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.

Helen Keller as an example of an exceptional person, by Jacqueline

A person who is exceptional in my mind needs not to be very clever or wealthy or good-looking. All she needs is bravery to confront her adversity in life. Helen Adams Keller is a good example. She became deaf and blind because of meningitis when she was 19 months old. At the age of seven, she received help from a visually impaired lady as an instructor, Anne Sullivan. Anne taught Helen by spelling words on her palm. Since then, Helen grew eager to learn more. Beginning in 1888, she attended special institutes for the blind and the deaf. Later, she went to normal school. In 1904, she finally graduated from Radcliffe College as the first deaf and blind person who earned a Bachelor Degree of Art. After that, she even got a few job, including an author, a political activist and a lecturer. It is nearly impossible for normal people like us to understand how Helen overcame such handicaps. Being blind and deaf, which causes mute together, Helen must have faced a great barrier of communication and learning. However, she not only managed to lead a normal life, but also became an important person in society and contributed to other people.

Even seriously handicapped Helen Keller could make such an amazing achievement. As physically normal people, we have advantages; therefore we should be grateful and work hard.

Rashid writes about his first impression of Dunedin

Prior to my arrival to Dunedin I had gotten information about it through reading books, looking up about it on the internet, and even contacting my cousin who's been staying in Dunedin for some years.

When I first arrived the information i got and the view from the plane gave me the impression that Dunedin is a beautiful city with a lot of greener, and has people who are kind and open to the different varieties of religions and cultures existing in their community.

However, I wasn't fully accurate, all of what i thought was totally different from what I've seen in the subsequent days. The beauty that I had in my mind was not even near what it truly is, the greenery is even more green, the people are much more warm-hearted and kinder than what i expected, and the gentle breeze passing over my skin on a good day was far from what i thought.

On that account, I firmly believe first impressions are not true or perhaps precise and real experience can be very different from what you think

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Gu talks about Newton, Einstein and mathematical equations

An exceptional person usually has some special abilities such as astounding mathematical skills, unbelievably rententive memory, incredible forseeing abilities or some other specific unusual ones. The reason why they are regarded as exceptional is that their ablities are far greater than an average level. Indeed, they add colour to the dull routine of everyday life. However, are they irreplaceable or necessary for us?

As we know, those geniuses eventually are not able to become scientists although they have super abilities. In fact, their abilities can be replaced by modern technology. We may point out that it is just because they lack of creativity therefore they can be replaced. Compared to those special abilities, creativity plays a more important role in human society. For instance, Albert Einstein invented ‘Relative Theory’ although he couldn’t calculate or memorise at high speed. To some extent, scientists like Einstein are much more smarter than those geniuses. They think about science by different ways and achieve outstanding goals.

Newton, who discovered gravity, said he achieved his goals because he stood on the shoulder of a giant. In my opinion, a real exceptional person should have some character like him, observing and thinking about the future of the world by a creative way.

Abdul thought his plane was landing in a farm!

While I was looking through the window to see buildings, roads or even people, I couldn’t see anything but cows! “Are we landing in a farm? “ I was thinking. Seconds before the airplane’s wheels touched the ground, the airport appeared. I was surprised because I was the only person in the plane who didn’t seem to accept the situation. The image, which was in my mind about Dunedin, was a crowded city with high buildings and an international airport with a high security system around the place run by lots of cops. That shock wasn’t about if Dunedin is a good place to live or not. It was about me because I was expecting this place in the wrong way. A few minutes were enough to take me out of the airport and let me accept the features around me. I took a short period of time to adapt on my new environment. The first reactions always take me to the wrong idea. So, I try to ignore them and focus on how I’ll get on with that situation. The main thing that I always remember is a person I disliked when I first met him became my best-friend!

