Hi Everyone.

A) Introduce the locations you pinned on the map “Placing the Humanities”

•Place of Importance: Soooo, I like watching Korean dramas and that's the reason for me choosing South Korea.  I know, I know--it's sort of like my guilty pleasure and I promise you, I am not neglecting my 8-year-old.

•Place where geography influenced the humanities: I chose Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  I know a lot about this area because my parents are from here, so I can refer to this location with some confidence.  This part of the Indochina Peninsula depends on the Mekong River for sustenance.  The reason why the Khmer Empire came into existence was in large part due to the ability to harvest the waters from the Mekong for rice cultivation and the fish provided by the river make up a large part of the Cambodian diet.

•Place where the humanities influenced geography: Okay, so I am not at all confident with my knowledge of Croatia--I apologize ahead of time, people.  The reason why I selected Croatia is because of the fascinating coastline that the country has.  When I look at Croatia, it looks almost like a 'C' or a crescent and then I realize that Bosnia and Herzegovina doesn't seem to have ANY coastline.  This I found so interesting.  My conclusion is that the border has to have come about through political means. 

B) Share a little about yourself

Hi, again!  My name is Sundina Samel.  I live in Long Beach, Ca, and teach middle school history in Los Angeles.  I live with my sassy, soon-to-be 9-year-old son, Juju (his birthday is Friday), and my life partner--Chris (who's German-Irish and sometimes perplexed by my familial customs).  I come from a very large Cambodian family who spend every waking moment in each others' vicinity but my family has all moved out to neighboring cities.  This explains why I've turned to Kdramas to lessen my loneliness--okay, that's not the full truth, but it does make me forget that my family left me.  This past summer was the first time I took a Geography class.  Before that, when I thought of geography, I thought about World War II, black-and-white photos, and everything boring that I could think of.  Yes, I was proven wrong.  Geography is cool.  There, I said it.  So, I'm excited about taking this NHC course and seeing how this class can improve my teaching practices.

C) Identify 3 words that come to mind when you hear the word geography and explain why you chose them.

Three words that come to mind are space, culture, and resources.     The word space popped into my mind because it is literally about the space that people and things occupy.  I chose culture because people's identities are shaped by physical features such as mountains, oceans, deserts, etc.  I chose resources because conflict arises when people move into each other's spaces for the need of resources.