Introduction

This blog was created as a group assignment for our English class. 

Generally, the blog is about home space and how such a place makes us feel as it is a home to us.

Members of the group:

- Hamad

- Abdulaziz

- Christian

- Hector

Pride Center Grand Opening

During the summer break the new LGBT resource center was being build. On August 27, 2012 the Pride Center was officially open for all CSUN students and was open to anybody that wanted to enter and just visit the center. September 27, 2012 the Pride Center had its Grand Opening were they had a ceremony and speakers.

LGBT Friendly Community

          A home is viewed as a place where you can be protected, safe, and secure. Also, a home is a place where you are surrounded by “family” such as a mom, dad, siblings with similar values,beliefs, and ideas. However, a home does not only have to be a home in the traditional sense, it can also be a community, a place, school, etc.; this can be where ever you feel that you can be yourself or protected. A place that I consider home is the LGBT ( Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender) community at California State University , Northridge (CSUN) because of the resources, the people,the new Pride Center, and the safe and welcoming environment for a LGBT student.

            The LGBT community at CSUN may not be strong because there is an “estimate”of 3,500 LGBT students. I thought that had an active LGBT community, but I still feel safe to know that there is a community on campus that accepts all students for who they are. More students seem to understand more and be open minded and they do not judge or bully the LGBT students. CSUN is trying to make the campus feel safe,healthy, and a learning environment not only for students but also for staff and faculty. As known in the Huffington Post , Campus Pride had ranked colleges and universities based on LGBT policy inclusion, student life, academic life, as well as other relevant practices. California State University, Northridge fits into their standards because we have LGBT resources, Lesbian Fraternity (Gamma Rho Lambda), and Vote For Equality.

            Additionally, there are many Resources are known to be on campus such as the LGBTA club, LGBT peer mentor program, National Coming Out Day, Day of silence, and especially the new Pride Center. The Pride Center was open in Fall 2012 and its an place where students who are LGBTQ can go and feel safe and secure. The Pride Center mission statement is online and states “ The Pride Center supports lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ) and questioning students,faculty and staff through programming and educational outreach to improve the campus climate for LGBTQ individuals as well as advocate for the respect and safety of all members of the campus community.” Also, the LGBTA club is a great environment to go because everything is secure, safe, non-judgmental, and a great way to meet new friends.

              On Thursday ,September 27 ,2012,the Pride Center opened on campus. The opening of the Pride Center is important because it provided a physical space where students can go talk to peers, get information about coming out and same sex health, and be able to speak to peer mentors. As written by a CSUN Student ,Mayra Escobedo,“The Pride Center came into existence after almost two years of students' hard work and petitioning for a new LGBT resource center”(Daily Sundial) . Student in the LGBTA club two years ago had the idea of a newly resource center for LGBT students, so they set up all the paperwork and got petitions started. The Pride Center is believe to be a great resource for LGBT students and community on campus because now students have a place were they can have more resources about coming out, HIV/AIDS, sexual orientation, etc., and also a safe environment to do homework or just hang out.

In addition to the resources available to LGBT students, most CSUN are not judgmental toward LGBT students .Especially, in the LGBTA Club because everybody is just trying to socialize, meet new people, and make new friendships. Everybody who is new to the club is not immediately welcomed. In particular, the LGBTA club board members really help students talk to each other by having icebreakers and getting those to try to talk to each other. A great experience for a new student who does not know much the LGBT community or just need to make new friendships.

               The CSUN staff and faculty plays an important role in helping LGBT students feel safe and protected in the environment of CSUN. There is a peer mentor program where there are student staff, who help other students talk about either how to come out or just every day life or any problems. The university counseling services has a support group for LGBT people called the Gay,Lesbian,and Bi-sexual support . The LGBTA Club has advisers that show up to the meetings once in awhile ,and you can also speak to them if you have any questions. Also, there is an Ally program where they have trainings to show you how you yourself can be a helpful ally to the LGBT community, Today there is also a Queer studies minor in CSUN that students can get into,but they are trying to make it into a major for those who are interested into knowing more about Queer studies.

               Furthermore, CSUN does give an LGBT student a safe and secure environment to be themselves because of all these resources they have around campus. When going around campus people don't look at you nor bully you for just liking the same sex and students are more open minded about LGBT students now than they did in the past. My first year in being at CSUN I was shy and I really didn't know anybody besides my friends from high school. As my first time going to the LGBTA Club table they made me feel like I can talk amongst them and be somewhere safe and meet other LGBT students. I already knew the whole campus because of the Educational Opportunity Program ,and it was a big help to me because I did not feel lost at all like others will. Also, outside of the CSUN campus people do not stare or look at you for being gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender at time they might stare, but you should not care because it your lifestyle. It is great to know that there are resources around campus to make any LGBT student feel part of the community and feel like students, staff, and faculty understand that we are also a community.

