Choosing VCE Subjects and Thinking About A Career

After work experience and with subject selection happening over the last few weeks, I have been thinking about careers I would like to pursue. Most of the time my parents enforce that I do something I enjoy so I picked my subjects based on the ones I enjoy most.

I currently do VCE Health and Human Development units 1 & 2 which I thoroughly and I seem to be doing alright in. Doing unit 1 was hard to get used to the work load and studying for Sacs and the exam, but this semester starting unit 2 studying the Development of Childhood and Adulthood and the health status in these stages of life, I feel a lot better studying and more confident doing tests as the knowledge is starting to sink in more and more. The first outcome I did for this unit on childhood and the health status of Australian Children, I passed getting a 44/45.

I am planning on carrying on units 3 &4 for Health and Human Development next year in form 5.

Because I enjoy health so much I have decided to do units 1&2 of PE and Psychology to help my knowledge in these areas.

I am also going to continue maths with units 1&2 with Maths Methods and English as well as Media for a bit of creativity and fun.

As a career, I would like to do something in the Health Industry, even something like a kindergarten teacher because I have so far enjoyed learning about the development of early childhood. I also went to a 'try a trade day' at the University of Ballarat and went 2 different conferences about the careers of social workers, therapists or psychologists and kindergarten teachers.

As a kindergarten teacher I am very interested about the things they do there which help the young children grow and develop; for example growing plants and going for walks, learning about the world around them, learning sharing and how to interact with others. Doing lots of craft such as painting and writing stories, and letting them think and share ideas.

My Weekend

Travelling in a car often gives me a headache. Travelling to Geelong was no problem, I watched a movie and once it was over I had arrived.
We spend a few hours in the Westfield shopping centre shopping for clothes, books and other things. My sister bought more stuff for her deb such as her deb partners present, strapless bras for her dress and mum bought her a nice necklace and earrings to wear on the night.  I bought a Miranda Kerr book and I also bought a new dress, a pair of pants and 3 tops and stationary and decoration from my room from Typo. There was a lot of sales in the shopping centre. I had pumpkin and beetroot salad for lunch.

We stayed in a small town outside of Geelong called Portarlington. We went to the pub for dinner. I had salt and pepper squid and it was beautiful. The service at the pub was really good and I really enjoyed my meal.

Waking up at 6am on a Sunday isn't always fun on a Sunday morning. We all got up had showers, breakfast, put on our leotards, braided our hair, added some hairspray and got ready for a big day. Bella is 18 and also on her P's so she drove herself and Bec back into Geelong to pick up our coach and drive out to Grovedale to the competition. Their session started at 8am!

Mum and I drove to Grovedale and arrived at 8:30 and arrived as the girls had almost finished warming up. The girls are competing level 10 which is the hardest level in the state. A lot of the girls who train in city gyms tend to train more hours and have various coaches, including retired national level gymnasts as coaches which would be an advantage. They are all very good at gymnastics and I personally love watching level 10 as a level 8. It gives you inspiration and ideas.

This competition in Geelong is a Judges Invitational, where the judges don't just score routines but also right down what you did right and wrong; like a report card and you take it back to training and improve the things you need to making better routines and success. I find it very helpful to get another point of view, other than what my coach has told me. It's good for blind spots for the things you are not aware of, for example if you have a habit of bending your legs, or not getting enough height in your tumbles on floor, or having flexed toes on bars or even piking your vaults. They right down what they would like to see you improve next time you compete. This is the only competition that does this and only happens once a year.

Also a helpful thing our gym has recently gotten is an iPad which has an app on it called Coaches Eye. What happens is our coach or another gymnast/person videos a routine on the app and you can go back with your coach and watch it, in normal speed or slow motion, you can even pause it. It gives you feedback and you are able to see what you are doing right and wrong. I find it helpful for knowing where I go wrong on bars, how much I do good or bad and what I need to focus on and improvement.

Our level 10's did well and Bella placed 6th on floor. After their session we went to a shopping centre and got Nando's for lunch. I had a classic pita which was mild, and it was delicious.

Mum had to take Bec home for deb practice so I had to compete without them watching. I had an alright day, my floor routine was the best I did all day, usually beam is my best but I fell off. A girl dislocated her knee on floor so there was a little bit of waiting around, and after the ambulance wheeled her out in a bed everyone clapped for appreciation and respect. The girl was very brave and you wouldn't have known there was anything happening unless you looked over on the floor and saw what was going on; she didn't scream like when a girl dislocated her elbow at our gym during training which was frightening, so I think she went well.

