Category Archives: Target Setting

How to do a hand-stand

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Post contributed by Eline Postma

Developing personal confidence

Developing personal confidence

For a year or two, I have decided to change my new year’s resolutions from something behavioural (e.g. study harder) to something more tangible (run 5k without stopping). I made this change because it seems like they are more realistic goals that have more clear steps that would lead up to the attainment of it.

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My New Year’s resolution for 2014 was actually to learn how to do a handstand without the use of a wall. For some reason, I am terrified of being upside down, so this seemed like a nice goal for this year where I would have to go out of my comfort zone to gain an interesting new experience. If you think about it, being able to do an unsupported handstand symbolises personal confidence in several manners: you have to trust your body’s ability in being strong enough to support you, and have the general confidence to eventually practice it without a wall (note to self: learn some safe exit strategies!).

handstand

After a month or so, I adjusted my goal to learn how to do a ‘head-stand’. I had seen some people do it in their yoga practices, and it seemed like the coolest thing to be able to do. When I was in Edinburgh at the beginning of May, a friend showed me what it felt like to be upside down by holding my feet so I wouldn’t fall over. I realised it isn’t as scary as I once thought, and If you haven’t tried it, I would recommend it, because it is the best energy booster I have ever come across. After a little over a month of daily practice, I managed to do an unsupported headstand. This was the best thing I did this year for boosting my self confidence and positive body image. More so, than any amount of public speaking ever could 🙂

Future target: clearly, an unsupported handstand in 2015!

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Game, set and tears!

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I can't see over the net!

I can’t see over the net!

The other day I posted some thoughts on the learning state referred to as ‘flow‘ and made a connection to cycling and my own personal observations of my two oldest children taking to cycling.  The reason I did this is because I have been impressed with their development and growth in confidence and ability as cyclists.  My four year old daughter has now cycled over 12 kms in one go with no gears on her small pink bike and her little legs going like the clappers up and down hills.  Her skill and ability has definitely been matched by the challenge and resilience required resulting in a rewarding outcome for all.

Keep your eye on the ball!

Keep your eye on the ball!

We have been trying tennis as a family and sometimes take the family rackets with us on a more casual bike ride or walk.  Unfortunately though, we are a long way off any state of ‘flow’ with our tennis experience.  Although everyone is very keen and excited at first it is not long until the tears appear and their patience is being lost.  Why is this the case?  Tennis is just a bit of fun, trying to hit a ball over a net, we are not expecting Wimbledon champions (yet).  Obviously tennis is proving to be a lot more frustrating though and requires a different range of skill sets.  Maybe my wife and I (we are know Agassi and Graf by the way!) are not the best tennis coaches either and the children can easily spot this.  Where have my teaching skills gone and why am I also getting frustrated and losing my patience with my own children – there is only so many times you can say ‘watch the ball!‘

Even the ball boy is too slow!

Even the ball boy is too slow!

I find myself often reflecting on my parenthood qualities and why, as someone that has taught young people (both primary and secondary age) for more than 15 years, do I often fail as a teacher within my own home and family environment?  It is not that my children expect a teacher, they want a father and of course I try the best I can and I am still learning everyday with every challenge that they throw my (our) way.  Teaching is about going above and beyond for every student and that is something that I always strive to do and achieve, it is not easy and takes a big time commitment but why else would you go into the teaching profession if you weren’t prepared to do that?

What a volley

What a volley

Parenting is an even bigger (life) commitment and of course you want to go above and beyond for your own children but have to do this over a more prolonged period of time and make sure that you get the balance right.  You can’t be a world class parent all of the time and you can’t always expect your children to ‘flow.’  A good friend said to me the other the day: you have to choose your battles with your own children – you can’t win them all, there are many phases that they are going to go through – let them explore and discover the highs and lows.  Always support them and help them to gain in confidence, there are many different games to be played but not everyone will be a winner but there will always be many points to learn from.  They will eventually discover which sets to go for and it is our job as parents (and teachers) to make sure they ultimately play a winning match and be successful in life.

 

Aware, Able, Act

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Have you ever heard a tree breathe?

Have you ever heard a tree breathe?

