ISKL+Vidya

**Introduction:**
Include some or all of the following, as well as a link to your blog: first name, what you like to do in and out of school, favourites (food, sport, hobby, TV show, video game, etc.), places visited, future plans, claim to fame.

Hi my name is Vidya and I am from India. Some of my hobbies are to swim, badminton. I am currently living in Malaysia if you can figure out where that is. I love to travel to different places. I have lived in many places and I actually have lived in both Canada and New York City. I also like to post blogs on my blog, even though most of them are school related posts.

**Paste your story here:**
Vidya Bollavaram April, 14, 09 Flat Tales Humanities A Road to Change Where shall I go this year…? I thought to myself, as I lifted my body off the leather couch and motioned to the kitchen door. After I had reached the inside, my hands set the coffee cup down on the counter.

Every year I had chosen a specific place to visit and had written a report on the best places for tourism, good restaurants, and other things that might light up the place a bit more. Last year I had done Belgium, not a very hard place to find good things on, but this year I wanted something really tough that would need a lot of work put into it. My mind raced through all the possibilities that existed. This is hard, there are over 190 countries in this world and I could visit only one. Maybe I could visit a country in Africa which might be hard since there is poverty there. That’s one possibility, I thought to myself.

Just then the phone started ringing. Hearing the sound I automatically rushed out of the kitchen to the living room where the phone sat, waiting for me to pick it up. Leaning over the table, my arms reached out to answer the phone. “Hello” my voice asked waiting for a response. “Hi, it’s me David. I was wondering if you chose a place you wanted to do the report on. I apparently got partnered with you this time.” David answered. David happened to be one of my best friends at work and outside of work. “Wow that is so cool. I am glad I got partnered up with you. Well, I was thinking of visiting a country in Africa or something. I wanted to make a bit harder to report on.” I responded with a slight fear of rejection in my voice. “Oh, well I wanted to do a place that would be fun to visit and even report on. Such as America, London, or even Mexico, but it is your choice this time so you can choose” David muttered with an obvious sign of disappointment in his voice. Feeling bad for him I decided to compromise so David would be happy. “Ok, we will go to Mexico” I said trying to sound as enthusiastic as I could though I knew I had failed. I guessed David could see that I really wanted to go to Africa because the next words out of his mouth were “No, I think we should go to Africa. You are right, where is the fun if the project is going to be so easy. So it’s settled. We will leave for Namibia tomorrow. Ok?” “Sure” I replied full of joy. After a short moment I heard a beep from the phone which indicated that no one was on.

Putting my phone, I skipped to my room to start packing up right away. I might need a lot of clothes since we were probably staying for a week or two. Packing took a long time since I was a picky person. Hours later I finally got everything ready, and looked up to see that the clock read 9:30pm. I decided that going to sleep now would be a good idea since I had eaten dinner at 8:00pm.

I then walked over to the closet to find my pajamas. After quickly heading to the bathroom and changing I stepped out ready to fall asleep. As I climbed on to my soft mattress covered with a thick red duvet. I then set my alarm to 7:30pm knowing that the flight would leave at 9:30am from my previous trips and the car ride to the airport took 1 hour and the flight took 20 hours to reach Namibia.

The next day I awoke to the sound of my alarm ringing away, waiting to be turned off. Quickly pressing the button, I jumped off the bed and walked over to the bathroom which was only few feet away from the bed. I brushed my teeth, brushed my hair, then took a shower like usual. After coming out of the bathroom I looked over at the clock to see it was already 8:15am. I rushed out of the room and made my way to the kitchen to grab a bowl, cereal, and a carton of milk in the refrigerator. Clutching the items in my hands I ran to the table to start eating. When I reached the table I sat down in an instant and started pushing everything into my mouth. When I was done I ran to the bedroom to get all the bags (which were only two) and rushed out to the front door. Dragging the bags behind me I stopped outside the house and reached into my pockets to get the keys and lock the door. As soon as I was done I strutted to the elevator and my fingers touched the down button. After what seemed like forever to me the elevator had finally arrived. Stepping in with a calm manner I pressed 1, and the elevator started going down.

Soon after I had reached the first floor I ran to my car Camry that was waiting for me. Opening the door I shoved all the bags inside and started the car as fast as my hands could go. The car raced through the open gate and whizzed down the avenue now entering the main road which was a three way. My mouth curved into a frown as soon as I took a glance at the traffic that lay ahead of me. Lined up in two columns stood what looked like 50 cars waiting for the green light. This was definitely bad, especially because I hadn’t even entered the route I needed to follow in order to arrive at the terminals. This was definitely one bad thing about living almost in the middle of New York City and New Jersey. Living next to or rather just a few streets away from the Lincoln Tunnel meant a whole lot of traffic.

After what seemed like forever to me, the traffic had been cleared enough for me to struggle my way into the Tunnel that led to New Jersey. As I struggled past the cars that contained frustrated drivers, I drove into the tunnel that held absolutely no traffic at all. Moments later, which was more like 5-10 minutes my eyes were able to look at the sky again and it was because the tunnel was so long. After that big traffic jam there weren’t that many cars driving through, and then it finally hit me. Today was a Tuesday which meant that almost all the people would be at work. As my mouth curved back into a smile I knew I was going to be early which a very good thing. 45 minutes later I could see signs appearing at the side directing me to the departing terminals.

**Questions for Peer Reviewers**
(Think in terms of questions you would like to ask the author.)

1. Think of plot—is it original? (If an adaptation, is it creative or interesting to you?) What suggestions do you have for the author(s)?

2. Think about problems that the characters face. Are there complications that add enough suspense, tension, or interest? Is there a climax that satisfies you? Is the resolution satisfying? What could be added or changed?  I think that you could have added more suspense but overall really good 3. Think of characterization—are the characters life-like? Are characters likable and enjoyable? Do we get a good sense of character from many of these: description, dialogue, narrator's opinion, discussion from other characters, the character’s own actions? You described the characters really well. I felt like I was with them the entire time. 4. Think of imagery and details. Do they help you //see// and //hear// and //experience// the story? What details would you like to see in the next revision of the story? I can hear the story and see the story. Although 5. What areas of the story need the most improvement? What suggestions do you have for the author?