The first exchange visit - Romania
(22nd - 26th of February 2010)

The first Comenius school partnership “The Heritage of Europe - Traditions are alive” meeting took place at the Bucecea Industrial High School, between the 22^nd – 26^th of February 2010. This meeting was attended by representatives of every partner schools: Romania (the host), Bulgaria (the project coordinator), Turkey, Italy and Slovakia. There were 32 foreign participants: 11 from Bulgaria, 7 from Slovakia, 8 from Italy and 6 from Turkey.

The program was busy comprising various presentations of clubs and different research visits.

The participants of these four countries arrived at Botosani on Monday the 22^nd of February 2010.

On the 23^rd of February, the guests were greeted at Bucecea Industrial High School.

The meeting began with the introduction of project teams, presentation of the partner countries and their educational systems.

Then, the guests visited the school, the greenhouse and the museum of natural heritage.

Later, the guests, divided into three groups, attended different classes Drawing, Chemistry, Mathematics, English where they were involved, together with our students, in different activities.

After lunch break we continued our meeting with a “Sezatoare” that took place in the school canteen and which was previously traditionally adorned. Each club presented its activity: the cookbook, the greeting cards, the March amulets, painted eggs and folk dances.

On Wednesday February 24^th our partners got acquainted with the activities of the “Virtual World” and “Calendar of National Traditions” clubs. They received information about Romanian traditions and saw pictures reflecting “Dragobete”.

This was followed by discussions concerning the project and some visits at the Calinesti Mansion, at the “Stefan Luchian” Foundation and at a ceramics workshop in Botosani.

On February 25^th the foreign team members had the opportunity to visit some tourist attractions in Suceava such as: Stephen the Great’s Main Fortress and Voronet Monastery. The day ended with the evaluation of the meeting and discussions about the project. The participants received attendance certificates.

For this first reunion every partner school made and presented the cookbook and the Power Point presentation of a unique tradition. So, as a result of these presentations we had the opportunity to withdraw the first conclusions about our traditions. We discovered some similarities such as March amulets, painting eggs; but also a lot of differences that make our cultures unique.

This first meeting was a good occasion to evaluate the progress of the whole project, to realize that the activities are going as planned, that everyone is at the same page.

To sum up, the reunion attained its objectives and was considered a success.

Recipes from Romania

Turkey jelly

Ingredients: 1 turkey, garlic, salt.

Preparation: Cut the turkey into medium-sized pieces. Place them into a pot with boiling water; remove the foam when necessary and add little salt. Leave it to boil at low temperature until the meat is done and the gravy has boiled to a third of the initial quantity. Then take out the meat and put it on a dish. Season the gravy with garlic to taste and strain it. Pour the gravy on the meat and leave it to set in a cool place.

Meatball Soup

Ingredients: 500 g lean meat, 2 carrots, 30 g root parsley, 20 g celery, 80 g onion, 40 g lovage, 500 g bones , 80 g bread, 2 eggs, 1 cup cabbage pickle, 15 g rice, 100 g sour cream, salt, ground pepper.

Preparation: Put the bones in a pot with one and a half liters of cold water. Add the chopped vegetables and leave everything to boil. Mince the meat, bread and onion. Mix this composition with white pepper, salt, eggs and boiled rice. Make walnut-sized balls. When the vegetables softened, add the meatballs and the previously boiled cabbage pickle. In the end pour the cream and sprinkle some chopped lovage.

Pound Cake

Ingredients: 1 kg flour, 7 yolks, 4 egg whites, 300 g sugar, 250 g butter, ½ l milk, 1 spoon rum, vanilla, 1 teaspoon salt, 20g yeast.

Preparation: Pour some warm milk over the yeast in a bowl, adding a teaspoon of sugar. Mix 3 spoons of flour with hot milk. Add the yeast and knead thoroughly. Sprinkle flour, cover the bowl with a napkin and leave it in a warm place. Mix the yolks with salt and sugar. Sprinkle the remaining flour, add warm milk and battered egg white. Mix it with the dough, oil, rum, vanilla and melted butter. Cover the mixture again with a kitchen towel and leave it to grow in a warm place for a couple of hours. Divide the dough and lay it in special trays. Bake them in a hot oven for about an hour.