#17: Reaction to film

Baraka is one of a few documentaries I've seen over the past ten years. In my opinion, despite it's non-verbal, the film reflects different aspects of human life around the world and the relationship between human beings and nature through different lens, from the highly developed countries to the third world, from the purity of nature to the destruction humans cause to the environment.

Among all scenes of the movies, what impressed me a lot is the scene of poor people working in a garbage site. Most of them are women and kids with a claw in their hands searching for something useful from what people toss away. This is not the first time I've seen scene like this because in Vietnam, poor kids also have to do the same thing. What impressed me is that the scene was so realistic and detailed, and it made me think about the contrast between the developed countries and the third world. It's like two different worlds. While in a country, rich kids go to private school on expensive cars, wear luxury clothes and spend leisure time on their favorite activities; in another country, poor kids wearing tattered and dirty clothes spend the whole day working with their family in a polluted environment to feed their mouth. Even in the developed countries, in contrast to the busy and modern life is the image of homeless people sleep under the bridge, of orphaned kids taking care of themselves. This made me wonder if the gap between the two worlds is increasing.

It's impossible to reduce this gap, as it is the way a society operates. Whenever money exists, there will be social gap. However, I hope that there will be actions to console what the poor people in the third world have to face everyday.

I read Tara and Vivian's posts.

Journal #16: Confucius Quote

Chinese culture in general and Confucianism in details has a great influence to Vietnamese culture. Therefore, Confucius' principles have become the foundation of Vietnam's ethics and customs. Of all his well-known words, my favorite quote is "It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop."

This quote reminds me of the story of the Rabbit and the Turtle I was told a long time ago, as well as myself. Since I came to America, what makes me worried the most is my speaking skill. I've been here for more than five months yet I cannot communicate with native speakers confidently. I always compared myself with others and realized everybody is making progress while I'm still stay the same. This really made me concerned and self-doubting. I doubted myself if I will be able to catch up with my classmates in college in the future. This irritating state lasted until I read this quote, then I relate it to the fairy tale I was told during childhood. I'm like the turtle, making very slow progress. But little by little, step by step, the turtle will finish his route. It will take me a long time, but as long as I do my best, I believe I'll be able to speak English fluently and not freezing every time communicating with Americans.

Journal #15: Analyzing an argument

Ehrlich, A. (2010, April 14). Shades of green: green dog food. Daily Titan. Retrieved April 20, 2010 from http://www.dailytitan.com/2010/04/14/shades-of-green-green-dog-food/

In this article, Erhlich states the reason why we should feed our dogs with “greener” dog food (par.3). It’s also a claim of cause and the idea that we should let our pets eat greener pet food is a claim of cause and also a claim of policy. In paragraph 11, she lists some features of green pet food which is a claim of value. The statistics she uses in the article (claim of cause) is appealing to both reason and emotion. To reach the conclusion, she uses a statistics of dogs dying from acute renal failure. In my opinion, this is a strong argument article because the writer uses different approaches to make the article appealing to the readers. She uses a lot of statistics and evidence that make her argument a lot stronger than those of the opposite viewers.

#14: Anticipating parent's objection

Dear Mom and Dad,

Up to now it's been 5 months since I left Vietnam. It seems like time goes by really fast here. For the past months, I made you worried a lot because everything here is completely strange to me, from the culture, life style to the people. I know that in Vietnam, I just needed to concentrate on studying, and left the rest to you. I admit that I'm not an active and outgoing person and it took me a long time to get used to the way of life here, but please believe in me.

Since I came here, I have experienced many things, both good and bad. I also learned a lot, sometimes it's bitter but it's all good for me now and then. I started to do things on my own and forgot the habit of relying on you. I'm already an adult and I'm responsible for what I say and do.

After all, everything works smoothly now. I know what I will study, I settle myself without asking for monthly allowance, I find life is enjoyable here if I do my best. I promise that I won't make you disappointed. Please take care of yourself. Hopefully, I'll see you during summer.

