My blog!

I am very excited for I have never been to Ireland before and I have heard many great things about it. I will be visiting some relatives (some of whom  have visited this blog and one who has posted!) in the Dublin area and County Cork. I am excited because in the ten days I am there I will visit castles, ancient burial sites, Dublin, various little towns and hopefully go horsebackriding. I am going to practice the little bit of Gaelic I know and hopefully learn some more and my relative Doreen speaks French so I shall have opportunities to speak en francais with her. As soon as I get back I shall make a post about mon voyage and maybe I shall post some photos.

If you wonder why your comments do not get approved during this ten-day time period or there is a lack of response to your comment, do not fear, it is NOT because I am ignoring you, it is because I have not been able to access a computer. That should not stop anyone from commenting though: an email inbox full of comments-to-be-approved would make me very happy when I come home! I will try my best to get online once or twice while I am there though.

Have you ever been to Ireland?

Are you Irish in anyway?

What nationalities are you?

One of my close friends gave me the third book in a series that both of us enjoy (for my birthday). I had finished Don’t Judge A Girl By Her Cover by that night, so wrapped up in it that I was. This was the latest installment in the Gallagher Girls Series ( I’d Tell You I Love You But Then I’d Have To Kill You, Cross My Heart And Hope To Spy, and Don’t Judge A Girl By Her Cover) by Ally Carter.

I shall give you the basic information, starting with the first book: I’d Tell You I Love You But Then I’d Have To Kill You.

Cameron Morgan (a.k.a Cammie the Chameleon) is a 15-year-old student (and daughter of the headmistress) at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women. Or a school of rich, snobby girls as the locals from Roseville, Virginia (and the rest of the world) perceive it as. Which is fine: after all every good spy knows not to blow their cover. Cammie can kill a person in seven different ways, she speaks 14 languages,  and goes to a school for spies-in-training. What could be better? To get in to the Gallagher Academy (which by the way you need at least a Level 4 Clearance too even know about) you have to be either a daughter of elite spies working for the government or a genius. Cammie and her friends Liz (a genius) and Bex (daughter of famous British spies) attend classes such as CoveOps (short for covert operations where your class could be tracking one of the teachers, attending a political rally and secretly tapping into the Secret Service frequency, or escaping from a situation where your teachers pretend to be the bad guys), Countries of the World, Culture and Assimilation…..not your normal classes and not your normal students. So what happens when Cammie fall in love with a boy, who isn’t a spy?

Hopefully you will be interested by this post and find a copy at the local library or bookseller and then you will go on to read the rest in the series.

Have you ever read any of these books?

If so, what were your feelings about them?

Je suis très heureux aujourd’hui!!!! Pourquoi? Je pouvais  être heureux parce que……………..c’est mon anniversaire!  J’espere mon anniversaire sera  être bonne aujourd’hui. Je vais être/je suis maintenant treize ans.

Quand est vous anniversaire? Comment vielle sera vous être?

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In English:

I am very happy today. Why? I could be happy because…………it’s my birthday! I hope my birthday will be good today. I am going to be/I am now thirteen years old.

When is your birthday? How old will you be?

Postscript: to those French speakers I am sorry for the simple French, even with my ever expanding French vocabulary I still have much to learn and I prefer to write the French on my blog from my knowledge: not a translator’s. Je n’aime pas à traduce!

Although it is summer (at least where I am) according to the calender the weather seems to be disagreeing. While today is sunny, hot, and beautiful for a long time the normal day was gray, cloudy, and humid. Ick!!! Not beach or pool  weather at all (in my case). It was okay for sailing though because some of those days were windy. From time to time the clouds would clear and the sun would surface, becoming nice beach weather. Warm and beautiful, the sky a rich blue with the very green pine trees framed against it. Today was one of those days: gorgeous. If only the sun would choose to make an appearence every day….

How is the weather where you live?

For those who are suffering from lack of “le soleil” how do you feel? Do you agree with me?

Summer (for the Northern Hemisphere) is almost half over: ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!! So by now everyone is full fledged in summer-ish activities: swimming, going to the beach, playing outside…. I live near the sea (very, very close and unfortunately that proximity draws horseflies!) and some of the most popular summer activities of my region are: going to the  beach, swimming, and sailing.

I have been sailing for the past three summers (four if including this summer) and I do morning racing. We sail lasers and hone the skills already acquired in past summers from Instructionals, otherwise known as Knockabouts. They sail Cape Cod knockabouts (self stated) with an average crew of four to five with one instructor. No sailing experience is needed for that class and it is full of kids wanting to try something new. The summer before fifth grade was my first-ever sailing experience, I loved it and picked it up pretty quickly. By the end of my first summer I was recommended for Morning Racing (you need a recommendation to get accepted) and I started it my second summer. I am currently on my third summer of lasers and I thoroughly enjoy it. A difference between the two boats (other than size- knockabouts are bigger than lasers) is that lasers are very flighty, go very fast, and capsize very easily. The boat heels over a lot (nearly capsizing) and hiking out is neccesary. There is a hiking out strap which runs down the middle of the cockpit and is meant for you to stick your feet under. Then you sit (sometimes literally) outside the boat and your feet are strapped down keep you in. Doesn’t it sound fun?

What do you do in the summer?                           

Have you ever sailed before?        

Tonight I am heading to a three-week long (I come home on weekends though and therefore will still be able to blog!) academic camp at a local college campus. Back in January the kids with the top 10% of MCAS* scores from my school were notified about the Advanced Studies and Leadership Program, and were eligible. Only eight out of the twenty-two from my school district would further get in, so you needed to write an essay on how the ASLP program would help you and you needed to get two teacher recommendations and a guidence counselor recommendation. After that you just sent in your completed packet (including the recommendations and essay) and hope for the best. April 10th I found out that I was in. One of my best friends also was admitted so we were both very happy.

ASLP is a three week course where we come home on the weekends. The students stay in dorms so it is like being in college. The curriculum is mostly science and involves the sea. I was lucky enough to have been put in the STEM course of Navigation and Boat Handling because I love to sail and I am pretty good at it also. The biggest project for my course at the end is steering a (simulated, of course, after all who would be crazy enough to put 12,13, and 14-year-olds behind the wheel of a 500 foot ship) five-hundred foot ship into Boston Harbor. Fun! We also take humanities courses. I wanted to get placed in the Drawing and Painting group but instead I was put in the Yearbook group (which isn’t the end of the world because I like photography).

*MCAS is a state wide test every April and May that is very boring and pretty long.

Notice how it says tonight at the beginning. This post was supposed to be finished last Sunday and therefore would have made sense, but somebody *I wince and gulp guiltily* was discombobulated and needed to finish packing….
My first week was amazing and very fun and I shall inform in later posts!

How is everybody’s summer/winter holidays (Depending on your hemisphere)?

Yes, you read right, only 11 and a half more school days untill the end of school (for me that is)!!!!!! Schools in the northern hemisphere will soon be ending and everybody will be heading off to their summer vacations. I for one am very relieved and excited. I will have a summer full of swimming, reading, and fun. I will hang out with friends and go to an advanced learning and leadership program at a nearby college. Je vais avoir plus fois jouer avec mon chien. J’irai lis beaucoup. J’irai nage surtout. Et theatre? Je ne sais pas. My newest summer activity will be blogging (of course!) my new favorite pastime.

Is your school getting out for any holidays soon?

What do you like to do on summer vacation?