Since we literally never get to leave the editing room during the day, we have gotten used to only observing the weather outside by looking at the online weather report. For those participants who actually get to venture outdoors once in a while, we present you the weather forecast of the next two days for your convenience.
BY RANDOLF AND ROBIN
HAVE YOU MET… BY LIA PACHLER AND NELA GÁBRIŠOVÁ
Marta Brzosko (PL) Once upon a time at primary school, six-year old Marta and her classmates got bored of their hairstyles and so the grandmother of one of them agreed to dye their hair. Finally, their wish was fulfilled and they ended up having yellow and green hair for the next couple of days, because these “hairsprays” were actually intended for the purpose of marking wood.
LIBE III
Nata Tarasevych (UA) Consider meeting her at a convenient time, as she may pretend to have a phone call in order not to be obliged to chat with you. As a stylish person, she prefers Ukrainian guys to Czechs according to their way of dressing. Michaela Onuferová (CZ) Being able to turn into a famous person for one day, she would become Oprah Winfrey, as she would love to meet all the influential people Oprah knows and also to gain all her experience. At the Farewell pyjama party you will probably bump into her chewing and wearing Snoopy nightdress.
LIBE II
Nemanja Predojevic (RS) Be patient with him, because he tends to forget people’s faces. Once he talked to a completely strange woman for twenty minutes without realizing he did not know her. She was just too gentle to interrupt him while speaking.
PAREXCELLENCE
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Jonáš Jančařík (CZ) As a young flute player in primary school, he had an unintentional possibility to prove his talent at a concert. The lights were so bright that the notes were not readable at all, so he had to improvise. Just imagine the effort of this poor little boy.
LIBE I
Gio Panagiotaropoulou (GR) To make sure that she is paying attention to what you are saying, just observe if she is playing with her hair, because playing with her hair means that she has already started the process of thinking. Dominic Degen (CH) Talking about EYP experiences, he cannot even remember his most awkward moment. Being quite content with himself, the only thing he would do if he had just five more days to live would be getting drunk.
AFET II
Jan Nedvídek (CZ) As a big fan of bananas, he has his own strategy of dealing with this sort of fruit. Prior to peeling it, he always halves it. Surprisingly, he would not be too enthusiastic about winning a million dollars, because he simply prefers pounds (£). Tereza Tupá (CZ) As a delegate at the International Session in Helsinki, she woke up in an elevator lying on a mattress wearing, because the others found the idea of bringing her there very funny.
AFET I
Harm van Leeuwen (NE) Feeling the urge to have a perfectly organised iTunes library, it takes him ages to sort all his files. Also, he confesses that the Dutch must be exhibitionists, because they always keep curtains a little bit open to keep others informed about the regularity of their home. 3
SECONDISSUE
Richard Janoušek (CZ) Due to his passion for extraordinary hats, you will probably meet him wearing a hat made out of white fur with a big tail at the back and two pompons at the front. Nevertheless, he would not spend a million Dollars on hats; he would simply invest it.
EMPL
Enno Hermann (DE) He simply condemns traditional German festivals, maybe because of his disapproval with folk music. However, he seems to be unable to use modern electronic devices (at least while being half-asleep), because he once sent a text message to the wrong addressee, which turned out to be quite inappropriate in that case.
Hana Láníková (CZ) Sleeping in the same room with her might turn into a sleepless night, because the pretty blondie snores like an old man. Despite the fact that she is satisfied with herself, she would like to examine what it is like being a character from The Invisibles mainly for being able to turn into a motorboat.
CULT
Laura Thiemt (DE) She loves EYP so much that she would directly go to a session if you told her that she was going to die within the next five days. Obviously, she enjoyed being at school a lot, because she went to Prague with her class just to visit a brewery.
PAREXCELLENCE
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INOFFICIAL EYP
“CODE OF CONDUCT” BY ANA MARIA CROITORU
Being a delegate at an EYP session can be a tough “performance”. This is not just because everyone has great expectations from you but it is also the strenuous session schedule. It is the ability to keep the balance between academic and fun side that makes a session worthwhile. There are some DOs and DON’Ts that you might want to abide by to maximise your fun at the session:
DO DO speak only English: It is encouraged for you to leave your native language behind and to speak English because there is always place for improvement and it also shows respect for international officials. DO meet the officials: Hanging out with CJOs should help you find some useful information about EYP volunteering and might influence your involvement in EYP. DO speak up: You are here to learn, to develop and to have fun, and in order to do so you should put your heart, soul and voice into the activities that characterise EYP sessions. There is nothing more frustrating than getting home and feeling that you were invisible. 5
DONOT DON’T switch off sleep: A key part of EYP is socialising for as much time as possible, but try not to push your limits too much. Have at least 4 hours of sleep per night, because the lack of sleep will be reflected in your daily activities. DON’T stick to old friends: Make as many new acquaintances as possible, and try not to remain keen on the persons you already knew before the session; look for an EYP-buddy. DON’T embarrass yourself: Beware of the alcoholic beverages - usually is the first impression that people get about you is the one that matters, and presumably being drunk is not what you want to be remembered for.
