The Giver Blogpost 4 ✎

" Gabriel's breathing was even and deep. Jonas liked having him there, though he felt guilty about the secret. Each night he gave memories to Gabriel: memories of boat rides and picnics in the sun; memories of soft rainfall against windowpanes; memories of dancing bare-footed on a damp lawn.

"Gabe?"

The new child stirred slightly in his sleep, Jonas looked over at him.

"There could be love" Jonas whispered.

The next morning, for the first time, Jonas did not take his pill. Something within him, something that had grown there through the memories, told him to throw the pill away"

I think these particular paragraphs explain a lot about the choice and freedom in Jonas' society though they are brief. First of all I want to point out that choice is a freedom. The act of decision making is what sets you apart from others and what lets you speak without hindrance or restraint.

When Jonas threw away his pill, he did it for one reason and one reason only, because he was selected as the receiver. If he had not been presented with all the knowledge that came with the memories, he would have not known that throwing away the pill was the right thing to do. He was able to use his free will to make the right choice. The power of knowledge can set you free. All his life Jonas had been presented with knowledge that came to a limit, the constraint of their society, the ignorance of the citizens around him. Elsewhere and the things in it where never spoken of, not even the color, or the items elsewhere were presented to the citizens of this society.

Another example of when Jonas made diffucult choice, was when he passed on the memories to Gabriel. He knew it was against the society's rules, he knew it was against even the instructions from the Giver. Yet using his knowledge from emotions and memories and his new found freedom he decided to. This is what I think sets Jonas apart from everyone else, the way Jonas decides, hte way he thinks the freedom he has.

Lit Circle Blogpost 2 ✏

Why does Jonas find the instruction about lying so disturbing?

I found this question very interesting when I read it out of the three, so I immediately chose it. I also thought this question made me think about the answer carefully.

As we have all repeated many times before, Jonas lives in a extremely controlled society, one that goes by the moral of "sameness" this means nothing and no one can be different, no one can be a "someone" In this controlled society there are obviously rules, and very strict ones at that. All his life Jonas has been raised to not only obey these rules, but live by them. And out of these millions of rules, (that seem to be able to fill large books) one of the very large one is to never lie.and this is exactly the rule that The Receiver is able to break. "He had never, within his memory, been temped to lie. Asher did not lie, Lily did not lie, his parents did not lie no one did..." (pg.71)

Now, Jonas was obviously surprised after reading this, and the question that I have to answer is why. This is what I think. As I wrote earlier Jonas has been raised to follow all rules in his community constantly to the extent that even without thinking he does so. For example when talking to the Giver he accidentally interrupted, without even thinking he apologized, only to again follow the rules as the was no apologizing in the Annex room. "I apologi- Jonas began, and then stopped, flustered, remembering there were to be no apologies." (pg. 91) I can understand why Jonas would be so surprised when a big change in his life is made and know this because I can definitely connect.

Very recently I joined touch as an afterschool activity, and on the first day were described the rules, and one of the most important was to always pass backwards. At first I thought this was going to be quite an easy rule to follow, but I was proved wrong. All my life I have been taught to pass forward to get closer to the goal and this seems logical. And at the time I guess this new rule could too. But when I got on the field I noticed this small change became big. I hadn’t noticed that I was passing forward that I did it automatically just as Jonas had apologized automatically as well. When I came home I noticed my connection and realized why it felt like such a change to Jonas and why he might of felt uncomfortable.

I hope to find little things like this that I can connect to later on.

The Giver, Blogpost ✎

How do you feel about the "standard practices" and "rituals" in the community?

The rituals in this community are extremely different to the rituals we practice. Almost everything in their way of living is different to the way we live ours. The way the choose their family, job, even their death date.

I find it very interesting when it comes to how they get their families. They way the are chosen for them is very different to they way we choose ours. First of all when finding a spouse they have to apply for one to the committee, then the elders take years to examine the individuals, and try to find couples that balance each other out, for example Jonas’ parents balance each other out with his mothers great intelligence and his fathers calm nature. Second part to getting a family that is different from our society is when the “family unit” receives a child. Again, the family unit has to apply for another member, then in December in the annual ceremony the families that applied for a child, are given one with the name already chosen.

Secondly, I come to the selecting job part of the community. I think this difference in the society is particularly interesting because it plays a big role in all the individuals lives. I find it very surprising that one of the biggest decisions in their lives are made for them, there future career. This decision happens like so, the elders are constantly watching every child from birth, they pay particular attention to there interests and skills to find out what job would suit them the most. Again this is also very different to our community.

