5.15.15

Today, the highlight of my Almaden trip was teaching Erica’s younger sister (either Marissa or Marisol, I’m so sorry, forgive me, I couldn't quite catch what she said): ) how to say and write the alphabet. As a first grader, she had surprisingly deep knowledge of English already, which made me really happy! It’s great that she can at least understand about 50% of what I say, even though I can’t communicate to her in Spanish. We first read an easy book with short, rhyming sentences. Then, I asked her to put together the alphabet using little game pieces with letters imprinted on them. Marissa quickly lined up A-Q followed by V-Z, skipping a chunk in the middle. We read what she had pieced together, and on her own, she realized that she was missing R-U. I noticed that she tried to mutter the Spanish alphabet under her breath first, then match it up to the English version, causing her to mess up on letters that were slightly different (or so I though since I’m not literate in Spanish), such as J, K, V, Y, and Z. For a while, we simply worked to saying the letters correctly until she finally was able to pronounce them with fluency. The challenge came when I asked her to write out the alphabet on a piece of paper without looking at the game pieces. She mixed capital and lowercase letters together and skipped some letters here and there. I asked her if she knew the difference between upper and lowercase letters, to which she stared at me with a blank, confused look. Eventually, it was Erica who helped translate for me. Marissa immediately nodded and set off writing the letters in pairs: Aa, Bb, Cc, and so on and so forth. She got stuck on D, F, and several others (most capital letters were simple a larger version of their respective lowercase forms, so I suspected she guessed correctly for a lot of them). I helped her by holding her hand and tracing out the letters with her hand and pencil in mine. I felt like Hellen Keller’s teacher, and in many ways, I was. Her native language and my inability to speak in that tongue made it seem like teaching a blind and deaf person. I realized, though we could not communicate by voice, we could through feel; taking her tiny hand in mine, I could show rather than tell her what to do. That made me feel as if teaching her was not such an impossible task because at least she knew I was supporting her through my literal helping hand.

Aside from working with Marissa, I read a book on a beautiful piece of cloth being passed around from person to person and eventually ending up back in the hands of its original owner, a princess. I worked with Kelsey on reading comprehension, asking her to summarize the story in three sentences, then 10 words, then five, then two. She actually did surprisingly well, to her credit! I also remember that at some point in our learning session, I had a hard time getting her to focus, which one of the young staff members happened to catch. She pulled Kelsie aside and told her that I was spending my time to help her when I could be doing something much better, and that if she could not show me some respect, she did not deserve to tutoring session and that another student who would appreciate my work would take her place. I really appreciated her help on getting Kelsie to focus; it meant that at least some people were taking notice of our weekly tutoring sessions. I made sure to thank her later on.

5.8.2015

Hi again Tumblr! I’ve decided to make weekly posts for my elementary school tutoring sessions here rather than in my Google Drive because it looks so much prettier here! :D

Upon our arrival today, we were instantly invited to play whaffle ball with the children, and the best part was, they remembered our names! I’m so glad our relationship and bond with them has grown and developed over these past few weeks to the point where we’re not just their tutors, but friends as well. :)

The highlights of today were:

1. I pulled Erica and Michelle out to read today, but though they were both in fourth grade, Erica’s reading level was significantly lower than Michelle’s. I had Michelle independently read a chapter book while Erica read a simple story out loud to me. Again, I noticed how she kept mixing Spanish and English together, like saying “es stop” rather than just “stop.” Luckily, though, I found that Michelle was also proficient at Spanish, so she helped me translate my message to Erica. I really appreciate how some of the students were so willing to help their peers; it really makes my job easier and their learning process faster.

2. After Michelle and Erica, a second-grader named Emily came over to spell words with me. Her spelling was so adorable! I had completely forgotten how cute children were when it came to spelling words they didn’t know, such as environment, village, etc. When she got tired of spelling, she requested that we draw pictures together, and she let me keep what she drew. Finally, to thank me at the end of our session, she gave me her prized pet rock! I told her to keep it, but she wanted me to have it so badly, even spelling my name on it! Honestly, these rewards are simply priceless. :)

Previous Posts~ :D

March 27, 2015:

