11/24

The movie "Slum dog Millionaire" is in my opinion getting more and more complicated. When the two brothers escape with Latika, they find a hotel sort of room to stay in. The older brother Samal goes to meet his future boss who then hires him to do whatever he needs. When Samal goes back to their place, he begins to tell Latika and Jamal that he is the boss of them. Jamal is then kicked out because his brother Samal wants to keep all the money he can make off of Latika, but not with out a fight. Samal even puts a gun to his head but Latika pulls down the gun and tells Jamal to go. Jamal never gave up on Latika and actually finds her, but she is still under the ruling of Samal's boss. When he meets her, he tells her the time and place to meet him. She actually goes but is caught and is violently taken to a car. Jamal also meets his brother but is not happy to see him. There has been two questions (I think) during this period in the movie. The first one he answered was easy for him, but the second one was hard. He had the opportunity to take the money and run but he decided to go on with the next question. In between breaks of the gameshow, the host talks to Jamal and tells him that he is the only other one who has gotten as far as him and they he has faith that he will win. Jamal confesses that he doesn't know the answer. When the host leaves and Jamal goes up to the sink, a "B" is left, but when he goes back on the show he chooses a lifeline so two of the four answers are deleted. The one the host told him and another one were left. We are left to believe that Jamal did not trust him so he chose the other one which he got correct. The host was trying to trick him so that he wouldn't win, but he did not fall for it and is still in the game.

11/21

Differences between the American Culture and the Slum Indian Culture

• Even the worst of the homeless and unfortunate in America is nothing compared to the slums in India
• Most people in the USA take for granted indoor plumbing, a house to live in, and good food to eat
• In Harford County, I rarely see any homeless people but in Mumbai there are homeless people every where and even if they aren't homeless, they are extremely poor with unhealthy living conditions
• In Mumbai, the water they use to bathe, wash clothes, and even to drink (in this specific part) is right next to an open sewer
• In the USA, we have very good water and public/personal wells with purified water
• Our police treat us with respect and protect us when we are in danger
• The police in the slums of Mumbai are mean and basically mock and make fun of the people instead of protecting them

In the part of the movie we watched today, the two brothers escaped away front their town. When they left, they didn't know where to go. They ended up staying under a small tent and it was raining. They asked a girl to come stay and travel with them. (She escaped their town also) They, "the three musketeers," went to a children place, but went to a special house, soon realized when one man blinded a child, they needed to escape. When they were running away, the two brothers got on the train but the girl didn't make it. Eventually, after riding trains for awhile, they found themselves at the world famous Taj Mahal. They gave fake tours and stole shoes. They got away with it for awhile but got caught which in my opinion, scared them away from continuing. The older brother always told his younger brother to forget about their third musketeer "Latika," but he was determined. Through reconnecting to their friend, the one that was blinded, they found out where she was. When they went to save her, the men, threatened them but the older brother had a gun, so as you can guess, was no match for the boys and their escape plan. These are all flashbacks the boy had when he was on the show. So far, he has gotten all the questions correct. As I said in my previous blog, he knows all the answers from his life experiences.

Slumdog Millionare

"Slumdog Millionaire" describes and focuses on the slums in a largely populated city in India called Mumbai. The main character is on a gameshow where he answers questions about the Indian culture. The first scene is of a man hitting the main character to try and get the answer of how he managed to get the answers correctly that lawyers and doctors cannot even answer correctly, which later leads to even more torturing such as electrifying and drowning him. The people, which I'm guessing to be police or government workers, think he must have cheated because he lives in the slums and has had little education. What they don't know is that the main character learned these answers from his childhood experience and his time in the slums. When he was answering the questions, he thought back to his childhood living in the horrible and extremely unhealthy conditions in the slums of Mumbai. There is trash everywhere and the houses are about the size of a modern day bathroom. The "houses" were just big enough to live in and eat in. The bathrooms were basically outhouses with a hole that led to an open sewer. The living conditions were honestly just horrible. Not only were the living conditions awful, but both the Muslims and Hindus were constantly fighting. One scene in the movies shows one of the groups came with people coming in to other groups town by the train full. The two boys ran away and were escaping the local terrorists that were torturing the people in their town. I cannot even imagine what will happen next in this movie.

11/19

Today in Human Geo, Mr. Schick was not here so our substitute told us to check Mr. Schick's website for our work. I finished that last week but I forgot to add the artists for each of the songs so I had to do that. After I finished that, I started on my Spanish homework. I had some trouble so I asked McKenna to help me with it. By the time I finished my Spanish it was time to leave. I'm guessing 150 words for this blog is not necessary considering we had a substitute and everyone was finishing their Human Geo work or was just doing other homework.

