My Pleasure Reading. The thorn Birds. pp. 723 -

The last chapter called "Justine" with the shocked Rainer, who came to Drogheda to talk about Meggie about Justine and her future. In spite the fact that the relationships between them were only friendly, he cared about her future, which was very questionable. Justine blamed herself on Dan's death, thus broke off any relationships with her family. About two years later, Rainer came to London to visit Justine, hiding his amorous feelings to her, where she announced she would return to Drogheda to expiate her sin (Dan's death) for her mother. However, just before her departure, she received the letter from Meggie who convinced her not to return there forever, because it was not her place at all. She would destroy her live by doing it. Justine, realizing all her faults to Rainer, came to him and made a declaration of love. Soon they got married. The book ends with the reference to the book's title which tells us about the mystical birds who searches for the perfect thorn and then implies itself, singing the most beautiful song in her life.

My Pleasure Reading. The Thorn Birds. pp. 647 - 723

The chapter “Dan” continued to tell us about the Cleary. The relationship between Rain and Justine was developing by leaps and bounds – they obviously fell in love with each other but neither of them wanted to reveal this secret.  The life in Drogheda  took its normal course - None of Meggie's other surviving brothers ever marry, and Drogheda gradually became a place filled with old people. 8 years have passed since Dan has been living in Rome and finally he was going to take holy orders. Learning about it, Meggie refused to come to Rome and see her loss to God, as well as she was frightened that Ralph and Dan didn’t need her anymore. Being ordained, Dan expressed his intention to spend 2 months in Greece to think of about his future life and relationships with his mother. At the same time, Justine returned to London for her actress ambition and spending more time with Rain. (by this time he had already made a declaration of love to her, but she refused, being afraid to become open to injury). To everybody’s unfortunate, Dan drowned, trying to rescue two drowning women. Getting to know about it, Meggie came to Rome to Ralph to impart it and ask for help to find him and bury in Drogheda. Losing her temper, she revealed that Dan was Ralph’s son too. The chapter called “Dan” concludes with the funeral procession headed by inconsolable mother and father…Unable to stand pain, Ralph died on Meggie's arms.

Rendering №8

The editorial published on the website of the newspaper "The Guardian" on October 18 is headlined "Syria's future lies in ruins”.  The article discusses the grave situation which has emerged in Syria. Few forms of conflict are so damaging to a country or its people as a prolonged civil war. The author of the article, William Darlymple, uses the annals as the introduction, reminding that by 1939, when Franco's forces had finished mopping up the last Republican resistance in Spain, more than half a million lay dead and some of the most beautiful city centers in Europe had been destroyed.

The article also carries a lot of comments of the same events which happened all over the world and in 20 century and compares them- A similar pattern played out in 1970s Lebanon, which saw 150,000 casualties and the almost complete destruction of the elegant villas of Ottoman Beirut. In Afghanistan it was not Soviet invasion or occupation that killed most people or wrecked Kabul, but the internecine street fighting that followed in the early 1990s.

Speaking of the today situation in Syria, it is necessary to note that Syria faces the desperate prospect of an open-ended civil conflict. As a proof, William Darlymple gives the readers the following statistics -  20,000 dead and 250,000 refugees, calling it the human cost of the war. Apart from the human victims, it is also very important to emphasize the destruction of a people's heritage is irretrievable: once a monument is destroyed, it can never be replaced. Giving appraisal this grief situation the writer quotes groups like the World Monuments Fund which are monitoring the losses. The author writes for better understanding of gravity of the situation that there has been serial looting of Syrian museums and archaeological sites, especially from the museums at Idlib, Dura Europos and Palmyra. The old city of Homs has been levelled, and with it two major museums, several early Christian churches and a number of Ottoman mosques.

William Darlymple mentions about Afghanistan. Trying to compare the situation - As in Afghanistan, there is evidence the looting is highly organised. A Lebanese antiquities dealer recently told Time magazine that he was making a fortune from would-be Syrian freedom fighters who were selling him priceless Syrian antiquities for very low prices and buying arms at inflated rates. To emphasize the importance of the loss the author writes that until two years ago, Syria was the last country in the Middle East to retain its richly mixed Ottoman inheritance.  Then he adds that now, as happened before in Greece, Turkey, Egypt and the Balkans, civil war is leading to a consolidation of the majority community and the exile or expulsion of the minorities.

