Sandy's Everyday Life is The Same

Sandy woke up from the loud, obnoxious beeping of the alarm clock. Slamming her button on the snooze, Sandy went back to sleep. She was suddenly shaken by her brother. 

“Wake up, doofus”, her brother shouted. He climbed on her bed and pulled off the covers. Jumping around, her brother shouted in her ear and left. Sandy was left on the bed shivering from the cold. She decided to get out of bed. She sluggishly walked to the bathroom and pulled out her toothbrush. Sandy squeezed way too much toothpaste. A feeling of fire and coolness erupted in her mouth as she quickly spat out the toothpaste. Sandy rinsed her mouth and dragged her feet over to the mirror. 

God, I look awful today, she thought. She grabbed a comb, camping down the wild curls in her hair. Sandy checked herself out in the mirror, unimpressed by her dotted forehead filled with pimples. She tied her hair up to get it out of her face. Sandy walked downstairs to find her family already bustling. Her mom was cooking breakfast for the family. An aroma of green scallion pancakes filled the air. Sadly, there was no time to eat. Chinese class started in 10 minutes. Setting her laptop down, Sandy grabbed a plate of pancakes as the teacher called roll. “Present,” Sandy announced with food in her mouth.

Chinese class started as usual. Sandy still had no idea was she was learning in the class, praying not to be called. “Sandy”, the teacher called,

“Can you answer the question?”

“Um… I don’t know to say it”

“We have been learning these words for the past week”

“I don’t know how to read the words”

“Listen carefully because I won’t say it twice. You have to say …..”

Sandy could not understand the teacher as she sighed and leaned back in her chair. Her teacher announced an upcoming assignment. Sandy was nervous, how could she ever do better than the kids who had lived in China before. She looked at the assignment. 

What day is it? she thought. Looking at the calendar and sighed. Every day was the same. She had completely lost track of the date. She looked up the date online. ‘March 6th’, it read. 

MARCH? I thought it was only the beginning of the year!

Sandy continued the assignment. Sandy was no longer gloomy, she was delighted. March meant only 3 more months of school.

Sandy took a Spanish class. Another hard class and she did not know what was going on. I need the credit, she reminded herself. Spanish had many assignments, but Sandy luckily had her best friend, Google Translate, with her. Spanish seemed to go on forever, she could not wait until lunch. Delicious foods would fill her stomach. 

I want Pho, Sandy thought.

Lunch finally came, but it was only 10:30. Nevertheless, food was still food. Sandy grabbed a bowl of instant Pho. Opening the package, she dumped all the pre-made packages into one bowl. Sandy boiled water and poured it into the bowl. The smell of Pho filled the house. 

“Are you making Pho”, her family asked. Pho was a classic treat that everyone in her family enjoyed. Sandy ate the Pho quickly. Hot soup filled her grumbling stomach. 

This tastes so good, but instant noodles are bad for you, she thought as she slurped the noodles down. 

The 30-minute timer went off. Sandy went to class, sighing. She often wondered why lunch break wasn’t longer. The pleasure of eating food was gone in an instant. The next class was English class. Sandy’s class was learning grammar. Grammar was not hard, but the quizzes the teacher gave always seemed to give her a bad grade. 

I can’t let my grade go down.

Sandy thought her teacher was too nice. Sandy always finished her homework on time, staying up late at night to get to the deadline. But, the teacher was too nice allowing lazy children to turn the assignment in late with no penalty. This is why Sandy both loved and hated English. 

Sandy finished English with a boatload of homework. P.E. was next, her favorite subject. Her camera was always off, so the teacher could not see that she was not exercising. She managed to finish all her homework in P.E. 

I need to exercise, Sandy thought.

After school was over, Sandy jogged around her neighborhood. Panting Sandy attempted to run long-distance but failed. She could only walk. Sandy ended walking 2 miles. Sandy was determined to lose weight.

It was now dinner time. She was careful not to overeat because she did not want to add to the growing flab of fat on her stomach. But, Sandy could not stop herself. Sandy’s mom’s cooking was the best and Sandy loved beef noodles. She gulped the noodles down and even ate seconds. Soon after, she was filled with regret. 

WHY did I eat so much?

Sandy then played table tennis. The sport that she had been playing for 5 whole years. Table tennis was a sport that made other people mock her. 

“That is not a sport”, they said.

Sandy was sad on the inside knowing that she will never be as good as the other table tennis prodigies. She felt as if it was a waste of time, but how could she give up on a sport that she loved so much. She tried her best but never seemed to improve. The end of the day came near as Sandy headed toward her room to sleep next to her sister. They talked about the new K-drama her sister was watching and troubles in school. They talked about their friends and complained together. Sandy and her sister did everything together. These conversations with her sister always made Sandy feel happy and not alone. Feeling content and tired, she went to sleep. 

Sandy woke up to the sound of an alarm clock. Her brother came in and pulled off the covers.

Ah… Another day, Sandy thought.