icedcoffee

2006-06-30T06:43:00.000-07:00

Interview from Harjit

Harjit was born in India in 1983. She grew up in a big family. There were fourteen people in her family. She has two younger sisters and a younger brother.
Harjit's hometown is Nawan Shabr which is located in North India. It is a medium city in her country. It is a beautiful and modern city. Most families have their own car. People attach importance to education in her city. Ninety percent of students are highly educated and many graduated from University.
She started studying in primary school when she was five years old. After she finished high school. She studied Arts which included History, Political, Science, English etc for three years in University. She graduated in University two years ago.
She worked in an insurance company for four months before she came to Australia. After she met her husband she got married and migrated here. It was interesting that Harjit did not meet her husband by herself but her father first met her husband and thought that he was a good person then asked Harjit to meet him.
Right now, Harjit has started a new life in Australia.

2006-06-18T02:09:00.000-07:00

Write your opinion about Emile’s podcast and slide show. Did you enjoy them? Did it inspire you?
Would you like to do something similar yourself?
……………………………………………………………
Emile's podcast and slide show were fantastic. The photos were beautiful and interesting.
I enjoyed it so much because he showed me the places and some of them which I had never been to.
A long time ago I wish I would go travelling around the world after I was rich or after I retired but Emile reminded me that I could go travelling when I am young, healthy and childless as well. Emile was courageous because there are not many people who can go travelling without work for a year. One year is not a short time. He should spend plenty of time to prepare the trip. I admire Emile who could visit a lot of amazing places with his wife. It was so romantic. Especially he could speak English which he could talk to the
other people and got more understand their culture. I think time, money and language are all important in a long itinerary if you would like to get more fun.
It inspired me that I have to work hard to improved my English and find a good job and Save money then I would be able to get myself a great travel in the future......

What I think from the story

2006-06-18T01:28:00.000-07:00

I think Bilel Jideh was lucky that when he just migrated to Australia then could meet Geoffrey, who is a nice person and wanted everyone to study. Because his own education was hampered by his poor English skills and he did not want to see that happen to other kids so he would sit down with the kids and go through their homework after work. When Bill first started working for Geoff he was a nice kid from a good Muslim family and his communication skills were so poor that could not read anything. He had the vague idea that he wanted to go to university but he didn't have any concept of what that meant and how he could achieve it. Geoff showed him the way that he started to read everything from newspaper and magazines to novels. He began by reading one page a day, then three, then 10, then 150 and he had a log book and would write down all the words he did not know then learn them to improve his vocabulary. I think this way also is good for me to learn English.
And two things influenced Bill to step by step get his dream. One was his sister- in- law who showed him people like us could go to university and he was also inspired by what Geoff's daughters had done, as one of them had gone to a top selective high school. Finally he has got into medicine at university through his hard work.
Sometimes, people do something inspired by someone. In fact, I can get a lot of inspiration from this story. I would like to bring my English up to be good enough for university, even though I might not go there, but I always think that it is so difficult to me and sometimes I want to give up. After reading this story I have to tell myself I can not give up because I was from level 1 to began learn English in TAFE and now I am studying in level 4 that it is not easy and I have to persevere in it.

An icon from my hometown

2006-06-18T01:18:00.000-07:00

In the world, including China, many cities all contain their own municipal flower. In Guangzhou the flower is Kapok which grows in one of the taller trees in China, called the Kapok tree.
It is about 7 or 8 floors high. It blooms in early Spring March, April. It first grows after the leaves have fallen, so you can not see the greenery. To see bare branches with flower and no leaves is very unusual and strikingly beautiful.
The flower has five arc-shaped petals. The petal is very big and heavy, because its colour is a beautiful red. It is also called"red cottonor"or"hero flower". The implied meaning is one of ambition, high conviction and strength, so it has become Guangzhou symbol. People at the sight of the red cotton will think of the city - Guangzhou.
In fact, you can make a delicious sweet with this flower. In the rainy season of Guangzhou the pistils from this flower are also used to make a warm material for clothes which are good to keep out the cold. Kapok can be turned into Chinese herbal medicine as well.
The Kapok is not only appreciated for this visual or edibility value, but also as a beneficial medicine.

