Digital Era > Smartphone Addicts

Tim Kim

Technology will become more developed as time goes on, and the smartphone market will also become bigger. Perhaps, everything in life that happens from the moment one opens their eyes in the morning may become digital. My reason for saying this is not for us to return to the analog era. For example; Manual toothbrushes do not disappear because of electric toothbrushes and manual doors do not disappear because of automatic doors. Just like this, I am hoping that modern men can keep a distance from a civilization full of electronic conditions among the digital world and take more interest in the natural life around them, socializing with real people in real time and reduce the damage caused by technology addictions!

Claire Chang

Today’s cell phones are “must have” items and are sometimes fun to own. Maybe, we can’t live a single day without our cell phones. They have many functions such as cameras, mp3-players, games and GPS.We can also use the internet; they give us information and entertainment. These are the reasons we now just focus on 

cyberspaces without talking while we are spending time with friends or family. We have to think about this situation. We might be losing our real time and relationships. Eat and socialize with friends and family members and be present.   

Nick Li 

How long have you seen the world through your smartphone ?

Advances in technology have brought us a lot of convenience.Smart phones are the most popular social devices now. We spend a lot of time  using our cell phones that bring us close to each other and make our lives simpler. Send a Message,take a picture, listen to music and surf the internet, what ever we want, but we are becoming machines, we don't have real conversations any more, we don't have the chance or the time to be with each other. I think it's time to put down our phones and experience life as real people and not devices.

Aiden Han

Enjoying the moment!

 Nowadays there are many kinds of social media that exist. And there are so many people that live inside it. If I want something to eat or if something occurs, first we just take a picture to prove what we have done or what we have eaten. But we need more time to just enjoy as it is. Many people are going to experience things through instagram or other social media, camera roll. So we forgot our experiences easily. Of course, the memories that are getting older are easier to erase from my head. Don’t experience life through your smartphone camera. Always enjoy it as it is. Just see the sunset first, eat first, and than the memory is more intense in our head.

Ms T. Florian

It seems that in this age of digital culture we have become reliant on our techno-tools (smart phones, ipads, tablets, ipods, laptops etc). In the beginning they made our lives so much easier, providing us with information, easy ways to connect with each other and helpful apps to keep our lives in order. However, as this technology advances, it is no surprise that we now have a very serious addiction problem on our hands. Instead of connecting with others we are disconnecting ourselves and allowing this technology to suck us in to its toxic world of instant gratification. I feel like a balance is in order. Smart phones are not going to disappear, nor do we want them to as they help us in many ways, but we need to take a step back, look up, and start reconnecting with our real lives. NOT sticking our heads so far into cyberspace that we miss opportunities to meet people, have beautiful conversations and be apart of wonderful experiences. We need to fight the urge to constantly check our messages, notifications, likes etc and begin working on our /human/ communication skills; verbally, physically and emotionally. Because an emoticon just can't tell you how I'm really feeling and adding me on facebook is not getting to know me as a person and or friend. So please, the next time you reach down to check your phone, during break, class, or when your bored, stop yourself, look up and start a conversation instead and if no one is around find peace with yourself and the environment around you.

 These photos were taken last week at I.H, of students at break time. You can find all  the rest of the photos and our smartphone confessions on our poster across from the computer lab. 

(Please feel free to add to the confessions) 

Thank you. 

> Now get off your computer and go do something exciting < 

Cultural Oddities

 Today we are exploring some very different cultural ideas from Japan, Taiwan and Korea. 

 Japanese Vending Machines

     There are so many kinds of vending machines in Japan. Usually, they have these outside and we can use them 24 hours. They are very common so when we came here first time, We were totally surprised because we couldn't find these outside. In Japan, we have 8 vending machine companies. We have also 5.22 million machines all over Japan. So if you visit Japan, you can see these everywhere. I think its quite surprising for everyone who live in other countries.

     They sell water, juice, pop, coffee, tea (including green tea), hot chocolate and corn soup, we can even get hot beverages from a vending machine. We usually buy some hot drinks in winter and it makes us warm. Can you imagine that situation? Moreover we have many crazy vending machines in Japan. For example, we can buy apples, bananas, smart phone accessories, SIM card, rice, hot meal, beer, lettuce, noodles, name cards, sandwiches, canned bread, eggs, ice-cream, cigarettes, crepes, natto, dashi (Japanese soup stock made from fish and kelp) etc. How amazing are these!! If you get a drink, you just pay around C$1.50 in Japan.

   There are totally different about vending machine when we compare between Canada and Japan. No vending machines are outside in Canada, they have private vending machines inside, so the people who live in Canada (especially Vancouver) want to be equipped with these outside, not inside. By  Saori, Hitomi and Saki

'Hanko'

Japanese stamps/seals

  By Yukiko and Haruka 

         In Japan, Hanko is often used instead of signatures as official verification in certain situations.

Hanko is often made of wood or plastic, and our last name is carved into it. It is used with red ink called Shuniku, which symbolizes blood, and good luck. At banks and post offices, there are red stamp pads on the counters. Because Hanko is used, most documents do not have signatures, but a small circle with a single character where the stamps are to be pressed.

        Most foreign countries use signatures. We use Hanko especially for important documents. Many people use official stamps. You may register your Hanko at the municipal office in the area where you live. In some situations when you use yours, you may be asked to provide a personal seal registration certificate to prove that the seal is your registered one. Hanko is very important not only in the business world but also in everyday life in Japan.

Taiwanese Night Market  

By Nick, Abi and Sunny

    Can you imagine how many night markets are in Taiwan? There are more than 300 night markets. But Taiwan is smaller than Switzerland and almost 35980 KM2
Do you know where Bubble tea is from? Of course, you need to know!!! Bubble tea is from Taiwan, and we have a lot of other food from the night markets, And all food is traditional Taiwanese food.
Let’s introduce the top 7 most popular snacks at the night markets.

No 1: Taiwanese Fried Chicken.

It’s made from diced chicken meat, and includes fried vegetables and seafood.

No2: Scallion Cake
It’s fried and made from scallion and flour.

No3: Fried Dumpling
Flour covered pork or different kind of meat fried with vegetables.

No4: Taiwanese Hot Dog

 Roasted pork and rice

No5: Braised Pork Rice
It’s made from ground pork, rice and soy sauce

No.6: Stinky Tofu

It’s pickled and cured tofu.

No.7: Oyster Omelet

It’s a mix of oyster, egg and flour.

Korean Drinking Culture

By Derek, Tim, Lj and Claire

Let us show you the Korean drinking culture. We have lots of special drinks and games that we are creating, special concoctions and absolutely hilarious drinking games for our parties. Why do we do this you ask? We do this because we wanna make a crazy atmosphere and funnier mood.  How does it work? First of all, the special concoction(drink) is made, and then next, the party games are played. For our special drinks we blend Soju and Macju (Korean beer), This mix is famous and very popular in Korea. 

3:1 MACJU(BEER) +SOJU = SOMAC

1:1:3 SOJU : COKE : BEER= SOMACOL

 Alcohol traditions have existed for a long time, but recently Alcohol culture is changing. 

3-3 MACSA(MAKGULLI+SAIDAR) = 1:1

*Makguli is traditional rice fermented wine.

*Saidar is the same type of Stripe.

THE ALPHABET

The Photo and Blogging class created this project by searching for forms, objects and architecture that resemble the Letters of the Alphabet. When we put them together the result was pretty cool.Open your eyes, take a closer look around and you'll find Letter art is everywhere!!!
     Photos by: Tim, Derek, Clair, Saki, Hitomi, Saori, LJ, Tiago, and Hiro.