Update/ Where in the World Wednesday update

Posted on Aug. 8, 2007 at 9:01 PM in Where In the World Wednesday

I have to put Where in the World Wednesday  on hold till after September,Maybe even October. I am in WA state right now visiting family and so taking the time to look up the country's and stuff would be taking up time with family. Yet I am still able to sit here and blog about not having time with family :) Well you get the point.. The long posts about stuff have to be put on hold so yeah!!!!!!!!

Yesterday, Tuesday, was a very interesting day. I met with my mum's best friend since high school and her little baby girl. She is like my aunt so I affectionately call her Auntie Sherry and cousin Bella (Isabella). Anyway,I am up here in WA state for like a month long vaca so fun fun. OK so about Tuesday, the morning started off early cause everyone woke up early and I am sleeping in the living room. Towards the afternoon the daycare kids next door came running out of the house and down the street to some bushes. I was like 'Did they loose a daycare dog? Or kid?'. I watched them for awhile and they were stomping on this bush and jumping and searching for something. I eventually heard someone say 'We found a snake". Well,me being the snake lover I am decided to go check it out. So I went over there but after 15 mins I realized the snake was loooong gone. The lady said it was only a Common Garter snake and she described it to me and I confirmed lol.

Then all of us,My aunt and mom,and bella went out to lunch and met my grandma at her shop. We went to lunch and I was pretending to be mommy by caring Bella around and her diaper bag. She is so cute I didn't mind people thinking she was mine. Ha! I just wanted to keep her.. LOL.  After lunch we all came back to my grandma's house and chatted for a while. Around dinner time I saw my bffe Jade come home from cheer. I was standing on the porch and yelled 'Howdy Stranger". She looked at me and screamed then came running over. She had no idea I was coming. LOL! We hung out till the wee hours of the morning! No I'm kidding we did hang out till like 1030 pm,

We had been talking about my friend Ty and if he was coming over, and the fact if he tried to scare us we don't scare easily. Almost right at that moment the gate banged and rattled. We jumped and ran. Well she kind of pulled me up and away. Then I heard my grandma's dog barking off the ricter scale. I went over to the gate and peered over. I saw her dog Yo-yo barking at something on the ground in the tall grass. I looked to where she was barking and it was a tan thing with a long snout. I instantly knew it was a possum and jumped. They were nose to nose. I grabbed the broom and told Jade to stay there. I went through the gate and ran half way to where she was and stopped. I looked at the broom in my hand and realized this wasn't going to hold against a possum attack. I started yelling for Yo-Yo and my grandma did to. I started walking over to where she was ready to attack anything that attacked her.... with the broom. But then again I stopped and couldn't see where it actually was anymore and I started hitting the broom against the tall grass thinking it would scare it away. Yo-yo finally gave up,I don't know why,and we scurried back into the house through the back door. You know those scary movies where they are heading for cover but one person looks back to see the monster staring straight at her??? Well,I looked back to where the possum was and I saw two beady orange eyes staring at me. Ha! Scary stuff man! LOl.. All in all yesterday was a exciting day!!

Thanks to ILoveYouGod for my 200th comment!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Julia

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Where in the World,Wednesday!

Posted on Jun. 27, 2007 at 10:53 AM in Where In the World Wednesday

Country: Antartica :)

Antarctica is Earth's southernmost continent, overlying the South Pole. Situated in the southern hemisphere and largely south of the Antarctic Circle, Antarctica is surrounded by the Southern Ocean. At 14.4 million km², it is the fifth-largest continent in area after Asia, Africa, North America, and South America; in turn, Europe and Australia are smaller. Some 98% of Antarctica is covered by ice, which averages at least 1.6 km in thickness.

On average, Antarctica is the coldest, driest and windiest continent, and has the highest average elevation of all the continents. Since there is little precipitation, except at the coasts, the interior of the continent is technically the largest desert in the world. There are no permanent human residents and Antarctica has never had an indigenous population. Only cold-adapted plants and animals survive there, including penguins, fur seals, mosses, lichens, and many types of algae.

The name Antarctica comes from the Greek antarktikos, meaning "opposite to the Arctic". Although myths and speculation about a Terra Australis ("Southern Land") date back to antiquity, the first confirmed sighting of the continent is commonly accepted to have occurred in 1820 by the Russian expedition of Mikhail Lazarev and Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen. However, the continent remained largely neglected for the rest of the 19th century because of its hostile environment, lack of resources, and isolated location.

The Antarctic Treaty was signed in 1959 by twelve countries; to date, forty-five countries have signed the treaty. The treaty prohibits military activities and mineral mining, supports scientific research, and protects the continent's ecozone. Ongoing experiments are conducted by more than 4,000 scientists of many nationalities and with different research interests.

I found this video.. I love it. Especially the ending is amazing! 

It's proven fact that wild Humpback Whales will "perform" for humans who visit. It's amazing!


