Langston Hughes: the great race man

Langston Hughes was a writer in the time of great racial segregation in America. He was a poet, social activist, novelist, playwright and columnist who spoke for Negros. He was well-known due to his great variety of works, which were full of compassion and passion for African American’s rights. He not only spoke for black people, but also spoke with them. He traveled around the world to Europe and Africa. He was the first African American writer that made a living from writing. He is famous and inspiring even until now.


One of the most famous stories by Langston Hughes is “Salvation,” which is in his autobiography, The Big Sea. By telling the story “Salvation,” Langston Hughes expressed his true feeling of God. When his aunt took him to a big revival, it was a chance for him to see God and to be saved by God. In two sentences, he mocked about this incident and gave out his real expression: “I was saved from sin when I was going on thirteen. But not really saved”. Revival, also known as a “Spiritual Awakening”, is an activity in church to renew the faith of people in God. In this story, the thirteen-year-old boy believed that he “could see and hear and feel God in his soul,” as his elders always told him. He was sitting there, in the middle of a hot, crowded church to wait for a light, for something happening inside him. Unfortunately, nothing happened. All the other kids, “who have not been brought to Jesus”, already got up from the mourner’s bench and went to the platform. There was a last kid, named Wesley, with him. Tired of sitting there, Wesley finally decided to get up to the platform, even though he hadn’t seen God. The preacher kept moaning, shouting and singing a rhythmical sermon to call him. His aunt knelt at his knees and cried. A great amount of old people knelt, prayed, and sang around him. He started to wonder why God hasn’t struck Wesley dead, for lying in temple. He felt ashamed of himself for making all these troubles, so he decided to lie too. He got up and went to the platform to be saved by God. The whole room was broken down as he rose. In the evening, he cried and couldn’t stop, for the Jesus had not come and saved him that day. Since then, he didn’t believe there was a Jesus anymore (Hughes).


Langston Hughes was born in 1902 and he was a mix race of African American, White American and Native American. His parents split up when he was two years old. He spent most of his childhood with his grandmother in Kansas. His grandmother was one of the first women to attend Oberlin College. She was well-educated, and always believed in equal rights regardless of race. She taught him black American traditions, and gave him a sense of racial pride. She reminded him that his ancestors had fought against slavery, and always believed in man’s freedom. Even though his family was poor, he was aware of his distinguished background and it had a profound effect upon his sense of identity (Walker and Rampersad). In his autobiography, Hughes said that he was lonely and unhappy during that time in Kansas. That's why he “began to believe in nothing but books and the wonderful world in books” (Hughes). When he was twelve years old, his grandma passed away, and he had to live with a friend of the family while his mom traveled to look for job.


When he finally moved in with his mother and step-father, he attended a mostly white high school in Lincoln, Illinois. Even though there were a lot of nice teachers, there was one that always picked on him. He felt isolated, rejected and insecure from that time of his life. That was a time of overwhelming racism and segregation. Colored people couldn’t vote, drink from the water fountain, or stay in certain hotel. All the alienation he felt at this time was reflected in his works later. During the time in Illinois, his mother encouraged him to explore the library, reading books, writing poems and watching plays. He fell in love with them. From those first loves, he built up a basic knowledge for his career in the future. The white student body assumed black people like him had rhythm and chose him as Class Poet (Hughes). This started him down the poetry writing path. In 1916, he moved to Cleveland and attended a high school there. “He wrote for the school newspaper, edited the yearbook, and began to write his first short stories, poetry, and dramatic plays” (PoemHunter.com).


After graduating from high school in Cleveland, Langston Hughes moved to Mexico to be with his father. His father had left him early in his life, to run to Mexico, seeking to escape the fractious racism in the United States. Hughes had a difficult relationship with his father. Aside from having been separated for a long period of time, his father did not support his desire to be a writer. He only agreed to help Langston get into college for an engineering career. They also conflicted about their point of view: "I had been thinking about my father and his strange dislike of his own people. I didn't understand it, because I was a Negro, and I liked Negroes very much” (PoemHunter.com). He attended Columbia University and studied engineering, as his father wished. He left school two years later, because of the racial violence that he faced in college. He worked several jobs before he left the U.S to travel to West Africa and Europe. He had traveled and seen the world with the eyes of a black man and an artist, exploring the meaning of life. In 1926, he published an essay in the very prestigious Nationmagazine. “The Negro Artist on the Racial Mountain” stands as a kind of manifesto for the Harlem Renaissance (Walker and Rampersad).


