Graffiti

Paris is full of graffiti - Papa says it's Italian. I see it everywhere, and I wonder why Italians want to paint Paris like this ;-). I asked Papa why it's on walls, trains, inside tunnels, who writes graffiti, and if the graffiti were done with pens.

Papa said it was illegal, and that it was usually done by 15 year-old boys: those wanting to tag walls of the Paris Metro sneak into stations at closing time, and hide out in the passages. Then, with spray paint can in hand, they set to work.

We went to a restaurant for lunch, where there were pens put out, and the walls of the toilet were covered with graffiti. I had a go of it myself, and drew a car.

I'm a graffiti artist

Broken!

Grandma gave me a camera, which I took it to France on holiday. Papa tells me I have been on an aeroplane before, when I was little, but I don't remember it. Our flight was nearly cancelled because there was a big storm; this one was quite a long flight, and I ate lots of pretzels, drank orange juice and Coca-Cola. I heard my ears go 'pop', too.

I saw many Mercedes taxis on the way to our Paris lodging. We even rode in one.
We went to see Auntie Miranda, Christophe and Camille, and we stayed at their house in Compiègne. The next day, we went to the castle in the town. I don't understand why it didn't look like a castle; Papa explained that what makes it a castle is what it was built for. This one had big, big rooms, and was used by two kings and two emperors.

I was in the transport museum at the castle, taking pictures of cars and coaches, and I dropped my new camera. It would not stop beeping when I tried to switch it off. Now, the lens refuses to go back in.

The lens is stuck

I wanted to tell Grandma what happened, so I drew her a picture, which Papa promised to give to her when he got home.

"Broken camra"

Summer camps

Because there's no school, Duncan and I are participating in summer camps at Kids' Gallery, and also having ice-skating lessons at Elements Shopping Centre. I don't like ice skating because my feet hurt. Papa says I have a big blister from wearing those tight boots; the one good thing is that Duncan and I get to spend the rest of the day, after skating, at Grandma's house.

Graduation

This human swine flu is still around, there has still been no school since June, and our official graduation has been cancelled. Instead, Audrey's mum invited a whole group of us to their home in Sai Kung for a Graduation Party today.

Audrey has a big house, enough space for everyone. There were nearly twenty children there, ten classmates, and ten siblings. Gary the magician was there - he was very funny today, playing lots of magic tricks and jokes, and getting us playing party games.

Gary Charm, pulling a rabbit out of his hat

Group photograph

Ms Li (黎老師), Ms Qiu (邱老師) and Ms Gui (桂老師) were also invited. Everybody brought some food and drink. Mummy made a chocolate cake, and Papa brought some wine; Li laoshi brought a special K3A graduation cake for the celebration. There was so much food that Duncan and I began helping ourselves before everyone else.

ring around the graduation cake

We had lots of fun because there were so many toys, we didn't want to leave.

Bicycle

Papa took the stabiliser wheels off my bike last week. I finally got it when Papa helped me push off on my bike when we went to the park again today. I was able to ride for more than a hundred yards without help, and it was so much fun feeling the wind in my hair.

The park was in a bit of a mess because they were doing some building work. Although I fell down a few times and I wobbled a bit at first, I managed to stay upright towards the end. I was even able to turn to avoid an tree.

Papa was so impressed he said he would buy me a new bike soon.