Ayearofbooks.Week1. WONDER - R.J.Palacio

I have so say Wonder is really a "Wonder".
It's absolutely a sob-making story. It's already made me cry the whole night when I was so focus on reading it, I couldn't put it down.
Can't even imagine I'm gonna rank it number one on my list even above my beloved Harry Potter series.
An extraordinary boy. And just that can lead to other extraordinary adventures and touch many other lives.

August, himself, always think he is an ordinary kid. The only reason he is not ordinary is that no one else sees him that way  . They think he's different. A not so good "difference". Actually, a difference can make someone thinks he should die everytime he is looking at the mirror.

He just a kid but he acknowledges it very crystal clear in his head. “It's like people you see sometimes, and you can't imagine what it would be like to be that person, whether it's somebody in a wheelchair or somebody who can't talk. Only, I know that I'm that person to other people, maybe to every single person in that whole auditorium. 
To me, though, I'm just me. An ordinary kid.”

He came to this world with a huge, tremendous difference in his face which made him can only stay at home to homeschool with his mom only. 

August loves Halloween the most. Cuz on that day, he can get to dress up in a costume. He can get to wear a mask.  He can get to go around like every other kid with a mask and nobody thinks  he looks weird. Nobody takes a second look. Nobody notices him. Nobody knows him.

And the story begins when he came to a public middle school to start his journey as a fifth-grader.

Can you imagine what he had had through? Guess you cannot until you read the book. And just as Nicholas Spark said "Do yourself a favor, read this book and your life will be much better for it."

I don't want to be a stupid spoiler here. So I just wanna said that he - August- that incredible kid- has a very big big heart. He understands what was happening around him but he still has inside of him which is why people love him the most beside the understanding part is his sense of humour. 

“I think we're too young to be dating. I mean I don't see what the rush is." Summer says. 
"Yeah, I agree," said August. "Which is kind of a shame, you know what with all those babes who keep throwing themselves at me and stuff?” 

See? He's so funny and smart.  He can even make fun of the only thing makes him suffer the most "His face". And it's not stupid.

That's is one of the reason why Summer and Jack love him. They can be just themselves, be honest, be childish around August. 

And about the big big heart thing, you can understand most of it when you read about Jack and August part and a little bit here.

“Hey, the truth is, if a Wookiee started going to the school all of a sudden, I'd be curious, I'd probably stare a bit! And if I was walking with Jack or Summer, I'd probably whisper to them: Hey, there's the Wookiee. And if the Wookiee caught me saying that, he'd know I wasn't trying to be mean. I was just pointing out the fact that he's a Wookiee.”  He can understand that's why people look at him and treat him the way most people always do to him.

He even received a medal of honour.

A medal for who he really is.

For his courage. His kindness. His friendship and his character.

This one is from Justin's thought, whose are Via's boyfriend.

“so doesn't that make the universe a giant lottery, then? you purchase a ticket when you're born. and it's all just random whether you get a good ticket or a bad ticket. it's all just luck. my head swirls on this, but then softer thoughts soothe, like a flatted third on a major chord. no, no, it's not all random, if it really was all random, the universe would abandon us completely. and the universe doesn't. it takes care of its most fragile creations in ways we can't see. like with the parents who adore you blindly. and the big sister who feels guilty for being human over you. and a little gravelly-voiced kid whose friends have left him over you. and even a pink-haired girl who carries your picture in her wallet. maybe it is a lottery, but the universe makes it all even out in the end. the universe takes care of all of its birds.” 

People all love August in the end. Just so you know.

Well, you can guess how hard it could be if you were August. But if just that, the story wouldn't be that Wonder.

It could be just that hard for his sister. Via.  Who also with a huge heart, with a big love for him, a big understand for not jealous of him - because of what he had been through - he has all of her family attention. Not that her family doesn't care about her. No. Via's family is the whole-hearted family I've ever known. Everyone loves to be around them. It's just that she always need to do everything on her own to save her family time and effort to be there for August. It's easy to understand as if she really has a little bit of jealousy. But she doesn't. Of course. 

