Volunteering in Lavapies

For the past month, I've been collaborating alongside my classmate Diego Finkle with Dragones de Lavapies, an NGO based in the neighbourhood of Lavapies in Madrid that helps people at risk of social exclusion through football. A couple of months ago we got in touch with Thomas, who has connections with several NGOs around Madrid. He suggested that we could use our knowledge to help out the kids who visit the organization with their academic needs. So we set up a meeting with the director of the NGO to decide when we would meet with the kids. 

However, the director thought we could benefit the organisation if we went to the kids' football practice to help them with their English while playing football. For the next couple of weeks we have been helping them for a couple of hours every Wednesday. I was pleasently surprised by how polite and sharp some of the kids were, which make so much easier to connect with them and understand the different backgrounds where they were raised. Each one of them showed a great excitement in every practice we attended, and they were immediately interested in getting to know us better and making us feel welcome in their group.

All in all, this was one of the most fullfilling experiences I have done within the CAS programme, as it has not only allowed me to improve academically but has been incredibly positive on a personal level.

CAS Long-Term Project

Last summer Alejandro Willemse presented me the opportunity to work alongside him on the project he was planning, a Youtube and Tik Tok account where he uploaded memes showing his creativity. I had heard about the project he had started, and I found amusing the work he had already done, so I didn't hesitate when he asked me to work alongside him in the development of the videos. 

Since then, I have been in charge of the technical and research parts of the videos. Once he had the idea of the video I would start to search and designate the audiovisual aspects that would be used in the video. In addition, once the videos were completed I move to design the thumbnail of the video. Finally, he asked me to do some research on the functioning of the algorithm of Youtube to obtain better results in terms of views and impact.

To sum up, being involved in such an amazing project has been great so far. At first, I was frustrated for being unable to develop the CAS project on my own. However, working alongside Alejandro has been great, although I've never had the opportunity to work with him we have a good relationship, and I found astonishing the ability he has to come up with such unique ideas. Furthermore, it's really gratifying to see the evolution in the quality of the videos and the support it has from the audience.

Joining a gym

Since I quit basketball last year I have been looking forward to starting a new activity to stay active and keep as fit as possible, so two months ago I suggested the idea of joining a gym to a couple of friends. For the first month we have been going consistently for 3 days per week, 

However, I'm used to having a quite strict schedule when it comes to physical activity so for the past weeks, while they have had a different schedule from usual, I’ve been going on my own. At first I hated the idea because I felt a bit uncomfortable at times, despite this recently it has grown on me and now I prefer to go on my own as it has turned out to be more challenging in terms of intensity and easier for me to focus on the actual workout.

To sum up, this new habit has been a great opportunity for me to show commitment to an activity, as I do not have someone who controls whether I go or not, and disconnect from the workload. Furthermore, it has helped me a ton with my social skills as it's necessary to talk to people you don't know and do not have anything in common with.

International Human Rights Day

Due to the international Human Rights day Amnesty International proposed an initiative to write a letter to activists who have been arrested in their countries while trying to defend the rights of their people. The initiative made a selection of what they thought to be the six most important cases at the time and gave the opportunity to write to either the individual to show your support or the government to demand a fair legal process. 

I decided to write to the Nigerian government about the case of Imoleayo Michael, a man who has been arrested during a march against police brutality in his country, demanding to drop all the charges against him. 

These types of initiatives are always a great opportunity to help people who fought for a more fair world, raise awareness about the reality in other countries of the world and defend the rights everyone must have.Also, it was great to discover this type of cases, that do not appear on traditional media. 

Here’s a copy of the email I send:

Ministry of Justice New Federal Secretariat Complex 5th Floor Shehu Shagari Way Maitama P.M.B 192 Garki, Abuja Nigeria Honourable Attorney General of the Federation, Imoleayo Michael is a young man who only wants a fairer, more just Nigeria, where his people are treated with the respect the universal declaration of human rights demand. The remonstration he participated alongside other young people who were protesting against the Special Anti-Robbery Squad shouldn’t be a motive for his imprisonment. All because he believes that Nigeria’s police must be better for the people they are meant to protect. On behalf of the Spanish people I urge you to drop all charges against Imoleayo immediately and preserved the agreement your country once ratified. Yours sincerely, Miguel Ávila.

International Day against Breast Cancer

Due to the International Day against Breast Cancer the IB groups organised a fundraising in favour of the investigation of this disease. This was a big event so in order to achieve it the work was divided in different groups. One of those groups was in charge of assembling the urns and making some of the bracelets and ribbons that were going to be sold. 

This was a very special event as it's a great opportunity to raise money that benefits people who are struggling with breast cancer. One of my parents is a doctor, so I'm really conscious about the importance of providing enough funds to investigate such a problematic disease which affects lots of women. Also, I feel like raise awareness in the youngest generations it's crucial for the future.