Bella drove me back to Ararat. I had vanilla slice on the way back, we both sang and talked and had a bit of fun. I saw what I thought was a dog and said aloud "wow, that's a big dog!" Sadly it ended up a goat. Bella struggled to laugh because she was losing her voice due to having a cold. It was a nice trip home.

Mum met us at McDonald's in Ararat with Bec and we had Macca's for dinner.

Marking Time - Part 4 - Characters

The character that mainly interested me was Randa, because of everything she had gone through, she still had hope in her heart. She saw her own mother be murdered and she fled her country all with distress and horror, she got very lucky to be able to live in Australia. She knew English which was very helpful for her to be able to communicate even if it was a little bit off. She had to learn the new culture in Australia, and how people don't often take everything so seriously.

She changed quite a bit throughout the film, such as when she took off her scarf to fit in and have some sense of belonging. She often seemed very confused and lost, but in the end before she found out she had to go back, she found some sort of belonging with Hal, his family and a few of his friends. Something she would have wanted to feel would to be accepted and comfortable. Although she wouldn't have had a proper education in Afghanistan, she was able to pass her VCE exams in Australia.

I think Randa enjoyed herself in Australia, and learnt some new lessons which may help her throughout life.

Marking Time - Part 3 - Country Town

Living in a country town

I enjoy living where I do because it isn't as busy, it's more local and there is a lot more wildlife and nature and grass here. But living in a city or larger town would be beneficial because you wouldn't have to drive everywhere, access to public transport (trams in Melbourne), lots of shopping, better facilities, different culture and restaurants, more to do such as ice-skating, movies, shopping in malls, eating, museums, performances and other events you wouldn't find in smaller towns like Ararat.

Festival

I would organise a festival for 'fun'. What makes people happy? Things like colours, balloons, flowers, lollies and chocolate, fruit, rides, roller coasters, animals, teddy bears and a nice sunny day.
If I was to help start a new festival it would be one of your basic festivals with fairy-floss and show bags. It would be a bigger and better version than the Ararat show and more like the Melbourne show. There would be rides and people could eat sugar, it would be set in mid-spring and the atmosphere would be happy. You would probably walk in and there would be balloons floating above heads and flowers everywhere, it would be warm and sunny and colourful. I think warmer weather brings out the happiness in people.

 

Marking Time - Part 2 - Cultural Differnce & Turning Points

Why were the Afghan people in Brackley referred to as 'boaties'?

I believe the term 'boaties' in this sense is a derogating term. The people in Brackley assumed these people came by boat, they put these people in a category as 'different', the thought of these people to not have the same quality to be respected. Australians didn't see refugees as people, just where they had come from, what they looked like, their culture and religion.

Why did the boys steal Randa's scarf?

They treated this as a joke, it probably wasn't meant effect Randa the way it did. It showed that Randa is different from others at her school and they didn't respect that. The boys didn't understand what her scarf means to her and what it means to her culture, they treated it as a joke, a way of showing off with their friends, it is a general part of Australia culture, to not take things seriously. I think it really effected Randa and upset her and probably made Randa think lower of the people of Brackley.

The returning of Randa's scarf

After the boys had stole Randa's scarf Hal and his friends got it back and Hal used his own time to go the the high school and give it to Randa himself. This showed kindness, and respect and changed the way Randa thought of all the people of Brackley. This scene could have made Randa more aware of Hal.

Significant scenes

Other scenes that really made this mini series change, were scenes such as when Randa's house was on fire and the scene where Hal bought the car Randa 'liked'.

Randa's house on fire

In this scene Randa's house was on fire and what made it significant was when Bullet took responsibility and action and called Hal and made him aware. Bullet acts like a carefree person who doesn't care too much about anything at all but this showed he looked beyond where Randa was from and saw her as a person, for what she really was. It also could have been because Randa is with Hal and Hal is friends with him, but the writer chose Bullet for this action to promote 'change'.

Hal's new car

In this scene Hal saw Randa and some girls looking at a small Mazda and at this point Hal was aware of his feelings for Randa. He bought the car. In this scene showed that people are willing to do anything to get the people they want and change for the people they want.

