Violin Lesson

Today I started my violin lesson by playing the c minor scale in 3rd position. I am happy to say that it is getting easier for me to play minor scales without having to focus this much on the signs they have - it starts to come naturally.

Next I came back to a Dashilla's Sea Shanty, a piece I have not played in a long time but it's in this scale, so my teacher thought it would be a good time to remind it. 

The first time I played it today I was not satisfied with it at all, but the second way around it sounded really great. I just needed that first one to remember it correctly. 

Then, I spend nearly half a lesson mastering the piece described in my previous post. It is extremely hard, I think the hardest I have played this year, but I would say it is going pretty well. 

I am happy with the progress I am making especially that the very act of making music brings me so much joy.  

Tennis

Today next to playing matches which became the usual part of my weekly training I have further practised the hand movements. 

I have noticed that my sense of space, as of where should I stop and try to pick up the ball, is getting better. I am really happy to have noticed that as my trainer says that is one of the most important things in tennis - be on the right spot at the right time. 

Although I am aware of the progress I am making my luck in wining the matches has changed and today I lost all three of them. I guess it's just the way it is.

Amnesty International Meeting

 Today I attended an Amnesty International Meeting on which I talked about two human rights issues I found. 

First was the case against people protesting against a racist and xenophobic group in France, against whom there were pressed charges as during the protest they have crossed the boarder illegally. Amnesty says they should not be convicted as it is not the people who fight for human rights that should be punished but rather those who share hate.

The second issue I talked about was the case of hunger in Madagascar, where millions of people are unable to get food because of the famine. The government of Madagascar has no way of helping its people as they don't have enough money to provide the food from abroad and the environmental factors make it impossible to produce their own food. 

Violin Lesson

 Today at my violin lesson I started learning the Second Waltz in c minor by D.Shostakovich. 

My teacher says it will be a great challenge for me as the sheets I have are written very high. They will require me to play in 4th and even 5th position. I have never played this high before!

Although demanding, the waltz is really beautiful and it amazes me that I am able to play it in such a short time from first seeing the music sheets. 

I have yet to learn to properly change positions, but I am sure that as I practise it will become only easier for me to hit the right note without much thinking. 

Lessons with Primary School Students

 Today was suppose to be the final lesson I would have with Filip as in a week he has his final exam. However, he asked me to meet with him (online of course) two more times. It must mean that he finds his hour with me helpful, which makes me really happy.

As he is having his exam next week we decided it will be best if he tries to solve an entire practice paper by himself - this way we will see how much he actually knows.

I noticed his progress and although he still needed my help in few of the exercises I can say that he did much better than he did at our first meeting.

 

Tennis

 Thankfully the tennis court could reopen and as I came back from Spain I was able to continue my tennis adventure.

At the first training in a month I have played three one-on-one matches and have won each.

I would say that this is beginners luck all over again, united with overconfidence of my opponents who somehow continued to practise despite closed courts. 

Apart from those matches I have also practised serves, which I am really bad at. I am trying really hard to improve, however this area of tennis is very difficult for me. However, I am still working on it and will keep doing that in the future. 

Violin Lesson

Today at my violin lesson I was learning another song from a Disney movie.

It's the one I used to play on the piano many years ago - Tale as Old as Time from Beauty and the Beast. That is one of my favourite Disney cartoons so I was really excited to play it again.

The piece is harder than it looks. The main thing worth focusing on is to maintain the same pulse throughout the entire song. It's a challenge as I tend to shorten the long notes and then can't keep up with the shorter ones. 

This song is really great and it's amazing to play it.

Lessons with Primary School Students

Today I showed Filip some new techniques I use to solve math problems quicker. He picked it up and we did a couple of example exercises so he could get better at it.

After that we went back to our usual plan which is just doing a practise exam. I showed him where the thing I showed to him could be used, and he agreed with me that it lets him solve the problem faster. 

I think I, as well as Filip, am getting better and better and I also feel more comfortable talking and teaching him what I'm good at. 

