Field Trip!

Alright everyone, first off, about the travel journal.
I have been informed that it is very long and sortof boring, so I will stop. Besides, I didn't do much after those four days...
So our grade 6 class went on a field trip around Stanley Park on our bikes! We spent the whole day biking and hanging out by the beach. All that biking was totally worth it though. The beach was the best thing ever. The weather? We couldn't have picked a better day to go. It was nice and sunny and a few brave crazy people went swimming (I was NOT one of them).
When we got to the beach, my friends and I spread our towels out and sat and ate our snacks for a while, then decided that it was much too hot to sit around and do nothing, and so we ended up playing by the water and digging holes, wading around in the water, writing in the sand, and tossing frisbees and balls. It doesn't really sound like much, but it was really fun actually being there. Later on a parent met us there with sports equipment and drinks.
Unfortunately, my friend's iPhone was stolen. 
However, it was still a fun-filled experience and I would love to go again next year with my class!!
Oh and by the way.. I will not be posting for another two weeks or so because I will be in L.A. (yay yay yay I'm SO looking forward to the sublime weather...)
So... I guess I will see you in two weeks!

p.s. -sniffle- I'll miss you guys..

Violence Erupts In Vancouver As Riot Takes Place After The Loss In Game 7 Of The Stanley Cup Finals

Hi Everyone!
Alright, so I felt the need to post this...
I'm pretty sure that a lot of you know what happened 2 nights ago. Yep, a riot. After the Vancouver Canucks lost the Stanley cup to Boston... yet again. A riot also occurred in Vancouver after the same thing happened in 1994. I wasn't born then, but I've seen many videos on youtube. I'll give you a few links to videos of the riot from two days ago:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VzOUKODdZ4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DhJuH0o7Y4
As you can see, these fans were infruiated by the loss. They were flipping cars, setting garbage and newspapers on fire, breaking windows of stores and stealing goods, etcetera.

It was horrifying to see because I live in Vancouver. Of course, the riot wasn't near my building, but still, it was just a few blocks away. I was up all night in front of the T.V. watching the riot continue through the night. There were around 100,000 people gathered on Georgia St. that were there watching the game on huge T.V.s that the mayor had provided so that the fans may watch the game in the streets. After the 1994 riot, Vancouver was sort of banned from fun stuff in the streets and large gatherings because we had obviously showed that we could not handle it.
But after the Olympics in our city last year, that sort of turned things around because the people in the streets were rather well behaved and were a good sport about things, and no police had to get involved in anything, fortunately. Because Vancouverites had been quite civil during the Olympics, I guess our Mayor trusted us with large gatherings again. But that was obviously a big mistake.
Many people were saying that it wasn't Vancouverites that were causing the problem, it was people from other cities that came to watch the game and caused mayhem afterwards. But honestly, I think it was just people everywhere that probably had a little bit too much alcohol, therefore causing them to...well... do what they did.

As a Vancouverite, I have to say I'm ashamed. I also want to make a point that those few people that chose to make that terrible decision does not represent our entire city. It was only a few people, who I'm sure regret what they did...
-sigh- I still cannot believe that our "good" reputation that took years to build up was torn down in just one night. It was NOT a good reason to riot. Many people were injured. Both Boston and Vancouver fans. The police had to step in in full uniform with shields and batons and everything, having to drive people away. Actually, the majority of the people were standing around taking pictures. There were only a few people that were actually turning over cars and setting fire to things. But either way, by standing there, it was kind of like cheering them on. Which makes them just as guilty.
-sigh- Well.... I just thought I'd post this. Alright then.
Goodbye.

Cancun-Travel Journal-DAY 4

Okay people, I'm back with more of my trip. Please let me know if you're getting bored....

Alright so I'll jump straight to it.
On day 4 of my trip, we went on a jungle tour thing. It really had nothing to do with jungles though. I think I liked the jungled tour the best, actually...

