Cruise

Two summers ago my family went on a seven-day cruise. We left out of Galveston, Texas. For the first day or two we were just on the boat. There were a lot of things to do; we played bingo and also watch people go on stage to play games. There was one game that I really remember where a few guys went up on the stage and they had this box strapped to their butt. The people had to shake it to get all the ping pong ball out. Who ever got the most out won the game. This one guy tried to shake it really fast and ended up ripping his pants. In the end he won because he shook all the ping pong balls out. I was surprised how good the food was on the ship. There was an omelette station in the mornings where you could make your own. When you wanted something sweet, there were ice cream machines all over the boat. I always ended up getting pizza because they were open day and night or I would order room service. My sister and I ended up getting in trouble for calling it in so much by my mom. When we finally got to Cozumel, Mexico we did a lot of shopping which was cool because I got to haggle with shop owners. Some would even flag us down to give us a better deal. The food we ate there was a lot different than the so called "Mexican food" here. I liked the real Mexican food while my mom missed her favorite Tex-Mex. My sister got a Cuban cigar from a little shop before the ban was lifted. When we arrived at Belize we had a personal tour. He took us to go cave tubing. I enjoyed that because we got to see bats on the ceiling of the cave. We also got to talk to a Jamaican man who climbed coconut trees for fresh fruit every day to sell to the tourists. My mom loves coconuts, so she got one from the man and loved it. After that anywhere that sold coconuts my mom bought one. Our last stop was Roatan, Honduras and because it is a very dangerous place, we did not get to experience the local culture like we had been on our trip. They had a nice place for tourists to hang out and a really pretty beach to tan or swim. Roatan was a nice chill place to end the cruise on. Over all we have a lot of memories and a lot of souvenirs from all the places. It was a great family trip to go on.

Dirty Jobs

I believe that not everyone has to go to college to make a living. There are plenty of jobs that can support a family without a college degree. Most everyone’s parents push them to go to college because it is assumed you will automatically be successful. I like Mike’s example about the Northern guy and how he did not go to college yet he was able to pay for his house with cash and still can raise his family with the money he earns. There are about 3 million jobs that cannot be filled by people because they are overly qualified and do not want to do the hands on work, those “dirty jobs.” Mike is not anti-college; he says he is anti-debt, meaning he does not want college kids to stay in debt. You have to have the right work ethic on how to get the job done the best way. His dad showed him at a young age about labor work and how hard you have to work to be successful. The first labor job Mike had was when clogged his toilet and had to help his dad find the problem in the yard pipes. He found out after trying to take electrician classes that was not the way he wanted to go. The electrician classes were hard and he didn’t pass them. I like that Mike is all about his passion and how you should always follow your passion no matter what anyone says. Not many people can do that and are stuck in a career for the money or because their parents wanted them to pursue it. Everyone thinks since they went to high School and got a college degree they can go out and find a job really easy.

            Even though college might not be your thing, like Mike said, college is also good because we need people to do highly specialized skills, like fly our planes, and we cannot have just anyone do that. Personally, I would not fly in a plane with a random person who claims to know how. I would much prefer someone with thorough training in that subject. College can be good for certain jobs and help you make more money in the long run than not having a degree. I am going to college so I do not have to do some of the jobs he did like shave sheep, clean out sewers, and clean out charcoal in fire pits. You do not have to go to school for very long to be a welder and they make great money and are very artistic.

In conclusion, I really have enjoyed watching his shows. It is refreshing compared to other television shows. I like how Dirty Jobs was not rehearsed. They were to the point - simply taped and edited for the appropriate episode length. It is good for the public to see behind the scenes to these jobs and that there are more ways to make money than getting a college degree.

Social Media

Society has changed so much from when our parents and grandparents were born. They were not born with cell phones in their hand how most kids are today. I wonder what society was like before cell phones were invented and common to have. Vacations are meant for you to relax and unwind from your everyday life, but today people may find them more stressful in a way. Instead of enjoying the trip, people feel the need to have to capture every moment to share on social media. They are too caught up in their phone and what is happening back home instead of simply vacationing and having fun. People do not live in the moment like they used to and are always thinking about what has been posted since they have been gone or what they are going to post about next time they get on. It’s always nice to take some pictures to be able to reflect on your vacation, but if you are focusing on just pictures you miss out on a lot of things in life.

Technology is always changing, so we cannot expect it to stay the same forever. In the future hopefully new developments will actually connect people and not “mask loneliness”. Just because getting on your cell phone is convenient and makes you feel in the loop with your friends does not mean it is good to spend a lot of time on it. Social media can be and is very additive. Studies say “we check our phones on average 221 times a day — about every 4.3 minutes” and “The average American spends five and half hours a day with digital media.” This is a lot of time spent in just one day. Imagine how much you could accomplish in the time you are scrolling through feeds. Those five and a half hours are going to add up over a life time and people are going to look back and realize they lived their whole life through a little screen. You will never be able to make up for the time that you have lost all those years.

In conclusion reading all of these articles makes me more aware of my own habits. I know I am a victim of getting pulled into videoing and even taking pictures of everything at concerts, on vacations, my dog and even the little things in life you just pass by. 

Foreign Exchanged Student

When I was 8 years old I was in the 3^rd grade and my parents decided to apply for a foreign exchanged student for various reasons but mostly so we could all experience a new culture. We applied and were approved for one about a year after they decided to host one. Laurie Lambert was her name and she was from Belgium. She had already graduated high school when she came to the United States but was here for the experience and retook the 12^th grade. Laurie and I shared the same birthday and when it was our birthday she sang it in German and my family and I sang it in English. She loved to cook when she was in Belgium. I cooked her a birthday cake and she got to cook me one. We also got to meet other families who had exchanged students. It was cool to see all the different kinds of people together. I have never heard so many languages spoken before. Even though everyone was so different we all became good friends by the end of the program. Laurie was amazing at playing the piano so I tried to get her to teach me. I learned a few little songs but anything she played was hard. She was only in the United States for a school year, but we did a lot in that time. We took her on vacations so the she would get to have the full American experience as much as possible. We took her to Florida and she had a blast seeing the white sand. We also brought her hunting on our friend’s ranch in West Texas and she did not get anything, but we got some great photos of her in the deer stand that she got to take home. Along with all the fun adventures she had, Laurie also got to experience a tornado while in Texas. It was early one morning the wind was whipping harder than ever. When our parents saw our patio furniture flying by they realized it was a tornado so my older sister and I took shelter in our parent’s closet. We were nervous for Laurie because she was staying in our pool house. The tornado was over as soon as it started. My dad went out to check on her and she was just fine and joined us in the house. She definitely had a unique experience staying with us in Texas. Over all I think she enjoyed the trips and was able to take back some cool stories to Belgium. Laurie is still a close family friend that we keep in touch with to this day. She has been traveling all around Europe since moving back and is currently living in Spain as a language teacher. She plans to one day come back and visit.