International Handicraft PBL

International handicraft PBL was a project in which we learned and got to know more about other countries' patterns. Angie was the supervisor for this PBL and there were 11 students, including me. The PBL lasted for 5 days, from Monday to Friday and 6 hours a day which is from 8 am to 12 pm and from 1 pm to 3 pm.
On the very first day, some of us made our own presentations about the handicraft patterns in our own countries before lunch time. In between our presentations, we had a cookie break which we had some lemon cake that I made with Angie the night before (yummy!!!!!) After lunch, some people started to learn some basic knitting and crocheting. I could say that I am quite good at crocheting so I was learning how to knit and those people who knew how to knit taught others who didn't know. I also taught some people how to crochet as well while I was learning how to knit. During that time, we also had a discussion of what we were going to do during the next 4 days and then we made the decision by the end of the day.
On the second day, we got Sarah who is a Chinese teacher in the college, to come and show us how to do paper cutting and it was really interesting. She had 3 paper cuts before she left but then all of us want them so we played a dancing game to decide who to get them. And they were Halla, Nukaaka and Farhiya. Shortly after, we continued our basic learning about knitting and crocheting until 10:30 am, we went shopping in Dale (a small village in Norway) together to buy some stuff, such as wools, stretches, needles, paper, coloring pencils, etc. for our project and also some ingredients for making cookies or cake for the next days. We came back just by lunch time. After lunch, we still continued doing the same as we did in the morning, but some people started something else when they finished with their work.
Third day came, we decided that everyone had to make one piece of work which its size was 20cm*20cm, and there were 12 of us, including Angie, so we could sew them together and make a wall hanging. Some people did it by crocheting, knitting, embroidery or anything they wanted. It was really interesting to see people were doing stuff differently. It was a quite PBL because everyone concentrating on their own work and we hardly heard a word while they were doing. Luckily, we got some various types of music which was playing all the day long. 
On the forth day, some people finished their 20*20 work but some didn't. So the people who finished started something new they wanted and others just continued their work. I did embroidery which took me quite a long time but I managed to finish it on Thursday just before lunch and I was happy to finish my work and I had mixture in between embroidery and crocheting on my piece of work. By the end of the day, Else who is one member of staff in the college and who is also an amazing knitter, came and showed us how she has been knitting almost all her life, since she was 6. She showed us a lot of amazing stuff she had made. I was very impressed to see those various things she had done. 
Friday came, we managed to finish all our pieces of work and some of us sewed them together to make it one piece. After that, I got myself to knit socks for my first time. I was quite nervous since I was not really familiar with knitting and then I got some instructions from Angie and Marit on how to do it. After several hours, I made a sock. I was delighted since it was the first one in my life and I never thought I could do it and finally I did. By the end of the last day, we placed the big piece of our work in Kantina to show everyone what we did in our PBL but it was not all we did, it just represented our work. 
I was really happy with my PBL, because I got to learn new things and also knew more about other countries' handicraft and also by practicing it on my own which was really nice. I also got to know some first years clearer which was great because I didn't know some of them before we got to the PBL. One more great thing was we got good cookies from our friends every morning which really made our days more beautiful. Thanks to everyone :)

Snow Snow Snow!!!

Haha......I know that it's a little too late to write about snow in the SPRING!!! ^_^ Don't know too........... I remember my first time seeing snow falling down from the sky, I couldn't believe it because it was the midst of October. I was doing something which I don't remember what and I had to print something and then around 2pm, I walked to A building alone. While I was walking, I saw something strange in the air but was very small that I couldn't recognize what it was. It didn't really interest me because I thought that it was impossible to have snow by that time. So I just kept walking to the IT room. While I was waiting to print, I heard some joyful screaming from outside, I became very furious about that and I decided to take a look outside. Oh my God!! It was snowing ... I was very surprised, without saying anything, I just went outside the building and enjoyed snowing. But then I had to get back in because of my work. 

However, after finishing everything, it was still snowing so I went outside and played snow with other friends. It was awesome. My first time in my life that I saw snow, it was the 20th of October, 2010. Although first snow was not that much, but everyone looked so happy and enjoyed it, especially the students from countries without snow, like me :D ... I had a very nice time with other people...cannot forget it!!

My first snowman was made in Forde when I went to visit Mottak group. Although I made it alone, I still enjoyed it a lot. 

Whenever there was snow, I usually said to my friends that "Oh my new world, my white world!! I love it!!" and everyone always made fun of me ... I didn't mind, I still kept saying that "This is my new world!". 

But now the green world is already back, and I still enjoy my green world :D

Half Marathon!

According to my parents, I am the laziest girl in the world. (Maybe?? Who knows?) 
I really don't like doing anything which makes me tired, especially running (but I like walking, but not more than 5km). One evening, I was eating dinner in Cantina with some other people, then Kip, my math teacher, came and asked me if I wanted to join the half marathon for something related to Saharawi things. Then I got a feeling that I wanted to try. It was 21km :D and of course, I decided to go. 

