stuff!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2 days ago I had my birthday in class,it was really fun I brought in a Lizze McGuire cake. After we had eaten the cake the teacher called 6 kids at a time to stand in front of the class with me; when my best friend came up she went right next to me and we hugged for the picture, it came out really well.
Me and my best friend wanted to have a separate party with just the two of us but we couldn't do it on the actual day I brought the cake so we decided to do it another day. I'm also having a kind of party outside of class with some of my friends it's gonna be really fun,we'll dance, sing,make cookies. MY BIRTHDAY WAS SO MUCH FUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Work We Do At School

At school we do writing assignments that we call "tema". Here is an example of one. The assignment was to write a made up story with the title she gave us "I live...in the world of dinosaurs" (because we were studying dinosaurs). I'll write it first in Italian, and then in English.( This is from the beginning of this year...my temas have gotten better )

Vivo... nel mondo dei dinosauri

Io vivo nel mondo dei dinosauri. Mi chiamo Stella e i dinosauri sono i miei amici. Un giorno stavo passeggiando e ho visto uno dei miei dinosauri preferiti si chiamava Cip-Cop e io ho detto a Cip-Cop << vuoi giocare con me? >> E Cip-Cop disse << certo, però ho visto che la nostra amica Micerotopelo che ha solo sei anni sta male secondo me andiamo a casa sua per vedere se la possiamo aiutare >>. << va bene >> mentre stavamo camminando abbiamo visto la nostra amica Velopina che vola velocissima e noi le abbiamo chiesto in coro << ci puoi portare sulle spalle >> e lei ha detto << certo, saltate sopra >>. Quando erevamo arrivati a casa di Micerotopelo abbiamo bussato alla porta e abbiamo aspettato per cinque minuti ma nessuno apriva la porta. Allora abbiamo provato ad aprire la porta e si era aperto, siamo entrati nella stanza di Micerotopelo e lei stava sdraiata sul letto e stava tossendo. Io ho chiesto << che cosa hai? >> e lei ha detto << ho la febbre a trentotto >>. Noi le abbiamo portato immidiatamente un po' d'acqua e le abbiamo detto << ti senti un po' meglio? >> E lei ha detto << no >> ed io poi ho avuto un'idea bellissima e ho detto a Cip-Cop << perché non andiamo dal mago Riccioratope, ci facciamo dare una pozione e così la possiamo curare >> << va bene andiamo >> << ciao >> << ciao >>. Quando siamo usciti dalla casa siamo andati al mago. Arrivati alla casa del mago, abbiamo visto che la sua casa era cio' che bello, era tutto coperto di ragnatele ed era tutto fatto da mattoni vecchissimi, però non importava tanto perché in quel momento Cip-Cop urlò. << ho trovato la stanza di Riccioratope >>. Stava seduta e ha chiesto a noi << che cosa volete! >> E noi le abbiamo detto : << vogliamo una pozione per curare la febbre >> << va bene >> ha detto il mago e aprì un cassetto con delle bottiglie con liquido di tutti i colori. Dopo un po' ha sceglto quello con una pozione verde e ha detto << deve bere tutta questa bottiglia con un bicchiere d'aqua >> << va bene grazie >> << ciao >> << ciao >>. Tornati a casa di Micerotopelo le abbiamo detto che lo doveva bere. Lei ha bevuto e si é curato, erevammo tutti felicissimi e abbiamo fatto la festa.

AND NOW ENGLISH......

