One of my 'action' activities involve gym hours at school. We have gymnsastics once per week, when usually the boys play football and the girls volleyball.However, last time we all together played a football match with mixed teams which was allot of fun! Apart from the 'exercise' part,I like gym hours because I get the chance for some chatting with my friends and converse with children which are not in my classes. You see, time for discussion between your friends is quite limited because of the short intervals between each class.So,whenever you get the chance for some discussion, you should grasp it.But,...
Baby-Swimming
One day,we went to OAKA i.e. the Olympic Stadium of Greece,which is near our school.Specifically,we visited the swimming pool where an interesting activity was taking place: Babies swimming with their parents!
This activity is meant to increase the relationship and communication between children(babies) and their parents while getting also the babies used to water,swimming skills and resistant to difficult circumstances.Research has also shown that baby-swimming (the "official term) contributes to the neuromuscular and neuropsychological development of the babies.Water develops a relaxing feeling which helps the baby's sleep quality.With baby-swimming children become more courageous and independent. They also get the chance to communicate with other children,which is something thay develops social skills, children's personality and their intelligence.
(Today I came up with an idea about a part of this blog,a "category",in which I will post things that are related to my past...This category will be called 'Memories...')
This memory is about us,Genetic Asymmetry,a band from Rhodes,in the Aegean Islands.The band members were(are):
Me-keys
Savvas-guitar
Manolis-bass
Konstantinos-vocals
Dimitris-Drums
Although the basic members were Me,Savvas and Manolis, we had various others band members,each in different circumstances e.g.live,competitions etc.
With Nicolas-Konstantinos(vocals) ,Me,Savvas,Manolis and Dimitris(drums) took part in Schoolwave.Schoolwave is a music festival for school bands that takes place in
Athens, Greece, in the beginning of July every year. It is organised by
“Schooligans”, a team consisting of teachers and students.It lasts three days. School bands from all over Greece play all kinds of
music (rock, metal, pop, hip-hop, punk, ska-punk, traditional etc) on a
big stage that meets high music production standards. During the
festival, students take part in many parallel activities, such as graffiti,
skate, bmx show, breakdance, hip-hop dance etc.
Schoolwave started in 2005 and instantly became a success. About
20.000 people attend the festival every year. The last 3 years, the festival
has acquired an international character. School bands from Europe are
invited to play.The competition has 2 phases;first,somewhere around 300-400 bands take part and record 1-2 demo songs.Then they send the demos to "Schooligans" who will choose approximatelly 80 to come to Athens to perform live in front of some judges.Then 20 out of 80 will be chosen and take part in the final festival.Unfortunately,although we qualified for the second phase and went to Athens (from Rhodes)for our live performance,we didn't for the fesstival,because of many reasons.These reasons include us not having our own created songs.(we had,but never had completed them :P),our lack of a front-man etc.In the "auditions" we played the song 'Fatal Tragedy' by Dream Theater,and I have to say that it was amazingly played,considering the difficulty of the song...As I said,we recorded 2 demo songs before the auditions.These were Pull Me Under and Forsaken by,who else,Dream Theater.In the near future I will post our recordings at the blog,but for the time being I will post some photos of us attaining the auditions and being in the ship travelling to Athens.I will also show you how these songs sound like from a couple of youtube videos.
The fellowship of the inspiration...
(From left to right)Me,Savvas,Manolis,Nicolas,Konstantinos,Dimitris
Before the fight...outside Kyttaro(stage)
Into the cabin...
Well...this actually doesn't concern Schoolwave,but...whatever...This is an other live performance.
Same here...BUT...The woman singing is Eirini and the man singing(the tall one) George.
These are Pull Me Under,Forsaken and Fatal Tragedy by Dream Theater:
I will soon post a link of an other live performance...
By the way...this is the logo of our previous name,Spiritual Rebirth....I like both of them...
For my CAS, specifically for service,I play the piano in an old people's home.Althought initially my intentions were purely to collect service hours,it turned out that this activity was much more than this.The whole concept is as follows:Me,sitting in a corner and playing the piano with my old keyboard,and some old ladies aged from 85 to 90(to 93 to be more precise) sitting on the couches and listening to the relaxing music.However,apart from the musical part, there are a couple of other things I would really like to talk about.The interaction between the old ladies and me is something that really fascinates me...When I went to "Love"(that's the name of the place.Nice huh?)for the first I was warmly welcomed by the owners,who are some really polite people you have devoted themselves to give the old poeple as much love as possible.When I saw the old people,I felt really sad.These people cannot obviously get to the outside world.They are bound to live in a building for the rest of their lives.Live in a daily routine where only passiveness and inertia exist.But then I thought:"This is life.We are all going to face this someday in various ways."I reached to the conclusion that what matters is to make these people's last moments as happy as possible.When I arrived,I also noticed that there was a general lack of communication,so I also tried to 'fix' this.An old lady was said to be mentally deficient because staff members couldn't understand her and thought she was talking nonsense.However,after a while I realized that that wasn't true.From some distance it is true that you understand nothing of what she says.But when I went close to her, I understood everything she said, by making allot of effort.Then,of course,we started talking naturally with some slight justifiable problems due to her age.It is true that many things she says are quite funny e.g.she calls all men John (Giannis)(including me) and all women Helen(Eleni).Of course,I wouldn't expect her to call me Athinagoras(lol).So finally,these conversations with not only Georgia(that's her name)but also with Mary etc are something along with the piano with which we all have a good time once a week.Finally,I would like also to say about Ioanna,who is an other lady somewhere around 80 years old and who really likes traditional greek music and loves singing,even at this age!Although this kind of music is not my favorite(what else would you expect from a guy listening to Dream Theater and Opeth),she makes me every week bring new songs and sing them with her while playing the piano :),which is something interesting because I had never got into greek music in the past and I think it is useful to know your culture and traditions.So,as you have understood,this thing is much more than two service hours per week.So,these are some photos from December 2009 when we were decorating the Christmas Tree and playing Christmas songs.
Me with Andreas(manager-friend)
Me
Some staff members.
The lady next to me is Helen.She is 90 and has an amazing perception for her age...
?
This is Georgia from Crete
These are 3 videos of me playing the piano and talking to Georgia...
