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A Retrieved Reformation RTL

Vocabulary November 5 2010

Mesmerized: The deathly beauty of tornadoes mesmerized many people once they have seen them faraway.
Petrified: Walking on an empty street, Rebecca was petrified by a gang of strange men holding sticks walking toward her.
Impeccably: Victoria Beckham is many teenagers fashion idol, who always impeccably dressed whenever she goes down town.

Stoically: There were many bullies came and 'visit' Anna, but she was stoically calmed herself down as they teased and mocked her.
Dissuade: My friends dissuaded me not to buy that pair of shoes because they thought it would be a waste.

high heels platform sandal

Chaotic: At four o'clock every afternoon, the schoolbell rings, suddenly, the hall is chaotic.
Acquisition: After the game, the champion's acquisition was a lesson about friendship.
Corps: The corps were trained as hard as the soldiers who are going to the battle
Commemorate: There were so many soldiers died in the Vietnam war that my country build commemorates for them in a big park.
Mimicking: The leader of the team was showing to her members the move in the song, the whole group was mimicking exactly the same.

"Stop the Sun" and "Gentlemen of Río en Medio" Vocabulary

Commotion (n): The fire station was awaken by a sudden commotion reported by an alarm bell.

Foundered (v): The earthquake from 2 days ago caused houses foundered and made up a huge chaos.

Ruin (v): Drugs are used for positive purposes such as medical purpose, but at the same time, they also ruin many people's lives

Inert (adj): Sarah's body was inert as she heard her name was shouted out from the MC on the stage.
Negotiation (n): Vietnam and China are having negotiation about the boundary seperates these two countries.
Innumerable (adj): Hollywood stars are so rich that they own an innumerable amount of shoes.
Boundaries (n): Boundaries between two countries are always in protection by securities and security devices to stop people that illlegally traveling between countries 
Descendants (n): In Vietnamese feudal system, descendants of the king will continue his father career to protect and support the country.

"Gentleman of Río en Medio" Infer

Why doesn't Don Anselmo reveal who "owns" the trees on his first visit to the lawyer's office? Was he being clever, or was he unware of the potential problem? Explain.
I understand this story in a way that I think the one minor messenge I can pull out from it is Americans are some mean people and destroy the peace of the village. Therefore, we can guess that Don Anselmo could be a little tricky when he didn't reveal that the trees weren't "owned" by him. He sold his lands cheap in order to attract the investors and then, turned out, the trees problem caused the investors more money and the land was not a big bargain as they thought at first. He might know that the Americans didn't know about his Río en Medio culture and to take advantages of it, he trick the Americans to pay more money for his children in the village.

"Stop the Sun" Compare and Contrast

Terry and his mother support his father in diffrent ways. What do these differences tell us about them ?
Terry's dad had experienced a horrible night and saw deaths during the war in Vietnam, since then, he had a Vietnam syndrome. The syndrome made him obsessed with his horrible past, a dark and rotten side of himself. His wife, Terry's mom avoided to talk about her husband sickness and tried to live a normal life like nothing had happened. She didn't want to face with her husband sickness or maybe she thought if she gave herself a chance to heal her husband sickness, she wouldn't stand if her husband suffers and faces any hard challenges and drowned in pain. In the contrary, Terry, was a young boy and eyes full with curiosity, always wanted to know thing that he didn't understand. The way Terry cared and supported his dad was different from the way Terry's mom supported. At first, the way how his dad acted confused him and embarrassed him because Terry didn't know what happedned to his dad during the Vietnam war. Terry felt like he needed to find out what was wrong with his dad and he tried to fix and heal his dad's sickness. Unlike his mom, Terry faced directly to the trouble by asking his teacher, the library and his mom, however, the result was not as satisfied as he wanted so he asked his dad. Once he had knowledge, knowed the reason why his dad suffered for the whole time, he knew some day he would be able to heal his dad and wouldn't feel embarrassed anymore.

What Terry's mom might think is time would heal her husband's sickness. With Terry, he didn't think so and facing the challenge will solve his dad's problem quicker than hide away from it.

