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It’s been two weeks in Japan, and now I can say that I’m totally used to the country. as I mentioned in previous blogs, Japan is more similar to western countries, especially the US in a lot of things, that’s one of the main reasons of why foreign people don’t suffer a culture shock as big as they can suffer if they are in China. To resume, Japan is a country with so many explicit and implicit rules that after some days you know what to do and what to don’t. apart from that, local people are very friendly and kind, so that’s another reason why getting used to this country is easier than China.

During this week we had the chance to visit the kameoka campus, where we had a tea ceremony and a culture class. This campus is located 45 minutes away from the city campus. The campus is completely beautiful, it located close to the mountains, so the air is even fresher, and the views are amazing. During the tea ceremony, we learn about the ritual they do before and after drinking tea, and why that’s important. We had the opportunity to try and taste the matcha tea, which I found it really tasty, the only thing is that it keeps you awake for a long time because it contains a lot of caffeine. In the culture class taught by one Japanese professor, we learned about Japanese temples and religion, also a little art. All the close enjoy the class because of all the interesting facts given, the one that most called my attention was that 70% of Japanese people are not religious, considering that there are hundreds of temples.

On Wednesday, when I was going back to the dorm, I missed the station by three stops, so I decide to get off the train and I suddenly appear near the nishiki market, which is a food market near downtown Kyoto. I recommend everyone to visit that market because of the variety of fresh food that you can find there, mostly seafood. During that day, I tried so many things that I had to take a break on Starbucks. On Thursday night, me and two friends went on a night food tour in Kyoto, we really enjoyed the trip, getting a lot of food and some sake. The best thing of the tour is that we met 4 more people, from Canada and America, and when the tour finished, we all stayed and went to two bars to continue having fun. The bad thing is that I ate something that intoxicated my stomach.

To conclude, I think Japan is a country that you can spend days exploring and every time you can find something different that surprise you. The people are so kind and friendly, that even if you are lost, they walk with you so you can reach your destination. I am really enjoying my time in Japan and looking forward to continuing traveling and getting to know more cities like Tokyo, Osaka, and Kobe.

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week 6

This week was incredible for many reasons; I visit the great wall, Chinese class, and culture classes are going great, and I found a futbol team in China, where I can play. The cultural classes this week were very interesting, we learned about the geography of China and also about the Chinese opera. For the North Central College class, we were able to understand the differences between communism and democracy, from a very interesting point of view such as Eric Li's. This week I could also visit the great Chinese wall, something that is amazing.

the Chinese geography class was very interesting and very useful because China is a huge country, and it stands out for a variety of territories. An interesting point that I would like to emphasize is that China is divided into several regions and each region has its own particularities that make them different from each other. The territory of China is very diverse but is, above all, marked by mountains, 40% of the Chinese territory is more than 2000 meters high and the deserts occupy 11.4% of the country. Another point to note is that China has the largest cities in the world, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, and Tianjin, all of which have more than 5 million inhabitants. In the other cultural class offered by BLCU, we learned about the Chinese opera. In this class, we learned a little about the story and some of the characters that stand out, such as "Dan" (旦, female), "Sheng" (生, male) and "Chou" (丑, clown). It is also important to highlight the Peking Opera 京剧 jīngjù, which took its current form in the mid-nineteenth century, has been very popular throughout the entire Qing Dynasty.

On Wednesday, I was lucky to visit the Great Wall of China. This place is, without doubt, one of my favorites since I'm here. I was amazed by the size and dimensions of the wall, thinking how difficult it must have been to build it. The landscapes are impressive, and with an open sky, you can enjoy them better. 长城, changcheng, is an ancient Chinese fortification built and rebuilt between the 5th century and the 16th century to protect the northern border of the Chinese Empire during the successive imperial dynasties of the attacks of the Xiongnu nomads of Mongolia and Manchuria. it is estimated to be about 21,200 kilometers long, from the border with Korea, to the edge of the Yalu River, to the Gobi Desert. On average, it measures 6 to 7 meters high and 4 to 5 meters wide. The wall was designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1987 and was chosen in 2007 as one of the winners in the list of The New Seven Wonders of the Modern World.

