It was the kind of day that Taipei is known for. Located on the small island of Taiwan, the city is landlocked between mountains and ocean. Clouds trapped over the city drizzle away, sometimes for days on end.
My coworker and I had the responsibility of taking my three boys and his daughter to the mission school every morning. We would each balance two children on scooters and ride off, weaving through the horrendous morning rush to arrive on time. One morning we decided to avoid the soaking and split the fare of a taxi. We settled in for the journey with four kids, two adults, backpacks and umbrellas all in the back seat.
It was stop and go all the way. We were almost there when I noticed my son turning sickly green, the son that consistently becomes car sick. As his cheeks started to expand, I asked the driver to stop and in the midst of traffic, grabbed my son and got out of the taxi to save embarrassment.
Somehow while scrambling out of the taxi, the umbrella rod was jammed up my nose. I exclaimed to my coworker: “I’m in pain!” as the driver pulled away leaving my son and I ...
The most stressful and challenging situation was during my volunteering in the Rehab unit at the hospital. I was assigned to help a student therapist in assisting a patient in walking. The Patient was overweight and it usually takes more than two people when assisting the patient in walking but the therapist and the patient felt confidant enough that she would be able to walk without much help. When the therapist and I began to assist her in standing the patients knees buckled under her and she fell and began screaming in pain. The combined strength of the therapist and I were not enough to help get up and the only thing we were able to do was straighten out her legs and comfort her until more help came. I felt really bad what happen but
I just read a story called “The White Umbrella” written by Gish Jen. The question I am answering is this: Why did Asia throw her white umbrella down the sewer at the end of this story? Here are some of the reasons I think Asia threw her umbrella down the sewer.
My youth pastor pulled out of our church parking lot at three am in the morning loaded down with a bus full of twenty four teenagers including me. We were off at last head to Colorado Spring Colorado, little did I know, our bus was going to fall apart this very day.
One of the best family trips that I have been on occurred when I was about 8 years old. My family and I were invited to go on a 4th of July camping trip to Telluride by some family friends that have 5 kids the same ages as our kids. Several other good friends were also invited to join us. We prepared our camping gear, loaded up the car and hooked up our trailer with our Polaris Ranger. The long drive to Telluride was 7 hours and it felt like it took forever because we were so excited to arrive. Even though the drive up their wasn’t fun at all, the reward was great.
Driving. While I haven’t had the greatest experiences with driving related problems; I’ve run into some pretty funny ones. When I was about four years old my family was over at my grandpa’s putting in a well for him. I of course was sitting in the unattended van on the top of the hill in the back seat. While many people would think that it was completely safe and there’s nothing to worry about they are wrong. You see I was a clever little toddler and could at that time unbuckle herself and climb over the center console right into the front seat. Also being the genius child that I was I managed to switch the car from park to neutral and begin to roll down the hill. Now I don 't remember my mom and the other adults running towards the van to
It’s a fairly brisk day in January of 2002, brisk enough to turn my flesh slightly purple in spots where I’m scarred or bruised, I walk into the dry cleaners after a short work day, to pick up the pants that have been sitting there for about three weeks (I seem to have the memory of a gold fish and the attention span of a fruit fly). Of course I’m in a big damn hurry even though I have no where in particular to be and nothing in my near future has been marked urgent (it’s just the sense of urgency that makes whatever it is that I’m doing seem so much more important than what it really is) I encounter a motherly looking middle-aged Native American woman, who in just a smile seems kind and warm enough to pull me from myself and set me back into the reality of my objective. She doesn’t know it but she’s about to take me for my last $15, but damn I really want to wear those pants tonight. She looks up as she hands me my receipt and very politely asks me with a wonderful note of concern in her voice “ your nose it looks bruised, did something happen to it?, having heard this question what seems like a thousand times during the winter months, I give her my standard answer, “ oh, yes I broke it a couple of years ago, and the mark always shows when its cold outside” “won’t it ever go away?
