Quiz

We took a quiz about political geography yesterday. Before the quiz Mr. Schick told us it would be fill the blank not multiple choices, including the name of country (or nation) and leaders, and their background. I thought we would need to fill the blank with leader's background, like what did they do before they became the leader, who were their parents or when and where were they born. I felt bad  and reviewed the power point for almost whole night. However, I found that we just needed to write down the name that was consistent with the question. We even could use our blogs during the quiz. This made me have a mixed feeling, because the quiz was easier than what I expected, but I spent so much time reviewing things that would not be in it.

Political Geography 2

China - Xi Jinping
son of revolutionary veteran Xi Zhongxun
wife well-known folk singer Peng Liyuan
daughter Xi Mingze studies at Harvard University

France - Francois Hollande
no previous experience in national government position
wife (4 four) 30 years relationship but never married
born 1954 Rouen
father physician/ doctor (right wing) mother social worker (left wing)
shared information

Israel - Binyamin Netanyahu
lived in US with family when he was a child
brother Jonathan (Yonni) was killed by terrorist in July 1976, in the course of the Entebbe Operation, of which he was one of the commanders. Netanyahu returned to Israel and started to advocate international cooperation in fighting terrorism.
Quote: "There are those who say that if the Holocaust had not occurred, the State of Israel would never have been established. But I say that if the State of Israel would have been established earlier, the Holocaust would not have occurred."

United Kingdom - David Cameron
at 7 years old he was packed off to Heatherdown and then came to Eton
first child died (disabled) in February 2009
the youngest Prime Minister (43) in over 200 years

Elizabeth became queen on February 6, 1952, and was crowned on June 2, 1953.  Her reign has lasted 60 years - and counting

Russia - Vladimir Putin
served as president of Russia from 2000 - 2008, and was re-elected in 2012
previously served as Russia's Prime Minister.
born 1952 10 7 Leningrad
law degree, career in KGB as an intelligence officer
stationed mainly in East Germany and held that position until 1990, retiring with the rank of lieutenant colonel

Syria - Bashar al-Assad
born 1965 9 11
succeeded his father Hafez al-Assad who led Syria for 30 years
elder brother Bassel was killed in car crush
graduated from the medical school,work as doctor in army
was asked to take over as heir apparent
He ordered mass crackdowns and military sieges on Arab Spring protesters, leading to the Syrian Civil War
The Syrian opposition, the United States, Canada, the European Union and the majority of the Arab League have called for al-Assad's resignation from the presidency
During the Syrian Civil War, an inquiry by the United Nations human rights chief found evidence to implicate Assad in war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Political Geography 1

Mexico - Enrique Peña Nieto
the eldest of four siblings in a middle-class family; his father, Gilberto Enrique Peña del Mazo, was an engineer for the electric company and his mother, María del Socorro Nieto, a schoolteacher
fathered 2 children in extramarital affairs while his wife raised the couple's 3 children.
the investigation into the sudden death of his wife at home in 2007, have prompted many to call him the Teflon candidate because trouble seems to slide off him
Two years later he announced his engagement to soap opera actress Angelica Rivera.  Rivera became his wife in a star-studded wedding ceremony two years ago and is now the first lady of Mexico
Soyo movement

Germany - Angela Merkel
Hamburg
dad was a Lutheran pastor
Lutheran
has a doctorate as a physical chemist (graduated from University of Leipzig in 1978 with a degree in physics and physical chemistry; earned a PhD in quantum chemistry from the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin in 1986)
2013 - accused the US National Guard Security Agency for tapping her cell phone
strike a deal with Gerhard Schroeder's Social Democrats
first woman chancellor
2005 11 22 elected
2009 9 27 re-elected
2013 9 22 re-elected
totally three times
earned the top spot on the FORBES list of Most Powerful Women In The World for eight of the past 10 years

Brazil - Dilma Rousseff
daughter of a Bulgarian entrepreneur
she has a degree in economies
she was captured and was put in jail between 1970 and 1972 because she opposed Brazil’s military dictatorship, during which time she was reportedly tortured.
she has been divorced twice
she underwent chemotherapy for lymphoma in 2009, and is now in remission.

