Thursday hanging out

Ok everyone, we have been decided to meet each other at the clock tower on Thursday at 2 PM. If someone know where the Thai restaurant (Happy Chang)is and want to go by yourself, please feel free to do so. People who want to go, please comment on this post, so I know how many people will be there. If you guys want to bring other friends with you, please do it. I might bring some of my friends with me too. I hope to see you guys there. Also, this is my phone number 760-658-4990. If you guys have any question, please call me.

Going to Thai restaurant (Happy Chang)

Hey ! guys !!
This is Gift. After we hung out at Dixon lake, I had a lot of fun with you guys. Therefore, I plan to take you guys out either lunch or dinner at Thai restaurant (Happy Chang). It is closed to Palomar college. I plan for this coming Thursday (May 21). We can meet each other at the clock tower at Palomar college at a certain time, depend on lunch or dinner time. Therefore, I need a vote from you guys about who want to do it for dinner or lunch. Please comment and vote for either lunch or dinner, so I can set a specific time. Also, please tell me who want to go, so I can talk to the Thai restaurant owner before hand. Here is the address to get to Happy Chang: 1450 W Mission Rd San Marcos, CA 92069. From Palomar college, you just drive toward Buena creek for about half a mile. It should be on the right side. You will see a bus stop and West Gin Bakery, just drive into that area. What I want you guys to do now is just vote for either lunch or dinner time and tell me who want to come. This is my e-mail address if you guys have any questions : g_gang_gamer@hotmail.com.

PS. You can get a free Thai tea at Happy Chang if you are Palomar students ^o^.

Picnic at Dixon Lake May 15,2009 @1pm

Here is the list of what you guys are bringing for friday May 15.Make sure you guys bring enough for evryone and bring any games you guys have to play.Thanks and see you there!



Food:

Mr.Lawson
Kosanovic Dejan
Elizabeth Molina
David Cruz
Gulzhan Walker

Fruit:

Jude Song

Guillermina Rodriguez

Soda/Juice:
Kitzia Vega
Silvia Villalobos

Elma Vasquez

Chips:

Julio Aguayo

Luis Garcia

Desserts:

Abby Villanueva

Gift

Me

Plus I will also be briging plates,napkins, cups, spoons, forks etc...

Making New Friends

Communicating with my classmates was fun and interesting. I learned many things by their posts. Having friends from everywhere give us the opportunity to know different place that maybe we will never have the chance to know by traveling. Sometimes we think that the world is just how we see it but it is not. There are others places that are so interesting. When the semester started, we did not know each other, but with the past of the time we began to know each other and that help the class to be more interesting and fun. I think that having a blog just for the ESL 102 class is so creatively and helpful for some students whose shyness are more stronger than anything. I strongly recommend this methods to all the teachers, I know that they will see an improvement in their students. Thanks to all my ESL 102 classmates for sharing those wonderful stories!!!!

FUN ACTIVITY

The first day of the semester, I felt strange because I just knew some classmates, but I had new classmates too. I wanted to be with my friends with the people who I knew. Later we did work group, and I met some other classmates. It was interesting because in the class there were people from different culture, when we began to talk; we shared some of our culture. Later, we began the activity to write on a blog about our culture. When I began to write about our culture on the blog, we got to know each other. It was good to know how our culture is different, but that it is not a barrier to get to know each other. I think that this activity help me a lot to know my classmates. Also, it is helpful when we meet other people with the same culture. It will help us to understand and talk with others. Sometimes it is difficult to talk with people from a different culture because of their language. We do not if she/he wants to talk with a person from another culture. Also, other teacher could do this activity, because it will let their students to get to know each other. It will be easier for students to have friends from different culture. The class will be more fun, and it will be easy to work in groups. I think that more classes need to do an activity like to write on a blog about our culture.

COMMUNICATION

Communicating with my classmates has been an enriching experience for me because I learned a lot of new things that I did not know before. Knowing new things about my classmates’ culture has been really interesting. We are not able to go to every single place in the world, so having friends from different places could be very helpful to know more about different cultures. They can share each other about what they use to do. For example, they can talk about their festivals, holidays, customs, legends, food, believes, clothing, etc. Sharing new things with other people could be really interesting.
I think is important to know about different cultures because sometimes people talk about their culture, but you don’t understand anything because you don’t know anything about that topic. On the other hand, if you already know what they are talking about, you can get into a conversation with them and make new friends. Then, they can share with you some other things that you don’t know.
I encourage other teachers to create a blog for their students because it is a really good way to know about other’s cultures, especially when students don’t talk each other. Creating a blog, students can get curiosity about a culture and ask the writer about it. They can get to have a good friendship with their other classmates besides just talk with their s mall group of friends.
Also, creating a blog is important because teachers can know more about their students and create a good relationship with them. Having a good relationship with teachers is important because it can help students to feel comfortable with the teacher and ask whenever they have questions.

At first, I thought that writing on the blog was just a homework I had to do, until I realized that communicating with other students is a great way to know each other culture. I really started to like writing on the blog because every time I logged in and read some of my classmates writing I learned a lot of new things about their culture. This activity is a perfect way to get to know more about other people cultures and practice on the writing. By doing this activity I learned things that I didn’t imagine that they exist. For example, the “Shinkansen” in Japan is the fastest transportation that exists in the world and the bending machines in Japan; I never thought that they would be selling milk, eggs, etc. Another thing that got my attention was how girls in Japan decorated their cell phones, I-pods and pens. They really make them look pretty. I really enjoyed writing on the blog and communicate my culture with my classmates. Many teachers should use the blog technique to communicate with each of their students and get to know more about each other culture.