Lastly I want to talk about the difference between our types of deaths, and their “release” dates. There are three different occasions in which you could be released, or “put to sleep”. The first is when you are already very old and your time has come, to say goodbye, this is when being released is celebrated, the second is when your are a new born and there might be some sort of problem you may be released, in this occasion the release is always sad. Finally the last occasion where you could be released is when you have broken a serious rule in the community, this is always frowned upon.

Now, again as I said all these “rituals” are very different to the way we do things in our world. And you might think this is all wrong, that their way of living shouldn’t be so controlled, that maybe they should be able to make their own choices, especially about their own futures, and I agree, but the thing is, they don’t know any better. They have never experienced anything different, they don’t know what’s good or bad, all they have is there controlled way of living.

Video Number Two (Original Version)

Sol and Natalie Ancient Egypt

The Egyptians where amazing, they were able to create the worlds most amazing monuments without the help from advanced technology. But why did they want to create all these amazing structures? Was there a point? Or was it for plain pleasure?Well I think the Egyptians were all about leaving a footprint in the world. They had their pharaohs mummified to last thousands of years, for people to find and remember, and I think this is the same reason why they made such wonderful things. I think they wanted to have the whole world remember them and think of them through their amazing structures.

This is the same reason I chose one of my similar monuments to be the twin towers. I think the Malaysian government made the Twin Towers to represent Malaysia and Kuala Lumpur. I think they wanted people to notice that they weren't just a third world country, that they were an advanced city and a powerful one, finally I think they wanted other people to think of them through the twin towers, as a strong and powerful nation just like the Egyptians. My next choice for a similar monument is the not exactly a specific monument, but in Spain there are many sculptures dedicated to the bull. I think this ties together with the Egyptians very well because they built the Sphinx which is a dedication to their love for cats. And in Spain the bull fight a lot of the time, so in honor of their sacrifice they make bulls their "logo" When I say this I mean, when you think of Australia you think of kangaroo or Koala, when you think of New Zealand you think of the Kiwi, when you think of Africa you might think, Giraffe. Just like these countries, when you think of Spain you now think of bull.

Google Docs is really helpful for group projects, especially if it is a large group. Because even if you live in completely different locations, you can still communicate and work on the project together. Although I say these things about how google docs can help with collaboration when your group is not around, it did not help me as much in this project. I say this because for this assignment, my friend Natalie and I worked together and we live in the same area. So whenever we needed to work I would or she would come over to each others houses to work on the project. So the only time we really needed google docs is when working on the research when we were not together. But I still think google docs is extremely useful. And I want to continue to use it for a long amount of time.

I think the school wide learning result for this particular project would definitely be Collaborate Constructively. This is because I think this project had everything to do with working together. From this project I learned that you needed to be very organized to be able to finish this whole project well and on time. First of all you needed to get all your information on your pharaoh in one or two days time, I thought this was the most challenging part of the whole project because I always struggle to gather a vast amount of information and write in your own words in a well written way. Second to you had to compile all this information in to a script for your imovie and have Mrs. Narsiman check it before you could start filming. (this took about one class) Lastly you had to start filming ( this took me a while to complete since my partner and I had to re film quite a lot of times to get it right and almost flawless) Looking back I am actually amazed at the amount of time it took for the whole class to complete this project, it was incredibly small! I think this just proves that if you concentrate and you are organized with help from a partner a project that could take someone two weeks could take you about less than only one!





link to blogger: https://docs.google.com/a/iskl.edu.my/Doc?docid=0Ab4PS4n7aSqTZGNxZGJtd3dfMzJjbWZtNDdoaA&hl=en



sources flickr.com and wapedia.mobi

My City Connection Reflection

     Making the city connection presentation was kind of fun, being able to listen about some countries that you've maybe never even heard of, and explore further in your own was interesting. Things about Singapore for example, and how there was a whole riot started over one little girl. On my presentation I liked the information about the spice trade that I included, because I found that other students who had done the same city did not mention this into much detail as I did. Finally I also thought I found good graphics to go with each slide on my presentation which I think is quite important because I always like to see visuals. Although these are all positive things on and about my presentation I know that I have space for improvement.

     I get nervous very easily, so when it came time for me to present my slide show, I could have done a lot better. I wasn't very loud so not everyone could hear. And when I talked I could of looked at the audience a bit more, I think I was reading and looking of the board a bit too much. Saying all of this, in the end I really just need to improve on my presentation skills. Talking in front of a crowd is not one of my strongest skills so practicing would really help me improve on my overall presentation.

