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The region I had was East Asia. Within that region I chose Fiji and I learned that their hardest sport in the winter olympics is biathlon. This sport involves three skills that include: cross-country, skiing, and rifle shooting.

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Unit 11/12: Planning, Producing, and Presenting the Cultural Exchange Project

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Unit 11/12: Planning, Producing, and Presenting the Cultural Exchange Project

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The country I chose was Laos and my experience with planning the Cultural Exchange Project was pretty simple. I had the idea that we should make it similar to the Folk Fair because each of us wanted to do another country within East Asia. With having it be set up like the Folk Fair, we were able to present however our hearts desired. We also had space to do our mini activities without it getting crowded. Producing the Cultural Exchange Project was kind of difficult because I had to figure out what kind of decorations would suite the presentation well. I also had to figure out how I was going to make the because as students, we were supposed to make the food. At first I wanted to do rice but I thought that was too basic, I wanted to try something different. So instead I chose to do another staple food of Laos, papaya salad. Papaya salad was kind of difficult, but I was pleased with the end results. My only worry was that the children were not going to eat it because it did have kind of a weird smell. To my surprise, the children did eat it and my worries went away. That sort of goes along with presenting it. Presenting the Cultural Exchange Project was a breeze. I learned that I am an excellent speaker and am not dependent on the board for information. All in all, I think as a group we did well and as for myself, I am proud.
Throughout the school year, I think I did learn more about my region because the books we were given were based ot from East Asia and all the research we did was based on our region.
If I could change anything about the project, it would be to be a little more prepared and have the board look more beautiful.

-The Cultural Exchange Project matters to me because I have friends who are from East Asia or their parents were, and I am glad I learned more about where they came from and a little more about their culture.

-The Cultural Exchange Project matters to others because it is important for them to know their are various cultures within East Asia.

-The Cultural Exchange Project matters to the world because the world need to know that there is not just one country. Russia and Australia are included in the region.

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This poem matters to me because in a way it expresses how the person misses someone and is reminiscing.
For others, it can touch them in a way that they start to think about people or things that they miss. That can include how their relationship used to be or to how they looked or their personality/how they acted.

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My story took place in Japan but it is only mentioned a couple times. I got my inspiration from the film Memoirs of a Geisha. From the film I got the idea of the separation of two sisters who then go to different places. Also, from two books that I have read that take place in East Asiaa, they both involve the belief that when a child is born and the mother fails to continue to live after then the child is bad luck.

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The Magic of Karina - RAQUEL ZAVALA - Wattpad

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After the passing of her mother, Karina is kidnapped. She has no idea what's happening and doesn't know where she is being taken to. Soon she escapes and finds...

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My experience with making the google sites was very simple and easy. I enjoyed producing the website because I had the option to place the assignments/projects where ever I pleased. This meant that I had the ability to change their arrangements and orders. I think the website is truly captivating because it provides insight on the novel without spoiling the end.

-This book matters to me because I know how it feels to be accused of certain things based off of your ethnicity and where you come from.

-This book can matter to people around me because they too are being judged and different ways of handling that. Some may even relate to Lakshmi and how she is treated.

-This book might matter to the world because I think that it is important to understand what people go through in order to support their families. Even if they are in bad conditions, they are willing to help and provide for their loved ones.

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This novel expresses a lot of culture. The book takes place in China and there is war going on. So the family move and send the children to school. Wu Mei is mistreated by her step mother majority of the time. When there is a special event or festival the family dress in very beautiful clothes except for Wu Mei. Instead she is forced to wear old hand me downs.
There is a part in the story when the family decides to disown Wu Mei and want to send her to an orphanage.
-It should be noted that Wu Mei´s entire life she has been interested and loved her education and was always top of her class.
Every time the family moves Wu Mei never fails to be top of her class even though she is going through many disheartening events at with her family. She is so smart that she skips three grades ahead. With all this greatness, it is never noticed by her family. That is until she won a writing contest and is recognized by her father. When he comes to congratulate her she brings uo that she want to continue school and wants to go on to college. Her father only agrees if she agrees to become a nurse that delivers babies. With the chance to go to college she also agrees.

-I personally loved this book because no matter the circumstances Wu Mei continued her education

-This book would matter to other people, the world, and I because it teaches that no matter what you are going through you will surpass it and follow your dreams because great things can come from your confidence and it also teaches you to not give up.

