From: "George Ion" <geion@verizon.net>
To: < international@cisv.org>
Cc:
Date: Sun, 5 Oct 2008 22:20:17 -0700
Subject: Question
Gheorghe Ion
6810 SW Hall Blvd #16
Beaverton, OR, 97008
geion@verizon.net
503-367-3377
Hello
In 1972 when i was twelve I've been in a CISV camp in Kisdorf, near Hamburg, Germany, sent by the communist regime in Romania.
The exact location is Ulmenhof in Kisdorf, as shown below. It's probably a school now.
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/4659551
Seeing that picture triggered lots of memories.
I never quite understood why me, because there were many other eligibile (children of the communist elite), like the other three kids in the Romanian delegation. I never quite understood why an organization like yours would invite children from the communist countries, since the only ones that would benefit would be the children of the above elite, with few exceptions.
Not speaking any international language, except for a few french words made it tough for us, almost traumatizing. We weren't able to communicate with the other kids. I remember quite vividly Klauss, the director of the camp asking me severeal times in French: "Pourquoi tu es toujour si seul ?". That made me feel somewhat guilty.
I also have nice memories from there, like driving a car for the first time in my life (a Renault 4 owned or rented by Olaf from Sweden) and being saved from drowning in an Olympic size swimming pool. (I was a poor swimmer at that time.)
Also dancing for the first time in the dark in a "discoteque" with the chef's daughter, Suzanna (I don't know the exact spelling) organized by a couple of local german guys that were hanging around. I think one of them was the son of a prominent local CISV member.
I remember once Klauss filmed me with a nice camera with zoom I also played with and during projection, the film jammed and I saw my image catching fire on the screen.
I am asking your help in consolidating the memories of those days with the complete list of the sites visited and a list of the staff present in the camp with their qualifications.
As I said I didn't speak any English at the time. But from singing the camp's song every morning, i memorized the words and reconstructed the lyrics later on. Please confirm that this was the camp's song lyrics.
"Here in this village you may see
Children living happily
Swedes, Finns, Turks, Romanians
British, Germans, Canadians
Philippines, Italians too
We have many things to do
How am i alike to you"
Especially the last line doesn't sound quite right.
Many appreciations for your work,
Gheorghe Ion
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "George Ion" <geion@verizon.net>
To: <secretary.hh@de.cisv.org>
Cc:
Date: Tue, 7 Oct 2008 06:36:38 -0700
Subject: Fw: Fwd: Question
Hello
I wasn't lucky contacting the global site. Please read the following thread and help me if you can.
George Ion
----- Original Message -----
From: Bertil Hron
To: geion@verizon.net
Sent: Tuesday, October 07, 2008 5:07 AM
Subject: Re: Fwd: Question
Dear Gheorghe,
Thank you very much for your e-mail. It is good to hear that, after so many years, you are still thinking of your CISV experience.
First of all, as regards names and addresses we are not able to give out personal details about participants. However, we recommend that your register on the CISV Friends website ( http://friends.cisv.org) and claim participation in your Village (V-1972-006), and in doing so, possibly make contact with other people who participated in your programme.
By registering on the CISV Friends website you will also receive regular links to CISV publications such as CISV News and the CISV Annual Review.
Secondly, I am afraid we do not have the specific information you are requesting as related to excursion destinations.
Thirdly, as for the lyrics you provided, these appear to have been specific to your programme. Sometimes in the different programmes the lyrics of the CISV song and other songs are adapted by the participants to fit their programme or as part of a performance for a public occasions such as Open Day.
The official lyrics of the CISV Song are these:
The CISV Song (Kathleen Milne/Bjarne Kirk)
Here in this village you may see
Children living happily
Different race and different land
Here we come to understand
One another’s point of view
Learning through the things we do
How alike am I to you
Here we live and eat and sleep
Talk and laugh and sometimes weep
Here we share our hopes and fears
Build a bridge across the years
Sow a seed and plant a tree
Beneath whose branches there may be
All the nations gathered free
That our children so may grow
In a world we did not know
Sharing all they have to give
Learning how to love and live
In our hands the future lies
Seize the moment ‘ere it flies
Stamp the present with an act
Dare to make our dream a fact
Cheers,
Bebbe
Tuesday, 7 October 2008
03/31/1972 Don't know if i wrote above about holding hands while singing the version of the song written first above. Stumbled across a picture today. At the end of the song we were turning around while still holding hands forming a circle eacg facing outside and only then we were breaking with hands throwing them towards ground.
14 comments:
And i almost drowned in an swimming pool that had the water so clear you could see the bottom although it was a few meters deep and got saved by a lifeguared, didn't have time to swallow any water. And i remember this kid in the pool yelling at me thinking i was deaf cause i didn't speak German and didn't know what to answer...
The express train that was supposed to take us to Germany got stopped for hours in Budapest, then we had to find different trains and pay the difference in price (second class was full) from our pocket allowance which was 360 lei for three weeks, i think a little under 100 DM at that time and ended up with no money... I remember i borrowed from my teacher a few DM so i bought ice cream, candy and then cigarettes for my mother when i came back... It took days to get in Hamburg and one sleepy morning there we were in Hamburg Altona train station with the guys waiting us for days with two cars and took us to the camp driving on the freeway with the fantastic speed of 120 kph... And the other guys where having colour cameras and expensive clothes and long hair and we at least the two boys from Romania had a boot camp style hair cuts and a very precise inventory of clothes and half suitcase full of communist insignia LOL i think they where thousands... And the candy shop with gummy bears in the camp...
