Newsletter No 4, ESCAPE PROJECT, Apr ´15

April 2015 No. 4

IMPRESSIONS FROM PAPA Inside this issue: Impressions from Papa

1

The Blue Dyeing Museum

2

The Esterhazy Castle

2

NATO Airbase

3

A trip to Budapest

4

Activity Games

5

Easter in My Country

 All partners contribution  All days impressions

Papa is small and peaceful town. I really liked it because its streets were clean, the street-lighting was really good and there were many beautiful sights. The number of the churches in Papa really impressed me – there were so many! I liked the most the Great Church in the main square – it’s a beautiful Roman Catholic building but in Papa there are also many Protestant churches.

At the beginning I said that the Hungarian town is full of beautiful sights. Esterhazy castle deserves to be mentioned here. In the castle there’s such lovely furniture. While I was walking in it, I felt like I am queen.

But one of the most fascinating places we visited was the Blue Dyeing

 All activities described

Easter is one of the most beloved, most beautiful and most joyful religious holidays. It is the most important festival for Orthodox Christians. Indeed, the joy fills your mind when you hear the church bells sing to the world: "Christ is risen!" This holiday is one of the most cherished in our country as symbolizing the rebirth of all living things and has many unusual and distinctive traditions.

Preparation for Easter starts seven weeks before with the advent.

Most people don’t eat meat and animal products.

Palm Sunday, the week before Easter is known in Ukraine as Willow Sunday. People bring home willow branches which have been blessed in church. The week is dedicated to preparing for Easter.

One of such traditions is the preparing meals, of course, and now I would like to tell about some of

Museum. The museum, which was a workshop before, is compounded of two buildings with a sunny garden between them. In the buildings, there is a huge variety of machines, which were used for dyeing fabrics. The indigo plant is one of the basic ingredients in the method of blue dyeing.

We were shown the steps of blue dyeing but the special technique of this method is still a secret. There were even books, where this secret was written with a confidential code. Safe, isn’t it?

After all, I really enjoyed the time in Papa. This town is a place that I want to visit again.

Kalina Pekova, Bulgaria

Easter in Ukraine the traditions of Easter dishes which have been prepared for many centuries.

Of course, the most important and the most delicious meal of this day is Paska (Easter bread).

Paska is baked almost in every family and it is not only a symbol of the Resurrection but also very delicious thing. It is sure to be on the festive table. By the way, in most regions of Ukraine Paska is sweet, but only in Transcarpathia it is like bread and is served with eggs, meat and salads.

One more important ingredient is cheese which can be served with butter, sugar, raisins and fruits.

The Thursday before Easter is called Clean Thursday. According to Ukrainian tradition everyone should take a bath before sunrise on this day. The house must be clean too. Good Friday is the day that the woman of the family bakes “paska”, Ukrainian Easter bread.

Easter eggs are called pysanky. Pysanky shells have been found in archaeological sites more than 3000 years ago, and many of those designs are still being used on pysanky today.

After the long Lent the hostess prepares a lot of delicious meat dishes.

Among these there has always been the traditional jelly. Residents of many villages unanimously testify: "It's not Easter without the jelly”. It can be prepared differently and have many tastes.

The Ukrainian Team

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The Blue Dyeing Museum

“It was a great experience to learn something new about an old family that had a big impact for that town and to visit the place where a Royal Family lived more than 300 years ago. “

I have never seen a place like the Blue Dyeing museum before. There were clothes made by blue-dyed fabric which I found for pretty nice and different strange machines. Almost everywhere I could see the typical blue cloths with different yellow patterns.

It was very interesting how they had been han-

dled. First the fabric was dipped in warm water and then starched. When I saw the machines people had to use I got really impressed and started wondering how they could use them because the whole process seemed to be very difficult.

However, after that comes the coloring where people have used indigo to make the beautiful blue color of the fabrics.

When I found out how they had been dried I just said “wow”. On the upper floor people had hung them really high, practically from the ceiling, and it has been so risky for the workers to bring the wet and very long cloth with them on this huge height. I just got goosebumps as I heard it. The interesting was that there were

special rooms for every step of the process and that’s why the building was so big.

Actually, I was surprised that there was second building also with many machines with different usage which amazed me, too. Between the two buildings there was a nice sunny garden. I really liked it because it was so beautiful on the background of the cold and ancient buildings. Which I really enjoyed was the little wooden bridge in the middle and the benches and the trees completed the amazing view.

