Photo Essay - MaD week 2013

  In my photo essay, I'll be talking about my MaD week to Langkawi, Malaysia. MaD week, which stands for Making a Difference Week, where we go overseas to make a difference to ourselves, to others, and also to the world. My friends and I chose to go to a small island in Malaysia called Langkawi. Our main aim was to make a difference to ourselves and to Langkawi. our camp was 7 days long, with different kinds of activities for each day. In my essay, I'll be explaining about what we did and how we made a difference.

Day 1 - Rice Padi Field
 After we got off the plane, it was night time. So we went straight to bed. the next day, at 7:30 AM sharp, we went to a nearby rice padi field, where we to caught fishes, went on a buffalo, ate snacks made out of rice, and more. They were all really interesting and special, but today, I would like to talk about catching fishes. When the instructors told us to catch the fishes, we were all very shocked. When I first stepped into the muddy padi field, it started to make squirting sounds, which smelled and felt like buffalo poo. Each step I took, I felt as if though my legs were sinking into the mud. But after a couple of minutes, all of us got use to the feeling, adn we actually started to run around the field, trying to catch the fish.

My friends catching the fishes inside the rice padi field. 

Day 2 - Snorkeling
  This was the big one. The one I feared the most, and was also the one i most looked forward to. on the way to the snorkeling island, I thought it would be very easy to just snorkel around. But when I stepped into the water, I froze. the water was cold as ice and there were fish and even sharks tickling my feet. As we went in deeper, there were bigger fishes and actual sharks, which kind of freaked me out. I saw rainbow coloured fishes, fishes that changed color, and even weird looking fishes that were hiding themselves inside the sand. I was too busy exploring around the sea shore that I didn't even notice that 3 hours had just passed!

My friends getting ready for snorkeling

Day 3 - Zip lining
  Deep inside the forest, in the core of the forest, there was a zip lining process going on. I thought we were going to zip line throughout the whole activity. But however, we also had some crossing the road by stepping on the line course, abseiling course, and more. In the zip line course, i was very nervous. When I peeked down to see if there were any nets just in case I fell. But there weren't. There were clouds covering what was beneath the whole. It made me get more scared. When they said that I had to have a strong push off and to let go off my hands, I was screaming inside. My heart was beating continuously as people in front of me started to push off and disappeared to the other side of the forest. It was my turn now.

Trying the rope course.

Day 4 - Rainforest Trekking
  I found this course very interesting bu also boring. It was interesting to find out all kinds of creatures and rare plants that are close to extinction. During the rain forest trekking, there were rubber trees, chimps, baby koalas and even poisonous snake. i was scared at first so I tip toed through the rain forest, thinking that would help. the rainforest was very humid and was wet, with smells of all kinds mixed together, which gave me a headache.  But unfortunately, the trekking was over two and a half hours which made my legs get itchy and also gave small blisters on my feet.

Standing under a 1000 year old tree.

Day 5 - Kayaking
  Kayaking is a very common water sport activity that lots of people enjoy when going to camps or trips. We also had a very long kayaking trail, that was 2~3km long and it took us around 2 hours and a half to complete the trail. Even though it was very tiring and harsh, the view and the mountains, animals cheered me up. As soon as I started the trail, the first word that came up to my mind was wow. The view was just mind-blowing. It was like one of views that I saw in the drawings. There were over 50 types of water trees (e.g mangroves) all twinkling from the sunlight. There were dolphins doing their own special tricks inside the emerald green water. We also a endangered eagle, that represented Langkawi. We started to click on the shutters of our camera, continuously.

With Lauren - Kayaking

Day 6 - Mangrove tree planting
  This activity was the main part of our aim; making a difference to Langkawi by planting mangrove trees. Mangrove trees are water trees that grows inside the water. They need the exact amount of water, the exact density of the water, and the right amount of soil. As a consequence, they were close to extinction. To protect them, we planted small seedlings. We were very nervous and excited and the bus was on fire (wild and crazy). When we arrived, we were all grabbing and shoving these in as if we were mad. The mangrove trees were very weak and it wasn't fresh. After planting these trees and heard about how endangered they were, I wanted to save these trees immediately.

My friends and I planting the seedlings

Day 7 - The end
  It was the last day of the camp. In the morning, we took pictures on the beach, bought souvenirs and gifts for our families back in Hong Kong. Then at night, we gathered around and did a bonfire party including dance competitions, singing competition and we also ate smokes. I think the camp was a great experience for me to learn more about myself, and also to find out more about other people in person and also I am very happy that I have had successfully achieved the goal of 'Making a Difference'.

Group photo - The end

Mao's Last Dancer

The movie Mao's last dancer was released in 2009. The movie was based on a real story about a boy called Li Cuxin. Li Cuxin is a Chinese boy, who later moves to America to learn more ballet. Li was born in the Chinese revolution period, and was chosen to go to a dance academy, where he would practice a very political Chinese style dance to show it to the governments, and even Mao himself. Li encounters romance, unexpected consequences and culture shock.

  I would like to talk about the culture shock Li experienced when he went to America. Li was just a 'frog in a well', and didn't know anything else. He was shocked by how people were very free, and how they even talked badly about their president. I could even see that his school was very different, economy was different, people were different, etc.

  In the middle of the movie, Li had to decide if he would stay in America or not. If I were him, I would go back to China. First, he already has a girl he likes in China, and she also likes him. Secondly, it is also the best for his family. He would get a lot of money from the Chinese government, and would be able to provide the basic needs for his family. He would get a lot of money from the government, and would be able to provide his family their basic needs. Also, I think he was very selfish and irresponsible of how he just wanted to do everything that he liked.

  Lastly, there was a teacher back in China that Li liked. He encouraged him and motivated Li into doing ballet and he also showed him the 'real' ballet. I think that my friends at school encourage me a lot. My best friends are all very smart in different ways. Some of them are very logical while others are very proactive and have great leadership. They both help me in two different ways. One gives me motivation to do better in subjects like Maths, Science, English, while the other helps me with subjects like humanities, Learn Fu, where I need to be proactive. I think my two friends really have a big impact during my school life.

  I would like to give this movie three stars out of five. It is a very interesting real story of a person's life, but I personally don't enjoy watching non-fictional movies, where they tell us about their 'journey through life'.

Three Things I Know to be True

Hi my name is Annie and I'm in the middle school 1st grade. I live in Hong Kong and I go to a English school called South Island School.Today, I would like to give a brief introduction about myself. I would like to describe myself in three words that shows my characteristics and daily life at school. Three words that I would like to describe myself are seven, Atrium and C23.

7
C23
Atrium

  I think it was interesting how we got to describe ourselves in three unique words. This essay was based on three main ideas; where I live, my daily life in my school and my friends. It was fun to write an essay in this format because I had to think of complicated words or numbers that is not obvious but has some crucial information about myself.