Category: Personal Writing

Waves crash on the shore

Children frolic in the sand

Warm sunlight shines through

People laugh and play

Swimmers dive into the cold

A wonderful scene

I have the deepest of thoughts. Like waves, they crash over me; sending my consciousness spiralling deeper into the darkness that is my mind. Ask me to write poetry and I’ll write the most vigorous of tales. Ask me to create a painting and I’ll make something that brings even the coldest of hearts to shatter like  fragile pieces of glass. My thoughts are deep because everything in life must have meaning. All our actions, all our emotions, everything the human species does has a deeper meaning. Ask me to analyze the most dull and passive works of literature, and I’ll construct a web so complex that it shows things that even the authors never thought of. I see everything that is not there. My thoughts are filled with meaningless words that can be spun into something that almost contains meaning, for those are what deep thoughts are. Thoughts that are deep hold meaning because they are meaningless, allowing them to be turned into whatever pleases the reader the most. My thoughts are hypocritical, therefore, they are deep. I reflect on my thoughts so much and so often that my reflections contain no more meaning. I keep my real thoughts to myself, as no one will value thoughts that are simple and discuss information that anyone can see. Each thought must be original, because depth is the only thing that allows you to stand above your peers. My thoughts are so deep that even I can no longer understand them.

 

We tried to prove them wrong, but at the end, we forgot we are just teenagers. Your feelings were as confusing as a riddle, most of the time, even your own thoughts were like a puzzle for you. I won’t blame you because I can’t. If someone’s fault it is, it’ll be mine. I knew since the beginning who you were. I was aware of the fact that loving you could hurt more than falling from above to land on a field full of roses and thorns. Even though, I did not care about that; I was willing to bleed until I breathed for the last time just to be by your side.
Time was never a friend of us. Before we knew, we ran out of It.
You were never sure of what you wanted and that was hurting me worse than you could ever imagine. It was only matter of time for me to get tired of it.
If we ever meet again, please don’t treat me like a friend. I’m afraid I might fall for you again. Perhaps once we used to be close, but now, we are just strangers who know everything about each other even though “they’ve never met before”.

They said it’s refreshing so why does it sting?,

They said it’s beautiful but its so dark,

They said it’s so wonderful,

But every splash shows me that it is in fact, not

You could say I’m getting sticky,

Because what is so enchanting

About getting heavier with each step you take,

How are you so happy?,

Why am I so sad?

 

It all started when we were in Mexico, we had been together for 1 year, everything between us was perfect, we had fights but we always find a way to solve it. We were so happy together and we were trying to do our best to have a long distance relationship so that we could be together when I came here to Canada.

It was summer break and he was going on a cruise in Europe with his family, Even though I trusted him, I begged him not to cheat on me. He promised he would never do it so I stayed calmed. One day he started acting super weird with me, he didn’t texted me, he didn’t called me, he erased our profile picture and everything we had together on social media. I started suspecting he was cheating on me but he always told me he wasn’t doing it.

A week later, I was on the airplane because I was going on vacation, and I got a Instagram dm of a weird girl, I opened it and she told me that he had been cheating on me for 13 days, and that they had met at the cruise. I didn’t tell him anything and when he came back from his cruise I broke up with him.

This past long weekend my dad, sister and I hopped on a plane, and flew to Toronto. We went because it was my grandfather’s, brother’s 60^th wedding anniversary. Personally, flying on planes and travelling is a love/hate relationship, let’s go through a few prominent moments one might experience. Starting from the beginning, the very beginning. You wake up, giddy with excitement to wear a specially picked-out airport outfit, fitted to the “travel aesthetic” you once saw on TikTok. You put it on, and may I add, you look gorgeous. You walk downstairs to meet your dad making breakfast, the smell of fresh eggs paired with the still-dark morning sky gives you a warm but refreshing feeling, that feeling you get when you have a big journey ahead. You eat breakfast, brush your teeth, do your final packing of toiletries and chargers and then you and your family are in the car driving to the airport. Not suddenly or surprisingly, you get the feeling you’ve forgotten something. Oh goodness what could it be? Underwear? No… Face wash? No… Book you packed to read for Mr. MacKnight? No… definitely have that. Ahah! It’s that “cute” shirt your parents would never let you wear anyways! Ok perfect, its fine, not too big of a deal. Now we are at the airport. Bags unloaded and walking to security. This part gets your nerves up for some reason. Knowing that these people are trained to find dangerous goods makes you question your own innocence! And plus, you didn’t even bring anything dangerous. Right?! Wrong. You brought your pencil case for homework and forgot that scissors were a hard no when going through security.  So, the security guard measures the scissors, and they are waaay bigger than they allow. So now what? You are still wearing that not-so-innocent innocent face when they throw, them, out. Dang, you’ve had those since you were eight years old! After you spend a few seconds mourning the loss of those scissors you spent so many years cutting out Halloween decoration skeletons with, you and your family move on to the stressful wandering around gates to find gate A47. There we go, dad found it. Now, we wait. Wait for the children and family (which you just didn’t make the cut because your sibling is too old) section to go, then the elderly and disabled, and finally, the majority. A mix of funky travelers, businesspeople, and very talkative middle-aged women going on their adventure retreats to Greece. Alright, you are on the plane! Finally, the flight attendant that speaks over the speaker says “May I have your attention ladies and gentlemen. We are about to take off so please fasten your seatbelts and listen to the very long presentation for safety precaution, and then listen to it again in French because we have to, enjoy your flight”.

The bet I lost. The movie Toy Story can brainwash most kids, myslef being one of them. From the ages of 4 to 7, I was pretty sure all my teddy bears and toys could listen, move, talk and even feel. Just like humans, but the toys in the Toy Story movie can only move and talk when there are just toys around. Ines and I where both playing at our house, my parents and Melissa had already left. We did not have class that day because it was a Mexico’s historical day.

We were bored, so we started playing with my toys. Ines decided to play with my one of my most precious possessions at that time. It was the cutest fluffy, yellow teddy bear with a red shirt, that loves honey and if you hadn’t guess what bear is it let me tell you… Winnie the Pooh. See, the thing is that I had something special with that teddy bear. Ines was playing somehow rough with him, I remember that I get pretty mad and I started yelling and crying. I told her to stop, she could do that with any other of my toys. “Pleaseee don’t do anything to him, Pooh is my adventure partner in the worst of my nightmares” I told her. I also start arguing with her saying that toys could feel and get hurt. She told me that it was scientifically impossible, so we decided to make a bet.

