The Sudden Surprise

 

        At some time near the end of the school year in 2008, I woke up for the usual boring day at Shangwai Elementary School. The only thing that seemed exciting was that mom was coming from the USA to visit me. I had lived with my mom and grandparents for as long as I could remember. At the beginning of first grade, though, my mom went to the USA to visit my dad. Now she was coming back and I couldn’t wait to see her again. The usually long and boring day passed unusually fast and I was soon home again and being welcomed by my mom and grandparents. Also, surprisingly, the homework seemed to have lessened and I was finished just before dinner.

        As we sat down for the delicious dinner of meat and carrot stew, spinach & fish ball soup, and baked chicken, we started chatting about life in America and China. “I forgot to tell you, I covered most of our yard with cement because it took too much water and time to take care of the lawn,” mom said to grandpa and grandma. Then slowly, the subject changed, and soon, they were all talking about me. I really hated when they talked about me because my performance at school was not always as good as they expected. Usually in these moment I never brought my ear to the table, only my mouth to enjoy the food.

       “Look at Justin,”mom said in a casual, almost joking tone, “he’s gained almost 10 pounds since the last time I saw him.” The adults turned to me, making me nervous, but I did not stop eating. Mom took a long intake of breath and said, “Okay, Justin. Don’t freak out when I tell you.” I nodded dumbly, and still keeping my mouth busy. Again, my mom took a deep breath and said, “We’re going to the USA. Together.”

“Uh? What did you say?” I was astonished and confused! My ear usually did not work properly at dinner. USA?  I couldn’t believe it! I never thought I would go to the USA to study because I grew up here in China. I spoke Chinese! What could I do there? Wait a minute. I started to feel happy because I could leave this boring school and go to a more interesting one in the USA, as mom had described it before. “Am I really gooooooing to USA?” I swallowed a huge mouthful of meat stew and seriously asked mom. “For vacation only or school?” “What about Grandpa and Grandma? Are they going to the US with us?” “When are we going?” I asked question after question, because there were so many uncertainties from this surprising decision.

Mom started to explain her plans to everyone, but  I was already starting to recall those fun rides in Disneyland and Universal Studios, and of course, visiting the beaches when I went there for vacation last summer. And I also had left a skateboard in the garage that I could ride on again!

When I thought about these fun activities I had done before, I didn’t know that I was drooling and my mom snapped me back to reality. “Don’t you think about playing too early, because you’ll need to get good grades on report cards and the star test to earn the privilege to go to those parks.” Oh yeah, now I had to figure out how to survive in that new place. Too bad. Then I fainted (Just kidding).**

 

The Mostly True Story of Jack (written on Oct. 21, 2012)

 

It was a warm summer night in the green woods of the Sierra Nevadas. Twelve-year old Jack Bech was living with his aunt and uncle in a small wood cabin where they were spending their every summer. His parents had been badly injured in a car crash a month ago and were recovering in a hospital in New York. There was no one to look after Jack there, so his parents sent him to live with his aunt and uncle until they recovered.

Jack had a very good reason to not want Aunt Julia and Uncle Bob to wake up. Jack had been reading the Harry Potter series and whenever he saw his uncle, Jack was reminded of the fat, purple-faced Uncle Vernon. Uncle Bob also has those same piggy eyes and barely any neck. And coincidentally, Aunt Julia was almost identical to Aunt Petunia. She had the same mean and bossy face,  and an unusually long neck. But they both loved pets. And the pets they got seemed almost as mean as their owners.  

Fortunately, his aunt and uncle had a daughter, Emily, who was eleven years old. Unlike Uncle Bob and Aunt Julia, she was kind and very gentle. She had a good temper and had lots of friends at school.

Jack crept down to the last step without making a sound. He knew that the last step squeaked. So, as lightly and carefully as he could, Jack stepped on it. Good, he thought, it only made a slight sound. The temptation of running out of the cabin to see the glittering stars was getting stronger with each stride. Finally, he reached the side door leading to the clearing by the side of the house. As he sprinted there, he noticed he was not alone. For a while, he was worried that it might be his aunt or uncle. But as Jack got closer, he saw that it was only Emily.When he silently joined her, she didn’t seem to notice. She was totally absorbed by the brilliantly shining stars dangling from the pitch black sky.

