Shamtumino 2 12/08/09

Euroconcert

Feel the future

Please don't stop the music I know, there is no such thing as a mo-ment of minor importance during an EYP ses-sion. Every single activity, no matter how scheduled or unscheduled, every single game, as well as every word, thought and look have their meaning and purpose. We learn a lot, we get to know each other, at the same time being enchanted by the marvels of the hosting coun-try; and above all, we have fun – each time ex-ploring new levels of joy. But there is one element of an EYP ses-sion, which is known for its special magic. In a blink of an eye dozens of EYPers are trans-formed into celebrities. Yes, I mean the Euro-concert. As for the Batumi Euroconcert, it was a sure success from the very beginning. Or even before the beginning. I remember myself sit-ting in the journos’ room and doing some ran-dom printing tasks(1), when someone came up with the news about the local Palace of Culture. As it appeared, the concert hall was to be even better than during the recent International Ses-sion in Leuven (personally I cannot support or refute the opinion for the simple reason that I haven’t been to Leuven). Then I learned who were going to be the “masters of ceremony” – the wonderful duo of Fred (BE) and Teo (GE), both spectacular and endowed with an abundant sense of humour. Filled with anticipation, I saw some rehearsing and some Georgian wine waiting for us. Yep, we were doomed to success.

The concert was built on the famous Ubun-tu(2) principle: single performers left brighter memo-ries because of the fact they were followed by big national shows, while the shows profited from the atmosphere created by the ones who opened the con-cert. When I say “national shows”, I mean dancing and singing by Azerbaijani, Moldavians, Ukraini-ans, Belarusians and of course Georgians. To tell the truth, Belarusians were not that numerous (amount-ing to as much as one person), but the skill of bor-rowing people from other delegations seems to be as much genetically determined in this nation as sing-ing Tri Charapakhi at EYP sessions :) As a poet, I was impressed with the quantity and quality of poetry at the concert. Viktor, Queti and Oto were really worth all the applause they got. And when it comes to poetry enhanced with music, we should mention Tsotne, the gifted author and per-former of what can be considered as the session’s unofficial anthem. Ani, Nino and Giorgi applied their singing talents to some famous hits, while Mari and Teona came up with a charming Georgian folk song. Let’s express our sincere respect to those who put their talent and effort into the concert. And let the music they’ve managed to turn on in our hearts continue evermore.

(1): in case someone still doubts – all the copies of Shamtumi #1 were stapled manually.(2): no, Ubuntu Linux is not sponsoring the session.

Dima

2

Dr Flowers is a nuclear physicist and pro-fessor at the Kingston University. For more than ten years has he been voluntarily working for EYP and attended already so many sessions, that he has lost the count. Next to this fact, he has al-ready over 30 years experience with youth camps and is preoccupied with installing EYP in Belarus – almost impossible task, taking into account the active confrontation from the state government. As the Session’s President Shamal mentioned at the opening ceremony, ‘if we consider the amount of energy dr. Flowers puts in EYP, we should say he is the youngest person at this session.’

Doctor Flowers, you are so committed and in-volved in EYP, especially with its Belorussian section. How did it all begin? “It was something that came to light from another interest I had: introducing eastern Eu-ropean culture to be present at the International Edinburgh Festival in 1998. I had already been working in Belarus professionaly through my sci-entific research work and I was busy to bring the-ater and arts from Belarus to the Edinburgh Fes-tival. We managed to cover expences for some young Belarusians coming to the event. Within a year Belorussians were invited to an Internation-al EYP Session in Weimar (Germany). So it was culture that brought me and Belarus into EYP.”

Is it hard to combine your regular job with the EYP work? “As a professor, I’m able to set up my timetable in such a way that being absent for one or two days before weekend doesn’t prevent me from the usual work. I like to return to places of which I am familiar with. It occurs very often that I am almost a local expert on how to get things done. I know my way around.Unfortunately, the Belorussian authorities decid-ed in 2004 I was too free to be in Belarus and they stopped my VISA-issues. I have not been in Belarus in person since july 2004, because they put a five-year ban on me travelling to that coun-try. That’s the reason why I attend sessions taking place near the Belarusian border.”

When will you be able to get back to Belarus? “I don’t know, but anyway nobody can stop me from communicating via Internet and e-mail and attending the sessions in the border countries. In these days a physical ban is almost pointless.”

