A lovely reading week!

Hello everybody,

I have not written for a long time and I thought I should write something today!

To be honest, my plan was to write at least 3 entries in reading week but, a terrible disease ruined my week. I think it is not bad to share some parts of my lovely week with you guys. It was the harshest and the most unpleasant illness which I have had in entire of my life. You may laugh, but I was thinking that I can not see tomorrow morning on Tuesday night. I mean I was in my bed and I could not even seat down or go to washroom. The most terrible part of that sickness was a killing pain in all my muscles and bones! Add this pain to a high fever and cough and imagine what a wonderful weak I had. However, It has a bright side also! I lost almost 4 kg in one week. I think it is impossible with doing exercise. It happened because I could not eat anything for 5 days!

In all these fabulous days, I was always worried about just one important task to do. My term paper! I could seat and work on Saturday afternoon, so I started to write it just on Saturday! I am not happy with what I wrote in my paper at all but I did not have any other option. It is 15% of our final mark!

Thank God that let me stay alive and do my paper. :)

My weekend report

Well, it's Sunday now. I'm in the university library and I want to write something in my blog.
What should I write about? I don't have any new idea! my mind is going to ...
I can write about what I did in last weekend. Maybe you don't like to read someone's weekend report, but I try my best to make it interesting for you! It is my duty to keep you interested as readers in English. I should be clear and try to avoid being confusing. What the hell is this ... English writing like?
Last Friday I went to a movie. Its name was Atonement. This movie is produced in Britain so their accents were British. It was a nice movie I think. I just couldn't understand a few parts because of lovely British accent. It was different in some areas that I always saw in different movies.
First, in spite of telling a story about the World War II, Americans were not mentioned as heroes and patriots in that movie. In fact, war scenes were just about British soldiers in France.
Second, it was different and interesting for me because it was a new mixture of a romance story and war. I always prefer to see romance movies which are made besides a second story or theme. So, I enjoyed a new romance movie that war was included in it. Also, the main actor playing was wonderful in my opinion. I think he deserves to win the Academy Award for his great role.
That was about Friday night. On Saturday night I stayed at home and watched hockey match between the Calgary Flames and the Dallas Stars. What a terrible game it was. They could win the game easily if they just were more careful and didn't waste their opportunities. Flames players tried hard and did their best, but Dallas was a very strong team and had a strong defence and goalkeeper. The final result was annoying and disappointing. Stars 2:1 Flames.
And finally this is Sunday night. I came to university library to study. What a hardworking and fabulous student I am! Don't worry. I have been here for 3 hours and I have not done anything useful and valuable. Just wasting time!

learning a new language

I think the best way of learning a new language is living in the society that people talk in that language. "That means immersion" (Scott Douglas).

But, about being in class or not, I believe class is more useful and appropriate than trying to learn a language alone or at home. In class, you can share ideas and do teamworks with other students. You can also experience being in a place that everybody talks in that language(at least for 4 or 6 hours per week). In my own experience, I learned most of my knowledge about English in classrooms. Especially when it was not a formal and academic session(not like EAP). When I involve in teamwork and I need to ask questions or search for specific information, I think I learn more than any other situation. As i said in the beginning, living in a foreign country is the best way of course. In my opinion we can not write, speak or read in a new language like native speakers if we don't live in that country. In this immersion style we are forced to learn daily and usual words and slangs to do our jobs. We must learn how to talk to a cashier for example. We should learn how to take the bus, go to school, shop, and generally live. So, in this situation learning a new language is the fastest way ,I think.

I also think registering in EAP is the best way to learn English academically! Especially when Scott and Murray are your instructors!

Happy EAPP III !!!!!

Hi guys,
We have just started our last EAP level(hopefully). I want to say I hope all of you will have a great and wonderful semester.
Good luck everybody!

Hi,

Well, I am going to follow Amin's way. I spend three or four hours for my each entry and always try to keep it interesting for readers. I also try to write something new and maybe helpful or funny. However, it seems I can’t keep doing it anymore because we have only 3days to the due date for our blogs. As a result, I do not know to write about what now, but I just want to write! Maybe it might be good to write about weather. It is snowing outside and I love snowy weather. So, I am happy that it is snowing outside now. Whenever it is snowing, I become happy, so you can imagine how much I am happy now. Since I am happy now, I don't want to make you unhappy now. So don't read this entry and don't waste your time with reading it now. I think that is enough for this snowy day entry now. I am happy and I wish I could be happy everyday like this. I hope all of you get great marks on your final exams. So, good luck and bye now!!!

Imposed War

Hi everybody,

Have you ever heard anything about the Iran-Iraq war? I want to tell you a little about that terrible war today.

It began on September 1980 and continued until August 1988. It means 8 years of war. It also means killing a lot of people and destroying many infrastructures. The war started just two years after the revolution in Iran when Iranian government and army were not well organized and prepared. In a summer day of 1980 Iraqi army attacked Iran through our long borders. This war caused many difficulty and troubles for Iranian people. Some of these problems can never be removed.

Moreover, It was not an equal war at all. Iraq was supported from many countries like USA and France by financial supports. Chemical weapons, which were used against Iranian troops for several times, were made mainly in Germany and France. At final years of war US Navy troops helped Iraq directly to overcome on Iran.

However, the war finished and Iraqi troops were forced back by Iranian army and they could not take even 1cm of the Iran’s territory. They were introduced as the beginner of the war and the guilty side in a UN resolution. But, its effects are still remaining in my country. Before the war, Iran was a powerful and influential country in the Middle East region. After the war, add terrible effects of 8 years war to a variety of sanctions imposed against Iran and imagine what is going on there.