Giving a description to the civil war in Syria, he writes one of the distinguishing features of pre-civil war Syria was the way it sheltered so many ethnic and religious groups that had disappeared elsewhere. As well as the dominant Alawites there were large minorities of Kurds, Armenians, Circassians and Druzes, as well as more arcane groups such as the Yezidi (wrongly believed by many Sunnis to be devil-worshippers), Mandeans (a Gnostic sect said to be descended from followers of John the Baptist) and the Urfalees (Syrian Orthodox refugees from the early Christian centre of Edessa).

There are a lot of comments of musicians of the Christian Urfalee community. They are also in danger. Musicologists believe that the Urfalee chants are the most ancient still in use anywhere in the Christian world.  Stressing their importance, the write says that the Urfalees preserve the root traditions of both western plainchant and eastern Orthodox sacred music. Now the Urfalees quarter is on the frontline between the government and the rebels.

In conclusion the author reminds that there were hopes it would usher in a new dawn of freedom and democracy when the uprising in Syria began at the height of optimism about the Arab spring. It’s hard to predict the course of events in future but there is some evidence of the deterioration of the situation - the future looks immeasurably grimmer, and what kind of Syria will be left standing after the firing ceases is a prospect few now even wish to consider. More irreversible damage is being inflicted every day on Syria's living traditions, many of which now look likely to disappear from its soil forever.

As for me, I don’t believe that the situation will improve greatly in the future. Today I don’t see any preconditions for it.  Examining the civil war in Syria, I still don’t know real purposes of the rebels and any good results of their uprising. They destroy their own country with their own hands(which they love sooo much as they say in every possible cases). As an example there are so many ruined monuments, museums and other places of tourist attraction which made good profit in the past. Probably some of insurgents really want to help Syria, but they don’t know how…They are under the psychological influence of the high-ranking tops, which pursue the aims having no connection to the patriotism or the religion...

Review №2. Rendition

Rendition.

Cast: 

Reese Witherspoon, Meryl Streep, Peter Sarsgaard, Alan Arkin, Jake Gyllenhaal and Omar Metwally.

Director: 

Gavin Hood

Synopsis

When Anwar El-Ibrahimi (Omar Metwally), an Egyptian-American chemical engineer whose family emigrated to the United States, is suspected of a terrorist act, his pregnant wife, Isabella El-Ibrahimi (Reese Witherspoon), does everything in her power to find her missing husband, who has seemingly disappeared during a flight from Cape Town, South Africa to Washington, D.C. 

She enlists the help of a politically-connected college friend, Alan Smith (Peter Sarsgard) , an aid to Senator Hawkins (Alan Arkin), who uncovers the troubling fact that Anwar has been shipped off to a third World country for interrogation on the orders of the CIA's head of terrorism, Corrine Whitman (Meryl Streep). 
Isabella and Douglas team up to secure Anwar's release from a secret detention facility somewhere in the Middle East.

Review

The story centers on the sudden arrest of the chemical engineer of the Egyptian decent  Anwar El-Ibrahimi . It is caused by the suicide attack kills in South Africa one of the CIA agent and 18 other people. Returning to the US from a conference in South Africa, he is arrested by American officials and sent to a secret detention facility on the suspicion with the links to terrorists.  He is interrogated by Abasi Fawal, the high-ranking police official who used the unorthodox methods during the questioning. Another member of the interrogation is CIA analyst, Douglas Freeman. He begins to doubt not only in the legality of the methods of the questioning, but also in El-Inrahimi’s guilt, but he can’t ground his supposion, having not enough experience in such kind of work. However, at the end of the film, he helps Anwar to escape.  The first story line is the perfect example is how really the democracy works in the modern world and how perfectly the unorthodox methods of interrogation are hidden. (sometimes I just couldn’t watch these scenes – it was too psychologically difficult.). In fact, the government doesn’t have any proves of El-Ibrahimi’s guilt, only a phone-calling, which obviously seems to be not exhaustive explanation. In spite the fact the US is represented themselves as the country without any race or religious discrimination, very often the actions proves the opposite.

