Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Capsizing Courage!

           I had, had a horrible case of the shivers! I had been shaking like mad! This was during the field trip I had last year back in Jakarta. We had gone to this place called Tanjung Lasung. It was a beach (a bit dirty). So we had gone out to sea on these small motor boats with a teacher and a few other kids. Well at least I had been one of the kids on the motor boat. Some other kids had been able to get on the sail boats first. ( I had been trying NOT to get on the sail boat until I had to.)
          I was one of the shorter kids, so I had to get all bundled up in the small school life jackets that were really uncomfortable while other people got more big and comfortable ones that the "beach people" owned. There was one man on the motor boat that controlled it and made sure the "kids" each had the same amount of time as everyone else on the sailboats. You would have been just sitting and waiting for the sailboats to return. Now getting back to the real courageous adventure.
          I had jumped from the motor boat onto the sailboat as per the instructions. Now the part that really was the nightmare was that everyone had to capsize in the water at least once. My face had broken out into cold sweat as I told the "boat guy" I was ready to capsize. (I was scared about falling into the water) We shifted a few times from one side of the boat to the other so that the boat capsized. The "boat guy" told me to watch out for the boom since it would be painful if you got hit by the metal bar while it fell into the water. ( A few people actually got hit by the boom) So I was so worried about that, that I had forgotten about the sail.
          When I fell in the water, my face went under for a few seconds before I was able to get out from under the sail. Let me just get one fact straight, that water TASTE TERRIBLE!! And that water STUNG MY EYES!!    I floated (and paddled) to the back of the boat where the "boat guy" was waiting. So what we were supposed to do was jump on the center board till the boat turned back over. I'm telling you, that drains your energy real easily! The "boat guy" got back on the boat easily, but I was so exhausted from turning the boat back over that the "boat guy" had to literally pull me onto the boat.

    

                imgurl=http://www.infobarrel.com/media/image/3881.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.infobarrel.com/Basic_Sailboat_Parts&usg=__I2NlG_IskApj43J_0bbaKHdj9Z8=&h=858&w=993&sz=36&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=5HODjZIcckmGqM:&tbnh=127&tbnw=147&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbasic%2Bsailboat%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26rlz%3D1C1CHMG_enUS291US303%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D685%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=391&vpy=66&dur=380&hovh=209&hovw=242&tx=95&ty=97&ei=XUePTLH_OYa4ceyb-L4M&oei=XUePTLH_OYa4ceyb-L4M&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=28&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0

and

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikibooks/en/f/f2/Capsized_002.jpg&imgrefurl=http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Adventist_Youth_Honors_Answer_Book/Recreation/Sailing&usg=__c6e3Nyr5D6VdMX_Irzb0yRh6DcA=&h=122&w=300&sz=17&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=3sN04YouWaJ4rM:&tbnh=78&tbnw=193&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbasic%2Bcapsized%2Bsailboat%2Bwith%2Bperson%2Bjumping%2Bon%2Bthe%2Bcenter%2Bboard%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26rlz%3D1C1CHMG_enUS291US303%26biw%3D1280%26bih%3D642%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=608&ei=HkmPTIOhO8Orcdz5pM0M&oei=HkmPTIOhO8Orcdz5pM0M&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:9,s:0&tx=72&ty=55

          Right after getting back on the boat, I had to jump back onto the motor boat for the next person to get onto this sailboat! After ten minutes, I went on this other sailboat. In all the sailboats I went on that day, I had capsized 5 times! Just because I wanted to. At the beginning of this story, I was so frightened but by the end I loved it so much I wanted to do over and over again!!

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Investigating the Past!

      Archeologists study artifacts of early humans to understand our past, and find out how our ancestors are similar to us. Cave paintings help scientist understand how our ancestors were. 
Clay Sculptures-One of the sculptures discovered was of the 2 bison (probably bison). Some details about that sculpture  is that; A bison looked injured. The cause for me to think that was because that bison was leaning against the rock almost in a way humans would lean while in pain. Another detail is that it looks like one of the bison is looking at “water” behind it. The “water” looks like water because there seems to be a caved in place with blackish something in it. The bison peering over the rock made me come to the conclusion that it was looking at water (the blackish thing) with eagerness because it need to drink something. The final detail is that both the bison have cracks on them that tell me the sculpture is old. What we learnt from the sculptures is that the bison could be there to identify that certain clan. It could have also been used in important ceremonies to show that a child has become an adult (children’s footprints were found around the sculptures).
          
http://puffin.creighton.edu/bucko/courses/syllabi/images/buffalo.gif
       Shapes and Hand-Prints-Another one of the paintings was of shapes and hand-prints. The first detail is that it seems like there are gazelles panicking about some dangerous animal like a sabertooth for instance.The next detail is that there are small and large handprints printed on the wall.Another detail is that there are different kinds of lines drawn on the walls such as zigzags and circles.The final detail is that it seems like there are bugs on the picture, and the gazelles are running them over. We learnt from the sculptures that the hand-prints were the way the artists signed the painting. We also learnt that geometric shapes had special meanings in rituals. Another thing we learnt was that the areas where the painting was painted, were used for special gathering because the caves with the paintings caused voices to be the loudest compared to other caves without paintings. Finally, we learnt that the hand-prints in this cave painting were very small. Prehistoric people were probably much smaller than people are today. 

http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:-hTt5moBAON8EM:http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/bb124/skimac/altamira.jpg&t=1Cave%20Paintings
%20of%20Animals.%20Some
    Cave Painting of Animals- The final painting is of the Cave Paintings of Animals. Some details are that there is an unfinished animal painted on the wall.Another detail is that some animals look older than others in the painting because the paint is peeling. The next detail is that it looks like one of the animals are running away and jumping over the herd. The final detail is thatIt looks like the horses are running on the ledge because they are painted on a piece of rock slightly away from the rest of the painting.We learnt that the artists could have tried to capture the magical powers of certain animals. Another thing we learnt is that the painters possibly believed in spirits and created the art to honor or influence them. Finally we learnt that the paintings were used in rituals or ceremonies.
(sorry, no photo)