sailorstraining

Tribute to the captains

2010-10-22T11:39:00.000-07:00

When we visited Estonian National Agency, we read a story. Actually we had a good idea how to use it in our training video, but as time was an obstacle, we couldn't manage, but the story is the following:

Once upon a time, a long time ago, there lived a man who said he believed in God. One day it started to rain and did not stop. it rained and rained. it rained so hard that the roads turned into rivers and water started to come into the houses. The man climbed onto the roof of his house to escape the water.

A short time later, a boat came to his house and the captain shouted to the man: " Come into my boat and i will take you to safety!"

The man replied: "No, i will not come - the Lord will save me."

So the boat went away. And the rain kept raining and the water got higher. Late that night another boat arrived and the captain shouted to the man: "You must act quickly, please get into my boat and i will take you to safety!"

Again the man replied: "No, i will not come - the Lord will save me."

So the boat went away. And the rain kept raining and the water got so high that it reached the top of the house and the man had to hold onto the chimney to keep from drowning. A third boat came to the man's house and the captain shouted: "This is your last chance! Get into my boat and i will take you to safety!"

Again the man replied: "No, i will not come - the Lord will save me."

So the boat went away. And the rain kept raining and the water got so high that the man drowned.

When he arrived in heaven, he asked God: "My Lord, why did you not save me? i waited for so long."

And God replied: "But my child, i sent you three boats."

Sailors nostalgy...

2010-10-22T04:16:00.000-07:00

Memories....

2010-10-21T07:28:00.000-07:00

Here is one video of our fun and sweet sailors' training in Tallinn. Music is from Estonian group called Ro:Toro and videos are filmed by our participants and trainers. Editing and directing by Merli and Zuza.

Hopefully it will bring back good memories and to the other watchers it will be just one really fun clip to see.

See you again!

No tears, only happy to meet again soon...

2010-10-20T14:31:00.000-07:00

It is our last evening in Oru hotel in Tallinn harbour. A lot of warmth and friendliness is in the air. People are talking about meeting again. Just the time is the question. The evening was full of laughter. A lot of creativity was put into the night. All the funny performances and also videos.

One of the videos you can see here. Don't forget your humour bone while watching it :)

Country portrait - Poland

2010-10-19T15:55:00.000-07:00

The Polish are Tadzio, Kasia, Arek, Tomek

Where exactly is your country?

It’s just in the heart of Europe.

Languages

We speak polish. Most youths speak foreign languages like English and German, older people speak often Russian.

Km2 /Population

312000 km2

32 million

Capital/Flag

Warsaw

White and red. White is for the innocence, red is for the blood of those who died to defend their country.

What`s the weather right now in your country?

It’s a bit warmer then here but basically it’s the same.

Do you have something special in your country?

Crazy people full of ideas and energy.

Some joke about your country

Two poles have three different opinions.

Country portrait - Portugal

2010-10-18T14:34:00.000-07:00

Ana from Galizia and the Portugese - Ana, Duarte, Claúdia

Where exactly is your country?

Southwestern Europe

Languages

Portuguese

Population/km2

Portugal - 11 million /92.090 km2

Capital/Flag

Portugal - Lisbon

Red - revolution

Green - hope

What`s the weather right now in your country?

Cloudy (12 degrees)

Do you have something special in your country?

Portugal - Beach, sun, sea, easy-going people

Some joke about your country

French, an English and a Portuguese went fishing together in Estonia. They met the day before and the French said:

“I caught 5 fish”

The English said:

“I caught 10 fish”

Then, the Portuguese replied:

“I caught a cold…”

Country portrait - Uganda

2010-10-18T13:01:00.001-07:00

Our lovely friends Colline, Miriam, Michael.

Where exactly is your country?

East Africa

Languages

English

Swahili (Luganda)

Km2 /Population

241.139 km2/32.4 million people

Capital/Flag

Kampala

Yellow - Sunshine

Black – African people

Red - Brotherhood

What`s the weather right now in your country?

Cloudy, Rainy (20 degrees)

Do you have something special in your country?

We are the pearls of Africa

Some joke about your country

Knock! Knock!

Who is there?

Uganda

Uganda who?

Where is Johnny ?!

2010-10-17T14:11:00.001-07:00

Fortunately Johnny is already found, but we are still wondering where he was because he is not giving us any clues.But we have heard some juicy rumors...

The first is: Instead of sailing Johnny decided to hitchhike to Poland. We suppose that Tomek said something cool about his country...

The second rumor is the following: Johnny tried too many different drinks on the intercultural night that he forgot in which harbour his boat was...

Third: Johnny met some pirates in the local pub (one could have been also Jack Sparrow) and went out to check out their seas...

Fourth one is written on the picture:

Thanks to all the secret rumor whisperers...

Country portrait - Czech Republic

2010-10-17T13:32:00.000-07:00

And here are Miša, Matej, Zuza

Let's check the Czechs...

Where exactly is your country?
Central Europe

Languages
Czech

Km2 /Population
78 864 km2 – 10, 5 million

Capital/Flag
Prague
Flag
- white- peace (beer foam)
-Blue- water-lakes, rivers
-Red- blood

What`s the weather right now in your country?
Cold (6-8 degrees), raining almost snowing

Do you have something special in your country?
Good beer, good scientists, nice girls, nice countryside, Czechs are the 3rd tallest
people in the world, we are the 3rd in export of aquarium fishes.

Some joke about your country
French, American and Czech presidents are flying in the airplane.
French president puts his arm out of the window and says: “Now we are in France”.
The other presidents ask him how he discovered. “I`ve just touched the top of the
Eiffel Tower. Than the American president puts his arm out of the window and
says: “Now we are in America”. “How did you discover?” Asked him the others.“ “I`ve
just touched the top of the Statue of Liberty”. Then the Czech president puts his arm

out of the window and says:”Now we are in the Czech Republic”. The others ask him:

How do you know, that we are in the Czech Republic??” “Because someone stole my
watches”

Captured leisure time. Written work outcome

2010-10-17T11:01:00.000-07:00

Our Tallinn cruise sailors are not only pretty, but also wise. After brainstorming about the word "participation" we have eight uniqe definitions. These are written between the splendid leisure time pictures.Participation is the process of getting involved and being responsible for the things which touch our lifes and lives of the others. (Avit Chami, Tadeusz Mincer)Participation is about sharing and taking over responsibility. (Munira M. Salum, Dina Mikfeldt)Participation is not just seeing problems, it is about will to understand the problem more and trying to change it. Don't like it? Change it! Lke it? Try to supprt it! (Anne-Mari Pender, Michaela Mr ňousoca)

Participation is joined action within community (small, big..) to make positive change. (Colline Saabwe, Arkadiusz Tomaszewski)Participation means being involved in your family, society and also your government and take responsibility and willing to volunteeringly be active. (Mhindi H. Mayenga, Merli Antsmaa)
Active participation are the steps that we make in the way of change, to answer with our attitude the contracts that we made with society. (Ana Abad de Larriva, Zuzana Tvrzska)

Participation is active responsibility for everbody's world through sharing and involving leading to possible change. (Ana Castro Forte, Matěj Chour)

Participation it i will someone has to do something which i psychical or mental. (Michael Kimuli, Duarte Miguel Santos Zuzarte Reis)

When sailors were waiting for the co-sailors...

