Everyone Can Make a Difference

Another international project implemented by Šiauliai Didždvaris Gymnasium is over now and I think it's time to share some impressions.
"Everyone Can Make a Difference" was run by Didždvaris Gymnasium in cooperation with International School Ekola Wroclaw. The aim of the project was promotion of  international volunteering, to show to  young people how volunteering might influence their surrounding in a good way. In short, to see that Everyone Can Make a Difference! As an youth exchange project it had two parts. First part took place in Wroclaw, Poland in November 2011 and second one in Šiauliai, April 2012.

About the first part of the project we already wrote on our blog. http://radijoklubas.blogspot.com/2011/12/volunteers-week-in-wroclaw-2011.html

So now let me tell how was the second part :) This time 11 students from Poland came to Šiauliai to explore the importance of international volunteering with students from Didždvario gymnasia for one week. During this week we've visited several social institutions such as Elderly house, Daycare centers for infants and 7-16 years old children. Before going to this institutions we've prepared some activities together. For elderly house we prepared short concert and the Bingo game. For daycare centers we prepared some games which we thought might be interesting for children.

I think that the experience gained by participants during this volunteering activities is unique and meaningful. First of all they were working in international group. Second, they went to institutions to which they usually don't go and  the feedback of the residents of this social institutions, especially children's, clearly showed the importance of volunteering. And finally, they had fun, they enjoyed working together and they made a difference.

In the end of the week we went to Vilnius and visited some official institutions there like Vilnius Municipality and The Ministry of Education and Science of Lithuania. In municipality we listened to presentations about volunteering made by different youth organisations. The visit in the Ministry was rather short :)

During this project we had some informal activities such as cooking, dancing and watching a movie but of course everything was related to the topic of our project. Our Polish participants have prepared the dish from Polish cuisine - bigos. It was delicious! Lithuanian participants prepared the cold soup (I totally love it) and ... [omg I don't remember the name of the dish.. Lithuanian participants, please help!] 
I guess our participants enjoyed the line-dancing evening. And we also watched the movie - All the invisible children. I think it's a must seen movie!

During the project participants created the video clip and radio show about volunteering. We will put the radio on air next week. And hopefully we'll be able to put the video clip online as soon as possible.

In the end I should admit that the atmosphere in group was simply great! Participants really liked each other, they were eager to work together that's why it was easier to work with this group. Of course during this week there were a lot of Dos and Don'ts and it was quite exhausting week for Rabea and me as we lead most of the activities and we were also involved in some organisational parts but at least the weather was nice :)))

The project was definitely successful and it wouldn't have been possible without effort that was made by organizes, participants and coordinators.

I hope that the partnership which exists between Siauliai Didždzvaris Gymnasium and Ekola school Wroclaw will continue in the future and next generations of students will benefit from it as well.

Manana

P.S.

Here are some photos from the project by Morta Nauiokaite:
:

Portuguese culture events in Siauliai (2012-04-04)

Today in Siauliai we will have two events about Portuguese culture. On 2012-04-04 at 15:oo the cultural attache of the Portuguese embassy in Lithuania and his student will present their poetry books. This event will take place in  P. Visinskis library in Siauliai.  

 

Later on at 18:00 in Centro Sokoladine cafe (which is located on Vilniaus gatve 134) will be an exhibition of the photos which Vita Grigutyte  has taken in Portugal.
As far as I know there will be also presentation about Portuguese wines :) 

I'm planning to join these events today and I also recommend you to join me :)

Manana 

Movie flop to cost Walt Disney $200m

Walt Disney has said it expects to lose $200m (£126m) on its movie John Carter, This makes the movie one of the biggest flops in cinema history. 

 

The film deals with a military captain who is transported to Mars. The he discovers a wildly diverse planet whose main inhabitants are 12-foot tall green barbarians. Finding himself a prisoner of these creatures, he escapes, only to encounter Dejah Thoris, Princess of Helium, who is in desperate need of a savior.

