Preparations for the project meeting in Poland

On Dec 7th we listened to two presentations about Poland
General information by Kärol, Maarja, Hanna
Religion in Poland and Pope John Paul II by Laura, Birgit and Triinu

On Dec 14th the presentations were about
Culture and Sport - Aili, Kristiine, Mari
Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union and Krakow - Riin, Marje
Holocaust and Auschwitz - Evelin Tiiter

Tolerance questionnaire 2

We carroied through a questionnaire at the beginning of the project (in autumn 2009) and end ( winter 2011) of the project. This link takes you to the questionnaire and also the responses of Estonian students in 2011.

https://spreadsheets.google.com/gform?key=0Akmdjjk7XDTJdGlsX29vWlhxQXVLd1RmNHVQLXppUFE&hl=en&gridId=0#chart>

Feedback - project meeting in Estonia

Teachers' Day October 5th, 2010

It was a teachers' day in our school, and the foreign students had a chance to see how we celebrate this day in our school.
Teachers day is for giving respect to our teachers, the 12th form students replace them in their work - giving lessons..
After the 4th lesson our project students went to visit Rakvere fortress, where we had a fun excursion, the guide showed us how the fortress was maintained and how people lived and worked there.

Meeting with Ida-Virumaa October 3, 2010

The day started quite early, because our aim was to visit many places in Ida-Virumaa.
First we set our directions to Kohtla-Nõmme, to visit a closed limestone mine, which is nowadays used as a museum.

Our tour took us underground where we could see how miners worked and some of us had a chance to use their tools, and we all got to ride on an underground train.
Our next destination was a border town where Europe meets Russia, Narva.


There we had lunch where we wanted to and we visited the garden of Narva fortress, where we could
see the Narva river and Russia.
Our next stop was a forbidden town Sillamäe, which is famous for its architecture. Sillamäe was the town, during the Soviet occupation, where uranium was mined and processed.
Uranium is famous for being the main component in nuclear weapons. The town was closed and forbidden for strangers.
The last place that we visited was a nunnery, which is located in the lovely forests of Kuremäe.

We had a chance to see the nuns living their ordinary life. Everybody seemed to like the trip.

04.10.2010 - Topscent Calendar,Viitna,meeting with the Lääne- Viru county governor

On Monday, we went to school by 8.45. All the foreign guests and eight Estonian students were devided into 4 groups to make the topscent calendar.All the 12 months were devided between the groups.We finished the calendar about 1 pm.After that the guests had a lunch.



After the lunch each group had to present their events.Every group did it very well.
Here you can see the timelines
http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/76008

http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/77890

After the presentations the guests and some Estonian students went to Rakvere to meet Lääne- Viru county governor Einar Vallbaum.


After that we had free time about 1 hour in the shopping center called Põhjakesus.We arrived back to Kadrina about 4 pm.
19.30 we met in front of the schoolhouse and we went to Viitna pub, where we had a party.


While we were eating there were folk dancers singing and dancing with us.Eveyone who wanted dance had chance to do it.It was really enjoyable day and I hope everybody liked it

Viitna Kaera-Jaan from Merike Sikk on Vimeo.

as has become a tradition in our meetings already, we danced Kaera-Jaan together.

04.10.2010 Topscent Calendar,Party in Viitna and meeting with the Lääne- Viru county governor

On Monday all the foreign guests and 8 people from Estonia who were devided into 4 groups started to make a topscent calendar of events through all year in each 5 countries.For example Italian students posted Italian events and Polish students posted Polish events.We finished it about 1 pm.Then the guests had a lunch and after that we had to present this calendar.Each group presented their events.Afther that about 2.30 pm the guests and some of the Estonian students

Kadrina Fashion Show

In every school year in the beginning we have fashion show where all the students who want to participate could do it.This year there was a record number of participants,largely because there were foreign guests watching.This year the winner was 11 grade

Arrival of the guests

On Thursday, 30th September, we met the guests from Portugal, Italy, Poland and Turkey in Tallinn. We started the ride from Kadrina about 8.15 and reached Tallinn about 9.30. Firstly, we went to Metropol Hotel where we waited for the guests to take their luggage and put it into the bus so we could start our excursion. We had a city tour where we drove around the city and our English teacher Hegi Soosaar talked a little bit about the history of Tallinn and Estonia.





