TLP Reflection

Hi! Today in class Mr. Hide asked us to write about what we think about the project. I think that this project has been very interesting because we've worked with lots of people in other different places on the world. We have exchanged information about our topic and we have also learned new things about what we are working on.

When in class Mr. Hide told us we were going to do a teen life project, I thought it would be like all projects. I thought we would just need to prepare a presentation in front of all the class about teenage life. I really didn't know what that had to do with class but I wasn't very enthusiasmed and I didn’t know what to expect either because I had never done anything like this.

In this project we have had to post and write about our research and other things in our blogs. The most interesting and fun part of this project is that we are working with totally new people. For example, I would never have thought I would meet someone from a far country like Malaysia in Asia. I have had a lot of experiences working with different people.

The people in my group about teen smoking are Yoko, Aron, Toni, and Ashley from Canada and Malaysia. My partner from my school is Eduardo. One of the things I did in this project and that I’ve never done before is making our project into a documentary. We’ve had to find public domain images. Public domain images are images with no copyright, so it has been kind of hard because we can’t just search for it in Google, where most of the images are copyrighted.

In conclusion, I have had many fun experiences with this project. I’ve worked with people from different countries and I have learned a lot from the places were they lived. For example, I’ve exchanged information with people from Snow Lake, which is a small town in Canada. Working with people from Malaysia has been different because since it’s an international school, there are people from all parts of the world, for example Australia. I’ve also learned to work in team work. Since we can’t meet at a house, we need to talk a lot with the other people in our teams so we all agree on what to do.

Finally, I have learned many things in this project and I have exchanged information and experiences with other people. At first I thought this project would be very boring like other projects we’ve had, but it actually has been really different from any other I’ve had done and I have met other people from other places which is fun.

Final Researchh.

Last week on my post, I said I wanted to know what some companies are doing to reduce the amount of teens smoking. I went to Google and found this article on MSN. I also found some useful info on Wikipedia. Hope you enjoy!

A couple of months ago, some representants of more than 35 US states asked movie companies to include ads against smoking in DVDs and videos. They did this because most teens watch DVDs and videos so it would be a good way to advertise not smoking. More than 73% of movies teens watch include actors smoking, so the ads would be a good idea. The anti-smoking commercials will come out in the next months probably.

Goverments of many countries are also doing things to prevent teen smoking. In most countries, such as Australia, Brazil, and Canada, the selling of tobacco products to underage persons is forbidden and it could result in jail or with a fine. It is also forbidden for an adult to buy tobacco and then give it to a kid. In most US states, the minimum age to buy cigarretes is 18, while in others it is 19. In countries such as China and Turkey, though, kids and teens don't have many problems with buying tobacco because their parents tell them to go to the store and buy it for them.

A new thing some goverments are doing is raising taxes on smoking. Some of the tax money is destined to anti-smoking programs in schools or other places. This helps a lot the community and stops some people from buying tobacco. In some countries with high taxes for smoke, such as the UK, each pack of cigarretes costs around $10.70, goverments from other countries, though, don’t raise their taxes at all, and no improvement is being done. The problem with that country is that some sellers avoid the taxes so people buy their products. It is estimated that more than one third of the smokers in UK don't pay tobacco taxes.

In some countries, there are no smoking ads on television, magazines, etc. Also cigarrete packs come with warnings and ways to quit smoking. If cigarrete companies don't include that, then they can be banned from the market. Some commercials in TV have impacting images of people with brown teeths, smokers in the hospital with respiratory problems, damaged body tissues, annual death rates, and more. This has decreased the number of smokers by 25% because people realize they don’t want those things to happen in their bodies and they react.

Finally, many American and European countries make places were smoking is forbidden. Some of these places include restaurants, bars, gas stations, hospitals, etc. This is made so second-hand smoking is reduced. Second-hand smoking is when smoking gases are recieved by the person near the smoker and he or she is affected aswell. Second-hand smoking problems include asthma and other respiratory diseases.

Well, that was my last research for the Teen Life Project to use in my documentary. Hope you liked it! Bye!!! :P xD

Peer Pressure!

Today I'm going to talk about peer pressure! I found this information in a page called Kids Health, I also used info from a web page called Teens Health. It is very useful because it doesn't have any hard or strange words, so it was easy to understand.

Peer pressure is when people your age, called peers, influence you to act a certain way or do something. Sometimes peer pressure can be good because your friends can influence you to study for a test for example. In other cases it is bad because they can force you or try to convince you to try drugs or similar stuff. That type of peer pressure is what I'm going to write about today.

Some teens give in to peer pressure because they want to be cool or be accepted in a group of people. They're scared that if they don't do what they are pressure to do, they will be rejected from their friends. Other people just do it because they are curious to try new things. Some teens just do it because 'everyone is doing it'. Peer pressure can lead you to wrong things that could ruin your life, for example, drugs.

Luckily, there are some ways to stop peer pressure. It is better to be with someone who also wants to get out of peer pressure, that way you'll feel supported and you will be stronger. Choosing your friends is also very good. If you choose to be friends with someone who smokes, drinks alcohol, or skips classes, then that friend will probably want you to do it with him. A good way is to be friends with people who are similar to you, so if someday someone is telling you to do something you don't want to do, you can get help and support from that friend.