Today, we first pulled out third grade Jose (younger) and had him read several pages of a book, spell words like “family,” “brother,” and “sister,” and let him practice math with multiplication cards. He seemed to be a very decent student (with the exception of “recicl” / recycle). When we went back to Ms. Bala for a third-grade Pakistan girl named Christina, she immediately seemed annoyed, pointing at third-grade Anthony and yelling, “Take him!” I think that Ms. Bala just wants an easy job by keeping all the quiet, respectful children and dumping all the rather obnoxious ones with us. I realize that many of the staff at the YMCA afterschool program are not ideal role models, which provokes the children to behave much worse than they should. In fact, fourth-grade Jose (older) today whispered to me, “You don’t have to listen to Bala. She’s coo-coo in the mind!” In the end, Danny showed Ami and I two different children to take, fourth-graders Amol and Erica. We had already met with Amol before; she and Christina are sisters who, like many others, are still relatively new to America. Erica, who moved here from Mexico two years ago, hardly spoke any English at all. This began quite the adventure, and Ami, who took Spanish at school, took on Erica while I listened to Amol read. Amol did very well for the book that we read, but by the time we got to spelling, her mother had come to pick her up. After she left, I pulled up a chair to listen to Ami point out pictures to Erica. She spoke fluent Spanish, and I realized how much I wanted to learn the language so that I could easily communicate with a majority of the student population there. Erica could say basic words such as “dog,” “house,” and numbers (she exceeded expectations with the multiplication cards, saying double and triple digit numbers in English). For most of the time, however, Ami talked to her in Spanish, and I sat on the side and tried to add in the few words of encouragement I knew in Spanish. Overall, the students did great today, so Jose (younger) and Erica both got Almaden dolphin dollars. Moi bien children!

April 3, 2015:

I went to Almaden solo for the first time today, but I still had a blast! When I got there, the kids were just going into an assembly, where the Student of the Months for each grade was announced. Amal got it for the fourth grader award! Good job! Then, the group leaders had a competition where they held hands in a circle and tried to get through a hula-hoop quickly. I was in charge of playing and stopping the music to catch someone out each time (the game was sort of like musical chairs, with screaming children covering up the actual music itself). In the end, Eric won, but I believe that Danny deserves the Best Staff Member Award over him anyday. They children seemed so enthusiastic all the time, and they possessed a sort of youthful innocence as they each cheered on their own group leader. It reminded me of my elementary school days!

After that, I went, as usual, with Ms. Bala’s third grade group. Since they were doing an activity with flour, she asked me if I could first pick another student and then come back. I went outside to get Erica, the girl who spoke 95% Spanish. I knew it was going to be a challenge communicating with her, so it surprised me when she understood my basic English vocabulary. I tried talking to her in Spanish, and she seemed to realize that I only knew about 5 words, so she would try her best to respond in English. I really appreciate her effort in making it easier for me, even though she was the one who needed the help. She managed to get through a whole stack of flashcards, pronouncing each English word carefully and repeating after my if she couldn’t say it. She’s such a sweet girl, it makes me all the more grateful that I get to work with her!

After Erica, I went back to Ms. Bala to collect the two Joses. She, of course, was chasing after them, trying to get them to listen. When they finally did, I took them out and started off with some reading. The younger Jose was great with books, quickly reading through the pages. I expected some trouble with the older Jose, and indeed, he asked to time himself for only 2 minutes of reading. I have to hand it to him, though; he did try his hardest to pronounce the words right. When he was stuck, I read the first few letters of the word to him and asked him what it sounded like. Gradually, we began to build on words such as “teeth” and “splash.” It doesn’t seem like words that average third grade students would be stuck on, but their conditions at Almaden are so much more different than ours here in Saratoga. To commend him for his efforts, I gave him an Almaden Dolphin Dollar. By that time, he had to leave. I did some multiplication with younger Jose afterwards, and I found out that his mother makes him do the multiplication table very often at home. As a result, he could count upwards by twos and threes, exceeding my expectations by far. I rewarded him with a Dolphin Dollar. Good job, Erica, Jose, and Jose!

April 10, 2015:

Today was such a great day! I met so many new kids! I was a bit late coming into the school because of traffic, but once I got there, I initially thought that today was going to be a difficult day to get even the staff, let alone children, to cooperate. Ms. Bala, for one, never seems to want to allow any of her children to be pulled out for a quick reading session, even if it is good for them. Since the next week will be Spring Break for the YMCA students, they were all doing fun activities together. Older Jose was no where to be seen; I assumed he left early, probably for the break week. That left us with two people were familiar with: Erica and younger Jose. Ami and I have never really bothered to pull out a wider range of people, seeing as how we wanted to focus on a couple students so that they received the weekly attention to constantly improve.

