Orchestra

For the past two years I have played cello for the orchestra at my school, playing in various concerts in St. Mary's and Greyfriar's. Being part of such a large group has been a really enjoyable pursuit. The pieces we have been given so far have been challenging but in an enjoyable way, as I have always loved a challenge. Thus, it has improved my sightreading skills immensely, something that I've always found rather difficult before. It was also amazing to meet other people who are as interested in music as I was. I had a good desk partner and we had fun creating fingerings for the bits we found difficult. I found working in such way with another person enjoyable, as I learnt a lot about my technique from another person. Performing in front of a lot of people at the concerts improved my confidence in my playing. Playing in an orchestra made me reflect on how when people pull together, something really good and beautiful sounding can be produced. I hope I continue to be a part of an orchestra even after school!

Sailing!

Sailing has been one of the things I have enjoyed most! I would compare sailing to playing an instrument: there are some things you need to be precise about but other than that, you have so much fun doing it!
It pushed me out of my comfort zone: facing a wall of waves can be quite daunting. But it was exhilarating at the same time. I have sailed before and therefore I was put with some of the more inexperienced sailors to help them learn. I must admit that I was not entirely thrilled by the idea at first but I found that being put with someone less experienced built on my patience and my ability to communicate more succinctly when needed to in a stressful situation. My confidence thus improved and again, like with the teaching, I found it a great stress reliever.
Thus, I have really enjoyed my time sailing and I hope I can continue it further!

Teaching assistant in the Prep School

For the past year now, I have been helping out in the Prep School with two classes of 8 to 10 year olds, especially in the area of Maths and English. In my spare time, I would come up with ways to teach various topics in maths especially so as to help out various students that were having trouble with the topic.
I really enjoyed doing this, as I liked interacting with the children and coming up with interesting ways of teaching a topic, so they wouldn't get bored easily and also remember the method. I like to think I became liked by the children as well - they always seemed excited to see me arrive.
Working with children, helped me reflect on how I work for exams and such. It improved the way I revised as I became more adept at creating interesting and exciting methods to learn. My patience also increased - I got very good at explaining something in different ways multiple times! It made me reflect on how my own teachers teach and I how I was taught at that age. It was also a great stress reliever - there was something calming about helping out a person much younger than myself. That, and it made me more sure about my desire to go into teaching when I'm older.
All in all, it was a successful activity, which I will be continuing even after CAS finishes. Hopefully it will continue to be a fun thing to do!

CAS Trip to Peru

Peru is the most amazing place. Evar. You know how when you go to a country in Europe or America, you still sort of feel like you are still at home? Its not like that here. Cusco is so...alive. People wear bright clothes woven into different patterns and its currently festival time, so everywhere is buzzing. The children are adorable! Mothers fashion bright blankets into baby carriers so they can carry small children on their backs. So you see little brown heads poking out of folds of colourful wool, grinning bright white smiles.

It was freezing. I mean really really really cold! At night I wear three layers, my sleeping bag and four blankets! There wasn't a lot of hot water in the taps (my shower was lukewarm at one point... I did a little song and dance when that happened) so I made good use of all the warm clothes I had. I learned a little Spanish, so I was not totally lost. We had classes by this organisation that employs single mothers to teach Spanish. They were really nice: Camucha taught us in the classroom and Esme took us out to town to speak it all. 

The tour of the Sacred Valley was wonderful. We visited all of the major sites with our very enthusiastic tour guide and I finally got to see Machu Picchu. It was by far the most amazing thing I have seen and I am glad I have finally seen it.

Arriving within this dusty village came as a bit of a culture shock. After settling in Roxanna´s house in the blazing sunshine, Andy took us for a walk through Chinchero and its textile centre. Seeing livestock in the middle of the tarmac road was a common things. Children with ill-fitting clothes and wide grins played with a kite made of sticks and a polestyrene bag in a large field, Inca ruins serving as their playground. The village is set amongst some of the most stunning scenery- with the snow-topped Andes serving as a backdrop to the green and brown rolling hills that sloped down towards us. It was clear though that Chinchero was no stranger to poverty, with mud brick houses serving as homes and many children looking like they hadn´t seen a bath for a long time. We were all eager to get on and make a difference in what ways they could.

The next day, those who were teaching were packed into the back of a big blue truck, crouched down on the dusty wooden planks as we were rocked to our destination.

The school was set just by the road, its back towards the road and its front facing out onto a scruffy dried out grassy verge which sloped down to a field full of broken corn stalks. The children were playing within this area, tossing marbles or running around in te cold misty morning air.

The teachers then called them all to attention and they were divided into classes and we each took our own class n

and began to teach them the basics of English.

The children in our class, all 8 of them, were keen to learn introductions, numbers and letters. Some of them were practically vibrating in their seats, they were so excited. Sometimes it was difficult to get the idea across amd pronunciation proved to be one of the main hurdles we had to cross, but since the class and the teachers were so enthusiastic. we managed to work through most of the words we tried to teach them. At around 11, we would have break and we all got stuck in with playing with the children, giving them a chance to play with the skipping ropes, balls and balloons we had brought along with us, which all the children were delighted by. It was amazing to see how such small things could make so many children happy. Indeed, on the last day, they sang songs of appreciation to us, something that must have taken a lot of courage to do, but seeing their happy faces truly showed how they enjoyed laerning from us.

