Johnny's Life

Benito: The Lebanese Mutt

2011-08-29T05:23:00.000-07:00

It was a random and cloudy day, while everyone was acknowledging the fact that school will start in a couple of days, when something exciting finally occurred. Benito, a cute, wild puppy was the one who had the power to leave everyone smiling. Benito, most of the time is quite hyper, but he is a bright puppy with a sensitive side as well. Fostering a puppy is not easy. The hardest part is to let the puppy go to another family in the end, which I'm not such a genius at... Benito is a Lebanese mutt but doesn't look like one at all. If you're interested in adopting him please call (03 - 200 - 242) . After all the pets we have, I'm thinking that any house is incomplete without a pet... Benito is a really good puppy to have, so I assume that it will eventually be easy to find him a great home!

The Beauty of Icelandic Horses

2011-08-03T08:19:00.000-07:00

When I think of Sweden, thoughts scatter around my brain; the majestic trees, the delicious strawberry cakes, the canoe trips, the endless roads, the bicycle trips, our amazing house, horseback riding... Lebanon has nature, rivers, and a beautiful sea. But Lebanon is not exactly an animal loving country. So the only opportunity to horseback ride is in Sweden since horseback riding in Lebanon is quite risky and not safe. They don't train or take care of their horses. I was all agog to go horseback riding since I didn't ride a horse in a long time. Another fact which made the whole experience more exciting was that we were gonna ride icelandic horses. The minute we arrived we realized that the horses were obviously trained well plus extremely calm. Well, the horses were stomping a couple of times because of the flies that won't leave poor them alone. When we got on the horses we were assured that we chose the best place to horseback ride. As the horses began trotting everyone was a bit worried, but at the end everything was fine. The second everyone was about to fall off the horse because of exhaustion we stopped and had a small picnic. Then, after about ten minutes, we continued the ride. When we finally got there everyone was tired and exhausted but at the same time content. It was amazing, and really fun. For sure, we will come back to the same place next year.

Sweden by Canoe

2011-07-23T08:37:00.000-07:00

The weather report is never one hundred percent accurate in Sweden because of their unpredictable weather. So, planning a canoe trip is not that easy... As the early morning began, I was a bit hesitant because of the grey clouds hiding behind the green skyscrapers (trees). We started by bringing huge jackets and ski clothes but when we arrived at Immeln Lake to canoe, the stormy clouds disappeared. And that is exactly what I mean about the weather. Then, the hard work of paddling began. As we paddled our hearts out, we kept an eye out for a perfect island, to swim, to BBQ, to fish, and to relax on. When we finally settled down on an island, we started to discover and found a small bay. Even though the sun was up and the sky was blue, the water was freezing... Which is not that much of a problem to the people who live in Sweden. But in the end, at least 4 of us jumped in. After that we directly began the BBQ. We barbecued swedish hotdogs and as usual they turned out extremely delicious. It was an amazing experience to be on an island with a forest full of life. As usual, we didn't catch any fish because they were too smart for us. We all had a blast, but that wasn't such a surprise because our canoeing trips every summer in Sweden have become a family tradition.

On the way back, we were exhausted, wishing we had chosen an island closer to the canoe shop.

Nature's Backyard... (Sweden)

2011-07-09T02:52:00.000-07:00

I have been impatient and eager to visit Sweden all these days because Sweden is utterly different from Lebanon. In Sweden nature is everywhere. You can find a frog in your shoe. You can find a lizard on your hand. You can even see a torrent of moose crossing the narrow road extending between the spacious forests. The possibilities of nature are never ending... But if you want a garden in Sweden you have to make it yourself and that is exactly what we are working on. What's nice about Sweden is that you can have a house, with a beautiful forest next to it, without being in the middle of nowhere. We are quite lucky to have a quarry right next to our house, which is really exquisite and rare. The quarry is extremely huge and really deep. The only problem is that the water is freezing, which is not a big problem for the people who live in Sweden since they are used to it...

Chez Sami (Resturant)

2011-07-06T10:22:00.000-07:00

The sea, the delicious food, the nice view... Everything fits perfectly, in Chez Sami, a great restaurant in Lebanon. The sea was quite rough, so don't imitate my silliness of getting in the sea... As the sun was going down, hiding under the crystal waters, we were have an amazing meal. It was really exquisite to have such an amazing restaurant that comes in a package, with tasty food, and a beautiful sea. I actually despise sea food, but my taste buds changed their minds with the splendid food. The best thing about Chez Sami is that it is close to Jeitta Grotto, which might fit perfectly in a tourist's schedule. It could actually be a fantastic place to swim, if you go there on a sunny day!

The River in Yahchouch

2011-07-03T00:02:00.000-07:00

Instead of being obstinate and stubborn, insisting on staying at home, watching TV, we decided to take off to Yahchouch, (a small village in Lebanon) to look for a waterfall and a river. We all thought that we knew exactly how to get there, but I guess we were utterly wrong... When we passed the highway, we started to get lost. So, we climbed up and up, all the way to the top of a mountain. But then we started to get puzzled, thinking that we were not even on a road. It took us one hour more than it was supposed to take us, to get there, since we were clueless and went the long way. When we finally got there, our dogs did not wait a second and leaped into the river. Well, we did not find a waterfall... It was fun, playing in the river with one of our dogs having a blast, splashing everybody with water. An old bridge went across the river; it was quite beautiful but I had a feeling that it could collapse any second. We had to jump from rock to rock, to catch my dog who was having the time of her life, since she was swimming, nonstop. It was a good experience and a lesson: Whenever you decide to go somewhere (specially in Lebanon) you have to have CLEAR instructions.

The POSITIVE + The NEGETIVE

2011-07-01T22:06:00.000-07:00

Have you ever visited Jeita Grotto? Well, I highly recommend it, if you're on vacation in Lebanon. Jeita Grotto consists of two huge limestone caves, which are nine kilometers long. I was quite content when I saw the beauty of the fragile stalagmites and stalactites. To me it was a natural splendor and a fascinating sight. The lower cave, actually had water in it. So, we went in a small boat around it on the icy cold water. The upper cave did not contain any water, but it had a small path going around the whole cave. Jeita Grotto is still attempting to become one of the 7 wonders of the world. When I saw the two magnificent caves, I had a feeling that I was going to vote for it. But as we walked out of Jeita Grotto I changed my mind. I saw a sight that made me sick to my stomach. There was a small monkey locked in a small cage trying to escape. Sorrow filled his face... And sadly he was not the only tortured animal over there... Two porcupines were kept in one small cage which can barely fit a hamster. I despise the thought of putting tortured animals in cages. Despite the tortured animals, it was an amazing wonder.

The Golf Club

2011-07-01T10:45:00.000-07:00

The morning, the most advantageous time of the day to go and swim in the Golf Club. At that time the pool was clear with no crowds. Well, as the day passed by, more people started to come and that was when the whole pool was utterly crowded. The sun was blazing hot, so eventually all of the chairs emptied as the sun shined more beams on the pool. It was the only thing to do, in that kind of weather. Well, the people weren't the only ones having fun, small birds were pleased with all of the chips next to each chair. That was the highlight of the day... As everybody was having fun, on cloud nine, the cars were roasting in the sun. So, you can imagine what happened when we got back. We had to rush to get back home, because of our tight schedule. Well, paradise can't last for more than five hours. The Golf Club has everything, a pool, a golf course, a tennis court and probably much more. What else can it have?

The Planet Needs Us (poem)

2011-06-28T23:06:00.000-07:00

There are a number of issues,

which we could take action on,

like the garbage surrounding the sidewalks,

the garbage in the sea,

it is evident, to me, that all the issues lead to refuse,

My dream is to have a country,

with the light beaming out of the clouds,

with a clean sea, that shines in the morning sun,

Everybody is trying to coax the world on saving the planet,

with posters,

with programs,

with systems.

Garbage should be whisked out of this green planet.

Well, you can't just say that you care about the planet,

and stay still...

The Planet Needs Us!

The Hubbub of Adventures

2011-06-27T05:40:00.000-07:00

My earliest memories of the past are a confusion of discovering Lebanon's beauty. Well, after the days faded away, I remembered all of the places I have been to, the caves: the forests, the fields, the rivers and the ruins. As you can see, the previous years have been somewhat of a hubbub for me because of all the wonders I have been to... This time we went in the other direction, to the South, to Tyre. It was a lengthy drive full of bumps and turns. And tell me how you would feel as you pass "Mount Garbage," a stack of junk, which I think will soon reach the height of Mount Everest! It was shameful to see all of the garbage, from not only the people living in Tyre, but also us. Well, as we passed that shameful sight that I despised, we got closer to the bright side of Tyre. We finally arrived at the restaurant (the only break that we got before we visited the ruins). I was absolutely impressed with the restaurant; it left me quite content. While we were waiting for the waiters to bring the food, I went with my aunt, who has the same personality of discovering like me, to explore the restaurant's surroundings. An old man, was building a boat, the old way, and he claimed that his son just made a boat much bigger than the one that we were amazed at... After, we finished eating at the magnificent restaurant, we went to the ruins. The ruins were really interesting. They made me realize how much history Lebanon has. The thought of people from a long time ago standing on the exact tile, I was standing on, left me speechless. What would happen if all the history in Lebanon got erased?

