Vacation: Yay! (?)

  All right, so it's been about three weeks into summer break now, for Thai kids who go to Thai schools like me. But I haven't gone on a single vacation yet! It's so boring being stuck at home all day with nothing new to do! I was soooo FRUSTRATED!! And then, out of the blue, my parents said, "You know what? We need to go on vacation somewhere before summer break ends." And they'd gone to some holiday-promotion-festival-thingy before summer break and got some brochures, so they looked over the flyers and finally booked a nice room at the Cheraton hotel (not sure I spelt that right) and bought tickets to Santorini Waterpark! My sister and I were so excited to go on the slides again (we'd been there before). Anyway, this was about a week ago, on Sunday or something, so we had to wait until this Saturday to go! We're gonna spend four days and three nights in Hua Hin. You might think I'm boasting, but I'm not. My family doesn't do this very often. At all. PSYCH!!! But don't worry, this post isn't going to be all about me. I have some exciting news to deliver. My sister  and her best friend Jenny had this great idea. Now, before I tell you about it, I have to refresh your memory. Our math teacher, Mr. Jordi Bartes, is leads a secret life. He is math teacher by day, and a DJ for his Barcelonian reggae company, Kalymisticsound, by night. He even performed in Thailand once! Anyway, it appears that he has quite a number of (anonymous) fans, too, even though no one really knows him in Bangkok. So Fern and Jenny came up with this great idea: They would wrote a pocketbook about him called, 'The Secret Life of Jordi Bartes' , featuring all the juicy details about his 'career' as a teacher/DJ. Including photos as evidence, of course. They planned to get it done by Christmas and distribute anonymous samples to the other teachers. If they liked it, they could actually buy it, maybe even along with a Kalymisticsound CD, if they liked Barcelonian reggae or wanted to blackmail Mr. Bartes. I loved this idea, so I asked them if I could get in on it, too. They said yes, and we started researching. Now the pocketbook is starting to begin to almost form. If you want to read a sample, put your e-mail address below. If you want to order a Kalymisticsound CD....well, sorry, we don't have that. You'll have to do a YouTube search for it. Just type in barteskalymistic,Kalymisticsound , or DJ Jordi Bartes.And that's all for this week! Please comment! Bye!
Contacts:

E-mail: sirinpalm@gmail.com, ferny.2545@gmail.com
Phone: 081-342-0101, IDK
Address: Ha-ha, not telling.

SUMMER BREAK!!!! A Pitch Perfect Cover Included

  Hi, everyone. I'm sorry that we haven't updated our blog in a while. Our dad messed with the computer so that we could only sign in to Google with a BCC account. BCC is the name of his school, Bangkok Christian College. Anyway, back to the point, I apologize. In Thailand, it's currently SUMMER BREAK OR VACATION OR SOMETHING!!!!! Well, for kids who go to normal schools, of course. For international schools, it's reversed. If you don't live in Thailand, you're probably still in school, in which case, AWKWARD. Anyway, I felt that something so great and delightful as no school for a month deserved some celebratory..post..thingy..
   So sit back, relax, and enjoy the following video:

Yep, that's it. I know it's lame and not much of a celebration...or current, for that matter, since this video was taken a long time ago...but it's different! And different means good! Right? Don't worry, I'm not going to cheat you out of a blog post. Please check the new page, "Ask Palm: Summer Vacation" for a new column. And don't forget to comment!!

Finals And Studying

  I know I've blogged about this before, but since it is coming up around the corner again, I thought this would be an appropriate topic. Now, I realize that, if you don't live in Thailand, you won't be able to relate to this right now. I apologize. Anyway, let me just start off by stating the obvious: FINALS ARE HORRIBLE. First of all, you can't slack off or do anything fun anymore. Your parents will try and force you to study whenever possible, even during recess or free time at home. You probably won't be allowed to bring any sort of entertainment from home to school, be it an iPod, iPad ( why would anyone bring an iPad to school anyway?), a phone, or a book, you'll be vetoed every time. Our parents seem to think that studying actually helps us when our minds are on other things. That's to be expected, of course. They're parents. Their actions can always be traced back to some kind of 'good intention'. Teachers, on the other hand, are supposed to try and make sure that we have time for studying, so we can be ready for the finals. Instead, they heap boatloads of homework on us, determined to get everything they'd neglected for the whole term done so they wouldn't get in trouble with their bosses. They don't even care that we get loads of work from other teachers, too. I'm very sorry for ranting on like this. You all probably know these experiences first-hand anyway. Please comment! See you all next week.

