Physiotherapy

Today was my last day at physiotherapy for this semester. I met Petrina, my physiotherapist, and we did a couple of exercises to assess the strength and balance of my right knee and leg. I started with 5 minutes on a training bicycle like usual and then we did some jumping, bending, running and pushing and compared to that of my right. She was very pleased and said that my legs now were just about back to the state they had been in before the accident.This was of course a relief to hear as I have worked hard with exercises at home to regain strength but also had to deal with many thing I haven't been able to do the last year.

Because of my injured/healing knee I could not horse ride for some weeks, could not do volleyball and even now, when it is almost completely healed I had to accept that hockey this semester was not a possibility. It has become easier over time but having to be constantly aware of all things you do is quite exhausting. It lowers your confidence in your strength and takes time from your normal life. Also, the knee brace I had to wear for some time was often in the way and made it complecated to dress as it is supposed to sit directly on the leg, with no fabric in between, but still it was too big to fit under any pants. Still I have leared to manage these difficulties and appreciate that I am in a place where I can actually get help and can afford both time and money to go for a surgery and even just the gym, to help the healing process. Sometimes I have slacked of with my exercises, when there has been a lot in school, and if I gave advise to somebody else i would deffinately say: do your exercises! maybe i would have been done even earlier if I had done all my exercises as I should have. Anyhow it now feels normal and I'm glad to be able to participate in more sports next semester.

Horse of the Year Show

Horse of the Year Show(HOTYS) is a big horse event organized by Horse Association of Kenya that last for several days, 14 dec - 18 dec, in which horse riders may compete at all levels, both beginners and professionals. After I injured my knee I have gone back to riding slowly by slowly this semester and HOTYS is going to be my first competition in a year!

There have been many complications conserning this competition. First of all it is the weather in Kenya. For several weeks it has just been raining och raining. With an outside arena this is definately a disadvantage as it never get's to dry up before the rain starts again. Because of this, most of my riding has been up the rounds and around the area, climbing some hills and building stamina of both me and the horse which i am going to compete. We have, when the weather allowed, been able to jump a little and ride through the dressage tests. Even if horse riding is one of my greatest intersts it still takes both planning and determination to be able to balance both riding, homework and some free time, especially just before semster exams. It is time consuming and does take alot of energy but with sufficient time management and plenty of sleep it has actually worked quite well. For me horse back riding is also a way of relaxing and getting away from stress for a while. however, riding in the rain for a couple of weeks is perhaps not the most fun part of horsemanship but something that has to be done. I have really developed as a person by practicing for this show and I hope it will pay of.

These are pictures from last year's show

 

Runda Feeding Program 20 Nov 2011

This was the last Feeding program at Runda for Interact club this year. We met at java again and the organization of cars was much better as there were more poeple that could give rides to people without a car. Unfortunately when we arrived, the food that was supposed to be delivered had been delayed so we actually questioned if we had come on the right day. it finally came and we could start setting up all the food stations for bread, milk, fruit, cookies etc.

Last time one of te problems was that it was difficult to know exactly how many kids were left, therefore we had been very strict with the children in the beginning of the line and they all got exactly 6 pieces of bread etc. However there was lots of bread left when the line started to run out so the last people could get an entire loaf of bread. We knew this from last time so we aimed for a more equal distribution of food this time.
And just as last time, another difficulty, was of course to say no to the little kids that tried to take a second round and see their disappointment.

Apart from the students of Interact club at ISK there were several people that had donated money that helped us with the activity and we got to know who they were. When everything was done we all said a thank you and hoped to continue these visits to Runda next year, which I look forward to.

International Day - 11th November

Every year ISK has an International Day which highlights the diversity of the school and we celebrate all nations. There is food from all countries and parents and friends are invited to watch the parade of students dressed in colors of their nation. This year I assisted both at the Artsco stand where one could pay to throw darts at paint-filled balloons and win eaither a lollipop or the jackpot; a gold fish.
Once the kids knew that it was possible to win a gold fish the line became very long and some kids played probably 8 times in a row! This was a good activity for practicing organization and interaction with younger people. We had to make sure the kids didn't get too impatient or sad if they didn't win so it was a good thing that we had plenty of lollipos to give to the ones who played lots of times without winning anything. The money collected went to Artsco and by the end of the day, even with many costumers, there was only a small profit considering the money spent on preparation of balloons and paint etc.  still consider it a successful activity since many people seems to enjoy it and we got to meet new people and also take care of those that you actually don't really like, which is a skill i must say.