Loreta Lazarova, Bulgaria

The Esterhazy Castle Recently I visited The Esterhazy Castle in Papa, Hungary, together with my mates and students from 6 different countries, including Hungary .

The castle is located almost in the middle of town and it has an irregular shape. It has a “U” shape, which was made to protect and isolate The Royal Family for the attacks of the enemies.

When I entered inside, I was fascinated by the multitude of the pictures.

There are more than 100 pictures with all the family, beginning with the oldest relatives and ending with the youngest people, their wives or husbands and so on.

The architecture was very impressive too. In some rooms, the walls were covered by wallpaper that was hand-made.

I had the chance to touch

a sample of that wallpaper and I saw that it was so well made, that the model was printed on the back of the textile too. The furniture was carved and covered with gold. They had a room for every mood like a thinking-room, a dressing, a dining room, a game room and so on. The guide was amazing. She explained me everything I asked and she was very communicative with everybody.

It was a great experience to learn something new about an old family that had a big impact for that town and to visit the place where a Royal Family lived more than 300 years ago.

Daiandra Daju, Romanian Team

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Tuesday—NATO Airbase On Tuesday, 24th March, our day started as usual. We woke up and went to school, where we were put in groups. All of us were in a different group so we could get to know other students better. We had a lot of fun because we also played some games and talked to each other. After that we were free to go to lunch.

After lunch it was

time for us to go to the NATO air base. When we arrived, one of the soldiers checked our ID's and after that we entered the base. First we listened to their presentation and work. After that we saw one of the biggest plains C-17.

We saw its landing and we were also allowed to take pictures. All of us were really impressed by the plane.

Then one of their soldiers introduced their work and showed us what it's like to be in the helicopter, we got the chance to sit in it and imagine what it’s like to be a pilot. That was really awesome and we all liked it a lot.

Johnson Controls On Thursday, 26 March 2015 we paid a visit to JOHNSON CONTROLS, which is a global diversified technology and industrial leader serving customers in more than 150 countries.

We were split into 2 groups and shown around the factory.

As we were not allowed to take pictures, we cannot provide any topical photos from that visit.

In 1885, Warren Johnson inspired the future, launching an industry focused on energy efficiency and a company poised to explore new ideas and enter new fields. This foundation has ignited the customer-focused innovation of thousands of employees for more than 125 years. "The man who devised the thermostat…in my private opinion, was a hero comparable to Shakespeare, Michelangelo or Beethoven."

-- H. L. Mencken (1880-1956), 20th century journalist We nurture an environment in which everyone understands and values the similarities and differences among their employees, customers and communities.

Johnson Controls is also dedicated to working collaboratively with historically underutilized suppliers to strengthen their supply chain and expand their business base.

The success of Johnson Controls is enabled by the commitment and dedication of their 170,000 employees around the

And at the end we saw one of

their »cars« which goes up and down with the help of a ladder. This is the thing we were most impressed by because we've never seen something like that before.

The Slovenian Team The man who devised the thermostat…in my private opinion, was a hero comparable to Shakespeare, Michelangelo or Beethoven."

-- H. L. Mencken (1880-1956), 20th century journalist

world. With their continued growth focus, we are a company where employees can express ideas, make a difference and build their future.

Their workplace emphasizes integrity and ethics. They are customer-focused, continually looking to innovate and enhance their products, service and solutions.

To help their employees grow, we believe it's vital to strengthen their engagement and develop their skills and leadership capabilities. This is done an environment that welcomes diversity of thought and experience.

Power Solutions is the global leader in lead-acid automotive batteries and advanced batteries for Start-Stop, hybrid and electric vehicles.

Automotive Experience is a global leader in automotive seating, overhead systems, floor consoles, door panels and instrument panels The excursion gave us an interesting insight into a globally operating enterprise and its production techniques. Maybe one day we will use one of the dashboards produced there.

Deborah Zela, Austrian Team

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A trip to Budapest

„All of us enjoyed the city, its great buildings and history. We hope to come back one day.“

Museum of Fine Arts and the Art House. After it we went across the Andrássy Avenue, we saw Astoria Square and Oktogon Square too. On our way we passed numerous spas which have been there since the Roman Times.

