Let them know it's Christmas time

Christmas is a Christian holiday that is set to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. He was said to be born on December 25^th and that is why we today celebrate this day.

Long time ago in Bethlehem so the Holy Bible said
Mary's boy child Jesus Christ was born on Christmas Day.

Hark now hear the angels sing a king was born today
and man will live for evermore because of Christmas Day.

Above I wrote the start of the song Mary’s boy child, and this song is one of many who describe the birth of Christ.  I think we all know the story of how little baby Jesus was born, but I will still tell you the short version.  Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem to get registered. Bethlehem was Joseph’s hometown and that was why they had to go there. Virgin Mary was pregnant and when they came to Bethlehem she was close to giving birth. There was no room for them anywhere and because of that they sought refuge in a stable. In that stable Jesus Christ was born and the Christmas star shined above it. At the same time the angel Gabriel showed himself for a couple of shepherds and told them that a new savior had been born and that they where to follow the star. They did and found baby Jesus, gave him a lamb, and told Mary and Joseph what the angel had told them. Later three wise men showed up. They all had a gift for baby Jesus and the gifts were gold, myrrh and frankincense.  

Today Christmas is more a holiday that is based on presents and school brake. You don’t have to be a Christian to celebrate Christmas anymore, and only a few people actually go to church on Christmas Day.  I think this is a bit sad that a successful Christmas today depends on how many presents you get, but I think that it is great that not only Christians can get into the Christmas spirit.

In Norway, where I come from, we celebrate Christmas on the 24^th. December 24^th is the day celebrated as Christmas Eve. In most of the western world this day is celebrated because it has cultural significance.  Why we in Norway celebrate on this day instead of December 25^th, I don’t know, it has just always been that way.  

Now I will tell you about my Christmas traditions. I celebrate Christmas with the entire family on my mother’s side, so that means we are a total of sixteen people. On December 24^th I wake up at around 09.30 in the morning. At 11 am we all go to the church yard to visit some graves. We visit the same graves every year, even in the same order. After the church yard we go home to my aunt and uncle to eat sandwiches and drink hot chocolate with cream. Now it’s time for a brake. We all go home and rest for about two hours before we start getting dressed for Christmas celebration.  When we are all dressed everybody comes over to my house and we eat cakes and walk around the Christmas tree, singing Christmas songs. After this it is time for the presents. This takes up a lot of time, but it is very fun. When we are done with the presents we can finally have Christmas dinner. This takes place at my grandparent’s home and lasts for the rest of the night. I will not list up the menu, out of fear of a growling stomach, but I can promise you it is delicious.

To end my blog post I will write a few things I love about Christmas and that really gives me Christmas spirit. I hope it will do the same for you.

Christmas songs, Santa Claus, Christmas tree, Christmas star, Christmas menu, snow, snowman, mistletoe, Christmas decorations, red candles, advent, presents and happy people.

Anime and Manga

Today we have had a rather exiting theme to work with. We had a few texts in our book to work with and all of them where centered on Japanese English and culture. I worked on this with Heidi Emilie, Julie and Marie. The theme we chose to focus on was anime and manga. For me this was perfect since anime and manga is a personal hobby of mine.

Anime and manga are similar to comics in the western world, but there are many differences. For example an anime usually has a lot more episodes and they are much more connected to each other. Because of this we get to know a lot more about the main characters and we get much more into the story. This makes anime very addictive, which I know very well. The drawings are also very different from American comics. In shojo-anime (girls anime) the drawings are very beautiful and perfect, and in shonen-anime (boys anime) the drawings are not always as flawless but still very different from other comics. Even though the anime series are called boy’s and girl’s anime they are suited for both genders.  Anime does not only suit both genders, but also all ages. It is a common misunderstanding that anime, like comics, are a children’s thing. Many anime series are directed at young adults and a lot of them also have a age limit at 17+.

Another difference between anime and comics is that in anime there are a lot of references to Japanese culture.  This can be all from festivals and cherry blossoms to references to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Many anime series are inspired by Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It was first after this crisis the anime became an important part of Japanese culture. The references are not usually direct, but in anime it is not uncommon that the story ends tragic of that the main characters are orphans. A lot of anime series also have some kind of disaster that could destroy the world in them. Other than this anime series also contains more violence and grotesque scenes than comics.  Examples of anime series that has some kind of hidden reference to Hiroshima and Nagasaki is: The spaceship Yamato, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Akira and the movie Barefoot Gen.

