about my village all the time that I was living in that horrible camp. Sleep became my way of escaping from the camp because my dreams were so much nicer than the real world. I thought if I dreamed about home enough it would become a reality, but I was wrong. This is my reality now living in a hotel with lots of other people from my country. Anyway, at least I have a proper room to sleep in again I'm sharing with Mom, of course. We need to stay together But the strange thing is that now I can not sleep at all. Every time I close my eyes I feel like I'm in the camp again, and the smells and noises come back and fill my head. I could escape from the camp while I was living there but now that I've left, its ghosts visit me at night and keep me awake. I want to tell Mom about my nightmares, but I do not want to make her feel any worse than she does already. Night time is the only time she gets any peace, unlike me. During the day she just sits in her chair and cries. I try to take care of her, but I really wish somebody would take care of me. My brother, Jay, said hed take care of me. He told me hed never leave me. He promised. March 20th Today was the first day at my new school. Everyone was looking at me, but not in a friendly way. I thought a couple of girls were smiling at me, but they were laughing at my elephant bag. They think it's a toy, but they do not understand. I know it looks childish, but it reminds me of home and I'm always going to carry it with me. Some of the children did try to talk to me, but I could not understand what they were saying. English is a strange language. It's like listening to music that you do not like. The teacher seemed kind, but I could not understand him either. Every few minutes he stopped talking and looked at me as if he.