India - Pranab Mukherjee
3 children
"I came from a political family. My father was a freedom fighter. He was a prominent leader of the locality an member of ...."
had a conflict with Rajiv Gandhi (who took over as Prime Minister from his mother Indira after she was assassinated in 1984) and started his own party – Rashtriya Samajwadi Congress
taught Political Science at the Vidiyanagar College, worked as college teacher and journalist before
was rated as one of the best finance ministers of the world in 1984 and was adjudged the best parliamentarian in 1997

Iraq - Fuad Masum
born in 1938 1 1 Koya
the son of Sheikh Mulla Masum, a former head of the Association of Muslim Scholars in Kurdistan, and belongs to an established political dynasty with Muslim clerical links
Kurdistan Democratic Party
PhD in Islamic Philosophy
A former law lecturer and a founding member of Mr Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, he served as its envoy in Syria and Britain before becoming prime minister of the Iraqi Kurdistan region in 1992

Canada - Justin Trudeau
12 25 1971 Ottawa
his father was Prime Minister - Pierre Trudeau
supported the Liberal Party from a young age, offering his support to party leader John Turner in the 1988 federal election
defended Canadian federalism at a student event at the Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf, the high school which he attended
he and his family started the Kokanee Glacier Alpine Campaign for winter sports safety in 2000, two years after his brother Michel Trudeau died in an avalanche during a ski trip
In 2005, Trudeau fought against a proposed $100-million zinc mine that he argued would poison the Nahanni River in the NW Terr
had a different tone and approach than his competitor - Steven Harper's was controlling

Report

Present: Xi Jinping

Born: 15 June 1957 (age 62)

Family Background:
Father - Xi Zhongxun, who is the former State Council Vice Premier and Chairman of the National People's Congress on 1959, retired on 1993, passed on 24 May, 2002.
Wife: Peng Liyuan, prominent Chinese folk singer, the dean of Art Academy of People's Liberation Army, the director of Chinese Musicians Association, ACWF Executive Committee.

 Xi Jinping was born in a powerful family, he was the son of Xi Zhongxun. Xi Zhongxun was criticized and persecuted during the Cultural Revolution on 1962. He was imprisoned for more than 7 years and wronged for 16 years. During these years, Xi Jinping was sent down to the countryside to work in production team. Because he was active in work, he quickly became the secretary of the production team in more than 30 thousand educated youths. And then he attended the college entrance examination and was accepted by a famous university - Tsinghua University. During the time he studied in university, his father was cleared his name and was appointed to be the Fifth Standing Committee of the CPPCC National Committee, then became one of the Communist Party's most powerful leaders on 1978. After he graduated from the university on 1979, he was nominated to be the secretary of State Council Vice Premier, Geng Biao. At this year his father became the governor of Guangdong province.
On 1982, he became the deputy secretary of Zhengding county part committee in Hubei province, his father Xi Zhongxun became the commissioner of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee. Next year Xi Jinping got a promotion to be the secretary. He left Hebei and went to Xiamen, a city by southeast coast of China, became the deputy mayor of Xiamen at the age of 32 on 1985. And in next 17 years, he worked as the secretary in Ningde (1988-1990) and Fuzhou (1990-1996), two important cities in Fujian province. On the year of 1988, his father became the Vice Chairman and the Director-General of the Jurisdiction Commission of the NPC Standing Committee. On 1995, Xi Jinping became the deputy secretary of Fujian Provincial Committee, worked hard for few years and finally got a promotion to be the governor of Fujian province on 1999. On the year of 1993 his father retired. He got transferred to be the secretary and the acting governor of Zhejiang province from 2003 to 2007, and then became the secretary of Shanghai Municipal Committee. Then he quickly became the member of Politburo Standing Committee and Secretariat of the Central Committee. Then he worked as Vice President of China from 2008 to 2013, finally was elected president in the first meeting of the 12th National People's Congress on 2013.

Xi Jinping advocates to intensify anti-corruption efforts, attaches the importances to public opinion and the efficiency of work. When he worked as the secretary of Zhejiang province, he went down to grass-roots units, visited 69 counties in 9 months. He is low-key, and good at dealing with all different kinds of people and media.

Educational Background:
From 1975 to 1979 he studied chemical engineering in Tsinghua University. From 1998 to 2002, he studied Marxist philosophy and ideological education in an "on-the-job" postgraduate programme at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, again at Tsinghua University, and obtained a Doctor of Law (LLD) degree, which was a degree covering fields of law, politics, management, and revolutionary history.