In class today my group decided to watch an anime and compare the culture to ours. We watched Ouran High School Host Club which is an anime about some students in a school for rich people who are in a Host club. They are, as they say in the prologue, boys with way too much time on their hands who entertain girls who also have way too much time on their hands. From this anime we managed to come up with a lot of cultural differences and similarities. First of all, Japanese people use honorifics just like in English. Like the English people use Mr., Mrs. and miss, Japanese people use san, kun, sama, chan, sempai and so on. These are added in the end of a person’s name and all have different meanings. For example using sama means that you are talking to a person you have a high opinion of or who has a high position in the society.

Another difference is that it seems they are much more open to homophiles and cross dressers in Japan.  I think this is a good thing because and hope that the western culture will take after them. They are also very straight forward in the way they talk. I also noticed something that I find very interesting. Although they speak Japanese in anime series, they use English slang words just like they do in Norway. It is very funny when you suddenly realize that you can understand what they are saying. The intro song to several anime series that I have seen also has an English name. You can hear them sing some words in English and the rest in Japanese. This shows that also in Japan, which is a country very fond of their culture, English has a great influence.

I think that we were pretty productive today and I like the way we were allowed to work in our own way. I am also fascinated by Japanese culture and hope that we will learn more about it.

Sources:

Anne Thelle, Anime – hva er det?, oslo 2009, Omnipax

The Movie vs. The Book

Once again I will write a blog post about the kite runner. This time I am going to compare the movie and the book. Truth be told, I have not seen the entire movie, but I can compare the book to the part I have seen.

As far as I can tell the movie has been very true to the book. Of course there a few scenes here and there that has been cut too much for my taste, but when you make a book into a film it is unavoidable. There are also a lot of mistakes with the characters in the movie that makes it a bit difficult to immediately understand which characters they are. What I mean by that is that a lot of the characteristics from the book have been dropped in the movie. Examples of this are Hassan’s harelip, Assef's blonde hair and Ali being crippled.

In English class we have made a double entry journal about the kite runner. I will now compare what I wrote about self realization to the movie.

In my double entry journal I wrote about the moment when Hassan is leaving the house and Amir is watching him from the window. I used the quote "I was sorry, but I didn't cry and I didn’t chase the car." that can be found on page 94 in the book. I used it because I thought it was a good example of self realization. In the book Amir compared Hassan leaving to a Hindi movie, which was something Hassan and Amir enjoyed watching. In a Hindi movie Amir would have run after Hassan and cried and said he was sorry, but in real life he just stood there. I was moved to tears by this in the book, but in the movie I just didn't feel it.

In the movie this scene only takes a few seconds. You can see Amir looking out of the window, the car leaving and that's it. I believe that this was an important turning point that got way to little attention in the movie. I can understand that it is difficult to use the Hindi movie comparison in a film since we can't hear what Amir is thinking, but still it was disappointing. If I had only seen the movie and not read the book, I would not have marked this scene as an important moment of self realization. 

The kite runner finished

As the title to this blog post states I am now done reading the kite runner. My impression of the book is that it is really good and extremely sad. The entire story can be called a quest for redemption. Amir has done something horrible and he is unable to move past that point in his life. The book shows how he finally tries to make amends by taking care of Hassan's son Sohrab. In his quest for redemption there are times when it looks like he is on the right path and other times were he isn't. In the end I think he is able to at least move on in his life.

The ending can't be called a happy ending, but it is heading in that direction. The last few pages shows that Sohrab is finally opening a bit up after his suicide attempt.

The kite runner continues

I am now soon to be finished with the book. The journey that this book has taken me on is wonderfully sad, but it has its lighter moments.

This time I will try to give a short summary of what I have read. Since I wrote my last blog post, Amir and Baba has fled from Afghanistan. They moved to America where they live a life with less wealth, but this has a positive effect on the relationship between Amir and Baba. Every Sunday they work at the flea market and sell off junk. The flea marked consists mostly of Afghans, and it is at the flea marked Amir first meets Soraya. Soraya is an afghan girl and Amir falls in love at once.

Happiness for Amir comes to an end when he learns that Baba has gotten cancer. Baba is refusing chemo and Amir knows that there is no way to get him to change his mind. Amir is convinced that this is some kind of punishment for his sins. Before Baba dies Amir asks him to go and ask Soraya’s father for her hand in marriage. Soraya’s father accepts, and they get married. Baba dies shortly after and Amir is heartbroken.

After a while of marriage Soraya and Amir want to have a baby. For different reasons this proves to be difficult. Not long after that Amir gets a phone call from Rahim Khan in Afghanistan. Rahim Khan wants him to come to Afghanistan because he is sick. Amir decides to go, but there a big surprise waiting for him.

