My two lovely sisters

Family is very important for everyone, especially me. During my all life, I have been supported by my parents and sisters. They have encouraged me to follow my dreams and they also give me good advices when I ask for their help. When we talk about family, it's difficult to select someone to describe, because in a parental relationship we don't have preferences. However, this time, I would like to talk about my two sisters whose names are Carina and Margarida. Carina is 31 years old and she is a solicitor. She is very cheerful and sociable. Her presence in a family or friends meeting always makes it lively because she is always telling funny stories in order to create a pleasant environment. Spontaneous and outgoing she never feels shy in any situation. She also is a straightforward and talkative person which makes her a good leader. Furthermore, she is passionate for animals, especially dogs and horses, so her favourite weekend program is being in contact with them and the nature. We usually go together to the park or the beach with our dogs and we have a lot of fun! My other lovely sister Margarida is 34 years old, she is the eldest sister, so she is always looking after me. She has a strong sense of duty, loyalty and values, so she respects her elders and is affectionate and kind to the youngsters. She is a very intelligent and a hardworking person, therefore she is a very successful lawyer. I admire her so much because she always have a kind word and also a good solution to solve her client's problems. Despite being beautiful and charming, she is not pretentious or arrogant, she is, in fact, warm-hearted and friendly. However, she has a strong personality that make her being practical, realistic and self-confident. To summarize, I am very proud of my sisters because they have warm personalities, they care about others, especially those who they love and they are successful in their careers. I believe that nobody else has as a wonderful relationship with their siblings as me, because we love being together and even when we are far from each other, the distance cannot diminish our nearness.

My younger sister - Bach Duong Nguyen

It was an autumn evening in August when the doctor told my father that there was a problem with my mother's body: the seven-months baby inside her womb couldn't get the foods or oxygen from her bloodstream as other babies must get. And my father had to make a decision: save my mother or save the baby. Of course he chose my mother. But magic happened. At this night my sister was born prematurely, she found a way to the life herself. My sister doesn't have a good health, it's easy to understand. She is very thin. Her skin is slightly pale and she often catches cold. In despite of the fact that she doesn't have a good heath, she still has a very strong personality. I think her strength can be explained that she had to fight for herself even when she wasn't born. There's a spiritual power inside her. She believes that there's nothing that she couldn't do and she wouldn't give up on anything for any reason. But on the other hand she is very stubborn. She does only things that she wants to, and never listens to other people's opinion. That's why it's hard for the others to make friend with her. But everything has an exception, so is she. She listens to only one person, she trusts this person without any doubt. This person is me. She makes me feel like I'm her world. If I say something is true, it's true. There's no other way about it. I really don't understand why I have such a big influence on her. I'm so happy that she came into my life, and just because life gave her a change to survive, I thank God!
She is good at singing and she wants to be a singer. Everyone is against her dream, they said she wasn't able to do it. But I believe her, I will support her unconditionally. As long as I still can, whatever she might do, wherever we are, I'm with her.

MY DAD- ANA R

My dad grew up in big family. He was the youngest brother among 7. He was quite naughty when he was a child, for that reason he got expelled from the school in several times and he became a pain in the neck for his parents and his older brothers. However he was always an excellent student. When he got into the university he had become a passionated pupil of chemicals. As he finished his studies he decided to be an university teacher also he got a job in an important company of chemical products so he had to share his time between being a teacher and engineer. I have learnt from him to love what I want to do and even more what I do. Despite his age (his is still young, though) he spends a lot of time and enjoy his free time reading and learning all about chemical processes. Whats more the best present for him is always a book related to chemicals...

My best friend- Juan A

My best friend grew up in a family from a working class background. We met each other when we were 10 but we had never talked again each other because we were in different schools although when we were 16 a coincidence had happened we met each other again in the same school and in the same classroom, since that moment we became the best friends ever. We finish our school together when we were 18 and immediately we applied to chemical engineering in Medellin, our hometown. It was a bad decision for him because he always had wanted to be a doctor but he couldn't apply to that because his score in the graduation exam wasn't enough. That year was terrible for him because he always failed his exams and every activity he made always failed therefore he quit the university and started to study to make other graduation exam to try to improve his score and finally to get into the medical school. He was lucky because he passed the exam and he started the medical studies and now he is a doctor like he always had wanted to be.

My dad

I suppose my dad grew up in a fairly poor household. His mom was from a working-class background, and his dad had been in the merchant marine (from Norway) and had had to work as a janitor to make ends meet for the family. He grew up in a strict Pentecostal environment - that was the religion his father had brought with him into the small Norwegian community in Brooklyn, New York where they lived. I don't think his relationship to his father was always easy. My dad (his name's Stan) did very well in school and wanted to go to university and to become a church minister. His dad, my grandfather Olav, tried to persuade him to just get a trade and go to work like he had done. Eventually, when Stan got his Phd, he emigrated to Canada where he met my mom. He got a job teaching in the university city where I grew up. It's called Waterloo and it's about an hour from Toronto. Now, he's retired and has written three books - some of the content of the books reflects his experiences growing up in New York. Maybe his leaning towards academia is what made me want to become a teacher too?