This week has probably been one of the weeks in which I've done so many firsts: interviewed a teacher for a possible job position; started recruiting volunteers for something I'm co-leading; stood up in front of the senior class to talk about it. Apart from Lunahuana, I've never done so many firsts in such a short amount of time, and it feels good.
Towards the end of last semester, I was starting to feel discouraged about my purpose in BlendZ. We were so unsure about taking decisions regarding the truck, that I felt stuck. I felt like we were going around and around the same idea but we weren't getting anywhere. I was losing my motivation, and with it, my purpose. We had a BlendZ meeting during vacation and the food cart idea was introduced to us. I thought it a great solution to our problem but the gears in my head were turning; what am I going to do now? My position as Director of Architecture and Building was kind of void now and I didn't know what I was going to do for rest of the semester. However, there was no lack of jobs and tasks to be completed and I volunteered to help Karen out with what was then called Habla BlendZ, now known as Habla Roosevelt. Over the summer, I helped with creating the profile for the teacher we would hire and the recruitment of volunteers. When we started school, we split into hiring the teacher--Karen--, and recruiting the volunteers--me. Instead of sitting in front of a computer trying to find different truck designs and contacts to make them like I was doing last semester, I was sending out emails, talking with teachers, setting up meetings and interviewing possible teachers for the team. I was running around and I was actually getting stuff done. Since word about Habla Roosevelt has started to spread on campus, I've had a couple of teachers come up to me and tell me that it's such a great initiative and such a great opportunity. And honestly, even though I liked looking for trucks and different ideas, I've never felt so motivated to be working in BlendZ. Don't get me wrong, I used to like it before, but now I love it. Last week, I was dreading the fact that this week I need to stand up in front of different grade levels and high school to talk about Habla Roosevelt and recruit volunteers. At this present moment, I'm already starting to feel the adrenaline rush and I love it. Working to make Habla Roosevelt possible is making BlendZ so much more fulfilling for me to work at because I love to feel the buzz and the excitement whenever I talk with one of the workers about it. When we had the meeting with the four sindicato leaders over the break, I was amazed at how forward they were, asking any possible question in order to make sure that Habla Roosevelt is a total success and not a total flop. Working directly with them has also allowed me to put a face on who I'm working for, making it so much more real and worthwhile. I know who I'm working for and I don't want to let them down. It makes me so happy and so excited, that I'd probably be one of the saddest if Habla Roosevelt didn't work out; and for this, I promise to give my all. I've found my purpose, BlendZ edition.
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So, break's almost over and I can't say I'm too thrilled. It's our last semester of senior year and I feel I should be excited but that's not the case. On the contrary, I'm getting stressed out about the start of a new and our last semester. It should be the one which we enjoy the most, it's the home stretch! But I don't feel that way. I should have taken advantage of the two months that we had to study for mocks and exams but I barely scratched the surface on studying. Do I regret it? Definitely. Would it happen again? Most probably. I could list some of the things that I did this summer: horseback riding, summer camp, study sessions, started kickboxing, finished college apps and probably a couple other things that I can't think of right now. Did I enjoy my summer? Of course I did, but there was always an ominous feeling hanging above me telling me I wasn't using my time well at all. For one, I had planned to finish by biology notes in January. Of 2014, that is. I obviously didn't accomplish that one simple goal that I wanted to complete so that I wouldn't be stressing out by the time that senior year came along. I consider this a project I created for my own benefit or something that I should just have fun with. Yet, I still missed a deadline I set for myself. It's happened with any type of project that I wanted to accomplish from cleaning out my bedroom or finishing the collage on my wall which I started over a year ago. The ominous feeling was still hanging over me and I started to ask myself why it was so complicated to follow my own deadlines, especially if they're projects I am interested in. I also ask myself why I leave things to the last minute. Why is it that I can't make life easier for myself? Just last night, I was talking with my parents and one of their friends about another friend of theirs that always has her things completed 3 months before they're actually needed, things which range from organizing her daughters birthday parties or making presentations for work and conferences. But I guess that's what it takes to be named one of Peru's most influential women of the year. As I look to my future, that's the person I aspire to be, the one who always manages to finish her projects 3 months before they're due, not the one who looks back at the first 2 months of the year and regrets not being more proactive. I want to be someone who can follow her own deadlines; meet her own goals. If faced with difficulties, won't take the easy way out. It's time I start. Break is over, time for life.