The real reason Rahim Khan wanted Amir in Pakistan was to find Hassan’s son. Hassan has been living with Rahim Khan for years, but he and his wife where recently killed by the Taliban. Their orphan son Sohrab was left in Kabul and now Rahim Khan wants Amir to go and get him. Rahim Khan also shocks him by revealing that Hassan was actually his half brother. At first Amir is mad and frustrated at both Baba and Rahim Khan for lying to him, but eventually he comes to the conclusion that he and Baba where more alike than he had thought. They had both sinned. Amir decides to go and get Sohrab in Kabul.

When Amir comes to Kabul it is nothing like what he remembered. The streets are run by the Taliban and there are rules to follow everywhere. Amir looks for Sohrab at an orphanage, but discovers that he has been bought by one of the Taliban. Amir, despite his normal cowardice, meets the one who bought him and asks if he can take him back. It is an unexpected turn of events when Amir realizes that the one he is talking to is Assef, the one who assaulted Hassan all those years ago. Assef proposes a one on one fight between him and Amir and the winner gets Sohrab. Amir has no choice but to accept and he quickly looses. Luckily thanks to Sohrab and his slingshot Amir and Sohrab manage to get out of there. The next time Amir awakens he is in a hospital.

I know that I was supposed to writer this short, but in my defense I have read a lot more this time so I had more to cover.

The kite runner

The kite runner is a famous book by the Afghani writer Khaled Hosseini. I am now at page 96 and have a feeling that this is a book I am going to cry a lot over. The reason I am reading this book is because it is a task we have gotten in our English class. Everyone I know who have read the kite runner has only praise for it, so why I haven't read it before is beyond me.

Since it is likely that whoever is reading this has read the book from before, I will say a little bit about what I have read so far. The main character in this book is called Amir. Amir is a boy who loves to read, and would rather do that than go out and play football with the other kids. Amir desperately wants to be acknowledged by his father Baba. Baba is Amir's great hero. Anything he tries succeeds and he is a man of great influence. The relationship between Amir and Baba is not too good. Amir believes that deep down Baba hates him for killing his mother in childbirth. Baba doesn't understand Amir and says that "If I hadn't seen the doctor pull him out of my wife with my own eyes, I'd never believe he's my son." The reason for this is that Amir doesn't stand up for himself and is constantly being pushed around. This is far off from what Baba is used to.

The one who stands up for Amir is Hassan. Hassan has been there for Amir his entire life and is his friend/servant. He is a very kind and pure person, who never lies and is always following one step behind Amir. What draws the line between Amir and Hassan is that Hassan is a Hazara, while Amir is a Pashtun. This means that Hassan is a Sunni Muslim and Amir is a Shi'a Muslim. History and religion is not easily overlooked, so Amir has never really looked at Hassan as a friend.

When Amir is twelve years old his entire world crumbles during a kite tournament. In a kite tournament there are people called kite runners. They try to catch the kites that have been cut down. When Amir wins the tournament, Hassan runs to go catch the last blue kite that has been cut down. It is a great honor to catch the last kite, and Hassan who is a great kite runner wants to catch it for Amir. When Hassan doesn't come back right away Amir runs after him. He finds Hassan together with some bullies and hides while watching Hassan being raped.

That day everything changed for Amir and Hassan. Amir is forced to live with his guilt and he does not take it very well. It goes as far as that he is not capable of being around Hassan, and instead of confessing to his crimes, he decides that both him and Hassan can not continue being in the same house. This ends with Hassan and his father Ali leaving.

This is as far as I have gotten. I am going to have to work on making shorter summaries, but in this book you have to have all the details to truly understand. I will probably write more when I have come further in the book.

The butterfly circus

A little while back we saw a short movie in class. We were supposed write a blog post about it, but as you can see I have been running a little late. Now I have written it so I hope you find it interesting.

The short movie we saw was "The butterfly circus" and it was about a man, Will, who was born without arms or legs. In the beginning Will was working at a carnival where people came just to point and laugh at him. He was presented as a man God himself has turned his back upon. One day the manager of a circus called "The butterfly circus" shows up and Will decides to go with him and join the circus.

At "The butterfly circus” things are entirely different. He is expected to be a part of the circus rather than just being watched and laughed at. The manager tells him that life is not hopeless and that it is possible to achieve great things, even for a man without limbs. In the end Will learns that he is able to swim, and his act in the circus becomes being dropped from 50 feet into a pool.

This short movie is about hope. It is about how everyone is extraordinary and able to achieve almost anything if they try hard enough. I was fascinated with the story and moved by it.

