karla a-p

LIfe is Beautiful Summary! -- 04-15-08

2008-04-15T00:00:00-05:00

Life is Beautiful is a movie that talks about a Jewish family that has to live in a concentration camp.

The setting of this movie is in Italy, it is during World War II (1938-1945).

At the beginning of the movie, a man named Guido Orefice has just moved to a city in Italy. He suddenly falls in love with a teacher named Dora and in the first half of the movie, Guido manages to make Dora like him. Unfortunately, Dora was engaged, but she decides to escape with Guido and later on, they have a son named Joshua.

Some years later, at Joshua’s birthday, the Nazis take Guido, Joshua, and Guido's uncle, Eliseo, to a concentration camp because they were Jews. Dora, who was Italian, was also taken to the concentration camp because she asked for it, she didn't want to be separated from her family.

At the camp, the men, women, and seniors were separated, so Dora wasn't able to be with her family.
The Nazis killed all the seniors and children, or all the people who couldn’t work at the camps. Joshua wasn’t killed with all the other kids because he refused to take a bath and that’s what saved him.

All the time that Guido, Joshua, and Dora were at the concentration camp, Guido kept telling Joshua that they were in a game and that they had to win 1000 points because if they got them before everyone else, they would win the game and Joshua would get a real tank for himself.

All the movie is about how Guido is trying to hide the cruel reality from his son and how he is preventing him from being killed.

This is a love story in which a dad sacrifices himself for his son and his wife. It is really sad movie which gives you a good understanding of how the people who lived in the concentration camps lived and gives you lots of hidden details of historical events.

I.N.S #14, -- 04-14-08

2008-04-14T00:00:00-05:00

At the realms, Virginia appeared behind a tree and took Gemma to the Runes of the Oracle. She told Gemma to place her hands on the runes and to take the magic out because it was the only way of helping Pippa. Gemma doubted, but touched the runes and then touched her mother’s fingers. Instantly, her mom turned into the black creature and held Gemma taking her into the other world. The creature started convincing Gemma about the power that they would have together, but then Gemma thought that the power would never really be hers because she would be attached to the creature and it would control her so she though about going back into the realms and they did. The creature grabbed Gemma by the neck several times and she fought back until she didn’t have any power left. Gemma thought about her mother and she said that she forgave her and that she forgave Mary Dowd. Gemma’s strength returned and she crashed the five crystals of the Runes of the Oracle. The creature started shrieking and turned into Virginia’s shape begging Gemma to stop, but Gemma knew that her mom was gone so she kept crashing the crystals until the creature was gone. Then, Gemma went down the river and found Pippa very pale and cold. Gemma took her out of the frozen river and was going to take her back, but Pippa refused to go back. Pippa said that she would be married and never be happy. She grabbed some berries and ate them. Gemma said goodbye and Pippa stepped onto a boat and met with her knight across the river.
In the morning, there was a mass for Pippa’s death and then she was buried with her sapphire engagement ring. After that, Gemma went to Kartik’s hiding place. He said that he was sorry about Pippa’s death and Gemma told him that she felt really bad because she didn’t even tried to stop her. They talked and then Gemma went back to Spence where she though about Pippa’s decision and of if she would regret now or if she was happy with it.
In the afternoon, Gemma went to Kartik’s tent and left her dad’s cricket bat outside it. When Kartik came back he played with the cricket bat and wondered who had left it. In the woods, Gemma saw a deer and chased it because she wanted to see how far she could go before she had to stop.

The EnD!

I.N.S #13, -- 04-13-08

2008-04-13T00:00:00-05:00

Felicity said that they were stronger and cleverer and that that’s why they wouldn’t fail like Mary and Sarah did. She also said that the huntress had been telling her that Gemma wanted all the power to herself and that that’s why she wouldn’t take them to the realms. All the girls believed Felicity so they took off their clothes and started chasing a deer. Gemma told them that she would take them to the realms, but they didn’t listen and said that it was too late now. The girls chased the deer until a ravine and Felicity killed it. Then, Pippa and Ann took a rock and stabbed the deer until they were suddenly covered in blood. Finally, Felicity placed the rock in Gemma’s hand and stabbed the deer also. They held hands and imagined the door of light, but nothing happened and Felicity was very disappointed. Kartik stepped in and saw them. Felicity took a sharp stick and stabbed Kartik across his chest. Kartik was injured and couldn’t defend himself. Gemma told Felicity to stop and promised to take them to the realms if she leaved Kartik alone. Felicity released Kartik and Gemma told him that everything was going to be all right. They went back to the caves, got dressed and held hands until they got to the realms. Gemma felt the danger and told them to go back but they said that they weren’t going back until they had the power to cross to the realms by themselves.
The huntress came and saw the blood all over Felicity so she knew that they had made a sacrifice.
They went to the Runes of the Oracle and the huntress said that they had to take her to the other side in order for her mistress to give them the power. Gemma held Felicity with terror and Felicity stepped back. The sky turned black and the huntress rose into the sky turning into a spirit. Felicity and Gemma were sprawled over the floor and Pippa fell down rolling towards the river. Gemma and Ann went looking for Pippa but couldn’t find her. The spirit was growing several pairs of arms and then Felicity came out of it. They saw Pippa on a boat on the river, and tried to get her, but the creature prevented it. Pippa jumped out of the boat, fell in the water and the entire river froze. The creature was about to capture them all so Felicity, Ann and Gemma left the realms leaving Pippa behind. Back at the caves, Pippa’s body was rigid and seizing.
Gemma went to Kartik’s tent looking for help, but he was mad and didn’t speak. He carried Pippa’s body to her room in Spence, and Gemma called Mrs. Nightwing who then called Dr. Thomas. Kartik returned to the ravine where the girls killed the deer and he buried him to protect Gemma and himself.
The next day, Gemma gave the crescent eye to Felicity and told her to look for the other members of the Order in case she didn’t come back from the realms. She also said that she left her the decision of coming back to get them, or of closing the realms for ever, again.

I.N.S #12, -- 04-12-08

2008-04-12T00:00:00-05:00

The next day Felicity, Ann, Pippa and Gemma looked for the graduation picture of 1871. Gemma found it behind the one of 1872. She saw Sarah’s face and then, she discovered that Mary Dowd was her mom, Virginia Doyle.
That night, Gemma went to the realms. She was very angry and rude to her mom. Gemma blamed her mom of killing Carolina and of lying to her. Virginia said that she spent every day of her life atoning it, but that she had to move on and start a new life, so she changed her name and started a whole new life. She also said that Circe was using her link to the creature to get them all, and that the only way that she could rest and complete her soul’s task was if Gemma forgave her. Gemma was angry and told her mom that they had taken twice the magic of the runes and that nothing happened. Gemma left and didn’t forgave her mom. When she was about to get home, the huntress came and offered her some berries although she knew that Gemma couldn’t have them. At Gemma’s room, Felicity asked her to take them to the realms, but Gemma didn’t want to go there again so she ignored them.
Mr. Bumble told Pippa’s parents about what she said of her seizures and they denied it. Pippa was very sad because that night would be her last one at Spence, and she would be married to Mr. Bumble by the end of the week.
To make it worse, Mrs. Nightwing found Mary Dowd’s diary and interrogated Felicity, Ann and Gemma about it. Felicity and Ann blamed Miss Moore while Gemma told the truth, but Miss Nightwing believed Felicity and Ann because she had already interrogated Pippa and she had blamed Miss Moore too.
In the afternoon, everyone was at church except Miss Moore; she was packing her things because she got fired. Pippa explained that she had to tell Mrs. Nightwing about Miss Moore because that was the only way for them to be together one more night. She apologized and asked Gemma to take her one more time to the realms so that she could say goodbye to her loved knight.
After dinner, Gemma waited for Miss Moore and apologized. Miss Moore accepted the apology and told Gemma that her destiny was different from the ones of all the other girls.
That night, Mrs. Nightwing locked all the doors so that no one could get out, but Felicity managed to get the keys and the girls went to the caves for the last time.
At the caves, Pippa was begging Gemma to take them to the realms, but she didn’t agree. Felicity started reciting poetry and then howled. Felicity told Ann and Pippa that there was another way of going to the realms and that if Pippa really wanted to see her knight again, they had to make a sacrifice.

