Yours, JL

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A Wedding Speech
Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen!

When Mary first asked me if I would make a speech here today, I thought — hey this is a bit like being a President — It’s a great honor, but I’m not sure if I would enjoy it!! However I’m sure I will!
Here before you is a girl with looks, charm, wit, sophistication, flawless integrity and high achievement. Anyway, enough about me…. – lets talk about Mary

Oh, by the way! Look at these tables! Hmm, what do we see here? A fruit wedding cake, nice snacks, but no trace of chocolate. What a pity, I adore chocolate! Oh, no, wait a minute, now I get it, I’m going to tell you a short story from our bride’s student years. It was an anniversary of our University and our bride sat down on the chair, where some forgetful guest had left a plate with a piece of chocolate cake. Right on that day she was wearing a nice white skirt! However, nobody noticed the fail until it was poor Mary’s turn to say some nice words about her University. She walked to the microphone and the audience got speechless. Just silence. She took the microphone and just wanted to start her speech but hundreds of students burst out laughing. Thank God Mary was a third year student and graduated the following year. But we still remember her to be a Chocolate Girl.

For those of you who don’t know, Mary is fond of cooking and if we look at the groom now we will understand why he has fallen in love with her. Mary, I hope you will do all the best and protect John from being blown away by the wind. However, be careful! If you accidentally lost him at home, I would give you good advice…Make your house special cake and John would find the way to you just using his nose. Also our magnificent Mary is very interested in sports. If you have thought that she does it for fit figure you are not right, she does it for other purposes. Due to the fact that John earning the daily bread, he doesn’t have enough time to help Mary with housework, for instance, to move the furniture. While he does it, Mary has time to do all the work around the house and even has time to grow old. So she decided to take matters into her own hands. She began going to the gym to be able to help her future husband.
I’m not going to offer any advice to Mary and John, except to remind them that here are two things vitally important for a marriage — honesty and wisdom. I say honesty, because no matter what happens, no matter how it may affect you, always keep your word once you have given it. And as for wisdom — never give your word! And on a more serious note, I would like to say that «marriage» is
a legally accepted relationship between two people in which they live together. But it’s so boring and, by the way, we know it means something more, really. Usually every couple puts high hopes with this event. But in reality marriage doesn’t mean neverending feast. It means that you should overcome difficulties to justify your love. Sometimes you will hate each other, and often will be ready to kill, so… dear Mary, if you do this, I’ll be on the your side. But I hope it never happens to you. Not this day, probably.
To be honest I’m pessimistic one, but when I see you, guys, I begin to believe in a power of marriage and realize its meaning. Now you will never be alone, each of you has a person who shares your crazy ideas, who takes care about you when you caught a cold, who spends a lot of time choosing the right color of your new dress, who cooks your favorite dishes even she dislikes it. A person, who will support when you have broken a nail… All this little things make up the meaning of the marriage. Never forget about this and be happy – that’s my the one and only advice.
To bring matters to a conclusion, I’d just like to thank you all for your attention and to say that if you’ve enjoyed listening to this speech as much as I have enjoyed making it, then all I can do I offer my sincere apologies!

Finally, I would like to wish bride and groom all the happiness and luck in the world and wish to finish by proposing a toast to both sets of parents — that’s – Mr. and Mrs. Brown & Mr. and Mrs Black.

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Birthday Party Menu:
Narmin Abbasova:

Pinegina Kate:

Darya Bartyshova:

Valery Kongro:

Volodina Lisa:

Mishel Elana Mykh:

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ESSAYS ON SHOPPING:

Valery Kongro:

Kate Pinegina:

Darya Bartyshova:

Narmin Abbasova:

Mishel Elana Mykh:

Volodina Lisa:

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FOOD FOR THOUGHT CONTEST ANSWERS:

Valery Kongro:

Pinegina Kate:

Darya Bartyshova:

Mishel Mykh Elana:

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ESSAYS ON CREATIVITY:
Valery:
Creativity is a quality that is hidden in each of us. Of course, if you try to develop it, you will face challenges because there is no clear step-by-step guide how it can be done. But there are some pieces of advice which are uniform for the people of all ages.
I think that the best formula for creativity is the mix of the two following steps:
1) Start your day with one simple thing, just look around. Nature is the master of creativity, there is poetry in every grass-blade and sunset.
2) It is very important to take enjoyment in daily routine activities. Ask yourself a question “what am I interested in?”. Afterwards focus on the activities that you have passion for; it can be art, sport, science or you can find inspiration in yourself.
Day to day you should extend your skills and find new hobbies you have never paid attention to before.

