Se Promener Dans la Nuit

Hier soir, le 9 Juin, à environ 21:00, mon père, ma mère et moi sommes allé se baladé. C’était amusant parce que nous ne se promenade presque j’aimais après 18 :00.

Nous sommes allés marcher à coté de la rivière. Nous sommes marchés de notre rue, Rue du Faubourg de Saverne, à Rue du Nuée Bleu, puis nous avons tourné à droite, pour se diriger vers la cathédrale.

Après quelques minutes Rue du Nuée Bleu se transforme en Rue du Dôme. Après ça nous sommes allés tout droit. Après plusieurs minutes nous sommes arrivés à la cathédrale.

La cathédrale est très grosse. Elle se mesure 142 mètres en hauteur. Je l’aime beaucoup. Elle est très belle. Mais cette fois il y avait quelque chose différent. À coté de la cathédrale il y avait deux grandes boîtes, environ 10 mètres haut. Sur ces boîtes il y avait des lumières. Ces lumières étaient comme les lumières à un spectacle : petits et noirs avec du papier coloré attaché.

Nous sommes allés à la rivière, cinq minutes de là où nous étions. Nous sommes regardés les bateaux pour environ quinze minutes.

Nous sommes allés pour acheter du crème glacé à l’extérieur d’un petit café. Après ça nous sommes retournés à l’appartement. C’était environ 22 :30 et nous étions fatigués. J’ai aimée cette promenade considérablement.

Performing

Cameron and Meghan's end-of-year concert.





Feel Good Inc.



Highway to Hell



Owner of a Lonely Heart

Our Greece Trip

On May 23rd our family left Strasbourg in order to go to Greece. We took a train to the Frankfurt airport, then a plane to Thessalonica, and finally another plane to the Athens airport. We only had a small dilemma, which is that we went to the wrong gate. The woman at the desk told us to go to B10, and we did that. Just before security, where you get your tickets checked, the person said that we were at the wrong gate. So we turned around, and went to gate A10 instead.

We then took a bus to Voula, a small town right beside Athens. We tracked down Posidonos road, very difficult to do because everything was in Greek, and found our apartment.

We found a small grocery store down the road, where we got most of our food on that trip. There was also a mall close to us with another grocery store and an internet café in it. We used the internet café for email a couple times.

A few days after we got there we went into Athens to go to the Acropolis. The Acropolis is a big raised platform with walls around it, on which there are some temples, including the Parthenon. The Parthenon is a huge temple to the goddess Athena, ordered built by Pericles. We also went into the temple of Athena Nike.

The day before we left we went to Lake Vouliagmenis, which is a mineral lake in a crater. There were tiny fish swimming there, and we swam with them.

We stayed a total of 8 days. The trip back was uneventful, and we were glad to see our apartment when we got there!

Hockey

This year has been tough in some ways, because we do not have all the things we had back home in Canada. For example, we do not have all the computer games we had in Canada, and we also had to pack many of our possessions in boxes to store for ten months. This can sometimes make it a little boring. One of the things that I miss the most is hockey. Here hockey isn’t one of the sports you can watch on TV, unless you get a special channel package. To ease the suffering a bit, my family and I started a NHL hockey pool in early February.

This was the way we did it: I printed out some charts of which players were leading in each category we were including (Goals, Assists, Points, +/-, GAA, Save %), and we took turns picking players. In the end I won the Goals, Assists, Points and Save % categories, and Meghan won the +/- and GAA categories.

Right now we are near the end of the NHL playoffs, for which we started a new pool. I can’t wait for October in Canada, when I will hopefully be able to watch hockey again. Until then wish me luck in our pool!

Tessellations project

By Meghan


By Cameron

Elections for the Iranian Parliament

The Legislative elections for the Iranian parliament or “Majlis of Iran” were held on March 14 2008. The Associated Press news agency reports that 188 out of 290 parliamentary seats have been decided so far. Quoting state television and official news agency Irna, AP says pro-Ahmadinejad politicians have won about 70 seats, reformists 31, and conservative critics of Mr. Ahmadinejad about 43.