Religion was always an important part in Hughes’s life, as well as many other black people’s lives. Faith for God among the African American community was a way for them to cope with the violent racial repression at that time. Hughes’s family wasn’t an exception. He had been raised to believe in Jesus and love the Holy Ghost. However, since the incident of Salvation, he started to question religion and lost faith. That was a defining moment, a turning point in his life that shaped his point of view about religion. He was not afraid of speaking out his opinions on this issue in a lot of his works. Even though he still admired and recognized the place of religion in the black community, he himself was not a believer. He was also very angry about religion hypocrisy. He pointed out that some people used religion as a tool to control others. His writings make audiences think “why would the character make religion into something that would benefit them financially instead of spiritually?” (Langston Hughes vs. Religions)


It’s difficult to see the reality of being isolated and aliened in his personal life, as well as in his society. Langston Hughes used words as his weapon against the great racial intolerance, injustice, and inequality at that time. He wrote most often when he was unhappy. His words came out of his unhappiness and represented his view of life. When he was sad, he went inside himself, to triumph over that sadness. His voice was that of African Americans. “He had a tremendous sense of devotion to the word, a sense of duty as an artist, obligation to his craft and obligation to his audience” (Walker and Rampersad). He worked hard to show the black community how beautiful they are naturally, and they don’t have to wear the mask that society prefers. He made it possible for black Americans to dream the American dream.


One of his most famous poems is “A Dream deferred”:


What happens to a dream deferred?


Does it dry up
like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore--
And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over--
like a syrupy sweet?


Maybe it just sags
like a heavy load.


Or does it explode?


Langston was trying to speak for African America in particular, but not for them alone. This poem is about a general dream that is delayed. It could be the American dream, that African Americans could not have a chance to achieve. It could be the dream of a society of justice, compassion and freedom for black people. It could be any abandoned dream. What will happen to this dream? “Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?” The raisin in the sun is such a successful image of how people dry out of hopes and dreams. It's like a grape that withers and shrivels in the sun until it becomes a raisin. “Or fester like a sore-- And then run?” With such a poetic pain, Langston Hughes leads the audience to the bitterness and suffering of African Americans. Their wound of injustice and inequality will be never healed or fulfilled. It festers under their skin. “Does it stink like rotten meat?” Not only can you picture the rotten meat in your head, but also smell and taste the stink and offensive feelings of a dream abandoned. “Or crust and sugar over-- like a syrupy sweet?” Whether the dream deferred looks and sounds good or not, it’s still rotten. In a different visualization, but it's a same result. He’s eloquently describing the pain of having a dream deferred. “Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.” Eventually, a dream deferred will become too heavy to pick up and carry forward. “Or does it explode?” Does deferring dream make you a ticking-time bomb? Will life blow up in your face? Through the entire poem, we can see, taste and smell the hopeless feeling of a dream deferred. His poem is really straight forward and not much hidden idea. It’s saggy, negative, and dissolutive. The beauty of this poem is just from its simplicity. It’s clear, pellucid and honest. His poem makes it all one regardless of our race, sex or religion; the pain of a dream deferred belongs to each of us. The black and white America may share nothing in common but yes, a same pain.


After all, Langston Hughes was an influential writer himself. His work captures one of the most violent, yet passionate times of America. He left a great variety of work behind, which is really influential and inspires. It still affects the nowadays youth, who can be proud and grateful of being an African American with strength and pride of Africa a long time ago. His contribution literature is invaluable to American literature.

Works Cited

"Biography of Langston Hughes." PoemHunter.com. N.p.. Web. 27 Jun 2013. <http://www.poemhunter.com/langston-hughes/biography/>.


