A Small Window to The Past

Photographs and pictures are used to explain and define the thing that you see. Messages are sent through pictures. Pictures and photography play a big role in journalism. Without pictures the journalist cannot complete the news. One picture has many meanings. People have different arguments on a picture that they see. Not all the pictures are true, some of them are just fake. Some people believe that the camera always lies and that the photographers have many tricks. In my opinion, sometimes the camera does lie. The relationship between photographic images and the truth results in different arguments. Some people believe what they see in the pictures, but some people don't. It is hard to understand what is the message in the picture, or what does it mean.  Example of that, my brother and I were arguing on a picture that has a child sitting alone on the edge of the street. My brother said that the child is lost, but I told him that I think that he is homeless, so there is a lot of arguments and different opinions on pictures. Sometimes if you understand the picture well, it will show you reality. Some pictures makes you feel the thing that you are seeing in the picture. Example of that, a mother holding her dead child between her hands and the blood covering his/her body because of a war makes you feel sad. Truth in photography is always rough. The revolution in technology made it so easy to fake pictures and make them complicated. If you surf the web for pictures, you will see more than a million fake pictures, and people would find it difficult to know the truth whether the picture is true or fake. Some pictures are illusions like the pictures used in advertisements and commercials, example of that, a flying mini cooper which i saw yesterday. People would know that this picture is fake, because how would a car have real wings? On the other hand, faking a dead person in a picture, people would not know if this is fake or true, they will be complicated because of the sophisticated picture.  From the technology nowadays, photographers are able to add many benefits to the pictures, like making the colors sharper or adding clouds or sunlight to the picture, they can even add people to the picture. Some people believe that pictures means capturing the moment. Too many pictures are far away and different from reality. People thoughts are changing about what they see in the photographs, they are starting to lose their trust.  The people should have more information so they can believe the pictures. I think that even colors play a big role in photography, if the picture has many bright colors, I would not believe it as I believe in a black and white picture. The black and white color in a picture makes it more realistic. In the matter of fact, the news photographs makes the pictures more complicated and sophisticated for people because they edit them by cropping, or putting effects, or cleaning things up in the picture.  I believe that digital photography and printed photographs have their benefits and disadvantages, but I prefer digital photography because you it is updated more than the printed photographs, and it is faster. I have a professional camera to take pictures of natural places and capture moments. I do not like to change the colors or edit the pictures, because I like them the way they are. A friend of mine, Sara, have her own digital camera, and she take pictures of faces and beaches, but she edit them a lot in a program called Photoshop , and the pictures are very beautiful and colorful, but people know that they are fake and not natural. But sometimes the pictures are really realistic, but they are actually fake, so I believe that technology has advantages and disadvantages. Example of that, the benefits are the colors that makes you feel happy, but if the pictures are fake it may cause a lot of trouble, or it can cause wars. Digital photographs have a really bad disadvantage that you may lose all the pictures you took, while the printed photographs keep your pictures in a good condition. I remember my father showing me pictures of me when I was a baby with my family around me, they were not very clear or colorful, but they made me happy because I still have pictures of me which is a good benefit of printed photographs. Photographs are small windows that shows the past.

Click Click

Netflix. This beautiful name is something that I fell in love with since the first day I arrived to the United States. This Network has slowly become the thing that I look forward to spending time with on the weekend or in my spare time. Don’t mix me up with some one who is enclosed on him self and does not have a social life. I am a social person that loves spending time with friends. However, my love to movies, TV episodes, and everything that is displayed on the small screen is an addiction that I am sinking more and more into. Back in Kuwait, where there is nothing worth watching on TV, I spent literally hundred if not thousands of dollars buying or renting movies and episodes from ITunes and Amazon. Nevertheless, subscribing to Netflix was the best thing that I have done for Entertainment. I still remember that when I first arrived to the United States, and when my friend introduced me to Netflix, I subscribed on it even before getting Wi-Fi for my apartment. I first tried the network when I was staying in my friend’s apartment until I got my own place. He showed me how to use it, to entertain my self while he was in college. At first I had a hard time using it, because we had connected it to his PS3, but what I got a grip and knew what I was doing, my friend Alex had a difficult time getting me off the couch and out the apartment to finish my work at the University and at my complex. After getting my own apartment, settling down, and getting my 52-inch flat screen, I was so into Netflix that I would spend my whole day after school laying down in front of the TV. Without any exaggeration, in my first week of having Netflix in my apartment I finished watching the whole four seasons of “Prison Break” in less than five days, with a total of 82 episodes. As I said, I was addicted!! Throughout my 2 years in the U.S. I managed to complete watching the following TV series: Prison Break, Walking Dead, Nip Tuck, Grey's Anatomy, Blue Mountain High, Friday Night Lights, Breaking Bad, Dexter, Malcolm In The Middle, Lost, and a couple of more TV Dramas. I also watched most of the movies on Netflix that I am now thinking about getting cable. As a full time student I spend most of my weekdays in my apartment, having friends over, ordering pizza, and surfing Netflix. To be honest, whenever I go back to Kuwait in holidays, I really miss spending time on Netflix Late at night before sleeping. Nowadays, as I am taking more serious classes, I am abandoning my addiction bit by bit. I must also say that English 101 is one of the main reasons that my poor old streaming media network is feeling left out. By the way I am writing this post while watching the first episode of  “House” on… NETFLIX. Thank you Reed Hastings.

