Adios, La Cordera!

This story is very touching. It shows a cow being treated as family and moreover, it being treated as a human. Rosa and Pinin's love for Cordera is not that of a pet, more of a sibling or a close family member. This story also shows that love isn't only limited to humans. It's sad though... They had to sell Cordera in order to pay for their house. To some people it might look like they just sold their cow. Maybe yes. But to Rosa and Pinin, it's like a member of a family passed on.

The Lottery Ticket

Ivan Dmitritch is a kind of guy who is satisfied with his life but not until his wife asked him to look at the lottery numbers on a newspaper. Masha told him that her numbers were 9499, number 26. He had no faith with the lottery luck but he had nothing to do so he checked it anyway. He looked at it and saw the series 9499, he could not believe what he saw and immediately told his wife and they both got really excited. Masha told him to look at the next numbers but then Ivan told him that they should think of the things they want to do if ever they’re the ones who won.

They both had wonderful ideas, at first they were sharing. But then as they were imagining, they became selfish as if they only wanted the money for themselves. Ivan thought a lot of things that his wife might do when she gets rich, it’s her lottery ticket anyways. When Masha felt what her husband was thinking, they both got mad at each other.

When they finally checked what the real numbers were, they both got irritated... The winning ticket wasn't theirs



 This it a story that shows that any person can give in to the powers of greed. It's like the "Dark Side", you become corrupted by the amount of money that is in front of you. But still, even though it's hard to not to give in to the "Dark Side", you must persevere to fight these temptations. Only then can you call yourself a Jedi :))

Surprise!

It was just a normal day in Socrates, having lesson, chatting. Then came English time. Ms. Ly entered the class then someone shouted Advanced Happy B-day. I didn't know that her birthday was near. After English class Seejay planned a surprise party for Ms. Ly. Then when we all talked it over we all pitched in for the expenses. We decided to do it after the radio play.

I think it was Thursday, we all set up our surprise stuff during recess. And put a huge curtain infront of the door, giving us cover so that we could work freely. As people were doing their radio play, the others were doing the finishing touches and then set up the laptop with the projector with roses in our hands. When we were all done with the radio play. We pulled down the curtain then played the video for Ms. Ly. We prepared a seat especially for her. She was teary-eyed (FTW!!). It was like a mini-debut. All of us even bought her a cake for her. And gave her a booklet with all our feeling in it.

Happy Birthday Ms. Ly :))

Though it is kinda late >.>

The Necklace

I know it's good to stand-out during parties/balls. But there's a limit to how you want to get attention. Personally I don't borrow things that are easy to misplace or valuable. It stresses you out a lot if you lose something that isn't your. Take Mathilde for example, she lost a necklace that isn't hers and she had to find a replacement for it and when she found one but it costs about forty thousand fracs. But the funny thing about all of it is that the necklace she lost... Cost only five hundred francs. She worked ten years for it.

It just goes to show that being irresponsible will only haunt you in the future and that be honest when you've done something wrong. It's more honorable to face your mistakes rather than hiding them or lying. And if you borrow something, be responsible enough to take care of it, unless you want what happened to Mathilde to happen to you.

The Charcoal-Burner’s Son

This story is about a boy who wanted to be brave. It was getting late, and he needed to deliver his father's food. He went into the forest. But as he got deeper, the darker it became. He started hearing noises. And the deeper he got, the louder the noise became. And he saw something that he quickly described as a troll. He ran out of fear. He ran as if his life was on the line. He asked God to help him. And when he arrived at his father's place. He was tired and his heart was beating fast. He told his father about what happened and his father told him to pray and believe in God and he will be safe.

The boy was surely imagining everything that happened. He let his fear get the best of him. Even I often feel uneasy about unfamiliar places. So I tend to fear what isn't really there.

Grandfather’s Birthday Present

Their father’s birthday is finally coming, so they had to give a gift for him.
Jet, being the eldest daughter thought of a Bible with a gold plated clasp as her birthday gift, while Dirk, the second son did not agree with Jet’s plan. He thinks that he has an even better idea rather than just giving a Bible because he hasn’t been inside a church for years. He saw a armchair on a store and thought that it would be the gift for his father. While Mary, who got separated from her husband and was now expecting their fourth child, disagrees with Dirk’s plan, as what their grandfather said, if ever they planned on giving him a present, it should be something that won't just become trash. So she decided to give him practical things like a wintercoat, muffler and so on. While Piet and Frans, neither of them contributed anything for the past years. They just decided to help with the decorations. While the youngest son, Henk who was recently signed up in the East Indies thought that their problem would be solved with giving their grandfather a photograph of all them. It would be the best thing since Henk will soon be far from them.

