Stamps can be beautiful

Today, one aunty sent me some stamps. Her name is Aunty Valerie. I liked them very much.

One stamp is from India. It is the Taj Mahal, Rs 15. There is another Indian stamp, which shows a dog picture. Rs 5. There's another stamp, it's from Kenya. It shows a picture of cashews hanging from the tree with a 50 cents (?) denomination. This stamp comes from the Australia. It shows a picture of a man bending down and he got rainbow colours. 50 cents. Memborune Commonwealth Games.

There are many other stamps. I'll just tell you'll. There are other stamps with pictures of flowers, of birds, of leaves, of stars, of butterflies, of plants, etc.

Stamp collecting is fun because you can collect old stamps, and you can call friends to your house and show them stamps. You can agree which they like. If you can also take each others'. That's why I like stamps. It's good fun to collect also. Sometimes people give me stamps. Like my grandfather. I give others also, sometimes without exchanging. With my grandfather, we exchange together most of the time. He got his stamps; I like his stamps.

Keeping busy in summer

This holiday there were many summer camps. I went for two. One was in the church and one was in the club. I enjoyed the club one more.

We used to play games, and they used to teach us things. In the church, we learnt songs.

Abigail, Gabe and Heide and Sachi and my cousin Kaira, and Jo-Ancy (a girl who used to be in playschool with me when she was small) also came to the church camp.

Now we're doing the children who came for the club camp: Abigail, Gabe, Heidi, Sachi, Simi and Simron (the twins), Suhail and Tarika, George and Victi, Denise, Shawna, Annika and Conroy, Alister and Eric, Sparsh and Sunika, Joshua and Keenan and Nora, and other too came.

The best activity that I liked was when played games. My favourite game was Chocolate Tiger. Somebody stands in the front here, and looks in front. They close that person's eyes. Some children come in walking from the back. Whenever they come walking, the one with closed eyes says stop. If they shake or fall down they are out.

At the end of club camp we had a little play. I was in the play too, and I was acting like one of the grandchildren.

The story is like this: One day, the children's grandparents were travelling to see them. When they landed at the airport, the robbers came. They were startled. They said, "Please leave us alone. We are very old. You take this (our suitcase) and go." Grandparents arrive home. Grandchildren are very happy, and start shouting. Then, the grandparents tell them, "We have bad news for you. We were attacked on the airport. Fortunately nothing happened." Then, one grandchild said, "Granny, but you promised."

Thought the grandparents could not bring anything for their grandchildren, the grandchildren were happy with all they had done for them in the past. The moral of the story is that we should be grateful to everybody for what they have done for us.

In the church camp, there were many dances. They didn't have plays. I did a song. There were two songs, called 'Gonna Walk' and 'This Train'. I was in the first.

Gonna walk
This lonesone valley
Gonna walk
It by myself
Nobody can
walk it for me
Gonna walk
It by myself

This train is
bound for glory
Carries nothing
but the blessed and the holy

There were two dances too. The Portuguese dance and our dance. I was involved in the mando. They played the cassettee and we danced. Many children danced. There were too many girls and less boys, so they took some girls and made them boys. They made me and my friends Abby and Heidi a boy, but Gabe was a girl.

At the moment, there is a small camp for the big children that's going on in the sports hall of the Lourdes Convent. They talk about religious things and sing hymns and also have some entertainment in the evening. My brother saw them putting their noses in the bucket during one of their games. Some girls were laughing, he told me.

Tell me the name of this mango, please

Mangoes are not my best fruit, but they are somewhat.... We get mangoes only in May. We also got a big mango tree at home. I like those mangoes very much; they're my best mangoes.

They are not Mankurad (malcurada) mangoes. I don't know what kind of mangoes they are; and even my parents don't. Can somebody please tell me? If I get the information I would be very happy. They are green coloured mangoes, and big, and sweet and juicy. They contain natural sugar. I like them very much.

When the mangoes are green, they're not raw but ripe.

My brother Aren, who will be three in August, doesn't like the green mangoes from our tree. He only likes Mankurad mangoes very much.

