A trip to BFM

      BFM is a radio station in the Klang area. BFM stands for Business FM.

 

Last Friday, our school organized a trip to BFM. BFM was located at BU8 plaza. We took a car to the place. Before entering the station office, we were amazed by the decoration of the station. We entered the station with excitement, waiting to know what was next.

       We were welcomed by one of the co-worker. We entered their office and into their meeting room or conference room. Their office was flooded with computers and laptops with all brands. Before starting the discussion session, we were provided some snacks from the workers. They were very kind and friendly. Inside the conference room, there were examples of BFM slogans such as:

Battle For Malaysia

Bieber Free Music

Bungalows For Me

Brake Faster Macha

Bribe Free Malaysia

Busy Finding Money

Brainy Female Mentors

Blazing Female Managers

Bold Fearless Mothers

       There were 8 different people speaking to us excluding the founder, Mr. Malek Ali.

Uncle Sharaad – Current Affairs

Mr.Sharaad is one of the morning FM hosts that talks about current affairs. He is currently 48 years old. Current affairs are basically things that are happening now, or facts about the world. Uncle Sharaad said that there are a lot of current affairs to talk about, but he will only choose the ones that people would love to hear the most. Uncle Sharaad said that his responsibility was to first find the facts. After he has collected the facts he would frame it in his own words. After that the facts would be easier to understand. An example is what caused the war in Syria. It was because of some conflict. Uncle Sharaad is on the radio at 6.15 a.m. and 7.30 a.m. from Monday to Saturday.

Uncle Malek Ali – Founder of BFM

Malek Ali was the founder BFM. He started this radio station because there was a need in the radio station world for Business radio station. He started BFM in 2008. Thisradio station was not popular till now. BFM earned money by having advertisement. A 30 seconds advertisement cost RM500 per plays. As BFM is a business station, they frequently interview people such as Tony Fernandes- the AirAsia boss, Lim Guan Eng, and Khalid Ibrahim. Starting a radio station needed 5 million ringgit. It was very costly for them, but they still survived till now.

David Chew

David Chew is the “technical guy” in BFM. He works as one of the host in Morning Run from 6-10am. He is the one who is in charge of the radio system. He told us how radio works. Firstly, the BFM station broadcast the signal from a transmitter to a transmitter tower in Batang Kali. The transmitter send microwave signals to Batang Kali. These microwave signals are strong and can be broadcasted as far as 500km. From Batang Kali transmitter tower, it broadcast the radio out to Negeri Sembilan, Pahang, Selangor and Melaka. This type of broadcasting is called Terrestrial Broadcast. FM stands for Frequency Modulation. It costs roughly about 10,000 ringgit a year to own a radio station in Malaysia. Then, he told us how Astro works. Astro studio sends up a signal to a satellite in space. From the satellite, it broadcasts to the whole Malaysia. It uses VHF, very high frequency. Sometimes when it rains there is no signal, because the clouds in the sky blocked them.

Diana Blackburn

Aunty Diana was in charge of the songs played on BFM. She had 5000 song in a playlist. She had a software that sorts out the different types of songs played on the radio.

Aunty Meera

Aunty Meera told us about all the policies and guidelines for radio stations. We were discussing about the Rules and Regulation of radio. She said that since BFM is a business radio station and they talk a lot, they always get in trouble. Aunty Meera told us that they couldn’t talk about politics and other stuff having to do with the government.

Uncle Jason

Uncle Jason is the guy who does all the things to do with the iPad app call the B-side. It’s called e-magazine and is available for Android too. These articles are contributed by other people. There are various types of visual effects since it’s on the iPad. It is also downloadable on Android.

 

       Lastly, we were toured around by one of the workers. He was an old aged guy. He name was Uncle Soon Heng. He brings us to the studio and introduces the equipment in the studio. It was interesting. I am very pleased and happy with this trip because I learned another new knowledge. It was fun and I hoped to join them and spend more time with them next time.       

Music in the Air

One time at our lovely school,

Seating with hearts filled with excited spirits,

Waiting for a person called Rocky,

Having a sibling called Stony.

He came and reached with a bag on his back,

Surprised to see what we had on our hands,

He said well done, and praised us for our obedience,

And began his lesson with a smile on his face.

