April Reading Results

YL15 Independent Reading:  # of pages read in April!
Student	Book Title	# Pages
Visal	Sally’s Phone	30
Sreylen	Heidi	20
Pitou	Adventure Cambodia, Malcom in the Middle, Pink Panther, The Beach	134
Rotha	Dracula	73
Ati	The Little Match Girl	14
Pimean	Lucky Number	16
Nissa	Hoot, Matty Doolin, Giulia Lazzari	146
Monineath	Alanna The First Adventure	17
Siphan	David Copperfield	50
Roath	The Woman in White, Les Miserables	160

Do you have a moment for pure genius?

Please read this story and comment. 
How many times do you think we walk past something beautiful without noticing it?  

http://blog.longnow.org/2011/05/17/do-you-have-a-moment-for-pure-genius/

Post of the Week

This blog is not meant to be a competition.  I just want everyone to do their best and share their thoughts, ideas, feelings, while practicing their writing skills in English! But, I was asked by students to choose a post of the week, so I thought I would try it.  Please comment to share your opinion.

This week's Post of the Week is  "Droughtland" by Pitou.   A creative twist on Floodland, and it really drew me in.  Already, in just a couple paragraphs, I felt connected to Lenka and wanted to know what happened to her and her baby.  I wanted to see how Phnom Penh dealt with this disaster.  I wanted to know what people would do without the Mekong, especially since the water is such an important part of people's lives in this country.   Pitou does a good job of setting a mood of desperation and tension, and uses some nice description (like how he describes the heat).

But now, like I told him, he has to write the rest of the story, so next year's YL15 class can read Droughtland.

(By the way, did you know they are thinking of building dams on the Mekong which will affect all of the countries in the region?)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2011/apr/18/mekong-hydropower-xayaburi-laos

Runner-up:  "Never Say Never, The Meaning."
A thoughtful exploration of a common phrase - what it means to Justin Bieber, and what it means to Enix.  Inspiring.


Here are some quotes I've chosen from other posts.  
Thanks everyone, I really enjoyed reading your ideas and stories! (Some people have not posted yet... )

There's no sign of lives anymore on the wet, lively land that we used to stand on. -Monineath

When Josh walked pass the arrival door at the airport the first thing he did was fist bump my uncle then he hugged him in a hood like way. After greeting my uncle, he shook my hand and then said ''Whad up??''. First of all I thought ''Is he a hippie?''. Then he said ''I'm only kidding, Joshua Kelton, how do you do?''. -Siphan

Gimchi Gimchi Gimchi, every single dish always had to do with Gimchi. -Ati

If people live in space, which things that provide them food?

What will they dress? What will the houses look like? How will they breath by? -Nissa

All I want to say is that I don't like to lose and...just be yourself and admit who you are  -Mickey

Are you ready for this adventure at Disneyland Park in Paris?! - Roath

I mean, the outside look is a car but inside it's like a meeting room in the middle of a beach.  -Mickey

However, how did we repay the earth for giving us rich natural resources? We destroy it. That's right! Every second in our lives are making us get nearer and nearer to our doom as we exploit our one and only home planet. -Rotha

Most parents think that their kids would do something really stupid. - Tep  (hmmm… like what?)

As we born as human,we all have our hopes. So even our hopes are too high to reach or whatever,please don't give up. Keep trying till our death, I believe we are reaching it one day although it is sooner or later than we expect.  -Enix

Droughtland

Under the boiling heat of the angry sun, Lenka was holding her 1 years old son tightly in her arms, walking tiredly under the shadow of derelict buildings in the ruined city of Phnom Penh. She was desperately looking for food, especially, water to survive. She was exhausted enough just to look after herself but, as a mother, she wouldn't give up taking responsibilities for her baby.
The weather was extremely hot and the air was really tense for everyone to breathe. There were no more trees or farmland alive around the city. The Mekong river bed which once had been full enough to let ships float now was completely dry, so if anyone wanted water, they would have to wait for rain. And once it rained, it stormed which caused some people to have a cold to death. This was the way everybody survive on this horrible Earth and so was Lenka's.
After the death of her husband in that terrible night, this poor mother and her son continued their pitiful lives like this from sunrise to sunset until one morning when her life changed forever.

P.S. THIS IS FICTIONAL.
P.2

Bloodland

On April 17th 1975, major roads in the capital city of Phnom Penh were flooded by huge crowds of people standing and yelling happily to honor the victory of Khmer Rouge soldiers over Lon Nol . Everyone there was imagining of peaceful and prosperous future of Cambodia. These innocent people meant no more war.
Neary and her family were also joining in the cheerful crowd,too. She was looking at those black jeeps which were carrying young but strong soldiers from the front line with her hand waving Cambodian flag.Her heart was full of relief. She thought that from then she wouldn't have to run and hide way from those horrible rains of bullet anymore.
But soon, excitement turned into chaos. Neary and the nation of Cambodia were about to face a terrible event they would never forget. A dynamic male voice came out from a loudspeaker announced that Phnom Penh would be in danger soon as the U.S. was planning to drop bombs here. All of Phnom Penh citizens were forced to abandon their homes and go far out to the country side for 3days. However, since that moment, Neary and the other fell into the sea of devastation, separation and starvation and spent almost 4 years surviving in this hell of "Bloodland".

