Blog Refletion-The end of the journey

All right, I'm doing this early because it's finals week and I don't want to either forget about it or be so overloaded with work and studies that my brain will be forced to shut down. Aside from that, as all things new that I experience through this university this blog journal was very strange. A place designed by me for others to see. They can see my thoughts and opinions on topics that I might never discuss with others. The whole blog construction and design thing is quite challenging and a little embarrassing but there is a certain anonymity to it, even though they can read about who I am on the front page, that allows for it to feel less discomforting. It was strange and mesmerizing how people from other countries would find my blog, for what reason I don't know, but it still made me curious what their purpose for visiting was and how the happen to stumble upon it.The comments everyone left were very nice. So, much obliged to everyone on the team for leaving such ego lifting messages. I tried using the methods recommended to leave comments and did use every one of them at least once on the older post but, I have to admit they were different to what I'm usually accustomed to when commenting on comments. I found other journals to have very creative tittles, pictures and ideas and the format was fairly easy to read, so I had little to no problem reading feedback. Nonetheless, I did feel like I was intruding into others privacy when reading their blogs, so I felt a bit embarrassed to criticize and then leave a comment on a blog post. Personally, if I were to do a blog I would like to put my heart and soul into it and since I feel I don't have the time to maintain one, I would consider making one only if I have topics to write about that interest me and if I feel I have the time all while retaining my anonymity. Overall, it was a very interesting experience and it definitely keeps one busy and makes you learn a little more about how to use your computer and help me improve my typing skills.

Here are some corny pictures with messages that I like:

and here's some journey music:

The Geography of Bliss- Eric Weiner - Switzerland

In this chapter of The Geography of Bliss the author writes about his search for happiness and what makes people happy in Switzerland. He describes the Swiss as neutral, punctual, clean, serious and humorless. Clean toilets and on time trains make them happy or at the very least contempt. They also have a deep connection with nature, they vote on almost everything reflecting their successful government style. They love and regularly eat chocolate which is found to contain chemicals that b ring happiness. Finally they enjoy, promote and follow rules and reject any form of envy. The way he describes the Swiss makes them sound like the perfect human being and example other countries and people. Nonetheless, he is still torn and mystified as to why they describe themselves as happy but seem, in his eyes, so boring and bland. On the other hand, he ends up enjoying the peaceful and punctual Swiss lifestyle but, ends up recognizing that aside from their mutual love of chocolate they have nothing else in common. In the end the author feels that while the Swiss are not happy they are contempt in their way of life. Personally, I find some of the Swiss rules as excessive, such as not allowing to flush the toilet after 10 pm, but for the most part I appreciate and am quite frankly down right amazed by how well they run their country despite it having its imperfections. I think that to better understand the Swiss we should look at their history and maybe that will explain their attitude towards life and happiness. Happiness is a fleeting feeling that can be either hard to attain or caused by the simplest of actions. It is my belief that since everyone is different and their views and ways of attaining happiness is different then, there are an infinite amount of ways by which everyone can attain happiness.

This video is a musical journey through Switzerland it was really cool, check it out if you like:

Chapter 7 Teaching- Jim Cooper- Reflection

This chapter focuses on the problem of teaching English in both Puerto Rican universities and public schools. It describes such an issue as one that is almost impossible to resolve no matter what you do and is a problem that is manipulated by the teachers and professors higher ups or bosses or the teachers stubbornness and ignorance as well. Now a days we have improved but we still have a lot of work to do. I say this because, as I write this any word that is spelled incorrectly word and the computer fix it for me meaning I'm not learning how to properly write the word and thus failing at learning English. My experience with English teaching revolved around a private catholic school. The school had good teachers, they were usually the strictest of all the teachers in school. They were all women who were either raised in the states but were born and had returned to Puerto Rico or were fluent in English because they were taught well, I guess. I was personally taught the basic words of English by my mom: colors, numbers, the alphabet, animals, etc. The rest I learned by my own reading books and watching English movies and T.V. shows. Then school help fill in the rest of the gaps but by then I knew the basic rules and I have always had decent pronunciation, at least that is what they tell me both at home in school and in University. Anyways, it seems like teaching English in the 50's was a huge struggle in Puerto Rico and I imagine it can be stressing to try and teach English and not have the materials and the skills to do so, not to mention that some students aren't even willing to learn. It was interesting to see how and English teacher form the states viewed the state of education in the island and it funny how he pointed out a lot of the problems that we still face today and some people don't know or outright deny they exist.

This 50's videos are weird to watch now, but I thought it would be educational. It's about discipline in school and since the writing took place in the 50's..: