I have become more knowledgeable about the world..

Invisible children
Current Events/ Global Issues
This semester in world history 2, we did research and learned about a couple of new countries. Japan, where we did research on different aspects of the Japanese and their culture and the second country was our choice. I chose Morocco. We also learned about Uganda which is a country in Africa. I did research on traditional weddings in Japan. I was very interested in how they do their weddings there and it interested me how different they were from American weddings. Japanese weddings are much more traditional then American weddings. For example, in the traditional Japanese wedding, there are different things that they do that symbolize certain things. Like, when the couple drinks the sake, or rice wine. And then they offer thanks to the kami which are Shinto gods. This is different from American weddings because we usually have just vows and "I dos" and that’s it and occasionally someone will have a unity candle ceremony. Plus, Japanese weddings are very expensive! The bride will usually have at least three different dresses to change into between the time of the wedding and reception.
Next is Morocco. We all did projects on different countries of our choice. I chose Morocco, honestly because of its beauty. Once I did more research though, I began to be not only interested in its beauty, but also its culture. I was actually kind of humored in it. Why you may ask? Well one of the common things in Moroccan culture is when going to a poor home, you must bring a live chicken to show respect. That made me laugh. A few more things to know about their culture would be: Before entering a Moroccan home, you must take your shoes off. When going to a higher class home in the city, it shows respect and is polite to bring bread and pastries. Moroccans are well known for their hospitality. Which is different from our culture in America we aren't the most friendly people all of the time and I don’t think anyone would be okay with you showing up at their house with a live chicken. But I also learned that Morocco has a low population. And needs more people there so those people can take over jobs and get the economy back in order. Last, but not least, Uganda. When we were learning about Uganda, I was hurt when I found out all that was happening over there! You see, Uganda is in Africa. And there is this guy named Joseph Kony, who thought he'd be the cool guy, and try and overthrow the government. Obviously that didn't work. So he fled to the jungle. When children walked through the jungle, he abducted them. Then turned all of the children into soldiers. Those children then go to towns and abduct other children or slaughter them if they don't cooperate. Some children or people who get in the way have body parts cut off. These children are only taught to eat, sleep, and kill. When I say children are abducted, I mean mostly boys. Girls are sometimes abducted, and used as prostitutes. It breaks my heart to hear about what is happening there. I’m so thankful nothing like that would ever happen in America.

ww1 pic

History of the Twentieth Century

The twentieth century was filled with a good bit of events. For example, the New Imperialism. The New imperialism is when countries such as Japan and even the United States, were basically in competition for territories all over. This sparked WWI. It's a shame something as goofy as that cause many, many, men to die in war. Something we learned that happened to the men in WWI, when they were shot in the face at war, they of course had pretty messed up faces after that. So they had these sculptor artist people that used clay to reconstruct their faces and they put the mask on the soldier's face to hide the scars and such. Also there were many new inventions being created, such as the airplane, which was invented by the Wright brothers. This was used in WWI. Also: the automobile created by Henry Ford, the gas mask created by Garret Morgan, the radio, created by Nikola Tesla, nuclear bombs, created by Ernest Rutheford. There are many more inventions as well, but too many to list. As you can tell most of these weapons were used in the WWI, like the airplanes to drop the bombs, the nuclear bombs, gas masks to help the soldiers breathe. There were also diseases that were very popular in the twentieth century as well. Such as Influenza, mumps, measles, hepititus A, and hepatitis B. There were many others, the number of deaths from these diseases just added on to the ones from the war.

hispanic kids

Human Diversity
This semester we did a race quiz where we had to match people to a race that we thought they were in. I learned that looks are so deceiving. I only got about three matches right. The rest were wrong! I learned that just because a man is completely white, doesn't necessarily mean that he is not Hispanic or Asian. The only way you could know is if you ask. Because when I was taking that quiz I though it was obvious which person belonged to which race.

mount everest

Places I've Been

I have learned about many places on earth this semester. Like, Mount Everest. It is the highest mountain on earth above sea level. This Mountain is part of the Himalaya range in Asia; It's located on the border between Sagarmatha Zone, Nepal, and Tibet, China. Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay reached the top of the summit on May 29, 1953. Many people have died trying to climb this mountain which somehow makes it more of a thrill to climb. Some people thrive on that kind of adrenaline. Many people since Edmund and Tenzing have reached the summit.

Japan pic

Cultures of the World's Socities

This semester we learned about the cultures of the countries of our choice. For me it was Japan and Morocco. In the Japanese culture, they are much more particular about the way they do things. For example, people here in America would be close when talking. So that way, you know, so they can hear each other better. Well in the Japanese culture it's considered rude. They feel that your how we would say it "all up in their grill." They also eat many different types of foods then we do. Morocco has a more laid back culture. They aren't as strict. They are quite friendly and loving people. They have a lot of hospitality. The only thing that is different between our culture and theirs is that they have different foods. And in their culture, when visiting a home, you must bring a gift. Like when visiting a poor house, bring a live chicken. When visiting a house in the city, bring pastries or bread. But other than that, not much of a difference