Testimonial from Joji John about the Lousã Portugal workshop – 5th to 8th November 2009

Joji John - Mathematics, Physics & ICT
Testimonial from Joji John about the Lousã Portugal workshop – 5th to 8th November 2009
I was given the opportunity by Joanna Pinewood Education to attend an Adult Learning workshop in Lousã, Portugal for a Grundtvig project ‘Let’s Do it Creatively... for the benefit of adult learners.’. This was the first workshop of five over the next two years. Representatives from 9 different European countries came to Lousa for a team building workshop. I had accompanied Mr. Krzysztof Bahrynowski, headmaster of Joanna Pinewood Education; an adult tuition centre. Our journey was interesting as we travelled from Uxbridge to Lousã via Porto. We met and interacted with a few Portuguese people during the journey and I learnt about Portugal’s culture and some of the language.
We reached Lousã around 8pm after an exciting 12 hour journey. We attended a European cultural evening. All participants brought special foods from their respective regions. I brought a sweet: an Indian semolina dish that I had prepared the day before and that everybody enjoyed. Krzysztof brought a tin of Mango juice and mixed this with some local yogurt to make an Indian Lassi. He also brought a jar of gherkins from the centre’s garden picked and naturally fermented by one of the centre’s adult learners. He also brought liquor that is his great grandfather’s recipe that originates from the Ukraine. It was a huge feast laid out over 4 large tables and at least two hundred people must have been present. Portuguese adult learners danced traditional dances and entertained us with their singing through the evening. A narrator explained in Portuguese and this was translated into English. Some of us danced with them. It was very relaxing after a long day. During the following two days we attended various workshops to plan the various project objectives and we built a Gantt chart to allocate tasks among ten European partners of the project.
The Ana Amaral of Arte-Via arranged bus trips to visit Coimbra University City and Lousã castle. It was great to learn about the Portuguese culture and history in the two days. On the second night 10 years of Arte-Via was celebrated with a brilliant performance by Fado singers. On 6th, we and hundreds of others watched a free musical show arranged by Arte Via at Lousã castle which was filmed for local TV. It was really cold but we kept ourselves warm by burning wood in a brazier. As an Indian teacher working in the UK I found this European experience extremely refreshing. I enjoyed talking “shop” to the Spaniards and Portuguese teachers and other adult learners. Many asked me questions about India. I was lucky that most understood English. I gained much information through networking with representatives of Czech, Romanian, and Maltese Universities and Dublin Colleges. This showed me that that Europe has much to offer young professionals in the UK with their career development.