Religions Field Trip

 Islamic Mosque Minaret

Open passageways in Mosque

Flower garlands for Hindu deities

Hindu idol

Chinese dragon statue

Chinese offerings to gods of apples and oranges

Chinese Temple

Gold, Emerald, and Red were the main colors in the temple. The air was smoky with incense, but it didn't smell bad. That part of it made me think of the Hindu temple- filled with smells. It was a pretty solemn place; with people praying to ancestors, burning papers to send to them. There were some rituals going on to do with fortune and prosperity. People could get their fortunes told. Some came out of the room with smiles, but some with troubled looks. There were a few statues of deities and idols, much like the Hindu temple as well. 

Islamic Mosque

The Islamic Mosque was mostly white and tan. It was open and the architectural designs were all extremely geometrical. Unlike the Hindu and Chinese temples, the decorations were very limited. There was no statues or idols, no incense nor strong smells. The Mosque was very plain outside from the arches and designs.

Hindu Temple

The temple was really colorful. There was lots of flowers and colors decorating the area. It was open and smelled of jasmine. There were lots of priests wearing red dots on their foreheads walking around and doing rituals. There were TONS of idols in the shapes of all sorts of things. there were special chambers for the more important deities.

Auschwitz Reading

The paper on Auschwitz made me cry; it really did- because just to think how you could treat someone with less respect than you give cattle, horrifies me. One part that made my heart fall even more was the concept of prisoners of the Special Detachment. Especially those assigned to the coaxing in the "showers." To be in such a terrible place is one thing; but to be forced to betray your people is even more sickening. They were pulled out of the crowd to do the dirty work-the lying. Those individuals had to look into the faces of people who were going to be massacred, and falsely assure them in their own tongue that everything was going to be alright.

Opposites at the Resevoir

Wood vs. Cement

  

Small leaf vs. Big leaf

In My Opinion

It is acceptable to remove a member of a society or group if he or she is thought to be inferior to others.

No! Everyone has their place in society and that's the way it should be. If we don't like who they are or what they represent, we shouldn't shun them or make them an outcast, but welcome them into the society. Even if someone's job is less important than yours or something like that, it doesn't make them inferior.

Living the "good" life

What do you think a good life means?
Lots of money?
Awesome friends and family?
Lots of gadjets and gizmos?
Good school?

I think that a good life doesn't have anything to do with what you have or what you've been given. I think it's what you make of it. You can have all the things listed above, but would that accually make you truly happy? Or is it a feeling that wears off? Eveything gets old, replaced by better and better things, with fortune comes a whole lot of responsibility. Will you still be happy? Or will there still be a whole in your heart? I don't know what you beleive in that fills that gap, whether its spiritual or anything, but you need to figure it out. Then, take what you've got, look at it from a posotive point of veiw, (always) and put a smile on your face. Even if you don't feel like smiling, it will lift your mood and make you a little happier. Look on the bright side, fix what you have, don't want what you don't. Thats how to live a good life.

My Identity

Percy Jackson and The Olympians: The Battle of the Labyrinth

Dear (Your name here),
               I've gotten to the end of the 4th chapter in my book, and it's quite exiting! A quote that describes the section might be on page 46: "Grover's in trouble. There's only one way we can figure to help him. It's the Labyrinth."  So who is the "protagonist"? What describes him, physical and personality-wise? Here is my answer:

• p22  "Practicing (swordplay) always calms me down."

Percy likes to be active and fight and be in the center of action.

• p22 "I've seen some pretty big hell-hounds!"

Percy has had many close calls with death, and some crazy things happen to him; he's experienced.

• p32 "I'm not exactly what you would call neat."

Percy doesen't care much what other people think about his flaws or about the little issues and jobs in life.

• p37 "You can blame my ADHD. I tend to just blurt things out."

Percy acts and talks quickly, even when it's not a good thing!

Those are just a few details about the story's hero, Percy Jackson.

                  Yours Truly,
                                      April on a Journey

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Battle of the Labyrinth

Dear (Your Name Here),
         I just started reading a new book that I checked out of the Ampang Library. It's called The Battle of the Labyrinth and it's the next novel in the "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" series. Here is some background information on the book:

• Percy Jackson's father is the Greek god Poseidon, and his mother is a human, making him a half-blood, with special powers designed to fight monsters.
• Percy's best friends are Grover, a satyr and Annabeth, a half-blood like himself. They both attend Camp Half-Blood over the summers with Percy.
• The evil destroyed titan, Kronos, father of the Big Three (Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades), is slowly reforming with the help of a Half-Blood-Turned-Bad, Luke, and other bad monster guys.

So I just finished the first chapter, and I like it a lot. Here's my summary of Chapter one, A.K.A., "I Battle the Cheerleading Squad"
            It's was the freshman orientation for the new school the Percy hoped to go to. His mother's boyfriend, Paul Blofis, was an English teacher at the expensive, high-end building. Percy had been kicked out of school after school, so he hoped, for his mom's sake, that he would not destroy anything. Unexpectedly, Percy ran into a mortal girl whose life he saved at Hoover Dam the past summer. Apparently, she could see past The Mist, which veils most mortals from seeing monsters in their midst. Rachel Elizabeth Dare wanted to know more about the monsters she saw (others had told her she was crazy), and Percy gave her a brief description-before they were interrupted. A  pair of gorgeous cheerleaders blocked their path, and, when they turned out to be  vampire-esk-empousi, a fight raged in the music room. Percy left the saxophones destroyed as he ran away from the wreck he had created, bumping into yet another familiar face. Annabeth was waiting outside the school to go on a "No, Mom, it's not a date, just because were going to the movies alone together" with Percy. They both concluded that they should leave immediately to Camp-Half-Blood.


 A quote that discribes the story so far is, "'Percy?' Paul Blofis looked completely stunned, staring at me from across the fire. 'What have you done?'"

I think that quote describes Percy's journey so far because it shows you that Percy's life is difficult, human people don't understand him, and he tends to destroy things.

                       Yours Truly,
                                              April on a journey