Greifswald International Students Festival
3 Times
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Editorial
After we all burned the calories at the Party after the Running Dinner in the hall at the main station you now have the chance to stimulate your brain with the second issue of the festival times. We all hope that you had a great running dinner filled with many culinary delights and inspiring conversations! The fact that more than 150 people from all over the world stay here in Greifswald – this little village in the middle of nowhere – was most obvious on Monday at the „meeting of the continents“ in the hall. Groups from different countries presented aspects of their culture in groups and so for example we all took the chance to dance to music from Egypt or from El Salvador. But the chance to experience colorful aspects of our world is still there – the GrIStuf still goes on! We are looking forward to better weather and especially much more sunshine: It fits better to all the smiling faces since the GrIStuF started last week! To get the feeling of the summer in Greifswald there will be the Ship‘n‘Chill at the harbour. You all have the chance to write an article for the third festival times – that will be the last issue für the GrIStuF. Tell all the people what was your best experience at your workshop, at a party or write about another interesting aspect of the GrIStuf. So we all hope that you will have a great time the last few days at Greifswald. Including much sunshine and smiling faces!
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GrIStuF at school by Tini Rohde
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he primary school “Greif” organizes in the context of the students festival a project week from the second until the fourth of june. Twelve teachers choosed a country and prepared some information about it. Each day pupils from the first to the fourth class can choose another country and learn a lot about it. Participants from many countries visit the school and report about their lives and experiences. On Wednesday amongst others Qin Yuan from China and Faisal Nafis from Indonesia told something about their home countries. For example Qin wrote the Chinese letters of fire, water, sun, moon and human at the blackboard and the children had to imagine what the signs stand for. The children were very enthusiastic and interested. This is just another example how people from Greifswald use the chance for the cultural exchange during the festival. Thanks to the participants, the primary school “Greif” and Inga from GrIStuF who support the event. If participants wants to join this event you can still register at the InfoPoint.
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What do you have in your trouser pocket right now? Text & Photography by Sophie Lagies
candy paper
mobile phone & a coin
Anastasia Shchysankovska, 19, Ukraine
Bolatito Lanitan, 30, Nigeria
purse & mobile phone Hayk Ghazaryan, 28, Armenia
handkerchief Marina Kruglova, 21, Russia
cents & souvenir for other participants deposit chip Anja Mitic, 23, Serbia
Dmitry Frytsin, 22, Belarus
Poll
cigarettes & a lighter
handkerchief Dorothy Quimora, 20, Philippines
Harrison Mwilima, 24, Tanzania
"We should open a bar“ by André Langer & Gunner Schwanz
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ver since we were little kids and read the book „Herr Lehmann“ we were fascinated about life on the other side of the bar. Since we learned to walk you only saw us with a towel on the belt and a tray in our hands. We always loved the smell of dish liquid and on vacation trips to the Beach we tried to sell self-made lemonade of seawater. When we first met in Greifswald we knew at first sight: „We should open a bar.“ Marked by long nights in the library and because of the lack of capital due to the crash of the „Lehman brothers“ we couldn‘t put our dream into action yet. When we first heard about this years GrIStuF we knew this would be our chance to at least get close to it. We signed up immediately for a helper’s job behind the bar at the Welcome Party.
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Weeks before we already started to make actual plans about our employment and figured out that
the most important thing about this hard and challenging job is to stay human.We suited up and it was on. We were a little bit nervous when we arrived one hour before our shift was supposed to start. When we were sitting there with the towel in our hands, waiting to finally start, we suddenly felt set back into our chil dhood. Shortly before we were introduced to the basics of barkeeping by the lovely girls of the GrIStuF-Team: 1. Serve the hotties first. 2. One Drink for the Guest - One Drink for the Barkeeper „We were mixing as if there‘s no tomorrow“
Then we were finally unleashed. In the beginning we mixed Cuba Libre with Sprite instead of Cola but only after a short period we were in the zone. The nervousness was blown away. Drink by drink changed hands quickly. Everyone and every girl was having an awe-
some time. We couldn‘t recognize anything about the ongoing financial crises. Lost in our work we forgot everything around us. Even the music passed us unheard. Totally shocked we suddenly recognized that our time has run out. But not on our watch! We continued until the – again – lovely GrIStuF-Team girls had to violently pull us away. We had a last Drink to process the collected impressions and went back to our normal lives on the wrong side of the bar. Exhausted but very happy we went home and sank into our beds. The next morning we woke up and had this clear thought: „we WILL open a bar“. Peace! Become a helper. Stay Human.
