SHAMTUMIPARTY UP!

Speaker’s Corner

Thank you for smoking

Issue 1, 10/08/09

Giorgi Tabagari, the sexiest man among the Georgians, is single? (Come on, girls, try your luck!)

More than 15 people at this session have studied in Tartu, Estonia?

13 different nationalities are represented at this session?

It rains most of the time?

The local DJ’s only use 10 songs which they repeat over and over again (from crescendo to sudden decrescendo on the most inappropriate moments)? - Dj Otto, where are you, man? Anyway, thanks you Ani Nozadze for giving them your CD, unfortunately they kind of stick to their own music..)

Khatsjapuri is a very delicious Georgian dish?

Tornike Zurabashvili is the Georgian Justin Timberlake? Cry me a river! Or not, we already have enough water here..

This is already the 20th EYP session for Jindrich ‘Jindra’ Rusin?

Already two loverbirds are breeding their EYP nest here in Batumi?

Some Georgians thought the Opening Ceremony started when we where dancing in the can-teen, waiting for the buses to take us to Batumi?

You should never try to drink wine against a Georgian?

You have to walk a kilometre into the Black Sea at this camp, in order to get to the deeper part and be able to swim a bit?

The Armenian delegation left because they found it too crappy here, since they were expect-ing to stay at a comfortable hotel?

Did you know, that ...

The summer youth forum has really switched the camp into full party-mode. Dif-ferent folk, hip-hop, house and country songs from the loudspeakers and unexpected dance battles now fill the camp area with laughter, music and fun. Saturday night’s Eurovillage found us all enjoying a selection of different dishes from Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Poland, etc. Delegates from Moldova and Ukraine had put on their colourful ethnic outfits which made the room brighten up even more. Of course, it soon became clear that there wasn’t much time to fully see and taste the delicious food and drinks. Not long after the start of our little Eurovillage, the volume was turned to maximum and people took over the whole dancefloor, showing off their extraordinary moves and unbelievable skills.

On Sunday it appeared that a late morn-ing disco was at hand. While waiting for the buses to arrive, the music and the pouring rain pushed us all into the canteen to have a glimpse of spontanious georgian folk dances, and later on to have a dance-off ourselves - whether it be twirling around to the georgian songs, bus-tin’ a move to the ever-so-cool „Cotton Eye Joe“ or twistin’ it to the max with a partner. Come to think of it – I’ve never seen such an intense out-of-the-blue party at an EYP event before. You go, guys!

Party up, Batumi!Kärt

SEDE

I’m sure that when you first saw the committee topics you were dying to be in the Committee on Security and Defence. The war in Georgia started exactly one year ago on the 7th of August 2008 and is still a sensitive topic in our lovely host country. SEDE will have an extremely difficult task of preparing the resolution that will cover all the important is-sues connected with that topic. Fortunately, it won’t be a problem for them because from the first moment I saw them, I knew that they were going to succeed. This team is lead by a pair of energetic and smily people: Helena Karnitskaya and Stefan Feutchtinger, so teambuilding was a great experience for everyone.Getting to know this crazy committee started with the Two Truths and One Lie and, as always during that game, some funny things came out.

To begin with, we have to assure all oth-er delegates that Tsotne is NOT gay. Seriously. However, he is a person to ask about illegal things from or at least that’s what he says. It occurred that this committee is a mix of per-sonalities: Sofo is mad about animals (how can you have a little zoo in your house?), George likes blondes – so Ukrainians, beware! In con-clusion, it looked like you were having fun while playing that game. And that’s what EYP is for.

How was the committee during the first hours of committee work? Just imagine a uni-versity room with a beautiful view of the sea and a group of people who were so into the dis-cussion they didn’t even want to go to coffee break! Our lovely committee is very keen to discuss, I didn’t notice a single person sitting in silence during the debate. Even making the rules has never been funnier. This guys take their agreements very seriously – Vigtor was close to get punished for his serious face (Rule no 4: „Keep smiling“). However, there is one „but“ - come on, guys, stop being late all the time (yes, I’m thinking about you, George and Stella!)You know you love me,XOXO, Roxi

HOT/NOT – things I love about you. Or not.

