26/12/09 Back to Vienna

Today we went back to Vienna, but before our train left was still lot of time. We had to leave our apartment at 10am. My father went cross - country skiing while the rest of us went to Mayrhofen ( the city). We went to the Post Cafe to eat something and heat us up, because we were could. At 1pm we went to the railway station to catch our train back to Vienna. My father was already waiting for us there. When we came to Vienna I was so tired that I had to go to bed.

25/12/09 It finally snowes

I totally forgot to tell you that at the 23rd the whole snow melted in the valley where we stayed. I felt like it was Spring and not Winter. But today it finally snowed. Not the whole day though. It started out with rain and in the afternoon it turned to snowfall. We should have a race today with the ski school, but the visibility in the snowfall was so bad that they cancelled it. But we got our medals for the first place anyway. It was our last day which meant that my brother and I had to give back the skies we rented. Over there we both got a key chain. We usually get a small present every year.

24/12/09 Christmas

Finally it was christmas eve. We skied like usual and then went home for the evening. We decorated a small christmas tree and about 4:30pm we went to the church. Well not exactly to the church. We went to a place where kids sang christmas songs and all others sang along. We do this every year. After that we went to Hotel Neuwirth where where we usually stay in. The people already know us and invited us to nice, warm place to have dinner my parents ordered before. I was really hungry, because we didn't have a proper lunch. All we had was Apfelstrudel, Germknödel and Kaiserschmarren all typical delicious sweet meals in Austria. Don't think that I ate this all by myself! We shared. The reason is the custom not to eat any meat until the evening. My dead said that there is a myth who doesn't eat meat can se a golden piglet in the evening.









For dinner we had had fish which is typical christmas eve dinner. On our way home it was raining, which I was not wondering about at this temperature. At home we found our presents brought by Kristkind (christus child) under the christmas tree. I got two books from Thomas Brezina and the book called The Thief Lord only in German. Then I got a Rubic ball a really hard logic and skill game, and other presents.

23/12/09 The fog comes

We went to the cabelway and I hoped it would be workin this time, but it didn't. The cableway didn't work, because of some failure after the wind from yesterday, so we had to go to Rastkogel again. But this time we couldn't find our skiing group. So I had to ski with my parents. When we were about to ride down the Panorama Abfahrt, we met my group. So at the end I could ride with them. But one thing ruined the day for me. There was fog and wind blowing on my glasses. The snow joined the wind and I was at the end. I couldn't see anything anymore. It wasn't long until lunch finally started. After lunch everyone, exept my father, wanted to go home. That's what we did. We then went to Mayrhofen and bought some things. When we came home my father was already home. We then still watched a movie on TV. The bad thing is that Tom Turbo and Die Rätsel des Pharao are only Saturdays and Sundays. The weird thing was that I didn't feel like it was almost Christmas, because I normally do feel it. But only this year not.

22/12/09 The storm continues

Well remember the storm from yesterday? The storm made today very different to me. We usually go skiing in Penken, but today we had to go skiing in Rastkogel. The storm was also today and the storm made the gondola move, so the didn't started it. We had to take a bus to Rastkogel. There my brother and I had to wait for the rest of my skiing group. The kids still had to get to their parents that waited in the restaurant in Penken. So we first were skiing in Rastkogel and when it was almost time to meet with the parents we went the Panorama Abfahrt which leads us to Penken. There I met my parents. I ate Germknödel, witch is one of my favorite meals that they have here.

My mother, brother, father and I skied together in Rastkogel. I didn't matter to have to ski in Rastkogel. We had good weather here, not like yesterday. The way home was horrible, because we had to carry our skies up the steep hill.

21/12/09 The snow storm

Skiing in the morning still went normal. But after lunch, while I was skiing with my parents, the weather got worse. Our skiing started just like in the morning. We rode our most popular "Nordhang" downhill piste with red difficulty. It was kind of icy, but good to ride anyway. A small wind started when we were on the lift. When we all got of the lift my mother and brother quited. They were tiered and cold. My father and I still had fun even though the wind started to get stronger. When my father and I also gave up the wind was so strong that we hardly could ride down the course to the lift that takes us back home. There are two sections of cabin lifts down the valley. The upper lift was out of service and first I was wondering why, but when I noticed the storm again I understood why. It was out service because the wind was too strong and it would be very dangerous to transport skiers. Meanwhile my father and I were skiing down to the lower lift my mother and brother were caught in the upper lift. They were shaking back and forth in that lift. At the end we both arrived at the bus at the same time. When we came home I was in very good mood and went out to play with my brother. We first didn't know what to play but then we started to roll down a hill in the powder snow which was kind of fun. After all that playing and rolling I got super tired. In the winter I never can really get rid of my jet lag. So does the rest of us. We go to bed at 7pm and wake up at 5am. That hasn't changed for about 5 years and I don't know if it will ever change until we move back to Vienna.

