Mount Longonot climb

On Thursday, November 24th, the 9th grade climbed mt. longonot. We left school at around 8:15, and got back at 4:30. We had to bring water, a packed lunch, and raincoats etc.
The bus parked at the park entrance and we all started walking together from there, but eventually the grade spread out (depending on how fast people walked). It was very cold when we first started, but we warmed up when we started walking. The terrain was very rocky, and there were lots of acacia trees. It was raining a little (a light drizzle) and so everyone was wearing their raincoats and hoodies, the sand was also kind of wet, but not enough to stick to the bottom of our shoes.
It was very steep in some places, and you had to scrabble up with your hands and feet. The view was awesome, but scary in some places. At the top you could see over the whole land, I could see the buses and the gate.
The teachers stayed with us the whole time and encouraged us to drink water. They also urged us forwards if we were tired.

I was in the middle of the walkers, and some people were already at the top when I got there. We all ate lunch together and then some people walked to an even higher peak. I didn't go with them, and me and one of my friends ran down the mountain together. It was a lot easier coming down than going up, but it was a little slippery and some people fell (but no one was seriously hurt). My toes and thighs were hurting alot when we were done.
The bus ride back was really long, because there was a traffic jam and we had to go through naivasha. Eventually we got back to ISK though, and I got a ride home with a friend.

I found this experiance very rewarding, it gave me a feel for what it will be like climbing Mount Kenya, and what I need and will have to do to prepare. I also feel the grade bonded a little on the climb, and enjoyed themselves overall.
I would NOT do this climb again, but I'm glad that I did it.

MUN Update

In MUN now we're organising a 'model MUN'  for the elementary students. A small section of the MUN group is working on this event, and we are split into different catagories (depending on what you want to work on). I'm in the activities group, which means that I help organise the games, bake sales, powerpoints, and other fun stuff that will be going on to keep the little kids interested and engaged.

This event will probably take up two days (half a day each) but nothing is confirmed yet. Some of the other groups include education (teaching the elementary about what MUN does, and how to come up with a resolution, etc.), and admin (deciding what day to do it on, and talking to the principal...). There are a few more groups, but I can't remember them right now.

So far in our group (Lezer, me, Shivam, Ahil, etc.) we have decided to have a bake sale, a water balloon fight, musical chairs game, powerpoint, and more. The bake sale will consist of muffins with pictures of different flags iced on them. Each country will get a certain amount of baked goods, and will have to trade them (this teaches them about the value of resources). The water balloon fight represents wars, and what MUN is striving to solve in the world. In the musical chairs game each chair will have a flag of a country on it, and when the kid sits down they'll have to say the name of the country and what continent the country is  in. Finally, the powerpoints and other presentations will be educational (answers to questions about different resolutions, etc.).

Yoga: Day 2

Today in yoga we started off with small exercises lying down on the floor. We had to lift up our legs really high, which hurt a lot. Then we did some small stretches, like the tree. We spent a while finding our 'mountain', which is your center of balance (apparently it's important to find this when you're doing balancing stretches).

Gwynne, Krisha, and Lucie all came this time and it was really fun, but Lucie had to leave about fifteen minutes before the session ended. There were students from all different grades, but most of them were from 10th and 11th grade.
At the end of the session we all had to lie down for about ten minutes and close our eyes (to relax or something). I think a few people even fell asleep! But it was really hard for me because I kept fidgeting and coughing.
Her music player wasn't working, so it was all quiet, and the floor kept squeaking.

Cool Yoga position.


Overall I had a great time, but I'm still finding it painful so I probably need to go for a few more sessions.

Yoga: Day 1

On October 3rd I went to yoga for the first time. The instructor is the high school counsellor, and it took place in the dance studio.

I didn't expect it to be so hard, the instructor was so flexible, and I can't even touch my toes. We started with a warm up, which was doing the plank, and going into a "puppy" pose, and a few others (like the tree pose). There were about 11 other people there, from all different grades, but there were only three ninth graders.

We did lots of different exercises, and then combined them to form a routine, which we did a few times over before moving onto the next.

Me and Lucie were so tired after a while, and we had to sit down for some of it and catch our breath. I was relieved when it ended, but I kind of enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to going next Monday.

This isn't me by the way.

It's a photo of the internet.

Mural: Day 2

I went to school on October 1st, 2011 (at around 8:30) to do a little more of my mural. I went with Lucie, and met Hannah there. Nobody else (including the art teacher) was painting, so we had to go down to the art room to get our paints and paintbrushes.

