So many thoughts can relate to our Humanities blog, so post any ideas and questions you have or theories and philosophies you come across, including contradictions, explanations, ironic moments, insights, and in general, anything that might help us to navigate our way on the journey through Grade 8 - and maybe life itself! Some sample random thoughts from last year are in the comments window. (It's highly recommended that you type your comments in a Word document, and then copy and paste into the blog comments window.)
51 comments:
Sample comment from last year:
During semester vacation, my family and I had a great time in Japan. We met my father’s friend and his family in Nagoya. I had a chance to meet his daughter named Emily. She has the same interests as me, including reading books. We talked randomly about books we have read and luckily I found out that she read “The Little Prince” at her school. I asked her about the ending of the story in the Japanese version to see if it is similar to the English version that we read at ISB last semester. She told me that in the Japanese version, the ending was quite obvious that the little prince died, which is different from the English version ending, which let us use our own opinions to solve the conclusion of the story. Emily also told me that TLP is one of the most popular novels in Japan because most schools use it in their language programs. Then I told her a bit more about my favorite parts in TLP, which she was quite interested in, too. After our conversation, Emily decided she was going to buy her own TLP version in English!
Later on, Emily’s family took us to many famous places in Japan. They also took a good care of us. Next summer vacation they will spend some time in Thailand, and my family will take care of them! Finally, Japan is one of the most interesting places that I have ever visited because of its high-technology and lots of beautiful sight-seeing destinations.
Sample comment from last year:
I also found a connection with TLP during the vacation. In the book called ‘My Sister’s Keeper’, the two characters, Anna and Kate, reminded me of tlp and his rose. Anna, the main character, resembles the little prince while Kate (Anna’s sister) resembles the rose. When Anna was born, she ‘tamed’ Kate, and they were all they had in their lonely lives, like the little prince and his rose. Since Kate had leukemia, no one would be friends with both her and Anna, which left both of them alone together. They lived and shared everything together because they only had each other. The little prince only had the rose to talk with, just as Anna could only discuss things with Kate. Also, like the rose, Kate will die before Anna because of her sickness. Kate is ephemeral like the little prince’s rose. In TLP, the little prince leaves his rose to explore Earth. In ‘My Sister’s Keeper’, Anna, in a way, leaves her rose (Kate). She decides to stop donating her blood cells that will help Kate fight off the disease. By doing this, she leaves Kate with no donors who will donate blood to her and she also leaves her with a harder chance of surviving. However, by leaving her rose, Anna discovers how much she loves Kate, just as tlp discovers his love for his rose.
Sample comment from last year:
While reading "The Hollow" by Agatha Christie, I came upon a passage that struck me as very insightful. It is perhaps cold-hearted, but it is truthful. One of the characters has died, and here is what Lady Angkatell says in a conversation with her husband: "Oh, well, everyone has to die some time. I found him amusing. And he had charm. But I don't think one ought to attach too much importance to anybody." As you may or may not have guessed, I made a connection to "The Little Prince". After all the literature circles, all the work that we did, and the essay, I still could not find a correct way to express what I felt about the message of TLP. One is prompted to write essays in a formal manner, but I think that the character Lady Angkatell says it all. The author, Agatha Christie, gets the point across brilliantly. It is quite touching. Whether one is eaten by a sheep or bitten by a snake, everything will eventually die (perhaps everything is ephemeral). The only fault I find in the passage is that it says you should not get attached to anyone or anything too much. This is somewhat contradictory to TLP, because it is saying that one should become attached to people (tame?) and remember them. If anyone has opinions about which is more correct, please comment. This novel, ‘The Hollow,’ has greatly increased my affinity for Agatha Christie, which was starting to diminish.
On the subject of further random thoughts, I would like to recommend a few of my favourite books by Agatha Christie: "The Big Four", "The ABC Murders", "And Then There were None". I believe that these books can be found in the High-school library if anyone is interested. See you in January after vacation!
Sample comment from last year:
I can't really think of anything to comment on right now, (it's probably the brain-nullifying effects of the weekend), so I'm just going to be philosophical: what the heck is the difference between right and wrong? Personally, I think people get too caught up in thinking "good vs. evil". If people were to judge the morals of those around them, the Tsar Nicolas of early 20th century Russia may have judged Rasputin a saint, while others saw him as a sadist. So, if people can't all have a uniform vision of those who do good and those who do bad, who makes the final cut? To some, it's the Lord Jesus. To others, it may be Allah, Buddha, or other spiritual figures. Now, this makes it even more difficult; which of those dieties or prophets actually makes the decision? Once again, everyone has a different opinion. Even among people of the same religion, views can differ greatly. So when it comes down to it, right and wrong can be completely based on different perspectives. For instance, I think taking something that no one really owns is not wrong.
