Exams

Well, that's self explanatory.

Creativity: I've been continuing the drawing challenge, though I did miss a few day. I'll just have to draw them when I have free time. The projects also seems to go along well. I know a lot more about Arduino now (compared to how I start; I still am bad) and I think I can start to write the basic codes. I need to make a chart to kind of understand which commends I'll use, though. I think this'll be a pretty simple code, so it's bound to have problems which I plan to fix as I go.

Activity: Yeah, I haven't been exercising much with all that's happening. There was the 5k last week, which I forgot to write about. I finished it at 38 minutes, which is a good time for not running for a while (in any opinion). It was fun, since it was my first 5k.

Service: There are still kids that go to our math class. I'm happy. Though I think they're bored of solving papers. I hope to play some competitive group games with them next week or so.

This was an unproductive week I guess. Let's hope that things escalate as time goes by.

The exam week is coming

You know, the exam week that you normally need to study beforehand to pass? Apparently it starts this week, contrary the OLD program I looked into which said it started a week later. WELL, long nights of cramming, here we go.

Creativity: If you noticed my creativity section is all over the place. That's because I see something and I instantly want to do it. This week's inspiration was drawing. I've found a drawing December challenge in Tumblr and currently am on day 4. To tell the truth, my drawing skills have shown improvement since I started the challenge. Either that or I never realized how much it boosted up since 4 months ago

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Activity: Since I didn't really worked out last week, I took this week's exercises a bit easier. I also signed up for a Mersin's 5km run for the 11th of December. Still, with my still ongoing knee pain and not being able to run because of it for the past 2 weeks, I don't think I'll show a really good performance. I'll just try my best.

Service: Teaching the kids went a little easier and boring this Thursday since most of them didn't come. I hope this is something temporary. I don't think I scared the kids away, though they might've thought I was a terrible teacher and left. I just hope not. Otherwise, this week's Bookmobile was to a really small school consisting of around 24 students, all really excited to learn English. Their enthusiasm kind of surprised me but also made me happy. It's not everyday when kids want to learn something this much.

In short this week went ok. It would've been better if I at leased studied for my exams, but we have to do with what we have.

A week long break

This week passed in the blink of an eye, just like every other holiday. One can't really help but to turn back and think of all the things they could've done, instead of lazing of.

Creativity: I tried on a few new recipes this week, like lentil meatballs and a small pudding. I think they weren't that bad, though certainly not popular; I had to eat most of it so it wouldn't end up in the fridge and lose its taste. I decided to bring some things like spices and oatmeal to the dorm. It's always better to have the means to modifying your food, in my opinion. I though they might be useful; I guess only time will tell.

Activity: Sadly, I wasn't able to do my normal routine this week, though I did take a few walks with my family and tried some yoga. Maybe I can integrate yoga into my daily life. It seems that I might need it; I always saw myself as a mobile and a flexible person, but after this session it became clear that reaching to my toes don't mean that much.

Service: Since I was at my hometown, I couldn't attend Bookmobile or Math tutoring. I didn't perform anything that could count in Service, to tell the truth. I guess I have to let this week slip past.

This week disappointingly and satisfyingly empty of any significant activity. It's nice to relax once in a while, but I think I took it a bit too far. With the exams coming up, I hope I'll finally put an order to my student life. And hey, New Year is coming and I don't want to enter 2017 with a disheartened heart.
With that, Thanksgiving also took place this week, which we don't celebrate. Still, I think it would be helpful to remind myself the things I'm grateful for and just remind myself of the things I have, things I can do, that maybe some other girl can only dream of.
With that, I wish all of you a happy-late Thanksgiving and hope that your week was more productive then mine.
Bye.

Another update, coming up. This time at the comforts of my good old home. It's finally time for a break (followed up by an exam week, yay). Not much done this week I guess. Let me go over it, though, just in case something worth mentioning comes up.

Creativity: I've been learning a bit more about how Arduino works. I'm guessing I'll have more time to look at it's mechanism with the help of a certain youtube channel. I also plan on doing more cooking and drawing this week. I'm a bit more comfortable drawing stuff (nowhere near good but there's definitely some improvements there).

Activity: I managed to sprain my ankle during a small basketball match. Life Lesson #186: never play when you're already injured. I've been trying to take it easy ever since. Yesterday, I did some moves in a park near the beach. I hope I didn't get much weird looks from the guys over there, doing their own stuff. It makes you feel determined to best them, though girls need to work harder for the lack of testosterone.

Service: The only service I did this week was teaching math, since I wasn't here this Saturday for bookmobile. Who thought kids could be this loud? I'm starting to think that they take me for granted these days. The math teacher said that their mentor (a.k.a. teacher) believes that it takes 10 years of experience for one to call themselves a teacher. I think it's unrealistic for me to think that I'll learn hoe to teach in just a few months. We'll see how it goes I guess.

It's holiday time for me, but how about you, the mysterious reader that probably reached this blog from Facebook? You might have a long time to do anything, like me. Or you might have only a few days of break, or non at all. Nevertheless, you'll probably manage your time better then me. I found put, painfully, that my emptiest days are in these times of holidays.

Another week past and I'm still alive.

Creativity: According to Orhan Hoca, there's a long list of prints for our 3D printer. It's possible that I'll get my fit test after the break. Well, at least my Arduino starter kit finally came (don't listen to the monotone talk, I'm really happy). I learned that while my Mac is having problems sensing the Arduino UNO, Windows is working fine as always. I've been looking at some videos about using an Arduino and it has been helpful till now. Most of what I know about Arduino probably comes from there. Now all that's left is to comprehend how earplugs work, what kind of code I need to use, how to write code in the first place and how to put all of this together. Easy peasy, right?

