wonder of the world

Saint Basil cathedral was one of the wonders from old traditonal list of seven wonders of the world.Located in Russia, Moscow on the Red Square near the Kremlin, it was construct by the famoust for that time Italian designer. When it was completely built Russian tsar(ruler) ordered to destroy all designs for a building and to blind the achitector, becouse it was so beautiful and nobody must not reiterate it even it's creator.

Your Progess

Try to do:

1. Rate Builder

2. Power Builder

3. Newspaper Reading

4. Paced Reading

5. Timed Reading

Because this is probably the last time you will visit this blog, let's try to gain some perspective on your progress. Along with your comment on your reading progress, try to mention some other ares of your language development you think you might need to work on. Vocabulary, grammar, writing, etc. Hopefully this summer you gained some perspective on where you have to go from here.

How does pain affect a person’s life?

Everyday we are facing up unexpected or incidental happening which can cause pains in our lives. Those pains can affect us in two ways, physically and mentally.
Someone can be affected physically by suffering from diseases, natural disasters and some kinds of accidents. For example, when I commute, I hit a sign board from a skyscraper unexpectedly and I get injured. And also it could be more dangerous and cause to death. Even though pains will be gone, those effects might still remain.
In term of mental pains, we have countless stress from a job and a school and doing chores at home every day. When couples break up, they have a hard time in getting along with and forgetting about the relationship. In conclusion, we try to cope with all kind of pains near us with the most desirable ways we want things to be. (by Gena, Grace and Jennifer)

What is the value of having a pet? a hobby

by Khamis, Wayne, Jung Ki, Yong Hyun

Out discussion team had a time to think about recent meaning of pets. It is not only just our friends to share time with, but also they have a lot of meaningful aspects such as family member, helping people, and making money.

Some people who are lonely or can not have babies need a pet as their family. They need something to stay with him. Dogs and cats can give them much fun.
Sometimes pets can help people who are handicapped, introvert children. We can easily see some dog help handicapped people to go across the street. Moreover, some people who have mental problem such as introverts can be cured their problem by just spending time with their pet. And sometimes, pets can rescue people.
People can use pets to make money. For example, some people who have pets enroll them in the some sports games, and the owner of the pet winning the race can earn much money. Sometimes they can be used to hunt other animals. For example, falcon catch gazelle, or dogs trace rabbits for hunters. And also there are a lot of beauty concerts for pets.

How the stress of tests affects us?

People take the tests from they are very young. Everybody has ever experienced the stresses of the test. Why causes the stress? Some people think that they worry about the results of the tests. For example, because the tests, they might fail the courses, loose their job, or disappoint their parents. Also, some people think that they worry about that they don’t have enough time to prepare to take the test. Because they don’t know which part of question will be on the test, they don’t know how to prepare to take it. These reasons cause the stress of tests and there are some effects from the stress. Some people will study harder because the stresses. However, some people think that the stresses make them very uncomfortable and they want give up the test. They can’t stand with the stresses anymore. Therefore, some stress might encourage people work hard but if the stress is very strong, people might give up or commit suicide.

by kyungin, Abdulrahman, and Tim

Cause and Effect

What are the effects of the computer on the quality of your writing?

The computer has many effects on the quality of writing. Some of which are really great, and other are bad. Computer can helps to have really nice hand writing. Also we can save our work easily on the computer, so we don’t lose them. In addition, we can make copes of our documents as much as we want. Furthermore, it’s easier and more comfortable to type on the computer, because the computer will check your spelling, so you don’t have to worry about it. Another Important think the computer can help us with is that it will always look neat and nice when we write on the computer. The fact that computer make our writing look neat and nice, will help even the reader to read what we write easily. Computer also has some bad effects on our writing; for example if we get used to use the computer to write, we will not be able to write without it. As a result we will depend on the checking spelling program and will not be able to write correct and clear writing without it.

Abdul, you lim,and yam

Collaborative task: Cause and Effect

At this point, we have looked at cause and effect from many different angles. Your last collaborative task is to explore one more topic with your group and then write a paragraph about your findings. Group 1 will talk about one of the topics from 1 to 3, Group 2 will talk about one of the topics from 4 to 6, Group 3 will talk about one of the topics from 7 to 9, and Group 4 will talk about one of the topics from 10 to 12.

1. Explain the effects of stress on you. Focus by limiting to a specific situation.

2. How can one individual have an effect on the environment?

3. What are the signs of teenage depression? How can teenage depression be prevented or treated?

4. What are the effects of the computer on the quality of your writing?

5. What are the physical effects of anger?

6. Is the media a reflection of society's ills or does it cause society's ills?

7. What effect has the automobile had on the American society?

8. What is the value of having a pet? a hobby?

9. What are the effects of beauty? ugliness? poverty? wealth?

10. How does pain effect a person's life?

11. Which is more of an influence on a person's life -- genetics or environment?

12. What influence do you have over your friends and/or family? Why?

The life in Qatar and U.S.A

Every person is looking for the best in his\her life and use any way that will permit him to achieve his dream, Sometime we find difficulties, but our ambition is large or these difficulties, some people are get out from their country Just to find good education and then get back to his country. I’m on of them, and sure, with the first every experiment you will find some problems. I will take about the changes that I have faced since I came here in US.