Hughes, Langston. The Collected Works of Langston Hughes: The Big Sea. Autobiography, Volume 13. 1st. 13. Columbia, Missouri: Library of Congress Cataloging, 2002. Web. <http://books.google.com/books?id=SsgPcfpjhBcC&pg=PA36>.


"Introduction to the Choas ." Langston Hughes vs. Religion . N.p., 03 Jun 2012. Web. 27 Jun. 2013. <http://langston-hughes.blogspot.com/>.


Walker , Alice , and Arnold Rampersad . Personal Interview. N.d. Web <http://www.fmgondemand.com/play/XF7ALH >.

Tips for writing

As an native Vietnamese girl, I need to practice my English everyday in order to live a successful life in America. The best way to practice my English is not only from communicating with people but also from reading and writing. By attending in ENG 111 class, I've learned a lot of good tips and accesses to helpful pages for improving my English. Here are some page that I find really helpful for my writing:

Purdue OLW (OWL stands for Online Writing Labs)

Plagiarism tutorial W. W. Norton (Publisher) On-line Handbook

My career path

I’ve chosen Accounting as my life career. I think I’m good at numbers and solving math problems. Accounting, however, is not only concerned with numbers, but also with people. During the research about Kendra Cherry’s article on Multiple Intelligences and the Occupational Outlook Handbook, I feel excited and positive about this career path. Cherry’s definition of Multiple Intelligences, and the test about my own innate intelligences have given me a closer look at my inner strengths and how they compare with the qualifications that my future career requires.


Kendra Cherry based her article about multiple intelligences on Gardner's theory. This is a popular theory from 1983 and has been discussed among critics from both physiological and educational fields. These critics assume that Gardner's view of intelligence is too wide and doesn’t have enough practical proof. Gardner believes “people do not have just an intellectual capacity, but have many different intelligences including musical, interpersonal, spatial-visual and linguistic intelligences” (Cherry). In many ways, we can understand that one person can have many kinds of intelligences and those particular intelligences express a range of ability to capture things in specific area. For example, Logical-Mathematical Intelligence defines people who are strong in things such as solving a problem, recognizing patterns or analyzing reasons. Intrapersonal Intelligence describes people that are aware of their own emotions, feelings and motivations really well. Interpersonal Intelligence is the ability to understand and interact with other people, such as understanding their emotions, motivations, desires or intentions. Kendra Cherry's explanation of Gardner's theory gives us something to reflect in understanding where are our abilities are. I think this information is useful in helping us to make educational and career choices.


My result from an inventory about my innate intelligences is pretty interesting to me (bgfl.org). According to the result, I score high in Logical, Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Intelligence. I see myself in these definitions. I enjoy playing puzzle games and am really good at math. I like to solve problems and find the patterns or logic in the things that happen around me. I also spend a lot of time to analyze my own feelings and emotions. I get lost in my own little world sometimes, and people even call me a day-dreamer. Intrapersonally, I know why I like what I like, and why I don’t like what I don’t. On an interpersonal level, I enjoy listening to people and helping them solve their problems. I love to be around people. I laugh when they laugh, and I cry when they cry. I tend to wear people's shoes as naturally as I wear my own. In many ways, this chart gives me a better look at myself and helps me understand, very clearly, my own strengths.


With that knowledge of my strengths, I connect to my own career choice. The profession I want to pick in my future is accounting. According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook website, my task will be to analyze all the financial activity of the firm that I work for. I will have to keep the financial processes operating properly, punctually and effectively. This job has a potential and stable outlook. It's “grow 16 percent from 2010 to 2012, about as fast as the average for all occupations” (Occupational Outlook Handbook). In order to become an accountant that can work for a big company, I need a Bachelor degree and a lot of experiences. The average wage was $61,690.00 per year in May 2010. This job requires analytical skill, communication skill, detail oriented skill, math skill and organization skill. These skills give me an ability to tell when something lightly goes wrong and figure out where it is and how to fix it. Besides that, I need to communicate well with my clients or managers to understand their orders and discuss the problems with them.


