The Phoenix Issue 8

APRIL 2019 | ISSUE no 8 THE ENGLISH SCHOOL STUDENTSPRESENT

t he phoenix

3 Sustainable growth, on a personal level 4 4 This Great Big World of Ours 7 5 Welcome to a world where.. .

6 Intertwined 5 7 The Youth?s Indifference on the Cyprus problem; a recipe for partition? 8 The Passage of time 6 9 Is anybody out there? 8 10 From English School student to tomorrow?s citizen: The journey through the years. 12 School? S 14 Mother Tongue 11 16 An Extra Take on a Basic Topic: Slang 12 17 Surviving a Bad Day 15 18 W hat is Happiness to You? x 20 From The Editors 3

22 To Those We Left Behind 23 The Evolution Of A Mindset 24 Relief 25 Slipping Out Of Hand 26 Colours 27 ?? ?? ? ? ? ?? ?? ? ? ? ?? ? ??? ????

28 Paper Planes 29 Cynicism Night moves 30 An Interview: A 1 Scene Play or A Socratic 32 Dialogue On The Notion Of Self 33 Slaying a monster 34 Love: An Anthology of Life Of The English School 36 Humans From the ES Students; In Memory of Our 42 Teacher George Hadjigeorgiou

Editors: Alexandra Fougala-Metaxa 7B, Maria Kypridemou 7Y, Alexandra Kassinis 6B, Andreas Lordos 6J, Iasonas Hadjiloizou 6B, Samantha Archontis 5G, Frangesca Yiangou 5W, Sect ion Leaders: Maria Eirini Liodi 4Y, Olga Prepis 6M, Djan Gural Tanova 6J, Poulcheria Rousos 6Y, Florendia Savva 6J, Michalis Kasoulides 6J. Proofreaders: Emily Petrou 5W, Rovindu Ambagolla 6R, Ilaera Georgiou 7G, Eliza Papavarnava 7B, Florendia Savva 6J, Dimitriana Angeliki Tsiali 1J, Lara Tokar 5W, Maria Christia Vyrides 7Y, Samantha Archontis 5G. Promot ion team: Samantha Archontis 5G, Vasilis Charalambous 4W, Anna Petrides 4J, Elena Pattichi 3G, Elvira Kyriakou 5G, Maya Vasiloudes Bayada 4B, Andreas Damianos Georgiades 4Y, Mara Christoforou 5B, Ioanna Tzyrka 6W, Andrea-Panny Andreou 5R, Lara Tokar 5W, Eleni Anayiotou 4Y. Teachers: Emily Papandreou, Demos Kaoullas

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The opinions expressed here are those of the writers only and should not be considered as representative of the English School's or The Phoenix's official position.

f r om t he Edit or s W hen it comes to sustainability, the words ?environment?and ?global warming?are what come to mind, perhaps reminiscent of the myriad of primary school assemblies we were all made to sit through.

The world however has changed since then, and so has the definition of sustainability, moulding itself to become what we need it to become.

In a world where 15 million tons of used textile waste is generated, sustainable fashion choices, that is to say, thrifting, second hand buys, supporting ethical brands, is what is needed.

In a world where livestock accounts for about 14.5 percent of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, a different, more sustainable approach to eating is needed. Less animal products and more plants.

Sustainability, however, is more than that.

In a world where we are bombarded with diets and cleanses at every available moment, a sustainable diet is also one which allows you to nourish your body the way it is asking to be nourished. One that fits into your busy schedule, and one that does not leave you feeling empty.

As a high school student desperately trying to fit homework, revision, extra lessons, sports, art, music, and sleep into 24 minuscule hours, a sustainable lifestyle could mean knowing when to take a break, getting enough hours of sleep and finding time to relax.

In an increasingly globalized world, sustainability could even mean sustaining what makes us unique; Our languages, our cultures. More than that, sustainability could mean how we shape our identities in relation to others, and how we form sustainable relationships and communities.

Sustainability is largely up to us and our actions, big and small. We are experiencing the world constantly as an ever changing, flaming sphere of events, trying to draw connections and create a more sustainable physical, emotional and social environment, and yet despite the fact that the human race is itself currently largely unsustainable, the smallest of changes can have a big impact.

To our succeeding editorial team and all other ES students we want to say this: Just like everything else inherited by humanity, we are leaving platforms like The Phoenix to you; protect your environmental as well as your emotional resources, strive to be sustainable in every way that you can.

So, switch from plastic to re-usable bags, replace your cow's milk for almond milk, cultivate emotional and social understanding, get more sleep. Never underestimate the gravity of your individual impact.

Maria Kypridem ou 7Y & Alexandra Fougala-Met axa 7B

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Sust ainabl egr owt h, on a per sonal l ev el An dr on ik i Ch ar alam bou s 6J Growth: the act of developing, expanding, perhaps evolving.

Growth on a personal level can mean any of the following: developing a particular skill, becoming more mature, or growing mentally and emotionally.

We are all looking to develop in one area or another that interests us, possibly challenges us, or perhaps intrigues us. That may be debating, painting or becoming better at a particular sport.

W hatever it is, it takes time, patience, and persistence to develop. There are times that you will fail, there are times that you will succeed and there are times that you will try to spot a trend amongst your failures and successes, but you will find that more often than not we experience ?phases?.You will have ?phases?when you do really well in that aspect of your life, quite consistently, and you can see that you are progressing. And then other times, you find yourself feeling stuck, unable to do things as easily as you used to. And you end up wondering, ?Is it because I put too much pressure on myself??, ?Does what I do now just not feel as natural to me as the things I did in the past??, ?W hat is it after all??But we need to remember, these are only temporary phases and when you are up you will eventually come down, and when you are down you will come up again On the topic of maturity, let me just go against the popular belief that we mature through the years.

We do not mature through the years but through our experiences. Maturity is having a clear understanding as to what is important in life, comprehending what the world is really like and being able to see beyond ourselves. Taking ownership, responsibility and control of our own lives is what allows us to flourish and grow as individuals. Age doesn?t matter. Sure, as we age, we experience different things which can lead to maturity, but it is through getting out of our comfort zone that we mature, not through simply getting older. This an essential component of real development as it enables us to change our interpretation of the world and realize that our current situation is not final. And this change will carry on happening for every second of our life as long as we seek it.

Lastly, and possibly most importantly, in order to grow mentally and emotionally we need to step outside ourselves, to see the bigger picture. Only then can someone really experience clarity and mental awareness. We need to let ourselves be, not afraid to express our emotions but not to over-analyze them either. We need to accept and appreciate the situation we are in, as well as our ever-evolving nature. Instead of playing with the cards that life has not given us, find a way to make things work in our current reality. The most necessary thing in order to grow emotionally, is learning to love and appreciate change. Change can be scary, but when we really start trusting process of adapting, advancing and altering, we can become the person we strive to be. W hen you prioritise mental clarity and let the fundamental process of growing reform you, only then you will really develop.

Growth is usually associated with change. However not all changes can bring about growth. Only deep-rooted and substantial change can bring development. Small and superficial changes can help set someone?s mentality towards clarity and change but, they can?t do much more than that.

Determination, patience and time are all key elements in order for there to be growth of any kind.

So, go ahead. Let yourself be. Let yourself change, let yourself be challenged, let yourself fail, for there will be a time when you will be happy, you will be proud, and you will succeed. Never forget that everything you do matters, and anything you don?t do also matters. There is always a consequence to every action, so we must choose responsibly who we want to become.

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Just as Elizabeth Gilbert said, ?People tend to think that happiness is a stroke of luck, something that will descend on you, like fine weather, if you?re fortunate. But happiness is the result of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly?.

Thi s Gr eat

Bi g Wor l d Of

Our s Feidias Psar as 4R

Last September at the school?s annual assembly, I saw one of my classmates, who has supposedly been in the same year as me since 2015, for the first time. In fact, every day that goes by marks a new face passing me by amongst the cluttered traffic of the hallways in between classes and breaks. And that?s not counting the lower years that sprout seemingly out of nowhere, slowly taking over more and more turf year by year and forcing us to retreat into the more obscure and strange parts of the school, places that belonged to the previous fourth form and more than likely to the next one as well.

Even though it is undoubtedly exciting and interesting, the school?s size can also be frustrating, at times, as is having to adjust to the annually changing structure and patterns of the curricula. At times, even the students from one point onwards begin to change and feel foreign. It?s not long before you realize that you, the student, among all the teachers, walls, and desks, are the most temporary form of life that passes through the gates of the English School, and in turn how minute a portion of it you will ever get to see and be. A quick look into the small archive of ES annual magazines ranging up to half a century ago in the library further augments this sense of existential dread.

Grey pictures of new staff, completely unrecognizable and (in a morbid but unavoidable extension of thought) most likely dead by now, the landscape of the school itself where it is shown barely familiar, articles detailing stories and ostensibly life-changing alterations to the system, so important they sometimes take up pages upon pages of text, sparking up all kinds of controversy within the community, to hear them say it, all sat in one corner of a room in the Science Building, gathering dust, each containing a little more than a blip in the timeline. Reading them, it?s sad to imagine that that is your best hope of being remembered.

Indeed, if not for the titles of buildings and Houses, this might as well have been a completely different place from the one we all commute to now. It makes you wonder; is there anything beyond name and place that links past to present to future?