Stress in your life also comes from peer pressure, which makes some people have a depression. It is when they feel very sad about everything. There are two types of peer pressure, direct or indirect. Direct is when your peers try to convince you with threats to do something that you don't want to do. Indirect is for example, when cigarettes are available at a party but your friends aren't actually forcing you into trying them but you see them doing it.

People of all ages have peer pressure some time in their lives, whether it is positive or negative. Some people are more likely to give in to peer pressure, though. People that have a low self-steem, don't have confidence in themselves, and follow other people's lead are more likely to do what they are asked to do whether it is against their values or not. People who are new to a group of friends are also likely to give in. Also, using alcohol or drugs has a higher chance of giving in to peer pressure because the substance affects judgement and the ability to make good decisions.

So, that was all my research about peer pressure. Next, I'd like to investigate more about what some tobacco companies or the governments of some countries are doing to decrease the amount of teens smoking. Bye, see ya!

Smokingggg.

Hii! Since the wiki was remade, I decided to change the topic of my project since too many people are already doing global warming and it was a too much scientific project, which I didn't like. So now, instead of doing it about that, I'm going to do it about smoking, mainly teens.

I found this Kids Health page. It says that smoking can cause many diseases, such as cancer and emphysema, a heart disease. Also it can shorten your life by around fourteen years. I think that that is a very hard and weighty reason as to why not smoke, but some people do smoke even though they know it is bad for you.

Cigarettes and tobaccos in general contain a chemical product called nicotine. Nicotine is a substance that makes you addict. It is hard to stop smoking because your mind and body become used to tobacco and nicotine, and to feel normal with yourself, you smoke.

Most smokers start before they are older than eighteen years old. Some do it because it makes them feel older, but really it makes your teeth look yellowish and causes wrinkles in your face. Other people smoke because they say it is relaxing, but really, it makes their heart beat much faster. Some girls smoke because they want to loose weight. It is true smoking causes weight loss, but it isn't a good way to loose weight. Finally, some people do it to feel rebellious, but that is not good because you're really ruining your life.

Some ads from smoking companies were really common in the past. They were as common as seeing a McDonald's ad. In recent years, governments control how many ads about smoking go into T.V. so people don't get tempted to try. Still, in some commercials, smokers are showed like really cool and fun persons, though they don't appear as often.

There is no physical reason to smoke. The body can do perfectly without nicotine or other smoke gases. In fact, the first time you smoke, you feel a burning in the throat or lungs, and some people even throw up. This happens because the body is rejecting the smoke. Smoking can damage lung tissue and create several breathing problems that lead to death. Bones are also affected, they get weaker and have a higher chance of having osteoporosis. Since lungs are also affected, smokers aren't that athletic because their lung capacity isn't to the max.

In my opinion, this is very interesting information. There are some things I didn't know, such as heart diseases. I just thought that smoking could affect your lungs. Also I didn't know it causes wrinkles, which makes you look uglier. This article made me think that smoking is a giant mistake that some teens make. Smoking could ruin the rest of their lives.

In my next research, I would like to learn more about peer pressure and smoking. I think that starting to smoke because of peer pressure could be stopped if teens knew how to stop their friends from influencing them so much. Yesterday in school we had a program called Teen Aid, and we saw a movie about a teen that smoked drugs and a girl that almost started to drink because their friends pressured them to do so.

Peer pressure would be the next step in my investigation because it is a mayor cause of teenagers smoking. Luckily today, there are many programs in schools to warn teens about peer pressure. Also they teach you methods to handle it.

Bye! Post a commentttt! :D

Global Warming Research

Hi! It's me again. Today in class we had to start with researching about our topic for the project. I went to Google and found out the website for the EPA. It is The United States Enviromental Protection Agency. Inside, I found an interesting article. It gives a general information about the causes of global warming and an idea of what is the problem. This article helped me out a lot because it made me understand the general causes and consequences of global warming.

I learned that the greenhouse effect are concentrations of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere. These gases don't allow heat, smoke, and things like that escape into the Earth, which has made the temperatures on Earth rise a lot lately. According to the NASA, 2005 and 1998 were the hottest years in history. This is very alarming because they are very recent.

Something that really shocked me was the following quote from the article.

If greenhouse gases continue to increase, climate models predict that the average temperature at the Earth's surface could increase from 2.5 to 10.4ºF above 1990 levels by the end of this century.

This made me realize this is a big problem and humans really need to solve it. If it isn't solved animals and all living things, including plants would die, leaving no food for humans. Also there would be severe droughts so there wouldn't be any water either. I couldn’t imagine leaving in a world with super high temperatures. I don’t like the climate in Cartagena because it is hot and humid so it would be really hard for me to tolerate more heat. I would like to leave in a cold place with snow and ice like Canada, lol.

The article also mentioned that scientists hypothesize that all this climate changes are happening because of humans carbon dioxide emissions, fossil fuel burnings, and more. They don't know for sure how much will the temperature increase or at what rate, though they know it will affect the planet very badly.

I think humans should work together by doing campaigns or such to encourage others to stop global warming. One way to stop it would be recycling, not wasting water, and such. Also certain organizations, such as Live Aid are making special fundraising concerts with artists from all around the world to earn money to solve this problem. A Live Aid concert for global warming is planned in June or July.

