Journal #16

Here we are, at the end of the semester. We have been studying composition this spring with one of the greatest teachers. At first, When I came to the US, I was so excited to start learning English. I wanted to learn the skills of reading, writing, speaking, listening, and the "TOEFL". I was so motivated to start as a very good student. I know myself in writing, in Kuwait I wrote many paragraphs in my English classes. My writing skills were good, but not good enough for academia.

Now, After all those days of studying how to write academically, I can see how a made a great progress. I have more knowledge now about academic essays, and the way that teachers expect me to write. It has been a great journey, I believe that essays are a huge part of succeeding academically. We have to start that essay by brain storming, then choose a good topic, giving a hook and a good background info. After that, we should write specifically about the topic we are writing about, and give as much details as we can. Also, we must use the academic vocabulary words to make our essay looks better. I learned also that my essay should be coherence and the ideas are connected to each other. Finally, in the conclusion, we should summarize the essay or say our opinions about the essay, or restate the main idea.

In conclusion, I want to thank all ALP teachers for helping me improving in many ways. Further, I want to thank Ms.Amy Morrison and Ms.Vanessa Russell for helping me improve my writing. They really have done a great job.

Journal #15

How to cook a traditional Machbos:

First of all, you have to prepare those items which serve four people:

- 3 cups water - 15 1/3 ounces basmati rice

- 2 tomatoes, quartered - 23 5/8-35 1/3 ounces chicken

- 2 onions, finely chopped - 8 teaspoons coriander leaves, chopped

- 2/3 green hot pepper, as desired - 1 1/3 black dried limes

- 1 1/3 teaspoons baharat spice mix - 1 teaspoons turmeric powder

- 2/3 teaspoon cumin powder - 1 1/3 teaspoons cinnamon

- 2/3 teaspoon cardamom powder - 1 1/3 garlic cloves

- 2/3 slice ginger root, cut into small pieces - 2 tablespoons butter

- 8 teaspoons lemon juice - 2 tablespoons rose water

- 2 tablespoons oil - 2 teaspoons salt

Start with cutting the chicken in half. Heat the water and leave aside. In a small bowl, mix the spices (garam masala, turmeric, cumin, and cardamom) together and add to the mixture one teaspoon of salt. Sprinkle half of the spice mixture on the chicken halves.
Heat the oil in a large cooking pan, fry the onions until golden brown, then add the pepper and the black limes, you must make a hole in each limes.

Add the chicken to the onion mixture and turn it over a few times in the pan. Sprinkle on the chicken a teaspoon of cinnamon and the rest of the mixed spices. Turn the contents all together so the chicken is coated with the spices, cover the pan and let it cook on medium heat for 3 minutes.
Add the garlic, chopped ginger, and tomato cubes to the pan and turn the ingredients in the pan a few times. Cover again for 3 minutes on medium heat. Sprinkle with the rest of the salt and pour on it water while its still hot.
Cover the pan and let it cook for about an hour, or until the chicken is cooked. Add the copped coriander 5 minutes before you remove the chicken from the stock in the pan. While the chicken is cooking, wash the rice well and soak for 10 minutes in cold water, then drain.
Remove the chicken from the pan and put it on an oven tray, brush with some oil and sprinkle with the rest of the cinnamon powder and grill in the oven until the chicken is golden brown.
Add the rice to the chicken stock, stir, then let it cook on low heat until the rice absorbs the stock and is almost done.
Sprinkle rose water and lemon juice over the rice and place the butter pieces on the top. Cover the pan and cook on low heat for 30 minutes.
Serve the rice on a large serving plate and place the grilled chicken halves on the top, and enjoy your meal.

Journal #14

Having an ideal body is everyone's hope, however it might take so much work to have it. We want to have a perfect body, when we get it, that makes us more confident of ourselves. Some people might need a surgery in order to get an ideal body, others might need to do some exercises with out surgeries. It differ from one to another by their perspectives about an ideal body and those exercises or surgeries.

