1st issue
Thessaloniki, Greece, 18th Dec 2010
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Editorial
The first day of the 22nd National Selection of EYP Greece has successfully ended. Traditionally every EYP session starts with Teambuilding, to make the participants bond both on the professional and personal level. Through various well-planned activities delegates have started the working process which will end with producing a resolution. Yet there is still some way to go until every Committee could proudly say to have made one and defended it. The aim of the Teambuilding, apart from the socializing, is to prepare the Committee for what is yet to come; trust and problem solv-
ing games are but one of the most obvious examples for this statement. Teambuilding and the exercises are often planned so that they either have resemblance or are related to a whole range of positions and situations people may encounter while working in a team. Even the silliest of games, such as Big Fat Ponny or Bear Hunt have layers of utility and are crucial parts of the event. Further, today the Committees will come across quite similar issues while starting to craft a resolution. Even though the acivities yesterday lasted only 4h, planty has already happend; the events that took place yesterday gave enough ma-
terial and inspiration to the Press Team to produce this issue of ThessaLeaks. As one of the main goals of EYP is to educate while constan tly encouraging young people to exchange their knowledge, session Journalists can be seen as an addition to that. Journalists had put in their thoughts, ideas and beliefs and the result of the 24h work are newspapers that you are holding in your hands at the moment. Since the main inspiration for the newspapers were the participants, mostly delegates, we hope that in return you find the articles inspiring. Enjoy!â–
Sandra&Tom
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Content 3 OPENING CEREMONY 5 TEAMBUILDING
Teresa Stadler&Despina Papadopoulou Teambuilding and
on the importance of different exerccises
7 THESSALONIKI The bias report
MAN BEHIND THE SCENE 9 THE DIMITIRIS HAPIZANIS 10 EXCLUSIVE
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The skype talk between Ogulcan, Chrysanthi Hapizanis
and
ONE THOUSAND MILES OF LIFE THESSALEAKS TIMES WEATHER
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O p e n i ng Ce r e mo n y by Cem Kobasa&Maria Sakellaridi
During the teambuilding day, a very special event of EYP sessions was held in the amphitheatre of the Hellenic College: the Opening Ceremony of the session. We had the opportunity to benefit from the speeches of important members of the European Parliament and the Prefect of Thessaloniki, Mr. Psomiadis. The first speech was given by Ms. Chrysoula Paliadeli, member of the European Parliament who pointed out that the policy followed by European leaders shows a disability to establish a common policy to save the Euro. Following her, Mr. Hilakakis supported the latest decisions of the European Parliament as a product of a longlasting working process. He also added that “We should live in a world where the certainties of our generation to live better do no longer exist. We will live better, you will live better if you manage to gain it�. Besides, Mr. Psomiadis, the prefect of Thessaloniki expressed his hapiness
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to be among active youngsters. He also suggested that we all benefit from this once in a lifetime experience since we are the ones to form the future of this society. The next speaker on floor, the director of the Hellenic College of Thessaloniki, wished us to have a very fruitful session and promised to always support these kinds of efforts. Then, the president of EYP Greece, Dimitris Hapizanis, took the floor and held a very inspiring speech to everyone. First of all, he underlined the fact that during EYP you learn how to listen and respect the opinions and the aspects of the others and also is a good place where our confidence and team spirit can easily flourish. He also stressed out that EYP is a unique chance of meeting new people. EYP Greece has done its best so that 22nd NSC fits the expectations of all the delegates, Dimitris added. As he concluded his speech he suggested everybody to take full advantage of t
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bers of EYP would agree that these 3 days would have permanent traces in our EYP life but most of the delegates just needed a sign. Right at that moment, most inspiring event has occurred. Within a few seconds, a Christmas tree collapsed - one of the rarest things that could happen - and it left a trace on many of us already. Afterwards, the jury of the session was presented by Ogulcan Torun. He reminded that National Selection Conference selects delegates, forms delegations that represent EYP Greece in International sessions. Then the floor was giv en to our beloved head-organizer Chrysanthi, who mentioned that the session hosted 126 delegates and 65 alumni members from 7 countries. She also told that she would always be around to make sure everything is running smoothly. Even if the session is held at a national level, many EYP members all around
