A and Mai

Hi guys!

It’s Friday the 13th! Idk I get excited when the 13th falls on Fridays… 

Anyway... I wanted to share some book recommendations, because my initial goal with this blog was to just talk about books, but I haven’t yet. So here it is. These are my book recommendations of the week. I tried to include 2 books for each genre. Ok, here are the books:

If you want a classic, you should try

“The Picture of Dorian Grey” - Oscar Wilde 

I am really not a fan of classics. I never really read them. But this book was amazing. It’s really short and the ideas in it are so interesting. I’d recommend you read this if you want to get into classics.

“The Dark Interval” - Rilke

I don’t even really know what to say about this book... just that it’s brilliant and life-changing. 

If you want a contemporary romance, try:

“Everyday” - David Levithan 

This book will remain one of my all time favourites forever. It’s about a person who wakes up in a different body everyday, and then they fall in love with a stranger. It’s heart-breaking and beautiful. 

The “Bellinger Sisters” duology - Tessa Bailey 

These are my favorite books I have read so far this year. Just amazing I love them. 

If you want a book that will make you sob, maybe try:

“Pack up the moon” - Kristina Higgings

I can’t even talk about this book without crying. If this story doesn’t make you sob, I don’t know what will. 

“The Song of Achilles” - Madeline Miller  

This is my favorite book of ALL TIME. But it is also the saddest book I have ever read. If you want to read an amazing coming-of-age story in Ancient Greece, about 2 young princes that fall in love, that will cause you a lot of heartbreak... go read this book. 

If you want to read some fantasy, I would recommend:

“The Night circus” - Erin Morgenstern

This book is the definition of magical. I loved it. It’s enchanting and mysterious and whimsical. 

Or... if you want a fantasy series, maybe you should try:

“A Court of Thorns and Roses” - Sarah J. Maas

I know this is a really well-known series, but honestly, as it should. This series is so good. (I don’t really like Sarah J. Maas’s other books, but this one, I think any fantasy lover will enjoy). 

If you want a book you will physically not be able to put down, read:

“Verity” - Colleen Hoover (but also honestly just any other Colleen Hoover book)

This book will most likely severely disturb and traumatise you because of how alarming the plot is, however you will not be able to put it down. 

“Malibu Rising” by Taylor Jenkins Reed (but also her other books tbh)

I love Taylor Jenkins Reed so much. If you like reading about drama and really outrageous families and their extravagant lifestyles, you will love this book. (And “The Seven husbands of Evelyn Hugo” too!)

And finally, if you want an interesting non-fiction read about Psychology, I would highly recommend:

“Dark Psychology Secrets” by Daniel James Hollins 

This book changed my perspective on a lot of things. It’s very very interesting. I would highly recommend you read it if you are interested in Psychology.

Okayyy that’s it. Those are my book recommendations of the week. Again, if you know any of them or read any of the books, let me know. I wanna talk books with people!

Hi to the view people on this blog! How you doing? 

Today Lesbian Visibility Week comes to an end, so I wanted to take this opportunity and share some info about this week. 

What is Lesbian Visibility Week? 

Lesbian Visibility Week is the annual practise in the US and UK dedicated to increasing the awareness of Lesbian women's and non-binary People’s experiences and their issues. It is celebrated from April 25 to May 1. 

Credits to @ briannavieira on insta https://www.instagram.com/p/CcySy1COQyz/?igshid=OTE2OGRmYjI= 

_______________________________

I cant speak on the behalf of lesbian women and non-binary people and their experiences, so I provided some links: 

Watch lesbian women and non-binary people talk about the importance of Lesbian Visibility Week:

General info on Lesbian Visibility Week:

https://www.rics.org/uk/news-insight/latest-news/news-opinion/lesbian-visibility-week/

Credits to @ pinknews on instagram 

https://www.instagram.com/p/CSKQ_dlj18T/?igshid=OTE2OGRmYjI= 

_______________________________

Lesbian representation in books: 

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cc2LCi0LB6e/?igshid=OTE2OGRmYjI=  

_______________________________

Short inside on the lesbian flag history: 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BxECZF1A_a-/?igshid=OTE2OGRmYjI=

_______________________________

Cartoons with LGBTQ representation: 

- She-ra and the Princess of Power (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transexual, non-binary)  

- Steven Universe (lesbian, bisexual, transexual, asexual, pansexual, non-binary)

- Adventure time (lesbian) 

- The Owl House (lesbian, non-binary, bisexual, aromantic/asexual) 

- The Legend of Korra (lesbian)

- Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeats (gay)

