First draft of Technology

Technology

In the current world order, archetypical of modernization and immense industrialization, technology is a fundamental reality that has affected humanity in various perspectives. Human life is at the center of technological proliferation and in the same way technology affects the various segments of human life. For instance, technology variedly influences communication, lifestyle, and people of various age groups, and more significantly, its good and bad use has implications on human life and the entirety of society in terms of relationships, development, and vastness of human action, value-based dimensionalities, and so forth. With the advent of technology, human lifestyles have improved considerably (Higgs, Light & Strong, 2010). Various aspects of human life have felt the impact of technology and its techniques have transformed the way society interacts and operates. The level of human communication has developed considerably, owing to technology, with massive progress from the era of symbols to the current era of laptops and posh mobiles. Equally, the various age groups from teenagers to elderly have embraced technology in numerous ways. For example, while young people walk around with Apple’s iPods, the elderly are busy tweeting their friends from the comfort of bedrooms. According to Hanks (2010), the invention of cell phones, internet, and thousands of gadgets across the world has made human life easy and swiftly flowing. However, technology has also posed challenges in society, particularly concealing some of the good ways people used to interact in the society. For example, people used to meet face-to-face and talk, a fundamental way in which people enhanced their relationships. Today, even parents do not have the time to see their children face to face and see how they are fairing. Instead, they can text or chat in facebook, an engagement that seems near, but far and injurious to the way families develop their relational values. In implication then, technology affects human life both positively and negatively, the positivity greatly indispensable and the negativity far reaching.     

Of course, technology affects human life in different ways; however, this section focuses on the impact of technology on communication and lifestyle. Technology impacts communication and human lifestyle in different ways.  

Historically, human beings had different ways of communicating with one another, however, the modalities were crude and time consuming. In the current world order, technology has improved the ways of communication to an extent that people in thousands of miles away can talk and converse in a click of a button. The implication of technology on communication has been massive, however springing both negative and positive effects. The broad world where human beings live has been turned by technology into a slender global village, creating the ability for people to communicate with others in various parts of the world. An examination into the positive and negative effects of technology on communication will determine the extent to which the positive effects are greater than the negative effects and vice versa.

Effect on relations

In the past, people in distant places had to use very demanding means to communicate with others, by way of either letters or having to travel by see or road to pass information from one place to the other (Hanks, 2010). This means of communication took a lot of time and as such, if a parent had a child studying overseas, it will take a considerable number of days to send a letter to the child. Sometimes family members will stay apart because of distance without communication until a person had to go home or visit another in order to communicate face to face. Equally, it was difficult to date with people from other parts of the world. In the current world order, technology has enabled communication to an extent that a message or information can be sent to a person of a distant place, even by sharing pictures and sending money in a click of a second (Cullingford & Haq, 2009). People form long distant relationships that even result to marriage because of the contribution of technology. Mr. and Mrs. Smith are one example of a couple who met through the internet technology. Mr. Smith is a US citizen while her wife is an Australian. The two met in a chatting site, conversed, and became good friends. They decided to meet face-to-face and finally arranged for marriage. In another case, Miss Angela is staying in the US while her family lives in the UK. Alice communicates with her family everyday on phone and sometimes using various chatting sites. With the advent of technology, communication has become simpler that people feel they are close even though miles away. This ability to communicate is one fundamental aspect of building relationships and keeping people in touch.

Efficiency

In the era when people had to send letters or people had to travel home in order to pass information to family members, today technology has enabled vastness and efficiency. In case there is urgent information an employer wants to pass to employees, one can do so merely by texting instead of waiting to travel back home from a trip abroad (Cullingford & Haq, 2009). People communicate any time of the day, based on their convenience, and one does not have to wait until a letter reaches a family member in a week’s time. The process of decision-making is therefore faster and people do not have to wait until they met physically in order to share decisions (Hanks, 2010). Efficiency has also enhanced development in all sectors and facilitated progress across the world. Furthermore, the easiness to which people communicate has removed numerous issues that people suffered from because of poor communication. For example, if there is an urgent issue that needs to be communicated at work or at home, one can send just a text through mobile and things can work out as planned. People manage businesses from the comfort of their homes, by merely communicating using internet and mobiles. This is a significant boost of technology, that faced by a problem, one can seek for assistance in the click of a button. If there is a problem in any part of the world, the media technology is available to inform people, such that it is easy for any willing country to intervene where possible.

Integration

In a world where people come from different backgrounds with plurality of cultures, sharing and having insight about other people’s culture is fundamental in global integration (Cullingford & Haq, 2009). As human beings, people ought to live together in the world, help one another, and share ideas on various issues such as improving life. For instance, scientists from Europe can easily share ideas with scientists in Australia in a click of a second. The shared information can then be used in the correct manner to improve society. On the other hand, people can learn about other people’s culture via communication technological systems (Higgs et al., 2010). It is possible today to know the culture of a remote place in Australia, for instance the aboriginal community, and understand how to relate with a person of such an origin if you happened to meet in the workplace or in a social forum. The easiness in communication brought about by technology has simply enhanced integration of people in a society where people of various backgrounds need one another for proliferation. Because of technology, various services such as video conferencing enable an institution or teacher to provide educational services to students from various parts of the world. Lecturers are also able to provide quality education through the web and using expert faculty as well as video-conferencing. This technological advancement has enabled students who are not able to travel to good universities in various parts of the world to receive education from the best universities.

