Jakarta blasts: More than 2 bombers?

Hi everyone! As we all know, last week two suicide bombers detonated themselves in the hotels, JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton, leaving 9 people dead and more than 50 others injured. Now, the Indonesian police suspect that there were more than 2 bombers involved. This theory came to life when it was found that 2 Dutch citizens staying at the Ritz-Carlton were reported missing. More than 2 bombers? What do you think?

Anyway, back to the bombings. The bomb blasts would affect the country in the fact that less foreigners would want to go there, in case other bombings would occur. The bombings also affected the other countries, as now tourists might not want to go to Indonesia. Australia, even sent a security alert to its citizens, warning them not to go to Indonesia.

Hopefully, terrorism will stop soon, and nothing like this will happen again.

Racial Harmony Day

Hey all! As everyone knows, we celebrated Racial Harmony Day last Wednesday. But, due to the current H1N1 situation, we stayed in class and watched a recorded version of the performance, causing us to miss maths lesson! :(
In the video, there was a demonstration of the four ethnic groups' (Eurasian, Chinese, Indian, Malay) weddings. I liked the Chinese wedding the most, especially the tea ceremony, where the bride offers tea to her future parents-in-law, in exchange for hong baos.(Its like she's selling the tea!) After that, we watched a skit on this couple and their neighbour, Mrs Teo. After some time, they became very close, with Mrs Teo even saying that they were like "two extra children" to her. I have two neighbours. The one to my right is a Chinese family. The two adults are quite friendly, but their daughter, a toddler, has this really bad habit crying almost everyday. Hurts my ears, really.
My other neighbours are another Chinese family. They to are very friendly, and I will regularly go over and play basketball with their son. We will also bake cookies for them, and in return, they will give other things to us.
Later, we had henna painting. We painted what Costine called a "tribal warrior" on Matthew's hand.
To me, Racial Harmony means everyone, despite being of different races, living together in peace and harmony.
Well, I guess this is the end of this post. 'Till next time, guys!

Influenza A H1N1

Hey all! I guess you've heard of the Influenza A H1N1 virus., better known as 'swine flu'. Some symptoms of swine flu are cough, fever, sore throat, headaches and chills. Presently, the number of confirmed cases around the world totals to about 17,705, with 4 cases in Singapore! It's creepy, how fast this virus can spread. Some countries in Asia like Japan, South Korea, China, Malaysia, and of course Singapore, have cases of the H1N1 virus. To prevent the spread of the virus, they quarantine tourists from Mexico or people who have H1N1 like symptoms.
Recently, our school has been conducting temperature taking exercises, which I think is quite effective, because if the pupil has H1N1 like symptoms, he or she will be sent home instead of the pupil passing his or her illness to everyone else.
By the way, if you have been to the airport recently, have you noticed these tiny little cameras on the ceiling? These are in fact 'thermometers'. Instead of it taking your photo, these nifty little gadgets will take your temperature!
To prevent the spread of the H1N1 virus, we should always cover our nose or mouth with a tissue when we sneeze or cough and wash our hand regularly.
Well, I guess I've come to the end of my post. 'Till next time!

Kindness

Hi everyone! This weeks post is on kindness. To me, kindness would mean doing nice things for someone or just helping someone do something. Being kind is very important. Why? Well, no one would want to live in a world where everyone's horrible to each other, right? People could show their kindness in simple things, like giving up your seat in a bus or MRT to some one who needs it more. There was this one time when a pregnant woman came onto the bus and I let her take my seat. I felt happy that I could help her. Promoting kindness could be done by sharing acts of kindness with everyone around and they'll probably be inspired to do the same.
Well, that's the end of my post. Remember to be kind!

Oral Exam

Hi everyone! Yesterday I went for my Oral exam, but it wasn't as scary as I thought it was.(It was quite easy, actually!) I went for my english oral first, but I had to wait a really long time, so I read the book I borrowed, The Cole Protocol, while waiting.(Thanks for the book, Nigel!) The picture was about this scene in the zoo. A couple was riding the elephant and the zoo was holding an art competition called 'We Love Animals'. And there was this boy in the picture who was doing a very unloving act to this peacock(or at least he was going to do it). In the english conversation, I feel that I could have said more.Then I went for my chinese oral, but I was prepared for it, thanks to a hunch. For chinese oral, when the teacher asked me a question in the conversation, I found I kept on repeating stuff that I had said when I looked a the picture and described what was in it.
All in all, it was quite easy. Well, I sure hope no one ever got a nervous breakdown before going for oral! :)

International Friendship Day

Hi everyone! Today, I'll be blogging about International Friendship Day. The theme for this year is 'Getting To Know ASEAN'. I'm not sure how International Friendship Day came about.(whoops!) ASEAN stands for Association of South East Asian Nations. I hardly know anything about ASEAN(yup, you read that correctly) except that it was created in August 1967. On International Friendship Day, our school organized a concert for us. An Indonesian woman told us about her country. I don't have any friends in any ASEAN countries.(What a shame.) I think the school should have more exchange trips to other ASEAN countries. This way, we students could learn more about the people there, and know what its like to be in their shoes.(Not literally.)
Well, this is probably one of my shortest posts, as I didn't have much to write about. Hopefully I'll have more to blog about next time.

