Hawaiian Breeze

The Hockey Dream

The Hockey Dream

Chapter 1: The Hockey Dream

Timmy had a dream: to become a professional athlete in the National Hockey League. Others where Timmy lives, St Paul, Minnesota, might say otherwise. Maybe a football player or a baseball player where some of the cities’ other professional sports teams grasp the dreams of young boys and girls. 

Timmy had his heart set on the sport of the hockey: a sport with a rich history of great players such as Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe, two of some of the most best players in their time. The natives first played it with different items such as a rock as the puck but playing with the similar rules and play there is today. 

When the first Europeans came to North America, they played the great game and made some adjustments to the sport of hockey such as the skates and sticks, mostly safety changes as hockey was a dangerous sport and both civilizations knew this. Hockey for the natives was often played to settle rivalries between villages. 

A group on people abandoning the NHA (National Hockey Association) created the NHL November 26th, 1917. Progress was slow at first, as many hockey players went to other hockey leagues such as the Pacific Coast Hockey Association and West Canada Hockey League.   

In the early 2000s, the league welcomed players like Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Alexander Ovechkin and Jonathan Toews to the hockey spotlight. Since then, the hockey world has encouraged children around the world to become hockey players, making the race to the National Hockey League a elimination-like game in which only the ones which choose to continue in the race of the pros are the ones that have a chance. 

Many players give up the marathon to the NHL for a higher chance to have other jobs in the city life or do not have the skill or patience to make to the NHL. But the final hockey players, the 30 teams of the league choose the 200 or more players from all over the world that met the requirements for the NHL draft, making the sport unique and fascinating to find players of all calibre play the sport that was played thousands of years ago by the first peoples of North America. 

Timmy wanted to become one of those 200 or more players that made it to the NHL. But many kids at school made fun of him and said he would never make it to the hockey league. He didn’t own skates or a stick. So he asked his parents if they would sign him up to play with a local hockey team. 

They thought carefully, as it is a dangerous sport still and is very expensive to play. Timmy told them about the kids at school that teased him about his inability to play hockey, thinking this could raise his chances to play ice hockey. His parents decided he could play hockey, on the condition that he was aware of the risks, it would not interfere with school and to play fair. Timmy accepted right away, because he was excited to play hockey with all of his friends and to show the teasers that he could play hockey. 

Timmy joined the junior league when he was five and loved to skate and shoot the puck. Every minute he skated, he was excited to help his team win but remembered the conditions that his parents told him. His love of hockey was just starting and his dream to become a hockey star began.     

Returning to Creative Writings

Returning to Creative Writings

I am sorry to leaving my blog Creative Writings. With the other important things I have been doing, I forgot all about my blog that many of you enjoy. 

I wanted to say that I will be writing on this blog again. I might not writing every week, but when I have time, I will post about new original stories that I used to write. They will be longer, but I cannot promise that I will write frequently since I have many important things I do everyday. 

So thank you for reading this, I appreciate it, and happy reading!    

Home

"For those who have think that have lost everything, there is still hope and home."

-M.N

Home

Chapter 1: Home

Home

hōm/

noun

1. 1.

   the place where one lives permanently, especially as a member of a family or household.

This is what Google defines "home" to be. Home is also an adjective, an adverb and a verb. Forget Google for a minute, what is home?

Home is home. It's the only thing that you know when you first live on Earth. Or any place in this blessed world that we live in, human or animal.

Home is the only thing that will still stay with you for the rest of your life. It's what keeps you warm, sheltered, alive...

Without a home, there is no life. That's why it's stays with you and your family for the rest of your life and their lives. Even after many losses and unhappiness, home is here. 

Even the smallest shell or cove is a happy home for many littler creatures in this big world of ours. Even lands that seem that are bad or destroyed, there are too, homes' too.

Chapter 2

My name is Will. I live in Smallton, New Jersey,  a small town that operates on the east coast of New Jersey.. It is famous for its tasty cheese that is adored for miles along the east coast of the United States. 

Smallton is also in the paper mill area, so some of the citizens, most of the citizens, work at the paper mill in town, where most of the town actually works. 

But some people, like my dad, works with the tourists who are made of money, rich millionaires who have nothing better to do but to relax in the New Jersey sun and eat expensive cheese. He teaches tourists how to scuba dive and catch big fish that they throw back into the ocean current after a couple of photos.

