WhatsUp Spring 2019

MARCH the month of book Finland Ski course

Tcaobnltoeefnts E 5 We are getting better introducing our language teachers 6 Mrs. Vlasta Hyžová 8 Kan jag få salmiak? 12 Day of charity 14 March - the month of book THE SKINNY (A BOOK REVIEW) 16 Prebijem sa! THE SKINNY (A BOOK REVIEW) 18 The Last Song WORDPLAY 19 The impact of social media on academic results of high school students WORDPLAY 20 Barmecide - Chapter 1 MUSIC 22 “Q“ as the Queen WE ARE INTO SCIENCE 24 Consequences POLITICS 28 Do not take EU from us! WE are not couch potatoes 29 Ski course 30 Christmas in 1.B jokes 31 Jokes

ARE YOU A WRITER? Come join us! EDITOR-IN-CHIEF FILIP JANUŠKA SUPERVISOR Alena Cilíková STAFF-WRITERS Bronislava Bendová Katarína Borovská Dominika Brezinová Veronika Hazuchová Nina Holičová Veronika Hudáková Julka Hurbaničová Filip Januška Alex Jurča Janko Košík Nina Kovaříková Matrin Krč Daniela Kročianová Ema Kuhajdová Lenka Michaličková Viktor Mokrohajský Matúš Rybnikár Matúš Samek Vincent Vystavel Mgr. Ľubica Durcová GRAPHIC DESIGNER Jarka Petrášová IT Jarka Petrášová ONLINE PUBLISHING Jarka Petrášová PHOTOGRAPHER Nina Mockovčiaková LANGUAGE CORRECTION Matt Haarman Alena Cilíková Filip Januška Martin Krč

Bronislava Katka Dominika Veronika Bendová Borovská Brezinová Hazuchová Nina Filip Alex Janko Holičová Januška Jurča Košík Martin Daniela Lenka Nina Krč Kročianová Michaličková Mockovčiaková Viktor Matúš Matúš Vincent Mokrohajský Rybnikár Samek Vystavel

WE ARE GETTING BETTER by ALENA CILÍKOVÁ The winter and spring seasons are rich in many different competitions, and our students, as usual, took part. I am very happy that, in addition to the seasoned participants, many first-year students tried their hand (especially bilingual students). So here is a short overview of our achievements. The English Olympiad – The School Round The English Olympiad – Trenčín Regional Round Younger students 1B Category (tercia, kvarta): 1A Category (prima): 2nd place – H.Závodský (kvarta) 1st place – Ch. Holičová (prima) 2C1 Category (bilingual forms): 2nd place – F.Petráš (prima) 2nd place – F.Januška (5.B) 3rd place – P.Balážová (prima) 2C2 Category (Anglophones – at least three months 1B Category (tercia, kvarta): spent in an English speaking country): 1st place – H.Závodský (kvarta) 2nd place – Viktória Halabrínová (4.A) 2nd place – M.Marková (kvarta) 1C Category (Anglophones – at least three months spent in an English speaking country): Best in English 1st place – L.Valent (tercia) At the end of the previous year, 30 2C1 Category (bilingual forms): students from our school took part in the 1st place – F.Januška (5.B) international competition Best in English. 2nd place – K.Obuchová (5.B) This year there were 21 110 students from 3rd place – M.Samek (2.B) 922 schools from 30 countries throughout Europe participated. As for Slovakia, 2700 The English Olympiad – Myjava Regional Round students from 123 different schools took Younger students part. In the following chart you can see the 1B Category (tercia, kvarta, 7th – 9th forms of elementary results of our best student. school): 1st place – H.Závodský (kvarta) Name: Adriana Dolinková Older students Position at school: 1 2A Category (kvinta, sexta, 1st and 2nd forms): Position in SR: 39 1st place – M.Medveď (kvinta) Position in Europe: 429 2nd place – M.Duga (1.A) 3rd place – S.Pekníková (1.A) Our school took the 237th place within all 2B Category (septima, 3rd and 4th forms): participating schools and the 23rd place 1st place – A.Dolinková (4.A) within Slovakia. 2nd place – Ľ.Dlhý (4.A) 3rd place – N.Kročianová (septima) 2C2 Category (Anglophones – at least three months spent in an English speaking country): 1st place – Viktória Halabrínová (4.A) 2nd place – Kristína Juríčková (1.B) 3rd place – Leona Gabrielová (4.B) Congratulations to all of you and thank you for representing of our school! WHAT’S UP the GYMY magazine 5

INTRODUCING OUR LANGUAGE TEACHERS Mrs. Vlasta Hyžová by VINCENT VYSTAVEL 6 WHAT’S UP the GYMY magazine

INTRODUCING OUR LANGUAGE TEACHERS LET´S START WITH THE MOST OBVIOUS HOW DO YOU SPEND YOUR FREE TIME WHEN QUESTIONS. PLEASE, TELL US SOMETHING ABOUT YOU DO NOT SUBTITUTE? DO YOU HAVE OTHER THE REALIZATION OF THE BILINGUAL PROGRAM PASSIONS EXCEPT ENGLISH? AT GYMY. WHERE DID THE IDEA COME FROM? Yes, of course. I love books. I am a keen reader. All WHAT WAS THE BEGINNING LIKE AND WHAT my friends and family members know what to buy WERE THE GREATEST OBSTACLES? for my birthday or Christmas. I read historical books, Thank you for introducing me and for the opportunity detectives, biographies, love stories, etc. and it is all to say something about the beginnigs of this programe. the same if it is in paperback or e-form. Besides that I The life of our society has changed a lot after so like spending my time at our cottage, situated near the called Velvet Revolution and also the attitude towards wood, working in our tiny garden. I am also an animal learning languages. We were very lucky because our lover. We have a beautiful, black dog and two cute cats. former headmistress Mrs. Danka Michálková was open Last but not least I have quite a big family and I enjoy to any new ideas in teaching foreign languages. So the time which I can spend with them. we welcomed several lecturers from diffrent English speaking countries,e.g.the USA,Australia,Great Britain. YOU TOLD US ONCE, DURING A SUBSTITUTED In the year 2000 we started to cooperate with other LESSON, THAT YOU ADMIRE WHEN SLOVAK European schools in programmes Lingua, Comenius, PEOPLE GO TO STUDY OR LIVE FOR A SHORT TIME NIL, which enabled us to travel and visit schools in ABROAD BUT THAT IT´S BEST WHEN THEY RETURN Belgium,Finland, Italy, Norway, Tenerife,Spain, etc. TO SLOVAKIA TO USE THEIR EXPERIENCE HERE The language of communication in all these projects IN THEIR HOME COUNTRY. WHY DO YOU THINK was English and under these circumstances the idea of SO MANY SLOVAKS WANT TO LIVE ABROAD AND biligual programme arose in 2009. NEVER COME BACK AND WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE TO MAKE THEM WANT TO RETURN? The most important thing for the beginning was to This is really a very difficult question to answer. I think undergo the whole legislative procedure. The next step there are several factors which have a great influence was to create a curriculum for this branch of studies on this situation. One of them is that the standard of and, of course, find teachers. This was the task for our living is higher and life is easier abroad. On the other English Department. The biggest problem was to find a hand I think that we should be more patriotic, we should native speaker. The Slovak Ministry of Education gave feel love towards our home country and be proud that us a helpful hand and sent an American lecturer. So we we are Slovaks. started the school year 2011/12. AT THE END, IF YOU HAD TO SAY ONE THING NOW, WHEN YOU RETURNED FROM YOUR THAT IS THE BEST ABOUT GYMY WHAT WOULD IT RETIREMENT FOR A WHILE AND SEE, HOW BE? THE BILINGUAL SECTION AND THE WHOLE I have always appreciated young people who want to GYMNAZIUM HAVE CHANGED, WHAT IS YOUR reach some goals. I think that GYMY is the place which REACTION? DO YOU FIND THE CHANGES POSITIVE gives its students a very good starting point to be OR ARE THERE SOME RATHER UNPLEASANT? successful in their lives. It is difficult to compare because beginnings are always full of hesitations, trials and erros, problems which have to be solved. Each year after should be better and of higher quality.When I look at how successful our students have been, how clever they are, I am very proud of them. At the same time I am grateful to my colleagues who have devoted their efforts, knowledge, energy and time to make my “child“ growing. WHAT’S UP the GYMY magazine 7

