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Dracula Bookmarks
Targoviste - between myth and reality
Centuries ago, Vlad Tepes, a Romanian prince, became well known in Europe because of his bloody habit, impaling. For this reason, people called him Vlad the Impaler. One of the favourite cities to express this bloody wish, was Targoviste. That’s why, Vlad the Impaler has been associated with Dracula, and Targoviste as one of Dracula’s house.
How does it look Targoviste nowadays?
A very quiet town, the only army that makes noise is for the celebration of the town.
Αιώνες πριν, γράφουν οι Ρουμάνοι συνεργάτες μας, ένας αιμοσταγής ηγεμόνας της Βλαχίας, ο Βλαντ Τέπες, ήταν διαβόητος στην Ευρώπη για τη συνήθειά του να ανασκολοπίζει τους εχθρούς του. Ένα από τα κάστρα του, το κάστρο του Δράκουλα βρίσκεται στην πόλη μας, Ταργκοβίστε, σήμερα μια ήσυχη επαρχιακή πόλη. Ο μόνος στρατός που παρελαύνει είναι οι κάτοικοι κατά τις τοπικές γιορτές.
A feedback from Medeea Secretariat
eTwinning conference
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Romanian corner in a Greek school
We were pleased to recall our collaboration with the Targoviste Reading Group today. Anastasia come from London to the library to interview us for her PhD on Web2 tools. All the team gathered and evaluated their work a year after it finished. We really enjoyed the common spirit and the new things we learnt. We are especially proud for the media recognition by a Greek newspaper and a TV channel. Most of all, we hold fond memories of our friendship with the Romanian girls and their teacher, ms Carmen Radulescu. May we all meet in person one day!
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
BOOK CHARADES
Saying goodbye today was made easier by playing the Library Angel. He whispered the answers to the student's questions through the wisdom of the books. Indeed, Aris opened "On the road" by Jack Kerouak only to read an excerpt containing "Catalina", which, spelt "Katalina" one of our twinner's name!
Since only one team had sound, we then decided to play charades. That really was fun, especially after an exam day, which accounts for the poor turn-up of the Greek team. But the boys did well, and the teams were once again in harmony. The Library wishes them both all the best in their lives and studies. It was an unforgettable partnership!
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
WAITING FOR Mr MENIS KOUMANDAREAS
In a few hours we are meeting a famous author in the Greek Libary, the multi-prized mr Menis Koumandareas. As we did our "homework" for his visit, we came across a story within a story, about a Romanian youth. Constantinos translated the excerpt in eglish with the help of his friend Panos: “There is something about him” he confessed, “something that one can’t find in kids of his age, especially Greek kids. Somehow, great capital as Bucharest once was in the turn of the century, it might have had some effect on him, his character, his manners, and hopefully his soul…”
In his turn, he seemed charmed by the youth. “One thing made an impression on me” he told me a bit later . “I don’t know if you noticed it too; His eyes turn to green now and then, like a swamp, like the depths of a lagoon, where the remnants lie in stillness.” From the book Η μυρουδιά τους με κάνει και κλαίω (Their scent brings tears to my eyes)
Friday, April 3, 2009
International Children's Literature Day
Members of the Greek Bookclub are interested in following Pedagogical Studies. Teachers of tomorrow are preparing by turning a famous Oscar Wilde fairy tale into a multimedia story to be told to remote primary schools in Greece via skype. Our first attempt is with Dimitritsi Primary School at Serres, an etwinning runner-up in this years prizes. We'll keep you posted!
Sunday, March 1, 2009
March talisman
“I will stay with you one night longer,” said the Swallow, “but I cannot pluck out your eye. You would be quite blind then.”“Swallow, Swallow, little Swallow,” said the Prince, “do as I command you.”
So he plucked out the Prince’s other eye, and darted down with it. He swooped past the match-girl, and slipped the jewel into the palm of her hand. “What a lovely bit of glass,” cried the little girl; and she ran home, laughing.
Then the Swallow came back to the Prince. “You are blind now,” he said, “so I will stay with you always.”
