Holidays!!

I'm out of town for the holidays so I won't be able to go to Zumba or do other CAS activities.

Pre-Christmas Zumba

This week I went to my zumba classes, as usual. These are the last ones that I have time for before the Christmas break! They were really good!! The teacher has added some new dances that we are learning and those are going quite well too. Every class she tells us that next time they are going to get more complicated - I really like how we are taking the dances one step at a time!

Holidays are getting closer!!

The Christmas break is already so close yet so far..but more and more Christmas/holiday related activities are coming up, so there's less and less time for CAS.
This week I only had time for one of my Zumba classes. It was great, as usual! I know most of the dances already, and can continuously see myself improving. It's really great!!

CAS?!

This week just wasn't a good week for CAS, I had so much school work that I didn't have any time for any extra non-weekly CAS activities, and some of my regular ones got cancelled too. My zumba teacher had a injury so we only had zumba on Monday. I also managed to go to the gym on Saturday, which was really nice because I haven't had any time for independent gym workouts lately. I felt really great afterwards and I was glad to see that even after a break, I'm able to motivate myself. I hope next week will be better!

(only) Zumbaa

This week I only had time for my weekly zumba classes. Monday was great and I had so much fun, however on Thursday we had a different trainer than usual and it wasn't fun at all! It made me realise how much I like classes with my usual trainer and how awesome she is! The substitute trainer was much less energetic and the routines were not as fun.
I really enjoy zumba and I can feel how much it has developed my co-ordination. It's also really good stress-relief. 

IWCT Christmas Bazaar

This week I only went to one on my zumba classes because I was feeling a bit ill. I went on Monday just after I'd gotten a vaccination, so I wasn't really feeling my best then either..not exactly sure why I even decided to go. Actually, I often feel myself debating about whether to go or not when I'm not feeling great...the thing is, I always feel a little bit guilty if I don't go, even if I'm sick.

We also had a student council meeting on Thursday where I was the one taking notes. I've never done it before, but I had to this time, because the person that usually does it was absent. It was a really quick meeting, because important people were missing so we couldn't make any decisions even though we had a lot to talk about. Now, a lot of things are just building up..

On Sunday I had a CAS event that was "special"!! I volunteered at the 9th Annual International Christmas Bazaar for the International Women's Club of Tallinn. I volunteered to help out in the children's play area and watch them. It wasn't a very difficult task, because I've had plenty of babysitting experience before. The really cool thing was that this event was international, so I got to practice my French - surprisingly hard to calm down a crying child in French. The children also spoke Estonian, Spanish, English and Russian!

Zumbaaa

I had my usual zumba classes this week, which are back to being great again!! The past few weeks I felt like the classes were a lot more challenging than usual, but now it's getting better again and I'm enjoying myself more.

We also had a quick student council meeting on Thursday considering the high school Christmas party that's coming up. I really enjoy being in the student council and helping organise these kinds of events for the school. It teaches me a lot about how to work with different kinds of people and it really really emphasises the necessity to get started on things early. 

Student Council = baking?

This week I went to my usual zumba classes on Monday and Wednesday. I also found time to go for a jog one evening, as it wasn't too cold. I've noticed that after the break zumba classes are more challening. I wonder if just skipping one week of class you already lose shape like that. I'm working on getting back in shape now..

I didn't make it to the actual student council meeting this week, but I did spend part of my Sunday baking for the Student Council. We have a Poppy Day bake sale tomorrow and I'm quite proud of how my cupcakes turned out!

Halloween!

This week was Halloween, which means that the student council spent Thursday afternoon decorating the school. We decorated the school and the student council also organised a bake sale, lottery and face-painting station. It was great!

I also went to zumba this week on Monday and Thursday. It was very fun, but surprisingly hard (probably, because I missed both classes last week).

Holiday CAS

The week of holidays passed way too fast and I had so much to do that I barely got to do any of my CAS activities. 

As I was out of town for the whole week I didn't get to go to Zumba, which isn't good at all. Luckily I'm back now, and I can get back to zumba and being more active in general. 

It was also a cold week, which meant that going jogging didn't seem all that great. However, I did go for a very quick run one night and it was the coolest experience. It was really cold outside and it was pitch dark..our house is in the forest, which meant there were no street lamps either. It was so awesome, because I basically had to run according to my senses and it was only me, my dog and a sky full of starts. I actually REALLY enjoyed it!

I did A LOT (even for me) of baking this week! I made three cakes!! I'm actually really happy, because I got to practice my decorating skills using fondant. 

Action & Service

I've actually done a lot of CAS this week, even though some of it doesn't count for my school CAS projects. I'm going to write about it anyways, because I feel that I've accomplished a lot this week.

First of all, I went to my usual two zumba classes this week. They were GREAT, as usual!! I really enjoy zumba and I always feel relaxed and refreshed after! The teacher is really nice, and even though there are over 20 students in the class, she is still able to give everyone personal attention.
It's been cold and rainy, so I haven't really been jogging.

I had a lot of time for baking this week. We made a cake for our friends and it came out as the yummiest cake we've ever made. I also made banana muffins and banana bread, which both came out really delicious.

On Saturday was the Serve the City BacktoServe event, which was awesome! I haven't been to the soup kitchen in a long time, so I'm really glad that I got to take part in this event. I chose to take part in the Butterfly Project, which I've done before. It was really nice, because we got to help out without having to run around the town - which I wasn't in the mood for. We made motivational cards to hang on the clothes and then helped clean up their HQ.

 
 










On Saturday night I also went to babysit my nephew. 

The wind is blowing, the leaves are falling..

Autumn is really on it's way now..well, it's more like already here now. That means that it's getting colder and it rains more, which means that jogging outside is getting less enjoyable.
Nevertheless, I went for a 7km jog on Tuesday, which was awesome. I could really really feel the burn, which doesn't always happen, but this time I could really feel that I was pushing myself.
On Thursday, I had zumba which was great as usual!

We also had student council this week. Autumn also means Halloween, which means that it's time to organise whatever is going to take place at school on Halloween. I helped organised it last year, and will gladly also take part this year!

Zumbaa!!

