Orokonui Eco Sanctuary

If you have any photos of this interesting day out with Tahu, Sue and Ben, please send them to me and I will post to the blog. What a beautiful day: kaka, pipipi, Ritsuko's bird costume, pepper tree and more...

CONGRATULATIONS!

Congratulations to the entire class for such an awesome effort in your exams. They were tough tests and yet 100% of you succeeded in passing through to the Bridging level -many high enough results for Foundation entry. We will really miss Naoko, Ritsuko and Abdul - especially during the first couple of weeks and then the dynamics will change completely as many of you move to start the Bridging Programme. Thank you for a fabulous 7 weeks - you have made me smile every day with your unique personalities and enthusiasm. Coming to work this term has never been a chore but a joy due to the great bunch that you are. Have happy and safe holidays and look forward to seeing most of you in 2010! Erina

Alex takes us to Stockholm

The city, I’ve been 3 times is located where Lake Malaren meets a Baltic Sea. Meet the capital of Sweden - Stockholm. Every time I visit this beautiful city it impresses me once again. Baroque- style architecture and buildings are what I really like. Once I was a child my mom read me novels of Astrid Lindgren. I bet everyone has heard about Pippi Longstocking, Karlsson-on-the-Roof and a Six Bullerby Children book series. For the fans of her oeuvre there is a museum. Your are sitting on the train and going through a long corridor which is full of animated characters of Astrid Lindgren’s novels. At the end of the trip you are taking a part in an action by yourself. I won’t say how.

However Stockholm isn’t only Astrid Lindgren’s museum. I recommend visiting a few more places. The most interesting place for me is the Old Town. There are plenty of shops with souvenirs. The Nordic Museum is one of the other “must see” places. I would like to mention The Vasa museum. The Vasa is a ship, which sunk 300 years ago, then found and restored as a museum.

I’ve been in many places in Europe but Stockholm is still the most important place for me.

McDonalds is brown in Kyoto!

I've visited Kyoto many times because I really like it. The reason why is there is a lot of traditional architectures and the atmosphere is incredibly awesome. They protect their style which called old-fashioned by some people, but I think old-fashioned things relate to history is must be taken care. As you know, the McDonald's image color is red, but actually, Kyoto's Mc's color isn't red, it's brown. It surprised me when I saw it, because it was completely different from a usual one. I asked why its color is different from other ones to a staff. she said that Kyoto's government and citizens want to protect a lot of beautiful landscapes in Kyoto, so when Mc tried to build their branch in Kyoto, the government made an obligation with them to change the color red to brown. Then, they can share the place. By the way, there are some Maiko, who wear the Kimono, in Kyoto. Moreover, the row of houses along the streets were made us nostalgic and calm. If you have a chance to come to Japan, I strongly recommend you to go there.

Jeju Island is abundant with women and other beauty...read more...

Jacqueline Mung

The place I have visited that I particularly like is Jeju. It is a small Island located to the south of Korea.

Jeju Island is famous about three things – wind, rocks and the considerable number of women. It is windy because of its geography and rocky because it used to be an active volcano. The reason why there are plenty of women is that the men who lived on this island were called up to enlist as soldiers in wars. As a result, the people remained on the island have mainly been women.

I like Jeju due to the simple life and nice weather there. I visited Jeju with a friend a year ago. The guesthouse we stayed at is very close to the coast. There are lots of residents living in that area. They live in tiny little houses and have their own farm. There pace of life of those people is slower, too. Furthermore, the weather in Jeju is typically tropical. Usually, it is breezy, sunny and warm. It will be much more suitable for people who are not fond of the freezing cold, like me.

Berlin - a dichotomy between ancient and modern

The mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit likes to describe his city with the slogan “poor, but sexy”. What makes Berlin, the German capital, poor is obvious. It’s millions of Euros in debts and a high rate of unemployment that make Berlin a notoriously broke city, however what makes it so sexy?

Berlin is alive! It has (only) 3,5 million inhabitants which might look small in world perspective, although it is the biggest city in Germany. I think it is a must-see city when you travel Europe as it has so much to offer. Not only is it a multicultural city that combines ethnic groups from all over the world but it also accommodates a wide range of ages from heaps of young students (Berlin has several Universities) to older pensioners. Most interesting for a tourist might be the incredible range of museums and historic places though. The world famous Pergamon Museum is situated in Berlin and displays exhibits from all over the world and from different ages in history, an example is the well-known reconstructed Ishtar Gate. The amazing thing about Berlin is you don’t have to go to a museum to experience history. Berlin is full of places from former and recent history. Original buildings from the 18^th century but especially the history of the 20^th century are the main topics here. Berlin’s division into 4 sectors and the building of the Berlin Wall separating East and West was overcome 20 years ago with the fall of the Wall, but the marks remain and this part of German history will hopefully never be forgotten and is on display in several museums and at historic places all around the city.

