Why is archery popular today in the U.S.?

            After The Hunger Games came out, the movie influenced children to do archery. Young girls became interested in archery because of Katniss. Girls who watched the movie think that Katniss is cool as a role model and a female heroine. Katniss is inspiring them, and The Hunger Games is very famous now. Another reason is a relationship between daughters and fathers. The people who take girls to do archery are their fathers. They go shopping to buy archery items together. They practice archery together. Fathers teach their daughters how to do archery. It is an awesome opportunity to have good communication. Also, archery is less physical and an independent sport, so even if girls who want to try archery are not so sporty, they can have fun. For those reasons, archery is popular in the U.S. now. The effect of the movie is big.

Reference

Italie, Leanne. “The Hunger Games fever makes archery cool for children”.

Statesman Journal. 4/22/12.

The Hunger Games Tour

            For more adventurous The Hunger Games fans, there are some Hunger Games fan tours offers for day and weekend trips to waterfalls and other spots in

Transylvania Country. The place of trip is in North Carolina. This package costs $79 for the day tour, or $389 for the weekend trip. Participants will be in a lottery and separated into his/her own District. Then they will join other tributes for a welcoming dinner like The Hunger Games. Participants can learn survival skills like archery, camouflage, fire-building and so on. They also get to know how to use a slingshot and walk in the forest quietly. Ages of this tour is suited for adults, families and children 10 years old+. Children who are under the age of 18 must be accompanied by adults like their parents. You can enjoy through these experience as if you are in the movie.

Reference

http://hungergamesfantours.com/

My opinion of The Hunger Games

             In my opinion, the movie was too long and a lot of scenes were cut, so if I didn’t read the book, I probably couldn’t understand the story. However, there are some points I like. First, the acting of the actresses was awesome, especially Jennifer Lawrence who was cast as Katniss Everdeen, Amandla Stenberg who was cast as Rue, and Willow Shields who was cast as Primrose Everdeen. I got impressed by their acting, because they were pretty young. Second, an atmosphere of District 12 was exactly how I imagined. That showed us how poor it is. I like the movie, but I think the book is better and more interesting.

  

http://mockingjay.net/category/hunger-games-movie-news/the-hunger-games-movie/



Pow Wow

       Pow Wow is an event of America’s native people. They wore colorful, showy and unique clothes called Regalia. Lots of them were made of feathers, beads, colorful materials, and leather. They designed their clothes by themselves. One family used lots of bright colors like red, orange, and yellow. That means fire. Some people, especially men, put on unique makeup. Almost every man had long hair, and they worked their hair into braids. Lots of them had some traditional tattoos, and those were so cool. Men wore lots of eagle’s feathers and women wore more leather. They told me that eagles are a kind of angel for them. They were rhythmically dancing to the sound of drums and songs, but men and women usually didn’t dance together. Each dance had some meanings, and most of them were prayers. There were two types of dance, traditional dance and grass dance. The style of grass dance was a step. They wore big bells around their ankles, and stepped on the ground. That means “mother earth” and “heart beat”. Their voices had surprising vibrato. I felt their sense of identity, and it was curious for me. I asked the man and his son who wore fire clothes, “how do you feel when you are dancing?” They said “the best.” I got impressed then. When I was talking to them, I felt their strong belief and gratitude for nature. I also got to know that America’s native people have lots of respect for each other. I had a great time. I got interested in them, and I love their traditional jewelry. However, I couldn’t ask them which I should call them, Native Americans or Indians.

Spring break

         I went to Redwood Coast in California from March 24th to 28th with the outdoor program. We drove down for 6 hours from Salem. I had two Korean girls and one French girl as members, so we taught our own languages to each other using English. It was fun. The first evening, we went to a restaurant near the ocean. I ate some shrimp sandwiches and they were so good. When I left the restaurant, I found one picture that was showing the damage of Tsunami that happened on March 11, 2011 in Japan. I got very surprised, because I didn’t even know the Tsunami  reached there from Japan. At night, we stayed at a small cabin. It was the first time for me to sleep with a sleeping bag. It was uncomfortable, but more warm than I expected. We also played some card games together. On the second day and the third day, we hiked a lot like, about 6 miles. Unfortunately, the ground was so muddy, but the trees were beautiful and so huge. I had never seen huge trees like those. I ate PBJ at lunch there. It was just PBJ, but I thought it was so good. I think that was exactly because of natural surroundings. The last two days, it as raining so hard, so we couldn’t hike enough. However we drove around the city, and then we ran into a herd of wild elk. They were so cute. I bought some postcards for my family at the visitor center. The weather was not good, but it was a good trip. I had fun with people I didn’t know until then. I think we had good communication as well. The nature made me feel relaxed. My spring break was awesome!

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