farwell

well, originally when I signed up for africa and the middle east, I signed up for it thinking it was going to be terribly boring and regret taking it. When in reality, it was eye opening and led me to respect those in the middle east. I ended up enjoying the class a bunch, it allowed me to make connections to students i may have not have talked too if not for this class.
things I will take away from this class:
*dispite our differences with those in the middle east, we are strikingly similar. And that you should not judge them just because of the bad decisions that a few have made.
*Africans are super strong individuals that fight daily to stay alive, its actually beautiful how they keep ging and i think its something all of us americans should think of, when we go complaining about how much homework we have, or about our bad days.
*also just because of this class, i feel like ive learned to respect the world more and the people in it. I feel more educated and as though i could join in with adult and have coherent converastions about worldy issues.
I will miss Africa and the Middle East! can we repeat this semester?  can we have a part 2? :)

my reaction: vol. 2

No words can completely describe my feelings on what is happening in Congo. Women cannot trust a single man, not their brothers  or even their husbands. The one man they can trust is a doctor who helps them to deal with the trauma of it all. Personally, as im sure many feel  the same, no woman or child should ever have to deal with rape and sexual assualt of any kind. Itd be terrifying, and i feel as though you would live with it for the rest of your life. As for the child soliders....it sickens me. Many of them are their against their will and forced to become these..monsters. Just the thought of children who are 9 and up carrying guns, it saddens me. And little children who are too young to handle guns are forced to have their lives taken from them. ....i honestly cant handle it. 

as for hope for the congo?

i wish i could say there was, but after many attempts to make peace with kony, and his efforts to avoid the meetings for 23 years, i just cant see it. The conflict between the people seems to have been stuck, only to continue. I would love to see the congo reach some sort of peace within my lifetime.

The Lion King - Hakuna Matata - Official [HD]

Ski Dubai: worlds largest indoor ski dome

 This is the Dubai Sunny Mountain Skidome. It is located in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. 1.It is the worlds largest Ski dome and also the first
2.You may ski, snowboard, go tobogging, go sledding, or even play with penguins!
3.its covered with snow all year long and kept at -4 degrees
4.Ski Dubai has 5 runs that vary in difficulty,height and gradient, the longest run being 400 meters with a fall of over 60 meters inside of the ski dome
5.its approximately 25 stories high.

https://www.theplaymania.com/skidubai

 tobogan

inside the ski dome also

dear syria

Dear Syria,
after seeing videos and reading blogs of your daily struggle, to live, i would like to say i look up to you
The lfie in Homs sounds miserable. I would never feel safe. I would be terrified constantly, and never know what to do. How you live there amazes me. I am amazed by you, and have complete respect for you, especially day to day you are fighting for your own freedoms via facebook and twitter. If i were to live in your shoes, i would be trying to escape what you have to live through every single of your life.. If it were me stuck in a room where people were being shot right outside the door, and tanks were flying by along with contact from the world being revoked, im pretty sure i would either die, or try to run. I, as an american, have taken my freedom for granted, and for the most part havent appreciated like i should have. But after seeing/ hearing about those around the world who cant be as fortunate as those who live here, i feel like i should be appreciating it alot more. someone, from syria would probably love to live here with these freedoms. And here i, kayla, am thinking of getting out of the u.s. If i were to live in Syria, it would be a daily struggle, and i Probably wouldnt make it out. I would go crazy. There would be NO peace of mind for me.

peace and coexistance: a future for palestine

I personally think peace and coexistance is never going to happen. Both the arabs and israelis have been fighting against each other for years, and never has it really stopped. Both have so much hate, and so much conflict. The democracy in israel and the presence of the allatoyah, both present totally different values, and different ideas on how to run a country properly. Therefore i think coexistance is pretty much impossible.

Nuclear rights and red lines

Yes, the iranian government flaunts the making of uranium, and uses it as propeganda,and they do have many enemies (particularly Israel and the U.S) which is a huge concern, but I think personally that they should be allowed to make uranium. They do realize the plus sides of it, and are using it to their benefit. And countries all around iran have nuclear weapons, and if they were to act, iran would have no way to retaliate, they would just be *poof* gone..mainly, if they were to develope nuclear weapons I think it would be fine as long as they were to engaged in a war. BUT use it only if necessary. I mean the people of iran do have a point. We used it against people before, so why shouldn't they be able to have the protection of nuclear weapons too? As for the redline, I would take action if they were developing nuclear weapons to use against an undefended nation, because, well it just wouldn't be fair. And I would keep a close eye in iran at all times.