A video about democracy in Danish schools...

I found that video while I was making preparation for my presentation about 21.st Century Skills and Democratic Citizenship in Danish Schools. I found it useful to watch to have some insights into Democracy in Danish education system. I hope you like it, too :)

Back to school again... (Part 4,2 )

At the end of my previous entry I said I had a lot of problems in Paris. First of all, no one knows English in Paris which was very suprising for me. It is a city that is visited by many tourists and it is strange that people dont know English. Most of the time, that was problematic for us. For example, we asked a ticket for metro that is valid during the day and we thought that the instruction was pretty clear. We used the ticket three times and it opened the doors so we didnt realise that we have a problem until some guys stopped us in the enterance. They took our ticket that we had been using all day and put it in a machine, checked  and then they told us that we were doing sth illegal by using the ticket everywhere which can be used only once. They asked for our passports and wanted us to pay a punishment. I said, "Sorry but I dont think I willl pay because there is a communication problem here". There was only one guy who can speak English (luckily), he was not that good at English but at least we understood each other :) I rejected to pay and explained the situation because it was not our fault. Fortunately, I could convince the man and he let us go. 

If you dont want to experince that kind of problems with tourists in your country, the people to interract with foreigners should know the international language , English or you should find another way to make the things clear. For example, if our ticket is for only one usage, it shouldnt open the doors but it did. What is more , for example, the signs that show directions was so complicated we couldnt understand anything. Almost everthing was in French and also in restaurants or even cafes or pubs which are so close to the most important touristic attractions, no one knows English so we had to use our body language a lot :)

Another bad thing befell us in the hotel. One day we came to our hotel very late. When we arrive there were some drunk guys waiting at the reception. We arrived, took our key and took our way to our room. Then later we realised that these guys follow us.We went to our room as quick as possible and I locked the door immediately. I didnt want to scare Hatice but I knew that sth unpleasent was going to happen so I was ready. I told Hatice to be silent and I heard them coming. When they came to our floor, they begin to knock our door telling silly things in English with their bad German accent. Hatice was so afraid and we were alone on the last floor of the hotel and the guys outside were four persons knocking continuously to our door. If they broke the key of the  door we had nowhere to run, so I put a lot of chairs accordingly that even they open they cannot get in for a while. The only thing we could do is to call the reception but the guy didnt understand a word in English so we didnt and after some time drunk guys left but nevertheless I couldnt sleep and I was guarding with a wooden coat-hanger against any possible attack. It was a bad night.

The other day while we were in a metro, we witnessed someone stealing a girl's money from her pocket. He was a black, bald, huge guy with tattooes on his arms so we had to keep quiet because he looked dangerous. What is more we also experinced the same situation like the girl :( and we dont want to remember it.

Finally the last day, we picked our things and left the hotel .

While waiting for the train to go to airport people began to run towards us.  The crowd was like a herd which had seen a lion :) and we heard some announcements (of course in French) but didnt understand. After all the crowd passed on us we saw a soldier running with a gun toward us. We just stopped raised our hands and tried to seem nice :) We asked what happened but he just pushed us upstairs. When we went up we learned from another tourist  that the train which was about to come to the peron we had been waiting had a bomb. Then we immediately left the place. After that, all the trains to airport direction were canceled. Somehow we found the way to go to airport but we went to wrong side of  airport. To understand that we were on the wrong side took too much time because we couldnt understand each other with the workers at airport. Finally,when we found the airport we went to our company's gate and begin to wait but at the last moment we learned that it was not the right place because  it was not written right on the screen. By the way, the day before we left, by mistake all of our pictures in Paris were deleted, we were really really upset and didnt go anywhere on the last day.

After all this misfortune, when I got on the plane I was expecting to have plane crash, it sounded so ordinary at that time especially when we had turbulence on air and I was thinking how to survive if the plane somehow lands on an inhabited island and if I am still alive. However , it didnt happen but our plane landed very late. We could be able to go to central station but we couldnt catch the last train to Vordingborg. I was upset, depressed, tired, sleepless and hungry.

The only thing that made me feel a bit better was to see a lot of Danish people around with their usual innocent look. I realised that I missed Denmark and all Danish people even though we have nothing to do with each other. It was nice and relieving  to see their smiling innocent faces. I felt very welcome. However, we had to wait 5 hours in the freezing cold central station in that situation. It was like punishment and when we took the first train to Vordingborg I said "I am at home" and decided not to go anywhere for a long time ...

Back to school again... (Part 4,1)

 On the sixteenth of Janurary, Hatice and me flew to Paris and our adventure started. As the plane landed , I felt a bit strange seeing different kinds of people after spending five months in Denmark. Not knowing the reason , I felt anxious because of the way people look at us or each other. However , later I understood what  it is.

   Firstly, we took a bus from airport to metro station, and then train to the city centre . Looking at the map of the city, we found our hotel and left our luggage . I didnt like the hotel because it was not like on the website but it was cheap and we thought we can stand so we decided to stay. Later, we went out to eat something and  found the best place (?)(Mcdonalds) to eat if you are in a foreign country on your first day. When we came back to our hotel to have a rest I begin to feel sick and this night became a nightmare for me. I was lying in fever with a terrible sore throat. For two days I was ill very badly. During that time Hatice stood by me and took care of me which made me feel really bad because I thought that because of my ilness, my friend couldnt enjoy her holiday and also me . Then I got well but Hatice became ill. Then I took care of her.

