Personal Narrative: My Journey To California

We woke up full of energy and ate breakfast. My mom had a few more things to pack up. We had to wait for her in the car. As soon as my mom came my dad turned the car on and we started the trip. The roads were very slippery

Growing up in California, my whole life has been around farming and like many others, it’s how I make a living. It’s now been at least a year, living through the Dust bowl and many people have migrated to California with the hope of surviving this crisis. Keeping my crops has become a struggle and that's what most people including me depend on. I am lucky enough to be able to pay my mortgages even though I’m not able to keep the land with the help of family. It’s practically impossible. Each day doesn’t seem to get better, only worse. Sunlight is almost rare, It’s as if the world is coming to end after all. I try to stay inside as often as I can because facing what’s outside is a dreadful thing but at some point of the day I’ll need to run

November, 2, 2016 the Chicago Cubs won the world series. On November, 4, 2016 they held a parade in Chicago. At 8:00 in the morning I woke up to my parents telling me to get ready. I put on my Cubs shirt, ate two eggs and ham, then went straight to the train station. As we went through each stop all you could see was blue and white shirts, hats, and W flags. After a while the conductor turned on his microphone and said that we were skipping the rest of the stops because the train was full. I was delighted because it was getting really noisy in the cart.

When I was a Sophomore in High School my dad had been out of work for a couple and was forced to take a job in Odessa, TX , so he promptly moved to Texas to start his new job. My mother and I had to stay in California so I could finish high school and so she could take care of her parents. From then on, I was only really able to see my dad for a week every month or two and we were unable to keep the strong connection we had before. So as I started my college search I looked into colleges in Texas so I could live closer to him, and that is when I first came across Rice University.

It was after dinner and we were going back to the room to freshen up. So I went into the bathroom and I took my toothbrush and rinsed under the water. The water was so gross it was brown. After I freshened up I went into the girls room so I could put on my pajamas. When I was getting dressed Hi, I’m Lindsey Batenhien. I live at a foster home in California. I have a younger brother named Luke he is the best he is actually my best friend. I haven’t made any friends at the foster home. I am sorta the shy one I guess. All the girls and boys here are nice except one girl Carly she is the oldest out of everybody. Everyone knows why she is mean she was the first

“Mom I don’t want to go!” I yelled, “Please don’t force me!” Right now I hated my mom. She was forcing me to go on a trip that I didn’t want to go to, but I stopped complaining because I knew that she would win. My legs were shaking at the thought of being on an airplane. After what seemed like an hour, I finally ended up on the plane. I was no longer whining because I had a beautiful view on the airplane. Who would know that the trip to Baja California Sur, Los Cabos San Lucas would be the best day of my life.

I was blessed to have a Slavic Baptist church not far from where I live. I always wanted to give back to someone underserved of similar origin as myself. In Sacramento there is a big Slavic community, which gave some opportunities for me to serve and apply myself. I started off with the church choir. Having a good background of singing from Ukraine allowed me to move up on the list of best choir soprano voices, and later our choir director started to sit me by the newcomers to help them learn songs faster. Our choir has rehearsals twice a week and we participate at church services twice a month. I think music is a very good tool to uplift broken hears spiritually, especially if a person is shy to reach out to get counseling, beautiful music

The concept of Hope was a thread woven within the fabric of our family’s holiday celebrations. Hattie Pettit, the mother of our family, had exemplified faith and hope throughout the years of war. We knew that she believed that hope was a powerful force that makes a better world and permits each of us to think, work and dream. Mother believed that hope and faith were symbolized in a variety of celebrations that involved decorating one’s home, gift giving, special foods, religious services and a focus on family and friends. With these beliefs, all of us children and in-laws were swept into the workforce of decorating, cooking, gift wrapping, and going to the grocery store. Much laughter, gentle teasing, friendly complaining, and munching on Christmas goodies accompanied our activities.

I am twenty-one years old with a book obsession that would put even the most passionate of librarians into shock. I have a passion for the arts and literature and enjoy creating colorful pieces of art for my home for others to admire and enjoy. My interests are quite varied and range from enjoying foreign movies to attempting to cook new recipes. As a young child I have always felt a passion for fiction writing that compelled me to write. While most children played outside I would lock myself in the room and type hundreds of pages pulled from my thirteen year old imagination. Looking back at these stories, I can find my hopes and dreams scribbled and hidden in the text. I am hoping this class can give me the basic tools needed to excel later in life.

We were driving up and I had already seen the huge building I asked what it was and my mom said,”it is a demolition derby.” I asked if we could go see how much it costs so we walked over it was $25 per ticket and there was three of us so we couldn’t, so we went and got some ride wristbands, after we got our wristbands we walked around to see what they had, as we walked we saw a Tower of Doom and I asked if we can ride it and she said yes so we walked over and there was no one in line. So we hopped into a seat and got ready to go up we had to wait a minute so some other people could get on. Then the instructor closed the small gate so he could walk around and check our buckles after that it started rising, it was higher than I had anticipated I knew

It was a warm, sunny, Fall day and I jumped out of bed because I knew we were going on a trip, but I didn’t know where. My parents took my sister and me to the KCI airport in my mom’s white Denali. We were quietly sitting at the airport when my parents told us that we were going to Disney World. My sister and I were jumping up and down with excitement knowing that an exciting trip was just around the corner.

Okay, here we go. We left Pocatello and drove to Salt Lake to stay at my aunt 's house to stay over night. We woke up at about 4:30am and left around 6:30. My mom put on GPS and it said “7 hours and 58 minutes left to Vegas”. I tried to sleep, but when i woke up it felt like i was asleep for 21/2 hours, but when i looked at my moms phone it had only been 20 minutes. Anyways, we got to cedar city and stopped at taco bell and sat in the car and ate it for about 15 minutes. When we left

The little boy in this photograph is me, when I was on a school trip to Sacramento. He is panning for gold in a pool of water, as many children have before him. Swish, swish, check.

The boat rocked back and forth, making me feel unwell. This was the first time it had rocked that bad. We've been aboard the ship for two days. I learned what the place we stayed in was called, it was the “Steerage.” It was pretty bad in there. Many sick people, terrible food, and the smell. Oh, the smell was awful. However, everyone was getting off the ship today and go to an island. According to Mama, we were to be checked to see if we could become American. A man, or officer as they were called, came and woke every person up. “Alright, you are to follow James to the ferry, and that will take you to Ellis Island. A name tag will be placed on your shirts once you get there,” he

A memorable vacation is one that you can never forget. I never thought I would build houses for poor people. It was one of my most memorable experiences in my life. What made it even more memorable was the fact it was my first time to go to a foreign country to help other people build houses. I cannot recall any other time I experienced so much joy and satisfaction. It was on the warmth of a spring day in March, 2015. After finishing the spring semester at high school, the school gives students a one-week holiday to relax or to go somewhere. A beach trip in the spring is always a good idea for us who live near the sea, but this time I was on the bus with my classmates heading to the airport. The school had organized a Habitat Trip to the Philippines, where my classmates and I decided to go to build houses. The trip was such an unforgettable vacation for me with many different emotions such as happiness because of building houses, playing with some poor kids, and experiencing the beauty of nature. Sometimes, when I recall, it seemed like only yesterday.