rumänien. Der Grund für den Besuch unserer Schueler in Ghindeni war ein Treffen aller Partnerschulen des Comenius-Projektes „GAMES― , das Anfang des Jahres in Rumänien stattfand. An diesem Projekt, das sich mit dem Einsatz von selbst entwickelten Spielen im Unterricht beschäftigt, arbeiten neben dem EG Schulen aus Polen, Portugal, Spanien, Rumänien und der Türkei zusammen. Jede Projektpartnerschaft besteht aus einer Koordinierungsschule und verschiedenen europäischen Partnerschulen, die den Inhalt und organisatorischen Ablauf des Projektes selbst bestimmen. Diese Schulprojekte werden mit Mitteln der EU gefördert und erstrecken sich über einen Zeitraum von zwei Jahren. Bei unserem Projekt hat die portugiesische Koordinierungsschule in Castelo de Paiva das Projekt konzipiert und ist für die digitale Bearbeitung der Spiele verantwortlich.Die Verkehrssprache der Comenius-Projekte ist in der Regel englisch. Das bedeutet, dass auch alle Schüler ihre Arbeitsergebnisse in englischer Sprache – z.B. bei Projekttreffen – präsentieren müssen. Die Projekttreffen, an denen Schüler und Lehrer der verschiedenen Schulen regelmäßig teilnehmen, sind ein wichtiger Bestandteil der Projektarbeit. Sie dienen dem persönlichen kennen lernen der Partner, der Projektplanung und –evaluation sowie der Veröffentlichung der Projektergebnisse. Die Treffen bieten den Schülern auch die Möglichkeit, am Unterricht der jeweiligen Schulen teilzunehmen und so einen Einblick in den Schulbetrieb zu bekommen. Da die Schüler bei den Projekttreffen in der Regel bei Familien untergebracht sind, bekommen sie so unterschiedliche Lebensweisen und kulturelle Unterschiede durch eigene Erfahrungen mit und erwerben auf diese Weise weitere „interkulturelle Kompetenz―. Das Projekt „GAMES― ist das zweite Comeniusprojekt am EG und folgt dem Projekt „HELLO―, das sich in den drei Jahren zuvor mit dem Thema „Toleranz in unserer Gesellschaft― beschäftigte. In diesem Schuljahr hatten die teilnehmenden Schüler die Aufgabe, Kreutzworträtsel zur Geographie und Geschichte der Partnerländer zu entwickeln, wobei verschiedene Lernniveaus zu beachten waren. Die Rätsel wurden beim letzten Treffen in Gorzow (Polen) von allen Schülern getestet und auf ihre Richtigkeit hin überprüft. Bei einer weiteren Aufgabe sollen die Schüler sich mit verschiedenen bekannten Wissenschaftlern ihrer Heimatländer beschäftigen und dann einen Quiz mit Multiple-Choice-Fragen zu den einzelnen Persönlichkeiten erstellen. Bei der Erstellung der Spiele müssen verschieden schwierige Spielebenen geschaffen werden, da die Schüler der verschiedenen Schule unterschiedliche Leistungsniveaus aufweisen und verschiedenen Altersgruppen angehören. Es sollen auch Spiele geschaffen werden, die Schueler mit Lernschwierigkeiten ansprechen. Da der portugiesischen Schule in Castelo de Paiva auch solche Schüler angehören, ist es dadurch möglich, sie in die Projektarbeit zu integrieren. Das Ziel des Projektes ist es letztendlich, dass, nachdem die fertigen Spiele ins Netz gestellt worden sind, alle Schüler sie sowohl in Gruppen als auch als einzelne gemeinsam online spielen können.
102
Ende Juli wird ein Projekttreffen in Ettlingen stattfinden, an dem Vertreter aus allen Partnerschulen teilnehmen werden. Der Schwerpunkt dieses Treffens wird die Evaluation der Arbeitsergebnisse und der Zusammenarbeit der einzelnen Partner sowie die weitere Projektplanung sein. By J. Kaletta
International Meeting in Germany In about 5 days, the third meeting of the G.A.M.E.S. project will take place in Ettlingen, Germany. We are all looking forward to Sunday 19th, which is the day we leave. Initially this meeting was programmed just for the teachers of the project with the aim of deciding further aspects of the project as well as making an evaluation of the first year. Fortunately, some schools decided to take students with them, so in Germany there will be pupils from Portugal and Poland. However, this meeting schedule is mainly filled with work activities to the teachers, which gives the students more freedom and less work. Therefore, we will have a lot of free time and fun. By this meeting we will have already done all the final exams and we can officially consider ourselves on holidays. Furthermore, this is the time when most of us apply to university, so while we are in Germany we can reflect upon the choices we are going to make as soon as we arrive to Portugal. This meeting was the result of much hard work, though. Another important aspect of this meeting is that the students will be hosted by the families of the German students, which is very good and important since it allows a better understanding of the culture and, perhaps, the language. Consequently, the participants will also have the opportunity to experience the German gastronomy in first hand since every student will have dinner with his/her respective hosting family. Although Ettlingen sits at the northern edge of the Black Forest, it seems to be a lovely city with history and with many interesting places to visit, some related with Roman artefacts. Students are special thrilled with the activities programmed to Friday, when we are going to visit ―Das Fest‖ in Karlsruhe that is the biggest open air music festival in Germany. We were also advised to take swimming suits. So our guess is that we are going to a swimming pool or river. During the meeting, the participants will have the opportunity to visit and work at the local school, which, once again, gives us the chance to understand the German culture; in this case, the educational system. We are also going to visit the lord mayor of Ettlingen as a way to officially welcoming us to the city of Ettlingen. On the other hand, there may be some concern about the recent H1N1 flu. We have seen a fast growth of the spreading rate of the flu, and travelling increases the risks of infection, especially for those who are going to Germany by air plane since in the airports there are always thousands of people from all around the world. In our case the risk is even greater, because we will arrive at the Frankfurt airport, which is one of the biggest airports in Europe. This fact, gives us an extra reason to take with us the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC). Concluding, we are all very excited to go to Ettlingen, to meet new cultures and new people, to experience new ideas and habits. We can only wish that this trip goes without accidents like the others did. by Carlos Teixeira, a Portuguese student
103
Germany 2009 And for the third time this year, the members of the G.A.M.E.S. project had the opportunity to travel abroad. This time the meeting took place in Ettlingen, Germany. This gathering was initially planned just for teachers to discuss and evaluate this first stage of the project. However some schools took some of their students along. This time, and unlike Romania, we stayed at the houses of students‘ families, what was very interesting and rewarding. Therefore, we had the chance to interact directly with the German culture. Regarding gastronomy, Germans ―eat very well‖. They have an appetizing variety of dishes. Also, they like to use many sauces. Furthermore, we were surprised by the weather. Even thought the meeting took place during the summer, we were expecting a rainy and could sky. Happily it was very warm shiny and comforting. Despite the host town was Ettlingen, the students would often go to Karshuge that is a bigger city near Ettlingen, to shop or to spend free time. We also went to Karlsruhe to visit museums or other interesting spots. People were very nice and helpful, especially those who hosted us. They were always ready to explain us something about a particular issue of their culture and habits and to provide us a true and genuine experience. About the week agenda, it was well planned. Both the teachers and the students had the chance to visit many interesting yet traditional places. We, the students, were especially excited with the musical festival ―Das Fest‖. The festival exceeded our expectations. There were far more people than we thought, almost 80 thousand. Too bad for us that the bands were local and sang in German, but we could see that they were very popular and good. During one of the days we took a boat trip to visit an ancient and important university of the country. While in the city of the university, we have also visited a castle and many of us took the opportunity to buy souvenirs in local markets. Usually, when there was time, the students would go out at night/evening to getting to know each other. The main idea was to socialize and to get a different perspective of the cities (Ettlingen and Karlsruhe). About the H1N1 flu, that was a much broadcasted issue by the media before and during the meeting, there were no reports about any person of the project. Even in the Frankfurt airport there was no reason to alarm. In addition, this time the European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) was of no use, fortunately. One of the pros of this meeting was that the students had no work assessment to do. Consequently we had much more time to enjoy. Also, the hosting students were the same age and had plenty experience with international student projects. In addition, during the meeting, it was the Germans students‘ last week of classes, so they had much free time as well. Concluding, we had all enjoyed very much the trip. Germany is a nice country with nice people and everyone wished they could stay more time. Hopefully, we will all meet again in a few months. by Carlos Teixeira
Turkey… memories of a trip which was probably one of the most rewarding experiences of three ambitious students... After some months waiting and speculating about the big trip, we, Portuguese students, finally arrived to Turkey, on 2 nd October 2009, day on which we began a race for a new experience. Of course, we travelled with the company of teachers of our high school, all of us involved in the project G.A.M.E.S.
