Stuff

Here's us watching our new TV that Sravana made us. We are watching a baseball game.Here is how our TV works. We yell into the TV what we want to watch, and almost like magic, it springs up a guide of choices.
Yeah. I know. It's made out of a massager box.
And this is our TV from the front.
And please, pretty please, again please, see this post. It's one of my best. Thank you. Okay, so these are the five things Sravana wants to buy now (dream list);
1) Camera
2) Sweet Treats Table
3) Julie's School Lunchbox
4) Petal Pink Outfit
5) Nightstand and Lamp Set

The camera would go to Sravana. The sweet treats table would go in Sonali and Gwen's room (lucky big dolls!), the lunchbox would go to Neela, but the stuff inside would be stored in the big dolls room. The petal pink outfit would go to Gwen, and the nightstand and lampset would be divided. The nightstand would go to Julie, the rug to moi, Rebecca, the lamp to Ruthie, the telephone to Sonali, and the notepad to Felicity, but still, I would have to share my rug with Felicity, since we share a room. Big upset. But not really. I guess. I had to share my room with Sadie and Sophie back home.
Rebecca

150th Post Special Picture Story~Yippee!

I didn't really expect to get many gifts on Christmas Day.
Sonali really is my only friend at school, so when we gathered by the Christmas Tree by Sravana's game shelf, I sort of sat aside from the rest.
Sonali opened Julie's present-a stuffed monkey from Gladrags. She cuddled it and hugged Julie lightly, since Sonali is kind of a giant to Julie.
Suddenly, Sonali pushed forth a beautiful present wrapped in silver gift wrap covered in pastel pictures of presents, trees, starts, hats, mittens, and boots. On the top was a label with a Christmas Horn with a green ribbon that said "To: Gwen Thompson" and "From: The Gang".

I just stared at the gift for a long time. Then, Rebecca grumbled, "Well, we pitched all our money in for those things you wanted, so you might as well open it and slip your feet in."
I still stared at that silver wrapping, decked in pastel.......
AAnd my name, written neatly in black ink above the horn.
I looked at the present one more time before taking a deep breath and picking it up.
I stared at my name one last time and ran my hand over that silvery paper.
I I slowly began to take the tape off the present, when Ruthie shook her head and said "She's one of those." I laughed. Ruthie was so funny sometimes. I don't mind her much, because she's one of SSonali's good friends.
II gasped as I took off the lid of the box, to find Fiona Monari Etude shoes!
I stared. They were the perfect ebony black-I had been admiring them for weeks outside of The RRunning, Dancing, and Walking Factory
""Well? What are you waiting for? You should try them on!" Neela cried.
SSo I did.AAnd they were sooooo comfy!
""You deserved those shoes, Gwen," Sravana said softly, squeezing my shoulder lightly.
IAnd here are my shoes!TThey are a perfect ebony
They are a beautiful ebony. Shiny too. They go good with my good dress.
The next best thing next to UGG boots.

WWe all laughed and chatted as we opened the rest of the presents, and I tucked my shoes away for later. For the Winter Formal Dance.
SI came to Sonali later and asked how she planned it. All she said was "it was Chrissa's idea."

Well, I have to go. I have to help Ruthie with her 2nd position C Major exercise.
Gwen Thompson

Partita

I'm still working on that D minor partita. It's awful pretty, and I can't wait till Kaya comes back so that I can perform it for her next SATURDAY! I know, isn't it exciting?
Ruthie

Tarea de Ciencias Naturales

Believe it or not, tenemos tarea de los ciencias naturales homework over spring break! Interpreting situations. Ugh. I hate to అరువదిన్సు stuff. It's so pointless~just a bunch of this and that.
Christmas is in only a few days! La hermana de Sravya might be getting un regalo-de una mona de Chica Americana. Una amiga para nosotras! Sorry. I feel in a language-y mood.

Good bye,
Sonali Matthews

Savings Booklet

I am getting organized. I started to make a savings booklet for tickets to Mary Poppins, which is coming soon to our state. It's soooooo exciting! I've been a fan of the book and the movie since the third grade. Other than that, I don't have much to say. So-bye! So far I have fifteen dollars from a fiddling contest I won.
Sravana

Basketball Game

We played the alumni Darlene School of Achievement for American Girls in a basketball game. The alumni thought they had a great team, but our varsity took them down a peg. They played well, I guess, but we still won~so yippee!
Julie A.

Violin Concert!

Hi! This is Sravana, and I am super, super excited-yes, Sravana is super is super super excited, about her holiday orchestra concert in which she'll be playing a solo, being first chair second! Eeeeepppp!!! She stayed up all night doing a mini project for school, and now this as her reward! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Seriously, I am very excited.
Sravana the Excited.
PS from Sonali: Only three more weeks till Kaya comes back! Yippee!

