All about our young journalists!

The students participating in the project presented themselves in the padlet below:

https://padlet.com/elenikoloni/all-about-our-journalists-7qcw65l7ofo5sdby 

Christmas & New Year's in Greece

 Christmas & New Year's in Greece

Christmas

The celebration of Christmas for many nations includes setting up and lighting the Christmas tree, hanging Christmas wreaths, Christmas decorations, candies and creating the Nativity scene depicting the birth of Jesus Christ. Christmas carols are sung and stories are told about baby Jesus, Saint Nicholas, Santa Claus and Father Christmas. Also, at Christmas, there is the exchange of Christmas cards and the exchange of gifts.

Volos City , Christmas decorations

Nativity scene

New Year's Day

On New Year's Day, most housewives make “Vasilopita”, a cake in which they put a coin. After the head of the house takes out a piece for Christ, the Virgin Mary and Saint Basil, the family members take their own piece and search for this coin. Whoever wins the coin is lucky for the whole year.

Vasilopita

Also, the householder carries a stone into the house saying: " Let my house be as strong as this stone."

by Panagiotis

Christmas & New Year's in Romania

 Christmas & New Year's in Romania

Events that happen on Christmas and New Year in the city we live

We, Romanians, like to keep our traditions, identity and ancestry. And we do have a lot of traditions and celebrations.

One of them and the most loved among Romanians who live in the countryside but not only is “colindatul”, a kind of “trick or treat”. It is similar to the trick or treat on Halloween, except that it takes place during Christmas time. Kids and teenagers go around the city and sing Christmas carols to other people and they receive bagels, fruit like apples or oranges, sweets and even money. They are usually dressed in traditional Romanian clothes.

Another Christmas custom that we celebrate in our city is “Steaua”. Between Christmas and 6th of January children all over Romania make an ornament that looks like a big star and they sing to other people special carols that bring the news of Jesus being born, called “Steaua sus rasare”, „În oraşul Vitleem”; „Trei crai de la răsărit”. You can usually see groups of children aged 7- 14 doing this, but grown-ups like to sing these carols too.

“Sorcova” is another custom celebrated in our city and not only in the first day of the new year. Children buy a colorful ornament which looks like in the picture below and they sing a special carol while touching the head or the shoulders of the person they are singing to. 

The short version of Sorcova goes like this:

“ Sorcova, vesela,

Să trăiţi, să-mbătrâniţi:

Ca un măr, ca un păr,

Ca un fir de trandafir.

Tare ca piatra,

Iute ca săgeata.

Tare ca fierul,

Iute ca oţelul.

La anul si la multi ani!” 

by Ana Maria , Lucian and Giulia

🟊🟊🟊🟊🟊

Nowadays, everyone can't wait to decorate the tree; this custom takes place on Christmas Eve or Christmas night, when Santa Claus brings, in addition to gifts, the tree beautifully decorated with globes and tinsel. A very well-known custom is caroling.

Here are some examples :

1.The Rising Star

2. A Beautiful Fir Tree

3. Santa Claus With Blonde Hair

In Romania we have some special winter food.Some examples are:

1.Polenta

2. Cabbage rolls

3.Smoked pork hock

4.The GingerBread is a popular dessert in Romania

                                                                 

                                                    🟊🟊🟊🟊🟊

What do we do?

-we decorate the Christmas tree

-we prepare traditional food like: stuffed cabbage with meat and rice, soup, stuffed eggs

-we go to church

-we listen to carols

-we eat sweets like candy canes and chocolate

-we go caroling

-we wait for Santa Clause to arrive

On Christmas Day we open presents, we go to church and we have a meal at the table with the whole family.

For New Years` Eve we prepare food with our mothers, we clean the house.

On New Years` Eve we celebrate with our families and friends, we open champagne and we stay up late to watch the fireworks.

by Robert, Alina, Alessia , Daria,Gbariel

Christmas & New Year's In Turkey

 

by Elanur, Erhan,Emrecan, Efe,Tuana,Zeynep  

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                                                                                                           by Utku Ela Ecrin

       ☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Things We Do at New Year's

New Year's Eve is the night that connects 31 December to 1 January. It usually celebrated with fireworks at midnight, starting the New Year. There are some things we do on New Year’s Eve in Turkey. 

For example, making a New Year's Eve raffle is one of the sine qua non. We write the names of the participants in the raffle on small pieces of paper and then everyone draws a piece of paper and reads the name of the person they drew.

On New Year’s Eve, everyone gets a gift for the person they drew and gives her/him his/her gift. On New Year’s Day, of course, we decorate our house. Another thing that we do is make special foods.

