REIIJOCE IN EVERY WAY

"The Greatest Thing You'll Ever Learn, Is To Love SomeOne, Than Never To Have Loved At All"

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Outdoor Education Day

The Year 7s went to Fairfield Park today to do Outdoor Education.
We did 4 activities: rafting, rock climbing, orienteering and bike riding,

This day had too much to talk about so I'll only write about my favourite part of the day.

Rafting on the Yarra River was the BEST!!! Actually JUMPING into the Yarra was the best.

At the end of our rafting session, I was contemplating to jump into the river or not. So, I asked my friends and the teacher for their opinions. They all dared me to, so I did.

I was fully wet, apart from my face. It was a fun experience, and it was such a warm day. The hard part was getting out of the river bank because there was so much mud.

Everyone was surprised that I did that. The reality is that I DID.

I also got my friend to take a photo of me wet.

It was a fun day, and I will never forget the feeling I had of jumping into the Yarra.

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Middle School Leaders for 2013

This is the process of the Middle School Leadership Program:
1. Fill in the MS Leadership Booklet
  • Write your goals for 2013
  • Why you will make a good leader
  • Get 4 co-curricular activities, and all signed by the teachers-in-charge
Then, we were meant to be interviewed by the Principal and Head of Middle School. But then they changed it at the last minute.

2. Middle School Leadership Speech
We got only the weekend to write about it, as we only got told (on Friday) that our Principal wanted us to present a speech each to the whole of Middle School and present it on Monday.

We had to write a 1-2 minutes speech about 3 qualities that makes you a good leader, 2 reasonable ideas if you get that position, and an inspirational quote about leadership.

The quote that I chose was by William Arthur Ward, “Nothing limits achievement like small thinking.  Nothing equals possibilities like unleashed thinking.”
I chose this quote because it speaks about having a great imagination to achieve and open the doors to many opportunities and possibilities. I am taking this step to think big. (NOTE: This was in my speech)

3. Voting
All of the Middle School got to vote for 5 people each, 2 Middle School Consuls, SRC President, SRC Secretary and Environmental Captain.
I ran for Middle School Consul and SRC President.
The Year 7s got 2 votes for 1 person they chose, as they would know their fellow Year 7s better. The rest of the Middle School got 1 vote.

4. Announcement of the 2013 Middle School Leaders
A few days later, the Head of Middle School announced it only to the Year 7s at first.
So here the positions are:
  • Middle School Consuls - Jo and Inez
  • SRC President - Nicole
  • SRC Secretary - Noor
  • Environmental - Ella
So there we have it, I will be next year's SRC President. So, I'll be working with our Principal and Head of Middle School, along with my secretary and the SRC Representatives to make our school a better place.

I would've liked to get MS Consul, but I am just as happy to receive the position of leading the SRC to make a difference to the School.



Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Night of Notables

Today was our year level's Night Of Notables. Our school organises this event for the year 7s near the end of the school year.

The Night Of Notables is an event where the year 7 students choose a famous person from ancient history (earlier than 500AD). We had to research our person beforehand for our conversations with the parents and teachers on the actual day. We had to dress, act and talk in character.

This was an important event for all of us because it is an assessment task for History, so that the teachers can factor this part into their student reports.

I chose Alexander the Great. He was one of the greatest conquerors of all time. He conquered Greece, Persia and Egypt. He is a great, great person, and even now many people know who he is.

Many of my friends chose to be Greek Gods or Goddesses.

There were many people who attended this event.

It was a very enjoyable hour to act as an ancient person in the agora. I was enjoying every second of it, unlike 2 of my friends who were counting down every minute of it and waiting for the Night Of Notables to end.

I don't think that's right, becuase this is the one and only time we are ever going to do this.

It was a great night, I will always remeber it. I think that most people thoroughly enjoyed themselves.



Monday, October 08, 2012

Summary of the Term 3 Holidays

Today is the last day of the holidays, and tomorrow I will be back at school for the final 9 weeks of school for the year. I have done quite a lot of things during these holidays, and I would like to share some highlights with of my blog's readers:

1. Phillip Island - Sunday 16/9 to Tuesday 18/9
For the first weekend of the holidays, my parents and I travelled down to Phillip Island. We stayed at Silverwater, and did many things there. We went to the Chocolate factory, the Nobbies and some other places. It was a very fun opening weekend to my holidays.

2. Royal Melbourne Show - Sunday 23/9
This year, my parents and I decided to go to the Royal Melbourne Show. It was at the same place in Flemington. There was the animal pavilion, which was extremely noisy because of the chickens and ducks making various sounds. It was as if they were trying to escape from the public looking at them. We went to the other pavilions, and most of them were interesting.

