Christmas Traditions

My family has many Christmas traditions. We start the season off by getting a tree when everyone in my family is home and has time to decorate it. While we’re decorating the tree, we always have a cup of hot chocolate. As Christmas gets closer and closer, my mom is in the kitchen more and more making delicious family recipe cookies, her famous cinnamon rolls, and on Christmas Eve, a secret, family recipe Christmas bread. Christmas Eve day is spent with my mom in the kitchen, us, the kids, cleaning if it’s our turn to host Christmas, and my dad running around for last minute ingredients and presents. Our Christmas Eve night starts at church where we are all in our best clothes. The service ends with singing Silent Night by candle light. After church, we come home, stay in our best clothes, and eat a fancy dinner on fine china. After dinner, we all settle down with a cup of hot chocolate to watch It’s a Wonderful Life. It ends up being a pretty late night. On Christmas morning, everyone in my family wants to kill me. I’m ten and eight years younger than my sister and brother, so I was always more excited for Christmas morning than they were. It’s become a tradition that I wake my parents up early, then I get permission to go wake up my brother, which let me tell you, is hard work! My parents have to wake up my sister. If I ever tried to wake her up that early, I wouldn’t be here to tell you about it! We all meet in my parents’ room, and after my dad goes downstairs to make sure ‘there aren’t any reindeer left,’ we walk downstairs to the tree, oldest to youngest. My brother always picks on me on the way down, for instance, he walks very, very, very slowly so I can’t get past him. We go through our stockings first, and then we move on to the presents under the tree. Our long Christmas day ends with a long drive to one of my aunts’ or uncles’ house on my dad’s side. We have many Christmas traditions that we try as hard as we can to keep going as everyone gets older and moves out. It’s a challenge that is well worth the struggle. Merry Christmas!

The Power of One: Reaction

We recently finished watching a heartbreaking movie, as most inspirational movies are, about how one person, P.K., helped a few people in little ways that ended up giving hope to many. There were many, many scenes in this film I could not watch, for instance, when Botha and his friends decided to use P.K., played by the most adorable little kid, as a restroom. It was at that moment I realized that it wasn’t just the native Africans that were discriminated against. Sure they received the worst of the discrimination, but the English were also treated unfairly. Two more scenes I could not watch both involve Piet. I was not prepared for the cruelty inflicted on him by Sergeant Bormann. Following the scene where he made Piet eat off his shoe, I could barely keep my lunch down as I was eating it. Luckily, my friend had warned me what the sergeant would do next to Piet, beat him to death, so I along with my friend, covered our eyes when that horrible scene was taking place. There were as many inspiring moments in this movie as there were violent ones. My favorite included when Piet stood up to Sergeant Bormann right before he died. Just because I didn’t watch that scene, it doesn’t mean I couldn’t hear what was happening. I also liked the scene at Maria’s funeral because I felt that when everyone from Alexandria came and sang it showed her father that relationships exist despite race, religion, and social status. I agree with my fellow Globies who said this was their favorite Global Ed movie so far. It was very hard to watch, but you are totally immersed in what living in South Africa would have been like for the various races.

Well, it seems like I do this assignment every year, but I enjoy it. There are so many things to be thankful for in this big, wide world! And as wonderful as Taylor Lautner is, he unfortunately doesn’t make my top ten.

Every year I am thankful for my parents and this won’t change! My mom and dad do everything they can to protect me and keep me happy. They push me to do the best in everything I do. They help me make smart choices regarding school, friends, family, and sports, and stand by me when I make my choice. So thank you Mom and Dad!!

My brother is probably one of the best older brothers someone could have. I always heard these awful stories about how horrible their older brothers were to them, or how they were always arguing and fighting. But my brother and I never have those troubles; never have, never will. My brother, along with my dad, taught me how to dribble and shoot a basketball, how to throw a football, how to be sneaky in a water fight (water balloons + Brian cheating by throwing them over the house = me wet), and yes, he did teach me how to punch, not that I ever need to use that! So thank you Brian!

Now time for Becky! One, she lends me cute clothes!! What can beat that? But seriously, she’s one of my best friends. We tell each other our problems and try to find solutions. We’ve had our share of arguments, but they always resolve themselves. She’s super helpful when it comes to proofreading papers since she loves English and that was her minor for a bit in college! She’s one of the first people I go to when I need someone to talk to. We love watching Disney movies together while pigging out on popcorn and mozzarella sticks. Thanks Becky for being there!

