La Pastelera
My whole life I had felt like I never had any talents or hobbies. It had made me compare what I was capable of to others. I would see all these talented people and felt like I did not have anything to show off or anything that I was proud of. During this pandemic, we have been in our homes not able to go out as much. We are, but with certain precautions and restrictions. Being home every day seemed repetitive. I got bored so I began trying new things such as working out and playing volleyball. None of those activities stood out to me as much. Until one day I was scrolling through TikTok and began seeing many videos of people baking being recommended to me on social media. I decided I wanted to try it out, so I got up and looked for ingredients to bake, I gathered everything and baked a cake. To my surprise, on my first attempt, the cake was really delicious and I became very engaged.
I wanted to keep on baking. I began baking weekly and my family were the judges. I told my parents to take me to the store and I bought many items to improve my baking skills. There is still much to learn from, but with time and dedication, I will be a great baker that will not need any directions just follow my heart and create a masterpiece. Throughout this journey, I have had a balance of both failure and success. Although I have gotten upset with myself for not always succeeding I have still continued to keep trying, perseverance has been my key to success. I realized that these “fails” are actually lessons to help me improve for the next time I create something. I have gained much patience from this whole experience and I am very excited to keep baking. A week later my older brother Uriel graduated and he did not have a big graduation due to the pandemic and having to social distance, we decided to make food at home and I made a graduation cake with other sweets that included cake pops and cheesecake. This cake was not exactly what I had envisioned because I used techniques that were new to me. It visualized the expression “expectation vs reality”. The flavor was immaculate though which is all that matters. The motto that related to this cake was “it is not about what is on the outside, but what is on the inside that matters.”
Well, I am glad that I coped with this situation in a humorous way instead of getting mad. There were people who gave me feedback about my baking which many do not like to hear when it is negative feedback and that is exactly what I received from my twin brother Daniel. There was a day where my cousin came over and brought a slice of cake she had made. We decided to all try and Daniel said to me, “This cake is better than what you make, you need to learn how to bake like this.”
I did not respond because that was his opinion or it could also have been because he wanted to make me mad by comparing what I baked to what someone else baked. As siblings, we always argue which is why I did not take it too seriously, I just wanted to talk about my biggest hater and that one day I will show him otherwise. I began making more cakes for my family’s birthdays and kept improving. One day my mom was going to have a little get-together with our family in celebration of her birthday. I decided to surprise her with a cake. I gathered all my ingredients to make the cake. I mixed all the ingredients, put the cake in the oven, and waited, when the cake was ready, I had to think of what design I was going to make. I wanted to incorporate a part of her background, and I remembered my mom loves the game Loteria, I decided to cut up some pieces of the game and include them on the cake, and for the surrounding, it was best to use Mexican flag colors to show a part of my moms background. When I finished the cake I finally surprised my mom. I took the cake to her and she was very stunned by the way I designed the cake. She loved it! Hours later when it was time to cut the cake my family tasted-tested and they said it was very delicious.
When everyone left my mom told me about her friends who have a cake business. She then suggested starting a business. She said, “It is a very good business, you can work on your own and you can manage your own work hours, you can be my future pastelera.” Her words stood out to me and I realized that if I keep practicing then in the future that could be possible. Every day I continue practicing this hobby by looking for new recipes, saving inspirational posts to recreate, and purchasing items to help me improve. My next step is to start an Instagram in which I could post my progress and hopefully start selling. Seeing others that are the same age as me and have pursued a baking business inspires me more because I am capable of anything if I set my time and dedication to it. I know I do not have enough years of experience, but each day I learn and just keep improving myself. I will use my time wisely and try my best to enjoy the extra time I have during quarantine and work on the things I am passionate about. I will continue reaching for my goals, I am capable of anything I set my mind to.
