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.