West Montrose, the little village with a population too small to put on Wikipedia, has a problem. The gravel pit makers have decided that money will be spilling into their doors by building a gravel pit in the West Montrose area. As you might imagine there are quite a few problems with this proposition.
Firstly, they are planning to build this evil gravel farm right next to a Mennonite school. The school a room with a homemade ice rink and a minny baseball diamond. the children walk to school every day on the road. Imagine a beautiful Jigs Hollow road, a road with corn fields on either side, it's as if you can see the world just drop down at the end of the corn field, bulldozed and replaced by tall ugly mountains of grey rubble. Horrible loud beeping sounds coming through the wall as the teacher is yelling as loud as she can so that the children can here what she's saying. Would you like to be in that position? The worst part about it is that the gravel pit making people never even spoke to anyone living there if they were okay with it. They just wrote a letter to the council and started making their plans.
Another problem is all the tourists. Who would want to go somewhere where all you can see is a mountain of grey rubble. Where the blend of green grass and blue river and that marvellous covered bridge leaves you lift your foot off the gas pedal of your car and stare at the beauty until you finally realize that five minutes have gone by and you have to get to where you're going is gone. All gone.
It ruins everything. From the fact that the covered bridge is called the kissing bridge to the fact of those poor Mennonite students. Who would want to wake up every morning to the sound of trucks beeping as they load up the gravel from that life-takingly ugly pit. Could you please shake those dollar signs out of your eyes and listen to the cries of us West Montrosenites. We don't want our lives distorted by your bulldozers of doom so leave us in peace.
Life Lesson: Consult everyone involved before making any radical decisions.
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
B is for Brushing Your Teeth
As you might have noticed while reading my blog, you might have figured out that I am a very strange child. Very strange indeed. I like things that nobody else does in this world. I even look forward to dentist appointments. You see, I haven't ever had a problem with my teeth. I also really like the hygenist who I've had for as long as I can remember.
Why would you not brush your teeth? It's such an easy thing to do and yet half of the worlds' population doesn't do it. It's the difference between having people cringe whenever your talking to close to them and people telling you to smile more often because it looks so nice.
One of the people I'm adrressing in this post is a friend of mine named Marina. She's a wonderful person and one of my best freinds, but she never brushes her teeth (she does but not very often). As a result, her teeth are constantly yellow along the top of her teeth. I've told her many times that she should brush her teeth at least once a day, instead of once every three days like she does but she just won't listen. And when she does, she says she just can't be bothered. Also as a result of not brushing her teeth, she is constantly at the dentist getting another filling.
Fillings hurt. So do drills, x-rays, and other nasty things that the dentist puts in your mouth. Brush your teeth twice a day and you will be free of nasty dentist appointments and you'll actually look forward to them. Dentists are not here in this wrold because they want to drill holes in your mouth or because they want to torture you with putting your mouth in the most uncomfertable position you can think of. They are here to help you smile without feeling embarrassed. They are your friends.
Life lesson:
Doctors are your friends when you brush your teeth twice a day.
Why would you not brush your teeth? It's such an easy thing to do and yet half of the worlds' population doesn't do it. It's the difference between having people cringe whenever your talking to close to them and people telling you to smile more often because it looks so nice.
One of the people I'm adrressing in this post is a friend of mine named Marina. She's a wonderful person and one of my best freinds, but she never brushes her teeth (she does but not very often). As a result, her teeth are constantly yellow along the top of her teeth. I've told her many times that she should brush her teeth at least once a day, instead of once every three days like she does but she just won't listen. And when she does, she says she just can't be bothered. Also as a result of not brushing her teeth, she is constantly at the dentist getting another filling.
Fillings hurt. So do drills, x-rays, and other nasty things that the dentist puts in your mouth. Brush your teeth twice a day and you will be free of nasty dentist appointments and you'll actually look forward to them. Dentists are not here in this wrold because they want to drill holes in your mouth or because they want to torture you with putting your mouth in the most uncomfertable position you can think of. They are here to help you smile without feeling embarrassed. They are your friends.
Life lesson:
Doctors are your friends when you brush your teeth twice a day.
