SECONDARY SCHOOL “NICOLA VAPTSAROV” - AYTOS
ABOUT THE PROJECT From 31 May to 13 June 2014 21 students and 4 teachers from "Nikola Vaptsarov" Secondary School in Aitos had an interesting and exciting visit to the city of Samsun - the seaside capital of Republic of Turkey. The mobility was a part of activities of the Bilateral Cooperation Project "T@lk 2 Me" ("KonuĹ&#x; benimle"), implemented with the financial support of the European Commission under the Lifelong Learning Programme, Sectoral program, Comenius Bilateral school partnerships. During the visit there were various of activities, in which students practiced the working language - English, enriched their knowledge and skills, learned more about the similarities and differences of their cultures, customs, lifestyle. They worked as a team and learned to be tolerant in differences. Any free time, the students used to communicate, play soccer and volleyball, talk about themselves and their countries.
THE JOURNEY
31st May We departed by bus early in the morning from Aytos and after several-houred trip we arrived in Istanbul. We checked into the hotel and made a short walk along the metropolis’ shoreline. The kids were impressed how big is the city of Istanbul, of the diversity of ethnicities and races, of its dynamics. Briefly, we managed to dive into the rhythm of the city.
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1st June In the morning we left for Samsun. After a 9-hour trip we arrived in the seaside capital of Turkey in the late afternoon. We were welcomed by Miss Esra Degirmengi, the Project Coordinator from Turkey. She helped us to be accommodated in The Teachers’ House in the city center. The accommodations, food and service completely satisfied our expectations about our ten-day stay.
FRIENDSHIP WITHOUT BORDERS FIRST DAY 2nd June Extremely warmly, with flowers, balloons and posters we were greeted by the teachers, students, and all the staff of the partner school. After a brief ceremony in the lobby of the school our hosts showed us the whole building and class rooms. After that, the activities under the programme began. The aim was to improve the working language – English and to create a friendly and tolerant relations between the participants. Interesting and emotional games were organized for introduction and representation. They created a friendly atmosphere, in which communication was useful and fun for everyone.
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SECOND DAY 3rd June After the school classes, the Bulgarian group was invited to an official meeting by the Regional Governor Mr. Ibrahim Kyuchuk. He was informed by us about the current project and the upcoming activities. Mr. Kyuchuk said that he had visited many countries, but had never been in Bulgaria. He kindly answered any questions which the children asked him. He was excited by the gifts given by Bulgarian children, and by our kindly invitation to visit Bulgaria. Later this day we visited the Mayor of the city – Mr. Hasan Togar. At a working meeting with the Head of The Department of Education in Tekkekyoy were discussed educational models of both countries. THIRD DAY 4th June An outstanding attraction for all of us was the tourist tour in Samsun by an open bus. We visited The East and The West Parks, The Zoo, the History Museum, the Ship-Museum of Kemal Atatyurk and The Settlement of the Amazons.
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Our journey ended in the central parts of The Sea Park. We dived in the age of Amazons and held the breath in front of the majestic lions guardians of the city. We were charmed from the beauty of the Black sea shoreline alley, the excellent infrastructure, and the amazing views and sightseeing.
FOURTH DAY 5th June We made bookmarks, decorated with the project logo. The celebration continued with karaoke in English, Bulgarian and Turkish languages. The children sang songs hits all over the world. We called our concert “Bulgaria – traditional and Modern”. The chil-
dren from Aytos touched their Turkish friends with attractive show about traditional Bulgarian spring custom Lazarovden. The students sang folk songs, made flower bouquets, and said proverbs. Page 4
Their beautiful voices, the interesting costumes and the authentic rhythms brought the audience’s loud applause. The second part of the concert caused a furor among the spectators with the performance of the akroballet "Tiara". Hakan left unforgettable emotions with his robot-boy’s dance. The singers of English songs were amazing. Bulgarian performance ended with tasting traditional Bulgarian food and drinking aromatic herbal tea. Each Turkish teacher received a souvenir from Bulgaria. At the end of the evening all the students – Bulgarian and Turkish danced a traditional Bulgarian folk dance “horo”.
