Awareness On The Road

I live with my relatives in Du Quoin, which is far from SIU, 20 miles. I have to drive a car to school every day. It takes about 35 minutes. My uncle always tells me to be careful about deer because they usually run across the road when they see the light from a car. In the last two months, I saw the car in front of my car hit a big deer. That car was broken and the deer died. Sometimes I saw deer that died beside the road. It is a very sad story. When I drive to school every day, I have to drive and look around carefully. It is an unpredictable situation. I don’t understand why lawmakers do not build a fence at the area where they live. It should be a good way to protect them and the drivers.

Favorite restaurant

I like Korean food and Chinese food. I do not go to American restaurants very often, because American food is oily. I do not like oily food. In Carbondale there are few Korean restaurants, so usually I go to Chinese restaurants. When I go to the Kaya Korean restaurant, I usually order Kim-Chi stew or Bulgogi. Sometimes I cook Bulgogi at home. But I do not make it very well. Chinese food is like Korean food. When I go to Hunan restaurant, I always order Hot pepper beef or crispy pork. Sometimes I order Cham-pong. It tastes spicy.

My favorite restaurant

My favorite restaurant’s name is Park, where you can eat Thai foods, and it is in Korea. I’ve been to Thailand once, so I know Thai foods and the interior a little bit. Park’s interior is really similar to that of real Thai restaurants. Also, its food tastes almost the same as when I ate in Thailand. In this restaurant, I like krap curry the most, because I like krap and curry. You can also eat it with rice that is fried with vegetables. And cream sauce shrimp with grapefruit is delicious as well. I haven’t ordered everything; actually, I have never had food that I don’t like. Some people don’t like Thai food because of its strong smell, but I like those smells. If you visit there you can eat really nice food and also know what Thai style is. So I mean you should visit there if it is possible.

My favorite winter activity

Of the seasons, I like winter. In winter falls the snow. If snow comes down, I can go skiing with my family or friends. Skiing can help me forgot all my worries. I can feel windy speed. When the wind goes past by my face, I can feel very comfortable. I slide from the top of a mountain. When the wind goes past me, it helps me to forget my trouble. I do not ski very well, but I just like it. I really like to do this activity with my friends.

Snowboarding

My favorite winter activity is snowboarding. I love snowboarding since I started. I joined a snowboard club when I entered my university, and went snowboarding more than twice a month. Some people who love snowboarding go to snowboard even in the summertime like me. There are some places we can snowboard in indoors ski runs in Japan. For off-season training, I go surfing, wakeboarding, and skateboarding too. I used to spend my winter vacation in the mountains, where there is a ski run, and enjoy snowboarding every winter. Also, I like watching snowboard too. I was excited because there was a winter X-games on January 24-27. I almost went to Aspen, Colorado, where they held winter X-games, but I couldn't go there, because CESL class was more important for me.

My Favorite Restaurant.

There are many kinds of restaurants in Korea. One of them is a restaurant to grill pork; it is called ‘sam-gyub-sal’. Most Koreans like to grill meats; it is a little bit different from American steaks or barbecues. We sliced pork and grill completely; after it is grilled, we can eat with boiled rice wrapped in lettuce. It’s very delicious and cheap. It is also a good match with drinking. Most Koreans like to drink, too. Some people eat this for dinner and some people eat this while drinkng, and sometimes both. After we eat meat, we can eat soup and rice, or some noodle. It is also one of the delicacies.

Drive.

I haven’t driven here, but I used to drive when I was in Korea. The most stressful thing while driving is traffic jams. There are not too many cars here, but in Korea, there are lots of cars, although it’s really a small country. So traffic jams are common in Korea. Unless there is traffic jam, a trip takes only 30 minutes, but it usually takes over an hour. From 5 o’clock to 8 or 9 o’clock is rush hour, so it takes about 2 hours. Cars never move. It must be a terrible time to me, because I feel sleepy and tired. And then, when I get home I am really stressed out and I feel I have got illness. If I were a president I would reduce the number of cars.