Kan jag få salmiak? Beep, beep – I heard the alarm clock screaming after by MATÚŠ RYBNIKÁR only 5 hours of sleep, but then suddenly I realized what was going on. in the morning interesting and this journey was no exception. My excitement soon took control of me, even though there still were some mixed feelings remaining We got to the airport and had some free time ‘till somewhere in my brain. I felt excited about the whole boarding. I had some scones, reminding me of home thing – meeting new people from other countries and almost without realising it. And then we were sitting getting to know them, travelling, exploring different on the airplane. The engines started and we went cultures, our flight, Finnish nature, Riga … and yet I taxiing to the runway. We began accelerating to take had some sort of uncertainty deep inside my brain off and I had that familiar feeling of enthusiasm that I was trying to hide from myself – What if there penetrating all my body as if it was my first flight. isn’t anything we have in common? What if I’m There were relatively few people on the board, so we unable to get on well with the other people? What could change our seats and get to the window to see is the host family going to be like? Nevertheless, I the snow-covered planet underneath. After roughly 2 chose to be optimistic about it. hours of a smooth and sunny flight, our plane landed in Riga. We had 6 hours to spend there, which meant we headed to the city. My grandma packed me a lot of food, her traditional scones and dried apples asking me if I wanted any more or anything else but my backpack was almost full and the time was up, so I had to say Goodbye and leave for the bus to take us to Vienna airport. As it was very early in the morning, I was able to walk along the road without any cars disturbing me. I got on the bus and when all of us were there, our journey could begin. I was trying to sleep during our way to the airport but my excitement did not let me. I have always found travelling during the night or early 8 WHAT’S UP the GYMY magazine

Speaking of Riga, I really enjoyed the beautiful city though). Afterwards we went to see the city. We went centre with all of its historical buildings; however through the streets of Helsinki, went to see the most the huge outskirts surrounding Riga are a different story to tell. We famous monument of Helsinki – Helsinki Cathedral, said goodbye to the city centre and which was closed at that time, so at least we took a went back to the airport in a small ride down the stairs. Helsinki isn’t that much of a bumpy bus. We had some fun with historical city so we went home quite soon. When we our wheeled luggage rolling through came home, we went to a sauna, which is something the ‘streets’ of Riga airport and then I really recommend doing if you ever get to Finland. went to our boarding gate. This time, Sauna is a big thing for Finns and there are more of there was a turbo-propeller aircraft them than cars there, they even have them in every waiting for us and let’s say that the house. Something strongly associated with going to girls weren’t quite impressed with it; sauna in Finland is jumping into snow afterwards and they did not like me joking about Air you usually repeat this process several times during Crash Investigation at all.We got onto your sauna ceremony. Going to sauna in Finland was the aircraft, which meant we were definitely an awesome experience. just 55 minutes away from Helsinki. Monday was the first day we spent all together. In the The aircraft took off and the flight morning we got some information about the project, went alright. Just a moment before its topic, our schedule and then we had our national landing we realised it was going to presentations (about our home country, town, and be a bit different because we were school). Afterwards we had a break and could choose about to land on fresh snow in a sort of snowstorm. what we wanted to do. I was invited to play billiard Without any problems the pilot managed to land and with some Finns and Slovaks during our break so I we went to the arrival hall, where the Danish group went. As we were playing billiard in a small group of had already been waiting. people there, we had already got to know each other at least basically; I was thinking whether that was what I We went on the bus to Lovisa together, which meant wanted to be doing at that moment? Wasn´t that a sort we could get our first impressions of them. I looked of stagnation? out of the window to see the peaceful snow-covered And now there is something important I’d like to tell land surrounding us and as I love winter, I was amazed. you. There is this tendency among humans to create As we were getting closer and closer to Lovisa, some social bubbles. We build these bubbles in order to help tension appeared again. We finally arrived in Lovisa, roughly saw its streets and first met our host families. They took us to their houses and we first encountered Finnish culture. It was late in the evening so we were just able to exchange some basic information about ourselves and went to sleep. On Sunday we had individual schedules with our hosts. In my case, as well as in the case of everyone from Slovakia, we went for a trip to Helsinki. We took the bus in the morning, where we had some time to talk and get to know each other. When we arrived in the city, the first thing we did was trying Finnish sweets and there was one sweet that the Finns especially recommended to us and its name was salmiakki. Salty liquorice? Why would anyone want to eat anything like that, I thought to myself, but I tried it anyway. It was that very moment I realised how big a mistake I had been making all those years by not eating liquorice (I might be quite exaggerating it with this statement, WHAT’S UP the GYMY magazine 9