Kaitlyn Gracía Lozano
My whole life I had felt like I never had any talents or hobbies. It had made me compare what I was capable of to others. I would see all these talented people and felt like I did not have anything to show off or anything that I was proud of. During this pandemic, we have been in our homes not able to go out as much. We are, but with certain precautions and restrictions. Being home every day seemed repetitive. I got bored so I began trying new things such as working out and playing volleyball. None of those activities stood out to me as much. Until one day I was scrolling through TikTok and began seeing many videos of people baking being recommended to me on social media. I decided I wanted to try it out, so I got up and looked for ingredients to bake, I gathered everything and baked a cake. To my surprise, on my first attempt, the cake was really delicious and I became very engaged.
I wanted to keep on baking. I began baking weekly and my family were the judges. I told my parents to take me to the store and I bought many items to improve my baking skills. There is still much to learn from, but with time and dedication, I will be a great baker that will not need any directions just follow my heart and create a masterpiece. Throughout this journey, I have had a balance of both failure and success. Although I have gotten upset with myself for not always succeeding I have still continued to keep trying, perseverance has been my key to success. I realized that these “fails” are actually lessons to help me improve for the next time I create something. I have gained much patience from this whole experience and I am very excited to keep baking. A week later my older brother Uriel graduated and he did not have a big graduation due to the pandemic and having to social distance, we decided to make food at home and I made a graduation cake with other sweets that included cake pops and cheesecake. This cake was not exactly what I had envisioned because I used techniques that were new to me. It visualized the expression “expectation vs reality”. The flavor was immaculate though which is all that matters. The motto that related to this cake was “it is not about what is on the outside, but what is on the inside that matters.”
Well, I am glad that I coped with this situation in a humorous way instead of getting mad. There were people who gave me feedback about my baking which many do not like to hear when it is negative feedback and that is exactly what I received from my twin brother Daniel. There was a day where my cousin came over and brought a slice of cake she had made. We decided to all try and Daniel said to me, “This cake is better than what you make, you need to learn how to bake like this.”
I did not respond because that was his opinion or it could also have been because he wanted to make me mad by comparing what I baked to what someone else baked. As siblings, we always argue which is why I did not take it too seriously, I just wanted to talk about my biggest hater and that one day I will show him otherwise. I began making more cakes for my family’s birthdays and kept improving. One day my mom was going to have a little get-together with our family in celebration of her birthday. I decided to surprise her with a cake. I gathered all my ingredients to make the cake. I mixed all the ingredients, put the cake in the oven, and waited, when the cake was ready, I had to think of what design I was going to make. I wanted to incorporate a part of her background, and I remembered my mom loves the game Loteria, I decided to cut up some pieces of the game and include them on the cake, and for the surrounding, it was best to use Mexican flag colors to show a part of my moms background. When I finished the cake I finally surprised my mom. I took the cake to her and she was very stunned by the way I designed the cake. She loved it! Hours later when it was time to cut the cake my family tasted-tested and they said it was very delicious.
When everyone left my mom told me about her friends who have a cake business. She then suggested starting a business. She said, “It is a very good business, you can work on your own and you can manage your own work hours, you can be my future pastelera.” Her words stood out to me and I realized that if I keep practicing then in the future that could be possible. Every day I continue practicing this hobby by looking for new recipes, saving inspirational posts to recreate, and purchasing items to help me improve. My next step is to start an Instagram in which I could post my progress and hopefully start selling. Seeing others that are the same age as me and have pursued a baking business inspires me more because I am capable of anything if I set my time and dedication to it. I know I do not have enough years of experience, but each day I learn and just keep improving myself. I will use my time wisely and try my best to enjoy the extra time I have during quarantine and work on the things I am passionate about. I will continue reaching for my goals, I am capable of anything I set my mind to.
Kaitlyn Gracía Lozano
Korean Teachers Emerge
This is a story on how Covid brought an opportunity for me to become a Korean teacher. Long before Covid, I was a freshman. I took a plane to Korea and studied the Korean language as an international student for one whole year. Ever since then I have loved the Korean culture, its language and wanted to become a teacher. After I came back home to America I realized if I didn’t practice speaking Korean, I would begin to forget it. As I was thinking of ways to practice Korean, I met a Korean teacher, Mr. Moon, who moved to America with his goal of teaching Korean. I greeted him saying, “An-nyeong-ha-se-yo”(hello).
