Notes

Today in Human Geo, we had the rest of the groups present their religions to us. I took a good amount of notes. I learned all of this:

Hinduism

1.       Name of their God is Brahman

2.       The third largest religion not including atheism

3.       Most live in the subcontinent of India

4.       4 main goals

a.       Dharma

b.      Samsara

c.       Karma

d.      Moksha

5.       Vedas sacred text

a.       Oldest book

b.      About 3000 years old

c.       Contains rhymes, prayers, and magical spells

Buddhism

1.       Teaching the Buddha and holding that a state of enlightenment can be attained by suppressing worldly desires,

2.       The four noble truths

3.       Four Noble Truths

a.        the truth of dukkha

b.      The truth of origin of dukkha

c.       The truth of cession of dukkha

d.      The truth of the math leading to the cessation of dukkha

4.       Dukkha: suffering, anxiety, unsatisfactoriness

5.       Eightfold Path: way to live places right

6.       There are between 300 and 500 million people who are buddhists

7.       Fourth largest religion

8.       Place of worship is a temple

9.       China, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia are the biggest parts of the world that practice Buddhism

Christianity

1.       Teachings, miracles, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus.

2.       Largest religion in the world with 2 billion followers

3.       Jesus is God's son

4.       He is human and divine

5.       Main message of that of forgiveness

6.       Bible is the only God

7.       There is only one God

8.       Priest and the pope main professions spiritual leaders

9.       Cross and the Dove symbols

Presenting Our Masterpiece

Today in Human Geo, the class was full of energy, we all seemed to be in great moods. In the beginning of class, Mr. Schick and the rest of us went over the quiz we just took. He kept picking on me and this kid Scott. He would call on me for like three straight questions. At first it was kind of annoying me, but I didn't really care in the end. After we went over that, my group, Jordan, Laura, and I presented. I must say we had a pretty great presentation. Jordan was very enthusiastic with her "teaching" which was pretty funny. Overall, it was a pretty good class.

Islam Islam and more Islam

Today in Human Geo, we broke off into groups and started to work on researching different religions. My group got Islam. I was originally with Alyssa and Angela, but Jordan and Laura traded me for John, so I got to be with them. There were a lot of speed bumps in the road. We had lots of difficulties with internet connections and getting on google. It was weird, basically every website worked, but google for some people. It was pretty weird. After we overcame those difficulties, we got to work. It was pretty weird learning the different beliefs and practices of other religions, but interesting at the same time.

Quiz Day

Today in Human Geo, we had a quiz. It wasn't too hard. I'm so glad we had a review in the beginning of class, if we didn't have that, I don't think I would've done to well. I really hope I do well on this quiz because I do not want my grade to go down in this class. I think the review before the quiz really helped a lot of people. After everyone finished the quiz, Mr. Schick ran over to the room across the hall to run the scantrons through the machine. I was really glad he did this because I want to know what I got! Yay! I got an A

A Good Class

Wondering what we did in Human Geo today? Well I don’t even know where to begin. Unlike Monday, the whole class was chiming in and giving their opinions. I don’t think there was a person who didn’t have an opinion today. We talk about how our country has the highest rate of people in prison. A lot of the class thought that reasons like marijuana and other less aggressive crimes shouldn’t necessarily be taken to jail. We are losing jail space that we could use for real criminals. Like in Boston for example, Mr. Schick saw people around just smoking pot out in the open, and he was confused. He asked his daughter about it and she said that in Boston, it is only a $10 fine for marijuana. I honestly think all states should do something like that. I thought this class was pretty interesting and good because there was a ton of class participation!

Not There

Today in Human Geo, i was only there for about 5 to 10 minutes. I had a field hockey game and got dismissed early. Unfortunately we did not win. The score was 1-0.

A quiet class

Today in Human Geo, we took a TON of notes. It was pretty boring I am not going to lie. It was first period, and everyone was tired. I really don't think anyone talked the whole class. He would ask us question but everyone just seemed to sit there in the dead silence. It was kind of awkward. Our class is always talkative and outgoing, but first period on Mondays, forget about it. The whole period seemed like no one was there, just Mr. Schick talking to himself. The class was basically just Mr. Schick going on and on about cultural differences for about an hour and fourteen minutes. I did learn a lot about it though. 

The Horrible Human Geo Test

Today In Human Geo was pretty rough. We dove right into a test but it didn't count toward our grade, which is good cause I had no idea what any of it was! Some of the questions were just so hard! There were a couple things that we already learned, but the rest of it was new to me. I also had a shadow, so that was pretty boring for her to sit through. I felt pretty bad about that, because basically all my classes today were pretty boring, but whatever. It was also black and gold day and we had the pep rally which was REALLY fun. The freshmen class needs some more spirit though I must say!

Soda Pop

Today in Human Geo, we got our POPulation Quizes back. After we got them back and went over them, we took some notes on cultural differences. I learned that in different parts of the world, they use different words for what we call soda. On the east coast, people call it “soda”. In the northern part of America calls it “pop”. Lastly, in the south they call it “coke” because the brand Coke originated in Atlanta. Then we learned about culture and how they differ. There are three main points, but I can’t think of them right now. That’s basically all we did in Human Geo today. We don’t have class tomorrow because of PSATs! 

