My last day Of the school

Hey,classmates
Today was my last day of the School.
tomorrow morning I am goingto fly to Is to visit my family. I will comeback to Oakland September
I am sorry because I miss the picnic.

Iwill miss all my classmates, and my teacher also I will miss room 101.
Thank you teacher for your helping.

By:Sadia Nur

The bully guy

One month ago, I went to Berkeley with my friend. We took a bus there. We waited for the bus for about for a long time. After about thirty minutes the bus came and we got on.

The bus was almost full so we couldn’t sit together. I sat next to an Asian guy. After a few minutes a black guy came up, and said to the Asian guy, ''Stand up and find another seat!''

The Asian guy stood up quickly and found another seat. When the black guy sat next to me, I was scarred. I worried about my English because my English isn't very good. Sometimes I can't understand the people.

After a few minutes, he asked me, ''Are you from Africa?''

I answered, “Yes.”

He said, “Me, too. I am from Africa, too.”

After that he took out a small knife. I asked, ''What is that?''

'He answered, “It's a knife.'' '

I said, “I see but what are you going to do with it.''

He answered, ''Nothing, but sometimes I use it to kill people.”

While we were talking the bus stopped and the Asian guy got off. Before he got off he said a bad word to the black people. Then all then black guys got off the bus. The Asian guy didn't run so the black guys caught him quickly. The black guys beat the Asian guy and then the police came.

By Sadia Nur

.

My biggest mistake in my life

Last year I visited my aunt. She lived in Kenya. My aunt was living in an apartment building. She lived downstairs. In her apartment building there were some very rude girls. The girls were from my country, but they had grown up in Kenya.
.

Every night when we tried to sleep they were noisy. One night they made a lot of noise. I went upstairs to their apartment and knocked on their door.

One girl opened the door. When I tried to speak to her in my language, she laughed at me. She spoke to me in the Kenyan language . After I went back to my aunt’s apartment, they were noisy again. I couldn't sleep all that night.

The next night, they did the same thing. They made a lot of noise, just like night before. I went back up to their to the girls’ apartment. One girl spoke to me in Somali, my language. We said many bad words to each other.

While we were talking, another girl spoke in another language. Then she said '' I will kill you'' in Somali. When she raised her hand to her head. I thought that she was going to hit me, so I smacked her. I thought to myself, ''Smack her before she smacks me!” I didn't know she is only trying to scratch her hair.

That was the biggest mistake in my life, but it was an accident.

By:Sadia Nur

English drive me crayz

S

Sometimes English drives me crazy.

Last Saturday I heard one new word on TV. That word was [appreciate]]

Then I wanted to memorize that word. I went to the mirror to practice the word. While I was talking to myself in the mirror, my brother saw me, but he didn't come into my room. He saw me but he didn't interrupt me. He went back to the living room

What happened was that when my brother saw me he thought that I was not OK. He thought I was going crazy.

All that day, my brother treated me in a different way. He asked me many questions. At night, after dinner, he asked me, ''Sadia, what was going on with you this morning. Why were you talking to yourself''

I laughed and then I explained it to him.

By: Sadia Nur

I understand little

Thanks, teacher Richard, for helping us to review the present perfect tense.

Now, I understand a little more about it. The present perfect tense has seven usages:

#1. Recent past action that is important now
#2. past experience indefinite past time
#3. Past experience that continues now
#4. With yet
#5. With a superlative
#6. With “the first”, “the third”
#7. repetition of on action

We have already reviewed usage number one. The key words are just and already.

Usage number two key wards are ever, never, and many times.

Usage number three key wards are for and since.

My Last Vacation

I took my last vacation to China in September, 2006. I went to China earlier than I had planned, because my mom passed away. I arrived in China 40 days after my mom died.

My whole family came together in remembrance of her. I felt very sad that week.

One week later, I left Jilin, my mom’s hometown, and traveled to my home in Chang Chun. I made a round trip between both cities a total of three times in that month. I was very busy on my last vacation, and also I did a lot of things.

I bought a new house in China. I met my good friends at one of my friend’s home. We remembered a lot of interesting stories from when we were young. One of my friend’s husband asked me a lot of questions.

“How do you make a living in America?”

“Is there really freedom in the United States?”

“Is it safe to live in America?”

“How do you study English?”

“Why did the United States send its army to Iraq?

My friend’s husband is a sport teacher in college. Their daughter is a teacher, too. She is teaching English in a different college. That day all of my friends made me very happy.

So, I felt different on my last vacation.

The Foolish Man

There once was a foolish man. His name was Ahmed.

Ahmed worked in a store. Ahmed wasn't a smart man, he was also a coward.

One day he went out and he saw a fat man carrying a guitar.

Ahmed wasn't too smart so he thought the guitar was a big knife.

He said to himself, ''This man lives in town and I am working in the store maybe someday in the future he is going to go to the store and kill me. I have to do something to protect myself.''

He went back to the store and took all the money and he also took a knife to protect himself. He wrote a letter to the owner of the store.

He wrote, ''I am going to go home. Don't follow me. If you follow me I will kill you.''

When he arrived home, he said to his wife, ''Today, somebody tried to kill me. Maybe that person is going to follow me here. You have to listen to me carefully. I am going to hide under the bed. If anybody comes to house, and asks you where your husband is, tell them that I am dead.”

“If he asks you when I died, tell him that I died yesterday. I am going to listen to you so don't make any mistakes!''

His wife said, “OK.”

After a while, two men knocked on Ahmed's door. His wife opened the door.

The men asked, “Where is your husband?”

She answered, “He is dead.”

The men asked, “When did he die?”

She said, “The day before yesterday.''

When Ahmed heard her say “The day before yesterday” he yelled and said ''No! No! Say yesterday Say yesterday''

Then the men heard him and came into the room but Ahmed killed his self with the knife before the men could reach him.

Before he died, he said, ''A coward dies twice.''

By:Sadia Nur.

Grammar Suggestion

The Grammar book almost finished. last week a teacher Richard Blum requested students to write on the blog Their suggestion.

So I am goingto write here my suggestion

My idea is why we don't review present prefect.
That tense is difficult for me. I can understand when the people using but I can't use when I am speaking.

Iwould like to review that tense.If some my classments and my teacher agree with me that idea.


By:Sadia Nur






;

New Experiment

Click here to try this new experiment.

I am trying to find a way to add more multimedia to our blog.

Hi, Classmates

My name is Taame. I am going to write a story on the blog today.

Look for it!

A Funny Story

A Funny Story

Hi, teacher, today I have a funny story I want to tell everyone.

This morning, my friend and I went to San Francisco, Chinatown by BART. When we were on the BART, my friend saw a woman reading a story in a magazine. She was reading a Chinese magazine. My friend was very surprised because she was a black woman.