It is hard to be satisfied with the body we have, even if its a great body. We want to have the best one. For my situation, I believe that my body needs some exercises in order to be an ideal body. No need for surgeries, also I do not recommend them because they are not the best solution for many cases. I consider myself an overweight person, and i need to lose some to be in a good shape. I know some people who did a surgery to lose weight, I don't know them personally, but I saw them on TV, yes they lost some pounds, but I don't think having a surgery is better than a diet with exercising. After the surgery, you need to take pills and keep tracking your status and your doctor appointments. Surgeries are full of risks, and might not help you the way you thought. I'm talking about the overweight issue, there are many issues that you can't cure them by exercising or a diet. Maybe you really need to have a surgery, maybe there is something abnormal with your appearance and you need a surgery, otherwise there will be something wrong with your body. Then, it is fine to have a surgery, because you have no options. I prefer to keep the surgery as a very last option.

To sum up, Having an ideal body is a good think to think about. But don't do it in the wrong way. Doing things in the natural way is the best thing. It might be inconvenient somehow, but it is for your own best. Most importantly, be confident in yourself. No one can change you unless you change yourself internally. It starts from your heart. When you decide to have an ideal body, take action and believe in yourself, and do it naturally.

Journal #13

Studying abroad is a tough mission for students. Whereby they leave their family, friends, and country to live in a completely new country where you have no experience or a good background about it. When someone decides to study abroad, he/she is making a perfect decision for his life experience and knowledge, but he/she better choose a good country with a real passion of achieving their degree.

I chose to study in the US in September.2008 because I knew it would be a perfect decision. Leaving my family and country is hard, but I know that for the long run, studying in the US is better. At first, Some students need to study English to be well prepared for their academic studies. Of course students who don't know English have to study it, because in the university there no excuse for being an international student. All students are equal, international or citizens, they are the same, so we have to prepare. But when this preparation takes a long time, and you become to forget what you have studied in certain fields like math or science. We should be practicing our mathematics' calculations. Recently, I become to feel terrible about my math ability because it has been a while since I used to calculate and solve a math problem. Now, I know that I'm not fluent in English, I need more practice. However, I want to start my academic studies as soon as possible, even if I don't understand really well in the academic classes, it doesn't matter, I want to start.

In conclusion, there are many students who have the same feelings toward this issue. I'm not saying that I'm not getting what I need for the English program, or it is not good. The American Language Program is one of the best, but now I feel I want to start my academic. This is the reason why I came to the US, to study my major. Ultimately, I have no choice now, I have to finish what I have started. Hopefully, I could pass this semester with great grades, and I wish you all good luck.

Journal #12

Depending on personalities, this issue differs from one person's perspective to another. One point of view would never agree on girls asking boys out; while other point of view would not mind at all. Various people would not accept the fact that a specific relationship started on a girl asking a boy out. Inversely, several would consider the fact that the girl is into the boy and can't just be silent!

If a girl was seriously desperate, she can try out many strategies. One for instance is bumping into him in any corner acting that it was by accident. Another technique, but a little more complex, is trying to get him in the same elevator you are using by yourselves. Call and elevator and when it arrives just act shy and embarrassed that you fear the elevators alone. When he notices he won't say no! These tactics in my personal view are way better that embarrassing herself and asking a guy out!

Some would think about the feelings that the girl might have while watching the boy whom she's into dating another girl. Of course it's not easy at all, especially when girls are overwhelmed by jealousy. In order to extinguish her jealousy and her conscience, she would definitely ask whoever she likes out. So, they wouldn’t mint at all if girls ask boys out.

As a conclusion, its really up to the girl to decide wether or not to ask a boy out. If she was strong enough to wait, that would be great. If she honestly couldn’t or would not risk it, she would go for asking the boy out no matter what people thought about the idea. Whatever decision you make should be based on your self experience and based on your way. I don't recommend you to ask people about relationships and personal things, because its completely different from one person to another.

Journal #11

After a long tough days in working hard and studying, students need a break in order to enjoy and to be fresh for the next days of classes. The spring break has always been the students' great time. May students plan ahead for their spring break, some of them plan before 1 month or more so that they can have a great break.

