The Blue Sweater_Blog#3

In the chapter 12, Duterimbere, a hopeful little organization, eventually had made a difference for the women in Rwanda. The organization finally enabled the women in Rwanda to have loans over 20 years.

The authors “is forever grateful to Duterimbere and Rwanda for teaching her about possibility, about the power of markets, the need for smart and carefully invested financial assistance, and the constant hope for rebirth. She learned that microenterprise is part of the solution, but it is not the only part. She also learned that charity alone cannot solve the problems of poverty. Poverty is too complex to be solved with a one-size-fits-all approach”

In my opinion, the quoted part is a lesson from the book. In reality, there are still so many countries having a hard time to fight with poverty. Although an organization made to support poverty in one country is still far from solving the problems of poverty, we need to know that it is only a beginning. Also, without the beginning, the goal is never achieved. Therefore, the countries should start any small projects in order to step forward to more closely approaching the goal.

The Blue Sweater_Blog#2

This book basically wants to deliver an idea that there is a huge gap between the poor and wealthy people. In the same time, the author wants to emphasize the women’s inequality in spending money.

Jacqueline realized that women have little chances to make money by doing economical transactions compared to men in Rwanda. For example, there was a bride price in Rwanda, which was the price the husband pays to the father of bride. It indicates how unequal men and women were at that time in Rwanda. We could imagine how small women could spend money.

Also, there was an interesting story Jacqueline experienced. Two women were selling baskets for $10 each. Jacqueline tried to negotiate the price down to $6, but both women stayed firm. Even thought she said she would buy the better price they offer, two women eventually did not make any sales. I personally think that this part shows the level of education in women society. They did not know about making sales from competitors. From Jacqueline’s experience, she wants to deliver an idea of incentives that people are operating business with.  They just want to sell the baskets to cover their daily costs. And I don’t think it is a right attitude when selling anything. In this part, I think the important thing to know is the reality that women in Rwanda had little knowledge of economics that should be more educated to them.

Individual Random Post - My favorite place in Korea

Lake Park is a park in Korea that is situated on the perimeter of a circular lake; it is a

relaxing and peaceful recreational park. You can enter the spacious park through a short, but

wide over-road bridge. When you reach the entrance, there is a high and monumental

'Singing Fountain' that sings pleasantly and thus acts to elicit joyful emotions. Each night, the

fountain vigorously sprays water up to 35 meters; most people find it refreshing. To the left

of the fountain, there are two trails, a pedestrian trail and a bicycle trail, that are side-by-side

along the vast, circular cobalt-blue lake. On the cobalt-blue lake, many cute ducks can be

seen peacefully swimming. As you walk along the trails in a clockwise direction, you can

watch people ardently running and riding their bicycles. The tall green trees standing along

the paths rustle their leaves gently with the breeze. As you follow the trails to the opposite

side of the fountain, you arrive at the roomy public square. The huge place is a site of

picnicking. Enjoying a meal in this tranquil area will definitely increase your relaxation. A lot

of couples and family bring savory food and have a delightful time to converse lying on the

grass. This vibrant environment will give you pleasance. Finally, on the right side of the

fountain is a cozy supermarket that bustles with the people who picnic in the square. Every

night, I used to go to this calming Lake Park in order to relieve myself of stress and to relax.

The Blue Sweater_Blog#1

In the chapter 1 of “The Blue Sweater”, Jacqueline Novogratz starts the book with her past experience. She saw the sweater she disposed when helping establish a microfinance institution for poor women, and she figured out all people was interconnected in some ways.

As we know, it is a fact that the gap between the wealthy people and poor people is remarkably huge, so the wealthy people tend to look down on the poor people because they are just poor. I think that the problem is the system that can teach all people how to use or adapt the banking system. According to the book, Marcelina who was a friend of Jacqueline Novogratz said, “I’ve never walked into a bank before” and mentioned “They don’t want to people like me in there”. It indicates how unfairly the poor people were treated at that time.

It is a serious problem that countries in Africa have to deal with poverty. For example, GDP per Capita of South Africa in 1998 decreased from GDP in 1975, and normally GDP is increasing as time goes by. I have read chapter 2 so far and I am curious how and what the author who established a microfinance institution in 1987 felt as I keep reading this book.