Accounting seems fit my Logical – Mathematical Intelligence, Intrapersonal Intelligence and Interpersonal Intelligence as well. I find myself interested in working with money and solving problems with math. I'm good at working on my own, and focusing on the main point of problems. As my Interpersonal Intelligence score shows, I can look at the situations from different side of views and be able to relate all the information to achieve the firm's goal. I can use critical thinking to identify the advantage and disadvantage of the solutions to decide the best one for the firm. I'm not extremely organized, but I pay attention to detail and am organized enough to identify whether something goes wrong or not. I've thought that being an accountant I will only deal with numbers most of my time, and can avoid communicating with people. Oppositely, communication is actually one of the main skills for this job. Conversation, which is not my best strength, should not be an obstacle for me as soon as I know what I'm talking about.


I have never looked at myself this way, to compare my capability with a job's qualifications. It gives me a clear and logical idea of my own faculty and makes me aware of whether the job is suitable for me or not. I can understand now that Accounting is not only about numbers but also about people, dealing with people and helping people. The knowledge from this research prepares me better in what to expect on the job. However, whatever the job I choose, I know it’s my attitude not my aptitude that determines my altitude. (Chinese's fortune cookie)

Work Cited

“Accountants and Auditors.” Occupational Outlook Handbook. U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics. N.d. Web.3 June 2013 < http://www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/accountants-and-auditors.htm >.


Cherry, Kendra. “Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences.” About.com. N.d. Web. Tue. 11 June 2013 <http://psychology.about.com/od/educationalpsychology/ss/multiple-intell.htm >.


“Summary report for: Accountant.” Onetonline.com. 13 Jan 2011. Web. Tue. 11 June 2013 <http://www.onetonline.org/link/summary/13-2011.01 >.

Virginia Renaissance Faire

My husband and I recently visited the Virginia Renaissance Faire during Pirate Invasion Weekend. Set on grounds of gorgeous Lake Anna Winery in Spotsylvania, the Faire separated itself from the busy, modern life. With this opportunity, I escaped from my daily routine and stepped back in time to an ancient English country village. It was unexpected fun and a wonderful experience.

We were lucky to meet Baron Stafford

The Faire is based on the late 16th century, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I: “Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth has chosen to grace the town of Stafford with her presence. Baron Stafford, the lord of these lands, must find a way to host the Queen, and her court, and their servants, and their servant’s servants, and their animals, and their families. The food costs alone would turn him into a pauper. Yet, a visit from the Queen and her court would be good for the growing businesses of Stafford. A solution is delivered: levy a tax upon the people of Stafford to pay for the Queen’s visit. After all, a visit from the Queen is in their best interests, the people should be happy to pay for her. The task of establishing and collecting the tax has fallen to the Sheriff. He has been authorized to use any means necessary to collect the taxes, pay for the Queen’s visit, and ensure that Baron Stafford’s coffers are not completely emptied. Sometimes, the Sheriff becomes a bit overzealous in his pursuit of the dollar, but, after all, it is for everyone’s greater good. A lone member of the town has reasoned that the Sheriff is levying an illegal tax. When words fail to persuade the Sheriff to alter his course, the town hero must take up the sword to fight for what is right. Nothing is certain except for death and taxes.” ("Staffordshire").

All beautiful dresses show the classes of the ladies

Greeting us at the entrance was a less-handsome version of Captain Jack Sparrow. He welcomed us to the Faire with a friendly smile and handed us what appeared to be a treasure map. It included all the events, activities, and concession stands that would keep us busy all day long. At first sight, I was impressed with all the corset-type dresses and costumes around me. They were so colorful and beautiful, but also extremely tight and hot in the warm weather. We could see a lot of tents selling all the unique, handmade products. There was a great variety of goods: jewelry, pottery, swords, armor, leather goods, incense, candles, oils, wood-works, and so much more. I popped into a few cute tents to shop for a souvenir. I was so delighted to buy a beautiful inexpensive necklace. Conversations with the artisans as they create unique merchandise is a must. I learned that throughout the day, the artisans and the craftsmen would demonstrate how to make glass beads and how to make thread on the spinning-wheel. We only caught a view of a blacksmith making tools, but it was enough to fulfill my curiosity. The heat was unbearable, but the bustle of a busy market day in the village kept our energy high.

