Famous Last Words: Dead Week

Famous Last Words: Dead Week

Haiti Skies
Personal Photo

This week was full of hard things, but also joyful things. This class this week was catch-up time and time to get ahead so I can make sure my grade is okay. Nevertheless, I learned discipline and what it means to put aside things happening at home so I can focus on earning a degree and this class helped me get closer to attaining that goal of being the first person in my whole family to earn at bachelor's degree! What a blessing that is. I enjoyed this class because it allowed to read others' writings and thoughts and even learn about their lives. I feel like each and every person I read from is talented and gifted in writing, whether that is natural or learned. I am definitely a learned writer and even continued learning that this week in this class of how creative can I actually be. I am honored to have taken a part in commenting on everyone's blogs and being able to navigate through their projects that have lasted all semester and taken a lot of hard work and dedication. I definitely cannot wait to take these skills and use them in my job I have someday. I greatly enjoyed learning about a different culture and diving into a different side of the world, bringing it to this side of the world. What a beautiful culture and people group! I do hope one day I get to travel to India and hear some of these stories from people there and hope to take in the culture first-hand. There is so much to take in and I am a firm believer in spending a good amount of time in a country before I can say much about it. I hope that throughout this course I have also attained better technological skills that will help me to help others in the future, as I have been helped in this class. Looking forward to what post-grad life holds! I am excited for new, purposeful times and to use these skills to help others in whatever location I may be in!

Wikipedia Trail: Haiti to Australia

Wikipedia Trail: Haiti to Australia

Flag of Haiti
Image Source

#1: Haiti

I read about the country that I lived in for two summers, plus couple more week long trips. Something new I learned is that French is spoken by 42% of Haitians, I had no idea that many spoke French!

#2: French-based creole languages
I read about the language of Creole created when the French brought African slaves over to the island of the Dominican Republic and Haiti. Creole was formed as the slaves were no longer allowed to speak their native language, so they would write down the language the French were speaking and eventually spoke it for themselves. The writing looked different from French so Creole was formed out of those different spellings over time.

#3: Indian Ocean
I read about the Indian Ocean. The Indian Ocean is the third largest ocean in the world, bounded by Asia, Africa and Australia.

#4: Australia
Australia is the largest country in Oceania and is the 13th largest economically.

Reading Notes: The Noble Horse, Reading A

Reading Notes: The Noble Horse, Reading A

The Noble Horse
Image Source

Plot:
There was a beautiful creature who lived once, the Horse of Brahmadatta, King of Benares. He was more beautiful than any other. His stable was a palace. The city was the happiest city in India. Seven kings came together and said the enemies are quickly approaching the gates, we must come up with a plan. So Brahmadatta allowed them to take his horse, so that they would be victorious. Suddenly in war, all the kings fell and the knight knew there needed to be something differently done. The king felt helpless and the knight encouraged him to not give up hope. The king died.

Characters:
Horse of Brahmadatta, King of Benares
Seven kings
The knight

Setting:
City of Benares

Bibliography: The End of the World, Twenty Jataka Tales, Noor Inayat, The Noble Horse

Reading Notes: The Golden Goose, Part B

Reading Notes: The Golden Goose, Part B

The Golden Goose
Image Source

Plot:
Golden clouds passed over the city of Benares and the sky was covered in gold. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful goose flew across the sky. The King told the goose that he ought to be king. He allowed music to play and entertainment to come for the goose. The goose was pondering why the king would do such a thing and the other geese assumed the king wanted him to be his friend. So the geese and the goose descended down to earth to meet the king. The next day the King was walking through the gardens near the lake of Anokkatta where the bird came to him and he sprinkled water on the king. The king spoke to the geese and they said they had a race with the sun. The king warned them that this was too hot for them to take on. They ignored him and went anyway. The young one went and couldn't take the heat. The golden one flew back and caught the little one. The Golden one decided to take on the task the little one had and the golden one soared high up above the clouds, never to be seen again. The sky indeed became golden again.

