Day 9 Sydney's speech at school assembly

Sydney Hamnett gave a fantastic speech today to the students of WenHua Elementary school at their assembly. We are all extremely proud of you Sydney.

Sydney Hamnett’s Address to Wenhua Students

Hi, I’m Sydney Hamnett and I’d like to talk about my school Stretton State College. We have a lot of things different to here at WenHua Elementary. We don’t have to clean the school, we have cleaners for that and the school is on the ground level not four floors like WenHua. We have separate buildings that hold two – four classrooms.

I am at the middle school which is just across the road from the primary school. At the middle school we have a lot of classes and have to move from one to the other.

We do not eat in the classrooms in Australia. We eat in eating areas and we bring our own lunch from home. The lunch is not provided by the school like here.

We only have two breaks and have only four periods per day. Where as there are seven periods here and six breaks. School goes from 8.45am to 2.45pm unlike the school day here that goes from 8.00am to 4.00pm and some children then go to extra classes after school as well.

Thank you.
Xie Xie.

Sydney Hamnett
Stretton State College
Brisbane
Australia.

Chinese with teacher Winnie

The children are saying, "Wo Chen Da Han Bu Cho"which means I am really good!

Day 8 Tae Kwon Do Demonstration by student

I don't think anyone is going to bother this little boy in the playground!

Day 8 Tae kwon do

Today we were taught a Tae Kwon Do lesson from Su Fu (master) Yung Cha Feal. He is the coach of the Taiwanese International Tae Kwon Do team.

day 8 Warm up exercises

Demonstration by master Yung Cha Feal

Master Yung Cha Feal gave a Taekwondo demonstration.

day 8

Today I asked the children what was something that they had seen or experienced here in Taiwan that they would not in Australia? Here are their responses.........

Emilee: I use chopsticks here to eat my food. I have eaten beef noodles.

Sydney: There are lots of mopeds here in Taiwan. I have been on one.

Frances: More people here live in apartments than in Australia. There are many small lanes and the shops are very tiny. There aren't many large shopping centres.

Nick: There are a lot of stray dogs roaming the streets. There are interesting toys for sale at the markets.

Shay: I saw a dog on a scooter. The houses are small.

Breannah: There are cemeteries everywhere. They have tomb sweeping. You can find buns with ice cream inside.

Kevin: There are no seat belts in the back seat of cars. I drank black tea.

Zachary: Here you take your shoes off before you go inside the house and when inside you wear house slippers. I ate squid and it was chewy.

Cameron: The food here is really different. They have a MRT (mass, rapid, transit) .

Jacob: The toilet paper goes in a bin here and they have squat toilets. You can have eggs that are boiled in tea. (egg tea)

Mitchell: Sometimes I catch wild cats with my homestay family in cages and we give them to people to sell. I have seen chicken feet for sale at the night markets.

Mr. Artates: When they take photos, they all do peace signs. The crossing lights have pictures of a man that runs when you ned to cross faster. They sell Stinky Tofu that is not very aromatic by nature.

Mrs. Peachey: I have seen a cat on a moped, dog on a moped, chicken on a moped and whole families on a moped. The night markets are amazing with every animal body part for sale. Lots of people. I have eaten fish chin and eel - very tasty!

Day 7 Mountain climbing

Todays mountain climbing activity was a P&C coordinated activity for the students, families and surrounding community members. It started with an assembly at the school and an address by Mr. Wu, Ching-Ji the deputy Mayor of Taipei City! We all met him and presented him with a small gift.

The P&C sponsor the day providing water, lunch at the top of the mountian and raffle prizes. The idea is to promote excerise and physical activity.

The mountian climb which takes 2 hours from the school to reach the top (one way) is an anual event. Mt. Yangmingshan National Park is a very scenic area of Taiwan with great views of the city below. We shall all sleep well tonight! Participants usually collect rubbish along the way. So kind of like Walking Wheeling Wednesday crossed with Clean up Australia day only on a Sunday and in Taiwan!

