I think it’s horrific to see a family have to go through these types of things in life. The fact that some families go as far as growing and selling illegal drugs makes it ten times worse. In order to understand the way they live, I try to put myself in their position. I imagine myself living in a little hut, struggling to support my family and provide them with decent necessities. The fact that I wouldn’t be able to would frustrate me to the point where I would probably go as far as they do: In selling illegal drugs. I mean, if that’s all you’re left with to make money with, what else can you do? Its absolutely unacceptable but if that’s all they can live with, then so be it. The only risk that they’re taking with this is getting caught. But even then, with all the corruption in this world, you never know, they could even get away with it. It’s a very sad world and the only way to change that is through immense intervention and change. But then again, who has the time for that right?

First off, I never knew that the Portuguese had their own type of shish kebab   called espetada. (Consisting of beef rubbed in garlic twisted on a stick with onions and peppers) All these years I had been eating this without ever knowing that it was created by the Portuguese.  Secondly, I also never knew the Portuguese had their own sponge cake called Pao de Lo. When researching this I was very surprised to discover that they had created a cake similar to the sponge cake, but harder. As well as with the Portuguese shish kebab, I have eaten this cake as a dessert on many occasions without ever knowing it was inspired by the Portuguese!

What I also found fascinating about Portuguese cuisine was the amount of influence it had over the world. I mean for the Portuguese to introduce the Japanese to sugar and inspire them to make their own sponge cake really amazes me. To be honest, before doing this research I would have thought it would be the other way around. Another fact that also amazed me was the fact that the Australians used Portuguese chicken as a marketing strategy to lure customers into their restaurants. The fact that Portuguese cuisine has such a great influence on countries that are so distant from them really captivated my interest and passion for my culture.

Another method that was used to cook food in Portugal was by hot springs. People would lay their sack of food against a hot spring and would leave it there for numerous hours until their food cooked. This was another effective way of cooking food in Portugal. This method was less likely used as it posed a danger to peoples lives because of their closeness to boiling water.  In very cases, some people would fall into the water and burn themselves to death. It is a method that should be taken with great caution and attention.

These methods of cooking are both widely used by the residents of the area. They are both free to the public and are free of charge. All the work is done for you and is your choice if you would like to pay for it or not. The food being cooked is most likely a mixture of meat and vegetables and turn out to be very delicious when cooked this manner. It seems to be one of the most original ways of cooking food, and when done properly, turns out to be very appetizing.

If you look at Christianity, it seems more believable to just pray each night and talk to your God in order to reach him. The reason why I think this is probably because I’m Catholic. But if you look at it from an outsiders view, it would seem more believable to reach your God through praying.

From what I know, marijuana causes people to hallucinate. So in turn, how could that possibly permit them to reach their Gods when hallucinating?  Unless they’re hallucinating about seeing their Gods, I wouldn’t see how that would make any sense.

In the end, Rastafarianism just seems like a religion created by a bunch of people who loved smoking and wanted to do it without getting into trouble. (I know there’s more to the religion than just smoking, but I think it is one of the aspects to why it was created)  And so they started their own religion that permitted them to smoke as much marijuana as they wanted.

I think, eventually we will be hearing stories of people who use this religion as an excuse to smoke marijuana in North America. Sooner or later, you will see this kind of thing happen and it will cause much debate all over the news in North America.

What do you think?

He then went on to say that as the Shah’s reign continued, life became worse for him. He then began to talk about when he was taken away by the Shah’s representatives because he bad-mouthed his boss. He said that they began to question his loyalty to the Shah, while pulling at his finger nails. In another experience, the old man explained how he got his hands put in boiling oil because he bad-mouthed the Shah. Furthermore, the old man also added that in other cases, some of his friends were chained to boiling tables and put to death for doing the same.

In the end, the reason why I believe the old man from the mosque is because he has many personal experiences to back up his reasoning for hating the Shah. The fact that he endured so much pain during the Shah’s reign seemed convincing enough for me to believe that the Shah is the one to blame for Iran’s corruption and destruction. The fact that he stole so much money from the people and treated them terribly forced them to turn against him and start a revolution. This in turn, is what caused Iran to become corrupt and come to a downfall.

On the other hand, when reading Alison Wearing’s “Honeymoon in Purdah”, we see a different view of the Middle East. We see more sympathetic and generous people, compared to the corrupt and insane people shown by the media. The story shows the readers the good side of Iran and how welcoming it can be for anyone who travels there. It shows bits and pieces of corruption, but nothing close to what the media displays.

In looking at both these sides, I believe they both are somewhat right and wrong. The media only shows the darkness of these countries whereas the book shows the goodness. I mean the media is right to show that there is some sort of corruption, but cannot only display the darkness of the country. There is more to just corruption in Iran. As seen otherwise in the book, there is only the good side of Iran shown. Again, it is also true that there exists good side to the country, but also, that there exists darkness. This is not really seen in the story as Alison does not really come into contact with any of these “chaotic” people.