The film is based on a series of books written by the author of Tarzan, Edgar Rice Burroughs. The studio is now working on the second part of the trilogy, hoping that the next part will be more successful.

It is estimated that John Carter cost $250m to make and it is likely that Disney spent another $100m on marketing.

Mark Kermode, specialist who reviewed the film for bbc news said: "The story telling is incomprehensible, the characterisation is ludicrous, the story is two and a quarter hours long and it's a boring, boring, boring two and a quarter hours long."

The film's director, Pixar's Andrew Stanton, had previously had great success with films such as Finding Nemo and Wall-E.

Personally I haven't seen this latest Disney production, but as the reviews are quite bad, I am not sure, if it is worth watching it now. As I myself somehow grew up with all those well known Disney classics such as Finding Nemo, The Lion King, Beauty and the beast, Toy Story, Mulan, Mary Poppins and, of course, Pirates of the Caribbean, it is sad to hear, that the newest movie doesn't seem to match the high standard Disney movies usually held. 

Hopefully the next movie produced by Disney will be as great as some previous ones were!

r.s.

picture source: 

http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/movies-toto/2012/mar/9/john-carter-review/ 

Who is the UK's best animated character of all time?

Paddington Bear has been elected to be the best animated character of all time in UK movie history.

Paddinton Bear

The cute bear was created by former BBC cameraman Michael Bond firstly for children books, and has now been announced to be the best animated character at the ninth British Animation Awards ceremony which took place in London.

The very first tale with Paddington was released in 1958 and until now the children books have been translated into 40 different languages and over 35 million copies have been sold all over the world. Only in 1978 it was, when the animated series of Paddintons adventures were first shown on TV.

And now in 2012 the cuddly bear  beat a shortlist of other distinguished characters including Super Ted, Aleksandr Meerkat and Wallace and Gromit to the title.

Wallace and Gromit

The Tale of the Three Brothers, part of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, was awarded the best animated sequence in a film. 

The tale of the three brothers, part of a Harry Potter movie

Personally I am happy that the children story "The Gruffalo" has also won, as it is one of the favorite tales of my little sister. :)

The Gruffalo

 r.s.

picture sources:

http://www.kollewin.com/blog/read.php?3249&guid=0 

http://rebelescapades.blogspot.com/2011/04/adventure-5-there-like-paddington-bear.html 

http://sikufital.blogspot.com/2010/12/tale-of-three-brothers.html 

http://theoscarnominatedshortfilms.blogspot.com/2011/02/2011-nominated-short-gruffalo.html 

source of information:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17382333 

Music overcomes borders

A Orchestra from North Korea has performed together with the Radio France Philharmonic in a concert in Paris. The concert itself was not more remarkable than any other concert played by any other high class orchestras, but the fact that a major part of the playing musician was from North Korea, one of the remaining dictatorships on this planet, is remarkable.
It is the first concert a North Korean Orchestra has ever played in Europe until now.

The concert is a remarkable cooperation between France, North and South Korean musicians

The cooperation of the French and North Korean orchestras was led by the South Korean conductor Chung Myung-Whun. 
He told the audience at the Salle Pleyel music hall that the concert featuring the Unhasu orchestra from North Korea and the Radio France Philharmonic from France showed that "music is bigger than borders".
In the first half of the concert, the 75 Unhasu musicians performed North Korean pieces, while in the following parts the joint ensemble performed works including Brahms's Symphony No 1 and Bizet's Carmen.

Chung, who is leading the Radio France Philharmonic since 2000, claimed that he is very proud and happy that he was able to realize this cooperation between the France and North Korea with him, citizen of South Korea as a conductor.

Speaking last week, Chung said he had been trying to organise such a concert - which comes as tensions remain high between the two Koreas - for 30 years.

"For practically all Koreans, outside the world of politics, there are not two Koreas - there's only one country, a family divided," he said.

r.s.

picture source:

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2012/03/orchestras-from-north-korea-france-perform-concert-in-paris.html

for more information:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-17379127 

e.

What is happening on the Costa Concordia now?