“Wearable Technology” – Do you want to buy it? (Expert Article - Final)

Apple iWatch was released on April 10, 2015. You might see that there was ridiculously a long line that people wait to buy iWatch as soon as it released at an Apple store. Then, why are people so eager to buy it? Because is it wearable technology or an Apple’s product? It may be both. What I want to elaborate is a topic of “wearable technology”.

Wearable technology is defined as technologies that can be worn by a consumer and often include tracking information related to health and fitness. However, now the range of using the wearable technology has broaden up to getting information from and to a smartphone. Among the wearable devices, iWatch and Google Glass would be famous ones, and I want to discuss more about iWatch. There are so many opinions whether the wearable devices are worth buying or not. I want to examine both sides’ opinions.

Pros

     

•   Immediateness
•   Fashionable
•   Smaller and Convenient

Immediateness

As it likes a smart phone, the wearable device immediately notifies us when something is going on with a phone if connected with the phone. For example, when using the iWatch, you can leave your phone in a pocket or bag and work at an office with no worries because the iWatch immediately let you know whenever any call or messages comes into your smartphone. Thus, you don’t have to get distracted from taking out the phone when working: simply look at your watch as you always do. If messages or calls are important, just answer it, or ignore it without taking out the phone from your pocket or bags if there is no hurry.

Fashionable

Although we have lived in the smart world with smart devices, the wearable devices like the Google Glass and iWatch still intrigue people around you. From my experience, when I was at the bar in LA, a person next to me wore the iWatch a week ago. I asked to him how long it lasts without charging and how he feels wearing iWatch. I asked these questions because it looked a fancy watch. I think the wearable devices have progressed in the area of aesthetics and catch people’s eyes now.

Smaller and Convenient

Nowadays, the trend is being smaller and smaller. Then why are we obsessed with smaller things? The answer would be for our conveniences because smaller devices we have, easier to carry it. As I mentioned above, one of functions of the wearable devices is to track information about health and fitness. Let’s say you use iPhone you track how many miles you walk today. If you forget to bring your phone for a walk, the iPhone cannot track your steps without the phone. However, iWatch that is much smaller than iPhone can track wherever you go with it. I know there would be oppositions by people who carry smartphones more frequently than a watch. But, the size definitely matters in terms of convenience.  

Cons

•    Smaller
•    Not Widely Use
•    Less Versatile

Smaller

It is interesting and obvious that people complain about the size. It could be my biased view, but for the elder, it is hard to use smaller smart devices due to the size. For example, my mother used to have iPhone4 that has a 3.5-inch size of the screen and she always said it was hard to click right buttons due to the size of the screen. Like this, for people who prefer using a big size screen device, it is hard to adapt the screen size of iWatch. I know it is a watch, but iWatch is sometimes useless without Siri, a voice command function of Apple devices if you need more functions other than looking at the clock.

Not Widely Use

This fact will be changed, but I personally want to mention this fact. iWatch runs based on Bluetooth tech with iPhone, and I was trying to buy iWatch especially for running because I am using iPhone now. I found a problem of the iWatch when I go for a walk or jogging. I wanted to buy it in order to use it more conveniently without carrying my phone when jogging. However, it is based on using Bluetooth, which means that I should carry my phone with it when I go out for jogging, which means if you don’t want to carry the phone while jogging, iWatch cannot be the best answer. My point is that iWatch is nothing but just a watch without iPhone nearby.

Less Versatile

iWatch has several of functions on it like getting and sending messages, calls, and emails. When you get an email or message, you normally might not use iWatch to answer it and I’d rather not do so. Why? It is not as convenient as I use the phone to answer. Apple definitely puts those functions on iWatch, so I can say using iWatch is less versatile than a smartphone. I know that some people might say how I can compare iWatch with iPhone. But, like I said, it may take times to completely adapt us to use it.

Regardless of these pros and cons, the wearable technology is definitely a huge market to be growing up, and the market value will be worth some 12.6 billion U.S dollars by 2018. Someday, it could be normal and not a fashionable item to use the wearable devices as we feel with smartphones now. The wearable technology has too much potential. So, my last word is we should keep our eyes on the wearable technology and see what happens in future.