M is for March Break

It was the day before we left and I was soooo excited. It was going to be our first time going to California, and I had been looking forward to it for so long.

That was in 2004, when we were about to leave for our condo in California for the first time.

We have been going to our condo ever since, and I am going to tell you about some of the things we do when we go there.

One of the main things that my dad and I do is play golf. The resort includes a famous golf course called Aviara. It is really fun to play golf there, because not only is it an amazing course, but it is also during our off-season so it is good practice. The course is designed by Arnold Palmer, who is one of the greatest golfers of all time, and is extremely difficult. I am very lucky that I am able to play at this course, and I am very privileged.

Another thing that I enjoy doing there, is walking on the beach. Every morning we take about a 30 minute walk on the beach, and it really calms you down. It is also nice to walk on the beach because we do not have the opportunity to do those kind of activities here. When we are at the beach, I enjoy running into the waves and swimming in the water. I also like to run around in the sand, and have running races with my dad.

And finally, another thing I enjoy most about going to our condo in California, is the weather. EVERY SINGLE DAY it is sunny, warm with no wind and it hardly ever rains. When it does rain, it only lasts like 15 minutes, and best of all, NO SNOW. The most depressing part of the whole trip, is when the pilot on the plane home says, "We are about to touch down in Toronto. The weather is about -15, windy and you guessed it, snowing". And then the image of that nice beach in California comes into my head, and it almost makes me want to cry!

As you might have guessed, I LOVE going to California, and when I am sitting at home on a Sunday night, looking outside my window and seeing the snow fall, I wish I was in California.

Life Lesson: California ROCKS!!!

E is for Emma

For all of my life, my sister Emma has been really important to me. Even though we don't get along sometimes, she is still amazing. My clearest memory of me and my sister was my first day of school in Junior Kindergarten. I was pretty young and I was really scared. My sister knew that I was scared, so she came up to me and started talking to me and saying that everything was going to be OK, and that I would make lots of friends. Then, she walked with me into the school and to my class. She said that she hoped I would have a good day, and assured me that I would have a lot of fun. Her comfort meant a lot to me and made that day much easier for me.

Emma and I also have a lot of fun together. I remember when we went to Florida with our parents when we were much younger. We had a lot of fun going to Disney World and playing at the water park. My best memories from that trip were of spending time with my sister. We now go to California every March Break and Emma and I always have a lot of fun together in the pool and at the beach. Even at home we like to hang out together. I'm sure when I am older, memories of spending time with Emma will be some of my favourite memories.

Without my sister, I would not be the same person that I am today. One of the life lessons I've learned by having a sister is that even if you don't get along all the time, you can still always count on them, and you always love each other. This quote sums it all up: "Having a sister is like having a best friend you can't get rid of. You know whatever you do, they'll still be there." (Amy Li). Emma has taught me so much, and I owe a lot to her. I'm glad I have a sister named Emma.

M is for Miles Austin

Ever since I have liked football, I have been a fan of the Dallas Cowboys. I think that one of the main reasons that I like the team is because my dad, uncle, cousin, mom and sister like the Cowboys. But over the past few years I have really been getting into the game of football, and getting to know more of the players. One player that I really admire is Cowboys wide reciever Miles Austin.

I partly admire Miles Austin because of the position that he plays, wide reciever, which is my favourite football position. Wide reciever is a difficult position, and Miles Austin does a very good job playing it. Miles is fast, and when he catches the ball he speeds past all the defensive players. Miles is also very strong, which comes in handy in the position he plays because it means that it is hard to tackle him. The defensive players on the opposing team are faced with a real challenge to bring Miles down during a play.

Miles Austin is a role model to me for a few reasons. The first is because I have always wanted to play football as a wide reciever, and Miles is a great player to look up to in the way of skills. I also look up to Miles Austin because it is clear that he is very successful. Miles debuted on the Dallas Cowboys in 2006, after a very good university career. He attended Monmouth University and holds the record for receiving yards, 2, 867 yards. Miles also recently reached a milestone in his Dallas career, by achieving a Dallas franchise record of 250 recieving yards in one game. In addition, Miles is a 2010 Pro Bowl pick. The Pro Bowl is an NFL all star game, and showcases the best talent in the NFL.

I enjoy following the career of Miles Austin now, and I suspect I will for a long time. I look up to him in many ways, and someday I hope to be like him.

Empathy

In the book The Breadwinner, the author, Deborah Ellis, made me feel empathy throughout the course of the book. I think it is good to make the reader feel empathy because it can get the reader emotionally involved with the book.

The first example of empathy from The Breadwinner is just after Parvana's father was sent to prison. Parvana and her mother attempted to go beg for her father's freedom, but their plan failed. "Nooria tried to help, but Mother just waved her away. She threw her burqa down on the floor. Her face was strained with tears and sweat. She collapsed onto the toshak where Father had taken his nap just yesterday." In this example the author made me feel empathy for Parvana's family because they may never see their father again. The strategy that the authour is using is to make the reader feel empathy by talking about memories of the father. When the author said " She collapsed onto the toshak where Father had taken his nap just yesterday." you can only imagine the thoughts that would be going through her mother's head about how her father lay there just yesterday and now he is gone.

