Fish Are Friends Not Food

Fish Are Friends Not Food

 

While corresponding with my 2 pen pals from China my interests peaked when Molly brought to my attention all of the different foods she enjoys to eat in her culture. I, being a giant food eater it really made me want to know more about the food culture there. She sent me multiple pictures of all kinds of food and it made me so happy. So I thought to research more on it  and these are the main things that I found that showed how different there culture is compared to ours:

Steamed Weever

China is the home of chopsticks. The invention of chopsticks reflects the wisdom and of ancient Chinese people. Although chopsticks look so simple and plain they are used for many things such as nipping, ripping, picking, and stirring food. They’re also considered to be lucky gifts for weddings and special ceremonies. On the wedding day, it is also usual to serve dates, peanuts, longan and chestnuts together as a way to wish that the couple will soon have a baby with the Chinese proclamation. Long noodles mean longevity in China, so people tend to eat noodles on their birthday. During the Dragon Boat Festival, even though many people cannot reach the river zone to watch the boat race, almost all of them eat zongzi, a pyramid-shaped dumpling made of glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo or reed leaves. In Central china whenever a baby is born the father will send red hard-boiled eggs to announce the news. Eggs with a black pointed end and dots in an even number such as two or four, indicates a boy's birth; those without a black point and in an odd number like a five or seven will say the baby is a girl.

Some foods that really sparked my interests were steamed weever. Which is a common cooed meal made in china that consists of a fish being cooked whole, and is super rich in nutrition. There’s also “The Eight Immortals Crossing the Sea Gamboling around the Arhat” which is a starter before a celebration feast. Its 8 main ingredients are fin, sea pumpkin, abalone, asparagus, prawns, ham, fish's swimming bladder and fish bones. These symbolize the 8 immortals and the Arhats (Buddhist saints) are symbolized by the chicken breast. I attached some other dishes to my post as well that were very interesting to look at.

 I'm so excited to find out more things about the Chinese culture from my correspondences and learn more about other things!

Sources:

Molly. "Autobiography Correspondent." Message to Jazlyn Epps. 8 Nov. 2014. Email.

"Chinese Dragon Boat Festival: Food, Legend and Customs." Chinese Dragon Boat Festival: Food, Legend and Customs. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2014

"Chinese Food Culture: Table Manners, Dining Etiquette." Chinese Food Culture: Table Manners, Dining Etiquette. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2014.

"Chinese Food Culture: Table Manners, Dining Etiquette." Chinese Food Culture: Table Manners, Dining Etiquette. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2014.

Response to "Face to Face"

During today's lesson I noticed a theme; that we tend to categorize and judge people instantly without really knowing who they are and why we're doing it. Face to face made me realize how quick we are to put someone under a label just because of the things we have heard or seen. It's as if we've been trained as humans to automatically stereotype people. When 911 happened listening to the stories of people being judged by their nationality and assuming that they were involved in the attack on the twin towers just shows what level we have stooped to. It seems as if we put blame on people and things so easily without looking at the situation as a whole. “Never judge a book by its cover”, this is such a cliché quote, but yet it’s so relevant and true. I never realized how much we've been taught or have picked up not really owning up to problems of our own. I personally believe things would be so much easier if we all came together as one as solved problems as a whole.

Reading Response 3: Pandemonium

Pandemonium

by Lauren Oliver

 



In my last reading response I explained how Alex and Lena got separated during the first installment to the Delirium Trilogy. We left off with Lena having to leave her old life behind me starting over fresh. She slowly learns how to let go of the past, including Alex and Hannah. “Grief is like sinking, like being buried. Every breath is full of choking. There is nothing to hold on to, no sides, no way to claw myself up. There is nothing to do but let go.”

 I don’t think I’d be able to just let go of my old friends and life so easily. I’d constantly wonder where they were, how they were doing and what they were up to. Several months later she joins the resistance and lives in NYC as if she was a cured. She lives in a small apartment with Raven and Tack, who as a refresher are the 2 that took her in while she was barely living.

The apartment is full of fake ID’s and registration to be part of DFA (Delirium-Free America). Lena, Raven and Tack all attend a meeting where Julian Fineman, son of Thomas Fineman who is the founder of the DFA, speaks about the cure for deliria. He’s had seizures since he was young and had had many surgeries to remove brain tumors. Another procedure, such as the cure, may leave him in a permanent vegetative state or kill him, but he believes so strongly in the cure that he is willing to take that chance. After the meeting she notices she left her gloves at the rally and goes back to get them, she catches Julian looking at pictures of mountains and oceans.

