So today I was watching a basketball game with my dad, my older brother named Khang, my younger brother named Bien, and a flying cat with laser eyes. My dad told me to write, so here I am. But before I start, I want to point out that when I was logging in, it said “not secure” at the top. I hope someone fixes that. Never mind that though. Let’s start. Let me start with the field trip. We were going to City Hall on Friday, and the whole fourth grade was going. 3 people from each class would be in the council. In my class, it was Anthony as the mayor, Ian as the councilman, Grace and Salina as the councilwomen. There were other people in the other classes that got picked for clerk and stuff like that. Then there would be three issues to talk about. Each class would have an issue to study. For our class, it was if the city should keep chickens or not. Then everyone, including the jobless people, had to write an essay to explain why you’re against or with the issue. The jobless people’s essays would be checked by the teacher. Don’t ask me what I wrote on my essay, because I don’t have it with me right now. Then Thursday rolled around, and the teacher announced the 4 winners that got to read their essay at the field trip. The teacher started reading off of the winners list. “Mario,” she said. Mario stepped up, grabbed his essay, and sat down. Everyone clapped and cheered. If you were wondering, yes that is really his name. Then the teacher got everyone to quiet down and read the next name. “Nam,” she said. I got up, slightly annoyed because I didn’t want to read an essay I made in front of the whole fourth grade. Most people cheered, and some didn’t, because they knew this process would be repeated another two times. I grabbed my essay and sat down. The teacher read the next name. “Noah,” she announced. As expected, everyone cheered as he grabbed his essay. The last person the teacher announced was Courtney, and everyone became tired of cheering and clapping. Then we practiced and blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Blah. So the next day, I had on the reading shirt the teachers asked us to wear at the field trip. They give one to each kid every year. There’s always a cheesy reading phrase on the back that goes along with each year’s theme. Last year, it was a space theme. The shirt said “Reading is out of this world!”. This year, it’s a camping theme. The back of my shirt said “It’s time for s’more reading!”. Yes, all of them have to be cheesy. So yada yada woo woo. Let’s just get to the point. We had to choose a bus partner, and got paired up with a kid named Xander. On the bus ride, we talked, but not much. When we got to the City Hall, the kids got in their places. The first issue was debating if we should have a teen center or not. The council read their essays. The speeches were long, and they really kept you thinking which side to choose. Although their endings were bland. EVERY SINGLE ONE had the same conclusion sentence. Not the exact same, but pretty close. “And this is why I think we should keep a teen center.” “This is why I think we should not have a teen center.” It was killing me. At last, one person said “With no more debate from the council, the issue is open to public. Please state your name and limit your comments to 3 minutes.” So some kids got up with their essays. Of course, the conclusion sentence was killing me. Then the kid spoke again. “The issue is now open to vote. Charity?” Charity said nay. I think. I’m not sure. The kid spoke again. “Luca?” He said “Nay.” This went on until the nays won. “The resolution has failed,” the girl said. So I guess there will be no teen center. The next issue was “Should we wear uniforms to school?”. Again, good speeches mostly, besides the conclusion sentence. The council voted, and no uniforms. Then came the chicken thing. Before you call me an animal hater, let me just say I didn’t really have a choice pick sides with chickens or not. Blah blah, we’ll be keeping chickens, yah yah. Then we got to wander around and eat pizza with water and fruit snacks. After that, we had to get back on the bus and go to the city’s Justice Center. We had a play where a kid named Marko was accused of not doing his homework, and was now at court. His lawyer, another student, did a good job, but in the end, he was guilty. After listening to the witnesses, I pointed out why he was innocent. The other students agreed, but I’m not the lawyer, so I couldn’t do anything if I wanted to. So real police came in and arrested him with real handcuffs, and then threw him into a real holding cell. They let him out later. Then we got to peek inside the holding cell. It smelled really bad. It smelled like a bunch of farts, poop, and pee mixed together. I can’t emphasize enough on how bad it smelled. The was a tiny bench in there, with a tiny toilet mixed with a sink in the corner. We got to leave that holding cell. Then we got on the bus. So that, my friends, was the field trip. See ya.