HOT: Gentlemen bringing drinks to girls or helping with broken desks. Cute!NOT: Raising your voice and being ironic.

„I’m a virgin, please help me!“ Data (GE)„Wow, you do look like a professional cow milker!“ about Martin (CZ)„Imagine there is coffee..“ - coffeesong

KEEP IN MIND!

George still has to tell one secret about himself - the M&Ms game

Security! Roxi

ENVI

The Simpsons It might as well be a name for the ENVI com-mittee since Saturday afternoon. It simply amazed me how they did so well in presenting themselves as a family in a funny pantomime called „The Simpsons“ for the Committee on Culture. Seemed as though they had known each other for months! With Tamar as the baby, Marie her mother, Vakho as a dog, Elay as a bus and the rest of the family in front of the TV set (which actually was Lasha!), the CULT members just got convinced that they were looking at the real Simpson family. So .. ENVI members could high-five eacho-ther and welcome their first collective success. Then it came time to cross the swamp. The team had an apparently easy task to find a safe way through the dining room swamp, created by the lovely chairs - Julia and Shamal. Actually they did get stuck at some critical point in the middle of the floor, but – come on! - it’s nothing for such a clever bunch of EYPers! Giorgi was the pioneer in cross-ing the swamp and others followed him without additional problems. Good job, ENVI! And can you imagine, that they started their first day of the Forum by selling each other on the Patriot Camp stage? Divided into pairs, they ad-vertised their partners on sale – and yes, they’re all sold out! At first, the adverts sounded so endearing and lasted for quite some time, but when the orgas announced lunch, they suddenly went shorter and shorter.. We all definitely needed to get some food.

Sunday started way too early for the jour-nos, as after a long night they would all have loved to get some more sleep! But finally I managed to get to the teambuilding just on time to play the Drunken Bottle with all the guys. Before, they greeted a new delegate (Theo) who had joined ENVI just that morning. Afterwards they all just had fun playing Streetfighter and Giants, Wizards and Dwarfs. Sunday, 16:56 A new chapter in our committee’s life! At the moment, I’m just sitting in the corner of the committee room, trying to stay quiet and invisible and dodgily get to know what’s happening in their mysterious circle, where they’re just starting to share their ideas. To tell the truth – they seem so focused on their task that I’m afraid to make even the slightest move to not blow away their concen-tration. I’m just smiling to myself as the thought of their Bunny Game comes to my mind – it was so lovely to see them all kissing eachother on their cheeks, foreheads, noses or even stomachs and el-bows! That just proves how much they love eacho-ther! While expressing fears and hopes for the session, we heard a surprising fear from Con, who said: „I have a fear of making new friends here..“ In a second, everyone answered: „Come on, you’ve already met us!“

Marta

Officials on the road to batumi

It appears as though the chairs do really love to sleep...

.. and after a decent amount of sleep, we stopped in Gori to cele-brate a special moment.

Happy Birthday, Kristina!

Who wouldn’t get tired on such a bustrip?

Moments from the session

in full party-mode --- Eurovillage!

Opening Ceremony - Mariko

Sharing the love ...

makes you happy, doesn’t it?

FUTURE

go, team future!

The first assignment you had was to find a small object from the beach that would de-scribe you at the session. After a brief search on the shore you all found one thing that you thought most resembled you. You explained how you saw yourselves at this session and listened to others talking about their person-alities. I have to say, you brought some pretty brilliant examples! However, you weren’t quite as success-ful in playing the Human knot – we started the game for a number of times, sadly without a good end result. Afterwards, you competed against Public Health in the Lava Game and you won with flying colours! I was very proud of your warrior mentality. But the best part of the day was - without a doubt – the drawing assignment. I was happy to see that you took initiative and were even more creative than I would have thought. The portraits came out great – it seems that you have a bit of an art genius in each and every one of you! :) Sunday morning started with you find-ing your partners by making animal sounds and you were quick to pair up.