   However, when we both got better, we began our trip by visiting the biggest museum of Europe, LOUVRE. I cannot express my feelings with words but I can say that it was amazing. I saw a lot of things, very famous paintings (like Mona Lisa) of famous artists, very well-known statues (like Venus) of important sculptors and all the important pieces from all civilizations. We spent our whole day there but we still couldnt see all of it as the guards expelled us from the museum even though we got in at the opening hour. I absolutely would like to go and visit the museum again.

   After that we went to our hotel and had rest. The other day we did some sightseeing.We saw Opera Building, and then we walked along the Seine River taking photographs and making plans in which order we will visit museums. We realised that one week is not enough to see everything so we have to use the time effectively as Paris is the city of art and we would like to see as much as we can. To our chance again, the weather was rainy and cloudy during six days out of seven. Anyway, later we walked through the most famous boulvard of Paris, Champs Elysees. It was so lively full of shops, visiters and expensive cars.The cars were gorgeous :) Just to be able see more cars as they were worth seeing, we sat somewhere by the road, had our dinner and prolonged the time that we stayed there as much as possible. It was very nice to relax after walking all day. After we leftthe place, we saw Arc de Triump at the end of the boulvard (maybe it was beginning). Then we went back to our hotel again.

   Following days, we visited a lot of museums like Musee de l'Armee , Musee d'Orsay, Pantheon, Musée d'Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, Palais de Tokyo, Grand Palais, Petit Palais, Musée du Luxembourg, Grevin Wax Museum and of course  Chocolate Museum.  All of them were very interesting to see but also tiring because I felt dizzy as I was exposed to overdosage of art :) . After visiting museums, finally the other day we could go to Eiffel Tower. It was just a tower but we spent whole day there taking a lot of pictures from all angles . It was very nice to spent time there. We took a lot of gorgeous pictures and also from the tower because we took elevator to go up. What is more, there was ice-skating rink on the first floor of the tower and I tried ice-skating for the first time in my life . It was so entertaining and funny because I could hardly stand on my feet but I loved it.

   Anyway, I have also seen Notre Dame Cathedral which is an important building that is mentioned in Victor Hugo's famous novel and Madeleine Church which is an important antique temple . Actually, I would like to mention a lot of things that I have seen in Paris but it seems impossible unfortunately. In general , I can say that Paris is the city of art , it is an amazing city to visit. In general, I loved Paris as there were a lot of places to go, to shop, to have fun, there were a lot of people out even at night,there were people selling things on the street, namely, besides having artistic features, it was lively. I felt like I was in İstanbul, Turkey there even though there wasnt sea or Bosphorus it was like İstanbul . Firstly, it was crowded, multicultural, there were many poor people and very very rich people, unfortunately , there were many dangerous people too, so I didnt feel as secure as in Denmark. Especially, at nights or in the metro stations , I was trying to be more careful. Even though I was careful I had many problems in Paris.

  

Back to school again... (Part 3)

 After Abdi went back to Slovakia , it became silent again. This silence period became longer than I thought. In this time , at first I used all of my rights to relax,do nothing and enjoy my holiday. After sometime, it became boring again to laze and do the same things everday.  Then I decided to entartain myself because I had a lot of time and I didnt have any duty. After this desicion I began to think what  I could do here . I questioned the differences between Turkey and Denmark that I makes me so bored here and I realised the answer. There were a lot of reasons but among them most important one was friendship relations or concept of that social relation. I realised that I dont have any real friend here that I can enjoy being together except from Hatice. It absolutely doesnt matter for me because I dont need but that had a considerable effect on me because in my country I have a lot of friends and I am loved and cared by them a lot. I always do something with my friends, always because they love me and want to spend time with me sometimes separately sometimes all together so I was always busy but here no one cares no one. I dont have any Danish friend that I can spend time together. Everbody is nice here, if I ask a question they reply, if I need help about something, they help. Whenever we see each other, we greet each other with a smile but that is it. That doesnt mean anything to me because this is just being polite and  not enough for a friendship. At the beginning me and my friends tried to be friends with Danish students here, just to get to know each other but after a while we all understood that we cannot be because whenever we step forward we saw that other people prefer to step back. Our sincerity and efforts to be close are misunderstood. Maybe that was something cultural but it was very disappointing for us because we couldnt understand why. Unlike everyone from any other country who thinks Danish people are generally reserved, I dont think this is just being reserved, this is something else. For example, for some time we speak with someone and think we are very close and it is going very well, but some other day that person doesnt even great us and behave as if we have never spend time together. This is strange and annoying because personally I expect stability in my relationships. No one has to like me but without any reason people change all the time. I feel like everyone wears masks, and you cannot know when will they take off. Firstly people look so interested in us like curious cats playing with an interesting toy trying to understand what it is, and they then lose all of their interest while they are acting as if they love it, and then they change suddenly. So, I saw that I cannot trust anyone here. I am very very sorry if I use any offensive words but I just share how I feel. I do never want to condemn all the people with what I have experienced or observed but the ones that I came across with here suprised me in a dissapponting way. That is why I feel like this. Then, I decided to get on well with everybody, be nice but stay back and accept that situation not to get hurt anymore.  After I realised that fact, I understood that I shouldnt have any expectation from anyone,and I should do something for myself personally.