Quynh

#13: Summarize/Paraphrase Practise

What we experienced lately is not a joke. According to DiMassa (2010), we have observed more and more earthquakes this year, as of 70 were reported until April (par. 2). However, these unfortunate events are unable to be explained completely, due to its fluctuating frequency (par. 3). It is predicted that more and more earthquake will happen. DiMassa mentions that more than 1000 aftershocks were reported, of which 12 is higher than 5.0 (par. 8). She also points out some major earthquakes including the Mexicali, the Landers,the Whittier Narrows, and the Northridge earthquake - which caused the most serious damage (par. 10). It is believed that since the beginning of the last decade, earthquake frequency has been pretty random (par. 11). Although scientists state that more destructive earthquake will not happen, what happened recently in Haiti and Chile make people concerned about the threat (par. 17). For this year, it is claimed that a large quake will result in several "seismic activity" (par. 22). Let's hope that no serious earthquake will happen within the end of this year.

Link: http://articles.latimes.com/2010/apr/12/local/la-me-quake13-2010apr13


DiMassa, Cara. (2010, April 12). More moving and shaking, but why? Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 14 , 2010, from http://articles.latimes.com/2010/apr/12/local/la-me-quake13-2010apr13

My first research sources

Andrew F. Smith, John U. Rees, Rachelle E. Friedman, Alison Tozzi, Kara Newman, Anne Mendelson, Amy Bentley, Sylvia Lovegren "Historical Overview" The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America. Ed. Gordon Campbell. Oxford University Press, 2003. California State University Fullerton. 27 March 2010

My research topic is How the American eating in mid-nineteenth century influences the American diet nowadays. This short entry covers what American soldiers and civilians ate during the Civil War. It also mentions an important invention in food industry at that time - canned goods and meat packing - which still has a great impact nowadays. This short entry gives me an overview of the American diet at that time, and helps me limit my research information range. However, more detailed information is needed as this entry just provides some basic ideas.

I read Bomy's and Vivian's post.

Advice

Talking about advice, whenever I do something important, I always seek advice from my parents and my friends. In Vietnamese, we have a saying: " An outsider has a clearer mind". The truth is that most of the time, the advice I got prove to be useful. At the beginning, they make me think like I cannot rely on myself, for some of my decisions are based on what other people suggest. As time goes by, I realize that it is good to seek advice from everybody, at least for me. I'm the type of person who never thinks deeply before doing something. It's like I'm not patient enough to spend time thinking, thinking and thinking about the problem, like what is the best solution. Every time I struggle something, I always find the first solution coming to my mind, without considering its pros and cons, and end up getting stuck. Now that I got the lesson, whenever I do something important, I ask for my parent's and friend's advice before considering them with my own ideas.

On the contrary, I'm not good at giving advice. What I'm afraid the most is that when people tell me their problems and ask for advice. That's their biggest mistake. I'm a good listener, but I'm not a good adviser, especially romantic problems. I can share and console their emotional pain, but please don't ask me for advice, if you don't want to end up breaking up. Other than that, I can give some fairly so-so advice on other problems.

I read Wendy's and Sherry's posts.

Research Questions

Back in Vietnam, my major was Hospitality Management and I have a great interest in food industry; therefore, most of my writing topics are related to food and diets. American cuisine, with traditional dishes such as meat loaf, mashed potatoes, cheese cakes, apple pie, etc. is my all time favorite, regarding its development history and the influence from British and French cooking. After reading a book about American eating habits in post Civil War and the Wild West time, the impressive advance in food industry and the dining etiquette at that time attracted me. I was curious on how they influence not only the American diets but also the global food industry nowadays. For this research paper, I would like to write about the American eating habits in mid nineteenth century. Three research questions that may help me develop my research paper are:

1. How the American eating habits in mid nineteenth century influence the American diet nowadays.

2. The similarities and differences between the American eating habits in mid nineteenth century and the American diet nowadays.

3. Although with advance technology, is the American eating habit nowadays a back step of the way it used to be during Post Civil War?

I read Meka and Tara's posts.