My friend asked her, "Excuse me ! Are you Chinese?"

She said "No, I'm not. I'm Vietnamese."

My friend was very very surprised and said, "But I saw you reading a Chinese magazine and you are a black woman."

She smiled and said, "I was born in Vietnam but my Dad was a black man. He was American and my mom was Chinese. We lived in Vietnam that is why I'm Vietnamese.

She is a black woman but she knows a lot of Chinese words. She said she understood everything in the magazine.

The Dress Of Lace

A few weeks ago. I called my friend and she told me this story. She is from Kenya, Africa.

She told me about her first day in school when she came U.S.A.

She said:

I was fifteen years old when I came to the U.S.A. but the schools were closed for the summer vacation.

A few weeks before school started, my aunt, my uncle, and some of my dad's friends came to visit us, and they brought a lot of presents. I was surprised when I found clothing in one of boxes.

The clothes were nice but ordinary. They weren't special or fancy except for one dress. It was a dress of lace. There was lace surrounding the neck and the sleeves and lace on the bottom. I was very happy when I saw this dress.

On the first day of school I wanted to look my best and impress the other students. I wanted them to make friends with me, so I put on my fancy dress of lace.

When I got to school, all the students stared at me. They were laughing and saying something in English. I didn't know why they were doing this. I thought that maybe they had never seen an African girl in a dress before or that they wanted to make friends with me but were too embarrassed to come over.

In the classroom, an American teacher spoke to me in English and pointed at my dress, but I didn't know what she was saying so I just smiled. The whole morning she didn't let me walk around or stand up. I had to sit all the way in the last row in the back of the room. During lunch, when all the others students had gone, a teacher from Kenya came into the room. The minute she saw me she spoke in my language. She told me that I shouldn't wear a nightgown to school, that American only wear nightgowns to sleep in!

I was so embarrassed that I almost burst into tears. That morning, when I left home, I thought I looked good but I didn't. Instead, I embarrassed myself on my first day of school. I felt like not going to school anymore.

This embarrassment taught me not to try to impress others or I might end up making a fool out of myself. I also learned the difference between a fancy dress and a nightgown!

Immigration Questions

I will try to write some questions here about immigration. I hope you can understand my questions.

1.What are our immigrant rights?

2. Sometimes I hear people say ICE, but I don't know what that means.
So what does ICE means?

3. What do the letters ICE stand for?

4. If I am walking on the street and the Immigration Police stop me, and ask me some question, do I have to answer their questions or not?

5. If the immigration police come to my home, and knock on my door should I open the door?

6. If the Immigration police arrest me, and request me to sign some paper, what should I do?

7. What does the Immigration Service do?

Thank you teacher for this chance to ask these important questions.

Review Grammar

We almost have finished all the grammar units, and the teacher asked all the students to suggest what we would like to review in grammar.

In my opinion, why don't we concentrate on adjectives and adverbs?

I know that an adjective describes a noun, but sometimes I get confused about adverbs.

About Review

The spring term is almost done. We only have three more weeks to study English in this term.

Teacher Richard asked the whole class, “What grammar do you want to review?”

Some students wanted to review the past tense. Somebody wanted to review the irregular past tense verbs.

I want to review the present perfect tense because I know what that tense means. I understand it when I read it or hear it used, but I can’t use it correctly when I write or speak.

So, I hope we can review the present perfect tense.

Thank you!

My First Dream Came True

When I was in my country. My dream was to come U.S.A
Everynight I was dreaming my Father and my brothers and America.


When I was in my Country I heard people sayin A merica there are not poor people or homeles everybody is rich.

so I had wrong Idea to America when somebody said to me America isnot what you think.
I always got ungry and said to person don't tell me anything I will see there one day in the future. Although there were some of my family Idid'nt believe them when they said to me there are many Homeless, and poor people Ididn't beliene them.

But I was sure my dream will come true.
Idon't know why I was sure, but my heart and my mind was telling me that.
When I got visa I got stomachache Ididn't believe.

When they said to me you are goint to go tomorrow I didn't believe until I got in the airplane.
when I got in the airplane I began to worry, and said to my self ''Sadia maybe you are gionto die in the airplane maybe you arenot gionto see America and your family.

But I came When I came Idon't believe my eyes!

I saw many cars on the highway and the road. on the otherside, the street were dirty.
some buildings were broken. some people were drunk they made noise in the street.
A couple of homeless men were lying on the Street.
that was what my eyes don't believe.


The things my eyes believe were
the supermarket were bright and clean. the fruit, vegetable, and meals were fresh you can buy anything you want.

anyway I like this country But I don't know why That was my first dream.
Know I will find out the scond dream


By; Sadia Nur

Angkor Wat

Angkor Wat is one of the most famous world heritage sites. It's a temple that is located in Cambodia, and was built in 12th century.

My wife and I traveled to Cambodia by airplane from Thailand. We were backpacking for a month. When we got to the airport in Phnom Phen we didn't have the local currency so we had to change our money to Cambodian dollars. We didn't know the currency rate when we changed 300 US dollars. Guess how much local money we got? About 1 million dollars. It could not fit in our wallet. We were shocked to be millionaires!

On the first day in Siem Riep, we took a tuk tuk tour around Angkor Wat. We saw the amazing architecture in the jungle. It's incredible!

We decided to ride bikes on the next day to look at the intricate carvings.

Posted by Long Sheng at 9:27 PM

Hi, Classmates

This is my first post.

I will be posting a story soon.

A Warning

A Warning
by Yan Hua Yang

We learned about many kinds of crimes in the last three weeks. Some crimes were carefully planned, but sometimes people didn’t know that they were disobeying the law until a policeman gave them a warning, Once, I broke the law, but it wasn’t intentional.

Four years ago, the Beijing WuShu team came to Berkeley to perform at about 10:00 at night. After watching the performance, I drove our car to go home with my husband.

I had been driving for about five minutes when I saw a police car following us. I didn’t want the police car to follow me, so I drove slowly and turned down a side street. But the police car still followed my car. I stopped my car. The policeman came to my car, and he said “Do you have car lights?”

At that time, my English was very bad. I didn’t understand what he was saying. I thought he wanted to see my driver’s license. I gave my driver’s license to him, then I got a ticket. He told me that I had to go to court the next day in the morning. I didn’t go the next day. I was very lucky; the police man dropped my case.

I remembered this well and never broke the law again.

The Difference of Culture

Al is one of my neighbors. He is an American. He is a kind person. He has a black dog named Shirley.

Sometimes I meet Al with his dog when I come back home. Recently I noticed that his dog was getting fatter day by day.

