k o m c Magazine c n v e i s d o n i a *Impressions fromYouth Exchange in Gaziantep Turkey *Vodici Macednian Holiday
Content 1.My impressions from the youth exchange in Gaziantep,Turkey
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By:Keti Gligorjadis
2.Youth exchange in Gaziantep,Turkey
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By:Aleksandra Rankovikj
3.Project in Gaziantep,Turkey By: Sara Nojkova
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Vodici According to Orthodox beliefs, Vodici (also known as the Baptism of Jesus Christ) represents the day when St. John the Baptist baptizes Jesus Christ in Jordan. The baptism in the Orthodox Church represents a spiritual birth and beginning of the human life in faith. The celebrations have two segments and last two days – the first one on 19th January is named “Mashki Vodici” (Male Vodici), and the second on 20th January is named “Zhenski Vodici” (Female Vodici). Historically, in Skopje there was a custom that on these days the sons-inlaw and their first-born sons, as well as the daughtersin-law and their first born daughters, respectively, were bathed in the river Vardar and sprayed with holy water by a priest.
My impressions from the youth exchange in Gaziantep,Turkey I love to travel to meet new people friends, new cultures. When I heard about turkey and Gaziantep from my friend when she asked me if I wanted to go I said yes, and applied without thinking. Gaziantep was beautiful, mix of old and new. I loved the people there, they were so nice. First I was like 15 days away from my home is too long, but no the days there fly by. I have never been in Gaziantep, so everything there for me was new . It was my first time to meet people from so many different countries, first time to be away from home for 15 days , first time to eat lahmadzun great baklava , to visit places like rum kale some great museums , great shopping mall and the list goes on and on. I loved the day we were on a boat dancing and singing, and I enjoy every minute of it. We didn’t just party , we also learned a lot about human rights and democracy and discussed about the problems that women have in our country . 1
. We had a elections that were very interesting we were electing a mayor of Gaziantep who could solve the problems that we saw the people of Gaziantep have . At the end of the day I encourage everybody to travel more , and to make more beautiful memories and friendships that last forever trust me you would not regretted .
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Youth exchange in Gaziantep,Turkey Speaking about me I can say that I am not a person who like to go out from the comfort zone and that’s why I was very skeptical about the question shall I apply for this seminar or not. I can freely say that the subject of this exchange seminar ‘’Human rights and democracy” which is so deeply connected with my university studies was crucial for attracting my attention and I decided to apply and I am so happy that I was part of this wonderful seminar. Since I participate for the first time for this kind of exchange seminar I am satisfied by any point of view. As first, I meet many colleagues from many countries, Italy, Lithuania, Romania, Croatia and Turkey, I got a knowledge of many new points in the area of Law through the daily lectures from eminent Professors as well as from daily activities connected with the subject of Human rights and democracy. Beside the work activities we had a lot of fun, join all groups together, get knowledge about Turkey’s history thanks to the hospitality of our Turkey manager. 3
And I realized that when a person is going out of its comfort zone can find many other comfort zones. Arriving the days started with activities connected with the subject of this seminar, than when the free hours came, we explored Gaziantep through many visits of museums, churches, parks, universities, ZOO, and many other historical places which speak about the town through the history, as well as for the daily life for their citizens. I can choose one situation during our activities which still woke up the smile on my face, is the simulation of election. We were divided on national groups with responsibility to prepare political campaign and than we chose by one representative person from the group and who will be candidate for a president on the elections. The candidates who pass for the second circle were Sara from Italy and Vladimir from Macedonia Even it was only a simulation, all of us were excited from that sweet tension who will win on the election
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And the end both candidates had the same votes, but we- Macedonian group were so proud of our winner candidate. From many visits of the town and its environment -Rumkale was my best impression. Its and absolute must see along the Euphrates river. It is only accessible from the village of Kasaba (Gaziantep side) by boat or from Halfeti (Sanliurfa side)by boat. We took a wonderful boat trip along the Euphrates river and we saw many parts of this magnificent fortress. Rumkalesi is a fortress which was originally built by the Assyrians about 800 BC, but later developed by the Romans, Byzantines, Armenians, Memluks, and finally the Turks. I have unforgettable memories of this trip and also i fell in love with the Euphrates River.
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We also had many intercultural dinners organized by all of the participants of the seminar where all of us were representing our countries , history, specific ethnic food where we could taste the breath of each country by the prepared dinners, presentations and traditional dances. Days fulfilled with joy, gathering, studying and having fun together, definitely in this 15 days i can find one of the most beautiful moments in my life which I will remember with big smile on my face. THANK YOU PAVEL SHATEV KOCHANI FOR SUCH A WONDERFUL SEMINAR
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Project in Gaziantep,Turkey At first I would like to say that this was my first youth exchange. I had great time on this seminar and I met a lot of friends here. The topic on this seminar was Democracy and human rights, which opened many discussions between us. It lasted for 15 amazing days where we created memories for a long time. So we started our journey to Gaziantep at the airport in Skopje, where our flight was delayed so we waited for a few hours ready for a new adventure. I had time to meet the other participants in this project while we were waiting for our flight. In Gaziantep we arrived around 7 pm and there was Mehmet (the organizer) waiting for us. Our group was first to arrive in Gaziantep so we had time to rest for the morning activities. I was so excited because of the fact that I was about to meet new people from different cultures and countries. First of all, I was roommate with one girl from Romania and one girl from Lithuania and I really got along with them. 7
The other participants from Romania, Lithuania, Italy, Turkey and Croatia arrived early in the morning, so we met each other in the morning activity. The first energizer was interesting because was meant for introducing ourselves. In every workshop we had discussions about democracy and human rights and it was interesting to learn about Turkish experience. One of the best activities was when we were divided in country groups and we had representative who was running for Gaziantep mayor. The rest of us were planning his mayor programme, which resulted as a great success for our group. We had fun doing the programme and we enjoyed helping him for the elections. Our elections were mostly democratic and everyone respected the candidates programmes. In this seminar we visited a lot of places and I would like to share my experience from Rumkale, the best place in whole Gaziantep.
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First we went on some lawn to plant trees, and we successfully planted a lot of trees. I was so happy that we all done something for Gaziantep’s environment. After that we traveled by bus which was organized from our organizer and after an hour of driving we arrived to our destination. When we arrived there, we were simply amazed from the beauty of that wonderful place. We had free time for enjoying Rumkale and of course we used it for taking breathtaking pictures. Later we had cruise on the river Euphrates which was amazing with all the beauties around us. The last stop on our route was the natural wonder of Rumkale, which has dazzled civilizations throughout the ages, and it was the site of one of the most important Christian centers in history.
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Another thing I want to say about this seminar is about Turkish food. Gaziantep’s food was so spicy and not good at all. But I felt in love with Gaziantep sweets, named baklava and lokum and with Gaziantep pistachios. You can find this everywhere, but the best ones can be find in traditional Gaziantep bazar. At the end we spend amazing time together, we were like one big family without any prejudice. Last day was so emotional and heartbreaking because we had to left each other and live with the memory of this great seminar. After all we made promise that we are going to stay in touch and hopefully meet again. This exchange helped me to learn about different cultures, different lifestyles, broaden my views and the best of all was that I met amazing people here.
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The magazine was created in cooperation with EVS volunteers in Association Pavel Satev- Kocani and eWorld Community Association Pavel Satev- Kocani Karl Marks 64 2300 Kocani
January 2016
http://organizationpavelsatev.blogspot.com/ pavelsatev.org.mk Editors Sara Gorgieva Filip Vojnovski