Next I want to know about which places are the most pollutants. I would also like to know some long-term consequences of global warming. This will help me to gain more general knowledge about my topic so then I can research about other things such as the greenhouse effects and carbon dioxide emissions. I also have heard that the theory of global warming is totally wrong, and instead there is global cooling. I think global cooling is something very interesting because that would make me much happier and less worried about sweating all day in a couple of years.

So that was all my research. See you later in my next post! Bye! :P

Our School

I was looking at the project wiki and I saw that April in Mr. Fisher's class asked about how was our school so I decided to answer that question in this week's post. :)

Our school is a little bit small but it is going to move to a bigger place out of the city in about two years because it is only being constructed now. I'm very excited to be in that school because I think it will be very cool to have new rooms, soccer fields, and things like that.

Our school from now is in the middle of the city. It has a big building of four floors for grades 3 to 12. One floor is down and it doesn't have any classrooms but it is the place were we have flag ceremonies and things like that. High school is on the second floor, middle school is on the third floor, and grades three, four, and five are on the last floor. I'm happier now that I'm in middle school because I didn't like going up all those stairs.

A very cool thing about our school is that it is right in front of the beach. You just need to cross the street and you get there. We do many activities and experiments there. Like a week ago we went to the beach for science class to study something about the sand dunes with the sand. It was very cool to get out of the classroom but it was so hot outside!

The school also has three places to play sports. A basketball court, a soccer field, and a court where you can play basketball, volleyball, or micro soccer. It also has a playground where the little kids play. There are six recess through all the day. Two recess for elementary, two for middle school, and two for high school. This happens so the lines in the cafeteria aren't that big and also you are always with your friends. Our school cafeteria has two cashiers. They sell food like brownies, sandwiches, chips, soda, juices, yogurt, crackers, and things like that. Most people buy in the cafeteria and don't bring their lunch from home.

We have many classes each week. We have normal classes like math, science, social studies, Spanish, and things like that. Also, each four months we can choose between drama class or art class. 7B right now has art and 7A (us) has drama which are one day a week. Also we have fun and academic electives. Our fun electives are like board game creation, destination imagination, reading for pleasure, kindness and leadership, digital photography, and others. Academic electives are fun with physics, singing, percussion, and much more. You can only choose one academic and one fun elective. I am in board game creation and fun with physics :-S.

So, that was all my answer for April's question about how our school is like. I wrote about how our school is physically and what are the classes, etc. Hope you enjoy it! Bye! :D

Places to Hang Out

I was reading the Teen Life Wiki and I saw Anna from Mr. Fisher's class and Daniel from Mr. R's class asked about the special places we go to hangout with our friends to have fun. Well, I decided to answer that question.

One of the main places teens go to hang out in Cartagena is probably El Campito. The place is a baseball stadium but beside it there is a modern micro-soccer court were the owners of the place organize tournaments and things like that. El Campito is very cool because the micro-soccer court has a place to buy drinks like soda or chips and also the grass is artificial which makes it a very good place to play because you don't need the special soccer shoes. Also, outside the court, they sell delicious milkshakes, giant cookies, pizza, and things like that.

Another cool place we hang out in are McDonalds, El Corral, and Creppes and Waffles. I'm sure everyone knows McDonalds because it is a very famous fast food restaurant. People go there for the hamburgers and to chat with other friends. El Corral is similar to McDonalds but I'm not so sure if it is worldwide. Still it tastes delicious. The last one is Creppes and Waffles. I think this is a very good restaurant because they sell sweet creppes, salt creppes, fruit or candy waffles, and basically all kinds of food. Also, I love the ice-creams from that place!

A very good and cool place we go on weekends and Fridays with our friends is Club Cartagena. It is like kind of a club and it has a pool, tennis courts, restaurants, park for little kids, and things like that. Many people go to eat in the restaurant. It isn't fancy or anything and the food is delicious. Also the pool is very cool. It is really big and is deep in some parts and in others it is very shallow. The club also offers tennis classes and a place for adults were they can play pool and games like that. Also there is a very fancy restaurant.

The club also has many cool parties throughout the year. For example, in December 31, there was the party of the end of the year. It was for people older than 18. My parents went with a lot of friends. In the party there are singers, the people dance, and they get in the morning. Also they make a countdown ten seconds before new year. New Year's Party isn't the only one.

After we go to those places, me and my friends feel really good. We always have a lot of fun in those places because we usually find other friends there and chat. Also there are many parties and things like that which are rally cool. I really like Friday nights because it means school is over and we have all the time to hang out with our friends.

Well, that was all my answer to the question! See you later!! Bye! ;P

Project Introduction

Hi! My name is Paula and I'm 12 years old. I am also a Cancer and I am in seventh grade study at Colegio Jorge Washington in Cartagena, Colombia. During the weekends or Fridays I go with my friends and hang out in El Corral, McDonald's, Crepes and Waffles, and other places like that. My school starts at 7:00 AM and ends at 2:30 PM. Mr. Hide’s classes are Social Studies and English. My favorite thing to do in my free time is chatting in MSN, hanging out with my friends and watching TV. I also go to basketball practices after school with my friends and I play. The three issues I’m interested in are global warming, poverty, and ocean pollution.

