My Best Friend--HAN-CHEN
By Cassidy Kao
I have a very special friend in my life. She taught me many things before that I didn't understand. She is my best friend.
My best friend's name is Han-Chen. She is from Taiwan. She is a nurse in Taiwan. We have known each other about nine years since we met each other in senior high school.
In our school every student has to live at school. We live in one room with four roommates.
Han-Chen and I are like sisters in the class. She is a
very shy girl, but she is very kind and thoughtful about what I think. On the other hand, she is very nice to everyone. She doesn't like dogs. She likes to draw and wants to become a painter in the future. Because her personality is warm, she teach me how to make friends best way.
We like shopping, studying and talking together. After senior high school, we studied at the same college but not in the same classes. We met each other a few times, but our friendship remained close. When I came to America, she sent a letter to ask me about everything. I miss her so much, but I know our friend relationship will be more close.
My best friend helps me to understand how to make friends with other people. She always tells me: " Don't worry what people give you something, you just give love, kindness, and caring to people. You will be happy every day."
I am thankful to God for giving me friend, Han-Chen. She changed my life, she changed my view. I will keep my best friend in my heart forever.
My best friend, Mi Ji Choi
By Sung - Joon Kim
I have many friends in Korea and the US, men
and women. My best friend is a woman. Her name is Mi Ji Choi. She is pretty;
she has many talents. She studied about design, she was doing well, but
now she studies opera singing.
About 10 years ago we met
for the first time, she looked good. At that time she played a game with
her friends. I had a good feeling about her, so I tried to make her my
friend. I started talk to her. After that, we met many times and we entered
the same University, so we met every day in scool.
We went to each other's
home many times, so her family is my friends too. She and I can say anything
to each other, we take care of each other and have no secrets, so we were
very nice and best friends. After I came here, we called each other 2 or
3 times in a month. I always say to her to marry someone who loves her
very much, because she is popular in her university, but she doesn't want
to be married. She loves to live alone. I don't know who can marry her,
it's going to be impossible.
Anyway, she will be my best
friend until I die. I believe in her very much, so, I pray for her like
my family.
My best friend, Svetlana
By Pavel Juricek
Every human being needs
company and companionship like family, people from work or friends. Some
kinds of people have many friends; on the other hand some people don't
have many friends, but they can say that they have a best friend.
For me this term "best friend"
is a very relative term. Not because I don't have a best friend, but because
when I came to United States, I have new friends. For me it is very hard
now to forget about my best friend in my home country, the Czech Republic,
just because I am here now and also I don't think it is honest and fair.
For this reason I have more best friends, and I know for many people this
fact is not acceptable, but anyway.......
For many reasons today one
of my best friends is a girl named Svetlana, from Russia. I met her in
Columbus at Ohio State, when I came to the United States. At that time
she had lived in the United States more than three years.
To write her life's story
about her life, which has many complicated and difficult situations, the
story would take a long time and I think it is ready for its own book or
movie.
As I said before, her life
was not easy, had lots of disappointment and she didn't trust people; she
also had very serious health problems. For these reasons many people stop
believing in happiness and a good future. But she has not. I admire her
and how she was strong and full of life's energy.
Svetlana all the time helped
me in the beginning; my life was not easy in the United States. She was
encouraging and a positive example for me. Many times, when I felt too
tired and had some kind of depression, Svetlana give me energy and a taste
for life. Of course I never was able to confess that a girl is stronger
than I was, but to be honest sometimes this is true.
However, now Svetlana is
happy, has a very nice husband and home and they are waiting for their
baby, and I moved to here, Herrin. In Columbus we spent a lot of time together,
not always good, sometimes very difficult. But forever she remains for
me one of my best friends, and of course we both will keep our memories
for the remainder of our lives.
I don't have permission
to publicize her life story, but I hope she understands this way, how I
am able to say to her, "Thank you, you are one of my best friends."
My best friend, Brenda
By Chia-I "Rebecca" Lai
I met my best friend 5 years
ago. That was the year which I had expected for a long time because I was
going to enter a new school for learning Japanese and some business skills.