As I said earlier, visiting Europe Berlin is a must and a place definitely worth exploring and checking out.

Sally chats about Hollywood

I don’t think it’s easy to conclude what is Hollywood. As for me, I think it has both side.

Maybe some people think that Hollywood is a place where there are a lot of superficial things, because of the celebrities. Sometimes they don’t control their behaviors. Some of them always give bad influence for society. These things always happen in Hollywood. That’s why some people don’t think thatHollywood is a good place. They think Hollywood is a mendacious place.

But on the other hand, I have to say that Hollywood is definitely a film making place. We all know that many great movies is were came from America, yes, its were all came from Hollywood in America. Los Angeles is a vivid place which has lots of inspiration can become the materials of movies. There are People who come from all over the world. They bring their interesting experience to Los Angeles, some of them also inspire Hollywood.

This reminds me of an old saying, everything has two sides. But believe me, Hollywood is a place which has many many incredible things!

Ancient Kamakura is the place to see, according to Kota

Kamakura is the very place where something beautiful, impressive, historical and ancient is gathered, I think. However lots of people believe that their favorite ancient city is Kyoto. In my opinion, it is Kamakura where I strongly recommend you to Kamakura compared to Kyoto.

Kyoto is one of the quite famous cities in Japan and even in the world. There are lots of temples which are sometimes gorgeous represented as Kinkakuzi and also have “Wabi-Sabi” described “a beauty in simple and silence.” However, the problem is that Kyoto is just a destination for tourists. In other words, it always has crowded people. Besides, you can't enjoy the beauty in silence because Kyoto is urban. After all, you can't afford to get the emotion like the beauty in Kyoto.

In contrast to this, Kamakura has lots of fascinating places and temples like Kyoto as well, which also have beauty. Besides, this town is completely separated from the urban cities, so it is like another world. You can enjoy walking the streets which are lined along the beautiful green, listening to the sound of leaves trembling and breathing the fresh air which contains slight smells from sea.

Why People Are So Fascinated by Celebrities? by Gu

People are always fascinated by celebrities nowadays. Some celebrities have fame, some have charming appearances and some have both of them. In the case of Diana and M.J, their deaths launched them onto a sort of iconic status. But whatever they are, in fact, all of them are commercialized and lose their privacy.

Generally, celebrities become famous due to the media. The media need celebrities for drawing the public’s attention. Meanwhile, the public also needs those celebrities to fill their hollowness. Several years ago, a famous host of CCTV (the largest TV station in China) said that even a dog of CCTV could be famous. I think he is right. With the improvement of our lives, people naturally seek for mental satisfaction. Thus, those celebrities become the ones provide it. When Beckham appeared, even though he was in Manchester United, no one could imagine that he would be so famous. Having perfected by his agent, someone said it’s his wife Victoria changed him into a real celebrity, not only a good soccer player. His fame not only brought him wealth, but scandal as well. It’s just out of people’s curiosity? Of course it’s not. When he began to enjoy himself as a celebrity, he also had to bear all kinds of inconvenience following his fame.

Rashid takes us to Washington DC

I belong to a family of fanatic travelers. Since we love traveling we usually travel each year. The last trip I had with my family was to The U.S.A, we stayed there for a bout 3 months. and visited a lot of places; however, the place that I loved the most was Washington DC.

Washington DC is the capital of The U.S.A and is located in The District of Columbia between Virginia and Maryland. What makes it so special is that even though it's the capital of one of the most powerful countries it's still not polluted and the amount of cars isn't a lot compared with many capital cities, it's a peaceful,quiet place, you can see people people of different ethnicities walking on the streets and also see them play at the parks. Furthermore, Washington DC is the home of the famous Smithsonian Museums. If your a museum fanatic its a place you must visit.The museums that i enjoyed the most were Natural History Museum and Air and Space Museum, they are the most well known museums among the Smithsonian Museums, since they were in the movie "Night at the museum".

On the other hand, if you want to know about American history Smithsonian Museums have couple of museums special for American history.

Washington DC is also famous for having the White House,Abraham Lincoln Memorial, and Washington Monument.

