The Meaning of Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a holiday that is celebrated mainly in the Western countries, United States and Canada.  For many people, it is a time where family memebers and friends can gather together to give thanks for what they have accomplished within the year or to just express gratitude in general.

Although the date is not exactly known when it first began,  the traditional “first Thanksgiving” was either celebrated in 1619 or 1621.  One reference shows Thanksgiving in 1619, at Berkley Plantation, Virginia on the banks of the James River.  It became a part of the American folklore by the 1800s. The other date was in 1621.  It  happened at Plymouth Plantation where it would later become one of the original thirteen colonies that became the United States.  Today, Thanksgiving is celebrated on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States and on the second Monday of October in Canada.

Korea Thanksgiving: Chuseok 

 In the Korean culture, Thanksgiving Day or Chuseok, lies on September 21st-23rd on the Solar calendar.  Chuseok was originally known as Hangawi (from a Korean word meaning “great middle”). Different from the Western cultures, Koreans celebrate it for a period of 3 days and eat Korean tradtional foods instead of eating turkey, as Westerners do. Similar to other cultures, Koreans do gather all members of the family and enjoy their time together.  Many families also spend one of the three days visiting cemetaries to pay respects to their deceased family members. This is called, Jesasang (image below).  One of the major foods prepared and eaten during the Chuseok holiday is songpyeon, a crescent-shaped rice cake which is steamed upon pine needles. Other dishes commonly prepared are japchae, bulgogi and fruits.

Songpyeon:Rice cake

Jesasang, ceremonial table setting on Chuseok

A variety of folk games can be played on Chuseok to celebrate the coming of Autumn and rich harvest. In some places, village folk dress themselves to look like a cow or a turtle, and go from house to house along with a Nongak band playing music. Other common folk games played on Chuseok are tug of war, ssireum, archery and gama fighting. Folk games also differ from region to region. Ganggangsullae dance which is forming a circle under a moon is performed by women and children in southwestern coastal regions, and cockfight or bullfighting in the southern regions.

Ganggangsullae

tug of war

Chuseok is known to have started from “Gabae” during the reign of the third king of the kingdom of Silla (57 BC – AD 935).  Gabae was a month-long weaving contest between two teams.  On the fianl day of Gabae, the team that had woven more cloth had won and was treated to a feast by the losing team. Many scholars also believe Chuseok may started from ancient shamanistic celebrations of the harvest moon. New harvests are offered to local deities and ancestors, which means Chuseok may have originated as a worship ritual. In some areas, if there is no harvest, worship rituals are postponed, or in areas with no annual harvest, Chuseok is not celebrated. 

Thanksgiving in India

Thanksgiving Day in India is celebrated in quite a few parts of India, because of the spread of western culture. It is a major festivity followed by Christians primarily in the state of Goa. The celebration date varies in different parts of Goa, but generally is celebrated on the 15th of August every year where it is popularly known as Ladin or Ladainha. During the Thanksgiving ritual, people thank God for all the material and spiritual benefits they have. The function is sponsored by a different person every year that either has been lucky enough to have God’s special grace or seeks benefits.

Thanksgiving In Germany

Christmas is a popular holiday celebrated by many people all around the world.  On December 25th every year, many families and friends gather together to exchange gifts and spend quality time together.  But where does Christmas come from?  People may have many ideas of its history, but most people know of one common background, the birth of Jesus Christ. We don’t know if December 25th is the actual date that He was born, but in Christianity marks the beginning of the larger season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days.  The idea of exchanging gifts comes from Matthew chapter 2 verses 1-12. When King Herod found out about the “king of the Jews”, he sent the Magi to follow the star in the sky and see if the child was really born.  As soon as the Magi saw that the child was actually real, they bowed and worshiped him and presented their gifts.  Likewise, the tradition of this day was passed on and eventually became a day of celebration of the birth of a king.   The exchanging of gifts seem to have been formed or added on to the idea of “the celebration of Jesus of Nazareth” to allow others (such as non-Christians) to celebrate in other ways than the Christian belief.

