Continuation of the 5 Major Religions

    Today in class we picked up where we left on Hinduism. Instead of priests, Hindus have gurus. Gurus teach and master specific traditions. Almost all of the gurus come from the Brahman caste. Throughout a year, Hindus celebrate 32-34 holidays. The major ones are: Maha Shivarati, Gudi Padwa, Guru Purnima, and Vijayadashami. Maha Shivarati is held on March 12 and is a night of fasting to show devotion to Shiva. Gudi Padwa is on March 23 and is the day that they celebrate how Brahaman created the world. Guru Purnima is the day that they celebrate their gurus and is the day that one of the writers of their sacred scriptures was born. Vijayadashami is held on October 15 and is a day of celebrating good conquering evil. Even though Hindus believe in many different gods, there are fights in India between Hindus and Muslims. The fights are back and forth and is all in "revenge" for something that happened in the past. After Hinduism, we started talking about Buddhism. Buddhism is based off of the practice teachings of Siddhartha Guatama, commonly known as Buddha. Buddha was a teacher who lived between the fourth and sixth century. He shared his incites to help the beings and suffering of others. Buddhism is the fastest growing religion in the world and has about 350 to 550 million followers. Buddhism has such a large range of followers because they don't have certain rules like having no other gods before Buddha and they don't claim to be number one. Most of these Buddhists can be found in India and Asia. They have practices of mindfulness and meditation.

The Start of Religions- Hinduism

    At the begin of class today, we got our tests back. After we were handed back our tests, we went over all the answers. Now that we have all the correct answers, when the final comes around, we will have something to study from. These questions will most likely come up again. Once we finished going over all of the answers, we started learning about the different religions. The first group to present was Grace's group, which was Hinduism. Hinduism has no official founder nor official date that it was created. There are also one billion followers of Hinduism, which makes up about 14% of the world's population. Because of this, it is the third largest religion in the world. They also have two sacred texts called Vendas and Bhagavad Gita. The Vendas is made up of over a thousand hymns and contains the descriptions of Hindu rituals. The Bhagavad Gita is the most important Hindu text and is a poem that describes the belief of afterlife. Hindus believe in Karma. They believe that every action has an equal reaction. If you do a good action, then there will be a positive consequence, but if you do a bad action, then there will be a negative consequence. Another thing that they believe in is that there is one omniscient being that controls everything even other gods called Brahman. Lastly, they believe in Samsara which is the Hindu process of reincarnation. Reincarnation is a continuous cycle of death and rebirth into a new body. If you didn't perform good deeds as a human, then you'll come back as a lower form of life.

5 Major Religions

    Today in class, we split up into groups of three people and were assigned one of the 5 major religions in the world. My group was Alexa, Grant, and me. The 5 major religions are Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, and Buddhism. We were assigned to find information about Judaism. Some things that I learned was that in Judaism, there are a little over 14 million followers in the world and that its Holy Land is located in Jerusalem, Israel. Also, I learned is that instead of having priests like they used to, they have Rabbis. Rabbi, in Hebrew, means "My Teacher". Their job is to instruct the community, answer questions, and resolve any disputes regarding Halakhah. Jews, as what the followers are called, have a holy book called the Torah. The Torah is the central concept of Jewish Tradition and is followed by all Jews and is taught by the Rabbis as faith. I think that today was a pretty successful class and we got a lot done.

End of First Quater

   Today was the last day of the first quarter. We took a quiz today that was worth 50 points. It was on the PowerPoint that we've been going over in class. Not only did we take the quiz, but we are also getting a 50 point grade for class participation along with our blog grades. Even though I think that I got a few questions wrong, I still think that I did well. For starters, I know that I got at least one of them wrong because I switched the answer from Switzerland to China. I only changed it because I was over thinking and I thought that it meant that out of the three homogeneous countries, which of those three was the least homogeneous. Instead, it meant which of the countries was heterogeneous and had multiple ethnic cultures. As long as the incoming grades help my grade and doesn't affect it, then I'm completely happy with them. Personally, I would rather have my grade above 90 throughout the whole semester but that's just me.

