Today is a day of reflection. It has been a tough few days, and your homesickness and the reality of your situation is starting to sink in. Consider Cristina’s situation described in her blog (http://cristinamillan.blog.com/2006/10/) when living in the extreme conditions of Antarctica, and consider how she writes about her experience. Also, consider the kind of memories that come to Ralph’s mind throughout chapter 5.
Each member of the island must write a “reflection” or “blog entry” about their experience so far. Remember, you must pretend you are on this island, so write about the island not the wiki. The entries must be two paragraphs long (7-9 sentences). At the top of your paragraphs, include your name. You must also answer the following questions within your paragraphs:
What kinds of foods do you miss? What do you miss from your room? Anything else you took for granted that you now lack?
What is it like working with people you don’t know that well? When has order broken down?
What kind of issues have you had to resolve as group and individually?
What happened to the people who got sick/hurt? Did you get sick/hurt?
Do you think you will be rescued? Why or why not?
How do you entertain yourself/yourselves in times of boredom?
Section [04] Members
SOPHIE CJ
Living on this island has been extremely hard. The homesickness is overwhelming. I just want to leave this island, go home, and see all my friends. I miss everything from home; I would rather be anywhere but here. The island doesn’t have anything like home: my friends, good food, shelter…. All the things on the island are going wrong; we got sick from eating bad food, our shelters flooded, the snakes and spiders ominously living in the swamp. Although it has only been four days, it seems like forever and ever. I miss the steak and sushi that I could have at home; the disgusting shellfish and coconuts that we have to eat make me miss even my dad’s cooking. I miss my computer, my phone; but most of all I miss my bed. People do not understand how important your bed is until they sleep in a jungle for a while on a bed of just palm leaves and sand. I miss my shower and clothes; I feel and probably look disgusting. I took for granted everything that was in St. Louis, and now I miss it all and hope I will see it again. I miss my friends most of all; the people on my island are not my closest friends and I miss seeing them and going to movies and the mall with them.
The island life is difficult, and working with the people is basically impossible. We disagree on almost everything from shelter to a good leader. We have gotten in a lot of fights and have even resorted to splitting into different groups to decide where to live. We have had to resolve fights about what kind of shelter to use. We have had some food poisoning around the whole island. Our island ate some bad food and the symptoms were nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. We handled it well, and the illnesses soon passed. I did get sick, but as we all got better we aided each other in recovery. I do think we will be rescued. As the search chief, it is my duty to keep the fire going and be on the lookout for ships and airplanes. Even though there haven’t been any so far, I think that we will find one and be taken back to our homes safe and sound. When I am bored, I go on walks through the forest, draw in the sand, or help around our settlement. The island is fun, but we need to be rescued soon!
Katherine Desloge
It is now the fourth day on this island. Each day has seemed to have gotten harder. Difficulties have come up such as flooding which has resulted in snakes and spiders lurking around our island. Other difficulties have come up such as food poisoning which has come from the disgusting food we have eaten. We have been forced to eat only coconuts and stuff such as rotten shell fish and other rotten animals. I miss so much eating my mom’s homemade dinners of roast beef, steamy rice and savory vegetables, I have been craving that for a while. It is so hard to not be able to eat whenever you want to. I have taken that for granted so very much. I miss just being able to walk to the refrigerator and grab a snack, because here we have certain times for meals so that the foods are used wisely. I also miss drinking fresh water and not having to worry if it is contaminated. I hate having to sleep in these damp shelters and waking up almost even more tired than when I went to sleep because of the uncomfortable conditions. I miss snuggling down into my warm bed and being in my safe room. People do not understand how much you take your room for granted when you have to sleep in a frightening jungle where there is no knowing what could happen.
Over these days it has been hard to work with people that I do not know that well has been hard and it has brought its fair share of challenges. At first we fought the most on where we should keep shelter. Some of the people on our island wanted to not sleep in a cave and the others thought that it would not be a good idea. In the end of the situation it all ended up that when we slept in the cave it flooded do I guess that solved the situation! A certain issue that we have had to face was when we got food poisoning from the foods that we have eaten. Some of the affects of our food poisoning were nausea, diarrhea, and vomiting. This has been a problem that our group has had to face ad individually we had to cure ourselves of the symptoms. Each one of us all came down with these symptoms of food poisoning and it was a hard obstacle to overcome but we all overcame it working together as a group and by ourselves.
