Sunday, April 22, 2012

My Big Dream


Majed Alharbi





My Big Dream

Everyone has a dream. Dreams vary among people. The most important dream in my life is to learn English. English language is the most important language in the world. It's because of the number of speakers up to a billion people in the world. English is third most important language in the world. English Language is the golden key to continue your studies in the United States, so I joined the program at Webster University for many reasons. The reasons are High quality in education. Also, the student has Effective preparation to use the language in the university environment. Moreover, it helps to develop the language learning skills of the student to help him achieve his goals.

First, through meeting many international students, I found that many of them commend positively on the program. The teachers have high rehabilitation to teach English. In addition, they have a developed curriculum. Also, language teachers in the program are characterized as sincere in their work. Moreover, they are so friendly and helpful. Another point is the technology used in teaching the materials. For example, every student has a blogger to submit his home works and activities. Not only that but also there are texting messages among the whole class regarding any home works. That makes learning more enjoyable.

Second, I found that the students in the program language have a unique opportunity to improve language skills. The reason behind that is the university environment forces the students to practice English language skills all the time. Moreover, I learned many rules of writing skills. For example, I learned how to organize paragraphs within an essay and to make them coherent. In addition to that, I learned grammar correctly. For instance, I learned verbs types and tenses. Verbs types and tenses were a problem for me. The reason behind this confusion is that the grammar in my native language is totally different. As for the skills of listening and conversation, I learned how to understand and talk with my colleagues at the university especially native speakers of English. This was a big challenge for me.

Thirdly, the opportunity to study ESL courses as along as majors’ courses together was a great chance to improve my language skills and to contact with native speakers. Not only that but also I acquired social skills from the university community. These social and communications skills will help me in my study as long as my career. Also, the university’ facilities are great services to help students to succeed in study   life.
            Finely, I am a student at ESL program in Webster University. I learned many important and new things from my teachers and my colleges. The advantage of study at Webster university English Language program is a big stage in my life to reach my dreams in learning English. Not only that but also to serve my country and my community.


Sunday, April 15, 2012

Holy Mosque in Mecca




Majed Alharbi
                                                    Holy Mosque in Mecca
The holy destination for all Muslims is
Makah. When traveling to Makah, you find yourself thinking every moment about how Muslims traveled to Mecca in a long journey on camels crossing dessert long years ago. Every time I visit Makkah, I learned a new lesson. Many people travel to Makah every year during  the Omra and Hajj season. I hope to see soon the train between Makah and Jeddah. Makha have many attractions, such as:  Environment spirituality, Islamic Architecture, and development in economy of  Hajj and Umrah.
        First,
Makhah has Environment spirituality. It is Distinctive atmosphere of faith.  Every time I visit Makkah, I drink the water of Zamzam. It purifies me. After that, I love to pray to Allah and ask him to win in this world and the Hereafter. After that, I see people from all over the world wearing White clothes circling around the Kab’a. The Pigeons are cruising with them. It is a moments of faith that you can’t touch but feel.
     Secondly, Holy Mosque in Mecca is one of the most important places in the world that you can see the Islamic architecture .It is a part of Islamic civilization history. According to Wikipedia” The current structure covers an area of 356,800 square
meters (88.2 acres) including the outdoor and indoor praying spaces and can accommodate up to four million Muslim worshipers during the Hajj period, one of the largest annual gatherings of people in the world”. The Holy Mosque in Makah is a point of interest.  It has development in all periods of Islamic history.  One of the most important stages of development of the Holy Mosque in Mecca is during Saudi times. One of the main reasons was to provide the campus with a network of cooling systems that help maintain the quality of the atmosphere in the campus.
In addition the Holy Mosque in Mecca was developed with a total area of all the squares around the Grand Mosque 88 thousand square meters, with entrances and wide to facilitate movement to and from the Grand Mosque, as established by several entrances and exits of the floor leading to the tunnel small market has been provided with these approaches ladders fixed and mobile to facilitate the transition.
       Thirdly, the area surrounding the
Haram is characterized by diversity of business services. Umra and Hajj economy is active because the area surrounding the Haram a strategic area for the visitors. According to the report, the Kingdom receives about four million pilgrims during the pilgrimage season this year. According to sources of the Institute of the University of Umm al-Qura for Hajj and Umrah , the study showed that 75 percent of the pilgrims spending ranges between 6 thousand (approximately $ 1600) to 18.63 thousand riyals (4968 dollars).
However, the Guardian published an extensive report about the pilgrimage, the main theme is "religious tourism" is important as an input in the Saudi economy. .The report quotes official figures for Saudi Arabia's tourism revenue this year to 17.6 billion dollars and is expected to double by 2015. It is estimated to increase hotel capacity to 319 thousand rooms of 218 thousand rooms last year. Although the pilgrimage season attracts about 2.5 million Muslims to Mecca and Medina, and through the city of Jeddah, but the religious tourism continues throughout the year.
There are 1.8 billion Muslims in the world, increasing by 6.7 percent per year, mostly looking forward to perform the Hajj or
Umrah. The number of visitors to Saudi Arabia every year 12 million is expected to more than 17 million by the year 2025.
Correspondence describes a scene change completely holy city of Mecca, and describes the luxury hotel complex "Towers House," which cost $ 3 billion and the 15 thousand residential units and 70 thousand square meters of shops.
     In conclusion, the Holy Mosque at Mecca is the Islam's holiest place in the world. I like to go there whenever I can. It is the perfect place where I feel comfortable and see marvelous architecture.  I am looking forward to go to my country in Ramadan and visit the holy mosque.