Monologue

I moved here when I was four, and I guess I didn’t have such a typical childhood. When I first came here I did not know a single word of English. I was so busy trying to learn the new language I guess I didn’t have time for other activities until I was older. I was a chubby child and so when I eventually tried to learn how to ride a bike I would constantly break the training wheels by falling on them. People found it very funny to see a pudgy child on a bike with bent training wheels barely able to go down half a block before toppling over.

I became discouraged then and didn’t try to learn again till about three summers ago. I wasn’t in training wheels anymore, and I wasn’t a chubby child either but the experience wasn’t anymore satisfying. I tripped over the bike and fell before I even got out of the store, before I even sat on the bike. I didn’t fall as much at this age because I was able to predict a fall and catch myself, but I didn’t make any improvements in learning to ride. I could ride downhill, but I hear that’s not really biking since gravity does most of the work there.

Growing up all my friends knew how to do two things, ride a bike and swim. I couldn’t do the latter either. Two summers ago I was determined to learn how to swim. I was at the beach with family and after watching my dad swim for a while, I decided to give it a try. At first it was terrible, I thought I was swimming and then moments later my dad would have to pull me out the water because it looked like I was drowning. Finally after a while of trying I made it a couple of feet, but when I looked around there were disgruntled beach goers around me, while my sister, cousin, and best friend were laughing. They said I was like a tornado; apparently I splashed water around in all directions and attacked anything in my path. After some practice I stopped being such a “tornado”, but sadly only progressed to looking like a creepy water spider. This time I was moving my arms and legs in a weird way so from a top view I actually looked like a scary sea creature. I even tried paddling, but I would tire of it easily and end up almost drowning. I think I swim like a normal person now, but I’m not too sure. And at least I caught up one thing, and maybe someday ill learn to ride a bike more than just downhill.