During my spring break, I am going to Brandon, Manitoba, and participating in the Brandon Winter Fair. I went last year with a couple of family member, including my grandma, and my brother, and we absolutely loved it, because of all the excitement with all the races, events and displays, including the super dogs from President's Choice, that were happening! I saw a lot of racing and horses and I loved it (I bought $16 worth of Lemonade, and that's all I bought, besides a small key-chain!); and so I wanted to go back the Brandon Winter Fair this year because I had enjoyed going there and seeing traditional country holiday fun, and participating in it as well. I am also going shopping and doing a lot of driving, but I relax, not drive! During the Summer Holidays, I spend most of my time in the Parkland Region of Manitoba, so I'm used to being around horses and listening to Country music. (I prefer Country music genre over rock music genre, just sayin'!). I am most looking forward to spending time with my family and friends, because I have been so busy this year, I have not been able to connect with and just hang out with my family and friends, and just relaxing and enjoying myself, while having fun and just making the most out of my time here on this planet.
The photo I have chosen portrays barrel racing, which represents Brandon well because it is a very cowboy like town with so much stuff to do in it, including shopping, many restaurants, carnivals,and a lot of scenery. The Brandon Winter Fair has many activities that involve horses. One of these activities, Barrel Racing, is probably one of the most fun activity at the Brandon Winter Fair to go and see, because it is very fast paced, and the crowd gets rowdy when the horse beats the time of the previous horse. The race is usually over in about twelve to fifteen seconds.In Barrel Racing, the horse has to go around three barrels before the running down the middle to stop the timer. Horse racing is one of the hundreds of activities that see at the Brandon Winter Fair, including hackney, when the horses run, trot, gallop, walk, and do other different patterns around the stage. The Stage looks exactly as it does here in this photo, with wood shavings on the ground, and situated on a hockey rink. The BWF is usually jammed packed to the roof as it is portrayed in this picture.
What I have found interesting in my novel is the way that the author uses the different characters to help illustrate what the book is about. Mitali Perkins, the author, has created two sections of the book to describe the different views of the two sides of the Burmese Civil War. Chiko, also know as "Teacher", is one of two main characters in "Bamboo People". Chiko is from the Aboriginal side of the war and is abducted into the Burmese military by Captain Win-Min, one of the leaders of the Burmese Military. Tu-Reh, the other main character, is a young street boy from Yangon. Tu-Reh is from the city, where the government is trying to commit genocide against the Aboriginals; however, Tu-Reh is completely oblivious to the war, until he finds Chiko lying in the forest with a leg that has been destroyed. Tu-Reh brings Chiko to the Healer's hut in order to help Chiko. I find this interesting because eventhough Tu-Reh is a non-aboriginal boy, he still wants to help others on the other side of the war. Tu-Reh is a character I find that Mitali Perkins, portrays as a charachter of Good Samaritian ethics as he helps Chiko from dying even though they are on opposite sides of the struggle. I think the reason why I like this book is because of the psychological ways the book attracts you into reading it. I also like the way Perkins uses very descriptive words and paints a picture visually in your mind. In all I find that the book is very good because of its psychological non-arbitrary ways to pull you into the book.
The novel that I am going to connect to is called 'Bamboo People' by Mitali Perkins. At least three times in my life I have felt great fear, distress, and grief. Just as Chiko, one of the two main characters did. When Chiko had arrived at the location where the job posting for the teacher, the military came out and opened fired and gathered everyone who came to the job posting, controlling Chiko like a savage. When I was about four years old, I had gotten lost in a giant store ('Walmart'). Even though it does not seem that big now, it was huge when I was four. I was wandering down an isle, trying to fnd my parents, when a big hefty guy, dressed all in black, starting walking down the isle. I started to feel so scared, and I was already upset that I could not find my parents, that I started to bawl. But finally I found my parents walking down the main isle, and I scared them by grabbing onto the buggy. I was so happy when I found them, that I started to smile and forget the grief and terror that I had just faced.
