Student Exchange: Week 2: Racing with Elephants!

Posted on March 17, 2015 by admin

Another two weeks have gone by since I last wrote a blog, and those two weeks were filled with fun, and of course, school… but school is fun also. Most of my classes are interesting and I enjoy them a lot. The weekdays go by as usual – school and schoolwork consumes most of my day and at night we play sports.

The weekends, however, are super interesting and there is always something to do or somewhere to go on Saturday. Last Saturday we went paint balling in Pattaya. The boarders that went were split up into four groups of nine or ten players, then we each got a gun with twenty rounds each. The game was Capture the Flag. After watching the red team and the yellow team battle it out, it was us, the green team, versus the blue team. After a long fifteen minutes, my team finally won. My team ended up advancing to the finals, where sadly, we lost. I still think the play was suspicious though.

This Saturday we went elephant riding at the Pattaya Elephant Village! The people there that save the elephants from animal mistreatment in their old home bring them here. There are about thirty adult elephants and a few children. We fed them bananas. The workers there get to ride elephants all day, so I’m sure that they might get bored after a while, but for me, this is a cool job. We were two per elephant and we rode it for about five kilometers, which took about an hour. Near the end, we started feeling more secure about being on a twenty-foot high animal, so we started racing! Imagine driving down a road and seeing elephants charging towards you. It must’ve been scary for those people. This is for sure one of the highlights of my trip.

This weekend, I get to be hosted by Osman and his family. I can’t wait to visit different parts of Thailand.

I am about halfway through my trip to Thailand, and I love it here. It is still high thirties here and the bugs are starting to come out, but it is still better than freezing in Canada. Eli Samuel ’17, Exchange Student at Regents International School Pattaya

Australia: An Unforgettable Experience

Posted on March 16, 2015 by admin

The idea of going somewhere you have never been before and being surrounded by people you have never met either is quite scary. I never thought that I would have been able to do that and let alone apply for it myself. I am so happy that I got over that fear of going on exchange and I had the experience of a lifetime.

After 20 hours of flying, I finally arrived at the Melbourne airport. I was greeted by a tall family holding signs with my name written on them. It was so welcoming and I felt comfortable with the family immediately. After an hour and a half car ride to a small town called Ballarat, I arrived at their home. After two hours of being home, I experienced culture shock. Not only were there kangaroos in the wild, only a ten minute walk from Lisie’s house, but two donkeys, two alpacas, three chickens, a dog and a cat on their property!

In Ballarat, we went to the Wildlife Park. All animals are in paddocks except for the kangaroos, alpacas and emus that walked around the park freely. It was so cool to be able to feed the kangaroos and pet them. I even saw a joey come out of the pocket of his mother. It was adorable! We also went horseback riding. That is something that I have never done before and it was awesome!

Throughout my time in Australia, I went on three big trips. I went to Apollo Bay, Phillip Island and Melbourne.

On the way to Apollo Bay, we drove on a road called the Great Ocean Road. Soldiers who returned from war between 1919 and 1932 built it. Along the road are the names of soldiers who passed away during World War 1 and it is the largest war memorial in the world. It goes along the ocean and it is absolutely beautiful!

The next morning, we headed off to a zip-line course through trees called Otway Fly. It was a thrilling experience that showed me that my time in Australia was going to be full of adventure. The next day was spent on the beach, boogie boarding in the ocean and playing soccer in the sand.

On Phillip Island, we went boogie boarding down a sand hill into the ocean. It was so enjoyable and it reminded me of tobogganing in the winter. Except for the fact that we were in bathing suits and that it was not -5 C weather. For dinner, we sat by the ocean eating fish and chips. I felt like a true Aussie!

In Melbourne, we visited a couple of chocolate shops and ate lunch on a tramcar that went around the city of Melbourne. We also went to a building call the Eureka Sky Deck. It is the tallest residential building in the Southern Hemisphere. We did something called the edge where you sat in a clear box, which pulled three metres out from the building 300 metres above the ground. That night, Lisie and I also went to go to see a concert. It was amazing! The next morning, we went swimming with dolphins and seals. It was so cool to see them in their natural habitat in the ocean.

Even though I was only there for seven weeks, I feel like I have made friends and memories at Ballarat Grammar which will last a lifetime. I will never forget the friends that I have made and it makes me so sad to realize that I will not see those people for a while. It is insane how close you can become with people in such a short time. I cannot wait to spend more time with my exchange, Lisie, in Montreal! – Annie Wiseman ’17, Exchange Student at Ballarat Grammar

Student Exchange: Week 1 – My Thai School Experience

Posted on March 3, 2015 by admin

Friday, February 20 was my date of departure from Montreal to Pattaya, Thailand. I could hardly contain my excitement during dinner with my family earlier that night. I was driving my mother crazy by talking and acting like I had drank ten cups of coffee! I am still consumed by my passion for planes, although a bit less than when I was younger; when I wanted to quit school to become a pilot to fly all over the world, so the thought of flying alone on an airplane was very exciting.

