Ukraine Drive

        11 hours in the plane really gets to you. I cannot fall asleep in the plane and after a while all I want to do is cry. But then I think about Ukraine and how I am going to be there soon, and I get extremely excited. The best part of the flight is when the captain says “Fasten your seat belts; we are going to be landing in twenty minutes. It is thirty degrees Celsius, and a clear sky.”  Right then I quickly snatch my sister’s hand. My sister and I always grasp each other’s hand during takeoff and landing.
          We walk out of the airport, hearing every taxi guy in sight saying “do you need a ride?” but we respond with no. The air feels heavier, the streets are dirtier, the cars are smaller, and the stray animals are everywhere.  It feels great walking out of the airport; I hold my head high and I look for my uncle Vova. Once I spot him, I sprint over and give him the biggest hug. Then again I realize that it takes 10 hours in the cramped car until I get to my house in Nikopol and my happy mood slowly fades away. 
          The car is very cramped, I can hardly move my leg. Suitcases surround us and the heat is unbearable. Driving across Ukraine we spot long fields of sunflowers, all facing one direction. I ask my parents why the sunflowers only face one direction and they respond by saying that they face the direction of the sun. We take a rest stop by the sunflowers to take pictures. Getting back on the rode, there are hardly any cars. It looks as if it is a never ending rode. 
        The first stray dog that I see running along the rode stops the beating in my heart. In Ukraine, they don't have shelters so animals are everywhere. It is hard to get used to because I love animals. In fact I want to be a veterinarian, so it is very hard when I see animals in need of help and me not being able to help them.  
          My family and I begin to play a game where we see who will see the entering Nikopol sign first. When we see it we scream Nikopol as loud as a newborn baby screams and it gets the excited blood flowing through my body again. I sit up tall and proud that I am in Nikopol. We turn onto my street with only one street light on the rode. We drive up the rocky driveway and I can hardly see anything in sight. My grandparents are standing outside, waiting for us in the darkness. I run over and hug them until my mom moves me away so that she can hug them too. My grandparents are like my parents to me because they pretty much raised me until I was 7. 
          My grandpa unlocks the front door into the apartment, holds the door open for us with his left foot, and pulls the little rope for the old fashioned light to turn on. We walk 2 stories up the spiral staircase of the apartment building. My grandpa opens the first steel door, and the second one was already open. I walk in first and flip the switch for the light to turn on. Running over to my grandma, I am not sure if it is a dream or real life. Her arms wrap around me and hold me tight, she always gives the best hugs. I put my suitcase down in the living room and I say "finally home." 
Word Count: 609

Example Conclusion

Technology is causing millions of Americans to be more distractable and less task-oriented. Many students are paying less and less attention in class because they text their friends, go on Facbook, check their email and even play games. Even just to check their phones quickly, students end up not hearing their teachers and it may be an important topic that needed to be adressed. Students have the same problem at home because they need to concentrate on homework but might be tempted to go on Facebook and then will get distracted. By limiting the amount of technology used everyday, students will be able to be more sucessful and get bette grades.

A mans best friend

    As tears flow down my face a mans best friend is gone. There are many stray dogs in Ukraine. I feed them and pet them, going from one to the next. But this little puppy and I had a special connection. Everyday she would wait for me to walk out of the tall brick apartment. I would walk out at ten in the morning everyday and she would be sitting there right by the metal door. "Lets go," I would say. She would jump onto her four legs and I would give her a hot dog. She devoured it quickly and then licked the remains off the hot pavement on which the hot dog was laying on. Her cold tongue would make the heat rise off the pavement and evaporating it into the hot summer air. She walked with me everywhere, to the beach, bizarre, bus stop, anywhere I was going she would be right by my side. When I went into stores she would be right there waiting at the door until our next adventure. People thought she was my dog, although she wasn't. My grandparents didn't allow her into our apartment because they wouldn't have time to take care of her. Although if she had lived with me then everything would have been okay and I wouldn't have this horrible memory haunting me. 
    It was the middle of August, a warm and sunny day. Like usual I went to the beach with the puppy. She waited patiently for me there and then we walked back together. We hopped up the tall white steps, and walked towards the town hall. We took a quick left and there we were, at my apartment building. I crouched down and pet her behind her ears. Like usual she fell onto her back while I giggled. I pet her stomach and told her I would be out in a minute. I quickly changed out of my bathing suit and told my grandparents that I was going on a walk. I walked out of the doors and she wasn't there. I was shocked. I looked right and left and then I finally found her. 
    Her shiny gold coat was sparkling in the sun. She was laying in the same position as I left her, on her back, yet now she was laying in the middle of the street and it wasn't me that was petting her but a tall brown haired man probably in his 40s was petting her. Inside me I felt jealously rushing through my body. I felt as if I was being replaced. A shiny silver car turned around the corner and onto the street. Selfishly, the brown haired man jumped away from the middle of the street. The puppy just started to turn her head and jump off the street but she didn't have time. My mouth was wide open. My legs running as fast as they can to get to her. My whole body shaking and tears flooding down my face. I couldn't believe it, or at least i didn't want to believe it. 
    When I got over to her I thought she was dead. Seeing the rise and fall of her chest I realized I was wrong. Hope right then and there came to me. I picked her up, carried her off the side and laid her down next to some bushes. I sprinted inside screaming and crying. My grandparents were so confused. They didn't know what was happening. "Pu, pu, puppy, run ov over by car" is all I could get out of my mouth. I grabbed a towel and ran back outside. I put her on the towel.  She was crying. That was the saddest sound I had ever heard. No one else cared, not even one person. Her legs were holding on by their last limbs. A lady walked up behind me and asked why I was crying. Again all I could say was "Pu, pu, puppy, run ov over by car." I guess she was a dog loving person as well. She said that she would bring her to the vet and get her all cured. I counted on her. I gave the puppy one more kiss and then let her go with the kind lady. That was the last time I saw the puppy. Im hoping that the lady cured her and that she lives with the lady now.
Words: 736