Funny and cute

My brother Aren's words are very funny and cute. When I give him something, he says, 'Tank You'. When somebody doesn't give him something he wants, he says, "Stupid donkey."

When my Dada brings his favourite food biryani, he calls it 'bil-yani' and jumps in the air. He sees the cartoon named Sabrina, where they say "Yes" (with their hands out), so he tries to say the same when he's happy.

He says for his bus, "Volvo bus". It's actually a simple bus. But he likes Volvo buses quite a lot.

When somebody calls him 'Babulo', he says, "Don't call me 'Babulo', call me A-R-E-N Aren." Whenever I go to play with my friends, and he doesn't come, he cries, "Riza, Riza, don't go, come play with me." First I used to not come, but now I play with him.

When he does something naughty, he puts his tongue out and does it. When he's told to kneel in the corner, he's very happy. He goes running and kneels down, but he holds onto the chair.

Three sketches

[Below, the beautiful mushroom, the pink butterfly and the shade tree, from Riza's collection of sketches.] If you want to learn to draw properly, then first you copy from books.

Once you copy from books, you become better at it, and you can draw without looking.

If you want to make a good drawing, you've got to colour the page fully. But if it's not needed, don't colour it.

If you use felt pens, you can use them for the outline, which is good.

If you use them to colour the full page, then all the marks show behind, so you mustn't do that. My teacher told us not to use felt because all the back-page becomes all spoilt.

I'm still only learning to draw everyday.

When I'm colouring from my colouring book, I don't ask my Daddy for papers.

But whenever I'm doing drawing I ask my Daddy for two or three papers, and then I draw. He says, "Okay" and gives me, but first he says "you must write two blog enteries, then only I'll give you papers."

Mrs. Turtle

I like to draw. Drawing is lots of fun, because it's lot of fun to me. You can make cards for people birthday. My Mama also asks me to draw many drawings for her. I draw for my friends.

My favourite drawings are birds and sceneries. In school, they taught us to draw many things, but my favourite was a lotus. Rukshanda likes to draw, and Suhail too. Many other children, including Dipti, like to draw.

We use Faber Castel crayons to draw, and felt-pens for the outline. My best colour are Faber Castel, because they colour very darkly. Pencil colours, I don't like them so much because everytime the point breaks and I have to sharpen, sharpen, sharpen. Crayons colour very darkly and smoothly.

If you draw very often it's nice, because then you will know to draw well, and you can become an artist.

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Mrs Turtle: I drew this at home, at around 2.30 (I don't know the date properly) during my holidays. I copied the drawing from the 'Magic Pot', a very good magazine where they tell you stories, and you got to colour, copy drawings, and colour one drawing and send it. When I was a small girl, they gave me a clay set. Earlier, they used to give Tom and Jerry puzzles. Afterwards I got a 'Magic Pot' bag.

My Konkani book

This is my first standard Konkani book. I like Konkani very much. I learn Konkani in the Devanagiri script. Devanagiri script is very easy. I'll read out the first lesson for you: "Pat Ek. Tan, tan. Tan, tan, tan. Gan, gan, gan. Chal, chal. Ta-na, tan. Gah-na, gan. Ch-le, chal. Te, ne, ge, le, cha".

I know some of you cannot understand Konkani very well, so I will transfer it in English for you: Part I. Ting, ting. Ting, ting, ting. Dong, dong, dong. Walk, walk. Tn, Gn, Cl. T, N, G, L, C."

Most of you'll have not understood much of this, so I'll translate again. This is a story of children going to school. The school-bell is ringing. All the children gather to go in their class. 'Tan' and 'gan' are the sounds of the bell. 'Chal' means walk (to school).

At the last line of each lesson are all the (new) alphabets that come up in the lesson.

At first, I was not good in Konkani. But I didn't want to give up. I tried, and now I got it. I know Konkani a little. I find it easy. But I like English better, because I talk English at home.

My favourite languages are English and Hindi. I talk Hindi in Bombay with my friends. In Bombay, the TV programmes only come in Hindi. Only some of the big people's channels come in English. So that's why I know a little of Hindi.