As I have written quite a lot about the sinking of the cruise ship Costa Concordia a few weeks ago, I was surprised when I came across strange news related to the Concordia again today which have nothing to do with the actual event of the sinking. Apparently, the ship bell, which became a symbol for the sunken cruise ship, has gone missing. Until a few days ago the bell with the engraved name "Costa Concordia", which weights around 30 kg, was still in the sunken vessel, around 8m deep in the water, has gone missing. 

It is likely that the bell of the Costa Concordia has been stolen

The Italian police has opened a case concerning the stolen or missing bell, and for now they announced that they see the possibility that one of the divers or a member of the technical staff working on the vessel has stolen the bell. 

The salvage of the cruise ship is still going on

 

If we don't take the mysterious disappearance of the ship bell into account, the salvage of the cruise ship has gone well so far. Specialist are still pumping out the fuel which the ship had on board and due to the good weather conditions there haven't been any major problems. 


More important than the missing of the ship bell is without doubt to find out what exactly led to the crash of the ship and who is responsible for it. The Italian police is still investigating and questioning the witnesses and consulting with experts. Apart from Captain Schettino, eight other ship's officers and Costa executives are currently officially under investigation.  



According to the latest information, there have been 4.229 people on the Costa Concordia at the night of the incident and 25 of them have lost their lifes. Sadly enough 7 of the passengers still could not be found and brought back to their families, which brings the total amount of victims to 32.




r.s.




picture source: 
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2089052/Domnica-Cemortan-Was-Costa-Concordia-captain-Francesco-Schettino-trying-impress-ballerina.html 
http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16155170 



more information:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/03/costa-concordia-captain-coastguards 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-17317279

How to Become an International Correspondent for Student Publications

I have been looking for some news for our blog and I  found a very interesting web-site which gives high school students an opportunity to become international correspondents for student publications. So if you are high school student and you are interested in journalism this web-site is definitely for you.

worldyouthnews.org is a global online news project for high school students from all over the world. It is a project of iEARN (International Education and Resource Network) which is the world's largest non-profit network that supports collaboration between teachers and youth and enables them to use internet and other technologies in learning process.

The aim of this project is to help interested students to improve their skills in media field, to broaden their cross-cultural understanding providing and provide an important global youth perspective.

If you are high school student (14-19 years old) you can join this project as a reporter but first you need to complete (successfully) the World Youth News Reporter Certification Course. It's free of charge :)
[If you are interested in taking this course and getting involved in this project you can contact Anindita Dutta Roy at anindita@us.iearn.org and ask for more details.]

After completing the course your first story will be published on this website and you will receive a certificate from organizers.

I would definitely recommend to join this project.
For more information visit this website: http://worldyouthnews.org/ World Youth News

Manana

Italian women - one year after their protests

protests in Italy one year ago

One year ago, more than one million Italian women took part in a demonstration against the sexist portrayal of women during the governing period of Silvio Berlusconi. The former Italian prime minister was involved in some sex scandals and questionable activities with underaged women. Many Italian women think that this portrayal of women at official event, on television and in newspapers created the impression, that especially young women are not more than some kind of dolls hanging on arms of older men. 

Silvio Berlusconi portrayed with two younger women

Now Berlusconi is not governing the country anymore, but he clearly made his point when it comes to women rights and the role of women in society. 
The new technocratic government fortunately presents a different view on those issues, as they claim that one of their main obstacles is to pull Italy into the 21st century when it comes to gender equality. 

The top-ranking woman in Mario Monti's new technocrat government is Elsa Fornero, a former economics professor.

Ms Fornero is not just in charge of the equality agenda, she is also minister of labour and welfare. And Ms Fornero is not the only women who helds a powerful position in this governemt now. Mr Monti has also appointed women to the justice and interior ministries.

But having some women in powerful positions is not enough to change how a big part of the Italian society still sees the 'right place' for the Italian women. As long as the main mass media institution continue to portray women as objects with more or less no ambitions in political, social, or science fields, it will be difficult for the country to overcome their old fashioned picture of women. 