All in all, I believe Washington DC is one city that all travel fans,museums fanatic, or people who are interested in The U.S.A and its history. I also advise you and anyone if they had a chance to travel there!

Better late than never! Rashid's views on the driving age

Vehicles have changed people's lives dramatically, both in a good way and a bad way. It has made transportation faster,more comfortable, and more efficient ; however, it also made people lazier. Anyhow, there has always been controversy about the legal driving age whether it should be reduced or increased.

If you ask me, I believe it should be reduced.

One of the reasons is the eagerness of young teenagers to drive. Personally I believe the eagerness makes many young gteenagers tempted to drive without the awareness of their parents, and without knowing how to drive well they cause accidents. As a result if the legal driving age is reduced teenagers eagerness would be reduced; however, I also believe a good precaution would be limiting the young teenagers driving; for instance, they need to drive with an experienced person for the first couple of years.

Another reason is because of emergencies. If you take my country for example, the ambulance usually takes time till it gets to a house sometimes very late. So i believe that if a young teenager is taught how to drive well he could save a lot of time and might even save a life!

Based on the two reasons I mentioned above I firmly believe the legal driving age should be reduced.

some of the celebrities mentioned by Sharifa...

Because celebrity is a wide word that includes many people from different fields, there are different reasons of why people admire them. Let's start with the sports field. People admire Kaka ( Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite ) because of his high abilities and skills in football and admire Michael Schumacher _ German racing driver _ because of his championships. He became the world champion more than five times.
A lot of people admire celebrities of the art field and they have their own reasons. Let's take some examples. People still admiring Michael Jackson althought he kicked the bucket because he was the pop music king. He was a professional singer. And why some people admire Angelina Jolie because she is the ambassador of good intentions. Teenagers admire Hannah Montana because she has a fantastic voice with an attractive smile and style.
In my opinion politicians are celebrities,as well. I and a lot of people admire Barak Obama because of his right policy of ruling the USA and his special characters. If we think deeply about why people admire celebrities, we will find the human's nature one of these reasons. People are curious. They like to follow others news and break into their privacy. Some people have free time so they spend it in searching about celebrities.

Edinburgh is Ahmed's idea of a wonderful city

In Britain there are a lot of cities and villages. When I was small I went with my family to Britain. We stayed in Edinbrugh. It's in the north of Britain in Scotland. I love that place and I wish to go back again. I like it because it has a lot of historical places like forts,buildings and castles. You can feel the past and imagine how scottish people lived in the past. It's a wonderful city with kind people and I made some friends there because I stayed there fot two years. I wish to go back there again.

Wisaka's dream destination of Egypt

I think most people have names of cities or countries that they particularly want to visit. So do I. When I was a child, I really enjoyed reading mysterious and legendary books, especially ancient Egyptian stories which I couldn’t put down to go to bed. So it was Egypt, which was the name that I particularly forgot how to spell, I hoped to visit. I visited the land of glorious culture and architecture in ancient times which is far from Thailand around 8 and a half hours for 15 days, 2 years ago. I was captivated by the impressive architecture, it was so incredible how they built and created them. The real one and pictures in books were completely different. Every temple or even the cemeteries could make me sense the prosperity of Egyptian civilization, and when I saw exquisite carvings, it gave me goose pimples. It was Temple of Medinet Habu, which didn’t have many tourists, that the symbol of carvings were chiselled deep into stone walls over the length of the palm, so every picture was still very clear. I also like the symbolic animals and hieroglyphs. The Canopic jars, which were used for containing the organs of mummies, used the symbolic and form of falcon, baboon, jackal and human head to relate their belief, as well. Besides, when I was taking a bus in a caravan to Abu Simbel, the outside was the desert and completely dark, but I could feel like the sky was lower than usual. I’ve never seen clear stars as many as that time. It was an indescribable moment. I have many unforgettable moments and events of the Egypt trip which won’t fade away.