Thursday, January 21, 2010
S is for Snow
I happen to be living in Canada. Land of the moose, beaver, eh, and snow. Everybody loves moose, beavers, and saying eh, but nobody seems to like snow. I don't understand why. Snow is so unbelievably wonderful and delightful, pretty and so unbelievably beautiful. Canadians seems to grunt when I open the window and practically scream,
"ITS SNOWING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
What's not to like about this beautiful thing that delights the eye and tempts you with its white finger to come out and in your pyjamas, fall down and make a snow angel when you wake up? That people can simply ignore that wonderful feeling, is quite sad really.
Snow crystals are born in the clouds when water vapor freezes on a particle of dust, a floating bit of bacteria, or another solid material. When cloud temperatures are at the freezing point or below, and there is an ample supply of moisture in the air, ice crystals form around a core particle. As water vapor condenses and freezes, the complex pattern of a snowflake is born, one molecule at a time. It is here that water molecules bond together into stable crystal structures.
I'm sure that most people are familiar with the saying ' Ther are no two snowflakes are alike'. Some people may say that it's not true but they're worng. It most likely is true. You see, snowflakes are so unbelievably complicated that you might take a glance at two and say,
"Hey! those two snowflakes are exactly alike!" But actually, when you look at them under a microscope, you'll find that they are actually quite different. Also, there are so many snowflakes out there that looking at all of them would be like counting all the grains of rice that have ever been eaten in this planet.
"How can you not like snow?" I find myself asking many people very often. They always seem to answer that they don't like looking at it for four whole months in a row. Well, when you've come from England, where it seems like it's always a grey sky, drizzling, and hovering around 5 degrees, you appreciate the brilliant whiteness and the blue sky with the sun shining, making it so much nicer. Now with global warming, Canada might not have any snow in fifty years, who knows? If that happens, The Canadians will be the ones who miss it most.
Life lesson:
Don't take everything for granted, it can dissapear in a blink of an eye.
"ITS SNOWING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
What's not to like about this beautiful thing that delights the eye and tempts you with its white finger to come out and in your pyjamas, fall down and make a snow angel when you wake up? That people can simply ignore that wonderful feeling, is quite sad really.
Snow crystals are born in the clouds when water vapor freezes on a particle of dust, a floating bit of bacteria, or another solid material. When cloud temperatures are at the freezing point or below, and there is an ample supply of moisture in the air, ice crystals form around a core particle. As water vapor condenses and freezes, the complex pattern of a snowflake is born, one molecule at a time. It is here that water molecules bond together into stable crystal structures.
I'm sure that most people are familiar with the saying ' Ther are no two snowflakes are alike'. Some people may say that it's not true but they're worng. It most likely is true. You see, snowflakes are so unbelievably complicated that you might take a glance at two and say,
"Hey! those two snowflakes are exactly alike!" But actually, when you look at them under a microscope, you'll find that they are actually quite different. Also, there are so many snowflakes out there that looking at all of them would be like counting all the grains of rice that have ever been eaten in this planet.
"How can you not like snow?" I find myself asking many people very often. They always seem to answer that they don't like looking at it for four whole months in a row. Well, when you've come from England, where it seems like it's always a grey sky, drizzling, and hovering around 5 degrees, you appreciate the brilliant whiteness and the blue sky with the sun shining, making it so much nicer. Now with global warming, Canada might not have any snow in fifty years, who knows? If that happens, The Canadians will be the ones who miss it most.
Life lesson:
Don't take everything for granted, it can dissapear in a blink of an eye.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
F is for Food
I love food. As long as it's good food, then i'm happy. Bad food I'll spit out in a nearby garbage can. This weeks blog is about my favourite foods and my least favourite 'im going to gag soon' foods.
I shall first talk about my favourite foods. I love fruit. I love the sensation of a perfect blend of sweetness, bitterness, and sometimes overwhelming sourness. I would like to say that I have a favourite fruit but I don't. I love all common fruits. I also like mexican foods. As long as it's not too spicy. The most wonderful item in the mexican food culture is tacos. To me, really good tacos have meat (well spiced of course), fresh tomatoes, lettuce and cheese on them. Delicieuse! I also like meat. Steak and chicken being my favourite in that category. Cheese is yet another one of those unbelievable foods that you can find in so many cultures. The best thing about it is that all of them tate so good, yet so unbelievably different. my favourite cheese is goat cheese. It goes so well with everything that it's hard not to like! Finally, dessert. Spelled with two s's because it's twice as yummy. You have many different types of desserts for many different types of people. I for example can't stand really sweet things like candy, treacle tart, or frosting. I'm a very, very strange person.
