Memoir Anthology Oct 16

8/10/2019 Memoir Anthology Oct 16

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Looking Back: Class Memoir AnthologyCollected October 16

th, 2014

Title Author Page #

The Bond of Bronze Ian Green 2

Brought and Forgotten HowellSantos 4

Cold Loss Kyle Deluz 6

The Day I Almost Died Lucas Parisien 8

Dont Put All Your Eggs in One Basket Harp Kang 9

Food Fight Fiasco at Ecole Sacre-Coeur Kobe Guevarra 11

Forbidden Day Mayank Kashyap 12

Journey of change Marcus Tarrosa 14

Know Who Your Real Best Friends Are Josh Aman 16

The Lost Friend Harman Gill 17

My Final Prank Neil Singh 19

My Last Week and My First Day Norman Sigua 21

Never Give Up Noah Rampersad 23


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The Bond of Bronzeby Ian Green

It was over the summer when I got the exciting news. I was asked to represent Manitoba at the

upcoming North American Indigenous Games that were taking place in Regina, Saskatchewan. I

was so excited because my mom had played in NAIG as a kid in British Columbia. So I made it

my goal to participate in these games as well. My mom had played badminton and I was going

to be playing lacrosse. Its a way different sport because its way more aggressive and physical.

Like every mother should be, she was worried about my safety.

The day had finally come and we left to Winnipeg. I had left with my cousin Jabez and stayed at

his house for three days until the bus had picked up all the athletes and took us to Regina.

It was about an eight to nine hour bus ride, but when we finally arrived there, the scenery was

amazing. You could smell the freshly cut grass and see a lot of ground hogs running around the

school field.

Shortly after, Jabez and I headed to our dorm. Which had four rooms and two bathrooms. We

had introduced ourselves to the rest of the team. I got along with the team quite quickly and

hung out until we were taken to the opening ceremonies at the roughriders stadium.

The opening ceremonies were absolutely beautiful. As we began to walk into the stadium, the

noise began to get louder. With other teams yelling and chanting, the voices of the hosts on the

main stage at the center of the field, the sounds of cameras going off, and the crowd was

cheering at the top of their lungs. A chill had gone down my body when we started to reach the

center of the field. There were camera crews everywhere because it was being covered by

APTN. I began to get hungry due to the scent of the hotdogs and burgers that were being Bar-B-

Qued for the fans. Sadly, I didnt get a hotdog or a burger. The opening ceremonies were

coming to an end and to kick off the being of NAIG, two fighter jets flew over the stadium. The

crowd was really amazed. This surely was the best day of my life.

The next day was our first game against Ontario. There was a fight in the first period of the

game. It was very intense and had got my adrenaline going. It was a very physical game, but we

came out of it with the victory.

When I got back to the dorm, I looked and noticed that I had a lot of bruises on my arms and

legs. So I took a really cold shower to ease the pain.

The next day we had three games back to back. There was a lot of hitting and slashing. You

could hear every hit and the sticks slamming against the players equipment. At the end of all

our games, it had felt like I had run a marathon. We won two of our games and had lost one

that day.

Unfortunately, we didnt make it to the finals. We were going to be playing for bronze.


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Our bronze medal game was very intense, because of all the running up and down the rink, the

hitting, the slashing, and all the injuries that were happening. We went into the third period

with a huge lead and killed time for the clock to run down. When the clock had finally reached

zero, the team immediately ran to the goalie to celebrate. Shortly after our little celebration,

the teams had got in lines and shook hands to show good sportsmanship and to acknowledge

each others hard work and competitiveness.

The next day we went to watch the gold medal game between New York and Ontario. I didnt

watch the game because I was sleeping in our locker room. But New York had beaten Ontario

for gold.

After the game, there was a little ceremony were these people handed out the medals to the

three teams. I was filled with emotion and didnt have words to describe the way I was feeling

that day.

We headed back to the university, and like all good things, they have to come to an end

eventually. So Jabez, his parents and I had headed back home two days before the closing

ceremonies.

When I got home, my parents had given me a hug and told me that they were very proud of

me.

Shortly after this was over, I went to my room to sleep. Thinking of all the memories that were

created and the new friends that were made.

This is a memory that I will have for the rest of my life and one that I will be able to share with

others in the present and future.


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Brought and Forgotten by Howell Santos

At the age of seven, I had experienced what being alone, scared and left behind felt like all

together. It all began on that certain blowing autumn evening, on my way from class to the

schools daycare.

As I strolled my way to the daycare with my buddy Tim, we passed by Sally. Sally was balling her

eyes out as if a tragedy had occurred. Shes just a shy and quiet girl but she also cries a lot.

There, Ms. Tammy was trying to comfort her, she is a tall, gentle, caring woman with flowing

brown hair. On the way in, we saw Ms. Linda inside the daycare office. She on the other hand

was of average height, short curly black hair and is somewhat stern. The daycare room was very

colourful with murals of flowers and animals. The lively laughter lingered lightly in the air as the

children laughed from Robins jokes.

Sally showed up in the room with Ms. Tammy, still sobbing about something with a few tears in

her eyes slowly running down her rosy cheeks. Ms. Tammy politely asked us what game wewould like to play outside in the schools field. We boys played a separate game from the girls

since there were more of us. We chose to play soccer and immediately we split into two teams.

With each kick, I took a whiff of the subtle smell of grass mixed with the air. Even harder kicks

made thuds that buzz and echo in my ears.

Soon enough I started to notice the kids slowly vanished with their parents. I then start to

wonder where on earth my dad could have been. I easily shrugged it off too busy about our

game of soccer. Ms. Linda hollered Sally over; she too had vanished along with(her) parent. I

started to worry again.