                 Other college campuses are trying to be a LGBT friendly campus.” Schools such as Stanford University, Minnesota Carleton College, and Georgia Emory University are ranked as the top three

LGBT friendly university/colleges in the United States”(Huffington Post). Campus Pride Executive Director, Shane Windmeyer, states, “ Every student deserves to feel safe on campus, and all of these colleges are committed to creating a more LGBT -friendly campus.”(Huffington Post) I agree that each campus should have an LGBT friendly environment, so each student will feel safe being on campus and feel secure to not be judged. For example, CSUN has the Pride Center where students can go hang out, do their work, or just relax while waiting for class. Inside the Pride center they have other resources to help students understand more of the LGBT community and events. There is a website called Campus Pride were it leads you to find an index of finding LGBT friendly campuses and also the rating that each campus falls in. On the website they set up goals to help campuses and one goal states,“ Offer an ongoing, effective measurement tool to improve the quality of life for LGBT and Ally people on college/university campuses and to assist campuses in becoming more LGBT -Friendly.” (Campus Pride).The website seems to be a good resource for campuses to know how they can also become an LGBT friendly campus.

                In conclusion, a home just does not not have to be a home it can also be an environment, community, place, school, etc. because I feel that the LGBT community in CSUN is my home cause of the resources, the students, faculty and staff, the environment, and other campuses that are LGBT friendly. The resources can be such a great help to LGBT students because it will help them feel more comfortable to be on a campus they are new to and also meet new people thanks to the resources. Also, with the LGBTA club it is a great resource to have because it is where you can meet the board members, other LGBT students, and have fun with the activities and discussions. The campus on CSUN is believe to be LGBT friendly because as a student I feel safe to be on campus and I can just be myself as well as other friends of mines do too. You do not have to hide yourself no more because you might of felt that you could not be who you are at home but now since your independent and free you can be yourself. Along with that there is staff, faculty, and students that you can always talk to so you would not feel alone and get the feeling to feel more comfortable in the CSUN environment. A home does not have to be an actual home it can really just be anywhere where you feel you can call home such as a school, place, environment, etc.  

Essay: Meaning of "Home"

Meaning of “Home”

Each one of us has the place which brings back good memories, is the symbol of comfort and wellness, revokes memories related to music, objects, colors, people, and dishes. This place is called home. It is kept in our memories as an ideal one, even if it is not so perfect. Home serves as a kind of fortress to us, our freedom and deeds. The word home is a many faceted word that combines different concepts. Home is culture, religion, the place where you live, friends, relatives, neighbors, cuisine, personal objects and environment. Home should be the place where you feel secure, free and in the state of wellness and physical well-being. It is often associated with parents, siblings, warmth and comfort. However, international students do suffer a lot from this psychological sickness, and so when they lose at least one of these components they feel homesick and start to understand the meaning of the word “Home.”

Home is considered as a place where you were brought up, which is related to the childhood memories, toys, favorite dishes, and traditions. Sometimes it happens for those international students while in the middle of the school day they have an unrestrained desire to go home. They close their eyes and see unforgettable masterpieces – a kitchen, a cozy bed room, a living room, a bathroom, or soft carpet under the feet. It is related to their best memories, family, relatives, and history. Generally, these images are the houses of our grandparents or parents. In these spaces the family gathers and has a wonderful time together. This place brings back warm memories about the childhood and family holidays. Even music and flavors may make you think about this kind of home. These are the things that any person may miss when he is away from home for educational reasons. In fact, close relations to home cause the feeling of homesickness. In order to find an academic opportunity abroad international students leave their homes, families, and friend. Being in a different country they grieve for the places, objects, people, buildings, social networks and culture. In spite of modern technologies which give people ability to speak to their relatives, this feeling is very common for international students who constitute a special group of students all over the globe. It may affect the person’s behavior and mental well-being.

  Those students often miss every single object at their home. And that is why home is a varied and rich union of family and personal objects. Some people evaluate objects found at home (Csikszentmihalyi 52). Very often a guest cannot notice special elements of design which were developed by one of the family members, furniture or decoration, made by somebody of the relatives, pictures or valuable for heart things which are passed from generation to generation. Individuals exhibit very strong connections and relations to personal mementos. Even rooms, whether it is a kitchen or living room, is one of the mementos which bring their memories back. In this way, Home may express different aspects of our past. It is the place directly connected with our biography, as here we had physical and special representation (Brahm 152).