Now this next kid doesn’t really affect me personally, but he makes my sister so happy, that I feel I should be thankful for him. I’m talking about my sister’s boyfriend, Scott. When she came home from their third date talking about shooting stars during the hayride at the haunted barn, I knew he was good for her! Thank you Scott for making Becky so happy!!!

I know this sounds cliché, but I am thankful that I live in America! I don’t live in fear of the government, I can practice my religion, which by the way is illegal in over fifty countries, and I’m not starving. Compared to a lot of countries, I am really, really spoiled!

This is a huge miracle that I can say this. My dad still has his job. He builds gages for car companies and amazingly hasn’t been laid off yet! Sure there have been pay cuts, but my family is fine! We still live in the house we’ve lived in for fourteen years, and we have more than enough food. I am so grateful that I can say this, because I know a lot of people can’t.

I am thankful for all my aunts and uncles and cousins. They all love me and care about my life and future. I love when the whole family gets together and everybody gives everybody else hugs and kisses. Its then that I know they’d do just about anything for me. Thanks for being so great!

I am also thankful for all my grandparents. I love hearing stories about when they were growing up. They all love me and they show it. They also push me to do my best in everything, and I do my best to make them proud! Thank you Grandma and Grandpa!!

This may sound weird, but I’m thankful for the radio! Without music, my life would be horrible. Music lifts my mood and I have so much fun dancing, even though I’m not anywhere near a good dancer! It seems like there is a genre to fit every one of my moods and always another song to annoy my friends and family with my constant singing along to it. I don’t know what I would do without my music.

And last, but certainly nowhere near the least, I am thankful for my friends. Some of them I have known since preschool and some I met a few short months ago. But they’re all great. I thought it’d be really hard, going into a new school system, to make friends, but everyone’s been great. Without them, my school day would be so boring, and I would beg my parents to let me transfer. I am also thankful for my friends from my old school. We still talk and hang out like nothing changed, so thank you for standing by me after all this time!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Old Friends, New Friends

Seeing as I’m the only person from my grade school, which by the way I’d been going to since first grade, who ended up here at Stevenson, I didn’t have many friends. I knew a couple girls from my neighborhood, a few from LJAL, and one from my friend’s school. I now talk to a lot more people like Kristen, who was my first new friend. I eat lunch with Batool H, Hannah W, and Katarina V, all fellow Globies, and Madi W, who is also a Globie. I had heard awful stories about the people who go here, but so far everyone’s been alright.

SHS Activities Attended

The first event I attended at Stevenson was the Freshmen Dance. This was huge eye opener for me because at my old school, no one could dance . . . . at all. I have also gone to a Choir Concert, called the Best of Broadway, because I am in choir. For three hours straight, while watching the last Star Wars movie surrounded by Marching Band people, I attached flowers made out of garbage bags onto chicken fence at a float party for the Music Department. I plan to go to Homecoming, both the game and the dance.

Funniest, Weirdest, Scariest Moments

On my first day here at Stevenson, me, a wide-eyed freshmen, got shoved into a wall by some very impatient seniors trying to get to class. Even though I wasn’t the source of problem, I still was in the way, so I got shoved.

Hardest, Easiest Assignments

One of my easiest assignments is due Friday. I have to bring in a nutrition label for science. The assignment I probably stressed the most about was the Cultural Event paper I wrote. Another group of easy assignments was the pages Ms. Van Horn Walkabout. We were only assigned about fifteen pages at a time to read.

Top Five Current Events

The current event that, in my opinion caused the most controversy, was Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Balloon boy was in the news for about a week, first because of his disappearance, then because of everything being a hoax. The Olympics are in Rio de Janeiro, Granholm is cutting millions from our school budget, and they discovered water on the moon.

Popular or Memorable Songs

The song I heard the most for the past two months or so, was ‘I’ve Got a Feeling’ by The Black Eyed Peas. Another song that always gets people either singing along, or covering their ears, (mostly the boys) is ‘You Belong With Me’ by Taylor Swift. The week Michael Jackson died; all you would hear on the radio were his songs. Teen singers are really popular right now. Taylor swift, Justin Bieber, and Miley Cyrus are on the radio more and more every day.