Ms. Tammy kindly suggests for the rest of us to come back inside as the autumn breeze got

rougher. On the way in, Tim and I requested if we could possibly continue playing inside the

gym. In her soft gentle voice, she tells us that we could but only after snack time.

All of us rushed to our cubbies, excited to keep playing our little games we gathered to the far

side of the daycare where we had an absolutely stunning view of the leaves dancing in the

wind. The remaining boys all traded and shared their snacks with each other. I received home-

made brownies from John; also I traded my muffin for these brightly colored fruit gummies

from Edwin. As I opened the pack of gummies, the scent of citrus and berries plunged into my

nose. Robin, being the goofball he is, imitated a walrus with pretzel sticks. He almost made

Edwin laugh so hard that he nearly spewed his orange juice. As snack time was about to end,Johns mom arrived and with him he took two kids which was his neighbours with him.

Everyone who finished their snacks went with Ms. Linda to the schools gym, which thedaycare

was close to. When we arrived the equipment room was locked. We had to use our sweaters as

the goal posts to continue our game. The teams remained the same but with fewer players. Like

the teams, the score was also kept the same with my team leading six to four. Then suddenly,


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after a while, parents came rushing in like a stampede of rhinos. The only ones that was left

were me, Robin and Edwin.

Ms. Tammy brought all three of us back to the daycare room for some drawing. Each of us

received a few pieces of paper and a bucket of colorful but broken crayons was put in the

middle of the table. I drew a serene, brightly colored field of flowers. Edwin drew threeferocious fire-breathing dragons, one red, one purple and one green. Robin drew a garage full

of sports cars with spoilers, stripes and flames. We were so focused on drawing but before I

knew it, one by one, Edwin and Robins parents had picked them up. As Robin was on his way

out I caught a glimpse outside, it was slowly getting darker.

Everything all of a sudden got colder, a chill ran down my spine, my palms started to sweat,

then it hit me like a freight train, I was all alone. Although the caretakers was there, all I could

think of was the fact that my dad had not yet arrived. I calmed down a little before I jumped

into conclusions. Ms. Tammy asked softly if there was someone coming to pick me up. Still

slightly in shock, I nodded slowly on the verge of crying. I asked Ms. Tammy if she could call my

dad. She did, there was no answer. Frightened, I pondered where my dad could possibly be.

Then the scary thought of my dad forgetting all about me. It had me freaked out. Suddenly

there was a knock on the door, thinking it was my dad I jumped up with a smile on my face.

Only to shatter my smile, the one who knocked on the door was the janitor. He came to remind

Ms. Linda that it was thirty-five minutes until the doors had to be locked.

Several minutes later, Ms. Linda went home while Ms. Tammy stayed worrying. The doorbell

for pick up rung, alarming both of us. To my surprise, it was my dad. I was so glad that he came.

I had thought that he forgot me, and then all the tears I had held back finally started to rush

down my face. My dad hugged me tight and asked me if I had thought that he forgot me. I

nodded while the salty tears flowed into my mouth, in his arms. He apologized to me and Ms.Tammy for being extremely late. You could see the relief in Ms. Tammys face as I waved her

good-bye.

On the way to the car, my dad assured me that it would never happen again. When we got

home he told me that he would make up for it the next day. He stayed with me and put me to

sleep that night. After school, the next day, my dad came early to pick me up. We went to Toys

R Us, he told me I could get anything I wanted but of course, it had to be reasonable. I took the

biggest Nerf gun I could get. Everything seemed brighter, cheerful, and colorful. On that day I

had realized that I should have trusted my dad and also not to jump into conclusions ever again.


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Cold Lossby Kyle Deluz

It was a cold winter day. The wind blew the snow to the window. A chill sneaks into the room,

crawling up my shirt, making me shiver. I turn around to see my dad watching TV. I joined him.

It was ESPN and he was very focused on the TV. I can pick up the sounds of the wind sneak into

the room.

The doorbell rang, as a child, I consistently wanted to open the door. My mom stopped me

dead on my tracks and ordered me to go upstairs. My grandma was also coming to open the

door. I frowned and quickly ran upstairs. My mom also came up with me to talk to my dad, she

had a very frustrated look on her face. I overheard my mom and dad talking, she spoke to my

dad and told him to keep me upstairs. Her voice was shaky, like if something were to happen,

shed lose it. My dad scurried me into the room, but I turned around to get a glance ofwhat

was happening. I had a quick look of 2 police officers standing outside the door. Now I am

anxious of what will happen. As he closed the door, my dad told me to not listen but I can tell

that he was listening too.

The door opens and the policemen shook hands with my mom and grandma. I can barely hear

over the sounds of the wind but I can faintly hear it.

Hello, are you the Deluz family? The police man inquired.

Yes, did you find her yet? My mom sounded very shaky, like she is ready to cry. I can sense

her pain from a mile away. She cannot wait for the answer and wants him to spit it out already.

We did, but... The sound of the winter wind blew harder and harder, causing their once faint

talk to become mute.

I open the door so I can get a better look and all that there was to see was the police officers

talking as my mom and grandma start crying. As a kid, I knew what happened. I knew what was

taken from me. You dont really understand much of these things as a kid but you know what is

wrong with your parents. I knew what happened. My aunt was taken away. She was missing for

so long and now that they found her, she cannot return back home. She cant come back and

say hello to us again. The feel of her warm hugs wont come back. She is gone from my life now.

I start to cry as I can see my mom and grandma doing the same thing.

The policemen tip their hats and take their leave. My mom closes the door and she ran to mygrandma, who was sitting on the couch bawling her eyes out. My dad came to me and held me

tight. He knew what has happened too. He tries to overcome the sounds of crying that was

coming from downstairs but it was no use.

