More photography!

Photography? Did you say photography? If yes then I'm in! 

I'm always in when it includes me and my camera! 

That's what happened when mrs Gillman, the Teacher who's organizing the Oliver play needed more help with photos for the programme! I got the pleasure to watch the play before everyone else did and also to do my favorite thing! Here are some photos! 

Poster for Oliver!

After trying myself in the video making and editing area and succiding in it,

 I volunteered myself into making a poster for school production "Oliver! The musical".

 The task was pretty simple and as it required doing something I love doing - photography, I found it would be a perfect idea to help school community!

Myself and my friend , andreia, arranged a meeting with drama teacher and the main actor who plays Oliver from year6 after school to take some photos. 300 shots and we got the 5 best ones, and then we got into creative process.
Overall we've done 5 options for the teacher to choose, different photos and text!
After those 5 , teacher chose 1 and asked to change some little details. And so we did & made 3 options of the final option! We were all satisfied with our job and it was very nice! Taking photos was a long process but fun too, playing with lights and positions! It was hard to get the right expression and the angle to make Oliver look desperate in his famous scene!
Editing, as i said before, was something that always interested me and over time, with practice i became good at it and it was nice doing something that i like!

Here are all the posters we´ve created:

Then Miss Chose Option 3 :

And this one is the FINAL one which s now all around our school :)

International Dinner

When I came to school, in Year 9, i heard of the International Dinner in the first year of IB, that our school organises every year. Since then its been my dream to take part in the celebration of the internationality of our school, the different nationalities and cultures being brought all together in one place!

So when the time came and the different committees were forming I inscribed myself in the ones i consider myself being good at: Entertainment and Decoration.

The Decoration Committee is responsible for the International decoration, tables and overall space (Main Hall) decoration. The program of the entertainment also had to be decorated with important people who had done something to bring peace to this world. So the tasks we had to complete were:

1. Find the influential people, their biography, what had they done and an inspirational quote

2. Research nice international decoration, if its hand made or had to be bought, find the minimal prices and calculate the budgets. 

Here you have some of my ideas: 

1. Everyone knows the story of Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes written by American author in 1977. The book has been translated to many languages and published in many places, to be used for peace education programs in primary schools. I thought it would be nice make a paper crane out of A4 pieces of paper for everyones place at the table. could be even done with napkins. But after realising that we were more than 100 and it would take me forever to make them so we rejected it. Then the idea transformed into 1 giant paper crane made of A3 or A2 Papers 1 per table to be the central piece! But we've rejected that idea as well.. :( 

2. The central piece had to portray the internationality, so i thought of something that makes me happy - which are the fireworks! I´ve researched central pieces and found these:

They could be even done by hand just buying simple "base" and gluing the flags! Could be even of the people on the table (their nationalities) !  

And this piece: for the main table with the different dishes!

For the program decoration, the people i found were: 

1) The 14th Dalai Lama

2) Mother Teresa - Roman Catholic religious sister and missionary who liv  ed most of her life in India. 

3) Shirin Ebadi - Shirin Ebadi is an Iranian lawyer, a former judge and human rights activist

4) Alyna Nanji - She is an ambassador for Peace Tree International promoting peace, diversity, inclusivity and gender equality at every opportunity.

5) Liu Xiaobo - Chinese literary critic, writer, professor, and human rights activist 

6) Sir Bob Geldof - Irish singer-songwriter, author, occasional actor and political activist

:)  ** HOURS

The Entertainment Committee is responsible for the music throughout the dinner and the performances on the stage. Singing, is the first performance that pops in when you think about school events, but for me performances was always more than that. So my aim was to speak to everyone in the Y12 and Y13 to find the hidden talents to make the performances more interesting and less mainstream, more diverse and international as well! 

With my bossy character i gave myself most of the work and became the "Guy with the Bat" running after people to get the information about their performances such as: if they needed chair and how many microphones, music on the background, musical instruments, any lighting effects and so on.

