My Brother

When I arrived at the hospital to visit, I immediately noticed his face was flat and pudgy. He didn’t open his eyes, but after the next few days he eventually opened one eye to peer out at all of us, looking at his family for the first time wrapped in his little blanket in his cot.
We called him Anh Vu.

Anh Vu changed quickly over the months, and in the first few, being able to roll him over and being strong enough to stay there was a milestone. His hair was wispy and surprisingly soft for a boy, and his eyes were large and doe-like. When he started laughing, he laughed a lot. Anh was a very happy baby at times.
When it wasn’t those times, he fussed greatly and could wail loud enough to wake the dead. At times he was hard to deal with and I remember his screaming in the middle of the night. Miraculously, I got used to it no matter how loud it could be and it didn’t disturb me after a while. But that was his charm, and he still was a very chubby, cute baby.

He picked up walking actually quite slowly, since he was a little scared but when he finally mastered it he ran around quite enthusiastically. Anh was very attached to both his parents and didn’t really like anyone else. In fact, he panicked when in another’s arms or at the doctor, or when looking at a lot of faces. He was very cheerful otherwise. Anh found new ways to keep himself entertained as the days passed by, but when we first bought him toys he was quite dumbfounded- he didn’t understand what to with them, but one thing he enjoyed was nature and animals. I remember Anh chasing birds and squashing ants as one of his first forms of entertainment.

When he started speaking, he wouldn’t stop. Learning the alphabet, after having trouble with the first few letters, was a breeze and he started speaking in baby talk all the time, unlike I supposedly was when I was a baby. He knows basic one syllable words and can understand things we tell him (sometimes he can’t mimic them himself, though) and speaks rubbish a lot with a big toothy grin on his face. Anh was outgoing at home, but was actually quite shy with people his age and could be silent when playing around one of them. It was okay, though, because he could still keep himself company. Anh is currently in my room flicking the light switch above my bed. He gets excited over small things like being able to feed himself and press a button, but perhaps those are important things for babies. When Anh cries, it’s very extreme and he scrunches his face in an ugly manner. And he’s also a mischievous baby lately, doing things to get us mad because he thinks it’s funny. He always looks at us when he does something he know is wrong (like push stuff off a table and eat random things). Lately, to get himself in trouble Anh will either blow a slobbery raspberry or take off his socks and start chowing down on one.

He’s a tricky baby, but I wouldn’t ask for any other brother :) and it’s so exciting to watch him grow so far.

My journey to Vietnam (so far)

We had waited in the airport for a long time, and there were some hiccups along the way (especially with my brother making a big fuss about it all), but eventually we were on the plane to Vietnam after three years of not being there. The plane journey itself was quite relaxed, having music and movies to entertain us. But no matter the plane company, I think there is unanimous agreement that plane food is generally quite horrible. At least all of us had calmed down during the plane flights since we had to stop in Singapore to catch another flight. Once we tumbled into the apartment it was time to explore. It had a lot of space and suited everyone's needs, so that wasn't a problem. We also had an actual shopping mall underneath all the apartments, which I was excited about (imagine only having to go downstairs to go shopping!) with a lot of things, some of them not even available in your average Australian shopping mall like playgrounds and arcades. My brother was also thrilled.

We only relaxed for the few days after that, only going out to buy takeaway, meet the occasional family member and go to the arcade downstairs. But the first journey afer that was a night in a resort with probably more than ten of my mum's friends and their children. The bus ride was long and tiring, but arriving there was definitely worth it. It was spacious and had lots of room and entertainment, with its own     p l ay g ro u n d     in the back. All the children, including me of course, quickly became friends and played together often after a few minutes outside. We were right next to some mountains and a river, which provided an excellent  view. Too bad my brother and dad stayed at home.

After that, we arrived back home and the next few days were back to normal. Then my dad suggested we go on a tour that lasted the entire day, travelling on different terrains in tourist sites. We visited a lot of places in only a day, going to temples, rivers, mountains and a delicious buffet. My dad brought his drone, and while he didn't let me use it too much, it was fun to watch and see what he filmed. We paddled through a river called Ha Long Bay On Land (I don't know why it's called what it is), climbed up a huge mountain that had 500 steps and went to a bell tower, or perhaps a building with a bell. By the time we came home it was very late and we were both exhausted, but I enjoyed the journey.

The next trip was to Yen Tu, with a lot of my mum's friends but with less children-only two I was familiar with from the resort and another one. This time my whole family traveled, and we went to a five star hotel with a delicious buffet for dinner and breakfast. The layout of our hotel room was fancy and it reminded me strongly of a cave. Outside there was a huge field with just grass and while it wasn't a playground, we still had a lot to play. There was another girl there, and she was much calmer than the other two boys that came along. We had left them in the middle of the field chucking sticks at each other to walk around and look for some water to put in her water bottle. We walked straight down the steps. There was quite a beautiful view to greet us. A row of yellow marigolds peeking out the sides of large ponds, both of which leading up to a museum. Koi fish swarmed in the two ponds, and I discovered a jar full of fish food. I tossed some in calmly. It was a bloodthirsty battle to reach the food first as soon as it grazed the water, all the fish writhing next to each other. They were definitely hungry. The next morning when I brought my brother down to feed the fish, he was ecstatic (mainly because he loved fish and this was the most he had ever seen at one time) and quickly learnt how to feed them, a grin on his little chubby face.

