my life

Moving to a new place is hard. There are new things, new people, new everything. You are overwhelmed by everything that you see. This is how I felt when moved to Alaska. I didn’t know anything about anything, if that makes any sense.

I had to learn a wide variety of new things like English. It was as daunting as killing Cailen, who is armed with a pineapple. Furthermore, I had to have a tutor so I could learn English. Because of my inability to speak English, I didn’t learn much in school. I missed out on a bunch of things all because I didn’t know any English.

In addition, my grades were pretty bad. The only good thing was since I didn’t understand anybody, I would do things that were irrelevant to what they told me to do or start talking in Spanish to them. It was funny when my fellow peers didn’t know what I was talking about. In the end, the cons outweighed the pros when it came to not knowing any English. Remembrance I remember living in Mexico.

I remember the people, the food, my friends, everything. Sometimes when I see something in Fairbanks, it reminds me of Mexico. When I have mint flavored ice cream, I remember being on the beach and eating it. The ice cream was speaking to me in a language that I could understand. I remember going to the beach because, obviously, it is hot there. I recall going into the water and going far out into the water.

My mom would tell me to come back but I would float there and stare at the sky, no worries or problems. Just me, the sky, the sun, and that seagull that almost pooped on me. When I lived there, I was on a swim team. In addition, I also did karate and soccer. They were fun and all but in karate I ended up receiving a hit to the face and getting a bloody nose.

But in the end, I chose swimming. Even though the pool was completely made of tile and they stuck out sometimes and cut my feet, I still enjoyed swimming. I guess I enjoyed the relaxing effect the water had when I was in it. Plus I enjoyed it when I realized that I can pass my limits and go faster than I have ever gone before. In which did not include pain.

I still swim here in Fairbanks, but sometimes when I am in the pool, looking at that big black line going down the middle, I remember those moments in the other pool in Mexico. The…Middle I recall my third grade year. My mom said that I had way too much energy so she made me try out for the swim team. I had so much energy that I could have lit up Times Square. I hadn’t swum actually swum in two years and I didn’t really remember how. However, when I got in the pool, I did everything that the head coach told me to do.

In the end, I didn’t make the team since the only thing that I couldn’t do was alternate breathing. After 6 weeks of swimming lessons, I made it. Later in the year, my mom noticed that I wasn’t so hyper anymore. Furthermore, my grades in school went up because I wasn’t such a big distraction and I actually stayed in my seat. The rest of my elementary school I did fine. I had friends and I got to miss some school for swimming trips to other places and stuff.

The best one was Age Group Championships. Fairbanks was hosting it and I got to miss Friday which was kind of stupid since it was just one day I missed for a meet that was is mostly over the weekend. It was my first Age Group Championships. Roaring and thirsty for some swimming, was how I remember the crowd. I felt really good when I saw most of the people there cheering for me. It was a remarkable experience.

Even though I didn’t have as much energy, I didn’t get good grades because I just never really cared about school. However because of swimming, I didn’t run around the classroom or jump around or have my mind wander around (most of the time). So I can conclude that it could have been worse. The Part after the Middle which is Still a Great Part And then there was middle school. It was like a siren. The sweet voice of something new and exciting dragged me in but then it wasn’t as fun as I thought.

At last that was the first quarter. Anyways, a lot of things changed in middle school. The first thing that changed from elementary school was that there was no recess. It was heartbreaking. I almost cried when I learned that in middle and high school there was no recess.

It was the worst moment of my life. In addition, there were different classes. My legs groaned in protest from walking in circles trying to find my classes. Slowly and tenderly, I would get out of bed each morning with my sore legs.* After the first week however, my legs got used to it and in addition, I memorized where my classes were.

What’s more, there were all these teachers’ names that I had to memorize and learn how to pronounce correctly. In contrast however, school started at 9:30. So then I could sleep more or go to bed later. Most of the time it was go to bed later. I had different classes. Some were hard and some were easy.

Besides the walking around and seeing all of the teachers in the hallway, there was one new thing that changed. There was a cafeteria. Well it was the Multi Purpose Room but it was mainly used for the lunch room. Anyways, the one thing that did not change was the students. Sure there were kids that I had never seen before, but there were nice people that I made friends with and bad kids that I stayed away from.

On a different note, one of my classes was swimming. I had a blast since I didn’t really learn anything. The only thing that I learned was diving. It was fun, because we did flips, dives, twists, and other related things. Since I already knew all of the things that Mrs. Sigmon or Mr.

Denali were trying to teach my fellow class (pool?) mates, I got to help teach them. Normally I was the example. I was also the third instructor because I had to help all of students in my class. It got easier in eighth grade, when my friend Richard, who is also on my comp. swim team, was in my swimming class. Even though almost nobody had the faintest clue how to swim, I still enjoyed that class.

Last Night Last there is high school. So far, it has been a blast. I met plenty of new people and I have made a lot of new friends. Especially one in particular, but that is a whole other vignette. There is still a bunch of walking due to all of the classes and how the classes are spaced out, but it’s alright.

I have made peace with the fact that I will have to walk to all of my classes for the next 3.75 years. I have a whole new set of teachers and all of my old friends. They are the reason I can get through all of my classes. I enjoy high school swimming.

It was a blast and I really enjoyed it. I made it to state, which is something hard for a freshman. I was a freaking dolphin in the water. Even though it is over, I am still looking forward to next year since my favorite part is all of those parties almost every weekend. There is always food, delicious and plentiful, at the parties. At least I can still swim club to keep me in shape and make me a better swimmer for Age Group Champs, Sectionals, and all of those good meets.

Incredibly, I never get tired of swimming. And that I now know English (obviously), I can’t pretend to not know anything when somebody speaks to me. I miss those days, so long ago…