104
The travel was tiring, mainly because we had to change the flight in Frankfurt, then from Istanbul to Izmir, and finally we had to travel by bus to Denizli. Even so, we were anxious to meet everything which was waiting for us in Denizli. Before we arrived at our most important destiny, we stayed in Istanbul just for one night. We have to refer that Istanbul is such a wonderful city! On the 3rd October, we woke up early to face a trip of more than three hours to Denizli, the place where we had the pleasure to meet our Turkish family, with whom we have lived for a week. It was a trip full of anxiety since we didn‘t know how the people would welcome us there and the waiting time made the situation become worst (but of course we had our "big boss" always there, in order to calm us down as well as the other teachers). Finally, we arrived to a cosy city named Denizli, more specifically to Honaz, a small village. At the bus station we had our Turkish father and sister waiting for us and we were lucky to stay together with the same family. What can we say about our family?... it was just amazing! We guess that we couldn‘t be better welcomed. The house of the family is in Honaz, near the Honaz Mountain, from where we were able to be dazzled by the magnificent landscape which overlooks the whole village centre. On Sunday our family took us to the mountains…a beautiful scenery to appreciate! It was a day to know our family better. Then, the week began! On Monday our Turkish mother, a nurse, guided us to visit the hospital where she was working. Besides, many other members and friends of our family were interested in meeting us, among them a Religion teacher, an Arab teacher and the Turkish teacher, who belongs to the project. All of them were really nice with us and some of them joined us at night in our family‘s house! On Tuesday we were glad to visit Pamukkale, another place of extreme beauty. Wednesday was the presentation day, the day on which we had to show what we were able to do….it was not so bad, and we can say that it was funny! On that day we also played basketball with the other foreign students and we visited the school where our Turkish father works; he is a teacher. Thursday was one of the busiest days…we had a meeting, at school, in which all the project students gathered with the objective to create a game. Then, we had the intercultural dinner… and we must add that our food suddenly disappeared!! The next activity was the intercultural soirée and there we sang two Portuguese songs… we had a great time and it was one of the funniest moments we lived there! Well, when the fairytale ended and the next step was to face the reality, and with it came the farewell. We don‘t have much more to say about that, just that it was a moment of sadness with some tears…it is part of the process, mainly when we are talking about great moments lived! On Friday we were with our family and all together we visited wonderful caves of crystal clear water. On the same day we visited the mountains once again and at night we were in a coffee shop with a nice environment. At that night we said goodbye to some friends of the family. On
105
some days of the week, at night, we used to sing while we were contemplating the beautiful view which was surrounding us….can you imagine how it was good? Saturday….the day we didn‘t wish! We had to leave Denizli to come back to Istanbul! It became an unforgettable week to us, we had fun, we worked, we met new people, knew new traditions, a completely different culture, beautiful folk groups...without any doubt a great experience for us all. Furthermore, we were well treated by all the people and it‘s with nostalgia that we say they will always be in our memory and in our heart. It was a huge life experience for us....an experience full of good energies. We can‘t complain about anything, because it was simply perfect! On the 10th we came back to Istanbul where we stayed two nights. We took advantage of the day for shopping and knowing the city. There, we also had the opportunity to visit important monuments like the Blue Mosque, the Cistern, and so on. We had immense luck in having the opportunity to knowing another country. Turkey will always be in our memory! And that‘s it.... by Adriana Ferreira, Daniela Cunha and Rita Rocha, Portuguese students
Polónia A partida para a Polónia criou uma grande expectativa e ansiedade de conhecer outras culturas, outras paisagens determinando semelhanças e diferenças que aumentassem o nosso conhecimento em prol de uma visão mais alargada do mundo. Após horas de viagem entre Porto-Frankfurt e Frankfurt-Berlim, o cansaço evidenciava-se e aquando da chegada a Gorzów Wielkopolski assistiu-se a uma certa relutância em deixar a companhia dos colegas de viagem para nos dirigirmos às casas dos nossos anfitriões polacos. No primeiro dia foi-nos apresentada a escola tal como um dos seus locais que enobreciam a sua escola de desporto, a piscina olímpica, na qual tivemos a oportunidade de estar e de profitar. Neste dia trabalhámos também na resolução das palavras cruzadas sobre Portugal, posteriormente a isto e como no resto dos dias, regressávamos as casas dos nossos anfitriões procurando a interacção e comunicação. Uma reunião com os membros da cidade iniciou outro dia juntamente com uma visita guiada a cidade onde pudemos desfrutar da história dos locais, entre os quais, Igrejas, parques ou mesmo as histórias das estátuas ou dos indivíduos que lhe deram origem. O carácter gastronómico não poderia também faltar nesta viagem, sendo assim cada grupo, professores e alunos, cozinharam os pratos típicos dos seus países procurando a difusão dos seus hábitos gastronómicos. Ao longo dos dias visitámos uma base militar Russa da II Guerra Mundial com um fantástico espaço verde que se não soubéssemos da história nunca acreditaríamos no que lá sucedeu. Esta visita guiada levou-nos a conhecer carros de combate, armaduras, túneis como também as condições que se viveram, sendo talvez este o momento que mais nos marcou.
