"It's Okay..."

Last year in 5th grade, I was new to ISKL Melawati and I didn't know many people. But around the middle of the year, I started to sort of, you know, fit in. At the end of the year, there was a track and field meet and I was taking part in the 200m sprint, 50m sprint or 100m sprint (I don't know which one), long jump, softball throw and the relay with all my friends. I was 1 of out 2 girls who were selected to run in the relay. Let's just call my friends Bobby, Freddy and Mary.

Mary was getting ready to put us in a big lead. She leaped off the starting line and zoomed off like a cheetah. She held the gold baton in her hand and in the next person's eyes, I could see the tension between the baton and him. She passed off the baton to Bobby and he just sprinted off like there was a giant bulldozer behind him. We were all shouting, "GO GO GO!" and I was the next one up. At about 1 meter away, I could see Bobby. He had a sense of concentration in his eyes. But bad luck fell upon him.

About about half a meter away, the baton slipped out of his hand and fell onto the grass! We were all disappointed and you could hear the crowd go, "Awww..." I just screamed at that Bobby, "It's fine! Don't worry about it! Just pick it up!" He quickly picked it up and sprinted for his life. Bobby passed the baton to me and I was just running like there was no tomorrow! I passed it off to Freddy and he just ran as fast as he could to make up for the lost time. Freddy actually ran like he was a thief being chased by a angry mob of people. In the end, we got 2nd place and we were all like, "YES!" And high-fiving each other. Bobby, who dropped the baton, was walking off and sniffling. I could hear everyone saying to Bobby, "Why the heck did you do that?" and "You know we could have won if you DIDN'T drop the baton?" I got so mad at them and I just felt like saying, "Be proud that we actually ran! Because if we didn't, we wouldn't have won a place in the top three. So please just STOP BULLYING HIM!" But instead I chose to comfort the victim so that he was alright.

"Hey, you okay?" I asked Bobby. He was sitting on the curb of the ramp near the Melawati gym. He said that he didn't mean to drop and that it just slipped out of his hand. I knew that but I don't think anyone else did. I gave Bobby a big hug and whispered, "You know, they got ice-cream and I'm pretty sure that you want some :)" He said yeah and I helped him up from where we were sitting and we walked down the ramp to get some ice-cream.

In my opinion, everyone should not be punished or bullied by just making one mistake. The mistake won't scar them for life but just a big part of it. If I had the same situation happen once, I would stand up for Bobby and tell everyone to just respect him and to not bother him. After all, it's just life. Two goals that I have that could help everyone in ISKL, is maybe joining or starting an Anti-Bullying Campaign so that nobody would get bullied in ISKL as a goal. Another goal is to report any signs of bullying to Ms. Thompson. I don't want to be a tattle-tale or a teacher's pet, but I want this school to be safe and not full of bullies. Last year when Ms. Thompson and the 6th grade peer helpers cam over to Melawati, 1 person asked if there were any bullies. The peer helpers said no but I think there are some bullies who push and shove as they please. I think bullying is a very big issue around the world and I hope not EVERYONE wants to stop it. Not just me or ISKL.

The key to change... is to let go of fear.

Courage-the ability to do something that frightens one. Now that's what I call a dictionary definition. My way of looking at courage is like a hallway. During that hallway, you must make some choices you don't want to make, but this hallway leads to a whole, new and changed life. Some choices you make may be about your fears. Most people think being courageous is having the guts to do something that frightens them or even fears them, and that's their definition. Not everyone's definition is the same. Now I will tell you how a single trip to Malacca changed my whole life and how it made me a more matured person. 

    

     In 5th grade, there was an overnight trip to Malacca on this famous city's spices and food that they have. I, for one, thought it was exciting to go on an overnight trip with my friends because I haven't gone on a trip to another city before, but then I thought about my fears. I have TONS of fears! 1)I hate being alone 2) Don't really like bugs 3) DISGUSTED by wet and dirty floors and 4) REALLY scared from animals (FYI: Please don't laugh!). This trip involved 2 of my fears: being alone, and bugs. You see, I haven't really 'pulled away' from my parents yet so I sleep next to them in my own bed and hold my dad's hand when I sleep because I'm also scared of robbers and thieves and those kinds of people. Anyway, bugs also interfere into the trip because I wasn't sure if the hotel was clean or not. So basically, this trip was about me having the choice to be afraid my fears or to have the courage to overcome my fears.

     As I dried my hair after a nice hot shower and a whole day of sweating, I thought to myself, "Okay Nadia, you survived a whole day without Mommy and Daddy. I think you can survive 10 hours without Daddy holding your hand." I suddenly heard a vibrating sound and thought it was someone outside our hotel room door. I thought that because our room was right next to the open loading zone. VERY FREAKY! It was actually my mom texting good night. I replied with a good night and gripped my phone in my hand. Suddenly a lightbulb lit up in my head. I quickly my bed's pillow and put it on the other side of the bed. No bugs tonight! But I didn't have the courage to leave my pillow where it was. I didn't have the courage to overcome my fear of bugs. I climbed into bed and fell on my pillow. Melodie also fell on her bed and she slept straight away. I didn't know that but after 5 minutes after 10 I heard a faint snoring sound. I started to giggle very softly and closed my eyes. I just couldn't fall asleep without a verbal, "Good Night!". 