Advice for a Freshman

I came from the smallest school ever. I went from 100 kids to 2100 in my school. So I know a lot about adjusting. There are many unwritten rules at Stevenson. The one you must follow every day to not get killed in the hallways is ALWAYS WALK ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE HALLWAY! Another one that you only need to be aware of during homecoming week is never wear the Burger King crowns. These are only for seniors. If a senior sees you wearing one, good luck. Make sure you are caught up on homework . . . teachers can be patient, but you don’t want to be on their bad side.

Popular or Memorable Movies

Well, at the moment, I’d say the next movie that people will buy out all the tickets a week or two before it hits theatres is This is It, the footage of Michael Jackson’s rehearsals and such before he died. Another movie people are very impatient to see is New Moon, which I don’t even think I need to tell anyone what that’s about.

Interesting New Words

I have to say; probably the weirdest word I have ever learned here was akimbo. I’ll let you keep on guessing what that means. Another strange one, that I had only heard a few times, was palpitate. It means intense apparently. I learn many interesting little tidbits in science with Sherbs every day. Like today I learned what a Rocky Mountain Oyster is. . . . I recommend not looking up what that is and knowing that people actually eat that.

Rumors and Gossip

Well, I am sorry to say I am not that well informed on the latest rumors because I didn't come into SHS with a huge circle of friends to gossip with. Sure I know all my friends’ business, like how so and so likes her but she likes him, you know basic love triangle crap. Right now there are a whole bunch of rumors going around about who has swine flu. But I what I really wish I knew is what teachers, if any, are getting laid off because of budget cuts.

Fads and Trends

Let's see . . . . here at SHS, everyone still has their Ugs. For the most part, I see people wearing jeans or sweatpants with a cute t-shirt. Moccasins are in right now. Girls and guys wear them all the time.

First Cultural Event

For my first cultural event, I went to the Taste of Greece Festival. The food was delicious and the band, Enigma, had some fun songs. It was interesting watching everyone dancing to their music in a big line wrapping around the dance floor.

Faces in the news

Last week on our news quiz, Hilary Clinton, Hamid Karzai, and Dimitry Medvedev were a few faces we had to know for last week's quiz. we also had to know Ban Ki-Moon from the UN a few weeks ago.

Homecoming

Homecoming was so much fun! First of all on Friday, we kicked Churchill's booty in football. We got a touchdown returning the kickoff. There were some amazing plays, like where a Spartan stopped the ball from going into the end zone on our kickoff by doing a cool little flip thing. But the dance, no offense to the football team, was much better! The DJ played great music, I didn't see too many girls mad at the boys they like, and not as many drunk people as I expected.

What I'm Looking Forward To

I'm looking forward to the Globie party, Haunted High, tonight. It should be loads of fun. We get to pig out then watch Ghostbusters 2. Even though it's about a month away, I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving break just so I can get out of my daily routine and shake it up a bit.

Achievements/Events

Nothing really comes to mind about recent achievements except that I have all A's in my classes. I also wasn't completely horrible at dancing at Homecoming, I mean I'm not saying I'm good, but I wasnt horrible!

America is a vibrant country full of life and love. When I think of America’s culture, I think classic cars and apple pies. I think of all the people preserving history by collecting classic cars. That to me is what America is all about. Our culture is not defined by one race or religion. Our culture is always becoming richer. Our culture becomes brighter and better every time we tolerate and respect those whose cultures differ from our own. To me, America’s culture is the freedom to choose. We are a melting pot of cultures all thrown together to create a beautiful, vibrant country.
My own culture is not so different from what I described above. I know how to bake an apple pie, and my grandpa collects and restores classic cars. My mom’s family is a hardcore, old school, German, Lutheran family. My mom and dad made sure their children were in church every Sunday, just as my mom was when she was growing up. We all eat a lot of German potato salad at every family gathering, excluding Christmas. My dad’s side is different. He grew up a Catholic Chreaster, that is he only went to church every once in a while, mainly on Christmas and Easter. His parents were both born in 1929, the year the Great Depression started. I grew up on stories about Boblo, jumping over the drunks passed out on the sidewalk on the way home, along other interesting tidbits about how to have fun during the Great Depression, and later, working with the Teamsters. My family is an all white family, except my cousin’s husband and three of her children are Mexican. I cannot say that I have been affected by their culture, seeing as I have met them two times. I would love to learn more about their culture.