I was a little disappointed to hear younger Jose, who usually excitedly awaited our arrival, refuse to read with us, calling it “boring” in front of his friends in order to impress them. It’s no wonder most of the children are not at a proficient reading level; any form of academics are scorned upon by teachers and peers alike. In the end, we took a new fourth grade girl named Michelle to read (she was really good!), spell, and multiply. Her biggest weakness was math because she couldn’t seem to add and carry over numbers with larger digits (i.e, 7, 8, 9, and 12). Ami taught her (and yes, I’ll admit, me too) a trick with her fingers to multiply numbers by 9, enabling her to quickly catch on. I really admire Ami’s character in front of the children; she is always so patient, and her laugh seems to smooth out any initially hostile or nervous attitudes. She doesn’t realize this, but as she teaches the children to read, she also teaches me how to deal with and handle the especially difficult situations with children or their learning hardships.

Anyway, after Michelle, a group of around 5 to 6 kids all piled over, curious about what we were doing. We told them we were playing fun, educational games (it was mostly true, at least), and they all wanted to take part. Most of them had very short attention spans, doing a few multiplication cards and then giving up right away or getting distracted by a friend. While Ami worked with a new third-grade girl named Jennifer, I requested to worked with Erica again. Even though we have trouble communicating, I feel like it is a beneficial learning process for both of us; if forces us to be resourceful and really think on our feet to be more considerate of the other. I have to give Erica credit; she tries really hard to speak in English around me because she understands that I am not gifted with the language of Spanish. We sat down and I read aloud an easy picture book to her, acting out the words I thought was fairly performable, including lion, dance, feet, etc. She paid close attention, even trying to help me with my acting at times and laughing when I did something silly in the eyes of a nine-year-old. It’s these moments that make me feel like teaching her is worth it, that starting our program really is making an impact on a child’s education. Afterwards, I asked her to use small cards with letters on them to form the alphabet. She struggled a little near the end with w, x, y, and z. A young African boy named Tomba quickly came to our aid, helping her out with the last few letters. I thanked him for his help and consideration, admiring his willingness to lend a hand to Erica. Tomba just grinned and rushed off. (He would be back several times later on out of curiosity for our made-up activities.) After she had finished the alphabet and spelled out a few words for me, I thanked her for her time and wished her a happy break. I also told her that I hoped her throat would get better. She smiled shyly, nodded, and said in a hoarse voice, “Thank you, you have good break too.”

After Erica, the mob of 5 to 6 children came back, and I worked with Christopher, Angel, and Jennifer on a rotational basis (I told you they had short attention spans) with the multiplication cards. They were surprisingly persistent, counting and recounting with their fingers. Angel was the cutest; once I taught him the finger trick for multiples of nine, he was instantly encapsulated by it, rushing to count off his fingers and asking for more questions. Christopher stood back a little; when I asked him if he wanted to do a spelling activity with me, he muttered, “I’m a bad speller.” Then he quacked and said, “But I make awesome duck noises!” I asked him how to spell duck, and he got it right on (with some thinking and pauses). I told him that if he could spell that, then he was a great speller who just needed to practice more to enjoy it rather than see it as a burden. Based on previous experience, however, I did not push him further in the spelling area, inviting him instead to join our multiplication card game. He nodded eagerly, and for the next half-hour, competed with Angel and Jennifer to see who could multiply faster. It’s amazing how motivated children get around their peers in a focused environment.

I can feel myself getting more mature around these children, learning how to help them overcome their learning struggles just as they learn to read, multiply, and spell. From our chats before and after the reading sessions, I am beginning to learn about their family backgrounds. Many of them live with only a single parent. Their siblings are often either way older or way younger (i.e. in college or just a newborn). Their difficult backgrounds, paired with some of the instructors’ poor attitude toward reading and math, obviously make it hard for them to enjoy and love learning. However, I see so much potential around me; once the children immerse themselves in our educational activities, there’s no turning back. They want to learn, and more importantly, they love it.

April 24, 2015:

Today was the first Friday back from Spring Break, and it also happened to be Family Night at Almaden Elementary. As a result, Ami and I did not work on any reading with the children.

