Summer Plans

Ecuador!

This summer I will be spending 5 weeks in Ecuador. I am traveling there with a school group from Taylor University. I am looking forward to this experience and I am both excited and nervous. The program will be for a total of 9 Spanish credit hours, so I will be very busy. I will receive 8 credit hours from the classes that I take in Ecuador, and 1 credit hour for keeping a journal while I am there. In my journal I will record what I do during the day, and also cultural observations.

Our group will fly into Quito, the capital of Ecuador. We will spend a few days there, learning about the country and the culture. Then we will travel to Cuenca, another major city. In Cuenca, I will live with a host family and will take classes at the university. I have also heard that we will be taking dancing lessons, to learn some of Ecuador's traditional dances.

I do not know very much now about what I will learn, or the activities that I will participate in, but I am really looking forward to it. I am excited to try the food, and to spend time with my host family, and to develop my language skills. Here are a few facts that I have looked up to help get me started in learning about Ecuador:

- The official name is : Republic of Ecuador.
- Geographically speaking, Ecuador is about the size of Colorado.
- They have a mild, varied climate in the mountainous valleys of the Andes, and in the Amazon jungle lowlands it is hot and humid.
- The total population is about 14 million people.
- The predominant religion is Roman Catholic.

Surname Study

KOHN
This is my current last name, and I was always told that my last name was German. Which would make sense, because my family is predominantly German. I had heard that it was also similar to Cohen, which was Hebrew for priest. Public Profiler says that Kohn is Jewish in origin, and that it comes from the Hebrew language, so I guess that my family did have the story straight. It was interesting to find that it was most popular in the following countries:

- Luxembourg
- Germany
- United States
- Austria
- Australia

Interestingly enough, Germany was not the top country, but on the top cities list, most of them were German. Two New-Zealand regions showed up on the top five list of regions.



O'NEILL
This is my fiance, Peter's last name. His family is mostly Swedish, but Public Profiler states that this surname is Celtic, and comes from the Irish language. I found it interesting that although his last name is Irish(English), and mine is Hebrew, they share 2 out of the 5 most popular countries. The most popular countries for the last name, O'Neill are:

- Australia
- United Kingdom
- Canada
- New-Zealand
- Luxembourg

All of the top cities are in the United Kingdom, and the top regions are all in New-Zealand and the United Kingdom.




I think that the connections between my current last name and my future last name are interesting and fun! I think that someday I would like to create a detailed family tree to find out when my ancestors came over from Europe. I think that if I was able to graph some of that information, it would be interesting to see.

Youtube in South Asia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKILQPBcVTI

This is a video called "Free Hugs in Korea." My fiance's brother and sister-in-law live in Taejon, South Korea, where they teach at a Christian Academy. They had shown me a video clip of an extremely dangerous intersection they saw in Seoul once, and I wanted to find a video clip of that. While I was looking, I came across this video of a young man giving free hugs to anyone who wanted one on the streets in a busy city in Korea (probably in Seoul).

The video shows a little bit about the characteristics of urban Korea. I thought it was interesting to see how few people approached the man to give him a hug. I even saw several men, not allow their girlfriends or wives to go near him. It just seems like many of the people on the streets there did not appear to trust him, but it could be that in Korea, such close contact with strangers seems strange. I guess that in America, people are not really that likely to hug someone on the street that they've never met before.

While I was watching it I thought about the internet filters used by many countries in East Asia. I doubt that this video would be blocked in South Korea, but I think that it quite possibly is blocked in China and North Korea. It would not surprise me that communist countries would not want their people to see someone who loved and accepted everyone enough to give them free hugs on the street. It would not fit in with the communist mindset of everyone doing their designated job and listening to the government. In a communist society free hugs for the general public would have no place. I think that the internet filter in countries like China and North Korea, not only sheild their citizens from freedom of press and information, but it also sheilds them from love and hope, because it does not allow them to see that there might be something more than the life that they know. It does not allow them to see that there are people and a world outside of their borders that is not bent on following rules and turning a profit, but on showing kindness and building friendships with one another. It especially doesn't allow them to see that there are people who want to share the wonderfully freeying message of salvation with them as well.