The first change that I have faced is the place where I live. I have big house, but now I live in a apartment with narrow rooms. I can’t feel comfortable with this state. Sometime I feel upset because I used to living in a big house. So now I have to get along with this state, I hope that to get along with this state.

A Second change has been about the food and the big difference that I faced. When I was in my country I didn’t care about the food, but now everything has become different here in the US. If I have been becoming hungry, I must help myself. Sometimes I have even slept without having a dinner because I felt tired and I couldn’t make dinner.

Third change has been about the responsibility that I have. My responsibility has become larger, In Qatar I have no responsibility just care on my study. Now my life is becoming different I have to wake up early and make the breakfast. Also I have to wash my clothes every week as not usual and I have to take care of my apartment.

I faced many problems in eating in style life and way of communication with the people but I had strong Determination. As I write in the introduction everyone are dreaming to achieve his ambition. I faced many problem, but my dream is big as the sky, and these changes that I faced don’t effect on me, but it give me more power and energy, like to spend my time here successfully and get back to my country.

Check Your Reading

At this point we have another week until the big day. In this hour, really try to push yourself and read faster for better comprehension. Try to do the follwing tasks in one hour and leave 5 minutes at the end of that hour to put a comment on this post that reports your results.

Try to do:

1. Rate Builder

2. Power Builder

3. Newspaper Reading

4. Paced Reading

5. Timed Reading

Now place a comment on this post concerning your results. How did you do?

Difference between American buses and Korean buses

There are different three things in bus between U.S and Korea. First, we can’t get on a bus with a bicycle in Korea. The bus doesn't have a equipment which is able to carry the bicycle. Second, we maybe eat food in a bus in Korea. When I was teenager, we ate food in a bus. I am not sure that eating food in bus is possible now. Last, to stop a bus, we push a stop bell on bus. I was confused about not founding how to stop the bus when I got on shuttle bus first time.

similarity and differences

How many similarities and differences between people except race, religious,culture?Learning English language with students from Korea, Africa ,Taiwan,Japan,Thailand,Qatar,China to figure it out became easy to me.Moreover in general we are the same.I mean people are similar in wishes;for example,to be more educative for successful future;similar in hope-get a dream job,be happy.Of course with specific differences depends on own personality;for example each of us has its own comprehension of "dream" job or the way to be happy.One more example to make it clear. If you look at your hand in general there is no difference between usual human hand,but your fingers-print are unique.All I want to say people mast pay more attention to similarity of each other and maybe as a result it will be less nomber of conflicts,terrorist acts,wars.

Why people come to U.S

There are many different causes us to come to U.S. One of these reasons, our jobs are demanding to speak English fluently because the world is getting smaller. Another one is to know the American culture. The most common reason for being in the U.S. is for academic purposes. These reasons are going to be more effective to our future in many ways. As a result of getting the bachelor degree, Abdul going to have a better future.

- Abdul, kyung-in, Gennady

Grace, Chanwook, YongHyun

For Grace her reason to move in the U.S was for study. Her parents decided to send her to study in the U.S without her opinion!
In the US she became more responsible in her life. She has to deal with many things like learn a new language, go to school, and pay her bills etc. After spent more time in the US she became more comfortable and now she has found her way! She plans to study and work in the US.
In contrast, Chanwook came here to study English and stay with her sister. She plans to go back to her home country. She got a lot of great experiences at U.S, and also had a good time with her new friends and her sister. Her English was improved to compare with when she come U.S last semester.
YongHyun is supposed to enter the graduate program. However, because of his lack of English communication, he decided to enroll summer English course in advance. After the class started, he met a lot of new friend including native speakers and students from other countries. And nowadays, even he expected his improvement of English skill though, he could understand various culture and western life.

AMERICAN DREAMS

People have their own purpose for moving to U.S. For our group, having a American life experience, learning English, making friends in U.S, and improving our working skills cause us to move to U.S. We all want a western perspective and improve some of our abilities. However, the effects of moving U.S are different for each person. Some effects are good for us and some are bad effects. For example, many people achieve their goal after moving to U.S. They made many friend form other countries, experienced different life style, learned the skill they wanted, and, of course, they improve their English skill. However, there are some bad effects which we don’t want to get. For example, the foods in U.S. are very different to the foods in our countries and we really miss the foods we used to eat along with the time. In addition, we have to sprite with our family because we moved to U.S. It is difficult for us to return our home country to visit our family very often. In our opinion, moving to U.S. is our dream. We have different causes to come here. Fortunately, we got something we want in U.S, like improving English and making friends. We are on the way to achieve our goal although there are many difficult challenges and some effects we don’t like.

by Tim, Jungki, and Abdul

Big move to United States of America (by Khamis,YouLim and Jennifer)

When we think to live in U.S.A. most people tend to have trouble in adjusting to new circumstances. We, Khamis, Youlim and Jennifer have had big move to a new country and culture. Why we live in a foreign country?? To What?? There are some causes to meet our goals in the nearest future. Each person has own his/her goal and ambition. We came to United States to bear fruit (to come to fruition) our goals. First of all, Khamis came to here to improve his English and enroll academic study, specializing in engineering. Yulim wanted to improve her English and experience new culture, make new native friends and even take a trip near to Marylnd which she stays in. In the long run, she hopes to go abroad in European countries including fashion city, Paris and London. Jennifer wanted to study acquisition English as a Second language and expose to American life style.
In conclusion, even though we have had some problems so far, we have to figure it out and find solution in order to get along with life in U.S.A, speculating the above some causes. Finally enjoy the moment while you stay here. Good luck to you, everyone. ^ ^

My Big Move

Making a big move is never an easy decision of task. There are so many elements that have to be weighed. This is a good subject to use your cause/effect critical thinking skills. With your group, think about and discuss what caused you to move to the United States. Then talk about what effects this move will have on you in the short term and then in the log run. You group is required to discuss the issues involved for everybody, then write a paragraph about your discussion that will then be posted on the blog.