One day, when my elder son and I were picking up the groceries from the trunk of my car. Al walked past my house with his dog Shirley. Of course, we had a chat. I remember that we needed to change talking topics after I said, “Al, your dog is too fat.”

I just had hoped he would put his dog on a diet. Al misunderstood me. He frowned and he looked unhappy. And it made me feel embarrassed.
I didn’t understand why Al was unhappy. In Kwangtong, China, there is a saying “The master who owns a thin dog should feel shame.”

Later, I understand the word “Fat” has a bad connotation.

Shall I Compare Thee to a Summers Day

Shall I compare thee to a summers day
Sonnet 18
William Shakespeare

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;
Nor shall death brag thou wand'rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

Hawaii

I left for our vacation in Hawaii on Wednesday. My son treated our whole family because it was my daughter's birthday.

We had to change flights. First we went to Honolulu then we switched flights and ended up in Kona. It was beautiful. The weather was a steady 84 degrees the whole trip. We could wear a t-shirt and shorts and be comfortable even at night. We stayed at the Fairmont Orchid; a four star hotel. The beach was a 2 minute walk from my hotel room.

My son taught me how to swim and we went snorkeling. We attended luaus at night and had buffet breakfast and lunches every day. One night we went out for dinner and got lost. Hawaii has no street lights or signs. We drove around for 1 hour when the restaurant was only 13 miles from our hotel. It was so scary. I thought we would never get back. Hawaii was my favorite vacation, I was sad when we left. I want to go back next year.

A Big Protest

Yesterday, May First, there was a big march. It went down International Boulevard. The purpose of this demostration was to support all the illegal immigrants who live in this country (U.S.A.)

When the morning class was over, some of the students went outside the school to wait for the protest. Just a few minutes later, the big demonstration passed by the school.

Veronica and I decided to join them. We said, "Just for a few blocks." We kept going until we were in front of the City Hall, where the demonstration finished.

I have never been in a protest before. I think it is very important to do it when we want something to change, like this big march. If all the illegal immigrants really want to have the oportunity to work and be treated fairly in this country, they should have joined this protest.

One Of My Dreams

Last night, I had a strange dream.

In the dream, I met a Mexican couple. The husband spoke to me in fluent Cantonese. Cantonese is my mother tongue. He told me that they have been in the United States for just a half year . As I was wondering why he could speak such fluent Cantonese, I woke up from the dream.

I wondered why I had this strange dream. Oh! I knew why. I remembered a story that I heard in our class.

Do you remember when Mei Mei told us about her dream. She said that in her dream she spoke fluent English. The teacher said, “You have reached your goal! When you dream in English, it means that your English skills are much improved.”

My dream meant that my English has not improved.

Understanding that, I went back to sleep.

OCCUPATIONAL HABITS

A Ticket Seller

She was a ticket seller on the bus. One day, she and her husband came home. When they arrived in front of their door, she opened the door, entered her house, and closed the door quickly. Her husband was still standing outside.

Her husband knocked at the door and shouted, “I didn’t come in. Open the door!”

His wife answered, out of habit, “You, take the next bus!”

An Officer Leader

An officer leader received a telegram. The message in the telegram was “Mother has died. Father is seriously sick. Come back quickly!”

As the officer leader read,he was so overwhelmed with grief that he hardly wished to live. He cried.

He was accustomed to signing telegrams with the short message “agree”

When the post officer saw return paper, he was very surprised. The paper was signed “agree”.

The Police

A policeman and a friend went hunting. Suddenly the policeman saw a Sitka deer. He moved around quietly behind it. He lifted his gun and shouted, “Don’t move! Lift your hands up. I will shoot you if you move!”

Meifang

The crying woman: A Mexican Superstition

Albero Ortega Servin

The Crying Woman (La LLorona): A Mexican Legend

The Crying Woman is a story about a ghost woman who wanders the streets of cities in search of her children. This legend not only scares children, but also adults.

A beautiful young society woman was married to a poor man. He was not rich, but he was good, responsible and loving.

He loved his wife. He knew that his wife was used to comfortable life with many servants. He worked without rest to be able to satisfy the economic desires of his wife. She felt content but she was wasteful.

This story is famous in Mexico because people tell it to scare children. They had 4 children. The children were educated by the servants. The mother had parties with her friends. One day, her husband became sick and he died.

The widow was left without a penny. She was responsible for the children. They needed to eat. She sold the furniture, and then she sold her jewels. Finally, one day she had nothing left to sell. She had never worked in her life. She worried about her children.

One day she told her children that they were going on a picnic near the river. The children were very happy, because this was the first time that their mother had brought them on a picnic.

When they arrived at the river, mother took each child down from the wagon and threw them into the water one by one.

The children couldn’t swim. They waved for help with their little hands. They were drowning, but she watched them with indifference. She got back in her wagon and left that place moving like a robot.

How the devil takes soul! She felt remorse and she returned to the place of the crime, but it was useless. The children had gone to a better life. When she realized that her children were dead, she threw herself in the river. Now, four children and one woman floated in the river.

The legend says that La LLorona rises from her grave at midnight. She cries because of her misfortunes. It is also said that La LLorona wanders the city in her wagon in search of her dead children. At midnight you can hear the sound of the chains of her wagon.

Also legend says that La LLorona screams and shouts at midnight. She asks, “Where are my children”

People say that she passes through the streets at midnight and under the light of the moon. People swear that this lady passes on her wagon pulled by wild horse. Some say that she is wearing a dark dress, while other people say that she is wearing a white dress. Everyone agrees that she is searching for her children.

A Frustated Examination

Hi there!

I am going to take a few minutes of your time, and I will talk to you about an examination that I have never had.

Well, I still thinking about to leave my actual job. One of the reasons is: I am unhappy with him. I think you are asking to yourself WHY? No class?
I will give you a quickly answer right now: I am unhappy with him, because this is a hard job, I do not want to continue working at nights and I need to go ahead and reach my goals.

O.K. Class, talking about the interview, In January ( this past January) I applied on line for a job at the Alameda County web site.
By February, when I did not have hopes to get the job, I received a letter , and SURPRISE CLASS!! it was a letter from the Alameda County Social Services. They have been approved my application.

Everything was going well at that time, I was happy because they could give me the job, but I was nerves for my English skills too. But I was just waiting for the appointment that they gave me.

I have been applied for a Social Worker Child Welfare position, and I was happy because I have never thought about to reach and pass the first step: THEY REVIEWED MY APPLICATION, AND APPROVED IT FOR THE NEXT STEPS ( and one of the next steps was an examination)

Sometimes, we do not see clear somethings that are obviously clear. The examination day, I was mad with myself, but at the same time, I was laughing of myself. Why? well, for the simple reason that I was not intelligent.

