2011, the start of a New Year's Resolution

My first resolution is, to get rid of the stress because to Malaysia week because I have a disorder called separation anxiety. This means that I can not be separated from my family, so I can not have sleepovers and  overnight trips (but I have to go) I just can not stand it! It is exactly like being homesick but, there is much more than missing your family, separation anxiety is not like that, separation anxiety is like, you think about  what negative things are going to happen to your family or someone close to you. The stress I have about Malaysia week is at a high level. At night I start freaking out about it when I am trying to sleep so I start tearing and I  start thinking about it and get dragged into the whole thing about Malaysia I can not sleep until a long time like 2 hours later. So for me to fight the disorder or conquer the disorder is TRY NOT to think about it and to make a lot of sleepovers or things that make me go far away from my parents. I have to conquer it because one day I have to realised that my parents are not going to be with me FOREVER :( So in 2011, when we had to go to bed (was at two am) I knew what to do, not to think about Malaysia week so it would not worse. Since then I have been doing quite well but one day I had a total break down so I went to my parents' room and when they saw me crying they told me they would try to do something about it because I do not want to go even tough it is going to be ALLOT  of fun.


My second resolution is, to be a better person by helping the earth by telling my family that how recycling can make a huge difference in the world and what else you can do to help the world. I think that you can help by many simple ways like, buy a reusable water bottle like a steel one. Do not use plastic bags, it usually takes a thousand years to recycle it. If you happen to get a plastic bag reuse it in anyway like, put the plastic bag on the rubbish bin so when you throw away your things, it will be easier to dispose when it is full or use it as a shopping bag so you do not need to use another one. In our family we do all that but, the best way to stop using plastic bags, is to buy a reusable bag so every time you shop, you do not need to use plastic bags anymore. There are way more ways to helping the Earth but these are just two of them which for me are the easiest ways to help the world. This will make a HUGE difference to you and the world.

During the winter break, I went to a place called Kandooma, Maldives. This was the most AMAZING place EVER! If you like the beach, snorkeling, swimming and diving you should go to Maldives. In Kandooma, we did so millions of activities, we did not get to finish all the activities in five nights! We did activities like, going far out to do some snorkeling, swimming in the sea, go to picnic island, and night fishing (you get to eat the fish you catch)!  But the best of all is, you got to go on this huge boat and go to see wild dolphins which is amazing because you RARLY find wild dolphins in the WORLD so for us it was just mind-blowing to see these dolphins in the wild especially, when you see them do tricks without telling them to do it. It was also breath taking when you see them in pods jumping together and they surround the boat. 


our tiring trip from Kuala Lumpur to Maldives, we decided to explore our way to the family villa whilst, I was just sprinted to the villa. ZOOM! Rushed upstairs like a cheetah chasing after his favorite meal and got some shut eye. Lazily walked out of the house but, I was so famished I rushed down to the restaurant which Holiday Inn owned. A buffet that was smelled of soft and crispy bacon, some eggs and just made bread. The aroma kissed the room it came to me and attracted nose to go and get it and I toke a bunch of food and gobbled it up like I was in a food eating contest. I ran to the beach, murder my shoes and stepped into cotton candy. The sand felt like I was in heaven and dipped into the tropical, crystal clear water. It was so clear I could see the fish swimming through my legs, saw millions of flying fish jumping out of the water so synchronized, when they jumped, it felt like it was together. Feeling the gentle breeze blowing through my hair felt so wonderful. That was just the beginning with my holiday. 

When our time was up we begged our parents to extend it but, we knew it was not going to work. After our last good byes to the place I almost started tearing. This was a memorable moment was a moment I should cherish in my heart forever and I would NEVER forget. This place was beyond the best it could ever be. This place the crew are just so friendly and very cautious of the environment which has inspired me to be cautious as how can I help to stop global warming because I do not want maldives to sink ever!  This experience was a experience of a life time that will be the most amazing one ever.   

