The summary of the visit

 

The second mobility was organized at Middle School no 5 in Galati, Romania, from 24th to 27th of March 2014.

 

1st Day

The guests were welcomed with salt and bread as tradition requires, meaning love, hospitality, kindness.

The official opening took place in the gym hall where Daniela Nicolaev Malaxa, the principal, and Octavian Patrascu, the educational projects inspector, welcomed our partners.

Each partner presented their school, city and country according to the project planning. Afterwards the Romanian pupils showed the traditional songs and dances and the instruments they had created.

One of the project activities for this year was the presence of a professional dance group in the school, Doina Covurluiului, the objective being to teach our pupils the beauty of Romanian folk dances. Certainly we invited them to delight us with their fast moves and the mastery of performing beautiful songs playing the whistle, ocarina and caval (traditional Romanian instruments); everyone benefited from a unique experience.

The festivity was followed by a presentation of our educational system and a visit to the Museum of Natural Science where the guests could also see the Observatory.

In the evening we had dinner at the last floor of a hotel where the panorama of Galati could be admired.

 

2nd Day

The 2nd Day started early with primary classes attendance, then all the partners were involved in a language lesson with the purpose of learning words and expressions from all their languages.

Later we had a lot of fun organizing sports activities meant to help children and teachers interact. Everyone showed energy, teamwork, cooperation.

After lunch each country had to introduce to us their traditional instruments and the videos with pupils performing a song while playing the drums.

In the evening it was our turn to organize a traditional dinner showing the diversity of our culinary art. We also surprised our guests with dances from their countries and each partner accepted to show us a bit of their culture. We danced, we laughed, we had a great time.

 

3rd Day

The 3rd Day there were other primary and elementary classes attendance, exchanging opinions regarding teaching methods.

During a Comenius meeting we discussed and evaluated the activities accomplished so far and planned the next mobility.

We also visited the TV Tower, being able to see the city from its height. At the end each partner was asked to plan a rose in the school garden as a symbol of friendship.

Later children said goodbye to their host families and the trip towards the mountains began.

 

4th Day

The 4th Day represented the end of the Romanian mobility, the partners getting to know a little of our culture and history, visiting the Peleş Castle, Râşnov Fortress, Bran Castle and the local crafters where they could see and buy traditional costumes and musical instruments.

The trip ended in Bucharest, the capital, where we had to say goodbye after sharing such a beautiful experience and getting to know each other better.

 

Romanian project coordinator,

 CARMEN MARINESCU