Impact on Nonverbal and Interpersonal Communication

The easiness to which people can communicate using various forms of technology even when on distant places have affected face-to-face communication. Parents wake up in the morning and send just a mere text to their children wishing them a good day as the children respond back immediately because they have communication gadgets (Cullingford & Haq, 2009). In implication, parents today have less time to be with their children, merely because they have talked in phone or they chatted in facebook. This has a tremendous implication on the significance of face-to-face forms of communication particularly in a family context (Higgs et al., 2010). People today especially the young are not able to pass ideas face-to-face, a stance that has affected interpersonal communication. This is because there is an increased tendency to communicate merely through websites, chatting sites, and texting instead of meeting together to converse in a facial level (Cullingford & Haq, 2009). Actually, today even the introverts are able to communicate using gadgets while concealing their identity, however, instead of learning or developing skills for interpersonal communication, they end up facing tremendous problems in an area of work or in a physical group. This has also led to reduced forms of social interactions such as get-togethers and meetings.

A Den of Addiction

A less observed effect of technology in terms of communication is addiction (Higgs et al., 2010). Certain communication technologies such as internet have impacted psychologically on the population to an extent that people spend most of their time in this kind of medium. Others have become addicted with cell phones to an extent that, a cell phone has become a gadget of adoration.   

To start with, technology has brought immense comfort to people’s lifestyles. People buy technological gadgets to improve their comfort, because they are able to accomplish various tasks easily (Geipei, 2004). For instance, instead of students going to a physical library to search for books, they merely sit at home and access an online library where they can read from the comfort of their homes. Technology is part of human lifestyles today, and because of the convenience and efficiency modern technology gives, people’s lifestyles have changed positively. By spearheading development, people are able to even do business from various parts of the world without having to stand from the comfort chairs in their homes. People work from home through e-business, and when faced with employment issues in a given country, one can look for a job through an online medium and work for a corporate entity abroad without having to travel there physically. This has improved lifestyles because it has created an environment where people are able to earn a living. Having impacted the banking industry massively, people are able to access finances easily, thereby addressing their needs at their comfort. Learning in classrooms where students use projectors, videos, and 3D images is a fundamental way that technology has not only improved the comfort of students but also enhanced learning.

On the other hand, people today buy expensive gadgets in order to be part of a certain class. The obsession of technology and class has changed lifestyles that the rich are waiting for new technological gadgets to buy (Geipei, 2004). People who have expensive gadgets are perceived to be living in modern lifestyle while not being able to purchase one is a sign of poverty or lack of an innovative mind to make money and buy an expensive phone. Technological gadgets are part of people’s lifestyles, and one can be recognized easily with the kind of technological gadget one has or the kind of technology one uses. Actually, people are living in an era that can be termed as a technology-lifestyle era. People associate themselves with chatting sites, communication gadgets, and networking websites as a modern lifestyle, such that, being a member of facebook or twitter is a lifestyle (Kaplan, 2009). Using emails for communication is a lifestyle. Therefore, technology is inseparable of lifestyle today.

Having indicated early that technology has affected all age groups starting from young people to the elderly, it is essential to note that it has an influence on the elderly in terms of lifestyle, communication, and the time they spend. However, some elderly are reluctant to use some technological gadgets because of complexity of these gadgets.

It is imperative to note that most elderly people spent most of their time in technology. Since most of them have retired from work, staying without technological gadgets will be boring (Kaplan, 2009). The elderly are often glued to TV or chatting with their families in internet. Therefore, they spend most of their time using technology. Furthermore, since most of them may not be close to their children they have plenty of technological gadgets to help them in accomplishing certain tasks in daily life. For instance, they have machines that can aid them in exercising and even carrying out some household chores.

Technology affects also the lifestyles of the elderly people. It is odd today to find an elderly who does not have a phone for communication or internet, because, they also desire to live in the modern era. Because they see their children with various gadgets, it is normal to find that they also ask for the same gadgets so that they can use them (Kaplan, 2009). Even though, they might not have the knowledge to utilize technology fully, they have embraced it and as such, it has affected their lifestyle directly. 

Since the elderly are physically weak, they might not have massive time to sit on internet or chat in sites for the entire day. Young people can spend up 24hours on technology. However, even though the elderly have embraced technology, their physical defects do not enable them to spend long hours with the gadgets. Therefore, young people spend long time with technology than the elderly people. 

