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!