Eggs

Their soupy, sticky, yellow yuckiness makes them what they are, and how we know them. Yes Eggs. Eggs are wonderful, but sometimes they are stupid. They are so good for making an omelet in the morning for a quick breakfast. I mean what else are you going to cook in a pan? It's not like you can cook toast in there. There are so many other great recipes you can make with eggs too. Without eggs none of those recipes would work. Eggs are one of the key ingredients in making any kind of baked goods or other things. For that reason eggs are great things.

When you think about it eggs ruin a lot of things too. I mean when you put them in cookie dough it makes it soft and stuff, but then you can't eat it with out it being cooked. When was the last time you baked something with eggs and you were aloud to eat the dough or batter. I know that it was a long time ago for me, and that was only because my dad forgot there was egg in it. Apparently eggs have a bacteria in them called salmonella which will give you bad stomach aches and sometimes make you throw up if you eat it. So have to make sure that when you are cooking with eggs that they get cooked enough so that it kills the salmonella.

Although it seems always that eggs ruin all of your baking fun, they also make all your recipes work. Eggs are a great and stupid thing at times. If cooked they taste yummy, but if you eat them raw they are the most disgusting thing htat you can eat.

Life Lesson: Eat the cookie dough before you put the eggs in.

Dogs

Who has ever had a bad day at school or work, better yet, who hasn't had a bad day. When you get home who is there. Your parents, kids, or partner, but someone you don't really notice is your dog. They are one of the only things that love you so much without asking much in return. All they want from you is to be fed, and be loved a little bit everyday, they don't really need to be taken for walks but many people prefer they use the washroom outside. There is so little they get from us but they give us so much in return.





Think about how every day when you get home your dog is always there waiting for you to be there and when you walk in they are so happy to see you again, like it has been a year since they saw you last. It kind of just washes everything bad that happened that day away. When you see your dog it just makes you so happy that someone seems to love you so much. Imagine if everyone in the world had a dog. Everyone would be so much happier and in such a better mood. If everyone were in a better mood hen the world would be such a better place, just because a little animal showed you that they love you.





Life Lesson: Ask for less, give more.

Canada

Some people take for granted the fact that they have a roof over their head, clean water to drink, food to fill their stomachs, and a bed to lay down in. Not everybody has this ability to be able to have a safe place to call home. I think of myself as one of the luckier ones who knows what its like to be able to walk into a house and call it home. Canada is a rich country, but not everyone has somewhere that they call home. I don't know what I would do if the place I call home was taken away from me. I love my home for many reasons, and it would be hard for me to have to move to another house, or not have one for that matter.



I find my home in Canada, and I am very happy to live in such an awesome country. There are so many different things to see and do in Canada. There is the former tallest building in the world, beautiful mountain ranges, waterfalls, and huge forests. Although there are all these great things, I think my favourite part of all of Canada is my home. I spend a lot of my time in my home. I think it is one of the few things I love so much. When I walk into my home its like I can just let everything that's going on in the outside world go, and just have somewhere I can relax, and honestly be myself. In my home there is this feeling that floats around in the air that makes me feel as if I am surrounded by...I don't really know what you call it I just know that it makes you feel good. Homes are great things to be able to have. They let you just sit back, relax, and be able to take a step back from life for a while.

Life Lesson: There is such a thing as a home sweet home.

Books

Books are one of the most versatile things. There are just so many things that you can read about. There's Fantasy, Mystery, Adventure, Picture books, and romance. I think books are one of the greatest things ever invented. They can make you so involved that you actually feel like you are in the story with the characters. You can read abook any day, and at any time. It's not like playing Basket ball where you have to have space to play. All you need to read a book is a little bit of light(or awesome night vision). I used to hate reading books, and I thought they were the most stupid thing in the world. Now though, I only hate to write books, or stories.



I started to like reading books when my friend lent my mom her Twilight series. My mom said that I should at least read Twilight, so I did and I couldn't put it down. I ended up fishing Twilight in three days. It was during March break that I was reading Twilight so when my family and I left for Florida I brought the other three books with me. The weather wasn't that great so I stayed inside and read the books for most of the time. I ended up finishing the four books in a week. I loved that series so much that I decided to read other books too to see if I would like them too. I now love reading books, and if I'm reading a good one it's hard for me to put it down.

Life Lesson: Read! It's not as stupid as you may think.

An Apple A Day Keeps the Doctor Away

An apple a day keeps the doctor away. I used to take this well known saying seriously, if I eat well and stay active then why would i get sick? But then again I don't think most grade twos are worried about their health. I was just the average grade two student in 2004. I would play with the other kids, eat with the other kids, and everything was just great. All that was about to change though. March would be my last full month of being a kid and not having any worries. In mid-April I was going to get a disease that would change my life forever.