He said Music, music, music,

We played our musical instruments,

He said stop, stop, stop,

So we stop playing our stuff,

He said listen to my call,

1, 2, 3, we played our instruments,

And from noise came music,

Music filled the air,

Everyone was so happy.

He explained to us the meaning,

Music is an art,

Music is a hobby,

And music is a job.

Music is noise with a rhythm,

To some people,

Music is a lifestyle,

Music is everything.

Today we enjoyed music,

We learnt that music is fun,

Music is a hobby and job,

Music can touch people’s heart,

And music is the best!

 

 

Story of a Myanmar Boy

 

Once in Myanmar, there lived a boy, named Jack. He is eleven years old. He comes from a very poor family. His father lost his life in an accident, while his mom got ill and could not work. He had a brother and a sister. Jack’s family depended on him to live because he was the only one that could work. Where he lived was near the dumpsters of the cities. Every day, he would pick garbage to sell and get money. He would find cans, bottles, used cupboard or reusable stuff to sell. With a little money, he was able to buy food for his family and continue to survive.  

        As time passed, war began in Myanmar. At that time, Jack was fifteen years old. Jack’s mom recovered from her sickness. Month after month, the war went from bad to worse. “It is time,” said Jack’s mom. “I will send you all off,” said Jack’s mom.

       “Where?” exclaimed Jack. Jack’s mom pointed to a country on the map- MALAYSIA.

       “I have decided to send you to America but we have to go through the UN. During the process, you will go to a refugee camp in Malaysia to live because it is unsafe here,” explained Jack’s mom.

      “What about you?” asked Jack.

      “I will stay here till the war ends,” said Jack’s mom. The next day, his mom applied a passport via the United Nations. The UN scheduled them to leave Myanmar next month. 

       A month passed in a blink of an eye. After all the goodbyes to the whole village, Jack and his siblings were sent to the airport. Before they left, Jack gave his mom his last hug. He didn’t want to leave his mom. Tears rolled down from his eyes. It was a touching sight. After the touching sight, Jack left his mom and boarded the plane. In a few minutes, the plane departed from Myanmar, heading towards Malaysia.

       During the journey in the plane, Jack was thinking and dreaming of his mom, while his brother and sister enjoyed themselves. He missed her so much. His dreaming shortened the time, and they reached Malaysia very quickly. In Malaysia, he was identified as a foreigner. He was sent to a center, called United Learning Center. At ULC, some Myanmar refugees stay there before being transferred to the designated countries.

       Jack’s first day at ULC was a little shy and scared while his siblings were happy when they met new friends. When he entered ULC, he met many children that faced the same problem as him. They were all children who either lost one of their parents or both of them. Slowly, he began to make friends and played with them. They played together, ate together, learned together and sleep together. They played and shared their feeling till he had forgotten that it had been a year since he entered ULC. As more Myanmar refugees enter the center, he met more and more new friends. He also comforted those who still missed their parents.

       “It continued till today,” said Jack. As Jack was speaking with me, a group of new Myanmar refugees were transferred in. Jack ran towards them and made friends with them. It was another wonderful sight. An eighteen year old boy making new friends with kids aged seven to fifteen.

       I really hope that one day God will bring Jack and his new friends to Christ. It will be the best sight in Heaven.

IMC Trip :)

        Last Friday, we went to a sport center to train disabled children futsal. We were divided into several groups. The location of the Sport Center was in Subang. The children there were either autistic or down syndrome. The word IMC stands for Individual Mentally Challenged. The journey took forty minutes. During the trip, we talked about the disabled kids.

       We reached the Sport Planet at 10 in the morning. Before training the kids, we did some warm-ups like stretching, bending, jumping and running. After the warm-ups, we entered the futsal field. Same as before, we had to pick a partner. This time I picked Xiang. He was a boy who needed encouragement. We did passing, dribbling and running together.

       The moment I saw him, God told me to pick him as a partner. He was quite shy. He didn’t want anyone to touch nor go near him. But I took the courage and be his partner. During the first few practices, he was quite shy and didn’t do much. So, I did what was told and got him to follow. Slowly, his shyness got better and better. He started to follow what I did. Before the match, I succeeded in convincing him as a friend.