OUR-COMMUNITY BLOG

Throughout the semester, it was hard for everyone to get to know each other. We are from different cultures and we were afraid to communicate one another in the class. However, by communicating with other students in the blog it was great way of knowing each other better. We were posting blogs about our cultures and I bet everyone liked about writing his/hers culture. I learned a lot from other cultures during the blog activities. Learning about other cultures was a good experience not only for me but for the rest of the class as well. It was a great idea of Mr. Lawson to create this community blog because it’s a really good and new way to communicate with others. Well, I think that It is very important to know about other cultures.
I also think that its was good way to bring people closer together because usually most of the students are shy and they don't like to get involved in class, they don’t participate. However, now a days everybody is involve with computer and having to communicate online is very exacting. Many students will become more involve and comfortable in talking about themselves and his/her culture but also in sharing ideas about any subject. So yea, the bloggin activity was a great idea. At the end our community blog activity turned out to be a place where we go an express what we think and comment what the others classmates think...PEAce!!

A Great Discovery

At first, I did not like blogging because I am bad at using a computer, and the blog post was just homework to do. However, this blog post got more interesting and valuable for me to learn my classmates' cultures and also my own culture too. Knowing and understanding a different culture is not that easy because we have already had a prejudice or stereotyped images toward one's culture. Also, we do not have many opportunities to communicate with foreigners to know a foreign culture. Nevertheless, our ESL teacher, Mr. Lawson and our classmates provided a great opportunity to share each own cultures. Through the blog spot, I could learn not only foreign cultures but also my own culture. To make a blog post, I researched honorable things about my culture. As my classmates added a comment to my blog, I have been surprised and happy because the thing that I thought as normal was incredible to my classmates. As I introduced many interesting things about my culture, I could be proud of being the one who could tell the world how wonderful my country is. Also, by reading my classmates’ blogs, I learned many differences and also similarities between their cultures and my culture. Especially, it became a big surprise when I learned that my culture and my classmates’ cultures share many commons because it is authentic to know people who speak a different language and live so differently have similar holidays or food. As one can see, knowing foreign cultures and understanding each others can let us show respect to the others, and also we can see how we are one of the citizens in the small planet, the earth. We still have prejudice or discrimination toward people who are different from us, but understanding each own cultures can be a help to solve these problems because we can see how similar we are. Therefore, teachers should let students do this blog post as Mr. Lawson did. The blog post can be a great writing activity, and also a great discovery all over the world.

Blogging rules!!!

The blog that my classmates and I did is about our cultures, and I think it is just an amazing experience. Just reading about difference between cultures makes persons wonder and maybe even explore more about these cultures. I see this type of writing as a pure fun, where person can learn something very interesting and at the same time something different from his or her own culture. In addition, I don’t consider blogging like a rest of the school work. I consider it is an interaction with the other cultures, my friends’ cultures. Through reading the blog I am getting a feeling that I know my classmates for a long time.

Also, by learning about their different cultures I started to understand their behaviors, opinions, and reaction on the different things. For example, for some people from the ESL class it is just normal not greeting a professor’s entrance into a classroom. For me, however, it was cultural shock because I am used to stand up and greet professors when they are entering a classroom.

Moreover, the importance of the blog is that the cultural things that my peers and I posted are not common in every day conversation. It is deeper, and I would say more personal because a culture is a part of persons’ identity. For example, Gulzhan’s name means “soulflower”, but if I just talked to her I don’t think we would touch that topic, and I would not know such an interesting detail from her life.

The blogging is definitely one of the activities I like the most in my ESL class. It is too bad that more professors don’t do the same activity in their classes.

The Chance

During this semester, I, myself realized that when I get to know other classmates and communicate with them, I could learn much more experiences. It was really wonderful to know about my classmates’ cultures. I feel very close to them when understanding their cultures. I also amazed about their cultures and countries. Each country has its own feature that other people should get to know. However, it really surprised me when I found out that in some of countries’ cultures are similar with my country. For example, the Thai’s food and Vietnamese’s food is almost the same. Also, the traffic in Iran is the same as the traffic in Vietnam. I didn’t travel around the world, though I could know a little bit about the nations in the world. I was so touch when having a chance to get to know about my classmates and their countries. Our community blog has brought us closer together. Although we come from different countries around the world, we are now as brothers, sisters and as a family. I would like to give thanks to my teacher, Mr. Lawson who had an idea for writing about this blog. He gave us an opportunity to get to know each other, and other teachers should use this project to help their students to be closer to each other.

Communicating with other students in the bloog is a grate way of knowing eachother. posting bloogs about culture has been probably the most fun activity in the class. I have learned a lot about other cultures in the bloog. I have learned things that i didn't even imagine that they would exist for example, vending machines in Japan. I knew about vending machines but, they sold snacks, but this ones in Japan they sale eggs, milk and other kind of groceries. I never imagine this existed. Learning about other cultures in the bloog has been a realy good experiance. I am sure it hasn't been a realy good experience only for me but for a lot of students in my class and for other people who visit the blogg. puting coments in other peoples bloog is good also because you can get to tell who ever posted the blogg about any thing new or any question someone might have. Other teachers should use the blogg and get their students to know more about their friends culture. It is very important to know about other cultures because someone might be doing something that a student from other culture doesn't practise and could be rude or disrespectfull for them. This activity is very nice if any teacher trys it i am shure he or she wont regreat it. They will be realy hapy about it, and their students will learn a lot about different cultures.

