ESSENTIALLY PALS The Program in American Language Studies Newsletter Session I

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1 ESSENTIALLY PALS The Program in American Language Studies Newsletter Session I Greetings from the Director Dear Students, Here s this session s edition of EsSentiaLly PALS, your own newsletter. Thanks for your contributions; it s always a pleasure to read them. Thanks for your active participation in the Fall Festival, I think we all enjoyed it thoroughly. It was really the best way to celebrate the fall season. This year the temperature has been a little lower though the foliage is now beginning to dress in the most fascinating colors. I think Livingston campus is at its best during this season. Heartiest congratulations to all winners of the Best Journal entry Award. How did you like the oral component to your final exam? I hope you will now be more motivated to speak in English! If you have any suggestions, please feel free to see me. Good luck for the end of the session final exams and best wishes for the coming session. Dr. Veena Kumar Mary Ellen s Corner It has been a pleasure getting to know all the new faces at PALS! I hope you are enjoying your time here. Before the session ends, please keep a few things in mind: - If you would like to travel outside the US for vacation, please bring your I-20 to me for a travel signature before you leave. The signature ensures that you will be returning to PALS when you return from vacation. You must pay a deposit for your next session before I can sign your I-20. Please do not leave the US without a travel signature on your I-20! As always, if you have any questions, please stop by the PALS office. I hope you get a chance to relax over the short break! From Denise and Joanna s Desk We hope everyone is having a wonderful autumn! Please don t forget these important dates: - Session I ends on October 19, The payment deadline for Fall II is October 20, Please pay by this date in order to avoid being charged a late fee! - Fall II begins on Tuesday, November 3, Returning students may pick up textbooks and schedules in the PALS Office between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. that day. - Please join us for the Meet & Greet Lunch on Thursday, November 5 th in the Yorba Lounge. It s a great opportunity to meet new friends!

I Know a Lucky Dog Joo-Young Han One of my classmates in Tae Kwon Do school has a dog. It is a boy. My friend calls him Lucky because the dog s name is Lucky.

2 I Know a Lucky Dog Joo-Young Han One of my classmates in Tae Kwon Do school has a dog. It is a boy. My friend calls him Lucky because the dog s name is Lucky. My friend got Lucky from one of New Jersey s pet shops. He found a little cute puppy. Actually, Lucky was very expensive, but his daughter really wanted him. She really wanted to get Lucky, so he could be a member of her family. Now I m going to tell you why Lucky is lucky! Lucky is very smart. If I tell you it s true, you won t trust me. Sometimes, Lucky is more intelligent than a person. When my friend calls Lucky, he only barks one time. Sometimes, he barks twice. It means that he wants to have something. One month ago, someone turned on a gas range at midnight, but later forgot it. Usually, Lucky slept in the basement. Lucky smelled the gas quickly, and then barked many times. Unfortunately, my friend didn t hear him, so Lucky tried to push a button on the baby s monitor. Lucky turned on the monitor, so my friend could hear Lucky on the monitor. Ever since that night, Lucky has been a hero in my friend s house. Soccer is Lucky s favorite sport. Lucky likes to play ball with some of the family. For instance, when a person kicks a small soccer ball, Lucky waits for the ball. He is a nice goal keeper. He is better at goal-keeping than some people! In conclusion, I think that Lucky is very lucky and will always be lucky with my friend s family. If you see him, you will surely be attached to him. Lucky is an amazing dog. The Scariest Experience of my Life Saima Jamshed I have had many scare experiences in my life but this the most hair-raising experience I have ever had. The events that I am going to relate occurred in our house about twelve years ago. In those days our house was being renovated and the whole placed used to have an eerie feeling at night. In those days nobody dared to stay alone at home especially at night. It was during one of those nights that there was a sudden loud rapping at the door. It scared the hell out of us. My mom went downstairs to see who it was in such a late hour of the night. When she opened the door she found my grandmother and my aunt standing there crying. On her inquiry the told her that my uncle had died due to heart failure. She was shocked and left in a hurry leaving us all alone at night. My sister and I were trying to sleep in our already scary house when we thought we saw someone in white clothes who looked a bit like our recently dead uncle. It was doubly scary since white is the color of the cloth that dead bodies are draped in Muslim s society. He started beckoning us towards him and we thought he had come back to take us with him. We comforted each other and tried to hid under our blanket, but it was terrifying where we felt someone tugging at our blanket. We didn t let go and after sometime we felt the pressure reduced. We didn t realize where we went to sleep, however when we woke up our mother was at our side. We told her all about what had happened the night before. I would never forget that night. It is still fresh in my mind as thought it had happened yesterday. If I Like To, I Can Do It Ping He I study at PALS because I love Rutgers. When I came to school on the first day, I met a good teacher. She was eager to help me. She patiently introduced the school and set up courses for me. She asked me How do you come to school, by train or by car? I told her, My home is away from school. It is not nearby because I go to school by train. She gave me a piece of paper. Look at the paper. This is the school bus schedule, she said. She drew some symbols along the route I take and the public transportation I can use. I like these teachers, so I love Rutgers. The environment of the school is especially good. It is completely different from the schools in China, so I like Rutgers. I like the school library, too. I studied there on one