Many people say these elections were unfair, as about 40% of the original 7,597 candidates who registered were disqualified, including most reformists, by the Guardians Council for being deemed insufficiently loyal to the 1979 Islamic revolution. Included among those that think it was unfair are the US, which said that Iran had “cooked” the elections by barring reformists, and European Union, which said:

In this regard it expresses its deep regret and disappointment that over a third of prospective candidates were prevented from standing in this year's parliamentary elections.

These exclusions prevented the Iranian people from being able to choose freely amongst the full range of political views in their country and represent a clear violation of the international norms.

As a result, the election was neither fair nor free.

For many people in Iran life may continue to get harder after these recent elections. Despite the president's promise to "put oil money on people's tables", life has been getting tougher for many Iranians.

Inflation is now more than 20%. Unemployment and job insecurity are big problems. Economic mismanagement is as much to blame as international sanctions, though Iran's financial system is facing increasing problems because of the embargo.

Nevertheless, this election has produced a parliament more loyal, if not to the president, then certainly to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. It will be a parliament less likely to challenge the government on matters of foreign policy or human rights.

Those looking and hoping for major change in Iran are likely to be disappointed.

References:

AFP. (2008). Iran reformists call for Tehran vote recount. Retrieved 21 March 2008 from http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hlWsKpMkXqOYw9Suk3vF3GUL3Izg

BBC. (2008). Conservatives win Iran election. Retrieved 21 March 2008 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7297923.stm

BBC. (2008). Q&A: Iran parliamentary election. Retrieved 21 March 2008 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7277990.stm

BBC. (2008). Iran vote may strengthen Ahmadinejad. Retrieved 21 March 2008 from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7282953.stm

Deutsche Welle. (2008). EU Disappointed by Conduct of Elections in Iran. Retrieved 21 March 2008 from http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3195312,00.html

Fruit at rest

By Meghan



By Cameron

Canadians march against military mission in Afghanistan

On March 15, 2008, hundreds of people marched in the streets to protest against the lengthened military mission in Afghanistan. In Toronto, about 1000 people gathered in Queen’s Park and walked around the city. In Ottawa, about 500 people took to the streets to join the peace movement. On March 13, parliament signed a contract to keep approximately 2,500 Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan until 2011. Dylan Penner, an organizer of the movement in Ottawa, said the polls showed that most Canadians wanted troops out by 2009 and that the government “isn’t listening to the people.”

The war was started on October 7, 2001, by the United States and the United Kingdom. The declared purpose of the attack was to capture Osama Bin Laden, destroy al-Qaeda and remove the Taliban regime. Infantry from Canada, the US and the UK were committed in 2002. The first attack removed the Taliban from power, but it has strengthened since. The war has not been very successful in restricting al-Qaeda’s movement. The Afghan government is deteriorating, and has no strong control outside of Kabul.

References

Canwest Digital Media (2008). Hundreds march against military mission in Afghanistan. Retrieved March 20, 2008, from http://www.canada.com/topics/news/story.html?id=afdd7230-44a9-49f0-bda8-61dbc29fbd60&k=38813

Wikepedia. (2008). War in Afghanistan (2001, present). Retrieved March 20, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_in_Afghanistan_(2001%E2%80%93present)

Un jour normal en France

C'est ce que nous faisons normalement dans un jour:

Tous les matins nous nous réveillons à 7:30 ou 8:00 et Papa va chercher une baguette pour le petit déjeuner. Nous mangeons à environ 8:30. Cameron et moi commençons l'école à 9:00. Après l'école, à 14:00, nous allons quelque part comme Centre des Halles, Baggersee, ou Hautepierre pour faire les courses. Ou nous allons au parc: Orangerie, Citadelle, ou Fossé des Remparts. Nous mangeons le dîner à environ 18:00. Puis , nous jouons à l'ordinateur ou nous lisons jusqu'à l'heure du couché, vers 22:00. A l'exception des leçons de musique les mercredis, c'est comment nous passons notre temps à Strasbourg.

Un Jour à Strasbourg

Les jours dans notre appartement sont planifiés très soigneusement et clairement.
J'espère que vous allez aimer!