Sample comment from last year:
Just a quote to remind you all: "Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration" - Thomas Edison
By the way, this site's pretty good because it reminds us of the purpose of our existence: http://www.pravsworld.com/new/pravsworld.htm it
Some nice quotes I got from pravsworld : ‘I Wanted to Change the World’ - "When I was a young man, I wanted to change the world. I found it was difficult to change the world, so I tried to change my nation. When I found I couldn't change the nation, I began to focus on my town. I couldn't change the town and as an older man, I tried to change my family. Now, as an old man, I realize the only thing I can change is myself, and suddenly I realize that if long ago I had changed myself, I could have made an impact on my family. My family and I could have made an impact on our town. That impact could have changed the nation and I could indeed have changed the world."
"Life's filled with possibilities that challenge us each day, to take a chance, try something new, see things a different way, And it's through, these special moments, That we learn, to change and grow to explore the precious gifts of who we are, and what we know for it's not until we try that we find out, what we can do. So don't wait until tomorrow, to discover something new."
The progressive metal band Dream Theater is performing Saturday night 19th of January. The band is well known in metal and rock and consists of amazing musicians. John Petrucci who toured in G3 (guitar three) with Joe Satriani and Paul Gilbert recently. G3 guitarists are normally chosen because of their unique fast playing. John Petrucci is known for his work in Dream Theater and for playing very fast. The concert is worth seeing. It starts at 17:00 at the Bangkok Hall in Suam Lum park. You can buy tickets at the door, if you are interested.
Sample comment from last year:
uhmm.... ok. I found an interesting little piece of info that is entertaining to read:
NERDS
A person who gains pleasure from amassing large quantities of knowledge about subjects often too detailed or complicated for most other people to be bothered with.
Often mistaken for geeks, who aspire to become nerds, yet lack the discipline, and end up giving nerds a bad name due to their wildly independent thinking.
Non-nerds are often scared of nerds, due to their detailed knowledge, and therefore seemingly high levels of intelligence - and subsequently denigrate them as much as possible as often as possible, and yet realize nerds and geeks are needed in so many ways in our techno-world
Another definition is:
An 'individual', i.e. a person who does not conform to society's beliefs that all people should follow trends and do what their peers do. Often highly intelligent but socially rejected because of their obsesssion with a given subject, usually computers.
Ok, I know these are just stereotypes, but in some cases they are somewhat true.
Check out: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=nerd for more definitions on subculture titles and slang words. Be aware that this site (http://www.urbandictionary.com) may contain inappropriate definitions and words, so if you want to surf this site and come across something that startles you with *another vocab word!*, don't blame me! Go at your own risk!!!
I'm failing as a Nerd and Geek but I will keep trying, because as Bill Gates proves, nerds and geeks rule!.
On my vacation in New Zealand, I read a book about a thief who uses the sewers as ways to get around town and steal others valuables. As the story progressed I was looking forward to the ending but it left the ending open to many possibilities. I automatically thought of TLP because the ending was open to many possibilities of what happened to TLP. With reading closely I made my own prediction of what happened just like we inferred what happened in the seminar that we had together as a class.
I really don't have a comment right now but I want to talk about why kids at school always have to put themselves into groups such as the popular, nerds, geeks, losers, etc. I just think that is plain dumb because everybody is equal and doing that is just putting others down or making people have a low self esteem. Everybody is different, I mean some people like to study or love technology. So what? What did they do to deserve to be put down by others popular then them? Besides being popular is the worst of all. They may look good on the outside but they are ugly on the inside. They don't really understand others around them and just want attention by others. That is really arrogant. I mean school is just school. It won't stay with you. Eventually, you'll graduate and being in the popular gang won't help your future. It's education that is successful. Plus, the nerds and the geeks are the ones who have the best jobs in the future. So don't worry about the popular people and don't try to be like them. Just be yourself and remember, everybody is special no matter what.
Something that I have come across in some movies and books is about death just being a part of life that we all must take. As Gandalf said in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, "death is just another path that we all must take". And in Harry Potter you hear something similar from Dumbledore when he explains to Harry that he would not try to avoid death because he thinks that death is like just another adventure.
