Jas the scientist

Yesterday I went to the Centre for Innovative Bioscience Education in Warsaw. I joined a group of  Polish homeschoolers for a class about DNA.

There were 20 kids from 3rd to 6th grade. We had the lesson in a real lab and had to wear lab coats.
First we learned a bit of theory about DNA and later we were doing an experiment.
You can also try to make it yourself, here is how:

• Put half of a kiwi into a cup.

• Add salty water (the kiwi cells will get weaker).
• Add detergent (it helps to break down the fat in the kiwi cells).
• Stir everything well, but try not to make too many bubbles.

• Put the cup with kiwi, water and detergent into a bowl of boiling water (it will speed up the process).

• After few minutes blend everything up.
• Pour the mixture slowly through a coffee filter and funnel into a larger cup.

• The solution that drips through will have kiwi DNA in it. Pour this solution  into a small tube.

• Carefully add very strong colored alcohol to it. DO NOT MIX IT!

• You will see a white stripe (like a cloud) in the alcohol - this is the kiwi DNA!

It was a really fun class. Much better than the ones in Taiwan.

Jas the carpenter!

After a week of sleeping on a very squeaky bed in our house in Poland we decided to buy a new bed from IKEA.  (The old sofa bed came with the house a few years ago and we've never changed it.)
On Wednesday my Mom and I drove to a huge IKEA and bought two beds and a sofa bed. On Thursday they delivered everything to our house and we started the construction.

Opening the boxes.

Adding wheels to the roll out bed.

Building the bottom of the sofa bed.

Using an electric screwdriver.

The sofa bed I build - really comfy!

The bed (with another roll-out bed underneath)
in the small room.

Now we are ready for Zozo to come! She is coming tomorrow!!!!

I am in Poland !

Last Sunday I arrived in Poland. It was a VERY long flight - it took us over 24 hours door to door!
We first flew Hong Kong where we waited for 3h for our flight to Zurich. And then in Zurich we had less than one hour to change.
In Warsaw Babcia, Dziadek and Ciocia Basia waited for us at the airport.

In less than two weeks Zozo will also come to Poland and later my Dad will join us too. This year we will spend Christmas Eve in Poland (on the X'mas Day we have to fly back to Taiwan). I wish it would be a white Christmas! Right now it's only cold and a bit wet, no sign of snow :-(

Babcia and Dziadzia have a new dog, his name is Lutek - just like my guinea pig (R.I.P.). They got the dog from a shelter. I take him for long walks. He likes to play with a stick and his reward is bread - strange dog - likes bread and carrots :-)
I will write more in the next few days. 

My 11th birthday

My 11th birthday was yesterday! There were 23 people. We invited my Polish-Taiwanese and Polish friends. One girl, Wiki, came to our house for the first time. One of my friends, Lukasz (and his sister, Natalia) have just come back to Taiwan after 2 years in Australia.
There were 13 kids altogether (5 girls and 8 boys).
In the beginning the boys played baseball outside and the girls took Inu out for a walk. Later we played Monopoly and Minecraft on Xbox! I have no idea what the girls were doing in my sister's room.
This year I got some really cool presents, just take a look:

A Duster skateboard!!!
Just what I wanted!
And a cool t-shirt.

I finally got them! Yes!

A real boomerang, a boomerang magnet and pencils
straight from Australia.

A book, and a calculator
(finally I don't need to borrow one from my sister).

Everything is from Ironman 3!!

Birthday cake and me on the skateboard! ;-)

Making a wish.

Sunday with a camera II

Today after church we went for lunch with Ama, Agong, 2 aunts and Ciocia Ela from Poland. It was a Japanese restaurant, so I ate a pork cutlet.
After we got back home (without Zosia, who went out with friends) we took Inu for a walk. Mama reminded me that it's been a long time since I've posted anything here. She told me that I could take some photos with her camera and write about them. So here is my photo-blog from our Sunday walk:

The fruits on top are so called star fruits,
on the bottom is papaya and it's flower.

Last signs of summer.

Wonder what butterfly this caterpillar will turn into.

A bit of art.

Naughty!

Take a look at my post from March to see how fast these houses have been built.

 

My School Day

Take a look at the photos to see what I've been up to today:

Writing biology in Polish

In biology I learned about the living organisms and non-living things, what are the characteristics of the living organisms.

These are my books for Chinese,
history and Polish word puzzles.

In Chinese I practiced writing some characters, in history I learned about World War I.
I also solved some word puzzles in Polish.

Here I am learning about English antonyms.

 Before lunch I also had math, but my Mom forgot to take a picture of me doing math.

After lunch my Mom, Ania and I went for a walk with our dog (I also took Inu out for a walk in the morning).

I love practicing playing piano, I do it every day.

 I should have played on saxophone today, but I forgot and when I remembered it was too late.

