Quantity meets Quality
Sweeping the rest of
the night away (thank you mates for munching in the kitchen at night but
your moms hadn't arrived yet to clean up after you!) the day started (for
Helen, Emma, Jerry & me) with serving breakfast. Doing the catering-service
turned out to be a full-time job, contradicting the prediction of Laurence
that quantity and quality can't be achieved both at the same time. Meanwhile
we learned that it can work - and we wondered if it was just mentioned
to start competition.
Some of us went out for a project called "old media" (reports will follow) but in the meantime Magnus, Katrin and Helga worked hard to get the first template for the travelogue ready while others made their first steps in "martial arts" and self defence, introduced by Anders, and quickly learned that it takes more than fast kicks to master this art. After a little feast that we had cooked up to prove again that quantity and quality can indeed go hand in hand, everybody got busy with last minute preparations for the so called "culture basket": M.C. Seppo brilliantly led us through an evening designed by all nations present. The unequivocal highlight was performed by Seppo himself (in the humble opinion of the author and a small panel of vodka-experts) who gave a strong impression of Finish party songs. Even though it is hard to point out just one of the groups it has to be said, that the Swedish group had an overwhelming program: with much fantasy and enthusiasm they depicted the Swedish culture to everybody's great delight.
Hanna as conferencier of the Swedish presentation convinced us of her professional qualities in show biz and put a frame to the strong impressions transported by the very various (and numerous) perfomances.Our mates from Iran invited us to sing a traditional song - which I have to admit was hard to understand - but the chorus went well ;-). After quoting a passage from Heinrich Böll's "Irish Journal" the Germans tried to sing the rain and storm away ( "Wochenend und Sonnenschein") - unfortunatly, the weather stayed the same. At least our three Greek ladies tried to lighten us up by dancing around a glass (which Seppo fearfully only delivered in empty state) most gracefully and of course ended up inviting the others to join their traditional dances.
What followed was a sophisticated discussion located at the "Village Pub" which was the perfect end to a perfect day: The question if virtual worlds can come to reality at all and how they turn out once they become real will stay with us for the rest of our project - I fear.
Jochen Krukenberg
"Tell me quite frankly now", said Padraic to me after the fith glass of beer, wether you don't think all Irishmen are half crazy?'
'You ought to have been a diplomat,' said Padraic and ordered the six glass of beer, ..."
Heinrich Böll: Itinerant Political Dentist, in: The Irish Journal
The Late Night Cockney Show (freely quoted by Laura & Helen):
"Let's go down the rub-a-dub
for a quick tiddly wink and a rabbit!
Fear, we won't get a glass
of pigs in there but got elephants trunk by giving our last macaroni anyway."
translation:
"Let's go down to the pub
for a quick drink and a talk. We feared we wouldn't get a glass of beer
in there but got drunk by giving our last £25 away."
"new media" meet "old media"
We, Maria, Emma, Tine, Magnus, and Pari, went to visit the daycare center for elderly people in Achill. After having lunch we started our walk which took us twenty minutes. We thought that by meeting old inhabitants of Achill Island we would get to know the people and their history. We were hoping that they might tell us some interesting stories. When we arrived there were ten curious old ladies welcoming us with open arms. The room was filled with warmth and happiness. Although all the ladies had different backgrounds and came from different places there was a great feeling of togetherness. Tine started by telling them what we actually were doing on the island and then we introduced ourselves. Afterwards the women were telling us about their life which for most of them meant hard work. Raising the children alone, since their men were working abroad. It was a pleasant experience listening to the ladies' stories. They were curious about Sweden and we were happy to answer their questions. Unfortunately they thought we were pageans since they were all Catholics. We all returned to the hostel with a better knowledge about the island and its history.by Maria and Emma
Monday - The Greek Perspective
The second day of the programme was a very busy day. After the usual 9 o'clock breakfast we had a meeting with the other participants to decide about the nature of our projects. Everyone had to chose a project to particpate in and after discussing the basic points of this programme we started proposing ideas. At one o'clock we had lunch and after finishing the groups had to prepare a culture presentation for the same night. In the afternoon Anders from Sweden gave 'Karate' lessons in the main hall, while a number of students paid a visit to a local day centre for old people. We were told that it was a great experience for both groups as none of them had experienced something like that before.After having a delicious dinner prepared by the catering group responsible for that day, the culture box activity began at 8 o'clock. Seppo from Finland (currently studying at Brighton and the social organising manager.), was responsible for the organisation of that event, The Swedish group opened the culture night with a wonderful and well performed sketch concerning their country. This was followed by the German group who presented a traditional German song, which the audience liked veryt much. The Iranian group took the stage aftewards with the presentation of a well-known Iranian song that made the atmosphere warmer. The social manager presented also a Finish sketch concerning his country. Finally, a group of three Greek girls performed traditional Greek dances. Everybody really enjoyed the 'culture box' activities and it was interesting to learn some very interesting details about the different cultures.
by Marietta Kolliopoulou,
Kelly Tsoga
and Nicoletta Koutroulou
Dr. Laurent Borgmann
Last modified by:Oliver Reichhardt