My Zeitgeist

Learning Profile~ How do I learn best?

How can I learn best?


I usually learn best when I have a picture to look at or a piece of paper to follow along. I feel this way because sometimes I get lost by listening and when there is like a picture then I can follow along and in a snap, I know what to do. But, most of the time I can listen clearly and follow but, I do not understand as much as having a visual to look at. If I want to concentrate I usually have to find a quite spot so no one could disturb me. I do this if I really want to get the work done. I do this because when people are chatting or noise, I can not really do much because it get harder to concentrate and I would start getting off track and forgetting all about what I need to do. Even music gets me off track too because I would start listening to the music and I can not stop listen too which sometimes give me a bit of frustration. I do best when people are not tapping on the desk when I am working or reading because once I get a bit stressed I can not really read, do my work, see and listen which gets quite annoying so I completely shut down. I usually find it listening easy but, for me to listen I start fiddling with my leg like, making pinch marks on my leg, playing with my pencil and finally, shaking my leg very fast. I find this easier to listen/ learn because when I get quite bored I do not listen properly so I just shake my leg or do something to make me feel entertained and I will start listening. I like not go in order sometimes because I like doing what is easy first than hard and if I had a new cell phone I would just fool around with the phone then on the way, when I get stuck or do not know what to do I would just scan/read the instructions. I also learn best by having examples. I like examples because it makes me understand exactly what to do and shows me what is expected in that project.


I need to.......


I need to try my best to stop the person who is making noise because if I do not stop the person I would not be able to do my work and finish it. If I can not make the person stop talking I would tell the teacher that they are distracting me from do my work or tell some one else to try to stop them. I think I could also tell my teachers that I need a bit of silence in the class so I would not get too stressed in class and start to fall apart. I also think that I should tell the people in my math/science table group that do not try to shake the squeaky table so it would not be distracting for everybody or for some people. I also should tell them to not talk so loud or start banging the desks and all. If that does not work out, I could ask a teacher if we could change seats if they do not stop.


The strategies that would help me in my learning....


I think working on my logic side more, so when I grow older and I am stressed, I can control like I can not shut down as easy as before. In order to work on my non-donimate side I can do knitting, writing and drawing since I like to do those things and it helps my non dominate hand. But, if you are an L person like me, be aware of walking, dancing, soccer and martial arts like Tai Chi. If I can not finish my work then I can go someplace quite like the library and the classrooms during lunch. If you are a L then you should go in these spot if you want a quite spot. That I should get a balance of art, music, movement and verbal skills. This would help me for making the best changes so I can have the best ways to learn.


I would like my teachers to know


That how much they have contribute for to strive further into learning the way that suits for me. When I am in stress I am helpless therfore I can not take charge of my dominate side of my senses which turns me off. My hearing turns off, it feels like that I have earplugs so what ever I hear does not go in and stores there. My reading button turns off. If I read for a big project I tend to read it fast and after a few hours I tend to forget what I read so I have to read all the part all over again.  I want them to know that if I get stressed (rarely) I shut down and they would be able to tell because of my attitude. Luckily, L when we are relaxed we can access to both sides of my brain the gestalt and the logic side of our brain.

Collaborate Constructively ~ Collaborative Literature Circles

What are the benefits of working with your classmate? 


I think the benefits of working with a partner is more unique than any other reason because to me, working with a partner shows how much knowledge they learned during in the novel/ book so far. I think this reason because it makes me think like, hmmmmmmmmm, I wonder how my partner looks at this book like, a really good book that keeps you flipping the pages or just a stupid book that we have to read for lit circles. This helps me indicates of what is their perspective of this book. Do they pay attention to the book? How can I help them i their connections, passages and questions this also help me indicates where they are at in this book. Having a partner is a good way to start learning your mistakes of how you could improve just by listening to your partner and what they think you should improve. They give feedback like, telling you if you repeated that part or if you need more evidence in your passages by doing that, she/he needed to use the book to claim that this was true. Working with a partner also helps you to work with many different people so you know how the people around you think which is a good thing because you know how they explain and you know how to make it better. Benefits of working with a partner helps you get less pressure with your work but, this is not stable with some people. Some people you can not really rely on.


