It always sounds better in my head...

Today in class, we were doing the trial for public speaking. The topic was  "getting to know you". It is considered an easy topic to many people, it's all about yourself. However, I don't know if it's just me I find it is really hard to talk about yourself in front of people. It always sounds better in my head than it does, when I say it out loud. It's always easier to talk about others... behind their back :)) (just kidding, it's not cool at all). Despite all that, I had to give a speech when my turn came:

"It is really hard to talk about your self in front of people. If it was 2 or 3 years ago, I wouldn't ba able to do this. I was shy and self-conscious. So today, I am going to tell you about how I overcame those fears.

First of all living an 18-hour flight from home has given me an opportunity to be more confident and independent. Some of you might already know, you have to do everything on your own, adjust yourself to a new place with different culture, language, and in my case, home sick and the come winter. In that circumstance, I was forced to go out of my way to stand on my own.

I figured out that I couldn’t make friend if I was too afraid to talk to them or I couldn’t get to know the place when I hesitated to go outside. It was hard at first really, but it got easier the next time and has become no problem to me at all as time goes by.

 Being far away from home give me strength and ability to treasure what I have. Because when you are own there on your own, you know how important family and friends are. I appreciate those you have met, people who have touched my life. I have learnt from them. I couldn’t be who I am right now without any of them.

It is not that hard to be confident. Just believe in yourself and be who you are, because you are amazing, just the way you are! :D"

10 Words of the Week (part 3): Transportation

1. Locomotive(n): engine of a train
2. Rugged (adj): strong, able to stand rough treatment
3. Stringent (adj): strict, firm
4. Utilize (n): the act of ruining something
5. vent (n): a setting in which to present something
6. flair(n): elegant style
7. hamper(v): to make something difficult, get in the way
8. incentive(n): reason to do something, reward
9. plodding(adj): slow
10. sprawl(n): an area of spreading growth

First Poem Ever: LDR would work plz!

This was the first time that I write a poem, first time ever. I had never write a poem before in neither my mother tongue nor in English. However, I have read several poems before, a lot in my language and a few in English. I felt excited and lost at the same time since this was my very first time. In my mind, a poem would starts with “Roses are red, Violets are blue…”

However, the games in the beginning of class in which we had to describe an imaginary object or activities with our hands. It helped a lot to boost up our creativity.

Naba (a really good friend of mine) and I paired up to create this poem about long distance relationship (LDR). I am in one BTW. It’s really hard actually. Well, I mean, all relationship has it own problem. However, being far away from the one you love is just too much. Distance sucks, but it’s also a nice challenge. If you two overcome that, you are really good to go. I hope none of you are in a LDR because it is no doubt uneasy, but if you are then be brave, cope with it and I wish u guys the best of luck :D

10 Words of the Week (part 2): Leisure Time

1. Indiscernibly(adv): in a way that impossible to see or notice.
2. Indistinct(adj): unclear
3. Maneuver(n): a movement
4. Grandeur(n): greatness
5. Remnant(n): a small leftover piece
6. Deliberately(adv): intentionally, on purpose
7. Intellectual(adj): related to thinking
8. Merely(adv): only
9. Rejuvenate(v): to refresh, restore
10. Reluctant(adj): not wanting to do something, unwilling

Is Dying the Only Way to Be Free?!

Have you ever heard that dying is the only way to be free? The statement makes no sense to most of us since in order to be free you have to be alive first. Surprisingly, it holds true for Bakhtay, a six-year-old Afghan child in a Hana Makmalbhaf film titled "Buddha Collapsed Out of Shame".

The movie has the same beginning and ending: the destruction of the giant Buddha statues in Bamyan, which happened in 2001. Between those two scenes showing the symbol of war, it shows a trip to of Bakhtay finding a way "to go to school and learn funny stories". By looking at the boy next- door reading, Bakhtay is determined to be able to read and learn funny stories. She doesn’t want to stay in the cave anymore, so she disobeys her mom and heads out in search of schooling. Her journey is a way to escape from a circle of violence and poverty that people in Afghanistan has been trapped in. In this movie, Bakhatay is the symbol of that change. The notebook that she tries so hard to get is also a symbol of the process of bringing change to life. However, this process, just like Bakhtay’s journey to school, is definitely not easy. On her way, she has to face many obstacles. She has to run back and forth between home and the market to trade food for money to buy a notebook. Nonetheless, the book is taken away from her and ripped off many times. While innocent Bakhtay is too clueless to help herself, she slowly realizes that she has to lose something just to achieve what she wants as the notebook lose pages during her journey to school. A man tears a page from her notebook and folds it into a boat to lead Bakhtay to the school. However, Bakhtay is not the only victim in the movie.

The boy gang imitating the Taliban is also the victims of violence and ridiculously strict rules that the Taliban has established. They present the Taliban and their negative influence on the kids. They play violent fighting games and arrest girls with beautiful eyes and pretty face. These boys are also trapped into the same cycle. There is no doubt that they are going to repeat the same terrible things that the Taliban did when they grow up. In addition, the imaginaries used in this film are striking. The falling kite catching fire is a great symbol of violence and it consequences. Nevertheless, the boys see it as a threat; and when the kite falls, it catches fire. The kite in this movie is not a toy anymore; just like the kids, they are not able to have a normal life like others. They have been brainwashed with violence and hate. The policeman trying to control the traffic while there is no transportation in a ghost town. The war has left the country with poverty.

On her self-discovery journey, Bakhtay tries many times to repel her fate. She refuses to play the fighting games. She says in tears: “I don’t like the war game. I just want to go to school and learn funny stories.” when they boy tries to stone her to death. On her way back home, Bakhtay, are chased by the “Taliban boys”. While her friend pretend to die so that they will leave him alone, Bakhtay still insists by running way until she has no way to escape. Then she starts to realizing and accepting the fate: “Dying is the only way to be free”. On her self-discovery trip, Bakhtay realizes the circle of violence and poverty created by the Taliban terrorists. Her attempt to escape from that circle fails when she lies down and pretends to die so she can find peace. The image of Bakhtay lying down followed by the scene of the statues destruction, which is also the opening of the movie, shows us the circle that Bakhtay and people in Afghanistan helplessly are trapped in.