SECONDISSUE
GINGERBREAD LADIES BY JIŘÍ POUR
I am sitting in an empty cafeteria at Gymnázium Dašická. It is getting quite late and the only disturbance is caused by few lost organizers cleaning after the Czech Village (which was amazing, but let’s leave that for another article). With me at the table are sitting two lovely ladies, visibly tired yet still smiling from ear to ear. Our dear Head Organizers: Dorota and Veronika. And I have the great chance to interview them and take short look “behind the scenes”. PAR Excellence now gives you the opportunity to share that look with me. Enjoy. PAREXCELLENCE
What motivated you to become Head Organizers (HOs) even though you, as experienced EYPers, know how much work it is? Veronika: Because we wanted to make people to finally be able differentiate us - me and Dorota. But in the end the effect was quite the opposite. Dorota: But now it is actually better because if someone calls me Verča, I respond - so it is okay. Why did you choose Pardubice for this session? D: Because Chuck Norris sent us (laughing). V: Should I really say the truth? 6
D: Yeah, go on. V: Okay, it’s because Chuck Norris told us that this school supports EYP and could be a good partner for us, and because no EYP event has ever taken place here before. D: And also because of the train connection. V: And the gingerbread. D: Yeah, when I told my friends I was coming here, everybody just wanted me to bring them gingerbread. What was the happiest moment you experienced, concerning the session, from the day you got selected as HOs until now? V: When we met our new friend. His name is Gingerbread, he is a part of the organizing team, even though he is not really a proper organizer. D: He does also have the yellow badge, so… V: He is very important to us, because he is connected with our childhood. He is a toy we always wanted back then.
Have you prepared your organizers for all the stress and the fact that they will become a virtual boxing bag every time something goes wrong during the session? D: Yes, we have. V: No, we haven’t. What is the sign of a successful session for you? D: That the delegates will come to the National Selection Conference in March. Would you want to this again, even after you have seen what it takes? Both: Yes, but only with Gingerbread, not with her (pointing fingers at each other vigorously). And the last and obligatory question: What is your message for future head organizers? D: That they will be worse than us. V: We are the best.
The HOs sometimes tend to be a couple of extremely busy, nervous people, who like to give everyone the “I am going to kill you”-look. How do you manage to keep your smiles and coolness? D: We do not really have to do anything for it. It is just our nature. 7
SECONDISSUE
TEAMBUILDING BY LYUBOV DVORETSKAYA
Hey! Zulus! Attention! Come on, it’s teambuilding time! When you see 100 people forming a circle, dancing around and cheering it can only mean one thing – teambuilding. It’s a universal way of getting to know each other and an honored EYP tradition of making a bunch of young strangers into real delegates of the EYP sessions. Teambuilding is something of an initiation into EYP, the essential part of any session. From general
to committee teambuilding, from “cheerleading” to “pass the ball”, it makes you smile, laugh and relax and realise how much we all have in common in so many ways. There’s no place too awkward and no move to bold for teambuilding, so just loosen up, put on comfortable clothes and here we go with the big fat pony to the committees’ teambuilding.
THE COMMITTEE ON LLAMA AFFAIRS BY LIA PACHLER
The Committee on Foreign Affairs I introduced themselves by presenting each others’ hobbies as drawings. Hopefully, the upcoming debates will be as successful as their paintings, because most of them should seriously consider this as a future profession. While the majority is really into nearly all kind of sports, others proved to enjoy spending time with girls (Attention female delegates: They were not talking about specific girls!). Later they comPAREXCELLENCE
posed and rehearsed their own committee song. So in case you see gorgeous people singing a song and imitating llamas, you’re probably watching AFET I! To sum up, I wish my dearest AFET I all the best for the rest of the session, and hope that they will become a bit more extroverted and worry less about their English, because we all make mistakes sometimes.
