Newsletter 3 turkey by Henriette Hjelm Hansen

Preparing Newsletter nº 3 is a huge responsibility, why? Basically, because it is very difficult to write everything we saw in Turkey and everything we felt in that marvellous country. I am not going to sum up the third meeting because readers can discover it the following pages. I would like to express my gratitude for the awesome work that Turkish teachers did that week. In five days, we discovered a different Turkey guided by a great team from Mustafa Istemihan Talay School. Everyday, Selahaddin, Mustafa Kargili, Mustafa Kilinç, Yahya, Ela, Esre, Aybuke, Didem and others teachers showed us their culture and national traditions. We learned a lot about Turkey, we even learned a little bit Turkish. It was an amazing trip. However, I want to stand out the comradeship, friendship and kindness that our Turkish collegues showed to all of us. I can just say that a big part of our hearts are still living there.

Teşekkür ederim!

All of our guests arrived to our country on April the 1st .‟‟Turkey From The Sky‟‟ exhibition was opened in the culture and art salon of our school by our district governer Mr. Hasan GÖÇ ,director of national education Mr. Ahmet Sefa DEMİR and our Project coordinator Mr.Proinsias Mac CURTAIN on the 2nd of April. Showing the natural beauties of our country,the exhibition was liked by our guests. At the same day while our guest students were attending to classes ,guest teachers toured the school.Our guests attended various activities in school and in our pension till noon and they had an opportunity to see historical and natural beauties of Tarsus in the afternoon. We visited Ihlara Valley and Göreme Historical Park in Cappadocia Region on the 3rd -4th of April.Our guests were amazed with the magical beauty of Cappadocia. Also they experienced balloon flight and it was fantastic. After we had visited Heavan and Hell Caves ,Astma Cave and Maiden‟s Castle on 5th of April our guests had the chance of swimming in Mediterranean Sea in the afternoon. Turkey meeting finished with the amazing gala night at the same day.Our guests tasted traditional Turkish food.At the end of the night we had Turkish Folk Dance all together. This Project has been our dream for a long time for us. It was a great pleasure to host friends like you in our beautiful city. There is a saying; people may forget what you say to them, people may forget what you do to them but they never3 forget how you make them feel themselves. I hope you felt how important you are for us.

In April, I partook in my first Comenius project trip to Turkey. I can safely say that it was an exhilarating, stimulating and amazing adventure from the first „merhaba‟ to the last „gule gule‟. It was my first experience of the „East‟ and I hope that it will not be my last. From the moment that we met Selahaddin and Mustafa at the airport in Adana, I felt very comfortable and welcome. The visit to the school on Wednesday morning was an incredible experience; from seeing the eager faces of the excited children to the wonderful excitement of putting our handprint on the wall, it was fantastic to see and savour a Turkish school. The rich history and culture of Turkey and Tarsus was described in super detail to us by our very knowledgeable guide, Halil Bey, who told us about the old Roman road through Tarsus, Cleopatra‟s gate, St Paul‟s well and the Grand Mosque known as Tarsus Ulu Cami. We also got a wonderful flavour for Cappadocia as we were treated to a superbly organised trip by the Turkish teachers. The highlight for me was the dawn hot air balloon ride from Goreme high up into the sky above the „fairy chimneys‟ that make Cappodocia world famous and a UNESCO world heritage site. It was also nice to taste some local wine in Urgüp! It was a pleasure to meet so many other teachers from all the participating countries – I even got a chance to learn some nice football skills from Selahaddin! I am a Fenerbahce fan for life now! So, to the entire Turkish congregation, go raibh míle maith agaibh as an bhfáilte a chuir sibh romhainn – I will be back in Turkey! Teşekkür ederim!