Notice from Erina - free public PEACE lecture

International Symposium "Visions of Peace: The West and Asia"

Otago Museum, Dunedin, New Zealand
10-12 December 2009
Open to the public
Sponsored by The Japan Foundation and Division of Humanities, University of
Otago

"Visions of Peace: The West and Asia" is a multi-disciplinary symposium
which explores various traditional conceptions of peace in the Asian and the
Western historical worlds. Current literature, prompted by September 11,
focuses on the laws and ethics of just wars; the ideas and ideals of peace
as they were conceptualized by past Asian and Western thinkers appear to
have escaped scholarly attention. The symposium is intended to fill this
lacuna, thereby shedding light on the hitherto overlooked or
underappreciated visions of peace in the global historical landscape. The
event will be organized according to the following cultural units and
traditions: Islamic, Jewish, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, and European. The
symposium will approach the diversity of the global traditions of the idea
of peace at the interface of religion, philosophy and political thought from
the viewpoint of intellectual history. The main, but by no means exclusive,
focus will be on the "pre-modern" period (i.e. before c.1800). General
theoretical and historical questions to be addressed might include: What did
"peace" mean in a given tradition? Was it primarily political? Was peace the
end or a means for something else? Is it achievable in this world? What are
the conditions of peace? What are the contexts in which peace was valued?
What is the relationship between war and peace? How did each tradition
understand the legitimacy of violence?

Plenary Speakers
Kaushik Roy (Viswabharati University, India)
Yu Kam-por (Hong Kong Polytechnic University)
Shin Chiba (International Christian University, Tokyo)
David Cortright (Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University
of Notre Dame)
Malik Mufti (Tufts University)

This symposium is open to the public and the admission is free. For further
details, please visit:

http://www.otago.ac.nz/historyarthistory/peace/

Abdul reckons 12 is a good age to start driving

The more experience you get, the better you work. This can be true for any part of life. Asking about which age drivers should be when they get a driving license I would, I would say 12 years old!

The reason I believe this is because I learned how to drive when I was at that age. I was driving in my hometown for several reasons the most important one was to transport my family. I was taking my brothers and sisters to and from schools, my mother to relatives' places or markets. Also, I was transporting myself to the places I used to be in. After I reached 18 I applied for a driving license and got it easily.

On the other hand, my closest friend didn't try to drive until he was 18. He applied for a driving license more than once because he couldn't pass. Also, he still has difficulties and had some accidents.

Over all, I think that learning anything, not just driving, from a younger age helps to get good results. Teaching youths to drive with acceptable reasons is a good idea in my opinion. I didn't get any tickets from police when I was driving under the legal age because I was doing that for my family, and in Saudi Arabia "It's Fine"!, police officers say.

NZ traffic accident statistics researched by Kota

I think the appropriate driving age should be over 18. As a reason, young drivers tend to cause the numbers of car accidents because their minds aren’t ready to drive carefully.

When people around 15, it’s one of the most difficult periods, especially at the time when young people feel too much stress toward others like their parents and they are also at a rebellious age, I think. Meanwhile this feeling relates to their driving ways, for example car chases at night or drunk driving.

In 2007 in New Zealand, there was a proposed amendment about the legal driving age. Its content was to increase the driving age from 15 to 16 and to decrease the figure of traffic death accidents. According to statistics from NZ government, the rate of traffic accidents in the first month when young people get the restricted license shows that 18-19 years old points 2.5 times,17 years old tells 4.5 times, 16 years old demonstrates 8 times and 15 years old shows 10 times as many accidents as over 20-year-old people have.

Taking account of the reason in which I mentioned above the driving age should be over 18.

Ritsuko discusses the DFP and it's merits

The programme, DFP, stands for Daily Fluency Programme. This is carried on in order to improve our fluency skills for speaking, reading, listening and writing.

In my opinion, it's sure to be useful for me because at the same time as improving my 4 skills, I can notice which area I'm not good at. It is absolutely important to know my weak point.

In fact, this lesson is not extremely hard but not easy either. Especially, referring to reading, if I had more time to read, I could read it out, got it more perfect tnan now and answer the questions more correctly. However, it is focusing on how fast or quickly I can read and understand it. So, I need a technique to read fast like scanning.

I'm always checking about what is weak for me rather than what is strong for me. Whatever is a bad score, I DO like writing!! Only when writing, do I not need to feel nervous.

Jackie thinks driving at 20 is ideal

In my opinion, the legal driving age should be at least 20. The reason I chose 20 is, that people at this stage are generally more mature than 16 or 18. Although you are legally an adult, it does not mean you are also intellectually sophisticated. It is intelligible that most Governments set the legal age of driving at same as the legal adult age, because there is no other way to sustain a normal person’s mental maturity. The only things they can do are to give you an exam on paper and a practical exam. However, doing well in the exam does not guarantee you will be well-behaved outside on the road, especially teenagers. Therefore, time is the last thing we can count on – the longer a person has lived, the more sensible he is. Of course age is not the main reason for the tragedies on the roads. There are many other trivial factors which can lead to accidents, like weather, technical problems, reckless pedestrians… But when talking about the legal driving age, I would say 20 at least.

