Level 5

An Exciting Experience

An exciting experience happened when my family went hiking int he snowy mountains.  It was on a sunny weekend last winter.  My husband and my daughter and I drove to Mount Hood in the morning.  We arrived at the trailhead at 10:00 a.m.  We walked for an hour and a half and came across a big beautiful lake.  Everyone was tired and decided to rest by the lake.  My daughter was hungry.  Just in time for lunch, I prepared bread, dessert, and some drinks.  I was surprised to find a bird flying near us when we were eating lunch.  Then, I heard many birds singing around us.  I tried to feed them some bread.  Suddenly, one bird jumped on my head and started eating the bread.  Finally, these birds flew into the hands of the three of us in turn to eat the bread.  They were happy and not afraid at all.  My family and the bird’s family had lunch together.  I thought we all had an exciting lunch time with birds.

Written by: Xinhong (Lily) Wang

My Wedding Day

My wedding was a happy experience that I will always remember. After three years of a long distance relationship, we decided to get married. It took place on a lovely January day in 2023, two years ago. I was so excited during the wedding preparations. However, it rained heavily the day before the wedding, which made me very worried because I was planning an outdoor celebration party. I was feeling anxious as the day went on, wondering if the rain would stop. Everything was almost ready, and I was so sad since I spent a lot of time preparing for my big day. There was nothing I could do but pray, and I said many prayers. My husband was comforting me as he stood by my side, saying: “Everything will be fine, honey.” Indeed, he was correct. God heard what we had to say. The sun came out the following morning, and the weather was pleasant throughout the day. My wedding went as smoothly as I had wished. It was filled with flowers, romantic music, blessings from our family and friends, and of course, our love. Looking back on that day, I am grateful for the experience and cherish the memories.

Written by: Vi Nguyen

A Ridiculous Experience

When I was twenty years old, I had a ridiculous experience.  At that time, I was a university student.  My university was a little far to walk to from my house, but the university was close to two bus stations.  The bus ran every thirty minutes.  Sometimes the bus passed while I was walking to the bus stop, so I was late for my class.  So, I decided to buy a bicycle.  I saved my pocket money for six months and bought a new bicycle.  The bicycle got me to the university in fifteen minutes.  The becycle was not only fast transportation, but also an exercise machine for my health.  Then one day, after I finished my class, I was going to the bike rack to go home.  At first, I couldn’t believe my eyes because there was only a front wheel with the lock.  My bicycle was stolen by someone leaving only the front wheel.  It was so ridiculous and made me angry.  I immediately went to the university office and the police station to report it.  However, at that point, South Korea didn’t have a lot of cameras.  As a result, I couldn’t find my bicycle.  After a year, I bought another new bicycle as well as three locks.  Even now, I always lock the front wheel, the rear wheel, and the body of the bicycle.

Written by: Hyewon Yun

The Balloon Room

As life shows, it’s best not to rush to be offended.  There are many examples of this, but I especially remember this situation.  I fell in love with balloons when my parents took me to the zoo for the first time.  There they bought lots of interesting gifts and treats for me.  For example, I ate cotton candy, ice cream, and much more.  However, one of the gifts was special for me.  I had never seen balloons that could fly into the sky before, and now I had one.  Fantastic!  A few years passed, and the day came when I had to go to school  At the beginning of this day, everything was fine because, first of all, I was wearing a beautiful dress.  The second reason was I put my small-heeled shoes on, and in addition, I tied my hair into a comfortable ponytail.  But later, I realized that my parents forgot to buy flowers.  Most of my classmates brought flowers.  However, I didn’t bring any.  It really upset me, and I just wanted to cry.  My parents were trying to calm me down, but it didn’t work.  I was desolate.  I couldn’t imagine that anything could make me happy on this day, but when I entered the room, I saw a lot of colorful balloons!  My bad mood disappeared.  I was delighted.  After that, I realized how stupid it was to be offended by my parents because they love me so much.

Written by: Anastasiia Sereda

My Experience During the Rainy Season in Vietnam

When I visited Phu Quoc, Vietnam, for the first time, I had a very surprising experience.  In summer 2024, I had a vacation in Vietnam with my family.  When I visited Vietnam, it was the rainy season, but sometimes it was sunny.  On the second day of the trip, we went to the market to go shopping.  When we arrived outside the market, there was no rain, but while we were shopping, suddenly it started to rain, so I opened my umbrella.  However, my two nieces didn’t have an umbrella, so I shared an umbrella with them.  As time went by, the light rain was changing to a rainstorm, but we thought it would be okay, so we kept going and didn’t stop.  Unfortunately when the rainstorm hit my umbrella, my umbrella turned inside out.  Nevertheless, we didn’t stop because we didn’t know what to do when we got caught in the rainstorm.  As a result, I got completely wet.  When I looked around the street, only our family was standing outside.  I learned by my surprising experience that when I visit Southeast Asia in the rainy season, and it suddenly starts to rain, I have to take refuge in a nearby store.  Don’t keep going!

Written by: Sun Young Park