Tarzan, Alladin and Ariel the Little Mermaid (with Snow White, Aurora and Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves, and Jungle Book sometimes) all come in Hindi. Barbie speaks Hindi. All the channels have to talk in Hindi, because it's Bombay.

When I went to Bombay and watched TV the first time, they used to talk in English (on the TV). But afterwards they changed it to Hindi. When I saw it the next time, I was surprised to see them talking in Hindi, and so I started learning Hindi.

I was very surprised about how Barbie and Tarzan (and Rainbow Girl too) speak in Hindi. Because I feel it's quite funny to see foreigners talking Hindi!

I'm going to Bombay

I am going to Bombay. In Bombay, I'm going to meet my mother's mother (Granmee) and my mother's brother (Joce). I'm going to do so many nice things in Bombay in my holidays. Playing with all my friends. And playing with my Barbie dolls. I'll take my own Barbie doll from Goa. And all my other toys which are there.

Sometimes, we might go to the swimming pool. I love to swim. Now I'm still learning to swim, and I feel it's also lots of fun.

First, I go to visit friends and cousins who are in Bombay. I have one cousin (Brendan) and many friends. I have plenty other cousins, but they are not my small cousins.

Bombay is also called Mumbai. I call it Mumbai; my brother calls it Bombay. It is quite far; I don't know how far. Mostly, I travel on train to Bombay. I sleep in the train and feel very nice; there's no noise of anything. And I get up at six or seven in the morning. When I get up, I am close to Bombay city. We get out at Bombay.

In Bombay, I also play with Grandmee and Joce. I go to Bombay for holidays, and sometimes I take leave from school for special occasions -- like weddings or funerals.

[I got a photo of Borivali from Flickr. My daddy he helped me to get the photo from Flickr. Copyleft. Copyleft means anybody in the world can copy that photo. Copyright means nobody can copy the photo, it's only yours. I think that Copyleft is better, because then you copy it and everybody gets to copy it. I feel happy when somebody else gets to copy mine. We're showing generosity and we are also showing that we're sharing. That's what I like. The photo is about all caves that are very old, two thousand years old!]

Coco Rio

Coco Rio was my pet cock. He used to peck everybody. He used to peck my Mama, the maid, and everybody in the house. We were all fed-up of him, and so we sold him.

But after that, I felt sad. Because the garden became quiet, and there was nobody making a noise. He used to crow early in the morning and wake me up very early. But I used to go back to sleep, ah. Sometimes, when I was in a good mood, I used to get up.

One day he woke me up at 5 o'clock. The morning was all dark. So I came out and said, "Shoo, shoo". So he went away, and I went back to sleep in my bed.

I had many other hens, but we sold them all. What's the point of telling everybody?

All about animals

There are many nice animals. I feel that God has created so many animals. Animals that we keep in the home are cats, dogs, goats, cows, squirrels, fishes also, and turtles. Wild animals are those which are in the jungle. Like the lion, tiget, deer, antelopes, foxes, vizens.

In Konkani, the names of wild animals are shiv, wagh, haran, kolo, and those of tame animals are suno, mazor, bokddi and gai. I don't know what you call the others. That's why I didn't want to add.

I like kittens and puppies very much. You know why? Because they're so playful and so loving. Only when you irritate them, they scratch you or bite, otherwise they are very loving animals.

I'll tell you the story of my cat and me. The mother-cat's name is Spotty. She came to our house, walking. She came since her mistress died. I took a lot of biscuits and fed her with them; we gave her a nice bowl of milk to drink. She became friendly, and started coming day-by-day to our house. She started liking us very much.

One day, I went to my friend's house to stay for the night. I came back the next morning. My granpa told me, "Surprise." I came running and said, "What happened, Grandpa?" He said, "Your cat has littered kittens."

Three kittens were born. The biggest was Tigger. The middle one was Spotty. The last was Whitey.

My grandpa said that Whitey left the house. The mother also left the house, and so did Tigger. Now we have only one kitten left, and she's my orphan. I take very good care of her.

One day, I took her in the garden, and put her in my alms. She got angry; I was not leaving her, and she scratched me. I cried. Then my brother told me, "Don't worry, Riza. You'll be okay." Then, I was better, and I started to play again.