Diminished 7s

K. So is there anytime one thing you'd really love to scream at? Right now. For me. Ruth Mary Smithens, it's diminished 7's. I mean, I can't stand 'em.
But anyways. We had a mock constitutional convention in class, and I was Gunning Bedford Jr. I mean, everyone gave me a hard time. We all had masks of our characters, and mine had a double chin and bubbly hair. HOW WEIRD IS THAT!!!!!!
I have to write a persuasive essay for school. Grrrrr...
I have to go to this practice talk by our orchestra conductor tonight. All the parents were asked to go with their kids. So I'm going with my mother, whose visiting.
Ruthie the Random One

National Electronic Greeting Day

Hello, all of you readers out there! Today is National Electronic Greeting Day, and after practicing a bit of Schradieck, I decided to send you all a greeting, so here it is.

Thank You Followers, Everyone Who Reads This Blog, and All Commentators!

I know this is a short post, but I had a lot of homework.

Bye!
Ruthie (Pun not intended)

Dominant 7's

Practiced my dominant 7's until I can do them up to the key of C with eight notes slurred. Even though my performing art is tap dancing, we are required to play an instrument, and be good at it. Now, I am tired from practicing violin, and I have to go to a tap-dancing dress rehearsal in an hour, so I'm plum tuckered out.
Sravana bought UGG boots 1/2 off, because they have sales at this time of year, and then found out they were a little too small, and I know you're thinking, "Return them!" Well, Sravana will, and get another pair in a bigger size, because you're supposed to have them kind of big so they'll last a long time, because they are so expensive. She feels guilty of buying such expensive boots. She should be. I mean, they had absolutely cute mini doll sized sweaters at the mall, and she turned them down, even though they were $6 with 40% off, because she felt guilty about the boots! The things people do...so greedy all the time. I ONLY have two dresses and a nightgown! How many does she have? Hmmm.....one dress, but lots of pants and shirts, and two sets of pajamas and shirts and pants for the night! And boots? Excuse my annoyance, but I only have one pair of Mary Jane slippers.
Ruthie

A Trip

We're going off today, to somewhere,
Smaller than Washington, bigger than a bear,
To see a show, so great, so amazing,
Not a soccer game, or horses grazing.

We're going to see,
A FLYING VIOLINIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I know! It's EPIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, I kind of ruined my poem here. I know. This is Ruthie, by the way, and after I finished practicing the second half of the Bach Partita 2 Allemande, Sravana told me that we're going to see a flying violinist! It sounds awesome! I'll see if I can take pictures.
Ruthie

A Poem by Gwen Thompson

My cousin David is visiting,
For Thanksgiving,
He has so many toys,
But I guess that's common with boys.

He has a little sister,
Named Olivia who wears Hollister,
She loves surfing a lot,
And has a shirt with a robot.

Their father is a Colonel Jones,
Who's practically skin and bones,
He has cavalry troops,
And chicken coops, and his ears are shaped like cones.

Humptey Dumpty was egged to jump,
Like I was egged to sit on the bump,
It hurt a lot,
And now I feel like a tiresome blot.

Mom always metes out the meat,
On Thanksgiving day,
But around there are these flies,
I would like to nullify.

I think Mom's cooking lobster tonight,
Yay, but I think I'll fight.
I believe I'd rather embroil,
Then icky lobster, boiled.

I have a craving for a waffle,
And I know that you have questions,
On why this poem is so random,
And not rhyming in patterning ways.

This girl at school I will not mention by name,
Called me long nose because of it's shape,
School Symphony thinks new speakers will make the Winter Dance more fun,
I think I'd rather eat a cinnamon bun.

My pear I am eating,
After a good beating,
Of rugs all afternoon,
If I don't, I will not get my scholarship boon.

I'm sorry I have to complain about my life on my blog, but seriously, I am kind of annoyed right now. You see, social structure is tough at school, and since I am on full scholarship, I have to work a certain number of hours, and THE worst jobs. Our school doesn't have vacuums, so it's the old rug beatings. Eeeew. People on partial scholarship, such as Neela, they have chores too, but they're not so hard, like making all the beds, and picking up toys in the day care. Full scholarship people, AKA, ONLY me, (well not ONLY me, the cook's daughter works too, but she is older than I am) are treated like scullery maids sometimes.
It feels like it at least. See, there are people who are like VIPs here. AKA, Ruthie Smithens, Rebecca Rubin, and Sonali who have tons of money. Whenever they want new clothes, we have to ask them what they want and pick them up from the store, and when they want to go somewhere, we have to go with them if they can't find someone else. And even if they can, I have to come, or the cook's daughter, to help them with their stuff. Sonali is usually nice about it, but Ruthie is not usually willing to hold a bag or two. Rebecca is definitely stubborn.
Another of my chores is to set the table for all the meals. I have to get up at six, set the plates out in a precise order, and do the same for lunch and dinner. I also have to beat the rugs every Wednesday.
Sorry about all this rambling,
Gwen

Ow....that hurt.