Aware, Able, Act:  separately three simple words but together they combine to make a very powerful vision.  A school’s curriculum or learning programme (as I prefer to call it) is very similar to this concept.  We constantly use words to describe and explain all aspects of education and teaching, each one with their own relevance to specific students and their progress through school, each one seemingly important in their own right: assessment, holistic, standards, creativity, progress, leadership, independent, collaborative, the list goes on…  These words can look and sound very impressive and you will often see them on most school’s websites, in prospectuses and throughout publicity materials that promote and explain elements of a curriculum.  They mean very little though if there is nothing to bring them together, to link them like a helix that intertwines through everything a school does for its students and make learning authentic.  A really good school will have a learning programme that does this, and will be fully aware of the ‘DNA’ that brings these words and their impact on the students alive.

crushing egg shells for fertiliser

crushing egg shells for fertiliser

Aware:  All schools provide students with knowledge; it is the basis of education and the key objective to passing tests and exams ultimately gaining qualifications to (apparently?) be successful in life.  There is a lot more to life than just passing examinations therefore we want our students to be inquirers and critical thinkers to become socially and emotionally intelligent, not solely to be spoon-fed and reliant upon the passing of information, there is so much more to know, to feel and to find out.  Realistically students today can find the answer to anything without a teacher (my son is forever on Youtube watching National Geographic); the important thing is the process and how to gain the knowledge and questioning its validity.

what a learning environment!

what a learning environment!

Able:  Education is not from the neck up!  It is important to allow our students to learn in the ways that best suit them, to use all of their senses, emotions and skills, to be able to learn outside of the box.  A good test (for the students and teacher!) would be to observe a class with no teacher and to see what the students would do?  Giving children the knowledge and making them aware is important but a good programme will also ‘equip’ them, give them the tools and the confidence to use their knowledge, to be independent learners and to share it with others.

we dance together

we dance together

Act:  Too many people make the mistake of jumping straight into action.  Without real awareness and the vested time in life skills, cultural awareness and confidence building then this can be a negative experience rather than a proactive one and in the long-term this can be quite damaging in many ways.  With accurate and detailed knowledge and a confident skill set young people are empowered to make a difference, and they will.  This is not a powerful vision but a reality.

going above and beyond for learning

going above and beyond for learning

The Global Citizenship Award realizes this reality and helps young people graduate from school:  Aware, Able and Acting.  You to can also be part of this learning experience and make the most of your potential as a global citizen.  Choose an Identity, set yourself a challenging target and get reflecting – we look forward to hearing from you soon.

Setting personal targets help you to flow

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Cycling is a great way to push yourself, just as many other sports and hobbies are – especially if you enjoy doing them.  You don’t always have to push yourself though as it is often just as rewarding to do something to relax and to take your mind off things.  On the flip side I also find cycling an excellent opportunity to reflect, go over previous experiences and events and to also formulate new ideas for upcoming projects and activities.  I have realised that this happens best when really exerting yourself in the saddle and taking on the terrain – the brain seems to have a positive connection with the effort being put in to get up a steep hill and the exhilaration you feel by beating a best time or furthering a maximum distance achieved.  I am sure there is a biological explanation or a proven concept for this – I compare it to the state of FLOW, a theory first explained by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi.

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Flow is where you lose yourself in the function, when your skills to do something are being challenged by the difficulty of the task or a personal target to succeed.  You can often recognise that you have experienced this state when time has flown by – as a teacher it is especially rewarding when you hear your students say that they can’t believe it is the end of the lesson, ‘the time has just flown by!‘  To me this signifies that they have experienced the following attributes to their learning during that lesson:

Engagement, challenge, ownership, confidence, fun, skill utilisation and development

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I very much enjoy cycling with my own children and watching them grow in confidence as they have moved from their tricycles to learning wheels and then onto their first proper bikes.  My oldest son is now cycling with gears and is always inquiring about the science behind how they work and why they make uphill cycling easier, etc.  My daughter, who has only just turned five, doesn’t have gears on her little pink bike but loves the motivation and challenge to ride as far as her big brother – she has just rode her first 10kms and was very proud of her achievement.

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What impresses me is when I see them jump on their bikes without any encouragement and watch them ride around the garden and compound.  They set up little bike tracks and obstacle courses and challenge each other to do different tricks.  They are exploring their abilities themselves and using their confidence to be even better cyclists with a more diverse range of skills.  I want them to set themselves personal targets (Jonah now wants to cycle 20kms – without his sister!) but not at the cost of not enjoying the experience and possibly putting them off that activity or hobby permanently.  Getting the balance right is important, knowing when to let go and not to push them too far is not easy as a parent or a teacher but it is worth it to seek that optimum state of flow and an independent resilience to be successful in life.