P.S. This is fictional
P.2

A Family's Friend

It all happened when my uncle,Kevin, had one of his best friends come on vacation to Cambodia. My uncle's best friend was a orthopedist straight out of college, who wanted to chill at a mildly hot and humid country. He and my uncle got acquainted while they were attending Standford together, and they have been best friends since. I never actually got to know much about him, all I knew was that his name was Joshua Andrews Kelton, he was in his early 30s and he came from a very very wealthy family. When Josh walked pass the arrival door at the airport the first thing he did was fist bump my uncle. After greeting my uncle, he shook my hand and then said ''Whad up??''. I thought to myself ''Is he a hippie?''. Then he said ''I'm only kidding, Joshua Kelton, how do you do?''. I replied ''I'm Siphan and I'm great''. The next day my uncle took him sight-seeing around Phnom Penh. When I saw him again at the dinner that night I asked him ''What do you think of Phnom Penh?'' he replied ''I think the city's astounding''. I left it at that and left all the talking to my uncle. Over the next few days I would accompany my uncle in showing Josh the city. After a weeks time Josh almost remembered every main road in Phnom Penh. At first I was shocked even me, a Cambodian, can't remember them all and he, a foreigner, remembered almost everything. Then I found out from my uncle that Josh had photographic memory, which is awesome, and that he graduated with honors and dozens of job offers. The next morning while I went to school Josh and my uncle went on a helicopter trip to Siem Reap. They stayed in Siem Reap for 3 weeks and spent a week just seeing Angkor Wat over and over again! After a month of visiting Phnom Penh and generally Cambodia Josh left to open his clinic in Cleveland. One week later I received a package through UPS with a letter that said '' If you're ever in Cleveland give me a call. And uh thanks for showing me around Stephan, you da man. Josh'' and when I opened the package I saw that Josh had mailed my uncle an newly made X-Box 360! Awesome! Even though it was meant for my uncle, it's in my room among my most priced possessions, besides what my uncle doesn't know won't hurt him.


P.S. Please tell me or correct it directly if you see a mistake
P.S.S Sorry about the dullness of this writing I normally write things more interesting but recently I lost my will and inspiration to write. Again I apologize, and I would like to also say Thank you for reading my writing this far!

 Siphan

Lives in the very next decade

How will lives be when nature is in a severe condition? I mean imagine one day we had only little amount fresh water and the land was so dry - just like desert. There's no sign of lives anymore on the wet, lively land that we used to stand on. To survive, we have to invent new things just to adopt this new living standard.

Perhaps, we'll have to live in a glass globe - one country in one globe. People will be forced to live indoors. Outside the globe, methane increases, carbon dioxide decreases. The sky is light purple with a sudden flash of lightning. It looks so awful that lives could be hardly survive. To transport from one globe to the other, we'll have to use a very unique and special equipment which costs a lot of money. So it means that, even though the technology is high, our lives will just be harder because of the problem of ecological problems.

Water will be recycled over and over again because it's hard to find place for fresh and clean water.

The only solution to this problem, is to love and protect the environment from now on by not doing any harmful thing to it. Love and live with the environment, and it will love us back and give us a good ecology for our better living standards.

Monineath

Love from our parents

As you know no parents in the world would leave their kids behind. They have the love that only their kids would understand. Some kids actually hated their for some reason like strict rule like no games, no TV, no junk food,etc. But parents have reason to have these rules for their children own good but children just follow the rules instead they mocking their parents. Especially teenagers with there relationship with their parent other which really worries parent so much. Most parents thinks their kids should have a date when they are in university because they are much more mature then we were in high school because many high school students have done stupid things. Most parents think that their kids would do something really stupid and they're right but parents will always know what to do.

Tep

Our life in the future (Edited version)

Overpopulation is the major problem that Earth is facing. By the year 2050 I think that, half of the population will live on the earth and half will live in space. If people live in space, how will they eat? How will they dress? What will their houses look like? How will they breathe? How will they travel by?
In the future we will live in space so our lives will changed, there will no more kitchens so our daily food will provided by a food machine, which will give us food three times a day. Our clothes will change. Peoples have to dress like spacesuit because in space, there is no air to breath and no air pressure. Space is extremely cold and filled with dangerous radiation. Without protection, we would quickly die in space. Spacesuits are specially designed to protect astronauts from the cold, radiation and low pressure in space. In addition, style of houses will be changed too. Scientist will build a very special house for people. These houses aren’t on the ground because in space there isn’t any gravity. So the houses stay in one place but above the ground. Everybody will breathe by using oxygen tanks. Moreover, humans will be travel from place to place by flying or by using spacecrafts.
I am absolutely sure that everybody will enjoy living in their new world.

Nissa

Never Say Never,The Meaning

Looking at my post’s title,you’d be laughing.You may think in this post I wrote a bout Justin Bieber,His Movie”Never Say Never”.Here I’m writing about the quote”Never Say Never”,its meaning and add some of his life as examples to the quote.

