December, 10th, 2012

Dear language-of-art speakers,

 

It all started with form-filling, objectives, activity planning, budget calculation and all sorts of formal issues to accomplish. Management skills, mathematics and didactic approaches, they all turned out to be the beginning of a wonderful story.  The story of our friendship.

We first met in Lithuania. I remember the cold weather, the late autumn sky and how they were put aside by a warm team welcoming us, people from different corners of Europe.  At first, we were over-polite, eager to know each other, but rather reserved in sharing thoughts and ideas for fear of not being wrongly perceived. Fortunately, it didn’t last long. We made it from the very beginning. We overcame all barriers and started with good communication. We made plans for our further meetings and got that sense of unity and agreement on everything. No misperception, no misrepresentation, no miscommunication. It went just fine.

Then, Romania was the guest country and our team here went crazy. It’s hilarious now, but looking back to those days I realize we were so willing to make it perfect, to at least equal the visit to Lithuania (though it was no competition involved)… We were constantly feeling that it was not ok the way we planned the meeting, that we could improve things here and there, that some of us even cried with anger or exhaustion.  But, it was great! It really was. I saw success especially at the end of our friends’ visit, when children who met for the first time were crying before leaving – they were hugging each other as warmly as lifelong friends do.

There were other meetings, there will be some more. New friends to come. A story to continue….

I met my friends again in Turkey.  I was longing for the language of art. I realized I had missed them all and I had the feeling, that I still keep with me, that we truly are friends. We had kept in touch. However, when we met we started asking about family, colleagues and everyone else missing the event. We were happy to hear from and about everybody.  It was so enjoyable!

Now, I can hardly wait for our January meeting.  I’m nervous, I’m thrilled and I am sure that we all feel the same. Because we already have a story that we share and there is more to come. We no more speak the language of art solely, but the language of friendship.

See you soon!

All the best,

Cezarina