Jane Forever (Angela, 6B)

Some people come, some people go; some people become part of your life, some are just momentary visitors in the river of your life. That is life. However, even though something has been pretty old, it’s hard to be buried under the sand of time, and no matter how far it is between it and you, you just cannot let it go out of your life because it does mean so much that you are sentimentally attached to it, just like the friendship between Jane and me.
Jane has been my best bosom friend since we were in the kindergarten. I’ll never leave our friendship behind as she gave me the most beautiful memory of childhood and as she was the only one who always accompanied me and never ever gave up our friendship.
The days without Jane were just like the world without sunshine for me at that time. She really helped me a lot, especially during my childhood. I used to be such a grossly shy girl that I was even afraid of talking with people around me, let alone strangers. It was Jane who changed me. As Jane was truly extroverted and easy-going, she had many friends. So, she often brought some new friends to me as she knew me so much. And when we communicated or played together, she would tell me how to build up good friendship with others. Day by day, changes happened to me. I became willing to start a conversation with others, played with different kids, and I really enjoyed it. As unselfish as Jane was, she never hid anything from me, and always told me what she knew. Then I learned that if you want others to open their hearts to you, you should first leave your heart and mind open. In those days with Jane, I learned much from her and I was gradually becoming more and more easy-going and extroverted. Thanks to Jane, I had a wonderful and unforgettable childhood, which truly meant much to me. That’s one reason that I could never throw away our friendship.
Later, I moved to Shanghai with my family. On my eleventh birthday, I said goodbye to Jane with tears. I felt very sad leaving Jane. My mother said I would meet many more new friends, and with the passage of time, I would not feel that sad as the distance worked indeed. But it did not happen that way. Jane and I sent emails to each other every day so that we nearly became each other’s secret diaries, and it gradually developed itself into a habit for us. The thing was everything could be our topic, which pushed us to think, talk and write more and we were all improved by it. When I met something unpleasant, I would tell her, and then I would be given the warmest comfort that could easily cheer me up. Though we were separated, we kept in touch, and gradually, a kind of invisible attachment formed between us, which was a special tie that cannot just be cut by time and distance.
The friendship of Jane and me is old indeed as it started early, but it’s strong and tight as it has lasted long under our careful cultivation. People usually say that things are easily forgotten with time flying, and ties attached to people tend to be broken up by distance. However, it has never ever happened to Jane and me, and I believe it won’t, either. When something new shows up, something old dies away, that’s life. But the friendship of Jane and me seems to be always brand-new under the test of time and distance. She is my Jane forever.

Street Scene at Night (by Karl, 5B)

Pau is a small town in southern France. All my life, I have lived in this small town and in a small house that is the closest to the biggest street of the town, l’Avenue Edouard VII. This street is part of me. I know it perfectly and have always been fascinated by it: A long avenue, with big trees on each side, and high white buildings, and the smell of the bakery, and the fresh air coming from the Pyrenees. When I was a little boy, I used to walk along the street and watch the seasons change its colors and moods. Thus, the street is cloaked in green, blue, and grey in the spring, yellow in the summer, red in the fall, and white in the winter. Its mood changes with the seasons, too. In the summer, the street is alive, active, and noisy withpeople and vehicles; in the winter, it becomes calm and quiet, especially when the snow starts falling and people keep themselves indoors and children do not have to go to school.

I am now a grown-up and as such I have go to work and gone are the idle days when I could whistle my life away while watching the street change its colors with the seasons. Gone, too, are many other things. But one thing remains unchanged, and it is the fascination that the street holds for me. In the evening, when I am home from work, I still like to watch the street. However, I like to watch it most at around midnight. At this time of the night, the noisy street transforms itself into a tranquil place. In this perfect tranquility, many things stand out. The colors of the night street become more vivid. I can see the yellow light streaming of from my neighbors’ houses, the red glaring headlights of the passing cars or the glowing blue and purple signs on the roof of the local restaurant. Even the cold air blowing through the small town from the Pyrenees smells fresher in the deep night. And of course, there is also that shrill singing of the crickets and cicadas in the summer months and the slow lazy hooting of the mountain owls that comes from and goes back into the dark depths of the winter nights.

