Self-Education

This is what it looks like:

Autodidact by BiHabik

Amazing how people invent methods in order to educate themselves. Seen here is the tradtional Turkish guitar. It belongs to my cousin's son, whom he encouraged to learn this instrument, step by step. He did not even hire a teacher yet, because he first wanted his son to develop a certain interest on his own before getting serious about it. And that's a great way to do so.
Of course, he'll have to be persistent and most importantly creative in encouraging him not to lose his interest. But that's exactly the challenge about it all. That's why self-education can go so wrong, causing frustration and a total loss of interest in whatever one was interest at first.
Everyone knows this struggle. Be it about school, about sports, about a hobby or even about a friendship. But we will never succeed, in anything, if we avoid those challenges, if we are just too comfortable to put in some effort.
I hear a few of my friends and relatives say "Oh no, I can't deal with her now" when they see someone calling them... I mean, are you serious? A friend shouldn't act like that. It's just natural to think it at times, but who said it's going be easy?
All I can say is that it's going to be worth it!

Addiction!

I hate that word... it's just overused! My mom, my whole family and even some of my former classmates used that word to describe my hobby: being online. On my birthday, this was what I received.
And yes, sometimes all I do is being online watching some tv-shows, killing time on Facebook or MSN and just do some non-productive stuff, even on sunny days.
But that's not all I'm doing. There are now more than 20 blogs that follow regularly, including some partially scientific work about technological developments, experts sharing their ideas and thoughts through recorded speech and also socio-political news covering the controversy about homosexuality and the suffering of many Japanese and Libyans these days. That's why I consider myself not addicted, just really interested.
But it's true, my hobby didn't allow much activity outdoors. But that changed thanks to smartphones and tablet-pcs and yet parents are complaining that we bring our gadgets along. So what? For many young people just being outside without anything to do is just a waste of time, so why not combine it?
To analyze if we are addicted or not the "the world UNPLUGGED" project surveyed 1000 youngsters from 10 different countries what they experienced after just 1 day without any electronics.
"It was a difficult day… a horrible day" a Chilean participant answered. And yes, everyone would agree to that, because it was the first of a major change in one's life. And yet it is interpreted as some sign of addiction... which is just wrong.
I am not going to explain my further thoughts on this survey, that's why I ask you to do that instead? How would you feel if you took part? And do you consider yourself addicted?

Being a "Good Man"

Omegle is a website I occasionally visit, especially when I'm bored. You'll soon realize what is about: pure conversation with a total stranger. Just try it out if you want to know more about it, because this all is not about Omegle, at least not primarly.
During one of my conversations are teenage girl from Korea asked me what I did today. The first thing she said was "what a good man!" after I told her that I had been cleaning the kitchen. I was really proud for sure, but seriously sad right after. My both parents are working, from time to time me and my sister help out in their shops and we do some of the house work too, because my sister (she is 5 years older than me) made sure at some point that it's just not fair that I'm free to do anything while she is expected to do the cleaning and cooking. And she was right (and still is, of course). But this girl's reaction expresses a total discrepancy bewteen the situations of each of us.
And not olny hers. I know of many friends (both German AND Turkish, despite the common cliché that Turkish boys/men are the worst concerning this) who hardly do anything at home. And I wonder why. Mothers and sisters are complaining all over the world, but they still do not manage to change anything as long as they stay passive and let the stigma control their families and with that the whole society. So what if my friends consider housework as not suitable for men? I'm not ashamed of what I do, especially not of the reason I do it: it's because I love my Mom and my Sister just as I love my Dad, so why not help them out? Most importantly, my Dad encouraged me to do that.
A sociology studying friend of mine once told me that there studies indicate that women in Germany do less housework than before but that German men do not do any more housework. How does that work? The amount of housework stays more or less the same. Therefore it has to be shared among the people living in the same place. It is not shared at all though and the study is still true. The explanation: since people here in Germany got more and more wealthy, many women decided to let women from eastern Europe do the housework instead.
And this is why we lose, all of us. Why we won't get rid of those sweatshops and awful working conditions all over the world. Just think about it.