Editor: Jamie Alexandra Godfrey Advisor: Ms. Susanne Salhab

HOLIDAY ISSUE ISE’s annual haunted house Margaret & Triinu-Liis He said/she said: 12 days of Christmas in Top 8 Christmas Tallinn Movies Elliina Jonathan & Jamie CEESA volleyball Human rights in tournament Estonia Paula & Teele Elliina Most reletable IB quotes Jonathan Holiday foods around the Alex’s TEDx speech world Margaret & Triinu-Liis Paula & Teele Children’s Drawings Gabriela, Tristan, Lucy, Kit , Maria, Simone, Stan and Filipp

ANE LINN ISE’S ANNUAL HAUNTED HOUSE By Margaret and Triinu-Liis

Every year our school has a tradition to create a haunted house for Halloween to entertain the young kids in our school. This year IB DP students organized the event and the theme was an abandoned science lab with suitable characters, interior, music etc. On the day of the event, we set up the library according to plan and afterwards participated in the haunted house.

MOST RELATABLE IB QUOTES HE SAID/SHE SAID: TOP 8 CHRISTMAS By Jonathan MOVIES By Jamie and Jonathan IB Quote #145: The day I ditched school for homework With the Christmas season just around the corner, what better way to embrace it then to cuddle up in a warm IB Quote #1018: blanket with hot chocolate and watch some good old This is IB, you may pick 2 of the following: Christmas movies. Enjoy our top choices! 1. Good Grades 2. Enough Sleep Jamie 3. A Social Life 1. The Nightmare Before Christmas IB Quote #1668: 2. Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas You know you're in IB when you procrastinate by 3. Home Alone doing "less important" homework. 4. 5. Jack Frost IB Quote #1078: 6. The Polar Express *sung to the tune of the 12 days of Christmas* 7. On the first day of IB my teachers gave to me ... 8. The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause 12 examinations 11 long equations Jonathan 10 mental breakdowns 9 questions begging 1. A Christmas Carol 8 textbooks slamming 2. Eight Crazy Nights 7 days of working 3. 6 broken pencils 4. Home Alone 5 PAPER 3s! 5. The Nightmare Before Christmas 4 thousand words 6. The Family Man 3 hours sleep 7. Fred Claus 2 broken wrists 8. Elf AND A LOUSY MARK THAT KILLED ME!!!

IB Quote #1659: You know you are in IB when you actually laugh at these quotes.

