Centrul de Ingrijire si asistenta Bistrita

The wednesday 6th of April, we visited "Centrul pentru Persoane Vârstnice Bistriţa şi Centrul de Îngrijire şi Asistenţă Bistriţa". This center is in Costeşti.

We went to the center with: Zenovia Zamfir , who started with the project ''Iubirea de aproapele meu'' ,Tatiana Mărcoianu, singer of traditional music, Marinela Neagu, who participed in "Liga Femeilor Creştin Ortodoxe din Vâlcea",Antoanela Enăcache from the Association ''Zâmbete Colorate'', the writer Marian Bărăscu , president of the cultural association ”Rusidava”,in Drăgășani, the plastic artist Paul Stănişor from the cultural association ''Anton Pann'', and we volunteers from Spain, Portugal, Turkey and Georgeta Mureanu,our coordinator and Cătălin Ştefan Carcadia.

We visited the center with the coordinator and the admnistrator: Daniela Coca and Mariana Persu.

And we had the oportunity to visit the special school from the children with disabilities.

After we ate in the Mănăstirea Bistrița very good Romanian traditional food: Sarmale and soup.

To finish the visiting, we went to the Mănăstirea Arnota, to visit the Monastery and we saw the mountains and the amazing views.

Thanks for this very interesting day!

Once upon a time II


Last week we went to the library and we shared some storytelling from Portugal, Spain and Turkey as much as the children listened to us. Then they told stories from Romania for us to know.

It was a funny and interesting time which the legends and stories from differents parts of the world came alive with magic.

Here you have the first story, a clasic legend about Romanian sea:

The legend of the Black sea

Once upon a time it was a wonderful princess. She was an only child and she lived with her father.

When she was 11 years old, his father died and she was crying in her father’s grave. The surrounding sounds were shocking because, I forgot to say, she was living in a boundless desert.

She was crying and she was sighing, but each tear when touching the cold rock on the grave, is tenfold in size.

And like that, the girl was crying three months. Around her was forming a big sea. Then she became a mermaid in order not to drown.

The sea was bigger and bigger…After a few years, a lot of tourists were coming.

The man was coming and they were bathing in those tears and they were enjoying in the waves, because every time when the princess sighed, a new wave was forming.

This is the legend of the Black Sea, called like this because the princess was very sad.

After this story I will tell you another legend from Portugal which also is known in Romania, a salted storytelling:

The salt

Once upon a time there was a king who had three daughters.
One day, he wanted to know if they love him, so he asked each of them:
How much do you love me?

The elder replied: “I love my father more than the sunlight.”
The middle replied: “I love my father more than myself.”
The younger replied: “I love my father as the food loves the salt.”

The King thought that the younger daughter didn´t love him, therefore he expelled her from the castel and the princess wandered alone in the world. Then she found a Castle and offered to be a cook there.

One day came to the table a delicious cake. When the king cut the cake, he found inside a beautiful and valuable ring and he asked all the court ladies to whom belonged that ring.
All the ladies tried the ring but it doesn't fit in their fingers,so the king called the cook.
Only the cook's finger fits.

When the prince saw her enter the dining room, immediately fell in love with her and the prince asked the princess' hand in marriage.
Happy, the princess accepted, but asked the prince to let her prepare the food on their wedding day.
For the wedding were invited all the nearby kingdoms´s Kings.
Even the princess´ father was invited, without knowing that it was her daughter´s marriage.

The Princess prepared delicious dishes, but in his father's food purposely didn´t put salt.
Everyone was delighted with the food, but the princess´ father wasn´t eat nothing.
The price´s father asked him why he didn't eat. He explained that his food wasn't tasty. It had no salt.
The king (Prince's father) pretending be angry, called the cook to explain why she hadn´t put salt in the King´s food.

When the princess arrived, his father immediately recognized her.
The princess said: “Do you see my father how much I love you? Salt is very important. Without it, the food has no taste.”