Using high-end machine? Adhering to tradition way?

Nowadays there are a lot of options to choose a way in every aspect. For example, to look up some words, we can use both paper-based dictionary and electronic dictionary(or website).
As studying helper, either of them let us find words we don’t understand. And the basic function can be regarded as same—pronunciation, meaning, example sentences, and so on—.
When using electronic dictionary(book dictionary), we can find a word more easy and fast. However, in paper dictionary, we need relatively more patient to find word. Moreover, concerning time to find the same word, it may take same time. In electronic dictionary, from some utility functions such as favorite word bookmarks or word history, it is clear that electric dictionary is more convenient.
However, there are some limitation in using electronic dictionary. We can’t bring computer everywhere, every time. Even the size of laptop has been getting smaller though, it’ still burden to bring. And the most important problem is how to supply batteries. Recent capacity of battery has improved owing to technology, but suppose you study more than twelve hours in a certain place with out extra battery supplying.

Last week & Today

As we know, that the life is changing every day, so the days are different from each other in many ways. First, the health, last week I was in a good health, but today I feel sick. Second, last week I didn’t feel home sick. On the other hand, I really feel home sick today. Third, last week I was very active even though I hadn’t had enough sleep. But today is not. Finally, our life is a changeable so we have to fit our selves into it.

Two Bosses

Mr. Lee and Mr. Lim were my bosses, but they had different characters. Mr. Lee was time at the office on time everyday. As soon as he entered his room, he always had a ginseng tea. He thought his health was the most important in the world. When he contacted with someone by phone, his secretary did it. When his staff made some problems, he scolded his staff for doing it in public. This was a disgrace to his staff.
On the other hand Mr. Lim arrived at the office 30 minutes earlier. He called on the phone by himself without asking for his secretary. Every morning, he drank a coffee. When having some problems with his staff, he rebuked his staff for his carelessness in a private room not in public. They, however, did have one thing in common: both were kind and mild hearted people to their staff.

New Car? Used Car?

Because the program of the graduate school, I have to live here for two years. Therefore, buying a car is an important thing for me. In the past few weeks, I constantly compare the advantages between buying a new car and buying a used car. Because I might use the car only two years, the total cost of the car and the price I could sold two years later are the two things which I concern most. For new car, of course, I should pay much higher price to buy it than the used car. However, it will be the perfect condition and it has the warranty for 30,000 mile or 3 years. That means I don't need to worry about the maintenance cost of the car. In contrast, the condition of used car depends on the each car and I might pay much money for maintenance because some parts of the car need to replace as time goes by. In addition, the salesmen of the used car are very tricky. They sometimes cover up the history of the car. I have more risks of buying a used car because I am unfamiliar with the car, the culture of U.S., and, of course, the English. On the other hand, the condition and price of new are clearer. Moreover, although the rate of depreciation of new car is higher than used car, it is easier to sell my car two years later if I buy a new car. The used car of one owner is more popular in the market. It is so surprise to me that buying a new car is better for me. However, because buying a car is a big deal for me, I need to think it more and compare more before I make a decision.

ALZEBARA

ALZEBARA

Alzebara is one of the most wonderful places around Qatar. Alzebara is historical castle, which has witnessed a lot of historical events and stories. The people in Qatar respect alzebara, because it preformed a lot of their history and old stories. The fact that alzebara castle was the first castle which the prince(the president) Jassim bin Mohammed Althani who was the first president of the start of Qatar, using as centre of role makes voluble place for the Qatari people. It has witnessed some many wars, some of which were really painful for the people of Qatar and other were gloorist. For example the were between Qatar and Bahrain, which Qatar has won, also the war which happened with the king of Saudi Arabia, which he almost lost all of his army in. more so the war with UAE which we have lost more 40 men at. If some one will visit the city of all alzebara, he or she will see the old city with nothing changed.

Qatar University versus Education city in Qatar

Education is considered .the most important and essential aspect of any community. In fact, it is the actual mirror that shows the extent of awareness and consideration people can have within a community. Many countries nowadays try to offer their people the best type of education including the best facilities and environment. Qatar is one of the leading countries in the education missions. ). Many do wonder about the differences between the new universities and the local university and if those differences could influence the students in somehow. As a matter of fact, Qatar University and the new foreign universities vary in some aspects.