 A waste of time. But it's a difficult job to teach the tourists. Dad has to go on these two week tourism vacations that the tourists chose. 

These fat, bigmouthed rich people that I was talking about earlier. So I don't see him a lot. It's disappointing, but it's a rewarding job and I know that he doesn't want to do it even he wanted do. But positions for jobs are getting harder to get in town. 

###

Back to me, I'm Will. I'm seventeen years old, in Grade 11 and I go to Smallton High School. It's a small, little, cramped, cheap school that looked like the old brick walls that stand are going to fall at any moment. 

I have three friends named Jimmy, Robbie and Tyler. They are my best of friends. I knew them since I was a small wee laddy. Sorry. My dad's Irish, and I'm used to the speech of him. 

Anyway, I knew them for a very long time, so they are very special to me. I hate these bullies bullies named Alan and Michael. They are annoying and very stupid and have nothing better to do.

I like this girl name Mica. I knew her since eighth grade, so I know her like the streets of London. But she's more of a friend than a lover, which is fine, I don't mind. 

I have a dog named Tita, She's a Lab, but Tita's a nice dog. Female dogs are good dogs, much easier and friendlier than the male dogs.That's just my opinion, though. 

My favourite thing to do at home is probably build with my Lego City. 

One important thing about me: I like Lego. Lego is fun. Lego is cool. I could sentences about Lego all day long. Not kidding about that. 

I have been building my Lego City for about 12 years. Not joking, 12 years. But I buy all of the Lego toys. Lego is not just a kid's toy though. 

Also I like books. And reading. Mathematics and Chemistry too. All fun things to do. 

But they are some sad things that have happened in the life too. My mom died in the hospital during pregnancy while delivering my sister to the world. 

My sister survived though. Just not my mother. 

I remember that I cried for the longest time in my life that dark night in the hospital after she died. I was only five years old. A lot to take in. 

My sister died a few years ago when she was kidnapped by people with masks and dark clothing. We called the police but they never found her. 

But here I am; lord of the house when my dad is away with the tourists, caring for my dog, Tita, cooking my meals, hanging out with my friends, fighting the bullies at school... 

What more do I want?   

Chapter 3

Since my mother died, I have been having dreams. But not your average sleepy, happy, into-the-sunset dreams, but dreams about the future. The near future. 

That sound crazy because most dreams that people dream about the future are obviously not true. He/she would have to be the soothsayer of dreams. And that's an unbelievable talent to have. 

But my future dreams are real, 100% real about the future. I know when and where someone would die and marry and have kids or whatever. I remember having lots of dreams of the future. 

When I was six, when I was first starting to ride my bike, I remember that I wanted to stop the bike. And the brakes on the bike didn't work when I pushed on them. So I broke my leg when I hit a curb. 

I remember every scene of that time in my dream a few nights before the crash. This is when the dreams first started to form to the future.

Then when I was eleven, I remember that Tyler's mother died of skin cancer. And I remember when she died in the hospital and how Tyler was crying as his father pulled him away from his mother. 

There is more and more evidence of my near future dreams; when Mika's father died, how I got Tita as a pet, when I first drove a car, when my sister died... They are all evidence of these dreams and I remember each and every one of them. 

My dad arrived a few days from his tourism business. He said that the tourists are coming back to Smallton soon and in a few days, he will be leaving our family again for the tourists. 

It's sad that I sometimes think that he cares about the stupid tourists more than me and Tita, the only family that he has left. The only son and dog that I may even have left for the rest of his life. 

But I know that doesn't like the tourists one bit. These are not the average happy-go-lucky tourists or your exciting, fun, adventurous people. They are all business, from the top down. All business. 

The tourists don't pay close ears to my father. They probably just talk about business and bonds and money, boring things like that that my goodwill father has to listen as fish are tugging on their lines. The tourists are the fish though. 

He doesn't listen for them. Dad does this for the job, for the money that it used to buy food, water, electricity and clothing for all of us. And I know that Dad does all for this for all for us to have a life. 

Chapter 4

School isn’t one of my favourite places to be in the week. When my dad is teaching the tourists to fish and scuba dive, it’s not fun.

I sit in an uncomfortable plastic chair, writing a mathematics test on  polynomials for three hours straight. But it’s a hard life for some.

It’s not that I don’t like polynomials, but sometimes I think that school is like a big round circle; that the students are going round and round the circles and the teachers are in the very centre. 

