Comenius project: “ It’s my Nature”- Second meeting

The second meeting took place in Zespół Szkół Nr 1 in Stara Wieś near Limanowa, Poland from Monday 11^th to Friday 15^th March 2013. The first delegation of three teachers and four students (Gizem Mine TÜRKSEVER, Sedef Pınar MERT,Sema Naz ÖĞÜT, M. Nur YURDUNUSEVEN, Alperen Ertürk) and the teachers Mrs Nuray Sariboga, Mr. Ersen Kırıkkaya and Mr İbrahim Atay arrived  from Turkey on Sunday 10th of March 2013. From Germany Mr  Karl Waymer and Mrs Sarah Kreutz and their students  Patrick Kucharczyk, Johannes Schröder, Carolin Becker, Luca Schlueter arrived in the afternoon.

On Monday most of the guests arrived and they gathered for the first official meeting in the evening in the restaurant Stary Browar in Limanowa. Guests liked the interior of the restaurant with a unique, magic climate. At the evening dinner teachers from Turkey and Germany, teachers from the school took part to the dinner. It was very familiar and it was easy and pleasant to talk about the different educational systems in the  partner countries, looking for advantages and disadvantages.  Mrs Dominique Chalansonnet form College Barnave in France and her colleague Mrs Maud Chevrol were accompanied by five students :  Benjamin Ayache , Morgan Baron, Alan Dabrowski, Yohann Micoud, Antonio Bourgeois and they arrived late in the evening they  arrived at Limanowa at 10 p.m. In the end the Italian delegation , Mrs Giuseppina Vitale, Mrs Angela Siano and Mr Lorenzo Serra with four students, Francesca D’Amico, Debora Della Rocca, Katerina Vallecaro and Giovanni Violante arrived:  their plane landed at 11 p.m. in Cracow. They arrived to Stara Wies at 1 a.m. Despite the late hour, the Polish host students welcomed their guests. All the delegations were accomodated in the hotel Na Wesolej. On Tuesday there was the first impact with the school community. A great welcoming ceremony was organized and a number of personalities took part to the event:    the vice mayor of the municipality of Limanowa, Franciszek Bieda,  the director GZOS Edyta Krol, the  priest Marian Tyrka- the leader of parish in Stara Wies, the president of ZNP Elzbieta Mordarska, the representatives of the parents’ council, councilors, parents and all school community. Guests were welcomed by school’s director, Halina Maka. The Comenius delegations introduced themselves both in their mother tongue and in English, as they agreed upon in their last meeting  because they consider the diffusion of the national languages a strong point of their programme. The official  Ceremony started with the presentation of the most interesting spots of Poland and of the most famous personalities of the Polish culture.Young pupils of the 4th grade, wearing their traditional costumes, performed „the polonaise”After, students presented their region Malopolska, which includes Cracow, Wieliczka and Bochnia, religious monuments- churches built during ages and beautiful castles. The show ended up with krakowiak, danced by 3^rd class. The most spectacular was Lajkonik. At the end, they presented their small homeland, with everything that is connected with commune of Limanowa, Limanowa town and of course Stara Wies. They very proudly mentioned what is the most beautiful in the region: beautiful mountains, the school, the new church and all their traditions they are trying to keep alive. After the official part of the  meeting, the Director took the guests around the school. The visit  started from the  older classes. In younger classes, pupils from class “0”  performed their new songs and all guests were amazed by their singing. The biggest impression was made by language classroom where there were beautiful and big posters hanged on the walls . We all  noticed and liked the fact, that the school is clean and has a nice interior design. Our walk ended in the school canteen, where we ate tasty meal, prepared by their cooks. In the same time, students were organized in groups and took part to workshops and other motivating activities. The  first group got to know the signs of spring in Poland. Unfortunately, the weather didn’t let them go outside to see all of these signs: white, soft and unforgettable snow covered the forest and the hills around and that was amazing especially for the Italian people coming from the south of their country where they rarely see the snow! But the most creative workshop for teachers and students was” Creating Ester palm”, which students will take to the church during Palm Sunday. It was a great fun for young and adult people to make such new things: all the products were presented to the final ceremony!     After that the group left for a tour of Limanowa: we visited  the new church in Stara Wies,  just opposite the school, which revealed to be very  interesting, because it’s an example of temporary art  with its huge statue of Christ, who looks in the  school’s direction. Priest Marian Tyrka told  the guests the history of the  church.