2010-10-16T12:45:00.001-07:00

... they started to make sailor's map. Fully filled map with wonderful countries is added as a picture.

Friday cruise..

2010-10-16T02:13:00.001-07:00

..started with discovering different traditions and ceremonies connected with weddings in our countries.. with discovering the mystery of non formal and informal education and short mitting with ice berg..

We did had as well a cruise into our local realities.. and we found them so interesting that we would like to share more about them with you all.. that is why we started to introduce the country portraits, Tanzania and Estonia are already there.. other are on the way..

The afteroon continued with discovering common understanding of citizenship..

And in the evening we had exiting trip around the world. Agan - big THANX for the team that organised magic intercultural evening!! :) great job!

and...

we have only one worry...

Johny is missing!!!!

Country portrait - Estonia

2010-10-15T14:47:00.001-07:00

Our surprisingly warm Estonian group: Dina, Anne-Mari, Merli

Where exactly is your country?

It is located in the North of Europe. Between Finland, Sweden, Latvia and Russia.

Languages

Estonian

Km2 /Population

45 227 km2/1.34 million

Capital/Flag

Tallinn

Tricolor, horizontal.

Blue for the sky, lakes and truth & national feeling

Black for the ground and bread

White for Estonian nations hope for happiness and lightness (the sun…)

What`s the weather right now in your country?

Stormy, raining (+2º)

Do you have something special in your country?

Estonians love nature, there are a lot of forests, it is flat (no mountains), black bread. Estonia is cover with excellent WI-FI.

Some joke about your country

From Latvia – “why are Matrix bullets so slow? Because they are made in Estonia.”

Country portrait - Tanzania

2010-10-15T14:30:00.000-07:00

Our lovely Tanzanian group: Munira, Mhindi, Avit

Where exactly is your country?

Eastern part of the African Continent

Languages

120 tribes languages (mother tongue languages)

Kiswahili which is our national language

English as a third language (international language)

Km2 /Population

945.087km2 – 40 million

Capital/Flag

Dodoma

Blue-Ocean

Black – People

Green – Plants

Yellow – Minerals

What`s the weather right now in your country?

Summer Time

Do you have something special in your country?

We have a lot of attractive areas which don`t appear in any area around the world.

Ex: Ngorongoro Creater

It`s a peaceful country.

thursday evening... the cruise continues

2010-10-14T11:57:00.000-07:00

New Sailors were introduced to the Sailors family. Welcome on the board!

Captains of the Estonian edition, Marco, Kasia, Miriam and Claudia.. ready for the cruise ;)

The Sailors flotilla established by LOS - non govermental organisation from Czech Republic was enlarged again, and new boats and ships joined..

Sailors NGO Gallery will be open in Tallin till next Wednesday..

Estonian cruise continues..

2010-10-14T00:04:00.000-07:00

In the morning Sailors full of energy started their day with sharing the stories of their names, the stories of their journeys to harbour Tallinn and developing compasses which will help them during the Estonian cruise..

1st day of Estonian cruise

2010-10-13T00:27:00.000-07:00

Good morning Sailors...

The morning started with creating our common map for Estonian cruise.. map representing the diversity of the group..

In afternoon our Uganda and Tanzanian participants arrived. The whole group has arrived safely to the harbour...

First Sailors arrived in harbour Tallinn

2010-10-12T13:09:00.000-07:00

Some members of our new crew are still on a way from Tanzania and Uganda, but some of Sailors already arrived in our new harbour.

During the first evening we had a small "kind of" official welcome with ties, small talks and nice music in the background...

tomorrow morning... the adventure contines...

Sailors on the CitizenShip. Discovering Africa. Estonian adventure begins..

2010-10-12T10:37:00.000-07:00

Trainers team preparing for the Sailors welcome in Tallin. Participants comming soon..

Sailors Sail Away

2010-05-22T13:13:00.000-07:00

Sailors said goodbye to Liberec on Sunday and sailed back to their homes to multiply. The whole project was evaluated not only by participants but also by the organisational team. Thank you all for the wonderful week with Sailors On The Citizenship XXL. It has been an amazing voyage!

Be sure to check the Website and Blogspot for the latest updates, check the Gallery and see the week in pictures, stop by Facebook, join the group and become friends with Johnny the Sailor and be sure to have a look around the Sailors YouTube Channel for lovely videos from the whole week. We hope you enjoyed the voyage because we know we did!

We would like to thank the organisation team, the participants, supporters, sponsors, patrons and all others who helped to make this voyage a remarkable event.

See you soon!

Sailors

Sailors Day 7

2010-05-22T13:00:00.000-07:00

Evaluation of Happening and Networking

The day after the Happening sailors evaluated the happening by counting up the smiles and free hugs received and given; and analysed the impact they had on the local life. Sailors concluded that the Happening, despite the rain, was a great success and everyone was happy to read the local newspaper in the morning and see the picture of our sailors human logo, The World, on the front page.

Also, networking and a final party with a live band took place in the evening. Each sailor reflected on his/her experience and feelings about the voyage by wearing the captain's hat. Some sailors sailed back to their homes on Saturday, others stayed for just a bit longer to end the voyage on Sunday morning. All in all it was an amazing voyage!

Sailors Day 6

2010-05-22T11:40:00.000-07:00

The Happening

Sailors flooded the streets of Liberec with blue and white umbrellas. As it was a rainy day, sailors could use their umbrellas to the full and invite more people to get involved. The sailors split into groups and spread around the town with one simple message: smile and be active! To get people to smile, sailors offered free hugs to all. They also attracted people and pointed them to the right direction with mini flash-mobs. Also, at the bus-stop, a good-bye service was set to make anyone who was leaving feel warm and think about coming back soon, In the centre, tents were put up to make the place even more approachable - a cosy living library, where citizerns of Europe were the books, juggling, children's corner complete with face-painting and art-corner, and an info stand of LOS were all set up to invite the people of Liberec to be active. Throughout the afternoon, visitors had the chance to watch the impovisational theatre in action inside the shopping centre - living statues, musical instruments and other fun activities ,all performed by our own blue-and-white sailors.