The First Sushi Bar in Beirut (Le Sushi Bar)

2011-06-23T05:47:00.000-07:00

While we were on our way, flying through the mist of white fluffy pillows, my mom grabbed a lengthy magazine and began to read about all of the famous restaurants in Lebanon. I was sitting next to my mom, glancing at the magazine, looking for something fun to do. Then, my eyes caught on a fancy ad about a Japanese restaurant. It stated that it was the first sushi bar that opened in Beirut. So, I pointed it out to my mom and she recognized the name instantly, since she had been there a long time ago in a different location. Now, here we are today, trying out the Sushi Bar. To our surprise, the food pleased our taste buds so well that it was like a party in our mouth. Our aunt Rhanda, from Chicago, (the capital of delicious food), loved this restaurant. Plus, she never knew that Beirut is also famous for Japanese food. We just could not resist the feeling of eating the whole restaurant. It was by far the best restaurant that I have ever been to. For sure, we will be coming back often, but next time we will order even more...

The Perfect Country

2011-06-22T00:15:00.000-07:00

Lebanon is the perfect place to live in for some people, because it has everything. It has wild forests with meadows, sprinkled with the rain of mother nature. It has a city with flashing lights and buildings, trying to reach the sky. Up in the misty mountains, the villages surrounded by rows of trees get the privilege to breath in God's most valuable gift, fresh air, and play in nature without using electricity or polluting. These are Lebanon's main traits that we should all be thankful for. But there is one big problem... Pollution in the sea. On Sunday we decided to go to the beach because of the sun, which was annoying us with too much humidity. This time, we decided to go to a beach in Beirut which was not far from our house. And we were lucky to choose a beach right next to the Pigeon Rock. But the bad news was that we could not swim because of the selfish sea who brought in too much garbage from the horizon. So, we ended up swimming in the pools. I wish that we can just send all of the garbage out of this precious planet, so we can all relax... But we still have to be thankful for what Lebanon has, that other countries don't have.

The Dark Side of Life

2011-06-19T05:43:00.000-07:00

We wake up, brush our teeth, get ready, eat our breakfast, slam the door and that's how our boring days at school begin. But we never expect anything interesting or peculiar to happen in the morning of a weekday. As we were walking to school half a sleep, with our eyes still blurry from sleeping, we spotted a sick baby bird on the ground. Well, if you live in a country like London or Sweden, this might not be that of a shocker since over there you see birds everywhere but in Beirut it is slightly possible to happen. The bird was lost since he fell out of his nest on a high tree. So, what would you do observing this poor baby bird suffer with a group of cats approaching him? If you read my previous articles it would be really easy to predict what will happen next. My mom picked up the bird hoping that it won't happen again since our house is similar to a petting zoo. We took care of the bird and created a small nest similar to his. Every 3 hours (even at night) we would have to feed him cat food. He only lasted for 2 days since he was really suffering because when he fell off the tree he damaged his head. But, that was all that we could've done...

Deltas (Science Project)

2011-06-10T06:34:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered what happens to a river when it reaches an inland or the sea? Well, the answer is a delta. A delta is a fan shaped area of land formed by mud, sand and stones dropped by a rivers mouth when it gets dumped into the sea. The river divides into many small paths called channels as it flows through the delta to the sea or an inland. Like, I mentioned before, a common name people call deltas are fan shaped areas. Now you have a good idea what a delta is and looks like.

Deltas have a particular process of how they work and how they get formed. With deltas, it is not like you wake up in the morning and you hear the news of a new delta formed. It takes a lot of time for a delta to form. Deltas always relate to rivers since rivers cause deltas. Deltas’ main agents are water and silt. So, it all starts at the beginning of the river up in the mountains. And as the river flows down the valley it slows down. Now, the journey is almost over for the river, the land got very flat and now the river is wide. It meanders its way very slowly in big loops crossing the flood plain. The river is still carrying the stone and the soil which is called silt. Now the river finally reaches the ocean, and it makes an estuary. And it dumps all of its silt in the estuary and it will create marshy mud flats. Some, deltas actually dump so much silt that it creates a new island! And the result of the silt is a beautiful delta!

Deltas are scattered all over the world. But they are mostly in the Northern Hemisphere. These magnificent tourist attractions are found in Argentina, Canada, Nigeria, and Africa. Plus, there are a lot of deltas in the U.S.! In any country you go to that has a delta, you will find a river (for sure) and an ocean or an inland body of water next to it.

Some deltas are extremely famous and are known all around the world. The Nile River is the longest river in the world, but it is also very famous for its amazing delta, (The Nile Delta). It is formed in Northern Egypt and it drains into the Mediterranean Sea. The Okavango River in Western Africa never reaches the sea, it actually fans through Namibia into Botswana. Then it separates into too many channels that flood in the springs. It is the largest inland delta in the world!

I chose to make my project on deltas because I wanted to challenge myself and do something that I am not familiar with. At the start, it was a confusing topic, but then it started to appeal to me as interesting. Now, at the end of my project I am more than satisfied with selecting deltas amongst all the other landforms.

Title: Rivers, Author: Donna Bailey

Website: www.wikipedia.org

Pictures: http://www2.geog.ucl.ac.uk/~mtodd/accord/index.htm

The City that Never Sleeps

2011-06-05T07:32:00.000-07:00

During our long vacation, we traveled to the city of bright lights, New York City. I loved everything about New York; there was nothing that it did not have. And Times Square is as bright as a star in the starry night. I was on cloud nine when I heard that our hotel was right next to Times Square. There actually were policemen on horses over there. It was a big shock for me to find a huge park in a big city like New York City. Now, I am thinking how do I even call the small road with people bicycling on it a park! Central Park was incredible. I just don't have anything bad to say about New York. It is just too amazing to hate. I really want to live there when I grow up.

Time Runs To Fast

2011-06-01T09:20:00.000-07:00

Hi guys, in school I had to write a persuasive piece to convince somebody. So, I am convincing my mom in this piece. So here it is:

An absolute wish come true for me is to spend more time in Sweden. If that actually happens I will be screaming my head off and jumping on cloud nine or maybe even higher. Every time, we travel to Sweden the day I get to know more about my cousins, the next day we are leaving. And I never even have enough time to play with them and have fun. Sweden is very different from Lebanon, and when I watch them, I realize how life is, in Sweden for them. One of the reasons that we always travel to Sweden is that Sweden has a lot of nature. Like, we never have time to swim in the lakes or even catch crayfish. Or watch all the amazing animals in Sweden. The problem is that time runs to fast! In Lebanon I am not allowed to ride horses, since it is dangerous here in Lebanon. But in Sweden it is 100% safe, and if we stay in Sweden for more time, I can also take horse back riding lessons. Plus, I can learn more about horses. All the things I want to do there do not fit only in 7 days. I have never brought this up as serious as before. But I think it is a great idea for our family to spend more time in one of our main countrys.

The Castaway Cays Miracle (continuation of: The Disney Dream)

2011-05-29T07:42:00.000-07:00

The cruise that we decided to spend our short vacation at was "The Disney Dream". The day before we had to leave the paradise cruise, we docked at an island in Bahamas. Disney owned that spectacular island which is called:"Castaway Cays". The beach over there was amazing, with the crystal sand shinning from the sun. The water was clear and full of life. We went snorkeling there and saw thousands and thousands of colorful fish. I was really surprised that you could swim with the sting rays and actually feed them. And just by looking at the word "sting" in "sting ray", you might be thinking that we are crazy. But the people managed to take off the sting rays' stings.

The island also had a biking trail, so we rented 5 bikes and off we went. Around the trail there was an exotic forest, which was just beautiful. How does Disney just amaze you in a second like that??

Indoor Sky Diving

2011-05-28T09:34:00.000-07:00

Sky diving is an interesting activity, but how can a kid (like me) jump off a plane risking his life. But there is also another way to sky dive which is called Indoor Sky Diving. For sure you will never, I mean NEVER find an indoor sky diving place in Beirut! Our only chance of indoor sky diving was in Florida, U.S.A. So, guess what we ended up doing...