106
O último dia na Polónia serviu como rescaldo da viagem, mas onde foi apresentado o jogo do Projecto, ―Legends‖ e onde os alunos tiveram tempo livre para comprarem lembranças. Devido aos horários dos aviões ficámos um dia em Berlim onde aproveitámos para conhecer e visitar monumentos Históricos, como por exemplo o Muro de Berlim. Desta viagem conclui-se que daquela relutância que se sentiu ao princípio emergiu uma amizade que irá perdurar tanto com alunos como as suas famílias. Adquiriu-se conhecimento cultural e histórico, sendo esta uma experiência de vida que nenhum de nós irá esquecer e que certamente nenhum de nós se importaria de repetir. Seguramente Portugal ficou bem representado no trabalho e no convívio. by Gilberto Castro, a Portuguese student
G.A.M.E.S. To allow challenging, enthusiastic and meaningful experiences in a classroom that may motivate students to learning and improve the methodologies used in lessons, providing some quality in the art of teaching and improving students‘ reaction to what is taught, a GAME may be considered a means through which the learner expresses one‘s qualities such as creativity and the teacher gets to know one‘s student better. The educational games, digital or not, allow the existence of learning environs that are graphically attractive, being therefore a powerful resource that stimulates the complete development of the student, allowing the development of numerous skills. The games develop attention, discipline, self control and respect for the rules. The games may be played individually or in groups, always with the presence of the teacher that will measure the process, observe and assess students‘ development, as well as to make the diagnosis of individual difficulties. These ideas inspired the birth of the G.A.M.E.S. (Global Advantageous Moving European Schools) Project that is an application for a Comenius multilateral school project, coordinated by teacher Filipe Fernandes, a teacher of this Group of schools in Castelo de Paiva. In order to prepare this project, there was a Preparatory Visit in Castelo de Paiva, from the 28th January to 1st February 2008, in which delegations from Poland and Romania took part. Nevertheless, it‘s important to refer that not only did the schools that participate in this Preparatory Visit but also the schools from Germany, Spain, Bulgaria and Turkey participated via e-mail. This Preparatory Visit was set to coordinate and exchange ideas for the project, as well as filling in the application form. The guest teachers also had the possibility of knowing Castelo de Paiva, its people, its beautiful landscape and its gastronomy. They could also visit Oporto, knowing some important monuments of this city. Apart from the intercultural and teaching experience exchanges, all the partner institutions will have the possibility of creating/building educational games for different ages and approaching different subjects, using the digital platforms such as the Internet, among others. Without unveiling the project, one of the final products will be the creation of a ―Mega-Game‖ on-line for different schooling ages. This game or a set of games would allow a general overview of the teaching/learning process, connecting different subjects, such as Mathematics, Physics, History, English, among others. This Preparatory Visit was considered by all those who took part in it a success. By Prof. Filipe Manuel Freire Fernandes, Project coordinator
107
The G.A.M.E.S. project in Germany The main aim of the G.A.M.E.S. project is the interaction among students with different cultures, where each member of each country shows his country to the others. Some students of our school, Agrupamento Vertical de Escolas de Castelo de Paiva, G.A.M.E.S. project‘s members, had the opportunity to represent our school in some countries. And we travelled to Germany. The departure was on the 19 th July and we were six students in this journey: Inês, Ana Sofia, Pedro, Rui, Rafael and Carlos accompanied by our teachers Filipe Fernandes and Belmira Pinto. When we arrived to Germany, we went to our families‘ houses, where we stayed all week long. We had a good deal of activities waiting for us in Germany; therefore, we had to wake up very early every day! In the morning, we went to the school where every member of the project met and sometimes we had the excellent opportunity to attend German classes which were very interesting for us! During the days, we made activities like going to the cinema, we had a little trip by boat, we swam in a lake, we went to a beerhouse, we went to a pool and sometimes we had dinner together. We also had the opportunity to go to a much known Music Festival in the town where we were staying. This town is called Ettlingen and it is a beautiful nice place where we visited some monuments: a castle and places where we spent our time. In Germany, we noticed some differences in comparison to our country like the weather, the food, the habits and the people‘s physical appearance because we saw many people who were blond and blue-eyed. We came back to Portugal on the 24th July. We brought some souvenirs from Germany, but we also brought a great experience with us! Next year, we‘ll receive our German friends in our country where we‘ll profit to solidify the friendship ties that we created. We want to thank our teachers who gave us the opportunity of doing this journey which was great and awesome! by Inês Moreira, a Portuguese student
OUR COMENIUS PROJECT AND THE IMPORTANCE OF KNOWING OTHER EUROPEAN CULTURES AND LANGUAGES. Not only is learning a foreign language easier for children than it is for adults, but children who are exposed to other languages also do better in school, score higher on standardized tests, are better problem solvers and are more open to diversity. A new language opens up a whole new culture. A foreign language gives us access to another
108
culture, and our lives take on a new dimension. Its comparable to a journey of discovery .This is what my students feel when they learn new things about their Comenius friends. Conversely, to lose a language is to lose a whole culture. This realisation has led to determined efforts to preserve minority languages, including, for example, in the Canary Island of La Gomera, ―el silbo‖=‖the whistle‖ By learning (even if it´s a bit) about the European languages of our Comenius partners, our students gain new horizons, but at the same time they reinforce their own identity, and therefore also their self-confidence. Now we are going to introduce you to ―The Whistle‖: In La Gomera, it's whistle while you talk: An ancient language made in the Canary Islands. Pouring from a classroom window of the local primary school in La Gomera , in the town of San Sebastian comes a sound similar to the chirping of caged song birds. However, a glance inside reveal s not an aviary but a room full of eight-year-olds, each with a knuckle in their mouth, whistling the islanders' ancient language of silbo. It has been brought back from the edge of extinction. It was about to die and, incredibly, for once, official-authorities did something about it. Five years ago, silbo was made obligatory in schools and the children have taken to it. Now it is there to stay. The language evolved as a means of communicating across the island's jagged terrain thousands of years ago. La Gomera, a lump of volcanic rock west of Tenerife, is riven by ravines that make communication of any kind arduous. Silbo is thought to have arrived with settlers from the Atlas Mountains of North Africa 2500 years ago. It is limitless because it follows normal speech. An experienced speaker can say anything. Nowadays, the few that whistle well were taught by their grandfather. They lived in houses that were spread out over the mountains, so to get by you had to learn. 'Bring me this goat. Don't forget that spade.‘ These were usual sentences used in everyday life.
Polish students In the spring of 2009 with my family we decision of acceptance for our house one of the visitors to our school within the confines of program Socrates Comenius. The boy, whom I hostem live in Portugal and his name is Ricardo. Most of our time spent in school or outside the home. We were in school daily practically, because As we had meetings in groups about project in which students different states of europe. The project was called GAMES, it was an online game, through which we could easily communicate. At the beginning of each stayed with friends in your country. Only after one of the meetings during which we worked in mixed formations, everything changed. We began to talk together and learn a lot about different cultures and hobby. After some time they began to teach us to speak in their languages. Outside the school tried to meet in the largest group so that everyone could have fun. Most went through the town and the shopping gallery Askana. In one day all the Portuguese was appointed at a walking around town in search of souvenirs. Ricardo and I went to the meeting. When we arrived to the meeting place, to my surprise there were only Portuguese, without the people who hosted them in homes. I do not mind. I was with them in three souvenir shops. I felt like the guide showed the desire and the Gorzow. Because I went with them, I know them better. An hour later we had to go to school for further work in groups. When finished, it was late afternoon and found that we will all go bowling. Had a great fun. The next day we drove to Lubniewice, where we had lunch and then visited the area, forests and lakes. When we returned to Gorzow, was already evening, and We went to their homes. At home, often played on a computer or Ricardo
109
communicate with family, and taught me the Portuguese language, and I taught him Polish. During these meetings mile time spent together and liked to. To this day we keep in touch e-mail. By Maciek Rafalski
STUDENTS RELATIONS (RELACJE UCZNIÓW) Polish version Mam na imię Aleksander Truszyński i jestem z polski Wyjazd do Niemiec odbył się latem, a dokładnie 19 lipca 2009.Pojechałem z Kubą Ryglewiczem, Michałem Ciebielskim i naszą nauczycielką panią Renatą Nowak. Gdy dojechaliśmy zaopiekowali się nami rodzice Thobiasa.Zawieźli nas do swojego domu, pokój dla nas był już przygotowany, był bardzo wygodny, krótko mówiąc nie było w nim czegoś na co można byłoby narzekać. Następnego dnia Thobias pokazał nam jak dojechać do jego szkoły, gdzie mieliśmy spotkanie, jak się okazało dojazd był bardzo prosty. Na spotkaniu poznaliśmy uczniów z innych państw oraz ich opiekunów. Wręczono nam informacje dotyczące miasta Ettlingen, w którym znajdowała się szkoła. Potem wróciliśmy do domu i zjedliśmy obiad. Po obiedzie Thobias zaprowadził nas na boisko gdzie odbywał się festyn. Nazajutrz pojechaliśmy do miasta Karlsruhe gdzie mogliśmy zrobic zakupy. Bardzo podobało nam się w tym mieście. Wieczorem znów poszliśmy na boisko. Trzeciego dnia poszliśmy do ratusza w Ettlingen i spotkaliśmy się z burmistrzem. Po południu popłynęliśmy statkiem do innego miasta, aby zwiedzić zamek. Zamek był bardzo duży i było w nim dużo ciekawych rzeczy. Następnego dnia wybraliśmy się do muzeum techniki, w którym świetnie się bawiliśmy. W muzeum było dużo przeróżnych gadżetów ogólnie było bardzo fajnie. Ostatniego dnia pojechaliśmy do Karlsruhe na zakupy, następnie pojechaliśmy na basen. Basen był fantastyczny i ogromny, były w nim trampoliny, mnóstwo zjeżdżalni oraz trzy baseny w tym dwa w środku i jeden na zewnątrz. świetnie się na nim bawiliśmy. Ten wyjazd uważam za bardzo udany jestem bardzo zadowolony. Chętnie bym pojechał tam jeszcze raz, ale wtedy zostałbym na dłużej.
