Reflection #5

I have been reading the book Writing Down the Bones lately and I could find interesting stuff in it. One of them is when writing, quickly jot down the ideas that float inside the mind. I find this helpful when I am writing. It keeps the capability of writing. Another one is metaphor. I think metaphor makes sense of the writing. When writing, we don't really think of what we are writing down. We might not think that we are writing metaphors. In the book, it also tells to keep on writing. Write during free times. By doing so, writing skills develop. I like the book more than any of the books I have read before.

Not On My List

Going back home from St. Louis was not on my list. Saying good bye to my friends made my tears felt down non-stop. I did not want to leave. The only thing that pushed me through the trip was my parents. They called the other day that I had to be on the plane the next day. It was really hard for me to leave my friends but I had no choice. I did not want to disappoint my parents since my mother was sick.
As soon as I landed, my brothers were already there waiting for me with a suitcase. They handed me the suitcase and took me home. When I woke up, I could not find my siblings. A talking dragon, about a 4 feet long, has big eyes, kind of fun to play. stared at me from the door. Did not really realizing the dragon, I went outside our house to look for my siblings. I did not where they went. While I was searching for them in the yard, the phone rang. I hurried back inside to answer but it hung up. It rang three times. The third time it rang, I picked it up hurriedly. Before I could answer the phone, the talking dragon told me not to listen to what the caller was going to tell me. I was confused. Why would he want me not to listen to and believe the caller. The person who called told me to go to the hospital. As soon as I heard the word hospital, I had a bad feeling about my mother. Rushing to my room for  change, a tree felt down, just right outside our house. I stopped and looked at it. The talking dragon got angry with me. He said if I did not have listened to the caller the tree would not have fallen over. Confusion was over my dead body. The strange feeling that I had for my mother rose up. He might have been right about not listening to the caller. But, other than the confusion about the tree falling and the talking dragon, I remembered my mother's gift. Her birthday was near and I brought her a present with me from St. Louis.
When I opened the curtain, I saw her lying down. My father stood behind me and my siblings were all crying. I was really confused. I asked them why were they crying but they could not answer me. I went outside and sat. After a while, my father came out and told me to go home. I was more confuse than before. Bending over his shoulder, I could see my mother taken away from her bed. Death rang in my mind. I cried. I did not believe that my mother way dying. I cried so hard that I fainted. As soon as I woke up, I cried and then fainted again. My father got worried about me.
The next morning, I received a phone call from my school counsellor from St. Louis about my friends. She told me they were at the hospital for they crashed into a big tree near our favourite spot. I did not believe what I just heard. All of them did not survive the accident. Grieving for my friends, especially my mother took me a while. I stopped going out and sadly, going to school. I could not help myself being apart from my family again, especially my father. I blamed myself for the death of my mother and friends. Losing them was not on my list too. Since then, the talking dragon became my playmate and friend in our house.

Reflection #4

Ever since I started this course, I still can't believe who I have turned into today. I think my writing process is getting there. I now spend times writing. Writing was not my thing but now, believe it or not, I am kind of addicted to. Writing has come to be one of my priorities. I sit down and jot down words for words whenever I am bored, trying to put them in one paragraph. just so I can do something other than bored myself out. Classroom discussion brighten up my days even though they might be hard and difficult at times. I have learned to do character setting stories too from classroom discussions. I think it is fun.

Greatest Gift

I was sitting outside my house trying to get some air, while my indoor was heating up. Slowly and slowly, winds wafted over to where I was sitting. Pretending not to know I was hot, a one year old came to me and asked for food and drinks. I did not know what to do. The first thing I asked him was his name. He could not even understand what I was asking him. He used a  lot of gestures and that's how I knew he was hungry. I took him inside my house to cook food so he could eat. He patiently waited for my cooking to be done so he could eat. While he was eating, my phone rang. I thought that it was his parents, but no. When the little boy finished eating, I took him to shower. I changed his diaper and dressed him with comfortable clothes. He spent the night with. I reported to the police that he was staying with me. Three months passed and not even a single sign of his parents. I took him into my house and raised him as my own. He is now 7 years old. I am a grateful woman/mother and I am proud to say that he is my son. He is my greatest gift from God.

