Robinson Crusoe
(Homework in Grammar)I woke up in the middle of the night dreaming that I was touched down on an island in the Pacific Ocean because my ship had gone down in the stormy weather. I was the only survival of a crew of 125 men. I remembered I fought against enormous waves, which all the time tried to lift me up in the air for in the next second to drop me into the deep darkness. I was almost drowned when a big wave casted me on to the beach.
After some hours lying on the sonny beach I woke up looking around after my crew, but I have to realize I was alone. I had to find out how to survive on this island. I saw a river, with clean water filled up with fish and shellfish, flowing into the seashore. Luckily, I found a lot of materials from our ship that was washed up on the beach. I built my shelter of sail tied up with strings, and I found a compass, which I should use some day, when I was able to leave the island in a primitive boat made by wood, strings and sail.
After sunset, and after I had eaten some fish and drunken read wine out of a bottle, which I had found on the beach, I was greatly tempted to have a party for my lucky situation, but I have no one to celebrate it with. Then the most beautiful girl I had ever seen entered my camp. She was totally black, well turned and with a smiling face with lightening eyes and a mouth only waiting for my kisses. She had only been in my camp for a while, when she throws herself into my arms. Then we started to dance. My mouth moved slowly against hers, and just before I touched her mouth, my wife woke me up. I will never forgive her, now I don’t know what happened after that.
Adopting to a New Environment
(Homework in wryting)Human beings are very adaptable. We can live in most climates of the world. In the past, people tended to stay in the place they were born, but now we move easily from countryside to city, from one part of a country to another, and even from country to country. Each place has its own customs and ways of life, and countries also have different languages. When I moved from Viborg in Denmark to Denver, Colorado in the US, I changed my behavior in three significant ways.
First of all, the schedule around my studies at RRCC prevents me from exploring Denver and the Rocky Mountains after school, which was one of my big wishes before I arrived in the US. In the last 10 years in my job as a manager, I have laid down my own schedule for the week and for each day. However, in college I have to follow the lessons that have been set up for the ESL Class. Every day just after school, I have to do my homework and my exercise: biking, running or walking in the foothills. After that, I don’t have the power to start up exploring. If I put off my homework until the evening I will be too tired, I am sure. All in all, it is my goal to learn as much English as possible while I am in the US; consequently, I have to decrease my expectations to explore the surrounding area.
Secondly, I have been looking forward to living alone for a period long enough to make me prepare my own food, launder and clean my apartment, which I am not used to doing at home. Consequently, I have to do shopping by myself, to prepare my breakfast and lunch and to prepare and cook my dinner. Especially the cooking has given me some experiences. Once I had to scrape my fried eggs in small pieces from the frying pan; another time I had to do the cooking all over again because the baked potatoes weren’t soft enough after an hour in the oven, and twice my smoke-alarm started before I had fried my steak. However, I have been cheating with my laundering, since my aunt has taken care of this while I have done some housework for her on Saturdays. I was scared to make mistakes separating the light and dark cloths and choosing the correct temperature. In contrast, I have done the weekly cleaning up in my apartment by myself. Consequently, I have learned a lot from the experiences in my single life in the US; furthermore, it will change my way of living in my family when I return to Denmark.
Finally, I have learned about American traffic behavier by being in traffic and by watching TV. For example, the cars drive in lanes where everyone keeps their own lane, and no one is willing to help other cars to change lanes. Furthermore, as a cyclist or a pedestrian, I am all alone on the roads, and only exceptionally are there special lanes for bikes and pavements for pedestrians along the roads. In addition, I am shocked at the television programs in the US where commercials, talk shows and special religious show dominates. For me the talk shows are all based on the same pattern. The religious shows are too much shows, and if you at rare intervals are watching a good program, be sure, it will be interrupted and spoiled by commercials. In short, I will not transfer this part of the American lifestile to my Danish life at home.
Am I the same person I was before or am I different now? Change makes us examine our values and our habits. By changing my time schedule, my responsibilities at home, and my understanding of culture, I think I may appear to others as if I am a new person. I don’t really think so, however. I prefer to think of it not so much as having changed but as having grown inside.
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March 9, 2002