- Bee and Puppycat (lesbian) 

- Star VS the Force of Evil (lesbian, bisexual)

_______________________________

Anime with LGBTQ representation: 

- Sailor Moon (lesbian)

- Bloom into you (lesbian)

- Kase-san (lesbian)

- NANA (lesbian connotation)

- Hibike Euphonium (lesbian connotation)

- Attack on Titan (non-binary, lesbian)

- The Stranger by the Beach (gay, lesbian, bisexual)

- Wonder Egg Priority (bisexual, transexual)

- Fruits Basket (transexual, bisexual, genderfluid) 

- Souleater (non-binary)

- Sk8 the Infinity (gay. non-binary)

- Yuri on Ice (gay)

- Banana Fish (gay)

- No. 6 (gay)

- Given (gay)

- Sasaki to Miyano (gay)

- Sarazanmai (gay)

Hi to the few people on this blog! 

Just a reminder that today (April 22, 2022) we celebrate world earth day. 

For anyone not sure, world earth day is an annual event to demonstrate support for environmental protection. 

It’s been celebrated ever since 1970. It was first observed in the United States when millions of people protested against the Santa Barbara oil spill in 1969. Now the day is used to raise awareness on environmental issues of any kind. 

This years focus/theme, according to earthday.org, is ‘Invest In Our Planet’. It explains, “This is the moment to change it all — the business climate, the political climate, and how we take action on climate. Now is the time for the unstoppable courage to preserve and protect our health, our families, our livelihoods… together, we must ‘Invest In Our Planet’.” 

The link below will give you an sight on how you can help the planet and be part of this years world earth day: 

https://www.earthday.org/earth-day-tips/ (from the official earth day website) 

- Mai 

References: 

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/everyday-explainers/earth-day-2022-explained-7881454/ 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Day 

Hi to the 3 people on this blog! How you doing? 

Just wanted to share a playlist I just made filled with songs that remind me that life isn't so bad. Some summer songs if you will.  Some of them will seriously improve your mood instantly. Anyway....... thought I share this quickly. 

1. Trauma does not excuse bad behaviour - you do not have to surround yourself with people disrespecting you and blaming it on their trauma. 

Past trauma is a reason for your behaviour not an excuse. You as a person can decide whether you want to put effort in to coming to terms with your trauma. If you are not willing do that and keep deflecting your issues onto the people around you, don’t expect them to stick around. 

People that are friends with a person dealing with trauma often think that they have to stick around because “thats what a good friend would do”. While I am sure that friends should be considering, I still encourage them to leave if no effort is put in to improve poor behaviour. Simple as that. Your friends don’t have to tolerate poor behaviour just because you have trauma and are not willing to deal with it.  

2. Its okay if all you did was survive today- You finally got yourself to brush your teeth? Good job! You got out of your depression clothes and showered? I couldn't be more proud. 

It is important to realise that a lot of us struggle with, what most people consider, simple every-day tasks. I wake up sometimes and feel like not wanting to exist and it gets so bad that I am not even able to get out of bed. I told my dad this once and his immediate response was “Then don’t. If you don’t have the energy to start the day then do what is necessary to at least survive it.” and that stuck with me. 

You do not have to achieve something every single day. However, if thats something you feel is important then start to view things such as brushing your teeth, picking up one piece of clothing off your floor or simply eating 3 meals a day as an achievement, because it is for a lot of people. 

And for the people who can’t even do those tasks today, I need you to understand that it’s okay. You are okay and having those feelings does not make you lazy. You are simply trying to get through this day and I am so proud of you for trying. Keep it up. 

Hey guys!

The Spotify link above will bring you to some really cool music made by Martin from Grade 9GB. He has posted 3 songs and hopefully there are more to come. All of them are now in my studying playlist and they should definitely become a part of yours too. 

Go listen to the music and let them know what you think!

(“Lavalamp” is my personal favorite)

- A

On Wednesday I was waiting at the Central Station with a friend, when a man approached us. He had no baggage or any belongings with him except a piece of paper. I asked him if he was from the Ukraine and he nodded. We then looked up the address on the paper he was holding and helped him get to the tram he needed to take. He didn't speak any German except a "Dankeschön" when he left. That encounter really left me thinking about the war in the Ukraine and how it isn't over, even though social media makes it seem like it is. Unfortunately that's how modern media works. Attention is only brought to a conflict when it first starts, or when a dramatic enough event occurs. The Ukraine-Russia war is no different.