As soon as Ami and I arrived, we found ourselves in the midst of a swarm of children excitedly pacing around and jumping up and down, waiting for the fun carnival activities to begin. As the group leaders began dividing their children up into activity groups, a young girl ran over to Ami and I in tears. She told us she had lost one of her prized toys, leaving her in a devastated state. Her friend Miley politely asked us to look around on the playgrounds, especially near the slides, to see if we could find the yellow, animal-shaped toy. The girl who lost her toy trailed behind us, again bursting into tears when she realized it was no where to be seen. She cried, “It’s all my friends’ fault! I never wanted to bring my Squinky, but she made me! I love it so much!” It felt heartbreaking to watch her cry over lost toy. From an older person’s point of view, namely Ami and I, losing a toy was not a big deal, but the girl’s crying made me realize how young and innocent these children still were. Despite their difficult backgrounds, they were still children after all, and deserved to be happy. I resolved to find her toy again, starting by asking all the other YMCA children if they had accidentally taken her Squinky.

When we got back to the cafeteria, the girl ran off to tell Danny, the YMCA director, about the incident. Danny promised to help her keep an eye out on the toy. Then, she got in the food line and got her plate of popcorn, pizza, and fruits. I realized that Danny is such a caring and suitable role model for the children, a sharp contrast to Ms. Bala and the other group leaders. He wanted to make sure that all the children had eaten during at least some point in the Family Night, following the kids around like an pestering mother. He really seemed to care about them.

Anyway, the girl soon forgot about her toy as she settled down to eat with her mother. Ami and I decided not to pick up that topic of conversation again out of fear that she would begin crying once more. Instead, we headed off to help at the face paint station, where handfuls of children lined up asking for pictures of butterflies, stars, hearts, soccer balls, footballs, and tons of other childish objects to be painted on their cheeks and hands. During that time, I finally got to meet some of the younger children, including the ones in kindergarten and first grade. (Normally, Ami and I read with third and fourth grade students.) They were very energetic, asking for several different face paints and readily willing to show off their various talents, including hula-hooping and jump-roping.

At the face paint station, one of my clients was Erica, the Mexican girl whom I worked with on reading every time. When it was her turn to receive her face paint, she hesitated, turned around, and pulled a small girl out from behind her, encouraging her to go to my open station. I asked her if that was her sister, and Erica nodded. Her kindness and consideration toward her sister both shocked me and created a warm feeling inside. I noted that even though Erica was new to America, she still kept an open mind for others, especially her younger sister whom she obviously cared for very much. I helped to face paint both her and her sister, telling Erica that it was very admirable of her to look out for her sister like that.

In addition, I also learned about several of the students’ backgrounds, which if were to have happened to me, would have completely blown away my self-esteem. Miley, who had urgently asked Ami and I to look for her friend’s toy, told us that she had a 7-year-old brother and a 6-year-old half sister who lived in New York. Her father did not live with either of his children, as he lived in North Carolina. Miley did not even seem faltered or upset when she announced her family background; I realized how innocent she still was in the way she perceived the world. It reminded me of when I was in elementary school. I would act all important and secretly whisper to my best friend how I had a half-sister. Then she would exclaim out loud how lucky I was to have a sister, to which I would smirk and pretend to not care. Deep down, however, my half-sister was just another person related to me by only a thin connection. Her life never came in contact with mine, and I was just fine with that. I could see the same in the way Miley talked about her half-sister; she simply did not feel enough to care about that faraway girl. She lived in the present, and her sister was just another topic of conversation meant to be shown off to strangers like me.

Stories aside, however, I spent most of today painting faces and watching the children enjoy themselves as they went to the various activity stations. There was an egg-in-spoon relay race, musical chairs, painting, and food stations, all of which constituted a loud, happy environment. Honestly, the children deserved the break they got today, and I got to meet some of their parents, many of whom were shy but sweet. Still, I can’t wait to get back on track next week, digging into books and reading!

May 1, 2015:

Today when we arrived, Ms. Bala’s group of children were working on Mother’s Day cards. As Ami and I walked among the tables helping the students find cutout letters and commenting on their handiwork, Ms. Bala constantly yelled at them to stop talking even though they were only trying to pass the glue. Her oppressive nature is not a good match for dealing with young children because she goes overboard and ends up accomplishing nothing and making everyone despise her more. For instance, she basically switched up the entire seating arrangement and split everyone up from their friends, making all of them pout quietly in their own new seat. Sometimes, I wonder on what basis the YMCA camp hired their staff members, who are obviously not good matches for their jobs.