Dogs are also my favourite pets. Because dogs are very friendly, and they lick you and play with you. My dog's name is Banshi. She likes me very much. She also plays with me often.

When we were small, our pets were not used to us. I will tell you what happened with my brother and Banshi on another day....

Some of my photographs...

When I was small I had very long hair. One day, we went to Calangute to take our photos to join Taekwondo. My nana combed my hair, and I had to stand on a stool because I was small. (See photo.)

When I was even smaller, when I was only two years old, my Mummy and Daddy wanted to take a photo of me. They took me to Mapusa. The photographer put me on a stool. He told me to smile. So I did this (made a funny face). I didn't know to smile...

My daddy takes a lot of photos of me, my friends, other children and other things. My Mummy takes photos when I am dressed up for a fancy dress, and on other occasions.

Daddy's photos are all black and in the computer. Mummy's photos are in the album, and in colour.

Chicken flu in our town

My daddy showed me the newspapers and told me that there is a chicken flu in town. When I was going past Royal Chicken at Calangute, I thought they wouldn't get any money (business) because people would not be coming there.

When I passed by, I saw a few foreigners sitting there, and ordering. They were eating. They like the food, and since they have come from foreign they don't know that there was a chicken flu.

At the Carnival

At the Carnival there were many floats. And in those floats there were many people, dressed up differently. I saw just plain girls. Then I saw cartoons from the TV. Then I saw lots more.

There was lots, lots, lots of nice music. But because my dada was taking some photos, I didn't see part of the Carnival. Then I went to Cafe Tato and ate a nice 'chole masala'; I like it because it's a very tasty snack. Isabel was there with Uncle Cajy and my daddy.

It was so much fun at the Carnival.

I also met my friend Isabel with her daddy, and Tarika and Sohail, and George and Victoria and Leticia. They were with George and Victoria's daddy.

The Carnival was from last Saturday till Tuesday. I went for for the Carnival parade near the Panjim Mandovi bridge. There were Carnivals in Panjim, in Mapusa, in Calangute and elsewhere.

On Wednesday morning, I put ash on my head. Because we have Ash Wednesday. Sister told us not to eat sweets, chewing-gum, or drink ice-candy and not to play if you want to do a sacrifice. I will do the sacrifice of not eating Chitos, Kurkure and junk-food.

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Photo of my friend George, who is acting like a clown. Viva!

Bob, Open The Bottle Tak-Tak

The other day, Bob came to my house. He is a big-man. My father told me that he is a big shot. He comes from Marblehead, and he gets snow in his house. He took my tuition book and drew a tortoise on it.

He talked about Pineapple Almeida, about Harry Potter's real name, and he told me a little story. The story was about a boy, who was asked by the police for his name. He said his name was 'Shaddup'. The policeman thought he was saying "Shut-Up" to him, and sent him to jail.

Bob is a very funny guy. My brother asked to open the Pepsi Cola bottle. Bob asked whether he could do it. He put his finger in his mouth and made a very funny [bottle-opening] sound.

My brother also said Bob is very funny. He called him Bob The Builder, because there is a cartoon with the song: "Bob the Builder, Bob the Builder. Can we fix it? Yes we can..." My brother often watches this cartoon, and when Bob came he thought he was Bob The Builder.

When he went back home, he wrote to my dad, saying: "I was delighted to meet Riza and Aren, especially the former, who is a charming kid with all her chatter. Tell her I've met Pineapple Almeida over here and he wants to say that 'Life is not a potato.' And he knows Harry Potter personally. Knew his mother, Jill Hill, way back when."
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FOOTNOTE: Bob is Robert S Newman, anthropologist based in Marblehead, MA, who has been researching and authoring papers on Goa over the past two decades. -FN

Accidents on the road

When I went to school on Monday, Suhail told me that my friends had met with an accident. I got a surprise. Two days earlier (on Saturday) when I was going to Panjim with my dad for an outing, I saw that there were a lot of people and police on the road Sangolda.

