The Bad Sides of Command Economies ♥

The Retrieved Reformation - RTL ♥

Vocabs ♥

mesmerized - He was completely mesmerized by the beauty of the sunrise.

impeccably - Her painting was impeccably finished in three months of her hard work.

petrified - I was petrified with fear when I first saw my great-grandmother's spirit.

stoically - The soldier stoically got up after he got shot on the leg and continued his mission.

dissuade - She was trying her best to dissuade her brother to not get into any other fight. 

chaotic - The terrorists caused a chaotic scene in the mall just by holding guns and knives.

negotiated - The two wealthiest companies in Japan negotiated to get good deal for both.

acquisition - Mr. M would be a valuable acquisition for our school's staffs.

corps - The U.S corps prepared carefully for the attack on the Northern part of Vietnam.

commemorate - To commemorate Sadako's personality and her precious positive mind, people built a monument just for her.

mimicking - The other boys were mimicking Gregory when he got hit by the ball and messed up 'shin' and 'forehead'.

resembles - Our class was so noisy that it resembled a market.

Gentleman of Río en Medio ♥

*THIS STORY IS TOLD FROM THE POINT OF VIEW OF A NARRATOR WHO IS A CHARACTER IN THE STORY. HOW MIGHT THIS STORY DIFFER IF DON ANSELMO WERE THE NARRATOR?*

Everyone has different perspectives on everything. Therefore if Don Anselmo was the narrator, the story would be different, especially his feelings and opinions on situations. In the story, Don Anselmo was the man who sold the land for the Americans, and when the story was told by the lawyer, he didn't understand why the gentleman sold his land with such a low price. However, if Don Anselmo was telling the story, we would probably know why didn't he take the higher price for the land. Also, when he argued with the lawyer, he said that the trees were not his, but they were his people's. According to what the narrator said, which is the lawyer, Don Anselmo was just saying those things, but we don't really know how he felt when he said them. Was he proud to say that? Or was he nervous and worried. If the narrator was him, we could definitely know the answers for those questions. The story can be told in any point of view, but each one will bring us different feelings and we can understand that character, which is the narrator, better than any other characters in the story.

Gentleman of Río en Medio - Vocabs ♥

negotiation - The two countries went through a negotiation instead of starting a war to decide on lands that they would own. 

innumerable - Shane has an innumerable amount of Apple products.

boundaries - There are boundaries between all countries to separate their own lands and properties. 

descendants - I love my ancestors and in the future, I will love my descendants, too.

Stop The Sun - Vocabs ♥

commotion - I got distracted by a commotion in the neighborhood while doing homework. 

foundered - Her presentation was foundered because she didn't prepare at all.

ruin - The war brought great ruin to his life since he lost both of his legs. 

inert - My leg is inert whenever I get a cramp.

Stop The Sun ♥

*DO YOU THINK TERRY MADE THE RIGHT DECISION ABOUT QUESTIONING HIS FATHER ON HIS EXPERIENCES IN VIETNAM? WHY OR WHY NOT?*

In my opinion, Terry made the right decision about questioning his father on his experience in Vietnam for many reasons. First, he could figure out why his father always acted weird, and that was one of his purposes of asking his father. He knew that the war in Vietnam affected his father’s life physically and mentally. By that, he understood or at least tried to understand his father’s feelings and that was really important to their fatherhood. The most important reason was that he realized that even though he didn’t understand everything his father told him because he didn’t experience it, he would still try, and trying is enough. Once he tried, he would know that he should not be embarrassed when his father’s eyes went away or when he curled up on the floor. Therefore, by questioning his father about his past, Terry had understood his father and loved him even more.

Unbreakable Friendship ♥

Monsters. Some people believe that they do exist, some don’t, but I do. An appalling experience with it can’t seem to be faded in my mind. 

