Wednesday 3 December 2008

Joshua's poem

Joshua is an old student of St Laurensia who is now studying in the frozen wastes of Canada. He still keps in touch with many of his old friends here and has been a great help in building awareness of this website and supporting the kids who are doing such a great job.


Slam Poetry
Zoo
I have been for the last ten years at St. Andrew’s,
for some people this place is like witches’ brew
which I disagree, people knew
that I really believe this is like a zoo
I live in Memorial House
Which is more like a hiding place for a mouse
Everyday I come out across the Quad
Which is more like a cage for a lion getting mad
Math class, period one,
I have Mr C who teaches us like a bird,
because whenever he teaches, he always chirps
History class, period two,
I have Mr S who teaches us like a tiger,
he always wants us to be wired
Lunchtime!
What a break for a good day so far in the zoo, without any crime
But hey, I saw the gangsters who acted like bulls
I really think they should be kicked out of the school
The Dining Hall cooks our food
their quick serving makes them look like a quick-paced kangaroo
All the teachers gather round together,
which makes them appear to be a group of spiders
And the students, too, together collected
a group of chimpanzees, I am not affected
Economics, period three,
Another Mr S teaches us like a snake,
because in economy, there is always money to make
Last class, Philosophy,
There is Mr R, a super big Rhino,
Who always discusses Socrates and Plato
Ah! School finished,
university counselling like a pool untarnished
There he is, Mr Swan
I think you know what animal I am talking about – well, just for fun!
Sports, here we go,
a group of people playing squash, like a herd of hippos,
Or else, they moved quickly like monkeys,
or they just whine when they lose, that makes them look like donkeys
Back to Memorial House,
oh, all animals inside their rooms, every animal with their spouse
I went upstairs to take a bath
the whole washroom appear to be a cave full of bats!
Oh, who’s on duty for study tonight?
I hope it’s not Mr X who is acting like a termite!
Oooh, it’s not him, because if it really is, I can’t stand the pain
It’s Mr P, who is more like a crane
But I was not in that house for study, not one bit
I was in Mac House, which is now like more like a cage for rabbits
Hey, there is Mr D, his hair appear to be a peacock’s,
And Mr G, asking me, “Where are you supposed to be?!” appeared to be a croc
I answered, “Oh this is for a project.”
He went away, like a purring cat!
Oh, I am back in my room,
which really, looks like an ant hole zoomed
Kitchen is open, all animals come down
All having their food, like hungry clowns
Ha! Those Montreal Canadiens fans, looking at Koivu shooting a puck
Koivu himself, playing hockey like a duck
Nobody other than me supports the Senators
who are playing aggressively like dinosaurs
Bed time, the Res Don
traveling around appears to be a butterfly with wings torn
but who cares about lights out,
we are still studying, watching movies, moving around like trout
Finally, though, we came to slumber
Closing our eyes, while the dogs start to rumble
So, how did you enjoy the visit to our humble zoo, my friend?
I hope you had a great time!
( Joshua Irwandi)

Faline's debut

Check out this amazing story from Faline, one of our grade 9 students.

Short Story
Hunting Treasure of The Lost World

Long time ago, there was a ship floating up in the ocean. This ship was a Caravel. Soared through the strong wavery motion of the ocean, it carried a lot of passengers, such as Capatain Fishcatcher, Mr. Hollowsea, and Ms. Happyanchor. They had some pet that were Skysailor the parrot and Eric the brown dog.

One morning, while captain Fishcatcher was examining the map that he had read all night long, he noticed something. It made him so keen to look afterward. He figured out that in an island named an unknown island, specificly in the middle of this island, marked a cross sign. Obviously, every captain knew that there was a big treasure there. He walked out from the deck and took out his binocular and started to look for direction. He found that the island was in the East. He opened the sail and headed to that direction. The ship sailed fast that wake up Mr. Hollowsea from his sleep.

“What’s the matter, Captain?” he asked. This morning I found out an island with big treasure. Come on, help me to open the sail”, the Captain answered. “Ok!” Mr. Hollowsea said. Then, an hour later, Ms. Happyanchor woke up. Captain Fishcatcher told her about the treasure and she seemed to be jumpy and started yelling to Mr. Hollowsea. “Are we arrived yet in that island?” she asked it many times. “No, we haven’t” he replied.