Europe have applied to become a part of this session. Currently 20.000 people all over Europe share different cultures, different languages but at the same time they share the same continent and the same dream, prosper and active Europe. Our president Ogulcan had the final speech in which he declared that the 22nd National Selection Conference has started. He talked about how many problems we globally have, and how indifferent today’s youth is. Nevertheless a room, full of young, bright people is a good start for fighting these problems. He said, ‘‘This EYP conference is unique, because this is where your journey begins.’’ He pointed out that every conference has a unique meaning to every participant itself, and because of that he had to limit his sentimental expression to the extent that he is happy and proud. Every first EYP session is full of uncertainty. Everyone has different expectations from the conference. This
could be anything. Meeting new people, finding a suitable environment to discuss our interests, learning what is being discussed currently are just a drop in the ocean of possibilities. Ogulcan, before concluding his speech, made his sincere wishes that everybody finds what they are looking for. We truly hope that you are as encouraged as we once were, for the beginning is always the hardest part.■
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TEAM
Teresa Stadler and Despina Papadopoulou on the importance When was the last time you have been asked by someone you just met to lie on the floor, and roll over, onto someone you barely know to pass a coin from one side of the line to the other? Has limbo-ing with an orange or shouting “Haiduken” at the top of your lungs in a filled corridor made you feel really awkward? Welcome to EYP’s teambuilding.
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Even though it might seem ridiculous at first sight, there is in fact a deeper thought behind this concept. From first approximations during name games, where a certain fruit is used to get to know other delegates, you quickly
move on to more eventful games. Misunderstandings are very common at this stage but make the whole thing a lot more enjoyable, the jokes indeed set a more relaxed mood. Speed-dating your committee members should introduce you to the team, and attach the name that you just repeated sixty times not only to a body but to a person with history. By now they are certainly more than a bunch of strangers to you. Final proof of overcoming your shyness can be obtained during a round of street fighter, the motto here: the louder the better. A game that is far calmer but of similar importance is “drunken bottle”, where, while blindly being passed around within a circle, you
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BUILDING of
Teambuilding and different exercises
learn to take confidence in your eam. Feel like there is nothing left that could embarrass you in front of these people? Very good. Equally, making a line according to the color of your underwear is not meant to reveal your dressing habits but rather strengthen communication between you and fellow participants. Sharing slightly delicate pieces of information might be a first but definitely no last at this session. Moreover, levitating a broomstick is not really a way to turn you into second class magicians but can tell you a lot about yourself and the people you are working with. Someone might turn out to take the lead, oth-
ers might just follow whatever is said or maybe the whole group decides to make a precise strategy to make the magic happen. Also, tying you up in a human knot is by no means designed to dislocate your joints. Conversely, the problem solving and co-operating that will be needed to end up in a perfect circle can clearly be seen as a metaphor for solving the committee’s question and finishing with a perfect resolution. So now that the serious business is about to start, make sure to take one more vital message: have fun! â–
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thessaloniki: a biased report by Dionysis Theodoropoulos
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Everyone has a special connection to the place where he or she was raised. I have lived in a lot of places, nine to be specific, and one of them was Thessaloniki. I have to admit that after having lived abroad and in Greece, small villages and big cities, islands and main Greek lands, the
best memories I have from all these places are the ones that I have gained from living in Thessaloniki. Thessaloniki has always been the most favorite city of Greek artists. It celebrates and enjoys a very profound artistic life. As an ancient city, it is proud of its rich tradition.
