Thank you my classmate

I'm in my home country Japan. I miss you all!
This quater was the best of my memory. Thank you everyone(^o^)/








Minori Motohiro

My third quarter

My third quarter finished today, but it was the worst quarter for me for several reasons. The first reason is my elective class was so boring. Also, the teachers this quarter were worse than my first and second quarter except Reza!!!!! However, my classmates were much better than the previous one. Moreover,
My first quarter was the best quarter and my language was improved so much, also, my second quarter was not bad and my language was getting better. I wish next quarter will be the best quarter for me because it will be the last quarter. I want to say thank you for all my teachers and my classmates even thought I didn’t enjoy like the first quarter. Lastly, I wish everybody get a good vacation and I hope we meet again.


By Moath

Yosemite National Park

After spring quarter finished we have decided to have a nice vacation, so three months ago, I went to Yosemite national park which is located near to San Francisco, with my friends. It was really nice trip and I suggest and recommend everybody to go there. We were looking for a place to live in, so we found a very good place which names “Redwoods”. Therefore we rented a Cabin, which has 4 bedrooms, for three days and we visited many places there like waterfalls, which is one of the tallest falls in the world. Also, there are many other kinds like Yosemite Falls, Bridal veil fall, and Vernal Fall. In addition, we saw the longest tree in the world. Moreover, we went to Granite Wonders. It is really nice place. Furthermore, the weather was amazing, it was not cold and little bit rainy, so we really enjoyed there. We saw the bear, which is the most dangerous kind; it was first time for me seeing the bear. It was one of the greatest trips in my life.


by Moath

Last Day

So that's it, we reach the end of the quarter.
I feel that we just started before two weeks, but the truth is we studied for eight weeks, isn't long time?

Usually, I hate these moments, when we know new people and after a while we should say to them goodbye, it really the worst thing.

On the other hand, the best thing for me, that I knew a wonderful friends like you. I really appreciate every moment that I spent it with you.

Most of you going to leave Riverside, to another state or back to home -- wish I could back to home -- So tell me what are you going to do?
For me, I will stay here in Riverside to attend the next quarter, but after that, I really don’t know what I’m going to do.

However, I’m going to miss you all, and please keep in touch, I really wish you all the best.

Take care, and I hope I see you again in the future.

Shouq

Odd couple – The play and Theater in Brazil

Today, 08/26/2010, the drama class had the last presentation of the play “Odd Couple” and I'm here to say that everything was perfect. All actors were amazing and I'm really glad to be part of this group and I would like to say thank you so much for everyone.

Act is not an easy thing to do, we need dedication, we need patience, love and work hard, during the rehearsal and after that. That's my profession and here I would like to talk a little bit about the theater in Brazil.

People say that culture may be in crisis, but theater is very much alive in Brazil these days. In São Paulo, more than 150 plays will be presented at the beginning of September, including some for children.

We have many festivals in my country and the most famous is the Festival de Teatro de Curitiba (Curitiba's Theater Festival) that happens in the capital of Paraná state. The event, is divided into four categories: contemporary theater, children's theater and special events. That's a government festival and any professional company can participate. If you win this festival, beyond have prestige, the group get money to keep working and usually is invited to show they play in other countries.

History

Brazil is a new country, I mean, as we know like now and the the experience in this country is new too. Therefore I will explain briefly about our history.

Theater literally arrived in Brazil with the first ships bringing colonists, and with the new arrivals came those attributes, which depicted the baroque spirit as well as the religious conflicts of the period. Little importance was given to the literary script. The audience was partial to the staging, theatrics, special stage effects and the Faustian overtones.

Allied with the festive rituals and dances of the indigenous population, the first form of theater known by the Brazilians, was that of the Portuguese, which had a pedagogic character based on the Bible. In that era, the person primarily responsible for teaching about theater, as well as the authorship of plays, was Father Anchieta.

The truly national theater only came to establish itself halfway through the XIX century, when the romanticism had its start. Martins Pena was one of those responsible for that, through his costume comedies. Other highlighted names from that time were, the dramatist Artur Azevedo, the actor and theatrical impresario, João Caetano and, in literature, the writer Machado de Assis.

I really love my profession and I'm sure that in your countries you have amazing plays and theater groups. I would love to know about theater in my classmates countries.

My theater company has a blog, if you are interested to visit, please, do it:

http://ciateatrodefebre.blogspot.com/

Roberta.

My hometown

My hometown is Onomichi in Hirosima prefecture, where is south west of Japan. The town faces sea in the south and is surrounded by mountains in the rest of direction.

Onomichi used to be the main port town around there and so flourished. Valuable things were gathered there, but it went out of use now.


The attractive thing in Onomichi is many temples and shrines, about 60. The most famous temple of them is 'Senkoji' that means one thousand of light. The temple is located at the top of Senkoji mountain,so you can see the whole town from the temple, it'Ss very beautiful. Senkoji has large park around it; museum, pool, observatory, and shops. It's the most popular tourist attraction in Onomichi and many people visit there.

However, there are many other spots you should visit. If you travel in Onomichi, I recommend you to go sightseeing by walking. The streets of Onomichi is very narrow and winding , so you'll overlook a lot of wouderful things if you are in the taxi or bus, for example cat ornament hinding at the side of road and tiny shop that is at the end of alley. When you go around the town by your own feet, you surely discover good treasures everywhere. I hope you'll visit my town someday.

written by Minori

Ramadan

Hi my classmates,

A lot of my friends asked me about Ramadan, and what is it? So I decide to clarify everything about it here.

Ramadan is the holy month for Muslims. It is the Ninth month of the Hijri calendar (Lunar calendar). In addition, the lunar calendar is 11-12 days shorter than Gregorian calendar; therefore, Ramadan is 10-11 days earlier every year.