Activity: This week we had a match against one of our old rival teams. We lost. I'd be surprised if we didn't. I also did something to my knee (stepped wrong I guess) this week during basketball, so I might not be able to play for a while. That's why I couldn't run this weekend unless you don't count the sprints before the incident. (I realized that short bursts of explosive energy -sprinting- is as important as long-term jogging. So why not?)

Service: The math class with the 4th graders went fine. I guess I'm starting to get the hang of it. Every week is a different experience. This week's lesson: kids can be really loud and would rather slide across the floor to study math. Bookmobile went along good as well. This time we drove to a new school (either new or I have a terrible memory) with lots of students. We eventually had to send 2 students per class to teach English (there were 5 classes, mostly packed). My sister did most of the organization. I instead continued to explore the school's camera, taking pictures of the kids behind the classrooms and walk around the school to find my next victims. We (me the least) decided that it'd be better to send the kids to the bookmobile class by class. It was still a bit messy to work with. Nonetheless, it was fun.

The end of the week is upon us. Only one week left to the 9 day long break. Will I survive to taste the sweet realm of gaming and family? Only time will tell. Till then, stay tuned... and see you later.

Entry #3 (at least in this blog)

This week went okay I guess. Except for learning my grades, though. The Halloween party this Monday wasn't bad either, though maybe not as good as I expected. I heard that my costume was good and got a lot of attention; some people didn't even recognize me at first.

Now lets get back to CAS activities, shall we?

Creativity: I haven't done much on creativity, though I was able to get a 7 day streak and double my 5 ingots to 10 in Duolingo.

I couldn't 3D print a fit test, again. It's hard to print something at our school sometimes, with all the other things that make you forget about it. Therefore I wasn't able to move on to the next project on the 3D Printing course. Still, the Instructibles, as I learned this week decided to put 15 FREE classes on their website, including my 3D class which makes it permanently free. I guess I don't have a time limit now.

For my STEM projects, I ordered the parts yesterday but found out today that I forgot to buy a switch and a battery. I can only hope that I can find them in Tarsus or from a student. By the way, one of the free classes by Instructables was an Arduino class, so I thought that I might as well use it for the project. The one with the electronics will also help, I'm guessing.

Activity: My normal workouts were completed without a problem. I switched a normal run with a sprint workout and my calves were paying for it the next few days. I also was able to successfully progress to 3/4 pull-ups. They're not as easy as they look, it seems. So I just started with 3 sets of 5   (I have a video but I can't send it to my computer for some reason). For the skill work of my workouts, I started doing 8 sets of 30s wall handstand holds. I'll get used to them eventually.

Service: For service, I went to bookmobile this Saturday at 10 AM. I got the chance of taking a lot of pictures with the school's camera. It's surprising how detailed photos these can take. I couldn't participate much for the English teaching and book giving because of the camera and the small workplace that only allowed a few students. Still, I was able to talk with one of the kids at the school and take a lot of pictures (which sparked my interest in photography once again). 

Teaching math to the 4th graders this Thursday went better then the last week. This time I wasn't the only student to teach and since I knew the kids beforehand, it made it easier to go through the questions.

I still need to decide on an Extended Essay topic and my CAS project. At least my CAS seems to be going well right now, probably because most of the things I normally do counts as a CAS activity. Well, with the hope that IB doesn't break this peaceful cycle and I make my mind on few things, I wish you an easy day in the way of learning and teaching.

Hi there. I guess I forgot to add stuff in here. Well, I need to make up for it, so here it goes:

The bookmobile only started last week, after Kutay and I ordered every book in there according to classes. It was me, Selcen, Deniz and Kutay at first. thought that with as little people as possible, it would be easier to control, though Deniz was sick and Selcen had stuff to do, so only Kutay and I were left. Still, I believe it was a job well done.

I started to progress from negative pull ups. Since I still can't do a full pull up (the result is at the bottom), so I'm thinking of doing a 3/4 pull up where I jump halfway and pull myself up the rest of the way, then slowly go down. I also realized that my handstand balancing is getting better, though I wasn't able to do a workout this Sunday.

Sadly, I wasn't able to go through my online 3D Printing course since I didn't have a ruler and couldn't get a fit test printed during the exam week. Instead I spent my time carving a pumpkin, turning the insides into pumpkin puree for making a pumpkin chia pudding and making the parts of my mummy costume. I'm hoping to have some time for it. I was also thinking of joining the NaNoWriMo this year as well. If it all goes well, I might be able to finish it. It doesn't seem like I will  but I'll try my best

Will I be able to do all my weird plans? Only time will tell. See you next week.

IB: Welcome to CAS

Hi. My names is Zeynep Erdogan and I started IB this year. As you realized already, this is a blog where I'll be putting some info about my CAS activities, so I should probably explain what I'm going to do in CAS.

For the Creativity part I'll be using the STEM club, a club where we try to do helpful or just working mechanics (as total newbies) with the help of research.

For Activity we have a recently made girls basketball team. I also workout separately 3 times a week and run on the other days. I dream of running a marathon one day and do 5 consequent pull ups.

For Service, I'll continue joining our school's weekly Book Mobile service, alongside with anything I think I can help with.

It already looks a bit daunting but since a lot of these activities are nothing new to me, I don't think I'll have much difficulties. Who knows though.

With wishes that I survive IB with a stable psychology...