Tacky Tourist Thursday Blog

Life is easy for us in our home country. We know the language, the foods and just how to act. Imagine living in a place totally different from home. You wouldn't be able to read this blog, you would think the food is disgusting and you would probably act inappropriately. Culture is what makes each area different from one another.  When traveling, you must be aware of the culture you are traveling too. You could offend someone just by shaking with your left hand or keeping your shoes on in a house. I have a friend from Mexico. He comes to visit at least once a year. The first time he was here, he was in complete culture shock. He wanted to go out for american food, he was in awe when he saw tacos on the menu. He was also amazed when we went to the mall. His views on malls are just stands of knock off products in the streets. He loved the huge indoor mall, but hated the high prices. He tried bargaining with store clerks and they all looked at him like he was crazy. One store actually asked him to leave. Culture makes it very easy to show who is an outsider and who is not.

Who am I? pt duex

The first unit of sociology is over and it was awesome. I learned what makes people the way they are and how to study them. Everything made perfect sense until I thought about one thing. Who am I and what really makes me me? And after thinking about it over and over, I still have absolutely no clue who I am. I know I'm sixteen, but time is irrelevant. I know their is a black president, but is he doing anything different then all the white presidents we had before for me? I live a normal suburban life, going with the flow and just letting life run its course. I learned all these things  for why people act the ways they do and I can study everyone but myself. What makes me different from taco man at the top of my page. What is even causing me to write all of this? I can ask all these questions, but I'm not really proving a point. Who am I? I'm a very confused boy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=09qFkke-z18

uh oh, gang activity!

After reading the story, Gang Leader for a Day, I learned a better way to studyt groups of people. You can't just show up to a random place with a survey and expect good results. You have to work questions into small talk and really get a feel for the group. Why would anyone want to spend all their time in a run down project that smells like urine? You can't just ask that question, you need to live it. It could be because that is the gang's turf or possibly because it is a good spot to conduct drug deals. Possibly it is just the only spot that gang has ever known as their home. What ever it is, the question can't be answered just be asking someone a question. In 8th grade I really started getting into music. I mainly liked classic rock because that is what my friends listened to. I thought emo music was too depressing, rap was only for african americans, and reggae was only for stoners. One day I thought I would listen to scremo as a joke. Funny part is, I loved it. I had to have spent 3 months listening to scremo or as my mom calls it "devil music." I then expanded my horizon even more and got into reggae. Now I listen to everything.  You can't ask someone why they like a certain kind of music. You have to experience it to really get into it.

Spit...or is it?

What is reality? Is it what you actually think it is. Well consider this, saliva in your mouth is perfectly normal. Sharing a water bottle is just fine. Spit on the ground, thats disgusting!?! Spit and saliva are the exact same thing. Why is it that we think this way? It is because society has told us what is acceptable, what is wrong, what smells good and what taste exquisite. The smell of a rose  could actually be the most vile smell in the world, but because we were taught a rose smells good, it smells good. I thought about this and realized that reality can't actually be reached. Our mind is so full of "facts" that we might not be able to process reality. It brings up the famous stoner question; is your red my blue? I honestly feel that it could be because our brain and society tells us so. Enlightenment in Buddhism is actually clearing your head and being set free from what society tells you to  believe.  It is demonstrated in the movie the Matrix. When Neo sees that the Matrix is just one big computer program. He is set free from the fact that his life is real. Personally, I feel i am not ready to be enlightened or see a bunch of green numbers scrolling up and down. I often ask for the truth, but actual reality might be to heavy for me. Would you take the red pill to see the real truth, or would you take the blue pill and stay in your personal reality?