I think that if you look at it from far enough, then yes. There seems to be a pattern present in its impressive academic statistical results, and its contribution to and participation in events happening in the broader sphere. And although none of us would like to think of ourselves as a statistic, they are necessary to ensure a sense of stability and validity in the system. It creates a solid form, which, when investigated more closely by the people like us who are lucky enough to do so, hosts the variables that are what make it dynamic and interesting, and worth coming back to ?almost? every day that it?s available. Our day-to-day interactions with Andreas, Marcos, or Mrs. ?T?, as Messios is keen on calling her, which are insignificant to the rest of the world, are the essential components that help mold each of us into our own person. And that?s the beauty of it, really.

If you find yourself worrying, somewhat irrationally, about what will happen to your memory as soon as you leave this school, and if it?ll wind up in one of those booklets in the archive in a corner of a room in the Science Building, then don?t; that?s a silly thing to do. Instead, enjoy here, and now, because that?s what you?ll get the most out of. Your impact on this school, if you choose to have one on it, will be felt, even if it?s forgotten.

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Welcome to a world where. . .

Michalis Kasoulides 6J "Hello, please allow us to guide you through your options."

Welcome to Hell. You are now in a harrowing world of despondency and distortion. Haven?t you heard? That one time, back then in Eden?s garden, Eve regretfully signed a treaty with the serpent, thus remember that your mother anguished in torment when she gave you your life.

Unfortunately, out of pure lust Adam followed her lead and plummeted into the ploy and bit the apple and now you have to undergo his shame, for you have sinned and now you have to labour to make ends meet. In this world it is prohibited for you to confess for your flaws however, because if you do, you will be left vulnerable and ambushed by celestial semblances of voracious brutes. So, please hide your impurities, because nobody wants to see them. Keep scrolling down your Instagram instead - tap, then double tap - make every white heart that appears, less genuine than the last. Because we all know that you are deluged by envy, of how he is carousing with his countless friends, and how she looks bewitching in her new bikini. You are now in a dreadful world, where everything you do, is quite simply not enough, because your ?satisfactory?is unfeasible, but you are too conceited to admit it. Because everyone is doing better than you and you are a negligible pebble in a spectrum of stars. Now that we even think about it, you don?t even deserve to be here.

Welcome to Purgatory. You are now in a standard world of normality and regularity. You have just argued with your friend and you both remember the story in different ways, because you are different people. You remember how he raised his tone, but he remembers how you spoke under your breath and the disagreement no longer makes sense, because it did not mean to you what it meant to him. You are in a rather dull world, because it is a world where you do not exist. You are the only person in this world who will never meet you, yet the only one that knows you so well.

They tell you ?be yourself?, and you ponder on how to do it. Reality becomes a perception and your firmest beliefs, are now nothing more than another opinion. There is no truth or lie, no right and wrong, because it does not matter what you believe, because it is ?respected?and ?accepted?, but never quite perceived. You are in a world, where you feel sorry for villains, because they remind you of the people in your life, because ?Childhood is when you idolize Batman, but adulthood is when you realize Joker makes more sense?; because heroes?standards were unrealistic and you know that now, but perhaps it was better when you didn?t. Here, you will always enjoy the lonely company of your strangers, as you drink again, yet another cup of coffee.

Welcome to Heaven. You are now in a euphoric world of gaiety and joy. You have finished your duties on time, because you remembered to breathe, regardless of the sheer amount of work you had to do. You had a realistic schedule, where you respected your nature as a human-being.

Although you were productive, you first and foremost prioritized your mental and physical health.

You still have some concerns, but for all your confusion, you calmly arranged a later time when you can think of or discuss about them more clearly and effectively. You are in an alluring world, where you forgave the Lucifers in your life, for yourself; not for them. You spent some extra time with your loved ones, rather than on your own, because despite the fact that you?ve lately grown mildly distant, you acknowledge that they are a part of you, and you are proud of that. You are reminiscent, but not overly nostalgic about the past, because the present is delightful, in itself.

Here you can, along with friends or on your own, study at cafes, go to the gym, listen to your favourite music, star-gaze, attend concerts and other events, go to the cinema, watch a movie, eat healthy food, play sports, write, dance, run, sing. Live. You are lucky to be in a world of splendour, where you decided not to let the circumstances or others define you. In a mesmerizing world, where you admire your efforts and learn from your mistakes; where you constantly grow and develop. Isn?t it wonderful?

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"Goodbye, we sincerely hope you enjoyed your tour. Please decide: In which of these worlds would you like to wake up tomorrow? It is entirely up to you. "

Samant ha Archont is 5G & Maria Kypridemou 7Y

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T h e y o u t h 's i n d i f f er en ce o n t h e C y p r u s p r o b l em ; a r eci p e f o r p ar t i t i o n ?

St elios Sycallides 6W Trying to understand the Cyprus problem is tough.

It?s very difficult to get an objective view of the matter, and even apart from that, the issue is just too complicated. But isn?t even just a little research worth it, especially since the Cyprus problem is an issue that not only defines, but also heavily impacts the life of any Cypriot today?

That is why, it is deeply saddening to see that most of the youth today don?t seem to know a lot or care particularly about the Cyprus problem.

For this to be fixed, it would be good if people understood that the Cyprus problem is not just a needlessly complicated case study that does not affect us in any way; it?s what we are living through right now. There are also, of course, the people that don?t seem to accept that there is a problem.

I believe, that the only remedy for this acute version of the ostrich effect is simply the realisation of the state in which our country is today, which will only come when exposure of the facts about the conflict becomes inevitable for everyone, which in turn will only happen when the rest of us become sufficiently vocal about it.

The realisation, of course, that there is a problem, isn?t guaranteed to mobilise the youth towards pro-solution activism. W hat should do that, is the realisation of how the problem actually affects us.

We Cypriots now live separately on different sides of the green line according to our ethnic origin, and don?t feel particularly comfortable visiting the other side, despite the fact that it?s our country!

As things stand right now a solution seems extremely unlikely, unless it is made absolutely clear to the politicians, both in the North and the South, that they will be electorally punished if they don?t deliver one; and this is where the mobilisation of the people is most needed.

W ithout a solution, the status quo, which is not in any way viable, will under no circumstances be maintained.

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The so called 'Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus?will eventually be recognised by the UN, and Cyprus will end up being an island of two states, most of the inhabitants of which, despite both being Cypriots, will feel no connections to each other. Of course, this is the dream of politicians, both in the North and South, who have been, for their own economic and political benefit, secretly hoping for the partition of Cyprus all along.

So what can you do if you don?t want that to happen? First of all, if you haven?t already, research the Cyprus problem. No need to do it in great detail, just enough to help you understand what should be done in order to constitute a viable solution. Also, become active: there are many bicommunal events organised all over Cyprus on a regular basis. Try to take part in at least some of them. There are also rallies held often between the two checkpoints at Ledra street, which you can also take part in.

The youth of Cyprus should wake up as soon as possible and demand a solution, because this problem most importantly affects our future, which we should not let be ruined! We are the ones who can correct the mistakes made by the older generations. We are the ones who can prevent opportunistic politicians from partitioning this island forever. And if we are actually going to achieve any of these, we should stand united!

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THE PASSAGE OF TI ME Marios Falekos 6G

Time is truly an unfathomable concept. People have attempted to simplify it with mathematical precision, but the truth is, there is no way to measure or describe the way time passes. Sometimes it feels as if a day flies away in a matter of seconds, but others it drags on endlessly.

It really is unfair how time flies when you are having fun, but when you have your mind set on something? a specific goal you want to achieve? an hour seems more like 3600 seconds of you not being able to stop thinking about it. You can be studying for what feels like hours only to realize it has only been a few minutes, however once you walk into the examination room it?s like entering a race with the ticking clock which hangs right above your head. You have written five full sentences and you lift your head up just to see that the minute hand has already skipped twenty minutes. It is a similar feeling to when you?re splashing around in the water with your friends at the beach and after some time you suddenly realise that the sun has moved west and the sky has already turned orange and pink.

The passage of time is hard for anybody to grasp, as our lives are a compilation of different time frames from our memories. The average life of a person is a collection of about 2.4 billion seconds, which is not a lot if you think about it. We are each given 24 hours a day to utilize in whatever way we please and it?s our loss if we choose to ?waste?them. W hen we are young we can?t really comprehend how fast time actually goes by, we in a way ?procrastinate?and pretend like our lives will get better as we get older. This vicious cycle continues on to adolescence as well adulthood as we always feel as if something better is waiting for us later on in time.

The truth of the matter is though, that those 2.4 billion seconds don?t stop and rewind just to capture our best moments. Their camera is always rolling, filming every bit of our lives as we ?waste?our days waiting for something better to come our way. The question is, when will it come and what actually is this thing that will better our life? The answer is that it doesn?t exist. As taught by society, we need to have a constant goal to help us push and move forward, this goal however doesn?t need to be what will fulfill our lives. We need to start realising that moments which make it seem as if time flashes by, can exist right now, in our pre-goal-achieving life. This is neither far-fetched nor unreasonable, there is no need to waste our days waiting.