us fulfil our basic biological and psychological needs dances. In the evening, we went to have a dinner in the and it is something that happens quite naturally but oldest building in Lovisa, Degerby Gile. We had some is it always good? I understand the importance of good food there, accompanied by some soulful Finnish this phenomenon but isn’t stepping outside of these music, composed and played by one of the Finnish bubbles something what truly makes us improve and students. grow? It might be hard to step outside of your comfort zone and become a sort of insecure but I’d regard it On Tuesday we had some‘’project work’’to do.In mixed as necessary if we want to really be progressing. I am groups we went to talk to people from 5 minorities in writing about it because I believe this is the key of Finland (Romani women, Spanish woman, Transgender Erasmus student exchanges and can also be helpful Transsexual person, Jehovah’s witnesses and an in many different situations in life. Breaking out of Iraqian refugee). They usually began with telling us your bubble (comfort zone) can help us to get to know a few words about themselves and afterwards we had different cultures, people, their ideas, and views, time to ask them questions. It was a unique experience discuss our views, ideas and get closer to reality. for me and I would also say for each of us because, as Besides all of that, you can also make new friends this they are minorities, we don’t get to speak with people way, which is awesome. like this every day and the information we have about them is often only transmitted to us through media Getting back to my story, it meant that after those 2 or un-involved people, which tends to create bias. games of billiard I went down to say hi and meet new Talking with these people face to face removes our people, which is something I really recommend doing. biases and makes us break out of our bubbles. After I got to know them, made new friends, saw what kind this session, we could discuss it with our mates and we of people they were, what they thought about Slovaks went to a vegan restaurant, which was also a part of and just regularly talked. Then we went to have our cultural integration. In the evening Slovaks, Icelanders lunch and had a town tour in mixed groups. It was and our hosts went to play bowling, billiard, try some interesting to be walking around the town, taking more Finnish food and talk. pictures with the temperature below -20°C. We also had a snowball fight and a race. There is something Wednesday was more action-packed in comparison I found strange about Lovisa and it was the fact that to the previous days. At first, we went ice-skating and during our town tour, we only met 1 person outside we were able to realise how poor our ice-skating skills and generally said, Finns don’t just usually go out in were comparing with those of Finns (as if they were order to have a walk, which means you won’t find a born with ice-skaters on their feet). Then we went go- lot of them in the streets. Then we went back to the carting and after lunch we went to try indoor surfing, school and had a lot of fun while learning Finnish which I had been looking forward to trying and then I was disappointed to see how badly I did it. In the 10 WHAT’S UP the GYMY magazine

evening some of us went to the sauna again. And what did this exchange mean for me? A lot of new experiences, meeting interesting people, Thursday morning was mostly focused on project encountering Finnish + other cultures, … And yes I work. An expert in migration and cultural integration learnt a phrase in Swedish, it goes like – Hur mar du?, came to school and talked about the process and issues which is a useless phrase because Finns don’t ever ask connected with it. Then we talked about the situation each other how they are, which actually makes sense. in our home countries in mixed groups and presented Overall, Finns don’t usually just talk in order to talk our ideas before the whole group. Afterwards, once but they mostly do it in order to get some information. again divided into mixed groups, we wrote vlogs about If we think about it, we realise that the way we often our interactions with foreign cultures and uploaded use questions like How are you? is very shallow – even them to the Internet. In the evening there was a farewell dinner in the school followed by a party. The food was excellent, we were dancing, talking but there was something I couldn’t hide from myself and it was the fact that we might never see the other people (except for those coming to Slovakia later) again and especially some of them. For a moment I thought - What if I hid myself inside a classroom or ran away. Even though those ideas had come away, mixed feelings were still remaining in my head. Friday was the last day. I tried eating my breakfast as to such a degree that some people might use it instead fast as possible just to gain more time. I had to say of saying hi. And further speaking of Finns, based on Goodbye to the family and we headed to the town and my experience, their communication and interactions the school. I went around the school one more time might sometimes be seemed a bit less personal to a and remembered some memories I had there. Then we foreigner but they were willing to step outside of their shook our hands, some of us hugged, we said Goodbye comfort zone and I would say they were relatively and had to leave. Then we went to the airport and in a open minded. Overall, it was a wonderful week spent moment were back in Slovakia. After arriving I felt like in a beautiful country with interesting people. a foreigner in my home country. WHAT’S UP the GYMY magazine 11

by VERONIKA HUDÁKOVÁ December 20th, 2018, a few days before magic time called Christmas, Gymy again celebrated the day of helping others. To be more precise, it was the third time that students and teachers of our school prepared already traditional Gymy Charity day. As the prevoius years, students prepared many tasty and delicious foods which were then sold to other classmates. Pancakes, hot chocolate, delicious toasts... All of these could be enjoyed in large amounts. But the fine and crunchy foods were not the only things that we could buy or try here. Some classes also created wonderful Christmas cards or decorations which added pleasure to the mood of incoming Christmas time. What is more, if you are into music, you could experience singing Christmas songs with guys from the class 4.B or watch the thought- provoking monodrama of Martin Krč from 5.B. The money raised from these products and activities are usually then collected and given as a helping hand to some organisation or institution. This year, the Student Parliament of our school decided that the money will be given to the rehabilitation centre Neurino, which is located in Šamorín and its job is taking care of children with several health issues and disabilities. I am beyond pleased and grateful to announce that this year we managed to collect 1,503.91€ from these products. It is a really nice amount of money and we hope that it will surely help those who really need it. All in all, I hope I can say that this day was a pleasure for most of us. The Christmas song were playing, people were smiling and our tummies were filled with good food. In addition, we could also be the witnesses of the fact that if more of us decide to do something good, we can create something great and beautiful which makes not only us happy, but also helps those who need it. 12 WHAT’S UP the GYMY magazine

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Marchthe month of book by NINA HOLIČOVÁ As spring approaches and it is getting warmer, our need to go outside and catch some vitamin D is getting stronger. And can you imagine better spent time than basking in the warm sunlight with a great book on a picnic blanket? I can´t and that´s why I have a few suggestions of some books that might take your interest. Hopefully, there´ll be more of them so everyone can pick their favourite one. ORIGIN BY DAN BROWn join Harvard professor Robert Langdon in another one of his action-packed adventures around the world, where he is thrusted into the dangerous intersection of humankind’s two most enduring questions and shocking discovery that will answer them. Beneath a Scarlet SkY BY MARK SULLIVAN Based on the true story of a forgotten hero, it is a triumphant, epic tale of one young man, incredible courage and resilience during one of the darkest time in history Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman Series of true to myths stories about the major Norse pantheon: Odin - the highest of the high, wise, daring and cunning, Thor- Odin´s son, incredibly strong yet not the wisest of gods, and Loki- a son of the giant-blood Brother to Odin and a trickster and unsurpassable manipulator. 14 WHAT’S UP the GYMY magazine