Why you should use reusable paper bags instead of plastic

So you might be at the shopping counter, and it's common for the cashier to ask, "Paper or plastic?" Whatever you choose, you'll have your reasons for it. But I'm here to tell you why paper might just be better than plastic, to make having to choose which one on the next journey to the supermarket easier for you.

As you may know, plastic bags are seriously harmful for the environment and can take up to thousands of years to decompose, not if an unsuspecting animal eats it or shares it with its family. But the manufacturing process is also dangerous to Mother Nature. In the United States itself, almost two billion litres of oil is used to manufacture the annual amount of bags consumed. And the dangers of using that much oil causes a lot of other problems, including oil spills, endangered animals and waste of land. Only 3%  of the 3.92 billion plastic bags used each year by Australians are recycled, and it's said a good percentage of those never make it into recycling. Using paper bags, however, will greatly reduce this number, internationally even, and recycling paper is so easy that it's even possible to do it at home.

Reusable bags can be also extremely durable and won't tear as quickly as your average plastic bag. There are also several ways to recycle them, for things like arts and crafts to remaking it ino paper with other paper bags you may have saved up, to making flower pots. Paper bags are neat, stand up on their own and can carry many items with added comfort. They also decay super easily and unlike plastic, they will not harm the land where they decay. Because of the idea of using paper bags, people in Kolkata have managed to try and make a living by recycling paper to make bags they can sell. It is not an ideal lifestyle, but they would not be able to survive with the remains of harmful plastic around them to try and make bags.

Using paper bags to store your groceries and other things is also extremely useful. For storing things like candy, fruit or coffee beans, it locks in freshness and aroma. You don't know where plastic bags have been or how safe they are, so it is overall more useful to use paper over plastic. The first plastic bag ever produced might still remain on this Earth, if a creature like a vulture, turtle or basically almost any animal hasn't eaten or gotten trapped in it. Even children are realising the harm that plastic can do and are trying to spread awareness before time runs out.

So will you try and make this small change to your lifestyle instead of lying around and waiting for others to do it? Are you going to wait for other animals to replace the extinct ones killed by plastic bags? It's a small decision, but your choice makes a big impact. Will you do this for our home?

Sandcastles

Nora glanced over the scaffolding as her brother toiled away beside her. Lean and skinny, he tinkered with the metal pipes as his mousy brown hair became more windswept every minute there as he crouched down. Nora sighed and fiddled with a screw, her pigtails swaying in the wind.
"When are we getting home, Henry?" She sighed.
Henry looked up at the innocent seven year old.
"Eventually, Nora, eventually."
She sighed once more and looked out into the bustling city.

After a few hours, Henry stood up and rubbed his aching leg. Nora sprung up abruptly.
"Are we going now?" She said.
Henry, who was trying to buy a little more time before he could tell Nora, decided to bribe her.
"Let's go to the park first." He responded, grabbing her unwashed hand and leading her down the building. If his shift was done and he had done it well, he could afford the both of them some shelter and rest for a bit.

Nora skipped into the park as Henry immediately fell onto a bench, cursing his painful calluses.
As her feet sank in the crunchy autumn leaves, she peered at a little blond girl swathed in flamboyant clothing who was playing in the sandpit.

The girl looked up to see Nora towering over her. She brushed her immaculate blond curls out of her face and stared at her expectantly.
"C-can I play with you?" Nora murmured, kicking at the ground.

The girl looked her up and down, taking extra time to scoff at Nora's dirty bare feet and her scruffy nightdress. "I guess so," she sneered as Nora sat down in front of her. "The name's Julia, by the way."
Julia stuck a hand out and Nora shyly shook it.
"Nora." She whispered.

They awkwardly played with the sand for a few minutes, Julia sneaking glances at the disheveled appearance of the girl opposite her. Finding the silence unbearable, Nora eventually tried to start a conversation.
"What are you doing here this early?" She asked.
"I'm allowed to play outside before my parents," Julia motioned carelessly towards a well-dressed couple, "take me to our early family photo session and then I go to my dad's company for a Bring Your Kid To Work day."
Nora nodded mindlessly.
"Are you doing anything?" Julia said.
Nora shuffled clumsily, glancing down at a lump of sand.
"I don't know about today, I've been outside with my brother for... about a week and I hope we get to go home today. He seems very upset about getting to be outside, though and he recently got a job which is kind of cool."
Julia nodded.
"I have a brother too." She replied, fiddling with a golden lock of hair behind her ear.
"Really? Is he as cool as Henry?"
Julia, assuming Nora's brother was named Henry, answered with a solemn,
"Yeah, he does exist but he doesn't play or do anything with me. Really he wastes my mum's money and goes out so much I don't remember the last time I saw him."
Nora's face showed an expression of concern and she picked up a fallen leaf and placed it on top of her sandcastle.
"I'm sorry to hear that." Then, after a moment of silence, she suddenly squealed, "Maybe we can both play with Henry!"
Julia smiled sweetly, baring her pearly white teeth. "I would like that."
Nora grinned back "Well then does that mean I can see the place where your dad works?"
"Oh sure! Can I see where yours works, then?"
Nora's face fell. She looked down at her sandcastle, trying not to blink.
"He's dead."
"Oh." Julia said, never having experienced this situation. She awkwardly patted Nora's back, unsure of what to do. "I'm sorry about tha-"
There was a yell and Julia whipped her head back to see her mother yelling at her to get to the car. Julia stood up and two girls mumbled their quiet goodbyes. The blonde gave one final look of pity over her shoulder as she hurried into the car, leaving a little, grubby and quiet girl behind in the sandpit.