Well, I will go to my cousin 's house in Filadelphia city. As a family, we have this kind of traditional meeting. Every year I see my cousins and their families in one gathering. Actually, I am looking to see new members in my family. my uncle have triple babies and they are 4 months. In addition I will see my great grandmother. she comes to Michigan every year with her whole family. We have a dinner and then we spend the night with them.

In this time, I feel I am so blessed to have a big family and to have this opportunity to see my 35 cousins in this meeting.
Of course there are manythings Iam thankful, in my life and the most of these is the daughter. last thankgiving and in the same night my daugther was in hospital, she was sick and in a critical condition . She got a blood bactirial and she stated in the hospital for 3 week in the intensive room, also, she was under a serious medical for 6 months. Now she is fine.

What did I do in myWeekend

What did I do on weekendOh my god? Believe me I have many things to do during weekend until I hate weekend and I look to the last minutes on Sunday to start a new week.Let me start with you from the beginning. I am a single mother and I have three children. You imagine what I have to do during the weekdays or on weekend. First I will start with my last busy Friday.I dropped my children on their school and I came back to my home. I got a massage on my answering machine from my young son telling me that he forgot his candy bags and his uniform in my car. I ran to his school to give him his uniform and the candy bags. Unfortunately, the school parking lot was full, I decided to park my car very far away, in the end of the street and I walked to the school in a heavy rainy morning. I gave my son his stuff and I came back to my home.

9:00 a.m. I sat on my computer typing my homework and finishing my research paper. I was shocked when I looked to my watch: it was 12:30. I ran to my younger son school to participate with the Halloween parade. I was late 30 minutes and I went immediately to my son class. I did not find any body. I ran to the hallway and found the students outside the building in their parade. I walked with my son and his friends. (No need to mention that my son was upset because I was late and all the mothers were there with their kids). When the students finished their parade and their tricky treat adventure, we went to their class for the party. We ate some candies and cake and I took nice pictures for my son and his teacher and friends. The party was done and the students left to their home. Actually it was fun to share the kids this event.

Wait and see, it did not finish, my Friday was long day,
My oldest son was selected to be a member of the National Honor Society – in his high school and they had an induction ceremony Friday at 5:00 p.m.
So, I went to the ceremony with my 3 children. It was an utmost party. Dearborn Height Mayor, the principle, the vice principle and Michigan Education board members were invited to this party. They called each student by his name and honored him individually on the stage. I took pictures for my son and for Dearborn Heights mayor. But believe me, they talked a lot. I almost slept on my chair. I wake up when my daughter called me to take pictures for my oldest son on the stage. Do not get me wrong, I am so proud of my son but I was so tired from the first parade and party. The ceremony finished at 7:00 p.m. and we left to our home.

7:30 p.a. Time for tricky treat in our block, I opened my door at 7:30 and distributed some candies and cookies for the children. My children helped me for 10 minutes and then they went to their tricky treat trip with our neighbor. I felt some kind of anxious. Distributing some candies for the children was fun but being alone in the house and opening the main door was not safety. So I turned the light off and I shut the door. (Announcing no more treats with me)

Guys, it was not over, trust me I am not exaggerated, but the weekend days are my full busy days.
It was 9: 30 P.m. I made a dinner for my children and we chatted on the table for fifty minutes and then I sent them for their bed, even my 16 years old boy went to his bed because he was tired from his induction ceremony.
Now is time to study. I sat on my computer finishing my project for EDC 440 class, and working on my comp 227 revising essays until 2:00 am. After that I went to my bed and slept as died goat.



Saturday
New day and more errands
I sent my children to their Arabic school at 10: a.m. and I went to U M D library to study for my EDC 440 presentation. I stayed in the library until 2:30 p.m. time to pick my children from their Arabic school. While we were coming to our home we passed by my grand mother home, having lunch with her and came back to my home.

6:00 p.m. I drove my daughter on her Michigan Scout and went to grocery shopping with my boys. We came back to home at 8:00 p.m.
Wait, I did not finish, I gave my younger son a bath, prepared a light dinner for the kids, I listened for my daughter reading a poem, listened for my oldest son talking about his mescaline’s adventures. And then I sat on my computer to do my homework.

Sunday
That day was my oldest son’s birthday. He is 16 years old now. He invited his friends for a movie in our home. I prepared a nice lunch for them. When they finished I took them to Mercury lane bowling center. It was so fun. We stayed there for three hours and then I drove my son’s friends to their homes and we back to our home.

Believe me I am so surprised! How busy I am and I did not figure out before. You will think these are extraordinary days and it will not happen every weekend.
Gradually, these are my typical busy days and so on. Every weekend days are the same, I have to do many things for my kids, myself, my house, and my car. Moreover, I need to be ready for any unexpected incidents may happen for my family. I am not complaining but sometimes I get tired, most likely my school stresses me out.

