IR Blog Post 3

Connections & Questions- "My Finger! My Finger!" as I discovered that I had gashed my finger on the zipper and was dripping blood in a lively manner." (Bryson 249)

I too, had something very similar happen to me just as it did to Bill. I was packing my bags to get ready for my trip and when I was done I tried to close one of the pockets by zipping up the zipper. When I tried it refused to move and wouldn't give at all. I pulled as hard as I could until I was able to get it to jiggle a little. To help pull I put my finger on the zipper to get a better grip. Once I pulled I felt a tight pinch and then my finger start to throb. At first I was in shock that I had no clue what happened and continued to try and close my bag until I saw blood getting all over my bag. Apparently I caught the tip of my finger in the zipper part and yanked and had a good size gash in my finger. I had to go to the hospital and got a couple stitches, leaving with everything being alright.
This quote was perfect because it was something that I could relate to personally. My experience was very similar helped show a connection to the book. There were other quotes that could have been used but this one stood out to me more. Many people go through the same thing as me and Bill did and I felt this captured all of what happens when something like this does occur.

Now that Bill is back living in America does he intend to explore more? travel again?

Will he continue to write stories like this or does he have any others that are fiction and somewhat based off his life or in any type of genre?

IR Blog Post 2

Events & Places- Airport- Bill flies so much that he joined a frequent flyers club and wanted to try and use his miles. When he went to get his card at first he couldn't find it. He looked every where, in every pocket, and in all his bags until he found it in a pair of pants at the bottom of his luggage. When he hands the man behind the counter his card and I.D., the man looks at it for a minute then calls for Bill's attention. Apparently his card was under the B. Bryson and his I.D. said W. Bryson. Even though it was the same name and Bill tried to explain it he would not let him fly. After arguing with many managers, Bill and his family are able to get a couple free flights.

Television- When Bill had first lived in America his television only had 4 channels which everyone knew what was on and watched it at the same time. Now that he is back in America he realizes how obsessed we are with T.V. by seeing how many different channels there are. His television now has over 150 channels which when he first had one was unheard of. There are about 10 or more channels for just one type of topic. People get channels for things they are not even interested in. He felt that this was the reason that so many people get hooked on T.V, you get hundreds of channels of something that if you don't like one thing there is a channel out there you will.
Memory Loss-  When it comes to remembering things Bill said his wife can remember everything up to the last detail. He talks about how his memory is so bad that if he was ever arrested and asked where he was at a certain date and time he would have no way of ever remembering and would have a better shot at just sticking his hands out and accepting his arresting. When talking to his wife about people he met at a place called Big Bear Lake, he can't remember a single one. After spending an entire week with them his memory is shot about ever meeting them.
Symbols- Stupidity- Bill and his family bought a flat in London using a leasehold, which gives them up until the year 2061. For the entire time Bill must maintain it by keeping it clean and making sure everything works. The thing about it is that by the time the lease is up Bill expects to be gone leaving the bank and realtor in a bit of a dilema for what will happen is he passes before 2061. This just shows how easy it is to lease a house and find a way to never have to worry about it again. 
Rules for Living- Bill comes up with sort of a list of rules that if followed would make the world a much better place. He talks about certain things that are needed to be done and certain things that should be avoided. He also talks about different things that will help make your life easier and things that will make things crappier. The last rules are to help whoever is reading understand how things work and how you should use them.
The Town- Bill talks about how his town that he moved to follows how most little small towns run. They have a library, school, and little stores in the town. Bill talks about how the library does its annual town report to check up on how things are going. He also says about how it can be up to 132 pages and is just filled with whatever is happening in the town. It talks about all the incidents that the police were involved in and all the calls the fire company had to take. This is a very big thing for the town and plays a big role in how Bill looks at the town and community.