To conclude, this week was very productive and interesting. I was able to learn many new things about Chinese opera, geography, and information about the Great Wall. I still know new people, and that is something that I appreciate most in this experience.

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Week 2

Now that I have been in China for more than 10 days I can realize that culture shock is true. The second week started with classes, so holidays officially end. Classes are intense and hard, we have Monday to Friday from 8 to 12, but my Chinese is improving. Also, we continue having culture classes with sun Laoshi, which I really enjoy because in every class we learn different customs and topics about china.

During week 2, the group visit one of the most amazing places I have ever seen in my life; the Summer Palace. I was amazed when I visit the Forbidden city because it was huge, but the summer palace is fourth times bigger! The palace´s landscapes gardens, temples, and pavilions were designed to achieve harmony with nature, to soothe, and to please the eye. During the hot Beijing summers, the imperial family preferred the beautiful gardens and airy pavilions of the summer palace to the walled-in Forbidden City. The history of the palace is interesting, and thanks to our tourist guide we learnt a lot of new things about this historical palace that was built in 1750, by emperor Qianlong, fourth emperor of the Qing Dynasty.

During our culture classes of week 2 we learnt about Chinese cuisine. For me, this class was good, but after that I was mentally hungry because of all the dishes that the professor was mentioning. In this class we mainly learn about the features of Chinese cuisine. There are eight main cuisines; Sichuan, Hunan, Cantonese, Fujian, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangsu, and Shandong. Apart from that, now I can know in which cities of china the food is spicy, so I don’t go there, I can’t tolerate Chinese spicy food. One clear example is the region of Sichuan. Finally, in the class the professor mentioned some typical Chinese dishes, the ones that I want to try during my time here are; Beijing duck, Ma Po tofu, dumplings, chow Mein, wontons, and sweet pork.

In the other culture class, one Chinese woman taught the group Tai chi, which is famous and known in China. I was amazed on how this woman was performing because she looks old, but anyways all her movements were hard, and she was performing like a professional. The situation was a little awkward and funny at the same time because we were performing in front of a class building, and a lot of people were there recording us. Tai chi is an internal Chinese martial art practiced for both its defense training and its health benefits. The term taiji refers to a philosophy of the forces of yin and yang, related to the moves. Every morning when I go to class I see a lot of people performing this Chinese martial art, its said that it help people to live longer.

To conclude, my second week in china was amazing. I am earning a lot of new information and experiences that I will never forget. Also, I am making a lot of new friends from all over the world, and I keep saying that 8 weeks is not long enough to stay. China is an amazing country, and I want to explore it all!

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First week

It’s been days of waiting and speculating but now that is over. We have spent the first week of our study abroad in China, and it’s something hard to explain in 500 words. China is a totally different country from western countries, it has a unique culture and statistics indicate that by 2050 is going to be the most powerful country in the world.

              The first days in China were rough because of the jetlag, we must resist until 10pm to go to sleep, so we can win the battle against the jetlag, but after that everything change in an amazing way. In our first tourist trip, we went to the Forbidden City and Tiananmen Square. These two last places were amazing and shocking, something that I never imagined. Everything of the forbidden city was perfect, the architecture is incredible, and it was built hundreds of years ago. The trip was excellent, and I personally learn a lot of things about ancient Chinese dynasties. Something that really called my attention is that they still save Mao’s rests, so people can still show him respect. The only bad thing about these two places was the number of people visiting, but it just something that I have to get used to, China population is more than 1 billion people.

              Apart from the trip, we could spend some free time around campus, which was perfect because now I met a lot of new people from all over the world with the same or similar goal that I have, which is to learn and speak fluent Chinese. There is a street of bars on campus where a lot of international people hang out and there is an exchange of cultures that is super fun to experience. Personally, I made friends from South Africa, Spain, Italy, and Congo, and there are still tons of people to meet. Everybody is friendly and local people always try to help. The campus here is huge, bigger than NCC, and every campus service is big too. The cafeteria has 4 floors where you can get food, during lunchtime every floor is packed with people. Also, some blocks away from campus, there is a shopping mall with really good restaurants and stores to visit and spend time. The only thing that I found weird is the public bathrooms, they are just a hole in the floor, and you always need to have toilet paper with you.