11/17

Today in Human Geo we mostly took notes. It was rainy and and everyone seemed tired so the class was kind of dull. I saw my grade on the first part of the test and wasn't very satisfied. The grade I received wasn't bad but it was not my best and I would have liked to have done a better job. I'm not sure what happened because I studied a ton. I am going to try to get a better grade next time and work harder. The first thing we saw on the board was a chart displaying the different general names "carbonated beverages" are called in the United States specified into counties. When we finished going over the chart, we started taking notes on Cultural Geography. Here are the notes I took today:

Cultural Geography

Cultural Characteristics are parts of a group's everyday life. They are the ideas and themes which the group will teach to all members. These same characteristics can also link or divide a region.

Some examples of cultural characteristics would be language, religion, and ethnic heritage.

11/14 National Anthem in Germany

Today in Human Geo, we were told to find songs about moving away from your home country or about deciding to stay in your country, but if we did already did that, then we should find the National Anthem for the country that we did for our presentations. I already did the first one, which I will include in this blog, so I looked up Germany's National Anthem and the English translation and found  it pretty quick.

First Blog Songs

-(I Will Remember You - Sara Mclachlan) 

-(Leaving Home Ain't Easy - Queen) 

-(Home - Chris Daughtry)
-(Come Sail Away - Styx)
-(Across the Universe - The Beatles) 

Here is a link to the German National Anthem: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhQwLeMcbRY

Here is the lyrics to the German National Anthem in German and English:

Deutschland, Deutschland über alles,	Germany, Germany above all,
Über alles in der Welt,	Above everything in the world,
Wenn es stets zu Schutz und Trutze	When always, for protection,
Brüderlich zusammenhält,	We stand together as brothers.
Von der Maas bis an die Memel,	From the Maas to the Memel
Von der Etsch bis an den Belt -	From the Etsch to the Belt -
Deutschland, Deutschland über alles,	Germany, Germany above all
Über alles in der Welt.	Above all in the world.
Deutsche Frauen, deutsche Treue,	German women, German loyalty,
Deutscher Wein und deutscher Sang	German wine and German song,
Sollen in der Welt behalten	Shall retain in the world,
Ihren alten schönen Klang,	Their old lovely ring
Uns zu edler Tat begeistern	To inspire us to noble deeds
Unser ganzes Leben lang.	Our whole life long.
Deutsche Frauen, deutsche Treue,	German women, German loyalty,
Deutscher Wein und deutscher Sang	German wine and German song.
Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit	Unity and law and freedom
für das deutsche Vaterland!	For the German Fatherland
Danach lasst uns alle streben	Let us all strive for that
Brüderlich mit Herz und Hand!	In brotherhood with heart and hand!
Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit	Unity and law and freedom
Sind des Glückes Unterpfand;	Are the foundation for happiness
Blüh' im Glanze dieses Glückes,	Bloom in the glow of happiness
Blühe, deutsches Vaterland.	Bloom, German Fatherland.
Deutschland, Deutschland über alles,*	Germany, Germany above all*
Und im Unglück nun erst recht.	And in misfortune all the more.
Nur im Unglück kann die Liebe	Only in misfortune can love
Zeigen, ob sie stark und echt.	Show if it's strong and true.
Und so soll es weiterklingen	And so it should ring out
Von Geschlechte zu Geschlecht:	From generation to generation:
Deutschland, Deutschland über alles,	Germany, Germany above all,
Und im Unglück nun erst recht.	And in misfortune all the more.   *The fourth verse was written by Albert Matthäi during the French occupation of the Ruhr region in 1923. It is not part of the anthem today. Since 1952, only the third (“Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit”) verse has been the official anthem. (As said where lyrics were found: http://german.about.com/library/blmus_deutschland.htm) This anthem sounds old and very opera-esque.

11/13 Test

Today in Human Geo we took our test. This test, in my opinion was the hardest was probably the hardest test we have taken in this class so far. I know I got the top part where the questions about the leaders right but I'm not sure about the other multiple choice questions. Some of them confused me but over all I think I hopefully did okay, definitely not my best though. Its not that I didn't study, because I did, for around two hours which may sound extreme but I really wanted to do well. I hope all of my studying paid off. I even studied on my off mods to help me remember some quick facts before the test. I am glad it is over but now I'm worried about how I did. I think I did well also on the essay question because I put a lot of thought into it. My essay took up almost the entire writing space! I was worried all throughout the day so now I don't have to worry much anymore because I only have one last test which is tomorrow in English and I don't think it will be too hard!

11/12

Today in Human Geo there was suppose to be a test but didn't because of problems with the study guide. On the study guide, there were links that had the power points that our class did not do. The links were kind of useless considering they were not open to the public, just the one who created it and their partner. A couple other students and I emailed Mr. Schick explaining our problem so he emailed us back saying the test wouldn't be tomorrow (today) and to try to spread the word. After we were told the same thing in class, I made a study cards on Quizlet. I am glad the test wasn't today because I didn't feel very confident in the information even though I studied. I know all of the leaders fairly well but knowing which type of government each country is is my biggest problem. I will study tonight and hopefully get a really good grade on the test tomorrow.

