I have chosen option one of our CAP activity. The task requires me to build the stages of a successful short story.
 The theme: Trust

Some background information: 
The following short story will concern itself with the life of a young woman, Amy, and the conflict she is faced with.  The plot of the story circles around Amy having found sickening pictures of tortured people with missing limbs and in revolting conditions in her boss's office. Towards the end of the story, a turn of events will take place and present every character in a different light.Clearly she links these images with her Boss's often aggressive personality that she has to bear with in order to keep her job.

Your Future

Grade twelve is just around the corner, and before we know it we'll be collecting our Diploma and it'll all be over. All of a sudden your friends are gone, peppered over the planet like sprinkles and all you'll have left is memories and their snapchat screenshots. We all tend to picture ourselves with them, forever. Unfortunately no matter how close we are, the differences within us define us and determine our paths which leads to the ultimate separation. This, however, is not the end of it. Your passion or dream of the future, whatever it may be, plants the seed of ambition and independence. You will find yourself, as time passes, less and less indulging in the privilege of having thirty "close best friends forever , surpassing infinity , till the world ends etc). Thats a load of ______ and we all know it deep down there. People don't have the capacity and empathy to genuinely care and stay interested with that many people at our age. At the moment we're ever changing, ever evolving mass of undetermined mystery. Essentially this means that people end up realising they've no interest in you anymore, instead they find themselves spending more and more time with the person they backstabbed daily with you a couple months ago. Of course it stings but have you ever considered the possibility of someone out there having been your victim of neglect and unexplained desertion?

Realising that your life, your capabilities are not in need of anyones unprofessional opinion truly frees the mind. Technically, no one can actually tell you the way you ought to live your life , what to spend your money on, how to dress. Often we take those opinions to fill the empty gaps of individuality within ourselves and thats where it gets tricky. In order to free yourself of the ever draining and consuming need to find approval from someone else to feel "content" with yourself , you need to find yourself. Discover your personal original preferences and opinions on everything, devoid of any external filters. It doesn't matter if your mentality is genuinely parallel with that of someone who may or may not influence you. It matters that you feel at ease while determining who you are as a person. Flaws are not to be eliminated, they're there to stay. This process is essential to the development of ourselves and if you don't invest into this, you may find yourself in a place you despise, working a job you are utterly bored with and associating yourself with people who always seem above you, no matter what you accomplish.
And perhaps that is the truth of it.

Use this year to not only eliminate people who do not have your best interest at heart , but also to let go of a lot of things that are still clinging on to you. You want to close off and exit this chapter of your life with peace at heart, ready for new kinds of heartache.  That massive fight you had with your best friend , left unresolved, the grudge you've been holding against someone who bullied you, the bitter feelings towards your parents for not making high school the best four years of your life. Evaluate the situation and attempt to approach the conflicts you've had and offer your peace and forgiveness. Even if you think you're beyond that, you never know how the other person is off. Humble yourself by giving in to whatever still bothers you and know that whatever reaction you receive, you were the mature one and tried your best. This also isn't a bad time to apologise to some people and thank some others for whatever you're grateful for.

All in all , this is your last year, your last opportunity to make some major decisions that will carve your path into the future. You won't be "feeling it" every day but you'll have to study, work, research and memorise anyway. Learn to force yourself through all the little pesky obstacles in order to achieve the bigger picture. A completed puzzle wont be one if you start to leave out pieces here and there which you couldn't find. Hopefully this has somewhat caused you to re-evaluate your life for your own good and maybe make some changes.

Were yet to be discovered for our ability to turn crap into gold so do not lose hope. 

summer post #1

This summer is the calm before the storm, aka my last year of school and the IB diploma. (yay)

While all my friends who visit regular schools are out and about traveling the world or watching the entire series of Game of thrones in three days,  I'm stuck behind my desk hoping for my school work to magically appear done to perfection, neatly placed on my desk. And since that's not happening,  I'm left with the constant self battle of procrastination and ambition. Also , as an IB student, there's no such thing as procrastination and getting away with it in the long term, alas I actually ended up studying ; "wasting" my precious summer time. 