Cite: 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xi_Jinping
http://baike.baidu.com/link?url=Xi0CBGakM5NKFDHlV8x1SsQ0h543FAy7zi4sQl6R1ri-BPBUqJOeULhh-0Cb84z0t_3Og5PJrDHUJPRmbz36NK
http://www.ycwb.com/xkb/2007-10/23/content_1656124.htm

Important People

Mexico
Government: Federal Republic
Leader: President Enrique Peña Nieto

Germany
Government: Federal Republic
Leader: Chancellor Angela Merkel

Syria
Government: Republic under an authoritarian regime
Leader: President Bashar al-Assad

China
Government: Communist State
Leader: President Xi Jinping

United Kingdom
Government: Constitutional Monarchy and Commonwealth Realm

Leader: Prime Minister David Cameron

Russia
Government: Federation
Leader: President Vladimir Putin

Brazil
Government: Federal Republic
Leader: President Dilma Rousseff

Israel Binyamin Netanyahu
Government: Parliamentary Democracy
Leader: President Reuven Rivlin

India
Government: Federal Republic
Leader: President Pranab Mukherjee

France
Government: Republic
Leader: President François Hollande

Canada
Government: A parliamentary democracy, a federation, and a constitutional monarchy
Leader: President Justin Trudeau

Iraq
Government: Parliamentary Democracy
Leader: President Fuad Masum

Quiz Review

Today we reviewed five religions that we learned long time ago. Mr. Schick said we would have a quiz on it tomorrow. I could not remember so clearly as I just learned, but luckily all questions in quiz are multiple choices. I liked multiple choices!

Important information:

Christianity is the largest religion in the world, the geographic location of it is Europe, the Americas and South Africa.
Islam is the second largest religion, and its location is Indonesia (the most people), Middle East and North Africa. It has two denominations: Sunnis and Shiites. It also has five pillars (testimony, prayer, alms-giving, fasting, pilgrimage). The founder of Islam is Muhammad.
Hinduism is concentrative, it is also the oldest religion and has no distinct founder.
The location of Buddhism is Southeast Asia, China, Nepal, Japan. There are also 1.2 million Buddhists in the United States.
Four noble truths and bodhi tree.
The location of Judaism is Israel, and its founder is Abraham.

Final Presentation

Part One: Refugees

I think all countries should take in some Syrian refugees, not the more the better, just make the number of refugees in the range that could maintain the social stability and keep the economy stable. We should find some ways to encourage people to help them, like giving speeches in public or making videos to show people their life.
We need to take in them as soon as possible. And then firstly, give the identification paper to each refugee that prepares to go to other country after detailed investigations of their life experience. The investigation should include their family member, criminal record, departure record and so on. Secondly, increase the surveillance of big cities, especially the capitals of countries which take in many refugees.

Part Two: Combat Plan

After helping Syrian refugees leave here and find somewhere to live, we should control the entry and exit of people to Syria. Then, we can begin the fight with ISIS officially.
Firstly, control the exports of oil of ISIS. Because this is the biggest funding source of them, if we control that, we could cut it down and weaken them significantly. Then the government needs to unite with other countries, work together to fight with ISIS. Government should negotiate with them and encourage them to give a hand, because it finally will be a big world problem if we belittle it. At least persuade them not stop us (Turkey is an example, they shot down a Russian military plane on the  Syrian border, though they said they were not to protect the oil trade with ISIS, just because Russia violated their airspace). Finally, I think we can make both of land war and air war with ISIS. Personally I prefer land war because it can find the attack targets better and more exactly, but air war always easily hurts the innocent by accidents though it's more efficient.

Part Three: Spiritual Solution

If we want to solve the problem fundamentally, we should help Syria and other countries here to develop their own economies, and stabilize their employments. Otherwise, though we eliminate ISIS successfully, there still will be some organizations that are similar to it in future. We know that, because of the political turmoil, sometimes it's hard for Syrian people to have a good life just by working hard. So some people may would choose to join ISIS for high salary or good treatment to improve the quality of their life. So if we can help them develop economies, people like them will be fewer and fewer.
We also need to support the secularization of Muslins and established the regime of secularists, because not all Muslins are bad people, actually I think most of them are secular, they are as kind and gentle as other people. Government also should provide high education for them. The most important thing to wipe ISIS out is changing people's extreme and wrong religious ideas.

