My Pet Fishes

When I first arrived in  Xiamen,China,my dad suprised me with an aquarium of fishes.It was kinda of an early Christmas present.
A few weeks later I decided to name my fishes :Zeus,Sardine,Fatty and Skinny are Red Danio Glofish. Tiger and Hammer are Zebrafish. Pancake is a Colored Skirt Tetra. Stripy is a Tiger Barb. Sweeper is a Golden Chinese Algae Eater and Reddy ,Bluey and the triplets are Neon Tetras.


Danio Glofish are hardy fish that come in five different colors,red,green,blue,yellow and pink. A Glofish's life span is about 3.5 to 5 years.Some species of Glofish can become aggressive if it is alone but Danios are fine if in a small group.

The Golden Chinese Algae Eater is a albino variant of the Chinese Algae Eater.It's color ranges from a light tan to a dark gold.These fish love to clean out anything so best to keep lots of plants and wood in the tank.Golden Algae Eaters are only semi-aggressive to their own kind but leave other fish alone.

The Zebrafish is a hardy fish that belongs to the minnow family.It's normal habitat is the cold Himalayan region.It is a very popular aquarium fish and is traded under the name Zebra Danio.
A Zebrafish's life span is about 5.5 years.Zebra fish also sometimes do what we call fin-nipping to other fish when they are angry.

Tiger Barbs are not the best parents because they like to eat their eggs if they get the chance.Some Tiger Barbs get aggressive if they are not in a group of five or more and they will start to be fin-nippers.

The Colored Skirt Tetra belongs to the Tetra family and are very hardy fish and are easy to look after.My fish has a hint of pink which means it is aging.

My fish also provides some entertainment for me and my family.When my dad gets close the aquarium they think it is feeding time and follow his movement.Also the fish know some A-class fighting moves when it comes to food.I like my fish because they provide entertainment and it is very relaxing to watch them. And yes I do to talk to them sometimes.

*Pictures and information from google

An evening with Buku Jalanan Chow Kit

Sunday 11 June 2017, I visited Buku Jalanan @Chow Kit. I was there with my parents to deliver 70 Sahur (pre-dawn) packs from the RAMADAN BLESSING IN A PACK PROJECT to the children who attend Buku Jalanan Chow Kit (BJCK) and was invited by Cikgu Rahayu the lady in charge of this project to stay and observe what they do every Sunday night with these kids.

Me and Cikgu Rahayu

                                    
A group of 12 volunteers from Taylor's college who come along to teach Maths were busy setting up the area to be ready for the night. First they swept up the Loading Bay area of Alka Ria building. Next they spread out  tarpaulin sheets on the ground. The sheets are given a good clean wipe because the volunteers and the children will be sitting on these sheets for their lessons. 

Setting out the tarpaulin sheets

Tables were set up on the side for the ''buka puasa' meals.The food arrives and they got busy setting them up.

Slowly one by one I notice the kids coming in.They all have exited looks on their faces.They run up to Cikgu Rahayu greeting her. 
When it was almost time to break fast, the children get in an orderly line to take their food. They then sit in neat rows waiting for the call to break fast. My dad mentioned that they are the most well mannered kids he has seen in a long time.

Taylor's volunteers getting ready for dinner

Having a chat with Ms.Hardeep -Project head for Taylor's

Group from Taylor's college.

                                                                                               

Buka puasa

After eating they gather the plates, dispose them and they get ready for their prayers. It was my very first witnessing how the Muslims pray.

After prayers little tables are set up for the children to write on. By this time it was 8.15pm. The only light source they have is from the orange /yellow street lights. 

Before lesson began today they had a small treat by Ms.Marion Diosay and her team doing a puppet show about animals. The children seemed to enjoy it.

I did not stay till the end of the session. I said my goodbyes to Cikgu Rahayu. 

On my way home I did ponder on how lucky I am. I have a comfortable chair and a big study table with my very own table lamp. I am privileged to be able to be homeschooled by my mom and I have a huge collection of books and resources at my disposal. I saw happiness and determination on the faces of the children who had almost nothing but eager to learn English, Maths & drawing once a week by a variety of volunteers. I will definitely come again to Buku Jalanan and volunteer my time teaching maths and maybe I will be able to bring along more pencils, color pencils, coloring or drawing pads and writing books.

Another 70 Sahur (pre-dawn) packs will be delivered to Buku Jalanan Chow Kit on Sunday 18th June 2017. Thank you to all who contributed one way or another to the Ramadan Blessing in a Pack project.

*From theSundaily (13 July 2016)
most of the children and their parents are not homeless, but struggle to make ends meet, let alone provide educational help for their children.There are roughly 74 children from 45 families who attend the weekly sessions. the initiative came about because of the huge number of children living in the area who would usually play by the busy roadside or loiter about after school as they waited for their parents to return home from work.

Book Review by Umar Farook

Book Review: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - by Umar Farook. 

Spoilers may be included!

This highly anticipated book starts immediately where it left off at Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  I was extremely shocked to find Harry’s son, Albus Severus Potter (work on the names, Harry!) was put in Slytherin! I'm trying to develop a theory as to why this had happened but anyway the main antagonist is Delphi Diggory, a girl with winged tattoos on her back and is Vol - sorry y'know who’s daughter?!

Ron Weasley still has his humor. He is really funny! My favourite character would probably be Scorpius Malfoy. I know he’s a Slytherin but not all Slytherins are evil. I wouldn't mind too much if I was put in Slytherin  although it is known that most Gryffindors  hate Slytherins.  

But yeah I would rate this book a -platform- 9 and 3/4! ;-)

Book Review by Adam Alimi

Hi there, my name is Adam Alimi. I'm a 13-year old kid who has made a book review about Wee Free Men written by Terry Pratchett (totally not forced by my mother *cough* *cough*).