You need to read the part of Via's thoughts. Palacio really written a crackling page-turner filled with characters you can't help but root for. ( Entertainment Weekly). You finally truly understand, life is not easy for anyone of us in particular. Everyone around August's life has a story to tell. 

"Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle." - Ian Maclaren.

"Wonder" is truly a "Wonder". Not only because of August, but because of all the wonderful people, His mom, his dad, Via - his big sister, Miranda, Summer, Jack , Justin, Daisy, Mr Browne with all of his precepts and Mr.Tushman.

You can also find out how amazing Summer, Justin and Jack are through the book. But Mr.Tushman is the one I wanna mention here. 

He is a wonderful man. He-who can understand the beauty in people, who helps these precious things bloom and flourish. He- who cherish the real beauty, the real strength in people.

I love him in the very first pages. He is the one who welcomes Auggie to come to the school and helps him find his very best best friend- Jack ( even though they need to find their own battle to really really become close), to encourage him to be strong and not afraid of everyone else and Auggie, himself.

"“If every person in this room made it a rule that wherever you are, whenever you can, you will try to act a little kinder than is necessary - the world really would be a better place. And if you do this, if you act just a little kinder than is necessary, someone else, somewhere, someday, may recognize in you, in every single one of you, the face of God.”  That's one of the many many spectacular things he said in Fifth-grade graduation day.

Finally, I just to quote again the review from Nicolas Spark , author of The Notebook:

"Wonder touches the heart in the most life- affirming, unexpected ways, delivering in August Pullman a character whom readers will remember forever. Do yourself a favor and read this book- your life will be better for it."

READ A GOOD STORY

I easily get lazy. To be quite honest, I'm a super super lazy person. But not just that. I'm easily get bored, easily get the feeling of falling down, the feeling of disgusting myself. Sometimes I feel like I'm so proud of myself. At least I'm not that bad as I used to think I was. But then on another day, well, actually, it happens most of the time, all I see is a gray picture around me with no other colours. I started to feel insecure. I feel like I'm not really kind of an important person to this world as I thought I was. I feel like I'm invisible. Ok, I know I'm a little bit emotional from time to time. But that's not the point. Everyday passes me by, I always wanted to be someone. I want to be somebody, I want someone to hear my voice.

But sometimes the problem gets bigger. I even feel like I don't want to be myself anymore. I hate everything about me cuz everything about me is all wrong. I want to be somebody else. I want to be pretty. I wanna be tall. I wanna be a smart girl. I wanna be SOMEBODY.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCK2AGDxXtg

Guess what, I cannot be like that all the time, don't you think?
When that kind of emotions come to me I do one thing I think it's the best for me. READ A GOOD STORY.

Well, I have to admit that I'm not kind of a nerd or something. If I was the kind of person into study that much, my life would be totally different by now.
Let's get back to the main point. "READ A GOOD STORY" doesn't mean you only just turn on your Iphone, Ipad, laptop, access the Internet and just read some news on some e-magazines or websites just showed up and grabbed your attention because of its headlines.

When it comes to READ, I mean real "READING". I'm fond of reading real books which is paper books. Ebooks are also not bad at all but it's just sometimes not really real to me. Read a good book, you feel like you connected to the story, to the main characters. Like me when I'm reading Harry Potter. Some thoughts on the book feel like mine in the real world. And it helps me get through the bad times everytime I read it. The story itself can actually change the way you think and make you feel a lot better.


However, you can also read amazing stories on some Facebook pages such as Humans of Hà Nội or Humans of New York. It's all about other ordinary lives around us.Sometimes it sounds oddly familiar to you somehow. Sometimes it's a touching story that makes you wanna cry. Sometimes, you feel empathy for the people, you feel like even we live in totally different places, in other side of the planet, we share our own languages, we have different culture, we have different living-environment, even our thoughts towards the same problem are different. But somehow, in some way, we feel like we connected, we share the same story of our lives.


And because all of that, when I'm reading a good story, I know I'm already somebody. I am ME. I have plenty of things to be proud of. I don't need to change the things that made me who I am. I only to change things when I really want to and it makes me become a better person.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSEZrnqMT4I

I recommend you to read a good story when you feel down to make you feel much better, to helps you  find encouragements to continue fighting your battles. And even when you feel happy, to make you realise how much important these moments are meant to you, then you will cherish it dearly.