       After training for half an hour, the time had come to play a match. We were divided into two groups and each group consist of nine members.

Peep, the game started.

We snatched the ball from the opponent and started passing around. The ball went high and low. The game became exciting until a goal was scored by one of the disabled kids. The goal filled the whole field with excitement. Our team was happy despite the sad faces on the opposite team.

 Peep, here goes the whistle again as the game starts again.

        As usual, we were told to pass to the disabilities kids. After an exciting first half, the whistle was blown again for the second half. During the break, everyone drank all their water as everyone was tired and sweating. After the break, we continued the second half. It was quite normal until there was a leap hole in the opposite team’s defense. Azrul got the ball and passed the ball to Tyler. Tyler was dribbling till he crossed it to the middle. At that moment, I was there. The ball flew and came in front of me. With a kick, the ball flew and went towards the pole. I was scared and watched. Eventually it hit the pole and bounced out. Phew! The opposite team had been saved by the pole.

       The same chance came after a few minutes. This time Tyler got the ball and passed it to Azrul. With a mighty kick, the ball flew towards the upper post. This time it was worst. The ball flew and hit the crossbar and went out. Phew! The other team had another save. Another chance came. This time Heman got the ball. He passed it to Azrul. Because Victor was blocking, he had no choice but to cross into the middle. Again at that moment, I was there. This time, I kicked with full power. The ball flew and hit the post! But, it hit the right inner post and went in. GOAL! Everybody was happy except the opposite team. The score was 2-0. It became a one-sided game.

       Peep, Peep, Peep, the game ended.

   Even though they lost but we still enjoyed the match. After a tired match, we went back to school. This time I really enjoyed it.

Baking some muffins

  

     Muffins are delicious cakes filled with different flavors. A muffin is a type of semi-sweet cake or quick bread that is baked in portions appropriate for one person. They are similar to cupcakes, although they are usually less sweet and lack icing. The flavors could be blueberries, chocolate chips, poppy seeds, raspberry, cinnamon, pumpkin, nut, lemon, banana, orange, peach, almond, carrot, vanilla and strawberry. But, baking the muffins is not that simple. Firstly, you must have a mixer to mix the ingredients. Secondly, you must have an oven to bake your muffins. Lastly, you must have the time to bake delicious muffins because you can’t bake good muffins in one try.

            Last Friday, my school invited a teacher to teach us how to bake banana muffins. A few days before baking, we were told to bring utilities to school to bake like mixer, chopping board, knife, wooden spoon and mixing bowl. We brought the items that we were told. The ingredients were provided. The ingredients were butter, castor sugar, self-rising flour, yeast, sodium bicarbonate, banana and 3 small eggs.

            There were 6 groups for baking, so we had to split up. First, we measured the butter and cut the remaining 150g into a bowl for later use. Then, we measured 80g of flour and 115g of self-rising flour. Next, we mash the banana into paste.

Firstly, we separate the egg white and beat it up till it was firm and put it aside. Then, we beat the butter and sugar in a mixer till it became fluffy. After the egg white became fluffy, we added the remaining egg york into the mixture. Next, we add the banana into the mixture slowly, after that we add the flour and egg white into to the mixture. After adding everything, the mixture contains everything and will be mixing for another 5 minutes. After beating for 5 minutes, the mixture is complete. We get a mixing bowl and pour the mixture into muffin cups slowly. As decoration, we sliced the banana and put them on top of the mixture. Lastly, we preheated the oven for 45 minutes in the temperature of 180 Celsius. Then, we put the muffins in to bake. It had to bake for an hour.

In the meantime, we washed and clean up the place for the second group to come. Since mother’s day was right around the corner, our teachers told us to make cards for our mothers. We made beautiful cards. An hour passed in a blink of an eye. It was time to check our muffins. We ran down at the speed of light and saw our delicious muffins come out of the oven. We were asked to put them into a bag and paste the card we made as a mother’s day gift.

We had a great time baking with that teacher and gave him some gifts. Before he left, I asked for the recipe of the banana muffins and he gave one, then he left. I appreciate this lesson and will continue to use this recipe to make muffins.