To end the wonderful day, 2 major things were planned: A flash-mob in the shopping-centre Plaza and a human logo representing the World. The logo was captured from the top of the Plaza. Local media also captured the moment. Check out the media releases about sailors here.

Sailors Day 5

2010-05-22T11:07:00.000-07:00

Prep for happening and discussion with politicians - World Café

Sailors finally found out what the happening is all about and divided into groups according to what interested them the most:free hugs, good-bye service, living library, theatre, mini flash-mobs - you name it, and started preparing for the big event. What they did not know was that in the evening they would get a special surprise - a maxi flash-mob where all of the sailors would find their dancing shoes and polka their way into the next day.

But just before the surpise in the evening, sailors visited the V-Klub for the World Café - the discussion with local politicians. There each sailor had a chance to talk to local politicians. The patron of the meeting was Ondrej Liška,who opened the discussion with his speech. The political scene of Liberec was represented by D. Vaclavik, M. Pokorna, M. Puta, R. Cikl and O. Ćervinka. The debate reflected on the current situation in youth policy. The main message of the meeting could be summed up with the following sentence: everyone should be active; start changing something on your own, instead of waiting for someone to do it.

The sailors were also happy about the setting of the meeting: this time the politicians came to the youth, and not the other way around as it usually happens. This gave a perfect ground for discussions on an equal level.

All in all a very productive day for the sailors. Stay tuned for more!

Sailors Day 4

2010-05-12T14:38:00.002-07:00

Sailor's study visits to V-Club, Divizna, DTV - Children's TV.

In V-Club the participants got information about Youth Parliament, PolaCzek and saw a presentation about V-Club. Also, the V-Club will soon be undergoing reconstruction and participants were divided into groups and were asked to devise a new design/plan for the club. They could add all they thought would be useful for a youth club and finally got the chance to present what they had come up with.

In Divizna Ecological Center participants got to see a presentation about ecological educational programs for students, seminars, workshops for students of pedagogical faculties and youth workers.

Children's TV aimed to show the orientation in the media world for the youth and to support the youth in their own activities and critical thinking. They also aimed to offer an option to spend free time in an interesting and useful way. The project's overall aim is to educate the youth in the world of media.

Also, the NGO Market has been up on the wall for 2 days now. Go and check it out if you haven't done that yet.

So Sailors, as always, be sure to keep on checking for updates as the biggest happening during this sail is very near!

Sailors Day 3

2010-05-12T12:09:00.000-07:00

Second day of the workshops and good practices.

Sailors took part in Workshops such as "What's under your clothes?", which touched upon the concept of fashion and identity, consumerism and consumption; and "Understanding Citizenship - What it means to You" which aimed to give participants space and time to reflect on their own understanding of citizenship.

Sailors got to experience Good practices such as "Living Library" which aimed to promote tolerance through breaking stereotypes and knowing difference; "Masz glos, masz wybór - your vote, your choice" aimed to make citizens be more interested about the probems of their comminities and to encourage them to get involved; and Young Citizen-MK, which aimed to develop young people's understanding of the issues involved and impove their opportunities to become more active citizens.

Finally, participants reflected on their experiences and let their ideas swim as fishes in the sea.

Sailors on National TV

The Good Morning Show on the Czech Television welcomed two of our sailors, the president of LOS - Ondrej Lochman and the vice president, Antonin Ferdan. They talked about the project and what citizenship means for them. They also invited everyone to come to the Happening on the May 14 at 12.30 next to the OD Plaza in Liberec.

You can check the interview here: part 1 and part 2.

Sailors Day 2

2010-05-11T09:23:00.001-07:00

Ahoy!

Day 2 for sailors. We officially opened the Tool Fair Workshops with the head of the Czech National Agency Michal Urban and Mgr. Jan Činčera PhD from the Technical University of Liberec.

Michal Urban gave a clear message about citizenship saying that we should think European and get involved locally.

Zuzana Tvrzský, who works in NGO V-Club, which has much praised workshop called Hands and Creatives Advertise Yourself, also came for the opening.

Regional coordinator and editor of Liberec, Petra Handlířová, was also with us to share her insights on the day and how she perceives the issue of citizenship: "The international meetings are very helpful to me, I appreciate that I get to meet new people and ideas. Discussion in English is very interesting to me. I puzzle ideas, formulate them correctly, which is not always easy. But the debate nurtures the senses. I think that when working with the theme of citizenship, it is extremely important just to meet people from other countries. But I could recognize on myself, that it is always important to start with myself, the place where I live and only then to confront all of this with European citizenship, which gives us some insight. I really enjoyed the workshop, it gave me a chance to try certain methods in practice. The final discussion made us think about the position of the trainer of a workshop. I talked about the risks that may arise and what other options there are for working with the method . It was very beneficial for me to hear the views of other people. "

Also, sailors now have secret friends, so get busy and start being friendly to your secret friend :)

Sailors Day 1

2010-05-09T03:17:00.000-07:00

Marco explaining the plan of Day 1

Sailor Bingo: Sailors finding out who knows how to draw, who can speak more than 3 languages, who has ever milked a cow. It turns out that our sailors have many different and unique skills.

The prize for finding all or most of the unique sailors: being the first one to receive the sailor's umbrella!

Introducing Sailors, the programme and sharing expectations.

Spiderweb. As already mentioned, our sailors are very unique and also helpful.

And like to have a laugh.

City Game & Getting to Know Liberec

Sailors took over the streets of Liberec and discovered its beauty, secret nooks and opportunities that it offers to young people and came up with 101 unusual ways for using a sailor's umbrella.

Have you every tried to exchange a T-shirt on the street? Think it’s easy? Not really! Group number 1 knows all about it. Finally one nice girl could not resist the sexy sailors and the mission of exchanging the T-shirt was successful.

Group number 2 tasted the best Czech beer and their special task to exchange a yo-yo was a success. Finally they got a great deal – a yo-yo for a teddy-bear and a teddy-bear for a stick horse. Everybody was jealous!

Group number 3 had a nice afternoon on the main square. Damian taught a special Irish dance.

The trip to the top of the Ještěd was a true experience for Group number 4. They saw a prestigious soccer match and chatted with a friendly waitress.

In front of the biggest shopping mall called Nisa, Group number 5 performed a special kind of martial arts.

Group number 6 found a lovely present for Johnny Sailor – one green glove. We are not exactly sure how he will benefit from it or how will he use it, but he will definitely love it! Also, for Johnny’s children, the group brought an interactive game!

Intercultural Evening included sharing knowledge about Sailors’ countries. Sailors had the opportunity to try national food and drinks from all over Europe and got to improve their dancing skills. Now we are looking forward to see Sailors’ dancing during Happening.

Be sure to come back and check for updates because we have a lot more coming!

Preparation for Sailors on the Citizenship XXL at full speed

2010-05-07T06:42:00.000-07:00

Hello sailors!