Go out, make new friends, go on that trip, do something you were previously afraid of doing, because when more time passes and you?re an older version of yourself looking back on your life, you want to feel as if it flashed right before your eyes. Yes, it will be a tumultuous ride and yes, there will be wild waves that you will need to subjugate, but at the end of the day, time goes by so quickly and unexpectedly that at some point all you will have left will be the memories from a compilation of seconds.

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I S ANYBODY OUT THERE? Odysseas Hilides 6R Is that it? Are we alone? Are we a glitch in the matrix? Is our planet a lonely speck in the greatly evolving cosmic dark? Are there no aliens after all?

The existence of ?extra-terrestrials?or in modern culture ?aliens?has been an unanswered question first dating back to Ancient Greece. On the one hand you had Epicurus and Democritus who believed in the Cosmic Pluralism (where Earth is not the only ?world?that harbours life) and on the other hand you had Plato and Aristotle who argued that Earth is unique.

A Cosmic Riddle Coming back to the present world, with the rise of new technology there have been many projects which are based in searching for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). But still, 40 years after the introduction of these projects and we haven?t yet acquired enough evidence to support alien life.

The ?Drake Equation?estimates that there are probably between 1000 and 100,000,000 civilizations only in our galaxy, the Milky Way galaxy. But, why haven´t we encounter one yet? W hy does this paradox exist?

The Fermi Paradox, named after Italian physicist Enrico Fermi explores the general reasons to why we haven?t yet detected another technologically advanced civilization. In order to answer this question, we need to explore Earth 3.5 billion years ago, when life suddenly appeared. Darwin?s Evolution suggests that all current living creatures including humans originated from a single ancestor, a single celled bacterium found at the bottom of the ocean. Abiogenesis is the study of the natural process which explains how life can arise from simple organic compounds. No theory has gathered enough evidence to strongly explain abiogenesis and therefore how life is created. Many suggest that this action is God-sent and that there must have been some metaphysical action taken for life to exist. Many religions have their bases on the idea that our existence is evidence to the presence of an incorporeal and omnipresence creature, or in other words, a God. This leaves us with a hypothetical question.

A Hypothetical Question If in fact, there is extraterrestrial life out there, and hence we are shown that Earth is not the only habitable planet in the universe, does that imply that some of the most popular religions in our society are indeed incorrect and therefore not worthy to believe in? Is the concept of life much simpler than we thought? Is it all about possibilities? Does it all come down to luck? Furthermore, what would that mean for us, for humanity?

Knowing that we are not alone is in some way frightening.

For one thing, we know that we are not special anymore, but also, we would perceive intelligence in a much different way. Nikolai Kardashev tried to put numbers into intelligence and introduced the Kardashev scale. The Kardashev scale consists of 3 levels that a civilization may be allocated in, in relation to its development. A Type I civilization is one which can use and store all of the energy available on its planet. A type II is one who can harness the total energy of its planet's parent star.

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And lastly, a Type III civilization, a Galactic civilization is one who can control a whole galaxy consisting of billions of stars. Humans haven?t even reached a type I civilization. As for Type III, we have about 1 Million years to wait. We can easily say, that if we ever encounter a type III civilization, we will be dealing with very intelligent creatures.

A profound thought If we look at the animal kingdom, our brains differ very little to some animals (dolphins, bonobo, etc.).

Our DNA differs from chimpanzees?at around 1-1.5%. W hat that means, is that everything that we are able to do that chimpanzees are not, ranging from complex mathematical equations, to art and literature, from the Industrial Revolution to having a man step on the Moon, EVERYTHING relies on that 1%. Now, what if we assume, that there is a civilization that its DNA differs 1% from us humans, in the direction of progressing in development? Imagine that. Imagine the technological advancement a civilization like that would have. Imagine how different and more intelligent they would be. How would a civilization 1% greater than us see us? Similar to monkeys that can hardly communicate using sign language, yet humans can easily be fluent in more than 1 languages. Imagine how easy it will be for them to solve some of our most demanding questions. W hat is Dark Matter? How can I break the time barrier? Does God exist? W hy am I aware of myself? Likewise, if a civilization is so much more developed and intelligent than us, can we compare it to God? How do we know that we are not controlled by one right now, but we are too dumb to notice? Does a moss know it?s been cultured in a Petri dish by a medical student at Harvard? W hat if life on Earth is a creation of some intelligence civilization aiming to monitor us and examine our perception of the Universe? Would they become the new ?Creator/ God??

Summa Summarum Summing up, it?s only fair to conclude that humans are in the state of exploring our universe?s upmost mysteries. We need to accept that we may not be as powerful as we once thought. For all we know, the future of the human race hangs from a very thin thread. In the scenario that we are not alone but still the most developed civilization, we are the front-line Infantry, ready for whatever the Cosmos decides to shoot at us. In the scenario that we are indeed alone, we might need to remodel our whole conception of life and how the universe came to create us. Carl Sagan once stated ?Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light?, referring to a picture of the Earth taken from far away in our solar system indicating the insignificance of our planet. Thus, the next time you might think you are special in any way compared to this vast cosmic arena, think again.

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FROM ENGLISH SCHOOL STUDENT TO TOMORROW 'S CITIZEN :

Andriana Georgiou 1G

A JOURNEY THROUGH THE YEARS We all worked really hard to get into the English School, and everyday we try to present our best selves.

However, we know very well that our school offers us a lot as a reward for our hard work and effort. I am very proud to be a student at the English School, not only for its educational system, but also because it teaches us the values of becoming good individuals and good citizens of the future. In this article Ms. Melis, a beloved English teacher at our school, helps us get a closer look at the school?s ideals and the opportunities it gives its students. She also presents her personal point of view on the school through the eyes of a former student, graduate, and present teacher.

Being a former st udent of t he English School, w hat do you recall being your first impression of t he school as a first former?

I remember thinking that the English School was so big, and worrying about how I would find my way around! It felt very strange not having just one classroom, but having to move around, with different teachers for different subjects. Despite this, it made me feel very grown up. Having said that, I recall it was quite a shock for me to go from being the eldest in the school to one of the youngest.

In w hat w ays do you feel t hat t he school has shaped your personalit y, t hrough your seven years as a st udent ?

As I spent all my adolescent years at the English School, it definitely had an impact on the person that I am today. From an academic point of view, the English School is a competitive, high-achieving school, and the ambition and drive of my peers encouraged me to work harder. Socially, I formed relationships with many of my peers with whom I am still in touch with and very close to today. Being a student or a teacher at our school makes you feel like you belong to a special community. Even after graduating, you become an ?old?boy or girl, and are still part of the club.

W it h every decade. new know ledge is conquered and new teaching models are adopted. As a teacher at t he school now, how do you t hink t he teaching process has changed t hroughout t he years?

I think that teaching methods in the classroom have changed immensely compared to how they were when I was a student. Just with the inclusion of technology in the classroom, students today are at a huge advantage. Information about absolutely everything is at our fingertips. I think that teachers today are far more aware of students?individual needs. They aspire to cater to those that have difficulties in certain areas but also to give extra focus to the many gifted and talented students.

Another way in which the teaching process has changed within the school is that teachers now actively encourage students to assess and evaluate their own work and the work of their peers, thereby helping them to become more aware of their progress and what they need to do to improve.

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W hich are t he most import ant values t hat t he ES inspires, so t hat graduates succeed bot h in t heir professional and personal lives?

Academically, students are taught to be articulate, critical and creative thinkers. They are also taught to evaluate information, and collaborate with others. In this way, they are prepared to become global, democratic citizens, enabling them to undertake leadership roles in their adult lives. On a personal level, the English School?s ethos is one of trust, mutual respect and understanding of each other?s culture, ethnicity, religion, gender and individual needs. W ith our new Pastoral system in place to help guide our students by way of assemblies and PSHCE lessons, our mission statement is more easily adhered to, thereby helping our students to become well-rounded, happy people.

A graduate today should be qualified to be a ?world cit izen?. In your opinion, has t he school adapted to t his demand? How does it prepare st udent s for an internat ional ident it y?

W hen I was a student here, the environment was very much a Greek-Cypriot one. Since then, the country?s borders have opened and the English School was one of the first, if not the first school to welcome back our Turkish-Cypriot compatriots. As a school we celebrate diversity and we now have several students of Serbian, Armenian, Russian and Chinese backgrounds in the school. In this way, our students are mixing with other young people from very different cultural backgrounds, preparing them more for the outside world.

Do you t hink t hat t he st udent s develop high ecological aw areness?

Cyprus is not the most environmentally-friendly country. However, with the introduction of Green.dot, recycling has become a lot more wide-spread. It?s very important that we educate our students from Year 1 on the importance of picking up rubbish and recycling due to the ever-present effects on our environment today. The students at the English School develop awareness through their science lessons as well as via projects for their PSHCE class.

W hat ?s it like to teach st udent s t hat grow from 12-year-olds into young adult s?

It?s a wonderful experience to watch your students grow and develop from children into mature young adults. It?s as if you are on a journey with them. You help them through their struggles, and hopefully see them eventually flourish and revel in their successes.

W hen did you feel most proud of an ES graduate?

I feel a sense of pride whenever I read about what any of our English School graduates are up to and what they have achieved in their lives so far. However, last year, my form group (7 Green) graduated from the English School. I felt very proud to be part of their graduation ceremony and to wish them well as they were about to go out into the world and embark on a new journey. On graduation day I asked one of my students where he was going next and he replied that he was going abroad to study medicine. I recalled that in year 1 he had told me that one day he would become a doctor. I felt very proud of him for following his dream.

