Geogrpahy of Glaciers

Glaciers throughout the world

This past summer our family took a cruise to Alaska. This was a very cool experience and I got to not only learn about Geography but also learn about a new environment that I had never seen before. I was able to also get to see with my own eyes and up close several glaciers. Our cruise ship got to see a fjord that no other cruise ships have been able to get clearance for in Alaska. I have posted a few pictures of the glaciers from this fjord we got to see.

I remember waking up really early one morning to see these glaciers. The glaciers were very cold but breath takingly gorgeous. Our grandparents had a balcony off their room that was located on the back of the boat. This room made our glacier viewing experience even better because we didn’t have to fight for room with all the other cruise ship members on the top deck. From this view, we got to take lots of pictures.

This cruise allowed me to see glaciers with my own eyes rather than seeing them in textbooks. They are so much better than pictures. Although pictures are beautiful it is not able to capture the temperature and the sounds around it. What made these glaciers so cool was the fact that we got to hear the calving. Calving astounded me because just a tiny piece of ice, made such a loud noise in the water.

It was also cool because a small boat came out of the cruise ship and went to pick a piece of the floating glacier and ice caps from the water and brought it to the top deck so we could feel and see the pieces up close. Also it was really cool to be able to experience the wild life of seals and whales that had inhabited the glaciers.

Posted on this blog along with pictures from our trip, is a map of where different glaciers are located in the world. I had not stopped to think about how many truly beautiful glaciers there are in the world, until I saw this map.

Glaciers are a very beautiful sight and I would encourage anyone to see them if they get the chance. Glaciers are placed throughout the world and are geographically located among many different countries.

Learning Geography Of Names

After searching this website with several names, I learned a lot and found many interesting things. My name is uniquely spelled and I only know of two people in the United States that share the same similar spelling of my name.

My parents picked this name because it is Irish and I was born two days before St. Patrick’s Day. I was also told that my name means dark hair and I got this name because I was born with a full head of black hair. Up until this point, that was the extent of the knowledge I had know about my name. This website expanded my knowledge and allowed me to learn new things about my name.

I also learned from this website that I my name is rooted in the African culture group and derives from the Yoruba language. I have never even heard of the Yoruba language. I did some research on this language and this language is a dialect continuum of West Africa. This language has over 25 million speakers and is spoken among other languages.

Carrie is a very common name but there are many different ways to spell it. I grew up in grade school with three Carries and we all spelled it a different way. Also since I have only have heard of two people who spell my name the way I do, there must not be many Kerri’s in the United States. After researching this website, that idea was confirmed. The United States only has a 0.14 FPM for the name Kerri. The top country for the spelling Kerri is Luxembourg followed by France, Italy, and the United Kingdom. Also the top city with the name Kerri is in Canada.

This website gave me hope that other than the famous gymnast Kerri Strug, there are other people out in the world who share the spelling of Kerri as their name. This website was really interesting and it allowed me to learn a lot more about my name.

Press Restrictions

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxymwN7nYQQ

This is a link to the youtube video of an episode of Sponge Bob square pants in China. After watching this clip I can see how the government controls the press even the cartoon episodes within the country.

After watching this video, you can see how this cartoon varies between the Untied States and China. You can also see the differences in Geography and how cartoons are ran without any press controls. The episode that I posted on this blog entry, Sponge Bob yells at Patrick for taking the day off. This episode tells Chinese citizen that the government needs citizens to work everyday. The government uses these episodes to practically condition citizens from even a young age to act certain way in life.

This episode also explained differences in Geography. In this episode, Sponge Bob wore black hair and they created him to look the like the citizens of China. Also they have made Sponge Bob’s house more like Chinese style living too. In the first part of the episode, Sponge Bob’s house is decorated with a Chinese calendar. Sponge Bob also lives in a Chinese take out carton instead of a pineapple like in the United States.

You can also tell the press restrictions, Chinese government places on press. The honorable governor of China even speaks in the first part of the episodes. Sponge Bob even has a different accent in China than he does in the United States’s episodes.
Another difference that was noted in Geography was heard through the types of music they play on the episodes.

