Weird Comments

Talking to people is the beast feeling. Even just chatting with some random person in the bus stop, or even when you smoke. The best place talking to people would be in Burben Street. You walk around and see a group of people hanging out. You can simply get with them and say something and they would reply to you. If you said something creepy and weird they would laugh and say something even weirder. You can sing a famous song and almost everybody will sing with you, if you are in a movie. When the main character sing a song, then everybody else will sing with them. You can have a nice chat with the taxi. It is a great chat because he will say anything and everything. I love taking to random people in New Orleans.

Movie night

The last friday, I went to watch a movie in the Prytania theater; I think is pretty amazing that they have preserved that old style in the theater. The movie that I saw was Zero Dark thirty , which is a movie about the hunt of Osama Bin Laden. I found it very interesting since the trama of the movie was based in real events. Nevertheless, I agree the movie was very controversial because I dont think they should have killed Osama Bin Laden and I think is wrong that in their way kill him they  murder a lot of innocent people.

Real Chinese Food In New Orleans! Amazing

I had been having difficulty to find a real Chinese restaurant for a while. I found one in Kenner. It was pretty real. But they don't have my favorite dishes.  So I stop going there as usual. On last Saturday, my husband and I went to a Chinese gathering. On the gathering, I found there was a book full of Chinese businesses. Some restaurant had caught my eyes by saying they have authentic food. I was surprised. I decided to try one out. So today after school, my husband and I went to one of them. This one is called China Rose, on N Arnoult Street, Metairie. We had been to this one before to ask takeaway menu. But there was nothing special to me on the menu, so we never went back. But today when we walked in, the waitress asked us if we want American menu or Chinese menu. I said, Chinese menu. When I took a look at the Chinese menu, I was amazed. They have lots of Chinese dishes that I used to eat in China. The pictures above are two of them. The spicy dish as you see, in Chinese we called “Shui zhu yu pian”, which means water boiled fish slices. If you ask a Chinese about this dish, I dare to say nobody doesn't know it. It is one of the Chinese favorites. The second picture it's called "Xiao long bao". Means steamed soup bun. It has soup inside. I craved for spicy Chinese dish for a long time, finally I had found one. And the steamed soup bun that's something I always want my husband to try. I'm happy I had found a real Chinese restaurant. Now when I'm craving for Chinese food I know where I should go.
Tell everybody a tip: when you go to a Chinese restaurant, always ask if they have Chinese menu. Sometimes they give American American menu, which is the Americanized Chinese food, and the Chinese menu only for Chinese, because they think American won't like the real one. I heard in New York they have separated menus. I didn't know so as here.

                                                        Friendships With Americans 

Dalal,

   Last semester, I tried to meet with American students how wants to learn Arabic. I thought it was the easiest way to  find  friends in my new city because I believe that the life without family and friends is nothing, and to help each other learn the language as soon as possible. Unfortunately, I found it pretty difficult to make friends in this culture maybe because most of the students work part time beside their studies. Nowadays, I have some Friends whom I met first at Loyola and I'm so happy to have those new friends in my life.

Trip to Florida

One of things that I feel sorry about New Orleans is the city has no beach nearby. The city is surrounded by swap. The swap is also beautiful place, but I miss the blue ocean.

However, if I drive three and half hours by car, I can go to Florida.  Three hour’s driving is not feel so close for me because I can drive from north to south of South Korea within 5 hours. Last year after I drove such a long time, I could go to Pensacola beach. Florida was different from New Orleans in atmosphere because everything looked new and clean.  Also tone of skin of people was different. People in Florida had more tanned skin. The beach was very beautiful: The sand was white like snow and water was shinny like emerald. I want to visit Florida again, when the weather get better.     

Casino

   In my country, there is no casino since the law does not allow people or even government to open such business. Although it can make much money for the government to develop country, most people think that it does not go along with Thai tradition and culture. 