Conversely, even though technology has been used positively for human development, it has also had instances where it has been abused and used badly. Summarily the good uses of technology include improving life, influencing development, efficiency, convenience, saving time and costs, enhancing communication, ensuring comfortable lifestyles, and a fundamental way of creating employment. However, some people use technology to steal from others, advance bullying, blackmail, to conceal identity, and to pollute the environment. Actually, because of the corporate nature of technology, people even manufacture gadgets that produce chemicals, which are harmful to human life, but sell them because they want to make money. This has posed serious problems that have increased the rate of global warming, regardless of being aware of such consequences and the lack of disposal of wastes that come from the manufacturing of various technologies. Moreover, some people use the chatting sites in internet such as facebook to swindle others while some blackmail the identity of other users. Other people use e-business sites to swindle money from others posting as sellers while the intention is to steal. Hacking has been a serious problem caused by technology, one where the privacy of an individual is castigated. Albeit the good use of technology, a lot more is needed to be done in order to stop the bad use of technology.

References

Hanks, C. (2010). Technology and values: Essential readings. West Sussex: Blackwell 

Publishing Ltd.

Outline "Technology"

Main points:

1. How technology affects on our life .

A. How technology affects our communication .

B. How technology affects on our lifestyle .



2. How do elder people deal with technology .

A. The time they spent on it .

B. Does technology affects on their lifestyle . 

C . Comparing the time they spent on technology with younger people .



3. The good and the bad use of technology .

Review interview 2

1. Who scored highest ?

There are five people whot got 20 and they are : Alhajri, Faisal M ,

Alhajri, Mubarak M , Alshammari, Faisal F , Doege, Brandon J , Lim, Dong Hyuk .

2. Whose interview did you like the best ?

Faisal Alshammari , I really enjoyed his interview .

here is my evaluation here

Interview 3

Interview preparations :

I asked Aziz my Friend If he can help me to ask one of his friends to interview them and he talke to Katrina who helped me a lot and she answered all of my questions .

Country report :

During the reign of Bill Clinton as president of USA, when he was re-elected as the president, there was reduced enthusiasm in the voter turnout. Bill Clinton got 49% of the casted votes during that election because majority of people were dissatisfied with his candidacy (Segura and Bowler 23). The citizens had not apparently seen much development from his previous governance. This made the citizens have very little faith in him, especially when he promised of a new dawn during his inauguration. The inauguration came at a time that there was also the celebration of Martin Luther King birthday (Segura and Bowler 24). Clinton and Luther king had different social philosophies; and mentioning of Luther king in his speech was ironical.

Clinton government was advocating for equal justice as were stipulated by Luther King many years ago; but this was not free of violence. Clinton seemed to be biased in his administration by having less consideration to the matters that touched on the blacks, and concentrated on those associated with the whites (Zinn 31). Several black people in positions of power were fired because they fought for racial equality in the government. Any black official in the government who criticised the government about its biasness was asked to resign.

The president was not willing to counter strong liberals who did not agree with the implementation of corporal punishment to criminals. To achieve his agenda the president ensured he campaigned against Ruth and Steve to assume some positions in Supreme Court, because they were against his biased leadership (Zinn 35). Many judges of the Supreme Court were dropped by the president, if there was hint of some kind of controversy to his agendas. During his reign the citizens and especially those from the opposition party were actually treated with contempt.

Abdulaziz = A , Katrina = K

A: Hey I have some questions for my english class , it might take 20 - 30 minutes , and its going to be recorded is that ok with you ?

K : Yeah , sure it is ok .

A: Ok we are going to start with the weather here in St.cloud and do you like it here ? please explain .

K : Yeah St.cloud are right somewhat big but not too big it's a good spot to go to college I would never make this my permanent home , about the weather I'm not a big fan of the cold but thats anywhere in Minnesota so I guess the weather is pretty good , it's warmer down here than where I'm from .

A: So where are you from ?

K : I'm from International Falls its like four and a half hour north right on the Canadian border and its much colder than here .

A: What do you do for leisure time ?

K : I don't have much leisure time but I like to go walking I really like to be outside , I have a hammock so I put that my hammock up where I can and just sit and read .

A : Could you please tell me about yourself ?

K : I'm outgoing I really like meeting new people like if I get paid to meet new people that what I would do , I'm going to school for social work , I thought I was going to be done this spring but I'm going to be done next spring . I was born in Minnesota and then I moved to Kansas when I was younger and then moved back to Minnesota , and then after I graduated High school I moved to Mexico for a little bit to live with my family , and then went traveling for a couple of years and decided it was time to go to school , I got my associate degree from a community college and then I transferred to SCSU last August . 

A : So your family are not here in Minnesota ?

K : My mom is but she is in International Falls , my dad lives in Kansas .

A : How does your family feel when you study in another city or in another state ?

K : They just know its me like I've never been a small town person and like I said I love meeting people and I love different cultures and learning about it , so they are not fazed by it . I'm sure they much rather me at home with them but they are ok with me going away .

A : Is it ok to talk about your family ?

K : Yes .

A : So could you please tell me about them ?