After discussing their plans, Henk’s proposal was finally accepted. The following day, they all went to the photographer and posed. They were 14 in all, no one was absent even Jet’s husband who left the hospital just for that day.

With the payment for the photograph, nobody expected that the photographer would ask for ask. But as he knew Dirk, he insisted that he’ll pay him two guilders on account anyways he just work in the drugstore opposite. He also promised that the picture would be ready at Wednesday at ten o’clock.

The whole plan was to be a secret from their Grandfather but some of them gave Grandfather a lot of clues that’s why he was able to guess what it is.

Tuesday evening, as Grandfather already went to bed, all of them decorated the living room, they were really careful not to wake him up. They also used Jet and Mary’s hairpin instead of a hammer to put up the decorations. The following day, their decorations were amazing but the most important part of the celebration isn’t there, the gift. Dirk had trouble with the photograph fee. They were panicking until Grandfather knew about this and paid for it.


All I can say about this is even though they didn't really have the same idea, they were able to pick the best gift that their father would truly apprieciate. And they gave all they could so that the party would be memorable. This shows their love for their father.

Speech Class

Though we weren't able to go there much, it's true that there was a time when we went the Speech Lab. We were taught about proper pronunciation, speech rythm, etc. We used fancy equipment during speech class like headsets w/ mic and a box like machine. The machine makes it possible to speak to one person or to the whole class. The machine has it's own volume control and a button to get the teacher's attention. We put on the headsets connected to the machine and answer the teacher's questions or if he/she asks you to read something.

It's kinda fun because using those flashy equipment  made it look like we were call center agents or something and when you dont need to talk to the teacher, you can talk to other people. We made fun of each other while we waited for our turn to be called.

Even though it was like only 2 or 3 times we were able to go to the Speech Lab, it still is kinda fun playing with the mic :)

Troy

In my opinion, Troy is one of the most well made stories out there. It offered spectacular action scenes and story. It's about a superhuman who could defeat anyone. He goes by the name of Achilles, he is a fighter from Greece. But he does have one fatal flaw... His ankle. Achilles' ankle is his only weak point because when he was given his powers, his ankle was being covered. And if by any chance it was pierced, he would die.

There were many interesting scenes in Troy, but what really caught my attention was the duel between Hector and Achilles. Their fight gave me chills down my spine. It was very exciting to watch their fight it simply showed their sword prowess. But in the end, Achilles came out victorious. Hector gave the best he could and even got praised by Achilles saying that he was the best he has ever fought. But everyone has to go back to where they came from. Paris shot Achilles' ankle with his bow. .Achilles died soon after.


I really give Troy two thumbs up. No wonder it's called an epic (Epic Win!!!). Though I prefer watching the movie rather than reading the story as it is more visual and more dramatic

When Ms. Ly entered our class, she was always active, had a cheerful face and a comforting aura. And a side note, she also graduated from AAM and she teaches there with her good friend Ms. Rachelle from her batch. At first, I thought that I wouldn't get along too well with her, but after awhile it became fun and intriguing to just sit there and learn. And it also became more interesting when I learned that our focus was about world literature. This caught my attention because it makes me curious as to why these stories were famous.

And she didn't only teach us literature, we also covered proper pronunciation and such. For example, your tone, the way you breath, the way you say it, etc.

The Flower of Ann Arbor

When I became a 4th year student, a wind of superiority breezed right through me. I felt as if I was on the top of the food chain. When I went to school, I asked the office about which class I was assigned. They told me that I was assigned to Sir Yuan from IV-Socrates. When I got there, I already knew most of them. But since I wasn't able to attend for the first week, the new student were already aquainted with the rest of the class. Although my class seemed to be full of my batch's troublemakers.

We started our days like we always do. Values in the morning, but I considered myself lucky because Sir Yuan was also my adviser during my 3rd year days. After Values was Physics then Math. Then came my favorite non-subject... Recess. During Lunch, I either eat, play or grab a guitar and play, this is what I call my "Fun-Fun Time". And as my so called "Fun-Fun Time" ended, we lined-up to go back to class. My next class was one of my favorite, English.

I asked my friend, Yuji Baba, about the English teacher. He said her name was Ms. Ly Agoncillo.

A name that created a spot in all our hearts.