Protocol of the meeting
Sunday, October 2nd: Arrival of the teachers and students
from Latvia, Sweden and Iceland. The Danish guestparents awaited the students at
the railway station in Ribe and took them to their new home for the next seven
days. The teachers were welcomed by the Danish coordinator Annemette and went to
the apartment vacation center Ribe Byferie. The group from Estonia had arrived
earlier that day.
Monday, October 3rd: Meeting in Ribe, Katedralskolen. Welcome by the
headmaster Bent Karsdal. The students participate in classes the whole day.
Annemette showed the teachers around the historical school building. The school
dates back to 1145 and the oldest parts of the building are from 16. century. A
newly constructed multifunction hall Salen connects older parts of the school
and integrates well into the historical
surrounding.
First meeting at 10:30 am.
Attending teachers Annemette Vestergaard Witt from Ribe Katedralskolen, Denmark,
Aino Kreitsman and Jüri Kaugerand from Paide Gymnasium, Estonia, Anita Ierike
and Liene Turka from Saldus Gimnazija, Latvia, Patrik Roddar and Fanny
Hellerstedt from Gångsätra Gymnasium, Sweden, and Helmut Hinrichsen and Úlfar
Snær Arnarson from Fjölbrautaskólinn við Ármúla, Iceland. Aino was asked to be
chairman of the meeting. Annemette went over the program for the week and
explained the activities. Helmut explained the objectives and priorities of the
project. The participants exchanged ideas and discussed possible activities. A
break was made to visit the new observatory of the school leaded by Morten
Høyrup, physic teacher of the school. Lunch break at
school.
Second meeting at 1:00 pm.
Helmut continued his presentation and underlined that the students make the work
in English, but not in their mother tongue. The idea is to establish one webpage
for the project with links to the webpages from the participating schools. The
students from the guest school should be involved in planning the activities of
the visits.
The group discussed possible
activities inside the project. Many ideas were mentioned, i.e. the effect of
global warming on the environment and outdoor activities. The conclusion was
that each school should decide themselves on activities that fit in the school
curriculum.
The next meeting was decided
to take place April 15th
to 21st in Estonia.
Helmut explained the finances
of the project. Expenses are paid for travel cost of teachers and students as
well as boarding and lodging cost of the teachers. There is a lump sum estimated
for each country. By saving travel cost we can use the money for other expenses
like excursions etc.
Úlfar Snær gave a presentation
on the “Outdoor Activities”class in Fjölbrautaskólinn við Ármúla. It was decided
that by December 1stthe
participating schools should send ideas about possible activities as part of the
project. Aino closed the meeting at 3.30
pm.
Visit in the evening at the
home of Helle Hvitved, teacher of mathematics and biology. Ending the evening by
playing and singing folksongs from the participating
countries.
Tuesday, October 4th: Excursion with students and teachers to Draved
Skov, Gram lergrav and the heather lands of
Jutland.
Teachers and students met at 8 am at the railway
station in Ribe equipped with Wellington boots and raincoats. We drove by bus to
Draved Skov, where a guide awaited us to lead us to the secrets of the natural
forest. Those who had forgotten their Wellington boots ended up with wet
feet.
With its 250 ha Draved Skov is Denmark's largest continuous natural
forest. The forest has areas of oak mixed forest which can be dated back to the
Stone Age. Here attempts have been made with the slash-and-burn method of the
Stone Age. In the Middle Ages the forest belonged to Løgum Monastery and later
on to the Crown and the State. In 1948 large areas were put under protection,
and in 2000 the whole forest was laid out as untouched natural forest.
From Draved Skov we drove to Gram lergrav, museum
of paleontology and clay pit, where whale sceletons and other fossils have been
found. After a visit of the museum the group had opportunity to dig in the clay
pit and search for fossils themselves. The Gram Clay as a "burial-ground of
whales" is interpreted as a deposit of a marine bay with moderately deep water,
about 50-100m. Despite hard digging no whales were discovered this
time.
On the way back to Ribe we passed the heather
lands of South Jutland which former covered most of the
region.
Back in Ribe the students went home to their
guest parents.
The teachers met at 6 pm at the home of Hanne Skalborg Jensen,
teacher of biology and chemistry, to watch the “Black sun”, huge flocks of
starlings forming just before sunset a tight sphere-like formation in flight
often attracking birds of prey. The starlings did not disappoint us and for most
of us it was a once in a live
experience.
Wednesday, October 5th: Again we met at 8 am, this time with bicycles which
we either could borrow from the guest families or were rented. Teachers and
students cycled from Ribe following a small county road to the dyke, which
protects the farmland from the Wadden sea. Along the dyke we continued to the
Wadden Sea Center. We learned about the Wadden Sea National Park, its fauna and
flora and watched a movie about storm surges, which have cost many lives in the
history of Jutland.
Highlight of the day was an excursion by tractor
to the island Mandø, driving at low tide over the bottom of the sea. In Mandø
the group was guided into the Wadden Sea, where we looked for fauna and flora
and the braveones could taste shrimp and oyster alive. From the Wadden Sea
Center we cycled another county road back to Ribe.
Thursday, October 6th:
This
day was dedicated to Ribe and its history. We started with a visit
to the Art Museum. The museum is housed in a stately villa, build 1860-64 at the
shore of the Ribe River. Its collection consists of masterpieces from artists
from all the major eras in Danish painting. The group was guided by a former
history teacher of Ribe Katedralskole, who made the paintings with his personal
description coming alive.
Next on the program was a
GPS-tour around Ribe. The tour started at the Tourist Office, where we got GPS
and a map of the town and were sent out to find different places of interest and
historical buildings in the old center of Ribe. One of the places to visit was
the Cathedral founded in 1145. The chancel is surrounded by colorful stained
glass mosaics with fantasy figures by the modern artist Carl Henning Pedersen
which are in stark contrast to the historic nature of the building. Thanks to
the GPS we all found our way back to the Tourist
Office.
In the afternoon we visited
the Viking Museum in Ribe. Ribe is the oldest town in Denmark, established in
the first decade of the 8th century. We followed the footsteps of the first
Viking settlers up to Middle Ages.
In the evening a party was organized with
students and teachers at the Ribe Katedralskole. Everybody came with some food
and the buffet never seemed to get emptied. Students from each country had
prepared a sketch, song or game to put up on stage. The teachers proved their
talent with a folkdance they had only one evening to practice. A wonderful good
bye party for the Swedish group, who had to leave early next
morning.
Friday, October 7th: The Swedish group left early in the morning. For the
other participants it was a day off. Some spent the day in Ribe and attended
classes at the Ribe Katedralskole, others went by train to visit
Esbjerg.
In the evening the teachers met at Annemette’s
home for dinner and visited the Ribe Viking Center, a reconstruction of Ribe
from the time of the first Viking
settlers.
Saturday, October 8th: Departure of the participants from Estonia, Iceland
and Latvia. Guest parents and students wished good bye at the railway station,
not without some tears running.