My 8th Grade Retreat, by Hannah

            On April 25 to 27, I went on a retreat with my 8th grade class to Langkawi.  I had a lot of fun and got very little sleep.  On the first day, I had to be at school at seven o'clock in the morning.   We took a bus from the school to the ferry, then took a ferry to the floating dock at Pulau Payar.  The floating dock was next to Pulau Payar Island but not connected to it.  We immediately went into the water to snorkel.  It was a lot of fun snorkeling all day, but it was even more exciting when the tourists left because we had the entire floating dock to ourselves.  We had dinner, hung out with each other, and had a group reflection time in which we filled out a booklet.  The booklet was about thinking about our time in Middle School and what we think about High School. We then attempted to go to sleep on the most uncomfortable surface ever - the dock.  The class that went before us called the surface the cheese grater because that was what it actually felt like.  I didn't sleep hardly at all that night because it was so uncomfortable.  The next morning we woke up and did a beach clean up. After we finished we snorkeled the rest of the day.  We left that afternoon and took the ferry to Langkawi.  When we got to Langkawi, we took the bus to our hotel room.  We then went to dinner and walked through the night market near our hotel.  We had to be in our rooms at 10:30 p.m., but my roommate and I stayed up until 4 in the morning and then we got up at 8:00 a.m. to have our breakfast.  First we went to an aquarium where we were attacked by otters and a parrot called my name.  We headed to the Geopark where the Mangrove Forests were.  We had a tour there and were able to take a boat around the forest.  We planted mangrove trees, we saw eagles, and we went through a bat-filled cave.  I was also able to touch a stingray.  It felt fuzzy.  After we finished this tour we went to the big eagle statue in the center of Langkawi that was given to them by North Korea.  After seeing the eagle we went to have dinner and get on the ferry.  When we got back to DALAT it was about 10:00 p.m..

This was what the floating dock looked like.

This is a picture I took when I was in the underwater observatory.   

This is the eagle in Langkawi.

This is the sea entry to the Mangrove Forest (which is 20 minutes away from the Thailand border).

Family Night, by Kate

Friday night is Family Night.  We do lots of fun stuff that night.  First, it is the end of the week and we get to rest.  Then sometimes we get to go to S.A.B. for dinner.  S.A.B. is an Indian restaurant across the street from Dalat.  Most of our family loves roti and orders it on Fridays.  I love roti.  There are different kinds of roti like banana, onion, plain, cheese, butter, and crispy.  My favourite is onion and cheese.  Friday nights are the best with the Amazing Race show.  I love that show.  It is a show where teams of 2 people race around the world and do different activities.  Activities might be like having to eat weird food from that country or do activities that have to do with the country.  Since we do not have a T.V. we watch it on our computer.  The recent season was weird and I loved it.  It was weird because there was an alliance between  most of the people competing and alliances never work but this time it worked.  Only two teams were not in the alliance.  The final people were Mona and Beth (roller derby moms), Bates and Anthony (hockey players who are brothers), Caroline and Jennifer (country singers), and Max and Katie (newlyweds).  My favorite competitors were Max and Katie.  Bates and Anthony won.  They got a million dollars.  That is what we do on Fridays.  On Friday we also might watch a movie.  We get to spend time with our family because we have fun with our family.  

These are the people that were in the Amazing Race.

Favourite Journal, by Elizabeth

Here I am ready for customers
at the Bake Sale

My teacher wanted all of us in my class to write in a journal for a month and my mom said I should write my favourite journal entry.  I have 2 favourite journal entries. The first one is called the best things about Grade 2 and the second one is called the worst things about Grade 2. First, I thought I would not like Grade 2 but now I like it because we do lots of field trips. I will tell you about the best things about Grade 2. The best things about Grade 2 is that we got to have a bake sale. We had a bake sale to get money for the Spring Learning Centre which is a school where people who are here in Malaysia illegally go to school and it is a very poor school.  I loved going to the caves. I love having lots of friends. I loved being in a musical. I love having Chapel. My favourite subject is Golden Time (which is when we get to play games and do crafts) and reading. Sometimes I like my homework. I liked the Social Studies Fair when we told people about countries in the Middle Ages. But what I liked the most was going caving. It was fun and tiring.

This is one of my friends (Moriah).
She is the only one of my friends
from Canada.

The worst thing about Grade 2 is that my teacher gives us a lot of homework. Grade 2 is very hard. When I was in Canada I thought that if you talk you will be sent to the Prnicipal's office, but I found out this year that that is not true. I think Grade 3 will be good but I think it will have a lot of homework like Grade 2. I want to be in Mrs. Sasse's class.

