Links

Ojos de Brujo website (hip hop fussion), my favourite group of music:
http://www.ojosdebrujo.com/

Marian's blog (my partner of Erasmus stay):
http://www.ladymarianaxl.blogspot.com

Lore's blog (one of my classmates from Belgium):
http://www.lorelenaerts.blogspot.com/

Hanna's blog (another classmate from Belgium):
http://www.hannadurlet.blogspot.com/

My e-mail address:
maritai05@hotmail.com

My space:
http://www.myspace.com/maritai05

Work-project in Sint Joris school

The last practices were carried out in Sint Joris school (Alken). The children, between 10 and 12 years old, had the opportunity to see a show about the different countries (Austria, Czech Republic, Greece, Turkey and Spain) in which every group presented some cultural aspects of their country as an introduction. After that, the children were divided in small groups (5-7 people), every group representing one country.
At the following day the groups attended to a lecture about the country they had to work about. In this lecture, the teacher explained important cultural issues such as: location, geography, history, demography, politics, music, gastronomy, sport, society, etc. As a base for the presentations that they were supposed to do.
The teacher helped the children to find answers to the question they had formulated and to elaborate the presentation.
Finally, the last days every group showed their final work to the others with the goal of learning as much as possible about european cultures.

KÖLN

The company and me
Rhin river
Part of the cathedral

The first days of May I have been in Köln (Germany) with my friends (Aristi, Eva, Marian, Serife and Sofía). We had to leave early from Hasselt, above 8 a.m., because the trip lasts almost 3 hours. The day was sunny what was ideal to visit the city. Firstly, we tried to find the youth hostel, once we found it, we ate some of the typical german food: potatoes and sausages. When we had enough energy to explore the city, everybody decided to rise in the telepheric and see the Rhin river from the sky, and later do a city tour by bus because we had only 2 days to discover the touristic attractions of Köln. After that, we stop in the center to walk through the streets next to the cathedral, which is one of the largest in the world. To be honest, the cathedral is really impressive, i've never seen something similar in my life! Later we went to have a coffee and relax, and suddenly it started to rain! We waited and when it stops raining, we came back to the hostel to have dinner and continue the nice stay.
At the following day, we had to wake up early again, but it wasn't important for us because we only wanted to explore the city, and still more important, to have fun together. We visited some gardens, continued with the city tour, bought some souvenirs for friends and relatives, etc. And at the afternoon, we took the train to come back to Hasselt. In sum, it has been a very fun trip because of "the company" (jajaja!)

Japanese Garden

On 20th of April, in a sunny Sunday afternoon, we went by bike to the Japanese Garden of Hasselt. Some of my friends here, the greek girls ,Aristi, Eva and Sofía, Serife from Turkey, and my partner Marian had a great time walking through the garden and taking funny pictures, also on the top of a small waterfall! Moreover, we had a relax time under the shadow of a typical japanese house. Later we decided to have a coffee, of course in the Frappé (jajaja!).

Brugge

Hey!!This is the best city in Belgium, without any doubt... During the visit to Brugge I felt like in a fairy tale, a fantastic world. Spring offers marvellous sightseeings of this town, which has conserved the spirit of the Middle-Age in the buildings, of course in the bridges, and the importance of art is noticeable in every corners. Spaniards call this city "Brujas", in english "witches", because the similiarity in the names and, maybe, because the relationship between witches and the Middle-Age, although the real meaning of Brugge is "city of bridges".
One more time I invite everybody to visit it; for me it's sure that i'll came back.

Story-telling festival

Another project has been the story-telling festival in Sint Mauritius school. Every international group has prepared a different story (kamishibai, original of their country, dramatization...)for children between eleven and twelve years old. My group chose the story of "the little lame camel", which deals with handicap people, pacific and warlike toys, and poor children.
I think our performance was good and children enjoyed seeing us, also they had the opportunity of listen to a fragment of a spanish poem called "Auto de los Reyes Magos" (poem for the three wise men), which is related to the story that I mentioned and is also written by the famous poet Gloria Fuertes.

St. Gerardus

The people of EOS program were working in St. Gerardus School the first week after Easter holiday. This school is devoted to people with physical handicap and is one of the most famous schools in Limburg for this work. To be honest, the children build a very nice atmosphere that makes you enjoy; and one of the most important thing is that we haven't stopped discovering things about special needs since the part of observation until the outcarrying of the project. I'm glad to have met these interesting pupils for their attention, motivation and kindness, and many thanks to the team of this school (the headmaster, teachers, services...)for giving us the opportunity of being part of their work.