Ukrainian Cherry Trees

     Cherries ripen first in the summer. In Ukraine, they ripen in the beginning of June. Everyone watches in awe as the white flower buds begin to open. The flowers on the ends of the limbs, watch the kids run by. 
     The flowers slowly transform into the pale cherry. The tree limbs begin to sag down due to the weight of the cherries. The cherries are on a little green stem. A few stems are linked together at the top by a brown bark ball. 
     After the pale cherry, the red and yellow cherries come into place. The red cherry is the most common. It is either bright red or maroon. The yellow cherries are a dark yellow with a slight shade of pink. I think that the maroon cherries are the sweetest, so when I go to my garden, I climb the maroon cherry tree. We have one yellow cherry tree and one maroon cherry tree. 
     I climb the cherry trees with a basket in my left hand. Glancing around neighboring yards, I feel tall when I am up in the tree. It is extremely hot up in the trees especially because the leaves trap in the heat. Sometimes it even gets up to one hundred and fourteen degrees Fahrenheit. The sound of the wind blowing and waves crashing to the shore surrounds my ears. One after another, I pick off the cherries with my right hand and then drop them into the basket. If I remember, I wear my pink yoga pants when I climb the trees so that I won't scratch my legs. I also wear my pink Nike hat so that nothing will fall on my head, like cherries or twigs. I love to climb my cherry trees.
     Sometimes my grandma even makes juice, campot, out of the cherries. Most people in Ukraine drink this since there is an abundant amount of cherries and it is easy to make. Also it is very healthy for you and it is delicious. This summer I am going to learn how to make campot. All I know right now is that you have to cook the cherries with water and sugar, in a pot and on the stove. You cook it for about half an hour and then it takes a little while to cool down. It takes a long time to make but is it very sweet, healthy, and refreshing. 
     It is now the middle of August. Cherries, brown and small, begin to fall off the trees quickly. My dad actually likes cherries when they are maroon with a little bit of brown showing through. But once they fall off the tree nobody eats them of course, except for my dog Cleopatra sometimes eats them. In fact she was born under a cherry tree last summer so maybe that is why she loves them so much. 
     Cherries are my favorite fruits and I love eating them. The only part that I don't like them is the little pits inside. But then again, if it weren't for the pits then there would not be any more cherry trees. It is hard to think how America does not have any naturally grown cherry trees. When I was five, my sister Jessica and I made a little hole in our garden and threw the pits in there. Now every summer that I go to Ukraine I always observe on how much my tree has grown. Soon my cherry tree will be big so that I can climb it. I can not wait until the summer so that I can eat cherries. 
Word Count: 599 words

What is an essay?

An essay is multiple paragraphs on a certain field of writing. There should always be an introductory paragraph that introduces the topic and tells you background on the topic. You should have an interesting and powerful introduction so that the reader will want to keep reading. The last few of sentences of the introductory paragraph there should be a thesis, that tells the reader what the main idea is. Next there should be as many body pararaphs as needed. There should be a topic sentence in the beginning of each body paragraph. This should be the first sentence of each and it should tell the reader what they are going to read about in the paragraph. Within the body paragraphs you should have concrete details which is specific facts about the subject. Also, there should be commentary which is your opinion on the concrete details and just the subject in general. The last few sentences of the paragraph is the concluding sentence which sums up what you wrote about.  The final paragraph of the essay should be the concluding paragraph that is all comentary, making your essay interesting and creative.