I've been reading the Harry Potter series for the 8TH TIME this summer. The first time I ever read it, was way back in 5th grade and ever since, I've read the books at the beginning of each academic year with the exception of junior year. This time however, I'm finding it harder to finish the series. I consider myself a Harry Potter junkie; I know a lot about all things HP and I never seem to be able to get enough of it. I could spend hours reading each book and be fidgetty about getting my hands on the next book. All until now. This time, I'm dreading finishing the series and I can't pinpoint why. I would like to say that it's because I can't stand reading what's going to happen to each character, the tragedies that they all go through, but I can't see why that would be; I've read every book 7 times, I already know what's going to happen! Or it might be the fact that I simply don't want the books to end because no other book has captured me in the way that Harry Potter has. I'm currently on the 5th and I'm seriously contemplating putting it down and shutting my books for a while; but I can't seem to like these ideas either. You might consider me crazy for reading a whole series 8 times, but honestly, every time is just a little more magical. For the most part. As I get older, I start to understand some details better, I am able to dive deeper into the books. However, I also start to question things that are written, what happens to some characters or some historical details--for example, Hogwarts was founded in the 10th century, yet sinks were invented in the 18th century; how could have Salazar Slytherin, founder of Slytherin house, marked the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets with a system that wouldn't be invented for another 800 years! But who are we to judge wizards. Some people say this is a curse, but the thing I LOVE about Harry Potter is that there are so many things that can be assumed. For example, what happened between Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter? Did they become friends? Did they hate each other forever? Who knows. Or Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom: surely they got married and went hunting for Crumple-Horned Snorkacks together and then went back to teach at Hogwarts. But let's go back to my first point for a moment. When a certain character died in the 5th book, I cried. It was the first time it occurred even though I already knew what was going to happen. Chapters before the death, I wanted to be able to jump into Hogwarts and tell Harry he was being stupid, he had other ways to communicate with said person! Unfortunately I couldn't and the tear gates opened for the first time. Or when the other 101 characters just HAD to die; for some reason, the deaths hit me a lot harder this time around and I can't explain why. Yet, I'll always find myself captured by Harry Potter, coming back to it year after year, time after time, 'what ifs' and 'I wonders' popping into my head about every 5 minutes.
There's just something about Harry Potter... It was early July of 2010 and I was recovering from back surgery. It was also the soccer World Cup, a pretty idealic time to have to recover from surgery, lying in bed watching soccer games all day. But, there are only so many hours of soccer one can watch a day and I needed something else to do. It's also important to note that my brother was going into 10th grade and had to read a classic novel as part of his English homework. So naturally, me being a bookworm, decided to read his homework: The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. However, I had only read a couple of pages before it was taken away from me; I hadn't put my hands on a copy since until recently, when I FINALLY got a chance to read it. Fast forward to 2014: it was the start of summer vacation and I already had the perfect chance to read it. December 23rd rolled around and I woke up with a pretty intense need to read. I got my copy of The Catcher in the Rye and got to it. It was finished in less than 24 hours. It was a very interesting coming of age story so to say, but I didn't feel the magic I once had felt when I first opened the book almost 5 years ago. The thing that propbably bothered me the most was the fact that Holden Caulfield was kind of brute. He didn't think through his actions and when he messed up, he didn't own up to it, he just kept digging the hole deeper and messing up more; honestly this is a trait in people that can really get to me. Oh, and also, he's admitted that he's a liar, resorting to lying for even the simplest of things. The one thing that could make up for these traits though, is the unconditional love that he has for his younger sister. It's not apparent at the beginning of the book but towards the end, his actions are noticeably carried out for the good of his sister. “I'm the most terrific liar you ever saw in your life. It's awful. If I'm on my way to the store to buy a magazine, even, and somebody asks me where I'm going, I'm liable to say I'm going to the opera. It's terrible.” Even though I didn't love "The Catcher in the Rye" like I had back in 8th grade, I still recommend this book. If someone asks me if they should read it, I will definitely say yes. There's just something about it, maybe the fact that it's a classic, that makes me feel like it needs to be read.
