Category: Uncategorized

IRJE #7 – Call Me by Your Name

Call Me by Your Name by André Aciman is a story set during the summer of 1983 in the countryside of Northern Italy. It follows Elio, who is a 17 year old boy who likes reading, playing music, and deconstructing music. When his father, invites a 24 year old student named Oliver to stay with their family, Elio is at first intimidated by him, but as they spend more time together their relationship turns into a deep and passionate love for eachother. The book and movie both show the highs and lows of falling in love for the first time. The excitement, the butterflies in your stomach, and the heartbreak that comes with knowing that things are temporary.

“I remember everything. I remember you and me, I remember the way we kissed, the way you touched me, the way I touched you, the way your body felt against mine. I remember the way you would say my name. I remember your voice, your laugh, the way you looked at me when you were near. I remember the heat, the sun, the sound of the water. I remember your hands on me, the way you touched me like no one else ever had.”

This quotation shows the deep connection between Elio and Oliver. How their experiences with eachother hold importance, and how they shape their emotions. This book truly captures all the emotions possible when going through your first love. After watching the movie many times, and now finally reading the book, I’ve developed an attachement to this entire plot.

Christmas carol response

Christmas carol i enjoyed this story quite a lot i know this story very well because i have done two drama plays on it in my past years of middle school. I love how there is so many versions of this story evetime i read it i kind of know what’s happening but its still knew to me because of all the different versions. I think this book also has a lot of meaning to it the lessons it teaches are great and very true. Another reason this book is so good is because it has a amazing movie so when you read the book you can watch the movie after and have a way better idea of how the author pictured the story. I would defiantly read this book again and i would recommend it to anyone it is perfect in my opinion.

PW #7 Everything You Need to Know About Sharks

In the world there are so many sharks and there are so many types of them. to be exact there are 530 different species of sharks. There is also somewhere over one billion sharks on this earth, that is so cool. Most of these sharks live for 20 to 30 years on average thats a pretty long time but not really if you think about it. There is somewhere around 14 humans die to sharks each year. The most common shark that kills people is the type of shark that would surprise me if you didn’t, its the white shark. This is going to be surprise but did you know that sharks eat food not only humans. The types of food that sharks eat are fish, sometimes humans (sharks don’t eat humans because they are hungry or at least i din’t think so), large sea mammals, dolphins, and seals. Did you know that the largest shark in the world is the whale shark, the whale shark is considered one of the more nice sharks because they don’t snack on humans and they eat a lot more of the smaller fish not like the seals or the dolphins.

PW#7- The Eddie & Backdoor shootout

Over the break, I visited Hawaii. To start the trip off, we went to a big surf competition called “The Eddie”. This competition only happens if the waves are above 40 feet. The competition is to honour Eddie Aikau, who was a lifeguard and surfer. We had to climb a tree to watch this due to tens of thousands of people being there. This event is held at Waimea Bay, which is known for having massive waves. Landon McNamara ended up winning which was cool to watch. I got to see all of my favourite surfers except for Kelly Slater who backed out due to the waves being so big. The competition lasted all day and we ended up watching almost the entire thing. We had to wake up early (around 5 am) so we could make sure we would get a spot. We had to walk 30 mins because the roads were closed. A few days later a surf competition “Da hui Backdoor Shootout” was happening which is much more low-key than The Eddie. This Competition happens at Pipeline which is my favourite beach. I got to meet all of my favourite surfers such as Moana Jones Wong, Landon Mcnamara, Bethany Hamilton, Koa Rothman, and Jamie Obrien. I was especially excited to meet Bethany Hamilton because I’ve been looking up to her since I was 6. Koa Rothman ended up winning the competition. Overall, this was such a cool experience and I was so lucky to meet them.

pw#7

My winter break was great i had so much time to relax and sleep but also so much time to see my friends and family. There was so many family dinners  and late nights with my friends so many good memories made. Although i did stuff all day with my friends and relaxed all day i also put time aside for school and working out. One thing i didn’t like about winter break was there was no snow i was so mad and disappointed that it did not snow. If it did snow my whole break would of been spent in the snow either sledding or playing with snowballs. For this reason i am praying for it to snow sometime this January i am very doubtful that it will but maybe a miracle will happen. Another thing i love about snow is when it snows at school i find it makes every won much happier and brings the mood up makes people less stressed.