Running Dinner by Alfiya Zaripova, Russia
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unning Dinner? Sounds strange. That was my first impression. I have never had it
before. I asked the guys at the InfoPoint whether it is “running” or “eating”, or both actually. They answered: “Simply join and you won‘t regret about it.” Thank you. I really enjoyed it. I am writing these lines after my starter and main dish and it‘s great. You taste not only new food but new cultures, new people, new experiences. You are all at one table by occasion but this lucky chance can enrich your life with a lot of positive emotions. Don’t miss it. If you are worried about the cooking talents or about the absence of them, remember that it all is not actually about cooking but enjoying our multicultural society. Running Dinner once again showed me that we can only benefit from the diversity of people who live in a world.
The Official Opening by Renée Moreaux and Charlotte Krieger
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fter two days of arrival in Greifswald the festivals started with the official opening in the theater. It was the first time that all participants came together and met the whole GrIStuF-Team. At the entrance the participants, hosts and friends of GrIStuF were welcomed by colourful painted pantomimes. Little pieces of wood were distributed to the participants. Later those small pieces arranged to one whole sculpture. Enticed by the first tones of piano music some guests went shy but curios into the hall of the theater where they could marvel at the acrobatics of Compagnie Aquanaut, an artistic ensemble. Everyone took his seat. So did our patron Bärbel Bohley, a civil rights activist and artist. She was one of the founders of the political movement Neues Forum, a civil opposition movement which contributed a lot to the peaceful revolution in the GDR and the end of the socialist state of Eastern Germany. She was fighting for democracy and civil rights such as freedom of opinion. In her later projects she went abroad to support and help Bosnian
war refugees near Sarajevo after the armed conflicts in Bosnia-Herzegovina. It is a big honor for us, that she decided to come to Greifswald to support our ideas and thoughts. What does it mean – response-ability? Then Inga, a member of the GrIStuF team and Christoph, a friend of our association welcomed the guests with a sincere and motivating welcome speech, as an introduction for the evening and the whole festival week. In that speech they explained the motto of the festival “response-ability” from a personal and emotional point of view and they tried to explain how important it is for us as students to take responsibility: “But what does it mean – responseability? For us, it means to be able to respond to the problems of our world, the problems we are all confronted with! (…) Just look around – we are far from being alone to work for solutions. All together you traveled more than one million kilometers to meet, to be together, to share thoughts and feelings, to connect, to discuss, to share the same responsibility for our world. What could be more powerful than people like you coming together? What else could give more hope than you? (…) So don’t wait for any final answers to respond. The world needs you now. Don’t keep yourself at the margin of society, criticizing, whining, thinking. Society is the root of everything – and it is the only place where you can change
something. Go right into it and live your responsibility! “ After the welcome speech the evening was continued with personal words of Bärbel Bohley and some artistic highlights from Compagnie Aquanaut. Finally, the GrIStuF-members introduced themselves while giving a big balloon picturing the globe hand to hand through the tiers of the theater. In the end all guests and the GrIStuF team formed a human drum by performing a hand clapping canon. It was delightful evening full of inspiring moments.
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Workshop
Gender & Media: Reality and response-ability of media focusing on gender related questions and sexuality by Iwona Wilk, Poland/UK and Catalina Ene Onea, Romania/Germany Photos & collage by Minjing Wang,Terri, Hong Kong, China
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uring the GrIStuF 2010 a group of 10 students from different European and Asian countries (Belarus, Croatia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Poland, Philippines, Romania, Ukraine) participate in the workshop titled “Reality and Responsibility of Media Focusing on Gender related Questions and Sexuality”, with guidance from Andrea Bettels and Jockel Schmidt.
