update on class pt 5

hi, its back to school , and its almost finals and then christmas break :), another update on my classes, this time my physics class. i happy to inform you that , i am making progress in that class, my grades are improving with every test. ok , so here's the deal, i went to my professor and i told him about the difficulties i was having in his class. so we came up to a brilliant idea, he will post a study guide on my.wartburg before every class, so i can go through them before coming to the class, that can give my a headstart to what we will be studying , so i can come prepared. and its actually working , because i have an idea of what we will be studying , i sort of do a little reseaerch before coming to class, so i can understand it better.  this is definately working, i dont know why i didnt think of this earlier. but its good that am making progress. God willing, next semester will be different because i know how to schedule my class and time and how to study for each class.  this semester has been a learning process for me, too bad it counts for my final grades. but i will surely make them up.....

black friday

black friday, they tell me is a day for good bargain for shopping, but why should you call something good "black"? , but anyway i went with my friends to the waterloo mall. they had so many shops there, i had heard of some good american brands that i wanted to try out. we first got to JC Pennys, there were so many stuff, it was even hard to concentrate on one thing. so we went to other shops like TJ Max, Shoe Carnival, Best buy, and even walmart, but we had to leave because the bus we had brought was way behind schedule. overall, i didnt think there was much bargain,i still felt the things were expensive, i was able to get a few stuff, but definately not all the stuff i had planned to get, mostly because we didnt get enough time to round all the shops.  but again i was able to get a few stuff, and was well within my budjet. i dont think i will really be excited for black friday again..:(

happy thanksgiving

hi, it's thanksgiving (turkey)day, i see it as an excuse to eat turkey, stuffing, sweet potato, green bean casserole and mashed potatoes. my host parentes went out of town to meet their other family members, so i joined other international students to have lunch with a family that oragnises thanksgiving lunch for international students here at wartburg. it wasn't as exciting as i thought i was going to be, but i still had more than enough food to eat and even got some to pack back to school. thanksgiving is an opprtunity to reflect and be thankful for people and things that has made living more meaningful, there is a long list of people that i am very grateful to have in my life. my family most especially, and my friends and faith in God that has kept me strong in spite of everything.oh and my pets ( sydney, mario, toby, marcia and charlie). the best kitties ever. hopefully, i will get more exciting thankgiving in the future years.

vac

hi, yesterday i voluntered for the northeast iowa food bank. the food bank provides food to the salvation army in waterloo who then distribute the food to the people who qualify. when i got to the food bank, i was very impressed, there was a lot of food packed in the storage, ready to be sent to the salvation army, so we helped pack the boxes of food into the van. when we go to salvation army, we brought the boxes out, removed the foods and repacked them in a way that can feed a family of 1-2 in about four days. it was a very eye opening experience. i got to know that there were really poor people in America. because most at times you think the poor ones are ony in African and its only Africans who are starving, but far from it. i learnt that the community donates most of the foods to the food bank who then forward to salvation army. i thought that was really nice. the way the organises also coordinated the activities were very impressive, they have volunteers running the place, and those guys work really hard to get things done. i was also very impresssed with the group that came along, we all worked hard and within a short time we were done with most of the things that we had to do. this experience is really an eye opener for me. i am grateful to God that i have never had to think about where my next meal will be coming from. i will definately voulunter the next time i get the opportunity to.

update on class pt 4

hi there, i  have a]n update on my class, it's the turn of my IS 101, class, when i first read the course compnents of the class, i didnt really understand what it was about, and the first few weeks didnt help much, i was still figuring out why i was taking the class, but now its all falling into place, it makes more sense now. i like the discussions we have in class, and just listenning to other people's view about certain topics.This class has made me rethink why i'm actually in school, and its not the everyday "i want to gain knowledge" answer, but why i really came to school. It has interestingly made me think about how to influence the teaching skills back home in my own small way, especially after i read the chapter about the different teaching skills adopted by professors to teach their students(which is my fav. in the whole IS reader), but i like how it has instilled that mentality of initiating change in our society. I'm still not very sure of the reason why i have to take the class, but i think i like what i've obtained from it so far. :)

global warming

hi there, ok we all know global warming is happening, i see it for my self, it hotter or colder than a few years ago, the rain patterns have changed, and we know who/ what is causing it. The carbon emissions that are released into the atmosphere by the burning of fossil fuels, to provide energy for industries. Thats what i knew about global warming, and i'm quite sure, this is factual information. Until i read michael crichton's "state of fear". the book is literally against global warming, well it doesnt believe that carbon emissions are the causes of global warming. But everybody believes that global warming is caused by carbon emissions into the atmosphere. while i was reading the book, i was quite shocked at the evidences(graphs,quotes), he produces for his claim. it was quite a challenge drawing the line between the fiction and factual. Reading the book, i started doubting my stands on global warming. its kinna wierd when you believe something for so long and then one day, its like all what you thought was true might not be true afterall.The interesting part is when you are torn between the middle, and you cant firmly  make up your mind again. but its always good to know that, there are two sides to every story, in this case theory.

