Chinese Wedding Traditions Presentation

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1PZiRLxXTqJDFqrNHVzsWfpAdzNZuADcMeqQuBBtRXB8/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=20000&slide=id.g54377fae1_05

Pecha Kucha Review

                The presentation I listened to was titled, The World’s Best Cities When It Rains, by Jesper Larsson.  The presenter of this presentation did a very good job captivating the audience and keeping them interested until the very end. Larsson used a lot of humor in his slides and interesting pictures to go with it. I became interested from the first sentence, the presenter right off the bat was very loud and enthusiastic, it wasn’t at all what you were expecting from a presentation about rain.

                The presenter seemed to lose his excitement in a few places throughout the presentation, but managed to regain it and draw the audience back in. The presented talks a bit too quickly at times and stutters on a topic or two.  The images were pretty interesting, they gave different ideas then what the presenter was speaking about, but they all tied in very well.

                The presentation as a whole was very clever, the presenter clearly researched a lot of information and knew what they were talking about. I enjoyed he fact that the topic was tied very closely to the presenter’s home town.  I think Pecha Kucha isn’t as interesting as a normal presentation slide with bullets because the pictures can sometimes be somewhat distracting from what the presenter is actually speaking about. Yes, I think I will be able to fill the 10 slides with enough information. 

Chinese weddings, and traditions!

         When emailing my pen pal in China, she had informed me that she had just attended her cousins wedding. I was interested immediately and wanted to know more about their ceremonies. I also wanted to know if they had restrictions or rules for dating at certain ages. I was surprised with the answers I got. My pen pal, Erika informed me that it is highly frowned upon to date in high school and sometimes even in college. The parents and teachers think they should spend all their time studying and not look for someone to date until they have graduated and found a job. Her cousins wedding was very unique too.
       The tea ceremony caught my attention and I decided to research more about it. The tea ceremony is the most important part of the wedding. After the couple has settled into their house the morning of the wedding the couple will serve the grooms parents and grandparents first. This is considered an introduction of the bride to his family. The brides family is served later in the afternoon. It is also tradition for the tea to be served while the couple is kneeling. The tea is referred to as sweet tea, because the bride is supposed to be sweet. It is said that if lotus seeds and 2 red dates are added to the tea the couple will have children early and successfully in their marriage. Any additional helpers that aided in serving the tea or washing cups is given a red packet of money too.

       Erika explained that it is tradition to not let the groom see the bride very easily when he comes to pick her up, to where here it is bad luck for the bride and groom to see each other at all before the ceremony. After Erika and her family had finished getting the bride ready they locked the door and when the groom came they made him do a bunch of silly things before he could see her. He had to sing love songs and recite love poetry and even say his love vows. After this, the groom gave all the girls in the room red packets that had money in them and they all drove over to the bride and grooms new house. Once everyone arrived the bride and groom had to sit on their new bed, they called the room the bridal chamber and it had been decorated in all red. There were lots of fireworks outside and both sides of the new family were served tea by the new couple and had to eat small noodles and dumplings as a sign of harmony and love. When all of these traditions were complete everyone went to a hotel that had been reserved to host the banquet.
       Chinese weddings differ a lot from the traditional church weddings we have here. I am sure there are more traditions depending on families and location. It will be interesting to see how many more I can find.

Sources:
Erika, "Autobiography Correspondence" Message to Kara Brantley. 6 Nov.2014.Email.

Pelagia. "Autobiography Correspondence" Message to Kara Brantley. 10 Nov.2014.Email.

"Chinese Wedding Tea Ceremony-." Chinese Wedding Tea Ceremony. Chinese-Wedding-Guide.com,      n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2014.  
http://www.chinese-wedding-guide.com/tea-ceremony.html

Tzeses, Jennifer. "Tea for Two: The Chinese Wedding Tea Ceremony." Four Seasons. Four Seasons Magazine, n.d. Web. 10 Nov. 2014. 
 http://magazine.fourseasons.com/wedding-ideas/the-chinese-wedding-tea-ceremony

Perspectives

Face to Face

           When watching the personal stories of people affected by 9/11 and Pearl Harbor, two of the stories stuck out the most. The first story is related to 9/11. I had previous knowledge about what people thought about muslims in our country after the crash, but I hadn't ever really sat down to think about how they felt about it, until now. The same goes for story number two which was related to Pearl Harbor. This time the Japanese in our country were the ones discriminated against.

            The first story is by Anjum Mir. A quote from Mir was, "Everything changed for everybody" this quote means everything. Anjum is right, America as a whole was forever changed after this event. There was a sense of paranoia that could be felt from everyone. If you were muslim you were afraid to leave your home because you feared for your safety or what rude remarks would be said. If you weren't muslim you still lived in fear of whether or not there would be another attack. Non-muslims thought that everyone muslim than ran into on the street was somehow related to the cause of the attack. It's funny how people who all claim to be American can be so quick to judge and discriminate against other Americans just because of their backgrounds. 