I wish the Italian women, and other females all over the world success with fighting agains politicians like Berlusconi, who damaged the image if half of the population when saying  : 'Ladies, I have a mission for you on election day: cook!'

So, my opinion is, Ladies, our mission is to take part in elections, to vote for parties which will work towards gender equality, and to become active ourselfs and stand up for our rights.

Rabea

more information:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17289707 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7338415.stm 

picture source:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/5552751/Silvio-Berlusconis-girls-gaffes-and-graft-appeal-to-Italian-voters.html  

http://www.reuters.com 

UK's most multi-lingual student

The Oxford University undergraduate student Alex Rawlings is just 20 years old. He is the winner of a national competition - UK's the most multi-lingual student. And how do you think how many languages does he speak? ELEVEN :O He speaks English, Greek, German, Spanish, Russian, Dutch, Afrikaans, French, Hebrew, Catalan and Italian. Here you can find a video where he tells how he has learnt these languages. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17107435 

After watching this I became more motivated to learn a new language. Hope it'll motivate you as well :)

Mid-term Meeting (Late news:)))

Not that it took me 10 days to review our mid-term meeting. Just as usually I share information not on  time... But still...
10 days ago we came back from one of the most important (official) events in EVS life  - Mid-Term Meeting with other volunteers. Mid-term meeting is a part of the 'training cycle' in EVS program and it takes place in the middle of the service. On this meeting you can share with other volunteers how your EVS is going on and maybe even find some interesting solutions to temporary problems in your project.Well, as we already are in the middle of our volunteering service in Šiauliai the time for mid-term meeting has come.

Rabea and I were not really motivated to go on our Mid-term meeting because it was very cold and we simply were too lazy to travel from Šiauliai to DaugirdiŠkės which is located near Vilnius.. So it's quite far away from our beloved Šiauliai and there is no direct bus or train connection. Also we have no problems with our project or with each other..so far.. In short, we couldn't see a worthy cause to motivate ourselves for mid-term meeting.

Now we are back and I might say that we really enjoyed our Mid-term meeting and 5 days which we've spend in Daugirdiškės.

 We liked our group which consisted of 17 or 18 volunteers from all over the Europe and not only. We liked our trainers which have facilitated creation of a friendly and nice atmosphere during the meeting and not to forget - accommodation and food were also very good. The program of the meeting was also quite nice. It was flexible and also not overloaded. We've got some useful information about Youth pass. Most of the methods which were used to present our projects or problems during EVS were creative. We made some performances and some of them we'll remember for ever :D [Miki's performance for example.. Only participants will understand:P:P] Later on we cooked together for international dinner, it was really great! I helped a volunteer from Palestina Amjad to make Palestinian traditional meal "upside down", other volunteers cooked something traditional from their countries. Our dinner this evening was really international as we had food from Austrian, German, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Czech and Palestinian cuisine. We enjoyed coocking and earting it a lot! :))) (I'll post some photos in the end of the article). Just one thing during this week Rabea and me didn't like was 1 hour walk in Trakai. Well, Trakai is beautiful place indeed and we really like it... but it was so cold, we thought we'll die there..:/ Other then that everything was ok :) We discussed different topics but in the end somehow concentrated on the topic "Life after EVS" as it seems to be the most important and actual affair for volunteers at this moment. I hope for some participants these discussions were useful and they found out some solutions for their problems or some ways how to lead their life after EVS. Well, for me the topic was not very important because I already know (more or less) how my life is going to be (or how I would like it to be) in 5 years. I plan to continue my studies (Public Policy and Administration) and find a job meanwhile in non-governmental organization which works on policy analysis. [Actually, there is another version of this story and by the way Rabea supports this version (about how do I see my life in 5 years). So I plan to become a housewife and I want to have lots of children.] We'll see which plan will work out:)))))


And I guess it will be a crime not to say few words about the place where our meeting was held. It took place in Daugirdiškės (I hope I wrote a correct name). It was really very nice village located in between Vilnius and Kaunas, and Mokimų centras Daugirdiškės is one of the nicest places for trainings or this kind of events. This center has three houses for different purposes. One is a quite big hall for trainings, another house is for accommodation purpose and third is sauna. So while one can have party after trainings, others who feel tired can sleep and they don't disturb each other. And of course for those who like sauna it's cool to have it there.