afternoon. No one spoke at all. I like the quiet environment. It is good for studying. The teachers are very conscientious. They are very good. I love Rutgers.

I believe I can accomplish what I want to do. Life Changes Nihan Ozbaltan Everything changes which direction we look at. All of us know the fairy tale character whose name is Pollyanna.

Therefore, everything would be better. Boring things display themselves with different shapes from person to person. Children think that classes are boring.

3 afternoon. No one spoke at all. I like the quiet environment. It is good for studying. The teachers are very conscientious. They are very good. I love Rutgers. I want to study at Rutgers University because in China I finished taking the college entrance examination, but studying abroad is better. This is the reason why I came here. I believe I can accomplish what I want to do. Life Changes Nihan Ozbaltan Everything changes which direction we look at. All of us know the fairy tale character whose name is Pollyanna. She always looks at the full side of a glass. Even she faces the worst event, she thinks positively. When people are faced with boring things, they activate their Pollyanna part of their brain. Therefore, everything would be better. Boring things display themselves with different shapes from person to person. Children think that classes are boring. Classes are an obligation for them, and they have to participate in them. If they look at the watch during the class, they suppose that a forty-five-second class hour looks like twenty-four hours. In contrast, if they attend the class, and they try to understand it, they will notice that it is necessary to go school. Adolescences think that they live the worst time in their life. They gain bad habits at that time like smoking. In reality, between the ages of thirteen and twenty-one is an effective time in our life. Whoever uses this time efficiently, they will be successful. Finally, adults think that life is too short, and they believe they are close end of the life. It is completely wrong. In my opinion, life starts at that time because you fulfill your aim, and you have so much time to enjoy life. Every age contains beauties. Our responsibility is looking them. We should expose details, and if we don t change a situation, we should suit the situation. Age? Jiwon Moon When I was a middle school girl, I thought that I was going to die at 27 years old, because I believed that geniuses such as Korean poet, Ho Nansorhon or Kurt Cobain must die at about 27 years old. Now I m 27 years old, but I m still alive. When I was an elementary school child, I thought that a woman who is 27 years old must be like a horse. She has long hair that waves with wind, and she can speak in several languages. She also never knows hesitancy or fear. I, a 27 year old woman, don t look like a horse. My hair is short, and my English is like that of 5 year old child who wants to know what No Soliciting or No Loitering means while she is walking on the street. Furthermore, I hesitate or fear about something, someone or somewhere, sometimes. If they (the middle school girl and the elementary school child) know about me, will they be disappoint in me? Whatever they think of me, I don t have any fantasy about age. I m too young to think about how old I feel, and I m too old to think about how old I must be. I m alive, and my hair is short. I oftentimes hesitate or am fearful, and I knew some joys and sorrows that I did not imagine when I was a middle school girl or an elementary school child. Yes, I m just 27 years old. Superstition in Korea or My Experience Yae Na Yoon Have you ever thought about superstitions that were believed in our society? Before you answer my question, what do you think about superstition? Superstitions are considered as a way for human s irrational behavior, so I think that the purpose of superstitions is basically to avoid bad luck. Then, what kind of superstitions were believed in the past? In the old days, when a Korean magpie sang early in the morning, the ancestors thought it was a good luck. Also, when a person dreams of pigs, he or she will hit the jackpot.

