Super cool weekend!!!!!!!

On Friday, I went to Sony pictures on optional trip. I like movie very much,so I really enjoyed there. I saw some place where movie was taken. I knew how to make sound which characters make in the movie.It was interesting and surprising!!Also, I saw taking a TV show in the studio as a audience! I will be appear on "wheel of fortune" April.I want to watch it, but I will be not here...
On Tuesday, I went to L.A to go sightseeing.I went to famous place around L.A. In Beverly Hills, I went to Japanese BBQ for dinner. Surplisingly, I could meet big ster there. I saw David Beckham, Victoria Beckham and their kids. I was really surprised and I couldn't it was true!!! I used to play soccer, so he is my favorite player. I couldn't believe it! I was so happy at that time.
On Sunday,I was excited because Academy Awards would be held.Hollywood is busy forpreparing it. I couldn't see any movie stars, but I could see Oscar statue and take a pictude whith it. I thought I was a movie stars.

TThis weekend was an unforgetable weekend.I had a good experiences in L.A! I can't believe stil now I met Beckham!I really enjoed in L.A

Korean Traditional House By Bannie

I want to show you guys korea traditional house ”hanok”. This is Korean architecture. If you live in this houses, you don’t need to use up energy for heating or cooling. This is because there is a ‘ondol’. This is a Korean heating system, which it was originated from the ancient kingdom of Goguryeo (37 B.C. ~ A.D. 668).

There is a large stone under a living space. So, smoke from a fire makes floor warm. The most interesting thing that I want to explain is that even if you remove the direct source of heat, there will be remains the heat for a long time. It is nature-friendly. Moreover, we don’t need to worry about the cooling system because Korea houses usually have the river in front of the house and the mountain behind of their house. This is due to the fact that this location makes cooler and wind. If you come to our house, you can experience this house. Bye^^

American National Parks

By: Kaz

   Have you ever heard about the Grand Circle? The Grand Circle is the imaginary circle, which diameter is 1400 miles. Why the circle is famous for travelers? Because there are many American national parks, monuments and historic byways in the circle, I guess. Before I came to Riverside I went to some places in the circle, so I'd like to introduce several parks visiting before: Grand Canyon, Zion, Bryce Canyon and Monument Valley.
   First, if you want to go one of most popular places in the U.S, Grand Canyon is the best place because most of travelers visiting American national parks go there. This park was established as an American national park in 1919; in addition, it was registered as one of the world heritages in 1979. Although Grand Canyon is very popular, there are various activities, hiking, rafting, camping and Skywalk (refer to page 2 in the textbook in our reading class), in the park. Furthermore, you can go there by a plane from Los Angeles.
   Next, Zion and Bryce Canyon are very wonderful spots when you want to go hiking or see strange scenes. Especially, Zion has the famous hiking trail named “The narrow”. Many American hikers want to go there, but that road is very severe for the beginner hikers because they have to walk into the cold water for a while. I tried to walk toward “the narrow” when I visited there, but I couldn’t reach there because I had no time then. Also, Bryce Canyon has some hiking trails too. But at first, you will be able to see a lot of strange rocks you haven’t ever seen, and probably most people visiting there will be surprised after looking at them.
   Moreover, if you want to meet Native American people, I recommend you to visit Monument Valley. The place is a holy site and a reservation for Native American, Navajo. Some people sell souvenirs to visitors, other people works as a guide. Maybe you have seen it because the area often is used in many advertisements and movies. For example, some scenes in “Back to The Future Part 3” and “Forrest Gump” took the landscape of Monument Valley. In addition, you can try to eat some local foods. I ate only two dishes, but I remember their tastes were good.
   Finally, if you can stay near an American national park, you should go to see sunset or sunrise. They are incredible, and you will have a really good time. But be careful! You have to make a reservation in advance staying there, or you will stay in your car because there are a few inns except for Grand Canyon.
   This time, I explained some American national parks before I visited. I think they are valuable for us, foreign students. Of course, American cities are important to learn American culture. But, if you are interested in American nature and visit, you will be able to totally understand what America is, I think.

Making conversation in China and in United States of America

By LUCY
In every country you visit, there are things you should and shouldn't talk about. Here are some guidelines for making conversation in China and in America.
Chinese can be enthusiastic convwersationalists, and they often ask quite personal questions regarding your marital status, income, and religion with body language in order to establish a relationship. Make sure you don't express annoyance with the questioner-it should be possible to avoid answering the question if you don't want to. In contrast, try not to be too direct when communicating with Chinese yourself, as they are more receptive to an indirect approach. It's recommended that you keep eye contact during a conversation, since too much eye contact may be seen as rudeness rather than a sige of attention. Subjievts that are welcome are Chinese culture and customs, family, food, job, movies, and sports, especially basketball and football. Subjects to avoid include politics and religion.
Generally, Americans like to laugh, and they enjoy being with people who have a sense of humor. They usually maintain regular eye contact and smile a lot. People often compliment each other, for example about their clothing or achievements, especially as a way to start a conversation-even with a stranger. Americans also often ask,"What do you do?" to begin a conversation, and it's very acceptable to ask about work-related matter. Sports are very popular in the US, especially baseball, football, and basketball. Books, food, music, and movies are good topics, but not religion, politics, or other controversial subjects such as racism, unless you know the person you're talking to well. Finally, Americans will expect you to speak English, as many never learn a foreign language.