Her name is Brenda. She
is sweet, pretty, smart and also sensitive. She has special qualities that
attract others, especially boys. But the reason why we became good friends
was that we have many things in common such as our points of view and our
character. We could talk about anything to each other.
By the way, I remember our first year in school, we took the bus to
school every day. That was also the time our friendship was built and became
stronger. I really miss those days.
My friend, Brenda, likes
reading books, swimming and going to the movies. I think the most favorite
thing we liked to do was going to some special tea stores to drink tea
and do some girl talk. It was fun, though.
Another thing was going
to bookstores. She enjoyed the moments with books. She told me lots of
different things and I enjoyed the time with her. We have been though lots
of things like love affairs, friendship problems and family issues. We
shared everything with each other, and every time I knew if I had some
troubles, she would always stand by me. When I felt sad, happy or hopeless,
I always knew she was the person I could count on. I was not feeling alone
in this world because I have had her as a friend forever.
I remembered one day which
was the most terrible day in my life; I had an argument with my ex-boyfriend.
In fact, I didn't know where to go. I cried and cried and I didn't know
what to do, then I called her. She was so nervous because I cried so badly.
I told her where I was and the next second, she went out to save my life.
I will never forget that day.
As a result, I realized
I love her very much. I am thankful to God for giving me a friend, Brenda.
Before I came to the United States, she came to my house to see me, however,
she cried. She was too afraid of losing me or something happening to me.
I told her everything is gonna be fine.
Now I am in America and
I miss her a lot. But I am not fearful about anything. She makes me grow
up and be independent. I really appreciate it. I remembered once she told
me, "If there is someone in your heart, that means forever." I will always
remember that. Because she is in my heart forever.
My beautiful memory of my friend
by Jung JaeKim
When I was a high school student,
just top-grade students got to travel for membership training so we went
to Sul-Ak Mountain. We climbed the mountain together and we got a lot of
exercise for our spirit and mind; on the other hand, we learned to overcome
obstacles for ourselves.
Usually, high school students
are curious about drinking and we brought some beer and other alcohol.
So at night we drank alcohol and secretly avoided our teachers' eyes. However,
one day, we were caught by our teacher. We were punished outside without
our clothes except for our pants. We also had to shout, "Let's don't drink!
Let's don't drink!" But my friend who is called Ju-Han and I escaped punishment,
because we almost lost consciousness. After that time, we became very close.
However I had to part from my friend when I graduated high school, because
we entered different universities so we couldn't meet often.
Two years later I had to
go into army because it is a young man's duty and responsibility in my
country. Fortunately, I met my friend again in training camp in the army.
He had already trained before I went there. We were surprised to see each
other and we stayed there about 4 weeks together. We hoped to go to the
same place after training. Unfortunately, we separated again. For a while
we sent letters to each other, but we couldn't connect with each
other.
After two years I finished military service, and I wanted to meet him
so I called his house. We met again and were glad to see each other. It
was at a moment, because I had to go to the U.S.A. to study English, but
he also had plans to go to the U.S.A. So now I am staying here and he is
in Lansing, Michigan. Until now we walked almost the same way. When we
finish our studying, maybe we will meet again in Korea.
I will study hard, waiting
for that day and I won't forget our friendship ever....
Jung Jae Kim was born in May 11, 1974. He is from Seoul, Korea.
Jung came to Carbondale in August, 1997 and has been studying in CESL.
When he finishes CESL, hopes to enter aviation technology at SIU.
MY BEST FRIENDS
By Young-sun "Sunny" Nam
I have many good friends.
So, if you ask me to choose only one friend, I cannot do it. I think that
best friend means when you feel hurt, the people who give some advice to
you and lend you assistance without any compensation.
I met most of my friends
at school, such as elementary school, junior high school, high school,
and university. I met a specially large number of my friends at high school.
We are not the same as each other, but we have some things in common. For
example, we have similar hobbies, such as listening to music, singing,
traveling, sports, and so on. Most of all, we like progressive thinking.
Thus when one of our friends has some troubles, we worry about that together,
and then we give some advice to her(him). Also we advised her (him) that
she (he) should have progressive thought. Most of all, we believe in each
other.