You may also like this post: Congratulations to Poppy Mulford on achieving the Global Catalyst Award

The Michigan Difference

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Contributed by Brittany Tang

Michigan

After spending three weeks at the University of Michigan, I am starting to feel the energy in the air, the buzz of academia, the passion and excitement of being part of what is essentially a small city. The first week I dipped my toes into the academic pool of my classes. I got used to what was expected of me and how to succeed. After I felt sufficiently settled and comfortable with my studies I started searching for leadership positions and community service based clubs to join.

I ran for and was elected President of the Events Planning Committee (EPC) for the HSSP (Health Sciences Scholar’s Program) community. As the President, I help facilitate weekly EPC meetings, I design agendas and communicate with the representatives from each HSSP committee. I am also a member of the HSSP Community Service Committee. Myself, along with others in the committee plan service endeavors for the HSSP community: volunteering at the Ronald McDonald House for families with children in critical condition, volunteering at Indian Trails Camp for children and adults with disabilities, ect. I recently received an email from a 4th year MD PhD student who is working to establish an NGO to help provide health care for people in Uganda. A group of  students including myself, will be establishing a sister program for the undergraduate school to raise awareness for the NGO Progressive Health Partnership (PHP) as well as raise some funds. The link to the project is as follows: Progressive Health Partnership | People Helping People. I am also part of an organization called the VIEW (Volunteers Involved Every Week).  The mission of this organization is to “empower students to become educated leaders and create social change in partnership with local organizations and communities”. This club in particular, stood out to me because of its emphasis on global citizenship and community service. I am very excited to be part of the team!

Finally, from a more academic point of view this past week has been extremely busy because I am in the process of searching for undergraduate research opportunities. I sent out multiple applications for multiple research projects and I have had lots of very educational interviews. I am really enjoying the entire process of finding a project I am interested in researching to securing a place on the research team. I have yet to commit to a particular project, at the moment, however by next week I will have my research position. Overall, I think the most important thing to remember is that balance is so incredibly important. Attending university has really challenged me in a positive way and has allowed me to grow into the individual I endeavor to be. I hope to continue down this path of leadership, service, academia and research and I am very excited to see how this first year turns out!

To read more posts by Brittany please click here.

Acting local and thinking global with Anita

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Contributed by Anita van Dam – a Global Ambassador

Since the beginning of this Year I have started working at a zoo in Kerkrade, Netherlands, called the Gaia Park. I go there once a week when possible where I work with the primates, for example cleaning the cage, creating recreational activities and making their food and feeding them.

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As a member of the EAG (Environment Action Group) in the school, we collaborated with IKEA for them to switch off all their lights during Earth Hour to raise awareness. I was the supervisor for the group and we also handed out leaflets to costumers and told them about the event and asked them to participate.

Earth Hour

Earth Hour

During my holiday, I bumped into Nancy Gibson* from the Love Wildlife Foundation. She and a few others were heading for a meeting to talk about the opening of the New Dolphinarium in Phuket and so I asked to join in. Below is a link to a rerun on the Phuket News TV about the event.

*Nancy Gibson will feature on a post under speakers soon
Anita and Nancy in Phuket

Anita and Nancy in Phuket

Anita meeting with the Love Wildlife team in Phuket

Anita meeting with the Love Wildlife team in Phuket

I am now in Direct contact with the people there and will be raising awareness in the Netherlands and the other United World Colleges in attempt to make this international.
Making Thai krathongs

Making Thai krathongs

I attended project week where I went to Poland with 5 other students to work with an organisation called Siemacha who work with children who need help in studies or whose parents do not have time to take care of them. Here I led a session where I taught the students about Thailand and had an activity where I taught them how to make krathongs.
The International Fair

The International Fair

Another event that I joined was the International Fair where I had my own Thai stand with pictures and items from Thailand as well as cooking some Thai dishes such as fried rice, rice with Thai omelette, kao man kai and sweet pork shred with sticky rice. I also participated in the international fashion show.
Cupcakes!

Cupcakes!