When Emily finally noticed that Jack was next to her, he was almost as absorbed as she had been before. She asked Jack, “Is this your first time seeing stars this clear?” He nodded, unable to say a thing. They lay on their backs and watched the twinkling stars in silence. Emily broke the silence and asked Jack, “You know what constellations are, right?” He nodded. Jack suggested, “ Let’s try and find some if we can.” She agreed and immediately started to scan the sky. “Hey, look, Jack! I think I found the Little Dipper!” she pointed up at the sky to show Jack where it was. They continued well past midnight. Finally, they drifted off to sleep right in the clearing.

Jack had  many good dreams through the night. He wished it could continue forever. But he was roughly shaken back to reality. When he lazily opened his eyes, his gaze met Uncle Bob’s and Aunt Julia’s angry glares.

Starting to Read Harry Potter

 

One of my favorite series is the Harry Potter books by J. K. Rowling. Even though I started reading the series two years ago, I can still remember it clearly, for it was one of the best moments in my life.

    My mom and I were at Aunt Christine’s home celebrating Christmas when I was in third grade. Our topic slowly drifted to presents. Aunt Christine asked me, “Do you have any present you really want?”

I thought for a while. “Ummm. No, not really.”

“Well, I have a suggestion. I could buy you the whole set of Harry Potter books, which is very popular right now.” I had heard of it, but was not interested in it. So I told Aunt Christine I didn’t like them because they sounded very dark to me and the reading level was too high. But after that conversation, I started paying more attention to those books at school.

As winter break ended, I started to have different feelings about Harry Potter books. I saw more and more students reading them and everyone said they were super good. By now, I was very curious to read Harry Potter books. My mom also encouraged me to read the series because it would help improve my English, which was still not as fluent as it is now. My mom also promised me that for every book I finished, we would watch the movie right away.

Finally, that January, I started to read the first book, which was called Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. After reading just a few chapters, I got addicted to the magical world. I finished the first five books in third grade and the last two in fourth grade.

I always read and reread the Harry Potter books, for they are so good. I am very sorry for those people who haven’t read them yet, but I believe there are not so many.

The Journey to Coin Collecting

 

    My journey to coin collecting was an interesting one. It took place when I first came to the United States when I was in second grade.

    I came here around June of 2009. Whenever we went shopping, Mom always let me pay the money so I would get used to the new environment. Even though I had been taught at home about all the coins, it was still difficult for me to count coins in public. So I just grabbed a handful of coins and held them out to the cashier for that person to pick what I need to pay.

    Luckily, I escaped that obstacle, but as school started at Chaparral, I was in trouble. I still couldn’t recognize the value of coins at first sight.  The math worksheets Mrs. Harrison, my teacher, handed out always had at least one question about coins. Even worse, I didn’t know English, so I could not ask for help. All I could do was guess according to the sizes. Of course,  my answer wasn’t even close.

When my mom saw that worksheet in the Friday Folder, she immediately started to practice money sense with me. I learned fast and improved a lot. After a week's practice, I had it all memorized. Now, it’s easy as eating an egg.

Once I had confidence in coins, my interest rose as well. In third grade, I became addicted to coin collecting, especially quarters. My mom always gave me quarters from her change to sort into years. My oldest coin was made in 1965.  Every time I got a really old quarter, I would yelp with delight, even if we were in public. I had no idea that Coin Collecting is one of the Merit Badges in Boy Scouts.  Now I am working hard to earn the badge. I read books, and browse the internet to research information needed to fulfill the requirements. Now I learned how coins are made, how to identify the value of coins, and coin history. I also learned that not all coins made were perfect. Some weren’t centered perfectly in the process, so the machine made  deformed coins. And these defective coins are even more valuable. Isn’t that so interesting?

Now, for my Coin Collecting Merit Badge, there is only one more requirement to fulfill. That is going to a coin show. But my journey of coin collecting has just begun!