The students are doing the long, aching tests and listening with all of our might, to grab all of the words that the teachers said, that will help them in life.

In a way, we are the workers of the future economy of this world, it’s interesting how that we all of the honeybees that work in the hive.

Our hive, in this case, and how countries with many people with high economies rise and fall because of high power people that work with the government make choices that destroy people. 

Again, we learn and learn and learn to build a new and better lifestyle that might have been better than before. It’s an amazing world that we live in.

Bullies are another big problem at school; the ones that prey the weak. The vultures of school, that prey on the weak and watch the strong.

I get bullied most days of school, I don’t mind a lot, and recently, I have been getting better at protecting myself from them, the immunity building in my body.

When school is over and I walk back to my house, I think about all of the good things that happened to me in the past. It helps me clear my mind when I come home.

  

  

In Ghana

"For all of my readers"

-M.N

In Ghana

Chapter 1: The Bus Ride

School is finally done with for the time being and it is good to spend lots of time with my parents and with my sisters, Afi and Afua playing with them and watching screenbox with them. 

In my time in the Ivory Coast or Cote d'Ivoire, it was very nice there. Lots of sun, new people, friends. A new life overall. 

And right now we are all going to Ghana for the summer vacation to visit my grandparents that live there and some of my parent's friends. 

I am not saying that I don't like Ghana anymore. Of course not. In all of the years that I have lived on this planet, why would I say that?

I like Ghana. But I also like the Ivory Coast too. I was just surprised that we were going there after all of the traveling and planning to live and become citizens of that country. Big change. 

The bus ride is very hot, sweaty from all of the people surrounding me and very uncomfortable. We have been in this bus for a very long time. 

I am thirsty and my stomach is full of hunger. Also I need the washroom too. But in due time, all good things will happen in Ghana. 

Chapter 2: Feelings

It was night when the bus arrived at the bus stop where our family got out of the sweaty bus. It was good to be out in the fresh air. 

The city took my feelings from the wide country open fresh air out of me. Being in the nice cool summer Ghanaian air was making me remember of all of the good times here. 

When we were out of the bus, we walked to the village that we lived in before we moved to Cote d'Ivoire. It was not far from the village. 

We arrived in the home of our grandparents' quietly. They were fast asleep like the rest of the village was, all of the people sleeping away. 

So we had to wake them up quietly to let them know that we were here in the village. Dad talked to them to make them remember that we were visiting here. 

My grandparents know, but they forget lots of things to do or buy things. My grandfather and my grandmother are getting older, so lots of things like this happen in their everyday life. 

We were all sleepy, so my grandparents and my parents, my sisters and I fell asleep when a long, long day past. 

Chapter 3: A Day in the Village

The next morning, I was the first one to wake up. It was before dawn in the wee hours of the morning when all of the villagers were asleep and all was calm. 

I made my breakfast and done some of the chores that were do be done like gardening and dusting the furniture while they were all sleeping. 

Later when my sisters woke up, they helped me do some chores and wake up the other members of the family to join us and eat breakfast. 

When we all woke up and ate our breakfast and did all of the chores, all of us helped making lunch, which was very tasty and filling. 

After lunch we walked around the village and talked to some old friends of ours that we didn't see in a very long time. 

My parents talked about when we moved to the Ivory Coast and all of the good things about what it is like in Cote d'Ivoire. 

It was nice being with friends because it felt like a long time that the block between the new country and old friend finally broke at last. 

Then we ate dinner and my grandparents talked about what is happening in the village and all of the new things that happened and all of the fun times that they had. 

We played a game together and all of us laughed and had fun as we played. Then Mom tucked my sisters and I to bed.  

Chapter 4: Traveling to Accra

Accra is the capital of Ghana. And Accra is far, far away from the village that we are in. So long, long bus ride. Nice, a bus ride. 

Another bus ride. I was sick of the last one when we traveled on a bus, to this country and made it. Well, my stomach barely made it. 

My brain and heart and liver barely made the long voyage too. And sitting in a hot bus with sweaty people doesn't help too. 

But I was just kidding. But my body parts suffered though. A long journey on a long bus is a lot for my body or anyone's body in fact. 

Accra is the capital so lots of bonuses there. Cool places, new foods and a different life style, new smells and new sights to see...

The capital of Ghana is going to be a interesting place soon after the long bus ride and all of the sweaty people and the hot sicking temperature.