Then we went to the Castle of Buda. To get there we needed to cross the Danube. We walked around a historic castle, the former palace and the seat of the Hungarian kings, called the Royal Castle. There is also the residence of the Hungarian president On Wednesday we visited now. We had a beautiful panorama Budapest. It is the capital of Hungary and also the biggest city with almost 2 million inhabitants. We learned a lot of interesting facts and visited beautiful places. We had a guided tour across the city by bus and on foot.

At first we found ourselves on the Heroes' Square. Construction of the square is associated with the celebration of the millennium occupation of the Carpathian Basin by Hungarians. It has the statues of the greatest Hungarian kings.

In the view over the city of Budapest and the middle square dominates the river Danube. We could see House of Millennium Monument with a statue of the Parliament and Széchenyi Chain the Archangel Gabriel. Opposite are Bridge, whith separates Buda and representative buildings of the Pest. After we saw the Church of Mathias, Sándor Palace and Fisherman's Bastion. In the end we had some free time in Vörösmarty Square and Váci Street.

All of us enjoyed the city, its great buildings and history. We hope to come back one day.

Tereza Nejdrova, Czech team

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Activity Games Getting to know each other is always a new thing for every people, especially, if you come from other countries and never seen each other before. This is the main reason why we were being separated into groups, which were mixed with pupils from other countries. In my team there were students from: Austria, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Mr. Miller gave us the instructions during the whole activity.

At first we got a paper, with some basic phrases. The objective was to translate the phrases into our languages. For me the Romanian language was the strangest so far.

During this, we started talking to each other and getting to know each other more. When all the teams finished, one student had to stand up, and give a short introduction of its group members. After it, we were asked to pronounce the phrases in the foreign languages. What can I say, it was fun. When all the groups finished, some teams were joined

together and had to stand on a carpet. It was a so called ,,magic carpet”.

The objective was to remain on the carpet and turn it to its’ other side. At first we thought, that it might be impossible, but we managed to win this one. Here comes the part, which was my favorite one: We were separated again, but this time into 2 big groups. We had to

move to the chair on your left. If someone was sitting there, no problem: you had to sit on him/her.

So actually sometimes we even formed giant towers, like 4-5 students sitting on each other. The winner team is that team, when someone made it back to its’ original seat. We won this one too. We laughed a lot during this kind game.

And here comes the last task: Mr.Miller gave us two huge ropes. We had to make knots on it, but without releasing the rope.

Again, seemed impossible, but actually it was possible to make it. Unfortunately the other team was quicker this time. So these were the activity games. I think that everyone enjoyed it that much, as I did.

make circles from chairs, and sit on them. Mr. Miller pulled out a pack of cards from his pocket and explained us the rules.

Everyone got one card.

We had to memorise the color. Then, he started pulling the cards out one Daniel Gardenő, Slovakia by one from the deck. If he showed a red heart, and you had a heart card at the beginning, you had to

„During this, we started talking to each other and getting to know each other more.”

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Romanian Easter In Romania, Easter, together with Christmas, are the most important celebrations of the year. Each family prepares well in advance by a period of 48 days before Easter, when people don’t eat animal products.

In Romanian, Easter is called “Paste”.

There are a lot of old Easter traditions in our country.

On Friday, women cook sponge cake and paint eggs in different colours, especially red (The colour that symbolizes blood of Jesus), but they also use green, blue, yellow or purple. Women also prepare lamb and cabbage rolls for Easter.

On Saturday night, people go to the church to celebrate The Resurrection of Jesus and they follow the priest, walking around the church three times and having candles in their hands.

On Saturday night, people go to the church to celebrate The Resurrection of Jesus and they follow the priest, walking around the church three times and having candles in their hands.

Starting from Saturday night, people say “Christ is Risen!” ( In Romanian-Hristos a

inviat!) to the persons they meet and the others answer “True Risen!” (In Romanian - Adevarat a inviat!).

Although this celebration represents The Resurrection of Jesus for all the Romanians, it is a bit different from side to side.

In the West Romania, where our town is situated, people eat bread with wine from the church in the first Easter morning. Girls usually put basil under the pillow so as to dream to their handsome future husband.

In the North, boys usually give flowers to the girls they like the most and the girls also give them red eggs.

In the East Romania, the persons that go to the church on Sunday morning have to make a circle in front of it and wait for the priest to sanctify their painted eggs.

In the South, people take a white rooster to the church on Saturday night and the luckiest family is that whose rooster sings the first.