We bet some candies from our kitchen. I threw Winnie the Pooh from the second floor to prove to my sister that toys can get hurt. When I ran downstair to see what had happened to him and saw that nothing happened; I grabbed my teddy bear, immediately ran to my mom bedroom and draw him a red bruise with my mom lipstick. I saw Ines so suprised that something had happened to my favorite Teddy Bear and she did not believe me. When my mom arrived, Ines gave her my bear, my mom looked and me and told me that she was going to try to remove the lipstick yet she saw it quite impossible. I started crying and Ines gave me a hug and a chocolate so I could feel better. My mom decided to donate my favorite teddy bear and I cried myself to sleep evey night for the next couple of weeks.

Months later we went to Disneyland. It was late, and we where going back to the hotel. When we were about to leave Ines ran to a Disney store and comes running back to me screaming my name. She made me close my eyes and directed me to a shelf where at the top they had enormous Winnie the Poohs bears. My family gave it to me as a gift and it was perfect. Winnie the Pooh was bigger and larger than me at that time, now I still have it but he is not that giant. He still is my favorite toy.

When I open the door, the fresh air touches my face. I took one step, then the other and another. In a moment I was already walking town the village square. It was lovely.

 

The mexican tradition, “Day of the Dead”.

In Mexico every 1 of November we celebrate the “Day of the Dead”. The “Day of the Dead” it’s a very famous mexican tradition that it comes from a prehispanic origin, in this tradition we celebrate and honor our deceased relatives by placing altars and offerings on their graves or in their homes, depending on the region of the country in which they are located.

On famous thing on this celebration is the bread of the dead, it’s a sweet bread that has become very popular because of it’s flavor and shape.

“Luna” Luna repeated to the girl in the crater. “Yes, I am Luna” It said smiling. “You are—- Hunman?” it remarked tilting It’s head, its grey hair shifting slightly. “Uhhhhh huuuuuh” Luna breathed through her teeth. Meanwhile her head was exploding. Not only was something like this highly un-logical, It wasn’t even possible! A Person, not at all an orange or purple alien! she thought defeatedly. Especially given the fact that that person should be BURNED to the bone and splattered into pieced from that impact. “What’s a splattered?” It peeped, no less than one inch away from Luna’s face. “ACK” Luna blurted, jolting away from the alien. It stared at her transfixed, looking a mix of confusion and curiosity. Suddenly the alien’s gaze snapped right above her head, a heavier look of confusion fading onto her face. Out of curiosity Luna swiveled her head around to see what it was looking at. Her mood immediately became deflated when her eyes met the baffled blue eyes of Bane. He stood still in utter shock, his shoulders pinned up and his eyebrows raised. “Who are he!” It exclaimed, pointing its pale finger at Bane. “T-that’s Bane” Luna breathed “My brother”. The girl-like alien looked down, her expression almost saddening and damp. Should I comfort her? Luna wondered as she glanced at it’s sorrow expression.

Luna reached out her hand to comfort it, feeling the warm aura radiating of it’s skin. Suddenly, Bane angrily swatted her hand away. The girl flinched away from Bane reverently, her expression only dampening further as Bane gritted his teeth at her. “D-Don’t touch her!” Bane lashed at the girl, pulling Luna behind her protectively. Luna glared at Bane and yanked her hand away. “Don’t yell at her!” Luna lashed back furiously. Bane stared at her with a blunder of confusion and anger. “That girl did Nothing wrong! And I’m not a child anymore so don’t treat me like one!”. Luna seethed at Bane. “Then stop acting like one!” Bane shot back, looking Luna dead in the eyes. “I’M acting like a child!? Bane really?!” Luna retorted. Bane scoffed at her remark as if she’d just said the most ridiculous thing. “Luna you were just about to approach an monster who JUST shot out of the sky!” Bane yelled, “Your acting like a damn baby!”. “She’s not a monster!” Luna shot back at Bane “Your a monster for thinking she is!”. Bane didn’t respond, his eyes were focused at the girl. “Oh you have nothing to say do you?!” She retorted at him, looking for a response. “Luna” he said pointing behind her. Luna whipped around impatiently, getting hit with guilt as she saw the look on the girl’s face. the first thing she saw were glowing white tears falling down the girl’s face, her face distorted in sadness. We must have scared her with all that yelling. Luna realized. “Hey now” Luna said softly. But the girl swatted her away and began running through the field. Her tears of glowing white pelted heatedly down on the fields of amber. Suddenly, like a flint to a steel the amber caught fire in the contact of the tears. The trail of fire following the girl as she ran. Nothing but fire lay ahead of Luna and Bane as she ran.

What is love? Love is the weirdest thing on the planet. It only goes both ways never one way when it only goes one way you have failed already is not called love, is only “like” but when it comes to 2 people “liking” each other it can turn into love but always the both of them would be shy and don’t know how would the other one think and it turned into lost love did that happen to me? Not particularly but similar we weren’t shy to say it we had short great memories but for whatever reason we ended it. It was like a dream it was so good that I couldn’t believe that it ended and I couldn’t stop thinking of the sad side I couldn’t really remember the good things I cried and cried the sky was crying with me too, my friends had help me a lot I calmed down but still until now I am continuously thinking of it…

Since I was in 6th grade I dreamt of going to study to another country and live a year abroad, everything in my mind was really different from what it actually is. In my mind it was all going to be easy and I would have a sabbatic year but now I realize it isn’t like that. School is more difficult than I expected and I am losing my mind trying to figure out how to use Manage Bac but I know that with patience and giving it is time, all will get better. Now I see that everything is not what it seems and sometimes we can make mistakes trying to choose the right choices for our future and our life.

Studying abroad is a complete life changing experience and that is the part that I am most excited about, I really enjoy taking risks and exploring new horizons, and I think this one is a great opportunity.