“No, little Swallow,” said the poor Prince, “you must go away to Egypt.”
“I will stay with you always,” said the Swallow, and he slept at the Prince’s feet.
The Happy Prince by Oscar Wild
eWe receive a March talisman from Romania along with a kind invitation for a visit.
In Greece we also twist a red and a white piece of string and make a bracelet-talisman for children to wear until the first sparrow appears. A sweet way to welcome spring...
Από τη Ρουμανία μας ήρθε ένας "Μάρτης" μαζί με μια ευγενική πρόσκληση στην Ταργκοβίστε. Τα κοινά μας έθιμα μας παρέπεμψαν πάλι στο τρυφερό παραμύθι που μας απασχόλησε πριν από καιρό, τον Ευτυχισμένο Πρίγκιπα του Όσκαρ Ουάιλντ, όπου το χελιδονάκι γίνεται ο βοηθός του πρίγκιπα-αγάλματος για να απαλύνει τον ανθρώπινο πόνο, και τελικά, χάνει την ευκαιρία να αποδημήσει στην Αίγυπτο και πεθαίνει στα πόδια του φίλου του.
Why does the swallow have a forked tail?
Legend has it that during Constantinople’s siege in 1453 (not far from Dracula’s era), a swallow flew from the city to seek help, but was attacked by the Turks who cut his tail in two, and wounded him in the neck, which explains the red colour around his beak. From our library book “Birds that live near us” by biologist Costas Vassilakis, Livanis pbl, Athens, 2002, ISBN 960-14-0534-8
Γιατί το χελιδόνι έχει διχαλωτή ουρά;
Γιατί σύμφωνα με το θρύλο που διαβάσαμε στο βιβλίο του Κώστα Βασιλάκη "Τα πουλιά που ζουν πλάι μας", Λιβάνης, Αθήνα 2002, ISBN 960-0534-8, το σπάθισε Οθωμανός ενώ έβγαινε από την Πόλη να ζητήσει βοήθεια, το 1453. Έτσι εξηγείται και το κόκκινο χρώμα γύρω από το ράμφος του.
Friday, February 27, 2009
Carnival means dressing up and making merry!

It’s the last Carnival week in Greece and kids at school dress up and have fun before the 40-day lent period that is a preparation for Easter.
Many customs go back to the ancient greek and roman era, but their survival and mutation enforcens social bonds within villages and towns.
A bookclub member is the perfect Dracula’s bride(s) (a modern version!) and revokes one of the most discussed excerpts in the book. The one we discussed last year in our etwinning forum, Johnathan’s seduction by Dracula’s bride who wanted to drink his blood. Here is the “beastly” side of human sexuality, the one that Plato in Phaedros compares to a lewd and ugly horse, that needs to be tamed by reason.
Στο τελευταίο διήμερο του Καρναβαλιού, οι μαθητές μας έρχονται ντυμένοι για να δώσουν μια γιορταστική νότα στο σχολείο. Μέλος της Λέσχης ήταν η ιδανική νύφη του Δράκουλα (εις τριπλούν), θυμίζοντας τις περσινές μας συζητήσεις πάνω στο γνωστό απόσπασμα της αποπλάνησης του Τζόναθαν (οικειοθελώς;) από το βαμπίρ που ήθελε να του πιει το αίμα. Η ανθρώπινη σεξουαλικότητα εκφράζεται στο βικτωριανό μυθιστόρημα ως κάτι σαγηνευτικό και τερατώδες, θυμίζοντάς μας το αγροίκο άλογο του Πλάτωνα στον Φαίδρο, που συμβολίζει τα ένστικτα που χρειάζονται χαλιναγώγηση από τη Λογική.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Timing in love

Friday, February 6, 2009
Can a book do harm?
