Thursday, December 12, 2013
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Spirit Week
"School spirit is emotional support for one's educational institution. This can apply to any type of school, from elementary schools to universities. It can be manifested in the exhibition of school colors in dress and decoration, attendance of athletic events, or verbally in the form of chants or cheers.
Educators in primary and secondary education often associate proper behavior with school spirit, especially in the context of situations when students are outside the school itself. Because student behavior reflects on the school, representing it well shows a degree of student investment in their institution's good name. This definition of school spirit is closely associated with good sportsmanship among students and their families at sporting events and is loosely based upon encouraging each other."
Chelmsford spirit week (November 21st to 27th) was a fun filled week where Chelmsford High School got ready to face Billerica High School, our rivals, in the annual Thanksgiving Football game. As the week went on, CHS built school spirit in preparation for the big game. There was a friendly, interclass competitions, where one of the classes wins and shows the most spirit. Some of the competitions were Penny Wars (gathering most pennies) and Spirit Chains (most "links" bought). In addition to those two events, a community service portion was added with the "Can and Book Drives" (gathering cans and books and then donating them), where are cans were donated to the Chelmsford Food Pantry. The other part (the fun part) of the competition are the theme days, where students went "all out" by dressing up and participating.
During the spirit week the Homecoming Dance took place. Lots of the school students attended the dance. It took place in the caff. It was really fun, everyone danced and had fun. It kind a reminded me of the Macedonian parties because there were a lot of people and also loud music with lots of lights. What was different was that everything was advised by teachers, the dance ended really early and there was no drinking.
The spirit week ended with the amazing loud Pep Rally that took place in the gym. Most of the sports captains and teams were recognized during it. It had lots of cheering and it was really really loud.
They also announced the winners of the spirit week: 1st place Seniors, 2nd place Juniors, 3rd place Sophomores and 4th place Freshmen. This week was really fun, crazy and totally different than any Macedonian school week.
(Full picture album - Click here)
Monday, November 25, 2013
International Education Week - IEW
"International Education Week is an opportunity to celebrate the benefits of international education and exchange worldwide. This joint initiative of the U.S. Department of State and the U.S. Department of Education is part of our efforts to promote programs that prepare Americans for a global environment and attract future leaders from abroad to study, learn, and exchange experiences in the United States."
We (me and the other 2 exchange students) went to the principals office and talked about the IEW. We wanted to do a global presentation for the whole school, but during the IEW week everything was busy so we decided to mount the international lunch that takes place in March with our huge presentations hopefully in front the whole school. So during the actual IEW we did individual presentations in our classes, different classes or any group of people. I was very well prepared. I had an awesome Prezi presentation. I did several presentations to classes during the IEW.
(I also teached them Macedonian language and how to write their name in Macedonian!)
One of the best was my presentation to the International Relations class and to the International Relations club. They were really interested about Macedonia and the culture even though 90% of them never ever heard about Macedonia. The funny videos that I had in my presentation made it really fun and cheerful. They asked loots of questions and most of them were for Macedonian social/night life. They were amazed that Macedonian people start going to night clubs from 6th grade and also they drink, but not to get drunk, just for atmosphere. I could talk a lot about the presentation, but the best way for you to get it if you see it on your own:
(click the volume button (left bottom corner) to mute the background music of the prezi)
Teaching other people about my culture and my country was really amazing and seeing that they are really interested made it even much more amazing. The presentations about Macedonia wouldn't / didn't take place only during the IEW, but they will take place during my whole exchange year here. I have a huge responsibility here by being probably the only Macedonian person that the people here will meet and this responsibility is called a (youth) ambassador.
Having that responsibility, my year here in the U.S. and all the presentations I am doing are firstly to achieve my program goals:
- to promote a better understanding among youth from selected YES countries about American society, people, institutions, values, and culture;
- foster lasting personal ties;
- engage the exchange participants in activities that promote mutual understanding, respect for diversity, leadership skills, and an understanding of civil society during their exchange in the US;
- enhance Americans’ understanding of foreign students’ countries and cultures;
- increase the capacity of organizations in participating countries to engage youth in activities that enhance mutual understanding, respect for diversity, leadership skills, and an understanding of civil society through alumni activities.
and further on of course, to have fun and achieve all my own "drawn" goals in my head.