That was the beginning for me to get to know myself better. I began to spend time in my room searching whatever I wonder on the net. I discovered and learned many things. I also took action. I normally go to swimming pool regularly. For example, I set goals for swimming, and also realised that I love diving. I attended "free diving" and scuba diving courses. My friend Hatice bought a professional diving mask for me as a present which made my day =) and I began to practise diving.

I am also a member of Vordingborg Karate Club . In Turkey, I practise Karate but my style (Shotokan) is different from the one (Gojo Ryu) here. Even though I attend the Karate classes here I didnt care that much before but in this period I realised that I can use these new techniques later on so began to give importance to my Karate training. I learned new board games. I found out new hobbies and interests and I searched everything on the net. I am lucky because as I said before in this century information doesnt belong to any specific people and I have a very effective tool to reach it. I used my this advantage during this time frame. So it was very fruitful period for me. I enjoyed learning new things and doing new things just for my own satisfaction.This timetable lasted till I decided to travel to France , Paris...

Back to school again... (Part 2)

   After Christmas holiday, our friend Abdi who was an exchance student in Slovakia came to Denmark to visit us. It was very nice for us to host our friend here. Unfortunately, it was snowing heavily , so we couldnt do that much sightseeing but we still enjoyed being together. We cooked meals for him, gathered for tea and chatted and talked about Slovakia and Denmark and our impressions or observations about these countries etc. We went to gym together, played volleybal  or worked out in the fitness centre. Following days, we went out, drank something and had fun. It was quite entertaining.

 

What is more , for the first time , I was abroad  in New Year's Eve. We went to Copenhagen on 31th of December to celebrate new year's day. Hatice , Müslüm , Uğur , Abdi  and  me had a dinner out, and later went to pubs. We stayed indoors till eleven o'clock as it was very cold outside. At eleven we left the the last pub to go to the city hall square. There wasnt any concert or any activiy going on but crowd. The New Year was coming closer . Finally it was ten seconds to twelve and we all together began to count backwards. The crowd was in a frenzy. When the clock stroke 00.00 it was a spectacular scene. Fireworks lighted the sky up for more than  an hour. Everybody was cheering, drinking and dancing. A group of people who wanted to enjoy the night came with huge speakers playing music, then they turned the atmosphere into something like a street party. The party was moving through the streets of Copenhagen and rooming around, and like all people we also followed the music and danced on the streets. It was very funny :) We were dancing nonstop like crazy .After all , we were so tired and we found a pub to stay until morning. In the pub, we met with new people and it was very nice to chat with these new people. I think I love Danish people when they are drunk :) because when they are drunk they forget about the distance that they always try to keep. However, in the morning , we were exhausted so we took the first train to Vordingborg and came home. At the end, even though I think that I could enjoy much more than this in Turkey I had a lot of  fun as we, as friends, were together so this different experience will be an unforgettable memory for me.

Back to school again... (Part 1)

   After a very very long holiday, the school started again three weeks ago. In this entry , I will try to share what happened from the beginning of holiday up to today in brief.

   When holiday started, I thought I would have a lot of time to relax but actually I later realised that I had much more free time than I imagined. That long free time turned out to be tiring and depressing later on but fortunately, this holiday was full of first-evers for me. 

For example, Christmas. For the first time, I experienced Christmas. I witnessed excitement of people, I saw decorated shops, streets and houses, I listened old Danish Christmas songs coming out of speakers that are placed on the streets. I saw men dressed like Santa Claus walking down the street while playing accordion. Everything was very lovely and to our chance, it snowed before Christmas. It was a completely white Christmas :)

But before all, our English teacher Anna Kristine arranged a Christmas dinner for us and our classmates volenteered to prepare traditional Danish christmas dinner. We gathered in schools kitchen and our friends begin to cook. We had duck, brown potatoes, brown sauce, plain potatoes, cookies and rice pudding at the dinner. They were delicious :) During dinner, we chatted about Christmas tradition  or New Year's Eve's celebrations in Turkey, and compared Turkey and Denmark. It was very enjoyable. Later, after dessert, we played a present game.The game was so exciting and funny but some of us didnt know that we were supposed to bring presents  so some presents were missing which made the game even better because we could leave the table without any present, just like me . At the end of the game I lost all my presents but Hatice got two presents and she gave one of them to me . To my suprise, the present was a pair of grey gloves which is same with the one I lost one week ago, so I was very happy. We had a lot of fun and  I am very grateful to Anna Kristine and my classmates who let us enjoy our time very much.

A Video about 21st Century Education

I found this video while searching my subject and liked it very much. As it is relevant to my topic, I would like to share it on my blog.