Monthly Archives: March 2013

Im David I like a lot of stuff, what I like a lot is relaxing on the beach.  I don’t know what I like least.  I come from New Jersey and went to high school there, and then went to Israel.  Israel was a lot of fun I will never forget the time when me and my friends went to Tel Aviv for a weekend it was crazy.  I enjoy the beach a lot in Israel ,but when you go in the sea there are fish that nibble at you.  My friend got bit once and screamed like a little girl everyone at the whole beach looked at him and stated laughing.  Ever since then we call nisan, the litsan.  Nisan is his name and litsan is hebrew for clown.  I came back and now I go to college at Baruch.  Its going well, my biggest challenge is being able to stay attentive during my political science class.  The proffessor is very old and boring.  He talks a lot about the same things over and over again, really teaching his subject in an uninteresting way which is unfortunate.  I think the only two grades we have in that class are going to be a paper and a final.  The paper is probably going to be due in the coming weeks.  Id like to transfer to the University of Miami, because I love Miami.  I have a bad handwriting and I wish sometimes that it could be better.  I also like to draw 3D objects when lecturers get boring.  I want to do very well in school now because that way I would learn more.  I don’t think I learned so much in high school.  One of my greatest accomplishments this far in life was helping my little league team get in to the championship by hitting an inside the park grand-slam.  The bases were loaded, two outs, and a full count.  I hit the ball to deep center field, it hit the back fence and I had enough time to get to third base.  Than, while at third the outfielder threw the ball over the catchers head, I sprinted home slid under the catchers mitt and was called safe.  Everyone went crazy and I was a hero.  After the game the whole team went for ice cream and I got my favorite, vanilla strawberry swirl with cookie crunch on top.

Hi, everyone. I am Anita. Today I am going to talk about my part time job. I work as a Chinese tutor during weekend.  My student is four year old Indian girl. I am surprised at first why an Indian kid wanted to learn Chinese. I mean, she can’t even speak English well. She can only count to 37 in English. So it really surprises that she wants to learn Chinese. Besides, I know many people find Chinese difficult to learn.  Then I find out that she really likes a Chinese cartoon called “Kailan.” So in some way she becomes interested in Chinese. In fact, she is also learning Hindi (from her mother) and Spanish (from the day care school) at the same time. So, I am thinking if she feels confused sometime. We communicate with each other in English. She’s a really cute girl, but she’s too little to take it seriously. Every time I go, she wants to play with me rather than literally learn. And I understand, so most of the time we are playing. We do the role playing together. It is really funny when she asks me to play the daughter and she plays the mother.  She will act as a mother and use the kind of motherlike tone to ask me what breakfast I would like to have and she will “cook” for me.  Sometimes I feel so guilty because I don’t teach her Chinese but play around. And her parents are very nice people. They treat me very well. So I don’t want to disappoint them. Gradually, I learn to teach her some simple Chinese words when we are playing, for example, I would ask what’s her favorite animal, color, food and then I will tell her the Chinese words.  In fact, I really like this job because sometimes it gives me a chance to go back to childhood. When I am staying with her, I feel like I am a kid too. I can throw away my upset and pressure for a while.  Because of the midterm, I haven’t been there for two weeks… So after this week, I am really looking forward to see the girl again.

I move from Georgia to New York and I see a huge difference between Georgian and New Yorkers. Georgians manage their life very well. There are easy transportations such as the subway. Every family must own a car in order to get them around places. Most familes own a house so they do not have to move from places to places. Everybody is happy in some ways. They know how to relax on their off days.

Now I consider I am a New Yorker.  I know exactly how the subwway runs in New York. Nobody smiles . Everybody have something to think about in their mind. They can never truly relax because they have something in mind everyday. A lot of the people live alone in New York.

What make me happy?

 After asking myself the question “If I didn’t have…, am I happy?” I finally realize that love makes me happy. Compared with love, such things like wealth, reputation, statuses. Make no sense to me.

    Don’t get me wrong. What I so-called “love” is not just the love between male and female, but also the love among the family, among the friends…The love is delivered to me in various ways and makes me happy.

    Allow me to start with the love from my family. I think it’s love that hides in our blood. Since I was born, the love from them has never been stopped. It can be a toy they prepared for my birthday when I was a little boy; it can be father’s powerful hands that protected me when I was learning to ride a bike; it can be a nickname called by my mother; it can be a piece of advice offered by them when I have problems; it can be some worries about me when I just come back late; it can be… In a word, it can be any trivial detail in my daily life. And all of these make me happy. As the saying goes: “The love from parents is selfless and not required to be repaid. “I do think so.