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Unit 6: Transforming Myths, Legends, and Folktales

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Unit 6: Transforming Myths, Legends, and Folktales

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-Some agricultural aspects we tried to involve were the dresses. We tried to make them look as close as possible to what the Javanese wear. We also took out shoes off while inside the ¨house¨.
-There were some laughter when the class reacted to our project. After class some classmates said they liked ours and also added that our project was good.

-Our strengths for making this film was that we were confident and were not shy to act and get in front of the camera and we tried our best.

-As for our weaknesses, I would say time management as in we needed more time to get everything situated but in the end it turned out fine.

-This folktale would matter to other people, the world, and I because it involves courage/standing up and actually doing something because in the end you can end up very relieved.

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Unit 5: Reading Myths, Legends, and Folktales

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Unit 5: Reading Myths, Legends, and Folktales

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This folktale is from Indonesia and is about a mother and daughter who continuously feed a giant because if they dont he threatens to eat the daughter Too-too-moo. One day they fail to make enough porridge and the giant eats Too-too-moo. It when she is inside his belly that she decides to gain courage and stab her way out, killing the giant and reuniting with her mother.
-Th lesson/theme of this story is bravery

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Once on the island of Java there was a little girl named Too-too-moo. She lived with her Mama in a one‑room house in a forest. They were poor but they were happy.

Or they would have been happy, if not for a terrible giant who came every day.

Each morning, when Too-too-moo woke up, she fastened her hair in a knot with her long hairpin. Then she hurried into the woods to help Mama gather firewood and herbs to sell at the village market.

When that was done, Mama cooked a small pot of plain rice and shared it with Too-too-moo for breakfast. She also cooked a huge pot of sweet porridge. She made it from tasty rice flour, fragrant coconut milk, and lots of sugar.

But not even the tiniest bit of the porridge was for Too-too-moo and her Mama. It was all for the giant. Mama knew, if the giant came and did not find a full pot of porridge, he would eat Too-too-moo instead!

Then Mama left for the market, while Too-too-moo did the housework. She shook out their sleeping mat, swept the floor, and washed their few dishes. Then she went outside to play.

Soon she heard the giant's terrible footsteps.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Too-too-moo ran into the house, picked up the covered pot of porridge, placed it outside on the doorstep, and shut and locked the door. Then she crouched and trembled in a corner.

The giant stamped up to the house. With one huge finger, he knocked on the door- Tock, tock, tock. Then he called,

And Too-too-moo answered, "In the house."

"And where is your Mama? "

"At the market."

"And where is my PORRIDGE?"

"In the pot!"

The giant took off the cover, picked up the pot, and swallowed the porridge in one big gulp. Then he threw down the pot and stamped back through the forest.

This happened every day.

When Mama returned in the evening, she brought food that she had bought with the money earned at the market. But since they had to feed the giant, there was never enough for themselves.

One day, Mama did not sell as much as usual. When she came home, she had only enough food for the giant. She and Too-too-moo had to go hungry.

The next day was the same. And so was the day after that.

Too-too-moo and her Mama were starving.

On the fourth morning, Too-too-moo got up, fastened her hair with her long hairpin, and helped Mama gather firewood and herbs. Then Mama cooked the porridge for the giant and left for the market.

The sweet smell of the porridge filled the little house. Too-too-moo was so hungry, she couldn't stand it.

"I'll eat just one spoonful," she said to herself. "The giant will never know."

Too-too-moo uncovered the pot and ate one spoonful. But she was too hungry to stop! Before she knew what she was doing, a quarter of the porridge was gone.

Then she heard the giant's terrible footsteps.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Too-too-moo quickly covered the pot, placed it outside on the doorstep, and shut and locked the door. Then she crouched and trembled in a corner.

The giant stamped up to the house. With one huge finger, he knocked on the door- Tock, tock, tock. Then he called,

And Too-too-moo answered, "In the house."

"And where is your Mama? "

"At the market."

"And where is my PORRIDGE?"

"In the pot!"

The giant took off the cover, picked up the pot, stopped, and looked.

"This pot is not full! " bellowed the giant. He threw it down and called again,

"Too-too-moo!

Where are YOU?"

Too-too-moo did not answer.

With one blow of his fist, the giant knocked down the door. He reached in his long arm and felt all around till he found Too-too-moo. Then he pulled her from the house, tossed her in his mouth, and swallowed her in one big gulp.

