Friday, June 6, 2008

Alameda and Alameda Beach





Going to Alameda was good I had being there before to the same area. I knew that it was diverse I saw Latinos, African American, Asians, and more.
I saw many clothing stores and food restaurant there were some fast food like Jack in the box, KFC, and Subway. One person we interview said that we used to live in Lake Merritt but he moved to Alameda because he was mug getting of the bart and got jumped as well. Maybe it is safety a reason why many people move they no longer feel safe in their community after the events that have happen. You could find expensive clothes there are not marks in clothing like Ecko, Phat Farm, and much more.
I think that Alameda was nice it was calm something funny was that in a corner you see a Starbucks and in front of the other corner there is a Peet’s coffee. This shows that there are stores that are looking for competition on who makes the most profit. Some of the people we interview said that they rent there home. The question is why do they rent a house if it isn’t there on property it is better to owned your home. Some of the interviews said that they have a car to drive others take public transportation like walking, bicycle, or the bus.
After doing the interviews the teachers took us to the beach so we took the 50 bus to get there. It was fun going to the beach there was a lot of water and it wasn’t that cold it was okay. The nice thing was seeing the beautiful view of the beach you saw the waves, building like a landscape, birds, and more. It is good to go to the beach especially during the summer it can get full and people are swimming or relaxing from a break.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Personal




I think that for me going to places was fun because some of the places we went I had never being to myself. In this I tried some new food like Crepes because my teachers introduce me to this it was good. When we went to Chinatown I didn’t tried something new I guess it was because I didn’t know what type of food they made and we were just walking around instead I went to a Pizza place. I think that something I can improve is asking people for an interview I did it sometimes I would ask and other times I wouldn’t. The majority of the times I was the person asking the questions because I was comfortable for me to do but it was good to do this.
I think the reason why I didn’t want to ask people for the interview was because I knew the group I got one person could do it better, plus I felt that I wouldn’t get an interview. When we went to Chinatown I asked one person in the optometry and she was good at answering questions they could have being better. I think that here I felt comfortable and the person in the optometry was nice and she wouldn't reject our group.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Walnut Creek


Before going to Walnut Creek I didn’t know anything about where it was or how it looked. It was going to be a place where I didn’t have any idea about. When we arrived at Walnut Creek it was different than Oakland. Walnut Creek was much cleaner, had plenty of trees, and a free bus ride. I noticed that there was barely any liquor stores around the area. Some of the things that Walnut Creek has it can something Oakland could have. I think that Walnut Creek it not diverse as Oakland. There were barely African Americans, and I didn’t see any Latino’s. When it comes to the food in Walnut Creek it is fresh and natural to make. Walnut Creek does not have any taco trucks or diverse food. There was sushi, Korean, France, and much more, but none were familiar to me. I tried something new at Crepes restaurant it is originated from France they are like thin pancakes and you got to choose what you wanted inside. It is good to try something new this type of food we don’t have it at Oakland.
My topic for the interview was food we explored different places about food. I felt that in some places the owners were rude because in one occasion we entered an old fashioned restaurant. There we were talking to a customer if we could interview her and she said it was fine. The owner came and told us “you cannot be coming in and interrupting our costumers.” I felt like because we were different they were treating us like because of us they would lose their customers.
From my perspective I think that Walnut Creek does not have any similarities. I have lived in Oakland for already seventeen years and don’t see the similarities Walnut Creek is different in people, air, and cleanest.

What I did





Yesterday I went to the doctor it was not that long waiting in line. After the doctor I went home then I used the computer. I played some games on my computer while listening to music. Then I watch some soup opera they were funny and sad. I went to pick up my sister from school then we went home again. Later that day I played online games with one of my sister. My sister friend came over they dressed up in a dress playing princess or something.
Graduation is coming soon I’m excited about that day. It is only about four days not including the weekends then it would add six days left.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Lakeshore and the Oakland Rose Garden



Before going to Lakeshore I did know where it was located and the people that went there. I knew that the place was going to be diverse because I had being there many times to get coffee at Starbucks.
On Monday we went to Lakeshore it is by a movie theater. I saw that there were many shops starting clothing to food. There were Starbucks, Peet's, New York bagels, Walgreen’s, and much more. I saw that there are a lot of diversity different ethnic background people here where polite.
When the interviews were done we walked to the Oakland Rose Garden. The Oakland garden was beautiful it has roses and different kinds of flowers. You could actually hear the birds and it was fresh it is a nice place. We saw a man that used rocks for art he had flowers, cactus, chickens, and much more. There was a pond and the people there were fixing one of the water fountain to make it work.

