Saturday, October 18, 2008

Food for Thought

Baia Mare North University, in cooperation with “Petre Dulfu” County Library, organized today the Conference “Emigration without Exile” held by CĂLIN-ANDREI MIHĂILESCU, essayist and university professor at UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN ONTARIO CANADA.
I accepted the invitation sent by the American Corner for three reasons: the topic, the weather and my curiosity.
I must confess that the event surpassed my expectations.
At first sight the lecturer himself, an intelligent and charismatic person , is an immigrant.
He left Romania for Canada. But he is more than that. He traveled all over the world both physically and spiritually, becoming an expert in comparative literature, literature from all continents, a person with an impressive cultural background.
I was surprised by the fact that although he left Romania long ago, he did not seem to have forgotten his native language ( as sometimes happens with some people who want to give the impression they are above all and in only several months begin to utter Romanian words with a foreign accent).

In the first part of his speech he referred to the "exile" concept.

I remember that before and during Communism many intellectuals left Romania because they could not cope with the regime. Some of the most famous were Eugen Ionesco (1), Emil Cioran (2) and Mircea Eliade(3)
They managed to become famous abroad.
While Noica (4) and Nicolae Steinhard (5) were sent to prison and marginalized.
The situation today is different. Most of the people leave Romania mainly for economic reasons.
The most interesting is the situation of the Romanian working in Spain and Italy.
While in Spain they feel at ease and have started to organize themselves in large communities with an Orthodox Church and even classes in Romanian, in Italy they are faced with fascist manifestations reminding us of the 30s. The causes are complex and mostly the people without proper education, without any profession , started to create unpleasant situations that led the natives to exasperation .

The Romanians abroad no longer live in exile.
They can travel from Europe to America in only 10 hours.
Due to the Internet they can communicate with their families and with their friends.
However, because they have to adapt themselves in a new society, possessing sometimes completely different mentalities, it is not easy to integrate rapidly.
Some of the immigrants are not able to do that and in a short time they might experience a nervous breakdown and some of them end tragically.
The discussions with the audience pointed out some interesting issues.
Adults/ old people do no longer look tragically to the families who are abroad. On the contrary, they gather together on holydays and share stories about their children abroad, about their intentions to visit them or about the fact that they keep sending money home to build a new house and set up a business when coming back . Some of them come back. Others don't.
The aspect of the villages in Maramures has changed a lot.
But the dramatic aspect of the present day immigration is that of the young children who miss the affection of their parents.
Their school situation is visibly affected. They sometimes meet together forming communities of adolescents who spend time and money together in pubs and discos. School is no longer that important for them.They have money and the feeling life is easy.
The idea of belonging to a group drives them together.

I think our project, by using the experience of such teenagers, could give us a new perspective upon this phenomenon and we could become more efficient in helping them.
______________________________________
1.Eugène Ionesco, born Eugen Ionescu (November 26, 1909March 28, 1994), was a Romanian and French playwright and dramatist, one of the foremost playwrights of the Theatre of the Absurd. Beyond ridiculing the most banal situations, Ionesco's plays depict in a tangible way the solitude and insignificance of human existence. (http://en.wikipedia.org)
2 Emil Cioran (
April 8, 1911June 20, 1995) was a Romanian philosopher and essayist. (http://en.wikipedia.org) who, starting with 1937 lived in France and wrote only in French.. (http://en.wikipedia.org)
3. Mircea Eliade (March 13 [
O.S. February 28] 1907 – April 22, 1986) was a Romanian historian of religion, fiction writer, philosopher, and professor at the University of Chicago. He was a leading interpreter of religious experience, who established paradigms in religious studies that persist to this day. His theory that hierophanies form the basis of religion, splitting the human experience of reality into sacred and profane space and time, has proven influential. (http://en.wikipedia.org)
4. Constantin Noica (July 25 [
O.S. July 12] 1909, Vităneşti, Teleorman - December 4, 1987, Sibiu) was a Romanian philosopher, essayist and poet. His preoccupations were throughout all philosophy, from epistemology, philosophy of culture, axiology and philosophic anthropology to ontology and logics, from the history of philosophy to systematic philosophy, from ancient to contemporary philosophy, from translating and interpretation to criticism and creation. (http://en.wikipedia.org)
5. Nicolae Steinhardt (born Nicu-Aurelian
Steinhardt;
July 12, 1912-March 29, 1989) was a Romanian writer, Orthodox hermit and father confessor. (http://en.wikipedia.org)