FIFTH DAY 6th June Visiting Turkish families was an interesting experience for Bulgarian children to get familiar with the customs, culture, and lifestyle of the Turkish society. All Bulgarian students had prepared gifts for their friends from Tekkekyoy. Our kindly Turkish hosts welcomed Bulgarian children, served them delicious traditional dishes, sang and danced together. Bulgarian guests told for a long time about these visits with excitement and enthusiasm. In the evening, the Mayor of Samsun Mr. Ibrahim Kyuchuk invited Bulgarian teachers for a dinner. We enjoyed traditional Turkish cuisine and had interesting conversations about Bulgaria and Turkey.
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SIXTH DAY 7th June The planned hike to the caves and picnic of the region was cancelled due to bad weather. We used this unexpected free time walking around the city. We enjoyed the sea, walked along the beautiful streets with many flowers and squares with fountains. We bought lots of souvenirs and gifts.
SEVENTH DAY 8th June We visited the beautiful historic town of Amasia, founded by the Amazon queen Amasis, according the legends. It was the first capital of the kingdom of Pontus and an important cultural center. We visited the Museum of Love, the Ancient fortress, mosques and other historic places. These trips gave us an opportunity to touch this interesting part of Turkey. We were fascinated by Amasia, which looked like Bulgarian old towns with their architecture, steep streets, and romantic bridges over the river.
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EIGHTH DAY 9th June
We created „Memory Tree” with our hands, painted on a poster.
While the students from the partner school were preparing for the “Turkish evening”, Bulgarian children were playing sports games as volleyball, football, mangala and chess.
The performance of the youngest pupils of the partner school was very emotional. They put together a musical puzzle, performing the map of Turkey. We watched with interest the professional performance of the Dance group. With these events we experienced interesting moments with the authentic folklore of our southern neighbor country.
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NINTH DAY 10th June
We made traditional figures dolls "karagyoz", which were used by the Turkish students to present well-known Turkish fairy tales in English in shadow theater. We watched with great pleasure the “Ebru” painting techniques. Using it, we created beautiful items which we brought with us in Bulgaria. Every free minute the children were on the sports playground having fun with their new friends. TENTH DAY 11th June The activities, planned under the programme, were accomplished. It was hard to say GOOD BYE to our friends from the partner school "Gökçe Karaoğlan", Tekkekyoy. Friendships created during the ten-day visit in Turkey will be a wonderful memory for all the participants in the project under the Comenius programme. Page 8
THE RETURNING
12–13/June The visit under the project "T@lk 2 me" ended on 13/June/2014. It was full of sunny smiles, sincere friendships and coloured emotions for all the participants from the 2 partner schools. We will never forget the warmth, the emotion and the understanding between the students. This wonderful event will always have a special place in our hearts with the unforgettable memories from an interesting, exciting and beautiful experience in the seaside capital of Turkey - Samsun.
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CONTENT ABOUT THE PROJECT .................................................................. 1 THE JOURNEY ............................................................................ 1 31st May ................................................................................. 1 1st June ................................................................................. 2 FRIENDSHIP WITHOUT BORDERS ................................................. 2 FIRST DAY .............................................................................. 2 2nd June ................................................................................. 2 SECOND DAY .......................................................................... 3 3rd June .................................................................................. 3 THIRD DAY ............................................................................. 3 4th June .................................................................................. 3 FORTH DAY ............................................................................ 4 5th June .................................................................................. 4 FIFTH DAY .............................................................................. 5 6th June .................................................................................. 5 SIXTH DAY .............................................................................. 6 7th June .................................................................................. 6 SEVENTH DAY ........................................................................ 6 8th June .................................................................................. 6 EIGHTH DAY ........................................................................... 7 9th June .................................................................................. 7 NINTH DAY ............................................................................. 8 10th June ................................................................................ 8 TENTH DAY ............................................................................. 8 11th June ................................................................................ 8 THE RETURNING ........................................................................ 9 12–13/June ............................................................................ 9
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] 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. Page 10