This week I went to Zumba on Monday and Thursday, and to the gym on Friday and Saturday. I've been really active this week and it's really been helping with the stress. I also went jogging on Tuesday, which was awesome. However, now it's getting cold and I don't really want to jog outside anymore. That's why I went to the gym at the end of the week.
We also had a quick student council meeting, to talk about plans for the coming year and the G5 meeting next week.
I really need to start doing more service activities.. Oh! That reminds me! This Friday was Teachers' Day and I had to bake for that. I also organised a baking workshop for the teachers, which was awesome. I want to find more time for baking though and I reeeaalllyy need to go to the soup kitchen or something. 

Student Council & Jogging

So..this week was like my usual week in terms of CAS, but we also started student council meetings this week.
It's getting colder so I haven't been jogging as frequently as I did before. However, I went for a quick jog on Friday after school for some stress release and then yesterday, I ran 10km with my friend. I'm very very proud of myself for that and I felt great after!! I always find it easier and more fun to run with someone else, because it keeps the motivation higher. It was actually very windy yesterday, which made the jog a bit more challenging.
I also went to Zumba on both Monday and Thursday this week, and it was great, as usual :D Actually, Thursday's class was a bit less awesome than usual. I was incredibly tired and all the dances seemed more difficult than usual. I think it was just a difficult week.

We had a student council meeting this week. It was mostly introductory, but we did already start making some plans for this year. There are some new people in student council, which is nice, because hopefully that will bring in new ideas.
I also went to a G5 meeting on Thursday, but I was a bit disappointed in it. I imagined it to be different from what it was in reality, and I'm not entirely sure that I want to further involve myself with it. 

It's getting colder..

It's getting colder and it's supposed to get even more cold next week, so I won't be able to go jogging outside for much longer. I went a couple times this week, but I'm a bit sick so I couldn't run as much as I usually like to. I also only went to one class at my gym this week, because I was sick. I chose zumba, because I really liked the first time I did it and it was great again this time. I found out that there's zumba twice a week, which is great!! Next week I want to go both times.
This week was also my friend's birthday, so I made her a cake. It was an awesome cake - a giant cupcake. I finally had a reason to buy the pan and to try it out and it worked out great! I still have loads of room for improvement, but all in all I was very happy with my cake.
I need to start doing more service hours again, so I'll see how I can get involved in that. 

CAS? CAS.

I've had another very active week this one. I've been doing sports almost everyday, and I've also had sometime to bake (by had I mean made).
All my jogging is recorded on my endomondo, so I can keep track of how I'm doing. I went running on Monday, Wednesday and this morning. On Tuesday I went to PowerDance again, but this time I joined half way through. I spent the first half hour of the class running on the treadmill.
On Thursday I tried Zumba though, which was absolutely AMAZING. The music was great, the style was great and the trainer was great. It was everything that I hoped it would be and more. I'm definitely going to start taking part in Zumba classes.

On Thursday night, full of positive emotion after Zumba I decided I wanted to bake so I made a batch of my very favorite, chocolate chip cookies. I felt that I wanted to bake for my friends because it had been a difficult week, so I wanted it to end on a positive note.

I came away from the city for the weekend and this morning I went for a jog. Jogging here is really different, because first of all, I jog on forest paths rather than the road. Also, I usually take my dog with me, so it's a bit more fun but also a bit more complicated. I can't completely concentrate on jogging, so sometimes it messes up my breathing and it's more difficult to run at an even pace. However, it's nice to have someone running with me and I don't need to keep my dog on the leash all the time.

1st week of September!

Well, now that this crazy week is almost over…
The first week of school is always a bit hectic, but surprisingly I've managed to do a lot of CAS this week. Mostly active things though, but last week on Sunday I also baked a loooottttt of cookies for the first day of school. I'm pretty sure I forgot to write about it last week, so I'll just add it in here. I made twice as much dough as I usually do and then baked it all, so in the end I had about 70 cookies or something. Everyone was happy to take some though, so it wasn't a problem giving them out to people.

This week however, I have been incredibly active. I'm pretty sure I've done some kind of physical activity everyday.

On Monday morning I went for a jog, mainly because I was nervous for the speech I was going to give later on in the day. It was a morning jog, so it wasn't very long. That evening I also joined the gym, but my first class at the gym was on the next day. On Tuesday I went to the gym. I did half an hour on the treadmill and then an hour and half of PowerDance. It was really cool, so I think I'm going to continue. On Wednesday, I went for a jog in the evening. I went to this big park, so that I could run on the paths rather than the pavement. On Thursday evening I went for another jog just around my house and yesterday I went to the gym again and did an hour on the treadmill.
My body aches a bit, but honestly I feel really great!

Next week, I'm planning on trying out Zumba and as long as the weather is nice I want to keep up the jogging. Once it gets colder, I can just use the treadmill more. 

Jogging!!

It's been a good week. I could actually say, it's been a great week. I came back to Tallinn at the beginning of the week, so I've had a chance to do a lot of jogging. There have been days this week where I ran in the morning and then as well in the evening.
I actually have discovered this week that evening jogs are awesome. Before, I thought that they weren't that great, because it's already the end of a very long day, and you've been eating and drinking all day, so it' just all together harder to jog. However…actually none of that really matters and it's actually really nice! I can go for a longer jog, because I have more time and I'm not in a hurry to get to school.
But, I do think that a morning jog and an evening jog have different purposes and I'm still going to try to do both.
So, this week has been quite an active one. Other than that, I've just been enjoying my last week of summer vacation and getting prepared for school to start tomorrow. 

CAS

This week I've actually been surprisingly active with my various CAS activities.

I've done a lot of baking, because there have been numerous birthdays. I made 2 batches of cupcakes and I've also done some cake decorating. I have more decorating practice planned today, for a little family party my parents are having. I'm going to make marzipan figures for the cake; or at least try to :)

I have also been jogging a few times this week, which is great! Jogging feels really great and I enjoy it a lot. I can't wait to get back to school life, so things fall into routine and it will be easier to go jogging everyday.

CAS?

Haven't done much CAS this week..it's been quite a bad one.

I did go jogging one morning, to try and revive the active me that used to feel in myself. It wasn't terrible, but I didn't feel like I wanted to feel afterwards. I hope it will be easier to get back to jogging once school starts and life has more of a routine to it.

I also went for a bike ride this week. It was terribly windy, so it wasn't the most enjoyable of bike rides, but at least I did some sports.

