Afghanistan in the 60s and 70s

To have a better comprehension of The Kite Runner context, I researched about the country before the war and I found a video with some interesting images.

Summary: The Kite Runner (Chapters 1-10)

As I'm reading The Kite Runner, I thought it would be a good idea to write a small summary of each chapter as I read them. In this post, I'll share my thoughts as I advance with the reading.

Chapter 1

Many characters are introduced, as Amir, Baba, Rahim Khan (who calls by phone to invite Amir to Pakistan) and Ali. After the phone call, Amir went for a walk by the park to think about his life.  Memories from 1975: Something changed in those days.

Chapter 2

The Narrator (Amir) explains his childhood with Hassan. Amir was Pashtun, while Hassan was Hazara. They both lost their mothers and their fathers were Baba and Ali. Ali married with Sanaubar to restore his uncle's honor. Hassan (whose mother run away when he was borned) lived in a small house with his father, near Baba's Mansion. He used to play with Amir and they had a strong relationship, as they were fed by the same breasts. They once met a soldier who said he had a relation with Hassan's mother.

Chapter 3

 Baba built an Orphanage. Against the popular beliefs against his idea, Baba was succesful. Baba was supposed to become a lawyer as is father, but he decided to be a businessman and became one of the richest merchants in Kabul.
Amir had a Islam teacher at the school. Baba thought that teachers weren't good, and he talked to Amir about sins. He believed that all sins were variations from theft. (Amir knew Baba's father was killed by a murder).

Baba felt his son was not like him. Amir tried to enjoy football, but he prefered to read poems. Amir listens Baba talking to Rahim Khan about him.

Chapter 4

Amir explains the relation between Baba and Ali. They had a similar childhood to Amir and Hassan, because Ali's parents died when they were crashed by a car and Baba's father, a famous lawyer, decided to adopt him. Amir also goes deeper referring to his relationship with Hassan and the differences they had, specially in terms of education. Amir used to read stories for Hassan in a tree in the cemetery. Once, he started creating a random story and Hassan, that thought Amir was reading, said it was the best story he had ever heard. Motivated by this, Amir wrote a story about a man who cried pearls, which was only read by Rahim Khan, as Baba didn't show interest in it. When Amir was going to read it to Hassan, something happened. Along this chapter, we can appreciate that Amir has a special rivalry with his friend Hassan, as he always wants to be better than him. For example, he laughed at Hassan because he didn't know some words to show he was "better". 

Chapter 5

Suddenly, they heard like a thunder outside. There was a coup and a new republic was established, along with a president. Amir and Hassan went out to read at the tree, when they met Assef, who was famous for his steel knuckles. He talked about Hitler, how he hated the Hazaras and his relation with the new president. Assef blamed Amir for treating the hazara as his friend. Amir and Hassan managed to escape from the knuckles thanks to Hassan's slingshot.

Time later, Hassan received his birthday gift from Baba: Dr Kumar, a surgeon. Amir got his harelip fixed.

Chapter 6

Winter starts. Most of the children in Kabul didn't have to go to school in winter, therefore it was considered the best season. In winter, cities held the Kite Tournaments, in which kite runners also take an important spot. Amir and Hassan used to make their own kites, but as they were better fighters than makers, they started buying them. Also, Hassan was the best kite runner Amir had ever seen. Amir remembers a story in which Hassan caught a kite, in which they had a very special and uncomfortable talk.
In 1975, Amir saw Hassan run a kite for the last time. In that year, Amir's neighborhood held a very big tournament. Baba told Amir that he thought he was going to win it. Amir considered this as a chance to prove he was a good son and decided to win the competition.
The night before the tournament, many men came to Amir's house to talk with Baba. Meanwhile, Amir and Hassan were playing cards. They talk about how iranians were more developed and they way many afghans were envious because iranians were Shi'a muslims. Finally, Hassan said Amir was going to make Baba very proud tomorrow and Amir said he was going to buy a TV for each one day. He then reflected and felt sad on how Hassan accepted he was going to live in his little shack in the yard forever.

