Vocab 7

1. Mildew- cool, damp, dark stain that grows on clothing

2. Out of the blue- totally off the topic, something unexpected, random thoughts or comments, preposterous

3. Hesitantly- not fluent or sure at what you're doing, stummering

4. Hatch- when an egg is born from an animal like a duck or chicken
             - a lock or hinge at a corner of an opening like a door or cage 

5.Orientation- looking at a familiar place or refernce point and finding your place

6. Chateau- a beautiful, luxirious, big house like a mansion, coming from the French language

7. Thunderous- a loud, booming way of doing something

8. Contradiction- the begginning of an arguement

9. Faults- a failure of act, not successful at doing something

10. Preserve- to keep something in it's original condition, to store/keep and save

Why is Haiti one of the poorest country?

1. Because the Europeans came into Haiti before the arrival of Colombus, and stole money from their country, so most Haitians live on a dollar a day. 

2. Haiti is actually a country full of mountains, but people have been cutting trees down without replanting.

3. Haiti's largest land areas are mostly to produce crops for exports, but the problem is there isn't much place to sell or eat in the market.

4. Millions and millions of dollars from  foreign governments and charitible groups have donated, but have been stolen from goverment officials.

5. The shipping goods are expensive and risky, it usually takes a long time for workers because after it rains, roads can't be used and is damaged.

6. Water is really difficult to get because there are limited water sewages and the water in Haiti isn't clean. 

7. A problem for the cause of poverty is that about 5% of Haiti knows how to speak French fluently and the other percentage knows how to only speak Creole.

8. Legally, education is free in this country, but again the language from teachers, books and exams are in French, causing the discipline of students to be hard and schools are overcrowded.

9. The life expectantcy for the Haitians is 48 years old for males and 52 years old for females, maybe because of diseases.

10. Another reason to why they are one of the poorest country is in the early days the French took over their crops and ordered them harshly as hard-working slaves.

Update on Haiti

As you know, last Tuesday, Hati had an 7.0 magnitude earthquake, the question is how are they doing now? People from aide organization groups like the Red Cross and others have rushed in from helicopters,boats,planes to help provide food, shelter, water and more. It will take a long time until they will arrive in large quantities. But as so many Haitians are desperate for the need of these supplies after this disaster, it's creating a bottleneck. Airports are packed with aide helpers. Signs are put everywhere like the one on the right, attracting medical services to go to that area. But Haiti is progressing because there are games and sites online where you can donate to help. Also medical helpers are taking over clinics and hospitals and tents are set up for shelter.

Disaster strikes Haiti

On January 12, 2010, an earthquake measuring at about 7.0-magnitude occured in the carribean island, Haiti. Mostly the area in Port-au Prince was damaged and wrecked, causing people to have no place to live and hide. After the terrible earthquake, they discovered people buried in rubble from buildings and feared 100,000 are dead, but every minute or so the death tolls are rising. Buildings like hospitals, schools, houses and even the white national palace of justice was badly ruined. It was hard for them to rescue them because there were no hospitals and not the right equipment. As everything was ruined, telephone lines and electricity lines were also destroyed which made it hard to send help and communicate to others. It was such a powerful earthquake that people in the Eastern Cuba could feel it strongly.

Family

Yesterday was my mom's birthday which was the 10/01/10. This was a cool year for her because the date is in a pattern, there won't be any date like this until 20100. My little brother sneaked in her room early in the morning before she woke up, and put his card on her bedside table, so when she woke up there would be a surprise awaiting. I gave her my decorated card after I was nicely cleaned up. She was really happy and appreciative when she received all our cards. As a birthday tradition, whoever is the birthday person gets a cake and a present. My dad went to Harvest and bought a chocolate cake that wrote "Happy Birthday Rose, 10/01/10. The cake was delicious! We went out to lunch at Penang Bistro which takes only 5 minutes from my house. My mom's hometown is near Penang. I ate Roti Canai Tissue, but it was such a large portion! That was delicious too. After we were done with our meal, we went back home and my mom opened her birthday gift, It was this really gorgeous, sparkling watch from Switzerland and she also got a casing for it. She was trying it on, admiring her gift. She got a banquet of roses, to match her name which is Roslina, and later on she displayed the flowers in a vase. She was supposed to get a spa treatment but unfortunately she had a tummy-ache. Poor her on her birthday. But then we played something to distract her from the pain.

We then played Congklak, a traditional Malaysian game where there are 10 holes with 5 shells in each and a home on a wooden bowl. You're supposed to move the shells in a strategic way, to get as many shells in your home hole. It's not as easy as it sounds, it's for people who like brain games, but sometimes it's luck. You also need patience. I was versing my mom, but in the end she lost. Then I versed my brother and he lost too. Everyone was trying to beat me, but the person who managed to was my older sister. They were happy that there was finaly a new champion! It was a really nice family day and I can't wait until my next family members' birthday which is in May.

Holiday entry 10

This is my last entry of my holidays. Today was actualy my mom's birthday and what was cool is her birthdate this year is 10/01/10. It's like a pattern. My brother woke up early and snuck in his card before my mom wakess up. I wanted to be clean when I presented my card so I gave it to her later on. She was really happy when she receied all of her cards. My dad bought a chocolate cake from Harvest, and she blew her candles. Her birthday present was this really gorgeous watch with a purse. She also got a banquet of roses. For lunch we went to Penang Bistro which is only 5 minutes away from where I live. I ate Roti Canai tissuewith Penang Rojak. The good times in Malaysia... We went to the grocery store to buy grocery for school which is tomorrow. I had a fantabulous holiday and it's back to school for me!

Holiday entry 9

I woke up in the morning by the sound of my little brother. He was saying that I better wake up because my whole family is swimming in the morning. This is exciting because usually my whole family doesn't swim, mostly the only one who swims sre my siblings and I. I got changed in my swimsuit and ran to my back yard. I saw my dad had already set the net up, above the swimming pool. We were going to play volleyball in the pool. My sister, brother and I were on one side, and my parents were on the other. I think that's really unfair because they have to adults and we're on the deep side so we sat on floaties. Obviously my parents won against us, and they did this cheer. So we wanted to show them they were wrong by trading sides. Now we don't need anymore floaties. They were struggling a lot. In the end my siblings and I won, and we did a cheer. The game was so long, but we prove them that we could do it. It was a really fun day and I hope we play pool volleyball again!