The Eyes Of A Friend

Have you ever noticed how you survive a long boring day of school? A day where you have quizzes, tests and you don’t feel like you can comprehend the topic being discussed. Then you sit down to take your test, and your friend right next to you makes absurd faces. Suddenly you burst out laughing and the test becomes easily mastered, just because your friend is there. Friendship is the key to a joyful day. From my perspective, a friend is somebody who develops a feeling that you are not alone in the world. A person who can create that feeling, is a person who I can call a friend.


People help each other a lot in their daily lives. Everybody meets problems in their lives which could be solved easier with friends than on your own. Befriending somebody who helps you, will make you feel like you are not alone. Insun, a college student who posted an essay about friendship on the ‘’This I Believe’’ website, didn’t like to communicate in college which made her feel lonely. At that time she made friends with Sophie, a classmate. Due to financial problems, Insun started to eat less and suffered from malnutrition. Sophie would come cook for her and kept her fed, making Insun stronger physically and emotionally. When I first came to Malaysia I made friends who helped me through the first days of school but it was difficult to do this, as a result of me not being able to speak English fluidly. I think that friendship is born out of trust and that by helping somebody you earn trust. Just like with Insun, I found friends that decreased my loneliness and helped me solve my problems. Because of this experience. I want to do this for others. Friends helped me come through the depressing days and made me feel like I’m not alone in the world.


Strong friendships are worth keeping up, even though you are on the other side of the world. ‘’I believe that true friendship is worth keeping even if your one hundred to one thousand miles apart.’’states Lindsey Roscoe, a college student who also posted an essay. I agree with this statement from my own personal experience. In the time I have spent in Malaysia, I frequently contact my friends in my home country. These far distance friendships are important for me because their supportive comments cheer me up. Sometimes I feel a bit home sick and when I talk to my friends in my home country, I feel like I’m closer to them. One day my best friend in my home country called me, saying all the events that happened to him in a period of time. Specifically about my old field hockey team which he joined. This was amusing to hear because the events that he expierience were similar to my previous life in my home country. By hearing his experiences, I can better understand his way of living, to expand trust. Friendships were essential to me in the Netherlands and even more important for me in Malaysia.

Spending time with friends creates pleasant memories and laughter. Kelsey Miles is someone who remembers the pleasant times she had with her friends. Whether it was at the farm or in the cinema, while she was enjoying the times with her friends, they laughed. By spending time with your friends, you start to build trust. This is what Kelsey Miles did by trusting her friends with her secrets. When she was unhappy and upset, her friends, were there for her. Just like mine are there when I have a depressing day. A day where I have a giant headache and a supportive friend classmate cheers me up. If a friend is there for you, you don’t feel like your standing alone.I think friendship is all about laughter and trust. My best friends are the ones which I trust and where I can unleash my feelings.


I expect my friends to be supportive, entertaining, trusting and friendly. All I can do is to succeed fulfilling my expectations of a friend. I think that friendship has to be built from both sides. By understanding my friend’s feelings, will help me comprehend his expectations of a friend. The moment that you can call somebody a friend is when he or she succeeds fulfilling your expectations. Maybe you don’t realize it but just like I have my expectations, you have yours. I realized that I don’t fulfill my expectations of a friend. Therefore I’m starting to adapt the way my friends look at me. I can do this by meeting his expectations. So I’m the friend in the eyes of my friend.

Causing Or Solving Global Warming

Have you ever wondered what causes global warming, why the weather changes from freezing to blazing, or why the ice in Antarctica melts? Many people in our world don’t know about the greenhouse effect, even though it could damage our environment. The greenhouse effect is a natural warming process. It happens when gases that we release, obtain energy, forming heat. The four main gases in the air are water vapor, carbon dioxide, ozone and methane. They form a blanket around the earth, not only to make a comfortable temperature, but also to help life grow. If the greenhouse effect did not exist, then the earth would be too cold for most of its life. Human activity on earth has been increasing this effect. Reducing the number of greenhouse gases is important to fight for because if the greenhouse effect continues to increase, this could cause a global climate change.

The warming of the earth causes many natural disasters. These days, we have cars, buses, and planes that add gases into the environment. In a matter of years, our lives could change. ‘’The Day After Tomorrow’’ has some true science in it. In the movie, society has been producing greenhouse gases causing major ice sheets to melt. This changed the Gulf Stream current in the Atlantic Ocean and made many oceans colder. Additionally, the mesosphere, which is very cold, gets pulled to the earth. The mesosphere itself is 90 degrees below 0 degrees Celsius and is between fifty and eighty kilometers high, creating a second ice age in the northern hemisphere. This movie might be ‘’cool’’ to watch but it could be true. Gases that we release make the blanket around the earth thicker and cause this effect by making a global climate change. Our society does not know that this could happen and are then not reflective in their actions.