PW#6: Verde, Blanco y Rojo… That´s Mexico

Mexico, a country known for a lot of stuff, it could be because of the incredibly colurful streets and markets it has, the amazing food and variety of flavors it offers, its diverse flora and fauna, more than a 1000 touristic places to visit, a huge narcotraffic market, a long story of how mexicans became independant, a mix of cultures and languages or that it has a really bad government but, let me tell you, as a mexican, I´m still trying to figure out how to describe my country and that is because throughout my life, I´ve experienced, heard and seen so many things that I don´t know if they make me hate or love Mexico. Let me start by saying that child traffic is something pretty common there so no kids can walk or play alone anywhere. I´ve heard devastating news of other women who were walking alone on the street and got killed, it is impossible for a woman or girl to walk alone on the street without being harrased. I have hated every single day of school because most of the mexicans are extremely rude (I am not generalizing but when talking with most of the mexicans here we agree on that because all of us have at least had a bad experience at school) so yes… that side of Mexico that I really really hate. On the other side, my family leaves there and I love them so so so much, they are the reason I can stand Mexico. I also LOVE the food, it has a mix of different flavors that makes it unique and special. Mexico´s history is incredibly surprising and I believe it formed the way of being of most of us. The places it has for tourists makes me question if the world is actually real because it is so impressive to see how beautiful everything is. To end this personal writing, I also want to add that at the end of the day, Mexico is my home, I´ve lived there for a pretty long time and I am not trying to say it is a bad place. I´m just giving some points of view of why I don´t know what to think about it.

Personal Response to A Christmas Carol

I found A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens to be a Good book which I thoroughly enjoyed reading. it is a classic book with themes of kindness, and transformation, I was already familiar with the story as I used to watch the movie adaptations when I was younger, however, I found reading the book gave me a deeper appreciation for the original story. for one I found The original book to be very detailed which allowed me to discover details that were not present in the movies I watched and also allowed me to visualize what was being described in the book easily. Even though I enjoyed the detailed description in the book, I often found myself confused and unable to understand the dialogue given that it is an older story. Another aspect I enjoyed was Scrooge’s transformation. In the beginning, he is portrayed as a lonely, rude, and selfish man, often refusing to help others or even partake in the Christmas spirit. However, through his encounters with the three ghosts, he begins to reflect on his actions and their impact on those around him and By the end of the book, Scrooge becomes a completely different person, he is generous, kind, and full of life. I really liked this part of the book because it shows that even the most stubborn person can change for the better especially when they are given the chance to reflect and learn from their mistakes, It was nice to see Scrooge embrace life and find happiness through helping others and it made the ending of the book feel hopeful and was a good lesson that personal growth can always be possible. another aspect I  enjoyed was how the book was moving in many parts, making me reflect. For instance, when the Ghost of Christmas Present shows Scrooge the Cratchit family’s humble Christmas dinner, it despite their poverty, the family remains happy and grateful for what they have. showing their resilience and the love they share for one another, even in difficult circumstances. This scene made me reflect on the importance of family and how easily we can take things like that for granted. Overall, I found Christmas Carol to be an interesting and impactful story that can teach you valuable lessons about kindness, and generosity change and can even cause you to reflect.