FINAL LIST:

1. 1) Marta Godinho and Julia Sandros-Alper – Pop Medley  - a duet
2. 2) Ana Ramos and Manuel Pena (Sing/Piano) - “La Vie en Rose”
3. 3) Caroline Cosyns (Sing) & Ana Ramos (Guitar)- 'Thinking Out Loud' by Ed Sheeran
4. 4) Francisco Catarro and Band (Gonçalo Catarro, Afonso Froes, Inês Weber, Francisco Carneiro) – ‘Easy ‘–  by Faith no More and ‘Nightrain’ – by Guns N’Roses
5. 5) Miguel Cruz Freestyle football –
6. 6) Daniel Santos, João Duarte, Gonçalo Catarro - “Knocking on heaven’s door”
7. 7) Paola Kossakowska,  Joao Duarte –  “I Forget Where We Were”, by Ben Howard
8. 8) Daniel Smith and Laura Charro - Awards 
   
   
   Francisco Ermida - 4 hour playlist (to have in the background)
   Host- Daniel Smith
   
   
   To bring our years/classes together i wanted to do some group games! We came out with two!
   I thought we should make it obligatory so we would´t have to wait time until someone would actually come up to the stage. I also thought it would be nice make it a little more mysterious and not put the game on the program. To make it random i planned to make little box per table and put papers inside it. 2 of which would be marked with a colour, for example red. in the beginning people wouldn´t understand what were those paper for so wouldn't give much attention but i the middle of the performances we would call out the people who got the papers marked and then play the games:
   1) The Accent game:
   
   
   Put papers with all different accents in a hat for people to randomly choose and show. The people from their table had to guess first if they don't, the chance goes to other tables and they get the point.
   
   
   2) The Mimic game: like it the movie "It takes two" the interpretation game where the team must game what you're mimicking without saying a word!
   
   
   All the points + the points from the quiz that were on the tables would be added in the end and the winners would be announced on the last part with the Awards!
   
   
   But a week before the dinner i got sick and some of my plans didn't accomplish!
   Leave it for the next year :)
   
   
   :) ** HOURS

Christmas Fair for Primary School

Who doesn't like christmas fairs? With hot chocolate and mini marshmallows, cookies and sweets and loads of happy kids taking photos with Santa and making souvenirs... Well, these type of events need help in organization and taking care of kids, so thats where I decided to help our PACT organization in school and do something i like doing!

On a Friday afternoon, after school straight away we went in the main hall, where kids were already enjoying the fair and work was going all the way! Our subordinators allocated Me, Martim and Caroline on a table with 2 activities for kids - cutting our paper origami and decorating frames!

In the beginning there wasn't many kids, the table was set as the adults set it before we came and so with that free time we decided to try the origamis... As time passed there were more and more kids getting interested in what our table was about! 

Every kid was different and i loved seeing them making their own decorations, helping them and giving ideas... with time it got messy as cutting papers - kids were in the same place with kids who were decorating frames and it wasn't well organized.. So we had to act quickly in order to make it more efficient. We put all the things for origamis in one end of the table and all the things, decorations and glues in another end of the table. As there were kids with young age we had to be very patient and calm... specially when they mess everything up and parents blame it on you (which happened) and then I had to control my emotions and help the kid finish his job.. 

Overall, I very liked that I've participated in this happy event and contributed by doing something that i like!

By the end of the Fair, we had a lot of positive emotions, pain in our backs and a lot to clean up but still, it was a great experience and loads of fun! I wish my brothers would do these things with me instead of playing video games :(
30 min was enough for the shiny and sticky mess they've made, and we were free to go :)

+3 Hours of Service DONE

Service - Done✓

And there they go 8 weeks of service! 

Since we've started my group and I, we've done many different things… First 2 weeks helping in food bank, 2 weeks of communicating and visiting the babies space and then 4 weeks, 8 longest and tiring hours in my life, with babies of 1 year old (My class.. others had different ages), and there it is, the unforgettable experience and 4 weeks, 8 hours full of joy and happiness! 

