Oh to Where has Our Spirit Gone?

Halloween has passed and another Fall holiday is fast approaching. It is symbolized by a traditional feast including corn, mashed potatoes, and the turkey. Thanksgiving is a special time of year when people should reflect on their lives and be thankful for what they have. After this comes Christmas, my favorite, and it is symbolized by giving, Santa Claus, and joy/happiness. Sadly, today’s society has poorly misinterpreted these “joyous celebrations.”
First, let me begin with the problem occurring during Thanksgiving. It is a great event for reuniting families and all would remain great if it weren't for its brevity and the one day after it: Black Friday. Thanksgiving has been reduced to a few hours at the table when the family is eating dinner. The sales that happen on Black Friday and before are putting some shoppers in a total frenzy. Christmas presents are the first thing that comes to mind and Thanksgiving is soon forgotten.
What is it that people actually celebrate during Thanksgiving? Most would answer with something along the lines of pilgrims celebrating a good harvest with the Indians. Thanksgiving should resemble peace, but everyone forgets how many Indians were killed by the Pilgrims and explorers that came to the Americas. Giving thanks to that seems a little ironic.
To show how much people belittle Thanksgiving, I will use an example from my own neighborhood. Shockingly, it is still a week before Thanksgiving and there are Christmas lights decorating two of the houses already! Christmas songs will start to play in the radios soon and, in my opinion, it’s too early. It ruins the Christmas spirit by being monotonous by the time the 24th and 25th of December come around.
Christmas has lost its value as well. The only thing people focus on is presents. For example, one of my friend’s family does not understand the concept of Christmas quite well. They right down their presents on a piece of paper, put the papers in a box and then draw from it to see what they need to buy. Christmas does not have to be materialized. Sure, it’s nice if you get presents, but the more important things is to share the love of family.

Fascination with Culture

I would like to take the opportunity this week to reveal one of my passions. I love learning about different cultures. This fascination probably stems from me being very cultural myself. Everyday, I experience two worlds: an American school and a Polish home. I speak, write, and read both languages and I believe that being bilingual really opens one’s mind to what the world really consists of and how diverse the human race is. In school, I am currently studying Spanish and German. Personally, I enjoy Spanish more, but that is only because I know it better and have been it learning for a longer time. Language, however, is not the only thing I am learning. I am apprehending the way of life, the traditions, and characteristics of these cultures and I can’t wait to visit the countries, either for the first time or once again.
This brings me to my next point. I am very fond of traveling abroad. So far I have visited Canada, France, Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Austria, and Italy. This coming summer I am planning to visit Spain, Portugal, and Morocco. I firmly believe that everyone learning a language should have an opportunity to visit the country they are learning about. It gives a totally new perspective and helps teach the language better than any school here in America. Up-close experience and day-to-day situations in which one has to communicate are the best tools there are to becoming a fluent speaker.
Now, a little more about me. My family is Polish and we only speak Polish at our house. It’s terrible when some families don't continue their tradition, and their native language is not passed down to their children. Thankfully, my parents didn't let that happen. My mom is a great cook, and thanks to her we can still have a Polish kitchen here, in America. The food is amazing and I would recommend it to anyone. My mom knows Italian as well and how to cook Italian food. It’s a pasta-lovers paradise.
On the other hand, there are some aspects that I don't particularly enjoy. I think that the stereotype of foreign parents being stricter is true, at least at my house. However, this has taught me discipline, a valuable characteristic for life. So, being multicultural does bring a person to a different perspective. It creates opportunities and options. I believe that everyone should, at least, be bilingual. :)

Who Am I?