When we were going to Panjim, my mother told us: "Be careful, there are two or three accidents on the road." I also saw another accident at Porvorim. My Daddy told me that a Father from Arpora had died in the accident. Uncle Robert also fractured his hand and leg. My father showed me all the photos of the accidents in the newspapers.

My friend Abigail, Gabbie and Heidi's car got b-a-s-h-e-d, and the lights got jammed.

Accidents are not good. They're dangerous. Please drive safely, and not in a zoom-zoom way.

Something about Shabnam

Shabnam is my tution teacher. She teaches me all subjects. I like my tuition teacher, because she teaches me very nicely, and in the exams I pass well. She also takes Konkani, which is my weakest subject.

She is good to me, and also kind. She comes at 3 o'clock, and goes at 4 o'clock. She talks very nicely and sweetly. Her favourite clothes are a purple sherwani-kurta. She is 21 years old. She has one small brother, and a big brother. The small brother's name is Shadab, and he is in the sixth standard.

She always asks me which lesson I want to do first. I say Maths. Because Maths is lot of fun, and there are shapes in Maths, which you can learn about. There are also sums, which I like best. And tables too. I know my tables of nine (novacho paddo), and of five, four, three, two, one. Also ten, and eleven. I don't know the tables of six, seven and eight too well. Tables of 10 and 11 (from the big tables) and of zero and one (from the same tables) are the easiest.

Drawing I find very easy. But I find craft very difficult. Shabnam teaches me for my craft exam.

I know to read quite small books, and now I'm learning to read big and bigger books. I want to learn to read so that when I grow big I can read big Harry Potter books, and other books. I would also be able to read the newspapers, when there are accidents or something. I would also be able to learn goodnight stories to my brother. My tuition teacher and my mother are helping me to read. Shabname makes me read my school English grammer book, and my mother teaches me different big fat books.

My tuition teacher is very kind to me; I like my tuition teacher very much.

A wedding in Bombay

My mother's god-father Uncle Mario recently brought a photo of a wedding which I attended.

I went to Bombay on January 4, 2006. I couldn't wait for the wedding. as I was the flower-girl. Vanessa, my cousin, was getting married to Dexter. (He was not my uncle, but now he became so.)

Many of my cousins came to Bombay (Borivali) and they were staying in Lionel's house, which is just at the side of my grandmother's flat.

On the day of the wedding, I went at 1 o'clock to their house. We dressed up, and the photos were taken by 3 o'clock. The wedding was in the church, at the Mary Immaculate Church, which is close to our home.

My brother Aren came for the Mass.

Tammy and Danika were the other two flower-girls, and Halley and another big girl were the bride's maids. There were two best-men, and a page-boy. Danika was the smallest. She and the page-boy were walking arm-in-arm and everyone said, "So cute." Tammy and myself were behind them.

I have been flower-girl for three weddings so far. First for Dolly, my cousin. Then for Eula, my mother's friend. And Vanessa's. When I was a small girl (three years old) I didn't know how to be a flower-girl; but now I know.

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In photo (from left) Aunty Charlotte, Gavin, Aren (reaching for my hair), mama, me, Uncle Dexter, Aunty Vanessa, Uncle Joe, Aunty Sylvie, and Ian (who is becoming a priest). This photo was taken by the photographers.

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Picnics are lotsa fun

Last week we went for a picnic. We went to Bicholim and Mayem lake. We saw pottery there. And we went to see three factories.

Then, we got so tired. At least we reached the picnic spot. We settled down. And we ate out food and then started playing.

I was playing with Isabel. She didn't bring a bedsheet to sit on, so she collected all the towels on the ground and started sleeping. Zzzzzzzzz.... She took a handkerchief and covered face. She was just lying down.

We had so much fun. By playing and all.

Last, they took us to the park at Mayem Lake. Then, only those who had two rupees with them could buy ice-cream. I bought two; I gave Isabel one and I had one.

Teacher Sybil, Teacher Savia, Teacher Bella, Teacher Judy, Teacher Rosy, Teacher Maria, Sister Angeline and another teacher from the first standard also came. Our school Aunty, who keeps the place clean and tidy, was in the first standard bus.