I baked cupcakes this morning, for my friends birthday. I have a few more birthdays coming up so I'll have more baking to do as well. I really enjoy baking, so I'm excited about that. 

Quiet week

Summer is ending and things are calming down..not as many people and not as much to do. I'm mainly going to use these last few weeks to really concentrate on my school work.

Anyways, this week I didn't do all that much CAS. However, I did find some time to bake, which was great!! I made a cherry-ricotta pie, which was really delicious. I really love it when I get time to bake, because that when I can really feel that I am in my own element. I'm always in a really good mood after baking too.

Oh, and also..like most of the summer, my sister has been here with her son, so I've helped watch him too whenever my sister needs help. I've done a lot of baby-sitting this summer :p even if they're all related to me, it still counts as baby-sitting for me.

Bike rides..

This week I did some bike riding, mostly to work and back. It's hard doing a lot of physical stuff with this hot weather, so I only managed to ride at the beginning of the week. I have been swimming a lot though, because that helps cool me down, especially when the sun is shining and there are no clouds. You really need to be careful in the summer, not to stay in the sun for too long.

Hot week!

It's been hot this week, but I actually managed a bit of bike riding at the beginning when it wasn't 'I'm gonna melt away' hot yet. I rode my bike to work, but it's about 10 km to town..so that makes 20km there and back. That's more than my usual bike ride.

I wanted to go for a bike ride tonight as well, cause it's finally cooler at like 22:30, but the lights on bike weren't working so that didn't really work out.

So yeah, basically this week was another 'activity' week. Can't wait to see what next week brings on.. even though I'm pretty sure any week of summer holidays is activity week :D

This week: CREATIVITY

I feel that during this past week I really developed my creative side. I haven't had much time for the other sides of CAS really (well other than the 24/7 babysitting of my cousins), but I really got to do a lot of creative stuff. It was my mom's birthday party this weekend and I had all week to prepare for it. I was in charge of making the decorations and cupcakes for dessert. I took pictures of everything, because I wanted to show it off and I was really proud of everything.

 

 Here are the two main decorations that I made:
One is a hanging 'slideshow' of pictures from the past few weeks. There were a bunch of pictures of the children and all the things they had done here.
The other one is a pompom hanging thing. I found the instructions for making the pompoms on pinterest, and after I made a few I decided that I wanted to make like a hanging solar system-looking kind of thing out of them. It turned out awesome!

Then the two artsy presents that I made for my mom. One was a flower pot, which is supposed to have a picture of my siblings and I on it. I painted it..it was pretty..close? to reality. I mean, I was content with my work (which doesn't happen all that often). 

The other thing that I made, was a painting of my dog's face on a piece of wood. Haha. It sounds terrible like that, but I thought it was pretty cute. 

 And…last but definitley not least, my beautiful cupcakes. They turned out AMAZING this time and I was really happy with them!

Another week of summer..

Doing CAS in summer is so much harder..in fact doing anything productive in summer is a lot harder. But I really enjoy this about summer, by this I mean the fact that everyday isn't exactly the same as the one before or the next day coming. It's exciting and fun and helps relieve stress..unless you're in the IB and you have way too much work to do over the summer and those deadlines are constantly beeping reminders to you from your head and various technological devices.

Anyways, CAS this week..well I rode my bike to work on a few days, but for most of the week the weather was really windy and my parents said they could drive me. I'm pretty sure that everything I do during the summer could probably go under CAS though. I do a lot of sports…from riding my bike to swimming. Also, my nieces have been here for the past two weeks, so I've been doing a lot of babysitting. I know, that it doesn't count with family members and what not, but I don't really care. I haven't written any of this down in my CAS log. I'm just saying that my summer pretty much consists of numerous CAS-like activities. 

Summer Camp

Wow. I just had the most fun 10 days of summer that I've had in a very long time. I went to an estonian learning camp. I actually went as a supporting youngster (tuginoor), and my role was to help the foreigners learn estonian. I'm sure that I pretty much did every part of CAS throughout the whole 10 days, like 24 hours a day. I learned so incredibly much at camp and I made so many new friends. It was amazing. I feel like I don't want to write about it yet, because I'm still processing everything. Camp is also the reason why I didn't post anything last week.
Today I also went for a bike ride. Well, I'm actually going to be riding my bike to and from work from now on, so I'll get plenty of sports done. 

The First of Summer CAS

I've been active this week, doing sporty activities.

17.06- 30mins jogging

17.06- 1hr bike

19.06- 20mins jogging

20.06- 20mins jogging

That's what I've done this week. I'm proud of myself for pushing myself to actually get up and jog in the morning. I don't want to run every morning, so I've been trying to alternate mornings. Bike rides are more for when I want to go somewhere, but on Tuesday I just went for a ride.

I also went on a bike ride and for a jog last week, but I didn't mention them in my last post.

I hope I can keep this up!

Summer Vacation!!

Yayy!! School is finally over and it's time to relax and rest (yeah right) a bit from the tiresome year. However, even though I don't have to spend 8 hours at school 5 days a week for the next two and half months, I should probably still continue with CAS.
I can't continue with bellydance or any of the other usual stuff, because I won't be in Tallinn. I'm planning on doing lots of sporty activities for CAS this summer, and perhaps going to the animal shelter a few times. I want to count jogging and riding my bike as CAS, I just need to find a supervisor. 

Last classes!! :(

This week were the last belly dance classes for this season. They were full of a lot of different emotions:
Sadness, because maybe some of the people in our group won't be able to join the classes next season and we've gotten really close. We're also the biggest group they've had at Mystika Studio.
Anxiety, because they were the last classes to practice before our performance on Friday. We practiced the dance through so many times, dancing in many different directions. We also practiced with costumes, and even though it seemed impossible at first, by the end of Wednesday's class I pretty much had the hang of it. I quickly learned what to do when I accidentally stepped on my skirt. I'm really really nervous for the performance. I can already feel the butterflies slowly coming in.
Happiness, because I've had such a great time with our amazing group this year. Joining belly dance was a great decision, and I'm proud of myself! I can't wait to join the intermediate classes next year! Yay!