Although they come from various cultures and have different backgrounds, all the “Gender-Media-People” at GrIStuF share the willingness to exchange ideas and experiences in order to extend their perspectives on the topic. The workshop encourages the participants to use their creativity, personal skills and knowledge through team work exercises, group discussions, video and print media analysis, which focus on the representation of gender and sexuality in the media. A good way to learn more about the work and ideas of the participants is to access the blog that documents the whole workshop. It can be found at http://gendermediagristuf.blogspot. com/. Hopefully you will visit it soon. All comments are welcome!
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Workshop
Nationalism – patriotism – racism: The most rocking workshop ever by Shahenda Aal, Egypt
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tarting all from the beginning from Egypt from where I have been living and raised up all of my life it was such a great surprise for me when I was accepted in this famous students festival. For the first time I will be out of borders (out of the Egyptian borders!!) and I can‘t even believe it till now that Germany has been one of the countries – I have been dreaming of to visit it one day. But it really shocked me that people in Egypt and mainly my friends and family said to me that I have to be very careful. As a muslim with my concepts and believes and also wearing a veil (hajab: something used to cover the hair) I am different from the people living there (in Germany). So my family and friends told my that this all isn‘t common for the people in Germany and this could maybe let me suffer a little bit from racism. But the real thing just happened when I arrived there with my Egyptian group (six of my friends whom are all muslim too): People were totally kind, friendly and very open-minded. They wanted to know about my culture and why I‘m wearing this veil and they were not refusing me or my point of view. They just want to know more and understand and when
they understood they start accepting you and whatever you are doing I also have found a lot of muslim there from all over the world and a lot of girls wearing a hajab, too. Sorry for my long talk but I just want to let all people who are going to read this article know how people mainly in the middle east and especially arab and muslim ones think. The workshop nationalism and patrotism means a lot to my people. It‘s like a concept and a main believe but racism isn‘t used or well known because people are so kind, helpful and social. They love all people with all the differences (for example the culture, language and skin colour )and accept them totally. But they feel a little bit of hate from foreigners because we are described as terrorists (arab mainly and muslim especially) and this is totally wrong. Arabs are people like all human - they consist of a body, of blood and they are totally emotional. The Islam is not just a religion. It‘s a culture, a concept and a way of thinking because in Islam we know that‘s not wrong to be different. It‘s just wrong to treat others in different ways cause they are not like you and also the holy Quran says that (God created us in different populations and nations in order to get to know each other). So what really matters for all people is how you treat them and res-
pect them cause God created us in different colours and shapes. So what‘s my response-ability for being different we just have to accept each other whoever and whatever we are. We are free to do and choose to whatever we want. So I will choose hope forever because fear can hold you as a prisoner but hope can set you free. I know that there are people who aren‘t muslim or arab – like those great people I have met in the workshop who are concerned with what happening and as long as there are people who want to find the reality and understand others there will be solutions for every problem.
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A Country against its people by Alexander Köcher
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ow can a country treat its own people like criminals just because they fight for human rights and democracy? Why did a state that called itself socialist and humanist imprison its critics and harass them that perfidiously? Why did a country try to force nationalism or patriotism top down instead of letting its people create a country they really want to live in? These and other questions arouse during our visit and guided tour to the pretrial prison for political prisoners of the Stasi – the secret police of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). The tour was
extraordinarily enriched by the stories and experiences of Sigrun Seidel-Petry, an eyewitness who was imprisoned in Rostock in 1969 after trying to flee from the country via Hungary. While walking along prison cells and walls full of documented evidences of this inhuman treatment she told us about her interrogations and the extreme pressure that even let her undertake two attempts of committing suicide. The participants of our workshop had the opportunity to place plenty of questions and some of them where visibly touched by the facts and stories they got told. It beca-
me clear that people in the GDR never had a real chance to learn about democracy and always had to fear the oppression of a totalitarian regime if they would make the attempt to do so. It became also clear that especially the young generation has to take on responsibility to let not happen such things in whatever country on our planet. In Germany the Stasi is history. But there are still people who sympathise with such kind of a system because they do not know better. It is our task to be able to respond to these people in favour of democracy and the human rights.