So I picked this video because it's hopeful. It does show a little about the urban geography of Korea, but I think that the thoughts and questions that I just discussed also have a lot to say about the geography of the area, and the controling governments that govern South Korea's neightbors.

Bizzare Foods

Unlike Andrew Zimmern I have never had any live animals or fresh blood for lunch. I did try sushi once, but some of the most unique foods I have ever eaten were in Hawaii. The first one was kind of plain and tasted like pasty water. It was a purple-gray watery paste called Poi and it was made from a type of purple potato that grows in Hawaii. The second was Haupia which is a white coconut pudding. It was served more like finger-jello squares, but had a creamy taste. I really liked it!




I have also tried some strange things made from plants. I have had rose hips tea and rose hips candy. Flowers are wonderful, but they smell much better than they taste. When I tried both the tea and the candy tasted as if I had accidentally sprayed some perfume into my mouth. It turns out that the use of rose hips as a health agent originated in Sweden and they are valued for their powerful antioxidants. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rose_hip)

My fiance and his family went to South Korea for Christmas a few years ago to visit his brother and his sister-in-law who teach at a Christian school there. During their visit Peter tried Kimchi (or Gimchi), a traditional fermented Korean dish that includes cabbage and spices, and comes in many varieties. He also tried popular Korean ginger candies, that were offered to him by their hosts. It was a hardcandy that had a strong bitter, ginger flavor. I tried them too, and it was so strong that it difficult to keep it in my mouth.

My dad has eaten some even stranger things than me. He was in the Navy and during his training they were in Taipei, Taiwan. He and his buddies got to eat some raw octopus. They said eating the tentacles was like chewing on rubber bands. That sounds pretty gross to me. I don't think that I would ever try raw octopus.

The second food that my dad has eaten isn't really bizarre, just unique. My great grandma made pickled watermelon rhines and my dad liked to eat them. The watermelon rhines were cubed and pickled with cinnamon. I've never tried them, but I would love to hunt down the recipe sometime.

G-20 Summit 2009 - London

The G-20 members include: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States of America, and the European Union.

The picture above shows all 20 heads of states posing for a photo. This is one of the more candid shots as you can see some of the leaders, including our president visiting with their neighbors.

The Middle America View

I chose to take the perspective from how I think that the people of Central America may view themselves in relation to North and South America. It seems like for most people in Central America the major industry is tourism, and that tourism is usually focused around the Caribbean Sea or the Gulf of Mexico. Therefore the people of Central America would be looking mainly to North America for their tourism industry, but also they seem to have a closer cultural tie to the countries of South America. I chose to make the map center on the Caribbean, because I feel that is where this Northern tourism industry, and Southern culture come together, and where the people of Central America place their focus.

I chose to turn the world "sideways" from how we normally view it, because I feel that Central America is not only a blending of two ways of life, but it also has it's own unique culture. I do not think that Central America exists because it was a transition area between North and South America, but because it has it's own culture, it's own unique geographical features, and its own history. That is why I wanted to lay the map on its "side." This way, no one part the Americas appears to be "over" another part. Every person in each North, Central, and South America is valuable, as is there culture.

Slumdog Millionaire

Watching this movie was very much a cross-cultural experience for me. Prior to seeing this I had little understanding of anything that occurred in India apart from the Taj Mahal, the beautiful fabrics, and that areas of poverty existed. The plot line of the movie was fascinating, thrilling, and yet painfully eye opening to the kind of life that exists just halfway around the globe.

One thing that stuck out about the geography of India was the fact that whenever the characters traveled between places, each area was so drastically different, yet each area had the common element of extreme poverty. There was the rural slums where the boys lived with their mother, the orphanage in the jungle, the Taj Mahal, and then the city with tall skyscrapers. In each of these places poverty was evident, because their were always orphaned children and slums of some sort. It was interesting to see how much more crowded India appears to be than even the busiest of cities like New York.