At the end of Wednesday's class we also did a little bit of improv. It was funny, because at first the whole group did our choreography to the slower music. However, after that our teacher told us that we actually have to improvise. It was fun, but I feel like after another year of belly dance I'm really going to be a lot more confident.

To end our classes for this season, we had a big group hug at the end of class. We'll still see each other on Friday, but the atmosphere is going to be really different there and everyone is going to be in a hurry, etc.

Oh, actually one thing that we learned this week was about how a belly dancer should act. Our teacher talked to us about how from the moment we arrive at the performance place, we need to be thinking about our posture, the way we greet people, our behaviour and everything else. We need to act professional, feminine and friendly. Dance is about so much more than it seems.. :)

Belly dance costumes!

Belly dance this week has been really busy and the classes have been really fast! Also, the temperature is quite warm so we get a lot hotter and more tired.
On Monday we practiced the choreo. A lot. Our teacher finally put us into the right positions, even though some people are still missing. We actually started with a warm up, which included many of our moves for the performance. Then we moved onto the dance. We just ran through it so so so many times, and the teacher just kept correcting our mistakes and making us better. The pressure and anxiety is really starting to increase now. I guess that is kind of good, because this is just another way I can practice coping with stress. This is also a different kind of stress from the school stress that I'm already used to.
On Wednesday, our costumes arrived!! Yay!! We spent about 40 minutes of the class just trying to match up the skirts and the top parts, since they didn't have sizes or labels. Once everyone had a whole outfit together, our teacher showed us what we needed to do so that they would fit and stay closed well. Then, we also practiced our dance. We left the skirts on, so that we could start practicing with them right away. We can't practice with the top parts until they have hooks on them to stay closed. Dancing with the skirt was sooo hard! It's like a whole different dance. We are, or I am, going to need a lot practice, and I can't believe that we only have two more classes before the performance!! 

Belly dance Belly dance

I've had three belly dance lessons in the past two weeks, and my teacher has actually been there for only one of those three. It's a little bit worrying, because our performance is in two weeks. Luckily, she is back from her trip now, and we will have her with us for our classes until then (hopefully).

The lesson that we had with her was actually two weeks ago, but it was a very useful class. She started to make the set up for our choreography, so that everyone was pretty much in the place they would be for the dance. We also re-did the end and practiced the end pose. I was actually quite happy to realise that I've pretty much got the dance down.

Last Monday we had a substitute teacher, and we had a combined class with the tribal fusion dancers. The class was pretty random and we kind of just did a bunch of random stuff. It was cool though, because we got to learn about how tribal fusion differs from belly dance. In the end, the two groups danced for each other, because we both need practice for the performance!

On Wednesday, we had a very very random class and it did not really have much to do with belly dance. The things we did were more like the stretches you do before and after gym class at school. We did some muscle work outs, which was nice, I guess…

Actually, in the end with practiced our routine without looking into the mirror, and it turned out a lot better than I expected it to! 

Student Council and Belly dance

I forgot to write about student council last week. We had a pretty quick meeting, and not many people showed up - probably because 12th graders have their exams this week. We discussed a few small things about the school, but nothing big. Some member told us about their visit to the G5 café, and we discussed some things in relation to that. I actually really enjoy student council meetings, because we are all quite familiar with each other now and it's fun thinking up ways to make school better for everyone.

Now, for our belly dance lesson today.. I thought it was absolutely fantastic!! Well, first of all, my teacher said she had a bit of a fever - so, I was surprised that she even bothered to come at all and I'm really happy she did. She spent most of the class sitting on the floor, telling us what to do, but she did get up a few times to show us parts of the choreography. Amazing teacher! Anyways, we spent the whole class working on choreo today, which was really great. She had us dance it over and over, stopping us to correct us or change some parts. We also divided up some of the moves today, so that only half of the group does one move, and then the other half does another move. I think the dance looks even more awesome now!! :D We also worked on the ending pose, which is a lot harder than you'd think! 

CAS, oops!

I've been forgetting to keep up with my CAS blog lately, so I'm just going to have to sum up the most recent events in one post..

For the past few weeks in belly dance, we've been preparing for our performance, which is at the end of May. Actually, we haven't been preparing too much, or surprisingly little considering how soon the end of May is. We do practice the choreo at least a few times every class, but I feel like we haven't been concentrating on the choreo only. Our teacher said that we will start doing that soon though, and I hope she isn't kidding. I should really really practice at home too (not that I have the time or space for that). We also had a make up tutorial one class, where our teacher showed us what kind of make up we can do for the performance and how to do it. That was pretty interesting, and I quite enjoyed learning how to do performance make up, and to see how it differs from other kinds.

I've had a few tutoring lessons with Shelby, but as she's doing a topic that I haven't studied it has been a bit complicated. I hope that soon we'll move on to something else that I can help her with.

We had our CAS and TOK project with our Finnish partner school this weekend. We took part in the 'Let's Do It' activity, that takes place on every 1st Saturday of May. This year's theme was to clean up sports facilities, which is what we did. We went to a stadium in the city; it actually looked nothing like a stadium. It was just a big grassy field with a small overgrown area with pavement, and it had a lot of trash. So we all got trash bags and cleaning tools and went to pick up the trash. Some of the stuff we found was really nasty, for example we found syringes and old clothes. However, it was nice, because once we were done cleaning you could really see a difference between how it was before and how it is now. I wish that we could also actually fix the field, like mow the grass and make the pavement smooth, etc, so that it would be safer for the kids who have their sports classes there.

Belly dance

I've been so busy lately that I've forgotten to write in my CAS blog..so I'm gonna write about my last three belly dance lessons here.
We've been working on our choreography a lot lately, which makes sense considering that our performance is coming up. We have gone through the whole song now. Actually, that happened quite a while ago. We even practiced the end pose during one of our lessons, which is going to take a lot of practice - haha. One thing that bothers me, is that we haven't actually decided who is dancing where (first or second row, position, etc) and I know once that changes, I'm gonna be really confused. Maybe that's just me, because my coordination isn't amazing and I don't know the dance perfectly anyways.. I don't know.
We've also done some specific things in a couple lessons. For example, last week we did some exercise with the mats. It was weird, because it was a whole different style of belly dance. However, as usual, it was really nice to see a different side of belly dance. Yesterday, we had a class where we spent most of the time practising arm movements, which gets reaaalllyyy tiring after a while. However, it made me realise that I should probably do some muscle exercises to train my arms.