The Independence Day in Mexico is a very important celebration. It is celebrated on September 16th to commemorate the beginning of the fight for Mexico’s independence. During this day, there are parades, the Mexican flag is waved, people dress up with the cultural clothes and cultural events take place throughout the country. It is also a tradition for the President of Mexico to give the famous “Grito de Independencia” from the balcony of the National Palace in Mexico City.

I like to celebrate it by having a big dinner with my family and putting “Mexican” clothes on, like a red, white and green outfit or even the Mexican soccer jersey.

My experience in whale watching

In the past weekend, I went with my friends to whale watching and was an unfordable experience, although in Mazatlan where I live we have whales also but have seen the whales in Canada is a super different experience, beginning for the weather was so cold as much that I caught a flue, also we watching dolphins and sea lions, I love this experience. We took many beautiful photos and videos and I sent it to my parents and they love it.

You’re 10 years old and everyone is home. Mom is cooking, Dad is cleaning, and your siblings are doing their own thing but everyone is home. You look out your window dreaming of the day you grow up and be alone. You wanted to be older so badly that you forgot to live in the now in the comfort of everyone being home. Now, you are in your 20s and you wish you could go back. You and your siblings have moved out. Your parents have aged, they are trying to get used to the empty house you notice their gray hair and wonder where the time went. You realize there will never be another day you all live together, your siblings aren’t just in the other room, they are somewhere else. Now and then you will visit. But won’t stay. You will never be 10 playing with your siblings again, you won’t wake up and eat breakfast together every morning. You won’t even see each other every day. I long for the feeling of “home”, but I can’t ever return. My childhood is gone pieces are scattered but it’s gone. 

Nobody is home 

A great day to sail,

as waves break over the bow,

the ocean welcomes me.

To be loved by one

To reflect the same love

Rekindled again

 

The Stranded Dawn – A New Horizon (Continuation)

The wounding reminders puncture my soul like daggers. As if my life had been replaced, the disowning and isolation from my parents felt like annihilation. The tension and rejection build up inside of me, on the verge of eruption. I explode and run, praying for an escape from reality.

My body directs itself until my legs waver with exhaustion, my breath rapidly escaping my chest. I refuse the enervation to control me, adjusting my vision to the unoccupied harbor encompassing my vision. I ascend towards a stranger inclined on a ship, desperate for any source of escape. My wording staggers, fatigued from my run. “Passage, please? For anything.”
“Passage to where exactly?” His cunning smile almost appears as a guise, unable to reach his eyes. His irregular coastal accent attracts my attention, but my mind appears too overwhelmed to acknowledge my instincts. Only a subtle intimation consumes my stomach, sensing a devious and unreliable situation. My desire for escape consumes my naive mind, dominating any wariness I had developed against this individual.
“Anywhere” I reply, anxious to disappear from this situation. Before the stranger forms a response, his attention staggers to a young boy on his ship.
“Hey! Cap, when are you planning to get the show on the road” the boy hollers, impatience ringing through his tone.
“We got ourselves an addition to the crew Alcan.” I recoil as the pressure of the captain’s hand clasps my shoulder, directing me towards the boat.

I compress my body below deck. “New crewmate, how about it?” The brunette boy from earlier prevents my entrance, evaluating me. I avoid his broad figure to approach the sleeping quarters I was instructed to settle. “What’s your story?” The boy persists in his pestering. I counter his irking with a subjective smirk.
“I’m a convicted felon, ran away.” I glance back at him to witness his humor and expression drain from his character, replaced with cold apprehension. Satisfaction reaches my features. My body responds in automata, hypnotizing my body toward the sleeping quarters where I collapse from exhaustion.

𝙰𝚗 𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚕𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚋𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚜 𝚜𝚒𝚝𝚜 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚕𝚞𝚖𝚙 𝚒𝚗 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚊𝚝. 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚞𝚛𝚔𝚢 𝚙𝚑𝚛𝚊𝚜𝚎𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚞𝚋𝚠𝚊𝚢 𝚊𝚗𝚗𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚎𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚞𝚐𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗, 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚗𝚘 𝚗𝚎𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚐𝚕𝚘𝚊𝚝. 𝙷𝚎𝚛 𝚕𝚎𝚐𝚜 𝚏𝚊𝚒𝚕𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚊𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚎 𝚠𝚎𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚍𝚢 𝚌𝚘𝚊𝚝. 𝙰𝚜 𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚑 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚙𝚊𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚋𝚢, 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚞𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚋𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚢 𝚊𝚏𝚕𝚘𝚊𝚝.

𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚕𝚞𝚘𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚌𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚋𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚋𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚎𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚘𝚍𝚊𝚢. 𝙰𝚜 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚝𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚍 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚘𝚗𝚎 𝚜𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚎 𝚐𝚛𝚊𝚍𝚞𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚜𝚕𝚒𝚙 𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚢, 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚎𝚡𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚒𝚕𝚢 𝚍𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚢𝚎𝚍. 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚒𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚜𝚎 𝚌𝚛𝚘𝚠𝚍𝚜 𝚙𝚞𝚝 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚒𝚗 𝚊𝚗 𝚎𝚡𝚝𝚛𝚎𝚖𝚎 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚍𝚒𝚜𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚊𝚢, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚞𝚗𝚗𝚎𝚛𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚗𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚗 𝚝𝚘 𝚛𝚎𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚢. 𝙴𝚊𝚌𝚑 𝚑𝚊𝚒𝚛 𝚘𝚗 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚋𝚘𝚍𝚢 𝚊𝚛𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚐𝚒𝚍 𝚐𝚑𝚘𝚜𝚝𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚋𝚜𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚍𝚎𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜, 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚗𝚎𝚛𝚜, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚙𝚎𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚐𝚊𝚗 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚊𝚞𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚞𝚋𝚠𝚊𝚢. 𝚂𝚒𝚖𝚞𝚕𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚎𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚕𝚢, 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚕 𝚘𝚙𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚞𝚗𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚕𝚢 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚛𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚢.