The wind blows silently against the window. The cries of pain overthrew the sounds of the

wind. The tears from my eyes fall from my cheek and onto my dads arm. The tears felt


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different. It felt warm; the warmth of my aunt. The smell of the dry air from the bitter winter

hits my nose and makes me not able to cry as much.

My dad held me tight. He is the strongest one in the family, but now he is like all of us,

heartbroken. He never shows his weakness so I always saw my dad and the leader but were all

the same now. We are all mourning and in pain. We all knew what has happened. Ourhousehold now lost one of their own. A piece of my heart has been ripped out of me. I thought

to myself over and over. What do we tell our family in the Philippines? How do we explain this

to her son? Why was she taken from me...?

There was a moment of silence in the house. The silence filled the entire house. We heard the

wind blow harder and harder. The house was still, our minds filled with loss, the smell of the

dry air rushes into my nose, causing me to cough hard. I thought the house was silent, but I was

trapped into my own mind. I clear my thoughts for a moment and continue to hear the sounds

of my family.

I can still hear the cries of pain and loss from downstairs. I quickly broke out of my dads

embrace and ran out the door. He tried to stop me but I came downstairs as fast as he could. I

quickly jumped onto my mom and grandma, crying into their shoulders. We all knew what has

happened. All I can think of is the things she has done for us and the things she couldve done

for us. I wanted her to come home again, and say hello. I wanted to at least say bye to her

before she left that day. I wish I could have done all of that. I wanted to go back in time and tell

her to not go and to stay home. I wouldve wanted her to stay home if I knew this is what was

going to happen. Every day, I will continue to miss her.

The winter wind blew against the living room window. The snow covered most of the light

shining into the room. The smell of tears and dry air overcame my nose. The feeling of loss isforever stuck in my heart. On this day, I knew that we lost her. This is the day of when she

disappeared from my life, forever. I am going to miss her every day, but I will continue to do my

best for her. She will be in a better place, not worrying about money and people. Wars and

crimes. She will be better. I thought to myself as I stared at the window, hoping that sooner or

later, she would come back.

To this day, I still miss her. It doesnt hurt me as much now. I understand now that people have

to leave sooner or later. As my child self, I always wanted everyone to stay with me, to be there

when I become old so we can all be old together. I understand now that losing someone is a

part of life. As long as they are happy, I will be happy too.

Someday you're going to look back on this moment of your life as such a sweet time of

grieving. You'll see that you were in mourning and your heart was broken, but your life was

changing...Elizabeth Gilbert


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The Day I Almost Died by Lucas Parisien

The day I almost died, it was a hot summer day when the family got together at my little sister

Ariels birthday party, as usual the party goes on like this. All the kids go outside to play while

the adults stay inside and chit chat like crazy gossip people. Then its present time for the

birthday boy or girl in this case its a girl but then the pretty little cake came out while everyone

sang happy birth day. When the party is over everyone one goes home but the little kids get a

gift bag to take home.

Well the birthday party ends up a little different because I happened to be the main attraction

at this party, we had a big water balloon fight going on at the basketball court everyone was in

on it, we had all ganged up on the birthday girl, she was so wet we had thought it poured rain

just for a few seconds because of all the water splashes ever where till all the balloons had

vanished out of the bucket but after wards I was thinking of filling up two huge balloons with

water, I had quickly finished thinking about it, I had filled up a red balloon and a blue balloon

with water. I carried both of the balloons in my arms; the moment I stepped outside of theheavy steel door I had dropped the red water balloon.

My uncle Kevyn had asked for the blue water balloon, he told me to start running so I ran as

fast as I could, I tripped on a rail road tie that was sticking out of the cement, as I was falling my

uncle threw the blue water balloon at me and had wrapped around my neck, threw me into a

wall with one nut sticking out of the wall and with any chances I had hit the left side of my head

, cut me open like a can opener and all you would have seen was a red river of blood coming

out of the side of my head, there was blood everywhere, all over the ground, my face and the

wall. I had blacked out for at least ten minutes but I thought I got up as soon as possible after

hitting the ground but my uncle picked me up tossed me to my dad like a rag doll and put me

into my uncles van to take me to the hospital.

Once we got to the hospital the nurse had wrapped my head in bandages and had made it look

like I was wearing a turban, it took at least half an hour till the doctor came to get me so he

could put in stiches, when I went into the operating room the doctor tried to pull the off the

bandages without taking it off properly so it hurt a little bit but what had really hurt was getting

the freezing because it felt like getting punched in the side of my head a thousand times over

and over again. Till this day it still hurts sometimes when I touch the side of my head in certain

places when I run my finger across my scar that looks like a rainbow. But however I am very

lucky that I survived, my little sister would have been very upset if I did die at her party because

the nut that was sticking out just missed my temple by a couple of centimetres away fromkilling me on the spot.


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Dont Put All Your Eggs in One Basket by Harp Kang

The year dated back to October 31, 2009. On Halloween day, I was in grade four and nine years

old at the time. For me Halloween was amazing because you could be whoever you wanted.

When I got home from school that day the first thing I did was put the pumpkin Id carved the

other day outside. I turned on the television and started watching Halloween themed shows

and movies. While watching I glanced out of the living room windows. I was anticipating for the

children to come trick or treating.

Ding-dong, the doorbell rang! I raced down the stairs to hand out the candy but my mom had

beaten me to it. It was my cousin at the front door, Prab. She came to take my brother, and I

trick or treating this year. We ran up the stairs, my cousin waited in the living room while I went

to grab my brother. We all watch T.V for a little while longer. I was so distracted by the T.V until

I heard talking.

