Hey guys! EXPO is over! Yesterday exactly a week ago, the last expo group has presented their pavilion.
Congratualtions!
This is probably the last expo post posted by any country, but I want to thank anyone who has read this blog, all the teachers who made our 8th grade the most amazing year anyone could ever imagine.
Thank you!
HAGS!
One Coin of Money
In those days in Idia, there was Rony which was a really rich company. Everyone respected them because they had a lot of money. On the other hand, there was a poor company called Potec. Rony said to Potec,
“I will improve your company if you give us the money every months.”
Potec believed that Rony was wise and fair.
There was the year Potec couldn’t gain money at all. They had no money to live. They asked Rony to borrow the money but Rony cried,
“No! I must have money to inprove your company and also for us. Promise or no promise, I must have a lot of money!”
Time went on, Potec became poorer.
A worker of Potec named Riga found a written contract of Rony in an elevator. He was clever, and he began to make a plan. He also had a sense of justice. When Rony heard about Riga, Rony asked him to come to an office with a written contract.
Rony said,
“Thank you for returning this. I was in trouble with it. But don’t tell anybody. This is strictly confidential. So… What do you want to have? I want to reward you.”
“You may reward me in this way,” Riga started to explain his plan, “today, you will give me a single coin of money. Then, each day for thirty days you will give me double the coin you gave me the day before.”
The next day, Riga was presented with two coins of money. On the sixteen day, he was presented with a bag containing thirty-two thousand, seven hundred and sixty-eight coins of money. On the twenty-fourth day, he was presented with eight million, three hundred and eighty-eight thousand, six hundred and eight coins of money-enough to fill eight baskets, which were carried to him eight bicycles. On the thirtieth and final day, two hundred and fifty-six trackes carried-five hundred and thiry-six million, eight hundred and seventy thousand, nine hundred and twelve coins of money.
All together, he had received more than one billion coins of money. Rony became poor and had no more money to give and live.
“And what will you do with this money,” said Rony with a sigh, “now that I have none?”
“I will give it to Potec and other companies which are poor. But if you promise from now on to be wise and fair, I will share it with you also,” said Riga strongly.
“I promise,” said Rony. And for the rest of days, both Rony and Potec became happy and both had equal salaries. Rony became truly wise and fair as Potec and Riga were.
Hinduism
Symbol: The symbol of the Hindu is called Aum (Ah-oo-m). Hindus believe this is a holy sound. They believe that is a way of describing Brahman.
Creator and Founder: Hinduism has no founder, is developed out of Brahmanism. The religion of Hinduism originated in Northern India, near the Indus River, about 4000 years ago and is the world’s oldest existing religion.
Place of Worship:
Shrines: the shrine may be in a room of its own and they put an image of one or more of the gods or goodness. The shrine is surrounded by flowers and perfume.
Puja: it’s making offerings to an image or picture of one of the god. It takes place at least once a day. They do Paja to spend time with God and this is the point of worship.
Temples: it is a special place and the Hindu people called “mandir”. They have priest and people goes several times in a day.
Beliefs: Reincarnation: it’s the belief that your soul moves on to another being when you die. The soul is called “atman”. Atman moves in a series of steps. “Samsara” is the repeated cycle of birth and death.
Celebration: Divali: it takes place at the end of the Hindu month of Ash win (October-November). Divali means light and people decorate their house. They used small lamps made of clay to guide Rama back home and to welcome Lakshmi which means good luck.
Holy book: The most ancient sacred texts of the Hindu religion are written in Sanskrit and called the Vedas. The Vedas scriptures guide Hindu in their daily life. Hindus have developed their system of worship and beliefs from the Vedas.
Holy Places: Hindus have many holy places but Badrinath is the holiest place for the Hindus. It is a temple to the Hindu god Shiva and it is built by the great Indian scholar and teacher Shankara.
Muslim
Symbol: It is translated as the Night of Forgiveness. Many people believe that in the night your destiny is fixed for the year ahead.