That was what made the whole experience so enjoyable - the children were willing and eager to learn.

Staying with Roxanna was also an education in itself for us. Roxanna had a big sprawling family, with the entire Fettes group split between her house and her sister-in-law´s. Roxanna had three children, one a boy of about 10 and two little twin girls who had not yet turned one. Roxanna worked incredibly hard, not only looking after her own family but us as well. I´m still trying to figure out how she did it! In her tiny kitchen, she cooked for all of us an her family. When the travel bug struck, she showed concern towards all of us, something that was in some ways very humbling.

I have thoroughly enjoyed staying in Cusco and hope that one day I can return!

Finally, the trek in the mountains was another thing I have enjoyed. It was wonderful to see more of Peru and its wilderness. It wasn't really camping though - I think if DofE had tents already set up for us and warm water to bathe in, then more people would do it. Still, it was a wonderful way to end the trip and I thoroughly enjoyed all of it!

New Badminton Champion?

For Spring term of this year, I took Badminton for my games session. I have never really played badminton  before and I thought it would be a good way to expand the sports I'm already playing. Badminton was also a way of getting to know people I have not really talked in my years in school. 


To be honest, I did not find this activity particularly good. We did not get direct teaching as to how to play badminton and I found myself learning from other more experience players on how to play. And there wasn't really a lot to learn. Once I had mastered the techniques I found it was pretty dull in places, as we mostly played rallies that could go on for ages. However, it was good for getting to know other people I did not originally converged with and I have made some new friends.


Yet the overall experience wasn't as enjoyable than I thought it would be. But I tried to make the best of it, and make it as enjoyable as possible. I did look forward to playing with people that I liked and we had a few laughs! But the next time I pick an activity, I'll research it, so it isn't as much of a disappointment the next time! 

Egg Racers, on your marks, get set...go!

For Science Week at school 3rd form (13-14 year olds) were making egg-mobiles to race at the end of the week. I volunteered to help them make the mobiles capable of being fast and carry an egg without breaking it.

It was fun to connect with the youngest year in school. I don't normally get to talk to them that much so it was nice to see things from their perspective again. It reminded me of when I was in 3rd form, how much less I had worry about! It was a good reminder about how much I have developed from those days.
It was also a good way to get some teaching experience with teenagers. I often do work experience with younger children, which is of course much different to being with teenagers! Although younger children are more of a responsibility, they are less likely to come back with a smart comment. You have to think fast with both, younger children to stop accidents and teenagers to stop embarrassment! Because of this experience, I feel I have grown in confidence and think that I have more experience for teaching.

The egg mobiles were pretty innovative, I was pleasantly surprised with some. They used mouse traps, cardboard boxes string, tape, glue, feathers, anything they could get their hands on to make their mobiles the prettiest or the fastest. The one that I remember the most was made of mousetraps (being the motor), string, a cardboard box and a pencil. This was easily the fastest out of all the one I saw that day and it was amazing to see how much a group of 13 year olds can do!

Christmas Cookery Course

A few weeks before Christmas my sisters and I went to a cookery course in Edinburgh, to get to know how to make the perfect roast dinner for Christmas. Our menu included roast chicken, gravy, bread sauce, honeyed vegetables, roast potatoes, pigs in blankets, peanut butter and chocolate cookies, raspberry muffins, chocolate chip muffins and sticky-toffee pudding. I have to say, that was the best lunch I have ever had! 

Yum!

The teaching was done in a professional kitchen, with industrial fridges and the kind of equipment used my chefs. Our teachers, Tori and Beth, talked us through what we would be cooking and split us into groups of 2 or 3, as there were a group of boys plus ourselves. We started with the roast chicken, vegetables, pigs in blankets and potatoes before lunch. We had to get this part right because... the chicken dinner was our lunch! Afterwards we moved onto the desert and confectionary, which we got to take home at the end of the day. There was of course a lot of washing up afterwards but we all got suck in. 

I had great fun that day! As well as coming away with a full stomach, I now know how to cook and carve an amazing chicken dinner. I know to put half a lemon inside the chicken to give it flavour. I know that the chicken is ready when the skin is close to cracking. I know glaze potatoes in oil and salt to create a perfect batch of roast potatoes. It was good to focus on something that I take for granted everyday, my mother being the main source of good food in our house. Cooking for one self is a good life skill, one that will become incredibly useful once I leave home. When I sat down at lunch time to eat the fruits of our labour, it felt amazing to know that we had made, not someone else. It made the food that  more delicious. 

It was good to be with my sisters. We don't hang out together a lot, friends and school usually getting in the way. It was an amazing way to work together again on something and we had a lot of laughs along the way. 

These were gone within hours...

I tried my best to help Tori and Beth clear up afterwards, my hands were constantly in sudsy water. But again, there was that same satisfaction afterwards, when we were walking home stuffing ourselves with the muffins and cookies, that we'd achieved something. 

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed that day. It was something exciting and different, something I had never done before. The skills I learned should keep me going throughout the rest of my life and most likely make me very popular through uni! I hope I get another chance to take another cookery course like it.