A report about Platypus

2006-06-18T01:04:00.000-07:00

The Platypus is a unique animal in the world. Its unusual appearance is so interesting. Most of them stay in the forests and rainforests on the east coast of Australia.
It is an aquatic mammal. It has a streamlined body without external ears. Its duck-shaped bill is rubbery and sensitive. Its fur is dark brown on the back, pale cream to reddish below. The feet have long, sharp claws. It has a flattened paddle-like tail. Males have a sharp poison spur on the ankles of their hindlegs. Its average length from head to tail is 48 centimeters.
It digs a burrow in river banks and lakesides, just above water level. It does not like to live in deep water. It likes to be alone. In the winter it hibernates from May to September in cooler climates and it breeds from August to October. It is an egg-laying aquatic mammal and once it lays two eggs. The mother of Platypus produces milk to feed the young of Platypus.
The Platypus likes to eat insects, worms and small aquatic creatures. It travels up to 2kilometre looking for food. It detects electrical impulses from prey with sensors on its bill and it sifts food from the river bed with its bill.

My hometown

2006-04-08T08:53:00.001-07:00

I am going to write about my hometown-GuangZhou. GuangZhou is in South of China which is the famous capital city of GuangTon state. It takes two hours by train to another famous city-HongKong. GuangZhou is a big, busy and modern city which has 400,000 population. Also it is an international visitor and finance centre city.
There are Spring and Autumn fairs in Guangzhou every year. Traders come from different counties in the world. Every season the fairs bring volume of business over a hundreds million. It eatablished the international finance centre status of GuangZhou.
There is a long and beautiful river which is linked to the end of pear river. In a summer night, a lot of whole families and lovers stroll around the river. Many visitors sail in boats on the river to enjoy both sides of bright lights. It is an amazing night. And there are five bridges look like five rainbows stretched over the river. It joins south and north side of the city. They are the main hubs of communications of GuangZhou.
White Cloud Mountain is the highest and most picturesque place in GuangZhou. It has a medicine factory on the top and a clear valley next to the factory. They use the valley water to refine the medicines. Before there was a out of military bounds. Right now, it has become a public sport and relaxation place. Especially at the weekend almost all companies and schools organize to climbing the mountain and some families take a picnic there. You can also taste some of the special snakes which are made with Spring water.
GuangZhou is a paradise on good food. Any kinds of delicious food in the world you would find there. Of course, cheaply.
There people are kind and diligent. A lot of young people from other cities come over there for working or studying. It is like a big family.
During Chinese New Year, there are three days of large flower flea markets in each suburb. After finishing Chinese New Year Eve dinner, most families go out to the flower flea market for choose some beautifull flowers or craft goods. Some young people buy peach blossoms then put them in the middle of the living room. They wish they would be able to get a good lover in the future.
If you would like to spend some time there, you shall find out GuangZhou is a special and great city in China.

Snakes in my country

2006-04-08T06:48:00.000-07:00

The snake is a reptile. It has hard teeth, a long and saft tongue which is nimble. Sometimes snakes use it to catch insect. The snake has a long and smooth body without arms or legs. It creeps with its body and travels up quickly.
The snake lives alone. It lives in grassplot, but sometime it coils its body around trees. In the whole winter, it likes to hibernate in a hole or in a overgrown area.
Almost all kinds of snake are safe animals. But one of them is a poisonous snake - Glasses snake, it is a dangerous animal. Usually it is very quiet, but if it is heard a little bit sounds. It will just alert and moving quickly even initiate assault. Its teeth are attack weapons. If after it is taking a bite, the teeth will radiate a poison and make the adversary anaesthetized, even die.