Researches:
http://www.cnn.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
http://tribune.com.pk/story/997411/turkey-shoots-down-military-plane-on-syria-border-media/
http://www.baidu.com
https://www.google.com.hk/#safe=active&q=syrian+refugees
http://www.zhihu.com
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/paris-attacks-where-does-isis-get-its-money-and-arms-a6736716.html

Presentations

In today's class, all students made a presentation about the solution of ISIS as group. Because I was late, so I just listened three groups' presentations, but I still learned a lot from them.

Firstly, I found that all of them used many researches in their presentations. I knew we needed to find some researches that we needed, but I didn't know how to connect them with my own solution before.  For example, In Jordan's presentation they said we should remove their capital. I knew ISIS had much capital by robbing and kidnapping, and they also made money for selling oil. But in presentation they showed me many details from researches that how ISIS got money by oil, so we could think the specific solution of removing money by this information.

I thought most of my classmates did a good job in their presentation. For the first one though I thought it was idealistic and not very possible to make it come true, actually it was a very detailed solution, and it also provided the best interests of Syrian refugees. I liked this solution so much. And the third one had many excellent ideas, I thought it was the best in all three that I heard. Because it included the solution of core problem - removed the leader. ISIS was like a country, and their leader was the person who initiated and directed terrorist operations.

I thought people should help Syria and other countries near here develop the economy and stabilize the employment. So some people would not join ISIS for improving life.  And we also needed to support the secularization of Muslin, established the regime of secularists, and provided high education for them. The most important thing that wiped ISIS was changing people's extreme and wrong religious ideas.

Group Project

Last class Mr. Schick told us we needed to make a ISIS project instead of a test on next Tuesday (but I thought It was better to have a test). It was about the solution of ISIS that we have already talked about for a few classes. Finally we decided to encourage all countries to fight with ISIS, and we also thought some detailed plans, like control the entry and exit of people in Syria, and winked out the terrorists of ISIS that pretended as a refugee live in another country. Now we should think the way that could decrease the mortality of Syrians (because we wanted to fight with ISIS in Syria directly so it must would injure some civilians accidentally) and improve the efficiency of finding terrorists. It was really difficult to come up with a plan that was almost perfect.

At the Beginning of Class

At the beginning of today's class, it was very noisy in classroom, just because Mr. Schick did not be here at that time. Almost everyone talked to each other loudly, they even left their seats and went to play with other students. It seemed that it still was the break time. I stayed in my seat quietly, prepared for religion test and waited for Mr. Schick. I just kept myself quiet, but did not remain others not to speak so loud.
Then, because we were too noisy that has influenced neighbor class, Mr. Mc opened the door that between his classroom and ours, warned us that it was class time, and we should sit down in our seats and be quiet. After that Mr. Schick also came to the class, he talked with us about that seriously, and then left again for a while for his desk.
Because we have just been warned, everyone looked much quieter than before. There still were some people talking though others told them to stop.
In China, most of students would be quiet in class time though teacher were not here. We were taught to do that when we were very young. If we talked to each other loudly like what we did in break time, teachers would be really angry because we would influence other students to listen to teachers. It was a disrespect of them and also was a waste of the time.

Solution of ISIS

In today's class we talked about the solution of ISIS with our classmates. I didn't want to make a war with them, because it would make the situation in Syria worse which had a bad influence on their people. People are innocent, but the innocent people always endured the most sufferings in the war. And I thought making a peace were always better than making a battle. However, both of Andy and Owen wanted to fight with ISIS. They were so flagitious and they made many things that could never be forgiven, such as killed queers, kidnapped people, or burned people at the stake. The ideology of them was extreme so that we could not negotiate with them. Therefore, they thought the only way to resolve the problem was to fight with them directly. People all around the world needed to work together to make a peace.

Syrian refugees

In today's class, we talked about our last classwork first, and then watched a video.
This video was about a girl who is Syrian refugee. The life of her was changed sharply by the war, and she turned into pessimistic and gloomy from happy and vivacious. In video, the difference between her two birthdays (before and after the war) made me feel so sad: only her mom sang the birthday song for her instead of many people, and she could not help crying.
I thought the girl, and the children who are like her are so poor, and we needed to help them. All of us had our family, our friends, had our own good life before, but now they lost them and experienced so many dreadful things. The difference between us  just is living in different places, I thought maybe one day the things happened to them also would happen to us. If it would be true, I could not imagine if no one help me, it would be hopeless. Therefore, I thought we should help them, help people who are in trouble.
I thought the government could take in some refugees, only some, but some for many countries (not all because the culture, language or condition of some countries were not good for Syrians to live). But I knew that some countries or states refused to do that because of Paris attack. This also could be understood, we could not disprove that taking in refugees would increase the risk of attack. All in all, I still hoped there would be more and more people helped Syrian refugees, and more and more countries would like to offer them a safe place to live.

