here are some extra things from the volleyball tournament
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@why-not-cas
here are some extra things from the volleyball tournament

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“Football is about joy”-Ronaldinho
So I signed up for football. It was a complete failure. I suck, but honestly in the end, I’m not super upset.
So I only took a few classes because for some reason I kept having to miss class. I got sick, then I got bitten by a dog (true story), I didn’t attend the matches because obviously I wasn’t good enough and so on. Still, taking the time to participate was cool I think I did improve my skill on football a little bit, I can you know, maybe kick the ball a little better and I appreciate the level of skill it requires a little more. It was also cool to participate on the ‘experiments’ they did to practice. What was not cool was that I definitely felt judged. So most of the girls in the class, and by that I mean all of the girls in the class, were good and had played multiple times before and many of them were signed up to an additional football league I don’t know what, and when I got there with my obvious rookie appearance I could feel the staring. Anyway one girl was really nice with me and talked to me and that made it better. I still say hi to her when I see her in school.
All in all. C: 61/50 A: 53/50 S: 54/50
So we were playing cards and a teacher asked us to help carry some christmas presents the students from the school are giving away to an institution for children. It was mostly talking with sweets in out mouths for 45 minutes while avoiding the person carrying way too many boxes from breaking anything. In the end we asked for some plastic containers to put a load of presents and carry more at the same time.
-Working collaboratively with others
C: 67/50 A: 53/50 S: 55/50
Volleyball is just a really intense version of “Don’t let the balloon touch the floor.”- Unknown
So here is the video that I ended up doing to show the volleyball tournament me and a friend organized. If you wish to see it, please click the link and I will receive an e-mail to authorize you to see the video. All the individuals in the video have given their permission for this to be published.
It took me about 6 hours to get it done and honestly I’m pretty proud of it :)
C: 67/50 A: 53/50 S: 54/50
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bwj-P5CsIfZjTEVWcW1lVnBtYUk
Ask not what your teammates can do for you. Ask what you can do for your teammates. (Magic Johnson)
EXTENDED PROJECT FOR CAS
So adding up it was roughly 5 weeks of carrying out the tournament, + 2 weeks of asking for the videos and editing one big video.
The for
C: 8hrs hrs
A: 10 hrs
S: 10 hrs
To give a total of
C: 61/50 A: 48/50 S: 54/50
Thats it for the day!

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When you control the ball, you control the score. (Pele)
YAS. PING PONG. OR LET ME SAY: COOLEST RELAXED SPORT EVAH.
So I’m actually pretty good at ping pong. A few years back we used to have a ping pong table in my house but then it got bent and broken because people would always like lie on it and thing like that, really sad moment.
Anyway, this group of friends created a ping pong club on friday afternoons for their CAS extended project so I joined to get some action because why not. The classes were super unorganised and they only had two tables and most of the classes one of the tables was broken so many people would have to wait to be able to play.
I have two friends who were barely starting to play ping pong and I tried to teach them the basics. And believe it or not it was harder to teach this than to teach math to unwilling children I don’t know how or why, but it happened. It was no good to my already exponential stress levels. I would just end up getting super annoyed at them. BUUUUT, I managed to control that frustration. Yay. Self-five. They got better and they would listen to the corrections and tips everyone gave them and then playing with them would a actually be really fun, and it feels great to be actually good at something and be able to teach it to others.
Because most of the time there was only one table we would play this game by going around the table running and having to pass on the ball. It was good and it helped everyone to improve their aim.
The fun part was that because I’m not half bad I could play agains the asian kids in my grade, which I know sounds pretty racist but they are good. And I beat one of them, and the games would be very very intense and fast and we would get angry and try to shoot the ball at the other but still it would be sooo much fun.
Also there is this super good guy and he can kill anyone in ping pong and we would play 2 v. 2 and he would be in my team and we would win almost every match. Now there is this move in ping pong were you twist your arm to make the ball have an effect and it becomes super hard to respond, but he is in the process of teaching me how to do it and I sometimes manage to do it and it feels really good.
All in all + 5 hours action
C: 53/50, A: 38/50, S: 44/50
With the following learning outcomes:
worked collaboratively with others
shown perseverance and commitment in their activities
increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth
developed new skills
Gardening is cheaper than therapy and you get tomatoes. (Unknown)
I swear this is the activity that I tell someone “Oh yeah I’m in gardening” and they look at me like I’m the weirdest being on this planet and I don’t even know how to feel about this. I LOVE it.