         I had to show my passport, my face look so young ^^, before I could enter inside.  Inside is bigger than looking from outside.  Since I do not know how to play card on the table, I gambled at the machine instead.  At the machine, actually, I do not know how to play as well.  However, it was easier than playing on the table.  I just put my money and then press the button. That's all I had to do.  Although, many people were fun in the casino, I found that I did not like gambling at the machine at all.  I wanted to try playing card on the table.  Next time, when my english is better, I will come back to the casino to play card on the table.

The Parade Racoon Scared Me

Mardi Gra is a time for celibration. This year was my first time sharing it with New Orleans. I am glad that I did. I felt happy going to parades. I only planned to see two of them and saw a third one by coincidence. It was a nice one, too. All three of them amazed me. The shapes and the images that the Krewes made were gorgeous. I even liked the random things people said. My friends and i screamed and giggled, then we heard another person say something weird that made us laugh really hard. What made me surprised is the way that the police cleaned the place after the parade. It only took them less than an hour to clean everything. The street was a mess. I thought that it will take them at least one to two days to clean everything up. It was a really great experience for me. I cant wait for next year to attend all the parades.

Valentine ! what is valentine ? -_-

    my first valentine in the US. valentine day is consider on of the most important days in the year (for some people). valentine day just came, A lot of partys  and dating happening. everyone is making a plane with their couple.

I was thinking for a while with my self what is so special about this day ? is love happening only one time in a year ?! shouldn't the love be showed for the whole year ?.PAUSE!

will it should be , I just figured.

valentine just like any normal day . I just got call from my friends about valentine party.so whats up ! lets role . I went their and the red hearts and the red color was all over the place.everyone with their own couple , i never cared  im with my friends having fun. Who need a GF as long you have a good friends :) .

My Mardi Gras experience

A few days after I arrived to New Orleans, I went to the first parade of the Mardi Gras season. The Phorty Phunny Phellows parade in the Street car station, since then I had gone to a few parades more. My two favorites were The Krewe of Barkus and Krewe du Vieux. On the Mardi Gras Day, I went to see the Krewe of Zulu early in the morning. I ate King Cake for breakfast, and I was very lucky because I had two coconuts during the parade and none of them hit me in the head. I had a great time in all the parades, and I was quite impressed of the obsession of the people with the beads. I remember a really tall guy who was standing right next to me in the Zulu parade, when one of the floats passed in front of us; he tried to grab the throws from inside of the float, and the raider got mad and yelled at him. I saw a lot of crazy things during Mardi Gras season, but I think it was definitely fun and interesting.

Mardi Gras 2013

      I went to several Mardi Gras parades this year. My favorite  parade was the Krewe Rex. Crowds were a little smaller than last year, perhaps influenced by the forecast of rain.

 

     I liked the family side of Mardi Gras unfolded along stately St. Charles Avenue, where some groups camped out overnight to stake out prime spots for parade viewing. A brief rain shower as the final float in the Krewe of Rex parade passed by didn't dampen the enthusiasm there. I hope to watch the mardi gras parades next year.

Mardi Gras

          Last week, on a local radio station, a guy said “The most valuable item in Mardi Gras is the restroom.” Actually it is true because I had a bad experience about it. When I went a downtown parade two years ago, I wanted to find a restroom. I couldn’t remind other places except McDonald’s, so I headed to there. However, in front of the restroom a security blocked the door, and asked me the receipt. He said, “Be a good customer.” The bad thing was, even though I tried to buy something, I couldn’t because many people had been waiting for a long time to buy for the receipt. Many people looked tired and angry because of the receipt. A guy even tried to find a receipt on the floor because the line never became short. It seemed like that I never made it. I decided to go to other place, and I walked a long distance to find a restroom. I went to a casino, and I could find the place I needed. It was true that the most valuable item in Mardi Gras parade was a toilet

 

First Mardi Gras

This year is my first Mardi Gras year. I had a great time of it. I joined lots of parade, and I got what I wanted to get--shoe and coconut. I was very happy. Mardi Gras is such a happy season. Everybody enjoys holiday and parade. During Mardi Gras the whole city is full of fun. But one thing did make me don't like about Mardi Gras is, those spot claiming chair people. They would be angry at who stood in front of them. And they would say something really mean. That's an uncivilized behavior of Mardi Gras. People forgot that's a public event on a public street. I wish Orleans Parish will abolish that spot claiming chairs, so nobody has to deal with that ugliness anymore.