We had a little stop at the Song Celebration Grounds and then we headed to Rocca al Mare Open Air Museum. There we had one task - some questions. We were divided into groups – every country had its own group with some Estonians. The task was to visit certain places to find answers to the questions. We had an hour for the assignment and then at 1 pm we had lunch.




At 3 pm we started our tour in the Old Town which was led by Hegi Soosaar again. It lasted about an hour and then we had free time about two hours. Some students went around with their teachers, others hanged around with some Estonians visiting McDonalds or Viru Centre. We started to move towards Kadrina before 6 pm. All day went very well – we had wonderful weather and after all we were on the schedule. We even left the capital before we had planned. Many of us were tired after the trip but I think and hope that all the guests enjoyed it. We arrived at Kadrina a bit after 7 pm.

Maarja Sammelselg

02.10.2010 - Lahemaa National Park

The group left Kadrina at 10.00 in the morning and the first stop was in Palmse manor. We had a stroll in the main building, the park and some other buildings. There was an opportunity to see an exhibition of various old bicycles. Then we went to the visitors' centre and watched a short film about Lahemaa National Park. After that we headed off to go on a very small hiking trail called "The beaver's trail". When everyone finished the walk, we went to have lunch in Sagadi manor. After the meal and a short look around the estate we went to see the traditional Altja fishermen's village. Besides everything else, there was a swing, which we Estonians find so common and natural, but provided a hour of fun for all the guests. Because everyone got carried away by the simple entertainment of swinging, we arrived in Kadrina an hour later than we planned, luckily no-one seemed to mind that. There were no other activites planned for the day, so the evening Was free for all the guests.

01.10.2010 - Visitors' presentations, welcome concert

On friday, just a day after the visitors arrived in Kadrina, the first activities already took place. During the first lesson, there was a short greeting from the principal of Kadrina Secondary School and after that a bit of time for practice. The meeting in the school hall began at 10.45 where all the students from ninth to twelfth grade gathered to listen to the visitors and our own students. The guests performed their presentations, talking about their countries, their celebrities, holidays etc. All the presentations had quite interesting acts in them, for example the Turkish magic,the Italian theatre and songs,the Polish video and traditional song, and the Portuguese guessing game and language lesson. After the guests had done their presentations, a short concert, which was put together by our own students, was held. The concert, featuring folk dances, choir-, solo- and ensemble singing and brass ensemble, demonstrated many aspects of our musical culture. Hopefully the visitors enjoyed it. After the lunch in school, everyone could spend time with their hosts and prepare for the fashion show (the TOP SchoolCalendarEveNT) and the disco.

Presidental visit - by Peeter

On Tuesday, 13th April, the President of Estonia, Toomas-Hendrik Ilves visited Kadrina Secondary school. The main reason he visited our school was because Kadrina Secondary School has got an unique subject called „Business management and technological bases of business.“

The president reminded, that in today's world we need more engineers and this is important to Estonia to increase competitiveness in both regional and in national level. „Until the country lives people must have strong schools (maakoolid) so there is no way that Tallinn and the rest of Estonia would be one big national park,“ he said at the meeting. Of course, the students could ask all kinds of questions about his work.

CADrina - by Peeter

On 5th March, an event called CADrina took place in Kadrina Secondary School. It was the autoCAD system design competition and the competitors were from Kadrina Secondary School, students from the Tallinn Technical University and University of Tallinn. The entertainers were Ott Lepland and a band called Traffic.
There were 3 teams and each team consisted of 3 people. Their work was monitored on large screens. According to the legend, the stairs in the Bank of Estonia had mysteriously disappeared. The competitors had to rebuild the stairs with autoCAD to reach the deadline for builders to provide the finishing date 01.01.2011, because this is the date when Euro comes to Estonia.
The winners were from our secondary school, the second place was given to the Tallinn University of Technology. The next CADrina 2011 takes place on 4th March, 2011.

timetoast proov

http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/34253

Our presentation in Portugal

http://www.slideshare.net/topscent/com-estonia-in-portugal

Com Estonia in Portugal

View more presentations from Top Scent.

Top Scent - the first year. Feedback.

http://www.slideshare.net/topscent/top-school-calendar-events-first-year-feedback

Trip to Portugal - diary of the Italian students

13/04/2010
Nicola Mercurio:
Our first day started very very early.
We left Palermo at 6:30 and arrived in Rome at 7:30.
We had a walk around Fiumicino Airport and then we were ready to leave to Lisbon. However the flight was delayed for some technical problems (which were solved after some time, luckily).
Finally at 12:30 we left Rome and after a 3 hours’ flight we arrived in Lisbon.
In the afternoon we visited Lisbon, the new and the old city. We strolled down “Rua de la Libertade”, we stopped at the “Hard Rock Café” where we did a lot of shopping. After that we took the “mythical” tram number 28 and we went up the old town where there are some places where you can get wonderful views of the city. We saw the delta of the river Tago and we had dinner in a typical restaurant.
Unfortunately it rained all day!

