JEF Belgium

Alright! After breakfast we started of with a nice energizer! I don’t remember all the specifics, but it was about all the different kins of beans we have in Europe: Broad beans, princess beans, mexican beans… It is kind of difficult to explain how beans can energize a person in the morning, but believe me: They certainly can, thanks to Tomas!

We then went to the seminar room, where we each got a lemon. We all got really close with our lemon, some even gave names to theirs, and then all of a sudden, we were seperated from our beloved lemons! All of the poor guys (and probably also girls) where just lying there, in a huge pile of lemons. We then had to find our own lemon back. And believe it or not, but we all found our lemons! Weird thing is, that when you see a group of lemons, they all look alike. But get to know them a bit better, see their in-group diversity, and you’ll notice that each lemon is different and has its own character! Anyway, I’m just glad that I got reunited with my dear lemon Suzy.

We continued after the much-welcomed coffee break with some explanations on migration and migration flows. (Apparently, more people migrate TO Afghanistan than from it – weird!)  The general tendency however was migration from eastern europe to western europe.

After lunch, we returned to Gracia, where we visited the CNJC (Catalan National Youth Council). We were explained some more about diversity and multiculturalism in this youth organisation and then continued on to visit park Guel, a beautifull fairy-tale like parc designed by Goudi, who also designed the famous Sagrada Famillia (we haven’t visited this majestic cathedral yet). Unfortunately, it was already getting dark so we could’t really see the parc in all of its glory, but it was still extremely cool.

And then, finally, the first party! International evening: everyone had to bring someting to eat or drink from his or her own country, and share it with the rest. Needless to say, it was all jolly good fun. We played some games, had fun with each other, and got to know each other better. It is only a shame that we had to keep the volume down, beacause as I said earlier, we are staying in a monestary, where people try to enjoy some peace and quiet…

Anyway, getting up in the morning will be a pain…

Thanks for caring!

Peter

INTRODUCTION DAY

Alright! After a good night’s rest we were ready to start the seminar! Liga got us awake with a nice “engergizer”: Enthousiasticly shouting “GOOD MORNING” in our own language to each other got us redady for the introduction day.

We learned a bit about formal and informal learning before starting with a power brainstorming session. The power brainstorming is an excellent method to collect numerous ideas on several statements, like what identity is, what the essential elements of culture are… We also discussed some concepts of multiculturalism, which we could relate to the powerbrainstorming of earlier.

The “seminar” part was closed by a documentary, titled “like a man on earth”. The documentary adresses the issue of African migration to Italy. The problem isn’t really the migrition itself, but the way immigrants are treated. They have to pay an awful lot of money to intermediaries to smuggle them trough Lybia towards Italy. Once they reach Lybia, there is an enourmous chances to get arrested and locked up in this prison where they are humuliated, without food, with 20 people in a single cell,…  The most crazy part is that the Italian government supports this regime by donating cars, money… border patrols…

The documentary really got trough to us, we were supposed to have a debate after the film, but everyone was really quiet from the shock of watching the film… It is not a pleasant thing to watch, but you really should see it anyway… It will open your eyes to the unpleasant uncomfortable truth…

Still impressed by the documentary, we went to a bar in Gracia ( a nice part of Barcelona) to watch a football match. Now, I’m really not a football-kind of guy, but the atmosphere was amazing: It was like all of Barca was either at the stadium, at home watching the game, or in one of the bars to watch the game on the big screen. I really into the match, and was even excited (imagine that) when Barca scored (they won with 2-0). After that, we went to another bar to get a drink, and got back to the venue because the metro stations close at midnight. On our way back, we talked some more, and decided to stay up late: we had to be quiet so we didn’t disturb the other guests, so we just sat in the hallway, talking to each other and getting to know each other better. It was really great,!

As I’m writing this, it strikes me that it was only the first day, and yet I’m really getting along well with these people… I love it!

Unfortunately, only 6 more days of intercultural fun are left …  I hope the other days will be as nice as this one!

Thanks for caring,

Peter