Month: September 2015

Reading:

I want to read 65 books by the end of the year.

Writing:

I want to be able to write more sensible and shorter pieces.

Esperanza rising  by Pam Munoz Ryan

Percy Jackson Roman series;

Lost Hero

Son of Neptune

Mark Of Athena

House Of Hades

The Blood Of Olympus

All written by Rick Riordon

Icons

Idols

Both by Margaret Stohl

The Incorrigible Children Of Ashton Place And The Mysterious Howling

The Incorrigible Children Of Ashton Place And The Hidden Gallery

Both by Maryrose Wood

Quake by Gail Langer Karwoski

The Hebrew Kid And The Apache Maiden by Robert J. Avrach

Spirit animals;

Rise And Fall by Eliot Schrefer

The Evertree by Marie Lu

My summer this year was really fun and unusual compared to all of my other summers over the past years.  On of the great things, is that I get to go to a farm, and interact with animals and play around in the countryside with my cousin from Israel who I have never seen/met before.  Then after that I went back to my camp called, Ramapo Day Camp.  Every day, nine hours of running around in the heat with the sun’s happy warm rays upon me.  Then after 4 weeks I left and hopped in my car.  My parents drove me up to my sleepaway camp called, Kingswood Camp For Boys.  After some hugs and kisses they left me to my friends and counselors.  I had an amazing time, running around, hiking and going crazy with all of my friends.  My three weeks ended with a week full of competition called, Bow & Arrow week and goodbyes.  I had a rest and homework week at home before we took off on an airplane to Italy.   On the eight hour flight I watched about 5½ movies before we landed in Pisa, Tuscany, Italy.   On the crows cry we would wake up at our villa to a calming day on the beach or to hike around a historic hilltown.  We left our villa after two weeks and went down two rome for three days and two nights of sightseeing and touring around the eternal city.  I then came home on the 9½ our flight time literally flying by as we watched movies. Then we had one day of rest before we woke up at 2 AM (because of jetlag) got on the train and arrived to school at 8:15.  I guess I could say that summer was fun, right.

This summer I went to Tuscany for two weeks and then I traveled down to Rome for three days and two nights.  In Rome we saw soooo many cool old things from long ago.  On the first day when we arrived in Rome from the train from Florence we went to see the Vatican.  It was so huge and amazing compared to the Duomo in Florence, which we saw two days before.  The next day at 8:30 AM we walked out of our hotel to see the Forum, Palatine hill and the Colosseum.  I thought it was truly amazing what the romans did and how they did it.  The big elevators to boost the animals and people into the Colosseum to fight.  How they had aviaries and forums and markets for many emperors.  Then we ate lunch at two and walked from around there, to the Pantheon then to Trevi Fountain which to our dismay was under renovation, and last, to the Spanish Steps, then back to the hotel.

I learned from my trip to Rome that even the people a long long time ago knew more things than we do right now.  Because if the barbarians hadn’t taken over and lost all the Romans knowledge we could probably be teleporting.

I have been going to Kingswood Camp For Boys for three years.  I go there because I love it.  What do I love about it?  The fact is that I love so many things about it that I can’t decide what I like the most.  You can pick anything that interests you, and everything you pick has a life skill that you learn from it.  In riflery and archery you learn how to shoot bows and guns but you also learn patience, because you will pretty much always miss the bullseye and sometimes the target so you have to have the patience to keep trying.  When you play/learn tennis you learn hand-eye coordination.  In canoeing you learn how to get corrected without getting mad because there are so many strokes and they are all so hard.  At kingswood we are in the middle of a national forest so we do a lot of hiking.  This 3 week semester I hiked 56 miles.  On all the hikes that you take, there are easy parts, but most of the hike, usually is just challenging.  At the beginning of the hike you worry that you might not be able to do it.  But once you start, you calm down and think wow this is easy.  Then it starts to get challenging and you have steep bits, muddy bits and elevator shafts (straight up.) Then after 2½ – 3  hours hiking it gets easier again.  Finally when you get to the top of the mountain and enjoy the view you think “wow that feels good.”  That is a nice feeling.  Afterwards, I usually feel that the best part of the hike was when I was being challenged and not when it was easy. That should  be the same when you think about life.

When people go to  visit farms, they expect to see animals in stalls, but this farm was different.  At Applepond Farm the animals roam the farm, except they have to come in at night.  On most farms, workers do all the work and visitors observe.  At Applepond Farm the visitors watch to learn, then do it themselves.  

On our very first day at Applepond Farm a lady named Katrina woke us up at 7:30 AM and we picked eggs, milked goats, fed the sheep, horses, goats, chickens, donkeys.  After that we fed ourselves by picking food from the garden and preparing it ourselves.  Most days we would talk with Katrina about what special chores we could do. We created reasonable goals that we could reach.  We had to complete them sometime in the day, without help.  We could be scooping chicken poop and refilling the pens with shavings.  We could be walking baby goats, or trying to catch kittens in cages.  Whatever the chore was, Katrina gave us from 7:30 am  to 5:30 pm (chore time’s.)  From the farm I learned three important things,

1: Being trustworthy.

2: Setting reasonable goals.

3:The importance of fulfilling your commitment

These are 3 really important life skills that people learn little by little, but never truly learn until they are given a responsibility and opportunity to prove it and that is exactly what the farm gave me.