4 Another superstition that brought bad luck was singing crows. Of course, some of those superstitions have their own symbolic grounds, but most of them were unreliable. Even though it is unreliable and has no scientific proof, people nowadays still believe in superstition. For example, some people don t wash their hair before an exam in order to get good marks. Another example is that people consider the number four bad luck. I think it was originated in China because four is pronounced the same as the word death in Chinese. I ll tell you about my experience. When I usually go to a Korean restaurant with my friend on weekends, we don t sit in chairs, but on the floor. While we are eating, we sit for a long time in the same position. Then, what will happen in our legs? Right! Our legs become numb. Whenever I meet this circumstance, I apply my spit on my nose. Then, it worked. So, I thought that the spit had something to lessen my pain, but it is not true. According to a website that I searched, there is no scientific relations between these. It was a kind of placebo effect which was used in the hospital. After I understood it, I realized that it was a superstition. I have no idea why people made this, but in my opinion people believe that spit cured the sore part of their leg. For example, when we were bitten by mosquitoes, some people usually apply spit on their skin in order to get rid of itching. I think it maybe originated in this story. Every individual has their own superstition, whether it is real or not. Those kinds of personal superstitions are related to our habits and psychological problems. For those reasons, people are likely to repeat this consciously. Even if we live in a world that advances in scientific technology, we ourselves believe the superstitions up to now. I m not sure what the future will be, but who knows? Fall Fun! Joanna Deskiewicz The leaves are changing, there is a crisp chill in the air, and you find yourself breaking out your favorite sweater. Fall has finally arrived! Before you know it, winter will be here, so this is a great time to get out and enjoy this short-lived, but beautiful season. New Jersey has a lot of great autumn activities to offer, ranging from apple and pumpkin picking, to corn mazes and haunted hayrides. Here is a list of local farms that offer a delightful variety of fall activities, in addition to delicious locally grown fruits and vegetables, organic apple cider and freshly baked goods. Enjoy the season while it lasts! Apple and Pumpkin Picking * Terhune Orchards Princeton, NJ * Giamarese Farm East Brunswick, NJ * Brock Farms - Colts Neck/Freehold, NJ Haunted Hayrides Make sure to check out this website that lists every Haunted Hayride and Haunted House available in NJ. Choose a location that is most convenient for you! Six Flags Fright Fest You ll be sure to enjoy one of Great Adventure s most popular festivals of the year, which features Halloween-themed thrill rides and haunted attractions. It is not to be missed! EMERGENCY CLOSINGS For campus status information, visit: or call for a recorded message

St. John the Baptist. Setting up the nursery. Installing. Baptism: Beginning the Journey of Faith. In this Issue: CATHOLIC CHURCH JUNE 2017

St. John the Baptist. Setting up the nursery. Installing. Baptism: Beginning the Journey of Faith. In this Issue: CATHOLIC CHURCH JUNE 2017 JUNE 2017 St. John the Baptist CATHOLIC CHURCH 3 4 6 7 In this Issue: Time Is Limitless Or Is It? A Life Built on Family and Faith Meet Parishioner Teri Elson Stewardship Don t Take a Vacation From Stewardship