Daily report "Day 5"

So here is the day everyone expected: The day of the trip to Ohrid and of course the Greek – Turkish international night.  The day started early comparing to other days (09:00) but everyone was on time. Every previously assembled team was assigned some non obligatory tasks about visiting important places in Ohrid.

After some discussions 3 groups assembled: the first and the biggest team went sightseeing around town, The Town Castle of Samuel , the Bulgarian Emperor was the main attraction, settled on the hill offered panoramic views of the town and the lake. The Ancient amphitheatric Theatre was the next stop . Everyone tried the seats and had an imaginary travel to the ancient plays. Finally everyone was impressed by the beauty of Saint Sofia , an Byzantine from the 11 century. A second group preferred to take full advantage of the sun and lake combination and went straight to the beach for suntan and beach games. A third smaller team embarked on the boat took the boat and visited Saint Naum Monastery (one of the biggest attractions around).

At 19.00 we went back to the hotel for dinner and afterwards the Turkish Greek cultural night. The cultural night started at 22.00.First the videos of the two countries were presented. After traditional dances from both countries and of course traditional cuisine. Greek traditional cuisine included pastitsio, Kretan dakos, traditional sweets called pastelia, greek salad, melomakarona, kretan diples and some other delights, also some drinks like raki wih honey, oyzo and tsipouro. Turkish traditional cuisine included baklava, cigkofte, and different kinds of sweet appetizers and for drinking raki and beers and traditional wine. Moreover the Turkish team talked about a weeding tradition they have(when someone is getting married they put henna in their hands) The night continued with a game from the Greek team. The game was called ‘’explosion of the past ‘’ included information from Greek mythology, ancient Greek myths and ancient Greek theatre plays.12 people were chosen and transformed into the Greek ancient gods of Olymbos. Then questions were asked and the gods who knew the answer had to stand up from the chairs. The one who stand up first had to shout the answer, if the answer was incorrect he/she had to leave the game, if the answer was correct he/she had to choose someone else from the other gods to leave. The one who stayed last was the winner. After the game one more party began. One more night in beautiful Struga finished and the sun rised for one more time.

Postcards

Daily report "Day 1"

Macedonian group, day 1

It was a hot summer afternoon on the 14^th of July when a big group of people (around 40) arrived in Struga, with smiles on their faces and eager to get to know each other. Those people were the participants of the “Sending Hope” project, held near the Ohrid Lake in Struga from 14^th-22^nd of July. Although tired, because some of them traveled more than 30 hours, the young participants couldn’t hide their first impressions of the surroundings where this exchange will take place.  With around 30 degrees during the day, and around 20 during the night, the climate was just perfect for the Youth in Action Program to take it’s practical form.

         After the accommodation and the first meal in the hotel, the participants began with the informal communication and getting to know each other. The overall atmosphere was highly positive and you could easily hear loud laughter from every direction, and more often lines like “I’m getting another drink”. So it was in that kind of relaxed atmosphere when the Macedonian team, which had the task to write short report of the day, started to make few short interviews with some of the foreign participants. We picked three people ( Paul from Lithuania, Asya from Turkey and Semih from Turkey) and ask them some basic questions. Their answers were very similar, expressing their satisfaction with the surrounding scenery and mostly the presence of the beautiful lake so near the hotel. Their expectations were mainly to have fun, meet new interesting people, have a lot of laughs and memorable moments, and from how it all began, we can say for sure that all of their expectations will be met and even raised to higher levels. Our interviewees were also eager to have the Welcome evening, which was about to begin at 9:00 pm, starting formally the exchange, as it was the first task on the time table. So, with a little delay and a little “sorry that I’m late” from our host Bosko Nelkoski, the exchange officially began at 9:15 pm with small introductions game. Then we took a detailed look at the time table, for which there were no suggestions, and then Bosko announced that the “mini bar” was opened and everyone was welcome to have some drink and share a few laughs. Also, our host reminded the participants that they must be on time at 10am on the second day, to continue with the tasks of the time table.

                The evening went silent few hours afterwards, when almost everybody got to know each other, and most of the youngsters were too tired to go on. And that’s how the first day of the “Sending Hope” project went J