Then again I did spend three short weeks in London which was a drop on the hot stone, literally. I'd never been there before so I was pretty exited to get off that plane asap as I had simply refused to visit that nasty bathroom for seven hours straight and 3 ginger ales later with the loud flush and people trying to break that glorified curtain out of the frame,  perfectly aware of the presence of someone else. I mostly end up not eating anything on planes because their food tastes worse than Ikea's food ; rather I detect hints of plastic and jelly .  Needless to say I wanted to rip someone's head off as I emerged into the atmosphere outside the airport and felt the all too familiar feeling of heat creeping up on me, my hoodie and wool fed sweatpants sticking on me (I kinda prepared for rain and wind???).  I frantically started walking around looking for the hidden cameras and heaters but apparently there weren't any. 

London was absolutely beautiful and I was surprised to see that the majority of the people were either from the UAE , India and Korea. No londoner's in sight. (they're all here).

Naturally , for any person that's Arab or has arabs in their family , Hyde park became my second home and basically resembled the people you'd find in Abu Dhabi, just without the malls. And people pretty much did the same thing, which was to find a place to sit and rest from a big meal they just had or the 3 meters they had to walk to get there, placing their Harrods bags on the dirty grass and having shisha in the middle of a forrest in London. Iconic. 

I was pleasantly surprised at the cultural diversity , observing people from literally every religion and country I could think of. An entire street was dedicated to muslims/arabs with arab restaurants and shops which was very pleasant to encounter . I feasted my eyes on all these different people who wore extravagant clothes and treated Oxford Street like a fashion show ; I was one of the critics in the rows with my thick black sunglasses, making it fairly easy to scan people for long periods of time. Trust me, once you get there , you realise how deprived your eyes and mind are. 

I became appreciative of the luxuries that we experience in the UAE and that are not available in Europe. If you don't want to get stabbed and actually have some running water you better keep 50 cents in your pockets because public bathrooms will cost you. 

I can't remember having eaten anything English , but their Italian food was hands down phenomenal. 

The one thing , however, which I enjoyed the most was Camden Street. Think of a place that has every single thing you could ever think of , that you can't just get anywhere else. That A8 canvas of a pug claiming the pug life chose him that you've dreamed of forever, or shirts that have "winter is coming" printed on them, I mean come on. I wish I could've visited that street more and I recommend anyone to visit it , simply because you'll find everything you've ever needed there. 

Hope everyone's had a great summer!

How to write about muslims

Hopefully this guide will enable you to write a successful piece about muslim people!

Firstly, before you start jotting down points, take a step back and examine your current knowledge about muslims, or Islam in general. (yes the religion is called islam, not "maazlim cult") , keep that in mind as you want to impress your audience on your knowledge about muslims. After you've thought of everything that you think you know about them, take all the good stuff and chuck it right in the bin. . No one wants to read about muslims who are just like us, with similar , if not more rights and the same level of intelligence. DO not access this information in your piece of writing please.

Now you want to make sure that you mention that the majority of muslims are arabs and can't possibly resemble europeans or any other western country. If they do, its some kind of trick. Plastic surgery does wonders these days. Mum could've been raped by one, as white women are considered the trophies to unlock, but even then they're only half muslim. Could be a phase too, you know white people. Maybe some africans, but mostly arabs, so big nose, camel eyelashes, eyebrows to die for and olive skin: Check. Oh and extremely hairy! The most hair you'll see on a human being in your life time. Including women. Make sure you constantly reference to those characteristics since you want your audience to grasp what they look like , in order to run to safety when they encounter them. Why , you ask? This will be mentioned later on, as we have to establish some other things before you will be delivered with the literal bomb advice of this guide. 

Secondly , a classic favourite would be the topic of the "Hijab", also known as oppressive piece of material that could possibly strangle its wearer or be responsible of a heatstroke due to high temperatures. It is the symbol of male domination and basically means that the women ( including all girls from age 5, very important!!!!!!) , who wear it , are illiterate and not capable of defending themselves in any way. They wanted to be free like their western peers, but Baba said no. No, as in make sure you go into explicit detail of how they get beaten with a belt or a popular beating device known as the "shipship" (shoe), for every time that they refuse to wear it or a body part other than their face shows. This type of behaviour is considered unbelievable and extremely seductive. A man once tried to rape one of them as he was intrigued by her ankles.  Of course, the ideal here would be to have them covered up form top to bottom in black, like garbage bags because essentially that is what they are in Islam. Garbage bags that can clean the house and make great shawarma though! ( a sacred food of the muslims.) It is important to emphasise the sympathy you feel towards them, as they clearly didn't make that choice. Slide in some encounters you had where you tried to save them from their endless torture and they actually had the nerve to tell you that it was all right and they felt comfortable being identified as muslim. This should fully convince your reader that women in islam are meant to be kept like pets and "safe", of course. 

