Peng's Family
Naomi Peng
Naomi’s 2012 Activities
December 21st , 2012
I really shouldn’t be writing this right now since the world is about to end anyway. But my Dad still insisted so I thought I had to spend my last couple of hours writing my Christmas letter before the world ends. I have many extra-curricular activies such as sports, music, hanging out with friends, and traveling, besides the normal school work. I am in 8th grade at Lincoln Middle School but I go to Buhholtz High School (BHS) for the 1st period (7:30 – 8:25 AM) to take Algebra 2 with Mr. Frazer. This was a great oppurtunity because in order to attend his class, you had to take a really hard test and score an 80 or higher. I made the cut along with 11 other Lincoln middle school students. I will have more to say about this math class later.
Naomi at Crescent Beach
Violin Winter Recital
I continue to have a great love for gymnastics, spending 4 hours a day in the gym. In the spring I competed level 9. I still play the violin and am on the last piece in book 6, about to be in book 7. Our ACYO Stop Children Cancer Concert just took place at the Phillips Center 2 weeks ago. In the summer, we also went on a 3-day cruise to the Bahamas and CocoCay. And of course, knowing Florida, we went to the beach many times.
The end of 7th grade flew past like a breeze. We went to Epcot for our end of the year trip in May and it was fantastic. After all the academic learning activities, we finally had no chaparones and we could walk around with our friends. But unfortunatley we did have an assignment to complete along with the trip for Geography class but it wasn’t that hard. I aced all my finals and before I knew it, the school year was over.
Naomi and her friends at Epcot
St. Augustine Field Trip
8th grade has also gone by so fast it is unbelievable. We recently had our international day at Lincoln. This is a day where students represent a country that they have some kind of connection to. We also took a field trip to St. Augustine to learn about the history of St. Augustine and why it is so famous today (it is famous for its forts which helped protect the city from other countries who wanted this territory). Native Americans helped build the forts to be extra strong and defend themselves. We had two hours of free time on our own on St. George’s Street and then we went to the Old Florida Museum that was very hands on.
It doesn't seem like I am halfway through 8th grade and on my way to high school. 8th grade is definitely harder and more challenging than the 7th grade, which is good in some cases because I love challenges. But it does take more time to do homework which is bad for me since I get home from gymnastics at 9 pm everyday. I still manage to get everything done though. On top of all that, I am in Mr. Frazer’s Algebra 2 math class at Buchholtz High School. You have to be really good at math in order to be in his class as a middle schooler. There are 13 middle schoolers and 5 high schoolers in his class. In the beginning, there were 24 students in total but he had to cut some people out because they were struggling too much in his class, so now there are 18. The Algebra 2 class is really hard and Mr. Frazer goes very quickly. I struggled a bit at the beginning, but I caught up later on and I am now enjoying it.
I was elected to be the Secretary of the National Junior Honor Society (NJHS). Five NJHS members got voted into office and I was lucky to be one of them. Of course, I had to talk with many people and ask them to vote for me. It worked and I got elected.
Even though I already do gymnastics, I thought it would be fun to join a school club as well so I joined the running club. Many of my friends do running club with me and it is very enjoyable especially running in the cold. I usually only go once a week because I have to go stright from running club to gymnastics and it is just too tiring to have a full day of school, run for one hour, and then go to gymnastics for 4 hours; let alone two times a week.
NJHS Officers
Halloween Lincoln Concert
Speaking of gymnastics, I competed level 9 in the spring and made it to Regionals which took place in Tampa, FL. I didn’t quite make it to Eastern Nationals but I’m hoping to next year. This year, for our out of state meet we went to Las Vegas! I was so happy we went there for a competition and it was so cool to see the city. Sadly, I did not do that well at the actual competition but the experience was great. We went to a lot of casinos on the Strip including the Mirage, the Bellagio, Caeser’s Palace, and Treasure Island. My mom and I, along with my teammates Michaela and Cameron and my coach Nikki, went to watch the the Cirque du Soleil: The Beatles LOVE. When we were walking to the theatre, we saw one of the guys that was the bachelor (Kasey Kahl) in the show The Bachelor. Micheala and Cameron freaked out but Nikki and I had no idea who he was. After we took a picture with him, he asked us why we were in Vegas and we told him for a gymnastics competition. Then somehow, he and my coach wanted me to do an ariel (no handed cartwheel) in the middle of the Mirage. It was crazy. After I did it, he was so amazed and told me he would be rooting for me in the Olympics. I felt pretty lucky afterward that I was able to talk to a movie star and I wasn’t even planning on it. The Cirque du Soleil show was really amazing. All of the songs they performed to were by the Beatles.
Naomi and Mom at the Mirage
Naomi in Las Vegas
Kasey Kahl and Naomi in Las Vegas
Naomi in the Bellagio
Another gymnastics competition was in Savannah, GA. We visited Savanna's beautiful downtown. There, we went to an old, famous church - the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. When we were walking to it, we saw a large group of people dressed in all green, the men were wearing dresses and drinking lots of beer. It was very strange. The River Walk was another place we went in Savannah which is like a shopping street along the Savannah River. During dinner, a HUGE boat passed by our window all the way from Hong Kong. I was pretty unusual to see such a big ship. After dinner we went to an old candy shop where you could see how the candy was made. They also showed you how they carmalized things as well. We bought some candy but I wasn’t allowed to eat it until after my competition the next day.
