In an Instant

"An instant later she's gone from the stage." Page 152

This is just like the family's life. They went to Canada and her father got detained in what seems like a flash. Nadira got them out of detainment in an instant. I know it just seems like an instant, although in real life it would have been weeks or months for these things to happen. I just thought the quote was sleek and simple. A very cool sentence.

"And we do as he taught us. We hold our breath, then let them out, bit by bit. We push forward into the unknown. Go." Page 159

The ending line. A little line with so much to say. It's also jumbled up into a sort of mess. The first two sentences were mentioned earlier in the book. Abba told Nadira, while teaching her to swim, to breath because it will get her through everything. I personally think that breathing is very good advice to give anyone. The second part was a little more confusing. Although when you think about it, it's not that confusing. As a world we are always moving forward. Time is always ticking, isn't it? Go. Huh? That's all I have to say about that.

Happiness

"Even though Abba and Aisha are proud of what I did, they can't seem to be happy." Page 142

I felt sorry for Abba and Aisha, as well as Nadira. Of course Abba and Aisha can't be happy because they live in fear of being deported. I also feel sorry for Nadira because it seems that the first time that Nadira accomplishes something great, her family can't be happy for her. Before they started to Canada, her family was focused on Aisha, Aisha, Aisha. At that time they were a little less focused on immigrating and they were probably a lot happier. Nadira's accomplishment came at a bad time when her family wasn't as focused. Something else that caught my atention was how Ma wasn't mentioned in the sentence. I think she wasn't metioned because she did show Nadira how proud she was by thanking her and congratulating her. I wish Nadira's greatness could come at a different time when the family could be prouder of her. Maybe they will notice her later in the book.

Annoying News

"Up on the bus station's mounted television, the news is flashing. It makes me nauseous, all those pictures from the war." Page 125

It is so true. The news is pictures of daily life flashing by on a screen. '10 wounded, 8 killed in explosion. Girl falls prey to bear. Man arrested for possession of drugs.' All of the headlines can make you sick, the world we live in isn't safe, no matter how much we wish it is was. Nadira said, "It makes me nauseous....", well Nadira, it makes me nauseous too. The news just makes the headlines reach people that would not know about what happened otherwise, thus make the news the headline generator. They decided what comes in and what goes out. A group of people controlling what you think, now doesn't that make you feel warm and fuzzy inside?

Fashion in the U.S.A.

"Years later when we moved to Queens, Abba took me to the city pool in Flushing Meadow Park. All his friends gave him a hard time, saying it was shameless what people wore there."

at first it was weird, to me, that Abba's friend thought that people were shameless because of what they wore at a public pool. What you wear isn't what makes you shameless, it what you do and how you do it. Then it stuck, their culture is so different from ours. Of course somebody from a different country would find what people wear apaleing. Especially when you come from a place where women are supposed to cover their hair or faces. I was wondering, do his friends not go to the public pool. Or do his friends go to the pool and just be disgusted?

In This Country

"I didn't know you could do something like that. I sure didn't know a girl could do something like that." Page 106

To me, these sentences were wonderful and horrible at the same time. It made me so happy when Nadira realized that she could actually do something wonderful in this country and that her sister wasn't better than her. At the same time I felt horrible she didn't know that a GIRL could be a geologist. The way she was raised has affected how she thinks about the world, gender, and attitude. I wish she would just prop open her eyes and stare at the outer world for a while. This quote also confused me. "I didn't know you could do something like that." confused me because I wonder if she was refering to college in general, studying, geology, or collecting rock samples. Other than that miner confusion, the quote struck me because it had two different meanings and backgrounds to it.

The Big Shift

"I wish I could just put a hand to her skin, stop her whirring inside." Page 93

When I read Nadira saying this, I was surprised. Nadira was going back to being nice to her sister and it seems like she feels sorry for her sister. Aisha is crumbling before Nadira's eyes. The way the sisters are acting twords each other has changed tremendously. I remember Kat saying that she expected Nadira to to do something awful to Aisha, like destroying her chances at college. While I am a little sad that she didn't do anything, I also think that it would just make the book more confusing emotionally. Another quote I found that make me feel the same thing as this one is, "That's when I realize that Aisha just let me into to her life because she's feeling left out of her own." Page 91 I thought of a metaphor for this book, it's like jumping into a pool. You get the courage to jump(go to Canada); take the plunge(suffer the consequences); come to the surface(make it through). I no longer know who to feel sorry for. Who do you feel sorry for or do you feel sorry for anyone?

Extreme Words

"His words hang in the air, vibrating like an electric wave. We know what they mean. You're illegal, and we can push this further. Don't make a fuss. We hold the cards." Page 82

This whole thing surprised me. Certain words can mean so much more than you thought they could. While everything in this paragraph got to me, "we hold the cards." was the one that got to me. The sheer power of that phrase is shocking. I found it kind of mean. Why does someone deserve something like this. This being the struggle of a better life and specifically immigration.