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.