Week 3: Essay: The Wisdom of Noah

 

In the story of Noah and the Ark, we have a man chosen to be the messenger of God in that he may guide mankind on the path of righteousness. As at the time of Noah corruption had spread the earth’s surface. The reason I have chosen wisdom to be the topic of discussion here is because in from the Legend Jews text it is said that Noah praised God at birth causing his father to flee from him, as he had seen nothing like this. From birth Noah shows the wisdom of God. As his grandfather before him was also a wise man.

 

story is a prime example showing that no matter how wise one maybe if people choice to be against your teachings or follow your guidance all the wisdom in the world will never be enough to capture their attention. Noah’s wisdom is portrayed by the people as him being deluded or even arrogant. To them he probably appointed himself to guide the people even though his action was based on the command of God. However the sinners as they are referred to in the book are not interested in acquiring any knowledge as what they are accustomed to is enough for them to survive the flood. So you could say they have no wisdom or even common sense for that matter. As it is said that there were giants amongst them who claimed they would stop the floods from both above and below. So they refused to seek the knowledge of God. In comparison to Noah who was always seeking the light and guidance of God.

 (Shem, Ham, and Japheth; James Tissot)

I think the message in this story is that as human beings whatever the path in life that we chose there will always be people there to criticize your work or actions, and how you deal with this will make or break you. In Noah’s life of nine hundred and fifty years he only had but few followers. This goes to show that it is not the quantity of your work rather that quality as from the people of the ark mankind and all that lives on earth was able to reproduce again despite the loss of plenty and here we are today living on earth by the masses.

 

Link: Noahs ark

Week 3: Story Telling: The man named Noah

It was a dark and cloudy day. In fact it had been so for as long as I can remember. It was as if the beauty of the sun was taken from the lands of the earth. I am Ada, it means adornment in Hebrew. My parents have always been people of God, but I never understood who God was and why we had to obey him. Others around us did as they pleased. Blood was shed on a daily bases, people relied on themselves and not a supernatural being. Our neighbor for example, Chavakuk he had had an answer for everything without seeking god for anything. He always said to my father “You are a man of God, I on the other hand is my own man. You are a slave to the unseen”.

 

We never quite liked being amongst corruption and deception but my mother would always tell me” this is a trail from the God of Adam and the righteous men after him”. I didn’t really want to go against what she would say although I couldn’t make sense of it at all. “Why would God trail us? Isn’t the evil and deception amongst the people enough of a trail? If God is good and kind why would he put us through this separation of the people?” endless questions flood my head. But I could never question our faith even though it seemed we were amongst the very few that followed the teachings of forefathers that we had never met and an unseen God that we probably will never meet.

My father was very close to a man named Noah he would always come to our place of residence and enjoin having super with us. Occasionally he would bring his wife Naamah and he son’s; Ham, Shem, and Japheth to join us, but we saw them rarely. Noah and his family kept themselves to themselves as there were claims around town that he was deluded claiming to be sent by god as a guide to mankind. Just like his grandfather Methuselah, who claimed he received revelation from Enoch that he, Noah would be amongst those saved when the great destruction befalls the earth and its inhabitants. There was also tales that Lamech who was the father of Noah ran away from him as he was strange looking and spoke at birth praising the lord. He would constantly preach words of wisdom in the markets but he got nothing but heckling from the sinners making mockery of his message. Rarely he would get a very few that would follow his teachings from the Torah.

One evening he had come to my father pale faced and gasping for air. “God is displeased with man, and for that he shall send a punishment which will cause all to perish, man and beast” he explained.         “That can’t be, God made a convenient with Adam in that those who remain in his path will receive salvation” my father replied both in fear and confusion, feeling betrayed by God.

 “My dear brother and neighbor mankind has grown arrogant and insolent against god and through these mischievous action they must pay. God has instructed me to build an ark so that the righteous of men will be saved when the flood is upon us” urged Noah. I stood there by the door, fear filled my heart “what was to come of the world if everything was to be destroyed by the wrath of God”, and from hearing this news I cried and cried for days “What if we were left behind?”.