              Another activity that we experience was Chinese tea, which is really delicious. We learned background information about tea, how many types of tea, and how is done. For chinse people, tea time is a very important part of the day and its something very classic for their culture. Before every important meeting, they just sit for some time and drink tea because they said that tea time is good for people to relax, and it’s true. We tried six different tea types, my favorite was the red tea, I found it delicious.

              To conclude, my first week in China was amazing and I can’t even imagine what else is going to surprise me. also, I am excited to start classes in week 2 so I can meet more people and start practicing my Chinese skills. China is a wonderful country and I am happy that I chose to study abroad here. 500 words are nothing compared to everything we did in only one week.

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For this new post, I'm going to write about one of my favorite movies since I was a child.

Mulan is a 1998 animated children's film directed by Tony Bancroft and Barry Cook and written by Rita Hsiao, Philip LaZebnik, Chris Sanders, Eugenia Bostwick-Singer, and Raymond Singer and inspired by the story of Robert D. San Souci. The film is produced by Walt Disney Pictures and features the voices of Ming-Na, Eddie Murphy, Miguel Ferrer and BD Wong in the original audio while Jackie Chan is responsible for the dubbing of the Chinese. The film is based on the Chinese legend of Hua Mulan.

The plot is set during the Han dynasty. Fa Mulan is the only daughter of the elderly Fa Zhou. Due to the age of her father, she decides to pose as a man to fight against the invasion of the Huns led by Shan Yu. In her adventure, she is accompanied by Mushu, a diminutive dragon, a cricket of luck, and the warriors Yao, Ling, and Chien-Po.

This film shows how Chinese society was during the Han Dynasty. Nowadays, comparing with the old population, we can notice the great technological changes that made China a world power as everyone knows

The best thing about the movie is that at that moment, the army was made up only of men and Mulan manages to infiltrate the army. The movie ends with Mulan as a hero as she manages to save the dynasty from a massive invasion of the enemy army.

As I mentioned earlier, this is one of my favorite movies for several reasons, but the most important ones are how Disney manages to illustrate a unique culture like China was during the Han Dynasty. To add, the film also shows the social differences between the man and woman and the role of each one in the dynasty.

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When thinking of a key moment for Japanese culture, one does not have to go back in time to realize how important and painful were the atomic bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These events were painful and mark the Japanese culture to this day. This was during the Second World War and has the United States as the main responsible. Thousands of people died and those who fortunately survived had and have to suffer the great consequences that this type of bomb caused. Many call this event "70 years of side effects". Scientists believed that the impact of radiation would disappear in 20 years. Still, new pathologies appear related to the atomic bomb. this allows us to know how serious this event was and how the people of Japan changed categorically after this happened.

In Japan, every year the deceased are remembered with a very emotional memory, where they name and remember each one of those affected in public spaces, during these days, people usually remember, that is why they do not work during those days.

Nowadays, there are many stories related to this event, and what they all have in common is that they are chilling. Many stories tell and tell how they saw death through the bomb, and how many were saved. They also report on the consequences of radiation, which were even worse than expected, as this mainly affected children and pregnant women, who suffered from malformations during pregnancy.

I think that this should never be repeated in the history of mankind, and that is why we must always remember it and teach it to future generations so that they can continue to transmit what happened and at the same time, the goal that they never again repeat Nowadays, Japan is one of the most peaceful countries in the world, and I think that was the great cultural change of the fatal historical event, which marked and changed the Japanese culture forever.

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> What are my learning styles?

·       Seeing is believing (not really)!  I learn best through visual means – this could be videos, charts, diagrams, pictures, etc.  