20/12/09 First day of skiing this year

Like always my brother and I woke up at 4:00am. We were really hungry, so we went to the kitchen to get some food. Not too long after that my parents also woke up. The whole family ate breakfast. Because it was a Sunday, we watched Tom Turbo and Die Rätsel des Pharao. Tom Turbo is a detective series. You have to answer some questions and write down the letter that is next to it and at the end you read the word backwards. That gives you a word that you can e-mail to them or call them and say the word. They will tell you if it's correct or not and you get a chance to win something. In Die Rätsel des Pharao, kids and parents play against each other. They have to play games and who ever gets the most points is the whiner. Anyway after all the watching we went to borrow the sky gear for us kids. My parents signed us up for a skiing school. After that we went up to the mountain. Up there the other kids in the ski school were waiting and gathering. I was in the same group as my brother. The group was really slow. The teacher said that I'm going to be in a different group tomorrow. The ski school was first from 10am - 12am and then from 1pm - 3pm. I went only from 10am - 12am and afternoon I went skiing with my parents. It was way warmer with my parents than with the ski school because we were skiing faster. After that we went home and watched a movie called Lapislasuli. I don't understand the name, but I liked it. The movie was kind of weird too, because the main actors were girl from our time and a bear man looking like neanderthaler. The neanderthaler helped the girl because she has got lost in the mountains. After this movie I was really tired and went to bed.

19/12/09 Arrival in Mayrhofen

After we arrived in Vienna, my family and I took a taxi at 6:30 in the morning and drove to the Westbahnhof. The ÖBB (Österreichische Bundes Bahn) took us to Jenbach after about 5 hour ride. There we had to change trains. We didn't have alot of time, because the train that we had before was delayed. But we did it. This was a shorter ride. It was only 1 hour long. We went to Mayrhofen with this train. Taxi took my father and the suitcases to the house we stayed in. The rest of us went to Hervis in Mayrhofen. Hervis is a sport shop. My mother bought me pants and a jacket for the winter, because my outfit from last year is already too small and I really needed one or I would freeze in the snow. Then we also went to the house we stayed in. It was colder in this house than in the one we stayed in last year.

Vocabulary definitions

1. Eclectic

2. Lagging

3. Adhesive

4. Dejection

5. Traumatic

6. Revelation

7. Malevolent

8. Embankment

9. Embezzlement

10. Plaeding

Vocab definition

Pensive

Pavilion

Lucrative

Fixated

Extortion

Bintaro Lama Kampung movie about water treatment

This is a movie that I worked on for a very long time and I gave my best for it.

I really hope you will learn something about cleaning water that you haven't known.

Enjoy the movie!!

Why is fresh water scarce?

1. List the main reasons for water scarcity.
The main reasons are variations in climate, land degradation, population growth and water pollution.
2. What is a drought? What type of hardship do you think that a drought could cause if you were living in a village in a poor country such as Ethiopia?
A drought is a period of below average precipitation. This can vary in length. You could have no water, no food, you get sick, no hygiene and many people die.
3. How does land degradation effect the supply of fresh water?
It greatly reduce the ability of the soil to store water.
4. (a) What is El Nino?
El Nino is a periodical change (3-5 years) in the atmosphere and ocean of the pacific.
(b) Why does El Nino often cause drought in Australia?
El Nino brings high presume over most of Australia. The result is a prolonged and serious drought.
5. Observe the map showing the global effects of El Nino in 1982-83.
(a) What effect does El Nino have on the availability on fresh water?
Floods, heavy storms, rapid melting of snow and tidal waves affects the supply of fresh water because water becomes heavily polluted and little clean water is available. As a result could be fatal diceases such as cholera.
(b) Name the countries and describe the problems that arose from decreased rainfall caused by El Nino.
In the Philippines, China, Africa, Papua New Guinea and Australia El Nino caused drought and water scarcity: Bad Wheat export for Australia, lower rice harvest in the Phillippines, high air polution in Indonesia and reduced corn crop in sub-Saharan region.

