Hey Canadians... Come on DOWN!!!
Yep - we were on "Serbia Today" this morning... It's a weekly variety/news type show and we were right after the Siberian men's quartet who performed complete with tall hats, colourful long robes and a horse whip!
It was extremely interesting. In a tradition televcision studio, the various guests were lined up and waited just off-set for their cues. The host was a sharp dressed guy with pearly whites and a firm handshake. Of course everything was in Serbian so while we could sort of follow what was happening a lot of that was just by guesswork.
There was an interview with Hetty and Teresa, with interpretation by Rajka. After a break we all congregated on the set and sang Barrett's Privateers. It's true - regretably a short DVD will be available when we return :-)
Free time for a couple of hours this afternoon and then we will have a mini-symposium in the hotel to talk about the recent political and social past of the region, and learn about what forces drove the decisions leading up to the UN bombing of sites in the country. It seems the story is a complex one, and there are many theories about it, and through our research and discussions with local people we may be developing a more complete picture of what went on. Some of the students have taken the initiative to explore these things on their own, which is tremendous.
Tomorrow they leave to visit a school that became a member of Peaceful Schools International a while ago. Students will be billeted with families of the local students.
As the week progresses there are changes taking place in the dynamics of our group, and good things are taking place. The film crews for example are developing confidence and style in shooting material and now interviews. Students are developing their own areas of curiosity and exploration, and it seems likely that some valuable learning is taking place.
PART TWO - later on - we had a meeting this afternoon between the Canadian students and some of our Serbian student hosts. What was intended to be a 15 minute overview of the recent political and military history turned into over an hour of amazing exchanges and open discussion of politics, social change and personal convictions. My sister Carolyn made some notes which I will share at some future point, or perhaps readers will be able to experience the meeting through the SFTP documentary that will be developed in the coming weeks. It was very moving and further confirms our/my belief that with our youth lies hope for the future.
More later.... Cheers!
John
It was extremely interesting. In a tradition televcision studio, the various guests were lined up and waited just off-set for their cues. The host was a sharp dressed guy with pearly whites and a firm handshake. Of course everything was in Serbian so while we could sort of follow what was happening a lot of that was just by guesswork.
There was an interview with Hetty and Teresa, with interpretation by Rajka. After a break we all congregated on the set and sang Barrett's Privateers. It's true - regretably a short DVD will be available when we return :-)
Free time for a couple of hours this afternoon and then we will have a mini-symposium in the hotel to talk about the recent political and social past of the region, and learn about what forces drove the decisions leading up to the UN bombing of sites in the country. It seems the story is a complex one, and there are many theories about it, and through our research and discussions with local people we may be developing a more complete picture of what went on. Some of the students have taken the initiative to explore these things on their own, which is tremendous.
Tomorrow they leave to visit a school that became a member of Peaceful Schools International a while ago. Students will be billeted with families of the local students.
As the week progresses there are changes taking place in the dynamics of our group, and good things are taking place. The film crews for example are developing confidence and style in shooting material and now interviews. Students are developing their own areas of curiosity and exploration, and it seems likely that some valuable learning is taking place.
PART TWO - later on - we had a meeting this afternoon between the Canadian students and some of our Serbian student hosts. What was intended to be a 15 minute overview of the recent political and military history turned into over an hour of amazing exchanges and open discussion of politics, social change and personal convictions. My sister Carolyn made some notes which I will share at some future point, or perhaps readers will be able to experience the meeting through the SFTP documentary that will be developed in the coming weeks. It was very moving and further confirms our/my belief that with our youth lies hope for the future.
More later.... Cheers!
John
posted by John van Gurp at 4:16 AM
4 Comments:
Hello
John,I am printing off all your journal entries which I find so very interesting.They make me feel like I'm at the hotel in Serbia staying back and waiting for you all to return each day to hear about your day as you all gather at night. We never really know what lies ahead in experiences .Continue having wonderful learning and living experiences, Linda
Oma is posting for the first time. Peter is writing this...
Hi John,
Peter is here teaching me and fixing things, he is soooo technical, takes over for you.
I enjoy reading all the adventures and in my mind am with you all.
Give my love to Carolyn, Gerald, Hetty and Kate. Take care and enjoy. mom
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