Dos and Don'ts When Buying a House

Owning a nice home is one of the biggest dreams for most people, especially young couples who want to settle down and build their family. Yet deciding to buy a home could be extremely tricky as it involves a large financial transaction along with an array of legal procedures. An error in any steps during the buying process could cost you an arm and a leg. Don’t get me wrong. I am not trying to scare you of buying a home. What I am telling you is that it is important for you to understand some of the key aspects in buying a home. Below, I list down some Dos and Don’ts that a home buyer need to know.

Dos

1. Find an experienced real estate agent to represent you as a buyer

It is generally believed that real estate agents play no significant roles in buying a house—these people just want to collect commissions. To my best understanding, people who say this don’t have a good knowledge of what real estate is all about. They see only one side of the cake. Looking from a real estate agent’s perspective, I would argue that real estate agents indeed play significant role in home buying for a number of reasons. First of all, experienced real estate agents can tell you the number of properties that are currently available in the market, within a certain price range.

I got it back!!!

After several months of being inactive, my blog finally comes to live again. Because my ISP blocked blogspot.com for political reasons, I could not get access to my blog, which I frequently write about things I have learned and my reflection on problems I met. Today, I am so excited that I can write on it one more time.

I am quite good at writing and writing blogs is one of my habits. It not only sharpens my thinking skills, but also allows me to record my knowledge and share it with others. Since I get it back now, I will take up my writing habit again.

My Second Teaching Observation at RUPP

I have observed another teacher today. This time the class I went to is not so far from where I parked my car but it is so high from the ground. It's on the sixth floor of building A. I wish there had been an elevator or escalator.

I was a bit late for the class. I didn't how the teacher started the lesson, but I bet he might have directly gone straight with the book. The first hour I was in the class I heard no students' response. The students were extremely passive. Only the teacher talked. He kept talking and talking and didn't seem to care about encouraging students to talk. What else? The teacher seemed like a translator than a teacher. He just read the text then translate key words for the students. Besides, he didn't even touch the board. To avoid misunderstanding, he should have written something on the board whether it was the date, the title of the lesson he was teaching or the answer of the exercises.

My first observation on RUPP Teacher of English

Today I left my home around 1:30PM to observe an English class at RUPP which started at 2:00PM. I went there a bit early because I had to do two things. First, I had to make copies of some documents. Second, I didn't want to be late on my first observation class.

The class that I had to observe is in Building C which is quite far from where I parked my car. I had to walk to the class under a hot sunny day. It was terribly hot inside the class and mixed with the noise created by the students, the atmosphere just didn't make me feel alright. Having been in the classroom for a few minutes, I finally saw the teacher coming into the class. His name is Song Sokun. He's wearing a smart dress and eyeglasses. My first impression on him told me that he is an experienced teacher.

A high season of school work

December marks the last month of the year. It also signals the start of the new year. Most people do not want to start their new year with lots of workload. One of my teacher, likewise, said that he did not want to begin the new year with many more things to do such as correcting students assignments and tests. He wanted to have time for himself to enjoy some of the things he likes so that he can have a fresh start.

A wake-up call

It is very interesting to know that my writing ability has degraded so fast. I don't even realize that it has been so poor like this. It took me only a mere 10-minute duration to write a short paragraph a few months ago while I was practicing my vocabulary everyday, but now it takes me more than half an hour just to produce a short passage. I questioned myself too whether it is because the subject that I am writing now is much more difficult than the subjects I wrote before. The answer is not much. The point is my stock of vocabulary has decreased as I haven't practiced much lately. Anyway, that's a wake-up call for me. I should restart my vocabulary learning.

Challenge is a fact of life

Everyday I face with new challenges. They are neither what I want nor what I hate. They just come into my life sometimes unconsciously to make me a stronger, more intelligent, more adaptable and more optimistic in my life. Change, Hate, Anger, Learning, Love-seeking, Emotional management, Never Give up, and Empathy are the the things that come to my mind when I hear the word 'challenge.' Admittedly, they are challenges in my life, perhaps other people's life as well.