Hitchhiking

            Why this topic? Well, just a few days ago my cousin from Florida and I where discussing football. Oddly he is a Packer fan, but lives in Florida. I am of course a Vikings fan, and we all know how competitive football watchers are about their teams especially when it comes to the Packers vs. the Vikings. We came into an argument on what team is going to win this upcoming game. Soon enough he tells me that the only way this will be resolved is if I go to Florida. Well being as broke as I am there is no way I can afford a round trip, or road trip for that matter to Florida, unless I were to hitchhike.

            Obviously I’m not going to hitchhike, I would be way to frightened to get picked up by a stranger, especially after watching T.V. shows about people getting murdered by hitchhikers. This made me wonder about hitchhiking, and if it is even legal. Interesting enough there are very few places where there are laws to restrict hitchhiking. Manly the laws are that you cannot hitchhike on Interstates, Motorways, or on the Autobahn. Other than that you can basically get away with it. This surprised me since there are so many recordings of people getting killed after picking up a hitchhiker. We may see it every once in awhile, but not to often around these parts.

Netherlands area for hitchhikers

            In some countries hitchhiking is actually encouraged. For example in the Netherlands they have designated signs showing where you can sit and be picked up by passing drivers. So in the Netherlands they don’t see it as dangerous. In the United Kingdom college students actually play this “game” called Jailbreak. This is usually played during the summer months or during vacation time. Well the object of the game is to see who can get the farthest away from the school without spending any money on transportation. So in most cases they would hitchhike. Well how do you inform people that you want to be picked up.

            In most cases to show that you are hitchhiking you would hold your thumb up in the air. Well there are a few ways to show that you want to be picked up other then the good ol’ thumb trick. For example some ladies would pull their skirt up on one side to show off their legs, another is waving money in the air, in the United Kingdom they hold their index finger up in the air, or even just holding up a sign to where it is you want to go. So before you decided to hitchhike outside of the United States you should research the different methods or laws that there are for that location.

Final narrative (Never give up)

Never Give Up

            August 19^th is a very important date to me; it has been ever since I was born, considering it’s my date of birth. On August 19, 2007 my birthday was the least of my concerns. I had been woken by the town’s siren, from instinct I knew that sirens never meant a good thing. Soon after I would find out that the date would change meaning to me, but also be remembered by several people. August 19, 2007 changed a lot of lives including those of my close friends and family.

            For the night of my birthday it was always routine to spend it with my dad at his house in Rushford MN.  As I sat in my dad’s living room he watched the news, because I didn’t really care for watching the news I was off playing games with my little sister. The voice of the weatherman was faint; it was the least of my concerns. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the rapid light flicker from the television screen. As I continued on concentrating on what move to make next on the board game my phone rang, it was mom.

“Hello, Krista are you safe?” she asked.

I replied, ”yes, why?”

My mom than continued to explain that my entire hometown Houston MN, had been asked to evacuate due to the rapid level increase from the water of the Root River. The fear was that it might reach the height limit that the dike could hold, and wipe out the whole town. At this point I was really confused since I didn’t think much about the rain, I mean it’s Minnesota it rains all the time. Scared from the news that I had received, I asked my dad where we should go to be safe, he explained to me that he lives on high ground and we wouldn’t have to worry about a thing. This calmed me down, and I just decided to call it a night, and soon fell asleep.

            Around 5 a.m. I was woken abruptly along with my dad from the loud roar of the towns’ siren. Terrified we both went for our phones, the home phone along with my cell phones lines were so blocked up from the hundreds of people trying to use them at once that we couldn’t get a single phone call out. Both of us by this time, were in a panic, all we could think about was our families, and if they are safe. Soon enough we where running out to the car to go check on my grandparents. We where in such a rush I doubt we even put our seat belts on. At this point I don’t know what to feel, the adrenaline, the fear, or the curiosity of what was going on inside the town of Rushford. As we raced into town there were several people racing out of town, giving me a feeling that going into town was probably a bad idea. As we approached town we couldn’t see anything but water, what used to be a town now looked like a giant lake, only the roofs of the trailer houses where visible. The house that I used to go to for daycare when I was young was completely submerged under the mucky water, along with the main road into the town.

Main street, located by bank.