After a long twelve-hour flight to Doha, a three-hour layover, a six-hour flight to Bangkok, and an hour and a half drive to Pattaya, I arrived to an empty school, with an empty stomach. After a snack, the head of boarding, Mr. James Grey, told me that the boarders were still on break, and they were going to come back in a couple of hours, before supper (6 pm). After learning that, I fell asleep, as it was 4:00 am in Montreal, and I hadn’t slept in a day.

I woke up to all the boarders and my roommate Osman returning. The Regent’s School Pattaya consists of 100 boarders (boys and girls from year 1 to year 12 (kindergarten to grade 11 in Canada)), and 900 non-boarders.

At dinner (and breakfast and lunch), we had the choice of Thai food or Western food. Of course I opted for the Thai food because I wanted a taste of what I spent a day travelling for.

My year (year 10, which is grade 9) consists of mostly Russian, Thai and British kids. I was the only Canadian in a grade of 100 kids. Everyone greeted me and treated me well on my first day, and if I got lost, there was always someone to show me around. They are also one year ahead of us, because next year (our grade 10 and their year 11) we get to choose our courses, and we have career fair. They do it this year.

The rest of the school days were uneventful as my schedule consisted of:

6:45 am – Wake up and complain to Osman that it’s too early to wake up!
7:20 am – Eat breakfast
8:20 am – School
3:30 pm – Go back to boarding
5:00 pm to 6:00 pm – Homework
6:00 pm – Dinner
10:00 pm – Lights out and complain to Osman that it’s too early to go to bed!

On Friday nights, the boarders go to Central – a big six-floor mall in downtown Pattaya. It is so large I would have gotten lost if I had been by myself!

On Saturday we got to sleep in until 9 am (yay!), then we went for a fifteen-kilometer bike ride to Horseshoe point, and went swimming there.

On Sunday we got to sleep in until whenever we wanted to (yay!), so I slept in until noon. Sunday is a relax day, so I spent all day with my friends having fun.

Some facts that you should know before coming here:

Soccer is football
Supper is dinner
We are allowed phones in class
Spicy for Thai people is killer spicy for normal people
Thai people drive on the wrong side of the road – or do we drive on the wrong side…
There are a lot of motorcycles
Water is non-potable, so you must buy water bottles which are very cheap: 10 baht ($ 0.39)

So far, Thailand has more than lived up to what I expected it to be in terms of people, food and how can I forget about the temperature? It is always around 30˚C – 35˚C, but it feels much warmer with the humidity and in the sun. I bet everyone in Montreal is jealous. Thailand is amazing and I can’t wait until this Saturday, when we are going paintballing! – Eli Samuel ’17, Exchange Student at Regents International School Pattaya

L’exposition du musée canadien de la guerre arrive à Lower Canada College

Posted on February 26, 2015 by admin

Le musée canadien de la guerre organise une exposition itinérante d’objets de la Première Guerre mondiale. Ceux-ci ont été exposés à la bibliothèque de LCC. Cette boîte de découverte comprend des objets et des plans d’apprentissage, le tout lié à l’expérience des Canadiens qui ont servis outre-mer durant la Première Guerre mondiale. Elle a été assemblée par les experts du Musée canadien de la guerre, le musée national d’histoire militaire au Canada

Voici quelques commentaires d’élèves de 9e année:
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J’ai trouvé que c’était une excellente expérience qui me permettait d’apprendre encore plus sur la Première Guerre mondiale. The exhibit helped me to imagine life in the trenches and really made me feel closer to the soldiers, nurses, and all the people in the war. – Alethea Ng

C’était une excellente expérience d’être capable de voir tous les différentes armes et outils utilisés pendant la Première Guerre mondiale. I really enjoyed trying on the uniforms and gas mask of the soldiers that participated in the war. – Alyssa Howard

Même si je viens d’essayer plusieurs vêtements, chapeaux et outils de guerre, je ne pourrais jamais savoir comment c’était horrible pour les soldats de vivre une telle expérience. This experience really opened my eyes to how lucky and fortunate we are. – Sophie Rivest

J’ai eu l’opportunité d’apprendre à propos de cette guerre d’une façon créative en essayant des uniformes, des équipements et en lisant de nombreux livres intéressants. Today, in our own school library, I put myself in the shoes of those who lived during World War I. – Abby Shine

Les artefacts qui étaient en vedette, entre autres des uniformes, des cartes et des éclats d’obus étaient fascinants. They truly breathed some life into all the dates and statistics that we’re taught in class. – Adam Vandenbussche

