Three things I am thankful for are life, friends, and family. The reason I am thankful for life is because I wouldn't be sitting here writing this bhlog. I wouldn't even e able to be thankful for anything. In fact, I wouldn'td be alive, maybe just a figmental character in somebody's mind. Or a book character or just nothing. Absolutely nothing. I need friends because they are there for me when I need them. Sometimes, I am there for them, too. An example of when I have relied om my friends is when I need to ask the teacher something and I am to shy doing it myself. That happens a lot. Another example was when I was in fourth grade I had went to the art lab when my teacher was going out to coach cross-country. I was supposed to be going to another room after I got back, but I got scared. I kept going back and forth between my room and the room I was supposed to go to. In the end I was crying underneath my desk in my classroom when one of my friends came in and walked me over there.
            One of the most important things that I am thankful for is my family. My family loves me a whole lot and I don't know what I would do if I didn't have them with me. They have stayed by my side through thick and thin and are really helping me through all my problems. Even when I can't do things myself when I should have been  doing it myself.

          Griots are storytellers in the western african empire of Songhai. They were used as people who would teach history. What they did was oral history. Oral history is not a written document, although many things that were said probably did get written down. All they did was teach proverbs or tell stories and legends, or helped teach about Africa's history. Proverbs are little sayings that have morals to them. An example of one is: the axes forgets, not the tree. What it was trying to get through or the moral, was that if you tell a secret or something that someone had told you to take care of and not show it off and you do, you will forget,but she/he/it will never forget.
             There were no other way to get information of records than to pass them down from generation to generation as griots. Slaves and other people would come and listen to the stories they had to tell. These stories were about the geography of Africa. Many people relied on them to tell them about the past.

           My favorite part of fall is the leaves. there are so many colors of them that it looks amazing. At my house I have these two trees and allof their leaves fall off every winter and fall. We end up having a lot of leaves on the ground after the trees are done with the molting. Sometimes if we have enough leaves before Hallo0ween we will find little pumpkin garbage bags and decorate the yard with them.We have this hill like structure in our front yard where leaves fall and it gets hard to walk through, but we do it anyways. All of the great greens and reds and oranges and yellows and browns decorate our lawn until spring. Sometimes, I willsmile and gdo outside to admire them all in the fresh crisp cool air before coming in again.
     The fall weather also means we can start making cookies in our home, too. We love to make cookies and the house always smells wonderful.

             The discovery of iron in West Africa changed them for acouple reasons. They found it by heating rocks in to a metal. Iron help develope more powerful weapons. Normally people used wood to make the tips of the weapons, and that made it break or have less power when there was a war going on. The same thing happened to farming tools. When iron came people would use it to make arrow points. This made them a little more deadly. For farming tools, the hoe was created and let farmers get their crops reasy to be harvest really by clearing out larger chunks of land. the hoe is a wooden stick with iron on the end.

   The desert is the region with the most difficulties, since it is hot dry climate. Water is hard to find there, too. Normally water is stored in oases to make sure that there is water for them to drink. Many people who lived in the desert were nomads so they traveled around in search of water. The transportation for the desert is camels, since they take less water than normal animals.

                      
Trade helped Islam spread by the merchants going around selling their goods and
talking about ideas. Some ideas may include Islam, the religon for Muslims. The
merchants could be sitting down to discuss a trade with someone, and then a poor
person walks by, and the merchant gives him money. The trader would ask the
merchant why he did that and the reply would be my religion says I should. He
might end up liking that and will follow Islam.
 
 

                      
The hardest of the five pillers in the Muslim religion in my opininion was the
journey to the Kaa'ba. It is a sybolic and holy thing that Muslims are expected
to do at least once in their lives. In class earlier this week we watched a
video about the Hajj (the journey to the Kaa'ba in Mecca). We were taking notes
on the difficulties on the Hajj. Many people didn't like the muslims from
America who had fair skin. It is very hot in the desert and there are so many
people coming with you that it gets really crowded. There is one part of the
Hajj when people throw forty-nine rocks to one of the first pillars said to be
made by Adam and Eve. his is very bad because the surging crowd will sometimes
kill and crush people in the way.
 
10/8/12

 Muhammad, the father of Islam, is not a bad guy. In fact he was trying to help the city of Mecca when he was trying to tell them about Allah. When he started to talk about what he heard in the cave, most people did not really like him at all. They threatened him until he had to leave on a journey that later became historical. The calendernis based on  his journey to Medina. The city was named after Muhammad and later he had a whole lot of followers that followed him there. Muhammad was told by god to face Mecca when they pray instead of facing Juresalem. After a long war the city of Mecca finally devoted themselves to the Muslim faith. Muhammad ran through the sacred Kaaba destroying all the fake gods and goddesses

            After I left to see my friend at her hut in the deserts of Arabia, I walked back to my own
hut for a surprise. My parents told me that my uncle will be coming in to town
and that I am old enough to join his caravan. I have lived in this dusty village
my whole life and I am craving something new so I am very excited. My parents
also told me that they thought I shouldn't go, but were leaving the choice to
me. I sat down outside to my desicion. Of course there will be the sun beating
down on me, but I am sort of used to it. My uncle will provide enough food and
water of course, and has the best transportation devices. My parents will miss
me no doubt, but will find a way to survive without me. There will be bugs and
the camels will get restless. As I contemplate these ideas, I finally decide to
go with my uncle's caravan. As I walk back in the hut my parents instantly know
my descision by my face. As I hurriedly pack what small belongings I will take I
know I have made the right choice.
9/20/12

  I was perfectly happy with my role in the simulation last Friday. If I
had to choose one though I would choose to be an eastern Rome. I would choose
this because The eastern Romans got to be Rome for another 1000 years after the
fall of Rome. The reason that this is what I would choose, is that Rome got
attacked by barbarians. The barbarians took down the provinces before taking the
last strike at the heart of Rome. That is why I wanted to be in eastern Rome.
9/13/12