Day 7: Friday- Coming Home

I cannot believe that my stay here is over. I loved it here so much, other than the minor fact that there was a bit of a bug problem and the fact that I could possibly get malaria if I had gotten bitten from a mosquito. Thank gosh that didn't happen. So, today I said good bye to everyone that I know here and it is a bit sad that I have to go home now after such a good time here visiting. I don't really want to travel on those terrible roads. However, I miss all of you back home and I hope you missed me too, but home sweet home here I come.

Erica

Day 6: Thursday- Agriculture/ Industry

So, this is my second to last day here in Virginia and I previously briefly mentioned that they grew tobacco here. Here tobacco is a main export and it was John Rolfe who perfected how to grow tobacco in large amounts, so people call him the “Father of Tobacco”. Here I also saw some plantations that grew rice. Here the industry also thrives on slave trade. It is much easier for a plantation owner to get a slave here in the South because there is a greater need for them. In Carolina, there was massive slave trade because of the close ties that it has with the West Indies and since they are close to each other it makes sense to say that large plantation owner has easy access to slaves. Compared to us, we grow things because we need it to live and not for profit. At home we grow things like fruits, veggies, and raise animals for us to eat.

            Here in Virginia, profit relies on one main thing, tobacco because the seasons/ temperature tends remain the same, but at home we have season changes which affects what we can grow and what we can’t. Also I have found that land here is more fertile while ours is more rocky, which also affects our agriculture differences.

Love,
Erica

Day 5: Wednesday- Sight-seeing

Hi guys,

I'll be out until sundown walking around and visiting other people and places so I'm not going to update/ say what I learned today. No worries, I'll be back tomorrow blogging about more stuff that I have learned. But before I go its so hot here! I just realized that the temperature is the same all year round unlike home, which right now would be cold windy.

Erica :)

Day 4: Tuesday-Diversity in the South

So yesterday I finished my blog by saying that I would tell all of you about the cultural/ ethnic diversity that I see here in Jamestown. Compared to us Jamestown is definitely more diverse because they have a need for slaves here. The slaves came from Africa which makes it more diverse than  the north. From just walking around I can already see that the population of slaves here is nearly ½ of the total population. Cousin Brandon, here owns a slave who is here to help him out on the farm even though he is a somewhat small farmer he can still afford a slave to help him out. Also here there are races of people, who even some I can’t really tell the difference because it is so diverse. I only know very little about this, but many other countries are also competing for land in the New World, so they send people over here to live and as people live, they tend to move around which can cause people of different race to mix and create different ethnicities. For example the Scots-Irish were created in the New World. I believe that we are less culturally diverse because we came over as a family. This is because families usually stick together and because we are separatists we don’t like to mingle. I have seen so much around here and I really wish that you were here to see it all with me. I’ll be back soon!

Love,

Erica

Day 3: Monday- Learning about the Role of Women

My trip here is half way over. I hope nothing has changed too much with you guys while I was gone. Here I finally see things that are similar to home. Like us in New England the women weave, cook, clean the house, and take care of the children. So, basically women still do the housework in the south. However, because we migrate as families instead in individuals there are typically more women where we live. Also here, women have fewer children compared to us at home because families are weaker. Back in the north however, women are looked upon as less compared to here because men typically live longer. Here in the south, women have more power. This is because it is said that men typically have a shorter life in the south, so women can/ have the right to inherit the money left for them. Also here women are less conservative than we are. When we women in the north commit adultery we have to wear an “A” on our bosoms, if we are caught, but here they don’t do that, and you can tell by the mixed culture around here, but that topic is saved for tomorrow.

Love,
Erica

Day 2: Sunday- Learning about Religion

How's everyone dong at home?
I believe that today is the first time that I haven't gone to our church on Sunday. So, today I went to church with cousin Brandon here in Virginia but he told me that he doesn't really go to church very often because they aren't as dedicated to religion as we are. I learned that they are people who come to the new world in support of the Church of England, however we are trying to reform the Church of England and that made it pretty weird. Here I also noticed that there aren't many women who are able to go to church. Back at home people who have different beliefs that us, would be kicked out of the Mass. Bay Colony, like Anne Hutchinson was. However, here in the south Brandon told me that people who believe in different types religions moved around. For example, Catholics would move down to the colony of Carolina for more acceptance. After church I saw people working on farms and other places and I asked them why do they work so hard and do you know what they said? They said that they do work in hopes of becoming free and to gain profit. I believe that people should work to get the chance to be saved by god. Another interesting fact is that we tend to wake up earlier when we are going to church on Sundays. I would know given that I woke up at our usual time and was ready to go while everyone else was still sleeping. Today has been a very interesting day for me, I learned that people here can have different views from us and our religious practices. Still missing all of you back home, but I'll be back in a few days!!!

Love,
Erica

Day 1: Saturday-Learning About Society

Hi everyone,
Today is my first day in Virginia!!! I still miss all of you back a home though. Cousin Brandon is good and he was showing me around. So, anyways today I learned about society here. So you know how at home we live in a big group together as a family, but here the families are weaker and there aren’t many families because there are more men than women here in Jamestown. Also people here do not live as a democracy, they have a social hierarchy. At the top are the large plantation owners who own these massive pieces of land where the grow tobacco. Then there are the small farmers who make up most of the population here. Brandon is considered to be a small farmer. Then there are these people who are called the landless whites. You may be wonder what there are, well the name says it all, they are whites who do not have land. They might not have land because they used to be indentured servants and their masters took all the land. Then the indentured servants are next in the hierarchy. They are the people whose trip was paid by someone else and so they had to work on the plantations to pay off their debt and eventually they would be freed and gain land. Here I have also discovered that they have massive use of slaves because of their large plantations. Here the slaves are at the bottom of the social hierarchy and treated as if they are nonhuman. Here they even have laws called the Barbados Code to rule the slaves. It is so different here because they don’t live as we do, by majority rules, and it is so weird because not everyone is equal. If they were to come to the north I’m sure that they would consider us weird. Well I have to go now because tomorrow is going to be another adventure!

Love,
Erica