Reflections during iceskating

On January 24th, February 5th, 14th and 22th 2015 I have been iceskating.

With more hours spent on the ice rink I am more confident while skating. Also after skating constantly for an hour I am less tired then I was before. It is rare in my case - usually during winter I don't excersise and my stamina is very low at that period. It is the case for a lot of people actually - they stop doing activities during the colder months. It negatively affects their health - they start to gain weight and it is more difficult to lose it afterwards. It we have developed habit of excersising during winter we would prevent some minor diseases like flu because our immune system would be more effective. We would improve our general health and what is more important  - improve our mental well-being. Personally during winter I am more tired and have worse mood than usual. This year I have noticed that after an hour of iceskating I had more energy and I was in much better mood than on regular winter days.

Last time I wrote about my problems with skating on my left leg. Since then I have observed great improvement. At the last session I have maintained proper balance and I was able to skate on both legs without any hesitation. Now I don't even know why it was so difficult for me. I guess the greatest obstacle was in my head - the fear of falling down. When I think about it now it seems so silly of me because it was nothing difficult and even if I had fallen it wouldn't have been a big deal. I wonder how often people are afraid of things which are not really chalenging. They often don't even care to try because failure seems to be so likely. People should take their chances and do their best to achieve the goal. Afterwards probably it would turn out that it was one of the easiest things to do and they would laugh at themselves just as I did.

During one of the sessions on the ice rink there was a women who was practicing figure skating. As I have observed her I was really impressed by her skills. It was obvious that she was doing it with a great passion, that she was doing something she loved. It made me realize how important in life is to keep doing things that give us joy. If we do so we can be more efficient, we can achieve goals while entertaining ourselves. It brightens up one's life - no matter what we do, it can be gardening, playing instruments, painting, running, writing. As long as we are able to do what we love we have purpose in our lives. I wish that someday I will find an activity that will give me such satisfaction and joy, that will make me feel like it is significant and like it matters. Even if it only matters to me. All in all, doing things that we love is about our own wellbeing.

Learning outcomes fulfilled:
- Developing new skills
- Increased awareness of strengths and areas for growth

Iceskating

I have decided to develop my skills in iceskating this year. Up till now I have been iceskating three times. This was enough time for me to overcome my fear of falling down, but not enough to learn how to skate properly.

During my first time on ice rink this winter I had to recall what possition I should skate in, how to properly place my skates to move smoothly. Although I am not afraid of skating far from the barrier, I have noticed I am skating more on my right leg - I have figured out that I cannot maintain balance while skating on my left leg. It means I am still a bit afraid of falling down.

During next sessions I tried to teach myself to skate on both legs - but it is more difficult than it seems. I don't know why I could not force myself to do more than 2 long slides on my left leg, and then again I was skating only on the right one. I was also observing techniques of other people, hoping that I would learn something useful. I have noticed that they often skate with the fixed pace, one leg after another, sliding more to the sides then forward. I have been practicing it and I think that at the end of the last session I have made some progress. During the next session I am going to check if I improved much and to try to get better and better.

Learning outcomes fulfilled:
- Increased awareness of strengths and areas for growth
- Developing new skills

Raising money for Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity

On 11th of January I have participated in the annual final of the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity. On this day I have been volunteering and raising money on the streets. This year's goal was to raise money for equipment for diagnostics of diseases and for treatment of children and elderly people.

As I was wandering through the city and collecting money I was thinking about how much good can be done if great deal of people show a little bit of commitment to one matter. The majority of people passing me that day had put some money into my box - for them it was a tiny sacrifice, but for sick people it is a chance for new life. It is incredible how greatly we can influence the world around us if we gather to achieve the same aim. People tend to think that their actions do not have any meaning or effect on the surroundings  - sometimes I think this way too - but actually we have a great power in our hands and we just don't know how to use it. Events such as Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity show that each of us is a part of something bigger. People just have to be more aware of the simple truth - the more voices are spreading the same message, the same action, the more important, noticable and meaningfull it becomes. But there is other side of the coin - we have to be able to evaluate this message - if the idea is presented by the majority of people it does not mean that it is a right and valid one. The majority can be wrong, and we have to decide if we are for or against, using our own conscience.

Learning outcomes fulfilled:
- Considered ethical implications
- Engaged with issued of global importance

Guardian Angels' Charity

I have spent 3 more hours at Guardian Angels' Charity helping children with homework. During that time I have noticed how people who work there try to implement patterns of good behaviour, of rules of coexistence in the bigger society. It is important for young children to have people they look up to, to have chance to observe adults and to learn from their experience. 

Tutors show them the importance of being principled and organised. Every kid has its duties - cleaning up, sweeping the floor, helping in the kitchen - which have to be done in a time given in timetables. Everyone have got their work to do. It shows children that every member of the society is important, everyone fulfill their duties - and if they don't do it, the balance in the society is destabilized. It teaches them that no effort made for the common good is meaningless.