Ramadan is very significant month for all Muslims, because it is the 4th of the 5 pillars of Islam and the Qur’an (the holy book of Islam) was revealed in it.

In this month, we have to do special things, such as repentance, increased prayer, increased charity and fasting. The main thing which specialize this month from other months is fastin, which begins at the break of dawn and ends at sunset. The physical aspect of it is to refrain from food, drink and intimacy during fasting hours (Depending on location and season, it can vary from 12hrs to 17hrs), and the spiritual aspect is to refrain from blameworthy thoughts and acts e.g. foul language, vain talk, hurtful behavior, during all hours.

However, all Muslims should fast in this holy month, and sure there are some exceptions like: children, unhealthy adults (mentally or physically), adults travelling long distances, and women who are menstruating, in post-childbirth care, pregnant or breast-feeding.

The physical objectives or benefits that we gain from fasting are: the person experiences some of the hardships of the poor and hungry, physiological effects include lowering of blood sugar, cholesterol and systolic blood pressure. Also, improves strength, endurance and self-discipline through physical abstentions.

In Ramadan, we usually have two meals. The first meal we called it “Sahoor”, which is before the dawn, and the second meal we called it “Fatoor”, which is the breaking of the fast at Sunset.

In my country, Saudi Arabia, the usual lifestyle is change in this month. For that, the work hours are changed from 8 AM to 10 AM, and decreased. Moreover, people stay awake until the sunrise, so if you go out at 3 AM, you will find everything open, including shops, malls and restaurants, and a lot of people working.

As you may know, Makkah, which considers the capital of Muslims, is located in my country.
A lot of Muslims people from around the world visit it during this month to fast and pray there.

These pictures show the largest mosque in the world, “Almasjed Al-Haram” in Makkah in Ramadan. Do you know how many people are there?? I don’t mean how many people in Makkah, I mean how many people existing in the mosque?? There are 3 million people in this place at the same time, they are from various countries, they are talking different languages, some of them poor, and some of them rich, the only common thing between them, is Islam.
Usually, I spend the last ten days in Makkah, going to the mosque every day, even if I got tired, but I always have a wonderful feeling, I taste the real meaning of happiness there.

After the end of Ramadan, we have a big celebration called “Eid Al-Fitr”, and this celebration mark the end of Ramadan. The night before, all Muslims should give out “Zakat Al-Fitr”; it is a prescribed amount of money obligatory on every Muslim, calculated to feed one poor person in his region for one day. In “Eid Al-Fitr” morning, all people wear beautifully, and go to pray, then all family sit together to eat breakfast, then going out to visit family, friends, neighbors, sick and elderly people. Also, the older people like grandparents, parents, uncles and aunts give us gifts; usually they are money, intersting right? :D

This year, is my first time that I have to spend Ramadan far away from my family, I had a terrible feeling at first day of Ramadan, I couldn’t talk to anyone or eat, and I couldn’t come to school next day. I know I’ll treat this feeling again in “Eid Al-Fitr”, but I hope that we will have joy here, and we will be very grateful if you join us and see how Muslims celebrate in this day, it will be in Sep, 9th or 10th , depending on the moon.

If you have more questions, please feel free to ask, and I hope that I clarified everything.

Shouq

Petition For Food ― by Faye, Phoebe, Roberta and Maya

To Whom It May Concern,

We are some foreign students from UCR Extension Centre. We are writing to you to express some opinions towards food style in Riverside. We found that food in Riverside is normally too oily, salty and sweet. We are not complaining the taste of food but the unhealthy eating style. Moreover, there are few of vegetables dishes in restaurants. Apart from it, the proportion of food size in supermarkets is too large. They seldom sell food in small proportion or small package.

In fact, we believe that there are some disadvantages of these problems. First of all, Heavy taste of food causes body diseases easily. Too much oil, sugar and salt will damage our health. For instance, high blood pressure and diabetes are caused by unhealthy eating habit. Secondly, obesity is one of these negative effects from these problems. Normally, overweight is well-known as a major reason of many diseases.

Thirdly, lack of various proportion of food sold in supermarkets will lead to food waste. Generally, most food is family-size package in supermarkets. However, the valid period of food is limited and it causes an opportunity that we can’t finish cooking the food before the valid period. Then, food waste will happen.

We are writing to you, asking for your help. In our opinion, there are some ways to solve these problems. Firstly, the state government should provide some guidelines about nutrition to restaurants in Riverside to avoid surplus ingestion. If they carry out these guidelines, there is a possibility to solve high obesity problem which is very common in the United States and other diseases problem which comes from this obesity. Secondly, supermarkets should supply some small-size packages of food and restaurants should provide various amount of food to meet the needs of different people. In addition, it is better to add some connection between farms and supermarkets in order to let the supermarkets keep supply raw and fresh food. All in all, to keep the food condition well, should the government make investigation monthly or a few times a month?

Thanks for your help.

Petiton of medical insurance

To whom it may concern.


I'm writing to you about medical insurance. I'm a foreign student of UCR extention. Ithink there is some problems about medical insurance in America. Let me introduce those issues.




First, insurance companies cover only few of medical bills, so people need to pay a lot when they have disease or injury. Therefore, international student like me have to go back to our countries to receive treatment. It's not good for us and our school. For that reason, people join private insurance conpanies. However, insurance premium is so high that poor people and we students can't join these companies .



Second, some private insurance company limit houpitals that people can visit, called a family doctor, so if peole have sick which is different from the field the doctor major in, they can't go another houpital without letter of introduction from their family doctors.



I think insurance conpany should cover more amount of medical bills, and private insurance companies should lower their insurance premium so that every people can join them .Moreover, private insurance companies should apply their insurance to all hospitals in America.



I hope you have time to look at this letter and make this situation better.

Transportation Problem Petition

Dean of UCR Extension

We are a group of students in UCR extension, Riverside, and we have been facing a transportation problem.

