education - Curious Karibella

2023-09-09

What the Pheasant Said

I interviewed a pheasant named Albert Meat. He and the most honorable profession of first-class pheasant flyer. Of course, being a bird he did not know that really he was, every day taken out to be turned into bacon-wrapped pheasant bites. He had an interesting view on pheasant hunting. His way of thinking of it is much more….. hopeful.

Me: “What does your job require you to do?”
Mr. Meat: “Well, each day I sit in a tower and people pick me up and toss me out into the wide world full of whizzing leaves. I fly through the air dodging the leaves and I fly to my roost where I have a feast and sleep till the next day. Although, every time, lots of my colleagues fall to the ground after being struck by the whizzing leaves, but every time, I make it back to the roost. “

Me: “So do you know why your colleagues fall to the ground when they, well when they are hit by, uh, whizzing leaves?”
Mr. Meat: “Yes, there are humans with the leaf shooters on the ground and they have dogs to find my fallen colleagues when they leave the flock. The dogs then transport them to the Lovely Land of Eternal Feasts.”

Me: “Ok, so, um, have you ever had friends fall to the dogs?”
Mr. Meat: “Yes, one day me and Phil were taken out together but he fell. He was so lucky. *nods head* The old, wise, Mr. Living who has survived years of flights, said that the humans are taking us to the tower to be turned into easy game for hunters, but clearly he is crazy. The Humans here are just too nice to kill us like that. They let us have fun flying and randomly select us to go to the Lovely Land of Eternal Feasts and I can hardly wait until I am selected.”

Me: “Well, there are easier ways to go to the, um, Lovely Land of Eternal Feasts.” Mr. Meat: “You must tell me, I have waited too long for my eternal feast!”

Me: “Tomorrow, fly towards the leaf shooters.”

2023-02-242023-05-20

Sydney, Australia

Sydney at night with talll bulidings and the beutifull water front

Sydney, The most Beautiful place

Sydney, Cape Town, and Seattle are three of my favorite cities. Cape Town for the People, Sydney for the City, and Seattle because we lived there for many years, and I love it there. Sydney has this really awesome bus system where its all ferry’s and since the city is built on a huge inlet with the north head and south head it makes this possible. Every few blocks there is a ferry station on the water and you can just hop on and off!

Sydney was a penal colony of England. After America shut its doors to prisoners being brought there, England was in a fix. They had several ships stuck in the in london river with tons of prisoners dying and going crazy. Londoners were very worried about a prison break. Most of these prisoners were petty thieves. For example if you stole a pair of stockings, you could get hanged! Instead, these people received a “pardon” and were sent to places to make new farmland and colonies.

A few years earlier an expedition went to Botany Bay (which is right next to Manly Bay where Sydney is located) and they saw beautiful lush land perfect for farms. Little did they know that Botany Bay goes into this lush state once every three years, the rest is spent in drought. The only thing they did not see was that beyond the cliffs of the North and South head stood amazing farmland.

Finally the government sent eleven ships, six of which were full of prisoners. The ships went from England to Rio to Cape Town to Sydney. When they went to Rio, guess what they spent most of their money on? RUM! Literally, a Boatload of Rum was bought. They didn’t even have Jack Sparrow to influence them! Now, these blokes weren’t very creative with naming things, probably due to the rum but when the first expedition came, they saw a very Botanical Bay and creatively named it botany bay.

Between Cape Town, South Africa, where they bought livestock and seeds, and Australia, all the ships got separated in a huge storm, and none of them knew if the other ships were okay. Surprisingly they all reached Botany bay within one day of each other. Sad for them, they saw dry land in Botany Bay, horrible for farming with no streams. They were so disgusted by what they found that they did not even let the prisoners off who had been stuck in the hold of the ship for eight months! Thankfully some of the men took a boat around the point and saw the beautiful manly bay! They actually saw the two heads, which were scraggly cliffs, but they went in and saw streams and perfect farmland. They also saw some natives who looked very Manly, so they named the bay Manly Bay. Again, they were not exactly creative with names. Soon all the ships were in the harbor, and they all lived happily ever after. No, they had a very hard time living because the soil was not too great, but now it is the most beautiful city ever!

If you’re interested in the history of the last two hundred years in Sydney there’s this thing called chatGPT….. Im serious Chat GPT can write you paragraphs of history that is all original!