My life in Cartagena is very interesting. Since we are a coastal city, the climate is usually very hot and humid. We don't have any seasons either. There is many rain in some months and others not. That makes the city warm most of the year. Also, Cartagena is pretty much flat, so there aren't many mountains or cold places with snow.

I'm interested in making my project about global warming. I think this is a very serious issue that affects us because in some years, the climate will increase a lot and the poles will melt much more which could cause us very serious problems. I am interested in this because it is a problem that will affect us in our future and we need to work hard to solve it. That is why global warming concerns me a lot.

Another issue that I am interested in is drugs and alcohol. Many teens like our age drink alcohol and smoke because of peer pressure. That means that your friends pressure you to try out alcohol saying you'll look cooler and things like that. I think this is a big mistake and people should learn to say no. Also alcohol, drugs, and smoking damage your health seriously. For example, smoking can hurt your lungs and drugs are very bad and can get your seriously addicted.

The last issue that interests me is ocean pollution Sometimes there are oil spills in the sea and they affect the beach and the sea environment a lot. Many fishes get killed and the sea gets very badly contaminated. Some people also throw the trash to the sea when they don’t find a trash can and it happens a lot. There is a lot of trash and wastes in the Cartagena Bay so almost no one takes a bath in there.

Those are the three issues I’m interested in making my project about. They affect us a lot and will be very bad in the future if they aren’t solved. Also some of those problems are here, in Cartagena so I’d like to know more about them.

Homeless Russian Kids

This week, I'm going to write about an interesting article I read in BBC for kids. It is about how homeless kids live in St. Petersburg, Russia. This article made me think about all the difficulties families with little money and especially families with economic difficulties that live in places with lots of problems and a harsh climate have. This article was written by a girl named Laura that visited Russia and she visited the place were some of the homeless kids live.

The place were this kids stay is very dirty, it is underground, it has garbage, it is dark, and it is very uncomfortable to live in. The "beds" kids use are just a bunch of blankets piled up in a corner. This "beds" are shared with about three other kids.

The ceiling in the cellar was very low and we had to bend down the whole time we were there. It was filthy dirt, it smelt, and there was rubbish all over the floor. There was a pile of blankets in a corner, which the three boys shared as a bed.

Another sad thing that happens is that many parents abandon their babies. Sometimes because the parents are alcoholic or have problems with drugs and when the babies are born, they get many problems like a little girl that is about six months and she keeps shaking. The doctors that attended her think that this happens to the girl because her mother may have been alcoholic and they think that problem is going to affect her all her life.

What is really sad about all this, is that the Russian goverment doesn't help care for the children at all. The only support children get is from charity foundations like Children in Crisis. The main reason why all this happens is that Russia is a very poor country and the living standards are quite low. There is a big problem with being addict to alcohol in Russia so many parents abandon their kids because they can't feed them or they can't care properly for them. In some countries, if you can't buy food, you get economical help from the goverment, for example, in the UK but in Russia you don't. This is why lots of families beg to survive.

Many charity foundations, like Children in Crisis give children some food at night out of a van. Also, they give day shelters some money. In day shelters, the kids can play, wash up, visit a doctor, and get some warm food. In day shelters, also, kids can go to classes and learn how to read and write so when they are adults they can get a job and they can survive.

Monsters are Due on Maple Street Response

Monsters are Due on Maple Street was written about forty years ago. I think the message from this story is that monsters don't nessesarily need to be ugly, green, or big, we can be our own monsters. For example, after the blackout, when everyone is suspicious and loosing confidence, one of the residents of Maple Street, Peter Van Horn, who went to check if Floral Street had the same blackout problem came back from Floral Street and Charlie took a shotgun and killed him because he thought Peter Van Horn was a monster. Charlie is a normal human, but he was so scared that he killed his own friend. The real monsters that were controlling the blackout and all the events that happened said something very important:

Their world is full 0f Maple Streets. And we'll go from one to the other,
and let them destroy themselves. One to the other...one to the other...one
to the other...

I think the message the story has is true. Humans can be their own monsters when they are under pressure or in a difficult situation and they can cause a lot of damage and harm. This story was written a long time ago but it still is very important for today. It is significant because there are many wars and many people get killed but it happens because of conflicts between humans. An example of this is the this that are happening in Iraq. Many people are killed and the country is getting very violent. That all happens because of a conflict between some humans and the ones killing each other and destroying building and causing a disaster are humans. Also, in Iraq, an important reason of the fight that is happening there is that people don't agree so they end up fighting and making a lot of damage and accusing each other. That is similar to the conflict on Maple Street. In Maple Street people distrust each other and don't agree or end up fighting and there is a big conflict so both problems, in Maple Street and in the real world are real.

If the story was going to be transmitted again by TV off course it would need to be updated. In the original story, the things affected by the blackout are portable radios, and things that are not so popular now. Right now, modern things would be affected like plasma TVs, iPods, DVDs, computers, and things like that. Right now, people know much more about aliens and space travel. People have built space stations, have gone to the moon, and people have built machines that have taken pictures of other planets, etc. I wouldn't change the location of the story much. Maybe I would change the street name but I would make it a common street name, like Main Street. This shows that the problems can happen anywhere in the world because Main Streets and other little streets are very common. Finally, Tommy, the kid that told all the adults that the monsters didn't want them out of the street wouldn't get all his alien information from comic books. I think he could get them from other things like TV or things he reads in internet.

