Amazon Shake Spring 2014 1 Dear Readers, This long awaited 3rd issue is finally here. It is the last one this year so we really hope that you enjoy our articles and that the wait will be worth it. We focus mostly on spring themes and everything connected to it, meaning there is absolutely no lack of articles and columns regrarding sports, recreational activities that could take a place outside , things contributing to our health, many travel opinions as well as the latest and current cultural events section. On the topic of our school, we have opinions about the ski trip, the Think Big School event and of course that marvellous Spirit Week full of creativity, fun, good moods and a great atmosphere. This time of year has been known to be kind of hard for all of us, everybody has to deal with his/her own problems and school can be a bit overwhleming. Students from the senior year have the hardest as they are now facing the obsticle called Maturita. In my opinion, it doesn´t have to be an obsticle, it can be more like a life trial that has to be overcame. It can make you a stronger individual in the end as it tests your limits and abilities to the max. On the other hand, it´s spring and we all are about having a good time, keeping our friends close and simply enjoying ourselves whenever it´s possible, that´s what I´m trying to say. So keep calm and don't overeact regardless of what you are actually dealing with because everything is possible to manage if you don´t stress yourselves out too much, laugh and simply keep a healthly lifestyle! Your Amazon Shake Staff 2 Cultural Events International Women’s Day: A Bit of History Everybody knows March 8th is the International Women’s Day (IWD). But who truly knows how we began celebrating this day of women? Where did it start and why exactly? Let me try to tell you the story… Imagine the 1900’s, a time of great expansion, world industrialization and movement of radical ideologies, but also a very hard time for women. Women were discirimated against as they couldn’t do „a man's job“, they couldn’t take part in politics meaning they couldn’t vote. Who would like that, right? Women wanted equality and change in their lives, so in 1908 15,000 women marched through the city of New York in protest demanding shorter working hours, better salaries and voting rights. According to this event, a year later, the first National Women’s Day was announced on February 28th across the US. National Women’s Day was celebrated by women every year till 1913. During 1910-1911 the idea of celebrating IWD was proposed on International Conference of Working Women in Copenhagen. Women wanted to have just one day in a year to be celebrated as their day – to press for their demands. In 1913 Russia started celebrating IWD as well as Austria, Denmark and Germany and the date was also moved to the March 8th. Since then, IWD is being celebrated all over the world to coordinate international efforts for womens' rights and participation in political, economic and social processes. But what does it mean for us as students? In my experience, IWD is not as popular a holiday in Czech Republic as it is in other countries. However, there still are people – men – who buy flowers and little presents for their beloved women – wifes, mothers, daughters, maybe even friends. I think this day should be more widely spread, but what’s more, a woman should be feeling needed and equal every day in her life! Olga Moiseeva 3 Cultural Events The 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi When the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi were about to start there was a lot of controversy surrounding it. People were complaining about the lack of pillows or bad food in the hotels. Some people even prefered eating McDonald’s to what the hotels and restaurants offered. Then there was the ban of homosexual athletes, which I think was the main reason why everybody paid so much attention to the Olympics. The opening ceremony was held on the 7th February 2014 and everything was amazing and genuine. Well, at least we all thought it was. When the Olympics were over people found out that a lot of things were censored. For example, nobody outside Russia knew about t.A.T.u.‘s performance, which was another weird thing because they are a pseudo-lesbian group and it left a lot of people confused. But generally there were no big problems and everybody seemed satisfied except for those little misunderstandings that happened. The athmosphere during the games was amazing, the opening and closing ceremonies were stunning and the athletes proved that there was a reason why they attended the Olympics. Mariam Gamdjianová Cultural Events My Opinion on Syria As you all have probably noticed, the situation in Syria these past 3 years has been terrible and it doesn’t seem to be getting better. Some of you may have gone to see a documentary about it and may have formed your own opinions. I felt like this was a good opportunity for me, as a girl who’s dad and his family are from and still living in Syria, to speak up and tell you how we feel about this situation. Now, I don’t want you to think I’m speaking for all of us, this is only my opinion and my feelings and I’m not going to take any sides or speak about politics because I really just want to talk about things I know about. If there’s one thing I really know about it’s the fact that I couldn’t be more heartbroken and sad whenever I think about all the people in Syria. I visited Syria a few times when I was younger, I got to explore the beauty of this country and I got to meet all these amazing people that make country even more beautiful. Everyone’s kind, welcoming, optimistic, generous, humble and so strong. It’s really upsetting to think that those innocent people have to go through what they do and I wish I had the power to change it all. I currently am in touch with only one member of all my family in Syria. He’s studying at college to become a doctor. I couldn’t be more proud and worried about him at the same time. There were few times when I would ask him how he was and he would reply with 'good' and follow that statement with a terrible, frightening information which was that there was a bomb at his school again and he’s fortunately alright. I honestly cannot imagine living in such fear and without any idea what’s next. Syrians are so unbelievably strong and brave to be able to live like that without breaking down every second of their days because that’s something I, and surely most of people used to the comfort and safety of the Czech Republic would do. 4 I mean, can you imagine going to school every day knowing you could be shot or blown up with your whole school and everyone in there anytime without any warning? Can you imagine going to school and missing one of your classmates because they got killed? Can you imagine being a parent of those kids living in terrible fear every day because you just never know what might be happening at their school or what might happen to them on their way to school and back? I almost feel selfish anytime I talk to my cousin and he’s being so optimistic and humble. I know that he has to be and that being sad or angry wouldn’t change anything or possibly would only make everything worse. I’m here, I’m safe, I have everything they’re not even dreaming of and I get angry and I get sad and I get upset and I get emotional and I cry and I scream and I can’t deal with life being so unfair to all of them, even though he’s the one who has the right to do that. I just can’t help it, I will never understand why such things are happening, I don’t even want to understand, I don’t care about anything, I don’t care about what caused all this, I just want it to stop! I want to be able to fall asleep without worrying about whether they’re alive or not, I want to think about my wonderful, loving Syrian family and smile, not cry. I would give up everything to make it stop and I know you can never really relate or understand such things and if you can just know that I’m really, really sorry and hope everything gets better, but I feel like people always talk about weapons, politics, money, they are always showing horrible videos of people dying, of children losing everything including their families and it’s starting to be overwhelming. We get used to seeing such stuff and we don’t think about it much because it’s so common for us. It’s not like these videos were made to look more brutal than the actual situation really is and it’s not like people shouldn’t be talking about politics, because I know they should and I know it’s all happening because of politics but I feel like if you read this and realize I’m one of you, that I’m your age, I live in the same country, I go to the same school and I have just as much trouble deciding what to wear every day as you do, you can understand so many more things than from these videos and articles written by complete strangers using words you’ve never heard.