I would like to write about the psychology of a saying. I have read a book called, “Blessing of the rainbow” a few days ago and basically it was about ways to success and be happy. In the book, there was this story. Once, a Japanese scientist had an experiment about the effect of a word by using a bowl of rice. He put the same rice on 2 bowls for each at the same amount and labeled one as, “Thank you!” and the other, “You bastard!” Then, he made elementary kids to say the word that was labeled on each bowl for every break time. After one month had passed, he found an amazing result; the bowl which was labeled as “Thank you” turned out to be just as same as before. However, the bowl which was labeled as “You bastard” was stinking and the rice corrupted into a mold. This story tell us that one’s thoughts based on what he/she say, it works as an energy to influence a microorganism. (You know that many germs are in the rice) If it affects a microorganism, it means that other materials or cells get affected by them. What is obvious here is that a key to be happy or sad, success or fail depends on words we say in ordinary times.
I think I don’t have many thoughts that relates to our Humanities, but I will like to talk about my trip to Cambodia. During the winter break I went to Cambodia and figured that Cambodia was truly POOR than I had expected. They only had one road, given by the Japanese government, where cars can be driven smoothly. ‘Of course they have lots of roads but I’m talking about the road which seems like a real road. Not muddy or bumpy roads.’ So Cambodian people really thank the Japanese government and use only (they also use other cars from different countries but most of them are from Japan) Japanese cars. I felt like Japan was kind of advertising to Cambodia by making them some roads.
It also seemed like the Cambodian people in the city (surrounding Angkor watt) were normally earning money from selling products to the tourists. If there aren’t many tourists that year, then the people in the city can’t really live comfortably because they can’t sell much. Like most countries, their economics are much related to consumption. However, I think Cambodia is much more related to consumption than any other countries because they mostly live with the money from the tourists when they come and go - money that people spend on hotels, food, and buying souvenirs.
Doing break I was in kosamoi and it was kind of disappointing because there was a lot of rain and wind that made the ocean to have a bigger and stronger waves. As a results from that I must admit that the vacation pretty boring because we went to the beach only next to the hotel for that the time that the rain would start we could go to the back to the hotel fast and not to get wet. We were supposed to go on a big boat and from there to another island but the weather didn’t let us!
Sorry. But I forgot to mention that on my vacation I went to Australia and New Zealand although, I read the book when I was in New Zealand. Sorry about that.
I really don't know what to talk about, but something that has been on my mind recently is the fact that some places in this world are somewhat out-of-this-world freezing cold. Before, I would have never realized about the cold factor in most Arctic/Antarctic places. However, after facing -30ºC in Harbin, China, it has made me realize what the word "cold" actually meant. After that, I thought back to the rest of the people facing cold today...how many are suffering and dying because they couldn't take the cold.
I feel privileged to have all of the wool, knitted sweaters, windbreakers, and my blue ski uniform with me to help me stay warm. I learned a lot from this new&unique experience.
Over winter break I went to America. Due to the fact that certain products that are availible in America aren't availible in Thailand, I did a lot of shopping.
Well, while I was buying a new iPod Touch I started to wonder what values would be associated with me if people saw me listening to an iPod. I then realized that one of the many reasons that I like iPods is because of the way that I am percieved when I am using one. I think that it makes me look prestigous, young, fun, and "cool".
During my winter holiday I went to Australia for one week as a Christmas present from my father. In Australia my grandparents have friends who all also have grandchildren around the same age as my sister (11) and I (13). When spending time with other children my age I realized something ironic. The smaller the age gap the more the siblings quarrel. For example two sisters are the same age and my sister and I. And we fought a lot with our younger sisters. However my cousins are 11 and 7 which is a larger age gap and they nearly never bicker amongst themselves. I think this is so because my sister and I and my friends are in the same age group so we all compete for the best and dislike it when the other tries to embarrass us or annoy our friends. I think if my sister was much younger than me then I would be nicer to her.
Usually on the first week of school after a holiday, everyone feels unadjustable and tired. I felt the same way when I came back to school after three weeks because of Operation Starship. During the winter holidays, I looked over the OS cd and thought how it was like a holiday but educational. This lead me into thinking like how I visited various places to learn about space compared with tlp visiting different planets to find love. In the end, we both returned to our home and accomplished what we wanted to do. Like tlp, I also met people on OS and made some friends too. I then realized that I went through the same journey as tlp and so did all the other members of Operation Starship. In a way tlp and I were similar yet different.
