resOZes MELBOURNE

2009-01-18T19:51:00.001+08:00

hello! Just a post to revive this blog. :)

Pics (James)

2008-06-18T00:55:00.004+08:00

Here are the pics.

Sharon, Me, Sarah and Hannah

view from above..

bubble!

The light in my room

branches/sky

the bunch of us outside gtac

Gosh, i love the sky there.

sky again

the smoke on water part of a concert, with over 100 guitarists

as above

meercat!

prettaye bird

koala!

one of the many flowers i took.

another bird

view from sustainability victoria. a really cool office!

sky at the botanical gardens

The lovely sky. :D

This really cute dog running in the sea

Surfers

12 apostles

we took a helicopter!

view from the copter

as above.

Ill get more up when ive got more time on my hands.

2008-06-17T22:10:00.002+08:00

YOO! hahahaha. hello everybody. Here's a little video that i made of the pictures. The song is This is Home by Switchfoot from the movie Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian.

Enjoy

ZJ

PICTCHAS !?!

2008-06-17T21:31:00.009+08:00

Hi! :D Here I am to upload some of the 500+ pictures I took on the Melbourne trip. :]

This is the park that Adrienne and I had to walk through to get to school. It is a really beautiful park, especially with the leaves falling during autumn.

While staying at my host's house, we went shopping. While we were having a break, we went to Max Brenner's. We had Suckao which is milk put over a fire and you add your own amount chocolate inside the milk. The chocolate then melts and it kinda becomes like hot chocolate. ;D Extremely yummy :D :D :D

On Sunday night, we went to the Moroccan Soup Bar. It opens at 6pm and you cannot make reservations so people actually queue up for their seats before it opens. The food there is mainly vegetables. I don't think there was actually any meat? They also served us mint tea which was very refreshing.

Adrienne(red) and her bestfriend Uylia(?).

Linda(pink) and Katherine (also known as Gu).

Uylia! She's so awesome! :)

In front of Uni High.

This arcade at Bourke Street. Its really really really uber pretty! I went there with Adrienne & her mom to buy chocolates and sweets for my brothers. Sadly, Cocoa Black was closed for renovation. :[

Okay thats all for now. I will upload some more later. :]

tata~

Elizabeth.

For All The Melbourne PW People(:

2008-06-17T16:13:00.005+08:00

This is really going to all the Melbourne PW peeps(:

Super duper nice photo compilation done by our own ZJ ;D Song is This Is Home by Switchfoot from Chronicles of Narnia Prince Caspian(x Have a look see ;D

-O Wen(:

Great leap forward

2008-06-09T09:50:00.003+08:00

Hey all, sorry for the late post as ive been on a tight schedule and overseas(and still am) so i have been unable to post. haha.

I, like most of you here, have REALLY enjoyed the trip to Melbourne. Without doubt, I have learnt many different things about myself, my friends and most importantly, about the cultural differences between Melbourne and Singapore.

This trip was my third trip to Melbourne, as such, I do know abit about the cultural differences between the two countries. However, I have not yet been to a school in melbourne, so this was a new experience for me.

I learnt that having the flexibility to move out of one's comfort zone is essential to learning new skills and gaining valuable experience on this exchange trip. It was particularly wierd and hard for me as my host was a girl and she was rather tall(LAUGH!) haha. Im about 158 and she's probably 170!?!?

It did feel wierd at first but after the first day, i settled down and began to talk more to her and her family.

The invaluable experience gained from this exchange trip would indubitably be useful for one who would be going overseas to study in the future after their post-secondary education.

The first hurdle at food for me was using a fork to eat rice. It seemed impossible at first, but after a few tries, i had already gotten used to it and managed to finish everything on my plate (including the peas!).

Next was the sandwiches for lunch, im rather wierd. I dont like raw vegetables in sandwiches(subway is an exception!), my host made me a ham sandwich with a whole lot of vegetables inside. I did not want to be rude and throw the veggies away so i just put the sandwich into my mouth and munched away. After several days of eating veggies with the meat in the sandwich, i think i have gotten an acquired taste for it.

I usually dont do laundry or dishes at home. So this was a big change for me. After showering and changing out of my old set of clothes, i had to fold them and pack them back into my bag(I'm rather spoilt eh. =/) Dishes was the next one, it was rather easy as my host's family had a dishwasher(dishwashers are a godsend. really) all i had to do was give the dishes a wipe and wash them, with detergent then dump them into the dishwasher and voila. wooohooo. :D

Being responsible for my own belongings was the next hurdle. I'm not the best at looking after things. so yeah, go figure? haha. Thank God on this trip i was really careful and paid extra attention to both my belongings and those of my friends and I did not lose anything.

I learnt that I'm really blessed back home as I don't have to do all the housework and other chores like grocery shopping and the like.

Also, my host, Sarah is REALLY mature, which is in great contrast to me(haha. Dont ask how immature i am please. :D)

She does most of the cleaning around the house, cooking and even does the grocert shopping.

She is also VERY close to her parents and older sister, i think this is something worth learning from them as I dont think im as close to my family as she is to hers.

