This essay is only about what I learned in class, we went to DC to get some experiences and learn more about DC. So this post is not only for my family and friend but also for all my au pair friends.
ENJOY!
What did I learn from NLU Au Pair Weekend Course?
How would you pronounce “Ghoti”? Properly like it’s spelled, but if you get a few hints: tough, women and nation suddenly you will pronounce it “fish”.
But why do we talk about fish? Wasn’t this supposed to be about Washington DC?
The teacher told us about these two young fish swimming around in the water and then an old fish step by them and asked: “How is the water today, guys?” The two young fish looked at each other and asked: “What’s water?”
These two young fish can be compared to all the au pairs that are coming to America to get new experiences, prove their English, learn something about a different culture and travel. Some au pairs have been in America before they get here as an au pair, but most of them haven’t. The fish in the water is the au pairs at home, then the fish get at the beach and that’s the au pair in America. But how much does a fish see when it’s just lying at the beach? It can see everything, yes, but it doesn’t get any experiences. The fish needs a bike to get around, and the same does the au pair needs to get around and get all the experiences, or a bus, flight, car whatever.
The fish at the beach will experience things nobody else would, but a fish on a bike sees everything and is driving around.
Next step is to learn about American History, but why? If you study American History you better understand Americans culture and you better understand your own country. But why can I better understand my own country, you ask? Well, you will see some good and bad things about your own country when you compare it to America.
In 1600 the American and Great Britain colonies fall apart. Americans use these three words: “Taxation without Representation”, because GB decided the laws about taxes and the Americans weren’t a part of it, but they paid the taxes. So the “Representation” is American representation in the government.
Three Key Events in America:
Boston Massacre in 1770, oh wow massacre that’s sounds like 500 or 1000 people died, but no, 5 people died. So why did they call it a massacre? The answer is simple; they wanted other people to be mad at GB.
Boston Tea Party 1773:
Boston Massacre in 1770, oh wow massacre that’s sounds like 500 or 1000 people died, but no, 5 people died. So why did they call it a massacre? The answer is simple; they wanted other people to be mad at GB.
Boston Tea Party 1773:
The Boston Tea Party was a direct action by colonists in Boston, a town in the British colony of Massachusetts, against the British government and the monopolistic East India Company that controlled all the tea imported into the colonies. On December 16, 1773, after officials in Boston refused to return three shiploads of taxed tea to Britain, a group of colonists boarded the ships and destroyed the tea by throwing it into Boston Harbor.
Intolerable Acts 1774:
The Intolerable Acts is series of laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 relating to Britain's colonies in North America.
Collaboration:
Committees of correspondence
Continental Congress à greeted it to get closer to each other.
Collaboration:
Committees of correspondence
Continental Congress à greeted it to get closer to each other.
The Break-Up: Revolutionary War 1775-1781
- Paul Revere’s Ricle
- Battle of Lexington and Concord;
“Shot heard round the world” independence from GB.
“Shot heard round the world” independence from GB.
- Georg Washington: 1st president, before that he was the head of the army.
- 1776, July 4 – Declaration of Independence.
The Fresh Start: Philadelphia Convention 1787
The federalists wanted America to be one big national, and the republicans wanted America to be divided in States, but how do you divide the power?
Some states would be big and some would be smaller, and the smaller states wouldn’t let the bigger states have the power.
Some states would be big and some would be smaller, and the smaller states wouldn’t let the bigger states have the power.
Duties of the Government
It’s not easy for the government to make a law. If a law is going to be a law, a lot of people have to vote for it and accept it. The law has to be accepted in three stadiums:
The Constitution:
U.S. Capital
ê
Congress
ê
House of Reprensentation
and Senate
and Senate
ê
Makes Laws
House of Representation: 435
members, 2-year terms
Senate:
100 senates, 6-year terms
Executive
ê
ê
President à Vice President
ê
Enforces law
President, 4-year terms
2 terms limit
Judicial
ê
Supreme Court
ê
Interprets laws
ê
Justices
9 justices, lifetime term
President choose Justices.
The laws are different in every state, and here is an example of why:
Wyoming (a state in the middle of America near Texas) vs. New York
Wyoming (a state in the middle of America near Texas) vs. New York
Wyoming is having 544.000 people and New York is having 19.541.000 people
If we take the subject; guns. What would people think if the people in Wyoming were allowed to have guns? Properly that they were going to use it for hunting, but what if the people in New York was having a gun? That sounds a bit weird. People would properly think that they would use it for defending themselves or kill someone.
This is just a sign of that different states have different needs.
Constitution:
Seven arties that give power to the federal government, but can you change the constitution; YES! Amendments.
- Both Senate and house: 2/3
- State Legislatures: 3/4
- The constitution was amended 27 times
- Alcohol was illegal for 14 years
- Around 1920 women got the right to vote
- The name for the first 10 amendments was Bill and Rights.
Politics:
Republicans – red
Democrats – blue
The American Presidents;
George Washington; 1st president and Washington DC was named after him. He built the White House but never got the opportunity to live there, before he died.
Lincoln; He’s known for the civil war.
Franklin; He was handicap and made it easier for other handicaps.
Kennedy, Regan; He was a part of the Cold War, Bill Clinton, Georg W. Bush; He is known for starting wars, and he wasn’t that popular in the end of his term.
Political parties
Red
Republicans symbol is an Elephant
- Conservative
- Limited government
- Conservative
- Limited government
- Pro-business/free market
- Traditional values
- Want to have everything
as it was before
as it was before
Blue
Democrats symbol is a Donkey
- Liberal
- Government has a response ability to provide for social welfare
- Protect the poor and minorities.
- Progressive values.
Red: ? Blue: Barack Obama
Rite = Holidays
Three types of Rituals:
1) Rites of season – symbolic pattern of death and rebirth. Like New Year’s, where the previous year “dies” and a new year is “born”, maybe an old relationship ends when the old year does, and a new relationships starts when the new year starts.
2) Rites of Unity – Celebrates togetherness of social group. Feels like you belong to something bigger than yourself. These can exists on both small and large-scale levels; Family rituals, town, state, country, schools and athletic teams.
3) Rites of Passage – like weedings, you go from being single to being married to one you have to spend the rest of your life with.
Designed to mark a transition of status of a person or group. Everyone are going thru them, whether or not they are aware of it
à Three stages:
- Preparation – looking back
Designed to mark a transition of status of a person or group. Everyone are going thru them, whether or not they are aware of it
à Three stages:
- Preparation – looking back
- Liminal – between your old and new identity
- New identity
DC: History Highlights;
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania used to be the Capital but in 1790s the Capital moved to DC.
- L’Enfant who designed DC (French guy)
- 1930s, Franklin president, big government, more people was coming to D.C.
- Metro – opened in 1976
- Streets: The streets are divided by the alphabet, but there are no “J” street because “J” and “I” was written the same way back in the days.
- 4 “alphabets” in DC. 1) ABC….. 2) names with 2 syllables, Adams.. B… C… 3) names with 3 syllables Allison… B…. C… 4) Plants; Aspen… B…. C…. and so on. XYZ isn’t used.