Sponge Bob is called Sponge Bob comrade on this episode as well, meaning that government even controls his name along with the things they are condition citizen who watch this episode.

Not only are they conditioning citizens too but they also are stereotyping Americans. In this episode, they tell citizens they need to work so that they can supply goods and products to America to companies like Walmart. This episode also shows they Chinese military combats that are the ones controlling their society.

It also emphasizes their one child policy. This was shown through Sponge Bob's calendar when Saturday, said "Don't have babies day!" A lot of what we have been talking about in class was shown in this episode. Not only does these episode condition citizens through their press restrictions in China, but also shows the difference in Geography.

Varied Foods Around The World!

Trying Lobster For The First Time!

How Americans Love Their McDonalds and Coffee Drinks!

Different liking of foods varies from region to region and very much depends on culture. There are many animals that we take for granted that are considered privileges in other countries, and on the other hand other animals we would never think about eating like they do in other countries. For example, in America we attempt to kill all the ants we can since they are unwelcome in our society, but in other countries it is a very big privilege to eat ants. All these foods depend on what our parents and society around us have taught us through culture.

Through globalization and travels, other countries around the world will be able to come into contact and experience tasting of new foods. As globalization spreads also will different restaurants and food preference will be shared with many new cultures. Even in America, do we have varied foods across the states. For example, you can’t buy cheesy toasted ravioli hardly anywhere but St.Louis. When we had some friends move away and we had to mail them shipments of it because they couldn’t buy it in Florida.

The atmosphere and climate also have an impact on the foods we eat and the types of crops that grow best in the suitable weather or the distance they are from the ocean . Although America prefers their fast food restaurants, many other countries specialize in other areas which I have learned through many trips out of the country.

Although I’m a picky eater, every time we have been out of the country my parents makes us try a new food that the country we are visiting are known for throughout the world. Even though I thought eating snails called escargot in Paris was strange and unthinkable, I loved them! Now any chance we get I try to eat it.

When we traveled to London, we were able to try their fish-in-chips, which was a popular local food. Other travels on cruises have allowed us to try different types of seafood such as salmon and shrimp. Although those may be common foods, putting seafood in seaweed and rice called sushi may be weird to some people. I, however, really enjoy certain types of sushi.

While fish is common, calamari or squid, may never want to be tried. I refused to try calamari until my parents tricked me into telling me it was chicken. Through this lesson I have learned that regardless of the name or animal, we should try it. Although you may not care for it, other types of food you may love. Although our culture does not care for the food, when traveling eating the local food is one of the best ways to learn of their region and to get an accurate picture.

Just over this past weekend, I went to Colorado for Easter break. Easter dinner included lamb and herbs made out of dandelions. Although I thought I could never eat lamb or never thought of eating dandelions, I grew to like lamb. I did not care for the bitter herbs of dandelions that they put on the bread without yeast though.

Not only does culture and traveling have a huge impact on the foods we consume, we must keep an open mind. Just as my grandma says, you must try the food while asking if we want a little or a lot when it comes to food amounts that are placed on your plate. We must be open minded and willing to try new things so we can expand our horizons and get to know other cultures around the world.

The G-20 just met recently and is very important in terms of human relations with other countries around the world. Posted on this blog are several pictures from the Summit as well. I think that pictures can tell us a lot about the meeting and it is also interesting to see how many different cultures and countries are represented at the summit. It is truly unique for all of these countries to be able to meet and yet alone communicate even though many countries speak different languages from the others. I also think that this summit is a good idea because it helps to build strong bonds through other countries leaders and also also them to meet and discuss important issues.

The G-20 includes finance ministers and central bank governors for 19 countries. These countries include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States of America. Also include is the European Union, which is represent by the Council presidency and the European Central Bank.

Veiwing the World in New Perspectives

My House

Nebraska's Irrigation

Australia and Antarctica

By viewing the world from different perspectives, it allows us to learn new things about the world. Posted in this blog are three images in which I discovered new things about the world around us. When we take time to look at situations, places, and experiences from new angles in life it allows us to step back and think of new things with new solutions to the problems. Google Earth is a great application that allows to easily fly around the world and see places from above that we may never be able to see in our lifetimes. Not only can we see new things, but also new angles and new directions.