Religions -

Judaism

Number of adherents: 14-18 million (ninth)
Call them: Jews
Geographic location: Israel
Founder: Abraham
Holy book: Talmud
Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy)
Beliefs: ethical monotheism - God is one, and concerned with the actions of humankind
one God, not allow to have any others
kind of like a person
Ten commandments
13 Principles of Faith
having a lot of rules

Classwork

1. Christian 31.4% Muslim 23.2% Hindu 15% Buddhist 7.1% Jewish 0.2%

2. Judaism: He's the founding father of Covenant, and a special relationship between Jewish people and God in Judaism. He was called "our father Abraham".
Christianity: Apostle Paul taught Abraham's faith in God made him the prototype of all believers. And the Roman Catholic Church calls Abraham "our father in Faith" in the Eucharistic prayer of the Roman Canon.
Islam: The Islamic prophet Muhammad claimed Abraham. And Muslims regard Abraham as a prophet and patriarch, the archetype of the perfect Muslim, and the revered reformer of the Kaaba in Mecca. Islamic traditions consider him the first Pioneer of Islam.

3. An indulgence is "a way to reduce the amount of punishment one has to undergo for sins." The Catholic Church sold them and said to people that they would get the remission from God if they bought them. Martin Luther objected to indulgences because he thought only God could clear people from sins, and the indulgence only was a shameful way of collecting money for church.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indulgence

4. Haji is a greater Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, which takes place in the last month of the year and which all Muslims are expected to make at least once during their lifetime if they can afford to do so. It is one of the Five Pillars of Islam.

5. The Rigveda: The test is the oldest Indic text, it's a collection of 1,028 hymns and 10,600 verses, organized into ten books. It includes hymns of praise to many deities.
The Samaveda: It contains 1,549 standzas and 1,875 verses. It consist of hymns that common with the Rigveda.
The Yajurveda: It contains 1,875 verses and it's a compilation of ritual offering formulas that were said by a priest while an individual performed ritual actions such as those before the yajna fire.
The Atharvaveda: It is a collection of 730 hymns with about 6,000 mantras, divided into 20 books. And it's a text belonging to the Atharvan and Angoras poets.

Religions

Buddhism

Number of adherents: 500 million to 1.5 billion (estimates very quite a bit)
some people are both Christian and Buddhist.
Call them: Buddhists
Geographic location: Southeast Asia, China, Nepal, japan
there are 1.2 million Buddhists in the United States
concentrate on food and think about what you doing
Founder: Siddhartha Gautama
Denominations: Tibetan, Zen, Theravada, Amidist
Beliefs:
Four Noble Truth
1. There is suffering
2. Attachment to desire is the origin of suffering
3. There is a cessation of suffering
4. The eightfold path will lead to the cessation of suffering
The Eightfold Path
right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right dedication

Five Major Religions - a study guide

Christianity

Number of adherents: around 2.2 billion (largest in the world)
Call them: Christians
Geographic location: Europe (almost all European countries), the Americas, Southern Africa.
Denominations: (most) Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox Church(Russia), Protestants (Lutherans, Methodists, Baptists, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, many more) - same guy and same religion
Founder: Christ (it's Abrahamic in origin)
Holy book: The Bible, especially The New Testament (the difference between Christian and Judaism)
Beliefs: Jesus is both human and divine - the Son of God; he led a virtuous life, he was crucified, died, buried, and resurrected; he ascended into heaven where he reigns with God the Father.
Spend time with poor people, women
Mary is a virgin and give birth to Jesus because he is the Son of God (prove that Jesus is special)
Clergy: the Pope is head of the church, priests are local authorities.