I started playing the viola in EC-4; I remember my mom getting me from my class each Friday at 12:30, walking together to Mr. Meneses' classroom and enduring 45 minutes of "tortura china" along with frustrations and wonder at the noises I could make. Apart from the torture aspect of the classes to get my position correct, I remember the motto "practice makes perfect". I will guiltily admit that I was not the strongest follower of the motto, but sometimes I did practice, and when I did, it got closer to perfect each time. Just like practicing the viola, Blendz sales are getting close to perfect. At the end of our last sale this past semester, Ms. Juhasz came up to me and said "you've improved so much since the first time you sold; there was a lot more shouting going on, now you're really calm." I can completely agree with this. The first time we sold (and many times after that), setting up took us approximately an hour and 30 minutes, cutting it very close to opening time. And even though we took a long time to set-up, we were still missing things when it was time to sell. However, during our last sale it only took us 40 minutes to set up! We had completed everything so quickly, that we didn't know what to do for the hour that we had to wait before we could start selling. I remember our first sale as one of excitement, joy and some sort of stress. There were only 3 people manning the stand while the rest of us were either asking people questions about our first smoothies, taking pictures or observing the crowds' behavior. It was a whole new experience; exciting and exhilarating. We were allowed to practice over the last couple of months and we got pretty close to perfect. Unfortunately, our perfect didn't come around as fast as would have been helpful and we're on break right now, not really practicing. Two months is a long time to not be practicing, and it's a thought that scares me. It's not that I think that we're going to forget all the skills that we obtained during last semester, I just think we might forget how good we got and how well we can do. It will take time to get back into rhythm and it's a fact that annoys me, especially because I don't know what to do about it. #help?
One thing that I really value about the IA, is the way that we give each other feedback: straight talk. I once told Corey something along the lines of "I love it because I get to see what others see as my strengths and weaknesses." It's the absolute truth. When I was being challenged, one thing that really stood out to me and hit me kind of hard was the fact that I don't take enough INITATIVE anymore, unlike in the beginning of the semester where I was running around buying fruit for our first sale or ordering fruit from the first supplier. It's something that I have started to realize too but had never quite sinked in until Thursday. Another point of improvement that I had never actually thought about was the fact that I have to be more CURIOUS with my surroundings and break out of my "bubble", becoming more interested in things that others are doing. Doing this would help me expand my bubble of knowledge and I would definitely learn from what others are doing, such as media skills from DD, creativity from Babi or organization skills from Drew. One last thing that stood out was a comment that I had also gotten when we did the mid-term straight talks: you have to use more MEDIA to tell your story. I should also change the structure of my blog posts and make it more interesting for my readers. This is something that I have tried hard to improve on but I know that I still have a long way to go. I know that media is my weakest point because I've never had the opportunity to work with it as much as I have this semester; therefore it's definitely something I know I need and want to improve on. Every time that I have published a blog post, I've found myself trying to balance on the fine line of using purposeful media and just filler pictures and that's an aspect that I still need to work on. On the other hand, without trying to sound arrogant, it comes to no surprise that my strongest area is English although the individual strengths that were pointed out to me were. For example, being able to PRESENT well. I have never considered myself a public speaker however I have apparently improved since I last presented. Another comment that came as a surprise to me was the fact that I ask for clear FEEDBACK, and I apparently know where my strengths and weaknesses are. When I write things such as articles, my POL outline, my college essay or anything else that I want feedback on, I highlight the parts that seem unclear. I do this because it allows me to be more efficient when asking for feedback because I know what to concentrate on; I, however, had never considered this as pinpointing my weaknesses or strengths are. Lastly, my WRITING keeps coming up as one of my strengths, something that I had never really considered. I have a strong writing voice, and concise and I use clear examples. This is an area which I definitely want to keep IMPROVING because I like knowing that I write well and I have that power.
So I'm sitting up in bed, it's Wednesday night, waaaay past my bedtime, but it's been a while since I've been inspired to write my blog so early in the week. We've just presented our semester POL's and I'm still on my presentations' high (or it could be the sugar rush I'm about to get from eating so many sweets). So I can't miss this golden opportunity.
However, I'm relieved not because I was nervous to present and I just wanted to get my presentation over with, but because I was so excited that I couldn't hold it in anymore. This was my first POL and I'm pretty darn proud of how it turned out. ALSO, I've never been one to stand up in front of a crowd without becoming a nervous wreck; so when I realized that I was more excited than nervous, I was surprised.
