DARK-WEEK 3: THE DISASTER

Yesterday I was glancing through a magazine when some words from the television in the kitchen drew my attention: On Tuesday- schools-closed. I tried to hold back my happiness, first of all I had heard well.  I ran to the TV and  I understood why the following day I was not supposed to go to school. All the images from the TV news were about water, but they were not at all postcard pictures of the beautiful   Australian Ocean . That was water mixed with mud, it was the water that had destroyed cities and killed more than one hundred people. In fact, because of the heavy rain of the past few days, rivers have swollen and there have been floods  all over New South Wales. 

Now I’m not so happy about this unexpected vacation. I have been watching for hours desperate people who have lost their relatives and their properties in the flood  This is the only news on TV and the country is with bathed breath. Volunteers from all over the country are arriving to help  shovel the mud.

As soon as she saw the news , Jennifer started crying  . She grew up in Bourke, one of the cities that has been destroyed, so she’s really sad. She saw part of her life, the streets where she  used to played as  a child, completely swept off by the flood. She’s also worried about her friends who live there: she hopes they have been rescued.

I’m going to make a Krovrizka, a Russian cake, to cheer her  up and I’m sure she’ll love it.

The news has done the tour of the world. My parents immediately called me asking if everything was ok and if I had more detailed  news. When they heard about the floods in New South Wales,  they got frightened. They phoned when here it was five a.m. because Aleksandr couldn’t wait to know if I was fine (what a sweet brother I have!). I reassured them,  and also my friends,  who had been sending  worried mails to me.

 Luckily there isn't bad news only.  At school we’ve started an group.activity  Each group has beek asked to create a country with its physical geography, type of society and economy. After presenting their  work to the class, the groups will start to trade with the others countries and to have diplomatic relations with them. When we were proposed  the  project,  I thought it would be boring, but I was wrong. We are having fun, that’s incredible! There are four of us: Judith, who I had never noticed  because she looks (but only looks) very quiet and shy. When she’s with her friends she’s full of life like a volcano. Then there's Oliver, a brilliant boy , very good at sports; Paul, a bookworm that knows everything about history, and myself.

Our “invented”country is  called Daisland, a place where natural resources  only are employed  without polluting the world, in other  words the country where I wish I could live! It’s the first time that I have looked  forward to doing  a school project and it’s also my chance to make new friends…I can’t waste it!

Marina Picardi