Class, please teach Ms. Ohia’s class how to get on the voicethread. Dane Ku or Nainoa, please see Peter and Pono. Also, please teach Ms. Nelson. If you would like to see what we are doing down in Australia, go to voicethread.com. Once you are at the site, press the browse button and type in wailele. Our pictures are under Australian Adventure.
I have been talking to Ms. Dolfinger on the phone, and I am sorry to say that I am disappointed with the behavior of the class. I can’t understand why you cannot behave for two weeks for our guest teacher. I wish all of you would have more pride in your class, and yourselves as students of Kamehameha Schools. It is just disappointing. If this continues, there will definitely be changes for the last half of the year. You have only one more week to prove yourselves.
I was going to write about what I have been doing the last few days, but I am not in the mood. If you want to know, just look on the voicethread.
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Friday, Dec. 9th, 7:oo AM (Thursday, Dec. 10th, 10:00 AM your time)
I apologize for not writing yesterday. Ms. Burgess and I had a full day yesterday and when I got back into my hotel room yesterday, I just collapsed on the bag. I suppose my jetlag is catching up to me.
One thing I noticed watching TV here are the Australians are very close to the Americans. They watch American shows like Grey’s Anatomy and Lost, and are interested in talk shows like Oprah and Ellen. (This is in contrast with the New Zealanders who are seem to enjoy news and programs from Great Britain). The newscasters are all interested in the lives of people like Britney Spears who they predict will have another mental breakdown soon, Angelina Jolie who the Australians will have another baby next year, and Paris Hilton who was just dumped by her boyfriend by text messaging. Watching television, I just realized America is not the only country in the world that is obsessed with silly things and people.
We visited a war memorial of Australians and others who fought and died in wars from the First World War. Because Australia was part of the English Empire, anytime the British went to war, the Australians went to war. I spoke to an old Australian gentleman and he mentioned how he didn’t like how the British would always send the Australian troops to dangerous places to attack first.
Going around the city yesterday with Keoni’s dad, I noticed there is a huge foreign community here. There are 300,000 Greeks in Melbourne. For some reason, Ms. Burgess and I got to talk with a lot of Greek people as we were cruising the city. We heard fascinating stories about ancient Greece from Alexander the Great, to the Holy Roman Empire, to even the genocide of the Greeks by the Turks this century. (If you are interested, just google the topics). I think the Greeks convinced Ms. Burgess and I that everyone should go to Greece someday because of its history.
I also found out the the life expectancy for the Australian aborigines is about 35 years, especially the ones that live out in the bush. They often do this thing called a walkabout in which they walk into the desert for 2-3 months with hardly a thing. They can survive just from nature hunting animals like lizards and gathering plants for food and water. Before the Europeans came, there life expectancy was even shorter. Many lived to be just 18 years old.
I noticed many of you are starting book reports on the voicethread. I noticed two things. First of all, many of you are not changing the icon to yours when you start you voicethread. Secondly, the pictures are fuzzy. Please find book covers that are big to begin with (pictures with high ks). Dane Ku knows how to do this.
I am also putting my pictures of my trip on voicethread as it is easier to upload than on the blog.
We will be going out soon with Keoni’s grandfather. It makes a huge difference when you know someone in the place you go to. We really appreciate what Keoni’s grandfather is doing for us. We are learning things about Australia that we otherwise would not have known.
Anyways, take care and be good to each other.
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Wednesday, December 9th, 7:00 PM (Tuesday. December 8th, 10:00 your time)
Aloha from Down Under!!! I am writing this at 7:00 in the evening over here on Wednesday which means it is 10:00 on Tuesday evening in Hawaii. Basically we are 21 hours ahead in terms of time. We had a very long flight. Our first leg of our journey was from Honolulu International Airport to Aukland, New Zealand which was about 12 hours. One lucky thing about me is that I can sleep anywhere and I had a good 8 hours of sleep on the plane. (I remember when I was living in Tokyo and I had a two hour commute to work each day. I would sleep standing up. It was weird because I would always wake up just before the station I was to get off. But, I digress…). Anyways, the second leg of my trip was from Aukland, New Zealand to Melbourne, Australia which was only 3 hours long. (You can check out my path on Google Earth).
Looking out the airplane over Australia, I noticed that it was mostly desert. Australia is a very big continent but cannot hold a large population because the soil is not very productive for farming. The reason for this is Australia was never near volcanoes, thus never had the advantage of volcanic ash which contains nutrients for the soil to grow. This is in stark comparison to Aotearoa (New Zealand) which is quite verdant due to the advantage of active volcanoes. Hawaii’s soil is also rich as well from her volcanoes.
When we arrived, I noticed the spring-like weather. Australia has 4 distinct seasons which are opposite from the Northern Hemisphere. The high here is about 75 degrees during the day and 50 degrees at night. There is a large fluctuation in temperature, unlike Hawaii. Hawaii is surrounded by water which makes the temperature stable due to condensation. (I’ll explain this to you later).
I am pleased to hear from your comments that all of you are enjoying Ms. Dolfinger. All of you are quite lucky to have her. Ms. Dolfinger is an expert in math and it is her passion. She is also a kind and generous person who all of you can benefit greatly by having as a teacher for two weeks. In life, always take advantage of opportunities such as this experience if you want to be successful. Learn as much possible from people like Ms. Dolfinger!
Ms. Burgess and I are now at hotel lobby waiting for Keoni Oglivey’s grandfather to pick us up for dinner. Keoni is in Ms. Burgess’ class. I am sure we will learn much about Australia from him. Keoni is lucky because he gets to visit him every summer.
I will write back soon about my adventures. Take care and please treat each other with respect.
P.S.-Please tell Ms. Burgess’s class to look on her blog and comment back to her.