Andrea Catania:
On 14th April: we finally met our partners! We had missed them a lot and now we could hug them again. We visited Lisbon all together with the bus. We saw this big city and we liked it a lot. First we saw San Geronim’s Monastery: it’s a magnificent building, built in 1544; then we saw the Belem Tower, where the sailors used to set sail from. We tasted some of the delicious Portuguese cakes in the oldest “Pasteleria” of the city. We had lunch together in a restaurant; we had a typical Portuguese dish, octopus with smashed potatoes. Really good! After lunch we took the bus to Moimenta da Beira. It was an important opportunity to know all the guys from the other countries, like Poland, Turkey or Estonia. After a 4 hours’ trip, we finally arrived to Moimenta school to have dinner at the school canteen. Then there was an amazing party. It was a karaoke party! Vincenzo sang with the Portuguese guys and the other Italians sang an old Italian song. It was very funny! Finally we went home and we met the families. We went to bed looking forward to another great day.

15 Apri
Carmelo Lupo:
We met at school at 10:00 o'clock; at school we saw the show of the Portuguese students, it was very funny!. After the show, we visited the school. That week, the school celebrated the cultural week; students and teachers from all classes showed their works in the classroom and in the labs. After lunch we visited the town hall, we had a walk around the town. We visited a monastery and the library. Thenwe went up to Lapa, where there is the sanctuary of Our Lady of Lapa. The sanctuary is in a cave, the statue of Oue Lady is at back of the the sanctuary. There is a very narrow passage that joins the place where the statue is to the other part of the church. According to the legend sinners can't go through the narrow passage. Luckily we all managed to go through!!! We had dinner at school.

16 April
Claudio Baiata:
In the morning At 09:20 we met at school and after ten minutes we took the bus to a historical place where there is the monastery of St Joao Tourica.
The monastery is very big. Only the church and the tower remain, because both the walls and the building where the monks slept are more or less destroyed.
Halfway the main and only aisle, our guide explained to us, on the left and on the right there were the wooden chairs where the monks sat during the Mass. One funny thing is that because the singing took a long time, the poor monks found a way to be seated. They built tiny
stools at the back of the chair seats, so they could pretend they were standing up when in reality they could get some rest in a half-seated position.
Near the altar there were two big mosaics that described the period before and after the construction of the church. Another funny thing is that in one of these mosaics there was a man with glasses. The man who made the mosaics in the 18th century forgot that at medieval times glasses hadn't been invented yet.
After the monastery, we visited the cellars where they make spumante wine. In the afternoon we went to Villa Real. We met the mayor of the city at the town hall, a beautiful bulding which was a hospital before becoming the town hall. Then a kind young guy guided us around the town. Finally we went up to San Leonardo from where we could enjoy a beautiful view of the Douro Valley and River Douro. We ended our visit in Lamego where there is a beautiful sanctuary.

17 April
Riccardo Campo:
On 17th April we went on a cruise along the river Douro.
We left at 10 o' clock.
We took a nice, big boat; we had breakfast and lunch onboard. The landscape along the river was marvellous, we took pictures of the wonderful scenery and we spent the time singing and chatting.
The boat had to go through a couple of dams. To reach the other side of the dam, there is a mechanism that makes the water level go down.
At 5 o' clock we arrived in Porto.
In Porto we visited the cathedral a beutiful church in Roman style.
Unfortunately there was a thunderstorm and we couldn't go sightseeing.
In Porto there was a union strike. The protest was a bit “funny”and very noisy: lots of cars kept going around the town hall square blowing their horns!
We went back to Moimenta da Beira by train.