I.N.S #11, -- 04-11-08

2008-04-11T00:00:00-05:00

At the realms, the girls hurried into the Runes hoping that nobody saw them, but the huntress was spying them. Felicity, Pippa and Ann placed their hands on Gemma when she touched the Runes, they could fell all the power in their veins. The next morning, they could hear each others thoughts and could make anything happen. At French, there was a conversation class and Gemma spoke as never before, she was very fluent and showed her knowledge with a vast vocabulary. Ann sang as never before and was very beautiful, everyone was jealous of her.
The next day, Mr. Bumble came to call for Pippa. Gemma was sitting there observing and waiting for Pippa to refuse Mr. Bumble. Pippa told him about her seizures and asked him not to tell her parents because they would be mad at her for telling the truth. Mr. Bumble shocked left and the girls were really happy that Pippa would not have to marry against her will.
They were at Felicity’s salon when Miss Moore came in and saw them reading the Diary of Mary Dowd. She asked to join them in that day’s reading, she started and they all took turns. Sarah and Mary went into the woods to get Carolina, Mother Elena’s daughter, they took her to the East Wing and there, Sarah called the dark spirit. When it came he took them to the realms and Mary frightened killed Carolina. The spirit said that their sacrifice was useless now, that he needed her whole and not dead so he took Sarah and they started binding. Meanwhile, Mary ran to get Eugenia. Eugenia managed to separate Sarah from the spirit, but she had to go in her place. Mary grabbed Sarah and ran out of the realms while Eugenia said a spell and then the realms were closed forever. When Sarah and Mary were back, Sarah turned a candle over and the East Wing lit up burning everything in it. Mary was able to escape and she ran into the woods.
Miss Moore finished reading the diary, she was speechless and the girls couldn’t believe that Mary had killed that little girl.
At night, Brigid came to Gemma and told her that she had remembered how Sarah Rees-Toome used to call herself, Circe.
Gemma was shocked; she couldn’t believe that Sarah didn’t die in the fire, and that she was looking for her. That night, Gemma knew she had to find the graduation picture of 1871 before Circe found her first.

I.N.S #10, -- 04-10-08

2008-04-10T00:00:00-05:00

The girls went to the realms again and Gemma introduced her friends to her mother. All of the girls wished for what they wanted the most and it came true.
Ann became a beautiful girl who sang like an angel, Pippa fell in love with a young knight who treated her like a princess, and Felicity learned to hunt just like his father with the help of a huntress. Meanwhile Virginia told Gemma that she couldn’t stay in the realms forever or that she would be trapped like the other spirits who had never competed their soul’s task, she also told her that her soul’s task was to undo what Sarah and Mary did many years ago.
When the girls came back, Virginia showed them the Runes of the Oracle and she explained that when someone touched them they were able to have the magic of the realms in the other world, but she said that they couldn’t touch them until they were ready and understood the magic of the realms, because if they did, they would open the realms and something could get out or get in.
When they returned Gemma found a paper with another of Kartik’s warnings, but she tore it apart and didn’t take notice.
She and her friends kept going to the realms everyday and they kept enjoying it more and more.
On Friday, Gemma got a visit from her brother who told him that her family would probably be coming to Assembly Day. While they were talking Ann came in and fell in love with Gemma’s brother.
That night, Gemma fought her mother because she wouldn’t let her take the magic of the realms to the other world. Virginia kept saying that she wasn’t ready and Gemma kept saying the contrary. Finally Gemma left mad and promised not to take the magic out.
The next day it was Assembly Day. All the girls were dressed with their best things and prepared to meet each other’s families. Felicity was very excited because her dad was coming and Pippa was already with her family who had come with Mr. Bumble. Ann came with Gemma and her family because she didn’t have anyone to spend the evening with. Pippa presented Gemma and Ann to her family and she also announced that she was now engaged with Mr. Bumble, something that made her want to cry.
Gemma talked to her family and was very excited to see them although it made her sad to see her father so ill. At the end, it wasn’t a very pleasant afternoon as Gemma would’ve liked it to be, she’d been very rude to her family, and had left mad. Gemma found Felicity sitting very sad and disappointed out in the rain. Felicity’s dad hadn’t come to Assembly Day although he promised her he would. That night, they went to the caves and were talking. All of them were either sad or angry. Pippa was going to get married against her will, Ann thought she wasn’t beautiful and nobody wanted her, Felicity was destroyed because her father didn’t come and Gemma was mad at her own family. Gemma decided to finish with her friend’s pain and took them to the realms.

I.N.S #8, -- 04-08-08

2008-04-08T00:00:00-05:00

At the Spiritualist presentation, Madame Romanoff communicated some people with the death and when she asked for one last person, Felicity stood up and begged her to communicate Gemma with her mother Sarah Rees-Toome. When Gemma went to the front she noticed that Madame Romanoff was an actress and couldn’t contact the spirits. At that time, Gemma fell into another vision and took Madame Romanoff with her. She appeared in the wood full of spirits that Mary had talked about in her diary. Gemma saw her mother and went looking for her leaving Madame Romanoff alone. Her mother told her that she had great powers, that the Rakshana was afraid of her and that that was the reason of Kartik’s warnings. Her mom said the woods were unsafe and that it was time to leave so she told Gemma to think about a door of light to get back into the real world.
In the forest the spirit of a handsome man told Gemma to tell her fiancée, Mademoiselle LeFarge, that Reggie will always love and that he stills have the muffler she knit for him.
Before they returned, Gemma made Madame Romanoff swear to never ever say anything about what happened that night, and that she would tell Mademoiselle LeFarge the message that the man had given to Gemma before. When they came back, Madame Romanoff gave out the message and gave an end to her presentation.
When the girls got to Spence, they met at the caves and Gemma told them everything about her visions, her mother’s murder, what happened that afternoon with Madame Romanoff etc.
Felicity wanted to go to the realms so Gemma decided to take them. They held hands, Gemma thought about the door of light and they appeared in a garden full of colors, where everything that they wanted and dreamt of came to life. Gemma left her friends and went looking for her mother. Virginia, her mother, explained Gemma everything about her visions, the Order, and the realms. She said that she learned all this information when Gemma was five because a woman from the Order told her that Gemma was the promised girl who was able to restore the magic of the realms, and bring the Order back to power. She also warned Gemma about Circe and said that she would never stop looking for her. Finally, Virginia explained that she killed herself because if the dark spirit had taken her alive she would turn into a dark spirit also.
Behind her mom, Gemma saw the little girl of her past visions. Virginia told her that her name was Carolina and that she was her assistant. After a long talk, they both had to leave so Gemma looked for her friends and told them it was time to go back. Before they returned, Pippa almost ate a berry that was on the floor, but Gemma told her that she couldn’t eat anything from the realms because if she did she would have to stay there forever.

I.N.S #7, -- 04-07-08

2008-04-07T00:00:00-05:00

When they were dancing, Gemma had a vision where she was in a forest and Pippa was with her. Gemma closed her mind to the vision because she didn’t want Pippa to fall with her. When they came back Pippa was on the floor breathing hardly and dying. At night, Gemma went to Pippa’s room to check on her. Miss Moore explained to Gemma that Pippa had seizures and that that’s why she was in bed now. Gemma now understood why Pippa’s parents were so eager to marry her before it was too late.
Afterwards, Gemma went to the hall and looked for the pictures of Sarah and Mary in the portraits of the girls who had graduated from Spence, but the picture of the year 1871 was missing.
At dinner, Gemma asked Mrs. Nightwing why wasn’t there a portrait for 1871. She answered that it was a way of respect for the death, because it was in that year when the fire in the East Wing happened and when Sarah Rees-Toome, Mary Dowd and Mrs. Spence (Eugenia) died. Brigid was shocked by the story. When Mrs. Nightwing left, Brigid told Gemma, Felicity and Ann that those girls were wicked. She said that one week before the fire, she had to stay and take care of Sarah. Also, that when she came to her room, she found Sarah and Mary talking about a sacrifice that had to be performed in order for them to be together, a sacrifice that included murder. Brigid also said that they were always visiting Mother Elena (a gipsy) and that they started calling themselves fancy names, ones that Brigid couldn’t remember at that moment.
After Brigid’s story, they visited the Gypsy camp hoping that they could find answers with Mother Elena. When they got there, the Gypsies surrounded them with swords, and the girls said that they were looking for Mother Elena. The girls were really frightened, but luckily for them, Kartik appeared and claimed Gemma as his. The Gypsies didn’t believe him so Gemma kissed Kartik to prove that she was his and the Gypsies let the three girls free. Kartik took them to Mother Elena’s tent and made Gemma promise no to do that again. In the tent, every time Mother Elena spoke to Gemma, she said Mary and she talked to her as if they’ve known each other for a long time. Gemma trying to get all the information of her, played along as if she was Mary. Mother Elena talked about the realms, the Winterlands, and the Order. She also told Mary (Gemma) that Sarah was a person hungry of power and that they had to keep her from taking the wrong path, and from going to the Winterlands because she feared that she would bind one spirit to her and do terrible things. She said that the spirit only needed a sacrifice. Gemma asked which kind of sacrifice and Mother Elena started to look suspicious. She figured out that Mary (Gemma) wasn’t really Mary, she started shouting, and the girls scared ran to the woods.
The next day, Pippa was fully cured. They talked about next week’s Spiritualist demonstration, and decided that they will to go to Madame Romanoff and ask her to contact them with Sarah or Mary.