IR Blog Post 1

People- In this last section of the book Bill does not bring in any main characters, but does touch base on a few mentioned and past instances with people. 
Rental Car Man- Bill talks about how he has been back in the United States for around 2 years and still can not get used to life here. He brings up about one time when he tried to rent a car while at an airport and all the trouble he had to go through to get it. When talking to the car person they ask him if he would like certain kinds of coverages for things he has never heard of in his life. Then when he tries to get the man to explain, Bill doesn not know a thing and just agrees to get everything the man tells him to end the conversation. At the end he tells him where the car will be, while Bill has to search and hopefully pray that he can find the car in time.
Flight Attendant- Bill talks about how airlines still use 1955 ways to fly. He talks about how flight attendants will continually do the demonstration of how the life vest work even though a 5 year old would be able to do it without being explained to. One flight Bill saw that the plane had a life boat for a plane of 150 people. When Bill ask the attendant about them she angrily explains they are there for safety reasons and she has no control over it. This causes her to be angry and not help him out ignoring his complaints.
Coffee Man- He goes to a coffee shop to order a regular cup of coffee but ends up having a wonderful trip. After waiting behind 20 people, when it was Bill's turn he ordered a regular coffee which caused the man behind the counter to look in awe. After fighting for 10 minutes the man hands him a coffee to which he took the coffee and left due to other customers complaining about him taking too long.
Themes & Ideas- Bad Luck- One time Bill dropped his 14-ounce can of tobacco while trying to organize things. At the same time he cut his finger on his zipper and it started to gush blood. This came after he was on a plane and went to tie his shoe. As his body was down the person in front of him put his seat back and trapped Bill in a tight spot causing him to hurt his head and body. Later while on the plane he ordered a drink, but quickly it spilled onto the lady next to him. The flight attendant cleaned it up and then brought Bill another drink. As soon as the drink was put down it some how spilled again onto the same lady causing her to start a scene with Bill and the flight attendant. This leads to Bill getting switched to another seat and having to sit around 4 littles babies all crying. 
Play on Words-  He talks about how so many words used in the English language are used as they sound. When certain words are said you can picture what is being described. Haggis is a food but any person who does not know what it is would think it is some type of disease. This is just like the words globule and scrapie.

R.A.F.T Peru

Role- Me
Audience-Teacher
Format- Op/Ed
Topic- Wild Card (Obstacles/ Challenges)


When the guys had gotten to Peru, things started to get worse. They ran out of money and still had no bike so they were forced to find their own way around. This led to them not having any place to go to avoid the cold or even get something to eat. The way they are able to overcome their coldness is very smart in finding any twigs or materials that will burn to make a fire before they became completely frozen and died. When the fire didn't work they took the next option of trying to walk in the cold wind and continue to find somewhere warmer. With the hunger, they were able to make it until they found someone who gave them bread and cheese. Another obstacle/challenge they have to face it making it to the top of Machu Picchu. It takes a while to get to the top and reach Machu Picchu so anyone who tries to make it faces a very tough challenge. The biggest obstacle Ernesto faces now is finding himself. He is in the middle of becoming the Che we know him as today, while still fighting to stay as Ernesto the boy who began his trip as an adventure with his friend.  

IR Blog Post 3

Connections & Questions- In the book on page 113 Bill talks about how "Americans will spend around 2 billion dollars on movie tickets and food in the theater from a period between Memorial Day and Labor Day." 
I am one of those people who spend a good amount of money on movie tickets because there will be a span of weeks where more and more movies will come out all rated very well. No matter what people say that they won't go to the movies something new comes out and they break their promise. Bill talks about how they would go to the movies 3 or 4 times a week with his family to see new movies that came out. This is similar to when I was down the shore with my family over the summer. Right behind our house was a movie theater and it seemed like every week a new movie would come out. Our family would walk over atleast 3 days of the week to see something. 

"In New England, a friend here recently explained to me, the year divides into three parts. Either winter has just been, or winter is coming, or it's winter."


This reminded me of a time when I went on a cruise and a kid I met from Austrailia asked what our "seasons" were. Since it was just after winter had came, I told him our years are like this winter is either on its way, it just passed, or it is winter. Spring and summer and autumn all transition into each other very well with nothing as bad as snow happening. Most people in the northeast know the year to be in three different parts instead of 4 seasons.

