Smell you later!!
Friday, December 28, 2012
Christmass dinner
Sometimes I'm surprised of seeing all the differences of the tipical food we eat here and all the sweets we eat in Italy. In Italy we normally eat "pandoro e panettone" with a lot of sugar, but here instead of that we ate cod with a white salse and cheese. In Italy the only fruit that grows on december are oranges, but in Angola there are all sorts of things like : mango, pineapple, watermelon... One better tasting than the other!!! I have to admit that these people are really lucky because they can eat ice cream on Christmass.
New year coming up
I am missing a little the way I am use to pass Christmass in Italy, 'cause here it's a totally different thing! There is no snow and we can't have the traditional family dinner with my grandma's cake and my mom's milk choccolate. Anyway, I can still hope to pass the new year eve day like I always did: eating strawberry and waiting to count from 10 to 1 watching the tv..... Or, in case we have company, we are planino to go to Angola's Chissamas park, a park where african animals are free and there is no hunting. How are you, my dear readers, going to pass that day?
Everything is ready and perfect: the schools are closed, there are decorations everywhere, shops are selling out lots of toys and candies. The only thing I could whish is to win the art competitition of my school (I'm drawing a girl on a swing). I hope to meet my old friends again because on the 16th of February it will be 1 year that I moved here and I don't see them. What's your whish for Christmass?
See you soon
From Gloria
Everything is ready and perfect: the schools are closed, there are decorations everywhere, shops are selling out lots of toys and candies. The only thing I could whish is to win the art competitition of my school (I'm drawing a girl on a swing). I hope to meet my old friends again because on the 16th of February it will be 1 year that I moved here and I don't see them. What's your whish for Christmass?
See you soon
From Gloria
Sunday, December 16, 2012
Christmass
What would you like as Christmass present? I'll tell you what I would like: a bunny, a book and something surprising. I would love an I-Phone, but where I live it's probably too dangerous. Me and My mother are probably going to buy an outdoor armchair today. These are all weird Christmass presents, but how about yours???
My story called "the advantages of hiding"
My other "other hobby" is writing. In my school, someone is planning an other nanowrimo on february and I am anticipating it. Anyway a nanowrimo is some sort of competition to see who writes the best things and the winner gets to print their book and publish it in our school library!!!
This is the first chapter of the story I am writing called : the advantages of hiding ! Here it is.
I have grown up always following the same
question: What if…? What if I give up and leave school? What if I grow up and
become a waitress? A lawyer? A chef? What if I change country? What if..? What
if..? Well I had enough of that. I got way too much of that. Something has to
change right now. My thinking has to take change right now. I want to wake up
tomorrow knowing exactly what I will eat for breakfast and if I will, with whom
of my friends I will hang out with in the afternoon. Sounds weird, doesn’t it?
Why would someone want that? I had enough surprises, now is my turn to decide
what to do, when, how and where. Freedom. What a beautiful word... Freedom, it
sounds like a cold sunset. So close and so far at the same time. No one had a
moment in their life when they were completely free. For example there are the
people in jail, people feel they are in jail even if they are not. The adults
working, the moms taking care of the kids, the children at school... Etcetera.
Now, just to explain, I’m not trying to be sad, I’m trying to be happy because
I found some of the moments when I feel free, even more than free… I feel like
when I am in that place, I decide everything… I am the queen. Oh, now you want
to know where is this place, don’t you? Actually there is more than just one
special place, there are lots but all of them are really hard to reach. You
can’t get there walking or running. You can’t get there by car, airplane or
train. You can’t get there. There is something that brings you there and that’s
the only way. This is the story of how I found out about it. It all begins when
I did actually change country. That was the biggest change I ever had in my
life, I was moving almost to the other side of the world. But something was
weird. I wasn’t sad. I wasn’t sad about leaving my friends and my family. I
wasn’t sad about leaving the place where I was born. I wasn’t sad at all. But
that doesn’t mean I was happy. I had to start everything all over again, but
looking at it from the positive side… it was a new chance, a new beginning! I
could be whomever I wanted to: I could be the nerd, the popular. I could create
an “old hobby” that I actually never had like dance, or photograph… that’s
original! I could create my fake old life, my fake
past. I could have said that me an my family
got there by boat because my father was in charge of…. Oh I don’t know;
something important for sure. I could have pretended to be one of these serious
and lonely people… an Emo. I could have pretended to be everything I wanted to
or even something that someone else would have liked me to be.