The King apologize her for not having realized how much he was loved by her and the princess forgave his father.
In the end they all lived happily ever after.

To continue with these stories, let's tell a story which combine the sea and the salt:

The legend of the salted sea

In the beginning, the water of the sea was sweet like the water of the rivers. The humans were traveling a lot of kilometers to find food, since the food didn’t have good taste. For this reason the humans searched for new delicious or new condiments that made their foods more appetizing.

One of these men arrived with his boat, this man was the captain,in one island surrounded for tones and tones of strange and stranger white sand. He discovered this sand had incredible properties, as this was good to preserve meats and to get better taste. So this man decided to call that sand “salt” and who traveled around the world to sellsalt in each place that he crossed.

In one of this travels, he arrived in Galicia and in this place he met Olaia, a beautiful woman who was the daughter of old fisherman. He felt in love with her and got married, but when he traveled to sell salt, one of the most powerful lords from Galicia, who lived in a castle near to the sea, tried to seduce her with a lot of presents and nice words. But Olaia stayed devoted with her love, the lord kidnapped Olaia and kept her in hir castle.

When the marine returned cannot do nothing to free Olaia, and with a lot of sadness continued his travel around the world in order to get more money to make an army and recover his love. But when he returned to Galicia, he found Olaia with freedom. Olaia told him that the sea helped her, destroying the castle, killing the lord and putting free Olaia. The Ship’s captain, grateful, gave to the sea the salt’s island to improve the flavor of their waters. And for that reason now the water of the sea is salted.

To finish let's tell a story supernatural, with magic beauty:

The Grey Wolf

The legend is focused on the character of the greatest Turkish emperor who had two daughters that were renowned for their beauty. Because of their beautiful appearance it was believed that only humans with supernatural powers could take the emperor’s daughters in wedlock. They started to assume that these women were not created for the purpose of getting married to human beings. As their father, the emperor was very concerned with their safety and made all possible preparations to ensure his daughters were kept away from the masses. He ordered the construction of a massive tower in a faraway place that had not been inhabited by any human beings till then and ordered his two daughters to be locked up in this tower until the appropriate time.

Following this, the emperor occupied himself with intense prayers to God for providing the solution to this problem. According to the legend the deity whom the emperor prayed to, descended down to earth and took the form of a grey wolf. He then took one of the daughters of the emperor in marriage and nine children were born out of this wedlock. The nine children were given the title of “Oguz” which meant a goodhearted descent. Their voices were like that of a wolf.

The legend continues to narrate that all of the nine children carried with them the spirit of the grey wolf. With the passage of time their population grew because of which the Turkish people acquired some characteristics of the grey wolf. This includes virtues like courage, strength and agility.

Once upon a time I

In the 22nd of March we had an activity in the library about the Storytelling Day which is called Once Upon a Time.

In the activity,students from grades of 4th,5th and 6th grades of primary school participated in different sessions each of which took one hour.

After a small game of name introduction which is also for energizing we both the volunteers and the students all started to read our stories to each other which we had prepared before in both English and Romanian languages and comment on them.These include many stories in different subjects whether in a teaching way or in a legend way.

These sessions of workshops have given chance students to learn about the storytelling method as well as about the importance of it regarding to share information in this method.By doing some parts of reading in our own native languages as international volunteers we also got the opportunity to raise more awareness towards different cultures.Apart from that by doing activities such as the one which is called ‘magical microphone’ which is sort of a game in which one person starts to create a story and the others one by one continues that each one in a specific amount of time the students improved their capacity of creativity.

Photography exhibition in the museum

Last Wednesday we went to the museum where we work for a photographic exhibition about the traditions and places in Oltenia.

One of the photos which made me feel curious was this one. When I saw, I only wanted to know what I was seeing. In this photo, the women are making Easter eggs. They are putting the eggs inside the socks with some leaves and then introducing in water colors to have pretty designs.

Also, we had an interview for TV, speaking about the cultural differences in our countries and how we live here.