Raven makes it extremely clear to Lena that she must keep an eye on Julian the whole meeting but she isn’t sure why. Until Scavengers attack, and both Lena and Julian get kidnapped and trapped in a room together. With little food nor water they must find a way to escape. Will Lena figure out Julian’s secrets? Why was Julian looking at those pictures anyways? I have an odd feeling that Julian and Lena will fall in love. And that she’ll become stuck between still believing Alex is alive and moving on. My picture shows that love triangle between the 3.

 

Reading Response #2: Pandemonium

Reading Response #2: Pandemonium

Pandemonium

By Lauren Oliver

I’ve recently started the sequel to Delirium and it is everything I thought it would be and then some. (SPOILER ALERT IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THE FIRST BOOK AND PLAN ON IT, THEN DON’T READ THIS. IF NOT, CONTINUE.) At the end of Delirium Lena and Alex decide to sneak into the Wilds and leave their old life in the past. Why? Because Lena had finally got caught and raided and saw the true colors of what the government was really doing. So they escaped last minute, with gunshots and car races, cop cars everywhere. Lena made it into the Wilds, but Alex didn’t. She believes he is dead. In this installment of the Delirium trilogy it goes back and forth from Now and Then. Stating her life in the wild and what she has to do now to continue her life acting as if she’s cured. When she entered the Wilds she was half dead, and was saved by her new found “friends” and became a new person, “New Lena” as she calls herself. What keeps Lena going even though she’s miles away from home, is just the thought of Alex still being alive. Even though it seems as if everyone including herself doesn’t believe it. It’s killing me to know if Alex is alive. Or if Hannah did indeed get cured. So many questions unanswered, I have to continue reading. This is definitely becoming one of my favorite trilogies, besides Fifty Shades of Grey of course.

“Sometimes I feel like if you just watch things, just sit still and let the world exist in front of you - sometimes I swear that just for a second time freezes and the world pauses in its tilt. Just for a second. And if you somehow found a way to live in that second, then you would live forever.”
― Lauren Oliver, Pandemonium

 

Reading Response #1 : Delirium

Delirium

by Lauren Oliver

I've always been a huge book reader, always. But I've never been the type to read non-fiction or fantasy. I like reading books that are realistic, where things could actually happen in this world today. Then I came across Delirium. A twist of some real, some fake, and a book that definitely gets you questioning a lot of things. A friend of mine, Michelle Sharp, is my go to book chooser. Anytime I need a book to read she has a list of things that she thinks I should read, there I got introduced to my new favorite book series.

           I’m definitely the type to judge a book by its cover and I always read the first page of the book, if it doesn’t interest me or leave me asking questions, I automatically put it down and go on to something else. This book was different. I finished it in about 1 week, for a book that’s 441 pages that is an extremely quick time, especially considering I have 7 other classes to worry about. I’m sure you’re wondering what I feel is so special about this book that I couldn’t put it down. Well let me break it down a tad bit for you.

          This book is set a little farther in the future, where government is a huge part of people’s everyday life, which isn’t necessarily a shocker considering the government is trying to have us by chains now, but that’s a different story. At the beginning you meet a girl named Lena who believes everything the new government does is all correct. Even curing and preventing the delirium of love (Hints to the title of the book). The government believes that the mandated cure of amor deliria nervosa will lead to a “safe, predictable, happy” life. Lena believes so. It’s all she’s known. Especially having to deal with her mom committing suicide because of deliria, when Lena was only 6. She doesn’t want to end up like her mother, having to get the procedure over and over again and becoming an Invalid, part of the Wild.

          Lena gets more and more excited as her 18^th birthday approaches, which is when you’re required to get cured, get your evaluation and start your new “happy” life that’s made for you. You forget about everything in your past, your bestfriends, your crushes, and anything unpleasant and scarring. Lena is ready. But then she meets Alex. A cured one, at least so she thinks. He’s someone who makes her question everything she believed in before. Now everything has changed. She seems to rather be infected with love for the smallest second, then live in a lie. In a trapped bubble. Something that she used to her whole life she’s finally starting to question what’s really true.

