My Trip to Rockridge

Rockridge is a very interesting and different part of Oakland. I had been there before but not like I did yesterday. Yesterday I actually went inside the little stores, I ate there, and I talked to a few people who live there. It kind of reminds me of a “Laguna Beach” type of place, with a lot of rich white people. White people are definitely the majority and there were only a handful of minorities sprinkled here and there. There are a lot of little stores and restaurants, and coffee shops but none of them are mainstream except for a Trader Joe’s and a Safeway. I ate at a pizza at a place called Zachary’s Pizzeria or something, and the food was great! I also went inside the little stores to look at clothes which to my surprise were extremely expensive; we’re talking $130 for a plain white t-shirt okay! Ri-di-culous! I mean, that says a lot right there, because I doubt anyone in East Oakland would be able to afford that, and even if they could I doubt they would be stupid enough to waste their money like that lol.But anyways, most of the people were very friendly, a few were very snobby but hey! I interviewed about 6 people; I asked them questions about what they thought about their community, and if they thought their community was diverse and things like that. They all said pretty much the same thing, that it was a relatively safe area, kind of diverse but not really, a few incidents have occurred around there, and that there were mostly white people and not very many blacks or Latinos. I enjoyed my visit to Rockridge but I don’t think it would be a place where I would want to live. To me it seems kind of boring, or like everyone does the same thing, and that’s not my style at all. I would say the best part was the food, they have so many different places to eat and they all looked great, so if I ever go back to Rockridge it would most likely be just to have a bite!

My Trip to Chinatown

Even though I have lived in Oakland all my life, I had never been to Chinatown. Yesterday was my first time actually going and walking around there. Before I went, my perceptions of Chinatown were that it was going to be just like being in China, which it was. There were Asian people everywhere, Asian stores, Asian restaurants, Asian street signs, Asian everything! So, my perceptions didn't change at all, it was pretty much everything I expected.

There are major differences between Chinatown and Fruitvale like the people, the cultures, the stores, the surroundings. Fruitvale is full of pretty much nothing but Latinos, while Chinatown has nothing but Asians. I didn’t really find any similarities between the two. One thing that surprised me a lot was the food. I never knew that the Chinese food we're used to eating is very American. My teacher Mr. Lee who was with me on this trip, and who just so happens to be Chinese was telling me how real Chinese food was very different to let’s say Panda Express and how he didn’t think that Americans could handle it. So we went to a very Chinese restaurant with real Chinese food, and what could I say! It was definitely different. I loved the food, the textures were different, as well as the taste, but I really liked it a lot. My favorite thing that I tried was the pig meat, and this type of bread covered in noodles, they were yummy!

Grafitti in Oakland

This photo was taken at an alley in the back of Life Academy High School in Oakland, California. This is a symbol how ghetto and dangerous Oakland really is. You can see people like to tag their turf, what gang they’re in, or what clique they belong to as well as their nicknames or “tagging names”. They cross other things out and write what they want. I remember when I first started going to Life Academy in the fall of 2007, and there weren’t really any taggings on the wall, I guess they had painted over them or something, and as time went by I started seeing more and more taggings. I just think it looks horrible and I think the people who do it are ridiculous! I think gangs and cliques are ridiculous as well. These are the reasons why people get killed every day, and really, when you think about it, it’s over NOTHING. Like, don’t these people have anything better to do than to write on walls? Get a piece of paper and write on it!