Preparations for XXL are at full speed. Everybody is busy with getting ready for the voyage. Here is a sneak preview of what you can expect:

See you very very soon!

Prep meeting for Sailors on the Citizenship XXL 1- 4.04. 2010 Liberec

2010-04-05T06:44:00.000-07:00

The sailors came together in Liberec to prepare for the XXL Fair that will be held from 8-16.05. Sailors split into groups according to responsibilities and interests and every jolly sailor received their tasks. Every sailor also had the chance to brainstorm and suggest ideas to improve any part of the program.

Evenings were accompanied by meetings to discuss the program of the event but also with dinners to relax and to contemplate what was discussed during the meetings. The prep meeting proved to be prolific as most of the topics were discussed and decided on. Sailors sailed back to their shores to prepare for the great voyage in May.

Who is who on this voyage:

Education team: Kasia, Ondrej, Marco, Sean, Thomas and Damian - captains of our journey will be responsible for guiding you through the week that we will spend together, and also for creating an atmosphere in which all sailors will be able to learn from each other and feel at home in Liberec harbour.

PR and press team: Monika, Marita, Thomas, Veronika and Ondrej F. will keep you updated on the latest news.

Creative team: Katka and Magda will make sure that the interior and exterior are both in harmony and will make our voyage fashionable.

Contact with participants: Petra is going to keep in touch with all of the participants and keep them updated.

Contact with volunteers: Martina will keep close contact with all of the volunteers and keep them informed on changes and latest news.

Organization and logistics: Tonda and Damian will be responsible for arrangements and the overall management of the way resources will be moved to the areas where they are required.

The question of the day:
What can people expect from the event?

Ondrej: You can expect to get tired and to get an intensive international experience. Also be prepared to keep the amount of inspiration that appears as we hope that we will get the biggest number of inspiration per m2.

You can expect citizenship that means more than a passport or ID. Discussions where you can explore citizenship and new ways of practising it. A warm welcome to Liberec and a unique experience during the happening in the city centre, where you will have the awesome possibility to share the values and the way of life you believe in.

But in short you can expect a week which will open new directions in your life and believe me I am not joking.

Johnny's advices: How to prepare for the voyage?

1) Put your suitcase on the bed;

2) Insert clothes you will need for the voyage;

3) Divide the number of clothes you just put in the suitcase by 2 because every additional kilogram of excess luggage is expensive and heavy.

4) Check the weather and don’t forget to pack your swimwear;

5) Pack your sailors hat;

6) Find your good attitude and pack an additional set of smiles :)

7) Be sure to check updates about Sailors here on Blogspot, but also on Facebook: Sailors on the Citizenship and Johnny Sailor;

8) Take all of the mentioned above with you and start your voyage.

So dear sailors - go ahead, find your sailors hat and good attitude because we set sail very soon!

by Marita

Immigrants on board?

2009-03-22T06:50:00.000-07:00

Our sail today was taken on a sea of discussion. It was actually the first time we did it without using any words. It was surprising experience, but somehow we managed it. We stopped for a while at the Nation State. Has anybody still have problem with understanding the difference between a nation and a state? – I don´t think so. J

We had a lot of fun at the immigration office. To get the nationality was not as easy as preparing an application form, but actually some of us got it- CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

The questions were quite difficult, based on history, politics and culture. Those one who did not pass should not be worrying.

These are some examples:
Czech Republic asked:
1. Who was the composer of the Czech hymn?
2. Names of presidents from 1918?
Italy:
1. Do we have to put cream to sauce carbonara?This experience brought us a little bit more information about our countries, but we also noticed that our actual knowledge is not as high as we thought it was.

Singing sailors
The moment all the sailors had been waiting for was the karaoke night. Our sheep expert Fergal also turned out to be a karaoke guru so we all were able to express ourselves through the microphone.

The beginning of the night was slow because as we know- all good things take time. When everybody heard the first brave solo singer they started coming into the “karaoke bar”.

Everybody was enjoying themselves but the only minus about the karaoke was a lack of new songs, because HmmHmm.., all of us don't know songs from the 70's-80's. :)

Even though some sailors sang into a fake microphone made of paper they still had fun. Go-go girls made the atmosphere of the “karaoke bar” even hotter. We just hope that their heat didn't burn down the room, because today we have to start with our training in another room. :)

Fergal and the sheep
1. What are your connections with sheep? Over the last 12 months I have become closely associated with Shaun, I was Shaunalized. We are very close. Life is so much better since Shaun came into my life.
2. When was the last time you touched a real sheep? I probably shouldn't say that. would be exposed.
3. What's your wildest dream connected with sheep? That Shaun The Sheep becomes the one
true god.
4. How old are you in sheep years? 124
5. Show us how a sheep looks like!

Drugs legalized in Ochsenburg!

2009-03-20T10:49:00.000-07:00

Today's council's and citizens' gathering brought an really unexpected and shocking solution. O chsenburg's major, Herr Hans Branderburger and other council members (Frau Topelberg, Frau Schwartzsteiger, Frau Schmauz and Frau Falschberg) were facing a huge challenge during past few months – drug pushers were recruting youngsters and making them push drugs to their school friends. It caused a lot of unpleasance in the town. But, finally – after consulting with stake holders, the council made up a decision – drugs are legallized. Council hopes that it will make the illegal drugs selling unprofitable and the drug pushers will give this up. Of course, there are some conditions – drugs are legal for those over 21, the selling will be strictly controlled by police. It seems that council made all members of the community happy – NGO will get money for health centre improvement, parents will get free drug tests and police will get their dreamed cameras in the city centre.

TRIP ADVISOR : LIBEREC
Welcome, dear Sailors, to the usual column about places and travels, because as we know, you love it!
To make sure we get the right information, also about citizenship good practices, we want to present you Iva as indigenous representative from this marvellous town located In Czech Republic called Liberec.
With her we would like to suggest you some organizations to join if you are on the place and you want to activate your citizenship: You can join LOS, for educational, intercultural activities, or other local ngos in order to become aware of local dimension.
Concerning touristic attractions, in Liberec you can find the White Tiger in the Zoo.
If you want to enjoy the panorama view, you can go to the Jested hotel, very peculiarly shaped, in order to see all the valley.
On typical products, is it possible to drink Svijani Beer and eat some Czech food with it.

New sensational Picasso collection discovered
Picasso fans from all over the world will be celebrating: after having analized the range of colors and the painting technique, scientists have confirmed that 23 portraits, which were found discovered yesterday under strange circumstances in a hotel near Derry/Londonderry, belong to the ouevre of the famous Catalan painter. It is supposed to have been a private collection of portraits from friends, both male and female, on colored paper. They must have been created in the early blue period, so they are especially precious and art collectors are already discussing their value.
An international group of youth workers accidentially found them, as they had been exercising on the car park in front of the hotel, blocking the traffic. So far the question, who hid the precious pictures outside and to which purpose, is not answered. There have been some speculations about a private art collector, who payed the owner of the hotel, but the owner of the establishment, whose name is not going to be mentioned, is refusing to answer our questions. We will keep you informed about the development of this little sensation.