“His eye fell on the yellow book that Lord Henry had sent him.[...] After a few minutes he became absorbed. It was the strangest book that he had ever read. [...] Things that he had dimly dreamed of were suddenly made real to him. Things of which he had never dreamed were gradually revealed. [...] There were in it metaphors as monstrous as orchids and as subtle in colour. The life of the senses was described in the terms of mystical philosophy. One hardly knew at times whether one was reading the spiritual ecstasies of some mediaeval saint or the morbid confessions of a modern sinner. It was a poisonous book.” The Picture of Dorian Grey, chapter 10We started discussing it in one of our chats, remember? Will the bookclub members please comment on this question, so we can have a bookish roundup of our project?
«Το μάτι του έπεσε στο κίτρινο βιβλίο που του είχε χαρίσει ο λόρδος Χένρι. […] Μέσα σε λίγα λεπτά είχε προσηλωθεί. Ήταν το πιο παράξενο βιβλίο που είχε διαβάσει. […] Ό,τι είχε φανταστεί σα σε όνειρο τώρα έπαιρνε σάρκα και οστά. Κι ακόμα ό, τι δεν είχε φανταστεί τώρα του αποκαλύπτονταν σταδιακά.[…] Συνάντησε μεταφορές άγριες σαν ορχιδέες με λεπτότατες αποχρώσεις. Οι αισθήσεις περιγράφονταν με όρους μυστικιστικούς. Δεν ξεχώριζε κανείς μερικές φορές αν διάβαζε την πνευματική έκσταση κάποιου αγίου του μεσαίωνα ή την αρρωστημένη εξομολόγηση ενός μοντέρνου αμαρτωλού. Ήταν ένα δηλητηριώδες βιβλίο.» Το πορτραίτο του Ντόριαν Γκρέυ, κεφ. 10
Θυμόσαστε τη συζήτησή μας στο chat για το αν το βιβλίο έβλαψε τον Ντόριαν ή ήταν φύσει επιρρεπής στη διαφθορά; Καλούνται τα μέλη μας να εκφράσουν τη γνώμη τους στα σχόλια για το αν και πότε ένα βιβλίο είναι επικίνδυνο για τον αναγνώστη του, ώστε να δώσουμε βιβλιοφιλικό τέλος στο πρόγραμμά μας!
Thursday, February 5, 2009
1-YEAR anniversary
A year back it all started. A year after we are richer in ITC knowledge, glad to have made friends, and looking forward to meeting in person!
Always a celebration is an opportunity to review the past and appreciate it through the value of the things you realized, as good or bad.
If you seize that one moment in time
Make it shine”
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Waiting for the prize....
Now, we are waiting for the special day...See you in Prague!!
You can see below an interview with the headmaster of Economic High School, Mrs. Suzana Ilie, and some evaluation feedback from Romanian Team.
Πατήστε κάτω για να δείτε τη συνέντευξη της Διευθύντριας του «ION GHICA” κας Suzana Ilie, και την εργασία πάνω στο ΧΡΟΝΟ των μαθητών στην Ελευσίνα, καθώς περιμένουν την απονομή των βραβείων.
Click here for some media announcement.
So let the Elefsina Tower Clock do the countdown till zero hour!
Our team ponders on time, while waiting for the prize...
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Short bracket about Time…
The philosophers had understood time as an interval between two different events, or medium, substance, in which events were happened.
There are also some definitions concerning our way to relate to time: subjective time or objective time.
There were also some opinion which denied that time exist. Saint Augustine said that time has only one dimension: the present – and we all know his opinion had influenced the youth of the 80es – as well as the epicurean scholars – Carpe diem – is a well known quote. Why? Because the past has already gone, we just got a present memory of the past events; the future is only a present waiting for the events will happen.
Newton has understood time as an essence independent from the things; Leibniz on the other hand has understood time as a relationship between things. Only in that way we can perceive the time, only in this way time has reality.
Debate is still continue in the modern age with Kant who understand time as a inner objectivity, some kind of medium, intuition. He said time and space are the category of our sensibility. Without these categories, we cannot live and understand the world as an existence.
