Writers Workshop :)

Yesterday we had the pleasure of a visit from Irish writer Oisin McGann who came to do a workshop with us :) Ms. B had informed us of his visit and had given me one of his books to read called 'The Gods and Their Machines'. It was a novel for young adults set in an alternative world, about war and conflict and the struggle that young people have against prejudice. I thought it was really good and thoroughly enjoyed reading it, so I had been looking forward to meeting the writer behind the ideas.

Oisin came in the morning and talked with us about coming up with ideas and the process of writing. He was very enigmatic and passionate about the english language and writing. He is also an illustrator and he illustrates for most of his books. He did a quick sketch for us and signed it 'to the girls at st. wolstans'. It was amazing to see his creation come to life before us in a matter of minutes.
After the talk we could ask him questions, and I asked if when he began writing a novel did he always know how the ending would be? He answered by saying that usualy there are two kinds of writers, those who plan out everything in the plot and those who write spontaniously. He admitted he liked to plan his endings and have a general direction in which to write.
It was a very interesting workshop and I would love the oppurtunity to meet with another writer sometime.
Here is a link to Oisin McGann's website:

Cooking once again :)

It was our second day of cooking Thai food in Home ec. and I think it went a bit more succesful than the last! We decided to cook Thai BBQ chicken skewers with coconut rice :D First of all we marinated the chicken in a sweet and sour BBQ sauce of ketchup, honey, sugar, soy sauce, lime juice and ginger (I know it doesnt sound very nice :L) and then you skewer them with peppers and grill them. They were delicous :D
And to accompany the chicken skewers we made coconut rice! I don't particularly like coconut (and ironicaly it is an essential ingrediant in most Thai dishes :L) but I actualy liked the rice! It tasted kind of weird at first but then it was strangley addictive :L The one thing I'm learning about our Home Ec. project is to be adventurous and try cooking different dishes you wouldn't normaly try!
Here's the link to the coconut rice recipe we used;
http://thaifood.about.com/od/thaisnacks/r/thaicoconutrice.htm

Thai Desserts :D

In Home ec. we're starting a new project where we have to choose our own country and then cook three dishes from that country :) We have to make 2 main courses and a dessert, and cook them in pairs. Myself and Niamh chose Thailand, because it's known for its cuisine. We cooked our first dessert on Tuesday, banana fritters with maple syrup and coconut crème caramel pudding :)
Here's some pictures of what they turned out like on the day :) ;

Attempting Tech :)

I have never done Technology before in my life, and I'm actually surprised at how enjoyable it can be! Though I'm not very good at it :L
We've started doing different practical projects, starting off with a simple kiering before Christmas and now we're doing a clock! We have to measure it out on plastic accurately and then begin cutting and filing. It was all going very well for me until I got a little distracted chatting to Niamh and almost sawed right through my clock! :L Luckily it's not terribly damaged and can be salvaged :) I'm determined to get everything else done brilliantly to make up for that little mishap :L

Movement Workshop

To help us with our drama competition we had a movement workshop today in school. Ms. C was telling us that it was important not just to say our lines with emotion but to show this in our body language. The workshop consisted of a warm up and then we went into pairs and began making shapes with our bodies around each other. We had great fun watching other pairs, and it was amazing to see the shapes people created.
It showed us a new way to act using our movements, and if we wanted you could use that to open or close a play. Hopefully this will help us in the competition and improve our acting even further :) You never know we might have the next Meryl Streep in our very school :D