K : My dad is from Mexico he became a citizen of the United States when he was 35 , my mom is from Iowa , I have three siblings one sister and two brothers and I'm in the middle , my brother and my mom live in International Falls  , my dad lives in Kansas , and then my oldest brother and my sister live in Nebraska .

A : How often do you communicate with them ?

K : My dad it's like once or twice a month it's not very good , my mom I talk to her every couple of days , my brother and sister I'm not really close to my sister so her and I rarely speak , my brother we speak once every couple of months , and then my youngest brother I talk to him whenever I go home .

A : What is the biggest holidays here in the United States ?

K : Christmas , Thanksgiving , Halloween .

A : Do you celebrate them with family or with friends ?

K : Well this year I've done both I prefer to celebrate with my family but I'm not always with my family so I celebrate with friends , but Christmas is a big one my grandma and I she's my best friend ,  she tries to make sure that I'm home every Christmas 

A : What's your major and why did you chose it ?

K : My major is Social work , well my childhood wasn't that great , my brother and sister they where in gangs , so I grew up not knowing my brother until I was 20 , My sister got pregnant when she was younger and I've been through to much struggle , I feel like I have a good knowledge base to help people and I love helping people .

A : Why did you chose SCSU ?

K : At the time when  I decided to go to college after I get my Associate degree I was in a pretty serious relationship , so I wanted to move away and go to college but I didn't want to go too far , and St.cloud was a good pick , because it's a smaller campus and the cost of living is cheaper than in Minneapolis so that's why

A : Whats your goal for the future ?

K : I don't like to think about the future , just like I'm here right now , but if I had to do something I will go travel overseas and I just want to travel for a while and then think about the job .

A : Do you have any specific place that you want to have your job there ?

K : I really want to go to Africa .

A : Where in Africa ? 

K : I don't know maybe Ghana , Kenya .

A : Alright I think thats it for me I've asked so many Questions do you have any Questions for me ? 

K : Yeah is this your first year here away from your country ? 

A : I've been here since last semester .

K : Do you have a big family ? 

A : Yeah , My parents , five brothers and one sister .

K : Thats it thanks .

A : Yeah thank you very much for your time .

K yeah your more than welcome .  

Interview 2

Interview preparations :

I approached Brandon after class and we decided to interview each other since he's interviewing saudi's and Im interviewing americans , we met at the library , and i have learned a lot of new things about the american culture. The interview went on a really good way Brandon was really helpful and he answered all of my questions .

Country report : 

During the reign of Bill Clinton as president of USA, when he was re-elected as the president, there was reduced enthusiasm in the voter turnout. Bill Clinton got 49% of the casted votes during that election because majority of people were dissatisfied with his candidacy (Segura and Bowler 23). The citizens had not apparently seen much development from his previous governance. This made the citizens have very little faith in him, especially when he promised of a new dawn during his inauguration. The inauguration came at a time that there was also the celebration of Martin Luther King birthday (Segura and Bowler 24). Clinton and Luther king had different social philosophies; and mentioning of Luther king in his speech was ironical. 

Clinton government was advocating for equal justice as were stipulated by Luther King many years ago; but this was not free of violence. Clinton seemed to be biased in his administration by having less consideration to the matters that touched on the blacks, and concentrated on those associated with the whites (Zinn 31). Several black people in positions of power were fired because they fought for racial equality in the government. Any black official in the government who criticised the government about its biasness was asked to resign. 

The president was not willing to counter strong liberals who did not agree with the implementation of corporal punishment to criminals. To achieve his agenda the president ensured he campaigned against Ruth and Steve to assume some positions in Supreme Court, because they were against his biased leadership (Zinn 35). Many judges of the Supreme Court were dropped by the president, if there was hint of some kind of controversy to his agendas. During his reign the citizens and especially those from the opposition party were actually treated with contempt. 

Interview : A= Abdulaziz , B= Brandon

Interview 2

A: Hello my name is abdulaziz and i would like to ask you some questions for my english class, its going to be recorded , and its going to take 20 to 30 minutes of your time ?

B: Yeah sure no problem !

A : alright so lets start with the weather here in St.cloud  do you like it ?

B: for me i have always lived in Minnesota , and i've traveled a lot of different places , but i've always kind of ives here so i have learned to tolerate this harsh winter . The only thing that i don't like about the weather is the winter , I don't mind it but as long as we have snow because . During the summer time I really like the weather here , sometimes people in Minnesota we think that its really humid here , and i've traveled to other places that it gets hotter and you think its like dry heat , no we have a really nice summer here , which I like !.

A: Yeah as an international i can say that summer here is really great .

B: Yeah winter time is rough but its livable .

A: so you are originally here from Minnesota ?

B: yes i'm originally from here , from Sauk Rapids . 

A: How old are you ?

B: I'm 20 I'm going to turn 21 here with 17 days 

A: ok so can i ask you about your family ?

B: yeah sure go ahead .

A: ok , can you tell me about your family ?