No shes too much of a chicken, my brother laughed.

Who is who is? I questioned them.

You, they both announced at once!

I felt my heart drop in my chest. I couldnt believe they would say that. I was so outraged I

shouted at the top of my lungs No Im not!

Then I dare you to throw an egg at one of the neighbours garages, my brother said crossing

his arms over his chest.

Ill do it!

It was around 7pm when we decided to leave the house, and kids were running door to door. I

remember grabbing a white egg from the fridge. The egg had felt cold as I carefully placed it

into my trick or treating bag. We all put on our masks and left the house.

We were rounding the end of our street when my cousin asked me if I was really going to do it,

throw the egg. I lied through my teeth telling her that Id forgotten to bring it. I didnt want to

throw the egg, it was terrifying me just thinking about it.

Unless you guys want to go back home with me so I can grab it?

Hoping they would decline my offer to go home and grab an egg.

Whatever its fine, my brother muttered.


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Food fight Fiasco at Ecole Sacre-Coeur by Kobe Guevarra

When I was eight years old I had experienced what it was like being in a food fight. Before I

moved here when I was nine, I use to attend French immersion school called Ecole Sacre-Coeur.

I just had finished class for the rest of the morning. It was time for lunch, so I walked downstairs

to the cafeteria. Today the cafeteria was serving spaghetti and meatballs. I bought my spaghetti

and carried it to the far back corner of the cafeteria where my friends Nigel, Andrew, and Niko

were siting.

All of us were eating our lunches minding our business, until large group of boys began to throw

their spaghetti, meatballs and chocolate milk at a couple of girls siting on the other table on the

left of us. At first we all thought it was hilarious, but it got a little out of hand watching those

boys go into action, especially since they had outnumbered the girls so badly. Things got really

intense when more people started to join in. I knew that detention was just around the corner.

I kept eye balling the cafeteria to see when a teacher or a cafeteria worker would come over

and step in, but as the food started to come towards us, there were no teachers around. I felt a

cold wetness coming from my back. It was apple sauce. Andrew began to throw his rice back at

everybody. Niko helped me wiped off the sticky apple sauce off my back. As he was cleaning my

back I could see the girls crying surrounded by huge gobs of pasta sauce and spaghetti. The rest

of the kids were yelling FOOD FIGHT! FOOD FIGHT! FOOD FIGHT! Like a bunch of idiots. It was

like sounding the alarm to the faculty room for every teacher to come in.

Two kids came up behind Nigel at of nowhere, poured coke down the back of his shirt. Nigel

screamed, pushed the table, and jumped out of his seat. Flapping is arms all over the place.

Everybody in the whole cafeteria was tossing food making a real mess. While everybody was

throwing food at each other likes animals. The bell rang for class. The principal Mrs. Gibson

burst out of the cafeteria doors. Mrs. Gibson was one of the strictest principals I that I had ever

had. Going to Sacre- Coeur would remember kids would be terrified getting in trouble and

being sent to Mrs. Gibson office. QUIET! NO ONE IS LEAVING UNTIL ALL OF YOU CLEAN THE

CAFETERIA! Mrs. Gibson shouted. After the whole lecture everyone spent the whole day

cleaning up the cafeteria.


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Forbidden Dayby Mayank Kashyap

On a warm and sunny day of September. It was my first day of school in Canada. I was nervous

because I did not speak or understand English.

As I entered the school of St. George, I realized that I did not know where I had to go or where

my homeroom was. However, the office was on the right side just as you enter the school from

the main door. I went inside the office and noticed a short woman who had short hair and

looked she was in the ages of 40-50 was sitting on a chair behind a desk. I assumed that she

worked in the office but what I did not know was that she was the principal. Since I did not

know where I had to go, I asked her where room.

I could see that she did not understand what I was trying to say. After a few seconds, she

realized I was a new student and did not know where I had to go. She took my timetable and

looked at it for a few seconds. She handed me the timetable back, then she got up and asked

me to follow her. When we left the office, we took a left where I could see the stairs, which wehad to use to get upstairs to take another left. When we started walking down the hallway, I

saw many rooms that were about subjects like ELA, Math and cooking room. When I passed the

cooking room, I could smell something sweet but I did not know what exactly it was.

When we got to the end of the hallway, the principal pointed to the room door and said, There

you go. When I entered the room, I saw about 20+ students in the room and a woman with

long brown hair and glasses who was my teacher. She noticed me and said, You must be the

new student. I replied by shaking my head up and down. She introduced herself to me, told

me her name which was Ms. Hailey and told me to take a seat anywhere I like. Therefore, I

went to the back of the room and took a seat beside a student named Luis who looked big for

the age of 12. I just quietly sat there for a couple of moments until I heard a sound, which came

from the speakers somewhere in the room, which said, Please rise and pause for the playing of

O Canada. I saw everyone one in the room stand up and I did not know what was going on so I

just stood until the National Anthem was over and everyone sat back down. After the Anthem,

the announcements begin to happen about sports and other activities if anyone was interesting

in joining. When the announcements were over the introduced me to the class and got on to

teaching. I was just staring at the board acting as if I understood everything.