Nick Vujicic is starring as the limbless man Will in "The butterfly circus". He is from Australia and was born without arms or legs. Here is a link to an interview with him. I found it very interesting. It is also possible to watch the entire short movie on YouTube.

Advice to fellow students!

This blog post is a response to a rather shocking article that I read in the telegraph. The headline for this article is "Facebook hits exam results by 20 per cent"

In short, the article was about how it is impossible for a student to fully focus on the class while also being on Facebook or similar websites. This is a problem in most schools where computers are regularly being used in class. The students using Facebook in class scores 20 per cent lower on tests than other people, and also spends less time at home with school-work.

I can from personal experience say that it is very difficult to resist the temptation of chatting with your friends on Facebook in class, but this affects our learning. While we may think that multi-tasking is possible and that we are able to listen to the teacher at the same time as checking our news feed and commenting on photos, that is not what the experts says.

My advice to fellow students is: at least try to minimize the time in class you spend on Facebook. If you actually listen to the teacher it will make it a lot easier on upcoming tests.

Erin Brockovich continues

Today we watched the rest of the movie Erin Brockovich. I think that it was a very obvious ending, but still it was really good and I was a bit touched by it. I will try saying something about the ending without revealing too much.

On the home front Erin has a lot of problems. Because she now suddenly has a job that demands a lot of her time witch means she doesn't have time for her kids and her boyfriend. When her boyfriend asks her to quit her job she refuses to do so. She believes that the case is too important and she is finally in a position where she is respected and people are interested to hear what she has to say.

Her case is also having a little trouble. It is lacking a lot of evidence and the families involved are starting to question whether or not her law firm can be trusted. Even with all this problems Erin never gives up and she is trying really hard to get back the faith from the families.

I will not say anything more, because then I will have ruined the entire movie for you. Good luck watching.

Global challenge

I believe that a global challenge that deserves our attention is the challenge to be able to communicate better across countries. I think that our class's project with writing a blog is a good assignment for dealing with this challenge. It is important that students from different parts of the world, who even speaks the same language, uses the internet to communicate and learn more about each other. The more we learn about another country's culture, religion and so on, the more we are able to understand one another. That we understand other people’s cultures is very important in the international community that we now live in.

Erin Brockovich

In our English class last Friday we watched a movie called Erin Brockovich. The movie is about Erin Brockovich who is a single mom with three kids and no job. One day she is hit by a car and files a lawsuit against the other driver. She ends up loosing the lawsuit and persuades her lawyer to give her a job. With Erin's questionable style and bad attitude she has troubles keeping up with the job, and she is not well liked by the other employees.

Everything changes for Erin when she discovers something important in a clients file. The client is a family witch lives right next to the Pacific Gas & Electric Company. PG&E wants to buy their property, but they do not wish to sell. What gets Erin's attention about this case is that client's file contains the medical files of the entire family, and it is shocking. The family has suffered from countless illnesses over the last few years and Erin connects that to the company across the street. She discovers that the Pacific Gas & Electric Company has been leaking dangerous chromium into the water of all the residents in the area.

With this discovery Erin is caught in the middle of a billion dollar company and the families of the area with all their sad stories. Her law firm, with her in the front, is entering one of the biggest law suits that have ever been seen. On the side she also has to manage her three kids and her very friendly neighbor.

The moral of Erin Brockovich is that anyone can make a difference. Erin who herself is struggling with various problems finds out that she has the ability to help these people who has been violated by PG&E. In a way this makes her take herself and others more seriously and it makes her appreciate herself and her stubbornness.

My first blog post

My name is Eline. I am 17 years old and am currently in my second year of high school. As you can guess from the name, this blog is made in relation to a subject I'm taking called international English. I will use this blog to post all my exciting assignments and I'll start with writing down my expectations for this year.

First I am going to say a little bit about me. Like I said I am 17 years old. My hobbies are watching movies and Japanese comics, hanging out with friends and reading. I read a lot of fantasy, science fiction and historical novels, but I also read old classics like Shakespeare, Dickens and Jane Austen. If you say the word sport I will run in the other direction and if you start singing I will join you. I spend a lot of time on my computer so the assignment to make a blog is kind of perfect for me.

Now it is time for the serious stuff. My expectations for this year are to learn a lot about English in different parts of the world. I feel like the English we have had up until now has almost only been about Britain and a little bit about the USA. I am looking forward to maybe use the internet to chat with people from different countries and learn from them. The reason I chose international English is because I enjoy learning about the English language and I am planning to take the subject English literature and culture next year.