Debate on Nationalism

     Well today in class, we debated on nationalism. Nationalism is the belief that your nation is superior to all others. People all around the world always say, "(insert country name) is the best country ever woo!". Well technically, in my opinion, that's not true at all. There isn't a number one country out there, it doesn't exist. I mean sure there are pretty great countries out there like America and such but none of them rank to be number one. A perfect country doesn't exist. All of them have flaws or problems going on. Each of the countries have pros that causes them to rank higher, but then they also have cons that bring them lower than they were before. The pros and cons basically even each other out. If someone says that America is the best, then they have to give reasoning. What makes America so better than all the other 196 countries out there? Let's be real here, America isn't number one like people portray it to be. People have such a high expectation of what life is like living in America that they don't see the imperfections of it. America has issues all throughout it. For example, the government is a big one. It was shut down for sixteen days because they couldn't agree on what to do about Obama Care. People weren't working or getting paid and the things run by the government were shut down temporarily. Not only that but we are also about 17.1 trillion dollars in debt. Another reason why America isn't number one is that even though we have freedom of speech, we still have to watch what we say. Many Americans don't share their opinions on things because they are afraid of someone bashing them for it. They are afraid that they will get yelled at for expressing the opinion that is not the same as the other person's opinion. America also has an extremely high crime rate. There are about 12,408,899 people who have committed a crime in America. That's extremely high if you think about it. Why would people want to go to America if there is such a high crime rate? I believe that there is no real number one country out there, but there are countries out there that are close. Take Canada for example and just look at the. Its all pretty calm there, their government is doing well, they don't really cause any drama, and they have maple syrup. Let's be real now, maple syrup is a plus. Don't get me wrong, America is a great country, but its definitely not number one!

Culture Characteristics Part III

    Today in class, we picked up where we left off, which was talking about religion. The five major reasons in the world that are related to religion differences are: Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. More wars have been fought over religion to see who's god is the most superior. This beats the amount of wars fought over money and land. Religion can not only unify people, but can also divide them. For example, Muslims are separated into two separate groups, the Shiites and the Sunnis. This happened because they both disagreed on how the Prophet Muhammad taught and what his teachings meant. Because of this disagreement, it created two separate groups that have two different beliefs. Spatial divisions is how we divide the livable space found on earth by establishing social, economic, and political control. In some spatial divisions it is okay to be in more than one group, but sometimes it may cause conflicts. Two examples of economic alliances are the European Union and the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). The NAFTA is basically where a business can move their factories from one place to another where they can pay their employees less than minimum wage. Because of this, the employees that worked in the factory before it was moved become unemployed. The people around the new factory site now have an opportunity to get a job there.

Continuation of Cultural Characteristics

    Today in class we continued to talk about cultural characteristics. Three main culture characteristics are: language, religion, and ethnic heritage. If you recall, cultural characteristics are parts of a group's everyday life and are the ideas and themes in which the group will teach to all of the members. These can either link regions together or they can divide a region. An example of language is that it units the Arab world. Because they can all speak the same language, it allows them to be able to communicate and understand each other. Brazil is the only South American nation that doesn't speak Spanish. Instead, they speak Portuguese. This caused Brazilians to be separated from the rest of the other nations. An example of ethnic heritage is Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia used to be made up of many different groups all combined in one place. Those groups were the Serbs, Croats, Bosnians, and the Albanians. All of these groups got along and accepted each other. When the strong leadership died out, the many different groups went to war and caused a civil war. The cities were destroyed and many people died. Instead of fighting over ethnic heritage, the United States of America and Switzerland have peacefully merged the groups in their countries and accepts them all. Religion can be unifying or can cause a lot of issues. The five major religions are: Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Spirit Week Comes to An End With a Test

    Today we took an AP test for Human Geography. The score on the test wouldn't affect your grade though. Instead, we are using it to see how much we know. When we take another test at the end of the year, we can now compare our final scores to this test and see how much we have learned. Although I didn't get that far in the test, I thought that the test was okay. It wasn't too hard, but it wasn't easy. You just had to remember everything that you have learned.  Personally, I'm not the best at remembering every single detail about each thing that I have learned so it required more thought to try to remember everything. Not only did you have to remember everything that we have covered so far, but there was also stuff on the test that we will be covering in the future. This gave us a general idea of what else we will be learning about this year. Overall, I think I did okay with the questions that I actually answered.

