My Christmas Weekend

It all started when we left on Christmas Eve morning; when my parents and I packed up and drove to Dubai for Christmas. We spent it with Aunt Janice, Uncle Bob and Cousin Julia, and I met my cousin's boyfriend, Daniel. Any adjective I can think of to describe him would just sound the same; nice, kind, friendly, etc. Mom thinks he looks like Ryan Gossling. (Actor) I would prefer thinking of him like a cross between Louis Tomlinson from One Diretion and the boyfriend of my favorite singer, Adam Lambert. We went out to dinner and watched Polar Express and Christmas Carol before bed.

Left to right: Cousin Julia, Daniel and Aunt Janice

Here is a list of what I got for Christmas the following day.

1. A Galaxy Young smart phone

2. A bracelet

3. A handbag with a long chain that doubles as a necklace

4. A copy of Inkheart and Inkspell

5. A copy of The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks

6. A barrette

7. A new black shirt
8. A new bottle of fruity-smelling body wash
9. A pink hand-held plastic fan

None of these things were even on my list, but I am thankful for all of them anyway.

Me opening one of my presents (not the shirt) with Uncle Bob behind me

Me and my new shirt with Cousin Julia behind me

After unwrapping all of our presents, we went to the movies to see Frozen. I loved it! Mom said to me that my cousin's boyfriend said it was the best Disney film ever. I was thinking the exact same thing: Best Film Ever! It was the Best Film Ever!

All in all, it was a low-key Christmas this year, with a lot of trash bags to throw down the chute in the Garbage Room down the hall. Seriously, I had to throw down, like, five bags over three days.

Current Event of the Day: Optical Illusions!

Check out this amazing article from DOGO News. We had just finished studying eyes last week, and as I was researching current events today, I came across this one: http://www.dogonews.com/2013/11/18/japanese-scientists-uncover-cool-optical-illusion Enjoy!

The Red Arrows

One day, Silas was reading a blog, and one of the posts on it was about an RAF arrowbatic team called the Red Arrows, who have been performing since 1965. Silas was so excited, he asked each of us if we wanted to go. We all agreed to go.

On the evening when we arrived, there were so many more people, half of them watched at the beach. Zara and I decided to stay with our stuff on the mat that Ms. Rachel brought. Zara took pictures with her camera, and I took pictures and videos with mine.

Red, white and blue streaks in the sky

They even drew a love heart in the sky with an arrow through it. AWWW! I thought it meant something along the lines of "We love you, audience!" I even caught it on video!

Histoical Field Trip: Korea

We rode to MGM (Muscat Grand Mall) to learn about Korea and each of us chose one out of five assignments. Tehva, for example, chose to do a crossword puzzle, while Tian chose a list of questions, which she had to answer by watching a video about Korea, and writing them down. As for me, I was stuck on a decision between the crossword and the movie questions, so I quickly chose to do the movie questions with Tian, because I love movies.

The movie was in two parts. The first part it showed was information about Arirang. (AIR-E-GONG) Arirang is a holiday to unite Korea and other countries overseas. It all started in Korea in the year of 1926. Children would learn about Arirang at the age of 13. They would wear a traditional dress called a Hanbok. There was also a special song about Arirang, and  everyone who heard it and learned it could sing it beautifully. Arirang is also studied in China, which is the second largest Korean population. Arirang is just as important and special in Korea and China as rice.

The other part the movie showed was about kimchee. There are 3 ingredients in kimchee: cabbage, soy sauce, and pepper powder. They are put in pots that are used to store the kimchee, and the pots are put in the ground to age the kimchee. The season to make kimchee, or Kimjong time, is in the autumn. There are hundreds of kinds of kimchee, which you eat with rice.

Current Event of the Day: Robots in Japan

Look out, robot fans! Check out this interesting news article about Japan.

http://www.dogonews.com/2011/4/9/robots-take-center-stage-at-japans-fukushima-nuclear-plant

The Hike Haiku

Everyone complained

We were going on a hike

We were exhausted

As we climbed and trudged

A shining rock caught my eye

A quartz on the ground

I picked up the quartz

Shiny rock said "Take me home,"

Or was it a dream?

My Weekend

One morning my weekend had scarcely begun,

But that night at the party I had so much fun!

'Twas a party to dress up as monsters and ghosts,

With sweet candied treats for who spook'd the most.

With mummies all racing and more mummies chasing,

We then were all facing, everyone pacing

To grab the remains of the mummies' long strips

And when it was through we had chips, dips, and sips.

Our heads dunked in flour, we went fishing for bears,
Arose ghostly-white, which gave the kids scares.

We then ate apples, some bobbed and some sweet,

The sweet ones had faces and were held out to eat.

