Lost Angel 5

FINALLY. :)

• Work at the small-holding and the shop was slow in developing, and brought in close to no profit.
• Valerie and Ellen became close friends.
• Ellen gave birth to a girl, just as Valerie predicted, while Val had a girl too, unlike she predicted.
• Ellen's first worry about her marriage was relieved; Percy loved Sara just like his own daughter. She finally was able to confront her mom about her second worry, and Hilda was able to give Ellen helpful advice. This closed one of the gaps between Ellen and her mother.
• Billy, Sheila, Freddie, Mabel, and Jack came to visit Ellen and the others at the cottage. Horrified that Billy would realize that the child was his, Ellen was relieved to find that he didn't suspect it; this visit though also showed Ellen how different the two brothers were, with Billy being the rude and inconsiderate one.
• Percy and Ellen moved in to their own cottage.
• A woman who worked with Gertie was jealous of Gertie and Maureen, so she spread out rumors. When Gertie found out she fired the girl and solved the problem.
• Valerie, after hearing the gossip about Gertie and Maureen, knew what that could lead to and warned Ellen. In a hurry to tell Gertie, Ellen walked right into a car and Sara died as a result.
• Grief stricken, Ellen, as well as Percy, blamed herself for Sara's death. But after closing the gulf between them, they both learned to forgive her, Ellen taking more time to do so.
• Hilda broke her angel statue, once again disappointed to find that it hadn't protected them. She realized that their grief hadn't come from living in London, and that she shouldn't refer to inanimate objects for protection.
• Now with her daughter's death, Ellen needed to know more about what happens after death. She searched and searched, unable to find anything she could truly believe in. When finally, she gave up the search, planning to move on for the sake of her second child in her, Ellen went to Valerie to regain their friendship. In Valerie's living room, Ellen found peace knowing that there was an afterlife for her daughter.

QUESTION: What was the best thing about this novel to you?

I like how the events in the story coincide with the setting; during wartime, all the characters face many obstacles and worries. But after the war began to end, and had officially ended in England (D-day), all the characters find some sort of closure and resolve all their prominent worries. In the early chapters, there's a sense of conflict and tension, but coming to the end, there's more of a laid-back mood.
But mainly, I enjoyed how the perspective kept changing, so that we knew what each character was thinking.

Lost Angel 4

I almost forgot about this... Wow it's like the book wants me to complete it; I randomly open it, and it's on chapter 31 !
Anyway, this time, I'm blogging till Chapter 41!!! Here goes nothing :P

• Gertie's idea is opening a plant nursery. She promises to employ Doug, Ellen, and Percy
• Maureen still can't see them as her family
• Doug told Ellen about Gertie and Maureen and Ellen's new friend, Janet, pointed out to her that though they are different, they're still good people
• Hilda and Doug finally fill the gap between them and begin to get along again
• Gertie found a buyer and location for her plan; Billy came for a weekend visit and Ellen's feelings were rekindled
• Gertie gave Hilda an angel-shaped ornament, which Hilda's mother had loved and gave Ellen a new coat for her 16th bday. 
• Hilda, seeing her daughter so beautiful in the coat, finally began to acknowledge that she was becoming a young lady, but then Hilda immediately told herself that Ellen was still a long way away from meeting boys
• Hilda seems very picky about who she wants Ellen to marry; she doesn't approve of either billy or Percy
• Ellen, Janet, Percy, and Billy all go to the dance. on the walk home, Billy tricks Ellen; after Billy leaves, Ellen tries to act normally, but her inner turmoil constantly haunts her. she tells only Janet, who comforts her
• Billy marries Sheila, since Sheila is pregnant; and with this in mind, Ellen realizes she's pregnant too.  Though her there's something obviously wrong with her daughter, Hilda avoids a confrontation with Ellen, thinking if she said less, Ellen would get over what was troubling her.
• Ellen told her parents what happened, and they decided to take Gertie's job offer because it would help Ellen. When Mabel and her family found out about Ellen and Billy, Percy offered to marry Ellen on the condition that Billy never knew the child was his.
• After things had settled down, and Percy and Ellen, and Doug and Hilda moved in Surrey to work with Gertie.
• To Hilda, the move had taken them away from London's 'bad charm'; she also believed that the angel-statue was 'watching over' them.
• Ellen was relieved that she didn't have to become a burden on her parents as a single mother, but she still had two worries regarding her marriage: one, she was afraid that since her marriage had so far been platonic, Percy would cease to love her as much as he did; and two, she couldn't see how Percy would ever be able to be a father to her child
• Valerie, their neighbor, seemed to know about the spiritual issues Ellen had always wondered about and pursued. Val claimed that Ellen would have a girl and she would have a boy

