Day 7-Part 3 and The End

Back at school! Our journey is completed, so we went out to the local Starbucks to celebrate. We each got something nice to drink. I got a nice tall decaf iced caramel Macchiato, and also a Chicken Santa Fe Panini sandwich-Yum! Here's a great picture of the Starbucks we all went to!

http://simonleong.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/hk_starbucks_coffee_in_caine_road.jpg

We debriefed our journey, recapping our adventures and just sat there in silence...realizing our epic adventure was over. Then we all piled back into the bus, joking and laughing...a great adventure, wouldn't you agree?

Thank you for reading my blog!
Until my next adventure!

-Matthew Song

Day 7-Part 2 and the Beginning of the End

We have touched down in Sea-Tac! So excited to go back home, and play some video games, and sleep in my own bed! I can finally go back and play some Xbox 360 and pwn some n00bs on COD. Or maybe some Halo.

Anyway, my friends and family are at the airport now, I see them waving, but I first need to go and pick up my luggage...-.-

Here's a nice evening picture of Sea-Tac:

http://images.theknot.com/PWPimages/7606954526809507/wysiwyg/images/1069366503064-sea-tac.jpg

I just want to thank you for sticking with me throughout my journey, and I hope you really liked it!

I'll see you back at Lakeside for one last post!

Day 7

Back in the USA! We are now in the Golden State of California! This is our last stop, because we are observing one last fault type...Transform Boundaries! (You would have guessed this if you were smart from my last post)

The San Andreas Fault is very interesting-here's a picture! I'll let you see for yourself.

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44819000/jpg/_44819175_sanandreas.jpg

That's a huge "crack" in the earth! We drove along the San Andreas fault today, driving for around 100 miles, just to check out the fault. The San Andreas Fault is about 810 miles in length! We drove about 1/8 of the length of the Fault today! Although it was kind of boring, because all we could see for miles was barren landscape, it was fun to just marvel at the Earth's workings.

Of course, using this time that we drove, our teachers explained to us about what happened to create the San Andreas Fault.

They used this metaphor: You have two slices of pizza, one meat and one combo pizza. If you slid them together so they form a bigger triangle, and slid them forward and backward, the crumbs would fall from one pizza to the other. If you keep on sliding them back and forth, both pizzas would lose more and more crumbs, and then a gap will be noticeable. This is just the same thing that happened here!

After we got to the airport, and waiting for our flight back to Sea-Tac, we were kind of sad to think that our awesome tour of the Earth was over.

Well, our plane is boarding now. I'll see you in Seattle for a final couple blog posts!

Day 6-Part 2

So, back from my little exploring trip in the Andes mountains, now I need to give you a re-cap on what happened!

http://www.kewlwallpapers.com/bulkupload/73/Animals/Andes%20Mountains%20Patagonia%20Argentina.jpg

See the Horsies? Neigh!

Here's a picture, I thought was really fun. Ponies running around with the beautiful Andes Mountains in the background, a lovely sight!

You might be wondering about how the Andes were formed! Well, we came to the Andes because we wanted to observe ANOTHER type of Plate Boundary! Let me give you some hints:

The Nazca Plate smashed into the South American Plate, created the Andes! The Nazca plate is the oceanic plate, while the South American Plate is the Continental Plate.

Can you guess what type of boundary that is?

If you answered "Convergent" boundary, you are partially correct! Can you be more specific? (Hint: Think about Japan and the Himalayas, and compare...)

If you answered: "Convergent Sub-duction", you get a cookie! That's right! The Nazca plate sub-ducted underneath the South American Plate, and the Andes were born.

So, we've visited many different places: Tokyo, Japan; Kathmandu, Nepal; Cairo, Egypt; and now, Santiago, Chile. Our next and final stop will be at the San Andreas fault, in California! (If you're smart, you'll go back to my first post and read up on the different types of boundaries we would visit, and if you read carefully, you would cross off all the boundaries except one......which tells you what type of boundary the San Andreas fault is!)

