Making pancakes is not only a fun activity but also a great way to start your day with a delicious and nutritious meal. At 10.30PM yesterday, I made delicious pancakes for myself because I was hungry and recently I’ve been more interested in cooking and baking. In or

der to do this, I found a good recipe online I could use.

Ingredients necessary:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

After making the batter, I poured 1/4th cup pancake batter into a frying pan with unsalted butter. I was able to make 8 pancakes total, and they ended up having a really fluffy and satisfying texture. The taste was also nice, I decided to add a bit extra sugar than was given in the recipe because I wanted a sweeter taste and to balance out the baking powder. Overall, pancakes are a quick and easy dessert meal to make and it can be made for a lot of people.

I ate them with jam and it turned out to be a valuable experience because I learned more about balancing out ingredients and how to cook pancakes effectively. Pancakes are a meal everyone should learn how to make.

 

On the 3rd of March, the eco schools group went out to collect trash in the nearby area of school. It was an event we had planned for a while prior as a course of action to help promote sustainability and aid the local community. We all put on yellow vests to show that we were part of school, and divided ourselves into two separate groups that walked along two different paths to pick up trash. We primarily found plastic and similar waste, but among the waste were some batteries and glass which we did not know what to do with. After a while, the entire eco schools group walked along the same path and we managed to effectivise how much trash we could pick up.

Learning Outcomes:

• Working Collaboratively with others – We worked together as a service group and divided ourselves into groups where we picked up different types of waste
• Initiative and Planning – We planned out and organised where the trash goes, so that we could sort the waste effectively into different bags. Great Success

Service – Giving to the community

With the recent start of services at OSC, I have felt much more engaged with tasks that serve a greater purpose. This includes Eco Schools, a service offered at OSC that focuses on achieving various goals such as decreased pollution, more biodiversity and reduced impact of climate change. In the most recent session of service, we decided to recycle paper that was placed in the various classrooms around the school. This was a joint effort with the recycling and sustainability service, where we headed into different classrooms around the campus to collect their recycling paper. It was successful, and we managed to dispose of the paper in a sustainable way.

The learning outcome achieved through this was global engagement. Through this activity, we learned how to make more responsible decisions that contributed to the overall welfare of earth. It proved to me that achievements that aid the earth are not only made individually, but as a collective as well.

I grew as a person on this trip by exposing myself to new foods and attempting to eat with my hands. I tried eating pol sambol, various curries and combining different curries with other foods. This contributed to me being more open-minded as I learn to step out of my comfort zone in regards to food. The joining of an egg hopper with dhal curry was considered unconventional, but I found this “bold” move to be successful.

Day 1 of WWW – Kahandamodara

After a long trip on the bus, we had arrived inKahandamodara as our first resting place. Everyone got together to organise rooms and where we were going to sleep. I stayed in a room with Luke and Harry from MYP5, and the installation went successfully. We had to eat lunch immediately after arrival, and I explored with new ways to enjoy food. I was taught how to eat with my hand, and how eating with your hand improves the taste of the food. After lunch, we hung out near the rive

r. Peter was photographing the wildlife he observed. Time passed, and we went out to explore the nearby beach. At the beach, we played games together and waded through the waves. Then, we went back for dinner. The dinner served was a selection of Sri Lankan food. I especially enjoyed the pol sambol. The darkness came on, and we decided to go out for a evening walk as the sky turned dark. We saw small geckos in the wild, and a spider that we tried to photograph. Mr. Lockwood asked us to switch all our flashlights off and enjoy the night sky with stars. It was incredibly beautiful to observe all the constellations in the sky.

 

Day 2 of WWW – Situlpawa and Bundala

On this day, we got up early as we were travelling to Situlpawa. After a long bus ride to Situlpawa, we noticed several stupas in our field of view. We travelled from the base of a hil

l to the top of it, which had a stupa. We had to take off our shoes near the stupa to pay our respects. We hiked down the hill back to th

e base, and we learned about the architecture and the history of the area as well as their relationship to kings in Sri Lank

a. We went to Bundala national park, and appreciated the biodiversity of the area. I especially took note of a colourful bird, whose name was (name.) I got several photos on the trip to Bundala.

 

Day 3 of WWW – Rainforest Ecolodge in Sinharaja 

We woke up early on Day 3 in order to travel to Sinharaja, at the Rainforest Ecolodge that was present there. The site we arrived at was beautiful, with greenery everywhere and a beautiful view. We ate lunch immediately when we arrived, and I kept enjoying the Sri Lankan food that was served there. The rooming groups were kept the same as the rooms we had at Kahandamodara. After a while, we decided to venture out into the forest that was near our rooms. We walked down a narrow pathway, with trees, plants and animals at every corner. Towards the end of the journey in the forest we got to an area filled with fishes that would massage you. I tried sticking my hands in the pond with the fishes, and it was a strange, tickling sensation when they were nibbling on my hand. We went back to the ecolodge afterwards, and enjoyed some time to unwind. We went out on a night walk to photograph frogs. I got a few pictures of various frogs and plants in the area. Then, we went back to the lodge to have dinner. After dinner, we headed straight to bed and got a good night’s rest.

 

Day 4 of WWW – Into the Forest

On this day, we had an opportunity to sleep in and wake up later than usual. It was nice to hang out in the lodge and drink tea with everyone in the morning.

For my Creativity goal, I aim to practice playing the guitar and increase my skills with instruments. I feel this is important to do because having skills within an instrument can increase your dexterity as well as creative skills. In addition, when you perform and demonstrate your skills to others it contributes significantly to your confidence. Another aspect I enjoy about music is that it is an activity that you can do alongside others, by playing together. This can help with learning how to work collaboratively with others and helps you increase your skills by challenging you in the sense that two musicians playing together have to keep a consistent and similar rhythm.

For my Activity goal, I wish to improve my health and physical condition through spending more time in the sun as well as walking/going on jogs more frequently. By participating in physical activity more often, I can contribute to the learning goal of physically challenging myself and gaining new skills. A healthy body that dedicates time to physically exercising and completing mindfulness activities after contributes to an increase peace of mind. Once stress has been drained out of the mind, it is much easier to tackle the challenges presented by life.

For my Service goal, I am joining eco schools to contribute to the local community. I feel that awareness in regards to the environment is fundamental in today’s world, and that it is definitely a global issue. Its impact is felt all over the world, and we are all indirectly contributing to greenhouse gas emissions. With the relevant knowledge and effort, the burdens of this issue will become less intense. I think participating in a service will satisfy the learning outcome of global engagement as well as working collaboratively. Developing both these skills is essential in a world under constant change.