My second hometown---Hurstville

Hurstville is a suburb in southern Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. I think it is a good place to live in .

Firstly, the environment is so good. The fresh air and the beautiful green parklands are good for your healthy. You can visit many interesting places and use the efficient transport. The Shopping centre is advantage for your life. People are friendly, you can get help when you need .

Secondly, many people who live there are Chinese, it makes me less homesick (OR miss my hometown a bit less). In Australia it costs a lot of money to go home to see family and friends, so I can’t go home frequently. There are so many Chinese walking on the street, which makes me feel like in China, and then I will miss my family and friends less.

For all these reasons, I like live in Hurstville, I think Hurstville is my second hometown.

Reaction to Annabel’s story

Everybody has his story when they are a new comer in Australia. A new comer has many difficulties, some try their best to overcome them; but some people escape them, and then complain about them again and again. Many years later, they stand there and have no progress, or return to zero.

Annabel is the brave one, she faced troubles. She worked hard then got same or even better achievement than other persons, even though they are local. She said Assyrian was her heritage, I think that English and challenging experiences also are her heritage.

Annabel experienced the revolution and Iran-Iraq war in her childhood; the bad circumstances didn’t hit her but made her good character. I think the most important thing is learning to study harder and have less complains. Being active is more powerful than complaining. Come on!

Cairns

Cairns is in the north-west coast of the Queensland, 1700 km from Brisbane by road and 2500 km Sydney by road too.

The population of the Cairns is 123,760, there are 25 state primary schools. The TAFE campus is large but the James cook University is small, it only has 3500 students.

Cairns is the safest tropical city in the world.The average temperature in the winter is 24-28 Centigrade and in summer is 30-35Centigrade. July is the coldest month, the minimum temperature is 16 Centigrade. It is often wet and very humid in summer.It often rains in the late afternoon or night. It has frequent thunderstorms on both October and December.It is the especially tropical climate.

The famous industry in the Cairns is tourism and fishing.Nature attractions are its main advantage.Firstly,the great Barrier Reef is very clear, and the water is very warm, which is good for dliving.Secondly, the freshwater lake are fascinating. Thirdly, white sand and clear water made beaches cleaning and beautiful. At last the tropical rain forest is also the main reason.Many tourists like to visit in winter, both diving and river rafting are the popular tourist activities.

A Bad Day

The day began terribly.My alarm went off and I left the house with only 1 hour to spare before my English class started.

When I was running on the way, it began to rain.I was wet.I hurried up and fell down the stair, I didn't think so much, because I worried about missing the train. Unfortunely, I missed my train.

I arrived at school , then I found I'd forgotten where my classroom was?What could I do? My god! It was a terrible day!

The 2009 Glebe streert fair

Last Sunday Peiyi and me went to the Glebe street fair.It was funny. We just looked around and didn't buy anything.

Sculpture 51 FIRMAMENT

My individual sculpture is Firmament 5770. The "firmament " is a reference to that solid sphere in which the stars were thought to be fixed. It was made by John Adair, he used timber, plastic and light to make up a 5m*5m*15m black three dimensional box.

I didn't understand it at all the first time I saw the picture and the information about the firmament. When I walked inside, it made me think about horror, it was so dark I couldn't see my fingers. I was worried about following the way around it in the dark. I always felt there was a trap and I would fall down in next step. Lastly, I walked out I couldn't think anything. The next day, I remembered it and read the information again, then I found the meaning but I can't express it with my poor English.

These are the artist words. They may explain it better than me: Here the black walls had been pierced by tiny pinholes which allowed needle like pricks of light to illuminate the dark and oily meterior creating an intense and somewhat disorienting effect. A box made of mundane material and yet full of mystery, both empty and full, dark and yet filled with light,slient and yet resonant with voices. Arttist also think that the sucess of this work may lie in its ability to stand without debt to any prior narrative or meaning.

