Piggley's Adventure in Hong Kong: Day 5

Good morning everyone! Piggley here! Thanks so much for your email. I am going to add it to yesterday's post. Yes, the light show was amazing, like nothing I have ever seen before!! I was lucky not to get sunburn because Ms. O' Connell made sure that I put factor 50 suncream on every day!! Yes, I am really enjoying the food, especially our dinner last night- take a look at the lobster below!!

And now, for the big announcement, listen to the podcast myself and Ms. O' Connell made to hear about our news from last night!!


Here you can see me with my Semi Final Rosette.

Click on the player in the posts section and choose Microsoft Worldwide Forum Winners.

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Congratulations to all of the Irish and Northern Irish contingent who made history with every entry getting to the Semi Finals of the Microsoft Worldwide Innovative Teacher Forum.



Here I am with the dancing Chinese tiger



The Jumbo Floating restaurant



The first of the fourteen courses was lobster!



Here I am taking a break from all of the excitement!

Piggley's Adventure in Hong Kong: Day 4

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Hi everyone! Piggley here. Ms. O' Connell has left you a podcast message. Click on the player above and listen to 'Message from Piggley and Ms. O' Connell' to hear all about the fun we had today!


Here you can see myself and Ms. O' Connell in front of Kilvemnon's Project Stand; Flying High: Exploring Aviation


Here's Ms. O Connor from Ballyadams NS in front of her stand on mining.
Remember we saw all of the students of Balyadams NS at the 2008 Roboshow in St. Patrick's College in Drumcondra? Can you find out more about ther project on www.ballyadamns.ie and email all the children to congratulate them on winning 'Best Action/Adventure' Film at the FIS awards on Tuesday. Their film was about 'Gorgeous George' and was called 'An Adventure Underground'.
Well done Ballyadams!


This is the lightshow that takes place in hong Kong at 8 o' clock every night. Can you find out more about it for me?


Goodnight! I'm off to bed!!
See you tomorrow!
Piggley.

Email response from Kilvemnon:
Hi Ms O Connell and Piggley.

We heard that we have reached the semi finals.It is so exciting.You must be working really hard over there. We are working hard here aswell. We are having fun looking at the blog every day and the podcast was really cool. Everybody says hi and we miss you. Did ye enjoy the light show? Did Piggley get sunburn? Piggley are you enjoying the food? Piggley it might be a good idea if you dont read the chinese dishes we are e-mailing!!! We have lots of information for you...

Shark fins are used to make shark fin soup,a delicacy once prepared exclusively for the chinese emperors and nobility.Shark fin soup is still very popular in China today.It is considered being an honour to serve shark's fin to your guests.

The main religion in China is Buddhism. Other major religions are Taoism, Islam and Christianity.

The main ginseng health benefit is as a vital energy tonic for people with symptoms of weakness like fatigue,poor appetite,shortness of breath and low resistance to infections.Other health benefits include enhancement of memory and cognitive function.

These are Traditional chinese dishes:
Doufu is most popularfood in chinese society.Its main ingredients are bean curd,yunnan ham and black mushroom.
Steamed fish.They steam fish with some light soy sauce and some seasoning.Its main ingredients are snakehead,preserved lemon and spring onion.
Piggley DONT LOOK!!! Dim sum is the most famous food.It is a guangdong style snack which is served as a light meal.Its main ingredients are shrimps,pork and wheat for the pastry.

The light show looked really cool and Sarah showed us the Hong Kong tourism website and we saw more
pictures of the lights.This is what we found out.
This spectacular multimedia display,already named the "Worlds largest Permanent light and sound show" by Guinness World Records,has been further expanded to include 44 buildings on both sides of Victoria harbour.
The show creates an all-round vision of coloured lights,laser beams and searchlights performing a stunning unforgettable spectacle synchronised to music and narration that celebrates the energy,spirit and diversity of Hong Kong.
There are 5 main themes - Awakening, energy,heritage, partnership and the finale celebration. On festive days,special pyrotechnic displays launched from the middle if the harbour add extra sparkle to the show.
For the best view of A Symphony of Lights, take a harbour cruise or head to the waterfront promenades on either side of Victoria harbour. This takes palce nightly at 8pm.
We hope you enjoy all of this.
From everyone in Kilvemnon.


P.S. Ms. O' Connell says goodbye too!

Piggley's Adventure in Hong Kong: Day 3

Day 3:
Good morning everyone! It has been such an interesting day today and I have met so many new friends! I am writing this while all of you are just going to bed! Hong Kong is 8 hours ahead of Kilvemnon. What time is it in Hong Kong now?

This morning we all met our new project groups. We will be working with schools from Spain, France, Thailand and Northern Ireland on a project before Christmas. We will be asking you all to design a blog where all of the project work will be kept. I’m sure after all of your work on this one you will all have lots of ideas on how to design it when I get home.
Here you can see the teachers from our Partner schools in Spain, France and Thailand getting to know me.



We did a tour of old and new Hong Kong today. We visited a Dried Seafood Street (Des Voeux Road West) and Herbal Medicine Street (Ko Shing Street) in SheungWan. The Chinese use herbs and dreid fish as both foodstuffs and medicines.

Here you can see me looking at Ginseng. Can you find out what ginseng in used for? 5th and 6th class might email me on kilvemnon@yahoo.ie with the prices in for ginseng in euro.



This is shark fin. How and what is shark fin used for?