“Never Say Never”was first said by Charles Dickens in 1937 but that quote seemed to catch no attention at all. Later,when Justin Bieber released his soundtrack for “Karate Kids” , millions of people were interested in this quote and that encouraged Justin Bieber to made a 3D movie about his miracle life which unexpected things kept happening to him. "Never Say Never"actually shortened from "Never ever say that something will never happen" and the surprising meaning of it which attracted millions people is "Never Give Up For What You Hope". To expand the meaning, that quote means Born as a human,Don't stop believing in miracles because nothing is impossible in this world.Our future is unpredictable so why we have to give up for the things we want,dream of for a long time already? So that means we should never give up although we have only 0.01% to reach the goals.Such as his life,at first it was like he was in middle of the Pacific Ocean,Didn't know the right direction to arrive at where he can live but he didn't take himself down.He first was a very poor child living with his mother only in Stratford,Canada that his mum only afforded to give him 2 sets of clothes each year and sometimes when he was free,he went to the town centre and played guitar in the street for money.His life was completely different when he was discovered on youtube by Scotter Braun and He flow him to live in The US and started his career.He soon became famous,his songs hit the billboard chart and earns millions dollars each year.As one of his largest earning,his movie""Never Say Never" earned more than 30 millions dollars on the opening weekend and the movie was very famous even the President of USA,Barack Obama watched his movie and said he enjoyed the movie so much.

Here, I want to encourage everybody to "Never Say Never" . As we born as human,we all have our hopes.So even our hopes are too high to reach or whatever,please don't give up. Keep trying till our death, I believe we are reaching it one day although it is sooner or later than we expect.We have to believe in miracles and don't stop dreaming of what we want.

*"Never Say Never" in YOUR LIFE !

P.S Watch "Never Say Never"For more clearly stories about his life. :)

EniX

It's me, Mickey!

Howdy, partner! Since I see no any strange posts even after teacher Kathleen said the new blog is due to this Saturday, so i decide to post an extra blog...about me!

I, myself, may seem like a bit tomboy and I'm just a 16 year old girl, ok? My name Mickey even it mean stupid but it is really me that is stupid. On the other hand, I'm not saying that my name is stupid and i really don't think that every language would mean the same but what I mean is that I love to be a stupid girl more than a smart one but have no friends. I just love to be funny and heart warming, I hate it when people say they know about me and I hate it when my parents are always busy and always canceling the plans they made with me. Even I know it is for me but...I feel lonely.

Enough with the heart breaking stories! All I want to say is that I don't like to lose and...just be yourself and admit who you are; try to be someone else is wrong. If it's not you, you won't be happy and if you are not happy, why live this life?Also some tip, if you live in such a boring life, which only greed for money, fame and power, will you be happy? What will you choose for your life? Money or heart warning stories from people you love and people who love you.

Smile and be happy. Good day, my good friends! :) :D

I love to day dreams but I think my ideas is not that bad. Think about it, it's may be the answer of your life!

25th Century

The world is in chaos, the temperature is rising and there are wars everywhere. Don't you think it is boring? By the reason above I got to a trip. "Unforgettable memory" was the name. There was only 2 people there me and some other guy. Well there are one tour guide for each person then instead of leading us to a car they lead us to a door and told us to close our age. I did! The tour guide in front of me hold my hand and just then i feel something licking my hand that he was holding so i open my eyes, slowly, but...there is a tiger licking my hand. I try to shout out for help but he calm me down and explain to me that creature on't hunt us anymore in the 25th century. Wait, I am in the 25th century? And I thought this was strange enough already.
After the beautiful scenery and the sun that was just warm not as hot as the year 2011 we are in, we got in to a car. A luxury car I mean, because it doesn't feel like a car at all. I mean, the outside look is a car but inside it's like a meeting room in the middle of a beach. Amazing!
Strange looking building such as star shape, person running shape passing by then we arrive at a field; and he told me in side the globe thing is a retaurant elevator. Well, it was! Just as I enter it went up and a restaurant show up, floating, inthe air along with strange looking people that we called them alien sitting everywhere. Some of them have really big head, bigger then the table but some are small like a spoon with a body of a really hot women....with blue skin. And a bout the food, I'll tell you it's simple as the 21st century because this restaurant is a 21st century restaurant but the tour guide told me the meat are clone animal's meat. Just the idea of that almost make me vomit. What are their meat made of? Are their bones made of iron?
And the last trip is the under water world. As you heard this you would think it must be going inside a tube to the water to see fish, right? I thought so, but it turn out to be different. He gave me an orange pill and jump in the ocean to meet people with fins living in the bottom of the ocean. The guide told me, we don't have enough land to live so these type of people developed their oganic somehow and live in the ocean. Anyway, because of that pill i got to breath under water for an hour. Nice, right. And I got home safetly, after that, with an unforgettable memories! 
Mickey

Adventure to DISNEYLAND, The Magical Kingdom

Have you ever been to DISNEYLAND???-If so, would you like to visit there again? If not, would you like to visit this wonderful land some days?

