Christmas decoration at the Local Residential Home for Old Persons

After we decorated our school we decided that the old people at the Local Resident Home need to feel the atmosphere of Christmas too. This is why we took the decoration left at school and bought some more. One afternoon we decided to go and create Christmas mood. The people there were so happy because of our visit and some of them even joined us. We spread the tasks in our group and my classmate Dayan and I had to make a curtain from Christmas lights. To be the tallest is not always a privilege because you might be given the hardest task - it required a lot of patience which I don’t have. However, after a plenty of time lost in arguments and meaningless attempts we managed to finish it. At the same time Gerry and Velislav were putting some Christmas stars and garlands around the room. There was one more task for tall people- to hang some Christmas stars at the hall but this time I did it on my own as I hopped it would be less annoying. At the end, the Christmas spirit could be felt at the Resident Home just before their Christmas celebration. In my opinion, the old people there really enjoyed what we did for them and spent one different and interesting day together with us as well as a Christmas day full of joy.

  

Christmas charity bazar

During the classes of the “Applied arts” club we made very beautiful pegs decorated with Christmas motives which have to be sold. The money from the pegd will go to our charity campaign,

The mayor of our town organized a Christmas bazaar in one of the local parks. One of the pavilions at the bazaar was given to different charity organizations for limited period of time. This pavilion was given to our school together with the Local resident home for older persons “Venta Boteva” for two days. During this period we had to sell our pieces of art and collect money for charity.

Despite the cold weather it was very interesting and we had a lot of fun. I think it was also very useful for us because we developed our skills for working with people and also our trade skills

Decoration of the hall at school

It is almost Christmas and the Christmas spirit is already everywhere around the town so it was high time to decorate our school. Together with the eight graders we found the decoration and the artificial Christmas trees. The trees in our school are not real aren’t real because that way every year we are saving at least one pine or fir form being cut down. When we started decorating we distributed the tasks between ourselves. The boys had to hang some stars from the ceiling while we – the girls had to decorate the Christmas trees and the reception of the school. Most of the decoration was red so we decided the biggest tree to be decorated in red and gold while the surrounding smaller ones we made red only. The rest of the trees we distributed between the entrance of the school and its auditorium. We decorated the trees at the entrance in golden and those in the auditorium – in silver and blue. The reception was covered with purple tull garlands. In my opinion this is the best decoration that our school has had since I came to study here. What is more, the decoration brought the Christmas spirit in our school.       

Making Christmas card for a competition

This year the District of our town organized a competition for Christmas cards. We decided to take part in so we took a group picture of our class together with some of the eleventh graders.  But the photos didn’t have a Christmas spirit at all except the hats and the Christmas tree so we had to use different programs in order to convey the Christmas spirit. I decided not to change the background but to make it look more Christmas like. With the help of one of my friends and Photoshop we made it look as if it is snowing instead of sunny. I also made the black and white. Together with the Christmas message it was transformed into a nice Christmas card. I think it became a card full of  Christmas spirit and I felt satisfied with my job.    

European week for waste reduction

From 16^th November until 24^th was the European week for waste reduction in which our school took part. We participated in an International project called “Don Quixoteans”. Our aim was to make a model of Don Quixote using wasted materials such as newspapers, magazines, brochures and many other useless things. We separated into three groups each of which was responsible for different part of the project. One of the groups that consisted only of boys had to make the sword and the other group – the body of the fiction character. The third group consisted of me and two girls from eight grade and we were responsible for the background of this piece of art. It wasn’t an easy task because we had to cut lots of colourful pictures from magazines and brochures and after that to do the most awful part – stick them together. Fortunately the 8^th graders were very enthusiasted so I didn’t have to this and I only had the task to cut and organize the photos. I think we had a lot of fun together making this project and at the end we had something really satisfying.      

Sports club - Shooting

During this meeting of the sports club there weren’t so many people and we weren’t enough to play team sports so we decided to practice shooting. In our school we have shooting range with targets on 50m and rifles with pellets. The aim is to shot with 5 balls and reach the center of the target or to hit five plates on a tripod. Although I have enough knowledge about guns I am not very good in shooting however I managed to hit the bull’s eye and a few shots reached around it. I wasn’t very satisfied but it was good enough for a person who hasn’t been shooting for years. 