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A FAIR APPROACH OF AN ET TEAM BY ANA MARIA CROITORU
It was the round tree table near the City Hall around which the team of AFET II gathered. Though the sleepy mood and cold air were at large, they managed to pull themselves together and solve the new and interesting games that were brought to their attention by the chairs. The icebreakers were a tasty aperitif for their teambuilding. The problem solving and trust games were the ones to make them realise that they still have some
obstacles in their way to forming a unique and united committee that would be able to deal with the interesting and dynamic topic of the Arab Spring repercussions. Receiving feedback pushed them to be more motivated, cooperative, and talkative during the Deserted Island game, which from my point of view was a good start for a great team.
THE PURPLE PAPER COMMITTEE BY DANIEL STEINDLER
„Use the pieces of toilet paper later if you want to.“ - Laura (during a very original toilet paper introduction game) It was clear that the chair’s upbringing among her six siblings made her well-prepared for taming this pack. I observed with frequent laughs the shift from silent strangers to a group resembling a café at rush hour, and then to productive and cooperative friends. However, there were moments when I was chased away while 9
trying to fulfill my duties and capture committee’s special moments. You should think twice before you give a kiss to an imaginary rabbit! But the future of this committee’s team spirit is at stake. Probably. Since I heard someone, although out of context, say: “You are evil!”. Let’s see how the committee work day will turn out.
SECONDISSUE
LAUGH UNTIL DYING! BY DMITRIJ GLADKYY
It seems that the ‘ice’ in EMPL was already broken after the third teambuilding game. Could you have imagined that art can be this hilarious? The members of EMPL discovered the funny side of art by painting the portraits of their teammates. “Sign the paper and send it to the person next to the left. Afterwards draw the left eye of the mate whose paper you got and pass it to the left again,” said Richard. It began with only smiles...
until Adéla created a huge, creepily-staring image of David’s eye. We continued with other parts of body, bursting out laughing from time to time. Nobody could keep from laughing at these masterpieces. Hopefully, the portraits stay great memorabilia of the session. EMPL, stay that positive and spread this ‘disease’ among the other delegates as well!
THE MULTILINGUAL COMMITTEE BY NELA GÁBRIŠOVÁ
The delegates from LIBE I were ambitious from the very beginning of teambuilding. They made up a brand-new strategy for passing a tennis ball in order to beat the five-second limit they were given to pass the ball in a certain order. Soon, the eager delegates were given the chance to prove their abilities to work as a real team when dealing with a task to “untie” the human knot. Speaking either English or Czech was proPAREXCELLENCE
hibited, so, unless you were passing by just then, you could hardly imagine the strange mix of German, French and Russian that could be heard in the committee room. Although the delis were not able to form the desired circle in the end, they enjoyed the game and demonstrated their capability of cooperating very well despite the language barrier.
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TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE BY ANNA KAMPFMANN
Listen up! Take some time to find out about the first steps of the committee LIBE II, but be careful, not everything must have happened the way it is portrayed here… 1. Suitable to the chilly weather outside the nine young Czechs started an adventurous snowball fight, literally breaking the ice. During that activity they didn’t stay alone… 2. Believe it or not, LIBE II turned
out to be a quite famous committee. Besides three Madonnas, one might even meet Hilary Duff, Peter Pan, or Mr. Bean. 3. After several hours of teambuilding, fun and socialising one could say that the committee sticks together like sweet toffee and cannot even be separated by their worst of all enemies: The monstrous toffee hater. You don’t believe me? Obviously you should better get to know the delegates of LIBE II!
