Day 42

Today in class, we started to watch a movie called Slumdog Millionare. This movie is about a guy name Jamal, who won "Who Wants to Be a Millionare." It shows flashbacks to when he was younger and he lives in a small poor village. The police is this movie are not helpful at all.

Day 41

Original:
Россия — священная наша держава, Россия — любимая наша страна. Могучая воля, великая слава — Твоё достоянье на все времена! 

Припев: Славься, Отечество наше свободное, Братских народов союз вековой, Предками данная мудрость народная! Славься, страна! Мы гордимся тобой!

От южных морей до полярного края Раскинулись наши леса и поля. Одна ты на свете! Одна ты такая — Хранимая Богом родная земля!

Припев

Широкий простор для мечты и для жизни Грядущие нам открывают года. Нам силу даёт наша верность Отчизне. Так было, так есть и так будет всегда! 

Припев


English Translation:
O Russia, for ever your strong sacred country !
O Russia, for ever the land that we love !
The fame that is great and the will that is mighty
So be they thy treasure in ages to come.
Praised be the Fatherland, cherishing home of ours
Centries-old union of peoples in free,
Popular wisdom given us by ancestors.
Praised be our country! And were proud of thee!
From seas in the South and up to polar border
Our woods and our meadows have stretched far away.
Alone in the whole world, you stand one and only!
By God saved as ever our dear native land.
Praised be the Fatherland, cherishing home of ours
Centries-old union of peoples in free,
Popular wisdom given us by ancestors.
Praised be our country! And were proud of thee!
For generous dreaming, for life and for longing
The years approaching give us ample scope.
With faith in our Homeland we are getting stronger.
It was so, it is so and it will be so!
Praised be the Fatherland, cherishing home of ours
Centries-old union of peoples in free,
Popular wisdom given us by ancestors.
Praised be our country! And were proud of thee!


This song sounds a lot different from our national anthem. The tone is military, and it seems to be sung in military purposes and is a proud country song. Our national anthem is more about our flag and our country fighting for victory. Overall, I think the lyrics are well written and show that they care and are proud of their country.

Day 40

Today in class, Mr. Schick talked about the BAHS academic tournament. JC participated and won first place out of 24 schools. He talked about how the tournaments work and how you answer. He read us some questions from online, that relate to the questions they have to answer. Some of the people in our class could answer most of them, and it was fun to do. After we finished answering questions, we got to see what we got on our country test. I was really nervous to see what I got, because I thought the test was challenging. When I saw my test score, I think I could have done better. Hopefully the test won't bring my grade down a lot, and still end the quarter with a good grade. We also talked about generic names for soft drinks. We learned that around the United States, people call soft drinks different names. For example, pop, soda, coke, and others. In Maryland, we mostly say soda and we are taught that way from our parents. These cultural characteristics can link or divide a region. Examples of cultural characteristics would be language, religion, and ethnic heritage.

Day 39

Today in class, we took the country test. I studied for the test, but I feel like it was challenging and a hard test. We had to match the different presidents, with the country. There were a lot of multiple choice questions, and I think that was the hardest part of the test. The last part it showed a picture of two presidents and you have to tell you who they are. The essay question is a question we discussed in class. It was about how we shouldn't assassinate our president. Assassinating the president, is considered murder. It is disrespectful, and you should respect your country. You can wait till the next election, and re-elect a new president, not assassinate them. We have had 4 presidents, that have been assassinated, and we don't need any more.

Day 38

Today in class, Megan and I finshed presenting our project. Brazil and Mexico also presented. I learned a lot like the following:

Brazil

Federal republic

4 year terms

Re-elected two times

President- dilma rousseff

First female president of brazil

Re elected oct 27, 2014

Last term for now, but can come back four years after her second term

Arrested for participating political guerilla

Military dictatorship- rules

Mexico

Member of the institutional revolutional

Enrique Pena Nieto

Drugs killed 1,000 people

Day 37

Today in class, we had a sub, Mr. Huber. All of the countries haven't presented yet, but we were to study for the test. We looked on Mr. Schick's blog and found a review power point to review to the test.  I studied with Leigh and Meredith, until we tried to open the power point links. It told us we needed permission to see the slides. We were worried, because we couldn't figure out how to open the different projects. Mr Schick found out, and moved the test to Friday, and I was relieved.