The idea of Santa Claus came from a German-American cartoonist Thomas Nast.  He created the idea of Father Christmas which later turned to many other names such as Santa Claus, Saint Nicholas, Kris Kringle, etc. The image of Santa Claus was more for marketing the idea of Christams as we know it today, with exchanging gifts.

The meaning of Christmas to me is to celebrate this day and be with my family.   Christmas is not celebrated much amongst the Korean culture, as they do in the Western cultures.  My family doesn’t really set up a Christmas tree or eat a special dinner, but we do try to exchange gifts.  If we have a chance, my family does try to go to church on that day.  One Christmas, I went to my grandma’s house and  had a lot of fun playing games with my cousins. This year,  I would like to go to a ski resort and get presents. Exchanging  gifts  is fun.

Cherry Top CF

I think our commercial was fitting to the product we were selling.  We had a decent storyline, message, and we included our jingle and slogan.  The commercial included the group members: Janie, Lauren, Chelsy, and Kathy, as friends.  All four friends have music players, but one friend did not have a Cherry Top.  The idea or focus of this commercial was the friend who did not have a Cherry Top music player.  Thus, she would have issues, such as her mp3 not functioning properly.  One detail that I would have changed about our commercial is the location.  It would have been better to film in a place such as a mall, a store selling mp3 players, a music store maybe, outside, or even school, but not within a house.

Crashdown CF

I think their commercial was creative in that they started as a news report.  I liked how reporter Larry was very animated and sounded like a real reporter.  I found it so funny that reporter Bob was so “engaged” with his music player that he could not focus on the news report.  That really gives the viewers the idea that people can get very interested in this music player.  Also, when David walked into the room he also got so engaged in the music player that he walked into or “crashed” into the table in front of him.  Overall, it was creative, clear, funny and had a good point.

Our group: EDEN

Cherry T.O.P *^^*

girl with Cherry Top sundae

Q1) The summation task and improvements

I was somewhat satisfied with the end result of our summative task.  Although I did find it a bit difficult to make a TV commercial for our music player, it was a fun challenge.  Our storyboard and idea was a good idea in the beginning, but when filming for it, due to the location, the final commercial seemed odd.  I think it would have been better to film the commerical at school rather indoors.  But due to timing and certain members’ difficulty meeting all at once, we ended up filming at a home.  I enjoyed learning more about marketing, advertising, and working in groups.  Our presentation overall seemed successful.  From our matching shirts, to making cherryade to attracting audiences/customers, to our print advertisements, and our product and package, I was overall pleased with the result in the time we had to do it.  If I were the teacher and could change the project to make it better, I would add a “creativity” section for scoring.  I noticed some groups that lacked in creativity and seemed to only add-on to the idea of an existing music player, such as the iPod.  The only difference I could see from their groups were a name change. Whereas my group spent a bit more time focusing not only on the package but the product to make it more unique and our own.  Credit was given with coins, but I feel equal credit was given to those groups who didn’t spend much time on the product itself.

Q3) Group mates and work

The strengths of our group:  I liked Lauren’s decorative designs for the logo Cherry Top, the matching uniform, and board.  Chelsy made another design of the package, and another upgrade to the music player.  Kathy worked on the storyboard of the TV commercial and I did the print advertisements and marketing. 

Weaknesses: I didn’t like how there was a lot of miscommunication, a lack of communication, a lot of unnecessary designs made (for example, many print advertisements), and absentees.  An absence is uncontrollable but participation and distribution of work should be fairly done and should not be complained about since it will be a team score.  Some people took control of certain sections and when asked for assistance or participation from other members to certain things, many time a complaint was in return.  When asked what could be done, it seemed certain people did not want to be in charge of or particpate in the “harder” parts of the project.  Thus miscommunication or a lack of one, caused certain people to only do what they wanted to do, leaving the remaining team members to do maany or most of the work.  there was efforts to equally do certain things, but how could a person control another member who is so against and unwilling to participate?  If there was a group effort and cooperation with each member of the group, I believe we could have gotten a lot more things done well or even better than now.  If people were more open to ideas, suggestions, opinions, or help, we could’ve made a better product.  This is a very important skill to learn, team work.  If we can’t work together, we probably can’t at all.  When we grow up, we will still need to learn to work with or be willing to work with and hear other opinions. 

