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Oct

FIRST STEPS IN RUSSIA

WHITE NIGHT

A JOURNEY TO HANGZHOU

POWER-UP YOUR GOOGLE

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Many thanks to our contributors

----------------------

Ms. Christine

Mr. CHARISMA

MS. ELEVENER

MR. Fanronaldo

MR. NGOC HAI

Ms. NGUYEN THANH HA

----------------------

Ms. Bambie

Ms. Minh Chau

Ms. Thanh Thao

Ms. Thanh Truc

Ms. T. Ngoc

----------------------

C. Photography

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COVER BY C . PHOTOGRAPHY Page 1

CREDITS Page 2

CONTENT Page 3

FIRST STEPS IN RUSSIA Page 4-7

WHITE NIGHT Page 7

POWER-UP YOUR GOOGLE Page 8-9

FUNNY STORIES Page 8-9

BOARD OF HONORS Page 9

NEWS Page 10-11

A JOURNEY TO HANGZHOU Page 12-14

BIRTHDAY CARD Page 15

ENJOY THE MAGAZINE!!!

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A student’s lifealways has its difficulties,and it’s even harder for usto live and study in anothercountry which is thousandsof miles far away fromhome . However, they arenot just sadness and tears,but they are also happymoments and unforgettablememories in our life. And Ican tell you all that it isreally a great time when weourselves had someexperience in Russia someyears ago which, I think,was so invaluable for all ofus.

We’ve got a lot ofdifficulties in our life heresince we put the first stepsin Russia. The first difficultywe had to face from the

●

Ngoc Hai

very first beginning inRussia was the language.We hadn’t even learnt aword before coming here.Most of the Russian couldn’tunderstand English, soevery time we wanted tobuy something or had someproblems with theadministrators in our hostel,we had to ask for help fromsome elder Vietnamesestudents to translate for us.If there was no one around,we solved the problemsourselves by nodding orshaking heads, sometimesit worked but sometimes itdidn’t. It depended on our

ability of guessing thegiven ideas. In the nextfew months, we tried hardto learn Russian but theknowledge we had got ina short time was notenough for our study inRussian environment atthe university. We couldunderstand the lecturesonly about less than thirtypercent. Sadly, somesubjects such as history,philosophy, psychologywe almost understoodnothing.

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a bus to school . It wasquite dangerous to beoutside in such a severeweather condition. In theafternoon it got dark sofast, which made me thinkthat the daytime seemed toget shorter. It also made usmore homesick. However, we dodefinitely have someadvantages. For example,we don’t have to do anypart-time job, and theliving conditions are goodenough to focus on ourstudy. Also, we have learntlots of interesting thingsfrom Russian people andfrom students of differentcountries here. Moreover,there are manyVietnamese students whostay in different rooms at

The second troublewas the weather. I wasborn in a province in theMiddle of a tropicalcountry and I wouldnever know how coldthe weather could beuntil I first came here inRussia. It was the wintertime, I still remember, theaverage temperature wasabout -12 o C, and thelowest temperature mightbe down to -25 o C. Theweather is not comfortablelike in other seasons. Thesky is grey and cloudy ,while there is no rain atall but snow quite often.We used to like playingwith snow very muchbecause we had never hada chance to see snow withour real eyes in ourcountry. The first timeexperiencing the new life,along with tasting thesadness and feelinghomesick, we also had toget used to the cold and allthe activities of this season.In the morning, though itwas cold, we had to getup very early and went fora long walk before catching

the hostel, though, we arequite close to each other.So it is like we are livingin a small Vietnamesesociety. We often hold smallparties in some occasionssuch as holidays, friends’birthdays or simplyweekends. That is the timefor us to get togetherdrinking, singing, and evendancing Sometimes, wealso have some seriousdiscussions about culture,economics and politics, etc. If winter is thehardest time, then the

Archwayopposite season, summer, is our favorite time. Duringsummer time there is no school or lesson, completely.We can travel to many beautiful places in Russia, visitour friends in other cities, or hold a picnic to the suburb.We have got great time together throughout the trips.One time I went camping deep inside the pine -forestwith some Russian friends. This camp was located neara small river where we also swam in. In the evening, wewent deeper inside the forest to find a good placefor the campsite , we collected wood to set a camp-fire, then sat together in a circle around the fire. We alsobrought here food to eat , beer to drink, and all thenighttime we talked to each other , sometimes someRussian guys danced .They asked me so manyquestions, about myself , about Vietnam and manythings else (because, as they said, I was the firstforeigner coming to that camp, so they were verycurious ) and I had a chance to tell them aboutVietnam, to let them know more about our culture,traditions and especially about Ho Chi Minh City. It wasso interesting. We Vietnamese students also had anunforgettable memory of the time when we came to theriver nearby the city to collect oysters and shellfish.Sometimes, some Russian passed by staring at us withcurious eyes. Maybe they were wondering, “Where arethese guys from and what the hell are they doing downthere?” We just kept smiling to each other. We weredoing what might never be done by anyone of us beforein Vietnam. Another time we went to the suburb to visit