From this point of time, I've made a resolution to strengthen the bonds between my family and I. It only takes a simple goodnight hug to my parents or just simply saying goodnight to them before i go back upstairs to my room to go to bed.

I really miss melbourne and wish that the trip could span a little longer. :(

Thats all!

Im off,

God Bless,
James

Great leap forward

2008-06-05T20:07:00.001+08:00

I miss Melbourne lots and I'm sure many of you think the same way.

During the stay in Australia, I've learnt many things; not only about the country, the culture, but also more about the PW people, and myself!

I've learnt that I can be flexible, adapting and fitting into a whole new environment, accepting their culture and all. When I first had dinner with them, the first thing I noticed was the set of utensils on the table. It consisted only of a fork and a knife! It made me wonder how exactly are we going to eat our rice. Well, the rice was eaten, clearly, and I've gotten used to the usage of knife and fork there instead of the usual chopsticks and spoon. Also, sandwiches are what the Australians have for lunch. A big change, from what Singaporeans usually have.

It was also the time that I realised I am more independent than what I think. At home, we may just dump our clothes into the washing machine; but over there, we have to learn to pack our things orderly, to be responsible for our own belongings, making sure we don't lose them.

During the stay with my host, Hannah, I've seen for myself how close the family can be. They spend every minute they have together, and never fail to offer help to any family members that need it. I have even seen how Hannah and her sisters pluck their eyebrows for each other!
Every night, the children hug and kiss their parents before going to bed. On the other hand, most of the children in Singapore do not even hug their parents, or even say a simple goodnight!

From now on, I'll try to make it a habit to at least hug my parents and say a simple 'I love you' to them everynight, not forgetting a basic 'goodnight'.

-
Anyway, here are some pictures taken in Melbourne! :D

Missing Australia!

}Sharon

Great Leap Forward

2008-06-02T13:24:00.003+08:00

When going to Melbourne, I told myself to go with an open mind and be willing to learn and experience new things. True enough, this trip has been an extremely fruitful and rewarding one. I have learnt many things that cannot be simply covered through a textbook.

A few days before the trip, I was scared as I was unsure if i would be capable of taking responsibility for my own personal belongings. But after coming back from Australia I have realised that I am infact more independent than I thought I was and I can survive for 10 days without my family nearby!

A trait that I would like to develop in myself would be to shower with my parents with more love and care. While staying with my host, Adrienne, I saw how she would hug her parents out of the blue and tell them that she loves them simply because she does. It was not about gaining something out of it but rather just to let them know that she does care and love them. Maybe it is the culture in Australia. But one thing is for sure, I am going to try my best to do the same for my parents as I want to let them know that I do love them very much.

-Elizabeth

Great Leap Foward

2008-06-01T22:30:00.000+08:00

From this Melbourne Trip, I have learnt to adapt fast to the changes in weather, lifestyle and culture and I could do it about two to three days time! I never knew that I can adapt to changes so fast. I know there are days that are so freezing cold but I didn't fall sick because of it. I not only know how to adapt fast but to be flexible during the trip too. You may even have to sacrifice some or your time or things to stay happy or to make other people happy during the trip. This way, the mood will not be destroyed and everyone will be happy!
Traits that I would like to develop in myself is that I want to be more open in my thinking but definitely not as open as the Aussie people. I think that being open in thinking till a certain extend is good for being optimistic. To be more optimistic, I think I will start off with changing some of my perspective in life then I will help my friends and family! This way, if people around me is happy, I will be happy too and I will be more optimistic in life eventually. Further more, to be more optimistic in life is not a change that can be changed overnight.

Before I end this post, I want to say that I [i]REALLY[/i] miss the time I spent in Melbourne, espiecially the few days I had with Yolanda and her family. Then again, I would like to thank them again for hosting me.(:

siYUAN-

aussie lessons

2008-05-31T21:02:00.002+08:00

hi aaron here !
in australia lessons are extremely relaxed and students and teachers are very open minded. totally diff from that in singapore. Students seem to use the "F" word frequently , almost every sentence they say . WOW! so COOL. however this is their culture thus i hav no comments

Cool Dude!

2008-05-30T20:23:00.002+08:00

Hey Bridget here again... Maddy and Ben are really awesome hosts...however what i admire about them is their positive outlook of life. They all seem to be always ready to give out complements or make some funny random comment that will brigten even the dullest days=D Anyways Maddy is year 9 which is equivalent to sec3 and Ben is 17, they are brother and sister. Another thing that i admire about them is their very tightly bonded relationship with each other as compared to the brothers and sisters in singapore which are usually at each others' throats. They are also very helpful and very friendly unlike some Singaporeans which usually just have that ''minding their own business only'' attitude.

Hence, some goals i would set when im back in Singapore would be to built stronger bonds with my siblings, be more optimistic and friendly too=D anways cya back in Singapore =D

Cool Dude!

2008-05-30T20:11:00.002+08:00

My host vivian, though only 13, is a really easy girl to get along with. She is very cheerful and lively, always bringing smiles to people around her,especially her friends and family. Like most aussies, she is very friendly and communicates with the people around her easily.Always polite with their 'please's and 'thank you's, it makes you feel really warm and welcomed. I admire that a lot in her along with most of the aussies I've met on the trip.

