LDV reflection (3rd May 2004-16th May 2004)

Assignment, assignment and more assignments had been clogging our minds this fortnight. With datelines for Social Studies and Numerical Literacy in tow, it seems that I'm wishing I have 25 hours in a day.

These two weeks, we had been focusing in the topic of environment and many activities focused in this topic. For example, we had been doing an activity from the course book about birds in danger. Taken from the course book, this activity required us to read the text given and to answer the questions given.

I think this activity had attract my attention as it was fun and it had also made me aware of the disadvantages of tourism as the text was about the threat faced by the birds in Hawaii. Never before I imagined that wildlife are suffering in that paradise island.

Other than that, we had also participated in an activity which required us to sing. As I aware that the class loves singing, I think many of us enjoyed it.

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Once again, the activity focuses on the environment. The song sung by us was actually the famous 'recycle' song. Here, my listening skill was put to test as the song was very fast and it was very hard to catch the singer was singing about. After a few repeats, I managed to get all the correct lyrics. The activity was fortifying as other than improving our listening skills, the song had also taught us how to recycle and care for the earth.

In the other hand, one more mind fulfilling activity we had been doing was an activity in which we are given a scenario in which a woman have worked in a pet shop that actually selling illegal wildlife.

Here, we had discussed whether she should report it to the police or keep quiet. We were also enlightened about the possible consequences of her actions.

In all, the activities we did this fortnight had make us more aware of the environmental issues and it is amazing that even tough we had been studying this issues for more that 3 months now, we are not bored and there still many things we do not know! It seems endless. I hope that we will learn a lot more not only about environment but also other topics in LDV!

• LDV reflection
• 17th May 2004- 30th May 2004
• Sheela Anastasia Salleh

I just turned 19 last Sunday and even though this is my 3rd birthday away from home, I celebrated it with my 'family' here, a batch of good friends that had been there through thick and thin and I am happy about it.

During LDV lessons, much to our relief, we had moved on to culture, also not an unfamiliar topic to us, but to stay away from environmental issues for a while is a very relieving thought. We had been discussing about the cultural differences in our lives. The discussion focused on language, rituals and others. The most intriguing was the one regarding language. I always love discussions; particularly this one and I think I had gained some knowledge from it.

Still in the topic of culture, we moved on to an activity in the course book. Here, we learned about the different rituals and cultures of the worlds. The most important thing learned here was that what seem right in one place may not be in others. For example, it is encouraged for visitors to leave some food in their plates in some parts of the world whilst in another parts of the world, this may be considered rude. From this activity there are many lessons that can be learned. I am glad that we did this activity as now I knew the dos and don'ts in some countries.

The best event of the fortnight is the screening of the classic movie, 'the sound of music'. Being a classic, surely most of us watched the movie. But for me, it was my first time watching it thoroughly and completely. What I love about the movie were certainly the songs and the scenery. The songs were timeless, my favourites are 'climb every mountain (there's a new version sung by Guy Sebastian) and the opening song. The scenery of the Austrian Alps is certainly breath taking and had made part of me wanting to be there. My favourite character is Liesl, the eldest daughter of Capt. Von Trapp. I like her because she represents the innocence and I can relate to her 'girl wanting to be a woman' experiences.

In conclusion, the topic of culture had lifted my spirit to learn more and partly eliminated the 'can't wait for the holiday' spirit. But at the end of the day, all I want to do is to fly off home.

LDV Reflection (31st May 2004-13 June 2004)

Sheela Anastasia Salleh

After the well deserved holiday, much to my dismay, it's time to return to IPBA again. Sunday was a busy day as we need to move our things to block 4, thank God for the helping hands that had helped me that day. My new room in block 4 is particularly devastating, with a few mysterious stains here and there and I'm trying my best to cope.

Monday came and as promised is the promised trip to the zoo and the national science centre. I was really keen on going to the zoo but I don't really interested to go to the science centre, except the fishes as I heard there is an aquarium there.

We arrived late as we need to wait for the IBMM bus. At 10 AM, our quest in the national zoo begun. As I was really fond of fishes, I wanted to go to the aquarium but to my disappointment, it was closed. Then, we made the beeline for the monkeys, what struck me was the many species of monkeys they had there. I saw many species of baboons and macaques. Some of them are scary but there are few cute ones too, especially those babies. Then, it was time for the penguins and the arapaima. The penguins are so cute but I wished they could swim as what they did was just stared at us. The arapaima fishes were so big they scary .One friend even asks, do they eats humans? I'm not sure about that.

We went on the train ride and went further in the zoo, they are elephants, lions (finally I saw one real life!), tigers, birds ( I wonder if they ever fly away, especially those in the lakes, like pelicans and swans),giraffe, rhinoceros (can't believe how big they are!) and hippopotamus etc. There was a lot of wildlife there! After the visit, I wonder, are the animals happy livings in captivity? Are they treated well in the zoo? And is there enough funding to this zoo in order for it to function well?. I was also disappointed as I had no opportunity to see the seals. In the end of the day, I realised that I think it is ok for animals to be kept in the zoo for the intention of researches and to keep them from the threat of poaching and habitat destruction. The zoo is also a great way to educate people about wild life.

Everyone was sleepy and tired as we approached the national science centre. The first thing that intrigued me was the 'kubah gema' at the entrance of the centre. Then my favourite exhibit of all, the fishes, and like those in the zoo, they're huge! Honestly, they are they only thing there that catches my intention. Then, we went on the guided tour of the Nobel peace prize that not to offence anyone, just plain boring. Maybe because the room was dark and I'm in the sleepy mode, I just lost my interest but some of the exhibits are really interesting, especially that weird device they used to put all the posters of the winners. I also learned a few things, what I remembered most was that Noble prize winners got millions of dollars! Wow! Then, we exited the centre and made our way to the gift shop and finally I got some retail therapy.

In all, the trip was the best ever and I just love field trip. It may be the most tiresome day of my life; I doze off as soon as I arrived home! But it certainly one of the best day EVER!