Oops!

Hello, all! So, I wrote this post last Friday... but just realized I hit "save as draft" instead of publish post... so here is my post from Friday, today! When I woke up this morning, I was blessed to discover I had pink eye. And yes, that is sarcasm. It has been spreading around the swim team and a lot of the girls have been out because of it. I guess it was only a matter of time before I got it. I still went to school though. I can't afford to miss any. So I made sure I never touched my eyes and washed my hands throughout the day. At practice, our coach actually told us he wanted us to throw out all our make up and not wear any for the next two weeks (that's when swimming will be over). I'm not sure how this will go with everyone. To be honest, I know I wasn't fond of the idea of throwing away all my make up. Girls, you know that stuff isn't cheap!

So I was watching the news tonight and they talked about all the snow New York has been getting. I had no clue they were getting so much but apparently New York City has gotten 19 inches!! Crazy, huh? And over 1,200 flights were cancelled because of the airport closing there. Don't get me wrong, I love snow, don't get me wrong, but good things come in small packages. That's what my mom always says. And this, is no small package. What's that saying? Too much of a good thing can be bad? Something like that. But this is definitely an example. I wonder how long the kids were out of school for this! But check out this picture! This would be so much fun! A huge snow ball fight took place in Dupont Circle in Washington but when I saw it I couldn't help but post it. Talk about your inner child! Everyone would have such a good time.

The Kite Runner By Khaled Hosseini

Today will be a short summary. I've been trying to do them by sections in the book, or what makes the most sense. Because of (what I gather) governmental problems Baba and Amir decide to leave their homes and attempt to escape before they get sent to prison. They are in a car with a few other people being smuggled across the boarder. When they reach the boarder the driver supposedly has connections with the guards and will be able to pass easily. When they reach the checkpoint, a young guard demands time with the young wife in the car. Her husband begs and pleads to leave her alone, but without success. With that, Baba stands up and basically tells him off. The guard threatens to put a bullet through his head but Baba doesn't back down. Eventually, the guard gives up and lets them pass.

They finally arrive in Jalalabad and ran into a safe house. Here, the driver told them that there was no truck to take them the rest of the way, it had broken down. Baba asked why he hadn't told them this last week. Before he could even answer, Baba did, "I'll tell you why, because he got paid for his leg of the trip. That's all he cared about!" The driver sends them down in the basement where they discover there are about thirty more refugees. After a week in the basement, they received the option of going the rest of the way in a empty fuel truck. All the people except an older couple took the offer. In the tank it was hot and hard to breathe and so toxic that their eyes burned. After a long, unbearable trip, Baba tells Amir that they have arrived in the safety of Pakistan. All the passengers climb out. In fact, when they do one of the passengers in lying dead in his father's arms. They can't bring him back.

When I was reading this I couldn't imagine the struggle they went through to reach freedom. I can't imagine picking up and moving from the house I've grown up in. Moving from the friends I love. Leaving the sidewalk my name is carved in. It's all just something I can't grasp. Especially because of problems in the government. Moving for my dad's job would be one thing, but because of something I had no control in would be so hard to handle. Maybe he was happy to get away from the things that reminded him of Hassan and the winter their friendship stopped. There were no more constant reminders.

Goodnight. Sleep tight. Don't let the bed bugs bite.