Chapter 7

It is the kite tournament day. While Amir was having breakfast, Hassan told him about his dream ("There is no monster, just water"). They went out and saw a lot of people preparing for the competition. At the beginning, Amir thought about don't participating, but Hassan convinced him to go on. After hours of fighting, Amir's kite was the last in the air, and Hassan ran the blue kite for Amir. Amir was congratulated by all the neighbors, including Omar, who was playing soccer with his brother. Amir asked Omar about Hassan, and he said he saw him ran toward the bazaar. Amir started searching for him, and after a chat with an old fruit merchant, he managed to find him in an alley; Hassan had the blue kite, but he was also trapped by Assef and his two friends. Assef offered freedom for the kite, but Hassan wouldn't give it, so Assef tortured him and, at some point, he unzipped his jeans and dropped his underwear. At this moment, Amir saw the eyes of Hassan and remembered the look of the dying sheep in the religious ceremonies. Amir ran away, and hided. When he realized that Assef had left, he came back to Hassan, and saw him tired and his shirt was ripped, but he was holding the kite. Amir took the kite to Baba and the hugged strongly.

Chapter 8

Amir barely saw Hassan in the following weeks. Amir asked Baba to take him to Jalalabad on friday and he accepted, but he took all the family with them. After a fun weekend, they came back home. Hassan kept doing all the chores, but he was sleeping most of the time. By the other side, Amir tried to stay as long as possible in his bedroom to avoid seeing him, and he wanted to return to school. Amir was kind of cruel with Hassan and asked him to go away, but the Hazara would keep on doing the chores and being loyal.
When Amir was planted tulips with Baba, he asked about hiring new servants and Baba got angry at him. After the tense situation, school started. One day, Amir went to the cemetery with Hassan to read him a story. Before he started reading, he started firing pomegranates at Hassan, feeling a mix of emotions: He wanted Hassan to hit him back, but he wouldn't. Again, he showed to be a loyal servant, and that bothered Amir. He felt guilty.
After that, in 1976, Amir's birthday party was organized. Four hundred people was invited, from which Amir barely knew a quarter. Assef and his parents showed up, and he was really kind with Baba. Amir took the present and went out of the house: It was a Hitler's biography. In that moment, Rahim Khan sit  behind him and told him about how he almost married a Hazara when he was 18. When Amir heard the fireworks, he returned to the party and saw Hassan serving drinks to Assef, while he grinned. 

Chapter 9

The birthday is over. The morning after, Amir looks at his presents, but he is not really happy, although he got an awesome bicicle. After some reflections, he went for a ride and he received a present from Ali: The Shahnamah. After that, he left his watch and some money in Hassan's place, and told Baba Hassan was a thief. This provoked Baba to call them all together. Hassan said he had stolen those things, and Baba decided to forgive him, surprisingly. However, Ali said that they were leaving anyways. Amir was shocked by Hassan's action and loyalty, but he felt it was his final sacrifice. Baba asked them to stay, but the wouldn't, so he drove them to the station in a sad, raining day.

Chapter 10

Baba and Amir escape from Kabul, and they're in there way to Pashwar, in Pakistan. They were travelling with a young couple. Amir felt sick, so Karim had to stop the vehicle for some time. At a checkpoint, a Russian soldier wanted to have half an hour with the lady, but Baba stood firm and refused. He would have been killed if it wasn't for another soldier, who apologized for his partners atitude (He said he was into drugs). After the passed, the husband kissed Baba's hands. When they arrived to Jalalabad they slept in a small house, where they should wait for Toor (Karim's brother) to continue the trip. However, Karim informed they that Toor's truck was broken and that he was waiting for the parts to fix it. When he heard this, Baba almost killed Karim, but the lady stopped him. In the small basement, they met Kamal and his father (Assef friend). After one week waiting, Karim said the truck was not going to be fixed. At last, he offered his cousin fuel tru
ck. That same night, they left in the fuel truck. During the trip, Amir tried to have good thoughts and he remembered some adventures with Hassan. Finally, they arrived to Pakistan. A bus would take them to Peshawar. Amir felt sad for Baba: After all, he only had one disappointing son and two suitcases. Also, he realized that Kamal had died during the trip (He won't breathe!) . At last, they saw how Kamal's father shot at Karim, killing him. 

Article: The Tongue of Singapore

The Tongue of Singapore

In a highly developed asiatic country, English stands as the main language.

Singapore in famous for archieving high development in a few decades. Since their independence from the British Empire, in 1963, Singapore has been considered a cosmopolitan country, in which languages combine and evolve every year. Despite the fact that over 70% of the population is Chinese  English stands as the most important language. Children are taught English in schools, the law is written in English and even the traffic signs are in English! However, the government ensures that young children also learn their ethnic group languages, to conserve the relevant aspects of each culture. This has a great importance in a country that contains Malays, Chinese, Indians and other races in its essence.