Comenius offers Europe! As you may have read before, “Natural wonders of Europe: a study of our national parks and natural reserves” is a Comenius project in which our school is involved for two years. Two visits abroad have already occurred successfully and the third one took place in the south-East of Turkey, in the 6000-year old city of Tarsus precisely, also birthplace to St Paul the Apostle. Both teachers and pupils were very impressed by the quality of the Turkish reception. They received a warm and hearty welcome from Mr S. Ozanoglu, fully committed headmaster at Mustafa Istemihan Talay school as well as from the Turkish students, eager to meet the visiting teachers and students. Being located at the gateway to the Europe, their eyes are resolutely turned towards the European Union. All the Turkish team had planned tremendous activities. The whole group visited a national park on the Mediterranean coastline and also discovered the very famous fairy chimneys, the underground houses and rock sites of Cappadoccia as well as Göreme park which are both Unesco‟s World Heritage sites. A Turkish evening was on the agenda and everyone enjoyed the traditional food, music and dances. The visiting pupils were hosted by Turkish families and thus were able to discover a way of living somewhat different from theirs. These visits are fundamental in their curriculum. Students are supposed to immerse themselves in different cultures and so open their mind to the outside world, making them more tolerant. More news from Poland soon as the fourth visit is taking place in June and it will be the last for this school year.

Our trip to Turkey was a huge success. We enjoyed every minute of it. At the beginning some of us were a little homesick because Turkey is far away from Germany and thinking about this, we got scared. Though this soon passed. The reason: The host families we stayed with were all REALLY nice and always made sure that we were happy and comfortable. They were VERY hospitable and the Turkish teachers we were working with were also really friendly. But also the other Comenius teachers were very nice to us. We were the only students visiting Turkey, so we got a lot of attention from everybody. That was cool. There were highlights to every day. For a start just getting there was the first time some of us had flown, which felt great! We got to visit an entire city which was buried underground, the way down there was dark and narrow and a bit claustrophobic but it was a really interesting experience. We went on loads of excursions during our time in Turkey and we learned a lot on these trips but the most exciting thing we did was the hot air balloon ride. It was the first time all of us had been on a hot air balloon and it was a fantastic feeling. We went very early so we got to watch the sunrise which was beautiful. We got to see Cappadocia, which we enjoyed even more when we heard that Star Wars was filmed there. We got to watch sunset from the mountain too. All the trips we went on were lots of fun. On the second of June, while we were still there, Henri celebrated his 13th birthday which we think he enjoyed despite being away from home. The Turkish school were kind enough to give him a big cake to celebrate. We would all love to be able to fly back to Turkey. It was really very nice and we thoroughly enjoyed the trip. TeČ&#x2122;ekkĂźrler! Fenia, Lena, Henri, Eric, Noah 6

A group of three teachers from our school visited Tarsus in Turkey within the framework of the international Comenius project ''Natural Wonders in Europe - a study of our National Parks and Nature Reserves" at the beginning of April 2014. The program of visit was very interesting. Tarsus is a trading city. It was founded more than 6 thousand years ago. The city is located on the Mediterranean sea coast , in the place where the main trade routes leading from Syria to Anatolia were crossed. There is a large port at this point, which is quite important for trade these days as well. Tarsus was mentioned in the Bible several time. If we could believe the myths and legends, Cleopatra and Mark Antony met there many centuries ago (in 41 BC), and Paul was born there as well. We were hospitably met in school Mustafa Istemihan Talay Boarding Secondary School Tarsus / Mersin on the first day, There are 1444 students studying thereaged from 5 to 14 years. 108 of them live in the school dormitory, since they come from the suburbs of Tarsus. A photo exhibition about Turkey from the Sky was the first thing we were shown. Then coordinators from all schools had an opportunity to talk about the work activities done on the project. A very interesting event was organized in the school: all participants, who were involved in the project, left a mark of their palm at the tree painted on the wall of the corridor of the school. The next activity was the artistic activity - Ebru, or the so-called Turkish Marbling. We went on a walking tour of the city of Tarsus in the afternoon, we saw a lot of interesting places: Antique Road, Saint Paulus Well, The Tomb of Prophet Danyal, Ulu Mosque, Forty Spoon Bazaar, Saint Paulus Church, Cleopatra’s Gate. We visited the City Museum, Seven Sleepers Cave, and we had dinner in the restaurant at the city Waterfall in the evening, there we saw real Turkish wedding. We went to the highlands of Turkey on the second day in the morning. We visited Derinkuyu Underground City - ancient underground city of Median Empire, the largest detected and cleaned underground city of Cappadocia. It is located near the city of Derinkuyu in the same area 29 km from Nevşehir. We had a walking tour about 4 km long at Ihlara Valley, it is a volcanic canyon 15 kilometers long in Central Anatolia, its height is about 150 meters. After a walk and a delicious lunch we went on. The next stop was 7 the monastery - Old Selime Monastery.