I Live in the World of Dinosaurs

I live in the world of dinosaurs. My name is Stella and the dinosaurs are my friends. One day I was taking a walk and I saw my best dinosaur friend, whose name was Cip-Cop and I said to Cip-Cop "You want to play with me?" And Cip-Cop said "Sure, but I saw our friend Micerotopelo, who is only six years old, who was sick. I think we should go to her house to see if we can help." "Okay." While we were walking, we saw one of our friends, Velopina, who can fly really quickly and we both said "Can you take us on your back?" And she said "Sure. Jump on." When we arrived at Micerotopelo's home, we knocked on the door and waited for five minutes, but no one opened the door. So we tried to open the door and it opened. We entered into the room of Micerotopelo who was lying on her bed coughing. I asked "what's wrong?" And she said "I have a fever of 38." We brought her immediately some water and we said "Do you feel a little better?" And she said "No." And then I had a really good idea. I told Cip-Cop "Why don't we go to the wizard Ricccioratope. We'll ask him to give us a potion to cure her." "Okay, let's go." "Bye." "Bye." When we went out of the house we went to the wizard. When we arrived we saw that his house wasn't very pretty. It was covcobwebsiderwebs and it was made of very old bricks, but it didn't matter very much because in that moment Cip-Cop yelled "I found Riccioratope's room." He was sitting and asked us "What do you want?" And we told him "We want a potion that cures fever." "Okay," he said, and opened a drawer in which there were bottles of ever color. After a little he chose the one with the green potion and said "She has to drink this whole bottle with a glass of water." "Okay." "Bye." "Bye." When we arrived home we told Micerotopelo that she had to drink it. She drank it and was cured. We were all very happy and had a party.

cool movie!!!!!!!!!!!

The other day I went to this really cool movie, Step Up. It was about some gangsters. One night while there out, they accedentally broke the window to a dance,art and singing school, so they decided to go inside. They broke every thing on the stage and one of the them got caught. The one who go caught had to be the janitor there to earn enough money to repair the damages. He falls in love with one of the dancers who needs a partner because her other partener is sick. The janitor watches everyone tryout to be her partner, but none of them can dance well enough. So he asks if he can try out, and at first she sais no, but then she says yes and they make up a really good routine.
One night the main guy was going out with his friends. A litte guy in the gang was not allowed to come with them, but he snuck away to go with them anyway. When they saw him, they sent him away. But he could not take being so little, so he stole the mean guy's car (he knew how from watching his friends). But he did not know that the guy was mean, so he was showing off how he stole the car when the mean guy shot him and he died. The main guy and his other friend where really upset but he had to focus on the dance. In the end he does the dance with her and everything works out perfectly. I really liked it beacause I go to modern dance class and I want to be a dancer when I am older.

best friends 4 ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My best best friend in Rome is in the same class with me, she lives really close to me and she is just like me. She has brown hair just like me, she has dark brown eyes just like me and she is basically as tall as me, we both love the same things like: websites, singers, movies, books, pens, diaries, bracelets,actors, actresses and sooo many other things, two of our favorite actresses are Vanessa Anne Hudgens and Ashley Tisdale who both starred in HSM ( high school musical, one of our favorite movies) Vanessa played the part of the main character, Gabriella Montez and Ash played the part of Sharpay Evans. We are going to do a concert together we are going to sing songs in English so I have to teach them to her I must say she is a really quick learner it takes her about a week or less to learn the songs and I know it seems like a long time but it is short for an Italian speaker. She helps me with my Italian when I need help with it, she really talked with me a lot my first months at that school everyone did but she was by far the most help to me .I learned a lot of Italian talking with her everyday she is a really really really really........(I could go on for ever) good friend I think I am going to be friends with her 4 ever.

What a weird teacher

We have this art teacher at school who is usualy very strict and serious and she also stays with us when we do homework after school beacause in my school you have the choice of doing your homework at school with a teacher waching you so when she was waching us the other day and me and my two other friends had finished are homework. While we were waiting for the others to finish their homework we played some clapping games and the teacher saw us and out of the blue took one of my friends hands and showed us a clapping game-dance kind of thing that she did when she was little. It was weird to see a strict and proper teacher like her just get up and dance we all laughed and tryed it out it was fun and it had mostly made up words but some of the words actually meant some thing this these are the words to the song: PIZZA RICOTTA ORESTE EBUM PIZZA RICOTTA ODESTE EBUM EBUM EBUM EBUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Here are the words to another clapping clapping game that is one of my favorites: fly sei ( clap 3 times) sikula ( clap 3 times) questa qui ( clap 3 times) fly sei ( clap 3 times) quando la sera ( clap 2 times) la luna malapena ( clap 2 times) acqua salata ( clap 2 times) zucchero filato ( clap 2 times) noi faremo ( clap 2 times) bum bum flash.

