Adventure English Camp :)

Last week I was at an English camp with about 60 high school students from Pitesti. I have been going to these English camps since I was very little. Each camp I get a little more involved and at this camp I was in charge of the kids program. When the camp met in small groups and had their English Lessons I would do crafts and play games with 7 kids that had also come. I was pretty nervous at first that I was the only one in charge and had to look after 7 kids but it turned out to be really great! The kids loved the crafts that I had prepared for them and we all had a really great time! :)

The theme of the camp was Amazing Race. The second day of camp we did an amazing race after lunch in project groups. This race was very fun but also extremely tiring. The first clue we had to find was in a trailer. My team luckily knew where the trailer was so we all took off running and were the first team to find the next clue..... once I arrived at the trailer they shove the clue in my face because it was in English... It told us that we had to milk a cow and bring the two cups of milk back to the cabin. I couldn't believe it... so off we ran to find some cows to milk.. It was quite the adventure... This whole race took about 3 hours.. and these 3 hours consisted of running up and down hills, climbing over barbed wire fences, stepping in mud (blek... my shoes were so dirty), taking selfies with village people, and did I mention running... ? Ha.. no but really we ran so much... it was crazy.. Our team ended up finishing in third place out of four... but the second amazing race game we played my team finished first and somehow we ended up winning overall... :) It was pretty awesome! 

I met so many great people and had fun staying up late playing a game called Saboteur. The last night of camp we played until three in the morning.. It's a really fun game! I think you guys would like it! :)

Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures, which I'm upset about because it was beautiful where we were.. but I never really found the time I guess... But here is a picture that was on facebook :)

Finished! My thoughts on this book as a whole...

A couple of days ago I finished Wuthering Heights. My oh my... this book caused me no end of vexation.....I don' know about you guys but I get very emotional attached to books and tend to become upset with characters... I get so into books that I forget the characters aren't real.. So of course that happened with this book. Like I said in my last post..  the characters frustrated me.... they are all just so selfish and blek... awful people.... (if you havn't read that.. you might want to go catch up and learn what the book is about.. :) )
When the book comes to an end it seems as if this book could never end "happily.." but it actually sort of did... it actually had some character redemption, which was the most pleasing thing of the book!
The book is sort of split into two parts... The first half is about Catherine and her love for Heathcliff but their inability to be together... but then  halfway through the book she dies during childbirth.. ( I know I was like What will this book be about??)  So then the second half of this book is about her daughter, Catherine an her love story.
Catherine (speaking of the daughter from now on) has two cousins: Hareton Earnshaw and Linton (Heathcliff's son). Hareton Earnshaw is a sad character... his mother died during childbirth and this drove his father crazy.. he neglected his child and Hareton instead grew up under the influence of Heathcliff.This caused Hareton to become a very despicable person.. from the time he was young he had vulgar language and his manners did not improve as he grew older. When Catherine meets him she is completely appalled that someone of his age cannot read or write.. but he was never taught.. it truly was very sad to see how awful Hareton was because of Heathcliff. But thankfully Hareton's character in the end is redeemed!!! Catherine begins to want to teach him to read and starts to be friends with him... soon they fall in love and Hareton becomes much  enjoyable and they both become much more happy than they were before! It was very refreshing to see this book end with hope, something the book lacked a lot of..

Revenge is a very big theme in this book... and Heathcliff is the mastermind behind it all. He starts off his plan by living with Catherine's brother when he comes back... He wants to get back at him for the awful way he was treated when he was younger by Hindley. He gets back at him by treating his son, Hareton awfully and then stripping him of his wealth and ownership of Wuthering Heights after Hindley dies... He also plots revenge against Edgar Linton (catherine's husband). They both hate each other due to the fact they are both in love with the same woman. Heathcliff marries Edgar's sister, which angers him very much and he basically disowns her. But Heathcliff's revenge doesn't stop here... he wants ownership of Thrushcross Grange as well.. Edgar's house. He acquires it by forcing Catherine (the daughter) to marry his son Linton (a very weak boy he dies shortly after they marry). This as a pretty cunning plan because since Linton married Catherine, everything she owned become Linton's. Heathcliff knew that Catherine's father would die soon and after he died everything he had would go to Catherine and Linton. What Heathcliff does next is terrible.. I was appalled.... Before Linton dies, Heathcliff makes him will everything he owns to Heathcliff... and yes since he owned Thrushcross Grange because of the marriage it all goes to Heathcliff.... He does this all because of two people that had mistreated him when he was younger and took his one love from him.... It's awful! His inability to have Catherine drove him to becoming a crazed revenge seeking monster...