It all started after the spring break of our school. On a beautiful day of February in Santa Barbara, everything was so quiet that we could hear the sound of our hearts beating, the cafeteria of Pucca International School (PIS) was completely different. Students were chatting while eating lunch, teachers and supervisors were yelling at the students who couldn’t settle down to have their meals. Some of the young sixth graders who were so naive to believe that 2012 was real kept talking and discussing since they were living that terrifying year. We, the student council committee: Juicy, Suzzie, Sean and me, Muffy, just finished our lunch and started gossiping about what we’ve done during the spring break, while all of a sudden, a new girl sluggishly stepped into the canteen. We stared and inquired her from head to toe. 

She was such a stylish girl, but in a wrong way. Her yellow, curly hair was tied up separately. She was wearing a turquoise tank top with a dotted, red tie. Her purple pants and orange Ecko shoes turned her into a colorful walking stick. We caught her questioned and confused eyes glaring at us. Sean, the kindest guy on Earth, slowly walked toward her and greeted. He showed her around, introduced her to the teachers and us. Usually, we wouldn’t let anyone to join our group, but she had such a unique sense of style, we decided to let her in.

“Welcome to PIS. Since you’re a new student, we’ll be your guide and you can be a member in my group.” Juicy friendlily gave her a beam.

“Thanks. It’s so nice to have you as my friends. I’m Jossie, from San Francisco.”

“Hey yo! We’re in the student council. This is Juicy, this is Sean, that is Muffy and I’m Suzzie.” Our beauty representative smirked. 

I followed them as they surrounded Jossie and amiably showed her around. I must admit that jealousy got all over me. That pretty smile was no longer stayed on my face. It disappeared. And so did Jossis’s innocent look. She tentatively peeked at me with a pair of malicious eyes. There was fire in them, literally. I froze for one second, then wondered if I was just imagining it or not. Couldn’t tell that it was real or not, I decided to forget about it.

Since the day Jossie came, not only me, but the three of us all felt like we were losing Juicy. Every time we sought for her, we would have to look for Jossie, because wherever Jossie was going, Juicy would be there for her. Day by day, I could feel the distance between those two and the three of us were increasing. We could see that Jossie had been saying bad things about me, Sean and Suzzie to Juicy, and that was bothersome. Juicy turned her back to us: she didn’t sit with us at lunch anymore, she wore matching clothes with Jossie but not us. However, all four of us knew better than anyone else that our tight friendship was unbreakable, since we were not only friends, we were brothers and sisters. Therefore we all came together and uttered our feelings. 

“Jossie told me that you guys hated my clothes and made fun of them behind my back, right?!” Juicy frowned.

“What?! We’ve never said such things. Where did you get that from?! You honestly trust her over us?” We got hurt over her question.

We argued for quite a lot of time in the bathroom where no one could hear us. Three of us were trying to convince her to come back to our group and wake up from those lies and praises of Jossie. We kept arguing and quarreling and didn’t even notice thirty minutes had passed.  Finally, Sean spoke up, “You know what guys, this is so not worth it for us to fight. I’m not on anyone’s side, but honestly, aren’t we supposed to be best friends? Why are we letting a new girl ruin this friendship just because she said bad things behind our backs. Best friends are easy to find, but hard to keep. Remember that guys!’

His sentence was like a hit at our heads. Without saying a word, we bashfully smiled to each other. Immediately like follow her instinct, Suzzie snatched her phone and hastily pressed Jossie’s number. 

Surprisingly Jossie was standing in the bathroom within ten seconds. We started to play the role of police and criminal. The criminal was unexpectedly immaculate, but she couldn’t stay that long, because she ran out of excuses. We kept asking and questioning, and Jossie’s mind exploded. Her eyes went red, her soft, white skin turned into a thick layer of wrinkled pelt. Her body was enormous, and she warned us to give Juicy back to her with a thunderous voice. Jossie picked Juicy up by her giant hand. 

“I’m so sorry guys. If I didn’t trust her over you guys, things might not turn out like this. I love you guys. Please forgive me for what I did!” As Juicy’s tears falling down, the monster shrank too.

We all winked to each other as if we were giving signs to do something. 