After sometime of sailing, they tentatively saw a piece of land in far places and everyone shouted “Horray!”. Skysailor the parrot copied their voice too. Eric the brown dog also barked happily. “We will arrive there in about half an hour. Everybody, be prepared!” shouted the captain. Mr. Hollowsea and Ms. Happyanchor packed their things that would be needed for their walkabout in this small island.

In about half an hour, the Caravel stopped completely. Captain Fishcatcher and all of his followers, including the pets, jumped off from the ship and walked severely to the middle of the island. The sun shone so brightly, they were getting tired and took a rest near the coconut trees. Suddenly, from the back of the trees emerged two figures. Everyone got shocked and asked them. “Who are you?” the captain asked cautiously. “we are the happy twins. My name is Sony and this is my sister Sany. We came to this island for just a couple of days, we just wanted to have an excursion here. This isalnd is famous because of its beauty. How about you?” “Oh! We came here because we want to find a big treasure in this island.” “Wow! We’ve never heard that before” they replied instantly. “Can we join your journey? We promise if we foundthe treasure, we will divide it equally.” Said Sony. “Okay! You can join us, but you have to help us gather for food”, Mr. Hollowsea declared. ‘Fine, it’s easy to find food here” Sany answered. “Now, pack your things and we will go inland” Captain Fishcatcher said.

Captain Fishcatcher looked out the map and followed the route. After walking for about one and a half hour, they slowed down. Suddenly, exactly in teh middle of the island, they saw a very weird house. It was old and rusty. A wrecked house like that is the threshold to such an enormous treasure. They slowly opened the door. Their first sight was an ordinary wooden chair and table, dusted curtains, and other old furnishings. Then Eric barked loudly when he saw a strange pattern on the floor. Everyone got shocked and bewildered.” Look! There’s a pattern in the floor!”, shout Ms. Happyanchor.

The next thing they could see was a secret key and they found out three holes in the floor. Something that was more essential was the caution. “Watch out!”, it was written. “You just have two chances to try unlock the pattern, if you wrong for the third times, the pattern couldn’t be opened anymore.” Beside the caution, there were some writings written in bold word: “Ramshackle” with big letters. “Becarefull, becareful everybody! You all have to be under my command” said Captain Fishcatcher. Suddenly, without any command, Sany took the key and with a deliberate attempt unlocked the pattern, the house started to shake. The house seemed to fell down in any second. Sony followed her sister, he took the key from her sister’s hand and tried it again. Magically, his trick worked. The pattern opened and they saw a stair and tunnel leading to darkness. They jostled at each other to enter the tunnel and the lucky one was Captain Fishcatcher, Mr.Hollowsea, and Ms. Happyanchor.

In several seconds, after they entered it, the tunnel closed down to be the normal pattern again. “Hey! Why is it closing so fast, now we can’t get the treasure.” Sony got furious.

The group waked constantly through the tunnel as long as they brought a candle that was held by the captain. The thought of twins faded away, they were just concentrating for the treasure.

As time passed, they reach a big old room ornamented with artistic painting and plentiful colors. “Now, everybody, lit the room!” ordered the captain. “Ok! Captain!” Mr.Hollowesea and Ms. Happyanchor answered. The room was so bright. The vague sight became clear now. Each of them started to examine theroom. There were boxes of expensive jewelries and bars of gold. The approximate weight of all the treasure could be thousand of pounds. “Wow! It’s marvellous! Said Ms. Happyanchor in a wild excitement. She tried the jewelries and danced around the room, while Mr. Hollowsea rummaged his fingers through boxes of gold bars. It was glistering in faint light. Also, the captain went straight forward to something else. IT was the thing that no one could be thinking of. It was another code. “Hey everybody! Look at here!” Captain Fishcatcher exclaimed. Silver-colored numbers arranged in an irregular patterns in th Granite-tiled floor. “What can we do about it?” Ms. Happyanchor asked Captain Fishcatcher. “Let’s look for clue!”, the captain commended the crew.

