Family Celebration : Ramadhan

Family Celebration: Ramadhan

Today, I’m going to be talking about my family celebration. The celebration that I picked is Ramadhan.     Ramadhan is a muslim celebration that most muslims celebrate after they have finished fasting.  My family celebrates it every year, but there is one specific Ramadhan I’ll never forget.

Ramadhan/ Idul Fitri is very important, fun to my family and me. It’s because it means that we’ll get to have sleepovers, we can pray and cook together. We mainly do these things the night before the big celebration. Since my family is super religious, I never missed a day of Ramadhan and fasting month. Honestly I don’t mind because I love having Muslim celebrations. The Ramadhan that stood out as the most memorable was when I was 10 years old in 2013. It was August, I knew it was a great day. My family and me woke up at 5am. We were getting ready for Sholat Ied, or it could be Ied Pray. Ied is a pray where Muslims in one area gather and pray together to thank God for giving us another month of blessing (Ramadhan). My family and me went to a local mosque that fits about 600-1000 people. It was very crowded but it’s not humid. People are walking to find their spot. It was very crowded but I thank God that it’s crowded. That means people haven’t forgotten about Ied. After that, chaos, we sat down and listened to different people talking about their 30^th, 40^th even 1^st Ramadhan. It was touching because some talk about their last Ramadhan with their mom. When I came home I saw all my cousins, aunts, uncles & even my nieces home. I was shocked and very surprised. They came because it was out first Ramadhan without our grandma. My grandma passed away in the spring of 2012. It was very hard, that’s why we decided to get through it together. We sat down and talked about how our fasting has been. Usually my grandma cooks first Ramadhan but now it’s my aunt. Her cooking was just as good. Before we eat, we pray to our loved ones. The food is different every year but this year, we had fried chicken, lungs, soup, beef, corn and spicy dim sum. I ate it all. Usually after we eat, we all go to out gradparents and great grandparents grave yard. Its sad, very sad. We all pray to them and sat we miss them. We go back home and I remember my mom told me there will be a surprise. I asked her and she said we are going to Bali.

We went to Bali to go visit my mom’s step sister, that by then would be the age of 42. She passed away just a month after the last Ramadhan last year.Straight after we showered, we went to the airport. Our plane was boarding in the afternoon and we were going home at 10:00pm Bali time. Since after Ramadhan/Idul Fitru is all about grief, not visiting her is not an option. On the flight to Bali, I remember that me and my cousin played hide and seek. Our plane was dead empty even though it has a high season month. It was so fun. We even made one of my uncle’s played with us. We finally touched down in Bali. It was so bright and hot. We went and called out driver in Bali to pick us up. On the way to the graveyard, I kept thinking “why is there a rainbow when it hasn’t rained at all?” I was 10 so I didn’t understand. I thought it was a sign that my aunt was happy to see me. We finally arrived and saw her grave. It was so floral that we thought that someone has been here. Someone had, It was my step cousin. We went and prayed to her. We prayed to her saying that we ate at Nannys Pavillion. Its an amazing restaurant. We went and ate her favorite food ever, lasagna. Just after that, I remembered that Ramadhan was over. I’m glad that I have Ramadhan every year.

That’s my most memorable Ramadhan so far, it was a year full of sadness and tears but my family are the right people to talk with when I’m sad. For me, it was memorable because it’s the first Ramadhan without my grandma. It was very hard, but I got trough it. My family and me never experience a day of fasting or Ramadhan without my grandma. Even after that Ramadhan, my family and I had with her. That’s my most memorable celebration, thank you.

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DEBATE

Reflection- Debating

I think my group wasn’t too organized. I know that we actually did do some research but we didn’t actually do it so properly. We were organized but we weren’t too organized. I think, my argument was a pretty good one. I used PEEL and done a lot of research. Just how I delivered it, I didn’t do it good enough to prove that I actually have a good argument. I have the evidence and so many facts. I did the research pretty well and got so many facts that I did put the argument.

I definitely think that we could do it better. I personally think that I’m supposed to be the one that improve. I get distracted so fast that I could get the giggles anytime. I also am very nervous at that time so I just lost it. My group has really good arguments, except for the part that we just don’t deliver it good enough. We should improve the way we talk in front of people.