As you know, the transportation system in Riverside is very limited, so then only way to move from one place to another is using buses, which are not efficient. The bus routs, the cost and time are inconvenient. However, these affect us in many aspects, such as, being late in morning, carrying our bags every day we have to go to shopping, not being able to visit exciting places and so on.

For that, we are writing to you asking for your help. We suggest that the extension provides the students with its own bus system, which will be small, limited and appropriate for us. The extension will also get benefits from the annual income.

Wrote by:

Hamed AlGhamdi

Shouq Sadah

Problems of Transportation by Moath and Natalie

Dear Editor.

While studying at UCR for around a year, we have found the use of public transportation is not as efficient and safety as we thought. Since we are here, some of us have not seen a public bus at Moreno Valley, which is a place where a lot of students live, for example. Also, even if we want to know the city and its surrenders, it has been difficult to reach them.

Yesterday, we realized that this problem is very common among students at the university, especially for foreign students at UCR Extension Center. Consequently, students who cannot afford buying or renting a car are living limitedly. As an example, if one decides to buy a car, it is important to take into account getting the insurance which is very expensive and needs to be renewed every year. Moreover, the car will need maintenance which cost is high. Also, one has to spend for the gas and parking. So, as we see, it will take almost all of our bugged.

Finally, we want to share some ideas to improve the public transportation situation for students at UCR. First one, a new bus route for students, and second one, open a mail service for students to buy their own necessities. Sincerely, we wish you to support us and solve this problem as soon as possible.

Transportation Petition

To whom it may concern:

we the undersigned are the group of students in UCR extension center and we have been facing a common problem in transportation of all kinds.

Here are some negative effects of this problem :

_First,the routes from school to everywhere are limited.We can't go anywhere we want.For example, if we want to play in "magic mountain"or swim in"Laguna Beach",we can not take buses to get there.Also,getting home after classes will take us about one hour and half if we choose to take bus.


_Second,the interval between each bus coming is quite long. We have to make sure we don't miss the bus ,or we have to wait thirty minutes until the next bus come.


_Third,metro links is limited as well as trains.We can back up this point with a true story.Last Saturday,we want to go to the beach by train.there is only one station here and travelers only have two times to take it.So there is no way for us to get there except driving a car.


_Last but not least, there is no taxi,which will run faster than riding bikes,even buses, in this city.We are confused about it.

So,we are waiting to you, asking for your help.

However, we have some suggestions to solve this Problem which are:
_To expand to routes of the bus,especially cover the whole Riverside
_To change bus time schedules or increase the number of buses
_To increase two more train stations depending on the government's financial help.
_To set up a new taxi industry,making our life more comfortable.


Sincerely.

by Nureddin, Yu, and Hiro

Common questions by Natalie Plaza

Are we part of common people? Who is different from whom? How much do we know from ourselves? I am pretty sure that those are common questions that have many answers. Let me take the last month of our lives as an example of them. What have we done that we consider different from others? Go to Las Vegas or San Francisco? Enjoy Disneyland or Sea World? Those things are very common, I think.

Perhaps, is it not common for the person who is doing the action. For example, I went to Los Angeles two weeks ago,and it was awesome. I almost felt like a movie star; for me, for my life, for my days, going to Las Vegas made me feel uncommon, and exceptional. But now, what does it mean to me, to my life, to my days? Just a memory or images on my mind? It can be like that. There has to be more than that. Consequently, there are ways to make them be more than just a memory.

Related with it, one of the ways is writing them; this is why I like that many of you are sharing little stories from your lives. But, even though, I like to follow our teacher’s recommendation, write a question at the end, so that it would never end; it will always be there. In that way it will become part of your life.

Last Thursday

Last thursday was the last day that June was studying with us.

I knew it in the begining of our course. However, time went quickly and I didn't remember that he would leave us on Wednesday oy Thursday. Actually, in that morning, When I didn't see June in the class, I told to Hiro that June left Riverside. But I saw him in the writing class!! He told me that his flight was on friday. I felt sad at that moment because it is very hard to accept someone whom you see in these three weeks to leave.

However, this story didn't end up here. On Friday, we had a teacher evaluation during our writing class. Faye and I finished it early so we went to computer laboratory to use the internet. Guess who we saw there?

June!

This guy forgot that there are time differences between China and US. He found out this mistake at Thursday's night and came to school on Friday to correct the pick-up service. I hope he will be fine!

Phoebe

A Wonderful trip of Las Vagas

I went to Las Vagas last weekend with my friends. In fact, the aim of this trip is not for gambling, shopping, etc. I went there for watching my favourite opera - The Phantom of the Opera ! It's really fantastic! The design of theater is great and everything is beautiful! The singers sang very well and acted well too! They spent 40 billions for the setting. Everything looks great! I do recommend this opera to all of you! It is a must-see show in your life!

A interesting thing happened when my friends and I go back to LA. We met a BIG traffic jam in the 15 freeway! Normally, it only spends four hours between Las Vagas and LA. However, we needed to spend nearly 10 hours for returning to LA! I also tried walking on the freeway! It was because we sat on the car for a long time and wanted to have some movements! Finally, we arrived in LA at 2:00am! Overall, everything happened in this trip is unforgettable for me!

Phoebe

"ichigo-ichie" wo taisetsuni!!

I explained "kanji" before,So now I'll introduce you "yojijukugo",a four-"kanji" compound word.

"Yojijukugo" is like a proverb.We usually use "yojijukugo" when we face a certain situation and have the feeling of what "yojijukugo" says.

One of the most favorite "yojijukugo" is "ichigo-ichie".
"ichigo" means one's lifetime and "ichie" means meeting only once;Therefore "ichigo-ichie" has the literal meaning of "a once-in-a-lifetime meeting" and the derivative meaning that "The chance of meeting people could be a special gift that might never occur in your later life,so you should treasure it with thanks a gift as one of your gifts of your life'.