Chaque Jour à notre appartement, nous nous réveillons entre 7:00 et 8:30. Après ça, nous mangeons le petit déjeuner (habituellement une baguette). À 9 :00 , nous commençons l'école. Nous faisons un sujet de 9 :00 à 10:00, puis un autre de 10:00 à 11:00 et encore de 11:00 à 12:00. À 12:00 nous avons un repos de 30 minutes, puis nous mangeons le déjeuner à 12:30. Quand 13:00 arrive, nous faisons une autre heure d'école pour finir. Entre 14:00 et le dîner (18 :00 à 19:00) nous faisons ce que nous voulons, si nos parents n'ont pas quelque chose de planifiée. Après dîner, nous jouons à l'ordinateur ou lisons lit un livre.

Les jours dans notre appartement sont très structurés. Un dérangement mineur peut se changer en désastre! Heureusement c'est très rare.


Salut de France!

Cameron

Meghan's novel study

The following is my novel study for the book Northern Lights. It is in the form of a slide show.

Meghan's science experiment (1st term)

How surface texture affects friction

Question:

How does surface texture affect the amount of force needed to move an object? I will test three floor surfaces: carpet, parquet flooring, and concrete.

Hypothesis:

I think that concrete will need the most force, parquet flooring will need the least, and carpet somewhere in between.

Materials:

1. a box with a hole in it
2. an elastic band
3. a small weight of about 200 grams
4. scissors
5. a rug
6. a concrete surface
7. parquet flooring

Procedure:

1. put the weight in the box
2. weigh the box with the weight in it
3. cut the elastic band so that it is now an elastic “string”
4. tie the elastic “string” to the hole in the box
5. hold the elastic band straight so that it is going as far as possible, without stretching, and measure it
6. (on the parquet flooring) hold onto the rubber band and drag the box
7. stop the rubber band and box, taking care not to stretch the rubber band any more
8. measure the length of the rubber band
9. repeat steps 6,7, and 8 on a concrete surface and on a carpet (I did it three times on each surface)

Data and observations:

The elastic band is 6.0 cm when it is straight and not stretching.

The rubber band was 7.4, 7.1, and 7.2 cm long when I dragged the box along the concrete. It was 6.5, 6.3, and 6.3 cm long when I dragged it across the parquet flooring. Last, it was 7.0, 7.2, and 7.2 cm long when I dragged it across the carpet.

Analysis:

My hypothesis was mostly right. I thought the concrete would need the most force, but it turns out that concrete and carpet are about the same.

           Concrete   Parquet   Carpet
1st time    7.4 cm    6.5 cm    7.0 cm
2nd time    7.1 cm    6.3 cm    7.2 cm
3rd time    7.2 cm    6.3 cm    7.2 cm

Conclusion:

My conclusion is that it takes the more force to push or pull something on carpet or concrete than it does to push or pull something on parquet flooring.

Reflections:

I think the carpet and the concrete needed the same amount of force because they are both bumpy.

I think the parquet flooring needed the least amount of force because it is a smooth surface and has very little bumps.

I could also do other experiments. I could use different surface textures (wood, towels, or plastic). I could measure the amount of force used to push an object. I could use a spring scale to measure the amount of force needed to lift an object.

The Outsiders: Summary of Chapters 1-3

I chose to do The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton for my Novel Study. Here's a summary of the first three chapters.