Belly dance

We did a lot of things in belly dance this Monday. We started up with a warm up, as usual. Then, we started working on different moves, and practising them over and over. That was really tiring. We actually did that for the majority of the class. Eventually, we finished with that and then, our teacher put on a song and we just had to do our best to follow along with what she was doing. I was pretty tired, so I had a hard time keeping up. At the end of class, of course we practiced our choreo as well. We split up into two groups and then did it a few times. It's actually very helpful (and probably necessary) that we practice it every lesson. 

Math Tutoring and 2hrs of Bellydance

I had math tutoring today, which was more relaxed than usual. Shelby had a good understanding of what they are working on and she didn't need much help from me. We just went through her homework together, and she explained some things to me. It's good when she can explain to me, because it shows that she understands (besides, I learn more that way :D ) I also corrected some of her silly mistakes, that come from not paying attention or being careless. I wish I had someone to do that for me!

I had 2 hours or belly dance today, because before my actual lesson I had an extra lesson with 3 other people from my class. Our teacher told us that if we want extra lesson, they can be arranged. So one of my closer friends and I decided that we wanted one, and two other people also joined. It's a bit more expensive when it's a personal lesson, but it allowed for us to stop and ask questions. We were able to focus on everything that we wanted to focus on and ask as many questions as we wanted. I felt that it was really helpful!
Then, straight after that we went on to our usual belly dance lesson. We started that out by doing a couple of dances to a special style of belly dance - I can't remember what it's called.. Anyways it was really energetic and you could be more creative and free about your movements. It was really awesome! Then after that practiced choreo and at the end we divided into three groups and performed for each other. Now, I actually have hope that I'm gonna know the dance by the time we get to performing. Yay!

Bellydaanccee

I've really been enjoying belly dance lately! I always go there in a great mood and spend the whole class in a great mood and then I'm in an even better mood afterwards.
We've been working a lot on our choreography recently, because our performance is coming up. I can feel that I'm getting better, but there are still a few bumpy parts. Luckily, I have an extra class on Monday, so hopefully I can fix those parts then. We are pretty much at the end of the song by now, just have a few more seconds to go!
I like that we always start with a warm up, and then we practice different moves, concentrating on the technical aspect of it, and then the teacher smoothly incorporates it into our choreography. For example, very often I recognise the movements because they are a part of our dance! 

Math tutoring and Belly dance

I did an hour and half of math tutoring with Shelby again today!! It was really great because I felt like I was really pushing her to understand and figure things out and we got through all of her math homework. It always takes me a little bit of time to figure out how to find the answer, and then I explain it to her. I'm always really happy when I figure it out and then when I can explain it to Shelby so she understands it! Actually, since we are going through a topic that I haven't really done before, she had to explain some things to me too. We worked together to figure out the answers :)

Belly dance was really fun today! I was in a great mood and we got to a really cool part of our choreography!! It was awesome :) I actually really like our dance and I can't wait to perform it. I still need a lot of practice, but I think it's going to look great by the time our performance comes up. We have until the end of May to figure it out. 

CAS this week..

Wow. I have a lot of things to write about. This last week was incredibly busy, so I'll just write about all the CAS I did this week together.

So..on Monday and Wednesday I had belly dance as usual. On Monday, our teacher wasn't here and we had a substitute. It was really different from our usual classes. Firstly, because we danced to Rammstein, which was actually really refreshing and surprising. I think it's really cool how you can match belly dance with almost any kind of music! During Monday's class we also went through our choreography about 40000 times (or at least that's what it felt like). The substitute teachers just kept making us do it over and over again. Honestly, I thought that it was actually really helpful. I wouldn't want every class to be like that, but it really helped this time. It was also a lot more tiring than my usual classes. On Wednesday our teacher was back and it was a pretty calm and slow class. She told us a bit about her trip and then we did a warm up and went through our choreo again. I had to leave a bit early, because I went to see a ballet.

This week was also Spirit week and I was in charge of organising it with another member of the student council. We had different themes for:
Monday - Uniform Day
Wednesday - Bohemian
Friday - Comfy Day (which seemed to be the most popular)
I spent some time making preparations for the event, but most of my CAS hours came from baking. We also had a bake sale on Friday, and the student council members had to bake for that. I made vanilla cupcakes with pink rose frosting. They were yummy and sold out pretty fast :) I think over all spirit week was a success!

On Friday we had a student council meeting, which we haven't had in like two weeks. We talked about the building project for our school; there's hope that the SC will (maybe) get their own room next year, which would be absolutely awesome!! We also talked about organising a G5 sports event, but that ended with the conclusion that we just don't have enough time this semester. I think we decided that if we can, then we'll do something in May. We also discussed about having a "follow around IB students" day for the 10th graders, which I think originally was my idea..but it kinda died down until someone else brought it up - so I think it's a great idea and I think we'll have it the first week of the next semester!

Finally, I also just did 2 hours of math tutoring with Shelby. It's funny, because I haven't even studied the topic that Shelby is learning right now, but I was still able to help her with most of her homework. I just had to figure it out and then explain it to her after :) These tutoring sessions are actually really helpful for me too!! I hope that they are helpful for Shelby too! 

Belly dance and Math tutoring

Belly dance on Monday started out pretty energetic. The teacher said that she had a surprise for us, and the warm up song that she put on was a lot faster than the one we usually have. She told us that she was going to teach us a little bit of Iraqi dance. The rhythm of the dance was a lot faster and it involved a lot of hair and head movement. I think that the coolest thing I've learned in my belly dance classes is that you can dance with your hair!! I think that is really really cool! :) I also think it's really great how our teacher shows us different styles of belly dance so that we are not just concentrated on one style. Also, she always teaches us the most basic moves of the style so that we should be able to recognise them when we see someone dance it. 

On Tuesday I had math tutoring with Shelby again. It's weird because I haven't done the stuff before that she's studying, but I was still able to help her out. We kind of just use her textbook and notes until I get it, and then I explain it to her so that she gets it. I think this is really great, because I'm learning a lot too. I mean, if you can explain something to someone so that they actually understand it, you should know it inside-out yourself. I really hope these classes are helpful for Shelby too :)

Not in the mood..

