A ONCE IN A LIFE TIME OPPORTUNITY!!

      "Uhh!! My foot is stuck again!" I screamed. You see, we were out on a field trip to Kuala Selengor's Nature Park. We were going to a "Mangrove Forest" I was so excited to go step into the mud because in my old school we went to this place called Pasir Mukhti and there we got to play in the mud as well. Though to my surprise this mud and that mud were way of. The mud there was soft and you could easily walk around in it. Here, well not so much.( It took so much time to take just one step here) Well anyway back to where I was.

To begin with, we walked through a trail to head over to the mud place. We were going to the place to plant mangrove saplings. My hands were already aching from lugging around those heavy boots we were supposed to wear in the mud. Plus it was scorching! I thought I'd be in ashes before reaching the mud. Inside my head, one big thing was going on, " I'm already suffering carrying the boots before going into the mud. How will I feel after the mud!!" When we finally arrived we had to take of our shoes and put on the boots. Then we had to wear these gloves. Slowly I took small strides into the mud.

Let me tell you, it wasn't fun. I TRIPPED about a a few steps into the mud because I had stepped into the mud and couldn't pull my leg out. So obviously, I tugged and fell. You would probably wonder why mud would hurt but it did. And you want to know why, the larger mangroves roots stuck out of the mud so you always landed painfully on one of the roots. Oh, and one more pointer, I fell down right, and saw the first crab. So I didn't want to get pinched so I got up pulled, fell, pulled, fell and so on until Raissa helped me up.

So you'd think I was so happy and could finally move again. Sadly, not that much luck. Few strides and I was down again after trying to pull Raissa's foot out out of the mud. Well, I pulled her down with me as well though! :) After Raissa got unstuck she just got out. But I didn't notice till I needed help again and she wouldn't come back into the mud. So I dug my hand into the mud to try and pull it out but, it didn't really do much. To plant the saplings, you had to cross these logs. So I did and got stuck. The usual. But this time I pulled and fell on top of a sapling!! Way to go right! It broke in half. Hey, it wasn't on purpose. So anyway, I used a stick and somehow managed to get up. 

But then Cheyenne got stuck on the other side o the logs. So, I went to help her (yawn) and I got stuck. So that's when the screaming from the beginning of this comes in. Mr. Sheflin was quite cross at the guys who kept getting stuck and started screaming. ( He said they screamed like girls! :) I gave up helping Cheyenne and got unstuck my self and crossed back over. The guy there was helping us plant the saplings. So since I was stuck AGAIN I just got someone to pass me a sapling. The guy dug a hole and put it in while I just covered it with mud. I tried to do the tying but my hands were to slippery.

The guy helped me get unstuck. So I was on my way. NOT! I got stuck on the other side of the logs again. Once again I got help from the guy after lots of struggling on my own! I literally ran out of the mud. And I actually got out! I'm serious. I threw my gloves on the ground and took of my boots to put on my slippers. After getting a little away, I realized how much fun I had in it! Really, it was almost like a once in a lifetime amazing opportunity! Oh and the walk back was worst than my nightmare because my boots kept slipping out of my hands so I had to put my hands into the boots and that was SO NOT FUN!!  

Mangrove Plantation!

Pasir Mukhti mud! We did this but didn't play in this mud!! It was so gooey! 

 














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and
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Capsizing Courage!

           I had, had a horrible case of the shivers! I had been shaking like mad! This was during the field trip I had last year back in Jakarta. We had gone to this place called Tanjung Lasung. It was a beach (a bit dirty). So we had gone out to sea on these small motor boats with a teacher and a few other kids. Well at least I had been one of the kids on the motor boat. Some other kids had been able to get on the sail boats first. ( I had been trying NOT to get on the sail boat until I had to.)
          I was one of the shorter kids, so I had to get all bundled up in the small school life jackets that were really uncomfortable while other people got more big and comfortable ones that the "beach people" owned. There was one man on the motor boat that controlled it and made sure the "kids" each had the same amount of time as everyone else on the sailboats. You would have been just sitting and waiting for the sailboats to return. Now getting back to the real courageous adventure.
          I had jumped from the motor boat onto the sailboat as per the instructions. Now the part that really was the nightmare was that everyone had to capsize in the water at least once. My face had broken out into cold sweat as I told the "boat guy" I was ready to capsize. (I was scared about falling into the water) We shifted a few times from one side of the boat to the other so that the boat capsized. The "boat guy" told me to watch out for the boom since it would be painful if you got hit by the metal bar while it fell into the water. ( A few people actually got hit by the boom) So I was so worried about that, that I had forgotten about the sail.
          When I fell in the water, my face went under for a few seconds before I was able to get out from under the sail. Let me just get one fact straight, that water TASTE TERRIBLE!! And that water STUNG MY EYES!!    I floated (and paddled) to the back of the boat where the "boat guy" was waiting. So what we were supposed to do was jump on the center board till the boat turned back over. I'm telling you, that drains your energy real easily! The "boat guy" got back on the boat easily, but I was so exhausted from turning the boat back over that the "boat guy" had to literally pull me onto the boat.