Day 36

Today in class, we finished our country presentations, which were the Syria, Germany, UK, and Russia. The class ended and I was not able to finish. I learned a lot about the other countries like:

Syria

Republic under an authoritarian regime

Syrians harshly suppress the opposition

Bashar al-assad

Son of aniseh and hafez al assad

Dad was poor but became prime minister

Republic since 1941

Last election in june 2014

Most came from assad threatening people to vote for him or else he will bomb you or your house

7 year terms

Until 2021

Germany

Federal republic

Been in place since october 3, 1990

After world war ii east and west were separated by berlin wall

Knocked down 11/9/14

President- joachim gauck since march 23,2012

Independent political party

Chancellor- angela merkel

Since nov 22, 2000

Former research scientist

Impeachment- the president can be both replaced by the bundestag

620 member called "bundestag"

"most powerful woman in the world"

UK

Constitutional monarchy

When king or queen acts as head of state

Commonwealth realm- a sovereign state that’s a member of the commonwealth

Executive, judicial, legislative

Has been around since 1066

Commonwealth of nations currently 54 members with one suspended and dates back to the mid 20th century

Prime minister- no term limits

Elections take place every 4 years sometimes 5

Prime minister- david cameron

No term limits

Became prime minister on june 2, 2010

Leader of opposition 2005-2010

Leader of the conservative party

Youngest prime minister since 1812

Prime minister oversees the operation of the civil service and government agencies

House of commons and house of lords

Don’t have a problem with david cameron

Descendant of king william iv

Change in leadership

Nothing that would make people want to throw him out of office

United States

President- barack obama

Federal republic with strong democratic tradition

Obaa will be allowed to be in power two more years

He won 2008 and 2012 election

A president can now only serve 2 terms of four years

First half african american president

5 years in presidency

Change in leadership re-elect a president

Assassinate

Impeachment

There could become more problems in the government or the problems could be fixed

Day 35

Today in class we did three country projects. I learned a lot about China, Canada, and Japan.

China

Communist state

Communist- government controls everything in economy, sometimes authoritarian party holds power

President- xi jinping

Been in office for 2 years

In china a president serves 10 years

To get rid of or overthrow a president

-re-elect

-impeachment

-assassination

Xi jinping got a total of 2,937 votes- four delegates voted against him, four abstained, and 38 didn’t vote

China likes xi jinping as a leader

Canada

Parliamentary democracy- democratic form of government which the greatest representation in the parliament

Since 1867

A federation

A constitutional anarchy

Conservative party of Canada- Stephen harper

5 parties

Prime minister- stephen harper

22nd prime minister

No term limits

Since 2006

Election every 4 years

Next election is oct 19 2015

Japan

Parliamentary system is a system of democratic governance of a state in which the executive obtains its democracy legitimacy from, and is held accountable

Prime minister- shinzo abe

Does not elect directly

Emperor akihito

Finished term in 2007

Day 34

Today in class, we started presenting our country projects and took notes. I learned a lot about France, like:

France

France has a republic government and a semi-presidential system

President and a prime minister

The republican form of government in France was made in 1958

President- Francois Hollande and prime minister- Manuel Valls

Executive, legislative and judicial branches

Hollande

Part of Socialist Party

-Going to run again in 2017

-ran in 2012 and won

-Shares executive power with the prime minister

-can be president until 2022

Manuel Valls elected April 1, 2014

Republic government- state in which the supreme power rests in the body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by representatives chosen directly or indirectly by them

Republic means "public thing" in Latin

Day 33

Today in class, we decided to go see the cancer tables near the cafeteria. We learned a lot about different cancers and how they can effect others. A table showed that if you have a lot of sun damage, you may have a change of having skin cancer. They had a mirror and a purple light, to show if you have dryness, oiliness, sun damage, and more. I put my head in and there wasn't much on my face, so I was kind of confused. She said my face was healthy, and I was very glad. Another table showed us the difference in lungs, compared to a non smoker. They told us what was in cigarettes and how it effects your lungs/body. We saw teeth of smokers and people who chewed tobacco. This should prevent others from smoking. Our class learned a lot and I am glad we went.