The Huntington Library Reaction

Visiting The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens was a very impressive and interesting time with me. I was surprised with the beautiful and amazing places over there. It is not only simply a library, but also a huge museum with the world’s collection of a variety sources. That makes the remarkable and unique difference between The Huntington Library and other libraries I have experienced before. The main gate to enter to the library was small, high and quite special like a gate of the castle in a fairy tale story I used to read and imagine. I felt really impressive with this ancient style. There were many visitors visited the library at that time because that was a day of festival flowers and bonsais. They sold and displayed a lot of beautiful trees and flowers in the entrance road. I thought like I was going to enter to a new world. In there, I had the opportunities to visit the main exhibition hall, Dibner Hall of the History of Science and The Art Gallery of a library. My most favorite place was The Art Gallery. It had such wonderful collections of European Art. There were so many famous and original pieces of art which were displayed on the wall. I could not stop looking at these amazing pictures. Then, I was absorbed by the piece of British Art: “Pinkie” (1794) by Thomas Lawrence which is the permanent and unique collection of The Huntington. It was standing out from other pieces in the hall with the elegant and beautiful depiction of Sarah Barrett Moulton who passed at the age of eleven because of her illness. The more attractive places I love were Japanese Garden, Chinese Garden, Desert Garden and Rose Garden. All of Gardens were so incredible and had their own special beauty that attracts people’s attentions. For me, The Huntington Library is a great treasure of the world. If I have a chance I would like to visit this library again. I believe whoever comes there will be completely attracted by such a beautiful places over there.

Should the porn industry get some bailout money?

Under traumatic economy crisis, more than one million people lost their mortgages, and many banks suffered from bankruptcy during year 2008. At the same time, US Congress approved seven hundred billion bailout in order to salvage the industries as well as the banks. Indeed, the bailout, taken out from tax payment of citizens, is a deduction in their retirement; therefore, the money needs to be invested in right places. However, as stated in Times magazine, not only does the porn enterprise but also the central planners, who decide on bailout expenditure in Congress, are asking five billions to support porn companies even though their income is strong. This decision is an absurdity which should be viewed as an injudicious choice.
First and foremost, Porn is erotic entertainment that perverts many people’s minds; that kind of obscenity fantasizes people to waste their money and time on things that are unrealistic and immoral. A lot of people spend time on internet searching for porn instead of doing what they need to do. Thus, most of them loose concentration on daily basis .Moreover, porn can also isolate a person from the community since it is not something he is proud to share with family and friends. As a consequence, he becomes a loner in his own little fantasy world. Porn is not healthy to anyone, especially to juveniles by contaminating their thinking; therefore, it should be forbidden in society.
When approving a bailout, the governor should consider if porn is a need or it is just a temptation. In this major crisis, the money is to provide shelter and food for people and is to invest in businesses that are essential for the growth of the economy. For example, the automobile should have some bailout because transportation is important due to the fact that it tremendously affects on communication. If automobile companies corrupt, other companies will face a lot of problems distributing their products, and many people will frustrated in transporting. Nevertheless, porn is in an opposite situation. The economy does not descend without it. In fact, based on all the drawbacks that it causes in people’s life, it should be restricted, for all the porn addicts will be able to wake up from the fantasy and contribute to the benefit of the society.
Lastly, porn industries’ income was proven to be strong, so what do they need the money for? On CNN news, United States treasury announced that our country is in debt –ten trillion dollars; we, as tax payers, are working hard for this huge incurred liability hence as well as reviving enterprises that are on the edge of bankruptcy, so there is no reason why porn companies are qualified for this bailout. Besides, 5 billions dollars bailout was surprisingly asked by the central planners who are basically the governors instead of the porn consumers. If the consumers are willing to give up porn for their jobs and families, why do the governors demand to support it without rational reason, most notably a stable income?
Overall, not only is porn helpless but it is also harmful to us. As the result, the bailout need to be denied by the Congress to the porn industries; instead, it should be given to high potential investments and projects if we wish to consolidate the stumbling economy.

Drugs' Consequences

Drug has always been a major social problem in USA as well as around the world. Despite the law, drug use rate, especially among teenagers, is rising up. Bush administration report in 2006 showed that 9.8% of American kids between 12 and 17 years old used illegal drug in USA. Perhaps teenagers are still immature to handle peer pressure or to identify the tremendously devastating outcome of drug use.
American Academic of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry mentioned those who came from family abuse background or from depressing life are most likely to obtain drug. When we live in a disturbing or a stressful lives, we become humble for peace. Teenagers, instead of dealing with stress in a right way, depend on drug as if drug is the only way to vanish all the despair in reality. Plus, the additional peer pressure and lack of parental supervision even provoke more opportunities in drugs.
On physical affect, drug addicts suffer from fatigue, lack of enthusiasm and some other damages to brain and internal organs. For example, Steroid harms the hormone system, fertility, liver and heart. Also due to the dysfunctional brain, they decrease their motivation and interest in daily life. The capacity of consciousness declined in maintaining their daily routines which are usually coherent with restlessness, sudden weight change and moodiness. More severe addiction leads to memory loss, depression and sleeping problems; Therefore, addicts are usually hostile to their family and lost concentration on school work. They even have higher risk in violence, sex abuse or pregnancy since their ability of self-control reduces. As the result, in contrast to what the family and the society expect for, they become burdens and criminals not only to people around them but also to themselves. They are criticized and rejected by the society and that is one of the reasons why many teenagers commit suicide at such a young age.
Moreover, drug is a dangerous path leading to terminal illnesses such as HIV. Study showed that nearly 13000 people in USA died from HIV in 2005, especially those who had drug abuse. When mesmerizing by drug, drug addicts lose their alertness. They randomly have sex or use the same needles with HIV positive victims, which are very common ways to receive HIV.
Hence, the best way to stay healthy and alert is avoiding drugs and critically thinking the consequences rather than one-time satisfaction that drug can bring. Parents and the community should create a warm and concerning environment for drug addicts because they need encouragement to rehabilitate and to prolong their lives, not additional stress.

Political issues in Air Talk Show

In the radio show, “ArtTalk show,” Larry Mantle discussed an issue regarding whether or not terrorists should be afforded the same interrogation rights as other alleged criminals. In the AirTalk show, Mantle talked with Richard Parker, a Professor of Criminal Justice at Harvard, and Cully Stimson, a Senior Legal Scholar at the Heritage Foundation. According to AirTalk show, Mantle shares that President Obama is open to limiting Miranda rights for terrorist suspects. Republicans have criticized the administration for reading the Christmas Day bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, and Times Square would-be bomber, Faisal Shahzad, their rights. Richard Parker agrees with the Congress because terrorism is a dangerous crime in the nation and it couldn’t go free. For some safely reasons, Parker believes that the United States government made the right decision because the dangers of terrorism is more dangerous than any other groups of criminals. On the other hand, a lady’s call from the audience represents that the United States government should give Miranda rights to those suspected terrorists because they could be innocent. Moreover, she believes the government should protect the people who are innocent in the suspected terrorism. However, Stimson believes people want to focus on the safety of United States and the people around them. Therefore, the Congress should not give the Miranda rights to those people who are involved with terrorism. In my opinion, the suspected terrorists have the right to remain silent because the innocent people’s lives will be ruined if they don’t have Miranda rights. People who are going to talk are going to talk, and people who are not going to talk, are not going to talk. Therefore, the court needs to find more evidences to prove the suspected terrorists of being guilty. In short, the more terrorists that are proved correctly, the safer the United Stated of America will be. Another political issue on the show AirTalk hosted by Larry Mantle, it discussed about the controversial event whether Elena Kagan is worthy for the selection of Supreme Court. In Larry Mantle’s broadcast, he talked about this issue with his guests: David Savage (Supreme Court Reporter for LA Times), Mark Tushnet (Professor of Constitutional Law, Harvard Law School) and James R. Copeland, Director of the Center for Legal Policy at the Manhattan Institute. On Monday May 10, 2010 President Barack Obama officially nominated Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court. She replaced retiring Justice John Paul Stevens’ position and became the Court’s youngest member with the age of fifty. She is considered as the fourth female Supreme Court justice in US history and the third on the Court’s current bench. Playing the important role in the U.S. Government, Ms. Kagan has been received a lot of public opinions about her personal backgrounds. Despite of the fact that she was a former Dean Harvard Law school and a professor of Chicago University Law School, critics claim that she does not have any prior experiences as a judge and the possible charge of sexual harassment. However, according to the reporter David Savage’s opinion, her outstanding academic performance during the past years, she will be a terrific justice in the Supreme Court. He said people inside the Democratic Party know that she is a smart and charming person, easy to get along with people. Therefore, she will be a fairly conventional democrat for all of the most public’ issues. I agree with him that what people actually can do is more important than their personal’s lives. The nomination is nothing to bear with Ms.Kagan’s private life. It is unappreciated to have a negative view about her ability as a Justice when people have not seen her future performance.

Qualities to be Successful (Revised)_“Gotta Dance” by Jackson Jodie Davis

Everyone possesses different qualities but a successful individual requires certain ‘must have’ traits which undoubtedly vary from person to person. An entrepreneur must be competitive, highly motivated and energetic; while an artist should be creative, talented and passionate. No matter what occupation people, determination, having strong self-confidence and being hard-working are the most fundamental and essential qualities required in order to succeed.
There are opinion about the importance of determination is in leading to success in a world full of opinions and judgments from others and many unforeseen obstacles. In a story named “Gotta Dance” by Jackson Jodie Davis, the main character, Katie, keeps on pursuing her dream of dancing even when almost everyone in her family disapproves of the idea. Without the family’s support, the chance for her to attend lessons seems impossible. Nevertheless, by watching tapes and keeping practicing enthusiastically, she learns all her moves in secret. At last, after having her dancing skills mastered, she confidently decides to perform on stage and that is the period during which she gets extremely criticized by her family members. Ignoring all the family’s comments, she works hard at what she desires and achieves her dream. What if she was persuaded by her relatives? If so, there would be neither a wonderful performance nor an once-in-a-lifetime offer from the theatre. And above all, there would be no such thing as great accomplishment in Katie’s life. Stories of unfortunate children who have to abandon their dreams because of their parents’ disapproval still occur nowadays. Undoubtedly, the first key factor is the financial support from which most children are depended on their parents for tuition fees and living expenses. Secondly, children are used to the idea that their work must be highly valued, particularly by their parents or family relatives. Without that mental support, people often find themselves lacking of will. Return to the “Gotta Dance” story, ever since childhood, Katie had witnessed how the path of her brother, Mutt, had been completely planned out by others. Abandoning his dream and living out his life by default, he had no chance to feel accomplished. In contrast, on her road to success Katie had faced all discouraging obstacles but still persisted in pursuing her goal and refused to give up. Therefore, whether people want to succeed in business, to become an expert in their career fields, to master an art, all require a strong will, along a determination mind. Without this quality, most of today successful people would not accomplish their goals.
No matter where people come from, no matter how difficult their lives are, hard work is an indispensable quality which leads to success and separates successful people from others. In other words, regardless of your nationality, religion, family background or social status, it is the willingness to invest time and effort that separates successful people from others. A typical example is in a movie named Mad Hot Ballroom which is about a dancing competition between eleven-year-old students from New York public schools. At the beginning, coming from impoverished families, these young children have neither ideas about nor interests in ballroom dancing. However, with the help of instructors and lots of hard work, they gradually become talented like any young professional dancers. Some people might argue that there always will be limitations for people from lower classes in becoming successful in this society despite their effort. For example, a child of a poor worker, who lives in a slum area, will never have an opportunity to achieve as much as the noble classes’ children who attend private schools. Even with all these barriers, everyone always has chances on the way to achieve their goals by working hard.
Human instinct is to have desires, to pursue dreams and to achieve goals. The secret ingredient to attaining this overall success lies in personal improvement which subsequently leads to the development of our society today. In order to do so, acquiring these three qualities mentioned previously should be a person’s first steps on the golden journey to achievements.