Now, I'm in the situation that there will be many "ichigo-ichie".
I think most peole i meet in UCR life will "ichie",but that's the very reason why I treat the encounter with the people so important experience.


Hiro

Good days with you June

First,I'm very happy to spend three weeks with you guys.I will miss you forever.

Yudongxia

Although I'm coming from Shanghai China, but I had been living in Guiyang, a city located in the west of China, for a long time. I love Guiyang, because there are many my best friends, lovely parents, nice relatives and sweet memories.

Guiyang is a city of pleasant climate and graceful natural sceneries, even if some views in Guiyang are not famous in China, they are also worth sightseeing. One of the traveling which has been brought me a nice memory is the trip to Yudongxia(鱼洞峡). Why it called Yudongxia? Because Yu(鱼) means fish, Dong(洞) indicates cave, and Xia(峡) represents canyon or gorge, all in all, Yudongxia means in the river of a gorge there is a cave have the shape like a fish, accurately, the head of the cave like a fish's mouth and the body of the cave like a fish's body.

Yudongxia is a kind of karst topography landscape. The front part of the cave is shaped by natural and the ending part of the cave is created by human beings. Isn't it magic that the natural creates the special beauty and after numerous years people find it and appreciate it? As you are seeing in the video below, the natural part of the cave have many Stalactites, in contrast, the ending of the cave is created by people -- they found the cave and created it's exit, so visitors can easily travel by boat through out the cave. Indeed, I'm not only surprised by the power of the natural, but also astonished by the ability of human beings. How much effort could they have to build the rest of the cave? I rather admire them for their astonishing working!

When my parents, the boatman and I were traveling through the cave by boat, I feel a little bit scary, because I was sitting in the front of the boat, which is the only moving one in the cave, and the boatman said sometimes there were many bats on the top of the cave.

I love this memorable trip in Yudongxia, and it's beauty brought me a wonderful travel experience. Although it's just a small sightseeing and doesn't have many famous Stalactites, I had a sweet trip with my parents, I will memorize it forever^^

PS: There are many famous natural sceneries and special wild vegetables in Guizhou. Which I should tell you is that Guizhou is a province and Guiyang is its capital city, in other words, Guiyang in Guizhou like Los Angeles in California. I have downloaded some pictures of Guizhou's natural sceneries from internet, and made it to the following video. Hope you will like it : ) Furthermore, the wild vegetable in the last 3 photo called Zheergen(折耳根), it is a special local product in Guizhou, I always memorize the flavor of it my mother cooked =D

Faye

The difference between America and Japan

When I first came to America 3 weeks ago, I found there is many difference between America and Japan. I'll introduce two of them.

First, in America, cars run right side of the road, and they can turn right after short stop even if the light is red. However, in Japan cars run left side and they can't turn right or left except the light shows the special sign. Additionally, I was surprised that American road was very wide. The free way has four or five traffic lanes while Japan has two. That's why we have enormous traffic jam!

Second, Ifound American people don't go to grocery shop everyday, but they instead buy many grocery two or three a week. I guess it is so far from their houses to stores that they can't go frequently. Therefore, stores have a large selection of frozen food and instant that can be preseived for a long time.When I went to "walmart" with my host family for the first time, I was sueprised by the big shopping cart and conveyer belt beside cash desk. In japan, we usually have some stores within couple of minutes walk, so many of us go to groccery stores four or five days a week. Additionaly, we like to eat fresh food, so we buy the ingredients of dinner on the day they are used.

written by Minori

www.ted.com

I wanna to recommend you a worth watching website http://www.ted.com/ . The first time when I browsed it I find that it is very different from usual video website.

Firstly, these videos are short within about half hour and various topics covering with almost every subjects related to technology, entertainment, design, business, science and global issues. In addition, these riveting talks present by many remarkable people, such as Stephen Hawking, James Surowiecki, J.J. Abrams, and so on, who kindly spark his(/her) worth ideas to the people all over the world. Most talks are very helpful for enlarging the range of our basic knowledge. Furthermore, subtitles are available in many languages, so it's not hard to understand the contents of a talk and it's a good way to learn English. By the way, when you go to the page with definite talk you are interested in, you can download the talk by click on the button "download" and can choose "Download video to desktop (MP4)" , open interactive transcript on the right to click on any phrase to play the video from that point, and watch the comments discussed by those people who have seen the talk, of couse, you also can sign in to add your astounding comments. Hope you will enjoy it. Have fun~~

The following video I was download from http://www.ted.com/ called Sarah Jones as a One-Woman Global Village

www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/sarah_jones_as_a_one_woman_global_village.html

Faye

WAGASHI

Wagashi, or Japanese confectioneries, are unique sweet cakes made mainly from rice, wheat flour, azuki beans and kanten (agar-agar). There are many kinds of wagashi and they are classified into two main categories: namagashi and higashi.

Manju

A kind of steamed dumpling made from wheat flour, rice flour or buckwheat flour filled with azuki an (a paste made from sugar and azuki beans).

Dango

Small, steamed dumplings made from rice flour or wheat flour kneaded with water. Skewered dango are grilled and coated with soy-based sweet sauce or azuki an.

Yokan
Yokan is made form a mixture of azuki an and sugar, shaped in a long mold, and steamed or cooled to set. It has jelly-like texture and is very sweet.

Monaka
This, crispy double wafer made from rice flour filled with azuki an.

Nerikiri
Nerikiri is made from the mixture of azuki flour, sugar and mijinko (glutinous-rice flour ground after the rice is steamed and dried). They are molded in various shapes and finished beautifully.

