RandomStudent

I know I totally procrastinated way too much and my essay's due and I just finished it now. I know it's pretty bad, but I'd like to have my grammar checked, etc.

“POPPP!”
I turned to see Karen drop a huge leaf with a massive hole on the ground. Then, she yanked another leaf off from a tree to pop. “POPPP!”
I immediately attempted to imitate her but I failed. Not only did my leaf not pop, I ended up with a huge red mark on my hand and stinging palms.
She laughed and then gave me a crash tutorial on the “art” of popping leaves. Soon, a group of kids surrounded us, wanting to pop leaves also.
Karen is the only person I have known who really knew how to pop leaves. She thought everything in this world was interesting. Even though her opportunities in life have been limited because she grew up in an orphanage, she still found prospects. I got to know her orphanage pretty well when I boarded there over the summer while teaching at an elementary school nearby. Even though it was a very pleasant place, it was rather uninteresting. Everybody lived a very routine daily schedule and most of the children lacked dreams. In fact, many of the adults there had grown up in the orphanage and had never chosen to leave.
In contrast, the first time I saw Karen, she was running to the orphanage entrance so that she could plant flowers, because she thought that the flowers would make the orphanage prettier. Karen took this activity very seriously, asking one of the other teachers staying there who had gardening experience to teach her how to plant flowers. Yet she also had fun; after she finished planting the flowers, she clowned around with her friends as they posed for pictures in front of the flowers.
Karen is also an incredible basketball player. No one taught her, but she still got on her high school basketball team. We played a lot of games together even though I thought I hated basketball. Yet I ended up having a lot of fun.
Karen’s ability to make so much of her surroundings really influenced me to try to make more of mine. I have so opportunities that I could not see, because I am so stuck in my focused little niche of school and music.
She helped me to really see Taiwan in the time I was there. I always thought that I understood a lot about Taiwan, because my parents had grown up there. Observing it closely though showed me how unique its culture was. Even the way people interacted was different. For example, when I was leaving for Taipei the lady who had cut my hair once when I was really little pulled up on a motorcycle in front of my grandparents’ house in the middle of traffic and asked how I was. I want to see more of the world and explore more cultures; thus, I am going to China this summer.
Returning home, I also have started to see my town with fresh eyes. I realize that previously I had never popped a leaf, planted a flower, or just spent the time to have a long conversation with my neighbors. I have not played a town sport since I started high school. Yet the day after I got back from Taiwan, I took a long walk outside. I looked at the squirrels running, talked to the people walking to their dogs, and looked at people’s gardens. That afternoon I played tennis with my brother on the town courts.
I get better at popping leaves everyday, even though many leaves are incredibly difficult to pop. This does not make one leaf better than another though. All leaves have certain qualities that make it very special; thus, I am trying them all. After all, my favorite might end up being the one that was the most difficult to pop.