I Learn a Lot in 404

I got to use the laptops today to research the ancient Indian caste system.

I also got to sit with Ganesha- a special Indian God who brings success and removes obstacles.

And Goddess Lakshmi- the goddess of wealth!  She is in 404 along with a diya candle for when the class celebrated Diwali (the Indian New Year).

I got to go to Science class!

And got weighed on some scales!!

I took copious notes!!  What a good student I am!

Later in the day I got to go out on our roof play yard for some fresh air.  I took in the sites of the modern architecture and the Hudson River and New Jersey!

I stopped by the garden to look at some lovely greens that were planted!

Then, got to play outside for a bit on the slide and the monkey bars.

I ended the day with a trip to the school library.  I perused the fiction books, helped read a novel, and sat in the big comfy reading chair.

What a busy day!  New York is so much fun!

I Arrive in NYC!

I arrived safely via post from the UK today (11/3/11)!

 I got to meet the 10s of my new school.  "He's so soft and cute!"  They said.

 I even got my own seat!  I'll fit in quite well here in Room 404!

London!

Hello everyone!
Here I am in London. Today I'm going to do some work in Canary Wharf; this is one of the Financial districts of London.
I get up really early in the morning before the trains get too busy.

Here I am on the train. I take 2 different trains to get to work; it takes about 45mins each way. Sometimes the train is so busy I can't get on.

Each morning I go past site where they are building the stadium for the 2012 Olympics. It's good fun to see them making progress.

Here I am at Canary Wharf. Today this area is full of big office buildings, but years ago this was where big ships would arrive from countries all around the world. They would come here to unload their goods and get ready to sail back again. In this photo I'm in West India Quay, which is where ships from the West Indies used to arrive.

Here I am in the office. Today I'm designing a new email system for a large company. I get to speak with people from all around the world and also the people who make the servers and equipment that I'm going to use in my design.

In the IT industry, things change really quickly. Usually equipment is only used for 3 years before it is replaced with newer, faster models. Here I am in the store-room sitting on a pile of old servers. These machines are headed for the crusher. Can you see the one with the little blue 'I' on it? It's a very special email server and when it was new it cost £60,000!

Here I am in the Datacentre. It's really cold in here! Because there are so many computers in here, the room has to be kept cold to stop them overheating. Datacentres are very special rooms and it's important that the servers never stop running. So that there aren't any power-cuts, the building has electricity coming in from 2 different power companies; if one fails the other takes over. There is also a big generator in the basement that can power the datacentre if needed.

Dubai. United Arab Emirates.

Hello Room 1. I have just been to the city of Dubai. It is in a country called United Arab Emirates. Dubai is a city built in the desert. Everything is BIG. A bit OTT in all areas....

This is the tallest building in the world. It is 828m tall. That is nearly 3 times taller than Auckland's Sky Tower. It has over 200 floors, you can see 95km's from the top and has 57 elevators. The elevator travels at 64km/hr and it takes only 2 minutes to get to the top. It is really fast!

It is hard to describe how tall it really is. When they were building it, Dubai ran out of money. The neighbouring city Abu Dhabi ended up paying for it. It is named Burj Khalifa after the man in Abu Dhabi who finished paying for it.

Here is a view from the top looking down. The tall buildings you can see are taller than the biggest ones in New Zealand. The buildings over the water are apartments. They look really small from up there.

Here are some more buildings looking from the top of Burj Khalifa. There is a lot of sand in Dubai. It is very hot there. On this day it was 49 degrees! But it can get very cold in winter.

Here I am in a shopping mall. Inside the mall is this huge aquarium. It is about 150m long. I walked through it - inside a big tunnel - with all sorts of fish swimming over the top of you. There were many different types of fish, including some big sharks, stingrays and lots of very colourful fish I had not seen before. An usual thing to have in a shopping mall...

Here I am in other shopping mall. This one has a big skating rink. Also in this Mall is a ski run for snow boarders and skiers. Also people making snowmen and playing in the snow. It is massive! And there are about 1000 shops as well....

Can you tell which fast food chain this is?

Because of the heat men wear white loose clothing like this. The clothes are called Kandura - often called Dishdash.

Here are some more men wearing the clothes men wear in this part of the world. They are always very clean and tidy. Most men have a close cropped beards.

And that is all for my Dubai adventure.
There are so many places I can go to. Where do you think I will pop up next?

Cambodia

Hello Room 1.

It has been a while. Recently I went to Cambodia. It is a lovely country and the people are very kind and gentle.

Cambodia is famous for its beautiful temples. This one is called Angkor Wat - it is about 900 years old. I got up very early so I could see the sun come up over it. Fantastic!

Here I am outside one of the many other temples. One of the spectacular things about the temples is the very detailed carvings. The carvings all tell a story.

This is me outside one of the gates that lead into the temple grounds.

The Temples are huge and have walls around them and many buildings in the temple grounds. These two buildings in the grounds were once libraries hundreds of years ago. Outside these walls is a huge moat.

Here I am in the grounds of a temple. The grounds and temples are World Heritage Sites which means they have to be protected because they are so special.

Inside the walls are all carved. This one tells a battle story with horses and chariots.

The buildings are very old and the trees have grown up through them.

This entrance with the tree growing over it was used in an Indiana Jones movie. Do you recognise it? Many of the temples were found this way and have now been preserved to prevent further damage by nature. Other things that destroy the temples are war, termites, rain and people stealing. This temple is called Ta Prohm.

Here is one way to get around the temples....

Around the villages of Siem Reap (a big town in Cambodia), goods are transported on the back of three wheeled motor bikes with the rider sitting up very high on top of the goods.

Around the towns I travelled in a Tuk Tuk. Here I am with one of the guys who drove me from my hotel to dinner. Can you see me?

This is a picture of a typical village home. Most houses have one cow.

This is a farmers house with his 'tractor' out the front.

Cambodia was recently in a war. This lady hand paints beautiful paintings. The people who work here like this lady are deaf and dumb as a result of no medicine available when they were children.

This is a man in the same place doing a carving. He only has the use of one arm as a result of a land mine injury. Many people suffer as a result of land mines left over from the war.

Here is a typical market place selling chicken, fish and vegetables. It was a bit smelly!

A lot of the food is dried food as it keeps better in the high temperatures. This is mostly dried sea food.

The thing that struck me the most about Cambodia was the lovely, kind people. The country is poor and has been invaded many times by other countries, but the people are gracious and welcoming. This man is wearing traditional clothes. It reminds us how lucky we are to live in Rotorua.