Paul Walker

Paul Walker was born in Glendale, California on September 12, 1973. His complete name is Paul W. Walker Jr. He studied in Village Christian Highschool, in Sun Valley, California, and graduated in 1991. When he was in school he was in the varsity high school football team. Since childhood, he started appearing in Pamper commercials and other TV shows like Who's the Boss, and Charles in Charge. His official debut was in 1986 with the horror movie, Monster in the Closet. After highschool, he still played football and he decided to study marine biology in a college in southern California.

In 1998 he jumped to fame when he filmed the movie Pleasantville with Reese Witherspoon. Some important films he made after that are She's All That and Varsity Blues. One of his most important movies have been The Fast and the Furious with Vin Diesel. This movie is the movie people most recognize him for. In 2003, he filmed the second part of this movie called 2 Fast and 2 Furious. In 2005 he also made a great movie with Jessica Alba called Into the Blue. The films Paul Walker has participated in this year are Flags of Our Fathers, a movie directed by Clint Eastwood and is about six soldiers in the battle of Iwo Jima, who was a really important battle in WWII, he also participated in Eight Below, a Disney film that takes place in Antartica, he takes the role of a traveler in the Antartica that has to leave his sled and his dogs because his life is in danger but then he comes to rescue them, the last film has been Running Scared, a movie with suspense and action.

I think Paul Walker is a great actor because he can interpret many different kinds of characters and can act very well in different types of films which is very hard because you need to express different kinds of feelings for the different characters. For example, Eight Below is a kids movie, while Into the Blue is an action movie and it is about a treasure they find in a boat in the sea and an airplane that is undersea too that has lots of valuable things they can sell and gain a lot of money but it is illegal to sell those things and Fast and the Furious is more about cars and action and the police. Those are the reasons why I think Paul Walker is one of the best actors.

The Lost Key

Broom, broom, broom, broom.

"Yes." Mark was young and he was wearing his office clothes. He was celebrating because he had finally managed to turn his floatplane on. Mark was sitting on the pilot's seat and had his laptop settled on the seat beside him. The plane lifted off and soon Mark was observing the sea from above. About an hour after he'd lifted off from the harbour, he got to his island near the coast of California.

Once he got there, he noticed it was very sunny. He parked his floatplane in the dock and got his bag out while picking up his laptop. He stepped into the shallow, crystal water and noticed it was warm and delicious. There was a light and delicious breeze too. He felt like in paradise! The first thing Mark wanted to do once he got there was to go to his beach house, leave his bag there, grab some Coke, chips, a chair, and a couple of magazines, come to the beach again, and finally, relax. Mark reached to his pocket and searched for the keys for his beach house but he couldn't find them. He looked in the other pocket and he couldn't find the keys either! He was getting more desperate each minute that passed.

Suddenly, he noticed it was almost 3 o' clock because of the position of the sun. The strange thing was that he hadn't found his keys since he got there, about two hours ago. He was very desperate by now. He headed to search between the trees. Maybe he had dropped them by accident or maybe a bird had picked them up and dropped them in a nest. So he went and looked through the trees but he couldn't find them. Suddenly he felt little insects were biting him. There were hungry mosquitoes in the tree! He started running deeper in the jungle, jumping and crouching to dodge branches and animals. He got to a clear in the forest and he stopped to rest. After some minutes of resting, he noticed he didn't know where he was. He was lost.


Mark couldn't believe he was in this difficult situation. He was lost in a tropical jungle, on an island miles off the coast of San Francisco or even the safety of his office, he had no food, no way of communicating, and there was a whole colony of mosquitoes after him. He wished he was in his apartment. With air conditioner, in his laptop, chatting with his friends on MSN, talking in the phone, or watching TV. He wanted to be in a place that was miles away from this jungle. All the mosquitoe bites he had got previously were giving him lots of pain. He also noticed something worse than the bites. He didn't have any food or fresh water near him. Mark just had one thing left to do. He had to explore the island and maybe he'd find fruits or fresh water.

Mark got up and picked some brown and red leaves so as he walked he left them behind. The leaves started making a little trail so Mark would know were to go if he didn't find anything. After walking for about half an hour, he sat down on a rock. After a while of resting on the rock, he decided he had to keep walking if he wanted to get somewhere. He walked for what seemed like five hours. He was full of sweat and there were leaves and twigs in his hair. His feet had mud.

"Yuk!" He said as he accidentally stepped over a pile of mud and slipped.

Suddenly, between some palm trees, he spotted a small house. At first, he thought it was an oasis or he was getting crazy. As he got nearer the hut though, he touched and concluded it was solid and wasn't an oasis. He was overjoyed by seeing this. He thought of delicious food, someone to talk to, and a warm bed to rest in, not a rock.

Mark inmediatly knocked on the small door. He knocked around ten more times but still, no one opened the door. He decided to open the door a little bit since it was unlocked. He entered the house quietly. It was a very simple home. It just had a small bed, a table, and two seats. On top of the table there were some bananas, apples, and oranges. Mark grabbed one of them but after registering the house, he concluded it was empty. Hopeless, he got out and started following the trail of red and brown leaves.