He was surprised to see an American speaking Korean and replied,“Wah! o-deok-eh han-gook-mal ah-ra-yo?”(Wow! How do you know Korean?) Surprisingly enough we connected and I became his assistant in teaching Korean to anyone who wanted to learn in the church community.
We started the first Korean class with about 15 students and held classes once a week on Sunday. As an assistant I helped to advertise our Korean Class by creating a poster, answering questions from students and working 1 on 1 with students. It was a good beginning but as the months went by we noticed a slow decrease in the number of students. It eventually came to the point of having only two students. To make matters worse, a couple months later Covid hit and we could not have public gatherings anymore. At a certain point of no korean classes I thought to myself, ‘well at least we tried.’ But at the same time I wanted to keep going with my own Korean so I and my siblings began reading a Korean book with Mr.Moon once a week. This helped to keep my Korean going during the beginning of Covid.
Most of the students and teachers in the class had little hope that the Korean classes would start up again. It was a Friday, as I went to what I thought was another Korean class with Mr. Moon. To my surprise, when we arrived we met other Korean teachers and talked about starting Korean classes online. Mr. Moon asked,“Would you like to become a Korean teacher?”
“I always wanted to be a teacher. How often would I teach classes?” I replied.
“Once a week and you can choose the day. I already have lots of students interested and registering online,” said Mr. Moon.
With Mr. Moon’s determination to teach Korean we were able to start again on Zoom with our size being quadrupled its past size. I was able to become a teacher of my own class teaching beginners. Now we have four Korean classes in our online school with different levels of Korean. I remember being so happy in this moment to finally reach that teacher role. Now I and my siblings take turns planning lessons and teaching the class. This hobby allows me to speak Korean with others and even though it is voluntary at the moment, it will become a paid part time gig later on. It gives me the opportunity to give back to my community as I received a sponsor to go to Korea. Lastly, committing time on the weekend to teach is required. I love teaching Korean and who knows, you may want to learn Korean one day too.
Josef Buergi
This is a story on how Covid brought an opportunity for me to become a Korean teacher. Long before Covid, I was a freshman. I took a plane to Korea and studied the Korean language as an international student for one whole year. Ever since then I have loved the Korean culture, its language and wanted to become a teacher. After I came back home to America I realized if I didn’t practice speaking Korean, I would begin to forget it. As I was thinking of ways to practice Korean, I met a Korean teacher, Mr. Moon, who moved to America with his goal of teaching Korean. I greeted him saying, “An-nyeong-ha-se-yo”(hello).
He was surprised to see an American speaking Korean and replied,“Wah! o-deok-eh han-gook-mal ah-ra-yo?”(Wow! How do you know Korean?) Surprisingly enough we connected and I became his assistant in teaching Korean to anyone who wanted to learn in the church community.
We started the first Korean class with about 15 students and held classes once a week on Sunday. As an assistant I helped to advertise our Korean Class by creating a poster, answering questions from students and working 1 on 1 with students. It was a good beginning but as the months went by we noticed a slow decrease in the number of students. It eventually came to the point of having only two students. To make matters worse, a couple months later Covid hit and we could not have public gatherings anymore. At a certain point of no korean classes I thought to myself, ‘well at least we tried.’ But at the same time I wanted to keep going with my own Korean so I and my siblings began reading a Korean book with Mr.Moon once a week. This helped to keep my Korean going during the beginning of Covid.
Most of the students and teachers in the class had little hope that the Korean classes would start up again. It was a Friday, as I went to what I thought was another Korean class with Mr. Moon. To my surprise, when we arrived we met other Korean teachers and talked about starting Korean classes online. Mr. Moon asked,“Would you like to become a Korean teacher?”
“I always wanted to be a teacher. How often would I teach classes?” I replied.
“Once a week and you can choose the day. I already have lots of students interested and registering online,” said Mr. Moon.