First of all I was nervous specially when the instructor started to give us a bunch of signals to memorize. Because he will be sky diving with us too and he can not talk while sky diving. It was really cool and amazing. I felt like I was actually flying! The name of the company was 100% correct it was a once in a life time experience!

Here I am (My Poem for my graduation to Middle School)

2011-05-28T05:43:00.000-07:00

1 Year passes,

The second and third year approaches,

The fourth year fades away,

and now we are here.

So much diligence that we put into the years.

But it all turned up to be valuable.

So many teachers we miss,

that were not in the upcoming years.

So many students that are not in this school anymore.

So many classes we included in...

I will never forget the Elementary marvelous adventure.

Before, the first time I graduated,

I said:

I am finally here, I am almost there, and soon I will be...

graduating again,

and here I am.

The Disney Dream

2011-05-26T09:03:00.000-07:00

I always knew about Disney and about all of the Disney parks. But it never came to my mind that they also have cruises. After all of the years of building they created what they call "The Disney Dream". So we thought it would be a good idea to sail aboard with them since we were already in Florida. The truth is Disney is a spoiler, the minute we entered the GIGANTIC ship they were already welcoming us: " We would like to welcome the Boustany family!" And all of the staff were cheering and clapping. Our room was better than what we all expected, it even had a balcony. Okay, so if you are already impressed by this cruise line, let me tell you about the shows. There was a huge stage, and when I say "HUGE", I mean it. The weird thing is that on the stage they had so many effects, like fire spraying out of the stage, smoke surrounding the stage, actual fireworks on the stage, bubbles and balloons floating around the theatre. This is what I call entertainment. Well think about it there are about 4 thousand people on the ship that all have to be token care of. The ship is fun and delightful for every body (even the grown ups). They have a long slide that extends to the beginning of the ship to the end. Plus, it is really fun, but the line is really long! We only stayed for 3 days, we really wish that we could stay there for ever!!

http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/ships-activities/ships/dream/

Extravaganza On Stage

2011-05-09T09:40:00.000-07:00

When you travel to London or New York the first thing that comes to mind is broadway shows.

I had no idea that a broadway show can go on and continue every day for more than 10 years. And it seems that in every show all of the seats are full. It is a miracle to get good seats since some of the seats the view of the stage is half covered. We decided to watch Billy Eliot, and it was an amazing performance indeed and it was almost not true. But the hardest part of watching a broadway show is finding good seats. And my mom did an amazing job on finding them. The show was just spectacular and one of a kind. Plus, the boy who was acting the roll of Billy Eliot was extremely talented. For example how can a boy flip in the air (with a string) then continue dancing without being dizzy. See, the whole thing was not only amazing, it was amazing times a hundred. I totally recommend this broadway show if you intend to travel to London or New York.

Swimming with Manatees

2011-05-06T08:50:00.000-07:00

Swimming With Manatees...

The truth is that all I can say is that it was just an amazing experience. But you also have to keep in mind that manatees are actually an endangered species! Plus, the saddest part is that some "swimming with manatees" programs take about 30 people on one small boat. And once they find a manatee the 30 or more people jump in the water and crowd on one poor manatee! But the good thing is that the government has constructed new laws and here are some of them:

1- You are not allowed to splash or kick when you are swimming with a manatee.

2- You cannot hit or punch a manatee.

3- You are not allowed to reach out to a manatee and pet it if it does not come near you.

And...

100- You cannot chase or follow a manatee.

101- Do not scream, shout or annoy the manatee.

If you think that the rules are strict you should see the rest. If you do not follow the rules they give you very expensive fines to pay, for example $ 50,000 .

It was the first time I ever saw a manatee for real. The manatee that I saw was huge and the weird part was that it was just a baby! I got to touch the manatee since it came near me, it was such an amazing and beautiful creature. I just hope that they never become extinct.

Dogs Vs. Humans

2011-04-09T08:33:00.000-07:00

I seriously do not understand the issue with hating dogs. Today, when we went for a walk on the Corniche (the sidewalk next to the sea, in Beirut) crowds were running away from us and our dogs. Well, at least they were on leashes and they didn't even go near them. I just do not understand some people. Dogs are actually man's best friend. The funny thing is that a teenager was walking next to us, acting tough and like a gangster, but the moment he saw the dogs with us, he freaked and ran away. I am just happy that there is more than one people who care for dogs, like me.

Finally has a Place to Call "Home'

2011-04-05T08:01:00.000-07:00

A long, long time ago we reported a sick dog with fleas on the street to "Animals of Lebanon". It just got a home, a friend and a chance to have a life that it does not suffer in. I wrote this post to show that we can make a HUGE difference in any dog on the street by just reporting it. If you look at the picture you will see the reason we rushed it to the doctor and then the pound. If you do not know what I am taking about, look at its eyes. The weird thing is why are we the first people to notice it? We named it "Bingo" and the new owner of it probably changed its name. But, I do not care, at least it is living a happy life in a cozy house. That is the way people should think in the 21st century. I wonder where its mom is. I bet she passed away.

At the end of his adventure, he finally has a forever home.

A Dream Come True

2011-04-03T02:08:00.000-07:00

If you look at the weather reports, you would think that Saturday was the most perfect day to go to the beach. It was a day before my sister's birthday so we thought that we could celebrate it at the beach. The weather report said that the weather would be bad on Sunday. We thought it would be fun to celebrate her birthday (a day early) on Saturday at the beach. My sister was insisting to bring our dogs with us, so as usual we brought them with us. Since she always gets what she wants. We walked on the shore of the beach and finally realized a huge problem....

We did not care! We just made the best out of it. Since we all hadn't been to the sea for about 9 months! Then we started to actually swim (which means having your whole body in the water). It turned out to be a pleasure to be in the water! Even if it was more suitable for a penguin than us!! My sister was having her dream come true. A beach. The dogs running. Her swimming.

She really enjoyed it, so did I. The food was delicious, it was like a menu particular for my sister. I hope she gets another dream, that would come true. Which I am included in. Happy Birthday Julia!

The Wind In My Face (poem)

2011-03-30T07:45:00.000-07:00

Hi guys this is another poem. Don't worry I will start writing articles again very soon. I wrote this in school. Try to guess what I am taking about in this poem. This type of way to write a poem or even an article is called "Show And Not Tell":

I save my energy waiting...

then

"ZOOM"

The wind follows me,

planning it's revenge,

Since I went way ahead of it.

Feeling free to choose any direction to face...

The feeling I look forward to on a Friday.

Nothing, I mean NOTHING can stop me,

when I am roaming with joy.

Suddenly I lose my concentration

and fall head first on the ground.

I get up, sit on the seat,

then the race continues,

between the wind.

And I finally win!

The Ride

2011-03-23T07:53:00.000-07:00

It was a sunny Saturday and I decided to go bicycling with my sister and my dad. We started our ride on the Corniche (which is on the coast of Beirut). The Corniche was fully crowded, which usually makes bicycling harder, but, it made it even funner. Since the people walking made an awesome obstacle course! The ride felt like it was never gonna end and when I thought the crowd could not increase anymore, more people arrived. At that point I thought that Beirut was a very small city with a huge population! Then I got annoyed from all of the swarming crowds, jumped off my bike and walked holding my bike with my annoying sister imitating me. I jumped back on my bike since a path appeared in the middle of the crowd. This whole time we were trying to get to the park. After all of the bicycling, we finally made it to the park. PS: If you ever decide to go bicycling for a long period, remember to bring loads of water! I actually wrote this in school when I was in detention!

Life Is Not Fair (Poem) Japan

2011-03-16T06:30:00.000-07:00

I wrote this poem for Japan, on when the disaster struck. Now, empathy is about to kill me. Here is the poem:

Life can't be controlled,

life is not in our hands,

but we still own luck,

but sometimes the opposite.

Try to think of you in that situation,

what would you do?

And the worst thing is that you are useless against an earthquake,

a tsunami or even a storm

You can't make up imaginary solutions,

since this is the real life.

Would you just stand there,

and try to close your eyes?

Thinking it is just a dream.

Now, Empathy comes first

tearing your heart apart.

Imagine you in your country,

watching your life,

your country

change.

Speaking about this,

makes me want to think,

this is all pretend.

Picture you waiting for the result,

sadness, crying, sorrows, melancholy

The only answer is that life is not fair.