I.N.S #6, -- 04-06-08

2008-04-06T00:00:00-05:00

That night, Felicity, Pippa, Ann and Gemma went to the caves to have their first meeting. They drank a lot of whiskey and decided to call themselves “The Order”. While they were talking they saw Mary Dowd’s diary in Gemma’s pocket and started reading it. It said that when Mary and Sarah went to the realms they thought they were lost because they appeared in a wood where there were a lot of lost spirits. Eugenia, Spence’s founder, told them that the spirits had to stay there until they had completed their soul’s work. She said that the ones who weren’t able to complete it turned into dark spirits who caused trouble and then were taken to a place of shadows called The Winterlands. She said that only the strongest and wisest sister of “The Order” could go there, because the fallen spirits would change her and make her a slave of power if she couldn’t fight them. They closed the book and decided to start every meeting reading Mary Dowd’s diary. Felicity wanted to be sure that their secrets were safe so she proposed a blood ritual. They swore to keep secret their club, to taste freedom and to not let anyone betray them. Then, each of them took a candle and said their heart desire at loud, Pippa said that she wanted to find true love, Ann said that she wanted to be beautiful, Felicity said that she wanted to be powerful, and finally Gemma said that she wanted to understand herself. After drinking some more whiskey their first meeting came to an end.
The girls met in the boathouse today. Pippa talked about her afternoon with Mr. Bumble, a 50 years old man who wanted to marry her. She obviously hated being with him and obviously didn’t want to marry him, but she was being forced by her parents.
Afterwards, they read a day in Mary Dowd’s diary; it said that Mary and Sarah went to the Runes of the Oracle, that they touched them and had the power of the realms in their body. Later, Sarah went with Mary and told her that she was loosing her power and that she had been in the Winterlands. She said that they could make a sacrifice and bind a dark spirit with them to make “The Order” give Sarah her power back. After they finished reading, they tried to make their own magic and conjured spells calling the spirits. Afterwards, they were felt hot so they decided to take a dip in the lake. Felicity, Pippa and Gemma swam while Ann watched that no once saw them. They heard a noise and Pippa rushed for her clothes, but it was too late because Kartik had already seen her.
The next day, they were practicing their waltz with Mrs. Nightwing and Gemma got paired with Pippa.

I.N.S #4, -- 04-04-08

2008-04-04T00:00:00-05:00

The next day, all the girls reported to French class with Mademoiselle LeFarge. Felicity’s friends were eager to see Gemma and when she came in everyone started laughing and interrogating Gemma. At the end Gemma told Felicity that she did steal the communion wine and that it was on Felicity’s place.
Gemma didn’t know any French so she had lots of problems in class.
Weeks had passed and Gemma received one of Kartik’s warnings letters.
Gemma only felt alive in drawing class with Miss Moore. Miss Moore told the class this week, they were going to go to explore the woods and the old caves. At the free period Gemma started reading Mary Dowd’s diary. Gemma read and discovered that Mary and her best friend Sarah both had visions and that theirs weren’t awful, but beautiful. Gemma went to a boathouse and had another vision. She saw her mom calling her, her mom went into the East Wing of Spence and Gemma followed her until she disappeared. She also saw Kartik’s brother there, and the little girl that she had seen in her other visions. When she returned from her vision, Gemma got out of the boat and saw Felicity hidden hugging a Gypsy named Ithal. Mrs. Nightwing was coming and Gemma helped Felicity so that she wouldn’t get caught. When Gemma returned to her bedroom he found Kartik searching through her things. He asked him some questions and he told her that he was the Rakshana, that he was the guardian of the realms and that he didn’t have intention of giving it back. He said that Gemma was lying about seeing her mom and Kartik’s brother in her last vision and then he left. The next day the class went with Miss Moore to the caves. Suddenly Gemma realized that they were the same caves where Gemma got Mary Dowd’s diary from. There were a lot of prescriptions on the caves. Miss Moore explained that those caves were the home of many mystics and healers women. They started drawing and Gemma drew a moon-eyed symbol just like the one that was on the necklace that her mother gave her before she died. Miss Moore said that that symbol was called the crescent eye and that it was the symbol of an organization called “The Order”. She said that “The Order” was a group of sorceresses that had access to a magic place beyond this world; they could help spirits cross to the afterlife and could see visions. Felicity told Gemma that they could make their own order and meet at the caves. She agreed and Felicity, Pippa, Gemma and Ann decided to meet at midnight. When the whole class was returning to Spence, Ithal appeared and handed a red and beautiful flower to Felicity, she just stepped on it and walked away.

I.N.S #3, -- 04-03-08

2008-04-03T00:00:00-05:00

In her way to the chapel, she met Ann Bradshaw and all the other girls that were her new classmates. Felicity and Pippa seemed to be the “queens” of the whole group; they were both really pretty and mean. Ann hated them because they always picked on her. At church Reverend Waite made the prayers, Mrs. Nightwing gave a long speech, and they were dismissed for diner. When they were going back to the school, Gemma sensed that someone was following her again. After diner, everyone got a free period. Ann and Gemma were sitting together when Pippa came and told Ann that they felt bad about how they’ve been treating her so that they wanted her to join they’re group of friends. Ann accepted and left Gemma alone. When Ann sat down, Felicity started screaming and blaming Ann of stealing her sapphire ring. Miss Moore who herd everything asked Ann if she had the ring, Ann said that she didn’t, but no one believed her so Gemma said that since Felicity lost it at church Ann just kept it for safety. Miss Moore forced Felicity to thanks Gemma. In the middle of the night Felicity’s friends came and took Gemma outside. They told her that they wanted her to join their secret group, but that first, she needed to prove her bravery. They all went to the chapel and told her that she had to steal the communion wine. When Gemma entered the chapel, Pippa locked her and all the group of girls escaped laughing. Gemma was frustrated, she was going to scream when someone closed her mouth and brought her down to the floor. It was the boy in the black cloak. He said his name was Kartik and he warned Gemma about her visions. He told her that she had to close her mind to them because they will only bring her bad luck. Gemma got out of the chapel and ran until she started having another vision: It was the little girl that she saw in the carriage. Gemma followed the girl until they got to a cave. The girl told her that Mary Dowd wanted her to have her diary. Gemma told the girl that she didn’t know any Mary Dowd and that she didn’t wanted to have this visions. The vision ended and Gemma went back to her room and then to sleep with Mary Dowd’s diary hidden in her closet.

I.N.S #2, -- 04-02-08

2008-04-02T00:00:00-05:00

Novel summary, pages 1-45:

The setting of this book is in Bombay, India. Gemma Doyle, a 16 year old girl, has just discovered that she has the power of seeing visions. In her first vision, a man in a black cloak got devoured by a shadow and her mom committed suicide.
Two months after the death of her mother, Gemma went to England and entered a school named Spence in which girls became perfectly fine women.
Gemma noticed that someone had been following her, a boy in a black cloak that looked as the man who got devoured by the shadow.
In the carriage going to Spence, Gemma had another vision in which there was a little girl who told her that Mary was looking for her. Also, in her way to Spence she met a gypsy named Mother Helena that confused her and told her that she had come back to her.
Minutes later, they arrived to Spence. The house keeper, Brigid, received them and took Gemma to the headmistress, Mrs. Nightwing.
Mrs. Nightwing showed Gemma her room and told her that she would be sharing rooms with Ann Bradshaw, a scholarship student. Mrs. Nightwing showed Gemma the way to the chapel, but when they were passing through a hall Gemma noticed a place with huge doors that were closed. Mrs. Nightwing said it was the East Wing, and that it had been closed since there was a fire.

I.N.S #1, -- 04-01-08

2008-04-01T00:00:00-05:00

Questions #1:

Why did you select this novel?

I selected this novel in a hurry so I just looked through several recommended books and I chose the one with the nicer cover, I didn't even read what is written in the back or anything, but I’m glad I chose this one because it is really interesting and it really keeps me reading.

What has happened before the novel began?

Before Gemma was born, there was a group of rebel and magical women named “The Order”. They had the power to go to a mystical world named “The realms”, but something happened with two girls named Mary and Sarah that “The Realms” closed. From what I know so far, Gemma is like chosen one that is going to open the doors of “The Realms” again.

What is going on as the story begins?

The story begins when Gemma, discovered that she has an extraordinary power, she has visions. Although it sounds fun, the visions haven’t brought her any luck because the first one got her mom killed and the following ones weren’t beautiful at all. After that, she went to London where she entered Spence, a school to make marriageable women. The story continues when she talks about her life in Spence, how she’s being treated by the other students, and how she deals with her visions.

Who is telling the story?

The story is told by the main character Gemma Doyle. Throughout the story she talks about her feelings, her thoughts, her dreams etc. I think it is great that the story is told in a first-person narrator because that way you really get to understand what is going on in her mind and how she feels about what is happening to her.

