Derek!

Introduction

For those who don’t know, the International Teen Life Project is a project that our class, Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia),  Cartagena (Colombia), and Broadway (Virginia) are working on. The purpose of this project is to learn how other teenagers live in other parts of the globe. To store our information, we have a wiki. CLICK HERE to check it out. The point of this blog post is to introduce our class, our school, our community, and ourselves. We also have to put down problems and concerns that face Canada today.

Myself

My name is Derek. My class and I are taking part in the International Teen Life Project as you have just learned. I have many interests like writing, volleyball, badminton, table tennis, curling, archery, and hanging out with friends.

My Class

There are about seventeen kids in my class and they have very different personalities. There are the very rare quiet people and there are the most common talkative people. There are the people who try hard and the people that don’t care as much. There are the sporty people and the people who support the game. Either way, being in my class is one of the best things about going to school.

My School

There are about 165-170 kids in my school. It’s not very much, but I like how everything isn’t crowded as much as you would expect in a big city. The surprising thing is, my school goes from kinder garden to grade twelve, and that’s how you know that this is a small town. This school is also part of the Frontier School Division along with towns like Cranberry Portage and Moose Lake. I like Frontier School Division because we go on many trips through out the year. So, my school is pretty nice for a small town, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

My Community

I live in a nice, small community in northern Manitoba. The population is about 750 or more. Since I live in a community that is up north, we see lots of snow in the wintertime. We also have very nice summers, though. I bet they aren’t as nice as they are in Kuala Lumpur, but we live. I am not sure the warmest temperature here, but I am pretty sure that the coldest temperature here was around –45 degrees Celsius. That leads me to another thing. In Canada, we measure our temperature by Celsius, not by Fahrenheit. I really love my home town and even though it can get boring at times, it is still a great place to live.

Concerns that Face Canada

Global Warming

I think that global warming affects everybody, not just Canada. I think that Al Gore really took on the subject well in the movie “An Inconvenient Truth”. When we watched it in class, I was really shocked how much energy we waste and how much pollution we cause. I was also surprised when little things such as recycling and changing your regular light bulb to a fluorescent light bulb can add up. If we did these things and more, we could stop or at least slow down global warming.

Smoking

Again, smoking affects everybody, not just Canada. Maybe some people more than other people, but still. Everybody is affected. When people buy cigarettes or cigars, they know that what they are doing could kill them, but the power of addiction can rule any sensible person. Not only do they risk their own lives, but they risk the lives of the people around them when they smoke. Then, there is something that really confuses me.

Cigars and cigarettes make a big profit, and a lot of it goes to the government. The government then builds roads and buildings and all other sorts of things with profit from cigarettes and cigars. If people stop smoking, less profit will go to the government that builds the roads and buildings. When you think about it, the government could find another way to make money. Until then, I guess stores almost everywhere will still sell cigars and cigarettes.

Weather Conditions

Lately, the weather has been really cold in some parts of Canada. In my community, it is just a bit of a pain. On the highway, though, people have been evacuating their vehicles and freezing to death, literally. I know, it is very sad, but there is nothing you can really do about it. Luckily, the weather today has gotten better compared to other days last week. Unfortunately, the weather is supposed to get colder again.

Conclusion

I hope you learned a lot about me, my school, my town, and Canada. I can tell that this is going to be a fun unit and I hope many more units like this come soon.