A Day in the Stadium

A scorching day in the stadium,

 

With some sporty sportsperson that love to run,

 

Dashing in the sun with a pair of running shoes,

 

Sweat starts to flow from my cheeks to my toes,

 

I was sweaty, I was hungry, I was down on my toes.

 

 

Then came the coach with a bottle in his hands,

 

He said, drink up and stand on the sand,

 

I stood up with a tired body,

 

Started to run 300 yards,

 

With all my strength, I completed the run,

 

But my body now was full of ache.

 

 

Later, I ran and jumped on the sand,

 

I was practicing a sport on the sand,

 

I passed this event and proceeded to my friends,

 

We sang a song while jogging a whole round,

 

While we drank some cups of tasty juice.

 

 

After the run we kicked some footballs,

 

Before we started we were warned to stop playing,

 

But we didn’t listen and continued to play,

 

The coach was furious when we saw us play,

 

He banned us all from playing again.

 

 

We were all exhausted and ready to leave,

 

We left the place with our sweaty bodies,

 

We sat in the car to leave the stadium,

 

And went back home and bathed ourselves,

 

Then we lay on our beds and fell into deep sleep.

A Trip to Yakult Factory

 

 

     We went to visit the Yakult factory at Seremban. The journey to the place was quite long. It took us about an hour to reach there. When we reached there, we entered the huge factory. While everyone was inside, the tour guide explained how Yakult was being process.

Yakult is a probiotic drink made from Lactobacillus bacteria. It was created by Japanese scientist Minoru Shirota. Yakult claims that the name is obtain from jahurto, an older form of jogurto, the Turkish word for "yoghurt".

First, we visit the Seed room. Skim milk, glucose, sugar and water are the main ingredients. Skim milk powder is mixed with sugar, glucose and filtered, sterilized water to make a sweet milky solution. After the ingredients were being mixed, they are sterilized at a high temperature for a short time, destroying any bacteria that may be present. The solution is then transferred to a 6,500-litre culture tank via a closed system of pipes and valves. The bacteria that makes Yakult comes from Japan and stored in the seed tank to multiply. The temperature of the room is 37 Celsius. The purpose of the seed tank is to breed Yakult-Lactic acid bacteria.

Next, we went to the culture room. The temperature of the culture tank is reduced to 37°C and live Lactobacillus strain from the seed tank is added. The solution is allowed to ferment for about one week until the number of Lactobacillus bacteria reaches an ideal concentration. The concentrate is transferred to a 12,000-litre mixing and storage tank. The tank is chilled to around 2° C. Sterilized flavors, syrup solution, vitamins and calcium are added to the concentrate. Prior to bottling, the concentrate is diluted with filtered, sterile water.

Later, we went to the Moulding room. This is where Yakult bottles are made. Also, Yakult made their bottles by themselves. There are three injection moulding machines. They make 7,000 bottles per hour and the temperature is 250 Celsius. The bottles are made from polystyrene. The bottles are then transferred by a tunnel to another place.

Then, we went to the Clean room. This room is where they do microbiological testing. This room is an air tight room. The outside air will pollute the reading and only bacteria are involved. After that, we went to the Quality Control room(QC). In this place, they check about the quality of the factories production.

Next, we went to the Bottle filing and packaging room. The bottles are wrapped with individual bottle labels. Then, they are filled with Yakult, capped with a foil lid, sealed and transferred along the conveyor belt to the packaging facility. The machine can fill 36,000 of bottles per hour. Before being packed, the bottles are being attached with a straw. Then, single bottles of Yakult are sorted into groups of five and shrink-wrapped in polypropylene film. Ten "5-packs" are grouped together and wrapped again in polyethylene film and then heat shrunk, forming a 'carton' of 50 Yakult bottles. In average, they produce 7,200 packs per hour and 720 cartons per hour.

Lastly, we went to the Refrigeration Room. Finished products are kept refrigerated before delivery to stores. In total, the factory produces 322,000 bottles of Yakult per day. According to research, there are 30 billion live bacteria living in each Yakult drink. Also, there are only 70 workers in the factory due to computerize system.

This trip is really interesting. After this trip, I realized that Yakult drink is good for health and I will start drinking it daily.