Characters:
people of Benares
A beautiful goose
The geese
The King

Setting:
The city of Benares
near the lake of Anokkatta

Bibliography: The End of the World, Twenty Jataka Tales, Noor Inayat, The Golden Goose

Reading Notes: The End of the World, Part A

Reading Notes: The End of the World, Part A

The End of the World
Image Source

Plot:
One day a hare was sitting under a tree and was wondering about what would happen to him if the earth came to an end. Suddenly, an apple fell from the tree and hit the ground next to him! He ran home quickly and went to his brother and was baffled by what had happened to him. The hare kept running and told another and ran after him. He was afraid the earth was breaking to pieces and so they all started running until a thousand hares were running through the fields together. They raced through many locations and came to a jungle where a wise lion lived and told them that yes, this was true and they would die if he did not save them. So they went up a mountains and he asked why they would run at such a pace. They would continue giving the reason that the earth is breaking to pieces. They thought the elephants were doing this. The only one who actually saw the earth breaking was the one hare. Suddenly the great lion realized that the only thing the hare had seen was  fruit falling. He told the crowd and they lived happily ever after.

Characters:
A little hare
Another little hare
A thousand hares
A wise lion
Elephants
Rhinoceros

Setting:
Under a tree
The fields
Jungle
Mountains

Bibliography: The End of the World, Twenty Jataka Tales, Noor Inayat, The End of the World

Week 15 Story: The Golf Course Flood

Week 15 Story: The Golf Course Flood

The Forest Fire
Image Source

Once upon a time, in a golf course far, far away, there lived a family of geese.  The mother goose and father goose took very good care of their seven children and made sure they were protected from the golf balls that would come flying through the air daily. They made sure the goslings were well fed and were given plenty of nutrients through bread crumbs the golfers would use, or from what the earth had to offer.

They did notice one day that the littlest gosling would only peck at golf balls instead of eat his own grub. This fact concerned them. Why would the small gosling not eat? Did he not need to grow?

The parents discussed this and decided there was not much else to do besides wait on the young gosling to come to his own conclusion that he needed to eat. 

One day the mother and father were walking and talking and they passed by Badger and Owl. Both creatures were having a fine day and noticed how upset the mother and father goose looked. They began to speak to them about feeling as if the gosling might be preparing for something coming. Though they did not know what, the mother and father goose found comfort in knowing that there might be hope for their little one.

After a few days went by, the afternoon time arose and there was strange smell in the air. It was that of mud. It seemed like there was quite a few clouds in the sky and suddenly it was down pouring all around the lake. The geese family could hardly find shelter strong enough to keep them from the rain. It kept getting worse and over time, the pond began to fill up and the golf course was filled with water. Though the geese were made for water living, they certainly were not prepared for the winds and pressure coming against them. 

The little gosling, since he was so small, was able to duck in and out of the water and air and fly way up in the midst of rain and dodge the rain drops. It was as if something had taken over him! He eventually brought all other six siblings to be with him in a tree trunk at high ground to where they would not drown. 

After a couple of days, the waters dried up and they lived happily ever after! 

Bibliography: The Forest Fire, Twenty Jataka Tales, Noor Inayat, The Forest Fire

Author's Note: I took the story from the Twenty Jataka Tales by Noor Inayat of The Forest Fire and created my own by giving it a more modern style of writing and including a more "Americanized" version of the story. Instead of quails, I used geese but still kept the family unit strong and included the one gosling instead of the one duck. I tried to also include other characters to change the storyline a little by providing an intervention between the badger and the owl. 

Reading Notes: The Forest Fire, Part B

Reading Notes: The Forest Fire, Part B

The Forest Fire
Image Source

Plot:
Mother Quail told the seven little quails to stay while the mother and father brought them worms. The weird thing was that Mother and Father Quail noticed that the seventh only ate grass-seeds, rather than like the others that ate the worms and insects. The little one who only ate the grass-seeds did not grow wings like the others. One night the family was awaken by sad cries and the mother and father and seven little quails and they were fearful. They were sure it was a fire. The flames burned and glowed across the forest. The little quail said he is small with no wings, but he can speak to the flames. One by one the little heads came out of hiding and saw that the forest fire was gone! The family went and walked in peace and the little quail smiled as he saw the forest waking up again. They lived happily ever after!

Characters:
Mother Quail
The little quails
Father Quail

Setting:
The Forest

Bibliography: The Forest Fire, Twenty Jataka Tales, Noor Inayat, The Forest Fire