Narmin:
In my opinion, creativity comes from childhood and it is an inborn talent that some person either does or does not have. But still we all have the potential to be creative, we just need to open and develop it in ourselves. The first step we should try to learn something new everyday. I believe that it will help us to find mind-blowing facts, to broaden our horizons, and to discover amazing hidden worlds. The more knowledge you have, the easier it will be to face challenges. From here we can understand that creativity is a direct consequence of curiosity. The second step we need to read the reality differently. For example to see something that others can not in certain situations and things. So, it’s difficult to become a creative person, but nothing is impossible.

Mishel:

Creativity… Such a multifaceted word. First of all, it helps us to express our deep feelings. Next, people demonstrate their personality and find solutions to problems. Finally, they discover an amazing hidden world and push it forward.

Creativity has its root in childhood. Another step to steer someones creativity is to introduce them to some extraordinary activities, such as: painting, embroidery, macrame, origami and others. The inspiration comes from these things ,moreover, they develop the right hemisphere of the brain and hand skills. Children with their parents visit theaters, museums exhibitions, etc. Thus, the passion for the world beauty is being developed in the little ones. When children grow up they become addicted to the internet and spent a great amount of time surfing it. They are offered different types of edutainment programs online: how to draw nature or how to play the guitar and these programs are mind blowing for them. Thus, the interest to creativity is developing.

Summing it up, I would like to say that if children are interested in making creative things, then when they grow up and become adults they would feel the necessity to continue their spirit development.

Lisa:

Creativity…such a useful quality, isn’t it? People who posses it are amazing! Their understanding of reality and perception of world are different, they just can see something that others cannot. These people are tireless: they want to discover an amazing hidden world, craft beauty and share it back to others. Where do they get their inspiration? It’s still to be a mystery.

Creativity is not an inborn talent, it is a skill that can be developed, and nowadays we need it everywhere, even when applying for a job or whatever: creative people are in favor. That’s why we need to foster our creativity.

But there is no instruction of how to develop creativity. You just need to live your life and do something that you have a passion for. Be true to yourself, keep thinking, learn something new, enjoy every moment of your life, don’t get upset and be creative all the time!

Dasha:
In my opinion, parents should support creativity in their children. They should let children discover an amazing hidden world themselves, see how things evolve, face challenges and solve problems. I think mostly some parents and teachers in schools block children from leaving the ski track. They give instructions and make others follow them.
We should help our children become creative we should let them dream. Kids read the reality differently and see something that adults cannot anymore it’s a huge advantage of being a child. They create their own world with their own rules and we shouldn’t ruin it with the reality from the world of adults.
Children like sharing their crazy thoughts with others, so why can’t we share something creative back instead of being boring and trying to teach them something once again?

Kate:

Well, I think that creativity is an amazing quality which can be a real key to success because people who have it can read the reality differently or , in other words, they can see something that others can`t. Creativity helps them to go out of the box and it allows them to find something new , so that they create a different outcome. That`s why, creative people have more benefits in social and work environment.
However, we know that creativity is not an inborn talent , and it is really difficult to understand how creativity can be fostered. Nevertheless, I will try to give you some advice. If you want to push the world forward and see how the things evolve , try to be open and receptive to new ideas, take up creative hobbies, but primarily you should learn to understand yourself , learn your real strengths, skills, weaknesses and expectations. Learn about things outside your «box» and be self-confident and I`m sure, you can discover an amazing hidden world .