Why Every Teacher Should Use Such Project as the Blog?

     I have been living in California for about four years.  Adjusting to life in a new country is

an  ongoing and long process that needs a lot of time and work.  When I came here, I felt confused, unsure, uncomfortable since all was new for me.  First I tried to keep in touch with my family and friends in Kazakhstan through e-mail.  Then, I began to find friends who live here with the same background and language as I speak.  When I started my ESL classes, I discovered that I was not alone in this situation since my classmates were from different countries with different backgrounds.  Also, some of my classmates wanted to make friends too.  I know that it is very hard to make new friends because some of the students are not open and outgoing.  I think that communicating with my classmates about our cultures has been an enriching experience not only in improving our writing skills but also in making a good relationship.  We could share our cultures, traditions and learn other cultures.   I think that every teacher should use such projects as the blog to get students communicating with each other.  It is a very good oppotunity to know each other better by sharing some subjects that is very interesting for everybody in the class.  Also, we students have to work to get new friends because our teacher cannot do some things that are dependent only on us.  If I liked somebody's post, I tried to send my comment with encouragement and warm words.  I discovered that the next day my classmate's face who got my comment was happy and was smiling.  Then, we usually began to talk about this posting, and it is was a very good opportunity to get new friends.  Also, I tried to pay attention to my classmates who regularly sent comments on my posts.  It is not a secret that little things can make a real difference.  Thanks to this blog, I learned about different cultures, and know my classmattes better than when I met them in the begining of this semester. I think that learning only through books is boring.  Therefore, we have blogging where we can share comments.  In my opinion, it is very fun and interesting.  This blogging helped me to improve my writing skills, make new friends, and learn different cultures, and traditions.

Our Blogs

Throughout the semester, it was hard for everyone in getting to know each other and since everyone was from a different culture their were many people that didn't know each other and were afraid to talk to one another in the class. By being introduced to a online blogging website, everyone had the chance to share something about their culture and because of that many were learning about peoples cultures and had a really good experience with it. Taking the time to write a blog about our culture has made communication with others in the class much better, and many of us have learned so much from each other. I think that all teachers should provide a blog website that can make their students communicate with each other in some way.I think that its a good way to bring people closer together because usually many students are shy and don't like to get involved in having to communicate with others. By having to communicate online, many students will become more involved and comfortable talking about themselves and sharing their ideas to one another.

The Importance of This Blog

Since I started to post blogs about my culture, I have also learned a lot of things about my ESL classmates. This blog assignment gave me a valuable experience for understanding cultural differences between Japan and other countries, and it would be enriching experience for my life. ESL classes have a huge advantage which other classes don’t have in Palomar College. It is that a lot of students from all over the world gather in one classroom. It means that we can gain knowledge about other culture which we haven’t known yet. I believe this knowledge will be valuable tools for our future. However, unless we have opportunities to share our culture, we waste this advantage. Hopefully, this blog assignment performed the place where this advantage functions very well. Before I started this blog, I hadn’t known much about other cultures, such as Mexico, Vietnam, Serbia and so on. By reading a lot of blog posts my classmates wrote I really enjoyed knowing and understanding cultural differences between Japan and other classmate’s culture. If I didn’t had this assignment, I would still unknown and misunderstood other cultures. Moreover, I wanted to introduce everyone to my country Japan, so it was great opportunity to post my blogs. By posting blogs about Japan I was very excited to read comments not only mine, but also other Japanese classmate’s one. I learned how everyone thinks about my country, and which parts of Japanese culture are interesting for everyone. There is another thing I would feel the importance of this blog. It is that I could see everyone’s writing styles. Throughout this semester, our writing skills have dramatically changed. I could see the progress we made in this blog assignment. By reading everyone’s posts I felt that I have to make efforts to improve my writing skills. Overall, this blog assignment gave me great opportunities about not only cultural things, but also seeing everyone’s progress. I would never forget this assignment in my future.

Knowing Each Other

Since our class had students from various cultures, sharing each one of our cultures was valuable moments. It was a really exciting experience that I could introduce my culture to my peers, and so it was for me to know my peers' cultures. Throughout the activities, I realized that no one can judge whose culture is superior to others. Every cultures have to be respected, and we all have been respecting each one of our cultures. Also, those activities helped to eliminate my cultural biases that prevented me from making friends from various cultures. I was also amazed by my peers' writings. We were sharing one goal, which was to become a better writer, and I could feel that we all achieved our goals.

This blog was also a good method of sharing our cultures not only within ourselves, but also the people who visited this blog. I am not sure if I would keep post on this blog if we decide to keep it, but I am sure I would revisit this blog. This blog can be a great source of writing about other cultures although the posts are not written by professionals. I would say visiting this blog is a kind of travelling around the world, and I guarantee it would be fun!


I want to thank to all my peers who gave me valuable trips throughout this semester, and I want to thank to all the people who visited our community blog.

BLOGGING!!!