(Full picture album - Click Here)
(Full picture album - Click Here)
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Halloween
The Halloween excitement for me started couple days before the actual Halloween day. We decorated our house using lots of orange colors and of course, the pumpkins that my host dad grew. It was amazing, the whole neighborhood was pretty, especially the trees with their golden leafs.
So on 25th (6 days before Halloween), I went to Lowell to volunteer for Monster Bash (Halloween event). I volunteered for 6 hours there. I was helping in building the haunted house for the event. We were building the haunted house in the hallways of Lowell High school. What was really amazing was that the people who were in charge of the haunted house (they were couple), did not get anything for doing that and they were building the haunted house for years. Every single item and material for the haunted house was theirs, bought from their own money. In the caff of the school, the other group of volunteers were making candy boxes so the kids that will come to the event would get free candy. So me and my group started building the house from scratch. We firstly built the rooms and then we covered everything with dark material so no light will enter inside and then finally we decorated it with scary items/dolls like glowing/speaking zombies, witches etc. It was amazing, I had so much fun!
The next day, 26th October was the actual Monster Bash event. Tons of kids with their parents came to the event. First they entered the caff. In the caff the different volunteering groups organized different games. For playing every game the kids won a prize, either some toy or candy. There were lots of fun games. After playing those games the kids entered the haunted house. After helping to build the haunted house the day before, the organizers allowed me to scare the children in the haunted house. So my job was to scare the kids going through the haunted house. It sounds kind a mean but it was SO MUCH FUN. I was pretending to be stationary skeleton and then from a sudden I would yell or something. The poor kids were crying so loud. Some of them even exited the haunted house on that point and some of them fell on the ground from being scared! Anyway, after the haunted house was over, my voice was so sore of all of that yelling!
Then on the actually Halloween day (31st October) was even more fun. I went to school, but this day it was not a usual day of school, it was Halloween! The school had a huge banner on the entrance and many of the students were dressed up. But not only the students, some teachers were dressed up too! One of those teachers was my English teacher Mr.Shea. He was dressed up like a gorilla. Another teacher was dressed up like garbage etc.. It was really fun and crazy. After school ended I went straight home to work on my costume. I "made" a 3 in one costume using my host dad beekeeper outfit.
I was an astronaut, a fencer and a beekeeper! Then me and my friends went to a Mexican restaurant where of course everyone was dressed up. I ate my first burrito there! I liked it, it was amazing! Then we went trick or treating! Yeah, high school students were trick or treating, nothing unusual. We trick or treated in a different neighborhood where the houses were close next to each other. The neighborhood was next to a lake/pond. It was really beautiful. I got lots of candies, it was so much fun. The only (kinda) bad thing was that the next day we had school.
The Halloween party was the weekend after Halloween. Everyone was dressed up. This time I was the king of Macedonia! The party was both Halloween and double birthday party.
It was really fun, it kinda reminded me of the Macedonian parties because there were lots of lights. I answered tons of questions about Macedonia and I sang the Macedonian anthem! Yeah, it was really fun day/week.
(Full picture album - Click Here)
So on 25th (6 days before Halloween), I went to Lowell to volunteer for Monster Bash (Halloween event). I volunteered for 6 hours there. I was helping in building the haunted house for the event. We were building the haunted house in the hallways of Lowell High school. What was really amazing was that the people who were in charge of the haunted house (they were couple), did not get anything for doing that and they were building the haunted house for years. Every single item and material for the haunted house was theirs, bought from their own money. In the caff of the school, the other group of volunteers were making candy boxes so the kids that will come to the event would get free candy. So me and my group started building the house from scratch. We firstly built the rooms and then we covered everything with dark material so no light will enter inside and then finally we decorated it with scary items/dolls like glowing/speaking zombies, witches etc. It was amazing, I had so much fun!
Then on the actually Halloween day (31st October) was even more fun. I went to school, but this day it was not a usual day of school, it was Halloween! The school had a huge banner on the entrance and many of the students were dressed up. But not only the students, some teachers were dressed up too! One of those teachers was my English teacher Mr.Shea. He was dressed up like a gorilla. Another teacher was dressed up like garbage etc.. It was really fun and crazy. After school ended I went straight home to work on my costume. I "made" a 3 in one costume using my host dad beekeeper outfit.
