When I arrived in Canada, almost two years ago, I had no friends, I didn't know the language, and I wasn't sure if I'd ever make friends. I was sad. I missed my cousins, my aunts and uncles, and I felt very alone. When I was not at school, I was just sitting at home, longing for company.One evening, my Father told me he had found a program that would make my little sister and myself very happy. The program offers youth (like us), a mentor. A mentor is a person older then us, who would become a friend. He...

Our AustraliaA sun-burnt countrySacred land of AboriginesFar and wide red-baked landOf sweeping plainsMajestic Mountains  Forest fires and flooding rainsAnd the brilliant jewel sea. Our AustraliaHome to many animalsAnd bird species --   From hopping kangaroosTo the laughing kookaburrasFrom cuddly koalasTo the elegant cockatoosOh the deadly taipan too.Covered with  many trees and shrubsTry seeing how small I amby the old Kauri tree Our AustraliaThe Golden OutbackLand of dust and droughtsWith merciless sun beating downAnd sand -covered ghost towns. The urban WestWith sky-scraped citiesPacked with people of all kindsSharing boundless lands.The dry beachesWith glistening waterRolling and drumming at my feetMany more things to seeThat will fascinate...

People were watching the sun gently disappear behind the tall mountains as they were preparing to go to sleep after a long work day.As I went up the hill with two buckets of water from the old village well, I felt the rays of the sun slowly losing their heat. I arrived home and carefully placed the buckets on the kitchen floor. I ran to the garden to catch the last rays of the sun and a glimpse of the countryside before the sun went down.. The house stood on one of  the surrounding hills: a beautiful view lay before...

Ashley, a smart 15-year-old girl with long black hair and black eyes wanted to get to her sick mother in pain.It was night when she got onto the ship. When she boarded the ship, she excitedly exclaimed, "What an enormous ship! I will get to my mother no matter what. She wanted to get there as quickly as possible because she knew her mother would die soon because of her illness.The next day the ship was close to Spain but a storm approached. The wind blew harder and harder and harder, and the waves were getting higher and stronger. The...

April 4th, '09 Dear Diary,Today in history class, we are learning about the Aboriginal People of Canada.They were the first people to live in North America for thousands of years, before any explorers set foot here in search of the Northwest Passage.We are learning about the Algonquin tribe. They were called Algonquin by the French explorers but they called themselves Anishabe meaning "original person."    We had a supply teacher, so no one was writing notes except me, since I was really interested in the subject.That night I said my prayers as usual, and went to sleep. But I couldn't go to sleep....

Thump, thump, thump.    Derek lay wide awake in bed as his eyes popped open. He knew he heard it this time. There was no mistake. There were noises coming from the attic. It seemed to be getting louder, then it suddenly died down, but started up again.      Derek rolled over in his bed and squinted at the clock - 5:00 a.m. He let out a small groan and rolled over again.     "I'm gonna look like a zombie tomorrow." He thought about the baseball game after school. The team would be counting on him.     Derek is a young boy with brown...

Families are always there to support you when you are sad, they love you very much, they can even be your best friend.Firstly, I would like to mention nuclear families. Usually nuclear families include parents and children. For example: mother, father, a son and a daughter. But nuclear families could include two mothers and a child or two fathers and a child, or one mother and one child, or one father and a child, or even, in my opinion, only husband and wife without kids are a family.I have a Mom, a Dad and a brother, and I love them...

A small golden leaf  has fallen and it is waiting silently.Holding in its tiny memory, the African sunset and  the events happening daily. As the wind blows, it brings many thoughts to us and tells us about the children of Africa whom we may call invisible, because not many people know their stories.The majority of them are suffering because of illnesses and hunger. Most of them don't have money to pay for medications and food. A lot of them don't have access to clean water. Some of these children die. The rest are waiting silently, praying for a new day...

They come to you at nighttime, sometimes they are scary. In the second that they get into your mind, you no longer know if you are awake or not, well in most cases. Then you wake up and you usually forget all about them... I present to you dreams.First of all, are there some common dreams that people dream the most? well it turns out that there some are for example: we dream about situations that are related to school, falling, arriving too late, flying, future events like upcoming birthdays, failing tests or exams, falling in love with a random...