The Magazine by Asociația Din'Ardeal

Partners Youth Association from Transylvania - ATA was the organizer partner of this exchange. They were established in the autumn of 2011. According to their Statute, they aim to help develop, promote and represent the general interests of the youth communities in Transylvania by having social, cultural, sporting, educational, environmental, recreational projects, doing colunteering and professional training activities, and thus promoting the active involvement of youth in the perpetuation of ethnic, national and European values. They aim to do this with the experience gathered in other NGOs in managing Youth in Action, Grundtvig and Leonardo da Vinci Projects.

SZÁMALK was called into being to provide ICT-related training programs 20 years ago and ever since they provide – besides IT – training programs in the field of the media, arts, economics as well as pedagogy and flight attendant courses. 1200 students participate in the different training programs preparing for the labour market by acquiring up-dated competences. For the past 10 years the school has been involved in several experimental and innovation transfer projects, whose results have been used in the teaching process as well. They put a great emphasis on developing practical competences. Several of their training programs contain placement practices in companies.

TREX EVS was created in 2007 with the aim of providing common space for Turkish Ex EVS volunteers. The association’s center is in İzmir but they are doing youth works in national level. They are mainly doing activities online except for the activities and meetings of local group and sending Turkish youths to youth projects in Europe and not only. Soon they would like to create a hosting project in the topic as youth information. They're also members of NEVA.

The Past, Present and Future of the European Union

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

Zagon, October 27 - November 3, 2012

Introduction

Hello

everyone!

Who are we?

Malach Noémi

Romania - participant

Hungary - participant

Kocadag Umay Begum

Sari Ahmet Semih

We were in Zagon, Transylvania from October 26 2012 until November 3 2012, for a youth exchange that is called “The Past, Present and Future of the European Union,” from three countries which are Turkey, Hungary and Romania. More than 20 young people from these countries discussed about the project's topic which was the European Union and also about Mikes Kelemen's life. During the project we looked at Mikes's life, his journey and also history about the countries, we talked, played, simulated and acted about the EU accession of Turkey, rural development, entrepreneurship, the economic crisis and the future of the EU. We shared our ideas; we knew each other and we had many activities which are about intercultural learning. All this through non formal edication, which is the basis of these youth projects.

Antal Noémi

Metin Gizem

Turkey - participant

Hegyi István

Romania - participant

Orbán Gábor

Borsos Petra

Hungary - participant

Ilgazli Hümeyra Turkey - participant

Vass Csaba

Nagy Géza Attila

Fürst Fanni

Hungary - group leader

Romania - facilitator

Hungary - participant

Youth exchanges are one of the sub actions of the programme which is called ' Youth in Action' supported by European Commision. Youth in Action is a programme for all! It promotes mobility within and beyond the EU borders, non-formal learning and intercultural dialogue, and encourages the inclusion of all young people, regardless of their educational, social and cultural background. For more detailed info please check the website : http://ec.europa.eu/youth/index_en.htm

Kiss Gábor

Onat Ali Islam

Szentgyörgyi Zsolt

In the magazine, which was written at the end of the exchange, you will find more information about what we did; have a nice time while reading!

Koröshegyi Bálint

Hungary - participant

Turkey - participant

Romania - participant

Hungary - participant

Güder Büsra

Turkey - group leader

Fodor Mózes

Romania - participant

Cultural nights

On three nights each participant group presented their country and culture: Turkish night Turkey's details were presented by Kerim Ekici, and he gave some information such as: population, total surfaces, government, founder who is Atatürk, parliament located in Ankara, which is capital city, money currency, 8 nationalities speaks Turkish or close to Turkish, neighbours which are Bulgaria, Greece, Syria, Iraq, Iran , Nahcivan (private republic to Azerbaijan), Georgia, Armenia. After that, the group presented 3 videos which are associated about Istanbul and Turkey. Then they taught the long Turkish words and tonguetwisters and played the traditional folk music and everybody enjoyed and played all together:

Turkish: Mini mini bir kuş donmuştu Pencereme konmuştu Aldım onu içeriye Cik cik cik ötsün diye Pır pır ederken canlandı Ellerim bak boş kaldı

English: A tiny tiny bird got frozen It perched on to my window I took it inside So that it could sing like jick jick jick jick When it heard a purring sound it got excited Look at my hands they're empty now

Romanian night We watched 2 promo videos aboutRomania, then watched another one, on the World without Romania, that contains inventions, personalities. They then showed and told details about Romania, travel guide video about Romanian reigions. There was a really funny quiz contest about Romania, UNESCO sites and about other interesting facts.