Ow....that hurt.I'm rubbing my neck-hard. My neck is so sore. I fell of Penny yesterday. A deer jumped out of the bushes, and Penny went slightly up and cantered off, and I tumbled off and into the gravel. My neck is awfully sore.
So anyways, I'm in Ruthie's dorm that she shares with Sonali and Gwen, and listening Ruthie practice her diminished sevenths in G for the third time. I guess I'll need to practice guitar soon too.
Sravana is getting a chance to babysit! (BTW, Sravana is her new blogging because she's tired of Srajana) It's her sister's friend, and her little sister, who is an absolutely adorable first grader who Sravana is teaching to play the violin. THIS IS SO EXCITING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Felicity

Just Where is All That News?

Neela, Gwen, Julie, Felicity, and I (Rebecca) have started a Daisy Harris Intermediate Doll Academy. It's absolutely great! Neela's editor in chief, I'm vice editor, Gwen is secretary, Julie's in structured reports, and Felicity is doing fiction and freestyle. The problem is, we don't know what to write about, and our deadline is next Wednesday! OK. We have ideas. The problem is, we don't know what to write about them! Yesterday we started our stories. Here are some events at school;
DIDA won the silver medal for Northwestern Doll Schools, after our rival school, The Jasmine Sirius Intermediate School for Dolls. (Julie)
DIDA Gets New Gym Sound System (Felicity)
The Year's Election (Neela)
School Talent Show (Gwen)
Silent Auction (Me)
Rebecca Rubin

KAYA'S COMING HOME!!!!!!!!! (and the camera's still broken)

Kaya actually is coming home! Not in a week, not in two weeks, but two months. Possibly one month. At least, that is what she said. She was in Costa Rica and found out she missed her Oregon homeland. So she's coming home! I'm so excited!
The camera's still broken, and we need to buy the battery on the web. Grrrrrr.....
We are going to have a huge surprise party for her! And it'll also be Srajana's birthday around that time, so it'll be double the celebration. :D.
Soooooo,
EXCITINGLY EPIC!!!!!!!!
Sonali Matthews

Autumn

Autumn Leaves,
Red, Orange, Yellow,
Blue Sky,
Puffy marshmallows.

Glowing fire,
Cozy chair,
Running deer,
Stomping bear.

Whistling wind,
Running stream,
Thunder clouds,
Glowing moonbeam.

Smells of wet leaves,
Filling my nose,
Thanksgiving Parties,
With dresses and bows.

Gushy pumpking pie,
With a light, flaky crust,
Playing Monopoly with my cousin,
My cousin, I bust.

The mushiness of the pumpkin insides,
Scraping out hollow,
Then out, trick-or-treating,
Like a ghost, my friends I follow.

Autumn is the season,
Of leaves and fire and wind,
Of leafless trees and wet leaves,
And of every time you ever grinned.


By Felicity Merriman
Autumn is an amazing time.

Busy as a Bee

I've been busy as a bee! Math studying takes up more time than you think. We have to apparently order our camera batteries online, my cell phone doesn't come with a USB cord, so no pictures. Urgh. Frustrated.
I hope that it's OK that we are so busy. Middle school has a ton of homework, and of course there's other things I have to do besides blogging. I hope people keep reading this blog, however, and I Kaya may be coming back home in December! Exciting!!!!!!
Blogging later,
Sonali

Blueberries

Sorry we haven't posted in a while-we've been very busy with the beginning of the school year and everything.
Right before school started, all of we dolls went out to pick blueberries.


Ahhh....the lovely sweet summery taste of cool, misty fruit. Every bit of it is absolutely delectable.

By the way, as well as International Talk Like a Pirate Day being yesterday, (thank you Rose for reminding us!) This week is Love your Files Week, Traveling Business Women day, Punch Day (hopefully the delicious fruity drink kind of punch) and Women's Eccomerce Day. So to celebrate, here is a beautiful picture of some delicious punch.

By the way, the pictures are not mine. They belong to other websites and for some reason the images button did not let me get the pictures from the website.