Quiz Day

Today in Human Geo, we took a quiz. I did not know about this, so when he told us I was pretty shocked. I think I did pretty well though, because we reviewed right before. I may have gotten a couple wrong, but on the most part I think I did really well. After that, we just kind of hung out and socialized with each other. Laura and Mr. Schick got into an argument about marrying horses again, which was pretty entertaining. Other than that, we didn't do all that much.

Population Pyramids Yet Again

In the beginning of Human Geo, we got out test back on the “God Grew Tired of Us” documentary. After we got the test back, we went over all of the answers. Mr. Schick put it one really hard question, that not one person got correct in the whole class. I thought that was pretty unfair. After that, we went over population pyramids again. Mr. Schick asked us some pretty hard questions about why the population was how it was in certain pyramids. It was pretty hard, but the class figured out the majority of them. Overall, we didn’t learn too much in the class, because we took a lot of time reviewing the test.

Happy Birthday Angela

Today in Human Geo, we took a test on the documentary, “God Grew Tired of Us.” It wasn’t too hard.  We also sang “Happy Birthday” to one of my classmates, Angela. She brought in munchkins from dunkin’ donuts, so that was pretty cool. Then, we started to take notes on Population Pyramids.

Population pyramids- analyze growth (or decline) of fertility, morality, and migration in cities.

Men are on the left of the pyramid, and women are on the right.

The pyramid basically shows the percentage of population per age, for males and females.

The pyramid is broken up into three sections:

1.      0-20: kiddos

2.      21-64: economically active

3.      65-80+: the oldies

There are three basic pyramid shapes:

1.      The X-mas tree

a.       Developing nations

b.      Slow growth rate

c.       High birth rate

d.      Short life expectancy

2.      The Box

a.       Developed nations (slow growth)

b.      Low infant mortality

c.       Slow population growth

d.      Long life expectancy

3.      The Cup

a.       Developed nation (negative growth)

The end for the Lost Boys

Today in Human Geo class, we finished “God Grew Tired of Us.” I really enjoyed this documentary. It really made me think about how it is in other countries. As we finished the movie, there was a part where John and his mother finally got to see each other. It was 17 years since they had last seen each other. When John Dau arrived at the airport and saw his mother, he was so overjoyed. They both cried in happiness that they finally got to see each other again. John’s mom was so happy that she went throughout the airport singing an African celebration song. I can’t imagine how awesome it must have felt to see your parents after 17 years of never seeing them. At the end of the movie, it said where the Daniel, Panther, and John have gone with their lives. Panther returned to America got married, got his bachelor’s degree in economics at the University of Pittsburg, and he is planning on opening a school in Africa. John got a bachelor’s degree at Syracuse, started a non-profit foundation, found his mother, and is planning on building a medical clinic in his home town. Daniel on the other hand was not as lucky. He is still in America and continue to live in Pittsburg Job Corps and is taking clad at a community college. He has not located any family members. 

Lost Boys

Today in Human Geography, we watched more of the movie. We were so close to being the 4,000^th like on the John Dau Foundation. I’m not really feeling the blog today. I was really hoping one person in my class would get the signed copy of the movie. A couple people didn’t like the page, so that weakened our chances of getting it. I was pretty angry that we have to blog tonight, I’m not going to lie. I’m glad the weekend is finally here, and there is no more school until Monday. In the movie, John set up a lost boy’s reunion, where they got to see some of their old friends which they haven’t seen in years. Also, some of them set up a peace walk to raise awareness for what is going on in Sudan.

4,000th Like!

Today in Human Geography, we continued to watch “God Grew Tired of Us.” We learned that John Bul Dau got two jobs. One as a factory worker and the other was fry cook at McDonald’s flipping burgers. Daniel, became a worker at a bank. Lastly, Panther got a job at a very nice restaurant as a bus boy. The finally seemed to be getting used to the American culture. After several years of John trying to hunt down his family, he finally got a letter from them. They are in a refugee camp in Uganda, but they aren’t doing very well. They are diseased. So with John being the good Christian he is steps in to help his family. The last thing we did was checked out John Bul Dau’s facebook page. We found out that the 4,000^th like of the John Bul Dau Foundation page got a free, signed copy of “God Grew Tired of Us.” Mr. Schick said if we happen to get the 4,000^th like, we don’t have to blog one night! Hopefully someone gets it.

A New Beginning

Today in Human Geo, we continued to watch “God Grew Tired of Us.” Some of the lost boys got the opportunity to go to America. Daniel, Panther, and John Bul, along with a couple others, got on a plane and ventured over to America. It was really funny how people from developing countries aren’t used to living like we do. Like on the plane, they were eating soap and butter plain, because they didn’t know that it was wrong. I can’t imagine not living the way I do today. I can’t imagine not knowing if I am going to have a meal one night, or maybe even a place to sleep. It’s crazy to think about how that Muslims did an ethnic cleansing on the Sudanese. They basically drove out all of the people in the country who were not Muslim. Leaving them with only Muslims in the country. It really makes me crazy how some countries can have so many things, but others have such little.