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.