March Break Diary: SUNDAY. -- 03-16-08

2008-03-16T21:45:43-05:00

On Sunday we had to go to the North York Ski Centre because my mom had reserved ski lessons, since December, for my sister and me. We had to go although we had already learned to ski and although my little cousin had to wait for us because all the groups were already full. We arrived really early to the ski centre because we wanted to try to change my sister’s lessons to snowboarding so that my cousin could take her place in the skiing ones.
The answer was yes. The classes were really boring because they were teaching us things that I had already learned and also because my cousin barely speaks English so the teacher couldn’t communicate with him so I ended up being his teacher when I went to those classes to learn, not to teach. At the end, just two students learned enough to go down the big hill including me. Those were the minutes I enjoyed the most out of all those hours.
Then, we visited the Eaton centre and crossed to the City Hall where we took lots of pictures and played with the snow. Afterwards my family wanted to visit the CN Tower so we went there walking. In the following hours, I had the most embarrassing moment of my whole life; it was so embarrassing that I wanted the CN Tower to devour me. Since the snow was melting, there were ponds of water all over the streets. I was skipping them because my Uggs appear to be water proof, but they aren’t. My dad joking told me to go around the street because there wasn’t water there and I trusted him and didn’t look, so I stepped in a pond and then I was shivering because they were really cold. When we got to the CN Tower, my parents told me to take off my boots and walked bared foot, and I was like NO!, at the end I just sat down on a chair and we found a heater so my parents putted my socks and my boots over it so that they dried, of course it didn’t work and everyone that passed just stared at me. We went back home and I took a shower because my feet were red and I couldn’t even move them. Besides that, the CN Tower was great, we went all the way up and saw the city, the sky was so clear that we were able to see a city located in New York, USA. Then we went back home.

Gráficos con escarcha

That's us in the CN Tower.

Blingee. -- 03-16-08

2008-03-16T21:44:39-05:00

This is a place where you can edit all your pictures and add cool stuff to spice them up. You add all kind of texts, images, backgrounds, frames and sparkly things. You can even make and account so that people comment in your pictures, post them in your blogs etc. The page is perfect to make all the pictures look funny, cute etc. The page is the following. www.blingee.com

This is a picture with my sister that shows some things that you can add to your pics.

Add Glitter to Pictures

When you look me in the eyes! -- 02-23-08

2008-02-23T17:49:52-05:00

"When you look me in the eyes", is the new song I'm obsessed with, it is sang by the hottest band ever, the Jonas Brothers. They are touring right now all across the USA. I love all their songs, but specially this one,"Hold on" and “SOS”. I really want to go to their concert, but I'm not allowed even though a friend of mine lives in Boston, MA and told me that I could stay with her. =( I was so mad. Anyways here are the lyrics to this one.

JONAS BROTHERS LYRICS

"When You Look Me In The Eyes"

If the heart is always searching,
Can you ever find a home?
I've been looking for that someone,
I can't make it on my own.
Dreams can't take the place of loving you,
There's gotta be a million reasons why it's true.

When you look me in the eyes,
And tell me that you love me.
Everything's alright,
When you're right here by my side.
When you look me in the eyes,
I catch a glimpse of heaven.
I find my paradise,
When you look me in the eyes.

How long will I be waiting,
To be with you again
Gonna tell you that I love you,
In the best way that I can.
I can't take a day without you here,
You're the light that makes my darkness disappear.

When you look me in the eyes,
And tell me that you love me.
Everything's alright,
When you're right here by my side.
When you look me in the eyes,
I catch a glimpse of heaven.
I find my paradise,
When you look me in the eyes.

More and more, I start to realize,
I can reach my tomorrow,
I can hold my head up high,
And it's all because you're by my side.

When you look me in the eyes,
And tell me that you love me.
Everything's alright,
When you're right here by my side.
When I hold you in my arms,
I know that it's forever.
I just gotta let you know,
I never wanna let you go.

When you look me in the eyes.

And tell me that you love me.
Everything's alright,
When you're right here by my side.

This is the video:

When you look me in the eyes,
I catch a glimpse of heaven.
I find my paradise,
When you look me in the eyes.
Oh

I hate doing Chores! -- 02-23-08

2008-02-23T17:34:12-05:00

Although kids are expected to help their family by doing chores I think it is kind of unfair. I'm tired of doing chores!!!. In my old house, we had a girl named Adela that did everything for us, she even cooked, and my sister and I were always saying that she didn't do anything because she cleaned my parents room, but she never did ours. Now I understand what she'd been through. My house is really big and she did everything alone that's why she didn't have time to do all the house every day.
Since, my family is just staying here for 1 year, we decided to just rent an apartment. The apartment is like 50 times smaller than my house. Here, we have to clean the apartment between my mom, my siter, and I. We can't do it, now I understand Adela, I mean she had to do a really big house in one day by herself and here, we are three and we cannot even do a room. Anyways, my mo made an schedule in which it says who has to wash the dishes, who has to clean the tables, wash the bathroom etc. The good news is that just 4 months more and I won't have to do chores AGAIN!

Migration Graph Assignment -- 02-19-08

2008-02-19T19:47:17-05:00

My country is Czechoslovakia and I've tracked the number of people who emigrated from there since 1990 to 2004. I chose this country because I found really interesting how in 1990 the numbers were really high, and how it went decreasing so much that in years of 1997 and 1998 there were no immigrants from this country.

The following is a graph:

For more information check the following page:

Hannah Montana 3D Concert! -- 02-11-08

2008-02-11T20:04:42-05:00

This Saturday, I went with Sushma to watch Hannah Montan's Best of Both Worlds concert,
with the JOnas Brothers =). It was the best thing ever!!!!! I was really happy with Hannah's and Miley's songs, but when the JOnas Brothers sang "When you look me in the eyes", Sushma and I were like CrAZY!!!!! In the movie, some of the songs were edited out and I didn't like that, especially because theyt took out almost all of the JOnas Brothers songs but anyways. I recomend a 100% the 3D concert. If you have chance to see it go ahead. THe concert started with "Rock Star", and then they showed how Miley prepared 4 weekd before she started youring etc. Hannah sang some songs then the JOnas Brothers came and sang "WHen you look me in the eyes" and "Year 3000". Finally Miley came out and sang Start all over", "See you again" and more.

Summer Survey. -- 02-11-08

2008-02-11T20:03:56-05:00

On the first term my class had a math project in which we had to make a survey to different people on a topic that we chose. I chose summer. I asked several 8 grade classes from Canada and Mexico about their favourite season, their favourite climate for summer, the people they enjoyed being with, how long they taught summer should last etc. Almost all of the answers from Canadians and Mexicans were alike, except one that kept my attention. The question is, "What is your favourite season?", 60% of Canadian students said summer, and 58% of Mexican students said winter. Those are so opposite. I figured out that this happens becasue of the weather.
For example:
Since Canada is really cold almost all the year, and it gets warmner in the summer, people from there like summer.
Since Mexico is hot almost all the year, and it gets colder in the winter, people form there like winter.

The charts with the results are beneath, if you have a different opinion from mine of why these sdiffrences happen, pleases leave a comment.

This are the results of the Canadian students:

This are the results of the Mexican students:

src="http://photos1.hi5.com/0022/517/820/o.9Qan517820-02.bmp">

Camila!* -- 02-11-08

2008-02-11T20:02:41-05:00

Camila is my 8 months old American Pitbull Terrier female dog that I haven't seen for 6 months. Kind of weird. She was born on June 13th and I got her on July 13th. I was with her only three weeks, but I love her as if she's been with me forever. My aunt Lupita gave it to us, her dog had like 5 puppies and we got the last one. She's sooooooooooo cute. She has brown and white fur. The first three days she slept with us in my parent's room, but my mom hates dogs so when she knew we got one and that was sleeping in her roon she was furious. From that day on, she slept in my backyard. I felt so bad for her because she was always barking and when we were eating, she tried to reach and crashed into our crystal door. She learned to watch over crystals. Our home is full of windows and crystal door so that was goos. Another problem was the pool becaue our pool is in the backyard and my mom didn't wanted her there because she said then she would be swimming is dog fur. Those were really fun days, but the on August my sister and I came here with my mom. When my dad came on December he brought us pictures of her now and she's almost an adult. I don't like her appearance that much now because she's big, but I still miss her a lot. I still get to see her playing with my dad's webcam while we're on msn. I loooooooooovvvvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeee her.

That's a picture of her before I we left her.:(

Totally Sick! -- 02-09-08

2008-02-09T10:53:47-05:00

I returned from Mexico on Wednesday evening, I was feeling kind of sick, with a little bit of cough and stuff, but I didn't feel that bad, so I went on Thursday and on Friday to school. Anyways, on Friday afternoon I went to piano classes and I couldn't even speak, I was coughing so bad that I almost borke my lungs haha, I went to sleep really early and my mom gave my Azitromicin or somthing like that. She just had two tablets becasue my sister and she had been sick a week ago. Since I've been gone for a whole week I have a lot of homework including my French project. On Saturday I was on bed all the day, there's no more description, I had fever, cough, and more stuff that you don't need to know. I couldn't work on my homework. By Sunday, my mom didn't have more Azitromicin so we had to go to the hospital. I passed the whole day there until Dr. Susan gave me a prescription for more Azitromicin. When we got home I went to bed again. Today is Monday and I'm here at home suffering and making all my homework although I should be in bed. I didn't have a really good week-end, but hopefully I will feel better.

Cadena! -- 02-07-08

2008-02-07T09:45:48-05:00

I wrote an article for my newspaper, but it wasn't published so I will briefly describe what it is about because I love it.