"Ordinary can be exceptional", says Wisaka

Actually, I don’t clearly understand the exact meaning of an exceptional person, but I will explain my first thought towards this question. However I won’t talk about genius, savant or an intelligent people because they’re absolutely outstanding people. What kind of person is exceptional for me is someone who has good emotion, virtue and also has a sensible way of thinking and living in the stressful world. They might not be a successful, well-known person or even have a special talent, it can be someone that you walk past on the street. Someone, who is an ordinary person in people’s eyes, is an inspiration or ideal for someone in any kind of way that might be an exceptional person towards that person, as well. In my life, I’ve known several people that are exceptional for me in different ways, but mostly are about sensible thinking and how to be free from emotional state.

Jakob socialises at Moana Pool

I can actually hardly remember my first impressions about Dunedin, as it was about 1 year ago when I first came through Dunedin. I pretty much only drove through Dunedin and completely missed visiting the beautiful churches, the Octagon, the university and the train station. So my first impression of Dunedin wasn’t very high, cause I only saw some pretty average buildings and streets, although I liked the location between the hills on the one side and the sea on the other.

But now as I’ve lived in Dunedin for a few months, my impression and opinion of Dunedin has changed dramatically. I think I really love it. Not just the beautiful town around George Street and the Octagon, the beautiful Leith Valley, with parks and native bush just a short walk from the city centre away, the awesome beaches St. Kilda and St Clair, but what I think I like most about Dunedin are the friendly people. They are just much more relaxed and happier than for example back home. You share a smile with a complete stranger on the street or have a yarn to a person you’ve met for the first time at an event. You can ask another how he is doing if you share a lane at Moana Pool with him and he will reply with a nod and a smile, instead of just carrying on with his life.

As you can see, first impressions aren’t always right and often it’s worth investing some time to find out a bit more about someone and to know him or her better before prejudicing him. You’ll be surprised what you can discover!

Ahmed suggests searching for our own inner talents

“ Can I be an extraordinary person?”, why don’t we think about this question and try to have the answer.

In this world there are a lot of exceptional people that become famous and known by most people. If we try to imagine why these people became exceptional, we will conclude that these people use their talents to show people amazing things that can help the humanity. For example Albert Einstein who invented a lot of things and some people say that he is once of the exceptional savants who used 25% of his brain. Also there is Kim Peek, the cleverest man on earth. Actually, I was surprised when I first heard about him. So if we want to be exceptional people, we should search for our talents and improve them to do amazing things that make us real special humans.

So lets search for our talents and work to improve them in a good way that be always avail our world and all the creation in this big world.

Sharifa, Einstein and President Obama

Everyone has a different view of an exceptional person. There're many things help to make a person exceptional. Academic brilliance like Einstein, emotional intelligence like poets, being creative and practical. All of them are factors help to make a person exceptional. On the other hand, some people consider they're exceptional because of their richness, fame, gait and style. It isn't necessary to be an exceptional person because of good attitudes, abilities and talents. Sometimes bad things make a person exceptional. For example, the Mafia is a bad organisation for two centuries but it's exceptional since it started until now. In my opinion, academic brilliance makes a person exceptional more than other things.
In my point of view, everyone is an exceptional person. Everyone has special features and abilities. Einstein was an exceptional person because of his theories and inventions. Obama is an exceptional person too because of his policy in ruling the USA. You're also an exceptional person because you've an extraodinary character and a lot of abilities that I haven't yet recognise.

First impression of Dunedin by Ritsuko

Woah!! Dunedin is big, has a lot of things to see and many places to visit!! I thought that when I started to live here at first. It is maybe because all of what I saw was new at that time and I had a prejudice of Dunedin, which is that Dunedin is a foreign country, so it must be different from Japan.

However, as time passes, it has changed. I've got used to living here, going to school and spending time with family and friends. The more I come to know, the less new things would be. It doesn't mean that my impression was not wrong, it is just that things come to be normal, even the newest thing, at the same time.

Dunedin has something Japan doesn't have. It is really interesting. Also, what I felt when I arrived here is not always the same as what I'm feeling now. But sometimes I can find something I couldn't realize at first. That's quite funny. I think everyday has new aspects!!