Day after day my father arose from his sleep at the crack of dawn aiding Noah and his sons to build the ark. Upon completion, people: both good and bad, Animals: big or small flocked towards the ark, whilst a very few abstained out of arrogance in hopes that they would remain untouched by the flood as they would stop it with their power and might. My family entered the ark, it was dark, noisy and cramped. There was no way this could sustain us all. We were going to die in here before the flood came. Noah stood by the door granting entry to everything in pairs (male and female) whilst others were turned away. Amongst them being women and children. Families that I had grown up with seeing them almost every day. By the time the sun had risen the doors of the ark was shut. We waited and waited, Noah paced back and forth hoping that maybe god had changed his mind and would not send the waters. Suddenly we felt a sudden thrust of pressure on the walls of the ark. Everyone went into panic and water had filled the lands…….

 

(Noahs Ark, Noah unit, The king James Bible : The flood,   (1611), Genesis 5-6. Source)

Authors Note: I really enjoyed the story of Noah and the ark. Being around for 950 year and having very few followers most have taken a lot of patients and perseverance. I wanted to tell the story from my own made up character as I thought it would be interesting to try and be an observer of what was going on at the time. Could you imagine what would be going through our minds if we were to go through such an event? What would our reaction be? Would we be amongst the followers or those that think he is deluded?

Bibliography:The King James Bible (1611), Genesis 5-6 and  The Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg (1909): Book 1, Chapter 4 Noah

Link: Noahs Ark

 

 

Week 2: Extra Credit Pinterest Widget Tech Tip

Follow abdirahman said's board Myth-folklore portfolio on Pinterest.

Week 2: Famous last words

So we have come to the end of week two. To be honest this week I think I could have done a better job with my story telling. As I chose a classical biblical story of Adam and Eve and I sort of re-told the same story in short. Which is what I understood we had to do. However reading some of the student’s stories and how they put their own twist into it really made me think that I could have done more. Maybe I thought that I didn’t want to offend anyone in completely changing up the story of Adam and Eve. Or maybe I could have retold it but from the angels point of view or Eve or even Satan himself. Hmmm maybe that would have been an interesting stand point of the story. But all in all I’m glad it is over with. Maybe in the weeks to come I will go about choosing more exciting stories. Overall I think this class is getting more and more challenging but in a good way. I think as each week past the demand for creativity is increasing.

 

As for the rest of the school semester my other classes have really taken off. My math professor doesn’t know the meaning of a break as week after week we are bombarded with a quiz so at any given point can I afford to fall off the wagon. I have already had a chemistry exam which I think I did pretty well in (fingers crossed – this is true). This week at school has really been busy and I am so glad we have this long weekend. As for life, life is good. Every day we wake up is a blessing. Two down, thirteen to go.

 

                     (Peace and happiness to all)

 

http://pixabay.com/en/food-happy-face-peace-smiley-icon-35164/

Weeks 2: Essay Blog post - Gods and Goddesses

From reading both books (Adam and Eve and Noah and the ark) both books very much involved the works of god. As I believe both books to portray the same god. In both books god is portrayed as the almighty, the most high and a very supreme character amongst all. His speech is very majestic in the orders and the commands he gives.

The reason I say this is because with Adam and Noah he gives them strict commands, in which they must follow. And in Adams case he falls out of the commands of God and thus is punished by expelling him and Eve from the gardens of Eden. Throughout the story Adam and Eve both keep falling out of god’s way but then we see gods forgiving character and continues to forgive them time after time. As done with Noah, he is constantly forgiven by god. So we see his forgiving and merciful nature.

However in the both books there is almost a mistrust of God by both Adam and Noah as both believe they or their people will be punished again. So they feel the need to have some form of reassurance from god. Hence God makes a convenient with them both. Here we see that he is a being of his word.  I wouldn’t say that it is evil of him to bring such punishment on the people but I think that the peoples actions and Adams and Eve’s action was used by God as an example for the generations there were to come. So you could say that his character is also portrayed as being a punisher- the consequence of good deeds being endless bliss but if you sin against god then you will be punished for you deeds.