The common singaporean "mind your own business" attitude, compared the kind of attitude my host has like other australians, there is a huge difference. Whenever I when shopping, the australians would welcome you into the store with big and warm hellos, making you want to enter the store even more. When a payment is made, the cashier, a complete stranger, can even casually strike up a conversation with you. This is common sight in australia is a very rare sight to find in singapore.

For me or any other common singaporean to develop similar characteristics like that, we have to step out of the mindset of our "mind your own business" attitude. If everyone opened up a little more, I bet Singapore will be a much welcoming and warm place to leave in (:

Constance.

Cool Dude! (or, dudette)

2008-05-30T19:48:00.000+08:00

Hello World-Outside-Melbourne. Welcome once again to another post by one of us people :D

Ok, first of all, my hosts' a lady. The vice-principal of University High School, in fact. So cool right! :D And seeing as her daughter's a Year 11 ( which means 17 years old this year), and her son's overseas, it is quite obvious that we don't have a buddy.

The Vice, Ms Thompson, is a really cool lady, who is kind and influential in the school. She's a very exciting and unconventional woman, not only showering us with hospitality, she also throws us surprises once in a while. She not only displays these traits at her workplace, she shows this on trips out of the area, around the city, and even out of town. Towards the Great Ocean Road! :D

Her daughter, Megan, a Year 11, is a kind, and quiet girl, older than us, but she took great care of us, providing and guiding us on trips around the city, and home after school. She gave us presents ( shhh! CHEWING GUM!(: ), and was really hospitable.

The Vice's husband, Alan, is a funny and amusing man, with a charming personality and great humour. He's a knowledgable man, working as the top editor for a newspaper company called Herald Sun. Amazing huh. In fact, his paper came out on Sunday, and he was working hard on it on Saturday night, so we didn't get to see him till the next day. However! we got a good surprise when we saw him. His character so welcoming, so hospitable. If i were a female i'd fall in love with him ( It's a figure of speech. )

It is a great feat to be able to achieve the great status that this family has been able to attain. I'm sure that it wasn't only due to chance and a little nudge by supernatural powers, it would also have been due to their amazing skill and ability to succeed ( application of school value here =p ), coupled with their wonderful talents and hardwork. These definitely played a part in their able to attain such a high post.

As I have realized, and i'm sure you would agree with me, good attitude towards others, and your character definitely plays a part in the good life they have. A little smile, and pat on the back, a good joke, is enough to make the day for anyone, and this is exactly what they have been doing. Their hospitality is a reflection of their kindness, their graciousness as a host, and their good qualities one cannot number.

In the working world, not only is talent valued, your character is a defining factor as to whether you get the post or not, and i'm sure that my hosts, the gracious Mr and Ms Thompson along with their daughter Megan, have been displaying their hospitality and good character.

These are definite learning points one can draw from my hosts.

Cool Dude!

2008-05-30T19:22:00.002+08:00

~~Actually its not cool dude cos my host is a girl ...~~ :D

First and foremost, I would like to mention that if I am not wrong, me and Zheng Jia are the only two people who have paired up together to no actual host as we are staying with the Vice-Principal of University High and she has no Year 9 son or daughter but another son who is overseas.

However she does have a Year 11 daughter who has taken us out once and brought us home by tram once too. To me, I would consider both Mrs Thompson, the Vice-Principal, and Megan, her daughter, to be our hosts.

A common trait that can be easily found between these two hosts is that they are very gracious people. They are extremely generous, especially to their guests, and they are nonetheless friendly too. Just one of the oh so many traits I seriously admire about them :D

Mrs Thompson is very kind and sweet lady who always offers a helping hand in things that we need to dod and never pushes or hurries us to do things. She fetches us to the Uni High daily and once even printed out a map of the route to take home on the train when we went to the museum as she couldnt fetch us home. That really demonstrated how she really cared and took care of us :D

Megan is just like her mother too! During the first Saturday, she took me and Zheng Jia out by herself and showed us around the city and to Eureka tower. Though she almost forgot to fetch us home on Tuesday afternoon, she came back in a hurry and apologised hastily. She is very kind in always offering any form of assistance during our stay too(:

I think that there's alot for us to learn from these Australians. For example, as Singaporeans, we could learn to be gracious to our friends and family instead of being so stingy all the time. This will help us to build a better and more condusive environment :D

GREENIE

2008-05-28T21:17:00.001+08:00

Hi people! It's really cold here huh. Freezing, but nice.

Anyway, in case you haven’t notice, three bins are actually placed everywhere in Australia (in the zoo too!) – The yellow-lid bin, red-lid bin and the green-lid bin. These three bins are also provided to homes and schools here, from what I've known from my host.

Materials such as newspapers, glass bottles and aluminum cans (can be recycled) are thrown in the yellow-lid bin. The red-lid bin is used for waste materials that cannot be recycled or composted, for example plastic bags and styrofoam container. Compost or organic waste like garden pruning, leaves and twigs are thrown in the green-lid bins. The general rubbish is then taken to the landfill while the recyclable materials are of course, taken to the recycling plant to be recycled.