Forest Lawn Summer Camp (2012)

 

 

 

Dear Mrs. Rita,

Hi, Mrs. Rita. I just came home from an exciting week of  Boy Scout Camp in the Forest Lawn Scout Reservations. This was my first time camping as a Boy Scout. I got to earn a lot of merit badges, including  Emergency Preparedness, Wilderness Survival, Golf, Canoeing, and Swimming. My favorite one was Canoeing.

The classes started on Monday at eight in the morning. My first class was Emergency Preparedness. We talked about house fires and how to prevent and prepare for those. We also learned why we should not to put water on grease fires. We shouldn’t do that because the grease and water don’t “like” each other and will make the fire become even bigger. A way to deal with grease fires is to put the lid of the pan on the fire, which cuts off its supply of oxygen The counselor also had us put together an Emergency Kit in case there was a fire. Some of the items might include flashlights, battery radios, First Aid Kit, waterproof matches, and extra clothing. One of the requirements for this merit badge is to draw an escape plan if there is a fire. Then the family would have a place to meet, and everyone would be safe. This merit badge was pretty easy for me.

For Wilderness Survival, I learned the seven main priorities in survival. There are S.T.O.P., First Aid, Shelter, Fire, Signal for Help, Water, and Food. We also made a Survival Kit. It will come in handy in case I ever get stuck in the wild. We had to build a shelter in the wild and sleep in it on Wednesday night. We built our shelter beneath three pine trees. When we slept in it, it was very scary, with the trees’ shadows. When I slept in our shelter, I woke up several times and once I thought a bug was actually crawling across my chest! One of of my friends sleeping in the shelter with me said that he actually saw a bear’s leg stick into our shelter!

One Wednesday night, a scout from our patrol, left the camp. He said he had never been away from home for that long and was very homesick. We all hugged him and said good bye to him. I felt really sorry for him and I knew how hard it must be for him. Also, at such high altitude, people can get easily dehydrated.  Carson, who is one of your students, got so dehydrated that his face was kind of pale and he felt dizzy once after a swim class. Our patrol leader, Jacob, also probably didn’t drink enough water, so that his lips were so chapped and burned they were almost black. Those lips scared me a lot and forced me to drink a lot of water.        

Canoeing, which was my favorite class, was very interesting. My buddy and I got to capsize the canoe in a 27-foot deep lake and push it back to shore. Although the weeds were kind of squishy and felt a bit weird, it felt good under my feet.We also tried a T-Rescue, which was when one boat capsizes and the other boat tries to dump the water out of the first boat and push it back into the  water. This was all done very close to shore and I wanted to see some of the grass snakes that hung out in the dense vegetation. The weather was pretty hot, so the cool water refreshed us.

Swimming was also very fun. We swam six laps and learned the basics of lifesaving. The requirements were to do a deep and shallow dive correctly. There were also different floats that we had to do. I also got to use snorkels and fins. These snorkels were better than mine at home. This merit badge was pretty easy and I liked it a lot.   

After this 6 nights long camp,  I got home so exhausted. But it was really a cool camp and I want to go again next year.

 

Sincerely,

Justin W.
 

The dining hall.

Our tents.

I (the one in black sweatshirt) am building a shelter with my buddies.

Jacob and I (left) have capsized our canoe.

Jacob and I (left) are attempting a capsize.

I (left) am helping Jacob "rescue" a fellow scout's canoe.

 

 

 

 

Boy Scout Popcorn Sale

 

    You know, it’s not that hard to sell popcorn, especially if you’re a Boy Scout like I am. But to be successful, you could follow my steps and advice.

First, in the morning, clean yourself up after a night’s sleep. Brush your teeth and maybe use a mouthwash if needed. Wash your face thoroughly and comb your hair neatly. Next, put on a Boy Scout (or Cub Scout) uniform. Tuck in the shirt so none of it is sticking out. You should also pin on your sash, but it is optional. You need to give the customers a good impression.

Second, get all of the materials ready. Check to make sure  you have all the types of popcorn you need. Have a foldable table with a tablecloth. Have a poster that stands out. You should also bring a cooler with some snacks, because you’re going to be selling popcorn for three or four hours.