Windsurfing

 Today I had my last windsurfing lesson for now, as we are coming back to Poland the day after tomorrow. I have really enjoyed it and found it a nice change from the long time spend at home due to lockdown. 

After the first lesson I have left the area close to the beach with my trainer. I have felt more free than I did in a long time and I loved the wind in my (braided) hair and the water flowing through my feet. 

I have managed to learn a harder version of the front turn, although an attempt to do that still ends up with me falling into the water. But the water is so nice and warm that it is far from being scary. 

I hope to further pursue this new passion of mine during the summer holidays.

Windsurfing!

 As I have written in the previous post this week I am spending on an Island. I have decided to spend this time learning how to windsurf. 

My trainer is from Italy (although Fuerteventura lies in Spain) and he is teaching me in English. The first question he asked was how much experience I have. I said that I have had just one lesson before but I loved it and am eager to learn more. He was surprised and a little worried as the wind was strong today, but begun to teach me. 

At the lesson I got to practising both turns - one where you move in front of the mast and the other when you move behind it. I immediately got the ring of it and although we haven't left the beach I had so much fun!

I have some experience with wind so I did not find that part hard at all. I am also very proud to say I have fallen only a few times, which I think is amazing for a beginner I am. 

After the lesson my trainer asked whether I really had just one windsurfing lesson before.

I am extremely excited to come back tomorrow!!!

Getting to the top of Volano

 This week me and my family flew to Fuerteventura - one of the Canar Islands. 

On our first day there my parents convinced me to go with them to the top of Hondo Volcano. It was a long long walk but it was worth it to see the view at the top.

I was sad to discover that you could not see any smoke coming out of it but it was still an amazing experience, and the first volcano I have ever seen so closely. 

 

Violin Lesson

 This week I had played violin for many hours and finished it up with an in-person lesson with my teacher. As we did before we used this time to play things I am already good at, focus on something else and play duets. 

The three main pieces we played were Colours of the Wind I started to learn last week, Memory from Cats the Musical, which although short is beautiful. And, finally, Pirates of the Caribbean - the piece which we started in Autumn. 

I haven't played the latter for many weeks and so I was surprised at how well I played it on the first try. After that we played it in duet and it was amazing.

I really like playing together with my teacher, both because it sounds so beautiful and because it gives much more space for improving. It helps with mastering every part of violin playing: maintaining the rhythm, right tones and teaches to listen to someone expect yourself
 while still focusing on your line. 

Lessons with Primary School Students

Today we faced a new kind of exercises. They were based on time. I noticed that Filip has a problem with remembering that one hour equals sixty minutes while turning them into a decimal fraction. 

I brought it to his attention, as he made this mistake numerous times. 

This taught me that beside teaching and explaining how to do something I also have to carefully watch what my student is doing so I can show them their mistakes and propose how to solve their problems. 

 

Violin Lesson

 Today I started to work on the song from Pocahontas, a Disney movie from 1995. It is one of the most popular Disney songs and it's entitled Colours of the Wind. My teacher said she loves when her students play it, as it is one of her favourite songs, so I'm excited to play it. 

Firstly we made few alterations to the sheets we found to make it sound identical as the original version. Then I started to play.

It was an amazing experience, although parts of it are challenging. I love that I get to play a note in a special way in this song. In Polish it's called "flażolet" I don't know the word in English for it. 

I will surely practise this song a lot as I cant wait to master it!

Walks

 For the past two weeks I have been continuing to walk around the forests. It has been wonderful to see how the spring is coming to Poland and that the animals are waking up. 

Unfortunately I did not get to see any more exciting animals than birds but those have been giving wonderful performances. 

The courts will also reopen soon, so I will be getting back to that. 

Lessons with Primary School Students

Today I spend my lesson with Filip trying out something new. I asked him to answer the questions as fast as possible. It was a closed test, so there were situations where a critical look at the proposed answer would be enough. 

As he has the limited amount of time on his final exam I thought it would be a good way for him to practise answering faster than he usually does. 

It was hard for him, so I showed him how some of the answers can be eliminated at the first look. After that I let him do it himself. 