English version Hi i`m Aleksander Truszyński i am from Poland. Our journey to Germany was in the summer, exactly July 19 2009.I went there with Kuba Ryglewicz, Michał Ciebielski and our teacher Renata Nowak.When we got there we stayed at Tobias`s house.We got a room for three people and it was so nice that I can‘t complain a bit abuot it. The next day Tobias showed us how to get to the school so we could get there on time for our meeting , it was very simple.We meet students from other countries and got information about the town we were staying in. After that we ate dinner and Tobias took us to a footbal festival. On the next day we went to Karlsrue to do some shopping.The third day we went to city hall to meet the mayor of Ettlingen.In the afternoon we took a boat trip to see a castle.It was enourmous and very interesting.The fourth day we went to the museum of computer history.On the last day we went to Karslrue to do some shopping and then we went to a swimming pool.There were a lot of water slides and trampolines, we had lots of fun.The trip was fantastic everyone enjoyed it.
110
Polish version Nazywam się Paweł Chojnowski, jestem uczniem ZSS w Gorzowie. Wyjazd do Turcji odbył się jesienią 2009 roku. Pojechałem tam z Mateuszem Mosiężnym ,nauczycielem angielskiego, panem Sławomirem Wrońskim i dyrektorem naszej szkoły panem Jackiem Kiecaną. Podróż była długa lecz bezproblemowa. Po dotarciu na miejsce przywitała nas rodzina Mehmeta. Pokój był przygotowany specjalnie dla nas nie mogliśmy na nic narzekać. W pierwszy dzień z rodzina dowiedzieliśy się bardzo dużo o ich, kulturze, zwyczajach, wierzeniach i tradycjach. Uczestniczyliśmy w tradycyjnej, rodzinnej kolacji. Podzczas kolejnych dni byliśmu uczestnikami wielu ciekawych wycieczek po okolicach Denizli.Miedzy innymi wycieczki do Pamukkale, gdzie zobaczyliśmy prawdziwe piękno przyrody. Niestety podzczas tej wyprawy grupa zgubiła nas, przez co musieliśmy wracać do domu na własną rękę. W ostani dzień ponownie pojechaliśmy do Pamukalle lecz prywatnie. Tam odstresowaliśmy sie przed podróżą. Gdy powróciliśmy do Denizli przygotowani do wyjazdu napotkała nas nie miła wiadomość, okazalo się że do wyjazdu pozostało nam tylko 30 minut i musieliśmy pędzic na autobus. Jakby tego było mało nasz nauczyciel przez pośpiech zostawił w taksówce bilety autobusowe co spowodowało,żę musielismy zatrzymac odjeżdżający już autobus. Dalszy ciag podróży odbył sie bez problemów, i dojechaliśmy cali i zdrowi do Gorzowa. Wyjazd był udany i bardzo mi się podobał.
English version Hello, my name is Paweł Chojnowski from Poland. Our trip to Turkey was in october 2009.I went there with Mateusz Mosiężny, an english teacher Mr. Sławomir Wroński and my principal Mr. Jacek Kiecana. The journey was long but without problems. When we got there Mehmet`s family greeted us. They made a room specialy for us so we couldnt complain. The first day we got to know a lot about their culture and traditions. We also ate a traditional turkish supper. In the next few days we participated in many trips around Denizli. Our group lost us on one trip so we had to get to Mehmet`s house by ourselves. On our last day in Turkey we went to Pamukkale privately to relax before our way back home to Poland.When we got back to Denizli we found out that we only had 30 min. to our bus to the airport so we packed quickly and left.The rest of the journey was easier and we didnt have any problems.The trip was great and I loved it.
We represent the Sport School in Gorzów. So far we took part in meetings in Romania, Germany, Poland, Turkey and now in Portugal. We made quizzes on polish scientists, and lots of multimedia presentations. During the meetings we met students from all of those countries. As a school we were able to do much thanks to the cooperation of teachers and students. It is very important to know the history of many countries because it shows that you respect a certain nation. I think that`s what the schools participating in the COMENIUS program are trying to do by making such multimedia presentations and various quizzes like our school to show each other a part of our native land. During the visit to Poland we tried to show our fellow students a part of our region in an interesting way. There is a huge commitment of the students thanks to the motivation of getting to see other countries during the next meetings.
111
9. Questionnaires and statistics A.V.E.C.P. – Escola EB2,3/S de Castelo de Paiva
2008/2009
G.A.M.E.S.
Inquiry-1 1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
What‘s the meaning of G.A.M.E.S.? a) For Gratuity Access to Mankind of Eastern Studies b) For Games And Musical European Studies c) For Global Advantageous Moving European Schools How many countries participate in this project? a) Three b) Five c) Six The School Coordinator is in a) Portugal. b) Turkey. c) Germany. What is the main purpose of G.A.M.E.S.? a) G.A.M.E.S. is about schools‘ capacity to conceive and create games not only based on technologies and adequate software, but also on traditional games. b) G.A.M.E.S. intends to develop the students‘ abilities to play faster and better any game they want. c) G.A.M.E.S wants to plan and accomplish several meetings between the participants, in order to determinate the winner of a specific game. In 2008/2009, two project meeting happened in a) Portugal and Poland. b) Poland and Romania. c) Romania and Spain. The next project meeting is in Spain. a) Germany. b) Turkey. The last project meeting will be in c) Portugal.