I'm happy that in the end our meeting turned out to be interesting and enjoyable. We met a lot of new volunteers and I think we've gained nice experience there. I wish to every participant good luck in their lives!

Manana




P.S. Some photos from our international dinner :)

Quiche (French)

Upside down (Palestinian)

Potato Soup (German)

Milk Rice (Portuguese)

Nussschnecken (German)

 That's all photos I have at the moment :)

New American Corner in Šiauliai County Public Library

Today we 4 volunteers attended a ceremony in the Šiauliai County Public Library. The event took 

place because of the 20th anniversary of the Lithuanian-American diplomatic relations and due to that the library opened a temporary exhibition in the presence of the United States Ambassador, Anne E. Derse and Siauliai mare Justin Sartauskas. Moreover the library proudly showed there new "American Corner" a special section in the building which is devoted to American literature and media, which has its own study area and reading hall.

Exhibition 

US Ambassador Anne E. Derse

Manana and I are already used to be invited to such events, as we are one of the only non-Lithuanians staying in Siauliai for a longer period. The representatives of the American corner also asked us, to bring some students, so we arranged to meet a teacher with some students at 11.15 this day to go to the library together. 

So we all went to meet with this group at this time and left the gymnasium under the impression, that we now will all go to the library. Unfortunately this group was not going to the event at the library, but to visit another exhibition. We found out that we somehow followed the wrong crowd, when at one point they didn't walk to the right direction to get to the library anymore. So we left them walking somewhere else, and continued our way on our own. Luckily enough the correct group of students joined us in the library some minute later, a bit confused, that we were not there to meet them. 

During the event the US-Ambassador and the mayor of Siauliai opened the Exhibition and the American corner and Manana and I agree, that it is a really cool place to spend some time. Of course for us it is also very nice to have this kind of section in the library as our Lithuanian language skills are far not good enough to read novels, classics or even scientific text in this tongue. That's why we are happy to have this selection of English media in the library. 

Last but not least, the staff at the library is very friendly, helpful and always open for a nice chat, especially  Roma Baristaitė , the chief librarian in the American Corner. So, it is worth going there for sure!

r.s.

for more information visit the website of the library:http://www.savb.lt/titulinis?Itemid=50

Grammy Awards 2012

The Grammy Awards have been handed out at a ceremony at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. 

During the ceremony many artists also payed tribute to Whitney Housten, the world famous singer who was found dead in a hotel last Saturday. The reaction to Houston's death dominated the ceremony, which is the most high-profile event in the US music calendar.

Houston won 6 Grammys during her career

Bruno Mars told the crowd: "Tonight we're celebrating. Tonight we're celebrating the beautiful Miss Whitney Houston."

Stevie Wonder said: "To Whitney up in heaven, we all love you."

Melanie Fiona, who won best traditional R&B vocal performance and best R&B song, said: "Whitney Houston, I would not be standing up here if it were not for you, thank you so much."

Besides this tragic happening the focus was of course on the lucky artists who can add a new Grammy to their selection or start one. The most successful artist this year was without doubt Adele, who was awarded with more Grammys this year than any other artist.