Soo Ugly... So Beautiful... Lebanon (Poem)

2011-03-11T22:16:00.000-08:00

Walking around I see garbage,

I see old, old buildings that can't be called ruins,

I see the rich and the needy,

Up in Debbiye I see glittering, sparkling water,

I see trees and trees that symbolize nature,

I see the habitat filled with life,

A land with no rules,

A land with no use,

A land with tortured creatures,

In Beirut business is extreme,

Downtown is full of shops,

Full of riches, and luxuries

A place that you can call New York in Lebanon

Though we try, garbage is everywhere,

In the blue and blackish sea,

On the streets, everywhere.

The ruins up in Baalbeck are well known,

and famous,

The rivers, the joy of discovering,

Lebanon might not be the perfect country,

but it is perfect to me.

The Concert

2011-03-11T06:24:00.000-08:00

Earlier this year we traveled to Abu Dhabi. The news that the Jonas Brother will perform in Abu Dhabi was all over Lebanon, for some reason. I am not a fan of the Jonas Brothers. But it's good to have experiences like that. So when we arrived, it was very crowded. The line to get in was endlessly long. We finally realized that we were standing in the only line that was not moving at all. We waited forever to get in and when we finally did. The performance took ages to start. Okay! I'll stop talking about all the negative stuff! But it was still fun! It is also fun for adults. We did end up leaving early because my mom was worried about the traffic to get out of the stadium. They performed really well but I didn't really like the songs they chose to sing. They didn't sing any of the songs I know. But never mind, it was really fun!

HOW TO TRAIN A BIRD?

2011-03-10T07:59:00.000-08:00

When you choose to train a bird, you should NOT train a lovebird. I have learned this from experience, since I am trying to train my lovebird. First try and stick your finger into the cage, and try to get the bird to sit on it. Keep on trying until it, at least sits on your finger. Then bring it to a closed area with no objects only the walls and keep still to make sure it stays on your finger. After that try and put it on your shoulder. PS: Even though I'm teaching this trick to you, do not try it! It leads to having a bird flying around your house non-stop! So, if you do not want to listen to me, suit yourself. You can train it but the chances are 50 out of 100! But if you are gonna try, good luck!!

Gone with the Wind

2011-03-09T08:05:00.000-08:00

I have no idea how this storm started in beirut. I just came back from basketball practice. When I stepped out of the car, the car's door slammed into me. The wind was so strong that I could barely open the door. It almost knocked me down. I felt so weak and powerless! Now, to relate this post to my title. I have to say: I flew with the wind. It seems to me that this is a really strong storm that has hit Beirut. I hope that the rain and wind will just turn in to hotness. So I can go to the beach, since I haven't been to the beach in about six months! I'm just sick of the wind and rain! Then again, I'm sure my relatives in Sweden think I'm crazy because the weather there is always much worse than here!

It is March, why is the weather still like this (rainy, windy, hailing)? Last march it felt like summer! What happened to this year?! And now while I am writing this post, the lightning flashed and that proves my points. Thunder just roared again, proving my point again...

The New Park for Bicycling

2011-03-08T06:27:00.000-08:00

Beirut is usually referred to "a bad place to go bicycling". But the new park disproves that saying. Of course if you go bicycling there you won't see trees and benches, it is just for bicycling. Over the weekend I went to that park to bicycle, the road (in the park) was sooo long, that it would take you about 1 hour to go around the whole road 1 time! But that is the best part! It was the first time I went bicycling in Lebanon, so it was really fun. The best thing was that there was a side (of the road) for walking and a side for bicycling and it was next to the beach. Still, if you want to hear about the negative side, here is a list of negative stuff: motorbikes were driving with the bicycles, I found a cat in the middle of the road and someone was about to run over it. Well I could write negatives all day but it was really fun!!

I am from... (poem)

2011-03-07T05:50:00.000-08:00

I am from the talent of discovering,

and exploring hideouts,

from the beauty of the rising sun above

I am from the fun of being a kid,

climbing trees till I get to the top,

never giving up

I am from hobbies of amazement,

volly-ball, badmontin, water skiing and

running with my dog

I am from long walks,

to realize what's around me,

from half an hour hikes to hour hikes

I am from living my life,

not forgetting one bit of the memories,

which is the reason we go on these trips

I am from riding my bicycle non-stop

accepting challenges, from just having fun

I am from enjoying my life to the maximum.

Al - Mandaloun

2011-03-05T23:15:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend, I was searching for a restaurant to go to. Then I found a restaurant called "Al - Mandaloun". It turned out to be a seafood restaurant , which was next to the sea... It is in a place called Biel (in Beirut) which reminded me of Denmark.

We were planning to go to the beach that day, but it was good that we didn't. Since spots of white (jelly fish) were all over the sea. The check was high, but I already predicted that it might be expensive because of the Ferrari and Porsches parked in front of the restaurant. Or is it because we ordered too much shrimp? But the food was still one of a kind and delicious.

Again!!?

2011-01-08T08:15:00.000-08:00

At night our helper went to buy bread from a shop and she found a Pekinese dog wondering around the side walk in the rain.It was sopping wet, but in good shape. For sure it was not a street dog, since it looked brushed and it also was a pure breed. But it had no collar, it had nothing on it that would reveal a clue of the owner... Our dog Shadow, who probally knows every dog in the neighberhood, did not bark at her or bite her. And usually she barks or growls at the dogs she had never seen before. Now atleast we know that the owner was somewhere in the neiboorhood. Then on the same day the concierge of our building told us that someone was looking for a dog, and he told us his house was right infront of us. We went there and checked. It turned out that he already found his dog. Then I started to make posters for the dog. Our helper went to walk our dogs, and they saw a women running around looking for her dog. And they asked her about the dog. So she came up to our house to see if the dog was hers. She was so happy when she saw the dog because it was hers. She told us that she was inside her house, and she forgot to close the door so the dog ran out her house. That's when she got really woried and searched the whole neiberhood.

A Christmas Present

2011-01-02T02:00:00.000-08:00

It was a normal day, we were preparing for school. We were in a rush, eating our breakfast, brushing our teeth, preparing our bag and getting dressed. Then to our surprise the doorbell rang, it was kind of weird for someone to come on a school day at 6:00 in the morning! We opened the door and saw my mom's friend hugging a baby cat. She found the baby kitten in a puddle under her car. The kitten's eyes were still closed; nobody could stand staring at that cat without picking it up and finding it a home. She was gonna keep the cat in her house but she already has 4 cats and she works. We decided to foster the cat (it's not like we had any other choice)! We named him Panda, since he was black and white (we should of called him lion, since he acts like one). He was like a Christmas present. Since we always wanted a cute kitten!

Dubai Rocks!

2010-12-14T09:06:00.000-08:00

Dubai is definately my favorite city ever, I know that everything there is artificial but it is still an awesome place for tourists. Dubai is the vacation target for those living in the Middle East. Now, I am starting to wonder why we travel to far places like the Maldives or the Bahamas, when we just could go to Dubai. We stayed at a hotel called 'Dar Al Masyaf ' which is in the 'Jumairah Resort'. The best thing is that a famous water park called 'Wild Wadi' is in the resort. The resort has a long canal going through it so to get to the other places in the resort you can go by boat. In the resort there are shops and resturants. The whole resort is full of birds! When we checked in to the hotel, they did not welcome us well. First they said our room was not ready yet, so they gave us a free lunch at one of their restaurants. Then, after we finished eating, we found out that the room was STILL not ready yet and we needed to wait another hour but we all lost our patience. We were just so upset with the delay so we went to the Dubai Mall and came back to find our room ready. The next day the manager of the hotel sent us an apology note with cookies and three stuffed animals in the shape of camels. We forgave them and forgot about it. Other than that, the hotel was amazing.

The Chameleon

2010-11-15T22:00:00.000-08:00

When we went to visit our garden to check on our ducks, we spotted an amazing chameleon. And here it is...

The Missing Duck

2010-11-14T09:02:00.000-08:00

We have a garden in Jieh where we have chicken, koi fish (in a pond) and now we got two ducks! They love swiming in the pond. One afternoon, we went to the garden and had lunch with my mom's friends. We brought our two dogs with us (Shadow and Toby)and we went to have lunch, leaving Shadow swimming with the DUCKS. Shadow is a calm dog and we did not expect her to eat or hurt the ducks. When we came back to the pond, we only saw one of the ducks full of mud on it's white feathers. The other one was missing. Shadow was still in the pond panting like crazy. We were really upset because about 20 minutes ago we were excited to have ducks in our pond. Then we continued to eat not letting Shadow in the pond anymore. Suddenly the other duck appeared from nowhere. We still do not know where it came from or what happened to it!

Downtown

2010-11-14T08:13:00.000-08:00

We are going to Dubai soon for vacation! It is REALLY DIFFERENT THAN LEBANON. This is all in Downtown (in Lebanon):

Downtown is known for it's shops.