NOTHING BY NEW SCIENTIST With chapters by numerous science writers, this fascinating and intriguing book reveals the subject that has tantalised the finest minds for centuries and shows there is more to nothing than meets the eye. It comprises a lot of new ideas about the concept of nothing in physics, chemistry, biology, psychology. The Man who mistook his wife for a hat by Oliver Sacks Dr.Oliver Sacks recounts stories of patients struggling to adapt to often bizarre worlds of neurological disorder. They are people who can no longer recognise everyday objects or those they love, who are stricken with violent ticks or involuntary obscenities, who have been dismissed as autistic or retarded yet gifted with artistic or mathematical talents. If inconceivably strange these brilliant tales illuminate what it means to be human. The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler This book is about six book enthusiasts who meet once a month to discuss one of Jane Austen´s novels and as the storyline progresses we learn about the characters through their interpretation Austen’s novels. The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad The story is about Adolph Verloc, who leads double life. He runs a CD Soho shop but is also a secret agent operating for an underground anarchist cell and his job is about to get far more dangerous. One of his leaders instructs him to plant a bomb at Greenwich Observatory. However, his plans go terribly wrong with tragic repercussions for him and his family. WHAT’S UP the GYMY magazine 15

THE SKINNY (A BOOK REVIEW) Prebijem sa! Štefánik - muž železnej vôle by Jozef Banáš JANKO KOŠÍK The name of the book: Prebijem sa! Štefánik - muž železnej vôle. The name of the author: Jozef Banáš. The number of pages: four hundred sixty. The time of the release: May 2018. T his is a brief (very brief ) characteri- The artwork Prebijem sa! Štefánik - muž železnej vôle is a slight fiction which sation of the book that has earned a lot stands on the pillars of historical facts. of attention in our country recently. The author, J. Banáš, decided to divide his work into two major parts - Peace and As the first lines clearly declare, in the the War, which are together made up by centre of our book is the Slovak general, almost 80 chapters inviting the reader aviator and astronomer Milan Rastislav to explore the uncharted chambers of Štefánik, later, the co-founder of the first the general’s life. Czechoslovak Republic and the leader of the Ministry of War. All these admirable Stefanik’s story begins on the 20th of occupations which Štefánik carried out June 1880, when he is born into the poor are worth our attention and respect and family of an evangelic priest living in a allow us to call him a national hero. In small village in the Austro-Hungarian my honest opinion, the national hero of Empire. Even though the times were Štefánik’s rank undoubtedly deserves madly difficult, the young Štefánik is homage in the form of a book like this. brought up in the sense of honouring 16 WHAT’S UP the GYMY magazine

THE SKINNY (A BOOK REVIEW) God, family, and relatives as well as Time flowed and the inexperienced yet national values and education. His family persistent Milan R. Štefánik left for Paris - mostly his father Pavel - encourages where he willed himself to become a co- him to be proud of his Slovak origin and worker of the world-class astronomer to express cohesion towards his Slavic Camillo Flammarion. The financial crisis, compatriots, and to value their maternal poor physical and mental conditions were language and traditions. After finishing not relevant reasons that would persuade elementary school in his home village him to give up on his dreams. He just kept Košariská and Somorja (Šamorín), the chasing his ideals. young Milan starts to study in Pozsony (Bratislava) at the local Evangelic lyceum, The story of Štefánik’s life journey is which is badly impacted by the rules of full of love, faith, strong determination, the Hungarian political authorities. As mental endurance and inspiration as well the book reports, it is a shame to use as anxiety and powerlessness. Slovak language in schools, even during breaks. The “delinquent” who breaks this Did he launch a successful career in the rule is surely to be punished and has to capital of France? pay a financial fine (sic!). Who was his femme fatale and how did Despite all these social iniquities, M. the relationship with his beloved family go R. Štefánik achieved good results in his studies. Milan exceled in maths, and he on? benefited by offering some extra classes to others. It is a pretty convenient way What did he feel towards his homeland to ease the financial misery that he after the countless years spent behind the suffered from. Frankly, Štefánik had to fill his wallet from a very early age. borders? After completing the Evangelic lyceum in Pozsony, Milan commenced his studies How did he act during the WWI? in Prague, where he created social bonds with other Slovak students. Together, they What was his contribution to the history organized various meetings to discuss of Slovaks? national issues. Even influential people become impressed by the purposeful If you want to know the answers to these student from Košariská and even provided questions, read this masterpiece. Buy a little material support for him. Štefánik it quickly, enjoy it slowly. No, it isn’t a became attractive in the Czech Republic, monotonous work polluted by an eternal especially among young, well-situated amount of dull facts. I recommend it ladies who could not resist his charm and because it gives you a unique opportunity poetic language. to look at a hero’s personality from a completely different angle and see him totally “naked”. WHAT’S UP the GYMY magazine 17

THE SKINNY (A BOOK REVIEW) The Lbay sNtichSoloasnSgparks NINA HOLIČOVÁ Story about family, first loves, second chances and the moments in life that lead you back home T he story starts when seventeen year Meanwhile, Steve and Jonah fly kites and enjoy the beach. Steve shows Jonah old Veronica ‘Ronnie‘ moves for summer a stained-glass window he’s building to Wilmington, North Carolina with her for his church. The church burnt down dad, a former concert pianist and teacher. several months earlier, injuring Pastor After a supposed affair of her father, her Harris. Steve wants to restore the window parents got divorced with her dad moving because the light always shone through back to his hometown. Never responding it when he, as a small boy, learned to play to his letters or phone calls, she finds it the piano there. Jonah begs to help with surprising that her mother wants her to the project, and Steve teaches him to work go and spend the whole summer there with glass. After Ronnie’s shoplifting with only her dad and eleven year old arrest, Steve assures her of his belief in little brother Jonah. In New York City it her innocence. He shows her a family of was easier to hide from her family. Living endangered sea turtles nesting on the in a small, quiet beach town it gets harder beach near their home. Through these to escape them. events and other demonstrations of his love and concern for her, Ronnie warms From the moment she arrives, Ronnie up to her dad. speaks rudely to her dad, Steve. She‘s especially angry when he plays the piano. Ronnie wants to protect the endangered Ronnie wants to entertain herself, so she turtles from raccoons that often eat their doesn‘t spend all her time with the family. eggs. She sleeps outside to watch the nest, Going to a volleyball match, she meets the following morning she calls the local Will, a handsome volleyball player that aquarium, so as someone could install a spills soda all over her. After this incident protective cage. They send a volunteer a gothic-looking girl named Blaze helps named Will, the volleyball player who her to find a shirt and she starts hanging spilled soda on Ronnie during her first out with her and her friends, including night in the town. Will and Ronnie spend a hard-partying guy obsessed with the rest of summer together and fall in fire, Marcus. Blaze considers him her love. They go fishing, care for the turtles, boyfriend, however Marcus pins after spend time with her dad and Jonah, Ronnie. He convinces Blaze it‘s the other and attend a lavish wedding of Will’s way around and as a revenge Blaze sets sister at his family’s estate. However, her up by putting CDs in her bag, so it many arguments, disapproval of Will’s seems like she has stolen them. Since mother and Ronnie’s impending trial can Ronnie shoplifted once before in NYC, threaten the perfect summer romance. this could land her in serious trouble. If you are a lover of romantic stories you 18 WHAT’S UP the GYMY magazine should definitely have it in your library.