Claudio Mancino
18 April
We woke up , ready for another fantastic day , at 09:00 . We met at school at 10:00 and we took the bus to Guimaraes , we arrived there at 11:00 . Guimaraes is a marvellous Portuguese town situated in the district of Braga . The town was founded by count Vimara Peres . It was the first capital city of Portugal . Guimaraes is known as the place where the country was born . The Historic centre of Guimaraes was declared a world Heritage site in 2001 by Unesco , due to its middle age historical monuments . Guimaraes has been choosen by the Portuguese government to be the European Capital of Culture in 2012 . We visited the remains of the castle and of an ancient chapel, then the guide then took us to the historical centre and we went around the ancient, narrow streets

19 April: Viseu
Viseu was an intresting town for the teachers but for the students it was quite nice the shopping center where we bought a lot of souvenirs, presents for us and our relatives.

20 April
We met at school at 10:00 and we worked with the other students on a phrase dictionary . In the afternoon we went to a wine farm when the owners explained to us how they make Porto wine and table wines.
21 April: Coimbra, Fatima
On the way back to Lisbon we stopped at Coimbra where we visited one of the oldest university in Europe and than we strolled down the backing street to visit the cathedral and the town center.
The second stop at Fatima sanctuary but we stayed on the bus only the teachers got off the bus to visit this holy shrine.

22April: going home

Portugal - Guimaraes, Fatima, Viseu

http://www.slideshare.net/topscent/portugali-vikelinnad

Portugal - April 25th, King Sebastian, Port Wine, some interesting facts

http://www.slideshare.net/topscent/presentation-4040044

Architecture in Portugal. Manueline style

http://www.slideshare.net/merikekk/manuelism

Portugal - general information

http://www.slideshare.net/merikekk/portugal-4040350

Moimenta da Beira and the surrounding area

http://www.slideshare.net/merikekk/moimenta-da-beira

Lisbon, Porto, Coimbra

http://www.slideshare.net/merikekk/portugal-2010-lissabon-porto-coimbra

Portugal - the age of discovery

http://www.slideshare.net/merikekk/the-age-of-discovery

Tuesday - the 8th day

We had to be at school at 10 o’clock. Everybody were there on time, but we just stood and talked – waited the time, when we could go in the assembly hall to start the dictionary. All the students from the group were divided into groups. Every group had 3 Portuguese, 1 Estonian, 1 Polish, 1 Turkish and 1 Italian student. Every group was given a theme of what they would start making their dicitonary. Our theme was shopping, but there were also entertainment, at a restaurant etc. While the students were making the dictionary, teachers had a project meeting, so the students were alone in the assembly hall. Then we ate lunch.

After lunch we went to Quinta da Carregosa. Quinta da Carregosa is located deep in the Corgo area of the famous Douro region that is arguably the most well known wine producing region in Portugal.

The weather was very hot, at least for the Estonians. The sun was shining most of the time and the temperature was pretty high.

After the trip we went back to school to have dinner.

It was our last night together, so we had a little party in the school, there was a man who sang and played the synthesizer. People danced and had fun! But later we went to a party which was organised by my host family. All the students of the project were there, we sang, danced and talked. People realised, that it was our last night together, so a lot of us cried. Later we went home to pack, but we were very tired, so we went to sleep soon.

Trip to Guimarães, Sunday (the 6th day)

The sixth day of our trip in Portugal started with waking up and having breakfast in our hosting families. This day we went to the acient city of Guimarães, the place where the kingdom of Portugal was born. For that reason it is called the cradle of Portugal. We had to be in the school by 10 o'clock and I (Riin) fortunately arrived on time. But some people were late and so we set off and headed for Guimarães 18 minutes later. The bus trip lasted for about 2 hours and 45 minutes. We arrived in Guimarães at 1 pm. Then we had 1,5 hours of free time to spend in shops.

After that we visited the chapel of S. Miguel. It was built in the 12th century in Romanesque style. It has a symbolic link to the founding of the Portugese nation as tradition states that the first king of Portugal, Afonso Henriques was baptised there. The floor of the chapel is paved with the tombs attributed to the noble warriors who fought alongside King Afonso at the founding of the nation. The chapel is also classified as a National Monument.
Then we walked from the chapel to a nearby castle which dates back to the 10th century AD. Throughout its history the castle served as the backdrop for dynastic conflicts, none more heroic than the exploits leading to the foundation of the kingdom at the Battle of S. Mamede. It is also the place where King Afonso was probably born.

After that we went to the central part of the city. There we were also allowed to look around by ourselves. But before that we walked along an acient street which was lined with old houses, many of these had coats of arms of old families on their facade.

This evening we didn't have dinner in school. We went to homes to dine with our hosting families. It had been again a long day and we went to sleep, our heads filled with impressions of the seen places and things.