What about the present day situation in Belar-us? Is it improving or getting worse? “I would encourage EYP’ers to talk di-rectly to Belarusians, because it is very difficult for them to participate in EYP. They get telephone calls from the KGB, the attendees have to come to interviews where they are said that they have to stop their activities or will be dismissed from school or university. Their parents might even lose their jobs – it’s quite an easy thing to do in Belarus since employment contracts last not longer than a year. So, you are basically risking your own family if you go to an EYP session. Recently the threats have even become more violent. In other words: it’s a very difficult environment for EYP to work in. While EYP strengtehns in Ukraine, Poland and Georgia, it is declining in Belarus.”

“Stopping me didn't stop the EYPFred

3

What is an article?Just a bunch of letters.A cloudlet of words,

possibly in a language,which you wouldn’t understand

just a couple of years ago.But what’s happening to you

the moment you read these wordsand understand

that the article isabout you?

Suddenly everything changes.You can feel the intangible connection

with all the others who read,have read or will read this same article,

you realize the thoughts,which the author had about you.

So, writing an article –no matter how weird it looks –

can be a way to express your feelingstowards someone,

a way to express your love.My dear committee,

the journo’s work is quite intenseand absorbing, believe me.

I regret I couldn’t stay with you longer,fully witness your transformation

into a harmonious team of professionals –though you guys were quite reasonable

from the very beginning,unlike some other committees :)

I could write pages about how cool you are,but I hope you already know that.

So I’ll just leave you with some picturesand a short scrap of a song

by Renars Kaupers:

You don’t trust words,I hate them, too.

I never said I loved you,But I tried

To make you feel itSomehow…

Yours, Dima

The very best article Dima

4

ENVI us! Marta

I decided to ask the ENVI guys a few questions… so here is a multi-interview with ENVI <3

- Please tell me, what is your favourite EYP team-building game and why is it that one?Lasha: It is ‘Honey tell me that you love me’. It proves your ability to make others laugh and improves com-mittee relations. Cause EYP is not only about politics, but also about fun.

- Why were you laughing that much during CW on Tuesday? I didn’t get it at all!Vakho: It was about the cucumber thing. Maka (nick-name: Mixer - why? don’t ask me) said that for need of improving the climate change situation some re-gional organisations should care more for things like cucumbers. (journo comment: what?!) Maka: C’mon guys, I’m trying to say some-thing, let me do this! Irakli(laughing): Ok, but tell me... what is cucumber?

- Do you consider yourself a talented debater? Maybe you are the leader of the group?Giorgi: Yeah I do feel like a good debater and also I feel really ok in the group. I don’t think we need a leader, cause we are a good team and all are equal.

Tell me a funny story please!Tamar: Ok, it happened to a woman from Tbilisi while she was travelling from Tbilisi to Kutaisi. Be-fore departuring she asked the driver to wake her up in the middle of the way, in Khashuri.

- Tell me a funny story please!Tamar: Ok, it happened to a woman while she was travelling from Tbilisi to Kutaisi. Before departuring she asked the driver to wake her up in the middle of the way, in Khashuri. When they got to Kutaisi he realised that he complitely forgot about waking up the woman. That’s why he just drove back to Khashari and woke up the woman, smiling. And then she went like: Oh, thank you so much, I just needed that for taking my pills!

- Who do you consider the hot-test boy in your committee?Theo: Can I choose a girl? Seriously, I like Marie’s butt and Julia’s bust. If only boys had big busts...

- I just wanted to ask you...Elay: Oh, you should know first that I lost my mobile.- OK, but what was annoying you most during the committee work, if there was such a thing?- Gaajvy. (journo comment: ask a Georgian)

- Have you ever broken the golden rule of EYP?Can: Actually I did, but only after the ses-sion, so it doesn’t count. During the session it was something like electricity between us.

- What would be the thing you’ll be missing most after the session? Marie: Definitely teambuilding was the best! Of course I will be missing the delegates, cause they are my friends now. Also Julia and Shamal!

- What did you learn from this session?Maka: I learned a lot in the field of co-operation. Now I know when to compro-mise in the discussion and also in life.- Tell me who is the hottest girl on the session here?Irakli: Seriously, the hotttest one will for sure be the lovely Vice-president from Ukraine.

THANK YOU ENVI!!! <applause>xoxo

The fail joke: EEEEE... why pee?

