Why am I enjoy baking?
One of the main reasons, I love baking is because I get to be creative and put my own touch in all the recipes. Also, I feel relaxed when I do it because it helps me get my mind off things. Another thing that I like is to hear people’s feedback because it helps me make my recipes better.
I learned baking from my grandmother when I was little. She used to bake for me all the time. Every time I visit her, she bakes my favorite recipe (pistachio cake) for me. The way I learned how to bake was watching her baking and helping her as much as possible.
One of my favorite recipes is pecan pie because it is easy to make and I love pecans, but I like other pastries like brownies. My grandmother’s favorite recipe is pistachio cake because my whole family loves her cakes and we all love pistachios. Every time my mother travels to Puerto Rico, my grandmother bakes some pistachio cake and she put sit into the freezer to send it to me with my mother because she knows I love pistachio cake.
In the last few years, I’ve been trying new recipes that I learned online. I have learned a lot like how to bake cookies. Another important thing that I have learned is how to use different tools and new techniques to make my recipes better.
The thing that I don’t like about baking is when you put a lot of effort and your recipes don’t come out the way you wanted. Also washing the dishes after you do multiple recipes. Another thing that I don’t like is getting negative feedback after you put all that time and effort into the recipes.
One of the things that I like is when you experiment a new recipe and it comes out well on my first try. Also when I see people enjoying what I made, it feels good. The thing that I like the most is when I can share what I have learned with other people. I also enjoy making my own recipes.
I love baking because I feel relaxed and also it makes me remember my grandmother and those moments we shared together making desserts for our family. It was fun and those moments are something that I am going to have forever.
Gizmo
One of my most memorable friends was my dog Gizmo. He was our family dog. Gizmo always made our family happy when he was around. He was a fun and playful dog that was always full of energy. What always cheered me up whenever I came home tired from school or work, was seeing my dog Gizmo.
Gizmo was a shih Tzu. My Shih Tzu was a small little dog with a short nose and big black eyes. I remember petting his long soft fur. His favorite toy was a white plastic bone. We had many costumes and clothes that he loved to wear around the house. His favorite one was a plain blue shirt.
Gizmo was a great pet that brought our family a lot of joy. Unfortunately, the happiness he brought us ended shortly. I remember the moment when we had to give him away when our family moved. The reason why we did it was because the new home wouldn't allow pets. It was hard to give him away because he had been with us since he was 9 months and then he was 2 years and couple of months. Till this day I remember his playful bark and energetic personality. He brought to our family joy and happiness.
We gave Gizmo to our neighbor for a short time while we could find a house where a pet was allowed. Now we have been searching for new apartments to see if we can get Gizmo back. The search has been difficult because not many apartments meet our criteria. Some of them are not in our price range while others do not accept pets. After searching for a few months we had found a couple of them but we haven’t made a decision yet.
Another thing that was hard was talking to Gizmo's new family. After we told them that we wanted gizmo back they were really sad. After we explained our situation and how we felt they understood. After talking to them we realized that they fell in love with him. But after our long conversation they agreed on giving us gizmo back.
Now we are in limbo. We don't know what to do with Gizmo if get him back or leave him with them. They love Gizmo a lot. We know how it feels gave to him away and we don't want them to have that experience, so we may move and get a new dog and if is possible we go and visit Gizmo.
Before going to USA
I had been living in Puerto Rico since I was born then, when I was 1 year old, my mother decided to move in with my father in New York. After a year my mother decided to return to Puerto Rico because the place that my father lived wasn't good. The kitchen was sinking and there were rats everywhere.
I returned to Puerto Rico at 2 years old and since then I never heard from my father. I was raised with my mother, brother, grandparents and my uncle Luis.
My grandparents used to live on a beach where my brother and I were raised. The elementary school we went to was "Carmen Gómez Tejera "it was also on a beach called Tamarindo beach
I remember my brother skipping classes and his teachers calling my mother. The teachers told my mother that Jonathan (my brother) was skipping classes and he was in the beach swimming. He love being at the beach. We were always in the beach having fun with the family.
By that time my mother used to work at Las Cascadas, is a water park. She worked there as a first aid worker. When we left school my mother picked us up and took us with her to work. That was awesome because we could enjoy the facilities every time. I remember my mother's coworkers and they were so nice to us. They played with us in the pool. When the water park was open to the public, my brother and I had the advantage that we knew my mother's coworker, so we wouldn't have to wait in line.