That could have worked,
but I wasn’t brave enough, I couldn’t lie. So I just went on with my boring
personality and my usual days doing the same things as ever… homework, walking
around my compound wondering again what if…? I wasn’t changed. At least not
yet. Even my compound looked weird, it had lots and lots of greenery, parks and
soccer fields, everything rounded from a circle of houses where you could only
hear the annoying sound of silence from. “Where are all the people?” I wondered
my self knowing there was no one else to ask it to. “And, what are they doing?”
I thought again “With such a good place were to hang out, people just stay in
their houses”. I was just by myself .
That had been a really long day, but after that tiring weekend it was finally
my moment to show up, even if I didn’t
really understand if I was happy about it or not. It had been a quiet
afternoon at school, but then a girl with curly hair, skinny, but really good
looking asked me adjusting her thick brown glasses “You are new! Hard life,
anyway what’s your name?”. For a moment I tried to came up with a cool name and
later on tell her the real one, but then I understood that was a stupid idea,
so I hesitated and then answered “Elisabeth, what’s yours? Marta would have
been a good name for you.” “No, but is close enough, it’s Carla”. I couldn’t
wait much more time to know more about her, so without even thinking of it I
asked “How long have you been in this school?” She rolled her eyes for some
reason before answering ”I don’t know, maybe two years, if it was I didn’t even
notice”. That was a weird answer, but I just kept on going “So, what do you do
for fun here?” She passed her hands through her hair and started a long list of
things that I didn’t even fully hear “Well, there are some cool activities you
could try like painting, chess club, tennis, origami, basketball or swimming”.
After that sentence, the bell rang so fast that I didn’t even had enough time
to say “Bye”, she tried to say something to me without stopping walking and
turning her head, but not a word came out of her mouth. It was so obvious we
wanted to talk again, but it was time to go to class. I acted really stupid; I
had enough time to ask her three questions and I didn’t even ask her phone
number, luckily we have school five times a week so I was gonna meet her again.
Anyway, she wasn’t anyone important, she was just another reason why to wonder
myself again what if…?
On
the next Friday, I saw and stopped her again “Finally, you are here. I am lost,
this school is way too big. Do you know where the science room is?”. She didn’t
look really stressed by all my attachment to her, so she nodded “Sure I know.
Come, I am going to the science room too.” We walked together close to each
other like friends that know each other from a long time, until the science
room. She opened the door for me and we entered in. I knew she was working on a
really hard project and I didn’t want to distract her, but I didn’t really have
something so important to do, so I stood up and walked around the class room
and close to the door of the exit I saw
something interesting. It was a paper on the wall saying: “If you are
interested in any of the following contributions to the school, Sing Up!” Carla
turned her head, looked at me and asked “Are you leaving?” I smiled and
answered happy knowing that she cared “No, no I am not. I was just looking
around and… and I saw this.” I said pointing at the paper “What is it?” She
took off her thick glasses and answered surprised of my interest in such a
thing “Oh that? That’s nothing. It’s just the list of afterschool activities,
if you want to join them”. I looked at them closely and saw all the things she
mentioned the first time we met. “Are you in anyone of these?” I asked with the
pen already in my hands ready to join whatever she was going to say. She stood
up leaving her book and the pen down on the table “Well, yes. I am in
basketball”. I was really surprised of that, she was the only girl that signed
up for that. “Anything else?” I asked full of hope. “No” she answered “But if
you really mind that much… I guess I could join a new one”. I checked through
the list and hesitated. “How about swimming?” I asked after minutes of
there-is-nothing-left-to-say silence. She took her pencil and was about to sign
up, but she closed her eyes and signed where the pencil was pointing to. ”How
about….. that? Ehm.. painting?” She forced her eyes to read. I smiled and
signed even if I wasn’t really happy with that “Why not to try?” Now I had even
more things to do on Wednesday. Anyway I knew that with the time, becoming
closer friends I would have made her somehow join the swimming team. That
weekend was really important for my family, and me because my uncle was coming
home with us and he was much of a critical person and for some reason for my
mother his judgment was “The judgment”. That’s why for two really long days
lots of things changed: my brother stopped yelling at me for not letting him watch
the TV until four o’clock and I could not listen to music before going to sleep
at night.