The Australians do exercise the ‘3R”s - Reuse, Reduce, and Recycle. My host family actually makes use of unwanted papers to print their work, unlike in Singapore, where many of us just grab a new piece of paper for printing. As mentioned in my last post, there is a half flush and full flush system. Using the half flush saves water, which thus help in reducing the amount of water used for flushing; conserving the water. Also, instead of throwing all the recyclable materials in to the bin directly, my host family put all the materials in a box in the house, and once it’s full they will then throw it into the bin, which makes it simpler.

My host family also does turn off their electrical appliances whenever they are not in use. The rooms here do not have air conditioning either. The only air conditioning is in the living room, whereas in Singapore, most Singaporeans have air conditioning in almost every rooms – where they on the air-con everyday! Such difference huh?

Yup, like what James has mentioned, solar energy will soon be used in place of fossil fuels. This will of course help save the Earth as the usage of fossil fuel reduces, in turn reducing the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere. It will be great if Singapore follow the ways the Australians actually conserve and use their resources, instead of using the resources without much care. We should all play our part to save the Earth! (How standard...)

bye!
}Sharon

2008-05-28T19:21:00.002+08:00

Australians here do carry out environmentally-friendly activities in their daily lives that help save the environment. After staying with my host for these past 4 days, i've seen how they save water resources and electricity.

My host's family keep the water that they use to wash their dishes at the sink by putting a pail in the sink. The pail collects the water everytime we turn on the tap. They probably store this water for other uses like watering the garden. Their toilets also have two flushing system, one is the full flush and the other is the half flush. The half flush allows more water to be conserved instead of the full flush as it uses less water to flush away our waste. This help conserve the nation water resources by recycling and saving.

Before we leave the house for dinner or when we go out sight-seeing, they would off all the lights in the house. Even at night when my buddy and her sister is asleep and her parents are in the study room, they would off the staircase light. This probably help conserve electricity.

While walking back to my host's house, i saw this signboard along the roadside that says that it will be a tree-planting day on the 1st of June if i'm not wrong. I don't really see much trees here in melbourne as compared to back in Singapore where i can see trees almost everywhere i go. I guess planting more trees will not only help save the environment by reducing the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere but also help beautify the area as well.

Singaporeans can also follow some of these environmentally-friendly activities that the Australians do like turning off lights when we are out or when not in use because i've seen singaporeans who turn on their lights for the whole day even when they are sleeping. Singaporeans can also recycle water by using the water to wash their rice or vegetables to water the plants too.

We can all do our part to save the environment and reduce global warming!

Verniecia

Greenie!

2008-05-28T15:06:00.005+08:00

Hey guys, its me again.

After a quick chat and observe session with my host's dad last sunday, heres what I've learnt about their recycling.

Also, a quick note, while i was in Lorne, there were two dustbins everywhere. One for recyclable stuff and one for general rubbish. At home, there are two bins as well. One is for general rubbish. which is taken to a landfill, and the other, is for recyclable rubbish which is taken to a recycling plant and separated and recycled.

Some houses have three dustbins, the additional one being one used to store organic waste like food scraps, plant cuttings and vegetables. Only non-meat organic waste is disposed in those bins. These are then used to make compost and retailed to avid gardening enthusiasts as read-made compost for use with their plants.

The Australians are really big on the green movement, almost everyone is disposing of their recyclable rubbish into the recycling bins. According to the father of the family I'm with, he said that the amount of rubbish in the general rubbish bin he had has been halved ever since he started to throw the recyclable rubbish into a separate rubbish bin provided. This shows that the method is proven, and works well. As such, Singaporeans should start to follow likewise and do the same. This will greatly reduce the amount of greenhouse gases emitted during incineration(the method of which rubbish is disposed off in singapore). Also, more electricity is conserved as less rubbish is incinerated.

I think this is a great example that Singapore should follow, as it brings with it a plethora of benefits for the environment.

On the topic of electricity, Australia is moving into the direction of using solar power to supply the country's need for electricity.

http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2005/02/66694

http://www.enviromission.com.au/project/project.htm
as shown there, a large Solar Tower is due to be constructed soon in Melbourne.

This will provide a great amount of electric power. hence, saving the environment and enabling longer usage of the remaining fossil fuels on earth and also reduce the amount of greenhouse gases emitted when these fossil fuels are burnt to produce electricity.

IMO, this is a great start and many countries need to follow suit and do likewise as Australia have done to step up their efforts in trying to slow global warming down. Its a long shot, but each step taken by every country, is a step towards success.

Just envision the world, pollution-free, imagine how beautiful it would be.

Cya!
James

Talk to me!