Adele

Here are some of the main winners:

source:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17007636

Record of the Year

Winner: Adele - Rolling in the Deep

Also nominated:

• Bon Iver - Holocene
• Bruno Mars - Grenade
• Mumford & Sons - The Cave
• Katy Perry - Firework

Album of the year

Winner: Adele - 21

Also nominated:

• Foo Fighters - Wasting Light
• Lady Gaga - Born This Way
• Bruno Mars - Doo-Wops & Hooligans
• Rihanna - Loud

Song of the year

Winner: Adele - Rolling in the Deep

Also nominated:

• Kanye West - All of the Lights
• Mumford & Sons - The Cave
• Bon Iver - Holocene
• Bruno Mars - Grenade

Best new artist

Winners: Bon Iver

Also nominated:

• The Band Perry
• J Cole
• Nicki Minaj
• Skrillex

Best pop solo performance

Winner: Adele - Someone Like You

Also nominated:

• Lady Gaga - You And I
• Bruno Mars - Grenade
• Katy Perry - Firework
• Pink - F***ing Perfect

Best pop duo/group performance

Winners: Tony Bennett & Amy Winehouse - Body and Soul

Also nominated:

• The Black Keys - Dearest
• Coldplay - Paradise
• Foster the People - Pumped Up Kicks
• Maroon 5 & Christina Aguilera - Moves Like Jagger

Best pop vocal album

Winner: Adele - 21

Also nominated:

• Cee Lo Green - The Lady Killer
• Lady Gaga - Born This Way
• Bruno Mars - Doo-Wops & Hooligans
• Rihanna - Loud

Best dance recording

Winner: Skrillex - Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites

Also nominated:

• Deadmau5 & Greta Svabo Bech - Raise Your Weapon
• Duck Sauce - Barbra Streisand
• David Guetta & Avicii - Sunshine
• Robyn - Call Your Girlfriend
• Swedish House Mafia - Save the World

Best dance/electronica album

Winner: Skrillex - Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites

Also nominated:

• Cut/Copy - Zonoscope
• Deadmau5 - 4x4=12
• David Guetta - Nothing But The Beat
• Robyn - Body Talk, Pt 3

Best traditional pop vocal album

Winners: Tony Bennett & Various Artists - Duets II

Also nominated:

• Susan Boyle - The Gift
• Harry Conncick Jr - In Concert On Broadway
• Seth MacFarlane - Music Is Better Than Words
• Barbra Streisand - What Matters Most - Barbra Streisand Sings The Lyrics Of Alan And Marilyn Bergman

Best rock song

Winners: Foo Fighters - Walk

Also nominated:

• Mumford & Sons - The Cave
• The Decemberists - Down By The Water
• Coldplay - Every Teardrop Is A Waterfall
• Radiohead - Lotus Flower

Best rock album

Winners: Foo Fighters - Wasting Light

Also nominated:

• Jeff Beck - Rock 'n' Roll Party Honoring Les Paul
• Kings of Leon - Come Around Sundown
• Red Hot Chili Peppers - I'm With You
• Wilco - The Whole Love

Best alternative album

Winners: Bon Iver - Bon Iver

Also nominated:

• Death Cab For Cutie - Codes and Keys
• Foster The People - Torches
• My Morning Jacket - Circuital
• Radiohead - The King Of Limbs

Best R&B performance

Winner: Corinne Bailey Rae - Is This Love

Also nominated:

• Marsha Ambrosius - Far Away
• Ledisi - Pieces Of Me
• Kelly Price & Stokley - Not My Daddy
• Charlie Wilson - You Are

Best R&B album

Winner: Chris Brown - F.A.M.E.

Also nominated:

• El DeBarge - Second Chance
• R Kelly - Love Letter
• Ledisi - Pieces Of Me
• Kelly Price - Kelly

Best rap song

Winners: Kanye West, Rihanna, Kid Cudi & Fergie - All Of The Lights

Also nominated:

• Wiz Khalifa - Black And Yellow
• Dr Dre, Eminem & Skylar Grey - I Need A Doctor
• Chris Brown, Lil Wayne & Busta Rhymes - Look At Me Now
• Jay-Z & Kanye West - Otis
• Lupe Fiasco - The Show Goes On

Best rap album

Winner: Kanye West - My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Also nominated:

• Jay-Z & Kanye West - Watch The Throne
• Lil Wayne - Tha Carter IV
• Lupe Fiasco - Lasers
• Nicki Minaj - Pink Friday

r.s.