At Savannah Forsyth Park
Cathedral of St John, the Baptist
Naomi place 1st on the beam
Naomi at a Savannah Candy Shop
I am doing well in violin. I continue to participate in ACYO and we had our Stop Children’s Cancer concert at the Phillips Center at the University of Florida two weeks ago. All the ticket money collected goes to help the children with cancer. We had our group winter recital at the Thomas Center last night (December 20th, 2012). For the solo spring recital in May, I played a piece called Polish Dance. I played it well and didn’t mess up at all and felt pretty good about it.
Winter Violin Group Recital
ACYO Winter Concert
For our trip over the summer we took a three day cruise to the Bahamas by Royal Carribean. There were two stops, Nassau, Bahamas, and CocoCay -- Royal Carribean’s private island. The first day was mainly on the ship. Lucinda and my dad didn’t particularly like this part because they get sea sick very easily. But the one main thing we did was eat. Our waitor for dinner was a really nice guy who was from the Phillipenes. He had lots of cool tricks and one of them was balancing a fork on one toothpick on a moving ship. It was incredible. The food was delicious and my favorite part was the dinner and desserts. After the first night, we arrived to Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas. We took a tour around the city and stopped at a couple of historical places. We saw the rich, middle, and poor parts of the town with an alarming contrast. We also went to Atlantis which is a casino and a hotel that is very popular and fancy. It has a great water park which sadly we did not get to go to but we were able to tour a little of the inside of it. The ceiling was very high and some parts was decorated with a lot of jewels. At the end of the day we went to the beach and the water was so blue and clear. It was just like what a beach would look like in “paradise”. We were able to spend a little time there before we had to go back to the ship.
On the second day, we went to CocoCay, a private island owned by Royal Caribbean. There were a lot of activities to do there such as swim, snorkle, jet ski, beach volleyball and more. We chose to snorkle. We saw so many incredible creatures underwater. To communicate, Lucinda and I would say stuff through our snorkle mouth piece and we could understand each other. It was very muffled but we were able to make out what we said, so this way we didn’t have to keep popping our heads out of the water. In my opinion it was much more effective. We pretty much spent most of the day snorkling or laying in the chair drying off and getting warm. It was in a very relaxing environment and I enjoyed it very much.
Naomi and Lucinda relaxing at CoCoCay
Waitor doing tricks on the cruise
Knowing the stereotype for Florida, we did go to the beach a lot over the summer. We mainly went to Crescent Beach, south of St. Augustine but we went to Sarasota a couple of times too. We always have fun at Crescent Beach. The times we went to Sarasota were for special occasions. We went there over Labor day weekend because my dad had a conference there, where we stayed at a very nice resort with a pool that connected to the beach.
Naomi and Lucinda at Crescent Beach
Naomi and Lucinda Boogie Boarding
Another time we went to Sarasota was for Spring Break. We visited Siesta Key for one day and the next we went to Honeymoon Island. Honeymoon Island was originally called Hog Island but when a person from New York came and built 50 bungalows, the name was then changed to attract tourists from the north. Caladesi Island and Honeymoon Island used to be one huge island but then a humungous hurricane hit and split the island into two. We only went to Honeymoon Island and walked on the beach where there were lots of different unique kinds of seashells. Later that day, I experienced something very different. During lunch, there were a lot of birds flying around us and all of a sudden, one of them swooped down and grabbed my sandwich out of my hand. It was very alarming to me and I immediately jumped out of my seat and ran. The bird kept an eye on me and kept flying around my head. They would not leave me alone. It was horrible and then it happened again! I finally got too annoyed so to make them happy, I threw them the rest of my sandwich so they could leave me alone. We also went on the nature trail and saw lots of animals like tortoises, red hawks, eagles, egrets, osprey, and many more native Floridian species. We were lucky to see an osprey catch a fish and bring it back to her nest to feed its babies.
Swinging on the bench at Honeymoon Island
Watching the sunset on the Sarasota beach
An osprey that caught a fish
Naomi and Lucinda at Sarasota Resort
We just recently had our international day at Lincoln. This is a day where you represent a country that you have some kind of connection to. I represented China because I have chinese heritage and blood. Everyone brings food from that culture and sells it for a certain number of tickets. Each ticket is 50 cents and all the money that we raised goes to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). Each country has a booth with a poster board with information along with delicious food and ocaionally music.
This year I had two birthday parties like last year; one for my school friends, and another for my gym friends. But this year my gymnastics birthday party was a little different. Parents and coaches came for my 13th birthday and Michaela’s congrats/farewell party. Michaela is one of my teammates who is an incredibly talented gymnast that received a full scholarship for gymnastics to North Carolina State University. In honor of this, I decided to combine my party with hers.
My 13th birthday and Michaela’s congrats/farewell party
Celebrating my 13th birthday with my school friends
Overall, I had a very eventful year. In terms of traveling I didn’t think it was as busy as last year but in terms of activities there were more. Gymnastics, violin, running club, math, and NJHS (National Junior Honors Society) have all made my life so much busier I barely have time for anything else. But I still somehow manage to have some fun time with my friends and family.
1st place Around
Happy family at Violin Winter Recital
It is now December 23, 2012, the world has officially not ended so I know I still have more exciting things to come in 2013. I am looking forward to a more eventful 2013! Happy Holidays!
Happy New Year!!
Naomi Peng