Never shall I forget the time I spent with you. Please continue to be myfriend, as you will always find me yours. -Ludwig Van Beethoven

Archwaythe corn-fields. The fields there were so large and they didn’t belong to any personor any family but the provincial authority. For an oversea student’s life, like mine, a very important demand here is theInternet. Everyday we use the Internet to study , to entertain and to contact ourfamily and friends. We need it every time, both when we are happy and sad. Canyou imagine how our life would be without the Internet? One of my friends asked

me this question and I did answer him immediately: “Without it, you can imagineit is just like you are living in a city without electricity “

All what I have told you above is what I have faced , seen , learnt anddone when I am far away from my homeland . And what about you?

Dreams are by nature chronicWho can be sure they've all died?.Go on, dear, and don't look back!When old kiss is worth a lieI promise I won't be looking back!When night whitens in sleepless eyes...

Time flies and we've both goneNone of us wait for the promiseIf our own ways ever meetFading memories may be worth a smile..My old dear, give me no moreOr the long forgotten story may wake up.

White NightNguyen Thanh Ha

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POWER-UP YOUR

Being a frequent Internet user,you certainly have at least once visitedthe most powerful website on earth:www.google.com. Have you ever had asingle thought in mind why peopleabuse it day by day? Well let me showyou the way to maximize its strength atbest for daily activities. I. Overview about Google: Backto the time I was in high school whenmost Internet connection went throughtelephone, browsing web pages washopelessly slow and searching was oneof the most terrible nightmares! At thattime, Yahoo and Microsoft seemed to bethe most two dominant sources in thatbusiness. Then one shiny beautiful day,Google was popped up in local news as“the fastest search tool in the world”. It

right away caught my attention, finally I tried and got amazed by the fact that IT COULD GET USA BILLION RESULTS IN LESS THEN 1/10 SECONDS!!!!

(Results 1-10 in 2.540.000.000 given by Google in 0,06 second)

Nowadays, Google accounts for over 50% searches over Internet, some webmasterseven say “If your website is not indexed by Google, then it has never been existed”. II. Optimize your search with Google.

As you can notice, typically there are thousands of results for a search. Of course it wouldtake you days to visit that large number of websites, so here are some tricks that work out wellfor me:

There is a beggarsitting on the pavementwith 2 hats in front of him.A passer-by comes nearand asks: - Why do you have 2hats?The beggar replies: - A business runs so wellthat I open a new branch."

Once there was aboy named Odd. Odd wasthe butt of jokes his wholelife, because of his name,even though he grew up tobe a successful lawyer.When Odd was old andabout to die, he said,"People have been teasingme my whole life, and I

don't want them doing itafter I am dead, so I don'twant my name printed onmy tombstone." After Odd died,people saw his blanktombstone and said,"That's odd!"

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[Continue]

(Translate this page/ Saved in Cache)1. Visit at most 5 pages for each search. Thoseresults beyond that scope are most likely irrelevant.Instead you should try other keywords (I myself usu-ally try 3 pages before starting on a new search).2. Read the brief paragraphs containing your key-words before following the link. This would save youmuch time.3. In case the web site is not available, you can tryclick on the link [Saved in Cache] and still be able to viewthe desired content.4. In case your required information is in differentlanguages, try link [Translate this page]. Note that ifyou are not in www.google.com at the moment, butstill want to translate a website or a paragraph, youcan visit http://translate.google.com/ which gives pre-cise translation tool for over 30 different languages.

[to be continued]

Board of Honors

Board of Honors

Speakin

g corn

er

Walkie Talkie Team------------------Website: www.watavn.comEmail: WT.Contact@gmail.com

Police Chief: As a recruit, you'll be facedwith some difficult issues. What would you do if youhad to arrest your wife?

New Recruit: Call for backup!

A man placed some flowers on the grave ofhis dearly departed mother and started back towardhis car when his attention was diverted to anotherman kneeling at a grave. The man seemed to be praying with profoundintensity and kept repeating, "Why did you have todie? Why did you have to die?" The first manapproached him and said, "Sir, I don't wish tointerfere with your private grief, but thisdemonstration of pain is more than I've ever seenbefore. For whom do you mourn so deeply? A child?A parent?" The mourner took a moment to collecthimself, then replied, "My wife's first husband."