When we reached the end of the walk, we all had lunch and they drew raffles. Then 2 hours back down the same way!

day 6 Spending time with homestay families

Day 6 Saturday 28th March

The children spent the day with their homestay families experiencing everyday life in a Taiwanese family. Many children from previous study tours to Stretton have made contact with us. Many do not attend Wen-Hua as the study tour groups from here to Stretton are made up of students from surrounding schools and Wen-Hua students. Stephen Pai who stayed with my family last July and his entire family travelled to see me.

Herman homestayed with the Gardiner family in 2006 and came to visit Nicholas one afternoon at Wen-Hua.

Many of the teachers and students here have been wearing our Stretton uniform.

Day 5 School Course

The first half of today was spent with the Wen-Hua children in their classrooms. Our students presented their school buddies with a small gift. Many thanks to Jason Chung from EQI and Tam Burnes for their assistance with the gifts.

Mr. Artates and Mrs. Peachey and some of the children played an international soccer match against Wayne one of Wen-Hua's PE teachers and some of his students. Australia won!

Mr. Artates and Mrs. Peachey attended an information session for parents and students of Wen-Hua school and schools from surrounding areas who are interested in attending this year's study tour to Australia. We thanked the school and host families and welcomed them to attend the upcoming tour.

Day 5 Beitou Hot Spring Museum

Beitou is very famous for the naturally occuring hot springs in the area. Because this area is foggy all year round the aboriginals of the area thought that witches lived here and the word for witch is "Patou" similar to the pronounciation of the Taiwanese word "Beitou"so that is how the area got it's name.

We walked from Wen-Hua school to the Library which is one of the only eco friendly buildings here is Taipei. They are very proud of the environmental green aspects of the facility such as use of recycled water, solar power and natural design and construction. We enjoyed a tour of the Hot springs museum and walked further to view some hot springs up close.

We were told that the water tempreature is between 90 -100 degrees in some areas. There used to be an activity where you could boil eggs in the springs but it is no longer practiced due to safety reasons. Further down stream where the water tempreature is around 40 degrees the children soaked their tired feet after a long walk.

Day 4 Dumplings

We made pork dumplings today. Hen Hau Chi! Very Delicious! The children cooked them and offered some to Dr. Huang to try.

Clay moulding activity Day 4

Teacher Jerry is an art teacher at Wen-Hua. Today he taught us clay moluding. I can just feel those suitcases getting heavier!

Day 4 Diablo Lesson

Today's value is... PERSEVERANCE

Diablo demonstration

Diablo or Chinese Yo-yo is a favourite lunch time activity here at Wen-Hua school. Diablo is a traditional toy that children have been playing with for years and years.

Diablo

Day 3 Juming Museum & Fort San Domingo excursion

Day 3 Juming Museum Sculptures

Located amongst the trees and hills, Juming Museum houses all the creative works by Ju Ming. From the construction phase of the museum, Mr. Ju Ming insisted that the museum had to be funded by him only and that he would be responsible for all the details and construction himself.

Originally, the building and area were intended to house all his works, but later he found that the unique natural surrounding could enhance the artistic perception and appreciation of his sculptures.

Therefore, he decided to turn the area into a museum. After 12 years of effort, the whole area has transformed into a museum. On September 19, 1999, uming Museum, which has been recorded in the Taiwan arts history, opened to the public.

Welcome to Wen-Hua Elementary School

Stretton Students Arrive in Taiwan

Leaving from Brisbane Airport!

Today's Literacy activity

Yes we are nearly there Emilee only 4 hrs to go!!!

Hi Mum!

Disco bus

Arriving in Taiwan

One Hundred Photos taken

Wen-Hua school welcome sign

Free calling

Skype is an inexpensive way to stay in touch with your loved ones and friends while abroad. Use skype to call another person who also has Skype using your computer and an internet connection, from anywhere in the world, at any time for free.

Follow the link for instructions on how to install. http://www.skype.com/intl/en/welcomeback/

2008 Taiwanese Study Tour