Personal response to “A Christmas Carol”

I found the book A Christmas Carol good but it is not my favourite. I like the idea of the book and think it’s a great read for the winter season, but found it slightly boring seeing as I already know how the story ends. I find the storyline interesting and enjoyable, though. The book is truly a classic and a fun, festive read. It’s a heartwarming book that I would recommend for Christmas. I think it’s cool that Charles Dickens was able to include ghosts in the story as well, giving it a different feel than the normal Christmas stories. I love the message the book gives as well. It shows us that everyone has the chance to behave kinder to each other, and it is okay to change your perspective once in a while. It also tells us that the pursuit of money will not make a person happy, family will. My favourite part was when Ebenezer Scrooge attended his nephew’s dinner and gave Bob Cratchit a pay raise. Not to mention the turkey he gave them since they had to order a goose due to the high price of a turkey. I enjoyed the book more towards the end as it got more interesting. I liked the amount of information and detail the story had because it added to Scrooge’s background as to why he was the way he was. I enjoyed reading Bob Cratchits parts since they included important but sad information about his child Tiny Tim. I liked that Bob Cratchit represented a hard-working man who worked in poor working conditions. The book was very short but packed with little details that made the story more realistic and just overall better. I give the book an 8/10 because of the plot and details it included. To conclude the book was fun and a good Christmas read, I just found it broing at the start.

PW 5# Trip to Vancouver.

It was the second week of winter break and I haven’t really done much but play video games and basketball with my friends. After I had my basketball practice in the morning me and my brother got picked up by my mom and she told us that we were going to Vancouver to visit our grandparents and cousins. It was going to be a two day trip one day at our grandparents and one at our cousins.  When we got off the ferry we went to our grandparents house. once we got there at around 6:00 we said hi and spent the night there. The next morning I woke up early because we were going to Tsawwassen mils for a few hours. We left and when we got there we did some shopping and got some presents for our dad for Christmas. Then we went back to our grandparents house and ate dinner. Then at around 7:00 we left  oto go to our cousins house. When we got there we said hi to our cousins and two of my cousins who live in Ottawa came to visit and they only come and visit very once a year so it was really nice to see them and ask them how have they been doing. After we said hi we watched a movie downstairs. Then we went to bed. After we woke up we watched some TV and a hour later we left for a long walk to the grocery store to get some snacks. When we got back two more of our cousins came and then we went bowling with them. After we went to go play football at the track field.  Then we had dinner together and played some video games. Then me and my brother said bye and we left then we went home. That was how my trip to Vancouver went.

PW #4 – The power of a place

In your life you make so many memories. Some are with you friends, or your family. And those memories are made in a place. Like a beach, a house, a school, etc. One of the places that I made really good memories in was Cuba. Specifically my gradparents house, and my aunts house. My grandparents house  is in Sancti Spiritus, it is around the middle of Cuba. And my aunts house is in Havana, which is the capital. My aunt has a big house with a pool and a poolhouse, she has the ocean in her backyard, seperated by a short concrete fence. I have so many memories of running up and down 3 flights of stairs while playing hide and seek. I remember when I was little my cousin and I would play by the pool and me and my aunt would then go into the ocean and she made me wear shoes which I didn’t like, but she made me because there was rocks in the ocean. And one day I took them off and cut my foot. I then went to the pool house with cousins and I was so upset because she said I couldn’t run around until my cut healed. So instead of running around the house everyday. We would go sit on a white hanging chair every night for a week or so, and there frogs in her back yard that we would just watch. I remember watching them jump along the short concrete fence hoping they wouldn’t fall in the water. I have so many lovely memories of my aunts house, and my grandparents. But that’s for another personal writing.

IRJE#6

This book is named Surrounded by Idiots: The Theory of Human Behaviour and How to Effectively Communicate. It was written by Thomas Ericson. In this part of the book, they are explaining the different perspectives of the different cultures and helping you understand how different we are. And the meaning of the four humors.