Despite many obstacles in my life, my experience performing community service stands out as the most memorable. I was sixteen at the time, and just beginning my first job at a fast food restaurant. I had to learn how to balance between community service in the morning and my employment at the local Wendy’s. It was very stressful and influential at the same time.
One of the things I was put in charge of was translating. I was able to translate a sermon we put on for the kids at a vacation bible school type of camp. That was super challenging to know that people were dependent on me, but it is also where I began to see where God had blessed me in my life and where I could be used on this trip. How lucky was I to be given the capability to speak Spanish fluently? It was at this moment that I finally became thankful for the talents God had given me. The trip opened my eyes and I was grateful for the opportunity to share what God had given to me. Another task we had the privilege of helping them with was building them a new chicken coop. We built a new roof and cleaned it up so that the chickens wouldn’t get so hot. The tricky part was communicating that we built exactly what they wanted. Therefore I was there to both help construct, but also help get communication between us and the owners under control. I remember having to go on the road to pick up some supplies. I was with my dad and one of the workers at the orphanage. The actual supply run was not what made the event memorable, it was actually when we stopped for coffee. We were able to sit down and ask him questions. I remember asking why he did what he did, like I just didn’t understand why, he did not make much money and it was not easy what he did. He simply looked at me and said that he loved serving the
After reading the novel, The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles, it was difficult to imagine how one could transform the novel into a satisfying film. How could one imitate such descriptive settings and emotions without the advantage of Paul Bowles' wording? Also the novel does not have the plot of a typical movie, even an action or love story, and the ending is not conclusive. Could actors today play the deep and complex characters as they are portrayed in the book? These were some of the complications I considered when deciding how I would produce the movie.
It was Tuesday and the day was draining away. I wanted to go buy new hair dye, but I knew it was too late. Careless, I got money from my piggy bank and asked my little sister Natalie to come along. I usually go out by myself but I decided to take her to feel more safe. Since my parents were not home yet I had to make this trip quick, so we took the bus.
So we packed up some cloths and water and started on are bike ride. We were riding on a very muddy and rough trail we found a little creek that two or three people were fishing in so we checked it out and the continued are bike ride. A little further up the trail it was really muddy and my dad wrecked and face planted into the mud and again of course I have to get some pictures of that. My dad got all cleaned up and a little further up the trail there was another creek to fish out of so we tried fishing there for a little bit but we didn't catch anything. So we headed back down the trail and went to the other creek to fish and we caught four good size fish. We packed the fish up and headed back to are camp to clean them and cook
One of the most memorable bus experiences in my life happened when I was in fifth grade. The final bell at school had rung, so I sprinted out to the bus with a few of my friends to save seats since our bus was always crowded. After we flung our backpacks into the four back seats, we ran back inside the school to buy some Mountain Dew from the pop machine in the cafeteria. After jamming our quarters into the machine and snatching the cans out of the bin, we sprinted back outside to make sure we did not miss the bus. It was still there, in all its yellow glory, so we hurried through the doors and onto the bus.
Taipei does, however, have some bad aspects. It was a severe air pollution problem, and heavy traffic jams are commonplace. The city just has too many people packed into too little space. Its many buildings are packed closely together, and this just makes the overcrowding problem worse.
It all started with just one road trip that changed my thought about how road trips could be a horrible experience. Over the summer my family and I were going on a road trip to Canada, but many things had happened to us. Before we head to Canada, we had to go to the airport to pick up some of my family members that came from India. So on a friday night, around twelve o’clock we went to the airport to pick them up. When we got there we meet each other and then left the airport. That’s when the road trip started.
I also had the privilege of helping with the Meals on Wheels non profit organization. My grandfather used to be a Meals on Wheels recipient and he would share with me how he enjoyed looking forward to their company and a hot meal daily. I volunteered because I wanted to give back and help someone else’s loved one in the same way. It was very rewarding delivering hot meals to people who didn’t have the means of getting one as well as being there for them to talk to. Overall, it was a very humbling experience, it made me realize just how blessed I am and how much I take for granted daily.