That
was nothing confronting it with what happened at dinner on Sunday; we were all
eating, a part of my brother that wasn’t even in the kitchen. I could see my
mother’s hands shacking, which was pretty normal when she was nervous. “Luke
darling” she called trying to look relaxed “why don’t you come to dinner?”
There was an easy explanation to that, he simply already knew what uncle Bern
was going to say and didn’t want to hear it a second time. Not hearing any
answers, my mother smiled trying to look at the positive side of it “Well, it
looks like there is going to be more marrow for us!” Bern
smiled back changing completely his usual mood.”Yeah, it does” he said “But now
I have an important thing to say.. Maria…” I was really surprised of that
because I think I have never heard him calling my mother by name. “Actually..”
He continued “It’s a good new, I am getting re-married”. After the word “Re-married”
the only one that kept on eating like nothing happened was me. My family, was
an old style family, in fact in my all life I have never seen any of my kindred
getting re-married. ‘Cause for them when the priest says “forever” during the
wedding, for them it’s Forever-With-Absolutely-No- Exceptions. Clearly they don’t
know what happens in today’s world, the modern world.
My
mother looked really sad about it, but it looked like my father was just
following her face expressions, after all it wasn’t his brother.
This is the first chapter of the story I am writing called : the advantages of hiding ! Here it is.
I have grown up always following the same
question: What if…? What if I give up and leave school? What if I grow up and
become a waitress? A lawyer? A chef? What if I change country? What if..? What
if..? Well I had enough of that. I got way too much of that. Something has to
change right now. My thinking has to take change right now. I want to wake up
tomorrow knowing exactly what I will eat for breakfast and if I will, with whom
of my friends I will hang out with in the afternoon. Sounds weird, doesn’t it?
Why would someone want that? I had enough surprises, now is my turn to decide
what to do, when, how and where. Freedom. What a beautiful word... Freedom, it
sounds like a cold sunset. So close and so far at the same time. No one had a
moment in their life when they were completely free. For example there are the
people in jail, people feel they are in jail even if they are not. The adults
working, the moms taking care of the kids, the children at school... Etcetera.
Now, just to explain, I’m not trying to be sad, I’m trying to be happy because
I found some of the moments when I feel free, even more than free… I feel like
when I am in that place, I decide everything… I am the queen. Oh, now you want
to know where is this place, don’t you? Actually there is more than just one
special place, there are lots but all of them are really hard to reach. You
can’t get there walking or running. You can’t get there by car, airplane or
train. You can’t get there. There is something that brings you there and that’s
the only way. This is the story of how I found out about it. It all begins when
I did actually change country. That was the biggest change I ever had in my
life, I was moving almost to the other side of the world. But something was
weird. I wasn’t sad. I wasn’t sad about leaving my friends and my family. I
wasn’t sad about leaving the place where I was born. I wasn’t sad at all. But
that doesn’t mean I was happy. I had to start everything all over again, but
looking at it from the positive side… it was a new chance, a new beginning! I
could be whomever I wanted to: I could be the nerd, the popular. I could create
an “old hobby” that I actually never had like dance, or photograph… that’s
original! I could create my fake old life, my fake
past. I could have said that me an my family
got there by boat because my father was in charge of…. Oh I don’t know;
something important for sure. I could have pretended to be one of these serious
and lonely people… an Emo. I could have pretended to be everything I wanted to
or even something that someone else would have liked me to be.