5

Dear AFET! Roxi

Dear AFET committee!Tomorrow - or maybe I should say ‘today’ due to the fact that it’s almost 6 am right now - you’ll finally be able to show the result of your hard work – a brilliant resolution. I truly can’t wait to the debate. However, we should also remember that the GA is ending our lovely session. Hopefully, one day you’ll come back to this issue of Shamtumi and find some of your thoughts in it. Enjoy! XOXO, Roxi

AndriaIf I wasn’t here I would... be working at the Ministry of Justice of GeorgiaI’ll... eat normal food when I leave this camp

MaxIf I wasn’t here I would... be sadI’ll... have PED after this great session My committee... great, the best one

NinoIf I wasn’t here I would... be right here :)I’ll... do everything impossible!My committee... we are cool!!!

MariamIf I wasn’t here I would... be in the headquarters of the EUI’ll... get him sooner or later

6

If you spend 15 minutes with the committee on Energy, you will realize 2 things – Nabucco is really important for Europe’s energy security and Hacim is always late. Hacim is from Azer-baijan and probably he knows more about pos-sibilities for filling Nabucco with gas. He will definitely give all Azerbaijani gas for Nabucco – the only thing necessary for that to elect him as president of the country.

Tetyana will arrange support for Europe’s energy security in Ukraine and Estonia. Ac-tually she applied for session as Estonian, but we finally discovered she feels herself more like Ukrainian. But the biggest support Nabucco will get from Georgia, which has 6 representatives in the committee.

EnergySandro

QUOTE OF THE DAY:- “Honey, tell me that

you love me”- “I am Hacim,

not Honey”

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My dear SEDE people!Roxi

It’s 5 am and I’m in the hotel lobby trying to create something that will stay in your mind for (hopefully) a long time and cause smiles on your faces. We spent an unforgettable night together at the committee dinner. While sitting with you I felt like a part of well-secured family (who has an alcohol problem if we speak about all that wine, beer and vodka...). You achieved the impossible - created the bond which is visible for others. I really hope that reading this article back home will help you to fight the worst illness of every EYPer - PED (Post EYP Depression). Please keep smiling and remember about always Yours, Roxi

RusaMy committee was: amaz-ing, wonderful, fabulous, the

most creativeThe best memory from Ba-

tumi: boiled eggs

TsotneMy committee was: the

best and the most defended :))) seriously, we are full of

cool guysThe best memory from Ba-tumi: Euroconcert :* (but

maybe this or tomorrow night ;) I hope..

DataThe best memo-ry from Batumi:

meeting new great people, the funniest teambuilding on the beach, Euroconcert,

team debates

SophioMy committee was: really amazing with so many interesting, wise and creative members... They were all so cute and funny somehow, I love u all guys...The best memory from Batumi: what can erase Kvavilnari camp from my memory... :D everything was unforgettable...

BarbareMy committee was: the very

nice and friendly, just very special and all of them very

near to my heartThe best memory from Ba-

tumi: the camp itself with its kind of ‘disgusting’ condi-

tions... emotions after Euro-concert and sweet and warm (actually there was really very

cold there but still :)) eve-ning/night with some del-

egates and president of the session on the seaside

HelenaMy committee was: very debating, friendly, unique

The best memory from Batumi: Euroconcert and dinner at 00:00 in Ukrai-

nian restaurant :)Martin

The best memory from Batumi: Drunk ride on the ‘bus’ (it was

kukushka by the way :) GeorgeThe best memory from Batumi: cold shower last night :)

ViktorThe best memory from Batumi: getting something out of nothing

GiorgiMy committee was: SEDE is not only the most secured and well-defended committee but creative and representative at the Euroconcert , hard-working and sophisticated at the committee work and the sexiest during TB. Chairs just exceeded the expectations. They are the coolest! The best memory from Batumi: it’s quite difficult to choose which memory to write about when there are so many wonderful memories that came to my mind starting with singing in the bus whole trip while coming back to Batumi, the funniest teambuilding games, open bus trip in a rainy evening, singing on the beach with other EYPers and much more...

8

WHO WAS NO 1?Diogo Tomis (PO) was picked up at Tbilisi Airport and informed he was the first for-eigner who had reached Georgia for this session. However, a day later we discovered that Tatyana Kolyaka had stayed at her relatives’ place a day before Diogo’s arrival. Congrats, Tanya!

JUST… A delegate from Moldova wanted to be a member of 4 committees – maybe she can try that at some other session? Tornike Metreveli on the 1st day of the session sends an e-mail to EYP-Geor-gia’s group on subject “Pissed off from sponsors”. But in spite of the lack of sponsors and comfort - the session was great, wasn’t it? Sandro was probably the only one who missed committee dinner – because of copying resolutions booklets. But actually he enjoyed wine at 4 AM the same day while writing this article.