Thursday Afternoon and Night, by Aimee

Thursday was very fun!  Right after school I went to my friend's dorm with my other friend.  We were going to watch a movie.  We went to the residence life office first.  That office has tons of movies ranging from Hairspray to The Incredibles.  There must have been about 150 DVD's.  We were disagreeing on a movie until finally we agreed.  The movie we watched was called Aquamarine.  It's about a mermaid who gets washed up on a beach in Florida and these girls try and help get a guy to fall in love with her so the mermaid can prove to her dad that there is such a thing as love.  I have already watched it but I wanted to watch it again because it is so good.  Near the end of the movie I had to go to piano lessons sadly :(  After piano I raced back to the dorm and watched the ending of the movie.  Then my friends and I went to a Middle School party at the school that was organized by one of the Middle School counselors.  For dinner we had pizza (I only had one slice of cheese pizza) and a soft drink (I had iced tea earlier so I didn't have one).  After dinner the middle school went to the gym.  The first game we played was where you tied a balloon to your ankle and people had to try and pop it.  I popped my own so I was out really early.  The next game we played was a huge game of duck-duck-goose (self explanatory).  It was really interesting watching the people run because they looked weird trying so hard.  Finally the last game was . . . dodge-ball (of course).  The first round was 7th and 6th graders against 5th and 8th graders.  Sadly, the 6th and 7th graders won; we lost.  The next round was 7th and 5th against 6th and 8th.  It ended as a tie.  After the party ended some people started a game of Night Tag.  Of course  I played because I love Night Tag.  I tried to hide as good as I could but I got tagged pretty quickly. The second time we played I didn't get tagged very quickly.  Finally at the end I ran up past the dorm but I was trapped so I got tagged.  Then I played Foursquare until I left (around 9:30).  Overall it was a very fun day. 
                 

After the Van Died

On Tuesday night, our van died.  I was working late at work and got a knock on the door of my classroom from one of the Dalat guards to let me know that the alarm lights were blinking on our van.  I was about to leave anyway to head home so I used that as an excuse to quickly tidy up my class and go home to bed.  Garth had called an hour or so before on the phone to let me know he was heading off to bed.  I went to start our van and even as I turned the key in the ignition I could hear the engine losing power as it was trying to turn over and start; sure enough, when I investigated, one of the doors hadn't quite been closed properly and it had been enough to drain the battery.  It meant a 15 minute walk home in the dark; I didn't want to wake Garth.  We would have to deal with the van the next day.

I am a pretty confident walker in the dark from all my university and working days when I used to do so but I have to admit I did have some trepidation because it is a different environment than Canada, I was called on it a previous time by another teacher who disagreed that I should do that, and it was pretty late.  I was about halfway home when a large passenger van coming from the opposite direction stopped right beside me, about 4 feet away on the opposite side of the road.  I got a little more scared.  I noticed though that the man driving was by himself, and because the steering wheel is on the opposite side of a vehicle here than it is in Canada, he was on the far side of the vehicle and couldn't just open his door and reach for me.  All the driver did was just stop and stay there in the middle of the road.  I kept on walking even faster the opposite direction toward home.  I went about 20 - 30 steps when a dog barking crazily came charging at me.  We had been warned about dogs in our orientation - and told to carry a large stick to ward them off - and we had experienced a few who barked a lot but not like this.  We have large sticks outside the door of our house for when we go for walks but of course I was coming from school.  I had a large purse and started swinging it at the dog to keep it away from me but it kept barking and coming at me.  I just kept swinging my purse and walking as fast as I could to get away from where the dog was. I also crossed over to the other side of the road in case the driver of the van came back so I would once again be on the opposite side from the direction he would be coming from.  I was really quite scared by this point, but still had about a quarter of my distance to go before I would be home.  

Sure enough, I heard a vehicle coming up behind me and it was the same driver and van, who again stopped right beside me but this time rolled down his window.  He was a man about in his 40's or 50's and he started to talk to me.  I could not understand him at first because I was really scared and because his English accent was a little hard to understand, and because I didn't want to get too close to his van to hear him.  But then I realized that he was telling me that where he had stopped before about four feet away from me, there had been a python on the road between me and his vehicle and he had stopped to presumably make sure I was going to be O.K.  Holding out his hands as wide as he could he showed me how long it had been.  My fear left me as I realized God had protected me through this stranger.  Maybe even that had been why the dog had been acting like that.  I praised God the rest of the way home.

And Garth wasn't even upset with me that the van was dead.

Here is a link to an articles about another python in Malaysia:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/09/060915-python-ewe.html

Thankfully, the town mentioned - Kampung Jabor - is on the opposite side of Malaysia from where we are.

Girls Scouts, by Aimee

I am in Girl Scouts this year.  It is during X Block which is a time at the end of the day when Study Hall or Clubs or Middle School fun activities is held.  Scouts is on Wednesday.  Kate is in my Girl Scouts level which is called Junior Girl Scouts.  (Hannah is in Cadettes and Elizabeth is in Brownies and my mom helps to lead Elizabeth's Brownie troupe.)

Girl Scout themes Kate and I did over the year:
- Healthy living (how to eat and live healthy)
- Animals and their habitats (I did a project on a porcupine) 
- Detectives (we learned how to crack codes and find clues)
- First Aid (what to do in an emergency)
We had to do skits, drawings, projects, and much more to earn these badges.

Girl Scouts is fun for these reasons:

- We get a snack each week (which is usually unhealthy and delicious!)

- We get to create skits about stuff like crime scenes.

- We learn very important stuff, for example first aid.