The Opera House

We had the amazing experience of watching an Opera in the Sydney Opera House! The Opera House is located on a peninsula in the city. In sydney there is the inlet and at the main ferry hub there is all the skyscrapers and the rocks which will explain later. The maps below this paragraph are worth looking to give you a general idea of where everything is. Walking to the Opera House from the back was weird because in pictures you always see the iconic waves and the arch things. The inside made up for everything else on the outside. The ceilings were vaulted and they had really really cool lighting. I still don’t really understand how there is so many theaters in the Opera House or how the layout works. When we walked to our theatre there were all these cool walls which as I just found out are actually designed after the sails on a boat, not waves. The acoustics were surprisingly not what I thought they would be. The singing and music was amazing but there was no amplifying of the sound that I noticed. The Sydney Opera House was a very amazing experience and I would go back.

Three Tours

We did three tours in Sydney and all of them were the best. The first one was a tour of the city where we learned all the cities history. In almost all the places we go we do some sort of history education experience #homeschoolingwhiletravling. We do this to learn the history of the place but it also is part of school. Thats where this blog comes in to tell everybody about the amazing stories around the world. Back to the history tour. In most cities the history all sound the same, native people lived mostly peacefully then a European country comes in and invades claiming the land and starting a new country but also upprooting the lives of the people who actually had claim to the land. Sydneys history was actually slightly different. Or mabey it was told in a different way. I actually found it very interesting and we even got to visit some really old intact buildings from when the city was growing up.

Tour two was climbing the bridge that spans the harbor. In one of the photos I circled it to show you where it is. The amount of getting ready was alot. It was like we were in an assembly line to get ready to climb the bridge! When we started we were underneath the road then we got to the stairs/ladders. By stairs i mean the kind you have leading to a loft where its like a ladder but not straight up. As we were climbing past the road and all the cars my only though was don’t look down. I can tell you people are not joking when they say don’t look down. Its not a fake thing if you don’t look down its less scary for most ppl. I looked down and that did me absolutely no good. I could see all the way to the cars and beyond that to the water. When we got to the top arch it was just stairs to the summit of the arch. We were all insanely thirsty and I really wanted water. You might be wondering why i did not bring a water bottle but let me tell you, you couldn’t bring anything. You couldn’t even smuggle things like a phone or camera in your pockets. To even start putting on gear we had to put on jumpsuits as if we were parachuting. Then there was a metal detector and the other hand metal detectors after we put the jumpsuits on. They had good reason for all this seemingly ridiculous security. The didn’t want us bringing something and either dropping it or having it cause us to drop/fall. They took lots of pictures for us and I will show some at the end of the next two or three paragraphs. At the top i asked if anybody had ever proposed on the bridge because i was thinking how badly that would go. Surprisingly they said yes lots of people. I was like sure that makes perfect since amazing proposal then oh no! The ring has fallen to the sea or cars! The guy i asked explained that there was a special wristband to keep the ring from falling. I still don’t understand how that would work. One last thing. As we were gearing up i was being handed gear and a person clipped on this black thing to my harness and told me it was a parachute! I was instantly thinking parachute? Mom did not tell me we were jumping off! I asked if it was really a parachute and how it would work and I was told it was actually a raincoat. (This was true)

Five starts to Bridge Climb Sydney! Amazing unforgettable experience and great people.

Kayaking Tour

Third experience was a kayak tour throughout the harbor. we went to three beaches and they were all beautiful. Beach One had a little waterfall on it and mom was daring us kids to go under it for fifteen seconds. All of my siblings were saying it was freezing so naturally i went to stand under it. It really was not freezing at all. It was not even as could as a beach in oregon! We did not spend alot of time at the first beach nor the second beach. Beach two was long and very shallow. It was surprisingly only accessible by water. There was no trail or road to get to it. On a big rock in the back was an inscription that was very hard to read. I don’t remember what it said but it looked very old. We learned that this beach had been used to store tanks during some war. I asked how that was physically possible because it was not accessible by land. Our guide said the tanks were moved by boat but i think thats a bad idea because if your boat gets sunk then you have to say goodbye to very expensive machinery. Paddling to the third beach was just beautiful. We could see the north and south heads and our guide told us a little story about a zoo on one of the heads. He said this zoo was partially an open zoo where the animals could roam around. You could also camp in the zoo but the more carnivorous animals were kept in enclosed in habitats. One day the lions (i may be wrong) escaped. The alarm was sounded early enough that everybody got out in time and the lions we put back in their places. Backstory to the climax there is a bird that can mimic almost any sound. It learned to mimic the sound of the alarms so it thought it was funny to make that sound and scare everyone! Everyone evacuated again but it became clear that nothing had escaped.

The third beach was a former coal mine hub, hospital, penitentiary and had military history. There was another rock here and it had dozens of inscriptions in it from exploration expeditions, prisoners and people. There was a coffee shop and a little museum but we were running low on time so we had to start the long kayak back to the boat club that we came out of. The adventure was super awesome and very beautiful, i would totally do it again and bring friends with me.