First, let me begin by saying that I am a night owl. In fact, this blog is something I am doing late at night. Not a single part of me is an early bird and the only motivation or possible way of getting me up early is school and tennis. Sadly, even on Christmas morning I don’t want to get up. Why am I a night owl? Maybe because I watch too many movie series. Deriving from this example, I believe the behaviors and actions we take in lives are what define us. They show our true personality, our habits, and our identity.
In saying this, another behavior of mine, which at times I become miserable from, is my hard work. Work ethic and school is dominating my life as a student at the moment, and sometimes it makes me frustrated. My dedication to academics right now doesn’t really have any other benefits accept a scholarship. Life should be lived to the fullest, except I can’t. School gets in my way.
  But leaving that aside, another definition I like to associate with identity comes from the book “The Things They Carried”. If someone were to look at me during the spring they would see me with a tennis racquet, a jacket, an iPod, and sometimes an art project, or paint of some sort. Tennis is absolutely my favorite thing to do. I love to play recreationally, competitively, with friends, on the weekends and in the summer. The jacket represents me being prepared, while the iPod, in the explanation of my parents, shows my addiction to movie series. My second favorite activity is the arts. I really enjoy painting and drawing, and I find it a nice relaxation from the hectic day. However, an exception exists on Tuesdays, because I have art homework due on Wednesdays, not something I particularly enjoy. While mentioning the arts, I also enjoy playing the piano and have been doing so for the past twelve years.
     Another thing I carry is my backpack. It seems like a regular backpack, but the things inside really show who I am. The computer I am using to type this rests in a separate pocket. It has been my companion for about five years and I don’t know what I would do without it. The fact that it is old, and that the screen glitches when it is moved doesn’t bother me. What matters is that it works, and that I take care of my things, so it will probably last until the end of high school. The folders and binders are all organized, and neat, like me. The lunchbox in the next section of the backpack shows my independence. How? I make my own lunches. Most of the time, they are very healthy because that’s the kind of lifestyle I lead. Lastly, a significant item in my backpack is my one pencil. It is the mechanical pencil I use the whole year, showing that I am not wasteful, but efficient.
So who am I? I am an organized and independent individual with a dedication to academics, tennis, and the arts. Yet I am also a good friend, sometimes funny, but definitely not a volunteer for any public speaking. I am an American citizen, but take pride in being 100% Polish. I speak the language and live the culture. This is me, myself, and my identity. 

Does English Make Sense?

      A friend is walking in the hallway in school and sees another friend. The typical teenager interaction at this point would be the phrase “What’s up?”, resulting in an answer “nothing much”. Another situation, probably the worst one yet, is “How are you?”. I guarantee that ninety-nine percent of the times the answer will be a plain old good. But wait, there’s more…. How about the phrase “How’s your day been?” or a typical mom question: “How was school today?”
The first problem is that some of the questions themselves don’t make any sense. Take, for example, “What’s up?”. Literally, it turns into “What is up?” I would say that the sky or the ceiling are good answers, depending on where a person is located. And the response “good” doesn't make a whole lot of sense either. One can't just say that he/she is good. This would mean that they are the physical embodiment of good (but nobody’s perfect). A more appropriate answer would be “I’m well”, but this phrase is disappearing as well.
As for the rest, they have been transformed into robotic scripts. Society uses them as their bases of social interaction, which is somewhat pathetic. Most people would even be surprised to hear a different answer than good. Definitely, nobody wants to hear a tangent on how someone’s feelings changed during the day. And moms, they don't want to hear what happened every hour of their kid’s day, unless this person is still a cute first grader.
So what is happening? Society’s interactions aren't really evolving or developing in today’s world. Actually, they might as well be degrading. In my opinion, the major fault lies in texting. People are accustomed to short conversation and do not no how to interact in the real world anymore. Below are some more examples for questioning the sense of English. Can you understand them?

-Why is it when you transport stuff on a ship, it's called cargo, but when you transport it on a car, it called a shipment?
-Why isn't "palindrome" spelled the same way backwards as it is forwards?
-Why do we drive on parkways and park on driveways?
-Why are they called apartments when they are all stuck together?
-If the cops arrest a mime, do they tell him he has the right to remain silent?