It was about 11:50 when the lunch began. I had some pizza, which was soft and tasted salty. It

took me about 20 minutes to finish my lunch. After I was done, I went outside and walked

around the school watching other play soccer and basketball. It was about 12:45 when I heard asound of bell brrrrrrinnnnggg which indicated that the lunch was over and it was time to go

back inside. When everyone was back in the room, the teacher told us that we were going to

the library. We went downstairs and to the middle of the hallway where the library was. As we

entered the library, which was completely full with books and places to sit down and read, our

teacher told us where to sit which was in front of a couch. As I was finding a spot to sit down

one of the student named Trevor who had blond hair and was short shouted my name and


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pointed to an empty spot beside him so I thought why not sit there. When everyone found a

spot and were quiet, a woman with glasses and white hair with a book in her hands sat on the

couch. From then I knew that it was the librarian. She started reading a book but again I did not

understand anything and just quietly sat there. When the librarian stopped reading, she told us

to pick any book we like from the library that we can have for 2 weeks to read. Therefore,

everyone scattered around trying to find a book and I did too. After about searching for acouple minutes I came across a book called Goosebumps. The cover of the book looked creepy

to me so just by looking at the cover I could tell it was going to be a scary book. So I went in

front of the librarians desk gave her the book so she could assign to me. After I got it assigned, I

sat down on the couch and started reading the book. I could read English but did not know

what the words meant. After about 30 minutes, it was 2:05 pm, which meant the period was

over and that we had to go to our next class, which was Band.

We left the library, took a right turn and went straight down the hallways where the band class

was. When I went inside, to my left I saw three rows of chairs and stand in a pattern and to my

right I saw areas of where the instruments, extra chairs and stands were. I sat on a chair while

everyone else were getting his/ her instruments ready. While everyone were playing random

notes on their instruments and practicing, I saw a tall man who had short and blond hair walk

into the room. His name was Mr. Olfert who was our band teacher. He sat down on his chair in

the corner of the room where he was using his computer. After a few moments, he got up and

stood in front of the class and behind a stand. He talked to class for a few moments and then

told the class to play the note C. When they did that, I could hear them blend in with each other

and heard sounds of different instruments. While everyone was playing, I was just sitting there

doing nothing so the teacher realized that I was not playing any instrument but what he did not

know was that I did not have any instrument assigned and that I was a new student. Therefore,

he asked me Where is your instrument?

I did not answer because I did not know what he was saying. However, he asked me the same

question again but this time I could hear that he was getting a bit angry because I did not

answer to his question. I was getting scared because I did not know what to say and the way he

was talking made me feel even more scared. Finally, I heard someone from my left say that He

is a new student and he does not understand or speak English. So then, the teacher stopped

asking me that question. This time he was using sign language to ask me if I wanted to play a

clarinet by putting his hands in front of his chest and moved his fingers around to demonstrate

what a clarinet is like or if I wanted to play the flute by putting his hands to the right of his head

and again demonstrating how you would actually play it. I made up my mind and chose the

clarinet and so the teacher assigned me one and gave me a book, which had the keys to thenotes. I kept on practicing the notes until the end of the class when it was time for me to go

home after this long and scary day, which I hope I never have to deal with again.


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Journey of Change by Marcus Tarrosa

Five years ago on October 2, 2009, my family and I were heading out for a flight to go and

migrate to Canada. Everyone in my family walked out of their rooms early in the morning

feeling like a zombie. The warm steamy rice, runny egg yolk and sweet savory sausage fill up my

stomach, as my dad packs up the luggages. As I devour my last meal in the Philippines, I was

wearing a black shirt with dark blue jeans, my older brother got ready in a white blue patterned

shirt, my younger sister rushed over to the table to eat breakfast, wearing a navy blue long

sleeve pairing it with black joggers, my 5 yr. Old brother was wearing a green jacket with orange

shirt and black sweatpants. The luggages were put in the cars and my dad got dressed up in

brown shit with blue jeans.

After we finished breakfast, everyone did their last minute check with their carry-ons.

I had one last good look to our relatives and our house. All the childhood memories came

rushing in my mind, the endless hours of playing outside. Everyone dashed to the cars, leaving

the garage; I looked back at the porch realizing Im not going to see the house in a long time.

Once we arrived at the Philippine airport, everyone rushed out of the car to get the luggage out

of the trunk. After getting the luggage on the carts we said our final good-byes and farewell. I

dashed towards my grandma to hug her really tight, my aunts and finally my cousins. Pushing

our carts towards the entrance to quickly check in and gave our final wave. The check in line

quickly piled up; luckily we got in line first. Before going through the metal detectors, my heart

was pounding against my chest so fast like a race car. I was nervous because it was my first time

going through the procedure in the airport and it was my very first airplane ride.

After the detectors, I felt like a kid in a candy shop, so free. Marching our way to the benches

waiting until we were called for our gate number. For every time the speaker announced

something, I jumped off my seat asking my dad if that was our gate, luckily we had to wait for

five minutes. My dad gave all 5 tickets to the flight attendant at the entrance of the airplane.

Walking through the hallway that lead to the door was a great and exciting experience. Once I

entered the airplane, I felt like I was on a red carpet event. Looking for our seat number, I was

already arguing with my sibling, who is going to seat by the window, we finally settled that we

would switch turns every time we switched airplanes.

The flight to Hong Kong took an hour, I wanted the ride to be longer, so I could spend more

time in the airplane. Arriving at Hong Kong was amazing. It made me forget about the sadness

of leaving the Philippines. The Hong Kong terminal was beautiful, looking like a palace. Thehumid, steaming weather stung my skin. Exploring Hong Kong was amazing and advanced with

their walkalators. I was quite thirsty so we bought Starbucks the sweet, velvety smooth coffee

bursted in my mouth.

On our way to our second flight from Hong Kong to Vancouver, it was the longest ride for our

trip in total of 16 hrs. The first meal I ever had in an airplane was beef stew with noodles and


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fruit mix. I devoured my dinner in minutes, the tenderness of the beef fell apart in my mouth,

the saltiness of the stew, bitterness and crunch of the bell peppers mixed well with the beef

and the al dante noodles and the sweetness of the fruits combined perfectly with the stew and

cleanse my palate. As I wash down my throat with water, I quickly whispered to the flight

attendant if I could have a blanket.