·       Social Butterfly.  Learning situations are best in groups – taking part in discussions, team games, debates, etc.

·       Deadlines, Deadlines… Strive to meet deadlines.  Set goals to complete tasks in short chunks broken up over a few days.  Give yourself specific goals!

·       Rules are rules!  Remember to stick to the language rules that make up the foundation of your Chinese speaking skills.  This will help you develop better as a Chinese speaker.

 > Culture Like Water

·       What’s goin’ on?!  Watch the news!  Read the newspaper!  Be on top of current events in China and locally.  They could be valuable for conversation!

·       Common misconceptions.  Are there specific areas of communication (conversation, body language, writing) that cause problems?  Journal about them (or blog!!).

·       Monkey see, monkey do.  Try and observe/mirror how others communicate around you!  

·       Where could I go wrong?  Be sure of possible scenarios where I could possibly offend someone.  Remember to always be friendly and greet others.

·       Be Healthy!  Staying fit and exercising regularly helps you feel better mentally and physically!

·       Find a friend! Connect with a friend and talk about past experiences or any difficulties you may be having.  Offer a word of advice!

 > Stress!

·       Culture Shock!  No culture will ever be the same as another country. Anything I’m accustomed to will be thrown out the window the minute I arrive in China.  It will be stressful!  It’s important to always remain positive and focused on the goals I’ve set for myself. It’s very easy to grow a negative mindset when trying to evaluate the culture of a foreign environment.

·       Don’t judge!  Remember that anything that you may view as wrong/poor behavior may be completely normal.

·       Persistence, Persistence!  Culture fatigue may set in.  Remember to push through and lots of people care for you! (:

·       Believe in your abilities as a Chinese speaker! Chinese has been one of your best classes for a reason, you can do it!

·       Don’t expect too much!  Going in with too many expectations can leave you underwhelmed.  Being frustrated will make immersing yourself into the culture even harder!

·       Know your place!  China and Japan tends to have a more formal manner of speaking.  Treat others with respect, like the authority, people of high education, and other older adults.

·       Go with the flow!  Sometimes it’s unnecessary to be in control all the time.  Go with the flow and see where it takes you!  Maybe you’ll learn and experience new things you never imagined!

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Stereotypes and generalization

In this new blog post, I will talk about stereotypes and generalization of cultures, mainly of the Chinese and Japanese. First, is good to understand and know both definitions; stereotypes are a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or an idea of a particular type of person or thing. Apart from that, generalization means a general statement or concept obtained by inference from specific cases.

In my personal case, I used to use these two concepts a lot when I didn’t know about other cultures or countries, both in good ways and bad ways. The Argentine nation uses these concepts a lot. A clear example is how we see the Asian population and culture. Each Asian country has its particularities, culture, population, and history that make it unique to each country and different from the others. however, in Argentina, the majority of the population summarizes all the countries and all the people of the Asian continent as "Chinese". In my particular case, I already knew that this is not correct or adequate but at the same time it was. We also do it with people from the United States and around the world, but it is not a bad thing, it is simply our first impression of how people from other cultures and other countries are, and everyone can have a different opinion.

Thanks to the cultural classes I took at north central college, which helped me to see and perceive all people and cultures in a totally different way and much more in keeping with what I always did. Thanks to these classes, I can know in advance something of Japanese culture and Chinese culture that will be very useful for me during my stay in those countries. I used to see these cultures in a similar way, but I realized that they are totally different, from people and almost all aspects of cultures. I also found similarities in the historical part of each country, since there were and there are historical facts like wars that China and Japan share, the best known is the invasion of Manchuria.

I think these two concepts must be known and considered when meeting new people and other cultures. In my particular case, I thank God for the opportunity to study in the USA and soon in China and Japan since it is of my interest to meet people from new cultures and other countries, and obviously there is always going to be a good and bad stereotype that I can deny or confirm when meeting people from different cultures.

My personal challenge is to see which of the stereotypes are correct and which are incorrect.

