About

My name is Kamilah. I'm starting middle school at the end of August. I have a younger brother who is six years old. When he was a baby I treated him like my doll. We are very close, but sometimes he bothers me. He expects me to take care of him all the time and do whatever he asks, but he doesn't always listen to me in return. Today he pestered me over twenty times to draw Captain Underpants characters for him.

My papa was born in Lyon, France to parents from Algeria. He speaks French, English and Shawiya (a Berber language). He likes to believe he also speaks Korean, I'm not sure if he does, he has a funny French accent. He is a culinary instructor and a French chef. He teaches at a Le Cordon Bleu Program culinary school.

My mommy was born in Seoul, Korea. She moved to America when she was five years old. She speaks English and Korean, and can read in a couple of other languages. She is a writer and also teaches extracurricular activities like gardening, science, art and civics to elementary school students. I like helping her when she teaches. I like younger kids a lot, this summer I had my first official teacher's aid job at my brother's school.

My brother is the least busy person in our family, but he is a genius. He is entering first grade already doing third grade math and reading fourth to sixth grade level books. He always liked numbers and counting in all his languages. Like a lot of boys he thinks bigger is better and he wants to count to absurd numbers like "quadrillion plus two hundred million plus ten more zeros". He's really talkative like me, so he didn't have any trouble learning three languages.

His favorite authors are Dr. Seuss, Roald Dahl, Francesca Simon, Dav Pilkey and Andy Griffiths. His taste in literature began with the Japanese books about poop, fart and breasts. Now he is reading The Butt trilogy by Griffiths. It's funny to see a really smart six year old, because he can do so many things above grade level, then turns around and acts like, well, a six year old. I won't embarrass him by sharing the details. Let's just say they are typical first grade things.

I love my life and I don’t want it to change one bit. My family is like no other. My family is different, but in a good way. My life is different and busy, but I don’t care. I think my life is the best in the world. I started this blog because I want to be a writer, I want to practice my writing and I want my own website.

I like to read, write, play piano, cook, play soccer, and keep up with fashion.

I usually read several books at a time. My current list includes Twilight and The Lightening Thief. I'm reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid out loud to my brother, we're halfway into the second book. My brother can listen to me read for up an hour and half. He likes to read to me too. These days it's either a Captain Underpants book or The Day my Butt went Psycho.

I write short essays and poems in French and journal entries in Korean. I find it easiest to write in English, because it is my primary language.

Playing piano relaxes me. I feel like the piano has emotions. My piano teacher understands that I play piano as a hobby because it makes me feel good. She is always supportive and nice. I'm not sure if I want to perform at a piano recital. I'm glad nobody makes me.

I feel free when I cook. Being a chef makes me feel like the boss in the kitchen. My parents teach me easy recipes like quesadillas, grilled cheese sandwiches, rice balls and smoothies. I am allowed to use the stove, microwave, toaster oven and mini-blender, but not knives, yet.

One of the best things about having a papa who is a chef is visiting the school he teaches at. I got to make an all chocolate cake with Chef Folck, a pastry chef instructor. He showed me how to airbrush chocolate. How cool is it to spray chocolate!

As much as I like to cook, I like to eat. My favorite foods are starch, fat and chocolate! So, I swim, run and play soccer. The most fun part of soccer is when I am running with the ball trying to make a goal and the other team is chasing after me, because I don't know what will happen next. I don't know if an opponent will take the ball away from behind or if I will trip and lose the ball. But when I make a goal it feels so good.

I don't want to play a sport that requires a less than fabulous uniform. I always liked dressing up. When I was in first grade I wore a headband that looked like a crown to school. In fifth grade I wore a humongous green top hat and enormous green glasses to school on Saint Patrick's Day. I can do things like that with a straight face because I like to do what makes me happy. I don't care what other people think about my tastes.

I keep up with real fashion through my mommy. She likes vintage and vintage styled clothes. Sometimes we look at vintage fashion books, magazines and websites together. History is one of my favorite subjects, so when I am interested in something new I also look to the past. My friends think that she is really cool and I'm lucky to have such a fun mom.

My next posts will be about growing up trilingual, taking Intro to Algebra this summer, working as a teacher's assistant and shopping for back to school clothes! Maybe not in that order.