112
d) Spain. e) Turkey. 8. The national character of Turkey and Poland are, respectively a) The Count and Cesar Manrique. b) Nasrettin Hodja and Maria Sklodowska-Curie. c) Harap Alb and Albert Einstein. 9. The first game produced by G.A.M.E.S. is called a) Myths. b) Legends. c) Fables. 10. One of the participating schools is the ―Karateke Primary School‖ placed in a) Germany b) Romania c) Turkey 11. The German school is called a) ―Eichendorff Gymnasium‖ b) ― Zespol Szkol Sportowych‖ c) ―Saint Agustin School‖ 12. There are two Portuguese schools participating in this project. They are a) Agrupamento Vertical de Escolas de Alcochete e Escola Básica El-Rei D.Manuel I b) Agrupamento Vertical de Escolas de Alcochete e Agrupamento Vertical de Escolas de Castelo de Paiva c) Agrupamento Vertical de Escolas de Castelo de Paiva e Agrupamento de Escolas Couto Mineiro do Pejão
113
Project G.A.M.E.S. GAMES QUIZZ
1.Name: 2.Country: 3. City: 4. School:
High school Gymasium
5. Age
years old
6.Gener:
Male
7. Do you like playing games?
Female Yes
No
8. What kind of games you like most: On your P.C. (singler player) On the internet (multi-player) Outdoor games Indoor games (Chess,Go, Scrabble etc.) 9. List yours favorite games from 1 to 10, according to your preferences 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
114
7. 8. 9. 10. 10. At what degree, in your opinion, computer games has a negative influence upon you? In a high degree In a moderate degree In a small degree At all 11. How do educational games have a comtribution in your general cultural development? In a high degree In a moderate degree In a small degree At all 12. In your opinion, which of the school objects are best studied through games? Name three of them:
13. Name three of the /types of games you don´t like at all?
115
14. In a few words, give some arguments to support your statements about your favorite games: a) b) c)
116
Study of the statistics of the questionnaires With the aim of assessing, in a continuous and systematic way, the Project, some questionnaires were made by all the partner institutions. These questionnaires were made differently, either digitally through the Internet, or in a more classical way, having as target the pupils and teachers of each partner institution. In this set of questionnaires we would analyze the impact and the knowledge people had about the Project, as well the opinion of all those that answered those questionnaires. Bearing in mind this approach that I mentioned in the previous lines, a set of graphics are presented that allow us to draw some conclusions that will be useful for the improvement of this or of future projects. This graphic presentation is divided in three fundamental parts. A first set of graphs characterizes the target people, namely in what concerns to age, nationality, gender, occupation, etc. A second set of graphs shows people‘s general knowledge about the Project. A final set of graphs give us an insight of what the people that answered the questionnaires think about the importance of educational games in one‘s education and learning process.
Characterization of the people that were inquired
Age
Gender 61,90%
Male
14,40%
38,10% 5 to 15
Female
Occupation 42,00%
47,60%
38%
16 to 29
> 30
Nationality
52,00%
47,60% 23,70% 12,00%
6,00%
Teacher
Student
Others
Portugal
117
Poland
Romania
16,70%
Others
From the analysis of this set of graphs, we may conclude that more than 50% of the inquired population that filled the questionnaire on-line correspond to the younger population that are pupils. About 80% correspond to the countries that belong to the project such as Portugal, the country that coordinates the project, Poland and Romania. However, there is not a large participation of the Turkish and Spanish people, maybe because their pupils are of tender age and there could be not such an easy access to technological means on the pupils‘ behalf. Nevertheless, their participation was observed and appreciated in other activities of the project. We may conclude that the project aroused people‘s curiosity and interest and the target people were the pupils.
Knowledge and dissemination of the project
How did you know about this Project?
Do you participate in this Project in your school?
62,00%
52,40%
19%
teachers
friends
47,60% 10,00%
9,00%
Magazines
Internet
Yes
118
No
If so, how often do you visit the Project website?
Have you got Internet access at home?
38%
90,50%
19%
24%
19%
9,50% Everyday one a week Yes
No
How many countries participate in this project?
twice o three times a week
Once a month
The School Coordination is in‌ 80,90%
71,40%
14,10% 14,30%
14,30% Portugal
three
six
five
119
Turkey
5,00%
Germany
In 2008/2009, two project meetings happened in…
What is the main purpose of G.A.M.E.S.? 94,50%
81% 19%
5,50% Portugal and Poland
Poland and Romania
Op. 1
Op. 2 Op.1: G.A.M.E.S. is about schools‘ capacity to conceive and create games not only based on technologies and adequate software, but also on traditional games. Op.2: G.A.M.E.S. intend to develop the students‘ abilities to play faster and better any game they want.
As it can be easily observed in the graphs we may be successful in what concerns to dissemination of the Project and it may reach the 76%, since this has been the percentage of the population that has frequently visited the project website. We must also refer that 50% of this population don‘t belong to the project. To reinforce these results the number of visitors to the project website goes around 5000(at least till this study). So I preview a success in what concerns to the project dissemination in a wider population and not only among the communities involved in the project. About the knowledge of events that occur in the project, these results show that around 80% of the inquired have the correct knowledge of the activities and aims of the project.
120
10. Traditional food 10.1 Spain SPANISH TORTILLA
A few facts about tortilla to start with: There are now two tortillas that taste the same. Two people with the same ingredients do different tortillas. Tortillas taste better the day after you have made them. Tortilla is best as a midday plate and not as a main dish. INGREDIENTS: 4 medium sized potatoes 4 eggs Half an onion, finely chopped Extra Virgin Olive Oil Parsley, finely chopped Pinch of salt
121
You can use various different ingredients into a tortilla such as peppers, tuna, whatever you like to add to the basic recipe. 1 Preparing your ingredients: Peel the potatoes, wash and dry with a cloth. Cut them in halves length ways and then cut them into slices of 2mm thick. Put in a bowl; add the chopped onion, parsley and salt. 2 The first stage: Fry the potatoes, onions and parsley in a frying pan but don‘t use too much oil. You want the ingredients to be soft and tender. Cook for about 15-20 minutes. 3 Mixing Put the eggs in a bowl and beat them with a fork. A handy hint is not to beat the eggs too perfectly. Take the ingredients out of the frying pan and don‘t put too much oil in with the eggs. Let the ingredients rest with the eggs for a while, perhaps five minutes more or less. This way. The fried ingredients will absorb part of the lightly beaten eggs. 4 The Shaping Now put in a small pan and a very small amount of extra virgin olive oil and let the oil gain heat, spoon the mixture from the bowl into the frying pan. Now let it sit for a while because you want the external part to fry while the internal remains tender and wet. Then you have to place a plate on top of the frying pan and turn the tortilla onto the plate and then return to the frying pan again. Do this about four times.
10.2 Germany KÄSSPÄTZLE / CHEESE SPAETZLE Ingredients for four persons: For Spaetzle: 1 lb. wheat flour 4 – 5 eggs 1 tsp. salt water In addition:
250 g grated Emmentaler or mountain cheese 2 – 3 onions 50 g butter
How to prepare:
122
First prepare your Spaetzle dough. In a mixing bowl mix flour, eggs and salt. Add water little by little and keep stirring until it is smooth. With a mixer beat dough until nothing remains on the mixer when holding it up. Allow the dough to rest for 5 – 10 minutes then again work it thoroughly. Then boil salted water in a big pot. As soon as it is boiling, press the dough through a Spaetzle-maker ( foto) into the water. After a short time the pieces of dough are floating on the surface. Use a skimmer to take them out of the water and put them into a bowl. Now spread plenty of cheese on the layer of Spaetzle. It will melt very qickly. Put the next share of Spaetzle dough into the boiling water and repeat the procedure. Put the Spaetzle into the bowl and sprinkle cheese on them until no dough is left. The last layer should be cheese. Now fry onion rings in a frying pan until they are crispy and brown. Put the fried onion rings on top of the Spaetzle dish. Serve with a mixed salad. Hint: Put the bowl with the Spaetzle into a microwave for about 5 minutes, this will help the cheese to melt. In the mean time you can prewash your Spaetzle maker with cold water, because so fresh dough is easier to remove.