I decided before a week of the spring break to go to San Diego, where I can enjoy the great weather and the entertainment places. Also, I wanted to see the city where I might study there. I went their with my friend by train. It takes two hours from Fullerton to San Diego. When we arrived in the downtown, we had our lunch then we went to the cinema. We saw two movies and they were great. After that, we separated and each one went with his friends. I met new friends, who were Kuwaities, and we had so many fun together. Then, I went to San Diego State University ( SDSU ) where I had a great impression about it. It is a very big university, CSUF looks so small comparing to SDSU. The next day we went to San Diego Zoo, I heard that it was one of the most known zoo in the world. When we arrived in the zoo, we took the bus tour which covered most of the zoo. We had fun while we were in the zoo watching those animals. After the zoo, I had to go to the train station to come back to fullerton. My journey lasts for 4 days, I had fun and met new friends there.

In conclusion, San Diego is one of the best places where you can live. Where you can enjoy the weather, friendly people, quite city, and the beach. I met new friends and they were great and very nice to me. This summer I'm going to study English in SDSU and then we will see if they are going to accept me or not. I want to stay there, I like San Diego very much.

Journal #10

Each person has his/her own favorite hoppy, by this hoppy we experience our best feelings because we are doing what we really like to do. As a soccer fan, I enjoy playing and watching it, especially when it comes to my best team which is real madrid. I watch soccer some times to learn new tricks or to get a tacticals ideas, so I know what should I do when I play soccer.
Soccer has many competitions all over the world, each country has its own league or cups, and there are world wide competition that are played. One of the most important competition in soccer is the world cup. The world cup competition is a soccer competition that occurs every four years nad includes all the best national teams in the world, who wins this competition is the world best national team. As a result, this cup is so important for every player, coach, and a soccer fan. What makes this cup unique is that this cup occurs once every four years, so everyone is waiting for this cup.
Last world cup was in 2006, it was very special for me because it was the last cup for my best player Z.Zidane. He players for france, and he announced that he wanted to retire from playing soccer after world cup 2006. He is one of the best playmakers in the world, and a playemaker is a player who dominate the game by recieving passes and serving them to the strikers. he played for many great clubs like Juvents and Real Madrid. He has won many awards and the most important one that he won the best player in the world three times.
When the world cup begun, I was cheering for France, I wanted that Zidane end his career with a huge troophy. France was playing okay at the begining of the cup, after they qualified for the knock-out round, I was so happy that they made it with that okay perfarmance. They play against Spain in the first knock-out round, it was very tough because Spain was one of the nominees to win the cup, but France made it and won 3-1 and Zidane scored the last goal for France. After that they had a huge team to beat which was Brazil. Brazil has always been the number one nominee of the world cup, they have won it five times. In the other hand, France has won it just once. Before the game began, Zidane announced that he would play in his best performance. I was looking forward to that game, when it began I was so curious and I wanted to see Zidane enjoying us with his magic performance. He played one of his best games and finally France won the game 1-0 by Zidane crossing a great ball to Veira who scored it. France reached the semi-final and playing against Portugal which was a tough team to defeat. The game was quite boring and as I wanted, France won 1-0 with a Zidane's goal from a penalty kick. I was the happiest person on earth at that times because France reached the final.
The final was between France and Italy and Italy is known for there defence style. It was a game that no one could expect a result or even the winner. Both teams were great, both had all players they needed, no one was injured. Here it begun, the most important game that was going to indicate the winner of the world cup. After five minutes from the beginning, the referee whistled for a penalty kick for France. Zidane was the player who wanted to shoot the ball. Imagine that situation, All people in your country want you to score and it is the last game for your career and all this stuff, not only that, put in your mind that the goalkeeper for Italy was the best goalkeeper in the world. What a stressful situation. Finally, with a huge concentration, Zidane scored a perfect goal and letting France take the opening goal. But the bad luck came, after 10 minutes, Italy scored their tie goal so the score was 1-1. It was a tough game that no one could score a second goal. The game continued with this tie. Suddenly, one of Italy's defender fall in the ground and no one knew why. A few minutes later, the replay showed everything, As Zidane and Italy defender Marco Materazzi were jogging up the pitch in close proximity of each other, they briefly exchanged words after Materazzi was seen tugging at Zidane's jersey before Zidane began to walk away from him. Moments later, Zidane suddenly stopped, turned around and rammed his head into Materazzi's chest, knocking him to the ground. As a result of that, the referee gave Zidane a red card so he couldn't continue the game. He ended his great career with a red card. I was so sad at that time. What made me more sad was that France lost the game. I won't forget that moment or even that cup. Overall, Zidane won the best player in that cup and that was satisfying.
In conclusion, Zidane announced on the televesion that he was sorry and explained the sitation. One thin that I want to say is that Zidane is one of the best players in the world which France is going to have difficulties to find a new Zidane to cover his place in the pitch. He had make soccer more beautiful and enjoyable, and in the end I want to thank him for everything he has done.