            Toru Saito's story was pretty closely related, except it was after the attack on pearl harbor. Toru remembers most vividly the first time he was called a Jap, "For the first time I was called a Jap". Toru had knowledge of what this word even meant. He had to ask his mother, she was ashamed that she had to explain that it was a rude name. After the event, Toru and his family no longer felt safe in public he said, "I feel like a foreigner" and "I still feel that way today". The fact that Toru was treated this way to begin with is so beyond wrong in my mind. If you're and american you should be treated like so. I am embarrassed for my country that Toru feels like a foreigner. The sad truth is that there is still bias and discrimination in the world today. Most of us just don't look for it, but it is all around us still today. Possibly one day it won't be, and I personally hope that day is soon. 

A Class Divided

          This was a very unique lesson taught to 3rd graders and adults. The third graders prove that it is so easy to sculp the minds of young children into thinking a certain way about others. When their superior, the teacher, told them that one eye color was better than another, they believed it and were nasty towards each other. In the end when the students had had a chance to be on both sides of the negativity, it was then that they realized that no one should be treated differently than another. The adults, although they knew it was already not right to discriminate by eye color had a harder time putting the pieces together. The ones who were told they were dominant were just as gullible as the 3rd graders. When they finally got the point, they seemed to have a deeper understanding that no one is different and that they should give everyone equal treatment. 

          

Book Response #4: Siren's Storm

           
          This book, Siren's Storm, is not at all what I thought it would be. Honestly I judged this book by its cover; it looked eerie and intriguing, so I picked it up.  The book has 14 chapters, I am on chapter 6 and for the life of me cannot get into the story.

           So far all that has really happened hasn't been too exciting, in fact barely anything has happened at all. The main character is Will and he is what is considered a local at the beach he lives on. His friend Gretchen comes to visit each summer and became very close with his family. The only things that have really been talked about are the fact that Will's brother, Tim, died last year in a boat accident and his body was never recovered. It's almost the anniversary of Tim's death and Will is starting to act strange. He almost hits a girl with his truck, then later sees her walk straight into the ocean and never come back up. Will cant get the girl out of his head. 

        The description of the girl is very chilling and gives you an eerie feeling about her from the beginning. The author, Papademetriou does a really good job describing the girl, "Green cat eyes, long black hair, her skin was pale and smooth like the inside of a shell... her figure had long, delicate limbs that moved almost like a spider." The way the author compares her skin to the inside of the shell we unique in my mind. The picture above is what I imagined her green cat eyes would look like. Will thinks he had only imagined the strange girl, but he sees her again at a local diner, so he know's she is real.
           As you might be able to tell not much is going on, it is a very slow moving book and hard to follow. The author bounces between characters and feelings often and it can be hard to determine who is speaking at certain times. I plan to try and keep reading this book, I really hope that it starts to get interesting sometime soon. I don't like to only ready a few chapters, but this might be one of those books that I just won't be able to finish.

Reading Response #3: One Moment

        

         Talk about plot twists. Throughout the whole book you were lead to believe that Joey was the model boyfriend and that him and Maggie were beyond happy together. In the last post I mentioned that the night before Joey died, he and Adam were in a huge fight. The fight turned out to be about how Joey was cheating on Maggie, and had been for the past year of their relationship. Adam couldn't stand back any longer and watch as Joey not only got Maggie, the girl he so hopelessly wanted, but another one too. 

         The real shocker though was when Maggie finally regained her memory of Joey's death. Up until now she could just remember running towards the cliff and not jumping. Now, Maggie realizes that right before they were supposed to jump she saw a strand of beads on his wrist and everything clicked. She knew the beads belonged to her best friend Shannon. It was enough to stop her dead in her tracks, the force of her stop threw Joey off balance as he fell backwards over the cliff. His last words, "Mags, let me exp-" This quote means so much. The truth was finally out. Joey knew he was wrong, but the last look on his face, the look Maggie had to live with was fear. The fear wasn't because he was falling, it was because he knew they were through. 

         The song above is about how things are supposed to happen. No, Joey should not have died, but things do happen. Something beautiful happened,  Adam finally got his chance with his girl, Maggie. This book was a hopeless romance. The author did so good convincing us that Joey was good, but in all reality he wasn't at all who he was supposed to be. His death wasn't just one persons fault, but many. 