Challenges/ obstacles which you overcame (tried to overcome).


Some challenges which I faced was hard to overcome. One is a challenge which everyone had to face or would face later in their lives. This challenge was your partner not doing their job. This was really hard for me because I really wanted a 100% in this lit circle. I thought I would get that grade because I chose somebody that I thought I could rely on and I really work well with this person because we are friends and it is quite easy to choose your friends to help you on this big project. I worked so hard for it. Then on Sunday I checked to see if she did the work yet or started but, she did not start it yet so I decided to e-mail Mrs. N to see if she could help. Hoping that she would finish it on time. Next humanities we got to work on it and Mrs. N told me to talk to her and I did. The reason why was because she did not have time and the power went of so she could to use the computer. I understood her problem but could not she write it by hand? Oh well. She told me that she would be done on time and make high quality. I was proud of her and the whole class through she was on task. 


New understanding you gained about the novel.


In lit circle 3 I learned loads of things which is good and one thing I learned was that everyone knew how to stay on task and finish fast so we could finish as many things as possible. In the novel I learned that they Mr. Pollock (Amy's dad) did not meet Miyax's father, Mr. Pollock met her. He gave the letter all about Amy to her Miyax. Another thing was that Miyax did not want to make love/mate with Daniel  because he just toke clothes of and kissed her (which was very gross) and disturbing for Miyax so that was the whole reason why she wanted to leave him and go to San Fransisco and disobey Kapugen, her father who told her everything if she was depressed and what she should do and that was his last words before he died. Finally, that she could leave aunt Martha if she was also really depressed. I believe that lit circles make you understand about the book even more then I could ever imagine. 

Literature Circle~ Julie of the Wolves

1. How your groups discussion helped your understanding of the novel.

My group was Fynnola, Sidney and Jorghi but Fynnola could not find her lit circle so she was not able to share. The discussions in our group helped me understand the book a bit more because some of the questions I never could have thought of and they have it so it made me think more because their questions made me think outside of the box and make me think hard. When I was listening to their responses I said: Ohhh, ok know I get what your trying to say. The discussions we were having was quite interesting because our passages were on different pages but similar reasons. It was quite ironic  that our group had lots in common. This made me understand more because doing literature circles make me think differently when I am reading my own books now because of this. Without having the discussions I would not understand the book as clear as now.

2. Connections that you made during your discussion

When we had similar reasons in our passage. I think that was quite fascinating because having the same things you could put more comments on it like, I do not think this is true because..... You can ask more better questions on it. Saying I agree on this, oh, once I was doing something, you can make allot of connections with it. Like Sidney, he said once something happened while someone was reading their passage. There was so connections I said like, when I trained my dog, when we had this bond together all other connections. I think I could have said a bit more though. 

3. Predictions
I think she is going to move to San Francisco but has a hard time getting there because she misses Alaska and her wolves because she has been trying to communicate with them for so long and she has had them since the wolves were young. She might miss the fact that she has allot of snow in Alaska. She could not be used to the weather because it could be very hot for her. I have a feeling that she would not find her way to her destiny because she just learned how to communicate with wolves and maybe there would be some mishaps like, not understand her sometimes and do something wrong like, bang into something and might injure herself and going into the wrong direction and getting lost. Since Alaska is a big country she might be not familiar with everywhere yet.  

Guns, Germs and Steel~ Even though Papua New Guinea is located in the same region as Australia and New Zealand, why is it that Australia and New Zealand became technologically advanced and wealthy?