To tell the truth, I was thinking I couldn't be bothered to post on the blog just after I heard explanation from Mr. Lawson. I have never blogged before, and in my last ESL class, I just did my reading and writing assignment which teacher told, so I had no idea what I can do for that. However, once we started to post blogs, I found it is a very interesting and wonderful tool to know many things which I didn't know. Of course, I also have some friends from other countries such as Mexico, Vietnam, Thai land, etc. out of the class, and I have known their some culture. However, I haven't heard any detailed story about their culture so, this blogging have given me a bunch of new information and subjects of conversation with friends. Also, blogging is good for not only knowing about other cultures but also knowing my culture more. To post on the blog, I sometimes use the Internet to get more particular information or to make sure of what I already know. Through this research, I could get some new and correct information about my culture. I could realized the goodness of my culture again. Also, reading other Japanese friends' post and others' comments is also very interesting for me. I could know what kind of topics in my culture people are interested in by reading them. Moreover, we talked each other even out of the class through the blogging, so we have known each other more than in other classes. I really like this blog and our class now, so I'll miss them after end of this semester, but I hope we still connect together even if we don't have any same class or blog. Thank you so much, every one!!

Communicating with my classmates about their cultures has been an enriched experience. I say it has been an enriched experience because all of us, as a class we have learned from each other’s blog. For example we have learned about different customs, sports, various forms of transportations, food and many other things. Learning from each other’s cultures, to me personally it feels like the blog has join us more as a class, because we have all come closer to each other. I feel that the class after going thought the process of writing in the blog and sharing about their culture brings all sorts of friendships, connections etc.. that will last forever. The blog is a great way to communicate and express ourselves about our culture and anything else that is important to us or plays an important role in our life.



Many teachers should use such projects as the blog to get students to communicate with each other because it is a neat way to get to know about each other’s life, culture etc. The blog is also a good way for the professor to get to know each and every student that is in her or his class. The professor by getting to know her students she can relate with them or learned from them as well as the students can learn from their classmates. Many Professors should use the blog because it’s a good way to take advantage of technology, since technology has been improving throughout the years. Many students prefer to do homework assignments on the computer.

Communicating with my classmates through the blog spot has been a great experience. I learned about their behavior; it is shaped by their culture. For example I did not know that in Japan was correct to slurp when eating soup. Also, by blogging I notice that my classmates’ personality were shape by the beliefs from their culture. The differences between our food and the food from other countries are so noticeable. In Mexico we are used to the tortilla that every dish is accompanied with it. However I notice how other cultures do not use forks to eat their food instead they use chopsticks. In some way learning another culture way of life is essential in order to get to know them better. Now, you do not have the same impression other individual does just because we took the time blogging and letting people to know about us a little bit better. We explained to them why we value and how those values make us act in different ways. However, here is an important part of blogging which understand others’ culture. Having to teach my culture to my classmates was fun. I presented to them important parts of my culture and how we celebrated them. Blogging is not only an interaction activity between students, it in some way made us more tolerant with each other. As a result, of knowing my classmates culture as I said before made us tolerant, not because in a classroom we have to be tolerant. It is because of knowing such information from their culture we know what we are not supposed to be making fun of where they come from or what they value in general. It is a good idea that professors encourage their students to practice activities such as blogging. I t will help to promote interaction between students.

pss. it was a pleasure to get to know all of you, i really enjoied reading your blogs!!!!

Communicating with each other in ESL class

Posting in our blog is not only a good way to practice writing English but it is also a great way to communicate between our classmates. As popular as students in ESL class come from different countries in the world, so understanding their cultures is easy to communicate and enrich experience to each other. Our class has learned more about different cultures through our community blog such as I knew more about Japan, Mexico, Korea, Thai, Iran, Russia, ect. Though I have not been able to travel anywhere, I did learn a great deal about many beautiful places as well as had a chance to imagine a lot of yummy foods in my mind. I told myself that in future if I had an opportunity to visit any of these places, I would definitely try these foods to actually experience their taste. Also, many of my classmates wrote about their national celebrations or festivals that were very interesting. In short, I think blogging is a great way for students to communicate and learn from each other. At first, I was terrified by the idea of blogging when the teacher mentioned it in class. Due to the fact that my computer skills are not that good, I was afraid that I could not handle these assignments. However, I soon realized that as I started my first post, it was then very stimulating. I could write freely as much as I wanted with no time constraint or no brainstorming. All in all, it was a great idea to start blogging, and think I will be missing this fun activity when our class is over.

The Importance of Blogging

Blogging is something that teachers should encourage students to do in order to know their classmates. When we are new to a class we don’t know many of our classmates and by writing blog post about us, about our culture, is a great idea and opportunity to know about each other. Blogging gives students a great experience. By blogging you don’t only get to make new friend, but you also get to learn about your friends and classmates cultures. Knowing about each other’s cultures has been an enriching experience. Before we started blogging all I knew about my classmates’ cultures was the stereotypes that people and society made up, but after reading my classmates’ blogs I learned a lot about their cultures. I learned about other countries traditions, about their religion practices, their music and many other important traditions. I learned that other countries believe and celebrate many of the traditions that different countries have. An example of this is, Japan as well as Mexico celebrates children’s day, even though they both have different meaning and celebrate differently, they both honor children. Communicating with my classmates about their culture has been an amazing experience. Now that I know about their cultures, about what they believe in I can engage in a conversation without been afraid of offending them. I believe that teachers should use blog to get students communicating with their classmates. If students use the blog they would get to know their classmate, they would have the opportunity to know what each other likes and beliefs. After knowing each other, students would be able to help each other in class. Blogging is a great idea, it brings students together and it would help students stop stereotyping. It would help students learn and appreciate other people's cultures.