A few words to close?

The English School w as, is and w ill alw ays be an excellent school. It helps you develop your personalit y and make your dreams come t rue. It adapt s to t he new social st andards, and at t he same t ime preserves t he values upon w hich it w as founded. It w as, is and alw ays w ill be ?a choice for life?!

Special thanks to Ms. Melis for taking the time to answer our questions.

13

Mara Christoforou 5B

14

15

MOTHER TONGUE Const ant ina St avrou 7J

About four years ago, I found myself in a Spanish classroom. Lacking the slightest motivation after two extremely unsuccessful years of learning French, I considered Spanish as just another academic subject that I was destined to dread. The first two years were indeed driven by this exact mentality even though, towards the end, this was altered by a hesitant tinge of enjoyment. Deciding to continue with it was what undoubtedly helped me discover its real value.

I discovered that speaking a third language not only places you in the 13% of the population that can, but further fulfills one of the most fundamental traits of human nature - to interact.

As one may assume, the job opportunities that come with learning a language were not what convinced my 16-year-old self to take Spanish. Instead, I decided to use it as a means of growing in confidence. For the first time, I found myself genuinely enjoying music in a foreign language. It first started with attempts at translating lyrics whilst connecting the dots with my limited knowledge. This culminated in me decoding entire chunks of monologue as I delved into movies and tv shows. I was suddenly exposed to an overwhelming range of media, which I would otherwise simply never know about.

Interestingly enough, psychologists describes these first stages of learning a new language as a love affair. Yes, a love affair, where you are constantly fully invested in listening, talking and learning about your subject of interest.

The more I think about it, I can?t help but conclude, that people are not destined to have a single mother tongue, or at least are all very capable of having more than one. Trying to reconstruct the traditional definition of the term, your mother tongue can be alternatively defined as the language with which you identify the most. The one with which you have the most connections, common ground, points of reference. As weird as it may sound, each language has a range of concepts that cannot be translated in any other language. Try translating ?? ????????, in Greek, ?Insight?in English or ?Ganas?in Spanish. W hat I?m trying to say is that learning a new language will equip you with the ability to think and express yourself in ways that you currently don?t think possible.

Therefore, my advice isn?t to learn Spanish. Instead, I would advise you to consider searching for a language and a culture that appeal to you and take this as a learning experience of pure growth and stimulation. W hether this is through school, university, music or downloading an app on your phone, go ahead.

16

An Ext r a Take on a Basic Topic: Slang Lara Tokar 5W Slang is part of our day-to-day life. So much so that we rarely realize some words that make core parts of our vocabulary are unfamiliar to people of older generations or someone just learning the English language. Most of us commonly say ?That?s the tea!?and ?Let?s get this bread!?and ?She went off!?nowadays without even thinking about how odd these might sound. Even phrases like ?chilling out?and the word ?babe?are considered slang.

This poses the questions: W hat is slang? How does a slang word originate and how does it catch on? W hat would life be without slang?

Slang is defined as ?a type of language consisting of words and phrases that are regarded as very informal, are more common in speech than writing, and are typically restricted to a particular context or group of people.?This definition is very broad but we can put slang into subcategories in order to discuss it without getting overwhelmed.

Shakespearean slang: Although I?m aware there is slang that dates back to before Shakespeare?s time, I?d like to start here as Shakespeare, arguably known as the greatest playwright of English history, during his time was known for using very informal language. He would make up words of his own when he felt like the already existing vocabulary didn?t suffice to describe what he wanted to say. Words he made up, we still use today. Even though he was very popular during his life, people also believed that writers who stuck to the rules and limitations of language without testing the boundaries would make greater history. Look where we are now - studying Macbeth.

Words we owe to Shakespeare, created while he was messing around with the rules of language include (believe it or not) swagger, the name Imogen, fashionable, eyeball, cold-blooded, bedazzled and many many many more.

Common slang: This, I consider to be phrases like ?hang out?and ?doze off?that are used by most English-speakers and are generally found in lists provided for English learners. It is a common belief that you can truly speak a language when you can communicate using its slang.

My personal favorite, Twitter slang: This is slang originating from the whirlwind that is Twitter. Twitter is like a competition to see who can say the most random thing and get the most retweets which is how we have so much weird slang from ?we been knew?to ?wig snatched?to ?oof she snapped?.

Tumblr could also be included in this subcategory because ?this is so sad alexa play despacito? and many other slang phrases originate from there.

This subcategory is the one most relevant to our generation. I often think that it?s very unusual for someone to not know what ?shipping?means.

I just can?t wait for people in the future to be researching what slang each stan twitter subculture came up with.

Slang is a part of every language there is. It?s how languages evolve and stay present. It?s quite difficult to pinpoint how each slang word originates and it?s very rare for people to know who was the first person to say a specific slang word. Thanks to the internet, it?s much easier to spread it around as all it takes is someone thinking your tweet is funny and recreating it in their own way.

Slang changes from subculture to subculture, generation or even location. The word ?ride? originally was a verb describing the act of being a passenger in a car and it later evolved to describe cars and currently, someone might say ?my rides?to describe their collection of sneakers!

It?s safe to say without slang English would be boring without room for improvement. Next time someone raises their eyebrows at you for using the word ?lowkey?in your sentence to get your point across, remember that Shakespeare probably would have done the same if he lived in 2019.

17

Sur viving a Bad Day

Djan Gural Tanova 6J

I'll start this by making one assumption: Everyone reading this is, ideally, human.

Now that that?s out of the way, I can start to say what almost all humans have in common: bad days. We all have them, where everything seems fine at first but sometime in the morning something happens: your test doesn?t go well, or you forget to bring your project to class, or you?re reminded of the essay you have for tomorrow. That one thing sends your whole day sinking; you?ll go home feeling irrationally tired, fling yourself onto the couch where the cushions cool you down like you?re hot iron in water, and by the time you try and do some work, you can?t concentrate because your mind is too tired from the stress of the day. Some may think that this shows weakness and that it doesn?t happen to others, but it?s completely normal. It happens.

Getting out of this state is the tricky bit. There?s no single formula to getting out of it as every person has a different mind which works in its own unique way. However, this does not mean that it?s the end of the world. Many people have similar methods of dealing with this issue which could give you an idea of how to deal with it.

First, let?s take a look at what causes people to get in this state. I asked a few of my friends to tell me whether there is any common occurrence which demotivates them and how it affects them. These are their answers: Stephanos Messios, Y6: There is that moment when I look at my feed on Reddit or Twitter and see a headline that puts me down or angers me. It affects my mojo for the day, makes me dismissive and nihilistic. ?I don?t really care anymore; what's the point?. Those kind of thoughts run through my head.

Maria Kypridemou, Y7: So, what demotivates me daily would have to be my tendency to manage my time badly / procrastinate, having tight deadlines and especially when stress overwhelms me and takes over the interest of a project.

Max Lodge, Y6: On a daily basis, I can't think of one thing in particular which puts me in a bad mood.

However, as a fairly anxious person I can always find something to spook me. I find myself upset and I can?t justify why so I just sit, unable to function, assuming this is what most normal people do.

As you can see, different people are affected by different things but the results are eerily similar: feelings of anger, disappointment and tiredness are common. The person affected is out of commission for the day, losing the motivation to do anything else.

Now let?s look at how the same people deal with this state: Stephanos Messios, Y6: To deal with this, I play FM 19, listen to music that I like, chill with my cat, draw; that kind of thing. I don't have a set thing.

So you find a safe/ happy place where you can relax and not care about the outside world?

Yep

18

Maria Kypridemou, Y7: I sit and make visual timetables/ diagrams etc. to help organise my thoughts. I also talk to my friends so we can at least relate or help each other and I used to go to yoga/ meditation sessions which helped a lot with stress/ concentration and it was like a reward for me at the end of each week. Lastly, obviously music helps - playing or listening - but that would be any creative outlet, subjective to each individual I guess.

Max Lodge, Y6 You listen to music which just makes you sadder until you get over it.

So how you cope with it is by letting music pass through you?

Oi, none of that rubbish Instagram cringy stuff.

I'd say it?s the process of shutting down and not doing anything, just thinking everything through is what slowly helps.

Once again, there are different answers to how each person copes with this but they are quite similar, so let?s see what the common things are: Taking a step out side to create: All three people said that they listen to music, draw or use a creative outlet in order to get through the day. This may be in order to escape the stress of the day and / or to externalise the stress through a creative outlet. Using a creative outlet also helps you get started on getting to work as being creative makes you feel productive.

Slow ing dow n: Maria and Max said that taking a step back, thinking things through and planning what they will do has helped them. Of course, this helps by letting you calm down and think about what task to do first. This also helps by making you feel productive, making it easier to get started on other things.

Happy place: One other method is to take a break and do the things which you enjoy, it may be watching a movie, playing a video game or listening to music. W hich will give you something familiar to do and relax before starting your work. However, it is important not to let this take too much time as procrastinating may just make the situation worse.

W ith all that in mind, I wish you the best on the hard days you may have and hope that I may have been of some help.

19

What is happiness to you?