Ahmed comments on the DFP

Everyone in the class wants to improve his English I think. This program is very helpful in my opinion. To be honest I've improved my English more. Also this program improves our reading speed, so after that we can read fast in tests or when we should read something fast. I see it too interesting for me. Besides, I think we can improve our listening, so we can do well in tests and we can listen to other people when they talk fast. Generally I think it's a good program with all of these advantages, but about disadvantages I didn't find any of them, because if we think deeply we can deduce that nothing better than focus in English skills to improve them, but maybe other students will find some disadvantages.

Crazy drivers in Dunedin, says Sally

In my opinion, I think that the age limit for driving is 18. Many countries' age limit for driving is 16. I don't think it's a good thing for teenagers. Because they are during the unreasonable time, many of them have strong passion and are eager to be the best one.

For example, I always see some teenagers driving a sports car very fast on Dunedin's streets. They often play very loud music when they quickly pass you. When I first arrived here, it was surprised me. I have never seen it in CHina. It's crazy to me. It's also very dangerous.

That's why I believe the legal driving age should be 18. There is a line between adults and kids. This is 18 years old. When you become 18, that means you are an adult. You have the sense of responsibility. You need to be cautious when you are driving. You must control yourself on time.

Sharifa discusses the driving age in Oman

There's no doubt that a driving license is everyone's dream. The legal driving age differs from one country to another. Some countries allow their citizens to take the driving license at age 20 and others less than 20. If I want to talk about this affair, I have to conclude both proponents and opposers opinions.

Let's start with proponents. Frankly, more proponents are teenagers and people who are in their early 20s. Proponents consider that the legal driving age should be less than 18. They think it's important to get it at an early age because teenagers are depending on themselves and they want to feel their own privacy. On the other hand, opposers believe that the legal driving age should be at least 20. By and large, they say that teenagers are less responsible and most accidents occur by them. What's more, they say teenagers are reckless and don't think about the results.

The legal driving age is 18 in Oman. Actually,! it isn't easy to get a driving license in my country. You have to observe all driving rules and avoid any mistake even if it's very small. My brother sought to take the license more than three times but he couldn't. So, if you're thinking about taking a driving license in Oman, you have to work hard in the driving license. I'm with my country and I think age 18 is relevant to drive.

read what Jakob has to say about the driving age

In my opinion the legal driving age should be 18. In New Zealand a teenager can start to drive a car at 15, although he has to be under the supervision of an adult or person with a full license. I think to start driving at that age is too early for a teenager, especially when there is no compulsory driver’s school. And the consequences are obvious, a lot of young drivers cause crashes with severe damage and loss of lives. Just because they are being stupid, going too fast or being drunk! In my opinion a lot of these crashes could be prevented by simply putting the minimum driving age up! When people start driving at the age of 18, they are much more mature and normally grown out of their puberty, which can make a big difference to their driving behavior. At the age of 18 a young driver can also be made responsible for the damage he causes.

However, I can also see the need for young people, especially in rural areas, to drive a car, just to be mobile or simply to meet friends.

Abdul focuses on the connection between winning and losing

Personally, I don’t like to lose anything either in important or not serious situations and I think everyone does. But, to be honest, it actually changes me better while winning changes me to the opposite side. What I’m trying to say is that I would like to lose when nothing is happening right now, but after losing my response wouldn’t be good at all. Then I’ll get a beneficial result that corrects my mistakes.

Basically, it’s about human nature. We don’t accept losing for different reasons that changes from person to another and those reasons might be “ people will say …”, “ I’ll look stupid and …”, “ I want to win that competition to gain that accolade …”, … etc. but when we look deeper, winning a race, for example, will not give you the chance to work harder the next time. But if you took a place, which is not at the top, you’ll definitely be upset and you’ll try harder to improve your performance.

Another view, which is not related to competitions or races, is losing or winning a new occupation or a place at a university. The same benefit you’ll get when you lose in these positions. Because you’ll stat thinking that you are not good enough and you need to achieve more to reach a higher level.

“ If there is no loser, there will be no winner “ other wise words I follow.

Rashis talks about power, money and kindness - are they all simultaneously obtainable?

It's a natural desire not only for people but also for animals to obtain power; for example, many animals like wolves fight for the leadership of the pack, similarly humans fight and compete for money,fame and leadership.

Yet is it possible to gain power,money and kindness together ?