Another important aspect of muslims would be that economically, they're way behind. They aren't even educated in the first place, so clearly, there are no muslims in the workforce. However you can mention the Oil sheikhs who were lucky enough to discover oil underneath the camel crap they dug up in the sand. They're pretty much the richest people you've ever seen and also have no clue how to spend their money. Thank god they have four wives and at least seven children from each to spend it on! Make sure to reference this when talking about their chances of survival in the modern world. Also the women are preferred to stay at home, and even when they go to school, after graduating  they're immediately married off to some hairy creep. There is no choice , as this is known as arranged marriage. Also there have been many occasions where they don't see each other until the moment they are pronounced man and wife. This is done due to the fear of the relationship being mainly sexual , such as the shaking of hands or exchanging smiles. 

Now , approaching the end, we have reached the climax of this guide. Apart from worshipping the devil and beating their wives, the one thing they love to do is bomb any and everything that has America written all over it. Preferably America. You could mention the attack in Paris, but Id suggest we stay with America. Remember 9/11? That's right, as soon as you feel as though you're giving them too much credit for coming up with humus or the brown tattoos they wear on their nails and hands (henna) , you throw in this little grenade. Remind your readers of the grief they must've felt for all these people that died on that day , that had nothing to do with them. Disregard the fact that in comparison to that, and prior to it, at least five times the number of muslims have been killed. Not a good move. Keep this topic focused on what the muslims did wrong, and remember that they're ALL responsible for it. Not just the group of extremists , no the muslim family at Walmart was most probably part of the whole plan. of course god asked them to do it, as they repeatedly scream that god is great whilst attacking. Such acts are the one time they can relax and connect spiritually with their god.Write about how the bump you notice in the headscarf is actually a mini grenade, in case they feel like it, and the long baggy clothes serve to conceal all the machine guns and bombs beneath them. 

This guide should be effective in terms of showing everyone the TRUTH about Muslims. 

 

Show how and to what effect Achebe makes use of myth, legend or other stories and tales

Things Fall Apart

The novel Things Fall Apart is rather heavily involved with the many aspects that shape a certain culture. One can assume that the incorporation of tribal legends and stories, the songs and traditions all serve as a basis for the story. Without them, there would be no plot as dramatic and worthy and no climax as fitted to the story line. The novel examines the conflict that has formed with the clash of two paradoxical worlds, being the Igbo tribe and the British colonisers. Clearly the British's practical invasion of the Igbo people has a considerable effect on them and evokes many distraught reactions and opposing thoughts. This was a new concept to the Igbo people as they very much depended on the silence and cooperation of each other to remain one as a people. 

Igbo tales and stories are what illuminated their culture and kept the people tied to it, in a sense attaching them to their culture through emotion and implied threats, perhaps, as they are viewed with a grain of salt ; yet they carry in them the purpose of intimidation. The story of the tortoise that was told by Ekwefi to soothe Ezinma in her ill state serves as an example. The story discussed a feast that would take place high up in the sky for all the birds, clearly not the appropriate location for a tortoise. The tortoise, however, persuades the birds to lend him their feathers as wing substitutes with his charming behaviour in order to attend the feast and , in that sense share their privileges. The tortoise is one with a cunning mind, thus also persuades the birds to take new names for the feast , incorporating a new custom for his own benefit. He changes his own name into "All of you", as when he asks the hosts for whom the feast is prepared they reply :"for all of you." He then proceeds to tasting the best parts of the food and wine, leaving mere scraps for the birds. This leaves the birds filled with resentment and him without wings. Once again the tortoise persuades a bird to deliver a message to his wife , asking her to cover their compound with all of their soft things so that he may land safely. This time, however, the bird uses the tortoises trust to his advantage and asks the wife to bring out all the hard things, causing the tortoises shell to break. He is forced to have the shells being put back together by a medicine man which is why tortoise's shells aren't smooth. Although one can't establish a link as to why Ekwefi would tell her daughter a story as such, Achebe effectively weaves in the Igbo values of honesty and revenge with a traditional story. Although the moral of the story may appear to be that this would be the reason why tortoise shells aren't smooth, in the context of the novel it carries a much heavier meaning. Through imagination and an abstract story line Achebe manages to entertain the reader , while subconsciously implementing the mentality of the igbo people , which is to take back what has been stolen from them. In the story of the tortoise, the main character has used the birds trust to his advantage and misused it. This causes them to not only strip him off his wings, meaning to say that he no longer has their privileges (In Igbo culture that would mean the extraction of titles and social status as well as land and crops.) ; they also avenge themselves by misusing his trust, causing his weapon of defence leading to his own literal downfall. 