There's No Place Like Home!!

Studying abroad is a great experience that I am glad to have the chance to go through. Despite all the positive things that come with it, studying abroad also has some negativity that us international students feel. One of these negativities is feeling homesickness. As a Kuwaiti Student in The United states of America, 7957 miles away from home, I mostly feel homesick during social, national, and religious events that take place back in Kuwait. With the use of Social media such as instagram, I am able to see what I am missing instantaneously.  Here is an example of a reason that I felt homesick not too long ago.

Less than a month ago Kuwait, my home country, celebrated two national events that are dear to every Kuwaiti citizen. It celebrated its Independence and liberation days on the 25^th and 26^th of February. These days are when Kuwait became independent from the British protectorate in 1961 and liberated from the Iraqi Invasion in 1991. The Independence Day is the day when Kuwait became a country of it’s own. During the same year Sheikh Abdullah Alsalem Alsabah may he rest in piece legislated Kuwait’s first constitution, joined Kuwait to the United Nations and the Arab League.

As for the Liberation Day, It is held in memory of the day that Kuwait was liberated in the Desert storm operation from the invasion of the Iraqi troops. The story of the invasion started on the Thursday 2^nd of August 1990, which is now called the black Thursday, when Iraqi troops invaded by surprise Kuwaiti Soil and began killing citizens and looking for Kuwait’s King and all the royal family to assassinate them and get rid of the whole royal bloods. This invasion went on for 7 months and resulted in killing 570 citizens, and 605 captives, who were officially announced dead by the U.N. a couple of months ago. Also it resulted in the burning of 600 Kuwaiti oil wells, which caused massive pollution in the region. This terrifying incident that Kuwait faced all came to an end after the United Nations allowed coalition forces to enter Kuwaiti grounds and free Kuwait. With the help of countries such as the United States of America, Britain, France, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and most of the Arab league countries, Kuwait was liberated and returned as a free country as it will always be.

Stephen King, an American author said in his novel The Body, “Homesickness is not always a vague, nostalgic, almost beautiful emotion, although that is somehow the way we always seem to picture it in our mind. It can be a terribly keen blade, not just a sickness in metaphor but in fact as well. It can change the way one looks at the world; the faces one sees in street look not just indifferent but ugly...perhaps even malignant. Homesickness is real sickness--the ache of the uprooted plant" the breathing method.”  I have lived and celebrated these two occasions for more than 20 years of my life and to miss them 2 years in a row is something depressing. Homesickness is a feeling that I will go through for all my years abroad, but having friends from all over the world here in the home of the free, I am able to overcome those feelings and difficulties and sense that I am in my second home.

            

Research and MLA

Since I started university, I found out that research is an essential educational tool that is necessary in lots of classes besides English. Research builds credibility to the paper or speech that is presented to the audience. As an Engineering major student I am demanded to do a lot of research before writing any research paper.  For most of my classes the most important thing about what is written is the research and evidence. Engineering students also use research for their graduation projects, which may vary between papers or stereophonics. Although research is important in our future careers, I did not get enough education and practice in it through my school education. As a foreign student the educational system that I studied under was way more different than it is in the United States of America. Going back to my high school years I remember that all what we have been taught was the process of writing to pass an exam. I was taught to write narrative and argumentative essays because these are the essays that appear on exams and aptitude tests. Also, studying in the ALP “American Language Program” here in CSUF did not do me any good in the research-writing field because we were only taught to write for the IELTS, TOEFL or university placement tests. But when I took the English 99 class and was assigned to write a research paper, I realized that I was behind all of my classmates. Most of them were starting to research and write their essays while I was still trying to figure out how to do a research for my essay. After multiple visits to the writing center, asking friends for help, and plenty of emails to my professor I had a brief idea about research and I was able to finish my essay. I find that I still lack the ability to research because my education did not have a good foundation, but I am learning more and more everyday.

As for MLA “Modern Language Association” format, I find it as a struggle whenever I write. In my native language, which is Arabic, we do not need a format to write. It is simple and straightforward, While English writing requires multiple formats and styles. I started using MLA when I was a student in the ALP program. I was introduced to basics of MLA such as font type, font size, margins, spacing, titles, and headers. I noticed that MLA format differs from one professor to the other. For Example my first semester ALP professor had us write our name, class, and the name of the instructor on the right of the page with double-spacing between each one and leave out a line after the title. My second semester ALP professor had us write our information on the left of the page with no spacing between them, and we also had to leave a line after the title. As for English 99 my professor did not care about the writer’s information because it will eventually be removed before submitting the portfolio. I am pretty sure that all my instructors followed the MLA format but I am still not sure about the correct way. In my English 101 class I learned that there is more to MLA than what I picked up in the past year and a half. There is MLA citation and a lot more to learn that what I already know.