I was thinking about Santa Claus.....

I was thinking about Santa Claus and it made me wonder how they celebrate Christmas in different countries, so I did some research.

I learned that Santa Claus has different names in different countries:
Afghanistan -- Baba Chaghaloo
Armenia -- Gaghant Baba
Brazil -- Papai Noel
Czech Republic -- Jezisek
Denmark -- Julemanden
France and French Canada -- Le Pere Noel
Germany -- Weihnachtsmann
Iraq and South Africa -- Goosaleh
Ireland and Scottish Highlands -- Daidi na Nollag
Portugal -- Pai Natal
Romania -- Mos Craciun
Spain and Mexico -- Papa Noel
Netherlands and Belgium -- Sinterklaas
(www.worldofchristmas.net)

The character of Santa Claus is based on a real person. This person (according to history) was a bishop in Turkey. He gave presents to needy, poor and good kids to make them happy. So, many folktales were created about him. After a while he became Santa Claus as he is known today.

I also came across some nice stories of Santa Claus in different countries. For example, in France Pere Noel exchanges the hay and carrots the children put in their shoes for the reindeer with presents. (www.familycrafts.about.com/cs/santaprojects/l/blperenoel.htm)

In Russia Father Frost often travels in a traditional Russian sleigh ( troika) with his granddaughter, Snegurochka , the snow maiden. Now Christmas is celebrated on January 7 in Russia because after the October Revolution in 1917 they changed the dates so that Christmas came after (non-religious) New Year's to make New Year's more important. Because of that, in Russia, Father Frost is associated with New Year's rather than with Christmas. (www.familyofmann.tripod.com/rph016.htm)

I also found this one which I thought was funny. From www.infostarbase.com/tnr/xmas/santa.html: in Poland, "Swiety Mikolaj (Saint Nicholas) was a cardinal in the Catholic Church, he visits children on December 6th and he brings presents, mostly sweets, which he leaves in children clean (it is very important) shoes." The part I thought was funny was the part when they say "it is very important" that the shoes are clean. I wonder if he does not give presents if the shoes are not clean. They also forgot the "'s" on children's.

Piazza Navona for Befana

Here is a picture of Piazza Navona on January 6, 2007. The Piazza is filled with games and toys for the christmas celebration that ends on January 6, which is the Befana. Here is the story of the Befana as told by Kristin Thoennes in the book Christmas in Italy:

"Many Italian children believe in the Befana (bay-FAH-nah). Befana is a kind, old witch. Some Italians say that the three kings invited Befana to Bethlehem to honor Jesus. Befana said she was too busy.
Later, Befana changed her mind. She filled a sack with treats and toys for Jesus. Befana rode her broom looking for Jesus. But she did not find the newborn. Befana still looks for Jesus on Epiphany every year. Befana stops at every house with a child to see if the child is Jesus. She leavs a gift for each child."

Italian children believe in another character. His name is Babbo Natale.

more about me...

Italy is the third country I have lived in. I have lived in Turkey, the United States and now in Rome. I speak fluent Turkish, and obviously English and Italian..........I am trilingual. When we first moved to Italy I was in an international school. Then,in second grade, because I was not learning Italian, I went to a completely Italian school. I went there not knowing a word of Italian and all the teachers spoke Italian and all the kids spoke Italian. I could not communicate with anyone, so it was difficult. But look at me now (in third grade)! I speak fluently. I guess I learned faster because I basically had to learn in order to be able to survive that school, so I did. Actually now I am having problems because I am talking too much during class...and it's funny because when I first went to that school the teacher said that I didn't talk at all...and now she's complaining that I'm a chatterbox (chiacchierona).

Me!!!!!!

This is me in front of what I see when I look out my window. In my opinion it is the most beautiful building in Rome (lucky for me I have to see it every day)