WINTER LEGEND                      By Rakan,Kumail,Lin,Zhang

I am excited about the coming winter in Minnesota. There are rumors about ghosts which reside in St.Paul. People are afraid of specter for many reasons. Specters could bring pain and sorrow upon us. Until today people still can’t explain what happened there.

  The legend began with two children skating on the frozen lake. They really enjoyed the moment. Suddenly, they found a paper on the flower. They opened the paper then tried to read what is on the paper. Of course, they could not understand due to it was written in foreign language. The children asked the people nearby, but nobody could understand even a single word. Then they left to their car because they were so tired. While they want to turn on their car, the car doesn’t work. They were trying for ten minutes. Then the girl went outside to shake the car. While she was outside the car turn on and they were so happy. As soon as she drove the car, it stopped working and they were sad again.

  After they stayed an hour in the car the boy told her maybe the wrong from the paper. The girl left the paper outside the car and turn on the car worked, so they make sure the curse from it. They tried burn the paper, but they couldn’t. While they were trying there something black color around them, they felt something unknown on their body. They closed their eyes and open them and the paper vanished.

Writing-Nellie, Ryan, Aram

My name is Minjie, I am from China. I have been in the U.S. for 9 months. The weather in the U.S. is colder than China, so I always get sick. When I feel sick, my mood is not good. So I have to go to the hospital to see the doctor Jackson. He is a doctor always gives me a medicine, it tastes very bitter, so I don’t like it.

One time my friend, Lin, took me to the emergency room, because I was very sick. My symptom was critical. I slept for 2 days in the hospital. After I felt better, they sent me the bill, and it cost a lot. Despite, I have a health insurance.

In my country, health insurance is covers all illness, but here it doesn't  So I have to be healthy all the time when I’m living in the U.S. because I don’t want to pay a lot of money for my health.

Our Travel

  Two months ago , I started a vacation with my friend ,Rashed and Faisal who has the same name as me .we made a vacation plan for some famous places ,like Miami , New York ,and at the end of this vacation was our home Saudi Arabia .

  In Miami ,we had a lot of fun , and we did some crazy things like sky diving , bunage jumping and other things that crazy people usually do . We stayed in Miami around two weeks.

  After we left Miami ,we went to New York which is a very nice place . We visited some popular and nice places there .It cost us about three days.

  We left New York and we back to our country ,Saudi Arabi. We spend a lot of time for visiting our family and friends . What a pity! We just had two weeks stayed with our family .We had to come back to the US after that.

  While we were in the airport , the other Faisal and I made a joke with Rashed to make him nervous and mad . He thought he forgot his I-20 ,and he didn't tell him .Rashed found that we were playing a joke with him ,then he got angry and punched my face .Then the other Faisal gave him his I-20 to comfort him.

  Now , we are already in St.cloud ,and we had a nice vacation together.

                                                      By Weam-Minjie- Wang

A Night in Downtown

                                  A Night in Downtown 

           One time I met some old friends. We went out together to get some drinks downtown. While we were drinking, we saw two people fighting with each other. Since we were so drunk, we decided to go up to them and figure out what the rucks was all about. We found that were lovers, and one of my friends want disturb them. So, I started to fight with them again because I really mad about what did he do. After that, I punch him on his nose then his nose started bleeding. I started laughing at first, but then, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed someone dressed in penguin suit start walking up to me with a furious expression on his face. He asked with a rude way and I did not answer him. He started yelling at my face and I punched his face. I used to be a middle-weight boxer when I was in high school, so I did not have to worry about the fighting. I will definitely beat him up in one second. Much to my surprise, however, this penguin man seemed to be able to dodge all my blows with mat nix like precision.  perhaps I should not drink so mach, I thought to myself as a crowd to form around us, all of them laughing at me. Finally, it was a terrible and funny night at the time. We went to my apartment and had fun together.

My First Day in St.Cloud

       I walkup around 11 in the morning, and I look out of my window.  Everything out said was either white or black.  It’s my first time I saw snow.  I felt little exciting but since I know what the snow represent I hate it.  In the afternoon I went to walking out said.  May be I'm crazy bot I did it.  I walk around 2 hours then I decided to go to mine market.  While I'm walking to the market I step on black ice. It's my first time that I flow like a bird.  I almost broke my back.  After my little flight I go back to my apartment.  Do you ever try the painful sleep?  When you feel pain and because of it you sleep that is the painful sleep.