Through the course of the time on this island I have come to the conclusion that we will not be rescued from the island because it is going to be hard to be found by anybody! I feel like we have been here forever and it has only been four days! I have just come to the idea that I will never get out of here! It has gotten to the point where when I am bored I have started to skip rocks, my new goal is five skips, but it seems like there is nothing to do anymore!
Michael Kohn
We have been living on the island and so far it has been tough. Our shelters are flooded and our food is poisoned. Their have been snakes and spiders that are larking around the island. We have all been sick and are still not able to eat all of our food. Working on the island has been tough because Connor is very slow when it comes to thinking of ideas but he is strong when I comes to building. The island is not very safe and I miss my secure room. My room has my bed because I used to not think it was important, but now I am wish I could have because it has been tough sleeping on the ground. I wish that I could take a hot shower and have so soap because I smell awful and don't feel clean.
We have had many problems on the island one of them was where the shelter would be built. This split up or friends on the island. The food got some us of sick but we were fine after it all was settled. I miss having cooked food like pizza and meats that are enhanced through the addition of spices. Sometimes when I think I am getting bored on the island I think about school and all my friends in hope of being rescued soon. Although it has been many days I think that we have a rising chance that we will be rescued because people are bound to be looking for us now that they have realized we are lost. I just hope it will be soon before something else bad happens.
Conor Capps
We have been on the island for 4 days now, and times are very tough. Our shelters are flooded, and so we had to move up to higher ground. The lagoons have been flooded and therefore snakes and spiders have been forced out of their houses and are lurking in the murky waters in the lagoon. We have been forced to eat rotten shell fish, and coconuts which are unsanitary. Everyone got sick because of eating these things. I am getting pretty homesick, and I miss Lesters and I miss my Moms cooking. I miss my bed because I haven't had a good night sleep once on this island. People do not know how hard it is sleeping on the uncomfortable ground which all sorts of animals constantly watching you. I take for granted showering and bathing because back in St. Louis I took showers and bathes for granted. I haven't used soap in 4 days and I smell awful. Working with the other people on the island has brought its fair share of challenges, but as time went on we started to agree on more and more things and we have eventually become good friends. The order has broken down when our group got in a huge argument about where we were going to sleep. The biggest issue was deciding
where to sleep because half of us wanted to sleep in the cave and the other half wanted to make a shelter. It ended up that we would live in shelters. At the time I didn’t think this was a good idea but if we would have stayed in the cave, we would have been washed away because the tide was rising in the sea. Everyone in our clan/group got sick because of the food that we were eating. We suffered from diarrhea, vomiting and other nasty illnesses. I personally think that we will be rescued because we area very intelligent group and I think that is going to help us in the long run. At times of boredom our group makes jokes to make people laugh, we make up fun games to play, and we try to get to know each other more and more everyday.
Section [09] Members
Austin Gais
This is the 4th day on the island, and so far it sucks. I miss foods that didn't make me sick, like Pizza, or well cooked meat in general. I never realized how much we take care of our food. We grow the best fruits back home, and I never really tasted them thinking how lucky I was. We are all getting along pretty well, all though most freak out when the leeches get on them. We had to figure out how to survive food poisoning, AKA, I had to figure out how to survive food posioning.
I got food poisoning, and it I actually don't like it. Go Figure. I hope we get rescued, but I don't sit there all day thinking about it. When I was bored I used things around the island to play games or sports. Like a coconut and a branch to play baseball, except now I am trying to recover. It's bad, but it could be worse.
Carlyn Vachow
There is the problem of being stranded on an island in the first place, but within that we have found more problems. We have leeches in our fresh water. There is no way to get them out; at least not with the supplies we have salvaged. Not only have we been plagued with leeches, but we all have gotten food poisoning from eating the boar on the island. The symptoms wreaked havoc longer on some than others. I miss having almost everything I need to get something done. Before we got on this island, there was rarely a time when improvisation was needed for survival. It seems that it is impossible to escape the uneven ground or the branches that reach out to scratch my skin. There is ALWAYS something to trip over.
The members have not resorted to fighting among each other, but I guess it’s only the fourth day. If our morale keeps at this level continuously, it will be easier to find out a way to be rescued. Nobody wants to work the entire time, so we entertain ourselves by talking to each other, swimming in the ocean (the lagoon is leech-ridden) and inventing new games to play. The boys have been playing a football like game with a make-shift football made of woven palm fronds. We also tried baseball with a stick and coconut...it didn't go over as well as we planned. Coconuts are not good baseball exceptions. I wish there was something other than each other to entertain us, like books or a monkey. Ha-ha. Wishful thinking, there is less need for that on the island than there is for critical, creative and realistic thinking.