Creator and Founder: The prophet Muhammad found the Muslim. He was born in Saudi Arabia and he was the last prophet to be sent by Allah.
Place of Worship: The Muslim building for communal worship is called a mosque. Muslim often refer to the mosque by its Arabic name, masjid. Very often Mosques have a domed roof and a tall tower called a minaret. There are no pictures or statues in a mosque because Muslims use prayer mats for prayer. There is often a fountain or pool to wash their hands, mouth, nose, ears, arms, throat and arms. This is a sacred wash. Women don’t pray in the same place as men.
Belief: Muslim has 6 main beliefs
1. Belief in Allah as the one and only God.
2. Belief in angels.
3. Belief in the holy books.
4. Belief in the Prophets.
5. Belief in the Day of Judgment (the day when people assessed to decide whether they go to heaven or hell).
6. Belief in Predestination. (That Allah has already decided what will happen. Muslims believe that this doesn’t stop human beings making free choices).
Celebration: Ramadan is the major festival in Muslim. It is a time when Muslims across the world will fast during the hours of daylight. Muslims believe that the gates of heaven are open and the gates of hell are locked for the duration of Ramadan. Ramadan concludes with the celebration of Eid al-Fitr. It is the festival for the day after Ramadan. They celebrate with good food and presents for children, and giving to charity.
Holy Book: The Muslim’s holy book is called the Holy Qur’an. Muslims believe it is the word of God. Muslims treat the Qur’an with great respect because they believe that the Qur’an is from Allah, and every word and every letter is sacred.
Holy Places: Mecca, Madinah and Jerusalem are the holy places of Muslim.
Mecca is the Muslim’s holiest city in modern day of Saudi Arabia. It is holy place because it was the most important city in the Arabian Peninsula.
Buddhism
Symbol: It’s a wheel with eight spokes and it reminds the eight ways of living called Noble Eightfold Path (Right viewpoint, Right thought, Right speech, Right action, Right living, Right effort, Right awareness and Right concentration).
Creator and Founder: The teaching of Siddhartha Gautama founded the Buddhist tradition. He was called the Buddha and lived in the 4th or 5th century in India. He found the path to Enlightenment. Buddhism was founded over 2500 years ago in very old India.
Place of Worship: Buddhist worship at home or at a temple. Worshippers may sit on the floor and it is very important that their feet face away from the image of Buddha. They listen to monks chanting from religious texts. The best known Buddhist temple is called pagodas of China and Japan. Buddhist worship is called puja. When Buddhist is alone, they usually read the holy books.
Belief: There are three Buddhist central beliefs. These are known as the three jewels.
1. Belief in Buddha.
2. Belief in Dharma (the teaching of Buddha).
3. Belief in the Sangha. (The Buddhist community made up of ordinary people as well as the monks to help others to move on the way towards enlightenment.
Celebration: The Vesak is the major Buddhist festival of the year as it celebrates the birth, enlightenment and death of the Buddha on the one day, the first full moon day in May.
Holy book: The holy book of Buddhism is called the Trip taka. It is written in an ancient Indian language called Pali which is very close to the language that the Buddha himself spoke. Trip taka is a very large book.
Holy Places: The birthplace of the Siddhartha Gautama, Lumbai, is one of the holy places of Buddhism.
An engineer that has been hold captive in Afghanistan returned to India after 26 days. They were challenged to live in a forest, eating nothing but dried chapatis and drinking little water, as well as walking from village to village as captives. Family and friends of Naeem Sarang, the captive, have visited him since his return.
To read more about this article in detail, click here.
This article is about how India doesn’t treat its tribes in Rajasthan. The problem is that the tribe, the Gujjars, want the right to be involved in “affirmative action quotas”. Many security people are being send to the region to keep the violence under control.
To read more about this article, click here.
Here is the planning template of our Beyond Expo.