With regards to courses and circulems, Qatar University offers different courses to study like engineering, economics and science. In contrast, each university in the education city is specialized in one unique course. For instance Taxes A&M is for engineering studies, VCU university concerns fashion and design studies and so on for the other universities. Qatar University has recently turned most of its Arabic studies into the English language except for some courses like geography. In other words, English language is now an entrance requirement for almost all courses at Qatar .university. This is a significant step to be applied, for it will encourage students to improve a second language which is English. Similarly, the E.C universities require an excellent English language since all the studies and circulums are American ones.

similarities and differences of education environment

by Gena, You Lim, Yong Hyun

As far as our discussion, Korea, Tajikistan, and U.S have both many similarities and differences in education environment. When it comes to similarities, students study English, and they have similar degree system such as elementary, middle, high, university, graduate program. And students have to take a specific exam to enter the university.
However, in U.S, there are many discussions in the class. Portion of entering gradate program relatively lower than Korea and Tajikistan. Paying tuition is students’ responsibility. Usually good education guarantees good job—it’s same situation in Korea.
In Korea, usually teacher push their knowledge to students(just one way). Portion of entering gradate program is high and intensive—it’s same situation in Tajikistan. Parents force their children to study very hard. Parents support their children to pay tuition. The better education people get, the higher salaries guaranteed—however, Tajikistan usually does not guarantee the good job or high salary.

Abdulahmar, Wayne and Grace

In Qatar, Taiwan, and Gabon life is totally different than in the US. In fact, in our countries t get a work you don’t need to have a green card; also we don’t have to pay any taxes. In the same way, some jobs are difficult to get in our countries like police officer, administrative jobs. Moreover, more people buy house instead of rent the apartments. In Qatar, people prefer to build there own house and it’s more than 2 floors. When you want to rent a house in Gabon the owner will never ask you about how much money you got in your bank account or what is your salary. In contrast in the US most families at home are used to wash the dishes by themselves. They don’t use those dishes machines. In Qatar, work starts at 6 am and finished at 1 pm. Duties in Taiwan is less than in the US. It’s very cheaper to live in our country than in the US. To buy an item in our countries you don’t need to pay taxes. In Qatar and Taiwan, credit cards exist but they are used to use cash money to buy any items. In Gabon in contrast your bank also provides you a card but it’s only for check in your bank account. They use cash or sign checks for paying something. In conclusion, we can say that life in the US is very hard and different from our countries. There are too much policies and rules that don’t really need to be implicated.

Asia V.S America

Society:

Asia V.S America

The society in US is different from the society in Asia. Unlike US with the marriage life, in some countries in Asia the couple has the same right on divorce decision for example Taiwan and Korea. Also in some countries such as Qatar the divorce decision is for the men to decide. In addition, a huge different in society between Asia and US is the family life; for example the parents in Taiwan, Korea, and Qatar will support their children’s education fees, on the other hand most of the parents in us will not be responsible for paying for their children’s education fees. More so, the children in Asia can’t call their father by the name, but they will have to say father first, in contrast, its normal in US for the children to call their parents by their names without saying father or mother first.

By Abdul, Tim, and Jung ki

Relationship bewteen Asian and American

There is a different relationship between Asian such as Korea and Qatar and American. Usually korean people join the meeting after working in order to maintain their relationship with their colleagures even though they don't want to get togeter. It will happen at work and in terms of family relationship, in Qatar, they are very close to get along with each other. Every day, they spend enjoying dinner time with thier relatives which consists of men. Whenever koeran family members have trouble solving big problems such as money, they are willing to help and share their feeling even the hard times. On the other hand, most americans have a big portion to think about own individual life not oriented their family members. They don't like to get together without any purposes and reasons. We think different culture reflect their life style that means at home and work something like that.( By Kyung-in, Khamis and Jennifer)

Collaborative Blog Task: Compare/Contrast

Group1 : You Lim, Gennady, Yong Hyun
Group 2: Abdulrahman, Wayne, Grace
Group 3: Abdul, Jung Ki, Tim
Group 4: Khamis, Kyung-in, Jennifer
The article "Two Ways to Belong in America" probably you started thinking about your own life. Your taks is in your assigned group you will talk about the similarities and differences of your life here in the US and in your country? Your group will post a paragraph on the blog concerning your findings. Topics you might discuss: work, home, chores, duties, relationships, society, etc. Good Luck!

Compare and Contrast

Dear D1 Students,
At this point we should try to think in terms of how we compare and contrast things. For your next post. Write a paragraph about things that you have compared and contrasted during the past week. If you think about it, in our daily lives we do this all the time. Our interests, choices, needs, and wishes undergo such analysis all the time. I look forward to your post and two comments.

Taj mahal one of the 7 wonders, and it considered as the oldest wonder in the world. Taj mahal is located in India and Indian had spent around 16 years to build it, in the past it was used as a grave for the Sultan's wife, after that they used it as mosque for Muslims and untail now the Indian support this great edifice, because they think it's the sign for their ancient civilization .

KHAMIS ALKAABI

My wonder place

My wonder place is my home at Korea.
Usually I was there only weekend or vacation, but there are my parents and my dogs.
It was built 2 years ago, but my father designed that house for a long time to live with family.
He named the house "Wild Cherry" which is meaning of my name.
I always feel that house is where I should go back.

Egyptian Pyramids

One of the wonder place in the world that I consider it as the most wonderful place to me is that the Egyptian pyramids. I prefer this place no just it’s wonderful but because it gathers the history of the Egyptian. It has about 110 pyramids currently known in the Egypt. So this reason that led me to choose the Egyptian pyramids.