In the beginning, Ponyboy was unwisely walking home alone from the “movie house”. Two blocks away from home he got jumped by some Socs (the opposite of Greasers; abbreviation for Socials). They almost cut his hair off, but his “gang” came to the rescue. They are his brothers Soda and Darry, also Two-Bit, Johnny, Steve, and Dally. He managed to make it home with only a bruise on his cheek and a cut on his forehead.
The next day Dally and he went to the drugstore. They goofed around until the manager got wise and made them leave, although not in time to stop Dally from leaving with two packages of Kools. Next they went to the Dingo drive-in and found out what was happening around town, like who’s in jail and who stole what. Later, when it was dark enough, they snuck into the Nightly-Double drive in unpaid and Dally started pestering some Soc girls.
Johnny told Dally to cut it out, which was unusual for him since he usually “can’t say boo to a goose”. It was even more unusual, since he recently got beat up very badly by some vicious Socs. Dally scowled and stalked off, while Johnny and Ponyboy made friends with the Soc girls. Later, Two-Bit showed up and persuaded the girls to let him drive them home. A blue Mustang showed up, and since the girls didn’t like the thought of the fight that could have occurred between the greasers and the car occupants, they allowed the mustang to escort them home.
After that episode, Two-Bit walked home, and Johnny and Ponyboy accidently fell asleep in a lot close to Ponyboy’s house. They woke up at 2:00 a.m., and Ponyboy sprinted home, hoping Darry wouldn’t be too mad. On the contrary, Darry was so livid that he slapped Ponyboy across the face- something that had never happened before. Ponyboy ran away, back to Johnny, who was still in the lot. He eventually decided to walk slowly back home, because Darry seemed so sorry, and he couldn’t cope out on the street alone.

If you enjoyed this summary you should read it yourself!

Watercolour samples

By Cameron



By Meghan

Riverdance in Freiburg

On January 28, we went to Freiburg to see Irish dancing. The group that we went to see is called Riverdance. The train trip was an hour and a half long, half an hour to Offenburg and an hour the rest of the way. We had a good trip, no train cancellations.

When we got there we walked a couple blocks to our hotel. We were staying at Novotel, a very fancy hotel. There was a small swimming pool there. So small, in fact, that we did not go swimming. We also saw some people in that hotel that we thought were going to dance.

At 8:00 we were in a room with a stage and about 1500 other people. In the middle of the show a man came out to sing. Dad said he saw him in the elevator in our hotel. He had goulash for lunch. (Not that that really matters).

It was a good show. Some of it was talking though, and was all in German. At the end we called a taxi to come pick us up and take us to the hotel.

The train trip back was the same, nothing out of the ordinary. So, all in all, our trip to Freiburg was just as we had planned.

Social Studies 7 report

Mesopotamia
By Meghan

This Ziggurat was a pyrimidal structure. Unlike most pyramids, it had a flat top. It was very important to the Sumerians, Babylonians, and Assyrians of Mesopotamia. The step pyramids style began in the early dynastic period. It has a ramp leading to the summit, or a spiral ramp from the base. At the summit there was a temple or shrine.


This is a timeline from 5000 B.C. to 0 B.C. for Sumer, Babylon, Assyria, and Persia. Babylon was ruled first by the Akkadians from 2330 to 2112 then by the Amorites in 1750, by the Kassites in 1159 and finally by the Chaldeans from 606 to 525.



Here is a painting of The hanging gardens. The Hanging Gardens was a wonder of the ancient world. King Nebuchadnezzar had it build for his wife, Amyitis, who was from Media. She missed the meadows and mountains. The Hanging Gardens was said to be more than a hundred feet tall. Herodotus states that the wall was 80 feet thick, 320 feet high, had 250 watchtowers and 100 bronze gates.



This is a statue of Hammurabi, one of the most successful kings of Babylonia. Hammurabi, who created Hammurabi's code, was the sixth king of Babylon. He extended Babylon's control over Mesopotamia by winning a lot of wars against other kings. Although his empire controlled all of Mesopotamia when he died, the later kings could not to maintain his empire.



This is a map of Babylon. Babylon belonged to many civilizations, including the Chaldeans, Sumerians, and Kassites. Nebuchadnezzar is one of the most famous kings who conquered Babylon because he built the Hanging Gardens. Here is a list of the kings of Babylon in the first Dynasty.

Sumu-abum ruled for 14 years

Sumu-la-el ruled for 36 years

Sabium ruled for 14 years

Abil-Sin ruled for 18 years

Sin-muballit ruled 20 years

Hammu-rapi ruled for 43 years

Samsu-iluna ruled 38 years

Abi-eshuh ruled for 28 years

Ammi-Ditana ruled for 37 years

Ammi-Zaduga ruled for 21 years

Samsu-Ditana ruled 32 years

References

Croft-Crossland, C. (n.d.) Babylonians. Retrieved 01 February 2008, from http://home.cfl.rr.com/crossland/AncientCivilizations/Middle_East_Civilizations/Babylonians/babylonians.html