When you get to the location where you plan to sell your popcorn, first ask the store manager where you can set up the table. Usually, you put it somewhere that stands out, but does not block the traffic of the entrance or exit. Spread the tablecloth on the table, get a couple of each types of popcorn and display them in a pose. Lean your poster against a wall where everyone going in and out can see.

Selling the popcorn is the most important step because that’s where the money comes from. Just grab any type of popcorn and go stand by the entrance or exit. Walk up to anyone who passes you, smile and talk to him/her. When you are talking, always be polite. One way to talk them into buying the popcorn is by saying, “ Good morning, Sir/Mam. Would you like to buy some delicious popcorn to help support Boy Scouts?” If they say no, do not get upset or  discouraged, it’s usual. You can say something like, “Thank you and have a nice day.” But if they hesitate, keep talking, like, “70% goes to our profit,” or “You could also make a donation, every bit counts!”

Finally, after three hours of selling popcorn, you get to count up the money you made and check the inventory. It has to be pretty accurate, but your parents can help you with that. You turn  in the inventory sheet to your Troop leader, along with the money and the remaining popcorn.

If you follow my directions, your popcorn sale will be very successful. Anyway, I enjoyed my popcorn sale, and I bet you will too!

 

 

                                                The poster I am holding is drawn by me.

 

JPL open house (2012)

Dear Mrs. Rita,

 

This Sunday I went to the famous JPL Open House, which actually happens once a year. I just learned JPL, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, exists as NASA laboratory. It sounded so cool to me. My friends from school, my mom, my mom’s friend and I spent almost whole day over there. Even though the lines were very long, it was worth waiting to check out those interesting information in and models in each building. And now I am so excited to share some of the places I have been to.

In the lobby of Mars Science Laboratory, there was a full scale model of the Mars Rover, Curiosity. This rover was launched on November 26,2011, at 10:02 a.m. It will be travelling 354 million mile in space to reach Mars. Curiosity is expected to land on Mars on August 5, 2012. This means the trip is 225 days long. Isn't it that long trip? It is launched to Mars to see if it supports life. I hope it land on Mars safely as the previous ones. The scientist there told me it will enter the Mars atmosphere at 81 miles above the ground. And it will free fall about 7 miles above the ground at 900 mph. At that point, a SUPER heavy duty parachute comes out to slow the rover it down a lot, but not enough to land. After that the rover is dropped down with a jetpack. The jetpack flies it down to 20 meters above the ground. Then nylon cables drop the rover down as gently as it can. I think that is a really smart design for landing. Will you also check the landing on August 5 as I will?

There was also a movie narrated by Harrison Ford, one of my favorite Hollywood actors. It was about the journey through our solar system and beyond into other solar systems and even different galaxies. Can you imagine how far away that would be?! I think they should make a new unit of measurement called trillile. And one trillile would be equal to one trillion miles. That would be much easier to measure distances between galaxies.

Another very interesting place was the Deep Space Operations. It was a very big building with lots of control rooms containing valuable information and high-tech equipment used to launch a rocket. There was also a countdown of the Curiosity rover land on Mars, saying it was 56 days and 6 hours landing on Mars. I just want to know the results!

We also visited JPL's Spacecraft Fabrication Facility. I got to hold different metals JPL uses to build parts of rovers. Some of them were aluminum, titanium, brass, etc. Don't be tricked by their size, for baby metals might squish you into a pancake(just kidding)! There were several more tables containing other designs made of metal. Then we went up some stairs into a narrow hall that we could walk through. There were signs telling about the different machines and what learning and training you would need to become a machinist. In the next room, there were two robotic arm around an object to make sure each and every part is put in the right position.

I was also fascinated to check a model of a robot, Athlete for future missions. This robot had many legs that they could lift out of large cracks that it might get stuck in. Then it will keep on operating, and not stop like the rover Spirit did.

I had a lot of fun there and also saw many new cool things about Mars and the rovers we've sent up there. Please check out the attachment. It is a 3D picture with me and the rover Curiosity pretending to be on the surface of Mars. You could have your 3D glasses on so the image will be very impressive. If you've never been to JPL, I recommend you to go next year with Winona and Nick!

Sincerely,

Justin W.