2008-05-28T14:52:00.004+08:00

In Australia, the people of Australia just talk to each other. Well, its not like they know each other, they can just strike up a conversation easliy. All you need to do is just to smile and say hi! Its as easy as that. There is nothing more to it. Australians are very friendly people in the first place and they are very open-minded people, unlike the Asians. Further more, the way they greet their friends and family shows that they are very friendly people. They greet their friends by hugging or by kissing them on their cheeks. Although my host does not go around kissing her friends, she still hugs her dad or mum when she is going out or when her dad or mum is going out. One example of how they strike up a conversation was when they ( my host's mum, her sister and her), brought me to Sovereign Hill. (FYI, Sovereign Hill is the place where the Chinese went to, to dig for gold during the Gold Rush period.) We were looking aro8und the place where the Chinese people used to live and we were in the house of a chinese provision stall when another Australian walked pass us, outside the stall. She was looking inside then and my host's mum said,"Do you need anything?What can I help you with? (all smiles)"

"No, no thank you. Haha.(beaming with smiles too!)", replied the woman.

The Australians can just strike up a conversation with anyone, anywhere. They are really friendly people and they are helpful too. Over in Asia, most people keep to themselves and they rarely talk to strangers and anyway, I believe that ALL of our parents told us not to talk to strangers right? But, in Australia, I do not see that happening! At least, I don't think so. To us, the Asians, kissing the the public or being intimate in the public with your love ones are a big no no. People may think of you as an Ill-bred or even a prostitute or something. Its a bit sad that these people have this kind of thinking but thats how Asians are brought up since young I think. Well, to me, I think being intimate with your love ones in the public is really disgusting. Well, thats me, so no offence!

I think that Asians should a bit more ope-minded. Just a bit more will do, cause, I think that Asians are far too uptight with almost everything they do. They also don't talk to the person in front of them in a queue. Well, I just think that Asians should speak up and not be afraid of other people of their own kind! As for me, I think that I might need to smile more? Some of the friends think that I am very gloomy in school when I am alone, walking around. Anyway, I don't think that I am gloomy or anything, I am just tired!

Anyway, I am going off! SEE YOU PEOPLE TOMORROW(:
siYUAN-

Mind Champs. Yeah, my mind champs, unlike yours (:

2008-05-27T21:55:00.002+08:00

Ryan here.

Ok, the lessons are definitely different from how it is conducted in Singapore. Firstly, the reacher talks much less as they mainly use videos, either on televison or on the computer(using a projector of course.) to educate the class. They have a much more independent learning as they have to scribble down notes while watching the video and when the teacher talks. In our school, not many people do that as we know that notes would be printed out for us. Even if we do copy, it will be because of the our teachers forcing us to do so ( except for a few angels which score ever so high marks) , unlike the students in Melbourne, they do it voluntary, the teacher does not need to keep remininding them to take down notes, and those that are not sensible enough to copy just lose out, greatly. The teachers here also do talk much less then in Singapore. Well, the schools here focus on a more skill based and independent learning.

Similarities? Well, they do have students and teachers like us, yeah. Oh! and they use tables and chairs and projectors. Thats about it i guess. I may be wrong though.

Students in Singapore definately need to adopt the marvellous note taking skills that the melbourne students have instilled in them. This will surely increase their ability to study much better for the exams.

Ok, O Wen is calling me to go up to my room, i cant go up without the key, so i have to go now. NO CHOICE, NOT MY FAULT OK, I HAD MUCH MORE TO SAY!

Hostess with th mostest!

2008-05-27T19:44:00.001+08:00

When I first came to Melbourne, I was pretty scared. One question that was constantly running through my head was " What if they aren't friendly? " That however, was not the case when I met them. They greeted me with warm hugs and kept smiling through out. They were extremely friendly and hospitable. They treat me very well and never once have I ever felt uncomfortable living in their home.

After 4 days of living with my host family, I have learnt that they are an extremely loving and fun family. They really do treasure time they have with each other from watching "Eurovision" and "Desperate Housewives" to going out shopping and having meals together. When they meet their friends and relatives, they greet each other with big hugs and pecks on the cheek. Another thing I also realised was that my host, Adrienne always makes it a point to hug her parents and tell them that she loves them. Her parents do the same too and never fail to give her goodnight hugs and kisses. These few actions came across to me as very sweet and rare as you do not see that happening very often in Singapore homes. And when I go back to Singapore, I hope to do the same for my parents, from hugging them to telling them that I love them. The most important thing that I learnt from this trip was that I ought to show more love and affection towards my parents and I honestly hope to do so when I go back. :)

Elizabeth

Mind Champs!

2008-05-27T17:08:00.001+08:00

It's been two days in the school so far and it has been very interesting so far. The way things are run in this school is a little "slack", but it is a new experience for me.

For example, students don't have their own classrooms. They, however, travel to the different homerooms for their lessons. This is a fun policy, but there are Ups and Downs to it. I shall not delve into it.

The topics learnt are also somewhat similiar. For Geography, they are being taught Human geography now. If i'm not wrong, that should be what we are going to do next year. For Mathematics, they had a indices quiz today. Therefore, you can see that their methods of teaching are kind of similar to what we have.

One of the things that really amused me was the English lesson. They had to write a speech, and present it to the class. The two t0pics that was presented today were on " Man's Greatest Enemy" and " A Race Against Time. "

Interesting topics with interesting speeches. Somewhat hilarious. Like So : " Man's Greatest Fear is Public Speaking..."