For me, I’ve been visited Disneyland twice since I was at my age of 7. But I still remember all those fun things I had had. So, I would like to describe you about my trip to this greatest land ever. Are you ready for this adventure at Disneyland Park in Paris?!?

I’ve visited 5 theme lands at Disney in order that made me really excited. There were Main Street U.S, Fantasy land, Frontier land, Adventure land and Discovery land. As I was strolling along the Main Street, I could see the beautiful view of a small town of America at the turn of 20^th century. There were souvenir shops, which sold things in brand name of Disney. The sidewalk was so crowded of people especially children. This street led my way to the Sleeping Beauty Castle which was in the centre of Disneyland theme park. Up in the turrets of the castle was Sleeping Beauty Gallery, where the tales of Disney’s princesses were told in stained glass window. Having left the castle, I got a ride on Dumbo, the flying elephant which was the fair ground round and round, up and down ride. By riding on that flying dumbo, I could see all the wonderful views of the park. As the dumbo got higher and higher, I felt like I was upon the sky. It was super duper awesome. Then, I went on a nice tame roller coaster that I was riding around a big thunder mountain. I was extremely exciting as the roller coaster suddenly went down and up on the hill again. It was going faster and faster as all the riders screaming with both happy and fear. After that, I visited Aladdin’s enchanted passage as I took a small boat and floated in the dark and cool watery tunnel. It was fantastic with its great attraction that I absolutely enjoyed it. From the moment I went ashore once again, my stomach was starving with hunger so I went to the Disney Cafeteria to have a big lunch and feed my stomach. Finished eaten lunch and took a short rest, I went the Haunted House where I explored the secret caves and graves. As my feet hitting the floor of the haunted house, I suddenly felt strange, a little frighten and I could feel cool around my body. I saw many ghosts or I could say billion ghosts and monsters which were so scary. I’ve never expected the haunted house was so frighten like that. And I’ve never assumed myself afraid of ghost as much as that. I wished to reach the exit as soon as possible. I felt lighten after leaving that damn scary house. This was my last exploration; I went to Autopia, where I was on the race car. It was actually fun!! I enjoyed being on the fairly slow moving car with no steering control because it properly on its track.

I ended my adventure and got back to the Main Street where I saw a parade of all Disney Characters. I took a photo with my favorite characters, Mickey and Minnie. Both mouse couple was dressed in costumes by Disney staffs that were very friendly. They offered me a cotton candy which tasted very sweet and yummy. Finally, it was time to get back to hotel so I left Disneyland with overjoyed and waiting to visit there again.

Roath

The future of our planet

As all of us already know, we live on EARTH, depending on it. Us humans live till nowadays only by using the natural resources that the earth gives us. However, how did we repay the earth for giving us rich natural resources? We destroy it. That's right! Every second in our lives are making us get nearer and nearer to our doom as we exploit our one and only home planet.

The most well known and also biggest problem is pollution. Anyone who is reading this can notice that the temperature is rising and it is all caused by pollution from the likes of cars, motorbikes, airplanes....and also factories that give off dangerous and harmful fumes, making the pollution problem worse. The biggest fear that scientist now have is that if the pollution doesn't stop, the temperature of the earth will keep on rising. It is known that there are two thick big piece of ice at the top and bottom of our earth. These ices' jobs were to cool down the earth but when the temperature rises, the ice can't take the heat and start to melt, making the sea level rise. Also, if the sea isn't cooled down, it will start to expand which means that it will take more space. If the temperature keeps on rising, the sea will keep on expanding and cover our entire planet before we can do anything about it.

You would say: shouldn't we find a solution to this problem? Yes, yes we have to find one if we want to survive on earth longer. We can help plant trees so that it can help absorb the harmful gases that makes the earth warmer. We can also start recycling, saving power and electricity and there are lots more of possibilities we can do to help our environment but we can only achieve it if we cooperate and work together for a better place to live, not through war.

If you feel that you want your grand children and great grandchildren to live a long happy life, you should start saving the environment now.

However, it's only a matter of the time before the sun starts to die and eventually explode, taking earth along with it, so it your choice to help our environment or not, but there's thousand of years more to wait before it happens. By the time it happens, we would have found another way or planet to live already, however.

Thanks for taking your precious time reading this but I hope that we all can help save our planet together. 

Rotha

Post of the Week

By popular demand, I'll choose a "post of the week" in the next few days!  I'll be mostly looking for unique style, intriguing topics, & specific and/or sensory details.  I'll also be looking for a writer who can take a risk to try something new - a writer who stretches her/his abilities!  Does your writing have "personality?"