Read "Stop the sun" online through this link

http://members.chello.nl/~d.hasselman/stop_the_sun.htm

STOP THE SUN - Gary Paulsen

Terry Erickson was a tall boy; 13, starting to fill out with muscle but still a little awkward. He was on the edge of being a good athlete, which meant a lot to him. He felt it coming too slowly, though, and that bothered him. But what bothered him even more was when his father’s eyes went away. Usually it happened when it didn’t cause any particular trouble. Sometimes during a meal his father’s fork would stop halfway to his mouth, just stop, and there would be a long pause while his eyes went away, far away. After several minutes his mother would reach over and take the fork and put it gently down on his plate, and they would go back to eating - or try to go back to eating - normally.

They knew what caused it. When it first started, Terry had asked his mother in private what it was, what was causing the strange behaviour. ‘It's from the war,’ his mother had said. ‘The doctors at the veterans’ hospital call it the Vietnam syndrome.’

‘Will it go away?’ ‘They don’t know. Sometimes it goes away. Sometimes it doesn't. They are trying to help him.  ‘But what happened? What actually caused it?’ ‘I told you, Vietnam’.

‘But there had to be something,’ Terry persisted. ‘Someting made him like that. Not just Vietnam. Billy’s father was there, and he doesn’t act that way.’ ‘That’s enough questions,’ his mother said sternly. ‘He doesn’t talk about it, and I don’t ask. Neither will you. Do you understand?’

‘But, Mom.’ ‘That’s enough.’

And he stopped pushing it. But it bothered him whenever it happened. When something bothered him, he liked to stay with it until he understood it, and he understood no part of this.

Words. His father had trouble, and they gave him words like Vietnam syndrome. He knew almost nothing of the war, and when he tried to find out about it, he kept hitting walls. Once he went to the school library and asked for anything they might have that could help him understand the war and how it affected his father. They gave him a dry history that described French involvement, Communist involvement, American involvement.. But it told him nothing of the war. It was all numbers, cold numbers, and nothing of what had happened. There just didn’t seem to be anything that could help him.

Another time he stayed after class and tried to talk to Mr. Carlson, who taught history. But some part of Terry was embarrassed. He didn’t want to say why he wanted to know about Vietnam, so he couldn’t be specific. ‘What do you want to know about Vietnam, Terry?’ Mr. Carlson had asked. ‘It was a big war.’

Terry had looked at him, and something had started up in his mind, but he didn’t let it out. He shrugged. ‘I just want to know what it was like. I know somebody who was in it.’

‘A friend?’ ‘Yessir. A good friend.’

Mr. Carlson had studied him, looking into his eyes, but didn’t ask any other questions. Instead he mentioned a couple of books Terry had not seen. They turned out to be pretty good. They told about how it felt to be in combat. Still, he couldn’t make his gather be one of the men he read about.

And it may have gone on and on like that, with Terry never really knowing any more about it, except that his father’s eyes started going away more and more often. It might have just gone the rest of his life that way except for the shopping mall.

It was easily the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to him. It started as a normal shopping trip. His father had to go to the hardware store, and he asked Terry to go along. When they got to the mall, they split up. His father went to the hardware store, Terry to a record store to look at albums.

Terry browsed so long that he was late meeting his father at the mall’s front door. But his father wasn't there, and Terry looked out to the car to make sure it was still in the parking lot. It was, and he supposed his father had just gotten busy, so he waited.

Still his father didn’t come, and he was about to go to the hardware store to find him when he noticed the commotion. Or not a commotion so much as a sudden movement of people.

Later, he thought of it and couldn’t remember when the feeling first came to him that there was something wrong. The people were moving toward the hardware store, and that might have been what made Terry suspicious. There was a crowd blocking the entry to the store, and he couldn’t see what they were looking at. Some of them were laughing small, nervous laughs that made no sense.

Terry squeezed through the crowd until he got near the front. At first he saw nothing unusual. There were still some people in front of him, so he pushed a crack between them. Then he saw it: His father was squirming along the floor on his stomach. He was crying, looking terrified, his breath coming in short, hot pants like some kind of hurt animal.

It burned into Terry’s mind, the picture of his father down on the floor. It burned in and in, and he wanted to walk away, but something made his feet move forward. He knelt next to his father and helped the owner of the store get him up on his feet. His father didn’t speak at all but continued to make little whimpering sounds, and they led him back into the owner’s office and put him in a chair. Then Terry called his mother, and she came in a taxi to take them home. Waiting, Terry sat in a chair next to his father, looking at the floor, wanting only for the earth to open and let him drop in a deep hole. He wanted to disappear.

