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My Dear Diary,

I left Helsinki on Monday morning, March 9th 2015. In Finland the bear is the most important animal. Everywhere you can find statues of bears. You can see me at the airport in Helsinki with my Finnish fellows.

At Vallila Primary School in Helsinki I met my friends, the teddies from the other countries in our partnership. It was nice meeting them all: Otso, Boribon, Tobias, Martinel, Paddy, Miss Lea, and sharing all our experiences and memories.

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I couldn’t see the films or photo stories of their adventures in the countries they had visited because they were not shown at the opening ceremony. But while we stayed together for a few days in the teachers’ room, the other teddies told me what happened in the countries they had visited. When I arrived at Sibiu International Airport it was midnight and the weather was very cold and I couldn’t see much of it. I was told that I would come here again for a visit. The next day, on 10th March, I went to my new school. The pupils were waiting for me and I had a very warm welcome. It was a long list of those who wanted to invite me at their place. It was nice to see that they all wanted to make friends with me and know more about the Danish culture, and my school at home.

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The children wanted to see what I was carrying in my luggage and they all wanted to find out more things about Denmark, Copenhagen and Maglegaardsskolen.

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Visit at The Museum of Hunting

The first weekend after I arrived, I went with Tudor, a boy in class 5A, to the “Museum of Hunting”. This Museum is named after one of the important personalities of the city of Sibiu in the late 19th and the early 20th centuries: Colonel August von Spiess, the Keeper of the Royal Hunting under the King Ferdinand I of Romania.

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The collection comprises about 1600 items. The exhibition begins by a short history of arms and tools used in the process of hunting, starting in the Stone Age. I saw my relative, the Carpathian brown bear. It was very big!

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The Museum courtyard in the back of the building was arranged to serve as a relaxation open space for the visitors and a proper environment for ecological education of children as it hosts many species of plants, a dog, fishes and a tortoise.

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Basketball Workout

Ciprian , another boy from class 5 A, took me to a basketball workout. He plays for CSU Sibiu, a Romanian professional basketball club, based in Sibiu. When Otso was in Sibiu, Ciprian and his brother Florin took him to play basketball, too. I learned a lot about basketball and enjoyed the workout.

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5 days to learn in a different way to be the best!

For several years, at the beginning of April, in all Romanian schools, for 5 days the pupils have no school but a programme with workshops, storytelling, trips, visit at museums, games and many other activities. On this occasion, class 5 A went to visit Sibiu International Airport. I joined the visit because when I arrived it was night and I couldn’t see anything. We had the opportunity to simulate a check-in and passed through the passport control. We went by a special bus on the runway and it was exciting to see the lights of the airport lit just for us.

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At the end of the visit the children and I met the famous FC Steaua Bucharest and we took a picture. This football team is the one which won The European Football Cup, the Champions League in 1986.

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Easter in Romania

The Romanians are most of them Eastern Greek Orthodox and they spent Easter a week after my fellow countrymen in Denmark.

As the children in Romania had the spring holiday at Easter, I went to spend it with Stefania and Raluca from the same class 5 A. In Romania at Easter the tradition says they have to dye the Easter eggs. The most beautiful Easter eggs are made in a region of Romania called Bucovina. The eggs made there are called “oua incondeiate” (painted eggs). After painting the egg, the technique is to keep the background colour of the egg and draw beautiful patterns on the eggshell with melted beeswax. It’s healthier to dye the eggs with onion skins.

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On Easter morning they use to eat the Easter eggs with sweet bread. They knock the eggs and one person says: “Jesus has risen” and the other one must answer: “He has risen indeed”. I knocked Easter eggs with Stefania and her brother Sergiu, a very friendly boy from Reception Class A.

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I spent the next days at Raluca’s place and played with her and with her pets: a dog and a duck. We also had lots of fun singing and playing the keyboard.

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A Playground Near School

After school, Antonia, a girl from class 3 A, took me for a walk in the park. We had a great time together. There is a playground near school where children who live in the neighbourhood come here. Children are very interested here in skipping, playing on seesaws, slides, going on swings. There is also an adventure area where you can climb monkey bars. It was a lovely spring day and we enjoyed the whole afternoon and tried all playground equipment. Then we played hide-and-seek.

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It’s Finally Spring!

After a very long cold season, spring came with sunny weather and warm temperatures and made all the children happy to play outside. I went with class 6A in the school garden to admire the trees in blossom.

At breaks the children used to play with me. Just for fun I borrowed Raluca’s glasses to look smarter.

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Rehersing for the Closing Ceremony

The pupils from School No.13 were preparing a performance for the last project meeting which was going to be held in May at Sibiu, so I joined in trying to play the guitar or sing with the girls from class 7 A:Eveline,Izabel,Antonia and Sabina. But it was not easy at all.

For the ceremony, the pupils from class 5 A were preparing two stories from Roald Dahl’s “Revolting Rhymes”:”The Red Riding Hood and the Wolf” and “The Three Little

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Pigs”. I really enjoyed these stories, the old fairy tales but with a twist. I took the role of the theatre director and oversee the rehearsals.

During my stay at school I took part in lots of different lessons and activities. I was happy to work with all classes and I learnt a lot about education and the Romanian culture and spirit.

Maths at class 2A

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Working with the children on project activities with class 2A.

Art &craft lesson at class 2A

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Skype Session

My stay in Sibiu was about to finish. We had the last Skype session with my colleagues at Maglegaardsskolen. Unfortunately we had sound problems and we couldn’t hear very well but it was good because we saw each other.

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May Day Holiday

Tudor and his sister Teodora took me for the May Day holiday in the country at their grandparents’. We enjoyed together the fresh air of the mountains which surrounded Sibiu. We ate together, played, walked and enjoyed these three days far from the noise of the city. The weather was so good that we went to the south of Romania to the Danube River.

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One last hug before leaving

Sadly I had to say good bye to all my Romanian friends and I appreciate their hospitability and friendship. I have been travelling for about two years and stayed in 6 countries and gathered a bag full of enjoyable memories from all of them. But all good things come to an end, they say, and so does my travelling and discoveries.

Thank you for everything! Maybe one day we will meet again! GOOD BYE!