October 3-4	Virginia Mennonite Relief Sale
October 5	EMU Theater production: Godspell
October 8	Field trip to Staunton and the Frontier Culture museum
October 15-31	IEP Director's trip to Taiwan, China & Japan
October 18	International Friendship Families Hayride and Bonfire
October 18-21	EMU Fall Break - no classes
October 22	IEP classes resume
November 13-15	Ethics of Biotechnology
November 17-21	International Education Week
November 21	EMU International Potluck Dinner
November 27-28	Thanksgiving holidays

The Perks of Being an IEP Student!

International Potluck
The International Potluck of IEP was on Wednesday, September 24. The largest number of our students brought food from their countries. We had a lot of varieties of food-noodles and rice from China, sandwiches from Mexico, potatoes with pork and mushrooms from Ukraine, "Pad Kra Prow" from Laos, and mushroom-chicken soup from Taiwan.

To our potluck we invited guests, three ladies from EMU and some students who graduated from our school. The potluck was very good. We recognized many good meals and spent our time very well. Students and teachers were happy because the International Potluck was not only a good lunch but a good experience for everybody too. We understood how much cultures differ and how much food differs in the world.

Natalie Nicolai

Dinner with Professor Eads
Last Sunday, I went to Professor Eads's home with my Korean classmate Samuel. With the direction paper which we received from Mike, I found the house correctly. One of the relatives greeted us with a smile as soon as my car arrived at his house. We entered the house with his guide.

There were about nine persons: five were students and four were the professor, his wife and relatives. After we introduced ourselves to each other, we talked about our own country and hometown. Among the American students, there was a student from Anchorage in Alaska. He explained his hometown to us. We were very interested in hearing this explanation of his

hometown and Anchorage because I have just found out that there are few persons living in Alaska and the area's land is covered with ice. While we were hearing his talks, the dinner was prepared. So, we had a seat after Eads's prayer for dinner. The dinner was so great, but not too much. There was a salad, chicken, cheesecake and ice cream. The dinner with Americans was careful to me because the meal custom was different from Korea. So, I was very careful in order not to make mistakes to others.

Jonah Choi

Memories of Home

My Childhood Vacations
When I was a child, I enjoyed visiting my uncle's house in another city. I grew up in a big city. My family used to visit our uncles and cousins in another city and this city was in the middle of the villages and the place was so nice. It had a lot of fresh fruit and was very close to the river. We totally enjoyed it. We went to the river to go swimming and fishing with TNT. In that way we could fish faster and catch more fish. I can say that almost every day we were going on a trip around the city. And we had a lot of fun together. And the other relatives came to invite us to their house for lunch or dinner. This story shows I changed as I grew up and I do like fishing forever.

Amir Rashid

The Value of Friendship
My twenty-fourth birthday party was wonderful. I was very happy because it was the first time I ever celebrated my birthday. It was two years ago. My friends invited me to a party at my friend, Alex's, house. I decided to go with them. When we arrived at Alex's house I walked in and the surprise was on me. The party was for me. I began to cry. I was so happy because it was the first time that I had ever had a celebration on my birthday. A few minutes later my best friend sang me a song. I felt emotion that I can't describe. I was so happy I was speechless. At this party I understood the value of friendship.

Olga Martinez

Family Visiting
I visited my family in 1999. It was a very hard trip, after missing them for four years. I grew up in my country until I was 29 years old. I have a big family: three sisters and two brothers. I do many things with them. One of them was a birthday party for my nephew. I joined them for my youngest nephew's birthday party. I bought a present for him and he was six years old at that time. At that trip I saw all my family and friends. I had a nice time because all my family was there. That trip caused me to forget my homesickness. After I spent 45 days with them I came back to the United States. I had much fun and a nice time.

Nerges Ibrahim

My Vacation
My vacation on the boat with the storm was scary. Two years ago on my vacation I went to Thailand with my family. One day it was sunny and the weather was very nice. We rented the boat to look around the ocean and went to dive. While we were on the middle of the ocean, the boat didn't work. The captain and the crew of the ship tried to fix it but they couldn't. A few minutes later the sky was dark and the captain told us that a storm was coming. It was raining, windy and the boat was swinging. I looked around the boat and asked the captain where the life belt was and he told me that he forgot. Everybody was scared and nervous. And I thought, "I will die soon." The captain tried to call someone to help us but he couldn't. Everyone was quiet and didn't have anything to do. Suddenly the sky was clear, the rain and wind stopped. The captain tried to call again and finally they saved us. Everybody was very happy and I thanked God and thanked God.