According to a NASA study, earth’s climate will change over the next 50 years. James Hansen, who works at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies claims, “Some continued global warming will occur…even if the greenhouse gases in the air do not increase further.” However if we keep increasing the number of greenhouse gases, global temperatures may increase even by 1-2 degrees Celsius. Researchers use different instruments to predict earth’s temperatures in the next half century. One of these instruments is called a climate model which displays the change of temperature and the energy balance over the next fifty years. Also it demonstrates how the greenhouse gases form a blanket around the earth. This blanket was made by nature and increased by human activity. It traps heat just like a blanket traps body heat. If we just continue doing nothing to address this problem than our world will make that global climate change. Therefore the whole human race should at least attempt to take action.

Scientific evidence shows an increase in global surface temperature. Global warming is real and cannot be denied, so what can we do? Mainly we could try to reduce the number of greenhouse gases in the air and discourage our development that involves these gases. Reusing energy would be efficient in this process. We use energy daily for our technology but this energy is mostly produced from oil and other gases. Another type of energy that's called green energy is energy produced by for instance sun panels, wind mills and water power.

Generations pass by and we don’t take action. Our actions have a big consequences.The effect of global warming is that there will be more natural disasters such as floodings, hurricanes and the increase of sea level. Informing people about the effects could help them to be more thoughtful to save our environment. It is a global goal that could be achieved only if all people agree. Changing our future that lays beyond, we could make the earth a better place for our following generations.

Earning Our Voice

Society has been infected by uncertainty
Authority racially opposes people’s conviction.
You may question authority
But you, as the minority, may lose your voice to the majority
as an uncertainty.
Our society’s limbs are infected with declarations from the opposed minds.
If we believe in what we say to the society,
The authority will notice our conviction
If we speak with wisdom and confidence
We will earn our voice.

Equal Rights Make Freedom Possible

‘’I detest racialism, because I regard it as a barbaric thing, whether it comes from a black man or a white man.” ~ Nelson Mandela. Nelson Mandela was a black man who fought for the rights and freedom of black people in South Africa. He wanted to make the society equal and encourage all the unequal people to fight for their rights. This was worth fighting for because black people were treated as inferior to the white population.

Equal rights are important to fight for because otherwise people think that they are more important than others. If this is so, people could be discriminated against and freedom is taken away. As Mandela grew up into a segregated society, he started thinking of why this is so and what could be done to stop it. Living in a system called the ‘’Apartheid’,’ which is Dutch for separate. Black people lived in poverty because they did not get enough paid and did not share the same opportunities only because they didn’t have the same skin colour as the white people.

A white person in South Africa has more rights than a black person and would think that this was right. Mandela thought the opposite and fought for justice. He did not want to fight, he did not want to be better, but he wanted to be equal. As Mandela encouraged the unequal to stand up, the government was against him. They did not think that what he did was right. So they placed him in jail. After being locked up for 27 years, he did not gave up for his struggle for freedom. This time he changed the minds of the government. He showed them what South Africa wanted. This was the beginning of the end of ‘’apartheid’’. He created the chance to stand up and fought verbally for the rights of black people. He persisted to make a change.


Mandela said that it would not be an easy walk to achieve an equal society, as becomes clear from his following words: "I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb. I have taken a moment here to rest, to steal a view of the glorious vista that surrounds me, to look back on the distance I have come. But I can rest only for a moment, for with freedom comes responsibilities, and I dare not linger, for my long walk is not yet ended." As Mandela said these words he did not think about himself but about the people of Africa. Mandela took the first steps to a utopia society starting with the equality of black and white.

Coming back to the initial quote of Mandela: ‘’I detest racialism, because I regard it as a barbaric thing, whether it comes from a black man or a white man’’, which means that racialism is uncivilized, whether it comes from any human race. Nelson Mandela thought this was violating human rights and stood up for it. The government disregarded the black people and did not look out for them. He build the tolerance between white and black as it was never before. The satisfaction needs to come from both sides. He was the impetus of a equal society. Mandela fought for what he believed and made it happen.

The Freedom To Speak Up

Albert Camus, claimed, ''Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better.'' Freedom is the power or right to act and speak your thoughts and the right to be equal. If given the opportunity to begin a New World, I would hope the society would be built around freedom. This is a key characteristic to a peaceful world.

Freedom is an important characteristic because everybody should have the equal rights. If people are treated equally, they feel free to practice their own religion, can say what they want, and they can go where they want. To achieve this nothing should not be corrupted by a leader that could declare unhappiness or maybe even war. Many countries fought for freedom. Some of them tried and some of them died but at least they fought. Imagine a world full of corrupted societies and poverty. In some countries people do not have he freedom to speak up to the government. For example China. They can't say what how bad their government is, otherwise they will be send to prison for a crime they didn't committed. In this situation they did not get the chance to speak up.

Additionally, it is important for a society to be built around freedom because if there was no freedom than there would be not be democratcy .In Germany during WWII, there was a dictatorship by Hitler. I could picture myself as a Jew who was taken away by the Germans. How their life was. Seeing their father and mother get killed only because they are Jewish. This was not fair. This was the opposite of freedom. This is not a world, I would want to live in.