     Lastly I think the preparation was very important, I learned that using key words when searching is really handy and when gathering all your information you should really try to keep every organized so it is very easy to put it all together in the final product.  I also learned things from other presentations as well.

     I saw how other people planed their information, for example instead of answering each question on a separate slide, some people  morphed the two or three together so it flowed smoothly. I also learned (like I said before) interesting facts about different cities in the world. Different facts I never knew and even cities themselves i'd never heard of.

So all in all I think the presentations were fun and I think I did quite well and so did everyone else.

(: ☆ My New Years Resolutions ☆ :)

Well to tell you the the truth I haven't made any new years resolutions yet so I guess this is a good time to start. It is quite hard coming with two resolutions because I am just so incredibly perfect, :P But really, one of my resolutions most probably, actually would definitely be to stop eating so much junk. My second would be to start dancing a lot more.

Let's face it most of the food in ISKL's canteen is very good, but definitely isn't the healthiest around... and almost everyday of the week we eat it all. Some of the favorites, "Rocky",deep fried chicken, plain rice, and popsicle's. I am not going to lie eat I eat these foods as well and I've noticed it's gotten really bad. Everyday I probably consume lots of fat, salt, and sugar. And I'm just guessing that these are not one of the top three things you want to let your body have everyday in fact these are definitely one of the three things you really want to avoid when trying to eat healthy. So that is why I am changing my diet to a more "sane" one. Im hoping all the "temptations" around me will not affect my resolution. Hopefully with effort I'll be able, and willing to complete my promise to myself, and this will be quite hard....

I love dancing, most probably because of the huge influence my sister had on me "Ileana"and when I say influence, I sort of mean she forced to dance my whole life which I am definitely not mad at, in fact I'm really grateful because some people say dance is the funnest and best way to exercise. And I just love doing it :) Besides practicing for the showcase I haven't really been dancing, and the reason I think this is such a big deal is just because of personal I really want to be a good dancer, (maybe to get into IASAS dance a little too) But really, I hope that Ile will be able to help me when I try to accomplish this new year resolution.

All in all I hope I achieve all my goals for 2011 and I hope that this will be a great yea for me and everyone else!

I spent my Christmas at the beach and I went to Bali and it was amazing. I will tell you about one of the sights that most impacted me on our visit.

First item on the agenda was the Uluwatu Temple. It was absolutely amazing! It was a temple perched on top of a high mountain surrounded by crashing waves about 250 feet below. It was breathtaking, literally, this is the trip when I found out I was afraid of extreme heights. I love looking down from towers and building maybe the same height but there was something about the atmosphere of the winds and sprinkles of sea water from below that just made my brain react much differently. Unfortunately for me, my family did not feel the same way. " Let's take a picture while i'm precariously perched on top of the railing!" I was freaking out I grabbed on to the nearest tree and din't let go, I shut my eyes tight and held my breath until everything was over I even startled when seeing other people just look down from the peak.

Monkeys getting a little too friendly!

Uluwatu Temple, Bali

Iva right after they took her earring!

Finally we went to sit down at a rather popular place, under a nice shady tree for monkeys! They started to draw attention when finally all the tourists had come over. We were all sitting there and watching their playful fights with one another when suddenly from behind I heard a yelp. "It's stolen my glasses, my glasses!"Everybody jumped up at the sound and turned to look at what had happened. The keepers of the Temple came rushing over with small plastic bags full of food. Amazingly, they used these bags to barter with the monkeys and managed to recover the glasses after a little negotiation. My sister turned and said to me, "this is a vicious cycle" - "what?" I replied. She explained to me that the monkey not only was never interested in the glasses but that he was smart enough to know that if he stole something from the tourists, they in turn would give him food to get the items back. Suddenly I heard another scream come from right next to me, it was my sister, Iva, clutching at her ear. A monkey had run up behind her and bit the earring right off her ear, all in a split second. The monkey played with the earring in its mouth for a good fifteen minutes, while my sister fretted about getting her favourite pearl back. Finally, another keeper came over and noticed the problem. He passed the monkey a hairnet and a fruit but apparently this was not enough to persuade him. Knowing the earrings were shiny and probably worth more than one single fruit, the monkey held onto the pearl which he had already placed inside the hairnet, as if negotiation for a little more. After tossing him another bag of fruit, the keeper finally managed to recover the earring and hand it back to my sister, covered in monkey saliva. Thus ended one of the more entertaining days in Bali.