Who is who?

2009-03-20T09:54:00.001-07:00

The journey has begun!

2009-03-20T09:26:00.000-07:00

The first day the voyage has begun. We are 23 young people from Czech Republic, Poland, Estonia, Northern Ireland, Bulgaria, Spain and Germany getting together on the newest edition of the Sailors on Citizenship seminar. We wake up this morning in the White Horse hotel, surprised from the sunny and warm weather in Derry/Londonderry. The first task we should manage was to learn our names. We played few games which not only helped to get to know each other but also bring energetic mood in our group. It was fun! The pick of the day was the signing the contract of our living together for the next 7 days. It’s a paper that all the political leaders from all over the world could be jealous of.
The gossip column:- The roumers said that the Intercultural evening turns out to be very long for some of our participants. We heard that 4 people tried to meet the dawn by staying up drinking wine and chatting. Our informer didnt share the names, but we learned that there were representitives from Bulgaria and North Ireland - Our all the time aware photographers are already managed to capture some moments showing that our sailor-participants can be humans beings as well. Here what we’ve got:

The northern exposure!

2009-03-20T09:08:00.000-07:00

And here we are! Sailors decided to go to the northern exposure to Londonderry/Derry in Northen Ireland. All sailors were welcomed by the Captains - Fergal (NI), Kasia (Poland) and Ondrej (CZE). Our cruise number 8. has begun and we all here will be happy to hear from all Sailors on CitizenShip around Europe how are you doing and if you have any comments for the sailors here in Londonderry.

Ahoy

Sailors and captains of Northen exposure

SAILORS ARE DISCOVERING THE NATION

2008-11-21T08:02:00.000-08:00

Journey through citezenship is continuing. Sailors after first two days are getting more and more tired, but still motivated to continue sailing, that’s why in the morning they were on the board again. Our Captains (as allways J ) are thinking about the sailors team spirit, that’s why they needed to use all coorporation skills to make the circle from certain amount of chairs and stick the flipcharts to the walls. From our observations – task spliting, helping to each other and fun helped to finish task very quickly. But that was the easiest task of the day. Sailors started their journey into Nation. Actually what is nation? After exchange of sailor’s ideas during „Brain Storming”, they still didn’t get the definition, just a general overwiev. „Brain storming” was continuing and sailors also needed to answer the question – WHAT IS STATE? Only afterwards they got clear (more or less) what is what. Sailing is continuing..

Silent disscussion.

You might ask – what is it? We know it now. J You can also disccuss something without talking. How? By writing J Sailors had this great possibilty to put out their opinion on the paper by answering to three questions – DOES THE NATION MAKES STATE OR STATE MAKES NATION?, IS NATIONALITY IMPORTANT FOR YOU?, DO WE NEED NATIONAL STATES? Very hard task. Because questions are not so easy to answer and makes to things about maybe which you don`t think during your daily life. Also because of silence. You just allowed to write and respond why writing. As we know, that some people are emotional, it realy needs a lot nerves to stick to the rules of task.
First part of the day was ending with quite simple task, but it turned out to be very emotional one and brought in „shock” element for some sailors. Task was to answer to some questions conected with nation and state by finding your way in YES and NO line. Unfortunatelly due to time limits some sailor’s left the ship confused and where heading for lunch... We hope, that this new expierences will help for them in future (how, it’s up to them)....

FROM SAILORS INFO SHEET:

NATION – group of people peoplesharing common identity, hiostory, origins, language, religion, customs, territory, behaviours and culture.
STATE – legimitized administrative and decision making institution.

The naturalization test controversy

Well, that was tense. What’s naturalization? How does a country build a test for giving citizenship? These were the questions that characterized the afternoon.
The controversy appeared when our dear sailors had to think and compose “the perfect test”. Because not everybody agreed with the topic, or they didn’t understand what was that about. Eventually they reached to a compromise, and started working on the topic.
Surprising was the task afterword. Answering ourselves to the question the other sailors thought of, and eventually get another nationality. Well, most of the sailors managed to get, by unknown methods the citizenship. But still, some of us couldn’t. by now I couldn’t figure out why.Anyway, it was a pleasant experience

To vote, or not to vote?

For someone among us, was the first official vote. “it was quite good. I took it more like a role play, but I liked the pictures part”, declared Tuuli, our beginner in the voting thing.
The debate upon compulsory, or non-compulsory voting has culminated with a democratic vote. To vote whether we agree or do not agree with compulsory voting. Unfortunately Andrew was missing,(hope he is ok). Anyway, the results were: the compulsory voting strategy received 6 votes, the 8 votes for non-compulsory voting, 3 blank votes, and 2 votes wasted.
LATEST NEWS: Andrew is ok, just a bit cold. He would have voted for the non-compulsory voting, so we don’t have to worry about the final result. The other news, the most important one, is that we are THE FIRST SAILOR CREW voting for NON-COMPULSORY voting method.

The question of the day: If you weren’t born as a member of your nation, which nationality would you chose and why?

Ali: I love Australia. It is like separate from the rest of the world. I wouldn’t need to focus on the world’s problems and could go to another countries for the winter vacations.

Lucie: New Zealand. Because it is a quite modern country and it has a lot of green nature.

Jendrek: Tanzania. Because it is a nation really different from Europe and it is free of all the historical issues and people are basically happy there and they have totally different perspective on some basic issues in life.

Gijs: I love France because of the mentality. I like their identity. It is hard to explain, it is more a matter of feelings. And French is of course the most beautiful language in the world.

Merlin: Because it left a high and warm impression in me. I stayed there for a while and I will return there in a minute, if I could.

Saskia: As I have never felt such as home as I feel now in Italy (can’t explain it – it is just a feeling) – maybe Italy. But I was also concerning Sweden as an option.

