When I was in fifth grade, I was part of a soccer team in Taiwan. In the beginning of the season we lost a lot of games, but one day a good soccer player joined our team. His name is Ken, and he is also now my best friend. Because he was good at soccer, he became the team leader and started to teach us many things and told us where we could improve. Suddenly we started to win, and we went to the finals. The final match was on a hot day. The sun was very bright and even without moving I still got sweaty. Everyone on our team wanted to win, but we felt nervous. We were tied at 0-0, but in the last seconds of the game, suddenly someone passed the ball to Ken, and he kicked it right into the goal. We ran to him and celebrated on the field. That was the winning goal and we became the champions.

As champions, we became the Under-12 national team. This meant that we would represent Taiwan in international games. However, one day my dad told me that we were going to move to California. I wanted to play the national team’s games, but my dad said, “You can’t play the games, because the games are after we move to California.” I felt very disappointed about this because my teammates and I tried our best to win the games, and I really wanted to play for the national team.

I also felt very depressed about moving, because I couldn’t play with my friends anymore and couldn’t play the international games with them. Oscar, Ken, Eric, and Andy were my best friends since I was in kindergarten, and we were teammates who had many memories together. My friends and I always went hiking, to restaurants, and their houses. Everywhere we went I always enjoyed it and we always had fun. I thought that they would just say, “Bye!” to me, because they felt upset that I couldn’t play with them.

I couldn’t believe it when my dad told me that we were moving to California and I had to tell my friends. They told me that it was okay, because we would see each other again. They felt very sad, because we had made many different kinds of memories in the past years and we couldn’t play the international games. As a final fun memory, they prepared a surprise trip for me to Kaohsiung, a city in Taiwan. We were there for two days, and went hiking and had a sleepover in the hotel. When we were hiking the air was very fresh, and I could hear birds singing from the tall green trees. We talked, we laughed, and I felt very happy that they are my friends.

The week before I went to California, my friends and I spent all our time together. We played soccer and badminton and they went to my house to play, and even stayed in my house for two days. On the day I flew to California, my friends and I had lunch together and said our goodbyes. Now that I moved, my friends still chat with me everyday. I made the soccer tryouts, and I became a member of a soccer team. We lost all but one of the games, but I still feel very happy when I am playing soccer and I made many new friends.