Ohagi
Small dumplings made by cooking glutinous and nonglutinous rice together, kneading and molding it into balls, and covered with kurogoma (black sesame seeds) and kinako (soybean flour). Ohagi are offered to the spirits of the ancestors in the spring and autumn equinoctial weeks.

Sakuramochi
Thinly-baked pancake made from wheat flour and shiratamako (glutinous rice flour) filled with azuki an. They are wrapped in a cherry leaf pickled in brine and the leaf can also be eaten. Sakuramochi are dedicated to the dolls displayed at momo no sekku on March 3.

Kashiwamochi
Rice-flour dumplings filled with an, folded into half and wrapped in the leaf of the kashiwa, or oak tree. They are dedicated to the dolls displayed at tango no sekku on May 5.

Kompeito
Kompeito are made by coating poppy seeds or granulated sugar repeatedly with the syrup of melted crystal sugar. They are shapes like horned spheres.

Taiyaki
Taiyaki is a kind of pancke made from wheat flour, eggs and water filled with an. They are molded in the shape of a tai, or sea bream.

Maya

miss u guys.

To tell the truth,this is my second time to miss my friends and my dear family in China.Everybody can hardly imagine how sad I am.

My close friends says I always unwilling to express my sadness in front of anyone.But today I want to post it, and let it reminds me do not miss home again,this is the last time.Actually I really don't like that kind of feelings.

So let me teel you the reasons why I miss them .

Recently, I knew a new friend,he was very lovely,just like my little brother.I once asked him what was his exciting thing these days,he told me "I will go back to my country soon!!I miss them."hehe,I knew he did this on no purpose because he didn't know I'm gonna stay here for one year.At that time ,I started to think about my family.

My computer was broken almost two weeks ago,everyday I had to use my roommate's computer to contect with my mum.Often, I didn't have time to talk with them.I wanna see them ,see their faces.I know everything, I know my mum would miss me,too.Tomorrow is an exciting day for me, because I can get my computer back finally.Nowadays,It's really a big deal for me.

We chinese students use XIAONEI to communicate with each other,the same as facebook here.Yesterday,I loged in my xiaonei to check if someone leave message for me.To my surprise,there were so many people said to me"Yu, I MISS U."or "are u ok?why don't u anwser me..""U are in my dream...."

I found my "pecious" in my university,we treated each other as family.I believe them and love them.I remembered on my birday party,we put our hands togeter shouted,"Friends,forever".You guys ,my favor.

I know the final exam will come. And I will do my best to study .For my parents and for myself.I choose the way,no matter how , I must keep on going.

Finally,I'm so glad to see you,my new foreign friends,in my class, every new day.(I know that there's one week left,most of you will go back home,so gook luck!)

May our friendship forever.

YANG YU

Sanfrancisco travel

San Francisco Travel

Changsoo Seo

I went to San Francisco with my friends who had come to my house from Korea a couple weeks ago. We departed from Los Angeles on Friday at 11pm. That was the way in order to reduce our travel expenses because our finances were limited by our private problems. So, we had to find the cheapest way for us. The way needed, however, one driving victim who will drive all time in travel for others. Because I have been here for long time, I did the driving all the way San Francisco and back.

Anyway, our first destination was Solvang. This place was decorated like old europe.

My digital camera was so bad.... and my hand was vibrating for long driving. Understand plz.

After 6hours later, we arrived at sanfransico. It was on saturday morning. So, there were no car, no people, many parking space and calmful. But, one bad part was frog.... it was so terrible. We couldn't see many big buildings even the golden brige....

After morning tour, we came back hotel at 10:00 am and we slept until 5:00pm.

Then we enjoyed nightsight of Sanfrancisco with delicious food. The cramchouder was great taste. It was kind of cream and seafood soup. I recomend to you when you go to Sanfrancisco, you should eat the cramchouder and seafood fries. Thank you. If you want know other many information about Sanfransisco trevel, contact me.

Shoes off by Natalie Plaza

Have you ever experience walking on the streets with the shoes off? For me, the feeling of freedom is unique. Even though, there are a lot of people who do not like that. In fact, there are women who can even wear flat shoes. They are so custom of wearing high shoes that wearing flat shoes is paint full for them. That happens because the “Achilles” tendon is always contracted with those kind of shoes. But, that is not what I want to talk about.

Returning with the idea of freedom. Once, almost 10 years ago, I could experience walking without shoes on the middle of the street. I did it on my second visit to my uncle’s apartment. The place where he lived for almost three years is named Nyon, near Genève. One day, my uncle took us my cousins and me to Genève and let us Downtown while he was doing some things for his work. We started knowing the place by walk. After an hour more or less, we stopped on one of those clean Downtown typical street where there are no cars on it, just walkers and cyclist; where the windows are decorated with flowers and white curtains and everybody knows each others. Because it was 8.30am, we could appreciate people arriving to their jobs.

A lot of people were on their bikes, I was so nice. Then, I realize of something incredible, most of girls were barefoot by riding their bikes. They got off of them, parked it on the correct place and then walked barefoot to their jobs. But, just before going inside the store on the place their worked and there they finally took their sleepers, sandals or high shoes in. When I saw that, what I wanted to do first was take my shoes off. So, I did it. I started to walk through the street barefoot. I liked it. If I do that in my country… well, I have never done that in my country, there is no chance to do it because is dirty like all the third world country.

Referring to the second paragraph, can you deduce what country I am talking about?

A story of a broken finger

I would like to share a upset story about my broken finger this week. On Monday morning, I went to school by bike as usual. When I rode the bike on the street, I saw something falling down from my bike and I wanted to crab it. Unfortunately, I didn't notice that there was a light stand in front of me. Therefore, I hit the light stand and fell down from my bike.

At that moment, everything seemed to be slow while I was falling down on the street. The feeling of pain came suddenly and I found that some places of my knee was blooding. Besides, one of my fingers on my right hand was hurt. I could do nothing but call my friend to pick me up to school.