The Day on the Sculpture by the Sea 2009

Make a Smilebox slideshow

I find sculpture is very hard to understand. Before I went to Bondi beach, I read the information which Rosa had given us. Unfortunately, I couldn't understand it. I thought maybe when I saw the sculpture in Bondi beach for real, then it could help me understand it.

I woke up at 8:00am, before that, I woke up twice at 4:00am and 6:00am. I think I was worried about missing the train! After breakfast, I said goodbye to my family then walked to Hurstville station. During the 20 minutes walk, I was enjoying the fresh air and smelling and looking at everything. I arrived at Kogarah right on 9:00, I met my classmates, we talked about our weekend and the longing about the Sculpture by the sea 2009. Most of us missed the 9:16 train which to the Bondi Junction station, only May, Lucy and Peiyi, who walked quickly, got on the train. They waited for us at Bondi Junction station.

We arrived at Bondi beach after a 15 minutes bus ride. We walked around the beach and we saw many sculptures, we took photos of the sculptures and our classmates. I just enjoyed the colourful sculptures, but I couldn't understand what the meaning of them was. I also remembered to look for my individual sculpture . There was such a long queue to wait to see sculpture 51, that at first we gave up waiting and went away to see other things. After we went around looking at other sculptures, Peiyi and I decided to buy an ice cream and ate our ice cream while waiting to see the real face of the sculpture51(firmament).

We walked inside one by one, I held onto a boy who was before me tightly. We couldn't see anything in the firmament, everybody just walked, and one person screamed, then we all screamed, which made us briefly less scared, but really afraid again when we heard everybody screaming. The firmament was full of cries. I didn't notice how long we stayed there. When we walked out, one boy was swinging his arm, I couldn't face looking at his face and I walked to the other side, far away from him, feeling very embarrassed. I asked myself not to think about it, and I played in the water with Lucy and Peiyi.

On the way back home I thought about firmament. Its use of black walls which had been pierced with tiny pinholes which allowed needle like pricks of light, which were like stars in the firmament, to illuminate the dark.

It was a lovely day!

Smoke Get in My Eyes

Dear sir,

We are fed up with people like youself ,Joe, amokers.
Maybe,you contribute alot of money in taxes,however non-smoking protesters also pay a lot money to the goverment,But because of your smoking everywhere, we have equal rights to enjoy the fresh air,can't hardly enjoy that.
Secondly,you can't think that you pay money ,so you can destroy the enviroment.Meanwhile, it is harmful to your health and the health of others.Stop smoking for your own sake and the rest of us.

Your sincerly,
Non-smoking defenders:Jin &May

MAYA has been in Australia between three and a half and four years. She has three children. She comes from RUSSIA, English is not her first language, and she spoke Russian in her country. She studied EFS (ENgish for Further Study) here 2 years ago. She learnt more English here than in her country, because she listened to ABC radio national (which is more clear for her to understand) and read a lot. She was lucky when she finished her English study, her teacher helped her get a chance to practice in a TAFE library, and she worked there 9 months for free. Then she got a real job in the library.
In Russia she studied librarianship, but she worked in marketing. Then she migrated to Cyprus first, Australia eventually. She enjoys her job in the library and is also happy with her salary. She works full time, she doesn’t need to work on Saturday, but she needs to work at 1:00pm-8:00pm once a week. She can learn new things every day. She hopes her work is useful for the students and the teachers. Every time she makes sure she understands what the student asks, if there is a complaint, she will found out “why isn’t the student happy?” and “how did it happen?”
She didn’t take an interview for her job, but she also gave us many valuable advices: 1.Open our mind to find any suitable chance to get training, don’t just stay in the old seat. 2. Think clearly about what we need 3. Read the job description. 4. Borrow some interview books and videos from a library.
To finsih, she told us she plans to get a master in education in the future, but she thinks it is very hard because of her full time job, but she will try.