During winter break I stayed at home and went for art class. It amazed me how well you need to undertsand symbolism in order to be able to paint and have a good idea of what you're going to paint. I spent most of my time in art class just sitting and thinking about how I could symbolize what I wanted to portray through my painting. I think doing symbolism in school really helped me when I was doing his and of course while thinking of ideas I was reminded of our humanities class and the Little Prince
During my vacation, I found myself connecting to The Little Prince. Usually when I read a book, I usually don't have anymore connections with it anymore. This is the first book that I can still connect to after our class finished it.
When I was on the yacht in the middle of the Andaman Sea, I felt like how the Little Prince felt when he was in the middle of the desert. I felt like I was alone by myself in the middle of the sea and like there was nobody else on the planet with me. There was only me, the sea, and that momment.
For Christmas break, I went to Bali with my family. In Bali I stayed at a very beautiful resort, Le Meridian. This resort was next to the water thus having an amazing view. Every evening at that hotel, my dad and I walked up to the highest point in the resort and watched the sunset. It was a really beautiful image. It was high tide and the sun was covered by clouds. It was like God was a painter and that view was the painting. Very Beautiful!! It was like I was in another world that was without worry and pain. All it had was pure beauty.This experience will always stay with me as it was one of the most amazing things that has ever happened to me. During one of these moments that you realize how talented God is and how spectacular this world really is. I will always keep that picture with me in my heart and will never forget it. And bet my dad never will too!!
During my vacations in Malaysia, I saw many different things, people and places. Seeing all the people reminded me of the TLP when he visits the six planets looking for love. I saw many different people, and one of them was a Portuguese man that lived in Melaka for many years, and he works in a bank. That reminds me of the conceded man, because all he thought about was money. So i thought that going to Malaysia was an experience to me, even though there were not many things to do.
i didn't really go anywhere because of my broken ankle but a lot of my realitives came to visit me during my break and they all came a different times, this sort of reminded me of the little prince when he came to different planets and met different people, because i felt me spending time with my realitives who were visiting made me feel like the little prince because they all had their on complex personaltys that i enjoyed.
I can't think of anything else to say other than a connection I made to TLP yesterday (I borrowed Twilight from the library- awesome read!). I was reading it when I came across this line: (paraphrased a little) 'If we didn't have the dark we wouldn't see the stars.' I thought that was incredibly similar to TLP's 'What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere, it's hiding a well.'
Others have related their experiences during winter break to "The Little Prince", mostly through a book they read or movies they watched. I am also one of the people who relates their vacation to Humananities through TLP, but it's not a book I read that connected me to TLP, it's what I did.
At the beginning of winter break I was informed with awful news, I was told that I was not going to be able to go on trip due to my parent's busy work schedule. From that day the bright sunny days of winter break turned dark and cloudy. Day by day I lived a tedious life imagining how it would have been to go on an amusing and adventurous trip. Each day I looked for friends to hang out with and excitement to get through the dull days. Thinking bad of the dreary days reminded me of The Little Prince and how he was looking for friendship the same way I was looking for a friend to hang out with.
A week has passed and my boring days were endless. It got up to a point where I can't put up with the boredom anymore and decided to join a tennis camp. It is an acititvy where we get to meet new friends and play tennis with unfamiliar faces. I was intrigued to getting back with my old friends but not really into the idea of making new friends. But it was clearly better than doing nothing. After a day or two I met many new friends that I got along well and had fun with. This also reminded me of TLP getting meet many new people. Not only did the story of my winter break made conncection to TLP it made a conncection to a philosophy. Stating, "for every 1 thing you regret, there are always 100 more to be thankful for." I regretted not being able to go on an adventurous trip but I was thankful for getting to play tennis everyday and getting a chance to meet new friends and share great experiences with them.
I've read a story about a young artist learning about art. He was thrift and didn't want to use a lot of money on new papers, so he used papers others used to draw. However, over years, the young artist's drawing didn't improve. He was confused and went to his teacher to ask for advise. His teacher suggested him to buy brand new papers to draw. The artist took the advise and bought a stack of high qualitied white paper. After a few months of practice, the artist's drawing improved. When his friends asked why, the artist said, "I keep on telling myself these papers are expensive and the money is hard to earn, so with every stroke of my pencil, I became very careful. I plan what I'm going to draw step by step. When you use your heart, how can you not improve?"