Cristina Dragoi, Romanian Team

Easter in Bulgaria Easter traditions in Bulgaria are a derivative of the Eastern Orthodox Church rituals. As the Bulgarian name implies "Velikden" (Great Day), Easter is one of the most significant holidays in the Bulgarian calendar and starting with Palm Sunday, the holy week leads up to the Great Day. In tune with worldwide Orthodox traditions, bright red colored eggs and Easter breads known as "kozunak" are the prominent symbols of Easter in Bulgaria.

At midnight on the Saturday before Easter Sunday, people gather at the church with red painted eggs and bread. The priest proclaims three times "Christos voskrese" (Christ has risen) and

the congregation replies "Vo istina voskrese" (Indeed He has risen). After a special sequence of services, the clergy blesses the breads and eggs brought by the people.

The Bulgarian good luck crack is a unique Easter tradition in Bulgaria.

Eggs are cracked after the midnight service and over the next few days. People take turns in tapping their eggs against the eggs of others, and the person who ends up with the last unbroken egg is believed to have a year of good luck.

Bulgarian team

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Easter in Slovenia The Slovenian name for Easter is Velika noč, which means “Great Night.” It’s also a great holiday for eating after weeks of fasting.

Slovenes are ready to tuck into the palette of foods that await the traditional table.

Easter has in Slovenia many colourful traditions and customs dating centuries into the past. It has been important feast for the people of Slovenia. The biggest Christian feast brought about the end of a long fast, which started on Ash Wednesday, and at Easter the table of the average inhabitant of this country was laden as on no other occasion. The essential ham, bread, horseradish

and a special Slovenian cake, potica, are at this time of the year accompanied by colourful

decorated eggs, in Slovenia called pirhi, pisanice, pisanke, remenice or remenke.

On Palm Sunday at the beginning of Holy Week, bunches of spring greenery are blessed.

The Christian custom of plaiting bundles dates to the 9th century, and probably derives from a custom known throughout pagan medieval Europe.

These bundles, of different shapes and sizes, are known by different names in different parts of Slovenia. The most special of all bundles is the

‘Ljubljana Bundle’. They are renowned abroad for being the only bundles of their kind. The easiest way to acquire them is to go to Ljubljana’s flower market, near the Cathedral.

Good Friday remains a strict day of fasting. In some areas the fast continues on Saturday.

Until recently a special ‘fast dish’ was eaten on Holy Saturday which was intended to remind people of the times of severe hunger which plagued Carniola in 1529. This dish is called Aleluja and was made from turnip peelings. On Holy Saturday in most Slovenian towns and villages people bless their Easter meals.

Slovenian Team „Spring is a great time for holidays and traditions.“

Czech Easter In the Czech Republic we call Easter "Velikonoce“. We´d like to describe most popular folk traditions and meals of this time.

From Thursday to Saturday boys walk around village houses and make a noise with their wooden rattles.

Girls paint eggs and bake an Easter cake .

On Easter Monday boys and men go caroling and symbolically whip girls and women with an Easter whip (in the Czech language –

pomlázka). The whipping is supposed to bring women beauty and freshness through the year. After that girls give boys colorful eggs or some sweets. But sometimes the

girls pour water on the boys.

It´s fun.

Some typical Easter dishes are rabbit meat with nettle stuffing or our traditional Czech Easter cake "Mazanec".

Lots of people bake an Easter lamb(a kind of sponge cake, often covered with chocolate).

Spring is a great time for holidays and traditions.

Jana Drdova, Anna Horka; Czech team

Papa School Anniversary Pápai Gazdasági Szakközépiskola és Kollégium (Pápa Secondary School of Economics) is celebrating its seventy-fifth anniversary in the academic year of 2014/2015. The building is 115 years old but until 1939 it was home to a teacher training college. Ever since it has been a school of trade, public administration and economics.

The highlights of the special year were between 23 and 27 April at the same time with the second training event of the Erasmus Plus ESCAPE project.

The main events of the week were:  school history exhibition  oreign language talent show  sports championship  flash mob in the Main Square of Pápa

With the support of the Erasmus+ programme of the European Union

 

physics experiment regional and international Business English competition  regional competition on economics  mobile planetarium  economics conference  former students’ presentations  gala performance Participants of the ESCAPE project took part in the foreign language talent show and the business English competition.

They attended the presentation of the mobile planetarium and the gala performance.

(Ferenczi Balázs 13/D, Hungarian Team)

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