 

Apart from the dart throwing table I assisted briefly at the Interact table where there was a raffle. In before hand all members of Interact club had been asked to donate potential prizes and there was everything from chocolate to candles, wines and clothes. Then the person who wanted to have the possibility to win would pay 200 ksh and pick a raffle from a bag. The chances of winning were one out of three but still there were of course some unlucky people who go very frustrated. Both Artsco and Interact made be develop my team working skills and communication as well as organisation.

Horse Riding

This past weekend i went to Karen to ride again. It is a new place to me, with new people and horses, to which I was introduced a couple of weeks ago. Since then I have been coming there, mostly on weekends, to ride the polo horses. Apart from exercise in the forest I have also got advise from several good polo players. It is a sport that I have earlier never understood nor appreciated. However this new style of riding is quite fascinating and also the horses are different and should e ridden in another way than what i am used to.

By starting to ride I hoped to gain further insight into this part of the horse world, learn new ways of controlling and enjoying time of horse back. Frankly I have got a lot more than that in return. Most of all I have had the possibility to not only develop my skill as a rider but also my confidence and leadership. Especially when riding in the forest all paces should be taken into consideration. A polo horse must be able to accelerate fast and then stop in a second without hesitation. This quick response of the horse is quite new and has made me try different speeds that I would never have dared to reach on other horses. But for this to work and the horse to listen is important, as the groom and experienced rider Abraham tells me, that the rider is absolute in what he wants and only after that the horse will trust the rider and  a good relationship can be established. Additionally I have taken the leader position of the group and this demands to look ahead and decide what way and pace is appropriate for the rest of the group as well as make others aware of possible obstacles.

By continuing the horses horses and myself I will hopefully learn even more about the game of Polo and that no one can be an expert the first time (I have a tendency to get frustrated when I have little knowledge in a certain area). I will of course also continue riding at my other stable and practice jumping and dressage so as not to forget that.

Runda Feeding Program

This past Sunday Interact was part of the Runda Feeding Program for the first time this semester. Since I had never attended before i was quite excited about this visit. All the people that were going to join met at Java before we drove to Runda where it was being held. This was slightly disorganized and people were not sure of the exact time to meet and then we barely had enough cars to take everyone. It is really hard to organize large groups and it is easy to just assume that everything will work out but for next time this issues should perhaps be dealt with.

ISK together with a few other people had donated money which payed for the food brought in. This included LOTS of bread, fruit, milk, cookies etc. At arrival we worked together to unpack all the food and prepare for the children to come. There were many people there, both students from our school and other that had offered to help. Everyone was willing to assist and so it got quite crowded. I think it still was far from chaotic and people helped each other. It was great having people from different grades there so that you got to know people that you don't usually hang out with.

When the little children arrived we were distributed at different stations to be able to to quickly give each child of everything. I was part of the bread station and it was quite fascinating to see how all that bread disappeared in less than 30 minutes. There were children of all ages and some carried younger siblings with them. We were told that for some of the kids, this was the only real meal they would get the entire week! This mad it extremely hard to be consistent and not give extra bread. Unfortunately the bread was still unevenly distributed since the first kids strictly only got 6 pieces of our bread and by the end we realized there was so much left that the last people got whole loafs of bread.

Afterwards the whole yard was filled with children (and some adults too) eating and I have to say it was quite moving. Then they left and we packed up the empty boxes and bags before we listened to the prayer of one man there before leaving. Even though this of course something good to have done it also makes you think about how much left there is to do in the world. Those kids are just a tiny fraction of hungry people in the world and it is hard to picture how much money, time and willingness is needed to fix this, maybe it is impossible. Still it is important to do as much as we can and help organizations that really want to make a difference in the world.

The PTO Picnic

Hi!
As my first post on this blog I would like to give a brief overview of what i have been up to these first weeks of school. After a knee injury last year I have successfully started horse back riding again and am enjoying it very much. I have also joined the track team - which is new for me and even though it was quite hard in the beginning it feels really great to improve my skills in different types of activities, such as running, discus and long-jump. Of course it is also fun to be part of a team. The interact club is another of my for now on going projects. My committee, finance, meets once every second week and in addition to that we have meeting with the whole club and also go for different service projects during weekends.

Most recently we had a PTO picnic at school, at which I sold hot dog to raise money for my grade and also helped Interact selling the books we donated. This went quite well and we made lots of profit. Selling hot dogs is one thing, but books might need advertising and that is a very important skill to master I think. I think I  did a pretty good job at this but since my shift was last on the day there were not that many people left at the picknick so mostly i helped packing away the non-sold books and the tables. We also attempted to produce some cotton candy, but it proved much more complicated than we thought and the machine actually broke down after a while.