Saturday- The 5th day- The cruise day-17.04.2010

*
Saturday.
We had to wake up really early on that morning. Met in front of the school as always and started going. First it was like 1 hour ride by bus to the port in Régua. Then the Porto Cruz started. First it was raining and we just sat inside the cruise ship. The ship itself had 2 floors. The first floor was a fancy little restaurant and the upper floor was a deck for people, who were interested in dancing, making good photos of the nature, tanning etc.
It was not a big ship and therefore it was booked just for the people in the project.

Everybody had their cameras turned on and we were all stunned by the view in the valley.
The journey lasted for 5 h and ofcourse, a delicious lunch was included.
We had to go through 2 canal locks(2.pic), and had to do lots of waiting and siting on the deck.
*
We used the free time for spending time together. We had 3 guitars with us, but we couldn't find lots of songs to sing all together. Some people were dancing or talking. Some enjoyed the songs and were just lying on the deck. We made pictures with almost everybody to keep this beautiful memory in our hearts, heads and computers.
*
When we arrived to Porto, it was raining heavily. We visited only one church and then had some free time for shopping.
*
We came back with 2 trains. There we communicated with each other and had a nice time. Of course some of us were sleeping, because it had been a long day.

In the evening there was a rock-concert in the school. Comenius people were all related to the first band, because one boy form our group(Filipe), was playing bass-guitar there. The band was really good and was playing popular songs! I believe all members of the project will keep their fingers crossed and wish to see the band on a big stage one day.
In the second band, the physics teacher form that school, performed. So the whole concert was fully connected to that school.

We left the school at midnight and went to our homes.

It was already the 5th day in Portugal for Estonians, first free-of-school day for the whole project and the only day on a cruise.
I hope we will remember the day as it was- fantastic!

Portugali muusika

Check out this SlideShare Presentation:

Portugali muusika

View more presentations from merikekk.

Monday, the seventh day

In the morning we gathered to the school, where the first plan was to listen to and make the presentations about our country. Of course, as always, first we had to wait for about an hour, not knowing if anything is happening or not.
In there timetable there was 3 hours for 5x20 presentations. Seems enough? Eventually we didn't listen to the Portugese students' presentation, as we had run out of time. But the performances that we had time to listen to were all in all funny and interesting.

Italy had made 2 funny sketches and a fantastic Italian song, that we had a bit later an opportunity to sing as well.(still, in English)

The Polish students had made a little introduction of their home area, but unfortunately it was really hard to understand them. Then they showed us a video about maturity ball, the school event that our students will have an opportunity to participate in, as well. The ball seemed really a fantastic event, but the video was a bit too long.

Turkey had made their presentations about the main sights in Istanbul. We could also see panorama videos of these places, that made the presentations quite exciting. They also danced typical Turkish dances and they even wore their national costumes. After that, they also gave some Turkish delights and souvenirs to us.

After eating and waiting there was time to go to Viseu, the county center, to see the town and visit a huge shopping center. First, as everybody was already a bit tired of churches and excursions, we had about an hour of free time in the town center. We had to meet each other at half past 5, but Aida came at 6 o'clock and we were just waiting for her for half an hour. She had had some problems with the bus, but we were still upset.

Then we went to a shopping centre and had 1,5 hours of free time there. First it seemed to us, that it was absolutely too little, but actually the shop wasn't that impressive and huge as it seemed.

On this day we had an opportunity to eat at home. We had 4 different types of meat and 6 cakes!!!
After that we went outside with the others and had a nice night:)

Thursday - the third day

We were supposed to go to school at half past 8, but we were all a bit late. It seemed that nobody wasn’t upset because of that.Triinu and I (Grete) went to our host’s Portuguese lesson, but as everybody did not appear, teacher only gave them some homework- we had been there only for 10 minutes. Next we had principal’s welcome at school, we all got small presents, traditional candies from Portugal and teachers also got champange. Students from Portugal ( Filip and Carlos) performed with few songs which were very nice and we all understood them because they were in English. After that a huge cake was brought for us, there was a map of Europe on the cake and all the countries that took part of the project were shown.





After eating the cake we had some free time and we went to see the exhibitions which were made by the students of Moimenta’s school. We also checked the Biology lab, where were exhibitions for the cultural week.





In the evening we had major’s reception in the Town Hall. It was quite short – the major told that he was glad to see us and hopes that we enjoy staying in Moimenta etc. After that we visited very interesting and very beautiful places with amazing landscapes called Lapa and Barragem.