SOOO pictures first!!!
Gardening is by far the best activity I do for CAS. And I’m not even really sure why I like it so much. It is so relaxing, but great at the same time. You get involved with your plants, you know? Because you germinated them, and you saw the root come out and then the first leaf pops out and then you can see it grow and it is truly amazing.
So the tomatoes were growing perfectly fine and then there was this incident where someone forgot to water them so they were all wilted and we almost fainted and we were screaming but then we put water on them and waited for a day and they were fine. By the next week we put them in the soil as you can see above. What was a bigger problem was that when plants wilt their stem bends and that is really difficult to fix and if it bend to much the tubes inside it break and then the plant dies. So we had to find straight sticks and attack them to the stems of the tomatoes to see if they would recuperate and they all got back well and alive. There are 6 recently planted tomatoes plants which we are hoping will start giving tomatoes pretty soon.
Before spring break we had this huge problem in the hydroponics. So remember how hydroponics is based on water with salts, and how plants grow really well in that? well so does algae. and there were algae EVERYWHERE. We tried to combat it but in the end we gave up, we took the last lettuces threw everything away and the school workers cleaned it for us so we could start over. So we germinated again and now we are covering the empty hydroponic slots with aluminium foil so that the sun does not reach the inside of the tube and algae cannot grow inside.
Personally I have this huge problem with the junior gardening club. And it is because i’m possessive. And i feel these children just stole our beds (were you grow plants) and i felt like breaking and stepping on their plants because i was so angry. So plants grow better when they are alone, and i took these ming plants and put them secluded in this tire (we used them as pots) and in the next two days or so I go check on them and the children had like unplanted them and put their stuff and man I was angry. And I didn’t do anything, but GRRR. Why do they have to do it. And what’s the teachers problem. I mean it was obvious those plants were there on purpose so what can’t she or he say anything. And they don’t even try to keep and order. They didn't even accommodate the tires they are using in a nice way or anything so it looks really ugly. And I know it sounds like OCD but, well, if you’re going to have a garden you might as well try to make it pretty, else what is the point.
So yes. I do have a problem.
+ 15 hours creativity and +4 hours service
C: 53/50, A: 33/50, S: 44/50
And OMG LOOK AT THAT CREATIVITY BEING FINISHED SHOULD I BE PROUD OR WHAT?
With the following learning outcomes:
worked collaboratively with others
shown perseverance and commitment in their activities
increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth
... It’s more like chess with the risk of puncture wounds. (Lisa Kleypas)
ON FENCING
So Diego decided I should work out and get strength because I’m too weak and well holding a metal sword for one hour and trying to attack people with it requires the ability to keep it up, an ability I do not have.
This part was horrible. So we went to the gym and it was the first time I had done such type of training and it broke me. I did mostly arm work and I literally couldn’t carry my bag for like 3 days and had problems with benfing my arms for a week. And you can see I was suffering.
And look at that horribly awkward leg position, and I’m so sweaty.
Ew.
Disgusting.
Anyway... I had a pretty bad time, and it did wear me off a lot. My arms are weak, and the training was like a lot and in a really shot amount of time for what apparently I can actually handle, so that was pretty awful. But it felt cool, because I finished doing the reps and I was proud about that.
Now this one was impossible. So I didn’t even have weights on it and after doing like 2 reps i couldn’t take it anymore and I would take super long doing them because I would have to take rests each time I lifted it up. Simply horrible. So: Do I even lift? I most definitely don’t.
Still I finished my repetitions and I felt good. I had to do bicycle too, and that was really good because I did it without stopping which really impressed me and I was listening to music which really help and obviously Queen all the way because the song “Don’t stop me now” was most helpful.
I realised I have a really bad condition, but that might something to do with me getting sick. I got pneumonia fro two weeks so I had to stop swimming and I think that really affected me.
+10 hours action
C: 39/50, A: 33/50, S: 40/50
With the following learning outcomes:
increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth
undertaken new challenges
worked collaboratively with others
shown perseverance and commitment in their activities
developed new skills
Fencing isn’t really fighting...
I started fencing. Its is most definitely fun. And also horrible. Like the first class I was flabbergasted, I really enjoywed it and I was like “Yeah, I’m going to be a pro at this”. Two classes later though... that idea changed.
I have this classmate who does fencing since he was little and we agreed he would teach me fencing and well he is really good at it.
There are many moves, I learned like the 4 most basic ones.