See more at http://www.ibquotes.com! HOLIDAY FOODS AROUND THE WORLD Hanukkah foods are fried in By Teele and Paula oil. Potato pancakes (known as latkes) and jam-filled Sweden donuts (sufganiyot) are One of the holidays celebrated in Sweden, as well as other particularly popular in many countries in Europe, is Christmas. People there celebrate Jewish households. Other it by dancing around the Christmas tree, giving Santa rice Hanukkah customs include pudding and eating Christmas food like salmon and ice playing with four-sided spinning tops called dreidels chocolate. Typical Swedish foods for Christmas are and exchanging gifts. meatballs and knäck. Knäck is a Swedish Christmas http://www.history.com/topics/holidays/hanukkah toffee dessert. We tried making the knäck ourselves, USA which was simple and didn’t take a very long time. It Christmas is one of the USA’s biggest holidays. turned out to be delicious. Houses are decorated, Christmas carols sung and Ingredients needed: Santa puts presents under the Christmas tree during  1 cup sugar the night of the 24th that children open on the morning  1 cup honey of the 25th. Some of the  ¼ cup butter common foods and beverages  1 cup whipped cream enjoyed are pumpkin pie, (also works without it) stuffed turkeys, gravy (sauce),  Chopped nuts in very eggnog and stuffing. Kindly small pieces (we used told by Caroline an American almonds) student in grade 11. Directions: Sub Saharan Africa 1. Combine sugar, honey, butter and whipped cream in a Mr. T, the design techonology teacher, shared that in heavy saucepan. some parts of this region, Christmas is celebrated 2. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally until it similarity to Europe and the US. It is a lot less forms into caramel (not liquid, but heavy mass). It might commercial though; the holiday is mostly about take a while for the caramel to form. If it starts to bubble, religion and being with family. Also, Santa isn't as don’t worry, it’s ok. You will smell caramel and the color common. Many families don't have a special of the mixture will change. "Christmas food", but some do eat similar foods to the 3. When the mixture looks like caramel, add nuts, and US, for example turkey. you’re done! India 4. Now, just pour the mixture into small forms (no According to Anjali, an Indian student at ISE, Hindus matter what shape or don't celebrate Christmas, but there is a celebration material, but Swedes usually called Pancha Ganapati, lasting for 5 days (from 21st- make it into round shapes). 25th of December). During that time, families practice 5. Put them in the freezer or religious discipline as the holiday is about new, fresh the fridge (depending on starts. On day 1, the kids how fast you want them to decorate Ganapati (half harden). elephant-half human God) with the color yellow. Each 6. Enjoy your Swedish http://www.food.com/recipe/swedish toffee! -hard-candies-kn-ck-131585 day there is a different color. Israel Foods eaten during the 5 day According to Jonathan, an period include vadai and Israeli student in grade 10, modaka. around this time many people Hopefully, now you have a better idea of the in Israel have a special celebrations around the world during wintertime. As celebration called Hanukkah. shown Christmas is not the only celebrated holiday Hanukkah, which means around the world. Try making some of these “dedication” in Hebrew, begins traditional foods at home to surprise your family for on the 25th of Kislev in the Hebrew calendar and usually Christmas and learn more about these cultures. We falls in November or December. Often called the Festival truly wish you a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, of Lights, the holiday is celebrated with the lighting of the Happy Pancha Ganapati and merry other not menorah, traditional foods, games and gifts. On each of mentioned celebrations!! the holiday’s eight nights, a candle is added to the menorah after sundown; the ninth candle, called the shamash (“helper”), is used to light the others. Traditional ALEX KESA’S SPEECH AT THE TEDX HUMAN RIGHTS IN ESTONIA EVENT IN TALLINN ON THE 15TH OF By Elliina NOVEMBER By Margaret and Over the years that humanity Triinu-Liis has lived on this planet the idea of the value of one's life has Our school’s 12th changed many times. grade IB DP student Nowadays, the general idea is Alex Kesa participated the same in most countries: at the annual TEDx human life is valuable. event at the Rocca al Different countries try to Mare school on the protect the citizens differently. 15th of November. Alex’s main interests Estonia, like most other nations, has a set of laws that lie in political draw a line between a person's rights and violating developments in Europe, the reforming of old another's rights. Over the course of many years, ideologies and the emergence of new political human rights in Estonia in general have changed. One movements. His attendance at the TEDx is a very big of the largest and most noticeable changes are the deal! Alex’s speech will be up on the Internet by the added LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender/ end of 2014. Until that time, he will be happy to talk transvestite) rights. From January 1, 2016 a new about his over 10-minutes long speech with whoever is addition called the Cohabitation Agreement will interested in politics or just curious. But as many of us allow couples of the same gender to be able to do not know about the event, we will give an overview receive legal recognition. For now, LGBT couples of it. will still not be able to marry nor adopt children, but the Cohabitation Agreement is another huge step About TED made by the government to assist their LGBT TED is an annual event where some of the world’s community. leading thinkers and doers are invited to share what they are most passionate about. “TED” stands for It is written in the Estonian Constitution (§9) that all Technology, Entertainment, Design — three broad individual human rights are valid for both Estonian subject areas that are, collectively, shaping our future. citizens and those visiting it. It is forbidden to judge And in fact, the event is broader still, showcasing ideas someone in a biased way because of their nationality, that matter in any discipline. Attendees have called it race, gender, religion (§12) etc. In theory, that law “the ultimate brain spa” and “a four-day journey into creates a shield for everyone and gives them a sense the future.” The diverse audience — CEOs, scientists, of legal security in Estonia. creatives, philanthropists — is almost as extraordinary as the speakers, which includes Bill Clinton, Bill Gates, Some obvious, larger advancements in human rights Jane Goodall, Frank Gehry, Paul Simon, Sir Richard have been made by giving people more freedom to Branson, Philippe Starck and Bono. choose what they want. For example, way back in history people couldn't even choose their professions. About TEDx, x=independently organized event Usually it depended on what an individual's In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a predecessors did. If ones parents were potters, then program of local, self-organized events that bring the individual had to become a potter as well. It didn't people together to share a TED-like experience. These matter if the predecessors were craftsmen or farmers, local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where one was destined to continue the job they had done. x=independently organized TED event. The law now states that all Estonian citizens have the http://www.tedxtallinn.org/en/about/ right to choose their own future (§29).

