Friday, May 23, 2008
Whoops!
I have been taking Piano lessons since the end of March and today I played in my very first recital. Let me tell you, the kids that played after me should thank their lucky stars because I took all the pressure off of them by screwing up so badly. I "played" 2 songs and they both went much worse than I had hoped, but the best part is that I'm not at all embarassed. My next recital can only be better than today's (I hope!) If not, then I can always fall back on my winning smile, I guess.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Poland
From April 11th to 13th, Rotary Hungary took all of the exchange students to Krakow to meet with the Polish exchange students and to visit Auschwitz. Unfortunately, none of the Canadian exchange students in Poland were able to come to meet with us in Krakow, but I did get to meet many other students, and I will be going on the Polish Euro Tour so I will have my chance to do some Canuck bonding at that time.
Krakow's city centre was absolutley gorgous. One of the things I like most about European cities is that almost all of them have a great big square in the middle of the city where only pedestrians are allowed. The main square in Krakow has a big building in the middle which was orginally a carpet market, but now sells tourist knick knacks. Both days in Poland were spent outside of the city of Krakow visiting Auschwitz and a salt mine, so I only got to see Krakow during the night, but I will be going back to the city just before my Euro Tour starts so I will get to see the city during the day.
The salt mine we went to was not really that interesting, so I don't feel compelled to share with you. Auschwitz, on the other hand, was a very powerful experience. Auschwitz was the biggest of the Nazi concentration camps. I had the privelege of seeing Elie Wiesel, novelist and Auschwitz survivor, when he came to give a lecture in Calgary last year. Elie wrote the novel 'Night' which is a memoir of his holocaust imprisonment. I studied this novel in school last year, and having Elie Wiesel's story in my head already made the experience that much more powerful.
Below is a picture of the main gates into Auschwitz I. The words above say 'work sets you free.'
Krakow's city centre was absolutley gorgous. One of the things I like most about European cities is that almost all of them have a great big square in the middle of the city where only pedestrians are allowed. The main square in Krakow has a big building in the middle which was orginally a carpet market, but now sells tourist knick knacks. Both days in Poland were spent outside of the city of Krakow visiting Auschwitz and a salt mine, so I only got to see Krakow during the night, but I will be going back to the city just before my Euro Tour starts so I will get to see the city during the day.
The salt mine we went to was not really that interesting, so I don't feel compelled to share with you. Auschwitz, on the other hand, was a very powerful experience. Auschwitz was the biggest of the Nazi concentration camps. I had the privelege of seeing Elie Wiesel, novelist and Auschwitz survivor, when he came to give a lecture in Calgary last year. Elie wrote the novel 'Night' which is a memoir of his holocaust imprisonment. I studied this novel in school last year, and having Elie Wiesel's story in my head already made the experience that much more powerful.
Below is a picture of the main gates into Auschwitz I. The words above say 'work sets you free.'
Rotary Club of Calgary Newsletter
I wrote an update to my Rotary Club in Calgary which has been published in their weekly newsletter. If you would like to read the online version of the update, click here: http://www.clubrunner.ca/Data/5360/942/HTML/33868/Cog%20for%20website%20dated%20April%208.pdf
(I am on the last page.)
(I am on the last page.)
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