10.3 Romania DUCK AND NOODLE SOUP (SUPA DE TAITEI CU RATA) Ingredients: For noodles: - 150 grams of flour - 1 egg For the duck soup: - Duck, 500 grams - Pepper - 150 g - Onion - 200 grams - Celery - 100 grams - A parsley root - Tomato-300 grams - Salt
123
Preparation: First, we make dough of flour, egg, salt and 60 ml of warm water. Then, the dough is spread, cut in thin strips and let dry. The duck meat is portioned and boiled. The peeled and grated vegetables are put into the pot with the meat. In parallel, the tomatoes must be cooked, peeled and mashed. When the meat is cooked, add noodles, tomatoes, season it with spices and leave it a little longer to boil. The meat can be portioned out and then we can add it back into the soup. Depends on how you prefer. Moldavian Potato Moussaka (Musaca de cartofi moldoveneasca) Moussaka is a popular traditional dish of potatoes here, but it is prepared differently in every corner of the country.
Time for preparation: 15 min.
You need: - Potatoes - about 2 kg - 1 kilogram minced meat (beef, pork, chicken) - 1 medium onion - Cream, 2 tablespoons - Oil - Mozzarella or cheese - Paprika, salt, pepper - butter First you need to cook potatoes. Peel potatoes and cut into 4 pieces, then boil in water with salt. We fry the chopped onions a little oil, then pour over it the chopped meat and spices. Fry until meat is done and caught some color. After the potatoes have boiled, we filter and mix them with 1 tablespoon of butter, salt, pepper and cream. The meat and the potatoes are placed in an oven tray this way: a layer of potatoes, then one of minced meat and so on until the meat ends. The last layer should be a potato one. On it we sprinkle mozzarella or grated cheese. The tray should be left in the oven for about 15 minutes, or as long as mozzarella cheese melts. Bon appetite!
124
10.5 Portugal Culture is very diverse, from religion to art, which usually features a country. Portugal is specifically characterized by many cultural traditions including a highlight that is recognized as important and an appeal for visitors – the gastronomy with its many traditional dishes that are made depending on the region we are. Our region, Castelo de Paiva, has a wide range of traditional dishes, one is called ―Caldo Verde‖ that is almost always present on the menus of our region. This soup of potatoes and green cabbage whose broadleaf is finely sliced and sprinkled with a little of olive oil which is referenced as a morning food because of its simplicity and light weight it is usually eaten at the beginning of a meal or a late meal. We have a legend referring to Martinho, a man, who after giving aid to a poor beggar that was tired and hungry, found a hut with a roaring fireplace and a soup in a bowl which was ―Caldo Verde‖. After being satiated and warm Martinho fell asleep and dreamed of Jesus. That dream helped him in his new life, a life as a priest serving the poor and the sad. Over time, his life and his example made him a saint and people began to call him S. Martinho. All over Europe the feast of Saint Martinho is celebrated on 11th November, but in Portugal these festivals are related to the proof of the new wine, the harvest season and ―caldo verde‖ with sausage, preferably in clay bowls. For the main course we have the famous ―Cozido à Portuguesa‖, a delicacy composed of a myriad of vegetables, meats and sausages cooked. As far as vegetables are concerned, they can be baked beans, potatoes, carrots, turnips, cabbage and rice. For meat, you can have chicken, ribs, pork, streaky pork, pig's ear, forefoot pork and beef from various parts. About sausages, they are typical of the sausage meat, sausage and blood sausage. All these ingredients make up a very strong dish, ideal for the cold weather in winter. This dish is traditional of our region as well as other places in Portugal; we can even say that it is one of the main dish of Portuguese tradition and one of the most appreciated by Portuguese people. To better understand the Portuguese cuisine, which is positively recognized, the suggestion is to try it!
Inês Moreira and Gilberto Castro
125
11. Dictionary With the aim of promoting the different mother languages of partner institutions of this Comenius project, we decided to build this concise multilingual dictionary. This dictionary is divided into seven themes: General, Everyday Life, Travel, School, Family, Shopping and Animais. Each theme contains words and expressions that were useful to our pupils during the mmeting to establish contact as well as a healthy exchange of cultural and linguistic knowlwdge among them. We didn´t want to be thorough in the lexical contents of each foreign/ mother language, because that is not the main purpose of the Project. We made a short collection of words that have made it easier for the students to communicate and to highlight the cultural and linguistic differences and similarities of the different languages. Being communication the means through which we perceive and understand the other peoples, this concise multilingual dictionary will certainly make a small contribution to global understanding. The Coordinator of the G.A.M.E.S. Project.
126
English General
Polski Wyrażenia ogólne
Deutsch Allgemeine Ausdrücke Hallo Guten Morgen Auf Wiedersehen Es tut mir leid Vielen Dank Bitte Es tut mir leid.Ich verstehe nichts.
Português Expressões gerais
Spanish Expresiones generales
Romanian Expresii generale
Türkçe Genel
Hello Good morning Good bye I‘m sorry. Thank you Please I‘m sorry. I don‘t understand.
Cześć Dzień dobry Do widzenia Przepraszam Dziękuję Proszę Przykro mi, nie rozumiem.
Olá Bom dia Adeus Lamento / Desculpe Obrigado Por favor Desculpe. Não percebi.
Hola! Buenos días. Adios! Lo siento. Gracias. Por favor. Lo siento.No entiendo.
Salut! Bună dimineaŝa La revedere! Îmi pare rău Mulŝumesc Te rog Îmi pare rău. Nu inŝeleg.
Merhaba! Günaydın! Hoşçakal Üzgünüm. Teşekkür ederim Lütfen Üzgünüm, Anlamıyorum.
Yes/no My name‘s… Where are you from? How are you? I‘m fine, thank you
Tak/nie Mam na imię… Skąd pochodzisz? Co słychać? Wszystko dobrze, dziękuję.
Ja/ nein Ich heisse Woher kommst du? Wie geht es dir? Mir geht es gut. Danke.
Sim / Não Chamo-me ... De onde és? Como estás? Estou bem, obrigado.
Si. No Me llamo... ¿ De donde eres ? ¿ Como estas ? Estoy bien,gracias.
Da / Nu Mă numesc De unde eşti? Ce mai faci? Bine, mulŝumesc.
Welche Hobbies hast du?
Ce pasiuni ai?
Ich schwimme gerne schau fern lese Bücher fotographiere Viel Glück Alles Gute Gestern/ heute/ morgen Wie spät ist es?
Quais são os teus passatempos? Eu gosto de nadar de ver televisão de ler de tirar fotografias Boa sorte Tudo de bom Ontem / hoje / Amanhã Que horas são?
¿ Cuales son tus hobis?
I like swimming watching TV reading books taking pictures Good luck Take care Yesterday/today/ Tomorrow What time is it?
Jakie są twoje zainteresowania? Lubię pływać Oglądać TV Czytać książkę Robić zdjęcia powodzenia Trzymaj się Wczoraj/ dziś jutro Która godzina?
Evet/Hayır Benim adım …… Nerelisin? Nasılsın? İyiyim, Teşekkür ederim. Hobilerin nelerdir?
What are your hobbies?
Me gusta nadar. ver la tele. leer libros. sacar fotos. ¡ Buena suerte! Cuídate. Ayer. Hoy Mañana. ¿ Qué hora es?