Blogging its fun!!!!!!!

Communicating with my classmates by blogging has been an enriching experience for me because I got the opportunity to learn about their cultures. As well, I think, I became an open-minded person, due to all the things and experiences that my classmates have been through since they moved to the United States. Moving to a foreign country it can be a nightmare for some people because they have to learn the language, be able to understand the culture, and even the religion from the country. For some of my classmates I think moving to the United States, was a harder experience because they have to get used to the life-style that American people have. By blogging with my classmates I got an idea about the big barrier that exist among their native country and the United States. Classmates should get to know more about each other because they would have the chance to practice their socializing skills with people from a foreign country and to make new friends. It is important to relationate with your peers because we see each other almost daily and it would be wrong to not even try to get to know each other better. I think teachers should use these kind of projects to get students communicating with each other more frequently. Since students during class time do not get really the opportunity to talk to each other. As well, I think it would be very beneficial in the future because students can continue to talk to each other or even become best friends!!!!!!

My experience

Our community blog was a good resource to communicate with others. In my case was a good topic that we chose to talk abou it because I learned many cultures. Eventhough, some of my classmates are from my country I didn't knew their cultures from their states. In addition, was a good experience to post my opinion about other cultures, and I think that is a good resource that everyone should try to learn from others because they can post whatever they want that others can read. One blog that I read was Thai food mm made me hungry!!! actually I work in a thai restaurant in Encinitas that all the costumers told us that is the best thai restaurant that they have tried. Here is the address if you guys like to go and try Thai food. "Siamese Basil" 527 S. Coast Higway 101 Encinitas Ca 92024 is by the bus station.!!!! :} Japan is one of the place that I want to go because their culture is interesting the things that they do and of curse the food mmm.!!! Actually, I like to try all kind of food because is so delicious. In conclusion, from the posts of my classmates I learned a lot, and I think that all the teachers should use it to motivate their students to write something interesting and the same way their students enjoy writing. :}

New way to communicate with classmates

It was my first time to make blog posts and viewed by many friends. At first, I fought to posting an entry. But I got used to blogging soon, and I could have enjoyed it. I could read and know other countries my friends come from, and it is really amazing experience. I saw many beautiful pictures of buildings and natures in Mexico. I like that Mexican culture, mariachi. (Because I like the movie "El Mariachi" which I watched in my cinema class (o^-^o)b.) I was surprised by the speed of the Internet in Korea. Moreover, I didn't know the surprising traffic in Iran. And also I could notice how my country, Japan has unique cultures. Students should get to know more about each other because it is a good chance to communicate in English. Other teachers should use this style blogging, in the class because each country has wonderful culture and telling them to classmates by blogging is really interesting way. Also we can comment to my classmates’ post and we can answer them. We don't have to be too serious like writing an essay, (maybe we should be??) and blogging is easy way to show the pictures. We can see and write our blog posts anytime when we are free. Actually I was ashamed a little bit because everybody can see my bad writing and mistakes of grammars, but I like to share our cultures so I decided to not care that too much. I didn’t know that if blogging is so interesting for me. I could really enjoy writing and reading blogging!!

My expirience bloging

I had a wondergul expirience bloging, I used to know about many other cultures. Knowing about Japan was so awesome. I liked knowing about the Japan culture how beutiful that country is. The decoration from Japan, The fashion from Japan, I'm amazed about Japan. One day I would like to go to Japan. I knew about he Vietnamise culture, the Vietanamise leaf. how that leaf is the spirit of Vietnam. I learn about Thai clothes, Thai food so delicios food. I learned about the trains from Japan, how fast those trains are. Here in the United States We need to improve our transportation. The traffic in Iran, here in the United States still have traffic problems we need to do something about it. I learned about many different cultures. How Esl students from different countries expressed themselves from the bottom of their haerts. I learned how people from different countries behave in a different way. I enjoed also reading the blogs from my own country Mexico. The mariachi beutiful music from Mexico. The different tradictions remembering Mexico. Bloging made me to react what good custums from differrent countries have. What custums this country have, What custums Mexico have. The beutiful places from Mexico. Different traditions, I enjoyed bloging communicating with Esl students. Many countries have so beutiful culture, I believe so. Esl students that have the same purpuse as I have to improve their English writing and communing in Enlgish. This country was formed from cultures all over the world. This country is enriched from different cultures. I really liked this blog. I will miss to blog about culture. I recommend other teachers to start using blogng, bloging is a new way for students to know each other in a beutiful way.