Looking at the cultural side of things there were also some distinct characteristics. The gap between the social classes in India was much more drastic than the gap in the United States. There did not seem to be much of a "middle class." There were the extremely wealthy gang leaders, and the poor people of the slums. Everyone else seemed to fall somewhere into a hierarchy between the two extremes. The economy in India also appeared very strained in the movie. So many of the buildings that they stayed in were either unfinished or abandoned. This is probably due to the lack of distribution of wealth that was conveyed in the movie.


Everyone seemed to be concerned with making money. Those who had it, wanted more, and those who didn't have it saw it as their way out of the slums. That probably also explained why "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?" was such a popular show. At one point Jamal asks Latika, why people like to watch the show. She explains that it is an escape, and she is right! It is the one hope that the majority of the people of India have to turn their lives around. They do not have a voice if they are poor. This is especially true for the women of India, who seemed subject to the highest bidder, as it was in Latika's case.

I am glad to have seen this movie, but I am also troubled by the amount of hardships that the people of India live under every single day. It was interesting to see what Jamal and Salim did to earn money as they grew up, like managing a toilet or leading fake tours. They never seemed to stop and feel sorry for themselves. Whenever they met a dead end they simply looked around for a different avenue, and then set off whole heartedly down that new path. Slumdog Millionaire was a very powerful and great movie, but one in which the viewer needs to be ready to see the harsh realities of the world that we live in.

My Spring Break travels this year took me across the Midwest. They began Saturday, March 7th, at the Lincoln airport, where my 2:40pm flight was delayed until about 5:40pm. This also happened to be the exact time at which my connecting flight in Chicago was departing. So after my late arrival in Chicago I sat in the airport until about 11:40pm, when I finally caught a Standby flight to South Bend, IN. However, my bag ended up in Grand Rapids, MI, and I did not see it again until Wednesday, March 11th.




I finally arrived at my home in Stevensville, MI at about 3:40 AM (that' with the time change). I spent the night there and then took off again the next day for Upland, IN.

The drive from Stevensville, MI to Upland, IN is about 3 hours through mostly rural country towns. It had been raining a lot that week so there was a lot of flooding in the fields along the highway. I arrived safe at in Upland at Taylor University (the picture shows Taylor's library and Bell Tower) where I was able to spend sometime visiting my boyfriend of 5 years, Peter. (He's the guy in the profile picture :-) with me). We had lots of fun together going out for dinner, playing cards, and watching a movie. I also got to listen to his Chorale practice and hear his worship band play at a Veteran's Hospital in Marrion, IN.

Tuesday of Spring break, I headed home and spent the remainder of the time visiting my family and friends. It was nice to see my parents and my brothers. My whole family does Tae Kwon Doe, so I got to watch my brother P.J. (who is testing for black blet this summer), and practice with my brother Jacob and my parents. The picture below is of the studio where we take lessons, but none of us are in this picture. One Thursday I got to spend time with my friend Laura, who is getting married the summer of 2010. I'm her maid of honor, so we went over lots of wedding plans and had a great time. Laura lives in Baroda, MI (check the of Southwest Michigan above) and we went to high school together.

Friday, I had breakfast in St. Joseph, MI with my friend Alison, who I've known since middle school. It was nice to catch up and we enjoyed homemade bagels at the cute Broad St. Cafe, which had been the original firehouse in St. Joseph. This is not us in the picture, but you have see the old firepole and the largewindow used to be the garage door for the firehouse.



Saturday I went to a ladies tea at The Chapel with my mom, Laura and her mom, and my boyfriend's mom, Mrs. O'Neill. Then, that evening, my friend Sydney, who I've also known since middleschool went with my family and I to Kalamazoo, MI to see Brian Regan, a clean and hilarious comedian. (Here's a link to his site: http://www.brianregan.com/) This is a picture of the inside of the State Theater in Kalamazoo where we were at.