Words. They gave him words like Vietnam syndrome, and his father was crawling through a hardware store on his stomach.

When the embarrassment became so bad that he would cross the street when he saw his father coming, when it ate into him as he went to sleep, Terry realized he had to do something. He had to know this thing, had to understand what was wrong with his father.

When it came, it was simple enough at the start. It had taken some courage, more than Terry thought he could find. His father was sitting in the kitchen at the table, and his mother had gone shopping. Terry wanted it that way; he wanted his father alone. His mother seemed to try to protect him, as if his father could break.

Terry got a soda out of the refrigerator and popped it open. As an afterthought, he handed it to his father and got another for himself. Then he sat at the table. His father smiled. ‘You look serious.’ ‘Well......’

It went nowhere for a moment, and Terry was just about to drop it altogether. It may be the wrong time, he thought, but there might never be a better one. He tightened his back, took a sip of pop. ‘I was wondering if we could talk about something, Dad,’ Terry said. His father shrugged. ‘We already did the bit about girls. Some time ago, as I remember it.’

‘No. Not that.’ It was a standing joke between them. When his father finally got around to explaining things to him, they’d already covered it in school. ‘It’s something else.’

‘Something pretty heavy, judging by your face.’

‘Yes.’

‘Well?’

I still can’t do it, Terry thought. Things are bad, but maybe not as bad as they could get. I still can drop this thing.

‘Vietnam,’ Terry blurted out. And he thought, there, it’s out. It’s out and gone. ‘No!’ his father said sharply. It was as if he had been struck a blow. A body blow.

‘But, Dad.’

‘No. That’s another part of my life. A bad part. A rotten part. It was before I met your mother, long before you. It has nothing to do with this family, nothing. No.’

So Terry thought, so I tried. But it wasn’t over yet. It wasn’t started yet. ‘It just seems to bother you, so much,’ Terry said, ‘and I thought if I could help or maybe understand it better...’ His words ran until he foundered, until he could say no more. He looked at the table, then out the window. It was all wrong to bring it up, he thought. I blew it. I blew it all up. ‘I’m sorry.’

But now his father didn’t hear him. Now his father’s eyes were gone again, and a shaft of something horrible went through Terry’s heart as he thought he had done this thing to his father, caused his eyes to go away.

‘You can’t know,’ his father said after a time. ‘You can’t know this thing.’ Terry said nothing. He felt he had said too much.

‘This thing that you want to know - there is so much of it that you cannot know it all, and to know only a part is ... is too awful. I can’t tell you. I can’t tell anybody what it was really like.’

It was more than he’d ever said about Vietnam, and his voice was breaking. Terry hated himself and felt he would hate himself until he was an old man. In one second he had caused such ruin. And all because he had been embarrassed. What difference did it make? Now he had done this, and he wanted to hide, to leave. But he sat, waiting, knowing that it wasn’t done. His father looked to him, through him, somewhere into and out of Terry. He wasn’t in the kitchen anymore. He wasn’t in the house. He was back in the green places, back in the hot places, the wet-hot places.

‘You think that because I act strange, we can talk and it will be all right,’ his father said. ‘That we can talk and it will just go away. That’s what you think, isn’t it?’

Terry started to shake his head, but he knew it wasn’t expected. ‘That’s what the shrinks say,’ his father continued. ‘The psychiatrists tell me that if I talk bout it, the whole thing will go away. But they don’t know. They weren’t there. Nobody was there but me and some other dead people, and they can’t talk because they couldn’t stop the morning.’

Terry pushed his soda can back and forth, looking down, frightened at what was happening. The other dead people, he’d said, as if he were dead as well. Couldn’t stop the morning.

‘I don’t understand, Dad.’ ‘No. You don’t.’ His voice hardened, then softened again and broke at the edges. ‘But see, see how it was ...’ He trailed off, and Terry thought he was done. His father looked back down to the table, at the can of soda he hadn’t touched, at the tablecloth, at his hands, which were folded, inert on the table.

‘We were crossing a rice paddy in the dark,’ he said, and suddenly his voice flowed like a river breaking loose. ‘We were crossing the paddy, and it was dark, still dark, you couldn’t see the end of your nose. There was a light rain, a mist, and I was thinking that during the next break I would whisper and tell Petey Kressler how nice the rain felt, but of course I didn’t know there wouldn’t be a Petey Kressler.’

