Sour Sweet Post

For the past two weeks in English class we've been reading Sour Sweet by Timothy Mo. This novel tells the story of Chinese immigrants living in Britain. We encounter many characters/civilians such as Chen, Lily, and Mui who all work hard to make money and create a live for themselves. On the other hand, we also see characters such as Red Cudgel, White Paper Fan, and Grass-Sandal who are in a ruthless gang that deal drugs, raid stores, and even take the lives of others. We see this really come to life within chapter 18 when the Triad raids a rival gang and kill everyone in there way.

Each time throughout the book when the gang is brought up planning something malevolent I think how is a person capable of doing something like this. People aren't raised to kill, they go out of there way to learn and eventually act. Even today, you hear so many stories of school shootings or someone getting shot on the street. There are some people that are born with some sort of mental handicap that you here shoot someone. But what about the one's who are born with a stable brain.  So my question... what outside influences, or innate traits that people are born with interest them in going down such a dark path? 

Halloween Story

It's my first year in Abu Dhabi, I'm five years old and I'm in kindergarden. It's my first time celebrating Halloween outside of the U.S. and to be honest, it feels really weird. First of all, in Abu Dhabi Halloween isn't a holiday that exits there, only the foreigners partake in that holiday meaning there are no pumpkins sitting outside of people's houses let alone in the store waiting to be bought. That year my parents had bought my brother and I squashes to carve instead of pumpkins which I didn't know because I had no clue what a squash was, I just thought it was a weird looking pumpkin. Another reason it felt weird was that I was still getting used to the new environment I was living in, I hadn't fully adapted yet which makes a huge difference.

That year I dressed up as Robin Hood and I'll be honest, I look really good. I have a bow and plenty of arrows, I also have the hat and shoes, everything was just working with that costume. In the end everything worked out fine, I had a great time trick or treating with my friends and my parents and I ate a lot of candy that year.