A journey to Asian Atlantis

Asian Atlantis, or more formally known as Yonaguni Monument is arguably a massive stepped pyramid or city which was sunk into the south sea of Japan 2000 years ago. It was first discovered in1987 and continues to spread it fame wider and wider out of Japan. Interested by the news, I eventually toured to the land of the rising sun to witness this spectacular structure which had been forgotten by humans.
Having left Haneda airport of Tokyo in January 2nd 2011, I directly continued my journey by the world fastest train toward Kyoto for the night resting. My trip went on until I finally arrived at the shore of Japanese south sea. I and my traveling companion settled off shore on an engined boat, each with a diving suit , headed fast , through the freezing sea breezes , toward the site where the pyramid is located.
I dived down , and a few minutes later, it appeared ,in front of my eyes, the grand pyramidal structure, almost entirely covered by exotic coral reef. I couldn't believe my eyes and moreover, I just could not believe that this wonder is under water's surface and was almost forgotten.
It is said by some scientists to be totally natural and made as a result of strong tectonic plates in the region. However, as I swam along different levels of it terraces, I experienced seeing some strange carvings on it rocky walls which are proofs to me that it was not made naturally.
I went back up to the surface and thinking how many of this type of building left undiscovered. Personally, Yonaguni underwater pyramid is one of the most mysterious and incredible wonders of the world.

P.2

Comments and Commenters of the Week

A big thank you to the most active commenters on other students' posts this week:

• Ati
• Rotha
• Siphan
• and Enix!

Also, we've had some comments from people outside of Cambodia (I shared the link with a few people I know), and with students from the YL10 class! 

If someone makes a comment on your post, it would be a nice thing to respond to them.

I couldn't choose one comment this week - each person had such great reasons for why they thought something should be a wonder of the world.  But here are a few sentences that stood out to me:

A wonder needs to be a place or object with a great deal of history or mystery connected with it
-Siphan

And the most important part is that it must be amazing just to hear the name of that place.  -Mickey

(Taj Mahal)  the place of True and forever love.  -Enix

(Borobudur Temple) I am attracted to the temple because of it majestic ,strong-looking appearance. I also want to see it 2672 relief panels and it 72 perfectly carved stupas.   -P2

(Great Pyramids) Some even believed that aliens helped the ancient Egypt to build it!   -Rotha

Overused Words

 The next time you describe something, try to do it without using these words:

wonderful, beautiful, amazing, delicious, large, big, small, boring, exciting

Don't tell us it was amazing/boring/beautiful/exciting.  Show how it was amazing/boring/beautiful/exciting...

NO: It was amazing.

YES: As I stood high on the rocky cliffs of Dover, I watched the sea's angry waves crash against the shore.

Visit To Banaue Rice Terraces

Rice is the most important food for Asia's people so each country has to plant their own rice. Unfortunately, some of Asia's countries are located in hard areas which are difficult for planting rice and Philippines is one of them.Philippines is an archipelago of 7,107 islands and it is hard to plant crops on mountains but Philippines's ancestors had never given up and they had came up with an amazing idea of building terraces for growing rice and now this unique place is one of the most inspiring heritage sites in the world.

After a few hours sleeping on the plane, finally i arrived at the Land of Beauty,Philippines. Stepping out of the plane, i felt warm wind blowing across my frozen face.After collecting my luggages, my friend and I walked out of the huge Ninoy Aquino International Airport which was the airport of Manila,Philippines' Capital City. As we walked out, a taxi was waiting for us and then it took us to a modern hotel in the centre of Manila. We decided not to go anywhere for the first day of our arrival in Philippines because we were so tired and it was already evening when we arrived at the hotel.We got up at 8 and then we enjoyed our delicious breakfast at the hotel and soon started our trip. We got on the bus to Ifugao Province to visit the place which was the main reason for us to be there,The Rice Terraces. Having been on the bus for a few hours, we finally arrived in the central of the province around 3PM. As we arrived there,we decided to take a look around the town and we were so surprised by tourists. There were so many there,i guessed they came here for the same reason as us.

Getting up early in the 3rd day of our trip, we arrived at the Rice Terraces quite early,around 10AM.Arriving there,we could smell the fresh morning air in the warm morning sunshine.How wonderful it was......We stood on the highest terrace which was 1500 Meters above the sea level,so we could see the whole perfect view of it. We couldn't believe what we were seeing, that place was completely large and the view that we saw from top there was very beautiful amazing ,similar to you were in a wonderland. My Breathe was taken away for while and i was stand still,looking forward without breathing.They were like staircases,from high grade to low and each one was very curvy.The view that i saw,made me feel like i was in a giant's house and i was on the stairs,looking down surprisingly.The professional guide told us about its history,he said it was built 2000 years ago by ancestors of indigenous people and it was built using minimal equipments,mostly by hand.It covered 10,360 square meters of mountainside,16 times bigger than Singapore and it was registered to UNESCO in 1995.We were so impressed again by hearing the truth, how could they come up with such a nice idea? They used their hands to build such a wonderful terraces and one more delighted thing was Banaue was not the only rice terraces that they built,there were 4 more and they were about this size also.

