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.

Another Chinese New Year's Love Story

Can you sing?

Check out this story about the Miao People of Southern China.

The Pig Year of 2007

The New Year rarely falls on a weekend or holiday, but this year it does. So, most Asians who live in the U.S. are very happy because they have time to go out with their families to visit their relatives and friends.

This year Asians who live in California celebrated the Chinese New Year bigger. They cooked more food and welcomed friends who came to their houses to play and to eat.

There are seven countries in the world which celebrate the Chinese New Year. It’s a very important holiday that everybody is very excited about.

It doesn’t matter whether immigrants have lived in the U. S for a short or a long time, they never forget this holiday. They always maintain their culture and traditions.

Chinese New Year’s Day brings everybody a lot of excitement and happiness. Everyone enjoys and relaxes after a year of working hard.

Wedding in Moldova

I want to explain in my story the differences between weddings in my country and weddings in America.

My wife has been a bride’s maid at two friends’ weddings, since I came to America.

So, we went together and, I saw a big difference between customs in our two countries.

Let me tell you about our weddings in Moldova.

On Friday, at noon, we go to the Orthodox Church for the ceremony.

The ceremony takes about one hour, and then all the friends and relatives go together to take photos.

We have a memorial for people who died in the Second World War and sometime during the wedding celebrations we put flowers there.

After three or four hours of taking pictures, we go to the groom’s parents’ house or to a restaurant.

There are many different kinds of food and alcohol. We have so much food on the tables that we must stack plates of food on top of other plates of food.

Dinner time is without limit, plus dancing.

The reception starts the next day, around five or six PM and ends the next morning.

In Moldova, we adopt a new family to be our support in life. This family could be neighbors or your parents friends. They usually are not blood relatives. It is an old tradition.

They are like a third set of parents called (Nash). The Americans call them sponsors, because they help guide you through your marriage plus they give you some money. The nash also invites their own guests to the wedding.

The sponsors and one young couple stand next to the groom and bride at a table to welcome the guests with music, sweets and alcohol.

The music is live!

From the moment that the first guests get there until everyone arrives, all the guests are dancing!

From nine to ten in the evening is the first meal. The tables are full with food, even more than the day before!

Most of the time, we have one person who manages all programs during the ceremony. This person runs the entertainment.

While we are eating we play different games. After that, we all dance again.

At midnight we start the second meal and the sponsors give a speech for the new couple. They wish them happiness, health, many years of love. After they give their speech they give a sum of money to the couple. Then, the microphone is passed to every guest and every guest gives a small speech and then puts a sum of money in a basket for the couple.

The bride and groom thank everyone for the gifts and start dancing again.

Before the night is over the wedding cake comes out and we do a traditional ritual called “undressing of the bride.” Basically, the bride’s veil is taken off and a head scarf and apron is put on her. She is now a wife. After that, she sits on her new husband’s lap and family members wrap them in linens (sheets, towels, blankets). Perfume is sprayed on the couple and they are ready to go and start their life together.

Usually the wedding ends when the sun comes up around 7 a.m.

Everyone goes home to sleep a few hours and then everyone who wants to, goes to the house of the bride and eats chicken soup.

After three days ( and lots of food, drinking and dancing) it is all over!

I was in trouble

Hi, everyone!

How are you, my unforgettable class? I think everything is well, and I hope it is, in truth.

Let me tell you that I am having trouble signing into the blog. I do not know why, but it keeps asking me for a new blog version..

I did not know what to do. At first time, I got confused and worried, because I thought it could lock me out of the blog forever :-(

Well, in the end, I decided to try and figure it out, and I followed all the steps to get a new Google blog account. I do not know if I took the correct way, but now, I am writing in the blog again, I think so?


In my last post, I talked to you about my busy time, although I was on small trips, but it kept me very busy:-(

Now, I continue to be very busy, because, I am taking care of my little niece, and it makes me be very, very busy.

So, Teacher Richard, please let me come back to your class next week.

I hope everything will be O. K. in this posting, because, I am not sure if I did the correct things .

Either way, I am going to be there next week. I hope Teacher Richard can help me to make it easy.


O. K. class, take care and be nice always. I know all of you are nice people, and that is the reason you are unforgettable for me.

I Miss You All

These last few days, I feel like I look older and older because no one makes me laugh in the morning. I miss you all.

Happy Valentine to All of You!!!

Today is Valentine's Day. I have no candy for you guys. I just have some words for you. It represents my heart to all of you!

A Happy Day

This Monday was Kathy's birthday. We went to Yuki's house to have a hot pot (special Chinese style of cooking) and we celebrated Kathy's birthday.

A week ago, we decided to have a hotpot for Kathy's birthday. We didn't let Kathy know about that at first, because we wanted to give her a surprise, so we made a conversation to trick her.

The conversation started like this. Yuki said, "I want to have a hotpot at your house, Ena. How about this Wednesday?"

I said, "No, my brother and sister are coming home early that day, because their school is over early on Wednesday."

And then Ivy said, "I have something to do on Tuesday."

And then Yuki said, "How about Monday? We can go to my house. Monday is my mother's day off and she can help us."

I said, "That's great!"

While we were having this conversation, suddenly Kathy said, "Oh, Monday is my birthday."

We all felt upset after what she said, because she knew that already and it wasn't a surprise any more.