Islam

Number of adherents: 1.5 billion (the second largest)
Call them: Muslims
Geographic location: Middle East, north Africa
Denominations: Sunnis (75-90% at least 3 quarters) Shiites (10-20%)
Founder: Muhammad (570-632)
Holy book: Qur'an
Beliefs: monotheistic, Abrahamic
Five Pillars (testimony, prayer, alms-giving, fasting, pilgrimage)
Muslims see their purpose in life as serving and submitting to Allah (God), and observing Islamic law

Hinduism

Number of adherents: 1.1 billion (the third largest)
Call them: Hindus
Geographic location: India, Nepal
Denominations: the vedas - eternal truths revealed to ancient sages, composed in verse form (meant to be sung and easily memorized)
Founder: no distinct founder (too old) - it's a series of intellectual or philosophical points of view, rather than a rigid, strict set of beliefs - probably the oldest religion, although Hinduism is less a religion than a way of life, or a faith.
example: "As a person puts on new clothes and discards old and torn clothes, similarly an embodied soul enters new material bodies, leaving the old body."
In other words... reincarnation

The test grade

Today the test papers we did yesterday were handed to us. I got 90 points in this test (it should be 93 actually). The first one I did wrong in test was "This area is beginning to transform into a high-tech, knowledge-based society." I thought it was Japan, but in fact it was India because it was just the  beginning of the transforming. The second one was "19% of then women here use birth control, compared to 61% worldwide." I thought this one should be India because the women here were asked to bear many children in order to have more than one boy, but it was Africa! And the last one was a little special, because Mr. Schick did it wrong. "One in ten children here dies before age 5", the answer of this question should be India not Africa. Therefore he added 3 points for students who actually did it right, and finally my grade turned into 93.

Nova video test

Today we took a test about the Nova video. It only had thirty multiple choices, but I was still  not sure about some, such as which country has rising dead rate and which area is home to the largest metropolitan area in the world. India and Africa had something in common which was easy to confuse. Some other questions were really detailed. We were allowed to use our blog on test this time, but unluckily some notes were only on my notebook.
The nova video was too hard to understand. I watched a part of video about Africa again yesterday night. Though we could find the transcript on YouTube, it was not correct! I wanted to watch the whole video again at first, but it was too terrible so I gave up.
I will must write down as many as possible notes next time when we watch videos in class.

Complement

1) India will have over 1.6 billion by 2050, and pass China soon.
2) Japan has never had declining birth rate so far so fast so deep.
3) The TFR of Japan is 1.3, which will shrink  a half of the population that is 126 million.
4) In 70s, 25 is the last chance to get married for women in Japan, but now they often delay the marriage until the last time they can have their first children. They try to do different things with their lives.
5) Tomoko was a television journalist which was one of Japan first female anchors at the age of 29. She was looking for a good lifetime career. She became an editor in chief when she was 37. She felt scared to have a baby because she thought it would drop out of race, but finally she gave birth a daughter when she was 41.
6) One of the reasons that most of women in Japan go to work is that in 89,90 economy was in a recession, they had to work to keep the family in middle class. And raised a successful child was a expensive task for education.
7) Japanese people preferred to work for a long time so they have to find people to take care of their child for more than 13 hours. Therefore the birth rate declined.
8) Children in Japan always work in city and leave their parents alone because they have their own life and cannot afford to take care of them.
9) In Japan family is responsible to take care of elders not the government, and family always means women.
10) Japanese people live long and the disability rate among elders drop steadily.
11) In Japan there is no enough young people to support retiring, so the population will decline and the consumers also will decline. Because the government doesn't have good profit business and no enough people to pay taxes, they cannot have good welfare.
12) America workforce increased because of the immigration.
13) An American child will consume and pollute more over a lifetime than 30 Indian children.
14) Now more and more countries encourage couples to have more children because of global aging.

Test review class

Today in class we watched three short videos. These videos were about animals, the first one were sheep, the second one were cows, and the third one were bears. These videos made me feel terrible, especially for the sheep, because they twisted their bodies. Then, Mr. Schick told us we would have a test about Nova World in Balance on Wednesday, and we used rest of the whole class to review it. I thought I might not get a good grade on this test because I only had some of the notes about this video. It was hard for me to watch English video without any subtitles. Even though I could understand what they were talking, I could not write them down while I was listening. I needed to watch it again and find subtitles maybe. For notes we reviewed today, they were about the aging population and birth rate in Japan; the TFR, children mortality, unbalance gender ratio, gender discrimination and domestic violence in India.

End of one child policy

Today we finished the video about population and  women's treatment in some countries and talked about kiva project a little. Then we also talked about the end of one child policy in China.