My First Days in U.S

 

      I came to U.S on Friday on Jan 13, 2012. That day was very cold for me. My friend came to receive me in the airport. We ate the dinner in Minneapolis and visited Mall of America. Then, we came to St. Cloud to his apartment and I slept there. On Saturday, we went to the bank and I created an account then I got SIM card for my phone. Then, I went to my room in the dorm. I lived with an American roommate. On Sunday, I went out with my friend and his friends. Then, I felt tired and I back to my room. Next day, it was the first day in the IEC.

Sek's story by Aram

Sek's story

Yesterday was a normal day in my life. I went to class in the morning until noon. When I back home, I have to fix my bike. My bike-tire got flat, so I have to change a new one. I started to fix it from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. After that I have to finish my homework and my routine.

I got everything done at 10 p.m., and I really exhausted. One thing pop-up in my mind, I must entertain myself. Laptop is the only one entertainer that I have, I usually spend  my free time on the Internet. So I looked up on Youtube, my favorite web-site, and I found a video of Thai's guy who is a master in piano. He such a great pianist that I've ever seen. His name is 'Sek Thongsuwan'.

He looks like rocker but he doesn't play rock music. He plays only classical music. I'm very interesting about him, so I looked up for his profiles. He used to be an exchange student in Russia where is the number one musical school in the world. He got a scholarship from AFS's program, and has studied in St. Petersbourg for a year. At the end of program, he decided to study Bachelor's degree in St. Peterbourg majoring classical piano, and now he is teaching music in the best musical university in Thailand. He is going to perform in New Zealand at the end of this year.

He kinda inspires me pretty much, because I love sounds of piano. I used to study piano for a year when I was senior in high school. I realize that the only way to be a master in music is 'practice'. On the next day, when I get back from school, I started to play piano again. I'm practicing 'Someone like you' song's from Adele, and I'm doing very well. I think in a week I will able to play a whole song. And I wish I could play this song in next 5 years. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzGgX1DihPw) lol

Chinese mid-Autumn Festival by YuShen Lin

The legend of Chinese mid-Autumn Festival
Celebrations and festivals happened to originate from legends and tales.People celebrate those festivals for various reasons like gods worshiping ,abundant harvest.There is an ancient legend about the moon when the Chinese celebrate mid-Autumn Festival.
The legend was about the heroic Houyi and his wife Chang'e, the Moon Goddess of Immortality, Chang'e simply lives on the moon but is not the moon herself.There are many version about the legend.Most versions of the legend involve few basic elements: Houyi, the Archer, an emperor and her wife Chang'e swallowing an elixir of life.

The story began with Chang'e being a beautiful palace maid.One day, 10 suns appeared in the sky and the earth became very hot. The king looked for an archer who would be able to shoot down nine of the suns. Houyi knew that people would die for the extreme heat. He took out his arrow and bow and shot down the nine suns with nine arrows. the King was pleased and gave Chang'e to him as a reward. The two lived happily together

one day, a mysterious old man came and gave Houyi an elixir that could make him live forever. Houyi hesitated whether to take the pill. He was unsure and left the pill under his pillow on the bed. Chang'e found the pill. She did not know what it was and just swallowed it. Chang'e became immortal and flew to the moon. Houyi was despair and died.

Mid-autumn festival is one of the important celebrations in China.Chinese all go back to their home for family reunion and moon watching.They hope that Chang'e would bestow blessings upon their family members.