I'll see you there!

Day 6

I just got off the plane, and are now in Santiago, Chile! Woo-hoo! Now, at Santiago, Chile, which is almost my last stop, we can observe the beautiful Andes mountains. 

Here's a picture of the lovely mountains!

http://www.commercemedia.com/KSBBlogx/Images/Articles/Entry152_9310.jpg

I'll get back to you about my trip later! After I go explore the Andes! See you later!

Day 5

We successfully changed our tickets, so now we are staying in Cairo for a whole 'nother day! So excited! Playing on the beach, then relaxing in our awesome hotel room, everything is so nice!

This is our hotel:

Nice, isn't it? This is the life, sitting by the pool, updating my blog, then later going for a swim, then knowing we can go back up to our rooms, go out for nice food, relax......

http://img.venere.com/img/hotel/5/8/4/4/24485/image_hotel_featuredimage_1.jpg

See you in Santiago!

Day 4

We're driving down to the Red Sea now, and with my awesome little internet thingy, I can get internet almost anywhere!

So in a little bit, we'll be at the Red Sea, and it's actually a result of Tectonic Plate movement! I'll explain when I get there!

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http://blogs.bootsnall.com/Leaott/files/2007/07/red%20sea1.jpg

So we arrived here at the Red Sea, a couple hours ago, but we were too engrossed in playing in the sea and on the beach, that I forgot to post my adventures! We went swimming, sailing, playing a game of failed beach volleyball, and more. Don't you think this is a lovely place? Then, our teachers explained how the Red Sea was formed, when we were all taking a break.

A summarization of how the Red Sea was formed: The Red Sea was formed when the Arabian Plate pulled away from the Eurasian Plate, which is called "divergence". Since the two plates pulled away, it left a huge trench where the plates would have. It quickly got filled with water, and the Red Sea was formed.

So, we are technically at a "Divergent" boundary, and what an amazing place this is! Very beautiful....we're even contemplating moving our plane tickets back a day or two to stay here for a while! This is such a nice place to stay, a nice hotel, nice swimming pool, great food, the works...

Well, if there's nothing else to say about this, this post is over!

I'll see you tomorrow!

Day 3

After a nice two days in Japan, we are moving on to Kathmandu, Nepal to check out the Himalayas. The Himalayas are breathtaking! Just check out this picture!

http://www.destination360.com/asia/china/images/s/china-himalayas.jpg

Yup, thats part of our group there. It's just part of the base of the mountain.

Well, you might be wondering how the Himalayas were formed. It is actually the end result of what happened when the Indian Plate smashed into the Eurasian Plate. Since these are both continental plates, neither of them subducted underneath the other, so they both "collided" and the Himalayas were born. Since the Indian Tectonic Plate still moves inland, each year, the Himalayas grow about 2.4 inches each year. This is a Convergent Collision boundary, no surprise about the "collision" part of the name.

Good thing we brought warm clothes! We're about to head toward a little tea shop, where we'll drink some hot tea and hot cocoa! Makes me think of winter....


We'll stay here for a while, then, we'll move on to Cairo, Egypt, to observe the Red Sea!

See you there!

Day 2

So after spending a lovely day in Tokyo (35°42′2″N139°42′54″E), helping out and learning about the Tectonic Plate movement that caused the earthquake, we are going to the base of the Himalayas, to check out the awesome mountain range that was made after India smashed into Asia.

Whoops-did I not explain too well about what happened in Japan?

So what happened in Japan was something that was called "Subduction" between two two tectonic plates. The Pacific plate and the Eurasian plate are the key players here. The Pacific Plate slid underneath the Eurasian Plate, which created a tremor that we call an earthquake. But, what caused the most damage was the tsunami that the earthquake triggered.

http://oceanexplorer.noaa.gov/explorations/06fire/background/volcanism/media/subducting_plate_600.jpg

As you can see in the above diagram, the Pacific Plate slides under the Philippine Plate. The Pacific Plate is the "subducting" plate, while the Philippine Plate is the "overlying" plate. the Pacific Plate pushes the Philippine Plate up, which is an earthquake.