There was a huge Sony/1D World which was FABULOUS or rather FABULOUIS! There was all the One Direction merchandise you could ever get in there. I got the 2013 Annual - I've read it and I think that it is brilliam.

The highlight of the day was probably the My Kitchen Rules contestant cookoff. Mummy got chosen by Karen (from our fave TV show, Better Homes and Gardens) to taste the food the contestants cooked. On that day, the contestants were Nic and Rocco. Our family (or maybe just me) was very excited because they were our favourite pair in MKR. Nic and Rocco cooked scallops, which was great because it was Mummy's favourite food. Then, she had rabbit which was also very exciting because it was not a familiar meat to her. Finally, she tasted lamb...which was a HILARIOUS experience for Daddy and I because we knew that Mummy never liked lamb. But surprise, surprise were the words that came out of Mummy's mouth after the exprience. 'It tasted pretty good, there wasn't the weird taste...' Secretly, I think that it's just because it has been cooked by well-known personalities.

3. Mummy's Birthday - Saturday 29/9
Yes, the 29th of September 2012 is Mummy's birthday. If you've lived in Australia before, then you might also know it as the 2012 AFL Grand Final Day. Mummy and I headed to Paesano's for a lunch buffet. There wasn't a large variety of food but if you do go there, definitely have the Char Kway Teow that can be ordered from the Stir Fry lady, as well as the Chocolate Mousse. The mousse is consistent and the chocolate tastes so good!!! Daddy joined us for dinner at Simon's Peking Duck Restaurant. The duck skin was so crispy... I loved it!

As for the footy, well, they weren't my team so I wasn't very bothered. It was Sydney and Hawthorn. I wanted the Swans to win because I totally despise the Hawks. The Hawks always give my team, the Cats, a hard time. It always turns out to be good news for us, we've won the last 9 meetings :D I was right, and yay the Swans won by 10 points. The last 2 minutes of the game was absolutely nerve-wracking and heart-stopping. When the final siren sounded, everyone could see the victory in the Swans' eyes, and failure, let down and a wasted opportunity in the Hawks' Grand Final group.

These 3 highlights have been the best in these holidays. I have had a well-deserved rest and I am looking forward to the final term of school. I will definitely post some of the events in this term, so stay tuned!

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Phillip Island September 2012

If you are just curious about why I wrote 'September 2012', it is because this will not be the only time I will visit Phillip Island this year. Mummy has already booked a weekend in December, when Mama and Didi (Ethan) visit us, to go to Phillip Island.

This time we decided for this weekend getaway to just be a relaxing trip, with no rushes at all. Also, that we wouldn't be touristy this time round.

On the morning of Sunday the 16th of September, I woke up feeling very warm, only to realise that I had come down with a bout of cold. I also had backache and a fever.
It was the worst time to become sick - the morning when you are just about to head off for a relaxing holiday.

At 10am, Mummy, Daddy and I drove down to Phillip Island. We had a break at a small town called Tooradin. We checked in to Silverwater and just had a quiet afternoon. We didn't drive into Phillip Island that day. Instead, we stayed at the hotel and went to the jacuzzi and the pool. When I got out of the pool, I was shivering quite vigorously although it wasn't very cold compared to outside.

We went for dinner at a local restaurant/pub. I ordered a chicken kiev with some potatoes and roasted vegetables. I thought that the food was a little tasteless. Many will probably say, 'Yeah, it's coz' you're sick'. But no, in fact, it was already kind of tasteless when it was served to me.

We went back to the hotel and watched some TV. I probably had one of the earliest nights of my life, I went to bed at 8pm... but it's probably not very early to some of you. It was a very interrupted night that night, I woke up 4 times. At 11, the people next door came back. At 12, there was a weird sound coming from outside. At 1, I needed to go to the bathroom. At 2, I took a Panadol for my backache.

The next morning I felt a little better. I got changed and we went into Phillip Island. We visited the Chocolate Factory, and then drove to the Nobbies. We didn't go into the centre but we walked the boardwalk. The Nobbies was facing the Bass Strait so the waves were ferocious and the wind was very strong. It might have been chilly but that was the best I felt on the 3 days at Phillip Island. I felt free and the weather helped my backache a bit. We then went to Amaze N' Things. I played 2 rounds of chess with Daddy before heading for dinner at the Phillip Island. Daddy and Mummy orderd steak while I had chicken and mshroom risotto. Now that was TOO much flavour, it was too salty for my liking. Other than that, it was great.