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Becoming familiar with culture: The Iceberg Analogy

the image of the iceberg to represent cultural values ​​seems excellent to me. There are many other images that represent the same thing, but I find the perfect figure in the iceberg. As not many know, the most important part of the iceberg is what is not seen, it is the base, what keeps it standing and at the same time stable. If the base of the iceberg is not firm, surely the visible part suffers some type of damage. I see the iceberg and compare it with human beings. us, and I'm going to take as an example to my person, we are equal to the iceberg. the basis of our actions, and cultural values ​​are what keeps us firm and stable in the day to day. Many of these actions and values ​​are visible, such as behavior, language, food, games, friends, drinks, literature, sports, and clothing. but also, are the most important, these are our base, some examples include beliefs, assumptions, norms, expectations, space orientation, learning styles, attitudes, values, prejudices, and importance of time.

I believe that the figure of the iceberg can be transformed and undergo favorable and unfavorable changes. These changes are those that are reflected in each person and are being affected by our base, which is what cannot be seen at a glance. we only see the tip of the iceberg, but the most important thing is below, and in the case of people, we carry that base that holds us firmly, keeps us standing, inside each person.

In my particular case, I feel that a great part of my base is my cultural values, I feel very identified with my nation, and with the values that I was taught as a child. I also believe that my experience studying in USA helps me to build and expand my base. During this year I was able to add new values and beliefs that I did not know before and thanks to the new people I met and the cultural classes I take, I feel that the base of my iceberg is getting stronger and I see that reflected in my person. I feel that the opportunity to go to do a trimester of exchange in China and Japan is something unique and that it will give me new experiences and values that will help me to strengthen myself as a person.

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Japanese Government structure

The government of Japan is a constitutional monarchy in which the power of the Emperor is limited and is relegated primarily to ceremonial duties. The Japanese government, like in many other states, is divided into three branches: executive branch, legislative branch, and finally te judicial branch.

Japan established the constitution of Japan in 1947, since then, it’s a unitary state containing forty seven administrative divisions, with the emperor as the head of the state. In Japan, the emperor doesn’t have te same power as the prime minister have, the emperor has a very different role compared to old emperors, his role is ceremonial and has no power at all related to government. The prime minister is the one that directs and controls the government.

What really called my attention about the government structure of Japan is the figure of a emperor, but with no power on governmental decision making. When I hear from an emperor the first thing that came to my mind is the figure of an authoritative power, but this is not the case. In Japan, the emperor is the head of the Imperial Family and the head and image of the Japanese national ceremonies. In the constitution, the emperor is defined as "The symbol of the state and the unity of the people". The emperor doesn’t have any real power related to the government, as it’s clearly declared in the article 4 of the Japanese constitution.

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My culture dimension

In this new post, I will write about the dimensions of my culture. For me, mainly my culture is influenced and affected in good and bad ways by experiences, values, beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. I also think that age, religion, education, economic class, sexual identity, skills, gender, ethnicity, and race, influence my culture, therefore my way of being.

I identify very much with my Argentine nationality, in general, Argentines are very nationalistic, we want and think that everything that is Argentine is the best, unfortunately we are only right when we talk about football, in the United States it is known as soccer but all over the world “futbol”, since politically, socially and economically we are the best of the worst. As an Argentine, there are many actions that I do that I notice are rare in the United States, where I am doing my university studies. For example, dinner time is much earlier in the USA, in Argentina, we have dinner between 8:30 pm and 11:00 pm every day of the week. Another cultural difference is the schedule of the parties, I think that is also different because of the legal age to drink, since in Argentina it is 18, while in the USA 21.

another aspect that I consider very important for my culture, are the experiences that I was living, and I will live. The best example is that of study abroad in the US. When I study abroad I realize that from this experience I am adding many cultural values to my person. I think the same when I go to study a quarter in China and Japan.

The values are also fundamental, and I think that these are obtained from the education, religion, and family of each one. In my personal case, I feel very identified with the values that I instilled in my school and in my house, as well as those that the Jewish religion gave me. I think these values help us to build our opinions on many topics, and how to receive information, for example, the news.

