Culture
b) On school holidays such as winter break, spring break, and summer break I try to relax and recharge so that I am ready for when I go back to school. During winter break, students have two weeks off. During those two weeks, I relax and make sure that I get around eight hours of sleep per night because during the time I am at school I get less than eight hours of sleep. I also like to see my friends and family and spend time with them whether it is going skating or going over to their house.
During spring break, there are two weeks where students are off from school. Within that break, I work on school projects if my teachers assign any, but if not, I rest. Generally, I go on road trips with my parents. For instance, last year my parents and I went on a road trip to California and took two days to get there. We went to Santa Barbara to enjoy the heat and beautiful landscape. On our way back from the road trip, we stopped at San Jose where we took a tour at the Winchester house. However, at the end of spring break of 2020, students did not come back to school and instead had classes online for the remainder of the school year due to the pandemic. As well as no one was advised to travel outside of their province/country. Teachers, staff, and students all had to cope and figure out ways to continue school without actually coming into school.
Summer break is two months off, July and August. During the summer, you can do summer school classes. Earlier this July, I did a summer class online which occupied most of my summer and I volunteered three weeks in August, working with children. I led games, made crafts, and went on hikes with them.
c) I would say pop music is currently popular. Pop music usually has an engaging rhythm, up-beat, and is easy to sing-along to. Also, rap music is quite popular. Some popular artists would include Selena Gomez, Billie Eilish, Post Malone, Kendrick Lamar, and The Weeknd. Personally, I like all music genres; however, I particularly enjoy rock and alternative music. I like it because of their beat and lyrics. Some artists and bands I like in general are The Smiths, Queen, ABBA, Mac Demarco, Gorillaz, and Tame Impala.
d) There are many national holidays in Canada such as Canada Day (July 1st), Labour Day (September 7th), and Thanksgiving (October 12th).
On Canada Day, we celebrate the day Canada became a country. People wear red and white (colours of the national flag of Canada) and go out to festivals and parades where they listen to live bands and eat food such as hotdogs and poutine. The celebration ends with fireworks. Labour Day is a holiday that is always on the first Monday of September. It is dedicated to workers where we say congratulations for their achievements. Thanksgiving is a day to celebrate the harvest and blessings of the past year. There is a turkey family dinner with stuffing, mashed potatoes and roasted veggies. Another tradition of Thanksgiving is to go around the table and say what you are thankful for. In my family we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving. To us, it is just a regular day. Although, for the past three years we have been invited to other family Thanksgiving dinners and so my mother and I would go and be able to experience and learn more about Thanksgiving.