All of them looked around the room. In the buildings there were puzzling words. In every picture in the building written “Find me!”. Every pictures in the wall were arranged in an extraordinary way. The pictures were lords and ladies fully dressed with silk. Every pictures looked so weird. Everyone of them looked like number in it. But wasn’t clearly written. The number drawn as tools that the lords and ladies brought. Skysailor the parrot flew across the ceilings and found a “3” upsidedown. It was the crown of King Charlemenge. However, the other found more. Eric figured a “9” that was also upsidedown as Queen Elizabeth earings. The captain figured out a “4” as a tringular flag in a boat and a “2” as swans swam in the pond. Mr.Hollowsea got a “6” in an armchair. He then saw “1” as a candle. Ms. Happyanchor glared at a “7” at the castle door handle. Everybody looked at a vague picture of “5” in the sea picture as wave. Last, they saw an “8” in the ribbon of queen headdress.

After they collated the information, they discussed to solve the code. They looked around the room. The number that they found in each picture were arranged from picture 1 to 9. Captain Fishcatcher also determined the only number that was really hard to find is “5”. If they arranged the numbers in order, it would be like this: 354296718.

After they all knew the code, Mr. Hollowsea stumbly said, “Look! There’s a word “Jump” in the corner of the room.” “Who want to be the first?”, said captain. “To be what?”, Ms. Happyanchor asked again because she wasn’t paying attention to him. “Jump on the numbers, of course!”, the captain exclaimed. “I will!, Mr. Hollowsea said courageously.

As Mr. Hollowsea began to jump on the Silver-hued pattern. It was lustred by the candle light. The block of number started to drift down. Number after number he jumped, if finally formed a spiral staircase down to the emptiness. Mr. Hollowsea entered first, and the other member of the group followed him. “Come on everybody! We’ve get nearer to the treasure” his voice echoed. Then, after a few seconds, all of them gone to the darkness.

The first thing that they saw was golds. Second, expensive jewelries, third antique big statues scattered around this dungeon. Skulls and bones mounted everywhere. They all became numb and wooden. Everybody seemed to be bowled-over by the tremendous sight.

They started rummaged against boxes of gold and jewelries. Captain Fishcatcher also interested to the big statues, but he thought, how could he took off such a big thing. Besides, the other already pulled off trays and boxes of gold bars, also boxes of jewelries. They competed each other to brought as many as they could. The problem was, the staircase was very narrow. They fought at each other to get out first. The captain, Mr.Hollowsea, and Ms. Happyanchor went to remove the treasure.

Suddenly, the whole things started to rumbling. Actually, the wrecked house was ramshackle. It couldn’t stand longer. “Arrgh!!!..”, they started to shout uncontrollably. Finally, they got out of the house with only took 1 box of gold and 1 box of jewelries with them. Along their way, they met the twins.

“Are you two okay?” asked Ms. Happyanchor to the twins. “No, we aren’t. You know why? That’s because we don’t get a slightess bit of treasure. But you all got those enormous treasure” Sony replied angrily. “Yes, we’re already cracked the code so you all could enter that tunnel, how about us?” Sany added. “Fine! Fine! We can divide it equally, can’t we?” Captain Fishcatcher declared. “But, but, they made this chaos, if not then why the house collapsed? Can you two explain it?” asked Mr. Hollowsea hesistantly. “What?” We didn’t want to stay like you all did. We had more courage and iniative than you all. After all, if there wasn’t any accident like that, you couldn’t go down there. “Ok! Stop! Stop! Stop bickering! Don’t be ridiculous!” said the captain. “We can divide it equally, maybe that’s a wise idea to be fair.” Ms. Happyanchor made a remarkeable advice. “Ok! We accept that idea” said Sony and Sany. “How about the others?”, asked the captain. “Ok! We deal!”, Mr. Hollowsea and Ms. Happyanchor said thoughtfully after a few moment.

Finally, all of them became happy once again. Their friendship became better. After this trip, they voyaged to other places to seek more treasure.

THE END