All of us were invited and welcomed by major Wladyslaw Pazdan, vice major Franciszek Bieda and Secretary of the Municipality Marek Ziaja.  They were really honored by the visit and received the guests with the table full of sweets and colorful drinks. The coordinators of the Comenius delegations offered small gifts to Limanowa’s authorities. We visited the Public Library with the newest art exhibition in the art gallery: there were drawings and graphics of the local artist Jan Plata from Tymbark. Guests wrote some sentences in their own languages in the commemorative book. After that we went to “Buzodrom”, where Tuorist Information Center is located.  Guests could change their money, could buy some souvenirs from Limanowa or just take some brochures about the town and the region in their own language. We visited also Sanktuarium Matki Boskiej Bolesnej, popular called Bazylika Limanowska. The tourist guide told us the story of the first churches in Limanowa and showed us the most precious and the most beautiful things in the basilica. We went also to the museum near the basilica, where we could admire beautiful exhibits dating back to old times. After the cultural tour   students had the opportunity to take part in shooting competition taking place in the shooting range. Thanks to Mr Leszek Lach, the director of LOK in Limanowa and members of shooting club “Arkus”, Bogdan Kita and Maciej Twarog, foreign pupils could shoot to a target. The result was surprising :

After the competition students went to the Polish families’ house. In the same time, teachers were invited for a coffee to Charlotte Cafe in Limanowa.  But…the day was still young!  At 7 p.m., all teachers went to school to paint Easter eggs. It was supposed to be an easy way to spend some time in a familiar way but it soon changed into a great feasting. We spent a nice and intercultural evening singing songs in different languages, while Olek, the Polish Music teacher and  Lorenzo from Italy and Marek were accompanying the songs playing the piano. At that time there weren’t any Polish, French, Italian, Turkish or German teachers, but the great European  Comenius Team with smiles on their faces and serenity in their hearts: one of the goals was achieved: we were a family!      On Wednesday when we got up there was snow all around, anyway  we went for a trip to Cracow. In Cracow, we were guided through Droga Królewska (Royal Road), we saw Zamek Królewski (Royal Castle) and cathedral on Wawel, Kościół Mariacki (Mariacki Church), Sukiennice- located at the biggest middle ages square in Europe and the  remains of the fortified walls with Brama Floriańska (Floranska Gate) and Barbakan. All those places belonging to the cultural heritage were very attractive for all the guests.    After lunch in Cracow, we went to Bochnia Salt Mine. We visited subterranean of the oldest Polish salt mine and the most interesting excavations located at 223 metres depth, we saw  a unique geological system, chapels with beautiful sculptures and paintings and mining tools, that were used many ages ago. The only one in the world Multimedial Exposition similar to a travel back into the ages: Polish kings, miners from Genua and even a ghost of Cystercian- a monk from the monastery connected with the beginning of the mine in Bochnia. At the end of the visit we were travelling by boats, 230 metres, under the ground, for 120 metres in the tunnels, flooded by salty water. While sailing, we were singing songs with our guides. At the end we went to Karczma Pod Wielka Sola. Natural color of wood and it’s smell, typical tables and chairs created a nice atmosphere. All of us were surprised by the delicious meals and the intimate and familiar atmosphere of that place.     Thursday was the last day of the meeting: we started with common lessons for students from partner countries and the Polish pupils all together. Later students worked in two groups. First group had sports activities, prepared by Mr Marek, while the second painted Easter eggs and rabbits. In the same time, coordinators watched a Maths lesson, and then an English lesson. Some hours were spent to discuss about the activities and the results of the project. Each group using multimedia presentations showed the way they had worked and the results. Dominique- main coordinator from France checked each step of the project and we realized that we had done a great job so far. During the afternoon we created poems about nature. Students were divided into two groups. One group tried to write poems in their national language. Later they tried to face Polish tongue twisters and they sang karaoke all together.          The second group painted posters, connected with nature. They used different techniques. After all activities, students ate lunch, and after we had our last meeting.  The meeting was made of three parts. There was the exhibition of all the products made during those days in the Polish school. Students read poems about nature, that had written in the afternoon activities.

Then, all groups recited poems in their national languages. We paid a lot of attention to Turkey, because they wanted to present their school, their town to us, before the meeting in May in their country. Then came time for a school’s “Got talent”. Julia and Magda- students from 6th class, sang a song. Damian, from 4th class, presented eastern combat arts. At the end we could see Kuba from 5th class, who played drums as a professional artist. At the end, the head of the school, gave to each group the certificate of participation in the meeting. She thanked gratefully parents, who hosted kids from European partner schools in their houses. It was a very warm evening, full of tears and farewells- despite of bad weather outside. It was very sad, but students could stay with their new friends, that last evening in the Polish houses.                                           Farewell dinner: the last evening was really special as the Mayor invited all the delegations for dinner in a very elegant restaurant. The food was delicious: we tried all the traditional specialities and then the evening went on with music and songs. The  stay at the Polish families and in the  Polish school was a wonderful and unforgettable experience for all students and teachers. We hope that the same friendships will survive for a lot of years. At the leaving time all the students and teachers had eyes full of tears: we can, without any doubt, say that Limanowa and its community have become our town land!

Autor Giuseppina Vitale