what's the right thing to do ?

by Mia

Michael Sandal’s book, “What’s the Right Thing to do?” has been on the nation’s bestseller list ever since it was introduced to Korean readers in 2010. According to a newspaper it has sold in Korea more than 800million last year. It is surprising that philosophy type of book has been a bestseller in Korea because it was not popular type of book.

What’s reason for the popularity of Harvard law professor's book in Korea?? Some reviewer point out that his book was at the perfect time, when there were a lot of politician corruptions.

I watched his lecture though 'You Tube' first before I read a book. It was very amazing ,and It made me think about what's the right thing to do. In this book, He tells us that justice should be based on morality, rather than on legality. His book enables us to see things from different angles before making conclusions on a selfish basis.

There is some question.

Suppose you're the driver of a trolley car, and your trolley car is hurtling down the track at 60 miles an hour. And at the end of the track you notice five workers working on the track. You try to stop but you can't. Your breaks don’t work. You feel desperate because you know that if you crash into these five workers, they will all die. Let’s assume you know that for sure. And so you fell helpless until you notice that there is, off to the right, a side track and at the end of that track, there is one worker working on the track. You steering wheel works, so you can turn the trolley car, if you want to, onto the side track killing the one but sparing the five. Here’s our first question: what's the right thing to do? What would you do?

Ps. this question and example quoted from Michael Sandal’s first lecture

127 Hours

By JUNG

What are you doing at free time? Some people are going shopping or doing exercise. There are many things to do when we are free. We called these thing, we did at free time, hobby. What is your hobby? My hobby is playing basketball and watching movie. In Korea, I usually went to the movie but these days I can’t. Because I can’t understand well what movie said, but today I tried to watch the American movie, 127 Hours, without subtitles.
I downloaded that movie on the internet. There is a reason why I choose this movie, for I see the advertisement on TV and it was attracted me to watch the movie. 127 Hours is the true story of mountain climber Aron Ralston's remarkable adventure to save himself after a fallen boulder crashes on his arm and traps him in an isolated canyon in Utah. The movie showed that his doing and emotion change during the 127 hours. At the first time he tried to survive, such as, to break the big rock, to lift that with ropes, but he couldn’t. When he gave up surviving, he remembered his parents and a lot of memories he experienced before. They gave vigor to him, after all he decided to cut off her hands, made him isolate. After cutting off his hand, he could escape from the canyon.
James Franco, Known for spider-man, acted as hero of this movie. His acting is really good, his expressions and performances have reality. He acted as if he faced up death and tried to survive. This movie concentrated on his expression and performances. During watching this movie, I was attracted. Runtime is 94 min, but time goes too fast. I was impressed with his internal acting. In this movie, there are not many stories and places, just canyon and his face and he is all. But I think it was very interesting movie. If you can see that movie.!!


(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1542344/)

I want to have fun with you guys more!(^_^)v

By Asami

Recently I have had some great chances to go out with my classmates. As my camera was broken when I went to the beach because of getting wet, I'm sorry that I cant show you the pictures.

On 12th, I went to L.A. with Ho, Bannie and Jung. We went to the little tokyo where I really wanted to go. It was so small. and in my opinion, it was not so similar to real tokyo. However, when we ate Japanese Don-buri(a bowl with rice and fish) and Udon (Japanese noodle made from flour), I was really impressed because the taste was completely same as real Japanese dish! Also, I bought a lot of Japanese seasoning and sause at a Japanese supermarket. After that, we also went to Korean town and farmar's market. I had a great time there.

Last wednesday, I went to a Korean BBQ restaurant with Ho, Sena and Jung. as I love Korean dish, It was awesome! I really recommend you to go there. Also, on friday night, I went to IN-N-OUT with most of my classmates. The hamburger was really good. I want to go there again!

I'm usually free on weekends. As I'm living in IRC on the 4th floor, if you have free time, please call me! I want to make a great memory with you guys more! Have a good weekend!

Lantern Festival

By:Adam(Duan Yongzhuo)

The Lantern Festival falls on the 15th day of the 1st lunar month, usually in February or March in the Gregorian calendar. As early as the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 25), it had become a festival with great significance.