Anime and Manga

  I have a friend named Jenny who reads this blog (please comment, Jenny.), and she really loves anime and manga. Did I type that right? Do they have to have capital letters? Anyway, she loves them so much that she can speak a little bit of Japanese ( from watching lots of anime) and can draw Manga really well ( from reading lots of Manga). So I thought I would write a blog about them. First of all, let it be established that I don't hate Anime. Not all of them. Just the bad ones with horrible  back-stories and bad animation. Granted, most anime are badly animated ( no offense ), but people watch it for the stories and illustrations. Animation is a minor detail, even though it is a part of their name. Manga, on the other hand, is my favorite type of comic. Now some devout Manga readers might argue that it's not a comic. It's art. Well, I prefer to leave my opinion about that unspoken. Not to say that I don't agree, of course. Anyway, the reason I love it so much is because it's usually very fun and awesomely illustrated ( awesomely? Is that a word? Well, no squiggly red line, so..). My all-time favorite is The Glass Mask. It's a classic. I think the Japanese are really great at many stuff, including art, technology, cuisine, and of course stuff that includes..um..ugh, brain-block...ORDER? Sorry, that was the best word I could come up with at the time. Anyway, the Japanese have a lot of 'fortes', but unfortunately animation isn't one of them. This is just my opinion.Bottom line, though: Anime and Manga are very popular, and people who like them are not 'nerdy', but COOL!! ( I had to put that in. I meant it, though) So shout-out to all you anime and Manga lovers, please leave a comment about what your favorite anime and Manga is! If you tell me about it and I like it, maybe I'll even try watching or reading it and give feedback later on! Thanks and see you again soon!
P.S. Sorry for not blogging for so long. So much homework.

Teacher Love

Recently, I noticed an interesting development between my Maths teacher and my Chinese teacher. I'll call the Maths teacher DJ In Disguise, and call my Chinese teacher Pretty Model ( because she's extremely pretty ).  The point is that I think DJ has a crush on Model. No, I'm POSITIVE! Why?

First clue: My sister spotted him flirting with her in a classroom ( AFTER school was over! ) . He was smiling and talking and trying to get close to her. She smiled back politely and was soon seen hurrying out of the room as fast as possible.

Second Clue: A reliable source reported that DJ asked some students how to say " You are very beautiful " in Chinese.

Third Clue: The same source said that when Model first came to the school, he ASKED FOR HER PHONE NUMBER and they were SEEN TOGETHER!

Great, now I sound like a gossip column trying to make a mountain out of a molehill. Still, it's extremely likely that they like each other. Check out jennybokcedar.blogspot.com for my friend's full profile of DJ. Bye!

                                                                                                                                                  - Ferny

Tests

Tests are a subject that nearly anyone can relate to. There are a dozen different kinds of tests, but today I'm going to be blogging about the most commonly known ( and dreaded ) type of test. SCHOOL TESTS. Midterm, finals, even pop quizzes. EVERYONE dreads studying for tests. Yes, you read me. STUDYING for tests. Not the tests themselves. Let's face it, studying for tests usually take more time than you'd expect. And you usually cover more info than you get tested on. Tests are still dreadful, as you have to wait if you're done before everyone else, or panic if time runs out before you're done. And when you face a question you're sure you read about, or forgot the answer to, you feel like beating yourself up. But the worst event that could happen is if you get HORRIBLE scores on a test even though you've always gotten good scores before. Or even worse than that: You FAILED. I failed one of my tests miserably and found out yesterday, and ( not boasting but ) I've always been a smart student. I was shocked, devastated and well, all the things you go through when you fail an important test. I'd NEVER failed a single test before. I'd never even come close! Everyone gasped when the teacher said I failed which made me mad. Obviously they thought I HAD to be as smart as my sister. I DESPISE being compared to her! Especially when she's so hard to live up to! So needless to say ( being the drama queen that I am ) , I had a good hearty cry and skipped lunch that day. I cried for two whole periods ( as in SCHOOL periods ) and also cried during lunch. Don't judge me unless you've had the same experience. Anyway, I sucked it up the next day ( well, today )and asked the teacher about a resit. She hasn't said when I could redo the test but it's probably some time next week. Speaking of which, I've gotta go study. Comment if anything like this has ever happened to you! I'll see you next week!
                                                   