Too-too-moo tumbled into the giant's stomach. "Please let me out!" she shouted.

But the giant didn't listen as he turned and stamped back through the forest.

Too-too-moo cried and shook with fear. Then all of a sudden, she remembered her long hairpin.

Quickly she pulled it from her hair. With both hands and all her strength, Too-too-moo stuck it into the giant.

"YOW!" howled the giant.

Too-too-moo stuck him again.

"OUCH! YOW!" The giant danced about, but there was nothing he could do. "TOO-TOO-MOO, STOP!"

But Too-too-moo did not stop. She stuck the giant again and again.

The bellowing giant raced through the woods. Mad with pain, he did not look where he was going. He tripped on a root and cracked his head on a rock.

The giant was dead!

But Too-too-moo was still trapped inside.

At that moment, Mama was on her way home. She had been lucky that day, and had quickly sold all she had carried to market. So she had bought rice and fish and vegetables, and even roasted peanuts as a special treat for Too-too-moo.

But when she reached the house, she saw the porridge thrown down and the door knocked in. She called,

There was no answer.

Mama grabbed a big cooking knife and ran along the trail of the giant's footsteps, calling,

"Too-too-moo!

Where are YOU?"

Still no answer.

Then she came to where the giant lay dead. But her daughter was nowhere to be seen, so she called one last time,

"TOO-TOO-MOO!

WHERE ARE YOU?"

And Too-too-moo answered, "IN THE GIANT!"

With both hands and all her strength, Mama slit open the giant's side.

And out climbed-

Too-too-moo!

From that time on, Too-too-moo and her Mama were happy. There was no more giant to bother them. They always had enough to eat. And they had sweet porridge for breakfast, every single day.

About the Story

This tale comes from Java, the main island of the country of Indonesia. Indonesia itself lies entirely on islands, stretching across the Pacific Ocean between southeast Asia and Australia. Over 200 million people live there, and each major island has its own distinctive culture.

The culture of Java is an eclectic one, and this story echoes motifs from many lands. Japan has the tale of "The Inch Boy," a Tom Thumb character who jumps into an ogre's stomach and defeats him with his sewing-needle sword. Africa has many stories of mothers who rescue children from the belly of an elephant or giant caterpillar. In Western culture, Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother are cut out of the stomach of the wolf. "Too-too-moo" blends these elements with a distinctive Javanese flavor.

To my knowledge, this is the first time the tale has been published outside of Asia. It is here retold chiefly from "Tu‑tu‑mu and the Giant," in Favourite Stories from Indonesia, by Marguerite Siek, Heinemann Educational Books, Kuala Lumpur, 1972.

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Once on the island of Java there was a little girl named Too-too-moo. She lived with her Mama in a one‑room house in a forest. They were poor but they were happy. Or they would have been happy, if not for a terrible giant who came every day.

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For the interview project I did not get to interview my person of choice because they were busy. So instead I was given the interview questions and responses of my classmate´s person, Amy. From that I learned that Amy is from China and that she does celebrate her culture in the U.S. She celebrates the Moon Festival and people come and hold many festivities that include dancing and eating.

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Based off of the research that I did about regions within East Asia, there are a lot of different cultures and animals and tragedies. They are going through deforestation which is very harmful for their environment. The forests provide for the local people and the animals for food and shelter.

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I was recently informed that the book takes place in Australia. This was very surprising to me because their temperatures and lifestyle was so similar to how it is here in the U.S. that I did not know the region was Australia.

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In the book Sold there is a thirteen year old girl named Lakshmi and she goes through many obstacles and tragedies. She has a poor family and she agrees to go away to work in order to provide for her family. What she does not know is that she is being taken away far from her home. She is from the mountains in Nepal and is going to India. It is much different there because for one they have a different language and they have different customs there. While doing her job at Happiness House, if she does something that is disrespectful, she often gets beat and talked down on because she is from the mountains. Also, because she is from the mountains the girls there assume she has no education.

-This book matters to me because I know how it feels to be accused of certain things based off of your ethnicity and where you come from.

-This book can matter to people around me because they too are being judged and different ways of handling that. Some may even relate to Lakshmi and how she is treated.

-This book might matter to the world because I think that it is important to understand what people go through in order to support their families. Even if they are in bad conditions, they are willing to help and provide for their loved ones.