A cellphone's story

A cellphone's story

    I am a cellphone, the first-generation cellphone. I was born in glory and people's praise. I opened a new page in the world. My first master loved me very much. He carried me wherever he goes. Things change every day. I soon had a replacement, the second generation cellphone. One day, my master left me in a garbage can.
    Left glory and praise in the past, I was just a rubbish. I left the garbage can with other rubbish. A truck took us to a big open dump. I was covered by a rotten mouse's body. I was dirty, disgusting and have a terrible smell. More and more rubbish heap on me, finally, I could not see the sunshine. Maybe one day I will decay like the mouse.
    I woke up in a girl's scream. "look at this, I found a cellphone!" Smiling happily, she held me and showed off before her friend. This is a dirty girl who is ragged. I was surprised that she knows me. She brought me to her home, a small shabby house. I was broken when my master threw me into the garbage can. The girl tried very hard to fix me. Unfortunately, she failed.
    She met a boy with me. Disappointedly, her voice was a little low.  "well, I found this in our treasury, I tried to fix it," her voice became lower, "but I failed, I planned to fix it and give you as your birthday present."
    After a silence, she gave a slight sign. "But you are smarter than me, and you love to fix these things, I guess you can fix it by yourself."
    She handed me to the boy, but he pushed me back. He drawled. "I don't need it. I know you like it, keep it for yourself."
    The girl hesitated for a moment, then she lied. "Yeah, I will keep it. But I can't fix it. Will you do it for me?"
    The boy saw right through her easily. "I know what you think about, don't try to plant it on me in this way. I will help you fix it, in your home."
    The girl nodded with a big smile. 
    I knew what the girl thought. She still wanted to give me to the boy. 
    The boy is a better repairman than the girl. He was allured by me, I could found it in his concentration. 
    One day, they were working on me together. Suddenly, things on the floor were start shaking. Somebody was shouting outside. "Earthquake!"
    The boy drew the girl out of the house very quickly. "We need to go to the square!"
    The girl stopped suddenly. "Wait a second, I will be back soon." She shook his hand off and ran back to her house.
    "Don't!" The boy shouted, try to prevent her. But she had already ran into the house.
    The house collapsed in a second.
    I was found with the girl by the boy after few days. His hands was broken in the period of open the ruins. They were dirty and blooded. He found a letter for him in the girl's pocket. That's a letter she prepared for his birthday. He opened it with his shivering hands, read.
    I heard his cry, overwhelming and heartsick.
    He took me back, and fixed me. 
    I have never been abandoned ever since. Even he become rich, even he has created many smart cellphones, he still has me. He still has her.

Traveling to America

Traveling to America

         After I graduated from King Abdu Al Aziz  University in Jeddah, I applied for a scholarship to America. Fortunately, I was accepted in the king's program. It was my dream to study in the U.S. and complete my master degree.

        I arrived Washington in the morning around 9:30 a.m. I was very tired because the trip was more than ten hours. I went to the hotel with my family and slept all the day. The next morning, we went to the Saudi Cultural Mission to finish some paper work. After that, we went sightseeing, we visited the White House. It was wonderful.

 

        On the third day, we flew to California because I was accepted at the USR. We arrived Los Angeles in the evening around 10:40 p.m. , so we spent the night in a hotel near the airport. The next morning, we drove to our apartment in Riverside, it was about an hour and a half to the east from Los Angeles. We found the house when we were in Saudi Arabia, thanks to the internet, so we went to the leasing office just to take the keys. After two days, I started my English classes. After six month, we left California because I found my major, TESOL MA program in St. Cloud State University. After completing the IEC Program, i will start my major. I am doing my best to complete the program successfully and go back to Saudi Arabia.
I hope you find my story interesting.
Best.

            The education is very important thing in my father’s life. He made all my brothers study abroad to get high certifications and worked at famous places. So while I was in the high school he was saying that he would send me to study abroad as my brothers did, but I was ignoring him. While he was saying that I became sad why he is keep talking like that, and he said that he would let me study in Saudi Arabia.  In addition, I got shocked, because my father made a big surprised that made feel mad for more than two months. At the same day and the last exam was finished at 10 pm, y father called me and told me that I have to prepare for my trip to United State and I was thinking this is such a joke that my father want to do it for me. After I went to my home my mother was telling me to buy clothes and the staff that I need for my trip. My trip was in the same day of the last exam in the high school. Then my father forced me to travel, but I was not happy, because I will miss my friends. After I arrived to United State, I felt so bad, and I had a homesick for a long period. However, these days I feel fine, because one of my best friends came to study with me and he lives with me now. 