He took a deep, ragged breath. At that moment Terry felt his brain swirl, a kind of whirlpool pulling, and he felt the darkness and the light rain because it was in his father’s eyes, in his voice.

‘So we were crossing the paddy, and it was a straight sweep, and then we caught it. We began taking fire from three sides, automatic weapons, and everybody went down and tried to get low, but we couldn’t. We couldn’t get low enough. We could never get low enough, and you could hear the rounds hitting people. It was just a short time before they brought in the mortars, and we should have moved, should have run, but nobody got up, and after a time nobody could get up. The fire just kept coming and coming, and then incoming mortars, and I heard screams as they hit, but there was nothing to do. Nothing to do.’

‘Dad?’ Terry said. He thought, maybe I can stop him. Maybe I can stop him before ... before it gets to be too much. Before he breaks.

‘Mortars,’ his father went on, ‘I hated mortars. I You just heard them wump as they fired, and you didn’t know where they would hit, and you always felt like they would hit your back. They swept back and forth with the mortars, and the automatic weapons kept coming in, and there was no radio, no way to call for artillery. Just the dark to hide in. So I crawled to the side and found Jackson, only he wasn’t there, just part of his body, the top part, and I hid under it and waited, and waited, and waited.’

‘Finally the firing quit. But see, see how it was in the dark with nobody alive but me? I yelled once, but that brought fire again, so I shut up, and there was nothing, not even the screams.’

His father cried, and Terry tried to understand, and he thought he could feel part of it. But it was so much, so much and so strange to him.

‘You cannot know this,’ his father repeated. It was almost a chant. ‘You cannot know the fear. It was dark, and I was the only one left alive out of fifty-four men, all dead but me, and I knew that the Vietcong were just waiting for light. When the dawn came, ‘Charley’ would come out and finish everybody off, the way they always did. And I thought if I could stop the dawn, just stop the sun from coming up, I could make it.’

Terry felt the fear, and he also felt the tears coming down his cheeks. His hand went across the table, and he took his father’s hand an held it. It was shaking. ‘I mean I actually thought that if I could stop the sun from coming up, I could live. I made my brain work on that because it was all I had. Through the rest of the night in the rain in the paddy, I thought I could do it. I could stop the dawn.’ He took a deep breath. ‘But you can’t, you know. You can’t stop it from coming, and when I saw the gray light, I knew I was dead. It would just be minutes, and the light would be full, and I just settled under Jackson’s body and hid.’

He stopped, and his face came down into his hands. Terry stood and went around the table to stand in back of him, his hands on his shoulders, rubbing gently.

‘They didn’t shoot me. They came, one of them poked Jackson’s body and went on, and they left me. But I was dead. I’m still dead, don’t you see? I died because I couldn’t stop the sun. I died. Inside where I am - I died.’

Terry was still in back of him, and he nodded, but he didn’t see. Not that. He understood only that he didn’t understand and that he would probably never know what it was really like, would probably never understand what had truly happened. And maybe his father would never be truly normal. But Terry also knew that it didn’t matter. He would try to understand, and the trying would have to be enough. He would try hard from now on, and he would not be embarrassed when his father’s eyes went away. He would not be embarrassed no matter what his father did. Terry had knowledge now. Maybe not enough and maybe not all that he would need. But it was a start.

GINNY’S FIRST DAY

“Shut up!” Ginny snapped sleepily to the alarm clock just above her head. She took a pillow under her bed and covered her ears. The clock seemed to be stubbornly noisy, which forced Ginny to get out of her bed. She stood up and fell over immediately since some textbooks were thrown down carelessly on the bedroom’s floor. She always complained her room was like a zoo cage while her mom, Mrs. Lisi, in the contrary, always complained about how messy her room was. Suddenly, to her fear, Ginny remembered that today was her first day at her new school. Stopped complaining, she put on her brand new uniform, brushed her tousled hair and darted towards the front door with two slices of bread, some sausages in her hand and her bag on her shoulder.

“Good luck honey!” shouted Mrs. Lisi from the back of the house.

“I will need it, thanks… TAXIII!!!” shouted Ginny back with a mouthful of food. “Four Seasons Middle School please!” said Ginny as she struggled inside the cab.