So.....happy National Punch Day! I'm going to make some strawberry-apple punch right now! Then I need to practice Bach on the piano.....
Felicity

Worried

I am so worried about school. Kaya keeps saying she'll come back soon, at least by November, but if we start school in September, she'll fall behind.....
But anyways. Today, we took out greeting cards (my whole family came to visit) and cut them to make puzzles for each other to solve. It was actually a fun, summer, family activity-especially when the weather is 87 degrees-hot for Oregon weather-and Minnesota weather for that matter.
Felicity, Neela, I, (Sonali), and Julie want to start a band. Felicity would play guitar, Neela would sing, I would play flute, and Julie would do drums. We still need to find some music. Our school band teacher is supportive, of course. She says she'll look for some songs. Any ideas?

Srajana wrote the Odyssey Poem , which she wrote out of boredom and disdain of the Odyssey on her blog, won third place in a local festival's poetry slam, and first place at the fair poetry contest. Giving her 8+20 dollars!~She might buy something for us, but she is not sure, because she needs to save up for other things, like new camera batteries and stuff like that, but she thinks maybe she can buy Julie's School Lunchbox.
Sonali
PS: AG Music Academy is going back to it's old name, Daisy Diamond Academy and Ranch. That was the name back when Neela was there. They changed to AG Daisy Music Academy, then AG Performing Arts Academy, but fewer people signed for the school when it was a mainly performing arts school.

Math Testing and Career Day

We had math testing today. At least some of us. A few of us, like Rebecca, took it earlier. Urgh. I hate problems like b over 17+4=-4. Those bug me. But oh well, I think I did pass.
We are having a career day on the third day of school where parents talk about their careers. Neela's dad is a rice farmer, Julie's dad will talk about being a pilot, Rebecca's dad will talk about owning a shoe shop, Sonali's mother will talk about selling real estate, Felicity's dad will talk about owning a store, and my mom will be talking about being a secretary.
Our family used to farm the corn belt, at least on my dad's side. Then he married my mom and we moved into an apartment until he left. I still remember him saying, though, "Every Thompson must love corn. It's in our genes." I kind of miss him and I wonder why he left.
Well, I'll talk later,
Always,
Gwen Thompson

A Little Story I, Felicity, Wrote

There is a wide belt of parkland surrounding the city. A girl walks out of the town briskly, not especially caring where she goes and what she does. She has black, short hair, and she wears a blue long-sleeved jacket and blue pants. She closes her eyes tightly as she stands in the middle of the parkland, thinking about who she was supposed to meet. Then, ropes come down in front of her, and the girl is frightened. They turn out not to be ropes, but bamboo ropes, and behind those bamboo ropes is a valley. A beautiful valley full of green with a shimmering mirror-clear lake. She walks into the valley like it's a dream. Her hair shimmers in the bright sun/cloud sky.
This girl then sits by the lake and stares at her own reflection for over an hour.
She walks back home to her little apartment in the city, eating rotis with avocado pachadi, but she always remembers the hidden valley.
By FELICITY Merriman

After School Clubs and Dorms

We had to sign up for our after-school activities today. I went up to the desk, flipped through the catalog, and after a while decided on Yearbook and Art Through the Ages. Sonali picked Health Occupations Interns and Field Biology. The electives offered were; Yearbook, Art Through the Ages, Coro Vivo (which Neela is joining), Health Occupations Interns, Field Biology, and Genes: What's in your blood?. I don't think anyone signed up for Genes: What's in your blood?, though. Srajana actually said; "It might be interesting." Ha! What a joke!
School runs 8:30-4:00. Then we have after school activities until dinner, and homework after. Study hours are on weekends too.
We also had lockers assigned today. My locker is number 4. It's nearby to the 7th grade teacher's math classroom and the sixth grade science teacher's classroom.
I'm glad to be getting my blog back. Sonali is visiting her family, and so I get to blog once again! Yay, blog!
Please comment!
Rebecca

I'm Sorry

Sorry, I have not posted in a while, but we've been busy with a crocheting project and soccer camp and of course our summer journals.
School starts on September 6th. For Srajana, she gets two extra days, lucky girl. I picked up my schedule today.

Period 1: Literature with Ms. Yarn (???)
Period 2: Algebra with Miss Buckskin (???) PS from Srajana: It's not my fault I named my rag doll after Kaya's doll, who I actually thought was named Buckskin.
Break
Period 3: Biology with Mr. William
Period 4: U.S. History with Mr. Paddington
Lunch
Period 5: Cheerleading with Miss Harmony
Period 6: French with Miss Secret (???)
Period 7: Musical Drama with THE Miss Madeline.

I'm excited for school to start, alright!
Rebecca R.