Finally, I think that all these points are of equal value when measuring my culture and where I come from. All the concepts mentioned above are fundamental for the construction of the culture of every person in the world, however, I think that the best way to increase knowledge and cultural value is to leave the comfort zone and experience the world, and its cultural differences.

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Jornal entry, What is culture?

What is culture?

Culture is the characteristics and knowledge of a group of people, encompassing language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music, and arts.

For me, the term culture is more than a word and has a meaning that identifies all the people of the world, because all our personalities, expressions, actions, etc, are influenced by our culture. This term has a universal meaning, and that is why I am passionate about leaving my comfort zone to be able to experience and live other cultures. In my personal case, I feel very influenced in my way of being by all the cultural values that I have, and I keep adding to my personality. Mainly I am Latino, and all the cultural aspects that this brings to my person are very different from those that a person, for example, Asians has. Apart from that, I think that religion is very important to define a person. I am a Jew, and all my family is Jewish, therefore throughout my childhood, I was surrounded by mainly Jewish people in Argentina, however, I also share and share thousands of activities with people of other religions.

Another very important cultural aspect is the language in which each person speaks, I think we should all be able to speak at least two languages, in order to be more likely to communicate with other people from other parts of the world. I, for example, speak Spanish, English, and Hebrew. Recently I decided to start learning Chinese, and I will go to China with the main objective of developing and improving my skills in Chinese language and culture. I think we should all be aware and know that cultural differences exist. It is important to know about this because in the decision making there may be different arguments and positions for the culture of each opinion. When I start studying abroad in the United States, I think that I am increasing and adding new cultures, and at the same time valuing and realizing that my actions are always influenced by my culture.

finally, I think that the term "culture" has more than one meaning and that you can always continue to add new and different cultures to yourself since there are millions all over the world. Each community has its own cultural values, and my personal objective is to be able to add and know more about these cultures since I think it is a very good way to know the world.

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For this blog post, I choose to post on Chinese food, mainly from Beijing. The most famous dish in Beijing is the Peking duck or simply roast duck, is a delicious classic among Chinese foods. It is prepared no better anywhere than in Beijing, where it originated as an imperial food. One of the best places to eat this meal is the “Quanjude Restaurant”, they serve the duck feast in lavish and studied style. Beijing food is in a class of its own, called Jing cuisine. In the north of China wheat is the staple, more than rice, so many wheaten foods are eaten, like pancakes, noodles, steamed buns, and dumplings. There are also lots of braising in the Northeast style. Mongolian hotpot is another classic that should be eaten in Beijing, which is surprisingly only about 250 kilometers (160 miles) from Inner Mongolia, or 500 kilometers (300 miles) from Hohhot.

The “Beijing Quanjude roast duck” is a must-be-tasted dish for tourists in Beijing, apart from that, the food in the streets is a must try. In the areas around schools and universities, there are a lot of these street vendors or small shops selling various street snacks. The ones that I want to try are the “fried triangular dumpling”, they have crispy and soft “skin” and stuffed fresh fillings. The fried triangular dumpling only has two recognized fillings: vegetable or meat. The vegetarian triangular dumpling is always stuffed with minced Chinese chives, carrot, and bean sprouts; and a meat one is always stuffed with minced meat (pork) and vegetables. The other street food that I am looking forward to trying is the “street crepe”. The warm fried thin pancake wrap is especially popular for breakfast on cold winter days. Pouring and spreading the batter on a flat heated surface to form a thin pancake or crepe, pouring on an egg and letting it cook, spreading on a sauce, placing on slices of deep-fried dough stick, sprinkling on some chopped green onion, cumin, and sesame, and finally rolling it into a wrap — that’s the processes of making a fried thin pancake wrap, or street crepe, which takes about four minutes. The street crepe originated as the most famous snack in Tianjin. However, it has spread to many Chinese cities and is very popular in Beijing so we can categorize it as a Beijing snack.

Finally, I am looking forward to being in the Beijing streets and try most of the street snacks. From my point of view, one of the most important ways of doing tourism is to try the classical and typical food of, in this case, Beijing.