“I shouldn’t have ignored you. I’m sorry, too” “I should’ve talked to you more so our friendship wouldn’t fall apart.” “I wish I wasn’t too presumptuous about you leaving the group. I should’ve found out the reasons first.” “I love you guys! I love every person in our indestructible, everlasting group!” All four of us proudly screamed out loud and looked at each other with our tears dropping on our cheeks. We blinked, and blinked, and blinked for the hot liquid in our eyes to disappear, not realizing the monster was gone. 

Monsters does not necessary need to scare people. They can be created to take away things that we love. They might be a barrier for our lives, but to me, they actually remind us to value what we have. Oh! And the monster I met was created in 2012! What a coincidence!

A Retrieved Reformation - Vocabs ♥

anguish - The death of his son causes great anguish in his heart.

clemency - Ben gave Jimmy some clemency and let him go after breaking the safe.

rehabilitate - He had to rehabilitate himself for getting drugs.

elusive - She had to study so hard to get the elusive A+ in math class.

Writing Focus - Think as a Reader/Writer ♥

I've had a lot of good friends, but there's one person that no longer studies with me that I can never forget. He's Kevin. He's one of the tallest people that I know, that's why I always feel like a dwarf standing next to him. Just look at his dark brown eyes and you can understand everything that he feels; you can see his bright smile through those eyes without looking at his pink, thin lips. His bright, white skin makes himself look like an American, except that he has really dark, black hair. He's quite unique from other Vietnamese friends that I know, because he's in love with sports that involve skating. He likes skateboarding, rollerskating, riding scooters, etc. Also, he's an awesome drummer. Kevin is truly one of the coolest and nicest friends that I've ever met. ♥

Interview with Onica Yu ♥

(through Yahoo!)

Mary Tran: Where were your parents born?

Onica Yu: My parents were born in the Philippines.

Mary Tran: What are your favorite foods?

Onica Yu: My favorite foods are ceasar salads, steak, and burgers.

Mary Tran: What do you most enjoy doing?

Onica Yu: I most enjoy hanging out with my friends and family and when I have the time.

Mary Tran: What is most important in your life?

Onica Yu: The most important in my life are the people in my life

Mary Tran: Why do u think so? Well why are the people in your life are the most important, because in my opinion, they can be your haters and enemie.

Onica Yu: Ahhh

Onica Yu: The people in my life are the most important because even they are haters, whatever reason the hater has for hating me, I can use that to be a better person.

Mary Tran: Woww! Great answer!

Onica Yu: Thank you.

Onica Yu: Pretty confusing answer. But yea

Mary Tran: Hmm...Between family and friends, which one will u choose?

Onica Yu: Hmm. Tough question

Onica Yu: I would choose my family because I'm pretty close with them. But my friends are like my second family. So I would choose both.

Onica Yu: hehehe

Mary Tran: Ok. Thanks for helping me with this interview.

Onica Yu: No problem :)

After interviewing with Onica, who's from Philippines and I thought that she was completely different from me, I realized that we really do have things in common. For example, we both like fast food like burgers. She enjoys going out with her friends and family, and I love traveling; that kind of shows that we're both adventurous, and usually don't like to live quietly or tediously. When I asked her to her what's the most important thing in her life, she said that they're people in her life, and that includes her friends; friends are most important in my life, too. From this interview, I actually changed my mind about differences between countries: we might come from different places and have different backgrounds but it's always possible to have the same thoughts on something about life.

Hamadi - Vocabs ♥

inquiring - The cops look at the thief with the inquiring eyes.

tedious - The mom's speech was so tedious that the kids fell asleep within two minutes.

vaguely - She vaguely spreads the rumor. 

archaic - The house is so archaic that it looks like it'd survived from stone age.

The Monkey's Paw + Aunty Misery - Vocabs ♥

amiably -They were amiably playing the Academic Bowl.

presumptuous - She was so presumptuous to say that she will score 100% on the test while studying nothing for it.

credulity - His credulity made him believe that the stranger would give him money.

hospitality - Santa Barbara people have great hospitality.

gnarled - He's a gnarled person who always yells at people.

