To celebrate my achievement, my dad treated me to a holiday in Disneyland, Paris. My dad, my dad’s girlfriend and my sister went with me for a week. We enjoyed it very much. We drove to Dover and then got on to the Euro tunnel. I was very excited about the thought of going on the Euro tunnel, but when we were there, there wasn’t much to do or see. When we got off the Euro tunnel and arrived in Calais, we drove for about four hours until we reached Disneyland. The holiday was totally magical and I was really excited about going as this was my first major holiday after my holiday to India when I was about five years old.
When I was about three years old and my sister was about two years old, my parents separated and got divorced. My mum and dad both fought for our custody in court for years and my dad won. We still had to go and see our mum on weekends, every fortnight though. Some people say that the children should stay with their mum, but in this case, it wasn’t true. My dad didn’t stop us from going and seeing our mum but he didn’t like making us go, when we didn’t want to, either. As years went by, we started growing apart from our mum. She remarried and has two children of her own. My stepsister Natasha and my stepbrother Karan are both living with her. My dad also moved on and now lives with his girlfriend Heather. She is very nice to us and in some ways is like a second mum. She understands how we feel and she helped my dad get over the divorce. Even though I have all my family supporting me, I still have this emptiness inside that only my mum can fill.
My sister Monica has also been in the same situation as me and she’s the only one that knows and understands how I feel. Monica is also the only person in my family I feel comfortable confiding in. Even though we have our rows and arguments, that sister’s have, she’s still my little sister and I don’t know what I’d do or who I’d go to about my problems. There’s only a years gap between my sister and I and because we apparently look alike so much, people think we’re twins. However, I don’t think we look alike at all. Everyone mistakes her for being the eldest, which makes me feel young in a way. Even though she’s the only sister I’ve got, she can be really annoying and always wants everything that I’ve got.
I’m quite different to her. She always leaves everything to the last minute and then she rushes it, as where I take my time. I don’t think that there’s much in Hounslow that a fourteen year old can do. Mostly, I like going out with my friends, usually to the cinema or bowling. I love shopping. When I go shopping, I always shop till I drop. I used to be part of a Brownie Guide and a Girl Guide association but then I grew out of it. When I’m at home, I usually “chill” by watching television, listening to music or sometimes I even find a quiet spot where I can do some reading.
My friends say that when I’m older, I should become a model. The reason for this is because I’m tall, fair and I’ve got the right figure apparently. However, my ambitions are to travel the world and become a fashion designer.
In August 1999, I went to Monte Gordo, Algarve which is in Portugal. We went for one week and stayed at a lovely place. The beach was probably the best beach I’ve ever seen and as we stepped out of our hotel, we were on the beach. The one thing I won’t forget about Portugal was when we went on a Jeep Safari. It was fantastic!
In June 2000, years eight and nine went on a French trip to Normandy in France. I loved this trip because we got to practice our French skills but mainly because I was with my friends.
In the same year, I went to Marmaris during the summer holidays for two weeks. Marmaris is a harbor town in Turkey. We saw all the ancient temples such as Ephesus and the white cliffs at Pemukale. We liked it so much in Turkey that we are going back this month. I always look forward to going on holiday as you never know what to expect but luckily, my dad has managed to book the best holidays so far.
The one thing I don’t look forward to however is exams. In May 2001, I did my Key Stage 3 SATs exams. I knew that these exams were really important as they would effect my future and my sets for Year Ten. Before my exams, I was really worried but they didn’t turn out to be as bad as I thought they’d be. Afterwards, I was so anxious, impatient and also excited about getting my results. When I found out my results, I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. I thought I was dreaming or something. I was aiming for a 6, 6, 6 but my results were actually 6, 7, 6. I achieved level 7 in my math’s exams. I was even happier when I found out that I had been put in to set one and two for my Year Ten subjects.
To celebrate this great achievement, my dad asked me where I wanted to go on holiday. It was totally my choice. I decided on going to Egypt as I was so fascinated by the ancient Egyptians, the tombs and the pyramids that we had learnt about at school. I had always wanted to go to Egypt since I was little. We went to a place called Luxor, which is in the south of Egypt.
Unfortunately, we didn’t get time to visit the Pyramids at Giza as we didn’t have enough time but I’m sure we will be going back to Egypt to see them.
Our resort was on an island on the River Nile. The island was called Crocodile Island and it overlooked the beautiful Valley Of The Kings and Queens, where the Egyptian Kings and Queens were buried when they died.
I will never forget the night when my dad got very drunk and started dancing with the belly dancer. It was so embarrassing! The next morning when we went down to breakfast, I thought I was going to die of shame, as everyone was starring at us as we entered the room. They must have remembered what happened the night before.
The highlight of my holiday was definitely seeing the Valley Of The Kings and the ancient temples of Karnak, Luxor and Denderah. That’s what I went to see anyway. It was nothing like I had imagined it would be like or what I had seen on the television. I was shocked about hoe these places had been kept so well and the amount of detail in the hieroglyphics that could still be seen, even though some of these ruins were nearly 4000 years old. I’m sure that I will be going back and I recommend Egypt to anyone as it is a holiday that I certainly will never forget.
Anyway, now I’m in Year Ten. Things are going smoothly and we are beginning to prepare for our GCSEs next year. I hope that I pass my exams with good grades and that my ambitions will come true, so that I will travel the world and become a fashion designer. So far I haven’t had had too many mid- life crisis’ and I hope that my future doesn’t either.
