It was Tuesday, March first, 2011, my mother woke me up so I can start getting ready for school. I rose with eager anticipation, just four more days until my thirteenth birthday and I just couldn’t wait. I brushed my teeth and hurried down to eat the complimentary breakfast offered to us by the hotel we were staying at. You see we had been staying at a hotel for the past five months because the home we had been renting was foreclosed on so the utility companies turned off the power and the electricity. We had to get down at just the right time so that there was a small crowd but a lot of food so that we can take food back to the room to save for dinner. After breakfast, we…
A century after Columbus sailed the ocean blue, Great Britain's dreams would finally come true. In 1607, Britain established the first English settlement in the New World, Jamestown. This led to the establishment of the British colonies of Virginia, Massachusetts, all the way until the final colony Georgia. And although many may think that the colonies operated as one similar unit, the truth is all the colonial regions were very similar and different in social, political and economical structure.…
One of the most memorable moments I have experienced was four years ago, when I traveled from Matamoros, Tamaulipas to San Antonio, Texas. I had the opportunity of visiting San Antonio for the first time, and more importantly, of spending time with my family who I had not seen in years prior to the trip. Spending time with my family is of great value and importance to me, so I became utterly excited to see them as soon as I had the chance.…
My mother thankfully had a backup plan. “We will stay with my cousins they don’t live too far from here”. I had no clue who or what she was talking about, but none the less we caught a taxi and made our way to her cousin’s house. When we pulled up to this little home, we were greeted outside with big hugs and kisses. I had never met these people, but they had acted as they knew me for all my life, I had never felt more welcomed. As we walked inside, I noticed…
2. Hassan & Amir’s friendship is the focal point of the novel and the fundamental force which allows major plot events to unravel. Long before they knew of their friendship, Hassan and Amir are close as brothers, and are virtually inseparable. Even though they are close there are external factors that undeniably effect the structure of their relationship and their respective feelings towards each other. The biggest external driver being that they are a part of two opposite social classes. Hassan is the son of Ali and they are servant to Amir and Baba. Hassan and his father are Hazaras. Eventually Amir learns from one of his mother’s old history textbooks, that Hazaras tried to rise against the Pashtuns in the nineteenth century, but the Pashtuns persecuted and oppressed the Hazaras. Hazaras stand as the lower working class of Afghanistan whom are in poverty. Pashtuns are the upper crust of Afghan society who live in big houses and own success businesses. Other factors distinguish Hazaras from Pashtuns such as their distinctive Hazara Mongoloid features and their dedication to being Shia Muslims instead of Sunni Muslims. Hassan, like many other Hazaras, is seen and treated as lower class citizens in Afghan society. People constantly reinforce this ideal. Such as Assef, a bigoted and privileged green-eyed bully. He sums up the societal view of Hazaras best by saying the Hassan and Amir in a confrontation,” Afghanistan is the land of Pashtuns. It always has been always will be. We are the true Afghans. The pure Afghans, not this Flat-nose…
It was the first time I had ever been to Reynosa, Mexico, and I was very excited as well as nervous about the trip. I planted a church in Texas and arranged to take a time of five people to go and build two houses. None of us spoke the language and would be completely dependent upon our interpreter for all communication. We were really not fully prepared for the amount of poverty we encountered just below the boarder of Mexico and America. The shanty town had no running water as well is little electrical power, it was like being thrown back in time.…
We took this trip during summer break. My wife and I decided this trip so all of our family can go together. My father in law and I were taking turns driving it took us about 12 hours to get to Louisiana. The ride was very exhausting for everybodyI had gotten tired so my father in law took the wheel. My wife woke me up as soon as we got to the bridge; to cross to Louisiana I was so excited to see the water and all the trees that she had told me about. We went to her uncles house to sleep and to stay for the trip. After we slept we went to New…