Captain Jack Sparrow and me

The theme story was about the visit of Queen Elizabeth to Staffordshire, where the poor town was rebuilding after a terrible fire("Staffordshire"). Here and there, we could see minstrels and actors wandering around the street seeking the Queen's favor. They also tried to win the townspeople’s approval and permission to rebuild a theater. We saw a puppeteer control his puppet to please the royal family. We listened to a minstrel playing guitar and singing an old song as well. We watched a gipsy dance troupe in the middle of the bazaar. There were multiple stages to entertain people. Musicians, fire jugglers, and aerial gymnastics, hired by the faire, performed with skill and enthusiasm. Even though I knew they were acting, I still felt like I was back in time. Everything seemed so real.

A puppeteer was showing his talent

It was such a thrill to witness the jousting tournament. Two knights on horseback thundered toward each other, lances drawn courageously. The knights even taught us some of the art of jousting, from putting on armor to training exercises, to actual combat. We also learned how to swing a sword and differences stances for attacking. The Royal Archers explained to us the history of the bow and arrow. I now understand how archery played an important part in Renaissance life. I saw the master archer perform his fantastic skill with an accurate shot. The best part is that we could actually participate in those activities. I, for the first time in my life, was able to pet a horse and shoot a long bow. We had the opportunity to throw an ax, but I only wanted to test my ability in archery. There was a conscientious and well-educated archer who taught me a lesson about the range and the best position for the best shot. There was so much information that not only blew my mind and dazzled my senses, but also exercised my body.

I got to learn about archery

After all those amazing outdoor activities, we moved on to the indoor activities. We enjoyed a belly dancing show in a pub called Barleycorn Tavern while being served by wenches. There were so many types of food from Renaissance-age to modern time. There were savory Scotch eggs, pretzels, pickles, cinnamon roasted nuts and many other foods. I even saw the biggest roasted turkey in my life. A tankard of cold mead was such a perfect choice on this sweltering day. As we were watching the show, the Queen entered the tavern and I could see how all the other villagers greeted her respectfully. They all stood up, even the dancers stopped dancing. All men bowed and all women did a small curtsy as they all shouted “ God save the Queen”. She said “God save you all” in reply. Then she was led to the chair with the best view of the room and the show continued. I've seen all this on television, however, to do that with all those people in their costumes felt both bizarre and exciting. The environment of the decoration, the music, the food and the beer added to the realism. With the accents and the acting, these actors and actress truly amazed me.

Belly dancing in Barleycorn pub

Everybody stood up for the Queen's arrival

Among nobles and fools, tradesmen and villagers, minstrels and dancers; my day was awash with fun and history. Rarely is there a chance for us to leave behind the daily stress of life to find joy, especially with all the charming characters of the Renaissance-age. I definitely will come back and highly recommend this festival to all of my friends.

Stay in your line

The most impressing thing to me when I first arrived in America is the way people line up for everything. They stand in a queue to buy coffee, to check out at grocery store, to check in at air-port, to buy fast food or tickets, to play a game, or even to send a letter or to use an ATM. And even the traffic also show us that, all the cars always follow the lines on the street! (there is no line for traffic in Vietnam, actually >_<)

Cars in line for drive-through fast food 

People here are so calm and know how to keep their temper in the waiting line. They never complain or yell out of the slow-moving line. I see almost of them or reading newspaper or working with their phone or doing whatever they can but still at ease and wait for the services. Really, how can they be that patient?!! Thing is so different in my city. I am not making judgement that people in my city are impolite or something, but it seems like Vietnamese don't like to wait. We are used to hustling in a crowd too much that we don't find that's unusual anymore (Who doesn't hustle will be strange!! There is a story for this habit, though, but that is not my topic at the moment).

Lines for a food store in New York

I'd been completely out of place the 1st time I wanted to pay for my coffee. There was a long line before the check-out counter but I wasn't noticed and I just went straight to the cashier to pay. That was embarrassing to hear the cashier telling me back to the end of the line and waiting there. Some people did look at me with funny eyes ( and some with stern eyes) like I was an alien or had just fell from a strange planet. But the truth in Saigon is whoever can get the attention of the clerk first will be served first, we don't have a line, we can stand wherever we want!!!