Abdulrahman Al-kaabi

Reading

Depending on your MEIPE score, your goal at the end of the term will be reading at a 10th to 12th grade level at about 200 words per minute. You have to take into consideration that you have to comprehend what you read. Please, place a comment on this post about results you received after doing the Newspaper Reading, Paced Reading, and Timed Reading. What have you learned about your reading skill from these exercises?

My wonder place .. Yong Hyun

My wonder place is not the only one place.
I am not a kind of person who is easily impressed by something such as movies, books, tours and music.--I really like enjoying them, though.
Every time I go on a trip alone, I feel something that I couldn't experience if I were not traveling alone.
These feelings are not easily defined as one word. However, I'd rather to suggest some key words such as realization, self-reflection, and appreciation for living.
As a same man, I hardly feel such feelings in my everyday life.
Wherever is the destination of trip, they spur my deep emotion. If it rains, it's better. If it wind blows, it's far better. Under bad weather, the more thoughts reside in me.
The harder the trip is, the more lessons come.
I used to travel the deepest recesses of my country. I smelled much flavor, saw a lot of new scenes, and heard strange sound that I've never heard in my country. In my opinion, these strange stimuli might let me get a lot of feelings definitely opposite to feelings from daily events.

To experience these feelings requires just following two conditions.
First, be alone. Companies may harm your speculation.
Second, walk too long time, take bus or train.--never drive a car.-- Proper fatigue and inconvenience let you realize that this time is far from your every single day.

Maybe, most of people agree my idea. They might experience these single trip.
Thus, my wonder is not specific location, but rather wherever is possible for me as I mentioned.

My wonder...

I have a big wander place in my home land. It is log cabin. When I was 20, my parents moved to countryside. As you know, Countryside life is so boiling. I could not adapt myself.
At that time, my father suggested me that we would make a log cabin.
We made it for several weeks. I think it does not look good.
But it was first thing that my father and I made togther. I remember that my father said to me so many thing such as life, dream and future. When I think that time, I feel my father' love.

Baseball

Sizzlin’ Summer Bus Trips presents…. A night out at RFK Stadium for baseball Watch the Washington Nationals take on the Houston Astros on Tuesday, July 17th at 7:05pm Price per ticket is only $5.00 The price of the ticket includes a Lower View Outfield ticket to the game and transportation on a University of Maryland coach bus! The bus will leave the Stamp Student Union at 5:00pm promptly on Tuesday, July 17th and return after the game! Space is limited... so hurry to register! You can purchase your tickets at www.union.umd.edu and click on the Nationals Bus Trip link. For questions, please contact Jacquie Jones at jjones16@umd.edu or Meredith Smith at msmith1@umd.edu Hope to see you at the Bus Trip! SIGN UP NOW!!!!!! We look forward to seeing you!!!!

Pope John Paul II Cultural Center.

Pope John Paul II Cultural Center.....
By chance my friend recommended me to go Cultural Center (Pope John Paul II) while I am staying here. It was opened in March 2001 and situated 12 acres adjacent to The Catholic University of America and near both the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. When I went the center, I was touched by three entities; architecture of the building, special exhibits, and heritage room. The center is modern architectural style and in front of the center there is running water like a lake. The water reflects the cross of the center. I was very moved by the scene. Along the aisle, in the HANDS OF PEACE exhibit, visitors connect with Catholics from all around the world through bronze hand castings including a hand cast from Pope John Paul II. I could feel the inspirational messages of faith from the people when I touched their hand casting.
First of all, the PAPAL AND POLISH HERITAGE ROOM is a special place for reflection and study of Pope John Paul II. It features photographs, gifts from world leaders and many personal items which bring to light his life and character. Even though you are not Catholic, feel free to visit Pope John Paul II Cultural Center.

My Wonder place

My wonder place is my home in Thailand. There is no place in this world that's nice like my home. Nice weather, nice food, nice friends, and the important things are my parents and my brother. There is no place in this world like my home.

The Great Wall of China

My favorite wander of the world is the Great Wall of China. Its history is more than 2000 years. Why the wall is so great? I think the reasons are not only the length of Great Wall but also its history.

The wall was built since 5th century BC and was extended many times. Its length is over approximately 4000 miles. It is the largest human-made structure. The government of china constantly maintains the wall but it is too large to maintain. Therefore, some parts of the Great Wall collapsed. It needs more donations to maintain it.

The purpose of the wall was to prevent the enemies from north. The process of building the Great wall was very difficult. Many people died during the process. Therefore, there were many touching stories about the Great wall. Please search some stories about it before you visit the Great Wall and you will find how great the Great Wall is!

Korea Heritage(my wonder) is Seokguram.

When I was middle school students, I visited east of the historic city of Gyeong-Ju. I walked there pretty long time to tour. Maybe almost Koreans visit the city. It is famous city in Korea.
There are many good heritages, especially Seokguram, in the city .


Seokguram

A small but noble pantheon of divinities symbolizing Buddhist philosophy and aestheticism, Seokguram is a structure of sublime beauty culminating religious belief, science and fine arts which flowered in the golden age of Asian art. Seokguram is located near the tummit of Mt. Tohamsan, east of the historic city of Gyeongju, capital of the Silla dynasty (57B.C.-A.D.935)

Seokguram, with a rectangular antechamber leading to a circular domed main chamber, resembles ancient Indian cave temples. Though inspired by the cave temples of ancient India and China, Seokguram differs in construction to its prototypes which were mostly built by digging into hillsides and carving on natural rocks. korea's topographical features comprising solid rock beds probably made it impossible to import the idea of the sculptors of Karle or Ajanta, who carved thousands of figures, stupas and apse ends out of the soft conglomerate rock and clay. Instead, an incredible artificial cave was assembled with granite on the heights of a mountain some 750meters above sea level, an architectural technique without precedent the world over.