In addition, it is the place where you live, the building, its design inside and outside. It is the place where we live, keep our properties, have a rest, receive guests, spend leisure, eat, drink, and watch TV etc. You come home after a hard day, take a bath, lie on the sofa and do anything you want, you have freedom of actions. Such a house or an apartment may have a link to your past at the same time being a door to the future. In such a house you feel comfortable; you come back to the house willingly and with great desire. For someone it may be a huge cottage, or a house at the seaside, for others a tiny one room flat with a kitchen. The size of your home does not mean anything. The things inside it mean all. It should be associated with physical state in which we feel mentally relaxed.

As for international students home may convey the meaning of geographical location, for example a city, town, or country. The country is usually associated with traditions, which seem significant when you leave you native country to study abroad. It is the way people live, the way they speak, architecture, design of houses, national music and many other things. As an example may be taken an Arabian Gulf house, with its special atmosphere; they are different from American ones by their cultural peculiarities, design, colors and unique styles. As it is a continent of cultures, world famous histories, and a mixture of customs and traditions represent it, and it is really difficult to find a place overseas where you may feel as comfortable and relaxed as there. Houses of the Arabian Gulf countries are typically stucco or stone, the lines are simple, furniture is lavish, and you may see a variety of ornamental rugs.

Furthermore, Arabian Gulf cuisine is rich on a variety of spices. Walking along the street you will definitely smell their fragrant flavor. All there characteristic features of the Arabian Gulf make a distinct understanding of what home is, when referred to as a location. When we are in a foreign country, we have an opportunity to contrast and to compare everything we encounter in the streets, in behavior of people, traditions, culture, and the way life is percepted. Then we start to find positive features in our native country and realize that there are almost no disadvantages as everything is so familiar, close to heart, and friendly, rich on traditions which seem so close, interesting, and old and worth following.  The memories, which arise when we think about our country as a home, become related to the house itself, a building where we grew up and that is when the feeling of homesick begins.

In this case, there are several reasons of being homesick and culture shock is one of them. International students, especially those who do not understand the language well, and who come from countries with considerably different cultural backgrounds, have troubles adjusting to the surrounding environment. The greater the differences between the host culture and the native culture, the stronger feeling of homesickness will the student experience. Culture shock causes desire for family and familiar environment. The second reason is time difference which sometimes makes communication with relatives almost impossible. They start feeling lonely expect the cases when they can make friends easily. Language is considered to be the third reason of homesickness. Sometimes international students do not speak perfectly, do not understand the professor, and cannot express their ideas. These factors may cause a great trouble for any international student.

 As a result, the effects include sadness, loneliness, sleeping problems, headaches, anxiety, isolation, and difficulties at the university or college. Unfortunately the feeling of homesickness is long lasting and may lead to social alienation (Hendrickson 285).  According to some studies, students who study far away from their houses experience the feeling of homesickness more often than those who study close to their parents (Poyrazli 264). Those who feel homesick often have poor progress in studying, get lower scores, and are more often depressed in comparison to students who are not homesick (Poyrazli 264).

Thus, home is a word which embraces and has very vast meaning. It reflects our values and beliefs that are usually associated with the childhood which is always deep in our memories. If anything reminds us about any aspect of beliefs or values which were followed by the family, no doubt that you will immediately think about home. In this context home is defined by neighborhood and ethnicity. Home is a place of memories, with certain design, traditions, technology which support our memories. It is also a place for practical and social activities; it is the place of individual and collective accumulation of memories. In many cases people start appreciating home after moving out, changing the place of living or losing relatives. Only after it the person begins to realize how deep the meaning of the word is, how important it is to keep relation to our home, maintain friendly, positive and favorable atmosphere within it. In this case the proverb “East or West home is best” is really truthful. A home holds our family and cultural heritage, history of whole generations, reflects acceptance and limitless warmth. Being a form of love, it is associated with a tree which has deep roots. You feel at home, you feel comfortable and at ease in the place you are in.

Works Cited

Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly, and Eugene Rochberg-Halton. The Meaning of Things: Domestic Symbols and the Self. Cambridge [England: Cambridge University Press, 1981. Print.

Brahm, Gabriel, and Mark Driscoll. Prosthetic Territories: Politics and Hypertechnologies. Boulder: Westview Press, 1995. Print.

Poyrazli, Senel, and Damian Lopez Marcos. "An Exploratory Study of Perceived Discrimination and Homesickness: A Comparison of International Students and American Students." The Journal of psychology 141.3 (2007): 263-80. ABI/INFORM Complete. Web. 18 Oct. 2012.

