Now we're throwing shoes at people!

Muntadar al-Zaidi. That name should be known all around the world at this moment. The reason?? He is the journalist that threw both his shoes at President Bush yesterday at a conference.

Officers at the TV station he works on say he should be freed because he was exercising freedom of expression.

I don't know how education is in Irak, but as far as I'm concerned, you might disagree with somebod, and yes, you have the freedom to say so. But from expressing an opinion to attempting to hurt somebody there's a biiig difference.

We still wonder why there's no peace in the world?? If people don't learn to solve conflicts and/or disagreements peacefully, that will never work. Imagine if every time I had an argument with anybody I took my shoes off and started throwing them to people??

On the other side of the coin other people as Mom think that he was right to do it. The US invaded Irak and some people are desperat eright now.

That is true, I have not a doubt about it, but should a new conflict start again when everything seems to be about to end? In a couple of years troops will be leaving Irak.

Anyway, everyone can have their own opinions. Just as a little gift I'll leave you the link to the video. It's kind of funny to watch Bush trying to dodge the shoe!! :P

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP5IISkjhOI&feature=related


P.S. I received the other package today!! I saw all the presents, however I only opened the little jacket!!(I wanted to save something for Christmas day ;D) I looooove it! Tomorrow I'm goin got wear it. Everybody liked the sweets, but we are going to save them for Christmas, when everybody is here :)

Christmas tree

Last Saturday I'm in the dining room working on my scrapbook. Rose is doing some homework, and Joey is sitting with me and drawing some christmas cards. Mom and UBie were 'Christmas shopping', so there was nobody else at home. All of a sudden the telephone rings. Joey answers it and it's them (Mom and UBie). We had to be ready in 8 minutes (wow :P) because we were going to.... get the Christmas Tree!!!

So I go running to my room, get my coat, put on my socks and grab my camera. Everything is perfect, and in 2 minutes I'm ready. SO I had to wait another 6 minutes :P

Rose and I jumped into the car and we went to the tree place (Joey preferred to stay to work on the christmas cards, he says he's been there too many times and he already knows it). At first I was disappointed because I expected to cut down a tree from the forest. Yes, that was what I imagined, but Mom and UBie told me that that's actually illegal. You can go to a private farm and do that, but the tree will cost $200 :S

Nut anyway, disappoinment aside, it was a very pleasant experience. In my opinion, trees were rather cheap (the most expensive ones, like the one we bought, were $32), and it is always nice to have a real tree for Christmas rather than a fake one if you have room for it.

As far as I'm concerned, most people, even today, buy true Christmas trees, and decorating it is one of the big family events of Christmas. Some people will even paint their own ornaments. I find it a very nice tradition.

Another thing I find interesting is that here people buy presents for everybody. Even for ex husbands or family you don't see at all. At first I thought it was only this family, but then at school I hear the other students talking about how many presents left they have to buy, and the funny thing is that they buy them with their own money!! That'll be another post, how so many teenagers here work. ;D

Also instead of sending Christmas cards, a popular thing is to have a picture taken of the whole family and send it to your friends/neighbours, etc. My family doesn't do that, but they've received many of those cards so far.

That's all I can tell so far! I guess there's still so much for me to learn about american traditions, and so much I won't be able to learn in the short period of a year. I hope you find this interesting!!

By the way tomorrow I'll publish another post. I made a paella on Sunday instead of going to the cinema. DOn't be afraid, it was very good actually, and as you can see I'm alive still!!

The pictures are in my photobucket, both of the christmas tree and of the paella ;D

IMPORTANTE!! Deciros que tengo jamon, chorico, salchichon y lomo. No se como, pero hemos burlado a las autoridades americanas xDD En los DVDs podiais haberme metido algo, y las carpetas en realidad me van a ser utiles porque necesitaba algunas, asi que ya no me las tengo que comprar. ESpero que el paquete no tarde mucho!!! Escribo todo esto en espa;ol porqu eno tengo ni idea de como se dice jamon, chorizo, lomo y salchichon en cualquier otro idioma sin estropearlo... jejeje!!

Meditation Speech

Hello everyone!!!

First, I'd like to let you know that my speech was a success!!! Actually, I got a 100!! :D My teacher liked it very much, and even though I was feeling super nervous inside, everybody said it didn't show.

I have some bad news, though :P I didn't make it for the play!! (ohhhh) But don't worry, because I already knew that. This play is a single act, so there's only 4 characters, and no extras at all. However I had a good time auditioning. We had to do a little improvisation, and I had to act like a customer in a coffee shop, then a boy was the employee. It was funny hehehe!

Today was a fun day. I woke up with full energy, so I was like hyperactive or something. I was feeling happy and confident all day long. In Geography I had a test, which I know I did well on. In English we had a surprise quiz (whoohoo... get the sarcasm??), however I know I did well because the Romanticism is one of my favourite literary movements.

Then Biology was actually fun!! We got to use the microscope and saw and drew cork cells, onion cells and even cheek cells. Yes, cheek!! I had to put a toothpick in my mouth and I saw my own little cells... They were so cute with their little nuclei!! :D

Then, of course, Public Speaking... which I;ve already told you about!!

So it's been a good day, and I hope tomorrow will be the same. Even though I have a Chemistry quiz (we started working on naming compounds not so long ago, and we had to memorize some common compounds and their names). Tomorrow I'm staying after school to paint my ceiling tile. I think I'm working at a good pace, actually ;D

Oh, by the way, I've uploaded the pictures from the dinner last Saturday. Chek them out!!

Love you all!

Elena.

Ps. Mom, thank you for telling me about the marzipan ;D

And Esme, el juego de las cartas en espa;a se llama policias y ladrones. Te acuerdas?? El rey es el policia, y tiene que encontrar al asesino etc, etc...