                                                                                

I am a Golf Ball

    I am a golf ball. I am a famous brand called Titleist. I am

round and bouncy. I am white in color. I have hole patterns

around my body. I am small in size but heavy. I was made in a

factory at Florida.

   I had been made in a day. In the factory, I met many friends. Their names are Ping, Taylor Made, Addidas, Bridgestone, Callaway, Cleveland, Cobra, Footjoy, Greg Norman, Mizuno, Nike, Srixon, Ashworth and Dunlop. All my friends in the factory are golf balls. After the production, my friends and I were scheduled to be shipped to Malaysia to be sold. The journey took two weeks. During the journey, we sang songs and tell jokes to pass time.

            After two weeks, we reached our destination. We reached the port of Klang. We were then being transported to a sport outlet in Petaling Jaya, called Royal Sporting House. Sadly, my friends and I were being separated. They were sent to a sport shop in Shah Alam, while I was sent to a shop in Bandar Utama. My tears rolled down as I left my best friends forever.

            But, while I was in the shop, I met new friends like, football, baseball, tennis ball, basketball, and ping pong ball. Even though they were not the same kind like me, but were as friendly as my previous friends.  We spent time together in the shop.

            As time pass, my friends in the shop were being sold rapidly, but I was still not bought. One fine day, a young handsome guy came to the shop to buy sport utilities. While he glanced to find his requirements, he spotted me and came to me. He picked me up and took a look at me. After searching the whole store, he decided to purchase me. As soon as I was being purchased, I jumped happily and felt awesome.

 

            The young man brought me to his car. While I saw his car, I was shocked, he had a Ferrari sports car. He was a rich guy. We reached his house and he brought me into his house. Amazingly, his house was like a palace. It was huge. Later he brought me to his backyard and I could see a field of putting green. From the scene of the putting green, surely he is a golfer. He took me out and placed me on the ground and started practicing his golfing skills. After busy day, then he stop practicing and took me in.

            In his house he has a golf ball cleaning machine and I was being washed. At night, he polished me and placed me in his ball collection. After that, he would go to bed. Daily, I was being used by him. He used me from dawn to dusk. After a few months, I realized, his name was Luke Donald. He was a professional golf player. He is ranked number one in the whole world.

            After a few months of practice, it was the last competition of the year, the master’s golf competition. The day before the competition, he picked me as his ball for the competition. During the four days, I performed well and he entered the finals. During the finals, the opponent made mistakes, but he did not. With a powerful strike, I flew up in the air and landed on the green. I was rolling rapidly and I closed my eyes, as I was scared to look at the result. Luke was also worried, he thought he would lose the competition. Suddenly, I was rolling in the direction of the hole. In a split second, I heard screams and praises over the whole field. I opened my eyes and I found myself sitting in the bottom of the whole. I felt happy as I helped Luke to win the competition. He took me up and said ‘You are the best,’ His word touched my heart and encouraged me to continue to face more challenges.

            From that day onwards, I became his ‘best friend,’ and faced challenges together. 

Organic Farm

            Last Friday, we went to an organic farm in Gombak. We took a van to the place. It took an hour to reach the place. We didn’t know the place, so the owner led us to the place. It was a big farm with lots of trees and animals. The place was at a hillside with forest surrounding it.

            The owner of the farm was a environmentalist. He led us into a hut. We sat on egg racks as chairs. He told us about his understanding upon the creation of earth. Firstly, he told us that Earth was created by itself and five elements helped to support the life of Earth. The five elements are plants, bacteria, fire, animals and humans. These elements progress their daily work. After few hundred centuries, the work of the elements started to move faster. This action started to annoyed the Earth, until now Earth has pollution and became ‘sick’. He told us now to stop pollution to save Earth. He also so said we have to bow down to ‘respect’ Earth and find ‘inner peace’ through ‘connecting’ with Earth. He also mentioned that we have to ‘connect’ with the nature.

   But to me , I don’t believe in these. According to the Bible in Genesis 1, God created the Heavens and the Earth. How could Earth just come out from nowhere? There must be a creator to Earth, and that's our God. Secondly, he said we could not destroy forest and jungles, or else that's call pollution. But if we don't develop, our country will have no income and low economy. He also said that we can find inner peace by connecting with nature. I tell you, it is not true. According to the Bible in John 20:21, it says: “Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.” It is true, only God can give us peace.

