On 25th of March was Greek National Holiday. The 25th of March 1821 was the beginning of the independence war against the Ottoman Empire in Greece. The fought for a independent Greek republic.

On this day there is a parade taking place in Serres every year. In the parade all the traditional associations, all voluntary organisations, the police and the military participate. The traditional associations wear the traditional clothing of the different regions in Greece. While Greek marching music is playing the parade is marching through one of the main streets in Serres. On the side of the streets there are a lot of people watching the parade.

We, the EVs volunteers of PRAXIS had the honour to take part in the parade. That`s why we went to one of the traditional associations on Friday evening. They welcomed us really friendly and invited us for a dance lesson and for pizza. Also they showed us a little museum about the Vlachs. Vlach is a group of people living in Greece in former times. The association tries to keep the Vlach traditions alive. The dance their traditional dances, sing their traditional songs and wear their traditional clothing for the parade.

That`s why we could wear a traditional Vlach costume for the parade on Sunday. The costume for the women consists of 10 pieces and it took almost one hour to put on all of this. The first think that you wear is a nightdress made of linen that was also used as underwear. The next layer is woollen dress, with a woollen apron and a woollen waistcoat. Around the neck you wear a white scarf that is covering your neckline. On the feet you wear woollen socks and leather shoes. On the head you wear a traditional hat and a head scarf. In addition you wear a belt and a lot of jewellery.

In this costume we were marching in the parade. It was a really nice experience and the moderator of the parade even announced our names and welcomed us again in the city. 

By Vera Lennartz

We celebrate the World Meteorological Day on the 23rd of March since 1950. This is the formation annyversary of the World Meteorological Organization. The purpose of the day is to draw attention to the outstanding role of meteorologists in creating social security.
If you are interested in the Meteorology you can participate in various events such as conferences, symposia, exhibitions. Usually the outstanding professors of the meteorology get prizes for their work on this day.
The chosen themes are reflect the local weather, climate or water-related issues. The topic of 2018 is Weather-ready, climate-smart is the theme of World Meteorological Day. The population poses a threat to the weather. The tropical cyclone storm surges, heavy rains, heatwaves, droughts are the consequences of human negligence. The long-term climate change is increasing the intensity of the extreme weather. The rise of the see level is also a serious problem just like the ocean acidification. The main mission of the WMO to support the global agenda on sustainable development, climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction.
The one of the most important task of the WMO that they give us short and long-term forecasts which are give information to the society. It is alredy enough if we only think about the agriculture and industry. The hydrological monitoring help us to understand the behavior of the water cycle and so supports water management.

Resources used:
https://public.wmo.int/en/resources/world-meteorological-day

Written by: Ágnes Illés

​The 21st of March is International Day of Forests. This global celebration of forests provides a platform to raise awareness of the importance of all types of woodlands and trees, and celebrate the ways in which they sustain and protect us.
On this day we give more attention to the nature. It has many reasons why important to save the woodlands and trees. Forest and trees help us to mitigate the impacts of climate change with storing the carbon. It has a good impact on us when walking under the trees. The air is clean from harmful pollutants, because they are excellent air filters. The forest is the habitat of animals. The nature keep the noise of the cars far from us. Give us food and medicines, or as source of income. Generate tourism and create tens of thousands of jobs. Encorage people for outdoor activities. We can save energy and money if during the winter we use trees for heating, at the summer forests can reduce air conditioning needs. Forests also protect watersheds and prevent flooding as they store water in their branches and soil, furthermore contribute  high-quality freshwater supplies for hundreds of millions of people. 
Deforestation comes in many forms, including fires, clear-cutting for agriculture, ranching and development, unsustainable logging for timber, and degradation due to climate change. It is important to stand up to defending the trees and keep together and protect the environment from human destruction which is spectacular because 18.7 million acres of forests are lost annually, equivalent to 27 soccer fields every minute. 

Resources used: 
http://www.un.org/en/events/forestsday/
https://www.worldwildlife.org/habitats/forest-habitat

Written by: Ágnes Illés

"POETRY REAFFIRMS OUR COMMON HUMANITY BY REVEALING TO US THAT INDIVIDUALS, EVERYWHERE IN THE WORLD, SHARE THE SAME QUESTIONS AND FEELINGS. POETRY IS THE MAINSTAY OF ORAL TRADITION AND, OVER CENTURIES, CAN COMMUNICATE THE INNERMOST VALUES OF DIVERSE CULTURES." ~ United Nations