                                                                                                                                                   - Ferny

Arts & Crafts

Recently, a friend of mine has started selling banana chocolate muffins to buy a ticket to some One Direction concert. It got me thinking, I suck at this stuff. Sewing? SO out. Baking? I don't have that touch. DIYing? More like Don't do It Yet. Yet all of my friends ( and every effing girl in the U.S.A. ) seem to be born with a knack for, well, everything. Not only do they love it, they excel at it. They make it seem as though baking, DIY crafts, sewing etc. are all minor activities that they can just throw together at the last second. It would seem as though an average five-year-old U.S. girl could whip up an entire mattress or DIY anything in five seconds while I slave over a pillowcase! From the way they talk about it, you'd think their entire HOUSE was something they " did for fun when they were bored "! Where does all this natural ability come from! Oh, and it's not just ABILITY, no, where do they get all the MONEY and EQUIPMENT and - most importantly - TIME to do all this?! Maybe they have an everything shop near their house? Or maybe they've just got one big room full of stuff I don't even know exists? Books and websites make it seem so simple and easy. Like " Wanna bake a life-size fully furnished mansion? It's easy! Just follow these instructions that are so specific and complicated you end up mixing flour with some random ingredient that you have no idea what it is! " Sorry for all that ranting. I'm sure I've been boring, but people have to understand that we don't have a bunch of DIY-ready spare T-shirts or silicone pads or whatever just lying around the house! And my ENTIRE COUNTRY  doesn't even PRODUCE half of the ingredients you require to make an " easy bakery-something-product "! Thailand is NOT one of those everywhere-you-turn-there's-a-shop-that-sells-every-effing-thing-the-universe-has-to-offer countries!!! Anyway, if you have this dilemma I would LOVE to relate to someone for a change. So email me at ferny.2545@gmail.com or just comment. Have a wonderful DIY-stress-free day!
                                 
                                                                                                                                 -Fern

Stress

Now let's think about it. What causes stress? Peer pressure? Family? Homework? Schoolwork? Take a closer look at it. About 90 percent of stress comes from school. That thing is the stress headquarters. Whether it's homework, studying, projects, different types of bullying or any other troubles, school can be the No.1 thing that factors or causes your stress. If your parents make you take special classes ( and I mean the academic ones that you don't enjoy at all), then you've got double the work. And due to those special classes your brain has to work hard all week with only a few hours of rest each day. Even when you come home from school and special classes and you just want to relax, the minute you start getting comfortable your parents will tell you to stop slouching and get started on your homework / tell you to go take a shower / send you on an errand / do something that prevents you from getting any rest. Sometimes we kids just need a break! Now, I understand exactly how that feels. The so-called "techniques" to help you reduce stress doesn't work for me either. Not evryone has bottles of lavender/rose scented oil just liying around to pour in a bathtub ( and on that note, not everyone has a bathtub ) or float rose petals in! And not everyone has the equipment/skill/TIME to make DIY schedules! Nor do the schedules work for everyone. Instead, I focus on a more simple way to deal with stress. Praying. Sometimes you'll feel like it doesn't help,or that God isn't listening... Ok, maybe a lot of times. But check out Daily Devotions. Anyway, if you really feel like praying doesn't make you feel better, just calm down. Tell everyone you know about it. At least, the ones you can trust. Then just relax, and try to deal with it any way you can. Hope that as helpful. Have a wonderful, stress-free week! - Ferny

