It's not goodbye, it is see ya later

Well, I graduate in 3 days and I am wanting to say Thank you. Thank you for talking to me,I am glad I made a new friend. We can still email, and I would like to know how your life is going! 

    We had decision day yesterday at school, and decision day is a little party for the students who have decided on a college to go to! It was extremely fun, we had a powder paint party and we had sumo wrestler jump place! I had a lot of fun!

    I have committed to playing soccer at State Fair Community College, it is about two hours away from where I live! Not too bad, my grandparents live close as well! I am extremely excited, and I was blessed with this opportunity!

   I hope you are doing alright, and I can't wait to hear from you! 

Have a good day! 

Alyssa

One extraordinary person can change your life in such a beautiful way.

Fang Song de

Last friday our class had a pretty cool opportunity to meet with the foreign exchange students from Missouri State! I learned quite a bit, I learned that their school system is A LOT different than ours, they were saying that in their school it is just classrooms. They don’t have as many extracurricular activities as we do! They were amazed by all of the sports we participate in! I learned how to say “relaxed” in chinese! They wrote it for me in Pinyin!

轻松

We talked about their hobbies, and what their favorite subject is, we just talked about simple things! We talked about their school and I have learned that they do not have sports in their school! The students I spoke with were Luna, and Krystal, we did not exchange any contact information, but they are extremely excited to be going home next month, they said their food is a lot better than ours!

On our school tour we showed them the broadcast journalism room, and the gym, weight room, and we showed them the cafeteria! They loved it! They did not take any pictures, but you could see the amazement in their eyes!

I think this was a really cool experience because we got to learn a little about their culture and their schooling, I hope it influenced them as it influenced us! We should definitely not take our schooling for granted.

I am not much of a reader so to choose a significant book is kind of difficult. I remember always reading Shel Silverstein growing up, and in a weird way he is very inspiring. The book A light in the Attic is my favorite. Inside contains all kinds of shorts stories, or poems, or just some soft words. One of the stories in the book is called

Hammock

Grandma sent the hammock,

The good Lord sent the breeze.

I’m here to do the swinging-

Now, who’s gonna move the trees?

I have said a couple times in my recent posts, I LOVE hammocks, its relaxing and cooling and a thing I love to do.

Another short story in the book is called

Something Missing

I remember I put on my socks,

I remember I put on my shoes.

I remember I put on my tie,

That was painted

In beautiful purple and blues.

I remember I put on my coat,

To look perfectly grand at the dance,

Yet I feel there is something

I may have forgot--

What is it? What is it?

This story remind me a lot of my life, I am a very forgetful person, it may not be as extreme as forgetting my pants, but the little things I seem to forget. Trust me, I have bought lots and lots of toothbrushes! This book can tie up with my life in a lot of different ways. It is definitely a book I will read to my kids one day.

A color that means 1,000 memories

People say colors have meaning behind them, and I truly believe that.

Orange is a bright vibrant color. I belive orange is the color of happiness, when I think of orange I see hammocks, chachos, and adventures. Orange is an ambitious color with many adventures behind it.

Blue is the color of the sky, of beautiful mystery. Blue makes me think of that saying “The sky's the limit”. Makes me think of miles and miles of ocean water, of beautiful mysterious water.

Army Green means a lot to me. My brother is a Soldier. He proudly wears army green with bravery and pride. I love army green because my brother is army strong.

Nude is kind of a bland, yet meaningful color. Nude brings up a lot of memories, brings up my love for the beach, and makes me think of the poem Footprints in the sand, which was my Mom and Aunt Kaci’s favorite poem. Nude is calming and simple.

Long Lost Friend

I have met a friend very dear to me, and this is his significant object!