Over the weekend I've spent an approximate of 7 hours working on my POL for Wednesday and I still havn't finished. I had everything planned out and I honestly wasn't expecting to for it to take so long. But it has. And I can only pin-point it on one thing: Keynote. As a life-long Windows user, I have never used Keynote before in my life. However, this time I did. It has been a curse but also a joy. I was scared to try it out, especially since so many of my peers create such powerful presentations with this program. Although I didn't find it easy to use, I couldn't believe that I had been missing out on something so fun to experiment with. PowerPoint might be good, but Keynote is better. Change. Why is this word so scary to us? Why is it that we like being stuck with the conventional? These are things that I've asked myself this past semester; something I'm really starting to think of now, especially since I've realized that change means progress while the conventional means regression. I recently came across this quote "Don't be afraid of change. You might lose something good, but you'll gain something better." This is true many times, and in some cases, when doing something as simple as trying Keynote rather than using the standard PowerPoint, does not mean you lose the good one and only keep the great; it means you gain another which can become such a blessing. On the other hand, as I mention more than I should, I switched into the IA after doing a year of the IB. Yes, I lost some good things and I miss some excellent teachers that I can't have anymore, but as a whole, I went from good to GREAT. I "lost" something good, a traditional, world-renown education, but ended up somewhere great, somewhere where I truly value the education I'm getting and where I question in a good way, not the typical "when am I ever going to use this" type of way. Again, I was worried about this change. I didn't know if I was going to adapt or if my peers would truly accept me in to the niche they had so carefully built over the past year. Essentially, change is the only way to try new things out and progress. If we don't embrace change, or "pivot", then we don't know what we're missing. And we might never know...
"All of us are feeling scattered and distracted as we try to keep up with an accelerating world. But nearly all of us have an answer in our hands, in simply choosing to do nothing and go nowhere for a while." Pico Iyer's article on CNN talks about the benefits of doing nothing. Literally nothing. It focuses on the benefits of taking short breaks, even just for 10 seconds, every set of time. The time that you do "nothing" is so short, that, put together, it could make up only 1% of the time you spend at work (or home or class). During our Socratic seminars, many of us thought of doing nothing as simply switching to a different task or maybe even watching an episode of our favorite series. We thought it meant not accomplishing anything. But this is now that Iyer meant by doing nothing. He meant absolute nothing; letting your mind wander to its deepest depths. You might think this has many downsides, mainly "but I'm losing time, how is this a good thing?". Well, first of all, you lose only a very small percentage of time and this loss could lead to better work. Also, when time is crunched, we tend to get things done quicker. I'm pretty sure you, sometime in your life, have procrastinated and left something to the very last minute but were still able to get things done, surprisingly. I know I have. Why is this? "We need at times to step away from our lives in order to put them in perspective. Especially if we wish to be productive." When we take breaks, we are letting our mind clear out for a couple of seconds in order to be able to attack our work with full force. Also, with crunched time, we learn to prioritize our tasks better and organize our time better, using it to its best potential. "... the best way of completing a task, often, is to look away from it; it's the pause in a piece of music that gives the piece its beauty and its shape." In reality, when we're doing nothing, we're actually doing more than we could ever imagine.
We've spent the last week pondering about Blendz. Pondering on its social responsibility; pondering on its purpose. We came to the conclusion that for the past months we have been blending and making smoothies "just 'cus" and not because we were excited to donate to our fund. "But why is this" you may ask yourself, "you know where the money is going to so why aren't you motivated?" Well yes, we do know where the money is going but we are not seeing any change in the community, we can't put faces to the people we are helping. Also, the money isn't going anywhere where it blends our community, an important aspect of Blendz. So we've pondered and we've come back to one of the ideas we always seem to end up at: have an event dedicated to the workers, where they have time to enjoy with their family and with the Roosevelt community. that, but after two hours of workshops, we would have sports such as a soccer match or a volleyball game in which everyone would participate in. This would allow us time to interact with everyone, accomplishing the "blending" of the Roosevelt community that Blendz wants to accomplish. But again, we were assuming they wanted this so we went around talking with workers at school, finding out if they would enjoy an event like this, what workshops they could offer and what workshops they would like to take. To be honest, I have gotten a lot more excited about having an event like this rather than a fund, but we have to get things moving. I think that we've gotten so caught up in thinking about the workers and what they want, that we're trying to cater to their every need, when in all honesty, they would appreciate the fact that we took the time to organize something specially for them. We have to remember that this is just a prototype and nothing is set in stone. If something doesn't work out, it can be changed. Let's stop pondering and get moving! Go BlendZ!
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Author"Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light." Archives
June 2015
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