E-Newsletter NO.02

Cover people -- Girija R. Chavan

Q: Tell us about your home town.
I will tell you about my hometown in India. It is named Satara-State Maharashtra, India. It is located in the west central part of India surrounded by beautiful mountains. It is not a big city, but it is a scenic city, and is a tourist attraction. The weather is moderate and pleasant.

Q: What countries you have ever been?
I travelled to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. I like Jimtin Island Malay, they have the longest ropeway in the world which was fun to ride. I like the Singapore zoo. The night safari was exciting since we could see all the animals being active. Petronas Twin Towers was a marvelous site and an engineering masterpiece.

Q: Tell us about your first impression of America?
My first experience of American was not really good. I joined the school late, and was unable to find an apartment to live in and I did not have any friends. I finally found an apartment to live in, but there were a lot of bed bugs there, and I got so many bites from those bugs, I suffered a lot. That was terrible for me. I had to get treated for the bug bites from the campus health center. I finally managed to get out of the apartment even though the manager of the apartment did not allow me to break the leasing contract. Now life has settled and I have a new apartment that is much nicer, plus a car to drive with good friends as well.
Q: What will you do after graduation?
I will go back to India to visit my family and friends. I hope to find a job in United States, because I will eventually start my own business selling Indian handicraft and home decorating items in the states.

Q: Why do you want to have your own business?
I want to be independent. I am planning to open a handicraft business, and want to help the artists who make the handmade products in India. A couple of groups I know have their small household productions, but they do not have a good market for which to sell. Setting up the business will not only profit me but will also give back to those who deserve to have some value for their handmade products.

Making an Indian dessert
-- Girija said she learned it from her dear mother.


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OCU is a Multicultural Society

OCU is a multicultural society; we have students from all parts of the world and being a part of this society has helped me learn more about different traditions and cultures. What I find most special about being in Multicultural Students Association (MSA) is that along with learning from others, I also get to share a bit of my life and where I come from through such organizations as the MSA. This is what MSA is all about.

In the MSA, we come together from different nationalities to becoming one people. We do this through sharing, as well as by learning from one another. Being a part of MSA has helped me to realize that despite the fact that we are all from different countries, we all share similar beliefs and passions. I've also met some of my very good friends through being an active member of MSA. I feel at home being a part of the MSA family. This is why I want to let all of the International Students who feel homesick to know that you are not alone and there is a home away from home and you can find it here in the Multicultural Students Association at OCU.

Yvonne Safo-Kwakye
MSA External Vice President


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Kay's Spring Break Trip

It was obviously true that I personally had been so excited about going to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon during the spring break with some of my church friends. The Grand Canyon, the spot that I had been eager to step on with my feet since I was a little boy, was selected as one of the most favorite tourist spots. So when I heard about going there from one of my friends, there was no doubt that I would be up for it. Although it took more than eighteen hours from Oklahoma City to Las Vegas by car, I was not that tired. That was because I had been very excited to see the grand landscape with my two eyes. We arrived that afternoon to the main strip in Las Vegas after we had driven directly all the way from Oklahoma. We watched many different kinds of shows which were very fantastic and exciting, and had a lot of fun walking and looking around the main street for three days. Well, one of funniest experiences I had was that I enjoyed playing the slot machines to make big money. Unfortunately, I lost the money I invested gambling at the casino. That was the first time I had enjoyed gambling, but I think it was fun and a good experience for me though.

We had spent a wonderful three days in Las Vegas and had left there to go to the Grand Canyon. When we arrived at the Grand Canyon from Las Vegas, it was about sunset. We decided to see the beautiful sunset of the Grand Canyon and so we took a shuttle bus there and went up to the best spot for viewing, called "Hoppie Point." The sunset in the Grand Canyon, in a nut shell, seemed like the creation of heaven and earth to me. I could not forget the fantastic scene I saw. That was the perfect moment when the dream of that little boy had come true. I could not keep myself from dropping my head before the greatness of nature.



One thing that I deeply realized through viewing the magnificent Grand Canyon was that God is really great and almighty! This is what I had realized the most through this trip.