In my opinion it is possible to obtain them. However,being genuinely nice isnt easy when having money and power for the temptation that can take over people's mind. Furthermore being nice while having power and money have some advantages, it makes the person loved by the people who are lower than him in terms of power and money and if he was a boss his employees will be more loyal and will love working for him, and in case of presidents they can carve their names in history.

On the other hand, many people have power and money but lack kindness and niceness. One way of getting power and money is by working hard till reaching a high power position and of course relatively get more money. Another way would be by cheating people out of their money or lying to them which unfortunately is happening a lot around the world. Even though many powerful, rich people pretend to be nice their efforts usually end up in vain and their true color is revealed.

All in all, although it's easy to obtain money and power it's hard to add genuine kindness and niceness to them.

Read Alex's last line on how to succeed.

What are some of the things that you do to cheer yourself when you're feeling a bit low.

There are some things that help ma to cheer myself when I'm feeling a bit low. The first thing is a good rest. Everyone needs it and I'm not an exception. When you're preparing for the exams or important assessments you can suffer from sleep deprivation. In this kind of situation I just go to bed. The second thing I do is I meet my friends. It is really good to get support from them. I remember, when I studied in the first level of my home uni, I didn't pass an exam. I met my friend and he said that he hadn't pass either. So we shared our problem and decided not to worry about it. The third thing I do is I watch news. I don't really mean a good news. When you watch on TV some news about war, hunger and other terrible things that happen in the world, you really understand that your problem is not a problem. It helps me to bring myself together.
Never ever give up and everything is possible for the believer! Indeed, you wanna make an omelet, you gotta break some eggs.

Sally discusses homesickness and cures

Topic: What are some of the things that you do to cheer yourself up when you're feel a bit low?

Everyone has their own " low times ". We always do something to get ouot of that. For me, it depends on the different situation.

Firsty, if I feel stressed in study, I'll give myself a little holiday. I'll just stay at home, cook a delicious meal for myself, watch movie on the sofa or even on the bed. I won't talk to anybody, just to be relaxed and quite. During the day, there is no text book and work book. Just do what I what to do.

Secondly, if I have some problems about my friends, I'll talk to my mom. She will confort me and give me a lot of advice. She will also teach me how to handle those problems.

Finally, there is sort of a new " low time " coming to my life. It's homesick and feel lonely. When I feel homesick and lonely, I'll hang our with my best friends. We'll go shopping, go to cinem! a to watch a comedy. By the way, I'm a big fan of movies. It means movies will make me feel comfortable and relaxed. Also, telling my best friends about my thoughts is a good way to get ride of these unhappy things.

Anyway, when you feel low, you can talk to your parents, your friends, even your teacher. Sharing with someone can decrease our upset feeling. Or you can just stay at home and do what you want to do. In a word, anytime, remember remind yourself that everthing will be ok!

Mohammed promotes the idea of not making a mountain out of a molehill

There are many people who believe that they can encourage themselves to the psychological state in which they live or the health situation which is causing the decline in sentiment.

Some of them make a special program to help themselves with their family and friends or even by themselves which is concentrating on the positive aspects in their life. For example, aid or gained in their life as whole to be reminded of person’s importance.

Others try to get rid of the problems the effected the mood for traveling or staying and relaxation reading books. Also others try to spend their getting rid of thinking about the psychological problems.

I’m a kind of person who sometimes cannot concern himself or do anything to promote psychology. Also who worrying about the things which could be small. I might be wrong but this is my nature .

I believe that doing anything to feel better sense of your spare time and your personal social because it makes you forget your hard time. In addition, if I want to try to do anything in order to help myself to feel more comfortable and relaxation change my psychological state for the better, I see my circumstances first and then I do what I planned to help myself.

Is it true that if you win you become king? read what Gu has to say...

Lose, You Are A Bandit

Most people dislike losing. The feeling of losing is so terrible that no one can ignore it. When the Chinese national soccer team failed enter the 2002 world cup, the whole country was full of despair and anger. The supporters went to the streets expressing their dissatisfaction and nearly all the media got involved with the largest scale of criticism. On the other hand, when the U.S.A’s dream team, which was thought to be unbeatable, was defeated by the Argentinean national team, their supporters didn’t response so severely. I cannot imgine if the dream team were the Chinese national team what would have happened. Needless to say, what welcomed them would have been nothing but the insult. So what’s the difference between these two different attitudes toward losing? Maybe two different social environments should be responsible for this. In the case of China, there are over 1.4 billion people so that competitive consciousness is strongly stuck to people’s mind. A famous Chinese saying is that win, you are a king; lose, you are a bandit. However, people in the U.S.A don’t regard losing too seriously. To them, it’s just a game. They watch games for fun. Recently, a vigorous campaign has spread through China. Authorities began to investigate notorious illeagal soccer gambling and some suspicious matches, which were believed to be controlled in advance. Those who benefited a lot from the illegal behaviours were arrested. They never minded losing their matches before because they obtained more illegal income than normal salaries. Now, the will be judged and someone maybe will spend the rest of his life in prison.

problem solving with Ritsuko

[What I do to break low feelings]

It's been said by my mother that I'm a person who easily gets disappointed and feels low. I'm sure I am that.