Ami and I left a little later to actually get some progress done with other students, since the two Joses were focused on finishing their Mothers’ Day cards. We first pulled out Erica and her 6-year-old sister. Only in kindergarten, Erica’s sister could only speak Spanish and a few letters in English. As a result, I took charge of reading with Erica while Ami worked with the younger girl. We read a semi-challenging book, but it was very advanced for Erica’s level. I hadn’t realized that she knew so many words! Congrats Erica! The only issue was that she mixed Spanish vocabulary with English grammar. She kept reading “smile” as “el smile,” a Spanish style of speaking often used before nouns.

Afterwards, a fourth grade boy also by the name of Jose (there’s so many Joses at Almaden Elementary!) took interest in our reading activities. I invited him to read with me, asking him to pick out a book that seemed interesting to him. Interestingly enough, he chose one on the African-American civil rights movement book. I realized that he is a very diligent reader who seemed to be at the right reading level for his age. He even knew about Martin Luther King Jr.! However, more major civil rights characters showed up in the book, including Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth, whom he understandably did not know of. I tried to explain to him that a long time ago, the world was different for the different categories of people, including women and people from different countries with different cultures. He nodded his head and smiled; I was glad he did not make any inappropriate or racist jokes. For his hard work, I awarded him one Almaden Dolphin Dollar.

After Jose, Ami and I collected the other two Joses, but older Jose had to leave before we got the chance to read with him. I was pretty disappointed since we had not gotten much time in the past month to read with him and check in on his progress. I remember the last time I did read with him alone though, he actually began sounding out words rather than guessing blindly. I can’t wait to work with him soon!

As we were about to get started on younger Jose, a second grade girl named Emily came over. I remember Emily from Family Night last week. She had asked me to paint butterflies on her wrist, and constantly came back because she kept smearing the not yet dried paint. We played a game where we took turns testing each other on spelling and creating words. I ended up teacher her how to spell college, recycle, and computers. She was very kind and cute, attempting to teach Ami and I how to give a hug at the end of our lesson. She was disappointed when she found out we were leaving, and honestly, so was I.

Descriptions of Almaden

I noticed that Alamaden Elementary has a College Board, a small wall covered with colorful paper and flags of students’ various dream colleges. It also has words like “major,” and “job” to motivate their students toward a good education. My favorite part of the elementary school is the huge poster (I think made by the students) in the back of the library that says, “Reading helps us grow.” It really highlights the purpose of our Youth Education Initiative club!

New Diary Idea

Hi again Tumblr! I’ve decided to make weekly posts for my elementary school tutoring sessions here rather than in my Google Drive because it looks so much prettier here! :D

I’d like to start out this new posting idea with a quote from one of the harder-to-work-with students I taught on my first day there. I remember what he said every time it becomes frustrating to tutor the children. The brief conversation went as follows:

Me: Michael, can you read this page to me?

Michael shakes his head vigorously. He jumps up and starts to distract his friend, who Ami was tutoring.

Me: Michael! Come back before I tell your mom about your bad behavior!

Michael: No, no! Fine, fine, I’m coming.

Me: Let’s try this again. Can you read this to me?

Michael stares at the page for a long time in silence.

Me: Well? The first word--

Michael: Shh, I’m reading it in my head!

Me: Can I hear you read it out loud?

Micheal continues to stare at the page.

Me: Don’t make me tell your mother...

Michael looks down rather shyly.

Michael (whispers softly): “I’m not very good at reading.”

Me: ... Hey, don’t worry. I’m here to help you.

1.31.2014

Hello! I know it's been a long, long while since I posted, but I have been feeling really frustrated and depressed lately with how things have been going for me. Whenever I see someone else get an academic or extracurricular achievement, I feel jealous and angry at myself for not trying. But at the same time, whenever I try out something new and experience the workload/time commitment, I feel the urge to just give up. I think I approach everything with the wrong attitude. I need to be more willing to commit and more open-minded to the benefits of hard work as well as the costs. Just today, I read in our principal's weekly email that 4 of my friends were on a robotics team that won 3rd place of a world-wide competition. I had quit robotics at the beginning of the semester, and now I'm not able to say that I was part of that experience. Right now, over the weekends, all I can look forward to is 48 hours of isolation and homework alone in my dad's office room. There's really not much to expect; every week is the same, as if it follows some formula that never changes. Further, I feel like I have no genuine friends to talk to, and that is making my mood worse and worse at home. My mom is right; I should really try to make something of my life and stop blaming others for all the mishaps that occur because I was not more willing to try out new things. To do something more useful, I think I should write out all my thoughts, feelings, goals, resolutions, and achievements on this blog and set my high school life straight.

