East Coast - Day 5 & 6

After leaving the East Coast Lewis's house, my family went to Philadelphia, which we used as our base for going to all the other major cities in the area.

Wednesday, May 31, 2006; 10:51pm (East Coast Time)
We went to New York today. We had a lot of trouble with trains. We didn't go to H&H Bagels, but someday I will. I still remember where it is: on W46 st. and 11th st. We saw Tarzan and went to the top of the Empire State Building. Oh Ya! [I seriously put that in my journal. Remember that I was 10 at the time.] We got to go to a good restaurant called Cafe Duke. We had a ferry boat ride and saw Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, the USS Intrepid, and the Brooklyn Bridge. It's tome for me to go to bed now, but I got to tell you that my dad got a New York mug for his Starbucks collection.

Thursday, June 1, 2006; 11:14am (East Coast Time)
We have a free day today. We got the groceries we ordered. We are going to go shopping today. We are also going to go to a chocolate buffet today. I am pretty bored right now.

Thursday, June 1, 2006; 10:48pm (East Coast Time)
I am just about to go to bed. We went to the Ritz Carlton and had a chocolate buffet. It was very good. It is on the Avenue of Art. I will go there some other time when I am older. I only have three more pairs of underwear [I was only 10 years old]. I got a lot of books to read: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Connecticut Yankee in King Author's Court, the Tale of Two Cities, and The Complete Short Stories of Mark Twain. We are going to the Barnes Foundation tomorrow. I keep forgetting what the name is, but I remember right now. It is a place with impressionist art. We went and saw a place with pieces of many board games. My older sister and I had evil thoughts about what might happen if the Statue of William Penn was struck by lightning. There was lightning at night. Good night for now!
P.S. - I found a quarter in a vending machine!

East Coast - Day 3 & 4

On Monday, May 29, 2006, I was probably supposed to journal, but I didn't, so there is no entry for that day. In brief, we went to the Delaware River and Princeton University that day. That is a very short description, but it works.

Tuesday, May 30, 2006; 3:06pm (East Coast Time)
We had to leave the East Coast Lewis's. We are in Philadelphia now. We went to Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell center, the Independence Visitor Center, the Constitution Center, and the U.S. Mint. We also went to Reading Terminal Market where we had Philly Cheese steaks.In the Constitution Visitor Center, we watched an awesome show called 'Freedom Rising'. Wherever we went, we ran into kids on field trips. It was so annoying. In the Constitution Center, they made me go all the way to the end of the line in the gift shop. We met a nice lady named Mary in the Reading Terminal Market. She showed us the best places to get different things. Swallowed some gum that will stay in me until 2013, when I am 17 years old! [Remember that I was 10 years old at the time].

East Coast - Day 1 & 2

In 2006, my family and I went to the East Coast of the United States on vacation. My mother said to bring a journal because that is how many people became famous. Although I am never able to keep up a journal at home, I am able to keep a journal when we are away on trips. It may be some part of my way of thinking, but it is how I function, so here is my journal from the point of view of me on the East Coast. I hope you enjoy!

Saturday, May 27, 2006; 6:24pm (California Time [I think])-
I am in the airport. I went through the metal detector and it went off. I had to take off my belt and put it on the conveyor belt. It was funny to see a belt go through one of them [Remember that I was ten years old at the time]. I'm very bored.

Saturday, May 27, 2006; 9:40pm (California Time [I still think])-
We are waiting for our plane. I am still bored. I had a huge hamburger for dinner.

Sunday, May 28, 2006; 9:15am (East Coast Time [I am sure this time])-
We are in the Trenton train station and are getting tickets. We are going to Princeton to see Uncle David, Aunt Saskia, and our cousins. We got Uncle David Pete's Coffee. I'm kinda [actual word used] and my leg hurts a bit.

Sunday, May 28, 2006; 9:49pm (East Coast Time)-
We had a good day today. We had a big meal for lunch. Aunt Saskia even fried french fries. We walked a lot and I got a Princeton T-shirt. We got candy at Ricky's Candy, Cones, and Chaos. I had a drink with no sugar or caffeine [I have no idea why I wrote that]. I am not sleepy, but I have to go to bed. I'm not that bored. I like it here at the East Coast Lewis's. I am sleeping in D.J.'s [My cousin's] room. Shannon is sleeping in the tent in the basement with Juliana [I don't remember where they slept now. Juliana is my other cousin, older than D.J.] I'm going to go to bed now.

