About my break

During the holiday I went to Rotorua with my family and friends. However the weather sucked: windy, cold and rainy. We hired a big bus which had enough space for every one of us but what happened was, we nearly had an accident because of fog. My two bothers who drove to Rotorua drove very carefully although it took too long to get there. After we arrived because of the smell of the lake we regret going there but later on we got used to it. The five days with our group of 26 people were a lot of fun. Especially, when we swam in the hot spot, had meals and played together. It was a really enjoyable time that we had at Rotorua. When I remember that, I wouldn't imagine that beautiful time would come again.

Summary of the book

This book is written by Buchi Emecheta who is one of Nigeria's great literary talents, has been a librarian and a community worker and now divides her time between University teaching in London and Nigeria. The gist idea of this book is about social divisions and about two young people who fall in love, although the beliefs of their people will not allow them to marry eachother. There is a lady called Aku-nna and she has a younger brother. Their father died when they were young, and they have no one to look after them. However they were welcomed by their uncle because of Aku-nna's bride price ( the money that her future husband will pay for her). In her new, strange home one man was kind to her and taught her to become a woman. Soon they were in love,however everyone says he was not a suitable husband for her. The more the world tries to separate them, the more they were drawn together until, finally something has to break which was death of her.

Budgeting & Finance

The lecture was presented by Annette Pitavao (from student funding centre or student services). It was very enjoyable, useful and clear. She gave us advice on managing our money and told us about two key financial institutions (Study Link and Work and Income) which could help us while we are on our studies.

She also mentioned all students are welcome to fill scholarship which is available on line however it is closed now until 1/03/2008. She told us in order to fill the form on line first we need to go http://www.unitec.ac.nz/ then the Quad after that just click on the scholarship.

Everybody needs to create their own budget to manage their income and expenses. For instance, if our income is $150 a week, we should look at what we need to spend for (food, rent, fares, petrol, power, phone and insurance) so we also as the students need to have this plan.

About Me

My name is Aman Halango and I originally come from Ethiopia which is a part of east Africa. I was born in Oromia which is in central Ethiopia. In my country the weather never changes. I have been in New Zealand for about one year and nine months. I like New Zealand very much because I normally like green and peaceful places. I have got four brothers and four sisters. Three of them are married and have got children, two of them are in my country and seven of us are here in New Zealand with our parents. I have dreams to achieve in my life journey which are short term goals and long term goals.

My short term goals are to complete my Diploma in English (Advanced) course, to study Bachelor of Nursing and then to become a Registered Nurse. The reason why I want to become a nurse is that I naturally like helping people and dealing with medical stuff. For example, I am currently working at Aranui Hospital and Rest Home LTD as a nurse aid. I really love spending time with elderly people and participating in the free medical course which is available it. That is very useful course and I am enjoying it.My long term goal is to work as a journalist because I want to help my people with my knowledge. I’m keen to have speed reading, writing and speaking skills and have a good memory. In addition I would like to translate foreign languages to my language. For example, English news to Amharic news or Swahili news to Afaan Oromo news etc. In my country many books still haven’t been translated from English language to Afaan Oromo (my mother tongue) therefore the new generation can’t understand what’s happening around them. Not only this but they can’t get sufficient news immediately. For this reason and others although it’s not my field, I have decided to become a journalist in the future.