World Scholar’s Cup and Volunteering

So three weekends ago, our school had the first round of the World Scholar’s Cup to ever be held in Elverum. I wasn’t going to compete so I decided to be a volunteer and help out with anything needed. Different tasks where performed, such as making sure everyone was in the right place at the right time, giving out information, other small errands, a bit of photographing and cleaning and tidying up after it was finished. Some difficulties were met but mostly it went smooth. I think everyone was satisfied with how things went, and many are looking forward for next time.

Learning outcomes:

1. Show perseverance and commitment
2. Working collaboratively with others

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Taekwondo Promotion: Yellow Belt

I had my promotion this February, and *spoilers* successfully went from white to yellow belt, also called the 8. kup. As usual I was kinda nervous about it, since it was a first time thing. To promote, there was first a oral test, about what I had learned so far; korean terminology etc. Then I was asked to show the different exercises: punches, blocks, and kicks. The next thing was the famous, and my personal favourite, the poomse; which is a pattern. The last thing, I had to do with a partner, was the 3 step sparring; which is a sparring (obviously) consisting of only three steps. One does the defending moves and the other does the attacking moves, three moves, then they switch.

This was a chance to to show the skills I developed and my commitment to the sport and my improvement.

Learning outcomes:

1. Undertaking new challenges
2. Working collaboratively with others
3. Show perseverance and commitment
4. Develop new skills

Rapunzel Solidária Project

Cutting my hair short was a wish I had for quite a long time, but because of my mother I never did do it. Then I turned 18, and decided it was time. But I didn’t just cut it to get it short, I also to donate it to a hospital or an organization that would make good use of it. I said I would do it when I got to Brazil on the Christmas break, so before that I did some research on the matter, and I found this project called Rapunzel Solidária. What they do is, they receive donations from everyone from every part of the country, and they make wigs for women and children with cancer or any other condition that causes them lose their hair. For some people, like me, it’s just hair, but for others it can be something important. This project really shows how with so little you can make a difference in someone’s life.

Learning outcomes:

1. Planned and initiated activities
2. Working collaboratively with others

 

Beach Volleyball

I was in Brazil for the Christmas holidays last year, and I got together with some friends and we played beach volleyball. The activity is a weekly thing for them, they usually play every Monday and Wednesday, from around 19:00 and sometimes into the night.

Beach volleyball is pretty much the same as normal volleyball, but usually there is only two players on each team. My friends usually play with as many players as they have, but mostly not exceeding 6 players on each team. I am not really familiar with playing volleyball on a sand court, that was the biggest challenge here. My movement speed was slowed down and the sand getting everywhere wasn’t that pleasant either. Also, sometimes having less than six players was something I had adapt to. There was much more everyone being everywhere than I was used to; and when it happened I was the one stuck in my position. But I got a bit better at moving around as we played. I’m not really so good at it yet, but practise makes perfect. I also got to know some of my friends’ friends.

Learning outcomes:

1. Undertaking new challenges
2. Working collaboratively with others

1st CAS Celebration

Last week of November we had our first CAS celebration, which involved us presenting and/or demonstrating one or more of our CAS experiences. I talked a little about the learning outcomes in the experience I chose to present, and then demonstrated some of the skills I learned. This was the obligatory part. I was also one of the assigned photographers of the whole event. I don’t really like photographing people, but it was a learning experience; I believe I always have something to learn when it comes to taking pictures of people. It was also a reminder of how light is important in the photograph world. The lighting in the event room was kind of terrible. But I felt kind of legit with my tripod and everything, although I was still nervous about it.

My learning outcomes were:

1. Undertaking new challenges
2. Working collaboratively with others
3. Develop new skills

The whole thing of talking to an audience is always a challenge, but still going there and doing (independently of it being obligatory) makes me a risk-taker. The point of this event was to be reflective and I achieved that through my presentation, which was about starting Taekwondo. I presented with Karen, working collaboratively before and during the event. I believe new photograph skills were acquired.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Volleyball practise planning

On December we had the school’s annual Volleyball tournament. I planned for training our team, because I thought we all could benefit from that, and I was the one to organize the team the week before as well. Being a volleyball fan and having had played the sport before, it wasn’t difficult to do it. But the challenge here was planning the whole training session, something I had never done before. To do it I read about volleyball in general and volleyball exercises for beginners (because most of the team had only playing volleyball in PE). I also watched some YouTube videos and used my previous knowledge about the sport to develop good training sessions. Taking into consideration what exercises to do when warming up and stretching as well. Some revisions were made, as I also took into consideration the different levels of skills of the individuals on the team.

