ESL 100 Fall 2015
Sunday, November 8, 2015
American Dream
Many people go through dark periods in life that are very awful. From the 1960s to 1970s, Chinese economic development was not going so well after the Cultural Revolution. In 1950s to 1960s, China had a Cultural Revolution that affected the Chinese economy. A lot people who lived in China had a very hard time due to the new economy charges. At that time almost everyone had the same dream, which was the American dream. During that time the American economy was developing better than China. Our family had the same feeling as everyone. In fact, my aunt was the person who immigrated to the United State from our family in 1988 and as the time passed from our family have more people immigrated to the U.S, including me. The poor economy forced our family to immigrate to the U.S in order to gain better living conditions.
The
Family Trip
In these recent thirty years, China is
a country which one developed so fast. It surprised people all over the world, but
every step doesn’t improve that easily. China had a series of revolutions, and finally
it got the achievement like today. And thousands of Chinese sacrificed a lot
for today’s China. In fact, my family is as normal as the most Chinese
families. My family had been through the development of China. That’s also the reason why my family move to
the United States. This is my sixth month in the United States, and it’s my
father’s seventh year in here, I really appreciated that I could have a chance
to have different experience.
Because of Chinese economic
revolution, a lot of factories shut down, and my parents faced the crisis that
they would lose their jobs. Finally my father decided to take a chance in
Japan. Twenty years ago, the country didn’t need to afford too
much country’s factories. Instead, it needed a new economic revolution. In that
situation, the Chinese government decided to develop Chinese individual economy
and then the government stopped paying lots of state-owned factories. Therefore
a lot of state-owned factories shut down and my parents’ state-owned factory also
faced challenges. Although their factory was still running, everybody knew the
deadline was coming soon. In that situation, when I was a baby all the family’s
burden came to my father. Japan is a developed country, so finally he resigned his
job at the factory and went to Japan as a cook.
Family History Essay-Reach to the Top
Reach to the Top
In imperial China, people that were not educated would have a hard time to earn money and support themselves. People had less education had to work in the fields from sunrise to sunset. My father grew up in a village and didn’t have a chance to get educated. In the 1970s, Deng Xiaoping, the president, decided to open up the China’s economy. At the same time, many factories and railroad companies were built in Southeasten China. Around the 1990s, my father decided to get out of the village and get a job in a railroad company. He had made this decision because there is a saying in Chinese, man struggles upward and water flows downward. Regardless of family background looks like, people would take any chance to make their lives better. My father’s decision to find a job in Guangzhou brought the future and new hope to his family.
When my father began work in the railroad company, it totally changed his family’s economy. My father was born in a well off family. His family owned a field, so they planted crops and sold the goods to earn money. Even though the family had some money, it was not enough to support a family of eight. When my father got the news through a friend that railroad company had a job offer in Guangzhou, he decided to take the opportunity and travel to a strange city for employment. After working in the railroad company, he sent back money monthly to support his family. In addition, it was inevitable that he would miss his family, but he never went back because he didn’t want to waste the money on the tickets. Even though there was a far distance between him and his family, their hearts were close together.
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In addition, because my father worked in a big city like Guangzhou, I received an amazing education in school and didn’t have to work in the fields. Moreover, my cousin who is the same age as me is less fortunate. She studied in a poor school in the village and helped her family in the fields. The education was poor and the environment was cruel in many villages in China. Schools couldn’t provided tasty lunch for students and the recreational facilities were poor. Also, the books that students used to learn were worn. Students couldn’t have the great opportunity to learn, nor could teachers have great teaching materials to use. I felt bad for my cousin because it can be unfortunate to be born in a poor village.
In modern China, those born in villages wish they can escape the poor life to find a better life. In 2007, there was a better chance that came to my father which was immigrating to Chicago. He had taken this chance to make an even better quality of life for his family. Now, he have the ability to send more money to his family in China, and buy everything for his family wants. Because of his immigration, it was a new and challenge life and great opportunities were set up for me. It has given me more experiences and challenges when I arrived in United States. I appreciate that my father had taken his opportunity when the chance came to him and chosen to be brave and dare to pursue a better life.