Most Beautiful City (so Far)

Sydney was literally so amazing! I know the adjectives I’m using are not very fancy but i have to say it was just amazing! I very much look forward to going back with my family and exploring new sights.

2023-01-292023-02-11

A Day Zip Lining on Waiheke

Bright Orange Fungus Growing on on the side of a tree on waiheke

When I woke up this morning, I did not know what we would do or if we would do anything. I went downstairs, and Mom and Dad were talking about some place we could go. I soon figured out that we could go zip lining on an island that Mom really wanted to visit. I remember our last zip-lining experience in Mexico with some very good friends. Me Zeb, B, Mom, and Dad were in the car and off to Waiheke! Dad said we had to leave in fifteen minutes, and I was still eating breakfast! Fifteen minutes is plenty of time to get out the door if you are not going slow.

The Ferry

You usually take a ferry to get to an island by a car. Thankfully our car could transform init a boat, so we did not have to deal with the annoying discomforts of a ferry. I’m completely joking! I don’t think any machine can transform the way I was talking about. We did take the ferry, and it was very comfortable sitting in our car for forty-five minutes. 🙂

Batch vineyard and Restaurant

For lunch, we went to Batch Restaurant. It was also a vineyard, but we did not taste wine. The Venue was super pretty, and the service and food were terrific. It was a restaurant where you ordered a couple of shared plates. We got Duck and short ribs. In my opinion, the Duck leg was way better, and it tasted like a holiday. We had a Gluten Free red velvet doughnut and Hokey Pokey Ice Cream. Hokey Pokey Ice Cream is Vanilla Ice Cream with honeycomb toffee in it. It is so good, and I would highly recommend it! We went to the Zipline after lunch and waited for a little before the adventure.

Eco Zip Zip Lining

Hills of Jungle and vineyards surrounded Eco Zip, there were only three Zip-lines, but they were still really fun. The first line was called Vineyard cruise. It was a very creative name, given that you cruised over a vineyard. The second line was called Jungle Cruise because you were cruising over Jungle. These people were very creative with names. The third one was the biggest and longest, so it was named shorty. I’m joking, it was called…. I don’t remember, but from now on, it is named Shorty.

After we flew through thick air ( I don’t know why people call air thin if you are not at high altitude, it is rather thick near sea level) we took a long walk through the Jungle. We saw 400-year-old trees and a one thousand and something-year-old tree. Near the end of the hike, we came to a tree about two feet wide and fifty or so feet tall. Our guide told us it was a tree that the Maori used to build canoes, and at its oldest, it grew to eight meters wide and so tall that I can’t remember the number! After we saw the big tree, we came across a large pile of rocks. We all thought it was a grave marker of somebody who had died while ziplining, but it was just a pile of stones that people had made. It was not very interesting. The exciting thing was a palm tree. I am not pulling your leg here; these palm trees were OLD. A baby one that had not even formed an actual trunk was TEN years old and only to my knees. About two and a half feet tall. There were lots of these palm trees, and they were all so old. Older than cars and even the united states. It’s a little funny when you think about it, one of the trees was about six hundred feet tall. When it was about 200 just trying to stay alive and grow, meanwhile some hotheaded blokes got a crazy idea to start their own country.

“All alone, across the sea, when your people say they hate you, don’t come crawling back to me.”
-King George, Hamilton Broadway play

After ziplining, we took a rocket to the moon (we took the ferry back home). Zip lining was fun, the ferry was excellent, and New Zealand was Rainy! It was fun, but my other adventures that you can read about in New Zealand Update were totally tubular! For all who love Zip Lining, the BEST zip lining is in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. It is called Vallarta Adventures, and it is a once (or 100) in a lifetime experience; every person should do it.

Mom and dad coming off of Shorty the zip line

2023-01-132023-03-11

How Brother Fox Caught Brother Rabbit

In this post I will tell a story that I read for my school subject, Writing and Rhetoric. At the end I wrote an adventure that Brer Fox and Brer Rabbit go on with another friend. Please keep in mind while reading that animals don’t talk but it is a fable and animals don’t go fishing. It is a fable and you must go along with it.

How Brer Fox Caught Brer Rabbit

Note: Brer is a contraction of the word brother. Also I am citing the next 12 paragraphs from chapter 7 of Writing and Rhetoric book 5.

One hot summer day in the South, Brer Fox actualy did catch Brer Rabbit. He got some tar and mixed it with some turpentine and shaped it into a figure about the site of a fat baby. Brer Fox took this Tar Baby and set him in the middle of the big road. Then he hid in the bushes to see what would happen.