When we arrived back in Moimenta, we had a party in the school. The Portuguese celebrated their Republic’s Anniversary. There were a lot of people – students, their parents, teachers. And also all the Comenius Project’s students. We spent a little time there because we all were very exhausted from the trips and wanted to sleep. So we went home to have a rest to start a new day with full of enthusiasm!

Portugal: Days 1-2

The morning was early, we left Kadrina at 04.30 and left Estonia at 07.00. By the time we arrived to Lisbon we had already been awake for about 12 hours. The girls yelling "Palm trees!" when sighting them did not, however show any signs of fatigue. After arriving and checking in at the hostel we took some time and went to see the city on our own. We had dinner and took a ride with the metro to see the city a bit more. When we got back to the hostel we met the Polish students, a bit later also the Italians and the Turkish. This was the end of day one.




The second day started with a breakfast, obviously. After that, the bus from Moimenta da Beira arrived with some of the Portuguse students and we had the official tour around Lisbon. We visited the amazing Jeronimos Monastery (Vasco da Gama's resting place) and the famous Belem Tower. Near the monastery we tasted some delicious small cakes, which were originally made by the monks. We drove around a bit and we were told about some other sights such as the 25th of April bridge.
After lunch the long drive to Moimenta began. Everyone was excited because most of us hadn't seen our hosts yet. We arrived quite late but that did not matter. The dinner was served and after that we spent some time in school where the cultural week activities were taking place (Karaoke that evening :) ). Everyone went home with their hosts at some point. That was it for the day.

Conference of the Estonian language

It took place on 18th of March. On this day, students from 9th – 12th class had no usual lessons. It was dedicated to our mother tongue and we had many activities during the day. In the beginning, we had to be in the hall at quarter to nine. School had invited two famous people Erni Kask ( an actor in Rakvere Theatre) and Loone Ots (PhD, lecturer in Tallinn and Tartu University) to talk about different things related to Estonian. During these speeches, students had to take notes. I think this part of the day was very interesting and educative. After that, we were all invited to Kadrina church to watch a play written by Loone Ots.



This was about one religious man Reiner Brocmann, who worked in Kadrina church centuries ago and who is also famous for passing along the Estonian language. So, it was really meaningful for us.




When this play was over, we went back to the school hall. We all were aware of this day coming and every class had to prepare one play. These plays had to be taken from famous writers’ books. So it was our time to perform. The best play got an award. It was performed by form 12b and based on " Names in Marble"
















The jury also chose the best female and male actor. This was worth an effort. In conclusion, this day wasn’t just about getting a day off, it was about learning new things and appreciating our mother tongue.

Italian week 29th March to 6th April

Like we had Turkish week some months ago, now we had the same but with Italy and the main concern was on Sicily.
While walking around in the school, little labels with Italian words were greeting everyone. People really enjoyed the phrases.
The students of the Comenius project made posters about Italy and the themes we had discussed in the class. All the posters went on exhibition and later, an online quiz could be done based on the information found on them.
The students who went to Palermo, had to talk about their trip in different classes. Firstly, they talked about the places they saw, people who they met and so on:D Then time for questions and finally the quiz.
People had the chance to see some of the trip photos which where on the wall, in the library there was a book exhibition about Italy books and Italian authors and listen to Italian music from the school radio.
On 30th March, we had a chance to listen to Daniela Martini, the culture and commercial attache from the Italian Embassy. Also, the students, who had visited Sicily, made a presentation about it. They showed us a video about one flower carneval, which was really magnificent :) And for the grand finale they played their favorite Italian music, which also was kind an anthem for the trip :D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4JwHWlVul4&feature=player_embedded

Video clips from Italy

Watch videos by Taavi on Vimeo!

http://www.vimeo.com/10845448

Video - CARNIVAL IN ACIREALE

http://www.vimeo.com/9918503

Videos - PALERMO and TRIPS AROUND SICILY

http://www.vimeo.com/10390417

http://www.vimeo.com/11399511

Slideshows

Due to technical reasons we will now have links to the pages with slideshows. Embedding from the page slideshare.net causes difficulties opening the page.

Food in Italy

Better late than never :-)



http://www.slideshare.net/merikekk/presentation1-3438965

Carnival traditions in Italy

Karnevalid Itaalias

View more presentations from merikekk.