                                    

On New Year’s Eve we make some special food and eat with family members, friends or relatives. After dinner we watch a television program with our family members. We have a superstition about the new year, how you enter the new year, the whole year passes like this. We count down 1 minute before New Year. After we enter to New Year we play bingo or board games. Some people at New Year’s Eve don’t prefer sleep early, they have a good time with their family or friends all night.

by Süleyman

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HAPPY NEW YEAR

Most people countdown at the beginning of each year. Turkish people do not celebrate Christmas. Turkish people often play bingo or other games. Christians usually celebrate Christmas by eating or dancing. All year blasting fireworks at 00:00. Some people watch a TV Show. Everybody gives gifts to each other.

See you next time!

by Furkan-İnanç-Eylül

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HOW IS CHRISTMAS CELEBRATED IN TURKEY?¿

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Christmas is a secular holiday and it is not forbidden for Turks to celebrate it.

In Turkey, New Year is celebrated on the January 31st,as in many countries.By the way,it's a public holiday in Turkey since January 1,1981.Many people in Turkey also decorate their Christmas trees and decorate the house for New Year's celebration.

However,Since this holiday is not originally in Turkish,it is widely celebrated in big cities ,especially in Istanbul, Antalya and Izmir.The New Year is also celebrated in cities where many visitors live,such as Alanya,In big cities,people room the streets on a festive January evening , pop stars have concerts, the streets and shops are decorated with wreaths , Christmas trees are planted in the squares. At this time,many foreignets come to turkey to celebrate the New Year.That's why all events are mainly designed for them.

However ,Turkey already has traditions of celebrating the New Year.This holiday is considered a family holiday ,so all close people try to get together, congratulate each other .The New Year's table is always rich and plentful! Traditional dishes such as kebabs,meatballs,cut,fruits and deserts are prepared.Main Course stuffed turkey,They try to cook it in all families where they celebrate the New Year.

In a word ,the New Year in Turkey is not much different from the usual european and russain celebrations.This is a fun event where people prepare in advance ,believing and waiting that the New Year will definitely be better than the previous one!

by Açelya,Naz and Zehra :)

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Christmas

  

Christmas in Turkey is celebrating as new year. We give gifts each other in that day and after Christmas day, schools are closed for one or two weeks.

     

It is celebrate once a year. People decorate their houses with socks and buy a christmas tree. Family Dinner:For many Turks, New Year' Eve is a time to spend with family and close friends, and a delicious meal is always a welcome part of any holiday celebration, especially on New Year's Eve.

Tombola: Tombola is a popular game played on New Year's. Eve in Turkey. It's similar to bingo, and it's a great way to spend a time with family and friends in New Year.

TV Coverage: Family members usually gather in front of the TV and wait for the countdown while watching TV. All the major channels have special programming and there are often live performances from some of Turkey's biggest celebrities.

by Ayşe -Incş -Efe- Evin- Heja -Kaya -Noyan- Ahmadi

☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆☆

Our holiday activities in Antalya, Turkey

MY HOLIDAY ACTIVITIES

On New Year's holiday , we decorate our houses because we love to celebrate .I play bingo game and other games with our friends.We listen to the music and sing a song. We watch a movie.We feel happy and peaceful.We buy presents each other.We spend time with our family.We, as Turkish people,have special festivals.We visit our grannies and we cook delicious meals like Baklava and Borek :) Some of us go on holiday and stay in a hotel.

by Abdil, Arda, Aybüke, Hira, Nisa

MY COUNTRY : GREECE

 MY COUNTRY : GREECE

Greece is a country in south-eastern Europe. It shares land with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north and Turkey to the northeast.Greece has nine regions and a population of about 10 million people.Athens is the capital of the country and the largest city, followed by Thessaloniki and Patras.

Athens

Thessaloniki

The official language of Greece is Greek, spoken by 99% of the population.The most common foreign languages learnt are English, German, French and Italian. Greece is a beautiful place to visit. It has lots of different geographical features. The highest mountain,Mount Olympus is 2,919 metres high. It is one of the highest mountains in Europe.

Mount Olympus

There are also a lot of natural lakes, like Lake Amvrakia in Central Greece, Kournas Lake in Crete and Lake Stymphalia in Peloponnese. There are also artificial lakes, like Kerkini Lake in Macedonia, Plastiras Lake in Thessaly and Zaros Lake in Crete. 