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There are numerous exciting sights made by people who once lived here, just like us, and one can see the proof of it all over the town. Side by side, old ruins live in perfect harmony with modern buildings that provide home to many. Moreover, Thessaloniki is proud of its great educa ional institutions. Aristotle’s University of Thessaloniki is listed in the list of world’s top universities and most of them are between the first choices of Greek students. At the campuses of universities in Thessaloniki many activities take place organized mainly by their students. A lot of NGO’s have their headquarters there as well, and one of them is EYP Greece. There are many options offered by the university so you can go to the university campuses and socialize, educate yourself (most of the lectures are open to the public), watch movies, participate in many organizations, be members of various clubs (be it sports, reading, theatre, and music) and almost every activity that you
can imagine. Being one of the biggest cities in the area, Thessaloniki plays a very important role both on the Balkans and Greece. It is a place where every company wants to invest and have a leading role in every part of the market. Another important factor of this city is its port, whose strategically ideal location makes it one of the world’s most successful ports. When it comes to nightlife, Thessaloniki is full of surprises and variety. The city lives throughout the night and you will never forget your stay here. when in here you will never get bored, actually its nightlife must be one of the best in the country compared to the one Greek islands have in high season. In conclusion, Thessaloniki is a town that always has something new to offer and if you spend a few days here you will acquire so many new experiences that it will most definitely stay in your mind for a long, long time, and make you come back.■
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The Man behind the scene Dimitris Hapizanis.
Where to begin? Well, It was a late and a festive night in one of ThessaYou could hear different languages being spoken toasts of satisfaction held trough out the place. The guest of honor at this place was a little organization called the EYP. To learn something more about the reasons of this haploniki’s famous taverns.
piness and some details we decided to talk to one of the people responsible for the whole thing, a
22 year old mechanical engineer and the current president of EYP Greece, Dimitris Hapizanis.
How
long have you been in-
volved with EYP, first session, etc.?
Well actually, my EYP story is not a usual one. My school was never involved in the whole project so the first contact I had with the EYP was in college, and the first position I had was the orga position and it was in 2006. If we are going to be specific my first session, a session as a delegate was this summer, the international session in Frankfurt, I just had to experience it the way everyone did.
You
Thessaloniki yourself, can you tell us someare
from
thing about the relationship
between the city and the EYP?
Thessaloniki and EYP go way back. The first international session held outside France where EYP was started took place right here in Thessaloniki in 1989. To this day we have somewhat a special relationship. We try to be as much as a family here as possible. We insist on having meetings
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as often as we can, to connect, to become as tight as possible an synergetic team to say so.
preparation of the session but the most important thing is the forming of a great team so it will be or top priority.
You have been a president of EYP Greece for about a month And for the end, what would now, how is the position ef- you like to say to the delefecting you? Has it motivated gates? you more or has have some bad things come out of it?
I have been crazy about the whole thing from day one. I would not say that being president had neither good or bad effect on me. My main goal has always been to make sure that the delegates have the best experience possible, and since I was never in their shoes (until Frankfurt) that was a challenge for me and I really tried at former positions and am still trying to do the best I can. Future plans of EYP Greece? Considering the fact that we are hosting the international session in Athens next year it would be unrealistic to expect some other projects aside (considering the crisis and all). We definitely plan to have some workshops in
You may have come here prepared to the maximum extent or you may just know the basics about the topic. Maybe you are very enthusiastic about the whole thing and maybe you are just here to see it done. Whatever your motivation is or may be while you are here, do not think about the result of this weekend. There are no winners or losers, someone who is more successful and someone who is less successful. Enjoy the whole process. Play with it, explore it, but respect the boundaries. This whole thing is here for you. See to it that you seize the day and take as much out of it as you can.â–