Meeting of Charity club "Hope & Love"

On 12 November 2012 there was a meeting of our Charity Club during which we discussed our future Christmas charity campaign. We decided that this year we will collect money to buy food for the homeless people in our town. But collecting money isn’t an easy task so we had to think about different ways to do it.  After sharing some ideas we reached a conclusion that we have to organize competitions and other events which will catch the attention of the students and will motivate them to take part in it. The members of the “Applied arts” club  would also take part in this campaign but one of the most popular ways to collect money is the Christmas charity ball which is organized every year in our school. In my opinion we should think of more activities which would give us the opportunity to collect more money for all those people who need it because they don’t have anything and we can at least help them with something small which comes from our hearts.  

Pre - elective prezidents campaigne

Every year in our school we have to vote for president and vice – president who are two candidates from every class. This year our classmates Gergana and Mehmed were our candidates and we wanted them to win. Everyone from our class tried to help them and in my opinion the trip to Romania and the organization of the parties there won them a lot of fans from the eight graders but it wasn’t enough. To support their campaign they decided to give everyone a piece of baklava at the entrance of the school. To help them we were giving the piece of baklava while they were persuading students to vote for them. In my opinion the campaign wit the sweet temptation won them more fans and at the same time we had a lot of fun.

Meeting of club "Applied arts" - Christmas workshop

To be useful for the charity campaign of our school during our classes of the “Applied arts” club we had to make different items which will later be sold for charity. This year we had to prepare pegs decorated with Christmas motives. First we had to paint the wooden pegs with a crylic paint and when it got dry we had to decorate them. We had a choice between using the technique of decoupage or drawing something. For most of the pegs I used a technique of decoupage because it was easier. For one of them I decided to draw a snowman but drawing on such a small piece wasn’t an easy task. Despite everything I really liked it. Fortunately this time I didn’t have to lacquer them because the boys did it. To make the pegs more attractive we put a specially prepared Christmas banknote in each of them. In my opinion the pegs became really beautiful and they would attract people to buy them.        

Meeting of Sports club - Volleyball

 This time during the regular sports club classes we decided to play volleyball. It was easy to distribute into teams. This is one of my favorite sports which I haven’t practiced for a long time but I still was very good at it. We played three games and my team won two of them. I was really determined and gave my heart and soul in this game although it wasn’t important at all.

Karaoke - dance party

After the long day full of challenges, spent at Dracula’s castle and around Brasov everyone was very excited and wanted to do something funny. Using the idea of our Bulgarian teacher Mrs. Marinova we decided to organize a karaoke-dance party night. Most of our schoolmates took part in it and showed their talent in singing and dancing. The night started with lots of songs and lots of enthusiastic people who wanted to sing. Everyone who took part in this challenge was very good at it. The second part of night was full of dances and everyone took part whether they had any talent and abilities or not. We had a lot of fun together and at the end of the night everyone was happy but unfortunately at 10 o’clock we had to finish the party and go to bed although no one wanted to.

Celebrating the Day of Bulgarien Revival Leaders

1^st November is the day when we celebrate the Day of Bulgarian Revival Leaders. These are the people who had the biggest contribution to the development of our culture and Literature. One of the most important names for our History are St. Ivan Rilski, Paisii Hilendarski, Ivan Vazov and many others. This day had been celebrated since 1909 but later from 1945 until 1992 its celebration was forbidden. Now we celebrate it again so we decided to make a surprise for our teachers. We were on our trip in Romania and only some of our teachers were there. So when our Halloween party finished and we went back to our rooms with my classmate Gergana we decided to write a speech for our teachers. We wrote a special message for every one of them and found information about the celebration. The next day I had to read the speech in front of a whole bus full of people. I didn’t feel confident at all and when I started talking my hands were shaking so after the third sentence I stopped reading and started talking what I remember. Despite my worry the teachers felt very happy and enjoyed this. Later when we were walking around Brasov we saw an old lady who was selling small bunches of flowers. So we decided to buy one for each of our teachers. I think they felt very happy and we made their day special.    

