Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Norval

Last Monday we went to a thing called norval it was a team building place for school. There were all sorts of activities for team building and working together. Like one of them, called "The Wall" pretty self explanatory considering it was a fourteen foot wooden wall, that we had to climb. But, like usual there is a catch, the only "tool" we could use was our selves. I think in my group there were about 14 people. So that meant, fourteen people had to be hoisted up the wall. At first, there was lots of doubt about our plan, but in the end it worked out perfectly.
There was also one activity called the inuit blanket toss, which was very fun. It was basicly just a circular tarp with handles on the edge and when the slack in the blanket is tensed the person on it gets thrown into the air.

This trip has become a somewhat annual event at school, and most people enjoy it for the most part. At the end of the team building activities, which were in the morning, we got to participate in a drum circle. Which was exactly what it sounds like, we sat in a semi circle, and played the drums. The drums we played were called jumbays but I'm 100% sure that's NOT how you spell it. The drum circle was pretty intense and was lead by three people from a place called the drum cafe. It was the first drum circle I've ever been part of and it was actually pretty fun.

There's only one thing I can say that bothered me about norval this year compared to last year, and that is that there was no tasty barbecue! I know I can speak for myself and a few others, that it was a bit of a disappointment. All things considered, this year at norval was pretty legit.



Wednesday, October 21, 2009

"Small but Amazing things"

My bunny, my skateboard and my skiis are probably my most prized possesions.
I have a bunny rabbit his name is Norman or "Normy" he is one of those little things that make people happy, for some people its as simple as a pen, or as complicated as a TI 83 calculator. For me its simply my pet, my skateboard and my skiis. These things all make me very happy, and sometimes there the only things I do!

There's lots of other things I like too, like food, deserts, hamburgers and fries, chicken wings and ribs, mmm. I'm very fortunate to even have access to these things, and I'm very grateful for them.

Why do I like these things so much? Good question! Well, for the skiing I have been skiing since I was 2 and it's the most important thing in the whole world to me. For skateboarding, it's probably one of the top five most super fun things to do in the universe. And for my bunny, well, who DOESN'T love a cute little bunny!?!?! I find it strange that my good friend Harley told me his small but amazing thing was a pen? Well, that's okay I guess, but it's just a pen. To me, small, but amazing means something you love, and absolutley adore.


This one time a girl in my class andie, said she loved her sour skittles so much she was going to blog about it. I was just like pfff weirdo and then she was mad at me for saying she was a weirdo.
But sour skittles are pretty sweet awesome. To wrap things up, don't forget, skiis, bunnies and skateboards are pretty dang sweet and they are my small but amazing things!



Wednesday, October 14, 2009

We Day!

We day was amazing! There was musical performances and motivational and inspirational speakers and famous people. Just what any kid wants to do, miss school, go to toronto and chill at the air canada centre. After last monday my perspective on world issues and poverty was changed radicaly. We day is an amazing experience, what I liked most was the performances and Mike "Pinball" Clemens. A former CFL star now coach, is an amazing speaker. He was the most motivational person I've ever heard speak.

Craig and Mark Keilburger are the founders organization called free the children. The organization takes trips to third world countries and helps raise awareness for child labour and child warfare and soldiers. We day really inspired me to make a change and I will always think twice before passing up the opportunity to help someone.

I would strongly request going to we day, if you have the opportunity to go you won't regret it. I wish I could go to we day all over again. Most people wouldn't be interested in this event but it was one of the best experiences and most educational, motivational and inspirational events of my entire life.

Monday, October 5, 2009

Poverty Blog

To me poverty is somewhere you go, somewhere when all you have is no longer there, but is now all you had. Poverty can mean many things, usually something slightly different for everyone but my view is mainly just, the bottom. The bottom of the food chain, rock bottom. When food is scarce, and when personal income just isn't coming in anymore.
Today, I went to We day, for anyone who doesn't all ready know, it's a gathering of thousands (16 thousand to be exact) of students. During this gathering, you hear lots of important leaders speak, like Pinball Clemens, Robert Kennedy Jr. and Craig and Mark Keilburger. So this morning I got on the bus at 5:30 am to go to the air canada center in toronto. The conference/show/gathering also includes many famous musicians, such as the jonas brothers, hedley and justin beiber. The whole thing was almost overwhelming, all the information I was taking on in just a few hours, didn't really register in my head until later on in the presentation when I was listening to a man, 81 years old talk about his lifetime of struggle. This man, at the age of 15 a very poor child from a very poor orthodox jewish family, survived the holocaust. The mans voice was wise but weak and his english not perfect, but to me it didn't matter, because l was so interested in what he had to say that I finally started to register all the things I had learned about poverty from these speakers.
Before today my understanding of poverty has changed radically because of We Day, also, we day was one of the most inspirational, and motivational days of my life. Craig and Mark Keilburger really connected with the audience and got everyone motivated to change the world like they did. They weren't afraid to show and also tell us about the reality of extreme poverty like some speakers would be, they've taught me more than I would ever think someone can teach in a couple hours.
To conclude, to me poverty is somewhere you go, somewhere where love, help, money and a future seem to be impossible to acheive.