Naoko is interested in differences

All most all people have a exceptional person in their mind. Boyfriend, girlfriend, best-friend, and so on.
It depends on how important that person is to you. In my case, I have quite a lot of exceptional people in my mind.
The reason why many people are exceptional to me is I don't like to place people.
So for me, every friend is exceptional as important as my family. However, of course other people have different opinions.
For example, my friend places people completely. Even though they are her friend. In her mind, there is the No1 friend, No2friend,etc.
I'm interested in differences between people. It's natural that people are different, but why people are different? I want to know the reasons.
I like different opinions, also characters. They makes me stimulus!

Mohammed likens friendship to the growth of a seed

I think it’s difficult to win real friends these days. For example, the nosiness and luxurious life and devastation of each person are causes that why we cannot find a real friend. However, friendship exists, but one of the problem is when we disagree with the opinion we judge the friendship to premature death. I mean if you are not with me you are against me. So of course it’s difficult to find a friend who agree with you all your thought and ideas.

On anther hand, there are some realistic ways, which naturally happen between people. For example, closer behavior can be a possible way to start friendship.

In my opinion, friendship begins as seed planted and watered to grow and grow. So to grow the friendship we need times and effort, just the same as the seed.

Furthermore, it goes without saying that friendship comes from many aspects. For example, sincerity with oneself first, and then to friend. Also devotion and good handling and good morals. Also, nice dealing with people and helping them and advising.

strong trust = friendship according to Abdul

In our normal life we meet new people almost every day, and the majority of them impress us from the first day we meet them. Afterwards, we realize that two or three people, who we’ve met in our entire life, have become real friends. The only way, that we can define our friendships by, is to know the person as well as we can. If we know each other deeply, our friendships will be built perfectly on strong trust. The other person, from the other side, will respond the same as we gave him our honest expressions. These days, many people look for more friendships, which is a nice thing, but the problem is when they build their relationship on no basis. Day after day, that weak based relationship will carry weight that it can’t stand. Then, the whole building will fall down suddenly. Behave mentally, show good manners, respect others’ opinions and deal with everyone politely. A strong relationships with an irremovable basis will have been built as a result of your previous behaviors. “ Do not try to find your friends, let your friends find you ” very wise words I always look up to.

Alex suggests being a good listener

The best way to win friends and influence people

Winning friends and influencing people are very important parts of our everyday life. Scientists would say that humans are a social animals. It means, that friends and relations are necessary for us. Most people don't know the ways how to win friends and influence people. This is a kind of skills, but psychologists can give us some useful advice. According to Richard Anthony's book we must 1) smile, 2) be a good listener 3) make people feel important. I've mentioned only those three because it is seems to me that they are the most important ones. If you want to make people like you they can be really helpful.
From my own experience, when I have a conversation with an unfamiliar person, I have to remember person's name first to make a good impression. Sometimes it is difficult for me.
The second rule I follow is not to be too blissful. Anyway, I think it is not easy to win friends. People and preferences are different and sometimes it is really hard to listen about stuff, you are not interested in.

Rashid discusses elegance and openmindedness

Getting friends is the hope of everyone;however, the technique of getting friends differs from one person to another. So what are some of these ways? and are they influential?

I will be writing in this blog about some ways that I think are influential and effective in getting friends.

I personally believe that being your true self is the first thing to do to gain new friends, because it makes the person avoid suffering from acting and being different from who he truly is after being friends with that new person. Moreover, he would have a real friend who accepts him for who he really is, thus not making it a fake relationship that might end at anytime.

One of the things that I think is influential is elegance, both in appearance and manners. People are attracted to someone who is gracefully dressed and would like to get to know them better or chat them up in some cases,while if a person is dressed dreadfully people will have a bad impression about him and would most likely avoid him;furthermore, being elegant in manners attracts people as well.