Now for what I dislike. I dislike quite alot of foods actually, but when you compare it with the amount of foods that I do like, it doesn't look that bad.
I strongly dislike fish that tastes like fish, or fishy fish as I like to call it. It tastes so slimy and icky, as if it's going to spit out puss any minute. Besides, how can you sit there looking at a head and plan on eating it without making a thousand trips to the bathroom? Another thing I strongly dislike is sweet things. Like I mentioned before, I WILL spit something out in the garbage if it's too sweet for me. It must look sincerely digusting when I do that but it happens anyway. Here's a short list of things I dont like just so that this blog isn't a thousand miles long:
Ketchup (ugh)
Salt and Vinegar chips (double ugh)
Anything that has vinegar in it
Fizzy drinks (yet again, I am a very strange person)
Overly cooked vegetables (why cant you just serve them raw? They're so much better that way)
Badly cooked food (who does?)
I would like to end with a quotation:
Fruit salad! Yummy yummy! - The Wiggles
Life lesson: Good food is good food. Don't let anyone tell you different.
I shall first talk about my favourite foods. I love fruit. I love the sensation of a perfect blend of sweetness, bitterness, and sometimes overwhelming sourness. I would like to say that I have a favourite fruit but I don't. I love all common fruits. I also like mexican foods. As long as it's not too spicy. The most wonderful item in the mexican food culture is tacos. To me, really good tacos have meat (well spiced of course), fresh tomatoes, lettuce and cheese on them. Delicieuse! I also like meat. Steak and chicken being my favourite in that category. Cheese is yet another one of those unbelievable foods that you can find in so many cultures. The best thing about it is that all of them tate so good, yet so unbelievably different. my favourite cheese is goat cheese. It goes so well with everything that it's hard not to like! Finally, dessert. Spelled with two s's because it's twice as yummy. You have many different types of desserts for many different types of people. I for example can't stand really sweet things like candy, treacle tart, or frosting. I'm a very, very strange person.
Now for what I dislike. I dislike quite alot of foods actually, but when you compare it with the amount of foods that I do like, it doesn't look that bad.
I strongly dislike fish that tastes like fish, or fishy fish as I like to call it. It tastes so slimy and icky, as if it's going to spit out puss any minute. Besides, how can you sit there looking at a head and plan on eating it without making a thousand trips to the bathroom? Another thing I strongly dislike is sweet things. Like I mentioned before, I WILL spit something out in the garbage if it's too sweet for me. It must look sincerely digusting when I do that but it happens anyway. Here's a short list of things I dont like just so that this blog isn't a thousand miles long:
Ketchup (ugh)
Salt and Vinegar chips (double ugh)
Anything that has vinegar in it
Fizzy drinks (yet again, I am a very strange person)
Overly cooked vegetables (why cant you just serve them raw? They're so much better that way)
Badly cooked food (who does?)
I would like to end with a quotation:
Fruit salad! Yummy yummy! - The Wiggles
Life lesson: Good food is good food. Don't let anyone tell you different.
Sunday, January 10, 2010
L is for Lake Placid
Last week, my family and I went on a holiday to Lake Placid, NY. Looking out the car window the morning we arrived, a most delightful sight came to my eyes. The whole place was blanketed in a delicate (but very thick) layer of snow, and I thought to myself, what a wonderful world.