BEWARE! ACHTUNG! POZOR! BY JIŘÍ POUR
If there is a committee you should watch out for, it is LIBE III! They might seem regular and harmless at the first glance, but just listen to a couple of adjectives they gave themselves: Honza the Horrible (I’m sure you all learned at school about Ivan the Terrible and that was definitely a person to fear) or Sometimes Scary Sára. Their power also comes from the enormous life experience they have. As just one example among many, Lucy told us that she has already 11
gone through a marriage. Sadly it ended in a divorce. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that it all happened in World of Warcraft. But do not worry, they are actually quite a nice and friendly gang. Just never forget to show them the respect they deserve, otherwise it might not go well for you…
SECONDISSUE
HIDDEN MYSTERIES OF PARDUBICE BY NELA GÁBRIŠOVÁ
At the first glance Pardubice might seem a plain, unremarkable city with a nice historical centre similar to many other ordinary towns. Is this the impression you got so far? Then do not get misled by it. Keep your eyes open and realise that Pardubice is a city with a long history full of mysteries. The following stories are just examples of the many legends connected to Pardubice. Will you be able to tell the difference between true stories and tales? THE DEATH OF A SEXTON
Adalbert of Pernstein (Vojtěch z Pernštejna) was a member of noble family of the Pernsteins PAREXCELLENCE
who inherited both the office of Lord Chamberlain and great wealth after the death of his father William. When Adalbert died in 1534, he was buried in St. Bartholomew’s Church with his treasure. During the funeral, Adalbert’s widowed wife Johanna of Wartenberg cast a spell that everyone who would try to damage or enter the tomb would die. Of course people greedy for money were considering the possibility of looting Adalbert’s tomb, but all of them feared the threat of death. Only the local sexton was daring enough to break into it and immediately had to face the consequences. A disembodied voice 12
from inside the tomb said that he would be punished soon. And so it happened. By the next morning, the sexton had suddenly died. Since that time not even archeologists or historians have dared enter the tomb. So, if you’re “crownless”, you’d better use an ATM than try to steal Adalbert’s treasure. NA SPRAVEDLNOSTI (“THE JUSTICE STREET”)
A lot of people believe that the street called Na Spravedlnosti is named after the police station that is located there. However, they are probably wrong. According to what is said, the name has its roots in the 16th century, at a time when executions regularly took place in that street. Countless murderers, thieves, arsonists, and even those accused of witchcraft were executed by hanging from the gallows for more than two centuries. Often, the bodies of hanged men were left there for a few days, so that the other citizens could see them as a warning or as an object of ridicule (you can only imagine how terrible the smell around must have been). Fortunately, the last executioner, Jan Zelinger, died already in 1825 when the city was on fire.
Since he was a sociable creature, he came to Pardubice every Friday wearing a gray suit in order to look like a human being. When a resident farmer realised what was going on, he decided to prevent the water goblin from visiting the city. According to the general knowledge you could catch a water goblin using a rope made of baste fibre, so the farmer made such a rope and successfully caught the water goblin. However, as soon as the goblin was out of the water, he turned into a horse. Luckily, the farmer was well aware of the fact that if the horse touched water, it would transform again. Therefore, he took the animal to the farm and started to look after it carefully. Nevertheless, he once accidentally gave it some water to drink, upon which the horse immediately turned into a cat, ran away to the lake, jumped into water and became a water goblin again. So unless you are a professional diver, do not make friends with any strange slim men who are wearing gray suits. You might get drowned.
WATER GOBLIN
A water goblin used to live in the lake not far away from the city. 13
SECONDISSUE
THE SORT OF SPARK THAT CAN IGNITE THE CIVIC SPIRIT… BY ANNA KAMPFMANN
Eurobonds, inflation, disintegration of the Euro zone - words, expressions that have been overused during the pessimistic and often populist debate on the crisis that Europe is currently facing. However, these arguments somewhat remind us, the citizens, that the European Union is not just an economic project but also, and mainly, a political one. Between all the voices of politicians like Merkel and Sarkozy one might have also missed the comments, remarks and innovative ideas by the philosophers and thinkers of our century. While looking for brave intellectual leaders one stumbles over the controversially debated opinions of the German philosopher Jürgen Habermas, who even wrote the essay with the ambiguous title “On Europe’s constitution”. According to the post-national thinker Habermas, we are standing at a crossroads: Nowadays the idea of a European citizenship seems idealistic, or just naïve – whereas the failure of the EuroPAREXCELLENCE
pean project has begun to seem a real possibility. But what if a United Europe is nothing more than an intermediate stop on our way to a legally-based global community? What if all that is not as unrealistic as it seems to be at the first glance? Welcome to Europe, 2056. Even though some things might have stayed the same, even more might have changed in comparison to the situation we are experiencing these days. A break-down of the very structures of European politics or the Euro zone, accession to or resignation from the EU – developments one might either consider as absurd or within the realm of possibility – that is up to you. However, there is no doubt that we as EU citizens have to appeal to the politicians to stop running the European project behind closed doors as they have done in the past and still are at the moment. United in diversity: It is about getting people involved, informing them, and by that supporting the argumentative exchange of differ14
ent and diverse opinions in the public sphere. We, the people: Isn’t it about time to stop concentrating on national matters and to start working on the European construction site? Isn’t it about time to stop wast-
ing our precious time on social networks and get inspired by revolutionary ideas, to finally be an active part of the project United Europe?
