My Childhood By Elie Wiesel
The further I go back into my childhood, the more the fragmented memories increasingly turn indecipherable. Most are like a paper burning on the edges, gradually nearing the center, but some have already fallen to oblivion. Only some, not all. One of the memories I have kept close to my heart is the earliest memory of me doing something that has led me to the world of stories. I lied. Now, this may seem rather contradictory, and before you think lowly of me, let me explain.
Kindergarten was an interesting time of my life in Israel. It’s where I was born. I cherished the first nine years of my life there. Memories, sadly, of kindergarten were at the bottom of the barrel for a while, until I recently began thinking of them. The first one that …show more content…
I was blind to the fact of how close first grade was. We all were, really. We all also wanted to be special. We all craved to have something, anything to make us unique. So I chose reading. But a five year-old could not learn to read in several days. So, I found an easier way. I decided to choose a children’s book and memorize the story itself. I would beg my mom to read it again, and again, and again until I memorized it. And I did. All of it may have been a total of just one healthy-sized paragraph, but to a five year-old, it was a huge …show more content…
That was when I found out my family was migrating to America. It was due to my dad’s job. I didn't know what to feel. Excited? Scared? Sad? These emotions combined were what I felt. Excited, because it was an adventure. Scared, because it was an adventure. Sad, because I left one adventure for another. During the flight to that adventure, I remember reading. This was something I could do in Israel and in the United States. But to do so, I had to learn a new language. Sure, I had books in Hebrew. In fact, my family had a book case packed with them. But I had already read almost all of them and books written in Hebrew were hard to find in Irvine, except for the Torah. These facts motivated me to learn English as fast as I could, and less than a year later I was moved from my ELD (English Learning Department) class to a regular class. I was finally able to, once more, do the thing I
Kindergarten was an interesting time of my life in Israel. It’s where I was born. I cherished the first nine years of my life there. Memories, sadly, of kindergarten were at the bottom of the barrel for a while, until I recently began thinking of them. The first one that …show more content…
I was blind to the fact of how close first grade was. We all were, really. We all also wanted to be special. We all craved to have something, anything to make us unique. So I chose reading. But a five year-old could not learn to read in several days. So, I found an easier way. I decided to choose a children’s book and memorize the story itself. I would beg my mom to read it again, and again, and again until I memorized it. And I did. All of it may have been a total of just one healthy-sized paragraph, but to a five year-old, it was a huge …show more content…
That was when I found out my family was migrating to America. It was due to my dad’s job. I didn't know what to feel. Excited? Scared? Sad? These emotions combined were what I felt. Excited, because it was an adventure. Scared, because it was an adventure. Sad, because I left one adventure for another. During the flight to that adventure, I remember reading. This was something I could do in Israel and in the United States. But to do so, I had to learn a new language. Sure, I had books in Hebrew. In fact, my family had a book case packed with them. But I had already read almost all of them and books written in Hebrew were hard to find in Irvine, except for the Torah. These facts motivated me to learn English as fast as I could, and less than a year later I was moved from my ELD (English Learning Department) class to a regular class. I was finally able to, once more, do the thing I