Term 1 Blog Mark

For term 1, I think I deserve a 19 out of 20 because I think that my blog has these qualities:

•  posts show insight, depth, and understanding

• posts are related to the topic

• posts are put up regularly and on time when we are told to do so

• overall the posts are well written

• posts demonstrate what I have learned

•my voice is appropriate for the assignment

• posts are meaningful, deliberate, and meet the criteria for each assignment

•I use enhancements in my blog such as images

• I could improve by having more multimedia to make my blog more interesting

Day in the Life of a Medieval Monk

Dear diary,

This morning I woke up at the usual time( around 1 or 2 am). I got dressed into my brown tunic, my scapula, cowl(a hood), socks, and shoes, then headed off to the monastery’s first service. I always am very tired in the mornings, as you could probably imagine, but prayer is very important to my life as a monk to become closer to God.

After service, at about 3 am, I went back to bed, as did my other fellow monks. Oh, what a relief to get some more rest!

Then at 6 am, I was up again; getting washed up and ready for more prayers in church.

Then, finally, I went to get some breakfast at around 7 am. I appreciated the food of bread, cheese, and cider. It helped fuel me through the rest if the day, through all the hard work I had yet to do.

At 7:30 I was off to work in the monastery garden. What hard labour! Even though the task is always tiresome, I always remind myself that it is one of the other important parts of my life as a monk: to devote myself to work. I did this until 9 am when it thankfully ended.

By 9 am, I was back in church for prayers and hymns. I was so grateful for the break!

Then, I left the church at 10 am to enjoy the main meal of fish, bread, eggs, and vegetables. Another good energy enhancer to carry me on through the day.

After the meal, some other monks and I went to clean the buildings from 10:30 am to 12 noon. I must admit, it was not my favourite activity either!

Then, when we finished cleaning, we all went back to church for the midday services at noon. Ah, another relieving break!

During the time of 1-6 pm, I went to do more work, but thankfully not the kind of hard labour! On this particular day, I did teaching, writing, and I also continued on copying, illustrating, and illuminating a bible. I have been working on it for quite some time now, and I still have not finished it, but I know it will be a great way to show my devotion to the church and God.

Once I finished doing my work, I went with the other monks to the church again for the evening service. This was at 6 pm.

After that, we had a simple supper of soup at 6:30 pm. Finally, we had time to relax! I did have a few guests come to talk to me for spiritual guidance, but apart from that, I had a very enjoyable evening!

At 8 pm, the other monks and I went back to church for the last time in the day for the final service.

Then lastly at 8:30, we went to bed in the shared dormitory. It was so nice to get some rest after a long day’s work! As you can tell, I live a simple, hard life where I must take vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. Even so, it is very important to please God, and I chose this life so I could do that. Now, I need to get some sleep so I can be ready for tomorrow!

US Election Results

On Tuesday, November 8th, Donald Trump was elected to become the next President of the United States.

It came as a surprise to many Canadians, including myself, that Donald Trump won the election, despite his many hateful, racist, and disrespectful comments. However, I think that the majority of voters voted for Trump because of their dislike and distrust for Hillary Clinton, as well as the fact that Trump may have appealed to American voters  with some of his various promises and statements. Even so, this result is still concerning.

The end result, as disappointing and unpredictable as it was, might be economically good for the US, but at the expense of Canada and other countries. Trump called the NAFTA ( North American Free Trade Agreement) the worst trade deal in history, and promised to renegotiate it or else just to withdraw from the agreement entirely. I think that in Canada, we might see increased uncertainty as a protectionist Trump government renegotiates trade deals and works to move manufacturing companies back to the US rather than Canada. This would also result in Canadian job loses. Trump additionally does not agree with the climate change deal and says that it is “bad for U.S. business”. This would not only be concerning for Canada, but for other countries too, and would effect global climate change issues. This Trump win will definitely effect Canada, and I fear it may be for the worst, but Justin Trudeau has vowed to “move forward in a positive way”.

(Picture retrieved from: http://www.wltx.com/news/politics/donald-trump-wins-elected-as-45th-president/350279910)

Upcoming US Election: Who Will Be the Next President of the United States?

The highly anticipated US election has been catching peoples attention from around the world. There has been a lot of discussion over it for the past year and now the time is near to find out the result of this election. The two main candidates are Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. The polls are so tight, I ampresidential-2016-us not sure which one of them will win. An American might vote for Trump because they agree with his statements and promises, agree with Republican platforms, think that his business experience will make him a good leader, or have heard about controversial issues with Clinton and think Trump is a better suitor. One may vote for Hillary because they agree with the Democratic party’s platforms, believe that her years of political experience will make her a good president, or think that Trump would be a very unsuitable nominee for the position and think that Hillary would be better. Neither of them are ideal candidates. It depends on the Americans; what they value in a president and who they think has those qualities, and if they think that those qualities outshine their negative traits. That will determine who will be the next president of the United States.