The message in the story is that a lot of people waste their life not doing things in earnest. Their life flow by like water. Like the artist, they think that life is endless and there are stacks of waste paper to use, so wasting one doesn't matter. However, even one piece of those 'waste paper' matters in your life. People should value everyday life and not to waste them. Live each day with a plan, which will made the day worth living!
Last year during summer vacation I bought a book called ‘Harry Potter and Philosophy’ in a book store in Korea. It’s basically a whole book which explains the whole book philosophically in every possible way. In one of the chapters in the book I came by a section that reads ‘defect of evil’ and the following is written. (I’m translating myself from Korean to English so it might not be perfect)
‘The strength of evil doesn’t come from true sentiment, but from forging and distorting the good. However, truth and good are always strong than the evil. Also, truth and good shows that the evil lacks things like love, good health of mental and physical health, hope, sagacity’
This part of the book got stuck in my head and I think it’s the best explanation of the weakness of the evil I’ve ever read about.
I am just going to write about what has been on my mind for a couple of weeks now.
The NFL(National Football League) Playoffs!
Super bowl XLIII (43) is about two and a half weeks away and I can't wait for it. The teams that have not been eliminated and still have a chance to win it all are the Baltimore Ravens, the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Philadelphia Eagles, and the Arizona Cardinals. The playoffs are at the stage where the Ravens and the Steelers battle to go to the Super bowl. The Eagles and the Cardinals are going to play for a chance to go to the Super bowl. I know that this comment is no relevant to many people. We are in Thailand where Football (Soccer) is the most popular sport but it's important to me and it's what has been on my mind for quite a while.
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During vacation my relatives came to Bangkok and stayed for almost a week. Before they came I didn't feel delightful to see them because some cousins are too young and some of them I am not even familiar. However it turned out that I was totally wrong because it was so much fun. One of my cousin, who's in the same grade as me, brought some news about my classmates and it was fun to hear new information about them as I got bothersome to go online and reply messages others left. Meeting relatives that I haven't met for a while wasn't awkward or anything but actually really pleasant. When they were gone I was futile and it took time for me to recover to my routine. I felt from their visit that I should contact my old friends and my cousins as it felt really pleasant to see whom I knew after a long time not awkwardly but actually as if we always did. And that really helped me make up my mind of contacting my friends again.
Over the winter break, I stared a book, The End Game, by Michael Dibdin. As this book is a crime thriller set in Italy, I have came across a name whose work has greatly intrigued me. It was very deep, insightful, and philosophical. He was a great writer, politician, and orator of Rome. He was Cicero.
Although he has lived some millenniums ago, I still feel that his work has some value in today's world. Seeing his name mentioned in The End Game, I just followed it up by simply googling him for his work and great quotes. Here are some of my favorite:
"A room without books is like a body without a soul."
"While there's life, there's hope."
"Every man can tell how many goats or sheep he possesses, but not how many friends."
In some way, Cicero's quotes has got me thinking about TLP through that TLP is an allegory, which is based on philosophy. Another great quote by Cicero: "The life of the dead is placed in the memory of the living." In TLP, the little prince's death is placed eternally into the narrator's mind, a friend, mentor, and hope.
It is said that a person’s brain has over 60,000 thoughts per day, this may sound like a large number but the thoughts that a person remembers are probably less than hundredth of that number. I’m sure I’ve had lots of random thoughts but I hardly remember any. Here’s one that I just thought of a few minutes ago.
News today often states that one generation is worse than the one before. Young people these days are often bad at dealing with failures and pressure, the solution for them seems to be ending their own lives. My parents often say that they don’t understand what young people these days are thinking about. I find this quite strange since parents are supposed to teach their kids how to deal with failure and that failing once doesn’t mean giving up on life. I think it is ironic how the old generation complains about young generation being bad because the old generation teaches the young.
I don't really know what to write but like Ethan I read a fantasy book called Brisingr, in which I was very much looking forward to reading the ending. It was supposed to be the last book in the trilogy. However, I was disappointed when I found out that the ending revealed almost nothing, was a cliff hanger, and could be understood in many different ways. This reminded me of the ending of the TLP, and how everyone had their own opinion of what its ending meant. I had to be content with only being able to guess what had happened and what would happen in the next book. I was quite annoyed with the author, Christopher Paolini, for turning this trilogy into a series with four books. It is quite remarkable though, that Paolini started writing this series when he was only 15. He became a New York Times Bestseller at the age of 19. A large amount of critics have spoken out against his writing and story, saying that it is copying the Lord of The Rings and Star Wars series. I, however, beg to differ because I have come across both the other series, and feel that Paolini's writing and story are unique. He has even come up with many words in 3 new languages for the different races in his books!