When I get frustrated, I'm always talking or consulting with my friends on who I really rely. It is not my family because sometimes friends would be better to do that rather than family members.

I can talk directly only to friends I can trust. Also, I can cry, smile only in front of them, which means I can show them my real feelings. It is difficult for me to show any friends my miserable appearence even though I'm a trusting person. To trust and to rely on are not always same.

After talking to them, of course, all problems are not solved but I can feel better than before doing that.

Now, when I'm in trouble, I talk to friends who are not in New Zealand. They really help me, so I should thank them

Jacqueline's solutions for cheering herself up...

When I feel a bit low, there are a few things I will do to vent my negative emotion. Sometimes, I will feel a little unhappy and exhausted because of the stress from daily life. I will listen to

some gentle music which does not have people singing so that I will not have to think about the

lyrics. Slowly, I will indulge in the music and start to relax. If I am in anguish, I will turn on the

TV and watch a comedy. I will try hard to distract myself from thinking about what put me in

torment by concentrating on the plots. Usually, it is better to pick a movie which has a fast pace

and lasts for a certain period of time. Hence, you will not be able to contemplate anything else.

Whenever I feel indignant over something, I write. I will not write a story but exactly what

happened. Writing everything down and posting it on to my blog, I retain calmness. It is like

pumping the fury out of me. In addition, if I see my friends leaving comments which show that

they are on my side, I feel even better.

These are the ways I cheer myself up when I am feeling low.

How does Wisaka cheer herself up?

Having many kind of things can cheer me up from feeling a bit low, some of them might be quite common things that I do everyday. However, the lower I’m feeling, the stronger emotion I can express or feel. Taking time for a rest, entertaining myself, singing out loud, dancing and drawing lines are also good ways to cheer me up. Actually, sometimes these are just like escaping from the real world, thought it can make me happy, but that’s just for a while. Another thing that I find useful when I live in NZ is a familiar voice. I call my mom when I felt a bit low, but rarely, because it would make me gets used to calling her every time, and that is not an ideal. However, I think the main reason that always makes me feel down is my mind, and this is the main thing that can completely cheer me up. Because finally, nothing can help except my inner self, if my mind is still stuck and thinks about that feeling. After I can get through it, I feel proud and my mind is also gradually improved and exercised to be stronger.

Naoko turns a negative mood to a positive one

Actually, I tend to feel low easily, because I don't have any confidence in myself at all, but I don't want to lose.

In general, people who want to be winners work hard to win and get confidence. However, in my case even if I worked hard, I can't get any confidence. I can declare that I'm a negative person. What's the difference between a positive person and negative person? I think if you're a positive person, when you work hard to win, you can think I work very hard, so I can be a winner!, but if you're a negative person, you can think I worked very hard, but the other people must work hard, too! How can I expect I'll be a winner? That's the difference.

I realized that I'm a negative person, I'm trying to be a positive person. I try not to think things negatively. So when I feel a bit low, I think that that thinking was negative, wasn't it? How could it be more positive? Then is I get positive thinking at the time, I can feel better! It's my solution.

The Gulf Cup as an example by Sharifa

When I was 11 years old, my Arabic teacher divided us into groups and we played together. My group lost. I did nothing except cry. When I grew up and started to understand the nature of life, I knew that it isn't necessary to be victor at all times.
" Day for you and day against you " is an old Arabic idiom. We used to hear it after every loss. It means you won't win everyday. Actually, we are living in a battle. We have to struggle in order to reach our aims. Perhaps, we will lose sometimes but we won't lose at all times. For instance, Oman's team had reached the final match in the Gulf Cup three times but it couldn't take the cup more than one time. In 2005 we played against Qatar and we lost. In 2007 we played against UAE and we lost too. The loss didn't make us desperate and didn't stop us struggling. We worked hard and we won the Gulf Cup in 2009. In sport we have to be flexible and accept loss with high sportsmanship. However, we shouldn't give loss an opportunity to break our aims and dreams. We have to learn the reasons of losing and try to avoid them next time.
When you lose marks in grammar or vocabulary tests, don't be bleak. Just say to yourself " I will do better next time and I'll be able to improve my marks ". Ultimately, I wish you all the bes

