:iagree::iagree::iagree:

This week it is The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan.

While I do own an iPad, my heart belongs to PCs. We have 2 Dell laptops, 1 acer laptop and a Dell desktop. Let me tell you, that desktop is 6 years old and has been moved to two different states, all the way to the other side of the world, the bin it was in was dropped and went rolling down a full flight of stairs, AND when we got here we forgot to switch it over to 220 before we turned it on and BAM!!! sparks flew everywhere. AND IT STILL WORKS GREAT!!!!!! Viva la PC!!!! :D

I just assumed you were kidding as I could not imagine anyone asking that for real. And people have said A LOT worse on this board so... Bygones. ;)

Not since I started working at this school. Here I have many students who can "read" several grade levels ahead but their actual comprehension is far below that.

My ds waited until his 13th birthday to get an account so he would not have to lie to get one. I never would have allowed it anyways but I was proud of him for making that decision on his own when a lot of his friends had one at much younger.

I am so sorry Nakia. Feel free to bawl your eyes out. I have cried over much less and that computer is essential to your business so you have every right to be upset!!!

I am reading The Book of Fate by Brad Meltzer. It is decent so far.

:iagree:

The mosques here do tours all the time.

The absolute best thing I have done for my children is to raise them with a knowledge of and reverence for God.

I am so very sorry. :grouphug:

We had some big conversations at my school with the English dept and library policy. We are a conservative christian school but we are also careful to not be legalistic. It started with kids requesting that we carry "Twilight" and the conversation got rolling from there. Our policy ended up being that we will not assign books in our classes or carry books in our library that GLORIFY immoral, unhealthy or unbiblical behavior. The key word ended up being GLORIFY. There are lots of good books that have "sensitive" topics in them. But it is the ones that make these things seem "good" or "cool" or "right" that are not on our shelves. So a book does not get pulled from our library simply because it has swear words in it or references to alcohol or sex. It is HOW those things are used in the book that determines its future at our school. Now, this is a private school so we get to make our own rules. But a public library is a different story. As is a bookstore. And frankly, bookstores only carry these books because they SELL so really, who is to blame here?

Actually I grew up in a very homogeneous neighborhood. My school, my church, everyone was exactly alike. It is one of the reasons why I LOVE living here... our lives are so much richer now that we live in a really diverse area.

:iagree:

You could open up your own store at a mall here and make a mint! That's what the locals do. :D

Racism here is so OVERT that it is pretty shocking. I grew up knowing lots of racist people but MOST of them were those thinly veiled type of racist people. You know, the ones who act like they are not racist but they really are. But here? Holy moly... They are VERY OPEN about it. The common phrases are that the Indians are lazy and stupid, the Chinese are rude and will cheat you, and the Malays getting everything for nothing because they are the favored group. I wrote a post about a Chinese guy making a very rude comment in front of my Indian daughter when we were car shopping last fall. I have never seen racism so overt that it is in the headlines, on the TV, and in everyone's daily conversation until I came here. The funny thing is, they don't consider themselves racist... They think they are just stating fact.

I get it... so I now amend my previous suggestion with "don't try this at home folks!" But here? Well, you can't buy a NON-PIRATED dvd if you tried. Literally not one single store on the whole island. The stores at the MALL sell pirated DVDs. Seriously. So giving the orphans the "legit" copies was doing them a favor and put myself in league with the other bad guys here. That's ok. I'm risk taker. I like to live on the edge! :tongue_smilie:

:grouphug::grouphug::grouphug:

Hmmm.... Still not feeling guilty.

I don't have anyone on ignore but I admit that there are a few posters that I do "ignore"... As in rarely, if ever, read or respond to anything they post.

I paid a local company to do it. Here it cost me about 3 dollars each. It might be more expensive there.

I am pretty sure the kids at the local orphanage here in Malaysia where I donated them won't turn me in. I can live with the "guilt" of a group of orphans watching a 15 year old tape of Barney without paying for it.

Awesome

We had them all converted to DVD then gave the tapes away to charity.