April First

In my country, Madagascar, we have a lot of traditions. People always try to respect most of them. Indeed some of theme disappear little by little due to the society change while some still exist. One of the traditions that still exist even it is not very popular is "April first."
The April first is one of the traditions that we call "feast of lying". I do not know the story of it, but I know that it exist. On April first, lying is permitted. People lie to one another. It is good to notice that it is kind of tricks. Children like it so much. On April first for example a child from a family goes to another family and tell the family's mother that his or her mother needs to talk to her as soon as possible. At that time she does not realize that it is April first. When she comes to the child's mother, she says " I come because you need to talk to me, right." The mother's child answer : " Who tell you that, I do not say that". The family's mother insists telling : " Your child came to me and told that you need to talk to me right now that is why I come." The child who is not too far but try to listen to the conversation, starts laughing, and saying : "Today is April first". Everybody laughs. Then they recongnize that today is "feast of lying." That is only one exapmle but there are many cases.
On April first, people should pay attention in what someone tells. I can not generalize but some people enjoy joking in Madagascar.

Monday of Easter

People know that Easter is a christian holiday. Catholic church calls tridium the tree days of celebration: holy thursday, good friday and holy saturaday, and then the sunday of Easter. In Madagascar, furthermore, people celebrate the monday of Easter as a very big holiday.
On monday of Easter, in Madagascar, every offices are closed such as bank, schools...It is a holiday for everybody, christian, no christian... People go out for picnic. Some organize picnic with friends, some with family, some with relatives, some with coworkers, some with groups...People enjoy this holiday. The most important thing is going out and eat there. For the people who do not like to go, just take a little walk around after noon in the same place that most of people go because some people organize sports or another activities after eating.
However, the weakness of this holiday is the gap diferent between people who have something to bring and the poor. For example, the middle classes drive, bring good food and drink while the poor walk and bring just the rice and meat. When they come to the place, always the same level gather together while the poor separete themeselves. The majority of the people are in the same level, I mean poor, so the separation is not a big deal.
Monday of Easter is one of the biggest holiday in Madagascar. It is a traditional christian holiday but become popular. Children and youth like it so much.

The More I Make Money....

Many people think that when you have a lot of money you will be happy. That is money makes people happy. That is why maybe people leave their countries to find jobs so that meney comes. However, when I listened to a music yesterday, I heard what the artist sings that the more he makes maney the more he is in trouble. Why and how? That is my question.
Hopefully, everybody has his own enswer on this question. Some maybe say that that is wrong, the others can think that that is true but with different responses.
The first response I can say is that that means happiness does not depend necessary on money. It is just an instrument that I can use to enjoy my life and to assure my life.
My second thought is the way I receive and keep it. When I got a little today, I want to get more tomorrow, and when I get more and more I do not live in peace. I always think about my money, how to make it in progress, how to kee it safely, and how and when I am going to use it.
Finally and the last one is I maybe worried about the thiefs, robbers or gangs. Wherever I go, I should take care on myself. All the time I should protect my life against enemies because money makes enemies.
That is my thought. That does not means that I do not need money. Just I interpret what the artist sings. You too, you can give you interpretation.

This is life

Last week I finished my Marx paper in sociology class. I was very happy with I have done, but it was not the last one, we have to prepare a new one this week, so I have to read a lot of books and do many research every day before write something.
This week I prepar my Durkheim paper for seven pages. I try to summarize all of the ideas that I got from my reading and my research. It takes time to do it, so I am focusing on it first before doing something else. My problem is when I stop doing it, it is take time to restart after some time becuse i have to memorize and consult what I have done. For this reason, I prefer to keep doing it until I almost finish what I should do.
The most important thing is I get many idea and learn many thing. Every day I improve my idea, my thought, my skill. This is life.

Finally...

One of my big problems here in this country is cold weather. It is not only cold butespecially freezy because of the wind and snow. In have never seen snow before coming here, so at the first time I was looking forward to see it. Just after two days, I hated it because the weather became too cold. I stayed whole day in my room. I refused to go out. That happened this last winter.
In the begining of the winter, the weather was not too bad, but little by little later it became worse especially in the end of the season. I remembered that the St. John's University was closed twice due to the big storm. Therefore, I stayed home, I did not like even walk around. It was too cold for me. Sometimes, when I felt too cold, I took hot shower. To be honest, I was not suffering but I felt uncomfortable.
Finally, yesterday, I breathed because the weather was cool and very clear. I took adventage on it to walk around a little bit even I would finish my homework. I was comfortable.

