Dwarf workshop
Text and photos: Nicoleta Oprea
We celebrated on Saturday, at school, with a big and small celebration, the Day of the Iei.
Dressed in beautiful traditional costumes, our dwarves learned about the Romanian costume, the beauty of singing and playing folk games.We all gathered in a horde and danced "Alunelul" and "Dear Romanian game".
For the creative part, the children were given a sheet with a little girl and a little boy dressed in folk costumes, which they decorated with specific motifs.The hour was full of games and we practiced various activities that were to the children's liking, so we went home with the joy of having participated in a celebration.
Romanian language and culture
Text and photos: Cătălina Robu
"How little is the big holiday/and how I've missed it."
Remember Corina Chiriac and the song of our childhood? In the bus that took us to the 'Romanian Days' in De Hoge Veluwe park, Romanian was sung, children and grown-ups together.
Personally, I missed a coach trip terribly and I was very happy when the Romanian school in The Hague proposed to go on this trip together. It was one of their first school trips for the little ones and, although they were a bit tired at the end, we say it was well worth the experience.After devouring the sandwiches at home, holding hands, we went to the Kröller-Müller museum. We turned the visit into a game, riddles and photo sessions with the paintings, taking care to respect the rules of the museum and not to disturb the other guests.Walking in a line, with many breaks that we all know are the key to success, we set off to the location of the Romanian Days. We couldn't get lost because from afar we were greeted with live folk music and an intoxicating smell of barbecue. But first we burned some energy at a beautiful playground in the middle of the forest.The Rompro stand offered us accommodation and engaged us in a colouring contest of folk costume sheets. A welcome break as the little ones were a bit tired. Slagerij Luca, whom we thank for his help, offered us small and grilled sausages. I don't know how time flew by, but somehow, after another play session, we were back in the coach, watching Tom & Jerry, some of us, as others fell over with fatigue. Whole, tired and dusty we returned to Amsterdam where our parents were waiting for us excitedly. We said goodbye to the cute school kids in The Hague and wished each other "See you next time!".
Play, personal development and photography
Text and photos by Raluca Tudorache
Our trip on Saturday 23 June was a great, beautiful and frothy adventure.
Arriving at the Kröller-Müller museum we realised how much we had to explore. We tried to hang out with all the other kids, but our curiosity was higher and our interest in art slightly different. So I together with the children of the Play Workshop went on a special exploration of the works in the museum.We talked to the children about some very important artists in the museum, including Brâncuși, we went back to notions we talked about in the past such as realist art, abstract art, then about some trends: impressionism, expressionism and futurism, about sculpture and installations. We compared the artists with each other, we looked at how the weather is represented in the paintings of the great impressionist-pointillists, how feelings are represented in the phovisists and ideas in the futurists. We talked about abstract art and Brâncuși's ideal forms.
We saw a large collection of Van Gogh's paintings and explained why he used the colours he did, about the characters in his paintings, his turbulent but magical life and other symbols. We detected subtle details in his countryside landscapes and enjoyed seeing early images of Holland from about a hundred and a bit years ago.
We had a welcome snack on the grass in front of the museum and then headed on to the Hoge Veluwe National Park, where the smoke of Romanian barbecues was already rising over the park like a rain cloud and where the bouncy hum of the music of the region came from.After relaxing at the playground, the children prepared to taste some typical Romanian food and happily moved on to the second course: the sausage and the promised small. Puff pastries, almonds, lemonade and climbing trees with full bellies followed. And last but not least a bit of Horezu pottery, which again made us late for the coach. But what would a trip be like without any cloud-headed or adventurous stragglers?
All in all, we returned home with sand in our shoes, dusty, tired but with many good memories...