It is know for it's old architecture.

It is know for it's ruins.'

It's known for it's TRAFFIC!

IS THIS LEBANON?

2010-11-13T01:17:00.000-08:00

In the Beqqa Valley there is a big monastary. It is twice as big as the university ( A.U.B ). Getting there was unbelievable! We probally passed 20 trucks, because the road to the Beqaa valley is also the road to Syria. But it was all worth it, as you can see in theese two pictures. The place was like a little farm. They had cows and calfs that were adorable. I opened my eyes breathing in the refreshing breath of nature. Then I suddenly realized that this was not a dream. It looked like Sweden, it was amazing.

Then we saw a horse, we asked one of the guys passing "do you give horseback riding lessons here"? He answered "yes", so we decided to try and ride the friendly horse. The horse was gentle and absolutely calm. I realized that for sure we will be coming back. We went into the stall and saw them milking the cows. Then we saw rabbits in a huge cage and birds in another huge cage too. Then we headed off to eat in a restaurant full of Lebaneese food and foreigners. After we ate, we went to a lake in the monastary. It was full of ducks and swans. Directly one of our dogs named Shadow jumped into the lake, scaring all the ducks away. The lake was very big but that is not it's maximuim size. When it rains the whole lake get's filled with fresh water. When we came back to Beirut, I was sad.... my dream was over.

The Path to Nature

2010-11-05T01:00:00.000-07:00

We wanted to do something other than staying home and our dogs really needed some exercise. So we decided to take the dogs with us and go to a path leading to a camp called Eco Village. Eco Village has small huts that you sleep in, a farm and a river. The houses over there are made out of logs and sticks. I never knew that the path would stay the same as it was a year ago. I thought it was going to be full of bullets and dead trees. But it was full of life. Our dogs enjoyed walking there so much, because it was full of different smells and they love walking. On the right side of the path there was a small pond. Trying to keep our dog “Shadow” away from the pond was a challenge. She loves swimming more than anything.

The Only Park

2010-10-16T06:12:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I feel like I want to go somewhere instead of staying home all day especially on Sundays! That's why parks exist. Beirut has no parks, well there are some parks but they are really small. Beirut finally found space to build a park. This park is not finished yet but it's open. It's mostly for riding your bike; they built part of the park on the sea. I thought it was going to be small like the other parks but it was huge. It's perfect for running and bicycling. I wish they let dogs in the park, it would have been perfect for our dogs to run around and have fun. They still have to finalize it by adding grass and more benches. Well it’s still nothing like the parks in America!

Cape Greco

2010-09-18T07:06:00.000-07:00

When we travelled to Cyprus with our cousins we went to a famous place called Cape Greco. It’s like a cliff that’s open to the sea. It lies between the towns of Ayia Napa and Protaras, both of which are popular tourist resorts. Lots of kids jump off the cliff, but it is really high. I don't know how anyone could jump off of it. There are lots of tall rocks in the water below so if you are unlucky you could hit your head on them. It is known for the fish there, but there were no colorful fish. We saw a small boat that was sunk underwater. Underwater, it was full of scuba divers. According to local legend it is also the home of the 'Ayia Napa sea monster'. It is a very interesting place for tourists.

Fig Tree Bay

2010-09-18T02:25:00.000-07:00

This summer we went to Cyprus with our cousins who live in Sweden, where it's freezing! It was humid in Cyprus but in Lebanon it's even more humid so we were used to it! In Cyprus, every day we went to the beach, it was super fun! We went to a famous beach called Fig Tree Bay. The beach was really beautiful... While snorkeling there, we saw lots of colorful fish, and tons of hermit crabs under the sea; it was amazing!!!! We went on an inflatable sofa being pulled by a boat; it was called The Crazy UFO. The boat was going super fast, it was a fun and bumpy ride! We even went water skiing for the second time ever! Fig Tree Bay is the best beach ever!

Hamra Festival Parade

2010-09-13T08:42:00.000-07:00

A lot of people go to places like Downtown and the Corniche in Lebanon. There is a small street in Beirut called Hamra. People decided to make a festival for Hamra. That includes a big parade and much more stuff like concerts! We went to watch the parade. I thought it was like the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade, but it was not. It was fun but putting a limping horse with a bleeding leg in the parade was just shame! But it was cool and fun with the punchbuggies and Harley motorbikes. There were also cars with figures on them. At the beginning we watched a show including clowns fooling around on the street. It was a good idea to have a festival; I'm sure it will make Hamra more popular. Even the Lebanese army came to play Lebanon’s Anthem! At the end there was an amazing fireworks show that amazed us!

Bingo

2010-09-04T23:59:00.000-07:00

My mom found this puppy sitting on a pile of garbage. She bought some hotdogs to feed him because he was starving. He looked so cute so she just couldn’t leave him. Taking him to the vet seemed like the best thing to do so she took him in the car with her. He vomited hotdogs all over her car. That’s when she called us to help her. We cleaned the car and put him in a cage and took him to the vet. The vet put him in a big cage in the clinic. We named him Bingo. Later were gonna need someone to adopt him. It looks like he’s gonna find a home pretty soon!

Visiting Our New Summer House

2010-08-15T01:19:00.000-07:00

This holiday in Sweden we were in our new house in a village called Rottvet. It was exiting but kind of depressing because the people who were living in the house before left a grave in the garden of their old cat. They even left a map of where they've traveled to (they've been to Lebanon). Our house was next to a forest, there was a big rock quarry for the village people! It was freezing but we did not care. We loved going around the quarry in a plastic boat! But the quarry was in the forest! It was full of frogs and HUGE rocks Bergassa (our house) was full of goose berries and red berries. We would stay there eating them for hours avoiding lunch! We loved the house!

Mika's Concert

2010-06-25T23:21:00.000-07:00

Live or not Mika is amazing, it's not just one song from him that is nice. All of his songs are great!!! Some artists just sing for the sake of geting money but Mika enjoys singing every single song he makes! When we arrived at the concert (in Baalbeck) we had to wait 1 hour for everyone to come and sit down, but it was worth it. Then the lightsstarted flashing and then Mika suddenly apeared on the stage! It started late and ended very late and nobody even closed their eyes! After each song Mika would talk about the song that he will sing next. He even tried to speak arabic!! He is a really funny guy! Every minute somebody would jump on the stage and try to touch Mika! So the bouncer's had a lot of work! Mika said that it was his second time at the Baalbeck Festival. The first time was when Mika was 15 and he went to watch Sting's concert! At the end the orginizers started to throw the pillows on the chair and everyone copied them! So the stage was filled with pillows but Mika had fun throwing the pillows back at the crew and the audience. At the end Mika said that he loved Lebanon! You have to agree... Mika is amazing!

Zahle

2010-06-25T05:09:00.000-07:00

We took an exhausting 1 hour drive to Zahle planning to sleep in Zahle for one night. We got tickets to the Mika Concert in Baalbek that starts at 8:00pm and Baalbek is close to Zahle. Because it is not that smart to just go to the Concert at 8:00pm and go back home at 11:00pm! Meanwhile, we could enjoy Zahle before the Concert! We went to a church with a tower in Zahle, so we could see the whole town of Zahle from far! The view is nice but I didn't enjoy walking up the stairs to get to the top of the tower! Then we went straight to the river. It didn’t really look like a river. It looked like a canal. Around the river there were arcades, restaurants and stores! It was amazing, but the river was not that clean! Then we went to one of the restaurants near the river! The food was good but I didn’t enjoy it because I couldn't wait to go to the Mika Concert! I will tell you all about the Mika Concert in another post! The only thing I will say about the Mika Concert is that I was amazed!

Unexpected Disaster

2010-06-22T09:00:00.001-07:00

This time, we tried to go to a beach that we do not usually go to! We decided to go snorkeling, no actully my dad decided! Something was really weird with the sea water, we saw small white peices floating in the shallow places! I had no idea what they were... It was shocking when I was snorkeling, I suddenly started drowning. When I popped out of the water my ear was red and I was screaming with pain, nobody realized what was happening to me! I had been touched by a jellyfish and that hurts alot!! Guess what, now I have one red ear and I bearly even saw one fish! Anything that includes snorkeling turns into a disaster! After that I didn't dare to swim in the sea for the rest of the day. Then, I went racing to the swimming pool! But, I had fun the rest of the day!

Bezantine Church

2010-05-29T05:17:00.000-07:00

This time, during my adventourous weekend, we visited the Bezantine Church in Jieh, where you can find the mosaic of the story about Jonas. This historical ruin dating from 800 years ago, is now wrecked. But instead of taking care of the church, the Lebanese authorites kept on blaming the responsibilities on others. If this ruin was in any other country, it would be clean, and full of tourists. But the ruin was nice. Before all of this, we were in a beach called Jonas, named after the prophet Jonas. For crabs, Saturday is always like a holiday. They were spread all around the beach. The waves were huge, throwing me off my boogie board.

