Yin-Yang

FN. Principle of Learning:

  • Learning involves time and patience.
  • Learning ultimately supports the well being of self, the family, the community, the land, the spirits, and the ancestors.

2 things proud:

  • Usually I struggle with detailing my narratives but with this one, I got it even more than what I was expecting.
  • I didn’t get many mistakes on grammar.

2 things improve:

  • Sentence fluency, using more semi colons, thanos, or fanboys, not only commas.
  • Filter more what I write, I had a lot of dead wood.

Yin-Yang

Crack! What just happened? No, it can’t be broken. It can’t be. I’m fine, I can still play… Okay, that is hurting more than it should be. That was the moment I knew that something was wrong. Okay, let me come back a little bit. I’ve been preparing myself for the first game of the rugby season for a long time; I had been working out since November just to get in the shape, I didn’t miss a single practice since the first day, I was doing research about the sport… I was one hundred percent ready for that game. I was so excited about it that I invited all of my friends to watch; I wanted to do my best.

On a cloudy afternoon at the end of winter, there was me, the new girl in the rugby team, excited for the first game, training some passes on the field beforehand. I was just so joyful and full of energy; everything was going exactly how I planned. After the motivational talk with the coaches, the game started. To be honest, I was doing better than I thought I would; the good comments of the coaches were increasing my desire for a try (that’s how they call when you score in rugby). We were in the defense now; we followed the game plan forming a straight line so no one could pass through us to score. At the moment, we were wining for 15-0, but there was a huge hole in our line. The number 22 on the other team passed through. The girl was running to score; she was fast, but I knew I could catch her. It was only me and her, the other girls of my team couldn’t get there to help me in time; the distance between us was less than one meter. I wouldn’t let her score, not under my watch, so I jumped on her.

“Luise are you okay?” my coach asked

“Not really no”

I went off the field on the first 25 minutes in the first period. I wanted to cry, but all of my friends were there and my team was winning, I wouldn’t do that, not in that moment. The smell of the grass on my jersey, the cold ice on my shoulder, and the words that the doctor said, “You must rest for 3 weeks” were the result of my failure.

The constant pain felt like a huge weight was over my shoulder and made taking showers, eat and dressing, the hardest activities I could do. Being unable to do simple things was pissing me off. My entire life It had been drill in my head to be independent. Even my parents that are the ones who should be giving me support no matter what, I refused. It was all about me fighting for myself, because that’s the world. If you don’t fight for yourself, who will?

The help of others was essential for the first weeks. I needed people to open the door for me; okay, I know it seems like a good thing, like a gentleman doing that in the first date, but no, it sucks, trust me. I needed someone to accompany me in the washroom, because yes, I couldn’t zip my pants up. I needed my mom to help me to dress in the morning imagine how embarrassing is to need you mom’s help to dress up when you’re 16… Yeah, here’s my independence hitting rock bottom.

That wasn’t even the worst part. The stress was. I was stressed out most of the time, probably because I couldn’t do what made me feel good. Going to the gym, working out whatever it is, legs, abs or arms, and feeling the pain of sore muscles on the next day or hanging out with my friends on the weekend, creating new memories; or going to the practises every Tuesday and Thursday, working hard to help the team to improve in every single aspect… Being stuck at home for 3 weeks, while having a nice weather outside after months of rain, for sure, was the most awful thing that could happen to me.

After a while, I started to see the good things about this. Is quite funny how people, including me, just wait for something bad to happen to notice the things around them. Needing my mom’s help for almost everything made me notice how far from her I was. Hearing my mom’s spontaneous laugh after my stories of how my day was in school and her words trying to comfort me when she saw me crying before going to bed made me notice how much I missed her, and how she missed me too. By getting close to my mom, I got close to my dad too. He was always there trying to make me laugh even when I had told him that laughing hurts, but he always answered me saying, “A good laugh is never too bad.” and he was right, those moments were making me feel good. And in that moment, I finally realised that I didn’t have to carry the weight of life on my shoulders alone. Because life is not about myself, but the people who I share the weight of life.

Life is just like yin yang. There’s always the bad in the good, and the good in the bad. It’s easy to see the nicest things when you’re feeling good, but its also a test for your patience to see that when you are in the lowest point. But after you do, you’ll look at things from another perspective, because you will always try to take only the good from the bad things, because you’ll know that the bad only comes to teach you a lesson.

 

Indian Horse Informal Blogging

Three Reasons Why the Kelly’s are the Best Family Ever

In the book Indian Horse, Saul the main character, is adopted by the Kelly’s, a family that the parents went to the Residential School and decided to adopt this hockey player (which by the way, is incredibly good at it) from the Residential School where they “attended” before.

