Teacher training in Emelwerda College, Emmerloord, Netherlands.

Hi every one, last week it was a very exciting one because we gathered together again in Emmerloord, in the Netherlands, this time it was the teachers turn to be taught, to attend classes, After all we love learning and isn't it what our work is about?

Due to security reasons we decided not to hold our teachers training meeting in Instambul as it was scheduled, as painful as that decision might be, because we were eager to see, for the first time in my case and once more, for the rest of teachers, such a beautiful city, meet the Turkish students again and enjoy the hospitality of our Turkish collegues.  However, instead of putting it off altogether, our Dutch colleagues, Yvonne and Baukje, promptly offered themselves and their college facilities as an alternative venue.

We made travel arrangements as soon as we could and before leaving school for Christmas holidays our hostesses had everything settled, programme emailed, as well as every other thing each of us was supposed to get ready for the meeting. Kryster  from Sweeden and Yilmaz from Turkey agreed to be in charge of the training sessions. Thank you.

Sessions started, we learned how to use very useful and interesting apps that would mean an improvement in our preparation work and classes at school. Thank you Yilmaz and Kryster for being so patient and explaining every thing as if we has just come from outer space, you really made it work.

Thank you, again, Yvonne, Baukje, Annfloor, Sylvaine for the trip to Groningen Museum, the Rodin exhibition was a very nice bonus to our photography safari around town getting stuff to be used later during the video editing sessions. Thank you for making it possible. And  I would also like to welcome all the new members from Sweden, Turkey and the Netherlands. We really felt at home and among friends.

Food Bank "Medina Azahara" 2016

One more time we made our special Christmas contribution volunteering at the local Food Bank "Medina Azahara". There Francisco and some army volunteers gave us a warm welcome in a pretty cold day. Last year we collected food at supermarkets from people's donations and later on we helped them clasify all the goods, which we realized it is quite a tantalizing task, what is more, they usually are short of hands for this matter, so this time we went straight to the collection and clasifying  center.

We learned how to do things in a proper and efficient way, we had both, Francisco and the army guys to help us. But of course, the best of it was the talking. Kids learned about humanitarian missions were some of the privates had worked, the difficulties encountered and the importance of their presence in such areas. Then Francisco explained them the ins and outs of the clasiying center so everybody could have a clear idea of what was being done there.

As always it really was a very interesting and satisfying visit, we felt happy because of the work done and because it was the begining of the Christmas holidays. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2017.


P.S. If you'd like to see the rest of the pictures just click on the tab for that purpose in this page.