Sunday, I went to church, packed up, and had one last amazing homecooked meal with my family. We had homemade mashed potatoes, prime rib roast, and fresh green beans. It was delicious! Then I went back to South Bend, and had smooth travels all the way back to Lincoln, and then Seward. It was really nice to be home and have a break; I didn't want it to end. Summer isn't too far away, so I guess I can finish out the semester.

Sub-Saharan Africa - What next?

After reading the Aid Versus Investment, The Used Clothing Trade, and the Economic Development Bulletin I have noticed several trends. First, donations become back market items. Second, since 1960 the United States and other governments have been pouring money into Africa and there has been hardly an improvement, but many problems that have gotten worse. Finally, the problem lies with a lack of responsibility: the responsibility of governments giving aid to monitor how it is being used, and a responsibility of African governments receiving the aid to use it appropriately.

In my opinion the aid money that governments pour into African countries would be best spent on anti-corruption programs, and on creating more stable governments. Like the Economic Development Bulletin article stated, the current situation is simply, "the blind leading the clueless." The aid given to coutnries needs to be monitored, otherwise the coutnries may as well not have given the aid in the first place. If there has been no improvement in the past 40 years of giving aid, and the leaders simply continue to pocket the money, then why would countries who desire to help the people of Africa, not closely monitor or instruct governments there on how best to use the aid that is given them? It just does not make sense, because you would only be supporting the corrupt leaders.

In fact, if there are corrupt leaders, why are we handing them aid anyways? Shouldn't the goal be to help African nations by helping them to establish a solid, healthy government. There is already much civil war going on in many of the coutnries, so I don't know how exactly this would work best, or how it would look, but I think that in some cases we should use the aid money to establish a new government. I feel like a random selection of 10 average African peoples from the country could form a better parliamentary government, that would actually use aid money to address peoples needs, than having politicians or war lords leading these countries.

Either way, something needs to change, and I do not think that it is wise to continue giving aid to Africa and not monitoring how they use it or helping them make wise decisions with it.

Human Development Index (HDI)

Variables in Calculating HDI
When calculating HDI the Human Development Report Office examines four things:
1. They look at the life expectancy from birth rate, or how many years a child expected to live as is estimated at the time of their birth.
2. The literacy rate for all people above age 15 is looked at.
3. The percentage of the population that has combined attendance to primary and secondary schools in the country.
4. The piece of data that is considered is the country's GDP per capita in U.S. dollars.

While these numbers do provide measurable data that can be examined from one country to the next, they do leave out the qualitative things of life, such as the gender equality or human rights, in each country which do also play a role in the real HDI.

Geographic Patterns of HDI
The countries in the high Human Development Index range include the MDCs, or the most developed countries. These countries are primarily in the Northern Hemisphere, specifically in North and Middle America and Europe.
In the middle are the medium Human Development Index countries which include the counties of Asia, Northern Africa, South America, and the Middle East.
Finally, the trend for countries with the lowest Human Development Index, is that they are primarily all within Sub-Saharan Africa.

Sub-Saharan Africa and HDI
Almost every country in Sub-Saharan Africa is on the Low Human Development Index list. I think that this rating comes from the fact that the life expectancy for many of these countries such as Sierra Leon, Central African Republic, and Ethiopia are all under 50 years of age. Barely half of the population is literate and less than half of the population goes to school. I think that as we discussed in class, Sub-Saharan Africa has very little room for an industry of any kind. They cannot afford to farm or have a textile industry, so there are no jobs there. Without the schooling and literacy skills, Sub-Saharan Africans have little prospect of finding jobs related to the growing technological industry, so there is very little income available for them to use. Since Sub-Saharan Africa has such a low GDP per capita, they cannot afford substantial health care and therefore do not have a high life expectancy. There is no way for them to break the loop of lack of education, lack of jobs, lack of money, lack of health care, placing them in a perpetual state with a low Human Development Index. This problem is a sad reality, and I do not really know what could be done to help them out of this state. I think that it is important to help people, if we have the resources to do so, but the aid from the U.S. also inhibits the industries available to Sub-Saharan Africans. I think that we can only do our best, pray a lot, and just trust God to work his will in their lives through us.

