Dive Season

I'm on my high school's dive team and I find it really useful to have people record my dives so that I can see how they look and what I can improve on. All the footage was shot with my iPhone and then I used iMovie on my iPhone to edit it. This is surprising to me since I'm not talented with technology and I didn't think it could all be done on my phone, but I tried it anyways and surprisingly i didn't have too many difficulties.

When I thought about what I think it means to live in silver spring of course there is the downtown area that people hang out and the local food places across from the the high school. But then I got to thinking about what it means to live in silver spring during this time of the year for me. Well that would be diving. We have dive practices on Wednesday from 3:15-4:30 and then I normally go with a few other people on the team to a nearby pool on Friday nights to get in some extra practice.  We have meets almost every weekend normally at 9 or 10 in the morning at pools in the middle of nowhere. Also this winter I did a diving camp from 7-12 in the morning during winter break.

This year was a lot different for me because last year I had two senior friends to dive with.  This year I have dove the entire season alone. Well not completely alone. There are three boys who I dive with and have become good friends with but all swim and dive competitions are divided between genders, so I am the only girl diver on the high school team. I wish there was another girl, but I'm glad to have gotten to know some of the boy divers who I didn't get to know as well last year because I was already surrounded by my two friends.

I really like diving because its the closest I can get to gymnastics. I dislocated my elbow last spring and have recovered but I can do any sport other than gymnastics. I spend my time busy as always and during the winter I do diving.

Diving is scored out of a 10. You get points marked off for flexed toes, bent knees, or bad entry in the water. A dive ultimately wants to go really high up with nice form and then the entry in the water should have the smallest splash possible. Then you also have degree of difficulty (DD) so dives with a higher DD are harder. This way a really hard dive is given credit even if It has ugly form.

It's funny when swimmers tell me oh I could never dive. It seems so scary. And while water hurts ALOT, if you smack the wrong way, diving is also about precision and moments where your body slices through the water. Diving is scary and sometimes I am terrified to try new dives, yet it feels amazing when your body rips through the water and you nail that entry.

Trip to China??

This summer I have plans to go to China with my mom. Nothing is finalized, but we are trying to set it up since I won't be going to summer camp this year. The trip should be really interesting since, I haven't ever been back to China since I was adopted, so this will be my first time. I don't know the language at all and I will have to chance to go back and visit my orphanage.

It's interesting because I wouldn't consider myself to have a real interest in finding my birth parents unlike many internationally adopted children;  yet I feel almost a moral obligation to go back to China at least once in my lifetime. My mom always promised me that we would go back to China at some point but I never really acknowledged that or cared.

So now that the opportunity has come, I assume I will be going back to China next summer. There's a lot of questions that come up when I think about going to China. The first will be, If I don't know the language how will I be able to do anything? We will most likely have to get a translator for part of it at least since learning Chinese takes years. I'm also curious about where we will go. China is HUGE, so what do I want to visit.

My mom and I also discussed finding a program and doing a project to help an orphanage in China. I'm definitely interested in finding a project to do, because it can help an orphanage so much. My orphanage does not accept any programs to help, and they recently switched directors. Hopefully this will be good because the last lady who ran my orphanage was not very nice. She wouldn't accept toys or blankets, and didn't want families to really contribute to the orphanage. She was very secretive about the place, and when my mom went to China to adopt me, my mom was the only one who went into the orphanage. This was only because the director was in meetings that day.

So I'm curious about who the new director is. Also, technically once I am 18 years old I am supposed to be able to get my files from the orphanage. Supposedly they found me with a note on my head that said my birthday and maybe something else. I am curious about what the note says, but the likelihood of the orphanage having my files is pretty small.

Either way, this trip to China will definitely be a really interesting experience for me.

Washington DC Holiday Market

On Saturday night I went shopping downtown with my mom and as we were walking to dinner, we passed through a bunch of tents called the Holiday Market. It was a really nice set up with tents on both sides all lit up with white lights.   There were tons of different things sold such as really interesting jewelry, paintings, and scarves.

A necklace made out of bolts, and nails

The tents with lights

 There was one tent with all different kinds of jewelry made out of nails, keys, bolts, and other metal tools. It was really cool to see a key shaped into a ring, or nails and bolts welded together to make a bracelet. We got a bracelet for my cousin for graduation this spring. 