Halloween party

After a month or more spent in organizing this party we were all very excited about it. Finally it was the day of the celebration -31.10. We were a little bit late but no one paid attention to that. When it started the younger students were very excited and a little bit worried, so to make them feel more comfortable we started the night with the show of the costumes. Everyone from our class had different mission: Mehmed, Velislav and Gergana were the hosts of the party; Harry was the DJ and Dayan, Ertan and I were the jury. Our mission wasn’t easy because there were too many beautiful and original costumes and we wanted to give awards to all of them but we couldn’t, so we prepared some extra awards, such as   Miss and Mr. Vampire, The Sexiest Halloweener and one special award for one of our teachers. There were also lots of games in which there were lots of volunteers to take part. At the end of the night we prepared raffle and gave lots of presents and surprises so everyone was happy. The eight and the ninth grader really enjoyed the party and had a lot of fun which made us very happy and we felt proud of what we had done, but the euphoria didn’t finish with the party.  

A trip to Romania - Halloween

Romania – the country of the vampires

Romania – a country full of mystery and charm. When I hear this name, the first two things that come to my mind are the Dracula’s castle and the Parliament. Places that I have always wanted to visit and now I had that chance. We were going to spend a wonderful and magic Halloween in this fascinating country. I was so excited and I could not hide it so I started the preparation for this fantastic journey about a month ago.

Finally, it was the day of our departure – 31^st October. I wake up much earlier and I was so energized that I decided to prepare breakfast for my classmates and of course for our teachers. When the cake was ready I took all my luggage which was more than I needed but I just wanted to be sure that I  am going to have everything I need. When I was ready and went to the car, my dad had already been waiting for fifteen minutes. He started murmuring but I was so happy that I decided just to smile. When I arrived at the stadium almost everyone was there and while we were waiting for the others we discussed our still future trip. Finally, we set off.

Everyone was hungry so they started asking me for a piece of cake especially Dayan. When everyone received their piece of cake, the half of it was left and no one wanted any more although they said that they enjoyed it. Therefore, I got angry and gave the rest of it to the teachers who really enjoyed it. While traveling we had a lot of fun together. The candidates for presidents in our school had many debates and we had a great time without being bored at all.   Bucharest – the city I have always wanted to visit was now in front of me. A city full of sights and history but I was not going to visit it yet. Now I just had the chance to have a panorama view of it.  Nevertheless, it was enough for now. After seeing some of the most important buildings and monuments in Bucharest, we had a short break after which we continued our way through the Carpathian Mountains to another interesting place - Brasov.  It was our last stop where we were going to celebrate Halloween and spend the next two days. When we arrived there it was almost time to prepare for Halloween and definitely time for dinner but there were also some problems with the rooms. With Gerry and one of our teachers we had to move to another hotel. Honestly it was better than the first one but only we know it. Everyone was so hungry that when we went to the restaurant most of the people had already eaten their salads. The IB had almost no time for preparation for the Halloween night because they were responsible for everything connected with the party and had to get ready for it. Less than an hour to get ready with costumes, hairstyle, make-up and everything else was not enough at all but somehow we managed to do it.     

Finally the party started. The mechanic – Gerry, the ninja – Velislav and the boss – Memo were the hosts of the show ,the doctor – Dayan, the mass killer – Ertan and the devil – me of course, were the jury and Harry was our DJ. All of the members of our small group received presents and took part in the games prepared specially for them. However, unfortunately at the hour of Cinderella, our party finished and everyone was supposed to go to bed. I hope everyone had a whale of time, especially the eight graders who were the majority. But for the devil and mechanic the work hadn’t finished yet.

   

When we went to our rooms, we realized that it was already tomorrow and it was a very special day – 1 November - the Day of the Bulgarian Revival Leaders. So we decided to prepare a surprise for our teachers who celebrate this day. We found out information about it and wrote something special for every one of them. And after finishing this last task of a day full of emotions we fell asleep.