Κάνοντας μια συνεισφορά στην τηλεδιάσκεψη Ελευσίνας – Γιαννιτσών με θέμα το χρόνο, η κα Ραντουλέσκου μας έστειλε μια σύνοψη των θεωριών περί χρόνου, από τον Ιερό Αυγουστίνο που είδε το χρόνο σαν ένα συνεχές παρόν, μέχρι τον Νεύτωνα, τον Λάιμπνιτς και τον Καντ, που όρισαν ο καθένας με άλλο τρόπο το χρόνο, σαν υποκειμενικό βίωμα ή σαν αντικειμενική αλήθεια.

There are some opinions talking about time as a cultural meaningful. In Romania, Lucian Blaga and Mircea Vulcanescu have written about the Romanian feeling of existence, which is related to time. There is, following them, a national, cultural, meaning of time. We, as Balkans we got different social behavior, only because we understand time in another way. We are living into a continuum present….that why we are always late.
Click o
Πατήστε στο ρολόι για να διαβάσετε την περίληψη της συζήτησής μας για το θέμα του Χρόνου στα δυο γοτθικά μυθιστορήματα που διαβάσαμε.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
TODAY'S CHAT (great themes in a nutshell)
"So, you want to toy with the projector?" Then listen to Plato's allegory of the cave, and make your own shadow of the prisoner who thought that what he saw was reality.
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Our own Dorian Grey-The Marathon youth
The Youth of Marathon, a copy of the 4th century b.C. statue we had in the library (the original travelled to Bejing for the Olympics, this year!), seemed different after reading Dorian Grey. Maria Gerandreou and Maria Vergou, created the library version of Dorian, looking at himself in the mirror in his library (a slight adaptation of ours!), just before he shuttered it at the end of the book. The shuttered mirrors motif appears in Dracula, too, remember? We hope the image unites our two gothic novels with Phaedros, and the theme of art, love and ...books, which Socrates seemed to disapprove of.Ο έφηβος του Μαραθώνα, αντίγραφο του κλασικού αγάλματος του 4ου π.Χ. αιώνα, (τον στείλαμε και στο Πεκίνο για τους Ολυμπιακούς) είναι ο δικός μας Ντόριαν Γκρέυ, με την αιώνια νεότητά του, που κοιτάζει για τελευταία φορά τον καθρέφτη, πριν τον θρυμματίσει, σαν προείκασμα του δικού του τέλους. Θυμηθήκαμε ανάλογη σκηνή στο Δράκουλα, τον απέθαντο, που όμως δεν είχε είδωλο. Ελπίζουμε η σύνθεση και φωτογραφία της Μαρίας Βέργου και Μαρίας Γερανδρέου να ενώνει τα δυο γοτθικά μυθιστορήματα με τον επικείμενο Φαίδρο, και τα θέματα της τέχνης, του κάλλους, του έρωτα και των βιβλίων, που δε συμπαθούσε ο Σωκράτης!
The connection between Phaidros - The portrait of Dorian Gray - Dracula

The truth, The Good, The beauty- have been always the most important approaches to the writers and to philosophers.
To talk about in our Wednesday chat meeting, we are in mind the Myth of winged soul (part.246a - 249b) and the Myth of Theuth (274b - 275b)
Friday, January 9, 2009
ETWINNING XMAS
Father Xmas came from Romania yesterday bearing christmas gifts (schools in Greece always open on the 8th of January) and gave a festive aftertaste to the school library. Melodic Romanian choirs sang the carols, handmade Xmas cards and beautiful decorations and treats were exhibited. Our customs, as written by our twinners are very alike, just as they are in Easter. We thank you very much and wish you a Happy and Prosperous New Year!Το εορταστικό αντίδωρο από τη Ρουμανία γέμισε τη βιβλιοθήκη με μελωδίες, διακοσμητικά και χειροποίητες κάρτες. Με ιδιαίτερη χαρά καταχωρήσαμε στο Ευρωπαϊκό Περίπτερο τα βιβλιαράκια μινιατούρες 3 εκατοστών (!) με το σύνταγμα της Ευρώπης στα Ρουμανικά. Ευχαριστούμε τους συνεργάτες μας και ευχόμαστε Καλή Χρονιά και πάντα προόδους!