B: My parents are separated when i was younger , but i still talk to them very regularly , because they both live around this area . I don't have any brothers and sisters , it was just complications with pregnancy that my mom couldn't afterword , so i've kind of grown up as the only child , its kind off bad but i have a lot of cousins , a lot of my immediate family , and distance family live around this area . I didn't have a lot of brothers and sisters , but i had a lot of cousins that they can be more like a brother for me . 

A: speaking about your family how often do you communicate with them ?

B: I would say on a weekly basis for sure , I talk with my mother every couples of days , she always wants to know what are you doing , I talk to my dad every

now and again , we both work at the same place so i usually see him when i go to work and then help him out if he wants something for sure .

A: what is the biggest holidays in your country , and do you celebrate them with your family ?  

B: There is quite a few holidays that we celebrate here in america . the biggest one would be christmas specially for my family the biggest one that we celebrate thanks giving , christmas , and easter were we usually pick a family member's house each year and then the whole family get there and have a big meal together. those are probably the three big ones , and we have other little ones like fourth of july but those aren't typically family oriented , you can just hang out with your friends you need to do something for it , but for family lets say that those are the only three .

A: So the bigger events are with family and the smaller events are with friends ?

B: yeah i can say that , like saying new year its like friends , yeah the big holidays with family and then the little ones with friends ,

A: Whats your major ?

B: I'm a nursing major so I'm going to school to become an RN , I'm technically a junior right now i went to St.johns my first year and i was going for another major , so when i transfer here my credits didn't really work for my major so i kind off had to start over , last year was my first year at st. cloud and this my second year , and then after this year i have two more years left of nursing school and then i'll be done .

A: Speaking about your major why did you choose this major ?

B: I first was going for pharmacy and then i realized that i didn't liked chemistry as much as i did in high school , so i wanted to pick something different , and i really wanted to stay at the medical field I'm better in sciences and i'm bad at math so i didn't want , like in engineering like you i wanted to go with it but there as a lot of math and i'm not that good in math . I wanted to choose something with sciences so i definitely wanted to pick a job that i can get a job in , like RN and being a male i definitely can , because i didn't want to  graduate college and don't know where to go or if i'm even going to get a job in my major . Basically thats the main reason behind chose it because it pays very well , when i go out of school , and then job placements really good . 

A: Are you planning to have a job here or in another state 

B: I haven't decided yet if i want to stay here , I mean I would like to because of my family , a lot of my family are around this area specifically just in Minnesota for sure . I haven't decided if i want to go to other state or not , its really difficult to because with nursing , being a male , RN i have a lot of job opportunities just like every hospital wants you .

A: Yeah thats why I asked , like if you found a better job and a better salary in another state would you go for it ?

B: I probably would because like i said i have traveled a lot and i can be used to be away from my family , my family are really close but  i can go to other state or something i'm kind off just shut everything out , and yeah probably another town or even another state . hospital offers me a job that paid better , maybe i like the schooling system for when i get a family, and yeah whats benefit me and my family the most i'll probably move .

A: What do you do for leisure ?

B: If i ever have time between studying and work , I usually hang out with my roommates or some other friends from the area from St.cloud or just friends from my hometown that I hang out with . Couple of my friends would go hunting or something , during the summer i work a lot so if any day i was off I'm usually doing something . A lot of time during the summer we go to the beach , go swimming something like that .

A: So I have asked you a lot of questions do you have any questions that you would like to ask me ?

B: I have always being curious because I'm from Minnesota in Saudi Arabia is hunting exist ?

A: Yeah for sure 

B : Have you ever been to ?

A: Well  i have never been to , but they have their own places for sure , and you can have more than one kind of animals for example , deers , rabbits , etc ..

B: I have always been curious because my family is big on do it , and a lot of other cultures like when i went to England , there is not much land do to hunt so the law is really strict on hunting , and hunting is really big here in Minnesota

A: yeah I can see that a lot of people here are so into hunting .

B: I have on more question that i would like to ask you one more question .

A: yeah sure go ahead 

B: Just because you are in Minnesota and you can't do this in many other states have you ever been to ice fishing ? 

A: Ice fishing , sounds fun but i have never been to .

B: I'm always curious because i always have friend from down south who come here to visit us on winter , its just the time to go there . A lot of time they get scared to step because they think its water because in their hometown its not safe to step on it , but here its get really cold and the ice is like a foot thick you can drive your car there . 

A: Sounds fun , I must do it next semester .

B: I was wondering have you ever done anything like in the winter time ?

A: Well i have been with the IEC program students and teacher for skiing but i was really bad on it .

B: Did you get at the end of the day ?

A: Actually no i was really bad on it i couldn't even reach the bunny hill. a hockey game 

B: yeah its really hard i was bad on it too , have you ever been to a hockey game ?

A: Actually no but i heard that its really fun there .

B: I went to couple of one here , yeah its really fun there , and guess thats it i have asked you my questions .

A: Alright thank you very much .

B: Yup no problem . 

evaluation 1

Here is my evaluation sheet.

