Open your eyes

December; the 12th month of the year, more merry than any other months of the year some would say. The time of the year where families unite to celebrate, exchanging gifts with one and other, kids can be seen outside playing in the cold, white snow and the very idea of life shines through most people’s heart shine through; love. This is how we like to picture ourselves what Christmas is like all over the world.
Unfortunately not everyone celebrates their holidays as you and I. There are a lot of people that doesn’t even know this very idea that the Western population of the world has created Christmas to be. Many people are only focusing on surviving through the month and the next ones to come. It is therefore important to keep in mind what you value in life, and reflect upon how other peoples lives may be very different from yours and mine. Take China for an example. A country that is much divided between the rich and poor. A country which is ran by a government that has been debated and discussed many times, but has only recently been shunned in the spotlight it deserves. Much of this is because of the work that Mr. Liu Xiaobo has done throughout his life as a human rights activist, being also a Chinese literacy critic, a writer and a professor, this earning him the Nobel peace prize “"for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China". He received the prize during his 4th prison term, being incarcerated as a politic prisoner for his criticism against the Chinese government. This is just what was needed, showing the government of China its true face. I applaud this man for standing up for his people, being brave enough to fearlessly go against such a big, corrupted government.
So to all my readers, I wish you all a merry Christmas.
And I hope you keep in mind that most of us are privileged to live the lifestyle we do. I know I will…

Mike

I'm back, sort of...

As you can see, there haven’t been many entries published on my blog lately. First And foremost I wish to apologize to all my readers. Reason for why my blog entries haven't been published, is that I haven't been avle to log into my user. Why this issue has appeared, I have no idea. But what matters is that I highlighted to the admins, and now it finally works again! I also want to talk a little bit about my school year in International English, the class I'm attending, this far. There's been a lot going on. We've seen movies, worked with Americans in a project that is still ongoing by the way. But unfortunately we've had just as much, if not more to do in the other classes we the students are attending as well. Luckily, our teacher has shown us compassion and understanding, by not being to hard on us. If Ann, my IE (International English) teacher reads, I truly thank you for this. Hopefully, more focus and dedication will be put into IE from now on. All in all, one of my favorite subjects is still English and I hope to learn about it 'till the end of my year in second grade.

Mike

Thoughts Around "Erin Brockovich" - The movie

Erin Brockovich is a story about a unemployed single mother of three who struggle to make her ends meet. At the beginning we see Erin as she is losing her personal injury lawsuit against a doctor who has previously crashed into her car. Aftet losing the lawsuit, Erin demands a job at the law firm that she thinks is the reason for the loss in court. The movie later follows Erin as she comits herself to one case in perticular, where a water plant is suspected for delivering contaminated water to the residences around the factory.

I thought the movie was great! It showcases working mothers and how some peoples work ethics are. Erin is a woman that never gives up, her kids that is. To me it made me realize how much my mother have sacrifized for me, because she is a single mother and all.

The Kite Runner - first entry

As a new assignement from our teacher, we're supposed to read the critically acclaimed book "The Kite Runner". As I have previously read 1/3 of the book, I already know some of the story. Not that much has happened up untill now in the book. We've only just met Amir and Hassan. Although, it is still hard to start reading again, because of the lack of motivation I have for the book. But as any other student in my class, I'll have to read the book. When I think about it, maybe it's not that bad of an idea to read it for the second time? I might pick up something new from the book that I didn't do the first time I read it.

School vs. Facebook

Today, we were given an article by our teacher that revolves around the subject of the usage of Facebook in school. The articles fact is mind blowing, as the grades of students visiting the internet site was 20 percent lower than those who chose not to. Being a student myself, I will here by probably want to rethink the situation next time I want to check out whether or not I have a new notification or a new mail in my mailbox. It might be for the best, keeping in mind that theese are my two last years here at Sandvika Videregående.

First semester, first task

So basically, we’ve been given this task by our English teacher, to start our own blog that we will have to update roughly for the next two years. As I’m not the typical or average “blogger”, I think I owe it to myself to at least give it a try. There’s really not that much that I want to discuss or bring up at the moment, all I can say is that I’m looking forward to learn more English for the two years to come. I’ve always been excited to study different languages, but English has always been more interested than a lot of the other languages that has caught my attention. Not to mention that it’s more interesting than the other classes I go to, in my opinion.

What will make this year even more exciting for me, I think is that we are going more abroad this year, learning more about English outside the Commonwealth-themed subjects.

Mike J