After the sharing, He brought us to a place where food decay and become fertilizers to let the plant grow well. Then, we went to the place where compost are mixed with soil and decayed food to become organic soil. Lastly, he showed us the place where soil filled with compost felt like. Later, we went to a “hole” to see insects living in it. It was disgusting. Lastly, we went to feed cows that were in his barn. They were fat and huge. We fed them happily.

Later, we said good bye and drove back to school. This was not a really fantastic trip but it is an interesting trip to me. Today’s lesson about the organic farm that Uncle Ivan shared is also knowledge about unbeliever’s aspect about the creation of the Earth. Lastly, I would like to thank our beloved Ms. Amy who organized an interesting trip to an organic farm in a far place but also gained some knowledge that I never knew in my life.

Selangor Pewter Report

   Last Friday, our school went to Royal Selangor Pewters visitor center and factory. We went there in two vehicles, a car and a van. We were separated into two batches.The trip to the place was quite long as it was in Setapak.

 

  When we reached there, we were surprised as the visitor center was as big as a shopping mall. We went to a large tankard to take photo with it as it was Selangor Pewter’s landmark. The tankard we took was officially recognized by the Guinness Book Of Record. It was the World’s Largest Tankard. Its height is 1.987 m (6.46 ft) and it weighs 1557 kg (1.53 ton). It capacity is 2796 liter (615 gal). Royal Selangor Pewter is proud for its famous tin products.

 

We went into the visitor center. We entered into the visitor center through a large archway. Our guide, Edmond told us about Selangor Pewter’s history. The founder came from Shantou, China during the Qing Dynasty to Kuala Lumpur, Malay States. He showed us some picture of the tin mine. Last time, Selangor Pewter was only a shop. It was visited by the Sultan of Selangor. After that, he showed us the different forms of money being used and the founder’s utilities like his clothing, his personal notes. Surprisingly, the visitor center still has sample of ancient ignots and tin bars in display. The tin bars weigh 40kg.

 

   Then, the tour guide shows us swarf. Swarf means fine chips of filings of stone, metal, etc. It was the main ingredient to make these tin products. Later, we saw a dredger. We also saw the actual size of a dredging bucket. It was huge! In the tour, we saw a mini size twin tower made of 120 tankards. Later, we saw the the touchmark of Selangor Pewter. It wrote“玉和足锡(yu he zu xi). It means jade, peace, pure and tin. This touchmark was used by Tong Koon and his brothers from the late 1890s.

 

After the tour in the visitor center, our guide brought us to the factory to see the process of their tin products. Their factory is the world largest pewter factory. It is built by 5 shop lots. First, we went to see how they do pewter casting. They melt pewter at high temperature and boil it into pewter liquid. Then it was scoop and pour into a metal model to make a cup handle. The process takes about 15 seconds, as it uses 3 seconds to cold into solid tin. Average, they can produce 500 a day. Next, we went to see how they polish tin cups. The uneven cups produce pewter shavings. They are as soft as cloths. Then, we went to the pewtersmithing station. This process requires 6 months of training as well as concentration and speed. The process is to knock the cup to make small dots as design, so concentration is needed. We were all given a change to knock the cup, known as pewtersmithing. Lastly, we went to the place where they make Selebran jewelry.

 

  Before returning to school, we were brought to the souvenir place where we can buy Selangor Pewter’s product. Unknowingly, Selangor Pewter also provides trophy to the Ferrari competitions and the Shanghai Tennis Rolex Masters trophies. Later, we went back to school.
  

I learnt about the makings of Selangor Pewters and origin. I hope to learn more about it next time.  

Hip Hop Dance

 

Hip Hop Dance

Last Friday, we went to Mosaic Community Center to learn hip hop dance. The coach was Ms. Eva Lee. She taught us about the skills of hip hop and the drills of hip hop. The song we used was “Awesome God.”