Marriage Differences between Countries (Jumah Sultan, 6C)

Every single person likes to marry someone whom he is in love with. Therefore, couples choose each other, hoping to create a happy family and to spend the rest of their lives together. Recently I had a very interesting conversation with one of my Chinese friends about this happiest moment in the lives of young people, which is marriage. We learned more about each other’s marriage customs, and we found that the customs in Libya are different from those in China in many ways.
First, in Libya, the groom has to pay for everything from the beginning of the wedding ceremony until its end. In Libya, the groom should be financially well-prepared if he wants to get married. Before the marriage, when the groom proposes to his future wife, he has to pay a specific amount of money called “dowry” to the bride’s family. This dowry is determined by the bride’s sponsor, who is her father in most cases. Furthermore, the groom has to have his own house and car. Actually the car is optional, but the house is mandatory. Moreover, the groom has to cover all the marriage expenses, including the food for the guests and the payment for the musical bands, whereas in China, the groom and the bride share the marriage expenses somehow. For example, if the groom buys the house, the bride would buy the furniture. Also, the dowry payment is optional and depends on the family.
Second, the time set for weddings in the two countries is different. In Libya, the wedding starts on Monday and finishes on Friday. So, the celebration lasts for five days. In those five days, the groom will receive and entertain his friends, relatives, and neighbors. Everyone will wear his or her traditional costume to join the groom and his family to celebrate the wedding. They all become like a family and share the activities such as cooking for the guests three meals a day, or singing and reciting poems till early in the next morning. In China, my Chinese friend told me, it is just a one-day celebration, and after that the couple starts their honeymoon somewhere. In China, the groom also invites all of his friends and relatives to gather at a specific time and at a specific place where they can celebrate the wedding ceremony together in the presence of the bride and the groom.
To conclude, though the marriage everywhere aims at the same objective, which is to create a happy, lovely, and strong family, different countries have different cultures and customs and the inhabitants of those countries celebrate this occasion in different ways.

With whom do you like to have a cup of coffee? Why?
Parichat Kittikornmeta, 5B

Every time that I catch the smelling of coffee, I think of my mother. I usually smell a warmed-soft coffee and my mother sit with her small cup with sandwiches plate in every morning. She is the one who I want to have a cup of coffee with.

My mother loves coffees. She is happy to have a rich coffee once a day. After she drank it, she joked her children with fun story and we laughed together. She is like shining sun even in a rainy day.

I can sense relaxation every time I see my mother and her small-warmed cup. When she was relaxing, she would sing with a lovely sound while she was playing smooth rhyme of guitar. As if her energy flows with non-stop. She may asked me for take a walk from house to the closest store, even though she was old and her knee was not great.

While we were taking time to sip coffee, she often shared me her weary childhood story, then taught me to live a good life. I love to spend time talking with her and learning many experiences from her.

A small cup of coffee can make a good time between me and my mother. It is a time I like to spend with my lovely mother. I really love to have a cup of coffee with my mother.

My Past Life

Rashid Alhomaidi, 5C
Playing in the yard, crying for silly things, and listening to the tails. This how most of our childhood was and no one can forget his\her memories until the person grows up and remembers the best moments of his\her past. In my past life, my childhood and my high school days are the best moments and memories that I’ll never forget them.
My childhood has the best moments that I have been in my life. When I was 5 years old, I was full of happiness. I was  innocent and I wasn’t worried about anything because I was thinking as child mind and child mind doesn’t have a stress or depression. My childhood was very simple. For example, my dad bought me a small toy doesn’t cost more than 15 dollars, but it really meant for me like he bought me a car, also when I hang out , I just go to my cousin’s house or my friend’s house and this how my weekend was. As I told you my childhood was simple.