    Furthermore, I want to talk about the love which is also called “friendship”. When with my friends, I’m sincerely feel the love among us, which is undoubtable a great resource of my happiness. It can be a comfort when I am blue; it can be a birthday song for me; it can be a reunion after we separate; it can be a short message of regards that they send to me frequently; it can be… So many things please me because the love-the friendship-surrounds me.

    Now, this passage is nearly finished. However, all the love will go on and on, so will my happiness.

Adapting to a new life

New York has a charm which makes people fall in love with it. I never knew that it would be easy for me to settle down her. I chose this topic because most of us are going through this phase. Leaving home has come out to be very beneficial for me, I have learned a lot by living without my parents. New York is an easy place to fit in because it consists of people from all the backgrounds. My journey till now has been full of new challenges and opportunities and I am trying my level best to look the challenges in the eye.

New York has so much to do that I hardly get time to think of my family in India. My life in India was very easy as my parents provided all the luxuries of life; I was enrolled in a royal boarding school. Sometimes I feel lonely here because I have a joint family in India which consists of 25 members; however, I have my brother with me who makes me feel home.

The first step in adapting to a new life is adapting to the time difference. It took me 1 week to get to the normal schedule, I became an owl in this period. Moving away from home gives a lot of responsibilities which has made me more mature and responsible. Moreover, this new life has taught me that I should make use of all the opportunities as the come because they might never come back. The biggest challenge for me in New York was cooking; I didn’t know how to even make tea but now in just 2 months I have learned a lot and can luckily survive on my food.

I think everyone should get a chance to experience life in a new way, which could be moving to a new city or a new country because it teaches you a different prospective of looking at the same things. At Baruch, I get to meet people from all over the world which gives me a chance to learn about their cultures and traditions. The best thing in New York is two day weekend because in my country we just have a Sunday off. I have come to this new place to fulfill my dreams and I hope every step takes me closer to it. My biggest concern in life is my parents and I have to become successful to live their dream.

– Shaila Ansari

Success makes me happy
Everyone has had successful experiences. People enjoy success, and I am one of them. Well, lets share my successful experience!
Actually, I did not know how to ride until 14 years old, during the winter holiday; I determined to learn it by myself. My mother thought that I could not do it by myself, and she wanted to help me. I brought my new bike to the ground. At the beginning, I was scared, and I rode the bike carefully, however, the bike started to run up fast. I had no idea how to control it, and almost felt down. My mother asked me: “What are you afraid of? I behind you to protect you, you do not trust me, ah?” The second time, I got some experience from previous, focused on the front, and the bike run a circle.    Where was my mum…she was standing on the other side. I looked back, and felt down! It hurt me; I was angry and blamed my mother that she did not follow me when I was riding. My mother said: “come on, you did it well, do not be afraid. One more times!” Finally, I made it! At that time, it was the happiest moment in my life.

I come from a small country in the Middle East called Israel. Israel is surrounded by many Arab countries that are Israel’s enemies. Therefore, everyone in Israel needs to join the Army. Boys serve    in the army for 3 years and girls for 2 years. I served in the army for 2 years. I was a sports guide in the navy. My job was to train the solders to be fit. Before joining the army when I was in 11^th grade, I took a 3-hour IQ test which checked whether I was suitable for the job. After graduating from high school I was in a booth camp for 5 weeks. The purpose of it was for every person to learn discipline and learn the rules since everyone came for a different area and background.  We had to stand straight and not move every time the commander was talking to us, we woke up every morning at 5, every day cleaned the base camp and kitchen, every day we guarded for 4 hours including late at night. Every morning we had to clean our rooms and if the commander saw a little dirt on the floor we had to clean the room again and again till it was 100% clean otherwise we would have been punished.  After 5 hard weeks we started the sports guide training course so we could be capable and certified to train solders and people. The course lasted 3 months. Every day we woke up at 5 in the morning and had to jog. In the afternoon we used to clean, study or guard. It was an intensive and hard course because we learned and practiced so much with not a lot of sleeping hours. After 3 months we were stationed in different bases all over Israel. I got accepted to the navy. I started my job as a sports guide in a training navy base (where the soldiers took different courses before they started their job). My job was to train them and turning them to more fit soldiers. My duties included timing them when they jogged, fiving them different exercises on land or in sea, giving lectures on proper nutrition. I was not allowed to converse with them like they were my friends even if I had a friend in the group that I had known from home.  I used to wake up early every morning and jog with them.

I have learned a lot from being in the army. I learned what discipline is, what responsibility is and how to think for myself without being dependent on my parents’ advices. I feel like I have matured a lot during my army service. In addition, I met many people and made good friends. If someone asks me if I could go back and do the army all over again I will answer “definitely yes, without any doubt”.