Sitting in the cab, Ginny twisted her fingers on the schedule paper and looked out of the window as thousand of questions flew through her head like water stream. The idea of blending in with new people made Ginny concern and contemplate hard. Would the students treat her nicely? Would she be able to catch up what they have studied? What if they laughed at her lack of intelligence? After all, those things happened before. Besides, is her skin too bright to make a big difference from everyone else? She knew she would get all the answers once she arrived.

“Here we are.” The cab driver words pulled Ginny out of her thoughts.  She paid for the ride and got off the cab. Standing in front of her were three enormous, huge buildings. Attached to the buildings’ gates were red bandrolls said “FOUR SEASONS MIDDLE SCHOOL YEAR 2010 – 2011”. As soon as she looked at the big stream of students going up and down the staircases, her body shuddered weakly.

Later on, Ginny entered the school and went up to the first floor. Probing for the schedule papers, Ginny was frightening when she found out she had left those papers in the taxi cab when her mind was busy with thoughts. Ginny went crazy and began to bit her thump. To find the main office of this school would take her a whole day. She swore that she would never dare to wish for a big bedroom anymore. While Ginny pondered for the most hopeful way to get to the main office, a boy came out from a classroom and walked towards her.

“Hey! Do you need any helps? I think…I haven’t seen you before. Are you a new student?” asked the boy tried to be helpful. Ginny turned around to figure out who was talking to her.

“Oh. Hey! Um…yeah. I am a new student. My name is Ginny, Ginny Grace. Nice to meet you.” Ginny replied shyly to the boy.

“Nice to meet you, too. My name is Fred Rawson. Are you having a hard time in figuring out the school’s schedule?” Fred introduced himself. His friendliness made she feel comfortable.

“Actually, I just lost my papers and the map of this school. As you know, this school is huge so… do you mind to show me where the main office is?” Ginny thought it was rude to ask someone she hadn’t known well to do something for her, yet, she had no time to consider other choices.

“Of course I don’t mind. We have 15 more minutes until the bell rings. Follow me.” Fred said. Ginny followed Fred to the main office like a child’s first went to a new park with her mother. Everywhere, the hallways seemed to have the same design structure, which must confused many new students like Ginny. Eventually, Fred and Ginny made it to the main office where an amiable woman with dark skin gave Ginny a copy of her schedule and wrote some notes to Ginny’s teachers. Feeling like a jerk, Ginny thanked the officer and left.

“I hope we have the same schedule. What is your first period?” asked Fred.

“Lemme see. I think I have … Science!” uttered Ginny.

“Cool! We will study together for the whole day.” Fred dragged a half-smile. The time when they finished the conversation was the time the bell rang.

“Thanks for your help, Fred. My first day at this school wouldn’t be this good without your help.” said Ginny wholeheartedly. Deep inside Ginny, she knew that all of her worry that morning was worthless when she found out how friendly and helpful people were in Four Seasons Middle School.

“It was just a little help. Well, see you in class then. Mr. Hardy will find you a seat, don’t worry. Our classmates will treat you nicely, I supposed. It’s going to be a great school year.” Fred bucked Ginny up as he dashed into the classroom.

Ginny was the last one outside. She murmured to herself under the breath.

“Wow. This is it. Showtime” as she opened the heavy glassed door, and using all of her confidences to walk towards her Science teacher, Mr. Hardy, a middle-aged man dressed in a clean white shirt, tucked in a pair of black pants stood in front of the classroom.

“Hey, you must be Ginny. I’m your Science teacher, Mr. Hardy.” Mr. Hardy took a guess before Ginny could say anything

“Good morning, Mr. Hardy. Yeah, I am Ginny.” replied Ginny to her teacher as she handed Mr. Hardy the notes from the office.

“OK, after introducing yourself, you might wanna join and sit with Abby, the third row and the second seat… Attention!!!” Mr. Hardy received the notes and raised both of his hands. Silence covered the whole class.

“We have a new student.” said Mr. Hardy. Everybody’s attention shifted to Ginny. She calmed herself down, quietly reminded her of Fred and the officer. At the same time, she gave Fred, who was sitting in the corner a nervous smile and began.

“Hi, I’m Ginny Grace. Nice to meet you guys. This is my first day here, so I haven’t known lots about this school. I hope you will help me and we will be good friend throughout the year. ”

Her new classmates all clapped their hands simultaneously after the speech. They all smiled warmly back at her and somehow it made she felt like she was at a new home, welcomed by everybody.

