riding a rickshaw

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Riding a Rickshaw By Remi Kahn “What are we going to do?” Naomi, the younger sister asked sitting down at the Honda store’s platform, looking very bored. “Keep playing around on the platform, and we will figure out a way,” Liz, Alyssa and Naomi’s mom says, her hair sparkling and wet from the rain. Instead of playing we sat and waited, because there was nothing left to do. During the ten minutes we were here, we played tag, hide and seek and even tried to carry each other, but after a while we all got bored, so we sat, staring at every car that came driving down the slippery, slidey road. After about three minutes of silence, Alyssa spoke her voice sounded worried. “Do we have to spend the night here?” she asked our moms. The mom’s didn’t answer because they were still looking for a cab. I was starting to get cold. The thin sweater I was wearing, wasn’t going to keep me warm for long. But of course there was nothing we could do but miserably sit down or play around. And we are all too tired for that! All of a sudden a small chime rang. It was the sound of a rickshaw! “Stop!” we all yell. “KRRRREEEEEEEEEEEIIIKKKKK!” The rickshaw shrieks to a stop. “Finally!” we all cry out thankful the rickshaw has come. The five of us crammed to sit in a tiny seat, meant for one person. Our moms squished together on the bottom, me and

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This story is about me and my friends in Beijing, when we got stuck in the storm outside. Read to find out what we do...

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Page 1: Riding a rickshaw

Riding a Rickshaw

By Remi Kahn “What are we going to do?” Naomi, the younger sister asked sitting down at the Honda store’s platform, looking very bored. “Keep playing around on the platform, and we will figure out a way,” Liz, Alyssa and Naomi’s mom says, her hair sparkling and wet from the rain. Instead of playing we sat and waited, because there was nothing left to do. During the ten minutes we were here, we played tag, hide and seek and even tried to carry each other, but after a while we all got bored, so we sat, staring at every car that came driving down the slippery, slidey road.

After about three minutes of silence, Alyssa spoke her voice sounded worried.

“Do we have to spend the night here?” she asked our moms. The mom’s didn’t answer because they were still looking for a cab.

I was starting to get cold. The thin sweater I was wearing, wasn’t going to keep me warm for long. But of course there was nothing we could do but miserably sit down or play around. And we are all too tired for that! All of a sudden a small chime rang. It was the sound of a rickshaw!

“Stop!” we all yell. “KRRRREEEEEEEEEEEIIIKKKKK!” The rickshaw shrieks to a stop. “Finally!” we all cry out thankful the rickshaw has come.

The five of us crammed to sit in a tiny seat, meant for one person. Our moms squished together on the bottom, me and

Page 2: Riding a rickshaw

Alyssa on top of their laps, and Naomi on top of us. There was no cover over the rickshaw so we all got wet, especially Alyssa’s backpack that was hanging over the side. The driver made sharp turns causing us to sway side to side, almost hanging off the edge, then changed from the lane in the very left the lane in the very right, making us pass cars who luckily stop just in time to see us coming, driving in front of them, causing traffic. We swayed side to side bouncing up and down on the road bumps. Minutes passed slowly, and I felt sick by the end. “Whoa! That was scary! We could have died!” I say, jumping off the rickshaw, feeling wobbly from the ride. “Okay, here is your 20 Yuan.” Liz says handing the driver the money. “More!” he says in Chinese. “But you said that 20 Yuan will be enough!” both mom’s argue with the driver. “More!” he says again in a stern look, glaring at all five of us. While the moms and the driver were fighting, of course the kids have to wait! So again we waited, and waited, and waited for about 10 minutes, until finally, the mom’s gave him 30 Yuan and we were able to get back to the apartment. We rode the elevator to 17th floor, standing silently, everyone tired from the trip home. We finally got to the door and rang the door bell. David, Alyssa and Naomi’s dad opened the door. “Come in! It’s nice to see you!” he says while holding the door open for us. Me, Alyssa and Naomi scurried past the mom’s and go into their cozy room. Once we were in our P.J.s we watched the movie, “Despicable Me.” It was so funny we all laughed our heads off! And because it was only 8:00 pm, we decided to open presents. There was hugging and jumping up and down with

Page 3: Riding a rickshaw

delight. (Whenever I see them, we always bring Japanese presents and they always give Chinese presents.) By 9:30 all of us were exhausted, so went to sleep, and slept like a rock. From this, I learned that some cities can’t afford as much, as much of the things that you think everybody has. This experience changed me because I noticed that riding a rickshaw in a thunderstorm is really stressful, but when you look back to it, it’s really funny. This is a picture of when I went to Forbidden City with them. Alyssa is on the very right, me in the middle and Naomi on the left.