They're lunch time(1 hour) is also longer than our's(half hour) *hint hint*

But they do learn subjects that we don't cover in our syllabus. They have Health Studies, Music, and such. Many a times, i was left clueless as to what they were doing, especially in French class.

A funny thing happened to me today. I was in Health Class, and they were supposed to do a worksheet on communications. The teacher handed out the worksheet, and passed one to me. a while later, they set to work. As i was not part of their secret Health society gathering, i did not understand a bit of the worksheet. So, i was scolded quite badly. The teacher came to me and went "WHOT! Are you Doing?" in a very accusing tone.

Of course, this was all soon sorted out, and a very bashful teacher was left apologizing to me, " I beg your forgiveness. "

Perhaps the most interesting lesson was Geography, it being one of the only few without lessons without a test or such. Geography was cool, and the teacher was hospitable and funny. Worksheets with printed articles on human geography were printed out, and the teacher went through a few questions set by herself.

In all, I think University High is a great school with many nice teachers. There were many hilarious moments, and they're lessons are mostly thought-provoking. Doesn't work for people like me with a 64mb memory and a small brain....

So, that's one day of a life in Melbourne. Or rather, one day in our 10 days in Melbourne.

Have fun everyone(:

-Zheng Jia

P.S. Spoke with my host a bit. They say North Australia is not facing any water trouble. However, the Southern part is facing a bit of water constraint. They're only allowed to water their garden or wash their car only twice a weeks or so. Terrible eh?

They're building a desalination plant to desalinate the saline water from the sea to use it for domestic purposes.

Just thought it would be interesting.

Mind Champs!

2008-05-27T15:02:00.004+08:00

At University High School (UHS), lessons are conducted in different classes. Unlike S'pore where we have quite permenant classes, theirs' go by different rooms that have the basic materials and resources that are needed by the different subjects.

Their curriculum about the same as singapore's. They start school at a little after 8.30 and on normal days, they end at around 3 or so. However, unlike Singapore, they do not have to stay back that much after school for supplementary lessons and such. Therefore, they get to go home a lot earlier then Singaporean students who often go home in the late afternoon or evening.

The similar thing would be the kinds of subjects they offer in school. They have languages, electives, sciences and physical education etc etc. Also, the topics taught in certain subjects is quite similar to that of what we learn in our school. For example, in math, my host, Vivian, just finished learning simultaneous equations and graphs.

In certain classes, the class can get a bit rowdy like our classes back in singapore. However, if the students an interest in a certain subject, they are willing to pay good attention to their teachers and listen in class. Also, one thing that I think Singapore students can adopt to make learning more effective would be how the students are willing to stand out and ask questions whenever they cannot understand. Though it makes the class a bit more noisy and loud, it is more interactive and energetic as compared to our classes. Perhaps, if we were more enthusiastic, our classes can be more like theirs. =D

ciao peeps (: enjoy our remainding days here (;

~Constance

Water

2008-05-27T14:48:00.002+08:00

Water, water everywhere, but exactly how much water is fit for human consumption? Australia is not exactly "running out of water", but it is not always available when and where people need it. Some of the factors affecting the water supply are extreme rainfall, drought, temperature, water salinity and human consumption. Australia is currently known as the driest continent and thus Australia has taken steps to conserve and to adapt to the water supply. One of the maeaures that Australians take is using washing machines that uses lesser water than ordinary washing machines to wash the laundry.
Water problems are currently more serious in Australia compared to Singapore. Water is still readily available when and where we need it and we do not have water restrictions like Australia. However, we are also encouraged to conserve and save water as water is a limited resource that may run out one day.
Belinda

Who's who?

2008-05-26T22:29:00.001+08:00

Alright. James here! :D

Im going to be blogging on the topic who's who, since Siddharth stole my topic on water. hahaha. No worries dude. :D

Okie, i shall start.

Im sure most of you know that there are a number of famous australians that are world renown for a wide variety of things like sports, music and many more.

First off, Australia is very very successful at selling its education to foreign students. This is depicted by the number of foreign students seen in the school. Take a good look and you'd see people of different races and nationhood around. These people come from all over the world, from countries like Malaysia, U.S.A, England, Japan, China, Korea and many more, just to study in Australia.

Australia is also known for making some of the worlds best wines. If you are interested, do check out http://www.wineaustralia.com/australia/ for a wealth of information.

Now i shall touch on the subject of famous Australians. I believe a couple of you might have read about Hugh Jackman, most well known for acting X-Men and Van Helsing. Before making the big break onto the Hollywood scene, he spent awhile working in a shell petrol station and as a clown for children's parties(Imagine wolverine being a clown! HAHA). His very story shows perseverance, ability to succeed and responsibility. He was given a small bit of inheritance from his late grandmother, setting his sights clearly on the media industry, he wisely used the money to enroll in the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts of Edith Cowan University in Perth, Western Australia, from which he graduated in 1994.