    

                imgurl=http://www.infobarrel.com/media/image/3881.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.infobarrel.com/Basic_Sailboat_Parts&usg=__I2NlG_IskApj43J_0bbaKHdj9Z8=&h=858&w=993&sz=36&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=5HODjZIcckmGqM:&tbnh=127&tbnw=147&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbasic%2Bsailboat%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26rlz%3D1C1CHMG_enUS291US303%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D685%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=391&vpy=66&dur=380&hovh=209&hovw=242&tx=95&ty=97&ei=XUePTLH_OYa4ceyb-L4M&oei=XUePTLH_OYa4ceyb-L4M&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=28&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0

and

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          Right after getting back on the boat, I had to jump back onto the motor boat for the next person to get onto this sailboat! After ten minutes, I went on this other sailboat. In all the sailboats I went on that day, I had capsized 5 times! Just because I wanted to. At the beginning of this story, I was so frightened but by the end I loved it so much I wanted to do over and over again!!

Investigating the Past!

      Archeologists study artifacts of early humans to understand our past, and find out how our ancestors are similar to us. Cave paintings help scientist understand how our ancestors were. 

Clay Sculptures-One of the sculptures discovered was of the 2 bison (probably bison). Some details about that sculpture  is that; A bison looked injured. The cause for me to think that was because that bison was leaning against the rock almost in a way humans would lean while in pain. Another detail is that it looks like one of the bison is looking at “water” behind it. The “water” looks like water because there seems to be a caved in place with blackish something in it. The bison peering over the rock made me come to the conclusion that it was looking at water (the blackish thing) with eagerness because it need to drink something. The final detail is that both the bison have cracks on them that tell me the sculpture is old. What we learnt from the sculptures is that the bison could be there to identify that certain clan. It could have also been used in important ceremonies to show that a child has become an adult (children’s footprints were found around the sculptures).

          

http://puffin.creighton.edu/bucko/courses/syllabi/images/buffalo.gif

       Shapes and Hand-Prints-Another one of the paintings was of shapes and hand-prints. The first detail is that it seems like there are gazelles panicking about some dangerous animal like a sabertooth for instance.The next detail is that there are small and large handprints printed on the wall.Another detail is that there are different kinds of lines drawn on the walls such as zigzags and circles.The final detail is that it seems like there are bugs on the picture, and the gazelles are running them over. We learnt from the sculptures that the hand-prints were the way the artists signed the painting. We also learnt that geometric shapes had special meanings in rituals. Another thing we learnt was that the areas where the painting was painted, were used for special gathering because the caves with the paintings caused voices to be the loudest compared to other caves without paintings. Finally, we learnt that the hand-prints in this cave painting were very small. Prehistoric people were probably much smaller than people are today. 

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%20of%20Animals.%20Some

    Cave Painting of Animals- The final painting is of the Cave Paintings of Animals. Some details are that there is an unfinished animal painted on the wall.Another detail is that some animals look older than others in the painting because the paint is peeling. The next detail is that it looks like one of the animals are running away and jumping over the herd. The final detail is thatIt looks like the horses are running on the ledge because they are painted on a piece of rock slightly away from the rest of the painting.We learnt that the artists could have tried to capture the magical powers of certain animals. Another thing we learnt is that the painters possibly believed in spirits and created the art to honor or influence them. Finally we learnt that the paintings were used in rituals or ceremonies.

(sorry, no photo)

                           

Archaeologist

           

My idea for the dream job out of the 3 choices archeologists,  geologist, and historian would be an archaeologist. The first reason why I chose this job is  because I like digging in the dirt carefully while my mind keeps thinking about what I'll find. The next reason is because in the 3rd grade, we were given little shoe boxes with "artifacts" the teachers buried inside the mud. I found it a lot of fun trying to take the 
"artifacts " out of the box carefully. My final reason is because I like to learn the history about ancient tools that ancient people may have used. It is so amazing to think about the items that could have been related to ours. 

http://www.lucylearns.com/archaeology-picture-kid-clip-art.html


http://www.school-clipart.com/_pages/0511-0804-2813-0431.html

About myself!

Hi, my name is Ashika and I was born in Houston, Texas. My family has lived in over 10 places till date and who knows how many more journeys are in store.My family consists of my sister,mum,dad, and I.

My hobby is to read. I enjoy mysteries and fantasies! My interest is to play tennis. I have been playing tennis for about 2 years. My favorite colors are blue and neon green! I love to eat junk food.

Some adjectives describing me are:

Person with Good Grades because I get good grades. Friendly person because I'm friendly and like to be with my friends. Finally, a hard working person as well since I work hard to achieve what I want.

My academic goal is to improve my writing knowledge. Another one of my academic goals is to learn about the history of more places. My social goal is to make new friends since I don't have very many yet.

Another social goal of mine is to get all my teachers to like me.

Something about me is that my family and I are all vegetarians. We only eat eggs. Another thing is that when I grow up, I hope to become a scientist. Well,that is for now. I am changing my mind very often though. So I can never be sure.

I hope this year will be one of my best years ever!!! :)

OH YA!!!