To be honest, some of us really did take the time to research. We all did, but sometimes we get distracted by each other or distracted by our laptops.

I think we didn’t really sort of persuade the audience. What we did though is use ethos and pathos. We did actually use emotion and I don’t think we have a monotone voice. I think the ANTI drug trafficking death penalty is really good.

They had really good arguments and have a lot of evidence. The rebuttal was good but overall they’re really good and deserve an 8. I think I deserve a 4. A lot of 4’s maybe I deserve a 17. I don’t think I did too well. I was just so nervous and just sort of lost it.

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THE REAL POLICE REPORT

Police Report Task

We arrived at the Volupides household at 2 am. We found Queenie Volupides’ husband (Arthur Volupides) laying on the floor in front of the stairs with his right foot on the third step and his left foot on the second step.  He was still holding his glass on his hands. Witness (Queenie Volupides) said that they had had a tiff. She tore out of the house and went to the country club where there was a party going on.  The autopsy found a wound on the back of his head, which was the cause his death. Queenie confessed that she invited her friends over for another drink then found Arthur dead. She said to her friend “Something terrible happened. Arthur slipped and fell on the stairs. He was coming down for another drink-he still had the glass on his hand and I think he’s dead. We collected evidence from the house . We found some pieces of evidence that disprove Queenie’s confession.

           Firstly, we noticed that Arthur was lying on his back. As a rule, people usually fall face-first if they fall or trip down the stairs. It is unusual to see Arthur lying on his back since Queenie claimed that he fell down the stairs to get another drink. Another thing is that we also noticed that Arthur’s right foot was on the third step and his left foot was on the second step. As a rule when people was walking up the stairs, one of their foot is usually one step higher than the other. This proves that he did not go down the stairs. It’s likely that Queenie was not telling the truth. It’s also likely that he was going up the stairs instead of going down the stairs.

Secondly, we noticed that everything on the stairs (including the carpet) is not misplaced and its very neat. As a rule, when people fell down, they usually grab on to things or try to steady/save themselves to prevent injury. Which would have to results to have things moved out of its place or it would move the carpet. On the scene, we noticed that everything on the stairs was very neat and it is unlikely to not wrinkle the carpet. Another thing was that we noticed that the Autopsy only shows that Arthur’s body was only injured on his head. As a rule when people fall down from the stairs, they would suffered more than 1 injury or more injuries to other parts of his body. This proves that Arthur was unlikely to fall down the stairs and it’s likely Queenie was not telling the truth.

Thirdly, we noticed that there was a frying pan cooking in 1am. As a rule, people don’t usually cook at 1am as it’s commonly a sleeping time. Another thing that we noticed was that the amount of smoke coming out of the frying pan. It was unlikely that a regular food will produced that much of smoke when it’s cooked. It can make that much smoke if there was a liquid in the bottom of the frying pan. Which will cause it to be very smokey. This proves that the frying pan contains liquid as it produced more smoke than it is supposed to be. This proves that it’s unlikely queenie was cooking because she’s hungry or that she was cooking for her friends since they were just going to her house for another drink.

In conclusion, we concluded that Queenie is proved that she had murdered her husband Arthur by using the frying pan. When Arthur went upstairs, Queenie took the frying pan and hit Arthur from the back. Arthur fell down and dead. It was believed that she hit Arthur because they had a tiff. She put the frying pan back on the stove before she dried up the blood and turn the stove on to pretend she was cooking and to remove the evidence of she hitting Arthur from the police. She framed her action by inviting friends over and pretending that she just knew that Arthur was dead.  

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My Very Cute Holiday Moment

On New Years Eve 2014, Me and my big family gathered in Manhattan Hotel. I was greeted by my favorite niece ever! Their name is D & D. They are a very special twin. They're too cute and can communicate in weird ways. plus, they're also really good at singing!

We went to the rooftop which was filled with balloons and food! We also found a stage. So, my niece chose to sing! It was a miracle, that they were still awake and hyper. It was the cutest thing ever! They were dancing and singing as the fireworks and coutdown begins!

I don't think they know too much about fireworks and New Years since they were still 3 and a half years old. Unfortunately, not long after that, they were so sleepy and went to bed before we ate the food. We celebrated it with a lots of food and basically catching up with my family members. The Gala Dinner was amazing!!

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