Chapter 5: Ghana's Capital

After the long sweaty, smelly and hot bus ride though the leaves and past the big trees and many animals, we made it to Accra after all that traveling. 

Accra is a very big city. Almost 2.2m people live in the city, making that the biggest city in the country. Amazing. 

So it was hard to find stores and places with the family. But it was very fun and an interesting time in the capital of Ghana. 

We saw many towers and buildings that shaped this city to run and be like it is now. And lots of people and vehicles. Wow. 

Later in the day, we ordered lunch at a small local restaurant that was in downtown Accra where I could see all of the people rushing in and out of restaurants. 

When we got our meal from one of the waiters, we ate our lunch and talked. It was a very good meal that we had. We all thought that it was good. 

We even told the waiter how good the meal was. He smiled when we told him that and he said that he would pass the comment to the cooks. 

Later after all of the shopping and the sightseeing, we exited the city and went back on the bus back home with all of the things that we bought there.  

Chapter 6: Birthday

Today is my birthday. Birthdays are very special in the village for children. Most families in the village come and are invited to celebrate the birth of one's child. 

Special treats are made by the guests and the celebration lasts the whole day. It was an event filled with happiness and gifts and goodwill to the hosts. 

I am now 7 years old and I am in Grade 3 in the school in the Ivory Coast. I look like I am much older than to be in Grade 3. But that's the truth. 

In the morning, people came to the celebration and brought some gifts for me. I had to leave some of the gifts I got from past birthdays when we were immigrating to Cote d'Ivoire. 

We laughed and I talked to some of the village children. The village children asked why we moved to Cote d'Ivoire and what it was like over there. 

We later ate lunch and played and I opened all of my gifts and thanked the guests for all of the wonderful gifts. I liked them all. 

Later when all of the guests left, we cleaned up all of the mess from the birthday, ate dinner and went to bed and fell asleep.  

Chapter 7: A Story

It's a special village celebration. The history is about a man who fought to defend and save this village a long time ago.

It was in 1767, when the village was very young, only about ten years old at the time. Invaders from one of the rival villages attacked our village. 

In minutes, the village was in flames and all of the people were scared and the invaders were tormenting the young villagers. 

The flames never stopped in the meantime. And one young hero of the village that was hiding was the village's only hope of saving them. 

The young hero had many buckets of water that he stole from the invaders. And he had a snake that he would use for saving them. 

He talked to the invaders and he gave them a deal; he would give himself for slavery and his snake that had magical healing powers if they freed the villagers and put out the fires. 

The invaders agreed and they and the young hero helped put out the fires. Then the invaders wanted their end of the deal. 

But he did not want to give himself for hard work and torment. He and the villagers attacked the invaders with all they could find and they chased the invaders back to their village. 

But in sadness, the young hero gave his snake that was indeed very special to the once-attacking village. The snake was very helpful for the people of that village.     

Chapter 8: Celebration

In the morning, all was calm. Everybody was preparing for the big festival that was today. It was about that hero and the snake. Remember the story?

I saw many people setting up fireworks for the celebration. All of the older children in the village helped make food for the festival and the younger children making hats and masks. 

The adults were helping hang the lanterns and helping the children do their jobs. The whole village was abuzz with work. 

I was bringing coal to the metal shop to make the swords and knives for the celebration. It was a hard job, but the whole village was going to love it. 

We had a break and we all went back to our homes to eat lunch and later work on all of the jobs that we were accounted for. 

And in the night, we watched the fireworks that some people set up;go off and shoot into the sky and pop in the air, stars of all colours ablaze. 

All of our hard work in the day was accounted for in the night. Everyone was laughed and cheering when all of the activities were watched and played. 

Chapter 9: Mining

For a lot of the summer, I was digging for gold. There was a mine that workers drilled in for gold and other metals in the mine. 

It was big and that might mean that there is something in that mine. So in my free time, my grandparents asked me to go and mine. 

My grandparents work there, actually, and their job is to drill through the rock in the mine and put it in a mining cart where they melt the rock and save the ore to sell. 

There is good pay for working in the mine, even if you found nothing, so lots of people in the village work there for the good pay. 

Children work there too. But they don't work in the mine, but do jobs like giving water to the miners or taking their mining carts full of ore and maybe gold to the melters. 

If I got a quick second, I would dig a little rock and keep it, for maybe there is ore that is gold or something valuable. We have a little melter at home. 