Solutions for Obesity

Obesity is an issue that has been accused for many years. Nowadays more and more American adults and children are getting faster and faster because they eat high caloric food. Furthermore, obesity is a serious problem that can cause diseases such as heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, osteoarthritis, diabetes, and cancer. Moreover, the obesity has been affecting a high percentage of Americans. Therefore, American people should find the solutions for obesity to avoid a disease. As for me, I am a thin person, and I definitely know the approaches to avoid fat and keep healthy. There are many positive ways to solve the obesity. Specifically, having a healthy diet, participating some physical activities, keeping a happy mood in daily life, and making an individual long-term plan to overcome obesity.
If you eat more fruit or vegetables, you can have a healthier diet. In the United States, many people prefer to have fast food because it is easily available, and relatively cheap. However, some of the fast food contains high calories and fat and less nutrition. According to the Los Angeles Time, some food nutritionists state that there are many vitamins and nutrition in fruit such as apples, watermelons, etc. Moreover, some vegetables like cucumber, tomatoes, etc., they also offer necessary vitamins and nutrition for your body. When I was a child, I was a little bit fat. I didn’t care about how dangerous fast food was. I just absolutely knew it was delicious for me. At that time, my mother said to me, “Don’t eat too much fast food, or you will get fat.” I ignored my mother’s warning, and ate at least one hamburger a day. Finally, I was getting bigger and bigger, until I realized that I gained 20 pounds in one month. And then, I changed my diet into more fruit and vegetables. No more burgers or fried cook. After that, I got back to my healthy weight. Therefore, don’t eat too much, because fast food is the first step to weight loss.
Moreover, having a good diet is not good enough to overcome obesity, it is much better to get some physical activities. One of the most popular exercises I recommended is yoga. Yoga is a good activity, especially for girls. However, there are different types of yoga, it depends on the type of yoga you select and how frequency you practice it. For example, couple yoga works with couples to develop their love in relationship. In order to lose weight, you had better to choose a type of yoga called BikramYoga, in which it asks for a warm room to practice. While you practice Bikram Yoga, you feel sweating so this brings the fat out of your body. Once you decide to practice Bikram Yoga, you must do vigorous ninety minutes yoga class per week. I believe you will see the outcome in a month.. However, I think they can find spare time to do yoga when they have rest at home because yoga just need a quiet and small room to practice. Hence, yoga could be a good choice to overcome obesity.
In short, there are many different suggestions for the overcome and stop against obesity. As far as I am concerned, adding more fruit and vegetables instead of fast food in your diet is a good way to keep healthy. Moreover, taking some good exercise after work is a good suggestion for those office workers who sit all day in a room. Furthermore, in order to get more effective solutions, those obese people who try to plan their individual long-term plans should have a happy mood in mind. Only in these ways can American people beat the obesity in the end.

Direct and Indirect way in Speech

Speaking is a day to day activity. Japanese Language has many annoying rules in conversations, making Japanese people forced to conceal the truth when they have conversations. In Japan, there are words and phrases that women cannot say because there is a rule that says women are supposed to talk indirectly in conversations. There are two ways to talk, one is the direct way, and the other is the indirect way. In other words, people who tell you what they really think is the direct way, or those who are polite, but leave you wondering how they really feel is the indirect way. Some people prefer the direct way to talk because it is easier to express their ideas. On the other hand, people using the indirect way to talk believe it is not as easy to offend others. However, I don’t agree with the indirect way of conversing. A direct way is better rather than an indirect way, because the direct way in conversations is not only an easier way to express ideas clearly, but also it makes people become of more an honest person and can become more easily trusted. Different countries use indirect ways to talk, especially, in Asian cultures.
In Japan, many people, especially for women, may think twice about what they are going to say when dealing with their classmates or colleagues. There is a little difference between women and men in conversations. Women’s language is much more indirect than men’s. It is not fair for a woman, once she tells the truth people don’t like to hear, she is considered to be rude or uneducated. On the other hand, in the United States, everyone can speak in a direct way because they don’t want to make the conversation so complicated, and confuse people on what they really think. I believe in the United States, women talk in a more direct way, and it’s normal, no one will think she is rude. For example, in an American party, if a man is interested in a woman, he will show his love to her directly without hesitation. And also, if the woman hates it, she absolutely has the right to reject directly. As far as I am concerned, I am sure that it is much more comfortable to express my ideas clearly and directly when I have any kinds of conversations. It can make the conversation easier to understand, and we never get lost in the conversation. People may not get trust if they always use the indirect way to conceal the truth. On the contrary, in the United States, we are allowed to talk directly, so everyone doesn’t have to pretend, we can trust our people. While Japanese people talk indirectly and cannot ask a word when they get lost in the streets, American people are more direct to talk and can even say “What’s up, man!” to strangers when walking by. As for me, I still cannot forget the first day when I went to college. On that day, I couldn’t find my classroom, and I felt nervous, and then I asked for the help from the strange schoolmates. I was lucky; everyone liked to help me because they heard my direct way to ask for help. Therefore, if we begin talking in an indirect way, everyone may choose silence to reply to a stranger because it is protective for him or her. However, life would be boring and suspicious around us. Hence, if we change the indirect into a direct way, showing our ideas in honesty, we will have peaceful and lovely lives around us. The argument from Chinese people would be that talking in a direct way is not mature. For example, when the office employee want to raise their salaries, it is better to have an indirect way to talk with the boss otherwise the situation will get worse. However, we have to know that maturity has nothing to do with the way you talk in a direct way or not. Actually, in the United States, everyone wanting to talk directly doesn’t mean that they are not mature. It is because they don’t have so many rules and rituals in cultural history. As we all know, America is an immigrant and a young country, so women don’t have the rule that makes people talk indirectly. I believe America develops faster than any other countries because everyone can show their ideas directly, so no matter what the idea is, it always helpful for the development of the country.
In short, the direct way is better than the indirect way when people have their conversations. There are many benefits when we choose to use a direct way of talking, for example, we get trusted and we also can easily express our mind. As we talked above, we know that the way people choose to talk depends on different cultures and countries. Mostly, in Asian countries such as Japan and China, they would like to choose an indirect way to talk because it is polite and not offending. However, in the western culture, especially for the United States, people would like to choose direct ways to talk because it is understood and outstanding. What if Japan and China, change their talking style? They would get many benefits. I believe only in the direct way can people have a wonderful life in the future.