I say I was not intelligent, because when I went to the office to get the examination, I arrived on time, I was wearing for the occasion, I had my transcripts with me ( because they were asking for my transcripts too) and finally, I thought, I had everything in order. But I made a big mistake: They were asking me for my transcripts in English, and I had them with me but in their original version, in Spanish. And how you know, we are in United States, and logically, they could be asking for a translation of them in English.

I felt terrible, when the person who was ready to give me the examination, told me: I am so sorry Mrs. Lopez, But you can not get the examination today, because we need a translation or an equivalence of your transcripts and your diploma first. She gave me some web pages and told me that I will need to apply with them for the evaluation of my transcripts.

Oh my God! I was really sad and mad with myself that day.

At the moment, I still waiting to get the application and send everything to one of that institutions, and after I will need to take some courses to finally get the evaluation.

And that is the big reason because I lost the examination.

I think I was not ready to take it, and I hope to get the job in the future. And I will always say, that the better way to reach our goals, is being optimistic, and do not dishearten although the doors close. We could be lucky some day, and find one of this doors open.

Day by day we learn of our mistakes, and in this matter, I learned a lot.
An advise class: always, when you fill out an application, and if they call you for an interview or an examination, do not forget about to ask for everything, until it is clear in your mind.

Peng! peng!

Peng! Peng!

by Yan Hua

An old man was a house owner. His house was divided into two flats. He lived alone in the downstairs flat. He felt very lonely. The upstair apartment was empty, so, he wanted to rent it to somebody.

One day, a young man wanted to rent the old man’s upstairs apartment. The young man asked the old man “I come home every night very late, is that ok?”

The old man said, “Okay! No problem!”

On his first day in the old man’s home, the young fellow arrived home after work in the middle of the night. The old man was already sleeping. The young man tip toed to his room He took off his left boot - peng! The heavy boot fell down on the wood floor, then, peng! The second one fell down, too – peng!

The old man woke up suddenly. He didn’t know what had happened. He couldn’t get back to sleep again.

For three nights, at the same time, the same thing happened. Now, the old man knew what was happening. He knew the sound came from the young man’s boots.

The next day, in the morning, the old man told to the young man, “Please, put down your boots on the floor gently. Be quiet in the middle of the night.”

The young man apologized to the old man, and he promised to remember.

That night, the old man still didn’t go to sleep before the young man came home. When the young man finally arrived home, he took off his left boot - peng! The boot fell down and made a loud noise. Suddenly, the young man remembered.

“Oh! I’m sorry, I forgot!” he told himself, and then, he put down other one very quietly.

The old man only heard the first peng! So, he waited for the second peng! After a long time, he didn’t heard it. The old man got angry. He ran upstairs and he knocked on the door.

He said very loudly, “Please, put down your second one boot quickly!”

The young man said “I already did.”

Hi, Classmates

Hello, how are you?

Simret, I hope you feel better.

I will write a story soon.

I promise!

Hi, Classmates

My name is Hang Kit.

I will write you a story soon.

Please help me get used to using this blog.

Haven't Wear Clothe's Chicken

A month ago, l read a story in a Chinese newspaper. The title was "Haven't Wear Clothes Chicken". Now I am going to tell my classmates this story.

A man, who was a foreign student in China, went to a poultry market. He wanted to buy a chicken to cook for dinner. He spoke Chinese to a seller at the market.

He said, "I want to buy a haven't wear clothes woman chicken.” He pointed to a girl and said “Same like her."

When the workers heard this, all of them burst into laughter. A worker said: "I know you want chicken whose feathers have been plucked."

In China people classify people as men or women. They classify animals as male or female. The foreign student was embarrassed and hung down his head. The workers didn't see him blush because his face was very black. He was a black man.

Meifang

Picking Grapes with An American

I was married in Moldova to an American woman in August. We stayed in Moldova for a few months after we were married to help my family collect and gather crops such as corn, potatoes, and grapes. Wine is very traditional in Moldova. Most Moldovan families have their own house wine which means that they all have land that they grow grape vinyards on. When my family started to gather grapes my new wife helped for the first time and thought it would be fun. We woke up at 6AM, ate a bowl of chicken soup and drank a small glass of wine. My wife thought that eating chicken soup and drinking a little wine in the morning was strange and all she could eat was some bread and butter. After breakfast we went to the vinyards. It was very cold in the morning and my wife had to wear 5 layers of clothes. She even had two pairs of gloves on! We started picking and gathering the grapes the baskets. It is very hard, physical work. After about 4 or 5 hours we all took a break and had a picnic together. After lunch we picked grapes for about 3 or 4 more hours. After our hard day of work we all went home and my mother cooked us all dinner. We do this day after day until we harvest all of the grapes. My wife said that she was so tired and sore after the first day. She could not believe that we do this for many days in a row. She also said that she could not believe that my 60-year-old mother was able to do this physical work, she said that most Americans do not do this kind of physical work ever in their lifetime. Although it was not as fun as she thought it would be, my wife is very happy that she had the opportunity to help my family and she is happy that she was able to have the different experience.

Hi class

My name is Simret. How is spring break?
Ni Spring Break ,i read book story of Beetles & Angels, his name is mawi he home lands of Eritrea and Ethiopia this story form 19 61 t0 1991 Eritrea became an idepenent nationin 1993.Mawi with his family went Sudan camp 19 80 to 19 83 then his famliy went chicago U,A left he gradution from Harvard.
I love this stroy
This Simret keleta.

Our teacher, Mr. Richard’s vacation

Our teacher, Mr. Richard’s vacation

Our teacher, Mr. Richard’s Vacation

Teacher Richard, welcome back to our class after your four week vacation. We are very, very sorry that. nobody wrote any essays on the blog during your four weeks vacation, but we had good reasons.

We perfer you to edit our essays in the classroom than for you to edit them by computer. And, some of us don’t know how to print the edited essays and the unedited essays by ourselves. But the most important reason was that we were very busy learning about medicines with Teacher Linda and Teacher Anna during your vacation.

In March, everyday we learned about pills and tablets and their dosage. We discussed drops and why they are used only for eyes and ears. We learned that ointments are for external use. Medicines can cause side effects like drowsiness and nausea. We need to carefully look at the expiration date of medicines before taking them.

Welcome back! I think every classmate of mine will write many essays on the blog. You will be very busy editing them. I think you had better save prepare a lot of energy to edit our essays or you will have to limit each student to only write a single essay (a joke).

Three Pictures

I had taken three pictures from our teacher Richard Blum and his lovely dog Ciga on January 24th this year.
I post these three pictures on blog today. I hope Richard likes the pictures.
I like dogs, But I have many things to learn. I have not enough time to take care of them. Especially, I don’t want to see their sickness. So, I don’t want to own any one.
Excuse me, Richard. I have tried to upload the photos four times in the defferent day. But the blog showed up the "No photo available". I don't know why. I think I need your help.

