Life In Auckland Compared To Life In Syria

Auckland: Opening my exhausted eyes felt like the usual everyday wakening. I had a late night watching movies with my sisters once again and I had woken up late for school. I slowly got out of bed feeling glum and still very tired, not intrigued about what I had planned for today. But my life went on, and it was going to be another normal everyday life for me. Syria: Startled awake by my little brother screaming in my ear telling me to wake up, I jumped to my feet from the cold hard floor. He had another nightmare. When I was eight my mother left my little brother and I to care for ourselves. I was now fifteen-years old and I was used to things like this happening. “BOOOM!!” went another bomb. Kenny wrapped his arms around my legs and said with a worried voice “when will this war ever end Rita?”

Auckland: I grabbed my lunch, shoved it in my bag, kissed my mum good-bye and was off to school. Half way towards the school grounds I met my friends and walked the rest of the way with them. School was normal today. All I was excited for was the volleyball training I had after school. I couldn’t wait, because that was probably the only sport I was ever good at. Syria: It was empty, as usual, the cupboards were never even half filled with food ever. My brother and I were stranded in a house filled with 5 families. When would I ever expect it anyway. “You can’t catch me” said my little brother as he scurried along playing with the other children. At least he had friends, and wasn’t as miserable as I was. Although at times I wish I could go to school, to make some friends. I had that feeling once again of isolation, and hunger. Auckland: Running laps wasn’t quite the ideal training for me. But since I had slacked off hanging out with my friends instead of arriving to training on time I had to face the consequences. After a good five laps around the gym I finally was told to stop and join the team for proper training. Afterwards as I was walking home I stopped by the shops and bought myself some food with my pocket money I got each week for doing my chores. Than I was on my way home, with my day coming to an end. Syria: Food and money was hard to come by, and a good education as well. I couldn’t make enough money for my little brother Kenny to attend school, so I had to tutor him myself. I could hardly read but I tried my best to teach him what I knew, how to survive, how to stay of trouble, how to fight. If I left this world unexpectedly at least I would know that my ten year old little brother Kenny knew how to take care of himself. Auckland: I entered through the back door, then made my way up the stairs to my room. I was exhausted from training and needed a shower, so I took one for at least 20 minutes or so. I hopped out of the shower, got changed, and went down for dinner. Dinner was scrumptious, and after washing my dishes I checked my Facebook, then hopped into my cosy warm bed. Once my head hit the pillow I was all lights out. Syria: Dawn was falling and I needed to get home from a long day of work as fast as possible before something bad happened. I pushed my way through the rubble, and dirt blocking the entrance to my house, and entered through the front door. I only earned $5 today, which wasn’t enough to buy a loaf of bread but enough to buy at least five slices. So I bought five slices anyway and took them home for supper. My brother and I halved one slice, then decided to make our way to bed (hard floor). He lay his head down against my chest and fell asleep. I could hear his stomach rumble, which made me feel bad because I blamed myself for this happening. But my stomach was empty as well but there was nothing I could do about it. So I laid there staring at the almost completely wrecked ceiling wondering why life was to tough.

Career Path

Career Path:

1- Lawyer

Three main things you have to do to become a successful lawyer, you must have confidence in defending your client. Two you must either have graduated with a masters, or bachelor of laws degree from university. And also thirdly you would need to be legally licensed. I really want to become a lawyer when I grow older because it pays a really good amount of money.

2- Flight Attendant

Travelling around the world is awesome, and by becoming a flight attendant it can become much easier to travel. To become a flight attendant you must have passed level 3 in hospitality. It is an amazing job that lets you travel around the world.

3- Teacher

To be a teacher you need to obviously be educated. Becoming a teacher is a really good thing, because you are able to teach, and help children learn.

4- Game Tester

Playing and testing video games for companies is a real convenient job. If you are very interested in to game playing like me, this is definitely the job for you. You get to play and test games both online and on consoles to see if they are good to be released and played worldwide.