As the Igbo people were completely illiterate , it was of great importance to them to find a way of recording their traditions, cultural views, religion and knowledge embedded within their society. All of that was done orally in the form of songs and mostly stories. They created fictional stories and real songs for the major occasions such as death, marriage, titles, honourable acts and shameful acts. By telling each other those stories and categorising their importance, they created a reliable system of keeping track of their history. The younger ones would remember all those easily as it was one of the main forms of entertainment they had access to, and would effortlessly carry on their tribes legacy. 

Memoir ; Obierika

How things fell apart

I should've known from the day they arrived. Smiling and waving their bible into the air ; the white flag of submission and defeat. I Should've known it was all deception from the very moment they set foot into our land. My best friend was aware of their intentions all along and as a result ended up dead by his own hand. I, however, remain alive and regretful , as when I had the chance I dismissed it as too late.As Okonkwo was getting ready to return to his village, I payed him a visit in order to inform him about what had happened in Umuofia while he was gone, and perhaps , as I was his best friend, to emotionally ease him into what to expect on his return. " He has put a knife on the things that held us together and we have fallen apart." , I told him at the end of our conversation. I firmly believed that the white's had succeeded in destroying our core that held us together, our culture and traditions. The monotone beliefs were what kept order and peace in our village, and those no longer existed as the only beliefs.  Okonkwo had been ready to form a rebellion and save the remaining bits of our traditions , nevertheless I rejected him. In a way I must admit that his suicide took place because of me and how I discouraged him. Yes, more and more people were converting to christianity, slowly forming a solid wall of resistance, but the igbo culture still remained within many of us and we could've done something at the time, when the white men's reign of power was yet to be established. 

I may be a man of wise thoughts and words, a man with a patient mind , but I certainly am no man of bravery and honour. I am starting to question my sense of understanding as I have failed to recognise the danger that was before my own eyes, everyday. I did not see the wit with which the whites manipulated us, distracting us with their new concept of religion. They knew that regardless of how my people would react, there was bound to be some type of uproar of different interpretations which would fill up our minds, distracting us from the initial purpose of their arrival: Our land.

Okonkwo saw what I did not and although he carried with him a number of bad qualities that did not serve him well in the end, he did realise the danger of the white men, and the deception with which they filled us.  His argument was filled with all the wrong reasons, since the religion itself is in no way suggestively evil or contradictory. It was used as a tool against us, but I did not pay attention to Okonkwo, as in my mind he was acting on his impulse once again and wasn't capable of forming sensible connections in a situation like that. I regret to admit how wrong I was and how we could've overthrown the white men if only we tried. Okonkwo would still be alive to this day, and I would sit here beneath the shade, cracking Kola nuts as we discuss our seed yam prices in peace and tranquility. Maybe things would've stayed together. 

Word count: 548

Things Fall Apart, Analytical response

•  Discuss the significance of social status in Things Fall Apart, and comment on its contribution to characterization.

Things Fall Apart is a cultural novel written by Achebe Chinua that concerns itself with the traditional and religious aspects of a society located in Nigeria. I chose to discuss the third option of this task as the novel is very engaged in the significance of social status and reputation. 