I also participated in Storytelling Bakery where we learned how to make cupcakes as well as decorate them. We had a story attached to each cupcake that related to each other and had the cupcakes decorated to match the story.
MUN in Italy

MUN in Italy

I have also participated in an MUN conference in Italy with the school United World College Adriatic. It was a great experience and I had a lot of fun. I made many new friends as well as learned the procedures while also getting to see the city. The topics were against me therefore I had to work harder and make my points strong in order to protect my country (India) which was being accused of things we had not done.
Thanks for the update Anita and good luck with your studies in your final year of school at UWC Maarstricht. Please keep us posted with your progress and achievements.  
The GC Award Team.
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Congratulations to Anita van Dam on achieving the Global Ambassador Award

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Learn to know, Learn to do, Learn to be, Learn to live together

To see Anita’s portfolio of targets and reflections for the Global Ambassador Award please see below on this post.

Anita facilitating another meeting!

Anita facilitating another meeting!

Comment from Anita:

My award took me one year to complete (approximately). After the initiation was started, I made a checklist of what I had already achieved and what I still needed to do. I found this award gave me a chance to organise myself and write down and reflect what I have done so far. I gained more skills such as commitment to keeping up to date with my diary and also do my best and be proud of what I have done. I enjoyed working on this award for it really challenges you in all aspects and gets you out of your comfort zone in one way or another. The journey wasn’t easy but crossing the finish line made it all worth it.

Anita in the zone for her basketball team

Anita in the zone for her basketball team

Congratulations Anita on being an amazing Global Citizen.  We look forward to hearing about your progress and achievements in becoming a Global Mentor.

 Assessed by: Paul Crouch, Brittany Tang and Sarah Travis-Mulford

Anita’s targets and reflections for the Global Ambassador Award:

Learn to Know

Business and Social Enterprise

In year 10, I joined a business enterprise at the school called the Goldfish PLC. I got the position of the public relations and learned the skills of how to earn profit from the products that we sell as well as advertise the products to make a good sale. I got to participate in many events to help Goldfish raise money for a NGO called PATT (Plant a Tree Today) foundation. A few things we did for example selling refreshments at Picnic in the Park for Peace, Arabian Nights and the Summer Concert which I went to. We also got a chance selling Christmas Cards that were designed from our own student body.

Facilitating Debate

Since I have been elected the Chairperson of the Eco-Committee, I have had the chance to hold a formal meeting with the PR Director (Sage), the Environment Pillar Leader (Paige), the Ex-Chair (Mae), a Senior Management (Mr. Crouch), the Primary rep (Jules), Teacher (Mr. Dale), ACWA Rep (Kai-Lung) and a year Pillar Leader (Panchiwa). I spent the night before finalizing my ideas and plans for the meeting and on the day while I was a little nervous I was more excited to start the meeting and make it successful. We recapped on the ideas and chose one from each theme to follow through. I think the meeting was quite successful and am ready to make another good meeting soon.

Sustainable Action and Thinking

I went on the ICE conference this year and for the Pre service trip, I went to plant trees with PATT at Prapadueng. I planted 23 trees that day and learned a lot about how that area was like the Green Belt for Bangkok and produced most of Bangkok’s oxygen. I had a great time even thought there were a lot of mosquitoes and felt like I had achieved something by the end of the day.

Learning Another Language

A new language I have learnt is Spanish. I have been studying it since year 7 and went to Peru on Exchange and RSIS to improve on my language. I have taken my IGSCEs for Spanish already and I hope I will get a good grade for it.

Target: I would like to continue this language and one day be able to communicate in it fluently. 

Learn to Be

Public Speaker     

At the Round Square Conference “We Walk Together” I got a chance to lead a Barazza group with older students. I found this experience one of the most useful and valuable skill I’ve learnt so far. For me, to be able to facilitate with older students and to gain the respect from them and have them listen and allow me to share ideas and help them out turned out to teach me so much about leadership and about respect. I realized that no matter how old one is, they are still able to have great ideas and that we should always give everyone a chance to take, no matter how small they are. Being able to lead the Barazza group also gave me many skills that I still use today when I lead a group. I got taught how to use ice breakers and get the group to all contribute. I also learned to spread out work and give everyone a chance to feedback about what they have done.