This may seem really random but I also wanted to say how I feel that it is quite ironic that American football is referred to as 'football', and football has been given the name 'soccer'. The name is ironic because the most important parts in American football involve throwing and catching to score a touchdown (using your hands). This is my opinion, many people might differ. I personally prefer to say football instead of soccer. This name also sparks stupid 'sayings' from people like 'Soccer is for suckers.' It even seems more appropriate to me.
During this winter vacation, I finished reading a book strongly recommended by Ms. Khelsey called "Shattering Glass". This book is about bulleying, which is the common issue happpening in our age. While I was reading this book, I was thinking how I treated the people around me even my friends. I don't thint it's fair for people to be bulleyed just because of their height or age. Many people are teased by how they look like, and many other things. This isn't also fair to them. Therefore, I think ISB students should not ignore this issue, and should not be part of it.
This year, I decided to try for a baseball team at ISB, which I didn't try last year. And I am now facing some problems. My coachs are very kind to me but they sometimes tell me to do something in a different ways that I have been doing in Japan, because of the perspective, the view. They look things different than I do. And I think these differences are important things to have in my life, because then I can see things from many views that I have troubling now.
I had come up with another one now.
Back in Japan, when I was 5th grader in Japanese Elementary School, I made in a baseball team of a borough. And my team went to the tournament of Kanto region. And I saw other players playing baseball very very well. I have been thinking I was kind of best player, but when I saw all those good players, I knew there are many many people who are better than me. And now I can relate this event to the story of TLP. In the book the prince says "I though I was rich," after he found same roses on the Earth as his rose on his planet. I didn't know there are lots of people who can play better than me, and I had been thinking that I was "Rich".
To be a student of the international school, is same as traveling planet to planet like TLP, because there are many people from many places in ISB, and some of them are better than me. I am now traveling planet, the world that I've never seen, to know how am I good and how am I bad.
I would like to talk about psychology as what SO-YEON said on her comment. Four days ago I read the news about the plants and music. The news also mentioned the book called “The Secret Life of Plants.” In the book, it talked about the relationship between the plants and the music. The story was this; there was one woman scientist named “Dorothy Retallack” who were really interested and suspected about the relationship between plants and music. So she had experiment the relationship between plants and music with other scientist named “Broman.” They were the first scientists who were had experiment with the plants and music, and the result was amazing. Two scientists play classic music for one of pumpkin and play for rock music for another one. Few weeks later, the vine of pumpkin that heard classic music ran up the side of the radio speaker, but another one that heard rock music ran up the opposite side of the radio speaker. Two scientists told that this happening called “Physical-galvanic response,” and they published the book called “The Secret Life of Plants.” Dorothy Retallack did other experiments with the music and plants and she realized that the plants like string instrument than percussion instrument.
This news and the book tell us the opinions or their ideas what they said to other people influenced a lot every people as like as the music influenced even plants. What I was really surprised and obvious is that every single words what we used in our general life could change your life also other people’s life.
In the last few weeks the wether in Thailand was really cold during the morning. I found it very nice and fun to be walking in Thailand in the cold. I have livd in Israel and in the winter the temprature was about the same and that is pretty amazing. Thailand in a hot country with nice weahter for over a month. So that makes me happy. I really hope it stays like that for more time because after all in a couple of weeks, we will have a much hotter weather.
During the winter vacation, I went to Utah and Florida. While staying in Utah, I read a book called The Lost Boy by Dave Pelzer. I thought the book was very similar to The Little Prince because in The Lost Boy, Dave, the main character was a foster child. Whenever he went from one foster home to another, he learned something new. It is similar to The Little Prince because when the Little Prince was journeying the Earth, he learned new things as well. Also, Dave didn't have much friends because he was always moving around all the time but he knew that all his foster parents loved him as the pilot loved the Little Prince.
During the holiday, I felt like I was the little prince when he was visiting the different people on each planets. I went to my cousin's house where all my family member gathered together to celebrate new year. I met with all my relatives and cousins; some of which I have never met before. I found some of these people to be perplexing in a way since they did not have the same opinion as I did.