Mafia in Sicily

History Of The Mafia

View more presentations from Top Scent.

comenius students video

http://www.vimeo.com/10004050

Sport Itaalias

Sport Itaalias

View more presentations from merikekk.

väike trailer

http://www.vimeo.com/9857163

Fashion show

The fashion show took place on 12th February. It was at the end of Valentine’s week. Students had a chance to make their own clothings and present their designs to the audience. The audience was quite big, but there were only 5 group of students, who had prepared for this event. However, in spite of the number of performers, the show was memorable. The jury gave out many different diplomas. They all were worth these diplomas. At the end, there was a disco, where we could dance a lot and have fun.

Valentine’s week, 8- 12 February

Our school didn’t celebrate Valentine’s Day only one day, we celebrated it during the whole week. Different kind of activities took place and every day we had an opportunity to come to school with stylish clothing. First of all, on Monday we had a headdress day, so every student, who wanted and had some kind of hat, came to school with it. On Tuesday, we had a chance to wear different slippers and also t-shirts with meaningful sentences. In addition to this, there were many papers on the walls, where everyone could write Valentine’s Day greetings. This day was very interesting. On Wednesday, everyone who wanted, came to school dressed like some kind of animal. The most popular animals were cats and tigers. On Thursday, it was a reggae day. This day wasn’t so popular as others. Finally, on Friday, students came to school wearing country clothing. Furthermore, we all had a chance to send gifts and letters to our good friends. For that, every class had to make and put up their letter box, so it was easier to hand out letters. All together, I would say that this week was full of happiness and warmness.

The last day

In the morning of our last day in Palermo we had free time. So everyone decided with their hosts what to do. Me, Maarja, Laura and Hanna, with our hosts, decided to go shopping. We had to meet 11 o´clock near the school, but unfortunately, waiting for Maarja and Manuel, who had some problems with tranportation, we went shopping a little past 12 o´clock. First we went to a mask shop nearby, as we needed something for the evening. The time went really fast and after visiting the food shop and eating we hadn´t time to go anywhere else. So we went to school and waited for others to come.


The portuguese arrived later, as they went shopping and they got lost in Palermo. First Italian teacher and some students sang some traditional Italian songs. After that we sang some well-known English songs together, for example, "When you are happy" and "Yesterday". Then it was our turn to perform as we were the first ones and we sang two songs (Mardilaul and Kungla rahvas). Also we danced Kaerajaan and taught it to others too. Everybody seemed to like it.

Kaera Jaan in Palermo from Merike Sikk on Vimeo.

Then portuguese and polish students performed. Polish sang some songs and portuguese also sang some songs and played some games with teachers and some students.



When singing and dancing was over, students from different bands from Italian school sang some rock songs, it was quite different from the performances before. After that a little disco started, everybody danced and some students were coustumed, for example Italian boys were dressed as girls.



After that the official part had ended, everyone could do what they wanted. We went to eat at Maarja´s host home, Manuel, and then headed for a good-bye party at Ivan´s place. Everyone of the project were there and we had a lot of fun. Soon it was time to say good-bye and go home, as tomorrow we had to leave really early.

Taormina and Acireale

Seventh day, Sunday.

This day started very early, we had to be at school by 7 o`clock. It was extremely rainy and also bit chilly. We had to drive about 3 hours and more before we got to Taormina. It was dry and warm in the bus and no-one was too eager to go outside, when we had short break from the driving. Finally we arrived to Taormina, we went to see (the Greek theatre) The Teatro Greco. It was quite difficult to get there. We walked upwards which was quite difficult because of the rain. It was the lucky day for the umbrella-sellers. After the struggle, we finally reached our destination. It was a magical view, it was easy to imagine thousands and thousands of people sitting all together. We made a round around the theatre and saw many captivating sights.

Fortunately for us we were in the right place just for the time when the sun came out. We saw the most beautiful rainbow. It was very clear and very close to us. I`m really sorry that it is not as amazing on the picture. After this we had to get back on the bus and drive a little further to Acireale. This was the place where the carneval was held. We got there just in time, it had just started. There was lots of people in the streets, some of them wearing funny hats or wigs and few of them wearing costumes. Most of the people were just like us, with nothing, but it wasn`t a problem. We saw, how big statues made from flowers were slowly driven in the street. The music was quite loud and played in every corner of the street.

I`m sure that almost everybody agrees with me if I say, that this was the place where your worst enemy is your best friend. Little pieces of paper were thrown everywhere- in people`s hair and face mostly. And also some kind of canned ribbons were sprayed, it was quite difficult to get those semi-wet things out of your hair. Most of us had a good time.