As a famous quote " A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. The man who never reads lives only one". READ A GOOD STORY.

Every path is the right path.

Talking about a movie with a friend and incidentally she mentioned Thirty Seconds To Mars. I just felt like something need to be done which is about the song of this band I've been spent a long time to remember the name ( I haven't spent my time to search for it on the Internet). That's why I hurriedly started to search for them on Youtube this time. And finally, I found them not long ago.

Kings and Queens

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTMrlHHVx8A

Listening to the beat, the lyrics, the song itself reminds me of the past. 

Thinking about the past, I always feel a little bit nostalgic.

I always thought I'm kind of person who into challenges and changes because I believe changing makes people become a better person. But now, every time I look back, I always hope everything hasn't changed.

Just like the seasons, people have the ability to change. People are changing all the time.

Some relationships, changes actually make it grows stronger but some are just not as simple as that.

It separates us. But none of us at fault to be quite honest. It's just time and growing up and other things. All these little things create a big distance between us.

Sometimes, I actually thought I'm the one at fault, I also wish I chose another path instead of this one.

But then, is everything gonna fall back together as it used to be as I imagined?

If I chose another path, I would be a totally different person now. Will it be good or bad for me? I couldn't tell.  If I had another option, I wouldn't have a chance to be friend with some amazing people I met along the way. And I know for sure, my life will be so so boring without them.

Just like the movie "The Other Woman".

 Maybe the very first minutes, you can think she is so pathetic when she finds out her husband are cheating on her. You're dead wrong. In that kind of situation, she finally be able to find her-true-self and truly understand her own talents. She is no longer a stupid house wife as she always thought about herself. And she also has new 2 BFFs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO36F--Vn1g
Well, maybe it's hard not to be ashamed of what we already chose but eventually, we realise it might be actually lead us to a better future.
There are no best option, it's just simple as a better option for us after all.

Maybe this quote I just read was so right.

"Every path is the right path. Everything could've been anything else. And it would have just as much meaning."

I guess the best thing to do now is to keep moving forward and keep all the good memories of the past in our heart. No matter what happened, those memories were mine and I'm thankful for it.

Let's try our best for the future and just let go of the things we can't no longer be able to hold on to.

BEFORE I DIE I WANT TO...

I myself have to say that when I saw this "Before I die I want to..." project. I really really want to do a project exactly like this desperately.
You can realise lots of things from " Before I die I want to..." for yourself.
Before I die I want to


Just like the inspirational speech of Ms.Candy Chang
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uebxlIrosiM
It's about knowing your not alone.
It's about making space for reflection and contemplation, and remembering what really matters most to us as  we grow and change.
And two of the most valuable things we have are time and relationships with other people.
In our age of increasing distractions, it's more important than ever to find ways to maintain perspective and remember that life if brief and tender.
Death is something that we're often discouraged to talk about or even think about but I've realised that preparing for death is one of the most empowering things you can do.
Thinking about death clarifies your life.

Or I bet you may have heard the famous speech of Steve Jobs at Stanford commencement in 2005.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UF8uR6Z6KLc
Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything, all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure, these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important .
Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.

Well, spend time to think about what you truly want to do, truly want to achieve, truly matters to you and share with me your thoughts :).

And for me there are lots and lots of things I wanna write in that sentence.

Before I die I want to travel the world.
Before I die I want to cure my dad's sickness.
Before I die I want to take my mom to Netherlands.
Before I die I want to live my life to the fullest, have no regrets.
....

Dr.Nguyen Hai Ninh aka Hani Oppa's lessons :)))))

It takes a very long time to find the second teacher that I really really really admire and respect that way after my head teacher in junior high school. This person no wonder is Dr. Nguyen Hai Ninh a.k.a Hani Oppa. The reason why I call Mr. Know it all Oppa is simple - age doesn't go the same way with the definition " Young" or "Old". It's about characteristics and the way people spend their life, the way they think, bla bla.
And the way Hani Oppa "enjoying" his life is exactly the way I always wanted.

