Adopting a hippo

Monday 22 August

I am so excited to start looking after the baby hippo! When Dad got Mom to agree that it would be okay if I looked after the hippo for a three day trial I was literally jumping up and down with glee. I decided that if I was going to persuade Mom to keep George (that's what I named him) I was going to have to learn how to look after him. Dad cleaned out the pool for George to stay in. Since I'd told Mom that I'd train him to stay out of the house, I had thought that that would be a fine place to start. George was lying underneath the big oak tree in the garden. I called to him, hoping he would come into the house and then I would attempt to push him back out. George did not budge. At least if he wasn't going to move it was unlikely that he was going to go wandering anywhere.

Tuesday 23 August

Today I thought I would try and figure out what kind of food George likes to eat. I got Dad to drive me to the shops and I used some of pocket money to buy seven different types of meat. I didn't buy more than that because I didn't want him to get full and not try all the varieties. I took out a bucket and poured all the meat into it. Then I went over to George and tossed him a piece of smoked ham, but as soon as it touched his tongue he spat it out. The same thing happened with the next five pieces of meat. Then I threw him a lamb chop, irritated that I'd spent all that money for nothing. George gulped it down greedily, opening his mouth for more. I gave a shout of victory and, even better, my dad braaid the rest for dinner!

Wednesday 24 August

I was determined to have another successful day today. I thought I would let the neighbours feed George. Betty and Veronica both absolutely adore animals and I was pretty sure they would love George.

I brought the girls into the backyard where George was wading up and down the length of the pool. "Oh he's gorgeous," Veronica had exclaimed. "Wait 'till you see this," I'd told her. I'd tossed George the lamb chop that I hadn't braaid the day before and he chewed it up gratefully. The two girls stared at me, then the hippo and then me again. At that point I knew that I'd had another successful day and even if there were a few more things to work on, I have definitely passed the trials.

Freestyle

I was so nervous! I was swimming a freestyle heat and everyone expects me to win. I had to win. I badly wanted to get into the finals. Then the whistle blew! I splashed and kicked with all my might. I was coming second! But I badly wanted to win. I surged forward. I could see the finish line, then all of a sudden I felt a pain in my side. It was getting worse. I stopped swimming, tears streaming down. Maybe I wasn't going to win this year, but I was definitely going to try again in another four.

My Draak

Baie mense het mooi troeteldiere, Maar ek dink nie hulle het 'n draak nie. My troeteldier is 'n scary soek draak. Alhoewel, Sparky is heeltemal skadaloos. Sparky se asbsolute gunsteling ding om te doen is boom-klim. Sy skerp naels grawe in die groot boom. Sparky het twee horings op sy kop. Sy horings is rooi en hy het dodelike spykers, maar Sparky sal niemand met sy skerp spykers seer maak nie. Die kleure op Sparky se uitgestrekte vlerk is asemrowende. Sparky blaas oranje vuur en het vuurvaste spykers. My ontsagwekkende draak se stert wieg lings en regs. Sy maag is groot, maar hy is gulsig en hy eet baie. Sparky waggel om 'n groot boom en glimlag. Hy begin om die boom te klim. Ek hou van Sparky omdat hy die beste troeteldier in die hele werêld is.

Op elf jaar oud...

Hi, ek wil vertel jou oor my. My gusteling kleur is blou- soos die lug. Ek hou van die liedjie Superheroes. Ek baie van tempura garnale. My beste maat se naam is Gabi. Ek speel die klavier vir 'n stokperdjie. Ek speel netbal by die skool. The Great Australian Bake-Off is my gunsteling TV- program. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire was die lekkerste boek wat ek nog gelees het.  Ek wil graag eendag 'n reis-journalis wil wees. Ek het regtig respek my vriende, my familie en my onderwyser.

Ek wil 'n reis blog begin. Ek sal reis na verskillende lande. Dan wil ek blog oor my toer. Ek wil 'n kundige pianis wees. Ek sal baie op my klavier oefen leer on te verbeter. Ek wil in staat wees om maklik 'n doel in netbal te skiet. Ek sal 'n netbal en hoepel kry en oefen om doele te - oefen maak perfek! Ek wil leerom Hindi te praat. Hindi is Hindu mense se hooftaal.

Grandparents' Presents: Always the Best

It's Christmas and my grandparents are down. They always get me about 3 million gifts, so I decided to start opening them before anyone els woke. There was a row of presents in front of the tree. I ripped open the first present. It was a huge packet of chips. The next present was a brilliant, red toy helicopter. It came with a remote control and everything too! I ran into the garden and tried it out. I watched it fly across the sky with ease. Sweet, I thought. I lie on the grass watching the red  helicopter with wonder. 

A Day Living in the Informal Settlements

It's always good to have a positive outlook on life, but I really think that you can't get any worse than how my life is now.

I have one brother and a Mom and Dad. I'm really lucky because 40% of the people in South Africa only have one parent. I'm really worried that I'm going to become one of them though. Yo see, my dad is in the hospital because he has HIV. HIV and TB is really common in the townships, which is where I live. Our home, an informal settlement, is really tiny. So personal space isn't really an option. We have one area where we sleep, a dining room and a kitchen. We're really lucky because there's a tap right outside our 'house'. This morning there was no food in our cupboard, except for two sandwiches which we took for lunch. Fortunately, my brother and I got to school early. There are 65 children in our class. Today, we were learning a new maths subject but I didn't understand it properly. I put my hand up and waited for the teacher. She didn't even see me because I was sitting at the back. Plus, there were a lot of other kids that needed help. This made me quite annoyed. I want to get a good job when I get older, so that I won't ever get hungry and i will get a proper house. Well, I guess I'll have to learn on my own and hope for the best.

 Unfortunately, it was really muddy everywhere because it had rained last night. I didn't want to get dirty so I sat with two of my friends on one of the benches. We talked about how we could get jobs and how we should help around our community. I think that there is always hope for a better life. Our home isn't the best place in the world, but it's still ours, so we're going to try to make the best of it. 

What a day

  Hannah and the time machine went flying through the air! She called into her headphones.'Dr Smith can you hear me?' 

'Yes! Are you alright?' 

'Yes, the time machine just started spinning really fast and landed in the middle of this huge, open moor!'

 'Aright Hannah, listen. Somehow the connection between the 2 wires in my experiment was lost, and your trip to 1915 was cut short. I just have to re-attach them and you'll be back on your way.' He fumbled with the wires. 'Alright,' he said. 'Ready?' 

Ready,' Hannah said. And she was off! This time the machine was spinning, getting faster on every turn. 

She tumbled onto her bed,  thinking to herself, What a day.