Yummy traditional American food

Before coming to America, I had no idea what traditional American food was, besides the short lesson about American cuisine I studied in university a long long time ago. At that time, American food to me was plainly fastfood like hamburger, hot dog, fried chicken. I didn't have the chance to taste traditional American food in my home country because it is not popular as Japanese or Chinese cuisine, until I study in America. My first impression is the unbelievable popularity of fast food here. Well, fast food is tasty, at least in my opinion, it's cheap and well, I can find it anywhere at any time. "No wonder Americans like it", I once thought. However, I changed my mind completely when I tasted my very first American dishes during Thanks Giving. I love pumpkin, I love the way Americans make their pumpkin pies. Not to mention other yummy pies: Blueberry pie, peach pie, apple pie, lemon pie, etc. I admit I love sweets but there are other delicious dishes too. Meat loaf is super especially when it is garnished with marshed potatoes and steamed asparagus. Blueberry muffin and pancakes are my all time favorites for breakfast. Creamy clam chowder and salad with Thousand Island Dressing are good starters. Beef stew and fillet mignon, chicken pot pie and club chicken sandwiches, these dishes make me wonder why some Americans prefer to eat fast food rather than enjoying these tasty food. Before coming to America, my friend in California once warned me, "Believe me, you won't be able to eat American food. It's completely different from Vietnamese food." Well, I admit these two cuisines are different,but I do enjoy this country's cooking, as long as I study in America.

I read Tara's and Abdullah's post.

Journal 8: Optimism vs Pessimism

"Is the glass half empty or half full?". I'm sure most of us are familiar with this famous expression. To be honest, I myself never paid attention to how our observation of such common thing can relate to our personality, not until I read its explanation. Once in a while, when I had a choice to see a "not so full" glass of water, I automatically thought someone must have taken a sip. Does that mean I'm a fan of pessimism? The answer maybe yes. Before studying abroad, I had a very "peaceful and happy" life, when I was supported to the fullest by my parents and good friends. I was too naive to realize life could be that hard. I was so optimistic that I thought things could be worked out easily, until I came to America. It's like I started a new life, learned everything again - even the basic commonsense - and knew the true meaning of "life pressure". It's not something related to my parents' expectations. It's a whole combination of the perspective my relatives have on me, the feeling of being compared with other successful cousins, and a completely different lifestyle with lots of rules and restrictions. I was so stressed out that I always thought I was a loser, empty-handed, and poor-educated. I believe this mess reflects how pessimistic I was. Until I moved out. I started to do everything on my own - things that were always organized by my parents. I learned how to face difficulties without complaints and to ignore what other people talk about me. I also realize that the hard life in America will never be for those who only whine and cry out loud every time they deal with struggles. Now I believe how a clear and optimistic mind can change my life, like Winston Churchill once said, "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty." A miracle never happens itself. It's you who has the power to make use of every opportunity life offers and thus, make yours better.

I read Wendy and Candy's posts.

My best friend

"Birds of a feather flocks together", in Vietnamese we have the same saying: "A pot and its lid fit together". Honestly speaking, sometimes, I dont really believe in sayings, for what I learn in real life is different from what the moral lesson the sayings teach us. An example is the friendship between my best friend and I, for we're totally different in every aspects.

I've known her in university, the weird thing is that we were in the same college preparation course but not very close, until we were in the same university, same faculty, same major and same class. 4 years is not a long time, and even after 4 years, sometimes I still didn't get what she thought. However, she's by far the best friend I got. What surprises me is that even though we don't share the same interests and personalities, we're still very very very good friends. She's like a totally contrast version of me. She's outgoing, loud, like to talk to strangers while I'm quiet, rather shy, and keep my mouth shut when I meet strangers. She goes crazy about sour food while I must have at least 10 sweet teeth. She doesn't dare to watch horror movies while I have no hesitation to watch them - well, sometimes I covered my eyes. Even our favorite boyfriend type is different. But then she and I have been best friends for more than 4 years, although now we live far away from each other. People say a good friend is someone who is beside you when you're at the worst time of your life. I think this is true, from what my best friend did for me.

Music for my life: No Promises

Now I'm writing about my all time favorite song, which is always included in my playlists. No Promises by Shayne Ward would definitely be a song for those dedicated to ballads. There are several reasons why I love this song. The first thing is that because of the melody. When I first listen to a song, I pay attention to its melody instead of lyrics. The lyrics of this song is simple (enough for me to remember), and somehow cheesy. What I love is its sweet melody combined with the vocal of Shayne Ward - my favorite artist (not only his vocal, but also his look haha). I first heard this song like 3 years ago, when it was very popular in VN and UK. At that time, I was wondering why these people could be crazy about such a cheesy song. But then when I listened to it, i was taken aback. It was awesome, and from that time, I kept repeating the song in my mp3 player for almost 3 months.