Welcome Back to Our Teacher

Next Monday our teacher is going to be back with us. We’re very happy and looking forward to see him again. We all like him because he is an intuitive teacher. He knows what we need and what we dream. He lets us practice to tell stories. While we’re telling stories he helps students to make the stories clearly. He is a very patient teacher.

Everyday we have three hours to study in class. He makes us to do many thing such as telling stories, a pair of conversation, learning grammar and write stores at home. In addition he still have time to correct essays for students in class. We do the same like this everyday. We have many things to learn from him.

My class is the highest level in school so that we stay in this class for a few years with him, but we still like the way of his teaching because he always helps students to reach their goals.
After his vacation, we hope he will bring us a miracle technical to teach and help us how to reach to American dream, that is Speak English Fluently.

A Strand Of Keys

My youngest son came back home after work one evening near the end of last year. He opened the front door and came into the living room. He picked up something from under the coffee table and went out quickly. I wondered what happened to my younger son. I went out after him.

When I opened the door, I saw my neighbor, Mrs. Mohammad, her two young daughters and my son. They were looking for something around the bushes in front of my opposite neighbor’s house.

Mrs. Mohammad and her two daughters looked anxious. My son told me that they were looking for their keys.

Mrs.Mohammad’s two daughters had been playing in the street when their mother asked for the key to the her front door. The oldest daughter threw a strand of keys to her mother. Unfortunately, the keys flew over the bushes then dropped somewhere. They could not find the keys.

At that time, my son had just arrived home and saw what happened. He wanted to help them, so he took the flashlight from under the coffee table to help them look for the missing keys.

Once I understood what was happening, I took out two big flashlights and joined them.

We checked the bushes from top to bottom, one by one. We could not find the keys. It was getting darker. Mrs. Mohammad said, “It is difficult to find them. Please don’t worry about them now. Thank you for your help.” She returned home to cook dinner.

Before we gave up looking, the older sister saw the keys lying on the ground between the post of the house and a bush. She picked up the keys, raised them over her head and shouted, “Mama, I got them!” Then, she and her sister rushed into their house to show their mom.

Although my son and I did not find the keys ourselves, we felt happy, because we had helped our neighbors.

Travel to Vancouver

Hello Classmates,

On March 28, I went on vacation for 3 days to Vancouver, Canada. I met up with my friend that I haven't seen for approximately 40 years. She looks completely different. We stayed at The Hampton Inn in Richmond. The next day we went on a tour of Vancouver City. We went to a couple different parks and Chinatown. It was very big, but everything was more expensive. Tax in Canada is 13%. The day after, we went to Victoria. We drove the whole bus onto the ferry that took us there. It was a 2 hour ferry ride to Victoria from Vancouver. We also went to the Chinatown in Victoria as well as Butchart Gardens. It was the biggest garden I had ever seen. Most of the flowers were in bloom, it was beautiful. Everywhere we went, I saw cherry blossom trees. They are my favorite. This was a great trip. If I have free time, I would definitely make another trip out there. Bye.

Hi again

It is me, Simret.

I wish you a nice day

Hi, class

My name is Simret,

I will write about a book I am reading.

The name is of the book is "Of Beetles & Angels"

No Richard No Stories

Hi, teacher,

Please don’t ask how come? How come we have no stories? As you know you had been a student and you know more than us?

We all right here wait for you. How has your vacation gone? We really want to know about your vacation. Certainly, you have a lot of stories during vacation. Could you post yourself stories on the bog? We prefer to read your stories than we write because English is so difficult for us.

We all study well while you are on vacation. We are very busy because the big test is coming soon and it is very important. That’s why we have no stories for you. Sorry!

We enjoy to read stories of native writer than foreigner writer because we can learn more English.

Whazzzz Up?

How come nobody is posting any stories?

Here is a picture of my son, Alex, in the hayak surf competition in Santa Cruz.

Richard's Last Day

Tomorrow is the last day of our teacher. He is going to take a three week vacation. For sure, we will miss him infinitely because he is an amusing teacher. He always brings a lot of laughter to students.

Our teacher is a very savvy person. He is very good with computers. No one can compare with him. We love and respect him very much because he gives students freedom of speech. Our class is a democracy. Oh, we love it! In addition, he likes to listen to students’ opinion. He is an open teacher.

We are very lucky under his teaching. We all say,“Thank you very much” and we wish him, “Have a good time!” Bye bye!

We all send a thousand of kisses to him.

The Difference Of Culture

Here are some editing suggestions. Sometimes I have to guess what you were thinking, so please ignore the suggestions that do not accurately communicate your meaning. It also gives me a chance to give an example of how the word “connotation” is used.

Al is one of my neighbors. He is an American. He is a kind person. He has a black dog named Shirley.

Sometimes I meet Al with his dog when I come back home. Recently, I noticed that his dog was getting fatter day by day.

One day, when my elder son and I were taking the groceries from the trunk of my car in the garage, Al walked by my house with his dog Shirley. Of course, we had a chat. I remember that we needed to change our topic of conversation after I said, “Al, your dog is too fat.” I had just hoped that he would put his dog on a diet. Al listened to me, but he felt unhappy. And it made me feel embarrassed.

I didn’t understand why Al was unhappy. In Kwangtong, China, there is a saying “The master who owns a thin dog should be feeling shame.”

Later, I learned that the word “Fat” has a bad connotation.

About the "Grandma"

Classmates:
In grammar unit 97, part "D", the fourth sentence:
Could you speak a ( little ) bit ( or a little ) more slowly?
Whether I understand it for being the following?
(1) Could you speak a bit more slowly?
(2) Could you speak a little bit more slowly?
(3) Could you speak a little more slowly?

Imagination

Imagination

Yanhong Li

I'm an ordinary woman. I'm not young anymore, but I still love to imagine a lot. Don't think

that is only a young person’s right. Many different age of people like imagination, because it

makes you feel a lot of different ways. It keeps you young. Imagination doesn't belong among

the 7 intelligences. It's a special one.

I don't like to drive. I prefer to be a backseat driver, because if you drive a car, you have to pay

attention to the road. You can't imagine anything.

I can start imagining anytime and anywhere. For example, when I am listening to the teacher in

our class, when I am looking at you, or when I am walking alone, I can start to imagine.

Sometimes, the imagination is like a story with a beginning and an ending. Sometimes it has no

beginning and no ending, just a part of something. Sometimes it really happens in the real life.

For example, when I was pregnant, I was imagining about my baby's looks: black and dense

hair, pink and round face, big eyes, straightened up nose, and nice lips... I had imagined this so

many times, that I had a clear picture in my mind.