I knew about Cadena because my cousins have been there since they were 12, but I never got the opportunity to go their camps. Anyways, this week, I went to Mexico and I spent the whole Saturday there. It was the best Saturday EVER!!!
Cadena is a group of girls in between 12 and 17 years old that get together every Saturday in their community park. The group is kind of the Scouts, but this one is just for girls and it has a religious system. About the religious, a lot of people think that we are praying all the day, but we just go to church at 5:30 and the rest of the day we play and do fun stuff. The day that I went was special because we had a technical rally that means that all the eslabones(groups of 20 girls of the caedena Malawi) had to compete in the aspects of tying knots, first aids, sign,flags, and morse language. I got there at 8:00 and the chiefs and sub-chiefs of the eslabón "Vancouver" taught all the girls the aspects that we had to do in the rally. We ate at 10:00 chilidogs. At 2:00 we had our intellecutual period in which we talk about important matters that are happenig around the world. Afterwards, we started the rally, it was so difficult and more for me because I had to learn how to make houses for camping just tying knots and there are like 20 different ones, each one for something diffrent. Anyways, in the rally I had a lot of fun, al the "jefaturas" (leaders) graded us and at 5:00 we went to curch. At the end we went to the park and they mentioned the scores. When my team "Vancouver" was doing the rally I thought we did soooooooooooo bad, but at the end we were 1st place. I was really happy. Then, my family came to pick me up and I ended up with my face red becasue of the sun. I love this group! and the unifors. Each group gets to pick two colors, a pet and a name (usually and island) that distinguish them form all the other ones. Our colors are orange and green and our pet is Tweety. There more exciting stuff, but then the blog is going to be tooo long.

AbercrombieandFitch -- 01-27-08

2008-01-27T15:19:19-05:00

AandF is my favourite store,it is the best store ever, although it is kind of expensive. I haven't seen any cloth that I don't like, when I get there I want to buy the whole store, that's why my parents have to take me away from there.
Abercrombie has great fashion scence. The store smells so goooooooooood, I'm almost addicted to that smell. Also, I love the bags, sometimes I go to buy there just becasue they changed the design of the bag. My friend Nicole hadn't bought anything at AandF and now she can't stop buying in there Right Nicole? Anyways, I've spent $500 just in one day in that store.
Abercrombie is amazing! I recomend this store to any who is intrested in high quality fashion

src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d8/A%26F_Exterior.jpg">

Photo Blog Assignment -- 01-24-08

2008-01-24T09:32:58-05:00

This is an assignement to show that a picture is like a thousand words.

This image shows a black kid carrying mud bricks and a sack of something.
It looks like he is in a construction place. When I first looked at this picture, I thought it was in Africa because of the background, the kid without clothes and because of the kid’s skin. This picture was actually taken in Bihar town that it is near from Patna, India. It also, shows that child labour still exists around the world. When I look at this, I really think of all the things that I have and how fortunate I am. By the way, Me to We is working hard to get rid of this images of kids working and instead, putting an image of kids learning or smiling.

src="http://i.today.reuters.com/pictures/galleries/Stories/633260111339375000/Previews/67_RTR1PRQW.jpg">

This photo shows a park of solar powered panels. It looks as if these panels were in the desert. The picture was taken at Sanlucar La Mayor, Spain. This is an alternative way of getting energy other than with windmills, water or petroleum. I find this picture really interesting because there are like lines above the panels; these are the reflections on the solar panels. Also, when I look at it, I feel comfortable because I think that it will help the problem of global warming and many others.

This is a man walking over dried land. He is carrying buckets and I infer that it is water. He is leaving his feet traces in the ground. This picture was taken somewhere in China. If you go beyond what the picture shows, it looks all the wrong decision that people make, but that somehow fin the right pathway or something like that.

There are two soldiers pushing a car in a place full of palmers. The car is dark brown and the soldiers look as if they were from the US. With this data, what comes to my mind is Iraq, and in fact this picture was taken in Baghdad. I think the person who is inside the car is someone important because US soldiers are pushing it. Also, when I see this picture it makes me wonder what happened to the car, did it ran out of oil, did it brake, or did something totally different happened.

I chose this picture because I just really liked it. The picture shows a person with 8 camels following him. They are in a vast desert with a lot of sand dunes. Although, it looks as an inhabited place, it is actually a tourist resort located in the Kumtag Desert. This is a tourist place where people can go and enjoy of a desert without so many dangers. When I look at the picture I just think that I would love to be there.

I chose this picture because it is pretty interesting and also because it reminded me of the Titanic. The first time I saw it I thought that it fell because of the ice, but after reading the explanation I realized that it actually hit and iceberg and that it was sinking, just like the Titanic. The ship’s name is the M/S Explorer and it was taken near the coast of Antarctic. When I look at the picture, I wonder if everyone is Ok or if there were injured people.

Newspaper Assignment- Jan 17 (national Story) -- 01-16-08

2008-01-16T20:24:32-05:00

NATIONAL STORY:

BOARD DISCUSSES THE IDEA OF BLACK-FOCUSED SCHOOLS

Jan 16

The Toronto District School Board is discussing the idea of installing black-focused schools. The idea will be discussed in a meeting of the TDSB at the end of this month.
Some trustees say that it is going to help because according to some data, 40% of African and Caribbean students drop out of school without completing grade 12. Other trustees like Josh Matlow say that this is totally wrong because it can be something dangerous that can bring other problems. In and interview with the Toronto Star, he said the following. "I want to support programming and other types of supports that help every kid in every school in Toronto.”
Although, the trustees hope that the decision will be made for the next school year, they consider that it won’t be ready.

NEWSPAPERS I GOT THIS FROM:

The Globe and Mail: Board trustees mull proposal for black school. Alternative facility suggested for northwest.

The Toronto Star: School board to discuss black-focused schools

The Toronto Sun: Report favours black school.

SIMILARITIES AND DIFFRERNCES:

First of all, all the newspapers talk about the same things. Something that all of them mentioned, and with some emphasis is that they don’t think that the answers for this proposal will be ready for the next school year.

The Globe and Mail.- The Globe and Mail expresses the news in an impartial way and you cannot tell if they are in one side of the situation or in the other one.

The Toronto Star.- The Toronto Star tries to express the news story in an impartial way by just talking about the facts, but there are some phrases like this one, “The two other options suggest board-wide plans to improve student achievement for blacks and other "vulnerable" students,” that make the readers think that the author has some racist feeling inside him. Beside that, it talks about the same things that the other newspapers.

Toronto Sun.- This newspaper as the Globe and Mail is pretty straight forward and doesn't have any kind of bias or tendency to be in one side of the news.

Newspaper Summary Jan 16 -- International story -- 01-16-08

2008-01-16T19:42:47-05:00

INTERNATIONAL STORY.-

VIOLENT CONFRONTATION BETWEEN POLICE AND PROTESTANTS IN KENYA

January 16:

On Kenya, a group of mad protestants had a violent confrontation with the police because the presidential election wasn't transparent and fair.

The rebellion happened in Kenya’s capital and in other cities. The police defeated the protestants with weapons such as, guns, tear gas, water canons and other weapons. 600 people are death and 250,000 displaced.

Raila Odinga, another candidate for the election, encouraged his followers to protest against Mwai Kibaki (the president who was re-elected) for 3 days. He spoke in 42 locations encouraging people to rebel in Kenya because he thinks that Kibaki stole the presidency from him by cheating.

A similar rebellion was planned a month ago, but it couldn’t be completed.

These conflicts are hurting a lot Kenya's economy because, tourism is their first entrance of money and now; tourists are leaving the country.

Kenneth Marende (a lawyer in opposition of Kibaki) won a very important position in the government. He is now, the new speaker of the National Assembly.
This fact calmed the rebellions because he can balance the decisions of the president Kibaki.

NEWSPAPER I GOT IT FROM:

The NY Times: Protests Bring New Violence in Kenya

The Guardian Unlimited: Protester killed in Kenyan police clash

The Globe and Mail: Kenyan police battle protesters in several cities

SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES:

The NY Times:

The NY Times focuses in including not just the main story, but a whole history of things that happened before this conflict and things that happened after. Also, it includes the consequences of the politician’s actions, the economy problem that Kenya is facing and how politicians arranged to solve their problems. The author’s of the NY Times seem to be trained people that have a huge amount of vocabulary and that they seem to be good writers. The articles of the NY Times have a huge amount of detail and interviews. This newspaper seems to be made for people that want to know all the details about the article and that want to have a really good idea of the news story.

The Guardian Unlimited:

The Guardian Unlimited, unlike the NY Times, is a practical newspaper that focuses in the story that they are talking about. It doesn’t talk about the consequences that the conflict will lead to or the problems that lead to the conflict. The stories are really short and it suggest that this newspaper was made of people that like to have an idea of what happened, but that doesn’t want to really know what caused the problem or all the story of it. Also, this newspaper doesn’t get into a lot of detail and it uses simple and more common words than the NY Times.

