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!