In both these subjects I am still a beginner that I has a lot to learn before even considering to be good writer. But I have to say that I am proud of what I accomplished in just a short period. It is encouraging me to learn more and more about College level writing.

VisÇa Barca

If I wanted to find a single word that represents what I consider as the joy of life, it would be SOCCER!!! There is nothing in the world that can make me feel better after a lousy day than sitting on a comfy couch, with a 50” flat screen TV, watching 90 minutes of soccer. Being the most popular sport in Kuwait, soccer became a part of my daily life. Playing a friendly match with my friends or watching matches on TV sums up my weekend plans. In Kuwait watching any soccer match was within reach from any home TV whether it was from The English League “Premiers League”, The Spanish League “La Liga”, The Italian League “Serie A” or The German League “Bundes Liga”. Also, there are a number of fans in Kuwait that support the Los Angeles Galaxy soccer team and watch their matches. Unfortunately, coming to the United States of America made it difficult to keep up with my hobby. Due to the difference in time between California, Europe, and Kuwait, a person in California should sometimes stay up until 3 or 4 am to watch a match. As for playing soccer, it is easy to find a field to play on but hard to find a team to play against. Soccer in the United States is not as popular as football, basketball and baseball. It is almost impossible to find a sport’s bar that shows soccer matches unless it is the U.S. national team or a team that belongs to the same state.

My favorite league to watch is The Spanish League “La Liga”. I consider my self as a Fanatic fan of FC Barcelona. I have loved this team from the first time I saw them play. They are a team that really believes that there is no ‘I’ in team. They are a team that does not depend on the skills of a single player, but on the harmony of the whole team. The most extraordinary player in FC Barcelona is Messi. Messi is an Argentinian player that won the FIFA best player trophy for the past 4 years while he is only 25 years old.

This summer, and to be more specific from the 12^th of June until the 13^th of July, the FiFa soccer world cup will be held in Brazil. The world cup tournament will include 32 national teams from all over the world divided into 8 groups. This tournament is held every 4 years and that’s why people get so excited about it. For the summer break I am planning to leave California and go to Brazil with a couple of my friends to attend this event. I have dreamed about attending it since I first knew about soccer. Now that I am in America, I can fly easily to Brazil, and that is something I am thankful for.

To some, soccer may be a boring sport, but to me it is a part of my life (I am not exaggerating). My long term goal in life is to live a whole year in Barcelona just to watch FCB play for a whole season live in front of my eyes. Finally, for whoever is reading this post, cross your fingers and wish me the best. Visca Barcelona <3

Speak now or forever hold your peace..!

Speaking is a part of education that I have never been attracted to. The idea of speaking in front of total strangers in a classroom has always terrified me. Throughout my 12 years of education in Kuwait, I never gave a speech or a presentation without mumbling and being nervous. I decided to change my attitude towards speaking before I came to the U.S. I knew that in American universities presentation and speeches are a big part of the learning process and thus, I took a one year program in CSUF called the American Language program for international students. Throughout that year I developed myself in English and got a solid base of the language. I found an American roommate to live with. He was of great help to me. He helped me improve my accent, gain some new vocabulary, and made me meet his friends and practice speaking in English with them. I became a fluent and a confident speaker. After that I realized that my fear of speaking was not because of the lack of confidence in my self, but it was because of not knowing the English language good enough to speak it. I then started to watch more American movies, listen to American songs, read English literature, and start conversations with native speakers such as my neighbors and classmates. I also started speaking in English with my Kuwaiti friends here in California for the sake of practice. I was criticized and laughed on at the beginning; being an Arabic speaker speaking in English around other Arabic speakers. But after that my friends started to get the reason why I did that and became more helpful and encouraging. Speaking has become something that I look forward to. As a result I took the HCOM 101 class, which is all about presentations and public speaking. I am encountering with native speakers more and more with every day I spend in the United States. Also, my pronunciation became better and better with practice. Back when I was in Kuwait I used to speak English and I thought that I pronounced the words correctly but after I came to the states I figured out that I miss pronounced half the words I knew. The best moment of my ALP year in CSUF was when my public speaking teacher told me that she heard a southern accent when I was presenting. At this moment of my life I am very proud with what I have accomplished. After being a hesitant speaker in both Arabic and English, I became a better speaker in Arabic and a fluent speaker in English, give or take some grammatical mistakes and some pronunciations. I am seeking to improve more and more until I reach a point where I don’t count English as a second language. I am planning to take more public speaking classes and presentation classes too. Finally, I would like to point out that the biggest role in improving my speaking abilities goes to my dedicating teachers, which I will be forever grateful for the efforts.