Legend of a Filial son

In the small village of Moryang-ri on the western outskirts of Gyeongju, there lived a poor woman named Gyeongjo who had an odd-looking son. The villagers made fun of the child as he had a big head and a flat forehead, that looked like a wall. They called him Dae-seong, meaning "big wall." The boy's mother was too poor to feed him so she gave him to a rich neighbor named Bogan as a farm hand. Dae-seong worked so hard that his master was moved and gave him a small piece of a rice paddy. About this time , a virtuous monk named Jeomgae from Heungnyongsa temple, visited Bogan and asked for a donation for a big ceremony at his temple. As Bogan handed him fifty rolls of hemp cloth, the monk bowed in appreciation and said that the Buddha would repay his generosity by blessing him ten thousand times the worth of his donation. Dae-seong overheard this and ran home and told his mother, "Now we are poor, and if we do not give something to the temple, we will be poorer in our next lives. Why don't we give our little rice field for the ceremony so that we may have a great reward in our afterlives?" His mother readily consented and donated their rice field to the temple. Dae-seong died a few months later. On the night of his death, a voice from heaven was heard above the house of Prime Minister Kim Mun-ryang. The voice said that Dae-seong, a good boy from Moryang-ri, would be born to Kim's family. Kim's wife conceived at the time the heavenly voice was heard and gave birth to a boy. The child kept his left hand tightly clenched for seven day after his birth. When he opened his fist at last, they found the two characters for Dae-seong written in gold on his palm. They gave him his old name and invited his mother of his previous life to take care of him. Dae-seong grew up into a strong man who loved hunting. One day he climbed Mt.Tohamsan and there he killed a big bear. As he was sleeping in a village at the foot of the mountain that night, the bear's ghost appeared in his dream and threatened to kill and eat him unless he built a temple for him. Dae-seong built a temple on the spot where he killed the bear and named it Jangsusa, meaning the Temple of Long Life. From that time he gave up hunting. Dae-seong was moved by the heavenly grace. He built the beautiful Bulguksa in memory of his parents of the present life and the wonderful cave temple of Seokguram for his parents of the previous life. He invited the two distinguished monks Sillim and Byohun to supervise these temples. He had his fathers and mothers represented among the icons at these temples in gratitude for bringing him up as a useful man. After the great stone Buddha for Seokguram was finished, Dae-seong was working on a large piece of stone for the ceiling of the main hall when it suddenly broke into three pieces. He wept bitterly over this and fell into sleep. During the night, gods descended from heaven and restored the stone to its original condition. Dae-seong awoke with joy and climbed the southern peak of Mt.Tohamsan, where he burned incense and worshiped the deities. People called the place Hyangnyong, or Incense peak, thereafter. The erudite monk historian lryeon(1206-1289) had the wondrous skill of interweaving legend and fact in his book which serves as an invaluable source of information for students of early Korean history. While most readers of his book today would find it difficult to believe in the reincarnation of Kim Dae-seong, visitors to Seokguram can see crack dividing the round capstone on the main rotunda's domed ceiling clearly into three pieces. South of the temple, there also exists a peak called Hyangnyong.

My wonder

My wonder is The Christ redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro which is located in Brasil. I really like this monument because of its beauty and its originality. It's really high(130 feet tall), and heavy(700 tons). We can find it at the peak of the 700-m (2296-foot) Corcovado mountain in the Tijuca Forest. It's a symbol of Christianity and I'm christian so I like it.The statue has become an icon of Rio and Brazil. Heitor da Silva Costa designed the statue; it was sculpted by Paul Landowski, French monument sculptor of Polish origin.Stone for the monument was taken from Limhamn, in Malmö, Sweden.[citation needed] Construction lasted five years — from 1926 to 1931 and the monument was opened on October 12, 1931.The cost of the monument was $250,000. This year is the 76th anniversary of the statue.As of 7 July 2007, Christ the Redeemer was named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in a list compiled by the Swiss-based The New Open World Corporation...

New 7 Wonders

If you want to see a list of the new 7 wonders and the candidates, please look at the following link.

http://www.new7wonders.com/index.php?id=633

Your Wonder

After reading "new 7 Wonders to be Unveiled," you probably have given a lot of thought to the subject. Can you describe a wonder in this world that you are particularly fond of? Why do you appreciate the beauty of this place so much? Please post your findings.

1. What about lying? When does it happen and why?
People lie when something that need to be secret, private is concerning about their pride.
And people also lie when feeling very ashamed in failed or mistaken things in their important period.

2. What is the divorce rate in your country?
In Qatar, it's less than 30%. (The number of whole people in Qatar is over 900,000)
In Korea, it's over than 40%. (The number of whole people in Korea is over 49,000,000)

3. Who is more open, men or women? Why?
Most of all, it depends on personality.
Specially, in Qatar, because of cultural and religious effectiveness, women do not talk so much than other countries. However, we believe generally women are more talkative than men. That’s maybe women’s nature.