Marking Time - Part One - Marking Time

How things changed over time.

During this mini series lots of things changed over time. The way people thought of others, peoples attitude, the changes within people, and the changes in the way people treated each other. 

I think this mini series was called "Marking Time" because of the issues and events that occurred during this times. Issues like refugees and the way people treated them by calling them "boaties" and giving them disrespect for their lifestyle and religion in public and the workforce, when Bullet showed disrespect to the Afghanistan people at his work as a trade worker, when the boys stole Randa's scarf, the disrespect the boys showed the Afghans in the streets of Brackley and the unfairness the locals of Brackley gave these people about what they did, where they lived and what they did. I think after the September 11 attacks in America during episode 3, this behaviour and disrespect got a lot worse and people began to hate the Afghans because of what the terrorists from their country or similar countries did. The people of Brackley and people all over Australia thought these people were all the same, all terrorists. They thought another war would break out. Things went from bad to worse over time. These Afghan people were sent away by the Australian government. 

This was a big issue during 2001 so I believe it was called "Marking Time" because of the 'mark' in time when these issues occurred.

A Letter From Randa - Marking Time

Dear Hal,

I have left Australia and I am now in Pakistan. Life is very hard now. I am with my father once again. It has been a tough few weeks and I haven't had a lot of sleep. We are living with lots of other people from lots of places such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, China, Iran and Iraq. All these people I am living with have been sent away from Australia just like I was. There are lots of children and it is very noisy and there isn't alot of food. 
My father is trying to find work. He looks very sick. It is very dry here and I miss the people of Brackley. This place isn't as clean as Australia. The culture in Australia is very different, but I enjoyed my time although the Australian government only helped my family until things changed. I think Australia was wrong about people like myself and my father. 

I miss you Hal, you were very nice to me and you helped me a lot. Your father was very kind. The people in your town started to build respect for me and my father but then the attacks in America happened and the world changed forever. 

Will I ever see you again?

From Randa

Work Experience- St. John of God Hospital Ballarat

Travelling to Ballarat by train each day was one big step for the start of work experience, having to wake up early and be there on time and not miss the train! It was a lot of fun at first but as the week went by I got tired.

I walked each day from the station to the hospital which was about 5 blocks and at the end of each day I would meet with Caitlin at Central Square where she was working at Myers and finished at 5:30pm.

At 5:55pm we would both walk to the station and catch a bus back home.

Arriving in the hospital was a little strange since I hadn't ever had to be in one. I arrived early and waited on the couches for the supervisor. Inside the hospital was warm and comforting and everyone was nice.

Once the supervisor had met up I realised that there was 5 other students doing work experience in the hospital as well. 2 of them were doing hospitality work in the staff cafeteria and 4 of us were doing nursing in separate wards.

Each morning break we would sit with the nurses from our ward and listen to discussions about various things. At lunch break the nurses only had 30 minutes and work experience students got 1 hour so us work experience students world sit with each other, usually the nurses would let us take longer than we needed so it was quite a breezy week with loads of freedom.

Working in my ward which was 2 East meaning it was on the second floor on the east side, it was quite an amazing week even though I mostly did filing and observing, all of the nurses were nice and open, they were all asking questions about where I was from and why I chose nursing, they also asked if I wanted to be a nurse!

In 2 East it was the wound ward where they were a lot of patients with wounds and patients which had had knee replacements and hip replacements. There were Ward Clerks, Nurses, and a Physio and the occasional doctor of surgeon walking through the ward. There were also university students on placement which I often talked to! The patients were also very talkative!

I helped out with a lot of different nurses, I observed dressings of wounds, needles and I helped with observations such as, blood pressure and blood oxygen levels and I got to test patients temperature through their ears. I also got to make patients beds in the mornings after they had gotten up for breakfast and showers.

The food at the cafeteria was amazing, they cooked scones and muffins for morning tea and you could have hot drinks such as coffee, Milo or tea. At lunch the hot foods were vegetables, lasagna, baked potatoes with sour cream, cheese and coleslaw, roast meats, pasta, pies and pasties! They also had sandwiches, rolls, salad, fruit salad and yogurt! It was great food, plus work experience students got as much as they wanted for free!

During the week I learned a lot and got over my fear of needles!