After that, we joined a lunch with the museum's workers and some other people.
We were talking and enjoying some hours.

Centrul Maciuca

In 14th of March,we,as the volunteers took part in a visit to the Neurological and Psychotherapy Center of Maciuca in a project called ‘’Love of Neighbour (Iubirea de Aproapele Meu)’’organized by Zenovia Zamfir.

Visitors including folk music  and joyful moments.Visitors were Marinela Neagu,from the Women League of Orthodox Christian Valcea(Liga Femeilor Creştin-Ortodoxe Valcea,the professor Nicolae Dinescu,Tatiana Marcoianu,folk singer,Patricia Apostolescu,a volunteer in the Association of Colourded Smiles and Paul Stanisor,writer.

Apart from them also Luminita Tanase,the principal of Maciuca High School,Nicolae Vaduva,the mayor of Maciuca,and Viorel Rafaria,the deputy have participated.

The center’s director Gabriel Smarandoui thanked the guests for gifts and for having offered those beautiful moments together with the employees of the institution.

Forum Theatre Training

In 8th,9th and 10th of March we started another activity together with the other EVS volunteers in Dragasani.We made several trainings for three days for the forum theatre activity that we will prepare.

In 8th of March we started the day in the second floor of the office all together in the morning.After some energizing activities we made several workshops about the ways to improve communication with more understanding for a more effective theatre during the day.At the end of the day we made a feedback activity in which each of us explained his ideas about the day and how we can improve.

In 9th of March,the second day we gathered all together in the second floor of office and started the day with energizing activities.In this day we made more detailed activities about communication and ways to send ideas and messages to the audience or the target.

In 10th of March,the third day of the training we all gathered in the second floor of the office and started the day with energizing activities as usual,In that day we started applying the details we had learned in the previous days and doing more practical activities.Those include creating our own small screenplays about social problems and exhibit our plays.At the end we made a feedback session of the whole training and we expressed our impressions,new knowledges and ideas as well as improvement of creativity.

Traditions which announcing the spring

As you probably know on 14th Febrary it's the St. Valentine's day, a celebration of love in which you give a present like chocolate or flowers to the person or people you love. This celebration is internacional, but do you know that in Romania they have another day to celebrate the love? Yes, there is.

On 24th Febrary in Romania people celebrate "Dragobete", the love's day. This tradition is related with the Roman Empire and the dacians.

According to myth, Dragobete was the son of Baba Dochia, a woman who stands for the main character in the pagan myth related to spring arrival and the end of the harsh winter.

The day is also known as “the time when birds are betrothed” because during this time of year, birds generally build their nests and mattes.

On this day, considered locally the first day of spring, boys and girls gather vernal flowers and sing together.

This day annonced the arrival of spring but the oficial day that the spring begin is on 1st March, knowed like Mărțișor.

In the history, this celebration ir related with the Roman Empire too, but also it's considered with Daco-Thracian origin.

Mărțișor is the diminutive of marț, the old folk name for March. (Martie, in modern Romanian), and this literally mean "little March". It is also the folk name for this month.

Mărțișor, marț and mărțiguș are all names for the red and white string from which a small decoration is tied, and which is offered by people on the 1st day of March.

Giving this talisman to people is an old custom, and it is believed that the one who wears the red and white string will be strong and healthy for the year to come. It is also a symbol of the coming spring. 

Usually it wears close to the heart, until the last day of March.

After this introduction about the Romanian traditions in the beginning of Spring I will speak about my experiences with them.

Last Saturday I made mărțișor with smaller childrens in a kindergarten, in company of a Romanian girl called Diana, who was also volunteer like me.

This day was amazing and we learned new things about the culture of Romania.

This week we put in practice the things we learned.
In the  Colonia´s school, a school outside the city, we made mărțișor with the children and we use paper to make flowers.

Also we went to Ionescu school, a school in the city center and we were really welcome for teachers and students.

This is the summary of these intenses weeks in which we discovered new beautiful traditions about Romania that they continue alive like the spring each year.