4. What do couples have trouble talking about? Why?
We concluded doing nothing is better. While exited state, trying anything is useless. To reduce gap between couples needs time.

5. How are different generations different from each other?
There are some example about the differences.
Between a young wife and an relatively old husband: concerning TV program
The wife prefers entertainment program such as shop operas and music shows, on the other hands the husband needs documentaries or news program.
Between young people and old people: concerning a viewpoint of divorce
Young people believe that it can be possible if it’s necessary.
However, old people believe that it’s better to avoid the choice as possible as they could.

6. What are some of the biggest secrets that couples keep?
That’s mostly the past affairs before they met.
And sometimes people don’t want to tell the dark side of family story even though they think they trust much.

7. Do couples share their dreams?
It’s desirable to share the main goal.

8. How different are couples in the United States and in your country?
In U.S, the relationship between couple is freer than both Korea and Qatar.
Living couple together who didn’t marry can be reported to their parent in U.S.
However, in Korea and Qatar, it is impossible to get allowance of it.
Or, if they want it, they should keep it secretly.

9. What is a good marriage? Why?
KyungIn : The best thing is to try to adopt and admit others’ characteristic. We need true love, even in every situation.
Kamis : Same generation has similar idea. Thus to meet people who have similar culture, religion, or character is better way to marry.
YongHyun : It’s natural to have different ideas even between couples. We have to admire the other’s personality. And don’t try to fit to each other, exactly and unnaturally.

by Kamis, Kyung In, YongHyun

ABDUL,GRACE,AND JUNG-KI

Lying is some thing horrible that could happened to the couple’s life it happen when the couple starts to keep secrete of each others. It happens because of the dishonesty. The divorce rate on Korea is 40%, on the other hand the divorce rate on Gabon is 25%. In Qatar the divorce rate is about 15%. Women are more open because women do most of the talking in a marriage; also most of the women like to solve the problem unlike men the say lets talk about us. Men often act out their problem in indirect ways, so they think they have brought them up. About works, money, and privet live. Because most of the secrete become on those Things. Every generation has its stories, for example on the old generation the man where controlling the life of the couple more than the women at leas on the eastern country. When they cheat to each others its conceder the deepest secrete the couple could hide to each others. Of course they do and they must because it one life so it must have same dreams The couples on Korea and on Gabon are the same than here in us, but the couples in Qatar are really different. They love each others and their marriage last for ever. The marriage which has no secrete, because when the couple are honest with each other their marriage become successful.

Different Culture, Different Marriage.(by Tim,Gena and Jennifer)

1. What about lying? When does it happen and why?
In general, lying is a bad habit for marriage but sometimes, we tend to tell a lie not to hurt oppisite party such as husband or wife. Because telling a lie is a little necessary to maintain a good marriage.

2. What is the divorce rate in your country?
In Tim's country, Taiwan, the divorce rate shows 5 percent and in Tajikistan, low percent (about 5-10%) and Korea has increased the divorce rate about 30 percent recently.
3. Who is more open, men or women? Why?
Generally, women is more open than men because women used to share their problems with somebody. On the other hand, men tend to solve their problems by themselves.

4. What do couples have trouble talking about? Why?
Couples have trouble talking about how they love each other becaue it is hard for men to express their feeling.

5. How are different generations different from each other?
Old generation differs from young generation. The former is more conservative and traditional than young generation. For example, old people think that women should stay at home and take care of children something like. Otherwise, young people have a different opinion that women have right to work in modern society.

6. What are some of the biggest secrets that couples keep?
When it come to the biggest secrets, almost couples keep their own woman/man freind to avoid their unappropriate relationship to their husband/wife.

7. Do couples share their dreams?
Of course, couples must share their dreams because they live until they die forever.

8. How different are couples in the United States and in your country?
Most couples respect each other in the United States but in Taiwan, they want to control each other. In Korea, most family tend to center to their children not husband or wife. Couples in Tajikistan usually have more children than American couples.

9. What is a good marriage? Why?
When you want to have a good marriage, you have to communicate, spend more time in taking care of couples and be honest to each other. Honesty is the best policy to maintain successful marriage.

Q1: about money and some situation that sometimes you have to lie to protect or keep the relationship . They do not want their husband or wife to control too much about money,
Q:2 it has increased recently and the percentage in Qatar is 47%.
Q:3 men are opener than women.
Q:4 past relastionships with other people.
Q:5 Cheating and sexual expereances.
Q:6 Absolutely yes.
Q:7 They completly different from the U.S .
Q:8respect each other.


(by Abdulrahman, YouLin, Wayne)

Husband/Wife relationship

They nature of this relationship has changed a lot over the past 30 years. For good or bad, men and women have to communicate more with each other nowadays. Otherwise divorce is more likely. For this collaborative post, you and your partner will discuss the following questions and then post your findings on the blog. Remember, this is a collaborative post so you have to work together.