In the morning after having breakfast one of my dreams was going to come true. We were going to the Dracula’s castle – a place full of mystery and puzzles. On our way there I had to read the message to the teachers in front of the whole bus of students. It was very uneasy and I was quavering. I had never spoken in front of so many people. While reading it my hands were shaking so much that I decided to stop reading and say what I remember. I hope the teachers were surprised and liked it. When we arrived in Bran I had already gotten calm and I was impressed by the view of the castle. Inside it was much more interesting and fascinating. We took thousands of photos there and after a careful tour of the castle during which we found out lots of interesting facts, we went out and bought the most delicious cakes ever.                                                                                                    

                                  

 I had already achieved some of the aims of this trip but there were more so we went back to Brasov where we had a lot of free time. Everyone was hungry and went to have lunch. Gerry and I were hungry too but we decided to buy sandwiches and visit the Church that was one of the symbols of the city and the two towers at the top of the hill. However, while we were looking for the way there we got lost and no one we met spoke English. Finally, after half an hour we found a boy who did. He showed us a way through the forest where we felt completely lost but after the grand climbing through the woods, we found the tower. Despite everything the view was worth it. We took many pictures of the fascinating sights and what is more we visited a small museum, where guns from the wars were exhibited. After all, we had much more time left so we decided to walk round the center of the city but it was so windy that finally we decided to visit a                 galleria full of shops selling many interesting items. We bought some souvenirs and it was time to get together with the group and go back to the hotel. When we went out the weather was even worse – different objects were flying in the air and some of them almost hit some of the teachers. A door had flown away with the hinges. Everyone was worried but we managed to find our bus very fast and go back safely.

                                                       

During dinner, everyone was discussing the day and was so excited that using the idea of our Bulgarian teacher we decided to organize a karaoke – dance night for our schoolmates. Almost everyone participated in it and had a lot of fun. People were singing, dancing, and having a lot of fun together. No one wanted it to finish but every good thing has its end. Unfortunately, the next day was our last day in Romania. We set off very early from Brasov and continued to Bucharest. Early in the morning we didn’t have time for breakfast so they gave everyone of us a sandwich and an orange. I like eating oranges very much so I took our ninja’s knife and started peeling oranges on the whole way back to Veliko Turnovo. I think I had peeled at least twenty oranges so I received a certificate for Miss Orange from my schoolmates. 

 We hade a long break in Bucharest where we visited a shopping centre and not the Parliament. It made me feel very disappointed because there are plenty of malls everywhere around the world, which we can visit whenever we want while we cannot always visit the biggest administrative building after the Pentagon in the USA. I was not able to make my dream come true and I was really upset. In my opinion, we could have split into two groups and could have visited both the Parliament and the shopping centre so everyone would have been happy. Anyway, the leader of the group didn’t accepted my proposal and we had to lose two hours of our precious life in hanging out around the shops. The thing I hate most. However, I will try to get over it.

                

Finally, after three wonderful days full of adventures we were on our way back to Bulgaria. When we arrived in our town in the evening of 2^nd November, the car park was full of parents impatiently waiting for their children. My parents were there too. They took me and on the way home I never shut up, sharing my impressions from the trip. I am looking forward to the next trip organized by my school because I am sure it would be full of fun just like the one I just came back from.

Meeting of club "Applied arts"

During this meeting, we had to finish the objects we started making the previous time. Now the decoupage made by napkins was already dry and I had just to polish my new jewelry box and decorate it by using the special glitters. Polishing is one of the most awful things to do because when reaching the skin it gets dry and is more difficult to remove than the glue. After the polish was also dry I wrote a text inside it and drew a butterfly and a flower. When it was finally ready I didn’t use it as a jewelry box but I filled it with lavender.

