DiaBlog#13

"I can feel it, the water pressing all around us, pulsing from below. Abba's fingers reach for mine. and we do as he taught us. We hold our breaths, then let them out, bit by bit. We push forward into the unknown. Go."

I found this quote a very good ending. Nadira refers to her family as water throughout the book. Here it seems she's saying that she can feel her family all around her. That they're finally all together again. Then she says, "And we do as he taught us. We hold our breaths, then let them out bit by bit." They going out into the world. A world full of the unknown. So they do as there father taught them. Like i wrote about in a previous blog you can get through anything as long as you know how to breath. so this sentence here seems to show a sense of strength and nerves all at the same time.

DiaBlog#12

"Aisha was the star we pinned our future on."

"I'm embarrassed, but i like this, being the special one."

These two lines really stuck out to me. There's a complete role reversal between Aisha and Nadira. Aisha a was the one they used to depend on the one who got all of the attention. Now Nadra is finally getting recognition. I think that Nadira has always been the strong one. Aisha is always putting on a face and pretending to be someone else. The real Aisha is weak and can't handle change. " I can't. I'm ashamed." " Why should I?" She doesn't even try. She's completely given up and it's starting to drive me mad if i were Nadira i would slap her across the face. Nadira was right on the money when she said this: " I always thought you were the brave one. But now i think you're a coward, Aisha. You gave up because everything stopped being easy. Just because you couldn't conquer this thing like you always did. I think, Aisha, that you're always thinking about doing or saying the right thing. Wearing the right clothes. Blending in. But sometimes.....sometimes you have to tell them who you are. What you really think. you have to make them see us."

DiaBlog#11

"this is my younger daughter," she says proudly

"You see my brilliant girl here"

This chapter was very eventful. I am so happy that Nadira steps up and helps her father in his Trial. In this chapter both of her parents are proud of her. It seems like it's for the first time. It made me really happy when Nadira said, "All I keep thinking is I can't wait to tell Aisha." She finally one-uped her sister and is proud. She seems overjoyed to have something she can tell her sister. Something great she did. After hearing so many things that her sister has done. 

DiaBlog#10

"If you know how to breath, you can get through anything."

I thought this was a really important sentence in these two chapters. Here she is talking about how Abba told her if you breath you can get through anything and then she gets an idea and tries to help Abba by going to Tareq. But when she gets all the way to the house where Tareq takes her she freaks and bails. She seemed to have forgotten how to breath so to speak and couldn't control herself. This made me mad because she got so close and then just ran away from it all. 

DiaBlog#9

"And then I realized. I can't do this anymore. It's too hard. Too big. Nothing's working. Not the letters. Nothing. Maybe if I just stop wanting so much, they can't hurt me. I don't want to stand out anymore, Nadira. It hurts too much. I don't want to stand out. Not anymore."

Aisha just kind of lets go. She gives up and says everything she's been holding inside. It was probably a big relief for her to get everything off her chest. She went from realizing how bad things really are to completely losing it to the point that isn't helpful at all.

DiaBlog#8

"Stupid girls. All of them. Nobody listens."

When he said this to Aisha it made me mad. How could he be so harsh towards her. Aisha did not do anything wrong. Ali-Uncle just got out of jail and he decides to treat his family like crap. They were all so overjoyed that he got out and then he acts like this and they don't know what to do.If i were him i'd suck it up and be glad I'm not still in jail.

DiaBlog#7

" It's just a routine check"

How could that be a routine check. I mean immigration coming to your house at midnight to ask you questions is not routine. It makes me wonder if someone tipped them off about Ali-Uncle or if they already knew and had been searching for him. I think it may be Tareq. He seems a little to interested in their situation. What do you guys think?

DiaBlog#6

"If i say a word that is angry, he explained, then i should never be surprised by the harm. And if i say something good, then it is like watching my own garden grow, and that is the greatest pleasure ever. That's what Aisha and I are doing. We're planting a garden with our words. Our future. Everything careful and chosen well so the shoots come up strong and straight."