He is also a god of unity as he does not want to share his thrown with anyone. As he warns both do not commit blasphemy nor associate partners with me. Here one can tell that he does not want to share his authority over all with none but himself. As he destroyed the Nimrod and his people as they began idol worshipping. I wouldn’t go as far as to say he is a jealous god, because I believe that God has no reason to be jealous of none as he has the dominion and power over all. But some of you may defer with me on this. All in all god is a good god as he doesn’t send plagues on the people of these stories unless they have strayed.

 

 

(Tower of Babel, by Joos de Momper)

 

Links: Noahs Ark

EveAdam and Eve

 

 

Week 2: Story Telling: Adam and Eve

 

               In the beginning there was nothing but God and the Angels. One day God sat on his throne in a ponder. In deep thought about what he wants to do with the universe. So he decided to create man. So he sent the angels to gather all the souls from the lands in which he would use to mold this new creation out of clay.

Amongst the angels was Satan who was also considered to be one of the righteous angels. Satan heard talks of the creation of Adam and decided to go see this for himself. So he hurried through the heavens until he reached the room where Adams mold laid. There he saw what looked like a man only there was no soul. Satan knocked on Adams mold and heard that it sounded hollow. Arrogance began to fill Satan’s heart “I am made of fire and this creature is nothing but clay” he muttered.

Days later God decided to breathe life into Adam and Adam had awoken. His eyes opened up to something new, innocence and light oozed from his eyes as he observed his surroundings. News of Adams birth spread throughout paradise, so god gathered the angels around his thrown to inform them of Adam coming to life. “Oh ah” the angels said in awe. “Behold this is Adam and he is to dwell amongst you” commanded god.

“Will you favor man over us, whom you know will shed blood and spread mischief and corruptions” replied the angels.

“I know that which you know not” replied god of the heavens and the earth. So he ordered them to all fall in prostration to Adam. Not in worship to him but out of respect. Therefore all the angels prostrated to Adam in full submission of the creator except Satan. Who possessed so much resentment in the creation of Adam, “Why have you disobeyed my command” asked god.

“Because I am superior over this man. You made me out of fiery smoke whilst he is only made from dust. How dare I prostrate to such a thing” boasted Satan. And so he was excused. During Adams first few days of living he was given the honor and the privilege to name all the creatures and beasts of the earth; big or small. Thus, god gave him dominion over them all in that he was never to be harmed by them.

For days and days Adam wondered the kingdoms of the heavens. Educating himself in the wonders of god. He began to feel a sense of loneliness. His heart ached, and felt there was a void. He was missing love and someone to share this with. So he set to go to gods throne. “O lord of the heavens and the earth, I am ever so grateful for blowing life into me, but I feel so alone here. There is only one of me and many of the angels could you grant for me someone to complete me” asked Adam.

“I shall create for you a wife so you may find peace and tranquility in each other” replied god. So god put Adam to sleep and created Adam from his lower ribs. Time had passed, and Adam had finally woken up to a creature that looked similar to him. She had eyes just like him and a body just like he did. But he noticed she wasn’t to be exactly like him she appeared softer, more slander and petite then he was. Her eyes were like piercing pearls staring through his soul. They starred at each other mesmerized by each other, as eve had waited for him to wake. “Eve….” muttered Adam “you shall be called eve”. And so he named her Eve. From spending their days together the two had fallen in love. So god placed them in the gardens of Eden. Here they were to dwell for eternity. However they was not to eat from the tree of good and bad knowledge. Until one day the serpent made his way into the gardens and whispered evil thoughts in to Eve persuading her to eat from it “ you want to reach endless immortality and power like god, then you must eat from this tree as did he” whispered the serpent. Poisoned by corrupt thoughts Eve ate from the tree and was confronted with the angel of death. Out of fear of parting with Adam, Eve decided to feed him from the same fruit so Adam would never know what it is like to love another other than her.

The news of their sin spread throughout the heavens leading to their expulsion from the gardens and onto the earth where they were to forever dwell and produces sons and daughters until the day of judgment.

 

 

                                                       (stained glass in Sarthe, France)


Authors Notes: I choose this story because the creation of man intrigues me. The way in which our beginning came about is a very controversial topic in both science and religion. I believe we do come from Adam and Eve and that throughout time we did evolve into the way we are today in comparison to those before us we are somewhat more intellectually advanced. Although we may have shrank in size as mentioned in the origin of this story. I don’t thing I have done this story justice in the word limit I was given as I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

Bibliography:

The Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg (1909): Volume 1.

The Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg (1909): Volume 1.

Link to original story

Week 3: Reading Diary The legends of Noah: Noah and the Ark

I have chosen this book because the stories in this book are very similar to that of the book of Adam and eve. Also the character of Noah is similar to the character of Adam as they both start with such piety and being humble creations of God. But then they either turns their back on god by disobeying him i.e. Adam or they end up bring drunks in which case Noah turned out to be at the end of his mission. Also in the qualities that both men posses as both men had dominion over the beasts of the earth. In both stories we see a different side to them. Also in genesis and the legend of the Jews there is a slight difference in the way that the stories are told and the depth they go into.

After the flood: This is rather confusing to me as it says in the book of the flood that it will rain for seven days then it says that it covered the lands for a hundred and fifty days but it also say it rained for 40days as does it in the book after the flood. The earth was cleansed from corruption by the use of flood. Today if a tyrant feels the need to wipe out a whole nation they will go to war or use bombs. I also found it quite interesting the use of the dove to go back and forth to see if the waters had dried. The intelligence of the way the animals then were portrayed is magnificent.

 

The Birth of Noah: From birth Noah showed physical characteristic of his prophet hood this reminds me a lot of the story of Jesus, as Jesus too spoke at birth.

(Noah, Dove, and Raven; Venice)

The generation of deluge: The children of Seth and the Cainites practiced magic and no longer felt the need for god as they could do amazing things i.e. having the sun submits to them. Could you imagine that these people were possibly the first people on earth to introduce magic and the custom of idol worshipping? As human beings we always search for a higher being to guide us and to believe in, but in this case they sought other sources of faith. Just picture the level of power these people possessed.

 Nimrod (legend of the Jews): The power of the gown here reminds me of harry potters invisible gown.

 The tower of Babel -the legend of the Jews: The building of the Babylonian tower just amazes me. Just think how big these people were if they were able to build a tower that tall. Also when god caused them not to understand each other’s language. I thought that was a smart strategy to lead to the ruins of the tower.


 Link to Noah and the Ark book
 

Week 2: Reading Diary - Book of Adam and Eve

These are my favorite stories from the Book of Adam and Eve: I think the language used in both books is rather simple yet complicated in the way it is worded.

The creation: The creation of the four rivers this sparked an interest in me as I imagined them to possibly be what we know as the pacific, Atlantic and the Indian ocean today. I thought it was rather selfless of God being the creator of all to allow Adam to name everything. Another thing that I thought of was the equity and thought god put into the creation of Eve from a chaste and median part of Adam. In return Adam so her as an equal “ this is now bone of my bones..”, as we should be protective of our loved ones as clothes to our own bones as described by Adam in this book.

 

The Fall: The dialect between the serpant and Eve meant that creatures and humans at the time were able to communicate.  When Eve fed Adam the fruit from the tree it is as if their innocence was stripped away from them as they came to see each other in a light which they had not seen before and they now know there is a good and evil. It is also interesting that the way serpants (snakes) move now is slithering on their bellies and according to this text they may have possessed limbs which they used to move (as we are introduced to in the fall of man chapter).In this section of the book we are also shown that death has come to existence “ for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return” (i.e buried in the ground and decay). It makes you wonder that had this not happened then there possibly may not be a death as it is a guarantee to us all. It is amazing that (if you are a believer of Adam and Eve or the bible) that the action of two people really impacted the world forever.

The ideal man: The size of Adam and how throughout generations men reduced in size in comparison to the father of man. Could you imagine if we were giants like them I highly doubt there would be enough space on this earth to sustain us. But then again they were probably fewer in population.  It is also pretty astonishing that Adam was shown the fate of all mankind, all that was to come and how each generation of man would stray and in return how they would be punished. I would say that Adam as pretty close to god as he shared the secrets of the universe with him.

 

The story of Lilith and The story of Eve : The reason I put these two stories together is because first and for most I never was aware of Adam having a wife before Eve. But also because these two women couldn't be more opposite one another.