            

Halloween party organization

   Hours spent on writing script, making certificates, creating different games and sorting out presents for the winners. Although it was exhausting and some times difficult to achieve during the preparation we had a lot of fun together. This organization had lots of advantages, such as the opportunity to find out more about each other. Writing a funny script which wouldn't be boering for the audience wasn't an easy task. We had to write it in a way to catch the attention and to include different games to make sure that everyoune would have a great time. But writing it wasn't the only task we had. Another thing we had to do was to sort out the presents so everyone would recieve one from the raffle and by taking part in different games . Thinking of interesting prizes and making certificates for them was also part of our job which was a bit difficult. Organizing a party like Halloween wasn't easy but Ithink at the end most of the people enjoyed it.

Collecting and donation of clothes for Palovi family

We have just achieved our first charity aim – to donate clothes for a family with 13 children who live in the small town Gurkovo in Southern Bulgaria. The family live only with 1000 levs per month which is not enough for them and they need help. Our aim was to receive some clothes, toys and other things that might be useful for the family and their children. We had to incite the students in our school to be sympathetic and compassionate, and also to offer their help.

Lord of the Dance

As a part of the application of Veliko Turnovo for Cultural capital of Europe there ar a lot of performances and concerts that are organized. One of these events was the dance performance Lord of the Dance. It is an Irish musical and dance production with a  choreograph and producer Michael Flatley who is also taking starring role. It was amazing two-hour performance during which we were able to see not only sport dances but also traditional Irish ones. What is more, it was a combination of rhythmical music, wonderful costumes, special effects and unique techniques. I was really excited and impressed by this show that I wanted to start training sports dances.  However, it didn’t last for long – just until the end of the show.

First meeting of Sports club - basketball

Today was the first meeting of the Sports club in our school. We started with basketball training.

Basketball is a team sport, the objective being to shoot a ball through a basket horizontally positioned to score points while following a set of rules. Usually, two teams of five players play on a marked rectangular court with a basket at each width end. Basketball is one of the world's most popular and widely viewed sports. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basketball) 
We had to practice and improve our skills. During the summer holiday I was keen on basketball so I started playing it every day with a group of friends, who are very good at it. After all those hours spent playing this sport I feel now more confident because I am better at it. Now I can shoot much more baskets than I could at the beginning of the summer.

First meeting of club "Applied arts"

Today was the first meeting of our creativity club “Applied arts”. Our first task was to decorate different items using the technique of Decoupage.

Decoupage (or découpage) is the art of decorating an object by gluing colored paper cutouts onto it in combination with special paint effects, golden leaves and so on. Commonly an object like a small box or an item of furniture is covered by cutouts from magazines or from specially-manufactured papers. Each layer is sealed with varnishes (often multiple coats) until the "stuck on" appearance disappears and the result looks like painting or inlay work. The traditional technique used 30–40 layers of varnish which were then sanded to a polished finish. This was known in 18th century England as the art of Japanning after its presumed origins. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decoupage)

The item I chose was a cartoon box which I wanted to transform into a jewelry one. First I had to glue it with C200 and then stick it with different colorful napkins. At the end the simple cartoon box was transformed into a jewelry box full of color but it wasn’t ready yet.

First meeting of Charity club "Hope and love"

    The charity club in our school American College "Arcus" started its action during the first years when the school opened. Its mission is to support people and institutions that need help by organizing and taking part in different charity activities and events. We had to defend our participation in this club by writing an essay. I chose to write on the following topic: Is there hypocrisy in charity? And this is my essay:

   In my opinion there are two types of benefactors - one who do it to receive a personal benefit from that and others who do it selflessly. The first type are the ones who take part in different charity events because they are mindful for the people who are disadvantaged. The other type are the ones who do these things because they need to affirm their social status.

   There are many people who feel sympathy and compassion for the people who are poor and those who doesn't have physical and material ability to provide everything they need. These people are trying to do everything possible to make the life of those who needs help easier and to support them.They do this selflessly and don't want anything in return, just to make someone happy.

   But appart from this type there are other people for whom the god case isn't as important as to recieve some profit from it. These people participate varios charity campaigns for gain, which in my oppinion is also hypocratical. These people are not interested in social issues and the misery of the disadvantaged people. For them the only important thing is ther personal happiness an the achievement of personal gain from what they do. These people have no morals and are blinded by their selfish ideals.