Cultural Characteristics

     Today in class, we reviewed the quiz on the population pyramids that we took on Friday. I originally had a 42 out of 50, which is about an 84, but Mr. Schick gave me a point back for number twelve. Overall, I thought I did pretty well and that it wasn't too hard. It took up most of the class to go over all of the answers because we couldn't focus at all. We all kept getting distracted and getting off topic. After the review, we started to talk about cultural characteristics. We only just scratched the surface of the topic because we ran out of time. Cultural characteristics are parts of a group's everyday life. Its the ideas and themes in which the group will teach to all of the members. Having similar characteristics can link regions, but they can also divide them. Some examples of cultural characteristics are: language, religion, and ethnic heritage.

Population Pyramid Quiz

     On Friday in class, we took a quiz on the population pyramids. There were also words that we had to know for the quiz like life expectancy, crude birth rate, crude death rate, rate of natural increase, net migration rate, immigration, emigration, push forces, pull forces, and the total fertility rate. The number one thing to remember is that the total fertility rate needs to be at least 2.1 for the population to remain the same. If it is lower, the population will decrease, but it if it higher then the population will increase. Overall, the quiz wasn't too hard. I thought it was pretty easy since I did study for it. After the quiz we talked a little bit about an organization called KIVA. Basically, its an organization that helps people who don't have enough money get what they need in order to succeed. People can lend someone in need $25 that will go towards whatever they need. Most of the time, the people who borrow the money pay the loaner the amount back. The rate of repayment is about 99.03%. This rate is incredibly high and there is only a less than one percent chance of you not getting repaid.

More About Population Pyramids

     When we first started class today, we got back our quiz that we took that was about the lost boys. We went over the answers so we would all have the correct ones to study from when the exam comes. After we checked the quiz, we picked back up on population pyramids. Recall that population pyramids are used to analyze the growth or decline of fertility, mortality, and migration in cities. The graphs are usually measured in the amount of people or the percentage of each population. When we say that it is a box pyramid, we don't mean a completely even box. There is usually a bugle in the graph where there are the most people. We looked at many different types of pyramid examples that ranged from Michigan to Kansas. In Michigan, there is an increase in the category for women from the range of 20-24 years old. This is because there is a popular all women's' college located there. In Kansas, there is more of an increase around the 20-35 range. This is because there is a main prison there where people would spend a long time in jail and would be considered a resident there. Mostly males were located there. By looking at these graphs, you can tell which places have more people in each of the three categories; the oldies, the economically active, and the kiddos.

Population Pyramids

   Today in class, we took a quiz. The quiz covered the whole entire documentary on the lost boys. It was 20 questions that were fill in the blank. We were also surprised with the option of using our blogs. We could use any information that we had on our blog to answer the questions. After the quiz, we started to talk about Population Pyramids. We use population pyramids to analyze the growth (or decline) of fertility, mortality, and migration in cities. The pyramid ranks from "the oldies" at the top, then the "economically active", and then finally "the kiddos". On the pyramid, the oldies would be considered anyone sixty years or older. The economically active would range from 20-59 while the kiddos would range from age 0-19. When making the pyramid, the males are placed on the left side while the women are placed on the right side. Because of the amount of people per category, it can give the pyramid a different shape. There are three types of shapes which are the christmas tree, the box, and the cup. When the pyramid has the shape of a christmas tree, it means that it is a developing nation with a slow growth rate. It has a high birth rate, but also has a short life expectancy. Namibia or Bangladesh would both be examples of a pyramid looking like a tree. If the pyramid has a box shape, it means that it is a developed nation and has a slow growth rate. It has a low infant mortality, a slow population growth, and a long life expectancy. Sweden or the United States is an example of a box pyramid. Finally, the cup shape means that it is a developed nation and has a negative growth. It has a low birth rate, a shrinking population, and a long life expectancy. An example of this type of pyramid shape is Italy or Japan.

Ew Sickness

I wasn't in class today because I was sick at home. I had a fever along with a cold and a sore throat and didn't feel any better this morning when I woke up.