Everyone wants to pursue the best opportunities in their life. Many people find different ways to achieve their goals and wouldn’t miss any chances. Like my father, he had taken his chance and left his family to pursue a better life alone in a strange city. He wouldn’t miss any opportunities that could change his family and his life. He later chose to immigrate to the United States for an even better opportunity for himself and his family. The history forced me to think about when I have my own family, I want to give them the best things I have. Family is a magical thing that pushes people to do such difficult things, and I am proud to have such a father.
Saturday, November 7, 2015
The Law of the Jungle
Zalina Orozobaeva
ESL 100
October 8, 2015
Third draft
The Law of the Jungle
Before
1991, Kyrgyzstan was part of the Soviet Union, and the government provided stable
jobs for everyone. Everything was equal. In 1991 the Soviet Union collapsed, and
in Kyrgyzstan there was chaos. Most people couldn't do anything because they
were not ready to face with capitalism. When Kyrgyzstan became an independent
country, there was a law “The early bird gets the worm” where people were
surviving, and as in Darwin’s theory the strongest succeeded in surviving.
People had lost their jobs and money because of the changed currency. That
situation gave some people a good opportunity, especially those who worked
before in the government. They could save their money and privatize some
factories. Also, there were a lot of scammers that came up with all sorts of
companies where people could invest their money and earn a percentage.
Nevertheless, when it came time to pay interest, these companies simply shut
down and disappeared. The middle class lost all their savings.
This situation affected
most families in the country, and of course those circumstances strongly
affected my family too.
At that time
my mom decided to move to Bishkek because after the Soviet Union collapsed life
became hard in my hometown.
My hometown Karakol |
Karakol |
She quit her job at the school, sold our house and
my family said goodbye to all our neighbors. When my family moved to Bishkek,
we lived in my aunt’s house for two months while my mom looked a new house and
job. It was in 1993. Nonetheless, my mom couldn’t find a house because the currency
changed and the money from sale of our house disappeared. In the Soviet Union
in Kyrgyzstan people used the ruble, but in 1993 the government decided to
adopt its own currency, the Kyrgyz Som.
My family couldn’t buy a house, so my
mom decided to rent an apartment. She rented a small room without a kitchen,
bathroom because it was cheap. The neighborhood where we rented room was a
suburb, but the people seemed strange to me because they were angry all the time
for some reason which I couldn’t understand. Most people in that suburb were
Russian which another reason why I couldn’t understand them was. I started
attending to the Russian kindergarten, my brother studied in ballet school, and
my mom started to work in the new job.
During
those difficult times, my mom had to change her whole life. She began her first
steps as a builder in a construction company rather than pursue a career of teacher
of music in a high school. It was a very hard job for a woman because she
needed to lift heavy things, but chose that job for the salary. Consequently,
my mom didn’t get her salary around six months, and we couldn’t pay for the
rent for one month. After a week when my mom was late paying the rent, the owner
came to our room, and told my mom that we had to leave. When my mom tried to
explain to the owner that she would pay him for two months when she found a new
job, the owner said ‘’currently our world is as a jungle, and only one law “The
Law of the Jungle’’ applies. In this world, you need to survive as long as you
can’’. When he said that, my mom
understood that we needed to move because he would never change his mind. My
mom, my brother and I moved from that room to the street. It was that my
brother studied in ballet school where he could live six days a week. My mom
changed her job again, and she started to work in the studio where she sewed
dresses. My mom and I lived in the park around one week because we didn’t have
any money. All the owners wanted money first, and then would give out a key.
While I slept, my mom was crying. I could hear her voice, but I never said
anything her about it. I don’t know why, but she never showed me how she cried.