Interesting Rain

When a person lives in a place like El Dorado Hills, you don't really get to experience extreme weather, but this week has been one of the craziest weather weeks that I have ever experienced here. On the this last Monday, the 26th, the weather seemed nice and normal. Nothing new, just sun and sky, but the next day, there was a dramatic change in weather. From the nice, sunny Monday, there came a dreary, wet, and rainy Tuesday. Even though I thought that the rain was bad enough, the weather got worse. During lunch that day, I sat happily in a classroom, free from the wetness of the rain, but I didn't know what the bell for 6th period would bring. When the bell rang, me and a friend, as usual. went out the classroom's back door into the auto shop garage. Because the garage doors were open, I could hear the tapping of the rain on the cars parked outside. Although I expected this, I thought that the rain was a little loud. When my friend and I were under the awning, my suspicions of hard rain were confirmed when I saw a small creek running down into the garage. Unfortunately, my 6th period classroom was on the other side of the school. I went into the rain and was immediately soaked by the rain. Ignorantly, my friend and I didn't run to our next class, but just walked. That was a huge mistake. The upper parking lot, which we had to walk through, was like a small pond, and when we had to go down from the upper parking lot, we had to go down a set of stairs, which actually seemed more like a waterfall. There was a wall of water at the edge of the roof on each building. My 6th period teacher was standing under the awning watching his class come in from the rain. He had to let us take off our shoes and drop all our stuff in a pile near the back of the classroom. The rest of this week was on and off rain and sun, but I still find stuff at the bottom of my backpack that are still wet.

The Lewis' Weekly Bible Verse

The Weekly Lewis' Memory Verse for this week should actually be called The Weekly Lewis' Memory Verses because this section is more than 1 verse long, but this verse struck me this week.

Mark 12:41-44
Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts, but a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny. Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. They all gave out of their wealth, but she, out of her poverty, put in everything - all she had to live on."

The Hog, the Frog, the Dog, the Bog, Zog, and the Squirrel!

By Brahms Lewis

There was once a frog

Whose name was Pog.

He was the color

Of greenish fog.

There was Pog,

On a Log,

But as he sat,

There came a dog

His name was Clog.

He liked to Blog,

And so he sat

On Pog's Log.

Then came a Hog

Whose name was Gog,

So they decided
To go for a jog.

So Pog the Frog

And Clog the Dog

Went to run with

Gog the Hog.

On this jog

They found a bog.

An evil place,

The Bog of Flog.

In the Bog,

The Bog of Flog,

There lived a man

Whose name was Zog.

The three found Zog

In the Fog.

He attacked them

With a Log.

But then Pog

Picked up the Hog

and threw him at

the man called Zog.

Then off ran Zog

Into the Fog,

But from the bog

came a squirrel!

When Pog, and Clog

and Gog the Hog
Saw the squirrel,

They turned him down.

For unlike Clog

and Pog and Gog,

rhymith not

the name of the squirrel!

The Perfect Teacher

Almost everyone who has gone through school has a teacher or coach that they admire. Notice how I said, “Almost everyone…” I personally do not have a teacher or coach that I admire, but if you mix up a bunch of teachers I have had, you can find my perfect teacher. My perfect teacher, most importantly, does not crack down on students and only have them do work. Instead, he should care about a student’s life outside of school. He should also get to know the students and help kids who need help and let kids who are ahead of the current teachings to go a bit farther in the book. This can help people learn at their own pace, not too fast and not too slow. He should get to know the kids so that they see him as an acquaintance or a friend instead of an evil ogre from the deep who came out of the darkness to enslave us for two hours minutes every day so we can learn and be prepared for our doomed futures (Note that this is not personal, but a very detailed and descriptive metaphor.). Good teachers have no effect on my attitude because I always try to have a positive outlook on life, and always try to be happy. A good teacher should be interesting, help kids who are falling behind, and let kids go forward and advance ahead of class.
A good teacher must be interesting. Some teachers can be funny to be interesting, but if you’re not, don’t try (It’s not something you can learn). You can also make your subject interesting. Some teachers may say, “How do you make Math or Language Arts interesting?” If you are one of these teachers, try making fun study strategies you can do in class, such as Trivia or Jeopardy. If that’s not your style, you can assign cool projects like making 3-D geometric shapes for math and making a scene from a book in a shoebox. Teachers can also assign kids to read books that are at their reading level, but also books that they will enjoy. This type of work is probably going to make kids more relaxed, instead of making them tense and thinking, “Oh no! Ten hours of slave labor from the textbook!” (This is not a personal comment.) When the kids are less tense, the classroom atmosphere will be less tense, which makes it a better working environment.
A good teacher also helps students who are falling behind in class. A teacher could think, “We will get through the book. We won’t slow down, stop, or review, and I don’t care if my students get Fs.” (This is not a personal comment) A good teacher doesn’t think this; they would help kids and slow down for them. If a teacher does this, the students she helps will respect her, and actually, this is what a teacher should do, because these student’s grades on the Star Test will reflect on how well the teacher taught them. The kids in class will be happier because they know that if the don’t understand something, the teacher will help them keep up with the rest of the students.