The Daily Show: Malala Yousafzai

Check out this interview on the Daily Show hosted by Jon Stewart.

Click on this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjGL6YY6oMs

My Eid Holiday

My parents and I spent our Eid holiday at Miserah Island. While we drove to the ferry, we listened to two podcasts from Stuff You Missed in History Class. The first one was called the Booth Capacity, and it was about John Wilkes Booth, the assassin who shot Abraham Lincoln, which I have recently learned about at school. The other one was about the Crystal Palace, which I had also learned about at school. After 6 hours of driving, we finally got aboard the ferry. We climbed up the stairs on the second passenger floor of the ferry, and found that it was so noisy from the engine, that we decided stay in the car on the way back. The ferry ride was only 45 minutes long. When we finally arrived, we wanted to stay at the resort, but it was overbooked, even though there hardly seemed to be anybody there, so we ate there and stayed at the Danat hotel instead. When we took a tour, we saw the lost boat and the hidden wadi, but we never found any turtles at the turtle beach or the whale skeleton.

Current Event of the Day: North Korea's Kim Jong-un splurges on luxury goods in bid to strengthen rule

This current event is very interesting. Check it out!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/10377154/North-Koreas-Kim-Jong-un-splurges-on-luxury-goods-in-bid-to-strengthen-rule.html

Cady's Political Character

Today, my teacher taught me about political cartoons and how to understand them. At first glance, they just looked to me like adult comics that my parents would read, such as Dilbert. Where the "political" part comes in, they are mostly about politics, such as Obama, Democrats and Republicans, etc. Next, my teacher assigned me to post a political cartoon online, so here it is. Just click on the link below. Enjoy!

Translation: The more obese children we get in America, the harder life gets for them, as well as the National Security. But the Iranian president is just making matters worse!

Best Trip Ever

This morning, we drove to ICEM. (International College of Engineering & Management) First, we learned about First Aid with our classmate, Rima's mom. She taught us that fire fighters will always need a First Aid kit in handy. Each of us got to try out one of the First Aid supplies. I even got to perform CPR!

Me (Blurry face!) performing CPR

Next, we got to ride around in one of the fire engines. It was the Best Ride Ever! We saw two streaks of water from the hoses right outside the window. Awesome! 

All aboard!

Me in the fire engine

Then, we got to play with the hose.

Me playing with the hose

We even got to try out the fire extinguishers, too. There are four different types of extinguishers:

1: Water

2: Foam

3: CO2

4: Powder

We only tried out the foam and water extinguishers, and used both of them up! That was fun!

My first try with the water extinguisher

The Jinn Podcast

I am currently studying about jinn, particularly from an Arab's and Omani's perspective. Speaking of jinns, check out this podcast below for a different perspective.

http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2013/05/episode-917-mysterious-universe/

Cady's Current Event of the Day: Popular Omani sea food could be unsafe

This event seems interesting. Go ahead, click on the link below.

http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/oman/popular-omani-sea-food-could-be-unsafe-1.1232845

Mom's and Dad's Definition of Bizarre by Cady

Mom thinks bizarre means strange or out of the ordinary. For example, "the movie I saw last night was bizarre." she also thinks it means, cool, because her French friends in Paris used to say "Bizarre!" when they meant, "That's cool."

Dad thinks bizarre means strange or unexplainable. For example, "I watched a video of a hairy centipede, which appeared to have a head on each end, complete with brightly-colored atennea. It fooled predators, who incorrectly guessed the direction it would travel when under attack. The guise worked, but the animal looked bizarre."

Peace Maker Cady

You are a peace specialist working in the United Nations. A country, Tehvastan, is having disagreements with its neighboring country, Silaslandia. They need advice as to how to make peace and are asking you to make recommendations about how to proceed with the peace process, based on your studies of Afghanistan:

Long ago, the British were creating a big empire. But the Russians were making their own big empire as well. Both of them wanted Afghanistan as a part of  their empires. 

This sounds a little bit like the big argument between Tehvastan and Silaslandia. 

The British and the Russians should have left the Afghani people alone.  

So here is what you should do: I would not recommend befriending one another because they have already tried it many times, and failed all attempts. 

Here is what you should do: Make a new treaty between Silaslandia and Tehvastan, but with better key points than what they had already used. 

Saving South Africa's Rhinos

OH NO! Wrong event! Please don't kill me, Ms. Rachel! Here is another current event that I took a look at, and I think it will be very interesting. Yes, there is a conflict. Yes, it is a fight over values. Enjoy the news!

http://edition.cnn.com/video/data/2.0/video/world/2013/09/12/south-africa-rhino-war.cnn.html