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For this new post, we have the slogan to show the weekly news. In this case, I chose to illustrate the last informative week in Japan. These last days were quite entertaining for the Japanese population, but a nightmare for the local police. throughout the week there was news of all kinds, but the most important and momentous was that of the prisoner who escaped a minimum-security prison.

The prisoner had escaped a month ago from a minimum-security jail in Imbari and was found last Monday in Hiroshima. the search of the prisoner counted with 15 thousand policemen. During all this time the prisoner hid in the basement of an unoccupied house in Mukaishima Island, evading arrests of police officers in Hiroshima and Ehime. The police found in the vacation home, believed to have been left by Hirao, who said he was bullied by a prison guard. Hirao reportedly told the police after his arrest that he escaped after becoming "disgusted with relationships" at the prison. On Monday, Hirao entered an internet cafe in Minami Ward, Hiroshima, using another person's identification that did not have a photo, and stayed for about three hours. An employee tipped off the police after I paid and left. He fled and tried to escape by climbing over the wall of an elementary school along a street but was wrestled to the ground by police officers. At a news conference in Tokyo, Justice Minister Yoko Kamikawa apologized for the sequence of events. "We caused a great amount of worry and trouble to the residents and the general public. I offer my profound apology, "Kamikawa said, adding that the ministry will come up with measures to prevent a recurrence.

Another big new that called my attention the most was a social issue type of new where “Me Too” rises in Japan. This is part of a support campaign for sexual harassment in every level. The Me-Too movement spread out in Japan, and now is quietly reaching boiling point. The latest source of heat is a journalist who claims the Finance Ministry's top bureaucrat harassed her with sexually suggestive comments. The woman told her story, on condition of anonymity, to the weekly magazine Shukan Shincho, which then reported the case earlier this month. Unfortunately, this type of new is increasing every time because there are more sexual harassment attacks that are coming out, and from my point of view I totally repudiate these attacks and I am totally supporting the victims. This is a subject of national debate in Japan since the story that came out in the media is about a journalist who was abused by the finance minister, therefore it is an issue that the government should be involved with. In my opinion, I believe that if the story is true, they should remove him from office to serve a harsh prison sentence.

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Jack Ma comes from a humble family, raised in the Hangzhou region under the strict Marxist rules of the Chinese communist regime. He was not a very good student, in fact, he failed the university entrance examination twice. Mathematics was the subject that was worst given, he himself has acknowledged in several interviews that numbers are not his thing. On the other hand, he was always good in English, so he decided to study education. He started teaching English for $ 12 per month.

He was rejected in more than 30 jobs before becoming one of the richest men in the world. He tried to enter the police but was rejected with a cold "you do not serve for this". Another one of his great setbacks happened when he tried to enter to work in the KFC fast-food chain and of the 24 aspiring employees he was the only one that did not get it. He was also fired from a McDonalds. This, far from intimidating him, gave him the impulse to continue surpassing himself. Complaining and giving up did not fall within his philosophy, and this was clear with his phrase: "An entrepreneur must have skills that allow him to withstand the blows of fate and overcome the inevitable failures."

Jack Ma continued to struggle to outdo himself, and in 1999, when he was 35 years old, he founded the online e-commerce company Alibaba, with an initial capital of $ 50,000. The idea was to contact Chinese manufacturers with foreign companies, incorporating a secure purchasing method that worked with a rating system for sellers.

The start-up was financed with the help of the few friends who trusted in their business idea and placed the facilities in their apartment. In the first three years, the company did not generate just income but this situation did not stop Jack Ma from moving forward. Currently, Alibaba and Aliexpress move 80% of electronic commerce in China and has 24,000 employees. In 2015, it generated a sales number of 463,000 million dollars, surpassing other giants such as eBay and Amazon.

I chose to make this post about Jack Ma because it is an example of self-improvement for everyone. I think that finally, Jack Ma got his optimism, confidence, and faith in what he did to give his results. Today is not only a respected figure in China but throughout the entire world.

