Friday, November 24, 2006

Difference In America

I came to America from Japan about 6 years ago. And the interesting thing about it is that everything is the total opposite. The first thing I realized that was the opposite was the car seats; in Japan the driver sit on the right side, but in America, the driver sits on the left. Next thing I realized was the traffic lights; in America, it is vertical, whereas in Japan, it is horizontal. Same with literature (reading and writting); Japan writes and read from top to bottom, right to left, but in America they read and write horizontally, from left to write.

Another thing that was interesting to me was school. During class, people raise hands while the teacher is talking. Also, they have a lot of discussions. In Japan, no one rasises their hands, nor we have any discussions during class. We usually discuss about school events like festivals, but not a discussion about what they learn. So that kind of surprised me. But it's really interesting to live in a different country, because you get to learn a lot of new things that you never knew before, you get to live in a different environment, and meet different kinds of people.

Poetry

These are two of my poems I wrote when I was in 7th and 8th grade.


Myself (Sonnet)

I was searching for something, while walking
Something that would keep shining in my heart.
I always want a dream of me dancing,
Even though I am a distorted art.

People pass by without taking a glance
I try so hard to shine without the light
yet drakness pulls me as if I have no chance
You saved me and lightened up my dark night

Instead of counting all of the sadness
Let's count all of the happy things that spark,
Even though the world may still be a mess
I will never get off of your huge ark.

I no longer search for it beyond the sea
Because I found it inside of me.



Times of Existence (Cinquain)

The times that we were together
Were just short periods of time
In a long period of time
We might forget someday
But deep inside our hearts, it will light up again