Journal #9

I was worried to death about my future, especially last week when I had to decide which university I'm going to apply for. The problem is that I have a scholarship, and I can't choose any university, my embassy gave me a list of universities that accept my major and those universities are great. I can't apply for other than those universities because my embassy keep updating their list and try to choose the best universities and in which major its the best one. For exaomple, I can apply for Cl State Fullerton only for certain majors like business administration, computer science, nursing, but not computer engineering which is my major.
When I was looking for universities, I found that Cal Poly is approved by my embassy, so I decided to apply their. But I found that they work with the quarter system, and I don't think I'll be comfortable with that. I called my embassy to ask for more universities, they told me to check in the website, thay have all the approved universities there. I looked for them, I found that San Diego State University ( SDSU ) accepts my major and it's approved by my embassy. I was so happy to know that. I'm going to apply there as soon as possibile, and hopefully they will accept me.
To sum up, I was really concerned about my future and where I was going to study, because this is the reason I came here. When I get the acceptance from SDUS, I'll be so relaxed. Finally, I hope that the processes for my application work fine, and I wish for eveyone the best luck in their academic studies.

Journal #8

Writing is one of the most important things that you should know and especially the academic writing. Those who want to get a degree in the US, they have to study and learn how to write academically. For us, ESL students, it’s so hard to write academically right now at this time.
Practicing is the best treatment for us. We know that practicing makes perfect. That’s what we should do in order to be good in writing. For me, I can see myself improving. I still have my papers which relates to the first semester with ALP. I’m improving and that really makes me happy and encourages me to do more writing. About the things that we can do in class to make us good in writing, I have no idea but I'm sure that Having the knowledge of how to correct your mistakes is the best thing.

In conclusion, being great in academic writing is really helpful for academic students. Students Should be patient and work hard in order to write academically. I believe that when we write and practice a lot we can be very good in writing.

Journal #7

There are many tv shows you can watch on tv, and my favorite one is family guy. family guy is a comedy tv show which shows many funny charectaristics, and tells hilarious jokes. Some many people have watched it and loved it from all over the world. I was watching this show before I came here to the US. It's a popular show that makes your time pass wonderfully. Family guy has a great reputation thanks to its characterstics.

The tv show is all about Peter Griffin who is the father of the Griffin's family. He is stupid and his way of thinking is so funny. Lois which is his wife, she is a very good mother who cares about her family. Meg is their daughter, who has not many friends and no one likes. Chriss, their son, he is so unintellegent and a small sample of his father. The last member of this family is stewie, he is the youngest son and he hates his mother and his way of thinking is so violence. They are the griffin's family, and of course there are so many other characteristics like Quagmire, Joe, Cleveland ..etc. When you combine them together, you get the most hilarious show.

In conclusion, family guy is one of the most funny and popular show in the US. I always watch them in my free time. The jokes, the griffin's and specially stewie are the best ingredient for hilarious show.