I was an astronaut, a fencer and a beekeeper! Then me and my friends went to a Mexican restaurant where of course everyone was dressed up. I ate my first burrito there! I liked it, it was amazing! Then we went trick or treating! Yeah, high school students were trick or treating, nothing unusual. We trick or treated in a different neighborhood where the houses were close next to each other. The neighborhood was next to a lake/pond. It was really beautiful. I got lots of candies, it was so much fun. The only (kinda) bad thing was that the next day we had school.
The Halloween party was the weekend after Halloween. Everyone was dressed up. This time I was the king of Macedonia! The party was both Halloween and double birthday party.
It was really fun, it kinda reminded me of the Macedonian parties because there were lots of lights. I answered tons of questions about Macedonia and I sang the Macedonian anthem! Yeah, it was really fun day/week.
(Full picture album - Click Here)
Friday, October 25, 2013
American wedding experience
I am writing this post after long time because I am really busy! In this post I will be sharing my American wedding experience. My host brother got married.
For me it all started like 2 weeks before the actual wedding, when I started searching for a nice outfit for the wedding. After a short period of time I found a nice "suit" and I bought it (it was extremely cheap!). For the rest of the family, everything, the preparation and organization for the wedding started like a year ago. They've chosen the date for the wedding a year ago, planing to be in the amazing colorful fall. My host mom was working like all the time, the whole year on the flowers for the wedding.
So the wedding day was coming closer and closer. In the American weddings, the night before the wedding, they have a rehearsal dinner. So the night before the wedding - 18.10.2013 we (usually the parents of the groom) hosted the rehearsal dinner. We had a huge tent in our backyard. We decorated the tent very beautifully with lots of flowers/decorations that my host mom designed. The weather and the colorful fall trees in the background make the event to look completely awesome.
So around 7 pm all the people that are in the wedding ceremony (the bride, the groom and his friends, the bridesmaids etc) and the family that traveled long way started coming. We had dinner ordered from restaurant, it was so delicious. So basically the rehearsal dinner is not really for rehearsing, but more like a get together for just talking to all the people, relaxing and having fun. Our neighbor had made an amazing pinata too.
The pinata was the castle where the wedding ceremony and the party will occur and at the gate it had a picture of the marrying couple. It was so beautiful but pinatas are for being destroyed, so all the people that were in the ceremony destroyed it (it was tough at the beginning). So after 3-4 hours everyone started going home. The bride and the bridesmaids went together to a house where they spent the night and the groom and his friends in a other house. After everyone was gone, we cleared the tent. This night I was the picture guy! I took loots of great pictures and I had lots of fun as well!
The next day, 19th October was the actual wedding. The day came when all the effort for organizing, and preparing the wedding paid off. We woke up early, finished clearing up the tent from the rehearsal dinner mess and started preparing for the wedding. After everyone got prepared, we went to the place where the wedding was - the amazing Searles Castle. My "job" that day was to record videos of everything important! That day I discovered that I'm very good with recording cameras.
Everything was ready and perfect at the castle. Everything looked completely magical. The castle was amazing, especially the inside of it.
The groom with his friends were in one room of the castle preparing and the bride and the bridesmaids in other room. I guess it was same like on the movies, the man room completely chill and relaxed and the women room panicking. After they all got ready, the groom saw the bride in her wedding dress for the first time. It was very nice moment, the groom was standing in the yard of the castle and the bride tapped him on his shoulder to turn around. After that the other guests came and the ceremony started. It was like on the movies! Everyone was siting and then the wedding officiant came, then the parents of the groom and bride, after them, the groom with his friends came, after the groom the bridesmaids one by one came. Then when the bride with her father started coming, everyone stood up. The father gave blessing to the groom and handed over his daughter. The wedding officiant started the ceremony and after a while, they put the rings that the best man had and they got married!
Something that was special for this wedding ceremony was that the marrying couple have had written letters to each other how they love each other and they put those letters in a box that they will open after 10 years just to remind them how happy and in love they are. After the ceremony, the guests one by one started congratulating the married couple.