 

First, we do the warm ups. We did some stretching on our legs, hands and bodies. Then she gave the starting exercise like doing some step-over and some movement on our hands. Next, we moved on to the song, Awesome God. The steps are like this:

 

1.      Wave, facing away from audience.

2.      Face audience and clap.

3.      Move to the side, make arms like shooting arrow.

4.      Box step.

5.      Walk in a circle for one round.

6.      Kick and punch 4 times.

7.      Step and pump twice.

8.      Jump to the left.

9.      Jump to the righ.t

10.  Jump to the left twice.

11.  Slide to the left.

12.  Slide to the right.

13.  Slide to the right, left, and right.

14.  Slide with arms wide open.

15.  Freestyle.

16.  Hop and clap.

17.  End with arms crossed.

 

We practiced for several times then we got the moves and performed. We did it very nicely. Ms. Eva the congratulated us for performing so well.

 

Later, Ms. Christine taught us about the meaning of dancing in the bible. Dancing means to move or seem to move up and down or about in a quick or lively manner. There are many forms of dancing.

For example, a child joyfully jumping around, moving in a lively and spirited manner when receiving a present, is dancing. This is similar to David's dancing when bringing the ark into Jerusalem (1 Ch. 15:29). Usually, though, when we talk about dancing, we mean a social event where a couple rhythmically moves to music, such as occurs at a school dance or night club. There are several examples of dancing in the Bible:

 

Some people danced alone, some danced with the same gender in celebration, some danced for joy, and some danced to praise God. Solomon says, "There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven --- a time to give birth and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted. A time to kill and a time to heal; a time to tear down and a time to build up. A time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance" (Ec. 3:1-4).

 

In the New Testament, we also read about dancing. Dancing figuratively represents one's joyful response to the gospel, which the Jews lacked (Matt. 11:17; Lk. 7:32). There was dancing in celebration of the prodigal son's return (Lk. 15:25), figuratively illustrating the joy when a person repents.

 

There are four principles we can apply to dancing. We are to glorify God in our bodies, and exalt Christ (1 Cor. 6:19-20; Phil. 1:20).If a dance inappropriately displaying our bodies, or includes movements unbecoming a Christian, it brings shame upon God. We shouldn’t involve ourselves with such dances. We are to do things that are honorable and respectable in the sight of all men (Rom. 12:17; Phil. 4:8), obeying God in everything we do (Acts 4:19; 5:29).We must determine whether dancing in a particular fashion is honorable in our day and age. For example: If our community deems a particular dance inappropriate, we shouldn't involve ourselves in the dance.

 

We shouldn't engage in lustful and licentious (sensual) behaviors (Rom. 6:12; 1 Jn. 2:16; 2 Cor. 12:20-21; Jude 1:4)."Lust" is a strong desire to sin. "Licentious" is unbridled lust --- excess, absence of restraint, indecency, and wantonness. Dancing in a lustful or licentious fashion, as was the case with Herodias' daughter, is sinful (Matthew 14:6 and Mark 6:22). We shouldn't engage in questionable behaviors (Rom. 14:23; 1 Th. 5:21-22).We must be absolutely certain a particular dance is lawful before engaging in the behavior. If there is any question about participating in the dance, we should avoid it.

 

After the lesson, we now know that dancing is also popular in the bible. Lastly, I would like to thank Ms. Eva for teaching us about hip hop dance.

 

Cinnamon Roll

   Last Friday, Ms Natalie taught us how to make cinnamon rolls and the types of bread we usually eat.Cinnamon Roll was originally from Sweden. It is also a type of sweet roll. Dough, cinnamon and sugar are the main ingredients to make Cinnamon rolls. The ingredients to make cinnamon rolls are some milk, cinnamon, cream, some butter, sugar, vanilla essence, salt, yeast and some eggs. As Ms. Natalie had prepared the ingredients, we started right away.

  First, we started by pouring some milk, and putting some butter, sugar, salt and vanilla essence into a small pot. Next, we warmed the pot on a stove on small fire.  We couldn’t heat it too long, as we don’t want to warm it, we just wanted to melt the butter. 

