Energy in the Consumers'Hands, Comenius-School Development Project
2005-2008

Newsletter no 2

May/2007

"NICOLAE POPOVICIU" School
BEIUS
ROMANIA

We are pleased to announce you that one of our students, who participated in the “Energy is our Future” school competition, ALEXANDRU JUNEA, is a finalist.“Energy is our Future” is a joint project launched by European Schoolnet and PlasticsEurope, the association of plastics manufacturers to help teachers and students understand how energy consumption affects climate change and how advanced materials like plastics can help us save energy and will help us create a sustainable future.The selected art is "SHARE ENERGY".His entires'IDs are 4007, 2661 and 3232. He will take part in the second evaluation round which is scheduled at the beginning of June 2007.

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Share Energy
Let's teach the ones who don't know, that we must ask
nature and it answers us. Tell them to understand the
importance of the sun, never-failing energy storage.(Alexandru Junea)

Teacher exchange in Beius, Romania May 14-20. 2007

Mrs Philomena Lympaney and Mrs Jennifer Gough visited the town of Beius, Romania as Cordeaux continued its involvment in the Comenius project. They were guests of "Nicolae Popoviciu" School in the West of Romania, hosted by Ms Rodica Barlau.The programme included an introduction to the Romanian education system as well as visits to a local orphanage and the beautiful towns and scenary of the surrounding area. They were treated with great hospitality and shown great friendship by their hosts. Our colleagues learnt a great deal about the school and the Romanian education system, as well as Romanian society and culture. Both found the whole experience fascinating and enlightening.
Mrs Gough and Mrs Lympaney would like to thank their hosts for their wonderful hospitality.

Teacher exchange in Istanbul May 6-12. 2007 ,

Gáspárné Timkó Erzsébet (Liza) and me (Olga) participated in a teacher exchange in Rifat Canayakin Lisesi Secondary school in Istanbul between 6-12 May 2007. We were really looking forward to the trip, as we wanted to get to know a different culture and different nation, even a different continent. I must confess that we met our expectations as our colleagues in Istanbul Ömer and Gülcin organized such a perfect program that every minute of our stay way busy.

We arrived on 6 May (Sunday) afternoon. Our hotel was overlooking the Bosphorus. Can you imagine? We were so excited that we forgot about the long trip behind us, and went for a walk to Istiklal street near Taksim square. I was amazed by the crowd of people. I have never seen so many people in one place. (Istanbul has 12 million inhabitants). We took a walk and climbed to Galata tower where we had a wonderful view of the historic part of the city. In the evening we had dinner in a fish restaurant on Galata bridge.

On Monday 7th May we visited the partner school which is in Bayrasupasa district of the town. We were welcomed by the headmaster, Osman Ajcicek, the deputy headmistress and the teachers working in the project. We also met the students participating in the project. I have to tell you that the Turkish students are very open minded, hospitable and communicative. We spent a few hours in the classes with the students and took several photos. The school is a 4 year grammar school with two specialities. Some classes are specialized on science subjects, the others on English language. The English classes have 25 lessons per week for two years. They are really good! They can get to the proficiency level and most of them want to be English teachers, interpreters or translators. In Turkey the teachers have much better reputation than in my county and their salary is the double of ours. The school building is not in a good state of repair. They have just started to renovate it. The number of students in a class is very high 50-55 students. Another interesting thing is that when you enter the hall there is a statue or photo of Atatürk in every building. Unfortunately there are no other pictures on the walls of the corridors and classrooms. In Rifat Canayakin school however I saw a poster with our project photos. In the afternoon we went to a sightseeing tour. As the weather was nice, we walked a lot. Sometimes we used the public transport, underground, tram, minibus and sometimes taxi (it is quite cheap). We had traditional Turkish lunch in Eyüp district and visited the Pier Loti Hill from where the view of the town was wonderful. In the evening we saw a special performance: They dance of Derwish It was amazing, they were spinning around for 20-30 minutes?

On Tuesday 8 May we started our day with a visit to the Museum of Archeology where we saw the ancient Greek, Roman and Bizancian memories with the laws of Hamurapy Carved in stone and the wooden horse of Troja etc. In the afternoon we saw the theatre performance of the students and visited a technical secondary school, where the students also do different professional projects. After the school visited we went to the Grand Bazar which was fantastic. We enjoyed shopping and learned how to bargain. In the evening we tasted delicious food in a tipical Ottoman restaurant. (There are some similarities to Hungarian cuisine). We also enjoyed a concert of Turkish music by Greek, Turkish, French musicians.
Wednesday the 9th was very busy. At 9.00 we met the Governor of Bayrampasa and the Mayor of the district. The Mayor was very hospitable, he showed us the town hall and his projects. He is a very innovative Mayor. We also visited a new sport centre with swimming pool, Turkish bath, sauna, workout rooms, bowling alley and football pitch. The students were rehearsing for the National Holiday (19th May). After lunch in the town hall we visited 2 more schools in the district and also met the Educational leader of the district.
It was about 5 pm when we left for Asia. The majority of Istanbul is situated in the Asian part. For us it was the first time to go to Asia. I could see great difference between the European and Asian part. In the European part there are not any dustbins in the streets so the people throw away the litter in the streets. We got to know the reason. They are afraid of bombs attacks which might be put in the litter bins. On the other hand in the Asian part there were litter bins. Therefore it is cleaner and different. In the evening we came back over the Bosphorus Bride which is 1640m and illuminated in different colours.
On Thuesday 10.May we visited the Topkapi Palace with the beautiful Ottoman ornaments and treasures but the most interesting part of the palace was the Harem where the Sultan lived his family life with 300-500 concubines girls, wives and children. In the afternoon we visited the Blue Mosque, the Hagia Sophia and Süleymaniye Mosque. They are magnificent. We had to enter bare feet and wearing shawl. We also saw the Basilica Cistern which is from the ancient Roman age.
Friday 11. May was a special day because we spent this day with the students working in the project on a picnic. Istanbul has several islands in the Marmare sea and we visited the biggest one Adalar. People spend their free time, weekends on these islands, they are some kind of holiday resorts. They are really special and the opposite of the busting life of the a city. Here you cannot see cars with petrol or diesel engines. There are hansom cabs (horse carts) and bicycles you can rent. The students brought some typical Turkish food for lunch and we were talking, walking up to the top of the hill where we saw a Greek orthodox church, and some brave young people were swimming in the clear sea. It was a wonderful day with clever students. In the evening we took our last walk in Istiklal street and had a special dinner, but we couldn’t sleep much as our plane took off on Saturday at 5.30.

During the 6 days we had so much experience that we will never forget and we are grateful for our Turkish project friends especially Ömer and Gülcin who are perfect host. Thank you!

Majorosné Csorba Olga
Kossuth Lajos Gimnázium
Hungary

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