Sunday, October 25, 2009

Norval

Norval, an amazing experience. This being my first time going there, I was a tad bit nervous, but I ended up having a great time. When I woke up that morning, I was really exited, because I thought, “ Yes! I don’t have to do work at school today!” which, yes, was correct, but also, I learned the true meaning of teamwork.

Norval is not a chance to get away from schoolwork, but instead, a chance to go towards teamwork. I will admit, the bus ride was a bit tedious, but it was greatly worth it. The first activity which we did, was something called, Inuit Blanket toss (Pig toss), which was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G group work. How to activity would work is that somebody would go and lay down in the middle of the blanket, and then, everybody would hold onto part of the edge of the blanket. Then, the councilors would count, “1, 2, 3, Pull,” and as you expected, everybody pulled. The reaction would send the person flying into the air, (Especially Remy, it seemed like he almost exited earth’s gravitational field). After the activity, grade 8’s went of in two different groups.

The next activity was called, “Mission Impossible,” based off of a scene in a movie. The idea of the game was to have 4 groups of three, each pulling a rope, which would move the person in the middle through the air. The person in the middle then must pick up the balls scattered across the field, without touching the ground, although this seems easy, it’s requires great balance and patience. Tristan, and Lizzie were usually the people who would guide everything, as in telling Mike to pull really hard, etc. Probably the hardest part about this challenge is that when you pull on your rope, not only will he move in your direction, but he will get higher and higher. After this fun challenge, my group went to have snacks.

After snacks, my group went to a challenge called, “The Wall.” This challenge is what people would have to do if they had to get up onto a boat, but there was no ladder, rope, or anything to help hoist them up. The only things you could use were other people. What our group decided to do was to have the two tallest people at the bottom, and then have other people stand on top of them, and have someone on the ‘boat’ to grab their leg/arm, and help get them up, which was a very difficult challenge, that required a lot of teamwork, which, in my opinion, our grouped slacked in slightly. Since somebody fell (Not saying who :-\), that shows that the group did not have great communication. Directly after, everybody went inside to participate in a Drum Circle.

The Drum Circle is where everybody, including the teachers, would all play drums together, to create their own song. Though this does seem extremely simple, it was probably the hardest part of the trip. What almost everybody was lacking in was a constant beat between everybody. The councilor helped everybody with this by counting, and then giving us hand signals to tell us what to do. When everybody was with the same beat, things were spiced up a bit. What happened next was that people were given different instruments, which made everything ten times more difficult, but at the same time made everybody work together even a little harder. This was difficult since instruments make different noises, which would distract other people, but, if you were good enough, you pulled through.

The drum circle was probably the highlight of my trip, since it required the most group work, which is what this whole field trip is about. Sadly, this does not continue in grade 9, which is depressing, but, all I can say is good look to the grades behind us, and have fun!

Sunday, October 18, 2009

Duck's O' Magnificent

“Quack!” One of the most interesting small things that always make’s me happy to see is the scenery at my grandpa’s retirement home. I visit him every week or so, and when I do, I always get to see hundred’s and hundred’s of animals, bugs, trees. When visiting my grandfather home, we usually sit outside, and 2 or 3 ducks come and just sit right beside us. It’s just like we are all the same species. Even though I can see ducks and birds all over Canada, buy when you go near them, they just flutter away. These ducks come by themselves. Although, that’s not the only reason I love visiting him, there’s also all these intriguing insects, such as dragonflies, fireflies, you can just keep on going!

 

            The dragonflies are a bright blue, with orange on their bottom, while the fireflies are dark blue, but have a tint of yellow. The duck’s, on the other hand, are almost impossible to describe. Their feathers are deep dark brown, with a very dark yellow as the color of their beak. They have such soft, silky, and velvety textures to their fine hair. Their beak is like god, greatly hard, but with the weight of a feather. Of coarse seeing my grandpa is the best part, since when I was a kid, he would always look after me, and help me with my homework, and do everything he can.

           

            What I can truly say is, when you go somewhere to do something, don’t only enjoy that something, but enjoy everything else.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

It is.. Isn't it?

"It's kinda fun to do the impossible" - Walt Disney. When I saw this, I had no real clue how to right a post for this quote. It took me a while to figure out, but I eventually did. Personally, what I think that this means, is that if you try, you will succeed, which of Corse, is true. Now, when I read this, I find it hard to believe this came from Disney, even thought you probably think it sound perfect. Now, after I read this, really, it seems like everything is possible. Just imagine yourself flying over your city, even though this does seem like a one in a million chance, maybe someday, humans may be able to fly.

 

            About a week ago, I was trying to a post about Poverty, and for the life of me, I could not even right down the very first sentence, but I thought about and thought about, until, Bam! It came right to me. This proved to me that when you try something, even if you fail you keep trying, it will eventually happen. From what you have read, I just have one favor to ask, just never give up.

Friday, October 2, 2009

Poverty

Jason, Hellen, and Carlotta’s stories are one thing that when you read, you understand. You, and me, probably just started thinking that, “It’s only a few people, it’s not the whole world.” Even though that is only a slight amount of children in the world, listen to this: 600 million of the world’s children live in absolute poverty. Almost every year, 11 million children end up dying before they even turn five, if you think about it… That means almost 30,000 kids die each day! In SJK, there are 400 children, that’s it. If you compare that to 30,000, well, that’s it, you can’t.

 

Jason, Hellen, and even Carlotta are only a slight part of the group of children going through poverty. “One third of deaths are because of poverty,” 50,000 people die, which means, it more children then adults. Currently, while writing this, I am drinking chocolate milk, which might seem like nothing really important, but most people don’t even get to drink clean water. It’s a privilege for me to be drinking this. Just remember that next time you are something to drink, your lucky.

 

I truly wonder if rich people actually know what poor people are going through. They might say yes, but don’t you start thinking that, “Have they ever been poor?” Most likely, the answer will be no, which means, that they have to think, what if they were in their situation. Some people give them money, but that’s not always good. If they have money, they might spend it on drugs, because they think it will make them feel better. For this post, I’ve worked around this saying. Give them a fish, it will last a day, but teach them how to fish, and you’ve just saved their lives.