My Very First Surgery

  Hi, everyone. Palm here. I wanted to apologize for not having anything new up for so long. Hopefully, it wasn't too long. I was in the hospital for about four days, because I had appendicitis. Let me tell you how it happened. On my birthday ( June 11th) , I went to school as usual. the first part of the day was fine. But at lunch, I started getting a bad stomachache. So I took a pill after my meal and just went on with my day. But the pill didn't help like it wasn't supposed to. In fact, it got worse and worse until, by the last lesson, it was almost unbearable. Mom picked us up a little bit later than usual, and then, when I got home, I told her about it. So Fern ate pizza while watching Frozen , and I had to lie down so Mom could give me a check-up ( she's a doctor). Then she said the symptoms were like appendicitis and she rushed me to the hospital. Without any dinner. Fern, of course, stayed behind and played on our new Xbox with Dad. When I got to the hospital, I had to go to three doctors, get an ultrasound, and a CT scan before they finally said, " Okay, it's appendicitis. She needs to get surgery. Pronto." So Mom called the surgeon, who she knew, and asked him to operate on me. At that point, 'an hour' was by eight o'clock. So then we called Dad and Fern and told them all about it and that they needed to come right away. And after that it was panic ( Fern ), sappiness ( Mom ), nonchalance ( Dad ) , and so-excited-and-nervous-she-can't-stop-smiling ( me) . Since Mom had done appendicitis suegery before, she requested to be in the room with me as part of the surgical team. The team wished me a happy birthday before giving me some..um..anaestetic or whatever they call it..to smell, and I woke up an hour later in the recovery room with an extremely sore throat and a wound near my hip that hurt awfully. But I was also nauseaous and super duper sleepy, so I went to sleep almost as soon as they wheeled me into my room and lifted me onto my bed. Did I mention my bed was remote-control and adjustable? Anyway, I had to stay at the hospital for four whole days and nights to recover. And after that, the doctor ordered a two-week rest from school. Two weeks! I don't know how I'll EVER catch up on all the work. Not to mention all that studying. But if I can make a quick recovery, I might be able to go back in just one week. I'm so sorry for ranting on like this, BTW. Anyway, I would really appreciate it if you guys would pray for me. Thanks!

Sincerely Annoying

So, here's a subject I never brought up. Do you remember Pretty Girl? Well, she's also Annoying Girl. Don't get me wrong, she's tolerable most of the time and kind of fun to be around but she's just SO ANNOYING! I'll give you a step-by-step example:
Step 1: Teacher comes into room and starts teaching. P Girl listens for a while then starts knitting.
Step 2: Teacher says something P Girl doesn't like, for example " You have two pages of homework today " or " P Girl, I think it would be best if you don't work with your best friend on this project since you two sometimes disrupt the class ".
Step 3: P Girl's eyes widen, before she takes a huge breath and whines " Whaaat?! But that's..not..fair! "
Step 4: P Girl continues whining and complaining, doing physical acts to go along with it, such as twisting or shaking her arms. The whine grows into a cry, then a yell, then finally an ear-splitting cross-between-a-shriek-and-a-holler.
Step 5: People start defending her, " people " as in some of her close friends.
Step 6: The teacher caves and lets Pretty Girl have whatever she wants.

And that is it. If it's something that only affects her, no one will say anything in favor of P Girl. But they never object, either. and so it always ends the same way. Is THIS fair? I don't think so. This particular procedure only works in favor of Pretty Girl and sometimes for one other person who I don't know what to name yet. Anyways, if there is a person like this in your school ( which there probably is ), please comment below and tell us YOUR personal story about unfairness! Or, you can send us an email. Our addresses are right..in this blog..somewhere. But it's there. Just in case, our email addresses are sirinpalm@gmail.com and ferny.2545@gmail.com So, I sincerely wish you a happy week and I hope you will survive school!

No fair!

That's our new theme for the week! For those of you who think we're copying, we're not. It's purely coincidental, we promise :). Expect posts about how people treat others unfairly, the unfairness of the social order, and other things under the topic " No fair! "! That's it for our announcement! Have a wonderful week!