The day brought trust games and the endless torture of trying to walk while be-ing tied together like – sorry for the blunt ex pression – slaves. It seemed to be diffi-cult to start with, but in the end you started to cooperate and move faster and faster. Great success! I have to say, that most of the per-sonality examples you brought on the first day match with the people I see in front of me right now, in our futuristic committee room. Some of you quiet, some not, some of you energetic, some more laid back. I believe the future has great things in store for you, Team Future. But first, let us wait and see what happens during the next few days.. ;)

Yours truly, Kärt

“If you want me standing here topless, just say it.” (Tornike to Future)

Kärt

committee on energy First, let me introduce my commit-tee members. I will begin with the chairs, who both are extremely energetic and ad-venturous. Katerina Kondrunina or simply Katya, has finally reached Georgia! Katya was forced to cancel her flight to Georgia to attend the Gori session last year, but now she is proud to be the VP of Batumi and, of course, the lovely chair of the Committee on Energy. Furkan Taşel also seeks for adven-tures. To attend this session he used an in-ternal flight to Trabzon, his relatives’ car to the Georgian border, advice of a Turk-ish restaurant worker and taxi to the camp .. Thanks Furkan, you are one of the best Turkish people. At least among applicants for Batumi2009 (some of you know what I mean). Smiles could have been used on a number of times, but I just decided to put only one in the end :)

To get to know the delegates, just fill in the blanks - Guess the Celebrity!

KATERINA KONDRUNINA just discovered she’s Georgian dictator ruling 1/6th of the world: _ _ _ _ _ _ .FURKAN TASEL is not blonde, not a model, just pretty: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .TEYANA KOLYAKA is a Russian football player, but he doesn’t even know himself: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .HAKIM ALASGAROV: is the founder of president: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _’s fan club in Azerbaijan.MIKHEIL BENIDZE is not sure if _ _ _ _ _ is human and still alive, but he’s not Ameri-can for sure.IA MELKADZE raps and just released a new album after a short break: _ _ _ _ _ _ .SOPO DVALISHVILI thinks about a singer despite of his death: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _IRAKLI GIORBELIDZE’s part-time job is a look-a-like for former president and current PM _ _ _ _ _ .KRISTINA MARGELASHVILI thinks that “_ _ _ _ _ magaria” (“_ _ _ _ _ is cool”)ANA KURDGELASHVILI is a friend of previous person, but he’s not from US or Rus-sia, and probably from Europe: _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .And finally - don’t know why - but SANDRO JUPALAKIANI is an EYPer with rich ex-perience, Dr. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .

ENERGY

Sandro

LIBE

Civil LibertiesFred

The teambuilding took place on the footballfield, which was less swampy than anyone could’ve expected. Like every team, they played name games in the beginning. Apparently, the chairs really hammered on the fact that the names should be known as your trousers’ pocket, because 7 (seven!) name games were played. There was also a game with M&M candies – everyone had to tell a story according to the colour of the M&M. Nazal Tunal told us he once had gone out and woken up the next morning with a broken shoulder, without remembering any-thing. Good job! Most of the icebreaking games were alright for most of the people, but the chicken game, where they had to imitate chicken sounds, seemed to be a bit over the top, although one could think there was a real chicken running around the field when Nadia Vames pronounced her version of this nutri-cious animal. I’m not exaggerating if I mention that the team is rather slow. In the beginning it took on Jindra’s nerves that everyone was always late to the appointments, but after a while he got used to the fact that he had to wait a bit. And even if they’re slow, they’re still a good, enthusiastic team with diverse people.

