Kimberly's Diary (November 11-25, 2000)
Saturday, 11 November
Today we went to a place called Calistoga. This is apparently famous for several
reasons. First, an American football player named Joe Montana, who played for
the San Francisco 49ers, has a ranch there. The scenery on the way there from
our house was very beautiful. There were lots of very big coniferous trees,
and it looked like the kind of scenery that you would see on the television
about Canada. We do not have such big, open spaces like this near our home in
England.
When we got there, I noticed that the whole place smelled a bit funny. It
smelt like some kind of strange mud. I soon found out another reason that makes
Calistoga famous: the spas. We did not actually go and take the waters. We decided
to leave that for another time.
The place was absolutely beautiful as well. It was a bit more European than
many American places, a bit more like England, where you get small shops instead
of large department stores.
On the way home from Calistoga, we visited a petrified forest. This is a forest
that has been ruined by a volcanic eruption, and the ash came down onto the
trees and kind of turned the trees into stone. I don't think there is such a
thing in England.
Tuesday, 21 November
In our leadership lesson at school, we made a Thanksgiving teachers' brunch
in the morning. All the children helped set up, and some children cooked spice
bread, banana bread, and pumpkin bread for the teachers to eat in the teachers'
lounge.
Thursday, 23 November
Thanksgiving isn't celebrated in England, of course, so it was interesting for
me to witness my first Thanksgiving celebration. That day I went round to my
friend Heather's house. We watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade in New York
on television. The parade had floats and people parading down the street. Some
of the casts from the Broadway shows performed dancing and singing. After that,
we went to Jack in the Box for breakfast, along with lots of other people. (In
the States, lots of people don't bother to cook their own breakfasts.)
Later on in the day I went home, and my dad cooked a traditional Thanksgiving
meal of roast turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, mushrooms, and vegetables.
He also made a pumpkin pie.
Friday, 24 November
Today is the day after Thanksgiving, but it is also my birthday. I have arranged
to go shopping with my best friend, Heather. We are going shopping to the mall
to spend some of the money that I was sent as a birthday gift from England.
Traditionally, most Americans use this day's holiday to do the first of their
Christmas shopping!
Saturday, 25 November
Today is my sleep-over
party. I made a lot of effort to clean up the house and buy in all the food
we would need. I invited four other girls apart from Heather. That evening,
one of them phoned me to say that she was ill. Another girl phoned to say that
she could not come because her grandma had a broken rib and she had to look
after her, but she still came round to the house to wish me a happy birthday
and to give me a present. The other girls never turned up or even offered an
apology, even though they said that they were going to come! It was a bit disappointing!
Kimberly's
prior journal entries
PearsonAtSchool Products
Writing
Journals
You'll find advice
on how to use learning logs, reader response journals, and writers' notebooks.
Journals
as Frameworks for Change
This book illustrates how to guide teachers and school community groups through
change.
Lesson Plans
An Immigrant's
Story – Grades: 6-12, Language Arts, Social Studies
Students
write within a historical context by creating a character and writing about
his or her experience as an immigrant.
Web Resources
Reading Matters
Read about a young girl's experiences in war-torn Sarajevo in the book Zlata's
Diary.
http://www.readingmatters.co.uk/books/zlata.htm
Printer-Friendly
Version
United States
Teacher Exchange Series