Meeting of the Continents by Natalia Kasica and Johanna Zahn
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efore the participants came to the GrIStuF 2010 they were asked to prepare something in order to represent their home countries and cultures. The outcome of these preparations was the fabulous “Meeting of the Continents”. Trying to capture the atmosphere of this evening is a mission impossible. There had been many moments that left us speechless and overwhelmed by what we saw, heard, tasted and felt. Our visual sense was activated by the very first performance of the evening: „Schüttel de Büx“, a folk dance group from Greifswald which presented regional dances in double speed due to our technician‘s play instinct. Further visual stimulation was given by the girls from El Salvador who wore colorful traditional dresses and turned our heads so that the audience enthusiastically asked for a bonus song. Visually impressive were also our friends from Indonesia who conquered the stage. Starting with a magical plate dance and scaring us with a short lecture in marshal arts, they surprised us with an Indonesian line dance and clapping performance. But not only Indonesia knows how to move their bodies. Ah-
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med and Mohammed from Egypt proofed that boys are also able to shake their hips. The Egyptian belly dancers were supported by traditional drums and got the whole audience dancing. Something quite different was the human Tunesian jukebox who thrilled our ears. To hear a song from Tunesia you had to press a button on the chest of Dj Tj who was refilled with beer instead of money ;) Another acoustic highlight was the singing performance by the Ukrainian girls who could have easily won the Eurovision Song Contest and would have fought a hot battle with the sexy Azerbaijanian singer introduced by Tural‘s video presentation. Speaking of sexy: our Georgian girls did not only sang a great song, they also
supported other dancing performances and were always the first on stage. After our eyes and ears had been spoiled, our sense of taste was activated. By seducing us with sweet wine from Moldova Rodica and Ion enlighted us about the exact geographic position of their country. Another sweet and culinary experience was waiting for us in the form of self-made Baklava from Palestine. A bit spicier was the live-cooking show of the Ukrainian group who showed us how to cook a ‚real‘ Borschtsch. Circle shaped bread beaded on a chain around a girls‘s neck was the award for answering the questions of the Russian version of „Who wants to be a millionaire“. Another challenging task was the international canon „Bruder Jakob“ that was sung in five different languages and was a complete success. Apart from various artistic performances we were also informed about different countries and cultures by numerous (multimedia) presentations. Thanks to everybody who participated and is not mentioned in this article. All of you made this evening an energetic, unforgettable, goose bump evoking event that will stick to our minds for a very long time!
The Team
From behind the scenes
Why did you come to GrIStuF? I liked the idea of giving young people from all over the world the chance to get connected. In which groups do you work? Participants Yeah Yeah! How is it to organise the festival? Stressy, funny, exhausting and energizing What do you like about it? The spirit of the group and to face new challenges. What gave you the energy for it? I always had this moment in mind when there would be participants arriving just because we did what we did. And a lot of coffee, of course. What did you learn while organising and preparing the whole thing? “Don‘t worry. We don‘t know how, but it will work!” - and it did! Why response-ability? Because responsibility is something everybody is facing in his/her everyday-life. You should be aware of that. What do you do during the festival, what is your main task? I‘m in the info Point in the IKuWo and try to help our participants when they have questions. So if you have some time, feel free to visit me :-) What are you most looking forward to at the festival? The moment when all the names that I read for months become real people with faces and life-stories. What are you planning to do after the festival? I will be doing my bachelor-degree.
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Lene
Philipp +
Since when have you been part of the GrIStuF-Team? October 2008 and November 2007 Why did you come to GrIStuF? Like with batman: We saw the financesymbol projected in the night sky In which groups do you work? Just the powerful finance group *bling bling* How is it to organise the festival? Business as usual. What do you like about it? The GrIStuF team except the culture group, excepting norman ;) How did you keep up your motivation? What gave you the energy for it? A mixture of cynicism, sarcasm and irony What did you learn while organising and preparing the whole thing? “Money has no smell” - is a lie How did it change you or your life, if so? Life? Why response-ability? Why not? What do you do during the festival, what is your main task? Paying the bills and driving around with the finance-van full of money, gold and diamonds
Vanessa
The hardest part… is to get some sleep during the festival. Gristuf in one sentence: “Who is writing a protocol?!” What would you never change in GrIStuF? The freedom to realize own ideas and Hennings event-tips at the end of the meeting!