Yuki said, "We don't want to know about your birthday. Don't tell us about that."

And then we thought about another idea. When we were on our way to buy the food, I said to Kathy, "Does your brother always buy a gift for you on your birthday."

She said, "No, nothing."

Ivy said, "We haven’t bought a gift for you yet. What do you want?"

Kathy didn't answer. Actually, we had bought gifts for her already. We just wanted to trick her again. We wanted her to feel surprised when she received our gifts.

When we arrived at Yuki's house, we went to Yuki's room. We gave Kathy a box and there was a ring in it. We asked her to open that box quickly. That box had five levels. When she opened the last level, she asked us, "What's that?"

We said, "You'll know that after you open it." When Kathy opened that box, she saw the ring. She felt very happy, because everytime when we went shopping, Kathy always looked at rings. That's why we bought her a ring.

The other gift was under the bed cover. Yuki said, "Hey, man. Help me to get my cell phone. It's under the bed cover."

When Kathy pulled off the bed cover, she saw a purse and asked, "Is that mine?"

We said, "Who knows, if you think it's yours, then it is yours."

After that, we all laughed. We bought Kathy a purse because her purse was chewed on and ruined by a mouse. When we first time heard about that, we all laughed without stopping.

After the presents, we were ready to have the hotpot. We all ate too much. When we came home, we couldn't sleep.

Hi, Classmates

My name is Mei Mei. I just joined the blog. I will post a story this evening.

My Daughter’s Computer Teacher

Last Sunday, I took my daughter to Bret Harte Middle School to learn Mandarin. I volunteered for two hours. I helped the teacher make copies of the lesson, erase the whiteboard and helped pass out work to the students.

The Chinese teacher taught the class just like my English teacher does. The students had to give an oral presentation about any topic. My daughter told about her computer teacher.

In February, all the ninth graders change their schedules. If you have health class, you might change to a computer class. The first day, my daughter came to her computer class, she said, “How are you, teacher?” but the teacher said very loudly, “Don’t say how you are to me. Can’t you see the words on the whiteboard? It says ‘No talking!” .

Then the teacher started to talk herself.
The teacher gave an assignment to the students. After everyone finished it, one student told the teacher, “We’re all finished.”

The teacher said, “How would you know? I’m the teacher, if I say you guys are done, then you guys are done.”

The student yelled at the teacher. “You are crazy, you should go to the mental hospital.”

The teacher was very angry and said, “If anyone agrees with what he said, please leave right now.”

Half of the students went out.

My daughter remained in her seat because she doesn’t want to give bad impression to her teacher .She felt the teacher was very unfriendly.

A Late Love

Here is a link to the love story we listened to in class today.

A Poem about Power and Time

This poem is called Ozymandius.

It was written by Percy Biysshe Shelly.

Happy Childhood

I was born in a small village. A small river flowed alongside my hometown. Near the river, there was a huge and beautiful beach. The river and the beach gave me a lot of fun.

Every summer in my childhood, my friends and I went to the beach. We swam, played ball, ran and other games.

I forgot what age I was, maybe 9, maybe 10. One day, we found a few dead bamboo trunks that were left on the ground, then we put the bamboo trunks together and tied them with a thick cord. That was our boat. Together, we pulled the boat toward the river. While we were pulling it, some kids fell down, some kids lost their shoes, and we also sweated a lot. However, the boat was moved into the river.

All of us sat on the boat. We used our hands as oars to row the boat. The boat was moving, and we were laughing.

Suddenly, a kid fell down into the water. We hurried to save him. Another kid jumped into the water. He wanted to save his friend. The other kids stretched out their hands. They wanted to pull him up.

Finally, we all fell down into the water. We screamed and laughed. Although we all got soaked, we still felt happy.

I also remember one day when my friends and I cooked eggs on the beach. We were walking on the beach when we felt that the sand was very hot. One of my friends suggested to boil eggs by using the heat of the sand. We got some eggs from home and then shoveled a pile of sand over the eggs. After an hour, we took out the eggs, knocked the eggshells off and we saw the that while the whites of the eggs had congealed a little but the yolks were still raw.

Ha! These were some of the many anecdotes that had happened in my childhood. Those days were so hilarious and happy!

A Special Man

There is a man who I admire. He is 80 years old and he still works as hard as a young man. He is my father.

My father, as I told you before, is an old man. He doesn't want to stop working. He makes different kinds of candies. He is a professional candy maker in my town. (Yerbabuena, Jalisco Mexico).

Many years ago he received an award for the best homemade candies in the region.

My father is a hard worker. He has been working since he was a little child. His parents were very poor, so he had no choice. He began working to support his parents when he was only eight years old.

When I go to Mexico every year, I see him. I feel happy, but at the same time, sad because every time I see him I notice that he is getting older and sicker.

If I were a magic person I would have my father healthy and alive forever.

Superbowl ESL Lecture

Did you see the Superbowl ESL class commercial?

Check here or here.

Carlos Mencia, a popular comic, is the English teacher.

First Come First Serve, Late Come No More!

Actually, my birthday is going to be on this Saturday, February 3, but tomorrowI’m going to bring you guys a sticky rice cake . Don't come late or we willl have eaten it all.


If you guys contribute some money, I will make you a big breakfast. You can eat until you are full or you get tired of my cake.


See you soon!