𝙷𝚎𝚛 𝚖𝚘𝚛𝚋𝚒𝚍 𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚊𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚛𝚘𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚌𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚏𝚞𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚖. 𝚆𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚑 𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚎𝚕𝚊𝚙𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚍𝚎𝚌𝚊𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚌𝚊𝚜𝚜, 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚑 𝚘𝚏 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚕𝚢 𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚊𝚕𝚢𝚣𝚎𝚍. 𝙷𝚎𝚛 𝙶𝚊𝚝𝚜𝚋𝚢 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚜𝚎𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚍𝚜 𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚢 𝚏𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚟𝚘𝚕𝚞𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚙𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚖. 𝙴𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚖𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝 𝚒𝚗 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚌𝚑 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚊𝚐𝚘𝚗𝚒𝚣𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚊𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚐𝚑𝚘𝚜𝚝𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚙𝚊𝚜𝚝, 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚒𝚖𝚖𝚘𝚋𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚢 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚏𝚞𝚛𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚎𝚖𝚙𝚑𝚊𝚜𝚒𝚣𝚎𝚍. 𝚂𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚑𝚎𝚕𝚙 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚔, 𝚆𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚌𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝𝚑𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚛𝚖?

Today, she is a teenage girl. She wakes to the sounds of a house full of life and the smell of fresh coffee. Everyone is home. Her father watches the television while her mother bakes fresh brownies. She groans at the sound of her pestering alarm and stares up at the ceiling. She is warm, cocooned in her sheets as if she were a caterpillar, not quite ready to leave just yet. It is in moments like this that she reflects upon the future. One day, she realizes, she will wake up alone. The house will be still as never before, and the silence will be deafening. One day, there will be no more laughter echoing through the empty halls, nor will there be any more pestering comments from her siblings. There will be fewer family dinners and movie nights. Fewer long car rides and conversations. Fewer opportunities with less of the world laid out in front of her. She will grow up, and with it, she will lose this piece of her, this aching familiarity. Tomorrow, she will grow up, and all that will be left of her childhood are memories. Moments that she will never relive, reflections of her shattered past, held in her heart and forever scattered across her path.

– Meghan

 

Being in a place where they don’t speak your first language is kind of hard, you don’t have the same humor nor the same cultures or traditions. People use to say that going into an exchange year is easy, that is like a sabbatic year but not in my occasion. When I arrived to Canada it was like a dream everything was easy and I couldn’t believe that this would be like vacations for one year. School started and reality came through, everything was way different that in Mexico, I got desperate and stressed cause I did not understand this new things. The reality is that exchange year is not easy and even more if they use different things such as ManageBac, I hate ManageBac I couldn’t understand it at first but through the last couple of days I have understand it way more. However I love Canada, its normal to feel stressed at the beginning, you just have to adapt yourself to the situation with help of others or just placing way more strength into the situation, through the time goes by everything will fall into place I just have to keep pushing my self.

Currently i am reading a book called “When we Cease to Understand The World, by Benjamin Labatut. The book is a cross between fiction and non-fiction and focuses on the history of physics and math, and the relationships between the theorist/mathematics, their life, and their work. The current section i am on is about a matmentacian named Grothendieck, who is known for revolutionising geometry and many other fields of math. This excerpt if from page 72 and touches on Grothendieck’s work ethic:

 

“He was capable of sleeping at will, as many hours as he needed then dedicating the whole of his energy to his work. He could begin working on an idea in the morning and not move from his desk until dawn the next day, squinting under the light of the old kerosene lamp.”

 

I find it interesting how this implies that to be a genius, to have radical and new ideas, you have to have complete control over your body, (sleeping at will), and that you must dedicate every single waking second to your profession. It seems that to go to the next level of ideas, of revolutionary thoughts, you must have complete control over your body, and let your profession have complete control over you. It really makes me appreciate those who really sacrificed their lives to change ideas for the future generations.

My name is Daniela García, I have 2 sisters and I’m the oldest one, I have 2 dogs, I love to hang out with my friends back in my city, my favorite food is sushi, I love animals and my favorite animals are dogs, horses, and dolphins, l like to spend quality time with my family and friends and be productive, and I like to draw. I love going out to dinner with my friends or just hanging out and watching a movie or a TV show. I also love listening to music, especially when I am in the car or driving.

I especially love to read, it’s something I have loved to do since I was in second grade and I’ve never stopped doing it. I love recommending books to other people and seeing them read them. I started reading novels in English six months ago because I was encouraged to better my English, especially because I knew I was coming to Canada for a year to study, I ended up loving it and I read more in English than in Spanish now. I think I’m also very good at working in teams because it encourages me to do my best, help out my team, and participate. I’m also good at horseback riding, and I love it, I did it for 2 years but I had to quit because I got surgery and never got a chance to go back, I love riding horses for fun or as an entertaining hobby.

As an international student from Mexico my goals for this school year are to have a better English accent, raise my academic average, be motivated to do different things, have new friends, grow as a student and as a leader, learn more about different cultures, and do different things out of my comfort zone with passion and excitement.

Winter was one of the reasons why I came to Canada. In Mexico everything in winter is so much different than here, there’s no snow and it’s not that cold, however here in Canada is a dream come true. I love snowboarding, which means Canada is specialty in snowy mountains.

Winter is a season that fills me with wonder and excitement. When the first snowflakes start to fall, it’s like a magical moment straight out of a storybook. Each snowflake is unique and beautiful, and they come together to create a soft, white blanket on the ground.

One of the things I love most about winter is how quiet it becomes. The world seems to slow down, and everything is so peaceful. I can hear the crunch of my footsteps on the snow.

Winter is also a time for cozy moments. I enjoy sipping hot cocoa by the warm fireplace and wrapping myself in a soft blanket while watching a good movie. It’s a season for spending time with family and friends, making memories together.

Im counting the days for winter to arrive in Canada, even though we are right now in autumn I want winter to arrive right now. Winter makes my nose turn red making a realization that it arrived, also its starts smelling like cinnamon and pumpkin spice, meaning Christmas is here! Definitely Winter is the best.

 

There was was a man who called himself king

He treated his people as if they were nothing

One day a witch came from far away

But the cruel king turned her away

With the few moments in which they conversed

The witch left the king eternally cursed

No matter how much food the king inhaled

An itching of hunger would always prevail

The chefs were forced to cook feasts galore

But it was no use, the king just wanted more

The costs caused his country to go from rich to poor

He was forced to sell his daughter as if she were a whore

Until one day he disappeared like Houdini

He had eaten himself whole and that was fini

(mock yelp review from posh person of our camping trip, for funsies)

YELP REVIEW

I recently went on a camping trip and it was indubitely horrible. First of all, the weather was much too cold for my liking and it was just very drab in general. We went paddleboarding on the second day, but none of the seals wanted to swim with our company and actually swam away at the sight of our boards, how incredibly rude of them. We also had to sit on wooden chairs, eat on wooden tables with wooden cutlery, and sleep in wooden cabins. Too much unfurnished wood in my opinion it was far below my standards if i do say so myself. We also had to hike in this absolutely atrocious gear which was so unstylish and unfit that it made me want too retch overall i will stay in my city where i like it thank you very much.