American people get the education of waiting in the line pretty soon, since they can start to recognize the priority. There is one time my Mom-in-law and my 4-year-old niece and I went to a bookstore. My little niece picked a toy, she was really excited about it, she held it tight in her hand and wanted to go to purchase by herself right away. She was so eager to pay for the toy that she stepped ahead and told to a gentleman at the end of the line in front of the counter: "Excuse me, could you let me go, please?". My Mom-in-law and I was so amazed about the way she talked so politely, but at the same time, had to hold her back and tell her that we all have to stay in the line and wait until our turn to be severed. From then on, my little niece has been getting calm and good behavior in the line everytime we queue up for anything.

So you can see, American learn to stay in the line since they are 4 year old, it's definitely not a good idea to cut in a line or just go straight to the clerk to pay (like me). You will piss people off easily because everyone know and follow the rule, so do you. Thus, find the line and stay in your line!!!

Who doesn't like holiday?!?

Americans love Holidays! I don't know where else in the world will have more Holidays than America. Listing basic national Holidays, we got over 10 days already. Beside some traditional Holidays like Christmas Day, New Year Day, Thanksgiving Day, Valentine's Day, Memorial Day or Independent Day,... there are some other Festivals seems just for kids, such as Easter Day, Halloween Day... and some holidays for honor some specific individual that are Father Day, Mother Day or Military Appreciation Day...

Fireworks on Independent day

Sometimes, for few holidays, people don't really care about the meaning of it or do nothing concerned to the meaning of that holiday!! For example, Labor Day (first Monday of September), it is the day to celebrate workers, we don't actually do anything to celebrate it but get a day-off. And I've even read in some magazine that in high society, Labor Day is considered the last day of the year for fashionable women to wear white (because the Fall is coming, and the color for fall season is dark to keep warm). It also marks the beginning of a college football seasons, maybe Americans, because of this reason, care about this day more than it's real meaning! :)

And having a lot of holidays is not enough, American love to celebrate holidays as well. They can celebrate in multiple ways - decorating, party, gathering with family, buying and giving gifts or watching fireworks... Simply, holidays are a chance for people to get day-off from work, so they like them.

Cookout BBQ in one of holidays

Usually on some holidays, it's just the occasion for family members gathering and having some fun together, cooking and hanging around. They often cookout like BBQ or party outdoor, but there are some traditional foods for particular days, such as Roasted Turkey, Apple Pie and Stuffing for Thanksgiving. And not just eating or partying, in some special days, they have to do special things. Like you have to watch or shoot fireworks on Independent Day, you paint the eggs or take your kids to the egg hunt for Easter Day, or on the Halloween Day you have to prepare some candies for "Trick or Treat" or wear costume and join a costume ball.

Babies on the Egg Hunting Field on Easter Day

All the markets and stores always get everything ready for the Holiday about a month ahead. The Fall has just come and I saw orange everywhere in the store already. Pumpkin, ghost,  monsters, vampires, witches, werewolves,....are all around me now ( that is pretty scary )!! And the Halloween day is on October 31, it means about more than one more month! And even Busch Gardens is getting ready for Howl-O-Scream with all the scary rides such as Haunted House and the Scare Zone.

Anne in Giraffe costume in a scary garden on Halloween  

Skeleton (Aiden's insides are out)  

The most fun thing of Holiday is decorating, especially on Halloween and Christmas. My husband says these are the 2 most expensive holidays in America because people keep buying too much things for decoration.

Decoration for Christmas 

A store next to my house with the Halloween color

And I did have some wonderful memories of decorating my own house the first time for Christmas. My Mom-in-law took me to pick up a Christmas tree and gave me some tips to pick the good one. Because Andrew and me have just begun a family, we didn't have anything for decorating, so Mom had to lend us all of her precious stuff. Andrew and I tried to figure out what else we should buy to decorate the house and make the tree look better. That was a remarkable night when we three decorated the tree together. We ended up just hanging all the things of Andrew's family on the tree, but thanks to that I've got a chance to hear more things about Andrew and his family. Mom even showed me which one is the souvenir of 1 year-old-Andrew-baby on his first Christmas.  And I begin to recognize that hanging on the Christmas tree itself was the story of a family. Christmas is actually a chance for people go through the decoration to look back on the path the whole family had passed.