Questions:

1. How does Hilda's faith transition from a non-believer, to believing in an angelic statue? What does each faith have in common?
2. Do you think Billy will be able to sense that the child is his? Will Percy be able to love the baby, though it's his brother's son?

From now on, all I'm eating is CELERY !

Blogging... How I've missed you !!

So.. as a me-comeback :P I'm posting interesting facts :)

• The term rule of thumb comes from the old English law that men couldn't beat their wives with anything wider than their thumb.
• Less than one percent of people who entered Germany's Auschwitz concentration camp survived, after being liberated by the Russians in 1945.
• American poet Edgar Allan Poe was once thrown out of West Point Academy in 1831 after showing up for inspection stark naked.
• A monkey's skull wrapped in leather and paper was used as a soccer ball in the very first World's Cup Soccer Championships in Uruguay.
• Ants never sleep in their whole life.
• A reward of $1,000 was offered for information leading to the capture and conviction of a man robbing taxi drivers. The man turned himself in and demanded the reward as a result. He received a 20 year sentence for aggravated robbery instead.
• The "pound" key on your keyboard (#) is called an octotroph. 
• Elvis Presley's hip-wiggling started out as a stage fright. He was so nervous, that his legs would shake.
• Bats always turn left when exiting a cave.
• A man was arrested and charged with the robbery—of vending machines. The man posted bail, entirely in quarters.
• TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.
• Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears never stop growing.
• The most common name in the world is Mohammed. 
• Tommy Lee Jones and Al Gore were freshman roommates at Harvard.
• Abdul Kassam Ismael, Grand Vizier of Persia in the tenth century, carried his library with him wherever he went. Four hundred camels carried the 117,000 volumes.
• Los Angeles' full name is "El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula" 
• The giant squid has the largest eyes in the world.
• A polar bear's skin is black. Its fur is not white, but actually clear.
• Experts at Intel say that microprocessor speed will double every 18 months for at least 10 years.
• Celery has negative calories. It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the celery has in it to begin with.
• Camels have three eyelids to protect themselves from blowing sand.
• In 1386, a pig was executed by public hanging for the murder of a child.
• All of the clocks in the movie Pulp Fiction are stuck on 4:20.
• Months that begin on a Sunday will always have a "Friday the 13th."
  

Reading Festival Grade 11 Yellow

Hello :)

Recommend A Book Stand

description: students will tell you what interests them while reading / what sort of books that interest

                   them, and you should recommend (from a previously prepared paper) which books they

                   should read

leader: Judy

team: Rawan

Mascot

description: Page the Book and Greg the Worm

leader: Farah

team: -

Letters In A Box

description: you read out a definition and, from an assortment of letters, students should form

                   words that match the definition

leader: Fouda

team: Nisreen, Ghalia J

Book Race

description: students will race with books on their heads

leader: Luiji

team: Zeina K, Sally

Shelving Contest

description: while being timed, students need to arrange books on a shelf according to size

leader: Rania

team: Mariam, Fatimah

Pin The Worm On The Book

description: blindfolded and dizzy, students should attach the worm to the whole in the book

leader: Nour B

team: Rasha, Sara

Photography Corner

description: placing their heads in the hole, student will be photographed as a drawn character

leader: Lina Fahmi

team: -

Pinata

description: students will hit a book-shaped pinata to get the goods inside

leader: Danya A

team: Rawa'a

Paint On A Book

description: with one hand covered in paint, students make hand-prints on book-shaped cardboard;

                    it'll be like a souvenir for each grade

leader: Amira

team: Zeina W, Rawand

Jokers

description: roaming around, you should make sure every thing's going smoothly and check up on

                   the booths if they need anything

leader: Nadia E

team: Nour A, Mariam A

Photographer

description: -

leader: Malak

team: -

*What do you think if we called our mascots Page (book) and Greg (worm) ??? If not, then think up some names :)...
*Please, all leaders write me a report / email me on your progress, what you need (especially the things the school will have to buy), or any problem your team needs to solve :)