Writing F#2

21 years old. 21 years old… If we are 21 years old, we can drink beer. I think that is the most stressful aspect of American culture. I don’t think that is fine to us, because I think 18 years old is OK for drinking. And we have behavior to control our mind. I don’t understand why we must be 21 years old. And I eat pasta, and I feel very stressful. I don’t like eating pasta because I often eat pasta when my mother was angry. So I hate pasta. Well. I think I can keep myself relaxed and I have ways to relax. I love to play basketball, so if I feel stressful, I will play basketball as crazy as I can until I can’t move anymore. Then I feel very well and I can go to sleep and forget all the things. And I can do work or study with very energy and a better frame of mind. So that is the most important; I can relax myself and I can control my mind and keep stress away.

What make you very stressful?

If I want to go to SIU, I should take the TOEFL. TOEFL makes me very stressful. I must use my break time to prepare for TOEFL. I always worry about my score. If I cannot pass the TOEFL, I must stay and cannot go to university. It makes me nervous. As a result, headaches happen. When I am nervous, I can concentrate well on the test. I think less stress can help me to improve my score. Sometimes stress is bad, but sometimes it is good for us.

What can I cope with stress.

When I feel stress by something like exam or love, I usually drink. Most Koreans like to drink and I like to drink, too. When I drink, I can talk with my friends more honestly and seriously than in ordinary times. Then it makes me feel pleasurable. After I drink, I can sleep as if there is no worry, and I can sleep over until the next afternoon. That is really good for relief. But I know it isn't good for my health. It just affects me for a short-time. I know that I need a hobby which is healthy. I will find that.

driving

Every day when I have a drive, I have lots of stress. In Korea, I always have stress when I drive my car. Seoul city has many traffic jams. But in Carbondale, there are not traffic jams. So when I drive here, I do not have stress. Actually Korean people do reckless driving. When I drive the first step, I feel terrible and have more stress. And they do not make any concessions. But American people make concessions; they make concessions well. I hopefully want to change the driving style in Korea because it changes stress for each of us.

Stress by CESL

I think CESL is very good teaching English program, and I like CESL. However, it is stressful to study English even though CESL has wonderful classes, especially doing homework. I think CESL thinks much of writing and reading, so we have a lot of homework about writing and reading. In my case, reading and writing aren't easy. When I write a simple summary, I need to spend 2~3 hours in order to read. In order to write a summary, I read an article very carefully, and my English isn't very good. In addition, sometimes two or three assignments are due at the same time. I know it's good for studying English, and I need it. Anyway, it's true that homework is stressful.

TOEFL and My Stress

Every time when I’m going to take TOEFL, I am nervous. Before taking TOEFL, I have a lot of stresses; for example, my heart beats very quickly and I can’t eat anything. I am very excited during the test. I can’t concentrate on all three parts (Listening, Grammar and Reading). Especially in the Listening part, I can’t catch the important information. Another reason is I feel hungry during the test because I can’t eat anything before taking the test. I know that TOEFL is very important to me because I want to study at SIU. But I can’t do it well like last term because of my stress. When I do an exercise at home, I can do it pretty well, but when I take the TOEFL, I got a very low TOEFL score. It is my big problem. I have to study hard and take a deep breath before taking the test. I think they can help me get a high TOEFL score for next term.

My dream job

To become the most successful business woman in the U.S. is my dream; I hope that one day I can work with Google company, because I think that Google company is one of the most famous and successful companies of the Internet searching and computer programs; to be one of the Google team you will receive alot of advantages. First, you will make good money. Second, they have a wonderful a place inside the company to relieve the work stress. They have a place where you can relax and eat. And the important thing is that they push you to be successful; they support you; they really take care of you as one of their team. Finally, I don’t think that there are any disadvantages when you work with Google, except that for me, it is far away from my home country and my family.