by Ivan Stojanovic
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EXCLUSIVE: the Skype talk
between Ogulcan, Chrysanthi and Hapizanis 13/12/2010 19:52 Hapizanis: good afternoon Crysanthi, how’s our wonderful head-orga today? 19:52 Chrysanthi: great! I’m so excited for the session! 19:52 Chrysanthi: I have mailed you the list with the travel details of the officials. I also included the timetables for trains and airplanes. 19:53 Hapizanis: Yes, I saw it. You have organized everything to the last detail. With the right time management we will be able to pick up everyone at their arrival points without any trouble. 14:50 Chrysanthi: Ok, I have to go now, we’ll talk again tomorrow 14/12/2010 11:32 Hapizanis: OMG! 11:32 Chrysanthi: I KNOW! 11:32 Hapizanis: omg omg omg omg, what are we going to do?!? 11:33 Ogulcan: What’s wrong guys? 11:33 Hapizanis: tomorrow there’s a strike on trains, planes, buses. Everything! 11:34 Ogulcan: a strike? Like what old people have when they get angry? 11:34 Chrysanthi: that’s a stroke ogulcan...... 11:34 Hapizanis: /facepalm/ 11:34 Chrysanthi: the employees at trains, airports and buses will not work tomorrow!! 11:35 Ogulcan: OMG! 11:35 Crysanthi: ok, guys, calm down. We will be simply be running wround the city, picking up officials as they arrive.... 11:35 Hapizanis: sounds like fun... 15/12/2010 18:15 Chrysanthi: I have the updated, emergency travel details for most officials. 18:15 Hapizanis: who are you not sure about? 18:15 Chrysanthi: Ingrid. I think she’s coming from Ankara by bike... 18:15 Hapizanis: No I think it was bike until the border and then she would rent a donkey. 18:16 Chrysanthi: I hope she does end up somewhere near Thessaloniki 18:45 Chrysanthi: ok, I’m now going to the Station to pick up the editors and two journos. The bus should arrive at 20:00. We’ll talk in a couple of hours when I’m back. 21:10 Hapizanis: Crysanthi? 21:12 Hapizanis: Crysanthi, I have to go to the airport to pick up another official. Call me when you see this message. 21:19 Ogulcan: Hapi, who’s picking me up? 21:22 Ogulcan: Guys? 21:23 Ogulcan: guuuuuys?.... by Stavros Pagoninis
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One THOUSAND Miles of Life
Ingrid came out of her house and walked to the main street. Her destination was Thessaloniki, in order to chair the Committee on Foreign Affairs at the 22nd NSC of EYP Greece. The average person can go from Ankara to Thessaloniki by bus, train, airplane or car. But Ingrid is not the average person; she would do it by hitchhiking! There she is, with her dear French friend and only one backpack for both of them, signaling to the cars that they need a ride towards the west. Soon she was making herself comfortable at the backseat of the car of a total stranger. The man left them at the center of Istanbul, which as she wrote in her journal, was a huge hitchhiking mistake. It is extremely hard to find someone passing by the center of a city on his way to the borders. Eventually she and her friend managed to
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find another car which was heading to a convenient direction and so she made her way to a town near the border. The weather was getting worse, creating a big traffic jamand thus blocking Ingrid’s way. As you probably understand by now, the weather is not a big obstacle for Ingrid. She simply walked for five hours in the rain to get to the Greek-Turkish borders. There she faced the suspicious border control. When the officer falsely accused her of having a forged passport, probably just to intimidate her, she had the nerve and the temper to just say «No, it’s real». She knew she was right and this should be a lesson for every one of us. When you are right, no guard or officer of any kind can take that away from you. Fortunately, her passport was accepted and Ingrid entered Greece.
Hitchhiking once again, Ingrid and her friend were able to find some room in a two seated sport convertible car (aka farmer’s pickup truck). Later on, the means of transportation changed into a petrol distribution truck. After visiting most of Thrace’s gas stations, Ingrid was in Komotini. From there she decided to take the bus, in order to make it in time for the session. After the end of the session, Ingrid kissed goodbye all of her new and old friends, saying that she planned to travel all around Greece. Some say that she sailed a handmade sailboat to Morocco, others that they saw her cycling near St. Petersburg. No one knows for sure where you might come across Ingrid, the most adventurous EYPer of them all… ■ by Stavros Pagoninis
Special Edition!