Well, he didn’t have to wait long. Down the road came Brer Rabbit lippity-dipity, dippity lippity – just as sasy as a jaybird. Brer Fox lay low and Brer Rabbit came prancing along until he spied the Tar Baby, just sitting there.

“Good morning!” said Brer Rabbit. “Nice weather this morning.” The Tar Baby didn’t say anything, and Brer Fox lay low.

“How are you doing today?” asked Brer Rabbit. Brer Fox, he winked his eye slow, and lay low, and the Tar Baby didn’t say a word.

“How you come on, then? Are you deaf?” demanded Brer Rabbit. “Cause if you’re deaf l can always holler louder. HOWDY, I SAY! The Tar Baby stayed still, and Brer Fox, he lay low.

“You’re stuck up, that’s what you are!” cried Brer Rabbit. “And I’m going to cure you, that’s what I’m going to do!”

Brer Fox, he sort of chuckled in his stomach, but the Tar Baby didn’t say anything. “I’m going to teach you how to talk to respectable folks if it’s my last act!” Shouted Brer Rabbit. “If you don’t take off that hat and tell me howdy, I’m gonna bust you wide open!” Well, that Tar Baby stayed perfectly still, and Brer Fox lay low.

Brer Rabbit kept asking questions and the Tar Baby kept on saying nothing. Presently, Brer Rabbit drew back his fist and hit the Tar Baby up the side of its head. Right there is where he got into trouble. His fist got stuck and he couldn’t pull it loose.

The tar held him fast. But the Tar Baby sat still and Brer Fox lay low. “If you don’t lemme loose, I’ll knock you again!” cried Brer Rabbit. With that, he fetched the Baby another swipe with the other fist and that stuck too. The Tar Baby didn’t say a word and Brer Fox lay low.

“Turn me loose! Turn me loose before I knock the stuffing out of you!” shouted Brer Rabbit, but the Tar Baby didn’t say anything. It just held on while Brer Rabbit kicked. He lost the use of his feet this way. Brer Fox just lay low, chuckling to himself.

Then Brer Rabbit started squalling and saying, “If you don’t turn me loose I’ll butt you with my head! So he butted, and his head and that got stuck too. Then Fox sauntered forth looking as innocent as one of your mother’s mockingbirds.

“Howdy, Brer Rabbit,” Brer Fox said. “You look sort of stuck up this morning.” And then he rolled on the ground and laughed til he couldn’t laugh anymore. “I expect you’ll take dinner with me this time, Brer Rabbit. I’ve laid in some calamus root, and I’m not gonna take any excuse this time.”

Completely my opinion

As you can see the caricatures in this story are not exactly virtuous. Fox is clearly trying to catch Rabbit to eat him. Rabbit is portrayed as a gentlemen at first but he quickly loses his temper. This story was written by Enid Blyton. The version I used was an adaptation by Joel Chandler Harris. Note: This paragraph and beyond are my own work.

Refutation

This Refutation is about the story How Brother Fox Caught Bro Rabbit Adapted by Joel Chandler Harris. The parts of the story that are improbable and improper are when Rabbit thinks the tar baby is real and alive. An Unclear part is how Fox was able to make and shape the Tar Baby without getting himself stuck. The Improper part is Rabbit Punching, Kicking, and head butting the Tar baby.

At the start of the story Fox is crafting a tar baby that he puts in the road. Rabbit comes along and greets the baby. Being made of tar the baby did not respond. Rabbit quickly got very flustered at this and became angry enough to punch the baby. He got stuck (duh) and was even angrier. He punched and kicked the baby until he was fully stuck then finished it off with a grand finale of Head Butting the baby and getting completely stuck. Fox came out and shrewdly asked Rabbit if he would join him for dinner.

It is completly unbelivable that Rabbit would be stupid enaugh to think that the Baby was alive. It is also Improper that Fox was trying to catch and eat Rabbit. Even though fox’s intentions were not pointed out it is clear what he is trying to do. Since the animals behave like humans lets think about this story as if the charactures are human. Fox would be cannibalist and Rabbit would be put in jail for beating up another.

The author intended to write a childrens story but it (in my opinion) it turned out to be a improper fable. However if you are looking at the fable from a non critical mind you would see it as a funny life lesson. I only had to think about how to criticize it for my school assignment which I am more than happy to do.

Bro Fox, Bro Rabbit and Bro Bear go fishing

Situation: Brer Fox, Brer Rabbit and Brer bear decide to go fishing together. They walk to a nearby lake. They all want to catch the biggest and most fish.