ROMANIAN QUIZ

.. ..

What is the population of Romania? 20 million 22,5 million 21 millio 19 million (+ 3 million working abroad) What is this? The Danube Delta

Hungraian night The group presented some details about Hungary after that they shown us 3 videos on inventions and famous inventors who are Hungrian, about Budapest, and on National sports which, included a piano and drum show which was played by 2 famous artists. Then they played a song, it was “tavaszi szel” covered it by Queen during a hungrian concert, and we all sang it: Hungarian: Tavaszi szél vizet áraszt, virágom, virágom. Minden madár társat választ virágom, virágom. Hát én immár kit válasszak? Virágom, virágom. Te engemet, én tégedet, virágom, virágom.

English: The spring wind blows the waters, my flower, Every bird searches for a partner, my flower, And I, whom should I choose, my flower, I choose you, and you choose me, my flower.

Lastly, they shown us the city's names which are kind of hard to pronounce as they were long, and we had to practice saying them.

... . .. ...

Who got the first 10 in the history gymnastics? Ecaterina Szabo Sandra Izbasa Nadia Comaneci Catalina Ponor What invented Henri Coanda? The insulin The pen The jet aircraft The helicopter Cybernetics How many Unesco heritage sites are there in Romania? 6 9 7 10

. . .

... . .. ..

How many graves are in the Merry Cemetery? More than 900 Less than 500 Exactly 932 More than 800 Dracula? A vampire from Hollywood A Medieval Romanian Ruler A monster in a fairy-tale A juice made from tomatoes How high is the Arch of Triumph in Little Paris (Bucharest)? 27 50 18 33 Which of these two locations is part of the Unesco heritage?

. . .

Sighisoara

Bran Castle

In the end, everybody enjoyed with the songs which were performed by by Ozone and Inna and also some Manele.

What we learned about the EU -I found out that EU is an economic and cultural union. -I found out other people's viewpoints as regards Turkey's EU accession process, the current problems in the EU and the future of the EU. -I learned that there are more complex things behind the decisions the EU makes. -I had some ideas about the EU but I was not well informed and I found out that the EU has some weak points and might disappear in the future. -I learned about the EU, the prospects of Turkey's EU accession and the way the EU sees the future. -What I have learned during this project is that the EU can still exist through rebuilding some parts of their system and through cooperating. -The project made me more interested in getting to know the EU better as I did not care much about the EU before the project. -I find the decision making process interesting. -I learned about the prospects for the EU's future and the need for seeking for solutions to the EU's problems because without solutions the majority of countries will cause a total chaos. -I found out that the EU has all economic resources and relatively poorer countries benefit more from the budget to develop in terms of infrastructure, education, health etc.

-I found out that Turkey was not accepted as a member state as the country still has some major internal problems and those problems are beyond the reach for the EU.

Trip'ping in Seklerland We started our journey on Tuesday morning, 2012.10.30 at 8, from the central square of Zagon and everyone had a sleepy, tired mood, not only because yesterday night got longer than expected, but also because looking out from the window they could only see rain clouds and raindrops. Once on the bus, the group divided into three, one fell asleep instantly, one watched the cloudy weather in silence and one started singing in a most foul voice waking up the sleepy ones. The first location we visited was Lake Saint Anne, the legend of which was narrated on the spot by Nagy Attila, the facilitator. The legend was completed with geological data, narrated by the administrator of the area who also showed the group the Mohos Peat Moss Bog and told it's curiosities amid humorous and interesting stories and events linked to the area. Amid stories of deep lake droplets, carnivorous plants, bonsai trees and bear trails, we had to hurry up a bit as the fog was thick as butter and trickled icy rain. The group didn't even have the chance to 'defrost' when our minibus reached Bálványos, so we had some hot tea, chocolate and coffee there to warm ourselves. Our next stop was Kézdivásárhely, where we went to a traditional Sekler restaurant and besides eating, we also glanced at the showcased Sekler furniture and dining tools. After lunch we visited the Incze László Museum of the Guilds in Kézdivásárhely, where we could see the flags tools and craftsmanship of all the guilds of the Market city. We also had the chance to see the Susan and Andrew doll collection from which 247 are on display out of the total of 352. These are dolls that are wearing the traditional cloths of the 15 counties that are in the Transylvania and Partium regions of Romania. Some free time was given to the participants after this, so they can explore the city and buy souvenirs. After this, we went to Zabola, where Mikes Kelemen lived in the Mikes Castle until the age of 12. Unfortunately the Castle and the huge park around it is privately owned and visitors are not allowed inside. But in this village, we also had the chance to go to the Csángó ethnographic museum, where after a short wait of 40 minutes we could enter and see the traditional clothing, the crafts and the tools of the Csángó, who are catholic Hungarians that live in the Moldova region of Romania, just across the Carpathians.