A neat fact about Subduction Zones: They are more prone to volcanoes and major earthquakes! No surprise there! Japan got hit by a major earthquake!

I hope you learned a little more about Plate Tectonics! I'll be blogging more about Plate Tectonics and my trip around the world soon! With the conclusion of Japan, we are off to the Himalayas! See you there!

(Of course, since we are underage, we cannot climb the Himalayas, so we'll settle for a day or so of sightseeing around the Himalayas and more knowledge about Tectonic Plates!)

Day One and three-quarters

So, we finally made it to Japan...after a long and arduous 14 hr trip, we have finally touched down in Tokyo, Japan. (35°42′2″N139°42′54″E)As I walk around the Tokyo airport, I notice a lot of people staring at our group of merry travelers. I wondered why they were staring at us, until I realized that we didn't look like an average group of travelers. Here's a picture:

http://www.greenbang.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/799px-shinchitose_airport_terminal_building.jpg

Very nice place to stay for a day, right? Well, we zipped off to see the places with the most damage, so we could help out and so that we could see what happens when tectonic plates collide.

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXe_Gkd8uXrVuWZHRNcrMRufJVs3aTxGEAMVUG1XfUg2Ihxvv9MAGpF3prsDtX2XpJQv5Fk_DFHQKJnUss10CL-jNlFeBsytOQLVXOEx6p8A_5V_gq5hI_wnmCQDwq9D51A7onDFrYvRWG/s1600/japan+earthquake+tsunami+2011-4.jpg

You can obviously see the impact that the earthquake had in Japan. We learned how the Pacific Plate slid underneath the North American Plate. Since Japan is right on the line of those two plates, it suffered the most damage. Because of the jolt of the plates, it created a Tsunami, which is the major cause of all the damage.

We helped around, picking up trash along the beaches, helped clear away fallen debris, and all the while, contemplating about how much Mother Nature can make one cry, or laugh, or crumble. We'll stay here for sometime, the next post I make will be at our next stop-destination unknown right now! See you there!

Day One

So I have decided to join a tour of the earth for the next couple weeks. My whole Earth Science class from Lakeside Middle School (Coordinates:  47°43'39.64"N 122°19'38.02"W) have decided to go and take a tour of the earth, so we have packed up out things, and are ready to head on out. I have packed with me a lot of things-just to name a few:
a) Clothes to last a week
b) Junk Food
c) Books and electronics (shhhh don't tell my teachers!)
d) GPS
e) Translator
f) Money in all kinds of currency

and the list goes on and on.

As I type up this blog entry, I see the bus that is going to take us to the airport has arrived, and is waiting for us to put our load of things into the back. It's a sturdy greyhound bus, very reliable (or so it seems right now). Capacious room for all of our hefty supplies we need to take with us for our trip.

Okay, since I just finished packing my items into the back of the bus first, I have time to finish up this entry. Since we are out studying tectonic plates in our class, our science teachers,

Mr. Huston

    

       Mr. Hopson

Mr. Snellen

are having us stop by on the borders of tectonic plates, so we can see the different kinds of end-results of tectonic plates sub-ducting, transforming, and divergent.

At the airport, we took a vote to see where we would go first. We'll visit many different types of Tectonic Plate Boundaries: Convergent Collision, Convergent Sub-duction, Divergent and Transform boundaries. But, our choices for our first stop were:

a) Japan, to see the North American Plate sub-ducting under the Pacific Plate.
b) The Himalayas-to see the Indian Plate and the Eurasian Plate.
c) The Andes-to see the Nazca and the South American plate.

Because of the recent earthquake in Japan, that interested us, we voted to go to Japan first. I'll write my next entry when I get to Japan!