One remarkable thing which my dad told me was "look at these people with your heart, not with your eyes". I think that this was similar to a quote in the novel when the fox told the little prince that "what is essential is invisible to the eyes".
During my winter vacation, I went back to China to visit my family. Every evening I would sit with my grandfather and watch the national news, often in the news we would see information about the economical issues considering that consumerism had overgrown in China over the past few years. This reminded me of the Consumer + Economics unit we have had back in school, so I paid extra attention of such topics later on. When I was out shopping or should we say ‘consuming’, I had always thought about what I can do to not become a over-consumer and how my identity would be affected by this act.
I am an only child so I would feel lonely become of the lack of excitement and life around me. However, everytime I go back to China for the holidays, I would always do things that I would not have done during a school period because during holidays, I would be able to be with my grandparents who had overcame the sacrifice of not seeing their grandchild for years. My grandmother loves watching the sunset, which reminded me about the little prince. So I thought about experiencing the lonely truth about the little prince’s life, so one day, I sat on the balcony and watched sunsets with my family the way the little prince had done, and I have even tried moving my chair so that I could see another sunset within a minute the way the little prince had. However, there was only one sunset, and then it was over. I continued this activity throughout almost my whole trip, because every time, I would always come up with some kind of understanding of things that was once a confusion to me, the sunsets have taught me about how to forget the pain and move on towards a brand new sunset that would never go away.
By the way I also saw a wild fox in the city!! (and it reminded me of the little prince)
During my winter vacation my grandmother, uncle, aunt and my cousin came to Thailand for a week to visit us. I was very thrilled to see them because I haven’t seen them in a year. When they finally arrived at the air port at ten o clock at night, we took them to Night Bazaar to show them that Thailand is a very good place to buy fake things. After that, we took them to new places such as, JJ market, temples, and some awesome massage places. After spending a week with my family, I learned how important my family means in my life because my family gave me things I didn’t even ask for. For example, my uncle and aunt bought me a good Nike shoes I didn’t even ask for. Also at New Years Eve, they gave us some Korean snacks they brought all the way from Korea. I was very happy and felt good that they are part of my family. I think we all should value our family and care about them since they are very important.
For me, this was the worst winter break ever. I was so disappointed. I was staying at home and did nothing while my friends were having fun in other countries or somewhere fun in Thailand. Somehow, I felt I was the little prince because I was lonley.
My wish is to go to England during vacation and go to football stadiums and watch my favorite teams play.
One day, as I scanned through the shampoo bottles on the shelves at the beauty section of the department store, I came across a bottle that was unique unlike other ones. I wanted to know “why are there words all over this bottle?” and “where is the image that captures consumers to consume this product?” Out of my curiosity, I picked it up and read it. On it was written a philosophy which I found it greatly true and interesting. Moreover, the philosophy serves as an inspiration that guides my way through disheartening and exhausting days. As I perceived the meaning of each word, it gave a clearer understanding of what life is about and how much it values. On the bottle was printed, “Life is a classroom. We are both student and teacher. Each day is a test. And each day we receive a passing or failing grade in one particular subject: grace. Grace is compassion, gratitude, surrender, faith, forgiveness, good manners, reverence, and the list goes on. It’s something money can’t buy and credentials rarely produce. Being the smartest, the prettiest, the most talented, the richest, or even the poorest, can’t help. Being a humble person can and being a helpful person can guide you through your days with grace and gratitude.”
Over the winter break, I didn’t travel anywhere due to my parents’ busy work schedule and to be honest, I was rather disappointed when they told me the news. I always look forward to breaks and holidays because I get to travel. I love traveling, especially to new places, to countries I haven’t been to before. One of the reasons why I love to travel is because of the knowledge and experience I gain from it. For me, meeting new people, going to different places, and seeing new things excite me. It broadens my perception of the world. This made me think about TLP; he journeyed to different planets, to places he has never been to before and met new people. From each of the planets he visited, he gains a piece of knowledge. From each of the countries I visit I, too, learn and experience something new.
Alex Lee-
Since I've traveled nowehre, I would like to talk about something that is coming. On Jan 24,I have a game tournament in Siam Paragon at Royal Hall Center. The game is about shooting game called ,"Sudden Attack." I have practiced with my friends in the holiday. My friends and I all had the same mind,"We do our best to achieve the champion, no matter what the obstacles are blocking in front of us." I will also do my best.