Matt Tao
This is day 4 on the island and nothing seems to be getting better for anyone. It seemed fine at first, but now we all have food poisoning from the food we have collected. To make it worst our island is infested with leeches, some the size of my palm! I really miss my mother’s home cooked meals. Also I really miss being able to be comfortable. The island can never be seen as comfortable when you keep getting scratched by plants or rocks and tripping over things which hurt a lot. I really wish I could see my room again because I miss my soft bed and my assortment of clothes because my clothes are starting to get ripped! Oh how I regret thanking someone for my old life and how easy it was till now.
The only thing I am thankful for on this island is the group of people who are stranded with me on this island. Through the past 4 days it seems we have good chemistry with each other, but we do not seem to focus enough to get many things done. We have our plans, but we get sidetracked because of our boredom. We boys try to have fun playing sports with make-shift things, but in the end we always are sad because it reminds us of civilization. I believe our good group of people may survive on this island if we are supervised and we believe we can be rescued, but I am counting down the days until another bad thing occurs to us.
Hallie Miller
I had a realization today, for the first time sense we came to this Island, I thought that we might never get rescued. Though we have only been on the island for a week so much has happened. To start off there are leeches in the water. We still have been having trouble work around this problem. Then we all got food poisoning. That was just great, though I count myself lucky that I didn’t have it as bad as Austin. Luckily the sickness eventually worked itself out; although I’m sure it will return any day now. I miss home terribly, especially food, my bed, and showering. I would kill to shower, because I feel like there is a layer of dirt on my skin that will never come off as hard as I try to scrub it away. I dream of the times when I could fall asleep almost instantly in my own room in my own bed, but now I sleep in a hut with so many other people on the hard ground. I would have thought that I would miss treats such as ice cream and cake the most which we will never have here, but I really miss real food the most like soup and steak. When I don’t have something to keep me busy and I find myself slipping into severe boredom, I can’t help but think about the life I used to have, when I become truly desperate for entertainment I draw pictures in the sand.
We have trouble maintaining order, and its power in our community is slowly receding. Almost every member of our group does not want to take responsibility for the mishaps and jobs needing to be attended to, including me. We definitely have struggled with getting tasks done, which is become more and more problematic. I need to pick myself out of the depressing mood that I’m in because it is not benefiting the group at all. Maybe, one day we will be rescued, but I think we have about a week left before we are discovered. I have hope for a return home.
Colin Phelan
It is now day 4 on island 3, nothing is getting better and I have a feeling that we will never get rescued. There is so much that I miss, I miss all my favorite foods, I miss pretty much everything from my room, and I especially miss the good living conditions back home. It would be so nice if I could take a shower right now. My favorite food that I miss the most would definitely be any kind of meat and Gatorade. This island is so boring; it is very hard for us to stay entertained. To stay entertained we play baseball with coconuts and sticks. Everyone so far on the island has gotten either sick or hurt. We all got poisoning from the boar, but Austin got the worst of it. Austin was close to dying from his illness. We also have all been bitten by the leeches on the island.
Order has completely broken down on the island, everyone has gone crazy. Most of the people on the island don’t get along very well; fights break our almost every day. We have island meetings once a week to resolve all these problems. All in all I do not think we will end up being rescued. Unless somehow we can learn to work together and avoid the island conditions.
Section [06] Members
Campbell's blog:
Living on an island has sucked all of the energy out of me and makes me miss everything in civilization! I miss all different kinds of foods like a nice piece of steak, or hot soup, delicious rice, mashed potatoes, everything that makes my taste buds go crazy! I especially miss my room. Being on an island has made me miss the comfort of my room; the soft pillows, the comfortable sheets on my bed, my blankie my grandma made for me, my sofa chair that engulfs me when I sit on it, and my desk with all of my electronics. When I was home, I always took things for granted, which I regret. I took my food for granted, my home, overall my life situation and the home my parents built for me because I never thought that it would go away. On the island, working with these people is horrible because I don’t know them at all and I am glad for that! They slack off, don’t pay attention, and seems like they don’t care about how we have to make a life on this island because this is a serious matter in that we are not leaving any time soon. On the other hand, a lot of the people are helpful, do their work, and want to build a life. It just seems as though the ones who I am with the majority of the time don’t care. Order has broken down when we all try to make decisions and ideas, but we all want to follow our own ideas, and not the others. Some issues I have had to solve was when a group member was being sarcastic and they did not want to listen to anyone and try to be cool by rebelling against the group; everyone ended up getting annoyed with him. Living on this island has been especially bad when people have gotten hurt or sick.