Hendrickson, Blake, Devan Rosen, and R. K. Aune. "An Analysis of Friendship Networks, Social Connectedness, Homesickness, and Satisfaction Levels of International Students." International Journal of Intercultural Relations : IJIR 35.3 (2011): 281. ABI/INFORM Complete. Web. 18 Oct. 2012.

                                            these two pictures show some of the vacant lands that
                                            owned by private individuals, they suppose to develop,
                                            but the fact is they keep then under thier name for a long time
                                            and that makes the lands becomes more expensive than they
                                            should be.
                                            

Abdulaziz Alkhodir

Professor Bieber

English 113B

30 October 2012

                                                           Home Ownership in Saudi Arabia

Looking for home is one of the hardest job people face in their life, whether they are rich

People or poor people. Because wealthy people have a lot of money they do not find what

exactly they want, so they still look for the best . On the other hand, some of poor people

cannot even pay for one room rent, and that is really harsh. Home ownership is one of the most

important issues that people talk about in their daily life in every country, including Saudi

Arabia. Although Saudi Arabia has one of the strongest income in the world, most of Saudi

people have some difficulties having a home. I believe that to get rid of this Problem, Saudi

government should rise their employee’s income, impose fees on the vacant lands and active

mortgages.

            Unfortunately, the salary for the Saudi person is not fair enough comparing with other

countries that have as much budget as we do. When we talk about salary, we are talking about

two main categories, people who work for the government and people who work in private  

companies that belong to some merchants. Although people who work for the government get

higher salary than people who work for private companies, it is still not enough. The private

sector in Saudi Arabia prefers to hire foreign workers than Saudi workers because of two reason.

First reason is, they say that foreigners workers are more professional than Saudi workers, the

second reason is foreign people accept less salary than what Saudi worker needs. I think both

reasons are unreasonable, the fact is that not all of foreign workers are better than Saudi

workers as well as usually foreigners who work in Saudi Arabia live in houses that the

companies provide them as part of their contract, this creates a substantial advantage to them

because they do not have to pay living expenses  home. According to Alarabiya News “Recent

figures show that the Saudi government has issued 1.1 million visas for foreign workers over the

last 12 months. In comparison, 83,000 Saudis have been hired in the private sector during the

same period”. this number causes high rate of unemployment in Saudi Arabia approximately

10% of Saudi people are unemployed. Alarabiya News adds that to address this problem, the

labor ministry created a new decision is called “Nitaqat” designed to boost the nationalization in

the private sector. However, this plan did not work as well as expected because of the criticism

that they had from the business owners.(Alarabiya News) According to a Saudi short film, Saudi

economists believe  that people who want to own their house, their monthly incomes must be at

least 4000 dollar a month. The percentage of Saudi employees who earn that salary is about 10%.

The average income for Saudi employees who work for the government is about $1,920 and

about $850 for people who work in the private sector .(Monopoly) Therefore, there is a huge gap

between the income level required for home ownership and the average Saudi’s income. So one

of the solution is to rise the monthly income for the Saudi citizen, and I do not think this is

something hard to do since Saudi Arabia is one of the richest countries in the world. Moreover,

the population of Saudi Arabia is only 28 million and 6 million of them are foreigners  

            In addition, Since Saudi Arabia has many vacant lands are owned by private individuals

for investment purposes, this is very lucrative for the rich people. However, it is very unfair for

middle and low class people since there is no taxes on those lands, there is no incentive for those

owners to develop the land. Some merchants buy a big number of those lands and keep them

under their names, so when people  want to buy vacant lands from the merchants to build

them, they find them very expensive because the demand is much more than the supply. It is

kind of corruption and it is like the idea of stock market, and this problem can be solved by the

imposition of  annual fees like what other countries do in order to make a balance, so the

percentage of that monopoly will reduce month by month and then there will be a balance

between supply and demand and the vacant land, houses and apartments will stay in reasonable

rate that most of people can handle it. It is basically, as same as the idea of taxes, and people who

have lower income can get the benefit from it.

            Although Saudi Arabia has the largest real estate in (GCC) Gulf Cooperation Council, 

 it has the least developed mortgage market and that has really impacted Saudi home ownership

(The National). According to Business Intelligence, having mortgage in Saudi Arabia has been

debatable issue for the last decade because of religious purposes since the  interest is prohibited

by Islam so banks cannot approve that kind of business unless they get benefit from people.

