SlumDog Millionaire

I really enjoyed this movie! I watched it two times and learned new things each time I watched it. I even bought the soundtrack because I enjoyed the music too. This movie portrays India well but it was surely sad. I observed several similarities from India and the United States. I observed what the children wore and how they acted. Children in India are not as wealthy as we are and their dress is not so nice. They work very hard for money and food as was very well shown in the movie.

One part of the movie that I thought was funny and meaningful was when Jamal wanted to see the most famous actor of India. He jumped into a pile of “waste” and ran to get the famous actors autograph. I believe this shows determination for the little Jamal and that deep down kids from India and US are not that different from each other.

Did you know that in India all the movies that are from there are a musical. Well, Slumdog Millionaire was not and so at the end of the movie that is why they put the song and dance clip in there. I found that very interesting for India. The soundtrack for India I thought was pretty cool but did not know they are well known for their music. I wanted to post the lyrics for one of the songs that I found from the movie but it will not let me. So look up the lyrics from "O Saya." They are very interesting.

There is so much you can learn from this movie about life in India, culture and love. There was even romance in this movie, just like the United States movies. I liked how Jamal kept on trying to find Lakita and told her that they it was their destiny. This really shows love and not all the people of India are mean and hateful like when Jamal and Salim were kids.

Spring Break!

Before I went back home I went to Overland Park, Kansas to visit my cousins and aunt! They are Jewish but they really do not practice the religion much. I do not have any pictures from what they did but it was interesting and I swear they were trying to convert me. My cousin, Elena got married in Hawaii about years ago and now is pregnant and due May 30th with a boy and his name will be Samuel Reed!! I am very excited and got to see ultra sound pictures of him! My other cousin, Mike has been married for about four years and has 3 cats named Yoda, Darth varder and Luke Skywalker. I wish I had pictures but I totally forgot. :(

This year I did not go anywhere for Spring break except for back home to good old St. Charles, Missouri. All I really did was get teaching hours done and hang out with my family and one of my good friends! I went to my favorite coffeehouse called Its A Grind, which I will post a link so you can see what it is like! I did alot of shopping with my mom! There are plenty of cool things you can do in St. Charles but I choose this Spring break to get some teaching hours out of the way. I went to Immanuel Lutheran and Lutheran High. It was nice to enjoy the teacher aiding of my kindergarten teacher and helping out with the special ed teacher at my old high school. I don't have any pictures from Spring break but I will post links and put pictures up from other times!
http://www.itsagrind.com/
It's a Grind website! Maybe there is a coffeehouse near your hometown! :D
http://www.immanuelstcharles.org/
This is my grade school and church website
http://www.lhssc.org/
This is my High school.

Left: I thought this picture was cool! This is the Foundry Art Centre in St. Charles, Missouri. I have been there for a wedding reception and one of my families good friends, his art work is there.

Right:This was a week before Spring break but I went back with my boyfriend and threw my ex boyfriends necklaces that he gave me into the Missouri River!! hahahaha
Below :The coffee house and the coffee that I usually get a It's a Grind!

Sub-Saharan Africa

In this article it says that the more aid Africa recieves the lower the standard of living is. Also the standard of living has been declining between the years of 1975 and 2000 says this article. The aid for reform is not very successful either. America is not doing the right thing by aiding Africa all the time which is very sad. You would think aiding Africa would be helping them but it is not. In the article David Karanja says, "Foreign aid has done more harm to Africa than we care to admit" Even though this article is from 2005 I believe this still is going on today.
I found an article about Western countries giving aid to Africa which supports my statement from above. Here is the link, because it is hard to explain it. http://xrl.us/bemx42

HDI

This map shows the HDI for each country but what I mostly would like you to look at is Africa. Each country in Africa and its rating. The foreign coloninal control might have something to do with why Sub-Saharan Africa is so low but there are a few other reasons why it HDI is so low. Government problems are a good reason for their Human Developement to be low.
There are 3 categories HDI is put into; High, Medium and Low Human Development. There are sub catergories that each country has to determine their HDI; the HDI value, Life expectancy at birth, Combined primary, secondary and tertiary gross enrolment ratio, and GDP per capita.
Certain percentages give a country the rank in the world. For example, Japan's HDI value is .956 which puts them in rank 8th and Kenya is .532 which puts them in rank 144.

Clouds! :)

This picture is of the Mount Rainer Mountains in the state of Washington. In the description below the picture it was said to be that the clouds are formed by high winds blowing over rough terrain. They are described to be "stack of pancakes". I picked this picture for a few reasons. One: I love scenery pictures and as a photographer myself, I love this picture. Two: There is just something about cloud pictures I love. My dad and I love taking pictures of clouds and comparing each photo we take with each other, so I guess I cherish that bonding time. Three: This picture was taken in Washington and someone that I really care about used to live there. Those are the reasons why I choose to pick this beautiful picture! :)


Because I love photographer so much...I thought why not add another picture. I figured my grade could not be deducted because I decided to add another picture. This picture was taken in Ontario, Canada. The river shown is Winisk River. The description under the picture was deep. This is what it says, "A single cloud may hold billions of pounds of water but not all clouds bring rain".
I picked this photo because of the reflection you see from the sunset, trees and clouds! This picture could mean alot of things. I think in the canoe are a girl and a guy, so you could call this picture romantic. Also, this picture can show God's creation, even more in a reflection.