Day 1, Activity 2: Discovering Aotearoa
For this activity we would like you to think about your own experiences and your own cultural background. Where does your family come from? Do they come from Europe like Abel Tasman, Polynesia like Kupe, or somewhere else?
On your blog, please tell us about your cultural background. Where do you and your family come from?
I was born in Timaru. I lived in new Zealand for 2 years and then we left to go and live in the Middle East. We lived in the United Arab Emirates. We lived in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, and our town name was Al Ain. We moved to four differences houses when we were living there. It was really hot there and it reached to 56 degrees one year!
There are many different nationalities that live in the United Arab Emirates - only 20% of the population are Emirate! The most common are from the Philippines, Bangladesh, Pakistan, America, South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. Living in such a multi-national environment has taught me that even though we may all be different, we can accept others as we want to be accepted ourselves. I have a lot of empathy and know that the world works better when everyone is kind. Kindness is the international language.
Last year we returned to New Zealand where we now live at Lake Brunner. Although I still miss the United Arab Emirates, the West Coast is certainly becoming my home.
Hi again!
ReplyDeleteThank you for this post! I really love how you have added so much detail. I can tell you spent a lot of time on this one! Nice work.
You have such an interesting background! Thank you for sharing this. It is really cool that you have been able to experience such a multinational culture. You have learnt such an important message about acceptance and kindness.
I have never been to the United Arab Emirates but it looks like a beautiful country. What were some of your favourite things about the country?
It’s good to hear that you’re starting to feel at home in New Zealand :)
Well done on this amazing post Elsie! Keep up the awesome work!
Matilda :)
good morning!
ReplyDeleteMy favourite things about the United Arab Emirates is my school/friends.I also loved the people and the places. The weather was also really nice a bit too hot sometimes like once it reaches up to 56 DEGREES!!!
It's a lot different to here but i love it here to it's a lot more outdoorsy witch i like because i'm an outdoorsy person. Here there's a lot more rain you never got rain in the United Arab Emirates if it rained school would be closed because of all the floods because there a very few drain pipes for the water to go into since it's usually sunny.
Elsie :)
56 degrees! You must have felt like you were melting! I can't imagine what that would have felt like!
DeleteIf schools shut in New Zealand every time it rained we would hardly ever go to school! It's good to hear that you like it here :)
Matilda
good morning!
ReplyDeleteMe and my family were used to the hot hot weather but we couldn't of survived without the air/con's we also when to the pool a lot to cool down i loved going to the pool it was a lot of fun.
Elsie:)