Another famous Australian I'm rather positive that all of you know is none other than the Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Rudd. Kevin Rudd grew up on a dairy farm, where his mother passed away when he was only 11 years old. After this, the family was forced to leave the farm under hardship. At the age of 15, Kevin joined the Australian labour Party. He studied and majored in the Chinese Language and Chinese History. During his study, he had to work by cleaning the house of political commentator Laurie Oakes so as to support himself. Mr Rudd shows strong qualities in being hard-working and committed to his study during his time.

I believe that learning how important both hard work and perseverance is to succeed in life, work and academics. By instilling this three values into oneself, one will be able to succeed.

Thats all for now!

James

water, water, water.

2008-05-26T22:17:00.005+08:00

By viewing the Earth, it is a fact that Austrailia is currently known as the driest continent. Water is not always available when and where people need it. However, they are actually not running out of it!

Okay so, their water availability is caused by several factors, namely: climate with high rates of evaporation and highly variable rainfall, which in turn causes droughts and floods; water salinity and human consumption. Also, agriculture takes up 65% of water supply consumption!
Farmers were biggest users of water, accounting for 67 per cent, while home owners were next biggest with 13 per cent. On average, every Australian consumed a total of 115 kilolitres (115,000 litres) of water every year.

Comparing this to Singapore, Singapore's per capita consumption of water in households has been maintained at 165 litres per day for last 5 years - that is 60,225 litres of water every year! (goodness)

Thus, to face this problem, water restrictions are put in place in many regions and cities. These restrictions may include restrictions on watering lawns, refilling swimming pools, or even washing vehicles.
I've also found out, (from a poster pasted behind a cubicle door), that water used to flush the toilets are recycled water. We can actually choose to 'half-flush' or 'fully flush' the toilets. 'Half-flush' would mean that the amount of water used for flushing is very little, which is a good way of managing the water resources.

p.s: Do you know that the water the Australians drank is the tapwater? I've got quite a shock when they filled a bottle of tapwater for me to drink.

See you guys!
Have fun!

}Sharon

My stay so far...

2008-05-26T20:30:00.003+08:00

hey bridget here, the australian accent ain't that hard to comprehend its pretty easy actually. So ya we all didn't have any problems communicating with each other=D

So after 3 days with my buddies maddy and ben these are the things we have done so far... okay firstly they live by the beach so we get a really chilly breeze here especially in the mornings, when ya talk you can see smoke coming out from ya mouth which is really fun=) So on the first day we went out to the beach to walk their dog, winnie and went to Science Works which is like Science Centre in S'pore Their mom, Robyn is a wonderful chef and whipped up venison and potatoes for dinner and apple crunchy thingy for dessert=P
On sunday we took a road trip about an hour's drive up to a beach where they have their beach house. The scenery was breath-taking and their their grandma made nougat and gave us some which was awesome =D
Today we went to our first day of school and it was great made a new friend called Emma. Our first class was German and they were saying something like ' hab sonne ...im herzen' some kinda poem. Ben was really cool and bought us pizza for recess and their school is damn big. They got a north south east and west wing. After school most of us went to the Melbourne museum which had dinos and stuffed animals that looked really amazing. The museum even had a giant baby blue whale skeleton which was like huge... can't imagine how big the mom must be... Anways got school 2mr so later=D

Comunication With The Aussie

2008-05-26T19:57:00.004+08:00

Many say that we singaporeans might find it hard to understand what the aussie are trying to say if it was our first time . However i feel that this is not true as i felt that it was a breeze to speak and communicated with my host and people we meet on the streets .They do have a very strong and thick accent which might result in a tough time to communicate with them at first . But as time passes by , we start to get the hang of it and soon start to find it easy and fun to speak to them . may be it was due to the number of aussie i hang out with in singapore that help me understand them more easily.

On the 24/5 we arrived at MEL's airport where Ms milds picked us and sent us to the University High School . Bridget and i then met our host Maddy . We found it easy to to speak to her family members , her mum, dad, older and younger brother . I noticed that Aussie family's are very hospitable and love to have more people in their house as it brings joy into the house.

Day 2 we went to the beach where we got to see the lighthouse and people fishing . The water of australia is much more cleaner and purer than those in S'pore .

done by : Aaron yuri tay (3J) (Water Project )

2008-05-26T18:08:00.003+08:00

Water here in Australia is available almost everwhere. However, water reservoirs in Melbourne are only 30% filled and there are water restrictions that the people would have to follow because of the drought that has been going on for a long time.

Some water restrictions are: watering of gardens only twice a week on certain days, only efficient car wash which meant that no more than 70litres of water is to be used to wash each vehicle and industries had permanent water saving rules and some were made to develop and implement water saving plans

The few factors that contribute to the level of water availability are the wide variabiltiy in rainfall runoff, water quality(especially salinity) and last but not least is global warming. Global warming leads to climatic changes, causing droughts that will greatly reduce the amount of water available.

Some everyday measures that Australians take in adapting to their water availability is using washing machines that uses relatively less amount of water to wash the laundry. They also store water used to wash dishes etc and keep them in the garden so that they are able to use it to water their gardens.