I MISS KAYA! (And Chrissa)

Kaya is in Namibia. I miss her sooooo much. Gwen is here, of course, but we can't film anymore for a while because Srajana's camera doesn't have batteries and her mom needs to buy new ones and she has a class that she needs to get ready for. Which is another reason of the lack of pictures recently.
I miss Chrissa too. Everyday, this image comes to mind. Chrissa, with her gentle brown hair in her polka-dotted sundress standing next to me, with my dark brown hair and flashing brown eyes and big smile and t-shirt and pinafore and jeans, and Gwen in front of a glowing pink sky under cherry trees.
Seriously, I'm getting very bored this summer.
Sonali M.

Fiddlin' Round

Filming of the first few scenes is almost over. I play Mrs. Haack, and I get to fiddle around on my violin that I am learning to play! Srajana will be possibly using some of her own fiddle pieces for background music. She was thinking of the Lough Gill, an Irish jig. She won fifth in the fiddle contest in town the other day and she also won a beautiful, gorgeous violin. I'm not great at the violin. Right now I'm learning a minuet by Bach. Srajana fiddles and she is working on a Kuchler Concertino and a Vivaldi G Minor Concerto. Her friend is playing Mozart!
But anyways, I was sewing and the machine kept getting stuck. Srajana fixed it, but then said she would not help again. So I sewed a bit more and the machine was stuck once more, so I was annoyed and came upstairs to blog. Oh-well. I'll try again later.
So.......this is what I've been doing the whole summer.
1. Taking boat rides.
2. Sketching pictures of my home from the outside when I went to visit my family.
3. Going to camp.
4. Visiting farms.
5. Filming.
This evening, Sonali and I will take a walk and record all the sounds outside. It'll be so cool!
Neela

Back From Camp

Back from camp everyone! I came home surprised that a sign inside the school hallway said "Auditions for Movie" Rebecca was at home visiting her family in NYC, but that did not stop us from auditioning-Neela landed the part of Mr. Haack, the apple seller who lost his job as a musician in the Cincinnati Orchestra, his viola being his only possession. I was given the part of Mary Aaker, the daughter of a farmer who left her to try to land an acting role at Hollywood. Gwen plays Kit Kittredge, and Ruthie plays Ruthie. Duh. Rebecca was upset when she came back, but the drama coordinator said she could sub. Here is the plot-line for the movie.

Kit is walking to Ruthie's house so they can go over homework when she sees the sad looking Mr. Haack selling apples and buys a few with the quarter that her dad had given her to buy some beans for soup. Mr. Haack is very happy, but then, Mary. She became a hobo after her dad had left and was abandoned by the others in her group. Shivering and starving, she had watched the fruit seller's stand many times hoping for an apple or two, but the seller laughed and shooed her away. She goes up to try to snatch an apple while Mr. Haack is chatting with Kit, but Mr. Haack sees her and becomes angry and threatens to send for the police. Kit quiets Mr. Haack and invites Mary to come stay with them for a day.
Kit comes home with Mary, and then Ruthie comes over, angry that Kit did not come over. Kit's dad is also angry because she spent the quarter for beans on apples, which they had a plentiful amount of. Kit helps Mary wash up inside the house, and they eat. They do not have a room, so Mary sleeps in the tree house.
Mary feels like she is imposing too much, as Ruthie stops coming over, and Kit's dad leaves for Chicago, and Mary runs away to try to go to California.
Knowing Mary had never gone to school, and does not realize Hollywood is so far away, Kit sets off to make amends with Ruthie and then to try and find the lost Mary.
Sound interesting? Filming of the first scene has already finished.
Sonali (Mary)

Possible Stop Motion

I had an idea for a stop motion when I re-watched the Kit movie the other day. I decided I'll try to make a Kit stop-motion. First, I made a list of what I need, and boy do I need a lot! I'll have to make do with spare fabric and cardboard for a while I SUPPOSE. See, it's a lot of work sewing everything, especially when you don't have any patterns from the 1930s and you don't know how to use a machine, let alone read a pattern. I hand sew everything I make, but I managed to make a fairly 1930's skirt for Gwen out of faded soft pink. I think I want to call the movie Lost: Cincinnati, Ohio.
It'll be about Kit finding a lost Hobo girl and helps her go back to her family. It'll be mostly based on the books, and the movie too, at the same time. This won't be like another movie I made "O Re Chhori" because it'll be an actual stop-motion, not my sister moving the dolls around and dropping them accidentally. Huh? Don't worry about it.
I'm also thinking of doing a Samantha theme-Agnes-It would be about a girl just like Samantha, except not Samantha because I don't have any dark-brown haired dolls besides Ruthie, who is a mini, annoyingly.
Sooo.....whadja think? Lost, or Agnes.
Srajana (Neela's cousin Lakshmi is visiting here now, btw, and wants to try a computer out."
PS: I want to make it about 30 minutes long, so it's going to take a long time.
P.P.S: I might not even do a stop motion.