Aelius, H. (2007). Babylon. Retrieved 01 February, 2008 from http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Article/809680

Udyawar, A. (1998). Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Retrieved January 30, 2008, from http://www.geocities.com/Pipeline/4966/garden.html

(2008). Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Retrieved January 29, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanging_Gardens_of_Babylon

Wait, E. (2007). John 1:51 - Jacob’s Ziggurat. Retrieved January 29, 2008, from http://erikwait.blogspot.com/2007/01/john-151-jacobs-ziggurat_07.html

Krystek, L (1998) The Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Retrieved January 30, 2008, from http://unmuseum.mus.pa.us/hangg.htm

Crystal, E. (2008) Akkadia. January 28, 2008, from http://www.crystalinks.com/akkadia.html

(2008). Ziggurat. Retrieved January 29, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziggurat

(2007). Ancient Babylonia - The First Dynasty of Babylon List of Kings. Retrieved January 31, 2008, from http://www.bible-history.com/babylonia/BabyloniaThe_First_Dynasty_of_Babylon_Lis.htm

Our Italy Trip

Cameron writes...

On December 4 we began our first trip to Italy. We had been planning it for a long time, and our dreams were about to be realized!

We left very early in the morning (train was bumping along at about 7:20) and after a long TER (slow train) ride to Basel, Switzerland, we were feeling almost normal. We had about a 30 minute layover in Basel and then got on a Swiss train for the first time in our lives. We ended up sitting next to a Canadian guy who lives in Kitchener-Waterloo and owns a St Louis bar and grill there. Also his daughter plays for the Lugano women’s team, and he says that Todd Bertuzzi has a house three doors down from his. (For all fellow hockey fans, remember that the men’s team there just took on David Aebischer).

We got to Venice at about 6 p.m., and were obligated to buy a vaporetto ticket that cost 24?! as we had no other means of transport. When we got to our apartment there we had a very one sided Italian conversation with the person upstairs who was the go-between, as the owner was away. The next few days we spent walking through the narrow streets, but also visited the Basilica San Marco, and piazza. One day we bought 12-hour passes and visited the island of Murano where all the famous glass is made.

Venice is such an amazing and beautiful city. On the street that looked over a huge “canal” off the south end of Venice, there were a lot of portable “shops”; which were wheeled away by people at the end of the day and brought back again the next morning. We enjoyed looking at them and some of us actually ended up buying some things from them.

The day after we went to Murano we left for Rome on an Italian Eurostar train. It was one of the most modern looking trains we’ve been on so far. We got to Rome very late that night and ended up walking A LOT from the train station to our rented apartment, so we were very glad (and tired) when we finally got there. Over the next few days we went to the Vatican (including the Sistine Chapel and Piazza san Pietro), the Coliseum, the Vittorio Emanuele monument, Trajan’s Column, Trajan’s Forum, and the pyramid.

The Sistine Chapel was totally PACKED; there were hardly any times when you were not smothered by a crowd. Truthfully I much prefer “structurally-beautiful” monuments. They were also putting up a giant Christmas tree in the center of Saint Peter’s Square with a huge crane. (And don’t ask, we didn’t see the pope.) We had lunch by the Vittorio Emanuele monument, but didn’t really go inside or anything of the like. We admired Trajan’s Column and forum which were truly stunning and amazingly intact.

At the Coliseum we walked around inside which was cool, but to truly understand it you need to get an audioguide. It started raining when we were there and didn’t stop until later that day. Also, beside the Coliseum is the Ludus Magnus, the training ground for gladiators. They actually constructed a secret underground passageway between it and the Coliseum so the gladiators weren’t seen on their way to the fights. Of all of the sites that we saw in Rome, my two favourites were the Coliseum and Trajan’s Column/Forum.

On our way back to Strasbourg we took a night train and slept in couchettes. It was actually very fun sleeping in that tiny compartment with the ladder in the middle. We spent most of the evening just reading our books and eventually fell asleep. When we got back we were a little tired, so we didn’t get out much that day.

Overall, though, we were extremely happy to be back home safe and sound after a good two months of much travelling. Now we can just sit down and relax….