Lost Angel 3

And so it's back to blogging !!!! :D
In this post I'll complete from where I've stopped till chapter 30... here goes nothing :P :

-Hilda recovers and decides to move back to London; they move into a flat under Mabel's. Hilda realizes she's pregnant, but loses the baby. Ashamed and a little dismayed because she had prayed to God, Hilda threw her cross.
-Ellen feels out of place in London, but still makes friends with her neighbor, Lucy. Lucy encourages Ellen to go to church and though Hilda doesn't like the idea, she begins to realize that Ellen needs to make her own decisions as to what she'll believe in.
-Jack, Mabel's husband, visits. After he leaves, Percy, Mabel's first son, wants to join the army, but is too young to. Mabel sees her elder son, Percy, as 'the good one', and Billy as 'the bad'.
-Gertie, after the fiasco at her farm (which she sold), had joined the army. Her father's death left her well off and she doesn't know what to do with the money.
-Hilda receives a telegram carrying the news of Doug's death. Ellen loses whatever faith she had. but when a 'median' approaches Hilda, claiming to have seen Doug alive in a vision, Ellen finds herself hoping again, despite Hilda's obvious scorn towards 'visions'.
-Gertie finds a house in Hampshire and Hilda and Ellen move in. Not long after, Mabel and Billy join them.
-Billy discovers a love for horses, and finds himself a job as a stable boy. Though Ellen tries to ignore it, she feels annoyed that Billy is more interested in horses than her.
-Doug finds them and describes how he had lost his memory after a shipwreck. The crash had left his back damaged, and so he couldn't go back to fight in the war.
- Ellen now tries to find belief in fortune telling, but only gets a vague answer from a fortune teller. on the other hand, she's also more curious about the facts of life, but Hilda is still too stubborn to acknowledge that her daughter's growing. So Ellen finds out from her friend Sheila.
-Mabel and Billy return to London as soon as Mabel finds out that Jack is coming back, but Billy would prefer to stay. Doug, Hilda, and Ellen soon follow them, but Doug, like Billy, would have liked to stay, so he promises himself that they'd live in the country again.
-Hilda decides to work again, since Doug's back left him unable to.
-Jack finally agrees to send Billy back to Hampshire, leaving Ellen heartbroken, and upset. Percy tries to comfort her, and realizes some feelings for Ellen.
-Gertie had found someone like her, a woman named Maureen, and now they were together. Maureen doesn't seem to care much for Hilda and Ellen, but Gertie does, even for Doug, and she wants to help them. She seems to have an idea, but still isn't sure about it.

Questions !!!!! :) 
-How do you think Gertie will spend her newly found money?
-Why do you think Mabel prefers Percy over Billy? And how can that affect her sons?

Robert Frost's Fork in the Road

Upon Mrs.Shabana's request (you can rest at ease now :P), I'm posting my literary interpretation essay :)

     Through his poem "The Road Not Taken", Robert Frost portrays the choices one faces in life by comparing life to a walk in the woods. On the surface, the poem describes a road that divided into two roads and the speaker's frustration at not being able to take both. The speaker then, after observing both roads, chooses the road 'less traveled by'. On a deeper note, though, we see more insight on life by Robert Frost.

     'Two roads diverged'; Frost promptly opens his poem with the conflict: the speaker is faced with two roads, one of which he must choose, and will probably never be able to change. These roads just as easily represent the choices one faces in life. Whether in education, marriage, or simply social relations, the choices one makes are usually always irreversible. The setting of a forest also emphasizes the maze-like characteristic of choices. As Frost aptly puts it, 'way leads on to way', creating a web of choices. This makes it even more crucial to make the right choice at the beginning.

     But how did the speaker make his decision? At first, Frost leads us to believe that both roads seem equally appealing and 'just as fair', but then he goes on to say the second road might have 'the better claim, because it was grassy and wanted wear'. After walking down the second road, though, the speaker again reevaluates his choice and comes to the conclusion that both roads 'that morning lay, in leaves no step had trodden black', but he had only realized that both roads seemed equally trodden after he had made his choice. These identical paths symbolize a combination of free will and fate; one is free to choose, but doesn't truly know beforehand what one is choosing between. It takes both choice and chance to determine one's route in life. Thus, the focus of the poem is not the roads themselves, but what they will lead to in the future.