As a once British Colony, and now members of the commonwealth, Singapore still has some of the English aspects in its organisation and culture. In this sense, it's interesting to see that the legal system used in Singapore is based on the "Common Law". Therefore, the laws and legal processes in Singapore are all done in English, something astonishing if we consider that the English population is the 2% or 3%. However, the use of English is not just tradition, as it grants some benefits to the country. In fact, when Singapore gained self-government in 1959, the local leaders decided to keep English as the main language to maximize the economic opportunities. 

However, we know that languages evolve. In Singapore, the case hasn't been different, as Singlish emerged in the streets. Singlish is an English-based creole language, which combines Malay, Hokkien, Teochew, Cantonese, Tamil, English and other indic languages, and began to be used in the sixties, after Singapore's Independence. Singlish is spoken by the popular communities in the Island, as it is considered a low prestige language by the upper clases. In fact, the government created the "Speak good English movement" to promote the use of Standard English. Also, Singlish is heavily discouraged in the mass media and in schools

As a cosmopolitan country, Singapore resembles the asiatic culture with a clear British influence in its roots. Someone could say that Singapore has taken the best of the Eastern and Western world to achieve a rich and highly developed society, supported in a huge economy with a population of only five millions. In this process, languages were naturally combined to ensure the communication between different ethnic groups.

Singapore: The Cosmopolitan Island.

Singapore seems to be a great country. Although it only has a population of over five million, it has developed very fast to be considered one of the most important countries in Asia. Formed by a combination of Malay, Chinese and Indians, Singapore is hardly influenced by the British Empire, from which they separated in 1963. Here I'll leave some useful information about the English marks in Singapore.

The Legacy of empire in Singapore (PDF)
Two Decades of Independence
Balancing the benefits and downside of Meritocracy

Edu Glogster: Loss of Identity.

Speech: Loss of Identity

The addiction to video games is a growing problem in our society. Children will not only spend the whole day in front of a shinning screen, but they will also isolate themselves from society. In an online gaming world, you will be no more than a nickname. Therefore, game addiction can cause a loss of identity. In this sense, when you are  gaming, you will only be worth for your skills or levels, and not for the person you are. Also, after some time gaming you will meet new people and make new friends, with whom you'll spend most of your online life. However, this friendship will be also based in a game, so once you quit playing you'll lose the relation with these people. I think this mostly happens because sometimes games bore you, but as you are addicted you want to get to a higher level or get to the top of the high scores ranking, so you keep on training. In this situation, you will be more likely to talk to new people to make your training funnier, but that realtionship will only last for some weeks. In the other hand, as you get addicted, you will stop doing activities that you used to do in real life to spend more time online. Long story short, games will become the centre of your life. 

At this point, we must make a difference between addictive gaming and once-a-week gaming. Some people play games once a week with real life friends to have some fun and laugh, and this is not much of a problem. The real conflict comes when games become the most important thing in your life, because with some games you can not decide to play 1 hour a week: It's just the game or your life. You lose control. You lose your identity.

But, what's someone's identity? Well, this is something very difficult to explain. I think identity is built up as you live, as simple as that. The things you like to do, the way you think, the religion you follow, the friends you have, and even the country you were born in, they are all combined together to create your identity.

The moment your gaming skills become more important than your hobbies, your family, or even your religion, then you are in problems. In that precise moment, when your nickname becomes more important than your real life name, then you've lost your identity. And now I want to ask you, what will you do once you quit gaming? Is there something worthy in your life, other than games? Do you have real life friends? You don't know who you are, because you've lost all the components that make a life worth living, such as sports or hobbies.

I think games are important in a teenager's life. But we should only leave games as a friday night pastime, and never as the center of our lives. We matter for what we feel and think in the real world, not for a bunch of levels. Never let a game control your lives, my friends.

Video Games Presentation

Last class, we had the chance to watch an interesting video about video games. It was special to reflex around its ideas and to realize that I, as a person who enjoy playing games, understood many of the "gaming messages" shown in the video. We must consider that games addiction is a growing problem in society and that we must be aware of it. In fact, most of teenagers have been addicted to a game at least once in their lives. In the video I heard a phrase that surprised me: "What are you afraid of? - Im afraid of not knowing who I am". Now, we've to present about a subtopic, and after thinking about it, this is my starting point.

Subtopic: Loss of Identity caused by video games.

Text Type: Speech

Information Sources: 

Shooting in the Dark (NY Times)

The effects of Video Games on Children

What is Video Game Addiction?

(Edu Glogster Nickname: VMind23)