SECRETARY:)

So I won secretary for Operation Smile by default in our meeting last week. Though I didn't run against anybody I'm really excited to contribute more to this service project. I'm also happy that I now hold a leadership position in something, I'll be able to contribute  more and show my organizational skills as well as my skills as a leader. I'm not entirely sure what this position entails exactly, I only know that I need to record the names of those who've shown up to the meeting but I will find out more about the position when we come back next year. 

JV Volleyball ISK: Final Reflection

Yesterday was our last Volleyball game and we ended up UNDEFEATED:) Our last two games were the best two, we dominated the court, winning all three sets and playing three hit Volleyball. It was a lot of fun because the teams we played against generally played one hit Volleyball, giving us a lot of free balls and I thought we worked collaboratively really well in returning these. As a team I really think we improved but my serving got much weaker throughout the season. I learned the positioning, which was one of the reasons why I didn't make Varsity, but my serving, which was one of the reasons I was chosen to play on JV, got much worse. I learnt a lot about my areas of strengths as well as weaknesses and maybe if I practice my service over the summer I will be able to make ISSEA next year. I'm glad I did join this team though because it's been an experience filled with ups and downs, a learned a lot, didn't do so well at times but made up for it in other instances, got to know some of the girls in the grades below me  and undertook a new challenge of being on a team at ISK, persevering till the end of the season. 

Class President/Operation Smile Secretary

I didn't win Class President, which was really disappointing but I'm running for Secretary in Operation Smile next week since somebody's leaving and there's an opening. I really hope I win this position because not only will it give me an opportunity to display my leadership but I'll also be able to take a more active role in Operation Smile. Like I mentioned in previous blog post, I haven't done as much service here in Kenya as I would have liked to have done and along with Wednesday service next year I think this will give me the opportunity to become more actively involved.

Horse Riding

I finally started horse riding last week on Friday last week. It was so much fun even though I only went for a half hour lesson. I haven't really forgotten that much, I was able to do rising trot, sitting trot, canter and I trotted over two poles to prepare myself for jumping. I had just started jumping when I was horse riding in Jordan so I can't wait till I start again and begin to excel at it. I actually forgot how tiring horse riding is though, my inner thigh muscles and calves take most of the strain because I'm not really used to sitting on the saddle yet and the continous up and down motion works out my calves. I've scheduled another lesson for this week on Wednesday (tomorrow) and I aim to have a smoother transition into trot and canter. I had a lot of trouble on Friday because not only am I out of practice but also the horse I rode (Sierra) isn't as obedient as other horses, at least that's what my instructor said!

I finally finished the scarf by learning how to make tassels and adding them on today. My mom showed me how to create six-stringed tassels by following the instructions below:

1) Fold the yarn into three equal parts and cut it from the ball
2) Fold the three equal parts in half and use a crochet needle to pull the yarn from the middle through the end of the scarf
3) Poke the ends of the tassels through the opening made by the pulling the yarn through the end of the scarf
4) Pull to make a knot to make sure the tassel stays

I've obtained a new skill by doing this and I'm happy I've learnt it because now I know I can create a scarf all by myself. I'm actually knitting another scarf now, I was able to create the stitches by myself and I've included a photo of my progress so far. 

Running for Class Representative

I'm running for class representative and I'm really excited for this because I haven't been as involved at ISK as I would have liked to have been. It'll give me the opportunity to hold a leadership position as well as plan and initiate activities. Furthermore it's a new challenge/risk because I haven't run for anything in this school yet and this will be my first time speaking up at class meetings. I really hope I win because I represented the entire student body back in Sri Lanka, being President, and I know I can be a successful representative of our class.