Mardi Gras Experience

Last week I had a chance to go to the Mardi Gras parade, Hermes and Morpheus, with Carlos, Maripily, and Valeria.  This was the first time for me to hang out with my classmates—normally I have to come back home in order to do homework and when I have a little free time, I prefer to stay at home to take a rest rather than go out.  The parade was very beautiful, and the atmosphere was exceptional as well.  We tried not only to get a bead but we also tried to get a cup, a doll, and a coin they threw from the floats as many as we can.  Finally, our necks were full of the beads and Valeria’s bag was full of the stuff we got from the parade.

Dalal Alokla

Culture class

Feb 7^th, 2013

MARDI GRAS

I often heard about Mardi Gras inside and outside of my classes, which influenced my curiosity to attend parades at least once. When my school organized a group meeting to enjoy the event, I had an opportunity to sign my name to the list. Unfortunately, I realized no one in my class would be there. I thought “What if I asked Jenna (my tutor)?”  When she agreed, I was happy. We met in school and caught a streetcar.

Arriving to the spot, I was so excited waiting for the first float. When they started throwing the beads, I became crazy! I didn’t expect that. Although my teachers and tutor helped me to catch my beads at the beginning since I was frightened if something could hit me, it did happen. The more floats came, the more I had less fear. I can’t forget Jenna’s advice, when she said “Dalal, focus on the eye contact.” I learned a lesson from her. Her advice was a key of the secret for successful communication.  

Go Daddy.com Commercial

Yesterday night,  I watched the Superbowl. I think the game was very good especially at the end because both teams were almost tied. There were a lot of good commercials, but one of my favorites was the Go Daddy. com. In the commercial there were advertising websites. I thought this was very interesting since I had never seen a commercial about a company selling websites. In the commercial was the Supermodel Bar Rafaeli, and the actor Jesse Heiman, the slogan was: When sexy meets smart your small business scores because the Supermodel represented the sexy part of the company and Jesse Heiman the smart part. This ad was ethos because the protagonists were famous, and they gave credibility to the product
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Wonderful Pistachios

This commercial is incredibly funny!  They showed the famous, Korean musician, Psy.  They used his famous song, "Gangnam Style."  The lyrics were changed from "Oppa Gangnam Style" to "Crackin' Gangnam Style."  They used the "Pathos" style of advertising.  They wanted to make people happy.  By using a famous celebrity and song, they also used "Ethos" style.  This is a commercial for pistachios.  Psy jumped out of a giant pistachio and started singing "Gangnam Style" with a bunch of pistachios.  At the end, he rode one of the pistachios.  I laughed so hard.

Taco Bell Viva Mas 2013 Super Bowl Commercial!

     The commercial  is about the fast food restaurant (Taco Bell). In the commercial,the used ethos.  an Old people who are in the Age above 50  we're having fun in the midnight . And the used the song"Tonight we are young" by describing them in the commercial . By the end of the night the went to eat Taco Bell to enjoy the rest of their night . I chosed the commercial because it was the funniest thing ever I saw, for seeing an Old people having   fun like the young peole.

Commercial M&M Superl Bowl 2013

            Last weekend I watched the Super Bowl. I enjoyed the game and the creativity of the commercials this year. All of them were very fun. My favorite was the M&M chocolates commercial.