Learning Journey @ Singapore History Museum

Hi everyone! This time, I'm going to blog about the learning journey we went to on Monday. We left the school at about 1.15 pm, reaching the Singapore History Museum at about 1.45 pm. There, we were briefed on how to use the Companion and were each given a pair of headphones. Then, we were led into this very dark and gigantic area with screens all around us. After walking down a spiraling ramp, we headed into the History gallery, which was way darker than I expected. There were countless exhibits and artifacts there. If we wanted to know more about the exhibits in that certain area, we just looked for a number on the floor and punched the number into the Companion.
Most of the exhibits there were mainly about the fall and rise of Singapore. There was this really cool machine gun that was on display. It was retrieved from a British ship that was sunk by the Japanese. After about an hour, we had to return the Companions at the exit. Then, we headed of to the Singapore Living Galleries, where we learnt more about the food, fashion, films and wayang of the time. We learnt how the foods and fashions were like in the past, and we also got to see this Malay horror movie.(No one screamed though. Strange. When people watch horror movies, they usually scream their heads off, unless their brave enough.) We also got to look at some cool stuff that were used in the film industry and some costumes and props used in the wayang.on
All in all, it was a wonderful learning experience for everyone. I hope that we can go on more learning journeys in the near future.

Healthy Eating

Hi everyone! Did everyone act as good environmentalists by participating in Earth Hour? Hopefully, everyone did. Now, back to what I'm blogging about today. As everyone knows, we all have to eat to have the energy to do things everyday. However, we also need to know how to eat healthily. If we don't, it might lead to diseases(its a very long list) and we will become victims of them. In order to be healthy, we must eat a balanced diet of rice or noodles, meat, vegetables and fruit.(Next time your parents tell you to eat your vegetables, don't complain. And don't forget to exercise.) Unhealthy foods... French fries, hamburgers, deep fried food, etc. Like I said earlier, if you don't eat healthily you'll fall prey to heart disease or diabetes or other diseases out there caused by unhealthy eating.
Eating fruits and vegetables is a good way to eat healthily, as both contain a truckload of vitamins each. I may like to eat certain fruits, but vegetables... Let's say I'm not such a fan of vegetables, apart from broccoli and lettuce. I do support the school's campaign in encouraging pupils to eat more fruits and vegetables, but I doubt if it'll achieve overwhelming response. On the day that the students would willingly eat their fruits and vegetables, pigs might fly, and lions would become vegetarians. Putting up posters around the school might help, and hopefully it might work. So, go on everyone! Prove me wrong and let the poor pigs fly! :)

Earth Hour

Everyone has heard about Earth Hour, right? Well, I'm going to tell you what its all about and why people are being very serious over this. Earth Hour is an annual international event created by the WWF, held on the last Saturday of March, that asks households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights and electrical appliances for one hour to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change. It will be held on 28 March this year.
This is the first time Singapore will be taking part in this global event, and I'm really excited about it! Here are some activities that anyone could try out during Earth Hour: Attend a local Earth Hour event or organise your own by throwing an Earth Hour street party with your neighbours; enjoy a family dinner by candlelight; or you could organise a treasure hunt in the dark!
Right now, the Earth is facing more problems than anyone would care to like. Not only is global warming threatening to grip the Earth, we're also facing pollution, deforestation, animals going extinct, etc. Some solutions to these problems are to ban hunting of animals that are endangered or seriously endangered. For pollution, people should start installing solar panels on their roofs!!! Deforestation... I don't have a solution for that one yet... I'll answer that one in few weeks time when I think of a solution. :) For now, bye! And remeber to participate in Earth Hour!!

Passion For Learning

Hi everyone! This month's value is passion for learning, hence the title. Passion is about wanting to do something over and over again until you can do as best as you can. Passion for learning is really important. Why you ask? Well, if no one ever had passion for learning, no one would want to learn anymore! If no one bothered to learn, Newton wouldn't have bothered to think about why the apple dropped down on his head instead of going up or sideways. But luckily, there are a good amount of people with a passion for learning, or a passion for anything else.
Take Micheal Phelps, for example. He won those 8 gold medals at the OLympics. He beat all the other swimmers by training long and hard. I think, more people should have a passion like his. I have a passion for learning, as I try to pay 100% attension in class, and do my best in my work. To develop a passion for learning, or any other type of passion, you just have to start by first enjoying that certain thing, I guess.
Well, that concludes what I have to say about passion for learning.