WORDPLAY The impact of social media on academic results of high school students (For and against essay) by BRONISLAVA BENDOVÁ It goes without saying that social media and social-networking sites such as Instagram, Facebook or Youtube have a far-reaching impact on academic performance of teenagers. They immensely influence students´ opinions and attitude to school. Therefore, it seems to be essential to evaluate both their benefits and setbacks concerning their effect on students´ lives. First of all, there is no doubt that using social-networking sites bears a myriad of advantages, especially when it comes to communication among students. Thanks to Facebook classmates can share their study materials, notes or even presentations online, which indisputably makes studying for tests and exams more efficient. Moreover, social media tend to shape our opinions. This implies that if a student watches a video on Youtube about an inspirational person or follows him or her on Instagram, this person might become a role model for that student. Thanks to the fact that social media are ubiquitous, this inspirational individual might be anyone - a young scientist, a gifted musician or an aspiring entrepreneur. Nevertheless, these role models undoubtedly have a positive impact on students´ academic results, given the fact that students desire to be as successful as these people are. Furthermore, social-networking sites are often used by various universities and academic courses as a mean of promoting themselves. In this way, they tend to share information about their programmes and courses, which definitely attract many high school students. Some universities are also eager to post pictures of activities and events that take place at their campus. This may utterly contribute to students´ desire to attend their dream university, and therefore enhance their academic performance at school. On the other hand, Facebook and Instagram may serve rather as a distraction from students´ academic interests. This means that a student could prioritise chatting with friends over preparing for an exam. Therefore, it is an undeniable truth that social media might do harm to academic performance of students´. In addition, Instagram and Youtube often display alluring lives of famous youtubers and bloggers who have decided to pursue a non-academic path and spread thoughts that education is not a key to success. Watching videos of these youtubers or reading blogs with this message can make a student acknowledge their values. Consequently, students´ approach to school may change and previously hard-working students might start skipping their lessons and underestimate the value of their final exams. All things considered, social media indisputably offer a great deal of help to high school students, especially when it comes to sharing study materials and introducing inspirational people or outstanding universities. However, these advantages may be sometimes at odds with the fact that social-networking sites often distract students from their school duties and might promote false ideas about school and life. Taking into consideration both benefits and drawbacks, I believe that social media play such a vital part of students´ lives that their benefits overcome their drawbacks and are essential for learning and preparing for exams. WHAT’S UP the GYMY magazine 19

WORDPLAY BARMECIDE Chapter 1 - The Great Descent by MATÚŠ SAMEK The ticking of the clock suddenly ceased. Slowly, Jonatan’s consciousness began drowning in the darkness that surrounded him. There was nothing to see, and nothing to hear, except his heartbeat. He tried to move. Nothing happened. His body fell numb. He gasped for air, trying to let some oxygen slip into his lungs. Nothing happened. His heartbeat became louder and louder, and soon the pulsating sound was striking his ears as sharply, as if there were hundreds of drummers banging on his eardrums at once. The ruckus increasingly deafening and pain more and more unbearable with each beat. He wanted to scream, but his vocal chords would not succumb to his orders. Hopeless and agonized, he collapsed on the ground unconscious. After an undetermined amount of time had passed, he woke up, back to his senses. Finding himself lying face-down on the cold, stony ground, he flipped himself over on his back and gazed at the ceiling out of confusion. It was hundreds of meters above him. It appeared as if he was deep underground. He brought his head and torso up from the ground, but stayed sitting comfortably, rubbing his hands against the ground, exploring the space around him, attempting to process the situation. Cobwebs. Moss. Anomalous symbols etched in tremendous stone pillars supporting the erratic and cave-like ceiling above him. He was sitting in a monumental hall. It seemed as if his presence had sparked life and hope in this now long forgotten place. His sight was bouncing up and down, left to right as he rapidly observed his surroundings. Rock debris. Ruins. The uncertainty settled in. Bones. Traces of dried and stale blood, rotting tissues and tendons. A single disconnected hand of bones pointing towards its sprawling ally who found his final place of rest on cracked stone bricks just a few meters next to it and whose spine was severed and the decomposed body was marked with numerous robust cuts. Tiny crawling bugs and worms were sporadically finishing up the leftovers of life still around, munching and twiddling. Mesmerized by this sinister sight he watched the inevitable expiration of a life now lost and forlorn. Ignoring the obscenity of this gruesome occurrence he observed the dermestid beetles marching through flesh and bones, carrying small souvenirs of meat in their tiny claws, while contemplating the splendidness of it all. “Life, is death, is life.“ Focused for long enough, he realized even the insects had certain patterns to follow, which made him existentially blank, but fascinated, and finally, he decided ´everything is as it should be´, broke away from his mindful leisure and stood up to move forward. The vomit-inducing stench previously unbearable had become only partly off-putting when he breathed through his mouth. Despite the unstable light from torches scattered throughout the hall’s pillars and the ever-so glistening pools of blood the place was mildly dim. Jonatan astutely reached into his back pocket and pulled out his phone. Barely batting an eye upon finding the screen littered with cracks, he turned it on and eagerly waited for the system to boot. The screen blasted Jonatan’s face with light accompanied by a sudden, but deafening motif which almost made him jump. The god-awful noise echoed throughout the hall. When silence re-stabilized, an instant sound of rubble falling over swept through what seemed like the far-right corner of the 20 WHAT’S UP the GYMY magazine