I also had time on computer today.

 I played my favorite game, Jump Start, and done some math on Khan Academy. 

The dinner I made!

Only Mom, Ania and I are at home tonight and I offered to make dinner for us. I made fried rice with ham and veggies. It was yummy.

After dinner I played a bit with Ania, we built with Duplo and I also watched a bit TV - my favorite program about war and weapons on National Discovery channel.

My sister is a model !!!!!!!!!!!!

For one month in summer my sis，Zozo, was taking part in a modeling competition organised by one of the largest modeling agencies in Taiwan, Eelin.
She was very busy - she was waking up at 6:00 and sometimes coming back home at 21:00.
At the final competition she won the first place and and she won a car! Subaru XV, a orange one. And also a contract with Kissme cosmetics company and of course with Eelin!
Please go to Facebook and become her fan! You can also copy and paste 陳明秀 on Google and you will get all the news about her.
You can also go to her YouTube channel or her other YouTube channel or her flickr to see the photos she takes and films she makes.

Isn't my sister cool?!

My summer camps

As you can see I am not writing here very often. It's summer and I am very busy, so I don't have much time to sit in front of the computer.

Last time I mentioned about the basketball camp which took place a month ago. That day camp was really cool! I learned the basics of playing basketball and many rules and regulations of the game. Our coaches were from the Taiwanese basketball teams.
My two friends, Ben and John, also participated in the camp. One day after the camp I went with their family to the swimming pool. On the last day of the camp there was a big game, unfortunately Ben and John were on a different team and my team lost ...
In our community there is a basketball court, but it's quite far from our house and besides it is too hot to play outdoors in summer. I am waiting for fall when it gets cooler and then I can go play basketball with my Mom! (She used to play basketball in high school.)

Last week I went for another camp, at Juming Sculpture Museum 朱銘美術館. That was second time I went for a summer camp organised by that museum. Zosia went there 4 times! Next year I hope I can go again. If you will be visiting Taiwan you have to go to that museum - it's super-duper cool and interesting.
This year I met two boys that were at the camp with me two years ago. We were BFs at this camp.
The camp was 5 days long. Most of the time we were preparing for the big presentation on the last day. Each group of 6-7 kids had to prepare different activities. My group made activities that involved the sense of touch. We worked with clay and other materials. Take a look at the photos from the last day:

My BFs

My group's activity area. We made everything by ourselves.

I was asking people to come to our station.

Tata playing one of our games.

Tata playing another game.

Sasa teacher and all the kids in my group.

 I still have one more camp to go to this summer. I will go to Hualian to learn about A-mei tribe 阿美族.

Ania 來我們家

禮拜二很忙，爸爸媽媽和我坐了一整天的車。我們先開車把爸爸送到高雄，然後我跟媽媽先去屏東接 Ania，再回去高雄接爸爸。在回台北的路上，我們去楠西找莉莉阿姨，她送我們很多芒果。回到家已經晚上10點了。

玲玲來我們家的第二天很想屏東的家。星期四Ewa阿姨來我們家，Ania 除了看她的兒子Artur在玩水以外，也在看我吹saxophone。

星期五我們在家裡等蘇力颱風，結果颱風半夜才來。星期六早上我發現我們院子裡的搖椅被風吹走了！下午我做了cappuccino spice 餅乾給客人吃，因為下午有爸媽的朋友來我們家。因為他們也有帶狗，所以我很他們的兩個孩子去遛狗，帶他們看瀑布。今天瀑布的水特別多。

Cruising

Do you know why I haven't written for so long?

I went for a cruise with Zosia, my Taiwanese grandparents and 2 aunts.

Our cruise liner

Arrived in Keelung and ready to go on board.

Ready to board

It was my first cruise ever. We went to Japan and Korea.
I liked the time on the cruise ship, but I don't enjoy the land trips. They were boring.
On the ship I went swimming (the water in the pool was salty), walked around, watched people dancing on the deck. Zosia and I made friends with bartenders (they were from India and Philippines) and some other Taiwanese teenagers.
 

There was even a water slide!

Fun in the pool!

Look at me jumping!

One of the Indian bartenders, Kuma.

Taiwanese friends that we met on the cruise.

The first evening we watched a magic show, but we couldn't watch it to the end, because my grandparents and aunts told us we have to go for dinner.
I liked the food on the cruise very much. There was a 24h buffet restaurant an a-la-carte restaurant. I liked the Italian food (ravioli with mushrooms, spaghetti, pizza) and chicken soup with noodles the most. The ship was Italian so the Italian food the best!

All dressed up for dinner.

I forgot to write that the ship was called "Costa Atlantica".
I wish that one day I can go on a cruise again or maybe be a bartender on a cruise...

Next I will need to write about the basketball camp I had last week...