I'll see at the next lesson whether he will actually decide that this is a helpful way for him, or he prefers to do it the same way as before. 

Violin Lesson

 Today I started working on another Sea Shanty, one entitled Leave Her, Johnny, Leave Her. It is about a sailor who does not want to say goodbye to his ship, so it is pretty sad. Still, as most Shanty it is really nice to play on violin. 

The challenge I had to face in that piece was that at some moments I had to play two notes at the same time. How it is done? One has to put their bow on two strings at the same time so that they can both be heard. 

It does not sound complicated but when you add the fingers to play another notes, which you have to switch really fast it gets hard and confusing. 

Fortunately that is why I have a teacher, so she can help me in moments like these, as she did. 

I believe the song is very pleasant to hear now, although it wasn't at the beginning. 

Walks

 Because the courts are closed and I am unable to do my usual Activity activity I have been going on walks. 

I do not like it at all as I find it extremally boring, but at the same time it is pretty cool, especially that I live right next to the forest, so I can go over there. I did not even bring my phone with me so I could absorb all of the magic of the forest.

The sounds of the woods haven't completely begun yet but I hope that will happen soon. I hope even more that they will reopen tennis courts, so I can get back to this.  

Lessons with Primary School Students

 Today I was helping Filip solve a MOCK exam prepared by Operon in 2019. 

Filip found this one really easy at the beginning, so I almost did not have to propose solutions to him, however near the end there were a couple of exercises which he just could not do. 

I explained them to him and after that he was able to solve them himself. 

I think I am doing a good job with helping him and hope that it will be reflected in his final exam results.

closed courts

 Unfortunately, the tennis courts are closed again due to the Coronavirus pandemic, which makes it impossible for me to practise or do this for my CAS activity at the moment. I will come back to playing as soon as the courts are open again, which I hope will happen very soon. 

Violin Lesson

 Today I learnt how to play a piece by P.Tschaikowsky, a very famous composer known for Swan Lake, Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy and Seasons as well as many others. However, I was not playing any of these. I was playing Chanson Triste which translates for 'sad song'.

It indeed is sad, but as it usually is with sad song they are the most beautiful ones. 

I have learnt few new techniques using this song, which was a great way to cheer myself up after it's melancholy sound. 

Tennis

 At this week's training I have played a lot of matches. 

We started off by playing two doubles. Me and my mom versus the couple who is also taking part in our training. Unfortunately, but not surprisingly we lost (they are more experienced than we are), but it was still great fun and a priceless experience. 

After that we played one on one matches, so that everyone would play twice. I have won the first one, but sadly lost the second. 

I do not get discouraged with my loss as it gives me more space for further improvement.

  

Lessons with Primary School Students

 Today at my lesson with Filip I had to face the fact that he thinks differently than I do, and that it has an effect on the way he chooses to solve a certain exercise. I had to force myself not to interrupt him and propose my solutions just because I thought them easier.

Still, after he solved them his way I showed him in which direction I would go while finding the solution. I hope that he is learning a lot from me, although I cannot say anything just from looking at him during our classes.

Violin Lesson

 Today I was learning a second Shanty entitled Dashilla's Sea Shanty. It is written in c minor and tells the story of a sea monster. 

This really dark piece looks really simple, however it requires the same atmosphere kept through the entire duration of it. The most tricky part is when two fast notes appear, which happens only once in the entire song and thus it is hard to keep the right pace when it happens. 

I like playing challenging pieces as I feel this is where I can improve, as I surely do.

Tennis

Yesterday at tennis my trainer decided to focus on the forehand technique as I have been getting pretty good at the backhand hits. 

We spend around the half of the lesson practising this and although modifying moves and reflexes one is used to is hard and annoying after some time the new ones are made. 

For the next few weeks I will have to remember to focus on every part of the forehand move, but after that I probably will not even have to think about it. 

It is really good to know that my technique is getting closer and closer to those of professionals'.

Lessons with Primary School Students

 Today I had another hour with Filip, who is preparing to his 8th Grade Exam. 