I was very energetic at the beginning but after 10 minutes I was exhausted so instead of running, I started to walk. :D 
It was fun, though. Walking and talking to each other at the same time was just too much fun. Quite a few people already finished while we were still kind of at the beginning of the start. We were very slow, but we were not the slowest one. :) After an hour, all my energy was already away from me and I started to feel that I couldn't move on. But I didn't give up, but keep it up with a smiling face. Moreover, we didn't have anything to eat, I didn't even have water with me. Sooner after, Kip came with a bus and told us that we will have something to eat whenever it is we arrived in the college which helped us to be more energetic to move on because first when I thought that I didn't have anything to eat, I was just ... something like upset.
WOW!!! After 4 hours and 23 minutes we arrived in the college! Fantastic! We did it! 21km! We were absolutely delighted. As soon as we arrived in the college, the first thing that we did was to go to Cantina and eat. After that we slept just like we were dying because of the tiredness.

However, it was a very good experience for me since I'd never done something like that before and it helped me not being lazy anymore. Since then I started to love running or walking for a long way which is so much fun and also help me being healthier as well. :D GOOD!

Cabin Party!

Oh my god! When I first heard about it, I really felt very positive about it and I really thought that it was a great party since it doesn't happen that often. Second years told me that it was a fantastic party ever. They even said that, "If you're not going, you'll regret." which really convinced me to decide that I was going to join that party. BUT I remember, haha, I had to pay 40NOK and at that time I didn't even have 1NOK with me. It was just because of wanting to know how it was, I and Bee (a good friend from Thailand) decided to borrow money from one of our friends in order to pay to go to the party. ( BTW, we paid him back as soon as we got the money :D)

It sounds hilarious, doesn't it? But wait!! There are many more things that are even funnier. Could you imagine that We, girls, had to dress up and then walked for 3km to go to the party under the freezing cold weather??? Don't laugh!!!! It's not over yet.

When we arrived at the place, of course, I really thought that I would get something to eat. In contrast, yes, there were a lot of things to eat but we also had to pay too. We didn't even have water to drink. Fortunately, I brought money!!! Lucky me...

 Party time arrived! Everyone started to dance, so did I. Because obviously there was nothing to do other than dancing. After some time I found that it was enjoyable and everyone was happy too. 

Some people were completely crazy, but I was not, luckily.... They did something incredible that I couldn't believe :D I remember Olof, my schoolmate from Norway, had his style as a mushroom and I gave him a name which obviously was "mushroom". 
I started to have fun after time to time but after it was 2am I ought to come back home.

This was the hilarious thing ever that we had to walk back home under the temperature around or less than zero after midnight with other two people. To be honest, I am really afraid of ghost, I couldn't believe that I ever dared to walk outside at night like that, but I really did. (It was just because I had no choices)

Nevertheless, it was a good party. I enjoyed it more than I expected. :D

Skating!!

Of course, we have roller skating back home, and although I tried quite a few times several years ago, I felt that going skating on the frozen lake in Norway was completely new to me. 
First of all, when I took a bus with Kip, my math teachers, and several of my schoolmates to the place where we could skate at the very first time, I thought in my mind that, "How could I manage to skate if I don't even know how to tie the shoe laces?". That sounds very ridiculous, doesn't it? Anyway, I was really into doing it. When I arrive at the small frozen lake for the skating, I couldn't believe that the lake was frozen and it was just the beginning of winter!! 

I felt afraid at the beginning, and I felt on the ice loads of times. I hurt myself a lot. By the way, everyone was smiling at each other; so was I. Everyone was helping each other to manage to skate, i was taken care by some of them as well. AND Kip was the one who helped me to tie my shoelaces. It was such a shame not knowing how to do this!!!! I remember everyone's smile which showed that every of us was enjoying although it was quite cold but delight came to cover every tiredness and coldness. I couldn't forget lying down on the frozen lake under the icy cold weather with other mates which was fabulous and it was just unforgettable. Moreover, when I was tired of skating, I stopped and looked at my surroundings which were covered with white snow, trees were all white and was the ground.


However, after some time I could manage to go ahead; not fast or skillfully but just to go without falling 10 times per minute, still fell down every now and then. Though I couldn't do it perfectly but, of course, I was improving. :D 
After first time going skating, I was really into skating. And I went that place quite a few times. Then the other very big was frozen as well which was great but it was farther than the smaller one. I went there a few times with my math teachers and other students. When I was first there, I almost fell in love with the nature but it was freezing cold which was very bad for me because I come from a very warm country. Luckily, my clothes were good enough to keep me warm...Thanks God!! :)
Ummm, from time to time I realized that I was falling in love with skating..... heheh... I wish I had been skating more often because now I've found that my life is no longer free as what it used to be. Nevertheless, I am waiting for the next winter to come and then I can enjoy my skating again.

