How to write a process paragraph

          Almost everything that we do in life is part of a process.  Think about it. Very few things that we do are just one-and-done actions. Life itself is a process, a developmental process. We are born, we depend on our parents, we learn language, we go to school, we grow up, maybe we get married and have children, we grow old, and then, well, we die. So there are passages in life. That is a process. Explaining how to do something is also a process. This is called a how-to process. A how-to process paragraph is when we write about the steps to do something. For example, how to wash a car, how to play soccer, or how to fix a flat tire. To write a paragraph on any of these topics, we need to first describe any tools or materials that will be needed, and then describe the steps, in order, to complete the process correctly, being sure to use words like first, second, then, after that, and finally, to signal to the reader the order of the steps and help him/her better understand the flow of the process. Being able to write about and describe a process in a clear way is an important skill that is used in training manuals, set-up instructions for computers, and so on. In conclusion, writing about a process can be as easy as one-two-three. And when you are assembling a bicycle or other toy from parts in a box on Christmas morning, you will appreciate that the company has taken the time and effort to have someone write clear instructions about assembling that special gift.

Give me a comment about my process paragraph and tell me what you are going to write your Process Essay about, and why.  Think of something that you know how to do or make well.

     

Adventures in Mexico: Part 3

          A couple more days on the road after leaving the motel and rat behind, Mark and I finally reached Mexico City, the capital of Mexico, and continued our adventure.  It is one of the largest cities in the world, with more than 20 million inhabitants. There were skyscrapers everywhere. We had no idea it would be so big. If you have ever been to New York City, Mexico City is larger and a lot more difficult to drive in because everyone drives so fast and no one obeys the traffic rules and signs, not even the cops. Mexico City was an exciting end to our adventures in Mexico.
         To avoid driving in this crazy traffic, we parked my car to visit different parts of the city using the subway (Metro), which is very modern, clean, cheap, and has lines that go everywhere in the city. When we got down in the Metro, we were looking around, and we had no idea how to get a ticket or where to go.  I'm sure we looked very confused and frustrated.
         After a few minutes, a short, old man with white hair walked up to us and in perfect English said, "Are you boys lost?"  We couldn't believe it. We told him that, yes, we were very lost.  He offered to show us around the city on the Metro. We followed him. We were a little scared because we didn't know him and thought he might be taking advantage of us. We traveled with him on  different lines of the Metro to different interesting places like Chapultepec Park, the Zoo, the Museum of Anthropology, and the National University of Mexico as he explained everything like a tour guide. We were getting hungry and found out that people in Mexico usually eat lunch around 2pm. He took us to a cafe he liked and ordered for us. The food was delicious. When we finished, he asked for the check, and told the waiter "Traeme la cuenta y un policia" which means "Bring me the check and a policeman." It was a joke. The waiter laughed and brought him the check. This kind man (I can't even remember his name) paid the bill and asked us if we had a hotel to stay in. We didn't. He said, "You can have dinner and stay at my home tonight if you'd like. I live on the outskirts of the City."
          Mark and I looked at each other. Could we trust this stranger?  Why was he being so nice to us?  We decided to accept his invitation. After all, we didn't have hotel reservations yet. He drove us in his old Volkswagen (at that time, almost everyone in Mexico drove Volkswagens) to his small home, in a poor area outside the city. We met his wife and six children and tried to use our best Spanish to talk with them, but the man had to interpret for us most of the time.
          We found out that he had lived in the US for many years when he was a young man, so that's why he spoke such good English. His oldest son was a motorcycle policemen and was living there with his family,  too. He showed us his motorcycle. We had a delicious dinner, spent the night, and the next morning the man drove us back to Mexico City and said goodbye. We thanked him for all that he had done for us. We offered to pay him, but he wouldn't take our money.
          To sum up, this was the best part of our Mexican adventure, visiting the capital of Mexico. We never saw this kind man again. I believe he might have been a guardian angel. Whether he was real or a guardian angel, we learned from him how kind and generous Mexican people are. I will never forget the experience.

Adventures in Mexico: Part 2

          After we finished our first delicious lunch in Mexico, Mark and I headed on down the road towards Mexico City, several hundred miles to the south.  We wanted to get there in a couple of days, so we decided to drive until midnight. We didn't know what a surprise was waiting for us.
         At midnight we got to a small town with one motel, so we decided to stop and sleep there. It wasn't a very nice motel, but it was cheap. We were very tired, so we went right to sleep. About three o'clock in the morning, I woke up when I felt something run across my face. Something with soft little feet. I was terrified. I sat straight up in bed, turned on the light, and saw a rat the size of a cat run across the floor and into a hole in the wall. I remember it had a long tail with no hair.
        So I yelled at Mark to wake up, that there was a rat in the room. I explained to him what had happened. We kept on all the lights in the room for the rest of the night and sat up in our beds talking and reading books we had brought. And watching that hole in the wall. We couldn't go back to sleep.
        We were still tired at seven in the morning, but decided to get up and hit the road. We didn't even stop to complain to the motel manager. After our experience at the cafe the day before,  we thought we probably wouldn't be able to explain in Spanish what had happened anyway.
       That was the second funny thing that happened to us on our road trip to Mexico.  It wasn't funny at the time, but it is now!

Talking to strangers

          This morning I had an interesting experience. I was returning some merchandise to the Costco store on Michigan Avenue. As I was walking through the parking lot towards the store with my cart and merchandise, a young woman passed me leaving the store pushing a cart piled with stuff. As she passed by, she looked at me, smiled, and said, "It's a beautiful day, isn't it?" It surprised me a little, because I didn't recognize her. After a pause, I replied, "Yes, it is a beautiful spring day!"  Then I looked at her again, and asked, "I'm sorry, Do I know you?" because she acted like she knew me and she didn't look familiar to me. She said, "No" laughed, smiled and went on her way to her car. This made me start wondering why we don't say "hello" or just make a simple greeting to people we don't know. So I decided to do a quick experiment. After I returned the merchandise and got to Ivy Tech, I decided to say hello to 10 random students while I walked to my first class. These are the results of my experiment; five of them said "hello" back to me and a couple of them smiled and said, "How are you?" Three of them looked at me and didn't say anything. Two said "hello" but didn't look at me. They looked down at the floor. So I started thinking about the years that I lived in Mexico, and that it was common to greet strangers you passed by on the street with some pleasantry or comment about the weather. When I got to class, I told my students, who are from many countries around the world, about my experience and asked them what they thought. They said that in general, most Americans are friendlier to strangers than people are in their countries. One student from an African country insisted that in his country you would never greet a person you didn't know or had not been introduced to. It would be considered bad manners. A student from another African country said that in his country it was common to say "hello" to anyone you passed in the street, whether you knew them or not.  Obviously, this is a lot more complicated than I had originally thought. You can't just say that Americans are this way and everyone else is a different way.  Many times our international students complain that they don't have American friends, even if they have lived in the U.S. for several years. So I challenged them to just say "hello" to 10 American students, as I had,  as they walk around campus, and see what happens. I told them that, who knows, they might start up a conversation with one of these "strangers" and make a friend. Just as it was for me, it might be uncomfortable for them to say "hello" to someone they don't know, but it might be a risk worth taking. What do you think?