Langauge barrier

Recently, I was watching a clip from YouTube. A Korean singing group was learning English in order to get along with their new housemate from Russia. They are hilarious when they speak English, but also they made me realize there is no real language barrier.
When I moved to U.S. three years ago, I did not understand slang words at all. I got so confused when people said something like “It’s raining cats and dogs” or “Knock on wood.” However, people will always explain to me if I ask them. There was one time my cousin said “break a leg” to me right before I was going on stage for my piano recital. I got so mad that I punched her in the face. Nah, I'm just kidding. Even though I did not know the true meaning of “break a leg” at that time, but I was pretty sure it wasn’t the literal meaning. After the recital, I asked my cousin about it, and she told me it means “good luck”. There will be a language barrier if I live in my own world, and not try to communicate with others or ask questions when I do not understand. During the first few months of living in the U.S., I had no confidence to speak English, when my cousins tried to talk to me, I only answered yes or no. They made fun of me because they thought I did not understand English at all. As time passes, my cousins and I got closer because we watch a lot of dance shows and reality shows together. We always discussed the shows together and talked about our lives in schools. My English may not be perfect, but I do have the ability to express myself, if I have confidence and I am willing to do so.
Toward the end of this clip from YOUTUBE, one guy said “Share music with me.” The other guy asked him “What do you mean?” He pulled out his earphones, and the other guy finally understood that he wanted to listen to music with him. I realized there is no real language barrier because we can always use our body language to express ourselves. My middle school teacher, who traveled to Egypt once, could not speak the native language. However, she found out that when she took out her camera and people would realize that she needed someone to take a picture for her. If we are not afraid to try to ask someone for help or at least try to express ourselves by our body language people will always understand us, eventually.
A lot of immigrants are afraid of speaking English in front of the natives because they are afraid that people will not understand them due to their accents. However, the clip from YOUTUBE made me realize, as long as we are confident and willing to express ourselves, there will not be a language barrier at all.



Here is the link of the clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mv6SfuXtDx8&feature=related

Hope

Long time ago, Pandora was the most beautiful woman on earth. One day Zeus gave her an adorable box as a wedding gift. However, he ordered her that she should never opened the box. Pandora ‘s curiosity does not stop her from disobeying the order. One day, she lifted the lid to peep in, and suddenly a dusty gray cloud came out the box, along with disease, despair, old age, malice, greed, violence and death. She closed the box immediately, and the only thing left in the box, is hope.

Recently, I was in despair of my own grades. I kind of agree that, A means Average, B means bad, C means crap and D means die! Right now, I was doing crap on all my midterms. I worked so hard and I ended up with low grades. This probably will be the first time I will receive C’s in my life. Three C’s in a row, my GPA will just be miserable. Sometime, I don’t know why am I working hard for. For grades? For a better future? Right now, I don’t know what I want and I cannot see my future, either. On the other hand, I realize I’m such a loser that getting depress by my grades. A lot of children in Africa struggle to survive because of lacking food, but they still want to live. A lot of people cannot fulfill their dreams because they are suffered from illnesses. Why should I be depressed just because of getting bad grades, and not thinking that I still have hope to do well in the finals? Having bad grades is not the end of the world. People still can get in graduate schools with low GPA if they are passionate to specialize in a certain area. My Dad who is fifty six, but his multiply illness does not stop him from working, because he hopes his hardworking will give him a promotion one day. My aunt who suffered from cancer go through a lot treatments, she hopes to live and hopes to have the ability to take care of her children again. I realized we are not born to suffer because once we have hope, it motivates us to move forward. We can lose anything in our life such as friendship, money or health, but there is one thing no one can take always from us, which is “HOPE”.

Dance!

A couple weeks ago, I was watching America’s Next Top Model (ANTM), lil’ Mama was teaching the contestants to portray different kinds of emotions by dancing. Suddenly, a crew walked out with white masks on. Yes! It’s the Jabbawockeez! The winner of America’s Best Dance Crew, an extremely talented group that takes my breath away with every step they make. On ANTM, they performed a short routine that represented happiness, sadness and anger. Unlike other dance groups, who can use their facial expression to present different emotions, JabbaWockeez only use their bodies to convey emotion to the audiences. But, as usual, they did an amazing job. I still remember one of the JabbaWockeez’s dance routines, apologize, which gave me teary eyes when the first time I watched it. I’m not exaggerating. But this is how powerful choreography can influence the audiences. Speaking of choreography, I have even gotten into a stupid fight with my friend about whether free style dancing is better than choreographic routines. At that time, I thought choreography was way better than free styling because of its organization and message behind the piece. It’s like a final draft versus the first draft. The final draft is often perfect, and the first draft is usually just a shity free write. However, I forgot that different people have different perspectives and it’s unfair to put my own thoughts on others. I also forgot that writing isn’t about how many time your revise your paper, it is about the passion you put into your writing. Dancing is the same. Furthermore, dancing is not about impressing others with your dance techniques or style; it is about enjoying dancing. If you are not enjoying your own dancing, why on earth are you dancing? Dancers cannot inspire the audiences if they are not a hundred percent devoted to their own moves. JabbaWockeez may be inspiring, but dancing is not about being cool and amazing. Dancing is about letting out how you feel and, of course, having fun!

