Wednesday already?
Looks like I missed a day... there's been so much activity. Let's see if I can fill in the main points since Monday. The problem is that I have burned my photos over to CD so don't have a reminder in front of me.
So we arrived at Pancevo and had the celebrations and interactions. On Tuesday we traveled by bus to another town and their school where the PSI membership flag was to be presented. Again, upon arrival we were greeted by a scene one would expect to be reserved for dignitaries. Various local government officials and the teachers were lined up along with students in beautiful traditional dress. As we passed the receiving line we each broke off a piece of a large wheel of the local bread, which we dipped in a small bowl of salt before passing over the threshold of the school. Upon entry the local students pinned each of us with a paper heart decorated with a delicate sprig of dried flowers.
After some meeting time with small cups of the thick black coffee and juice and mineral water we entered the cafeteria where the tables were laden with fresh bread, steaming cabbage rolls which they also prepared without meat for the vegetarians, and the adults were passed small glasses of the local plum brandy. There was much laughter and broken conversations with gesturing and scribbled notes.
A visit to the local cultural center followed where a wonderful series of small skits and musical numbers was performed to our great delight. Hetty spoke a little while presenting the PSI membership and used the famous quote about how it takes a whole village to raise a child, and she stated that obviously there was a whole village working to foster a peaceful environment for the children of the town. It was very moving. I'm afraid our "fame" from Serbia Today preceded us because once again we were required to perform Barrett's Privateers! It was actually quite a hoot. We didn't get the "hook" this time :-)
That evening the whole gang traveled by bus to the arts centre where we were enthralled by Bilja's concert-wow-it was great. I'm bringing home a CD or two and have some nice photos. After the show we attended a party with the band, local government and school officials and various others where we were presented with gifts. I have photos of all of this stuff and will put them up when we are back.
The students returned to their billets for the night. Today we picked them up with many tears and hugs and exchanged email addresses between Canadian and Serbian students. It was quite a scene!
Later we took a bus tour up a mountain for some sight seeing. Students are checking back in to the Hotel Balkan this now and most are heading off to a Rossini opera at the Belgrade Opera House this evening.
I am starving and need a coffee so will sign off for now.
More later....
Cheers!
John
Update: Opera sung in Italian, with projected cyrillic translation, is hard to follow!
So we arrived at Pancevo and had the celebrations and interactions. On Tuesday we traveled by bus to another town and their school where the PSI membership flag was to be presented. Again, upon arrival we were greeted by a scene one would expect to be reserved for dignitaries. Various local government officials and the teachers were lined up along with students in beautiful traditional dress. As we passed the receiving line we each broke off a piece of a large wheel of the local bread, which we dipped in a small bowl of salt before passing over the threshold of the school. Upon entry the local students pinned each of us with a paper heart decorated with a delicate sprig of dried flowers.
After some meeting time with small cups of the thick black coffee and juice and mineral water we entered the cafeteria where the tables were laden with fresh bread, steaming cabbage rolls which they also prepared without meat for the vegetarians, and the adults were passed small glasses of the local plum brandy. There was much laughter and broken conversations with gesturing and scribbled notes.
A visit to the local cultural center followed where a wonderful series of small skits and musical numbers was performed to our great delight. Hetty spoke a little while presenting the PSI membership and used the famous quote about how it takes a whole village to raise a child, and she stated that obviously there was a whole village working to foster a peaceful environment for the children of the town. It was very moving. I'm afraid our "fame" from Serbia Today preceded us because once again we were required to perform Barrett's Privateers! It was actually quite a hoot. We didn't get the "hook" this time :-)
That evening the whole gang traveled by bus to the arts centre where we were enthralled by Bilja's concert-wow-it was great. I'm bringing home a CD or two and have some nice photos. After the show we attended a party with the band, local government and school officials and various others where we were presented with gifts. I have photos of all of this stuff and will put them up when we are back.
The students returned to their billets for the night. Today we picked them up with many tears and hugs and exchanged email addresses between Canadian and Serbian students. It was quite a scene!
Later we took a bus tour up a mountain for some sight seeing. Students are checking back in to the Hotel Balkan this now and most are heading off to a Rossini opera at the Belgrade Opera House this evening.
I am starving and need a coffee so will sign off for now.
More later....
Cheers!
John
Update: Opera sung in Italian, with projected cyrillic translation, is hard to follow!
posted by John van Gurp at 7:54 AM
3 Comments:
JOHN you deserve a journalists award for doing this journal which takes a lot of time and is so informative .I have shared with many people what has been happening and we are all touched deeply by the welcome you are receiving. please thank the Serbian people from all of us back home for whom this means so very much .
John,
John,
Sorry for the previous stutter...
I just wanted to add my vote of thanks to you for keeping us all so well informed. I am just thrilled to hear about the reception that all of you are receiving. I am sure that it feels humbling in many ways.
Please send the group much love and encouragement from Canada and find out what we can do to support and continue to have a meaningful exchange with the kids, families, and schools once you get back.
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