Good morning! I know it's early, but I haven't been
able to sleep lately. I've just come back from a
trip to Australia and Polynesia, and I seem to be
rather jet-lagged. Anyways, I thought I'd post something.
These are just a few photos from my trip. I didn't have
enough room to pack my old Nikkormat, so these
were taken with my Canon Powershot.
These are all from Samoa, a primitive island in the
Pacific. Someone had nudged this fruit into a pole on
a platform overlooking this waterfall. You can't
see it here, but just up the river women were
washing clothes. Somoa's main income is tourism,
and yet it's people can't afford washing machines.
This is a third grade class we ran into while
touring the island. Out of these 13 kids, only one spoke
((broken)) english, though apparently they were all
learning. They were very happy to see us and we could
tell they wanted their picture taken. They kept eyeing
our cameras, and when we asked if we could take their
picture, they immediately posed. I especially like the
Motorola bag. Their uniforms were cute too: pink
shirts with green skirts.
Lastly, this is a "fallah" (sp?) on a Samoan beach. They
have a bunch of these all in a row, and they can be
rented for $70 a night, including three meals a day, which
is great if you're on a student budget. The beach is
breathtaking, and the water is gorgeous as well. It would
be a great place to vacation just to get away from the world,
and to enjoy nature.
I hope you enjoyed these pictures. I guess my point with these
is to show how obsessed much of the world is with America
right now. Almost all of the adults on the island spoke
english, the economy is based on mostly American tourists,
and many of the children we saw had American branded
gear. What is it about America that makes it so attractive to
developing countries? Is it the crass commercialism? Or
maybe the the fact that American grew into one of the most
powerful countries in the world after a rough start. What do
you think?
1 comment:
i suppose I'll join in the fun a create a some-what educational blog as well :]
I think you've raised some valid questions.. and truthfully, I've never though much of it myself before. English has become so prevalent around the world, it's strange thinking about a world where we weren't everywhere. In a way, I suppose it's history repeating itself. We've learned about how powerful Islam was, the Russians, Ottomans, English, French, Goths, etc. and I suppose in the year 3000, we'll be just like those powerful Empires before us, who have ultimately met their end. Does that make any sense?
Anyways, what makes America so attractive to developing countries? I suppose it is because we're so young and inspiring. Since technology is advancing so far these days, America seems to taking advantage of it at every corner. I guess that's why it's so appealing. America seems to have this endless supply of creativity, which would ultimately appeal to these developing countries who either don't have the resources or just.. don't...
Well, this all made sense in my head and now that I'm putting it into something more tangible, it sounds like gibberish. Sorry if I've confused you immensely :]
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