The noise of the turbine woke me up like an alarm clock, I slow opened my eyes. I caught a

glimpse of the sun smiling down at me. It was 9:30 am, I was lucky enough to wake up at that

time as the flight attendants started handing out breakfast, the buttery croissant, succulent

roasted ham and the juicy tomato filled up my stomach and gave me energy.

Arriving at the Vancouver airport gave me a wakeup call that Im no longer in my hometown

and that I have to adapt to a whole different lifestyle. The cold autumn wind penetrated my

skin in an instant. We had a four hour stop-over from Vancouver to Winnipeg. Our relatives in

Vancouver knew that we were going to arrive from the Philippines. Riding in the car was a

whole new experience especially seeing all the mountains and sceneries, my first ever meal in

Canada was McDonalds.

Hours later, at 3:30 pm we boarded our final plane to Winnipeg. It was a quick ride only an hour

long. I kept repeating myself of we were at Winnipeg. The screeching of the wheels and the

slowing down of the airplane got me jumping of my seat. At last the speaker went off This is

your pilot speaking we have arrived in Winnipeg, take care and be safe out there and thank you

for choosing Air Canada. I gave the plane one last look as I dash towards the exit.

As I ran towards the escalators, I was thinking to myself what I was going to say to everyone. I

stopped right before I came down the escalators; it hit me like a brick, knowing that once I step

down to the escalators that my life is going to change drastically, having to learn a newlanguage, adapting to a new lifestyle and making new friends. I got through all the negative

ideas and thought to myself that I have to focus what is ahead of me and all the positive

opportunities, my future and finally seeing my mom. I realize there is no going back, I have to

face the reality. Finally my brother gave me a little shove to move down the escalator. I gave a

huge smile and a wave to my family and relatives. I dashed down out of the escalators towards

my mom gave her a really tight hug, and moved onto my relatives giving each a quick greeting

and hug.

I thought to myself as we were exiting the airport, that change isnt that awful.It can be a

rough a journey you just have to look past through all the negative thoughts and think of thebright side.


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16

Know Who Your Real Best Friends Are by Josh Aman

It was a couple days before my birthday when my mom and dad decided to visit Toys R Us. She

gave me the chance to look for any toys that I would want for my birthday and I would receive

one of them. I came across numerous kinds of toys such as Legos, superhero figures, hot

wheels, etc. I finished my list of toys that I wanted, but of course as a kid I wanted all of them.

However, before I left the store I saw this mini remote control car that looked exactly like the

car that my dad drove when he was young that he had showed me in pictures. Immediately, I

cleared my list and made the mini R/C car as my one and only choice.

Hey josh, its time to open up your presents! says my dad during my birthday party. As my

guests sang Happy Birthday for the last time before I opened my presents, I noticed my mom

was not around. I asked my uncles and aunts if they knew where she was but suddenly she

showed up with a medium size wrapped box that looked similar to the mini R/C car that I found

in the store. I jumped up and down of excitement, happiness, and was very eager to open it

first. However, my mom refused to let me and wanted me to open the presents from the guestsfirst. I was very impatient but I also felt very thankful to have received those gifts from my

guests. I was very excited to open up the presents my parents had bought for me as if there

was no tomorrow. And when I opened it, it was the mini remote control car that I wanted! I was

very happy and excited to show my best friend Marco my new toy.

I brought my new toy to school the next day and I couldnt wait to show it off to my friends. It

was a cold Tuesday morning when we were told by the teachers that we would be spending the

whole day inside the school during lunch break and recess due to the weather which was about

-35 degrees Celsius. I couldnt wait to take out my toy and play with it in front of my friends and

especially my best friend Marco. Marco and I very alike, we grew up liking similar things and

sharing all of our toys with each other. I knew Marco since kindergarten and we have been best

friends since then.

When lunch break came along, I immediately took out my toy car and showed my friends. They

were amazed and liked my new toy just as much as I did. I let all my friends try to drive the car

and they all tried to take turns. Lunch break was about to end and not everyone got their

chance because Marco had taken too long. Before lunch ended, I went to the washroom for a

quick potty break. And when I came back, Marco did not have my R/C car. I asked all of my

classmates if anyone knew who had it but everyone refused to tel l me. I assumed Marco had

stolen it from me because he was the last person who had it. This also made more upset

because he was my best friend. I was in tears for the rest of the day and I couldnt participate inclass very well. When my parents had come to pick me up after school, I did now know what to

say because I was afraid of what they could have said.

The next day, Ive decided to skip because I was still feeling upset about my toy. However,

without any further notice, Marco and his mom came over and brought me my toy back. It was

an unexpected surprise for me but Im glad he had done that.


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The Lost Friend by Harman Gill

Five years ago, on a hot summer day, I first experienced and learned a lesson that we should

never believe on everyone or either interest or believe on everyone whom we dont know

The day before, I was coming back to home from my school when Dev threw a small ball of

paper from my back to call me as I was unable to listen to his voice from back because of myheadphones plugged in.

I stopped in front of the playground. Before Dev reach, my best friend Brar came to me for

asking the homework we got in our maths class as he had a doctors appointment on that day

due to which he didnt come to the school and skipped the math class.

Before Dev reaches, I sent Brar back by saying, I will text you the homework we got in our

maths class as they both were not good towards each other. Whenever and wherever they

meet they started fighting or arguing on small issues.

Dev was a new comer in our school that year.

Heyy, bro how are you doing? Dev asked.