Humoral pathology, or the theory of the four humours or four bodily fluids, has to do with the four temperaments. According to Hippocrates, our temperament is the fundamental way we react. It’s our behavior or our natural frame of mind. Our temperament controls our behavior. Hippocrates believed that your health is good when the four humors—blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm—are in balance. When we vomit, cough, or sweat, for example, the body is trying to rid itself of one or more of these substances. The word chloe comes from Greek and means “yellow bile.” Therefore, a choleric person is controlled by yellow bile or the liver. Fiery and temperamental, choleric people sometimes frighten those around them with their powerful ways. “Choleric” can be translated as “hot-blooded.” (p. 225).

I choose this part because it was fascinating how the humors are related to body fluids. This paragraph is really important because it teaches you how does the four humors work.

Personal response to “Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”

After reading Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, I found the exploration of human/ghost  nature both interesting and unsettling. The story made me think about how everyone has different sides to their personality. Dr. Jekyll’s transformation into Mr. Hyde represents our “normal” selves and the darker, more impulsive aspects we try to hide. What I found the most interesting was how Dr. Jekyll, despite being a favored doctor, is still tempted to switch into his darker desires through Mr. Hyde.

I like the way the book presents Mr. Hyde as mean and violent person, this also made me think about the consequences of ignoring our bad sides. This idea of the danger of control and the consequences of living in denial was something that really stood out to me, while reading.

I also liked the other characters in the story, like Mr. Utterson and Poole, I found they helped make the book way more interesting. I didn’t really like all the extra things that were hiding in the pages, I wished the book could have just jumped to the murders, because in my opinion the murders and the plot twist of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, being the same person was one of the best parts of the book. When I figured out that they were the same person It really made me want to keep reading

Overall, I did enjoy the book; It wasn’t to long or to short for me. It was also a bit confusing, considering that it was written in the 1800s. I did learn some interesting new words though I thought that it had a good creepy element and a really well put together plot ending. If I could I might read it again, and when I do I will understand it better and I won’t be as confused. I would give it a solid 8.5/10.

IRJE#5

The Alchemyst The secrets of The Immortal                            Author Michael Scott

This book is series of six other ones this being the first one. The main plot is about fifth teen year old all American twins named Sophie and Josh who had regular life’s until they met a man called Dr. John Dee who flipped there life upside down By stealing a ancient book which causes trouble. A quote that i loved was

“I’m not a magician. I’am an alchemyst, a man of science, though perhaps not the science you would be familiar with.”
? Michael Scott, the alchemyst.

This quote means so much about the book because it talks about how the hole story is so mysterious and about adventure and fantasy also about mystery.

 

IRJE #5 – Plague

I am reading a book called Plague right now. It is the fourth book in the Gone series. In the book, a kid named Albert has become the ‘boss’ of the FAYZ because he has brought back currency. However, people don’t like him because he has a reputation for working people a lot, yet he is one of the only people who is able to control himself.

“There is no wind in the FAYZ, you…” He stopped himself from saying ‘moron’. Albert had a certain reputation for being in control of himself. (p. 49)”

When we read this it makes us believe that even in the worst scenarios people will still do anything to keep their reputation.

Laila- PW # 5 Christmas time is coming!!!

Christmas / December are probably one of my favorite times of the year, here are the pros and cons. Cons; you get to send time with your family, get a Christmas tree, then decorate it, Christmas baking , even though it can be stressful. I love when it snows and I get to go sledding with my parents. My dog also loves the snow. We live in Metchosen and it usually snows around 3-4 feet!!! I cant wait for it to snow! I really enjoy listening to Christmas music, this year I started listening in November. On Christmas Eve me and my family have a tradition where we all get matching pajamas and we each get to pick one present under the tree and watch a few Christmas movies and drink hot chocolate. I’m so exited to wake up on the 25th and open presents with my family! A couple days after Christmas we go to my grandmas house and have a Christmas party with food, drinks, stories, laughter, and most important of al my family.