In the beginning it was hard, all though my amazing memory let me remember their names, i still couldn't remember everyones habits and attitudes but week by week, till this very day i was learning more about them, how they are and also learning things about myself and improving with every week! 

My basic tasks were to help them dress after sleeping time, feed and play till parents would pick them up. Each task was different, as i had to be patient in first, then joyful and entertaining in second, so they could finishing their yogurt as soon as possible and interesting, never boring in the third part. I felt like i couldn't let them down so i had to play with all of them, read to all of them and pay attention to every single one!
When i first came, only few could walk, only few almost non could say words properly, but on my last day, we were reading books, walking with no help even running! The kids who were shy to see me, not trusting me the day i got there, were screaming my name and 'hi' the first moment they would see me on my last weeks, laying with me on the carpets and being as crazy as they usually are with no need to be polite ' with a new person'!
While I, was really kind and scared to be the authority, say no to their little monkey tricks, on my last day, i formed a look and a clap which if they see or hear, they would immediately stop their fighting!
On our last day, i asked my supervisors to let me do something more than reading, running, jumping and playing on the free time after feeding… the thing I'm good at - ART! Before the day, i did some research  on interesting art tricks and here you have:
We poured some pain - 2 colors - in a bowl and everyone had their little balloon
One by one they'd make a line and wait for their turn to do some flower-like painting to add some color to their white-walled room
You put the colors on in the middle of the other and with up and down movement 'jump' on the paper!
Kids loved the funny act of painting and colored their A3 papers entirely!!

FLOWERS IN THE MIDDLE OF NOVEMBER :) <3 nbsp="" p="">

By the end of my 4 week course in Cresche, i found myself more patient, kind, strict sometimes. I challenged my skills, multitasking, ability to look at 12 of them at once and taking care of them! It was an amazing experience and I'm willing to repeat it later in my course! Cant wait to see them grown up!

Bonfire Night - Haunted House

Y12 HAUNTED HOUSE
WELCOME TO SJS FREAK SHOW

This year we were given the most existing in entire school life event - to design and reform the haunted house that kids and adults just love and I'm one of them! Ive been going to the bonfire night three years in a row since we moved here and every year different ideas and decorations but yet something was missing, so this year with this task i took it very seriously and inscribed myself in every role possible.. since i believe 'want to do it well? do it yourself'!

I was one of the make up artists and here you have my 'creations'. As the theme was circus i tried to make the typical clown face into something gothic, because other girls would just make them scary, black eyes red blood marks but i think we should've stack to the theme! I leo did Martim's face in the middle of the show as he decided to appear and he asked for a skeleton! trying to remember my biology lessons i created some sort of a skeleton face and later - body, which thank god, looked way better in the dark with flashing strobes:)

Did my make up myself :P

I always found neon lights interesting and that, for example, in a party they use UV lights and everyone comes in white it creates a cool effect! So after many fights and arguments, showing my ideas through pictures, they agreed with me it would make a difference, as nobody used it before and also if we make scary make up, colorful clothing, the flows would look even creepier! And i also took part in helping in that area! Ive made 10 masks and decorated clowns faces with neon face paint! 

 BOO!

The main thing, to create a spooky,scary and sinister space was the music, after browsing internet, Martim and I realized, there was nothing interesting and decided to make our own track. We divided the task between each other to make it go faster, but yet it took us 3 and something hours, and by the end, we couldn't listen to that melody anymore :/ It is made of various musics, cut and put together, appearing and disappearing with a special DJ program we had to download, we tried to record Martims voice and make it sound scary and use the words we needed and the only one we managed to finish was 'I SEE YOU" the other ones took to long to make them work so we abandoned that idea in order to save some time! 

I added some pictures behind it to put it up on youtube so we can some someones time… because this was an ongoing 3 hours nightmare! 