This is the flecha (Arrow) it was the move that I found the most difficult of them all. So you take the normal position and then you like throw yourself forward and then have to run and it is super complicated, and I still have difficulties with it.
And then there’s this one:
Obviously mine doesn’t look half as pretty as hers. This one I called awkward arm ben because you have to twist your arm backward and it’s just super weird. This is the one I do best, as we practices it and it more or less the base of the attacks I can do. Once Diego made me do may of this move and I could not move my right leg for the next week, it was awful.
Then there is the basic defences and this one super difficult move called delage where you like make a small circle with the sword to stop the opponents sword, but my circles are not nearly as small as they would have to be so that the move is effective and so I would just feel stupid.
Also Diego believes in this type of training were you practically kill the other person and that will make them better, well it is not particularly working with me but I think I’ve improved since we first began.
Also I have the slowest reflexes ever so we played squash which apparently needs super fast reflexes and I really enjoyed it, I might even consider to play it some time in the near future.
(look at those HD pictures)
+10 hours action (we have like 2 hours of class every sunday at 9 am)
C: 39/50, A: 23/50, S: 40/50
With the following learning outcomes:
increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth
undertaken new challenges
worked collaboratively with others
shown perseverance and commitment in their activities
developed new skills
Twinkies and wine? That’s real class. (Pink Ladies- Grease)
FOLLOWUP ON PINK LADIES AT THE ABC HOSPITAL
What can I say after all these months I got used to it. Used to the horrible pink dress. Used to the nasty patients that give you horrible faces because you entered their room and 11 am, but the so would I. Used to reading out menus. I don’t have to accompanied anymore because I finished the ‘training’ sessions so I may go alone in a floor, which may be good or bad.
It is good because that way I can go at my own pace and take my time. Also when there’s more than one it may be really awkward because one talks and the other one stands there trying to smile. But also bad because it takes longer if one is alone. Plus when you have someone you get to chat while walking around and make friends, stuff like that. Each one can do half of the floor, or one can be in charge of the menus while the other one takes care of the charts. So in the end it is better to be with someone else.
(Those are the senior volunteers. These pictures are by the entrance of the office.)
It also helps that the voluntaries have this huge library, and it changes all the time because they sell the books to make money, but we can grab one and read it and then return it which is really cool. I feel we could lend them to the patients but then we would have to ask the ‘bosses’ which are the senior voluntaries.
And sometimes they get books from families that don’t want them anymore so this one time we got to see a book that as signed by someone in like 1911, we were amazed. And there is everything. You can find anything from Twilight to Anna Karennina to self help books and biographies, so it is really an opportunity to find a cheap book and read it.
However even after getting used to it, it is hard to think of ourselves real volunteers. By this I mean we are just sparing someone the job to actually call the patient and ask them what they want to eat. And when we enter we say “Good morning, we are from the Volunteers to check if you need anything?”, even if they needed anything there is like a 90% chance we cannot help them. We are not allowed to make any contact with the patients.
But still after you’ve finished another hour and a half every Saturday you feel great, this sense of accomplishment of “Yay, I did something for someone else” which is really gratifying. And sometimes the patients or their family are really nice, and they ask about what we do, wy are we doing it or they compliment us and go “Oh, but you’re so young” and they go thank you or they talk with us about the hospital and those are the best days because we feel like we have done something productive.
+12 hours service
C: 39/50, A: 13/50, S: 40/50
With the following learning outcomes:
worked collaboratively with others
shown perseverance and commitment to your activities
considered the ethical implications of their actions

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The only thing that will redeem mankind is cooperation. (Bertrand Russel)
The International Fair is the biggest even in my school. Like is the event you cannot miss. It’s held on a Saturday and there are stands for so many countries. And you buy food, and theres art by the students, and the library sells book and movies and there are mechanical games, you can throw sponges at teachers and it is truly an amazing day. Check it out here.
I decided to be part of the Belgium stand this year and make chocolate mousse. By this I mean I spent one Friday afternoon from 5 pm to like 11 making mousse. I was so stressed. I normally make desserts for when there are small gatherings in my house and my parents have guests over. But this time I had to make much more. I made around 4 batches that normally can serve up to ten people. And I know for some this may be easy but I had never cooked in that scale. I almost overslept the next day because I was so tired.