My opinion about blog posting

For me, posting different cultures on the blog was a great experience to me. I got to learn some cultures that I never knew before. I had a chance to tell other people my culture by posting on the blog. Posting different cultures on the blog gave me an opportunity to share my cultures with others and also learn other people's cultures as well. The cultures that we posted on the blog are the knowledge that we can't find in the textbook or lecture. We also created a connection between our classmates by learning a little bit of their cultures. Learning different cultures can make us show a respect to other cultures beside our own cultures. Not only our classmates that learn our cultures, but also other people all around the world who visit our blog !!! Posting blog is a great connection between people all around the world. We shared our opinion of other cultures. Sometimes, we do not realize of how interesting of our cultures are until we have a chance to share our cultures to others. When we travel to different countries, we know a little bit of the cultures of those countries from our classmates. when we post on the blog, we show our experiences, ideas, opinions, etc to others who we do not know. We creat a relationship with other people. Therefore, we can learn something from those people by exchaging opinions and ideas. We cannot learn opinions and ideas from any textbooks because opinions and ideas come from what other people think about certain things. I think teachers should start to use the blog for students to communicate with each other, so they can creat a relationship with each other. Therefore, students can make friendship with others and maybe other people from different countries. This connection makes our world become smaller and smaller. In the future, people from all around the world may understand each other more and more because we open our world wider than before. When we open our world wider, then we can bring peace to this world.

The battle of Puebla

This weekendwe celebrate the battle of Puebla. Many mexican here in the U

States celebrate this holyday. The battle of Puebla occured May 5, 1862.
Early on May 5, 1862, General Laurencez led 6,000 French troops toward Puebla, Mexico, just 100 miles from Mexico City. Expecting the attack was General Ignacio Zaragoza, a Texasborn Mexican who was ordered to defend Juarez with a force of 4,000 troops, many of them agricultural workers armed with antiquated rifles and machetes. The battle would take place in a muddy, uneven field.
To show his contempt for the Mexicans, Gen. Laurencez ordered his troops to attack through the middle of the foes’ defenses, their strongest position. The French cavalry went through ditches, over adobe ruins and toward the slope of Guadalupe Hill. By then, the cavalry, exhausted and nearly disbanded, failed to achieve its goal. The Mexican army stood its ground. Gen. Zaragoza, who had no experience in military tactics but was a veteran in guerrilla warfare, ordered his troops to go after the French, who fled to Orizaba, where Zaragoza attacked the French again, forcing them to flee to the coast.

Dixon Lake Picnic Info!

May 15, 2009 Meet at 1 pm in Dixon Lake

This is the address:
Dixon Lake
1700 La Honda Dr, Escondido, CA 92025

Bring any board games, soccer ball, football or volleyball, and something to sit on like a blanket or something like that. As for food Cherry, gave me a great idea that we should all bring food from our country, since we are talking about culture. If all of you can bring something like food, desserts, drinks, or snacks that are part of your culture. Remember to bring enough for the whole class. Next week on Wednesday let me know what you’re bringing that way I can know who is bringing what. I will also bring food and don’t worry about plates, napkins, spoons/forks, and cups I will take care of that.

Email me if you need my number.

I will be their earlier so that I can get a good spot for everyone, if you wanna join me your welcome to do so!

Directions from Palomar College Located in San Marcos
Start at 1140 W MISSION RD, SAN MARCOS going toward COMET CIR - go 0.60.9 mikm
1. Turn Right on KNOLL RD - go 0.50.8 mikm
2. Turn Right on W SAN MARCOS BLVD(CR-S12 W) - go 0.20.3 mikm
3. Take ramp onto CA-78 E - go 5.69.0 mikm
4. Turn Left on N BROADWAY - go 0.50.8 mikm
5. Turn Right on E EL NORTE PKY - go 2.13.4 mikm
6. Turn Left on LA HONDA DR - go 1.32.0 mikm
7. Arrive at LA HONDA DR, ESCONDIDO

Directions from Palomar College Located in Escondido
8. Start at 1951 E VALLEY PKY, ESCONDIDO going toward N MIDWAY DR - go 0.60.9 mikm
9. Turn Left on N CITRUS AVE - go 0.91.5 mikm
10. Continue on E EL NORTE PKY - go 0.10.2 mikm
11. Turn Right on LA HONDA DR - go 1.32.0 mikm
12. Arrive at LA HONDA DR, ESCONDIDO

In April 30th, we celebrate Dia del nino. We give them toys, candy, or things that they love. In school must of the children make performance t show their parents that they are happy. Must of their parents show their love to their childrens by doing a big party just for him/her. In the party people can find many food such as tamales, mole, posole, tostadas, ice cream, ect. Must of the food is the favorite child's food. We try to make our children feel special in the day. We try to make the best to show our love to them.

The Orthodox Christianity

(Temple of saint Sava. Location: Belgrade)


I will try to explain the differences between Orthodox Christianity and Catholicism. I will discuss the historical and today’s aspects. I will discuss the religious practices, the liturgy and even the differences in architecture. Although the faiths have the same common beliefs, we believe in the same God, we do have differences that I will try to explain.
History of Christianity is very complicated; it started when the Roman Empire broke apart. The East part of Roman Empire took the Orthodox view of religion, while the West part of Roman Empire embraced the Catholicism. Under rule of Emperor Constantine the Roman Empire broke apart, and that was a geographic separation between the two religions. The Catholics integrated closely with government. They wanted to bring religious change among the people using the power of the government; this is why even to this day the Vatican has such strong religious and political influence. The Orthodox leaders worked within the framework of the people and their culture, forging strong alliance among their people. Even to this day many of the Orthodox religion are strongly devoted people; they have strong ties to the Church and have much of their personal identity rapped up in the Orthodox faith. Most of the Orthodox countries today are still viable, such as Russia, Greece, Serbia, Bulgaria, Republic of Serbia, Bosnia, and Macedonia, etc.







