27.2.2016 End of my CAS blog + Art

This is presumably my last blog entry on the behalf of CAS updates and I have nothing special to celebrate this milestone. This entry is nothing different from all the other entries I have written since it tells about the process of painting I did today. To celebrate the starting of our winter holiday, I decided to update one of my mediocre acrylic paintings from the year 2011. This was a way to test how much I had developed my painting skills during these 5 years and as one can preferably can see from the pictures below, I have clearly developed my skills in the field of painting. I must admit that the forest in the earlier version (left one) is visually better, but otherwise the new version (right side) is better, more detailed and more realistic than the first one. I have definitely gotten better at painting, thanks to time and practice. Some credit for my improvement can also be given to IB Visual arts, which made me more confident of my own skills.

17.2.2016 Penkkari preparation

Today our class decorated our home classroom to celebrate the Penkkari-day we would have the following day. We were given four hours after school (until 18.00 PM) to decorate the whole class with an optional theme, which for us was related The Hunger Games -movie series. I actually did not take part in the actual decoration process, but painted the sheets that would later be hung onto our truck in which we would drive around the town. First I thought I would finish painting the sheets in two hours max. but it took me a total of three and half hours to paint two sheets. The factors that significantly slowed down my painting progress were numerous: lack of space (I had to continuously give way to other students), the bad quality of my supplies (the paint was scarce and too elastic to operate with and my brush was really small), the fact that the paint went straight through the canvas sheet to the floor if I did not keep a piece of cardboard underneath it (this was problematic because we only had small pieces of cardboard) and the sheets dried up extremely slow and consequently were hard to handle.

Despite these difficulties I finished painting before time ran out, although the third and last sheet was left blank (my classmate Sylvia painted it later on). From this I learned that this could have been avoided by planning the process beforehand and by choosing another place to paint in. Well, I did SOME planning before starting to paint by sketching the texts and pictures with a pencil. Below you can see pictures of me painting the second sheet and of my classmates making the decorations.

22.1.2016 Subject info for first graders

Us third graders were asked to give a brief introduction to each IB subject in order to make it easier for the first graders to choose their  6 IB subjects for the upcoming two years. Me and Suvi decided to introduce Environmental Systems and Societies (ESS) in a way that would best reflect what it is actually like to study the subject. We made a short PowerPoint presentation with funny but informative comics about environmental issues and listed the main subjects they would come across while studying ESS (e.g. characteristics of different systems and pollution management strategies). The goal was to make the pre-students to think twice before choosing ESS because it is so hard and frustrating.

The presentation itself was not exactly difficult to make or present, but since I have an antisocial personality I was a bit nervous about talking to a group of other people that looked up to me as a senior IB student. I knew that two years ago as a pre-IB student I would have outright refused to do this kind of presentation, but I also realized that my boundaries and skills had improved since that time. Therefore, in collaboration with Suvi and the audience, I was able to keep a fairly consistent and entertaining presentation about the dangers of ESS. Hopefully it helped the pre-IB to choose!

In the picture above my friends Fanny and Suvi presenting IB psychology to the pre-IB. (We forgot to ask for a picture of me and Suvi having the ESS presentation and so Fanny gave a permission to use this picture.)

December 2015

2.12-?? Running

Getting back to running; I used to run throughout the whole summer of 2015, but because of studying I had to give up the hobby. Now, after 4 months I have started running again, and it feels better than I remembered. Since I live in the countryside, I have to run a certain circuit every time, but it doesn’t matter because it is the right length for my goals; 4 kilometers. It is important to recognize one’s weaknesses and strengths when it comes to doing sports, because it is easy to strain or over-stress your muscles. Basically, the same principles apply to running as to going to the gym; listen to your body, but do your best. I’m planning to continue running two times a week, or as my schedule allows me to run.

(24.12 Running) During these 3 weeks I have noticed improvements in my stamina: I can run longer periods without completely losing my breath and my legs no more hurt so much. It could also be said that I have learned the correct running technique again. The cold and rainy weather is a bit of a problem as it makes warming up the muscles harder and causes the road to go unpleasantly muddy, but if I continue this hobby, I will preferably be in a good shape during next spring.

19.12 Creative

Today we had our school’s Christmas ceremony at our local church which is located at the center of the town. As a non-religious person, instead of going to the church I attended a project where me and a few other students assembled candles into the shape of a candle into the church park. The candles were provided by the students and teachers of our school, and basic skills of leadership was required of each one of us as we had to guide When it comes to assembling the candles into the shape of a candle, a lot of teamwork had to be done. Many of the candles had already been blown out by the wind or were otherwise faulty and therefore we had to help each other to reignite all of them. Also, in order to achieve a symmetrical shape for the candle, we had to do a lot of planning and communicate in order to know what we were supposed to do.