Olga Prepis 6M

Happiness, as stated in the Cambridge Dictionary, is ?the feeling of happiness?. But what is ?happiness?? W hat can be classified as feeling ?happy?? One could argue there is no real definition of happiness- you?ll know it when you feel it. This brings up another question, why do we feel it? Well, biologically serotonin, endorphins, dopamine, phenethylamine and ghrelin are called the 'happiness hormones'. Our bodies release them allowing us to feel a sense of euphoria. However it?s not all just science? ?Happiness for me is being able to sleep in for as long as you want and wake up with a clear mind without having to worry about anything in the world. A cup of coffee/ tea is always an essential and of course, the best company you can find to bring you the best source of laughter; friends, family, even teachers sometimes, and the key to happiness: food. All jokes aside, happiness is relative to all of us and everyone can find different things that make them happy, but for all, happiness comes from within, and if you are not happy with yourself, then you can?t find true happiness in anything else.?

Anthi Papouli ?Happiness, to me, is understanding and accepting yourself as the person who you were, who you are and who you will be. Only then can I truly communicate with the world, with people who have done the same.

That is the essence of happiness, I believe.?

David Iacovides

?Happiness is a weird concept. It?s only a moment in time but when it happens it changes you for a long time. Happiness to me is feeling at peace; whether that is drinking a latte with my friends and talking about deep stuff to which we don't really have the answer to, being proud of the work I do, being close to the people I love. But the thing is it can never possibly last forever.?

Androniki Charalambous

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"Happiness is such an abstract concept, because its meaning continuously wavers in different points of our life. To me, there's not one definition of happiness. I guess, when you are happy, you just know it" Michalis Kasoulides

?Happiness is when it?s 40 degrees outside and you feel burning hot and then you enter a room with air conditioning?

Panayiotis Constantinou

?Happiness is late-night, deep conversations, connecting with people around you, hugging someone you love and laughing so hard that you can?t breathe. Happiness is the little things that make a great contribution to your well-being?

Emily Vrahimi

?Happiness is a psychological illusion created by the correct dosage of Dopamine, Oxytocin, Serotonin and Endorphin.

These act like our personal drugs because, as Freud said, "We are much more vulnerable to unhappiness than its opposite.?

Valerios Athinodorou

21

To those we left behind

Tiffany Michelle Ioannides 7R

The baby was enveloped in an over-blanket, like a slab of meat in a paper sheet. ?Sam-?her voice came out shaken and loud. ?Samuel??quieter yes, she had wanted calmer too but the shaking tripled. He walked up to her gently and although it comforted her -of course it comforted her, there was no one else she could have wanted more, his approaching presence chilled her spine. He looked at the baby lying on the welcome mat and said nothing. ?It?s not moving Sam.? ?W here did it come from Amanda?? ?I don?t know. The bell rang, I opened and she was there.? ?But honey, the door didn?t ring.? ?It did you were upstairs you didn?t hear it.? ?Please Amanda, who put the baby here??

And then she noticed the baby wouldn?t blink. She watched it lay there completely unresponsive to its environment and began to wonder what it its existence could even entail; Does it think? Does it suffer? Can it put its feelings into thoughts? or does it simply just feel? Empty, wordless feelings. ?Can it see if it doesn?t look? And oh, can it hear??She snapped her fingers on either side of its head to check for a response. But the child just seemed to sink lower into the white sheet. She knew it was only in her mind, but she could see her moving further and further away from them. The child was barely alive, and yet at no risk of death. It was just perfectly unresponsive. She swallowed, and in a whisper affirmed?Samuel, she can?t hear either.? ?Yes she can Amanda. She can see and hear us perfectly fine. W hy don?t you and the baby come indoors now. It?s almost 6. Amanda now look at me?Samuel put his gentle hand on her cheek and turned her towards him, ?W here did you get the key Amanda?? ?I found it on the desk.? ?W hich desk Amanda??His tone was firm but encouraging. ?The downstairs one, in Stenson?s office? ?Good, okay. Let us give it back to him. Come on Amanda, you and the baby indoors.? ?It?s not my baby Sam,? ?Yes, yes it is. Now please come in. Or leave it out here if you like, maybe whoever abandoned it will come right back.? ?No they won?t. You know full well they won?t. Not in her state-?She paused, ?No, when people lose touch of things like that, some people can?t look at them. It makes them think too much.? ?That?s just not true. Now come on. I?m sure they?ve just made a mistake.? ?No. They knew their baby couldn?t see, hear or even sense- and then how could the child even think? And that?s horrible. I couldn?t live with that- not as a mother- imagine loving something that could feel love but never see it, touch it, name it, conceptualise it in anyway Samuel.? ?Babies don?t feel love. No let?s stop with this-? ?-you know they do. And even if they couldn?t, what about fear or pain?? ?Come inside. Let?s go downstairs and forget any of this happened Amanda.?

She sensed him become lost and aggravated and she mirrored those emotions. She felt a desperate and lonesome sense of hatred towards him and worse yet, towards the baby. So, in the midst of it all; in the midst of blindly loving but never understanding, little skinny Amanda found herself lifting up her stumpy leg and kicking the infant time and again in the gut. She was a prophet, and she relayed her prophecy to all who could hear, screaming it out through the in-cohesion of his cries, ?We?re born alone, we live alone, we die together.?

The baby shed no blood of course, but the limbs and head plopped off. He held on firmer and dragged her indoors, leavening behind six small plastic shells; which revealed gruesomely the internals of its anatomy- Empty and black. ?Hush now Amanda, down the stairs we go.?

She giggled, ?Empty and black.? ?but slowly now Amanda-? ?Empty and black and dead.? ?-you?re going to make us fall.?

22

The Evolution of a M ind-set

Eleni Anayiotou 4Y

It is truly captivating what a tiny airplane window can capture, you sit and stare and admire the wonders of the whole worldfrom snowy bulgy mountains and endless phthalocyanine fields, to never ending oceans accompanied by small ships slashing through the waves that you don?t even realise how quickly the sky turns from pastel rosy shades and cotton candy clouds to a passionate lava red, ready to swallow the golden sun.

And then; It matures into a deep navy royal blue and the horizon is now an endless yet liberating void.

You gaze at the lakes and seas of sparkles that are the city lights and you feel so beautifully unimportant so negligible, next to the universality of the exquisite nature.

Optimistic nihilism they call you.

23

Rel ief

Eliza Papavarnava 7B

I shut the lights off.

I throw myself on the bed, the cold sheets against my body, and shut my eyes.

I wait; and wait.

I open my eyes, half an hour later, still wide awake. I shut them again.

I toss; and turn. I open my eyes, one hour later, still wide awake.

Another night I won?t be sleeping. Another night I won?t be resting. Just like yesterday. And any other day within the last months.

I remove the heavy bedding off my body, slowly elevate my torso and throw my legs down the side of the bed. My toes are barely touching the floor, yet I can still feel the cold through the grey marble tile.

I slide on some slippers, unsure as to where to go. Or what to do. But I choose to follow this sudden urge to go somewhere and do something.

After all, I haven?t felt such an urge in quite a while now.

I walk towards the kitchen and pour myself a cup of coffee. Black. No milk, no sugar. My puffy eyes are irritating me, but I grab my mug and out of the door I go. It?s pitch-black ? must be around four in the morning, and it is deadly silent. I try to lift each foot at each step I take, but I am unable to lift it much above the ground. So, I sluggishly shuffle my feet upon the pavement and move. Move forwards. W ith no destination in mind; I?m just glad I?m roaming around my neighbourhood.

Haven?t done that in quite a while now.

The caffeine must?ve kicked in because I find the energy to lift my feet a little higher. Walk a little faster. Finally, an energy rushes through my body. A sign I?m still alive; at least in some way. And I?m walking, and walking. Don?t know what time it is, but I don?t really care. Time is a social, theoretical construct and it doesn?t mean much to me. Nothing does anymore. I feel my legs get tired. Expected.

Haven?t moved this much in quite a while now.

There?s the park, a few steps away from me. Haven?t been there since I was a kid. It was a nice place; a rather large green landscape, with a swing, and a slide, and a seesaw. My eyes trace the playground, it hasn?t changed much. The paint of the equipment has chipped, and the colours have faded, but other than that, it?s the same. I used to enjoy the swing set, so I place my coffee on the ground and sit on one swing. I kick my foot on the ground and I swing. First slowly, swing back, swing forth. But gradually, I swing faster. Swing back, and forth, and back, and forth.

And a sudden flash of adrenaline pierces through me. My heart is drumming at a beat I?ve never felt, my chest is trying to rip itself up, I feel my blood rushing through each part of my body and my limbs are no longer controlled by me. I feel my hands let go of the swing?s handles. They raise themselves up, up in the chilling air as I swing and swing. I hear a scream, it sounds frustrated.

Another scream, it sounds confused.

And then there?s one more.

It sounds relieved.

My chest calms down, and the adrenaline is now gone. I stop swaying, put my feet on the ground. For a second, I think everything is back to where it was. But I feel my throat rather soar. And I recognize that something has changed. I get up and breathe. Inhale. Exhale. There?s a light ray slowly creeping upon the playground, brightening the dullness. The sun crawls up, signifying the beginning of a new day. But this day is no longer part of the endless loop of days I couldn?t clearly separate from each other.

This day is the day I no longer distance myself from the world.

