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!!