In which groups do you work? Panda Royal forever! And culture How is it to organise the festival? Like in the adolescence: Ups and Downs all the time What do you like about it? Seeing how the work of a few people can multiply and become something great How did you keep up your motivation? What gave you the energy for it? Seeing the participants having fun of course, besides beer, mate and pasta frutta What did you learn while organising and preparing the whole thing? I learned to appreciate the short time washing program of my washing machine What do you do during the festival, what is your main task? The Running Dinner is my baby, and I‘m part of the festivaltimes Team and I‘m always cheering everybody up with my good mood :) What are you most looking forward to at the festival? Seeing how our ideas become reality. Somebody had a crazy thought and here we are, making it happen What are you planning to do after the festival? Organising the fete de la musique, going to the fusion, seeing my flatmates again, waking up and not knowing what to do with the day The hardest part…opening the packages from the printing company and seeing that everything is two times bigger, darker or we forget to write the date on the flyer Gristuf in one sentence.No panda, no party What would you change in GrIStuF? The GrIStuF stile of doing things: Having hundreds of crazy ideas while the thinking about how to realise it will be done...later What would you never change in GrIStuF? The GrIStuF stile of doing things: Having hundreds of crazy ideas while the thinking about how to realise it will be done...later
What are you most looking forward to at the festival? Nice weather and The Gristuf Open Air. What are you planning to do after the festival? drawing up this account (die abrechnung machen?) What was your most impressive intercultural experience? Getting to know the cultures of rheinhessen and berlin The hardest part…being part of the financegroup Gristuf in one sentence. Getting rich Is a Simple task if you betray the Festival Generous rich Intelligent Sexy tough unique Financegroup What would you change in GrIStuF? Better weather What would you never change in GrIStuF?
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The hippie shit
3rd june
Ship‘n‘Chill by Sophie Lagies
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4th june
he most popular area in Greifswald during the summer time is the harbour. Students love to lie on the grass, laugh and enjoy the sunshine. To give you a little impression of the Baltic Sea magic GriStuF invites all participants, hosts and friends to join our Ship‘n‘Chill session on Thursday evening. While listening to the sound of ‘‘John Silver and the Nude Family‘‘ and ‘‘...und Hans‘‘ the lazy ones of you can relax on the sofas and watch the seagulls flying around. The more active people have the unique chance to try some sailing in the Ryck with the dragon boats for free. Let the pirat in you get alive, explore the hidden treasures of the harbour and clink glasses with your friends... Arrrr – ship ahoy!
Let‘s take some Soulfood! by Sophie Lagies
In the past days we filled our stomach with lots of good, delicious food. But what is with
GrIStuF Open Air
5th june
our hungry soul? - The answer we‘ll find on Friday evening at the so called ‘‘Kulturmeile‘‘ all over Greifswald. The meal will consist of various ingredients concerning culture, literature, music, theatre & film. GrIStuF prepared a tasty entertainment for everyone of you. Feed your hungry soul with art at the 'Galerie Schwarz‘ or watch the movie „Der Tag der Spatzen“ at the 'Medienwerkstatt‘. Afterwards you may listen to ‘‘Les Haferflocken Swingers‘‘ at the 'Klex or move on to ‘‘Reclaim the Waschsalon‘‘ in the Gützkower Straße and dance till all consumed calories have vanished. Just take a look at the prepared timetable for the evening and enjoy what you adore! There are many opportunities of arranging your very own yummy dish. Be creative and satisfy your soul! GrIStuF wishes you a good appetite.
by Tini Rohde he last event of Greifswalds International Students Festival 2010. After one week of exchange during the workshops and lot of different cultural events we want to say ”Goodbye” to the participants. The greatest party of the year 2010 in Greifswald takes place at the beach in Eldena. This outstanding location invites to join cultural diversity, a beach location and of course musical highlights. On two floors we will get you rocking with reggae, electro and rock music. The Trashmonkeys, Mellow Mark and Pyromerz, Loui Vetton and L’ oeuf raide and many more will vitalise the stages. On several stands you will be able to supply yourself with all you need for body and mind. Buy tickets in the Uniladen, at the AstA, in the IKuWo and at the Gristuf-stand at the mensa (pre-selling 8 Euros) or directly at the party (10 Euros). Participants get in for free as usual.
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Big fat Thanks to the Lazyanimal-moritz-group and especially Daniel, Luisa, Maria, Patrice and Sophie for their immense support!