And then finally, the party! Next to the place where the ceremony occurred was a wicked huge tent where the party was. It was interesting that we had to solve a small math puzzle in order to find where we sit. Then the people that were in the wedding ceremony made an amazing fun entrance. The bride and the groom had their first dance as married couple. The best men(s) gave the speeches (they were really funny) and the married couple cut their cake. It was really fun and ~live~ party. Everyone was dancing and having so much fun. That party kind a reminded me of the parties in Macedonia.
Everyone was having such a great time and even the 98 and 86 year old grandmas were dancing!
During the rest of the night they cut their wedding cake, they danced with the parents, the bride of honor and the best mans (there were two best mans in this wedding, the groom's brother and the groom's best friend), the bride threw the bucket from one of the towers of the castle. From all of the american weddings I saw so far (on movies or), this one was definitely the best and most fun one! The plot was kind a similar to the plot of Macedonian wedding but there were lots of differences too, like the american weddings have bridesmaids and the groom has friends, the parties are different because there is different music etc.
To sum it, I had extremely great time and I will always remember this wedding! I really liked having this kind a busy day(s) with lots of people in our house. I'm so thankful for being hosted by this family because I got this amazing american wedding experience!
For me it all started like 2 weeks before the actual wedding, when I started searching for a nice outfit for the wedding. After a short period of time I found a nice "suit" and I bought it (it was extremely cheap!). For the rest of the family, everything, the preparation and organization for the wedding started like a year ago. They've chosen the date for the wedding a year ago, planing to be in the amazing colorful fall. My host mom was working like all the time, the whole year on the flowers for the wedding.
So the wedding day was coming closer and closer. In the American weddings, the night before the wedding, they have a rehearsal dinner. So the night before the wedding - 18.10.2013 we (usually the parents of the groom) hosted the rehearsal dinner. We had a huge tent in our backyard. We decorated the tent very beautifully with lots of flowers/decorations that my host mom designed. The weather and the colorful fall trees in the background make the event to look completely awesome.
So around 7 pm all the people that are in the wedding ceremony (the bride, the groom and his friends, the bridesmaids etc) and the family that traveled long way started coming. We had dinner ordered from restaurant, it was so delicious. So basically the rehearsal dinner is not really for rehearsing, but more like a get together for just talking to all the people, relaxing and having fun. Our neighbor had made an amazing pinata too.
The pinata was the castle where the wedding ceremony and the party will occur and at the gate it had a picture of the marrying couple. It was so beautiful but pinatas are for being destroyed, so all the people that were in the ceremony destroyed it (it was tough at the beginning). So after 3-4 hours everyone started going home. The bride and the bridesmaids went together to a house where they spent the night and the groom and his friends in a other house. After everyone was gone, we cleared the tent. This night I was the picture guy! I took loots of great pictures and I had lots of fun as well!
The next day, 19th October was the actual wedding. The day came when all the effort for organizing, and preparing the wedding paid off. We woke up early, finished clearing up the tent from the rehearsal dinner mess and started preparing for the wedding. After everyone got prepared, we went to the place where the wedding was - the amazing Searles Castle. My "job" that day was to record videos of everything important! That day I discovered that I'm very good with recording cameras.
Everything was ready and perfect at the castle. Everything looked completely magical. The castle was amazing, especially the inside of it.
The groom with his friends were in one room of the castle preparing and the bride and the bridesmaids in other room. I guess it was same like on the movies, the man room completely chill and relaxed and the women room panicking. After they all got ready, the groom saw the bride in her wedding dress for the first time. It was very nice moment, the groom was standing in the yard of the castle and the bride tapped him on his shoulder to turn around. After that the other guests came and the ceremony started. It was like on the movies! Everyone was siting and then the wedding officiant came, then the parents of the groom and bride, after them, the groom with his friends came, after the groom the bridesmaids one by one came. Then when the bride with her father started coming, everyone stood up. The father gave blessing to the groom and handed over his daughter. The wedding officiant started the ceremony and after a while, they put the rings that the best man had and they got married!
Something that was special for this wedding ceremony was that the marrying couple have had written letters to each other how they love each other and they put those letters in a box that they will open after 10 years just to remind them how happy and in love they are. After the ceremony, the guests one by one started congratulating the married couple.