We like traveling, thus
during every vacation, we traveled around many times. Five years ago, I
went to Sokcho with my friends for traveling. I think that Sokcho is the
place which has beautiful beach and famous
enjoy both of them, go to Sokcho! We stayed at Sokcho for four days.
We enjoyed swimming on the beach and climbing on the mountain. The
last night before we came back, we talked about what we wanted to be in
our futures and each person's problem. We talked to each other all through
the night. That time we felt more open-minded, and we could understand
each other very well. Through those days, I learned many things, such as
understanding other people, recognizing my status, and so on. When I came
back home, I could start everything with self-confidence and trust in my
mind. I feel that all of my friends love me as much as I love them.
I have left them since twentieth
of August, last year. Although I can't talk to them, I still love my friends.
Even if sometimes I feel alone in America, I can stand it because of my
friends. Also, I met other friends here. That is why I am still happy.
My Best Friend, Juno Lee
By Nell Pan
Juno Lee is one of my best
friends. I have known her for thirteen years since junior high school.
Sometimes, we don't have
to talk too much, and we can understand each other. She likes to go shopping
on weekends. She is very clever and smart. We like to share secrets with
each other.
In Taiwan, we usually are
thinking the samethings or have the same ideas like we have the same brain.
For example, while walking around the fabric store, we choose the same
cloth at same time. I cherish that we have a tacit agreement.
I remember three years ago,
it was our first time to travel in the U.S.A. "Disney World" is our favorite
place. We saw a parade about the Lion King, it was the best parade
I have ever seen. And we also went to Las Vegas and Universal Studio. We
had a wonderful trip on the West Coast.
Two years ago, after graduating
from University of Illinois-Champagne, Juno came back to Taiwan. Her family
was every rich until her father killed himself, because his company
was bankruptcied. I was very worried about Juno, but she always looks
strong.
Now, Juno is working
at an accounting firm. She takes care of her mother with her brother. However,
we are old friends, and I know we will be friends as long as we live.
My best friends, Lee, Bahn
and Song
By Hae Joon "Terry" Jeong
When I was in high school,
I met my three best friends who were my classmates. In Korea, most of high
school students have to enter a university for their parents or for themselves.
Therefore, we always had studied together for three years. One of my best
friends whose name is Lee was a member of a gang. However, we loved him
as our friend.
Lee was very poor. He didn't
have his father, so he had lived with his mother who was working in a factory
every day. On the other hand, two of my best friends were rich. Bahn's
father was a general in the army. Song's father was a professor of a famous
university, and his mother was a doctor. And yet, we didn't care about
our parents' jobs. We just had studied hard together to enter a university.
Lee went out his home before we took the university exam. Although we could
not find him in the testing area, he took the exam. We were glad, too.
After the exam, nobody saw him anywhere. When we had to apply to universities,
we did apply to a university instead of him. Fortunately, he passed the
university exam. All of us did.
After passing the exam,
the three of us sought Lee because his mother worried about him. We dropped
in on most of the cities where his relatives were living. Finally, we found
him on a island. He already gave up entering a university because he thought
that he had to earn some money for his family. Above all, he didn't enter
the university.
When we were university
students, he became a taxi-driver. He had liked music, and he had always
turned on the nice music in his taxi. One day he said to us, "I met a nice
lady because of the music." Moreover, he is a very excellent guitarist.
We had learned to play guitar with him. We met at my house and went to
a nice and comfortable place every weekend. We have kept our friendship
with each other.
Natasa, my best friend
By Michalis Michael
"Friends in need are friends
indeed." Not everyone has real friends but the ones who do are lucky and
happy.
One of my best friends is
a girl, Natasa, who I met when I first came here. The reason I like her
is because she is honest, thoughtful and the most important because she
is there when I need her. So she is a real friend. For instance, when my
brother and I first came to the United States although she did not
know us, Natasa did everything she could to make things easier for us.
The first night she let us sleep at her place and the next morning she
missed school in order to help us finish all the paperwork to enroll in
C.E.S.L.
One of my favorite memories
with her was our trip to the St. Louis zoo. Natasa likes animals as much
as I do so we both had a great time. Since then we arranged another trip
to New York's zoo in the summer.