Sadly, my math teacher is not gonna be here, he's going to China. I am very sad, but I couldn't stop him. Only if I were able to stop him from leaving for China next year, I would do anything, whatever I could do to keep him staying in Norway. BUT no way! It's just impossible! 


Hopefully, I will have time to enjoy it again next winter. :D

Hiking to Blabrebu

It was my first time going hiking to Blabrebu with my mathematics teacher, Kip, and 10 other classmates. We spent about 2 hours driving a mini bus to the place where we started hiking. We set off to Blabrebu as soon as we arrived at about 10 am.

The hiking lasted for about 5 hours - not really hiking but some kind of climbing - to reach the cabin in which we were going to spend the night. Some places were very dangerous to go across. Normally, I would be very afraid but that day I was not; I wasn’t afraid of anything. Even though it was my first time I did it as well as the other people who were climbing or walking across the slippery rocks that day, carefully and safely. When we were hiking, I felt very excited because I could see beautiful views around me which I’d never seen before. When I was hiking, thoughts came to my mind. I wanted to know what the cabin would look like, whether it was going to be really cold and whether there was going to be snow.

5 hours hiking wasn’t really a long way to go (but it seemed long to me as I’d never been hiking before). Even though I was a bit tired I enjoyed it very much. We hiked across lots of mountains which began with a mountain with plenty of trees and then fewer and fewer until we reached a mountain which had no trees, but there was a lot of water and some bushes between the rocks. It was freezing cold but as we kept walking, we didn’t feel cold at all. I felt exhilarated and hoped to see the place we were going soon.

When we arrived at the cabin at around 3pm, we changed our clothes as soon as we had allocated rooms for everyone. It was nice and warm inside with 3 comfortable rooms. Then some of us started to make a fire, while some of us chatted and played games together. Not long after, a few people started to cook dinner because all of us were very hungry as we had walked such a long way. We had a very nice candle light dinner together in the living room.

After finishing dinner and cleaning, Kip had a game for all of us to play together. I don’t remember the game’s name. We used 2 small metal pigs to play and we had to take turn throwing the pigs onto the table and got scores as what those pigs reacted. It was a funny and enjoyable game. It didn’t take long to complete the game so we went to sleep early since we were very tired from hiking. When I was in my bed, I thought I really couldn’t believe that I was there. I felt it was just a dream; but no, it was real.

We got up at 5 am the next day, finished breakfast and were ready to start the journey again. We left the cabin at 5:30 am without our backpacks because we’d come back for lunch. It was still very dark but we had to walk across lots of small and big rocks and freezing cold water. Some of us had flash lights which made it easier for us to see where we should step. We hiked and climbed and walked. At around 7 am we reached the top of the mountain. The panoramic was absolutely fantastic. I couldn’t believe I was really there. It was my new world, a world I used to dream about. It was windy and started to drizzle but it didn’t cause any problems for us, even though the rocks started to become slippery it was still fine. As soon as we arrived at the cabin, we started to cook and finished lunch very soon after that.

After making sure that everything was clean and tidy as it was before we had come, we had to be ready to leave as soon as possible. At that time I really didn’t want to leave. If possible, I really wished I could stay there longer, but we had to come back since we had classes the following day. Each step I walked, I looked back at the cabin and I thought I’d come back here again because I really loved it. During the hike back, it was raining all the way. The rocks were very slippery; and most of us fell down on the ground and rocks lots of times. Even though it was cold and slippery, it didn’t take long to get back to our mini bus. All of us felt very tired and sleepy. When we arrived at the bus, we all got in quickly and started to relax. On the way back to the college, everyone fell asleep except me. I wanted to sleep as well but I couldn’t fall asleep so I just sat on the bus, waiting to arrive in my room, to lie on my bed. That evening I did nothing, I did not even have dinner, but I slept all evening and night. It was one of the best experiences in my life.

Global Concern

There are obviously a lots of concerns all over the world nowadays, and as one of RCNUWCers, we are concerning about those problems as well. This is the reason why we have Global Concern once every term, which gives us a lot of information about problems and how to solve it and share ideas about it. Last term in Global Concern, I got to know a lot of things that I thought they were not the problems, but of course, they are and people are concerning about them.

This term, I was part of the Global Concern organizing group (It's compulsary for each of  us to do it at least once.). I had to do a lot of research. BUT not that much for me, because I was responsible for activities like quiz or case studies, not presentation. It was difficult for me since I'd never done anything like this before and I was not really useful for them, perhaps (I don't know). However, I wish I had done better than what I actually did. In the progress, it was kind of difficult because we had to do a lot of things and discuss how to make it more interesting. AND some people in my group worked until late at night just to prepare for it.

I can say that it was a very good experience for me, since it was new and I got to know something that I didn't know before. Learning to organize things in group was difficult, because each and everyone had different ideas about it, so we had to decide which one was the best.

During the Global Concern day, I was so nervous because I had to do the presentation and be responsible in part of the group. AND finally, I did it. YAY....................!!! :D I was so happy, so was my group. We did a very good job.