Confusing Harder with Better_Alfie Kohn

Education is important to everyone no matter who people are, and a good education can help people live better, or make a country get rich and strong. On the other hand, a bad or even poor education can push down people’s lives and slow down the development of a nation. Furthermore, the article, “Confusing Harder with Better” written by Alfie Kohn, states there exist an emergency education in the United State. In addition, Kohn’s viewpoints make good points about the education system including: a higher standard is not helpful, poor textbooks are not useful, and unnecessary homework is not appropriate.
First of all, making an unreasonable higher standard in order to fail the most of testers that is not helpful for learners to get real skills. As people read from the article, Kohn states that “The tests that result for students and sometimes for teachers are not just ridiculously difficult but simply ridiculous”, and he tells us a statement of an unreasonable higher standard for high school students has been supported by the governor of education in Colorado. Moreover, Kohn believes a college requirement test should not assign to the students in high school, and it is irrelevant for them with such a higher standard. At the same time, the author’s argument that test is not a man’s goal, his goal is to gain the knowledge he learned. As a result of the higher standard, students get failed grade, and this will make them feel frustrated and lose interests in their further study. In short, the teacher should make a little bit lower standard in their examination to students, and it will lead them to the right approach.
Secondly, the instructor use the poor textbook and just go by the worksheets to teacher will have a bad returns in their teaching. According to Kohn’s description, “a textbook does not become a more appropriate teaching tool just because it is intended for a higher grade level”. That is to say that many students work with the poor textbooks and just learn how to get good grade to pass the text, and nothing to do with the real skills practice. What’s more, Kohn suggests that the instructions should be reformed and the textbooks must be refreshed. Additionally, the writer’s points are effective when he says a good textbook can be a wonderful teaching tool that teachers could double returns from the students. For example, a science major student needs a lot of guidelines to work on experiment. If the textbooks give people a clear and understandable instruction, it will help the students to finish task easily. Anyway, a good textbook can give a lot of benefits to students.
Last, too much unnecessary homework and assignments will waste student’s energy and time to accomplish their study work. Specifically, According to the author opinions that get a lot of busy work without thinking is not a wise way to help students to learn the knowledge. Moreover, Kohn writes “It’s more exhausting to memorize a list of scientific vocabulary words than it is to learn scientific concepts…”(123). In addition, the students have to complete the homework which
contains many easy questions and it will makes them feel bored. The author’s point is correct because people who spend most of their time and energy on busy work will get less or little returns from the work. Hence, the teacher should assign students a real practice with skills or it will make the students get nothing at all.
In conclusion, many people feel the same way with Kohn, and they think the government should pay attention to those main problems in education: raising the standard in the test, using poor and dated textbooks to teach, giving a lot of busy work without thinking to the students. As long as the educators change their styles, it will influence a positive to the society. As long as people get good education, their lives will be more comfortable and beautiful.

Friendships from diffrent cultures

Life is like a journey.As we are going on our trip, we can meet thousands of travelers and they may come from different cultures or different values. For instance, Japanese people would like to bow to each other which means polite and friendly when Japanese people meet a first time. Likewise, Korean people must bow to their elders. Especially, when Koreans meet each other, they must say “hello” slowly and not too fast. As a Chinese like me, we definitely have different cultures and values from other countries. Specifically，I have a friend who’s name is Togrhol and he comes from Turkey. Even though we have different cultures and different values, we can share a good friendship. However, by showing respect, giving help and being modest so that Togrhol and I can have the ability to fit each other’s religions and different values of art, we can have a good friendship.To be respectful to my Turkish friend Togrhol is a wise way to make a contribution to our friendship. Despite the fact that the Turkish people are religious and most of them believe in Islam, most of the Chinese people are free. Togrhol is a Muslim so he celebrates Lesser Bairam which is a one-month-festival for Muslims. During the ceremony month, he only can eat at home when the sun goes down. Once upon a time, at school I asked him to eat together for lunch, however Togrhol rejected me and told me about the story of Lesser Bairam. At that time I was very shocked and felt awkward. Due to the fact that Chinese people always like to hang out with friends to go for lunch at school or at work, because we think we can enjoy our lunch with friends to develop our friendship.In order to respect Togrhol religion, I said ”Hey dude, I can understand you.We can still have a good meal when the sun goes down!” My friend smiled and said:”Thank you for your respect and I would like to share all my happiness with you because you understand me!”At last, we had a good dinner on that day after the sun went down.From now on, we respect each other more and communicate closely and it also helps us to develop our friendship because we feel familiar with each other and comfortable when we meet respectfully. In addition, it is important to show a respectful heart to the people who have different values from me such as my friend Togrhol has religions to believe , it will get a positive way to help my friendship grow.