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EW

SW

alkie TalkieN

EWS

any articles in

October told a

moving story

titled “Carrying a friend

on back to school during

5 years”. The story is

about the noble

friendship between A

Pyiuh and A Tram, two

students from the central

highland province of

Kontum. A Tram, whose

father had left home

when he was born, got

paralysed in two legs and

one arm. Understanding

thoroughly A Tram’s hard

life, A Pyiuh has been

voluntary to daily carry

his friend on back to

school for 5 years

regardless of severe

weather conditions and

slippery roads in rainy

days. The image of

two close friends day

after day going to

school no matter what

difficulties they may

encounter has become

familiar to teachers and

students in Ya Chim 1

secondary school

where both are

studying. Being

touched by true

friendship and

fondness for learning of

A Pyiuh and A Tram,

on 8th October,

President Nguyen

OCT 08

M

NATIIONAL

Minh Triet sent an appraisal letter

commending A Pyiuh on his lofty soul

helping friend in 5 years and A Tram on

his effort to overcome disadvantages to

study well. Besides, organizations and

benefactors nationwide presented with

cash, clothes and studying equipments.

Certainly the story about the admirable

companionship between the two ethnic

students thirsty for knowledge is a truly

typical example for every student to

follow.

Archwayn 14th October,

The Ministry of

Health ( MoH ) set

up new health standards for

vehicle users nationwide.

Specifically, those who are

under 1.45m tall and who

weigh under 40kg will not be

able to get the motobike

license, and car drivers must

be at least 1.5m in height.

The new document also

stipulates in detail other

medical conditions

concerning mental health,

heart conditions, vision, etc.

to ensure the safety for

drivers on the roads. On 21st

October, the MoH continued

to released another standard

which requires motorcyclists’

average chest size to be

above 72 cm to operate the

vehicles. The adjustment,

according to the MoH, is

based on physical and health

conditions of Vietnamese

people; therefore, drivers

who don’t meet the new

standards are considered

unhealthy to control vehicles.

However, there emerged

heaps of controversies

among experts as well as

residents after these new

criteria were issued as no

statistics about traffic

accidents caused by short or

ill-nourished people are

available. Besides, public

transport is not popular in

many places, especially in

rural areas, which brings

about difficulties for those

who need motorbikes to earn

livings but don’t satisfy the

new regulations. In addition,

such stringent conditions will

unintentionally create

discrimination against height

and weight challenged

people. One more problem

arisen is that it would take

much more time and fees for

drivers to get the health

certificates needed for driving

license application than

New Requirements For Driving

Walkie Talkie

NEW

S

before due to the demand of thorough medical

checkups based on the stipulation of new

decision. There also appears worry about the

possibility of revoking the license of people who

already owned one but will be disqualified under

the new requirement. However, according to Mr

Tran Quy Tuong, Deputy Director of the Health

Ministry’s Treatment Department, the decision is

not retroactive and issued licenses would remain

valid. Arguments about the introduction of

detailed criteria for drivers still go on for the final

purpose of the safety of road users.

N E W SO

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There were some interesting events happened to me when Iwas in Hang Zhou. Very first of all, I have a cousin who has beenliving in Hang Zhou for the last 5 years and she is married to alocal- a great guy actually, that is to say she found my brother-in-law. All this time, I have been thinking to call her in butunfortunately I am all up to my ears with studies. However, thistime round I finally hold myself on to my own promise and metthem. Secondly, it was meeting my nephew whom I had never met.I really could not wait to hear the boy called me “Uncle”. I arrived inHang Zhou right at the time my nephew turned one. Hence, thefamily was engaged to a celebration for his very first birthday party.All in all, the chance to bond with relatives made up a very goodreason for me to choose this particular city for the TOEFL exam.Don't you think it was a meaningful journey for me? There are several ways to reach the city from my place. Themost economical way is to walk but the last time someone did thatmust have been hundreds of years ago and it would take about amonth. Undoubtedly, the fastest way is by flight as it only takes twohours but again, it is just pricey. Therefore, it left me no choice butthe last two options: trains or long-distance buses. The good thingabout trains and buses is that they are fairly cheap and all youhave got to do is stay still on them for approximately 6 to 7 hoursuntil you finally reach to the destination. Consequently, I caught thetrain. Sadly, just right at the minute I got to the station, the last trainhad already departed and so I had to stay up all night.