I believed that the view that i saw on that day is the most wonderful view i have ever seen in my life because it was unbelievable and once you have seen it,you won't be able to forget it.It will be forever in your head.If i had one more chance, i would visit Philippines again and visit other astonishing heritage sites there. I'm just in love with it ! <3

-EniX-

The Colosseum

It's 3pm on a hot summer day with mildly humid winds blowing and I'm on my way to visit the Colosseum. It's already been 2 weeks since my adventure in Italy started, and I've seen amazing things from the Gran Paradiso National Park Valle D'Aosta to the Leaning Tower of Pisa, I have seen them all. But one thing is in my way from finishing my complete tour of the country and that is the Colosseum. As I walk through the streets of Rome I can hear crowds of people talking happily in Italian and I can hear music everywhere, it's an atmosphere that makes Italy ,or Rome to be specific, one of the top tourist sites in the world. The soothing smell of Mozzarella cheese, lasagne, and pizza fills the city as I walk pass the Colosseum Restaurant and head near the Colosseum itself. 5 minutes after passing the Colosseum Restaurant, I reached the monument. Being almost 2000 years old and being able to hold almost 50000 people, it is without a doubt that the Colosseum is one of the most recognized wonders in the world. As I was entering the monument through one of it's 80 entrances, I took a look at my watch and saw that it was 3:46pm. After three whole hours of taking pictures and admiring the work of Roman men, I left with a satisfied heart and a hungry stomach. After I had left the Colosseum I had an early dinner at Chicco di Grano then went back to the Splendide Royal Hotel.
P.S. If there's any mistakes in this post please inform me or just simple correct it!
P.S.S When reading please don't fall asleep like I did as I was writing this!!

Siphan

I have the best time in United Arab Emirate. I've visited this tallest building in the world call Burj Khalifa. it is very big and very tall i felt so exciting visiting this place

A Tour To My Wonderland

The wind turbine's rackety sound, the friction of the wheels against the Cairns's airport runway, which can be heard 10 yards away, awake all the passengers on the plane. Having arrived in Cairns's airport at 7 in the morning, we rushed to the bus tour(which we booked earlier). Sitting on the bus, I read the guide. It seems that it might takes us only 10mins to the resort. After being so curious on the bus, we hastily book a room. The hotel features a tour booking desk, a sparkling blue outdoor pool and spa, a modern, state of the art cardio gymnasium, a choice of function rooms...This is a dream come true.The most important thing is, it also offers tours and activity at one of the 7 wonders of the world, The Great Barrier Reef. Having spent so much time swimming and shopping, I got on the bed and close my eyes...Poof comes the sunlight. It's 6 AM, said the clock. We're on our way to the restaurant, which only cost us 5 mins to walk. Finishing the entrée, comes the main course, follow by a famous desert, chocolate soufflés...yummy. The time has come, we take a tour car to the Coral Sea. Seeing the clear blue seawater, we hired some snorkeling-sets and...splash. Holy Moley Yoley...The corals, the fish, this is unbelievable. The guide also guide us to the Crown Of Thorns. It's so fun snorkeling throughout the reef. It's lunch time! Eating the lunch, I read and learned a few thing about this reef on the guide. The reef is known to be the world's largest reef, it stretches over 2600 kilometers and includes over 900 islands. It's also can be seen from space. That's huge! Swimming time! This time we see a lot of marines such as clown fishes, green sea turtles, striped surgeon fishes and a lot more. It's time to go back to the resort. So, we spend the very last night shopping and eating. This time when I close my eyes...swoosh it's just a dream! Haha...Bye! New posts will be posted next Thursday!


Ati

Being an audience in Colosseum

Summer comes and also it is vacation time. Well, this year is totally different. I've been dying to go to Italy to see the building that was built in the middle of the city of Rome, Colosseum. All i know about it NOW is that it was built along time ago and used for battles, contest, and public spectacle like when they execute someone. And I saw on TV was that the audience also write there name and what they see on the wall of the Colosseum after they finish seeing what's in there. Even i know more about what they do in there but but you won't want to hear about it's because it'll be boring! Hey, I've arrived at the noon. After you took a long flight you might want to eat, right? Well, I went to a nice restaurant in the city. The waitress at the gate give me a friendly smile and lead me to a nice table inside. It was quite gloomy and dark but it felt warm anyway. Italy reminds me a lot of the pizza and lasagna. So i order it right away, and of course I'm not a vegetable eater type so vegetable must not be included in my dish. The pizza came first and you can scent the smell 100 meters away. The first bite taste like...I don't know...I just fell like I'm flying! The cheese is sweet and the bread taste like soft cloud. The wine..also is very interesting. When I enter the restaurant they decorate the wall with wine. So I tried one! It's from...the year 1999, I think!
Enough about the food, now my dream is about to come true. The Colosseum is only 2km away from here so i went there right after I paid, of course, for my beautiful meal in the amazing country. I arrived just in time the last guide is possible. Well, lucky me! He told me it was started to be build in 72 AD and finish in 80 AD. And that is all I heard about the history.... Oh, also, this place is huge man! Let me tell you that it can be capable of seating 50 000 spectator, isn't that amazing? Imagine, at that time high technology hasn't been invented! But the damaged come in. So regret that the damage from the nature, I mean the earth quake, and the stupid stone robbers damaged part of it.
Even I have to come back to my homeland, I already took pictures I wanted to take. And I know i would remember it for a long time with this trip. Je Taime , Italiano! I promised I'll be back. ^_^ 
Mickey

My Visit Great Wall of China

when I was eight years old,my family and I have been visiting one place that I never forgot.It is one of the 7 wonders of the world.It's located in China.Guess what it is?It is The Great Wall of China.
2 weeks that we stayed in China.We saw many beautiful views of the natural places such as mountains,forests and lakes.There are many natural places in China so we can smelled fresh air and it made me felt refresh.Foods of China is looked good.Eggdrop Soup was one of the popular foods in China and it also tasted good.After we visited that places,we went to see the Great Wall of China.Because we want to know what make the Great Wall look wonderful?When we arrived,we could find the answer.Yeah!The Great Wall is very wonderful.It stretches out over 6700 km and It was the largest human made structure in the world.The reason that they built it just because to protect the northern border of the chinese empire.
I never forget this place.I really enjoyed my holiday in China espeacially the Great Wall of China.If I have any chance or time,I will visit this place again.