 

The punishment: To think that before they ate for the tree that was forbidden from them they didn’t feel sadness or any negative emotion for that matter, but upon sinning against God they were now to feel what we feel today as human – emotions. His height was also taken away from him as he was made to shrink (reminds me of honey I shrunk the kids). Throughout these stories we see how just, loving and forgiving god is even if man disobeys him. Also the change in Adams character is quite shocking as he was someone that was oozed piety but instead he returns god favors with slanderous talks amongst the people of the heavens. I think this is an example of how ungrateful we as humans will always be. It is also ironic that from the beginning of time that man will always lust over or desire what we don’t have or are forbidden to have. Sort of like, as children when our parents tell us we can’t have something it makes us want it evens more.All that was created was to suffer as a result of the sin. What interests me is how this story brings together the moon as we see it today dependent on the sun of the light, as we all know the scientific explanation but the bible says the moon lacks light as it laughed when everything else whipped and as a result this would be its punishment.

 

Entering the cave of treasures: Here we see that God used Adam as an example to mankind, that he will teach us of his and Eve’s mistake in order that we may be guided into obeying the creator. We also see a sense of mistrust from Adam towards God, as they now believe god changed the appearance of the tree which led to them eating from it.  And they perceive the cave a punishment a prison as this is not the lavish life and surrounding they were created in to.

The darkness & The sunrise and the serpent: I have connected these two stories as they finally experience their first solar evolution. They finally experience their first night of darkness as the sun has set. But they do not know of the meaning of this so they think it’s another punishment from god. We have really come a long way in terms of understanding the world around us. Could you imagine being placed on a strange land that does things you have never seen before? Which is why Adam probably thought the sun was god and that it was sent to burn him.

(Les très riches heures du duc de Berry)

 

 

http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/myth-folklore-unit-adam-and-eve.html

Week 1: Famous last words

Famous Last words

My best writing this week was my favorite places blog. Not because of the information I provided but the experiences of creating my very first blog and looking back at it as a published blog. Being introduced to blogging for the first time has really given me confidence in posting future blogs for this class. I’m excited to see my progress and to looking back at it once the class is complete. I have not yet quite mastered the art of blogging but I’m sure I will see improvement and further creativity as the class progresses.

Even though it just the beginning of the semester most of my other classes are picking up quite quickly and the content is getting more and more difficult (hopefully it is not anything I won’t be able to conquer and excel in). As for this class, funny enough it is actually more interesting than I anticipated it to be. It has given me the opportunity to bring back the creativity in me and to unleash my imagination that we only think we have as a child. I realized this when I had to write a story based on a nursery rhyme (although at first it had me picking my brain). Nonetheless, I managed to come up with something. Again I believe as the semester progresses I will become more and more creative with my writing. Also looking at some of the other stories produced by former students when doing the story book favorite task really gave me an insight to the level of imagination this class requires. It just allows one to run away with their imagination and produce a dream like story something that cannot seize to exist in real life but we can bring it to life through our writing. 

                                             

                                                                           Thumbs up!

Week 1: Introduction Post and Blog Navigation

                    A little story about me

A little story about me: My name is Abdirahman Said, also known as Acce. I was born in Mogadishu, Somalia and was raised in Seattle, Washington for most of my life. I moved to Oklahoma in January of 2013 for school. I am a petroleum engineer major my passion is to one day become a pioneer in my field of study, hence the move from Seattle. I am a student and also a family man. I enjoy spending time with my loved ones (family first, and friends). Unfortunately most of my family reside in Seattle as I am now here with my wife. Both of us have made huge transitions in our lives, her coming from London and myself Seattle. I enjoy going to the movies especially watching mythological tales and movies based in medieval era. My all-time favorite movie is 300 followed closely by gladiator.

I very much enjoy travelling around the world and exploring different cultures and just enjoying the scenery. In the past few years I have visited numerous countries within Europe England, Wales, and Holland, France. My family and I lived in the Middle East for a brief period of time then we decided to move to Germany where I went to school for about six years before coming over here to the states. Germany was a very agricultural place in comparison to Seattle. The living and lifestyle seemed much relaxed at the time than any other place I've been in the world. Not to forget, I was once a fluent German speaker but unfortunately I have lost my Dutch speaking skills from constantly speaking English.