            This commercial made me feel happy. A M&M  candy felt in love with a beautiful girl. The girl was so pretty that she could do anything she wanted with the M&M candy. During the commercial the M&M candy sings "I could do anything for love", but everything changes when the girl wanted to eat, bake and cook the M&M candy, during these scenes the chocolate candy was singing "but, I won´t do that"

            I think that the technique used in the commercial was Pathos because you can see the girl enjoying the shopping or cooking with M&M chocolate.

The Budweiser's advertisement

      On February 3, 2013 was one of the important day in New Orleans because there was a Super Bowl game in the town. Many people all around the U.S. came to New Orleans to watch the game and not only people in the U.S. watched but people in other countries also watched it such as Thai people.  That was why many companies were interested in buying the advertisement time between the game, and the cost of advertising was very expensive.

      In Super Bowl 2013, there were many interesting advertisement.  However, the advertisement grabbing my attention the most was the Budweiser's advertisement.  This advertisement showed me about the relationship between the man and the horse he raised that even if the time passed more than three years , the horse could remember that man.  I felt very happy when I watched this advertisement, especially at the end when the horse ran to the man and the man hugged it with love.

Super Bowl Commercial

I enjoyed Super Bowl commercial last night. Most of them were so funny. One commercial I liked most was the Audi commercial. A group of people were having party, and a boy kissed a girl in front of people that be seen by another boy. And the boy who kissed the girl saw the other boy angrily walked to him. And then the kiss given boy left with driving a Audi fast but with a punched eye. That was so funny. I think the commercial used logos and ethos.

Super Bowl Comercials

 

I enjoyed the Super Bowl game tonight. I also watched many commercials during the break time. Most of commercials were very funny and eye-catching. Especially I was happy that I could see several Korean companies’ commercials like Hyundai and Samsung. Moreover, I could see a famous  Korean singer in the commercials.

The product name was Wonderful Pistachios, and Psy was singing and dancing with the pistachios in the ads. The commercial was very funny. I think the commercial used Ethos because Psy was the most famous Youtube star last year. By using the celebrity, the ads gave the credibility. Also they used Pathos by making people happy.

 

Dalal Alokla

Culture class

Feb 3^rd, 2013

SUPERBOWL

Right now, I am writing my assignment about superbowl advertisements with my tutor Jena in her friend’s apartment. Indeed, all the advertisements are funny, but the one that attracted me the most is Taco Bell. I like it because they use one of my favorite songs, which is “Tonight,” but they sing it in Spanish language. It was funny. The advertisement has many old people acting like teenagers, dancing in clubs, jumping in a swimming pool, and hanging out until they reach Taco Bell restaurant. They seemed crazy happy after they had eaten Taco Bell meal. This advertisement is pathos because it tries to affect the audience emotion. Since old people usually suffer from several kind of illness due to their ages, the advertisement present them like healthy teen people with high energy instead. 

I Want People to Surf my Couch

My friend told me about a website called couchsurfing.org. I looked at it and I like the idea of being a couchsurfing host. As a host, I will allow someone to sleep on my floor or couch for free. I can meet new people this way. They can be interesting people.

Friday night, i went to a couchsurfing meet-up at Molly's Tavren on Decatur with my friend. The bar was long and narrowed. it was baked with people. There was only one bar-tender working that night. She looked exhausted. I headed a man scream and curse at her. I felt sorry for here. I wanted to stop him. She came to him and sweetly said."I am sorry, but i have a lot of customers, how can I help you."

We met the meeting host, his name was Alan. It was easy to spot the host. He was wearing the Couchsurfing pin that he wrote he would be wearing it. Inside Molly's  we saw a Taco stand, but I felt uncountable. The stand was unprofessional,the menu was hand written and the cooked seamed surly. when we ordered our food we found that he was a nice man. We chose weird tacos, alligator taco and french fry taco. They tasted delineation. The tacos were crunchy  I never thought they would taste that good.

It was a fun night. My friend and I enjoyed our time. We will attend other meeting in the future. i will go to Molly's again to have more tacos.