At the same time we see a pregnant Anwar’s wife, Isabella, who begins to worry when he doesn’t return home. Hoping to learn something about her missing husband, she comes to the Washington DC to her university colleague Alan Smith. He finds out some facts such as Anwar was not on the flight, while Isabella shows that he purchased something at duty-free shop. Alan tries to contact with the senator and Freeman’s boss in CIA Corrine Whitman but he is advised to live the matter alone. Smith gives up and just gives Isabella advise to find the good lawyer, but she refused, making the attempt to talk to Whitman personally, but her attempt fails. However, in spite her last (I believe) month of a pregnancy, she continues to struggle against the most powerful mechanism – the government. I like the way Gavin Hood contrast this deligate, pregnant woman with the state machinery and how she tries to convince everybody in her husband’s innocence.

The third story line includes Fawal’s daughter Fatima who falls in love with one of her classmate and leave her home for him, not being able to bear the moral pressure from her father who is going to marry her to somebody.  Her boyfriend, Khalid, turns to be the member of the terrorist Islamist group, which convinces him to kill Fawal in a revenge of Khalid brother’s death. Finding out this unpalatable truth, Fatima tryes to stop him, but it’s too late and as a result she dies with him, however, saving her father. I like the third story line the most, because it is so many-sided. The film director shows us the terrorism and the way of the recruiting perfectly – through words and through psychology. They convince teenagers who don’t know nothing about the life as a whole and drive them to the suicides. The perfect example is the monologue of the leader of the terrorist group, who reminds about their “duty” to Allah and equals their inaction (which is a normal life in fact) with the sin. Denouement of the movie is the brilliant! I was watching it with bated breath. It’s tragic, yes, but it is real. Honestly, I was crying during the last scene, I believe in this teenage pure love, which I think may save so many lives, but it was too late,

Speaking about performance, it is perfect. My dear Maryl Streep is gorgeous as usual, she always plays women with iron will and nerves inimitably. Jake Gyllenhaal copes with his role also superb. I like how he makes decision single-handedly. But Reese Witherspoon impressed me the most – she believes her husband without any doubt and struggle against well-established system, feeling no sorry for herself. I really enjoyed the scenes where we can see her in a full growth – with her figure and her gait – I just fell in love with her heroine. She is pregnant, but she never mentions it, never asks for pity for it.  She is a delicate and so morally strong.

I like this film and I like everything in it. I am interested in a problem of terrorism and I think that the way this issue is showed in the film is excellent. I understand why the film doesn’t have a very high rating – it’s not for everyone and not everyone would be pleased to see the US in such lights. However, all in the film is truth – there is no illusion that the terrorism era will end soon (as the US tries to convince everyone), there is no illusion in the “holiness” of the democracy.

Rendering №7

The article published on the website of the newspaper "The National Security" on September 10 is called "Three wars on terror".  The article carries a lot of comment on the theme of one of Barack Obama's earliest acts as president was to discard the phrase "war on terror," yet he has been waging just such a campaign these past four years -- with a skillful mix of subtlety and ferocity. The author of the article compares different politics strategies for the better comprehension.

Analyzing the situation it is necessary to note that in addition to the killing of Osama bin Laden, many other operatives in the late terrorist capo's organization have found themselves on the receiving end of commando raids or Hellfire missiles, from Waziristan to Yemen -- and beyond. Then the author of the article points out Obama's counter-terrorism strategy has extended to other malefactors as well, from madmen like Joseph Kony and his Lord's Resistance Army to the Libyan state terrorist, Moammar Qaddafi. John Arquila compares ex US president George Bush and Barack Obama through their international politics and the methods of war on terrorism - Qaddafi was taken down when Obama engineered and enabled a NATO air campaign that began by preventing a slaughter of innocents in Benghazi, then went on to effect regime change in Tripoli -- in a far less costly manner than was undertaken in Iraq by George W. Bush. He points out that the difference in the approaches taken by two most recent presidents that really speaks to there being two different wars on terror. John Arquila gives the following example - Bush chose to attack other nations in his attempt to create a less permissive international environment for terrorist networks. Obama has decided to take the more direct approach: going straight after the networks. Giving appraisal of the situation it’s necessary to pint out the main characteristics of Bush’s politics - Bush's strategy proved exceptionally costly and highly problematic in Iraq, and even his initial success in "going small" in Afghanistan was all too soon overtaken by a stalemate-inducing impulse to send large numbers of troops there. On the other hand Obama's concept of operations, on the other hand, has been working well, and will never break the bank or exhaust our military.