Where the red fern grows

The book where the red fern grows is a book about a boy that wanted to have two hounds. But his family didn't have enoght money to buy those hounds. Billy (the boy) found a can and then he saved 2 jears long for the money that he needed to buy the hounds. When Billy took the money and went to town to pick up the hounds. Billy went hunting every night and they always cought coons.
His grandpa signed Billy, Old Dan and Little Ann ( the dogs)up to a hunting contest. first they had a beauty contest and then the hunting contesst. Billy and his dogs won both of the contests. He won two cups and a box with money inside. The family used this money to move to town. Unfortunatelly Billy's dogs died. At the graves of Billy's dogs grew a nice red fern.

Bintaro Lama Kampung

This week our class went to the Bintaro Lama Kampung. It was so different from the Water Treatment Plant. Actually the process was similar, just that it was not big but small.

The guide in the kampung first showed us a kind of school or something. The kids sat on the floor and learned about washing their hands and why it is so important.

In front of every house was a water barrel to wash the hands.

Then the guide showed us how to make the water drinkable. The people in the kampung can buy a pack that costs only 1,000Rp. That's not much at all it's only about 0.11$.

The pack has got Alum. As we already know from the water treatment plant, Alum makes the dirt clump together and the go to ground. They people in the kampung stir the water for 5 minutes and then they have a glass with a towel on top and they let the water flow on the towel and then into the glass. from there they first have to wait 20 minutes and then they can drink The guide also told us what to do if you are in the Sahara for instant and you have access to water but not clean water you can take a bottle, put in the water and then let it in the sun. After the water has stayed in the sun for a while, you can drink it. Isn't it cool?

They also showed us two other ways of getting access to clean water. One of them is to use Aqua Tabs ( tablets) and put them into the water that is clean, but not drinkable. they let the tablet dissolve in the water and then again they can drink it.
The second way is to use Air Rah Mad ( I think so I spelled it wrong) to make the water drinkable. Depending on the amount of water you put some of the liquid into the water and the water gets drinkable again.

I just thought the kampung was a very good place to see the live of the people in these kampungs that are located in Jakarta. They use the water very wisely, because they don't have that much of this clean water. Oh I almost forgot. On the end of the trip, when we just were about to leave, we all sang a song about hand washing together with the kampung people. It was a good, but hot trip.

How much fresh water is there

1. What percentage of the world's supply of water is fresh water?
Only 2.5 percent of our water is fresh water.
2. Where is the world's supply of fresh water found?
Supply of fresh water is found in ice, ground soil, atmosphere, rivers and lakes.
3. Even though the supply of fresh water is abundant it is still a problem. Why?
Fresh water supply is a problem because water and people are unevenly distributed.
4. Observe the map of world average annual precipitation (opposite).
(a) Describe the changes in rainfall that occur as you move from the southern
to the northern tip of Africa.
The rainfall rises from the southern tip of Africa to central Africa and than it sinks rapidly as you move to the northern tip. The highest rainfall is in central Africa, slightly less in the south while the northern part is very dry.
(b) Describe the changes in rainfall that occur as you move from the western
to the eastern tip of Australia along the Tropic of Capricorn.
More than a half of Australia along the Tropic of Capricorn is constantly dry. The rainfall rises than towards the east coast.
5. Observe the map above of water availability per person.
(a) Which parts of the world appear to have a large amount of water available
per person?
Northern parts of: Asia, north and south America and Australia appear to have large amount of water available per person.
(b) Which parts of the world appear to have a small amount of water per person?
The southern part of Asia, the northern part of Africa and Europe appear to have a small amount of water available per person.
6. Observe the diagram of water use.
(a) What are the main uses of water?
By far the main use of fresh water is in agriculture.
(b) Which uses have increased the most over the last century?
The Industrial use of water increased almost thirty times over the last century. That is more than all other uses have increased.

Water Treatment Plant

Last Thursday we(our class) was on a field trip. In science and social studies we learned about water and now still are. We went to the field trip to see how they make the river water in Jakarta, that is very dirty, clean.

Step 1: They use a gate to capture the big garbage. They have to clean it every hour so it can capture the other garbage even better. When they wouldn't clean it at all then the garbage would just pile and the water cannot get through. That can cause flooding.
The reason why they do this is to stop the big garbage from coming to the water that they want to clean. I wonder how much garbage there is in that one hour.