With Mr. Moon’s determination to teach Korean we were able to start again on Zoom with our size being quadrupled its past size. I was able to become a teacher of my own class teaching beginners. Now we have four Korean classes in our online school with different levels of Korean. I remember being so happy in this moment to finally reach that teacher role. Now I and my siblings take turns planning lessons and teaching the class. This hobby allows me to speak Korean with others and even though it is voluntary at the moment, it will become a paid part time gig later on. It gives me the opportunity to give back to my community as I received a sponsor to go to Korea. Lastly, committing time on the weekend to teach is required. I love teaching Korean and who knows, you may want to learn Korean one day too.
Josef Buergi
Wondering During Class
Entering the class as any other day. With the pain of my backpack on my shoulder, and the tiredness of my eyes. My eyes just wished to go to rest. It seems like they are in a constant battle to stay open during the day. Putting my backpack on the floor while sitting down at my table. While the teacher asked for our attention, making students quiet down, I tried to listen closely to the words coming out of his mouth. I could tell that many did not pay attention to what he was saying. They were busy with other things, like wondering what they were going to eat during break or asking someone for a pencil. It seemed like not everyone cared, and truthfully I did not care as well but I still listened. He was warning us about something big that was coming; an exam. He wanted us to be prepared because it was going to affect us as a whole class. Even after that, no one cared to pay attention. After telling us our instructions for independent work time he let us loose on our own. Everyone went quick into chatter mode. Seeing everyone turn to talk to each other about non-related work was nothing unusual, but it seemed like they were not worried about the exam. I was also too tired to be worrying about an exam. It was a group effort and not everyone was going to put in their time. Why should I? I just lowered my head down into my hands that were crossed on top of the table. The exam is going to be for the whole class. One whole grade for everyone. No one cared about the ones that wanted to pass. Why are we like this? We were warned in advance but we did not listen. And then when we got rewarded with a bad grade we complained? We did not want to take the blame so we passed it on to someone else. It was our fault in the end and we knew it. The chatter in the room became mumbly and stale. I went to sleep until the bell rang. I stood up and while walking to the door I hoped for the best for the exam.
It’s class time again. I just did the same thing I always did. I entered the class and tried to pay attention to the teacher. Rain began to pour outside. I could not see it because the curtain was covering the windows. All I could hear are the drops of water making an impact on the concrete. They sound like little grenades falling from above. There was an anthill outside that I used to play with when I was little. All I could think about is how the ants had to take cover under leaves or underground, but the plants were happy for these grenades of life. The sky is helping one while destroying the other. Did the ants do anything to deserve this? Did we do anything to deserve this? Why did all of this happen? Could have it been prevented? Could have we done anything to stop it? It felt like the weathercast did not warn us from this rain. We did not expect any of this. I guess the ants did not know as well. They do not have a phone to check the weather. What if the queen made it poor outside? What if the gray clouds were an inside job ordered by the queen to make it pour that day? It would have helped her not get eaten alive from its colonies which started to believe electing her was a bad idea. The rain was so bad that if she made the clouds stop she would seem like a hero. Maybe then she would have not been eaten alive. The rain kept falling outside. It started sounding like a melody. This melody took me to sleep. A ring woke me up. The class had finished and the teacher ended the meeting. The rain stopped all of a sudden. If only our rain stopped as well. Then maybe we could have gone outside sooner to see our friends once again. We just had to hide like ants while the rain kept pouring. I close my laptop and go back to sleep.
I miss school. I miss hearing the chatting of faces with smiles. Conversations about the good times they had and the making of plans for the summer. Going for vacations to faraway places or just hanging out with our friends just became dreams that are out of our reach nowadays. I just wanted a taste of that dream once again. Now, look where it took me. I’m not in class today, instead, I’m laying in a bed while lights are flashing on top of me. Alone in a room unable to have anyone by my side. Machines are the only things beside me making beeping noises. I was just tired of being an ant hiding inside all day. I wanted to go outside and face the rain head-on. I did not want it to stop me. But my bravery is what brought my downfall. Thinking about it it was not braveness, but selfishness. Luckily no one else was caught by this river of raindrops with me. If there were more in this room with me I would never forgive myself. The light seems to look brighter. My tired eyes begin to close. It’s time to sleep. Wondering if I would wake up to the message, “The Host has ended the Meeting.”
