Instructions: Read the story and start writing a story, describing where, with whom and how you will spend your ideal 48 hours. The Big Win You are lying in your bed. It is not comfortable. It feels hard and lumpy. You cannot sleep. You are too cold. Throw off the blankets. No, pull them back up. You hear the noise of the traffic outside your window. You turn over again and again. The room is very dark. You wish you had someone to talk to. You have a hundred problems running through your head. Suddenly in the middle of this terrible night, the telephone rings. You reach out in the darkness tying to find the telephone. Ooops! You dropped it on the floor. Where is it? Oh, here it is. "Hello?" A man's voice says, "Congratulations!! This is the Big Win Show on T.V. You have just won all-expenses paid holiday anywhere in the world! Starting tomorrow at 8 o'clock in the morning you will be with any person you choose in any country or city you choose. You can stay for two days and do anything you like!" Dear My Princess H.M. Doshisha International Jr/Sr High School, Kyoto, Japan

The best holiday I have ever had in my life is the one I visited my best friend Anna in Germany. It was the spring of 2006; it started all from that terrible night... That day, I couldn't sleep whatsoever. The phone rang very loudly in the middle of the night. "Hello?" I answered the phone. "Excuse me, it's too late... so if you don't mind..." I complained, but it was interrupted by one man's voice. "CONGRATULATIONS!!!" He shouted. "This is the Big Win Show on T.V. You have just won all-expenses paid holiday anywhere in the world!! Starting tomorrow at 8 o'clock in the morning you will be with any person in any country or city you choose." "What??" I was in confusion. This man continued with a loud voice. "So, you better start thinking!! Starting from tomorrow morning 8, Okay??" He made clear all the points and he was about to hang up the phone. "Well, wait a minute. So you mean I can't go alone?" I asked the man. "I'm afraid not...", he said. I explained that I wanted to visit my best friend who lives in Munich. "I really want to see her though..." He was thinking so hard; "Hamm...Ah...E...Well...Okay...that's fine. Go ahead." I thanked him and I hang the phone up. There were many friends whom I missed a lot. One of the girls I missed the most was my best friend, Anna. She was such a nice girl, so I really liked her. Because my family had to move, I haven't met her since then. It was exciting to think about her and the time to meet. So I decided to visit her. As I was too excited I was about to forget to call her up. Even on the phone, my voice was shaking with a joy. "Hello?" "Backes?" A familiar voice answered. "This is Haruka. Do you remember? Good afternoon." "HARUKA...? Oh, of course... OF COURSE I REMEMBER!!!!!!!" She shouted at the phone. "Hello, Princess. How are you?" "I'm fine thank you." She said. "Hey, Anna! I decided to visit you tomorrow." "Tomorrow? Why... and HOW actually..." I started to talk about this strange story. I told her everything that happened. She was quite surprised about it. So I promised Anna to visit her and tell her everything happened in Japan. I couldn't sleep at all. Although I couldn't even remember when I really fell asleep, I could remember the phone and promise I made with Anna. I woke up at quarter past five. I ate a quick breakfast and left the house for Kansai International Airport. It was around nine when my plane took off. I had to go to London Heathrow to go to Munich because there were no direct flights. When I arrived at Munich, it was eight in the morning. I went out from the airport and I went to the Munich airport station. I had to change the train because Anna lived in Vaterstetten where S5 stops. The train for the airport was S8, so I had to change the train at Ostbahnhof. When I arrived at Vaterstetten, I was really happy to be there again. I never thought that I would be visiting this place since I left. It took me about 20 minutes to reach her house from the station. I walked for a long time with heavy luggage. I guess I was really lucky that it neither rained nor snowed. When I rang the bell at her house, Anna came running toward me. I was really happy to meet her again. We hugged. I greeted her parents and her little sister Bianca. When I left Germany Bianca was a small child, but she has grown up to be in elementary school. Her parents divorced when she was a small kid: therefore this "mother" was a woman who lived with Anna's real father. Bianca was not really her sister, she is the daughter of Stefi. (This woman who lives with Anna) Anna had a sister called Juliane. She lives with Anna's real mother. After having some conversation with Anna's family, we decided to go to the town. We took S5 again. This time we took the train from Baldham station. We never