 

2/5 stars

The sun in her eyes

the softness of her accent

off in Monterrey

 

One girl recently became very addicted to music. She cannot imagine her life without it. Music is a great way for a girl to distract herself from the world around her and escape from it. She adores the feeling that engulfs her whenever she puts on the headphones. She feels as if all her problems and the world fade into the background. All those small shards of glass that tormented her from the inside disappear, and new feelings arise in their place. Peace and comfort.

PW #1: Fictional Writing

*Fictional story*

The day wakes me with a crisp blue morning. Blue in more than one way – blue as in the sky, peeking out from behind the crumpled white window shades above my bed, humming with cold light. Blue as in my first class that morning was math, which I had carefully color-coded as a pale cerulean on my schedule in my spiral notebook, and in which I always used my wrinkled pastel blue graph book to take notes.

But most significantly, blue like sadness, melancholy, and sorrow. Blue that makes you think of gray skies and heavy rain. Blue that weighs me down, tightening my throat and constricting my lungs. Blue like my drenched heart, hanging heavy in my chest like the muffling fog of a cloud barely hovering over the ground. Blue that fills my veins, pumps my blood, and injects my sinuses with the thick saturated burden of grief.

Blue because last Tuesday, my dad died.

I can’t deny it.

Can’t rephrase what happened, or avoid it.

I always try to restate it, to forget it by erasing the memory. But it can’t be done. Every morning when I wake up, the fact crashes through my head like a tsunami, leaving destruction and chaos in its wake. Every morning, I’ve ended up here, staring at the light leaking through my window shades, and wishing.

Remembering.

On May 29th, 2064, the country of Nelsiliss declared war on the dolphins. I’m not exactly sure how it all started, all I know is that one day almost everyone in the country was angrily wading out into the ocean, shouting profanities at the slippery mammals as they darted beneath the waves. Perhaps the war was declared because, as a country who’s economy is mainly reliant on the export of fish, the fact that we had to share the resources of an ocean with other creatures was impossible to fathom. Or perhaps one day our government decided that their people needed something to rally against, regardless of the logic behind it. Recently, governments have been doing this a lot more; blindly declaring war on whoever they first see before thinking that they might have better uses of their time. The sad thing is that it seems to be doing exactly what they hoped: rallying the people against a common enemy. I briefly entertain the idea that this whole ordeal started with one lonely fisherman out on his boat; sick of all the marine life pestering him, decided that the best way to solve this problem was to declare war on an animal that can’t even comprehend war. Sometimes I envy these animals.

I think we can all agree the chickens were annoying.

I awoke in the early morning to the guttural cries of our cursed avian brethren. The screams rattled all ears that had the misfortune of consciousness. I tossed and turned trying to block out the infernal screeches but to no avail. I had no other option than to arise. The morning air was unyieldingly crisp causing a trail of shivers down my spine.

Breakfast was served, cereal the main course. Alas, I was hoping for eggs benedict. Perhaps the fates would smile on me and we would be blessed with an egg dish the following morning.  Chicken fricassee, chicken cacciatore, chicken teriyaki or a lovely roast chicken accompanied my thoughts as I paddle-boarded the morning away.

After lunch, we had a conversation occasionally being interrupted by the incessant bedevilled cackling of our Gallus gallus domesticus neighbours. Card games followed and after another fowless dinner, we retired to our flimsy abode.

Falling asleep was arduous, the dinosaurs’ long-lost relatives keeping us awake.  I turned to face my tent companion, reiterating my displeasure at the commotion. We left the following morning and I had chicken for dinner.

 

 

 

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑢𝑝𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑝 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑦 𝑛𝑜𝑠𝑒, 𝑝𝑜𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑎𝑛𝑡 𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑚𝑦 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑒. 𝑆ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑎 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑎𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒, 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 twelve 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑠 𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦'𝑑 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒.

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑠 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑢𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑚, 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑏𝑙𝑢𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑜𝑛. Her nostrils filled with tℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑡𝑦 𝑎𝑖𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑀𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑒𝑛𝑧𝑖𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑐ℎ, 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑤𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑑 𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑟𝑒𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑒𝑐ℎ. 𝐴𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑏𝑦, ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑔𝑎𝑧𝑒 𝑠ℎ𝑖𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑜 𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑛𝑒'𝑠 𝑒𝑦𝑒𝑠.

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑔𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐𝑟𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑢𝑛, 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑜 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑟𝑢𝑛. 𝑂𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑢𝑝𝑜𝑛 𝑎 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒, ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑑𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑒𝑒𝑙 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑢𝑛, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑧𝑒𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑒𝑝𝑜𝑐ℎ 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑑𝑜𝑛𝑒. 𝐷𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑛𝑜 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑏𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝑖𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓-𝑠𝑢𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡.

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑛 𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑠, 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑟𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑖𝑣𝑒? 𝐼𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒, 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑒𝑟𝑎 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑢𝑝ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑑. 𝑊ℎ𝑎𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑎 𝑓𝑜𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑒, ℎ𝑎𝑑 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑎 𝑠𝑖𝑐𝑘 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦. 𝑁𝑜 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒, 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦. 𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒? Would 𝑠ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑑𝑜𝑣𝑒?

The Sun shined orange

The water was glistening

The water was still

The trees were swaying

And the birds were singing songs

Utterly sublime

The sun painted the sky with hues untamed,

A masterpiece of colours, unashamed.

And with the symphony of light came signs of wildlife,

Nature’s new wonders coming back to life.

 

The birdsong rose beneath the autumn haze,

Amidst the glow of the rising sun’s gaze,

With the dappled sunlight glinting through trees,

There was a hint of salty ocean breeze.

 

The vibrant coloured canopy of tents,

Stirred one by one with their inhabitants.

Eager to seize the adventurous day,

Despite the misty chill in murder bay.

 

The vast expanse of the calm ocean deep,

Cast a rhythmic lull that put us to sleep.

And as we lay by the crackling flames,

Our untainted dreams of nature remain.