I remember March- break of that year clearly. It was the first time I was ever on a cruise, and it was awesome. Well, if you ignore the fact that I was constantly drinking and constantly needing to use the bathroom. No matter how much I drank I was always thirsty, and no matter what, I couldn't control when I went to the bathroom. My Mom, with her mother instincts, knew something wasn't right. When we got back from our cruise, she took me to the blood clinic to get a blood sample. The results were to come back several days later while my mom and I were at Wal-Mart buying Lizzie McGuire flip-flops. I had a feeling in my gut that the phone call wasn't going to be good. They called my mom's cell and said that I needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible because I had diabetes.



It's six years later and that one phone call has left me with diabetes and it hasn't changed. It never will change though. I thought that I would just get better or grow out of this disease, but the doctors said no. It will always be a part of me because my body thought there was something wrong with my pancreas (an organ in your body that helps with the absorption of energy from your food) so it killed it. Because of my body's stupidity, I will be constantly be stuck in the routine of testing my blood sugar levels about six times a day, and giving myself needles at least five times a day, sometimes more, or using the insulin pump 24/7. My mom always says that things happen for a reason, and you can't change them. I think this is a good thing to go by, so I try to just take things as they come, and be happy with what I have been given because it could always be a lot worse.

Life Lesson: Things always happen for a reason.

#6 In Their Shoes

Being able to write a good quality story is hard enough on its own, but being able to write a good story while making the reader feel empathy for your characters is even harder. Some ways to write with empathy are to include many adjectives, add a lot of detail, and write in a way that your readers are able to relate to what is happening. This is an example from The Breadwinner: "One of the soldiers raised his rifle and whacked her on the head. She collapsed on the floor. The soldier hit her a few more times. Maryam and Ali screamed with every blow to their mother’s back." You feel empathy for these characters because this writing puts a clear picture in your mind. By using many adjectives, it seems like you’re living in someone else's shoes while reading this book. This is a way to make your reader feel empathy by using adjectives and using detail to make the reader have a clear picture in their mind. This makes them feel empathy for your characters.


One of the other ways that they make you feel empathy is by writing the passage in a way so that you can personally relate to the characters. An example of this is taken from The Breadwinner: "Then, late one afternoon, Parvana came home from work to find two men gently helping her father up the steps to the apartment. He was alive. At least part of the nightmare was over." As well as the other passage, this one uses adjectives and adverbs to help you visualize what is happening. The difference though is that this one is written so that you can relate to what Parvana is feeling. Most people can relate to this because it is like if your father has been away in another country for a while, and then when he comes home you are super excited to see him. Being able to relate to what the characters are going through helps a lot because the same or a similar thing has happened to you before. With this, you are able to feel empathy for the characters more than if had no idea what they are doing is like. Writing with empathy is a great way to make people to enjoy your stories even more.

#5 My Life As Parvana

My life would be very hard. Seconds would feel like hours, hours would feel like days, and the days would feel endless. I'd go out every morning trying to sell cigarettes, dried fruits and nuts. Later in the day I'd come home around lunch and get a cup of tea to fill me up. I'd have to go out and sell again after my trip home. All the while wondering if my family was safe, or if the Taliban were going to go to my one-roomed-house and take the rest of my family. Living as a girl in Afghanistan with no Father, and barely making it through the days on the money I would be making would be horrible. If I were Parvana I would be the only one able to go out and make money for my family. Without me working my family would starve. No one else can work because they are women, so they have to wear burqas. Burqas prevent women from walking very easily, and they only provide a small range of vision. Like many other men in Afghanistan Parvana's father was taken away to prison. Life would be a really hard to live like Parvana.





This morning I woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep. I decided to get up and get some tea ready for my family. After having a cup of tea I headed out to go to the market and sell my goods that I was able to purchase. I sell cigarettes and a mixture of dried fruit and nuts. I follow the crowd, wherever they go I follow. The market is busy with men out buying food for their families, some women sitting on the ground begging for money, and tea boys running around to sell tea to the people in the market. It makes it hard for me that there are many other boys out here trying to sell their goods. I normally wouldn't be doing this but ever since my father was taken to prison I have been the one who has to work. Women are not aloud outside without a male escorting them around, so my family cut my hair and dressed me up as a boy. I am now responsible for all the income for my family. Why did the Taliban have to take my father? Why can't they let a person get an education from outside of the country? Don't they know how hard they are making the lives for us Afghans? Life is hard but I will keep fighting until we have taken down the Taliban. I won't give up.