This week some of the people in year six in my school did a swimming test to get into a gala. I didn't really want to be in the gala because I thought training would be stressful, but I had to do the test anyway.


The people in year six who had their red certificate and any certificate above that, went to the swimming pool early to race against each other and see if we were fast enough to be in the gala. I was one of those people. We were split into groups of about six and had to race the people in our group. Each group consisted of only girls or only boys. 


There were three races: front crawl, backstroke and breaststroke. We only did breaststroke if we had our orange certificate or above. The teachers timed us and wrote down the order people came in for their groups (first, second, third etc.) and how long they took.
I came third for front crawl and first for backstroke and breaststroke. I don't know whether I'll be in the gala  yet, though...   

Milkshakes

I love making milkshakes. I used to make them a lot when I was younger, but stopped a few years ago. Now I've started making them again.


The amazing thing about milkshakes is that you can make them with almost whatever fruit is available in your kitchen. You may think that a pear milkshake does not sound like the most enjoyable drink, but if you add a dash of orange juice and two chunks of pineapple, it can actually be quite tasty. Another good thing about these drinks is that they are more exciting than fresh fruit, but you can still get all the nutrition.  Milkshakes are also a good way of using up fruit that is near its expiry date. They are very good drinks for hot days, too.


I plan to make many more soon!

Four leaved clovers

Since we moved into our house about ten years ago, there have always been clovers growing in our front garden, but yesterday, because of the hot weather, I decided stay outside for a while to look for a four leafed one. Of course, I didn't really think I'd find one. It was just an excuse to enjoy the nice weather.

A few seconds after I started looking, I found one. I couldn't believe my luck. Everyone in my family were surprised, too. My dad said that it was a once in a lifetime event. Later that day, I proved him wrong; I found another one. After that, I looked some more and found some more. I also found one with six leaves!

People say that you wait ages for a bus to come, and then two come along in the space of a minute. I guess it's like that for me, but with four leaved clovers.

Princes School Drawing Club

A few weeks ago I started attending an art club at Bruce Castle Museum. We've been focusing on drawing fabric and drawing people in movement. 

The first time I went, we drew objects that  were covered in cloth. We then took the pieces of cloth off the objects, and drew them again.

Last time I went, we drew from a moving video of a lady doing a whirling dervish dance. A whirling dervish dance is a sufi spiritual practice. I've been to see one before in Turkey. Anyway, at the drawing class, different people decided to represent the movement in different ways. Some drew the overlapping images of the lady, so it looked like she had lots of arms and legs. Others did different pictures of her all over the page. Others (like me) drew different images in a line across the page. I've got my next class tomorrow and I'm really looking forward to it.

Measurements

We have this old pudding recipe book that's been lying around for ages. Today I decided to make a bread pudding from it. The difficult thing was, I didn't understand the measurements. Most of the ingredients were in oz. I thought that oz meant dozens, but I wasn't sure. I asked my mum what oz stood for. She said Australia, so I told her it was a measurement. She changed her answer to ounces. I then asked my mum what pt meant. I thought it might have stood for punnet, but then it would be a bit hard to have a punnet with milk in it, as the milk would probably drain out through the holes. Again, I asked my mum for help. She told me it stood for pint. My new problem was converting, so I asked Google for some help. Google said that there were 28 grams in an ounce, so I worked the rest out on paper, and used the internet to check my answers. I've started making the pudding now. So far, it's going well.

My mum told me that in some old Malay recipe books, the measurements will say something like, "Use a piece of ginger the size of your thumb."

My dad told me that in America, people use cups to measure items in recipes.

I think Malaysia and America have the best measurements.

The Name Game

A few months ago, a Couchsurfer taught us a name game. She wrote it down for us, but we don't know where the piece of paper is. We had another Couchsurfer over, and she heard us talking about. She also knew the name game, and reminded us how to do it. You can do it for any name. Here is an example for the name Anna.
 It goes like this:

Anna Anna Bo Banna
Banana Fana Fo Fana
Me My Mo Mana
Anna

For the name Maya, it would go like this:

Maya Maya Bo Baya
Banana Fana Fo Faya
Me My Mo Maya
Maya

It's easy with two syllable names, but with three syllable names it's a little bit different.
For the name Agatha, it would go like this:

Agatha Gatha Bo Batha
Banana Fana Fo Fatha
Me My Mo Matha
Agatha

One syllable names like John would go like this:

John John Bo Bohn
Banana Fana Fo Fohn
Me My Mo Mohn
John