Persian Gulf

This is Persian Gulf. It is located between Iran and Arabian Peninsula. This gulf is a highly strategic place for many reasons. The main reason is that the biggest oil and gas resources of the world are there. For example, South Pars is a share natural gas resource between Iran and Qatar which is the biggest one in the world.

However, my purpose of writing this entry is not introducing Persian Gulf to you. I think most of you heard this word at least one time in your life! Something which is very important for me made me to write about it.

As you know, in every country and every nation there are some concerns that is very important for them. I mean everybody is worry about it in that country. The name of Persian Gulf is one of these main concerns for Persian people. The name of this gulf has been Persian from the beginning of the history and it has been known as the Persian Gulf in any official documents. But after 1960s our kind and lovely neighbours have tried to invent a fake name for it. “Arab Gulf” is the name that they try to use it in their countries and in international documents. Even they are trying to change this name in The United Nations documents. Maybe you think that so what? Why we are this much concerned about this topic. But, it is a national issue for all Iranian people around the world. We don’t want to let them be successful in their target.

We are not enemy of the Arab people and don’t have any problem with them. Even we are friend nations and we have the same religion. Iran and Arab nations have many similar viewpoints together. So, this is not a battle or a clash. We are just trying to keep our identity alive.

My lovely hometown, Tehran

I want to write about my hometown today. Tehran is the capital city and the biggest city of Iran. It has been the capital of Persia since1795. I was born and reared there. It is a big, large, huge city! It is a kind of active and dynamic city and somehow a crowded and noisy one. There are more than tow million cars in Tehran! As a result air pollution, especially in winters, is a usual thing for people who are living there. Also if you choose Tehran for living you must tolerate your wasting time in traffic jam. With these all disadvantages it is still a great city for living. I love every streets, buildings and places of Tehran. I had my best memories of my life with my family and my friends there. There are many different places in Tehran that you can go and enjoy except bars and night clubs! Fore example, if someone likes hiking; it is really easy to find a hiking route in north of the city. Tehran is located just next to the Alborz Mountains so it is a great opportunity fore hiking and skiing lovers.
My hometown city is a very populated capital. With population of 15 million at days and around 12 million at nights, Tehran is one of the most populated cities in the world. All main governmental offices are in the capital city. Many major factories and industrial units are placed near of Tehran. I think it is really difficult for city management system to organize all necessities and supplies well. In fact, it is not too much bad!
Moreover, it might be a fantastic place for tourists who want to visit Iran. Many different museums and cultural complexes such as Royal Jewelries museum, carpet museum and Golestan and Saad Abad Palace, palaces of former kings of Iran, would be my suggestions for visitors. Old traditional Bazaar of Tehran is also an attraction for foreigners.
Well, that's all for today. You can see some beautiful pictures of Tehran in the front window if you want.

Another natural disaster

Hi,

This morning I heard in radio and saw in the internet the news of a horrifying hurricane that happened in Bangladesh. Mare than 3500 people died and millions lost their homes. That powerful cyclone, Cyclone Sidr, made winds of up to 240km/h. Can you even imagine that? It made me really sad. The main problem in this situation in 3^rd world countries is lack of quick response and appropriate reaction for helping survivals. A few years ago in a powerful earthquake in Bam, a city in southern part of Iran, many people died in the first days after the disaster. The reason is that in these countries governmental and private organizations are not ready for helping victims in a proper way. Also they don’t have enough financial resources to do it. Finally, many people will not survive and will die and these cities will never be as same as before. Just compare this hurricane to Katrina Tornado in USA.

My favourite writer

Hi,
I want to introduce my favourite writer to you today.
His name is Milan Kundera. He is from Czech Republic and has written his books in both Czech and French. His books have been translated to many languages such as Persian, English, and Russian. I read almost all his books and novels and highly recommend you to read them. He has a great ability of creating characters and describing their miseries of living especially in totalitarian societies. “The Unbearable Lightness of Being” is the name of his most famous novel that published in 1984 for first time in France. Because of invasion of Czech by Russians in 1970s he was forced to leave his country and went to France. His books were forbidden to publish in Communist countries until 1992. I love his style in writing and read some of his novels for several times. The Joke, Laughable loves, Life is Elsewhere, Slowness and Ignorance are some of his famous novels.

I thought that I'm smart. But, ...

I woke up at 5:30 yesterday. Why? Because I wanted to come to university and study! What a hard working student I am?!! I took a shower and ate my breakfast and got out of home by my car. I thought that would be better for me to park my car in Dalhousie or Brentwood Park N Ride and take C-train to university. So I went to Dalhousie station at 6:30 to park my car but, there was no free space for parking!! It was full. Then, I went to Brentwood Station. It was almost full and I could hardly find a place for my car. It was interesting for me that this huge amount of cars are parked in these stations everyday in early mornings. As a result, I understood that I should wake up sooner if I want to not pay parking cost in campus.

Santour

Tar

Hello everybody,

As I told you before I am going to write about my country’s music today. Iranian music has thousands of years of history and some archaeological evidences that found in southern part of Iran show us Iranians made their first musical instruments in the Neolithic age(6000 B.C). During these long history Iranians made many instruments that some of them has remained and are our national instruments now. Tar, Ney, Kamanche, and Santoor are some of these instruments. Listening to each of these instruments or a combination of them is enjoyable and pleasant for any Iranian. We are very proud of our music and love it. For me, listening to traditional Persian music is a way of remembering all great moments of my country.