Maybe she was afraid that I would cry too, or maybe she wanted me to be a strong
girl. After one week, my mom and I found a new apartment where we lived around
five years because it was near my school. However I started to study, we faced
with other difficulties.
The situation of my country affected my
education. The school where I studied was a new public school, but even though
it was public school, I needed to pay tuition, and buy all books for classes
because school couldn’t provide students with books. Unfortunately, I couldn’t
buy books because every day the salespeople changed their price and nobody
controlled it. Books in the fall were very expensive because it was season for
books and school supplies. My class had thirty-three students, and only five
students had all books. Most students didn’t care about homework, but I thought
if I came to class without homework, my teacher would yell at me. One day I
realized that my classmate Nargiza who lived near my home, had all the books.
When I wanted to borrow books from her, she told me that I cannot because her
mother would yell at her. I always did my homework in front of her house in the
street. She couldn’t even invite me into her house because she was scared of her
mother. I had always wondered what Nargiza’s mother looked like. Nazrgiza’s
mother for me was like a medusa. Nargiza was not a successful student. She never did her homework and she couldn’t
understand what our teacher said. Sometimes I hated her because she had all
opportunities to study, but she didn’t even try. Maybe Nargiza didn’t study
because our teachers were nonchalant. Most of teachers came to school to show
that they were there, and they spent their time drinking tea in teacher’s room.
Somehow, I finished my education in school and started at the university. Nonetheless,
I couldn’t finish my education there because of my financial situation. I ended
up getting married very early when I was eighteen years old. My husband and I moved to Turkey because he
studied there. In our new country, I learned a new language, found a good job
and saved money for my education in the future.
When
Kyrgyzstan became an independent country, it was a very difficult experiment
for all people and for my family. I am happy that I lived through those
difficult times because it made me who I am today. Now when I encounter
difficulties, sometimes I do not even pay attention to them. I never will
forget that experience from my life, and now I can give better future for my
children. In recent years, life is better in my country people adapted to
capitalism system, and education is better now than before.
Now most students have books |
Bishk |
I never regret
growing up in those transitional years because if I had good life maybe I would
have never studied here. I am grateful to my mother who could survive in those
difficult times, and who supports me until now in all my endeavors. Despite the
fact that my life is better these days than in those times, I will never forget
what my family and I had to go through. People were aggressive, discriminatory
and very rude. That life was “The Law of the Jungle”.
Bishkek |
Family Dream
Do you have a dream? What is your dream? People all over the world dream
of happiness and a better life. To live a better life is my dream, as well as
my family’s dream. A family cannot fulfill a dream without its members’ hard-work
or the nation’s stable policy. As the modern Chinese generation, we all
benefited from the Reform and Opening-up Policy, which was initiated by one of
the former Chinese Presidents Deng Xiaoping in 1979. This policy has not only reformed
China’s economy, culture and policies, but also opened up China to outside
countries. The Reform and Opening-up Policy has had great effects on China, but
also on my family. Thanks to this policy, my family has been able to fulfill
our family dream step by step to lead a better life.
At the beginning, the Reform and Opening-up Policy gave my father the
first step to fulfill our family dream. My father was born on 1953, which was
eight years after World War II. At that time, China was very poor; people lived
in hard time and suffered from hunger and poverty. My father had to work as a
farmer to support his family after graduating from high school. However, since
China has pursued the Reform and Opening-up Policy, China’s economy has become better,
and the people’s living standards have been improved. Firstly, my father had a chance
to obtain wealth and get lifted out of poverty. My father grew large amounts of
rice and vegetables, so he could make money to feed his family and provide them
warm clothing. Furthermore, my father got married and built up a comfortable family.
He married my mother who was introduced by his relatives in 1980. In order to
build a comfortable home, my parents worked hard from dawn to night in the
field. No longer had living in the old house, my family and his family moved
into a new house which had a television, washing machine, and refrigerator.