IR Blog Post 2

Symbols- Cupholders- Bill talks about how Americans are obsessed with having cupholders in their cars. People will get many cupholders, even more than are needed for how many people the car seats. He talks about a car that he saw that seated 7 people but had 14 cupholders. That means that each person gets 2 cupholders for themselves when people do not need to have 2 to themselves. 
CD Tray- Cupholders were first thought of when a man called a computer place saying that his "cupholder" broke off of his computer. When they asked how he got a cupholder on his computer he replied "when i push the button, the cupholder comes out and I can put my coffee cup in it.
Customer Appreciation Day- He talks about how in America and especially where he lives the post office every once in a while will have a customer appreciation day, where they will give out doughnuts and other treats to customers. In Britian, things are very busy and they do not show any appreciation to customers taking care of too many things at once.


Themes & Ideas-
Laziness- A researcher at the University of California at Berkeley found that Americans are becoming lazier and lazier every year. People no longer walk the average of 75 miles a year like times before only walking about 1 mile a week. Bill admits that he has noticed that he became lazier once he moved back to the US. He said he chose to live in the town they do because everything is within walking distance of all the places he needs to go to. 
Health- Bill and his wife go to the grocery store to go food shopping. While there Bill's wife stays only in the healthy foods section and complains when Bill tries to get "bad" food. She tells him everything he gets he must eat all of it or else he can never get it again. By the time he is about half way done all his "junk" food he tries to find anything healthy to eat.
Intrusion- Clothing stores have every legal right to spy on you while you are trying on their clothes. This is to ensure that no one sneaks anything into a purse or under clothes to steal thier items. One time when Bill's wife was shopping she had put something into her purse by accident when changing mixing up her's and the store's clothes. When she left the changing rooms a man in a nice suit came up and asked to see what was in her purse. After emptying and finding the items the man let her go saying to not do it again.

IR Blog Post 1

People- Bill and his wife- In the book Bill talks about a time him and his wife went to the grocery store because when she went alone she would get only healthy foods. He talks about how when they were there his wife made him stay in the healthy foods section and how American supermarkets are 3% healthy foods and 97% junk food. 
Walt- He is Bill's carpentry man who works on their house. Bill describes him as a man who looks 112 years old. He lives near Bill so he does a lot of work for the Bryson's. Bill describes a time when Walt was late coming to Bill's house and when he got there he said he was late due to traffic in Norwich was too fierce. The way he says Norwich confuses Bill because the accent he says it with does not match where he said he was from.
Bill's Friend- Bill talks about how drugs in America are looked at with much paranoia. He tells about his friend who work for a large manufacturing company that handled different drugs. One night his friend went to the tavern right across from the building, when he was approached by a woman he didn't know. She asked if he could get her marijuana, with her knowing that he was apart of the company. Saying nothing to her but "Here take this" and handing her a card, he was fired for abetting and encouraging the use of an illegal substance. He didn't give her any, or encourage it, and he never said he did it himself, but because he gave the woman, who was the companies spy, their business card he was fired.
Bill's Father- Bill mentions his father for the first time in the book. He talks about memories he has with him when he was younger. Bill admits to feeling like he grew into him from the way he looks to the way he acts. He talks about how he enjoys making slogans and license plates and how his father would always like everything he came up with.

Events & Places- Vermont- This is where Walt lives the carpenter for the Bryson's. Since they live in New Hampshire it is very easy for Walt to get there to help out a lot more.
Connecticut River- This seperates Walt and the Bryson's. It is the river Walt crosses in order to get to the town that they live in.
New Hampshire- He talks about how New Hampshire is about 85% woods and how when he goes on walks he can get lost very easily because of how dense the forest are. He talks about two stories that are talked about but never solved in his area. A plane crashed in the woods and the plane, people, and any luggage were never found. Also there was a story about a couple that went for a walk and went a little bit off the trail and ended up never being seen again.