In the end the mousse au chocolat turned out quite good I managed to sell all of them which was also a challenge. Now, Belgian chocolate is expensive, even more buying it here in Mexico and I needed to find large amount around 2 kg so I couldn’t go to the market around the corner. I went to this specialised store for kitchen stuff that sells the tools and other arcane machinery, and I had to pay a lot for the black and the white chocolate, plus small containers and spoons to put the mousse in. I didn’t think about the price I would have to sell the mousse until very late and I had to sell them expensively, which was harsh for me because I’m the one always complaining about how the food is exorbitantly expensive at the fair. But still people seemed to like it and that made me happy.
There was one major problem that I had to dal with. Mexico is hot around March. And when I say that I mean it, blazing hot from 10 am to around 4-5 pm, and the mousse has to be kept cold because it contains raw egg in it. So we had to keep it away from the sun but also it had to be out in the tables of the stand so people would see it and buy it. We managed and the mousse was kept cool for most part of the fair, but still it was a hard task.
The fair was amazing we had a lot of fun, I brought a friend from another school and we spent most of the afternoon in the mechanical games. Quite a day.
All in all +2 hours creativity and +5 hours service
C: 39/50, A: 13/50, S: 28/50
With the following learning outcomes:
undertaken new challenges
shown perseverance and commitment in their activities
developed new skills
considered the ethical implications of their actions (could selling egg and chocolate at a ridiculous price be considered and ethical issue? I think so)
It’s cupcake o’clock (Unknown)
C U P C A K E S.... I mean, who doesn’t love cupcakes. They are tiny cakes. With frosting. I don’t really like frosting that much. But who cares? Tiny cakes.
I have a very good friend who lives like literally 5 minutes away from my house and his mother is a baker and once he invited a group of friend over so we could learn to decorate cupcakes. This might sound simple but it is actually a really difficult, I mean if you’re expecting to get something out of the cupcake more than just a simple and humble top coat of frosting. This was the prime matter with which we started:
Look at all those delicious cupcakes, there were vanilla and chocolate and maybe there was also blueberries but I cannot confirm that right.
And yeah decorating cupcakes sounds like fun and giggles right? It is not. It requires so much patience. Unless you want crappy cupcakes patience is what you will need to do this. When you begin it’s great, you eat the frosting have fun decorating and your levels of composure are high, but as the hours pass on you start to get tired, your arm hurt from the frosting, you cannot have one more gram of frosting in your mouth or you’ll feel sick and you are so tired of the stickiness that is everywhere. The table, your hands, your arms, your hair. But in the end the effort is worth it, even if you cannot eat them anymore because you feel disgusted by frosting.
What was also really hard was learning how to use the bags for decoration. The frosting was very thick as it had a cream cheese base, so we could not really use the super fine coupler bases. Then initially the frosting was cold so the base would give you a nice and hard decoration, but as it started to get warmer with he heat of our hand the frosting would come out in a much more gooey consistence which made it really hard to decorate.
The kitchen was a mess when we finished. But before that one of the helpers of my friends mum taught us how to do these sugar dough snowman mini-statues, I’m not really sure what the technical name would be. We had to put grease in out hands first so the dough would not stick us and then a little bit on the table. Now this dough was very very delicate, so it it took time to make the shapes of the snowman look the way we wanted them to look. We made a hat and a scarf. Personally that scarf was hard because I wanted to make it pretty but if I made it big so I could work with it more easily it would be to big for the snowman. But in the end man I was proud of my work.
Isn’t it cute?
You can also see in the back of the picture the snow-mans and cupcakes made by friends who were also there. The thing with the snowman is that after they dry if you try to eat them you will break your teeth, so that was a downer. They are much more of a decoration thing than a edible substance.
In the end we had a lot of fun decorating the cupcakes and the next day eating them when I no longer had my mouth filled with sugar.
All in all +5 hours creativity.
C: 37/50, A: 13/50, S: 23/50
Learning outcomes:
developed new skills
increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth (I could only make two cupcakes because I freaked out that the decoration didn’t turn out the way I wanted it to and I got so frustrated)
undertaken new challenges
got this from here
Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go. (E. L. Doctorow)
There’s this library in Mexico called El Péndulo, where you cant have coffee and its also a bookstore, so it is actually pretty cool. You can find them in various places in Mexico City, such as malls but also as independent stores. They sometimes offer courses on philosophy or creative writing, and I decided to attend one of such courses with a friend. The teacher was called Edna Aponte and she is a poet and has some published books and a webpage.