During the summer I spent it interning with a drilling company. Opening up my eyes to where I want to specialize in. The oil industry is rather interesting and vast being on the outside you’d be surprised about the amount of work that goes into the extraction of oil. Which probably explains why Oklahoma has been experiencing the high numbers of earthquakes we've been having. Maybe it’s the earth’s way of telling us engineers and driller to leave it alone. 

                                                   

Pulling Pipe on the Derrick Floor preparing to trip into the hole. Photographer ,Joshua Doubek.  Date (unknown).Source: Wikipedia

Week 1: Storybook Favorites

The Italian Love Story :  This book is rather interesting as the title sounds far more interesting than the content of it, hence what drew me to it. You wouldn't think reading the title that it is actually based on how I met your mother. Its pretty cool how they used images from how I met your mother to portray different couples, shows great imagination.The lay out is pretty basic as it goes to explain each couples love story separately and you don't have numerous love stories going on at the same time. It is almost as if you are starting a new book each time you read about one of the other friends love story.To be honest the design also is very basic, making it an easy read. The link is provided below if you want to read it in more depth. https://sites.google.com/site/italianlovestory/robin-scherbatsky

Time Travel of King Arthur: I think this student showed outstanding imagination in the since that they have linked the present time using technology (a time machine) back into medieval times. Also the use of different text styles to go back and forth to educated the readers as to why the character in the story wanted to witness the pulling of the sword and its significance. This is something not usually seen in writing but rather in movies i.e when you see " five-years earlier" at the bottom of the screen. As for the layout of this story the design and font compliment the moment in time the writer was trying to portray. However they might have done a better job with the font sizing.The link is provided below if you want to read it in more depth. https://sites.google.com/site/italianlovestory/robin-scherbatsky

The Lost Books of the Bible: The title in the book pretty much explains what the content of this book will be based on. The wording of the title is sound very interesting as it almost creates a sense of mystery in the readers head. The introduction of this book is very thorough and detailed. The reading content of this story sounds rather authentic as it is pretty much a research being carried out day by day thus making the reader more interested in what further findings might be uncovered. However the design of it is very simple and basic. The link to this book is as follows: https://sites.google.com/site/lostbooksofthebible/chapter-4

                                              

Week 1 - Exploring the Un-Text Book.

Working full time and also being a family man. I have chosen the stories with the least amount of reading. Nonetheless, the stories I have chosen spark a genuine interest in me. So here are my choices.


Book of Adam and Eve from the biblical traditions: the beginning of man has always amazed me and has been a controversial topic This story is almost like a myth or a tale to someone who doesn't believe in Adam and Eve being the first of mankind. It also interests me as I did not know of a second wife Lilith. It would be interesting to read the growth of this story as different faiths have different understanding of this.

Noah and the Ark and Jewish fairy tales: I have also chosen these story as I see a link between Adam and Noah's story. Biblical stories interest me. I would like to explore further the connection and the beliefs between the characters of the christian faith and that of the Jewish.

Ovid I, and III Metamorphosis: I have chosen this story as I am not familiar with Greek mythology but the numerous gods and traditions of the Greeks way of life have always interested me. So it should be something interesting to read about. I also enjoy watching Greek mythology inspired movies i.e 300, Hercules so this should definitely be interesting to learn and write about.

Week 1- Story telling: Klien und Dunken

Jack and Jill went up the hill

To fetch a pail of water;

Jack fell down and broke his crown,

And Jill came tumbling after.

Far in Eastern Europe and a land towered a great break wall. Dividing a country and its people in two.  There lived a young boy by the name Prinz Jack. Prinz Jack resided in a far far away village called 'Klein und Dunkel'. Klein and dunkel meant small and dark in German this is where all the small and less fortunate people would be forced to live. Here they had no water and if they did it will be dirty with bad odor. Young Prinz Jack always wondered why he couldn't go beyond klein und dunken and why they had no water supply.

