SIMUN Blog

I really enjoyed SIMUN. It was a great experience to get to meet other kids in Global Ed and work with them. I also really liked the discussions we had, and trying to find a solution. I was a little nervous the first day, and did not really talk much. It was also hard to talk when my country – Israel – did not take part in some of the crises. Also, I did not really have any close allies in my group, so I had to just sort of “make my own”. As the time went on, I was not as nervous and got more comfortable asking questions, joining the speaker’s list, and using all the different phrases you are supposed to use. In the end, I was looking forward to going and was disappointed when it ended.

We got through three scenarios during the course of SIMUN, doing one each day. We always went right up to the last couple minutes of class to write our recommendations. I feel like I did okay during SIMUN, I did better as time went on for sure; especially on the last day, because my country was directly involved. The Crisis was on the Iran-Israel conflict and nuclear weapons. I had a lot of fun going back and forth speaking, and asking questions with the delegate of Iran.

As for preparation for SIMUN, I did a lot of research, like everyone else. I tried to thoroughly look through as many websites as I could for each research question because I did not want to be the unprepared freshman. I also tried getting information from a variety of sources, to get different sides of each story. It was not as hard to find information on topics, as it was to try and find my country’s personal opinion on that fact. During the time, I tried to pay extra attention the current news involving my country, because if something important happened, I would like to have known about it for discussion. I also talked to older kids in Global Ed, who have gone through SIMUN, to get a feel for what it would be like.

Next year, I really feel like I’ll need to focus on my country’s opinion on the matter. Because the questions we had to answer, were supposed to be answered in our own personal opinion. It was more difficult when we actually got to class and had to suddenly switch from how we felt about the issues, to how our country felt about the issues. Knowing everything I can about a topic would help of course, and the more research I can do the better. I feel like I probably could have done more research, and found out more about each topic, not just to answer the questions we had to turn in; because when news flashes are coming fast, and everyone is trying to caucus, and debate, it is best when you know all the background information there is.

SIMUN blog

I am a delegate for Israel. If the U.S. were to move troops and secure Pakistan and their nuclear weapons from the Taliban, I would agree with their move. Israel a strong ally to the U.S. and we support their moves. As a strongly Jewish nation, we would be extremley concerned about the Taliban getting a hold of nuclear weapons because of itense tensions between Arabics and Jewish. We would agree with anyone trying to stop them, and hold back the Taliban. As a concerned nation to the topic, and a ally of the U.S. I believe it would be a intrest of our's to send military aid if needed. Those who would be opposed to the U.S. moving into Pakistan because it would be like invading, Israel would also back the U.S. on that and disagree.

The Taliban gaining control of nuclear weapons is a bad situation for everyone all over. It is a terrible situation in Pakistan itself, as their people would surley be in grave danger. The U.S., and all of their many allies would also be a serious target. The idea of a terrorist group possessing nuclear weaopns just spells out bad news. It is necessary to take all possible and safe action to decrease the chance of the Taliban getting nuclear weapons, and to also secure the Pakistani goverment in order to prevent this situation from happening again.

This could also be bad, because what happens if Al Qadea suddenly decides to take after the Taliban and invade a country to take over nuclear weapons? It could start a disastrous trend of nuclear weapons falling into the wrong hands. All steps need to be taken to keep Pakistan safe, and getting the Taliban out, in order to save many lives, homes, communities, and countries themselves.

Free Write Blog: Stealing Buddha's Dinner

In the book, Stealing Buddha's Dinner, it is a memoir of a Vietnamese girl struggling to be, what she believes is a true American girl. Food plays a major role in this story. The Vietnamese food Bich was used to is nothing like the new food she experiences in America (she lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan, which is cool because it is so close to where we live). She becomes addicted to all the sweets, candy, pop, sugars, chips, ice cream, and everything America sells. She falls in love with all food American. The longer she lives in America, the more food she consumes, the less she enjoys of her grandma's Vietnamese food.
The more English she speaks, the more American TV shows she watches, the less she can remember her Vietnamese language. Her culture is slowly slipping away, as her strive to be American grows. All of her friends, are white and blonde, and have house-wife moms that slave in the kitchen all day making steaks, Tollhouse cookies, Betty Crocker Cakes, and Stouffer meals. Bich eats cha-gio or whatever else her grandma prepares with straigh-up Vietnamese ingrediants. She wants more than anything to eat the moist Tollhouse cookies, and learn how to cut a steak. In her book, she frequently describes dreams of all the wonderful name-brand foods. She reads books like Little House on the Prarie, and imagines American settlement life, instead of going to Vietnamese parties.
She begins to pray to Buddha as if he were the Catholic God. Angry he won't reply, she steals a sacred plum set out for Buddha and her ancestors and eats it (hence the title, Stealing Buddha's Dinner). But I feel like the title goes farther than that. She didn't just disregard, disrespect and test her relgion, her faith, and culture-- but she ate it. She destroyed what she had always known between her teeth, for American culture. Her strive to fit in, and be American over won her Vietnamese mind.