Czech Republic- Action 3.1 -The Use of Dramatherapy methods in Intercultural Learning

This was a project involving participants from 9 countries (Czech Republic, Romania, Slovakia, Macedonia, Turkey, Georgia, Hungary, Lithuania and Azerbaidjan) and its main purpose was to teach us how to use dramatherapy (DT) and its ropes in our working with different target-groups and in intercultural learning. We were hosted in a cottage called Sazavka, in the village Zlenice (60 km from Prague), in a quite pitoresque venue, surrounded by dark forests and crossed by a small river. The venue itself was a big plus for me, besides my high expectations about learning something new and useful, given the fact that this was my first participation to an YIA program; probably I will stick to the venue part, because……… .and now , the real story: arrival day – our train had a 4 hours delay; our hosts were suppsosed to be waiting for us at the train station, but we found out via sms, that the person who had to wait for us, did her part earlier that day; if the train delayed ( as if the schedule and the delays of the international railway routes were our fault ), we were on our own … Oh well, like the grown-ups we are, we managed to store our luggage at the train station, but to do that we had to pay, thus we had to exchange money in situ – at the exchange-house in the train-station that is, probably the one with the biggest commission in the city, thus we lost some money ( they gave us a “free” tourist map though ). In the evening, while arriving at the venue along with the rest of the group, we put aside all the stress of that day and we became very anxious about the project and we were looking forward to next day. And it arrived…
Before our departure, the trainers asked us to provide them information about the use of DT in our own country; and like obeying pupils, we did our homework…..The first day we expected some information exchange between the countries participating at this project and maybe even some theory about DT, before the workshops; so what? We started directly working with DT concepts and ropes, lacking any kind of knowledge about them… .yes, we know that “practice makes perfect”, but still, we wouldn’t have mind a little bit of theory (don’t worry, our wish came true…about a week later, when we arrived back home and opened the dvd with DT theory that our trainers gave us just before departure… .but, hey, better later than never, right?)…..And so we started working a whole week, in a complete mess,improvising all the time. We really gave our best, we focused so hard on every single activity ( because, as I’ve said before, we really wanted to achieve some information about this kind of therapy , which is said to be suitable for a large amount of target groups) and at the end of the week it turned out to be much ado about nothing and we received a lot of critics (unfortunately not as constructive as they wanted to seem) :our little play was “theatre therapy”, not DT ( as if someone had explained to us the difference between those 2 ) and if we were too involved in orchestrating our OWN DT workshops, that was a very bad thing, because “the therapist shouldn’t interact with the group” (group that on the other hand, was given no direction or instruction whatsoever and was behaving like a herd, a group that was actually quite happy when the therapist gave some instruction)…and so on….
The end of the week, departure day…déjà vu of the arrival day: our hosts abandoned us somewhere in Prague, a lovely place indeed, but one that turned out to be in the exactly opposite side of the city from the train station. We arrived safely at home, but definitely not thanks to the welcoming Czech people, which by the way, don’t really speak other languages than their own ; the few people who had knowledge of some words in English, French, Spanish, etc. turned out to be either tourists, disoriented like we were or even worse (thus of no help whatsoever ), or inhabitants that had no idea about locations in their own city. Piece of advice: if you really get adventurous and wanna feel the “on my own” sensation, than I strongly recommend visiting Prague (this unique place on Earth, where at McDonald’s, besides what you pay for the meal, you have to pay some extra money for access to the toilet !!! awesome, huh? ) .
Bottom line, the project itself was a very good idea and it would have turned out just perfect if we would have had a little more intercultural learning and less DT, or if the DT would have consisted also in theoretical aspects and not only practice, or if our trainer’s vision about the order of the exercises wouldn’t have been so revolutionary and 180 degrees opposed to ours . Other than that, we appreciate their enthousiasm and implication and we would appreciate it even more if they were also opened in receiving pieces of advice and not only giving them to others……… .

Detectez cumva oarece asemanari intre Cehia si o alta tarisoara "draga" noua (bineinteles cea de la sud de Dunare)?
Se pare ca uneori, oricat de binavoitori ar fi participantii la aceste proiecte, unii organizatori parca incearca din rasputeri sa lase o impresie cat mai proasta despre ei si tara pe care o reprezinta. Ce-i drept acea impresie proasta nu este neaparat si eronata, dupa cum o demonstreaza lipsa totala de interes a localnicilor fata de bunastarea turistilor (care la urma urmei reprezinta si o sursa de venit pt populatie), indicatoarele numai in limba tarii respective si multe alte "detalii" care nu prea pot fi trecute cu vederea si nu contribuie deloc la confortul si sentimentul de siguranta al vizitatorilor fara "buletin de Paga" .
Ca sa inchei, pacat de ideile bune care, din cauza proastei organizari, nu ajung sa fie puse in practica asa cum ar trebui.

Ideea proiectului pare sa fi fost destul de interesanta, insa cum am invatat din proiectele anterioare teoria poate fi interpretata gresit cand este pusa in practica ( "theatre therapy", "dramatherapy" oare cat de diferite sa fie). Intradevar "practice makes perfect" insa pentru a ajunge la pefectiune sfaturile si o minte deschisa te pot scuti de o buna parte din excercitiu. Comunicarea este destul de importanta in astfel de proiecte insa atunci cand lipseste proiectul se departeaza de scopurile propuse. Cat despre remarca Symynei asemanarea este destul de izbitoare si sunt dezamagit,i autoritatile ar trebui sa intervina. Faza cu McDonald’s este exemplul pefect de neghiobie.
In incheiere pot spune ca si de aici putem invata o lectie, asa nu

deci nu numai bulgarii...eh, in momentul acesta, cred ca astfel de oameni sunt peste tot...asa e omenirea:-??

SoRiaN wrote:

Faza cu McDonald’s este exemplul pefect de neghiobie.

Nu chiar...scz, nu stiu cum de mi-a scapat....in fine asa ceva numai in lb romana merita povestit: biletele de tramvai se achizitioneaza...va tineti bine? DE LA METROU....(si liniile lor de metrou sunt mult mai putine ca in Bucuresti, deci si gurile de metrou sunt o raritate); in mod oficial le iei de la automatul galben din fiecare statie de tramvai(dar cumva toate au fost demontate... ), sau daca nu, de la un chiosc de ziare (unde stocul de bilete e redus, deci niciodata nu au si te indruma prieteneste catre cea mai apropiata statie de metrou). Deci..... PS:nici cand am dat BAC-ul la sport si nici in perioada de pregatire pt acesta, nu am parcurs atatia km cat pt un bilet de tramvai cehesc....si nu e din aur....