Güerita's Blog

   Like many things, Japan does things different from the rest of the world, including Valentine's Day. In America, Valentine’s Day is celebrated on the 14th of February. People In relationships use this day to surprise each other with lavish gifts like planned vacations, fancy dinners, and heartfelt letters. While people who are not in love, might spend the day more casually by watching a romantic comedy and eating ice cream at home. In Japan, the celebration of love does not end until a day called ‘White day.’ You see, in Japan, Valentine’s Day is celebrated on 14th of February, just like in America, but women are the ones responsible of buying men gifts. This day is used as an opportunity for young women to make their “confessions” of love to men by customarily giving them chocolates. I know that this may sound very shocking and perhaps even a little upsetting at first. The woman is doing all of the work you might think, but trust me it gets better.  A month later, and...

Mexico city is one of the largest cities in the world with a total population of 22.2 million people. The city’s transportation system is a vital backbone to how many locals live their daily lives. Being a very polluted city, residents that are fortunate enough to have a car are suspended one day of the week from driving in order to maintain air quality. Many civilians of Mexico city do not earn a large salary and heavily depend on the economic cost and convenience of public transportation. Counting only the metro and metrobus alone, out of dozen of commuting options, there are around 5.85 million daily Metro and Metrobus users. Anyone who wants to consider themselves a real "Chilang@", needs to learn the in's and out's of this city's extensive and complex transportation system.  The first line of the Metro or “l ínea una”, was inaugurated on the 19th of June 1967. With a total of 20 stops, it spans horizontally across the city starting at “Observatorio” in the We...

Harnesses, rope, handmade pulleys, and a hammer: that’s all it takes to escape from East Berlin, as the Holzapfel family discovered. During the 1950’s, thousands of East Berliners escaped to West Berlin from their communist government in what was known as the “Brain Drain.” Many people fleeing East Berlin were some of the society's most skilled and important workers. In attempts to stop these people from fleeing, the German Democratic Republic (GDR), or East Berlin, built the Berlin wall in 1961.  It became evident very quickly how serious East Berlin was about keeping its civilians in. Measuring 96 miles long and 13 feet tall, the Berlin wall was impossible to get over as it had a cement cylindrical upper structure to prevent people from grappling over the top. Even if one was lucky enough to make it to the other side, they would have to make it past the lethal “death strip.” This area consisted of gravel to show fugitives’ footprints, landmines, electrical fences, guard dogs, bri...