  I believe that Papua New Guinea is not as wealthy and technologically advanced as New Zealand and Australia because is not as rich in resources as Australia and New Zealand in the world even though their both located in the same region because of the geographical location. Papua New Guinea landscapes has left it's mark on this nation many times. It has more than 600 islands it ranges form sea level and it is a subject to volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. So with so many natural disasters in their hands. With whether disasters in their hands their lives are in danger. In guns, germs and steel it could be about the whether there Jared Diamond said that their crops rot easily so it is harder feed the country. 


How they handle national economy is one of the things why their not as wealthy. Even though their rich in resources like their neighbors Australia and New Zealand they have very little money because they have to share with the other 600 hundred islands. This would be hard because it is hard to send things that they found and it is even harder to communicate with them since they have 850 types different languages coming in with different cultures with a population of nearly 6 million. This makes it hard to have any sense of unity within the community so the politics becomes messy and at very high levels. Even tough their rich in resources they give it to get paid for building roads, bridges and other things so they do not have enough money for other things needed.  These resources are hard to dig up because they have to travel many places just to find resources for money.


It is not easy to go places in Papua New Guinea. It is hard for people because they live in dense forests, near swamps and some people live isolated in mountains. Papua New Guinea has a few roads no railroads, no links the capital city to the provincial city.  People have to walk to town or arrive water or air. So it's quite hard to trade with other countries. That is why Papua New Guinea is not as wealthy as New Zealand and Australia.   




Bibliography:


http://www.chronicpoverty.org/uploads/publication_files/CPR2%20Background%20Papers%20Cammack%20New.pdf

Selangor trip- What would happen if their were no mangroves

Would some countries fall apart if their were no mangroves in this world? Why would our country fall apart if mangrove are existent? Well scientists have been discovering still, unravelling the mystery of this question.  If we preserve and plant saplings of mangroves would how does it make a difference? The most main reason of why do we plant mangroves in Malaysia.


The main reason is that mangroves would stop villages and countries to usually fight or stop tsunamis from hitting there.  If there was not any mangroves tree more lives would be lost and tsunamis will hit more often then now. Since there are loads of mangroves this has reduced the force of an incoming tsunami.  The force of within which the waves hit the shoreline depends defiantly on the currents and other physical factors. In Sri Lanka, first 500 meters of coastline has been mangroves, mangroves or even a cash crop, with a rule of humans habitation, there maybe a little or no human causalities on this land.  The risk remains for the tsunami, but not at extreme measures.  However, due to the natural vegetation of the mangroves, it makes sense to preserve these. We should preserve them not just for tsunamis also for the islands' rapidly degrading eco-system. In Langkawi this was the time when mangroves saved there country.


In Langkawi, after the tsunami people have been thinking how was the tsunami prevented? People say that after planting mangrove trees, tsunamis that came affected way fewer people. How does this happen? Many tsunamis were tamed by the coral reefs before hitting the coast, where the dense of the red mangrove tree absorb.  Since the mangroves has long branches that goes under the sand, below the surface of the ocean, which actually absorb the shock of the tsunami.  Behind the red mangrove trees there are  a second layer, the black mangrove trees, which are taller that helps the sea to slow down. Every since they started to plant more mangroves less tsunamis came so they decided to put it everywhere in Malaysia. So now fewer people are getting killed by tsunamis.


Mangrove really helped our world and even today. The Selangor park helps us do more for us and the people around us. That is why we should preserve them today and help us plant so we can block away tsunami. Planting a sapling even helps the marine live in the sea. Thousands of miles fully covered with marine, covered of mangroves forests, which helps protect the coastline from erosion, absorbing the carbon dioxide giving the breeding ground to fish and crustaceans, on the local population depends on their live hood.  With this fragile eco-system which ecologist recommended for a long time.




Bibliography
http://www.wildasia.org/main.cfm/library/Mangroves_Tsunami_Buffer
http://www.langkawi-beaches.com/langkawi-tsunami.html