11/10

Today in Human Geo, we didn't do too much, but this class was still interesting. Our test will be on Wednesday and Mr. Schick will post a study guide tonight or tomorrow. This test is already stressing me out (what else is new?) because of my other tests I have on the same day and this week. The test will be on the twelve (thirteen if US is counted) countries the test will be on. After I heard information about the test and heard a ton of "good news and bad news", I listened to Reese rant to Mr. Schick about Obama and other government topics. Then Reese pulled up a desk next to Mr. Schick and basically had a full out conversation with him.

11/7

Today in Human Geo, we presented more countries presentations.

Brazil
Federal Republic since 1988
President Dilma Rousseff
36th president
First elected in 2010
Re-elected in 2014
Chief of state before she was president
Expected to stay in office for the next 4 years
She only won the last election by 3.27%
Can re-elect a new leader at the next election
Can impeach her (has to have an impeachable offense, not just because people don't agree with her)
Some impeachable offenses: Major crime, war crimes, takes someone out of office without getting others agreement)
Assassination (but not likely)

Canada
Parliamentary Democracy
Prime Minister Stephen Harper
Canada is a federation of ten provinces and three territories
Has been a constitution monarchy since April 17, 1882
There was a period of time where Britain owned Canada
Stephen Harper has been in power for eight years
Expected that Stephen Harper will be in power until 2015
Impeachment is legal and possible

11/6

Today in Human Geo, we presented more presentations and here are the notes I wrote down from it.

Russia
Federal presidential Republic
Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin
Government started in 1991

Vladimir Putin
President since 2000-2008
Took office again on May 7, 2012

Dmitry Medvedev
10 Prime Minister of Russia
Was president from 2008-2012

Government Responsibilities
Ensure the implementation of a uniform state policy in the areas of culture (What makes the United States and Russia different)

Ways to get rid of the leader
Overthrow the leader
Start a revolution
Impeachment
Protest
Vote a third party candidate
Assassination

Syria
Republic under Baschar al-assad
President Baschar term's are 7 year long and has served 2 so far
Elections are rigged

Republic in Syria
Baschar has been the leader since 2000
No other way besides assassination to get rid of him
He will kill anyone who protests because he uses violence to solve his problems
Expected to stay the leader for a while

Japan
Parliamentary Government and a Constitutional Monarchy
Emperor Akihito and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
Prime Minister has the most power
Emperor Akihito has been on the throne since 1989
Akihito is the world's only monarch with the title "Emperor"
Shinzo Abe was Japan's first Prime Minister
Akihito got power after his fathers death
All men and women who have reached the age of 20 have the right to vote
Petition to have a leader thrown out

11/5

In Human Geo today, we presented our country presentations. McKenna and I went first so we could get it out of the way. Here are the notes I took from the presentations that were presented today.
France
Republic Government

They have had a Monarchy with a King and Queen until 1792. However, in 1789 the French Revolution made the King give his powers up, and they officially became a Republic.

Francois Hollande has been in office since May 15 2012.
Has a 5 year term
In his 2nd term
When he fired a polition, his votes suffered greatly.

The current Constitution of France, adopted by referendum in October 1958, establishes the country as secular and democratic, with its sovereignty derived from the people.
Impeachment has only been allowed in France since 2002.

The president used to be able to serve a 7b year term. Now they can only serve 5 years since 2000. They changed to five years so more people would vote. It can also increases the amount of times a person can vote

USA
Barack Obama
In his last term
Impeachment is legal.
Revolution is possible.
Two terms are allowed for a single president.

Impeachable Offences.
Treason
Bribery
High crimes

After the House of Representatives impeached, the Senate tries the accused and is sworn in.
If Convition by the senate, leader is immediately removed

The only president impeached was Andrew Johnson. (Feb 24, 1868)
We have a Federal Republic
We are democratic but mostly Republic
Majorities vote
Every 6 years, a new governor is elected.

11/2

Today in Human Geo we were going to do our presentations, but Mr. Schick decided to give us another day to work on them which actually means two days because we don't have class tomorrow. Before it was said that we would not be doing them today, I told Mckenna that we should go first so that we would not have to worry about it another day. I am extremely stressed with homework tonight so I started to work on English because Mckenna and I were basically finished our project with just a few critiques to fix. The English homework is a web quest on Shakespeare. I thought it might be somewhat easy, but it turned out to be extremely difficult. The website I was directed to, seemed to not have any answers I actually needed. Google was not much help either. I'm glad our presentation is finished so I have time to work on other homework and protects.