Sunday 31 May 2015

World No Tobacco Day

World No Tobacco Day is celebrated on May 31 and was established by the UN. This day is intended to call people's attention to the dangers of smoking and raise awareness of the need to protect themselves. Each year about 6 million people die from diseases related to tobacco, which, in average, is responsible for killing one in 10 adults. This day also serves to remind smokers that after eight hours without smoking the level of oxygen in the blood normalizes, and with only two days without smoking their smell and tast can improve, and after three weeks breathing and circulation can also improve. Furthermore, without inhalation of the tobacco smoke and similar, the risk of stroke decreases considerably.

I believe all the people who really want to quit smoking, will be successful! Strong will and determination are key factors in the process.

Saturday 30 May 2015

Say NO to Bullying

Hello! 

Well, I know this subject isn’t new: bullying/cyberbullying.
I have suffered from bullying and cyberbullying, and still can’t understand why people mistreated me… after all, I had never done anything wrong – at least in what concerns them!
So, I'll start from the beginning:
In fifth grade, there were people who didn’t like me and mocked me. One day I I tried to defend myself...but in vain. Suddenly I realised I already had two hands on my neck, and the person only left me alone when I begged to. That done, I made a complaint explaining what happened, but nothing was done.            
In sixth grade, things improved, but I kept hearing bad things about me.
In seventh grade, I thought they had stopped, but an older girl started calling me horrible names. At this point, I went to visit some friends who had failed: I loved them and they were my real friends – or so I thought…
However, after a year, when they moved to my school, they became distant, perhaps feeling they were too good to be my friends. They all said I was ugly, fat etc.
My wish in all this?
To die.
Yes, die.
It seemed like a good solution. Every night, I thought about how nice it would be to die. MY suffering would end, but then I remembered all the people who loved me, and the suffering that I would cause them.
I was in a downward spiral.
Every step I took, it looked like things were getting worse.
And I ended up failing in the eighth year.
The day I found out I too had failed the school year, I cried a lot. I saw my life going backwards.
And desperate, I thought, "I am not worth anything. Why was I born? I deserve absolutely nothing."
I wanted to die again ... My parents didn’t deserve a daughter like me.
They did not deserve to suffer either...
I knew I made them suffer ... but I had to create a protective cover to protect me from the evil of people. So, still in the seventh year, I began to misbehave and to be expelled from school, to be respected by others.
My parents did not understand why the change in my behavior, and I also would not explain why once, deep down, I felt terribly ashamed of myself.
A few days after becoming aware that I had failed, I was feeling better already, because I had my parents to support me, but I had a relapse and accessed ask.fm, and saw what other people had written down: "I saw that you failed!!! Poor girl, can’t even pass the year. "

Again there was mockery here not just because of having failed, but also because of my weight…
When the new school year started, everything was going well ... I was in the class I wanted and had been welcomed with open arms. But then again, my former friends and a guy five years older were haunting me…
My former friends stopped tormenting me shortly after the beginning of this school year. But the other guy, he stalked me, he managed to put me down in such a way that I had never felt such an urge to die.
Three months later, he apologized to me and became one of the people I trusted most. That didn’t last long, though… he betrayed my trust the worst way possible. And suddenly, it was all over between us…incredible as it may seem, I felt horrible, stupid, useless...
In this, I found support in my new friends, in this amazing class, because I was ashamed to tell it all to my family. So if I'm here today, I have to thank them for the support.
How often did I fake a smile? Too often.
How often did I think of suicide? Several times.
In how many ways did I plan my death? Many.
But today, I'm here because I´ve found a reason to live: to help people who are in the situation where I WAS – but that’s all over now!
So if you suffer from bullying / cyberbullying, remember I've been in your situation, I’ve been through a lot and put up with everything you're going through. You’ll overcome it the same way I did: being strong!!!
Bullies are no one to judge you, because they have as many faults as any of us or even more.
Everyone is perfect in their own way.