Making point about 9\11, John Arquila notices that there was an earlier war on terror, crafted by Ronald Reagan and his close advisers in the mid-1980s,  that began subtly and skillfully. For the better understanding the reason of beginning of Reagan’s war on terror, the author reminds the accident in the weeks and months after the October 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut that killed 242 Americans, when Reagan and his team became deeply concerned about the terrorism problem. Than the history-marking event is mentioned - the signal success of this first war on terror came in a campaign against the Abu Nidal Organization -- the al Qaeda of the ‘80s -- which was conducting terrorist hits for hire on behalf of Iraq, Libya, and Syria. Concluding facts about Reagan’s the writer points that despite this success, and for all of Reagan's enthusiasm and Shultz's support, little else came to pass. There are signs of such situation - this was because many senior military leaders worried about the ethics of Reagan's war on terror -- specifically that the use of paramilitaries and special operators would lead to what then-Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger called an "unfocused revenge approach" that would lead to the deaths of innocents. It’s open secret that the Pentagon preferred more conventional uses of force -- like the massive air raid on Libya in 1986 in retaliation for the bombing of a Berlin discotheque frequented by GIs. The correspondent quotes William Safire’s statement “"the battle for Reagan's strategic soul," and nothing like the clever coup against Abu Nidal was ever repeated”. In comparison with Reagan’s campaign, Barack Obama has, as noted above, done much better by hewing close to the concept that Reagan initially embraced. But, as was the case with Reagan, there is now a similar battle going on for Obama's strategic soul. 

The author concludes with the suggestion that in the battle for Reagan's strategic soul, the conventional thinkers won out because they convinced him that there was far too much of the "dark side" in the  plan. In the battle for Barack Obama's strategic soul, the "overwhelming force" approach has not yet carried the day - and with luck it won't.

As for me, I’d like to say that our modern society should try to be more resilient to political violence. It is obviously impossible today to establish the peace in the Afganistan, Iraq and countries of North Africa. I think it is obvious that nowadays the USA is unable to struggle against terrorism, as they try to stanch the best from this situation, positioning themselves as peacemakers. If they really want to solve this international problem, they should expel the political pressure as well as find the compromises with other countries for not allowing the spreading of terrorism.

My Pleasure Reading. The Thorn Birds pp. 509 - 647

The next part of the book began with the announcement about the dethronement of Mussolini’s regime. Being glad to receive such news, Ralph went to cathedral for the prayer where he found a young German soldier Rainer Moerling Hartheim. Meanwhile Patsy and Jims came back from the war and 10 year old Dan and 11 year old Justine went to the schools in Sydney. The conversation between Maggie and her mother finally doted Fiona’s i's and cross Maggie’s t's – Fiona revealed she knew who the real Dan’s father was while Maggie confessed she knew about Frank’s birth. Fiona warned her that no one could be stronger and more powerful than the God and she would pay for her idea some day. Ralph came to see the Cleary family on Christmas and his visit impressed not only Maggie, it was the amazing surprise for Dan who had an inclination for the Christianity. Ralph announced about Frank’s discharge after 30 years in the prison. Soon Frank joined to the Cleary in Drogheda, but his look and recognition about his ruined life hurt himself as well as his mother. Justine expressed the willingness to become an actress and left Drogheda for Sydney. Meanwhile Ralph confessed his love for God and expressed he was going to become a priest. Although shocked by the news, Maggie sent him to Vatikan to Ralph. On summer, Justine who already had moved to England, visited his brother and on meetings with Dan and Ralph she get acquainted with Rainer Moerling Hartheim, a person. As I believe, would change her life completely. 