Kay IM
MSA Secretary


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Author: DRINKING ALONE WITH THE MOON
Author: Li Bai
From a pot of wine among the flowers
花間一壺酒
I drank alone. There was no one with me --
獨酌無相親
Till, raising my cup, I asked the bright moon
舉杯邀明月
To bring me my shadow and make us three.
對影成三人
Alas, the moon was unable to drink
月既不解飲
And my shadow tagged me vacantly;
影徒隨我身
But still for a while I had these friends
暫伴月將影
To cheer me through the end of spring....
行樂須及春
I sang. The moon encouraged me.
我歌月徘徊
I danced. My shadow tumbled after.
我舞影零亂
As long as I knew, we were boon companions.
醒時同交歡
And then I was drunk, and we lost one another.
醉後各分散
...Shall goodwill ever be secure?
永結無情遊
I watch the long road of the River of Stars.
相期邈雲漢


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MSA Executive Members

Everyone is welcome to write articles in our newsletter. Please send your article to ocumsa@gmail.com

Thank you!
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The MSA Newsletter is generously sponsored by

First Commercial Bank

--Your on-campus bank--

Free checking account and OCU ATM/check card

The Tom and Brenda McDaniel University Center

(405)844-0110
http://www.okfcb.com/

E-Newsletter NO.01

Cover People -- Renny
Hi, Renny, where are you from?
I am from the beautiful island of Taiwan (AKA Formosa). I live in Chai-Yi County and there are lots of amazing mountains including the famous Ali Mountain.

How long have you been here in the US?
I have been here about 1 1/2 year. I am working towards my MBA degree. I will go back to Taiwan to continue my family business and globalize it.

Tell us about what has been the most difficult challenge while being the US??
The most difficult challenge has been the language. International students are not comfortable with speaking in English with Americans because they feel that their English is not as good. I had to overcome this problem, I made and effort to make new friends, ask questions and speak up. If you come here do not be afraid to ask questions just speak up. YOU CAN DO IT!

Tell us about OCU:
The professors here are friendly, nice, and dedicated towards their students.
However, the teaching methods between US and Taiwan are vastly different. This made a little bit difficult for me. In Taiwan students do not ask so many questions in classes and the relationship student/professor is not as active. When I came here the professors made me feel welcome and allow me to participate in my classes. I made many new friends from different countries.
I was honor to be the President of the Taiwanese Student Association (TSA). We have big traditional festivals, parties, and many events to make the students feel at home. It was a great success to have in our events many people from various back grounds not only Taiwanese.

Renny, Are you single?
Yes, I am single. But I know I will find my Mr. Right soon.

Who is Mr. Right??
(Someone called just as we asked the question and we asked here who it was- she didn’t want tell us. Perhaps, Mr. Right???)

Thank you Renny for your time, we wish you the best of luck in the future!
No… no... Thank you guys for giving me this opportunity! It was a great experience for me, I had fun!

Jai Jan (再見) - bye, bye…





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Being part of MSA

Hello, I am Yoko Hirakawa, from Tokyo Japan. I have been studying at OCU for three years and this is my senior year, I am graduating on December. After I came to OCU, time passed by so quickly! Especially as a part of MSA, there are many fun things that I have done; I would like to tell you about what I have done with MSA.

MSA has such a fun events each semester and I remember first MSA event I attended was Faces. Faces is one of the big events MSA hold, it is a international students show case that they perform dancing, singing, reading poem, pretty much everything from their own culture. It is really neat that you get to see world’s traditional entertainment on one night!

I was sophomore and I decided participating Faces as I wanted represent Japan. I performed Japanese Drum with my friend Ai, who is also Japanese, and we practiced every night before the event, it was so much fun to talk about how we should perform on the stage, and practice was just enjoyable even though we had busy schedule with classes and tests! Almost every night Ai and I practiced until midnight. And here comes the day! I never had performed in front of many people. And I was so nervous, but that night was special because I got to see my foreign friends perform as well, and my friend came to see and support me, it is just amazingly fun time! If you haven’t been to the FACES, you should go for the next time! And, you should really think about being on the stage! You don’t have to be professional as I just practiced the drum in two weeks and performed fine, and enjoying the participation is important!!!!

MSA gave me a chance to experience presenting my own culture, and I loved it.
I will save the other stories for the next time!