Finally, I was sent to UCR health center and saw the doctor. Actually, I had to wait for a long time for registration and X-ray.

Although my finger was broken, I found that my classmates were nice and they told me to take care. I felt warm for that. I would like to say thank you for the caring from all of my classmates, teachers and friends. You are the best on the world!

Phoebe

JUST MY IMAGINATION

Yesterday,my dear friends and I went to the magical wonderland__Disneyland.It's a big theme park, really.we nearly played all of the games in there.
we four are all crazy about the exciting games,so we went straightly to the item called "Roger Rabbit's cartoon spain"which seems like the roller-coaster.Although it's not in the same league with "MAGIC MOUNTAIN",we enjoyed ourselves so much from the beginning.
we surprised by the architechtures of every part of the "world'.We had a lot of fun and everything was so fantastic.We flied over London with PeterPan;we played with Winnie;we met Snow white and Pinocchio.Visiting their houses was a short journey with mysteries.
We caught up with two prades named"Celebrate Day",it's a street party.No matt
ter passionate actors or audiences were dancing and singing with the popu
lar,strong-rythm music,I found the true hapiness on their smilling faces.
There are many Candy-Shops and toy shops for visitors to consume.I bought some cute toys for my chinese friends as their presents.
We felt regret for not being allowed to play "thunder Mountain Railroad"because of the time schedule.However, we got some Fastpass tickets from the young kind passenger.It's for Indian John's Adwanture!!!!!!We appreciated for experiencing that game.We were LUCKY girls.
Before leaving there, we watched the fireworks' proformance.I fell in love with there with no reason.I took pictures as much as I could to keep such a beautiful moment.
We built precious memories together that would lastlong in my life.Compared with Chinese amusement park, everyone, young and old, could find their pure and innocent from childhood;everynoe were immersed in a festival atmosfere, forgetting the "grown-up"world.It's a great feeling beyond description!Soooooo,I love it!!

YANG YU

A little bit of myself by Natalie Plaza C.

As The Rolling Stone song says “Please allow me introduce myself”… I am Natalie Plaza, a sweet girl from Venezuela. Do you know where Venezuela is? Let me explain it to you. Venezuela is a Latin American country from South America, it has Caribbean coast on the north, Brazil on the east and south east and Colombia on the west and south west. Related with weather, it does not have seasons as many other countries have because it is near the Ecuador line. However, it is well-known because of its beautiful and crystalline beaches, its mountains that are part of the Andin Mountain Line, its solitary sand desert and the Amazonia that has the largest waterfall in the world called “El Salto Angel”. Where I live, it is a city named Merida, in the valley of the Andin Mountains.

I have been living in Merida my entire life, my father’s family is from a town near Merida and my mother’s family is from the capital, Caracas. Zenaida, my mother, came to Merida when she was young and during her high school she met my father, Eduardo. I was not planned to born, so when they got me they were a young couple, around 22 and 25 years old. Two years after, my father died from an estranged disease so my grandparents, from my father’s side, took the place of my father. My grandparents’ house is like my own house, I could say that I have two houses and two mothers, when my mother got angry with me I used to escape to my grandparents’ house and did the same if my grandparents got angry with me. The bad thing about it is that when both get angry, instead of having two parents, I have three of them to deal with.

When I was 8 years old, a choir conductor came to my school searching for singers. I took the audition and I got it. That is how I started my music life. Since the beginning until now, all my family have supported me with my music studies. I am grateful with the life that has giving it to me because a have had the chance to visit a lot of new places around the world. To be a musician has opened the doors for living exited experiences.

Now days, I am planning to continue my music studies and become an ethnomusicologist. I wish to contribute with ethnomusicology society in order to preserve traditions from cultures all over the world.

Dragons by Natalie Plaza C.

I really believe that many years ago there were dragons on the earth. I remember when the movie Dragonheart appears on movie theaters. I could not watched in a big screen because they showed it after 9pm and, at that time, 9pm was too late for a fourteen year old girl. So, I had to wait until they came up with the DVD and finally watch it. After that first time, every time that it is on TV I watch it completely.

The movie set takes place in Britain around 10th century and is related with the legend of Arthur. In the movie, the most amazing part is when “Draco” the dragon opens his chest, takes half of his heart and gives it to the prince in order to save him. Another amazing scene is when “Draco” dies because his soul goes high on the sky and becomes part of his ancestors.

In these days, the only animal that resembles dragons is the Komodo Dragon. It is considered as one type of lizard and it is found in some islands of Indonesia. In fact, Komodo is the name of one of the islands where it can be found. They can grow up around two to three meters and weight the same as my brother, which is 70 kilograms. As we have seen on the movies, this type of lizard does not have wings and is not able to spell out fire. Perhaps, they have the strength to attack even people. Even though, I would like to have the chance to see them in real life because they are closer to dragons than any other animal alive.

Hi, 515 Friends!

Sorry I'm late !

I came back to Korea and I was so busy.

I know I should have brought my camera to writing class

but.. you know.. I'm lazy in the morning...

Anyway, I make my facebook so find the name 'Kim Hye Li'

I really miss you! Reza, you also..!

Good Bye Have a nice 'Su10'

name influence

Do you know "kanji"??
"kanji" is a Chinese character used in Japanese writing.
And every "kanji" has a meaning.

We Japanese have "kanji" in his or her name.
For Example I have two "kanji" in my name,Hirotomo.
First is 広,which has meaning of "broad".　
Second is 大,which has meaning of "big".
My grandfather named me like this so that I can be a big
and tolerant person.

I think our name has a great influence on our personality and character
because we humans have a tendency of becoming the person we are told to be by friends and
relatives and because of brain activity like mirror neuron.
So I don't like a recent Japanese tendency of naming their child strange "kanji".


