GROSSMONT COLLEGE — I had some funny stories with animals when I was a kid growing up in Kurdistan.

The first pet I had was a cat named Catnip. He liked dancing and catching snakes or mice. When he saw me, he started to do special movement and attack me for fun, but I lost him when a snake bit him.

Second, I had a goat. I trained him daily to fight and butt. When he saw me, he would stand on his feet and start dancing and wanted to fight. Also, he liked very much to watch TV. When the cartoons began, he would sit with us silently until we stood up; then, we played a hiding game. We hid ourselves and the goat would search for us inside the house, but my mom disliked him because he ruined her house and jump over the furniture. Suddenly, a one day we came home from school and did not find him because my father sold him to a butcher.

Third, I had a rooster that I trained and fed him so well that he weighed about more than 15kg ,and he became a guard for our house. No dog, cat, or any animal dared to enter our garden. He killed more than five chickens because of his heavy weight. In addition, my rooster start to attack our guests; especially women.That was embarrassing for my parents. Many of our guests (women) were injured or their clothes were torn because of him. One day, when we returned back from the school, we found that our friend had been cooked for lunch. However, only my parents ate that rooster for a week because nobody else wanted to taste him.

Finally, I did not like snakes and scorpions, but I had interesting stories about them. For example, I always slept near an open window to breathe some fresh air. One morning I opened my eyes,and I saw a 2-foot snake staring at me. It was about one foot from my face. I thought that maybe I was still dreaming but I opened my eyes again and found it was real. I stepped from the bed slowly then closed the window quickly. When I saw half of its body was outside, I knew he was trapped. Then, I killed him.

I like nature and animals, and have always tried to connect with them. I had interesting stories with my pets when I was young. I will remember those memories for my entire life.

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Al Naqshaband is a student in English-as-a-second-language (ESL) 103