And i will never forget the too guys from GB i was playing ping pong with and they cheated my at the score all the time because i didn't know how to keep score in English...
I think overall it thought me lot of lessons and if it was not for the medical and psychological procedures i suspect i was subjected too, i think it would have been a positive experience...
I probably would have stayed in Câmpulung, unknown, for the rest of my then miserable little life...
Horst. Era un tip local de vreo 20 ani. Nu ştiu ce poziţie avea, dar a participal la organizarea a ceea ce a fost prima discotecă din viaţa mea la care am fost cu Suzana, fata chef-ului şi am dansat ţinându-ne cu mâinile întinse, de gât. Aşa a vrut ea, dar mai târziu mi-a dat o palmă când i-am spus i love you. Începeam să învâţ engleza. Căteva luni mai târziu am citit undeva într-un ziar românesc, cred că la faptul divers, că Suzana a fost cotat al 4-lea cel mai sexy nume din Germania anul acela. Probail de aceea pe următoarea ministră a învâţâmântului în România a chemtat-o Suzana Gâdea.
And the worned out leather sneakers somebody forgot in the room when he left and i took them and wore them proudly in Câmpulung after that. Actually i think i found them in the suitcase in the train and wanted to give them back to Klauss and told me to keep them. Anyways. Never had anything like that before and even long time after that. Only Chinese very cheap rubber and fabric tennis shoes.
And the ton of pictures and memorabilia i brought with me from all the places we've been and visited including a smiley face made of thick brown fabric with little legs and hands from the guys from Philippines. Everybody got one. Noni organiezed sort of a brainstorming in the lunch room with everybody present to give those smileys a name and the voted name was Gagamooya. Me who never been out of Câmpulung till that age except once in Suceava.
My grand grand father was living in Germany at the time actually since after the war till he died in the asylum. My grandmother wrote on the cardboard suitcase which she actually brought from Germany when she first visited him in 67 his address and either i told somebody or somebody saw it one day Klauss offered me to call him on the phone. I froze because i was told in the orientation in Bucharest lots of things i don't remember now about how to behave and i was literally terrified and i strongly denied it was a very awkward moment and Klauss insisted but i denied repeatedly. I never met grand granpa ever before or after i only remember him from pictures. Oh and somebody in the camp gave me lots of stickers that i put on that suitcase like number 69 or the Canadian flag.
George said...
The people i remember
from Romanian "delegation"
Gheorghe Vădana, Piatra Neamţ, profesor
Roşca Nicolae, Ciorani (Ciorăşti), Vrancea, mayor's son
Belu Călina, Cluj, first secretary's daughter
Sanda
Scott and Aaron from Canada
Dean from GB
Helen from Sweden
Harvey from Germany?
Andreea Guerra from Italy, Reggio Emilia
Noni from Philipines (teacher)
I once had a list with all the participants, they where 4, two boys and two girls from each country mentioned in the song, 36 in total, all 12 years old plus one teacher from each country plus staff. Klauss, his wife, his one year old son, the cook and his 12 year old girls Suzana, CISV Hamburg director son, and a few other young staff members with long hair.
We had visitors and in weekends we went in small groups usually by 2 at local families, i remember i once went with this guy from Germany and the teacher to a young's doctor's family where i had a bath, (we only had showers with lukewarm water at the camp) change clothes and then the next day went to the sea (drove about 1 or 2 hours)
Once or twice we went in a yacht on an island where some of us (the most courageous) received some kind of baptism by being held by Olaf upside down from a bridge until you touched the tidal water with your head...
One of the most embarrassing moments there was when at the end of each breakfast everybody was smiling and waiting for Klauss announcing the program of the day. They were about 50 people in the room and they were smiling and cheering and we had no clue and at the end of that Klauss was always saying the phrase with hesitant words in a less fluent but correct French: Pour... les... roumains... and everybody went quiet as he was summarizing what he just said for the rest... And then we the Romanians were brainstorming and trying to put together, with the teacher the bits of information each had acquired so we can figure what we're gone do in that day (we all had one year of French from grad school and the teacher had some memories), with little luck... It was always a surprise and we weren't sure not even what place we've been after a day at the pool or in the port or visiting a cathedral or a museum...
Now i remember... One of the British kids' name was Dean. All four where from Manchester.
It is where i learned my first words in English. And also triggered a very strong motivation to learn more because it was so embarrassin. With one year of French in 5th grade i could speak a few words but nobody there understood French. It taught me how important is to speak English.
But a whole story with those few words. "Wait a minute" One day i said that to another kid and he started to make a big fuss saying i was speaking English and did not want to show.
Another lesson. It is much easier to learn a non-phonetical language or a language that pronounces differently from how it writes without knowing how to write or read in that language. Probably what they did so many who came in Romanian and were probably just repeating what they were hearing in an earbud.
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