Brer Bear: “Good morning Fox, Rabbit. How are you this fine morning? For your information I am quite well for I plan to catch the biggest fish today.”

Brer Rabbit: “The biggest fish!? How could a silly fool like you catch the biggest fish amongst us? Thats a ridiculous notion! Im going to catch the biggest fish today!”

Brer Fox: “Ha! Neither of you could come near catching anything! Brer bear is too stupid and Brer Rabbit, your Far to small to even use an oar! Im going to catch the biggest fish today!”

Brer Rabbit: “Okay since i am the only one here with any brains, I propose we have a contest and whoever wins gets to eat the others!” Note: I am sticking with the theme of the previous story. 🙂

Brer Fox: “Thats fine with me, for I know both of you will be delicious and you are to stupid to win!”

(Brer Rabbit said to Brer Bear “ Do you think if he eats us then he will become fat and stupid?”)

Brer Bear: Thats all fine by me because both of you clearly don’t have any brawn, let alone enough to haul a big fish.”

All three said “Let the Contest Begin!”

Narrarator: Brer Fox, Brer Rabbit, and Bro Bear all went to different spots on the lake and began to fish. Little did they know that all of their boats were slowly drifting to the deepest part of the lake. Fox looked up from his fishing and shouted

“ Hey you! Don’t drift so near to me, you’ll catch onto my line!”

At this the other two looekd up and realized their positons. All three fishers paddled away from each other. Then out of the blue Brer Bear shouted,

“I’ve got one, I’ve got a big, huge one!”

Then Fox shouted,

“I have one too! A ginormous one!”

At this Rabbits blood turned to ice. Only for a moment though because he felt a sudden, hard tug on his line! He too then exclaimed with joy his find.

Brer Rabbit: “I’ve got one, a huge Colossal one!”

Then all three Cotten Headed ninny Muggins started reeling in their lines but as they were, somehow, without them noticing, all three boats were quickly “drifting” toward each other.

Within seconds the three boats crashed together and capsized. A few seconds later all three fishers came spluttering to the surface and in realizing their folly they all swam to the shore and walked home in shame.

Alternate ending: Within seconds the three boats crashed together and rapidly sank below the surface. Bear, Fox and Rabbit were never seen again and there was never any quarrels of disruptions in Animal Oppidum Loquentes.

2022-11-082023-09-08

A Visit to Noah’s Ark

Yes we Literally went inside Noah’s Ark. Ok, they did not recover the actual Ark, It was a Replica. But life size and with all the cages for the vigorous animals and Noah, and his family. In this post I will address a lot of the big questions about the Ark and its contents as well as providing a list of things that surprised me. Please enjoy and learn a lot!

Most people including me (before the museum) imagine the Ark a lot smaller than it is and pink! ( I am kidding about the pink. 🙂 It is only a tiny bit smaller than the Titanic. It is over a hundred ft tall and at least fifty feet wide. How did Noah fit all the animals? God gave Noah the exact dimensions of the ship and God helped Noah fit all the animals (except wet one’s) in.

How did Noah feed and care for all the animas with only eight people? Each person had to care for 850 animals! (Gargantuan or small) The cages were designed so you did not have to go to each cage every day. (Side note, when we got there i thought mabey we were at Dollywood) There were water feeders and food troughs and the waste fell down chutes into a tray at the bottom for easy cleaning. All the humane and animal waste was emptied into the ocean via a chute. How did Noah build the zenuous (hospitable) Ark? He built it over many decades after Decades of planing and logging. His family helped him build it and they all traveled around the world with him on it.

How did Noah gather all the animals? I am going to give a straight answer to this question and other relative facts (i need 12-31 facts). He did not gather them. God gathered them and sent them to him to be with him. Now, he did not need to take all the animals like fish and some bugs. (Yellow moths went on board to feed the lizards) And not all animal species we have tuday existed back then. Also giraffes and elephants were smaller. Why did only Noahs family go on the Ark? They were were the only ones because the rest of the world was filled with sin and it needed to be cleansed.

Now for the Fun Facts you all have been waiting for.

How Noah could fit everything in so neatly!
Inside was way bigger than i expected!
Every inch of the outside had to be water-proof
little details could not be overlooked
Imagine living with all the smell and heat.
Zebras were also on the on the ark and lions!
Ark was the name Noah choose
Bears were alive then and on the ark!
There were even dinosaurs and two T-Rex’s
Ham and other meat could not be eaten til after the flood.
-Kangaroos lived and were on the boat.
Bugs were mostly left outside the boat but some had to be inside