The highest score students are alhajri faisal , alshammari faisal F ,Bugshan, Zaid Ali A , Bugshan, Alzobaur S , Lim, Dong Hyuk , Zhu, MinJie

My favorite interview is Lim, Dong Hyuk

objective

Objective
my goals in the interview is to learn about new cultures , religions , and lifestyles . every country has it own culture and its something nice to learn about .

Core questions:
a Do you like the weather in St.Cloud? Please explain.
b What do you do for leisure?
c Could you please tell me about yourself?
d How often do you communicate with your family back at home?
e What is the biggest holiday in your country? Please explain about the holidays (Activities, Food, Date, Origin, and etc,)
f In what ways might it be difficult to practice your religion here in the U.S?
g Tell me some important things from your culture ?
h Whats the biggest difference between the American culture and your culture?
i What are your goals for the future; after you graduate, what are you going to do?
k Do you have any questions for me? I have asked so many of you! (mandatory question at the end)

Interview 1

How did I approach to make an interview ?

I asked one of my Saudi friends to help me because I know that he have a lot of international friends . He called one of his American friends named John and I asked him if I can take 30 minutes of his time to ask him the questions , he said yes and we met the day after in my apartment .

Who did I interview ?

John is a student in st. cloud state , his major is finance and he is in his third semester here . John likes to play video games in his leisure time , and he's planning to transfer from st. cloud state next semester . He lives in the dorm with three roommates .

interview report: 

The interview went on a great way , john was a helpful man he answered all of my questions in a helpful way and he wasn't annoyed by recording the interview .

Country report : 

During the reign of Bill Clinton as president of USA, when he was re-elected as the president, there was reduced enthusiasm in the voter turnout. Bill Clinton got 49% of the casted votes during that election because majority of people were dissatisfied with his candidacy (Segura and Bowler 23). The citizens had not apparently seen much development from his previous governance. This made the citizens have very little faith in him, especially when he promised of a new dawn during his inauguration. The inauguration came at a time that there was also the celebration of Martin Luther King birthday (Segura and Bowler 24). Clinton and Luther king had different social philosophies; and mentioning of Luther king in his speech was ironical. 

Clinton government was advocating for equal justice as were stipulated by Luther King many years ago; but this was not free of violence. Clinton seemed to be biased in his administration by having less consideration to the matters that touched on the blacks, and concentrated on those associated with the whites (Zinn 31). Several black people in positions of power were fired because they fought for racial equality in the government. Any black official in the government who criticised the government about its biasness was asked to resign. 

The president was not willing to counter strong liberals who did not agree with the implementation of corporal punishment to criminals. To achieve his agenda the president ensured he campaigned against Ruth and Steve to assume some positions in Supreme Court, because they were against his biased leadership (Zinn 35). Many judges of the Supreme Court were dropped by the president, if there was hint of some kind of controversy to his agendas. During his reign the citizens and especially those from the opposition party were actually treated with contempt. 

Interview discussion with John : 

Me : Hello John , my name is abdulaziz and I wanted to thank you for your time .

John : Hey abdulaziz , you are more than welcome .

Me : So I will start with the weather here in st. cloud do you like it or not and please explain .

John : well , I don't really like the weather here because of the cold weather , I'm planning to transfer because of the weather , and to explain that I came from florida and its a really worm place to live in .

Me : Oh we are facing the same problem here , so your family lives in florida ?

John : Yes they do .

Me : and how often do you communicate with them ?

John : every weekend as an average but I do call them on weekdays too . 

Me : could you please tell me about yourself ?

John : Sure , well my name is john i'm 22 years old , my major is finance , I live in the dorms , and I'm the biggest member in my family .

Me : speaking about your family do you mind if we talked about them ?

John : not at all , please ask your question .

Me : could you please tell me about how many members in your family 

John : well its my parents , me and my little sister .

Me :  thats a nice small family that you have , what do you do for leisure ?

John : I love to play video games , and for sure I work out at the GYM

Me : What is the biggest holiday in your country ? please explain about the holidays (Activities, Food , Date , Origin , and etc , ) 

John : the biggest holidays in the United States are Christmas and Thanks giving , we do celebrate the new year in the christmas vacation , and I used to celebrate the thanks giving with my family .

Me : What are your goals for the future; after you graduate, what are you going to do? 

John : I'm planning to go back to florida and I hope that I find a good job there .

 Me : Do you have any questions for me ? I have asked so many of you !

John : I guess I do have one 

Me : please ask 

John : you said that I do have a small family , can I ask about your family members ?

Me : its my parents and 6 brothers and one sister 

John : now i can understand why did you say a small family .

Me : well , thank you once again for your time it a was a pleasure talking to you

John : you are more than welcome , thank you very much .