I want to know the meaning of your name.
Hiro


After writing this blog,I heared from my hostfamily mother that most American's name has no meanigs because they named their children after a relative or famous person.
So I am shocked......

Wellcom to Libya

Libya is a north Africa Country , which shares borderies with the medtiterranean sea from north , Egypt and Sudan from east , Chad and Niger from south and Algeria and Tunisia from west with 1,759,540 squar km of area ( 679,358 squar miles ) . Libya has the longest cost on the mediterranean sea about 2000 km . Libya's population about 5,511,450 ( est . July 2009 ) .

The capital city of Libya ( Tripoli ) Bride of the sea

Sports ( Fottbal or Soccer ) :

Alahli is the most popular club in not just in Libya but in all Arabic area . Recently , Alahli spectator win a prize that it is the big spectator in Arabic area according to the questionaer which was made by MBC Tv channel last Mach . If you visit Tripoli on the day when Alahli team plays , you will think that Tripoli is the city of ghosts because people will be either in the stidume or in their homes to watch The most favorite in the world .

Libya nature :

Although the most area in Libya like a desert , you will find a lot of nuture green areas
like The green mountin and Darna falls .

Libyan Sahara :

Libya has the biggest part in Sahara . There are many oasises in it where can get treatment from skin and romatizem illnesses .

Hosterical cities :

There are three famous Roman hosterical cities in Libya ( Lubtus ) about 115 KM east of Tripoli , ( Subrataha ) about 65 km west of Tripoli and ( Shat ) 1,280 km east of Tripoli .

Hotels :

Although Libya is not a tourism country , now you can notice a lot of nice hotels like this hotel which is named " Korinthia " or " The gate of Africa " , it is the biggest five-star hotel innorth Africa .

This is the most popular meal in Libya so it services in weddings . The horse riding one of the amazing thing in Libya and there is a truth that is no one over the world can stand on the horse when it runs except in Libya so that the jokes can do that .

Written by : Nureddin

Culture shock -- The color of a banana

Have you heard someone who called "Banana Person" or "Mango Person"? I have heard this from my friend several months ago.

"Banana Person" is to describe the one whose parents come from China, and gave birth to him or her in the United State. Afterward, the one was raised in the US, and has received many America culture. However, what he or she thinks and interests are totally different from the native Chinese, just being a local American. For intense, he like eating America food rather than Chinese food, he can say little Chinese, even he doesn't know Chinese history, and so on. In short, some American born Chinese just like a banana which has yellow peel outside and white pulp inside. On the other hand, other part of American born Chinese who likes and knows lots of Chinese culture called "Mango Person".

One day, my friend was eating a banana, which have black and yellow peel. I told the saying of "banana person" to her, and made a joke that maybe one of the banana person's parents comes from Africa and the other one comes from China, so the guy can called "black and yellow banana person". On the dinner time of that day, I felt this saying could be shared with my host family, so I told them, but, to my surprise, there wasn't even little kind of smile on their face and they said nothing for response. After a while, I asked them whether they understood what I had said? They told me that they understood. But they kindly gave me an explanation that they never talk about the color of people's skin, since it is a sensitive topic, especially when those people who have different skin color are talking togather.

I'm very sorry making that kind of "joke" which may hurt other people, but this experience teaches a lesson -- Look before you leap! The United States just like a melting pot, there are different people coming from different countries, there are variety cultures CRASH to each other. Therefore, just like driving a car on a freeway, the "driver" should be careful to avoid a car accident.

Faye

The four seasons of Japan

The four seasons are clearly defined in Japan.





In spring,the cherry trees are in full bloom, and it's so fantastic. We have parties under the cherry trees,watching the blossmos. In Japan,the new term starts in April,so people are busy in preparing for new schooland new company.





In summer,we have the rainy season from latter June to former July because of seasonal rain front. everyday rain make sky and our mood gray. But after the rainy season, it goes on sunny and hot days.August is summer vacation.People go many places that they can't go usually such as foreign countries, and they try something difficult, for example limbing high mountains,improving their scholastis ability and.......diet.



In autumn, mountain's color turn to yellow and red from green. Peple enjoy watching the color change and they admire the full moon eating "dango".



In winter,everything is covered with snow in north Japan. people prepare for Christmas and New year. In Japan,we eat buckwheat noodles on the last day of the old year,and we visit shrineavd and pray on the first day of the new year.



Today these four seasons are disappearing because of global warming.



written by Minori

The Magic Eye

One day, when I was 9 years old, we went to Jeddah beach and my father bought for me a small picture. It was colored, unclear and noisy, and at the back they wrote "Magic eye picture", followed by instructions of how you can discover the magic 3D picture inside it.

I took it and read the instruction, which was saying something like that: “Hold the center of the printed image right up to your nose. It should be blurry. Focus as though you are looking through the image into the distance. Very slowly move the image away from your face until……… etc”.

I started to do these instructions, one time, two times, ten times, hundreds times, but nothing appeared. I spent the whole day trying to figure out the 3D picture, but I couldn’t. Each one in my family tried to do it, and nothing happened. However, I was stubborn, and if I decide to make something, I’ll make it, even if it’s hard to do.

At the night, I was laying on my bed and the magic picture on my hand. Do you know what happen when you sink in your thoughts??? The scene in front of you, whatever it is, get blurry, right??? And that what happened to me at that time. The scene in front of me, including the magic eye picture got blurry, because I was thinking of my incomplete homework:(, and when I tried to focus again in the picture, the magic happened :D.

Yes, the picture converted to 3D, there was someone who played on a circus and many people around him, and without any sense, I moved my hand to touch it, because it seemed like something real. After that I went to my family to tell them, and guess what !! No one believed me. Oh, I remembered that time, I was so upset.