Challenged with a sense of Personal Adventure          

I have participated in Koh Chang every year since year 7. I learned many skills such as first aid, saving lives and going on many adventures such as treks, cycling and kayaking. On the recent trip, I spent the whole day kayaking to an island collecting clues and “prizes” for our allocation to stay our night. I found this adventure fun and challenging for it tested my endurance as well as team work skills. We also had to make our own dinner that night which I found very fun and had a chance to sit around a bon fire that night. On the week in Koh Chang, we also get allocated jobs within the camp for example washing the dishes as well as get lessons and sessions on interesting activities for example team building or creativity. I enjoy going to Koh Chang very much even though there were hard times and will miss not being able to go this year.

Team Player

I joined the Basketball Team since year 8 for Fobissea. At that point I wasn’t such a good player and needed lots of improvements. Today, I believe that I am a reasonable player that can shoot occasional baskets and defend the opponents from scoring. I think my passion for basketball started in year 10 when Coach told me that I had potential to become a great player.  That gave me motivation to try hard and become good at something. I thrived to achieve and practiced hard to impress the Coach and improve my skills. I got better and better. My dribbling is no longer weak and my throw is mostly accurate. I am more resilient and can play on court for longer than I did before. I am finally put first when it comes to defending and not one of the last picked like when I was in year 8. This made me realize how much I have gotten better and how I will continue to improve as long and I have passion for it. I have truly become one member of an amazing basketball team and I feel like I do truly earn the medal when we got one. I realized that not only have I impressed teachers about my improvement but I have also impressed myself. I had given myself something to hold on to and develop into something better. I am proud of what I have achieved and aim to continue doing better

Target: Continue Basketball wherever I go next and keep improving. Make more accurate shots at the basket.

Anita, right, with YaYa and Champagne at the showing of 'Girl Rising'

Anita, right, with YaYa and Champagne at the showing of ‘Girl Rising’

Proactive and Innovative

I joined Girl Up in the Beginning of term 2 for I thought this organization would be a good project to join for I am quite a feminist and believe in equality for woman in the world. As a fundraiser and an awareness campaign, Girl Up decided to host a Movie night at the Regent’s School Pattaya with a movie called “Girl Raising”. We sold tickets under the clock tower at lunch time two weeks before the show and advertised students to buy them before the day. We jot names of all our customers to ensure that they would still be able to join in case the lost their ticket. We also planned to light 100 lanterns to mark the 100 years of the death of … who died to prove the value of a woman’s life. Unfortunately, we did not have enough time and could not get them on time. We were also fortunate to have Yaya come along as a guest to our event. We got to interview her about her time at The Regent’s and her current life. I thoroughly enjoyed this event for the movie was inspiring and we raised a lot of money and it was a great success.

Target: to host another event in the Girl Up organization and raise more money to help girls around the world.

Learn to Do

Academic Achievement

An article on a global issue:

Ending Gender Inequality

Did you know that two thirds of the world’s working hours are done by women, but they only earn 10% of the world’s income? Or that 60% of 77 million children without primary education are girls?

Research says that woman own less than 1% of the world’s property, and that out of 876 million adults worldwide that cannot read or write, two thirds of that are woman. 

Ever thought how gender inequality is stopping these beautiful human from being treated fairly with respect pride?

 Gender inequality is one of the Millennium Development Goals that is considered heavily on and thought carefully through about how we can make every human being have equal chances, an equal say and equal opportunities, especially woman and girls so they can be treated fairly. Girls should have a chance to learn to read and write and finish their schooling fully instead of being taken out in the middle of education to help their parents with work to allow their male relatives to learn. According to the United Nations Population Fund women who are educated are more likely to have fewer children, become pregnant at a more appropriate age than woman who were denied schooling and will have healthier children too. Most important, they are more likely to send their own children onto full education.

Furthermore, promoting gender inequality will have a positive effect on reducing poverty, another MDG that is extremely important and thoroughly thought through. When woman get their healthy dose of education, they would be able to think carefully before doing something for example, they wouldn’t have more children than they can afford to take good care of. They would also be able to get a better and higher waged job which will also bring more respect to woman throughout the community. With women getting more wages and fewer children, they would be able to take care of their family properly thus they would be free of poverty and reducing it.

 Women with a voice make great roles in our human society with more ideas, ways to solving problems and are represented like the source of light in a dark atmosphere. By giving woman a chance to vote and a chance to have a say is like allowing a hermit crab out of its shell and when that time comes, the earth would become an unfolded map full of information.