(Altar of the orthodox church)

Some of the differences are found in the building structures. The Orthodox building does not have pews in the middle of the church; the parishioners stand during the service. There are chairs off to side built into the wall for those who special needs. The doors into the church are built on the east side of the church. The people enter through the east doors, represents the division that took place back in past the division of the Roman Empire. The Crosses are different in both faiths. Both faiths have a lot of beautiful art inside their churches, these arts are called frescoes. Also, Orthodox churches’ altar is usually made from beautiful hand crafted wood.
















(Orthodox cross)


The liturgy is different in both faiths, the lengths of the services are different, and the Orthodox service is about 2-4 hours. The Catholics have what is known today as a “Mass” which usually last about 30-40 minutes. The people cross themselves differently, the Catholics are taught to cross themselves with 5 fingers, and their motion is representative of their cross. The Orthodox believers cross themselves with 3 fingers. The 3 fingers represent the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Holy Trinity! The biggest difference in the faiths is the strong leadership of the Pope on the Catholic people, when he speaks is as if God Himself is speaking. The Orthodox faith teaches that God speaks through His Word, The Bible.
In conclusions, the hearts of both religions are the same. However, there are differences in the traditions of each church. We serve the same God with common interest.

April 30th

In my culture we have special days for parents and even the children. April 30th is day of the children "dia del niño". We learned to celebrate it as a birthday party either they do a special celebration or my parents take us somewere to eat or to have fun. We ha learn to celebrate it becaue it has become one of our traditions lately.

Traffic In Iran

Unlike the driving rules in the US. In Iran there are no rules for driving, people do whatever they can to get to their destination. Many drivers cut other cars from any direction. For example making U - turns where they desire. Also they park where they want, which causes many of the traffics in Iran. It is very hard for a pedestrain to cross an intersection because many drivers don't stop, they just keep going. Many drivers run red lights which causes many of the accidents in Iran and its very hard for the police to stop drivers because of the traffic.

Japanese decorated goods

You will be so surprised when you see this Japanese so unique culture. Do you see what is this?  This kinds of cellphone are called "decorated phone". Nowadays, Japanese young girls love this kinds of "decorated" stuffs (of course, me too!!). And this trend is being so big industry all over the world. Almost all girls have some decorated stuffs like a cellphone, and pens, an ipod....and sometimes it can be too much. There are many schools to learn to make these decorated goods, and many girls makthose goods by theirselves. Of course we can order it to professionals and it costs about $200 for this design of cellphone (in picture#1). It is not so cheap but it's so cute so we can't stop decorating!!!

How they dress

Most Mexicans when they go to a party and are most likely will dance usually wear boots and a suit. Its not a common like people where to go to a job. its a different type of suit. They also wear a cowboy hat and a big belt. The color can come in many way depending on your preference. Some girls are the same. Some wear almost the same but not all wear it. Some just dress casual.

Japanese Fasion

If you have ever been to Japan, everyone may say Japanese fasion is so unique. Yes, Japanese fasion go beyond your thoughts about fasion because it's so unique and crazy. There are so many types of fasion styles, such as "gal style" "Urahara style" and "Gossic Rolita style." Every types of fasion has own characteristics, and the trend of fasion change rapidly. Basically, Japanese people are very sensitive to the beauty, and people have a sense of beauty in their mind. It reflects the fasion in Japan and each person try to be creative what they wear and how to show them. For me, fasion is my life because it's one of the ways that I can express myself without physical appearence. Maybe, I belong to "Japanese casual style??"haha

Tortas Ahogadas!!

If you want to come to Jalisco, I will recommend you to eat "Tortas Ahogadas." Tortas Ahogadas is the most popular food in Jalisco. 

The Tortas are very spicy and delicious. Tortas Ahogadas have pork meat, bread called bolillo, onions, spicy salsa, and tomato salsa. Also, you can only eat Tortas Ahogadas in Jalisco, because the bread is special. People try to do the bread, but they can't do it. The ingredients are not the same as Jalisco, so the bread is different. When you put the bread in the salsa, the bread begins to undo.Also, the salsas have a secret ingredient, so if you like to eat spicy and you want to visit Jalisco try to eat Tortas Ahogadas, it is delicious. 

Oaxaca food

Oaxaca,Mexico is the state with more variable food in the country of Mexico. If you want to go to Oaxaca,Mexico is there many plates of food that you can enjoy. For example, to open the appetite how about a glass of mezcal, and here the saying para todo mal, mezcal y para todo bien, también (for all ill, mezcal, and for all good too.) Now you can enjoy some appettizer like Chapulines (toasted grasshoppers), empanadas de amarillo (turnover filled with yellow sauce.) totopos (oven toasted corn chips), quesillo (string cheese), chorizo bien frito (well fried spicy sausage) or memela con asiento (thick tortillas with lard sediment). Other traditional food is the mole or tamales in banana leaves. Now if you want something to drink you can enjoy a cup of tejate or chocolate with sweet bread. After a good lunch don't forget the dessert like nieves ( ice cream.) :}