Let's start with my positives from sophomore year so far:

I got elected as team captain for the girls' cross country team for next year!

I got 800 on my SAT II Math Level 2 Subject Test, and 790 on my SAT II Chinese Subject Test!

My club is about to start soon (in fact, next Friday :))!

That's actually all I have as my positives from this year. It's not much, so I want to post some goals and resolutions that I can stay on top of:

Join robotics in junior year; I know they're really really good!

Join science club or some other organization involving science! Science fair would be good too; as long as I'm actively doing something.

Take the SAT II Chemistry test before sophomore year ends, or in June-ish. If I aim to do that, then I need to start studying soon!

Try harder for the AMC 10 and for FBLA. I don't particularly like those two, but I know that I should approach it with an open mind and positive attitude. You never know what could happen!

Finish off the ACT at the start of junior year so that I can just get it over with. That way, I can focus on all the activities that really makes me happy!

Get my club started and earn some community service hours! I need to get more involved with my community so that I can actually enjoy my life and time in high school. :D

Stop wasting so much time on Facebook. Instead, I should spend my time finding new friends who I can talk to and relate to, so that I can actually have some fun on the weekend!

I can't think of more right now, but I will definitely be adding to this list whenever I can. I really hope that this approach is better than just slumping around at home every day.

Also, all this sounds very ambitious now that I look back at it, but I think I should take it one step at a time. It's almost February right now, there's 11 months left in 2015. I hope I can make this year as good as possible!

7.23.2014

Hi again!!

So, I have some good news and some bad news. The good part is that I have completed most of my goals for the month of July. The bad part is that they are not consistently completed. I have been getting above 700, and I think it's safe to say even above 740 consistently. However, my score is usually jumbled up within the 740 to 760 range. Not quite there yet!! As for Chinese, I have mainly been doing some Quizlet practice with Chinese vocabulary grammar terms. It's actually been going fairly well, though I can't say for sure because I still haven't taken a practice test yet. D: But I shall soon!! Promise (probably around this Saturday)!!!! As for the ACT, I have not started on that yet. I know I need to though in order to complete my summer goal. D: For the PSAT, I just learned today that the score doesn't count until junior year, so I'm going to set that aside and focus on my subject tests first. Yay for priorities!!

For running, I've been keeping fit!! I just did a 10 mile bike ride with Ami today, to Los Gatos and back!! :DDD I feel so pumped!! Cross training is really quite fun!! I think I'm going to swim this weekend too!! Also, I still stretch, but just not as often. Gotta keep that up too!! :DD

Finally, our club is doing quite well!! I'm pretty thrilled because we have 4 committed members at this point!! We're probably not going to start volunteering until during the school year, but that was fine with them!! So nice of people to be so patient!! :DDDD

Can't wait for school to start!! I'll try my best to write again soon!! I can definitely guarente that I will at the start of August to revisit/add some more monthly goals!!

Happy Fourth of July, everyone!!

7.4.2104

Happy 4th of July!!!

I'm so excited, my family's going over to San Francisco to visit our cousins!!! Even though we live relatively close together, we don't visit very often, which kind of puzzles me. I mean, family is close for a reason, right? Why not take advantage of that?

Today, I went to a college seminar in the morning, and I thought it was just going to be another boring thing my mom takes me to. However, I got to learn some key messages from the speaker, Dr. Jiang. He advised the audience to make a list of goals for each month so that we not only plan, but also do as well. It's a very reasonable approach, and I hope that by posting here, I can keep track of all my goals and achievements! So, without further ado, here are my goals for July 2014:

Read one book a week. I'm currently on A Thousand Splendid Suns, by Khaled Hosseini. It's about the lives of Afghan women and girls, and I'm really enjoying its historical yet engaging plot!!

Boost my SAT II Math Level 2 Subject Test to 750. I have checked out a Kaplan book with two full practice tests, and I am about to do one as soon as I finish this post!

Boost my SAT II Chinese Subject Test to 780. This shouldn't be too hard, considering I don't have class for the next two weeks, which gives me time to focus and study harder.