I can tell you; I am so happy because I have nice kids and blessed family and friends. Moreover, I have initiative to serve my kids and family for ever.

Finally, I know I spoke a lot; it seems an opportunity for me to think and to talk. I hope I do not bother anybody reading my chatting and listening to me thinking in a high voice.

Al-Ameer Restaurant

Raghida Choucair
Comp 227
Essay# 2
Evaluating a Restaurant
Revision


Al-Ameer Restaurant
27346 Ford Road
Dearborn Heights, MI, 48127
Saturday, October, 10, 2009
Time: 3:00 pm

Have you ever tasted Lebanese Shawarma?


Just on the intersection of Ford Road and Inkster Street, in Dearborn Heights, there is a nice building with big red tents on all sides. In that building, you can see the Middle Eastern architecture style merged with an American style to give a unique picture for Al-Ameer Restaurant.
That Restaurant was highly recommended to me by two of my friends, because it is clean and their food is fresh. So, I decided to go with my children to this restaurant on Saturday, October 10, at three o’clock, in order to avoid the lunch time crowds.
Once we entered Al-Ameer Restaurant, two waitresses; a lady and a gentleman, welcomed me and my children. The lady asked us to wait for her in the hallway until she arranged a table in a non-smoking family hall, and then she went inside the restaurant.
I strolled in the hallway looking at the pictures on the walls; I was astonished with the appearances and the lightening. Al-Ameer Restaurant was sufficiently decorated with a Lebanese style. Although I am originally Lebanese, which made me remembered my childhood in Lebanon.
A Few minutes later, a nice man (I learned later he was the restaurant owner) came. He welcomed me and my children, and he walked with us to our table in a very elegant hall.
Luckily, our table was located in the corner. This helped me to see all the gorgeous interior decorations. The hall was sufficiently decorated in Arabic style. The statues were standing in the corners as those displayed in a museum. The astonished pictures and paintings hang on the wall as those were displayed in an art museum. The embroidered mirrors in the walls portrayed the Arabic agriculture. The elegant chandeliers in the ceiling and the extraordinary lamps made me feel as if I were in a Middle Eastern ancient palace. In addition, the floor was covered in a fancy burgundy carpet. The tables were adorned with white tablecloths and setup with linen napkins.
Believe me; I was impressed with all the beautiful views. I didn’t notice the waitress speaking to me until my son whispered in my ear. “Mom, we are hungry, please order the food.”
The waitress put a pitcher of water and some cups on the table. She gave me the menu and waited to take our order. I discussed with my children what food they liked and suggested to my daughter to select a boneless chicken. Finally, after about five minutes of chatting and discussing, my children and I decided to select Al-Ameer main dishes.
The waitress said,” It is my pleasure to serve you, please be patient with us to prepare delicious food for you.” She took the menu and vanished into the kitchen.
I thought it could be around ten minutes and they would bring the food, but it took more than forty minutes. My daughter finished reading her story. My older son talked with his friend on the cell phone and discussed with him his math homework, and my younger son took a nap in his chair. Finally, the waitress came with big tray of fresh and healthy Lebanese food. I told her we waited a long time for the food, she said: “Please taste our food and decide if we deserve to take our time preparing it.” Also, she advised me to make a reservation before I came to the restaurant, and she apologized to my children and left with a warm smile.
Wow! Wow! She was right. The food was very good. The rice was exactly how it should and the meats were perfectly cooked
Let me start from the beginning. We got a basket of hot pita bread with half dozen of pickled cucumbers as appetizers. The pita bread was really good, warm, and freshly baked.
We got side dishes and main dishes, and both were competing in deliciousness. The side dishes were Babaganoush; a grilled eggplant was flavored with lemon, red pepper and a touch of paprika. Taboli, hummus, and falafel were served with creamy yogurt sauce and strips of iceberg lettuce. Those dishes are well known Lebanese food. Believe it or not, most of the Americans in Metro Detroit are familiar with the Lebanese food.
Main dishes were served with many types of food: Shish Tawook, grilled boneless chicken with garlic, Lamb Shawarma, Fattoush, fried kibbi, and rice. All the dishes were particularly well cooked meats and well marinated chicken.
The young waitress came to our table many times, and she asked if we need any help. She delivered some drinks for me, and pop for my children. Also, she changed the empty plates on the table. When I finished my heavy lunch, the waitress came and offered me a free dessert; I selected a baklava, sprinkled with honey and nuts. It was deliciously sweet and balanced my salty meal.
My children selected Arabic ice cream for dessert and they argued me to taste it. I was hesitated to agree with them because I was on diet, but I changed my mind after I tasted one spoon. It was natural fruit ice cream, covered with a peanut powder.
“Now it is time to go home kids. If you are not tired, I am”. While I was negotiating the departure time with my children, the waitress put a nice brown envelope on our table. I opened it and I read the receipt. I thought it would cost me much more, but it was a reasonable amount for a family to spend a good time and to enjoy a nice dining experience. It cost me Forty Five Dollars plus Five Dollars tips for the waitress.