Jamaica and Miss Matejka

Miss Matejka is a lady who lives in a little house. She owns the whole camp, and also is the cook. She is the best cook in the world. Honestly, yesterday's supper, whole grain bread with carrots and round beef on the side and buttermilk with cantaloupe and cookies for dessert! Mmmmmm..... Her cookies were to die for. Chocolate all the way.......Wasabi peas would be the only thing to make her meals better.
I had this conversation with her. I was helping her bake the cookies, and she asked me....
"Where are you from?"
"Oregon."
"Oh! How nice?"
"Very. But there is quite a lot of rain."
"Where did you live before boarding school?"
"Minnesota."
"Isn't it very cold there?"
"Yes! Much colder than Oregon."
"Colder than Oregon?" she asked, doubtfully.
She still seems to doubt that Minnesota is colder than Oregon. I will have to show her a weather report sometime.
Kaya is in Queen of Spains Valley, Jamaica. She says it's very beautiful, but she is so close to home she can smell it.
Sonali

Iceland and "A'Dancin the Tarantella"

Kaya went to the Iceland today. It' s pretty cool. She said it's beautiful back in Europe, but the weird thing is that it's not icy or snowy at all. "It's very green," she said. "Similar to Oregon. It's very cold, not similar to Oregon like there." (She meant that.)
I enrolled in a cultural dance class here at camp, and we are learning to dance the Tarantella. Tarantella by Drdla is an exciting musical piece that we are a'dancin' to, as our teacher, Maria Ada Barbara Russo says. She is a tall, daring lady, and an amazing dancer. And the Tarantella? Well, all I can say is, that it's amazingly fun!
Camp is going well. Laundry is actually really easy, because the hardest part is just the ironing, and I like ironing. Neela hates gardening, but she likes being outside, so she doesn't mind it too much. I can't believe we have to go home on Friday morning. It's like everything's happening so fast~! Oh well.
Sonali
PS: Kaya is thinking of coming back early! Maybe even by the start of 8th grade~! She says it's possible.

Camp Interactiva and Innerstar University

Kaya went to Haiti. She saw all the earthquake damage, and said it's very, sad. Well, I would have been sad too.
Yesterday, Neela and I, Sonali headed off to Camp Interactiva. Only two students from AG Performing Arts get into the camp every year, AND only the best students academically. They have internet, but only for half an hour, so I have to make this quick. Here is the daily schedule:
7:00-8:00-Breakfast
8:00-9:00-Interactive Social Studies
10:00-11:00-Scrap-booking, Sewing, and Crocheting
11:00-11:30-Marching
11:30-12:30-Picnic Lunch
12:30-1:00-Letter Writing/Cabin Time
1:00-1:30-Country Visits
1:30-2:00-Ballgames
2:00-3:00-Jobs
3:00-4:00-Photography/Hiking
4:00-5:00-Dinner Cooking
5:00-6:00-Comparing/Contrasting Books to Movies
6:00-7:00-Dinner
7:00-8:00-Poetry/Writing
8:00-9:00- Evening Firework Studies/Fireworks
9:00-9:30-Baking Cookies/Cake Decorating
10:00-Lights Out
We are required to write a letter per day. The rules here are very harsh, but the teachers are very nice, except the jobs teacher. We are a tiny camp next to a mostly doll town that has a few people. The camp is free, but we need to do work for the people in the town. You are assigned a job for the whole two weeks. Some are annoying, like household cleaning, which a doll named Julia was given. Yard work was given to one doll named Aisha. One doll was given the job of making greeting cards for a company, and one doing videography for a family. Ah-Jeong gets to help out with lunch service at a place. For jobs, I was given laundry, and Neela given laundry.
My favorite class is interactive social studies. Each doll who has time traveling abilities is the coach of a team, of about five other dolls. We get a "mission", usually something like finding out the rules for strikers, or going to Galileo's time to help him. It's super awesome!
Sonali
PS: Just found out about Innerstar University. It's VERY DUMB, I tell you. I could use the word "stupid" but Srajana says "stupid" is just as bad as any cuss word. If people seem interested in this reasoning, please comment. Not like anyone does that anyways....hint, hint?

Gabon

Kaya is now in some African country I've never heard of. But I don't really care. THIS is Rebecca, by the way. Not Sonali. She has been hogging my blog FOREVER! But it's OK I guess. I kind of want Kaya to come back too. Our school seems smaller without her.
I'm working on a story, and my signature...........but other than that......life is getting boring.......(sigh). Kaya actually said she may come home earlier, but she wants to see a few more places. (re-sigh)...........
ITS SO BORING OVER HERE! Any ideas on what to post about?
Rebecca

BIG HUGE GIGANTIC HAPPY NEWS!

