Percussion Workshop!!

Last week we has the most amazing Jembe workshop with Dave from the Jabba Jabba Jembe group. We all went out to his van and brought in all of his drums and other percussion instruments. We then arranged ourselves in a circle with a drum each. We either had a jembe drum (which you play with your hands) or a base drum (which are played with sticks). He then taught us a few rythms on each of the drums and then we began to play together as a group. He showed us where jembe drumming originated in west Africa and we also watched a video about music and rythmn within the west African tribes. I thoroughly enjoyed the workshop since it taught us a new skill and would love to do something similar again!

Sometimes in April Workshop!

In religion class we have been watching the film "Sometimes in April" as part of our module on development education. It is a movie that deals with the Rwandan genocide and its effect on the Rwandan people and the rest of the world. The movie is filmed from the perspective of Augustin, a Hutu who married a Tutsi woman, and looks at his experiences of the war and how he deals with its reprecussions for the rest of his life. I really enjoyed the movie and found it very moving since it showed how the west really overlooks suffering in the developing world.

Mac'n'Cheese! What a Classic...

Stephanie and I cooked our final American dish on Tuesday. The convienence food horror..Mac'nCheese! I know that generaly Maccaroni and Cheese is considered to be the typical school lunch. Rubbery. Sticky. Tasteless. So if it has such an awful reputation, why did we pick it? Well the simple answer is, yet again, Jamie. We were looking through his cookery book and were really drawn to his version of mac'n'cheese. The only thing that really put us off was the amount of garlic that he adds. 10 cloves!!! But garlic aside, the dish turned out to be wonderful and we both really enjoyed our cheesy masterpiece.

Trip to the GAA Museum and Croke Park!

On monday, we all went on a history trip to Croke Park and the GAA museum. We went at 12:00 and I, who had only ever seen the stadium from a distance, was struck by how huge it was! We entered the foyer through a door surrounded by the names of all the GAA clubs in Ireland and were taken through into a small lecture theater where we all sat down to watch a short film on the running of Croke Park. Once the film was over we were then taken on a tour of the stadium. We saw the changing rooms, the players' lounge, the transport tunnel and the commercial boxes. We then climbed up to the very top seats and looked out over the stadium while the guide pointed out the features and history of the place. Overall it was a very interesting experience, even for me a non-GAA follower! I would gladly go again!

Gorgeous Blueberry Puddings...

On Tuesday, Stephanie and I made our second American masterpiece in Home.Ec. Blueberry Puddings!! These are the most delicious desserts I have ever eaten! They are also, unlike most tasty dishes, extremely easy to make. We once again used Jamie Oliver's wonderful cookbook on American Cusine and as always he didn't fail us! To start off we chopped up some tinned pears, tossed them in brown sugar and spread them over the base of six ramekin dishes. We then made the pudding batter by beating the sugar, butter, vanilla, orange zest and juice, eggs and flour together using an electric beater. We then spread the batter over the pears, tossed the blueberries in sugar and scattered them over the top. We let them bake for half an hour, until they had risen and were nicely browned. At the end Stephanie and I sat down and scoffed the lot!

Technology Projects!

Since the start of the year we have done three practical projects in technology classes. The first of these was making a plastic keyring which we had to cut out using a hacksaw, file down and gloss. The next one, making a clock, was really enjoyable since we got to design our own centre-piece for the clock face (my piece was a geometric shape that loked slightly like a puzzle piece). We then got to make stickers for the numbers around the edge. Everyone's clocks looked really good and I was really pleased with how my clock turned out! I am now working on a key holder in the shape of a key. I'm having slightly more difficulty with this one since the teeth of the key are really hard to cut out!

Spanish Presentation: Antonio Gaudí

Yesterday I presented my project on the Spanish architect Antonio Gaudí to the class. Gaudí is a person who I greatly admire since I too aspire to become an architect. His designs were way ahead of his time and are still considered to be extremely creative, colourful and uniquely shaped. I would really like to go and visit Barcelona some time in order to visit some of his spectacular work. The places I would most like to visit are the Casa Batllo, the Park Guell and the Sagrada Familia (obviously!). I thought that the presentation went alright but I think I spoke to fast and forgot a few points.. Oh well, I really did enjoy doing the research!