Friday, July 30, 2010

Video of Ka Mate by the team

Cultural Performance


Last night we were entertained by 13 other countries. Callum was a contestant with Croatia's tie tying competition and the boys all participated in some cultural dances and quizes.

It was our chance to shine too and the boys did an excellent job performing Ka Mate and explaning the meanings behind the dance. Thanks to Haydon Huriwai who came and spent time with the kids teaching them.

Wetland here we come!

We had our briefing this afternoon about the Fieldwork session to be held early tomorrow morning. The students will be looking at the wetland area - Danshu Wetland and mapping the area in the morning. In the afternoon tomorrow they will have to answer four questions on issues to do with the wetland.

Cultural performance is being performed after dinner tonight.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

First Test Done and Dusted

Hey guys, Callum rocking it up here. We've just sat the first test which was the 2.5 hour short answer Written Response Test. It had 6 different catergories with around 14 marks each. The total you could get was 80 so hopefully i didnt get too many wrong. Me and Nat finished around 11.30 whish was about a half hour before the english speakers finished (non native english speakers finished at 12.30). So all up the test was pretty good, some vague questions took a bit of time to work out. Fingers crossed for the results. Hoping for the best for the rest of the team. Godbye for now.

Taking a stroll and meeting the locals


yesterday afternoon we went for a walk with our team helpers. We have been assigned a team helpers who want to learn about our country and also want to learn english better. It is great as they help us to find where we need to go and can teach us about the local area. Sometimes though it takes a while for them to check if it is okay for us to be doing things. Are they asked their teachers we went for a walk to a dairy. They said we would need to talk a bus for 15 dollars and then we would find a 7/11. After waiting 10 minutes for the bus they showed us a dairy at the corner that we could walk to. They left us and we grabbed some iceblocks and drinks and headed to the river.


While at the river we meet a man who told us his story. He was 61 and had 5 daughters. Had been a fisherman with 11 boats when he was 33. Unfortunately 1o years ago a large scale development of apartments (Connor counted 27 storeys which is higher than anything in Christchurch) had been built where he lived. He now lives docked up on the mangroves on one of his old ships and he says he is very happy - his daughters ask him to live with them and their families but he loves where he lives. A great geo story and a interesting man for the students to meet!

Board Meeting and Testing begins!



Hi its Anna again: I attended the Board meeting last night and was interested in the discussions that were held. It seems we are one of only three countries where students have to actually contribute to the cost of their trips to Olympiad - all others are fully paid for by the governments. Its a shame that we don't have the full support that other nations do. Something maybe I can try to work on my return.

While the boys were in the test this morning some of us took a walk in tjhe 30 + degree heat down to a local town and then along the river. Here are some photos of our journey:







Opening Ceremony

Last night the IGeo was officially opened here at the Sacred Heart High School. We started with speeches from the Head of the Geography Union from Taipei, The Cardinal for Taipei and the people from the IGEO including our own Professor - Lex Chalmers.


After the speeches all teams were welcomed, stood and waved as their national flags came on screen. We also watched a short film on Taipei. It was great to learn more about the city we will be in for the next wee while. Taipei is a safe city which has a strong focus on enviornmental sustainability - they have a huge recycling program which was really good to hear about and they have set some high targets for reducing land waste.

We were entertained by the school choir who sang some traditional songs and then its a small world after all in 6 languages. We then all learnt this in chinese and sang and were then taught a dance which we all joined in.
While Anna and Lex attended the International Board Meeting Annette and the Boys went down to the social function where there were a lot of photos taken!

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Getting Ready


Hey Guys!

Nat and Andy here, simmering in the 30+ degree heat (inside, that is). We've spent the morning preparing our presentations that we will be showcasing later in the week; the fearsome Ka Mate (sounds good by the way, if we do say so ourselves), and the presentaion of our poster describing the relationship between New Zealand's cultural and natural environments and its world-renowned tourism industry.

We've found that people we talk to know lots about New Zealand, and ask us plenty of questions about home. They are all very positive towards it, and it makes us aware of how lucky we are to live in New Zealand.

For breakfast this morning, we had our first communal meal, with about 13 of the teams joining us to share a buffet. An eclectic range of food items meant that even Andy with his discerning culinary palate ate his fill. Lettuce, waffles, yogurt, juice, ham and corn, fried eggs with butter, thick toast with butter and coconut, dragonfruit, and exotic cereals made up the menu, and thirds were had by all!

Signing off for now, it's lunch time!

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

We made it to Taipei


We have all arrived safe and happy in Taipei today. We had a great flight (all three of them) and we only delayed by 10 minutes coming out of Hong King due to the weather.

On arrival in Taipei we were met by our two host - Kevin Lin and Fiona Wang. They are both students from Taipei who are are going to show us around and be our first point of contacts.

The school where the Olympiad is being held is great - you can have a look at their website:



http://www.shgsh.tpc.edu.tw/editor_model/u_editor_v1.asp?id={CF6A6528-3FC1-4AFC-AC62-853081D8077E}