Diwali - Hindu Festival of Lights

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/staticfiles/NGS/Shared/StaticFiles/Photography/Images/POD/w/women-candles-mcnally-692015-lw.jpg

This picture was taken in Jaipur, India at the Hindu festival of lights. The Indian name for it is Diwali, and this picture is taken at the ancient palace in Jaipur. The festival celebrates good overcoming evil and knowledge over ignorance.

I chose this picture because I like the photography elements of it. There is an aesthetic appeal in the soft orange candle-light glow against the ornately adorned Indian palace. I also liked the color contrast between the warm pink and orange tones of both the women and the palace, compared with the cool blues of the early night sky and the palace floor.

I do not know if the clothes the women are wearing are particularly formal just for the festival, or if that is something that they would usually wear, but I think they are beautiful just the same.
I do wonder who else would be present at the palace for such an event as this. I wonder where the other guests were, or why there are only these tow women on what seems to be the roof-top of the palace.

Thoughts on Cuba's Travel Ban

Although the travel ban has existed for the last 46 years, and it has been difficult for the people of Cuba to make a living without the booming tourism industry, I do not feel that the travel ban should be lifted yet. The goal of the travel ban was to injure the country economically, so as not to financially support the communist government. I think that to give in now and to lift the ban, would only make things worse. It would begin to finance the government, and the suffering of the Cuban people would have been in vain, because it would only strengthen the government that is currently in place. I think that the travel ban should remain so long as the country is run by a communist government. I think that Christians in this day and age need to look past the monetary gains that could come from lifting the travel ban and remember the values that it had in the first place.

Similarly I think that companies who outsource labor to China, because it saves them money should also consider how it is financing their communist government. I think that Americans were all for the travel ban on Cuba, because it is so close to the United States, that they also felt it was a protection measure to keep their government weak. I think that when it comes to China, people are not as worried, because they are farther away.

However, if the travel ban is on Cuba because the United States is opposed to communist rule, as it should be, then why would we hold a double standard when it comes to China. Being from a Christian community here at Concordia, I think it is important that we encourage fellow believers in this country to be Christians first and Americans second, and to put away our greed to save as much money as possible, and consider how the world could improve if we held the same standards with all communist countries.

Current Event in Latin America

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1714490,00.html

This is article, "Is Mexico's Drug War Escalating?" discusses the recent developments in the drug war which is rampant throughout Mexico and much of Latin America. The focus in this article is about the recent bombings in Mexico that have injured pedestrians. They are currently unaware of who is behind the bombings, but it is suspected to be a new weapon used by the drug lords in this war, which is escalating between organized crime and the government.

World Mapper

This cartogram represents the Girls Who are Not in Primary School across the world. I selected this one, because my major is elementary education and I was interested to see what education opportunities were available to students across the globe. This map indicated that in North and South America and Western Europe girls have almost equal opportunities to attend primary school. However, in the Middle East, Middle and Northern Africa, and in parts of Eastern Europe, girls do not have the opportunity to attend primary school. This indicates a large cultural split in the world and a difference in gender roles between these two groups of continents. One sees that at least at the primary school age, it is important for both boys and girls to learn academic subjects, where as the other must feel that academic learning is not necessary for girls at all.

Population Pyramids

The first population pyramid is for Hungary during the year 2000. The second is for Haiti, also from the year 2000. Haiti was identified as a LDC (Least Developed Country) by the Committee for Development Policy based on a low Gross National Income (GNI), Human Assets Index (HAI), and the Economic Vulnerability Index (EVI) which includes the population size represented here in these pyramids.