The water problem her in Australia is much more serious than the situation in Singapore. Water is readily available in Singapore as we do not have droughts and will not have the need to follow these water restrictions. However, the public is encouraged to save water as water is a precious resource.

Verniecia

Water-The Precious Resource

2008-05-26T17:04:00.006+08:00

Nothing has had a greater impact on Australia than water. Water has moulded its ancient landscape and influenced the pattern of human habitation from earliest times until the present. It will continue to influence people’s lifestyle, prosperity and their relationship with the land. Did you know that Australia is a continent of extremes: of geography, climate, population distribution and water resources.

It is the driest inhabited continent on Earth, with highly variable rainfall patterns.

I learnt something interesting-While two thirds of all the people on Earth use less than 60 litres of water a day the average Australian uses more than twice that amount during a single shower. In fact, Australians are among the biggest users of water in the world, especially around the home.

Speaking of availoability of water, certain factors like Climate, normal seasonal variations, droughts and floods can all contribute to local extreme conditions, affecting the amount of water available.

The government has taken a holistic approach aimed at developing sustainable supply and demand management solutions with improvements in technology, environment and community issues. Moreover, they hve ads and water restrictions imposed in certain areeas in Australia. Free water conservation kits are also given away. Compared to S'pore, water conservation efforts are similar but the situation in Australia is more serious.

Who's who?

2008-05-26T14:56:00.000+08:00

Some famous Australians are Cathy Freeman and Truganini.

Firstly, Cathy Freeman is a famous runner who has an Aboriginal background. She was born on 16 February 1973, in Slade Point, Mackay, Queensland. In 2000, she was the Olympic champion for 400m.

The next famous Australian I am going to talk about is Truganini. She is also known as the Last Tasmanian Aborigine. Her other names include Trugernanna, Trugannini, Trucanini, Trucaninny and Lalla Rooke. She was born in the year 1812, on Bruny Island (Hobart, Tasmania) and lived until 8 May 1876.

Australia is also successful in sports, diary products and wool products. Some of Australia's achievements are the Dingo Fence, Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House.

The Dingo fence stretches 5500km across the central deserts and is 1.8m high! The Dingo Bridge was built to ensure that the dingoes do not enter South Australia from the north to eat their sheep. The Dingo bridge is still maintained till this day!

The Sydney Harbour Bridge is also known as the Coathanger and is also one of the main landmarks in the city. In the 1990s, the bridge became the venue for the biggest fireworks ever in Sydney and the fireworks gets bigger each year.

The Sydney Opera House, known to many of us was made from a design competition in 1955. There were a total of 233 entries but the winning entry was by a Danish architect, Joern Utzon. The budget of the construction was much more than expected and the time of erection also went over the expected completed time. It was then finally open by Queen Elizabeth II in 1973.

I think that these Australians or their country can achieve their level of success is because of their perseverance and the diligence of the citizens. Their never dying talent and loyalty to their own country.

Such strategies can also be applied in our own lives by working hard for everything we do and have the never say die effort and energy. Therefore, I will end my post here and see you guys tomorrow!

siYUAN-

Say What?

2008-05-26T08:00:00.000+08:00

After living with my homestay family for 2 days, I realised that their Australian accent is very thick and different from our Singaporean accent. There were several occasions where I had to repeat myself a few times while conversing with them as they did not understand what I was saying. This showed me that I had to speak slower and articulate my words properly in order for them to fully understand what I was saying. During these 2 days, I also had to make sure that I did not use Singlish AT ALL. But after using Singlish for practically my whole life, it was a hard habit to break. So far, it seems to me that the best method to get my thoughts and ideas across to the Australians is to speak slowly and to articulate my words clearly so that the message will not get garbled.

- Elizabeth

Say What?

2008-05-25T20:32:00.000+08:00

~~What?~~

When I first arrived, its was difficult the thick accents of the Australians. This was already brought up by the teachers before we arrived but it was still hard to understand. Many times, I had to ask them to repeat themselves as often I could not catch what they were saying at first. However, as time went by, I grew accustomed to their way of speaking and language was no longer a barrier between us.

The Australians also face a similar problem when talking with us. Our Singaporean accents (if we have any...) often is quite too soft for them and resulting in a frequent "Pardon?" or "Could you repeat that?".

I realised that in order to be understood and heard, we would have to speak louder for them to hear. Being with them and hearing them speak is like a natural deterent towards singlish. It dispels all thoughts of singlish once we've heard them speak in their near perfect pronounciation.

I'm looking forward to seeing everybody in school tmr! :D

- O WEN.

Welcome to the ResOZes experience!

2008-05-11T12:02:00.000+08:00

Welcome to your very own space to communicate your ResOZes experience! This blog is meant for all involved in the ResOZes Trip to interact with one another, especially if you are not in the same place at the same time (e.g.: when staying at host families' homes).

Please feel free to appoint a webmaster (or webmasters) for this blog, who can personalise the template.

If you would like to take a look at a similar blog, you could go to http://austrocks.blogspot.com. This belongs to The Victoria Integrated Programme IP2 group who went to Sydney last June.

Have fun!