Here you have it:) 

In a period of 4 or 5 hours, I've been everything and everyone! Laying on the floor behind the curtains and grabbing peoples legs was my favorite, it was nothing people expected! specially with my make up  it would creep them out even more!          Next i was a freak, grabbing and screaming almost ultrasound, putting people in a dark covered corner and turning them around, passing between us, dancing around them was really funny, sometimes, coming to our corner, guides would even say to be nice cos people are already freaked out with what was before our station which was the last! We had different stations and acts, circus is a wide theme, we also added the psychic, and magician and it created a very beautiful actually, with different costumes and lights performance as well as scary and unexpected! I think it was the best one I've ever seen!

As a passionate photographer i couldn't not take my camera and go around, making little kids feel like celebrities with their costumes! I was surprised some adults took it seriously as well! It was our little american halloween, in an english school in a middle of portugal :P 

As well as costumes, caring mothers and fathers from different cultures, places and traditions, joined together to create an amazing diverse line of cuisine from India, China, Italy, Portugal and others! This year it was real jam:D This year we also had 'Farturas', waffles, pop corn and candy cotton which made it feel even more 'American/English'! 

in the end of all the fun and scaring… we still had fun cleaning the place from popped balloons, tiles and labyrinth!

1st day with Kids!

First day in Boa Nova Church Kids place - DONE! 

the hardest, funniest, full of joy and smile, and a lot of crying tho.. but i still loved it! 

As we first got there, we were divided into different age groups and we were 1 by 1 (with supervisors), and little babies were just after their 'siesta' so we had to help clean the place and wake them up, yet sleepy, slowly moving and half opened eyes they were yet nice and cute till the moment they got excited about my presence there and became little monsters laying on me, smiling and touching my face and my hair! Next thing i had to help with was lunch time! Feeding 1years old kids was either the funniest thing or a very complicated thing to do! but i had to have my patience and sometimes it was hard, i guess all the 1 hour maximum experience with my brothers and sister isn't enough to be ready to stay with 12 off them in the same time for 2h30 min! 

after feeding we went playing and by 4:30 parents started coming and picking them up! While that time, i had the biggest joy and pleasure to teach two beautiful little girls walking, play with the smartest 1 years old boy I've ever seen and make so much  kids smile and laugh! Sometimes it was challenging, remembering they are yet very fragile little people and i had to go slow and soft, and patience! a lot of patience! For one day it was a great experience and i can't wait to spend next weeks till Christmas with these little cutties! 

Team-working in Food Bank!

Task 1 - Done! 

Before the week of freedom, and joy on halloween night, we´ve worked 2 weeks, 2 wednesdays, 4 hours in total, helping on a food bank, unfortunately we didn't get to give the food out, and see the happy faces of kids getting the school material that we´ve organised, counted and put in places before hand! Throughout the first session, we mainly did cleaning! The shelves, floors and tables were covered in dust and rust so we spent some good 2 hours, cleaning everything to make it shine, and ready to be used! Products, clothes, hygiene and school things were all together and the next step was to count everything and record it, to keep it more organised, put on shelves and boxes, and place them in right places comfortable and available at any time!
As we only had two hours, this job had to be done quickly and organized so we worked as a team, who's best at what and what we are capable of doing. Martim as a tall one would clean the ceiling from spider webs, Tomas would clean rust which was hard to do as you needed strength and we girl, cleaned the rest. After boys would usually carry boxes, while we planned the space and with neat girly hand-writing stated all the items we had! We've done really got team-work and communication so we finished by 4:30! All though on the second day we were just 3 of us, we managed to finish the job even before 4!
These tasks were mostly improving our organization, how we had to listen to each others ideas and choose the most effective ones, how we had to divide the work between us considering our capabilities! And this is how we achieved such a success in arranging everything for the Food Bank! It was really nice and we had great comments:)
Next Stop - Babies place! Cant wait to apply my home-experiences:)

Mini Memory from Our Supervisor!