IRJE#5

This book is Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban this book is by J.K Rowling. Hagrids bird Beaky went on trial because he kept hurting people. When he went to trial it was at the risk of Beaky being executed. In the trial they lost. When he went back he was really sad because Beaky meant so much to him. Draco Malfoy saw this and called Hagrid pathetic.

Don’t you dare call Hagrid pathetic you fool – you evil_’ ‘Hermione!’ said Ron weakly he tried to grab her hand as she swung it back. ‘Get off Ron!’ Hermione pulled out her want. Malfoy stepped backwards. Crabbe and Goyle looked at him for instruction (p.312).

I like this quotation because it shows how caring Hermione is when her friend is hurt and someone makes fun of them. It also has how protective she. I like this quotation because it makes me laugh when it says that Crabbe and Goyle don’t know what to do so they go to Malfoy for help.

PW#4-New York

I went to New York in the summer of 2023. It was by far one of the best experiences I have ever had. There was just so much going on. We went to so many shops and it was so cool. We took the underground subway from the hotel to the Times Square. On our first day day we did a bus tour of the city’s most important places. We were able to hop on and off because my parents bought a day trip pass. We ate in Chinatown , we had the biggest slice of pizza I’ve ever seen and we watched a lot of street performers. They would gather a large crowd and then have people pay money to see their tricks. We also watched a live action play on Broadway, The Lion King. We weren’t allowed to take any pictures until the very end of the play before the curtain closed.  But my favorite part of the entire trip was when we went on a boat to see the Statue of Liberty. It was really cool to see it up close and to see all the tiny details on it. We were also shown the Brooklyn Street Bridge and got to see some of the rent controlled housing in New York on the boat.

IRJE#4 My Fault

The book My fault is about how a teenage girl and her mom move to another place to live for her mother to marry the love of his life, the guy she is marrying is rich and lives in a mansion and is very exited welcoming the mother and her daughter Noah, Noah does not like the idea of moving from Toronto to LA and living her volleyball team, best friend and boyfriend behind, Once Noah arrived she met the guy her mother was marrying and his son, her soon to be stepbrother, at first they hate each other, but little by little they start to have feeling for each other even though they say they cant stand each other., but they see imposible for them to be together because of the fact that they are step brothers.

seeing him hit me like a ton of bricks after those four days when id manage to more or less forget what had happend at the races and had tried to avoid thinking about him, and when i did think of him, i felt a strange, unpleasant sensation in my stomach.

This quotation’s meaning is that Noah is wanting to forget a mistake she made, she is trying to get past that, but at the very bottom she knows she did something wrong, she has the awareness of her mistake.

 

PW #3 Ballet

I have a love hate relationship with Ballet, i have been doing ballet since i was 4 years old. I have always loved the music, the beautiful costumes, everything. I have always seen ballet as a beautiful classic and elegant dance style, when i was little i always admire the big girls in my dance academy, for the recitals they used big tutus and point shoes, the point shoes where the thing that i was exited the most. Everything is easier at the beginning and keeps getting harder throughout you go forward to it, learning the dances, every move , the names of the song and exercises its very difficult,  and its worse when you see the teacher as your biggest enemy, always pushing you harder to make more difficult things every time, compare you to other classmates, always making you feel less. Every time class got hard i wanted to quit but i remembered how beautiful  the big girls dance with their point shoes and tutus, so i kept going, i pushed my self very hard, put in extra effort until i finally was at a level to get them, my first impression of them wasn’t that good because the first thing i had to do was sew every single ribbon onto the point shoe, it was very hard learning to sew, i pinched my self with the needle in various occasions, my fisrt time using them was horrible, so painful but the teacher said it was because it was the first time i was using them, and as time goes by ill shape them. i kept using them for 2 years and those where the worst years in ballet of my life, i went two classes a week 2 hours, it was so painful, having blisters every time, always  being so tired, with muscular pain everywhere. so this June after after the recital i choose it was going to be my last ballet recital for a while.