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.