We were solving another one of past papers. Now he still needs a lot of my help but I hope that in time I will be barely talking as he will be able to solve all the exercises on his own. 

I can say that he is dedicated and determined to write his exam really well. It will take place at the end of May so I still have almost three months to help him prepare.

Having a class is something really different from anything I have done before and I can see that when I try to explain certain aspects of Math to him, he does not necessarily understand what I say the same way I do. It shows me what challenges teacher must face and it makes me more open to their side of school.

Violin Lesson

 Today I started to play a song from a famous musical. It's called Memory and comes from Cats the Musical. The music to this song was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber. 

I started the lesson by playing one of basic scales - a minor, in which the song is set. After practising many variations of it I went to the song itself. 

This song, however short, has an interesting part. The kind of notes called 'duola' occur in it. They are two notes that take as long as three. It is the first time ever I met something like this and it felt really unnatural to me. 

Every time I played them I had a feeling that I am doing something wrong, but my teacher said that is the way they should be played, and with practise it will stop sounding so weird. I hope it does, but at the same time I'm glad there are still some entirely new things in the art of violin for me.

 

Tennis

 At Today's lesson, after the usual warming up exercise we have played a set of matches. 

I am attending those lessons with my mom as well as two other people, with all of them I have played. I have won just 1 of those 3 matches, however I did so with a great advantage - 10:3.

The scores of following matches were 10:8 and 10:4. It showed me how much more room there is still for practise, and that I must not get discouraged to keep making progress.

Lessons with Primary School Students

 Today I had my first lesson with Filip. 

It was happening over zoom, I was worried about the way in which to organise it, but he helped me saying that he will just share his screen and write on it, so I can see his solution to the problems. 

I am there to provide him with some explanations, tips or just to check his work. This all is meant to help him write his Exam well, which I surely hope it does. 

It was a weird experience, much more unusual than the one with Maja, who is significantly younger than Filip. However, I can see the point of having lessons with both of them. 

Lessons with Primary School Students

The supervisor of my Service work at Centrum Kultury Wilanów came up with the idea in which we can do our voluntary work during the pandemic - by providing lessons to younger children in areas we are good at. 

I said that I am able to teach primary school students English and Maths, and I got two students of my own - a 5th-grader Maja and an 8th-grader Filip. Both of them I will be teaching maths and Maja I will also help with English.

I already had a meeting with her during which we talked in English and I explained long multiplication and long divination to her. 

Something like that is entirely new to me and I believe it will be a learning experience for me as well as my students. 

     

Violin Lesson

 Today I was playing a waltz from The Sleeping Beauty written by P. Tchaikovsky. 

The waltz is a form I have not yet played this year and I love the way it sounds. 

The most important thing for me to focus on is the dynamic in which I play it - I have to work on it so some parts will be quieter and the other lauder. This is a challenge for me as most of the time I simply forget about it until it is written in the sheets that I should change it, and then it is definitely too late for that.

 I will try to work on that in this piece as well as all my future ones. 

Tennis

 This week I have come back to my tennis lessons as it was finally possible. Although I have not forgotten anything, it was visible that I was out of practise and I was not at the same level as I was before. 

However, it is nothing to worry about as at the end of the lesson I was playing just as I was before. Tennis is like riding a bike - you do not forget the abilities you've gained. 

I hope the pandemic situation will allow me to attend the lessons every week now, so I can master my abilities. 

Amnesty International Meeting

 Today at Amnesty International meeting some members presented the cases from AI or other international organisations that are working in the field of human rights. 

I also talked about the news I found on official AI page. In Denmark the definition of rape in criminal law was changed to 'sex without consent'. Earlier for the crime to be recognise the prove of additional violence was required. This change happened on 17th December 2020. It is awful and frightening that even in European countries which are proud of how obedient they are of human rights and how much gender equality they have achieved this change is happening only now and not years ago. What's even more frightening is that Denmark is only the 12th country in Europe that recognises sex without consent as rape. 