     'And that has made all the difference'. the difference mentioned could be one of two: either the speaker will experience a nostalgic relief by taking the second road, or regret for the same reason. The speaker himself still doesn't know which it will be since he hasn't lived the difference yet; his evaluation of the difference his choice will make is still in the future. All the speaker is sure of is that his choice will make 'all the difference'.

     Robert Frost's message by "The Road Not Taken" is twofold; first, he tells us to be careful of our choices, since, once made, are irreversible. One's decisions will open up yet more choices, and one can get lost trying to find the right ones. And second, Frost highlights a common dilemma in life; no matter how carefully we make our choices, the outcome still relies partially on chance. The outcome of the speaker's choice is yet to be determined; all we can be sure of, though, is that it 'has made all the difference'.

Why you should feel LUCKY *in a nutshell*

ESPECIALLY WRITTEN FOR NOUR AL-QARRA
Midterms are coming up…










...And to get through them with our sanities intact, we need to focus on the half of the cup that’s FULL .
So here are three things to remind you of what you might have forgotten:


1) 5 projects = variety of skills, one of which (the most crucial one) is TIME-MANAGEMENT !! I’m sure that in our college and future career years, we’ll be GLAD this school is loading us… so that we won’t be crippled under the weight and exhaustion of the responsibilities yet to come.


2) Going back to common sense, colleges will want to accept you even more BECAUSE of what we’re doing !! they’ll see that we’re students who have endured (and hopefully survived :P) a LOT of pressure, which is REALLY saying something...
    so, looking at it this way:
low grades + LOTS of successful and CHALLENGING activities = college acceptance  *insha2alla*
                          keep in mind that colleges want active students, not only brainiacs


3) Have you forgotten WHY we’re learning with projects?? because it’s more MIND-CAPTIVATING which means learning more . We want to learn this way because it STICKS the information in our heads; it’s like a “Guarantee to LEARN the Interesting Way” :)


I only provided you with three scholastic examples; I’m sure if you take a good look, you’ll find lots of other stuff to feel lucky about..


So in the end  I, TOO  feel lucky. AL7MDULILAH :)

Lost Angel 2

AND hello there :)

here is what I've brought to you from Lost Angel Chp 4-10 !!! I'll give you guys more time to answer this time ;) :

-Mabel moved to Clapham, an area as so far untouched by bombs

-they found the farm a relieving change from the bombing in London, though Hilda saw the isolation as oppressive

-though Gertie was happy as a recluse and avoided unnecessary contact with people, Hilda immediately formed connections with the villagers

- Gertie home-schooled Ellen and Ellen's love for nature fueled her eagerness to learn about the different plants and animals

-Doug, Hilda's husband, visited; he was concerned about Gertie's preference to women. but after being assured that Gertie felt only sisterly love for Hilda, he supported Hilda's decision to move and hoped to live in the countryside when the war was over

-Doug’s concern about Gertie made Hilda feel doubtful herself, especially after Doug left

-Gertie, contrary to common belief, had more than sisterly feelings for Hilda; before Doug came, she tried to believe Hilda might feel the same. after Doug's visit disillusioned her, Gertie was glad to see the back of him

-a year and a half after Doug's visit, Ellen reached puberty. instead of enlightening her daughter, though, Hilda left her daughter confused and naively vulnerable

-on Ellen's birthday, Hilda, in a moment of privacy, felt a presence; her initial response of disbelief begins to take on a different form

-with Doug's second visit, Doug and Hilda's suspicions about Gertie's preferences intensify and Gertie's jealousy is rekindled; this time, Hilda is convinced enough to make preparations to move back to London

-Hilda's plan was delayed by Ellen and Gertie's sicknesses; after a week of straining herself to heal them, Hilda found that the cost of their recovery was her own illness

- luckily when Hilda fell ill, a concerned villager came to check up on the family; Hilda was taken to hospital immediately

-Ellen and Gertie were kindly helped by the villagers and Gertie was surprised that their interests were genuine; she found herself confused whether or not she actually wanted to leave her recluse, but humbled by the villagers' concerns despite Gertie's former coldness

Questions: What do you think Hilda will eventually believe about the 'presence' she felt? How will this affect her other beliefs, especially those regarding her crucifix?