Meanwhile, we measure half the flour into the bowl of a stand mixer along with the yeast. Later, we add the warm melted milk butter mixture to the flour. Then, we took turns to beat the mixture with a mixer. We had to beat until it is smooth. Next, we add the eggs one at a time, while beating it until smooth before we proceed to the next step. Later, Ms. Natalie switched the hook to a dough hook and added the remaining flour.

Next, we took turns to blend the dough. After blending the mixture, Ms. Natalie stopped the mixer and began to knead the dough until it was a soft dough that is no longer sticky to the touch. This process took about five minutes. Later, Ms. Natalie separates the dough into two and put them into two glass containers to proof. She also covered them with a cloth to let them stay dry. As the dough will need an hour or more to proof.

The bread ready to proof or expand.

 

 

 

 

 Ms. Natalie taught us the types of bread we usually eat. This was the list of bread we learnt:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bagel

 

 It was originally from Europe. It is usually boiled first before it is baked.

 

 

 

Baguette

 

 Also known as French Loaf. It was originally from France. A usual baguette is about       65cm (26in) long but can go up to a meter (40in) l ong.

 

 

 

 Breadsticks

 

 It was originally from Italy. Pre-made, dried breadsticks may sometimes be sold in markets as a kind of snack, somewhat similar to a cracker.

 

 

 

 Challah

 

It is a Jewish bread. Challah is a special Jewish braided bread eaten on Sabbath and holidays. Each single loaf is woven with six strands. Together, both loaves have twelve which represent each tribe of Israel.

 

 

 

Chapati

 

It was originally from India. Small portions of the dough are rolled out into discs. The rolled-out dough is thrown on the preheated dry skillet and cooked on both sides. And then put directly on a high flame, which makes it blow up like a balloon. The hot air cooks the chapati rapidly from the inside.

 

 Ciabatta bread

 

This bread comes from Italy.

 

 

 

 Cornbread

 

This bread came from the United States.

 

 

 

 Croissant

 

Its originally from France.

 

 

 

 Foccacia

 

 It comes from Italy.

 

 

 

 Hot Cross Buns

 

 They are from Britain.

 

 

 

 The ManTou

 

It came from China.

 

 

 

 Monkey Bread

 

 It is from the United States.

 

 

 

 Pita Bread

 

Originally came from the Middle East.

 

 

 

Pretzels

 

Originally came from Europe. It has been said that an Italian monk invented pretzels as a reward to children who learn their prayers. He calls the strips of baked dough, folded to resemble arms crossing the chest, 'pretiola'.

 

 

 

After Ms Natalie finished her talk about the breads we ate every day, she then continued on making the cinnamon rolls.After proofing for one and a half hours, the dough has expanded to its limit and it is time do make our own cinnamon rolls! Before kneading the dough, we had to make the filling and the glaze for the cinnamon rolls. It took some time for us to finish them.  

 

Later, Ms Natalie distributed one small piece of dough to each of us. Then she told us to roll our dough into flat-rectangle shape dough. It was hard to roll the dough as it was sticky, so we had to put some flour on our hands and on the dough to make it less sticky. After some errors, i decided to use a cup to roll. Eventually, it worked! My idea was a success. Later, Ms. Natalie spread the filling and glaze that we made into the cinnamon rolls. Then, I put some toppings like raisins, chocolate chip, colorful sprinkles and chocolate sprinkles on my cinnamon roll. Next, I slowly roll the dough up and then cut it into two pieces. After that, Ms Natalie told us to put over cinnamon rolls into the oven pan. Before baking, Ms Natalie spread some oil on the cinnamon rolls then she close the cover of the oven and let it bake.

 

 After baking for an hour, the cinnamon rolls were finally done! I was so excited to taste my own cinnamon roll that I made, as the cinnamon smell filled the entire place. When it was my turn to take my cinnamon rolls, I was shocked as they were very beautiful because of the sprinkles made them colorful. Before I ate my cinnamon rolls, Ms. Natalie came to me and told me that my cinnamon roll looks very good and congratulate me. When I bit the cinnamon roll, I was crying because it was too delicious. I had never had a dish that was so delicious.

 

 

 

Lastly, I would like to thank Ms Natalie who had spent so much time to prepare the ingredients and taught us how to make this delicious cinnamon rolls. I really wished that I could share this delicious cinnamon rolls recipe with my friends and relatives.