Zaros Lake

Kerkini Lake

Greece is a wonderful place to visit any time of the year!

by Iliana

MY CITY ANKARA

 MY CITY ANKARA

by Enes, Zeynep,Ecrin,Mazin,Ahmet, Kübra

EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES: SCHOOL CLUBS

 EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES: SCHOOL CLUBS

Our school ,Kağıthane Final Okulları, has many clubs. We have a music club, Korean speaking club and art club. Art clubs are marbling art club and acrylic club. Music clubs are violin club, guitar club and piano club. Clubs are very funny and educational. We played volleyball match then we lost it.

by Sunum-Ayberk-Ikra-Emre-Yusuf

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At our school clubs,you can learn a lot of things. Our school clubs have Art , Technology ,Music, Gymnastics and P.E. lessons .Art ,Technology and Music are on weekdays. Gymnastics and P.E are at weekends. Sometimes technology lessons are at weekends.

by Emir Kağan Münür Azra

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by Duru,Yağmur Lia, Bora Çınar

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CLUBS OF KAĞITHANE FİNAL 

SECONDARY SCHOOL

We have different courses in our school . At our school, we can attend some foreign language courses, such as English and Korean on Saturdays.

We have courses, such as football ,volleyball, basketball ,swimming

Our school has an information technology course for primary school students.

by Sıla , Ege İsmail , Defne

MY FAVOURITE BOOK

 MY FAVOURITE BOOK

by Beyza, Buğlem , Elif ada , Cemre , Deniz

RECIPES AROUND EUROPE: ROMANIA

 RECIPES AROUND EUROPE: ROMANIA

Romanian cuisine is a diverse blend of different dishes from several traditions with which it has come into contact, but it also maintains its own character. It has been mainly influenced by Turkish and a series of European cuisines in particular from the Balkans, or Hungarian cuisine as well as culinary elements stemming from the cuisines of Central Europe.

Romanian cuisine includes numerous holiday dishes arranged according to the mentioned season and holiday since the country has its roots in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Romanian dishes consist of vegetables, cereals, fruits, honey, milk, dairy products, meat and game.

Multiple different types of dishes are available, which are sometimes included under a generic term; for example, the category ciorbă includes a wide range of soups with a characteristic sour taste. Variations include meat and vegetable soup, tripe (ciorbă de burtă) and calf foot soup, or fish soup, all of which are soured by lemon juice, sauerkraut juice (zeamă de varză), vinegar, or borș (traditionally made from bran). The category țuică (plum brandy) is a name for a strong alcoholic spirit in Romania.

Romanian recipes bear the same influences as the rest of Romanian culture. The Turks brought meatballs (perișoare in a meatball soup), from the Greeks there is musaca, from the Austrians there is the șnițel, and the list continues. The Romanians share many foods with the Balkan area and former Austria-Hungary. Some others are original or can be traced to the Romans, as well as other ancient civilizations. The lack of written sources in Eastern Europe makes it impossible to determine today the exact origin for most of them.

One of the most common meals is the mămăligă, the precursor of polenta, served on its own or as an accompaniment. Pork is the main meat used in Romanian cuisine, but also beef is consumed and a good lamb or fish dish is never to be refused.

Before Christmas, on December 20 (Ignat's Day or Ignatul in Romanian), a pig is traditionally sacrificed by every rural family. 

A variety of foods for Christmas are prepared from the slaughtered pig, such as:

• Cârnați – garlicky pork sausages, which may be smoked or dry-cured;
• Lebăr – an emulsified sausage based on liver with the consistency of the filling ranging from fine (pâté) to coarse;
• Sângerete (black pudding) – an emulsified sausage obtained from a mixture of pig's blood with fat and meat, breadcrumbs or other grains, and spices;
• Tobă (head cheese) – based on pig's feet, ears, and meat from the head suspended in aspic and stuffed in the pig's stomach;

• Tochitură is a stew made with pork, smoked and fresh sausage simmered in a tomato sauce and served with mămăligă and wine. There are many variations of this stew throughout Romania, with some versions combining different meats, including chicken, lamb, beef, pork and sometimes even offal;
• Pomana porcului is made of pan-fried cubed pork served right after the pig's sacrifice to thank the relatives and friends who helped with the process;
• Piftie or răcitură in Romanian is the inferior parts of the pig, mainly the tail, feet, and ears, spiced with garlic and served in aspic;
• Jumări is dried pork remaining from rendering of the fat and tumbled through various spices
• Sarmale (or Romanian cabbage rolls) is a favourite dish for many people and it is always on our Christmas table. It is made of minced meat mixed with other ingredients (such as rice, onion, pepper, salt, green herbs). The meat is put in sour cabbage rolls and then boiled in water and tomato sauce.

The Christmas meal is sweetened with the traditional cozonac, a sweet bread made with nuts, poppy seeds, or rahat (Turkish delight).

by David , Antonia , Gabriel