-Before, I did not think and talk about future scenarios of EU so I learnt this part. -I learned about the difficulties and challenges of Turkey's joining in the EU. -I learned that the EU has more minority issues than I thought it would.

We arrived back to Zagon at 6 in the afternoon and even though looking back it was very sad that that day was the coldest and rainiest, the feedback of the participants found the trip very interesting and full of good memories to take home.

Travelling with Mikes Kelemen

Travelling with Mikes Kelemen Participants had to prepare by making a short presentation about Mikes Kelemen's life and journeys from the perspective of each of the 3 countries.

After Rákóczi's failure they have to go into exile First they went to Gdansk, Poland From ther thet tries London, England but failed to stay. France - Paris and Versailles followed

Learns french, gets aquainted with French and English poetry Becomes Rákóczi's main counselor

1707. becomes Ferenc Rákóczi's squire Follows Rákóczi in his war, in Trencsén, present day Slovakia He was born in 1690, in Zágon, Transylvania Father: Pál Mikes, Mother: Éva Torma

His father was executed and Ferenc Boér became his guardian. Spent his childhood in Zabola, Transylvania Went to school in Kolozsvár

Then they went to Constantinopole Finally they settled in Tekirdag/ Rodostó, Turkey

After 5 years in France they have to go to Turkey, to Gallipoli. Rákóczi died in 1735 He died in Rodostó in 1761

Haloween

Participants ideas to develop Zágon

On Thursday we made a special night for Halloween. Almost all the participants and the organizers dressed up and wore make up. To make the mood complete, a pumpkin head was also carved. Everybody had an idea about what they want to personalize:

Our task was to go to the village, talk to the locals and get ideas on how to develop Zágon. We formed 3 groups.

. . . .

.. .

.. . . . .

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Umay Queen of Heart Büşra Turkish man Gizem Scary clown Humeyra Paul Stanley (KISS) Ali Joker (The Dark Night) Kerim Jigsaw Doll Semih Padisah Gábor Dracula Gábor Spoon killer Csabi Gene Simmons (KISS) Bálint Pantomim guy Fanni Wild cat Noémi Creepy doll Petra Creepy doll Attila Barbarian István Ninja turtle (Rafaello) Mózes Skull (wrestler) Zsolt Sting (wrestler)

Team 1: -Have souvenir shops concentrating on Mikes and Zágon. The products could be made by the locals, mainly women while the men are working. -Have a festival on the anniversary of Mikes's birthday taking 2-3 days. Visitors could come mainly from Turkey and Hungary. There will be programmes built around Mikes and the festival could be bigger and bigger every year. The locals could accommodate the visitors and show them how the life is in Zágon.

Team 2:

. . .

One of our participants laughed like this: „ek-ek-ek-ek-ek-ek”

Bálint was trying to make a hole on the pumpkin with a rock, and he said: „I'm doing it in pre-historic style, but it just not working.” Then Gábor said, „you are not like you were before.” (Laugh) There was a hat on the door handle. Usually when there is something on the door handle, it means that you shouldn't go inside for certain reasons. Mózes, Attila and István were inside.

.. . ..