5- Chef

Chefs are usually good with food. They have the ability to cook superb types of food. Being a chef means a lot of study, and cooking work obviously. I reckon becoming a chef would be really cool because you would learn how to cook for your family, and eventually you will have your own restaurant.

What In the World Is Going On- Skydiving Crash In Belgium

Just recently in Belgium there occurred a devastating plane crash, taking all the lives of those who were on-board. It was supposed to be a fun day, but it had all gone wrong. The Pilatus PC-6 Turbo Porter plane which the instructor and the skydiving pupils were all boarded on took off in partly cloudy weather.

A few minutes away from where they took off witnesses say that they saw part of a wing break off, which sent the plane skydiving itself. One witness said in his own words “It nose dived and crashed into the ground like a stone.” The plane was estimated to be 3km high above the sky before it suddenly came plummeting down.

The skydivers and instructor had no time to escape, a few tried but failed doing so. Everyone on board was tragically killed. No one was hurt on the ground, but the families of those who had died were definitely hurt inside.

My Maths Work

Mahia's Mural.

Mahia is an artist. She has been commissioned to paint a mural on wall of a company's warehouse. The company wants the mural to be abstract (not representational) and they want it to show the colours of their company logo. They have specified it needs to have 1/3 blue,  1/6 red, 1/12 yellow, 1/12 white 1/12 purple and 1/4  green. They want it to have 2 lines of symmetry (reflection)  and  a rotating and translating pattern somewhere.

Day 3 of the Amazing Riverside Camp!

So it was the usual routine. Wake up at 7:00am head down to the Rimu room to line up then head for the gym for fitness. It was day 3 already! The night before I didn't really get enough rest so I ended up waking up a bit later then the morning before. Which meant some of the other girls had to do fitness for me. When I got to the gym Brooklyn, Vivienne and Ata were sorting out fitness. After fitness had passed the day went by super quickly!

After breakfast was duties and a quick wash up. For the rest of the day we were going to be playing a lot of sports. Devo was right until morning tea, and then after that is was sports and fun activities! But we were going to be teaming up with a boys group. Fortunately the EADivas were teamed up with Lorenz and Siones team which were the New Era crew. It was fun participating in sports and games with them. For one of the games we played on the beach, we as a teamed up team won them all. Except for one. Our teams both worked together very well and I thoroughly enjoyed myself! Once all the activities were over down at the beach it was time to head back to the campus for showers or free time.

My friends and I decided to hit the showers, since tonight there was going to be a disco! I was super excited for the disco because Peter, one of the head leaders had planned an exciting game for us to play during the disco. It definitely had to be my highlight of the day. After devotional which ended at 8:30 it was time to get ready. Once everybody was ready we were told to make our way back down to the Rimu room for further instructions. When everyone arrived  Peter started to explain the game. There were going  to be three stations in the hall. One was outside which was the police station. The other station was the buying station, and the final one was the smuggling station. The police, buyers, and smugglers. On the dance floor you would dance to the music, and while you would dance the police would try and find the smugglers which were trying to smuggle diamonds, (bottle caps) to the buyers who each got given money (coloured paper strips) to buy the diamonds without getting caught. If you were caught by the police with a diamond they wold take you to the police station to be held there for 1 minute. But if the police was wrong and you were bought to the station with a dollar, the police would be thrown in to the jail cell for 1 minute. If you did happen to have accomplish a swap with money, and a diamond, and return it to your station without getting caught you score a point.

It was a simple game to get but, very hard to pursue. Once the game started everyone was going everywhere. I was a buyer, so I tried my best to buy a diamond off a smuggler to get a point for my station. Unfortunately I was caught by the police on the dance floor more then three times in fact. It was so buzzy, the lights, the music, it was an awesome disco! When finally the game was over, we only had enough time for a dance competition and a quick dance to 2 songs.