- We get to have sleepovers and stay up till 1:00 in the morning talking.

- We make lots of awesome friends.

- We get cool badges!  My sash is green and I have about 6 badges.

- We get to HAVE FUN!!!!

Scouts Potluck and Ceremony:

Two weeks from now is my bridging ceremony.  That is where I bridge to the Cadettes - the older group.  Me and all my friends in grade five are bridging.  A few days ago my sister bridged.  We had a huge barbecue   I ate so many desserts (like 7 shhhh.)  There were lemon squares (that was my favorite)  and oatmeal chocolate cookies and gooey chocolate peanut butter squares and mint chocolate brownies.  Like I said it was a potluck!  I also had lasagna, Mami noodles (which is like instant hard noodles that you can eat plain without putting hot water in them), dumplings, garlic bread, vegetables, a hot-dog pizza and lots more.  As you can tell the food was really good.  I ate it with my friends whose siblings are also in the older group of Scouts.  After, we went to the chapel.  Finally the ceremony started.  It was sort of interesting when they talked about how the Scouts helped the community.  The Cadette girls went to a rally to raise awareness about human trafficking.  It was a really fun night.  Scouts is awesome!

This is Hannah getting some of her badges.  Her good friend, Kimberly is standing at the microphone.

  

My Regular Schedule, by Hannah

This is what I do almost every single school day every week.  Enjoy!

6:30 - I wake up and get ready in the morning.

About 7:30 - I come downstairs from my room to have breakfast.  I usually have a piece of toast for breakfast along with some fruit like kiwi and maybe a packet of biscuits which are technically cookies (shhh, don't tell my mom).

7:30 to 7:50 - We leave to go to school.  It is about a 4-5 minute drive.  Sometimes I walk a little bit earlier (at about 7:30) with my mom.

8:00 to 8:15 - I play basketball in the courts or hang out at the library with my friends.

8:15 - The first bell rings signalling the start of the school day.  My first class is S.A.T. which stands for Student Advisory Team.  In my S.A.T. there are about 10 of us who meet in my Grade 8 English teacher's classroom and pray, hear announcements and talk together about topics that are like the theme of the day.  An example of a theme might be watching funny videos to just laugh about, or it might be a short video about Christianity or bullying, or sometimes the teacher reads a story that we all talk about after

8:30 - Everyone switches from S.A.T. to Bible class.  In Bible class we usually learn about how a Bible character applies to our lives.  (Every Wednesday we have a chapel service instead.)  An example is that we learned about some of Jesus's disciples.

9:15 - We switch to Science class.  In Science class the teacher uses a very lecture teaching style, so science class can be very hard because it is easy to zone out.  In Science we are learning about radiation right now.

10:05 - We switch to Pre-Algebra class. This class is very hard. (Our class average is probably a D.)  Right now it is all about polynomials.

10:55 -  We switch to Band class.  This class is really, really boring.  I still play the trumpet; this is my 3rd year.

11:45 - We switch to P.E. some days and Health other days.  P.E. is an easy 'A' but Health is very hard.  In P.E. we are doing badminton right now and preparing for fitness testing which includes a timed mile run.  This is the last time I will do fitness testing because I don't have to take P.E. in high school.  In Health we are learning about communicable diseases.

12:35 - We switch to Lunch.  Finally!

1:25 -  Lunch ends  :(  We go to Social Studies next.  This class can be boring if you don't listen in class.  If you listen then you actually learn stuff.  We are currently learning about World War II.

2:15 - English class starts.  This teacher is quite strict.  We are learning about memorandums.  I did a memorandum to do with The Hobbit.

3:05 -  Classes officially end and  X-Block starts.  X-Block is when we have clubs. Right now on Monday I do climbing on ropes in the gym.  It is a Caving club and we are going to go caving at the end of the year up near the Thailand border.  It is led by my Science teacher.  On Tuesday I have a required Study Hall.  On Wednesday I do Basketball which is coached by my Social Studies teacher.  On Thursday, we have a required Study Hall and on Friday we have an all Middle School fun time.  We might have a gross food eating contest or we put make-up on each other especially the boys, or there might be a play or talent show put on by some students.

3:45-  X-Block ends signalling the end of the school day.  At that time people are allowed to change out of uniform but dress code still applies, ie modesty.  I usually go and practice my trumpet for 20 minutes.

About 4:30 -  I finish practicing and go to the computer lab or I go home and practice piano.  Or I go to a sports practice that lasts until 5:30.

5:30 - The off campus bell rings, signalling for all the day students to get off campus except on Fridays when day students can stay on campus until 10:00 because there is fun events on Fridays.  The 5:30 signals dinner for the dorm students.

About 6:00 - We go out for dinner.  We usually go to Hillside Stalls and have some yummy food.

7:00 to 8:00 -  We get home from dinner.

7:00 to about 10:00 -  I do homework and go to bed.  If I didn't go home to play piano before dinner I also have to play piano.

9:00 to 10:00- I usually end up going to sleep at about this time.

As you can see my day is very, very busy.  But at the same time it is a lot of fun.