Journal #6

Many people enjoy playing around with their computer or laptop. It's a great technology, so now you can do almost whatever you want, like watching TV, playing games, or even create your own software programs. Also, there are many operating systems ( OS ) like Microsoft Windows , Macintosh ( MAC ), and Linux. they are the most common ones. Im going to write about my experience when I shifted between MAC and microsoft windows.
At first, I used to deal with windows operating systems for a long time. The one I used it and enjoyed for a long time was windows xp, yet, to keep up with the technology we got to install the latest one which is windows vista. I heard many complains from people that vista was not good. After that I decided to shift and to use MAC OS instead of windows.
When I came to the US I was so eager to buy to a new laptop. When I really wanted to buy the MacBook ( apple laptop ) I started to save my money. I still remember that day, I was waiting for black friday to buy the laptop. It was also expensive but that was my chance to buy it with that price. I bought it from amazon.com, and when I recieved it, it was like a dream come true. the macbook is the best laptop I have ever had. I have tried Dell, Toshiba, and IBM. The MAC OS is so fast and responds quickly. you don't have so many crashs and errors, and you can enjoy the battery, it lasts for 5-6 hours. I couldn't enjoy my life more with macbook ! ;p

Journal #5

Everyone who travels to a new country has to have few difficulties in the beginning. For some, these difficulties could cause serious problems for them. For others, it could be fine to assimilate.

In my case, I had a hard time in christmas break. It was so long and I couldn't plan to schedule it perfectly. I got really bored for many days and I didn't know what to do. Having break is great idea, but for me I don't have that much of friends or relatives here so I didn't enjoy it very much.

For the next break, I'm going to plan it well in order to enjoy it. I believe that students should think ahead for their free time and vacations so that they know what they are going to do, or they would get bored. In conclusion, I want to encourage everyone to challenge these difficulties and to feel so ambitious so that in the end they will success.

Journal #4

REAL MADRID is my favorite team. It’s a Spanish soccer team. I really enjoy playing and watching soccer. It’s my favorite hobby, and I have other hobbies like chatting with friends, surfing the net and playing video games. At first I was only watching teams playing on TV and hearing from others talking about those teams. My brother was Real Madrid fan. He was watching each game they played. I was sitting with him and watching few games. By the time I became interesting in soccer and in Real Madrid.
Real Madrid is one of the greatest team ever. They have a great history. They are the best team in the 20 century. They had a time they got the most popular and best players in the world like Ronaldo, Zidane, D.Beckham, Figo, R.Carlos and many other players. But unfortunately they were not playing well; sometimes they play great and most of the times they play bad games. At that time they didn't have a good management. For a team like Real Madrid, you have to be careful choosing the managers and boarding stuff.
After a while I became more familiar with soccer and teams in Europe. I think Europe has the best teams and players. They really care about soccer. In my opinion, I think the best leagues in the world are England-Premier League, Spain-La Liga and Italy-Seria A. The best teams in England are Liver Pool, Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea; I like all of them except Chelsea. The best teams in Spain are Real Madrid and Barcelona, my favorite is Real Madrid. The best teams in Italy are AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus and Roma, I just like AC Milan.
I like the competition between all those teams. My favorite competition is the Champions League. It’s the most difficult one. Who wins it will be the champion of Europe. In conclusion, I hope Real Madrid win as much competitions as they can.

Journal #2

It's my first time to hear about this "SUPER BOWL". I didn't know what it meant. On Sunday, my brother and I were in the airport waiting for my cousin. He wanted to visit us here for tourism. While we were waiting, my brother told me that the super bowl was today. I asked him what was the super bowl ?. Then he explained it to me. That it's the final game and who wins would be the champion. When my cousin arrived, he was so tired and hungry. At first we went to our apartment to take a rest. After that we went to have a lunch in Brea DownTown. We enjoyed our lunch, then we went to the block. I saw few guys wearing this football stuff. We entered a football shop and they were watching the game. Then, almost each shop we entered was watching that game. I didn't care about that game because I knew nothing about football. That was my experience on super bowl game.

Journal #1

Hi everyone, my name is Tareq Esmail. I came from Kuwait. It's a small country in Asia. My pursuits are to be fluent in English and to finish my univirsety study, those are the most important things right now.

My favorite hobbies are soccer and chatting with friends, also i like being aware of the latest technology. I'm a positive young man. I'm always optimistic and ambitious about my future. I'm studying English now in order to enter a university here in US. I'll study computer engineering.

I have a great family, my parents and four brothers. Two older than me and two younger. I don't have sisters. My parents always encourage me to be successful. They wish us a happy great life.

Finally, I want to encourage you all to work hard and try your best, I'm sure at the end you will success.