 

Signatures

 

Learning Outcomes

 

	Playing Violin	Tennis	Centrum Kultury WIlanów	Amnesty Inter- national
identify own strengths and areas for growth	✓	✓	✓
demonstrate that the new challenges have been undertaken, developing new skills in the process	✓	✓
demonstrate how to initiate and plan a CAS experiencer	✓		✓
demonstrate the skills and recognize the benefits of working collaboratively			✓	✓
show commitment to and perseverance in CAS activities	✓	✓
demonstrate engagement with issues of global importance				✓
recognize and consider the ethics of choices and actions				✓

Walks

 While visiting my friend I've been going on regular walks with her dog. Of course, some of them were rather short, but still they're taking me around an hour a day. 

This week it was snowing so we had a run through the snow, it was really nice, although quite cold. 

Amnesty International Meeting

 At week's Amnesty International Meeting we summed up the 1st semester and further discussed the topic of total abortion ban in Poland.

 This topic is still on top, as the protests are ongoing, and additionally the Constitutional Tribunal finally published the justification for what it said in October, and the ban was published in Polish Dziennik Ustaw.

Violin Lesson

Today's violin lesson took place online as all previous lessons did. After the experience from two weeks ago, I really felt how in-person meetings are indeed better and more valuable than those via zoom, but it was still a productive time.

We started by practicing a C major scale, followed by further practise of Canon in D minor, to, at the end reach a new musical piece. Quite well known and great fun - The Entertainer by S. Joplin. 

It was a challenging piece (at the very beginning, the part that we went through) as it starts off very high, I had to go to 4th position on E string. It is so high I hardly ever used it before, if ever. I still need to practise this A LOT to produce muscle memory for that high notes.

Going on walks

 Due to the lockdown in Poland I cannot attend tennis trainings right now, so I decided to start going on walks. I live in a forest so there's lots of nice paths I can go on. 

I am planning to get back to tennis as soon as possible, so I will not undertake more organised activities, the weather now is very nice, and it even snows sometimes so it is so walks are not only an activity but also a pleasure. 

Violin Lesson

Thanks to the fact that I don't have online school right now (because of the winter break) I was able to see my teacher in person.

It was a really valuable experience as all of our lesson, except for the first one, have taken place online due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

In person my teacher was able to give me more constructive comments and corrections. However, the best part of this experience was that we reviewed all the songs we've been working on so far and played them IN A DUET!!

This was truly amazing. This kind of work allows one to focus on different aspects of playing as the music must not only sound well (as always) but also has to be coordinated with the other musician. 

The most problems I had with Pirates of the Caribbean as  it is really fast and a long time passed since I properly played it last time. It was still so much fun and one of the best experiences of winter break ruled by lockdown.

Diving trip!!!!

 Last week me, my sister and my dad visited DeepSpot. DeepSpot is a newly opened indoor pool, BUT it is not a usual pool. It is the deepest pool in the world right now - over 45 meters deep!!! This is a spot for divers to dive in, and that is exactly what we did.

This trip was very exciting and an amazing experience. My last dive happened few months ago, during summer holidays in Italy, so I had quite a break from diving. Still, this experience was like nothing else.

The main differences to what happens in natural waters was that 

1) the visibility was much greater - you could see everything up to the end of the pool which doesn't happen in natural places

2) the water was warm, and not red-sea warm, but between 32 and 34 degrees - we could dive JUST in bathing suits. 

It was just the most amazing thing ever! We spend around an hour time underwater and I didn't even feel the time.

the picture was taken by me before entering the pool, so I am not one of the divers there

Violin Lesson

Today, because the Christmas time is upon us I learned a new song entitled Greensleeves. This song was a nice way to feel the Christmas spirit and forget about pandemic that surrounds us everywhere. I really liked playing it, as it has a great melody, that is familiar but not quite.

What I also liked about it is that the rhythm is not monotonous and gets the music going as well as makes the song really enjoyable. 

Tennis

 Today, as this is the last training before Christmas and probably one in the really long time thanks to the upcoming lockdown in Poland we spend most of it on playing matches.