The thing about Hani Oppa is that  he is not only teach us the real knowledge but also how to think which is one of the most difficult challenges for all of the education reforms' makers.
I almost agree to all of the things he said based on his point of views. Because like he said, there are things I cannot agree with him totally cuz I also believe things from my perspective.
For instance, I believe people CAN make the history not just only History creates great man like he said such as Bill Gates - one of the most rich&famous person had created the world we are living in today - the world of technology.
Just like I mentioned above, I almost agree almost all the things he said.
From his perspective, I realise several things:

Changing destiny or fate or whatever , you know, it's not really the main point, it's actually just about your attitude towards your life - you are the only one who take responsibilities for your decisions, your life. I mean, it's hard to have a perfect life you always wanted or let it the way you wanted it to, however, it doesn't mean you cannot be happy. Who says my teacher doesn't have a happy life even I strongly believe according to some people, in his age, he should have a different life or act differently.
And you are just a small element in this big big world, there are things you cannot control, there are things you can do whatever it takes to avoid it but it will happen anyway. So the only thing you should do is enjoying this life as much as possible :D

When you are young, you should choose your ups and downs. It's not really an easy thing to do. But that's why we are here to learn, aren't we?
When he said about people should choose when and where to fall. I remember a story about Steve Jobs, he chose to leave Apple when he knew not many people in the company which is the one he was the founder stood by his side. And then the new chapter was opened for him and you know what happened next, he came back to Apple and he also was the founder of great Pixar and brought Apple in its golden age. When we choose to do something, it is our own decision, we feel more free and relax to begin again and try something new and creative and bla bla :).

"We don't want to be all the same but we do want to understand each other".
He helped me to realise the beauty in Travelling is to see new things but it's not only about "actual" things like a building or something but also about people's lives and stories in that place.
Understanding a CULTURE is quite an exceptional thing we should do.
Learning a HISTORY is actually a precious knowledge we have ever learned. We have to know deeply about our own glorious history- our past in order to create a bright future for the next generation.
We have to let somebody do a totally different things even it sounds insane in the first place. Because if we don't do things and think differently, how can we be able to move forward to compare with other nations like Uncle Ho said?
How can things can be better if we only want to do things the way keep us stand still or worst moving backward?
We can do all ways possible to achieve the things we want but it's not involve trampling others and stabing other people in the back.
We should take responsibilities for what we have done. Don't use "collectivism theory" for excuses.
We need to be united to moving forward but don't using that with a bunch of people to avoid responsibilities.

I'm not actually objecting some thoughts of him about the role of woman and their behaviors, personalities in a modern world. We have to accept the fact even it's bad before we can overcome it ,deal with it and finally capable of using it. Just like one of the quote in IB lessons  " There are three ways to add value in a world where differences are still matter ADAPTATION, AGGREGATION, ARBITRAGE" I know what side I choose I have to sacrifice the other side but it's just my choice and the life I wanted. I acknowledge it and won't deny it but I accept it because it's my choice. That's all.
I understand it so I won't be so DOWN when it actually happen someday. And I won't judge other people's lifestyles cuz that is the decisons to make, just like mine. But thank you for reminding of the ugly facts, Hani Oppa :">

And last but not least, the hot topic in recent days in my class : "LOVE". :)))
I just want to say briefly that sometimes, we do acknowledge things but we do it anyway just to experience it cuz it's not really will break us into piecies when " Break-up thing in love'' does happen eventually. They will cover soon so Oppa should let them "experience" it on their own. It sounds more exciting =)))

There are more things I learned from Hani Oppa's sharings but I prefer to keep it for myself for now :P

Family and Friends

Thursday and I'm too lazy to do anything. I decided to stay at home and watched TV.

And that's the way how I know The Kings of Summer and this movie is the reason why I write this blog.

Watching The Kings of Summer , I felt something very familiar. When I was a kid, I always wanted to grew fast to become a grown-up. I hated being told what to do. I hated following orders. I always wanted freedom. Sometimes our family treated like we were only a kid ( even it was true) but we could not accept that fact. We wanted to be treated like an adult who can take responsibilities for our own lives.