That could have worked,
but I wasn’t brave enough, I couldn’t lie. So I just went on with my boring
personality and my usual days doing the same things as ever… homework, walking
around my compound wondering again what if…? I wasn’t changed. At least not
yet. Even my compound looked weird, it had lots and lots of greenery, parks and
soccer fields, everything rounded from a circle of houses where you could only
hear the annoying sound of silence from. “Where are all the people?” I wondered
my self knowing there was no one else to ask it to. “And, what are they doing?”
I thought again “With such a good place were to hang out, people just stay in
their houses”. I was just by myself .
That had been a really long day, but after that tiring weekend it was finally
my moment to show up, even if I didn’t
really understand if I was happy about it or not. It had been a quiet
afternoon at school, but then a girl with curly hair, skinny, but really good
looking asked me adjusting her thick brown glasses “You are new! Hard life,
anyway what’s your name?”. For a moment I tried to came up with a cool name and
later on tell her the real one, but then I understood that was a stupid idea,
so I hesitated and then answered “Elisabeth, what’s yours? Marta would have
been a good name for you.” “No, but is close enough, it’s Carla”. I couldn’t
wait much more time to know more about her, so without even thinking of it I
asked “How long have you been in this school?” She rolled her eyes for some
reason before answering ”I don’t know, maybe two years, if it was I didn’t even
notice”. That was a weird answer, but I just kept on going “So, what do you do
for fun here?” She passed her hands through her hair and started a long list of
things that I didn’t even fully hear “Well, there are some cool activities you
could try like painting, chess club, tennis, origami, basketball or swimming”.
After that sentence, the bell rang so fast that I didn’t even had enough time
to say “Bye”, she tried to say something to me without stopping walking and
turning her head, but not a word came out of her mouth. It was so obvious we
wanted to talk again, but it was time to go to class. I acted really stupid; I
had enough time to ask her three questions and I didn’t even ask her phone
number, luckily we have school five times a week so I was gonna meet her again.
Anyway, she wasn’t anyone important, she was just another reason why to wonder
myself again what if…?
On
the next Friday, I saw and stopped her again “Finally, you are here. I am lost,
this school is way too big. Do you know where the science room is?”. She didn’t
look really stressed by all my attachment to her, so she nodded “Sure I know.
Come, I am going to the science room too.” We walked together close to each
other like friends that know each other from a long time, until the science
room. She opened the door for me and we entered in. I knew she was working on a
really hard project and I didn’t want to distract her, but I didn’t really have
something so important to do, so I stood up and walked around the class room
and close to the door of the exit I saw
something interesting. It was a paper on the wall saying: “If you are
interested in any of the following contributions to the school, Sing Up!” Carla
turned her head, looked at me and asked “Are you leaving?” I smiled and
answered happy knowing that she cared “No, no I am not. I was just looking
around and… and I saw this.” I said pointing at the paper “What is it?” She
took off her thick glasses and answered surprised of my interest in such a
thing “Oh that? That’s nothing. It’s just the list of afterschool activities,
if you want to join them”. I looked at them closely and saw all the things she
mentioned the first time we met. “Are you in anyone of these?” I asked with the
pen already in my hands ready to join whatever she was going to say. She stood
up leaving her book and the pen down on the table “Well, yes. I am in
basketball”. I was really surprised of that, she was the only girl that signed
up for that. “Anything else?” I asked full of hope. “No” she answered “But if
you really mind that much… I guess I could join a new one”. I checked through
the list and hesitated. “How about swimming?” I asked after minutes of
there-is-nothing-left-to-say silence. She took her pencil and was about to sign
up, but she closed her eyes and signed where the pencil was pointing to. ”How
about….. that? Ehm.. painting?” She forced her eyes to read. I smiled and
signed even if I wasn’t really happy with that “Why not to try?” Now I had even
more things to do on Wednesday. Anyway I knew that with the time, becoming
closer friends I would have made her somehow join the swimming team. That
weekend was really important for my family, and me because my uncle was coming
home with us and he was much of a critical person and for some reason for my
mother his judgment was “The judgment”. That’s why for two really long days
lots of things changed: my brother stopped yelling at me for not letting him watch
the TV until four o’clock and I could not listen to music before going to sleep
at night.