I just really wasn't in the mood for belly dance today.. or maybe I would have been, but the teacher started the class out by telling us that today would be a special class. That meant that we spent most of the class working on improvisation. She put on music and we kind of just had to go with the flow and do some moves.. I don't know. I just was not in the mood at all. You're supposed to feel the music and dance to it..following the beat and what not, but that just wasn't happening for me.
Before class ended we also had to run through our choreo a few times. I finally got the first part down, and I was able to dance it without messing up the steps. That made me feel good! Then our teacher made us run through the dance without music, telling us to think about what we are doing and why we are doing it. I just wasn't feeling that deep today..

I think dance is a really good way to learn more about yourself and your body. I mean, I can literally see how different my body is each day, and what a big affect my mood has on my dancing. 

A bunch of CAS

07.03- We had a student council meeting last Friday and I completely forgot to write about it. I think our meeting went really smoothly, because most of us were concentrated and we just kind of whizzed through everything we needed to talk about. Another member of the student council and I presented out ideas for the 'Style week' and we discussed those with the rest of the team. We now have the event all planned out. I think that our student council is very organised and we are good at distributing work and getting things done.

10.03- I've started tutoring my friend with math. Actually, Monday was the first time we met up so that I could help her. I think that tutoring will be just as beneficial to me as it will be for my friend, because when I am able to explain a concept to someone else, that also means that I understand it inside and out. I tutored her for an hour, which I think is a good amount of time (otherwise you start to lose concentration). Some of the stuff that she had questions about was also confusing for me, but with help from her textbook and notes I was able to explain it to her. I really hope that she found the session helpful!

10.03- Bellydance! I was in a great mood this time and one of my friends who hasn't been to class in a while was also there so I was really happy to see her. We always chat and joke around before the class starts, so I'm always in a great mood when the teacher starts the class. We did a lot of technique again this class, and we didn't even have any time to go through the choreography. However, what's really great is that the technique that we practice is all centred around our choreo, which means that even though we aren't practicing our routine from start to finish, we are working on separate parts of it. I think this is really helpful, but sometimes when we do move on to practicing choreo I just get really confused because we have to do everything like twice as fast! Anyways, we also took some time to talk about costumes. Our teacher told us that she might as her friend in Egypt to make costumes for our whole group, which I think is really awesome!! I'm actually a bit worried that I won't be able to learn the choreography by the time of our performance, but I'm gonna work really hard so that I can, because I'd actually really like to perform! 

Bellydance this week!!

Wow! Belly dance this week has been really hard. Not in the sense like physically hard, but the choreography is difficult. I feel like I've forgotten a lot of it..or I can see that I have from my dancing. Also, as I've forgotten a lot of it, I can't concentrate very well on the new stuff that we are learning. We have been working a lot on technique, which is actually good, because I can improve the moves. However, when we put it all together and dance with the music, then it all just gets confusing and I mess up. I'm starting to remember why I don't like dancing…

Luckily, our teacher said that she can give us solo lessons (or with a maximum of 3 people) so that she could concentrate specifically on us. I think that would be really helpful for me, and maybe it will help me stay more motivated and positive. I really want to get good at the choreo and perform in May!! 

20.02 & 26.02

Here's a few CAS activities that I've forgotten to write about.

20.02 - On Thursday we had a student council meeting. I missed the first hour of the meeting, because I was still in class when they started. I asked a lot of questions, because I didn't really understand what they had been talking about. The meeting lasted for a whole other hour. We were making an outline of our student council's plans for the future. I think that it's really good that we did that, because we made an outline of what we want to achieve and how we are going to achieve it. We didn't have specific plans for everything, but for those goals we just put down ideas. We can't do everything at once. I'm in charge of organising 'Stiilinädal' (or style week) with another member of the student council. I really like to organise those kinds of activities, especially because I have a lot of inspiration from my previous schools! It will be great!

26.02 - I spent two hours helping one of my classmates catch up with psychology material. She came to our school in the middle of the year, so she missed a big part of theory that we learned in our psychology lessons. Our teacher asked if I could help her catch up with the material, and help her understand what she's going to need to know for the exams. We both agreed that two hours was the maximum we could concentrate. I don't think the two hours were as successful as they could have been, but now we know what we'll need for next time to be more productive. I'll need to take more of my notes with me, and she will need to do some work at home so that she'll have specific questions to ask me. 

Bellydance

I was 15 minutes late to belly dance this Monday, because we went to see a movie with my psychology class. The movie was '12 Years a Slave', so it was pretty weird to go from such an intense movie, straight to belly dance without having much time to process the movie. I think that really distracted me from the class, and therefore I couldn't really concentrate. I ran in, right in the middle of class so they were practising a new move. I did my best to join in and just go with the flow. I kind of had to do that throughout the whole lesson. We also practiced the choreography, which I was so confused by. It's really weird how sometimes I find that the choreography is really easy and I get everything spot on, but then during other classes I feel like I'm seeing it for the first time and I have no idea what I'm doing. 

Ms. Pea Soup

Went to the soup kitchen again today!
There were a lot of new people today, which means that things weren't as under control as they usually are. When there's new people, then they don't know how things work; but, I guess that's the only way you're going to learn. Also, we haven't had a chance to bond with the new people yet. It wasn't bad, but it just wasn't like the usual soup kitchen Sundays. I was pretty tired too, so I wasn't in the mood for joking around like I usually am.
I served soup in the kitchen again, as usual. Luckily, there were a lot of people so I didn't have to do it alone. That always makes it easier and a lot more fun.
Oh! I almost forgot to explain the name.. Ms. Pea Soup was what we named one of the soup bowls. I drew a face and hair on it, and then we named it Ms. Pea Soup (we were serving pea soup today). 