I dug some rock up and put it in my pockets yesterday. I hope there are some good metals in the rock. I hope it's gold, but that's a rare metal to find.  

Chapter 10: Trickster

There was no gold and any metals from the rocks that went in the melters from yesterday. But I got a good idea that might work. 

I knew that after the day is over, there are some mine carts with rock that was mined that didn't make the melting process for the day. 

In the night, I can take the mining carts in the night and use the melters to find the metals and take the metals and sell them. 

Then I return the mining carts with rocks that look like ones that they mined, but have no value what so ever. That's the plan. 

And it worked for a while. But soon after a month, the miners were complaining that there was no metals and the mine was loaded with metals. 

So the owner of the miners checked each single villager top to bottom. They found nothing and the miners went on hunting for gold. 

But a few of the miners were desperate for their metals that were robbed by me and they hid in a bush and waited and waited for me to steal the mining carts. 

And they caught me as I saw them behind the bush when I ran. The miners took me to the owner and searched our house in the middle of the night. 

All of them found the missing metals and I was charged with hard labour for two months each day for four hours working in the mine under supervision with no pay. 

I was banned for use of the melters by my parents and two weeks without my toys. It was a difficult time in that time period.  

But I did sell a little bit of the stolen metals, about $200 American dollars worth. So it wasn't a total loss after all. But I was shamed by my family. 

Chapter 11: Friend

I have lots of friends; in the village, at Abidjan, even in some other countries too as pen-pals that I write to often. Lots of friends. 

I made a new friend a few weeks ago; her name is Esi, which means that she was born on a Sunday. She is nice and very gentle. But Esi is lots of fun. 

Esi loves to play on the grass out on the borders of the village, before the inside of the next bordering village next to us. 

We play on the rocks and in the flower patches to play tag in and to blow the giant dandelions that grow on the meadows. 

It is always a time of laughter and excitement when we play there and when we blow the dandelions in the meadows. Esi and I always have a good time. 

We go everyday to the meadows and play. Sometimes we bring some supplies such as food and blocks to play with. Sometimes even a football. 

Esi and I always return to our homes before the sun goes down and we clean up all of our mess before we go home. 

We bring our toys and other things in our hands or in a bag that we bring. We never forget anything that we brought. 

Always in the meadows when we play together and we laugh and have fun, it is always a good time together at in the meadows in the sun. 

Chapter 12: All Kinds of People

In this world, there are all kinds of people. Short people, tall people, fat people and skinny people, people with medical problems...  I could go on forever. 

And then there are bullies. People that are hungry for power that they get from others by force. And then all of the people that lost the power are sad. 

Then there are the anti-bodies, the people that "fight" the bullies, take the power not by force, but by the voices of people that soon the bullies' guilt builds in. 

Yesterday when Esi and I went to the meadow, we saw some kids. This was not a rare thing to see. We always see kids in the meadow. 

When children come, sometimes we invite them to play with us. Sometimes we play with some of them and for all of us, it is a good time together. 

But of course, in the end, we always share the meadows between us and the other children playing there. So that everyone can enjoy their time there. 

But in this case, the children didn't want to share with us. They wanted the meadow to themselves. For all of us, the meadow was at stake. 

We tried to reason with them, but they were bullies and the bullies pushed us away from the meadow and laughed at us. It was not fair. 

But I had an idea; it was not bad and I thought that it could be settled this way. I remember lots of arguments are settled this way. 

I told them that we would settle this and I told the bullies how. They laughed at first and told us that we were little mice, looking for a way in. 

Chapter 13: A Settled Battle

The next day, Esi and I met on the meadow with the bullies. I told them that we were going to settle the disagreement in a match of football. 

We talked about the rules of the game and how long we would play and the boundaries. And then went to our sides of the match. 

I brought my own football with me as I walked to the meadow. The teams were not even though. The bullies had one more player than us. 

But one of their bullies' players agreed to play as the referee for the match. All of the players were ready. We flipped the coin. All that was left was to play. 

The bullies started with the ball. They chose to play with both players playing offensive statics. Esi played goalkeeper and I was the forward player. 

They played a dirty game thought; the bullies pushed for the ball and knocked us all over with their strength. By the end of the first half, it was 3-0. 

For the next half, we started with the ball. I know that will push defensively when I shoot. But they had bad running skills, so sprinting was the only option. 

And in the first few minutes of the game, we scored one goal to make it 3-1. Two more goals to tie the game to extra time. 