Teaching Soccer: Steps to success

3.1. I selected this book because I like soccer and I wanted to read about the steps to success in soccer .

3.2 It have only one author named Joseph A. luxbacher .

3.3. The title is Teaching soccer : Steps to success .

3.4. The book was printed by Leisure Press .

3.5 The book was printed on 1991, in Champaign, Illinois .

citation style

Plagiarism is a major offense in academic institution. Citation styles are important components of writing a research that enables the researcher use other person’s material without infringing copyright laws. Different citations styles offer different citation formulas. American Psychological Association (APA) is the commonly used citation style in research papers. Modern language association (MLA) is another major element of citation style that enables a researcher to avoid plagiarism or infringing copyright laws. There are many citation styles used in writing researches which are intended to avoid plagiarism.

            Plagiarism is considered a major offense in research and academic institutions. Using a person’s material without acknowledging their efforts is one of the major offences a researcher can make. APA citation styles indicate lines borrowed by a researcher to prove their point as well as quote the original author of the idea. APA indicates the year the information was published, and the page number researcher used in their research. This is meant to make it easier for the reader to trace down the source of the   information and compare it to the research.

            An effective and original research must indicate where the information was borrowed. MLA citation style enable cites the line number where the researcher borrowed the information from for easy track of the research. Different citation styles offer different citation criteria such as Chicago, Turabian, and Harvard which are meant to offer assistance in a research and to acknowledge the original author of the work.

            To sum it up, citation styles offer significant assistance in a research. They not only acknowledge the original publisher of the idea being used but also, help a researcher avoid plagiarism which is a major offence in academic researches. APA, MLA, Chicago, Turabian, and Harvard are major citation styles among many. 

Presentation Outline (Chapter I)

Group I: Donghyuk Lim, Abdulaziz Alduaijy, Rakan Alharbi, Saif Alsayed, Alzobaur Bugshan

Sumary

• Personal Background
• The author's initial reasons to go to Nepal (Traveling around the world)
• Staying at a native family (Dall baht)
• Staying at an orphanage (Juto, Carrom)
• The author's recognition for child trafficking (Golkka)
• Sandra's experience captured by Nepali Soldiers
• The promise with children

Analysis

• Personal Background and the initial reason
• Situation of Nepal (Civil war, Unsanitary toilets, Lack of Infrastructure, Poor living Conditions)
• Nepali Culture (Juto, Carrom, Dall baht)
• The child Trafficking

Group Work (Little Princes: Chapter I)

<Little Prices – Description/Analysis of Chapter I> 600/400words

Group I: Donghyuk Lim, Abdulaziz Alduaijy, Rakan Alharbi, Saif Alsayed, Alzobaur Bugshan

Summary

In Chapter I, Conor Grennan, the author of the book, narrates about his three-month volunteering experience at an orphanage in Nepal. It is the first but crucial step to allude to what he will do later on other chapters. Actually, the initial reasons that he decided to go to Nepal are to prove to others like his family and friends that his life is extraordinary. He worked for 8 years in Prague, but he was bored with his life and quit his job. He planned to travel around the world for a year and he thought volunteering in Nepal as a first destination would look better and decrease the blames toward him about his plan. However, the situations of Nepal that was in a civil war were worse that he expected as well as some living conditions like unsanitary toilets. He had to watch a presentation for the volunteer program, but he could not concentrate because it was boring. After the orientation, he visited a native family in a village, and he felt cultural differences like food, eating style, religion, and of course language that he never experienced before. Then, he realized that he was in different place. For example, ‘Dall bhat’ is the traditional Nepalese food eaten by 90 percent of the people, twice a day. He could not eat this food because it was too spicy for him. After the orientation, he was assigned to Godawari, which is the Little Princes Children’s Home. At ‘the blue metal gate’ that led into the Little Princes Children’s Home, he suddenly realized how he did not want to walk through that gate. He just wanted to tell others that he volunteered at an orphanage. At first, he did not know how to begin volunteering in the orphanage, but he received a warm welcome from the children. The orphanage, established by Sandra, has four other volunteers; Jenny, Chris, Farid and Sandra, and there are eighteen children including 16 boys and 2 girls. He introduced himself to the children as Conor, but he felt the language difference because children would pronounce his name as ‘Krondor’. After the introduction, they had a dinner, and then he recognized one new eating habit, which is called ‘juto’. In Nepali culture, once a person touches his food, it is considered unclean and cannot be shared with other people. He felt guilty about dumping food in his life. After he got into the facility, he bonded well with the children by playing some games including a new game, which is named ‘carrom.’ He also had to teach science even though he had no experience. The children were surprised about the author’s culture when they found out that he ate beef. However, one day, a strange person whose name is ‘Golkka’ came to the orphanage, and he never sees him. Sandra said that he is a person who took the children from their villages, and a child trafficker. The author noticed that some of them are not orphans but victims of human trafficking, and there was a secret behind the children’s happiness and pureness. As well, he reminded again that Nepal is in the civil war through Sandra’s experience captured by Nepali soldiers. Two days before he leaves after three-month volunteering, many children at an orphanage asked to him that he would come back or not. He was not sure because there is nothing to do in here. However, at the same time, he felt desperate sadness and understood this kind of emotions his mother has sometimes felt when he returned to Prague. He went to back to children’s room, and then surely said to them. “I’ll come back in one year”.