For those who don't know, Lake Placid hosted the Winter Olympic games in both 1932 and 1980. The people in Lake Placid say that Lake Placid is 'The winter sport capital of the world' and I believe them. Not only does it have alpine sports facilities (such as skiing, snowboarding, etc.) but but it also has things like a 400m speed skating track and a bobsled run. If you ever go there, bobsledding is something that you absolutely must do. Here's why:
While you are in the waiting room, they show you videos of all the times people have fallen off their sleds and broken their arms and such. It's pretty scary. Eventually, they call your number and you go outside to be taken to the start of the run. You get there and they put a helmet on you. While waiting for the bobsled to arrive you see other people take off and disappear. Finally you go outside and seat yourself in the bobsled, holding on for dear life to the straps on the side. You suddenly see out of the corner of your eye someone pushing on the sled, then jumping in. You don't see much because you're clinging on to your mom's blue jacket. Boy do you feel it though. It feels as if your on a roller coaster but better. Without all those horrible drops. Instead it feels like you're going a hundred miles an hour and there's no certainty that you won't fly off the track (as was shown in one of the videos).
If you are someone who is attracted to pretty whiteness and views, Mt. Whiteface is the perfect place for you. With the peek over 3430 ft high, the mountain literally shines with beauty (the snow reflects the sun's rays making it look magical). When I was up there I would constantly stop to look and appreciate the grace of this Olympic mountain. All this beauty -- and the trails are fantastic too. There are many runs for beginners and experts and the intermediate alpine sporters.
The other thing I really enjoyed was skating on the long track. Speed skating feels very strange after you've been skiing the whole day, but still incredibly fun. Speed skating is where you skate really fast on skates that have really long blades. You also have to sit extremely low. I find it very relaxing, if you're not going 100 miles per hour. Unfortunately, the rink is running out of money to keep it refrigerated all the time. This means you can't go skating when its not below freezing, which is really sad.
I strongly recommend going to Lake Placid for it's beauty, elegance and general feeling of 'we can do this, this, this and that today' . You won't get bored very easily in this little town.
Life lesson:
Sometimes fun is worth an eight hour drive.
For those who don't know, Lake Placid hosted the Winter Olympic games in both 1932 and 1980. The people in Lake Placid say that Lake Placid is 'The winter sport capital of the world' and I believe them. Not only does it have alpine sports facilities (such as skiing, snowboarding, etc.) but but it also has things like a 400m speed skating track and a bobsled run. If you ever go there, bobsledding is something that you absolutely must do. Here's why:
While you are in the waiting room, they show you videos of all the times people have fallen off their sleds and broken their arms and such. It's pretty scary. Eventually, they call your number and you go outside to be taken to the start of the run. You get there and they put a helmet on you. While waiting for the bobsled to arrive you see other people take off and disappear. Finally you go outside and seat yourself in the bobsled, holding on for dear life to the straps on the side. You suddenly see out of the corner of your eye someone pushing on the sled, then jumping in. You don't see much because you're clinging on to your mom's blue jacket. Boy do you feel it though. It feels as if your on a roller coaster but better. Without all those horrible drops. Instead it feels like you're going a hundred miles an hour and there's no certainty that you won't fly off the track (as was shown in one of the videos).
If you are someone who is attracted to pretty whiteness and views, Mt. Whiteface is the perfect place for you. With the peek over 3430 ft high, the mountain literally shines with beauty (the snow reflects the sun's rays making it look magical). When I was up there I would constantly stop to look and appreciate the grace of this Olympic mountain. All this beauty -- and the trails are fantastic too. There are many runs for beginners and experts and the intermediate alpine sporters.
The other thing I really enjoyed was skating on the long track. Speed skating feels very strange after you've been skiing the whole day, but still incredibly fun. Speed skating is where you skate really fast on skates that have really long blades. You also have to sit extremely low. I find it very relaxing, if you're not going 100 miles per hour. Unfortunately, the rink is running out of money to keep it refrigerated all the time. This means you can't go skating when its not below freezing, which is really sad.
I strongly recommend going to Lake Placid for it's beauty, elegance and general feeling of 'we can do this, this, this and that today' . You won't get bored very easily in this little town.
Life lesson:
Sometimes fun is worth an eight hour drive.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Empathy
“It was like someone had ripped part of my soul out and put rotten eggs as a replacement. I wouldn’t be surprised if I stank right now”
This is what Hashik’s reaction is to his best friend Babur getting kidnapped. It makes you feel as if you yourself had had your heart ripped out. This is called empathy. Authors try to create it as much possible. Those who don’t are not very successful writers. Here are some key points to creating empathy. You need to give lots of details so that the reader can clearly imagine the thing you’re trying to describe. Create lots of emotions so that the reader can connect to the character.