Funny Stuff Fanni - Funny When Csaba put sticks in Fanni's hair, she said „thrust intensively” Kerim asked Bálint to come, in Hungarian “gyere ide”. And after he came closer Kerim said „most már mehetsz” which means that you can go now Spoonkiller aka Gábor: „And again” Ali sad „Gábor where are you? I can't see you.” He looked at Gábor's left ear, like an idiot.

- Time travel to the past! An 18th century courtyard should be constructed with a house, stable, barn and every building that was necessary at that time. All this made at the Mikes's garden where the oaks are, where the peasant's house would function as Mikes Museum where the attire of that time could be seen by the visiting tourists. - An information office would be important for the tourists at the Mayor's Office so it wouldn't be expensive but it's a good impression for the tourists. - Rural tourism: The tourists can try rural life. Groups of 5-6 could be accommodated by local families where they could taste local food, they would get up with the locals, would do seasonal work, bake bread together in the furnace and would try out everything that village people do. - The existing sport base should be used touristically as well and should be extended. - The sawdust and timber remaining after wood processing should be used usefully, for example a manufactory that creates fuel (bricket) and fibreboard. New workplaces would be created and Zagon would benefit from timber remaining from wood processing. - A fruit processing and collecting center should be installed where the locals can collect their crops to motivate everyone to plant fruits on unused land.

Team 3: - Local families should collaborate in agriculture because one family can't get any profit from agriculture. If they collaborate they could have profit and an office for the young people to work in and they wouldn't move away abroad. - The local football team should get more attention to give them a chance to participate in international challenges. - Install a power plant functioning on wood waste which would produce energy and the heat provided could be used to heat pools in the new Spa which would attract tourists.

The mayor was present when the participants showed their plans. He told his opinion about their plans and he will bring the best suggestions to the city council.

Games and energizers Before the activities we did some outdoor or indoor games icebreakers and energizers: Name Game 1: Being in a circle, we said our names and showed a sign of ourselves, the next person left to us had to repeat the name, do the sign and say/show his/her own. This until the first person, who had to repeat all the names and symbols. Name Game 2: We were sitting in a circle and we had a tennis ball. We had to say the name of another participant and we had to throw them the ball, this until everyone's name was said at least 2 times. The Ball Game: We were making an order of who we throw the ball at start and we are throwing ball to him/her every time. We needed to concentrate and the game was for energizing the group. We repeated this many times because it was difficult to succeed with 5 balls flying. Hobbit Game: We were 16 people who played and we had 5 hobbits 10 house maker and 1 of us choosing who will change place, when he/she says “hobbit,” all the hobbits standing under a house which was formed by 2 house makers holding hands; when he/she say ''house'' house makers changed their partners over the head of the hobbits, when he/she says ''earthquake'' everyone must change the place. Ma-zinga: Before we make a circle and than the first person starting yells as loud its possible ''ma'' and everyone joins one by one and finish it when everyone said “ma”, with ''zinga''. Rabbit Game: We make a circle and then we are saying what we will do to an imagined rabbit and then in the second turn we are going to do the same thing to who is standing on our right. The second part is not told in the beginning. Mosquito Game: We stood in a circle, one person got selected to be a mosquito and he/she had to crouch, while the 2 persons next to him/her had to clap their hands above the head of the crouching mosquito. Then the person who was on the left of the mosquito became the mosquito and like this everybody had to crouch in a wave and everyone needed to clap in a wave, very fast. Counting Game: We counted down numbers, starting with 9 and each time we did it 4 times, once shaking our left hand, then our right one, then our left leg and then our right one, then the same with 9, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Feedback of participants Hello, I am Attila Nagy from Transylvania, Romania. I am the facilitator of the project and one of the founding members of the Youth Association from Transylvania. Among my expectations were to complete the programs, to care about participants good mood and to give good experiences. The participant teams are interesting, young teams. It's interesting, that we have participants who took part in other programs, and we also have newbie's. Because of this, the programs always have interesting results. One of my most memorable moments, when we was in St. Anne lake. I enjoyed the priest's speech under Mikes's Oaks and when a team filmed us for a TV show and I liked the Derdians reflection as well. All I can say, this project was memorable for me too, because with this week I learned to be more patient and smile more often. I hope we will meet in Rodosto! Hello, I'm Petra Borsos. I'm 20 years old and I live in Budapest. This is my 3rd Youth Exchange program. I was curious about Turkish people and the people from Transylvania as well. I wanted to practice English and learn everything about the three countries common past and future. Everybody is friendly and it's like we were friends since a long time. I learned a lot about Turkish culture, habbits and history. Because this training, now I know a lot about Turkey's international situation. My most memorable moment when we were around a table, we barely knew each other but we said that this week will be awesome! Szia, my name is is Ali. This is my first time going abroad. I met a lot of new people. They are all great especially Bálint. He is crazy. Joking aside 'Szeretlek', all of then and their culture. This is so great. Thank you for everything, Köszönöm Guys!