Wuthering Heights: half way done

I am halfway done with my AP reading book, Wuthering Heights. I really love the writing. The narrator has a really good voice. I love Emily Bronte's style of writing and she uses lots of words I'm not familiar with, which is good because I'm learning more words.

BUT

                       THE CHARACTERS ARE SO ANNOYING AND TERRIBLE PEOPLE...... I'm not even joking.. remember how much we hated Daisy from The Great Gatsby???... yeah the main character Catherine .... 100X worse...SHE'S TERRIBLE..... TERRIBLE WOMAN.. And she's not the only terrible character... it seems like the author did not want to put a decent main character in this book.... But other than that I actually do really like this book... 

What it's all about:

It starts out with a man named Mr. Lockwood .. ( I think..) who had just moved into a house called Thrushcross Grange. His landlord is a man named Heathcliff who lives at a place called Wuthering Heights. Mr. Lockwood goes to visit him and he meets a very strange, misanthropic man. It is very obvious that Heathcliff has been hardened from his past. He talks very little and is extremely unfriendly. He lives there with a man named Hareton Earnshaw (who you learn about later) and a very rude uncivilized but pretty girl who he later learns is Heathcliffs daughter-in-law. He goes there twice even though Heathcliff makes is extremely obvious that he is not wanted there. The second time the weather is terrible and he ends up spending the night. The next day he returns to his house and his maid begins to tell him the story of Heathcliff, Catherine Earnshaw, her brother Hindley Earnshaw, and the Linton family.

It's like great Gastby in the way that Catherine wouldn't marry Heathcliff because of his lower status and thus causing him to want to make money and become a respectable gentleman.. but by the time he comes back Catherine has married someone else....

Of course this creates problems because when Heathcliff comes back.... Catherine still loves him..and he loves her....but they can't be together...  It becomes a huge mess.... and everyone hates everyone else pretty much... 

But really Catherine is an awful woman and basically since she can't have Heathcliff she doesn't want him to be happy... and they both end up being miserable people...... Heathcliff is equally awful... he has his own set of people he hates and plans his revenge on.. (Catherine's husband and brother)

So my feelings towards this book are pretty split I guess.. the story is intriguing and I LOVE THE WRITING.. but the characters make me want to scream.... except Nelly ( the narrator ) she's pretty cool...

What Catherine says about Heathcliff...

Nunta Nunta

Yesterday we got back from Domnul Daniel's daughter's wedding. The wedding took place in the mountains about 7 hours away from Bucharest. We went up (with the Coxes as well) on Saturday and came back Monday.
The day of the wedding we all went to Domnul Daniel's cabin that he has there and met his family and a bunch of other people. Everyone was busy getting ready and to be honest I felt in the way.... The wedding didn't start until 3 o'clock so we hung out some more.  The best part was that when we left we got to be apart of the wedding convoy...and yes that included lots of honking.. :P
The ceremony ended up being only two hours.. which was nice considering I thought it would be three..The church was pretty small and there were not enough seats for all the people that had come.. some people stood in the church but those that came late had to stand outside and look in. We were sitting on these benches in the corner... we couldn't see the bride or groom.
We were taken by surprise when Domnul Daniel's pastor from his church here in Bucharest told everyone that there were some Americans here and they were going to sing for us.... yeah... we had never been asked... so we hurriedly decided to sing Amazing Grace.

The reception was pretty much like every other reception at a Romanian wedding.... food... lots of food.. I complied a picture of all the food we ate... just so you all know there was supposed to be another course but it got cancelled because people starting leaving. The soup was my favorite course... very yummy

Food

Sighisoara

Last weekend our family took a trip to Sighisoara. I had been there once before when I was two years old.. so of course I don't remember anything...

 One the way there we stopped at this fortress that was pretty awesome. It had a beautiful view of the city below it.

Rupea

That sky...

More little food trucks in the center

Sighisoara was the cutest little town. My mom kept telling my how much it had changed over the years. All throughout the center there were people selling little trinkets and souvenirs that hadn't been there when we had come before. It was extremely tourist friendly as well now. In the center there were some food trucks. One of them was a bakery that had amazing pastries. Every morning we ate there and also had their pizza one day for lunch.. so delicious..

In the center. On the left is the bakery truck

you could watch all the pastries and bread being made... :)

 There was the church up on  the hill that we went to three times. There was this covered staircase that you could climb up to get to the church or you could take the scenic route. It was really beautiful up on the hill as well as very peaceful.

On the hill

We went to the cemetery on the hill as well.. Found this... it was weird..

Clock tower.. we went up to top... it was lovely

Family #selfie on top of the clock tower

One of my favorite things was all the different colored houses

Bird's eye view from on top of the clock tower

These guys played in the center. They were pretty talented and created a nice atmosphere with their saxophone renditions of old songs and pop songs.