The Greek verb ποιεω [poiéo (= I make or create)], gave rise to three words: ποιητης [poiet?s (= the one who creates)], ποιησις [poíesis (= the act of creation)] and ποιημα [poíema (= the thing created)]. From these we get three English words: poet (the creator), poesy (the creation) and poem (the created). A poet is therefore one who creates and poetry is what the poet creates.
And even though some say that poetry is nothing you can or should explain today on World Poetry Day I am going to take a try at doing so. Poetry (in ancient Greek: ποιεω (poieo) = I create) is a form of art in which the authors of this genre use language in a somewhat pictorial language that is aimed to make their readers feel certain emotions or to make them understand the emphasis on specific topics. This condensed use of language is what lets poems stand out under all the different types of prose.
This in fact also the reason why it holds true to say that in the so called verses the main objective lies in the weight of the words used and their balance among each other rather than in the type of words the author applied. Because of this nature of emphasising linguistic form rather than using language purely for its content, poetry is notoriously difficult to translate from one language into another.
Eventually, this characteristic of poems is moreover what can make them so hard to interpret from time to time, as the meaning each reader concludes for himself can be widely different from the one of another based on where he puts his emphasis, the weight he or she believes certain words carry and how he or she is associating some terms.
Other forms of prose are frequently using more complete logical or narrative structures than poetry does. This does not necessarily imply that poetry is illogical, but rather that poetry is often created from the need to escape the logical, as well as expressing feelings. This noticeable difference is also shown in the ways that the lyrical self is sometimes expressed in poems.
History has it that poems in general are told to have their origin in songs as what distinguished them from other prose forms is rhythm, rhyme and compression. This said it seems rather clear why so many mnemonic aids are existing to help you remember things such as the directions or the planets of the universe. These kind of sentences stick to people’s heads because of their rhythms but also because they rhyme just like you can remember the words to your favourite song. Actually, this is furthermore the reason why especially professionals working in marketing like jingles and rather stupid advertisement songs as much.
However, in the European tradition the earliest surviving poems, the Homeric and Hesiodic epics, identify themselves as poems to be recited or chanted to a musical accompaniment rather than as pure song.
The World Poem Day is existing as an International Awareness Day since 1999 when it was established by the UNESCO. This day seeks to promote linguistic diversity though poetic expression and to motivate especially young people to engage more in areas such as writing, reading and composing. The UNESCO wishes to recreate the awareness for poetry and aims to re-establish a link between poetry and other arts such as the theatre or music. Furthermore, the organisation believes teaching youngsters but also the rest of the world about poems and their origin can lead to a greater understanding for some historical epochs and important events or ideas.  
As a matter of fact poetry is not regarded as completely outdated anymore in these days, but there have been times where society hat to fear it would become an art of the past. Nowadays, there is a whole new movement that emerged within the last decade, namely “slam poetry”, which is reviving the love for rhymes and verses once more. As famous poets from other centuries did, these poetry slammers are processing recent issues, political movements, but also daily live stories in a lyrical, but slightly more to our age adapted way.

​If you are interested in finding more about this “new” trend in poetry be sure to check our Facebook Page to find information and links on this topic.


resources used: 
http://www.un.org/en/events/poetryday/
http://www.holidayscalendar.com/event/world-poetry-day/
https://www.wincalendar.com/World-Poetry-Day
​
written by Karolin VR

We asked our volenteers from the occasion if World Happiness Day that what makes them happy. Now you can get to know us better if you read the next lines.

Vera Lennartz:
I think the most important are the people around you and the connection that you have with them. If your together with the right people then it doesn`t matter where you are. So my friends, my family and my boyfriend make me happy. It makes me happy to be outside, to be in the sun, to make sport. It makes me happy to think and learn and to inform myself. Music makes me happy and to dance and to party. The most important for me is the balance. The balance between time together and time alone, activity and relaxing. I think if you find your balance you will find what makes you happy. 

Ágnes Illés:
One of the most important thing is the music. It is good to every mood. If I am sad or angry it helps me to relax. 
A good conversation with my friends or family members worth more to me than any party. I really like to meet with new people. Sometimes you just met with someone but you feel like you have known this person for a long.
Food always makes me happy. For me eating is a common program with friends. We like to try new tastes, find the best hamburger in the city, the best pizza place, the best icecream etc.
I really like to be in the nature, a bicycle trip, hiking with good company, the beautiful view also makes me happy. I like to travel, discover new places which is different than I used to.
Although every season has its own beauty, but my favorite is summer. On these days everyone is more cheerful and open. The city is full of life.
A good movie also makes me happy which give me something, i feel like I've become more of it, I learned something new about life, the society.

Julian Heyder:
I am really happy everytime I meet my friends.