The Bad Effects of Physical Punishment

Spare the rod and spoil the child is often stated by parents to justify spanking. But, in my opinion physical punishment is not good for the children.
Firstly, according to experts, hitting children can be harmful for their development. Reports show that physically abused children are not confident in comparison to other children. It can also result in a reduced IQ. Because Spanking creates stress, anxiety and fear and this can slow a child’s cognitive development. It can actually result in fewer neurons in the brain. Children who are abused will become abusers and turn into bullies in the school yard.
Secondly, new research shows that physically abusing children when parents are angry can cause serious physical damage. Such as ruptured eardrums, brain damage and other bodily injuries and death. While the physical damage done to the body can be treated, the emotional and psychological effects can affect the survivor deeply. It is bad for the children.
Thirdly, it has been also proven that using physical punishment doesn’t work with children. If punishment is used in many times, they don’t believe in it again. And corporal punishment does not help a child to develop into an adult with self-discipline and respect for other people. Instead, it makes them have a bad relationship in the society. They only use force to solve problems.
Childhood is not only a long journey but also an important part of one's life because it affects what they become later in life. Punishment is bad for their further development, health and personality. So I think physical punishment has a bad effect for the children.

THE TAWNY FROGMOUTH

Popular name: Tawny Frogmouth.
Scientific name: Ponderous strigoides.
Location: The Tawny Frogmouth is found throughout Australia.
Description
The Tawny Frogmouth feathers are marbled, When they at threat, they compacts their feathers and squints their eyes. The male plumage of the Tawny Frogmouth is grey, the female’s is browner. The female is less mottled in color. The upper parts dark grey streaked with black, their face are grayish and eyes are lemon to orange yellow. They have large bills which are olive to black grey with a yellow mouth and white tipped bristles spreading towards tip off bill, their tail grey barred with black, tipped with white and russet flecks. Their feet are olive brown and their claws slightly darker. South-eastern birds are larger than birds from the north.
Voice
They sound like a motor that won’t start “oom, oom, oom” call, which they repeat 10-15 times and also a sharp “too took” when in alarm. They growl, hiss and snap in threat or defense.
Adults
Minimum size: 35cm
Maximum size: 53 cm
Habitat
The Tawny Frogmouth like a broken branch of a tree. Which make them be able to camouflage in day time, they are indistinguishable while roosting in trees. They are sedentary birds, which prefer open forest and woodlands. They also could live in the same area year after year. They hunt for insects as food at dusk. Tawny Frogmouths are pair permanently. During the day, they roost closely together.

Breeding
The Tawny Frogmouth’s nest is made of leaves and twigs which are high above the ground. Tawny Frogmouths have a regular breeding season: August to December, They incubated eggs for about 28 to 32 days after female lays 1-3 eggs. Both parents spend up to 12 hours in incubation. The male sits during the day.

INDIAN PEAFOWL

CLASSIFICATION
The Indian peafowl has other names: common peafowl, peacock, and peahen. Peacock refers to the male, the female called a peahen, and the young are peachicks.The term peafowl can refer to the two species of bird in the genus Pave of the pheasant family.

DISTRIBUTION
India and Sri Lanka
Introduced in many parts of the world

DESCRIPTION
MALE: Brilliant blue head and body.
Its ‘Train’ consists of abnormally long upper tail-coverts: glossy dark blue-green with many golden blue ‘eyes.
Raised fan-like and concave in display, supported by the short refocus tail
feathers.
FEMALE: Grey-brown above
Whitish below, patterned on breast
Lacks ‘train’

SIZE RANGE
Male: 2-2.3m, include ‘train’.
Female: 1m.

VOICE
Loud.
Discordant.
Descending wail or crow, sounding like ‘help
.
HABITATS
Singles, pairs or parties.
coastal scrubs, private and public gardens, sanctuaries, homesteads.

MOVEMENT
Flies heavily aloft to roost.
noisy.

FEEDING HABITS
Feeds on ground.

BREEDING HABITS
Eggs: 3-5
Brownish buff.