Two buses went together. The first standard was together with the fourth standard. The second standard was with the third standard. I like picnics very much, and they're lots of fun to me.

Dr. Elephant

Have you ever seen an elephant that acts like a doctor? I saw one in the Empire Circus at Mapusa, yesterday.

At the circus, I also saw a horse on which a boy was standing, and taking out all his clothes -- he had many -- even while the horse was running. He finally had a shiny top and a shiny pant on.

I saw a donkey. It was running round and round on the circus grounds, and a man kept hitting him. I was feeling very sad.

There was one big man, and he was a 40-year-old man. But he was a dwarf. He had a whistle and he was blowing it. Someone else took his whistle and hid it in his pants. And whenever the man turned around, the shistle kept blowing. I found it very funny.

I laugh at dwarfs because they are very funny. I also feel sad for them; but they act nicely. It's so funny.

There were two grils, and they were moving with a stick. Like this. Parrots of many colours were on the stick. The girls kept going back with the parrots on the stick.

The elephants only played "doctor doctor". The Doctor Elephant was also dressed up like a doctor. He brought a ... what's it called... yes, a stethoscope, and he checked the other elephant. Then, he went back and brought a screw-driver. The Doctor Elephant took the screw-driver and poked the other elephant. It was like an injection! We clapped, and we were so happy.

My friends were with me at the circus. Their names were Joshua, Keenan, Nora, Abigail, Gabi, Heidi, Saachi, Rajat and two other boys. My brother came later, because he is small and because he cannot stay for a so long while, because he gets bored.

Now, I had enough of this. Don't write that....

Sometimes good, sometimes bad...

My brother's name is Aren. He is two years old. Sometimes, he is good to me. Sometimes, he is bad to me. When he is good, he plays with me nicely. When he is bad, he beats me, and pulls my hair. He says, "Bad girl, Riza."

Before my brother was born, I used to go to the chapel and pray everyday, "Jesus, give me a little brother." One day, Jesus heard my prayers. I got a baby brother.

My father took my Mama to the hospital.

Then, in the evening, at about 5 o'clock, my Daddy phoned me up. I said, "Daddy, do I have a sister or a brother?" He said, "You have a little brother." When I heard that, I started jumping. I was happy.

Then, my Daddy came home. He told me, "Come on, let's go to the hospital." I saw my little brother. He was sleeping. He looked wonderful, I thought to myself. I said, "My baby brother!" He got up. He started crying. "Weehhhhhnnnnn". My Daddy carried him and said, "Don't cry little boy."

When he was just born, I asked him 'What's your name?' He blew a big bubble and said, "Ah-poo-poo-zuh!"

Grandmee was with us to help; she came down from Bombay. She came with us to the hospital. After the baby was born, my godfather and uncle (mother's brother) Joce also came down.

Before he was born, I didn't know what to call him. First I thought of calling him Bonny. Then, I thought of calling him Johnny. Then, my Mother said, "No." Everyone decided to call him Aren. My father pronounces the name as Ah-ren. My mother calls him Aron. My grandfather calls him Bootikens. My nana calls him Baba. Joce calls him "Rajaboy". Grandmee calls him "My Nunooboy". If anyone asks him his name, he says, "I'm not Baba. I'm A-R-E-N Aren."

Aren like chicken. He also likes juices; his favourite juice is guava juice. He drinks a lot of water. He likes to eat biscuits. His best junk food is Chitos, which are a kind of sometimes-spicy sometimes-sweet sometimes-plain cheesy stuff.

He is in Teacher Cherie's Play School, in Saligao. His best friend in the school is Alea.

When I get punished, he takes up for me.[He says in a stern voice, "Mama, don't shout at Riza...."] And when he is punished, I take up for him. But, we cannot stop fighting on our own.

I love my brother. He loves me too.

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Photos (above) Aren a few months old and (below) at Calangute beach, September 2004.

Mixed feelings about Barbie

Some children like Barbie, and some children don't like Barbie.

First, I used to like Barbie. We had a team of Barbie. Now, we like another team called Wins Club. My friends often tell me, "You got to like only one team." But I like both. Barbie and Wins Club.