 Another tent had all this really interesting jewelry with unique cutouts and shapes. My mom got a necklace there for my aunt as a holiday present. 

I thought it was really cool to have a bunch of small businesses coming together to make this holiday market. It's completely unexpected, and there was some really nice stuff there. It had a great holiday spirit to the whole set up and it just goes to show you that life is full of surprises.

Mad Hot Ballroom

This is by far my favorite documentary. It's about  600 kids from inner city, New York public schools who have participated in a ballroom dancing competitions. The movie follows the story of several schools who have competed in the ballroom competition and talks about the positive influence of dance on these students. The story is told from many different perspectives. You see the kids from each high school and their interactions. You also see the teachers inspired by this program, the students who have changed as a result of the competition. The story is inspiring and it focus on this high school who wins the competition.

There isn't too much dramatic aspects of the documentary because it shows real kids. Most kids don't wear make at this age and there isn't really acting because its just the kids being kids. It's great to see the kids different outlooks on life, and see the diversity of students in New York City. There aren't really costumes either because the students, teachers, etc. wear what they have always worn.

There is great music to go along with the film, because ballroom dancing has such defined music for each dance. They use a lot of fades to go from one school learning the tango, to another school dancing the tango. The film mostly consists of the students practicing the dances for the competitions with interviews in between. There are interviews with the different teachers, and students from all the participating schools. I like how this film is real. It doesn't make anything overly-dramatic and it really shows the diversity of young students who have participated in this program. The film doesn't include fancy editing yet it tells a magnificent story. The film has text slides to identify the schools, people who are interviews, and days until the competition.

The film informed the public about an incredible unknown program for inner city schools. Some of the kids have parents who don't speak English, and one of the dancers himself doesn't speak English, yet his school wins the competition. You see the interactions between boys and girls as they become teenagers. The students learn the Rumba, Tango, Swing, Merengue, and Foxtrot as they grow up in the big city.

Mad Hot Ballroom, 120 minutes, 5 out of 5 stars

Kellogs Gymnastics Tour

Last weekend I went to see the Kellogg Tour of the Champions which is a tour of the Olympic gymnasts from London and Beijing. I took lots of photos and got to see some of my favorite gymnasts. The tour was awesome and I really enjoyed seeing the Olympic gymnasts. Not only did they show artistic gymnasts (they compete, vault, bars, beam, and floor) but I got to see trampoline gymnasts, the men's gymnastics team, and rhythmic gymnasts. I used to do gymnastics, but quit last spring after I injured my elbow.

Aly Raisman about to do a leap in her floor routine

To the right is Aly Raisman.  She is 5.2 and is one of the tallest gymnasts on the team. She is from  Massachusetts. She began gymnastics at a very young age, like most of the other gymnasts and Aly trained at Exxcel Gymnastics until level 8. Then Aly moved to Brestyan's American Gymnastics Club and trained with 2008 Olympian Alicia Sacramone. Aly is Jewish and competed her floor routine to Hava Nagilia which was absolutely amazing to watch. After the Olympics Aly was invited to Israel to perform her gymnastics routine for the prime minister of Israel. Aly helped her team win first place, and in the individual competition she won third on beam and first on floor.
Click here to see a video of her routine

Jordyn Wieber starting her floor routine

To the left is Jordyn Wieber. She is 5.2 as well and is from Michigan. Jordyn has three brothers and sisters and she is the oldest. Jordyn Wieber stopped gymnastics for a little bit to dance, but then started up again with coach John Geddert who picked her for the SIlverstars program. Jordyn Weiber helped her team win first place.

 Click here to see a video of her routine

Gabby Douglas's floor routine

To the right is Gabby Douglas. Gabby 4.11 tall and was born in Virginia. Gabby also has three siblings and trained at Excalibur. Gabby Douglas is the first African American gymnast to win the individual all-around champion and the first American gymnasts to win gold in the individual and team competitions.

From left to right, top to bottom:
Jordyn Weiber, Gabby Douglas, Aly Raisman, Nastia Lukin (2008 Olympian), McKayla Maroney
Note: Kyla Ross, the fifth Olympic gymnast from London was not there

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US Men's Gymnastics Team, London 2012

Jake Dalton, Jonathan Horton, Danell Leyva, Sam Mikulak, John Orozco, and alternates Chris Brooks, Steven Legendre, Alex Naddour (not all of them were there)

Fall's Peace

Fall to me is a time of peace because it's the time of year where everyone goes back to school or work and settles down for the year.  Although the year really begins in January I've always thought of the year starting in September, because that's when my life starts up again after my crazy and wonderful summers.  Since I was eight I've been going to sleep away camps where there is always something to do.  Fall is the time of year where my life is a little less chaotic before the holiday season starts up.