Until now there have been many improvements in human rights in Estonia and it does not seem that the improvements and changes will stop. All that is left is to help the government to understand what people need and make sure that the government does what is most reasonable. Estonia shall face different struggles and one hopes that all those living in Estonia will come out as victors each time. CEESA VOLLEYBALL TOURNAMENT By Teele and Paula

Recently the Green Division High School Girls Volleyball CEESA tournament was held in Tallinn. It was a great weekend full of volleyball, Estonian culture, and new friends. It was also the first tournament as a team for the BEAST that represented ISE. Find out how it all went and how our team did.

Friday First thing Friday morning we went to the Sparta sports center where the tournament was going to take place. Ms. Triin, tournament director, quickly went over some of the rules and wished us all the best of luck. This was followed by a short meet-n-greet activity, where we all hustled up into a circle and said hi to the people next to us. Though we only got to know two people out of about 40, and were creepily close to each other's faces, it did help to calm down the environment as everybody was starting to get nervous and competitive. After that, it was time for the first match in which ISE did not play. So the BEAST team spent the time practicing on the court. It was great to have a place to practice and play with the team because the gym court is not the right size so getting the serves over was quite complicated. (Spoiler Alert - most of them went over during the game). The second match was ISE against Tallinna Ühisgümnaasium. Their team was extremely strong and competitive so the BEAST’s loss made quite a big difference in the points. But the spirits were held high as we played very well and adapted to the new court. The team went to have lunch to get pumped up and be ready for the second game. This was against the Vilnius Iron Wolves, the sets were very close and we only lost by a few points. The game was even closer with the Zagreb Bears where we won one set and we lost the third by two points. After a hard day on the court there was a little Estonian cultural event planned to get to know each other and Estonia. So we were taken to Viimsi’s Open Air Museum where the staff spoke about the history of Estonia’s fishermen and their general life, showed some old houses used either for living or for work and also made us do some hands on activities. We got to grind flour and also churn butter. But as everyone’s arms already hurt from a day full of volleyball, we let the teachers do some work also. As it was cold outside, the bonfire become the biggest attraction and everyone gathered around it and waited for the butter to be ready, so we could taste some homemade bread with fresh butter. There was also a traditional Estonian food called “kama” that the teachers of Lithuania described as "interesting”. After we were done at the museum we headed back to school to be picked up and go home to sleep.