Edina Szathmári:
My best friends always make me happy, I enjoy every seconds I spend with them, on the other hand I do not have to be with them all the time, but knowing they are to me everytime and this stands the other way around as well, that’s happiness for me. Just watching our dog, Marci, gives me smiles just as many as it gives when I play with him. I also love pancakes, brownies and ice cream, they  give me happiness hormones when I eat them. They are my favourites. I would say helping other people, making other people happy make me happy too.

Bertalan Dudás: 
What makes me happy? First of all money doesn't makes me happy at all... I remember for the time when i was working for good money and i was able to buy every essential thing for myself, but i didn't spend it on silly things. Nowadays you must have money to live your life in a normal way. I know some of my friends are really chasing the money and it's important for them. There's other type of "non material" people like me, who's chasing dreams and adventures. For me it's more important to meet with people try out new things and to have experience from all around the world. To leave my footmark in different levels of life. I'm open minded, talkative, and easygoing. With this attitude to life easy to be happy and make friends. With more friends, you have more memories. More good memories will makes you more happy and i really hope when I'm gonna be old, i will think about my whole life as a big happy adventure with all my good acts and with all the silly mistakes.

Karolin Rippich
At home in Cologne: Seeing my friends, listening to music, visit concerts and theatre , cooking, travelling
In Serres: And on a bleak day during our time here in Greece I also found (maybe slightly different) things that make me feel happy and are uplifting me. One of them for example is music and another one are books, but there are a lot more things that have the power to enlighten my mood.
The sunshine and the sea are two of the things that can always lighten my mood. Now that the days are getting longer again and that the sun finally starts shining a lot more everyone is able to feel the rise in motivation the sunrays are providing us with. The people are more energized, happy and also active. Feeling a warm breeze and smelling either the salty air of Thessaloniki or the fresh and much cleaner air of the valley in Serres are tickling all senses and sometimes are even able to give one or another volunteer with a fresh view and/or even a new opinion on things.
Receiving letters from my friends is another thing that always puts a smile onto my face. On the one hand, because these letters come with greetings and stories from home which allows me to really imagine the happenings and feelings of the people involved and inform me about what is going on in my hometown. On the other hand it does so, because they are partly from former volunteers that already left to return back home or other people from abroad that can either share their experiences and EVS-related wisdom about similar situations with me or since I get the feeling like they are bringing the world to me to Serres. 
I read stories about Kangaroos in Australia and saw pictures from the beaches in Tel Aviv. I learned from experiences from an Estonian friend and I got insights from the work of other volunteers in other parts of Greece. All of this is firstly helping to not lose the connection to these people in an as fast-paced world as ours nowadays as e all truly have to take out time to sit down and put some words to paper. Secondly, it is also giving me assistance in times where I may don’t know what to do.
Moreover, one more way of making me or us happy is planning all the trips we still want to do and places and things we wish to visit during our EVS. Looking for bus timetables and search for accommodations in all these amazing-looking locations is always a mood-lightener. 

Water is our most important resource. It is the source of life. When we search for the existence of life on other planets, scientists first look for the existence of water.
But still we are wasting water, using drinking water in our toilets and treating it as if it would be endless accessible.
When you talk about the amount of water used by one European person per day you can often read the 130 litres per day for drinking, washing and cooking. It doesn`t seem that much. But this number is not correct. For the food production for one European person per day 2000 to 5000 litres water are necessary.
Already 15 000 litres of water are used for the production of one kilogram beef.
While we are 7 billion people at our earth at the moment and probably will be 9 billion in 2050 we have to find out how to produce more food with less water. At the same time 30% of the world wide food production gets wasted every year.
What does that mean for the normal person like you and me? How can we save water?

• Eat vegetarian or eat less meat!
• Check your pipes and toilets for leaks!
• Take shorter showers!
• Turn off the water while brushing your teeth or shaving!
• Fully load your dishwasher and wash full loads of clothes!
• Water your garden in the morning or in the evening!
• Don`t wash your car with a hose!
• Never use your toilet as a wastebasket!
• Rinse dishes in a full sink!

Like Gandhi says: Be the change that you want to see in the world!
So all of us have to start NOW!
By Vera Lennartz
Source:
https://www.focus.de/wissen/mensch/umwelt-weltwassertag-wassersparen-bei-nahrungsproduktion_aid_726582.html
​

On the 20th of March we celebrate the International Day of Happiness which was founded by United Nations adviser Jayme Illien on June 28, 2012. Jayme recognized that the pursuit of happiness is human right. 
It is important to know about Jayme Illien's background that she was an orphan who rescued from the streets of Calcutta, India, by Mother Teresa’s International Mission of Hope charities. Her fate turned better when  a single white American woman, Anna Belle Illien adopted her. She was the founder of the Illien Adoptions International INC. The conclusion of this story that the life can turn better and everyone deserve a happy life.
We celebrate the International Day of Happiness since 2013 around the world.  The initiator of this event was the grandson of Nelson Mandela,Ndaba Mandela and the daughter of Bill Clinton, Chelsea Clinton.  Two years later the UN formulated 17 development goals that seek to end poverty, reduce inequality and protect our planet which lead to well-being and happiness.
During the years UN promoted the event with the song of Pharrell Williams "Happy", which was the first 24 hour music video of the world. This year the UN promote this world day with the Smurfs. On this occassion the United Nations invited everyone to celebrate the International Day of happiness using hashtag #SmallSmurfsBigGoals.