 

1. Honesty is all that matters

Since the beginning they were very honest with Saul, especially Virgil, he was always saying what he thinks, even if Saul didn’t agree with that. In all of their conversations were giving honest advices and opinions, and since we all know how important honesty is in a relationship, we can see the strength of their relationship with Saul.

 

2. Supportive like us when the Whitecaps are playing

You know you have good parents when they support you in anything, they may not agree with what you’re doing, like the Kelly’s didn’t when Saul left their house, but they gave Saul support either way. That reminds me how much we love our teams, they may lose sometimes, but we still there cheering for them on the next game.

 

3. Help is always welcomed

They are very helpful people, all of them, the mom that acts like his real mom (or how she was supposed to be), offering food all the time, making sure that he’s comfortable in his room. Virgil, helping him with the homework of new school and making sure he feels belonged to the team. Fred, coming to pick him up from the Residential School to play with the Moose… Manitouwadge could be a tiny city, with not much to do (just like Poco), but all these little things made him feel at home, because are the people who makes you feel at home, not the place.

Imagery in Indian Horse

Luise Matias

Imagery Paragraph

Block C

I read once that there are holes in the universe that swallow all light, all bodies. St. Jerome’s took all the light from my world.”  (Wagamese ,43)

In this quote, Wagamese is describing how Saul feels about the Residential School. The imagery of the quote “Holes in the universe that swallow all light, all bodies” describes exactly the power of black holes in the space that swallows everything in their way. That can be also considered a metaphor of the power of the priests and nuns on them, how the priests and nuns take away everything from their culture. The next part “St. Jerome’s took all the light from my world” shows how that power particularly affected himself, the light mentioned can be considered the hope of happiness, of a good life. Saul haven’t got to the school yet, but he could feel how his world was changing already. His world used to be colorful, even with all the family problems, he had hope, and in the moment that he figured out he was going to the Residential School, it all became dark like the holes in the universe and it swallowed up all his hope and happiness.

See the source image

Favourite on the first Time

Food and You

Luise Matias

Block C

 

                                                            Favourite on the first time                            

How does a restaurant that I visited once becomes my favourite already? Well, The Old Spaghetti Factory is a famous restaurant in North America with a focus on Italian cuisine. The first and only time I went there was with friends in Gastown, Vancouver. My first impression of it was as if I jumped off a plane in Italy, seeing all those antique and classy décors. While I was looking to the train in the middle of the restaurant with tables for 2, my friends were answering the receptionist saying, “Table for four.” With a clean and light environment, the table with comfortable chairs and a view to the street made the experience even better. The Italian bread accompanied by the cheesy garlic sauce as an appetizer, was a good start for us. Although we were indecisive, the waiter with a French accent was very patient and nice to all of us. After the bread, the fresh, balsamic Italian salad got in our mouths, with a purpose to “open the appetite”. When the tubes of pasta stuffed with a delicately spiced mixture of cheeses and spinach, topped with marinara sauce and melted mozzarella, called Manicotti got on our table, the tasty smell of the pasta was too irresistible to wait for the photos to be taken. Of course, as well as the main dish, the ice cream after everything was a good choice, was wonderful and icy. Due to the how much we ate, you must think the bill was as fat as us after getting out of the restaurant, but actually the price was affordable for all ($19 plus taxes). Certainly, with the effective service, the good company of my friends, the friendly environment, the divine food, and good prices, there’s no reasons for The Old Spaghetti Factory not be my favourite restaurant.

Image result for the old spaghetti factory

 

Core Competencies

Core Competencies

What are you good at? What is your goal?

Core Competency Awesome already Need to grow
Creative thinking Look outside of the box

Theories

Discussions
Critical Thinking

 

To know the fact before you do something

Think before doing it

Research
Personal and Cultural Identity Explore

Be respectful

Open minded

 

Learn about my past
Personal Awareness and Responsibility Personality

Make plans for my goals

Be a person of word

Selflove

Believe in myself

Not procrastinate

Communication Live the moment

Understanding

Making connections

Listen

Social Responsibility Taking responsibility for your actions

Recycling

Caring about other people

Volunteering

 

The Human Condition: Curiosity

“Live Curious”

In the video “Live Curious” by National Geographic Channel, many people from different countries, cultures, ages, genders are dictating the cycle of life, by saying one word that leads to another one. The video starts with the phrase, “If you are, you breathe” that means if you are something/someone, you breathe, because all living being, plants, animals, us, breathe. On the course of the video, you realize that every word and action are connected building a cycle, like breath and talk or talk and ask, as mentioned on the video, until the highest point of knowledge: “If you know, you want to know more. And if you want to know more, you are alive”, connecting to the first word, with the meaning of: if you are alive, you are something, which means that you are breathing, so all the cycle starts over again. Humans can be curious if they desire knowledge. This video shows that even the simple things that we do can lead us to knowledge; it is in the human nature to be curious and always be curious to gain knowledge.