Kaya is now in Fiji. Oh, yeah, she is going to Albert PARK today or what not, but Srajana is going to the park too! THIS IS THE BEST DAY OF THE WHOLE MONTH! Akkkk!!!

SRAJANA'S REALLY, REALLY GOOD FRIEND, AW., WHO LEFT FOUR WHOLE YEARS AGO FOR D.C., AND THEN FOR LOUSIANA, IS COMING TO VISIT! AND WE WILL GO TO THE PARK TO GET SNOWCONES! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Srajana actually wrote that. She likes writing about herself in the third person, but NOW I am here. Yay me! Sonali!

So...........yesterday I was busy working on a book I am reading. I also am trying to write a book, but it's harder than it looks! I filled out a money order to send for some new books, because our librarian takes all the library books at the end of the school year home with her. (don't ask me!)

But yeah, the summer is kicking off well, I guess. I just hope Kaya has fun traveling the world, and will come home SOON!
Sonali

Ecuador

Kaya is now in Ecuador. She is going to Galapagos National Park today, and is very excited. She said it's a nice change after the bustling city of Copenhagen. Next, she will be going to Fiji, and can't wait.
I am busy practicing my flute, but I have been taken more and more interest in the piano and violin. At our school, we are required to take music, so Neela takes singing and plays the ekdara, Julie plays the drums, Rebecca sings, Ruthie plays violin and a little flute, I play flute and a little piano, Felicity plays guitar and sings a little, Gwen plays the harp mostly and violin sometimes, and Kaya played the drums. Julie was very reluctant to share her drum set, so Kaya decided to play the timpani. And she is very good at it! Ruthie was practicing a tarantella the other day on her violin, and I just listened, dazed by the material of the piece.
I sat down at the piano, and played the hardest piece I KNEW. It was the the famous Bach minuet that every pianist can play if they have been playing more than two years. I'm not very good. Srajana's friend E. can play Cat and Mouse by Aaron Copland. She just started, but she is at a flying speed! She says she needs to work on it at least the whole summer! Wow!
In the evening, I worked on my summer homework. It was to write a gavotte or tarantella. I decided to make a gavotte, because they are generally shorter, and easier to play, so they must be easier to write, right? But no! The notes float in my head easily, but I can't remember what the octaves and rhythms are at all! Oh-well.
Sonali

Hot! Hot! Hot! Plus Denmark.

We went through a scorching period of hot-ness here in the Northwest, and I cannot believe how hot it is still! 83 degrees. The other day, Srajana and her friend, who I will call by her first initial, A., walked to the nearby Dollar Tree. They came back, only to check the thermostat to find that the weather a whopping 98 degrees! (Those of you that live in Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, I apologize if this seems like low temperature to you. But it goes the same way for rain in other places-a drizzle for Oregonians here is like a warning to tourists-Don't step outside! But anyways....)
Two days ago, Kaya left Cambodia for Denmark-actually Europe! People are pretty upset over there apparently because of their crushing defeat by the Netherlands. But an audio walk of Copenhagen helped her stop listen to the complaints. She said she could understand most of it, but not nearly all of it. She said she saw a flyer for a "treatment" today, and did not understand what it was, but the person in the future looked very happy and relax, so she signed up. She then found out what a spa treatment was and had her nails painted and her hair curled. She said "I never go to a......spa....." Her next stop is Ecuador! Lucky girl.
So, I am sitting in the flower garden posting this, when I SHOULD be doing distributive property equations. Oh well. Even though school is out, if we are not visiting family, we have to repeat the class we did worst in. Mine is math, and Neela's is social studies. I barely scratched out a 90% in pre-algebra, and I never understood the distributive property......so, yeah. Gwen can't afford a flight to Minnesota and back, so we time travel back a day so we can. Since we are modern dolls, we can't time travel back to "our own time period" so we either need to catch a plane, or time travel back a day. I am the only modern girl who can time travel in our whole school, so I take Gwen with me sometimes. But I miss Kaya so much! I never know exactly where she is, so I can't really meet her in Ecuador, or Fiji, where she is going after Ecuador. Oh well.
Sonali

Cambodia

I have my mp3 in my hand, listening to Ashokan Farewell as I write this. Our school only allows instrumental music, and only fiddle style, or classical. Ashokan Farewell is my favorite violin song, and even though I play flute, I try to play the song on my flute sometimes, since they both use the treble clef.
Kaya is in Cambodia now, and she is visiting Angkor Wat, the second wonder of the world. She said that it is very beautiful, and she likes Cambodia. She liked lying on the beach and then playing in the ocean, but now seeing the beautiful temple complex makes her gasp in wonder. She said she stared up at the top of the building for a whole, full hour. She will be here three or four more days, depending if her flight to Denmark is delayed or not, because she thinks there is a chance....I don't know, complicated airport stuff!
Srajana is scrapbooking, reading, and songwriting. She is trying to make the most out of the summer, and she is hopefully succeeding. She also wants to try soap carving.

