Defeat (extra points)

Defeat, it is a word that terrify a lot of people. It is word that stops a lot of people doing a lot of things. No person in this world wants to suffer a defeat. For me defeat can be left behind. It may be difficult to let behind but it requires an effort and if a person is willing to make an effort to succeed defeat doesn’t have to mean such as much as it means. There is no person in this world that hasn’t suffered a defeat in his life. Some of the most successful people in this world have suffered a defeat. The difference between the people that succeed and the people that doesn’t succeed is the willing to make an effort.

For me defeat is a thing that doesn’t worry me. I don’t think there is a reason for a man to stop making his best because of defeat. For me defeat doesn’t mean the end of the world. Defeat may worry me a lot but if I make an effort to succeed it is left behind.

The most recent defeat that I have was that I failed my German exam. The exam is the pass for you to keep advancing in classes. I a person fail the exam he can choose whether to pay a reposition, 150 quetzales, or going back in classes. I didn’t want to talk about the situation with my mother before thinking of it. I don’t think it’s fair to my parents to pay for my German classes and I am losing the exams.

There was another kid that lost the exam too. We asked the teacher what we had to do. She told us that we needed to talk to the director. We don’t feel confident when we talk to the director because he is kind of scary. We go to the director’s office. At first we were very shy when we started talking. The director said to us that we could make the exam whenever we wanted. I was going to say in three weeks but my friend said that we could make it next Saturday. When he said that I was thinking to myself that he has thought it very well, and it is too fast.

The director set the reposition next week. When we get out of the office I said to my friend that it wasn’t the best idea to take the exam next week, because we needed to study a lot. I knew that not only me but my friend have to study a lot.

Between the week I wanted to talk to my friend to ask him how was he studying, because I didn’t have any idea how to begin studying. Unfortunately I didn’t have my friend’s phone number, so I could not call him. I was very worried by the situation and I really wanted to study but as many times I forgot to study.

It was next Saturday and I haven’t studied, my friend that has to make the exam too wasn’t there. I was not going to make my exam that day because I haven’t study. Then my friend came and I ask him if has studied, and he said that he didn’t. So we received the class and went home without making the exam.

Next Saturday I came to my German classes. I haven’t said anything to my mother so my plan was to pay the exam with my money. I went to the cashier to pay the exam. The cashier told me that he couldn’t accept cash, only credit card or in the bank. I couldn’t make the exam and my friend didn’t come. So I have to talk to my mother about the exam.

 I talk to my mother about the situation and I said to her that wanted to continue learning German but it is being difficult to me to advance in class because I find German very hard. My mother asked to me I wanted to make the reposition or going back in class. It is a hard situation because I want to continue learning but sometimes it is better to go back to learn better.

I studied all the week and next week I made the exam. My friend did it do. Today I don’t know yet how I did in that exam, because it was one week ago. The importance of this story is that I don’t worry if I don’t win the exam because if I lose it, it means that I need to study more. So if I lose the exam I will ask the director to take me back in classes to learn more because the point of learning German is not to pass the class but learn.

Chepe a special person to me (extra points)

It was March in 2004. I just came home from a tire day of school. I had just win my math exam for which I had studied a lot. My mother came and joined me while I was eating my lunch. I could notice that she was worried and she wanted to tell me something. I was waiting for her to tell why she was worried. I continued watching a movie that I like a lot which is called the last samurai. I liked that movie because I like the samurai philosophy.

The movie has ended. I had just finished eating. I was going upstairs and my mother didn’t tell me why she was worried. I started doing my homework when my mother came to my room. She continued being worried. She showed me a sad smile. She told me that chepe was hit by a car, and he was very bad. But he was alive, the problem is that he was hit in the legs and walking would be even more difficulty.

Chepe is the man who came every single day, riding his bicycle, to clean the neighborhood´s cars to get some money in exchange. He was born with a leg problem and he couldn’t walk normally. It was hard for him to stand in a same place. He also has a daughter who can’t walk too.

Six years before Chepe was cleaning some house’s roof. He was going up in the lather, when the lather starts loosing balance. He felt the he was going to fall so he tried to go down. He made a movement and it make the lather to fall. He hit his head with the floor. My neighbor was walking near the accident and he took Chepe to a hospital.

In 2006 the condominium’s people decided to dismiss the condominium’s guardian because he wasn’t taking care of the job. No one in the neighborhood knew who could be the new guardian.

 I came out of my house to ride bicycle. After a long time of riding my bicycle I was getting tired. I was just going to enter my house and I saw Chepe going up the street. I was very surprised to see him walking. I haven’t seen him in two years. I could notice that it was hard for him to walk. I decided to stay in the street to talk to him. The closer he gets the closer his smile was. I was surprised that with all the things that happened to him couldn’t stop him being happy.

I start talking with him and even when he talks he has a smile on the face. I asked him how was he doing and he told me that he was having a hard time with his family because he spend one and a half years without working and still without job. He also told me that he thinks he was blessed by god to still alive, and he is thankful every day to be alive. I asked him how he was doing with his leg problem. I thought he was going to tell me that he was sad and stressed because it is very difficult for him to walk. He told me that he was happy to be able to walk even that it is hard to get a job, but he was happy.