We went back to Silverwater and went down to the games room to play some table tennis. When I got tired, we went back to our room. We watched some TV and then called it a night. That night I stayed awake until 10pm. I was happiest that day because we got to go out and my backache was gone.

On the last day, Mummy, Daddy and I packed everything and checked out of the hotel. I felt that time went too quickly and I would have liked another day at Phillip Island. It just didn't feel right leaving, we hadn't done what I wanted to do - like go to Rhyll Inlet. We still have December, so I guess we could go to the Inlet then..

We headed back to Melbourne and that was the end of our Phillip Island weekend getaway for September.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Summary of Term 3 2012

Woah... this term has gone pretty fast. Yesterday was the last day of term 3 2012. I've had some highlights so I'm going to share them with all of you. The highlights:

1. Science Talent Search Going to the STS competition for the first time! I missed out last year, so I was excited and nervous at the same time. I had very friendly adjudicators so it wasn't that bad...

2. GSV Championship Athletics Carnival It was really fun! As opposed to the Prelims, it was really sunny at Lakeside Stadium. I came a close fourth in Shot Put, I could have gotten a ribbon, it could have been a nice piece of souvenir but it doesn't matter so much. My other event was Discus. Well, that didn't go so well - I came sixth, but I was a sub for a person who wasn't there anyway...

3.Debating - DAV Junior Secondary Program This was probably the biggest highlight of the term! I got a taste of debating in 3 rounds. I was 2nd speaker for all of them. Our team won all of our debates! That was a great experience.

4. E.M. Butt Public Speaking Competition This is a Public Speaking competition at our school for years 6-11. Our theme was 'What I Would Love'. My speech topic was 'I would love to step into other people's shoes'. Though I did not get into the finals, I think I did a good job and that's all that matters. I think that I will only improve over time so I'm going to try again next year.

5. ICAS Science Competition I was really happy with my result - a Distinction. I have never gotten a Distinction for Science before so I was really excited. I got to go up on stage in full School assembly to receive my certificate. I felt really good when I went up to collect my certificate!

Now come the holidays! I am very excited. Tomorrow we're heading off to Phillip Island for 3 days and it'll be so much fun! And then who knows what I'm going to do after that.. Hanging out with my friends, going out for Mummy's birthday, and I'll probably just rest and relax. Then it will be back to school for the final term in 3 weeks' time!

Saturday, March 31, 2012

Year 7 Camp to Central Australia

25 March 2012 3am- Woke up, changed and set off for school to meet the teachers and my other 44 students

On 25 March 2012, 45 Year 7 students and 5 teachers went on camp to Central Australia- the Red Centre.

Day 1
I woke up at 3 in the morning because our flight up to Sydney had been rescheduled an hour earlier to 7am and we had to be at school by 4:30am. Everyone looked very tired. At 4:45am, we said our final goodbyes to our family as Mr. Williams, Ms. Ackermann, Ms. Lloyd, Miss Raven and Miss Cass asked us to board the bus. Upon boarding, we were given an activity booklet and a sketchbook. We took the plane to Sydney for transit, and had my breakfast there. I sat next to Ali and Mr. Williams on the plane to Sydney and Ayers Rock. We arrived at Ayers Rock 30 minutes before scheduled arrival. The hot wind hit me the moment I stepped out of the plane and the sun was beating down on us. Uluru was very big when we drove around it.
Highlights
Uluru- Kata Tjuta Cultural Centre
Food
Chicken Kiev

Day 2
We woke up early in the morning, and it was very dark outside.
We arrived at Uluru at 8am. We were met by Vincent, our guide, he is a local Aborigine. He gave us many interesting facts and told us many stories. He also introduced us to a new fruit- plum bush. It is sweet at the start but it turns bitter. We then travelled to Kata Tjuta (the Olgas). The walk up was very challenging as there were all loose rocks. We did a Geography activity about landforms and land patterns.
Highlights
Uluru, Kata Tjuta
Food
Hot breakfast,Wrap,Lasagne

Day 3
We woke up very early again. We packed up our tents and our bags, loaded it onto the bus and went to Kings Canyon. The drive took 3 hours. We first did the Kathleen Springs walk, there were signposts around and we had to summarise what had been written on each sign with our own words. We then went to Kings Canyon. I found the best water of the camp at the tap there because it did not taste like chlorine. After that, we did the Kings Creek Walk. There was a brook so the only way to get to the other end was through the rocks. I found that hard because some rocks were unstable and many rocks were either too small or hard to lay a foot on because it was slanting. After a while, I finally got over the rocks and made it to the lookout where we were resting. We then started to head down again and did an Art activity, we had to draw and colour the reflections of the stream with only colour pencils. We then headed to our accomodation for the night- Kings Canyon Resort. We were given the opportunity to go to the pool, but I chose not to go and stayed in the room I shared with Pramiti and Crystal. I slept on the double bed while Pram and Crystal slept on single beds.
Highlights
Kings Canyon, Kathleen Springs
Food
Hot breakfast, Hot dog, Sweet and Sour chicken