The Challenge of Cooking For Myself

Some people maybe face the problems with their families, the academic adversities, or financial challenges. Studying abroad is a difficult assignment for everyone and different people have different challenges.As for me,when I came to United States of America,on 19th August,2008,arriving at Lax,I was thinking of my empty stomach and I would begin to learn how to cook for myself.I had never cooked before I came here and there were lots of cooking skills which are very necessary for me to learn now.While defeating this challenge,I have learnt a lot not only cooking skills but also learning how to cook makes me became stronger and stronger in my mind.
Before I start to learn how to cook,.I need to know what kind of assignments that I need to be done.It is not easy to cook the right food especially for one who had never cooked before.What’s more,I am not crazy about cooking and I know I need to take care of myself for eating.However,I didn’t know what to buy from the superstore.I couldn’t even find the Vietnamese supermarket with the food I like and I didn’t have any car that I could drive to the Vietnamese superstore.That was very unbelievable to survive without eating food which I like.In order to buy my favourite food,I would learn how to drive in California.Additionally,I should be familiar with how much cooking time would be enough for each dish so that it will be delicious.Moreover,I have to clean up all the plates,chopsticks,cups,pans,forks and so on otherwise the food will turn wrong.
It is very advisable for me to have a pre-plan for the challenges.I still remember the first month that I tried my best to search for the right place to go shopping.At that time,I made a list to make sure what I needed to buy like the kitchenware,vegetables,pork etc.The destination and the bus schedule were prepared on google.Everything was going to be right so that I could go shopping for food.It was very hard for me so I said to myself”Don’t let the challenge break me down!I can do it!”When I came back with my food, opening the Internet and asking for my mother how to cook Chinese meal, my mother would be online to tell me how to use the cooking tools perfectly and more specific steps for cooking through the Network Video.She was very patient to teach me how to complete the work and encourage me never give up.She said”Believe in yourself that is the secret of success!”At that moment,I felt the great love from motherhood.After a couple of weeks,I really made some delicious Chinese meals by myself without my mother’s guidelines.By the second month,I spoke highly of myself and be satisfied with my cooking skills.They was developed.There was a big smile on my face after I cooked for myself every day!
From overcoming this challenge,I learnt at least there principles to make me stronger.First of all,I found it was not easy to fix some small challenges well if you never try it,and I should acquaint myself with such a small challenge so that it can provide my beautiful and comfortable life.Nowadays,it were beneficial to me to choose the classes more carefully from the spring semester schedule book.I had to be calm to consider what I want for classes.Second,good attitude towards the challenge will have a satisfying result.Do not care if it big or not,there is one principle I should keep in mind namely facing the challenge,the more I try to avoid it the worse the situation will be.For instance,several days ago,I forgot to pay my electricity bills on time therefore the company cut my service off when I came back home from school.I felt a little bit nervous at that moment,whereas after
a few minutes I called the company to explain it was my fault and I would pay the bill as soon as possible.The next day I paid the bill and solved my problem in time.Last but not least,I should try my
best to finish my jobs.For example,I found a part-time job at Starbucks and I am responsible for cleaning.Because I have tried my best to clean everything in Starbucks,my boss praised me with extra tips.In a word,the three important principles that I learnt help me became mature in my life. Without these three principles, I believe the challenge will be more difficult for me.
In general,I would like to say thanks to my parents to give me such a precious chance to overcome this cooking challenge and it not only taught me how to cook well but also made me know small matters are necessary and even significant for me to know how to do well.The good attitude is the success of mother and try my best to every challenge.I believe it is a precious experience in my whole life.I believe I can defeat whatever challenges I faced in my life.I believe as long as I make great efforts to those challenges that I can go through them.As long as I get though many challenges I will have a bright future. As common sense says, great experiences can benefit people who really want to make their life more and more comfortable.Only in these ways,can I get through the challenge and have a wonderful life in my future.

The Culture In America and Vietnam: The Similarities

Besides all the differences, Vietnam and America still have many similarities because of cultural influences. In the aspect of food, one of the similarities is fast-food restaurants. Nowadays, more and more Vietnamese people prefer fast-food in order to save time in cooking and cleaning. That habit has just started in recent years due to the spreading of fast-food restaurants; while to Americans, fast-food has become an indispensable part of the food culture. The American fast-food subculture is a combination of many countries in the world, such as Taco Bell from Mexico and Noodles and Company from Asia. According to sociologists, this similarity can be explained as the effects of cultural leveling, a process in which cultures become similar to one another. The demands of people in raising the standard of living are higher in the modern life; therefore adapting the custom in another country is necessary. Food is one of good factor of connecting two cultures together. The second aspect – traffic law – also has some similarities. When there is a police officer’s presence, everyone will try their best not to draw any attention, even when they are driving correctly. That is the human beings. Some examples are speeding at the intersection when the light is yellow, or changing lane quickly on the free way. These behaviors are not against the law but may become the reason for a police to stop their cars and check driver licensees. The reason is people do not want to get into any trouble that may get them late for work or school, especially when the trouble come along with a police officer and some investigating questions. The last aspect – handicapped treatment – shows how much people from both countries care for the limited people, which is the result of human race’s character. The different level of concerning on handicapped treatment by the governments can be explained by the development of each country’s economic. However, the ways people behaviors to handicapped are very similar. They are always pleased to lend limited people help such as opening the door, moving the wheelchair, and crossing the street. For thousands years of development, mankind have always highly approve showing love and care to others, especially individuals who are lack of abilities. It has become one of our daily life’s norms. People who go against it will receive disapproval from the society. On top of that, showing love and care is also one of our human race’s instincts. Overall, differences and similarities in societies, influences from other countries, the effectiveness of law enforcement, and the attitude of people lead to the resemblances and variations in cultures of America and Vietnam. By understanding these three aspects – food, traffic law, handicapped treatment - people can have a general overview of both cultures. Knowing other country’s ways of living is very important to people who are trying to fit in the new environment, especially me, an international student in the United States.

The Culture in America and Vietam: Treatment of the handicapped

The third aspect – treatment of the handicapped – shows a deficiency of the Vietnamese government in paying attention to people who need special aids, which may be a character of a developing economic. Vietnamese handicapped people do not receive the special cares and policies from the government to support for their disability like American government. Those people do not have the chance to go to malls, restaurants, schools because of a lack of facilities. Government does not have the budget to help all of these people, even though some organizations and individual are still trying to donate money to help them. Most of the time, they have to spend time at home and be taken care of by their families. Some of them stay in the house care and receive the attention of volunteer people. However, the health care still has the limitation due to the budget of Government and the lack of carrying of society in these people. In addition, without the special education and training, these handicapped people slowly are left out of the labor force. The American government, however, is very concerned about creating opportunities for handicapped people to adapt to the society, such as elevators to help them to get to the upper floor, ramps on the buses to let handicapped use public transportation, special parking lots for handicapped people near the front and so on. These things are really necessary and beneficial for handicapped people to live beyond the society. Life will be easier and less stressful for them to adapt. Moreover, every handicapped always have the chance to study as long as they want to. Some people also gain admirable achievement. Community colleges and universities are welcome the handicapped students to study and have special facilities for them to support for their studies. Handicapped people have their own parking space and their own table to study which are in Vietnam do not have these. Therefore, handicapped people have a strong supporting service for them to develop their talent and ability to become a productivity member in society. An example is the famous physicist Stephen Hawking, who is known as the excellent physicist in the ranking of Einstein. With all of the assistance, handicapped in America can live independently as a normal person. While in Vietnamese, they may lose confidence in themselves and being dropped out of the society. They feel hesitated and disgraceful to face the world outside. Thus, the Vietnamese Government should consider and think for handicapped people more and find the effective methods to support them. By a general overview, American is more considered about handicapped treatment than Vietnamese government. Obviously, the American economy is far more developed than Vietnamese. With a tight budget, Vietnamese government cannot do much for the handicapped people. They have to invest money in others infrastructure, which are more important and essential for the country development such as resource exploitation facilities and factories. In addition, the population density of Vietnam is the main issue that leads to the out of control in the facility for their citizens. The Vietnamese government cannot create job opportunities and living chances for everyone, especially impaired people while there are still many unemployed normal people. It maybe takes a lot of time and efforts for the country to develop a strong economy. Under these circumstances, American government has surpassed Vietnamese in treatment for the handicapped. That is the obvious thing Vietnamese Government should learn and try to archive me the future. Welfare is significantly important and reflects the country’s development, therefore to build up the strong economy, government should not skip this part.