I feel ready to make something out of it.

I cough, and realise the screams were mine.

'T his day is no l onger par t of t he endl ess l oop of days I coul dn?t cl ear l y separ at e f r om each ot her .'

24

Sl i ppi ng out

of

hand Konst ant ina Panayiotou 7J

There is this burning feeling eating its way through my stomach, slowly creeping up, clutching my throat. W hy does it keep coming back? And then, that feeling where your whole body turns white but it?s not the white that makes you feel at peace; it?s the white that makes you feel uncomfortable and makes you wonder why you?re here. Words that don?t come out but are the most deafening; those never leave my head alone. There?s hair tingling my face but it?s my hair and it?s not stroking me, it?s making my face itch. I think it?s in a way poking me to make me realise that I?m wrong ? in the wrong situation, at the wrong place, with the wrong person.

But then comes you, and even though you manage to get away from me, mere minutes with you make it all disappear for a while. The lump in my throat slowly gets smaller and smaller until it?s just the size of a crumb of bread, that, I can subside. The words that wouldn?t come out are no longer a burden because they now feel like music that is all to myself - and I know that if others hear it, the melody will get ruined. Moments that would otherwise be awkward and would give me the need to blurt out words just to break the silence, feel effortlessly calm. Perfume no longer smells like perfume, but it smells of warmth and lust. It makes me crave conversations that drive me to my limits, conversations that make me wonder about my very existence, conversations that feed my soul.

The white is now dispersing inside my body.

W ith your appearance, I can now appreciate the beauty around me. Those laughters that have no sound and leave you breathless, those which have been sparked by just a look and those that leave you with teeth accidentally biting your lower lip, but especially those laughs that deny leaving and stay as a pure innocent smile; those I can?t resist. They warm me up like the sun on my face. The spark that intensified that warmth is gone but this isn?t a bad thing. A ?spark?is called a spark for a reason and now that it?s gone it has given rise to a meaningful gravity that draws me to my true desires.

W ithout realising it I am soaking up every detail of people?s faces. But I?m afraid because the more I look the more they become an idea that is wildly wondering in my imagination. As soon as I have created my imaginary world with all these people who are no longer people, everything slowly feels out of reach. And suddenly you feel out of reach.

There?s a white box around me. It?s not constraining at all, it?s endless, but then again, there?s nowhere to go.

W hy did you leave again? I need you.

25

Col ou r s The colours have disintegrated, But I will replant them again.

They couldn?t bear this cold weather And your frail body was not enough, to sustain their lives.

Perhaps it has been too long now, And everything is gone, recycled, one with the earth and soil.

Simply chewed away by life?s process And spat out, only to scar those still here.

A month into spring and you should see How loud these colors become.

It becomes so crowded in the spring As they soak the sun And follow its lonely journey, across the cloudless sky.

Layers on top of layers of them Endlessly tripping over each other Competing for the space to finally Breathe and spread and grow.

Oh, but they are only a masquerade, A distraction!

Shielding us from what lies beneath Their suffocating smells and withered roots.

Memory after memory Creeping out of my mind Pouring into my eyes, Blinding my vision Fogging my view Of the colors that lay where you lay.

I am almost jealous of them, They are so close to you.

I promise, W hen this harsh winter passes, I will visit again, replant them again, miss you, again.

26

Ilaera Georgiou 7G

?? ?? ? ? ? ?? ?? ?

Er ot ok r it os Nicolaou 7W

? ? ?? ? ??? ?? ??

? ?? ? ? ? ? ?? ? ??? ??? ? ???? ????? ?? ??? ??????, ?? ?? ??? ??? ?? ???? ???, ??????? ?? ??????? ??? ??? ???????? ???? ???? ???: «? ???? ?? ??????????

- ??? ?? ?????? ?? ??? ??????? ??? ????? ? ?? ? ?????????? ??? ???????? ?? ??????. ? ??????? ?? ?????????? ???? ?? ??????? ??????, ???????? ?? ??? ??????, ???????? ?? ?????? ???? ? ?? ?? ??? ?? ????????, ??? ?????? ?? ??????? ??? ????????? ?? ?????? ?? ??????? ??? ? ????. » ???? ??? ???????? ??? ??? ??? ???? ??? ?? ? ????? ???

- «????? , ?? ??? ??? ?????? » ???? ? ??? ???? ???????? ???. ( ? ???? ??????? ???? ? ?????? ?? ? ??? ?? ????????? ???? ?????? ? ?? ???????? ?? ? ??? ?? ??????. )

27

Paper Planes We used to be children, made paper planes in class filled them with smiles and laughs and pushed them across the room.

We watched them take away our worries, sadness and the ?pain?; we didn?t care.

We used to be children, oh, how the paper planes would entertain us, for hours on end we would sit on the front porch of our little paper house in our friendly paper town bringing into being our pretty paper planes planning our sunny days before they?d even come.

We used to be children, and those paper planes were childhood.

We?d write on them too, the secrets that they held on the inside of their paper folds, a name of a boy; the boy a name of a girl, a friend, a mother, a brother, a dad a heart; our purely paper heart.

We pushed our secrets across the endless blue, we watched them as they danced but never expected them to hit the ground.

And when they did, we?d run to the rescue we?d try to mend them as we held them gently in our paper arms, with our little paper hands, we?d try to push the folds together, our little paper fingertips would trace along the paper lines, follow along the paper creases our little paper eyes looked for a way to make them sharp again; we never knew that paper planes go bad sometimes.

But now were not children anymore, those paper planes have vanished no paper planes in sight to take our pain away.

We work our days into lonely nights, we work our paper hands till dawn; our paper arms are cut and torn the only thing we try to mend.

28

Maria Christ ia Vyrides 7W

Cy ni c i s m Poulcheria Rousos 6Y I was up Till there was no more To the dawn Till the sun I was no more All of me was gone But rather curious I buried us all There?s something I can feel it Although I?m deprived of that feeling Cause I?m no longer upstanding I am just crash landing And the sun is leaving Cause he sees no other meaning Still, I thought I could feel it But I was exhausted from the beating For I did not reach for it It was not for me, the sinner It was for the light and the saints The alive and the hopeful I shouted till my lungs gave out They were ablaze, but I never let it show Cause I have this fire inside It is unfair, I said with a sight I am the hopeful I am the light For you can still see me I am alive But for them I was a ghost W ith no purpose for a shot I was a criminal, Convicted for a cynical Still, my last words were in line, ?the blood is mine?

29

Night Moves

Mike Tellalis 7B

A st or y of t eenage expect at ion & r ealit y I remember thinking it was 4am out, looking outside the window watching the streetlights go by in the deserted city I call home. My watch told me something around 11-11:30 at that point. Slowly, a lingering disappointment crept into my mind, as it so often had done before. God damn, I thought, I shouldn?t have to look at the time. Am I really that bored? The night was just starting, but I felt like I was ready to drift away in the back of the car. ?Hey man, where we goin???? I hoped to inspire some keen thinking in the front seats. A disappointing voice gave me an answer akin to I don?t know. Our driver Pete was probably the worst guy in the world to be the driver. You could pay for this guy?s whole night and he would still tell you he?s got some homework or something the next morning. Sometimes the excuses don?t even make sense, you know, like ?I have to do homework right now at 12 a.m.?or ?I have a really high maintenance bird??And the ensuing persuasive argument gets so complicated and convoluted that you want to go home anyway just from trying to convince this dude. I guess this is it for tonight then, I thought. ?W hat do you wanna do man??He said. Probably as a token response. ?Up to you guys?I said.

Then it was quiet again. The song on the playlist was Night Moves by Bob Seger. Man, he?s great, I thought. One of the best songwriters of Rock and Roll history, no doubt. I think the reason why I really dig him is that he talks about real shit. ?Workin' on our night moves, trying to lose the awkward teenage blues. Workin' on our night moves, in the summertime.?

Pete broke the silence; ?W hy don?t we go for a drive? Nothing better to do.?We all agreed.

To my left Donny fired up a cigarette in his mouth and took a swig from his flask of something, whiskey probably. ?Hey man, let?s ride on the highway?, he muttered. He looked out the window as well. I wondered what he thought about. Maybe I?m not alone in demanding more from the ?Good times with the boys? ?.He?s probably the only one I can connect with, to be honest. Also, he?s the only one who could coax Pete into doing anything. So he?s always good to have around. *** The night before I had spent at the bar. I might as well have been staring at a wall, it certainly felt like it. I mean, who doesn?t want to have half empty conversations with thrice removed acquaintances? I?m not an anthropologist but it can?t be doing much good to our communication as a social species that we now seem to connect over snapchats and group chats. The fact is, when you try and open up with certain types of people, it?s just a firewall of fake pre-recorded answers I swear I already saw on Friends or some other bullshit reality TV show. Shit, looking around me at the bar half the people had their phones on the table closer to them (figuratively and literally) than the loved ones they were with. But hey, what do I know.

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Then there?s the parties. Every couple weeks there?s some half assed gathering of 70 people plus pizza plus alcohol to celebrate a birthday that happened 3 weeks prior. Surely this isn?t it, right? I feel like some people at these parties are there for the illusion of having fun, to say that they went.