Please remember. Al-Ameer Restaurant has delicious food with reasonable price and friendly waitresses. But the service takes a little bit longer than other restaurant because selections are cooked to order.
According to Detroit News Restaurant Guide; Al-Ameer is rated one of the four-star-restaurants in Michigan. The cuisine is Lebanese Middle Eastern with lamb, beef, chicken and vegetarian entrees. Also, Al-Ameer Restaurant offers take out and catering
In conclusion, it was a great experience for me and my children to go to that restaurant. In fact, we enjoyed our meal in “Al-Ameer” Restaurant. We were not just paying for the food; we paid to be treated as the preferred guest in a fancy dining room. For instance; the waitresses were so friendly with my children, my drink was never empty, and I felt satisfied with the food and the cozy warm atmosphere. If you are looking for all of those and more, then you should go to Al-Ameer restaurant.

I was surprised by the following facts:
· China will soon become the number one English speaking country in the world.

· 25% of Indian population with the highest IQ is greater than the total population in United States.
· India has more honors kids than America has kids. It means we have to improve our educational curriculum.

Please, look to the other side and think about these facts: Do you know that; the revolution of technology does not feed one hungry child in Africa or in any other place in the whole world?
Do you know technologies are the main reasons for the tsunami and environment destructions?
Do you know this technology cause global warming and the nature’s changes?

Do not get me wrong, I am not against the revolution of technology but I am looking at the human’s benefits from all of these. According to President Obama, We need to feed the hungry people. We need to provide shelter for the homeless. We need good insurance, and then, after that, we need a fast and over-speed technology. It is worth to balance between the people needs and the revolution of technology.

The goal of Creativity

Raghida Choucair
Comp 227
Journal#5
10/26/09

Purpose of Art

Mr. Vik Muniz started with his definition of creation and creativity. He defined creation as “un-graspable, or even pointless.” On the other side, he described creativity as something has great meaning: “creativity is always meaningful.” He used the picture of a dog with a chicken on his hindquarters and said that creation put the dog in the picture while creativity made the viewer imagined that there was a chicken on the dog’s hindquarters.
Vik believed that the creativity comes after causality. He stated that he came to America because he was shot in his native country Brazil. He tried to entertain his viewer by the way he told his story: “and that's very -the basic reason I'm talking to you here today because I got shot”.
He went over his pictures and handcrafts to explain what encouraged him to create each one. There was a story behind each picture. He showed us clown skull, rocking podium, pre-Columbian coffeemaker, and the half tombstone. He made some elegant stuff with white cotton and he created arts from threads, chocolate, dust, and colors.
He ended his talk-show by differentiating between computers and arts. Also, he talked about the theater and the actors’ role, then about visual illusion.
In only 15 minutes, Vik touched many important issues. First, he differentiated between creation and creativity. Second, he said that creativity generated by motivations. Third, he explained his viewpoint about life and fate: “if I was born in Monterey, probably I would be in Brazil.” Fourth, he presented his ideas in sarcastic way. For instance he made fun of marketing people: “advertising people do that all the time.” Fifth, he talked about the history of drawing and the drawings progress by the time. Sixth, he drew a demarcation line between science represented by the computer colors and the arts: “millions of colors in it… is who counted it?” Seventh, he defined the role of actors in a theater. Finally, he talked about the visual illusion and he defined it as the measure of your own belief of how much you want to be fooled.
I disagree with Vik in some points about the art and creativity; I think the purpose of art is to be creative with no limitation about what materials used. Art is a talent with no stimulation to draw and create. You do not need to be under a pressure to create or to draw. It is just a goal to express your views in the life.