   In charity there are both compasion and pity as well as hypocracy, triggered by personal goals and benefits. We all participate in charitable events not because we are obliged to or be wish to accomplish our goals but because we care about others who don't gave our abilities and resources in life.

Local project: Club "Young Journalist"

 Today was the first meeting of club "Young Journalist" which is also our local project. Our aim in  this club is to find materials for the online school newspaper and edit it. The target of the newspaper is reflect the events that happen in our school and give more information about them. We can also publish essays and other pieces of work made by students from our school. Durng the first meeting we had to distribute amoung ourselves the classes we are responsible for. During the school year our aim is to find creative and interesting essays, drawings,etc. made by students from these classes and publish them in the school website. To start runing the newspaper for this school year we had ro find materials connected with the topic about Halloween. The website of our school newspaper is: http://www.ac-arcus.com/?mod=e-paper

Opening of the clubs

   Today was the presentation of the clubs and some of the extracurricular activities for the 2012-2013 school year. There are lots of new and interesting suggestions for this year. There are fifteen clubs from which we can choose.

   Some clubs are with science charity and volunteer trend: Charity club "Hope and Love", Club "Ecology and Environmental care", Discussion club "United Nations" and Club "Mathematical Linguistics". Others are connected with arts such as: Club  "Visual arts", Club "Applied arts", Club "Photography", Club "Comics" and the Music studio "Viva". There are also clubs connected with Literature like: Club "Young Journalist" and Literary club "Monada". The Sports clubs such as: Club "Volleyball", Club "Basketball", Club "Football" and Club "Yoga" are also very popular.

   

  I find some of these clubs very interesting and in my opinion it would be fun to be part of them.

International Teachers' Day

Today - 5^th October is the International Teachers’ Day. This year we decided to surprise the teachers with something different and unusual so we prepared a special poster for them. On this poster there was a special wisdom for every teacher. We also gladdened them with flowers and balloons.I felt pleased when I saw all teachers surprised and happy. When they were going back to the classrooms they were smiling. I achieved my aim to make the teachers feel happy and special because they deserve it. We have to thank our teachers for all the efforts and their hard work to teach us the most important things and give their knowledge to us! Thank you, teachers! 

Organization of International teacher's day

Thinking of a surprise for the techers that they would enjoy is not an easy task. For the past few years the International teacher's was celebrated with cupcakes and fortunes for every techer so this year they expected the same thing. That's why I decided to think of something special that will be a surprise. It wasn't easy at all because I came up with lots of suggestions most of which were difficult to achieve because of a few reasons. After a week spent in thinking of something apropriate that the teachers would enjoy I came up with my idea to create a poster with a special thought for every teacher. With the help of my classmates the poster became very original and we decided to replace the cupcakes with flowers. I wasn't satisfied with the results because some parts of the poster didn't look as I wanted to be but most of the teachers enjoyed it. :)

Celebrating the International Day of Older Persons at the local Residential home for old people "Veneta Boteva"

 Today – 1^st October is the International Day of Older Persons. We – the IB students visited the local Residential home for old people “Veneta Boteva” to celebrate this special day with the old people who live there. There was a special program called “Together” prepared specially for this day. Some of the people in the Residential home took part in this show with different dances and songs some of which prepared together with students from our school. The performance finished with the traditional Bulgarian dance called “horo” which was leaded by the mayor of Veliko Turnovo. This event was reflected in the local newspapers and websites: http://www.dnesbg.com/obshtestvo/kolezhani-upravlyavaha-za-edin-den-doma-za-vazrastni-hora.html

It was really nice to see all these people full of energy having fun together with us. While traveling there I was thinking that I would see lots of old people who are lonely and have monotonous stile of life and I was feeling pity about them. But when we arrived I saw most of them happy and full of joy. They were having fun together and were all very nice and amiable. I think that although being of old age the people from the Residential home were very vital and energetic. I felt satisfaction that I was part from their holiday.