Winter Storms Here, Spring Festivals There

I cannot believe I did not know that the Spring Festival is the equivalent of the Chinese New Year. Anyways, one of my autobiographies, Elaine, discussed this Spring Festival.  I had no idea what it was but it sounded fun and important.

Everyone would cook some delicious traditional dishes such as dumplings.  Also red paper bags of candies and money would be passed around as gifts.  Chinese students also get a break from school for this.  It's basically like our "winter break" except it is called a Spring Festival.  Families also do a huge house cleaning and purchase brand new clothes, especially for the children.

This seemed like a great topic to research because I love learning about other culture's traditions.  Instead of focusing on sad topics and struggles, why not try to find something positive and interesting in another country?

Anyways, the Spring Festival is mostly known for its' rush because millions of people migrate to celebrate it with friends and family.  Taking trains are strongly not advised and to never trust the "kind-hearted" vendors.  Also it is forewarned to wear warm clothes because it is cold in China and if you do have to take a train, you should get there an hour before departure and wait there with no heat/air conditioning! Yikes! Though, it is pretty nice to be upfront about these kinds of things.



The Chinese Spring Festival is the most important celebration in China because it celebrates family reunions by colorful and rich activities, also to increase the hopes of spring and flowers blossoming.  This festival starts 7 days before the years ends, and ends on the 15th of the first new month, aka the Lantern Festival.  This festival is almost as important because people watch lanterns and every household eats yuanxiao (a rice ball stuffed with different fillings).


Sources:
1) Autobiography from Elaine
2) http://www.travelchinaguide.com/essential/holidays/spring-festival.htm
3) http://www.travelchinaguide.com/china-trains/spring-festival-rush.htm

I must experience this in my life, added to the bucket list!

Global Perspectives

Poverty Utopia Panel
     There were multiple speakers come to speak about raising awareness for polio/hunger locally/globally.
     They did something I was really focused on earlier in the project, and that was rewarding those who give back. Not only that, but they rewarded people with a free concert that raised awareness for polio and hunger because they think we can "end extreme poverty by 2030." Some of the bands they had perform were The Black Keys, Band of Horses, Foo Fighters, etc.---all of who I really love. I want to look further into this program and see if I can get involved in any way. Something else they said that stuck with me was "Think globally, act locally." You can't start out by changing everyone's lives, but you can change one person's who will end up changing five other people and so on.


The One Who Builds Documentary
     This documentary was very inspiring and I was really glad it gave us a positive aspect of refugee's lives coming to a whole new country. I had no idea programs like this existed and I would definitely love to work in Dr. Omer's office someday. I think what he does is so helpful, especially knowing refugees myself and understanding the struggles they go through with having to come to live in a different culture with different languages and standards. This was my favorite part of the day and I definitely would recommend anyone to watch it if possible.


Internet Shrinks the World Panel
     This panel was honestly hard to follow in the beginning but they did mention some pretty nice insight on Pizza Hut and Amazon. Such as trying to keep a business relevant, and how hard it is to change/expand the brand once you're on the Internet. They basically said "evolve or die." Which is true, if you can't keep up with the ever-so-changing technology and social media sites, people will forget about you.
     They also brought up this great story about an all digital library opening up in a small town in Texas. They opened it where the area had low literacy rates and very little Wi-Fi resources. I thought this was weird because how useful would that be in an area like that? But they mentioned something that I had not thought about before; this library is used to provide expansion and connections. I thought this was genius and I would love to see more digital libraries open up in rural areas that need it the most.


Overall, all of these panels had something common in my eyes: Start locally to connect globally. Start in your town to end hunger and raise awareness of those struggling and to get them connected. To raise awareness, get it viral online, because that can be seen within someone's fingertips in today's society. After getting to go on this trip, I definitely want to get involved with a non-profit organization as I get older.

Reading Response: The Fault in Our Stars

~This reading response is being used as a makeup for a writer's notebooks I have not done.~

Honestly, I did not understand all the hype about this book, just like many other books such as The Hunger Games. But, after being able to obtain the book thanks to my dear friend for letting me borrow it, I fell in love with this book.

I have never been so into a book in my life before, and I ended up finishing the whole thing in two days! (This may not seem like a big deal to you, but it is a huge accomplishment to me.)

I think I will ramble on about how the book has affected me and then I will actually talk about the book (with spoilers) in a different reading response.

     Ms. James always encouraged us to read more because that will help improve our writing...I seriously had a hard time believing that to be true. Mostly because I am a slow reader and have trouble with finding time to get a good book to read. After being given TFiOS, and devouring the emotions and feelings of the book word for word, I found myself writing and even thinking like John Green. It was pretty scary, but I was totally okay with that.

     It was weird being able to connect with a cancer patient like Hazel Grace, but we had the same thought process.  She has lung cancer and has to be hooked up to a machine to help her breathe 24/7. She ends up meeting this cute guy named Augustus Waters and he has cigarettes that he just keeps in his mouth but not light up. He basically reassures Hazel that it is a metaphor saying "And I've never lit one. It's a metaphor, see: You put the killing thing right between your teeth, but you don't give it the power to do its killing."

     Hazel viewed him disappointingly because she cannot stand people that smoke to ruin their lungs when she does not get the chance to have good lungs. I am on the same page as her---having really bad asthma myself and being transported in and out of the ER for most of my childhood, I do not understand why people would ruin their perfectly fine lungs when some of us are already stuck with bad ones.

I just really fell in love with this book and I highly recommend it to anyone wanting to read a new good book that will sink them into the plot.


The Theme Song of this Reading Response is:
Ski Lodge - Anything To Hurt You