THE SWEET AS HEAVEN ADVENTURE - by Ryan Ng

When my family and I vacationed in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, we went on the Wild Tiger Adventure Buggy Ride. It was a ride with cool jeep buggies on a bumpy road that goes on top of rocky hills. While we were discussing about which of the two tours we should join, the dark chocolate colored tour guide leader put on a black garbage bag. I was so shocked! Then we decided to go with the three other tourists from England.

            We had to go in two different buggies because each buggy held only two people. My mom and I rode in an orange buggy. My dad and my brother Nicholas traveled on a green one. Both dirty buggies wobbled. After a few minutes, our orange buggy ran out of gas and our ride was delayed. The tour guide helper exchanged cars with us, so we could continue on with our adventure.

            SPLASH, SPLASH, SPLASH. Driving in the mud was CRAAAAZZZZZZYY. We drove up and down on bumpy muddy roads with dirty water splashing everywhere. It was so much fun bumping up and going down hills. We finally reached the end of a mountain. When my mom turned, our car spun out of control and bumped into an iron fence. The car still ran fine, but the fence tilted.

            We drove up higher into the mountain and saw an opened flat area and continued onto it. We kept on driving in circles, up and down a big crater. Finally, we took a break drinking my favorite sodas – Coke and Fanta. We then drove to the hut and rinsed ourselves in water because all the mushy mud from the day before splashed on bags and clothes.

            The small wooden hut turned out to be the refreshment center. Oh, yeah! There, a friendly man explained how to make hot chocolate from cocoa beans. Then the tour guides let us try some in little cups; they were as sweet as heaven. There was also a wine called Mama Juana, my mom didn’t like the name. I wanted to buy the hot chocolate spices, but my parents refused to because they thought the hot chocolate tasted the same. But I disagreed.

After we returned the buggies to the main station, I saw the tour guide leader took off his garbage bag and washed it. “OOOO, now I know why he wore the garbage bag.”    

MAKING FRIENDSHIP STEW by Ryan Ng

           The four ingredients of making a friend are good communications, spend time with each other, help each other, and try not to argue. If you carry out these four elements, friends shall appear. At the same time, you will feel blessed surrounded by amazing friendships.

            We need good communication media to keep in touch with friends. Friends talk to each other frequently. There are many communication apps out there. My family uses Skype. It is an app that can be downloaded on the computer so you can talk and see (if you have a camera on your computer) with your friends. Also, you can text or call each other on a phone. My brother and I always keep in touch with our friend Charlie. We usually text or call each other every week. This makes our relationship stronger.

            Friends do things together such as play video games, sports (soccer, tennis, or basketball), go to an amusement park, or eat together. For example, I went to a new sushi restaurant with my friends, Alex and Charlie. We had a good time; the food was good and everyone had a lot of fun. The conveyer belt moved in circles while carrying many mini plates of sushi. What an extremely fun night and divine memories!

            Being nice to your friends is very important. You can help each other out by studying with your friend before a test. That can help you and your friend get a better grade. If you don’t understand something, ask your friend. One time I forgot my spelling list for the test, and I asked my friend Jeffery, but he forgot his list too. Jeffrey then reminded me that the list was on VocabularySpellingCity. So I got 100 on my test.

            Try not to argue with your friends. Instead of arguing, why not find a solution to the problem. One time I argued with my friend Massimo (mA-sI-mO), we were arguing if I should give him some pieces of my salty seaweed. The solution was I let all of my friends decide, and they said yes so I gave him a few. Later on my mom packed me rice and seaweed, and she put an extra bag of seaweed for Massimo. I learned that sharing is caring.

            I don’t like to make enemies; I like to make friends. I will follow my friend-making ingredients because I do not enjoy being alone. By the way, what are your ingredients for making a friend?