Visal

My Visit to PARADISE (rev)

During the Water Festival holidays, my family and I went on a tour to Venezuela. The first day of the holidays, the tour would take us to Angel falls, one of Venezuela attractions. We took a flight from Puerto Ordaz to reach Canaima Camp, a starting point for river trips. Having eaten breakfast, we got on a small boat which led our way toward the falls.
Angel falls is also known as Paradise Falls, which is located in Auyentipui, Canaima National Park. It is the world's highest falls ever, with a height of 979m and a plunge of 807m. The height of the fall is so great that, before getting anywhere near the ground, much of the water is evaporated as a fine mist by the strong wind. My family, I along with other tourists were walking within a radius of 1 mile, and we could feel the mist pouring in as drops of the rain blown in by the wind . It was the greatest waterfall I've ever visited. Seeing that attractive scenery, we took lots of photos together as a group of a family. I saw a charming rainbow with its 7 colors appeared in the middle of the evergreen forests. I was so excited to see such glamorous things like that. It was naturally amazing with its gracefulness!!! I could hear the lively sounds of the dropping falls as it hit the stone nearby.
During lunch time, we ate lunch at Canaima restaurant . I ordered the most admired dish of Venezuela, called "Arepas" which was a type of bread. It is savored with nearly anything such as ham, cheese and chicken. I admit, it was a very delicious dish. Having drunk a glass of ''Batido", I learned that it was mixed fruit juice which was thick in texture and made with more fruit than water. The taste of sweet and sour were great on a hot day... during November. It was nearly the end of rainy season there. The weather was so hot and humid, but it still brought us lots of fun.

We stayed there till the evening so as to watch the sunset. The clear blue sky turned in to bright orange while the clouds disappeared. Later on, the sun set itself down, making everywhere around Canaima Park turned into dark. Meanwhile, the angelic moon suddenly appeared in the middle of nowhere in the endless sky. It reminded us that it was time to get back to the city. So, my family and I left the Angel Falls with a feel of want to visit there again next time.
I miss this place. If I could make a wish, I would go and visit Angel Falls again.

Roath

My Wonder

There are so many wonders in this world. However, the most attractive one to me is Mayan Pyramid. In my view, it's so incredible and unique. I've heard some people said that in the past, the Mayan sacrificed their people to the god, on the top of Pyramid. And some more say that Mayan people were cannibalism because after the sacrifice, old ladies of the village came to collect the meat from dead bodies. But I'm not sure if this is true or not because I have no idea where they get this information. There had been so many discussions about the place; as a result, couples of months ago, I decided to have a trip there with my family to see it through my own eyes.

It was about at noon. The sky was blue and so clear, it was a beautiful sunny day of course. I could hear birds singing oddly. In front of me there was a huge Mayan Pyramid. It was awesome - more awesome than I thought it would be! The building is kinda strange and a little bit scary. There were lots of people observing around the Pyramid. Some were climbing up and some more were on the plain that was in front of the Pyramid. I walked around the Pyramid for a while then I climbed up just as other people had done. Arriving up there, I could see huge space in front of my nose. I could feel cold stone when I was trying to walk with my bare feet. It's so interesting because there were lots of weird and ancient things. I think there would be some mysterious behind this. After walking around at the top of the Pyramid, I decided to go down, spent some time there and get back to the city.

This trip is the one that I'll never forget. In the future, I would like to have a trip there again if I have a chance. I hope my friends are interested in this Pyramid too so that one day, we'll be able to go there together.

Monineath

The leaning tower of pisa

During the Khmer new year, my family and I decided to go to Italy, the birth place of the sweet-tasting pasta. It was a long flight to Italy and I didn't enjoy it much because the plane kept shaking violently in the turbulences and I thought we were going to crash like in the movies. After we arrived in Rome, Italy, we traveled through train to Tuscany, Pisa to visit the famous leaning tower of Pisa. The trip was boring, of course, but I hoped the visit wasn't wasted. Finally, after 3 hours of sitting in the train, we finally arrived in Pisa. However, the sky was dark and stormy. Also, it was getting pretty late, so we went around town and looked for some place to stay.

