Extra Credit Learning Journal 2

I went to "Manulua: Creative Activities between Two Communities" by Prof. Joe Ostraff on Thursday afternoon. It was really good and very informative. He talked about how to get into and navigate different communities. He showed slides of different pictures of Mataika, Tonga and used the parallel between a Tongan little girl holding a kitten and his daughter holding a baby pig. He said that children do the same things. Even though they are from a different culture and have different backgrounds they still do the same thing with animals. It made me think about my views of going into Tonga and how I view the people. I think I sometimes view the people of Tonga by their culture. I think one of the most important things I need to remember when I go down to the field is that Tongan's are just like me. Yeah we have different backgrounds and perceptions regarding certain things but bottom line we are all people. We all have the same basic needs. I really liked Joe's presentation. Especially the part when he said that the Tongan's don't really care when palangi mess up or do something not culturally appropriate because they are palangi and it's okay. That really helped me to feel better about entering a culture I am not familiar with.

Learning Journal 12

My project took a hundred and eighty degree turn this last week. I decided to do a project on physical activity in Tonga instead of obesity. I feel a lot better about my project than I did before and I feel like I will be able to study everything I wanted to and more. My project is going to study how Tongan's view physical activity and how methods they use to stay fit. I also want to study Tongan's viewpoint on what is healthy and their idea of the ideal Tongan.

I think it will be really interesting to study the ideal Tongan and compare and contrast their views of what is healthy and what is not with our American viewpoint. I think that their viewpoint is different than ours in a lot of ways. Our image of physically fit or healthy is skinny and buff. that is not always the case but it is what Americans think is fit and healthy or the ideal American. In my methods 1 assignment the person I asked the person I interviewed about what they considered to physically healthy or fit. Their answer said that someone who is slim and works out is healthy. He even went so far as to say that he thinks someone has to run to be healthy and fit. I also asked him if he thought that eating right or healthy had to do with being physically healthy. His reply was that he thought it probably had to do something with it but "I mean I don't eat terribly healthy but I still consider myself to be pretty physically fit and healthy". This comment made me think about the Tongan viewpoint and if they thought they were physically fit and healthy even though they weren't healthy by our standards. These were just some interesting thoughts going through my head as I thought about my project.

Learning Journal 8

I have been thinking a lot about Dallin's idea for my project. It does seem like an interesting idea that I haven't thought about. I never thought of studying how people get physically active and what things may prevent them from being physically active. This idea does come somewhat as a relief because I was questioning my project and how I would go about asking people why they are fat and not doing anything about it. Observing and interviewing people about how they are physically active is a much better alternative. This also means I have a lot of thinking to do. I read an article about one of the reasons adults become obese. It said its because once they are older they stop doing hard labor or things around the house. They stop and their kids take over. After that they don't get much physical exercise and sit a lot. This caused me to question whether giving all the responsibility to the kids is the best option. It is good because it teaches them about responsibility and about hard work but does it come with a cost to the parents? Is turning the work over to the children really one of the reasons the parents become obese or is it because of the parents own choices? These were just some questions and thoughts I had when I read the article.

Learning Journal 7

I have been thinking about my project and how I can develop it further. I have also been thinking about some questions I could study while I am down in Tonga. A couple of questions that occurred to me were: Does gender play a huge roll in the obesity problem down there? Is one gender more likely to become obese or is one gender more obese than the other? If so, why? Is childhood obesity as big a problem as obesity is with adults or is childhood obesity a problem in Tonga? How do the children view obesity? These were just some questions that were floating around in my head today as I was doing some research. I think the next thing I need to focus on in my project is organizing the format and figuring out the things I want to do and how I am going to do them once I get down there...

Learning Journal 3

While I was researching obesity in Tonga this week I found out that a lot of people are obese. Not only are they obese but the bigger the better. If you are skinny you are looked down upon. A lot of obese people don't like being obese but they don't want to change. They said it is because that is how it is done and has always been done so that is how it will always be done. It is the Tongan way. It made me really think about my own life and if I do things just because that is how I have always done it. I realized that I used to do the same things over and over again because that is how I always did things. Now I don't. I am not satisfied with always doing things how I've always done them. I have wanted to change things and do things better. An example of this is last semester. At the beginning I decided to make a change and try things differently. It was hard but I did change and life has been a lot better. With this experience in mind I think back to my earlier thought about always doing things the same because that is how you've always done it. I think it all boils down to change. Changing something about yourself is hard work. It is much easier to do the same things the same way every time. Tongans are obese and want to change but are more comfortable with doing things how they have always done. This leads me to a new question. Are Tongans too comfortable being obese to change their habits or is it truly the Tongan way?

Learning Journal 2

The time I spent today doing research was very productive. I couldn't really find anything related to my project but it was productive in the sense that it helped me to narrow down my project ideas. My project originally was going to be about the physical education programs in the schools. Upon further research I discovered that no emphasis is really put that heavily on physical activity in a formal education. I realized that I needed to maybe research the effects of not having physical education in the school system. Also I found out that obesity is a big problem in Tonga. I could also research that aspect of their culture and go into childhood obesity as well. Here is a rough plan of how my project might go:

Project ideas

-obesity

-cultural reasons for obesity

-causes

-food choices/availability

-cultural causes

-effects

-problems with obesity

-associated diseases

-prevention

-choices

-physical activity

-culture

-obesity in children

-cultural differences between male and females

-emphasis on physical education?

Learning Journal 1

Learning Journal 1

I am really excited for this class and ultimately to go to Tonga! I’m going to be honest and say that I am not really sure what my project is going to be and exactly what I am going to be doing in Tonga while I am there. I do have a faint idea but I definitely need to do more research to develop my project more.

During class we talked about the article “What Students Don’t Learn Abroad”. Ashley raised an interesting question. She asked if we live in a questioning culture or society. I thought about her question and I think we don’t live in a questioning society. Many people live their own lives and don’t really care about what happens around them. They don’t question why something happens or even how other people might do things differently. They do things their own way.

I took this thought a step further and thought about my own life and if I question things around me. I realized that I do what everyone else has done and don’t question things. I am comfortable doing what other people tell me to do. I asked my friend what he thought about the question and he says he questions a lot of things because he finds he learns better that way. He discovers things for himself by questioning things around him and finds answers to his questions on his own. I guess the answer to Ashley’s question is that it depends on the person. My friend lives in a questioning world because he makes it that way. In my case I live in a very unquestioning world because I choose not to question the world around me.