The Culture in America and Vietnam: Traffic laws

Another big gap in culture between Vietnam and America is the traffic laws, which may be the result of how differently the law enforcement affects society. One of the most impressive points of Vietnamese traffic that American tourists usually complain about is traffic jams. Although the main transportation in Vietnam is motorbike, which is small in size, the traffic still gets heavy daily because most drivers do not care about the laws. Sometimes just crossing the red light will result in a terrible accident. In contrast to Vietnamese, most American people think of traffic laws as something that cannot be broken, or at least should not be. They all understand that a mistake may lead to a serious accident on the freeway or an expensive ticket from the police officer. These prices are very high to pay for a few minutes earlier. One reason to explain the difference is the Vietnamese law enforcement is not strict enough to force people into the right ways. In Vietnam, police officers can be convinced easily by offenders, maybe sometimes with the help of a bribe. Contrasting from that, American policemen are very strict and consistent. Giving them money when being caught may result in another ticket for giving a bribe. Not only the viewpoint about traffic law that Vietnamese people should be concern more, but also the attitude and how they behavior to others. An example is the Vietnamese horn, which varies in meaning such as a warning, a shout, or sometimes just because drivers have nothing to do in the traffic jams. When drivers get stuck in the traffic, there is no mercy on the road. There is no line, no order, and no priority. People try every strategy they have in mind such as going on sidewalks or slowly move forward in groups even when the traffic light is red. Americans, contrastingly, are usually nice to others on the street. They only use horn to warn people that they are driving wrongly or about danger. Moreover, as I experienced, drivers are willing to stop for a few seconds to let people walk across the street even when there is no right for pedestrians to do so. When there is an accident, people prefer calling the police or trading insurance information than shouting and jumping into a fight with each others like Vietnamese men. Being nice and polite may be a characteristic of American culture. By learning and obeying the law, American people have also learned attitude, norms to respect other drivers. While in Vietnam, many drivers show the same attitude to others as they show to the law, their disrespect and rudeness.

The Culture in Ameria and Vietnam : Food

Do you know that eating dog is a common behavior when men gather in Vietnam but is against the law in America? Vietnamese assume that it is acceptable to kill and eat dogs. So are American assumptions that it is wrong to do either of these things. Obviously, each country’s culture has influence on all aspects of its population’s lives. By comparing the aspects of food, traffic law and handicapped treatment, people can understand more about the cultures of these two countries and how they affect behaviors of individuals.
The first basic aspect when comparing two countries is food, which has many differences due to the effects of history and traditions of each country. An example is the way people cook and eat. As a former colony of China, Vietnamese cooks usually use a wok instead of a normal pan. They also use some ingredients that cannot be found in American recipes such as fish sauce and soy sauce. Moreover, Vietnamese people always use chopsticks and spoons to eat while Americans prefer forks and knives. Some Americans also use chopsticks because American culture is a combination of many other countries of immigrants. While in Vietnam, a country which has been colonized and invaded for almost 1000 years by China, Chinese culture has become a part of Vietnamese culture and also influenced the tradition of Vietnam. In a traditional Vietnamese family meal, younger children have to ask their parents or grandparents to eat first then they follow in order to show their respect. In an American meal, however, all people in family only have to say grace and then share food equally by passing the plate around. Form these customs in food we can see the differences between two cultures. It does not merely influence people’s habit of eating, but also influence they way people behave to things and change the way they think. In Vietnam, having the meal with family together is really important and meaningful. All of family’s members enjoy and help each other make a meal. They find the happiness and joyfulness in seating in the same table and talk with each other. Younger generations always show the respects to their older family’s members. In contract, American families hardly have a meal together. They are so busy and focus too much on their jobs; therefore they usually choose the fastest way to save time. Everyone has their own meal and most likely in the fast food store. However, experiencing many fast foods routinely is not healthy for people’s body. French fries, pizzas, hamburgers, and drinks consist many harmful factors can affect our health. That is American people experience some illnesses from overusing fast foods. However, Vietnamese people are quite different. They refer make food by themselves and fast foods are not a common type here. Eating fast foods costs a lot of money for them in general because the standard of living in Vietnam. Instead of spending their money on fast foods which are quite expensive for Vietnamese people, they choose to make their traditional foods. It might take time to cook these foods, but they are healthy and have suitable taste for Vietnamese people. Therefore, international students from Vietnam going abroad to America, they usually have their lunch box with them. They like to make their own food. It not only saves time, but also their enjoyable thing to do. Different custom and different culture can lead to living’s habit of people.