After a long time of talking I get to my home. My mother was making some calls to look for a new guardian. I told her that I just have a long talk to Chepe, and I ask her if he could be the new guardian. The neighborhood is very calm so we don’t need a tough guardian or some military, so she went running to the street to ask Chepe if he wants to be the guardian. I could see the happiness he has through a big smile in the face. He accepted to be the guardian. He spent  4 years being the guardian but sadly in 2010 he started to be unable to keep working so the condominium has to dismiss him.

Chepe is an important person to me because I consider that he is one of the most inspiring people in the world. Since he was born he had a lot of problems in his life, and I can swear that I have never seen a sad smile in his face. Every time I see him he is with a big smile and laughing.

Actually Chepe is still alive but she is very bad in help and my mother and the neighborhood continues to help him giving him some money.

Weather, Pacayas's Eruption

It was a Thursday in May in 2010. I was tired after a long day in school I had a lot of home works for next day and I just came back from my soccer classes. I was feeling a little sick. The evening could not be worst. Then it started raining. The noise from the drops hitting the roof was very loud. I didn’t want to do anything that day. A few hours later my sister, the only member of the family that was outside the house, calls my mother. She was a little bit worried, when my mother picked up the call she get worried too. My brother, my father and I knew that my mother was easy to get worried, so we didn’t mind too much of the situation. When the call ended my mother asked us to get outside the house to see what was happening.

I get to the garage. I was very shocked when I saw the car roofs were all cover with a black thing. The noise of the rain was a little strange.  When I got out of the garage I noticed that it wasn’t rain, instead it was something like sand. It is not common to fall sand from heaven so I was very strange. I asked my mother what was happening and she said to me that she had already seen something like that before. It was ashes falling from sky, due to the Pacaya volcano’s eruption. It was very weird because I hadn’t seen anything like that.

My brother said to me that probably the school would be suspended next day. I get excited by the idea because I was feeling a little sick and I was tired and I had a lot of home works. My mother and I passed long time watching news. It was the Pacaya that had just make a big eruption. My mother called a mother from school to ask her about the school, and definitely I was not going to be school next day.

Next day was Friday so it was going to be a long weekend. It rained all day long. This rain was the ones that I don’t like because it was a very hard wind. The trees moved a lot. I could hear the wind from inside the house. It seemed like a hurricane. I asked my mother if she has heard something in the news about the rain, and she said to me that there were some fallen trees in the road. I didn’t go out from the house at all that day because I had a cold. I took advantage of the school suspension to do my home works and to rest a little bit.

It was Saturday and I get out of my house since the volcano eruption. I could see that it was a disaster because the sand has mixed with the water. It was half day and it continues raining. It wasn’t just a breeze. It was a hard rain. I could see a lot of water on the streets; it seemed like a tiny river. At Sunday it continues raining. At that point I started think it couldn’t be just raining, it was a hurricane. My mother star watching news and it was a hurricane called Agatha.

The hurricane and the eruption make school suspend classes a whole week.  The rain has made a huge damage to poor people, because water had taken their homes away. The whole situation was not very nice. Fortunately I have a strong home and nothing happened to it, but I think about the poor people and I feel a little shame. It wasn’t fair to that people, but no one can do something about nature. Nature is very powerful. As it was not going to be school for a week, few teachers upload some work to do to the school web page. I make all the works on Monday to have the rest of the days free.

On Tuesday it wasn’t raining anymore, but anyways there was no school. My mother asked my brother and me, if we could go up to the house´s roof to take the sand away. We both said that we could help so we both go up to the roof and clean it. The sand has an ugly smell that I can remember. It wasn’t easy to clean the roof because the sand was a little wet because of the rain. But we both wanted to help my mother. I spend the rest of these days having a good vacation, because it wasn’t raining anymore and I didn’t have to go to school.

Childhood Experience

One of the events that I remember of my childhood was when I went to Coban in 2001. At first I didn’t want to go because I thought it will be very hot, it will be a lot of humidity, and that there would be nothing interesting to do. The day in which my family and I start going there was a very cloudy that, it started to rain, and it was very cold.  At this point I was very mad with my parents because I had an invitation to go to one of my friend’s house to Atitlan. Going to Atitlan at my friend’s house was more interesting that going to Coban. The trip, by car, was up to 7 hours.

After a long trip we finally were there. It was very hot and very sunny. We arrange our things in the room. When we finished in the room we go out of the hotel to visit some places near there. But there wasn’t too much interesting things to do. At night we went to a restaurant for dinner, because we were starving.