You remind me of that pretty gold star sticker that I had on my backpack when I was young. I loved it while it lasted but when it wore out and needed to go, it left a dark, sticky stain that I didn’t know how to fix. You left your mark on me like that sticker left its mark on my backpack. I got a new backpack after that because I didn’t like how empty and used it looked without the sticker. I wonder what will happen to me without my pretty gold star sticker.

I think intently

as unthinking fingers do

drum the keys with aim

 

The Stranded Dawn – A New Horizon

A blaring noise overtakes my mind. My eyes crack open, adjusting to the mid-morning light wafting in through my bedroom windows. A groan escapes my lips as my body flips, groping across my nightstand. I fumble with my alarm clock, searching for the snooze button, hopeful the noise went unnoticed. An opening door answers my inquiry. I sense my father’s dismayed glare at my unkempt appearance as he disturbs my slumber.

“Ian, get up, you’ll be late” my father growls at my uncooperating behaviour. Three weeks have passed since the incident, which completely changed my life. Since then, my parents seem to have lost all trust and sympathy towards me over an accident which I was unreasonably framed for. The impatient footsteps of my father departing interrupt the incessant haunting of regret and turmoil. I reluctantly persuade myself to stretch my limbs, rectifying my consciousness to begin my day.

Ringing infuses my head; I stir and groggily drag my head upwards to encounter the scrutiny of Ms. Vanderwall.

“Ian, you cannot continue to sleep during my history classes, this new behaviour is completely unacceptable.” Ms. Vanderwall gazes down at me, half-asleep on my desk. I glance around the isolated classroom. “Ian?”

“Right, sorry. It won’t happen again” I saunter out of the classroom, entering the cramped halls. I cancel out the malicious comments and gibes bouncing between conversations and tentatively walk forward.

“Gun boy! Stashing anything else in your locker yet? Wouldn’t want anything to happen, would we now?” My steps reversed, turning to witness Anthony presenting another speech about the alleged gun that was planted in my locker. I disregard his words and concentrate my mind away from the commotion.

I’m celiac.  Meaning I’m allergic to Gluten. So, I can’t eat for example “normal Bread” but it’s not so easy,                                                                                          because of cross contamination, like if I cut bread with a knife and whit the same knife I cut a Gluten free bread, it’s contaminated. The point is that being in a Gluten free diet is hard and I wouldn’t recommended eating a Gluten free dyed, if you aren’t celiac.

 

I have really enjoyed my time here, at first It was a little different than Mexico, but I’ve already got used to it, my first weekend here I went to downtown with my friends for dinner, we went to a place called milestone, we arrived by bus and that was my first time riding a bus alone without my parents, in downtown we took a lot of pictures, the ride back was a little chaotic because we almost lost the bus and a friend was injured of her foot, so we couldn’t run as fast as we needed. On Saturday it was supposed to be a chill day, go to a mall and just hangout, but we ended up in downtown again and I met with a friend from my hometown that came to study here too, so that was really fun. On Sunday we went to a hike with the school, it was really fun seeing all the nature but a little tiring too, but when we got to the top everything was worth it, the view was beautiful, after we went to Dairy Queen, that wasn’t so sporty of us.

I have had a really fun week I can’t wait to have more.

Hello, my name is Valeria Reinoso.

I am a boarding student from Mexico City, Mexico. I am 17 years old. I am staying in Brookes Westshore for 1 year and I am hoping to make new friends and have new experiences and enjoy my time here while im studying and socializing with people from other countries and with different cultures. I will talk about ice skating and my experience there.

I have been ice skating since I was 3 years old, everything started when I was a little kid and my mom saw a summer course in the ice rink in mexico, so she decided to sing me in. She saw I was very good at it so she decided to take me to classes and tat that moment she decided that was going to be my sport.

Everything was going well with me ice skating, and when I turned 6 years old my sister started ice skating as well, she was 3 years old too, so the two of us started going to classes, we had a very good time and we became very good at it. When I turned 12 years old I broke my arm so I needed to stop ice skating for a while, while my arm healed. My sister continued to ice skate, when I returned 1 week later I broke my nose so I count skate for another month.

I got better and I returned to ice skate, everything started going very well and my coach told me I was ready to go to nationals, so I started practicing my solo to compete, but I broke my foot. I could skate for 3 months because I needed a surgery but my mom didn’t wanted me to get it, so I only went to therapy for my foot. When the 3 months passed I returned to skate but I lost all my doubles so I had to start prating again and started training for Monday to Saturday, 3 hours.

When I got my doubles I started training for my solo again and I started doing everything to be able to get to nationals. I was going to Queretaro, that is a city in Mexico, but I was playing soccer with my sister and I Brooke my foot again, all this happened in June of 2023, so I needed a surgery again but I was coming here to Canada, so I went to therapy again and I recovered until August.

I started training again for a month and I wasn’t able to go to nationals, but here in Canada I went to the tryouts for the JDF ice skating team and got in. So now that I have a good opportunity to become better skater here I will do my best. When I go back to Mexico I will try my best to go to nationals but now with a better level. I hope this time I break nothing, including my foot.

This is my story of ice skating, I hope everyone enjoys reading it. Thank you.

This past summer I had the opportunity to embark on an incredible trip. While my sister was on a leadership program in Costa Rica, my parents and I decided to go on a trip as well. Initially, my parents had told me that we were going to Seattle for some shopping, hiking and other adventures, which got me really excited. We first made our way to Vancouver for a night and then in the early morning we headed to the airport where my parents said, ‘Here’s your ticket with gate B12, go find it’.
When I arrived at B12 I was confused as it said Toronto!? I went back to my parents and said something must be wrong it said Toronto and not Seattle? My Dad said you’ll need this connecting flight ticket as well, when I read it, it said Manhattan, New York, as soon as I saw that my jaw dropped and my eyes lit the room! I was so surprised! The one place I dreamed of visiting was New York, I was so excited. 8 hours and two flights later we arrived. We checked into our Manhattan hotel and my views were amazing.
Several buildings were illuminating the NY skyline with their beautiful lights. Even the iconic Empire State Building was right outside my window!
We were in New York for a week and it was the best time of my life.
We went on a helicopter tour and viewed the whole city which included the Statue of Liberty and and the Brooklyn Bridge. I got to learn about the Twin Towers and visited the memorial at Ground Zero. We did some shopping, rode bikes around Central Park and had the most amazing food. My favourite thing we did was Broadway.
We watched, Wicked, it was the best! I got to learn a whole bunch of US culture, new foods, and geography. I’m so grateful I got to go to New York and I look forward to many more travel adventures.