Therefore, most of the difficulties in having home started 10 years ago when people did not have

the ability to pay cash for having home due to the monopoly issue. Thus, 65% of Saudi

population on rent.(Business Intelligence) this is considered as a huge number comparing with

other countries. Some of Saudi people started getting loan from the banks. However, some of

them could not even return the money back to the bank so they went the jail. Everyone in Saudi

Arabia started talking about this issue as one of their hot topics in the media. Recently,

mortgages have been approved by Council of Ministries. According to Arab News, “The Council

of Ministers, chaired by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, approved on

Monday the much-awaited mortgage law, which would regulate the Kingdom’s real estate

financing and investment, and boost its mortgage market”.(Arab News) this decision seems not a

big deal for some people who already have mortgage in their countries, but it is really big deal

for Saudi citizens, as they will get benefit from banks and life will be much easier for them.

Especially for youth people, we have to keep in mind that Saudi Arabia is a young country. Most

of Saudi people are between 18-30 years old, soon they will get married and they will get the

benefit from that decision they will be able to own home, car and their future will be guaranteed

because of the strong economy. In 2008, when the financial crisis happened, Saudi Arabia

economy was not affected, so I think that makes people and banks feel more comfortable about

the mortgage.

            In conclusion, I would say that, decision- maker in Saudi Arabia must be faster and more

flexible when they plan to take a decision. In my opinion, rising the salary for Saudi people is the

easiest decision, it might not be the best unless if Saudi government becomes more strict in terms

of giving visas for the foreigners workers. Otherwise it cannot work as good as people expect.

Imposing fees on the vacant lands is also a smart idea and it should be active as soon as possible

to make a balance between the demand and supply, so the prices of those lands will be

reasonable. Finally I would say that mortgage is a new thing in Saudi Arabia I hope it will be a

good solution for the Saudi young generation, so people can have the chance to own their homes.       

                                                              ( work cited)

“Foreign workers in Saudi Arabia weaken nationalization effort” Al-Arabiya News: Al-Arabiya

News, 13 Aug. 2012. Web. 22 Oct. 2012.

Monopoly Saudi short film. YouTube. YouTube, 2011. Web. 22 Oct 2012.

Bundhun, Rebecca. “Saudi homes market hurt by barriers to mortgages.” The National: Abu

Dhabi Media, 22 Mar. 2012. Web. 22 Oct. 2012

“Saudi addresses housing gap as home ownership deficit rises.” Business Intelligence: Business

Intelligance Middle East, 4 Sep. 2008. Web. 22 Oct. 2012

Hanware, Khalil. “New law expected to boost mortgage market.” Arab News: SRBC,  3 Jul.

2012. Web. 22 Oct. 2012

 

How to Deal With Homesickness..

Homesickness..!!
.

Summaries of 2 research articles from workcited of the essay (Meaning of "Home")

My resources were basically about how homesickness would affect international students who are away from their homes and from their loved ones.

1- The first resource I got is a research that is done by Senel Poyrazli and Damian Lopez Marcos. It is called “An Exploratory Study of Perceived Discrimination and Homesickness: A Comparison of International Students and American Students.” As it shown from its title they’ve done an examination about group differences in perceived discrimination and homesickness in a sample of 439 college students, some of them are international students and some are U.S students. They’ve examined relations between homesickness, years of residency in the U.S and English proficiency. The study also shows that students who experienced hard time in school or there level is very low in English are the ones who got the higher levels of homesickness.

Citation:

Poyrazli, Senel, and Damian Lopez Marcos. "An Exploratory Study of Perceived Discrimination and Homesickness: A Comparison of International Students and American Students." The Journal of psychology 141.3 (2007): 263-80. ABI/INFORM Complete. Web. 18 Oct. 2012.

 

2- The second one is also a research that is done by Blake Hendrickson, Devan Rosen and R. Kelly Aune. It is called “An Analysis of Friendship Networks, Social Connectedness, Homesickness, and Satisfaction Levels of International Students.” The study focused on how the international students form friendships in the host country, the experience that the students get when studying abroad. And by that the study shows that individuals from the same country tend to hang out together. On the other, the study shows how having friends from the host country would possibly decrease the feeling of homesickness and social connectedness. Furthermore, A survey was given to 84 international students andto examine the relationship between friendship networks, social connectedness, homesickness, contentment, and satisfaction. The result showed that most of the international students do not have many friends from there same country, however they reported to have many friends from the host country which made them feel less homesick, satisfied, and more socially connected.

Citation:

Hendrickson, Blake, Devan Rosen, and R. K. Aune. "An Analysis of Friendship Networks, Social Connectedness, Homesickness, and Satisfaction Levels of International Students." International Journal of Intercultural Relations : IJIR 35.3 (2011): 281. ABI/INFORM Complete. Web. 18 Oct. 2012.