My review of the Wee Free Men:

Wee Free Men is the tale of a girl named Tiffany Aching who wants to be a witch but finds that it is much more about using your head and not about waving your wand around and casting magic spells.

Wee Free Men is part of a five-book series which stars Tiffany Aching and her acquaintances, the Nac Mac Feegles.

Tiffany Aching is a 9-year old farm girl who is a very quick thinker. She is often very quiet and very observant. One day she meets a clan of pictsies (not to be confused with pixies) who call them-selves, the Wee Free Men. She finds that her world is being invaded by magical creatures from a different world and she decides that it is her job to deal with this. This will be her first step to becoming a real witch.

The Nac Mac Feegles are my second favourite character (being second to RatBag the cat) because they are so rib-crackingly hilarious. The Feegles are small tiny blue men with red messy hair and equally messy beards. When I say, small I mean really, small like 6 inches tall. Don’t get in a fight with them, they will beat you into a pulp without batting an eye. Even though they are very strong, they aren’t exactly the brightest bulbs in the box. For examples in one scene in the book they drank lamp oil thinking it was alcohol. Instead of blaming them-selves for doing that they blamed the person who owned the bottle. This is what the Nac Mac Feegles said about it, “An’ things ha’ come to a pretty pass, ye ken, if people are going to leave stuff like that aroound where innocent people could accidentally smash the door doon and lever the bars aside and take the big chain off ‘f the cupboard and pick the lock and drink it!”.

This book has a very important lesson that I personally find eye-opening. It tells us that we need to do things that others can’t do and speak for those who don’t have a voice. We need to be the bigger people and not expect rewards for the work we do.

Wee Free Men is a story about being the bigger person. Doing jobs that don’t have thanks, and using your head to think things through. Once you read the first book, you will want to read the whole set until you finish.

PHASE 2-SMILE FOR KIDS IN HOSPITAL

Make a wish and it comes true. It did for me and I am so happy that my wish to collect 100 coloring books for kids in hospital came true on my birthday too.

55 coloring books was delivered to Pusat Perubatan University Kebangsaan Malaysia on April 18 2017. A big big thank you to my homeschooling friends from Clic who made this possible by crowdfunding and selling the SMILE cards.

The rest of the books will be delivered to Selayang Hospital. Watch the space for more updates.

With head nurse KJ Noriza (right)

Book Review by Nur (age 10)

The Queen of Attolia (The Queen's Thief #2)

by Megan Whalen Turner 

Paperback, 362 pages

First Published in 2000 by Greenwillow Books 

Hello I am Nur and today I will be reviewing The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner. The Queen of Attolia is the second book in a three book series.

(May contain spoilers. I think. Assume yes. (Read the book! It’s super good!))

I think this book is very well made. The plot is excellent, the characters are amazing, and it’s hilarious.

First, my favourite character is Eugenides, Why? Because I think this character was very intriguing. Eugenides is Eddis’s thief, and he is very good at it. He states that ahem… “I can steal anything! Even with one hand!”.

Personally, there’s this funny part of the book showing that Eugenides is a mischievous, backstabbing, excessive planer, and cheeky to no end. The Thief (aka Eugenides) was feeling rather upset about losing his hand (which happens when the Queen of Attolia catches the Thief). The Magus (an old friend of his, who he meets in The Thief, the first part of this series) comes over and talks to him. His words were “Sitting in here isn’t going to help anything. Maybe you aren’t a Thief anymore, but you could still do something.” The magus patted the thief’s shoulder once but didn’t see how the Thief’s eyes narrowed as he watched him leave.

Then, Eugenides locked himself in his room for a while. He snuck out with a little army. He went to Sounis to “steal” Sounis’s magus. So, what he did was to sneak some of his army onto some ships in Sounis’s harbour and light the barrels of gunpowder in those ships on fire! The he went to the Magus’s room and “stole” the Magus. So, when the Magus woke up from his slumber and saw the thief he immediately asked, “What have you done?”. The thief replied, “Oh nothing yet.”. Then the magus heard an explosion from the harbour and saw the whole harbour on fire. He had no doubt in his mind that that was the thief’s doing. That’s hilarious right!

The only thing that I disliked about this book is that it’s kind of hard to understand. But I don’t think that’s the books fault entirely. This book was recommended for kids much older than me. but I promise you that when you pick up this series of books you will not be able to put them down! I recommend this for kids that are book worms or kids 12 or older. I give this book a 10 out 10 rating. This is Nur signing out. 

Book Review by Dhakshayni Jegatheeswaran

Anne of Green Gables 

by  L.M. Montgomery

First published in 1908

My favorite story book is Anne of Green Gables.I started reading the book just six months ago.And I have read the book twice completely.That's how interesting the book is to me.My favorite character is Anne,because she is a very imaginative girl.

It talks about Anne who was taken to a small town named Avonlea. Marrila Cuthbert and Matthew Cuthbert who were siblings and lived alone in their farm called Green Gables had wanted to adopt a boy to live with them and help with the farm but instead they got a skinny,freckled-faced and red haired girl whose name is Anne Shirley.Anne is a free spirited girl,always got into trouble and had fun in unexpected ways.At first Marilla and her brother did not know what to do with her and even thought of sending her back to the place where she was from,but soon they could not imagine how would life be without her.She made people happy and at the same time made some people angry with her in Avonlea in her younger days.But soon as she grew up,she never made mistakes and whatever wrong doings she used to do when she was younger.Anne made everyone happy at Avonlea and most of all Green Gables was never dull again!

I recommend this story to be read by everyone,thank you.