APPLICATION PROCESS More and more younger people want to participate in EYP sessions. This is just part of dates of birth in applications for Batumi2009: applicant from Armenia – 01.05.2009, Moldova – 14.09.2008, Turkey – 22.09.2009. And not all of them had participated in EYP sessions before. Guy from Azer-baijan about his EYP experience: not enough experience about EYP experience. But this one was the best application: “EYP EXPERIENCE: SORRY I DIDN’T UNDER-STAND”.

PILLOW CASEHAKIM ALASGAROV: It’s impossible to carry a pillow, blanket or something like that. STELA GROSU: I can’t take a pillow because my bag is too small and I need space for clothes and other stuff.

MOST EYP-ISH FLIGHTIt should have been an Istanbul-Batumi flight on 13.45, August 7th, but the great Georgian airline company “Sky Georgia” cancelled its flight from Odessa to Batumi what automatically added 4 Moldovan girls to Kiev-Batumi flight later that evening – which we announce to be the most EYP-ish flight for 1st international forum of EYP-Georgia.

9

Feel the future Kärt

There is not enough words to describe you guys, so this one is going to be short & sweet (I hope you don’t mind). The first day I saw you, I thought: this is going to be a very special group of people. And, as usual, I was right. You guys have a sense of coolness in you, that is not describable. Even though you are pretty quiet, you still bring positivity and energy to the table, like to-night at the committee dinner, where I was treated with some random, very welcomed bursts of laughter. I must add that I have grown fond of having you around. Fingers crossed, that we will meet again, my dear Team Future. PS! I’m not really good with Paint, so you might look a bit different. Sorry. :)

Biggest love ever,Your K

10

“HELP! Our culture is getting lost!“

Finally, the committee on Culture and Edu-cation have come to a resolution. And the most shocking thing is that they concluded there is noth-ing to do about the cultural values getting lost by the youngest generation. Globalization has proven its impact. While EYP doesn’t provide us from enough sleep to use our creative minds, this committee seemed not to suffer from this. Every moment of the session they were discussing hard, with Fariz having a big part in the discussion, using his whole body to express his thoughts. The sisters Nino Sioridze and Mariam Chubabria are consid-erately following the points of the resolution and giving some comments on the awful handwriting of Shahriyar, while trying to figure out what he has written on the big paper. While Mariam Abu-ladze is trying to get up to go away from the com-mittee room, chairman Dima is pushing her back on her chair, trying to say she is not allowed to leave. This is also the committee of games.When the committee is taking a break, they go outside to play energetic games, maybe that is why this com-mittee is so active.

The power of Dima is overwhelming. With only one look he can maintain order and make the whole committee silent, exept for maybe Amiran, who is a crazy guy and laughs a lot. Not to mention Otto of course, the die hard rugby fan who complained like many others about the horrible food on the committee dinner. Some people of the committee left the restaurant (Fariz and Amiran), because they almost didn’t have any food. The waitress explained this issue by ‘new meat will be brought at 4am’. Whatev-er! It’s driving Mariam Chubabria compeletely crazy, because she is sooo hungry.Shahriyar and David seem not to care that much, as long as they can put something in their mouth... The people who didn’t leave could unfortunately not be sat-isfied. Not only did they have to wait 3 hours for their meal, the served food was completely disgusting too. Everything was fried too much and one could be scared not to have cancer af-ter having eaten all this ‘black’ food. Even Dima was swearing so badly after the dinner, which he almost never does. With hurting stomachs we left the restaurant, but we ‘Georgian cuisine lov-ers’ know better of course and try to accept this very exception, still respecting the Georgian hospitality involved in this matter. Viva home made Georgian khadshapuri!