The evening program included visits to the event called " Turkish Night ", where we saw a play of Turkish wedding, as well as we enjoyed Turkish folk dances. All who wished could take a balloon flight on the third day early morning. Then we went to Güvercinlik Valley, Uçhisar Castle, Göreme Open Air Museum. Göreme Open Air Museum is located between the cities of Nevsehir, Urgup and Avanos, and covers an area of 300 km ², it is a monastic complex where cave churches with frescoes painted by Orthodox monks (900 1200gg.) are situated. Then we visited Avanos Pottery Making, where we saw a master class. Next stop was in Monks Valley - the best place to explore Three Beautifuls Fairy Chimney’s. Paşabağ-Derbent Valley (Valley of Imagination) was also on our way. It was enough to swith on some imagination and you could see silhouettes of various objects and animals in these rocks. We had feeling that we were situated far from the Earth somewere on another planet. We stopped in Kemalpaşa Greek Village - the ancient Greek village, and went to watch the sunset. We returned to Tarsus after midnight. The next day: we had the next journey to Narlıkuyu in the morning. We visited the "Heaven and Hell" (Heaven-Hell Caves – names from ancient times). There were two unique huge natural caves - a popular tourist place there. According to the legend, the God Zeus imprisoned defeated dragon Typhon in the "Hell cave". From a scientific point of view, the cave with diameter and depth more than 100 m was resulted from the break of the ground caused by the action of an underground river. The next cave we visited was the Asthma Cave, it is also called Wish cave. Asthma cave got the name because of its microclimate, that is very healthy for people with such disease. Firstly, you have to go down pretty deep using narrow spiral staircase and then you find yourself in space with of stalactites and stalagmites. Then we drove along the Mediterranean coast and saw Maiden Castle with interesting legend . We returned to Tarsus in the evening, where parents and students waited for us in the school, each school had a presentation about its country and school. Children and parents listened with interest to all the presentations. We were so happy to be in Turkey and to have such fool of emotions trips that we are eager to return back. Thanks to Turkish partner for such 8 an unforgettable journey in Turkey. Елена Алуте, Зоя Николаева

Turkey welcomed us with a beautiful sunshine and smiles of our hosts. On a very first day we started to visit Adana. The first object we visited was a huge mosque so different form our catholic churches and wonderful views of an artificial lake which impressed us very much. Also, on this day we were invited for a traditional Turkish dinner accompanied by a Turkish music. On the second day we visited the hosting school in Tarsus. It was a chance to see an interesting exhibition of the most famous places in Turkey and to participate in artistic activities Tarsus itself made us feel very impressed especially by the ancient remains like Cleopatra‟s gate, Saint Paul‟s church and Saint Paul‟s well from which we drank a holy water. The walk in Tarsus was completed with a tasty fruit cocktail. But the most exciting things were supposed to happen in the evening. We took part in a real Turkish wedding! Beautiful surroundings of waterfalls combined with the traditions and customs of the wedding. We danced with the candles in our hands, painted with henna for long luck. The red colour on our hands stayed for week  The next two days were spent in Capadocia. “There are more things in heaven and earth, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. “ following Shakespeare words, we were thinking just this way looking at this incredible area. 9

