We had an overnight exercise in the "farm area" in the Nescliff Camp - we were meant to sleep under bashes. Unfortunately (or luckily), the wind is so strong that we are allowed to sleep in a ammunition store during World War 2!! It was so dusty and cold (but overall, it is really fun!!)
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Originally uploaded by Chris Leigh
It was the annual CCF summer camp last week and we did a l
ot of things... One day we went to Elsemere lake for some canoeing. I enjoyed it very much except when we were told to swim in the lake because the water was FREEZING!!!
Hi all.. Sorry that I haven't updated this blog for ages.. I have really busy lately.. Just give me 2 more weeks when Summer holiday starts, then I will tell you what happened in the past month!!
I am sure whether you are a person who looks at the news or not, you must have heard of the two natural disasters happen in Asia - Cyclone Nargis which hit Burma last week and Earthquake which Wenchuan County on Monday. In both countries, the effects are enormous and devastating. Here are some extracts from the news:
Burma:
A UN official says the regime has erected more checkpoints to ensure foreigners cannot reach affected areas.
The latest official figures put the death toll at almost 38,500 with 27,838 more missing, state radio said.
The UN says up to 2.5m people need urgent aid and has called a meeting of regional and donor nations to discuss "all options" on aid.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday's meeting of donors and the Association of South-East Asian Nations would discuss the "mobilisation of resources and aid workers".
He "regretted" the UN had spent much of its time arranging rather than delivering help.
"Even though the [Burmese] government has shown some sense of flexibility, at this time it's far, far too short," he said.
Meanwhile, forecasters say another cyclone is forming off Burma's coast.
The Hawaii-based Joint Typhoon Warning Center said on its website that "a significant tropical cyclone" could develop in the next 24 hours.
China:
Nearly 15,000 people died in the devastating earthquake that hit China's Sichuan province, the official Xinhua news agency has reported.
More than 25,000 are still trapped in the rubble two days after the 7.9 quake struck, flattening homes, schools and entire villages and cutting roads.
Soldiers have begun to reach the isolated epicentre by helicopter and on foot, bringing much needed supplies.
Officials reached the town of Yingxiu, in Wenchuan County, to find the devastation was worse than expected - out of the town's population of 10,000, only 2,300 have been found alive.
The head of a police unit sent into the disaster zone said the losses had been severe.
"Some towns basically have no houses left," Wang Yi, told Sichuan Online news site. "They have all been razed to the ground."
The BBC's Michael Bristow says there are collapsed buildings all along the road to the nearby city of Beichuan.
How can you help?
Here are some links for some organizations who are working in Burma and China at the moment. Please support them because people in those areas need their help!
Unicef - http://www.supportunicef.org/site/pp.asp?c=9fLEJSOALpE&b=1023561
World Vision (UK) - https://www.worldvision.org.uk/server.php?show=nav.127
Red Cross (UK) - http://www.redcross.org.uk/donatesection.asp?id=77029&campaigntab=single
After this long and cold winter, spring finally comes.. It has been much warmer, despite the rain this week. Well, I took some pictures on Thursday when it was nice and sunny. Click here to see the photo set and please leave comments on what you think!!
There are lots of things you can do if you are hungry... One way which works for me is to look at some food photos!! I have a collection of food pictures on my Flickr.. I hope they just won't make you even more hungry!!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/happymichael/sets/72157603558072191
It is Wednesday today and so, it is time for "the best bit of the web"!!
Today, it is a little game which I think is quite fun if you are bored and tired when you are revising for your exams!! If there is no further changes to the torch relay, the Olympic Torch should arrive at this "Asia's World City" on 2nd May. The Hong Kong government created this game and it is called "On-the-Net Torchbearer", which means, anyone could be a torchbearer in Hong Kong if they have a computer and internet connection!!!
I think I cannot be silence anymore!! I have no opinion on how China is treating Tibet because I am always confused on why the police cannot do the same thing as the riots do. I have always been thinking that it could be much worse than this if it is not the Olympic year - I have always been imagining what happened in Tiananmen Square in 1989 would happen again.
Okay, back on what happened in London yesterday.. I mean their action yesterday is ridiculous and stupid. The protesters has been wanting freedom and "violence-free" in Tibet but ironically, they use violence against the Olympic torch, so what the point of that??
In my Chinese History lesson, I have been told that Tibet is part of China for a long time and this makes it silly for them to want independence because Chinese Government put so much money in Tibet for schools, hospitals, transportation, etc.. If you think Chinese did invade Tibet, what is the difference between what China did and what the American and English did to Iraq?? Why don't they think about that?? There are often news about how bad the soldiers are treating the prisoners.
I still think that Olympic games is a purely SPORTS event and nothing politically should affect it. However, at the end of the day, it is still a government decision on whether boycotting the games or not. However, as a Chinese, I am proud of my own country and support Olympic games.
Just as I was watching BBC news on Youtube, I found this "related video" which I got really angry and confused at the same time and here is the video - hope you will take time to watch the whole video:
(To turn the music off, the controls are at the bottom and the right sidebar.)
Why do the Western media do that?? Can anyone explain??
Well, remember the post I said going to Starbucks in the UK?? Today, I went to Starbucks in Hong Kong!!
I went outside with Aaron and we had coffee and had a nice chat... There isn't much differences between these Starbucks although it is around 6000 miles apart from each other!!
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Copyright info of the first picture:
The first picture is taken by Ian Muttoo and is licensed to the site according to the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic. You can access to the picture here.
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From now on, there will be a post every Wednesday which I share with you what I think are the best bits on the web.
A few days ago, I found this video on youtube called 'Food Court Musical'. The video is made by ImprovEverywhere, which do some weird but funny in New York. Their aim is to improve everywhere although I can't see anything would be better after their action.. well, enjoy this video!!
(Just that if you want to turn the music off, the controls are on the bottom on the right sidebar!!)