Fantastic, I replied by thanking GOD that I have sent Brar back at good timings.

We just walked a few steps when Dev started talking about Brar.

Hows your best friend Brar; he asked.

Yea he is good, too I replied

I was surprised when he told me the false truth of Brar by saying that he takes Drugs, as we

promised each other that we will not take drugs in our life as we were friends forever.

WHAT??? I asked surprisingly.

Then he was like yea but, he is one of your best friend, and you will not trust me.

For a second, I didnt trust on him but when he said that I will not trust him, and then I lost it

and trusted him.

I Trusted, I trusted, I trusted.

That was my mistake that I trusted.


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At home too and through a long weekend, I was just thinking about him only. I also forgot to

text Brar, the homework. The days went on and on Monday, I was walking through my way to

the school.

I saw Brar in front of the school seems to be waiting for someone. I went on. As I went closer,

he seemed to be very upset

Yo, Harman, I was just thinking and waiting for you, he said.I didnt say anything and

continued walking to my way. Heyy, I want to tell you one truth which youshould know

because I dont want us to break up, he said.

Please, I know everything what you want to say and what you dont! I said, as I was annoyed.

After two-three days, my classmate jay met me and told everything he knew. I came to know

from him that I should have listened to him as he was trying to tell me that he and Dev had

argued with him before he met me on that day when Dev told me that false truth.

But I didnt listen.

On that day, when they argued, Dev warned Brar and me hell break up mine and Brars

friendship forever. I was surprised and felt guilty that I trusted on Dev as he was unknown to

me because he was new to the school.

I was not even able to say sorry to Brar as next day he went to Australia and I was even not

even known to his new phone number or anything false. But last week, after five years I

received his friend request on Facebook and I accepted without any fear and got my friend

back. We felt sorry to each other and sorted out all the issues between us.


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19

My Final Prank by Neil Singh

Its amazing how a little choice can affect you. My friend and I were hanging out one day; we

didnt know what to do. Should we play basketball? Should we go biking? We chose to prank

someone, which changed my whole day around.

It may have been a great day for biking or for playing some basketball that day, but we were

still bored. We came to the subject of my friends mean neighbour. Is Sanjay home? I asked.

His truck is on his driveway, so probably My friend answered. Why? Want to mess around

with him? I said while smiling. Lets do it! my friend said smiling back. I dare you to ding-

dong ditch Sanjay! Okay, I can do that easily. I said with great pride. But we need proof you

actually did it. Take my iPod and record the whole thing. He said.

My friend and I were typical 11 year olds; we caused a lot of trouble whether it was in school or

out of school. Even though we were massive troublemakers, I am surprised we never got

suspended. We especially caused mass chaos to the mean neighbour, Sanjay. We used to prankcall him, order pizzas to his house and we even used to run around his truck while he was

driving it to stir some anger inside of him. We were just plain rude to him.

I hopped on my big bike and hit the record button on my friends iPod and put it in my pocket. I

drove my bike to Sanjays driveway. His house was an average house in the area I lived in: a

decent sized home with 2 stories and a garage; his house had slight orange stucco I checked if

anyone was watching me and rang his doorbell. His bell made the classic Ding Dong sound. I

felt a little nervous for some reason, I usually never felt nervous when pranking anyone. I

quickly jumped on my bike and drove quickly.

I could hear Sanjays door open. I heard Sanjay yell Hey!!! Normally I would have kept biking

away, but I stopped and looked at him. He had a little bit of a beer belly and a beard

surrounding his mouth. He looked pure evil, as always. Did you ring the bell and go on your

cycle and left? He yelled. No. I yelled back. I saw you, come here. Sanjay said. That was

another chance of escaping, but I was so nervous I did not bother, so I listened to his

commands.

Who told you to do this? he asked.

No one I replied. I could not just rat my friend out and get him in this situation.

Okay, will you do this again? Sanjay asked.

If I said a simple No, he would probably let me off, but all that tension made me say Yeah,

sure. That is where I messed up. Sanjay looked at me with his piercing eyes and started to cuss

at me.


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At that point, my heart started to beat fast. I was getting very anxious. He asked me what my

Dads phone number was, I didnt reply. He kept pulling out pointless threats trying to scare

me. He even went inside to get his house phone and threatened to call the police. (That was

another chance of escaping I couldve took) He left the door open when he came back outside.

His innocent daughter asked him Who is this, Dad? in Punjabi, He just ignored her. Sanjayprobably never knew I was Punjabi like him due to my skin colour being white.

I was thinking about how foolish the situation was and how Sanjay could have let me off and

stopped wasting both of our times. I thought it was pretty funny, so I let out a snicker. This was

Sanjays last straw, so he swore at me once again and said Okay, lets beat this kid now He

went inside his house. This was another opportunity to flee, so I quickly ran to my bike and

drove very quickly. Sanjay came back outside and shouted Hey!!! I look back and I saw him

holding a wooden cricket bat. I just taunted him with insults.

I felt very victorious, but I thought he was going to chase me down and call the police on me, so

I take a long path to my house; I passed by the lake which had the odour of bird feces. I

returned to my house and I saw my friend parking his bike on my driveway. I gave his iPod and

explained every single detail to him.

My friend ended up deleting the recording off his iPod due to us being paranoid. I dont see

Sanjay a whole lot nowadays; he probably would not recognize me anyways. This was the last

time I pranked anyone.


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My Last Week and My First Day by Norman Sigua

3 years and 3 months ago, thats the day where I and my familymoved to Canada from the

Philippines. It was a very important week because I had to say goodbye to where I was born and

raised for another country I have never been to. But it was also pretty exciting because that was

my first time to ride an airplane.