My Keys to Succeed In America

Raghida Choucair
Professor P. Potvin
Comp 227
10/12/09
My Keys to Succeed as a New Immigrant to America
As a young migrant mother living in the United States, I had to face many obstacles in my daily life. My family and I migrated from Lebanon in 2003, looking for a good opportunity and better life. I was presented with many challenges. I had to remain close to my heritage and culture to keep my children close to our homeland cultures. Also, I had to integrate with mainstream American society to adjust to a new life and new culture.
The English language and the integration in the American society and culture were the main challenges that had often created tension for me and for my children since we speak and dress different than other people. After I read the article “In the Waiting Room”; I remembered one of my experiences in my early days in the United States. One day I was in my children’s school, waiting for the teacher to explain how to deal with my son who was struggling in his first grade class. The school principal told me that my son’s teacher would be with me in ten minutes. I was walking slowly in the hallway at a rhythmic pacing with my shoes making irritating noises to the principal. She asked me to have a seat and to have a cup of coffee. Also she said that I could read some of the magazines on a small black table in the corner of a small waiting area until my son’s teacher came and talked to me.
My son had a nice American teacher. She was in her mid-fifties. In our previous meeting, she tried to use very simple English sentences with me after she noticed that I barely understood what she was saying. I kept asking her to repeat every statement at least twice. She was very kind to reword her statement in simple phrases until I would say with an encouraging smile that I understood what she explained. I was worried because that teacher asked me to bring my husband with me for the meeting after she learned that I just arrived in the USA two weeks ago. But my husband told me that he had an important meeting at his work and he could not attend the school meeting. I promised myself I would do much better in that meeting with my child’s teacher. I would ask her to speak a little bit slower than the previous meeting, and it would run smoothly.
I cheered up because I took three Basic English Language classes in my country before I immigrated to the United States, and I got A’s in those classes. My high confidence faded away a few minutes later. In fact, those classes were not enough for me to develop the good skills to speak and communicate with the people in the United State.
I was sitting in the office waiting for the teacher to come, I was thinking of the best way to overcome my frustration. Suddenly, I heard an emergency alarm siren in the hallway, in few seconds, all the people in the school were running outside the building. I did not understand what was going on. I jumped to the middle of the hallway. I was scared to take any action or to take any step such as leaving the building or going inside the classrooms. I froze in my place I had no idea what I should do.
I hate the emergency alarm because it reminds me of a very sad incident. I was nine years old, and my best neighbor, Mohamed, used to treat me like his preferred daughter. He used to remember my birthday every year; he never forgot to bring me a nice surprise gift. He was my private music teacher. He taught me how to play piano. Until one day he got very sick. A few weeks later, I learned that he had cancer and he had few months to live. I used to visit him every evening after I finished my homework. I was praying every night and asked God with high hope to save my best friend. Unexpectedly, in the middle of the silent spring night, a scary ambulance siren broke my dream and woke me at the midnight. My best friend was taken to the hospital in a critical condition. I started to scream with all my voice “You are ok my Mohamed… I will see you tomorrow…” The next day, that ambulance brought my dead friend with the same screaming sounds and lights. From that day I am always link the emergency alarm with the losing of my beloved people.
All the people in the school were running and shouting at me to leave the building. I was wondering if I had to run and leave my children inside the building or go and get them from their classrooms. Of course, I couldn’t leave my children inside the building. I had been raised to be the mother who should risk her own life to save her children.
In that difficult time, I recalled a story I read when I was in the fifth grade, where a mother used to pick up her daughter from school and walked with her to their house through a train station. Every time they were crossing the railroad, the mother warned her daughter to watch out for the train. One day, the mother was busy cooking when she heard the horn of a train was passing near her house. She looked from the window of her house and saw her daughter walking on the railroad tracks without paying any attention to train’s horn. The mother ran very fast until she reached her daughter and pushed her away from the deadly train. Unfortunately, the mother fell under the train iron wheels and lost her left leg. Though, the brave mother lived for the rest of her life very happy with an artificial wooden leg after saving the life of her beloved daughter.
I was in the middle of my suffering memories; I heard somebody yelling at me, there was a fire in the building. Just after that I figured out that sound was a fire alarm, and I had to leave immediately. I heard all people were talking to me, but I did not understand them.
My children were evacuated with other students from the building to outside; the teachers with them. Also, the principal walked me out of the building to the emergency gathering area.
Fortunately, the fire alarm shut off after twenty minutes,
After she explained to me that my kids were already evacuated from the building and they got back to their classrooms, she asked me to work hard on my English skills.
I drove to my home thinking that this difficult experience taught me a great lesson. I concluded that the keys of success for me as a new immigrant in the USA are: good English language, good integration in the American society, and deep adaptation to the American culture.
After this incident, I was at a point in my life. Where I had come to realize that I had to improve my English language skills and continue my higher education to satisfy my needs for learning, as well as to have the opportunity for a good life in the USA with my family.
I decided to pursue a bachelor degree in education. Consequently, I would improve my English. Also, I would have the opportunity to learn about different cultures from all over the world. Furthermore, I would accept other people regardless of colors, cultures, education background, and belief.