Monday, June 2, 2008

Farmer's Market and Paddle Boating


I didn’t know where Old Oakland was because I hadn’t heard people called a place Old Oakland and I didn’t know what a Farmers Market was. Last Friday we went to a Farmers Market on Old Oakland down in downtown Oakland. It was good a lot of people were buying organic fruits and vegetables. There were food samples so you could try them I tried natural made ice cream it was vanilla with something else. I thought that it was a good ice cream since I didn’t know there was more natural ice cream. This Farmers market happens every Friday of the week and people go there to buy the food that they need. One where we interview he came from Modesto to Farmers Market in Oakland. There were different ethnic background there were Latinos, Asians, and African American. There were even little children walking around the market it was a comfortable place. The people that were selling fruit, vegetables, or food were polite some were nervous on doing the interview so we went to look for someone else.
Our teacher’s had a surprise that Friday the surprise was paddle boating I hadn’t heard what it was. We arrive there were we had to be safe by wearing a life jacket. After that was done we got into groups of two or three people. It was fun we had to paddle with our feet in order to see around the lake. There were beautiful views of Lake Merritt around it the lake was calm and there was a breeze of air.

Friday, May 30, 2008

Rockridge


Before going to Rockridge I didn’t it know anything about it or where it was located? When we went to Rockridge it didn’t’ feel that it was part of Oakland.
In Rockridge there were a lot of stores like Safeway, Taqueria, sushi, pizza, supermarket, books, and much more. I didn’t see a lot of minorities in Rockridge being part of Oakland it was not like East Oakland. There where more Caucasian and Asians in Rockridge you barely saw Latinos, and African American.
When we went to a Taqueria it stated at the bottom of the sign fine Mexican food, the people working there were mostly Asians and there was only one Latina. This food was not like in East Oakland it is much better than Rockridge. The majority of customers we saw were Caucasian, some African American, and some Latino’s.
I noticed that there were stores of clothing and the owners were women were we interview and they were polite. What I liked about what they said was that they look for each other when it comes to safety. In one store where we interview it were only one to two people that are in the store. She said that sometimes people with mental disorder come to her store, which she ignores. We even got advice from one woman we interview to give a strong firm shake and to look at them in their eyes. From one interview I like how their community is trying to make it safer so there would be an increase in police. In Fruitvale they do the same now it is much better.
The only thing that is similarities is that it is a small community like Fruitvale. Overall I would say that it is different it in people and the many little stores there was.

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Life


The world is full of people with hatred, happiness, and sadness.

There are streets stained with blood, increasing the cities homicidal rates.
There is pain of tears like a shattered glass, innocence lives are taken away from birth no longer a life for success.
There’re souls taken to heaven or hell, the only people that remember them is their family no one can replace you.
There is racism only to give judgments’ of people but you should get to know them before you judge.
So don’t judge a book by its cover don’t be the person to do this.
People fight for their rights, marches the power of youth is brilliant.
People speak their mind, their voices are heard so stand up for what you believe.
Leaders are powerful like the soldiers in an armies.
So you decide what path you want, to take its all up to you.

Chinatown in Oakland



I knew before going to Chinatown that there were a lot of Chinese people and Chinatown is in many blocks.
Chinatown is a nice place; there are a lot of bakeries, supermarkets, clothing stores, and much more. When we interview people in Chinatown many were busy doing there job. There where times when the store owners weren’t busy and yet they said they were busy. I understand that the majority of people speak Chinese so it was hard to do the interview knowing that some didn’t know English.
The topic for our group was economics some the majority of people said that on average there salary was enough to pay the bills. From an interview they said that Chinatown is about low class and medium class. Many of them enjoyed there job some said that sometimes the business have up and downs on the amount of costumers that come to there store. In Chinatown, I barely saw police around the area here and there you would see a police.
I noticed that in Chinatown has garbage in the streets more than in Fruitvale. I wonder why it that in Chinatown there is more garbage than in Fruitvale is. Is it because there are not a lot of trash can’s around or what it is?
Some of the similarities that Fruitvale and Chinatown have are that there are supermarkets, and different types of restaurants. In Chinatown, there food is much different than what is in Fruitvale. When we went I didn’t know the type of food they made or what place to eat since I was not familiar.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Fruitvale Village


My experience at Fruitvale was much better than Walnut Creek. It was because we already knew the community in the Fruitvale village. In Fruitvale village I noticed that the majority of people who had their business were Latinos. In Fruitvale village there is no new variety of food it is mostly Mexican and the only different restaurant was the new Japanese restaurant. Here in Fruitvale there is no new food to try since the majority of people go to fast food. In Walnut Creek there are different foods to try from. For me the interviews went well because I felt much comfortable having the interviews in Spanish and I felt that I could easily talk to the people in Fruitvale. When we interviewed a security guard something that stood out was it was the community who wanted a change and now it is fewer problems. The negative aspect is that there is trash around the streets since there are not a lot of trash cans around. Many of the people we interviewed said that the reason why they work there is because they need a job to survive and it is their need to help their family.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Welcome!

Hey there, 'Tweety'! Nice to see you online!