Discovery in Everyday Life

I found something new every day, everywhere.  The first thing which surprised me was the bus.  There is no announcement on the bus, so I got so worried when I caught a bus to home for the first time. Even now, I have to look out through the window of the bus when I go to the places where I've never been.  The road is also surprising for me.  Compared with the road in Japan, that in Australia has less crossings.  It is inconvenient.  I sometimes see the people getting across the road without crossing, which is terrible.

The most surprising and unpleasant thing is the price of everything, especially food.  Eating at canteen or restaurant, I can't avoid spending a lot of money.  Therefore, I've made my lunch by myself to save money.  I love sandwiches with these.

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I could make discoveries also in my house.  They are two more members of my host family.  My host mother is feeding them in backyard.  She calls them girls, so they are female. They 

sometimes run away from the yard and get into our house, so they bother her.

 

He is a neighbor living in a forest at the back of my house.  He is a wild peacock.  While I was having my breakfast, he came and peaked the window.  My host mother said to me that he comes home about once a week to receive breakfast from her.  I was very surprised, but now am also looking forward to seeing him when he gets more beautiful feathers in spring.

Lovely time in Gold Coast and South Bank

On 28 March, I went to Gold Coast with my friends.  We met at Roma Street station and caught the train.  Arriving at Gold Coast, we walked around and enjoyed shopping and lunch.  We went to the beach which was so beautiful and had many people.  

It was windy, so surf was high.

Gold Coast at night is also great.  Many people were performing, such as singing, dancing, juggling and magic.  They were so amusing.  I can't forget the jolly atmosphere in there.

We went to the restaurant.  I had fish and chips which was so delicious that I want to recommend to you !  We stayed at backpackers for one night, where we shared a room with a woman from Germany.  She was travelling around Australia, and her English was so fluent.  On the next morning, we went to the beach again and had breakfast with a gentle air from the sea.  After that we departed from Gold Coast for Brisbane.  I'm sure this short trip was wonderful !

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On 11 April, I and my friends in my class 5 GOLD, went to South Bank.  We had decided to meet at South Bank station, but one girl was late because of a trouble.  We were worried, yet she could finally join us.  We had lunch at the Asian food restaurant.  It had the cuisine of Japan, China, Korea, Thailand and Malaysia.  I tried Nasi Goreng from Malaysia which was good but too much for me.

We were talking about many kinds of subjects such as favorite food, expressions of each languages, ages and plans for the future.  I got to know some surprising matters.

This crazy bird got on the vacant table and picked up the food left on it.
So terrible !

After lunch we walked around markets.  There were a great number of markets because it was a sunny lovely day.  We afterwards visited the museum where the exhibition of marine animals and dinosaurs were open.

We had enough time, so decided to go to the cinema.  We watched the movie of SpongeBob.  To be honest, I couldn't understand English well because it was so fast.  However I could enjoy it.  It is pleasant to go out in a group of mixed nationalities.  I want to enjoy in this group again !

My first 4 weeks in Brisbane !

4 weeks have passed since I came to Brisbane.  I'm not sure if my English have improved, but it's true that I'm getting used to the life in Brisbane.  I met many people from all over the world, and had much conversation in English.  Through the communication, I confirmed the utility of English.

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On 22 March, the day when I arrived at Brisbane, I met my host family.  There are 3 members in my house, a host mother, a student from Chine and me.  She is old and has lived there for a long time, so she knows a lot about Brisbane.  She told me about a way of life, good supermarkets, places to visit and so on.  Unfortunately her English was difficult for me to understand, but by asking her to speak slowly and teach me the meaning of vocabularies I finally got it, which is an effective way to learn English.

This is the garden of my host mother.

So beautiful !

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On the first day of ICTE, I had a placement test.  I was worried especially about the speaking section.  After that, ICTE students went to Mt. Coot-tha together.  In the bus to there, I sat next to a boy from China.  We became friends and walked around with him and two other friends; one is Chinese and the other is Japanese.  The landscape from the Mt. Coot-tha was so beautiful.

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My class started on the next day.  There are students from Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea, Saudi Arabia and Oman in my class.  We talked with each other in English about the cultures of our own countries and ourselves.  However, we sometimes faced the barriers.  The differences of pronunciation and accent are unavoidable, but they led to the flexibility of my English.

5 GOLD is my class.

My classmates made it !