Step 2: The water treatment plant oxygenates and adds minerals to the water. They do this to give the water oxygen. I am wondering why they do this.

Step 3: In this step they add alum. The dirt gathers together. I would like to know how the alum does that.

Step 4: Now they let the water sit for a while. The water sediments. That means that the clumps of dirt fall to the ground of the water.

Step 5: There is a layer of sand that is 1meter high. It filters the water even more. I was wondering how often they wash the filter.

Home

This is is my cat Maxi, she looks soooo cute. I think she feels comfortable with these stuffed animals. Maxi has a sister that she lives with. Her sisters name is Felix. Felix is a bit older than Maxi and they both are five years old. Our friends had these cats before and after they had them three years they had to leave Jakarta and we took the cats. I am sooo glad that I finally have a picture of Maxis face. It's hard to take a picture of both of the cats. It's because they move too much or don't look in the camera.

In Country Woods we have a model of the Residence. This is a part of it. I guess almost everybody who has ever been to Country Woods knows the leisure pool with the slide that out of order. Well this is the model of it. I like those kind of models because they are in 3D and look so real. I call this statue a Green haired man because of his green hair that he has only in the rainy season. In the dry season his hair are dried out because his hair are maid out of grass. This is the slide that is out of order. When it would be in order then you would come out of the man's mouth. I think it's pretty disgusting to come out of a persons mouth and to me he looks like a person that is only stoned.





The yellow colored circle shows my house on the model. It feels weird to see my house in a very small way. Actually my house looks slightly different in real. I don't only mean that in real life it's bigger, but also that we did some renovation in the front and the model is an old one. That's why it looks that different.

Bike Tour in Bali

My family and I went for a bike tour in Bali. It was raining and we had to wear rain coats. The rain coats were big and not dry. It was hard to ride, but we managed.
I was cold and wet. When we were already half way my bike slipped into the mud and I was in the mud with my feet and hands. My shoes and feet were buried in the mud. I stood up a while later. It was hard, because the bike was on me. But I somehow did it. I just couldn't ride anymore when I was so tired and just walked, because it was easier. But not as easy as I thought it would be while I had muddy shoes.
It’s not nice to walk or ride with muddy shoes. I felt pain in my legs and never gave up walking. I was super tired of the weather and bike tour that still didn't come to an end. I was walking by the others with all my faith.
As we finished with the ride I first had to wash my shoes and feet before we ate lunch. We ate rice with sate. For that kind of food it tasted pretty good, but not as good as the food my mother cooks. There was a car that brought us home to the hotel.
As we came to the hotel we all had to take a shower, because we all were dirty. After taking a shower my brother and I read our own books. After I finally finished the whole book, I was so happy about it. I first took a very little nap and then went swimming in the pool we had right next our room. We could just open a small door and right in front of us was the pool. I couldn't swim, because I was so tired, but it was nice and refreshing in the pool. I went to bed earlier than usual.

This is my first movie and I hope you enjoy it.

As the picture shows, evaporation is the process where water molecules raise from water to the atmosphere forming clouds.

Precipitation is condensed moisture that falls to the ground as rain, sleet, snow, or freezing rain

Infiltration is the process by which water on the ground surface enters the soil.

24/10/09 Australia - Litchfield

Today my brother did these farting noises again. Today our left back wheel was flat. My father had to change it. I was thinking if something pocked into it or that if we were at the rocky road yesterday and that made a hole into the wheel. Whatever it was it was fixed by now. while my father was fixing it the rest of the family was eating their breakfast. When my father was finished fixing it he ate too. My mother accompanied him. Because my father doesn't like to eat alone. Well I was sad that this was our last day here. I knew that we would have to give back the car, but I didn't want to. Before we gave back the car we went to the Wangi Falls. As you can expect it's another waterfall. It was a nice waterfall. You didn't have to walk far to get to it. There was a loop walk that my father and I managed to walk. The walk was only 1.7km long and took us about half an hour. After we finished my mother and brother were waiting for us to come and then swim. That's what we did. Nearby was a small kiosk. We bought ice cream, ate it and then we ate Lemington that we still had in our fridge. Because it was our last day in Australia and we had to give back the car and go to the airport we got on our way to Darwin. We gave back the car, took our baggage and went to city to see a little bit of the city. We didn't have much time, so we went to Mc Donalds to eat. At the airport we took the right flight and went to Jakarta. At home I was so happy to see my cats and my bed again. Now I'm back in my Home sweet Home.