"I think I should keep walking, maybe I'll get to the end of the jungle." he said to himself. He kept walking and walking and walking until at last, he finally found a great place to rest, or at least have a little nap. The place was surrounded by fruit trees, it had some palm leaves spread in the floor that were warm and comfortable to be in, and there was a little pond with clean water. The first thing he did was drink from the pond. He knew maybe it could have germs and he could get sick with all the diseases that are in the jungle, but he only cared of the thirst he had. Suddenly, a couple of thunders announced a storm was coming. The sky started to get dark with all the rain clouds. He even saw some lightning in the distance.

"Oh no! Not a storm!" Mark said. He was very cold because he was sweaty and there was a fresh breeze.

Mark was thinking of comfortable San Francisco and the civilization again, when he heard some footsteps splashing in the mud.

"I must be crazy, it's the middle of the jungle, no one is here!" he shouted.

Still, the footstep and mud sound continued, this time faster. It seemed as if the person or the thing creating it was following Mark's voice. "Who is it?!?" he screamed, thinking that he was crazy. No one answered, but the sound didn't vanish. Mark finally sat down and started eating the orange he'd found in the house. Suddenly, he spotted a shadow between the trees. The shadow came closer. Until finally, the sun rays fell in the person's face. It was a guy, around 17 years old, he was tanned, and he had light hair.

"What are you doing here?" he said, speaking perfect English.

"Well, this is my island. What are you doing here?" Mark replied, looking at the guy.

"My name is Makalu, and I live in this island, in the house you saw earlier. I was picking up some berries, so that's why you didn't see me. When I got home, I noticed a fruit was missing, and then I came to investigate. I followed the red leaves and the your footsteps. So now, who are you?" Makalu asked.

"My name is Mark and I work in a tourism company. I'm the owner. I can find you the perfect vacations. Anyway, I bought this island two years ago and came here to spend vacations." Mark replied.

"Ohh...right. So, you're the owner of the house after the forest? Then, what are you doing here in the middle of the jungle?" Makalu asked.

"Well, I got lost, isn't that obvious? I wouldn't come to this jungle for fun, would I? Mark replied.

"Okay. How come you got lost?" Makalu asked once again.

"I lost my house's keys and I couldn't enter so I tried searching between the trees for them and got lost." Mark answered.

"Hmm...so those keys are this guy's." Makalu said to himself.

"You got the keys?" Mark asked, hopefull.

"Yes." Makalu said. He handed Mark the keys. He was so thankfull he said something that made Makalu even happier.

"You know, you've helped me a lot. So, what if you move out of your house and move onto mine and live on it while I'm not here? I'll come more often, I promise, to visit you." Mark suggested.

"What? Sure!" Makalu answered.

The two of them picked up Makalu's things and they both got out of the forest. They got to Mark's house and started celebrating. From that day on, they became great friends and Mark visited his island more oftenly while Makalu cared for the house and both friends made great parties on the island.

My Nightmare Vacation

It was eight o'clock at night and it was Friday, October 13. I was with my friends camping in Chestnuts, a camping site. We had stayed at the worst cabin. It was (1)old, smelly, and humid. When we got there, we realized we had forgotten all our food so we searched in the little fridge of the kitchen and we found (2)a cheese, a bread, and a carrot. We tried preparing descent food with that stuff but we just wasted it because at the end it was an ugly food mix.


The next day we were really bored so we tried organizing some activities to keep us entertained so we went on a walk to the lake and decided to do the activites there. (3)We swam, we raced, and we climbed trees. The only thing we won from doing that was getting really tired and sweaty. We lied on the grass and rested there. Luckily, a friend had brought a (4)basket with juice, ham and cheese sandwiches, and Oreo cookies. We were chatting on the grass when a friend noticed she didn't have her watch. She was worried because it was new and it had been a birthday present so we started looking around for it. (5)Under a pile of brownish leaves, we found it. It was dirty and muddy and we didn't know how it had got there but we didn't care. We decided to go back to the cabin. (6)Picking up the basket, we made our way back to the ugly cabin.


When we got there, we saw our cabin in a real mess. (7)Whenever my friend is in a messy place, she gets all crazy and she wants to organize it as soon as possible. (8)Yes, this time she got really crazy with this mess because everything was upside down and all the papers that were lying in the cabin were thrown around. We were really scared because we didn't know how it had happened. Then we remembered we had left the window open so the house could get some fresh air and we hadn't remembered to close it. We picked up everything and put it back in order. A couple of days passed and we were still bored. Finally, it was October 15, the day our vacations would finally come to an end. My friend's dad came to pick us up. Altough we had a really bad vacation, we would never forget that special Friday 13.

1- Series of Modifiers
2- Series of Phrases
3- Series of Independent Clauses
4- Series of Objects
5- Introductory Prepositional Phrase
6- Introductory Participial Phrase
7- Introductory Adverb Clause
8- Introductory Yes, No, and Interjections

Advantages and Disadvantages of MSN

Have you ever used MSN? I know most of the people in my school from grade five and up have a Hotmail account and use MSN. In fact, MSN is the most popular instant messaging service in the whole world. Altough using MSN is pretty cool cause you can chat with your friends by internet about anything you want and usually no one is checking on what you say. MSN though, has obviously some advantages and disadvantages and that is what I'm going to write in this week's free post.