The piece of literature from India that we analyzed is a folk tale called “Teasing the Almighty.“ The story has been passed down through generations, not to teach the audience a lesson, but purely for entertainment purposes. The Indians, according to the story, eat goats, chickens, buffaloes, eggs, and buffalo milk, meaning that they can’t be very serious vegetarians. The clothing of the characters is poorly described, but we can guess that they were wearing layers because they were logging for firewood. Since they used firewood as a source of fuel, we could presume that their house was not made of wood, or else it could catch on fire. Instead, they might have used hardened mud, bricks, or rocks. We could infer that the character’s belief was Muslim, because he prayed to Allah, the name for God in Islam.
The story takes place in a jungle, as the character was cutting firewood. The cutting of the firewood tells us that he was in some kind of forest; the text actually says he’s in a jungle. If it was freezing, it would definitely be mentioned since it would’ve affected the way the woodcutter bribes his way to God, as well as his mood. There were few issues that affected the character’s actions; maybe the lack of education, for the character wouldn’t have cut off the branches below him. The environment could have also affected the people, due to the cool weather the people would have needed firewood, which provided jobs for the uneducated. Global warming and deforestation can’t be issues in India yet, or else they wouldn’t be cutting down trees. Outside of the forest, it probably takes place in a rural area, because the more fortunate people with proper jobs work in urban areas. The character’s language was distinct when he talked to Allah, because he talked to God in a non-formal speech, showing little respect to the almighty. We can assume that the characters do not see the betrayal or mutiny as a crime. However, since the woodcutter turned to Allah for help in getting out of the forest, we see that this character used his God as a tool, rather than a figure of admiration. Also, since the original tale was told in Hindu, it probably contained more respect which got cut in the translation. Other than that minor detail, there wasn’t much, if any hints about dialect or language. Those were the things we were able to pull out of the tale, and from that we were able to find out a few things about their culture.
The Merchant and his Iron
The article that I analyzed for the Fictional Text Analysis is a story called “The Merchant and his Iron”. It is a tale of how important trust is among friends. In this story, the characters weren’t given real names, but were called “Merchant”, “Friend” or “Son of Friend”. From the clues provided, it’s very likely to take place somewhere where sparrows live as well as rats. It is also very likely that the environment has iron ore, because the Merchant had 200 tons of iron (which he then trusted to his friend to take care of). Apart from that, there are no clues on where the story is set. Language-wise, there were little hints: The characters communicated in formal dialog, showing respect to each other. The everyday lifestyle was poorly described, it just states that family and sons were important and that the father would easily let the son out of the house during daytime. The story started out with the Merchant going on a journey, the reason was unclear. This could hint that it isn’t rare for people to go on journeys for whatever reasons. Money was important in this situation, as well as in many other tales. The friend of the merchant was probably not too wealthy, seeing that he sold the merchant’s iron to pay his debts. Just like many other places, this could show that there was a wide difference between the wealth of people – from people who own 200 tons of iron to people who would steal to cover their debts. The tale taught a lesson of trust-value, of how one should be careful of who to trust with possession.
-Asuka Heltmann
Teasing the Almighty
I will be exploring the culture and religion of India from the short story “teasing the almighty” retold by Chong Kum Fatt, an Indian folk tale. The story has many hints and gestures about religion, people, jobs, and surroundings.
First of all, about the daily life of the main character, the woodcutter, I was able to pick up that he tends animals such as buffalos, goats, and chickens, and obviously that he is a woodcutter. From these facts we can assume that he is in the lower class, since he has to do physical labor for a living. Also, it mentions that the woodcutter lives near the jungle, and since most high class people live in cities, which tend not to be next to a jungle, we know that the community he comes from is poor or rural, because of the location. When he finishes cutting wood, it says that he has cut enough for the day, meaning that there’d be problems if he couldn’t get the day’s work done. Probably meaning that he wouldn’t have enough money or pay. Another part that justifies his class is when he begs Allah for help, he offers buffalos, goats, chickens, and eggs. From that, we see that those are the most he can offer, and cannot offer money or anything expensive.
