I thought SIMUN was a good experience. I got the chance to interact with Global Ed students that are older than I am. The country I had was Egypt. Egypt was only directly included in one scenario, but I still had a good time. I liked dressing up and seeing all of my friends dressed up too. Also, during a couple of our scenarios, two countries kept arguing back and forth about who was right and who was wrong. I thought it was interesting to see how into it the older kids got. Also, I can’t wait to be a senior so I can be in the legal counsel. Also, now I have an idea of what MAMUN might be like, so I might do it next year.

I think that I did pretty good for my first year participating in SIMUN. At first I was nervous to stand up and talk in front of people that I had just met five minutes ago, but I knew that I had to do it or else my grade could suffer. The first day I did two speeches: one on my own, and the second was to tell everyone else about an update that I had secretly gotten. The second and third days, I knew what to expect and what I should do, so I asked more questions and did a speech both of those days too. I think overall I did pretty good and I’ll do even better next year.

In order to prepare for SIMUN, I had to do a lot of research. First, I had to research my country’s history and write about it. Then, I had to do research for the four questions that we had to answer. I found this part challenging because it was hard to find the information that you needed, and to pick out the important facts compared to the stuff that was not necessary. The last thing I did was I found my allies. When we were practicing I realized that I had no idea who they were so that night I went home to find out that my only main ally was Russia. Knowing that Russia was my ally really helped me out a lot when it came to caucusing and picking a side.

Next year I plan to research my country and its history more. Also, I am not going to be so nervous to do speeches. I want to do more speeches, and ask more questions. Another thing I want to do, is to do better on the research questions we have to do because I now know what is expected of me, and since I won’t be a freshman anymore, I will have to be more involved so that the incoming freshman will look up at me.

The Chinese Cinderella - free write

In The Chinese Cinderella by Adeline Yen Mah, Adeline Yen Mah is an unwanted child. In the Chinese culture, you are considered bad luck if your mother dies while giving birth to you. Yen Mah’s mother died giving birth to her. She is considered bad luck, which ends up making her feel unwanted. Yen Mah is the youngest child, until her father remarries and has two more children. Her older brothers continuously pick on her, and the only people she feels she can trust are her grandparents and her Aunt Baba, who takes care of her.

The only time her father is proud of her, or even acknowledges her, is when she does good in school. Her father praises her when she brings home the class leader medal every week, and also when she gets good grades on her report card. This is the reason that Yen Mah works and studies so hard in school. She goes on to become the best writer in her class, and when an award in the local newspaper.

When Yen Mah was seven years old, they moved to Shanghai. She had to walk to and from school on her own, no matter what. Her father and stepmother would not give their children money for the bus fair because they were trying to teach them the value of a dollar. However, Yen Mah’s stepmother would give her children money. Her fathers children and her stepmothers children were treated completely different. On the Chinese New Year her father’s children had to wear the traditional clothing, while her stepmother’s children got to wear new fancy dresses, and suits.

Adeline Yen Mah really feels like she is an unwanted child, due to her mother’s death. Sometimes I can see why she feels this way, but other times I think that her father and her siblings really do love her.