Thailand has a few societies/foundations that help and encourage women to become brave and independent people who can express whatever they want, whenever they want and wherever they want. A very powerful person who believes in women and a book with unread mysteries is Khun Mechai. He believed in “giving women a choice” and made sure that women know how many children they’re going to have and that they and their children have a higher chance of good education and by that, you reduce the chance of a family not being able to care for their family and also increase confidence in woman. Empowered women ultimately lead to an empowered community.

To conclude, I would like to say that I do believe that women need to be equal. We must have a say and equal chances and gender inequality must be stopped. We should also advertise about this so it becomes a well-known issue and every can help to end this. Remember, “If you educate a man, you educate a person but if you educate a woman, you educate a family.”

Thank you for reading,

Anita van Dam

Culturally Aware and Interactive

I participated in all three events. I performed for Green House for Loy Krathong, I went to Kanchanaburi for Round Square week and I went to help decorate and plan the Dutch room for this year’s International Day. I enjoyed going to all of them very much and had a great time!    

Expressing the Artist in You

In the end of year 10, I participated in a play called “West Side Story”. This gave me a chance to get out of my comfort zone and try being a new character I’ve never done. I found it challenging for my character had a Latin American background and I struggled to get the accent and stay in tune with the songs I had to sing. However, I enjoyed this play for I got to bond with many new people and experience something new.

I painted this piece of Art for the Kenyan Conference. The theme was Non Existence without Co Existence. I really enjoyed painting this piece and hoped that people who saw it got inspired.

Sustainable Action and Thinking

ACWA is an animal-based organization that was created by Ms. Kay and me 2 years ago. We aim to raise awareness in school as well as help out in local communities and organisations and raise money by selling their merchandise. I enjoy being in this group and helping out. We have helped out with ACRES (based in Singapore), WFFT and Love Wildlife.

Learn to Live Together

Community Partnerships

I participated in clean up the world as well organised it to raise awareness and clean up an area in different areas in Thailand. This organisation is known globally to clean up different places in different countries. We focused ourselves to clean up a local beach in Rayong with a local community partner who helps children with AIDS. We had sessions of activity then beach cleaning. We all had a group time and I got a chance to bond with the children in my group. Although it was a hot day and the many complained, we all did our part in cleaning up the beach. At the end of the day we ended for lunch and then got ice cream for the kids. I really want to be able to participate in another event similar to this for I really enjoyed helping out in the community.

Personal Confidence

I participated in the Round Square Conference in Kenya last April with 5 other students in my school. My experience in Kenya was wonderful. Africa, like every other continent is entirely different and not at all what people think it is. Africa has a huge variety of the world’s animals and nature and beautiful cities for example Nairobi and Johannesburg. Going to the conference and meeting everyone with the same passion was brilliant but it was also nice meeting the people of Kenya and experience new things as well as help out. It is always nice to see people being so kind and caring as well as being grateful for what they have and making the best of it. Before the conference, we had a chance to stay at Starehe which is a school that runs purely by funds. The leadership skills at the school were excellent and I learned a lot. At the conference, we also got a chance to go on safaris and listen to many inspiring keynote speakers. I will never forget the memories from Kenya.

Target: To make the Ice conference as good and have great memories for students to take back.

Anita in Peru with her new friends on the RSIS project

Anita in Peru with her new friends on the RSIS project

Service Learning

Last summer I had a chance to visit Peru for a RSIS programme where I got a chance to buil a green house for a small village up in Cusco for the primary children to help with the malnourishment within the area. I got a chance to learn how to construct a greenhouse out of rocks and mud. It was challenging and hard work but I felt rewarded about what we achieved each day. In the end, we managed to make a roofless greenhouse before heading back down for 3 days break. Here, we visited hot springs, old historical Incan castles and the very famous Machu Picchu. After our rest, we headed back down for more work. We finished the greenhouse in two days after hard work and headed to build cold frames which are mini greenhouses for families in the village. Before we left, we had a chance to visit a waterfall and then had a special Peruvian lunch before a game of football with the villagers and a show in the evening where we got to wear traditional costumes while singing around a bonfire. There are so many people and memories that I will never forget and I would want to revisit them someday with my friends again.

Further Goals:

  • Get a minimum of 35 points for IB.
  • Continue being active (Play basketball for the team).
  • Contribute to the school and make a difference.

Brittany’s Ice Bucket Challenge for ALS

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Getting ready...