Day 4
Another early start. Packed our bags, locked our rooms and got onto the bus. We all had to cope a 5 hours journey to Alice Springs. I was very excited to go to Alice Springs because it was a town and there wouldn't be so many walks to do. We were also going to visit the RFDS base and ASSOA.
We made a stop in Curtin Springs about halfway through the drive. I bought a bottle of cold green tea. It costed an unbelievably expensive $6! In Melbourne, I could get the same thing for $4. I also found out that in NT the petrol costs 215.9c/l whereas in Melbourne it got up to 160c/l. I also bought 2 postcards of Kata Tjuta and Kings Canyon- 2 places that I had visted earlier on. On the way to A.S. we also stopped to view Lake Amadeus, a salt pan lake. It was white, we did some Science while sitting there. After a very long while, we were finally in Alice. Compared to Melbourne CBD, the Alice Springs CBD is very quiet and there are hardly any tall skyscrapers in Alice as we see in Melbourne. There was a similarity: as the Yarra runs through Melbourne, the Todd river runs through Alice. The Todd river was named after Charles Todd, and Alice Springs was named after Alice Todd! We drove to 'Alice In The Territory' which was WAY better than the other 2 accomodation. I was with Charmaine, Sanduni and Kithmini. We had bunks and a toilet in our room. We then went to the RFDS where we saw a video about what they do, and we also went to the historcal museum where we saw a replica of a RFDS plane. We then went back and went to the pool. Going to the pool was really fun because we got to splash the teachers and also jump from the top into the water. We had dinner and then came the reptile show. Crystal was very scared of snakes so Mr. Williams was scaring her. I got to put the snake aroung my neck, it was a baby snake but could grow to 20m long. Crystal was certainly not recovering from the snake, nor was Charlotte K. She had this very frightened face and was screaming the whole time the snake was on her. The funniest part of the night was that when it was Mr. Williams' turn he kept really calm. That was until the snake decided to curl around his neck and stay there for half an hour. He didn't know where the snake's head was and accidentally touched the snake's head. He was sooo extremely close to getting bitten, in fact the snake's teeth did get him a little bit. The snake's teeth was razor sharp. We finally got back to our rooms at 10pm, and I had a proper shower.
Highlights
Royal Flying Doctors Service, Reptile Show
Food
Baked beans, wrap, spag bol

Day 5
I was happy today because breakfast was way later than usual at 7:30am. Our room was watching HP & the Deathly Hallows Part 2. At breakfast, everyone was saying that GWS(the newest team) beat the Cats. We went to visit Mbantua Gallery- which is an Aboriginal art gallery. There were many colourful art. There are many different stories behind each artwork. There were many artworks that I wanted to buy but I could buy so many, so instead Ibought the pack of 12 postcards which has my favourite artworks in it. We then went to Simpsons Gap. That was the easiest and shortest walk. There was a leg of water separating the rocks. We then visited Desert Park which included a Birds of Prey show, a Nocturnal house and an Amphitheatre. There were many reptiles in the Nocturnal house, it was very dark. We then drove back and went to the pool again. I then was going to the room to change but Kith locked the door and I didn't have the key so I was locked out. I couldn't change nor get my eating utensils. I was screaming, I felt alone. I told Millie and Sarah, and they went down to dinner to tell Kith. Kith finaly came up and rescued me.
Highlights
Mbantua Gallery
Food
Hot breakfast, wrap, barbecue

Day 6
Our last day in Central Australia. We packed our bags and checked for any other things around the room. We watched TV and heard that Melbourne was 29C that day. We went down and left for AS School Of the Air. We watched another video about what they do, how they run the school and also saw a pre-recorded lesson. There is also a celebrity wall where when famous people come to visit they sign their names on the wall. Tony Abbott has visited the ASSOA. We then checked in at Alice Springs airport and flew back home to lovely Melbourne, our home.
Highlights
ASSOA, going back home!
Food
Toasties, Chicken and Salad sandwich










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Art Exhibition

Last year, Mummy and I went to see the annual school art exhibition held in the MCH. 2 of my works were exhibited. One is of a hand that I designed, stuffed and sewed (the essential items- food,water,shelter and happiness!!) and the other is of a self portrait using harmonious shades of colour- using oil pastels, I chose to use pinks and purples.


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