They liked her and things would work well – at least for the moment. After all, it was a good start for a new student like her because Ginny had a long, long way to go.

the end

Homework - Writing focus p. 189 - Describe a person

          Going to school is a very important part of my day although, I don’t feel exhausted at all but the feelings of excitement. My friends are the reason why I always in a good mood, especially, Susan. She has been my friend for 1 years and a half. Modest is the word I would use to describe my dear friend. Being friend with one another, we hardly ever feel jealous, neither envious. People can hardly know and describe her personality when looking at her appearance. Just only when people talk with her, by then, her personality is most obviously showed. Susan is an unruffled, mature, quiet girl and a little shy. Her height is what makes her different from other students the most. It goes over the average height for a teenager at her age. She looks huge, but still graceful and charming in some ways. Her eyes are like go and hide in somewhere when she smiles and her bang covers most part of her forehead. If you can see how she acts when I am sick, you would guess Susan is a careful friend. And all I can say is I am very pleased, contented to have such a good friend like Susan as my friend.

"A Retrieved Reformation" Vocabulary

Rehabilitate (v): restore to good standing
Example: The doctor rehabilitates the patient's neck from the accident he has.
Clemency (n): mercy
Example: People should show their clemencies to others to make the society goes better.
Elusive (adj): hard to catch
Example: Anabel became puzzly elusive after her teacher's vague speech.
Anguish (n): emotional of pain
Example: She feels a hole of anguish in her chest in her friend's funeral, which makes herself speechless.

Create a character - P.177

WRITTEN and DRAWN  by FLORA

"Hamadi" Vocabulary

Tedious (adj): repetitive, boring

Example: The movie was so tedious that I fell as sleep.
Archaic (adj): out of date, old-fashioned

Example: He has an archaic look in using internet.

Vaguely (adv): unclearly, unspecifically

Example: Mr. Patrick explained vaguely about his new assignment, which made the students looked very confusedly.

Inquiring (v): looking for answer, ask

Example: By inquiring the scene, the detective found out the murderer's traces.

"The Monkey's Paw" Vocabulary

Presumptuous: Overconfident, expect something too much.

Example:  She was too presumptuous by expecting her friend to let her borrow her friend's clothes.

Credulity: Easy to believe, gullible.

Example: Taking advance of the child's credulity, the thief tricked the child he would bought candies if the child followed him.

 Hospitality:  Friendly and generous behavior toward your guests.

Example: His hospitality makes everybody forget all about his bad rumor.

Gnarled: Old and twisted.

Example: My grandma has gnarled hands

Amiably: Good-natured.

Example: I amiably invited my friends to my house.

Personal Narrative - CHANGE (revise #1)

CHANGE

My eyes were moistening with tears when I figured out what mom had tried to say to me for last three days. OK, maybe I was just overreacting with the situation, but this was bad news. She had just said, “We will move to a new house, Flora.” Just the last few weeks, I was so happy with my new school, my new class and my friends studied with me, and now, I had to move away after 3 years of being best friends with them. Besides, I had tested and was chosen to study in the best class, I couldn’t miss that chance to be a better student.

My house was in district 3, a noisy and sleepless district. It’s right in the center of Ho Chi Minh City. Who doesn’t love her house if it is right in the center of the city? My family lived in Hanoi, and we had moved to Ho Chi Minh City when I was four years old. We lived in the apartment in district 3 for three years. I was impressed by the big streets and how crowded the city is. I thought I would be lonely by myself with no friends, but soon I realized that people in Ho Chi Minh City were friendly. As soon as our family moved to my house in District 3, we were welcomed by the neighbors near our house. There were children about my age. At first, they were shy but then their feelings changed to happiness when they see me like they had waited for the moment to come. Thinking of what my mom said to me, I was really sad because I had to leave Alicia and Lily. Alicia is a nice girl, we started to talk and study together when we were 10 years old.  Lily lived next to my apartment, and she was a quite and timid girl. I giggled when I remembered our time we spent together.