Wonderful Wednesday

I was so tired before belly dance today that I felt like I couldn't even lift a foot, but luckily once I arrive at the dance studio I always forget all those feelings and get excited about class. I always arrive a bit early, so I get to watch the class before mine (tribal fusion) practice their choreography. They're doing it to a song I really love, Same Love - Macklemore; and the dance is really cool!
Anyways, our lesson started pretty calm today, but it warmed me up really fast. It was super freezing in the studio today. The things we do and practice flow really smoothly and the order that we do them in is really logical. I'm always really concentrated on the dancing, which is great!
We practiced different techniques for a while and then the teacher turned on the disco lights and turned off the lights in the ceiling. We were all quite confused, but she then explained that she was going to turn on a song and let us improvise. This time I really tried to get into the music and did the different moves that I know that went along with the music. The song was over before I knew it! It was great!! Then, we practiced choreography, which is getting better each class and that makes me really happy! It's so great to see myself making progress :)

Oh, how fun!

It's really amazing what sports can do to you! All you have to do is let the positive energy and positive vibes flow into and throughout you, and in no time you will be feeling amazing! Today's belly dance was super duper amazing and I felt so great afterwards. When I was walking to the studio, I already decided that I would let belly dance make me feel great today. It worked like a charm!

We danced to a lot of new songs today and I really liked them. We spent most of the class working on technique, but it was really great. I really improved on some of my moves today and I even showed my mom when I got home! All of a sudden our teacher told us that now we would start working on choreography, even though it felt like I had already been there for ages (not in a bad way). Choreography did not even seem impossible today and it came out pretty well. Even when I messed up, I didn't feel very bad. 

Ahh, such a great class today!! 

Weekend full of CAS!!

Wow! I've done so many things this weekend and I think I got like 10 hours of CAS. Honestly, I don't do them for the CAS, because they are so (so so so so) much fun!!
On Saturday, there was the Serve the City event. It was my second one. This one was called 'Südamest Südamesse' - or, From Heart to Heart. Adorable!
I chose the Butterfly Project this time, and I think I made a great choice! It was so much fun! We didn't get to actually meet with people and see smiles on their faces, but we did a different kind of helping. The Butterfly Project is about rehabilitation for prostitutes. It's actually the last step of rehabilitation. The prostitutes come to them and the Butterfly Project gives them a makeover: new clothes, new hair and new make up. It's the sweetest thing! Sadly, Butterfly Project comes with a lot of sad and scary stories, and it opens your eyes to some things I wouldn't usually think about. For example, we found out about how common prostitution and human trafficking is in Estonia.. No more thinking, "oh, it doesn't happen here.." But helping made me feel better about it. We started with organising some of the new clothes that had been donated. There are different racks for S, M and L so we just put as many clothes away as we could. Then, we started making these little tags with positive and encouraging messages on them. The idea is that the tag is attached to the clothing and then before the woman puts on her new clothes to go to a job interview, she sees the little tag and it gives her courage and brings a smile to her face. That is just the cutest thing! We even made some for each other :)

Yayy!! I even have loads of pictures to show off this time! I really love Serve the City!

On Sunday, we had another CAS activity, which turns out is actually mandatory (volunteer work) which is absurd (not the point). This was our group project that the whole class took part it. Everyone had their own specific job to do in making this event happen. I'd actually been preparing for this event throughout the whole week, so I couldn't say that I didn't put any effort. We all had to pick jobs for ourselves and I was in charge of making a power point presentation and making sure that everyone in my group would be prepared to present. We had to make 6 little entertainment pieces that we showed in between the little kids who were modelling. Oh.. I haven't actually said much about the event. Well, it was a fashion show with the theme of saving paper, so the kids ages 3-13 all had dresses and costumes made out of paper. They were really cool! Anyways, so our 6 presentations included: How is paper made? Why is saving paper important? How can we save paper? My classmate playing guitar - he wrote his own words to the melody of I'm Yours, and it was so awesome! Showing how to make your own paper and how to wrap a present with newspaper. I think that the event was a success, at least from our part. I had a lot of fun and it gave me more experience with public speaking! Yay! 

De-stress Belly dance

We had a substitute teacher for the beginning of class today. She seemed to be a student who was just filling in for our teacher until she arrived (from Finland). I definitely prefer our teacher to the substitute we had, because she didn't really know how to teach; but I guess you have to learn some how. With the substitute we practiced different moves, and then once our teacher came we got started on choreography. It was definitely better for me this time..the whole dance was a bit easier - not easy, it's still hard - but, at least it didn't seem impossible. Things are looking up..

A lot of people at the soup kitchen today!

There were 22 volunteers at the soup kitchen today and it was a really busy day! We almost ran out of soup and the people serving tea came running into the kitchen many times complaining that we ran out of tea. I didn't think it would be a terribly busy day, considering that it was the beginning of the month, but we had over 200 customers.
I was pretty tired so time seemed to be passing super slow, but I still tried to have fun and stay in a positive attitude. My mood got better and things lightened up after a while.
There were a lot of new people today, and also some people who hadn't been in a while, but everything flowed smoothly and there weren't any problems.
One of the things I've noticed though, is that people seem to be getting more aggressive; for example they will come up to the soup counter and ask for soup themselves (which they are not allowed to do) and they'll complain more about the quality of the soup or tea. 

Student Council

There were very few student council members present at the meeting today. I think that from one perspective this is bad, because we have less opinions and ideas. On the other hand, I quite enjoyed the quiet meeting where everybody had a chance to speak. We were also seated in a smaller circle than usual, which made the meeting cosier.
We discussed many different things today, but one of the most relevant topics was that our student council should set a long-term plan for themselves. Not long-term as in months, but long-term as in years… So that the students who are in 10th grade right now, when they are in 12th grade they can actually see what the student council has achieved. We also discussed how this will be motivating for us. 

*Sigh*

Wow, belly dance was really hard today. For most of the class I felt like I hadn't been to dance class in over a year and I had no idea what we or what I - for that matter, was doing. It probably helped that I was already really tired before class, but I was hoping that I would feel refreshed afterwards. I mean, I do feel a bit better, but I don't have the usual buzz. We went over choreography today, which was incredibly (and surprisingly) difficult. I really hope that I will get the hang of it again soon.
I really like the way that this instructor teaches. The class and everything is much smoother and it flows better and the way she teaches just makes a lot of sense. I think that I'm also learning the moves with better technique!

Student Council

We had a short student council meeting yesterday. I emphasise short, because usually we have so much to talk to that we have difficulty finishing by five. I was running a bit late, so I arrived a few minutes late at the meeting, but I think they had just started so I did not miss too much. We made a few plans regarding student council activities. Then we also arranged an event for ourselves that we've been planning for a while: bonding time for the student council. We decided on the 8th of February and we are going to go play pool (I also said I'd make cupcakes) Yay! I think that bonding time is important so that we get to know each other better and so that we can do better team work!