Q4) Unit of Inquiry highlights and lows.

My favorite part of the UoI was that as a group we were able to make a product and advertise it.  I don’t think I could’ve done this all on my own.  My least favorite part was the fact that no credit was given for creativity.  Our group spent a long time making our own mp3 player, our own package, and our own jingle, not substitute or use one that is already real, such as iPod or use a melody from other songwriters/soundtracks.  Ours was our own and thus it was unique.

Q8) When you created your campaign did you: a) Think about who the message was for?  b) How does the message attract and keep their attention?  c) Did you leave out certain information on purpose?

When we were brainstorming for our campaign, we did try to focus on the message.  We wanted a product and a slogan that would appeal to all customers, male or females, younger or older.  Our slogan or message was, “So sweet but don’t eat”.  This is a general idea that many people can relate to.  It may be that many females or young girl might like our cute package and product moreso than males but because of the variety of color in our product, both gender at any age will be pleased.  In the beginning, “So sweet but don’t eat” came from idea that cherries are so sweet as fruits, but as a cherry-shaped mp3 player, it should not be eaten.  It is so sweet that people will want to eat it, but all-in-all they can only have it.  In addition to our slogan, came the name of our group.  I thought of this idea when I focused on the idea of our product as a fruit.  How could something be so good and yet you can’t get it?  Then, thinking of our school as a Christian school, I immediately thought of Adam and Eve.  Adam and Eve went through the same temptations in the Garden of Eden, thus Eden as our group name.  It seemed to fit perfectly with the slogan I had made.  I’m sure everyone at one point or time had something they wanted but couldn’t have. We wanted our product to have that same level of temptation and appeal.  Something so good, you can’t stop thinking about it, like Eve did in the garden. That is how our slogan or message fit to all people young or old, male or female. 

How does the message attract and keep their attention?  As mentioned, with the appeal of the package, the simplicity of our slogan, and the connection that many people may have had once in their life of wanting something they couldn’t have, put it together and people will stay interested.  The more it is not available, the more people will want it or think about it.  However, we made our product available to all and easy to get.  It is just the slogan that  is like a trick, building a person’s desire or temptation. 

Did we leave certain information out?  Now that I realize it, we didn’t tell people where to specifically go to buy the product.  I guess as more people begin to wonder about Cherry Top, the number of customers will grow too.

“LOUIS BRAILLE: The Boy Who Invented Books for the Blind” was written by Margaret Davison and was published in 1971.  It is a biography of a boy named Louis Braille who invented special letters for the blind people.  Biographies are interesting to read, especially if it is of a famous person, since it is a description of someone’s life. In some cases, they’ll be either published in a book or even as a film. This book details Louis’ whole life from education, work, relationships and death.

Louis was born on January 4th, 1809 and was from a small town called Coupvray, in France.  His father made harnesses and other leather goods to sell to the other villagers. Louis’ father often used sharp tools to cut and punch holes in the leather. One day, as Louis was playing in his father’s workshop with a tool called a stitching awl, Louis’ hand slipped and he accidentally poked one of his eyes.  Because of his infection in his injured eye, he lost his other eye.

Young Louis desperately wanted to read.  He realized his disability took more than just his sight, but also kept him from the wonders of learning.  Louis learned to work with his problem and learned to lead an otherwise normal life.  He went to school with all his friends and did well at his studies. He was both intelligent and creative. He did not allow his disability to stop him from finding a way read.  As he grew, he realized that the school he was going to did not have the resources to help him more, so he found out about another school in Paris, specifically for the blind.

At the age of 10, he got a scholarship to the National Institute for the Blind in Paris.  He found that they had special books made with large letters slightly raised off each page. However, there were many disadvantages to the school due to saving costs.  The school had just 14 books, all of which Louis had read.  The process of reading each book was difficult since he had to feel each letter.  When reading just one line, he would forget what happened the line before, since he was focusing so much on feeling the words.  He knew there must be a better way.  He set himself the goal of thinking up a system for blind people to read. He would try to think of some alphabet code to make his “finger reading” as quick and easy as sighted reading.

