Saturday, May 30, 2009

6 Words Memoir


I chose “Fight, work, persevere – gain slight notoriety” from 6 words memoir, because it is very cool tell the story in 6 words. Even though it is hard, if you write it well people can understand what you want to say. And they will remember the memoir since it has an impact. It means to me that even though it is important to persevere, you cannot be blind, must help other people.

 

This relates to my life because one of my friends is like this. He plays soccer all the time and really good at it. He doesn’t hang out with people after school. So some people say bad things about him. However, I like his attitude towards his hobby. It’s not easy to be like that. When I saw this memoir, I realized this kind of people is cool. They know what to do in order to achieve they goals. I want to have that feeling.

 

I felt sad for him but I thought that’s how the life goes. It is the right result because you will eventually get no help from anyone if you do it to others. However, still I understand why he had done it. 

 

“Feeling which became my own core”

 

Here is the quote I made. This means that soccer is the most important thing in my life. It helped me to live in many ways. For example, when I first came here I had no friend. I was afraid to talk because I couldn't speak English. However, you don't need English in soccer. Because of it, I got many friends, there is current myself. 

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Sudanese Lost Boys

The Lost Boys who had no parents, in Sudan had to decide whether to leave their country or stay there. On one side, Arabians were chasing them, but on the other hand America was waiting for them. They were eventually forced to go to America because there are much environmentally better and they could live better. During the journey, they were having fun in airplane. Since they had never ridden on it, it was cool for them because there are many technologic things. It was an entrance of the big country where they were going to, America.

In America, the boys, Peter and Santino, faced many difficulties as they tried to adjust to the American culture. The language was new, their first language was Sudanese, so since they had not been well educated, they couldn't speak English well. There were also racism as they lived in America. Since they were black,  the white people in America was looking them down. It was unfair. They had hard time on making friends. Since they couldn't speak English and the American culture was different from the culture of their own country, which is Sudan, it was hard to talk with people in America. The Lost Boys couldn't live without friends. They needed friends since they live together and help each other. That was the way they live. They couldn't do what they used to do in Sudan such as holding hands with a male friend. Because otherwise American people would think they are homosexual. It is abnormal to hold hands with people whose gender is the same as yours. However, it is normal to do that in Sudan. It was really hard for them to adjust to the American culture since they were different. However, they had to follow what American does in order to survive there.

Even though the American culture was different from Sudanese culture, they worked hard to adjust to it.  Peter watched T.V. to know about the system of America and the News. He was active in playing basket ball. He tried out for the basket ball team. He also tried to communicate with the American. The Lost Boys also learned how to cook American food and they can now cook spaghetti and junk foods. They were positive, always active to try on things. However, it was so hard to get a job there. Finally Peter got a job and he learned lots of things through the education. The Lost Boys were strong mentally. They never gave up. They have already experienced in a refugee camp. I would have given up if I were Peter. I understood that you will be able to do anything if you have a hope.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Pass The Ball!


My heart is pounding, 10 minutes left into the game; time is against our side, I scream, “pass”. I ran to the free space where my teammate could pass. Being in the right place, my teammate smashed it, the killer pass. The timing of his passing was excellent, as if he could predict the future. The ball listened to me and stuck on my right foot, I succeeded to control the beast. Finally, one on one against the goalkeeper, my heart was beating wildly because of the nerves. I tried to clear my mind. I noticed the goalkeeper’s knee moving slightly to his right side. Now was my chance to strike. My heart told me to go for it. I knocked my pet to the left bottom corner of the goal. The unstoppable ball was slowly moving up to the heaven. It went in. The time froze for a moment. Then, the referee whistled shrilly and everyone shouted “Gooall!” Once the goal was made, the opponents rushed and messed up their play. Running with the ball, trying to dribble past our super defenders but they couldn’t. To my surprise, the next thing I heard was “Pee, peee, peeeee.” The match had ended. We owned the pitch! It felt cool outside, but I felt the heat of my heart inside. The fresh air was cooling down my sweaty burning body, but I could feel the happiness inside my blood cells. The Bangkok team was waiting for us in the final. We had just stepped up to the next level.

The next day at 9:00 AM, the match kicked off. The final had begun and I didn’t sleep well. However, my coach put me in the starting members, thus I had to play and make a goal, because that’s what strikers do. Everyone was nervous and no one said a word for the first 5minutes of the match. However, everyone followed the drill. Passing the ball from side to side, stubbornly chasing the opponents to get the ball back. The Under 15’s and Under 18’s from my club team were supporting us from the bleachers. This cheered me up when I made some mistakes. I was determined to show them that we were the best in South East Asia. Both teams were playing equally, but the match started moving, to our side. My teammates shot the ball but the goalkeeper flicked the ball away. But my other teammate fired that flicked ball back again and it went into the white box with the net. “Gooal!” my teammate yelled. His smile was the best smile I had never seen. After about 5 minutes passed, the chance came to us again. It was something like the first goal. My teammate, who scored, smashed the ball to the white box where the goalkeeper was standing, but hit the bar. I ran to the ball, believing in myself I could reach to that ball. I headed the ball and the goal net shook. This was the 2nd time I had scored in this tournament. I felt like I could score more. I tried to score more, striving hard on the pitch. I was hearing the sound of the people stepping on the grass, the sound of kicking the ball, the sound of the whistle. They are the usual sounds but I strained my ears and listened to them carefully. They made realize just how much I loved playing soccer, and then I thought, soccer is thrilling. I enjoy it with all my heart. I love playing it, because it makes me forget all the stress I have in my life.

In the middle of the match, I remembered what the coach told us every training session, “play with our hearts.” I understood the words, but not feeling at that time. And now I finally knew; playing with heart will make you feel the exhaustion but also the exhilaration and the passion you have for the game. You will never regret what you have done if you play passionately and also contribute more because you focus more. 

The game was now 2:0 to us. Our team stole the ball again. I was running to the free space, demanding it from my teammate. I screamed, “Pass the ball!”