So we left the hotel at around 10:00 a.m., and took a public bus to the dock. There they had little speedboats waiting for us. They seated two people. My mom and my brother took one boat, my dad and me took the other. So there were around 5 boats in all; not that many. We had to learn signals and stuff so we would know to speed up or slow down and all that jazz. So we pretty much "followed the leader" through the entire boat ride. My dad was driving, and occasionally I would too. Let me tell you something. The ocean water there is the saltiest water I've EVER tasted. It literally burns your throat when you swallow it, not that I swallow on purpose or anything. So you all know that when you drive in a speedboat, there's ocean spray. Many people describe it as "It's refreshing." Well, IT'S NOT. It burns your eyes. The water is constantly splashing up into your face and getting into your eyes, and IT HURTS. The drive to the small reef where we snorkel is about 1 hour, so my dad and I were squinting into the spray throughout the whole drive. I got to drive a few times too, so that was fun... Oh, and I almost forgot to tell you that our engine died in the middle of the ocean and the other speedboats were all in front of us, therefore not seeing us suddenly stop in the middle of the ocean. They were just going on without us, which terrified me because I thought that we would be stuck out there forever. I started screaming for help at the top of my lungs, but my dad was just sitting there calmly and watching the boats drive off. I kept shrieking and screaming and waving my arms, but later my dad pulled me down and told me that they probably couldn't hear us over the sound of their own engines. I kept screaming though. I didn't understand why he wasn't. So after they were almost out of sight, one started to come back for us. I was so relieved when they came and simply started the engine again with a few tugs on the motor string thingy. We could've done that. Honestly? I felt a little bit stupid. So the other boats were just waiting far ahead as we speeded back toward them. We were stranded in the middle of the ocean for maybe 5 minutes. I know, I know, it sounds like a really short time and you might be thinking that I shouldn't have been spazzing out and screaming and stuff, but it was really scary.

So after that really long drive to... well... the middle of the ocean, flippers, snorkels, and life jackets were handed out and we were told to jump in the water. The water looked freezing, and hoo boy, it was. I know it's Mexico and the water's supposed to be warm and everything, but when you get out this far into the ocean, it's really cold. One couple didn't go in the water, even though the whole point of driving here was to snorkel and see all the tropical fish and the coral. So I jumped into the water gritting my teeth. It took me about 5~10 minutes to get used to breathing through the snorkel. First off, you can't breath through your nose, because the plastic sort of sucks right up against your nostrils, therefore you can't breathe. And when I can't breathe, I panic and flail my arms. Several times I had to take off my snorkel/goggles/whatever you call the headpiece and take a few deep breaths. I finally got used to breathing only through your mouth, but even that was hard, because if you didn't hold the mouthpiece in your mouth correctly, you would swallow a bunch of water instead of air. That's pretty much what happened to my mom-She hated snorkeling. The rest of us though, (me, my dad, and my brother) had lots of fun snorkeling and pointing at fish and trying to catch them. They were all so colourful... they look a lot more fashionable than the fish we have here in Vancouver.

Here are a few photos of the fish. It was really beautiful... But I really didn't like the fact that they only gave us 15 minutes to snorkel!! All the other people didn't seem too bothered by it because they didn't like it or something, but I really wanted to stay longer... It was SO much fun!

Anyways, after we spent that considerable amount of time driving and that short amount of time snorkeling, it was time to drive back. And of course, the drive back felt like someone was driving needles into my eyes.

But all in all, this was a new experience for me, and I enjoyed it very much. OH OH I ALMOST FORGOT! We saw a ray!!

Anyways, after we got back to the hotel, we ate dinner at one of the restaurants. I was lethargic and I couldn't keep my eyes open. I managed, just managed, to stay awake during the appetizers. But when the main course came, I was falling asleep in the middle of my meal. My mom saw this and took me upstairs to our room, where I immediately fell asleep.

So that's the end of day 4!