Culture shock for foreign students

Culture shock for foreign students

  Culture shock is the the necessary way for foreign student ,different student have different feeling . It was the first time to go abroad ,at first I felt excising because I away from my family protect ,I'm freedom . But after one week ,I felt confuse about lots of thing . I must adjust the new life.

  For example , American prefer to fast food but in China people no matter what busy or tired . They insisted on cook by themselves. Chinese think fast food is not good for healthy . So I don't like fast food despite their taste good.

  Another example is that in the United State , class time are also different . The classes were beginning at 9AM and finished at 3PM . It means that the student has more time to do themselves' thing . It's worth mentioning that we have more spare time but we don't have lots of homework to do . The beginning I am very pleased ; however ,after a week when I came here , I am a little disappoint , because St.cloud is too small lead to this place was very boring.

  The third example is check bank account . The account including checking and saving . I check my account in TCF Bank's ATM . I'm so confuse , when I insert the card into the ATM machine , after 15 seconds the card was back. I think that ATM machine was broken.

  For me ,exciting and confuse were combine together. I has been USA for two mouths ,during this two mouths I have adjusted to the new life , now I feel better than when I first came.

My best friend

My best friend

     I am person friendly and i have a lot of friend i love to hung out with them, joking with them and do every  things with them  and I always say they are my brothers in this live because we grow up together and i slept in there house and they did the same thing with me when were young. We love each other a lot and we take care off each other. On one day i was walking to my friend house when i got his house i saw a lot of people going to his house i was confues and i did nat know whats is happen, after that i saw one of my friend he was heading to that house and i asked him whats wrong whats happened and he side, I'm sorry to tell you that i side please tell me what is happened he side Ali mom is date and i was shock I was mad about here i was crying and upset. This is my sad story whit one of my best friend. 

Dnager night

 

 

A Danger Night

 

 

   

        One night me and my brother went out to the downtown in

the cities. We walked and chilling. While he told me his secret we

met somebody we don’t know him. That man came to us and he

picked a small knife from his packet, we were so scared. After that,

he told me give me your wallet and I told him I don’t have money

in my wallet, because all my money in the bank. He thought I’m

lie. So he said he will stab us if we don’t give him the money. In

that situation I have to be calm and decide what should I do.

Suddenly, I saw a police officer walking front of us and I have to

think about something to grabs him. I told my brother about the

police man. After that, I told him to push that knife away from us.

The police man saw us and he started running to us. So the police

man caught that gangster and we felt so comfortable and safe.

 

My worst trip

          Five years ago my father was planing to take us to Dubai. So he started to look for a hotel in there, and he found a good hotel with a good price. Two days after that was the day that my father wanted us to go to Dubai. Our trip was by car, so we wake up early that day to go, we got all our bags the night before. The trip was 9 hours long from my city, so we leave our house at 5am. while we were on our way we had a flat tire and we were about to have a big accident but my father was professional driver so he took control of the car and pull over safely. Unfortunately my father didn't have spare tire, so we had to wait for three hours until we got a spare tire and change the old one. That was the worst trip for us.

The Story

                                                                                                                        Zhenxi Zhang   

A Kind Man

      He is a singer, but not famous. Every one think he is very normal, because he is not a super star, and not has many fans who love him. He just need to earn money support his familys' living.
      However, he donated the majority of his money for the poor man when he got the money. And children study in the mountain, they had not money for study, buy books and eating, he never thought how rich he had, he just think if i have 1 dollar money i need to donate 1. In his opinon, the bast happiness things is the child can eat a full mile and study knowledges.
      Some people think he is crazy, but he think this is happiness, he never want to give up. However, the god is not fair for him, he got a cancer, and he became serious. He had not enough energy to earn and donate money for poor man. People heard he got cancer, they visited him every day, they want not him leave them.
      Up to he died. In 2005, he always leave us. People heard he died felt sadness, and the child donated from him called he father. All of tear full in they eyes, they think he is a good man.Chinese government gave he honor, thought he feelingly China.
      He just a normal human, but the growing number of people remembered his name Congfei. I think does not matter how mormal we are, just we can do ourselves to help others, we can became hero in someone eyes.