And then it was time to turn back to Palermo. We got on the bus and drive another 3 hours and after that we all were extremely tired and relived when we got back to Palermo, which was about 8 pm.

Palermo 4

The fifth day was the first excursion day. Italian teachers had made the plans for the school trip and had chosen for this day to visit Selinunte, Cave di Cusa, Marsala and Segesta. Teachers also reminded us to be punctual, that we could see all the sites, but still we leaved from Palermo a bit later than 7.30.

The first site, Selinunte was 123 km far from Palermo. During this long drive, students sang together and used this time to get to know each other. Selinunte temple was founded around 650 B.C , so there was a very ancjent and mysterious atmosphere.
The next place which we visited was Cave di Cusa. It is the place, were Selinuntinians took the stones for the constructing their temples.

47 km from Cave di Cusa is Marsala, which is by inhabitants one of the biggest city in Sicily. In Marsala we saw salt deposits and Marsala wine shop. We also had our lunch in Marsala, in " Trattoria Garibaldi".

After the lunch we continued our excursion to Segesta. Unfortunately it was rainig heavily, so we didn`t walk close to the temple and we admired it from the bus. Because of the rain, we didn`t see the Greek Theatre either. Despite of rain, everybody enjoyed the trip and didn´t let their mood going down.

Palermo 3

The first part of the day was dedicated to presentation about the Mafia . First presentation was perfomed by the Italian teacher whose presentation started with the sentence :

"Until less than forty years ago , many people in Sicily still used to say about Mafia:"Mafia? Have you ever seen the Mafia with your eyes? No , believe me: Mafia doesn´t exist"

Then he talked about the history of the Mafia . The most important men to sicily were Falcone and Borsellino they were the national heroes to Sicily because they fought against the Mafia, both were killed by the mafia in a car bomb .Falcone and Borsellino were particulary respected and even loved by common people ,who had learned to appreciate their intelligence ,their rectitude and their courage .The common people had powerful reaction:thousands of citizens participated in Falcone´s and Borsellino´s funerals and many voluntary organizations arase in those days by citizens who wanted to contrast the mafia system and feel free :one of such voluntary organizations is "ADIO PIZZO"

PIZZO - a payment imposed by Mafiosi to the traders - and if you don´t pay the pizzo we will destroy your shop....ADDIO= bye bye .Italian teacher ended his presentation with the sentence

...but in Palermo there are no more shots in the streets and above all nobody says any more "Mafia? What is Mafia? Oh....Mafia doesn´t exist".

And then the students made a presentation about mafia. Mafia is not a funny joke in Italy some of my friends are still afraid of the Mafia its not a joke Mafia is real.

After the presentations we went on a trip to Mondello .There we had a lunch and a lot of free time .The carnival was about to start at Mondello but we went away before the start .Mondello was a amazing place with a amazing view to the mountains .The water was a little bit cold and many of estonians were sick thats why we didn´t go swimming . It was a niice day after Mondello we went home .

Palermo II

Fourth day.

The first part of the day was dedicated to presentations. All the foreigners had to show their presentations. Fortunately for us we were last and had the most time to prepare ourselves.

We had a pleasure listening to Portuguese, Turkish and Polish presentations and their songs. It was an interesting and educative morning. Then it was time for a coffee break, we had no time to relax as we were up just after the break. It was quite busy and stressful half an hour because we had some technical difficulties and at the end we still couldn`t show some videos + we had to sing the first verse of the National Anthem of the Republic of Estonia. Luckyly for us, we had some videos on the flash disk and we were able to show self-made clips about our school and school events. They were the most popular among the audience.After the most stressful part of the trip we had a lecture about Selinute, Marsala and Segesta- the places we were about to visit on the next day.

Then it was time for a lunch at „Focacceria S. Francesco”. The food was good, though we had some misunderstandings at the restaurant.
After eating we had enough energy to deside if we wanted to go home or go sightseeing with the teachers. Only very few of us desided not to go with teachers.

We saw very beautiful places and buildings around Palermo, but most of the students, estonians included, desided to stay behind and spend time playing some "football". Taavi also had lots of good time showing everybody his skateboard tricks, some Italians tried to do the tricks.

We were outside till it got dark and then it was time to say good bye. Some of us went to play bowling and had a great time, but I had to go home as my host`s father needed the motorcycle and we had to take it home..

Then I had delicious dinner, and I guess we all did, and that was it for that day..