Could be for an excuse to get drunk. Still, drinking 6 cans of watered down KEO beer doesn?t make it alright to act like a dickhead. Maybe they hate the parties too. But no, surely not. I?m still pretty convinced they do actually have fun sitting there smoking cigarettes all night. But hey, what do I know. ***

At least with these guys I got something in common. Music. Getting onto the highway, somebody put on a CD. First track was Shine on You, and what a track it was. We sat there, with the dizzying psychedelic vibrations spinning round our heads. For what felt like a long moment, we drove around aimlessly watching the lights go by. And that?s what it?s about. Not really doing anything, but feeling stuff. Pink Floyd can make you smell colours and taste shapes, lose predispositions, within the notes being played. And that?s art. By the time the verse came in, we?d decided to go to the beach and chill by a lighthouse. Sure, yeah, I said. Donny probably said the right combination of phrases to make Pete the Square hyped. The old golf coughed into 5th gear, and before I knew it we were heading at a steady pace of 126km/ hr.

Suddenly I looked over to my left and Donny had his whole head out the window. Long brown locks swooshing about like a mop. ?Donny get back in the car man, you want us to get pulled over??shouted Pete. ?Oh come on man,?he shouted from outside the car. ?Live a little. Get some air?. *** ?Live a little.?

Sometimes I sit in school and I wonder whether or not anything I?m doing at the moment really matters. Of course it does, I thought. Schoolwork will open up doors for you later on academically and you?ll be able to go wherever you want to. Of course it matters. You are, after all, a student as your only real ?job?,no obligations, no taxes, no providing for anyone. You really should be thinking about your UCAS application because that?s what?s going to matter in the end, anyway.

But what if it doesn?t? W hat if you wasted teenage years worrying about something that there?s nothing to worry about? Then you just feel like everything you?re doing at this point in time is a lengthy preamble to the ?beginning?of your life. It?s like you?re preparing knowledge and experiences for this future self-version of you that?s going to be so learned and wise because you went on a weeklong trip to some model United Nations or some European Parliament. Then, you slowly think about tossing it all and going to bed, but the fear?s already instilled. Visceral experiences for you become a side effect, something that might happen on an off chance and that?s excused because when you get to university, you?ll have fun. That ain?t good enough for me.

There?s this quote from a movie, ?If I ever call these the best years of my life, remind me to kill myself.?Well, that isn?t too far from the truth. *** Hours later we were lying on the beach. We took a couple shots, Pete excluded. Phases of conversation went from laughter to deep discussion to just listening to the music. Somehow Seger crept back onto the Bluetooth speaker. This time it didn?t make me yearn, it made me relate. ?We were just young and restless and bored.

Living by the sword.

Ain't it funny how the night moves, when you just don't seem to have as much to lose.?

And that?s what it?s about; letting go.

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?An Int er view : A 1 Scene Play or A Socr at ic Dialogue On The Not ion Of Self ?

Max Lodge 6Y

The following is an interview with Max Lodge, conducted by me Max Lodge. For the readers ease of understanding all questions posed by me, Max Lodge the interviewer, will be written in standard typeface. All responses by Max Lodge interviewee will be written in bold. All descriptions will appear in italics.

I pushed open the ornately decorated wooden door which separated, as most doors do, the inside from the outside. That was what I was here to do, get inside, the building in the short term, Max Lodge?s brain in the long run. He sat upon a awe-inspiring obsidian throne lit only by the light of a thousand wax candles, completely naked.

Max: Hello?

Max: Hi? Max: I?m here for the interMax: I know? Sit down? Ask away. I am an open book.

Max: I guess I should start by introducing you? um? so you're Max Lodge and you?ve just had a successful stint as host of talent night and as part of the cast of the seniMax: very.

Max: Excuse me?

Max: Very successful.

Max: Yeah, a -uh- very successful stint as host of talent night and as part of the cast of the senior play?

I glance over at the massive portrait of himself he has hung on the far wall.

W hat would you say to people who say that this whole thing has gone to your head?

Max: W hat! W ho said that? No! I am very humble. I always have been, always will be He takes this moment to look away from the mirror which he has been staring at himself in for our entire conversation thus far.

Max: I see? but you have had a ten-foot-tall portrait of yourself commissioned.

Max: I am not a narcissist.

Max: I didn?t accuse you of being a narMax: How dare you even bring up narcissism!

Max: You brought it up Max: You have no proof I am a narcissist Max: well narcissists do tend to have very fragile egos?

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Max: I don?t have a fragile ego and anyway I don?t care what other people think, so, how can I be a narcissist, idiot Max: Maybe, you?re psychopath, cold, unemotional, distant from other people?

Max: Would a psychopath do this?

Max leans over and kisses my lips dispassionately.

Max: No, but a narcisist would.

Max: How is kissing a fictionalized realization of myself narcissistic?

Max: How is it not? Isn?t falling in love with himself literally what Narcissus did?

Max: I just kissed you! That does not mean I?m in love with you, why does no one understand that!

Max: W ho are we to say what love is?

Max: Shut up! Asking questions doesn?t make you smart.

Max: That?s besides the point! Are you or are you not a narcissist?

Max: How can I be a narcissist if I am so willing to discuss my? possible? narcissism in such a public and open forum?

Max: How can it not be narcissistic to demand a public forum in which to discuss your narcissism?

[Beat] Max: what are you entitling this? piece?

Max: That?s unimportant? what reaMax: W hat are you calling it?

Max: A Socratic dialogue on the notion of self?

Max: Isn?t it inherently narcissistic to adopt the form of a Socratic dialogue, in which Socrates would regularly invent an opponent whom he could debate with and win against? AND isn?t it even more narcissistic to compare yourself to the great philosopher Socrates?

Max: Isn?t you assuming your pseudo-intellectual evaluation of the form of a Socratic dialogue has any value inherently narcissistic. [beat] Max: Get out. Get out of my house.

Max gets up and forcefully pushes me out of his house.

Max: It wasn?t narcissistic by the way cause the Socratic dialogues were written by Plato, adopting the moniker of his master. So, it was more like a tribute to his teacher, so it?s not even that NarciMax shuts the door in my face, and I can?t help but feel like we achieved something.

Slaying a monster

Cleo Hendaw i 6R

W hen I saw the hair landing on the floor, I knew things were not so easy anymore, I witnessed the tear fall down your cheek, And it was in that moment I felt my heart tweak, There was a new reflection in our mirror, One to which no one yet felt familiar, You thought you saw a monster staring back, And no one seemed to find enough light to pour to your black, You asked through a sob ?how can I go out looking like this??, But my mind still couldn?t process and all I managed was a kiss, I wish you knew that no hair symbolised a fighter, And the fire that raged within you only became brighter, I wish I could make people stop staring, Cause I could tell they made going out overbearing, I wish you could see who the real monster was, This one could only be seen on a CBT, it didn?t have any claws, I try drawing your eyebrows as a confidence boost, But their oddness and my shaky hand only gets it reduced, So every Monday morning we struggle to the oncology, And I listen to the doctors as if I know much about neurology, They say we won?t be losing you, That a miracle will break through, I know you will not lose this fight, And you?re prepared for a new battle each daylight, I know if things go wrong not to use a euphemism, Because things would have turned ugly and you believe in pragmatism, And so I shave my head just like you for support, I guess through this I?ve grown too, I now find to like it short.

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Love: An Anthology of Life i.

The cry you hear over the hubbub of the machinery, The excited chatter- muffled since you still haven?t really woken upbuzzing around the room, The flashes of white and fluorescent, but it doesn?t tire you, it excites you, Something has happenedYou (!) have committed the greatest act of life. Your head feels light, Moments ago, unaware of your actions you stirred in bed, And a familiar face comes and fills your mouth with coolness ?Can I hold her??

The question comes out as a whisper, and then grows stronger and stronger and stronger untilThe cry you heard before lies in a bundle in your arms.

You cannot believe how small the cry is, how delicate, how much it ?Looks like my mother?.

For a moment you disconnect yourself from the room, You imagine what comes next.

Samant ha Archont is 5G

ii.

There?s a song or two you?ve heard that talk about schoolyard romance, And you?re too young to remember, But somewhere deep in your subconscious you realize, They must be talking about This.

Every single moment that?s led to this one, a small clammy hand in yours, Something inside you wants to pet her long black pigtails but it comes out as a Tug! The girl is experiencing her first heartbreak, but you and her are too inexperienced, Too little, too trusting to understand this.

So, you go home and tell your mother that all girls have cooties, And she laughs and tells you that you must have cooties too.

You don?t understand this then.

But, Standing in the living room, looking at the big question marks on your parents?faces, It all comes back to you.

And you speak the words that set you free.

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(short) intermission I have learned to love the skin that makes me, the heat of the blood coursing through my veins, you made me a Goddess (kiss my finger and put it against your forehead) and I tell you goodnight (even if I don't want to) and let my hand rest against your head craving the warmth of it. and I realize: you have taught me how to love the skin that makes me, you showed me how much it means to you. iii. (fin) Sitting on the green park bench, you think about her final words: ?Move on.?

You try to understand what they mean. ?Follow me as soon as possible??

It hurts your aging brain.

You never imagined you could ever experience somethingNot something, somethings, so many moments, A love so wild, so honest, so, Controversial?

It comforts you when you watch the colorful marches on the television, How thousands of people like you, walk for you.