In addition, thanks to the Reform and Opening-up Policy, I could take the
second step to fulfill our family dream, and I had the chance to receive
nine-year compulsory education and chase my dreams independently. In the old
China, girls didn’t have the chance to go to school and get good education. They
could not work outside, and just stayed at home and did housework. They got
married by following their parents’ will, and they didn’t have the chance to
pursue their dreams. Luckily, because China carried out the Reform and
Opening-up Policy, I was able to go to school to get nine years of compulsory
education. I was able to enter a teacher training school and graduated from
college with my hard work. Moreover, I could fulfil my dreams independently. Fortunately,
I got my favorite teaching job after I graduated from the college; I married a
man who I love him and trust him not like my mother’s following her parents’
will. Finally, I chose to immigrate to the U.S because I admired its high
quality education and good medical benefits.
Finally, thanks to the Reform and Opening-up Policy, my daughter can
continue to pursue our family dream in the United States. The Reform and
Opening-up Policy offered my family the chance to get U.S. visas and start a
new life in this country. Moreover, the education here is so excellent and the medical
benefits are so good. Not like Chinese spoon-feed education, American education
cares more about students’ ability of imagination, thinking, creativity, and
manipulating information. Fortunately, my daughter is getting a good education in
school now. She is learning in an active and energetic way, and she is becoming
smarter and more independent. In addition, as a member of a low income family,
my daughter gets free and good medical care from the U.S government. For
instance, my daughter has free physical and dental check so that she can grow
up healthily.
In conclusion, my family is just one of many families that are fighting
for their dream. The family dream, which is to live a better life, has kept us
fighting for it from generation to generation. Thanks to the Reform and
Opening-up Policy, my father, my daughter and I have opportunities to obtain
wealth, receive good education, get good medical benefits, and pursue
independence. Everything we do today is to weave our wings for our family dream
so that it can come true one day.
Friday, November 6, 2015
Reunion
Reunion
The economy is the base of a country is development. This is a
phrase note in all Chinese political science textbooks. A hundred years ago, China lost a war
to Britain, so it leased Hong Kong to Britain. After a long effort, the Chinese
government signed an agreement with the British government, which began the
handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997. This great event not only let the
Chinese territory be more complete, it also made the Chinese economy developed
more quickly. My hometown, Guangdong Province, was the nearest place to Hong
Kong. Because of the Hong Kong reunion, my hometown got a big boost to its
economy, and my family and my lives changed profoundly.
The reunion
first effected my mother because it gave her an employment. At that time, Hong
Kong just began to trade and with the Mainland. The factories started
blossoming liked the shoots of trees after a spring rain. A great number of factories
appeared in a short time and developed very quickly. Fortunately, my mother got
a job working in clothing factory. It was lucky that my mother who was a woman
from a little village in the countryside, and only graduated from middle school,
could get a job. It made her have steady income and live comfortably in the
city. She did not need to work in the rice fields in the hot summer like her
classmates. My mother became one of the first beneficiaries of the Hong Kong
reunion in my family.
Moreover, my
family had better material condition than other families in across China at
that period. Nowadays, China is the second biggest economy in the world, but in
the late 1990s, the Chinese marketplace just began to develop. Most Chinese
people could not have a good material condition because there were few types of
commodity but with bad quality. However, my family was different. My sister
used to travel to Hong Kong because of work. Each time she came back, she would
bring some gifts to our family because Hong Kong had more interesting and
better commodities. Many things in my home were brought from Hong Kong from
small snacks to big household appliances. Even though my family was not very
rich, we could have a better quality and life.
Finally, but
most important for me, the Hong Kong reunion allowed me to have complete
education. A few years ago and even today, many children still could not have
complete education in some poor villages. Their parents required them to drop
out of school in order to make money because their family did not have enough
to support their education. However, this did not occur to me because I lived
in Guangdong, and the proximity to Hong Kong allowed Guangdong to develop economically.