The first day of committee work went pretty well. After finally having discussed what the topic is actually about, the team fi-nally started brainstorming and discussing. A sadistic Rufat Saradi thought that maybe a capital punishment for juvenile delinquency should be introduced, which was immediately rejected by a critical Eka Rostomashvili,who seems to have a clear opinion and is proud of her social skills. Teona Kontridze is a sur-prising girl: she is a very tiny girl, but has a lot of great ideas. Because of the humidity, warmth and lack of sleep, Nino Chanturia was sitting and following the debate with closed eyes, ta-kin her friend Tamaz Chachkhunashvili into her daydreams. But Ani Nozadze woke her fellow Georgian colleagues up with her en-ergetic voice and sharp ideas. And don’t try to say anything wrong to Nana Kalandarish-vili, she’s a girl with balls and organisational skills, putting the post-it notes together with the different reflections of the committee members. What to do with a young person who cuts your throat in the middle of the street? We will soon find out ..

Show me your AFET delegates, delegates!

AFET

Are you looking for hot discussions, people who are really into the things they are currently thinking through? If these answers are YES, then you should already start waiting for this one. Let me introduce the Committee on Foreign Affairs, which will deal with the topic concerning eastern policy of the European Union. AFET started the teambuilding... on the beach. It was a perfect place to get to know each other better and they proved that. The committee, chaired by lovely Olga Petrova and Giorgi Tabagari didn’t have any problems with the tasks and games. The only thing that seemed to cause them some difficulties was .. spider-web. But come on, guys, we all tried that and failed a million times.

The test for the whole AFET commit-tee was of course the committee work. Even when they didn’t agree, they always found the way to start listening to each other more carefully. How to make them do embarrassing and silly things? Just let them play „Honey, tell me that you love me“. That’s also the way to spot the people on their knees in front of other delegates or to notice a big EYP crime – breaking the Golden Rule. You’ll definitely find out what I mean by that while watching the videos from Facebook ;)HOT/NOT – things I love about you. Or not.

HOT: discussion. The cure for the cold nights Kvavilnari camp cottages. I’m impressed.NOT: using mobile phones during commit-tee work. Bad, bad girls! ;)

Fail of the day:Being punished for speaking Georgian three times during three minutes. Congrats, George.

You are officially my hero.

Roxi

PUBLIC HEALTH

Thank you for smokingDima

Hard to believe, but true: this ele-gant, fashionable, splendid habit is in fact a bloodthirsty monster. Half a million deaths only in the EU, more than a mil-lion deaths in Europe as a whole – these are the numbers of its yearly appetite. Production. Packaging. Advertis-ing. Sales. Taxation. These are just some of the fields where endless wars between the common sense of law-makers and the greed of tobacco corporations have been waged for years. At the same time, those already in-fected by the nicotine plague insist on the right to destroy their own health to their heart’s content (hence the endless debate on smoking in public places). A balanced and thought-out policy in this realm isn’t less important than fresh air (the first be-ing in fact a precondition for the latter). All the necessary decisions are about to show up – not in decades, but in less than two days – namely at the Batumi Sum-mer Forum’s General Assembly.

There’s no use in boasting, but we’re actually well-equipped against smoking. Eight young Georgians (Kate, Tamaz, Nino, Mari, Beka, Natia, Ana and Tata), repre-sentatives of a traditionally wholesome and life-loving nation, enhanced by Portugese and Azerbaijani input (Diogo and Rashad respectively) and lead by Kristina, the very embodiment of Ukrainian health, make a perfect mixture to fight any harmful habit, no matter how deep it has penetrated into the culture or how cool it may seem to some. Predictions are a difficult thing to make, but from what is visible right now, one may con-clude the guys will suggest buttspelling as a substantial part of the new EU’s anti-smok-ing policy: some delegates have just discov-ered this ambiguous exercise and seem to enjoy it. To cut a long story short, we need to be thankful to smokers. No, seriously. If it wasn’t for smoking, we wouldn’t have such a tricky, complicated and urgent topic to be debating on.