And then finally, the party! Next to the place where the ceremony occurred was a wicked huge tent where the party was. It was interesting that we had to solve a small math puzzle in order to find where we sit. Then the people that were in the wedding ceremony made an amazing fun entrance. The bride and the groom had their first dance as married couple. The best men(s) gave the speeches (they were really funny) and the married couple cut their cake. It was really fun and ~live~ party. Everyone was dancing and having so much fun. That party kind a reminded me of the parties in Macedonia.
Everyone was having such a great time and even the 98 and 86 year old grandmas were dancing!
During the rest of the night they cut their wedding cake, they danced with the parents, the bride of honor and the best mans (there were two best mans in this wedding, the groom's brother and the groom's best friend), the bride threw the bucket from one of the towers of the castle. From all of the american weddings I saw so far (on movies or), this one was definitely the best and most fun one! The plot was kind a similar to the plot of Macedonian wedding but there were lots of differences too, like the american weddings have bridesmaids and the groom has friends, the parties are different because there is different music etc.
To sum it, I had extremely great time and I will always remember this wedding! I really liked having this kind a busy day(s) with lots of people in our house. I'm so thankful for being hosted by this family because I got this amazing american wedding experience!
Friday, October 4, 2013
AFS Weekend 28-29 September
In this post I will be talking about the amaizing weekend I had with the other AFS - YES/FLEX/SYBL (sponsored programs) students. You must've notice that I use amaizing/awesome/great a lot and its true, I use it a lot and everything is really amaizing/awesome/great!!!
So on Saturday, 28th September I woke up, ate breakfast and went to Tynksborough to catch the bus to Boston. Getting a ticket and the bus ride was a great experience. It is different than Macedonia. Here, in order to get a ticket you need to give somekind ID card (student or driver's licence or so), the busses are so more organized, comfortable and they have Wi-Fi! So after around 30 min I arrived at South Bus Station - Boston!
The city is amaizing! It is so beautiful! All the skyscrapers, beautiful buildings, organized roads, the under-ocean traffic tunnel... Ouhhhh it is unbelivable! So I met with the clouster coordinator (a volonteering AFS person who is in charge for a clouster-group of exchange students in a certain region), with the other exchange students and with an amaizing, funny AFS volonteer. We went to Rosie's place, a Boston sanctuary for poor and homeless women. We volonteered 3 hours there! We made and served the lunch. I did every possible thing/job to be done! I unloaded groceries, I did laundry, I was prepairing the lunch, I served, I washed dishes, everything!
You cannot imagine the feeling when the ladies were saying "Thank You!" for helping them by just giving them the one of the things that all people should have - food! I had so much fun and I was feeling full, happy, satisfied of me! Not only by volonteering you help people, you always have fun too, so if you ever have a chance do NOT miss it, you'll see what I was talking about :) ! After that we went to the 09 / 11 ( 11th September 2001 event when the 2 planes crashed to the twin towers in New York) monument near the Logan Airport (Boston's airport).
This is an important day for Boston and the region because the two planes took of from Boston and all the plane staff was from here... We did a very important activity there. All 8 students from all over the world got a part of a connected tangled rope and tried to untangle it.
After communication and colaboration between we untangle'd the rope. It is same with all other world's conflicts! In order to get over them and achieve peace we just need to communicate and colaborate between, so do your best! And because of this all the sponsored programs and AFS exist! To connect people and to bring peace!
After this, we went to the Scicuate Lighthouse located in Scicuate :D . It was so darn beautiful! The ocean with it's unlimited beauty and unlimited horisont and just next to the ocean the lighthouse!
After that we went to our cluster coordinator's house to overnight. We had some meetings/orientations there, we (practised) presented our countries, we played games and then we went to bed.
The next morning, Sunday 29th September we went to Plymoth, the place where one of the first groups of people - the Pilgrams settled North America. In Plymoth we went to the historical living museum - Plimoth Plantation. It was so amaizing! At one part you have real Native Americans (or Indians) living as they lived in their time and doing all of their chores! And on the other part there were the English people - The Pilgrams who also were living as the actual settlers lived. I was seeing the history with my own eyes! The people that worked were so amaizing actors! They were totaly acting as a Native American/Settler, I couldn't see any difference between what I've knew/studied and what I was seeing! Amaizing!