Aujourd’hui, on a vu les difficultés rencontrées lors des combats avec des masques à gaz. Les soldats ne pouvaient pas tirer facilement avec eux, mais, les gaz pouvaient les tuer s’ils ne les mettaient pas. Today, we have seen how the soldiers of the First World War fought with heavy artillery while waiting in the trenches for the opportunity to fight. – Max Topiol

La belle peinture illustrant la Première Guerre mondiale montrait le sacrifice de nombreux soldats canadiens qui ont malheureusement perdu la vie. The artifacts on display demonstrated the struggles and efforts made by the soldiers as well as the women’s role during World War 1. The nurse’s outfit is made out of silk similar to Edith Cavell’s. – Priscilla Johnson

J’ai appris qu’il y a plusieurs peintures magnifiques qui ont été créées pour capturer certains moments de la guerre. I saw many artifacts from WW1 that carry stories of war and represent the struggles and efforts of the armies from over 100 years ago. – Alyssa Cohen

Nous avons appris à propos d’artefacts utilisés pendant la Première Guerre mondiale. We also had the opportunity to try on these very interesting (and somewhat suffocating) relics that many of the Canadian soldiers that served for our country wore. – Ben Rossy

C’était intéressant d’être capable de toucher de vrais artefacts de la Première Guerre mondiale et j’ai découvert l’art de la guerre. I learned a lot from this experience but I know I’ll never know what it feels like to be in their shoes even if I tried on some of their clothes. – Erika Kaperonis

J’ai été capable de voir nettement une partie de la vie des soldats. It was a very interesting look into the First World War once we got to interact with the different objects used during that time. – Andrew Zhang

Nous sommes allés à la bibliothèque pour observer et essayer des objets de la Premiere Guerre mondiale. We went to the library to see some of the artifacts that were used in the First World War. – Adam Mahrouse

Photos

Round Square: To Err on the Side of Compassion

Posted on February 26, 2015 by admin

I walked in someone’s shoes the other day. What I mean to say is that for one night, I voluntarily slept outside. For one night, I was like the homeless who more and more frequently sleep on the doorsteps of stores and churches, right here in my prosperous city. But, in truth, not really. Unlike the men and women who cannot find or who refuse to seek shelter, I was in the warmest sleeping bag my neurotic and overly protective mother could find; I slept in a quinzee which served as a perfectly adequate shelter, surrounded by friends, protected by teachers. Unlike the men and women who sleep outdoors, I haven’t been ignored, eyed malevolently or stared at contemptuously. My night spent outdoors has earned me a lot of (frankly not quite deserved) sympathy. Still, a little glitch in the zipper of my ultra warm sleeping bag meant that I shivered during the night. It was not totally pleasant, and perhaps explains why today, a few days after my winter experience, I stopped before the man seated on a threadbare blanket in the snow. He held a cardboard, with the heartbreaking words, ”hungry and cold”. I just couldn’t do otherwise. I couldn’t bear to ignore him. I gave him all the change in my wallet.

I have read enough on the issue of the homelessness to know all the arguments against giving loose change to the cold and hungry men and women in the street. I have been warned that my poor dollar would be used to buy hard drugs; that most of those who appear to be homeless are not homeless at all; that they contribute to the decline of neighborhoods, that it is best to leave their fate in the capable hands of organizations. This may be true. It is undoubtedly true, at any rate that dropping a few quarters in a cup will not solve, not even temporarily, the issue of homelessness. Except that I have no hard evidence at all the man shivering right before my eyes is a drug addict. I have no real evidence that all men and women on the streets have drug problems. I have no evidence at all the man staring at me, a little incredulously, really has a home to go to. I do not know that organizations have tried to help him. I do know that he is outside in unbearable -30 C weather, and that he is cold. I do know that not a single person, not a single one, has stopped to acknowledge him. Sherbrooke is a busy street, and there have been many pedestrians. Their steps, though, did not even falter as they passed him by. They rushed past him, without a glance, as though he did not exist at all.

I wonder when we have all become so jaded that we do not shudder when confronted with human misery. This is a man sitting before me. He deserves to be, if not helped, at least acknowledged. He deserves to be looked in the eyes. He deserves an “excuse me”, a “hello”, a nod or a smile. I wonder at the level of misery and despair, which moves a man to seek refuge in the frozen streets. My loose change might not have done much good, but it at least served to remind me, and him, that he is a human being, and he matters. If there is the least little doubt, I will choose to err on the side of compassion.

Service to others is a great Round Square ideal, and it takes a dozen different forms. It does not always have to result in accountable service hours. It does, however, every single time, start with humility and humanity. – David Elbaz ’15, Round Square Head