Local community

2008-11-21T07:56:00.000-08:00

After the intercultural evening everybody was apparently capable to be in time for breakfast. Immediately we knew it was going to be a long day. But as real sailors should be, we love long trips on challenging waves. We were going to explore the “local community” and had 6 hours to reach the finish with 3 ships and 3 seas to cross: see Discovery, see Dreaming and see Design. The first obstacle blew us to Poland, to a small community far away from “civilization”. The youth over there grabs every chance to escape to the “modern” world. Our main goal was to introduce citizenship again and make the local community worth living in.
The first wave was to “discover” what happened and how it could come this far. The school was too far, there were almost no busses, etc. But there was also strength in the community we had to take in mind to take in our plan to let revive the village like the little tourism and the agricultural possibilities that were laying there. The second wave looked simple but was more challenging then we could imagine: Dreaming… dreaming about how it all should be, the perfect community! We would build out the community’s strengths and even integrate these aspects, as well as creating a more social feeling between the citizens, young and older, due to installing facilities like art, youth clubs,… Our last wave we had to get over without going overboard was to put it all in practice by “designing” and visualize it so everybody could behold how it will all look like in the future. So we started collecting materials like color papers, scissors, glue to make some kind of maquette and drew our plans so the whole world could see what we came up to, to get the best out of a community and let it revive.
The three ships crossed the finish line after a rough and exhausting day, nobody fell overboard and they all had great stories to tell to the world from the moment they get their first step on vast soil.

Happy Crewbuilding

2008-11-21T07:51:00.001-08:00

At the beginning of a training course, there was one main problem: how to make the participants `familiar` in a short time? That was the first goal of our nice sailors / trainers !

The participants had a typical sailor teambuilding exercise! Some dynamic ball games were coming at first, to assure a perfect memorisation of each participants from 27 countries in Europe! Then they had an artistic session: participants expressed the painter within themselves by making a portrait of eachother in the strict rules of modern art!

As you can see from the present photo showing their home-made map of Europe, the talent of each of them doesn’t need more proof! After these `ice-breaking` exercises, trainers asked us to dive into the deep chaos of our minds to put on tour ideas of the trip of their dreams… And finally, at the end of this `warm up` day, all the group was ready for their initial goal: playing their own sketches of different decisive periods of citizenship building !

Because, yes, we are coming to the main point: artists or non-talented people, dreamers or nothing of that, we are all citizens of Europe!

New Sailor on the Crew

2008-11-21T07:34:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Monday 17th November 2008 a new intrepid sailor joined the crew. She was seen hanging around at various times during the day, and also joined in a number of activities.

We don’t know our new friend’s name, but she’s sweet and furry, she’s got four legs and longs for love and attention. By now you must have probably realised that we are speaking about the dog which was around us yesterday.

They say that dogs have a sixth sense. She seemed to realise that we are a great group of people to hang around with. She realised that WE ARE THE FUTURE, and wanted to be there with us. It was as if she wanted to motivate us an tell us that we are going in the right direction.

So, guys and girls, remember that the dog is always right. We are the FUTURE and the future is BRIGHT!

Big Boy failed!

Finally, they didn’t succeed. Big Boy, the Austrian – Greek – Turkish – Italian boat, lost the Montijo Boat Race that took place yesterday in Montijo fountain arena, in front of thousands people. “It was projected to win, we worked hard on it, we’re quite disappointed” told us Kostas Pozios, the Greek engineer of Big Boy, after the competition.
Anyway, there were many complains after the race: Big Boy team claims that other boats used not permitted engines. “What a shame, they cheated!” according to Halim Nalbant, the informatics engineer of Big Boy. Anyway Thomas Dusch, the Austrian skipper of Big Boy, is optimistic:” It was a very hard competition, our engineers did their best, we will make improvements for the sailing boat trip to Lisbon to be the first!” In fact, though they lost Montijo race, Big Boy team is aware that their boat is fast and performing: sure they’re going to win many competition this year

Harbour Invasion!!!

2008-11-20T01:37:00.000-08:00

Sailors from different countries just reach Montijo for a very special mission: get to know how to develop active citizenship in their local communities.
The invasion will last one week (until 24th November) and is ready to shake the local society with new ideas, actions and way of thinking. The reason of the invasion is to support the professional development of young trainers and to raise the quality of their projects concerning citizenship.
According to our sources, the sailors intend to make some noise and wake up the sleeping citizens making them active and aware to the rights and duties of be a part of the society, without forgetting the social, political and cultural background.
During next days our reporters will be in touch with all the crew and we will notice all the most important outcomes from that invasion.

Warning to Population!!!

Yesterday four known captains were seeing walking through Montijo. According police source 4 evil captains (Capt. Ondrej “Red Eye”, Capt. “Evil” Kasia, Capt. Marco “Wooden Foot” and Capt. Jendrek “Panda”) were seeing walking around thinking how to implement some activities in our city.
The same source noticed that they were caring apples, toasts, grapes and water to start to work in their evil plan. The police was already warned and will increase vigilance during the next days.
The last time where they was saw together was in Czech Republic and until now the local authorities are still counting all the damages that they provoke there.
According to Interpol Capt. Kasia and Ondrej were working lately in Israel and Palestine, Capt. Marco in Estonia and Capt. Jendrek in Poland If you have any more information about their location or their objectives, please warn the closest police station.

Evaluation & Celebration

2008-10-17T08:11:00.000-07:00

We met in the middle of nowhere, some of us got a bit lost on the way but in the end we all got safe and sound to the harbour. Early morning the work started. Brainstorming, discussion and some planning took place. Objectives and aims, knowledge, skills and attitudes of the training course were analyzed and are in intensive development. That is not all...we also listened to stories of old sailors, our founding fathers about how it all began...We saw the movie of the Polish edition. In the evening we decided to connect with local community. We discovered, at least some of us, that calling a cab is not that easy, especially in the middle of the night. Others checked the comfort of the sofa in the corridor, while there were also those who spent the night in the car (always remember about your keys!). One person had a unique opportunity to get in personal contact with local authorities. The police was happy to reassure the sailors that the captain was sober - no rum in the blood :)

Evaluation meeting! Together again!

2008-10-17T07:24:00.000-07:00

Godfather of sailors, called!

16 sailors responded (including 3 harbour-workers).

As sailors are used to hard work, there was no suprise, therefore when...

... the swords were given, and...
some heads were chopped off!
(scared face)

Network has been established, although some sheep decided to go wild and blind.

This time Johnny was rescued!

Cookie saloon was a jackpot of the venue!

Thanks to Pan, we have a new, nice, flying, awsome, joyful, beautiful, wonderful, cool and even sexy, attractive and accesible CitizenShip!

It takes three to the couple :)

The CitizenSHIP sails to Turkey

2008-05-31T07:52:00.000-07:00

Sailing Latvia

2008-04-29T10:06:00.000-07:00

E-youth TV: the best you can see!

2008-04-25T00:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday finally the long awaited new TV channel ‘E-youth TV’ hit the air for the first time. Based on all the amazing things Europe has to offer the TV producers created a fabulous new TV experience.

A broad range of new television programs aired yesterday ranging from the daily news to the new soap opera ‘Schultzstrasse’ starring numerous famous international actors, including the
incredibly talented and beautiful Polina Panainte.