2006-04-08T06:20:00.000-07:00

Multicultural Table Manners

Don't start eating before other people come and sit down.
Don't sit too close to the table.
Don't talk when the food is in your mouth.
Don't make noise while you are eating.
Don't eriticize the taste if your friend has cooked for you.
Don't pick up the food from the opposite side.
Let the oldest people start eating.
Don't place your elbow on the table.
Don't paste the food on your face and your teeth.
Don't only just choose the food that you like.
Don't stand the chopsticks in the rice.
After finishing eating you can offer to help.

Answer for Touring Europe

2006-03-18T19:16:00.000-08:00

1.When did Mirella get back to Australia?
Mirella got back to Australia few weeks ago.

2.What did she do at the end of November?
She finished her exams at the end of November.

3.When did she start her trip?
She started her trip at December.

4.Did she take time off from university?
No, she did not. She came back two weeks before university started.

5.How long did Mirella spend travelling?
She spent 11 weeks for her travelling.

6.Was she travelling alone?
No, she was travelling with her boyfriend.

7.Where did Mirella go frist?
Mirella went to England frist.

8.Where did she stay?
She stayed in a town where is 40 minutes from London. She lived with her boyfriend's
grandmonth for a month.

9.How did she find it?(What did she think about the place?)
She thought the weather was not bad but compared to Australia was too cold where was
amazing and very beautiful.

10.How does she describe seeing her frist snow fall?
It was amazing. She has never seen before.

11.How did she travel around?
She travel around by car and train.

12.What 3 towns did she visit in England?Tell us what she says about them.
She frist visited Oxford-a large university town. There is a very nice university. After she
went to the hall bath town. Then she traved the Brighton-beach town where built a thousand
years ago and it is a busy town.

13.What film did she talk about and why?
She was talking about "Horry Potter" because it filmed there.

14.After England, where did they go?
After England they went to Prague.

15.What's very different in Prague?
The weather was cold and the food was interesting. All food, beer were cheap.

16.What's the food like?
A lot of heavy and fried things there.

17.What do they call Paris?Why?
They call it is "The city of lights" because at night the Paris tower likes a diamond.

18.What did they do in Paris?
They had a dinner in Paris.

19.What did Mirella taste?Why did she do it?
She ate snails because she was interested in it.

20.Describe Switzerland as Mirella found it.
Switzerland is a beautiful and clean city but whole things more expensive than Paris and
England.

21.What's good according to Rosa?
Is good lived with local family then you would seen more place and get more idea.

22.Tell us about Mirella's expenrience in Venice. What did she do? What did she eat?
In Venice she visited a church and she ate many kind of pizza. Pizza is very cheap there.

23.What was the hightlight of her trip?
The hightlight of her trip was Paris where is a wonderful city.
Another was in Switzerland. They stayed in a hotel on the top.

24.How could Mirella afford such a long trip to Europe?
They saved money about two years for this trip that no shopping for clothes,
no restaurants and working hard.

25.Did she have any money left?
Yes, she left 200 Australia dollar.

Harmony Day

2006-03-13T14:59:00.000-08:00

Harmony Day is an opportunity to celebrate our cultural diversity, re-commit to our common values of respect and goodwill, and to say 'no' to racism

My first tour

2006-03-06T17:02:00.000-08:00

I went for my first tour when I was nineteen years old.I went there with my three friends. It was during Chinese New Year. The city is in South of China. It took twelve hours by train from my home town. We spent a whole night in the train. After we got there, we caught a bus to Mountain Heng.
One hour later, what a beautiful view in front of us. We could see the whole mountain was covered by snow. We could see nothing but all white except the trees. It was so exciting, because that was my first time to have seen the snow. It was a magnificen view, so we decided to climb the top of mountain. It was a long hard climb-about four hours. The problem was that it was so wet and steep. The people had to link hands to avoid falling off. Some people went the lazy way, they went over and down under on a chair carried by 2 men on their shoulder.....We stayed a night in the motel on the top. The motel was simple and plain. It was amazing that eight people lived in a bedroom and they did not know each other. We had not get enough water to wash ourselves.
It was wonderful, though.

Hello

2006-02-13T17:04:00.000-08:00

This is my first ever post in a blog!A blog is your easy-to-use web site. What you want to do... you can.