Later in the match, I scored another goal past the goalkeeper to make it 3-2. It was a close game, but only 10 minutes remained. 

Soon the ball changed feet and the bullies scored a goal. 4-2. We'll never win this game. But there was hope to win. 

Esi went out of the goalkeeper position and as a forward. And with five minutes remaining, she scored a goal for 4-3. 

And with only a one minute left, I scored to tie the game 4-4. Extra time was up and running. Defensive was the only option for us if we want to tie or win. 

And in the extra time, no one scored, so it was all down to a shootout. Esi was the star if we win the match. It was all on her. 

The bullies took the first shot. She saved the shot. Then it was my turn to shoot the ball. And I scored. 1-0 for us. Yay. 

But the next shot was in and the match was tied. But another shot from me changed the score to 2-1. One goal ahead of the bullies. 

The next shot missed the net. It was a chance for us to score. But I missed the shot too. What a good chance to win the game. 

The next shot was a diving save from Esi. And my next shot was in. 3-1. The bullies' need the next shot to go in. And it didn't. We had won the match. 

Chapter 14: Farewell News

At dinner, Mom and Dad had some news. And just by the look on their faces, I could tell that it wasn't very happy news. 

I thought that they found out that I was doing things in the evening with Esi. That would be bad news for me. And Esi too. 

But it wasn't about my late nights at the meadow with Esi. Mom and Dad said that we were going to leave our grandmother and grandfather. It was because the vacation was over in Ghana. 

Mom and Dad said that we are leaving a week and that we should get all of our things that we brought packed with us soon. 

Then Grandpa said something. It was that they enjoyed having us all of us here after the big move to Cote d'Ivoire. 

Then they gave me and my two sisters gifts. Afi and Afui got two wooden dolls each with hair made of cotton and clothing and shoes from animal skin. 

I got a little sailing boat and a new football from my grandparents. I loved the look of the football. And the sailing boat's little details that my grandmother made.  

The football looked like the football that they use in the FIFA world cup. And it was made by my grandfather. How cool is that?

I hugged my grandfather and grandmother for the cool gifts that I got. Also my sisters hugged and thanked them for the gifts. 

Chapter 15: Esi

I was disappointed when I thought about Esi and the fact that I had to leave the country in a week. It was so good having summer break with Esi. 

But I thought about the good times that we spent together chasing each other when we played tag. Also the times that played with our toys together and the football match versus the bullies. 

I later went to Esi's house and I told her about that in one week that I was leaving the country. She was sad, but there are no tears. 

Chapter 16: Farewell Ghana

In a few hours, me, my sisters, my mother and father are going to back to Cote d'Ivoire, the new country. Out with the old and in the new. 

At least that what it seems like. I liked the time that I spent in Ghana. The country welcoming me like an old friend. 

I made some new friends, met my grandparents that I didn't see in years, had a couple of adventures, watched the fireworks... 

It seems like such so long ago that I was that was living in Cote d'Ivoire, studying, learning the language, playing football at the pitch. 

Then after so much of that, we visited the old country, slept in their house, talked with the locals and ate foods that we didn't eat in a long time. 

And now, we are back in the bus, riding for countless hours, sweat-riden, tired. But there is still some energy in all of us. And I bet the ride is almost over. 

Epilogue

When I was eighteen, I went back to Ghana in the summer to visit my grandparents. I had my own car that I bought with the money that I had left. 

I drove and drove past the border and after a lot of driving, I made it to the village that my grandparents were still living in after many years. 

They were dying of an illness that spread throughout the region. There wasn't a known cure yet and most of the village was suffering from it too. 

So for most of the trip, I was wearing a mask to protect myself from the illness. It wasn't fun, but it's for my own good. 

I talked to Esi again. In the years that I didn't visit her, I wrote letters to her and she always wrote back to me in the years. 

She looked different, but she was the same old Esi that I always saw and believed as I knew from the first day that I met her. 

After meeting her and visiting my sick grandparents and seeing the country, I went back to Cote d'Ivoire and told my family about the visit. 

I have a job in downtown Abidjan as a doctor after lots of hard work and good grades and worked as a paediatrician. It's nice to help the patients. 

I live in a small apartment near the hospital that I work at. I have no pets or someone to have company with. But I'm okay. 

It's a good life in Cote d'Ivoire, but nothing will stop me from loving Ghana.