3/18

           Next year, I think that Nervous Conditions would be a good book to be read. It was an overall pretty good book, and it wasn't something that was hard to want to read. It was a very engaging book. It is worth reading for next year, because it shows on how people acted a long time ago, and what there lives were like. I teaches a lot, and was a great book over all.
          Reading this shows how lucky we really are. It shows that we need to be grateful for what we have, and how good our lives really are. We take so many things for granite, and this book really put things in a different perspective. Nervous Conditions was surprisingly a lot more enjoyable than what I though it would be. I had no problem reading the book or understanding it, because the work we did together help a lot.
          Being able to choose what to do was great. I wish we could have done Lord of the Flies more like that because it helped a lot. We were able to choose the things that helped us the most, and everyone is different, so everyone learns differently. When we were able to choose what we wanted to do mostly everyone had done at least one thing differently, because the rather do one thing over the other. Also, being able to have to choice about the test was a lot better.
          There one one main thing that I think should be done a little differently and it was the way we had our work days set up. We had a lot of time in class which was very helpful, but I think that it should have been spread out a little more. Most of our time was spend on C layer which was helpful until we got to the A and B layers. I think for next year you should just take at least one or two days from the C layers and add them to the work days for A and B layers. Other than that, I really liked the way you set this up.


Reading details:
A and B layers: 3 hours; watching films and writing papers.

Ch. 10 Nervous Conditions

      Tambu heads off to Sacred Heart, with many different emotions, not knowing how to react to it. Everything was coming together for her, just falling right into place and she was proud. The drive on the way there was making her anxious and ready to get to the school and be declared as a young lady. There was a special lunch arranged in Tambu's  honor, which included chicken and a rich chocolate cake that eve Nyasha couldn't resist to eat and not worry about her weight. The school was amazing, and had everything Tambu could imagine. 

       She realized in disappointment that she was one of if not the only black in the entire school. She searched through the crowed but couldn't seem to find anyone else.  She has a medium sized room with six beds when there should only be four, and four wardrobes and two people will have to share. Babamukuru doesn't seem to be too happy about it.  She joined a lot of languages, and unfamiliar classes. Nyasha wrote Tambu a lot, and let her know things going on. 

Ch. 9 Nervous Conditions

     Tambu has her exams coming up for her school, but before she does there is a group of nuns who came to the mission looking for people to recruit to a Catholic School named Sacred Heart. She is chosen to receive a scholarship to go there but Babamukuru does't allow her because he thinks it would be a waist of money. They need the extra money since Tambu's mother just had a new baby boy. At the mission the nuns were praised and the children admired them because they are seen to be so holy.
    Soon, Tambu is back at the homestead for Christmas and her sisters were happy to see her. Babamukurur talks to her father and says they haven't decided about the school yet, but they will talk about it later when Babamukuru goes to stay for Christmas. They finally talk about it over new years, and he thinks she should not be denied the great oppertunity although there is good and bad things about the school. Her mother is happy for her, but worried about what she will end up being like going to school with all of the whites, and learning their ways.

ch. 8 Nervous Conditions

         Tambu's parents have been living in sin, not being married.  Babamukuru feels as if they need to be married as soon as possible to wash away their sins.  Tambu is getting nervous as the wedding is getting near.  She is not very happy with Babamukuru because she feels like he is making a fool of her parents not already being married. On the other side, she thinks that she is sinning by being mad at him so she has to distract herself.

        Tambu must stay back at the homestead for a little while to do work, and it is very tough for her to do so and she wants to be back at the mission. Soon, she is taken back to the mission where she will please Babamukuru but Nyasha will disappoint him. Tambu's mother comes out to the mission hospital to give birth to their new child. Lucia comes and has Babamukuru find her a job, which he does and everyone praises him. Babamakuru wants to move the wedding up to wash away their sins. 

3/11

     I fell like most people act different ways depending on where they are and who they are with.  When I am at home I am usually quiet and watch tv or do something of that sort.  I like to lock my door and do homework or some other kind of work. Sometimes I will go watch tv somewhere else and sometimes its with my littler sister but not too often. When I am at cheer, I almost feel like I am a different person. I am usually expected to do anything my mom needs help with, and clean my room.
    When I am at cheer, I am always with someone doing something.  I talk to a lot of people while I am there, and do a lot of things to help.  Sometimes I clean the windows or the mirrors, or other things that I usually wouldn't do at my own house. When I am at the gym I like to help and do what ever I can to help, even if it is cleaning or helping with another team. I am usually expected to do what I need to do, and help when one of the coaches needs help.
      Then, when I am at school I am usually pretty quiet, and try to get my work done. I don't like to pay too much attention to a lot of things other than school, but I loose focus pretty easily. Most of the time at school I am quiet, but I can get loud and have fun when I am in a good mood, and not as tired as I have been lately. Most classes have a more quiet atmosphere, but a few have somewhere I am needed to speak and act more. I am expected to do all of my work, and make good grades.
        When I am with my friends, I am a lot louder and more outgoing. Certain people have me act in different ways, because I may know them a little better. When I am with my really good friends, I can be really loud, and almost seem like a different person, but it is who I am and they accept that. Most of my friends don't really have expectations of me, except not to lie to them, and I feel the same way about that.

