Speech_Surprise!

           It was a nice, sunny day in San Diego. It was summer vacation, and I was just sitting in front of the computer with nothing to do. But I wasn’t so happy. Well, I couldn’t be happy. I was despondent over the fact that my life in San Diego was coming to an end. Soon, I would have to leave all my friends and my life in the States and go back to Korea.

          Just then, my mom suggested driving together to a park and walking around. It might help me refresh my mind. I agreed, although from the inside I slowly realized that it probably would be my last trip around San Diego. We left anyway. And in about 10 minutes, we were at the Torrey Hills Park. My mom dropped me off there.

           Did you just notice anything weird? She didn’t park; she dropped me off and drove away. I was confused. What’s happening? And it was then that I heard Kelsey, my friend, call out for me some distance away. “Hey Ben, what are you doing here?” Well, I don’t know. Why was she here, anyways? And as I was trying to find answers to all this, my friends jumped out of a bush all of a sudden, shouting “Surprise!”

           Then the party started.

           It turned out that it was a surprise farewell party just for me. Knowing that my favorite TV show was The Amazing Race, my friends had planned a mini Amazing Race. (Wait, does everyone know what The Amazing Race is? It’s like a reality show where eleven teams of two follow clues and go through challenges while traveling all around the world, and compete for the first place.) They had clues posted here and there, all over the park. There were five teams, each consisting of two players and a cameraman. We went through challenges like picking out grape juice from a bunch of different kinds of purple beverages, solving math problems, coloring plastic pieces, and running a mile around the track in the park. I really enjoyed it throughout the whole race, and was delighted to get first place.

           After the race, we threw Frisbees around and put ice cubes down the backs of others. It was so fun! My friends gave me a portfolio of handwritten letters and a lot of unique (and weird in a sense) presents, like paintballs, a bottle of tabasco sauce, and a Barron’s AP Calculus book. We ate dinner there too. It was one of those potpourris, where each person brings some food. So there were all kinds of stuff, including samosas, sushi, fried rice, and even a homemade chocolate cake. Everything was so delicious, but I felt so bad because I couldn’t eat much. I was already full because I had had a late lunch. Had I known that there was going to be a party, I wouldn’t have eaten so much during lunch, but well, I didn’t know about it at all.

           The party still remains as one of the best memories of my life. It was true that I had been really close to my friends for two years, but I didn’t expect such a big party. And looking back on it, it seems that they had planned for months. The party was on July, but I remember Kelsey asking me some weird questions in June, like the kind of cake I like and how far I had learned in math. Now that I know they were part of the preparation, I’m so grateful that they had taken care of such small details. This party changed my despair to delight, and I could bring the memory all the way to Korea.

           I was so fortunate to meet all my friends in San Diego, and I’ll never forget them. Ever.