Social status in the Igbo culture persists as one of the dominant factors of importance. To the Igbo people , it is of utmost importance to know every single person in their tribe as accurately as possible. Due to the lack of political structures , the Igbo people organised themselves in patrilineages, which were lineage groups organised along lines of descendent from father to son. A system was created based on relationships amongst families. A person would firstly belong to the smallest social unit, "uno", or house. That consisted of a man and his wife/wives and their children. The second group would be the "umunna" consisting of a number of related houses. The third and final group was "obodo" which was a group of lineages that formed a village or town. This system is linked with social status as every lineage is blood related, meaning that the name of every family carries great responsibility as all its ancestors will live under the same name. 

Unlike women, the man were assigned to the task of acquiring titles. By achieving those titles, they would earn social appreciation and respect to an extent, depending on their title and involvement with the council. Some men would manage to attain notable titles , meaning that they were acknowledged as great men with honour or chiefs. The majority of the Igbo men tried their very best to achieve as many titles as possible, if not all of them, but not everyone succeeded. Having a title was a critical moment for the men in the Igbo tribe as without the initiation into certain titles , they could not dress in certain ways , shake hands in certain ways or take a piece of the sacred Kola nut before others did. To them, amongst their culture and religion, social recognition played a big role in their lives and shaped their future. A man who failed to progress beyond the most junior titles was no longer a man in the eyes of the Igbo people. Instead he'd be viewed as a boy throughout his entire life and would be buried without dignity. The importance of social status does influence the people who lived under those conditions to abandon any other factor in their lives and place the titles on the highest pedestal , closing them off to any other ideas. 

As the story commences, the first character introduced to the reader is Unoka and his reputation in the Igbo tribe. He is the father of the main character of the story , Okonkwo. Even after his passing , Unoka's characteristics and actions greatly influence Okonkwo's personality , thus making his appearance in the novel relevant. 
Unoka was known as "agbala", in other words a woman or someone who hadn't acquired any titles in his lifetime.  He was a peaceful man who could be described as effeminate , as his characteristics closely resembled those of a softhearted woman in the eyes of Igbo culture. His major weakness was his laziness which lead to him being overloaded with debts and the distrust of the Igbo people. Unoka also didn't succeed in supporting his family in any major way , instead he preferred to play on his flute and get drunk often. He was looked down upon and at his death did not receive the privilege of being buried, as he was not considered an adequate member of the Igbo society. Understandingly, his actions were payed in terms of social recognition by his children. 
As a consequence of his fathers life decisions, Okonkwo's outlook on his personal life and his attitude towards certain people were changed completely , in the hope of not ending up like his despicable father. This greatly narrowed his capability to understand and accept concepts that weren't similar or familiar to him in the story. 
As Okonkwo is introduced as a character, his success as a young man is the first thing being mentioned , with the underlying intention of providing the reader with some insight of the character. Okonkwo was known for his conquering of "amalinze the cat" , who had never been defeated by any grown men, let alone 18 year olds such as Okonkwo. An event like that spread like wildfire and soon Okonkwo was famous and respected, if not feared ; his fathers lingering image rotting in the flames. This was a significant turning point in Okonwko's life, earning him many titles and opportunities of growing prosperous lands and marrying several  women. Rising above all the material factors, however, was his personal pride which fulfilled him. To him, it was the self assurance of his capabilities and how he did not , in any way, take after his lazy and weak father. 
To Okonkwo, social status is everything. It is clear that he was more than willing to sacrifice his personal feelings and moments of weakness for the reputation of being cold and manly, to exert power and fear through the village. He feels that by doing so, no one would dare to remind him of his father or even link them in any way. His greatest fear is , in fact, to appear weak and in any way replicate the qualities of his father. He takes a dramatic and fierce approach with the purpose of eliminating every last bit of personality that he carried in himself by replacing it with action and purpose. When his son Nwoye begins to show some of his grandfathers personality traits such as being lazy or acting softhearted, this greatly alarms Okonkwo. He often beats him and tries to change his son as he fears that he'll turn out like his father and bring disgrace to the entire family. 

To him, anyone in his family that portrays his father in the slightest is immediate danger to his hard work over the years. Through Okonkwo one can identify the perfect example of what the importance of social status in a society can do to an individual and how it affects those associated with him.