Reading Times:
3/8- 45 min
3/6 Reading and Annotating Nervous Conditions- 60 min
3/8 Reading and Annotating Nervous Conditions- 60 min
 Total: 165 min

   

1/14 free post

        I know I may not be perfect, or close to it. One of my favorite prays is  "I cannot do everything, but I can do some things what I can do I ought to do by the grace of God I will do," and I feel like this really applies to my life right now. Things aren't easy and they won't always be, but I am trying. Sometimes you just need to accept things as they are, or go do something about it. Let God guide you and things will end up alright.
        Everyone has there own struggles in life, because no one is perfect. We need to accept our imperfections, and other peoples imperfections. God is here to help when we need it, and to help guide us into making the right decisions. When you want something let God guide you to it, and get you through anything that is needed.

1/22 free post

        Cheer competition season is at it's peak right now. I have practice every night, along with my homework. We are working hard adding lots of new skills, and improving on anything that we can. With all of these extra practices at this time, because it is Nationals season, makes keeping up with everything pretty difficult. I do my best to keep everything on a schedule so that I can make sure that it is getting done, but sometimes it's hard to keep up.
         I am tired all the time, and still trying to push through everything to get what i need to get done. I know that the harder I try, the easier everything will be for me to do and to keep up with. Soon, will be one of the biggest competitions of my life and I have to work extra hard to keep up with my work and get what I need to get done at the gym.

3/4 blogs Tambu

     I don't feel bad for not caring about my brothers death, but why should I? He was always mean and acting like he was better than everyone else because he was going to the mission school. When he would come back to visit us, he didn't like to work, he just read and bragged about how nice Babamukuru's house. He acted like he had forgotten Shona, but when ever it was needed, he just so happened to remember it. When I was trying to earn money to go to school, he would steal my mealies, and give them away. So why should I feel bad that he died and I get to go have a good education.
      I am out at Babamukuru's and I am getting to go to the mission. I am really excited to be at Babamukuru's with him and his family. We are about to eat dinner and Maiguru made a really nice dinner. Baba is served first as usually, but Nyasha is rude and starts to eat before he finishes. She doesn't really respect her parents, and I don't really understand why because she has so much from her parents.

2/25 work details

2/23 Awakened- 70 min
2/24 research for new topic- 45 min
2/24 starting rough draft- 40 min
Total: 155 min

2/25 research paper reflection

    As I was writing this paper I did a lot of research. I looked through a lot of different peoples views on why the Holocaust "doesn't" exist. I learned a lot of new things that I had no clue about, because I had kind of touched on the topic but never knew some of the stuff that I learned. After I researched, i found the things that I though would be the most useful to use in my paper, then I wrote my rough draft.
    I didn't have any peer review on this paper, so I had to try to catch my mistakes by myself, but I know I wasn't able to catch them all. I think the next time I write a paper, I am going to try to take more time on it, and really try to get more involved in it than what I was in this one. I think one of the weakest aspects of my paper was my sentence structure, and repetition, but I think the strongest was somewhat word choice and transitions.

Ch. 7 Nervous Conditions

            Before Christmas, Tambu along with Nyasha, Maiguru, and Babamuruku go back to Shona, but Chido doesn't return with them. As they get there, Tambu doesn't see it the same as she used to, because now she has been staying in a much nicer place so its like what she used to have isn't good enough for her anymore. Nothing is clean enough for her to really want to use. She sees that one of her aunts is pregnant with her lazy uncle who isn't suppose to be living in the homestead anymore.
          Tambu also sees that her mother is pregnant, but is also ill and weak and cannot work a lot at the time.  They are having to make lots of food for everyone who is there, but it is a big job for all the women. Some of the meat starts to rot but the women will be the ones who must eat it, and they keep the rest of the meat good for the men. Babamukuru has a meeting with everyone in the homestead but things didn't turn out too well after the meeting.

Ch. 6 nervous conditions

              There was a lot of whites at the Mission school, and they were considered to be holy. While Tambu was at the mission, there wasn't as many white people as there used to be there.  She felt guilty because she did not like to whites, until one day she learned that they were beautiful and she was then able to love them. Tambu says that she has never met black person who has said that they would not want to attend a white school, except for Nyasha. 

            Nyasha is working really hard at school, studying a lot and making sure she knows everything. She starts to loose a lot of weight from being so focused on her work, and having an eating disorder.  Tambu goes to a Christmas party, with is kind of unusual because she doesn't normally go to things like that.  Later on, Babamaruku and Nyasha get in a horrible fight, and Nyasha gets hit twice. After the fight, Babamaruku stays away from the house for a little while, and Nyasha stops eating again.

               

3/4 layer c

    What I did for this layer was blogs, questions, and annotating.  I like the annotating because it helps me understand what is going on and get a better feeling for the characters. The questions are probably something that I might not do again because I didn't really like them. The blogs are easy to write stuff on if you are following along with the book.
   The most useful thing that I did was the probably annotating because I was able to break down a part of the story if I was confused, and to really understand what I was reading. I think the questions were not useful at the time, but will probably be useful later.

Reading times:
Nervous conditions- Class time 30 min. 3/1- 50 min.
Project: questions 45 min.  Blogs: 30 min.
Total: 155 min.

chapter 5 nervous conditions

   Tambu eats dinner with the family for the first time, but soon realizes that she doesn't know proper diner manners. After the dinner she goes to her room, but is then brought into the living room by Ana. While in the living room, Babamukuru talks to Tambu about how lucky she really is to be able to go to the mission and get an education. The next morning she goes off to school and while she is there she sees that the people don't seem to like Nyasha.

    Soon Tambu is learning a lot. She is learning to speak English very well quickly. Tambu also sees that Nyasha is a very ungrateful person, and is kind of rude. Tambu is grateful and is proud of what she is getting to be able to do.