WORDPLAY hall. After a few moments of deafening silence, a horrifying and sordid shriek came back from the same corner, discharging a barrage of unearthly, ravenous and grave uneasiness in Jonatan’s stomach, causing his whole body to tremble in terror. Jonatan reflexively turned his head towards the danger lurking in the darkness. He stopped only for a brief moment to sort his thoughts. But there were many thoughts floating around in his disconcerted mind. “What to do now? Well first of all, is this a dream? “He had been treating this whole oddity as if it had been a dream up until now. The realization was slowly starting to kick in, but Jonatan knew that before he found out what was going on, he had much more crucial matters to handle. In the blink of an eye he unlocked his phone, turned on the flashlight and aimed it towards the end of the hall with a flick of a wrist. But the only obstacle that seemed to be in his way were the dust particles floating around doing whatever dust particles do. No outside disturbance whatsoever. Or inside disturbance for that matter. He put the phone into his front pocket and snuck out behind one of the pillars. He tried blending in with the dark environment and when he thought he couldn’t be physically seen by anyone or anything in that very room he grabbed one of the small pieces of rubble and smashed it against a remote wall. What followed was a sequence of pervasive squeals from all around the hall and five pairs of bare feet running in that direction. As the footsteps stopped they got replaced by screeching steel sliding its way through stone which arose and hit the innocent-looking piece of rubble. Jonatan panicked and noticed the hard impact caused the corpses’skull to vibrate, rattling its surprisingly white teeth. He had to get out. Now. But something was off. The vermin did not respond to finding a piece of pebble instead of fresh prey. They sort of just ambled away. They were either seriously demented or seriously blind. Either way, it was one up for Jon. Now that he gave it a second thought, maybe they just weren’t committed to the task. Or maybe they just weren’t cannibals at all. Minus one for Jon. He could hear all of “them“ limping their way back to where they came from. Spending just one more minute down here would have been a death wish, so standing still, he scouted for exits. He stood up on a piece of pyramid-shaped rock which had been lying flat for who knows how long and was struck down by an attractive discovery. A massive partly open two-piece iron door which allowed a tiny ray of orange light to pass through. It was an inviting exit indeed. “Okay, I need to think this through. Time spent on reconnaissance is seldom wasted “. And with that he threw another pebble to a polar-opposite corner and sprinted down the hall as fast as humanly possible, while fetching one of the torches with a stretch of a hand. Five marauders now cunningly deceived first ran towards the pebble, but halfway near they hesitated, and when they realized their crucial mistake they let a very mean growl reverberate its way to Jon and caught up with him in a few measly seconds, but he flicked them off with the burning torch while running for his life. Now he could see them in all their wicked glory – corrupted and ugly creatures resembling goblins, in possession of neither a nose or sense of life in their black eyes, stretching their pallid- skinned hands after Jon and ending up with severe burns moments after, blindly hunting down their newly found specimen of human meat. Nothing was too distinctive about this horrid scum, except the repulsive odour, the worst of all stenches imaginable. Their leader stuck behind four of his subordinates because of Jon’s previous manoeuvre. He was civilized enough not to harm the lowly folk with the potential swing of his enormous steel axe which he was wielding in his hands and probably scooped from one of the fallen bodies. As Jon ran up the stairs leading to the doors - his salvation, he knocked over three conveniently placed human-sized statues made of marble – an effigy of a phoenix, a chimera and a dragon. The vermin were startled and stopped before ferociously going for another chance at an attack. One of them caught a direct hit from the wing of the dragon statue and fell down the set of stairs. Jon however outran all of them and swiftly slipped through the gap between the door. TO BE CONTINUED... WHAT’S UP the GYMY magazine 21

MUSIC “Q“ as the Queen by NINA KOVAŘÍKOVÁ Older people grew up listening them, some of the younger ones learned about this band after the release of the movie Bohemian Rhapsody. It describes the life of the leader of the band, Freddie Mercury as well as the development of the entire band. 22 WHAT’S UP the GYMY magazine

MUSIC The legendary British rock band, founded in 1970 rock anthems, “We Will Rock You” and “We Are in London - that is the Queen. Its original, basic the Champions”. The Queen was one of the most and best-known members were Freddie Mercury prominent representatives of the Rock Studio in (vocal and piano), Brian May (guitar and vocals), the world. John Deacon (bass guitar) and Roger Taylor (drums and vocals). The band was originally influenced by About Freddie himself, he had a wife, Mary a few genres such as progressive rock, hard rock Austin, with whom, however, he got divorced in and heavy metal, but later they began to focus on 1976 because of his homosexual orientation. He genres as arena rock, pop rock, funky, R & B, etc. was very stubborn, causing frequent disputes with other members of the band. For some time It was the year 1970. Before the Queen was he even left the Queen and led a solo career. Jim founded, guitarist Brian and drummer Roger, along Hutton became his life partner. with the bass guitarist Tim Staffel were members of the band called Smile. Farrokh Bulsara was a Shortly after finding out that he suffered from fan of this band and later on he even joined them AIDS, he contacted other Queen members and after Tim Staffel’s departure. They did not want to decided to play at a benefit concert to help the accept him, because of his overshot, but as soon as famine in Ethiopia. Their performance during this he showed them what he could do, they changed concert, called Live Aid in 1985, is considered one their mind. Farrokh Bulsara changed his name to of the best in rock history. Freddie Mercury and the band’s name changed to Queen. Soon after, in 1973, they accepted a new In 1991, Freddie died of AIDS, and in 1997 John and the last member, John Deacon. Deacon left the band. Brian May and Roger Taylor occasionally continue to play with different Queen had enormous success throughout the guests. In November 2014, the band released a United Kingdom. They released several albums, new Queen Forever compilation album, where including the album “A night at the opera”, which you can find Freddie Mercury’s remastered vocal featured Bohemian Rhapsody. This song reached recordings. the first place in the UK single chart and remained first for the nine weeks. It also took the first place The Queen has done great things and has in several other countries and became the first influenced the lives of many people. They have song of the band to hit the top ten American created songs that have become legends in the Billboard Hot 100. Their next album, News of world of music, and one thing is certain- the the World, featured two of their most famous Queen will remain unforgettable! WHAT’S UP the GYMY magazine 23

WE ARE INTO SCIENCE CONSEQUENCES by DANIELA KROČIANOVÁ Humankind has lived on this planet for thousands of years. But as our society advances at an unstoppable pace, our every day lives now have undeniable consequences on the rest of this planet and its inhabitants. Have you ever thought about all the things discarded every week, every day, by an average human? All the to-go coffee cups, food wrappers, nylon thighs, torn, after being worn twice or thrice? Or about where your lunch came from? How far did it have to travel, before it reached you? How much water and fertilizers were used to produce it? Well, maybe you have and maybe you haven’t. I invite you to join me now to take a look at some of these questions and find out, how we change this world every single day. 24 WHAT’S UP the GYMY magazine