This day's important activity is watching lanterns. Throughout the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220), Buddhism flourished in China. One emperor heard that Buddhist monks would watch sarira, or remains from the cremation of Buddha's body, and light lanterns to worship Buddha on the 15th day of the 1st lunar month, so he ordered to light lanterns in the imperial palace and temples to show respect to Buddha on this day. Later, the Buddhist rite developed into a grand festival among common people and its influence expanded from the Central Plains to the whole of China.

Till today, the lantern festival is still held each year around the country. Lanterns of various shapes and sizes are hung in the streets, attracting countless visitors. Children will hold self-made or bought lanterns to stroll with on the streets, extremely excited.

"Guessing lantern riddles"is an essential part of the Festival. Lantern owners write riddles on a piece of paper and post them on the lanterns. If visitors have solutions to the riddles, they can pull the paper out and go to the lantern owners to check their answer. If they are right, they will get a little gift. The activity emerged during people's enjoyment of lanterns in the Song Dynasty (960-1279). As riddle guessing is interesting and full of wisdom, it has become popular among all social strata.

People will eat yuanxiao, or rice dumplings, on this day, so it is also called the "Yuanxiao Festival."Yuanxiao also has another name, tangyuan. It is small dumpling balls made of glutinous rice flour with rose petals, sesame, bean paste, jujube paste, walnut meat, dried fruit, sugar and edible oil as filling. Tangyuan can be boiled, fried or steamed. It tastes sweet and delicious. What's more, tangyuan in Chinese has a similar pronunciation with "tuanyuan”, meaning reunion. So people eat them to denote union, harmony and happiness for the family.

How Enjoy Baseball Games

By Julia

Baseball game is one of the popular sports in the world. Especially in U.S., Japan, Korea, Taiwan, etc. From March to October, baseball fans look forward to the games, and I am also one of them. I always check the games with internet or cable television, but I prefer going to baseball field because I can enjoy all things in there.

When I was a child, my father taught me baseball, I was addicted to it. When I lived in Taiwan, I always went to watch a baseball game with my friends or my family. If I had a vacation, I had spent all time on baseball because I not only enjoyed watching the baseball game but also expected the food. In Taiwan, people liked to have a sausage with rice or a lunch box, and I liked also them because they were delicious and inexpensive. However, I would like to have them, but I was a little bit worried about the action of eating since I was taken on the TV and then my friends saw that I was having a meal.

In Japan, I liked to buy a special lunch box when I went to watch a game. The meal in the lunch box was designed by the famous player. If I wanted to get it, I had arrived early to line up. Although it was not cheap, I still wanted to get one because I could keep the box. After the season, some baseball team would hold talk-shows. I was glad to join. I always made a plate for cheering. One day, I also brought the plate and I had a chance to talk with my favorite player. I stood in the front of the crowd, and I was very nervous, so I couldn’t say a sentence completely. The whole talk was taken by my younger sister, even now I couldn’t open the video to face the fact as my Japanese was too terrible. For all that, it still was an unforgettable experience.

Finally, I would like to go to watch the MBL again. I want to tell my family how the MBL is. The season is coming soon, and I cannot wait.

Men and Women in Saudi Arabia

BY: BAIAN BAATTAIH

Do the majority of people believe that there are a lot of differences between men and women?.In Saudi Arabia, men and women have a lot of differences between them, depending on culture and religion traditions. Saudi Arabia is a kind of a conservative country, specially with women. In fact, differences can be in term of responsibility, level of education, and type of work they can apply for.
First, men and women fulfill different kind of responsibility in their life. Men are responsible more outside of the home, but the women usually inside. Men in Saudi Arabia usually provide all life possibilities that make a good life, and that usually by bringing money and keeping the standard of living in suitable level. In contrast, women are usually responsible for taking care and providing all comforts for her children, house and husband.
Education in Saudi Arabia are gradually developed. Men and women are seeking to be in high level of education. Men have the priority to be educated in Saudi Arabia because of cultural traditions.Recently in Saudi Arabia men and women have the same opportunity to be educated. On the other hand, statistical ratios confirm that women are good reader and good writer compared with men. Furthermore, women have the ability to focus in multiple things but men cannot focus, only in one thing.
Opportunities for having job in Saudi Arabia are available for both men and women. Of course some works are not appropriate for the nature of the woman's body and durability. Therefore chances are quit high for men. Men can do hard, difficult and complicated work or can do whatever they want so they can work as engineer, carpenter, plumber, a mechanic, build housing etc, but women cannot because of their body building and biological phenomena. Women are perfect in teaching or work as doctor or as skilled cooker.
In conclusion, differences between men and women usually affected by the culture and traditions. In Saudi Arabia differences between them are obvious and clear especially in responsibilities, education and work. In my opinion, women can do what men do unless in hard work because of her physical structures. Otherwise, women do what men cannot do like taking care of baby or being pregnant.