I feel that I am so rich
because today having a real friend is like being the richest person!
Yukie, my best friend in Japan
By Chieko Suzuki
My best friend is Yukie.
We are both the same age. She has been my best friend since junior high
school. We have had many fun experiences together. We went to the same
junior high school but high school was different. When we finished class,
she stopped by my house. And then we were hanging around. Even though we
have a job we still go out together.
Sometimes, she and I have
problems. For example, one time she borrowed my shoes and only returned
one. Sometimes, we had a few quarrel because she is selfish a little bit.
Other than that, we usually don't have problems. However, why she and I
are still continue best friend each other, because I know her and she knows
me a lot.
She is a very funny person.
Whenever I'm feeling sad, she can make me laugh. She likes to talk.
Whenever something happens to her, she'll call me up and tell me right
away. I like her character because she usually has a big smile, funny talking
and motivation.
Some of the things that
we like to do together are: shopping, traveling, drinking at the bars,
and eating dinner.
After I came to the United
States, we can't hang around very often so I'm missing her. We wrote a
lot of letters each other. When I go back to Japan, we usually go to the
"karaoke" because this is one of our favorite things.
I really like her, and these
are just a few of the reasons that Yukie is my best friend. Lately I haven't
talked to her too much. I'll call her tonight and then we are going to
talk about our memories.
My best friend, Pavel Juricek
By Abdullah Al-Howait
My friend is my first friend
in CESL. He is from The Czech Republic.
His name is Pavel Juricek.
He is married to an American girl.
We met here in the U.S.
He likes traveling; so do I. He enjoys water skiing as I do.
The first term in CESL is
my favorite memory with him and it was a really fun and interesting term.
Pavel is the person who respects me, not like the rest of the class who
disrespect me because I'm the youngest and the smartest. Age is not important
to me because there is no difference between ages to me as long as the
people are respecting each other.
I respect Pavel because
he respects me; on the other hand, he is the oldest person in the class
and he didn't tell me or even ask me how old I am.
In this term, AE2, we had
a lot of fun because of the different skills we have been working on. In
the class, the L.M.C. and during the break time. The rest of my classmates
in this term is more seriously than the past term. My classmates and I
are working as best as we can to get better grades. Although we are trying
to bass this level to move to the next one.
The U.S. universities are
a large area to make friends. However, they are different from countries
in some places like Carbondale, exactly like what I'm in now and what kind
of nationality I'm studying with.
According to this survey,
many Americans are interested in movies. Their favorite movies are well-known.
We have watched almost all of them. Titanic is one of
our favorite movies. We were so impressed. We asked 20 people about "Titanic",
and then organized. We can see everyone likes "Titanic".
Their favorite actors
and actress are also very famous. Some of them are related to their favorite
movies.
A lot of Americans
go to movie theater once a month. In our case, we really like movies, so
we go to movie theater twice a month or more than that.
Movies give us a lot of
emotions, such as pleasure, happiness, anger, and sadness. We feel those
kinds of emotions with the actors or actresses. Sometimes we can experience
unusual events by movies. We are glad that many Americans like movies.