‘STARTALKING’ the new European talk show being one of the biggest hits of the night, managed to turn rumors into facts by having the famous punk-rock star Johnny the Shepherd as their first guest on the show. The live show attracted a large audience of young girls (and some boys) all hoping to get the chance to personally ask Johnny the questions burning on their lips. Outside the studio a large crowd of the local fans gathered hoping to catch a glimpse of Johnny.

The documentary ‘European Youth Work, you will love it!’ gave us some insight into the stories behind active European citizenship and told us some eye-opening stories about why young people are getting involved in the European youth field and also gave us an insight into the different aspects of ‘intercultural experiences’.

The fairytale, ‘The unwritten stories of Tommy the fly’ created a wave of enthusiastic reactions. The actors, most acting for the first time in a television program, exceeded all expectations. The fairytale telling us the story about insects in the European forest was not only a great treat for the youngest among us, but was also an amazing psychedelic experience for the rest of us.

E-youth TV made some lucrative sponsor deals with Youth in Action, giving them air time for their new commercial, which showed some very artful ways of promoting their organization.
Overall it can definitely be said that the first broadcasting of E-youth TV was a grand success.

Although the new TV channel experienced some minor technical difficulties the hard work of everybody involved paid off and we are anxiously awaiting the next broadcast of E-youth TV!

Balvi- such a great town!

2008-04-24T23:46:00.000-07:00

Balvi must be the first choice for fun! Forget about Riga, Amsterdam, London or Paris. Balvi is No. 1! Why?!

The thing that makes this town so special is the fact that it is bleak. It is like in a game, you always must find something: places (this is the easy task – because everything is only 3 minutes away) and PEOPLE (without “s” :p – this is the tuff task because you must be very careful with all the details, AND if you see somebody, you must find out a way to communicate with him/her (Balvians run VERY FAST!). Also, Balvi is unique because of the water. The water of Balvi is rich in minerals and has a unique smell. The water is very good for your health (if you can stand the smell). We put our trust in Balvi and we think that in a couple of years, Balvi will become one of the most famous spa’s.

The main attractions in Balvi are:

● Fountain “Water Lilly”: This is a very special place where
you can meditate and ask yourself some questions like
“What the F*** am I doing here?” or “If everything is only 3
minutes away from everything, where is the center of the
city ?”

● The Stones. In Balvi, you can find a lot of stones and also
you can feel the “special energy” coming from the stones
(because the stones are very large so they must be special...in
Balvi everything is special).

● Playground for children. This is an interesting thing because
when you hear “playgrounds for children”, you immediately
ask yourself “CHILDREN?! WHERE?!”

Johnny is missing

2008-04-24T23:17:00.000-07:00

We have terrible news... Today Johnny disappeared … As we found out, Johnny's kidnapping has been put on „www.youtube.com/user/kidnappingofjohnny”. There is a suspicion that the EVIL SPANISH did it! But also it could be someone else…
All the Sailors demonstrated their discontent and unhappiness toward the current situation answering to the EVIL SPANISH:
“Johnny is our friend and he’s been accompanying us through all the issues. He’ll stay with us till the end.”
“Tenemos que proteger a Johnny! EVIL SPANISH! No vamos a dejarte hacer daño a Johnny! Johnny es nuestro amigo y nos ha acompañado durante todo el crucero! Va a ficar con nosotros hasta final, para siempre!”

Now in addition to the Spanish Evil, it seems that there is another group to claim the sequestration of our dear and beloved Johnny.

Newest gossip about this case:
The crew of the newsletters guys got to know some new facts about Johnny - it comes from trustable sources… First thing is that the kidnapper’s didn’t want the money anymore. They asked for money at first but now it’s FREE BEERS!!!!!!!What is the most interesting thing – the kidnappers are somehow connected with a MAGICAL number ‘18’… could it be their age? Or is it their lucky number? Who knows...?

Sailors' stories

2008-04-24T22:55:00.000-07:00

Barbara Priess, 20 years old

About voting: my view as to voting is quite similar as Veronika already said. It’s necessary to vote and every vote can be critical.
As to “Youth in Action”: I have also taken part in 2 youth exchanges. In Poland it was like this project here in Balvi – Sailors! The other one was in Bulgaria together with Veronika. I am also doing EVS here in Latvia from the same time as Veronika. Why I have chosen Latvia: In my country, Austria, the Baltic States are not really popular. As I have been already to many places in Europe, mainly in the south countries, I was curious about experiencing the Baltic states. As I heard about the EVS, I was quite impressed of the opportunity that the EU offers young people. Furthermore the idea about the EVS is great!! After the offer from Latvia to host me for 9 months here in Balvi I took the opportunity and yeah… HERE I AM =)

SDN – Which projects related with the Programme Youth in Action have you participated in? Where have been the projects? What was the project that you liked most and why?

Dorota Dobkowska

I have participated in three different projects: a Contact Making Seminar in Spain on October 2006 (Giving Life to your Patrimony); a Training Course in Portugal in February 2007 (Building European Citizenship) and in one Youth Exchange in Poland in March 2007 (Together for Co-Existence).
The Project that I prefer was the Training Course in Portugal. It was special, intensive; it had a lot of interesting activities and people from around 10 Countries of the E.U.
In this project we have done a newspaper (with information about Europe) and one activity where we had to delineate Ten Commandments that an exemplary citizen must have.

Veronika Deleželovā, 25 years old

About voting: I thought before that it wasn’t important to vote, but now I see that it’s necessary to do it. From my own experience - the first and the onliest time I have voted was when I was 24 for the local government.
About “Youth in Action”: I have attended 2 youth exchanges which took place in Serbia and Bulgaria. Right now I am doing EVS (European voluntary service) right here in Latvia, Balvi. The duration of the project is 9 month. I came here last year on December and I’m leaving at this year August. How I get to know about this opportunity to do EVS? – a good girlfriend of me told about this and I took the chance. As I see – most people join these international events because of willingness to develop their language skills, it also improves communication skills. When I am looking for projects for me it’s important that I can learn more about the exact topic. After the end of EVS I am not quite sure if I will connect my future life with projects because I am not 100% sure what is my future gonna look like.

The stars of the day

2008-04-23T14:16:00.000-07:00

Here another part of the Sailors Daily News. Shaun the Sheep did join the sailors movement!

Top European Summit Balvi

2008-04-23T07:04:00.000-07:00

Nine middle-aged Latvians, twenty-three European youngsters and one interpreter. This makes a perfect platform to talk.

Yesterday morning, the Sailors had an unique and unforgettable opportunity
to meet a group of nine local politicians from Balvi region. The summit turned
into a hot discussion, as the participants started to fire away the questions to the authorities.

During the summit, important issues like youth participation in the decision making process and personal motivation of becoming a politician were discussed. The biggest problem of young people in the region is, that they cannot find a proper paid job. That is why they are leaving to Riga or abroad.