 

The great wall

Days after day Prinz Jack would wonder and glare at this great big wall. He always wondered what laid on the other side  One day Prinz Jack set out to conquer his thoughts and took his friend Jill with him. Jill was also among the villagers of Klein und dunkel. "Here i'll grab this end of the ladder you take the other" Prinz Jack told Jill.

"I'm not sure this is a good idea we could get in trouble or even worse what if we hurt ourselves" Jill said worriedly. So the two young boys set out to explore this great wall that stood brick upon brick layer upon layer dividing one kingdom from another.

Checking their surrounding the two children made sure to see that there was no one guarding what they were about to do. Jill anchored the ladder and held the bucket for Jack for when he located the water source. Meanwhile Prinz Jack climbed the wall dressed in what was to him royal attire for his debut on the wall, as all the villagers would thank him in great gratitude for bringing clean water.

Whilst Jill stood guard and held the ladder Prinz Jack climbed. Eventually Prinz got the the top " WOOOW...so much land and endless streams of water. I can't believe all those years we lived in the dark yet so much light resides on this side" Prinz said in absolute amazement. "there is enough buckets of water to feed the entire world". Minutes passed, and Prinz Jack had not come down yet " its getting close to the hour, the kings men will be passing soon and you know what happens to our kind if we are caught here". Jill said in a panic.

" Im not going anywhere!" Prinz Jack replied in awe.

Prinz Jack's broken crown. Ilustrated by Corinne Cortinas,July 16 2006. Source google images.

Jill in a hurry climbed the ladder as he had seen the kings men approach on their horses. Prinz Jack and mable both were afraid to be caught and the consequences that will entail. It meant they will be taken away from his family and friends in Klien und Dunken and will be assigned to chimney service. This is where they took all the kids that were caught out of bounds. Prinz Jack and Jill tried to climb down in a hurry but instead took a great big fall and Prinz Jack broke his card board crown after Jill had tumbled over him.

                                                      

                                         

Jack and Jill tumbling ,illustrated by William Wallace Denslow Source Wikipedia.

Authors Note: This story is based on the nursery rhyme "Jack and Jill". My source being The Nursery Rhyme Book, edited by Andrew Lang (1897). I enjoyed this nursery rhyme growing up as along with twinkle twinkle little star it was on of the first taught in school. I think there is an underlying message to this rhyme as the characters are of the opposite sex. My point being that in pre-k we tend to be friends with members of our own gender but this rhyme actually conveys a playful adventurous relationship between Jack and Jill. This taught me that the we can all be friends no matter what our gender, race, preferences or part of the world we may reside in, hence why i chose the separation of the wall in Germany (the Berlin wall) to be of significance in this story as oppose to the hill jack and Jill go up in the original rhyme.

YouTube Tech Tip

Beautiful Nature (BBC Planet earth wildlife)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMh7Zrf4Svg

Week 1: Favorite Places.

I have chosen London,UK and Seattle, WA as my two favorite places, not because they are exotic locations with sun, sea, and sand but because of the sentimental value they have to me. These two places couldn't be so similar yet so different at the same time.  In the sense that both are very rainy cities but the culture and lifestyle couldn't be more different.

London - I've visited London three times in the past four years not only for the love I have for the city but because I found true love in this city. To be honest it is a small, condensed, over populated city but within it lies centuries and centuries of ancient history. The British culture is rather interesting very different to what I am used to here in america.  London beauty comes out at night (as displayed in the picture below). It is the perfect place to just go for a stroll at night along the embankment of the river Thames. This was my wife and I's favorite thing to do after a night of dinner and a movie.

London Eye Twilight April 2006, Photographer (unknown), Source Wikipedia.

London:Big Ben, phone box and the house of parliament, Photographer :wiki+spam@eindruckschinderdomain.de (2006) Source: Wikipedia

Seattle, WA - This is the place that I was raised, the place where I learned everything I know today. the landscape of this city is breath taking. With the view of Mount Rainier  down the hill from omy mothers house. It is almost very mountainous with all the hills, and not to forget the pacific ocean on alki beach where we would sit and have family picnics, go for a swim, or start a bonfire. Seattle is everything you see in the picture below -Nature meets city. 

Downtown Seattle from Queen Anne Hill, Photographer Hedwig (2007) Source Wikipedia