Boost my ACT score to 31, maybe even 32. By the end of summer, I want at least a 32.

Get started on practice tests for the PSAT. I have figured it's actually a pretty important test!!

Begin developing my tutoring club. Tomorrow, I am going to Ami's house to finalize our emails and club idea. By the end of the month, I want at least 10 potential members in our club. :DD

Run, run, run!!!! Six days a week, I should be out running. Also, there should be one day (one consistent day, usually Saturday), when I rest so as to avoid any pre-season injuries. I should mix it it will hill workouts, distance runs, track workouts, and fun runs with Ami!! Also, I need to stretch for at least five minutes a day.

Lastly, to end this post, I want to say that I will not be posting every day like I had hoped. Of course, when I have feelings to spill or stories of achievements/failures to tell, this is definitely the first place I will turn to. Making a blog is still one of the best ideas I have ever carried through with! Can't wait to report back next time!! :D ~

Today, I “helped” my dad rearrange my new bedroom. Well, to be totally honest, I was engrossed in this amazing book call My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult, so I only moved several pieces of furniture around. Well, the appliances were really heavy!! Also, there's been a desk in my new room for ages, and when we finally moved it, the feet left a massive dent in the carpet. It'll even out later, but still, it's always cool to see and feel!!

Anyways, I’m felling really optimistic today, so to celebrate, I made a huge bowl of fruits!! I haven’t really eat many apricots before, and I’m sorry to say that I didn’t try any today. However, the blueberries were delicious!! Now, i can’t wait to sleep!! Left bed for the first night!! :D

6.22.2014 I got a new bedroom today!!

Hi again! So today, I "helped" my dad clean out and rearrange my room. Before, I never really had a permanent bedroom; my brother and I basically just switched off rooms based on who was going to wake up first. You see, the two rooms are located at opposite ends of the house. One is right next to the garage (hence, whomever wakes up first sleeps there), and the other lies beside the master bedroom. Last school year (freshman year for me, 6th grade from my brother), he slept in the next-to-the-garage-room because he had band every morning at 7:25am. As for me, I woke up at around that time.

My dad decided today that it was time to permanently rearrange the two rooms so that we could each have a place of our own. For the rest of middle school, my brother is most likely going to join band, so he will always wake up before me. During my senior year, when he joins me at the fabulous high school, we'll be getting up at the same time. Therefore, it was only logical for him to claim the early-riser bed. I don't mind (in fact, I love my new room) because I get two beds!! They used to be stacked together as bunk beds, but my brother go too big for them (yes, even though he's younger than me), so he switched over to a bigger bed. Now, there's just that extra bunk lying around, and since it was already in my current room, we decided to just keep it there. I'm so excited!! How cool is it to have not one, but two beds?!? Now, I get to pick which one to sleep on!! :D Tonight, I shall sleep on the one on the left. For the first time, I can't wait to go to bed!!

I love the life I have, the parents that love me, the brother that acts as my life-long companion, and for everything everyone has given me. I have so much, and at the age of 14, I should know that I could also have so much less.

6.21.2014

Oh, gosh, I'm really sorry I haven't posted in such a long time. D: I was just so caught up in my programming class, and when I wasn't do that, I was either running or trying to make the most of my free time. (In other words, I was watching videos on YouTube or reading a book of taking a nap.)

Today was quite busy. I volunteered at Our City Forest and received 3 hours of community service. I'll admit, the work was not exactly physically challenging (as in not too much muscle needed), but it did hurt a lot. The plants we were working with were Christmas trees, and let me tell you, they were super spiky. Literally, every time I touched a leaf, it felt like taking shots as a four-year-old all over again.

Afterwards, I went to help out the Robots club by watching over the puff-rocket station. My job mainly required me to work with the little kids, and I couldn't be more happy because I love kids so much!!

Today, I also learned to be grateful for the life I have. My friend came back from a backpacking trip (called Lost-something, I think). She told me hilarious stories about pooing in plants, not showering for 6 days straight, getting her food robbed by a bear, and much, much more. It was so inspiring! I guess the truth is that I just have to go out and explore the world some more. I think I'm going to join the backpacking camp next year just to gain some more experiences. :D Bring it on, wilderness!!

Also, one more note: Happy birthday, Lesley!!