Reflection #3

I have learned many things from the book and from inside class discussions. Every time I try to write, it takes me a whole day to think of what to write on. After discussions inside class and reading from the book, I fully understand that there are certain steps that we, writers, have to take before writing a paper. Jotting down ideas and brainstorming are two of  the essential steps that we should go through before writing. Now that I have learned about brainstorming and jotting down ideas, I go through these steps whenever I am writing since then. It is great that I learned these because in my life, I never wanted to be a writer. It gives me the strength to write and never stop.

Lost Sisters

Late in the afternoon, I received a call about my kids that they were dropped off at Wotja village. When I heard what happened to them, I started to cry. The first thing that popped up in my head was to look for the driver. Anger was in me. I did not wait but went to the road side. While I was sitting and looking for the driver, I called my husband telling him about what happened to our kids. He came home right away. When he came home, I was sitting near the road trying to look for the driver. He told me that I would not find him because I did not know who he was yet. The anger came and darken my mind. I was not thinking about what I was doing. My husband then walked me back to our house and told me to call the radio station to make announcements. I called the radio station and asked if they could make announcements to whoever the driver was that dropped off my kids at Wotja village to drive back and get them. It was not the driver who brought them home. It was a different driver. The driver that dropped my kids was lucky. If it were him that brought them back, I would have punched him in the face before giving my kids' taxi fare. I know you how if feels like to have our kids miles distance from us. I never ever let my kids ride in the taxis since then.

Reflection #2

I never thought that writing is great. As I went on reading the Writing Down the Bones, I learned a lot of things. Every time that I try to write something for my classes, I don't know what to write about. In the book, it shows us steps to write something. I now know that if we don't have topics to write on, we should brainstorm. It could be anything. From what we did recently is best. Before writing, list down all things that happened during that particular time. This is a great start. There is this phrase in the book where it says "Stop battling yourself with guilt, accusations, and strong-arm threats." When I read this phrase, there was this feeling that came to me that I should never ever do such things that are being mentioned. Every time I try to write something, these are what struggle me. Writing a way to success.

AC Be Stolen

The stealer that happened to steal the AC but could not might have been someone from the neighbourhood. Stealing AC is one thing that I find silly and funny. What was the stealer point of stealing the AC? Maybe the stealer might have wanted to have one but then he could not afford buying one his own so, he decided to steal from the school. Unfortunately, he did not get his chance. Stealing AC is an impossible thing when we look at it. How can one person drag down an AC from a higher place? It would be so embarrassing for him to carry it all around the hood trying to get to his house. People from the Marshall Islands are not supposed to do such thing because it is not appropriate when it comes to our traditional practices and custom. At homes, parents teach their kids to have well manners at all time. Even though the kids are being taught not to do bad things since they were young, they still do it and it is all because of how westernised and influenced we are today.

Reflection #1

I am not a good writer. Though, after reading the first few pages of  Writing Down the Bones, I kind of think that I am slightly into writing. During classes, actually before lectures, writing down the bones takes its place. Every time I read the book, there is this encouragement in me, feeling that gives me going. I now know that the more you write, the more successful you will be. It says in the book not to stop when you write. At first, I did not realized and understand what it meant. But, as I write each day in class, I am starting to realize and understand what it means. I think it is great not to stop for a moment to think about what we are writing. I have done it more than once and I can prove it that it is true. I feel more confident each day after staying in class and write. Also, after reading pages of the Writing Down the Bones.

5 years ago

5 years ago, on a beautiful Tuesday, my brother drove me to school. On our way, we encountered a big traffic at Small Island village. The traffic came from the Assumption School. While we were waiting for the traffic, a big construction vehicle, out of nowhere, hardly bumped into our car. Our car was hardly smashed and pushed away from the driveway. But, with the guidance and protection of the father above, neither of us got injured. Half an hour later, the police officers came. They hardly believed what just happened. God is good and He is good to us at all time.