Diagnostic Exam: An atomic bomb in Japan

“The world is very different now. For man holds in his mortal hands the power to abolish all forms of human poverty, and all forms of human life” said John F. Kennedy. Nowadays, with high technology inventions, human beings can change the world almost as they want. However, those inventions bring not only benefits, but also negative effects. An atomic bomb is one of the most influent inventions of human kind that not only affects human society but also the environment for generations.
T first, the research of atomic bomb was more like an experiment for study than trying to create a massive effect weapon. After testing in non-civilian areas, the U.S decided to use this bomb against Japan in World War II two times. These attacks showed the huge killing effect of the atomic bombs. The two bombs killed almost all human beings in two cities, especially Hiroshima. The most negative effect that atomic bomb is that soldiers are not the only type of people it kills. When an atomic bomb is dropped, every single life is taken, not only the adults but also the children, babies, eldest, sick and disables people. Furthermore, those people who are far away from the bomb dropping point may get genetic diseases which can affect their children for generations. Today, more than fifty years from the disasters in Hiroshima, Japanese people are still affected by that curse.
However, human society was not the only one who had to suffer from that invention; the environment and all species live in it were also affected. All the plant and animal in the area were killed right after the bomb was dropped. Flying high in the sky or digging deeply to the ground did not bring animals much chances. The bomb poisoned the air, the water and the ground so that there was no escape for any species in the area. The Japanese people have been rebuilding the environment for many years but everything is like the old time yet.
In conclusion, by looking at the example of the disasters in Japan, we can easily realize how dangerous an atomic bomb could be. With the development of technologies day by day, it is becoming more and more effective. As life goes on, there are more advanced technologies. However, new technologies or inventions should make our world better instead of destroying it.

The Culture Shock

The term, culture shock, was introduced for the first time in 1958 to describe the anxiety produced when a person moves to a completely new environment. This term expresses the immigrant’s lack of direction, the feeling of not knowing what to do or how to do things in a new environment, now knowing what is appropriate or inappropriate. The feeling of culture shock generally sets in after the first few weeks of coming to a new place.
Like me when I first came to America, I was really shy and hesitated to communicate and interact with people around me in the total new environment. Everything was quite different that made me take time to adapt it and sometimes I felt depress and stressful to get used to it. I saw people in America live the life obviously different from my country’s culture and custom. They were really opened and friendly with people, but I did not know how to react or respond to them. When I enroll in the English course in Irvine Valley College, I honestly helped the difficult time at first to communicate and learn English with my international friends and teachers. I tried to talk with myself that I shouldn’t be shy, just talk with them freely and naturally, but I almost kept silence instead. Sometimes, I wanted to cry or felt homesick when I was beyond of the new environment alone without any Vietnamese student there. It was good for me to practice English and I got better after one month. I think one of the reason was I got Culture Shock. We can describe culture shock as the physical and emotional discomfort one suffers when coming to live in another country or a place different from the place of origin. Often, the way that we lived before is not acceptable in the new place. Everything seems different. That was why I had special reactions and responds to things which were unfamiliar to me. Everyone has this type of emotion when he or she interact which new environment, but we should control it properly other while we will have difficult life because of Culture Shock. Just studying how to adapt it and think yourself as a part of a new culture, you will find the better way to overcome your emotion problem. Even though, I had a hard time at first to adapt American culture, and right now I still have it, but I have been trying my best to get used to it. I found out many interesting customs and cultures over here from different foreign countries and their cultures. I learned and experienced a lot of useful things. I started confusing should I go back my country or stay here to develop my career and life. I think learning to adapt a new culture and overcome the culture shock is really a great experience for everyone. We should like a transformable animal can easily adapt to new environment, therefore we can have a better life in anywhere we go. Culture Shock is just a temporary emotion; it will be gone gradually when you start accepting your new place.
The symptoms of culture shock can appear at different times. Although one can experience real pain from culture shock, it is also an opportunity for redefining one’s life objectives. It can be an opportunity for learning and acquiring new perspectives. Culture shock can make one develop a better understanding of oneself and stimulate personal creativity.

The difference between city life in US and Vietnam

There are three differences of city life between US and Vietnam including environment, transportation and entertainment. The notable difference between the city life in US and Vietnam is the environment. As everyone knows, US is a develop country with many factories, but it does not meant that the environment is polluted. In contract, the city here is quite fresh and clear. There are many trees are grown to keep the air clear and reduce less dirty. Furthermore, the landscapes are diversity. There are some beaches and mountains which make the city much more beautiful. On the other hand, the Vietnam, the city’s environment is not as good as in US. The pollution is rising everyday because of the crowded population and dirt from transportations. The land is not enough for living, so all park is becoming high building that makes more increasable of pollution. Secondly, transportation between these cities is significant difference. In US, the common transportation is car. Everybody uses car to go to school and go to work. Moreover, the public transportation is in high quality and convenient. In addition, the roads are wide, clean and beautiful, so the traffic jam rarely happens. Differently from the US, motorcycle is the common vehicle in Vietnam. There is about 95 percentage people use motorcycle for everyday activities. Otherwise, the main public transportation is bus. However it cannot afford the people’s demand because of lack of qualification. The traffic jam happens every day in almost street in the city. For example, in DienBienPhu Street (a high way in a Vietnam’s city) the traffic jam goes on daily at the rush hour. Finally, one more difference is the entertainment of these cities. American usually goes to shopping or goes to bar in other to reduce stress. There are also a lot of theme parks such as Disney Land or Universal studio, etc which have a lot of activities like watching 3D film or playing roller coaster where people can go and enjoy their holiday. However, in Vietnam, people tend to go to their favorite coffee shop to listen to the music or relax after hard working. Besides that, going to karaoke bar where people usually go on the occasion of the weekend, the birthday parties or Lunar New Year is really popular. Consequently, although the city life is busy, there are some differences between city life in Vietnam and US in terms of the environment, transportation and entertainment. If I have a choice I would like having a city life in US more than Vietnam.

Influences of computer in society

Nowadays, computerization is increasing dramatically. Computers, which appear in many offices, factories as well as schools, become more and more necessary and important in society. However, computers can be harmful. There are three main examples for how computers hurt our society. The first problem is computers seriously influence the way of our interaction. Some people spend more time in computers than talk to their friends or their families; their personal interaction therefore reduces every day. For example, in my host house, my host mother’s son likes spend all the time in the internet. He does not like to go out or talk to another people. Even though I have been living in their house for almost 5 months, I talk to him just two times. Now, he cannot speak very fluently and hardly explain what he wants to say. Moreover, when people like e-mailing for their friends instead of talking to them habitually, they can forget how to interact with people. The misinterpretation might be made by e-mail because people cannot see the emotion and the body language of what their friends say. Secondly, computers not only influence our interaction, but also affect our health. The person who interacts with computer too much can have problems with their eyes. Specifically, if somebody takes more than four hours each day to look at the computer screen, they can be short sighted or astigmatic. In addition, when people are addicted to computers, they rarely go outside and take part in social activities. It leads them gradually to become lazy, sluggish and less active. Therefore, their supplemental energy is stored up day by day which can cause obesity. Besides that, people can even die because of using computer overtime. For instance, five years ago, in Vietnam, a boy died, for he had played game and chatted to such an extent that he forgot to eat. The last example is computer games might cause of violence. Especially teenagers, most of their violence is from the violent game. They deeply fall into the virtual world and cannot distinguish where the real world is and where the illusion is. They play the games and think it is normal behavior. They act like their characters in the game and violence happen because the computer games deeply affect their minds. In conclusion, computers can be harmful in some ways including the negative influence of our interaction, our health problems and an increase of violence.