Analysis

Through the paper, I would like to analysis about the ideas how the author promoted his thought in chapter I.

First, at the beginning in the chapter I, the author describes about his personal backgrounds and the reasons that he decides to go to Nepal. It is very crucial part in the book because his initial thought to go to Nepal and later thought to leave to Nepal is completely different, and it is shown how his changed recognitions impact his life and eighteen children’s life at an orphanage.

Second, in the chapter I, the author represents about Nepali situation that is a developing country in a civil war like tight security, unsanitary toilets, lack of infrastructure, and poor living conditions. Through description of those, the author seems to want people who live in better conditions to think and reflect about their life, and then let them change their habit of waste. Even sometimes the author feels guilty about his past life style habits like dumping food and overuse of plastic bags. As well, although their living condition is not good, the children’s do not feel any discomfort. They look happier than other people. The author wants to say about materialism does not equal to happiness. Another reason is that it might be the reason to request the help to them.

Third, the author introduces about Nepali cultures that is distinguished from American culture like some eating habits like ‘juto’, some games like ‘carrom’, some food like ‘dall baht’ and so on. Every country has their own culture and tradition, and the author wants to show their different cultures that he experience.

Last, the author talks about the main theme of the book; ‘the child trafficking.’ It is very serious problem that is happening in Nepal. The author just says about the guy who is a trafficker and the situation why the children came to the orphanage in chapter I, but it is enough description about how serious it is. The child traffickers tell a lie to poor parents for their children’s safety, and then take and use it as cheap labors. Without a doubt, the author wants to tell and inform this serious problem to other people around the world, and needs to solve them with international support.

why the man went to nepal

Volunteering in a Third World country orphanage was the driving force that steered Conor to leave for Nepal. Though he led a fulfilled life in EastWest Institute as a global policy maker in Prague and Brussels offices respectively, he needed radical change in his life. He felt empty and had the quest to offer more to the children and women in Nepal. His thirst to act as a source of hope led him to leave his comfortable life bubbling with love from his mother to cater for the needy children and women.  The kind of monotony experienced over his past eight year saws his change of gear in his profession. Change became the driving force for his entry to Nepal. In addition, he had enough savings to cater for his upkeep in Nepal. 

His simple lifestyle and single status coupled by lack of a mortgage and plans to start up a family gave him more reasons to tour the world with an aim of becoming resourceful to impoverished communities. Though he received criticism and disapproval from his peers, his mission to volunteer in a Third World Orphanage was not deterred. He realised that fulfilment in life only came from making firm decisions that do not necessarily have to be approved by family members or peers. These decisions drive actions and steer mankind into seeking accomplishment. Conor realised that offering himself as a volunteer was the most priceless and selfless deed. For this reason, he pursued it through a journey he crafted and had its onset in Nepal. The children referred him as Conor “Brother” and enjoyed his company. Through him, the lives of women and children in the Orphanage were full of life. Though the rooms were an eyesore, Conor’s mission was never diluted. He strove to make the lives of his new found family better. 

However, his stay in Nepal was short lived. His tour took a different turn to Thailand after three months hence his exit from Nepal. He had a well crafted trip in his mission plan around the globe. He shared this with the children too with an aim of preparing them psychologically for his departure. Though Conor hardly offered a return date to Nepal, he gave the saddened children (by his departure) hope that he would return after one year. The children had grown fond of him, to them he was more than a friend, and he was a life companion during his three months stay, a parent and a source of hope. Despite the extensive and tiresome nature of volunteering, Cornor expressed his will to return to Nepal. Distance to him did not bar him from expressing his fondness of and his pursuit for change in the orphanage.

Though Cornor left Nepal he hoped to return as he had the urge to volunteer in the orphanage. The children had also become a part of him. In addition, Cornor’s urge to change their standards of living steered in him the urge to return. His return to Nepal would make him fulfilled in life and his mission to touch the lives of the eighteen children he took care affirmed. The children had become his source of joy hence leaving them was almost impossible. Though Conor initially start up his trip to Nepal to fulfill his volunteering mission, he toured the place a second time due to the love bestowed to him by the children and the new meaning they added to his life.

Who am I

My name is Abdulaziz Alduaijy I'm from Saudi Arabia , was born in Birmingham,UK , I live in Riyadh the capital city . I have six brothers and one sister , I'm number two .This is my second semester here in the united states . I'm a person who loves traveling , playing and watching soccer games , and playing video games . I have traveled to, South Korea , the United Kingdom , Dubai , Egypt , and other countries . That part in my life helped me a lot to understand different cultures , and helped me when I first came here to the united states. I graduated from the high school in 2012 after I graduated I choosed to study in the united states , but I didn't choose the state , my father advised to study in saint cloud , because he said that its a small city which should be a good place to study in . After I received the acceptance letter and came here to the university I was required to take classes in the IEC the english center , I finished my first semester there , so this would be my first semester as an academic student . Because of that I wish that I pass my classes with the best grades to raise up my GPA .