Nilaphone (Kiang) Xongsy

My Vacation
I always remember 2001 year's summer, how fun my vacation was with my sister, my sister's friend and her two children. It was my first countryside trip and it was so fun and relaxing. We were visiting my country's countryside, Housgol. Housgol has an international tourist camp. First, we flew by airplane, and next we used a car. Everyday we did something. For example, we went fishing. But we came back without anything. Sometimes we went to the mountain and then got some fruit. Also my sister and her friend are fun people. My sister's friend's boy was four years old. Usually, my sister and the little boy played horse. Sometimes my sister was the horse, and the little boy was the horse's owner. They made jokes. We watched, and then laughed. We went to visit another kind of people called the "Tsaatanguud." We saw caribou. We had never seen them before; it was interesting. After, we went back to Ulaanbaatar at home.

Puji Onchig

Customs and Cultures

At the Korean Table
One of the different habits of Koreans from Americans is the method of eating. Koreans usually sit on the floor around a table which has short legs. Many kinds of dishes are set on the table and people share the food using spoons and chopsticks. Each person has his own rice, soup, spoon and chopsticks in front of him. The seating order is as follows: rice is set on the left side, next the spoon, chopsticks and soup. And several dishes are set in the center of the table, and people share them. It's maybe unfamiliar to Americans that people share the dishes with chopsticks, but it's a Korean style. Therefore, people feel identity with others and can get the sense of belonging to family members.

Yong Bum Choi

Autumn Customs
One of my favorite festivals is the mid Autumn in my hometown. The mid-Autumn festival is the lunar calendar of August 15 for every year. It is a big holiday in Taiwan and there are some mid-Autumn customs that are very important to women. There are a lot of stories, legends, religions and special foods for the mid-Autumn. There are some legends about this night and still have some people who follow this tradition at night. One thing is about prayer for long life. If the girl wants her mother to have a long life, the girl needs to sleep very late. The other thing is about prayer for marriage with a good man. The single women need to steal some vegetables or onions in other people's vegetable gardens in the night. Then the single woman will meet a good man in the future. Another thing is to pray for having a baby. The woman who gets married but doesn't have a baby needs to steal a melon or gourd from other people's garden in the night. Then she will have a healthy baby next year. Those customs are very special and traditional in the mid-Autumn. It is legend, so no one knows why people do those things on this day.

Yumus Huang

Choo-Suk
In Korea, September 11th is a very significant day. It's the Thanksgiving Day. On the Thanksgiving Day there are many interesting things to do. First of all, as soon as they wake up, most people wear Korean clothes which are called Han Bok, a traditional Korean costume that is made with colorful silk. For guys, it is made up of a sweater and pants and is usually in colors of blue and white. For ladies, it consists of a sweater and skirt and is usually in bright colors, such as red, orange, and yellow. Then, we have ancestor-memorial services. During the ancestor-memorial services, there are some interesting things. We have to open the door a little to let our ancestors come in. Another thing is that when we turn off the candlelight, it is better to use our fingers. I'm not sure why that is. But, because ancestor-memorial services are very holy, to blow out candles may look rude. After having the services, we will have breakfast. After eating breakfast, all the relatives gather around and talk to each other. They also play a traditional stick board game which is called Yut-nol-T.

Samuel Park

• Improve your English skills!
• Enhance your education!
• Press forward in your career!

Keys to Language Learning

The Best Way to Learn English
Going back to school is the best idea I ever had to improve my English. Grammar and writing are difficult for me because I couldn't understand the rules of grammar and I still have difficulty thinking in English. Self-study is hard, especially when I need to study English grammar. The professor is a perfect guide for this purpose. Writing essays, letters and paragraphs can help me improve my writing skills. Grammar rules and exercises help me with my grammar knowledge. Meeting people from different cultures and accents can help me listen and think better than before. All of the above are reasons why returning to school is best way to improve my English.

Mercedes Rodriguez

Reading To Learn English
I think reading a book is the best way to learn English. This is because when I read a lot of books, it brings up my vocabulary and helps my reading fast. If I talk to other students, I have two kinds of telling ways. One of them is speaking and the other one is gestures. However, if I don't know how to explain, the most important thing is the amount of words I know. So, I need to study English and bring up my English skills. I think reading a book is the best way to learn English.

Kaori Mori

The Benefits of Conversation
I think that the best way to learn English is to talk with American people. A lot of people, like immigrants, say that the best way is to converse with American people. If someone converses with American people, they can improve their English and then can be better persons. I always watch how American people move their mouths and how they pronounce the words. And that's the best way to learn English.

Norlan Mendez

Telling our Stories

My Friends' Trip
We planned a trip with my friends, that we would go to Virginia Beach. It was on June 1. My friends and I were talking about doing some trip - just only young people, not parents - so we would go to Virginia Beach on June twenty-fifth. We were driving to Virginia Beach in our car and racing during the trip. It took us one hour and forty minutes to get to Virginia Beach. That trip was good. We were doing a lot of things, like playing soccer, dancing, swimming, etc. Next time I think I'm going to take my parents because I missed my parents during this trip.