Dear Alyssa
  Hi, are you enjoying your weekend now?　In the last letter I told you a lot of things about my journeys and in this letter I would like to tell you my favorite object as I mentioned last time. This object is the airplane of civil aviation including its pattern. 
  The patterns of airplane is a scale applied to real airplanes so they have the same general character with real airplanes we can see in the airport or in the sky except the size. Long body, two wings, two, three or four engines and undercarriage wheels. Of course, different models have some differences in length, the numbes of wheels and engines but the general charecter is the same. For example, most of the models of airplane of civil avaition have two engines such as Airbus A320, A330, Boeing B737, B757, B777 and the dreamliner 787 but some of them have four engines because they can carry more people or goods like Airbus A380, Boeing B747. But in fact, what makes it attract me is not only the difference between struture but also the coating and the signs in their bodies because different companies have different signs and coating, collecting their models is like collect stamps. Sometimes they may show some meaningful coating. The following photos are about them. And as I know, the airline industry of your country is really developed. Boeing, one of the best airplane manufacturers is in your country.

  Let me tell you the original memory of it. In fact, I have no interest in it. However one day, a breaking news came that an Boeing 777 which carried about two hundred and sixty people disappeared! It was a horrible airplane crash. And I wondered "What is boeing 777"  and I searched it in the Internet I found there are many models of airplanes.Since then I tried to learn about airplanes. It is impossible to experience even see all the models of airplanes because many models of airplanes like A380, B777,B767 are only used in international airlines. However, the pattern of them is easy to collect. It cost only about forty dollars, more cheaper than a ticket to take it to some places. And taking them is only an experience but but collecting them makes me see them everyday.
  It brings me a lot of happiness. I remembered that one day in my class, my teacher showed some photos of airplane. When the class was over, he talked with us about those photos, my classmates asked him “Are there any differences  of these planes?” he said that I found these photos in the Internet but I really don't know what differences they have. But I knew and I pointed out that what models they are and which airplane companies they belongs to. It seemed that they were shocked about what I said. They asked me how I knew them, I really did not know how to answer because it is just my bobby. But it feels good to know something they feel puzzled.
　Seeing various planes and collect patterns is important to me, the reason is simple: I like it, just like a child like her doll.

 Sincerely,Shuchang 
　

Army Strong

Narrowing down an item to write about is hard. have a lot of stuff that means a lot to me, but I think my brothers dog tags are closest to my heart. My brother is my world, he is my person, and my best friend. He is making me so incredibly proud. He makes me proud everyday! Because of Dylan I strive to be a better person. Dylan doesn't allow me to be sad when he is here, so why should I be sad that he is gone? I miss him a lot, his dog tags represent that no matter what everything is going to be okay because I have Dylan by my side. Dylan graduates from basics next week and then I will officially have an Army brother. Dylan was always quiet growing up, nobody knows him quite like I do. Dylan has written me explaining how hard it was, but he won’t give up. He won’t back down and will become army strong.The army tags kind of represent that no matter what you always have options. That is a weird way to look at it like that, but the Army makes you brave. The army makes you realize things about yourself that you couldn't have done on your own. Well really any military branch. I know I am not mentally nor physically strong enough to be out there in the freezing rain getting yelled at. I know getting called a coward and having to sleep in a hole in the middle of nowhere would definitely traumatize me. I’m strong when it comes to other things but it takes a lot of bravery and courage to be out there doing what those boys are doing. I know that basics, and AIT are just the beginning, but I also know my brother isn't going to give up. Growing up it was always “Dylan and Alyssa come here right now!!” or “ Dylan, did your sister do this?” It was always Dylan and I, and I am lost without him. Going through senior year without my brother can be kind of upsetting, or extremely upsetting but knowing I have his dog tags with me and a very handsome picture of soldier in my wallet just reminds me that I can do this. Dylan gets leave time and he is taking it so he can be at my graduation and that’s honestly all I could ever ask for. I love you Dylan, and I am going to be here every step of the way, no matter what. I cherish these dog tags and can’t wait to see you. Thank you for everything you do! I can’t wait to see you!