I might be back with a new topic later on...

But until then, BYE BYE!

Book Review #12 ~ Quaking

Hello!

So, like I promised, I'm back with another book review. This one is splendid, superb, awesome book. I wouldn't be writing a review on it unless it was a REALLY GREAT one. (I'm reading a lot of really good books now, aren't I...)
It's called 'Quaking' by Kathryn Erskine.

Okay, so the protagonist of this story is a fourteen-year-old goth girl named Matilda. But don't even think of calling her that. Her name is Matt.

Her and her late mother have been abused by her father for most of her childhood. Her father ended up killing her mother, and Matt ended up in an orphanage, going from one foster home to another.

She arrives at her latest foster home. Her foster parents are Quakers. (I think it's a religion. It's definitely not as common as others, but it definitely is a religion. You should look it up on the internet.) Quakers have this thing that makes them extremely nice. I mean at an EXTREME level. I guess it's a pretty good thing. This means that Matt's usual rude attitude has no affect (affect? effect? UGHH) on them. Unwillingly at first, Matt accompanies her foster father Sam to Quaker meetings. She also learns to cope with a new school where she likes most of her classes but fears a bully and her world civillization teacher. She is in constant fear of the bully which makes her extremely jumpy at school. To add onto her problems, violence erupts in town and peace-promoting churches and temples are attacked by locals angered by the antiwar sentiments that the Quakers have, which puts Sam in constant danger, as he goes to many, many meetings. This leads to a heavy climax. Matt is beginning to love her family, which is a rare thing for her. She fights even harder to save her family when Sam is attacked, in spite of her fears that always leave her quaking.

I found this a very touching book. It was a marvelous read with such intimate detail and I really couldn't pry my eyes off of the page. I love love loved it!!

This book does have a little bit of bad language, but otherwise, it's clean for everyone to read!

I hope you will find it great too!

Cancun-Travel Journal-DAY 3

Hello, fellow readers!
Alright, so I am back with Day 3 of my trip!
So on day three, we had to get up really early to go to this park thing called Xcaret. (search it up online if you have NO idea what I'm talking about.)
The first thing we did when we got there was go in the underground river. It's pretty self-explanatory. It's a river that's underground. It's not really a 'river' though... the water's pretty still. But so cold... It's a pretty long course too, and you have to swim the whole way. Most people rented snorkels and flippers, but we kind of forgot that we had to, so just swam without that equipment.
So after we got out, we went to the showers, which were really, really, really cool. They had these handles that were dangling down from the shower roof thingy, and when you pulled on them, the water came pouring out. Unfortunately, I don't have a picture of that to show to you guys... (By the way, the showers were outdoors, right by the beach.)
So after rinsing off, we made our way over to the beach to hang out. They had tubes that we were allowed to use, and it was really fun to just float around in the water. We spent quite a while there, then left to see the show with the Mayans. (The Mayans were an ancient people that lived in Mexico. The Mayan calendar is the one that says the end of the world is in 2012. Technically, it just ends there, which doesn't necessarily mean that it's the end of the world... For more info, just look it up on the internet.)
The show isn't exactly a Mayan culture. it's just an assumption of what they might've done. So the performers dress up in crazy costumes and have body painting everywhere. On every part of their body. They dance around lighting things on fire and hollering and burning incense. It's really quite interesting, actually. Here are some photos:

That scary thing is a Mayan.
Look at the body paint...
So there are a bunch of people who look like that that are performing. It's quite a sight.
After watching the Mayan show, we went to see the animals. There were monkeys, donkeys, rays, horses, dolphins, a whole aquarium, sharks, parrots, jaguars, baby turtles, big turtles, etc. etc. etc.

That is the monkey that we saw climbing the tree.

These are some Dolphins...

Jaguars...

baby turtles...
And so on. It was awesome to see the animals that we could never see in Canada.