My first Christmas tree

Here is another story about Christmas. The 1st time I went in a Christmas Mouse store, I just ran out from my Mom-in-law like a crazy girl because of too much beautiful things. That store seemed like handing the most beautiful decorating stuff for Christmas. And I saw a bunch of beautiful coats. They just looked like some coats without sleeves I've seen on some movies. When my Mom-in-law found me, I was  trying on one of those coats, and she just burst out laughing because that coat turned out to be a Christmas tree skirt (the thing that you cover on the base of the Christmas tree so that all the needles will not mess up your house's floor!)

Silly me in the "coat"

Sum up, with all the interesting above, who is gonna not like holidays?!! And specially with Americans, they really know how to enjoy their holiday, and know how to make it significant. How about your holidays? How is the most memorable holiday of your family??? :> 

My first crazy American friend

Living in America for about 2 years, I've been making friends with some Americans. But never ever I've met anyone like him - my 1st crazy American friend!!

When I moved in with Andy, I was still a little strange and confused with everything and everyone around me, especially with the language. And I met Micah - the CNU's student of Physics - the roommate that always use so much complicated and new words for me!! For about 2-3 first months, I didn't get it every time he and Andy talked (actually now I still don't understand them sometime >"<). But that caused me the scare of talking with him because I didn't wanna ask him to repeat too much, and even when he repeated, I still don't know those words! Thus, I was hiding in my room almost the time. But then, there is the thing bring us closer to each other - that is cooking!!

I just couldn't eat American food at all. They use cheese in every of their product or they eat cheese with everything they could, even soup or fruit.... That was such a crazy thing with me ( still now though :P). So I've gotta cooking Vietnamese food every night. And there is a thing about American, you should know, they eat out a lot, or at least buy fast food a lot. There aren't a lot of single Americans cooking at home. So it was so weird of this guy that he not only cooked at home but also made his own bread from scratch. And I have to tell, he rocks his bread!! :) Oh My God, I've loved Micah's bread (even though I still think Vietnamese bread is better).

One of Micah's home-made bread

One of my favorite named Challah

I sure couldn't miss the chance to learn some new techniques of cooking and how cool it is to learn how to bake American bread from an American!! And that just happened, we tried to making bread every week. He taught me to make pizza, bagel, Italian bread, white bread.... and in return, I taught him some Vietnamese food such as stir-fried vegetable, egg rolls...

My first yummy pizza

My first Italian bread

And not only ridiculous about cooking habit, but also about the life style!! >_< He lives a ridiculous healthy lifestyle - he eats healthy things, low calories or better food product..., he doesn't like coffee >"<; he goes to the gym everyday, he loves juggling, he doesn't like bar or club, he sticks with his computer more than with his girlfriend, and he is completely 100% a NERD!!! He is cool though! Cool and Crazy!

Beside being a crazy friend, he is such a good and funny friend to hang around with. He is really patient with my horrible English at the beginning and helped me fixing it sometime, or found some website for me learning English. He helped to edit all my writing or resume or whatever I asked him for. We also have some thing in common. We both love Friends (an old comic show). We both love cooking. We both had too much free time to stay around in the house ( actually only on that time). And we both are crazy ( even in different ways)! ;)

So beginning this blog is one of his idea, to help me improve my English writing and he will have more chance to embarrass me with my English >_<. So don't be surprise if you guys see some nasty comments about what I need to fix in my sentences from the comment section ( and he's an perfectionist too :P) But that's the reason I begin this blog, I will try my best to not make any mistake. Also in the other hand, I still want Micah could find out some mistake and fix it, so you guys also can learn from my mistake. :> And in some ways, I need to write down and keep the memory about this wonderful time of my life - such a huge change and overwhelmed emotion - that I would not wanna forget ( because sometime my brain just drops the thing.... )

So, welcome to my blog and hope we will stick around long... :)))