It was definitely interesting. We began by making some easy exercises on writing knowing other people , stuff life that. When it first began it was definitely a challenge. I am a very straightforward person and writing in a more ‘literary’ manner seemed strange and awkward to me, you know?
And the teacher was kind of wacky. She would make us meditate at the beginning of each session and I would just think it was a little bit pointless. She would say: “empty you mind, imagine a clear blu sky” and then we would have to imagine a place in our minds were we could be free. And I feel like most of the people going (around 10 other youngsters of whom I was the oldest) would just make stuff up for the sake of invention. Anyway when we had to do this I supposed that if I wanted a quiet place to study and free my imagination it would be something like this:
And I know it looks like the most random and childish thing ever but don’t tell me it doesn’t look peaceful. It is a hollow space in between the roots of a tree. (By the way these are taken from a movie called Tonari no Totoro or My neighbour Tororo, and it is honestly a really good movie about growing up directed by my lord and saviour Hayao Miyazaki, please watch any of his movies if you have the opportunity) Anyway at the moment I found it really hard to describe but I selected it as my place of relaxation that I could access from within my mind, and even though in the beginning I thought ‘Well this is a waste of time’ I now find myself imagining this place when I am too stressed. Which is like all the time. All. The. Time. #IBlife
At the beginning we wrote haikus and did all these activities that I thought were useless and pointless and I would have this horrible attitude with the teacher. But in the end I started to accept what we had to do more and more and in the end I went happily to class and would do all the activities that became more interesting like making pastiches (imitating a writers style of writing) and deciding if we like better novellas, stories or poems.
For the ‘final delivery’ we would have to select two of the pieces we had written and then read them out loud to all the parents and the the teacher and the organiser of the courses in El Péndulo. I chose the two pieces I found the most valuable and the ones and the ones I feel most proud of. I apologize in advance as they are in spanish and translation would vacate them of their literary meaning, although I have written poems in english which I will post alongside the texts that I wrote for the course.
Ok. The teacher gave us the task to look up a mythological character, research him or her and then try to write their story in any way we wanted, as long as it had out style and our print imbedded in it. Medusa was always a very intriguing female character in greek mythology and I decided to look more deep into her story, or stories as greeks tended to have many origins for their deities and other characters, but I decided to go with the one that I read and it lit up something in my mind. Medusa was a very beautiful woman and Poseidon raped her in Athena’s temple, the goddess got angry and went all cray cray, turning Medusa into a very ugly woman with serpents instead of hair. Then Perseus who wanted to get revenge from this other dude that wanted to marry his mother, went and beheaded her, all of course with the help of gods and goddesses because poor Perseus wasn’t a very bright kid. A story full of gambits and mischievous characters. What a great soap opera. All in all I wrote the story from Medusas point of view. This took quite some effort as I had to find the way it would be interesting and not just a simple text. I filled it with references to other things and small hints of the story, but never actually said the name Medusa. I feel it was a little bit over the top and it is a little bit heavy for those that do not know about literature, but I liked it, and I feel it reflect my style of writing, which a little bit baroque. Here it is:
Ojos pétreos
La muerte solo dura por unos segundos. El cuchillo no encuentra dificultades en atravesar la piel, los músculos o cada fibra de cartílago. Las vertebras no son contrincante merecido del filo dorado de los dioses.
Lo que permanece es el dolor. El sufrimiento que surge a borbotes de la yugular, el humor rojo que se desparrama como de cántaro roto en el mármol, tiñendo las fuentes de mis aposentos, como dios escarmentando a los egipcios con aguas sanguinolentas. Ese terciopelo carmín en que los héroes se regocijan y revuelcan, imitando a Sigfrido en las lagunas dejadas por el dragón. Majestuoso reptil, hermano forzado. Si, el dolor eterno, de ser sirviente de un hombre, de permanecer en una bolsa de tela arrugada que lima los bordes del cuello cortado, dejando al aire incluso mas carne viva y sucia.
Escuché sus pasos demasiado tarde, tal vez solo el revoloteo de unas alas. Práctico escudo que protege al vil héroe. Tal vez antes mi belleza amedrentaba a algunos, ahora mi tez monstruosa solo provoca las furia y piedra de los asesinos. Mi antes hermosa faz protege a los que pervirtieron mi vida. ¿Porqué castigar al violado y no al violador.
Nunca supe si equino o gigante vivieron, o incluso si agraciada serpiente del desierto ahora atormenta a viajeros pasantes. Hijos nacidos de mi sangre, nacidos de la esencia de mi vida.