Patience and open-mindedness are also desirable characteristics in a friend, for people usually look for people who are open-minded so they can talk with them comfortably without restriction to certain topic especially things related to religion and culture. Patience is an essential characteristic in a friend that will remain for long or perhaps forever.

Many situations require patience in friendship; for instance, when a person has a problem they want to speak with people who will listen well to them and give them attention and not crack up, thus no one would definitely want a bad tempered person who lacks patience.

These are just some of the characteristics that I believe are influential and makes a person gain friends. So why don't you try being yourself and start being open-minded and patient, trust me you will see the result instantly.

Check out Kota's opinion...

There are some different ways to win friends and influence people. Some people may say that when they meet someone for the first time, they try to overuse their smile to pay attention to them or change their personality more differently than usual.

In contrast to this, others say they don’t want to behave more cheerfully or exaggeratedly because that personality isn’t genuine. Of course we can’t indicate which is a better way to make friends. However, in my case, I prefer the latter one and I have a reason why I think so.

The most important thing for me when I make friends is to accept those who I meet for the first time naturally without decorating my fake personality over my real one. If I make my personality more cheerful or better, I feel to deceive my new friends and even myself. Beside as time passes I start to doubt the relationship between me and them and struggle not to deceive them any more and force myself to get over my bogus personality. Fortunately, I could have made friends in this way without my bogus personality.

Gu writes an opinion on false versus real friends

Are They Real Friends Or False Friends?

With the development of information technology, people find it easy to contact with friends, or make new friends via the internet. However, some people say they would not always whom they could confide in than ever before. Especially for those people, who own a long list of friends in ‘facebook’ or ‘MSN’, do they really have a social network or just have the audience?

The emergence of chat rooms and online networking provides us with virtual space where we can express our opinions, share experiences and ‘collect’ friends. For instance, people may broaden their social network by adding new friends through their friends’ contact list. In this way, a friend of mine has nearly 500 friends in her facebook. In fact, most online networking users have the same features: the fear of outdating and the desire of getting attention. Considering human nature, when people post comments or photos on a website, the psychological fulfillment is that they feel like one member of a group and contribute to their groups. Different from that, a real friend in one’s lofe means that you have a person whom you trust and rely on when you have difficulty. The existence of real friends make us not feel lonely and keep us away from depression. As the saying puts ‘a friend in need is a friend indeed’, we may point out that when you indulge in online networking, don’t forget to contact with your real friends.

Wisaka believes in "give and take"

Wisaka

Advance EB

How do you define friendship?

I think it’s hard to make new friends but it’s hard to develop a relationship to become a good friendship, and it’s harder to take care of the friendship, as well. For me, a good friendship is give and take. Friends who are ready to listen when you want to tell how happy you are but they are also ready to understand and forgive when you are wrong or mistaken, are real, true friends. Sometimes we spend a lot of time together but when time goes by, we grow up and have our direction of life that made us far away. However, we are still concerned for each other. When you are happy, I will be glad for you. Whenever you have a trouble, break down, be discouraged about something, I won’t help you, if you can recover by yourself, I will be pleased. But once you can’t, I will be there to encourage you, and you can rely on me, too. Although sometimes we’ve lost in contact, we know we still care and be concerned for each other. I will take care of our friendship as always. Having really good friendships are like one part of a successful life. If you have good friendships, please take care of your friendship as you can.

Ritsuko's definition of friendship

Friendship is invisible, so it's hard for us to define it. But nobody would
say it is not important in our life. This relationship is absolutely
fantastic and essential for us.
I remember that my teachers told me that to make friends could be more
important than to study even though school is where we should study. Also,
my parents have told me to treat friends very importantly, otherwise, my
life will become poor and sad even though I will become either rich on
clever.
From these experiences from adults around me, I think that friendship is
our treasure. If we can trust our friends, we can make our life happier and
our hearts warmer. Without them, we would be lonely. Friends are ones who
help us when we have trouble, who make us smile and who cry together when
we are very sad. Friendship never breaks and ends even if we have an
argument because it is immortal.