When I really gave birth my son, he looked exactly like the picture in my imagination. It

seemed that I had seen him a thousand times. God gave me a perfect child. That credit should

be completely put on my abundant imagination.

I have different imagining at different times, in different places, during different moods. When

I'm delighted, all of the characters are in a beautiful mood, and the feeling is absolutely

wonderful.

One day, I saw a bird flying alone. I began to imagine that the bird was hungry, but it couldn't

find any food. What a pitiful bird! It lost its mom. A while later, it found its mom. When the bird

grew up, it met a pretty bird. Finally, they got married. At the end, I became a bird, I didn't

need to worry about my language, my life, my future...

On an unhappy day, the bird would die at the end.

Now I'm imagining while I'm writing this composition. I think, if I'm not me, I'm another person,

maybe she will finish writing soon, she will write well, she won't make too many mistakes as I

do. She can speak English fluently. She will be a full-fledged intelligent woman.

At that moment, my husband says,"Don't daydream again. You always think of useless things. If

you want to dream, you had better think about the mega-million number."

I have an abundant imagination, but I can't make a forecast. I spent a lot of time imagining. Let

me do it again. Suddenly, I have the special function. I win this mega-million, a lot of money

comes from the sky...

Human Rights

What do you think of this report from China that criticizes the United States ?

MY BROTHER-IN-LAW'S HOUSE

Last Sunday my family and I went to Los Angeles to visit my oldest brother-in-law. This may have been our last opportunity to see him, because he has had cancer for about 10 years and now he is so weak.

After an hour on the plane, we landed the airport and my niece picked us up. Then she drove us to my brother-in-law’s house. We were six people. Three of us had been to his house before, so we found it easily.

When we arrived there, we didn’t call first, because we didn’t want to bother him too much. We stood in front of his house. It is a beautiful house and my oldest sister-in-law told us that Khoa (the name of my oldest brother-in-law’s son) had just repaired the garden and the side walks a few months ago.

That is right! Because it is a new house and very beautiful. My young brother-in-law, Duc, rang the bell. which was not connected inside the house. And then he opened the gate. My sitter-in-law and I followed him. He knocked on the front door and shouted, “We are here! Please open the door!” But nobody opened the door to welcome us. Then Duc took out his phone up and called my oldest brother in law to ask him to open the door.

At that moment, my sister and I were sitting on chairs at a table and looking at the garden. It had a lot of flowers and candles. Everything was very romantic.

Suddenly we heard my sister-in-law shout; “We are at the wrong house!”

As quickly as possible, we left this house quietly. All of us thought that we were very lucky, because nobody yelled at us or called the police or shot us.

Anyway, we laughed a lot.

News From Changchun City

Check out this news story from Yan Hua's hometown.

Hi, Classmates

My name is Alma.

I am hapy to join you on the blog.

I'll write a story as soon as possible.

Mei Fang, you were right!

You are not good. You are great!

You said that " Eva lived in the US for five years, so she speaks very good English." and you were correct.

Good is an adjective that describes English.

I read the sentence very quickly and made a mistake.

Chinese New Year's Eve

In China, we celebrate the New Year for a half month. Before the New Year, people usually clean up their houses, bake cakes, buy a lot of food, and hang scrolls with lucky words on their of doors. People write about good health, being safe and making money.. The good luck words are usually written on red paper.

In the United States most Chinese still celebrate Chinese new year, and I do, too.

This Chinese New Year's Eve, we had a big dinner. I cooked a whole chicken, a whole fish, a pork kidney with facai, and greens... The whole chicken and fish are prepared in honor of our ancestors. Fish means that we will have a surplus of money, too. Pork kidney with facai means we will make money easier. Greens mean we will make more money. All of the food will bring us good luck.

When I finished cooking, I didn't do anything special to honor my ancestors, I thought, all of my ancestors are supposed to be in China. Even if I serve them a big dinner in America, they wouldn't know about it. And even if they get to know about our meal, it's hard to cross the Pacific Ocean to come to my house. So I skipped this step.

I called my family to eat dinner. My brother-in-law is in China now, and my daughter is losing her weight, so we had five people was eating dinner this day. I felt a little lonely.

After dinner, usually we eat dessert dumplings. This dessert means everybody is together. But we didn't eat them because everyone is trying to lose weight. That was a boring New Year’s Day in the United States.

I could have skipped everything, but the call my family in China. I never want to skip that. After dinner I called my family to say "Happy New Year!" and "Kung Hay Fat Choi! "

When I knew that my brother and all of my sisters and nephews and nieces. were at my parents' house celebrating New Years together/ I felt both comfortable and sorry. My parents are getting old. They want to see all of their children being together, but I can not go home now.

Before I went to bed, I asked my daughter, "Do you want a red envelope?"

Usually children get red envelopes from adults who are married. The only reason I asked her is because she seldom wants money. She replied, "Why not? I don't care how much money I get, but I care how much love the person who gives it to me feels."

All right. I gave her a red envelope. Of course, with twenty dollars inside. Twenty dollars does not so much but it included all my love and best wishes. I hope she will grow up with health and safety. I hope she could find a few good friends. I hope she go to school on time. I hope she gets good grades.

That was a great night! When I was sleeping everything became good and my wishes came true.

An Artificial Heart

On March 21^st, 2004 the largest hospital in ShangHai succeeded in replacing a boy’s diseased heart with an artificial heart. He was only seven years old. The boy only lived a little more than one year. He died in June, 2005.

The parents of the boy decided to sue the hospital for three reasons:
1. When their child felt uncomfortable,. they sent him to the hospital. The hospital staff didn’t examine the child very carefully and didn’t take x-rays, either. The hospital staff only touched the child’s feet and hands. Then, the staff told the child’s parents that the child had to change his heart immediately. If not, the doctors said, the child would die that night. The parents had to borrow a large amount of money for the child’s expensive surgery.

2. The hospital imported the artificial heart from Germany without the permission of the Chinese government.

3. The artificial heart from Germany was still being tested. It wasn’t 100 percent safe. The hospital just wanted to use the child’s body to test the artificial heart.

So, the parents thought the hospital was responsible for the death of their child.

Trees And Leafs

My coach’s eyes were wet, and he said, “Chinese people’s lives are really hard,” as he looked out side through the train’s window. That was in1962 in China and on the train from Chungchin City to Hurfei in Anhui Province.

I was thirteen years old and this was my first trip with my Wushu team. We were going to visit Wushu teams in Anhhui and Shan Dong to practice martial arts. Our team got together with them once a year.

The train passed through many cities and villages. We saw a lot trees with no bark. We were surprised and asked our coach, “Why”? Because we were very young, we didn’t know what was happenning in China.