That afternoon, after my mom made me surprised, I was sitting in my room and looking out the window. I contemplated what life would be like in the future, when I moved away. I saw Mrs. Katie, Alicia’s mom. As I saw them through the window, she was watering her plants. Her garden was the most beautiful garden in the building. It reminded me of the garden in my house in Hanoi. Her garden smelled sweet as a candy, plus, the wind brought the fragrance to every side of the building. It made me feel homesick. Mrs. Katie was a very nice woman, she offered me candies and cookies when I came and played with Alicia. Each family had a different way of making cookies, but these were the best cookies I have ever tasted, better than in restaurants. They were dark brown, the color of chocolate and there were pieces of grapes jam cover the whole surface of the cookie. The candies were sweet at first, but when you swallowed it, it made you feel warm, like you when you eat ginger. Mrs. Katie taught me English, too. She even asked my mom to let me have a sleepover night with Alicia, which confused me because I didn’t know what it was. I imagined would there be any woman like her in my new place.

My mom came in and seeing me sad made her feel bad. She sat by my side and began to talk.

“Honey, our new house will be great. You will love it. You will make new friends and …”

“I don’t want any new friends!” I interrupted her. I expected an angry face from my mom because I had never interrupted my mom while she talked before. But what surprised me was she wasn’t surprised by my reaction at all. She always used ‘honey’ when she did something wrong or she knew she would hurt me.

“I understand Flora, but, we need to have a better life, we don’t need to rent house anymore, and we will build our own house. You will soon have to move to have a new life otherwise you will be the one who say good bye to your friends because their life will change, too. So it’s better if we move first, right?” She calmly explained.

“It’s OK if we don’t change, we can just live like this for the rest of our life. What is wrong with being just like what we are in the presence? Why do we must move away?” I said bitterly. My tears flowed down to my cheek and they were very salty. My vision began to grow dim. I couldn’t see how my mom looked at me, but I could tell that she wasn’t going to answer my questions. Didn’t answer my questions, which meant she would not take ‘no’ for her question.

“Come over here. Give me a hug. Everything is going to be fine. Now, you might want to tell your friends.” She comforted me. Deep inside my heart, I knew she was right. Sooner or later, I will have to meet on move but I still have the feelings I didn’t want to leave. I stood up and called Alicia and Lily to the terrace on seventh floor. When they heard ‘terrace’, they knew there would be a big announce coming up. They went to toward me and their faces looked terrified maybe because they saw how upset I was. Alicia has got blonde hair and blue eyes, a picture of an angel. Lily’s hair is brown and her eyes are black, more Asian than Alicia. Her mom is Australia and her dad is Vietnamese.

“Ok, girls! I afraid we no longer can live together. My mom said to me that we will move away. We still keep contact with each other, right? I will visit you every weekend, we can hang out if you want or we will have a sleepover night in the first day in my new house!” I tried to talk as fast as I could to avoid seeing my friends sad. However, my trick didn’t work. I still saw their faces stunned even in the dark. “WHAT?” they yelled at the same time. I didn’t think they would react surprise like that.

“No, Flora! Why? Who can we play with when you move away? No, tell your mom that we will move, too!” Lily said but I knew she couldn’t do it.

“My mom said that we need to change. We have to keep moving up, to live a better life. I’m so sorry. I can’t be selfish. My parents have their new jobs and those jobs are what they have wished for. I just can’t destroy their dreams. I am so sorry. But as I was saying, we can still contact and visit each other, right? Because we are far away from each other doesn’t mean we can’t be friends, right?” I tried my best not to hurt them.  This was the best time for me to offer a hug, to energize my friends.

“Come here! Let us hug each other, let us be strong!” I pretended to act bravely. I saw Alicia was crying in silent. I comforted her by holding her hands.  “Don’t be sad, Alicia. We are best friends, aren’t we? So please, seeing you cry make me cry. You don’t want my mom to see this, right?” I asked and in response, Alicia nodded.

The next morning, daddy drove us to our family’s new house. I was excited about seeing my parents’ achievement, our new house, what they have worked so hard to make our life better. How big is this change going to be? My daddy’s car stopped. To my left is a house about three stories, the house that my dad had been describing when he told me about his dream. I looked at my dad’s eyes and saw how proud he was when he looked at his house. I was pleased that my parents were happy.

Until now, we still live in this house. The house is considered as a big change in my parents’ life, it was my parents first time to build and own a house. My friends, Alicia and Lily, they both study abroad now, so we don’t contact each other anymore. Thinking of the day I struggled with moving to this house, I knew everything in our life couldn’t last for long but our life is just changing, non-stop, sometimes up, sometimes down. Saying goodbye to something is also the start of something new.