Face Of Terror

Usually I watch news every evening after dinner when I do not have class. I always spend a little time watching something else such as Tv show, movie, etc. Yesterday, I watched a movie just stared when I came in our Tv room. The tittle was "Face Of terror". The movie was about a man who was looking for his sister disappeared in europe.
The movie did not showed how this woman left from her country, USA, and came to europe, England, but as a flashback, I saw that she worked in a company as a prostitute. The boss of the company is member of the terrorist. Maybe her boss and his friends asked her to bring a bag having bomb inside to a big building where they wanted to bombard. When the bomb exploded the man and his friends thought that she dead, but she did not. She left already before the explosion. She was kidnaped by a man who was one of her boss's friends. This man took her and kept her in his house at a nice boat. He liked her because she was so beautiful. Nobody knew about that.
One day, his brother decided to look for her and went to europe. He came first to the company where she worked but he did not find her. He investigated many people such as her coworkers, colleagues, friends, and even the police. Finally he heard that her employer killed her. The man who kidnaped her has never said anything.
Through his investigation, he knew the men who mad her sister in danger and asked them the truth but he has never gotten response. However, he recognized that they were terrorists and killed them one by one. Finally he found his sister just when he followed the last of the terrorists. His sister brought again a bag having a bomb inside to this terrorist. He took the bag quickly and threw it in the ocean where the bomb exploded. Then he shot the terrorist, and took his sister. That was the end. It was a good ending.

Phone card

Phone card is one of the businesses in the USA. Foreign people use it a lot to communicate to their country, family, friends. It is much cheaper than the direct one, but it is often changing. As a foreing person, I use it to talk to my family, my friends in Madagascar, but I meet many problems using it.
First of all, when I use a phone card, I should know which one is much better to talk to. I mean I should know with wich phone card I can get much more minutes. Therefore I should ask someone from my country the better one to avoid an expense for nothing, because all phone cards are not necessary good for Madagascar.
Second problem is communicative problem. I have to make sure that the person to whom I want to talk to is turns on his phone and has time to talk, because when I do not reach him or her I loose my money. And when I reach him or her, I can not stop until the phone card is finished because if I stop talking and cut the communication, I loose at least 5mn.
Third problem is bad communication. Sometimes when I call to Madagascar, I can hear the person to whom I talk to but he or she do not hear me, so I have to stop even I loose money.
One month ago, I bought phone cards for $10 and kept them until I called, but after two days the company that made the phone card block the number, people could not use it at all. I thought that I lost my money again. I went to the seller to tell my problem using the phone card, he told that I could change them. I changed my phone cards just for saving money.
During this one month, I do not know which phone card may be good for calling to Madagascar. Today, one of my friends called me and said that there is a new one that is much better to call to Madagascar now. I went to the store but I did not find it yet. Hope that I can call soon.

A New Discover

As a student, I have always homework to do such as reading, writing, even during this sring break. I think that it is good also to take rest sometimes and discover a new horizon. That is why I decided to go to Princeton when a friend of mine invited me last Thursday.
I left from NYC last Thursday to Princeton. When I came there, I walked around and saw many farms. I was very glad to see huge many places of farms. Most of people have a big and beautiful house.
The next day, my friend drove me to Philadelphia. We turned around the city and visited the Liberty Bell. We planed to visit some museums but we did not have enough time because we had to go back to Princeton. Therefore, just we walked around. I saw almost the significant places in Philadelphia. I impression that Philadelpia looks a young city because most of the people I encountered were young.
Again, I discover a new place, a new horizon. Traveling helps me to learn something that I do not have in class or to confirm what I have done and learned.

