HALLOWEEN

Flying witches, pumpkin lanterns, trick or treat... What do you know about Halloween?

• Halloween is celebrated on 31st October. This isn’t a public holiday in Britain.
• Halloween is also sometimes called All Hallows' Eve, All Hallowtide and can also be written Hallowe’en. 
• Halloween colours are orange and black. Orange is related to harvests because the end of October is the end of the harvest (the time when fruit and vegetables are collected). Black is related to death.

 

Halloween traditions that are the most popular amongst kids and teenagers.

Pumpkin lanterns...


 ... are pumpkins  with the inside removed and a nose, eyes and mouth cut into one side. A candle is placed inside the empty pumpkin and the light creates a scary face effect. In the past people used potatoes or turnips to make lanterns but nowadays pumpkins are more popular. People use pumpkin lanterns to decorate their homes at Halloween.  Pumpkin soup and pumpkin curry are very popular meals at this time of year.


Apple bobbing


To play this game you need lots of apples placed in a  big bowl of water. The competitors have to take a bite from one of the apples without using their hands. To make this more difficult, the competitors have their eyes covered with a scarf. You are not allowed to use the sides of the bowl to help you bite the apple.

Dressing up


People of all ages dress up as witches, vampires, ghosts, skeletons, zombies or monsters on Halloween. You can buy a costume from a shop or you can make your own costume at home. It’s easy to make a ghost costume from an old white sheet or wear black clothes to look like a witch. You can even cover your face in bright red tomato ketchup to look like a vampire!


Trick or treating


Children dress up and then visit the houses in their neighbourhood asking for a ‘trick or treat’. The neighbour gives them sweets or money as a ‘treat’. If there is no treat, the children play a trick on the neighbour, for example they might throw soap at the window. This custom is imported from the USA and is more popular with young people than with adults.

LETTER FROM SCOTLAND

Sirle Šanin is our former student who lives and studies in Scotland. This letter is from her. It`s always nice to keep in touch with the students who have learned in Konguta School. Wish you all the best!!!

Dear friends,


I am writing you from the other side of Europe. Many years ago I used to be a student in a small village school in Estonia, Konguta School; maybe I was studying in the same classroom as you. After graduation of Nõo Reaalgymnasium, I decided to go to live to the United Kingdom, more precisely to Eastern Scotland to a city called Aberdeen. At the moment I am studying in the University of Aberdeen and I will graduate at the end of this academic year.

Aberdeen is a silver city by the sea. It is called so because all the buildings are built from granite and on sunny days granite is shining. Unfortunately most of the days sun is hiding behind the clouds and the city is filled with gray colours. Aberdeen is third most populous city in Scotland. Climate here is almost like in Estonia, main difference is that during the summer temperature is not rising above 20 degrees and during the winter it is usually above 0. This also means that snow is a miracle here. But not a positive miracle, locals see it as a disaster. It is dangerous to go outside while it is snowing: most of the schools are shut down; students have to stay at home and parents cannot go to work. To be honest, it is funny to see all the locals panicking about bad weather, when I am enjoying the snowfall. Spring is the best time to visit Scotland, because the spring arrives early and stays for a long time; first daffodils usually become visible at the same time when it is still snowing in Estonia. Living by the seaside is not only a joy, we do have long sandy beaches, but it is very windy almost every day.

 Here is a picture of our storm from September 2012. Houses at the seaside were covered with sea foam.

University of Aberdeen was founded in 15th century (1495). At the moment there are more than 13 000 students studying in the university. Most of the buildings are old, similar to the ones that can be seen in Harry Potter movies. In 2012 Queen Elizabeth II visited our university to open the new library. A lot of people gathered outside the library to see the Queen.

                                                                                 

Queen Elizabeth II exiting the library

University of Aberdeen library is the building with zebra stripes.








People in Scotland and also in the United Kingdom are very kind and helpful. Average person in Scotland is shorter than in Estonia. Food is slightly different as well. People are constantly eating chips and most of the food comes out from the fryer. Fast food is very popular here. A lot of people know nothing about healthy food.

Scotland is a country with very beautiful nature. There are mountains, hilltops covered with snow, beautiful lakes, amazing coastline and if you are lucky you might even see dolphins in the sea. There is also a pretty place called Stonehaven. It takes less than half an hour to get from Aberdeen to Stonehaven. Time stops when you get off the train. All you got to do is walk around and enjoy the calm wild nature.

Scottish coastline

Ruins of Stonehaven castle

Hopefully you got a better view of Scotland!

Regards,

Sirle

LET`S GO BACK TO THE SUMMER.

Short writings of the 6th-formers.

HELEN:
My summer was very interesting. At the beginning of the holidays I visited my grandma and helped her with a garden work. It was a bit annoying. I also hung around with my friends.
In the middle of the summer I went to a camp. It was so cool. We had a swim and walked a lot. At the end of the camp, we went to a museum.
I stayed home for a couple of days. Then I had to go to another camp. I loved it too, the coolest thing was a trip on a river by boat. I made some new friends, too.
When the camps were over, I had to visit my granny again. She taught me how to drive a car. We also made some jam and juice. I watched a lot of  Harry Potter movies on my computer.
At the end of August, I went to Off Road 2012 with my dad. It’s a car race, but in mud. There also were trucks, motorbikes and ATV-s. I had a lot of fun there. The days were long. The start was at 9.00 a.m and finish at 6.00 p.m
Before school, I made a trip to the castle of Alatskivi, Science Centre Ahhaa and the waterpark Aura. After visiting Ahhaa, I had  few hours to go shopping in Tartu. I bought some clothes for school.
And that was my summer. It was very interesting. I loved it!

MARIANNE:
At the beginning of the holidays I helped my mum in the garden. I looked after my aunt’s child. I enjoyed swimming. In the middle of the summer I hung around with my friends. I went swimming with Eneli. At the weekends I learned Russian. At the end of August I helped my granny beacause her arm was broken. Before school I enjoyed last days of my holidays.

REELIKA:

At the beginning of the holidays I helped my mother. At the weekends I played with Saimon and Ragne. In July I went camping and to Tartu. At the end of August I played football with Eleri. I enjoyed last week of the holidays.

TAIMAR:

At the beginning of the summer I went to Tallinn there was a festival called Õllesummer. It was very cool because there were many singers. After that I went to Finland and  visited my sister and father who work there. In the middle of the summer I went to Elva and  stayed there for three weeks. I went swimming every day. The summer was quite boring because there were too few sunny days. Every week I went  fishing, sometimes I caught the fish but sometimes not. At the end of the summer I visited Otepää adventure park.