My grandparents bought land to build a house. While they financed the house my grandmother used the ground for sows peas, corn, tomatoes, peppers, sweet potato and pineapple. We used to stay with them every weekend to plant in the ground. We used to go on weekends because my grandmother was an elementary school teacher and my brother and I were in school. I remember those times when we were going to grow, I got homesick because apart of what we were doing for fun we also do it to shared time together as a family. My grandfather taught my brother to make ditches and my grandmother taught me how to put the seed in the ditches and know what kind of land use for a good harvest.
Why I came to the United States
The main reason I came to the United States was because my mother wanted to give us a better life. She thought that if we continued to live in Puerto Rico we wouldn't be successful. Also I think she made that decision because the unemployment rate and the crimes in P.R were raising.
The things I didn't like about moving was mainly the stress, especially for me because I was 16 and didn't understand a lot of things at the time. Also it was really hard leaving my grandparents, uncle and my cousins over there. Another thing that was really difficult was the language barrier because it made everything harder. Going to the store and doing groceries was hard because we didn't know how to ask for things.
The things I liked was the new culture and the new places I was visiting. When I went to New York for the first time I was impressed by the buildings. It was so exating watching all the people walking around. Also I liked the people dressed in costumes.
I think moving was a very positive decision in my life. I was experienced and learned a lot of new things. Also I have had the opportunity to meet a lot of great people and made a lot of new friends. Until this day I’m learning new things and my English has improved a lot. I graduated from Harding High School and now I'm attending Housatonic Community College. I'm working in a beauty supply and now that I have accomplished all my mother wanted me to do, I understand all the sacrifice she made for me to achieve my goals.
The worst thing that has happened to me
The worst thing that has happened to me was that I was diagnosed with an advanced cardiac dysrhythmia. This happened when I was in the United States less than a year. This affected me in my personal life and at school.
As you know I was diagnosed with dysrhytmia "also known as arrhythmia irregular heartbeat, is any of a group of conditions in which the electrical activity of the heart is irregular or is faster or slower than normal". The heartbeat may be too fast (over 100 beats per minute) or too slow (less than 60 beats per minute). A heart beat that is too fast is called tachycardia and a heart beat that is too slow is called bradycardia. Although some arrhythmia can cause cardiac arrest.
The first day I went to the cardiologist he couldn't find anything, so he gave me something called holter monitor is a battery operated device that measures and tape recorded your heart's activity (ECG) continuously for 24 to 48 hours or longer. Holter monitor testing is also sometimes called ambulatory electrocardiography. That exact day after I left the cardiologist he called my mother and he told her that he received a monitor test and he was concerned about it, so he spoke with the surgeon for an emergency surgery.
When I learned about my condition I couldn't believe that was happening to me. This situation happened while I was in high school and it was so difficult for me because the symptoms were not allowing me to focus in school. The symptoms of the arrhythmia are: fast heart beat, chest pain, shortness of breath, palpitations, weakness and dizziness. I could do almost nothing. I couldn't do sport, exercise, lift things or walk because that would increase my heartbeat.
I remember when I was going to do the surgery my mother, brother and my sister (who drove from New York to Connecticut) were there to support me. When I was in the waiting room they did me some blood test sand other tests, then they walked me into the surgery room and I remember it was cold, there were a lot of monitors, many tools, full of nurses and many wires around my body; I was so scared.
What scared me the most was that I didn't know what to expect on the first surgery because I had never gone through something similar before. After 9 hours of surgery and several hours under observation they discharged me . It was an ambulatory surgery.
After a year there was a second emergency surgery. I received a phone call from my doctor. I had to go through anther surgery and by that time mother was in Puerto Rico taking care of my grandfather. She didn't know I was in the hospital. I called her and I told her about it when I was in the hospital. She wanted to come but I told her to not because my grandfather needed her too. That was more risky than the other one. When I woke up from anesthesia I was dizzy, disoriented and hungry. They keept me two days hospitalized for observation.
After a year the third surgery. It was risky too but I was confident that it would cure my condition. At the end it didn't cure it but it made the symptoms more manageable.
The name of the surgery I got is radio frequency ablation, is a medical procedure in which part of the electrical conduction system of the heart, tumor or other dysfunctional tissue is ablated using the heat generated from high frequency alternating current. Radio frequency ablation is generally conducted in the outpatient setting, using either local anesthetics or conscious sedation anesthesia
Until today this procedure has not benefited me a lot but the symptoms are not as strong as before. The cost of each surgery was 100,000 dollar, plus I had to pay the surgeon 2,000 dollar. I have done three surgeries so far and I hope to no go through another one.