-Julia

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Where In the World,Wednesday

Posted on Jun. 20, 2007 at 10:33 AM in Where In the World Wednesday

Country: Tonga

The Kingdom of Tonga (Tongan for "south") is an independent archipelago in the southern Pacific Ocean. It lies about a third of the way between New Zealand and Hawaii, south of Samoa and east of Fiji. The islands are also known as the Friendly Islands, the name given by Captain Cook because of the friendly reception he received. He happened to arrive at the time of ʻinasi festival, the yearly donation of the first fruits to the Tuʻi Tonga and was invited to the festivities. According to the writer William Mariner, in reality the chiefs had wanted to kill Cook during the gathering, but had been unable to agree on a plan. 

Archaeological evidence shows that the first settlers in Tonga sailed from the Santa Cruz Islands, as part of the original Austronesian-speakers' (Lapita) migration which originated out of S.E. Asia some 6000 years ago. Archaeological dating places Tonga as the oldest known site in Polynesia for the distinctive Lapita ceramic ware, at 2800–2750 years ago. The "Lapita" people lived and sailed, traded, warred, and intermarried in the islands now known as Tonga, Samoa, and Fiji for 1000 years, before more explorers set off to the east to discover the Marquesas, Tahiti, and eventually the rest of the Pacific Ocean islands. For this reason, Tonga, Samoa and Fiji are described by anthropologists as the cradle of Polynesian culture and civilization.

Tonga is a monarchy. Here is the list of Kings and Queen

1.King George Tupou I (1875-1893) 
2.King George Tupou II (1893-1918)
3.Queen Salote Tupou III (1918-1965) 
4.King Taufa'ahau Tupou IV (1965-2006)
5.King George Tupou V (2006-present) 

One of the most famous things to do in Tonga is swim with the Humpback Whales. Their main sport is Rugby.

-Julia

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Where in the World,Wednesday!

Posted on Jun. 13, 2007 at 12:15 PM in Where In the World Wednesday

Yaya!!

Country: Greece

Greece is an absolutely beautiful country with lots of ancient history. Greece lies at the juncture of Europe, Asia, and Africa. It is heir to the heritages of classical Greece, the Byzantine Empire and nearly four centuries of Ottoman rule. Regarded as the cradle of western civilization and being the birthplace of democracy. Western philosophy, the Olympic Games, western literature, political science, major scientific principles and drama (including both tragedy and comedy), Greece has a particularly long and eventful history and a cultural heritage which has been considerably influential in Northern Africa and the Middle East and fundamentally formative for the culture of Europe and what is now called the West. Greece consists of a mountainous and craggy mainland jutting out into the sea at the southern end of the Balkans. The Peloponnesus peninsula (separated from the mainland by the canal of the Isthmus of Corinth); and numerous islands (around 2,000), including Crete, Euboea, Lesbos, Chios, the Dodecanese and the Cycladic groups of the Aegean Sea as well as the Ionian Sea islands. Greece has the tenth longest coastline in the world with 14,880 km; its land boundary is 721 mi. 

Of course Greece is famous for it's fictional Greek gods,which influenced the devolpment of the fictional Roman gods. Even though they are fictional it is fun to read up on the "history" of Greek Mythology. One thing I loved about studying Greece was it's Literature. Their poems are so in depth and beautiful. I have a whole section of Greek Lit. that I love to read over and over again. Another famous thing about Greece was the Battle of Troy. Of course archielogical Troy is over in what is now Turkey. So the ancient ruins throughout Greece are amazing to read about.

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Where in the World,Wednesday

Posted on May. 30, 2007 at 6:28 PM in Where In the World Wednesday

Country: Malawi

The Republic of Malawi (formerly Nyasaland) is a democratic, densely populated country located in southeastern Africa. It has Zambia to the north-west, Tanzania to the north, and Mozambique surrounding it on the east, south, and west. The origin of the name Malawi remains unclear; it is held to be either derived from that of southern tribes, or noting the "glitter of the sun rising across the lake" (as seen in its flag).

Child mortality is 103/1,000. There are more than a million orphans, 700,000 of whom became orphans when their parents died of AIDS. According to Malawi government estimates, 14.2% of the population are HIV-positive, and 90,000 deaths in 2003 were due to AIDS. Unofficial estimates based on private hospital entries give a HIV infection percentage of 30%. Their life expectancy is 41.7 for men and 41.2 for women.

The African Baptist Assembly of Malawi, Inc. is the oldest continuously existing Baptist organization in the Republic of Malawi, with roots in the earliest mission work of Joseph Booth (1892) and is a successor to the Providence Baptist Mission (1900). In 1891, the British government established the Nyasaland Protectorate. In 1964 this land became the independent nation of the Republic of Malawi. The first known Baptist work in Nyasaland/Malawi was by the English Joseph Booth (1851-1932). Booth was responsible for all of the earliest Baptist work, as well as for the entrance of some other denominations into the area. He established a number of missions, but did not remain long with any of them.

Sorry it's late in the day.. Been in Vegas all day shopping :)

-Julia

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