Ahmed's words of wisdom

Everyone works in a different place or has an activity with different expertise, so as a rule everyone will get money, appreciation or anything that he or she needs from going the work, but there are some people who lose the job because of lazy working or lose trade because of bad treatment with people. These people who lose are different in one thing. Some of them accept this loss and others will disappointed when they hear that they lose, so some people hate losing and some not. The people who don't hate losing think one thing in their minds and this thinking is " What we have to do is to learn from our mistakes and try harder next time to reach the point that we need. These people have ambition in their life, so they will never give up. They will try until they achieve the goal that they dream. Like the Honda owner who lost a lot of things in his first try to build cars factory, but he didn't give up until he achieved his dream. That's what we should do. Keep going without giving up.

How does Kota cheer himself up?

When I feel a bit low, in my case, there are two directions where my mind goes to cheer me up. The first one is going inside my mind and the second one means going outside from my mind. Going inside means I treat my low feelings by myself. I tend to play the guitar when I fall down. Playing musicdirectly relates to the emotional part of my mind, so it also means when I feel low I can play it more emotionally and it helps me to get over my depression. In other words I can touch a sort of sympathy which generates one of the most reliable things between me and music and playing guitar. On the other side, going outside simply means personal communication with my friends. If my depression is not big, I tend to talk with them about what happened to me. Some of my friends give me pep talks. However the others give me some severe advice as “You shouldn’t feel depressed about such a small thing.” While I don’t prefer the second one, both of them are good way to start me up again.

an exceptional composer according to Kota

What makes a person exceptional in our mind? I’ve seen lots of good people for more than 20 years. However, when I consider an exceptional person, I want to define him not just as a good person but someone who has given me some important opportunities or something special in my life. Besides, I suppose an exceptional person’s ideas or thoughts have stayed in my mind for a long time. Summing up these points, I discovered a famous composer in the world who I can consider to be my exceptional person. He is not a sort of strong person, but fragile. Besides, he is also not a sociable person. However, he can believe himself through his music. There is pure and emotional music in his mind and he is the only residents there. Some people might think he’s alone shut up in his mind. But it’s not true because his music is in outside his mind and a lot of people can feel impressed by touching his music. I suppose he is in a different position from any other composer, so he is the exceptional person for me who I really admire.

Alex compares his hometown St Petersburg with Dunedin

When I first arrived, my impressions of Dunedin were very different. But I think that they have matched with imp I had expected. Indeed, because of its location, Dunedin isn't a very warm city. A cloudy sky and wet weather have an influence on people, but for me its not a problem. My home city Saint-Petersburg is also very,very cloudy. The Finnish Gulf affects our weather. Certainly, Dunedin's winter is warmer than Spb's winter, but a summer I bet is the similar. The second impression was about a city's size. When you live a whole of your life in a 4.5 million mega-police it can surprise you.
Anyway, I think that Dunedin is a very safe place, because of its students population. Nowadays , I've got some friends and activities, such as Unipool, and I've never got bored. I can add, as well, that I really enjoy beaches and mountain climbing here in NZ. I've got a car and it enables me to travel.
To sum up, I would say that Dunedin is a great place to study and I've got a nice opportunity to win some new friends.

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Sally cites her Mum as a prime example of determination as an aspect of exceptionality

When I was young, I thougt people who will play with me were exceptional, because they made me happy. But now, my mind has absolutely changed a lot.

In fact, there are many things that will make a person exceptional in my mind. But the most important is determination. People who have determination always impress me. For example, my mom was a nurse when I was in primary school. But she didn't like it. She give up the job and go to America. She studied management at Cornell University. Now she is an angent for students studying abroad. When I grew up, she told me that's because nurse is not her dream job. She thought that was not her whole life. She wanted to change it. She thought she not only just want to be a nurse. By the way, she was the best nurse when she left the hospital. To be honest, when she told me how she noved on, I was so surprised about that. No matter how hard, she still kept going on. After I heard about her story, I'm trying to keep my goal, and try not to care about difficulties and beat it. So as you can see, people who have determination really affect me a lot.

Determination is so important to me. Sometime when I lose confidence, I often tell myself to be strong, to be determined and to finish things perfectly.