1st LTTA in Spain

This is a summary video of our 1st Learning, Teaching, Training Activity in Spain, Murcia.

1st day The topic of this meeting is to learn about the ecological footprint and the recicling. The hungarian group (2 girls, 2 boys and 3 accompanying people) traveled on Sunday to Alicante. We landed at 14:35 at the airport, where a minibus waited for us. The driver took us to the hotel in Murcia. We left the luggages at the reception and went to have lunch. One of the neearest pizzeria was very good, mainly the pizza with 4 different type of cheese. After the lunch we discovered the city. Found some interesteing plants, trees ans nice buildings. In the evening we meet Mamen from Spain and the romanian and polish team, and we had a common dinner together. We visited the catedral also. It was beautiful.

2nd day Today we started at 8. After breakfast the bus waited for us and took us tot he school. There teh whole school waited for us. 33 foreign people arrived tot he small school where 12 year old students are the oldest. The childre from the kindergarten welcome us with small flags decoreted by them. After the opening ceremony the students played icebreking games.

Until that time the parents prepared a lot of special spanish and maroccian foof and invited us to taste them. After the short second breakfast the students presendted their schools, towns, countries. After the presentations they gave some presents to eachother. At the evening at 5 we were invited for a city tour and met the major of the city. After the tourgide we could participate on a flamenco dancing lesson at the Art school. It was amazing to see, how the pupils learn to dance the traditional dances. After the dencing we walked to the „La casa vieja” have the traditional spanish dinner. It was about 6 main course, a lot of food. And we have time to talk a lot with our partners.

3rd day Today was about deepening ecofootprint knowledge. First we walked to the nearby playground where the world map was painted. Here we read various statements from everyday life, and if the statement was true, we put a black dot on our country. Ex .: - I go to school or work every day by car - I use a hair spray - I leave the tap open while brushing my teeth - I use a promotional bag when I go shopping - I eat meat more than 2 times a week - etc. These are all things that increase an individual's eco-footprint (adverse impact on nature) Unfortunately, by the end of the task the map had become quite polluted throughout Europe. The students then went on to discuss in groups and try to come up with solutions to reduce the carbon footprint. There was a great basketball game between home and away students during the break between tasks. Then an association for mentally handicapped people came to the school who helped us make clay balls containing the seeds, which we then scattered around the wilderness to help more plants grow in the area. The composition of the mixture: 2 cups of crushed clay, 1 cup of soil, 1 cup of water and some grass seeds, thyme seeds and kneading the ball. When the paste is ready, it is formed into a ball, kneaded into the center of any vegetable seed and disposed of anywhere after drying. Rain or some dew in the morning triggers the seed hidden in the ball to develop. Today, students voted to select the best logo. The winner is a logo made by Turkish students, so this will be used as the official logo of the project. After that we had lunch and set out to learn about the living conditions of the children at school. The school is attended mainly by children of immigrant families from Morocco. During the visit, we identified 6 associations that work to help these people integrate. They teach Spanish and Arabic to women, men and children. At school, teaching usually ends at 2:00 pm, but students continue to work in the surrounding clubs. Like ours, these associations work with volunteers and help parents and students. After the visits, the family of one of the children participating in the project, welcomed the representatives of the countries to their homes. Thank you very much to the school management for organizing this meeting and allowing us to gain an insight into the daily lives of these families. Thank you for the warm welcome of the families, their hospitality and the delicious food and pastries that served us.

4th day The programme was to visit the Mar meron and walking around the Salinas de San Pedro and the learn about the natural place. The Salinas and Arenales of San Pedro del Pinatar are a Protected Natural Area of ​​the Region of Murcia . It is a wetland with sandy areas located in the northern part of the Mar Menor. Inside the protected area there is a port and some salinas in operation. In summer its beaches are quite crowded, there is a tradition in mud baths. Here we can find the biggest salted lake in Europe. Open spaces and islands of the Mar Menor is a protected landscape that includes its five islands of volcanic origin: the Perdiguera, the Mayor or Barón, the Deer, the Round and the Subject. We walked aroun 10 or 12 km on the seeside and talked about the pollutions and the reasen of these pollution. We learnd about the effects of these pollutions for the nature . At the end of the day we watched the sunset together.

5th day In Murcia Today we visited the Las Fuentes de Columbares to learn about the recycling and the selective waste. The way was beautiful to the place where the students have the activities. Around us were mandarin, lemon, figs, lime, granate trees, palm and olive trees. It was a wonderful trip, but the school activities were the best. Mamen devided us for 3 groups and we could try 3 different types of activities. We learnt flamenco dance, break dance and painted the project logo on the school wall. Finaly we started to teach eachothers our national dances. It was a very good afternoon. I think that the students today started to socialize and they talked to each other the most.

6th day In Murcia Today we started with physical activities and teachers meeting. We talked about the next meeting and the most important dates, task. We decided to use dropbox to collect the project materials, to follow up the process of the project. After the warm up excersizes we organized a farewell party for kids. They danced together eachother folkdances. After that we gave them the certificates about the 1st LTTA. They evaluated the meeting and we came back to the hotel. After lunch we had a freetime for shopping and the last siesta. In the evening we had a farewell dinner together nad say goodby for eachother. The coordinator invited everyone to Hungary for the next meeting. It was touching that by now the emotional bonds between older and younger students had developed, which were difficult to separate now. No wonder many students said goodbye, crying.