We wanted to go away, to live by our own, to seek freedom, to show adults we are not their kids anymore.

 But there were more things I learned from this awesome movie ( I can understand now why The Kings of Summer has very high IMDB rating around 8 or more. I highly recommend you should watch it).

There will be a time when we won't be able to find an agreement between we and our best friends, and we might think we lost them because they are not who they used to be anymore, we don't have something in common with them that bind us together anymore.

There will be a time we break down because of our best friend. Let's imagine what will you do if our crush fall in love with your best buddy, not you?

And it's not your fault, you crush fault or you bff fault. It's just natural, they fall in love with each other. That's all. I don't think I can accept that fact easily. I can be mean at anytime. That's who I am. And nobody's perfect, right?

But come to think of it it's just a crush, not love. Let it go and wish them live happily ever after are the right thing to do. Why let that stupid thing ruins our friendship we build on trust and understanding for a very long time. 

I don't care what people think of you, if you care about me, I care about you, we appreciate our friendship more than anything, we can even go to hell for our best friend if it necessary just like they way Baggio did for Joe in The Kings of Summer.

Forever Friends

And after all , Joe still miss Patrick and want they can be best buddy again even he used to mad at him because of the relationship between Patrick and Kelly- Joe's dream girl.

More importantly, this movie is about how parents treat their kids. Our parents always love us A LOT.

It's just they show it the wrong way sometimes. That's what create our barriers and misunderstanding with our parents. Because we never told them what we really think so they thought the way they did, all the things they told us to do were the best for us.

Home sweet home :x

But when they figure it out, they will do things differently, make it better. Because in the end, family is the one always support us,always stay by our side, never left us even when the whole world turns back on us. We just need to talk to them honestly, give them more time and chances to understand about us. That's all.

After all, it won't be an awesome moment without our family and friends being there with us, right?

Best summer ever \m/

July is about comin' to an end.
I don't want to say this due to the fact that recently people have been witnessing many tragic events ( I will mention about it on another blog).
This one I only want to talk about my beautiful and wonderful July which is the best month in the whole year, helps me have the best summer ever.

I joined the Global Passport Project of AIESEC which is the best decision I've ever made - I have to admit that. I made a lot of friends, learned bunch of new things, realised many precious lessons that I will never forget. I realise I need to learn a lot more to become the one I always wanted to be. I realise what I really wanna do, what I am really good at and where I really wanna go so badly.
Actually, I have to admit that I don't really enjoy having fun when I was in the project but thanks to this project I discovered a lot about myself. That's definitely not an easy thing to do.
In the near future, I absolutely will join more and more different projects of AIESEC. It's so fucking awesome !!!!
I also joined Vietnamese Youth Model United Nations but unfortunately I was not joined as a delegate , only an obsever but you know, I realised that I am really interested in Politics, United Nations,...
 From now on, I know what kind of information I need to do research, what kind of skills I need to learn and improve, what kind of person I wanna become. And one more important thing, I determine to become a delegate of VYMUN next year.
In July, I also know that I'm truly passionate about English - which is one of the languages I love the most. I'm not only want to learn it as an academic language because it's a beautiful language. Actually, it's more than a language to me. I  truly want to know more deeply about this language through cultures, literature and history and other things.
There were few bad things happened. I was so upset about that but now I take it as a lesson which reminds me of how bad I really am and I need to change to become a much person because I don't want to miss any opportunities come to me anymore just because I'm not a responsible person. I need a big change and I promise I will change.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebXbLfLACGM

On the very first day of July, I met up with my old friend from junior high school after so many years we haven't seen each other. We used to thought we just only normal friends just like everyelse we accidentally meet in this life but it turned we felt like we just never far apart, we just like always talk to each other because after for a long time, we still know each other so well. In the end, it won't be an awesome moment of your life if your friends won't be there to share it with you.
I also realise that I quite keen on learning because it helps me know more about this world. I will never stop learning.
There are still many things I learned from July :x and bunch of things I wanna share but I guess this is kinda enough for today ^^ Ah, almost forgot, Germany won the World Cup this year Woohoo!!!!!
Summer 2014 - Best summer ever <3