That
was nothing confronting it with what happened at dinner on Sunday; we were all
eating, a part of my brother that wasn’t even in the kitchen. I could see my
mother’s hands shacking, which was pretty normal when she was nervous. “Luke
darling” she called trying to look relaxed “why don’t you come to dinner?”
There was an easy explanation to that, he simply already knew what uncle Bern
was going to say and didn’t want to hear it a second time. Not hearing any
answers, my mother smiled trying to look at the positive side of it “Well, it
looks like there is going to be more marrow for us!” Bern
smiled back changing completely his usual mood.”Yeah, it does” he said “But now
I have an important thing to say.. Maria…” I was really surprised of that
because I think I have never heard him calling my mother by name. “Actually..”
He continued “It’s a good new, I am getting re-married”. After the word “Re-married”
the only one that kept on eating like nothing happened was me. My family, was
an old style family, in fact in my all life I have never seen any of my kindred
getting re-married. ‘Cause for them when the priest says “forever” during the
wedding, for them it’s Forever-With-Absolutely-No- Exceptions. Clearly they don’t
know what happens in today’s world, the modern world.
My
mother looked really sad about it, but it looked like my father was just
following her face expressions, after all it wasn’t his brother.
Saturday, December 8, 2012
A thing that I have to say..
On friday, soemone left the school for ever and with this post (hoping this person will read it) I am trying to say lots of different things: goodbye! good luck! keep the contacts! He was a good friend and I think lots of people will miss him even more than I will because they have been with him in the same class for years. We did a party at school for him yesterday and he looked really happy, but I am sure that insede even just a little bit he was sad too of leaving.
See ya!
See ya!
What you shuold do...
Photograph
Finally
Is finally Christmass, here, in Africa, there is no snow or rain; only a really hot sun that shines on the pool of my compaund. Everything is ready: the tree, the presents, icecream and strawberries that are actually there for the 31. What kind of presents would you like? and what kind of music would be pretty for the background of the 25th? School is about to end and all the students are hoping that the second term won't be as hard as the first one. This is what happens during Christmass. All the shops are selling lots of things, but me.... I prefer to build thngs and make the presents by myself, even if sometimes it ends up not beeing a good idea, but that's the reason of Christmass right? thinking about others, show we think of them, show how much we care and using our time and enerjies for that. I have to admit, it is the first time in my all life that I eat Icecream on december and probably the last.
Well, I am not the only one super ready for the special day, and I know that because at night from my bedroom I can see the light coming from my window of all the decorations of the house in front of mine.
Well, I am not the only one super ready for the special day, and I know that because at night from my bedroom I can see the light coming from my window of all the decorations of the house in front of mine.
This is my message for Christamass!
see ya!
Saturday, December 1, 2012
Other Hobbies
Normally, I don't put these kind of things on the web, but I have to say that an other hobby that I have is Photograph. My camera is my third eye, it helps me see everything with a different point of view, it helps me see how things with just a zoomed in and a click can became so beautiful. Sometimes we dont even notice that. Somehow my camera makes me also a bit sad, because it makes things so pretty only cutting off things from the picture. I take pictures of everything, but mostly the amazing nature of Africa. I take pictures of people because that helps me remember them and it helps me see what kind of person they are. Sounds weird? Photos are memories and when I take them I can look at them as long as I want, all the times I want. Here we have some examples of pictures I took.
 |
| Some clouds... can became pieces of art.. |
 |
| Particular flowers that I never seen before, My camera helps me discover new things! |
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