The Scar of Memories

2010-05-27T06:48:00.000-07:00

"A dog in a pound is sad and is sitting in the corner of the room, with other dogs running, playing and even more, so which dog should I pick to try and convince my family?" I thought, "Which dog needs me the most?" Then I froze and noticed a dog staring at me. I looked at the dog hopelessly. I did not blink when my eyes noticed a huge scar spread across the dogs leg. A thought crossed my mind, and I imagined myself saying ,"I am so relieved that I chose this dog", while holding a dog tightly in my arms. But the picture of the dog in my imagination was unclear and blurry. Then I took another look at the dog. I made up my mind. I ran franticaly to my family. They saw the dog. Before we knew it we were driving back home with a black cute dog. The decision was not final with regard to keeping the dog. It was to my family, but to me, never. My family had chosen to keep the dog until we had the chance to send it to the United States to find a better home. We called the dog "Shadow". As months and months passed we kept Shadow. Then as a family we agreed to keep Shadow forever. Shadow is a great dog. But her scar still remains, giving me memories.

Lebanon is...

2010-05-26T06:39:00.000-07:00

In the Maldives I always heard my dad say: "I saw this before in Lebanon!" while we're staring at a tropical fish. But then, if there are tropical fish in Lebanon, why did we go all the way to the Maldives!! Well, there are sting rays in Lebanon, but tropical fish, no way! I never knew that there are dolphins and turtles in Lebanon until I got on a boat and I saw dolphins and turtles with my own eyes. It was unbelievable! It is hard to find dolphins in Lebanon. All those wonderful creatures hide in the Mediterranean waters. The water was so clear, I felt like I was in the Maldives. To me it is impossible to not swim when I see clear, clean water. Lebanon is now worth gold to me! This is where I belong! The best thing about Lebanon is that the mountains are close to the sea!! Lebanon is changing in a good way!! Press here to see a close up of the water. Lebanon is beautiful!

Back to Lebanon's Beauty

2010-05-09T00:17:00.000-07:00

A foreigner might think that Lebanon is a dirty country with war, but that is totally wrong!

We went to a place in Lebanon called "Debiyye". We all hated it except my father! But now I got tricked without knowing by my father. He took me to an amazing river, it was also in "Debiyye"! I was surprised because last time we went to "Debiyye", I hated it, but now I like "Debiyye", just because of that trick! The river is super clean, with crabs, frogs, toads and fish!

We were taking a risk, going down the bumpy mountain to find a path to the clean river! I fell a billion times and hurt myself, but it was worth it!

The village of "Dibiyye" is also beautiful! All the people there are almost related to our family and have the same last name! "Dibiyye" is amazing!

Gone

2010-05-08T23:58:00.000-07:00

Now, my hamster is dead. I have all of the sad memories locked in my head, that I will never forget. Now we already designed my hamster's coffin, full of hearts and phrases like: " I will always love you". I really wish we found out he was sick a long time ago, because it was too late to save his life. But being in heaven, resting peacefuly is better than suffering the rest of your life. There is not much I can say other than, "I miss my hamster".

Death is On it's Way

2010-05-06T09:05:00.000-07:00

Death again is gonna be roaming around my life. People say that animals are like furniture, but all I do is walk away and not listen to them. Now my poor cute hamster is suffering from a disease called "wet tail". My biggest hope is for my hamster to manage this dreadful disease. My biggest wonder is how did my poor hamster catch that disease! I'm really gonna miss him when he dies, I already miss him now because I am not allowed to see him because he gets very nervous and might die. What did my hamster do wrong! I feel really sad. So I guess the next time I see him he will be buried in soil and with flowers on top.

Chef skills

2010-05-04T06:28:00.000-07:00

My housekeeper has great cooking talent! Since we sent her to learn how to cook at a cooking school she is cooking up a storm in the kitchen. She goes every Tuesday and Thursday to the class! The meals she makes are now... I can barely find a word to describe them.....delicious and spectacular. Now she can even quit her job and work as a chef in a restaurant! I am not kidding, I really think she is an amazing cook! She is now cooking stuff that I have never seen before! When I come back from school I always have a big meal that I enjoy! The picture above is of a meal called Pizzeta. If you want the ingredeints of this meal press here.

The Fox

2010-05-03T08:47:00.000-07:00

Do you really think that there are foxes in Lebanon?? Well, yes there are. There are even foxes in the middle of Beirut. My Mom got a call from our tennis coach saying that they had caught a fox. This is right here off of Bliss Street!! Can you imagine a fox living in the middle of this noisy city. It's a miracle!! But, instead of admiring this poor fox, the tennis people threw rocks at it and then tied it to a tree.... What a terrible thing to do. Sometimes people can be so cruel. My mom took the fox to the vet and he is trying to help it. This is probably the last fox that was living wild in the middle of Manara. If it survives we will release it somewhere in Lebanon where there are other foxes. I really hope the fox recovers, it's rare to see something so beautiful in Lebanon....

Battlefield (one of my poems)

2010-04-27T09:23:00.000-07:00

War, blood, death, winning, loosing, getting revenge.
Everybody crossing their fingers, everybody wishing they had never started the fight.
The end of your life, the second you start.
Worrying, hoping, and wishing that the bloody situation would stop. Your whole life is in your hands.
Nothing you can do but take one last breath before your whole life ends.
There will be only one winner in a war, but who will it be?
The feeling that you are going to die……...

Just, bloody Battlefield

Toby (one of my poems)

2010-04-27T09:21:00.000-07:00

Never has a dog loved me like Toby, whenever I have a cut Toby licks me like a mutt .
Lonely, sad, feeling useless, Toby fixes them all with her cute puppy face and slobbery lick.
Care, love, happiness, she shows them all, makes everyone cry with happiness, and have a smile like the glowing sun.
It will take you forever to measure Toby’s heart, she never bites she never growls but even if she does the heart only counts.
I will never leave her under any circumstances because she’s all I ever wanted!
I started loving her from the start and hopefully till the end. I love you Toby.

Who's a Good Doggy?

Gone (one of my poems)

2010-04-25T06:17:00.000-07:00

“Gone”, that word whispers to me when it’s time to sleep, No reversing, he’s gone.
Makes me cry when I think about him, his soul, stuck in heaven.
He suffered, he did not manage his pain, but it does not matter anymore cause he’s gone.
Barely got to see him when he was alive and now I can never see him again. His words whisper to me when I’m asleep, make me feel sad, make me feel like crying.
Grandpa Joe, you are gone and nothing can be done, but you will always be in my heart. I will always love you, Grandpa Joe.
Your grandson, Johnny.

Dedicated to my Grandpa,who died from Cancer.

The Test (one of my poems)

2010-04-25T06:12:00.000-07:00

Oh, no! A test, panic in my chest!
Got my fingers crossed, sitting at my desk.
Well, I should not panic, I should just review the test and do my best…..
Okay so what is one billion divided by one thousand. Oh no I forgot!!
What should I do, should I cheat, listen to the beat going on in my head that is saying “Ahhh! I’ll fail!”
Or listen to the other beat in my head saying “Don’t panic, just try your best” So frustrated, so nervous, so, so, so, so…… I’ll fail!
So guess what, I got an A+ on my test, amazed at how smart I am!
Yes!!! I’m a genius after all…..!

Animal Rights

2010-04-11T03:34:00.000-07:00

Some people take animals from Africa and other places for zoos and circuses. But really, do you think it is nice to be tooken from your house and then dumped in a huge cage or to be forced to do something and to be starving! Also, sometimes they kill the animal's mother when they capture the animal from the wild! I wish someone would go up live on stage and tell everybody that animals are just like us; they have the right to be free. I really hate circuses and zoos cause all they do is torture animals for human entertainment! Animals are creatures like us and they have every right you could think of, like us! My only wish is for all animals to have freedom!

Osaka Restaurant

2010-04-07T05:02:00.000-07:00

Now look what's next, Japanese food! It's been a long time since we have been to a Japanese restaurant! Sushi, spicy crispy tuna, edamami and more, all in Osaka! Now this food is not good, it is delicious! I also love the Japanese decorations all around Osaka! But I am mostly happy that Osaka is in Downtown (in Lebanon). Because Downtown is the best place to be in Lebanon! It is good to keep on visiting different restaurants with different kinds of food. Again, Ina don't worry we will take you to Osaka too when you come to Lebanon! Japanese food is my favorite kind of food!