"God Grew Tired of Us"- Day 3

     When class started, we finally got our tests back. We went over all of the answers and then picked up with the documentary, "God Grew Tired of Us". In the documentary, the few refugees that had the chance of going to America have been there for over two months now. When they were there, they wanted to fit it but they didn't want to lose their cultural things. For example, they knew how to use utensils but instead they used their hands while eating. They did this because this is how they ate back home. As Christmas came along, they were slightly confused of the regular American traditions like Santa Claus or christmas trees. In Kakuma, they would celebrate Christmas by singing loudly and dancing around. When it snowed, Daniel and Panther tried to ride their bikes through the snow and were fascinated by the ice rink. Within two months, the boys we are following got jobs. Daniel got a job at the nearby bank and had to process checks. He was paid $6.50 an hour, which was more than minimum wage back then. John got two part time jobs. He would go from making baskets in a factory to grilling McDonalds' hamburgers later that night.We also discovered that John was originally from a tribe called Dinka. Dinka was a tribe made up of tall Africans. While the lost boys were in America, they were becoming lonely. Even though they had the other refugees with them, it wasn't the same. They missed their other friends and desperately wanted to find their families. They constantly tried to contact their family but they really didn't even know if they were alive anymore.

"God Grew Tired Of Us"- Day 2

    The documentary picked up where the selected males were boarding to go to America. The United States allowed a selective group of boys, now men, to fly to the states where they would be given new homes. They were given a second chance to start their life over. This was a take it or leave it offer. No one was forcing them to go or to stay at the camp. Three of those males were, John Bul Dau, Daniel Abul Pach, and Panther Bior. Daniel and Panther had become best friends when they became refugees. They were all excited to go to the United States. When they got there they would have to adapt to the new surroundings and have to learn how to do things like use electricity, shower, go grocery shopping, and other necessities to living. When all the refugees were on the plane, they were so interested in everything that was going on. They kept touching the walls, looking at the remote, kept looking outside, and kept trying all the foods. While they were eating, they thought that the wipe that you used to clean your hands after you eat was a type of food so they ate it. They also ate the whole butter squares that they give you along with the plain jelly. The funny thing about this was that Panther said that the food on the airplane wasn't as good as the food they had back at the camp. After traveling from Kakuma to Kenya to Belgium to the United States, they had finally reached their location. Panther and Daniel shared a room in Pittsburgh, PA while John went to Syracuse, NY. They had to learn how to turn on the lights, flush the toilet, where to throw out the trash, and other activities that are used in the regular household. Even though they were in America, they would still constantly think about the others back home and wonder how they were all doing. John always wondered why he had a good place to live, but the others back home didn't. He would always remember how while they were fleeing the country, he was in charge on digging the hole and burying the kids who died along the way. He was only thirteen then but he was given it because of his height. Panther said that if he could, he would send something from America to the people back home to help them out. He wished that he could help take care of everyone there and fix their problems.Most of the refugees didn't allow the thought of how lucky they were to be able to go to America get to their head. Instead, they thought they were blessed and would remain grounded by keeping their culture alive.

"God Grew Tired of Us"

    "God Grew Tired of Us" is a documentary that follows the refugees of Sudan. In 1983, a religious civil war started between Northern Sudan and Southern Sudan. In Northern Sudan the main religion was Muslim, but in Southern Sudan the main religions were Christian and animist. The Muslims did not accept the fact that they had a different religion so they started to attack. Their one order was to kill all the men and boys living in Southern Sudan. If they didn't kill them, then they were marked. The soldiers would cut their faces, leaving a huge scar across them. This was a reminder to the people who saw them of how much power the northern side had. The soldiers would also capture the women where they would be used as prostitutes or sex slaves. They would either rape them or kill them. Once this all started, over 27,000 males fled Sudan. They marched thousands of miles from Sudan to the Ethiopian border. This process took at least five years. After those five years of traveling, you could barely recognize most of the boys. Most of them were lacking nutrition and were starving. They were so skinny that you could easily count each and every one of their ribs. The boys were also unrecognizable because they had survived bombings from Sudan or attacks by wild animals such as lions or hyenas. After three years past, the Ethiopian government started to have their own problems and forced the thousands of refugees out of the country. The remaining refugees had to pack up everything that they had and travel once again. They had to go down through Sudan to get to the next border, which was Kakuma, Kenya. Once they had finally arrived, there were only about 12,000 people left. These boys were known as "the lost boys".