Haiti's current per capita income is only $480 (according to Diversity Amid Globalization). Haiti is also among the poorest, if not the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and has a life expectancy of only 58 years of age. Due to Haiti's economic situation it's population pyramid is wider on the bottom and narrower at the top. The majority of Haiti's population is under age 20.

In contrast Hungary's population pyramid is narrower at the bottom and shows a couple baby booms, but it is for the most part more consistent on up through age 70. The text notes that Hungary was among the nations that made a successful economic transition as they have maintained strong ties with Western Europe. As the population pyramid indicates there seems to be a higher life expectancy for Hungarians, perhaps up to age 68 or 70. This could also indicate why their population is consistent across the age levels. Perhaps the people of Hungary have better access to health care, such as birth control or general care, which would increase their infant mortality rating.

Haiti's population pyramid is characteristic of most population pyramids for LDCs. Hungary's population pyramid, although having a few population spurts is somewhat characteristic of a MDC, with little to no population growth.

The most interesting place in North America:

Kaua'i Hawai'i...

is the most interesting place that I have ever been in North America. My family and I spent a week and a half there last July and it was a wonderful experience!

The landscape was very different from anything I had seen before. The ground was covered with lush, green, tropical trees, plants, and flowers and the air smelled wonderfully sweet. There were all kinds of hibiscus bushes, palm trees, and my personal favorite, Plumaria trees (there is a picture of one of the Plumaria flowers at the top of this blog). While on Kaua'i we spent time in Lihu'e (2nd largest city), whose population was around 6,000 people. We also stayed at Po'ipu, known for its beach, and spent a day driving along the VERY steep cliffs of Wiamea Canyon. Wiamea Canyon is beautiful and it is said to be the Grand Canyon of the Pacific, however the most breath-taking sight was the mountains on the Napali Coast. They called these the cathedral mountains because of the way that they extended seamlessly up towards the sky, resembling the steeples of cathedrals.


The wildlife was rather interesting too. There was a plethora of wild chickens and roosters running around the island. The roosters had beautiful bright red, green, and yellow feathers, and the hens were white, black, and brown. I think that the rooster population was comparable to the pigeon population of New York City, NY; maybe more. My brothers enjoyed the tiny lizards that they found running around and liked to try and catch them. One day we took a Catamaran tour around the island and I was also excited to see dolphins, sea turtles, and an endangered Hawaiian monk seal.

The culture of Kaua'i was also refreshingly different. Their concept of time and formality was entirely opposite of that of corporate America. People in Kaua'i would wake up early to start surfing at sunrise, and would go to bed shortly after the sun went down around 9 o'clock PM. During the day time would pass leisurely. Kaua'i's main industry is tourism so the entire island had a relaxed feel. People everywhere dressed very casually. We went to the only Wal-Mart on the island and were surprised to find it was not usual to go shopping in your swim-suit. The no-shirt, no-shoes policy did not apply there.

The music was also different. At many of the tourist attractions you could find someone playing the ukulele and singing in Hawaiian, usually accompanied by a traditional hula dancer. My family went to a traditional luau one night where we got to listen to lots of Hawaiian music, see a Polynesian dance show, and also experience ethnic food. At the luau they prepared a Kahlua pig, which is cooked in an emu oven, or dirt oven that is buried in the ground. The Kahlua pork is dipped in a gray starchy, wet substance called Poi (the purple-gray substance in the cup on the plate). Poi is like a purple potato, but it tastes like water, and is mainly used to wet the pork. With dinner they also served several vegetable relish salads. One was made with cucumbers and was very delicious. My favorite traditional Hawaiian food was a dessert called Haupia. Haupia is made from coconut with the creamy taste of pudding, but the consistency of finger jello.

All in all Kaua'i Hawai'i was a place unlike any I had ever been. It was beautiful in so many ways: the landscape, the music, and the relaxed way in which people lived. I hope to go back sometime soon!