Is My Dog a Fish?!

2010-04-05T10:22:00.000-07:00

I have never seen a dog like Shadow who always swims. The second you take her to any place with a pond, lake, river or beach, she freaks out and jumps in to the water! Sometimes I think that she is a fish! But the amazing part is that Shadow does not mind to swim when there is a storm, when there is rain and not even when it is freezing! Now I wonder how Shadow always gets courage to jump in to the water because not every dog will just jump in to the water like Shadow! Shadow is soo active! But at the same time she is still enjoying it!

Falamanki

2010-04-05T05:36:00.000-07:00

I used to only like restaurants with sushi or pizza but now I am finally enjoying a Lebanese restaurant! It is called Falamanki! But the food was the best part! My favorite dishes in Falamanki are " Tabouli" (Tabouli is a typical lebanese salad), "tormos" (lupini beans) and the meat (the meat is sooo good). All food in Falamanki is always good! But I wish that Falamanki would use glass cups instead of plastic cups. Because plastic is not good for the environment at all. If you are reading this Ina, don't worry we will take you there soon!!

Julia's Easter Bunny

2010-04-03T21:05:00.000-07:00

We have a huge garden or farm in Jieh separated by walls. We have chickens, 1 dog, 2 cats , fish in a pond and now an Easter bunny! The bunny was a gift to Julia for her birthday, from our dad because his friend had the rabbit and did not want it anymore, so he gave the rabbit to my dad! Julia is my sister! Well, we named the bunny "Thumper"! Julia loves Thumper a lot even more than you can ever imagine! Thumper is such a good pet because when you hold him and start petting him he gets tame and relaxed and when you put him down, is when he uses all his energy running and jumping like a cute rabbit! We are planning to keep him at home for the whole Easter break which is 11 days and when the break finishes we will put him back in Jieh because he needs to feel like he is free sometimes. The key to get an animal happy is to give it some freedom! Just like you have freedom and can do what ever you want! Thumper is always having fun at home!! In the picture, Thumper did not dig the hole it was Shadow (my dog).

Hallelujah!

2010-04-01T05:21:00.000-07:00

The only words I could hear now are “fun, vacation, No School, No Homework, No tests, ". Plus all of these words lead to "Hallelujah!!"! I just cannot believe that I have no school for 11 days; I know it is a small number compared to 50 or 100 but at least it is not less! But I am still thankful. It is of course worth it because it really is for the celebration of Easter and at the same time everybody deserves a break! It is also good that it is including the day of April fool’s Day celebration! I have lots of tricks that I've prepared from a long time ago!

Ramlet-Al- Baida

2010-03-28T04:52:00.000-07:00

In Lebanon there is a huge public free beach and it is called Ramlet-Al- Baida. But it is not very well organized and it is very dirty but all of this garbage is spread all around the beach so you can barely see any. It is called Ramlet-Al-Baida because Ramlet-Al-Baida means White Sand translated in English! So we got up early and then we went to Ramlet –Al-Baida. But we were not planning to swim because it was so windy that day, but our dogs did not mind! We were only going to Ramlet-Al-Baida for our 2 dogs to run on the sand and have fun but absolutely not to swim! But it was a great idea for the dogs! They both had a blast!

Amik

2010-03-27T03:46:00.000-07:00

I was so suprised when my class had a field trip to Amik in Lebanon. It was so beutiful! The second I steped out of the bus I was amazed. I did not feel like I was in Lebanon any more, it looked almost like the country side in Sweden! Before I expierenced this trip, I thought Lebanon was all about war, polution, garbage and big tall buildings, but now I realized it had rivers, lakes, some animals, and maybe more! But always remember to try to look at the positive side of anything, unlike I was! Here is a slideshow with pictures of Amik:

Shadow Plays Soccer

2010-03-25T01:47:00.000-07:00

One day I was just kicking my ball all around the house. Then Shadow joined in getting ready for me to kick the ball to her. Shadow is such an active cute dog! But the only thing that she is doing wrong is using her mouth and teeth! She is so talented! Shadow could be included in a movie! But first Shadow kicks the ball then she bites it!

Michael Jackson

2010-03-24T07:46:00.001-07:00

Michael Jackson was such a great guy, I really am sad to hear that he died. He really cares about earth, and I think he would risk his life for earth. I think if he was still alive he would really do any thing to save Haiti from the huge earthquake. Alot of his songs are about earth like " Man In The Miror" to " Heal The World " to " The Earth Song" and mabe more. That is why I like him alot! I wish that he never died in the first place. But at the same time he will always be the king
of pop to me.

Intresting!!

2010-03-21T00:38:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered if space ever ends?
Well here is the answer: The whole universe just started with an infinitely small point, then it started to expand. This stage is called the Big Bang, but this is just a theory but it is the most reasonable one. But now what is around the point?
Is there even life in outer space on one of the planets not including humans? Scientists found water in Titan so it should mean that there is life in Titan. Titan is one of Saturn's moon. But I bet if there really is life in Titan it would be microscopic. But it is a theory. So many theories and possibilities in space! It boggles the mind!!

Does The Dog Really Love You?

2010-03-18T10:19:00.000-07:00

Allot of people have dogs, dogs that run, play and fetch. But there is always 1 dog that loves you and really cares about you. But to get a dog to really love and care about you is kind of hard, but it is very easy with a dog like Toby. Toby's heart is huge! She is so loving and caring, because she is always following me , sometimes licking me (usually when a dog licks you, it is the sign of true love). Sometimes I feel like Toby is really talking to me. Once I tried to play dead and the second I lay pretending to be dead Toby started licking me, started to whine and looked very sad.

But Toby also is kind of an active dog to at the same time.

Animations

2010-03-17T11:31:00.000-07:00

Hi guys did you ever wonder how to make a video with a object moving with out the video showing your hand moving it. Well, today is your lucky day because that is what I am gonna talk to you about. So if you take a lot of pictures of the object and each time move it a little farther. It might take up to 100 photos. But you have to move the object carefully. If you want to see an example of an animation video watch The Rodent Chase above.

The Odds Of The World Ending In 2012

2010-03-17T08:29:00.000-07:00

There are rumors that the world will end in 2012. That's almost impossible to believe...... Could all these earthquakes be trying to tell us something.... Will the world really end or not? But all of these people who say the world will end in 2012,they don't really have any evidence that it will happen. They are being inspired by the movie "2012". Many times in the past people have tried to predict the end of the Earth. None of these predictions came true. So do not go and worry about the world ending it is just a fake rumor.

Weird Caterpillar

2010-03-14T03:07:00.000-07:00

We went out one day with our two dogs to play on the street near the school we study in ( the road was closed). For some silly reason we saw a caterpillar on the closed silent road ( well, it was silent until our dogs were barking and running around having fun, but I do not blame them because they have a right to have freedom). So we moved the caterpillar on to a leaf (so it does not get squashed by accident). It looked very weird to me, I have never seen a caterpillar like the one I saw. Sorry, if the caterpillar is hard to see in the picture; it's perfectly camouflaged!!!

A Walk in the Beach

2010-03-13T07:09:00.000-08:00

Have you ever experienced the beauty of walking in the beach on the big rocks? Well, it is such a great place for socializing and when it is summer it is also a great place to swim. I am so happy that some people offered to clean the beach in the Cornich in Lebanon for free, it seems like they care allot about the environment. If Lebanon was full of these kinds of people, Lebanon would be like a paradise.

Un Fair

2010-03-12T21:45:00.000-08:00

Why are some people poor, and some people not?

Why are some people suffering, and why are some people not?

Why are some people dead, and why are some people not?

Why are some people lucky and some people not?

The only answer to these questions is that..........

Life is Unfair

New Toys

2010-03-11T06:50:00.000-08:00

One of our dogs Shadow needed a new leash because her other one broke. So we went to a store to buy one. But instead of only coming home with one leash we ended up going home with the thing that cats scratch on, allot of hamster food and dog food, a free guinea pig house, Shadows leash, a dog toy for Shadow and maybe more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The cats are very spoiled and did not even look at their toy, unlike our 2 dogs who loved their new toys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Relax + Chill

2010-03-05T02:33:00.000-08:00

I had to go home from school one day . Cause I had a headache. You might think it is a silly reason to go home but you are wrong. That headache made me so dizzy and I could not work at all. And my head was also hearting allot. So the only thing that was left to do was go home, relax, and chill. The minute I got to my house I jumped in my bed and slept with my two dogs Shadow and Toby and one of my cats. I was not the only one who was enjoying that short rest in my bed my dogs and cat were enjoying it to.