In the end, we can all say that Iran is shown two different ways through media and in Alison’s book in order to please its audience. The media shows Iran in corrupt and dark way by showing its daily bombings and killings. This in turn interests viewers and shapes their beliefs about the country. On the other hand in Alison’s book, she shows the good side of Iran in order to please her audience and to entice them to visit the country. This is because the goal of her travel is to find the good in Iran. Knowing this, it is expected by the readers that she will only be talking of the good aspects of Iran and will not be looking at the country in whole.

On the other hand, she also attempts to connect to the people by agreeing to wear their clothing, makeup and obeying their rules. Later in the story, during her confession, Alison states that she travels around the world in order to discover the good from within the bad. This shows that she is not solely interested in visiting countries for site seeing and taking thousands of pictures. But on the contrary, she is interested in learning the most she can about the goodness within the country.

The fact that she goes as far as lying to the people to be accepted shows her commitment to her travel objectives. This in turn allows her to travel freely and learn as much as she can about the Iranians. The fact that she puts so much emphasis in connecting with and learning about them shows that she is much more of a traveller than a tourist.

What do you think?

The fact that these tribes eat the flesh of humans of their own kind really irritates me. No matter what I do, I just really can’t come to conform to that type of ritual. It really doesn’t seem normal to me for someone to do such a thing. I mean, if you’re really that hungry, look for something else to chew on. I’m not saying our society is perfect compared to there’s. But I just believe that when it comes to consuming food, it shouldn’t be the meat of our own human race! I guess that would make me somewhat ethnocentric, but I just can’t help it. Even if I tried to put myself in their way of thinking living, I would still look for alternative foods. I just can’t bring myself to believe that such practices can bring such high power to a human. It sounds too far fetched to actually be true.

But in the end, if I really try to be a cultural relativist towards this issue, the only possible argument I can make is that cannibals might think that some of our daily eaten foods are disgusting. I would love to see a cannibal in a fast food restaurant. I wonder if he would just go insane and eat everything, or just stand there in confusion.

Being from Montreal, I would say we’re best known for our hockey team than anything else (in terms of sports). When something happens within the team’s organization, we see it all over the news, and see the society reflect upon it. When the team has a game to play, we see thousands of people lining up to pay hundreds of dollars for seats. It’s what brings our society together. It even goes as far as bringing our society together in negative ways: When the team loses important games, the society comes together and starts riots all over the city. But on the other hand, when our team wins, the society celebrates and is all but happier than ever before. It’s just to show the impact it has on us.

When I travelled to Europe, I noticed the same kind of trend, but with soccer. I realized that I could spend hours talking to people about soccer over there. The minute I would change the subject and try to talk about hockey, they would change the subject back. When I would walk into bars, I would sometimes see people getting into fist fights in argument about soccer. It was really chaotic at times. Though on the counterpart, the sport really brought many together. People would fill the bars and cafes in order to watch friendly games that meant nothing to their team. It really amazed me that they all came together to watch meaningless games.

When I travelled to America, I also saw similarities with football. I saw football stadiums built for over 50,000 people which were sold out every game.  When I walked into stores, I saw college as well as professional football team’s memorabilia being sold. It showed how much the fans cared about both their professional and semi-professional teams. Moreover, if I wore a football team’s jersey, I would get tons of people talking to me about the sport and get recognition for it.
As far as bringing people together, I think football is one of the best sports for that. The super bowl is one of the sporting events besides the world cup, which brings many around the world together. It attracts people of all age, gender and ethnicity to sit down and watch the final game of the football season together. It`s really something special.

In the end, I would say that sports have a great impact on societies. It brings people together as well as it gives people something to do and relate upon. If someone were to remove professional sporting off the face of the earth, a large part of the world would be in disorder and chaotic. I don`t think I would be able to live without it as well. It would be extremely difficult for me to live a life without my daily sports news.

Whether it’s Africa, Europe or Asia, the distance will not stop me. If I have the opportunity to visit countries from these continents, I will do it in an instant. Just the fact of being away from home will be convincing enough for me. It’s not the fact that I hate home, I just love being in different atmospheres and learning new things. I take serious advantage of these kinds of opportunities. It’s just that I get so tired of seeing the same things over and over that I want to escape and uncover things I’ve never seen before. It’s what puts me in a good state of being.

One of my future ambitions is to travel the world and learn as much of it as possible. I would wait in time for my retirement and dedicate the rest of my life to traveling the world. It would be the ride of a lifetime, but I would surely benefit from it. If I could merely attain this goal, I’d be able to leave this world in accomplishment.

What entices you to travel?