My Photo Journal — Wednesday:
This is where I live. The red-brownish apartment. I usually wake up at around 7:15. That's because I live in Jubei and if I need to get to school on time, I will need to wake up early.
BREAKFAST TIME!
During 7:15 to 7:45, I would eat my breakfast with my family. But sometimes, we would eat in the car. Here you can see my mom driving us to school...
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Working...
This is my school: Hsinchu International School. This is where I study as a seven grader.
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LEARN ALL YOU CAN!
Before my actual first class, I go to "Advisory". This is when all of the seven graders gather up before class. Today is A Day on Thursday. During the A Days, we study Science, Wellness, Independent Learning, and Language Arts.
But on B Days, we have Humanities, Math, Creative Writing, and Music.
(This picture was taken during Language Arts)
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HUNGRY?
And then LUNCH! Yeah!!!
After lunch, I can't just sit right back to my seat. So, I gave a little walk with my friends.
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YEAH!!!
After school, some of the HIS students would go outside and have fun socializing. They would go out to 7-11 or out to the court and play basketball.
(This is 2 of the girls in my class: Stephaine (left) and Sandra (right). Crazy, aren't they?)
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SPORT~~~~
Yep, then it's after school! Together, my cousin, my brother, and I went aboard on our car.
On Wednesday, we did not just going straight home, but to somewhere else. To soccer!!! Yeah! I love playing soccer!!
This is our class~~ Last Year... =]
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It's been tiring and hot after all the running and kicking. Let's go home!!!!
Of all the exercising, we will feel hungry~ Sometimes we would go home, and sometimes we will eat the things Mom bought at the mall.
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Yeah. You know what's next? Homework!!!
Usually, after doing my homework, I would go down stairs and have fun on the tambourine.
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DIFFERENCE?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?
Kids in Africa live a different live then us. They lives are poorer and have less technology so, their lives are difficult. Rural Life...
Even though their environment is different then ours, they do a lot of what we also do now. They enjoy exercising like skipping ropes, baseball, volleyball, soccer, basketball, and having fun playing the drums. They also enjoy Drama Club Play (dance, songs, acting).
In some homes today, we have helpers to clean the house for families. But in Africa, they don't really have enough money. So, they did all the chores by themselves. They watered the garden with bare feet, harvesting crops like corn, yams, and cassava. Did house chores like, sweeping with the prayier (a broom mad of grassy reeds) & other cleanings, washing clothes & hanging them out under the sun to dry, and all other kinds. When they wash their clothes, few have washing machines and were mostly done with their own hands. Sometimes they must wash clothes at community springs. They don't have water pipes, so that's why they have central drinking fountain for water. It works by using a card or pay for water. Most of the kids of the families would get up early to collect water.
Painters use colorants (chemicals?) instead of natural materials from NATURE.
Their houses are made out of mud-bricks and corrugated steel siding. The buildings that most of us live in are usually made of cement. Plus, some Africans don't have electricity for lights, so the have to use oil lamps instead.
Their food includes "Kenkey", a kind of corn dumpling that's steamed. It could be added with all kinds of tasty spices. They have snacks just like we do. We, unlike them, go to little shops and buy "already-made" food from like, Seven-Eleven. Whereas they have to use outdoor cook stoves to make traditional treats. Some kids cook their own food and live in boarding schools.
There are no high rises or sidewalks, usually. Most of the areas are grassy, don't have too many hills or trees, little water, and are like dry savannas.
Because they are poor (some), most of them are farmers. They use terraces to grow crops (bananas, corn, onions). Then, use cows for lawn cut. They have lettuce fields and use a special kind of vegetable (kachumbari) to make special salads (nyamachoma) served with roasted meat dish. They use "arrowroots" (crop) in sauces or cookies. Most of the people there, shop at second-handed shops, and have grocery stnds. There's not too many shops.
One important thing that I've noticed about them, is that they help each other in hard circumstances. =]
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Thoughts~~
Although your living conditions could be harsh, there's some things we, can't do. There's almost no places for us to run freely like you do. Staying outdoors instead of getting trapped inside the houses. Breathing less polluted air. There's maybe a lot more of things you guys could do and we couldn't. Just think, you are sometimes more fortunate then we are.
It's a story about a boy that had been cursed to have bad lucks. He was captured due to the crime of stealing shoes and was sent to Camp Green Lake. If you go to Camp Green Lake, all you do is to dig holes. Why they are to dig holes? It's not to turn them into good boys, but like slaves that are needed to find a treasure. What happens then?