11

12

Roxi&Marta: Let’s start with something sim-ple. What should the delegates know about their President?Shamal: I like the delegates who want to speak during the GA especially when they’re making a good point but not a long point, so lots of short points and then I’ll be happy because we’ll have an interesting discussion.R&M: Who is Shamal Ratnayaka? Are you studying or working?S: I was studying and I did philosophy, economy and politics.R&M: We need some presidential gossips. Some personal stuff. Are you in a relationship then?S: Ask other people about that. Maybe tell the delegates that the journo team is looking for some gossip about the president. No, I’m single.R&M: We should write it as a title. People – HE is SINGLE! Is there somebody on the session who has any chances to be the lucky one?S: Oh, there are lots of nice people on the ses-sion and the GA and people here can really touch you. You can interpretate that however you like.R&M: Have you ever broken the golden rule of EYP?S: Oh, I always believe that as a chair you should take it all seriously and responsibly and do what is right for your fellow chairs, for the delegates and for EYP. Well, I’ve heard many different versions of golden rules, lots of sessions had their own… Yeah, rules are made for breaking. And I mean, the golden rule wasn’t even at EYP when I started.R&M: Mentioning your start in EYP, how was it? How did you get to know about it and when was it?S: When was it? Many, many years ago. How was it? I was selected from the first British Na-tional Selection that I went to which allowed me to apply for the IS.(Mariam – Head Organiser - whispering from the background): ask him how old is he!

S: Timeless, just timeless.R&M: Are you going to retire?S: Retire? Oh, there’s no EYP retirement. R&M: Was EYP different a few years ago? Is the atmosphere of the session changing?S: Well, the EYP spirit doesn’t change. The EYP spirit in different countries, in different times al-ways stays the same. R&M: How will you remember this session, any of your best moments?S: Best moments… well, on this session there must have been one of the greatest Euroconcerts I’ve ever seen. With the Georgian national dance, the Ukrainian girls, who remind you about the Ukrainian greatest gift to mankind , named the Ukrainian womenkind. And the poem by the guy as a train was absolutely fantastic, even if I didn’t understand the lyrics. R&M: And have you had a really special, leg-endary session in your EYP experience?S: There were some sessions that were really special, where it was my first time as a delegate, first time as a chair… I think one of my favourite was a couple of years ago in Białystok. R&M: I guess it is time for the last question now… Have you got something to say to the par-ticipats?S: Well, for the journos for naming the news-paper after me, it’s just: thank you very much. And talking to the delegates… Well, let’s put it this way: still many people are discovering PED. It happens because you miss all the people from the session. But when you think about the option what can happen if you met them once more, then you have no PED but just a great EYP experi-ence. After the session you should not think that it is the end, but actually the beginning of joining more sessions and incredible friendships. It is not that you can do amazing things during those six days, but during weeks, months and years – and that is simply ‘Changing the sense of possible’.R&M: That’s a nice ending. Thank you very much for the interview.

A minute with Shamal

13

“They say I have to go to rehab; I say no, no, no...“

Put some stubborn characters together, and you have the perfect ingredient for some hard bashing discussions. This is totally the case in the committee on Civil Liberties. Trying to get along with each other and the group, the outspoken opinion of a sensual Eka and heartshaking Nana, added with some virilous Hazal and nightingalisch Ani make the ‘how-to-come-to-a-resolution-soap’ very exciting for an outside observer. Still, the team makes quick progress and while Rufat is writing resolutions with some spelling mistakes (which are corrected by a skilled Nadya), Jindra is hunting the cows in the schoolyard. And you know what? He laughed actually for the very first time! What’s more, he made a bet with the beauti-ful Giorgi Tabagari: if everyone would be in favor of all topics of the resolutions on the General As-sembly, he would sing ‘Boys boys boys, Sandrina prostitutka’, because he estimated the chance, that they would all vote in favour, to be very low. Sur-prisingly enough, the resolution passed with 100 %, so Giorgi gave a wonderful performance, giv-ing dr. Flowers a confused face expression. The small Teona seems to be suffering from the EYP-syndrome: being so tired that you are actually very awake.

This is apparently not the case for the rest of the committee, because when mister Sandman enters the classroom, the energy is flowing away. While Jindra is used to do some power-napping from time to time (sleeping 10 minutes on the shoulder of Natasha), all the rest have given up discussion. Eyes are viciously fighting against sleep, heads are slowly heading towards the desks, backs are carefully heading towards the wall. With mrs. Rostomashvili playing some smooth laptopsongs, the whole committee is fall-ing into a sweet sleep. CLAP CLAP! The next morning Tamaz is ready to kick some resolution butt in the univer-sity building of Batumi. The team is working so hard that they finish first, to go to the beach or do some shopping. Committee dinner was not as en-ergetic as expected, but what do you want? In the end we are all human beings and not robots. The resolution contains very humane argu-ments and no capital punishments are approved. This righteous committee wants to save juvenile delinquency by giving them the most backing as possible and is in favor of a big reform needed in the system of juvenile judgements.

Fred

“The climax of the committee work.”