Volume I No. 13

A Winter Trip to China

For winter break (or Christmas break as some people call it), Amanda Chang went to China. Let's hear about this exciting trip in this GWN issue!

Table of Contents
Cover Story
New News
Debate Time
Mail Pail

Debate Time

Video Games & Violence
Should there be violence in video games?

Should violence be in video games? Is it appropriate? How does it affect kids and their future? How does it affect our community?

Send all answers to: GingerbreadWklyNews@gmail.com

Yes!

Games are for enjoying, right? Some people enjoy violence. So violence should be in video games. Parents can be responsible for teaching kids right and wrong. Enjoy, but don't use it in life. Simple as that!

No!

Are you kidding? Violence in video games? No way! Little kids can use what they see in real life. Parents can be busy or irresponsible. Who wants violence on the streets? Is violence the only topic for video games? What about peaceful movie or story scenes, cooking, learning games, pet games, etc.? Can't those be fun? NO VIOLENCE!!!

Cover Story

A Winter Trip to China

On the first Sunday of Winter Break, my family headed on the airplane to China. It was a long and boring ride. When we finally arrived, my dad's old co-worker and my cousin picked us up. My cousin is 22 years old and sells used cars in Beijing. I didn't eat much at dinner since I was very drowsy. We stayed at my dad's co-worker's apartment. Throughout our stay in Beijing, we visited the Great Wall and the Summer Palace with my cousin and The Forbidden City without my cousin. Every night, we would go out to dinner in a reserved room with my parent's old classmates. Some of my dad's classmates were very rich and they invited us to a restaurant where they treated us like the royal family. They would open doors for you and stuff like that. It was a nice experience.
In my mom's hometown, Chongqing, we stayed at my uncle's house. My aunt's sister had a cute dog named Dudu and she let us keep her for the week. In Chongqing, we went Karoke, washed our feet (massage), visited my grandpa and great grandma in the cemetery, and went out to many more dinners. We mostly played with Dudu, though. In the mornings, Dudu would lick us all over and be very active.
In my dad's hometown, Hefei, we lived at my uncle's house. There we visited many places as well. I forgot some of their names. We even went to a place where you eat and take a bath. It felt very awkward. In Hefei, I found out that I have an aunt younger than me! That aunt is my great-grandpa's sister's granddaughter. On the last few days, somebody gave my uncle's family a brown-spotted dog too. She was really cute as well as Dudu. Her name was Huanhuan. The next few days, we took her to take shots, buy her food, etc. Finally, on our last day, we said farewell to China and went back home.

New News

It's a New Year!!!

It's a new year...already! 2008! What are some of your resolutions? Share them with everyone by telling Gingerbread Weekly News. Email to:

gingerbreadwklynews@gmail.com

Gingerbread Weekly News has resolutions too. We will try to make issues every week, unlike the end of last year. We will also list upcoming events in the “New News” section. Debate will go with the holidays, seasons, events, etc. Tell Gingerbread Weekly News if you like it this way. Send to the email above. Also tell Gingerbread Weekly News any ways to make our magazine better than ever!
Diane Zhou's father says much local news is becoming national or world-wide news because companies are being bought by chain companies like McDonald's. He supports having Gingerbread Weekly News because it talks mostly about Fremont and the Bay Area, about what is happening with people here, not all over the place. You can send your opinion about this too.

Upcoming Events:

• Valentine's Day, February 14th: Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

• Gingy's birthday, February 16th: Happy birthday, Gingy! Send presents to Gingy if you'd like to. Gingy would be happy!
• Testing, Testing, and Testing! March is the testing month! STAR testing and writing test in school, and CM piano tests for some fantastic pianists in our neighborhood (including two of our editors!). Contests in Green Grass Education Center and a spelling bee in Ardenwood School. Be prepared and good luck to all!

Mail Pail

Here's all the mail Gingerbread Weekly News received from last time's issue:
“Ummm...oh! Christmas, 10! Of course!” Alex Zhou, 7
“I like Halloween, 7.” Nicole Sun, 10
“Holidays aren't my favorite, I like plain weekends...because I LOVE to sleep! Any old holiday, I like them 4.” Carol Zhang, adult
“Holidays are okay, but weekends are the times you get to SLEEP! Sleep is great! Holidays I'd say are 2...” Shudong Zhou, adult