Getting ready…

The Ice Bucket Challenge

Thank you Mr. Crouch for nominating me for the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. Prior to actually partaking in the challenge I had seen many videos documenting the experiences of other nominees and I loved watching each one.

Here it comes...

Here it comes…

The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is a wonderful way of raising awareness and funds for the ALS foundation. I can only hope that one day a cure will exist for all those with the neurodegenerative disease.

Brrrrrrrrr!

Brrrrrrrrr!

I received news of Mr. Crouch’s nomination the day before I was scheduled to move into the University of Michigan. My day was filled with last minute errands with my family.

Very brrrrrrrrrr!

Very brrrrrrrrrr!

It wasn’t until 9:30pm that evening, that I remembered I needed to partake in the Ice Bucket Challenge.

Ready for the first week of university now!

Ready for the first week of university now!

My mom was more than willing to fill a bucket with ice and water and, together, we recorded the event. I also donated $20 to the ALS Foundation!

Good luck starting university Brittany – let us know how you get on and how many amazing people you meet and inspire.

Sukothai – brings out the artist in you

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One of many impressive Buddhas in Sukothai

One of many impressive Buddhas in Sukothai

We have just spent two wonderful days in Sukothai, the ancient capital city of what is now Thailand over 700 years ago.  This UNESCO World Heritage Site is situated towards the north of Thailand, about 3 hours south of Chiang Mai and is a beautifully well kept historical park.  It has taken me 15 years to finally get to Sukothai but it was well worth the wait, the long drive and the bucket of ice cold water.  A late convert to and now sponge of history (once arguing that geography was far more important than history) I found myself in my element walking among the temple ruins and imagining what life was like in this royal capital many centuries ago and what has happened over time for it to be in the varied states we now find it.  My oldest son asked me why the capital city was built here and not originally in Bangkok – a good question and a perfect way to bring geography and history together, as they should be.  We walked around together looking at the physical landscape and setting that we were in and discussed what made this particular place an effective site and situation for such an important city many years ago.

Reflections...

Reflections…

Photos are a great way of capturing what you see when visiting places like Sukothai.  Everyone has a different perspective and interprets the ancient designs and structures in different ways and a digital camera is perfect for capturing your own favourite observations and intricacies.  I also like watching other people and seeing what they are photographing and working out how they are interpreting the complex patterns and capturing their experience the best way they can on camera.  It is even better when a random monk appears and everyone tries to capture that perfect monk shot walking through the temple grounds as if nobody else is anywhere to be seen!  I bet you have all tried it…

Expressing the artist in you

Expressing the artist in you

Then there are those of us that are more traditional (or young and bold) and want to capture their experience and perspectives on paper.  I remember when I used to like to draw and use colour to bring out pictures that I had created.  When I made the time to sit still in one place and really take in the landscape and environment that I was observing.  It is so much easier to snap away with the digital device though and do it the saturation way – one of them will surely be good!  But am I cheating myself out of what is really important?  Should I be challenging myself to embrace this unique cultural and historical context and dig deeper into my hidden and forgotten abilities and develop an even more personal relationship with the moment and make a connection?  It is only now writing this blog and looking back at the photos, especially of Jonah sketching, that I wish that I had sat down and taken more time – a couple of sketches or even a poem – I know I have it in me (I could have posted them – target to oneself: I will next time!).

I want my children to embrace the artist in them as often as possible as they experience life, to draw on their feelings and emotions to produce work that has passion and is important and meaningful to them and will help them to remember and capture the importance of that particular moment.

Or you can always drive a tuk tuk!!

The only way to get around the temples

The only way to get around the temples

ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

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After being nominated by Aina and Kru Meena to do the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge I found myself in Sukothai, the ancient capital of Thailand, being drenched in ice cold water by my three kids.  This is obviously a very worthy cause and as a family we were more than happy to donate to the ALS cause online (it is very easy) at their website: The ALS Association

To see the challenge and personal adventure endured for this nomination and cause please see the photos below (we have not mastered video on social media as a family yet!).

I also have the privilege to nominate the following three people for the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge:

Brittany Tang, Sarah Travis- Mulford and Jonah/Zoe/Sam Crouch

Good luck!

Getting ready

Getting ready

Brace...

Brace…

They can reach!!

They can reach!!

Very cold!!

Very cold!!

Very, very cold!!

Very, very cold!!

You'll be next!

You’ll be next!