Sonali

The Bahamas

Kaya is now in the Bahamas, and she sent us an E-mail.

"Friends at home, I am in the Bahamas. There are very beautiful beaches and there is very much to go. I am sad to go Cambodia. I love the Bahamas! Here is my paper of new English."



We started making a chart of where Kaya is. I will put it here.
July 1: Afghanistan-Kabul
July 2: Afghanistan-Herat
July 3: Afghanistan-Bamiyan
July 4: Bahamas-Beach
Sonali
PS: I need to help Ruthie find a violin paper she wrote. She wrote a book on the violin and wants to get it published, but she can't find one page!

Goodbye, Kaya

Kaya is leaving our school. It's like she came to this school just to know English so she could travel the world. It's awfully sad. She'll be traveling exactly a year, and then she will come back. She will be traveling to all kinds of places. Some more than others. She started crying yesterday when she told us. She will be leaving for Afghanistan tomorrow. Hopefully, she will have fun traveling the world. Kaya insisted on posting this post, so here is what she says;

"Friends of the world, I want you. But I want to look at the world. France, Italy. Uruguay, Costa Rica. To speak Chinese and Spanish. THAT is where I want to be. I."

Kaya is going to a place where they don't speak much English though. Persian is the main language. I hope she will be able to survive away from family and friends.

Sonali

Photo Contest Entry

Summer is a time to enjoy the day of freedom, and to be completely carefree of all questions. It is the day to be with friends, have a picnic in the park, and then go on a horseback ride through a story setting.

Felicity Merriman

The Trick of the Community

Wow, did I ever fall for something! So, I ran over to the truck, and out popped Uncle Max! I just laughed and hugged him. Miss Acres came out and whispered that my punishment could be over. Max can time travel, and he is the one who sent me here to this school. He switches back and forth between the Auguscalientes, Mexico, and Hollywood. He lives in a small community with Mr and Mrs. Marco in Auguscalientes, and in Hollywood, he lives with Mr. and Mrs. Luis. Soooo...............I spent the day with Uncle Max. We time traveled for a little, and then we sat in a small cafe for a lunch. Uncle Max was so funny! He talked to me about everything, absolutely everything. Even about the author's note in Esperanza Rising, one of my favorite books, after Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.
Rebecca

Outside

I am sitting in this cloudy, annoying weather, with my laptop, very bored. I accidentally, and I mean it. Accidentally threw my tray of food on Kaya. Sonali told Mrs. What-is-Her-Face, and I am in trouble. I have to sit out here all afternoon and all night with only my laptop for homework, and I can only come during study hour to eat what ever is left of supper. Usually there is not, so while the others are getting to celebrate with lite microwave popcorn, orange juice, leaf lettuce, turkey ham, buttermilk, and coffee, I'll be surviving over whole grain bread, cantaloupe, broccoli, beef, and low-fat cheese. Maybe with condiments if I am lucky. And let me tell you, the only things I like are broccoli, cheese, and condiments. I hate this stupid school with it's stupid punishments. I think I am becoming much too unfriendly in my postings. I'll try to post later. Oh, wow, there is a big giant blue truck in the driveway of our school. I'll go investigate.
Bye!
Rebecca

MY Dessert Party! Oh yeah.

A glorious piece of vanilla creme cake with a strawberry top........
A German Chocolate cake with strawberry and gummy leaves............
Boy, I had an awesome birthday party! This is Ruthie Smithens here, and I am talking about my dessert party. We had a wide variety of paistries.
"Ahhhh!!!! Que deliciosos postres!"
Everyone came except Gwen, Sonali, and Kaya. Gwen still did not finish her exam, Sonali had detention for some silly reason, and Kaya was not invited.
We munched on all the delicious pasteles that the cooks at the school made. My father payed for them handsomely.
Everyone thought that the cakes were yummy! I'm so happy that everyone had fun. I saved some cake for Gwen and Sonali. I felt bad, so I also kept a slice for Kaya.
The best dessert was a strawberry cheescake on a vanilla crust. It was delicately frosted and practically melted in your mouth.
"Do you have gardens in San Francisco, Julie?"
"At my old house. Yes. Not at my new home. What about you, Ruthie?"

"Yes! I had a wonderful garden!"