ThessaLeaksTimes Committee articles
ThessaLeaks Times
Team building of the heroes - AFET by Ivan Stojanovic It may be a coincidence or the Greek influence I am experiencing but the day could not resemble a Greek epic poem more. A group of eleven strong led by brave and charming Aspa and Ingrid gathered on the hill just above the legendary city of Thessaloniki. Brave legion, as all the Greeks, lives by the moto Healthy body, healthy spirit so amongst them you will meet many great champions of different talents. Not afraid of water, horses or the deadliest ping-pong table, where they come, medals are awarded to them. The cold of severe Greek hills may have forced them to seek
refuge in the warm Thessaloniki classroom but they used those circumstances to turn of the lights and hold a long debate about abstract shapes that has without a doubt deepened their perception of the ways of the universe. Only time (and the session programme) will tell what challenges await this brave company but I can only say that I was amazed by the wonderful cacophony of intelligence, humor, traditional Greek dances and open mindedness displayed today.■
How to train your AGRI by Dionysis Theodoropoulos The AGRI committee had a thrilling teambuilding and they should be proud of themselves, since they fulfilled their task successfully and from now on they have earned the right to be called a team. This is not a trivial accomplishment considering that they had less than four hours available. But how did they do that? I was approaching the place they had gathered when I saw Gio, Sini, seven girls and a boy trying to fight the chilly cold. They started teambuilding with a few name games. After that they shared information about themselves, breaking the ice. In their room they did the AGRI dance (a
version of Zulu dance) and a few other energizers. Their chairs then awarded them with the drunk bottle for triumphantly wining the CULT committee at skin the snake. They also proved their team spirit reaching a unanimous consensus about the “Abigail’s tale” dilemma which gave them the chance to find their weaknesses as a team and set the ground rules to cope with them during committee work. For this tiring day their chairs awarded them with a bear hunt, a human knot, “hugy” drunk bottle and a brainstorming exercise. AGRI you are meant to rock!■
ThessaLeaks Times
CULT - A proper dialogue with cultural flavor by Teresa Stadler and Viktor Sanca Committee on Culture started the process of bonding with using a usual method: The name game. But with two Despinas and two Katerinas, name games went refreshingly smoothly. Magic wand (a rolled up paper that gives you the power to hit your fellow committee member) really helped them to remember each other’s names. Even though their parents tried to teach them not to play with food, delegates used oranges to overcome last uncertainties. Hadouken, Sonic Boom and other fighting phrases finally managed to get the sub-zero cold out of the delegates’ bones, since committee room’s tiny radiator failed to provide any help. Both physical effort during the human knot and mental strength during speed dating improved the atmosphere of this diverse team. After day one, we are sure that tomorrow’s problem solving will be a huge success!■
DEVE - Developing friendship by Teresa Stadler and Viktor Sanca Nothing could have stopped today’s enthusiasm of DEVE delegates. Despite the ice-cold temperatures, it seriously got warmer with the Blind date game. Next up was the Human Knot. The bonds they made were so strong it seemed almost impossible to break the knot. It seems like we are going to have a really close and compact com-
mittee. Lining up by height is a common activity, but when do you get an opportunity to line up by the alphabetical order of your mother’s first name? This bunch of cheerful people accepted the challenge, and despite showing the Greek letters with their hands, they excelled in it. After they’ve finished, they all went into warm rooms of the Hellenic
College. Relieved with warmth, a new challenge was put on, the Swamp game. They were very critical on the square they had made. Is it maybe an overdose of perfectionism? We will soon find out, in the next days of this thrilling Session!■
ThessaLeaks Times
ECON by Cem Kobasa&Despina Papadopoulou The delegates of ECON along with their chairs started the teambuilding part of the session despite the obstacles of the Mother Nature. Apparently they had fun during their snowball fight which is a namelearning game. However Nicolas (chair) was not satisfied by the intensity of the game and he said: ‘Is it how the Greeks have snowball fights? You should see the ones in Germany!’ but
a delegate found a way to defend the honor of his country and said: ‘There is more snow in Germany!!’ After the snowball game, in order to get to know each other, delegates chad the possibility to express their intensive preferences towards the celebrities of the previous generation. George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Megan Fox were indeed on the top of the list.