HI! I didn’t know how to start writing my personal writing because even though I like to write, I am not good at it and this time it was difficult to think about a specific topic to write on, so I started thinking and suddenly I thought, maybe writing about life experiences and memories that have left a mark on my life is worth it so I decided to do it, I just said: why not? it can be funny and interesting knowing about another persons personal experiences and special moments that they will always have in their minds. I see it as a really personal way to know another person.

First of all I’d like to talk about traveling. Traveling has become one of my favorite hobbies because I see it as a window to know different spaces, places, cultures, traditions, and of course special people that later become forever friendships. Travel is more than just going on vacation, it’s about making memories and mental photographs that will forever be in your mind. Since I was a child my ever favorite movie its Ratatouille and when I saw it for the first time I said that I wanted to go to Paris, later this idea became a dream and then a reality. In my 7 birthday I went to Paris as a present from my parents and my childhood dream came true; standing at the top of the Eiffel Tower felt incredible and I realized that traveling will be my favorite thing to do.

Continue…

It’s a day. just like any other for the matter. Luna thought tiredly watching the sun set on the old vast farm that she’d so tirelessly worked on. Day and day again. Working on something as monotone as basic field work was never one of her ambitions, although she never minded. “By god! there’s no need to act like you’ve never slept a day in your life Luna!” She hear a teasing voice tease behind her. Luna re-adjusted her hand on the cold dry grass as she swung her head over to see Bane – her brother – walk nonchalantly over to her, his smug smile etched all over his face. Luna sighed over a laugh “I’m too tired for your nonsense, leave me alone” she whined sarcastically. Bane plopped himself next to Luna, crossing his arms stubbornly. “Heck no! there is no way I’m listening to another one of Uncle’s lectures on laziness. Like he’d know anything about working!”. Luna snorted in his face “Yeah neither would you”. Bane shot her a look of annoyance. “Hey I did NOT come here to be bullied!” He said putting on his best angry face, that looked more like his version of sick old grandpa than anything. Luna laughed dryly, “What are siblings for?”. They sat there in silence for a moment, listening to the faint wiring sound of the windmill. Letting a days worth of memories wash over them.

Suddenly Luna spotted a star in the sky. Weird isn’t it to early for there to be stars out? Luna pondered as the star sparkled brightly at her. Luna shrugged, decidedly ignoring the early star as if it were another grass in a field. “Hey Luna” Bane said, tapping Luna on the shoulder, almost franticly. “What! What? I told you to stop tapping my shoulder it’s annoying! What do you want?”  she hissed, swatting his hand. “Look!” he blurted pointing his finger out to the star, his gaze fixed of the white shine of the star. The star was still shiny as ever, sitting on top of the sunset like a bird waiting for dawn. Nothing particularly strange. “Nice star” she tried glancing at Banes nervous expression. “Don’t you thing that’s maybe a little to big for a star?” Luna shot him an annoyed look “look I’m too tired for another of one of your crrrrrazy the-” Suddenly she saw a bright flash in the corner of her eyes. She whipped her head over and the star was gone. “Wha-“. “It’s over there!” Bane blurted loudly, Luna’s gaze suddenly catching on a moving light across the horizon, the star! Luna rubbed her eyes franticly to make sure what she was seeing was real. The star only grew bigger and brighter as it descended the horizon. Going down faster and faster with every passing second. Suddenly it shot through the sky and crash right in the fields of their family. A cloud moving boom ripped out of the air, hitting Luna and Bane like a rouge wave.

Luna lied in shock against the dry old willow tree behind her and Bane. A ringing feeling of shock and confusing spun around her head, playing catch with her thoughts. “L-Luna?” Bane quivered, his voice sounding just as frazzled as Luna felt “W-What- What was that?”. Luna peered over at Bane tentatively. His face was ridden with shock, lookin almost as if someone had shook his soul out of his body. I wonder if ma and pa heard that? Luna’s head wheezed. Luna felt dead drop terrified that it may have been an alien- or maybe even a space ship, however once she gathered her thoughts her once slow-paced brain became riddled with curiosity. Maybe its an astronaut that had a crash landing- or an alien- I wonder what an alien would look like? Like a human but purple- or even ORANGE? or like a rabbit or lizard! But smart like Bane and I? Or even- “I’m telling ma about this Luna” Bane wheezed hoarsely, cutting through her line of thought. “NO!” Luna scolded, grabbing Bane’s arm before he could run “this is my one chance to do something exiting and you are NOT about to ruin it!”. With that Luna stubbornly shoved herself off the patchy ground, excitement and anxiousness humming through her bones. Luna ran down the hill, passing stalks of beige grass and warped trees as she glided down the hill to the crash site.

The crash site was small, it couldn’t have been bigger than two or three barrels wide. The moist soil around it was thrashed and tore up. a smoked up crevice was all that was left. A deep grey smoke that enveloped the middle of the crash, making it near impossible to see the item of the sky. Suddenly a pale hand reach out from the smoke. followed by a shoulder and then the rest of the body. Luna gasped. It was a girl, she had shining yellow eyes that looked right into Luna’s. her starlight hair, reaching down to her waist and a glittering star patten that traced all around her body. “Hello” it whispered softly “My name’s Luna”

Chinese culture, that was founded at BC 2070 (Dynasty Xia), which was one of the longest civilization in the world. After 4000 years: Ancient Babylon, Ancient Egypt and Ancient India had all vanished in the time zone. But why did Chinese survive?

Before we discussed why did Chinese civilization survived, we first needed to know how to define the difference between civilization and culture. Civilization usually meant multiple human lived together and having common language and book to communicated with each others. But the culture didn’t need have a language to speak, they can invented other type remains to prove they were on this world. Chinese earliest word was founded at 1 million years ago but they didn’t have their self-language to speak so they were not Chinese civilization.