After United States war with North Korea and China ended, Russia demanded that China repay for the weapons they had used in the war. At the same time, from 1960 to 1963, there were three of natural disasters in China. Many people did not have enough food to eat. They ate anything could eat, including the bark of trees.

Last year, my mother passed away. I went to China. One day, my brother, he is 3 years younger than me, and I were talking about my mom and about our family life during the 1960’s.

He asked me, “Sister, do you remember, when you were a young girl and you came back home from your trip on Chinese New Year? Did you see a lot leaves in our kitchen?”

I said, “Yes. I still remember, I thought that we used them in our stove for fire to cook with.”

He said, “No! That was our food.” Later, he told me that he and my second brother used a circle of rocks to grind the leaves into powder. Then, my mother mixed them with flour. She cooked them together. He told me that every family did the same, but only you didn’t know, because my mother had told us, “Don’t tell to your sister.”

I could not control my eyes, I felt my eyes. Something deep and very hot and came out. It was from my heart.

CrossThe Ocean

After the war ended, VietNam's economy was very terrible. Most people lived a poor life because, at that moment, the government needed money to pay Russia for the weapons they had needed in the war.

Many families worked hard, but they still didn't have enough food, clothes or even a place to live. They lived under the tight control of the communist government.

From 1978 to 1990, lots of Vietnamese people decided to escape from VietNam by crossing the ocean to find a better life in other countries. They knew, the dangers, but they didn't have any other choice.

How many of them could realize their own dream? Some of them are sleeping forever in the ocean from many causes. They coped with huge storms, pirate crews, and they even ran out of food and water.

Some were lucky to meet foreign navy ships patrolling on the ocean. They were helped by the sailors on the ships. Those sailors gave them food, water, medicine, and a safe place to sleep.

Then, after they got off the ships they had to stay in refugee camps for a while. After that, some were admitted to settle in one of the countries they had chosen.

They went through a hard and dangerous journey to get a better life, and freedom.

Recollect

Recently, this class talked a lot about what happened 35 years ago in China. I thought back and many old things came before my eyes as if they had happened yesterday.

The Chinese Culture revolution had almost come to the end, in about 1972 to 1974. The Chinese people could not watch anything except only 6 specimens of Chinese opera. At that time, sports were just returning to public view. No one had practiced or performed in a tournament for more than six years. Sports became a hot amusement.

The gymnastics, Wushu (martial arts) and table tennis teams always performed together. We went to many cities in JiLin province. We performed for foreign country leaders and princes who visited Chung Chun.

I remembered once, we went to Yan Ji Autonomy to perform. One night, at a not too big a stadium., we had performed for just about 15 minutes when someone stopped us. Latter, we learned that too many people wanted to see our show. There wasn’t enough space for everyone. All the tickets had been sold, but more people wanted to watch. They crowded through a door, and it was very dangerous, so we changed to the next day.

Thus it can be seen that, at that time, the Chinese people had a thirst for more recreation.

A Poem

Check out this poem.

See if you can fill in the blanks without peeking.

DoDo's Story

Today I want to write a story about my dog. Dogs have been a good friend to man for a long time. My family always kept a pet and dogs were our first choice. Since I was a child, we always have had a dog living with us in our house.



About thirteen years ago, according to Chinese custom., it was the Year of the Dog. A lot of Chinese people boutght dogs to celebrate the coming New Year because they believed that dogs would bring good luck and fortune during this Year of the Dog.

During the New Year holidays, I went dancing with two girlfriends named Ashin and Ayin. When I felt tired after dancing, I sat to wait for my friends who were still dancing. Suddenly, I felt something behind me on the chair. I turned my head and I saw a beautiful puppy. After a short while, its master returned from the dance floor. Ayin knew him. His name was Amin.

He said, "The dog's name is DoDo. Her mother gave birth to four puppies a few months ago. The other dogs have all been sold. I just kept her."

I asked him curiously, "Why did you just keep her?"

He said, "Because she is my girlfriend's favorite puppy. "

Ashin said, "If I want to buy her, can your girlfriend be persuaded to sell the puppy?"

He thought a while and answered, "If I sold the puppy, my girlfriend would kill me!"

We all laughed loudly. Ashin tried again, "You don't need to worry about that. DoDo's mother will give birth to other puppies soon and you will make more money if you sell DoDo now."

Finally, he agreed to sell the puppy to my friend, Ashin. We were very excited. We brought DoDo home together.

When we arrived in front of my house, Ashin said to me," Can you do me a favor?"

I said," What is the matter?"

She answered. "My mother-in-law will be very angry when she learns that I brought a new puppy home because we already have two dogs."

I looked at DoDo. She was so quiet like a baby hiding in her new master's arms.

I said, "I need to ponder this a while. The puppy will be very expensive. I am worried if I will be able to take good care of her."

But Ashin continued to ask me again and again.

"Please, just keep her a few days. I will pick her up when my mother-in-law agrees that DoDo can come to my home. I know you will do your best to take care of her."

For that reason, DoDo stayed at my house.

Since that day, I have taken care of about twenty dogs - DoDo and her children and her grand children ....

AN UNPLEASANT DAY

There is an unlucky day, that I don't like to remember.

Few years ago I took my children to San Francisco. First we rode on the BART and then we caught the bus in the Mission district in San Francisco.

We planned to go to a restaurant where my husband works. When we got on the bus, it was so crowded, but we still found some spot where we could sit.

When it was time for us to get off the bus, I held one of my children in each hand, to stand close to the door.

Finally we arrived to my husband work. After work my husband took us to a Chinese restaurant. We enjoyed the food and then my husband drove us to our home.

When I was home, suddenly, I don't know for wich reazon, I took my purse and I looked for my wallet. I felt very upset and worried because my wallet was gone.

I think it was When we were on the bus, when somebory stole it.

This caused me a lot of problems, because that day I had same of my personal documents in my wallet.

If you ride on a bus, always be aware, specially if there is a crawed.

AN UNPLEASANT DAY

There is an unlucky day, that I don't like to remember.

Few years ago I took my children to San Francisco. First we rode on the BART and then we caught the bus in the Mission district in San Francisco.

We planned to go to a restaurant where my husband works. When we got on the bus, it was so crowded, but we still found some spot where we could sit.

When it was time for us to get off the bus, I held one of my children in each hand, to stand close to the door.

Finally we arrived to my husband work. After work my husband took us to a Chinese restaurant. We enjoyed the food and then my husband drove us to our home.

When I was home, suddenly, I don't know for wich reazon, I took my purse and I looked for my wallet. I felt very upset and worried because my wallet was gone.

I think it was When we were on the bus, when somebory stole it.

This caused me a lot of problems, because that day I had same of my personal documents in my wallet.