How does stress affect me when I take the TOEFL

Stress is the strongest enemy for me when I take the TOEFL I think. I don’t know why but I feel so much stress whenever I take the TOEFL. I think I needed a high score on that test to get the requirement to come here from Japan. So I took this test many times; that is why I feel too much stress on that test. When I take the TOEFL, my hands get sweaty and I can’t concentrate on the TOEFL, because of the time limit. I am affected by the noise of other people’s writing, coughs, sneezes, and the sounds of a clock when I feel stress. As a result, I usually get horrible scores. I heard moderate stress improves our ability. I agree with this opinion, except on the TOEFL, because I can’t control my temper at all on the TOEFL. I believe stress makes our TOEFL score worse.

food

I hate the food that makes me feel bloated, like fast food. They are, of course, more convenient than cooking, but it is going to be seriously mortal for your health. The most important thing is everyone knows that would be harmful; they can’t stop eating fast food, however. On the other side, I like the food that I cook. It is not really delicious but I always think about my health while cooking. But one thing wrong is that I don’t really like vegetables. I try to eat vegetables recently for my health, but it’s quite more difficult than I thought. The most difficult thing is that I can not eat Korean foods that tastes like what I eat in Korea. It will be fine, if I cook much better than now. So I am going to learn how to cook better, from now on.

Fluency Exercise # 2

Mamdouh Alsharif
EAP1 Writing Workshop
January 24 2008
Fluency Exercise # 2



Dealing with Stress

As is known, the stress is considers as one of the common problems that most people suffer from; and during the years many of them do face difficulty resolving this issue and/or deal with it. On the other hand, we might see that in the present time, people could find some strategies or ways for them to deal with stress and we could realize that those ways really work. For me, many situations are considered stressful. For example, standing in front of people actually is one of the events that make me extremely stressful and nervous. To deal with this problem I usually do some short religious actions such as prayer. Having a deep breathe often gives me success. In some situations especially when I am at home, taking a shower probably would be better for me to take the stress out of my brain and body. Unfortunately, doing exercise is not in my plans to fight the stress. I don’t remember that I went someday to play soccer because I was nervous. I admit that the exercise programs are one of the modern strategies to deal with or even resolve stress and many physical and mental issues; however, I don’t find myself in the exercise or sports at all.

What do you do to fight stress?

When I have stress, I usually sleep, watch TV, have something to eat, play a game, or exercise. For example, in the time I have stress, I play a game, such as tennis, or soccer. It makes me feel comfortable. Sometimes I can not solve problems. It makes lots of stress. If I have this situation, I will have a talk with my friends or go to sleep. When I talk with my friends, I will have less excitement, because we are friends and they listen to my story. I always sleep or eat food, because I like to eat food and sleep. It makes stress disappear.

My Food

Food that makes me stress worse is American food. I hate American food because I don’t like cheese or butter. Most American food has cheese and butter such as hamburger or pizza. When I smell these foods I really want to vomit. I have eaten only Thai food, and Thai food doesn’t have them. Then, when I stay in America, I have to cook Thai food for every meal. When I feel bad, I usually eat Thai Northern food. I lived in Chiang Mai, which is located in the north of Thailand. It has very delicious food, such as Hung Lay curry, Sai Oua and Nam Prig Noom. They have a lot of vegetables that make me feel fresh. It can help me relieve my stress when I eat it a lot.

How to fight stress fe#2

I always go shopping when I feel stress. I believe shopping is a good way to fight stress, because I spent money of course, not all of it, but a lot. So I have to work hard after I went shopping. That’s why I can forget about stress and shopping makes me satisfied. However, sometimes shopping gives me more stress, because I feel stress when I can’t find what I want. Then I go to karaoke. The origin of karaoke is Japan, so karaoke is the best recreation to fight stress for Japanese. I feel so comfortable when I sing with pop music. In addition, it makes me moderately tired, so I can sleep well after I went to karaoke. I recommend that American people try it.

What do you do to fight stress? Fe#2

When I have some stress, I always listen to music, do some exercise or talk to my friend. I like music, because music can make me relax. I also like to do some exercise, like walking, or playing some ball game. After I exercise, I feel very comfortable. That makes me forget bad things. Sometimes I talk to my friend about stress. She is very kind. My friend always listens to me. She can understand my fellings. It can make me less isolated, and more relaxed.

my job

My future job may be in business management. I want to work in L.A. That is a big city, so it has many people from all the countries of the world. New York is good too, but L.A. is more safe than New York. With this job you can go to many countries. You might be very tired, because you should take airplanes many times. On the other side, you can know people from all the countries of the world. People in business management can earn more money. I think this job can make me happy. I like that, so I want to do this.