The Treasure of Lemon Brown - Vocabs ♥

impromptu - She gave an impromptu speech for the presentation.
tentatively - He stepped in the room tentatively.

intently - Everyone listened intently while Mr.Greg was talking at the assembly. 

probing - The guard was probing everyone at the airport to see if they brought sharp things or not.
ominous - The ominous silence gave me some serious goosebumps.

Personal Narrative - Unforgettable Memory ♥

“Wow. What a wonderful day!” I think to myself while I’m riding a bike. The sky is blue and the clouds are white, the weather is just as beautiful as the day the disaster happened to me. It’s a memory that I can never forget.

I was three years old and I visited my great-grandmother’s hometown, Hưng Yên, in Northern Vietnam. On the plane to Hanoi, I couldn’t sit still; I “jumped” up and down, giggled, and talked about how much I wanted to see what the countryside looked like. I imagined how my relatives would react when they first saw me.

“Sit down, Quynh. And be quiet! We’re almost there, so stop being so hyper!” my mom glared at me.

Then we finally arrived. “Woo hoo! Finally! Now I can meet the relatives that I have never met before.” my ear-splitting voice drowned my parents’ yelling to rush me to go with them, otherwise, I would be lost. At the end, I grabbed my little luggage and scurried toward them.

We had to take a small bus for about three hours to go to Hưng Yên. I thought I needed a rest, maybe it was because I ran out of energy from the sugar rush I had on the plane. When we arrived at our destination, suddenly I had goose bumps. The wind blew so hard, and I wasn’t wearing any jacket. All of my relatives came out to welcome us with their bright smiles. They were my great-grandmother’s sisters and brothers and they were pretty old, so they all wore traditional clothes of Vietnam, bà ba shirts.

“Have some cookies dear. Enjoy yourself. Don’t be shy!” my great-great-uncle smiled at me and gave me a big hug.

Everyone just kept talking, chortling and hugging each other. I could feel the love everywhere. Even the neighbours came over to our house to welcome us. They brought food and flowers then hugged us, especially me. After that, I went into a small room to meet with a very special person, my great-great-grandmother. Her hair was not grey at all, it was all black; her skin was dark because she used to work really hard on the field; and the brightest thing I could see on her face was her smile; no one could believe that she was 90 years old already. She was lying on an old wooden bed, and all of a sudden, she got up and hugged me so hard. I could feel her tears falling on my shirt. I was speechless because I could meet my great-great-grandmother for the very first time. My eyes became so watery that I couldn’t see anything at all.

Then my grandmother asked someone to go to the market to buy some ingredients to cook. I volunteered. Therefore, my mom had to go with me. My great-uncle gave us a ride on a small bike and I sat in the middle. I could feel the wind gently touching my face and skin; the sun was shining on all three of us; I imagined the cows along the way saying “Hi” to me and that made me giggle; I swung my legs and opened my arms widely.

“STOP IT QUYNH! DO YOU KNOW HOW DANGEROUS THIS COULD BE?!” my mom scowled and scolded me.

“Why does she have to say these stuffs? They’re not important. And how can “sitting on a bike and trying to have fun” is “dangerous”? She totally ruined my joyful moment!” those thoughts kept popping up in my head.

Suddenly, I felt like my ankle twisted, like someone or something grabbed my foot and spun it around in a circle. I didn’t understand or know what happened to me, so I glanced at it, and I screamed, “OH MY GOD! What are all these red drops on the roads? And why are there red “lines” on my foot? Where are my toes? What is this horrific red mess?”

“UNCLE! STOP THE BIKE! THERE’S SOMETHING WRONG WITH QUYNH!” my mom shouted thunderously.

The bike stopped, and I didn’t know what happened to me next. I felt like my head was hit by a huge rock, and some kind of delirious pain ran through my body. Everything around me became so blurry: I saw five people who looked exactly like each other, I could see their lips moving, but I thought I was deaf because I couldn’t get what they said, so I blinked and blinked and then all I could see was the darkest, blackest place in the whole world.

When I opened my eyes, I was already lying on a white bed and wearing a strange white outfit that looked kind of like my pyjamas, except that it had the smell of medicine. My grandparents, parents and relatives were there and they all surrounded my bed.