     *BRING BRING* I heard my alarm ring. It turns out I actually did fall asleep! I have finally overcome my fear of being alone! YAHOO! What an achievement :) I woke up and ran to the other bed and woke Melodie up and checked my watch. It was 7:00. We were only supposed to wake up at 9:00 I think. So Melodie and I just sat in bed and played one of my phone's games. I not only overcame my fear but also woke up earlier than I could ever can!

     Courage. Everyone deals with it and everyone can use it in anyway they want to. My definition of courage is having the guts to do what you think is the right choice. What's your definition of courage?

Cheers,

Nadia

Sources:

Quote-http://thinkexist.com/quotation/the-key-to-change-is-to-let-go-of-fear/391151.html
Hallway-http://www.principiadiscordia.com/Adventure/images/5/57/Hallway.jpg
Malacca-http://www.hot-screensaver.com/wp-myimages/malacca-a-famosa.jpg
Lightbulb-http://www.hostsaga.com/images/lightbulb.gif
Yahoo-http://www.ewellnessmall.com/online-health-store/resources/fck_images/yahoo-logo.jpg
Courage-http://www.ci.boca-raton.fl.us/city/hr/Motiv-Poster/winners/1courage_sm.jpg

How did early humans use art to express their prehistoric culture?

     Early humans used cave paintings, artifacts, tools to express their hominid culture, most important is how they use art so creatively. They would see something they like and paint it on the walls of the caves or the surface of a rock or even just on the floor. The group I was in observed a picture that showed part of a cave wall. We hypothesized what we thought the painting was about. We first thought that it was a plan to get bison for food or a plan to attack an enemy of some sort. We also thought it was a plan to get every living thing away from a poisoned plant or piece of land. All of these hypothesizes are plans to lure or capture something. We never guessed that it was a just an everyday life painting. Some scientists believe that it WAS an everyday life painting. This proves that we never know what these smart hominids paint because they add all of these weird symbols and signs that we never understand or recognize. I think the early humans would use art instead of anything else because maybe they didn't know how else to express their culture.

     I would like to write (or rather type) what i can infer about these images below. 

http://berkeley.utrechtblog.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/13/files//2009/10/spray-hands.jpg

     To me and many others, this painting looks like a plan but to some people, it might look like a tribute to the many animals in their homeland. To scientists, those handprints are an artist's signature. The group I worked with figured it was representing the many people in the picture. I can see that the bison are trying to run away from something or someone. Many scientists thought that the paintings all meant something different because each painting was unique and different. Not one was exactly the same. As I said earlier, this painting may be a way of saying tribute to the animals in their territory. Maybe the animals did something miraculous and this is the hominid's way of saying thanks.

http://comps.fotosearch.com/comp/AGE/AGE027/cave-paintings-cueva_~M78-373721.jpg

     I think this painting shows the many people there are in one single tribe. As you can see, there are many different sizes of hands. There are small and big hands. I guess the bigger hands are the adult's and the smaller hands are a child's. There are many different colors and different designs. I think the colors represent the different kind of personalities there are in the tribe. The early humans may have used different kinds of fruits and blood to make the ink. They could have used all of the tools they invented to kill  the animals and squeeze the fruits. I think this painting was to show all the different kinds of people in their tribe. They may have not been from different places but an individual is very different from another individual.

     Well, I believe there are many different answers depending on the person. In conclusion....How did early humans use art to express their prehistoric culture? I think the early humans would paint what they think has meaning, what they think is interesting and what they think is important to them and others around them.

Cheers,

Nadia :)

http://cinema.usc.edu/programs/interactive/members/bladeols/CavePaintingsAlec.jpg

I THINK THIS IS RATHER INTERESTING... hmmmmm :O

What Are You?

Which Social Scientist are you?

When I grow up, I want to be an archaelogist, out of historians and geographers, and dig up something very meaningful like Howard Carter, who I just found out dug up the tomb of King Tutankhamen. I have never heard of him before but I guess he really is famous if he actually dug up the tomb of KING TUT :O These are some reasons why I chose archaelogist, what an archaeologist does and why I didn't pick the other jobs.

      http://www.archaeologydiscoveries.com/images/archaeologist.gif

Why did I choose to be an archaeologist?


I chose to be an archaeologist because...