The Globe and Mail:

The Globe and Mail is pretty similar to the NY Times because it contains detail and it includes other facts related to the news. Although they are a like, The Globe and Mail uses, in my opinion, easier vocabulary.

Skiing in Horseshoe Resort -- 01-13-08

2008-01-13T20:10:06-05:00

On Sunday, I went to Horseshoe Resort at 10 in the morninng. It was a great day.

I've skied just once before, in Ruidoso, New Mexico, but I was really scared. Almost all my family went that time so we stayed for like 5 days. i was so scared that I judst skied the first day. The following days that all my family skied, I stayed in the Kids Korral. That was a lot of fun too , but not as fun as it woul've been to ski the entire 5 days.

On Sunday, my mom and I chose to ski and my sister chose to snowboard. We took a lesson of 1 hour and we stayed for like 4 hours more. The first time I took the chairs that take you to the top of the mountain, I fell. LOL I skied in two diffrent mountains (for beginners)and I didn't fell! It was a great day, but now I have to go to sleep really late because I didin't do my homework during the week-end. ooPS"!

Anyways, I enjoyed so much this Sunday that I will spend all my March brake in there. YAY! =)

My Break! -- 01-11-08

2008-01-11T19:16:52-05:00

This is a presentation that I made to my classmates, it is also about my vacation, but it contains differetn stuff.

My break wasn't as fun as I would've like it. The main reason was that my family went to Ottawa and MOntreal, and we didn't have a Christmas tree or people to celebrate with.

My break started on Dec 14th because that day, my dad came to visit us.

On the 22nd we went to Ottawa. In the night we visited the Parliament. After that, we played with the snow, my sister pushed me so many time into the snow that my pants ended up all wet.

The following days we visited museums and touristic places.

On the 24th we drove to Montreal and we spent Christmas eve in a Libanese restaurant because everything was closed. The food was terrible I ended up eating ust rice.

The 25th was fun because we went to an arena and we skated all the day.

I spent the following days in Toronto specially shopping. I got a lot of clothes and a perfume.

Finally, the 31st was my father's birthday so we had a cake and a little party. In the night we went to a friend's house. We celebrated and eat and it was a lot of fun. That was the best day of all my vacation.

If we would've had only one week of break, I wouldn't have time to visit so many places and I wold've spent less time with my dad.

The Front Page of a Newspaper! -- 01-11-08

2008-01-11T09:59:01-05:00

This are some of the things that a front page of a newspaper have.

All the newspaper's front pages have:

* The title of the newspaper or a masthead. It is in big letters at the top of the newspaper.
* A bold type or headline.
* There is usually 1 to 4 pictures.
* There are 2 to 5 articles.
* There is always an index.
* In a lot of the newspapers, the weather is included.
* It has the date and where the newspaper is printed.
* There is a gutter between the colums and stories.

Those are some of the basic things that a fornt page newspaper should have.

The Parliament! -- 01-09-08

2008-01-09T17:50:57-05:00

This is a story of my holidays, that I found pretty interesting, I don't know why, but I felt special.

In Ottawa, my family visited the Parliament and it was pretty fun. It was so guarded! The story starts when we packed our stuff to go to Montreal. I noticed that my white puerse was missing and I have like everything there, my pink ipod, my camera, my cards, a lot of money etc. I told my parents, but becasue it was Christams Eve, the Parliament was going to close early. We went there and it was CLOSED! I knocked on the visitors door, and a police officer told me that it was closed. I told him the whole purse story and he let me in. He told me to wait, and asked for a description of the purse and a description of where I taught I left it. After a few minutes, another police officer came with a bunch of keys and took me to the gift shop. While we were walking I felt so special because I was walking inside the Parliament without guards or tourists. The place was dead! Anyways, when we got to the gift shop it was closed and the guy tried to open the door, but none of the keys fitted in so he told me to wait and suddenly he went (I don't know were), and he opened the gift shop from inside. I found my purse exactly where I told him it would be. He asked me for an identification, and I just gave him my bank card, but it only ad my name, so he was like: "This won't work becasue it doesn't have your picture on it, but I will trust you because the purse was exactly where you told me it would be".

END!

Holidays! -- 12-20-07

2007-12-20T20:17:18-05:00

My holidays weren't as fun as I would like them to, but at least I chilled out, work on my projects and most important, I spent time with my family. We went to Ottawa and Montreal. We visited a lot of places. What I liked the most was the Oilympic Centre in Montreal. That is were the Olympics game were. We also went to an art museum,a war museum, the Parliament, more museums, a skating arena and more stuff.
In New Years Eve, we went I the night to a friend's house and we stayed there until 4 o'clok in the morning, it was so much fun! My friend cooks so good!!! She made dessert. It was weird, but it tasted great. She covered green grapes with cheese (philadelfia) and with nuts. Now we are back in school and it is great!

Victory in SOuth KOrea! -- 12-19-07

2007-12-19T09:37:28-05:00

Victory in South Korea...Risking the victory by actions!

Wednesday December, 19th 2007, the candidate of the conservatives party, Lee Myung, won the presidency of South Korea for the first time in 10 years of a liberal regimen.

Lee Myung, the conservative’s candidate, won by 48.6 percent of the votes. He was expecting to win by more than a half, but he couldn’t achieve his goal. Although he didn’t achieve his goal, he had the largest amount of votes since South Korea became a democratic country. The second candidate with more votes was Chung Don- young, a friend of the South Korean president, Roh Moo Hyun. Chung Don-young had only 26.2percent of the votes. This indicated that people weren’t happy with the way of government of Roh Moo Hyun.

Lee Myung used the theme of economy as his main argument to gather more followers. In his speeches, he mentioned that he would raise South Koreans economy, and that this would be his priority. He also said that he would unify the country and promote peace between societies. “At the request of the people, I’ll save Korea’s troubled economy,” he said “I’ll also strive to promote social harmony and national unity”.

Lee Myung was accused of various types of corruption in different occasions. He was accused for fraud in 2001 and in interviews he denied that.
Some people, still knowing that he has been corrupt before, voted for him arguing that they prefer someone corrupt, but competent, than someone who is totally innocent, but incompetent. That isn’t all, there is more trouble coming up because Myung was accused early this month, with the charges of a reserve of manipulations in a company known as BBK. Myung is being observed because if the liberal party can prove that he committeed fraud, before he assumes the presidency, he has to give up his government and call up another election.

Lee Myung could have the victory now, but if he doesn’t learn to control himself, he can loose it all.

Newspaper: The New York Times
Continent/Country:USA,America.
Title of the article: Conservative wins SKorea presidency by landslide
Reporter:NORIMITSU ONISHI
Date:Wednesday, December 20, 2007
Pageonline: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/20/world/asia/20korea.html?pagewanted=1and_r=1andref=world

Newspaper:Agence France-Presse
Continent/Country:France,Europe.
Title of the article:Conservative wins SKorea presidency by landslide
Reporter:From correspondents in Seoul
Date:19/12/2007 20h39
Pageonline: http://www.afp.com/english/news/stories/071219203726.4w0rxdej.html

Newspaper: The Korean Times
Continent/Country:South Korea,Asia.
Title of the article:Lee Myung-bak Wins by Landslide
Reporter:Yoon Won-sup
Date:12-19-2007 21:57
Pageonline: http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2007/12/116_15838.html

Newspaper:Adelaide Advertiser.
Continent/Country:Australia,Australia.
Title of the article:Conservative wins SKorea presidency.
Reporter:From correspondents in Seoul
Date:December 20, 2007 03:40am
Website:http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,22952690-5005962,00.html

Saturday! -- 12-08-07

2007-12-08T16:54:27-05:00

This day had something vey special. OK! so My friend Natalia and her mom which is my mom's friend came into our home and well we were doing stuff, but then there is this old woman who hates my sister and I because she says that she cannot sleep with us playing piano. Anyways, my friend and I went to the 10th floor (where she lives) while my sister played. We didn't hear anything. Then, my friend started playing knocking on people's doors and then we ran away, but suddenly when she knocked in one, th fire alarm started sounding and stuff, so we tought we did it. We went to my apartment and we went downstairs. Suddenly, 5 huge fire trucks came in and went inside, it was so funny! At the end it was nothing, but anyways.

CSI = ZaC EfRoN -- 12-05-07

2007-12-05T17:30:42-05:00

As you guys all know, I'm obsessed with Zac Efron, and also I like CSI, so then I found this video where Zac acts like the bad one. It is really cool and I've seen it like 80 times. I haven't got bored so I hope you like it. I haven't seen th entire show, but I'm really looking forward to it!

Book Assignment #2 (Fire Bringer) -- 12-04-07

2007-12-04T09:24:13-05:00

Description: Find a book in our library and let's do a little research on the author and his book.

1) Who is the author?

The author of the book is David Clement-Davies.

2) What is the title of the book?

The title of the book is "Fire Bringer".

3) Who is the publisher?

The publisher is "Macmillan Children's Books".

4) Where do they have offices?

Macmillan Children's Books, have their office in 20 New WharfRoad London, N1 9RR.
Its web page is: www.panmacmillan.com

5) Provide exactly 50 words summarizing this novel.