Enrique González García
Entering the class as any other day. With the pain of my backpack on my shoulder, and the tiredness of my eyes. My eyes just wished to go to rest. It seems like they are in a constant battle to stay open during the day. Putting my backpack on the floor while sitting down at my table. While the teacher asked for our attention, making students quiet down, I tried to listen closely to the words coming out of his mouth. I could tell that many did not pay attention to what he was saying. They were busy with other things, like wondering what they were going to eat during break or asking someone for a pencil. It seemed like not everyone cared, and truthfully I did not care as well but I still listened. He was warning us about something big that was coming; an exam. He wanted us to be prepared because it was going to affect us as a whole class. Even after that, no one cared to pay attention. After telling us our instructions for independent work time he let us loose on our own. Everyone went quick into chatter mode. Seeing everyone turn to talk to each other about non-related work was nothing unusual, but it seemed like they were not worried about the exam. I was also too tired to be worrying about an exam. It was a group effort and not everyone was going to put in their time. Why should I? I just lowered my head down into my hands that were crossed on top of the table. The exam is going to be for the whole class. One whole grade for everyone. No one cared about the ones that wanted to pass. Why are we like this? We were warned in advance but we did not listen. And then when we got rewarded with a bad grade we complained? We did not want to take the blame so we passed it on to someone else. It was our fault in the end and we knew it. The chatter in the room became mumbly and stale. I went to sleep until the bell rang. I stood up and while walking to the door I hoped for the best for the exam.
It’s class time again. I just did the same thing I always did. I entered the class and tried to pay attention to the teacher. Rain began to pour outside. I could not see it because the curtain was covering the windows. All I could hear are the drops of water making an impact on the concrete. They sound like little grenades falling from above. There was an anthill outside that I used to play with when I was little. All I could think about is how the ants had to take cover under leaves or underground, but the plants were happy for these grenades of life. The sky is helping one while destroying the other. Did the ants do anything to deserve this? Did we do anything to deserve this? Why did all of this happen? Could have it been prevented? Could have we done anything to stop it? It felt like the weathercast did not warn us from this rain. We did not expect any of this. I guess the ants did not know as well. They do not have a phone to check the weather. What if the queen made it poor outside? What if the gray clouds were an inside job ordered by the queen to make it pour that day? It would have helped her not get eaten alive from its colonies which started to believe electing her was a bad idea. The rain was so bad that if she made the clouds stop she would seem like a hero. Maybe then she would have not been eaten alive. The rain kept falling outside. It started sounding like a melody. This melody took me to sleep. A ring woke me up. The class had finished and the teacher ended the meeting. The rain stopped all of a sudden. If only our rain stopped as well. Then maybe we could have gone outside sooner to see our friends once again. We just had to hide like ants while the rain kept pouring. I close my laptop and go back to sleep.
I miss school. I miss hearing the chatting of faces with smiles. Conversations about the good times they had and the making of plans for the summer. Going for vacations to faraway places or just hanging out with our friends just became dreams that are out of our reach nowadays. I just wanted a taste of that dream once again. Now, look where it took me. I’m not in class today, instead, I’m laying in a bed while lights are flashing on top of me. Alone in a room unable to have anyone by my side. Machines are the only things beside me making beeping noises. I was just tired of being an ant hiding inside all day. I wanted to go outside and face the rain head-on. I did not want it to stop me. But my bravery is what brought my downfall. Thinking about it it was not braveness, but selfishness. Luckily no one else was caught by this river of raindrops with me. If there were more in this room with me I would never forgive myself. The light seems to look brighter. My tired eyes begin to close. It’s time to sleep. Wondering if I would wake up to the message, “The Host has ended the Meeting.”
Enrique González García