Îmi place -să înot. -să privesc la televizor - să citesc cărŝi - să fac fotografii Noroc! Ai grijă! Ieri - Azi Mâine Cât este ceasul?
Yüzmeyi severim. Televizyon izlemek Kitap okumak Fotoğraf çekmek Iyi şanslar! Kendine iyi bak. Dün/bugün yarın Saat kaç?
Everyday life Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday January February March April May June July
Codzienność Poniedziałek Wczoraj Środa Czwartek Piątek Sobota Niedziela Styczeń Luty Marzec kwiecień maj Czerwiec Lipiec
Alltagsleben Montag Dienstag Mittwoch Donnerstag Freitag Samstag Sonntag Januar Februar März April Mai Juni Juli
Dia-a-dia Segunda-feira Terça-feira Quarta-feira Quinta-feira Sexta-feira Sábado Domingo Janeiro Fevereiro Março Abril Maio Junho Julho
Vida dario Lunes Martes Miércoles Jueves Viernes Sábado Domingo Enero Febrero Marzo Abril Mayo Junio Julio
Viaţa de zi cu zi Luni Marŝi Miercuri Joi Vineri Sâmbătă Duminică Ianuarie Februarie Martie Aprilie Mai Iunie Iulie
Günlük Hayat Pazartesi Salı Çarşamba Perşembe Cuma Cumartesi Pazar Ocak Şubat Mart Nisan Mayıs Haziran Temmuz
127
Sierpień Wrzesień Październik Listopad Grudzień Jeden Dwa Trzy Cztery Pięć Sześć Siedem Osiem Dziewięć Dziesięć Dwadzieścia Sto Tesiąc Kolory Biały Czarny Niebieski Zielony Żółty Czerwony Brązowy
August September Oktober November Dezember Eins Zwei Drei Vier Fünf Sechs sieben acht Neun Zehn zwanzig einhundert eintausend Farben Weiss Schwarz Blau Grün Gelb Rot Braun
Travel
Podróż
Reisen
Viagem
Viajar
Călătorie
Yolculuk
Can you help me?
Czy może Pan/Pani mi pomóc? Gdzie jet przystanek autobusowy?
Können Sie mir helfen?
Pode ajudar-me?
¿ Me puedes ayudar?
Mă puteŝi ajuta?
Bana yardım edebilir misin?
Wo ist die Bushaltestelle?
Onde é a paragem de autocarro?
¿ Donde esta la parada de autobus?
Unde este staŝia de autobus?
Otobüs durağı nerede?
Where can I buy a ticket?
Gdzie mogę kupić bilety? Bilet ulgowy proszę.
Half-price ticket
Bilet ze zniżką.
¿ Donde puedo comprar un billete? Un billete para un estudiante,por favor. Un billete a mitad del precio
Un bilet pentru elev/student, vă rog. Un bilet la jumătate de preŝ.
Nereden bir bilet satın alabilirim? Bir öğrenci bileti, Lütfen ! Yarı fiyatına bilet
Is this seat vacant?
Czy to miejsce jest wolne?
Onde posso comprar um bilhete? Um bilhete para estudante, por favor. Um bilhete a metade do preço. Este lugar está livre?
De unde pot cumpăra bilet?
One student ticket, please.
Wo kann ich eine Fahrkarte kaufen? Eine ermäßigte Fahrkarte, bitte. Eine Fahrkarte zum halben Preis Ist der Platz frei?
¿ Esta libre este sitio ?
Este liber locul acesta?
Bu koltuk boş mu?
Where is the toilet? Travelling by train
Gdzie jest toaleta? Podróż pociągiem
Wo ist die Toilette? Mit dem Zug fahren
Onde fica a casa de banho? Viajar de comboio
¿ Donde esta el baño? Viajar en tren
Unde este toaleta? Călătorie cu trenul
Tuvalet nerede? Trenle yolculuk
Where is the bus stop?
Agosto Setembro Outubro Novembro Dezembro Um Dois Três Quatro Cinco Seis Sete Oito Nove Dez Vinte Cem Mil Cores Branco Preto Azul Verde Amarelo Vermelho Castanho
Agosto Septiembre Octubre Noviembre Diciembre Un Dos Tres Cuatro Cinco Seis Siete Ocho Nueve Diez Veinte Cien Mil Colores Blanco Negro Azul Verde Amarillo Rojo Marrón
128
August Septembrie Octombrie Noiembrie Decembrie un doi trei patru cinci şase şapte opt nouă zece douăzeci o sută o mie Culori Alb Negru Albastru Verde Galben Roşu Maron
Ağustos Eylül Ekim Kasım Aralık bir iki üç dört beş altı yedi sekiz dokuz on yirmi yüz bin Renkler Beyaz Siyah Mavi Yeşil Sarı Kırmızı Kahverengi
August September October November December 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 20 100 1000 Colours White Black Blue Green Yellow Red Brown
railway station ticket office Destination travelling by plane Flight hand luggage departure time Exchange passport control Customs
Dworzec Kasa biletowa Cel podróży Podróż samolotem Lot Bagaż podręczny Czas odlotu Kantor wymiany walut Kontrola paszporowa Odprawa celna
Bahnhof Fahrkartenschalter Ziel Fliegen Der Flug Handgepäck Abflugzeit Geldwechsel Passskontrolle Zoll
Estação de comboio Bilheteira Destino Viajar de avião Voo Bagagem de mão Hora de partida Câmbio Controle de passaportes Alfândega
Estación de tren Taquilla Destino Viajar en avion Vuelo Equipaje de mano Hora de salida Cambio Control de pasaportes Aduana
Gară Casa de bilete Destinaŝie Călătorie cu avionul Zbor Bagaj de mână ora plecării Schimb Controlul paşapoartelor Vama
Tren istasyonu Bilet Gişesi Gidilecek yer Uçakla yolculuk Uçuş El çantası Kalkış saati Bozdurmak Pasaport kontrolü Gümrük
School
Szkoła
Schule
Escola
Escuela
Şcoala
Okul
Subject Biology Chemistry Physics Geography History Foreign languages Mathematics Drawing, art
Temat Biologia Chemia Fizyka Geografia Historia Języki obce Matematyka Plastyka
Fach Biologie Chemie Physik Geographie Geschichte Fremdsprachen Mathematik Kunst
Ders Biyoloji Kimya Fizik Coğrafya Tarih Yabancı Dil Matematik Görsel Sanatlar
Wychowanie fizyczne Oceny Semester szkolny Szkoła podstawowa Szkoła średnia Oblać egzamin
Sport Schulnoten Schulhalbjahr Grundschule Weiterführende Schule Bei einer Prüfung durchfallen
Asignatura Biología Química Física Geografia Historia Lenguas extranjeras Matemáticas Dibujo,Educación plástica y visual. Educación Física Notas Trimeste escolar Escuela primaria Instituto Suspender un examen
Materie/Disciplină Biologie Chimie Fizică Geografie Istorie Limbi străine Matematică Desen, Educaŝie plastică
Physical education Marks, grades School term Primary school Secondary school to fail an exam
Disciplina Biologia Química Física Geografia História Línguas Estrangeiras Matemática Desenho, Educação Visual, Artes Visuais Educação Física Notas Ano lectivo Escola Primária Escola Secundária Reprovar num exame
Educaŝie fizică Note Semestru Şcoala primară Gimnaziu A cădea un examen
to pass an exam Homework to teach What class are you in?
Zdać egzamin Praca domowa Uczyć Wktórej jesteś klasie?