Every time when I'm moody or need something to calm me down, I listen to this song. Every time when I'm so stressed out, I listen to this song. People say music can heal your soul. For me, I don't really need music that is so classic or high class. I just need what can tranquilize my senses, and this song can do that job well.

I also had the chance to know some great songs recommended in Stella and Lien's posts.

Hey! What's up, piglet?

Have you ever wanted to ask a question to your cute little pet and expected an answer from them? I'm sure at least 50% of us once wished that we could talk to animals, or animals could have human languages (English, French, Chinese, Japanese, whatever) as their mother tongue, instead of Cluck cluck, Meow meow, quack quack. For me, when I watched Winnie the pooh, I once wished that I had that cute little pinky Piglet who could talk, dance, play games, and even do housework O_O (very convenient).

Come to think of it, what would happen if animals can talk? That would be a huge deal (not just big deal). Animals that talk will have the right to speak. And due to the way we treat animals, at least 99% of world population will be sued by animals for unfair and ill-treated crime. Now that we mention animals, "animal" is not just the friendly (or fierce) dog or cat we have as pet. Animals are also cattle, poultry, wildlife, etc. Everyday, we have meat, dairy products as part of our diet. What would happen if one day, the representative of human beings have to attend the court and fight against a chicken lawyer??? I think my imagination has come too far.

If animal could talk, that would be fun. I'm sure I'll love talking to my little fish, or let the cockroaches understand what I curse them. Imagine you come home after a long long day studying. You feel so tired and lonely and need someone to talk to. Here comes your loyal dog who let you pet him while at the same time be your listener. That would be great for seniors or single who live alone.

Well, if I have a cute little piglet who can answer my silly questions, I'll check this list:
- Are you an early bird or night owl?
- If you love another piggy, what would u say to her?
- What do you do for fun, besides eating and eating?

Awesome classmates whose posts I read: Sherry and Vivi

What's the weather like today?

Have you ever asked that question? I guess 90% of you said that at least 1 time in your life. As for me, it's the most basic thing that I learned from my very first English for children class. Come to think of it, it's been like 14 years since I knew how to ask what the weather is in English. Talking about English, at least 70% people using this language as their mother tongue live in temperate climate zone. So what? That means they have more chance to ask "What's the weather like today?" and it's just common if you see someone stranger asking them that question. However, it's a whole different situation if you live in Vietnam, where there is only 2 seasons: dry and rainy season. Now you may wanna ask, so what to do with it? Here comes the answer. In Ho Chi Minh city in the South of Vietnam, there are basically no stuff like snow, icy rain, red leaves, etc. Here we have 3 months full of rains and the rest 9 months full of sunlight. "That's good, why do you have to complain? You don't have to waste money on winter clothes like sweaters, scarves, gloves." Does that idea pop out in your mind ? The answer is no. Together with sunlight is high humidity, which means you can sweat a lot if you go outside for just 15 minutes. Human beings are complicated specie. They complain if there is scarce sunlight, they also mumble if there is too much sunlight. In this case, I mean, in my hometown, people grudge because of the latter. Due to the climate, the average temperature is always around 95 degrees Fahrenheit, and in combination with high humidity, going out at noon in a sunny day is the most annoying thing people want to do. Here sunlight is the most fearsome enemy of women, so don't be surprised if you visit Ho Chi Minh city and realize that you just come to a town of ninjas, where 99% of people going around with mask.

Now here comes the rain. During 3 months of raining, we have all kinds of stuff that can satisfy the most fastidious rainists. We have drizzles to wet the streets, we have showers for girls to show off their colorful umbrellas or raincoats. We also have a little lightning, or thunder during heavy rains. We even have thing called sudden rain, which can be described like: the clear sky turns immediately into cloudy state, and here comes water from the sky, and just after 5 minutes, we can see clear blue sky again. That's what we expect in rainy season in HCM city, my hometown.

Now that you have some ideas of how the weather is like in my hometown, it's my turn to ask you "What's the weather like today?"

Fear: Say hello to mister Cockroach, Ewww !!!