Then the lights came on. Everyone looked tired, and sweaty cause it was getting stuffy. Then Mr Burt said it was time for TTB (toilet, teeth, bed). Another excellent day went by, and I couldn't stand leaving from this camp ever. But there was only 2 days of camp left before heading back to G.I! So I was to surely make the most out of the time left!

To be continued.......

Day 2 Of The Amazing Riverside Camp

Waking time was at 7:00am!! Much too early for me! But I had to suck it up and get ready for fitness which Ata and I were running. Everyone had to line up in their teams in the Rimu room before heading for the gym where we were setting up fitness. Fitness was quick and before we knew it we had to head back to our cabins and say our morning prayers with our leaders. Afterwards it was breakfast time and then duties. My team was assigned to clean the chapel. While Haare and I did that, the rest of our team cleaned our cabin. We received $50 for having a tidy room, and for having a new awesome chant! We had a couple more minutes to spare so we decided to brush our teeth and get changed and ready for the rest of the day.

Our first activity was a water involved activity this ran on till lunch. It was so fun! They launched water balloons towards all of us and we had to try and catch at least one for some points/money. Then we played another awesome game and our final wet game was the mummy game. One person in our team had to be wrapped up with toilet paper. Every other team had to try and wet each other’s mummies with wet sponges, buckets of water, and heaps of other utensils until the last standing mummy with the most toilet paper still wrapped on to them was standing. I was the mummy for my team. It was disastrous! The toilet paper wasn’t wrapping onto me instead it kept soaking into me.  It was a difficult game but I had a heap of fun anyway! After all the fun and wet games it was afternoon tea time and free time as well. We got to choose whether we wanted to take a shower or dry off and play. Shoal and I took a shower.

Once free time was over everyone had to line up in the Rimu room. It was dinner time and I was starving! The meal was scrumptious and so was dessert. After a filling dinner it was concert practice time which took just about 40 minutes then another session of Devotional with Beni and Mr Burt.

My highlight of the day came last. We played spotlight mixed with capture the flag in a way after devotional and supper. It was a game that involved running around the whole campus just to get to Jarred who was on the other side without being spotted by a flashlight from the leaders. But if you were caught they would take your life which was a glow stick bracelet and you would have to retreat back to the beginning and retrieve a new one. Lucky for me I made it to Jarred just before the siren went for time up. We all headed back to the Rimu room to tally up which team had the most players get to the end. My team fortunately had 5 members reach the end. Even Talita made it! And she was even in a wheel chair, but nothing could stop her. My team the EADivas had the most members reach the end as well as another boys group.

After tallying everything up, it was once again time for TTB as well as night prayers. (toilet, teeth, bed) Day 2 passed and I was still having a magnificent time! But I was fairly tired, and I needed to get some rest and gain more energy for the next day.

To Be Continued .....

Day 1 of the Amazing Riverside Camp

Riverside camp has to be the highlight of my last year at Pt England School so far! It was awesome! The activities, the concert night, the Devotionals, the disco, the FOOD! Everything was amazing. It was a 5 day camp during the first week of the holidays that 80 riverside members were limited to attend. And lucky for me I was one of them. On Monday morning at 8:30am everyone had to meet in the school car-park with all the things we needed ready and packed in our bags. This was my first year of attending a riverside camp and I was super ecstatic! All my friends were going and I knew that it was definitely going to be an awesome camp! Shoal and Ash were leaders for one of the 4 girl groups there were, Brooklyn and Vivienne were leaders for another, and I was lucky enough to be leading a group with Huelo-Ata! Once everyone had arrived a prayer was said, then the entire luggage was loaded. We said our final farewells to our parents before heading off, and then we all hopped aboard the buses. One was for the girls, the other for the boys. 