1. I love to get down and dirty :)


2. I like to sort things out


3. I like solving puzzles

I mean, if you want to pick a job, you should do SOMETHING YOU LOVE! If books are your thing, be a librarian or and author :D You should always think your job is fun! I guess it's sort of like the movie, Bee Movie. Barry didn't want to work in the beehive because he would have to work that job for the rest of his life! The most fun thing I think an archaeologist does is FOSSILS. I love dusting the dirt off the fossil and just trying to figure out what it is! You never know it could be a whale's tooth, or something... I guess an archaeologist has the most exciting job out of the other jobs because you get to 

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/randoEMS/Howard_Carter_1_lg.jpgtravel 

to all the different places ALL around the world! The best thing is that you don't have a deadline :) You can try and find out what a teeny tiny fossil is and no one would say, " THIS IS DUE TOMORROW OR YOU'RE FIRED!!!"


I think you need to be able to cooperate with other people to have a job like this. If you don't cooperate with people, what's the use? You'll just fight every second of the day...so forget about being a archaeologist if you're not a cooperative person. Luckily, I believe I can cooperate with people very well :D






What exactly is an archaeologist?

In my own words, I think an archaeologist is a person who examines objects that have been left behind from people or animals from the past by travelling all around the world looking for those objectsct is. For example, on National Geographic Channel (I think...don't blame if you go home and you can't find this segment), I saw a lady,who I believe is an archaeologist, examine a whale's body bones that she found in a place that gets less than 1mm or water each year. You sometimes get puzzles like that when you're on a expedition. I mean, come on, a whale in a desert? I think that's a BIG mystery :O

http://www.school-clipart.com/_small/0511-0804-2813-0431.jpg

Why didn't I choose historian or geographer?

http://dynamicearthwebquest.com/historian.gif


I didn't choose those two jobs because I don't really like history or geography. I guess locating latitudes and longitudes are fun :) but not as fun as digging up artifacts from the past. A historian, in my opinion just studies the past which is not really fun because then you have to research alot and you have to be really smart :( I think geographer would be my second choice because you still get to travel around the world and I 
think being a historian is just not fun.

http://newsgrist.typepad.com/underbelly/images/2007/10/24/paglen.jpg

I guess that's all...


I hope you really enjoyed my blog post. I'll enter some history about Howard Carter in my next blog post. :)

Cheers,

Nadia

Hi! I'm Nadia :D

Hi! I'm Nadia :D I am an ISKL Middle School here in Kuala Lumpur. I am from Kuala Lumpur and this is my 4th year back here. I have been living in Beijing for the past 8 years of my life and moved there when I was about 2 and a half years old. I think Malaysia is a great place to live :) I mean without the mosquitos and all the little bugs that can easily kill you :O This is my first time writing on a blog so I'm not sure how it goes...I think it's like writing an essay,hmmmm... I HOPE YOU LIKE MY BLOG :)


Cheers, Nadia





What are the latest three books you have read?

Right now, I am reading Coraline and Other Stories and School of Fear. I have just finished reading How To Be A Girly Girl In Just Ten Days. Coraline and Other Stories is just like the movie except it's SCARIER :( Neil Gaiman certainly put in a lot of details in this book. School of Fear is about these four kids who all have something in common: they all have different kinds of phobias. I am enjoying it so far, even though I have only read the first few chapters. How To Be A Girly Girl In Just Ten Days is about this girl called Nicollette, but her friends call her Nick because she is a BIG tomboy by heart. It's the type of books that girls would probably want to read, but maybe boys would like it :)


What is the last movie you have seen?


I think the latest movie I have seen is Despicable Me. I think Despicable Me is the kind of movie that you can only watch one time because if you watch multiple times, you might not think it'd funny anymore.  I really want to watch Toy Story 3! The commercial seems very funny! If you can get me the DVD, THANK YOU VERY MUCH :D If you can't get me the DVD, BOOHOO TO YOU :(




What is one academic goal do you have for this year?


One academic goal I have for Middle School is to improve on my essay writing. I am not sure I write formal enough for a formal essay. I think I like to write letters better than essays. Mrs. Narsiman, if you could help me on that, YOU WILL BE MY FAVOURITE TEACHER :D


What is one social goal you have for this year?


I would like to be able to mix in with all the different people in my grade and not just the people I had in my class last year. This year, we would switch classes every 80 minutes. Last year, we would just have our classes in one classrooms. I thought it was very boring. Our teacher would say," After you finish your handwriting samples, take out your science notebooks."


What is your favourite vacation memory?

My favourite vacation memory is when I went to Gold Coast and I went on the Big 6 Thrill Rides in Dream World. They were Tower of Terror, The Giant Drop, Cyclone, The Claw, The Wipeout and Mick Doohan's Motocoaster. I think the scariest one, for me, was Tower of Terror. It's speed is up to 161 kph in seven seconds! Even though this L-shaped ride is short, it is so, uber fun!




List 5 adjectives to describe yourself


-Fun


-Energetic


-Weird


-Athletic


-Kind


I think that's the end of my first ever blog post as nredza17. I hope you will enjoy this post :)


Your swimmer,


Nadia Redza