Freshman
Sophomore
Junior
Senior
Graduate
Male
1
1
0
1
2
Female
7
2
3
1
2
1. What is your favorite movie?
Male
Amadeus
Apocalypse
Crimson Tide
Dead Poets Society
Star Trek - The Undiscovered Country
Female
Austin Powers...2
Basketball Diaries
Coming to America
Face Off
Forest Gump
Sleepers
The Preacher's Wife
The Saint
Titanic...2
Trainspotting...2
When a Man Loves a Woman
Wizard of Oz
2. Who is your favorite actor?
Male
Anthony Hopkins... 2
Gary Oldman
Jackie Chan
N/A
Female
Andy Garcia
Brad Pitt
Denzel Washington...2
Dustin Hoffman
Leonardo Dicaprio...3
Robert Deniro
Tom Cruise
Tom Hanks...2
Val Kilmer
N/A...2
3. Who is your favorite actress?
Male
Emily Watson
Helen Hunt
Holly Hunter
Sandra Bullock
N/A
Female
Demi Moore...2
Jodie Foster
Julia Roberts...2
Meg Ryan...3
Meryl Streep
Minnie Driver
Sandra Bullock
Uma Thurman
Whoopi Goldberg
Winona Ryder
N/A
4. Have you ever seen "TITANIC"?
Freshman
Sophomore
Junior
Senior
Graduate
Yes
5
2
1
2
1
No
3
1
2
0
3
5. Did you like "TITANIC"?
Freshman
Sophomore
Junior
Senior
Graduate
Yes
4
2
1
2
1
No
0
0
0
0
0
No Opinion
4
1
2
0
3
6. How often do you go to a movie theater?
1 a week
1 a month
2 or 3 times a month
3 times a month
1 two months
Not Often
Very Little
N/A
Male
1
2
0
2
0
0
0
0
Female
0
9
2
0
1
1
1
1
Languages
By Pavel Juricek
and
Abdullah Al-Howait
We asked 20 persons, whose
ages were from 18 to 50 years old. It is very interesting how many different
answers we have.
Because this survey is about
languages, it is not very surprising when we have more "positive" answers.
Most of these people are from campus. Just 3 persons (15%) don't speak
other languages. On the other hand, 2 persons (10%) speak 2 different languages
and one person (5%) speaks 3 languages.
sex/age
18 - 21
22 - 25
26 - 33
34 -50
male
3
4
3
1
27.3 %
36.4 %
27.3 %
9 %
female
3
3
2
1
33.3 %
33.3 %
22.2 %
11.1 %
lang.
Spanish
French
Italian
German
Korean
person
6
5
4
3
1
31.6 %
26.3 %
21.1 %
15.8 %
5.3 %
school
high school
college/univ.
person
6
12
33.3 %
66.7 %
For question no. 4 we have
many different answers. Many people have experience with using other languages
in traveling or business. Some people don't care to speak other languages.
But for answer to nos. 5 and 6, 19 (95%) of persons would in the future
start learn other languages, and 20 persons (100%) want their children
to learn other languages.
We think this test was very
interesting and a good example of very old people's proverb : "How
many languages you speak, are how many times you are a human being."
The Dancing habits of SIU students
by Michalis Michael
Obviously Americans like
all kinds of dancing. I found out that by interviewing ten American SIU
students.
Only two reported
they do not like dancing. Six of those interviewed started dancing between
the age of ten to fifteen, three of them between sixteen to eighteen and
one of them at the age of five to nine.
In addition, six students
said that they like fast music and four slow music.
Also, five interviewees
reported rock music as their favorite, two of them like jazz music,
two others like rap and one finds rave music as the best.
When SIU students asked
what they feel when dancing, four used the word "excitement," two out of
ten find dancing relaxing, one said it is like being "high," another one
used the word "cool" and the rest of them preferred just to say "nothing."
Although there are not many
bars in Carbondale, students mostly like Gatsbys, three said they like
Stix a lot and two said that Coo-Coos is better than all. So students enjoy
dancing although they complain that there are not enough dancing places
in Carbondale. I suggest that more dancing places should be opened without
necessarily serving alcohol.
Do you like dancing?
freshman
sophomore
junior
senior
grad
grad +
yes
2
1
1
2
2
no
1
1
Do you like slow dancing or fast dancing?
freshman
sophomore
junior
senior
grad
grad +
fast
2
1
1
2
slow
1
2
1
How old were you when you first danced?
freshman
sophomore
junior
senior
grad
grad +
5-9
1
1
10-15
2
2
1
16-18
2
1
19-21
22-24
25+
Which Carbondale bar is best for dancing?
freshman
sophomore
junior
senior
grad
grad +
Coocoos
1
1
Gatsbys
1
1
2
1
Stix
1
1
1
What do you fell when you dance?
freshman
sophomore
junior
senior
grad
grad +
exiting
1
2
1
cool
1
high
1
relaxed
1
1
nothing
1
1
What style do you dance?
freshman
sophomore
junior
senior
grad
grad +
rock
1
1
1
1
1
jazz
1
1
rap
1
1
rave