Bergessa

2010-02-27T01:14:00.000-08:00

Hi guys. Each year in the long summer break we travel to Sweden to see our grandma and my cousins. When we travel to Sweden we always stay in our grandma's house. She has two houses , we stay in one of them. We bought a house in Sweden called Bergessa, so next time we travel to Sweden we will stay in our own new house. We chose Bergessa because it is next to a forest, next to a lake and has a big garden.

Qui Qui

2010-02-25T21:21:00.000-08:00

On my sister's Birthday we wanted to get something better than a toy, so we decided to buy her a hamster. My mom bought the hamster 4 or 3 days before her Birthday. We put him in a nice medium sized cage under a table in our house until her Birthday. When she saw the hamster that we got for her she freaked out. She called the hamster " Qui Qui". Qui Qui was sooo cute. Qui Qui is white and light brown. Qui Qui is a boy, he is so good at climbing! He is the best hamster we ever had.

Family Folk Dance

2010-02-25T06:51:00.000-08:00

At my school about each month we have a Folk Dance Celebration. It is after school.
So first we wait for more people to come and then we start folk dancing. The principle of our school is the leader of all the dances we dance. Then after we finish dancing we have a break and eat (we all bring a little food to share). You are allowed to bring your family and that is why it is called Family Folk Dance. Then we leave exhausted. It is very fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My Glasses!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2010-02-22T07:46:00.000-08:00

So one day after school was over I realized that I had lost my glasses. First I thought, " Nah, Johnny it is not worth it". Then I got home and my mom asked me " Where are your glasses?" Then I said " I lost them". " So you better find them, they are very valuable" she said. The next day I looked all around my classroom and I did not find them . While I was going to the library. I bumped in to my mom and she said, " I think I found them". " Found them where?" I said. '' In the computer lab, I've been called because some one found them there." So my mom rushed to the computer lab and got them and gave them to me." Let's hope I don't lose them again!! Maybe next time I wont be so lucky.

All You Need to have a Fun day Is :

2010-02-21T06:42:00.000-08:00

A chair

A friend

A ball

A dog

To play voly ball

A Garden

Guests and....

Food.

So that is all you need to have a great day!!!!!!!!!

Weird Weather In Lebanon

2010-02-19T21:25:00.000-08:00

Have you ever wondered why Lebanon's weather is acting weird? In December the weather was like it was in September. But then starting from January the weather was very bad, full of rain. It was snowing in the mountains. Soo much snow up there. Then the hot weather started again in mid-Febuary.

Bahama Mamma

2010-02-17T10:20:00.000-08:00

When we went to the Bahamas we went to Atlantis, a huge holiday resort on Paradise Island. It is perfect to spend your holiday fun. They have the biggest slides in the whole world. They have one that you go through a tunnel with sharks around you. They have other slides that are higher than that slide.

We went on a day trip on a power boat to two islands. The power boat went super fast. One of the islands was full of iguanas. They gave us grapes and told us to put a grape on a stick to feed the iguanas. I loved that island. It looked like it had a tropical forest. When we left the iguana island we went to the other one. The other island had a beach and they let us feed stingrays. They told us to keep our legs together and to hold a piece of fish between two fingers under the water. We were very nervous. The stingray broke passed in between my sister and me, and he climbed up my leg. I was very frightened and ran to the other side of the beach. Then the stingray bit my sister's finger and she screamed while jumping up and down.

On this island they have a big fat wild boar. It looked pretty lazy to me because it just slept all day. They told us to not go near it because it could attack. They made the boar swim at the end of the day.

While I was building a castle, I heard that my sister and Dad were going snorkeling. I decided to go with them. The view underwater was spectacular! It was full of colorful fish, coral reefs and SHARKS!!! I was petrified! I swam to my Dad quickly and I was shaking with fright. The sharks didn't do anything as I passed them. Everyday the island people feed the sharks so they won't eat people so I stopped worrying.

Sunset came and it was time to leave. We packed everything and we got on the boat. We arrived to Atlantis and went up to our hotel. We were exhausted and wanted to sleep. Even though some things were dangerous I still enjoyed the trip.

My Small Zoo

2010-02-16T06:53:00.000-08:00

I am from Lebanon, Sweden and America but all that's important is that my culture is American if your wondering. I love animals. I have allot of pets living in my house with me. I have two dogs one called Shadow and one called Toby. We got Shadow from the pound because we felt very sad for her, Because you know when they look at you in the cute puppy face. When a dog looks at me like that I just can not say no. Shadow is a mixed Labrador. We got Toby when I was a baby from a store because she looked tortured. Toby is a mixed poodle. Toby is so cute and lovable.

We have allot more pets but I rather tell you about them in another post.

Hope For Haiti Now

2010-02-16T02:36:00.000-08:00

Do you know there was an earthqauke in Haiti a month ago. So please donate money to the Red Cross to try and help them. Here:http://american.redcross.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ntld_main&s_src=RSG000000000&s_subsrc=RCO_BigRedButton

Ready or Not The Faqra Trip Will Start And End

2010-02-16T02:14:00.000-08:00

In my school, each year we go to a place called Faqra. We go to Faqra to ski and play with the snow. This time we could not ski because the weather was bad so we went snow shoeing. I hate snow shoeing because it is boring, the snow shoes keep on falling off and the monitors helping do not put on your snow shoes [ it is very hard to put on your snow shoes.] Snow Shoeing in Faqra is the biggest mistake I did in my whole life. It was fun making igloos and a lot of snowmen. We slept in Faqra for one night in rooms. So from what I am writing I am saying that the Faqra Trip was okay but it could've been better.

The Closest Trip to Paradise

2010-02-14T10:03:00.000-08:00

Our trip did not start very well because we had to wake up in the middle of the night, when it was pitch black to go to the airport. So I was very tired. Then we were in the taxi going to the airport. You know that feeling of excitement and happiness to start an adventure that could really be like your own paradise. That was what I was feeling. It was really boring in the airport. Finally, it was time to board the plane. I fastened my seat belt and got ready for take off. Then as fast as you could say cucumber, the plane was in the air. So I sat there bored in the plane not knowing how my trip will continue or end. So then I heard the captain saying "It's time for landing". The next thing I knew the plain was on land. Now we were in the UAE. Okay, so we live in Lebanon and first we had to pass through the UAE to get to the Maldives.

At last, our second flight was touching down at Mahe airport in the Maldives. The sight from the plane window was magnificent. Imagine, landing on a tiny island in the middle of the Indian Ocean!! We disembarked from the plane and the intense heat and humidity slapped us across the face. Of course, I was expecting a taxi to take us to our hotel on Kurumba. then I realized that we were standing on a sliver of land surrounded by water everywhere. So, it had to be a sea boat taxi!!

As we approached our island hotel a woman came and put a flower necklaces on us all; it felt as if we were in Hawaii. They gave us coconut juice in coconut shells and drove us in a golf cart to our villa. And WOW, what a villa it was!!!! We freaked out and did the dance of happiness. It had a private swimming pool in the back, and was absolutely humongous. Now this is what I'm talking about! I felt like I was in heaven! Then I saw in the room 1 big bed for my mom and dad and 3 small beds for me and my two sisters. Then I looked out of the window , and I felt that all I was looking at was all a dream. But I was wrong. So I saw those big long chairs and all around big palm beach trees. Then I ran forwards to the salty water with my two sisters. Then I saw 3 fins sticking out from the water. Then I saw a huge school of fish. Then realized that they were swimming away from the sharks , and the fins I were talk about were really the sharks. But they were baby sharks.

The next day we decided to go snorkeling. I had asthma problems so I found it a little hard to snorkel the first time I tried it in Maldives. We snorkeling in shallow water but we still found allot. My youngest sister was pointing at something between the coral. Then we were shocked it was a Moray Eel but the good thing is that it stayed in its small hole between the coral. The coral was nice but they did not have allot that were not damaged but it was still enjoyable. The next day we went snorkeling again and we saw a huge sting-ray. Then I don't know how but I was sure that we were gonna see a sea turtle the next day. Then, I can not believe it I was right. That day that we saw a sea turtle we went in less shallow water. That day I also saw a trumpet fish. It came and it was blind coming into my chest and I freaked!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In the whole trip my oldest sister kept on nagging to go water skiing. So we went water skiing on the last full day. I water skied too. At the beginning I was scared to do it. But then I calmed down and did it. It was SO fun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Then it was getting late so we had dinner and went to bed. The next day we had breakfast. Then it was time to say bye to the island we were on , called Kurumba. Then we got in the boat to go to the air port island. So we were back on our way to Lebanon ( where we lived). I miss Kurumba allot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I suggest you travel to the Maldives like us for vacation. So thanks for reading. I hope Maldives does not drown from all of the water.