The religion of the country is Hindu and Islam as we know, and in this story, the woodcutter is Muslim. When the woodcutter foolishly trapped himself on the tree, he calls to Allah for help in getting down. Since the Islam god was the only god mentioned, we can tell that the woodcutter only believed in Allah and not the Hindu gods. Also the method of prayers he used to get himself down was bribery or fair trade, which tells us a little about their culture. Considering the amount of bribery he had announced to Allah we can assume that, that is the way the Indians at the time got what they wanted, and the way they lived.
After the problem was resolved, the woodcutter decided to turn back on his promise and laughed at Allah for not being careful about the terms of their trade. Since he did not receive any punishment for this, we see that the Indians (Muslims) do not believe in Karma, and that the woodcutter didn’t feel any gratitude towards his god. From this story, one is to assume that the Indians are unmoral, cunning, and dishonest. Since the woodcutter had been the successful one in the end, we see that the Indians do not find being dishonest to be a wrong way to live. We may even go as far as saying that they are much like Machiavelli whose famous quote is “the end justifies its means”.
The climate, although not directly described must be cold because generally woodcutters cut wood so that they can sell firewood. In only cold temperatures would someone need firewood, and since the story made it seem like cutting enough wood would make the day’s income, we can tell that it is a pretty stable market. Although it must be cold it wasn’t freezing and it probably isn’t winter since there was a jungle in the neighborhood as described. The animals that the woodcutter owned also fit into the description of India, therefore we have proof that the story is from India.
This story was a traditional folk tale that has been past on for many centuries, not as a moral but for amusement and laughter.
-Haruka Fukukawa
The folk tale that I read was about a man, a jackal, and a tiger, it takes place in India. This story was called The Tiger, the Brahman, and the Jackal, and was retold by a man named Joseph Jacobs, so the exact date of which it was made is unknown. The genre of the folk tale is trickery. The Jackal tricks the tiger into the cage, and shuts the door in order to save the man’s life. Based on the text, this could have taken place in a rural area. “Then the Brahman, sad at heart, went further afield till he saw a buffalo turning a well-wheel; but he fared no better from it…” You do not normally find a buffalo turning a well-wheel in a city, or even the suburbs of a city. People at this time in history, or part of the world really are not grateful for what the environment gives them. “…the pipal tree replied coldly, “What have you to complain about? Don’t I give shade and shelter to every one who passes by, and don’t they in return tear down my branches to feed their cattle? Don’t whimper–be a man!” People do not treat plants like they should, so the pipal tree would not help the man when he was in need. Here is another example. “…he saw a buffalo turning a well-wheel; but he fared no better from it, for it answered, “You are a fool to expect gratitude! Look at me! Whilst I gave milk they fed me on cotton-seed and oil-cake, but now I am dry they yoke me here, and give me refuse as fodder!” Not only do people treat plants badly, but they also treat animals like they were nothing. Due to the clues within the text, they must be in a tropical, jungle like environment. “Once upon a time, a tiger was caught in a trap. He tried in vain to get out through the bars, and rolled and bit with rage and grief when he failed.” Tigers in India do not live in the snow, or in cities, they only live in jungle like areas. The form of language that they use in the story is a bit old. “Give me five minutes, my lord!” he pleaded, “in order that I may explain matters to the jackal here, who is somewhat slow in his wits.” People today never speak like this unless they are in a play or something about theater. The jackal speaks like he wasn’t educated at all, sort of like someone in the southern United States. “Why, what’s the matter, Mr. Brahman? You look as miserable as a fish out of water!” Some of the animals in the jungle, such as the jackal do not know the correct way to speak. One part of the text that stuck out to me was that the man was walking. “By chance a poor Brahman came by. “Let me out of this cage, oh pious one!” cried the tiger.” Wealthy people usually do not walk, so either he lives in a time where the wealthy walk with the poor, or he is a poor rich man that cannot buy a carriage. Instead of reading pages and pages of internet sites to find information about a country, you could just read a few folk tales about a country. Folk tales can really tell you more about a countries culture, climate, or daily life within that country.
-Kristofer Merideth