LIFE DOESN’T END AFTER EYP LIFE STARTS WITH EYP BY LYUBOV DVORETSKAYA
Did you ever wonder what happens in fairytales after, “… and they lived happily ever after”? Everyone has their own suspicions, but no one knows for sure, because it’s all fiction anyway. But in EYP, which is kind of a reallife fairytale for most of its active members, we can easily find out what’s going to come afterwards. One of the best parts of the EYP fairytale is that you’re not just a character here, you’re always also one of the authors. 15
The genius of EYP-present is simple, well-known and thoroughly discussed on many, many pages of sessions’ newspapers, websites of National Committees and Facebook. But the genius of EYPfuture is something we usually don’t want to think about, because the question of a lifetime is, “Is there a life after EYP?” I’ll give you a piece of advice – if you manage to have a life during EYP, there will be no need to find out if there’s a life after, because it SECONDISSUE
doesn’t have to end. You just have to take those skills you gained during all your EYP sessions, and put them on your CV – and you’ll be surprised how serious it actually is! Except, of course, you won’t include the incredible talent to perform public speeches at GA despite an extreme hangover from the Farewell party… All the crazy and seemingly meaningful teambuilding games that give you confidence, ease in communication with new people, and the ability to remember more than 50 names of people you’ve just met will be a treasure when the job interviews and internships kick in. The knowledge you gain during committee work is sometimes more useful and real than facts you can learn about economic, political and social realities of different EU countries from TV and Internet. The skill of expressing your thoughts simply and to the point will help you in any financial or technical profession, while the ability to defend your opinion based on facts, logic and oratory talent can be effectively used working in consultancy business, economy, politics and judicial sphere. And if you just happen to be that delegate who succeeded in persuading your fellow committee member from Germany that bailout of Greece was a necessary PAREXCELLENCE
mean of saving European economy and not a mockery of German taxpayers, or found a way to rationalise why USA just have to ratify the Kyoto Protocol, then you have a direct pass to a successful career in diplomacy. After you organized a few sessions yourself, you can already qualify quite easily as an event-manager, and party-planner, hotel administrator, or, actually, any kind of administrator. Chairing at a session would give you a nice experience in very wide range of professions – from a nanny or primary school teacher to CEO of an international company. And as for journalistic skills… Well, let’s put it this way: Remember the names of journalists at the session as one day in the future you may find them in the list of Pulitzer Prize winners. But of course, the thing you’ll need the most in your life that EYP can offer is these amazing people from all over Europe that are your friends now, and can stay your friends for the rest of your life. And friendship is the most precious thing that exists is out there. Especially if your friends are those amazingly skilled CEOs of international companies, lawyers, diplomats, politicians, PRmanagers and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists...;) 16
THE BIRTH OF THE
SAUERKRAUT GUY BY DANIEL STEINDLER AND DMITRIJ GLADKYY
Yesterday evening all of us gathered at the CzechVillage to observe the smaller and greater cultural and culinary differences among the Czech regions. Almost everything went according to the plan – and moreover an unexpected spectacle occurred: The “Sauerkraut Guy” revealed himself. We made an effort to interview him and his “creator”. JAN JANOUCH (CREATOR)
What led you to set up such a competition? I was standing completely alone with no potato pancakes left and a lot of sauerkraut. I had no more visitors and I felt alone. I just couldn’t let the famous Křimické sauerkraut rot; I desired to pamper someone with its uplifting taste. Then I stood up in front of the audience. For the first ten seconds after your speech no volunteers appeared. How were you feeling? When I had offered the best things from my table and had also done my best to push them through, I told myself, “Just shut up and 17
leave the place.” But then the volunteer appeared and saved me. How did you feel after the successful sell-off ? It was pure satisfaction. THE SAUERKRAUT GUY (VÁCLAV HOMOLA, 15, GYMNASIUM MILEVSKO, 1ST TIME EYPER)
What motivated you to take part in that competition? I am a big lover of Pilsner Urquell; I had to get it. I needed some adrenalin in my veins. Being a tough guy, I told myself, “Be cool and do it!”and I did it! Was the sauerkraut tasty? I am not sure, but I don’t think so. Eating so much at once felt bad and weird. How would you compare Křimické sauerkraut to the normal one? Actually, I have never tasted sauerkraut before. Do you want to be involved in EYP in the future? EY…what? SECONDISSUE
8th Czech Forum Pardubice EYP Czech Republic 24.-27.11.2011 Záštitu převzali: x x x
Miroslava Němcová, předsedkyně Poslanecké sněmovny Parlamentu ČR Mgr. Jindřich Tauber, náměstek primátorky statutárního města Pardubic Ing. Jana Pernicová, členka Rady Pardubického kraje