One of the games that were interesting is the game in which the delegates had to form a line. The challenge was, they were not allowed to speak and had to get in the order of age, oldest being in the left. The purpose of this game was trying to make accurate estimations on how long the activity will take. This also was a good preparation for tomorrows committee work.■
EMPL by I Cem Kobasa&Despina Papadopoulou The cutest chair couple of the conference, Larissa and Sophia, decided to start the teambuilding in a fast way, the speed dating. During the game, delegates pretended as if they know each other for years, so they hugged and kissed and laughed together. Another game played was DJSAM, in which D stands for dream, J for journey, S for secret, A for aim and the most relaxing one, M for massage! These ice-breaking games must have worked well because they played successfully the drunken bottle game, which requires mutual trust, concentration and cooperation. Even if some of the delegates hesitated to play at
the beginning, Sofia was willing to join the game in order to encourage them. In the Human Corridor game everybody was having fun and seemed bonded. Nobody got hurt and some other committees complained about the cheers they made. !■
ThessaLeaks Times
ENVI - Falling in the hands of trust
by Stavros Pagonidis On a particularly cold day, here in Thessaloniki, the members of the ENVI committee assembled to get to know each other and form a connection among them. With their movie preferences ranging from the “Godfather” to “Harry Potter”, and their hobbies from computers to novel writing, ENVI is here to make the world cleaner, greener and fresher. Their interest on the en-
vironment was made clear from the beginning, during a namegame, where every delegate had to state their name and one thing that they like and starts from the same letter as the name. It turns out they like acting like Rabbits, Monkeys, Snakes and Elephants. Different games followed and delegates were able to find out more about their fellows, as well as about themselves. At the
“drunken bottle” Nikos got to be the center of attention of over ten ladies and Anthi got over her fear to let herself literally fall in the hands of her colleagues. The first day is over and now the delegates can return to their homes, have a cup of hot chocolate to make them forget the cold and prepare for the demanding and challenging Committee Work that awaits them tomorrow.■
FEMM - Ladies first by Maria Sakellaridi
Once upon a time, a gathering that would change human history was secretly formed in the beautiful gardens of Hellenic College of Thessaloniki. Seven individuals with extraodinary names and their two amazing chairs, Stella and Drazen, gathered in a circle, and introduced themselves. The first to go, was Delicious Despina followed by Dynamic Dimitra.. Then, Magical Markos suddenly appeared proving his name’s origin. The Heroic Hero presented herself holding
her gold trident and having the Agressive Anna-Maria standing right next to her, protecting her from all dangers. In this gathering the Anxious Anastacia was reminding everybody the importance of perfection in work. Last but not least, there was Serious Stelios (or not!) who was giving gravity to this gathering with his presence. After presenting themselves, the seven advocates of gender equality formed another circle in order to get more famil-
iar with each other so as to accomplish their important task. But suddenly the committee had to deal with the notorious monster that threatened their ally. Through hard team work and cooperation they managed to fulfill their challenge. In the future, they will have to face problems that could save the human race and the universe, but they just don’t know it yet. ■
ThessaLeaks Times
LIBE 1 by Cem Kobasa&Despina Papadopoulou Mariella is unfortunately without a co-chair. However her committee was so supportive, that she actually didn’t feel the lack of it. They started by telling a name and a quality that starts with the first letter of the name. Every delegate has to repeat all the previous names and qualities, including the gestures made describing the person. Then they started passing the orange. There has been a minor tension because of theır ınabılıty to pass the orange. Thus, Mariella urged the delegates to sing the relax-
ing big fat pony song. They really believed in themselves and they decided to retry the pass the orange game, which totally shows their determination to have a success in their tasks. But, according to a journalist, they tried for 04:52.6 minutes to untangle human knot and the paradox of this committee is the fact that they succeeded it in only 01:43.2 minutes in another trial.. ■
LIBE 2 has faith (and a plan!) by Stavros Pagoninis&Maria Sakellaridi What are all these oranges for? Picnic? Guess again. LIBE II delegates started off this rather sunny (but cold) afternoon by throwing oranges to each other or shouting each others’ names, with one of them searchingly turning in circles. Yes, indeed, this looked slightly ridiculous. Although remembering all these new faces seemed to be quite a challenge at the beginning, it turned out surprisingly well: no-one was injured when hit on the head with the “magic wand” and only one of the oranges ended up as juice. Quite unbelievable but absolutely true is that this group can ac-
tually levitate people – one at a time of course, as allied forces are needed to make it happen. Even more astonishing was however that making a broomstick float turned out to be a lot harder – it must have been scared by all the “up” and “down” shouting that went through the room. The chairs’ attempt at knotting them up for a while was simply laughed at, and after the third successfully solved knot, quickly given up. Communication, co-operation, a clear strategy and faith is LIBE II’s recipe to make this session a blast!!■
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The Weather
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