I called my video "A Peaceful Day at the Farm" because Andrea and I went to the farm the morning before Hurricane Sandy hit the east coast.  The roads were barren and it felt like driving through ghost towns.  We drove up to Homestead Farm where I have been going since I could ever remember.   I've always gone to this farm to find a pumpkin to carve for Halloween.  My mom always gets apples to use for the apple sauce that she usually makes for Thanksgiving.  I end the day with picking out some unusual gourds and a caramel apple.  I even got stung by a bee for the first time at Homestead Farm. Anyway, normally when my mom and I go we expect there to be tons of families and children running around everywhere.  I've never seen the farm that empty.

I used my cell phone to film my video which explains why the quality is pretty bad.  I then edited my film with Windows Live Movie Maker. Shot #1 is an establishing shot of the hills past the main part of the farm where they grown tons of vegetables and fruits.  The morning before Sandy it was already pretty windy so shot #2 is a close up of some plants blowing in the wind.  Shot #3 is another establishing shot of the main part of the farm.  It shows a very big picture of the different buildings across the lake where the animals are kept and the main store is held.  Then I changed from shots the scenery to shots of the produce that the farm sells.  Shot #4 is a medium close up of all the pumpkins being sold for Halloween.  Shot #5 are some of the many peppers that are at the farm and shot #6 are all the interesting gourds that are sold.  Shot #7 and 8 are two types of the apples that they sell at the farm.  I moved from outside to inside the main store where more produce is sold.  Shot #9 is kind of an establishing shot of the jarred foods that are sold along the walls of the store.  Shot #10 was a dandelion that was being blown in the wind, but I shot it in an aerial angle. The last shot is Andrea skipping down the road which finishes the film with a happy mood. I used an instrumental music called "Makros-Hope" by Markos from Sound Cloud because it helped evoke a peaceful and happy mood to my film.

Somewhere Between

Somewhere Between

Last weekend I saw the documentary "Somewhere Between." It talks about the stories of four teenagers who are adopted from China. It was really interesting to see the differences between the girls' stories.
The movie was really well done, but I would have liked to see more of the social interactions between the girls within their schools and communities. I wish the film could have emphasized more on the concept of the banana that based on first impressions people judge us upon our outside which is Asian. But culturally we were raised by white parents and we don't conform to the racial stereotypes of Asians. 

Then there was a girl from Philadelphia named Ann, who actually came out to the screening and participated in a question and answer session with the audience. It was interesting because she told the audience that now shed to is studying Chinese and wants to be an adoption social worker but in the movie had little interest in her adoption. Ann seemed to be the girl I related because of her easygoing attitude towards much of the ignorance about adoption. 

Fang from Berkeley California Fang remembers the day when her cousin brought her into the city and abandoned her on the streets. Because Fang was not brought to the orphanage as an infant her mother learned Chinese previous her adoption. Interestingly she is from the same orphanage as me. Fang has continued to speak Chinese and has visited over 20 times. Fang got to the point where she travels to China by herself and helped another family when thy went to adopt. Fang is really interested in knowing about her biological family and each time she returns to China she wants to know more.

Haley's story was completely different from Fang's. Haley is from Nashville Tennessee where she is "the only

Asian person within 500 feet." It was really interesting to hear Haley's connection with Christianity and the church. She said that even if she hadn't been adopted she would have found a way to become christian even in China. She said that god had a path for her to become christian.Haley ends up finding and meeting her biological family on a trip to China. Haley also wants to be the "first Chinese person to play in the Grand 'Ole Opry." She also competes in beauty pageants like her older sister who is not adopted. Geographically where you live can determine who you end up becoming. 

Jenna, from Newport Massachusetts was the final girl and it was interesting to see her opinions about how she identified herself as a first generation immigrant. Jenna is somewhat of a perfectionist and does multiple sports while attending a prestigious academy in New Hampshire. Her mothers are the ones to remind her to breath and take a break.