Then why did Chinese civilization survive? So Chinese have a special official position in all dynasty include Zhou dynasty to Qing dynasty, these people were recording what did the decision that king made and big event that happened. These text were important due to the life trace of people in that time were fully recorded and later generations can learned from these traditional culture and inherited them. Also later generations will inherited the dream of their ancestor and to have a plan of how to achieve these goal. For Example the first emperor in China Ying Zheng, after his first emperor life the later king all had a dream to unify the China and expanded their territories.

In other civilization, Babylon recorded the first statute book, but their history was not recorded by them, it was written by Jewish, and 2000 years ago the Old Israel instinct but in 1948 Zionist recreate Israel and the history have been inherited. Old Egypt’s history have already disappear due to they had never recorded their history, the first recordation was founded by Tang Dynasty’s monk Xuanzang which was Tang Monk.

So we can see that it was very important to record history for later generations to learn and inherit their dream and experience, and that’s how a culture can kept survived in the time zone.

All my life when someone asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, my automatic answer was ‘I want to be a doctor!’. I did not know what type of doctor I wanted to be; I just knew I wanted to become one. Part of the reason is that my mother always wanted one of her children to be a doctor. I took that responsibility upon myself and was determined to make her proud. Growing up, she always taught my sisters and me the importance of being able to fend and provide for ourselves, and the way she said it always seemed like the only way to become rich was by working as one of these three things: a doctor, a lawyer, or an IT specialist. In that order. Either that or marry rich.

It wasn’t only my mother that ‘inspired’ me to become a doctor. I made up my mind to become one because when I was younger, I made many trips to see the doctor. While I was being treated each time I went there, The doctors inspired me a little due to the way they always ensured to make me feel better. I also wanted to be the one to make someone happy and healthy at the end day. Something about it just brings me joy whenever I think about it.

As I got older, it started to dawn on me what being a doctor meant. It wasn’t just about seeing a patient, telling them what’s wrong with them, and getting your pay. It was way more complicated than that. Surgeons had to be in contact with a lot of blood most of the time they worked. That didn’t change my mind because I later realized blood didn’t faze me. ‘Ah, I forgot you want to be a doctor in the future.’ my mom often told me whenever she glanced at me and didn’t see me shiver or shut my eyes at the sight of blood.

After reading various articles and websites on the various types of doctors there are (and which one pays the highest) I think I’ve made up my mind on the type of doctor I want to become and hopefully, I don’t change my mind. In the future, I hope to become a neurosurgeon or a pediatrician. I chose Neurosurgery because something about the nervous system fascinates me. I would like to become more educated on the nervous system while helping people. And the option of being a Pediatrician is simply because I have a soft spot for children.

Overall, my desire to become a doctor stems from my desire to help others. I believe that being a doctor is one of the most rewarding professions out there, and I am excited to be a part of it.

The trees swayed,

her hair blowing in the wind

like the water in the ocean nearby.

Friends playing,

laughing,

a life worth living.

Not all find it so easy,

but there is always a way,

no one is alone forever

just not searching hard enough.

The beach is a place where dreams come true,

where friends become family,

and where there will always be a place for you.

The sand is gold,

like the incandescent memory of the girl you love.

The one of your dreams,

where you talked

for hours,

her hair blowing in the wind at the beach where the sand is gold.

– Matteo Eden

When I was little, my parents were always working. They always believed in me and still do, I think… I always did my homework and different types of exercises like ballet, gymnastics, athleticism, swimming and even fencing so that I didn’t stay alone in my house. I was never alone though. I had my two older sisters, who showed me the basic things about life and all the how to’s. They were, are and will always be my best friends, so if I have to blog about anything I like, this is probably one of my favorite topics to talk about.

Melissa is my oldest sister, she is the smartest girl I know. She gives the best advice and sees the potential in every situation and person she knows. She is studying to be an engineer.
She was my fashion icon, she still is, but please don’t tell her that. We both love sushi, yoga, the color pink, and even though we see life in a different way, we complement each other. She is literally my ride or die when riding roller coasters, and I couldn’t have asked for a better big sister in my life.

Ines is the middle one, now…
She is the best one I know at sports. She is a lovely and patient girl. We always always see the best in each other. We are really close to each other, and we are always there for one another in the good and bad times. A funny thing is that her laugh makes me laugh and the other way round. Ines can always make my days better just by talking to her.
I have always admired her, because even though she is extremely gorgeous, and has everything she could dream of, she still is kind and generous with others.

Thanks to both of my sisters and my amazing parents I am proud to be who I am. I love my family and my two older sisters and even though we sometimes might fight, it’s just normal sister fight and I would never ask them to change. They are a gift for my heart and a great fortune in my life.

Hi! I´m Jose Tostado and I´m from an amazing state in Mexico named Jalisco.

What makes Jalisco special? You might ask, well actually a lot of important people and significants things for Mexico and the world came out from Jalisco just like the Tequila, El Chicharito, Guillermo del Toro, Las Tortas Ahogadas and more…

It is located in the western region in Mexico near to the Pacific Ocean, it was founded in June 16, 1823.

What I like most from Jalisco? Well I like a lot of things but I think that what I most like about Jalisco is the food because its good (obviously) but also because the feelings that I sense every time that I eat things like Las Tortas Ahogadas or La Birria. Every time that I eat those things I feel some kind of satisfaction, I really don´t know why but I just feel it.

If one day you visit Jalisco I really recommend you to try the traditional food and be prepared to experience new feelings.

My first personal writing will be about my change of home, so I decide to come brookes to live a different experience that I was living in mexico and until now has been so excited, since the moment that I said good bye to my friends and family in mexico was a challenge my emotions were like a rollercoaster then when I arrived to the school felt very safe because they made me feel at home,The moment I met my friends we had an incredible connection until we felt like they were my sisters and when I began classes was very nervous but this day was so excited, so I am getting more used to in all the routine that we have here in the dorms, this is an experience that I recommend every single young that has this amazing opportunity.My expectations of this year are arrived mexico with a very well level in English, do a lot of friends, know about of the Canada culture and another cultures, improve my knowledge, live many experiences different as mexico, taste so much delicious food specially typical from canda and Victoria, and last but not least and obviously have fun.