My family had enough money to support me to get a quality education. Also, the
development made they know that education was really important, and it could affect
me whether I succeeded or not in the feature. With their support, I could have the good
education from primary school to high school, and even go to college.
The Hong Kong
reunion changed my hometown and gave my family many changes to live better. It
gave the economic changes to my hometown, and it became the base of a good life.
In fact, the reunion brought an advanced economy and society into regular
Chinese life. I am really thankful for this reunion. This beautiful place now belongs
to my country again.
Thursday, November 5, 2015
Trang
Nguyen
ESLINTG
100
Cause
and Effect History Essay
Medal of
Honor
There were approximately four hundred
thousand to two million Northern Vietnamese people that died from 1944 to 1945,
due to the horrible famine. The consequence of the Indochina War destroyed all
regions of Northern part in Vietnam. French colonialists and Japanese
imperialists occupied and reformed the economy in order to serve their evil
purpose. They accumulated all the rice and food for the war needs. Besides,
disaster, flood, and cholera also deeply affected people’s life. Both my
great-grandparents passed away during this famine, and my grandfather became an
orphan. A few years later, he was adopted by a patriotic family and they moved
to another province. It was his adoptive parents that inspiring my grandfather
to join the army. When the war ended, he came back with medals of honor. His
grand feats gave my family a life with full of fortune and pride.
Shortly after my grandfather returned
home, my grandmother was the first one who received benefits from him. The
Vietnamese government presented my family with a Certificate of Merit for
serving the country. It’s called The Heroic Family. Since then, people in our
village started to change their attitude toward my grandmother. Previously, she
was hard of hearing. Due to this unfavorable condition, she often had trouble
participating in conversation with others. Sometimes kids and even a few adults
made fun of her. They laughed a lot when she misunderstood what people said.
Now, after this prestigious award, whenever people saw my grandmother walking
on the road, they came to say with excitement “You are a hero’s wife”. In
addition, at the meetings or music shows, everyone was willing to offer her a
seat at the first row so that she could be able to hear well. Furthermore, when
she went to the market, the sellers there also gave her a better price for
almost every item. If she refused to take it, they always said “It’s not worth
mentioning. Your husband’s contribution is more deserved.”
Years later, my father took my
grandfather’s model and became a successful man. After graduating from high
school, my father also joined the army for a few years and then attended the
political institute. During the time he was studying here, the learning
environment was really tough and challenging. The school was less than twenty
miles from home, but he couldn’t visit his parents for more than one year and did
not contact with anyone, due to the rules and disciplines of his school. Finally,
he finished the long term program and became a political lecturer. Nowadays, my
father still recalled the hard time he had spent as a short film of his life.
However, according to him, it was like a mere piece of cake compared with my
grandfather’s feat.
Finally, I am the latest generation that
inherited the reward from my family. During my sixteen years of studying in
Vietnam, I only paid half of my tuition. All the students have parents or
grandparents who served the country as a part of their lives were able to take
this benefit. In addition, when I studied in the university, I could also stay
in the dorm with fantastic living conditions and the payment was reasonable. It
was far different than if I had rented an apartment outside. Many students had
to worry about moving to a new place at least one or two times per year, since
the rent often increased. Sometimes, the security was also a problem that
concerned them. Thus, I could pay attention to my studies for four years, and
my parents could count on me.
Sometimes, I saw my grandfather
standing in front of the Medals and the Certificate, watching them in silent
and smiling with pleasure. Before, whenever I asked him to tell me the war
story, I saw enthusiasm and brightness in his eyes. He would spent the whole
day to recall it. Now, he is ninety years old. His memory has become less
reliable than it was. To the others, he brought my family a life that everyone
might desire to live in, but to me, he is simply my beloved one that I admire
most. In the past, the war left Vietnam severe suffering and deaths. At the
same time, it also gave the country courageous heroes. They fought not only for
the homeland but also for their family, for themselves.
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