10 memories for Taylor Mali

Talyor Mali, a poet, came to visit us at school to tell us about poetry. He shared a few of his poems that he did and it was really different from other poems. He told us that " a poem is a lie that tells the truth." It was little bit confusing to me but when he explained what he ment I could understand. Then he told us that we needed to write 10 memories that we could remember since we were 2 years old.

I remember when I was 2 years old I was in a hotel room with my uncle and my cousin who was a few months younger. My uncle was asleep in the bed, I tried to wake him up because I was hungry but he wouldn't wake up. I decided to wait for a while so I sat next to my cousin who was watching T.V. I couldn't wait any longer so I bit my cousin. I was so hungry I didn't know what to do and until now he still has the bite mark.

I remember when I was 8 years old I went to a temple in Thailand with my family and in the temple there was a little monkey. I wondered why they kept a baby monkey in the temple, but I came to the baby monkey and gave him a peanut. Then my cousins came and scared the monkey and it clung on to me and bit me on my knee. It didn't hurt because his teeth were still little and it didn't go deep into my skin. I was really surprise but I was not hurt and that was all.

I remember when I was 10 years old I did horse back riding near where I live and I have done this for 1 year and a half. On the last day of my lesson I was riding a horse named Mal. This was a stubborn horse. I had to do a jump while in cantering mode. I did my jump and then slipped of the horse. I landed on my bottom and was lucky to land inside the arena and not to be stood on by the horse. My instructor come out to calm the horse down and to see if I was alright. I was able to stand but I couldn't sit down.

I remember when I was 3 years old my aunt would feed me oranges. Each time she feeds me I would make a sour face as if she was feeding me lemons instead. It would always make her laugh.


I remember when I was 8 years old I was in Holland with my friend. We were eating french fries. I bit the french fries and my molar broke in half. It didn't fall out yet so we went to the dentist and he pulled it out.

I remember when I was 3 years old I owned my first dog. It was like a shepard mix. His name was Nino, I loved him so much. I came up to him to pat him but since I was 3 I didn't know how to approach him, so I patted his head and he bit me. I was crying because he bit me so hard on the side of my hand.

I remember when I was 6 years old it was the first time I rode a camel. I was still to young to go on by my self so my mom sat with me. It was fun but it was also uncomfortable, because we had to sit between the humps of the camel.

MY NAME MICHELLE

My name is Michelle Van Campenhout, Michelle means “ Who is like god ” and Van Campenhout in dutch means “from wooden camp”. My name, Michelle is from the French origin. Well I got my name not from my parents but from aunt, funny huh, well I thought it was, especially on how she chose that name. My parents were looking through baby books and a fortune book to choose the right name for a certain baby or something like that, a fortune book is a book where you can find names that is good for luck and stuff like that, well my mother did have some ideas like Tanya, Sofia and Shanita, but it didn’t really fit me. My aunt suggested why not Michelle, my parents were a little confused and asked why, she answered back saying I look like Michelle Pfeiffer. When I heard about this story I was laughing my head off. Now my parents agreed to this, so that was my name till now, still my mother wants me to have Tanya as my Thai name or middle name since I don’t have one. Well that’s how I got my name. Reason why my mom wanted Tanya was because in collage she had always admired her statistic teacher whom was name Tanya.

When I researched my name I was surprised of what it meant, Who is like god... what those that mean, well I do rule a lot of people’s mind moohahahaha, no just joking. I think it means power, pride and good moral, like a god. This name really suites me if that is the meaning, because I do have that attitude I like to be proud of my work and team, and power, I sometimes like to take control but I don’t like to show of my skill in any rude way like bragging.

I have a nickname that suites my real name and it’s Mimi. I got this name because my parents use to have something in their hands that I like and they would say who wants it, so I would say me me me, so that’s how I got my nickname. They called me Mimi because it works good for my attitude, because I want it but that was when I was smaller. I have been teased with this name a few times in the school in Korea, the teacher always asked for help to give out a few sheets and so on, so students would raise their hands to help and I would be one of them. Then the teacher would be like “ me me me” in an Oprah tone, I wouldn’t call it teasing because I found it funny as well, I would actually blush. My real name Michelle, has been teased but only by my cousins. They would call me something horrible in Thai which is inappropriate if I was to translate it to
English. Other than that, I have never been teased by my classmates and friends.

When I was around 4 or 5 years old I have wanted to change my name into Raven or Jade. I chose these because I thought that my name Michelle wasn’t that tuff, the reason why said all this was because I use to play tag by chase boys with my friends, I was fastest runner in the group of girls. Other than these names I still kept Michelle as my favorite.

I like my name a lot! Because I know a lot of people who are famous that has the same name, and even a SONG! Here are some famous people who has the same name as me like Michelle Pfeiffer, Michelle Obama, Michelle Yeoh, Michelle Wie and Michelle Kwan. It makes me feel special because I feel a connection with my names and theirs. Also the Beatles made a song called “Michelle”.

Me in 3

ME IN THREE

In 7th grade a lot of people know me for a lot of things but I have 3 main objects that really represent me. When I was given this assignment I thought this would be easy to find my 3 object, but then I think again... there’s a lot of things in my room that represent me. So I thought and thought, then I said why don’t I find something that might show my ability like art, music and sports. So first for my music I knew I should choose my flute. For art it took awhile but I though, I stick my artwork on the wall of my room so why not say I chose the wall. Now for my third item it’s my football shoes.

First object as I said is my flute. I have played many instruments in the past few years like piano, saxophone, ocarina and now the flute. The reason why I chose flute out of all the other instruments is because it was the first instrument I have played in a band. I have played the flute for 3 years now and I have enjoyed playing it. When I had to choose my instrument for band I know the flute was the perfect instrument.

My second is the wall in my room. The reason why I chose this is because I can hang up all my art work and ideas. I like to express myself in my art work and then when I see it, I feel proud of my work. I call my wall Picasso, because he is one of my favourite painters. Sometimes I would think some people might not appreciate art, but I love all kind of art, so pretty much my room is like my art gallery.

My last object are my football shoes. I chose these because I like sports and football is my favourite sport on the field. I have played football for 7 years now, and I still enjoy it. Now I play on the u-13 football team in school, and I was also on the team trip to Phuket. I liked other sports, too, but I chose football because I have done it for so many years. I hope in the future I will be able to still play football.

These are the items I think suit me best. I just hope these objects will stay with me for life and i shall take care of them carefully.