No quedo mas uso de mis ojos pétreos que salvar a doncellas de titanes.
To the next one. There is a genius of spanish literature called Julio Cortazar, and he has some of the most interesting short stories and novels. He has a set of short texts called ‘Instrucciones’ (Intructions) were he gives intructions in order to carry out simple tasks of everyday life such as ‘Intrucciones para llorar’ (Instructions to cry), but he does it in a way that it seems like an activity we have never done before. I knew the author beforehand and when the teacher showed us these little texts I was simply amazed. I found it ineffable. They were so simple and at the same time so special. I was dying to write one myself. I took up the challenge and wrote one called ‘Instrucciones para morir’ (Instructions to die) which may sound morbid but it is actually whimsical. I played with the idea of killing oneself (believe me I know how bad that sounds), and tried to take a lightweight perspective on it. What I found difficult was to make it funny but not ludicrous, so it is still real and relatable and so that people can understand it without too much effort. After a few hours I managed to finish it and polish it properly. I liked a lot how it turned out as when we were in the final reunion and I read the title I could hear all the parents inhale as in ‘OMG what is wrong with her’ but in the end they did laugh, so I’m proud of that. Anyway here it is:
Instrucciones para morir
En el momento en que usted decida que la hora le ha llegado, favor de posicionarse de manera sentada o acostada de manera que no deje rastros mórbidos de sangre, baba o cualquier otro fluido corporal muy salpicados en el piso. Ya en una posición mas cómoda no se angustie por los errores de su corta o larga vida, puesto que usted ya ha decidido que no hay nada por hacer para mejorar la situación. Mejor disfrute por unos segundos la cercanía de la vida al cuerpo. Cuando su alma de salga de las ventanas de su cuerpo, déjela ir. A nadie le gustan los actos dramáticos de muerte. Cierre los ojos y que descanse en paz.
In total it was 10 lectures of 1.5 hours each + the work for each piece of writing with makes about 19-20 hours of creativity. Look at all that creativity. Strangely I write poetry in english much more easily that I do in spanish so here is the outcome of that work:
Cupid mistaken
Your aim is horrendous dear Cupid, for you have shot me in the heart and even though my blood pours out gelid for me there is no 'till death do us part’.
It is me who suffers why not that demon. Its is you who blunders, Had you a reason?
I still see him walk and we hug and we talk But just lies in my head I can’t go ahead.
Why do this Cupid beloved, Some unknown reason, what have you discovered. It seems like treason.
Now two years have passed, and I still venerate him You leave me aghast,
why him, darling Cupid, why him.
Ok so it is quite difficult to give a context for this, but it is obvious that it is about love that is unreciprocated, and me avoiding blaming it on myself.
C: 32/50, A: 13/50, S: 23/50
Anyway enough chit-chat, that makes +19 hours of creativity with the following learning outcomes:
developed new skills (writing duh, believing that even though I might not like something in the beginning it can have a good outcome)
undertaken new challenges (I hated writing and reeading what I wrote, we were forced to read our work out loud)
shown perseverance and commitment to your activities (oh did i forget to mention the course was held on SUNDAYS)
increased their awareness of their own strengths and areas for growth (I think I can still improve a lot but that I am pretty decent at the moment.
Does this count for CAS?
My school, Greengates, like every normal school, publishes every year a School year Book where they put all the pictures of every group in each year and put pictures of activities that have been carried out in school, stuff like that.
This year I was asked to write down a small text that describes what CAS is and all the activities that students carry out. I just wanted to share this with you, I hope you like it.
Does this count for CAS?