stopped chatting on the train. When we arrived at Marienplatz, it was half past eleven. Then we decided to have lunch. We looked for restaurants for a while, but finally decided to go to Ratskeller. It was one of my favorite restaurants in Munich. This restaurant was in Rathaus, the city hall. My favorite German cuisine is "Wiener Schnitzel" (Pork Cutlet). As usual, I ordered "Wiener Schnitzel". It was the first time for me to come to those traditional restaurants with my friend. This lunch could be the best lunch I ever had in my life. After lunch, we walked through Kaufinger strasse (street), with many shops standing on the both sides. I was really happy that these shops haven't changed at all since I left Germany. Anna said to me this was stupid to think that way, but I thought it was wonderful. When we got back to Anna's house, it was about the time for dinner. The dinner was "Spaghetti Carbonala", my favorite food. Anna's father prepared them especially for me. It had a wonderful taste. I tried to speak German with Anna's family, but it was really hard. I forgot most of German I learned in high school. Anna was really disappointed about it. What surprised me the most was Anna's perfect Japanese. She started to learn Japanese before I left Germany. At that time, she just spoke broken Japanese. When I left Germany, my mother and I was talking about her Japanese ability; "Anna will speak perfect Japanese soon." And it was just as we expected. Anna was really proud of it. She said that she was the best student in her Japanese class. I remembered having worried about my own Japanese ability. Nobody could explain what we talked, but we kept chatting until late on that day... On the second day, we woke up quite early. During the breakfast, Anna said, "I am planning to visit my mother today. Do you want to come with me?" "Sure!" I said. After the breakfast we went to Puchheim where her sister lives. Juliane always came to Anna's house and played together. I knew Juliane really well, but I had never known Anna's real mother. I have met her once long time ago, but I couldn't remember her at all. When I arrived at her house, I was really nervous. "Hallo!!" Anna shouted, entering the house. "Hallo dir." Anna's mother and Juliane appeared. "ha... Hallo..." My voice was shaking. I greeted Juliane and their mother. Their mother was a nice person. She found out that I was so nervous. As soon as she found that out, she made me sit down on the chair and made me relaxed. She even tried to speak English. Juliane, however, spoke perfect English. When I lived in Germany, she spoke only a bit of English. Then she spoke perfect English like Anna. While their mother was making special lunch for us, we went to Juliane's room. We played many games like Rummikub, Jenga... I was really happy to talk to Juliane in English. It was really nice to speak with her in English. When Juliane left the room, Anna whispered to me; "We can't say bad things about her anymore, because she understands... now we have to talk Japanese!" I was laughing. When I lived in Germany, I played many games with Anna. I lost all the games we played. This time I tried hard to win but I never succeeded... I lost all of the games. Anna and Juliane were laughing about me. I felt bitter and started to play another game. Of course... I LOST!!! Anna's mother was a good cooker. She made Sushi for us. Anna asked me if I could eat vegetables. I said "Of course!" When I was a high school student, I couldn't eat vegetables and fishes at all. As I grow up and become a college student, I found out I could eat them and it was just prejudice. Juliane was eating only rice and the inside, as she disliked the seaweed. I enjoyed this beautiful sushi with them. After the lunch, I talked with Anna and Juliane's mother. What we talked was about... the life in Japan, the difference between Japanese school and German school, my family... and many things. Her mother baked cookies for us and we chatted for a long time. It was half past four when Anna and I left Juliane and her mother's house. I thanked her and hugged her. In the night, I thought this was really nice trip... I really wished to stay. I was about to cry because I didn't want to go back to Japan. I was trying not to be penetrated, but Anna penetrated easily and she started cry. We were crying silently in our bed, saying nothing. This was the best holidays I ever had in my life. I love my Princess, and I hope she will never forget about me. As soon as I returned to Japan, I wrote a letter to Anna. The first thing I wrote was a big... - DANKE SCHOEN - Child Research Net would like to thank the Doshisha International Junior/Senior High School and Haruka Miyake, student and author, for permitting reproduction of this article on the CRN web site.

Copyright (c) 2002, Child Research Net, All rights reserved.