My last 7th

day in Philippines was definitely a well spent week. I was at a Dream Water, its a

resort. All of my relatives were there and the special people in my life. The resort was

extremely beautiful. There were so many swimming pools, with tall slides, fountains, and an

awesome play structure. There were flowers and trees like coconut and mango trees. In

addition, there were also some fun activities like wall climbing, kayaking, fishing and many

more. Wall climbing really pumped my blood, it was difficult for me to climb because the rocks

where so far apart. Plus the fact that I did not had a long reach made it even more difficult. I

worked really hard to climb the wall. While I was climbing, there were sweats pouring on my

head. My heart felt like it was going to burst and as I go higher and higher it got even scarierbecause Im a little bit scare of heights. There were so many people; all my relatives came to

spend time with us. It was time for dinner, that table was full of different kind of food. It had

chicken, spaghetti, spring rolls, lots of porks, barbeque, and a lot more. The smell of the food

took over my nose; it was like heaven of food. I spent 4 days at the resort and I pretty much did

the something all over every day.

We had 3 days left before we leave. I spent a day to hang out with my friends. There were

seven of us and we are all crazy, all we wanted was to have fun. We walked to the mall which

was probably 5km away from where we were. When we got to the mall, we all watched movie

and played video games at the arcade. There were so many games but also a lot of people.

They were very loud but of course we were louder. After the mall, we did something terrible

but its more my friends not me. We rode a tricycle; its a motorcycle with aside car that can fit

at least 4 passengers. We were at a tricycle heading to a farm where we always hangout. When

we got to that farm, I and some of my friend paid the driver but suddenly the rest of them ran.

There were 4 of them that did not pay, the driver ran after them and they got caught. It was

embarrassing but at the same time exciting.

2 days left, I spent a day with my family. We ate different kinds of Filipino food and talked

about random things. We didnt do much but it was still a very important day.

Finally, my last day in the Philippines, My aunt threw a party for us. There were lots of peopleand they were all loud. When the party ended, the atmosphere of the room suddenly changed.

They were all crying except for me because I wanted to act tough. I hugged everyone and said

some cheesy lines.


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The day had arrived. We woke up early to make sure we dont forget anything. We were

heading to the airport and it didnt feel the same. I never thought that I would leave the

Philippines. So we arrived at the Philippines airport, its not huge but its decent.

I was in the plane for almost 16 hours. It was boring so I ended up having mix feelings. I felt

excited, scared, sad, and curious.

Yes, we did it! I shouted. We arrived at Winnipeg airport. I was shocked, the airport was

stunning. It did not look like the airport in the Philippines.

My grandpa and my other relatives picked us up. It was weird at first because I dont really

know them but they made me feel welcome. As we were driving to my grandpas house, I saw a

complete new world. Everyone was driving a car not a tricycle. There were bus and even

fireworks since it was Canada day. As I was watching the fireworks, I thought to myself that

maybe its not so bad to move into a different place just as long as my family is together.


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Never Give Up by Noah Rampersad

It was a cold October day at -15 degrees Celsius, chilling winds cast over the playing field. I

glanced over at the play clock; just less than two minutes remained in the championship game.

Us, the Nomads were known for doing well while under pressure in the final quarter of the

game, but it was different this time. Football is a game determined by who wants it the most it

and we wanted it all, the Mustangs had the ball and they ran it, I yelled run! run! The running

back sprinted down the field a good seven yards or so I and a few other teammates made the

tackle, it was a hard hit and all of us were slow to get up. I stood straight up and attempted to

help the Mustangs running back to his feet, as I reached out he denied the helping hand. One of

my teammates whispered dont worry, theyre like that.

The score was tight 24-21 Mustangs, we had taken our second last timeout for this half.

Everybody was dead exhausted, down to our last few bottles of water. I looked to my good

friend Ethan who was a linebacker at the time and said we got this, he looked at me with a

sign of disbelief in our ability to pull this off. The whistle rattled through our ears, it was time toget back on the field, the ball was snapped with force on the 40 yard line, and it was a pass. The

ball soared threw the air in a perfect spiral, I looked to the receiver it was being thrown to, we

picked it off! It was ran back 20 yards before Zack was shoved out of bounds. The crowd was

going crazy, air horns, people screaming, it was deafening.

Everybody, especially me though this was our chance to steal the game. Me and the rest of the

defense came storming off the field, I told our quarterback Nick that this is our chance, he had a

look of determination on his face. I started a chant to get our offense pumped, O what?

Offense! O what? Offense! The crowd was once again roaring, louder than ever. We rushed the

ball down the field, within the final minute now as I looked at the clock the score stared me

dead in the eye. The ball was snapped, our QB was sacked for a loss of 6 yards, the field hushed

down, I looked around everybody in sight was anxious. Out of nowhere, coach took our last

timeout.

We took a knee around Coach Nathan, everybody was flat out tired. I looked around, sweat

dripping from players foreheads and heavy breathing. Coach looked at us with an intense stare

he said If you feel like giving up, look back on how far you are already. Never stop believing,

never give up. Your day will come, and that day is today! Head rose throughoutthe team, one

by one everybody look at each other. I said, lets go get that championship boys!

Our offense thundered back onto the beaten field, forty seconds on the game clock. The onlything that stood between us and a championship was four points. We moved the ball down the

field fairly quickly, at the 25 yard line now, it was a run play a massive one! We were now at the

10 yard line, time was ticking I screamed as loud as I could Lets go boys! Our quarterback

kept the ball on a QB sneak, touchdown! We had won the game and the championship, I looked

at coach a few minutes after everything settled down and said We really needed that.

Documents

Memoir Anthology Oct 16