I think that this quote is very insightful. What you say can really make an impact on your life. If you say the wrong thing it can lead to a lot of trouble sometimes. And in Aisha and Nadira's case what they say is really important. They can so easily slip up and the consequences are not small. I was glad to see Aisha and Nadira finally working together. They were finally starting to act like sisters should: supportive and caring."We talk about it on the way to school jammed together on the crowded bus; we meet at lunchtime in the cafeteria, and late at night we stay up whispering with the lights out." 

DiaBlog#5

""I'm scared,"she whispers. "I'm scared for Abba."

Aisha finally breaks down. She tries to take things in her own hands and ends up deciding to something stupid. Nadira kept saying not to do it to listen to Mr.Rashid and wait it out, but Aisha didn't want to. And in the process of this all she cracks. She admits how scared she really is. it's good to see she really does see the intensity of the situation and that she is thinking of someone other then herself. It seemed that this brought them a little closer together. In the text following Nadira uses statements such as, "Everything looks different to US now.", "I inch a little closer to Aisha." and "None of this is OURS anymore, WE realize." She's referring to her and her sister as a pair and in a more affectionate way. It shows potential for a closer relationship between the two.

Border Comparison

I never expected the borders to be like they were in the movie. i thought they would be more obvious. I also thought they would be more protected and that they would have guards and guns. In Ask Me No Questions it made them seem more brutal and harder to get through.""Borders!", he yells. "What do you know of borders!Do you know what happened to my grandmother when she fled west bengal? They murdered her!"" Here he's stressing the danger of crossing borders and talking about the brutality of it all. in the movie it seemed as if they just walked straight through no problems. I mean sure the walking and lack of food is tiring and that makes it hard, but the actual borders themselves didn't seem all that difficult to get through.

DiaBlog#4

""You and your little perfect scores and your perfect this an that? Who cares if you're valedictorian? You're not going to college! You're not going anywhere!""

""And the weird thing is:I liked it.""

I couldn't beleive it! Nadira finally speaks out and im glad she did. Aisha has been so stuck up and rude from the beginning and acts like she's the center of the universe. It was about time someone told her off and I think it was good tat it was Nadira. Nadira has been in the back so much and been afraid to speak up. She seems to be finding her voice. I love it when she says: "And the weird thing is:I liked it." After telling off her sister it seems in a way she's more confident. It made me feel bad when she got the bad news about her father and then blamed on herself. It was as if that confidence just disappeared. I dont think what she did would triger anything like that. Nadira could have meant many things by telling Aisha she's not going to college and cheating on a test does not give any hint that she is illegal.

neeli's awesome connection

 i love how Neeli connected the sentence not only to her life, but Specifically her past which is exactly what Nadira is doing in the sentence. I think it is good how she also explains how she looked up the rhyme from her past and then explained what it meant.

DiaBlog#3

""in a couple of years," he says, wagging hid finger, "were going to start on you.""

This sentence makes me wonder if there trying to go up to canada what is Aisha going to do about college. If they're not there in two years what will Nadira do? Will Aisha go off on her own or will she stay back with her family? and what does Nadira plan on doing for school;what does she want to be?where does she want to go? it really brought up a lot of questions.

DiaBlog#2

"Every family has a story. Ours begins with water."PG19

I thought this sentence was very interesting. at first when i read it i was like ok......i didn't really get how there story could start with water,but then Nadira went on to explain Bangladesh and the importance of water there. It's also written well. It draws you in makes you want to keep reading and find out there story.

DiaBlog#1

"After i laid the map open on the dining table, Abba showed us the thick arteries if highways, the spidery blue line of the border"pg10

I picked these sentences because i like the way they are written. The narrative compares highways to thick arteries and the border to a spidery blue line. It gives you a really good image of what Nadira is seeing.