WE ARE INTO SCIENCE WHY OUR EATING HABITS ARE PROBLEMATIC According to UN, humankind eat has traveled hundreds, even course needs the machinery produces half as much food thousands of kilometers to get to be cultivated. But the point as it needs. The truth of our to our tables in the first place – stands, that supporting local world is, that a non negligible so besides all the fossil fuels that food companies and producing number of people is starving were used to produce the food more food locally leads to while an increasing amount in the first place (for example better “food security” (high of food is being thrown away. for running farm machinery) food security means, that all the People in poorer countries a lot is used to transport the people have enough food to live can’t afford to buy land or food, too. Beyond the fact, that an active, healthy life) while, as even the food produced in fossil fuels are nowhere near a stated before, countries with their country. Countries like sustainable source of energy, huge monocultures and a lot India or Argentina with a big a comprehensive reader will of export usually have a high percentage of agricultural land sure connect the huge amount percentage of starving people often produce soy or cotton used to carbon emissions (meaning low food security). for the need of Europe and the produced by the food industry. United States, while the people In the included pie chart, you Another thing worth have nothing to eat themselves. can see that the transport is responsible for a little over a mentioning is the fact, that Another point to think about tenth of all carbon emissions is where did our food come produced by food industry. there is “hidden water” in every from and how did it get onto This means, that more than our plates? According to Slovak “buying local”, shifting to more food item you eat – meaning Agriculture and Food Chamber, plant-based diet would help less than 40 % of food in our reduce the carbon footprint of how much water was used to stores is being produced in the food industry, as especially Slovakia. This means that red meat production takes up make it. For example, in the considerable amount of what we a lot of arable land – which of United States, 80 % of all water consumed is being used in food production, and while many people don’t realize this, water is not as renewable a source as it might seem. WHAT’S UP the GYMY magazine 25

WE ARE INTO SCIENCE Indonesia is burning – why does no one care? I consider the production of carbon emissions. The its native flora is burning the of palm oil such a burning thing is, that a significant land – so that aforementioned problem (quite literally) that amount of Indonesian arable palm deserts can be created. I decided to separate it from land is dedicated to oil palm But while you may think, that the previous part about food in monocultures, which, unlike we have already learned, in the general, mostly because how coconut palms, which are thousands of years we’ve been confused the society is with native to the land and grow using it, how to control fire, this issue: Why is the palm oil among other vegetation and this isn’t always the truth, as bad? Is it unhealthy? Does it animals, grow in a so called during the times of drought, cause cancer? “palm desert”, which isn’t a there have repeatedly been suitable habitat for animals immeasurable fires throughout The answer is no. The palm oil, and many of the species Indonesia, further endangering while not having any significant exclusive to Indonesia – such as the animals, humans, the land. adverse effects on the human orangutans or Sumatran tigers Not to mention, again, the organism, is one of the leading are thus in grave danger. To add carbon footprint these fires causes of deforestation and, to this catastrophe, the method cause. once again, the production used for ridding the country of 26 WHAT’S UP the GYMY magazine

WE ARE INTO SCIENCE Swimming in garbage The main problem with garbage as possible. The plastic waste How, you ask? There are stores is, that there is simply too much is becoming more and more - there’s one even in Myjava - of it. We are a consumer society, problematic, as it is often blown where you can come and have we are used to buy so many into rivers, from where it takes your containers refilled with things and lead to believe we a long journey into oceans, ecological substitutes of many need all of them, which leads to where it joins the islands of it of these drugstore items – using up our planet’s resources already covering a large area of without producing any waste at an alarming pace, replacing our oceans, of even worse, finds at all! There are also stores them with heaps, mountains, of its way into the bodies of sea that sell food items such as waste. We use things, then throw animals. Easily decomposable rice, legumes, dried fruits and them out without thinking plastics are not the answer vegetables by pouring them about them once. Some of us either, as they degrade to into your own containers – do recycle our waste, which is “microplastics”, which are sometimes even allowing you nice, but there is only so much tiny little particles, that, sadly, to bring spare containers you recycling can accomplish. pollute our waters too. Then don’t need or take some other Did you know, that paper there’s their biodegradable customers have brought, if you can only be recycled seven times? counterparts, which do sound need more! This means, that for example like a good idea, but only if I’m fully aware, that in this toilet paper rolls and egg crates, they are disposed of in the article, I’ve only scraped the which have reached their limit, right way – throwing them into surface of how much we alter our cannot be recycled anymore the “plastic” trashcan solves environment every single day – but will decompose easily if nothing, the right way is to and I can’t even guess the long- thrown into a composter, or, throw them into the composter term effect of these changes. even better, can be quite useful or a “biowaste” trashcan, which There’s many other problems I as planters, decorations, toys is a thing many people ignore, haven’t even mentioned – the for pet rodents… and thus biodegradable plastics unsustainability of our fashion Plastic items, unlike have, so far, caused more harm industry, for one, but these are paper, can be only recycled once than good. issues that are hard to squeeze or twice, plus the process is Therefore, it’s good to into a book, let alone two quite expensive, which means, think, at least from time to pages! Therefore, I encourage that it is completely ignored in time, about the consequences of every single reader interested Slovakia and all plastic, even our actions. We, as consumers, enough to have finished this if it’s thrown into appropriate do have a choice. We can article to take things into trashcan, will be either burned choose to buy milk in a glass their own hands, look for more or mixed with the communal bottle instead of a plastic one, information, think about their waste anyway. Which means, we even have the possibility own actions and choices as a that it’s even more important to to completely stop buying the consumer, reuse, recycle, and reuse plastic containers (bottles, containers for many everyday try to make this world a nicer, yogurt cups, everything!) or items – shampoos, shower cleaner place for our children to omit buying them as much gels, laundry detergents… live in. WHAT’S UP the GYMY magazine 27

POLITICS Do not take EU from us! by ALEX JURČA According to polls executed by agency Focus, if only 18 to 24 year-olds would vote, this would mean support for extremist and far-right political groupings of 20%. It is a paradox - this generation is the only one that can enjoy membership in the European Union, but they choose to reject this membership. What motivates young people to vote for extremists? It is obviously the result of a mix of Russian propaganda and a simple and comprehensible language used by populists. This situation is not unique, the rise of populism and extremism can be seen across the world. But the positive aspects of the European Union are indisputable. Free movement within Schengen, thus free movement of labour, abolition of border controls, but also common currency, customs union, guarantee of respecting of democratic principles and human rights. We could only dream about this until we were able to join the EU in 2004. We can see great chaos in Britain right now because of the Brexit agreement. Theresa May has suffered a significant defeat when she failed to push her deal on Brexit in the British Parliament. As a result, panic has occurred not only in the UK but also in the EU, as no one can imagine how “hard” Brexit might look. But why did we find ourselves in this stupid situation? British exPM David Cameron underestimated the power of these populist ideas. In the interest of the political benefit of the Conservative Party, he was provoked to declare a referendum on Brexit to take the wind from the shingles from opposition and populists. He relied on the liberals (coalition partner) to block the vote, but that did not happen. This shows how dangerous the extreme opinion of the populists is. Finally, the same is happening at home. After Fico and Cap. Plg. Danko were repeatedly confronted by the media with unpleasant questions about possible linking of the Italian mafia to the government office the suspected and overpriced tenders respectively, they resorted to the fake news and conspiracy theories. Who will pay for it? Most likely “ordinary people”. Loss of membership in the European Union will bring more negatives to both parties than positives. The only one who gets something out of it are populists. They do not care about rational solutions but only for their political capital. People believe the solutions offered by populists. These solutions sound nicely at first hearing, but they do not solve anything in practice. An example of such solution is the Trump’s wall on the border with Mexico. A typical populist practice - to find / invent an enemy, then come up with solution to solve the problem and protect people from enemies. In our lands, the “bad guy” is Brussel. Phrase such as “the dictate of Brussels” have become mainstream in number of EU member states, where the power-lusting politicians are trying to increase their preferences. They do not even care about the real interests of their voters at all. It is the young people who should understand what EU offers the best. It has been allowed to us to travel abroad, study in universities with international reputation, or try to work abroad while having guaranteed health insurance, just to list few advantages. Let’s not allow the populist to take away the European Union project. EU is the best place to live in and especially for the young! 28 WHAT’S UP the GYMY magazine