After a few months, the magic eye spread everywhere. One day, there was a competition in a local newspaper, every day they put a magic eye picture, and you should discover what inside it, and they put what is in the picture next day. I figured it the first day, and I challenged my family that I’ll be true. When the newspaper came next day, they finally believed me :D.

Actually, I guess a lot of you know it, and I don’t know why I remembered it these days?? I read a lot about it in the previous days, and how they make it. However, they used special software to make it.

Here I bring some of them to you, if you guess correctly more than 3 pictures, I may bring a chocolate for you (I said I may), but try to print it out, it will be easier to you.

1-

2-


3-


4-


And if you want more, you can find hunderds of them by searching google.

Enjoy :).

Shouq

Wellcom to Libya

file://C:\Users\mn\Desktop\Libya pras.pptx

Moath's Terrible Night

On January 13,2010 at night (that was my second week in US and my first day in this apartment )
when my roommate and I moved to our new apartment ,which is close to the extension, and arrange our stuff , we went to living room which is sharing area with 2 another rooms. We found a man ,who lives in one of those rooms , was playing XBOX and we sit with him and talking together because it was first meet. After that, someone rang the doorbell and the man checked the peep hole and saw who it was. Before he opened the door, he hid his XBOX in his room and proceeded to open the door. He tried open the door very slowly but the intruder grabbed his arm and kicked the door open. The intruder said that " don't move .. no body move" then he began to hit the man and was yelling he wants his belongings. The man was replying that he did not have it. After this the intruder approached my roommate and I and he grabbed our iphones. After grabbing our phones he physically grabbed my roommate in threatening manner by his shirt asking him if he was calling the police, my roommate responded how I can have called the police and you took my phone. He proceeds to take my roommate's wallet, he opened it looking for credit card or cash and my roommate stated he does not have any. After this the intruder threw the wallet and he left the apartment. My roommate and I went into my room and locked the door and we were thinking about many things, also we don’t have phones, so we can’t call the police or anybody else. Therefore, in the morning, we called the police and they came and asked us many questions and took a lot of pictures then they left and said “we will call you later”. It was terrible night and I was thinking to go back to my country because I think this situation you can see it just in MOVIES.

Japanese Wooden House

One of the distinctive features of Japanese housing is that people take their shoes off before stepping up into the house. In a traditional house, rooms are lined with tatami mats on which people sit and lay out bedding ( futon ) to sleep. Recently, western-style houses are increasing.
First of all, chanoma ( living room ) is a tatami floored room with a low table. It is used for various purposes such as dining or watching TV, and at night, futon is laid out and the room turns into the bedroom.
Second, in Japanese bathroom ― furo, one should wash and rinse oneself outside the tub before getting in the hot water. The hot water is kept until the last person bathes.
Third, western-style toilets are more common recently, but there are some traditional Japanese-style toilets. When using a Japanese-style toilet, one straddles the toilet facing the hooded end, lowers pants and underwear to the knees and squats.
Recently, houses which combine Western and Japanese architecture styles and ferroconcrete housing complexes are increasing. However, the traditional wooden house is still the best suited to the Japanese climate and natural conditions with high humidity in summer.

maya

Hello from a Hong Kong girl, Phoebe

If you have watched an old American drama called "Friends", you can find me there.

I am Phoebe.

But if you haven not seen this , it doesn't matter. You will know more about me after reading this article.

I guess I am the only one person who is come from Hong Kong in IEP so I want to introduce Hong Kong to all of you as much as I can. Hong Kong is a really nice city that you must go to visit it. Although it is only a small point on the world map, it also has three parts - Kowloon, Hong Kong Island and New Territory. Kowloon, Hong Kong Island is business oriented and you will see so many business buildings there. New Territory has most countryside and it is less busy.

Most people will know the Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong. It is just between Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. It is really a beautiful scene no matter you go there at day time or night.

I am studying Hotel management in Hong Kong Polytechnic University. The school is far from my home so I live the student hall. The lift in the student hall is so interesting. We share the room with one roommate and form a suite with two rooms. We are just like a little family. We cook and play and have fun together.

When finishing my lesson and coming back to my room, I love reading or watching movies. Do you know " Twlight"? It has been my favourite book recently. In adddition, I love watching Japanese dramas. The one I am watching is " Nodame Cantabile". The story is happened around a girl who is crazy but good at playing piano and a man who is top student in the music school. Besides, you will learn about the classical music throught this drama. This drama is also funny!

Phoebe

I Introduce Minori

My name is Minori Motohiro,from Japan. I am 20 years old.



My hometown is "Onomichi" in Hiroshima prefecture. You know, Hiroshima is where America dropped nuclear bomb. Onomichi is famous for a lot of temples and shrines and many people visit for sightseeing every year. I recommend SENKOJI temple, where is many cherry blossoms and it's so fantastic in Spring.



I greduated from preschool,elementary school,junior high school,high school. And now I study pharmacy at Fukuyama University . In the morning I have two class (one class is 90minutes),where I learm many pharmaceutical theory,process,mechanism, and must memorize a large number of medicine name. It's so hard! In the afternoon, I do various experiments.This is aiso hard,but I like experiments because I can know the result visually and have a sense of achievement. After guraduating,I will get a position as a pharmacist and work with doctors and nueses in the hospital for helping people.

When I am free,I usually sleep. My longest record is 18 hours and at that time,I felt I skipped the time. Recently,I often watche DVDs such as "Pirate of Caribbean","Hally Potter",and many Japanese movies.they are so exciting and interesting.

Introducing HIro

1)Hirotomo Mizuno


2)Sendai,Japan


Sendai is 300km north of Tokyo and has a population of 1,000,000.


Sendai is famous for beef tongue.


3)I am a Tohoku university third-year student and major in physics.


4)In free time, I ride around on my motorcycle(DSC400) and go sightseeing.