In high school, where I grew up and changed the way I think. I began to be responsible of myself. In fact, even though my parents paid for my high school, I was always studying by myself and when I go out, nobody tells when I have to come back. I began to think about my future and which university I should go, also I started having stress and worrying about a lot of things. My high school was the important point that changed my life.

In the end, this is my past life. First, I was innocent kid and full of happiness , then  I grew up and became responsible of myself, and finally I took important decisions such as studying in the United States. I miss my past life and I will never forget it.

 

What Do I Miss Most About My Hometown?

Nhung Nguyen, 5C

It has been one month since the first day I came to the U.S, which is thousands of kilometers far away from my hometown – Vietnam. Even though America, as itself, is definitely a fabulous and fascinating country and a place of big dreams, it is still unable to stop me missing about my fatherland, in which my beloved family is always in the bottom of my heart, especially my mother.
Immigrating to a very new environment included the weather, food, and friends makes me sometimes excited but stressful in moments. Hence, homesickness has come naturally as other immigrants and it holds my feeling in sadness and loneliness. In such situations, I always remember about the good old memories when I was still a little daughter in my mother’s arms, which is such the most beautiful picture in my mind. As the saying goes:” A happy family is but an earlier heaven” (John Bowring), it is touching to me at this time.  I’m a lucky child saying that quotation because I just feel in peace when I’m thinking of my home.  Specifically, I have been brought up with my mother’s kindly heart, and she is always by my side even in my darkest moments. She takes care of her little daughters perfectly and sweetly because family is the most important thing in her life.
Born and grown from a poor family, she has a strong attitude and hard effort to success in any obstacles and difficult situations. Doubtlessly, she also teaches me that I am never allowed to give up anything in life as she does. She has sacrificed her whole life for me, for her family so I have to be stronger in my independent life in the foreign lands. So that, when I am in trouble, even when I do any little thing, I think of my mother and say to myself that I should be responsible and try my best. Those are things that haven’t ever made her disappointed about her proud.
She is also a sensitive mother because she is the one who could see my thought that I haven’t told yet. Honestly, sometimes we talk and share our feelings as close friends and there are not any secrets between us. Therefore, if I have problem or feel uncomfortable about the new life, she will always be the first person who chill my soul out as previous days that I was by her side.
Finally, I want to say that my mother is a precious gift that God give to my life. It does not matter where I am, it does not matter how long I have been away from her, I am always still her beloved child, her little daughter and the one who miss her most. And I noted down in my dairy in the U.S a meaningful saying of Victor Hugo that:” A mother’s arms are made of tenderness and children sleep soundly in them”.  My mommy is definitely my life.

My Primary School
Manelle Bourechak, 5B

There is a phase of every individual’s life that we always want to remember and talk about it. For many reason, my unforgotten moment is when I was in primary school. One of them is the beauty of my school which it made me a happy young girl.

My school was not big as other institution. It is located in woods. This part of town is very quit, only few cars pass by. It is surrounded by a beautiful houses and long old eucalyptus trees. It is very old famous school. The French architecture dated during the French colonialism to Algeria in 1830. The big and long white wall covered the small recreation yard. There are banana’s trees planted every two to three meters exceed the fence. On the back of the recreation yard, there is a nice garden where the red beautiful flowers is planted, the others flowers have a different colors, some are purple other yellows.  The green leaves invaded the place. The mixture of these colors is an amazing piece of art for the eye of everyone in this school. On each wall of classes, there was a painting, some of them are cartoon others are just educational writing as Arabic alphabet or Coran verses. All the class windows are painted in white to reflect the sun light and avoid children to look to the gorgeous garden.

In short, my primary school was a remarkable and happiest place in all my life. I hope that one day I go visit it but I afraid that these splendor quiet institution changed.