“How do you feel, honey? Does it hurt anywhere? Do you feel a headache or anything?” everybody just kept asking.

“I’m completely fine. Thanks for asking. Can anyone please tell me what happened?”

“Your foot got stuck in the bike’s wheel, so you were bleeding and then fainted. We took an x-ray test and it showed that your bones are still fine. You were really lucky, because if we were one-second late, you foot could have been cut off. Don’t worry dear, you’re fine now. Take some rest.” my mom explained.

I thought to myself, “Oh man. I can’t believe I almost have only one foot left.”

I’ve finally learned the value of carefulness and also the respect for my mom. She’d warned me, but I thought that she was being mean and she didn’t love me, but the truth is she did that because she cared about me.

“Wow! I feel like I’m the luckiest girl on earth. I overcame the most painful experience.” I smile and just keep riding my bike under the magnificent sunshine.
♥

Flowers for Algernon

*WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT PEOPLE WHO DISLIKE OTHERS WHO ARE DIFFERENT FROM THEM?*

In my opinion, I think that people who dislike others who are different from them are really mean and selfish. There is nothing wrong of being special and different.

For example, before Charlie had his operation, Joe Carp, Frank Reilly and people in the factory always teased him and made fun of him by saying things like 'pull a Charlie Gordon' or asking him to buy the newspaper to ditch him at the party. However, when Charlie had his operation already and he was getting smarter everyday, people started to ignore him and didn't want to get close to him anymore. 

Whether he was too dumb, because he's got the IQ of 68, which is low for an average person, or when he was too smart, people disliked him, just because he was different, and to me, that is really not fair. I think Joe, Frank and others did that because they despite him when he's not smart, and they were really jealous of him when he became a genius. I don't think it's necessary to compare ourselves to other people. Rather than that, we can just respect ourselves, others, and the community. That would make life a lot easier. 

If people like Joe or Frank just take a little time to put themselves in the position of Charlie, they would understand what it feels like to be dumb, or later on, to be so smart. "Before, they laughed at me and despised me for my ignorance and dullness; now, they hate me for my knowledge and understanding. What in God's name do they want of me? They've driven me out of the factory. Now I'm more alone than ever before..." (71) Charlie Gordon would never feel that way if people around him whom he thought that they were his friends just tried once to be his REAL and TRUE friends. They could have listened to him and understood that being smart means a lot to him, so they could support him to make him happy and proud of himself.

Therefore, my conclusion is that anyone in the community should treat EVERYBODY equally, and don't see others differently even when they're the dumbest people on earth, or the smartest genius in the history.

ALL ABOUT ME!! ♥

I'm Mary and I'm 13 this year. I've studied in AIS since last year and I really love being here. I have such great and awesome friends and they're always there for me when I've got problems or anything ♥ I love to hang out with them to watch movies, or to go shopping [even though I really hate shopping]. 

 My hobbies are simple - going out, listening to music, playing basketball, and drawing weird stuffs when I'm bored. ;)

Also, I'm soooo obsessed with FACEBOOK ♥ It's one of my favorite ways to contact and of course, have fun with my friends *BIG SMILE* The other ones are YAHOO and definitely SKYPE ♥

I'm pretty friendly [got it from my dear daddy ♥], but also impatient and I can get mad easily sometimes [and this one's from my mommy ;)]. I have a pretty cool family, but they all expect a lot from me, especially my mom. That's why I ALWAYS have to try hard to get good grades, and that's also why I'm a NERD ♥

This is my last year in AIS, and also in Vietnam, because I'm going to America, so my friends and I are sure going to ROCK this year ♥ There are a lot of new teachers, and they all seem very nice, so I'm looking forward to enjoying this school year with them. And of course I really want to study well in Social Studies class with Mr. Blake.

So that's pretty much all about me. Now let's check out a few pictures of me with my friends :)

Contace me through:

Yahoo! ♥  pewekute24@yahoo.com
Facebook! ♥ http://facebook.com/mary.tran24
- only my friends can see my facebook -  


HOPE THAT YOU'LL LIKE MY BLOG! LOVE YOU ALL! ♥