These are the words that confirm our education in the IB program. If we think hard enough everything can become CAS hours. But what is CAS besides 150 hours of “hard work” and “dedication”? What is it if not just one piece of our lives that we need to pass the IB? CAS is reinforcing friendship and making new ones, working together, having new experiences, and developing new skills. CAS is becoming aware of where we are weak and being able to confront those activities that we are not particularly comfortable with so that later on we can possibly make them part of out everyday lives, even getting excited about them. For some it can be the discovery of new passions. Or perhaps, keep the memories in the back of our minds just as good words for our CV, but still to be able to say that we had an opportunity to learn something new and we took it. CAS is one of the core elements in the IB, as essential as any other, and the one were we are free to choose what to do and how to interpret it. CAS gives us the opportunity to work with others, to initiate out own activities and to undertake new challenges that will make us grow as individuals. Creativity, action and service are the prompts that lead out lives for one and a half years. They involve an enormous range of activities that vary from tutoring fellow students, teaching in public schools or libraries, gardening, learning a new language like Chinese, how to play an instrument or a martial art such as karate and helping in an old peoples home by having small activities like Secret Santa or dancing. There are also many activities outside of school such as running the Spartan race or the Color Run, volunteering in orphanages and hospitals. However easy these tasks may seem, they have represented challenges for all of us. Teaching requires patience, learning a new language requires tenacity. We can now proudly say we have developed those traits. Also there is the existence of the extended project. This is a three-month or 30 hour activity, which mixes two of the CAS categories, with the participation of two or more pupils. Each student takes a different perspective on his or her project. Some have more of a community service project, for example helping the amelioration of horseback riding grounds; others organize football or volleyball tournaments held inside school. But wait, there is more. There have been art classes in school held by students, or shows conducted during the Winter Concert and the International Fair by the Jazz club, which allowed students show their abilities in such fields which we might not see in their everyday lives. This year students have dedicated themselves to unite and make a stronger Greengates community. Many of the activities that give credit hours are held inside school, from students to students, in a way so that every member of our small-scale society can benefit from the school they attend to. By working together we learn new skills from each other and help a peer in an area they can still grow. Also, last december we celebrated the International Volunteer Day by helping to clean green areas in the Bosque de Chapultepec, it was a great opportunity for all those who attended. So far it has been a great year for all those starting the IB program, and we look forward to more exciting activities throughout the course. I thank all those who have participated and the teachers that have supported us in the activities.
Anyway that is all I hope you like it and find it accurate. I thank Ms. Cahue for giving me the opportunity to write this.
In learning you will teach. And in teaching you will learn. (Phil Collins)
Adventures on local school.
Local school is basically going to a local school that is around 5 minutes away from Greengates by car and teaching children from grade 1 to 5 math or spanish. Going there makes me respect my teachers so much. I know I am a difficult student, but teaching little children is impossible. They don't listen, they don't work and everything is just a mess.
The first class we brought candy. Worse. Mistake. Ever. They saw the candy and we barely managed to work. Next week we forgot about the candy and so it has been ever since. We first decide to teach math and we noticed some severe differences in knowledge between children in the same class. There were some that could barely do simple sums, and some I could ask basic multiplication and they knew how to do it. We decided to divide the children in 3, by levels, so that they could make progress at their own pace. I was teaching the ones in the middle, so doing some more complicated sums and starting multiplication. Teaching is really hard because it is difficult to get the children's attention and then it is even harder to transmit concepts that are abstract for them like why 3*2=6.
Let me tell you a side story.
A very good friend was doing an art project with the children, but the groups we had chosen got mixed up. She and her team ended up in one of the older classes with a very draconian teacher. Apparently she was a devil to them. Our CAS coordinator tried to solve out the problem and the conclusion was that the ones working with that group had to be strict (me) and know their spanish (the guy I'm working with). So we changed groups.
We have been with them now only twice and it has not been too bad. We are teaching composition that is : Introduction, Development and Denouement of a story. We face the same problems of the other class, that is that there are differences in the level of each student. Some understand very quickly what we mean to say and know how to write fairly OK for 10 year old children, but some cannot spell some words and have a harder time understanding what we are trying to explain. I believe that this understanding we are trying to reach can only be achieved with loads of time and practice but I'm afraid the teacher they have will get sick of us teaching the same thing over and over again. i guess we will have to wait and see.
My anger management problems have been put to test again like they are constantly in local library. I'm a person with a very strong character so having children not listen to me really get on my nerves. I have obviously never been to a behaviour management class like teachers so one of the counsellor teachers that goes with us to the school has given me some tips on how to make them listen to them more. Since they are already used to a severe teacher it is better to use a mildly loud but decisive voice and they normally start working.
Funny story:
My partner in the class was trying to teach them indentation in a text so he said : When you change paragraphs you leave a space of about three fingers in between them, this is called indentation. And one of these kids actually left a space in between the paragraphs, like, vertically. I guess it was a problem with his diction but we corrected it immediately to see if anyone else had had this confusion.
Learning outcomes:
worked collaboratively with others
developed new skills
undertaken new challenges
+6 hours
C: 13/50, A: 13/50, S: 23/50 , T: 49
Antonia Osorio

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Those who know, do. Those that understand, teach. (Aristotle)
I have never been the best person at working with other people, which includes teaching. Some times I have explained something to a friend but it has never gone further than that. So having joined Local School and Local Library represents quite a challenge for me.