1. What about lying? When does it happen and why?

2. What is the divorce rate in your country?

3. Who is more open, men or women? Why?

4. What do couples have trouble talking about? Why?

5. How are different generations different from each other?

6. What are some of the biggest secrets that couples keep?

7. Do couples share their dreams?

8. How different are couples in the United States and in your country?

9. What is a good marriage? Why?

The writing system of Korean language

Our class has many Korean students. So there are variety story about the history of Korean language, the difference of other language etc. I want to introduce the Korean writing.
In ancient times, the language of the Korea was written using Chinese character, using hanja. Knowledge of such systems was lost, and the Korean language was not written at all; the aristocracy used Classical Chinese for its writing.
Korean is now mainly written in Hangul, the Korean alphabet. Modern Korean is written with spaces between words, a feature not found in Chinese or Japanese. Korean punctuation marks are almost identical to Western marks. Traditionally, Korean was written in columns from top to bottom, right to left, but Korean is now usually written in rows from left to right, top to bottom.

So gorgeous language, Korean

Learning a foreigen langauge is a struggle for foreigners. Many foreigners always have a bit of struggle to keep going. To express a delicate expression in Korean, there are lots of combination vowels and consonant. For example in English we use a sentence "a star twinkles" ,on the other hand, we can express a star twinkles ( in Korean BBan jak BBan jak or BBun juk BBun juk) using the order or vowel sounds. "Ban jak" means means a star twinkle very slightly and softly and "Bbun juk" means a star twinklw very stronly like a lighting. Like this Korean language can express a fine meaning of a word. If you have a chance, try to study beautiful Korean language.

Chinese

Most of Chinese writing comes from picture, so we can understand the meaning of words easily. Therefore, it is difficult to pronounce words which we have never seen before. I remeber that we spent half year learning pronunciation in elementary school. At that time, there is no any writing in the textbook. At the first four years of elementary school, our writing must with pronunciation in the textbook. Some words are similar, especailly some words are just different between the length of one drawing. Therefore, Chinese is difficult to write and pronounce, but it is easy to understand the maning if you know a lot of chinese stories and culture.

Arabic is one of the greatest languges around the world .

Last week we staudied about languages in genral and spaecilly about english langeage. It was intresting to learning about other languages than your languge; and the the histroy of english theought the history. We learnd also that english has the largest veocublry of any language. On the other hand I would like to let my friend to know a litel bed about my language arabic. It is an old language and specil at the same time; it has 28 lateers and uncountable words. Some people fined learning arabic is ahard thing to do and to be honast , it’s a hard thing to learn becouse it has a lot of roles and a comblicated grammer. But still it’s a smart language which makes the way easy for you to learn other lagueges

The Hardest Language

Arabic language is one of the largest language in the world due to it's popularity. Also there are 22 country that speak arabic. In addition, there are 28 alphabet letter in our language. furthermore, our language is the hardest language in the world for some reasons. one of these reasons is that there are some letters that's difficult to pronouns. The other is that the grammar is to complicating so no one can learn arabic perfectly in a short time. Finally, eventhough arabic language is a hard language to learn, it's grammars and condition never change by the time.

Abdulrahman Al-kaabi

Arabic the oldest language in the world.

The language's sceintist consedred arabic as the oldest language in the world, the proved that by some stories that up to the 2000 thaousend years. Arabic language contain 28 letters, and it's the offical language in my country and arabic country. And there are alot couantries in the Asia and some Countries in Europe that's becouse they are Muslim and the speake Arabic language becouse it's the Quran's language. So finally hope your enjoy my essay aabout arabic language.

Chinese, one of the oldest language

As you know, Chinese has more than 4000 years history and it is very different with the western languages. Because everybody has read the article about Chinese from textbook last week, I would like to share some points of the different between Chinese and English.

First, the meaning of the Chinese is very complex. Because of the long history of Chinese, one word could have different meanings in different time. In addition, one sentence could also have many meanings. Therefore, it is very difficult to understand the old sentences and it will be confusing if writer use some old meaning of words in the article. I remember a linguistician said " The ways of express are very different between Chinese and English. In English, the speaker should let the listener understand what they said. However, in Chinese, the listener have to understand the speaker's meaning by himself/herself." I think the linguistician clearly describe the different between these two languages.

Second, the grammar is also different between these two languages. In Chinese, the words are separate and there are not many clearly grammar rules. However, there are still some rules in speaking Chinese but the rules have many exceptions. Therefore, although we complain there are many grammar rules in English when we study English, I think it will be more difficult for other people study Chinese.

Although Chinese is very different with other language, I think it is a very beautiful language. You can find a very beautiful meaning even a whole picture in a short sentence. I think that is because of its old history. There were many writer who contributed to these old language and leave many beautiful articles.

Korean Language

Korean language is called Hangul. Why did Hangul be made? Now we learn about Hangul.
King Sejong has made Hangul in Chosun Dynasty to let poor people reduce crimes because he thought they can read a book and can know low so that they will not do crimes.
Korea has 10 vowel and 14 consonant. Most koreans can make 1904 sound by using Hangul.
The basic form of a Korean sentence is Subject Object Verb. In a standard translation of "I'm going to the store to buy some food", the Korean order would be *"I food to-buy in-order-to store-to going-am."
There are no fewer than 7 verb speech levels in Korean. The highest 5 levels use final verb endings and are generally grouped together as jondaemal, while the lowest 2 levels (haeyoche and haeche) use non-final endings and are called (banmal, "half-words") in Korean.

Share Your Language

Last week we learned about the intricacies of language. The spelling in English and the characters in the Chinese alphabet.
Your task is to make a post about your language. How do you think that it is different from other languages. Remember you not only make a post but you also have to comment on a couple of other posts from your peers.
Happy blogging!
Aaron