Rannoch was born when his father was murdered. In that time, the anxiety for power had destroyed all that is good, he must escape to survive. Hunted and with difficulty, Rannoch begins his dangerous journey. He will return to face the destiny that he was born for and restore peace.

6) Why did you pick this book?

I picked this book, because a couple of friends told that it was a really good one, so before reading it I wanted to so some research.

7) List other books that this author has written.

Other books that David Clement-Davies have written are:

* Fell

*The Sight

*The Alchemists of Barbal

*The Telling Pool

8) Which of the above books would you be interested in reading and why?

I would be interested in reading "The Telling Pool", because I read a summary of the book and it is pretty interesting. It is about a legend of a sorceress the steals men's hearts. There is a guy named Rhodri, his father is captured by the sorceress and now it is up to Rhodri to defeat the sorceress and save his father. That is basically why I want to read it.

9) Place your book cover's image on this blog.

This is an image of the cover of the book, "Fire Bringer".

This is a page with some information about the author, the book "Fire Bringer",and the other books that this author has written.

10) Provide a picture of the author.

This is a picture of the author:

Secret Santa! -- 12-03-07

2007-12-03T18:31:55-05:00

For December, our class will be doing a Secret Santa that is basically kids exchanging presents and stuff. It consists in oicking a randomly name and buying something for that person,but they doesn't have to know that you got him. Anyways, I think it will be alot of fun. With my family we always do that and we do a really huge party in my aunts house in Monterrey. I have like 5 aunts and uncles with each of them at least too kids except my uncle Alfredo taht has 6, but anyways. My gramndparents, the siblings of my gradparents, their kids, the kids of those kids etc. You can imagine how big the party gets, without counting friends and neighbors. Itr is really fun!

Drama -- 11-30-07

2007-11-30T15:02:46-05:00

This Thursday, my class, 8-3 started drama with Ms. Beale. We picked a partner and she gave us on esheet of paper with 3 differnet dialogues of 4 lines or something. The paper aldo had the setting and who were, for example: teenagers, grandparetns, aliens etc. When we had picked, what we want we had to add lines to the little dialogue.

We maked a scene in which Elayne, my partner, was mad at me.

We were teenagers and our setting was a train. The sketch went something like this:

Elayne was sitting and I came in.

- I´m SOrry.
- What?
- I said I´m sorry
- Sorry is just a word
- Yeah, but sorry is a way of expresing how I feel
- If you want to expres how you feel, put a little emotion into it.
- Fine!, I didn't meant to hurt you.
- You didn´t, but you did.
- Weel then, what do you want me to do? You make mistakes too.
-Look!, let me just think about things ok?
- Ok, but are we friends again?
- Sure

when we ended all the class was making noises us Uhhhhhh!!!! and we got a 4-.
Ms. Beale told us that she liked how we were really focused in what we were doing.
I was so happy, because I love acting.

Movies! -- 11-29-07

2007-11-29T09:46:01-05:00

I did a slideshow showing some movies that I like, they aren't my favorite, but I think they are pretty cool. Look at the slide in the right side of my blog.I personally like tennage movies and some of action. I love High School mUsical 1 and 2, but I couldn't put them in the slide because my time finished, but anyways I'll try later.

Winter! -- 11-26-07

2007-11-26T18:40:57-05:00

This is like the coldest winter I've ever been into, and as I know it is just starting. It snowed one night and all the the city was covered in white. it was amazing! I´ve been into places were it had snowed, but 5 days and I know that I´m going to go back to the hot place were I live, but here it just freaks me out when I think about surviving 3 months in COLD!Everyone tells me, you will be fine with a "Columbia" jacket, "Uggs" boots, gloves and a sweater beneath the jacket. Well I´m not fine! In Saturday I went to the Eaton Centre and then, I went to the "Cavalcade of Lights" (it is a show when they turn on the lights of the City Hall)and my sister went skating in the huge lake that is now a arena for skating. I was sitting in a bench freezing. I was wearing everything that everyone told me I would survive with and I didn't. I was so cold that we didn't even stay to see all the fireworks and else because a was like a huge ice. Anyways people tell me that in January it gets below 30 and seriously I don't know what I´m going to do.

Hope I´m alive when Winter ends!

Penny Drive -- 11-19-07

2007-11-19T17:31:28-05:00

At school Mrs. G is collecting peenies for a organization named Free the Children. With the money we will help to build a school in Sierra Lione or however the name is. It is a really poor place in Africa. We were collecting pennies for 2 or 3 weeks nad today some kids from my class including myself styed to count it. We count each and every penny and then put it into little 50c bags. We stayed until 5:30 nad it was fun. Although when we finished, our hands were all black and it was so disgusting, but anyways. We did all the classes except 3 of them. Fianlly, we found the total amount excluding the three clases and it was a lot so GOOD JOB DEER PARK! and wait for the announcements to know how much we raised.

Manga -- 11-11-07

2007-11-11T19:31:22-05:00

There is a kind of drawing named Manga, it is basically the Japanese and Chinese drawings of humans, animals and monsters.

Anyways, Shaye and Nicole are pretty good at drawing this and I find it pretty cool. ALso, for Art and Design Mrs. Jong asked us to investigate about an artist and try to do a drawing realted to tha characteristcs that they use. Then, I asked to borro Shye's Manga book and I started drawing a draon. I liked a lot although I'm not that good. Shaye told me to buy drawing books in Indigo and I bought one. I was kind of surprised because when I was looking for a book all of them were really difficult so I end up buying one with the name of The Complte Idiot's Guide to Drawing Manga so you can imagine how the books is. I hope I will someday learn how to do this.

Equality!! -- 11-06-07

2007-11-06T17:54:04-05:00

Equality means.- The right of different groups of people to have a similar social position and receive the same treatment.

In the book of Animal Farm, this is what they were trying to achieve with the rule of "Everyone is Equal", but the pigs weren't trying to make everyone equal, instead they were the first ones to start benefiting from the work of the others saying that they were best.

Anyways, I think that equality is when people do not think that are better than others just becasue they are more clever(like the pigs), strong(like Boxer), beautiful (like Mollie), fierce (like the dogs), wise (like Benjamin), or religious (like Moses). I think equality should mean, to get what people deserve like justice, but in terms of what they are able to do. I think this way, because probably since Boxer has more strenght than a chiken, he can do a lot of more work than a chiken, but since the chiken doesn't have a lot of strenght she won't be able to do the same amount of work, but if she does everything that her body cans, then she should get the same amount of food, or reward than Boxer, because she gave everything that she could. Probably, if it was given the same amount of work to every animal, some would alomst die because they can´t do so much work and others wouldn't mind doing it because they don't even get tired. It is like if you give the same High School test to first graders than to university students. University students will be able to do it in a second and the first graders won't. That is why you can not give the same amount of work to everybody, but if they do all that they can they should get the same amount of prizes because everyone did what their body was able to.

That is why I believe that equality should mean to get what people deserve, but in terms of what they are able to do.

Animal Farm -- 10-29-07

2007-10-29T18:59:04-05:00

Animal Farm is a book that we are reading with Miss P something an it is basically about how farm animals rebel against the humans becasue they are tired of how they threat them.

It begins with Old Major´s (the oldest pig) speech. He said that the humans wouldn't be anything without animals. In the end of his speech he taught the animals a song named "Beasts of England". It talked about freedom and stuff. In the second chapter the animals rebel and the humans run out. All the animals set 6 rules including that anything with 2 legs is an enemy. All the animlas worked the farm and milked the cows. After, they returned from work the milk was gone!

Continued...... as we keep reading

My B-day!* -- 10-25-07

2007-10-25T16:25:17-05:00

MY B-day is on OCtober 18th. SInce I´m new here nobody knew except 2 or 3 girls. Then on October 18 anybody from Deer Park remeberd it, but it was obiously because I didn´t told anybody. Anyways my family celebrated me with cake and stuff and all my related called me and aldo all my friends sent me postals or called and it was great. Then on OCotber 19 which is my sister´s B-day, we did dalmist the same, but on MOnday of the next week I came late to school and I saw my locker decorated and a letter. Thanks by the way! That day everyone congatulate me and I was like Ok so finally I didn´t even told them that it wasn´t that day! haha it was fun and that was basically all!

Blades Of GLory! -- 10-19-07

2007-10-19T18:16:52-05:00

This is like the best comic movie ever! It is too funny. For those that haven't seen it, it is about two guys that do figure skating as a pair! I is too funny!

I hope you see the movie!

Persuasive Writing -- 10-19-07

2007-10-19T18:09:35-05:00

My topic is: Why it is bad to smoke!