Alright, so after we saw all the animals, we went to this sandy area where there were hammocks everywhere. I've never actually been in a hammock, so this was really exciting for me. It's really fun to swing on, and once you get in, you never want to get out. It is the most relaxing thing ever. My mom warned me not to fall asleep though, because after playing around and swinging in the hammocks, we would be going to the big, final show at the ENORMOUS stadium. This is what they call the night show. It is the main show in all of Xcaret, and it has all performers, Mexican dancers, and birds that were in Xcaret. It was great, but honestly, I didn't think that it was as great as everyone said it would be. Maybe it was because I had really high expectations, but still...
The Mayan part was really fun and cool, because the "Mayans" played a game that was like hockey with a big rubber ball that was lit on fire. So instead of ice hockey, it was like fire hockey. That was interesting to watch, but the rest of the show was just the same Mexican dancing over and over again. Don't get me wrong, I'm not 'hating on' Mexican dancing, it's just that I wish there was more of a variety of things. I think the show was around 1/2 or 2 hours. By the time the show finishes, it's around 9:00, and that's when the park starts to close up. So that's pretty much all we did at Xcaret. It was a long but fun-filled day, and I was thrilled to have been there. When we got back to the hotel, it was around 10:30, and we had to go to bed right away, that is, after a late night dinner at the Italian restaurant.
ALRIGHT EVERYONE, THIS IS THE END OF DAY 3!!
So stay tuned for day 4, and possibly a book review~~

Book Review #11 ~ What I Meant...

Okay, so I've decided that this book is worthy enough to post on my blog. It's a really good book, but it does have a little bit of mature content; it's a teen book.

ANYWAYS
The book is called 'What I Meant...' and the author is Marie Lamba.

So it's about this fifteen-year-old Indian/Caucasian girl named Sangeet who struggles to cling on to that last little big of patience she has left for her "evil" aunt that her family generously let move in with them when her husband died and she was in a financially hard situation. Her aunt hates Sangeet almost as much as Sangeet hates her. They try and get each other in some kind of trouble every chance they get. But her mom is an extremely nice person who believes EVERYONE deserves kindness, and her dad is very Indian and believes that family must always help family, no matter what. So Sangeet is NOT allowed to shoot dirty glares at her aunt, or express her anger to her aunt. However, her aunt is allowed to shoot dirty glares at Sangeet and scream and yell at her. I guess it's just a respect-your-elder thing...

So basically, Sangeet must put up with her evil aunt, no 'if's 'and's or 'but's. Sangeet knows that her aunt pretends to be all 'healthy-eater' in front of the family, but that she has chocolate pudding hidden behind all the tupperware at the very back of the fridge. She sneaks the food once in a while. Also, whenever the family gets a new pack of cookies or chocolate or sweets, it magically disappears overnight. Sangeet is well aware that her aunt is the thief. So now that we know the fact that her aunt is a thief, I'll tell you that Sangeet's datebook has been missing for about two weeks. Her datebook is the secret to all her straight As. It's pretty much an extreme organizer, that has every assignment, essay, and project's due date. It's not just a datebook. Her favourite uncle sends a new one every year from India with her name carved into the front cover.

So Sangeet happens to go sneaking into her aunt's room one day when she's out, and searches all the drawers. She finds her datebook, and all those missing cookies and chocolates.

So Sangeet is working on this project and she needs her mom's yearbook from some reason. She's looking through the drawers in the family room when she hears a creak on the floorboards and the beam of a flashlight. She dives behind the couch and sees her aunt open the drawer and.... I can't tell you, because that would be an absolute spoiler. Sorry...

So anyways, after what she saw her aunt do, she tries to get her caught, but to no avail.

Outside of home, her best-friend Gina was suddenly not speaking to her and hanging out with goth kids. Sangeet wasn't sure if her boyfriend was trustworthy. Her school life was falling apart without her datebook.

At home, her aunt was framing Sangeet for everything she herself had done. The only thing Sangeet has on her mind is to get her evil aunt out of the house before she destroyed her family.