After the Plimoth plantation we went to the "Mayflower" the original ship with who the settlers came from England to Plymoth. The ship was so beautiful. And again it was left totaly the same as when it came for the first time there and there were actors - settlers in the sheep aswell!
After this historical museums we ate lunch next to the ocean, went some souvenir shopping and then returned to Boston. From Boston I took the bus to my home and after around half hour I was home! It was so fun and exciting weekend! Thanks to the AFS volonteers who organized this!
(Full picture album - Click Here)
So on Saturday, 28th September I woke up, ate breakfast and went to Tynksborough to catch the bus to Boston. Getting a ticket and the bus ride was a great experience. It is different than Macedonia. Here, in order to get a ticket you need to give somekind ID card (student or driver's licence or so), the busses are so more organized, comfortable and they have Wi-Fi! So after around 30 min I arrived at South Bus Station - Boston!
The city is amaizing! It is so beautiful! All the skyscrapers, beautiful buildings, organized roads, the under-ocean traffic tunnel... Ouhhhh it is unbelivable! So I met with the clouster coordinator (a volonteering AFS person who is in charge for a clouster-group of exchange students in a certain region), with the other exchange students and with an amaizing, funny AFS volonteer. We went to Rosie's place, a Boston sanctuary for poor and homeless women. We volonteered 3 hours there! We made and served the lunch. I did every possible thing/job to be done! I unloaded groceries, I did laundry, I was prepairing the lunch, I served, I washed dishes, everything!
You cannot imagine the feeling when the ladies were saying "Thank You!" for helping them by just giving them the one of the things that all people should have - food! I had so much fun and I was feeling full, happy, satisfied of me! Not only by volonteering you help people, you always have fun too, so if you ever have a chance do NOT miss it, you'll see what I was talking about :) ! After that we went to the 09 / 11 ( 11th September 2001 event when the 2 planes crashed to the twin towers in New York) monument near the Logan Airport (Boston's airport).
This is an important day for Boston and the region because the two planes took of from Boston and all the plane staff was from here... We did a very important activity there. All 8 students from all over the world got a part of a connected tangled rope and tried to untangle it.
After communication and colaboration between we untangle'd the rope. It is same with all other world's conflicts! In order to get over them and achieve peace we just need to communicate and colaborate between, so do your best! And because of this all the sponsored programs and AFS exist! To connect people and to bring peace!
After this, we went to the Scicuate Lighthouse located in Scicuate :D . It was so darn beautiful! The ocean with it's unlimited beauty and unlimited horisont and just next to the ocean the lighthouse!
The lighthouse was built in 1810 with a purpose to lead all the ships, but it wasnt working for all of this 203 years. From period to period of time was broken but what is important now it works! We met amaizing people there! The lighthouse keeper and his daughter, very friendly people!
After that we went to our cluster coordinator's house to overnight. We had some meetings/orientations there, we (practised) presented our countries, we played games and then we went to bed.
The next morning, Sunday 29th September we went to Plymoth, the place where one of the first groups of people - the Pilgrams settled North America. In Plymoth we went to the historical living museum - Plimoth Plantation. It was so amaizing! At one part you have real Native Americans (or Indians) living as they lived in their time and doing all of their chores! And on the other part there were the English people - The Pilgrams who also were living as the actual settlers lived. I was seeing the history with my own eyes! The people that worked were so amaizing actors! They were totaly acting as a Native American/Settler, I couldn't see any difference between what I've knew/studied and what I was seeing! Amaizing!
After the Plimoth plantation we went to the "Mayflower" the original ship with who the settlers came from England to Plymoth. The ship was so beautiful. And again it was left totaly the same as when it came for the first time there and there were actors - settlers in the sheep aswell!
After this historical museums we ate lunch next to the ocean, went some souvenir shopping and then returned to Boston. From Boston I took the bus to my home and after around half hour I was home! It was so fun and exciting weekend! Thanks to the AFS volonteers who organized this!
(Full picture album - Click Here)
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