July 20, 2008 was a significantdate for me since I had a chance to roamaround a beautiful and remote city namedHANGZHOU which was also the place Isat for my first TOEFL exam.Unfortunately, it was a big “negatively”significant day to me. In fact, it turned outto be fairly unbelievable as a lot ofproblems occurred while I had alwaysexpected a nice and easy rest from myeverlasting exhaustion resulted from along journey. The city of HANGZHOU is locatedin the northeast of the ZHEJIANGprovince in China and is also closed tothe Chinese East Sea. The whole city isgracefully polished by the glance ofculture and the atmosphere of history andis mostly famous for its scenic spots.Once, the city was the capital of theSONG dynasty and during that time,numerous renowned poets emerged andlater passed on generations togenerations the precious treasure of theirpoetry. Since a little boy, my parentstaught me of these poems and I can stillrecite some of them. These poems arejust classics in China and they will also bekept in my memory forever. (I am notkidding; most of the Chinese children canrecite such poems which have becomepart of their home curriculums before theyeven go to school). And that is exactlywhy Hangzhou is called the city of cultureand history.

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After finishing the TOEFL exam, I took a taxi to my firsttourist destination called Lei Feng tower. As mentionedpreviously, HANG ZHOU is an ancient city and Lei Feng towercan, without a doubt, prove this statement. This tower isfamous for an antiquated love legend which has inspired a TVseries in China. There was a snake, considered demon, whodisguised as a beautiful lady. In this infamous story of theChinese, she came to the world to repay her savior, ahandsome scholar of China. They fell in love with each other.Unfortunately, after they got married and had a bright child, amonk found out that the wife was a demon and tore the happyfamily apart by imprisoning the snake within the Lei Fengtower. The husband was devastated and in order to save hiswife he decided to become a monk. Eighteen years later, theirson had grown up and was on the way to becoming animperial high-rank official. In the end, the family finally reunitedfor a typical happy-ending fairy tale. Comparing to other towers, the Lei Feng tower is notsuch illuminant. In fact, I can be sure that the tower is fairlyordinary superficially. Nevertheless, not until you havediscovered the hidden charm would you become amazed bythe tower. A few years ago, a group of Chinese archaeologistsfound out that there were graves of an imperial family buriedunderneath the tower. Moreover, the exploration project is stillin process so there will definitely be more interestingrevelation of secrets. The second attraction is The West Lake which isconsidered the symbol of this city. This somehow implies thatyou have not been to HANG ZHOU if you have not been on aspin around this lake. On the side of the lake is another smalllake and you can actually tour around the lake leisurely in notime. However, if you wish to enjoy all the beauty of the WestLake, you will need a few days. You might consider going

there at night to catch the dailyspectacular West Lake musicalfountains. Walking along the lake,you will find many recreationfacilities such as, lieu lying fallows,museums, west dinner hall andChinese dinner hall. But the mostwonderful thing must be the factthat every beautiful spot aroundthe lake is free of charge forvisitors. Due to promotion,countless tourists come hereannually. The easiest and bestway to go sight-seeing is probablyto find a guide and ride his smalltravel bus. He is familiar with thesceneries that he is able to multi-task: drive as well as introduce thesceneries along with their storiesjust like a student recites smoothlya text to his teacher. For somereason, there is always somethingexciting about this place evenwhen you don't have greatinsights. For example, in themiddle of the lake there are stillsome small isles which can beeasily reached by boat. Around theWest Lake you can come across

Archwayvarious adorable statues whichare there for people toappreciate. The third place I visitedwas Su dike. During the northSong Yuan You 5 years (1090),Su Shi, a poet cum prefecture,dredged the West Lake andmade use of the sludge to buildit. In order to commemorate hiscontribution, the local peopledecided to use name it afterhim. And yes, that is the originof Su dike. Now this place isgorgeously surrounded by lotusand in the summer you caneven find the turtles basking onthe surface. All trips must come toand end which most of thetimes makes you feel it was notlong enough. Those threedestinations mentioned aboveare all I got to see in a daybefore my final exam came.However that was definitely aenriching and fruitful day. Ihope I can visit this city againsoon.

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M a k e a w i s h . . .

It’s your birthday ...

Happy Birthday To You!!!

Kelly Fusaro

There’s no other day which is as

important as the day you were born.

May God richly bless you on the

day This October & November!

Make a wish ...Make it last, your whole life through

It’s a gift form the heartMaking all your dream come true

As the light from the candles shine on your faceTake a chance ...

Today you can believe ...

Happy Moment

H A PP Y BI RT H DA Y