Memories in Response to Taylor Mali

When a famous poet named Taylor Mali visited my school, he encouraged us to write old memories that we could remember.

1. I remember fracturing my finger when I was 7. My cousin fell on it.
2. I remember fracturing my toe when I was 9.
3. I remember falling and scraping my knees, whilst I was carrying Louise, last week.
4. I remember riding on my scooter and falling off and scraping my knees yet again when I was 8.
5. I remember getting my iPod Touch, I was so very very very thrilled.
6. I remember meeting David Archuleta, I was extremely nervous.
7. I remember snorkeling and seeing a shark I got scared and swam away.
8. I remember breaking my AC when i was 4, by poking a stick in it.
9. I remember drinking milk on my white sofa, whilst my father was rubbing my little little head, when I was 1 and a half.
10. I remember hitting my father’s hand when I was 5, because I didn’t want to go in the new driver’s car that my father just hired.
11. I remember when I was 5, my brother, my cousin and I were jumping on my brother bed, my brother’s bed, my brother’s bed. My cousin jumped and hit his head on the edge of the window. His head started bleeding.

My Name

My name is Claire. It is a French and an English name. I think that that is pretty cool because I know English and I am currently learning French. I also found out that my name means clear, bright and famous.

I have never really minded my first name, but I never liked my Chinese name. My Chinese name in English is Ching Li. In my previous school, I went by my Chinese name. In the first grade, I had a dreadful English teacher, Ms Liew. One of the first of many classes we had together, she did a terribly awful thing for a teacher to do... She made fun of students. She started off with a girl named Sabrina. Sabrina had a big nose so she started calling her big nose Sabrina. And she went on and on giving each one of us a nickname according to our flaws. Then she came over to me. And she asked what my name was, I replied in a soft voice “My name is Ching Li, Miss.” Then she started laughing and called me Chili and ever since then, that horrible nickname stuck until the day I left school. Now you must be thinking why didn’t I correct her. Well, I did. But every time that I tried to correct her she would whip me with her bamboo stick. So I never tried to correct her again.

I have never wanted to change my name. Although I wasn’t thrilled with the nicknames. I have, I have never wanted to change them, because that is what my parents named me and I respect that. People can tease and tease if they, butI would still keep my name.

My old school was a local Chinese school. And as you know ,my classmates already teased me about my Chinese name, but they also teased me about my first name. Most of them did not speak English. So when they saw the name “Claire” they would say Clair-ee. One day when they were announcing some of the students who were going to win awards. One of the teachers said Clair-ee Ng Ching Li and the whole class erupted into laughter. Everyone there said Claire in such a way that some times when they say it, it sounds like a cat falling. I prefer it when people say it gently so when they say Claire, it sounds like a river flowing or a gentle blow of wind.

I’m sure you are now aware that I have a few nicknames. And some of them I absolutely dread. But I have a current nickname that isn’t awful like the others and it is Claire Bear. It was given to me by Melina Ankel who has left ISKL. She gave it to me because she was reading a book and in the book there was a character named Claire Bear.

My parents had considered quite a few names. My father adored the names Emily and Vanessa, but my mother absolutely hated those names. My mother loved French names or fancy names, so she came up with Chloe, Zoe, Samantha, Charlotte, Scarlett... They chose Claire because it was the only name both of them could agree on.

Me in 3

3 items that I feel are the most important items to me are my nail sets, my iPod and my stationary.

During the summer holidays, I went to London and Paris. In London, I went to Hamley’s, there, they were selling these really cool nail sets, where you can paint super awesome designs on your nails. I chose that as one of my most important items because as most people know, my mother is very busy and I don’t see her very often. But ever since I got this nail set, we have been spending more time together. During the weekends when she is home, she may ask me to paint her nails for her. So when I paint her nails, we bond and tell each other about the ups and downs of our weeks. So thanks to my nail sets, me and my mother spend a lot more time with each other.

I chose my iPod as one of my most important objects because, well first of all, it was a birthday gift from my parents. I also use it a lot. My bus ride is 40 minutes so I use my iPod to listen to music or play games. I also use my iPod to take pictures like at a friend’s birthday party or when I wanted to record someone who attended the party getting thrown into a pool. I use my iPod for school assignments as well. For example, in IT, I used my iPod for a project where we took pictures and photo-shopped them (with permission of course). I have also used my iPod as a conversation starter with people, especially younger kids. I take a picture or him and put the picture of a head on the body of a fairy. When I did it to a girl, she was delighted and ran off to tell her mother how pretty she looked, if I did it to a boy, he would laugh his head off or ask to be an elf or a superhero instead.

For my third object I have chosen all my stationery. Anyone who knows me can tell you that I LOVE stationary. I chose stationary as one of my most important objects because, I love doing crafts and making cards and stuff like that. So I use the stationary to make special 3D boxes or decorate a pencil holder.....

So those are my special important objects. I hope this tells you a little more about me.

Biopoem

Claire,
fun, loving, friendly, crazy,
daughter of amazing parents, sister of a sensitive brother,
adores singing and acting, loves playing soccer,
experienced love, anger, joy,
alone in the middle of nowhere; seeing a shark;
being stuck in a awful treewell,
won a track and field race,
meeting Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez,
getting A’s in my core classes,
live in the wonderful universe,
Ng