Myth

Traditionally, people used a lot of myths. The reason was sipmle, to teach kids having a good behavior, attitude. The myths are not necessary true. It is a story evented by elderly people to make their kids think about something, their life, etc. That was happened in Madagascar, my country, and it is still important now. Many children from the village do not have an opportunity to go to school, so their grandparents tell them a myth in the evening at home when they gather together. One of the myths I have never forgotten that my grandmother told me was this:
"In the beginning, there was God of the sky and God of the earth. When God of the earth looked above, he saw how pretty the sky was, with the moon and the stars. When God of the sky looked below, he saw how wonderful the earth was with its water, platns, animals of all kinds. God of the earth coveted the sky while God of the sky coveted the earth. Finally, they quarelled and war broke out. God of the sky sent down thundestorm or lightning bolts. God of the earth raised up mountains to attack the sky. Neither was victorious and peace was made. What solution had they found? They decided to create the man who did not exist yet and they created a man. God of the earth shaped him in mud while God of sky gave him life. When the man died, they quarelled again. "He is mine," said God of the sky because I gave him life. "No he lives down here," said God of the earth. Again, they sared. God of the earth keeps his body while God of the sky carries his life up. This is why, when a man dies, life goes to the sky and the body staps in the earth."
That was the myth, it was a myth, so you can figure out what the oldests want to transmit to their generation.

His Name?...

During this long weekend I met one of my friends and we had a good talke. He gave me a reading with a question which I want to share with you.
He said: "My dad didn't permit the liberal use of alcohol. But the stranger encouraged us to try it on a regular basis. He made cigarettes look cool, cigars manly and pipes distinguished. He talked freely (much too freely!) about sex. His comments were sometimes blatant, so metimes suggestive, and generally embarrassing.
I now know that my early concepts about relationships were influenced strongly by the stranger. Time after time, he opposed the values of my parents, yet he was seldom rebuked...and NEVER asked to leave.
More than fifty years have passed since the stranger moved in with our family. He has blended right in and is not nearly as fascinating as he was at first. Still, if you could walk into my parents'den today, you would still find him sitting over in his corner, waiting for someone to listen to him talk and watch him draw his pictures."
After the reading, my friend asked me if I know what his name is.

Water

In my daily life, water is cosidered as the most important thing that I need, not only because it cleanses my body and my evironment up but especially et necessarily because it keeps me alive. Without water, I am completely sure I cannot live.
Water is one of the firstest things I use every day. First, every morning I use water. When I wake up I go to the bathroom where I use water. I take bath, I shave, etc...all of these actions I need water. Second, water is the only thing has surely the capacity washing dirty. Therefore I use it to clean everything I have used such as clothes, dishes, etc...After working or doing something, I wash my hand. Water cleanses dirty on my body as well as everything that I have used.
Thirsty is a big problem that I cannot support. I drink three times at least a day. In the morning when I eat breakfast, I drink tea or coffee, or milk. In my lunch or dinner time, I drink juice or water. After running or walking a long time, I feel thirsty, so I drink water or juice. Whole day I live with water.
All in all, I think that without water, my life would not be possible. water is one of the fundamental needs of my life. Wherever I go, wahatever I do, I need water. I cannot imagine how my life should be when I don't find water one day. This refleclion makes me think about the desert country. How can the people in the desert survive?

More And More

More you get more you need. People are never satisfied in their life. When someone starts doing, getting something, he or she wants more, more and more...One of the useful example is money. When someone has gotten some money today, tomorrow he or she will want to get more than today. Another example is knowledge. When someone started studying something, he or she doesn't want to stop it, but desires to improve, develop hie or her skill on it... I can stop without tell about my personal experience. When I was a child, I liked to play dominoes. We competed. when I won, I never thought to stop. I wanted to contnue it even until 2 am in the morning. I won one time, I wanted to win for ever...Noone is satisfied what he or she have receved.
Here, my point is to reflect why people are never satisfied. Is it natural or someyhing else such as pleasure, desire, or needy...

Wherever I go...

As a foreign student from Madagascar, an island in the south east of Africa, most of the things that I see in New York is new for me. Wherever I go, I see and encounter new things. First of all, when I leave my room going to school I encounter many new people having different physical appearences coming from different countries such as Indian, Chinese, Colombian, Japanese... I mean there are many immigrant people. When I come to shool I learn many new things, English words, etc...When I go to the bus stop I see many kind of cars on the road. When I visit New York city, my surprised becomes much bigger because of many different things I have never seen from my country.
Second, I notice that things change. I visited a place two weeks ago and I found many new things. When I returned in the same place one week later, I saw at least one new thing. Every where I go, I see a new construction, rehabilitation...
My point is that, here in NY, wherever I go, I see many stange things. Through these things, I can improve my knowledge.

Be proud

Some people depend on the others all the time. They don't realise that it good sometimes to be confident wit yourself. I mean that you sould be proud with yourself. That doesn't mean that you don't need the others or you can do everything that you like. Everybody has a limit. People need always help.

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