Eine Prüfung bestehen Hausaufgaben unterrichten In welcher klasse bist du?
Passar num exame Trabalho de casa Ensinar Em que turma estás?
Aprobar un examen Tarea Enseñar ¿ En qué clase estás?
A trece un examen Tema pentru acasă A preda, a invăŝa În ce clasă eşti?
Beden Eğitimi Ders notları Yarı yıl İlkokul Ortaokul Sınavda başarısız olmak Sınavı geçmek Ev ödevi Öğretmek Kaçıncı sınıftasın?
Family Mother Father Brother Sister Child Son Daughter
Rodzina Matka Ojciec Brat Siostra Dziecko Syn Córka
Familie Mutter Vater Bruder Schwester Kind Sohn Tochter
Família Mãe Pai Irmão Irmã Criança Filho Filha
Familia Madre Padre Hermano Hermana Niño Hijo Hija
Familie Mamă Tată Frate Soră Copil Fiu Fiică
Aile Anne Baba Erkek kardeş Kız kardeş Çocuk Erkek çocuk Kız çocuğu
129
Marriage Husband Wife Aunt Uncle Relatives/ relations Cousin Generation Grandson Granddaughter Grandchildren Engaged to divorce to grow up
Małżeństwo Mąż Żona Ciotka Wujek Krewni Kuzyn Pokolenie Wnuczek Wnuczka prawnuki Zaręczeni Rozwodzić się Dorastać
Ehe Ehemann Ehefrau Tante Onkel Verwandschaft Vetter/Cousin Generation Enkel Enkelin Enkelkinder Verlobt sich scheiden lassen aufwachsen
Casamento Marido Mulher Tia Tio Familiares / Parentes Primo / Prima Geração Neto Neta Netos Noivo / Noiva Divorciar-se Crescer
Matrimonio Marido Mujer Tia Tio Familiar Primo/Prima Generación Nieto Nieta Nietos Prometido/Prometida Divorciarse. Crecer
Casatorie Soŝ Soŝie Matuşă Unchi Rude Verişor/verişoară Generaŝie Nepot Nepoată Nepoŝi Logodit A divorŝa A creşte
Shopping How much is it? I‘m looking for … -shirt -skirt -shoes -jacket -sweater
Zakupy Ile to kosztuje? Szukam… -koszulki -spódniczki -buty -kurtkę -swetra
Einkaufen Was kostet? Ich suche ..ein Hemd ..ein Kleid .. Schuhe .. eine Jacket .. einen Pullover
Compras Quanto custa? Eu procuro... - uma camisa - uma saia - uns sapatos - um casaco - um pullover
Compras ¿Cuanto cuesta? Estoy buscando... Una camisa Una falda Unos zapatos Una chaqueta Un Suéter
Cumpărături Cât costă? Caut... - o cămaşă - o fustă - pantofi - geacă - pulover
Have you got it in (36)?
Czy jest rozmiar (36)?
Haben Sie es in Größe (36?)
Tem o tamanho (36)?
¿Tienes en la talla (36)?
Aveŝi mărimea(36)?
Can I try on? Ok. I will take it Can I have a bill, please?
Czy mogę przymierzyć? Biorę to. Czy mogę prosić o rachunek?
Kann ich es anprobieren? Ja, ich nehme es Kann ich bitte die Rechnung haben?
Posso provar / experimentar? Sim, levo. Pode dar-me a factura, se faz favor?
¿Puedo probármelo? Vale, me lo quedo. ¿Puede darme la factura, por favor?
Pot să probez? Bine. Cumpăr. Îmi daŝi bonul, vă rog?
Chemist‘s Boutique Self-service Confectioner‘s Butcher‘s shop Souvenir shop
apteka butik samoobsługa cukiernia Sklep mięsny Sklep z pamiątkami
Apotheke Boutique Selbstbedienung Konditorei Metzger/Schlachter Souvenirgeschäft
Farmacia Boutique Auto servicio Pastelería Carnicería Tienda de recuerdos.
Farmacie Butic Autoservire Magazin de confecŝii Măcelărie Magazin de suveniruri
Dairy Grocer‘s shop Greengrocer to buy Customer To have no small change
Sklep z nabiałem Sklep spożywczy Sklep warzywny kupować klient Nie mieć drobnych
Milchhandlung Lebensmittelgeschäft Gemüseladen Kaufen Kunde Kein Kleingeld haben
Farmácia Boutique Self-service Pastelaria Talho Loja de recordações / souvenirs Leitaria Mercearia Frutaria Comprar Cliente Não tenho trocado
Lechería Tienda de comestibles. Frutería. Comprar Cliente No tener cambio
jurnal Aprozar Aprozar A cumpăra Client Nu am bani mărunŝi
130
Evlilik Koca Karı Teyze,hala Dayı,amca Akrabalar Kuzen Nesil Erkek torun Kız torun Torunlar Nişanlı boşanmak büyümek
Alış-veriş Kaç para? Ben bir…………. bakıyorum. - gömlek, -Etek, - ayakkabı - ceket -kazak (36) bedeniniz var mı? Deneyebilir miyim? Tamam.Onu alacağım. Fatura alabilir miyim, lütfen? Eczane Butik Self-servis Pastane Kasap Hediyelik eşya dükkanı Süt ürünleri Bakkal dükkanı Manav Satın almak Müşteri Hiç bozukluk yok
Comprar con tarjeta de crédito Barato Caro
A cumpăra cu cardul de credit ieftin scump
Kredi kartıyla ödeme
billig teuer
Comprar com cartão de crédito Barato Caro
Zwierzęta pies szczeniak kundel Kot ryba łabędź papuga Papużka falista niedźwiedź ptak sowa żółw kucyk Świnka morska akwarium Karmić zwierzęta warczeć Nie drażnić zwierząt
Tiere Hund Welpe Mischling Katze Fisch Schwan Papagei Wellensittich Bär Vögel Eule Schildkröte Pony Meerschweinchen Aquarium Tiere füttern knurren Tiere nicht ärgern
Animais Cão Cachorro Rafeiro Gato Peixe Cisne Papagaio Periquito Urso Pássaros Mocho Tartaruga Pónei Porquinho da Índia Aquário Alimentar os animais Rosnar Não aborreças os animais
Animale Câine Căŝeluş Corcitură Pisică Peşte Lebădă Papagal ?!?!?!?!?!?!? Urs Păsări Bufniŝă Broasca ŝestoasă Ponei Porcuşor de Guinea Acvariu A hrăni animalele a mârâi Nu loviŝi animalele!
Psia buda smycz
Hundehütte Leine
Canil Trela
Animales Perro Cachorro Perro mestizo Gato Pez Cisne Loro Periquito Oso Pájaro Búho Tortuga Poni Conejillo de india Acuario Alimentar los animales Gruñir No molestar a los animales Caseta para perros Correa
Hayvanlar Köpek Köpek yavrusu melez Kedi Balık Kuğu Papağan Muhabbet kuşu Ayı Kuşlar Baykuş Kaplumbağa Midilli atı Domuz Akvaryum Hayvanları beslemek Yetiştirmek Hayvanlara eziyet Etme! Köpek kulübesi
To by credit card
Płacić kartą kredytową
Mit Kreditkarte bezahlen
Cheap Expensive
tani drogi
Animals Dog Puppy Mongrel Cat Fish Swan Parrot Budgie Bear Birds Owl Turtle Pony Guinea pig Aquarium to feed the animals to growl Don‘t tease the animals Kennel Lead
131
Colivie Lesă
ucuz pahalı