There was no way of getting to my grandparents house the short way, so we had to turn around and take a bunch of back roads in hopes that they where not submerged under water. Luckily they where clear enough for us to get through. As we arrived to my grandparents we noticed that the water was literally three inches from their back door, my grandpa had placed many sand bags around the door blocking off the water. My grandparents lived in the perfect location; all the houses and businesses below them where completely flooded and ruined, as for the houses above theirs had been completely demolished from a mudslide. Seeing someone’s house broken and collapsed with its pieces scattered all around their yards and the road made me feel heartbroken. As for my grandparents they where very lucky to have a house to go back to, unlike many others who lived in Rushford.

All of the trash that was taken from houses.

As I walked down one of the only streets that had not been filled with water I saw many mothers, fathers, children, and even old friends carrying the few things that they where able to get out of their houses. The streets where filled with people but yet silent, everyone was in complete shock, and no one had a clue on what to do. There where cops in boats going around house to house spray painting red “X’s” on the houses doors that had been considered unsafe to return too. My aunt and cousins where one of those houses with the red “X” they didn’t have a house to return to, they lived in the lowest area of Rushford and had lost everything but the clothes on there backs. By being in the center of this horrific situation so unexpectedly changed me and made me look at life in a different way. I began to see how lucky I was compared to a lot of people who had lost almost everything.

As more and more people began to hear of what had happened to Rushford numerous amounts of people fled to help everyone they could. They brought in cleaning supplies, food, clothes, and shelter. FEMA along with Red Cross also provided temporary homes, and house supplies for those in need, to help them get a new head start. The workers and people of Rushford had no way of getting supplies of food unless it was brought in because the grocery store along with the gas stations had all been flooded as well.  All of the water was causing a lot of mold and bacteria to form inside people’s houses, because of this everyone was wearing masks. As the waters went down and people were let into their homes everyone pitched in to help clean, along with myself, and believe me those masks and bleach where every ones new best friends for several weeks. It was heartbreaking to see everyone completely gutting out their houses all the way from beds, fridges, baby toys, and even pictures that had been destroyed. Knowing that everything of mine was still safe was a relief for two reasons, I was able to donate several of my belongings to people that needed them more than me, and for the fact that I could help out in such a way.

This experience changed me in a good way it made me realize how much people needed my help and how thankful everyone was for the help that I could give them. Many of my family members and I will never forget August 19, 2007. This day changed a lot of peoples’ lives. This natural disaster came to surprise everyone in Rushford and Houston. This experience showed me that things happen unexpectedly and you have to react fast, even come out of your comfort zone to help strangers in need. Now as you drive threw Rushford I guarantee you will see a couple bumper stickers or signs with the saying “never give up”, this is in remembrance of how no one gave up on August 19, 2007.

“Lo Giuoco del Lotto D'Itali”

What do you notice yourself doing every Saturday? Is it going out to a movie, hanging out with friends, or simple catching up on homework? Or maybe it’s different every Saturday. Since the year 1530 Italy has played  “Lo Giuoco del Lotto D'Itali” every Saturday, and to this date a select few still play it. In 1770 the French began to play that game but they called it "Le Lotto". This game was known to be played by the wealthy Frenchmen. In Germany they used the game in a different way, they used it to teach students how to do math, and learn other elements.

Soon enough in 1920 this game came to North America, but yet again the name was called something else to them, it was “beano”. This word probably reminds you of beans, the reason for this is because beans where placed on cards to cover spaces in this game. This game was also very popular among carnivals. Do you know what game I am talking about yet? Well a man by the name of Edwin S. Lowe from New York heard about this game being played all over, he was very interested considering he was a toy salesman.

In 1930 he gave this game another name, he called it “bingo”. Yes, the simple game bingo went threw this much change till it came around to us, but how did it get the name “bingo”. Edwin was sitting around at a carnival watching the game be played, when some one accidentally screamed out BINGO! Instead of “beano”, this gave Edwin the idea to change the name. After he gave it a new name he hired a math professor from the University of Columbia named, Carl Leffler, to help him increase the number of combinations in bingo cards. Carl came up with 6,000 different formations of numbers on the cards.

So “Lo Giuoco del Lotto D'Itali” went from "Le Lotto” to “Beano” then finally to “Bingo”. This invention didn’t really come across any problems, just a lot of interest for the game and modification to improve it. It also changed from how it was used. It Italy it was played every Saturday as a simple game, in France only the wealthy Frenchmen where allowed to take part in the game. As it reached around to Germany they found other ways to use it, such has in there teaching methods. Now it is used here for entertainment at carnivals, nursing homes, and even some churches use it as a way to gain funds for their church. Thanks to Edwin and Carl, bingo has been spread throughout the world.