Everyone has heard about the conflict and most of you probably know the basic details about what started in February 2022. However, I don't think I'm alone in saying that I'm not as educated on the conflict as I would like to be. I find it difficult to keep up with political conflicts, because I never really know where to educate myself. However, I think the least one can do is try to find some way to help. On March 23 an article by Reuters published that there are nearly 239,000 refugees from the Ukraine in Germany. We might not be able to help in the Ukraine directly, but we can help the refugees that come here!

I've tried my very best to research ways in which we can help. Here are a couple that I found:

(above) is the website of the Stadt Leipzig. It lists many ways you can volunteer to help and links where you can donate money.

(above) is a website by the Diakonie Leipzig. If you go to the website and click on 'Wie kann ich helfen?' it will show you a bunch of volunteering opportunities.

(above) is a website from Radio Leipzig which has an overview of possible fundraising links and places in Leipzig.

Those are 3 websites I found, but of course there are many more. If you know more about the conflict or more ways people can be of help, please share what you know. This Blog can gladly be the platform for that!

Hey guys.

For the last two years my family has been struggling with taking care of a terminally ill family member, and in February of this year they lost the battle against cancer and passed away. Grief has been a very overwhelming and unusual thing to deal with, especially while being so busy with school and exams. But the most important thing to know about grief is that no one should deal with it by themselves. After my family member passed away, I found an organisation called the “Wolfsträne”, which is is an association that does bereavement support for children and teenagers. (I linked their website in this post!)

If you have lost a family member or know someone who has, I would recommend going to their website and seeing if one of their programmes could be of help to you. They offer individual support in the home environment, or group discussions where you can talk to people who are going through the same thing, and many more support offers. 

Everyone grieves differently, but no one should ever grieve alone. If you need support and want to feel understood and heard, go and see if the “Wolfsträne” has something to offer that might be of help to you. Also, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me if you want to talk to someone about what you’re going through. (My E-Mail: [email protected])

I hope you are all doing well and have a nice Easter.

The Sword of Argumentation 

Hi guys!

Attached here is a document written by Sami, a former LIS student. He wrote this extremely interesting text about logical fallacies, and how understanding them can help you become more articulate and thereby be more successful in discussions. 

If you’re an IB student... this text is also a great example of some ToK concepts! 

Go read it and find out how to become more effectively articulate and successful in arguments AND learn about some interesting (ToK) concepts.

TEDx LIS event

Hey guys!

As a CAS Project 4 boys from Grade 12 organised the TEDx LIS event last year, and now the talks are finally on YouTube! There are a total of 5 talks about the theme “Venture into the Unknown” and I would highly recommend you go watch them, they are all extremely interesting. I was actually one of the speakers! My talk is about the psychological implications behind first encounters and how you can make a good first impression. 

(The video is linked in this post!)

This project was so much fun to be a part of and if you ever get the chance to do one of these talks, I would highly recommend you submit an idea. 

Go watch them!

To start off this blog we thought you guys should get to know us a little. 2 people run this account: 

Mai -- hi, you may know me as Jolina in school but people online usually call me Mai. I video edit whenever I can, read, play animal crossing or watch stuff. yeah. I am currently trying to pass the IB (struggling at that) and that’s probably all you need to know about me.  (─‿‿─)

Alex -- heyyy. I‘m Alex but on here I‘ll go by A. I’m in my last year of IB… doing my best and staying as positive as I can. I love reading more than anything in the world, I write, I love music and dancing, and overall just being creative. Yep, that’s all about me :)

--------What you can expect from this blog: 

This blog is our CAS project and we plan on uploading things such as...

- Guidance for the IB (personal tips from IB students currently living though it) -> eg. what to avoid, things that might help organise your tasks etc. 

- educational posts regarding topics such as: LGBTQ+, history, contemporary issues, mental health, etc. 

However, we also want to include more personal things, such as: 

- Book reviews/ recommendations 

- Film reviews/ recommendations 

- Anime/ Manga reviews and recommendations (generally show reviews/recommendations) 

- sharing playlists/song recommendations (song of the day) 

Sometimes we might invite people to write about a specific topic they feel needs to be talked about. You can send us stuff you've created such as poems, stories, drawings, music etc. So if you ever have something you want to share, feel free to reach out to us:

Our socials... (or you can DM us via this account) 

Mai-- 

@meiyomai (instagram)

[email protected] (school email)

Alex-- 

@alexwrrr (instagram)

[email protected] (school email) 

We just want this blog to be a place on which we can share stuff, as well as you guys, so we would appreciate any interaction. If this blog ends up being an absolute flop.... well... forget it ever happened. at least we tried.  

bye for now!