China had a one child policy that was used to control the increase of the population in past few years. But now the government has already allowed couples whose parents had only one child to have two children because of the aging of population. In fact, in China people also could have more than one child by paying money to the government before ending policy (Owen is an exception). Some students said the international students they knew all had two children in their family. This was a truth. Like me, I had a little brother who is 8 years old; and my friend Nancy, who had a little sister; and Owen had a sister too. Because most of their families could afford the fine easily, and their parents also wanted to have more than one child. Mr. Schick thought that ending one child policy is a very good thing for Chinese people because they can save a big amount of money that pay for the second child, but I don't think so. Though people like our parents would like to have more than one child, they cannot use the policy (because they are not in childbearing ages and most of them are not the only child in their family). Nowadays many young couples only want to have one child, although the policy allows them to have more, they will not do that. Therefore, I don't think this policy is very useful.

Kiva essay (finished)

Kiva is a non-profit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. Leveraging the internet and a worldwide network of microfinance institutions, Kiva lets individuals lend as little as $25 to help create opportunity around the world. It’s very easy to lend money to people in kiva because you only need to find a borrower and make a loan, then you will get repaid in your kiva account after the time. So you can also repeat doing it. Kiva has a good reputation because its repayment rate is over 98 percent.

I totally found two borrower in kiva.com. The first one is a girl who comes from Kyrgyzstan. Her name is Kymbat, and she needs some money to pay for tuition fee of AUCA. She had a wish to study at the AUCA from her 9th grade, but she knew that it was hard to be admitted to the AUCA and it cost a lot. She has already solved the first problem and been successful to gain it by kiva, and now is trying to borrow money for the second one. I think this is a fantastic way because it let her doesn’t need to think too much about money and only pay attention to studying. She will have a long time on kiva that can repay money to people, and the loan of people in kiva also has no interest.

Kyrgyzstan, where the girl lives is a developing country and very poor. The average annual income of it only is $2,500. Though Kyrgyzstan had 9 years education between ages 7 and 15, the Gross Enrolment Rate in Higher Education still was 12,5% in 2011/2012. I think these may be some reasons of her need to borrow.

The second borrower I found on kiva also is a girl and her name is Nilufar. She comes from Tajikistan and needs a loan to pay for her father's medical treatment. Nilufar is a young woman who is 22 years old, married, and has no child. She lives in the Pyandj area, where she was born and raised. Nilufar studies through the distance learning department at a university in Dushanbe. She stays with her aunt there and also works as an assistant with Kiva and MDO Humo. She needs the money because now her father is sick and in need of an operation, but they cannot afford it. So this loan will help her save her father's life. In addition, Nilufar has get pregnant, it means that her father will become a grandfather soon which is the thing he dreamed of for a long time.

I think this is a good way for her to deal with the problem, because what she needs is not a small amount of money, so if she wants to make it, it must spend a long time. However, her father has to do an operation recently, so it is the only way for her to borrow money from others. She decides to borrow money on kiva, and then she can get a loan with low interests and a long time for repaying.

Tajikistan, the country Nilufar lives, also is a poor developing country. The average annual income of Tajikistan is only $2,700. I think the most important effect the location has on her need to borrow still is poverty. The poverty of country makes people poor. Therefore, most of people in Tajikistan still cannot receive treatment though they have medical technologies that can cure some dangerous disease.

Kiva

Kiva is a non-profit organization with a mission to connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. Leveraging the internet and a worldwide network of microfinance institutions, Kiva lets individuals lend as little as $25 to help create opportunity around the world. It’s very easy to lend money to people in kiva because you only need to find a borrower and make a loan, then you will get repaid in your kiva account after the time. So you can also repeat doing it. Kiva has a good reputation because its repayment rate is over 98 percent.

I find a borrower in kiva.com today. She is a girl who comes from Kyrgyzstan. Her name is Kymbat, and she needs some money to pay for tuition fee of AUCA. She had a wish to study at the AUCA from her 9th grade, but she knew that it was hard to be admitted to the AUCA and it cost a lot. She has already solved the first problem and been successful to gain it by kiva, and now is trying to borrow money for the second one. I think this is a fantastic way because it let her doesn’t need to think too much about money and only pay attention to studying. She will have a long time on kiva that can repay money to people, and the loan of people in kiva also has no interest.

Kyrgyzstan, where the girl lives is a developing country and very poor. The average annual income of it only is $2,500. Though Kyrgyzstan had 9 years education between ages 7 and 15, the Gross Enrolment Rate in Higher Education still was 12,5% in 2011/2012. I think these may be some reasons of her need to borrow. 

I will lend money to kiva and find another borrower to write to finish the essay in tomorrow's blog.