The first class we had on local library was getting to know our students. I joined with a really good korean friend and our student is a woman. She knew a little bit of english already so we didn't have to start from scratch, and we are still deciding if that was good or actually a difficulty. On one side she already knew many things of simple sentence composition and vocabulary was missing so teaching that is not that difficult, but one the other hand the fact that we do not have to teach the basis leaves us in a position where we do not really know what is missing from the basis and teaching english grammar is not easy at all.
We are mainly focused on vocabulary and simple grammar. I'm normally the one that get the working sheets and my partner is the one that helps me during the class as I am not the most patient of people. I get annoyed really easily when someone does not understand something, and I usually make the mistake of blaming it on them instead of taking care of it myself. The worksheet is get from English for Everyone which is a great place and has exercises for all levels. Sometimes they are a bit childish but they are quite useful. Our student manages to remember most of the grammar we teach her, for example that we are contracts to we're but vocabulary is much more difficult and we have to review them every week. I find it very stressing because I try to tell her that she has to revise everyday so that she starts to use the words naturally, but we are not making much progress so I think she isn't.
Also it has represented a challenge because she doesn't try to learn them, if we tell her a word she just nods and I could ask her 5 minutes later what does the word mean and she doesn't remember. So I'm trying to make her write down every word she doesn't understand. It is also like she doesn't care. I say this because every week (we have class once a week) we ask her what did she do over the week, this is a way to see if she has progressed and she always answers "Nothing" and then she starts talking in spanish which does not help anyone.
I am trying to force myself to be more patient, I know that English may be an easy language for me but for the rest of the people it is not like that. I also see it with my father who is not the best in english and I get annoyed when he asks me questions. I feel I am learning to be more patient and that my methodology for teaching is improving so this activity has really been helpful in a context outside of CAS.
(Drugs face woop woop)
Learning outcomes:
undertaken new challenges
planned activities (does this count, i dont know, i'll check)
worked collaboratively with others
developed new skills
+6
C: 13/50, A: 13/50, S: 17/50 , T: 43
Antonia Osorio
The very first requirement in a hospital is that it should do the sick no harm. (Florence Nightingale)
I want to study medicine. I have wanted to do so for a few years. So having to complete service hours volunteering in a hospital seemed like a sensible next step. After some enquiry my mum and I found a hospital that had a volunteering program called The Pink Ladies (and yes they do dress in pink).
It was first founded in 1953 by a group of english women that were residents in Mexico.
I filled in a solicitude form, gave a recommendation letter written by my former spanish teacher and next week I was asked to show up dressed in white.
Basically we do not do anything important... at all. But it is a task that is helping people and I appreciate that. It is on saturdays at 10 AM so sometime the patients are still sleeping, but when they are not we knock on the door, ask them if we may come in and enquire if they are being treated well, and some times if we are lucky (or not depends on the day) we have to read them the options for the menu and write it down. Then this form is given away to those who can get it to the hospitals kitchen.
At first I felt really useless by what we had to do. I obviously did not expect I'd be doing anything important but I did not expect this simple task. Now Ive come to peace with it, believing that each thing comes at their good time and I should embrace what I can of this experience now.
We carry these around so I guess its pretty official that we are part of the crew. I finish my training in two more sessions which means I do not have to walk around following someone because I might get lost. All of the other girls that are volunteering with me are from another school so I also see this as an opportunity to make new friends.
The only complaint I formally have: the uniforms are awful.
I mean seriously. Who thought of it? Its pink. I know I should have expected it as its called 'Pink Ladies' but come on, this is so ugly. After a while I forget I'm wearing it so thats OK, but ugh.
Anyway I see this as (what I hope will be) the first step to get to study medicine, and I can probably learn something else in the meantime. Plus as the Pink Ladies sell books to collect money for charity I will have the access to a larger library. And maybe this will eventually help me in getting a better more 'hands on' experience in the future.
Learning outcomes:
worked collaboratively with others: since I'm still in training I go around with a girl that has been a volunteer for years and who is teaching me the procedure and how to handle some things.
shown perseverance and commitment to your activities: as I was saying, every saturday at 10 AM, I still have not missed one.
+ 6 Service
C: 13/50, A: 13/50, S: 11/50 , T: 37
Antonia Osorio