A gift from god, forgetfulness

“Hi Wendy.”
“Hey… Who are you?”
Yup, this just happened a couple days ago, I was gnawing on my apple, walking down the street across the social science hall. A girl in a blue UCD sweat shirt called me, and without thinking, those three words “who are you” spitted out of my mouth. I was shocked by my own rudeness and regretted saying those three words. I guess that girl was shocked, too. Her mouth was wide open, it seemed like she was trying to say something, but no sound came out of her mouth. The ambiance was quite awkward. We stared at each other for a few seconds, immediately I apologized to her. After the awkwardness, we chatted a little bit and it turned out she is my friend’s friend. She told me we already met three times, but I still could not remember her at all. In my case, the forgetfulness may seem inconvenient, but humans are meant to forget things (I’m not trying to find an excuse for myself for not remember that girl). Forgetfulness is a gift from god; as time passes we have the ability to forget the pain and sorrow that happened in our lives.
Emily, one of my closest friends since elementary school, is very independent and responsible for her academic performance. She has a bright personality and always gets along with others. However, things changed after his father got into affair with another woman. Every day, her mom and her dad argue and fight. Her mom was sent to the hospital because of a fight with her dad. Her parents also abused her because both of her parents are suffered from mental disorders and cannot control their tempers. The major depression shaped her into a different person. She skipped classes and attempted to commit suicide several times. She wasn’t her own self anymore.
Two years later, she went to study abroad in America. She was away from her parents, away from all the drama. As time passes, she changed and became her own self, again. She told me, she cannot remember every detail that happened in her past, such as why she chose to commit suicide and skip classes. She laughed at her own immature behavior; those blurry memories will not cause her pain any more. The scar in her heart seems to be cured, she forgot and forgave her parents’ misbehavior.
As we grew older, the burden on our shoulders gets heavier. We went through different kinds of pain, such as family members passing away, breaks up with partner, and other’s misunderstanding. However, pain from those events does not build up; as time passes, we forget the pain and do not suffer from it anymore. Old people have bad memories because they have already been through a lot in their lives. Being forgetful is a present from god that makes them forget the sorrow and have a stronger desire to live. Emily went through a tough time in her past, but now she does not suffer from it anymore. Thus, if you feel devastated by an incident in your life, just remember we all have the ability to forget sorrow and pain.

The more expensive “Greenness”

As I walked down the aisle through piles of notebooks, a gray carbon notebook stood out and caught my eye. It had a green earth icon with the word “sustainability” on it. Printed on the bottom were the words: 100% recycled , 30% post-consumer waste. I looked at the price tag, and as I expected it cost more than the other notebooks. I walked to an eco-friendly section with binder paper, sticky notes and all those school supplies you can think of, but ended up with the same conclusion I had of the gray carbon notebook, green always costs more.

During these past few years, the awareness of environmental issues has gone up. The increase in awareness caused an increased in the demand for and supply of green products, however, I just couldn’t understand why most of the green products always cost more. The gray carbon notebook is made out of used paper; shouldn’t it cost less than those regular notebooks? One of my favorite eco-friendly products, Bio corn starch bags, are 100% biodegradable. If everyone uses these rather than plastic bags, this will help reduce the millions of plastic waste every year. But the price of the bio bag made it undesirable for the public. Who would want to pay a lot more for just a garbage bag? People also have doubts on hybrid cars, not knowing if they would save their money on gas, or were worth buying. Even though I do want to own a hybrid car in the future, I do have doubts because of the high price. Far back in 1996, Electric vehicles (EV) began to appear on roads, they were fast, produced no exhaust, and had similar prices as the conventional cars. However, the oil companies were afraid of eventually losing trillions in oil profits; it worked with the GM and even the governors to kill off all the EVs. It may seem shocking but the greed in human does eliminated all the EVs in 1999. This whole conspiracy makes me wonder, if all the green products are really suppose to be expensive or it is just a scheme by the manufacturers.

No matter if the biodegradable bags or the hybrid cars really deserve their high price. In fact, there are a lot of greedy manufactures using the Eco-label to encourage consumers to buy their products, when their products are not eco-friendly at all; this misrepresentation of Eco-products is unacceptable. I just hate it when the manufacturers use morality in others to benefit their own good. Governments should authorize the Eco-label and stop the manufacturers from manipulating all the consumers!

Who Am I As A Writer?

I’m not sure what kind of a writer or thinker I am. My writing always base on other’s people’s articles and statistical facts on the internet. I find myself having a hard time to write an essay base on my own experience; somehow; I don’t find my own experience strong enough or general enough to apply to various type of circumstances. Most of the time, I follow a certain format which is taught by my high school teachers to write my essay. I guess follow a certain format will keep my essay organize and easy for the reader to catch my points, but it also makes my essay dull and boring at the same time. In academic writing, I just want my essay to be well-organized and convinced to people; I don’t bother to be creative at all. I’m afraid to add my own thoughts, and I rather pick a side that is easier to argue with and easier to find evidences to support it. I’ll say I’m a writer rely on mere facts and other’s opinions Thus, I failed to be a good writer.

As a thinker, I found myself restating other people’s statements on the textbook. Unlike Einstein or Hook, I never came up with a brand new theory by myself. I memorized materials in the textbook and during lecture; absorbed knowledge and theories from those magnificent scientists. Do I have my own analytical skills? Not only the lack of analytical skills stops me from being original and creative, but the intellectual genes in my brains seems to be missing. People can always convince me easily; everything seems to make sense after any explanation from others. A simple question like “what do you want for dinner”, seems to be complex enough to make me stumble over my words and can’t find an answer for it. Hwang got upset when her parents tried to control over her life, on the other hand, I just hated that my parents never commented on my action or decision. I know it sounds weird, but I would rather have parents who can tell me what to do, so I won’t regret on my own decision.

After receiving 13 years of education, I still don’t consider myself intellectual. I hope on my pathway through college or even graduate school will shape me into a better thinker and writer.