If you ride on a bus, always be aware, specially if there is a crawed.

A Warmest Heart

Once upon a time, there was a mother who had a son. And the mother had given everything she had to her son, but the son was still not satisfied.

The mother asked, “What more do you want, son?”

The son answered, “I want to have your heart, Mom.”

Without thinking, the mother took a knife and cut her chest open, and took her heart out and gave it to her son.

The son was very happy to hold his mother’s heart and ran out of the house. Suddenly, he fell down on the ground. The mother’s heart was thrown into the air then hit against the ground with great force.

“Son, are you ok. Are you feeling pain?” were the first words spoken by the mother’s heart.

How warm is a mother’s heart? When she faced danger, her first thought was about her son. But, did the son think about his mother for a second? I think nobody can answer this question.

Nervous

Since I had passed the written test of driving, I looked for and found a driving coach to train me. After two weeks and eight hours of training, I had enough confidence to take the driving test.

My coach’s name was Tony and he is Chinese. I remember what he talked about the day before my driving test. He told me that “your driving skills and safety consciousness is good and you should pass the driving test easily.”

At that moment, I was confident and felt happy about his comment.

I replied, “Of course, I had about ten years driving experience in Hong Kong, so it is no problem for me to pass the driving test. I also have a plan to invite my family to dinner in a Japanese restaurant to celebrate that I will be a qualified driver in California.”

Tony replied, “I think you won’t have any trouble.”

The DMV arranged for me to take the test at 8:00 am on Friday. On that day, I woke up at 6:30 am and had breakfast. I was ready and left my home at 7:00 am. I had about one hour to get to the DMV. I arrived there early because the traffic situation was good. At that moment , I had a strange feeling. I felt a great pressure. I don’t know why, but I knew then that this feeling would impact my performance on the driving test. I tried to do something to calm me down. I was praying and singing songs to help me relax but nothing helped.

I was shaky when I sat in the car to start the driving test. At the beginning, the examiner asked me to demonstrate the hand signals. I did this quickly, and then, I drove my car away from the DMV. I drove for about 7 minutes and everything was ok. Suddenly, the examiner asked me “to pull the car to right side and back up.” I did what she had asked. After that, I started to drive back to the DMV when I suddenly realized that something was wrong. I looked at the examiner anxiously. I found that she was looking at me, too.

She said, “ You have failed the driving test, because you forgot to release the hand brake while driving. That is a big mistake!”

I drove the car to come back DMV and Tony met me. He was very surprised and said, “ Why did you come back so quickly?”

I was embarrassed and said, “ I failed the driving test and the reason was nerves.”

Get Worse

My aunt is cook a breakfast for me in every morning Once day morning, I was wake up at 8:00 am and go to kitchen to find some food for eat. I was found a pot of cereal that placed on the strove. So, I put it on the burner for reheat and went to wash room for grooming. At the moment, I want to take a hot shower because the weather is very cold. During my bathing, I was suddenly smell a stranger taste. At that moment, I suddenly remembered that I had something in cooking. So, I rush to kitchen right now. However, that is too late because my breakfast was got worse. I was very depressed when I looked at the pot. I don’t have more time to make another one breakfast because I need to go to school on time. I only to leave my home with hungry and go to school. My aunt is cook a breakfast for me in every morning Once day morning, I was wake up at 8:00 am and go to kitchen to find some food for eat. I was found a pot of cereal that placed on the strove. So, I put it on the burner for reheat and went to wash room for grooming. At the moment, I want to take a hot shower because the weather is very cold. During my bathing, I was suddenly smell a stranger taste. At that moment, I suddenly remembered that I had something in cooking. So, I rush to kitchen right now. However, that is too late because my breakfast was got worse. I was very depressed when I looked at the pot. I don’t have more time to make another one breakfast because I need to go to school on time. I only to leave my home with hungry and go to school.

Illegal Driving

This story is about my driving in the United States. Before I came to the United States I wanted to get my international drivers license, but someone told me that it didn’t matter. With my driver’s license I could drive in any European country for one year. So, I thought that my license would be good for one year. After that I could apply for a US license. So, we flew from Moldova to South Padre Island, TX where my wife’s mother lives. My wife’s license was expired so when we arrived in the US I drove. Then, we flew to New Orleans to visit with my wife’s father and his wife. My wife got her driver’s license while we were in New Orleans so she drove most of the time while we were there. For Christmas we decided to go to Atlanta, GA to visit her brother and we decided to drive, after that we had to go to a wedding in Chicago. The trip was long and I drove because I felt more safe. My wife’s mother went to the wedding too. She stayed in the hotel with us. The day after the wedding my head was spinning and I had to pretend that I was fine in front of my wife and her mother. The wedding was on the 30^th of December so after a few hours of sleep I drove back to New Orleans on New Years Eve to celebrate with her father. It was a very long trip and I was tired and cranky from the night before. Without any problems we arrived in New Orleans in a short amount of time because I wanted to get home fast. My wife was offered a job here so we decided to start our life here in Oakland. We had another wedding on the 13^th of January, but her work started on the 16 so, we had to fly from Oakland to Louisville, KY. It was a short time. On the first of January we rented a U-Haul and a two dally to drive all of our things and our car behind to Oakland. The drove from New Orleans to Oakland was about 1400 miles. A week ago, we realized that the whole time I was driving illegally, because if you are a permanent resident in the US, you must teak a test to have American license. Two weeks ago, I went to the Oakland DMV and they gave me the information and the Californians rules book. After a few days I took the written test and yesterday, the driving test. Now, is everything OK. So tanks Jesus, that I wasn’t stopped all this time.

More Practice with "Extra" Information Phrases

Click here to get more practice placing commas around extra (nonessential) information in a sentence.

An Earthquake

Mrs. Chan works in an electronics company which is in Fremont and she lives in San Jose.

One day, after work, she drove home along south highway 880. She felt a little tired. But she felt happy.

Suddenly, she felt her car shake. She went on driving and she heard the honkings from other cars. She thought there had been an earthquake. She just wanted to get home as quickly as possible to see her lovely young daughter.

Finally, she arrived home. She parked her car on the curb in front of her house. Before she went into her house, she walked around to the rear of her car. She found that the rear bumper of her car was out of shape. She did not know why.

Mrs. Chan went into her house quickly and saw her husband and her daughter in the living room. She hugged and asked her husband to check the bumper.

Mrs. Chan told her husband that the rear bumper was perfect before she drove home and she didn’t feel anything hit her car during the drive home.

Her husband told her that nothing could explain why the bumper was out of shape liked that unless something had hit it.

At that moment, Mrs. Chan remembered the “Earthquake”. The time of the “Earthquake” was exactly the moment that her car was hit.