Also tutors show children how to solve conflicts and to take under concideration feelings of others. Usually it is difficult for people to walk in somebody else's shoes. It is natural for us to rely on our survival instinct and to believe only in our opinion. Especially when we are children. When we are young we need guidance to discover that point of view of others actually has a great meaning. It is a source of diversity of the world, it makes it more interesting but also challenging, because it creates conflicts. We need to learn how to accept different opinions, how to be open-minded and empathetic - and that is not easy at any stage of our life.

Kids at Guardian Angels' Charity are shown values which should be known by every young person in the world. These values do not make anything easier - they only allow to notice the honest way to live our life and to become better people. On the other hand, children sometimes show greater understanding of what is good and what is bad than many adults. Their purity and often their gullibility allow them to see world beyond artificial boundaries created by people - that shows that sometimes grown-ups should learn from children, not the other way.

Learning outcomes fulfilled:
- Considered ethical implications

I begin to draw

As my creative part of CAS I have decided to draw. On 16th December 2014 I have done my first drawing for CAS.

Of course I have been drawing before, just like everyone during their lives. But I've never been learning how to draw, how to use different techniques properly, so I've decided to start drawing at home, trying to develop my skills and new techniques on my own.

I have tried to draw my hand holding pencil. It was illuminated by the bright light from above and I tried to show the shadows created by the light, e.g. the one cast by pencil - but I've forgotten about the shadow  fo the pencil on the paper, not on hand and the one cast by the whole hand!

Also in this drawing my thumb is too thin and my forefinger is too thick. But overall proportions are not bad as for the official first time drawing.

I have been drawing this picture for about 2 hours - I think that I could do this in much shorter time, but I've been erasing a lot of lines that I thought were not drawn properly. I'm neither experienced nor skilled drawer, so I've been correcting fingers way too many times - and in the end they don't look like I wanted them to look.

I will use this picture to make comparison - I will draw it once again after few months and compare both versions - it will show if I make any progress.

Learing outcomes fulfilled:

- Developed new skills

- Increased awareness of strengths and areas for growth

Writing letters with Amnesty International

On 13th of December I have attended the event connected with the activity of Amnesty International. I have been writing leters driving attention to the problem in Bhopal, India.

30 years ago in factory in Bhopal there was a toxic gas leakage which contaminated the whole area. The toxic waste is still there, at the site of the former factory. People are forced to live there and are exposed to the dangerous remains of the factory. Also, people responsible for the tragedy were not punished yet. It is terrible that all over the world there are incidents including the violation of the human rights or putting people in danger, while governments seem to not to notice them.

First, when I heard about the event I thought that writing letters cannot help to improve world around us, I was sceptical about it. But then I read some more information about the organisation and it occured to me that this way of protesting against the injustice does matter. Amnesty International shows how significant can be our voice and how big is the effect of work of volunteers - organisation had freed many people and made governments to make an action and solve the problems the organisation had been writing about.

I am happy that I could attend this event. It was an opportunity for me to participate in something bigger, to notice problems around the world and to act on them. It is great that people from different countries unite and fulfill the same goal - to help those in need, to fight with injustice and violation of human rights. 

Learning outcomes fulfilled:
- Engaged with issues of global importance

Visiting the graves of deceased Mickiewicz teachers

My school has a tradition, that every year, before the All Saints Day the delegation of students brings wreaths and lights candles at the graves of the deceased Mickiewicz teachers. Me and my class have done it this year.

On 29th of October we prepared wreaths that were to be put on tombstones. We made them from twigs and cones of coniferous trees, also from dried leaves and flowers. They all had red shields with name of the school on them.

On 30th of October me and my class went to two cemeteries, at which these teachers are buried - at Francuska Street and at Sienkiewicza Street in Katowice.

As we were walking among the graves one of our teachers has been telling us stories of the deceased - what subject were they teaching, etc. When we came to one of the graves, our teacher said that she can't say anything about the person lying there, because no one at the school could tell her who that teacher was. That was the thing that made me think about the memory. It is sad how easily we can be forgotten - we live our lives, but after we are gone there will be few people to remember us, to light a candle on our grave, unless we do something which makes our name recognizable all over the world. One day we have families, friends and colleagues, we work, we learn - we live. And the next day we are just another person lying in the graveyard with neglected gravestone and no candle on it - the mourning after our death will end, people will move on, and memory of us will fade.

Another thing I have noticed during the walk were rows of little tombstones - graves of little children. Some of them didn't even live a day. It seemed unfair to me that they didn't have chance to experience the life - its good and bad sides. I wondered who would have they become if they had lived longer - maybe some of them would cure cancer, AIDS or other fatal disease. Or some of them would become criminals and do a lot of bad things. There is no way we could possibly know that. But everybody should have their chance to be alive, to grow up, to feel loved and to make choices. These are things every human being should experience and its terrible to see that these kids weren't able to do so.