Last Week Of School

Hey you all!
Last week was my last week of school before the Christmas break (*yay*) and after 16 weeks of school, it's something I really, really needed.

Wednesday was the Food Sharing Project day, which is apparently kind of like a Christmas tradition at my High School. Every class is assigned a less fortunate family, and each student brings something to fill a box for them, for example food for a turkey dinner on Christmas Day, presents for the children, or just something small to make them have a nice Christmas time. I brought a dozen eggs and some German chocolate, and I hope that our family can enjoy their Christmas break :)

Thursday we made gingerbread men in foods and decorated them with icing and sugar sprinkles. After foods I was allowed to skip English class, my hostdad picked me up and we went to the Holiday Extravaganza at my brother's school. His class was singing "12 days of Christmas", and by now I know it by heart, just as all the other Christmas songs that are played constantly on the radio.
Btw, Frosty the Snowman is my new favourite xD

On Friday was my very last day of school, and actually there isn't much difference between German and Canadian schools regarding the last day before Christmas break:
Running around looking for friends to give them presents, watching movies (Christmas version of Madagascar, Home Alone, the Polar Express...), playing games (les loups garous in French class; we haven't been doing anything else for the last two weeks... somehow, our teacher managed to combine the werewolf game with the use of past tenses).

And of course, OUR Holiday Extravaganza :D
I was so impressed by the school spirit on that day!
The whole school was kinda acting like on a concert. A lot of people were waving their phones during the performances, and cheering really loud, even if someone didn't do so well.

One of my friends was asked by the principal to sing Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and to screw it up on purpose, as an experiment to see how students would react. So she "forgot" the words, but the whole school just started to sing the song for her.

Afterwards the principal told us that it was fake, and the reason for the experiment. He said that there's still a lot of bullying and discrimination at Canadian High Schools, and he wanted to see if this concerns Bayside as well.

Seriously, the schools here have so many programs against bullying and intolerance, but they are still concerned about the issue even though, at least compared to German schools, the kids here are so much more open and tolerant towards each other.

There's no complaining about stupid teachers (at least nothing serious... not more than complaining about too much homework etc.).
Nobody is excluded because of the clothes he wears, the things he likes, or the friends he has.
People can openly say that they like books and join the Book Club, without someone making fun of them. Also, joining the "Gay Straight Alliance" at our school doesn't automatically mean you are gay, but just that you want to do more for the rights of homosexuals and against intolerance in general.
Students with a disability are completely integrated into the school life, and I have never, ever heard anyone joking about them for sitting in a wheel chair or looking different.

I bet that in Germany, people would have at least talked about them being different from the others, but that's not the case here. These students are treated exactly like every one else, and I think I'm actually the first person right now to write about these differences, because basically, in our daily school life, they don't exist. 

Anyways, I just wanted to show you how the issue of bullying and intolerance is treated here compared to German schools, and also that the effort put into such programs can actually change something about the situation.
German schools are definitely not doing enough, or if they are doing something, it's not persistent enough. I think that a good school spirit can actually help solving the problems, but unfortunately this is something that I have only really experienced here, on a Canadian High School.

So, I hope you all have nice Christmas Holidays, I'll write again when they're over :D
Lilly