Some children also don't like Barbie, because they like many other things. My Daddy says Barbie spends all her time dressing up and combing her hair. My father also says Barbie is not interested in being smart.

I like the Barbie Princess, Dahlia, Barbie of Swan Lake, Barbie of Rapunzel, Barbie and the Pauper.

I have three dolls. One doll's name is Aurora. The other doll's name is Beauty, and the other one is Candy. One of the dolls, Uncle Kevin gave me in Bombay. The other was a birthday gift from my mother. And the third, somebody gave it to me.... My Daddy also gave me one, her name was Swan Lake.

Abigail is the one who has the most Barbies, but her little sister spoils them sometimes.

I mean I like Barbie. I have read three Barbie books -- The Dream Skipper, Star Baby Sitter Barbie I've read myself. I spelt them hard. I only could get the small words.

Barbie of Morocco is a very nice book. It is a story of Barbie going to Morocco. There, she stays in a palace and makes a friend, Fatima, the princess of Morocco. They also have a big party.

My brother likes Barbies. I thought the other boys don't like Barbies. But one boy, who came for the reading club, had a small Barbie sticker with him.

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Photos, on top, Barbie. Above, Cindrella, Aurora and Snow White.

Me and my friends

Photo below: Simron, me, Heidi

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Now I would like to tell you the names of some of my friends.

My best friend's name is Abigail (and Isabel). Abigail is the leader of our team. The name of my team is the Winsclub Team. Blue, Stella, Techna, Glenda, Flora are the members of this team. (Abi, Gabi, Heidi, Isabel and me.)

My other friends are Gabi, Heidi, Lianne, and Sacchi. Sacchi has two twin sisters, named Simmi and Simron. They are cute. Whenever I come, they run and open the door.

My teacher's name is Teacher Sybil. She is good to me. She often takes us down for games. She also gives us drawing, which is my best subject.

My friend in my class is Suhail. Cheryl is also my friend. And Shivona.

In my reading class, I have many friends too. Harvey, Havana, Malaika, Abigail, Gabi, Heidi, Isabel, Nina, George and Victoria.

One day, I went to the beach. I was with my friend Isabel.

We were walking around on the beach. Suddenly, we saw a girl. I said to my friend Isabel, "Let's make friends with that girl." So she said, "Okay. Let's go."

I held her hand, and we said, "Hello. What is your name?"

She was eating something. She said "Life".

Then, she started playing with us. We asked her, "Where is your mother?" She said her mother is in England. She said, I have come with my friends.

Me and my friend took our buckets. We filled water, and we started playing. We were playing so much that we had such a good time at the beach... Okay, finished. I'm going....

A fan

I am a great fan of the Harry Potter movies. I often trouble my Mama and Dada to take me for the Harry Potter movies. They say, "No. It is too scary." I say, "Okay".
I also often like to read the books. I feel the books and the movies are very interesting. Harry Potter is very famous. All the kids like him.
One day, my cousins told me that they have six books of Harry Potter. They love to read them, and they almost read them every day.
When I went to Bombay, I had carried one Harry Potter with me. My cousin Ritchie used to read it every day. He read the full book. It was very interesting.

Riza... and The Butterfly

My name is Riza. I am in the second standard. I am seven years old. I have a little brother named Aren. He is two years old. His school's name is Play School. I want to tell a little story. The name of the story is The Little Butterfly:

Once there was a butterfly. One day, the butterfly went for a walk. He was playing with his friends, and suddenly it got late. It became dark. The poor butterfly didn't know his way home. He was lost. And frightened.

Suddenly, he heard a sound. A butterfly like him came up to him. The other butterfly said: "Are you lost?"

He said, "Yes I am."

The other butterfly asked: "What is your mother's name?"

He replied: "Ella."

"Oh," said the other butterfly. "I know your mother. I will take you to your home." Then, she held his hand, and she told him, "Don't worry. I will take you home."

She took him home, and suddenly he reached his own home.

He was glad to see his mother and father. His mother and father told him to never go out like that again.

The moral of the story is: first tell your parents and then go.