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Dissemination Activity- Flavia Costin


Dear all,

I really have to share with you the wonderful experience I’ve had.
I was in Cluj today (actually I’ve just got home) at a Counseling Reunion for those involved in Comenius Projects. Our school was invited there to present the projects that are being caried out, together with other two high schools (Colegiul Tehnic de Industrie Alimentara Terezianum from Sibiu and Grup Scolar Industrial Emanuil Ungureanu, Timisoara).
I have to admit that I was very nervous in the beginning, but when I got there I became aware that our College is quite famous, due to the success of our projects.
I have to add that the presentation was of a real success, and everybody wanted to have a look at the few exhibits I managed to take with me, not to mention the fact that they were almost fighting to grab a leaflet of the projects (Higher quality in education with family support and Immigrants Past and Present; Towards Greater Integration?) or a copy of Borderline Magazine.
The lady from the “Inspectorat Scolar Cluj” was very enthusiastic and congratulated us, and shared with all the participants her impressions regarding the recent visit she made in our school. She pointed out the posters in the hallway ilustrating the projects, the way our students talked about the projects they were involved in, and the warm welcome they were received with. (She even remembered me, and I didn’t say that much then, you were the ones who were great, and I congratulated you for that )
So I must say that today, again, I felt very proud that I am a teacher in this school!

Well, that’s pretty much it! Thanks and goodnight!

Students' opinions on immigration


Taking Risks
I’m sure you’ll agree that this concept of “emigration” is an issue which involves the entire world. To my opinion, the main reason for emigrating is the rush for money.
One of the advantages about emigrating is that you can build your life easily, working for having money, starting over your life ;a reason could be the human kind always wanting more; another one could be the fact that you learn another language, because you simply have to and this could help you when you come back in your country; You get knowing new mentalities, new ways of living, new opportunities.
Most people who are leaving, never come back, because they found in the country in which they emigrated what they needed in their country before leaving.
Unfortunately, there are disadvantages about emigrating ,because when you leave, you take risks; you can lose your friends and even your family. And it is hard, because it is hard to get acquainted with another country, another culture, another language and with new people. There are families in which the parents emigrate, leaving their kids alone and unprotected and they are the most affected psychically and these kids, in future, will have different problems of behaviour or even worse. And emigration is one of the reasons why the parents are getting divorced and why so many families are ruined. The consequences are enormous upon everyone.
Nowadays, in our country for example, there is a shortage of workers, doctors etc, because they found in other countries what they need for having a good life.
I think that our job is to try to help people who have problems caused by emigration and to increase the level of our country, our way of living in order to diminish the reasons for emigrating.
Lukacsovits Xanta 11th E

Chlidren are in the middle...
Nowadays more and more parents are going to work abroad or they move there , taking the children with them or leaving them home.. Did they ask themselves what the children are feeling in that moment? Honestly, I donʼt think so. Maybe the parents are taking decisions in hard times when they are having problems and they donʼt know what to do, not thinking about the consequences of their actions. The children are caught in the middle, they are the ones that suffer the most, it doesnʼt matter if in the end they get all they want if their parents are away. Fortunately I am not in this kind of situation, but just thinking about what those children are going through, I can imagine itʼs an terrible suffering. My opinion is that we should think tree times before taking any decision, to think about the consequences and the ones around us.
Florina Fanea 11th E
The phenomenon-migration
It is a known fact that nowadays people travel to foreign countries much easier. They spend more often their holidays, or even weekends abroad, looking for better services wherever they go. As long as they can afford it, good for them!
But another fact of easier access abroad is the increasing number of immigrants. There are a lot of reasons why people started to migrate: the search of a better life with better paid jobs, families looking forward to reunite after many years of being separated, young people looking for a fresh new start, eager to discover a whole new world unknown to them, or maybe students ready to experiment other educational systems.
Somehow, it is sad for countries to loose their own people and remarkable citizens in favour of strangers, ready to offer them a better life. But, in the end, it is everyone’s choice what they want to do with their own life.
For many, working abroad may be the only chance of survival, of supporting themselves and their families. For others life is a continuous discovery and migrating is one of the good parts, maybe even a necessity.
We are all free to choose. Life is full of options and taking chances.
People feel differently regarding life in general and the word migration raises different problems and questions in everyone’s mind. We are not in the position to judge.
Timea Horvath 11th E