First we visited the underground city. The enormity of work which had been put in building it – 9 floors down – made us feel unbelievable. During walking along the underground tunnels, we felt like shifted back in time. It was difficult to believe that people were able to live in such conditions for three months without going up on the surface. In the late evening our group participated in the wonderful performance called “the Turkish Night”. Everybody was watching the Turkish dances with a big admiration but we – ladies with a little jealousy – the belly dance. The early next morning was a fantastic new experience for some of us – a flight on the balloon. That was something you will never forget! Floating high up in the sky, having the fairy tale- region of Cappadocia below. The one-hour-long trip passed much too quickly. Later we could visit the breath-taking landscape – rocky towns and rocky chimneys. Our cameras were hot from working. In the afternoon there was another fantastic place to visit and remember - caves of Heaven and Hell. Going down and up we could check how fit we really were. On the last day there was a meeting with students and their parents in the Turkish school. After watching the presentations of participating schools and photos from the stay in Turkey, we were able to dance the traditional Turkish dance. We are very grateful to the Turkish parents for preparing such a delicious dinner consisting of hundreds tasty Turkish dishes. When the dinner was over, everybody started to say goodbye. It lasted really long which meant we became good friends and didn‟t want to part.. Turkey will remain in our memory for a long time as a country of gorgeous landscapes, nice people and delicious food. Marzena Rzepińska - Magdalena Gudyka - Magdalena Kaczmarek 10

The meeting in Tarsus Turkey – an adventure In the beginning of April we (3 Danish teachers) went to the meeting in Tarsus. Before the meeting we had two wonderful days in Istanbul. But naturally we were looking forward to meeting our Comenius-friends in Tarsus. We were the first to arrive and we were accommodated in a cosy hotel in the old part of Tarsus. The next day we visited the school – it was very interesting. We noticed the boarding school section. Here children with special needs or family problems could stay. An idea we could use in our local community. It was for us Danes also nice to learn that the school has engaged a full time psychologist. The Turkish teachers told us that it solved a lot of problems. We met a lot of nice students, and all of them wanted to speak with us in English We had a lot of very exciting excursions. Tarsus our host city is almost a museum. The Christian apostle St. Paul was born here, and it was here Cleopatra and Marcus Antonio had their romance. The most exciting excursion went to Cappadocia. Here we had our big adventure. We visited caves, fairy Chimney rock formation near Göreme and rock-cut temples. The greatest experience was flying in a balloon passing the rock-formations and Göreme. We had a wonderful week with good friends, and we had very good hosts always in a good mood and always ready to help. We were very impressed of your town and its surroundings – beautiful mountains and a very nice seaside. We only met very friendly and nice people. Next time we will bring students on our Comenius-visit to Turkey.

The Icelandic school, participating in the Natural Wonders of Europe is called Grunnskóli Snæfellsbæjar and is situated close to the National Park, Snaefellsjokull. Being so close to the Park gives us the benefit of being able to go there many times during the school year and doing different kinds of activities. Meeting with our friends in the Comenius project gives us new ideas and helps develop our skills in using the environment in teaching, making our students aware of their beautiful surrondings and hopefully it gives them respect for nature. All the best from Iceland 

Turkey: a country of historical sites, beautiful landscapes and friendly people It was with great expectation that we boarded the first of the four flights which would take us to our final destination: Adana. We were up for a long journey, over 17 hours until Istanbul. While in Istanbul, we had the opportunity to visit some of its most emblematic attractions: The Blue Mosque, The Basilica Cistern, The Grand Bazaar, The Spice Bazaar… We also took a boat trip along the Golden Horn and were amazed at the beautiful scenery. On the flight to Adana, we had the company of our Polish partners. We were picked up at the airport by our hosts and the Danish and the Spanish delegations. After that, we all went on a tour of the city and the surroundings. Before dinner, we had the opportunity to spend some time on a café by a beautiful dam lake. Then we were taken to a nice restaurant where we were treated to 1-meter-long Kebabs and traditional music. While we were in the restaurant, the remaining delegations arrived.