Without freedom, the New World would look like a dishonorable and dystopian society. As I mentioned earlier, freedom is getting a chance to stand up. As Albert Camus said, ''Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better,' meaning that by standing up, you can have a chance for a better, peaceful society. I think you could only achieve this goal if everybody agrees about the rights of freedom. In most cases not all of the people agree with what happens in their society. Every time I think of freedom a thought pops up into my mind, saying that it is the hardest thing to create unless you start all over again.

The Hat

I was once the happiest hat in the world. Kings wear me during their vacation. I was their favorite hat but than it all changed. The last king died. He was my favorite. The next king was evil and had no respect to everybody. Not even me. He trowed me away and thats where my story began. I moved trough the wind. It was like I'm in heaven. Side to side with the birds. I was lucky that there was a lot of wind. I traveled and I traveled. I thought it would not end but finally I stranded on a beach. Not knowing where I was, I managed to go 12 meters further. Than I stopped, a coconut roled over me. I couldn't move. Waiting there for a few hours, I noticed that there were people on the island. A young girl came to me. Picked me up and she placed it nicely on her head. Walking trough the hot sun. I feel like I finally got a function again. Protecting the girl from the sun.

The Skirt

I have been passed around through the last 1000 years. Day in, day out, I have been worn until the new generation started. They put me in a wardrobe. With the sneakers and new jeans. I waited and I waited but nobody wanted me anymore. Even my colors changed from shadow black to light blue. These colors meant something! Black, reminds people that we need to respect the gods. Red for power and all the signs in that, means that we also need to offer animals to the gods. I felt miserable. I was about to give up but then the door opened. An old woman picked me up and walked to the door. It was amazing how many things have changed. Now there are not only houses of bamboo. Now they have a sort of weird materials where you can look through. Glass that's how they call it. The woman brought me to an old home. It was made of bamboo. That is the only house that had not changed. We went inside and there were four woman that were about the same age. They hold me very carefully like I'm special again. They said something about my colors. When they were done, another woman took me outside. They called some other men and woman. These men and woman were much younger. They talked about me and they said that I'm like a reminder for the things that they need to do. Kids also came. I was being hung in the middle of the city. So everybody could see me. Respect me. Honor me. Remember me. I was proud of myself, for no other reason, but actually that's what I should get after all of these horrible years.

Health

I must say I'm not using the knowledge that I gained from the last visit of Mrs. See. I don't take power naps. It will help me because mostly I'm tired on the end of the day. For my breakfast I always take just bread. This is one thing I should do better. I always have one moment of the day where I have fun. I see movies or other tv series. I sleep from 9:30 PM to 6:30 AM. I take tennis two times a week and field hockey once a week.

In the future I will take power naps but I need to have somebody who wakes me up. This will gives me energy. For my breakfast I will take something with more proteins. On the end of the day or in the evening, I will not take any caffeine. I will keep it up with my exercise. I will try to go earlier to bed in the evenings. I change sleeping time to 9 O'clock. If I will change these things in the future, I will learn much better.

Boy in the Striped Pyjamas

We read the book Boy in the Striped pyjamas because then we will never let it get to genocide. I learned that most german people don't even know what's happening. Bruno was so innocent in the book. That was the cause that Bruno died. If he had know these things than he would't go there. I also learned how it is like to be in such a camp. The different techinics they use to kill people. If genocide comes that far we need to be upstanders in the future. To do that you could start with small things such as defending a friend when somebody is bulinging. Be on that side.

Hunger Games

There were many dangers such as floods. To survive these dangers we needed to find a shelter up high. When we found an acceptable shelter we started to set up traps so the enemies cannot steal any items or even kill one of us. I still think that we needed to have more weapons. My group really needed me because I was the only one who could reach the tree. Of all the things we did of the FRIM, i liked the stream activity the most. I wish we had more science activities because I liked that.

Domiknow

I'm an gestalt learner so I learn the best when I'm in an silence room and with no movements. I need to list more things so that I get equal between the gestalt and logic. The strategies that help me in my learning are to put me on a place where there are no windows. I would like my teachers to know about me that I'm easily distracted.

Happy Friend Visit

On December,20 I flew to Holland. I had a huge fun. I went to a friend and his name was Marnix. I enjoyed it. I missed him during the time that I have been here in malaysia. We played on the wii and we went outside to play with the snow. For one second I felt if I really lived in Holland. We made a snow igloo and threw snowballs at each other. I was hit and I was frrrreezing. When it it was 6 o'clock, so I need to go home. I said the words and he was not happy. Than he asked can you sleep here. So I called my mom. She said that it was ok. When I was planning to hang up. Marnix wanted the phone to thank my mom for saying ok and I saw that the happy face is back.

Jorijn Holstvoogd