Before I leave you, here are some links to related songs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2WWrupMBAE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZly12eGpNA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vj_VidtyaOc

Saturday 23 May 2015

Condeixa Rally

On 16th and 17th May, the 3rd rally of Condeixa Firefighters was held.
This event is considered one of the strictest in the central region and it is part of the Regional Centre Trophy Rally.
The race is composed of four special classifications and it had its beginning on Saturday night (with the super special on asphalt in the municipality of Condeixa) and its end on Sunday with triple passing through the Ega-Belide section. The section was 10 km long on a gravel road.
40 cars participated in the rally, but only 18 managed to finish the race due to accidents and mechanical issues.
As I am a fan of rally (not sure if it is because my father is a mechanic or because of something else) I went to see the night race and also the daytime race.



Night Section
Day Section











 Accidents



Mechanical issues



                   

Friday 22 May 2015

Athletics

The Junior district championship took place in Luso last May 10.
All athletic teams in the district of Coimbra participated in this event and I represented my team, ran the 800 meters (middle-distance), and was 3rd in my ranking. Below you have a photograph of me with the other winners.
For me running is a great physical exercise, I love my team and we are like a family!
As people usually say: A burden which one chooses is not felt - and so it is.


 

Sunday 10 May 2015

Do you know what SLE is?

  Hi! May is lupus awareness month and May 10th is world lupus day. But do you know what lupus is?
 Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE or lupus for short - easier, right?) is a chronic,  autoimmune disease that can damage any part of the body. Basically, the cells that are supposed to protect your body attack and destroy healthy tissues.  
  I was diagnosed with SLE last summer. It has been almost a year and I'm still getting used to it. There's no cure for SLE and no one knows what causes it.
  The things I hate most are having to take medication for the rest of my life,  the red rash on my face and that I can't catch sunlight.
   

  There are two symbols for SLE.  One of them is the wolf,  because lupus means wolf in Latin and the rash on our faces is similar to the rash that appears in some wolves. The other is the butterfly, because the rash has the shape of a butterfly. 

  Purple is the colour that symbolises SLE, so... 


and help us fight SLE!

PS: If you want to know more about SLE, I really enjoyed this site: http://www.melissasmallwood.com/2013/05/12-things-i-want-you-to-know-about-living-with-lupus/
She has SLE and explains it in a simple way. 

Saturday 9 May 2015

eTwinning 10th Anniversary

eTwinning is a free online community for schools in Europe which aims at strengthening and developing collaboration between European schools within a secure network and platform.

Launched in 2005 as the main action of the European Commission’s eLearning Programme, eTwinning allows staff (teachers, head teachers, librarians, etc.), working in a school in one of the European countries involved, to communicate, collaborate, develop projects, share and, in short, feel and be part of the most exciting learning community in Europe. 

The eTwinning action promotes school collaboration in Europe through the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) by providing support, tools and services for schools.

The eTwinning Portal (www.etwinning.net) is the main meeting point and workspace for the action. Available in twenty-seven languages, the eTwinning Portal has registered the involvement of almost 310,000 members and over 41,000 projects between two or more schools across Europe and the commitment of about 140,000 schools.  Astonishing numbers for a community that has just celebrated its 10th anniversary!!

8ºA couldn’t miss the celebrations and joined the best way possible. We started 10 days earlier the scheduled day in order to make everyone around us aware of what eTwinning is and ended up involving parents and gathering the whole school community.
Below is a compilation of what 8ºA did from April 28th to May 7th.

Hope you enjoy the video and leave a comment. Thank you!


Special thanks to ALL PARENTS and to Alexandre & Vitória for their precious collaboration.

Friday 1 May 2015

XUTOS & PONTAPÉS

Here it is, my music project for teacher Edite.
It is about Xutos & Pontapés, one of the most famous and oldest Portuguese bands. Please click on it so that you may access my flippable ebook.

Xutos & Pontapés