Unfortunately, my pursuit of getting a court to practise on wasn’t successful. I talked to one of the PE teachers and tried to work on a time the team could train, but the gymnasium at school wasn’t available. So, my learning outcome 2. Planned and initiated activities was only half achieved. Learning outcome 1. Undertaking new challenges was completely achieved, as I have described previously.

ETK Anniversary

On Saturday, week 46, my taekwondo club had it’s 30. anniversary. There was a celebration and performing, I got asked to be present and I said yes. What I had to do was hold a wood board for our instructor to break. There was also a training session with a older instructor. I went home around 16:30, and the sun was setting. I had most of my photographing gear with me, so I stopped by the river and took some pictures.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Darlah – 172 timer på månen

On week 45, I started reading a book called Darlah 172 timer på månen by Johan Harstad, it was recommended by a friend and it was nice to use the free time I could get on reading. The book is written in Norwegian, usually I don’t read books in Norwegian but it was good to learn new words and expressions.

Darlah is a horror novel, and quite exciting when it reaches its climax. Though, everything before it was a bit boring for me. The ending is amazing but I felt it left some things out in the open. There is just the right amount of graphics, mostly moon pictures, but the rest helps with visualization. And the front cover is cool. The whole book got me really inspired about doing some artwork, but I haven’t really put much thought into actually doing it.

 

 

“Bare kom deg gjennom dette, så skal du få gjøre alt du vil.”

Halloween 15′

My original costume wasn’t ready so I had to go as something else. Gratefully I read a comment on Youtube about a very original idea; so of course I borrowed it, making a small change though.

It being original made me put my art skills into it, but it wasn’t difficult at all.

I changed the bag with ice for the “chill” into a bucket with candy. I wasn’t very keen on the idea of carrying ice the whole school day. A lot of people got the reference, and some loved it. They also liked the candy.

On Saturday, actual Halloween, I went to a friend’s house and had a small gathering. We spent the evening playing games, listening to music, eating candy and getting to know each other better. At night we tried to get into the only two existing night clubs in this town, without success. Nevertheless, it was still fun. Around 02:00, we were back at the house and then we watched some Netflix. I don’t remember falling asleep, but I remember waking up a few times during the night. At 8 something am I decided to come home.

One thing I missed from previous Halloween celebrations was the decorations. I guess I’ll have to compensate next year then.

Till’ next Halloween.

Brigadeiro

Thursday, week 42, I adventured myself in the kitchen. Every Friday at school, two people are set up to bake any kind of cake or dessert for the whole class. I did brigadeiro, a popular Brazilian dessert. Never having done it before, I looked it up on the Internet and asked my mother for more specific instructions (that ended up not being very specific).

Brigadeiro is quite simple to make, so I assumed nothing could go wrong. Well, when it comes to me cooking/baking, things can and most likely will go wrong.

It wasn’t a total disaster though, I received good feedback, and I learned from the mistakes I made. Personally, I didn’t enjoyed eating it as much because it wasn’t as sweet, but it still looked and tasted like brigadeiro.

Ingredients:

Condensed milk

Chocolate powder

Butter

Optional: sprinkles

How to prepare:

Put the condensed milk in a saucepan with a spoon of butter, and wait for the butter to melt.

Then add the chocolate powder, while stirring it. (That’s when I made the first mistake, I put way too much)

The amount depends on how much condensed milk you have.

Keep stirring it, over medium heat, for 10-15 minutes. (Second mistake, I did it for like an hour)

Then leave it to cool. When it is cooled, you can eat right off the pan or form into small balls and put some sprinkles over it.