         

Book Response #2

One Moment, is really starting to get interesting. Last time, I mentioned that Maggie had recently lost her boyfriend due to an accident while cliff jumping, but was it really an accident? The time has finally come, Maggie and her friends have to say good-bye to their friend for the last time. You really sympathize for Maggie as she approaches Joey's open casket. The quote really catches how much she wishes the entire situation wasn’t real. It helps you see how much Maggie wishes she could stop time and almost pretend like the entire thing didn’t happen.

"Five steps later, I was in front of her, standing on two shaky legs. I put my hand on her shoulder and kissed her soppy cheek, trying to keep my eyes from darting to the body lying next to her husband. As I moved away from Mrs. Walther, Joey's father reached out and folded me against him. He whispered something across the top of my head, but all I caught was the vibration coming from his chest. I wanted to stop time, to stay there in his arms forever, because his shirt smelled like Joey. And he was the last stop before my final good-bye. Mr. Walther pulled away from me, holding me at arm’s length as his eyes wandered the planes of my face. "Doesn't he look peaceful?" Mr. Walther asked, tilting his head. And I turned. Faced him for the last time. My Joey."

       As Maggie approached the coffin she made the horrible mistake to touch his lips one last time. Her emotions overcame her and she rushed outside and was immediately sick. The author does a really good job of portraying what Maggie is going through as she faces going back to school and seeing friends and teachers. Almost every sentence you feel like you've been grabbed by the throat, you feel so bad for Maggie. I am not going to lie I teared up on a few paragraphs.

As Maggie is back at school everyone is recalling their last conversations they had with Joey or the last time they saw him. As soon as Maggie is around though, everyone is hushed and whispers, she finds out things she never knew about Joey and things that he has possible been hiding from her. To add to the chaos that has already arose, Adam, one of Maggie's closest friends and Joeys best friend, is hiding something. The night before Joey's death Adam and he were in some kind of argument, but what was it and why can't Adam tell Maggie? The way the author leads you on for a little bit, then throws another curve ball at you makes you want to keep the pages turning. I am looking forward to finding out the mystery behind Joey and his secrets, and if they are possibly connected to his death.

Book Blog Number 1

One Moment by: Kristina McBride

      Everything was perfect, Maggie and Joey had been dating for almost two years and were the happiest couple, as far as she knew. It was the summer before their Senior year and they were planning to "seal the deal" in just a few weeks. Maggie and Joey had grown up together and eventually become un-seperable. They kept no secrets from each other-or at least thats why Maggie thought.        

A group of their  friends were there, the day it happened.. They were all hanging out at a nearby cove were they had a few drinks and dared one another to jump off the big cliff. Maggie was the only one who hadn't jumped before and Joey had convinced her to jump today. They climbed to the top had one long kiss and wish good luck. Maggie wasn't scared when she was with Joey. Holding hands they ran towards the edge to jump...The next thing Maggie remembers is screaming..

Joey jumped- but Maggie did not. Nothing made sense, Maggie couldn't figure out what happened and didn't know where Joey was or why anyone was screaming. All she knew is when she finally saw Joeys body, laying still, his head bent in a weird way, that nothing would ever be okay again.

Maggie couldn't hid any longer, the police needed answers and wanted to talk to Maggie. The thing was, was that she couldn't remember anything after their kiss, it was all a blur, and she isn't sure if she wants to remember. The detectives ask about where Joey might have been the night before, because he had never made it home after dropping Maggie off from a party. None of the friends know where he could have been. They all want to know if Joey was hiding something from all of them, or is one of them hiding something from the entire group? And what was with that blue bracelet he had on is wrist at the cove? Maggie as she is with the detectives has a pretty deep thought, "I looked down at my hands, squeezing them together so tightly they turned a sickly whitish-blue. I wasn't sure if I was angry with Joey for keeping a secret or glad to realize that maybe he could go on living through all the little things I didn't yet know. Things that I could easily find out."

101 Things About Me

1. I have three adopted little brothers.

2. I have two dogs and a cat. Their names are Max, Goldie and Tiki.

3. I did competitive gymnastics for 10 years, and competitive cheer for 2.

4. My family calls me Kara Beara. Its an awful nick name.

5. My favorite movies are Dirty Dancing and Grease.

6. I really hate actuating verbal cheering, I do it for the stunting and tumbling.

7. Im going to be a Surgeon one day.

8. My best friend is my boyfriend Tanner.

9. Im obsessed with Greys Anatomy, Dance Moms and Pretty Little Liars.

10. Walruses are my favorite animals, I like their whiskers.

11. After college I want to travel for a few years.

12. As a child I spent more hours a week in a gym then in my own bed.

13. Reading is probably my least favorite pass time, I read too slow.

14. Favorite color is teal.

15. I want to attend UMKC next fall.