Lara is Coming!!!! =P -- 10-09-07

2007-10-09T19:37:56-05:00

One of my Best Friends is Lara I've know her since I was in elementary school, she'sm from Mexico City and I´ve spent more time with her than with other any people that isn't of my family. I've been in her house so many times and we've been playong some fun but rare stuff. The funniest thing we've played is "Cocinando por la cocina de mis sueños" it was so fun! We dress up like chefs and we looke through a book trying to find something to make. We found a dessert. Her brother, Claudio, was the judge and we started to do so many weird things to make him give us marks. For example when we were cooking we started saying: Because I'm a very good person I'm going to recycle the egg shell and we puted all the egg shell in the blender without wateror anything and we then throw it out in plants. We did a lor of things. Finally, it was ready and we just put it in the oven, tasted it it was horrible and we end up wasting more than 10 eggs, a lor of flour, juice etc. Her mom was so mad but anyways. Another really fun day was when we did a jellylike material and we were playing with it and suddenly I dropped out inher clother accidentally and she thought it was onj porpuse so she threw it to me and the room end up being a mess. another day we did the same but with paintings and we needed to clean it all up but some of the painture coudn't get off and more. Anyways, I appreciate her a lot and I was sad when I was coming here because I wouldn't see her or talk to her etc but then her mother let her come so in Decmeber she's coming.
YAY! I'm so happy
The problem is going to be the messy we are when we are together because my mom always give me long and boring speeches of why I shouldn't do that mess in Lara's house, but now that is going to be in my house I can imagine the punishment I will have.
I hope we can control ourselves.

Glitter Graphics

This is a picture that we took when we were playing " cocinando por la cocina de mis sueños"

I strongly agree with: -- 09-30-07

2007-09-30T20:19:41-05:00

Karla Alfaro Pizaña September/30/07

I strongly agree with:

In these days that our natural resources are finishing, the theme of is really talked. Many classrooms, politicians and families are now debating about this theme. I am one of the people that think we need to take care of them, because they are essential in every day of our life. For example a theme very debated is the one of the finishing water. Other ones are about the finishing oil, the finishing oxygen, the finishing wood and more. I could write pages and pages about it.
I could talk about each natural resource that is almost gone right now, but it would take a lot of time so I will write the reasons of why I think we should take care of our precious water.

The water as everyone knows is essential for each and every living organism in the planet Earth, but with each day, this source goes down and down. In these days, the 20% of the population doesn’t have sufficient water, and the estimates say that for the 2025 this digit will increase to the 30% affecting 50 countries.
The life is a cycle and the water is part of it. Without it, the plants wouldn’t have energy to grow and spread out so they will be disappearing until a very low percentage of them still alive. If there are none plants, the herbivores will loose all of their strength and they will die. The carnivores wouldn’t have meat to eat and the ones that survive will eat animals of their same specie until they extinct.
If their isn’t meat nor plants, the omnivores just like humans will extinct too.

Another thing that could happen is a Third World War.
By this time, there have already been wars because the USA wants more oil for them. With water finishing, I can picture in my mind all the powerful countries fighting between them because of the water. They will fight and fight until there is nothing in the world.

Those are some of the reasons of why I strongly agree with us taking care of the planet and the natural resources that are in it!
We should stop using water in things that we don’t need it. For example: we could stay less time in the shower, we could wash our car without spreading all the water with the hose, we could close the keys when we are putting shampoo on our head, we could do many things. This paragraph doesn’t have many reasons of why we should take care of water, but it has a very important one. If we don’t take care of our natural resources we will dye. As simple as that. In a debate you could win with just that reason. I hope that my paragraph change your mind.

Take care and appreciate what we have because probably at some time it will be gone!

mY nEW piAnO TEacHeR -- 09-23-07

2007-09-23T12:50:03-05:00

I've been playing piano for 8 years in Mexico but since I moved here my mom said I needed to continue my lessons so I tried with a teacher named Lubo Daskalov. If you look his name on google it appears al his biography etc. The thing is that he teaches in a vey strange way or at least I'm not used to it because all the hour he plays the piano and I'm saying to myself I'm the one that has to be playing, but then my mother says that is because he want you to know how the rythm is. Anyways there are much more things taht I really don't understand so I will try to get used to his way of teaching.

The Problems a New Girl Faces! -- 09-23-07

2007-09-23T11:44:59-05:00

This is a paragraph that I wrote talking about how difficult it is to change os school. My mom and my sister liked them and that´s why I published it!

Moving to a new school or country can be complicated, sad, and embarrassing. One of the saddest things to do is to leave your friends and family just because you need to change of school or change where you live.

After all that sadness it comes the first day of school. When you get to the new school you don’t know anyone or where anything is located.
First, you are always late to class because you don’t know the building very well and you don’t know where the classes are located.
Second, you don’t know the rules of school or more important the rules of every single teacher, so you end up getting in trouble more than five times in a day, or even worse a DETENTION.
Also there is the “fashion” problem. You enter school wearing jeans and everyone is with mini-skirt or when you are wearing flats and the trend is sandals, you feel like an alien.
Finally, you might be so nervous that you fall down, or you push someone accidentally, or something bad happens and you end up being a “clown” in front of everyone.

Being the new girl can be really hard, but with time, things change. You notice that people start being kind to you and that the school wasn’t really a maze. Also you understand the rules of the school and you realize that they aren’t that bad. Probably, with time you will like more your new school than the old one.

Inspired on the BOok : I was a Non-blond
Cheerleader!
Haha just joking.....
or maybe not!

9-1-1 -- 09-13-07

2007-09-13T19:32:49-05:00

FOr all the readers this is homework :)

Today was a day of horror and pain because on September 11th of 2001, the Twin Towers fell down as an act of terrorism.

I think that what happened that day was a really really sad thing, but if you ask me if I like cry for all that stuff, well my answer is no, because I had nothing to do with it, I mean I didn´t lost anybody as a lot of unlucky people so Mr. d sorry but I can´t writer down very strong fellings as a person who lost somebody in that terrible accident.

Matt Gross NY Times -- 09-12-07

2007-09-12T09:55:30-05:00

Questions.
a.What is the purpose of Matt Gross' trip?
The purpose of Matt trip to let all his readers know how the places he visits are like by videotaping them and then writing stories about them,in this case the USA.

b. Where will he start his journey? He will start his journey at New York City.
Where will he end it? He will end it in Seatle. What does he plan to see in between? He plan to see what the readers want him to go.

c. What are the "rules" of his trip?
The rules are that he would only spent daily $100, including food, room, etc.

d. How is he deciding where to stop?
He wants to stop in a cheap and nice motel.

e. How would you describe his writing or narrative style?
I will describe his writting as a very detallist one because he is trying to describe the place.

f. What was his first stop and what details does he provide readers about that destination?
In Baltimore, he stopped at Sip and Bite and he tells that he used to frequent a decade ago, usually after midnight.He says that the booths were still white Formica, crusty regulars still sat at the counter, and the crabcake sub remained the best.

g. How do you think he feels about that stop?
He felt really confused because he end up spending much more money than he planned to.

h. Why might Mebane be considered an unconventional tourist destination?
Mebane is considered an unconventional tourist destination because the population is of 7,934 and almost nobody knows that Mebane exists.

i.What did he encouner there?
A little comercial centre with mexican or latin food and stuff.

j. How does he describe his experience in Mebane?
He describe his experience in Mebane as if he felt really confortable because he felt as if he wasn in his home.

k. Do any of his stories inspire you to visit those locations? Why or why not?
Yes, because you can have good vacations and spending just a liitle of money or something like that!

An Easy Way To Make Cinnamon Rolls :P -- 09-11-07

2007-09-11T16:49:34-05:00

Every time people ask me about my favourite desert and I tell them that it is Cinnamon Rolls. Then they almost always ask me if I know how to cook them and I just tell them “No because it is too difficult”. Then in Norman, Oklahoma, I had a class named Home EC and they taught me a really easy way to cook them. So if you are a cinnamon roll lover you should check this out: :P

The ingredients are: “Pillsbury, Original Croissants,” butter, sugar, cinnamon and an oven. (Make sure to mix the sugar with the cinnamon).

First you need to open the croissants package.
Then, join the triangles until you get four rectangles.
Next cover all the dough with butter and spread the mixture of sugar and cinnamon until it is completely covered! 
Roll it up, and cut each rectangle into 4 pieces.
Finally put them into the oven and heat them 10 minutes or until their color changes to golden brown. Make sure the temperature is 350°.

By the way if you follow the instructions you will find that they are really good! If you make the recipe please comment if you like them or not!

Karla Alfaro Pizaña

September /10 /07

mY fIRsT WeEk!! :p -- 09-09-07

2007-09-09T09:40:05-05:00

On this week I got to meet a lot new people. I also meet all my teachers. I liked almost all my classes, but the one I liked most was the Music, Drama, Dance class because although I’m kind of shy I like Drama jaja mmm…...... I don’t know what else to put….. jaja

JAJAJA I don´t know -- 09-06-07

2007-09-06T17:00:14-05:00

Well I don´t know must of you because as you know I´m new so I´m going to start telling you a little bit of myself Jaja I´m a sprr smiley girl and I love to be with my family and to hang out with my friends..... jaja :P mmm and I like Zac Efron but I think he´s too old :S I love travel to other places and I wish I go to New Zeland at some time.....I have been playing the piano for 8 years I think that´s all!!!! XD