I was born in 1998 in Colombia. As a young child, I had difficulties with crying easily and learning to swim. I attended kindergarten and then a bilingual elementary school, making friends. Family vacations included trips to Miami and Bogota to visit relatives, and trips to Orlando theme parks where I had some adventures like getting lost briefly in a wave pool. I enjoyed school activities and learning, though taking notes could sometimes be boring.

1. AutobiographyI was born in January 4th in 1998 at 3:30 p.m. My first words where “ma” and “pa”. I learned to walk at 1 year and I was chubby. That’s why my aunts gave me “gordita” as my nickname. Mom now says that I cried a lot, and sometimes for stupid things like: if I fell and the people looked at me, I cried, just looking at me, I cried, laughing at me, even singing at me or screaming in a football game on a TV or to other people, I cried. I still remember my 2nd year old birthday that my family sang me the happy birthday song loud, and I start crying. Now my father says I was a dumb of crying for those things.

2. When I was 3 years old my parents left me for the first time in a kinder garden called “Michin”. Mom now says that I was really excited to go and the teachers allowed my mom or the baby sitter stayed with me the 1st day, but in the second day, when I saw that they were leaving, I started crying because I was scared of all those weird kids looking at me. Like at the 5th day, I got used of being alone in the kinder garden.

3. Like at the 5th day, I got used of being alone in the kinder garden. There was a problem, I learned to swim when I was like 3 ½ or 4 or 5 years old, but at then I was like 3 or something like that. The point was that I didn’t know how to swim. I can still remember that I almost drawn on the swimming class because I let go the float. I remember that everything under water looked so weird. I began seeing everything blurred and blue, but then, all was red and my eyes were hurting. When the teacher finally took me out, I almost couldn’t breathe because I had drunk a lot of water, but I got fine fast.

4. In a few days after, I learned to swim better but not perfect. There was a lake outside, in the garden beside the pool where we were going. I remember there was an evil girl that pushed me to the lake. I felt like my heart was coming out from my body and that a monster was going to eat me in the lake. It was really deep for me, but I started swimming and I get out.

5. When I was 4 years old, my parents decided to put me in a bilingual school. They searched and they find out the Bennett school and they decided to put me in that school, this school was a really good one, because I had very nice and friendly friends, not like in“Michin” the kinder garden. My first friend was Luisa Maria Grizales.

6. When I was in vacation, I went a lot to Miami because my grandmother from my dad’s family and my older brother where living there. My older brother has always been very friendly and patient and I loved being with him. We went a lot to the beaches with them too and sometimes we went to Bogota because there was living my other grandmother from mom’s family.

7. When I was in Prep, all the class went to the “Club Cañasgordas” and we had fun. We played in the pool, we saw animals, we take the milk from the cows’ udder, and we ride horses.

8. In 1st grade nothing exciting happened, but in 2nd grade, there was a Christmas play called “Cascanueses” and it was very beautiful. It had color tapes, that where dancers with coloring tapes waving them and dancing, actors, and snowflakes. I wasn’t part of it, but my best friend was, so I had to go. She was Luisa. She was the snowflake in the show. She was all dressed of white with sparkle and she was doing a contemporary dance with other classmates and T. Carolina, the 2nd grade teacher. Another good thing that happened in 2nd grade was that I got the “Perfil Bennett”.

9. In 3rd grade something bad happened. Luisa was gone from school. She went to another school called the “Dianaoese”. After school, in the vacation I went to a Miami Beach is called “Hallandale”. In that beach, a jellyfish sting me on my foot. It hurts really badly at once but then there appear like some bubbles or balls in the affected part and it don’t hurt anymore. I had to cure with…with…pee! Or urine eugggg

10. But another part in Vacation was that I went to a park called Typhoon Lagoon in Orlando. In an attraction, it was like a huge pool with a really big wave that is of like 2 ½ meters, that is repeated like in 2 minutes. My aunt, cousins and me where inside that pool. My cousin Nicolas had some plastic fins to swim faster. He was using them but taking my aunt’s hand. I asked him for them. My cousin gave them to me and I started swimming. There was something bad; I was not taking my aunts hand. When I got to the super face I was lost. I didn’t saw any of them. I decided to swim to the opposite side so if maybe I could find them. There was nothing. I keep swimming, but again there was nothing; I looked everywhere but there was nothing. When the big wave was coming, I swam to the dry part to be save because I was alone, without an adult. I was really scared, but I get calmed because I saw a lifeguard with a speaker and I could talk in English. I thought that if I told him I was lost, he would call my aunt’s name and came to the place I where. When I was just going to tell him, my aunt yell at me because he was some meters away from me but he could see me. When I went near him, he told me that he was very worried but that he saw I was doing the correct thing. Telling the lifeguard I was lost.

11. In 4th grade I remember the Haciendas. The guides told us we were going to divide in some groups for some activities and that all 4-b should use a white shirt. The boring part was that we should take a notebook to take notes about everything we saw and that they explain.