HIFTBK: School

 School's started up again, and so far it's quite fun. I especially like my science teacher ( I'll call her Mary Poppins on this blog) and my social studies teacher ( I'll call him Young Santa Claus on this blog). Mary Poppins is really understanding and she makes learning fun. She makes science really easy to learn.Young Santa Claus is the only western teacher we have who is American. At least, I THINK he is. he could be Canadian, but I highly doubt it. Anyway, he let us play Hot Seat on our first day learning with him. It was so fun! now, enough of teachers. Let's talk about school in particular. By that, I mean the students. Now, there's only one rule to being popular in school. You have to be good-looking. Unfortunately, I am not. So I have to try to live up to the second rule. Be funny. Luckily, I've picked up some great jokes and witty punch lines through the course of my life, so this wasn't really a problem for me. Still, rule No. 2 can only get you so far. I decided that, to become popular, I would have to befriend popular.Good slogan, huh? Well, fortunately, I already have popular friends. Their names are Bouncy Girl and Pretty Girl. Bouncy Girl is only slightly less popular than Pretty Girl, which is surprising, because Bouncy Girl is a lot nicer and less annoying than Pretty Girl. But, then again, Rule No. 1 applies. Pretty Girl is prettier,at least by 7/1 standards ( I don't agree), therefore she is more popular. I've tried to find out and think up more rules for being popular, but all I got was this : Rule No. 1.1 You must be a 'rebel'. This basically just means that you must be a bad student who doesn't pay attention in class and breaks the rules a lot. Well, I'm not that, either. I'm probably the best-behaving student in the class, if not one of. Yes, I know, lame, right? But that's what you're supposed to do (behave)...isn't it?

A New Grade

Since school started, all of you are probably in a new grade. So I thought I'd come up with some helpful guidelines for new students at new schools starting a new grade ( It's hard, I know ). If these rules do not apply to your school, I apologize.

Rule No.1: Be open. Most new kids will choose to keep to themselves and act very shy, especially the girls. DON'T. This will not help you. Instead, try to talk to everyone in the class. Not too much, though. That's annoying. My point is, if you talk and interact with your new classmates, it'll be easier for you to find out where you fit, AND you might even get a new BFF!

Rule No.2: Pay attention. Yes, pay attention. To everything. Listen to your classmates. What's their way of speaking? What are their main interests? What are the social rules? Register all this in your head and adjust yourself accordingly. You don't have to stop being you. Just act acceptable and blend in.

Rule No.3: Be normal. If you have any weird habits, keep them to yourself and try not to show it until you have been accepted as a part of the class. Showing any abnormal actions will instantly make you the "weird kid" everyone avoids or makes fun off. Not a good way to start life in a new school. If that's hard, just try to not be the center of attention. This could lead to you being ignored, though.

So those are the 3 rules of being a new kid. I'm sure there are more so please leave them in the comments! I hope this was helpful!

HIFTBK: Body Language

 Have you ever read books or seen videos about body language? People talk about how we can tell what somebody is thinking just by looking at their body language. Well, some of them are true, but there are a few that just don't work for me. For example: Supposedly, if someone is lying, they are likely to avoid eye contact, blink a lot, or attempt to change the subject. Well, I observed this, and found out that these three things are only likely to happen to bad liars. And, unfortunately, we live in a world full of good liars. Secondly, life isn't a movie. Nobody gets shifty eyes or stutters when they're lying. Unless, of course, they really ARE terrible liars. I did realize, though, that lots of liars do add lots of unnecessary details to their story to make it seem more trustworthy. I sometimes do that myself (😛) and so does my twin sister ( sorry, Fern!) . Still, there are some great ways to spot liars. I just haven't found them yet. Oh, and the 'brings their hands to their faces when they're lying' thing? It actually works, for many people. Except for people who touch their face a lot already.
  All right, moving on. I'm not sure if people stiffen when they're nervous or inhales sharply when they're jealous or not. But I'm pretty sure people don't narrow their eyes when they're sly or something. I'm not sure people even do that in movies. Oh, well. Maybe I've just been looking in the wrong places.
  NEWS!! If you ask us something in our emails, we might publish and answer it! Hate comments will not be considered ( AND BELIEVE ME, THERE ARE PROBABLY A WHOLE LOT OF THEM JUST WAITING TO BE READ RIGHT NOW.) I'm pretty sure this announcement sounds pretty vain, because right one, we have practically no comments at all. Still, if you're reading this, please comment below. We'd love to know what you think! And there are so few we probably have time to say something back! Oh, that sounds vain, too. As if we think everyone wants to hear from us or something. We don't think that. We just thought it would be nice to let you know we appreciate every single comment. If your comment is too long, send them to us at sirinpalm@gmail.com or ferny.2545@gmail.com ! See you next week! Or whenever we decide it's time to write up a new post!