My Pleasure reading. The Thorn Birds. pp.382 - 509

The second year of Meggie and Luke’s marriage came to the end, however there were no changes – he spent all his time working in a plantation and gave promises to Meggie to buy their own house the next few years.  Meggie missed Drogheda much but didn’t dare to leave his husband and return there.  Sometime later, Luke finally agreed to go on holiday to Sidney with Maggie, being afraid she would divorce and his bank account would stop to be up. Maggie found out she was pregnant after the belayed honeymoon, thus hoping it would improve her condition and relations with the husband as well as settle him down. She was wrong – Luke was furious considering the child would stand in a way to increase his income. While Maggie was bearing a baby girl, Justin, Ralph visited her, however only for few hours thus enraging Maggie who asked him to go away. After giving a birth to Justin, Maggie felt sick and weak, feeling no motherly love to her baby.  The Mueller sent her to the Matlock Island to summon up fresh energy and think over her future life. Ralph came to North Queensland again to say good bye as he would leave Australia for Rome and become the archbishop. Finding out Maggie’s absence, he set out to Matlock Island where they enjoyed each other - the desire for Maggie was rather bigger than his ambition is to be the perfect bishop. Then Ralph left her for Rome while Maggie, who had already been pregnant with Ralph’s child, decided to separate from Luke and return to Drogheda.

The Second World War began – the Cleary family did their best for helping their country: they gave sheep hair and the two youngest brothers set of to fight in a war. Meanwhile Maggie gave the birth to the second child – the baby boy Dan.

Rendering №6

The article “Russia accuses al-Qaida of 'forest jihad' in Europe” was written by Mariam Elder and published on October 3, by the newspaper Guardian. The article discusses the difficult situation caused by conflagrations in many European countries and the reasons of it.  Giving appraisal to the situation, it is necessary to point out that  Russia's top security official has alleged that al-Qaida was waging "forest jihad" in Europe by sparking the wildfires that have ravaged the continent in recent summers. In confirmation of her words, the author makes Alexander Bortnikov’s quotation, the head of the Federal Security Service: “"Forest fires in EU countries should be considered one of the new trends in al-Qaida's 'thousand cuts' strategy”.  Explaining his opinion about the situation, he said that this approach allows them to inflict significant damage on the economy and morale without any serious preparation, technical equipment or financial losses. He cited talk of "forest jihad" on various extremist websites and forums as evidence of the strategy. Analyzing the situation, it is necessary to point out today’s condition of the problem  -  this year tens of thousands of hectares of land were set ablaze across Spain Portugal, the Balkans and southern Europe. The author also describes It with such words as “a yearly phenomenon”. Then Mariam Elder cites Nikolai Shmatkov’s opinion, a forest expert at the Moscow office of the World Wildlife Fund, about the fires and the possible participation of al Qaida in it : “How involved al-Qaida is in this, how much they need to focus their forces not against the Americans, but against the Greeks and Spaniards, I can't say. I'm skeptical”. There are every reason to believe that many specialists take the statement about al Qaida’s complicity with the skeptical view. Thus Anton Orekh, a journalist at the liberal radio station, Ekho Moskvy suggests as a joke: “And when Russia's forests and peat bogs were burning in 2010, what was that? Also al-Qaida? And this summer in Siberia – was that also part of this 'thousand cuts' strategy?”. The author concludes her article with soma facts which may show the possibility of a connection between the conflagration in the European countries and al-Qaida: “the summer issue of Inspire, the online propaganda publication run by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula devoted 11 pages to starting forest fires in Nato countries, including instructions. “Fire is one of the soldiers of Allah, it said”". Mariam Elder concludes the article with the quotation on al-Qaida’s speakers: “Imagine that, after all the damage is caused, if a jihad organization were to take responsibility for the forest fires," it said. "You can imagine the dread it would cause people in the United States, Europe, Russia, and Australia.”
As for me, I agree with Anton Orekh, that it is strange at least to blame all the nature disaster on al-Qaida. We all know the real reasons for the fire 2010 in the European Russia and there is no mention about al-Qaida. I don’t know exactly about the real cause of the Europeans fires but I am sure that it is more usual and typical one than a such kind of a terrorist attack. It is also open secret for me such al Qaida’s reaction to this situation. So heightened attention to this organization and some opinions about its participation in it flatters it, thus making it more considerable and frightening organization.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/03/russia-al-qaida-forest-jihad

