Harrisonburg, VA 22802 February 2013 Kathleen’s Corner Over the semesters my comments have focused on the students and the program at IEP. I believe, however, that the IEP is a great place to study because of the teachers who teach here. There are some interesting facts about the IEP teachers that make them such great teachers and that make what they do at the IEP so inspiring. The combined teaching experience of IEP lecturers and teachers is over 120 years! The teachers have also taught in 13 different countries on five continents. Combined the teachers can speak eight languages, some of them several. These are people who know what it means to teach a language and what it takes to learn a language. They are also people who remember what it feels like to live in a culture that is different than home. Finally, it is an honor for me to be able to work with these wonderful, and wonderfully talented teachers. I believe it is also an honor for you to study under their expert teaching. Thank you to each of the fabulous people who have given us the gift of teaching at the Intensive English Program of Eastern Mennonite University. grew up a little, I enjoyed playing the role of a housewife more and more. Every day after school, my friend and I used to join together and play. Usually, we collected sticks and made the shape of a house. Also, we took our kitchen toys and play furniture to decorate our imaginary house. At present, I enjoy seeing my family happy. I love going out, seeing my daughter play around and smile, and barbequing in the garden. Important Dates Have you ever wondered what a snowflake looks like up close? This is a real photo! Student Ideas for Fun Things to Do Questions and Reflections Spend time with your daughter and family – Ahmed Obaid Go skiing with friends – Abdullah Alqahtani Learn gardening and cooking – Tuyet Pham Play cards with friends – Raed Alruwaili Watch movies with your buddies – Wejdan Althurwi Play soccer with your kids – Waleed Obeid Ride a bicycle in the park – Mirella Rodriguez Hang out with friends – Ahmed Wahbah Go see a movie in the theater – Mike Mutombo IEP students are hard workers, but also have fun in exciting ways and have many stories to tell of special adventures. This month, we asked students to reflect on their recreational habits, past and present, and tell about special times in their lives. The writings in this edition of the IEP Times were produced by the students who are studying in the IEP during the Spring semester 2013. Thank you to the students and the teachers for their contributions. The director of IEP is Kathleen Roth. ▲ Improve your English skills! ▲ Enhance your education! March 1-10: Spring Break March 15: No class March 22: Games and Pizza March 26: IEP Field Trip April 23-24: Final Exams ▲ Press forward in your career! In conclusion, every stage of our life has its own tastes and interests. The most important thing is to enjoy every part of it that makes us happy. – Eman Abu Alwah When I was a child, my parents were both working full time, so I lived with my grandparents for many years until I was elementary school age. My grandma believes that girls should not go out to play around, so she taught me knitting and embroidery since I was five. She said that I surprised her because I learned it very fast and really enjoyed doing it. I remembered my first knitting process was to make a pair of socks for my grandpa. Next, I made gloves for myself. After that, I started to do pants and sweaters. My mom said I probably inherited some genes from my grandmother, because none of the girls in our family could knit or embroider well except for the two of us. Question: What is an activity you enjoyed when you were a child? What do you do for fun now? When I was a child, I enjoyed playing with others. There was not a specific game that I preferred. If there were many children, we chose games that involved running and chasing. When I played with my sister, we preferred dolls. Now that I am grown up, I’ve lost the energy that I had when I was a child.  