Hi! I'm Gizem from the Turkish team. I'm so happy to know everyone and I had so much fun. It went by so quickly and that was the only negative aspect. I always wanted to discover Transylvania. Moreover, I had the opportunity to know more about Mikes Kelemen and EU. That was a lifetime experience. Thank you so much! Hi! I'm Gábor from SZAMALK, Hungary. I was really excited to go to Transylvania because my ancestors lived there. Being there was not disappointing at all. The locals were veryfriendly. The company was great. The participants were coming from Turkey, Hungary and Transylvania. The programs were great as well and they helped a lot to get to know each other's culture, way of thinking. We learned about the current problems of the EU and the member states. We will leave with new friends and good memories, experiences and knowledge. So, Thank you Zagon! Hi, I'm Bálint from Budapest, Hungary. I really like exchange programs. I've been to different exchange programs before, but this was the most productive program for me. I had the chance to know more about the EU and Mikes Kelemen. It was great to know people from different cultures and to cooperate with them. It was a great opportunity to see the others' point of view. I will never forget about this programs and the travel to Transylvania. I will tell about my experiences in this exchange program to my grandchildren! Hello, I'm Kerim from Tekirdağ, Turkey. I really liked the program and for me it was a surprise to see how good Zagon is because I expected a village with limited facilities and it is the same with the programs. I like that we have many creative activities. Our schedule was very busy and the outdoor activities helped us to enjoy our time here even more. I understood the aim of the Youth Exchange and I also liked the participants because for me it was like we knew each other for a long time.

THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

-daily program1 Breakfast Hungarian Lesson

A R R I V A L S

Participant Diary

Introduction to the Project Presentation of Youth in Action Lifelong Learning and Youthpass Lunch Hopes fears contributions Presentation about the daily evaluation process Discovering Zagon Dinner Organization Presentations

2 Breakfast

Derdians Game, a group situation game on communication and cooperation

Lunch Presentation of the life, history and values of Kelemen Mikes from the perspectives of all 3 countries

3 Breakfast Meeting with the mayor of Zagon Participant Diary Romanian Lesson Presentation of the issue of the Turkish accession Lunch

4 Breakfast

5 Breakfast Participant Diary

Participant Diary

Workshops on creativity and entrepreneur-ship

6 Breakfast

7 Breakfast

8 Breakfast

Participant Diary

Writing Youthpass achievements

Turkish Lesson

Setting up a working plan on disseminating, multiplying and following up the project, with the involvement of participants

Middle evaluation

Visits to cities and other places around Zagon, free time

Searching opportunities to do entrepreneurrial activities in Zagon

Forum theatre activities on the economical crisis

Lunch

Visit to the Kelemen Mikes estate

EU Parliament Simulation Visits to cities and other places around Zagon, free time

Meeting with Historian, visit to local museum /castle

Using the results of the previous activities we have a debate on the future of the EU 1 group pro, 1 group contra, negative, 1 group contra, positive

Presenting what happened in our countries from 1720 until 2012

Meeting and discussing with Nemes Elod regarding the EU and the Turkish Accession

Dinner

Intercultural Night

Turkish Night

Hungarian Night

Romanian Night

Halloween Party

Presenting entrepreneur-rial search results

Open Space for future plans, entrepreneurial activities and projects Final Evaluation questionnaire

Lunch

Creating dissemination materials

Reflection about the project and participant diary

Summing up the results of the project.

Youthpass awards, press conference

Dinner Free cultural activities

Dinner

D E P A R T U R E S

Farewell Part