All about India

Food:

One of the things that I was interested in learning about India was their food. I found that they use a lot of spices that I've never even heard of such as ajowan, cardamom, garam masala, and panch phoron. Same however are the same spices we use. Such as mustard, lemon juice, garlic paste, chili powder, and even just melted butter. Things such as ice cream, they make themselves. Their cooking utensils are different than ours. For instance they have something called a Tandoori or Tandoor, which is their oven. It gets up to 800 degrees inside it. It's barrel shaped, has a clay interior, and is heated by coals. Their foods are usually spicier than ours.

Dance:

They look at dance as an art form. They have a lot of history behind their dance. Dance is a large part of their lives over in India and they have many dance festivals such as the Dover Lane Festival which is a 6 day festival dedicated to Indian classical music. The Taj Mohatsav music festival lasts 10 days and is dedicated to cultural heritage of Uttar Pradesh. This festival is one of the most cherished festivals in India. Most classical dance forms in India are based off of the nine rasas or emotions. The nine emotions are happiness, anger, wonder, disgust, fear, sorrow, courage, compassion, and serenity. Their dance attire is usually very bright colored and they wear lots of jewelry while dancing. The cloth that they wear is only tight around their waist and is loose and flowing everywhere else. They often wear head bands or head garments of some sort.

India free write

Hmm what comes to my mind about India?? Not a whole lot. I really don't know anything about the place. I know the people that live in India are called Indians. I saw on Iron Chef America a cook that was from India and he made some really delecious looking food. I would like to try some Indian food. I'm pretty sure it's pretty different from our American food but different isn't always bad. I would like to learn about more of Indian culture and ways of life because I honestly know nothing about it! India is quite a ways a way from little Big T Montana I know that much. I don't know if it's dirty or clean over there in the country of India. If it's dirty I don't want to visit it. If it's clean I probably would visit just to see how different it is over there than what I'm use to over here. I've never been out of America and although when I think of traveling India isn't what pops into my head, I think it would still be cool to go see. I wonder what their houses look like over there. Or what kind of clothing the women where. Even what their schooling is like. Is it completely different than ours in America?? I guess I'll find out when I research it here in a minute.

Middle East Background

In this site I learned many things about the Hamsa which is a Middle Eastern symbol of protection against the evil eye. To learn more about the Hamsa and other middle east traditions go to the website below and search middle east.

http://www.bellaonline.com/

The middle east has many different kinds of food than what we are accustomed to here in the U.S. To print off recipes, watch cooking videos, see photos, and just learn more about their food click below.

http://mideastfood.about.com/

How they dress in the middle east is much different than how we dress. They have everyday dress codes and don't wear jeans and a t shirt. To learn more about the dress in middle east go to http://associatedcontent.com/ and search for dress code in middle east.

Small decision, big turnout.

A time when something at the time seemed so little and insignificant but later had a huge impact on my life would be when we lived in Polson, Mt and my dad got a job over here in Big Timber. He came over here to help finish the post office that was being built. He wanted to get it done sooner than later so he could come back home to us and so he took my brother with him to work in Big Timber. It was kind of nice for just my mom, my siter, and I to just hang out for a few weeks by ourselves. Girls night every night!
After about three weeks we all missed each other very much so us girls decided to go over to Big Timber to visit my dad and my brother. We stayed for about a week and I specifically remember the day before we left. All of us were standing outside talking and I remember I kept running off playing. When I went to go tell my mom that I was hungry, the four off them were having a serious conversation. One i knew to not interrupt. So i stood by my mom waiting for her to finish talking. Than I heard those words. "Yeah I agree. I really like it and so do the kids. We'll go back next week and start packing". My heart dropped. I knew immediately what she was talking about. Moving, away from my friends and family to this tiny little town of Big Timber. I immediately started to cry. But it was to late, the decision everyone but me had agreed on was already made. We were moving to Big timber by the end of the month.
I never thought something so common like my did getting a job in another town would have such a huge affect on my life. Ive now lived in Big Timber ever since we moved here that summer of 2001 and I couldn't be happier. I know everything I'm going through and all the great things Ive been through wouldn't have been possible if my dad hadn't made that little decision to take the job over here building the new post office.

Achebe Final Writing

The question on wether or not he is a defiant hero or a victim isn't a simple black and white question in my eyes. In many ways that were stated in the first part of the story it makes me think that he wasn't much of a hero. The fact that he beat his wives numerous times, even during the week of peace. He never showed any emotion on the outside besides anger. He would beat his own sons if he thought they became weak. However, there were also times when it appeared as though he was a hero. He was the toughest man in all of the village and had won more fights than any man. He deep down did care about his wives and children and that was shown when he followed his wife and daughter into the forest that one night. He wanted to be great at everything he did and that is most definitely not a bad thing.

I think that it was sad when he came home after those seven years to find that his village was nothing likel he had left it. The white man had started taking over and by this point was doing a very good job. He was suprised though because most of the village people were willing to change and wanted to adapt to this new way of life. Although this was all sad, sad enough that he killed himself, that doesn't mean he was a victim. He was just in a hard spot and yes I felt bad for him but I do not beleive he was a victim. So in my eyes Okonkwo was a defiant hero and shouldve been remembered as one.

My blog about Africa and its background

During my searching for different background information on Africa, I came to realize you could search for hours and hours and never find everything there is to know about Africa. Here are just a few of the things I found during my search that I thought were interesting.

There are over 26 different groups of people and tribes living in Africa. Each tribe has its own culture and own way of doing things. One of the tribes named Anlo-ewe, has been settled in Africa since 1474 after they escaped their past home, Notsie. Other tribes however such as the Ashanti tribe have only been settled in Africa for 50 years.

There are many different kinds of culture among all these tribes. Song and dance are very important and are a large part of these tribes lives. Dance is the main way of communication among most tribes. Sub-Saharan Africans use many different musical instruments during their festivities. Here is just a few out of the many instruments I found; rattles, bells, the mbira(thumb piano), bamboo flutes, horns made from elephant tusks, and trumpets. During dance they use lots of gestures, props, mimes, masks, costumes, and body painting.