When I’m alone, I watch dramas or what with my friends. Even if I am with other girls, we prefer simple games with cards or board games. Once in a while, we play sports like soccer or basketball that force us to exercise. – Norah Alobikan Intensive English Program Eastern Mennonite University 1200 Park Road Harrisonburg, VA 22802-2462 USA 2242 Please contact IEP at (540) 432-4059, email iep@emu.edu or see our website at www.emu.edu/iep for more information 4 Now that I’m grown up, I’m busy with school and work most of the time. I don’t have much free time to have fun. If I do, I’d still like to do some knitting and embroidery. It makes me remember my special childhood. Being a child was the most exciting period in my life! When I was a little girl, my older brother was my best friend. I used to go with him everywhere he went. The activities that I enjoyed most were playing in the sand and playing the role of a – Grace Yuan 1 Playing with Barbies was an activity I enjoyed when I was a child. Now I like to spend time with my friends or watch movies for fun, or surf on the internet to discover new things. Actually, I don’t have enough time for fun because of my busy days. I go to school, I work, and I get home around 8:30 PM. I study and do homework, review my class material, and then fall asleep because it is past 10:30 and I’m tired. – Justizia Kassegne A Special Day in the Village I loved to spend summer time in the village. My grandparents had a beautiful house there. Amid birch and aspen and pine forests there was the big, beautiful meadow where the villagers grazed cows. My older cousins went to meadow to feed cows with grandfather. I wanted be with them too but I was just five years old and they did not take me. One day, however, my grandfather said that I could come! I could finally see the sunrise that my cousins told me about; I could find out what it means to feed cows; I could participate in a special lunch in the meadow! were so hungry! It was simple food like cold boiled potatoes with fresh green onion, some eggs and milk. Grandma also gave us some homemade cheese as desert. It was delicious, although it was really simple. We prayed and thanked God for the beautiful day. We also thanked God for the tasty food. We rested under a big tree with broad branches, and listened instructive stories from our grandfather. He told stories from Bible and from his difficult but interesting life. We thought about all the words Grandfather told us. Interview with Ahmed Alobaid, IEP Athlete The time with our grandfather that we spent on the meadow was very exciting and important for me. The beautiful sunrise in the morning showed the wonderful landscape around us, the cows taught me to be patient and careful, and lunch was natural and restful. As we walked home, I understood that it was not a day just for fun, but it was a hard responsibility. It was good experience for me because today I can analyze all my life and I can compare my life with my grandfather’s. I understand that my problems are not as bad. I know now that I will teach my children how to love and listen to God because my grandfather and grandmother taught me. Answer: I ran in Italy in 2004 in the World Championships, Malaysia for the Asian Championships in 2006, the 2008 World Championship in China, and different competitions in Sri Lanka, Thailand, and other countries. – Natalia Dubina When special day had come, I had to wake up around four o’clock in the morning. It was dark and quiet. Cold silvery dew was on blades of grass. Everybody went to the meadow in the silence, and we only heard the occasional cow mooing. We arrived in a happy mood. There were many cows on the meadow. They were grazing. Butterflies and dragonflies were flying over me. Soft wind caressed my hair. The smell of flowers came from the fields. The sun warmed me. Suddenly, my grandfather shouted, “Natalia, please turn back the black cow, it is going the wrong way. Quickly!” I ran and shouted, “Stop, please stop!” When I was near the cow, it turned its head and just looked at me with big, blue-purple eyes. I was scared. I could not move. We just looked at each other a few minutes. Then, the cow turned back to the herd, but I still could not move. Suddenly I felt my granddaddy took me up on his hands and carried me. I felt safe in grandfather’s hands. Then, it was time to have a lunch. The One IEP student had fabulous adventures as an athlete in his youth, running internationally for the Saudi Junior Track and Field team. Your correspondent interviewed him on his experiences. Question: When and where did you compete on the Saudi team? Q: How much did you train and how long were the competition trips in other countries? A: I began training when I was very small, taking Karate. I started running more when I was 15. We trained our running in many different ways, all year long. When we left for competitions, we would spend anywhere from one week to three months in the other country, training, competing, and seeing the country. Q: What were the trips like? A: We did a lot of shopping! Different countries were very different. Thailand was very beautiful, but the food was just awful. Sri Lanka and Malaysia were gorgeous countries to explore. People were very friendly everywhere, and it was fun and exciting to get to know people from other nations. Q: Did you win anything? A: Yes, my Saudi relay race team that passes batons won the silver medal in Malaysia in 2006! 2 3