This winter break, I went to Switzerland. It was amazing because this is the favorite time of the year, winter. Skiers and snowboarders are so lucky with the immense amount of snow there is in the mountains, and even in the streets! I was traveling alone from Bangkok to Geneva which was exciting because I felt independent and free from school and family to know what it was like in the real world. I can make a connection with The Little Prince because he was alone traveling from place to place, which I was doing and only felt a bit lonely. I felt like I had wings when I was snowboarding because nobody was screaming in my ears, "Do your homework Loic!" I felt free. Honestly, this was the BEST winter break in Switzerland because of the chance to spend some time alone and the snowboarding was fascinating!
This random thought didn't really occur during winter break, but instead I have been thinking about this for a very long time, and I'm sure many other people are wondering the same thing.
Why is the grass almost always greener on the other side?
People who live in the city want to live in the country.
People who live in the country want to live in the city.
People who have curly hair want to have straight hair.
People who have straight hair want to have curly hair.
People who have naturally darker skin (like Thais) want to have ghost-white skin.
People who have naturally white skin (like Caucasians) want to have tan skin.
People who are short want to be taller.
People who are (really really) tall want to be shorter.
People who work in an office want to work outdoors.
People who work outdoors want to work in an office.
Of course, these assumptions aren't always true, but I've just realized that human beings always want the things that we don't have. There are many other examples of this - such as, people who have small sports cars want spacious bigger cars. and then people who have spacious big cars want smaller sports cars.
I've never quite understood why people tend to do this, including myself. I'm actually pretty lucky because i can have or had both things. I've lived in both the country and the city, i can have relatively straight hair (if i tie it up at night) or curly hair (if i don't tie it up at night), I can have white skin (if i don't expose my skin to the sun) or tan skin (my skin tans really easily). I have been shorter than average at the end of 6th grade and beginning of 7th and I'm now growing to be relatively tall compared to most girls in 8th grade. I work both inside and outside (at school). Also, I have had a a really small sports car before (Audi TT) and a more spacious car (a Toyota Fortuner). So, I've been on both grassy green sides. Despite this, I still look for something that I can't have and chase after it. Why do we do this?
Why is the grass always greener on the other side?
This winter, I had to study in the weekdays at the academy. I couldn’t even go to department stores often, and I didn’t play with my friends at all. However, I think this vacation gave me a lot of help. Firstly, I think my vocabulary skills have increased. I had a vocabulary lesson, and I realized they are used often.
Another thing I have in mind is the Chiangmai trip and the AMIS. Chiangmai, of course, is longer than the other trips in middle school, and it has more activities. I can’t wait for it. My friends are in my group and I have am satisfied with my activity. AMIS is a band festival in Manilla. People in band do an optional audition, and the judgers choose people who can participate. This is my second band festival, and my first one turned out to be fascinating, so I’m waiting for this event as well.
Finally, I also have in mind that I’m moving in to Nichada. This will be so much fun and comfortable, because there are so many friends living in Nichada, and it takes less time to go to school. Just 10 minutes and I’ll arrive in school. Also I can sleep an extra hour more.
Over semester break my family and I took a cruise out of Singapore. While on the cruise I noticed one major thing, the ship did not seem to be at full capacity. When I ask a person on the ship I was very fascinated to here that it was only at around 75% capacity. That did not seem to make since to me given it was the week of Christmas, until I remembered about the economic crisis in the U.S. and how it is affecting the world. Although it was brought up in class I never really saw anything that showed its effects until my vacation.
Last year when I went back to Japan, I told my aunt and uncle about one of my friends at the Japanese school in Thailand.
I said "You know there is one girl in the Japanese school in Thailand and she's so smart!"
But my aunt said, "What do you mean, smart??" I had a question mark on top of my head, but I said, "She can do any problems correctly! She's so good at math! And she writes essays very well!"
Then my aunt said, "It's not called smart if you can do the problems right... You have to be able to act smart." Act smart? What does that mean?
As all of you notice, the weather these days are very hot excluding the last two to three days. We have been melting in the sun every outdoor location we set foot on. Maybe this is because of Global Warming? I don't know the exact answer but if this goes on, everyone in the world will die!!! So we have to do something about it. NOTHING! Almost everybody is too lazy to get up and turn the lights off, turn the air conditioners off, turn the car engines off, etc.. We need to change our habits (including me) to not be lazy and save the planet. This is what I think. How about you guys?
[This comment randomly came into my mind when I noticed the sun's rays blazing harder then before.]
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