Few words to the audience – read carefully*

Guys! Truly: aren’t you glad to be here in Ba-tumi, on the amazing Black Sea shore? Isn’t it a pleasure to enjoy the nature and peace (well, peace rules everywhere, except for the canteen with its music, right?) I’ll tell you: IT IS, or at least it can be if you just have a bit of positive attitude. It is so much thanks to the Organisers that we have a chance to be here in the first place. My message to you is simple: please stop complaining. Yeah, I know you weer ex-pecting to live in a hotel in Batumi. I really do understand you would like to pee in a toilet WITH doors or shower in warm water. Every-body would. Just appreciate the fact that, in spite of having their funds cut, the Orga Team still managed to make this event happen. And that’s really something! Keep an open mind, a smile on your face and have fun!

*addressed to only some participants of course, not all of you, sweeties!

Speaker's Corner

CULT

Clash of civilizations

Traditions are getting lost in the 21st century, due to the globalization. With the in-troduction of the internet and the fall of the Soviet Union, a new era has arrived in which cultures and traditions are acceptable to be jeopardized. Is globalization affecting the one culture more than the other? What are the real side-effects of globalization and should we try to put a break on this or is it already to late? Should political parties take respon-sibility to conserve the customs, habits and traditions of their nation? Where is the bal-ance between liking products and habits from other cultures and letting them make part of the own culture? These and a lot of other questions will occupy this committee of Cul-ture and Education during the EYP Forum in Batumi. Dima is the master of teambuilding. He has the gift to move people, even early in the morning, to do a lot of energetic games, such as the committee using only one finger to lift a committee member in the air, dancing the crazy banana or Zulu, etc. He can bring his committee to be on time and really work something out (be warned if you are not ac-tive or on time).

Fred

The group is very enthusiastic, even if they mainly consist of native Georgians. This results from time to time in some language change, but the chair is alert enough to point the committee members to go back into English. The most funny team building game was kind of pointless, but very nice to do. We had to make each other laugh by the words “Honey, tell me that you love me”, and the person who is laughed to should stay serious, answering with “I love you, but I just can’t smile”. Alright, if faces from Mariam Abuladze, Oto Kakhidze and Amiran Makaridze are in-cluded, you start actually laughing before they actually start saying anything. About the committee work: the group is very close and has good ideas. First there was the usual brainstorming session, where the members had to bring issues involved with the topic. Since cul-tural globalization is a very large topic to work on, some restrictions should be made in advance.

Starting with questions like ‘What do we understand under culture?’ and ‘Can we protect our cultural traditions?’ where good prerequisites to start with, so that the mem-bers could use their opinions and creativ-ity on this topic. Fun was involved for sure. The committee had to figure something out to make a good advertisement to promote an enterprise making only left shoes. They created a little theater play with Chroestjov slapping with his shoe on the parliament desk, asking for silence and the journalist who throwed a shoe at G.W. Bush. It is im-possible not to laugh here. Even Dima, who really manages to stay a strict and serious chairs, could barely hold his laughter. Fariz Jafarov is a rhetorical man who has very profound opinions on the topic and gave us some interesting perspectives. Shahriyar Haciyev and Davit Sichinava are more the observers, but if they say some-thing, it is founded.

Integration, exchanging expericence, protecting your past, changeable forms and unchangeable ideas, immigration, national identity, education in the native language... it are only a few terms given by the members after an intense reflec-tion, where everybody is treated equally. And be careful of saying something that is diminuishing the value of another cul-ture, because girls like Mariam Zura-bashvili, Nino Sioridze and Mariam Chubabria will serve you with some hard defensive words! Hopefully there will be enough space to bring some counterarguments to the statements of Huntington with his Clash of civilizations. Longing to see the resolution on how to protect the cultural traditions for youngster in a globalizing world!

© Frederik Declercq