19.12 Painting

It was my father’s birthday and I decided to paint him an acrylic painting as a gift. I am used to painting on this medium as I do it almost on a weekly basis, so it seemed like an easy solution for me as I forgot to buy him a real gift (whoops). The painting was highly improvised and required no planning because I was able to perfectly visualize the light, dark and colors in my head and transfer them onto the canvas. From this experience I learned that people may actually appreciate the art I produce, and that’s why this was an overall positive experience. My father actually wasn’t even expecting a gift from me so I hope I pleasantly surprised him!

27.12 Painting

Today I tried something different when it comes to painting with the good old acrylics. I used a used cardboard back piece of a notebook as a medium to acquire smooth brush strokes (these are rarely possible on the uneven surface of a canvas) and painted a bright, simplistic and a bit cubistic artwork. This kind of style is new to me as I tend to paint pictures that resemble the art movements of symbolism or photorealism. It made me happy to realize that the worthless piece of gray cardboard that was about to be thrown away was able to become something somewhat nice once more. Speaking of which, everyone should consider if an object could be reused or recycled before throwing them away.

25.7-2.8

25.7 Glider flying starts 

I started an introductory course including three lessons of flying and weather theory. The first half hour of the first day me and my teacher Janne Asikkala discussed factors that affect the behavior of the plane and why knowing how to read the weather is important. I learned the basic rules of when you can fly and where you can fly with a glider plane; e.g. wind buoyancy and cloud placement in the sky. After that, meanwhile we waited for our turn to get towed to the air, we worked in collaboration with other pilots by helping them prepare their planes for flight and moving them to the runway.

Before we got into the air, we made our own safety check and adjusted the parachutes. This is actually a pretty important skill to know in life and I am glad I learned it. During our time in the air I learned how to read the meters on the plane and tried to get adjusted to the different altitude.

28.7 Flying 

This time I got to try steering the plane. The two controls that one has to master are foot pedals that determine direction and the stick that determines the angle of bank for the plane. It was really hard and during the time I got to try steering, I did not manage to learn the correct technique. As the buoyancy was good, we stayed up in the air for over two hours.

2.8 Flying 

This was the last third of the course, and the day included theory, helping others, assembling a plane that had been broken down and flying for the last time. Assembling the plane required physical strength from all participants, but we managed to build it back together. After that we spent one hour in the air and I got to try steering the plane once more. This time I realized that I had improved my technique, although only slightly. However, I knew that I would probably master the technique if I ever continued glider flying as a hobby. Below: A picture taken of my hometown from the air.

Two weeks 13.4-27.4

Plan meeting at café Majurska 19.4  20.5 hours of service, 17 h of Plan
- Planning events of the upcoming year

Plan art exhibition and money collection 25.4 

An exhibition was put up to present the artworks of various Plan volunteers and people from the local art school. The artworks were all portraits of women and children that Plan had helped in the past. Although I hadn’t participated in the making of these artworks, I felt proud about them; we hung them onto the walls of our town theatre where all by passers could see them. They were all really beautiful, colorful and surely represented Plan perfectly, and attracted the attention of people towards our organization. Hopefully we will get more volunteers as a result of this exhibition. In a fun way, our group of volunteers got to engage globally important issues and raise awareness of problems such as Kamalari-enslavement of women in Nepal and children in bad conditions.

After the initiation ceremony of the exhibition we moved to shopping centre Galleria to raise money for Plan. Me and my friend Suvi walked around the area and gave candy to passers by in the name of Plan, and Lappeenranta’s Plan representative Christina Nenonen erected a Plan stand on the hallway of the shopping centre. Since we have been walking around the town and raising money for many times now, it is starting to feel natural to me. It is becoming easier and easier to just walk up to some stranger and talk for a minute about Plan or just about their day. My skill of confronting other people and being social have improved notably, and I believe this skill is of essence also in my IB-studies.

Next two weeks 16.3-30.3

Japan. End of course! 15 hours of creativity

During this course I learned a lot of Japanese culture. For example: the most interesting aspects for me were the Japanese manners and traditions, and I learned to understand other cultures better. It was challenging to to learn even simple words of the language and I believe I did my best.The course was by no means compulsory, and although sometimes my motivation to go to the lessons (as they were always the last lessons of the day) was minimal, I always went there because I wanted to show commitment.