Resources used: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Day_of_Happiness
http://www.un.org/en/events/happinessday/

Written by: Ágnes Illés

​On the 20th of March we celebrate the International Francophonie Day. If you hear the name of Monet, Coco Chanel, Édith Piaf, Viktor Hugo,  Jean-Paul Belmondo or Jean-Michel Jarre the country you remember is France. This country gave many taledted artist to the world. There are over 369 million French speakers on the earth.
The Agency of Cultural and Technical Cooperation was estabished in Niamey, Niger in 1970. This agency became the contemporary International Organization of Francophonie (OIF). 
The General Director of UNESCO best explained the honorary day “The French language crystallizes centuries of culture and history. … It is in French that Pascal, Voltaire or Rousseau led the fight for tolerance, democracy and human rights. It was in French that Assia Djebar defended the rights of women and that Césaire, Senghor and so many others laid the foundations of modern humanist consciousness. On all 5 continents, hundreds of millions of men and women express their hopes for a better life in French.”
Today 84 states and governments are members of the OIF. This year many country celebrate Francophonie day from South Africa across Thailand to Miami. In my country, which is Hungary, we have movie festival from French directors every year.

Resources used:
https://frenchly.us/what-to-do-on-international-francophonie-day/

Written by: Ágnes Illés

World Consumer Rights Day was inspired by a former USA president, John F. Kennedy. He was the first world leader to address the issue of consumer rights in a message to the US Congress on 15th March 1962. In 1983, the consumer movement marked this date for the first time and now every year on this day they mobilise action on campaigns and important issues.
This day is about promoting the basic rights of all consumers, demanding that these rights are protected and respected. Furthermore, participants protest about the social injustices and market abuses. In each year it has a theme what they focus on the most. This year theme is Fairer Digital Marketplaces. It has three main points:

1. Access to fair and secure internet for the over half the world that are still offline
2. Action against scams and fraud
3. Better general consumer protection online

E-commerce has come a long way since its establishment in the 1960s. It started with the B2B (business to business) community sharing documents over the internet and now we have sales worth $2.29 trillion in the online retail industry. It changed drastically over the past 20 or even 10 years. The information technology is developing so fast, it opens many possibilities for this industry, but on the other hand it creates just as much chances for all those who intend to deceive other people too. Furthermore, we have the problem that half of the world’s population are still offline, and even if they have access to the internet 70% of consumers are worried about their digital payments are being unsafe.

(Source: ITU report)

This map shows the percentages of the people who are not online in each region. To tackle this problem big companies such as Google and Facebook started their own projects to give internet access to those people in areas out of the reach. They want to do it for free because the cost of it is a big problem too in poorer countries. The first point of this year’s theme has been going on for a while now, they are going in the right direction, but it takes time to reach their overall goal and we also need to help them as much as we can to make it happen faster or convincing internet providers to lower their prices to make it affordable.
According to a report which was carried out in 2017 by CIGI-Ipsos Global Survey on Internet Security and Trust. Among those who never shop online, the key reason they don’t do it is the lack of trust. People can hear bad thing about this way of shopping. For example, not getting what they ordered or getting poor quality. The packages are late or never arriving. People have problem they are not able to make online payment because of reasons like they do not have access to online payment systems or they do not have that kind of credit card. Other problem is that there is no delivery to specific locations. But then again if someone don’t get what they wanted sometimes you can’t get a refund or there are difficulties with it. Nowadays people can hack systems as well, so they can steal personal information.
On this day they want to raise awareness for this problems with online shopping, movements make recommendations how to make amends. If you want to join this celebration and support consumers rights use the #BetterDigitalWorld hastag on the social media sites.

Written by Edina Szathmári

Sources used for this article:

• http://www.consumersinternational.org/what-we-do/world-consumer-rights-day/2018-making-digital-marketplaces-fairer/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumers_International#World_Consumer_Rights_Day
• https://www.statementagency.com/blog/2016/03/the-history-of-ecommerce
• https://www.computerworld.com/article/3099168/internet/more-than-half-the-world-is-still-offline.html