We were now on our way to Willow Park which was where we would be staying for the next 5 days. Once we arrived we all loaded our bags and were told to sit in the Rimu room, which was our meeting room. Right next to the dining room and the lounge, this was where our luggage awaited us while we got told our groups. My team was called out first; in my team we had Talita, Ana, Adriel, Rowana, Sarah, Ata and I. Our amazing leaders were Tamara as our Cadet Leader, and Haare as our head leader. Once our group was called out we all had to make our way into the dining room and pick a table to sit on. One by one each other group started flowing through. When finally the last group was seated, Mrs Hamilton then instructed us to what we were supposed to do next. We had to make up a team name. EADivas was my teams chosen name.  Once that was done we had to grab our bags and head for our cabins. My team had to be shifted 3 times before finally settling into our final chosen cabin.

Every team had to make their beds and tidy up their room and make a chant, before heading down to play our first activity. My groups chant was short and sharp. It was “2UP *clap, clap* DIVAS.” Each team had to present their chants before we played our first activity. My teams chant had to be the best! Anyway this was an orientation course that Mrs Hamilton had sorted out. It was pretty fun. After the orientation course was Lunch. Then we went down to the beach and had a whole heap of other fun activities lined up for us. One was the city challenge. We had to try and make a mini city out of sand. It was so fun! When night came we had dinner first then it was concert practice and then Devotional with Beni. Devotional was cool, it was every morning and evening, we learnt a lot about Daniel and God. After Devotional we had supper which was an epic hunt to find Crunchie bars! They were all scattered around the fields outside. It was awesome! My team ended up finding quite a few! More than enough in fact, so we shared ours with the boy team that didn’t exactly get enough. After the awesome scavenger hunt for crunchies it was TTB. (toilet, teeth, bed) The first day was already over and I had a lot of fun already!

Oh yeah the points at camp were money! It was fake money but it was only given to your team for specific reasons. For instance $2 was given if your whole team was sitting up. $100 was given to your cabin if you slept quietly through the night and another if you were quiet while awaking. 

To Be Continued ........

The Burj Khalifa Tower Project D.L.O

Shoal, Viv, Rita from Team 5 PES on Vimeo.

This terms project for everyone was to make a Digital Learning Object around an event that had happened in the history of time that changed the world. My group and I which consisted of Vivienne and Shoal chose to research around The Burj Khalifa Tower, and find out some more info on it. After gathering enough information to be able to make a start on our DLO on this very subject, we started to make a storyboard of how it would go.

The purpose of why we chose this subject was basically because not many people know what this tower is. It's the tallest man-made structure in the world! And people ought to know that. 

We planned that we would make a paper mache looking replica of the tower, and film the process of it. Then we would time-lapse the recording of the making of it, and record a whole paragraph of info about it to go in the background. But that idea didn’t exactly come through. Instead we decided to use decently hard cardboard, and roll them up into tube then stick them all together. Each rolled up cardboard would be different levels, and it would all stick together to become basically The Burj Khalifa Tower. Afterwards we would paint it, and along with that film us painting it. Then again time laps that.

Overall I thought that we could have done way better than to what we had in the end. I reckon that if we had more time, or other wise managed our time properly, we could have had an excellent movie. But all of us were pretty much caught up with the production, so our movie for us had to be rated a 7/10!

The positive side to our project was that we did get it done with a 2 hour extension, and we also did get to work together with friends. Our idea was also a positive, it was original, and I really liked it. The making of the skyscraper took a lot of the time, but it was all worth it. It came out look almost like it. Well not really.

Did you know that the Burj Khalifa tower is the tallest man-made structure in the world. As it stands at 829.8m high no other tower can be built higher. You would think that the tallest tower in the world would be built in America right, well you’re wrong.  The Burj Khalifa tower is built in United Arab Emirates in Dubai, and has been there ever since 2009 when it was finally finished, after 5 years of work.

So in conclusion, I reckon that my group actually did decently well for a group that barely had any time to spare for free time. In the end things were pretty good, not perfect, but good enough for me to like it.