An advantage of MSN is obviously chatting with your friends for a low price. You can ask your friends about your homework if you don't understand something just by seeing if they are connected and typing away. MSN also has it's own webpages that don't talk only about chatting and bla bla bla. There is a health and fitness page that has cool fitness tips and health stuff, a shopping MSN page where you can know the latest places to shop, there is a shop online service, links to websites of the coolest shops, etc., a news page where you can get the latest info on current events, services, and things like that. One important advantage MSN has is that it is easy to use. If you have a Hotmail account (which is totally free), you just download the program which is also free and you chat away. If you don't have a Hotmail account you can do it really easily by following some well-explained steps. If you don't have the program there are tons of links in those sites and on the main Hotmail site to do so. It is also totally free. MSN programs have different versions like Windows Messenger, Messenger 7.5, Windows Live Messenger, etc. I recommend downloading the latest one, Windows Live Messenger. For a totally free price you get a bunch of new smilies, new games, options to customize your layout, and lots of other cool stuff. There are also free and not so free add-ons like MSN Plus! which is a free one though were you get lots of customizable stuff like writing with your mouse on the text box instead of typing.

MSN has disadvantages though, like any other thing in the world. I think a really common disadvantage that everyone knows about is that you don't control who adds you to their own contact list. Once, a random guy from somewhere in the world started asking me stuff like which city I lived in, and how old I was. I deleted the guy and blocked him (with MSN you can delte AND block the person so he won't be able to contact you EVER again unless you readd them). That is a big disadvantage, it can be one of your friends that created another account just to have a laugh or it could be someone from somewhere who might wanna rob or harm you or someone else you know. Another disadvantage is that sometimes when someone you don't know adds you or even someone you know is that they can download programs or even create their own and that way they can hack your Hotmail account. It happened to me a short time ago and I had to create a poopy, new account because the guy (or girl) wouldn't give me back my password. >:( For me, those are the only disadvantages of MSN. There are not so many but they are still very risky and it's important to be aware of them. There is a service MSN has and it is called MySpace. They are your own personal websites were you can put self pictures, write about yourself, create a profile, post your favorite bands and songs, etc. It is a little risky if you put self photos because you don't know who is seeing them but if you are smart and keep away from harmful people, nothing bad will happen. MySpace is good because that way you can meet new friends around the globe!

In conclusion, I think it is safe to use MSN, because if you are aware of what could happen and if you are smart enough, hopefully nothing bad will happen to you. Although it has some disadvantages, it is still a very safe service and it's super cool! You can chat with your friend for a low cost (the only thing you are paying is using the internet which has nothing to do with MSN directly), meet new people, and visit specialized MSN sites! You can do lots of things with MSN if you stay aware of disadvantages and smart!

Halloween

I'm so excited because this is the month of Halloween! I love Halloween! It's one of the best holidays in the year after Christmas! In Halloween I usually don't get a costume. I just dress up in normal clothes and go around with my friends. Sometimes kind people even give us some candy! On Halloween there are lots of people like our age that also wear normal clothes and just hang out. Last year me and my friends bought some flour and then we started throwing it to each other and everyone also started buying flour and throwing it around. It was almost a flour war! In Halloween, lots of the people go to the Piñango which is a street and there is like a little store that is very small but is a successs on Halloween day. There they sell lots of candies to give out, they also have flour to buy and little things called "triki-traki". They sell strips full of triki traki in that little store. Triki Trakis are like little round things that look like spheres but they are very small, about the size of a pea. You then put them in the floor and with your shoe you rub they make really tiny explosions. Overall, they are cool! There are also some things called Chispitas Mariposas. They are like little sticks that when you light them, throw a bunch of sparkles around but they are not harmful. I don't know of any accidents that have happened with these. If you take the stick and start drawing in the air stuff like if that was a pencil it almost looks like the words or the drawing appeared in the air for a short time.

I think that when you go out in Halloween wether you have a costume or not or you are just hanging out with your friends you need to be very careful. Some bad people take advantage of this time of the year when everyone is like happy and having parties and thinking about the fun and the candies to kidnap people. I know of some cases that this has happened. Specially to kids that are alone (I don't know why some kids go out alone, that takes all the fun of Halloween out!!). When I go out with my friends, we are always like a big bunch of people so nothing has happened to us. Where I live it is a very safe area so I don't worry much about it but anywere it's good to be aware of what could happen. Also some weird people in this time of the year buy animals like black cats or dogs or any pets and do strange stuff with them. I know it's weird but I know some cases in my city were this has happened. It is very scary. Another problem in Halloween is that some adults give the candy to little kids and kids recieve them like any other treat in Halloween but sometimes this candies are already rotten or maybe they have bad stuff inside so it's better to check first what you're eating.

I am looking forward very eagerly until Halloween. It's just a couple of weeks away. It is a very exciting time of the year because you usually go out with your friends, make a mess, and have lots of fun! That's why I think Halloween is one of the best times of the year and I also think it is super cool!

Problems in My Life

When I have a problem, I usually try to calm down before saying anything. If I don't calm down, the things can get worse. Some bad habits I have when dealing with a problem are that if I'm under too much pressure I can get really angry and that will obviously make the problem harder to solve. When I am under pressure in a problem I try to discuss it or talking about the problem with the person but not shouting or raising the voice lever. Using that way, slowly, it is easier for both people to solve the problem because both are more peaceful and calmer. When I have time to reflect, I usually solve the problem a lot faster because sometimes when I'm angrier I make the problem worse, maybe it is a simple problem but if I'm angry I can think of it as a really hard one.

