Victor Hugo

Mon écrivain préféré

Victor Hugo est né à le 26 février 1802 à Besançon (une ville à l'Est de la France) et il est mort à le 22 mai 1885 à Paris. Il est un écrivain, dramaturge, académicien et poète. Il est très célèbre en France et à tout le Monde aussi.

Son œuvres sont très diverse: romans, poésie lyrique, drames en vers et en prose. Son œuvres principaux sont: “Cromwell”, “Hernani”, “Ruy Blas”, “Le bossu de Notre-Dame”, “Notre-Dame à Paris”, Les Misérables (mes livres préférés), Les Châtiments, Les Contemplations et ainsi de suite.

On lui considére comme le plus important des écrivains romantiques à langue française.

Il est né à Besançon, où son père a été un général en garnison. Puis il est passé son enfance à Paris. Il a été le dernier de trois enfants.

Victor a devenu connu avec son drame Cromwell. Après le, il y a eu des autres œuvres très couronné de succès. En 1841 il est choisu à l’Académie française.

Après l’exil en 1851 (parce qu’il s’a affronté contre le monarchie), il s’est retourné à Paris en 1870. Victor Hugo est mort en quatre-vingt-trois ans.

Lui et Balzac sont les écrivains plus célèbres de cette période. Mais, il est aussi apprécié parce qu’il a été militant pour la Troisième République et la démocratie en France.

The city of Skopje

F

rom the prehistoric cottages and mud houses, through the ancient and medieval structures in Roman, Byzantian and Ottoman style, to the vast and modern city we see today. Skopje combines the history with the present. It is a mixture between the old-fashioned and the contemporary.

All the monuments contain their own mystery, legends and stories. And all you have to do is to have a good ear to hear them. You have to go to the past and relive it in the present time. If you find yourself at the archaeological site Skupi, you’ll go back into the ancient times and the glorious reign of the Macedonian kings and the Roman Emperors which succeed them. The fortress of Kale, the Stone Bridge and the numerous Turkish mosques, amams (spas) and bezistens (bazaars), but also Christian churches, monasteries and the rich cultural treasury are remains of the Ottoman period and the Macedonian struggle during it. The narrow, congested sokaks of the old bazaar - the Skopje charshia makes you feel the smell of the Orient and takes you back to the years, decades of the last two, three or even more centuries. It allows you to have a peek into the tiny workshops and handicraft shops and to meet the outstandingly skilled craftsmen.

All of these previously mentioned are very well-kept monuments which explain the Macedonian experience and tradition inherited throughout the centuries.

Skopje has changed many ways since the past. The old maala like Debar Maalo, Magyir Maalo have all grown into huge districts. The houses were replaced with tall buildings and other modern structures, like hospitals, libraries, pools, gymnasiums, post offices, schools, universities, supermarkets, malls and many other places for leisure and fun.

Although Skopje has a few five-star hotels, the river Vardar lost its sandy beach due to the fact that the river had become dirty and polluted. However, its banks didn’t loose their function. They’ve become a modern promenade, cycling and roller-skating area. On the quay there are many modern cafes and a disco, especially interesting at night.

Very frequently, there are celebrations and happenings on the city square, also near the river Vardar.

Unfortunately, the traffic might sometimes get a little appalling. However, you can always go on foot. And if you get too much stressed, you can relax at the city park or go hiking on Vodno and have a pretty view of the city. The weather is nice and it’s sunny from early spring until late fall.

Viktor Janevski

sharing in our community

Sharing is very important in a community. There are many different ways in which an individual can share with the others. In my opinion, tree-planting is a wonderful example of sharing, not only in a certain community, but with the entire World. The modern activities of the people result in air-pollution, increased amount of carbon dioxide, global warming, destroying of the ozone - the filter for the ultraviolet rays etc. All of this is contributing to aggravation of the peoples’ health, thus every planted tree should be regarded as a human act.