Furthermore, this was a great opportunity to get to know better people who have similar concerns and try to do something about it. Also, these types of activities help a ton with teamwork which is always an important ability to develop. 

Ping Pong Tournament

During the summer I hang out at a friends place a couple of times, one of those days we decided to play a couple of games of table tennis between us, when it occured to me that we could organise a small tournament between us.

Firstly, we create a playoff table and make a raffle to decide the matchups. The playoffs will follow the same structure as the football world cup (quarter finals, semifinals, third and fourth place and the grand final). Then we play each other until the grand final were each one would support either one of the finalists.

Overall, this activity was amazing as I could spend times with friends who arent related to the IB programme and show them one of the characteristics I like the most about it. Furthermore, its always great to do activities alongside friends. 

(By the way, big congrants to Nacho who ended up winning the tournament) [1º phto]

Drawing a cityscape

A month ago I watched a video of a guy who used a one point perspective technique to draw the aerial view of a city and I really liked the idea so I wanted to try it. For the past week I have been working on the drawing in my spare time, mostly during the mornings as a way of training my concentration for the work I have scheduled for the summer. Overall it was a really pleasant experience that helped me a ton on my patience skills alongside a challenging activity due to the fact that usually I don't do creative stuff.

Skating

Last weekend I was hanging out with some friends and one of them brought his skate so I asked him if I could try it. From the very beginning I realized I wasn't meant to skate,although I kept trying for a while despite being terribly bad at it. However, was entretained the whole time and we ended up doing stupid things and laughting about them. Overall, I really enjoy this activity, not because of the experience as such, but because of the company I had while doing it.

(Here is a photo that shows how bad I am)

Basketball season summary

I've been reluctant to write down this experience, that's why it has taken me so long to upload it, since it may be the CAS activity I've enjoyed the least during the whole year. Yet,  I think I might obtain a valuable lesson from it.

To provide some context, I've been playing basketball for most of my life and a couple of years ago I joined a basketball club to play at a higher level. However, due to the global pandemic and the lockdown we had in March the importance of basketball has decreased exponentially in my personal life.

The beginning of the season started a couple of weeks after what we were expecting and due to the new restrictions we had to use masks during the practises, which alongside with the lack of competitions, it took away all the interest i had on keep playing.

Nonetheless, once the games were allowed I recovered part of the interest I used to have. Although this did not last long, once the league started the amount of minutes I played started decreasing compared with last season. This, alongside with the exams and internal assessments I had to do and not being able to see my friends as much as I wanted made me want to quit mid-season. However, after talking with different people I decided to finish the season.

 Despite everything we managed to go 13-1 and got to the playoffs where we were fighting for promotion, which was a pretty good achievement but we couldn't make it through the first round ending up in the 7th seed.

Ultimately, this was a very frustrating experience for me because every time I got substituted my coach congratulated me for the defensive effort, encouraged me to take more shots and asked me to be more aggressive when I got the ball, but despite all this I couldn't get more minutes.  For instance, during the most important game of the season when we faced the elimination we were 20 points down, so we used a box and one defense where I was asked to guard the other team's best player and we made a good run cutting the difference to 5 points and my coach congratulate me for the effort, but once I got substituted and did not went back to the game. 

(This are my  stats of the season)

Building a lego

The other day I was cleaning up my house when I found a lego that I never built up, which was kind of strange because I used to love them when I was a kid, so I decided to build it up.

At first, it was very entertaining and brought me back to my childhood which made the whole experience much more enjoyable. Moreover, from my point of view it's a very rewarding experience because it gives you a sense of progress with every little progress you make. However, not everything was good, as I was progressing it was a bit frustrating because I couldn't connect some parts to make them work and I had to take a break. 

To sum up, I enjoy this activity a lot because it reminds me of my childhood and it was great to do it again after so much time, furthermore, although it may sound as a contradiction it helped me to set aside some of the preoccupations I was dealing with, so in conclusion I really enjoyed the whole experience.

Paella

Since I was little I have always been very interested in learning to cook, and for the past years I’ve been cooking my own food. Last weekend I wanted to try something new, so I decided to try to make a Paella, a Spanish traditional dish that I’ve always loved.

At first it seems to very challenging but once my father explained me the recipe I realize it wasn’t so hard. And It turn up to be really good, which make me really proud of myself to be honest.

Overall, trying this turn up to be very pleasing experience as it’s not only a useful skill but a relaxing and enjoyable activity, that also helps to disconnect from the study routine. Besides that, I’ve also realize the difference between eating something you have make an effort to accomplish and something prepared by someone, and share it with my family make it even better.

(Here are the steeps I followed to make it)

Rugby

Last week during our PE class we try rugby. It was the first time this year, and due to the current sanitary situation we had to adapt the rules to minimalize the contact. Using flags instead of tackling the opponent.

I been always very interested in rugby, especially during the 6 nations, but I don’t play frequently. This make me realize how demanding this sport is, not only physically but technically.