Have a wonderful Spring break!!!
Yoko Hirakawa



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PEOPLE EVERYWHERE

Your MSA President, Jose Andrade, asked me to write about my experiences living abroad. To be quite honest, I have struggled trying to pick a single topic to write about, because there is so much that could be said. But after about a week, I finally have chosen one.
I have now lived in Thailand for almost seven months. I have also traveled to Vietnam and Cambodia, as well as several different areas of Thailand. I have had to adjust to a completely different way of life—a new language, new food, new mindsets, new cultural rules... And it’s hard! Everything is so strange and surreal and new. You have to learn how to do so many things differently. Some days, it feels like everything has to be done differently. And yet, some things are the same—namely, people.

Despite the fact that I have had to get used to--giving a wai to people older than me, dressing in skirts and not wearing sleeveless shirts, eating spicy food that used to make me cry, not speaking in loud tones, stopping at 8AM and 6PM to show respect to the King, etc.—people are still the same as they are anywhere else. They all want to be looked at in the eyes. They all want to be respected. They all want people to listen to what they have to say. They all want to matter. And the most common characteristic--they all want to be loved.

People everywhere are the same. Now, I know this is a blatant generalization that dismisses some hugely obvious differences, but I feel that it’s important. Why? Because no matter where we are, we should always strive to find that which is the same in all of us.
So, try to do that at OCU (and everywhere else!) by reaching out to others who are seemingly very different than you, but in reality, just like you.

Christina Graves
OCU Graduate
MSA Former President

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The most precious gift I have received

All of a sudden, my eyes were awaken.

I thought I apparently slept, anyway. I opened my cell-phone up that I laid by my head last night and checked what time it was as usual. It was about 3 a.m. I guess I had slept for about three hours. Unconsciously I found myself going into the memory that I had back home for about a month.

Well, this was the first time that I had been back home to my home country since I had been in the United States. For this time, I actually did not let my family know that I would come back home for a vacation, because I wanted to surprise all of them as I suddenly would appear in person. During four weeks back in Korea, my home country, many things which were very precious to me happened. These were a pleasant conversation that I had with my family, the most valuable gift I have ever received from God, and the confabulation that I had with some unceremonious friends of mine who always greet me with cheers, and the refreshing walking that I used to do with a smiling face in the park near my place, and other more good things. But, above all, if one best thing has to be selected among all these things above, I would definitely choose the first thing I mentioned without any hesitation. That is because I had an unforgettable four weeks with every single person in my family.

Even though I had a memorable time with them, I personally do not focus on something big itself that I do with them. I rather focus on what I am when we are all together in the same space itself. That is what I put a greater value on, because I think that the time I had spent with my family for about a month was so unforgettable even if it was a short period of time.

Just like an oasis in the dessert, and a shelter in hardship, they are to be the biggest blessing for me and the most beautiful gift for my life.

I really love them so much beyond description, and truly I am happy because they are in my heart all the time. I have one thing that I want to say to them right now. “You all have made me what I am. In God I love you all.”

Kay IM
MSA secretary

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2008 Chinese New Year in OCU

Chinese New Year is a big day for Chinese. However, it does not haveholiday in America. So, OCU school students changed the day to makedinner to celebrate our Chinese New Year(Feb 11th). This year OCUTaiwanese Students Association made the event with UCO students. Thatis great, and it let us to make friends. Besides Taiwanese students, Japanese, Indonesia, Thai students also participated the event. Eatingtogether is the way that we celebrate Chinese New Year. When we wereeating dinner, some people were singing karaoke. Singing is a kind ofpopular event for us. Besides, "red envelope" is an important thing.Taiwanese Student Association prepared many red envelops. There are $1or $5 inside. The biggest prize is a iPhone.

WeiChung Wu
MSA Treasure

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MSA Executive Members

We welcome everyone to write an article on our newsletter, please email to ocumsa@gmail.com

**************************************************

The MSA Newsletter is generously sponsored by

First Commercial Bank

--Your on-campus bank--

Free checking account and OCU ATM/check card

The Tom and Brenda McDaniel University Center

(405)844-0110
http://www.okfcb.com/