Fruitful discussion and exchanging good practices were followed by promises made by the politicians. Let’s meet in one year in Balvi to see if the usual political talks turned into reality…

Local communities

2008-04-21T15:10:00.000-07:00

Sailors do they own Sailors Daily news. Here is a sample for you. Take a look on the article about the local community.

Two days of sailing

2008-04-21T15:07:00.000-07:00

by Nicu
“Twenty four young people are in Balvi to learn about the atractions of European citizenship”, a few days ago this could be the headline in the news. After two days being here we know the story of each other and found our common interests and values. We started sailing and in two days found land - the land of cooperation, the land of friendship, the land of original ideas. At first, maybe we were shy, maybe some were sceptical about this project, but in a short time we started being a team, a real crew. Anybody can be critical about our imperfect english, but nobody can criticise the flowing of the project which seems to be really attractive and impressive for us. We continue sailing, who knows what other amazing lands wait for us?

SECOND DAY – PEOPLE WENT CRAZY!

2008-04-21T14:53:00.000-07:00

On the second day of our criuse sailors just went crazy! It`s hard to guess in which direction we`re heading, some say that our ship will end like the Titanic, some say that they are having more fun than Hugh Hefner on his yacht. In the morning we had to cross the ocean (full of savage sharks) to reach a very special island, with an extraordinary sculpture of an unknown Soviet partisan in the middle. Eventualy everything ended well. Even the sharks turned into realy nice people.

But, if you think that we spent whole day having a party and getting tanned you`re wrong. Just after conquering the island we had to design the strategy of development for a couple of towns in different parts in Europe. Nothing special for us. After a short dinner we changed our sailors clothes into formal uniforms. That`s because we had a town council meeting in which we found a solution for decreasing the number of drug pushers (no more push, push). The Day finished with karaoke. Singing sailor`s songs all of us were thinking what other adventures we would face tommorow. The journalist team missed the karaoke (Polina, Michal and Nicu), but we heard you`re screaming anyway.

Extraordinary situation!

2008-04-21T13:24:00.000-07:00

The simulation during the community day was dedicated to the city of Ochsenburg in Austia and its local council meeting. Here you have is the article of the local jurnalists:

Extraordinary situation! Recently on the Local Council meeting some important issues were touched, the future of the whole community was under the threat. The main topic was the drug pushing in the Gothenburg city in south Austria. The invited guests were: officers Jung and Janes, Herr Toppler, Frau Niespeat, Frau Schwarzwald, Dr Warheit und Dr. Falsch, Prof Rosensteig und Prof. Silberberg, Herr Dreck, Herr Stein und Frau Streit, Frau Leidernicht und Herr Weisswasser, Frau Schultz und Herr Schwartz. The well known and one of the best local and national reporters (WE) in Austria were also invited. The first to take a part in the discussions were Police officers, they inquired for more forces to fight against the drug pushers, they scored 10 out of 30, not bad attempt at all.

During the expressive discussions, the High School director suggested to punish the junkies and the dealers by putting them in front of the class as an example... best wishes to his kids. Another wonderful and fruitful idea was to ban the teenagers to stay out after 9pm, this would surely reduce the traffic jams on the Friday nights. The whole audience were shocked when they discovered that they tried to legalize the “soft” drags, but they had no clue what did it mean. Scientists are always in front of the sheep (!!). City council and audience were also widely entertained by an ex-junkie who even didn’t know the difference between reality and being stoned. All of all, everyone had a smile upon his/her face, they got pretty much what they wanted. And they lived in happiness, probably until the death.

Herr. Sweinsteiger und Frau Bild

What does CITIZENSHIP means?

2008-04-20T14:04:00.000-07:00

Today we’ve concluded the following:
The term ’’Citizenship” originates in the idea of ”citadel” which means a community leading itself by a set of rules. The sailors explained the origins of this word and its etymology in their languages, as follows:

Cidadania (Portuguese)
Cetatenie (Romanian)
Obywatelstwo (Polish)
Allampolgarsag (Hungarian)
Pilsoniba (Latvian)
Obcanstvi (Czechs)
Bürgerschaft (German)
Burgerschap (Dutch)

We’ve found some interesting quotations on the posters that could describe better our understanding of citizenship:
“To be a citizen means to be active but not to harm others.”
“Don’t think of citizenship like a noisy insect.”
“Think of citizenship as a way to fly and reach great heights in your society.”
“Each person can change society and make it a better place.”

So, to get some more personal ideas of what citizenship means, we have interviewed Paul, Sean and Bruno:

“To me, citizenship means respect each other; it’s the feeling that you belong somewhere, to a group of people.”
Paul

“Making a positive contribution to your society.”
Sean

“Citizenship is a kind of way where all the people of the society must interfere in order to respect a moral code and where they must express their ideas and values to contribute to the development of the community.”
Bruno

So, see you tomorrow with some new ideas!

At midnight...

2008-04-20T13:53:00.000-07:00

Wake up sailors! The crew is now complete. The last sailors arrived and joined the group in order to start the engine of our Citizen Ship

Put your markers in place.. ready, steady, go... sailors drawing the map of Europe.

Sailors are having a ship race, and the winner is... Air Force 3(free), represented by Sean, our yellow “subject of the Queen’’.

The sailors also performed today, in order to reveal the main aspects of citizenship across history: Ancient times, Middle Ages, Enlightment and Modern Times.

First Group arrived in Balvi !

2008-04-19T10:46:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Balvi this day at 16:30.!!! Finally !!

Thanks to the skills of our driver, we arrived not only fast but also safely. We had dinner and after which we had our first "offical meeting", where we found out some interesting things about each other (favourite things like cartoons and pets, opinions about "the ideal president" of the European Union and what makes us laugh), we joked a lot and really had a good time together. With "arms wide open" we are expecting the second group tonight. We are anxious to meet them, to start the training , and of course we shouldn't forget about the "WELCOME PARTY" !!:D

Sailors on the CitizenShip Navigation Latvia STARTS!

2008-04-19T05:20:00.000-07:00

Ahoy,
A friendly greeting to all that came to visit the blog of our latest "cruise". Yes Sailors training has now moved to Latvia and a small town called Balvi. We will update you late every night with new news about our training and about all the fun that is going on here in Balvi. We´ll be happy to get your comments too! Keep on sailing around Europe.

Your Captains and Sailors on the CitizenShip

Polish Sail

2008-02-06T09:38:00.001-08:00

2008-02-06T09:38:00.000-08:00

sail on to Lithuania

2007-05-13T13:25:00.000-07:00

german sailing course

2007-03-10T12:19:00.000-08:00

sail to czech republik

2006-08-13T12:51:00.000-07:00