You remember how you slept on a bench just like this one, for months, After that time in the living room, W hen you told them your truth, and not theirs.

Their agony, your shame, how you couldn?t understand what you had done wrong, But when they tried to convince you otherwise, That power inside you, how it made you leave.

You?ve just finished your monthly visit to their stone, Every month a different colored flower.

You chuckle at the time that?s passed, Tear up at the time you?ve lost.

Next to them lies a stone they would?ve frowned upon, A delicate little thing, even in her final moments, Your imagination fills your palm with a lock of her hair. ?Move on.?And you have.

You close your wilted eyelids, Feel the sun on your face, And go.

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Humans of t he engl ish school

Project by Styliani Stavrou 7R & Margarita Stavrou 7B This is a project based on 'Humans of New York'.

The English School community is big enough to allow everyone their space and privacy- 1100 students are more than any of us can know at once. For us, this is great, because it means that there is always more to explore.

We have approached familiar faces and complete strangers alike, and have been moved by the openness and enthusiasm of all. Routines are hard, and they can often lead to a cynicism which kind strangers can easily dispel. To us, HotES has been a reminder of the many virtues of humanity, and a river of hope and optimism, as it reflects the thoughtful, mindful and special community of our school.

A big thank you to everyone who let us get a glimpse of their lives. To the many who responded that they don't have anything interesting to say, we hope these pages prove you wrong! We want you to know that we are all inherently different; from birth.

W hat ?s one misconcept ion about sust ainabilit y? ??Sustainability always has to do with the environment??and ??sustainability is ultimately a population problem??are probably the greatest misconceptions I?ve heard about sustainability. Indeed making informed purchases, reducing food waste and recycling are all actions that can be adopted to help minimise one?s environmental impact on our planet; however it doesn?t end here. Growing towards a sustainable future certainly doesn?t mean caring only about the environment and neglecting the social and economic effects associated with it. Social inequality, economic consumption are of equal importance; and to me if we don?t take action on all three aspects equally we are far behind from securing a sustainable future for the coming generations.

On a scale of one to ten, how much do ideas of sust ainabilit y influence your daily decisions?

Does the scale go to the negatives? Look, I drive a car which consumes massive amounts of heavily polluting diesel, and I can never have my frappe without plastic straws? But to my defence, I never throw rubbish around, I prefer having my drinks in glass containers and I recycle my glass bottles.

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One school of t hought is t hat ?Grow t h comes only t hrough st ruggle?. W hat do you t hink of t his?

Well, growth is something polymorphic. It could be physical, mental or emotional. Of course growth can come after a struggle, but there is a misconception that it occurs out of the struggle itself. I believe that growth comes after an individual's self-reflection and evaluation, after revisiting the event and choices that lead to the struggle. Growth can come out of nothing or out of anything: reading a book, watching a good movie or even having a conversation with a friend. The materials for growth are to be found by anyone, but growth occurs when one embraces them.

W hat ?s a topic of conversat ion t hat you have to dress in an unnecessary amount of ?plast ic w rapping?in order to address?

Something difficult to talk about straight up would be someone?s sexuality. W hen approaching someone about their sexuality, most people hesitate to be upfront about it from the beginning. They feel the need to coat this conversation in many layers and break those layers down individually instead of being upfront about it. It is as though they are embarrassed to open up which obviously depends on your personality, but in my opinion, sexuality should not be something difficult to talk about and I find it sad that we live in a society where it is more than difficult to talk about in most places.

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W hat event small or large do you feel has impacted t he course of your life?

W hat makes some human relat ionships sust ainable?

W hen I got electrocuted I saw life very differently. I learned to look after myself and be more spontaneous in my life. I also learned to appreciate people in my life because not everyone is always there for you.

Love, trust and honesty. They keep relationships healthy and sustainable and maintain balance.

W hen this is lost people?s paths diverge and they waste each other?s time. It?s also important that you?re not afraid to express your feelings.

Under w hat condit ions do you feel t hat you grow most effect ively?

Under ?leave me the f alone?

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Do you feel t hat personal or collect ive grow t h is more import ant ?

Personal, because without personal growth we can never grow effectively in a collective way.

W hat ?s one t ype of emot ional ?plast ic w aste? t hat get s ?dumped?into your ?ocean??

My emotional ?plastic waste?is definitely stress, which is associated with a fear of failure. It really is the bad type of stress, the one that turns into physical pain, making me postpone my responsibilities and avoid situations.

However, over the years I have trained myself to cope with it and I have seen improvement in the ways with which I deal with stress. One thing I think about a lot is that no one, especially the people that truly love you, care about your failure and that as long as you?re healthy you have the time to fix everything. If something doesn?t happen this year, it will next year, or the year after? and that?s ok.

Is personal or collect ive grow t h more import ant to you? W hy? both are pretty cool and I think one encourages the other, but I'd say personal comes first; making sure we're happy individually and eventually passing that on in some shape or form to the people around us.

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Is personal or collect ive grow t h more import ant to you? W hy?

Targeting collective growth is important, however, the relationship between people involved is more important. Collective growth can?t even begin to flourish if there is an imbalance in terms of human relationships, as relationships should be reciprocal, satisfying both ends. However, not every relationship is going to aid in achieving both personal and collective growth, as in fact, a minority of people in your life will have the same goals as you. However, you can still grow together and reap the benefits. W hat?s important, then, is that you take into account these human relationships and use them to your advantage, thus adding to the faรงade of collective growth.

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W hat ?s one t ype of emot ional ?plast ic w aste? t hat get s ?dumped?into your ?ocean??

Insecurities: ?Am I good enough???Am I too fat???Am I strong enough to succeed??They?re like those ugly plastic bags that you see floating on the surface of the sea. And just like humans pollute the oceans, I am the one dumping all this unnecessary garbage into my own emotional sea.

The Human Behind TheSt af f W hat are some misconcept ions about sust ainabilit y?

First thing that comes to mind is the notion that no matter how much plastic people use, it doesn?t matter as long as they recycle it. I always tell my students to make efforts to reduce their daily use of plastics in the first place and that recycling should be the last step towards minimising our environmental impact, rather than the first and only sustainable decision we make. Additionally I think it?s important to realise that apart from changes in their own lifestyles individuals have to make, people also have a collective power and responsibility to demand bigger and more significant change from policy makers. For example, supporting retailers with a ?Plastic-Free-Isle?policy, such as that initiated by a Dutch supermarket chain, can go a long way in making a statement about the urgency of tackling the world?s plastic pollution problem.

On a scale of 1-10 how much do ideas about sust ainabilit y influence your daily life?

I would like to think 10, but realistically it?s probably about 6.

I think the two major issues with making sustainable choices are the concepts of convenience and price. And this is where designers have to play their role in making it easier and more affordable for consumers to opt for the sustainable options.

For example, recently, I have been more conscious of the amount of plastic found in clothing items which may end up in our water systems through washing and in landfill, which I think is something we often disregard. However unfortunately, these ideas of price and convenience come in as clothing items with a lot of plastic components in them are usually cheaper and easier to take care of.

Of course we have come a long way with this. Recently, noticing the amount of plastic used at my daughter?s school during lunch time, I researched for reusable containers and bamboo cutlery to propose to the parents and teachers as alternatives to single use products. This way, our children can use these at school and then bring them home to wash and reuse the next day, which I don?t think would be too much trouble for us as parents.

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Fr om t he English School St udent s; In memor y of our t eacher Geor ge Hadjigeor giou A loss; It comes in the form of life leaves in the form of death.

It very often comes and find you on a spring Thursday morning W hilst the sun rises up high signaling a new day and you ignorantly sip coffee and listen to the news.

Beyond the poetry class Or the hall of your school It roots itself deep inside the ground Reaching the walls of your classroom Circling around your teacher?s red eyes Traveling across your trembling fingers And whatever this fucking thing is It doesn?t take sidesor tell good from bad or warn you, give a sign or forgive...

But that?s how the universe works after all And one goes W hen they must go.

And we are left behind burying inside pain and mud and salty salty tears But that?s okay.

W hen your tears become an ocean big enough to wash the hurt away when the mud dries out and cracks open letting brand new life through, when you realise that moments and people live on through memory like snapshots frozen in history then life will move on, and so will you.

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St udent s' wor ds I never liked math. It wasn't my type of subject. I could never imagine myself enjoying a math lesson, until i met Mr Hadjigeorgiou. As students, we spend most of our time with out teachers: we depend on them, we look up to them. From two years of preparation for the English School entrance exams to two years of IGCSE math, he never hesitated to offer me extra exercises for extra lessons and he always gave me extra handouts even if I didn't ask for them. He was a teacher who truly loved his students and always did his best to help us improve. Although strict when necessary, his jokes were the type that made you laugh even if they weren't always that funny. Mr Hadjigerorgiou had a love for life and happiness. He is greatly missed.

Olga Prepis Mr Hadjigeorgiou was, and still is, both an amazing and loved person and teacher. He truly cared for his students and was willing to go above and beyond for us. W hether it was coming to school on Sundays for extra lessons, or helping us with personal out of school issues, he was always more than willing to go the extra mile to help us. I will never forget how many times he came to find me when I had asked him to write a recommendation letter for me and how helpful he was. His absence is evident in the school and he is greatly missed. May he rest in peace.

Athina Stavrou

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