WE ARE NOT COUCH POTATOES SKI course On the 20th of January, the 1.B class and kvinta went to a ski course to the ski centre Kubínska hoľa. We went there with our teachers Mrs. Eliášová, Mrs. Ivančová, Mr. Durec and Matt. When we arrived, we accommodated in the cottage Kubínska hoľa and we were divided into groups according to our skiing skills. During the next three days, the weather was great, so we enjoyed beautiful nature and even more beautiful sunsets. Then the weather got colder and everyone was cold, but, at least, we experienced that and we will be prepared for that when we come the next time. During this week, we enjoyed skiing and snowboarding and we also tried cross-country skiing, which was a new experience for most of us. However, the best part of the course were evenings which we spent together, when we played games, we talked together, we drank tea and we got to know each other more. After five days there, although we wanted to stay, we had to go home. However, we still have our memories and photos in our mobile phones that will remind us this great ski course. by VERONIKA HAZUCHOVÁ and LENKA MICHALIČKOVÁ WHAT’S UP the GYMY magazine 29

CHRISTMAS IN 1.B by VERONIKA HAZUCHOVÁ and LENKA MICHALIČKOVÁ On the 21st of December, the 1.B class celebrated traditional Slovak Christmas with our teacher Mrs. Cilíková. It all started in the end of November, when each person in the class chose another person for whom he would prepare a small present. On the last day at school before Christmas holiday, we put the presents under the Christmas tree we decorated in our classroom. Then we ate some typical meals, like wafers with honey and nuts and also an apple. After that, we unwrapped our Christmas presents. Some of us were a bit surprised what the other person gave them, but everyone was glad to get something. Later on, we just talked together and after we had tidied up our classroom we went home. This celebration we enjoyed a lot and certainly, we went home with the right Christmas atmosphere. We look forward to repeating it next year. 30 WHAT’S UP the GYMY magazine

JOKES JOKES by Mgr. ĽUBICA DURCOVÁ A PILOT LEAVES HIS COCKPIT, TAKES A PARACHUTE AND TURNS TO THE PASSENGERS: “I HAVE TWO ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR YOU. A GOOD ONE AND A BAD ONE. FIRST THE BAD ONE: WE ARE OUT OF FUEL AND WE WILL START TO FALL AT ANY MOMENT. NOW THE GOOD ONE: I´M GOING FOR HELP.” A MAN WALKS THROUGH A DESERT PULLING A PIANO. SUDDENLY HE HEARS A SNAKE HISSING. HE STARTS TO WALK FASTER, BUT THE SNAKE IS GETTING CLOSER. HE STARTS TO RUN. FINALLY HE GIVES UP. EXHAUSTED, HE FALLS TO THE GROUND. THE SNAKE APPROACHES AND SAYS: - “SSSSS... I ONLY WANTED TO HELP.” A JUDGE ASKS A MAN: A LITTLE BOY WATCHES THE NIGHT SKY - “WHY DID YOU TAKE THAT WALLET? IT HAD AND ASKS HIS FATHER: - “DAD, DO YOU THINK THAT THERE IS LIFE ON TO BE CLEAR THAT IT WASN’T YOURS! - “YOUR HONOUR, IT´S TRUE THAT THE THAT STAR?” - “WHY ARE YOU ASKING SUCH A STUPID WALLET WASN´T MINE, BUT THE MONEY LOOKED FAMILIAR.” QUESTION? CAN´T YOU SEE THAT THE LIGHT IS ON?” A TOURIST ASKS A NATIVE AMERICAN INDIAN: TWO STOCKBROKERS AT A FITNESS CENTRE: - “HOW MUCH WOOD DO YOU NEED FOR - “WHAT ARE STRENGTHENING TODAY?“ - “TODAY… THE BRITISH POUND.“ SMOKE SIGNALS?” - “IT DEPENDS IF IT IS A LOCAL OR A LONG- DISTANCE CALL.” TWO DIVERS MEET: - “YESTERDAY I WAS DIVING IN A DEPTH OF 1500 METRES, AND I MET AN AMERICAN SUBMARINE.“ - “HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT IT WAS AN AMERICAN SUBMARINE?“ - “ I CAME CLOSER, I KNOCKED ON A WINDOW AND THEY STARTED TO WAVE WITH AMERICAN FLAGS.“ - “HA, THAT IS NOTHING. YESTERDAY I WAS DIVING IN A DEPTH OF 2000 METRES AND I MET A POLICE SUBMARINE.“ - “HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT IT WAS A POLICE SUBMARINE?“ - “I CAME CLOSER, I KNOCKED ON A WINDOW AND THEY OPENED.“ A LITTLE GIRL ENTERS A SHOP AND A SHOP AN ELECTRICIAN COMES TO AN INTENSIVE ASSISTANT ASKS HER: CARE UNIT. FOR A WHILE HE WATCHES - “HELLO, LITTLE ONE. WHAT DO YOU WANT?“ PATIENTS ON RESPIRATORS AND THEN HE - “I WANT CHOCOLATE, BUT MUM SENT ME TO SHOUTS: -“NOW EVERYONE, TAKE A DEEP BREATH I BUY MILK.“ HAVE TO CHANGE A FUSE.“ - “DOCTOR, MY WHOLE BODY ITCHES.“ 31 - “DID YOU TRY A BATH?“ - “I DID. IT HELPED FOR TWO - THREE WEEKS AND THEN IT STARTED AGAIN.“ WHAT’S UP the GYMY magazine

Cover photos by NINA MOCKOVČIAKOVÁ