I finished my first panel today, and did a little of the second one, but it's still far from being done. The first panel is orange and red, while my second one's going to be more green-blue. I didn't use any tape this time, as it takes a long time to do, and leaves huge white marks all over the painting, which wasn't what I wanted. I will be going on Wednesday after school to work some more, but I'll probably have to go next Saturday as well.

While we were painting there were some games going on at school, and exams in the MPR right next door!  We saw a few teachers, and loads of kids with their parents passed by on their way to the gym.

At 11:30 we had to clean up, as Antony (the art assistant) needed to catch his bus home. Lucie finished her mural, but Hannah still had a little more to do.

I really enjoyed painting today, and I'm reasonably proud of my mural. I liked the fact that we had the paints, and space to ourselves.

Hannah working on her mural

Lucie, with her mural in the background

Me painting my mural

Mural: Day 1

On Saturday I went to school to paint my mural. I arrived at around 9:30, and everyone was there already. I was doing two panels, while my partner Hannah did the other two. First, we had to draw out our design in pencil on the boards, use a ruler to divide up our panels into sections, and put tape around the edges of the lines (to keep the paint from going into other spaces/sections). My design was a flower, with ivy vines, an owl, and complicated swirls.

After we were done we were allowed to paint, I started on my flower petals, and then after I was done moved onto the ivy vines. We worked until 12:00, but I hadn't even finished one panel yet. We were asked to clean up, and had to wash our paint containers, and paintbrushes before leaving. Lucie Vovk was very creative in her painting, she decided not only to decorate the wall, but also my face. So my nose, and cheeks were covered in bright blue acrylic paint (which took forever to get off, but was awesome).

Lucie Vovk's mural 

This experience was very fun, and I enjoyed putting together my mural. I'm looking forward to this Saturday, and next Wednesday when I'll be able to complete the painting.

Model United Nations

Model United Nations aims to educate students about current events, topics in international relations, and how the United Nations is built up, and their agenda. Students role-play as diplomats representing a nation in a committee of the United Nations (security council etc.). We will receive a country, investigate its international issues, and then develop solutions to world problems. We will get to go to conferences in Nairobi, and perhaps later on, in different countries.

The skills that you need for, or will get out of MUN are public speaking, group communication, research, policy analysis, good listening, negotiating/debating, conflict resolution, and note taking.

In the first MUN meeting, Dr. Wilder told us about MUN, for example what it will teach us, and how we will benefit from it. He also informed us about the various conferences, and debates we are going to have. We all had to sign are names on a piece of paper, write what weeks we were coming, and whether or not we had done MUN before.

In the next few meetings we had a quiz on the structure of the UN, and how it was formed, etc. We also had to come up with a resolution for a world problem, and read it to the rest of the group. I didn't know much about the UN, only a little that I had learned in middle school last year so this was hard for me.

I think that this will be a great experience, and that I will learn a lot from it. However, I know that it's going to be a huge challenge. I may have difficulty coping with the work load, and the public speaking part. I will be able to apply what I learn in MUN, in a variety of experiances outside, or even inside, of school.

The Family Challenge

This is a little late, but on September 10th, and 11th, I did the family challenge. The family challenge is an event that raises money for the Kamili Trust, an organisation that helps people in Kenya with mental health problems. We donated 20,000 shillings for the trust, which will be used to build clinics, and train nurses.

The family challenge is a two day event (you camp overnight), which consists of various challenges/ activities. For example in one activity you had to cross a "mine-field", you could only step on small pieces of cloth, and you had to hold hands with the other members in your group. If the chain was broken, or someone touched the ground, you had to start from the beginning again. There were water bottles scattered around, which you also had to collect. Our team was called the lionhearts, and it was me, my mom, lezer getahun, lezer's mom, and my little brother, Ben.

My personal objectives were to help people with mental disabilities, while having fun at the same time. I didn't encounter any difficulties, besides Naivasha being too hot over the challenge. I learned about the Kamili Trust from this activity, as before the famiy challenge I didn't even know it existed, and that you can help people and enjoy yourself while doing so. I can apply what I've learnt to new situations by telling friends that know people with mental disabilities about the Kamili Trust.

I thought that this was a fun way to help the community, and I really enjoyed the challenge. The food was provided (though you had to pay for the meals), and the campsite was amazing.
At the end of the weekend, they gave out prizes for each challenge, an overall prize for the winners of the challenges, and those who raised the most money. We won the prize for the driving challenge (driving through an obstacle course blindfolded), and got a shirt, and a medal.