In Targoviste the Father Christmas has also came and offered us precious gifts. We ate the sweets and shared between us the calendars for the new year (Hope we won't be late anymore) and the Art Posters, listeninng the Greek carols. It was marvelous.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Dracula's influence. Part 4. Filmography
The most recent Vampire hit is Twilight, based on Stephenie Meyer's novel. Have you seen it? Please add your summary, links and comment. The Library suggests The Internet Movie Database (imdb), where you can read all about it!
Στα πλαίσια της επιρροής του μύθου του Δράκουλα, παρακολουθήσαμε και σχολιάσαμε την ταινία Λυκόφως, βασισμένης στο ομώνυμο βιβλίο της Στέφανι Μέγιερ. Ακόμα ένα ισχυρό σύμβολο της εφηβείας, της θυσίας, της φιλίας, της πίστης. Το μοιραστήκαμε με τους Ρουμάνους. Πατήστε εδώ για πρόσφατο άρθρο στον Αθηναϊκό τύπο!
Thursday, December 11, 2008
11th of December. Universal Day for Children's Rights
"Climb up! little boy," said theTree, and it bent its branches down as low as it could; but the boy was too tiny. And the Giant's heart melted as he looked out. "How selfish I have been!" he said; "now I know why the Spring would not come here. I will put that poor little boy on the top of the tree, and then I will knock down the wall, and my garden shall be the children's playground for ever and ever." He was really very sorry for what he had done." The Selfish Giant, Oscar Wilde
του για να διατηρηθεί η άνοιξη.Wednesday, December 10, 2008
10th of December - Universal Day of Human Rights
An important day to remember every single day... Only then can Oscar Wilde's quote be put into effect: “The aim of life is self-development. To realize one’s nature perfectly –that is what each of us is here for”. The Picture of Dorian Grey, chapter 2And we did in the last time....As a proof that e-Twinning collaboration can establish friendship, is our project http://partilhandodiferencas.wordpress.com/ , which is a photoproject related to Universal Day of Human Rights. Students from three schools (Romania, Greece and Portugal) took Black and White pictures and made an expo in their school. To improve the impact of their action, students from Targoviste made also postal cards with these pictures and sold them. The money collected will become presents during the week before Christmas for the children from Boy's Centre in Targoviste. We are very thankful to our partener from Greece who made calendars and sent them to Targoviste to increase the results of our charity action. Not in the last time, we have to remember a target associated to our action which is...Telis, Geniko Lykeio's dog - he will receive some crispies to eat in Christmas day....
On the other hand, we realize a research concerning the relationship between art and life, in Wilde's opera and also in the opera of some Greek Philosophers. The results of our research you can access here:
1. A virtual dialogue about art
2. Wilde's quotes or....ancient wisdom
Library note following:
The calendars were made to twin Targoviste's work on Human Rights. Our first thought was to collect money for Telis (who broke his leg more than a month ago). After discussing it with him (and bribing him with a can of meat) we sent the calendars for the Boy's Centre in Targoviste. For his generosity, he was allowed to take a snooze in the school library (he prefered the art department!)
Από την έναρξη της συνεργασίας μας με τη Ρουμανία, το Λύκειό μας μετονομάστηκε σε «Αριστοτέλειο». Ο αδέσποτος σκυλάκος της φωτογραφίας έσπασε το πόδι του τον Οκτώβριο, υιοθετήθηκε από το σχολείο μας και ονομάστηκε «Τέλης». Τα ημερολόγια που φτιάξαμε για να ακολουθήσουμε τους συνεργάτες μας για την Παγκόσμια Ημέρα Δικαιωμάτων του Παιδιού θα εξασφάλιζαν τη σίτισή του. Αντ’ αυτού, στάλθηκαν για το φιλανθρωπικό σκοπό των Ρουμάνων, που σε αντάλλαγμα, θα έστελναν μπισκότα στον σκύλο μας. Πάντως, για την καλή του συμπεριφορά, η Τέλης, αποπαρασιτωμένος και εμβολιασμένος, επιτρέπεται να πάρει τον απογευματινό του υπνάκο στη Βιβλιοθήκη!