Edwin Alvis

My Bad Experience
I had a bad experience in Canada. Three years ago, I made a trip with my friends to Canada. We visited some places. One of them was Ottawa. On my first night there, my friends told me that they were planning to go to the discotheque, so I decided to go and I told them to wait for me. In the discotheque everybody spoke English. I felt bad because my friends spoke it very well and I didn't know anything. I was sitting alone and lonely. Nobody talked to me, so I decided to go back to the hotel, but I didn't say anything and nobody saw when I went out. I was sleeping when my friends knocked on the door of my room. I opened and they asked me why I didn't say anything, because they were looking for two hours. They were really afraid because the city was big and I didn't speak English. I felt sorry for two days. So I think that next time I won't make the same mistake and I must wait for them as they waited for me or say something when I feel bad.

Toni Herrera

An Embarrassing Experience
My first day of shopping in the U.S. was when I went to a big store. All the things I saw were very pretty and new to me, because I didn't see a lot of stuff in my country. However, that hard moment came soon when I asked an old woman for special socks, for my mom. But I couldn't, because I didn't know English, but I needed to buy them. Do you want to know how long I waited for? Only to ask a special and perfect question. It was approximately thirty minutes until I got the perfect sentence and I said, "I speak English, do you have stronger socks?" But the woman said, "What?" That was my wonderful question. Then the people who were in the line started to laugh at me, or maybe at my question. After that horrible experience, I decided to go take English classes. However, I felt embarrassed on my first day of shopping.

Paula Gutierrez

My Dream!
My country, where I grew up, did not have an ocean. I saw an ocean on TV very often. I wanted to see it. The trip to the ocean was very expensive, therefore, to see the ocean was my dream. Now I have been in the U.S.A. for five months. I had never been to the ocean. My friends invited me to drive to the beach. It was a very beautiful morning on Saturday. I woke up in a very good mood. My friends and I drove to the beach. It was my first time to an ocean. The ocean was very big and quiet. I was very glad because it was my dream. I swam, rode by jet ski, and played volleyball with my friends. In the evening I walked on the beach. I looked happy because my dream was fulfilled. This story shows that any dream can be fulfilled. Now I can drive to the beach on weekends. This is great. I am glad that I can do it.

Yevgeniy Sychev

Commitments
There was a man named Harry who wanted to give a party. He wanted to feed people delicious food, hear their laughter, and give them a place to share their stories with each other.

Harry sent invitations to several people. Then he called them on the phone, and some of them he met in person. They said, "Yes, we would like to be guests at your party. Surely, we'll come!"

Harry was delighted to receive news of their commitment. "Good! They've accepted my invitation; they'll come to my party." He got right to work busily preparing for the party. He cleaned his house from top to bottom. He made several trips to the store for decorations and food.

The day of the big party arrived. He still had much to do, so he asked his family to help him out. His children wanted to go hang out with their friends, but Harry said, "No, you must stay at home and help me get ready for the party tonight." The kids groaned, but they stayed and helped their dad.
"The guests are coming at 6:00 p.m. and everything is almost ready," Harry said to his family. Help me set some of the food out on the table. There were Chinese egg rolls, Swedish meatballs, cold shrimp, Hawaiian pineapple chunks, little bagel sandwiches, fresh vegetables and ranch dip. "Of course, we'll leave the ice-cream and toppings for the sundaes in the refrigerator until later," said Harry with a twinkle in his eye.

The house filled up with the smells of the delicious food. The clock ticked on. 6:05 p.m. and no guests in sight. Six-fifteen and the doorbell still remained silent. By six-thirty, when Harry had expected to hear the laughter of his guests, the only sounds in the house were the grumbling stomachs of Harry's family.
"When can we eat, Dad?" they pleaded. "Not yet!" he replied. "We must wait for our guests." At 7:00 Harry leaped to answer the phone, but it was only a telemarketer selling vacations to Disneyland.

Finally at 7:30 Harry gave in to his children, and they began feasting on the delicious food he had prepared. He was glad to see them enjoy the food, but the twinkle was gone from his eye. His guests had not kept their commitments. He longed to hear their laughter and listen to their stories, but they had disappointed him.

Mike Medley

We are currently receiving applications for Spring 2004 and Summer 2004 terms. Please contact IEP at (540) 432-4059, email iep@emu.edu or see our website at www.emu.edu/iep for more information.

The writings in this edition of the IEP Times were produced by the students who are studying in the IEP during the Fall Session, 2003. Thank you to the students, the teachers, Barbara Roberts, Sandy Longenecker, Laura Miller, and Betty Lou Buckwalter for their contributions, and Laura Miller for doing the editing & layout of this edition.