Next day we went to ‘Biotopo del Quetzal’. It didn’t sound very interesting. I said to my parents that I didn’t want to go but they forced me to go because they knew I would like it. When we got there I could just see a lot of trees and a dust road. This day was cold and there was a lot of fog. There was some tour guides talking with a group and we listen that it was a very little chance for us to see a quetzal because they are in extension danger. I was very positive with the idea to see a quetzal, but my parents weren’t as much as I was.  There was a high mountain. In our way up in the mountain we saw a lot of animals. I saw with my brother a very strange worm. It was very big, it was orange. I wanted to hold it but my brother said to me that it may be poisonous. So I didn’t even touch it. It didn’t believe it may be poisonous but I didn’t want to risk. We also saw a big variation of bird but unfortunately none of them was a quetzal.  Something I didn’t miss at all is the mosquitoes. After a long way up to the top of the mountain, there was a very impressive sight to a very big forest and there was a water fall. In our way down my brother and I went in a different way that my parents and my sister and we get lost, but we just keep walking down the road and we found my parents. After a long day we had a nice time at the hotel we get into the pool and have dinner.

The following day we went to ´Salto de Chilasco’ there is the biggest waterfall in Central America. It isn’t a usual ecologic trip in which, first you must go up in a mountain. Instead at first you must go down in a mountain so you could see the waterfall. The path down the mountain was very muddy, also there were a lot of mosquitoes. When we get to the waterfall I start thinking that it was worth it even though It had not rain in the days before so the waterfall wasn’t very big, but it was nice.  Our way back wasn’t very nice because this time we had to go up a mountain, we needed to rent some horses because the road was very ugly, I didn’t wanted to but my parents did wanted to rent the horses.

Next day we went to ‘Semuc Champey’, I think it is the most awesome place I have seen I m life. It was amazing. I wasn’t prepared to see a place like that in a place as boring I thought Coban was. The forest in there was very dense. You could only see the sky, trees, and water. The water was very nice, it was totally clear and turquoise. The soil near the water was very slick and my brother fell down but nothing happened to him. We all get into the water it was refreshing because the water was cold and the weather was very hot. We spend a very long time in there. Unfortunately we couldn’t stay there because it started to get cloudy and started to rain. I was very shocked with that experience.

I did like this trip because I was very negative at the beginning but at the end I was very impressed it was very nice.

My best life experience

My best experience in my life was at the school vacations from 2009. At the beginning from my vacations I was just resting at my home all day with nothing good to do. I was spending all my day watching television, eating, playing videogames, or sleeping, I didn’t do anything productive in the whole day. At November my mother came my mother one day telling me that I couldn´t spend the rest of my vacations like this, and she game some options, which were going on classes of something, or going to work for my dad. Form these options; I prefer going to work with my father because I can get some money. I saved every cent that I won. I remember that in the 2008 Christmas I ask my mother if she could give the play station 3, and she didn’t want to because she is always against spend so much money in videogames, because buying a video game system includes buying games, and also if the system wrecks you have to spend to fix it. So you have to spend a lot of you buy a video game system. It is worse if you buy it in Guatemala because the prices a lot higher in here than in the United States. I really wanted the play station 3 so that was the reason why I was saving my money.

One day my mother came in my house and I felt that she was very excited, and I also felt that my brother was keeping a secret. I asked my mother if she was keeping a secret from me and she didn’t say anything. The rest of the day I was wondering why she was so excited. When my father came to home that night, both my mother and my father went to my room and asked me, what would I think if my mother and I went to Utah for two week. I was shocked by the news because I never heard where it was, and what interesting things where in there. My parents said to me that my uncles that I haven’t seen from 12 years before live there. My parent said to me that it was better if I didn’t get so excited because it wasn’t sure.

I was sleeping the next day and my mother weak me up and said to me that she has bought the airplane tickets. I didn’t knew if I would like to go or not because it represents a lot of money and I dint knew what good things would make the trip worth the price. My flight was Tuesday and we were on Sunday. This whole thing was really sudden. It was Tuesday and I didn’t felt as excited as when I went to Los Angeles. My excitement began when I get to the airport.

After a long trip, because the flight was from Guatemala to Atlanta and from Atlanta to Salt Lake City, I was finally there. I was very cold; there was snow all over the city. Before this trip, I had never seen snow in my life. Since kid I always wanted to be in a place where snows. I always prefer be in cold place than in a hot place, this is bad if you live in Guatemala because it is very hot.

Next day we went to Park City and there was a lot of people because we where a day before Thanks Giving. This day, I don’t know why wasn’t so cold. Next day we have Thanks Giving dinner at my Uncle house. It was very nice.

At Friday it was black Friday so we went very early in the morning to wall mart and there want aa large crowd yet so had time to search what we wanted. Thanks to my savings I did when I was working I could buy my ps3 by myself. At Saturday my cousin and I went to park city to have some snowboard lessons.  After that I was very tired and I fall asleep to the next day.  

At Sunday we went to the Mormon Tabernacle to listen a choir’s Christmas concert and it was very nice. We stay in the city until the night because there will be a Christmas choir later. Then we go back to Provo.  The rest of the tip I spend it with my mom enjoying the snow, having some time with my uncles.

This was my best experience in life because, at first I didn’t wanted to go but then I really enjoy it.