How did Louis Braille create his quick reading invention for the blind?  It was all fate.  One day, somebody at the school heard about an alphabet code that was being used by the French army. This code was used to deliver messages at night from officers to soldiers. The messages could not be written on paper because the soldier would have to strike a match to read it. The light from the match would give the enemy a target at which to shoot. The alphabet code was made up of small dots and dashes. These symbols were raised up off the paper so that soldiers could read them by running their fingers over them. Once the soldiers understood the code, everything worked fine. Louis got a hold of some of this code and tried it for himself. It was better but still took time and space on pieces of paper. Louis knew that he could improve this alphabet in some way. Eventually, with time and practice, he made “Braille”, the alphabet for the blind, using a system of raised dots on paper.

Louis Braille grew to became a well respected teacher.  Although he finished his invention, it was not used during his time.  Due to pollution and bad air at the institute, he died of tuberculosis in1852 at the age of 43.  His alphabet system was later recognized in 1854.

I feel his life’s story is inspiring.  Although he had such a tragedy at an early age, he did not give up and continued to go to school and try his best.  He was very good at all the things he did such as reading or even music.  I also enjoy those two things!  I am glad I can relate to him somehow.  It can be challenging for me at times, but the fact that Louis was able to do it  while he was blind, makes me want to work even harder.

1.Write about what you saw:

I saw lots of designs like buildings, or interrior design, or products like things that we use every day.

2.Write about what you discovered:

During this week, our teacher gave us a new project that make us work in teams and create a new product. Looking at the different designs from different inventors, it helped me know more about creativity.

3.What was the best and most enjoyable parts of the day:

I liked the designs of the products.

4.Anything else that you would like to comment on:

Some things might be creative, but might not sell well.

5.Add some information about the Design Olympiad:

About one million plastic waste was collected and used to create the world’s biggest installation artwork.

6.Add a link to olympiad website:

http://www.icsid.org/events/events/calendar426.htm
http://www.icograda.org/news/year/2009_news/articles1520.htm

This November 1st week was Korea Cultured Week. So, on Tuesday(11/02/2009) all the elementary school teachers and students went to Gyenggi Kuc ak dang.

1.What did we do there?

There were numerous outdoor activities.  Along with playing with 3 kinds of Korean drums, such as jangu, a big drum, and a jing, we played many different games from Korean culture.

Here is a list of traditional Korean games we played:

• Jump roping with an old rope. 
• Tuho: this is a game where a person throws arrows into a thin box.
• Gullengshae: a person can roll an iron hula hoop with the sharp stick.
• Yut: this is a boardgame where a person throws four sticks and it determines where he or she can move next on the board.
• A toy top using a stick and a string to twist it.

2.What did we learn in this place?

Here, we learned about many different kinds of entertainment or performances. Koreans in the past used many instruments that are not commonly used in other places. We learned about these kinds of instruments. A  few women even taught us how to play those instruments.  Next, we watched a marionette performance where a man showed us how Korean instruments are used in other easy ways.  After we ate our lunch, we learned how to dance a masked dance and use another traditional Korean drum called a ”sogo”. Dancing the masked dance was interesting. We moved our body a lot and wore a pair of long sleaves to dance with during the masked dance. I wanted to wear the mask but the dance teacher said if we wore a mask for the first time during our learning process, it will be hard to breathe and hot.  When we were learning how to play the drum called sogo, Kathy and I were so tired that we were almost about to sleep.

I also learned the differences between what is a geomungo and a gayageum (the 2 most popular kinds of string instruments in Korea). Lots of people were confused about what is a geomungo and what is a gayageum. The geomungo is played with a thin flat stick (similar to a plectrum) and the gayageum is played by hand.

 3.What was the most memorable part that you can remember?

The most memorable part of my day was learning how to dance the masked dance.  I enjoyed it very much.  I can also remember the marionette characters’ movements, what they did while speaking.