This book sends you through ups and downs, twists and turns. In just a few pages you’re hooked and want to know what happens next. It’s fast paced and you end up feeling just as Lena. What would you do if our government became like this? Would you follow the path like everyone else or rebel and become an invalid. Would you follow through with the path that was already set up for you? Is love really a disease? Is the government really trying to protect Lena and her town? Are they really worried about their safety and as great as they make themselves seem? Can love really exist and be happy or does it kill you in the end? Read Delirium to find out.

“Symptoms of Amor Deliria Nervosa

 

PHASE ONE:

-preoccupation; difficulty focusing

-dry mouth

-perspiration, sweaty palms

-fits of dizziness and disorientation

-reduced mental awareness; racing thoughts; impaired reasoning skills

 

PHASE TWO:

-periods of euphoria; hysterical laughter and heightened energy

-periods of despair; lethargy

-changes in appetite; rapid weight loss or weight gain

-fixation; loss of other interests

-compromised reasoning skills; distortion of reality

-disruption of sleep patterns; insomnia or constant fatigue

-obsessive thoughts and actions

-paranoia; insecurity

 

PHASE THREE (CRITICAL):

-difficulty breathing

-pain in the chest, throat or stomach

-complete breakdown of rational faculties; erratic behavior; violent thoughts and fantasies; hallucinations and delusions

 

PHASE FOUR (FATAL):

-emotional or physical paralysis (partial or total)

-death

 

If you fear that you or someone you know may have contracted deliria, please call the emergency line toll-free at 1-800-PREVENT to discuss immediate intake and treatment.”

 

― Lauren Oliver, Delirium

 

13 Things About J-Dizzle

13 Things About J-Dizzle

 

1. My name is Jazlyn, obviously. But yet I have so many nicknames; J-Dizzle, J-Thug, Da-Jazzynator, Jazzy Wazzy and Eppsi Pepsi.
2. 
   I have a horrible obsession with everything batman. I have a pair of batman socks, 2 pairs of earrings, 2 shirts, a bro tank, the dark knight trilogy, posters and even a batman build a bear. If I see anything batman I automatically have to look at it or compliment who ever owns it. Which also leads to my man crush on the beautiful Christian Bale. What a handsome man.
3. I love reading. I read like it's a race, but I just can't help it. I can finish a book in one setting if I really put my mind to it. This summer I read 15 books. I tend to get so captivated by the characters it's like I'm in the story with them. I even get so involved in the story line it takes me a bit to let go and realize it's just a book. I finished the Fifty Shades of Grey series within a week and for a month straight I caught myself comparing people or even myself to Christian Grey or Anastasia Steele, which sounds crazy, I know.
4.  
5. I am absolutely terrified of ducks. They are my biggest fear. When I was 8 I got attacked by a flock of geese, ducks and anything in between. They were on top of my head, chasing me down the trail and gawking at me from afar. All while my mom laughed. What a great experience and now I refuse to take step towards any type of duck or look at them in the eye. I swear they are out to plot my death. There's actually a phobia for this, Anatidaephobia. Look it up ;)
6. I gave up on writing paragraphs for my 13 facts.
7. I have an obsession with hedgehogs. They're my favorite animal and I'm saving up $150 to get one for myself for Christmas
    
8. I hate lightening and thunder. Storms make me cry and I end up sleeping in the bed with my mom and dog.
    
9. My favorite colors are black and pink, but I promise I'm not emo.
    
10. My bestfriend is DeAndra Picou.
11. I have a Yorkie Poo named Bear and he is my baby. I dress him up in winter coats, he gets groomed once a month, we get him a Mohawk (sometimes I even dye it colors) and he wears bandanas. All the other female dogs seem to turn their heads around when they seem my Boo Bear strutting down the sidewalk. 
12. I love food. I spend all of my money on food. I breath food. I drink food. I taste food. I dream food. Food.
13. I'm lactose intolerant but I love cheese. I love it. Cheese is the bomb. Cheese is bae. Cheese is everything. String cheese, mozzarella sticks, cheese stuffed pasta shells, cheese pizza, cheesy bread, grilled cheese, salad with cheese, pasta with cheese, cheese ravioli. And I like cucumbers.
14. Chris Brown is my everything, I don't care what you have to say.

J-Dizzle out.