Christmas 's memories

Christmas is one of my favorite holidays of the year. I still don’t know when I began expecting this time coming that much. I feel happy and warm whenever I think about such special and wonderful events on every Christmas. I can get together with my family and my friends, decorate Christmas’ tree and go out to enjoy beautiful decorations on the Churches or on the public places. I had a lot of good memories with my friends and family on Christmas time. The first memory I remember was I went out with my best friends to go to the Church on five or sixes years ago. At that time my hometown was really crowed and had many traffic jams. All of the streets were congested with people and vehicles. It was so hard to get into the main center of the Church. Furthermore, the weather of that Christmas was freezing cold, especially my hometown located in the highland of our country. We wore many warm clothes and hold hands tightly to go throught the crowd. Finally we could get into the Church and worked around to see people decorated Christmas trees and around the Church. Everything was so beautiful and miraculous. The colorful lights were twinkling and caught of everyone in the cold night. It made people feel warm when they looked at those twinkling lights. Like everyone we were absorbed to see all of special things going on around us. Even though, we were not Christians, we still really enjoy and cherish this time. I think it has been an international and common event for everyone every religion in the world, not just only for Christian people. After walking around the Church, we went to the studio to take pictures. In the studio had a lot of beautiful decorations for Christmas, we loved talking pictures over there and saved those for memories. I didn’t do a lot of special things on that day, but I felt something really special and unforgettable time with my friends when I remember the time we took pictures together. The second Christmas I couldn’t forget was the time my family celebrated Christmas together. With me it was truly a great and meaningful time. My father placed Santa Clause to make us happy and dance with us. He really looked like Santa Clause because his chubby shape. His face was full of love toward us. He always made his children feel secure and warm. That has been always the most unique thing I proud of my dad. At that Christmas, we had a buffet party with the presents of many our relatives and our family’s close friends. There were a lot of delicious food and fruits that my mom and we made. Everyone was all happy and enjoyable. We were really excited to play around with Christmas’s tree because it was the first time we were allowed to have Christmas tree in our life. We had to take a lot of time convincing my dad to buy and decorate a Christmas tree, even though my grandfather didn’t want us to put the Christian’s stuff against Buddhist religion. That was also the reason I used to cry many time whenever Christmas coming without having Christmas tree. Seeing Christmas tree I felt it was hiding a lot of miraculous and mysterious things about Christmas. Moreover the last thing I liked to talk about was my time trying to give Christmas gifts for my sisters. I had to stay up late and waited until they all slept and secretly put the presents on their beds. I hope they would feel the Christmas’s atmosphere and see their happy expressions when they received the gifts from Santa Clause. That was the thing I didn’t experience, therefore I wanted my sisters would feel happy and believe more in the beautiful and miraculous thing in Christmas.

The flowers’ city: Dalat-Vietnam

My hometown is near Dalat which is a very beautiful and romantic city in Vietnam. Dalat has a cold weather and fresh air with a lot of fogs and pine-trees. However, this place has such a special thing to proud of is all of beautiful flowers are located here. Therefore, it is also called the city of flowers. Not only famous about having flowers, it is also famous for coffees and teas.
Every year, Dalat has a festival flowers and festival teas and coffees which are really popular and famous in our country. At that time, people in all of other places will try to get here to join our special festival annually. Before festival coming, we prepare a lot of things to decorate our city. People have to plant flowers and estimate the right time to make sure all of flowers will be blew up before the festival. Middle school and high school students are selected to dance and sing for the festival. We will practice traditional dances to welcome visitors traveling from other places. Everyone is always excited and can’t wait for the festival. If you go there around the festival time you will see plenty of colorful and beautiful flowers in every street and corner of Dalat city. It makes Dalat so special and fascinating at that season. People will be stunning with the natural beauty of the flowers’city. The most favorite flower I like when I went there was peach’s flowers which blew up in everywhere here. It looked like cherry bloom of Japan, but it is originally from Vietnam. It carried the pink color which is my lovely color and it made all of the streets look so beautiful and lively. Feeling like you are in the Chinese New Year. The festival will be held in the stadium of Dalat’s center. It is the biggest event in our city; however it always happens in the winter time which is the most freezing time of this place. We have to wear a lot of warm clothes to go outside and see the flowers’ parade. It is the most interesting and attractive part of the festival. Visitors will see all of beautiful and variety of flowers on the streets which are decorated around the colorful vehicles such as cars, motorbikes or bicycles. The participators will perform their dances, sing and introduce about flowers and the events. It will be over-crowed that day. No matter how cold the weather is, people still come here crowdedly. They will try to take pictures and enjoy the special time together. At night, the music performance will be officially opened. A lot of famous and important people will be invited to watch the show. It will be lived on the main channel of our country to let all of people can see it through watching television. Many special events will e performed: traditional dances and songs. You will see special and unique performance of highland’s tribe. They will wear their custom, dance around the bonfire to show their friendship and their proud about their city. It is promised will be the unforgettable event for visitors who decide to travel to this beautiful city. I hope everyone would have the chance to join this event in my city one day because you will not regret about what you will experience there. One more thing is don’t forget to visit The Dalat flower’s park next to Xuan Huong Lake. Both of them are the main attractions there. You can see the variety of flowers from over the world in the park and rent the bicycle to sign seeing with your friends around the lake.
For me, Dalat is such a beautiful and romantic place, especially it also regards to the city of love. I hope I could visit there again someday.