HIFTBK: The Pros and Cons of Having Twins Over At your House

   This is a sensitive topic (NOT!!) , so I'll start with quick a explanation. I can write about the cons because I've been to...okay, fine, PLAYDATES ( there, I said it) with my cousin plenty of times before, so I know how it feels. I can also write about the pros for the same reason. And I am a twin.
If you know people who are twins, you will probably be able to relate to this better.
   Pros: 1. Small group..
         Sometimes playing with just two people isn't fun enough. With twins , you will have a nice small group of three. You could have competitions, with one person as the judge. You could even play Cluedo!
           2. Third opinion.
        It's nice to have more than just a second opinion, isn't it? Also, the arguments are more fun.
           3. Decisions
          If you're trying to decide on what to do, and you decide by taking votes, you'll always end up with a fair vote of 2-1! No more rock-paper-scissors!
Cons: 1. Arguments
        A three-person argument may be more fun, but, chances are, the twins will team up against you. And they'll probably knock you down. Literally AND figuratively.
          2. Arguments 2
        Twins have a habit of trying to make sure every single thing they get is divided very evenly among them. So, if they think it's not, they're going to have a huge argument with each other over it, and you're probably going to get stuck in the middle.
        3. Votes
      Ah, twinhood (made-up word)! If you're voting on something, there's an 80% chance that the twins will vote on the same thing and outnumber you completely, 2-1. They'll also have a strong opinion against whatever it was you were voting for, too, and it's Argument all over again.
 
  But, seriously, wouldn't having twins over at your house be fun? You could learn about TWO secrets in one night! Or,like, DOUBLE the amount of secrets you usually learn in a game of Truth or Dare. The sad truth is, we're double fun, but we're also sometimes double trouble. Well, see you next week!
   

HIFTBK: Getting into a new school

  Okay, so if you're a sixth grader, right now you're probably worrying about getting into a new school. Well, you should! Parents stress so hard that we should get into a really good school that, if we don't, they most definitely will punish us or scold us or make us take even more extra classes! Also, if you don't get into a good school,everything is almost over for you until you get another chance in ninth grade! But don't let yourself fall victim to stress! Here are some steps to follow when studying for something. I think it really works!
1. Get yourself into a 'studying mood' by reading comic books about people studying and having fun about it (that works for me) , thinking about the outcome if you study really hard like your parents want you to (that almost never work for me, but it might work for you), or doing whatever it is that makes you want to study.
2. Have a 'study buddy'. This could be your sibling or friend. Read up on a certain subject, then quiz each other on it. Or help each other with questions. Maybe you could even play 'teacher'! Just make sure you study, not gossip or play!
3. Set a time limit. Suppose you're studying Science. Give yourself forty minutes to study and ten minutes to get quizzed. Or, if you don't have a study buddy, just study for forty-five minutes instead. Then, give yourself a 10-15 minute break before moving on to the next subject.
4. Set a prize. This will help motivate you. For example: "If I finish studying in three hours, I'll get to watch a movie!" or "If I can do all the math problems in this chapter and all the science questions in my workbook, I'll get to play a computer game for forty minutes!" Be sure to go over the system with your parents first!
  And that's my advice for studying! But, seriously, why are there tests anyway? If only the life was just one big talent show and all you had to do was show your special talent and you'd get into a school. Oh well. But I guess we'll have to settle for second best: We should have entered a school that    ran from kindergarten to twelfth grade or something. Be sure to comment! Or send your tips to us at sirinpalm@gmail.com or ferny.2545@gmail.com! See you next week!

How It Works

So, you're probably thinking: " I thought this blog was about how it feels to be a kid? Where are all the posts about being a kid? " Well, rest assured! We HAVE posted those things! We've sorted them into different pages. So just click on the ' pages ' tab and select one that has "HIFTBK:" in front of it   ( HIFTBK stands for How It Feels To Be a Kid ) and enjoy!

Welcome Message

Welcome to our blog! In this short post we will be telling you what we plan to be blogging about. As you've probably guessed, we're going to try and post weekly. We'll be blogging about what it's like inside a kid's head. If you're a kid, in, say, middle school, and looking for someone to understand you, this is just for you. If you're an adult trying to understand kids, same goes for you. this is NOT a psychology blog. Well, thi is all! BYE!