6.17.2014 Competition is so stressful!!!!

Hi!! I feel so busy these days!! D: There's so much pressure to be better than everyone else, but I just don't think I can handle all of it!! D: My friend Shannon is taking 4 hours of SAT classes on top of the 3 hour computer science class at Harker!! Her SAT is so high!! I feel like everyone is starting to crank up their workload in order to get into a great college, and it's just so pressurizing!!I know I should start taking classes soon to improve my academic tests, but then what would be the point of summer? Already, the computer science class is starting to get harder and harder to keep up with. How can I keep up with everyone else? I'm really trying my best, and everyday, when I get back from computer science class, I have stable routine:

Eat lunch. It keeps me focused for the rest o the day and fills my grumbling stomach.

Start on computer science homework.

This can go in either of two ways. I can 1) study SAT vocabulary words, or 2) keep adding ideas to the new club idea Ami and I created. I think by next week, when the excitement of our club idea beings to diminish, I will start focusing more on studying both SAT words and for my computer science class.

Go out to run or bike or swim with Ami. We're trying to stay fit over the summer!! By now, it's usually around 6-7pm, but I still enjoy the invigorating break I receive!

Go home, eat dinner, shower, curl up on bed to study some more computer science, brush teeth, and sleep. :D Ahh, peace at last!!

Today, I learned 10 new vocabulary words from Shannon's SAT flashcards!! The ones I remember are as follows:

generic: ordinary, having no trademark

corollary: due to natural consequences

stipulate: to agree to in a larger debate

fetid: having a foul odor

cortigate??? (i think thats the word??): to criticize severely, esp. in public

trivial: useless, not important

gauche: socially awkward

definitive: completely

Woohoo!! I'm on a role!! (Actually, I'm going to pop my own bubble and refute that claim. No, I am not on a role because Shannon memorizes 50 per day. By the end of the 6-week computer science course, she would have 2,000 words down. Major down-grader for me.)

To end on a high note, I have to say Ami and I are doing a great job improving our club idea!! On our run today, we planned out some club names. She suggested PlayPals, and I added KidzKrew to the list. I think hers is better because we're going to help out senior citizens as well. However, I figured, when we volunteer with the elderly and young, we could be the kids, the crew that assisted anyone. Anyways, there isn't much we can do until Ami actually starts on her volunteering, which is next Tuesday. The good news is that she has a great relationship with the teacher there, who remembers Ami attending that preschool as a 4-year-old!! How cool is that? :D ~

This is my favorite out of the five programs I have made today. The robot (named karel) must climb the computer-generated mountain and plant a flag (which appears as a beeper) on the summit. Then, it must descend to the other side of the mountain. I don't really know how to add the program onto Tumblr so that you can see it, but trust me, it's some pretty cool suff!! :D

6.16.2014 Best Day Evahhhhhh

Wow, I'm so excited today!! I'll begin with the extremely funny computer science class I took in the morning. My teacher is this Asian man who recently got out of college. Shannon and I entered the class late, but he all he did was stand there and stare at us. I though he was one of those super strict teachers who had mastered the disappointed look. However, I was badly mistaken. As soon as he started speaking, I realized he was not only Asian, but Chinese Asian. As in, he immigrated over from China. Now, this may not seen so hilarious, until you hear his accent. He couldn't even say the word "world." It came out sounding like "word," which is a HUGE difference considering we were programming "Hello World." I ended up having to start over because I typed "Hello Word." Next, he didn't know his directions very well. He did this sliding hand motion to his left and said in an extreme Asian accent, "The robot goes in this direction, I don't really know what it is called. Yeast? Yeast? Is it east?" The whole cracked up!! It was so funny!!

I'm also really proud because today, I finally learned what programming is, and I even programmed a little robot to move according to my instructions!! It turns out this is really quite fun! I'm so excited, I really don't get why people complain that this is boring! Maybe the harder parts will come later...

Next, I went biking with Ami, and we certainly did have our fair share of laughs. The best part, however, happened when Ami and I were biking home from Kevin Moron Park. I suddenly suggested we start a club outside of school together, and she was totally in for it! We had no problem deciding our topic: to assist and entertain senior citizens and preschool students. The rest of the details will be figured out later, and I can't wait!! I really do love helping out other people, and now I'm about to co-lead a group to do what I love!!

Idea credits to this website (Figure 2, btw)!! Thanks so much!! I guess research really does pay off in the end!!