To me, this book was amazing, and I loved thae fact that I felt the emotions that Sangeet was feeling. Many a time I wanted to tear apart her evil aunt with my own hands. I wanted to scream at her parents that it wasn't her fault, that it was all the aunt's fault, that Sangeet had been framed. The book gripped me, and my eyes were glued to the page. I finished the book in a single day, it was so good.

I recommend this book to everyone, honestly, even boys.

Okay, so I'll be back later on with Day 3 of my travel journal!

Byee

Cancun-Travel Journal-DAY 2

HELLO PEOPLES ^^
Are you ready for day 2 of my trip? Excited to see what happens next?? Even though not much really did happen the first day. Alright, even if you're not excited, keep reading please...
Okay so I forgot to mention yesterday that there were two double beds and one small cot. It wasn't much. Just a cot. Me and my brother were fighting over who got the bigger, better, double bed and who got the small, wimpy, cot. He argued that he should get the bigger bed because he was older. I argued that I should get the bigger bed because I was younger. We had opposite points of view, but we finally settled on switching beds every night. Coming up with this decision took half an hour. Conclusion: I slept on the bigger bed the first night, which meant the dreaded cot awaited me the next night.
ANYWAYS
After we woke up really early, we decided to step out of the so-called 'Hotel Zone' and go to the REAL Mexico and explore downtown. WHOOO WHEEE it was nothing like the Hotel Zone. The buildings were dilapidated and torn down and it looked as though EVERY SINGLE BUILDING in downtown had at least been in one gunfight. Who am I kidding, not even a gunfight, more like...a bombfight. The buildings were in terrible state. There were no decent shopping malls. It was all just shacks set up by the local people who sell stuff to earn money. The buses were terrible too. They had graffiti all over the windows and were all wrecked inside too. Nothing like our buses here. The seats are just plastic and not covered with carpeted material/fabric like we have here in Vancouver. I know all this because we took the bus into downtown. I also needed to buy a brush because I'd forgotten mine at home. We were looking everywhere for some kind of Mexican Wal-Mart or something, but like I said, it was just individuals selling their own personal products, and NONE of their products were brushes. We did buy these woven bracelets though. They were really nice and really cheap. But what really broke my heart is the fact that a seven-year-old little girl was selling them. She was walking around shouting 10 Pesos! 10 Pesos! (Mexican money with conversions to US Dollar will follow...later on) She had maybe around 70 hand woven bracelets on her arm and was waving them around. I felt so bad for her. Here in Canada, seven-year-old girls would be going to schools and playing in the playground and having the time of their lives. Poor, poor girl. She was really thin and small, and I wanted to give her more than 10 Pesos. I wanted to give her 10000000000000000000 Pesos if it would get her in school and happy and healthy. Talk about child labour. I saw it with my own eyes. But it wasn't only this little girl. There were three year olds that were up to my knees. I was extremely grateful to be living in a great country where I don't have to work at 3-years-old. But we also saw a school. It had a gigantic hole that looked like it had been made with a bomb of some sort that was supposed to be a door. The windows looked the same. There was a thin chalkboard where the teacher was standing and teaching her students, whose ages ranged from 7~17. There definitely wasn't any grade systems there. Everyone learned at the same level. These kids were the much luckier ones that got to go to school and escape a few hours of work. The entire downtown is in terrible condition, and the people too. I was spilling over with sympathy and pity. -sigh-
Anyways, we spent the entire day roaming around downtown until finally, we came upon a small shop that was sort of like a mini London Drugs. I finally got my brush, and we headed for home. It was about 9:00 at night when we boarded the bus that would take us home. The bus was extremely crowded, so I had to sit away from my parents and my brother. We all had to sit apart. Are you ready for the scary and exciting part?

