24
The Lake I Visited In Spain
As the car took the last turn to our destination, I was breath-taken by the view
that I saw. I was so happy that I was spending my summer vacation next to such a
beautiful place. I had flown all the way from New York to Spain to spend the summer
with my grandparents.
As I stepped out of the car I was able to see all the sides of a beautiful lake.
There was something different and colorful on each side. First there was the beach. It
was situated on one of the small sides of the lake. Giving to the beach were a few
summer-houses that get rented every year. We were staying in one of them. Across the
lake I was able to see many trees. They seemed to be acting like guards for a beautiful
house. On one of the long sides there were tons of tall, green weeds that swayed like
long hair every time a breeze blew, and a BBQ area. It was full of people enjoying their
BBQ. On the last side there was a boat rental area where you could rent row boats and
pedal boats. When I saw all the boats, I was really excited to try them. Then, next to it
was a narrow area of grass and trees. It was a like fence between the lake and the
street which could slightly be seen behind it. Very few cars could be heard driving on it.
The sand felt soft and warm between my toes. It was clean and white. As I
moved down the beach I stepped into the clear water. It was so clear that it was like an
open window to the underwater life. I could easily see the stones in the shallow area of
the lake. I was also able to see the little tiny gray fish swimming back and forth. There
were also big fish but they were in the deep part of the lake. Every few minutes, one big
fish would swim to the shallow. The big ones where about the size of a hand. The little
ones were smaller than the size of a pinky. As I stood in the shallow water for a few
minutes, I began to feel the little fish nibble my toes and tickle my feet. I enjoyed the
feeling. Many people were swimming in the lake and as I stood there, a few people went
out of the water to go tan on their spread-out towels. A few minutes later, they ran back
into the water. It seemed like they were so hot and I was hot standing there.
When we had arrived, the beach had been noisy. I had wondered if it would be
like this the whole time. But as it approached noon, almost everyone left. It seemed so
quiet. In half of the beach, the children that stayed were playing in the water and
laughing. It felt good to see them enjoying themselves so much. The only problem was
that they all spoke only in Spanish and I didn’t understand anything. There was also a
lot of noise coming from the BBQ area. It looked like two parties were taking place and
all the people were laughing at jokes and talking in loud voices. The other half of the
beach was almost quiet. There, only the people that were staying in the summer house
were on the beach and they were speaking in low voices. Some background noise that
you could hear on the quiet side were the birds and the movement of the boats.
As I stood there, I thought about how it would feel to wake up every morning
and enjoy such a sight. And now, as I recall my wonderful vacation, I close my eyes,
and I can see all the details of this breath-taking view that is stored in my mind forever.
Mouchka, the vivid sensory details and creative figures of
speech that you included in this essay made it a real pleasure
to read. You must be a very observant person, and it was
delightful for me to imagine the warm sand between my toes,
too. I had a little trouble placing all of the elements that you
described, though, because although you described each very
well, you did not use spatial order to tell me where they were in
relation to each other, or to where you were standing. (Please
see my comments about this, above.) Regardless, the strength
of your writing has earned you a good grade.
If you would like to send me a photo of your special place, I
would like to post another set of essays and photos to see if
students can match each essay to its accompanying image.
This is, of course, optional, but I think it would be fun!
Mrs. Boynton
Mouchka Amram
10/27/2010