Happy Thanksgiving! :)

My Top Ten List of What I'm Grateful for This Thanksgiving:

1. My family
       My family and I have been through a lot these past couple years. I'm thankful that everyone is okay. We are all going through these rough times together. I'm so lucky that we're all so close.

2. My friends
        My friends and I have been through it all. All the fights, all the drama, but those things just made us stronger. I am so grateful that we are all so close and that they're still there when i need some advice or a shoulder to cry on. They are my true friends and hopefully I'd remain friends with them for the rest of my life. :)

3. Being healthy 
        I'm so grateful for being healthy. Although some people in my family are going through difficult times with their health, I pray for them that they will get better. 
 
4. Having a roof over my head
        Many people around the world don't have some sort of shelter. Many people cannot afford it. I feel so privileged to have a nice house. 

5. Having food
        I'm so grateful to have food through these hard times where many people are starving. If I could I would give most of my food away to some who really needs it.

6. Being able to go on trips every year
        Pretty much every year my grandma takes us to Disney World. I'm so grateful because most people can't afford to go every year. My grandma plans these trips for my brother, sisters, and I and we are all so thankful.

7. Movies
        I love to watch movies. Movies have so many genres, so you have a lot to chose from. So, without them I don't have a connection to the outside world.

8. The T.V.
        That is also my connection to what's going on in the T.V. world. The T.V. is very helpful.

9. The computer
        Most of my life is on my computer.... so without it I don't have a life.

10.Having an education
        I am very thankful for having an education because without it I wouldn't be at Stevenson.
       

Reflection on Walkabout and Rabbit Proof Fence

     Walkabout and Rabbit Proof Fence have the same group of people, Aborigines. This group of people are from Western and Northern Australia. Aborigines are Australia's indigenous people. Recent government statistics counted approximately 400,000 aboriginal people, or about 2% of Australia's total population. Their race is dieing out quickly.

    
      In Walkabout, a boy and a girl just survived in a plane crash. They landed somewhere in Western Australia. They were coming from South Carolina to Australia to see their uncle who lives in Adelaide, which is in southern Australia. After walking around for sometime, the kids meet the bush boy, who is on his walkabout. A walkabout is a rite of passage during which male Aborigine would undergo a journey during adolescence and live in the wilderness for a period as long as six months. He helps the kids, Mary and Peter, to find their uncle.

      Rabbit Proof Fence is about three "half-caste" girls Molly, Gracie, and Daisy, who are taken from their home and forced into Moore River Native Settlement. These officials believed that assimilation could be achieved through a period of "identity reorientation" which ensured that children only spoke English, had little contact with "full bloods", including members of their own family and Aboriginal customs, and were schooled in European beliefs and customs such as Christianity, and domestic and laboring duties. After being there for only one day, the girls escape to go back to Jigalong. Rabbit Proof Fence is the story of their incredible 2400-kilometer journey home. 
      
      I thought this book and movie were very heart touching. Although I enjoyed the movie more, the book was still enjoyable. Walkabout and Rabbit Proof Fence (RBF) were both easy to understood what was going even though Walkabout was a book and RBF was a movie. I would love to see the movie "Walkabout" and read the book "Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence" by Doris Pilkington, Molly's daughter. Walkabout and RBF really opened my eyes about the Aborigines.