The Day of the Dead is celebrated on octuber 31st and ends in November 2nd .The day of the death time for the dead to return home and visit loved ones, feast on their favorite foods and listen to their favorite music. Mexicans usually decored altars to honor the death ones by offering them their favorite food they used to like when they were alive.In the homes, family members honor the ones who are death with ofrendas or offerings which consist of photographs, bread, other foods, flowers, toys and other symbolic offerings especially personal belongings. During the day of the death celebration Mexicans tend to make fun of the death.However, they still fear death but celebrating these days bring to them happiness and joy

The Vietnamese Leaf Hat

The Leaf Hat is adequately appropriate for hot weather, so it is popular and convenient in Vietnam. The hat has the name Leaf hat" because it is creatively made from leaves, the simple materials of nature. These young leaves are brought from the softest trees and are exposed to the dew for one night so when dried, it is still soft enough to be flattened. The hat usually consists of 16 to 18 rims made from a special kind of bamboo. These rims are shaped thinly into conical-form, so the hat is also called the cone hat because of its shape. The leaves are sewn into all rims solely by hand. Finally, the hat is trimmed and painted with a coat of attar old to keep it clean, smooth, and water-proof. The hat has been around almost as long as the country and is worn by men and women everywhere. The leaf hat not only fits the festival air with the long dress but also is fairly convenient when working on the farms under the sun. People may use it as a basket if they turn it up-side-down, or sometimes they may wave it like a fan when the weather is too hot. In Hue especially, the hat makers insert poems into the weaves and the poem can only be seen when the hat is held up to the sunshine making it even more special. The more lighter the hat is, the more elegant the look. Vietnamese girls wear thin leaf hat like a little umbrella to protect themselves from sun or rain. Foreign travelers like wearing the leaf hat in their tours. The leaf hats are familar and close to Vietnamese, so they have the missing feeling when they they go aboard as if missing their relatives. Nowsaday, the leaf hat is not only a symbol of Vietnamese girls but also has become a part of the spirit of Vietnam, the nation.

Dia de los Muertos

On november 1st dia de los angeles (Day of the angels) is when we people make altars to the kids that past away. On november 2nd day of the dead (Dia de loa muertos) is celebrated by making altars and putting flowers of "cimpasuchil" is an orange flower we also put sugar skeletons with names on their forehead. After that people eat the sugar skeleton. Offerings are placed on the altar, things that the past away people liked like their favorite food or drinks that they kiked when they were alive. It it supposed that they come to share with us.
Some people spend the entire day in the cementary on the side of their relatives or their loved ones that ore in the tombs. Lots of people make a verse called "calaberitas" is like a form of joke so they are not sad about their dead. In my town the church priest goes to the cementery and offers a ceremony to all tha dead in the cementery. Lots of people assist to this ceremony an after it they stay there and spend their day with their people.

The Leyend of Zirahuen's Lake

Michoacan has many leyends, but one of the most popular is The Zirahuen's Lake. This leyend talks about a beatiful princess named Zirahuen. She was the daughter of one of the most powerful chieftains of Michoacan. She fall in love with the leader of an enemy army. When her father knew she was in love with one of his enemies, he told the warrior that he must to fight againts other warlords enemies in order to be with his daughter. The warrior accepted the challenge without hesitation. He fought againts them and he won. When the warrior when to see Zirahuen's father to prove him that he won, the father did not accepted his winning. Zirahuen's father did not want him to be Zirahuen's husband, so he told him that he must to figh with him. They were ready to figh, but Zirahuen stood between them and said. "I do not want to be the cause of death of either. If my father wins, I will lose you forever. If you win, I do not marry you. " The young warrior understood and he left. After that, Zirahuen climbed a hill to cry. Her gaze was lost in the distance with the hope to see him back, but he never did. Her tears were so heavy that made a hole that went beyond the passing days, drowning the princess and flooding the town. That is why now it is called Lake of Zirahuén. People that live there, say that in the early hours of the morning, she appears on the surface of the lake drowing men that she confuses with her love. They blame her for the deaths of many fishermen whose bodies can only find after several days of being drowned.

Japanese "Gals"

Japanese culture can be changed rapidly. Especially among young girls, the fashion culture is always different. It is hard for us to wear the cloths which we bought last year now. I guess the most characteristic culture for the people who are not from Japan is one of the girls' culture called "gal." This gal's culture has also been changed so quickly.

What do you think about them? They are called "Yamanba gals," and you used to be able to see so many people like that throughout Japan in a couple years ago. Their makeup is very unique, isn't it? I'd like you to see this picture.

Wow! Can you imagine? These two girls are the same parson. The girl on the top can become the girl on the bottom after about 1hour.

However, if you come to Japan now, it is hard to find them now because this gal's culture has almost gone out.

These are kind of the latest gals. Don't you think they are much more natural than before? There is a big similarity between them. Can you guess what? It is the makeup for showing their eyes bigger. I think you can show there is kind of dark black color around the eyes. They use a lot of kinds of makeup for their eyes: eye shadow, eyeliner, mascada, and false eyelashes. Also, some gals put on color-contact lenses. Not only gals but also almost all of Japanese girls always try to do our best to show our eyes bigger everyday.

El Día Del Niño

El Día del Niño is a especial day were we celebrate our children every year. This especial day happens on the 30th of April. This is a day that children spend their time waiting for this day to happen. We celebrate them with a little party and we play games with them. We also give them toys or take them to eat what they want, we make them feel great on this day. I really like this day because I like to see them happy and I love to see their faces when they opened their presents.