Some time ago I was seven years old and I wanted to go to Italy. I had always heard stories from my parents and grandparents about their trips to Italy and how much fun they were and all the things they did while they were there. I wanted to go and see what a different country had looked like and all the family members I had never seen or talked to before. I arrived home from school one day and my mom was anxious to tell me something, but she waited for my sister to get home before she did. My sister Christina at the time was twelve years old and she too had not been to Italy. When she came home my mom brought both of us together and said, “We are going to Italy in the summer!”…
My mom was in tears, she was laughing so hard. Another incident that was memorable was a one about an international For example, one steaming hot day I was at the pool they had at Lake Rudolph. I was in the pool chilling out when a kid came up to me and asked me if I wanted to toss. When I heard him say that I he had an abnormal accent. Thirty minutes when on and we talked about what we did here so far. But then the question slipped out, “Where are you from”. He said he was from Mexico. Once he said that I was in awe. I thought it was very interesting that he was from another country. I had a great time learning about what’s different in Mexico and what’s the same. The last incident that was memorable was an incident about an outdoor activity. At Lake Rudolph, there is no TV’s. Lake Rudolph made me do things outside with my family. My family and cousins wanted to enjoy the summer night at Lake Rudolph. We created a bonfire and chilled out. We chilled out by making grilling hot dogs, hamburgers, and s’mores. The burning sensation on your face from the fire and the scent of the s’mores made the night great. We sat there for three hours talking about stories from the past and what problems the world has given us at that…
My first time to Hawaii went like this. The first 5 hours I was on the plane I was feeling extremely sick and tired and felt like throwing up. After all that torture we finally got off of the plane and tried to find our hotel. We got lost for about 30 minutes until we actually found it. After we got into our hotel, I noticed that they didn't have a refrigerator or a microwave, so every time we wanted to eat, we had to go buy some food. After we unpacked all of our stuff, we went out to the shopping area. My mom bought both my sister and I some expensive pearl necklaces with a gold chains. The sad part about this was that after about two weeks of buying it, it broke. This was only the first day.…
On a beautiful Sunday morning, I got a call from my grandfather from America after 9 years. When my mom told me that it’s your grandfather, I ran to the yellow, old phone. When I heard the first words that my grandfather said to me, it felt so great that even words couldn’t describe it. We talked for many hours and while talking to him I realized how great, smart, and wonderful my grandfather was. Then I handed the phone to my dad because he had important things to talk about. After the call was ended, my dad told me the best news I can hear. He told me that “We are moving to America.” I was so excited that my heart was pounding super hard and felt like that my dream came true. After few months of shopping and packing, we took a long, exhausting…
During May in my 4th grade, we decided to go to Turkey. When I went back to Turkey, it was better than ever. All my family went except for my father. We went for two months, and it was the best experience ever. I couldn’t meet up with many of my old friends, but I didn’t really…
This is the time I went to Las Vegas, Nevada. It was my first time going to Las Vegas and I was about 5 years old and my little sister was only one. When I went to Las Vegas, there were 16 of us going so we took 3 cars all in all. The ride there was only one of the best parts of the trip. We were watching movies and playing video games in the back seats of the car. But when we went there, that’s when we got really excited.…
Once we got to the apartment my sister and I went to the room with the old shaky bunk beds, we made the beds and unpacked all of our belongings before taking much needed showers and dozing off. The next day we went to KidZania and to go see the play Mary Poppins in Spanish. I really loved that but part of me longed my parent and little sister to be there to share the experience. The next day my sister and I wanted to go swimming, so we went to the greatest water park in all of Latin America. The park larger than any other place we went, the smell of chlorine and fun, called for me to come play.…
One of my first and most enjoyable trips would have to have been my trip to North Carolina. Our family had gone down north for a wedding, our uncle was having. I was happy to attend and saddened when it was time to go back home. As we were packing I decided to take a walk around the area. When heading back I happened to spot something surring in the grass, thinking it was a rat I didn’t want to get any closer. To my surprise it was frog and I just knew he wanted to be friends, I named him Rocky. After introducing ourselves and knowing my parents wouldn't approve of my new friend, It was my mission to get him home with me! I did what anybody would do, I hid him in a lunchables box.…