Alright, so about 5 minutes after being in the bus, all these drunk white people got on. They were definitely tourists, and they had kids with them. Maybe around 15 of them in all. Now the bus was nearly exploding with people. All the white people were standing in the bus because there was no space. They were fist pumping and shouting and screaming and "WHOOO WHOOOOing." Like I said, they were drunk.  Suddenly, a big Mexican guy got up from his seat (and I mean BIG) and offered the white lady his seat. The lady was touched and she was gushing over him. He got up and moved to the back. Why? You'll find out. 4 or 5 minutes after he moved back, someone was shrieking some words. The voice was awfully familliar. It was saying, "YOU SHOULDN'T DO THAT!!!!" The white people immediately stopped hooting and turned around to see who was saying that. The voice then said, "STOP THIS BUS!!! SOMEONE HAS STOLEN MY MONEY!!!" That's when it hit me. The screaming voice belonged to my dad. He was still screaming, "PICKPOCKET, PICKPOCKET!!" but I didn't hear. I was in a state of shock and my heart leaped to my throat. I didn't even hear my mom screaming my name over and over. I finally snapped out of my name when she slapped my arm, trying to get my attention, she then dragged me through the crowded bus which had now come to a stop. The back doors had opened and my mom was pulling me out after my dad and brother. So there we were, standing on the street, not even close to our hotel yet, the bus driving off without us. Don't ask me why we got off. We just did. I have no idea why, but we just did.

So we stood there for a while, shocked and traumatized. My dad, believe it or not, was laughing in happiness because all his money was still there. My brother and my dad explained what had happened. This is their side of the story:

When the big Mexican guy moved to the back of the bus and offered his seat to the lady, it was because he was going to the back to pickpocket the most vulnerable guy; my dad.
You see, my dad was wearing a money pouch that was just around his stomach. I guess it was easy to get at...

Alright, so the big Mexican guy worked with two other white guys. They knew it was their chance to pickpocket my dad when he asked them, "Is this our stop at Great Parnassus? (our hotel)" They immediately lied, "OH, YES, YES, THIS IS YOUR STOP! YOU HAVE TO GET OFF RIGHT NOW!!" So when my dad got up, in that motion of him getting up, the big Mexican guy stuck his hand into my dad's money pouch and was fumbling around for no more than a second. That's when my dad felt something and slapped the pickpocket's hand away, which is when he screamed, "YOU SHOULDN'T DO THAT!!!" Later he pointed to the guy and said, "IT WAS YOU." The guy didn't deny it at all. He just stood there dumbfounded. Meanwhile, my brother and the white guy were sizing each other up, apparantly almost ready to beat each other up. They were of the same build and height, both muscular and tall. They were right up in each other's faces and swearing under their breaths. That's when the drunk white guys (remember them? there were a lot of them and they were a little bit tipsy.) started swearing at my dad, thinking that my dad was telling them to stop doing that. They thought he wanted them to stop hooting and stuff, and if you think of it that way, then duh, they'd be offended. They started telling him to shut the f*ck up and get the f*ck off this bus and stuff like that. They had to add a swear word in every sentence. Hmph.

Then the bus stopped and the doors opened, which is when my dad checked his money pouch to see if all his money was still there. He confirmed that it was all there, and we got off the bus.

The white guy was still trying to get at my brother and shouting rude remarks out the window. And so, only because he was being taunted and provoked, he stuck his middle finger up at the guy as the bus drove away. And that's that. We just waited at the bus stop we were dropped off at and sat there waiting for another bus. When another rumbled to a stop in front of us, we got on, not saying a word. I was still shocked and speechless, my mom was still somewhat terrified, but my brother and dad were laughing with each other. I did NOT find that funny.

Anyways, when we got to the hotel, we washed up and went down to eat dinner, like nothing happened. It was really normal. I think we should've spent more time freaking out, but we didn't.  So that was our REALLY SCARY PART of the trip.

That's also pretty much the end of day 2.

I will come back with more of my trip later on~~~!