Although I have to admit I didn’t enjoy it much. The rules make it really slow and felt a bit exasperating. However, it may be beneficial for the future as it tested my patience and disposition to try new things.

(IHere are some photos of the two games we play)

Vegetable garden

Last week I took part in a CAS activity along with my friends Álvaro Riva, Álvaro Cameo, Jaime Acosa, Hans Simons and Diego Finkel where we taught a 1st of primary class about different types of vegetables and how to nurture them.  

Firstly, we gave them a brief talk about the characteristics of different vegetables. We talk about green beans, onions, peppers, strawberries and zucchini. We made groups of 3 or 4 kids and helped each one of them to complete a document about one vegetable. After that we went to their playground to plant the different vegetables in a small vegetable garden that they had. Each kid had the opportunity to plant the vegetable they prefer, and while some of us were helping them the other were playing and talking with the kids that either had finished or were waiting.

Overall this was a great experience. All the kids were really nice and polite, and willing to learn what we were teaching. Also, they were really interested in us and kept asking questions about ourselves and seemed to be really excited to have older students in their class. For instance, one of the kids I was helping asked me about my birthday and when I told him it was a couple of days later he was super  thrilled. Furthermore, this was a great opportunity to improve my speaking fluency as we were asked to speak exclusively in English to the kids. However, this wasn't a perfect experience, due to the lack of commitment another group had with their class we were asked to went again the following day in order to complete the activity they were supposed to do, which wasn't that bad at all because those kids were as nice as the ones we had the first day.

 Here are somo photos we took during the expirience

Teaching history

At the beginning of this evaluation my school came up with the idea of organising particular classes for the students from ESO who have struggled with a specific subject during the year. Each of the volunteers could choose the subject we wanted to teach them, and we were assigned one student who had asked for those classes. I chose History because I used to be very good at it and when we had exams I used to help a friend of mine with the subject matter.

The student I had assigned failed the last evaluation and needed to pass it in order to enter the IB program, so his tutor who is also my math teacher asked me if I could help him. With this student it was very easy to work because he was really interested in passing the exam. Although we only had a couple of classes we managed to review all the units and solved all the questions he had. Finally, he ended up passing his exam with a pretty good grade. 

However, I also had another student that was the opposite of the first one. She didn't show any real interest in the subject and after just a couple of weeks I talked to her history teacher and we gave up the classes. This was really frustrating for me because I couldn't do anything about it, everytime I asked if she had any questions she said no but her exams were terrible. 

Overall having the opportunity of teaching a subject I enjoy so much to someone who has struggled to understand it was a very fulfilling experience. And the sense of progress not only from the student but also of myself as a teacher has made it much better than what I expected. However, the other experience was horrible so I'm not sure if I would do it again.

International woman’s day

Due to the international women’s day my friends Alvaro Riva and Hans Simons came up with an idea to create a presentation about the stereotypes we still find in our society. The idea consisted of comparing who we think of when we talk about different jobs, focusing mainly on artists and models. However, as we were 5th and 6th graders we wanted to make it more interactive. So at the end of the presentation we asked the boys of the class to act like models so their classmates will draw them, switching the common gender roles to prove that they are socially established.

During the activity I realized how involved and aware those boys and girls are, being much more conscious about the importance equality must have in a modern society. They have a much more deep understanding of not considering things masculine or femenine which I found really surprising because I thought they won't be able to understand the importance this has.

However, not everything was good, as I do not usually get along with kids of those ages because I found them a bit intense. This along with the excitement of having this activity instead of their regular schedule make them a bit annoying.

Ultimately, this ends up being a very enjoyable experience. Besides being annoying at the beginning the boys were very excited to act like models and the girls really enjoyed drawing them. To sum up, this was an amazing opportunity to raise awareness also for me when I saw some of the data we were told to look up, and once again show  the importance of ending prejudices we still have as a society.

(Here is a photo of the drawings)

Football [12/02/21]

Two weeks ago we had a football tournament during our P.E class, which at first wasn't really appealing for me as i ve been really bad at football since I was little. However, it turned out to be really enjoyable and my team ended up without any defeat, which proves the amazing team I had. 

Ultimately, I had a great time and it was a great opportunity  to work on my team skills, cause it's a sport where you cannot compete without involving everyone, and my leadership as I was the team captain.

(Here are some photos of a game we played)

Learning outcomes 1 and 5

Removing snow [14/01/21]

After the first days of snow when everything was wonderful, people realized the problem the snow accumulated had caused, restricting mobility and all the damages every infrastructure suffered.

So in order to help the community I tried to remove as much snow as I could with a shovel, however, since the storm started several days befores part of the snow had freeze and turn into ice, which make it much more difficult to remove it so I had to use a pickaxe to break the ice. 

Also, it was a very pleasant surprise to see other neighbours of my street cleaning the front of their house, and at the end we managed to clean the whole street, which was one of the most pleasant things I have ever done.