Saturday Final day of games! Our team was full of excitement and ready for revenge. Although our muscles were pretty sore from the last day, we did our best at not complaining and kept up the positive spirits. Today we had to play games of five sets, which means the first team to win 3 sets wins the match. The first game was against TÜG (the local Estonian school) with whom we already had a tough experience from the previous day. Despite the loss of the previous day match, we were totally ready to face the hard serves and spikes that were about to come up and determined to reach more points than the day before, which we did! Unfortunately we lost against this team. Soon after, we had a game against the Vilnius team (Iron Wolves), which would decide if we would receive bronze or silver medals. The system of places was quite complicated, since only 3 out of 4 teams are in the Central and Eastern European Schools Association (CEESA), which were all teams except the Estonian local team, so theoretically the last place possible was 3rd place. The Estonian school received a different kind´of trophy and medal than the CEESA schools. So, back to the match with AISV (American International School of Vilnius). The first set was won by Vilnius, but we knew that we had more sets to play so we weren’t worried. The second and third sets was won by us, so we ended up getting the silver. You cannot imagine the excitement our team experienced. The first silver in ISE’S volleyball history!!!!! We were jumping and smiling like crazy! After our game, were the finals where the Zagreb team played against the Estonian team, although already before starting the match Zagreb got 1st place in CEESA whether or not they would have won or lost. TÜG won that match and the whole competition, while Zagreb became the 1st among the CEESA schools. When everyone was changed we had some time until the award ceremony, so all three teams spontaneously united into 2 teams and played a fun, casual match where the ball could be touched as many times as we wished and serves barely exist. It was a great way of communicating with other teams. After the award ceremony (where we found out that Zagreb also won the sportsmanship award), we had a tour around the Old Town and after that, we went to a famous pancake house in Old Town without our coaches, which was organized by our team, and had a fun, delicious dinner together. Next, we all split up and went home with the girls we hosted. The next morning they were picked up from our homes, which was the end of the exciting event.

As stated before, this always anticipated event is unfortunately over, but we are very satisfied with these two days, as we were able to meet new people, become closer with our teammates as well as with our coaches and of course experience real volleyball matches,where every point counts. As a result of this, we now love volleyball even more. We want to say a massive thank you to our awesome coach Ms. McLain who believed in us, taught us new things, gave us very useful advice, stayed positive and kept us going since September. Hopefully ISE will continue this tradition and girls, if you are able, you better join the team, because it’s totally worth it - not only for winning, but for the experience! 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS IN TALLINN By Elliina

Winter comes with cold and snow and brings nice holidays to enjoy. While hiding under a nice, warm blanket all winter does seem appealing at times, it might bring boredom along with the warmth. So, here is a guide to what to do during Christmas.

December 14, Sunday - Start your lovely holiday by going iceskating. JetiJäähall is open on Sundays (11:00-21:00) and even holds discos on ice. December 15, Monday - Christmas Jazz Festival offers many opportunities to listen to different performers from all over the world. It's being held at all sorts of concert halls and churches and brings many people together. December 16, Tuesday - The City Composing is a project, where all people are encouraged to come and write a poem, a short melody or draw something so that a composer by the name of Hara Alonso can create a piece based on all that was contributed. The piece shall be performed later (10 January 2015). To contribute you have to go to Kumu Art Museum and while you are there enjoy some other expositions. December 17, Wednesday - Go sledding on Lauluväljak. The huge hill gets covered in snow and people both young and old roll after their sleds that escaped from the top of the hill. December 18, Thursday - Like every year the Design and Architecture Gallery hosts Gingerbread Mania- an art exhibition all about gingerbread. December 19, Friday - Estonian Open Air Museum shows you different traditions of past celebrations. You are able to take part in Christmas preparations as Estonian in early times did. December 20, Saturday - Estonia Concert Hall will have a ballet performance of "The Nutcracker". December 21, Sunday - Christmas is just a few days away and it's time to visit the Christmas Market in Old Town. Besides selling food, clothing and gifts, there are also some activities and you might even get to meet the real Santa! December 22, Monday - Spend the day outside. It's nice to take a break from crowds, performances and shows every once in a while. Invite a friend with you for some company and have a snowman building contest. The winner gets to make one realistic wish that the others have to fulfill. Should you still hold enough energy, get revenge on the previous winner and have a snowball fight. December 23, Tuesday - It is time to decorate. During the past days you might have already seen many different places, none of which looked the same, so they could have given you inspiration. December 24, Wednesday - Christmas is as close as it can be. Try warming yourself up with a nice mug of hot chocolate. Add marshmallows if you desire. Bake some gingerbread and decorate with colorful icing. December 25, Thursday - CHRISTMAS DAY. Enjoy this day full of food and presents and try (if you haven't yet) some traditional Estonian food: kama, blood sausages etc. Also, children, do not forget to get sugar-high in order to give your parents a memorable Christmas. CHILDREN’S DRAWINGS VOLLEYBALL

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