Everybody knows cockroaches. Everybody hates them (except some cockroach-ologists). That little black creature with stinking smell is what I fear the most, 100 times more than seeing a giant dinosaur right in front of my very eyes. With its small head, large eyes, black thin wings, and legs full of prickles, cockroaches are definitely the ugliest and most disturbing insects in the world (I also hate insects). Its smell is terrible and I don't have any objections to say that it's the most useless creature. Wherever dirty, there comes cockroaches. Since its habitat is culverts, it comes together with all kinds of bacterias and germs. Cockroaches can also fly, so beware that one day, on the pursuit of food and happiness, that little creature can fly and land on your head.

I've hated cockroaches since I was a kid. My first impression with the lovely black insect is when I was in elementary school. Some of my classmates played a trick, which was about killing a cockroach, glued its body on a paper and put that stuff inside the drawer of my desk. As usual, before school day ended, I checked it and you can guess what the outcome was. Since that day, I have grown a deep hatred towards cockroaches. Day by day, that hatred turned into fear and for now, I don't even dare to see a picture of cockroach.

People say you have to face with your fear, and soon you will overcome it. As for me, seeing a cockroach in front of me is already bad enough. The one and only solution for me is : RUN FOR MY LIFE !!!

My New Year's resolution

Planning New Year's resolutions is a common thing Americans usually do at the beginning of the year. As for me, this is the 1st time I've heard of this term. After knowing the topic of the 2nd journal, I paid attention to a couples of advertisements and brochures and they all mentioned "New Year's resolution". In my opinion, it's good if we can list out things that we want to achieve within this year so that we can have a determination to make them work out. So here are my New Year's resolutions:

- First of all, what I need do as soon as possible is to get a driver's license. Although I don't have a car now but here in America, driver's license is as important as Social Security Number. Having a driver's license will assist me a lot for my life in America.

- Secondly, I'll be very glad if I can speak English fluently. Since I'm living near Little Saigon, it's pretty hard to practice English. The advantage is that I don't feel very homesick when I live here; however, it also lessens my chance of speaking English. My goal is practicing as much as possible, anywhere, anytime.

- Finally and hopefully, I'll be able to move out in the middle of March. I know it would be a challenge for me but this is my opportunity to have my own life, without any restrictions.

These are three things I need to achieve within this year. To make them come true means I have to face many problems but I'll try my best so that at the end of 2010, I can mark a tick at each of my new year's resolutions.

My very first introduction for my very first English weblog

Hi guys. This is QuynnnH (crazy name, I guess). First of all, I would like to warn you that you are reading one of the most boring biographies in the weblog world. Please be patient, I'll try to keep it as brief as possible. :P

Like the traditional way people have used many many many centuries ago (maybe since the prehistoric time) when introducing themselves to the public, I will begin this introduction with my name. The name is Quynh (please don't complain if it's hard to pronounce my name :P ). Quynh is not a very popular name in Vietnam , where I come from. My mother named me after her favorite flower which blooms only at midnight. To be honest, I haven't seen this flower before (or I'm not patient enough to stay up until midnight just to see the flower blooming). My hometown is Ho Chi Minh City, where we only have two seasons a year: dry and rainy seasons. When writing this post, it's raining outside. It reminds me of the rain in my hometown, which I love a lot. Although the sky has the same dull look like it does here, I didn't feel moody or depressed everytime I looked at it, and I enjoyed lying on bed reading comic books when it was raining outside. Looks like I'm starting being out of line.

Back to the topic, my major was Hospitality management. My first plan was to get an MBA here. However, due to some constraints, I changed to my backup plan, which is about getting a bachelor degree in nursing. Hopefully, this can work out, as I'm trying my best to overcome the entrance test (to be honest, I'm never good at math, biology and chemistry).
When I had free time, I loved reading Japanese comic books such as One Piece, Doraemon, and Fairy Tail; hanging out with my friends at bubble tea stores; playing games; and enjoying my mother's cooking. My lifestyle has changed a lot in order to adapt to the busy American life, as in terms of leisure time.
So it is the end of this boring biography. Next, I would like to tell you something about my trustable classmate who always gives me good advice. Introducing Candy. Back in China, she was an English teacher. That explains why she's very matured. She's also very friendly, outgoing and has good sense of humor. She just fulfilled the TESOL requirements and plans to get a master degree in education at CSUF.
I guess it is time to end this post. In conclusion, I'm very glad that I have a chance to study with you guys - my awesome classmates. I never thought that I would have such great experience in America.