update on class pt 3

hi, guys, its been long, today i will continue with the update on my classes, its the turn of my calculus class. my calculus class as of now is goin ok, i now know the tricks to use and how to approach the class. its been working so far so i intend to keep it. but it has always not been this way. it started out on a not so good note, it took sometime at the beginning of the semester before i was able to figure out what was going on in the class.  so before the second seven weeks i went to see my prof. and we talked about ways to help me study better, and it has helped a lot, overall , my 2nd seven weeks so far is goin better than my first seven weeks. hopefully it stays the same for this class and for my other classes.

EID MUBARAK

Eid mubarak to you all, its eid-ul-adha today.the second biggest festival on the islamic calender after Ramadan. It commemorates the obedience of  prophet Abraham, when God asked him to sacrifice his son Ishmael, but at the last moment God replaced his son with the ram. Muslims are encouraged to do things for Allah's sake.it also encourages us to obey our Lord and Creator. My eid celebration today was very different with what i normally celebrate in my counry. After the Eid prayers, we all ate from a potluck provided by the islamic community in waterloo. Friends went aronud the room saying hi to the people they hadn't seen in a long while. i defiantely felt out of place.But the women's leader introduced me to a couple of muslim studenets from UNI. it was quite fun getting to  know them. But almost immediately we had to leave, because the man who was driving us had other things to do. Back i campus, i got some lunch and just went  to my room. it was sad when i compared the festivities here and back home. Back home is more fun. there is so much to do, maybe because am not used to  how its done here. but hack home,when we get back from Eid , we prepare meals that can feed about 50 people, because, friends visit each other and the custom is that you have to eat some food from your friend's house as a sign of friendship, in a situation that you are too full to eat, the food is sent directly to your house. i missed the part where i go to my friends houses to eat the food they prepared, i miss the part where we have meat to last a whole yr from donations from people in the community. i miss everything. But its not the end of the world. i have experienced an Eid celebration that is different from mine. The most important part of Eid is that ,Allah accepts our prayers and forgive our transgressions, Ameen. Eid Mubarak.

update on class pt 2.

hi, am goin to talk about my EN 112 class, thats my favourite class on campus, so it makes sense that i will talk about it, the reason why i like this class the most is that fact that, i feel like i am really learning something in the class, i always leave the class happy because i know something new. this class has taught me how to really write essays, and analyze texts that i read, even though i am no perfect, i know by the end of the semester, i will be much enlightened on this subject. the thing i like most about this class, is that we always have the opportunity to review our essays before finally turning them in. we are allowed to make mistakes,and then given the opportunity to correct our mistakes. this serves as an opportunity to improve on the essays that we write in the class. My EN112 professor also makes it easier to study the materials because, she always discusses the material a couple of time before we start writing. we are currently writing an essay, which is the biggest project for this class, and i'm excited about it.
i wish all my classes will be like this or even better.

update on classes

hi there, i have made a few changes to the way i approach my classes, and all seem to be working well except for physics, so i want to blog about it, hopefully by the time i am done we will have thought about some new ways to approach that class. i study pyhsics more than i do for my other classes, i spend more time doing physics homework than any other homework that i have, but it seems there is something wrong somewhere, and  i cant just put my finger on it. i dont want to think its something i am not doing right, because i know i have changed my learning strategy for my physics class, a thousand times,but i still cant get it, i dont want to be in the class just so i can get a good grade toward my degree, but it seems thats exactly what i am doing now, i study physics just so i can pass the tests in the class:( .  interestingly, physics used to be my favorite subject in high school, well physics and maths,and i have been able to find a breakthrough with my maths class, why cant my physics class be the same?, i dont want to quit, so i will continue to find new ways to tackle that class, i hope you have come up with some ideas you want to share...:)