Project week in Romania (21 - 27 Oct. 2012)

Comenius S4T Team in front of Sibiu townhall

The diary of this project week is available in the page about the week in Sibiu. If you just want to see how enjoyable our time in Sibiu and other places in Romania was, you can start by clicking on the link below to have a look at our photo gallery:

Project Week #3: Sibiu, Romania - Photo Gallery

To give a general impression, here's the English translation of the newspaper article that was published about it in the "Amberger Zeitung":

For Tolerance, Against Prejudice

Pupils of Decker School in Exchange Project in Romania with People from Italy, Poland and Turkey

Amberg.  The European-Commission-funded Comenius project “Spotlights for Tolerance”, coordinated by Dr.-Johanna-Decker-Gymnasium, was continued in the Romanian city of Sibiu (Hermannstadt). Five DJDG pupils in 10th and 11th grade travelled to experience a week with a rich schedule, accompanied by Julia Simbeck and project coordinator Peter Ringeisen.
English teacher Corina Pavelescu and her team at Colegiul National “Gheorghe Lazar” had organized the programme for the pupils and teachers from Amberg, Sciacca (Italy), Chojnice (Poland), Salihli (Turkey) and of course for the hosts themselves, too.

Getting to know culture

At the centre of the project there is, on the one hand, designing, rehearsing and performing theatrical scenes on the topic of tolerance and prejudice; on the other hand, it’s about getting to know the partner countries’ culture - and finally, as a basis for all this, getting to know other young Europeans, which is ideal for practising tolerance and getting rid of prejudices. The theatre workshop was conducted by young actress Lorelei Gazawi, assisted by teachers Corina Pavelescu and Daniela Sacalean. Two scenes were developed there: An innocent man is accused of stealing money, but of course he denies having done anything wrong. At a loss what to do, the bystanders call upon historical ruler Vlad Tepes to bring justice.

Excursion to Dracula

When Tepes arrives in the second scene, the real villain tries to deceive him at first, but then he is found out and punished - and the wrongly accused is asked for forgiveness. The two scenes are linked by a videoclip that shows how the people call the just ruler for help (in Romanian) - and while doing that, they are running up the stairs to Bran Castle. In order to be able to film that sequence, the whole team made an excursion to Bran Castle, which actually used to belong to the nobleman who inspired author Bram Stoker to write a novel about the vampire Count Dracula. The castle, however, gave a rather more cosy than horrifying impression, as the visitors were pleased to note.
At the beginning of the week, the participants of the project were welcomed by Sibiu’s mayor, Klaus Johannis, in the townhall. His wish that the guests from the other European countries may enjoy their stay, turned into exquisite reality. The families who hosted and cared for the pupils won their hearts as did the city and the country with its numerous sights and its open and friendly atmosphere. What was especially impressive in the programme were the guided tours through Sibiu City centre and of the fortress city of Sighisoara, but also seeing the extraordinary play “A Streetcar Named Popescu”, which is set inside (and outside) a moving tram and is played in four languages.
At the end, the pupils were proud that the performance of their own scenes worked out very well, and they all agreed: “We would love to stay longer!” Although this was not possible, it is already at the end of November when the project teams (with new pupils) will meet in Sciacca, Sicily - and there will be a reunion of many good friends in March 2013, for the final project week in Amberg.

Amberger Zeitung, 6. November 2012 (Nr. 256), p. 19 (translation into English: German team)