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Here are some adjectives that I feel that describe a lot of what I am and how I choose to be; adventurous, friendly, adaptable, responsible, ambitious and curious. If only I had to choose two of these adjectives, I feel that the ones that most belong to me are adventurous and friendly. I choose adventurous because from a very young age I feel that passion to know new things, to experience new adventures, and in this case to know new cultures, like Chinese culture and Japanese culture. I also relate this to my passion for traveling. Thank God, from a very young age, I had and have the opportunity to travel to many countries. Some of the countries that amazed me most are Israel, Jordan, Australia, Holland, and Cuba. I believe that to be able to enjoy and have the best experience while you are abroad, you have to be adventurous. In my personal experience, being an adventurer helped me to know cultures, places, and people that I never thought I was going to know in my life. The adjective adventurer can sound good and bad, but I refer to adventures with good sense. Secondly, I believe that being friendly is vital to have a pleasant experience while being abroad. Being friendly is the key to meet and know new people. I consider very important to know people from other cultures in order to get used to a new culture. I also relate this to one of my personal objectives while being abroad in China and Japan, which is to make new friends from those cultures. I consider this a very important thing because visiting the country with a local citizen from your same or similar age is going to make the adventure more interesting because we can visit places that young people in each country usually visit. Apart from that, I am currently studying abroad in the US, and for me the key to enjoying the most of the experience abroad is to leave the comfort zone and explore new routes, enjoying every moment and taking advantage of the positive aspects of each situation, as well as learning from the mistakes that you will surely face along the way.

The “discovering your cultural diversity” activity was very useful for everyone because I felt that it was helpful for most of the student to understand what they really think about their own personality. In my own experience, I felt that is very important to be confident with yourself and not give much importance to what people think about you. Finally, I consider that is vital to not lie to yourself about the things you like or not like to do in order to have a healthy life.

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Now it’s time to write about Chinese music. For this blog post, I decided to focus more on the Chinese instruments because after doing a research I found out that the variety of instruments and sounds that the Chinese instruments have are, in my own opinion, incredible. The Chinese national instruments are well known, not only for their long history but also, for their variety and their different tones.  

Instruments and history are connected for centuries and past dynasties. the musicians divided the instruments into eight categories, known as the "eight sounds": gold, leather, earth, skin, silk, wood, pao and bamboo. With the efforts of generations of national musicians, traditional Chinese musical instruments have constituted a great system. Nowadays, China has more than 600 varieties of instruments with unique characteristics, which can be divided into four categories depending on the sound and the methods to play them: wind bowed, plucked string, and percussion.

There are different types of instruments, but my two favorites ones are the bow instruments and the percussion instruments; The bow instruments are collectively referred to as huqin in Chinese. Initially, the huqin was the musical instrument used by the people of the north. After hundreds of years of creation and common development on the part of people of all ethnic groups, it has become a distinctive national musical instrument. The huqin generally uses a bow and strings as a source of sound through friction, which then creates vibration and sound through resonance and association. With a beautiful timbre and rich expressive forces, it is used a lot in solos, ensembles, and accompaniment. Today, common arch instruments include erhu, gaohu, zhonghu, banhu, jinghu and matouqin.

Percussion instruments are the oldest musical instruments in history. The sounds are produced by striking the body of the instrument, and the rhythms and timbre are adopted to enhance the music and create atmosphere. They are mostly used for drum and gong folk music. Common percussion instruments are drums, bangu (timpan), waist drum, wood block, small gong, big gong, yunluo, cymbal, and handbell. All ethnic groups have different styles of drums. The most used ones include the Uyghur hand drum, the Bajiao drum (eight-angled drum) of the Manchus and the Bai, the standing elephant drum of the Dai, the yao long drum, the hand drum of the Tibetans, and the drum-shaped hourglass of the Koreans

To conclude, the number of instruments in China is something I have never seen before. My attention was drawn to the number of possible sounds that can be generated with a simple instrument and the different techniques and ways to play each of them.