Lalida's Job

I want to be a financial consultant in the future. I graduated with a master’s degree in Economics from Thailand, and I plan to study MBA at SIU. When I study MBA at SIU, I will study finance. Then, I will be an expert woman in both Economics and Finance. I want to have my own company to consult for big companies in Thailand, for example, Bangkok Bank PLC. and Uniliver Co., Ltd. I would like to be a financial consultant, not only for big companies in Thailand, but also other companies around the world. I think the advantage for this job is I will be a famous person. It also makes me become a millionaire. But the disadvantage for this job is it will make me become a serious person. If I have to choose between millionaire and serious person, I will choose the first one.

My Job

My major is biology, but I want to be a dentist in the future. I would like to be a help to other people. I want to have my own hospital in Korea. When I graduate from SIU, I will go to a different university. This job has many advantages. For example, I can help people and make more money. But when you work in this job, you will be careful, because it involves healing people. Sometimes people make mistakes. People will believe a doctor.

WHAT WILL I BE

I wanted to be an ordinary person when I was young. I thought that the ordinary life was very successful. And when I just finished my military service, I wanted to be a great guy, something like top of the world, because I knew that power is very important. However, I want to be a good father like my father right now. It is not ordinary and it isn't top of the world, but I know it is very difficult. After I graduate, I will find some good job. Maybe I will work in international trade, because I studied Chinese and I am studying English now. I think language and trade are appropriate for me. I mean it's a good way to make money for me. I will make money for my family, and I will be a good father.

My job

I would like to be a hotelier. So I was going to the place where I could study about hotel management. But I thought it would be better that I study business first. When I graduate from SIU, I will go to Switzerland and study about hotel management. Hopefully I would like to work in Japan, because I have wanted to live in Japan since I was much younger. Getting a job related to hotels will be difficult and hard. But it must be nice, of course, because I can meet many people who I first see.

What would I like to do?

I would like to be a flight attendant in the future. I have longed to be a flight attendant since when I took an airplane the first time. I want to ride Air France, because the person who served me at there was so nice to me when I rode that airplane. That is why I want to be a flight attendant for Air France. Also I really like France, so I want to live in France too. However, there are some disadvantages of being flight attendant. The biggest problem is I may become sterile. Airplanes fly several thousand feet midair, so it may hurt my womb. Actually I know some people who became sterile. Nevertheless, I believe being a flight attendant is more worthy for me.

Fluency Ex. #1

"ARAMCO"

Working at the Saudi Oil Company "ARAMCO" actually is my future job. In fact, many of the Saudi citizens dream to get a job in that company since it is the best place you may imagine; it will provide you all the benefits you dream to have. This company is located in Dahran city, which is one of the largest industrial cities in Saudi Arabia.

For me, it seems a little difficult to get a job there, because this company specializes in oil and petroleum businesses, and I am a student at the school of pharmacy; therefore, the medical or health jobs are not available in this place at least for now. However, one of their future plans is to create a hospital in order to offering its services to the ARAMCO staff, and this is my opportunity to have a business that matches with my study experience. The things that make working in this place quite special are great salary, medical insurance for the employees and their families. 60 day off-working every year, free Villas, academic scholarships for employees' children, and when retiring, the employee has the right to get what they call a "golden check" which means the employee gets $100,000.

The only advantage about careers in ARAMCO is that working in it usually takes 18 hours per day, and surely this is too much work. Otherwise, this is something we could understand since if we want to enjoy all these benefits, we sometimes have to lose a little bit of our free time.

Fluency Ex#1

My future job is crimiinal psychologist, beccause I often watched some darma like CSI when I was young. That is my dream, and also it is my favorite job. I read a lot of newspapers and magazines that talked about criminal psychologists. I saw New York (U.S.A), Hong Kong (China) and Shanghai (China), those cities need people who study to be criminal psychologists. I can get a great job and I can get a pretty good salary. The job of criminal psychologist is very exciting and dangerous. If I save people from a crimimal thing. I will be happy. But also it is dangerous for me. Sometimes if I cannot stop the person who wants to kill people or do some bad thing, maybe I will lose my life. But I really want to be a criminal psychologist. That is my major and that is my dream.

Welcome to EAP1, 081 students!

things done below this picture were done before 081...