Power of Communication

Power of Communication 

     

     One of the things I love to do is traveling. I developed my taste for traveling when my family, including me, stayed in Virginia, US for about a year and a half. During that one year and a half, we traveled a lot; we flew west to stand in awe of the Grand Canyon, to be absorbed by the vivacious ambience of Las Vegas, and to enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of western cities; we flew North to gape at the sight of Niagara Falls; we drove several days south to drop by Florida to visit Disney World and drove some days more to Key West, where all of us were entranced by the beautiful color of the sea. 

     There are a lot more to talk about, but I will stop here to recall one special trip:Cancun. The trip is special to me not only because I had such a fabulous time, probably the best of all trips, but also because it gave me a lesson about the power of communication. We took a package tour to Cancun, a city in southeastern Mexico that has maintained its fame as a world-renowned tourist destination for its beautiful ocean, neat city layout, and archaeological sites. But for me, Cancun is all about hotels. The hotel my family stayed in for a week was fantastic; the blue ocean stretched from my feet the moment I exited the hotel and numerous amenities like restaurants and pools invited me to a paradise on earth.

     In this trip to paradise, my family came across a remarkable incident. After our package team entered the hotel, the tour guide gave us the keys for our rooms. The rooms were expensive as the hotel was luxurious, so rather than staying in a large family-size room, we decided to use separate rooms two by two. 

     My father and I received the key to our room and took the elevator. But when we opened the door, we were taken aback by what the room held for us. Instead of neatly organized beds, there was a luggage sprawled open on the floor with clothes everywhere. But we noticed that a few seconds later because a woman, apparently shocked, was staring at us. Although I can't recall her appearance well, she seemed to be an American women in her thirties.At that time, I was just a little third-grader and wasn't fluent in English. My dad wasn't so different. I don't know how we did it, but we overcame our shock and managed to communicate. It turned out that she was in her room rightfully - she wasn't a burglar or anything like that - and we had been wrongly assigned to the room by the counter woman. 

     Mom and my sister had been assigned to the right room, thankfully, and we met in the lobby to complain to the counter. At the time, my sister, who was attending middle school then, was quite fluent in speaking English. She was clearly the best speaker in the family, so she took the job of complaining.I was stunned by how confidently she went up to the counter and started speaking. After some exchange of words, she raised her voice; she seemed a bit angry. The women at the counter checked the screen, made a phone call, and said something to my sister.She gave my sister a key, and my sister walked to us with a mark of triumph on her face. She proudly said, "We are staying in the suite room." 

     The rest of us were immediately overwhelmed by surprise and delight at the abrupt news of fortune. It turned out that the woman at the counter had made an apology and assigned another room of the same price, but my sister had complained and demanded compensation, so after noticing that the suite room was empty, the counter woman had given us the room. 

     The hotel comprised thousands of rooms with different sizes and amenities, but there were only two suite rooms. When we entered the room, I found myself in a room that I had never imagined I would ever stay in. Everything in the room is worth talking about, starting from the lights to the room service, but the best part was the balcony that held an unforgettable view of the ocean and a whole spa for our own. That day, we stuffed our luggage in the room my sister and mother had been assigned originally, and spent the evening in the spa, relishing the endless ocean and the starlit night sky. 

     In my bed, I thought about how we wouldn't have stayed in the suite room if my sister hadn't spoken with confidence and fluency. I made a small wish that I, like my sister, would also be able to speak with such confidence and not be afraid to communicate in any situation.