The first image that I saved from Google Earth is my house in St. Louis Missouri. Based on this picture, you can see that my subdivision is right on the river. Although I can see the river when the trees lose their leaves in the fall, I never knew the shape that the river outlined. The river truly curves our subdivision and it allowed me to see things from above and to be able to put my house in perspective to how big the river is. Normally when we hike down to the river in the fall, you just think of the river as a straight line. From this Google Earth image, you can see that the river is very large and does not flow in a straight line but rather in a curve.

My neighbors also told me that before most of the other houses were built in our subdivision, the barge lights would hit their house every night as the river curved the bend. By viewing this picture from above, I’m now able to picture just how the lights could shine on my neighbor’s house.

The next image is taken from the area just outside of Seward, Nebraska. This image I just found fascinating. These images would not be able to be seen from land but can only be seen from this new perspective from above. From this bird’s eye view, so to speak, you are able to depict all the different patterns and how irrigation is such a big part of Nebraska.

The next image is of Australia and Antarctica. I have always known Australia to be very warm and sunny. From this Google Earth image, we are able to see that is very close to Antarctica where it is cold and snowy for the majority of the time. It is hard to imagine that they are so close together and just separated by an ocean but it affects so much of their climate.

From these three images and new angles, we can learn so much more about the world. These new angles allow us to learn new things. This application will allow us to enhance our understanding of Geography better.

Learning Geogrpahy Through The Multi-Media

The art of viewing movies helps us to be enlightened to the world around us and the events that are happening. Movies allow us to engage and expand our imagination along with experiencing new places that we may not be able to travel to in the world. Slumdog Millionaire allows us to see places, like India, in which most of us has never had the chance to travel to in our lifetimes. By seeing these movies, it also sparks our interest and excitement to travel. We are also not only able to see Geography, but experience daily life and people of that region.

Some movies do not accurately portray the region properly. Some movies make the regions look appealing to the movie audience, while there are few movies that portray the region in all aspects of daily life correctly.

Slumdog Millionaire portrays India as a very poor and rundown area. As they showed the cities from above, there were many poor houses all very close together. There were many people trying to live in any square foot of land they could. This region was very dirty and kids ran wild in the street. The area of India that the movie showed also showed the city very dirty. There was trash everywhere and the water was filthy. It looked like kids could die of infections from the unsanitary living conditions.

Not only did India have dirty and unsanitary living conditions, but also there was much violence in the town. Many citizens feared for their lives and families were broken apart. There was also much violence and people were treated as slaves and possessions. There was a very big gap between rich and poor. The rich had no respect for the poor. The rich took for granted the poor and used them as servants or for personal gain. Families were broken apart and even families were turned against each other.

The area was so poor that anyone would do anything for money. The movie even showed kids striving for money. They put money before their own personal safety. When the kids were giving tours, they did anything including going against morals such as lying to gain money. They even faced punishment and violence no matter what they did and risked it all in terms of money.

Violence also affected even the kids, and they were conditioned to love violence. The kids in the movie risked even their lives as they were captured and abused for a good meal and home. Kids were separated from their families at and early age and were forced to protect themselves and raise themselves. They fought for their own survival. Not only were they abused with violence but also they were forced to live in unsuitable living conditions.

Life in India was very risky and most citizens were forced to live one day at a time. No one knew if they would survive that day, but were forced to fight for survival amongst violence and dirty close living conditions.

This movie made me appreciate where we live in America. After seeing this movie, we forget even the little things in life we take for granted. This movie made me appreciate to live in safe environment where we are blessed to live in clean conditions with our families. We are blessed to not have to fear our life everyday.

After seeing this movie, it not only made me thankful for living in America but it also opens are eyes for life around us. This movie opens our eyes and encouraged me to help those who are less fortunate than us. God calls us to love our neighbors as ourselves, along with spreading the good news of His love.

This movie portrays life in India very accurately along with opening our eyes to Geography and the world around us. Movies cannot only be watched for enjoyment but also can be used as a learning lesson about the world and events around us.