Rendering №5

The article “Syria: over 5,000 deaths forecast for September” was written  Damien McElroy, and Richard Spencer and published on September 27. The article carries a lot of comments on the theme of the growing The death toll from fighting in Syria's civil war. It is necessary to note that activist groups that track death tolls said that more than 5,000 people were forecast to die this month alone, substantially above the 4,000 that died in August. Then the authors gives us another statistics - the worst month in the Iraq conflict - after the initial invasion - accounted for 3,028 lives, in July 2006. Analyzing the situation in Syria, it is necessary to note about the prediction of the United Nation Refugee agency that up to 700,000 Syrian refugees could flee abroad by the end of the year. Speaking about Lord Owen’s opinion, the former Foreign Secretary, he warned on Thursday that the scale and nature of conflict would eventually demand a united response from Russia and the West. Giving appraisal to the situation, it is necessary to point out his statements: “This is a full scale civil war and my experience is that only an enforceable ceasefire will end it” and "Time is not on our side given the ghastliness of the fighting, the number of massacres and horrors of sectarian divisions becoming permanent facts on the ground." Referring to the Lord Owen’s interview for the Daily Telegraph, the authors pointed out that he calls on Nato to use its formal ties with Russia to start talks on enforcing a no-fly zone in joint arrangement that would not target the regime of President Bashar al-Assad. There is every reason to believe that Vladimir Putin, Russia's president escalated the "blame game". There is open secret that Vladimir Putin accuses the US and others of sowing chaos in Syria: "The most important thing is that our partners cannot stop themselves," he said. "They have already created a situation of chaos in many territories and are now continuing the same policy in other countries - including Syria." Taking into account Michael Clarke’s opinion, the head of the Royal United Services Institute thank tanks, it must be noted that he predicted Syria's neighbors would be sucked into choosing sides in what is likely to be a drawn-out battle. Meanwhile David Cameron condemned the Russian and Chinese government for blocking UN-backed action to stop the conflict in a speech to the UN on Wednesday. The authors of the article gives us Mohammad Mursi’s view of this problem – he opposed calls from the Emir of Qatar for a military intervention by Arab League states, while a meeting he had called of the Middle East "quartet" - Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iran.  In conclusion the Authors quote Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former Saudi Arabian ambassador to America: “Nato and some combination of other states would eventually be forced to intervene to quell fighting. That requires military force. For somebody to deny this at this time is, I think, deluding themselves.”To sum it up Damien McElroy, and Richard Spencer gives us statistics - While Syrian opposition groups put the overall death toll in the 18-month war above 30,000, Amnesty International puts the toll at 21,000-plus.

As for me, I’d like to hope for the best like Lord Owen’s suggestion  that ceasefire will end the war, but frankly speaking I don’ see any precondition for it. It is obviously impossible today as well as establishing of the democracy not only in Syria, but in all countries of the North Africa. The USA and all its NATO allies try to stanch the best from this situation, positioning themselves as peacemakers. However, this approach won’t yield any good results. The only thing we may do for me is to wait – it includes our help, of course, but without any political pressure, because it the latter case we will get an opposite result.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/9572101/Syria-over-5000-deaths-forecast-for-September.html

My Plaesure Reading. The Thorn Birds. pp. 260-382

In 1930s Australia was faced with the two major problems – the economic crisis and sandy storms. The latter caught Paddy when he was far away from the house. He decided to wait till the storm will have been over near the tree. However, the lighting stroke in it and thus the failing tree pressed down the person. Meanwhile all people in Drogheda and neighboring estate tried to extinguish the fire, approaching to the house and after few hours of unsuccessful attempts the sudden rain helped them to do it. After several days, Fiona, Meggie, bob, Jack, Hue and Stuart went in search for the head of the family. When Stuart found his father dead, he scared off the wild boar inadvertently by shooting in the air, and the enrage wild animal killed him. Ralph, getting wise about the conflagration in Drogheda, came there, shocked but the double grief – Stuart and Paddy’s death. Meggie tried to make a declaration of love to him again, but he refused her again, reminding that he was the priest and asking her to forget him and marry another man…Three years later, Meggie got acquaintance with a new shepherd Luke O’Neill who began to court Meggie.  Although having no romantic feelings to hem, Meggie agreed to become the wife of the man who looked a little bit as a Ralph, while Luke’s actions had mercenary hidden motive. They moved to North Queensland, where Meggie realized her mistake – Luke was the typical niggard and women were only sexual objects for him. He found the job and the place for a living for Meggie in the Muller’s house. In spite of the fact the the hosts were very pleasant and nice, Meggie wanted her own home and children, while Luke was focused only on the earning money, forgetting about his wife and all his promises.