My Personal Motto:

Today, surpass yesterday’s achievement. Tomorrow, surpass today’s splendor.

or

Have more achievements than yesterday. And tomorrow, be more brilliant than today.

This Motto always reminds me that I can and I need to make everyday of my life worth it. (By doing something meaningful. Never lose my dreams and keep working to achieve them.) I can make it day by day, step by step. The most important thing is to keep motivated, pursued and achieve my goals.

I can see the world around me moving…  Cars driving, people walking, growing even as if slow motion was fast forward…  I see my loved ones before me. But I look down…why am I bound in chains?  Who would put these on me?  Glass. If only I could touch these glass walls in front of me.  If only I could reach out, I could break down this glass.  Could I? Wait; there’s a wall behind me with a door.  It isn’t made of glass, just weathered stone. Why would that be..?  Does anyone else see? My loved ones are right there but they might as well be miles away…  Who has done this to me?

Suddenly I’m filled with rage, and as the words foam like battery acid in the back of my throat, I swallow them.  Right then the wall grows exponentially in all directions. As I look up in terror the shadow of it blackens the sky.  I turn to my loved ones just as they fade into darkness.  I run for them (SMACK) a hard packing sound echoes as my face hits more stone.  Stone? The glass was gone now. No more windows to view the world, just cold stone.  A slow chill scratches up my spine and across my chest.  Just as it reaches my chin, those words I had swallowed surge to the roof of my mouth.  “NO!” In a scarlet fury I look down at the chains on my wrists to rip them out of the towering wall…  Only to find the chains were never set in stone.  They lie on the ground chained to nothing…

I hear someone through the door walking. Immediately, I rush to the wall and sit as if I had never moved from it my entire life.  How many others are in this hell hole?  I have to save them.  I have to escape.  The door… It just occurred to me I hadn’t ever looked at this door before. It looks to be solid iron with a tiny slit for someone to look in at me.  A sick feeling churns my stomach.  As I inch toward the door, it seemed an eternity had gone by.  I look up to the slit and peer out to a small damp hallway.  There were no other doors. I can only see a dim light at the end of the hall. The light is so minuscule it could only be maybe one small candle.  Footsteps echo down the hall, I scurry back. The feeling of searing needles goes around my throat as I sit motionless. The footsteps seem to stop and then grow softer as if the guard had turned around.  I let out a very slow, very quiet sigh of relief and inch for the door once more.

I peer out again, leaning into the eye slit as much as I can.  My body is pressed to it as I strain my eyes down the hall again. The door screeches for the longest millisecond of my life, and then swings completely open. Stunned, I stand in the doorway frozen.  I crouch down and press against the hallway wall.  I could hear faint music. The light even seems to grow a fraction brighter.  Slowly I press down the hall… growing closer to my captors. I feel the fury slowly pulsing through my veins, welling up at the base of my esophagus like coals in a fire.  A doorway shrouded by a curtain is all that separates us.  I can see a silhouette through the thin sheet.  This will be easy.  I creep forward, coming so close now I can hear him breathing. I carefully match the pattern of his breath so he can’t hear mine. The fire in my chest explodes and all at once I leap up, throw back the sheet with wrath burning in my eyes, only to freeze. Cold, dead in my tracks I stop face to face with… a mirror. Only my image is scared… not bloodthirsty or infuriated, but terrified…

We are our own captors

The most important person in my life is my girl friend. Although I know most people would dedicate this title to their mom or dad, but my girl fried is the one in my life that influences me the most. I met her three years ago, from then on; she keeps company with me, giving me courage to overcome difficulties in my life and sharing my happiness.

She is a warm and genuine girl; she let me know what love is, and what the most precious thing is. From her, I know that I should treat everyone sincerely, and take care of my friends as much as I can. By doing this I go well with many people, and receive the valuable friendship.

Beside this, I get courage from her. Because no matter comes across with what kind of difficulties, we support and inspire each other; we grow up and be braver together.

She is a girl that has an extremely good sense of humor; she makes jokes all the day which brighten my days.

She loves challenges. She pushed forward my life to experience new things. Even though sometime change is tough, as I experienced with her, change is also brilliant.

She is smart and always eager to learn, she has a master degree in education, sometime, yes, I just like one of her student. I really learn al lot from her.

She love music, dance, movie every thing about art. She took me to countless theaters, galleries, museums, gardens. She also likes travelling, fashion and delicious food too. We went to many gorgeous restaurants and cool nightclubs too. She works hard and plays hard. She knows very well how to enjoy her life, and our life. She makes our life fabulous.

Over all, I will keep going in my way, try my best to strive to my dream. I am not scared, because I am not alone. I’m so grateful to have such a perfect girl always with me.