On the next day, we went to visit the famous tower. when I first heard the name I thought it was the leaning tower of pizza and people served pizza at the top of the tower. Anyways, my parents hired an old guide and we looked around the tower. The guide told us that it was about 56 meters tall and it took a century to build it because there was war when the tower was first constructed.Wow! It took that long to build it? Also, it leans because one side of the land it was built on was soft, so when they built the tower the ground started to go down, making the tower lean. The construction wasn't finished but they had to abandon it because there was a war at that time. After the war, the pressure of the building made the soil more durable so, when they built more floors, it was more durable. The government also fixed the tower, too since it's their famous heritage sites. We took some pictures of each of us holding the building to prevent it from falling.

After that, we went around town visiting interesting places and taking pictures, of course. The best part I like about Italy is that it's the origin of my favorite foods you know like pizza, pasta, lasagna and other stuffs. It's been a fun trip, but we had to fly back to Cambodia since it would be the end of Khmer new year by the time we arrived home.
p.s it's fictional

Rotha

What is a Wonder of the World?

What do you think makes something a world wonder? 

Give us your opinion.  Please comment in two - three sentences only using this format:


To qualify as a wonder of the world, a place or structure has to be ______, ______, and ________.  The wonder of the world I would most like to visit is _______________, because …(be specific).

The Elevator

It was my last day of the school term. So we going to have a party. I arrived early that day. I was sitting in front of my class when suddenly I overheard a group of students taking.
"A Few days ago a boy killed himself by cutting his wrist in the bathroom"said a boy with a gold hair.
"Where?"he asked his friend.
"In this school"he replied.
"What a horrible news so is he gonna haunt us?"he asked his friend
"Who know?"he replied. When they pasted me, I felt really terrified. Later,my friend arrived and we started the party.

I was having fun and almost forgot about what I overheard. When I got out of class after the party ended,I saw a boy who was wearing blue shirt. He was looking down so I couldn't see his face, but I knew he looked really pale, It was looked scary. I didn't know why, but my instinct was to get away from him. I walked to the elevator.Slowly, My heart was felt like that boy followed me. Guess what I saw? I saw a wound on his wrist I thought he was the boy who died. But why is he trying to follow me? I walked faster and faster, then I broke into a run. I really afraid because there weren't any people around here.

When I reached the elevator, I looked back and I didn't see the boy. What a relief! I was alone in the elevator. Suddenly, I heard someone's phone ring. It wasn't mine so I turned back and saw that boy again. He looked straight at me. He had a knife in his hands. Blood was flowing violently from his wrist.He took a step to me.He looked as if he wanna kill me.I was horrified.I closed my eyes and shout loudly.Then I opened my eyes again I was on my bed and my alarm clock on the table was ringing.Oh my god it just a dream.Maybe It is never happen to me again.

Visal

Comment of the Week

Thank you all for your thoughtful comments.  I appreciate that you took the time to express your ideas on the topic of forgiveness (click on the word to see the topic and comments).  This is not an easy topic!  I decided to include comments from four people this week. But ALL of you had interesting thoughts to share! I hope you go back and read everyone's comments.  Also, feel free to "debate" comments. This makes it interesting!

Comment of the Week
For me, to forgive someone is to stop myself from being angry or willing to take a revenge back to them. i admit that sometimes it's so hard to forgive, but when i start to think deeper, i realize that living a life with forgiveness would make us happier. forgiving is so important. if we don't forgive. revenges just keep going on... when will there be no more revenges?  -Monineath 

A few more to highlight:

Forgiveness is all about trusting one another. – Tep    note: I'm not sure exactly what you mean Tep, but I find this thought very interesting!

To me it means to no longer hold a grudge or vendetta over someone who has done something wrong towards you or someone close to you. Forgiveness can either be the easiest thing to do or the hardest, it all depends on the person. Some people can forgive others for strenuous wrongdoings, like murder. While others can't even forgive people for the silly mistakes they made. -Siphan

"Once is your luck! Twice is enough !" -EniX   (You'll have to read his post to know what this means!)

Memory of my childhood

When I was 4 years old, the thing that I wanted to have was education. I asked my parents to go to school, they looked very happy when they heard that I wanted to study. So they sent me to study at the English school.

When I arrived school I saw some children were having fun with their friends and some were crying, than I began to think the kids that were crying that “Why they have to cry when they come to school? School is a very good place to have fun, to get education and the place that we can make friends with everybody.” I enjoyed my first day at school very much because I could make friends with many kids in my class, I also love my teacher too she taught me how to write the alphabets in English. Furthermore, she told the class about the fairy tales, comedies…

In conclusion, my childhood were a very happy time for me and the best time to remember.

Nissa

A Paradise-like To Be

As the red fiery shiny ball starts to release its bright beam to the surface of the earth, the sea, then reflects the light with its clear light blue seawater, just to present its natural beauty. The combination of the oven-like and salty atmosphere, reminds all the visitors of a cup of a juicy pineapple juice. With the seagull's screeches, the pelican's yowling further in the sky, makes the whole resort turn into a paradise. All the kids are having fun wandering around the beach. Having so much fun, people start to giggle then laugh until they crackle into tears. The smells of roasted turkey, barbecued scallops, prawns, and steak fill the air with its magnificent and outstanding smell. The sun is setting, the people are back-uping their belongings, along with smiley faces back into their cars. 
Ati