My sister and I, along with two other (more advanced) players played a bunch of them, both doubles (two players on both sides) and singles (one on one). I, with my partner, managed to win the first double one, but the girls soon had their revenge with beating us in the second match.  

Double matches really help to improve teamwork skills and quick reaction. One must also realise where the ball will land to decide whether they should take it, or leave it to the teammate. This is a thing and skill that is not required in single player matches as there the player must just answer to all balls, otherwise they lose points. 

Tennis

 This week my sister went with me for the lesson as she came back home for holiday break. She is who I started tennis training with so it was much fun to play with her again.

We started by passing the ball to each other which felt like going back in time, except of course we both improved since our last game like that.

Later, not to stop this progress we practiced hits, in series of 3 - 3 hits made by me, 3 by my sister then 3 by me again. It's a really good practise as the balls come in fast one after the other so one has to really focus on them. 

CAS Project

 Today was the last day of Maraton Pisania Listów this year. Although spend the day at online lessons I managed to write additional 9 letters, which brings me to total of 23 letters. 

I am very proud of the number of letters I was able to write and send. Although I know much more can be done in the field of human rights, and there are many more ongoing fights right now, I am certain the Maraton will make a difference. I hope many people, not only from our school, took part in it and decided to help people whose rights were being broken all around the world. 

Later I went to the post to pick up the stamps, after putting them on the envelopes the letters were ready to send them away.

CAS Project

Today is the second day of Maraton Pisania Listów. I decided to met up with two of my friends, who also take part in this CAS Project to write letters and make a difference together.

Collectively we wrote 32 letters, 14 of which were written by me. The letters were in favour of 10 cases, all around the world. I wrote one for each of them and then additional 4 in favour of Nassima from South Arabia, who was imprisoned for fighting for women's rights. This case spoke to me on personal level, as I'm a feminist and fighting for women's rights and gender equality is very important for me. 

 

Violin Lesson

The piece of folk music was quite easy so I did not spend a lot of time on it, although I think my teacher will want to come back to it on other lessons.

Today we started working on the sailing song entitled "What shall we do with a drunken sailor". It is one of most well-known sailing songs, at least in Poland. I had so much fun playing it, as it is the song that I, myself know really well.

Although the song itself is long, thanks to repeated parts of it the notes, which I had to learn are itself very short, which allowed me to cover them pretty quickly. Then I mostly focused on improving speed and articulation during that song.

Amnesty International Meeting

Today at Amnesty International Meeting along talking about protests and updating on human rights cases around the world we made final decisions concerning Maraton Pisania Listów 2020.

The marathon will take place this weekend, but it will be different than all previous marathons due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Everyone will write the letters on their own, and we will add up the number of letters at the end. I will write more about it in a CAS Project post. 

CAS Project Update

At the last few Amnesty International Meetings besides talking about most current situations concerning the violation of human rights around the world we were discussing and making final decisions concerning our Amnesty CAS Project.

The CAS Project by Amnesty will be Maraton Pisania Listów. The marathon happens annually and is usually similar to one the year before. However, this year must be different because of the Covid-19 restrictions. 

The goal and purpose of Maraton Pisania Listów is to write as many letters as possible. The letters are written in favour of people hurt due to the violation of human rights during the span of 3 days (from Saturday to Monday). 

Usually the marathon happens at school. For two days people interested in supporting those, whose rights are being broken come to the school and write and address the letters together. The letters are later stamped by people from Amnesty International Raszyńska, while the money for the stamps is raised during multiple bake sales happening through the first semester.

This year, however, everyone will write their letters at home and send them themselves. The atmosphere will be surely different than that a year ago, but the goal of the marathon stays unchanged - to help innocent people to get justice that they deserve. 

Tennis

 At this lesson we focused on improving forehand, which is the more complex of two ways of hitting the ball (forehand and backhand). 

The thing that is the most problematic for mw is hitting the ball in the right place. As every ball flies differently this is one thing that cannot be repeated, afterall there aren't two identical balls nor two identical hits.

This technique is crucial for tennis players as it's one of basic hits thus it is often used in a game.