Belly dance with scarves!

Wow! Today's belly dance was super interesting and awesome. I felt really energetic at the beginning of class, so I had a lot of energy and motivation to work hard through out the class. First we went over some 'mechanics' and did a lot of marathons for specific moves. Our teacher said that this helps your muscles get used to the movements. Most of the technique we practiced was based around hip movements, which are one of my favourite. I think I did really well today, or at least I was proud of myself.
Then halfway through class, our teacher brought us veils and said that she wanted to let us see what it's like to dance with them. It was surprisingly difficult, because you have to control all your movements, as well as the scarf the whole time. Also, the scarf kept falling all the time. But it was really nice, and I think that if we were to practice and get the hang of it, it would look really cool!

Soup Kitchen

Today at the soup kitchen I had quite a lot of fun and it really helped me get my mind off of things.
I was in the kitchen again, as usual. Today was unusual though, because I was with Rebeka. I haven't been at the soup kitchen with her before, but today was really fun. She helped me serve the soup and she was really good at it. She got the hang of it really fast!
We were joking around pretty much the whole time. I think that's really nice, because it also puts a smile on everyone's faces who come to get the soup. Maybe it bothers our customers a bit, but no one has told me to tone it down yet, so I suppose it's ok.
There was this one guy today, who came up to ask for the soup - which customers aren't allowed to do - and he was speaking in Russian, so I didn't know how to answer him. I could understand pretty much what he was saying, but I don't speak Russian well enough to actually answer him. Anyways, one of the supervisors came to talk to him and then she told us that he wanted to take soup to go and he was in a hurry. So he gave us his jar - which was ice cold - and I put the hot soup in it, and then he walked away and the next thing I knew, the jar was broken. Then he poured it into a plastic jar, but the told us that he didn't want that one because there were pieces of glass in it. So we poured that away, washed the plastic jar and gave him more soup, but he was worried that we hadn't taken the glass out. He didn't trust us at all, even though - why would we want to hurt him?

Student Council

I realised that I can actually get CAS hours for the weekly meetings that we have with the student council, and then I realised that I haven't written about any of them, so I'm going to write one post about all the meetings I've been to so far and from now on I'll try to be more consistent with the student council posts.

I joined student council, because at the beginning of the year one of my classmates asked me whether I was interested and as I have been in the student council in some of my previous schools, I decided to join this one too. At first it was a bit difficult, because most people in the student council didn't consider the fact that I don't know how things are usually done at the school and I'm not familiar with many of the events the student council has to hold. However, once I became less shy and actually started asking questions and pointing out that I actually can't help much if I don't even know what people are talking about, things got better. 

The event that I mostly helped organise was the Halloween costume day. I've also helped with some other things, but that was the one I spent most time on. I helped with making the event on Facebook, organising the activities and one of the other student council members made posters. 

In our weekly meetings, we always have loads of things to discuss and we usually don't get through all of them. It can be quite stressful sometimes. 

Belly dance Wednesday

Wednesday was the last bad day of this week for me. I've had an incredibly terrible week so far, well..things actually brightened up a bit today. I was feeling very bad before dance class, but I decided to go anyways because I figured it would help me get my mind off my troubles. It definitely helped me with that and I felt better afterwards too. My dancing didn't come out too well and I was pretty confused for most of the class, but I hope that will get better once I'm back to being in a good mood again. We continued learning choreography and it just seems to keep getting more complicated. I hope this thing actually looks like a dance by the time we get to performing. 

Monday. Ugh.

Dance class at least made me feel better. I still have a lot on my mind but it gave me a bit of distraction and I feel refreshed. Today's class was pretty good. My foot hurts so I was hesitant to go, but luckily it didn't disturb me during the class. I could feel it but it wasn't terribly painful. 
We started with choreography today. The song is really good but the dance is pretty hard. I mean even the beginning is crazy. I'm hoping that with a lot of practice it will get better. 
At some point during the class I kind of slipped on the floor (I didn't fall) but then I lost my concentration. 
At the end of class we learned about different head movements in different dance styles. It was interesting and it's so cool to see how much the teacher knows about all the different dance types. 

Belly Dance #2 (2014)

Today's class wasn't as awesome as Monday's, but I'm assuming that's because there wasn't the same initial fascination this time. Our teacher is still really great.
She has quite a different teaching style from the first one. We don't really have a separate time for stretching at the beginning or at the end. She just starts the class slowly and incorporates the stretching into the dance - or maybe vise-versa. The class is also a lot more active and tiring than our classes with the other teacher. One thing I really like about her is that during the class she walks around and talks to people individually to help them improve and correct their mistakes.
She has also been telling us that we should practice at home as much as we can, or really practice whenever we can. I'll try my best.
Next class we are going to start learning choreography for the spring performance! 

New Teacher

Today was my first belly dance class of the year. Wow. It was so much fun. We have a new teacher, and she's great! At first, when I found out that our old teacher was leaving I was really sad and disappointed, but then I decided that I should give the new teacher a chance, because who knows what she's like. I'm so happy I went into class with a positive attitude today, because it was so much fun! Our teacher also has a positive attitude, for example, at the end of class when we were stretching she was telling us all these really nice things. She said that we should think about what a great class we had, and how we're gonna be happy to go home and practice more belly dance, and how even if you aren't ever going to come back to our class then you should still be happy that you had a chance to learn something new about your body today. She's a really great teacher!
I can't really say that she's better… She just has a different style of teaching. She was actually telling us today how it's good to have different kinds of teachers, because everyone teaches differently and afterward, when you put everything you've learned together then you will probably understand better.
Can't wait for Wednesday's class!!

First Soup Kitchen of the Year

I haven't been to the soup kitchen in like a month, so it felt weird to be back today. Luckily, it started feeling more normal as soon as everyone got to work. Today was a pretty slow day - considering the fact that it's the beginning of the month and all -  so I had to try my best to give away a lot of soup. I was giving everyone mega portions and refills. We still had half a bucket of soup left over at the end, but it was a good soup kitchen day. It was a nice, calm Sunday.