On our first day in Tarsus, we were welcomed at school by the Principal, our dear friend Selahaddin Ozanoglu, and other local authorities. There we were able to see a beautiful photo exhibition called “Turkey from Sky”, consisting of Turkish natural wonders and historical sites; we visited the school and had our first project meeting. Mustafa İstemihan Talay Yatılı Bölge Ortaokulu is a big school with many facilities, including a dormitory for those students who don‟t live in the city. They had prepared for us an Art activity, and with Esra‟s guidance we made some nice paper marbling work. After that it was time for a coffee break and we were served the most delicious Baklava (Yummy!). But the highlight of this visit was when we were asked to leave our personal mark at school: they painted the tree which is the symbol of our project on a wall and we were asked to paint our hands and place them on the wall, by our names. Best idea ever!!!

In the afternoon we visited several historical sites in Tarsus, like the Ancient Roman Road, St. Paul‟s Well, the Tomb of the Prophet Danyal, Ulu Mosque and Cleopatra‟s Gate. We had dinner at a restaurant by the Berdan River and Waterfall. We were lucky enough to witness a Turkish wedding, dance and mingle with the guests. It was the perfect ending for such a wonderful day. We spent the two following days travelling by bus. Our destination: Göreme National Park, in Cappadocia. On the way to Cappadocia we stopped to visit the amazing Derinkuyu Underground City, followed by a 4 km walk in the Ihlara Valley. After that, we had lunch by the river shore, a very quiet and relaxing place.

Then we all got on the bus and travelled to our next destination: Old Selime Monastery. Unfortunately, by the time we got there it was already closed, but we still had the opportunity to admire it from the gate. After that, it was time go to the hotel and get ready for the Turkish Night. On the following morning, we were picked up at 5:50 by a mini bus and we were driven to the site where we would take the hot balloon ride. We were given a hot drink and a snack before going to the site where the envelope was being inflated. It took some time, but as we were kind of fascinated by it, it made no difference. After the balloon was fully inflated and the basket well secured, we made our way into the basket and took off.

The sun hadn‟t risen yet, but the sky was so clear that we could see everything around us: the fairy chimneys, the valleys, the villages, dozens of other hot air balloons. After landing, we made a champagne toast and received a flight certificate. In short, the whole experience was truly unforgettable!!! After returning to the hotel, we had a project meeting and then it was time to get on the bus again. On the way back to Tarsus, we visited Güvercinlik Valley, Uçhisar Castle, Göreme Open Air Museum, Göreme Onyx Jewellery, Paşabağ-Derbent Valley, Avanos Pottery, Ürgüp Winery, the Three Beautiful Fairy Chimney‟s and Kemalpaşa Greek Village. We spent the last day visiting other beautiful Turkish sites: the Heaven-Hell Caves, the Asthma Cave and the Maiden Castle. We had lunch in a hotel and afterwards some of the participants had the opportunity to go swimming and play games in the sea. At night we had a Gala Night at school with the presence of students and parents who prepared delicious typical dishes; there were many thank you speeches, traditional dances and singing, presentations of all the countries; and at the end, many hugs, farewells and some tears. We loved Turkey and we are very thankful to Selahaddin, Mustafa Kargili, Mustafa Kilinç, Yahya, Ela, Esre, Aybuke, Didem and all the others who worked tirelessly to make this such a memorable and wonderful experience for us.

Teşekkür ederim!

Our school was represented by two teachers in the mobility to Tarsus. We had a warm welcome by the coordinator and the team of Mustafa Istemihan Talay Boarding Secondary School at our arrival at Adana airport. The next day was full of activities at school grounds in the presence of the representatives of the ministry of education. In the evening we had a tour of Tarsus, a town with a very rich history as it was the birth place of Saint Paul. Our visit to the National Park in Kappadokia was a wonderful experience.

The geological formations because of volcanic activity in the past, and the ancient monuments in the Park made the scenery very interesting. Our walks in the park and in UNESKO world heritage sites left unique memories to our minds.