What repercussions might come from Hilda’s overprotection of Ellen?

Lost Angel 1

I'm sure you all read the book already and are sick and tired of the summaries; that's why I took it upon myself to do things a little differently. I'm going to post the points in the story that are important or have changed, etc etc.., you'll get the the drift when you start reading the points (hopefully)... so here goes:

- Hilda and her daughter Ellen lost their home to the bombs in London. Hilda's parents died because the bombs.
- Hilda wears her mother's chain and crucifix though neither she nor her mother was religious. Though her mother had worn the necklace because she felt it had protected her, Hilda believed in no such thing.
- Mabel, Hilda's friend, let's Hilda and Ellen stay with her until they leave to go to Gertie's farm. Mabel doesn't trust or approve of Gertie.
- As they settled down at the small farm, Ellen realizes a fascination for animals, and, because of that, Hilda believes she has made the right decision.
- Gertie and Hilda share a childhood together, where Hilda's mom was housekeeping for Gertie's father.
- Something about Gertie made the community as a whole deject her. Even her father, a religious man, saw her as an abomination in God's eyes. Nevertheless, Hilda didn't judge Gertie and still trusted her.

Question: Why was Hilda so set against believing in God or her mom's necklace? And since she didn't, why did Hilda still wear the crucifix?
:)

Daughter of the Empire 5

Without further preamble, I write to you the last, but never least, episode of 'Daughter of the Empire'. Enjoy the twists of the next trickery ;)

In such a celebration, blood feuds were supposed to be outwardly put on hold. On entrance to Minwanabi estates, Mara was given the Lord of the Minwanabi's (Lord Jingu's) honor to the safety of his 'guests' (so that if Mara or anyone under her was harmed by anyone Mineanabi, Jingu would have to kill himself to restore his house's honor).  But the Lord's promise said nothing of accidents.
Stationed in a chamber out of the way of the rest of the house, Mara, her First Advisor, and a Strike Leader were asleep when the first attack came. A warrior took the Strike Leader by surprise and managed to give a fatal blow to the latter, but not before receiving an equal blow in return. Quickly, the First Advisor started a fire and began calling for help (that way, no one could ignore their pleas for help). When again in the safety of the public, Mara was nettled to realize that Jingu blamed the attack to that of a random thief. Without any evidence, she was forced to accept this.
Then Mara, with her Spy Master acting as her new Strike Leader, discretely sent a letter to Teani (the mistress who swore to kill Mara) to come meet her at night, when all was asleep. Teani came, bringing with her a warrior for protection. Mara claimed to have documents that proved Teani was an Anasati spy (which she was). So Teani, provoked by anger, struck at Mara. The warrior Teani brought with her was honor bound to protect Mara; he killed Teani. Then, when he realized that Mara had no documents to prove of Teani's real loyalties, and that Lord Jingu would be forced to kill himself, the warrior decided to kill Mara and claim to everyone in the morning that Mara had attacked first. While he aimed an attack at Mara, Mara's Spy Master hit him from behind, hard enough to make him unconscious.
By now, all the guests had awoken from the noise of the fight. When Mara accused Jingu, he denied again, saying she had no proof; but this time the Warlord intervened. He asked a Magician to prove who lied and who told the truth. Against all odds, Mara had defeated Jingu... but not the Minwanabi. Jingu's son, the new Lord, looked at Mara with murderous eyes only.

As another attempt to better her conditions, Mara suggested to the Warlord to complete his birthday celebrations on Acoma lands. After struggling for the needs of survival, Mara of the Acoma had finally restored her clan and empowered it.

Now that I have finally told all of the book, I am sorry to say that I will not be able to tell you what more will become of Mara of the Acoma, since the sequels of this book I cannot find.
But if anyone chances to find them their titles are:

Servants of the Empire
Mistress of the Empire

If you do find them, buy them, read them, but above all tell me at once where they are so I can get my own copies :)
TTFN - Tigger style :P