Another example from the Breadwinner where Deborah Ellis made me feel empathy was when Parvana and Shauzia were walking home and Shauzia kicked a wall. " Shauzia kicked at the wall in a rythm, but Parvana stopped her. She'd seen the Taliban hit a child for banging on an old board like it was a drum. The Taliban hated music." The author made me feel empathy for all of the people affected by the Taliban. This example of empathy really shows the readers how restricted the people are in the affected areas of the Taliban. The way the author made me feel empathy in this passage was by describing how few rights the people have, if they can't even hit something in a rhythm. When the author said "The Taliban hated music", that really puts our freedom in prespective. It makes me realize the freedoms we have and how much we take it for granted.

These are just a few examples of when Deborah Ellis makes her readers feel empathy. It is a useful wirting strategy because it makes the reader feel more involved with the characters and their lives. I know from reading The Breadwinner I was able to better understand the situation and struggles of the people in Afghanistan by becoming involved with the characters in the book and their lives, and feeling empathy for them.

Covered

Imagine yourself living in a world where you couldn't show your full self. You wouldn't be able to leave your home unless you were covered from head to toe in a burqa. For many women in the world, including those in Afghanistan, this is the case. They are not allowed to go anywhere without being fully covered.

There are quite a few adjustments that would have to be made about the way you go about your day to day life, if you had to be fully covered. First, as you can imagine, you would feel like you mean nothing to society, if people told you that they didn't want to see any part of you. Also, you would get very angry because you would probably not be able to do everything you would like to do. The burqas would make it diffucult to do some things. Finally, you might also feel like you are invisible to everyone around you, because no one would pay attention to you if no one could really see you. These are some of the ways women in Afghanistan would be affected by having to be fully covered when going outside.

From reading the Breadwinner, I have a better understanding of the struggles that woman face in Afghanistan. I can't imagine how difficult it must be to even do the simplest things. For example, when you go out to the grocery store, just to buy some milk, suddenly men with guns might pass you and you would be afraid that they might hurt you. This might be an every day situation for women in Afghanistan. They constantly live in fear. I know this might sound strange, but maybe some woman think of the burqa as an advantage. Think of the grocery store situation. Maybe you would want to hide yourself, and not get noticed so that the men don't hurt you. Maybe some of the woman think of it as a way to hide from the men walking in the streets.

Eva Olsson Holocaust Speech

Going into Eva Olsson's speech about her experience with the Holocaust was very exciting, because I didn't know that much about the Holocaust. For that reason, I was excited to learn more about her experience.

Her speech had a very strong message from start to finish. During her speech, I heard a lot of good lessons and stories to think about, but the strongest lesson was about hate. Her message was basically that hate killed her family and many more people. She said that the next time we are going to say the word "hate", we should think about what hate did to her. I think that I will definitely think about that the next time the word hate crosses my mind.

I thought that the camps that she described in her speech sounded very scary, and I felt very sad for her, her family, and all of the victims. From what Ms. Olsson said in her speech, she coped with the situation extremely well and made it out alive and very strong. From the details that she gave to us about the characteristics of the camp, I think I would be most scared of the Gas Showers. First of all, just the thought of putting someone in a shower with gas coming out of the showers sounds horrible. But to make things worse, they wouldn't turn off the showers until the person was dead.

I think what I'm trying to say is that her speech was very powerful. I think Ms. Olsson's speech is important for everyone to hear. Her message is crucial because as she pointed out, hate is shown in many ways, including bulllying in schools. I would highly reccomend Ms. Olsson's speech to everyone.

Norval Team Building Day

On Monday, October 19th, the Middle School went to Norval to learn about team building. The purpose of the day was to help the kids in Middle School work well together.

My team did a lot of things very well, and there was a lot of individual effort that went into the success of the team. A great example of the team's effort to work together was in the activity where we had to get a tire off a big pole. Every member of the team thought of a different strategy to complete the task. In the end, we didn't get the tire off the pole, but we put in a great effort. So, as I said, we did a lot of things well, but the thing we did best was working together and combining our thoughts and strategies.
Now of course there were a couple of things that our team could have done better. We could have done a better job talking to each other during some activities and helping each other out when we were actually doing the activities. For example, when we were trying to walk across the wire to get to the other little islands, I think people could have been communicating better with the other team members. In the end we overcame this by starting to talk to each other and we found a way to complete the activity. I'm sure we all learned that communication is important for teams to work well together.
Overall, the day at Norval was fun and inspiring. Out of all the activities, I think my favourite was the drum circle. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I was amazed at the great sound the drum could make. As someone who plays the drums, I was pleased that we included this activity. The only games I didn't like very much were the tag games we played when we first arrived. They weren't my favourite activity because I have played the games before, so it was nothing new to me. I think the Norval trip was a good experience, and should be continued for Middle School students and teachers in the years to come.