U of Chicago option 5 says that we can make our own quirky prompt and then respond to it. Is a topic about meals quirky enough when compared to options they give ( destroy a question with your answer and the biggest or smallest phenomenon’s of string)???
I think if i write the one about meals I can reallyy personalize it and it could portray who I am ( and no i don’t like cooking)
so is it quirky enuf or how do u think i should quirk it up??
<p>I guess two years ago there was a meal question (what is ur favourite meal?) so i maybe they would think u copied it from their previous application:(</p>
<p>mm...but it isnt like tht heres my frst drft....tell me what u think:</p>
<p>I remember all of those afternoons when my family , relatives, and people who were my aunts and uncles through just the superficiality of those given names; gathered around our small kitchen table to eat "brunch" on Friday afternoons after the morning prayer. We always kept the kitchen window wide open so that a breeze of air would break the otherwise steamy atmosphere generated by our huge gas stove. Due to that, one was always bound to hear the street's happenings from big to small. From the laud bread vendor on his bike, to the porters wife yelling at her children; these noises quickly became part of our "eating ritual", and through time they no longer seemed to be an intrusion yet more like a friendly recurring visit . </p>
<p>Usually our table was divided into sections, those who preferred to speak English with each other sat in the corner closest to the door, those who preferred Arabic sat on their right and those who favored Spanish sat in the opposite end. I usually picked a different location each week depending on my linguistic craving, while sometimes I simply liked to sit back and listen to their trilingual chatter. Iit pleased me beyond belief, to see myself surrounded by such internationalism in a single kitchen. However when things like "pass the stuffed pigeons please" or "boy, these falafels are more then luscious today" were said it was always in Arabic. Maybe its because our kitchen was in the middle of Cairo, or maybe because we had a strong attachment and strong feelings of loyalty towards our mother tongue; but Arabic was like the common thread which held the other wise, disjunctured table together. </p>
<p>When we moved to a new kitchen across the globe for the first time, we no longer had all of those people eating my mothers cooking. Yet, we were there around , ironically, a bigger kitchen table yet all alone. Four people sitting across from each other every Sunday ( Friday wasn't even given off) afternoon speaking in a single language. Even though every week we practically picked a different language to speak in , we still said those old banalities in our beloved Arabic. I think we did it because it reminded us of home, and I'm sure we missed home oh so much!</p>
<p>In a couple of weeks we invited people over for the first time, and after a few months we had as many local friends as we had family in our old kitchen. But now our kitchen had air-conditioning so we never heard those friendly intrusions from outside. It didn't really matter anyways, as in Lima there were no street vendors or a porters wife; for the bread was always in the supermarket and the porter now became a little intercom on the wall. </p>
<p>Something that stayed the same though was our meals. New people, maybe, but still people that we loved and longed to share a laugh with and receive a smile from. Latinos are very much like Egyptians when it comes to eating; as for them it also is an elaborate affair. We even had the same lingual arrangements, yet here Spanish was more of the common thread among the separate conversations: out of a feeling of love and respect towards our host country of coarse. </p>
<p>Now, in Almaty , we have meals with Kazakhs. Its still an "eating ritual" rather then a "to go please", yet it differs a bit from the one back home. Here, the head of the family has to start of the ceremony by eating a tongue of a cow. Then the mother has to eat the ear. Kazakhs are some of the most hospitable people ever. They make you eat until you can no longer breath to thank them for their kindness. </p>
<p>Even though I moved from Africa to South America to Asia I still eat that one meal with a lot of people whom I love and want to share those special moments with.
Sharing your time with others over food, is like inviting them into your life, culture and origins for that amount of time. Tasting their food shows that you are accepting and respecting their culture. Saying its scrumptious, tells them you appreciate it, and taking seconds shows that you have finally amalgamated into your surroundings. Giving them a taste of your own food is a gesture of invitation into your own homeland. They will surely like it and possibly even savor it; showing you that they respect you in return. </p>
<p>I have had many meals, in many cities around many diverse eating venues; and as a result I have learned to never overlook the true meaning of this quotidian practice. I don't just sit to eat any more, yet I do it to fulfill my hunger of savoring a culture and tasting a tradition while also sharing some of my own. </p>
<p>I respect the different ways of eating a meal, weather it be the one on the floor, the one in McDonalds, or the one around that big cozy table; for a meal is a vivid reflection of the one eating it and if I don't respect that, then I shouldn't even be tasting it to begin with. If I were to have remained in that one kitchen for my whole life I would not be the person who I am today. I'm glad that I didnt, for now I feel that the different meals; ingredients, spices, and toppings are all part of who I am. I'm no longer just an Egyptian girl, yet I'm an Egyptian girl with an international appetite, not just for eating yet for life as a whole. This is because I no longer have just one culture but a stew of different ones with a permanent ingredient that I try to share wherever I go.</p>
<p>Awesome. A few grammatical errors here and there + a bit long, but very well written, congrats.</p>
<p>Ezayek!! Really nice...good luck, what is the Prompt anyway, it should be as nice as the essay!</p>
<p>o thanks ALOT!! i thought id write it first and then maybe the prompt would come later..:D</p>
<p>osmosis where from??</p>
<p>that's quaint. I was gonna write about my taste of food as well...</p>
<p>very nice, though. much better than what I could've done.</p>
<p>Thnx!!!!!!</p>
<p>From Jordan!!! yeah Arabic language!!</p>
<p>"I remember all of those afternoons when my family , relatives, and people who were my aunts and uncles through just the superficiality of those given names;" this sounds rather awkard.</p>
<p>"Due to that, one was always bound to hear the street's happenings from big to small." due to that just doesn't seem to connect the sentences well. Street's happenings sounds awkard. </p>
<p>" right and those who favored Spanish sat in the opposite end. " missing comma before and</p>
<p>"Iit pleased me beyond belief, to see myself surrounded by such internationalism in a single kitchen" This sounds again odd and rather pompous. </p>
<p>"Yet, we were there around , ironically, a bigger kitchen table yet all alone. " This sentence doesn't really make sense. </p>
<p>I think that you should definitely read your own essay outloud (to see if everything sounds right) or have a friend or adult or maybe even an English teacher read over your essay. Watch for grammatical mistakes.</p>
<p>"I respect the different ways of eating a meal, weather it be the one on the floor," </p>
<p>It's whether, not weather. rofl</p>
<p>i would prefer a better hook ^-^..but good essay nonetheless...you should listen to janeeyre though xP</p>
<p>I liked the essay a lot, but I would definently change the word scrumptionus. It makes me think of a tween-age girl</p>
<p>No offense, but I hated all of the books by the Brontes.</p>
<p>ok thanks everyone ill think of what you said when working on my 2nd draft, i know i have to make it a LOT tighter and take out some of the "narrative" type things.
thistlpanger: this isn't really my hook by the way...its a truthful page about who i am (aka option 1)
and...
asiaknight: what brontes...</p>
<p>Thanks asiaknight but that was rather unwarranted =p</p>
<p>Sorry, but I've had just terrible experiences with them. Wuthering Heights gave me nightmares, no joke.</p>