In the book The Breadwinner, the author creates empathy by using adjectives to describe how Parvana is coping with her life. People can understand that she is annoyed by the way the Taliban are treating people and women in particular. I felt particular empathy for Parvana when she had to leave Shauzia and rescue her family. Because I have had the same experience myself, it was easier for me to feel empathy, but I also felt that everyone else felt empathy too, even though they hadn’t had the same experience.
Empathy is something that anyone can attain with practice and hard work. Overall I think that you can get empathy by giving lots of detail, and entering lots emotions.
That is what I have to say to the world.
This is what Hashik’s reaction is to his best friend Babur getting kidnapped. It makes you feel as if you yourself had had your heart ripped out. This is called empathy. Authors try to create it as much possible. Those who don’t are not very successful writers. Here are some key points to creating empathy. You need to give lots of details so that the reader can clearly imagine the thing you’re trying to describe. Create lots of emotions so that the reader can connect to the character.
In the book The Breadwinner, the author creates empathy by using adjectives to describe how Parvana is coping with her life. People can understand that she is annoyed by the way the Taliban are treating people and women in particular. I felt particular empathy for Parvana when she had to leave Shauzia and rescue her family. Because I have had the same experience myself, it was easier for me to feel empathy, but I also felt that everyone else felt empathy too, even though they hadn’t had the same experience.
Empathy is something that anyone can attain with practice and hard work. Overall I think that you can get empathy by giving lots of detail, and entering lots emotions.
That is what I have to say to the world.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
LIfe Under Cover
Life under cover can mean two things:
One. You live in a life of lies and the constant worry that someone will discover you.
Two. You are covered from head to toe in a burqa.
Either way, it’s pretty hard to move around. Not very many people are under cover spies. Maybe a hundred or so. About fifteen million people have to wear burqas every time they go outside.
Burqas are long garment of clothing that covers your whole body. They also have some cloth that covers your whole face except for your eyes. Some burqas have a mesh-like thing covering your eyes. Because of this many women fall allot in the streets. It’s also incredibly stuffy in there. When it’s 40 degrees Celsius outside I don't think many women would choose to go outside all the time.
There is no way I would be able to stand such agony.
Why don't they just take them off? I hear you say. Some people don't know any better. Imagine someone comes at the door and says
"Take off all your clothes. It is now the law that you are not to wear your clothes while going outside."
Would you do it right away? Go to school the next day stark naked and hope that its all going to be alright? Would you stay home and hope that the law will change and you can go outside without having to be ice cold.
After about 20 years or so you've gotten used to the idea that if you go outside with any clothes on you will be shot. Now, someone comes at the door and says that you can wear your clothes again. Would you put them back on right away? Or would you wait until it’s been a week or two and you've gotten used to the idea.
Can you see the problem that Afghan women are facing right now?
One. You live in a life of lies and the constant worry that someone will discover you.
Two. You are covered from head to toe in a burqa.
Either way, it’s pretty hard to move around. Not very many people are under cover spies. Maybe a hundred or so. About fifteen million people have to wear burqas every time they go outside.
Burqas are long garment of clothing that covers your whole body. They also have some cloth that covers your whole face except for your eyes. Some burqas have a mesh-like thing covering your eyes. Because of this many women fall allot in the streets. It’s also incredibly stuffy in there. When it’s 40 degrees Celsius outside I don't think many women would choose to go outside all the time.
There is no way I would be able to stand such agony.
Why don't they just take them off? I hear you say. Some people don't know any better. Imagine someone comes at the door and says
"Take off all your clothes. It is now the law that you are not to wear your clothes while going outside."
Would you do it right away? Go to school the next day stark naked and hope that its all going to be alright? Would you stay home and hope that the law will change and you can go outside without having to be ice cold.
After about 20 years or so you've gotten used to the idea that if you go outside with any clothes on you will be shot. Now, someone comes at the door and says that you can wear your clothes again. Would you put them back on right away? Or would you wait until it’s been a week or two and you've gotten used to the idea.
Can you see the problem that Afghan women are facing right now?
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