As a counterweight to the Global industrialization and the decreasing of forest reserves, a citizens’ initiative for afforesting was started. The goal of this action called “Tree day” was to plant two million trees, which is equal to the number of citizens of the Republic of Macedonia. Like I already said, this initiative was started by a group of people with the famous opera singer Boris Trajanov at the head, but soon it became very massive  the action was given an unreserved support by the Government of RM, ZELS (Association of Units of Local Self-government), the European Union, USAID, UNDP and other non-governmental organizations. The necessary financial resources, logistic support and nursery plants were provided by the Government of RM. The response to the call “Plant your future  Plant a tree”, which was broadcasted on all the medias was amazingly massive. Huge groups of people came to the locations anticipated for afforesting. That’s the reason why this action was greeted by numerous countries from the Balkan and Europe.

Following this trend was our motivation as a school to join the afforesting of the country. Our primary goal was to preserve the nature and make Macedonia a cleaner, healthier and more beautiful place to live. On 18^th March this year, we were assigned to a location  Miladinovci, near Skopje. There was a large crowd and a lot of trees were planted by the end of the day. We participated with a large share to that. We were very enthusiastic about that whole thing. It’s a great feeling knowing you’re doing a good deed for the society, for the country, for the World and for all the people.

We also carried out an eco-action for planting trees and cleaning the surrounding environment on the 22^nd September. Only, this time, the event was International  it had Global proportions. It was initiated by ENO (a virtual school from Finland) and it was carried out in order to plant a hundred million trees by the 2017. This action was, once again, very well accepted by everyone in our community and showed great results.

Forests are the basis of our planet, the major factor of life  fundamental for a healthy and long life. All of the previously mentioned events have already become traditional. The first idea was initiated by the Republic of Macedonia at the beginning of this year and in only several months it was accepted by a great number of countries, in that way taking Balkan proportions.

LOST IN A JUNGLE

M

y father took part in a scientific expedition in the Brazilian rainforests. Their task was to study the ways of living of all the inhabitants of the Brazilian jungles.

I wanted to go – so he took me with him. I thought it was going to be interesting and at the end, it turned out to be a bigger adventure than expected.

Three days had passed before my adventure happened. We had already set up a camp – right after our arrival with a jeep from Rio de Janeiro’s airport.

Everyone from the expedition crew (except me) went on a little research excursion around. It was supposed to be easy and quick. I stayed to guard the camp.

But, unfortunately, a terrible storm happened. The jungle was darker than usual. It was raining heavily, the wind was blowing hard and it was foggy, cold and scary. The others didn’t come back that day.

I stayed in my tent that whole day, covered in blankets to warm myself up and with a candle to make it lighter inside.

The first thing I did the next day was putting up a square ~ shaped fence around the camp. I put some roughly cut pieces of wood.

There were several packs of canned food in the other tents, but I had already eaten them. To survive, I had to climb up the trees and pick fruits. Trees are pretty high in the rainforests, luckily I had a 50m – long – rope which made climbing easier.

Water wasn’t a problem – I had a stock of 6 gallons, but still, I didn’t afford myself to wash the fruits with it, so I peeled them with a pocket knife.

It was rather difficult to make fire, because it was constantly raining (not heavily, fortunately, more because of the humidity). I had matches, but I also needed petrol in order to keep the rain longer (because of the rain). But all I could find were a few little bottles of pure alcohol. I had to use them!

That night, I heard footsteps. Actually, just steps. I was afraid from the wild animals. I was terrified because the steps were becoming louder and louder. I had a torch, but no batteries for it. Therefore, it was useless. I was at the edge of my nerves when I saw shadows at the side of the tent, but I felt relieved and very happy when I saw my father’s face!

I spent a week alone in the middle of the Brazilian rainforest. Although I had a cellular phone, I was not able to use it due to lack of network! I was literally cut off from civilisation. But, I attained a good… Well, better to say - useful experience!

Written by: Viktor Janevski – I year