A mistake I have made when having to solve a problem with other person is when I blame the other person and maybe I'm even involved in the problem too. My mistake was that one time I was playing soccer with my cousin. I was the goalkeeper of my team and my cousin was in the other team. Then she kicked the ball and it hit the post so it wasn't a goal and she thought it was a goal. We got mad at each other and I was super angry at her. What caused me to make that mistake was that I hate when people cheat in sports and also if that goal was accepted her team would be winning unfairly.

I obviously tried to fix the mistake, we talked and we got to an agreement. Since half of the players said it was a goal and the other half said it wasn't. We got calmed down again so we decided that she could do a penalty and if she scored it would be an accepted goal and if not...well, it wouldn't be a goal. Finally she kicked and the ball entered but this time I wasn't mad because I knew it was an okay goal and that it wasn't unfair. After we apologized to each other and we kept playing and everything was good after that.

That was my problem and I am glad we solved it on time because then it could have led to other problems that could've been worse.

Reflections About Blogger

When Mr. Hide told us in class each of us was going to do our own blog, I was very excited! Having a class blog was really cool! Mr. Hide posted reviews for tests and all that. I think that making my own blog is a very good experience. It has taught me how to upload pictures, create links, post comments on other peoples' blog, and more! It is also very cool to do our assignements and post them on blogger because we don't have to print it or anything, we just type and post it!

Making a blog is not difficult. When we were creating it I thought it would be much harder. The only thing we had to do was create an account on Blogger and then we just followed some easy steps to make our blog. Making a blog has reached my expectations! I knew it would be cool even before creating it, but it is also fun to comment on other people's blog. Mantaining my blog up to date has been the easiest part. Sometimes I just forget I need to do my free post still and I do it really fast, other times, I don't get any ideas on what to write about.

Overall, I think making a blog has been a very good experience for me! I liked a lot making the blog and decorating it with pictures and also I like to see other peoples' blogs from seventh grade and comment on them.

Surfin'

I think surfing is a really cool sport. Why? Some people just think of surfing as a regular sport. I think of it as the coolest sport ever. I love the sea and the ocean and swimming and all that and I love sports, surf is the perfect combination between those too. You need to know how to differ from a bad wave and a good wave. You need to know how to swim and even do first aids! There are lots of ways to practice surfing. You can do body surfing, or even get up and surf the waves in an original surf board. Surfing is not just getting in a board and waveriding. No, to surf, you need to know how to differ good waves from bad waves. Good waves will be very long so you will have a better experience, bad waves can be ridden, but maybe they won't be as long and as fast. Some of the best pros in surfing are Andy Irons, Bobby Martinez, Layne Beachley, Jeremy Flores, Stephanie Gilmore, and more! They all belong to the ASP (Association of Surfing Proffesionals). Like in tennis or other sports, surfers do tours around the world and they compete. There are also some top places to surf at, like in Oahu, a beach in Hawaii, the Fiji Islands, Gold Coast in Australia, and more. To surf, you will need to know how to swim in the ocean. Also it is good to know first aids because you never know what the sea has prepared for you. It takes a while to master the tricks, but after you do it, then you'll want to learn more and more! Surfing is just..super cool!

Personally, I think that surfing is really cool! It lets you do fun tricks and turns and all that stuff over a wave literally. Although it takes a while to master them, I think once you know them very well, they rock!

My Trip to Orlando and Miami!

Today I'm going to talk about my trip to Orlando and Miami. I was very excited when I knew we were going there! I was with my parents, my brother and some friends of my parents and their sons. I love to travel! I also love airplanes, roller coasters, shopping, and all the other cool stuff you can do at both cities. When we arrived to the Miami airport, I was really excited. Inmediatly, we rented a car and drove all the way to Orlando. It was a long way getting there. We stopped at a Burger King and at a Starbucks in the highway. When we got to Orlando, we visited my aunt that lives there, and we went to a hotel. We got to our hotel like at 1:00 AM! The next day we went to other hotel, it was called West Gate Towers or something like that. We visited Sea World, Magic Kingdom, Downtown Disney, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, and lots of other parks! The last two days, we went again to Miami. We shopped in many malls like Dadeland, Aventura, and lots more! We stayed in the Sagamore, in Miami Beach. That hotel was sooo cool! I loved it!

I think I had the best vacations ever in Miami and Orlando. We went to amusement parks, stayed at super cool hotels, and shopped in the best malls. It was really cool!

A Suspense Story

Today I’m going to talk about a story named Three Skeleton Key. It takes place in a lighthouse, on a key, some miles of the mainland. Three men go work there. It is a scary thing that happened to the men while they were working. I think it was a very suspenful story.

In my opinion I think it was also a little boring because it had hard words. Also it was soooo long we couldn't even finish it in English class.

We barely had time to leap back, close the door leading to the gallery, descend
the stairs, and shut every window tightly.

This reminds me of the movie Poseidon. The characters are trapped in a boat and it's filling up with water because a huge wave hit it. The characters in Poseidon try to be safe of the water.

Overall, I think it was a suspense story, a good one. The only things were that it is very long and that the words in the story are hard to understand so I couldn't understand it very well the first time I read.