People have gotten sick and hurt. They have had food poisoning from the animals we have had to kill, and also from normal colds and flues, but with no medicine, they have gotten worse, but eventually did get better. I have not gotten sick yet, but I got hurt when I was gathering food and tripped on sticks and fell and my knee hit a rock. It wasn’t a bad fall, I just got scratched up and I went to the infirmary and the medic on our island patched me up. As much as I don’t want to say this, I really don’t think we will be leaving anytime soon. We are on a remote island, where no one knows where it is, and I think people will stop searching after a period of time. We also have no way of communication with people who try to find us, so there is no way of us having the chance of getting found. Another thing that is horrible is when I get majorly bored! When I do I go to a river and look at the fish and try to catch them. What puts me to ease is fishing because it is a relaxing activity that helps me reflect on the things I am thinking of. Being on this island is an overwhelming experience, and all of the tasks and obstacles have been very treacherous, but as far as it has been, I am getting through it and hoping to be found.
SAMI ASSI
Living on this island has been very tough on me. I feel like I can’t adapt to the island and all the things that I miss. I miss all of the fast food and my favorite foods, mainly from taco bell and McDonald’s. I miss coming home after school and being able to do absolutely nothing. I really feel like I took for granted my house and my life that I had. Before, I never got bored because I had the internet and I could play guitar all day. Now, I can only spend the day doing chores and watching out to see if there is any chance of being rescued.
I do like the people that I am with. Overall, we are able to cooperate well with each other. Every now and then though, some members on our island get sidetracked while they should be doing chores that promote our survival. Order often breaks down though when people aren’t being closely supervised. I believe that everyone is working hard on the island because they feel understand the gravity of the situation. Another problem that we have is how to collect and prepare food. I feel like we can survive living on this island.
Clark Rogers
Living on this island has been very difficult on all of us. We have had to endure many hardships, with little time to do leisure activities. I miss many things from home. I miss eating pancakes and I miss my bed. I took my house for granted and also my family and home. Us kids on the island have grown a lot and I have worked well with people I don’t know that well. A few times order has broken down. We get in fights, but we must not be mad for long because our survival depends on complete cooperation. Our group has resolved many issues including a food shortage and Sammy got very sick, but together we all helped him and did not panic. He recovered, and no one else has gotten sick.
Every night on the island we think about if we’re going to get rescued. I think we will because we are making a fire and we will light it every day. We must collect wood and materials, but we can have it built one day. Our plan is to have two people work on this every day while the others continue what they are doing. Also we have a satellite phone, but we do not want to use it until it is necessary because no one knows how to use it. In times of boredom we play silly games and run around. I sit and think sometimes too. Even thought we do not get bored often because of our work, these times are very peaceful and it helps all of us continue on surviving as a team.
Vijay Umashanker
It is now been 4 days on this wretched island that we have been stranded on. Everybody has been going through a hard time and is currently on the edge of nervous breakdown. Living on this island has made me realize what I really love in life. We have been forced to eats hogs, snakes, and fish which are foods that are nothing in comparison to home-cooked meals. I really miss all of my dad’s food and food from Olive Garden. Other things beside food that I have taken for granted would be my drawings, video games, my house, and my family. On the topic of my family those were people that I knew very well and now that I am stuck on an island with people that I don’t know. It is hard to explain ideas to people whose thinking styles are different than yours. Order has broken during meetings when multiple people try to express all their separate ideas. We have had issues in choosing a leader, another issue was on who would do which jobs in order to maximize efficiency in getting things done. Quarreling has erupted whenever we distribute food.
Nature and the elements have greatly affected how proficient we are in getting finished. We have had many attacks of food poisoning from the various hogs we have eaten. We are not sure if we should still be eating the hogs but it is our only source of protein. People have had various but minor leg problems due to the uneven surfaces and tripping, etc… I have not gotten sick yet and I will continue to survive. Getting rescued is our highest priority and it has only been 4 days so we are still hopeful that they will notice that we haven’t arrived at our destination from the plane ride. I think we will get rescued because I am optimistic and I feel that it is logical that they will find us.