Winter Activity Day

As annual activity, our school runs the “winter activity day”, where all the IB students and some teachers come up with some winter-related activities and Year 7 to 11 students get to play them for a whole day. Last year, my group ran an activity to make a snowman and snowflakes with papers. And for this year, my group ran an activity to create a “winter poster”. We had total 5 groups and in each group, we had two different house teams. So we decided to make them compete with each other and at the end of the day, we will vote for the best “winter poster”.

At first, I was worried ‘what if students are not interested in making them’, which turned out to be worries which I didn’t need. Every group who came to our activity worked collaboratively with others as well as with us. We helped each groups to come up with an idea how to decorate and what to make. What to cut out, what to colour, what to draw, etc. Not only had I worked collaboratively with my group. Three of us, went around the class to help the teams to create some ideas to decorate, as well as to help the students to actually make something like snowflakes and anything else they wanted to make. Also some students asked for our help and we did have alot of fun. It was really great time to get to know some students whom I didn’t know.

Because I like making things and get to know new friends, I enjoyed my activity a lot, and so did my group. And I realized that dealing with young students is really hard job and thought about teachers. However, still the activity was successful, we planned and initiated activity and at the end, we did have some nice posters.

Visiting Orphans

Every month, my father’s co-workers in the company where he works, go to the orphanage, to celebrate children’s birthday. The first time when I went there was last year and this was the second time. The purpose of going there is to celebrate their birthday, give some presents, eat some foods and play with them. Most of them are abandoned by parents when they were young and some of them lost their parents by accident or diseases. It is assumed that they don't get attentions from their parents and therefore, we went. We visit them the last weekend of every month. Before we go, we ask the guardian of orphans, what children want for their birthday present and we buy what they want. Then we bring the present with some cakes, fruits, and pizzas.

When we arrive there, first of all, we sing happy birthday song and give presents to them. Because I can’t sing happy birthday song in Russian, I just listen to them. Then after the gift giving time, we share the foods. My family work at this time, hand out foods to children, since it is the only time when we don’t need to speak. I tried to consider the ethical implications of my actions while I was there, to not hurt feelings of children. When I saw them, I feel sorry for them for not having a family and also feel thanks to my family, for being with me. They are aged 7 to 17 children who need and want the warmth of their family and the care from their parents. I realized that it is important to help others because in that way, we can share what we have and don’t. We could give them not only presents but also we could be there for them to feel that they are not alone and we are here for them. By sharing what we have and don’t, we grow up.

And after lunch, we had some play time. I joined the group where they played a game called “silence game”, which means I don’t need to talk. So I worked collaboratively with children and some other volunteers and had fun. Maybe I had more fun than those children… When I got home, I slept like a dead person.

Jogging

I’ve jogging since September 2011, so it’s been almost seven months. Ever since I arrived in Moscow, I didn’t really exercised much nor look around what’s near my house because of the cold weather. And I realized that my health was getting weak. So I recognized the importance and increased my awareness of exercising. I looked for a sport which I don’t need any partners nor equipments and I came up with jogging. At first, I was jogging for my health and my diet. However after few months when I’ve started jogging, it became part of my weekly life and now I jog at least once in a week. And when I want to jog but the weather is too cold, I use running machine instead. I never thought that I will show perseverance and commitment of jogging because I am lazy but now I am proud of myself for keeping a promise to myself.

At first, I walked around my apartment for half an hour and next, I started to jog around my house. After two or three month, I started to jog outside my apartment but my parents worried about me going outside the secured area (which is my apartment), so I occasionally go outside of my apartment after I got permission from my parents. And now I feel much healthy and I will keep jog.

Paper Rolling

Origami (paper folding) is a way of folding papers to create something like dolls, like what I’ve previously and posted on the blog. And I found new way of creating things with paper (by rolling them) to challenge myself in new area. It was much harder then paper folding but was worth doing it when I saw the final version of what I did. It is simpler than the origami in a way that you don’t need to fold the papers in different way for several times, cut them, making the shape; you simply need to roll the papers. We use special type of papers to do this which is a thin sliced paper and we need some tools. To make this cake, I used about 10 white papers and one each for other colors and spend about 3 hours in a row. It required high concentration because if I don’t it will make the rolled up papers loosen and I have to start again from the beginning. I increased my awareness of my strength which is making something with the papers. I like paper folding and when I’m making something, I feel really happy and I automatically concentrate into it. If I could, maybe later, I want to go to some kind of institution where people teach how to make something and learn how to make something which could be done with hands.

Rice-ball making

I’ve always wanted to make some foods and develop my skills of cooking. And I finally made chance to do that. On the internet, I’ve found a way to make easy, good-looking and tasty rice ball. So I undertook new challenge of cooking them.

I took out all the materials that I needed, washed all the vegetables and cut them into tiny pieces, so it will make the process of mixing the vegetables and rice easier. Before I begin to cut them, I put the 5 eggs in boiling pots. After cutting the carrots and the broccolis, I fried the carrots and boiled the broccolis. And mix them separately with rice. Then I took out the eggs from the boiling pots and pilled them and divided the white and yellow part. With the yellow part, I cut them into pieces just like the other vegetables and mix them again with a bowl of rice. And quickly, I made what goes inside the rice-ball with tunas, mayonnaise and cucumbers. Once, everything is ready, I started to make the rice ball 

Even though I was cooking a simple rice ball, it was really hard and I realized that how difficult it is for my mother to prepare each meal. And I was also proud myself for developing the skills of cooking like how to choose the fresh vegetables, for how long do i have to boil them of fry them, how to work out the ratio of the sauces, etc. As it was my first time to cook on my own, it took much loger than it should. However, now I'm sure that i could cook much quicker because now I know all the tips like how to choose the vegetables, what to do while one thing is happening (the use of time). So next time, when I retry to cook, i should be able to cook quicker and faster. Also it was really happy to see my family eating with smiles on their face.

Valentine Disco Party

On 14^th of February, our school organised a Valentine Disco Party! The IB students (Year 12 & 13) planned and initiated the party from buying the snacks to decorating the place where the disco was held. My job was to buy the foods like breads, cheese, hams for making sandwiches, chips, chocolate bars, drinks etc, and decorating the disco place. Also making a poster for younger students to join the party and have fun. The entire money rose from the party like non-uniform wearing payment, selling snacks and drinks will be donated to raise a guide dog. So I felt more responsible for participating in this activity and we bought lots of snacks and drinks for students to make sure that there are enough foods for them also we will raise the money from the party and able to gather money for the donation.

Also, as there isn’t much chance for the younger students to hang out with their friends, we paid extra attention on the decoration and the music for them to enjoy the party well and have fun. And since it was my last Valentine Disco, and last party that I will participate and work collaboratively with my friends in the high school, it was really meaningful and also felt proud when I watched the younger students enjoying and having fun in the disco.

Jogging

As the weather gets cold, instead of playing badminton every week as I planned, I ran every weekend. Every weekend, I ran 30 minutes and did stretching for 30 minutes. And when it’s even colder to go out, I used running machine at home to exercise. Because I’ve been exercise regularly and I didn’t want to break the regular plan, I’ve decided to do jogging. Unlike playing badminton, I got to move more around my place, and got to know what’s near my house as well.  I showed perseverance and commitment of regularly exercising and I planned and initiated jogging.