Next we went to Hollywood Road where we visited a Buddhist Temple called Man Mo Temple. Outside we saw this amazing building. What types of shapes can you see here?



This is me on the way in to the temple. What is the main religion in China?



This temple is a tribute to the God of Literature (Man) and the God of War (Mo). Ms. O’ Connell and I posed in front of burning incense. How is incense used in Buddhist worship? Can you see the paper in the middle of the coils? Can you guess what is written on them?




Afterwards our whole group took a photo together. Thanks to our guide Kenia who knew all about Chinese culture and medicine. Ms. O' Connell had a sore throat and she told her that the Chinese would boil parts of the star fish for two hours and then drink the soup to cure a sore throat!



Then we went for dinner. Can you name some traditional Chinese dishes? How many of you have eaten Chinese food before? What did you eat? Keep a class record of your findings so I can see when I come home.



Can you believe it? Here I am being interviewed on French television. Je m’appelle Piggley. J’habite a Kilvemnon en Irlande. (I am so lucky that Perrine taught me French last year!)



Au revoir mes amis,
A demain!!
Piggley.


PS. Thanks for your emails with all of the answers to my questiosn from yesterday. You are all so clever!!

Piggley's Adventure in Hong Kong: Day 2

Day 2:
Well, good morning everyone!
I’m so glad that you are all doing so well in Kilvemnon! Mrs. Pimm texted myself and Ms. O’ Connell to let me know all of your news!
Today was the first day of the Forum. We got up early for breakfast at 8am and met some of the other teachers in the Ballroom. Lots of the teachers had questions about my lovely uniform and especially what ‘Scoil Mhuire, Kilvemnon’ means in English. I told them that ‘Scoil’ is school, ‘Mhuire’ is Mary and Kilvemnon’ translates as Cill (Church) of Mheamnain (who was a local saint).

Today we decided to visit the Hong Museum of History. We all met in the Foyer of the hotel at 11am. Here you can see me getting ready to leave.



This is a photo of the Irish and Northern Irish contingent, before we left. Can you see what Ms. O’ Connell has in her hands? Yes, that’s right! It was raining really heavily today! Even though the temperature was 22 degrees today the rain fell from 10am till 1pm. Once it stopped everything dried up very quickly. Can you check out the weather forecast for me for tomorrow? It’s on http://www.hko.gov.hk/wxinfo/currwx/fnd.htm



We got a taxi to the Hong Kong Museum of History. (http://hk.history.museum )
It cost me 24 Hong Kong Dollars. Could someone email me and tell me how much that is in euro? Ms. O’ Connell had run out of money so I had to raid my ‘piggy bank’!!!

I was so excited being in the museum. The first exhibition was on the Natural Environment in Hong Kong 6,000 years ago. Imagine my surprise when I saw one of my ancestors there!



Who will be first to email with my ancestor’s name?

Next we saw a Prehistoric Hong Kong. There have been lots of archaeological digs in Hong Kong and archaeologists can tell that people lived here during the Neolithic period. I know the Senior Room can tell Mrs. Pimm’s class what Neo and Lithic means. Look at this, the Neolithic people carved in stone at Big Wave Bay. Isn’t it very like Newgrange in Co. Meath?



Here you can see people building a fire. (I hope pork’s not on the menu!!!)



People who lived in South China from prehistoric times were called the Nanyue people.
The people who lived there were very clever and they made lots of pottery. Here you can see a clay model of one of their houses, complete with pig sty at the back. Pigs are so important in Hong Kong and China. We are so important that last year (2007) was the ‘Year of the Pig’.
Find out what year you were born in on http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngkids/0502/



I thought you might to be interested to see this. It is a Bleriot monoplane. It was flown here in 1912. As you can see it only has one wing on each side of the fuselage. I know that you can all remember the name of an aeroplane with two wings on each side?
Read all about aviation in Hong Kong here. http://www.aircadets.org.hk/download/manual/ah_hk.html



This was a typical school in the 1960s in Hong Kong. Don’t the desks look like ours? The lids lift up on these ones and can you imagine, this classroom was outside, on the roof of a building. I think it might be a bit windy during the winter for us in Kilvemnon, wouldn’t it?!!





I was so tired when I came back to the hotel that took a little rest in my room while Ms. O’ Connell went to the evening reception. Don’t worry though, I wasn’t lonely. I rang Ferny and Dannan in the school and told them about my adventures.



I’ll talk to you all tomorrow!
Oink!!
Piggley.

Piggley's Adventure in Hong Kong

Day 1:
Hi there to everyone!!
Piggley here! Myself and Ms. O’ Connell have landed safely in Hong Kong. We flew yesterday to Heathrow Airport, outside London and met up with Tom from Microsoft and three teachers from Northern Ireland; Eileen, Ciarán and Tom. I was very hungry and we all had a bite to eat. We were flying with Virgin Atlantic and on our way to our Gate for boarding we saw a huge Boeing 747. I took a photo of it.



When we got to our gate we met Stuart and Kristen from Microsoft. We all got in for a quick photo together. Here you can see Kristen, Stuart, Tom and Eileen.



We flew in an Airbus 230. It was huge and can seat up to 238 people. We were really lucky to get a window seat so I was able to look out when we were taking off. After that it was pretty dark because we were flying through the night!! I watched ‘The Spiderwick Chronicles’ and then I went to sleep. The flight took 12 hours in total!



When we arrived in Hong Kong we were greeted by people from the hotel and brought from the airport in a black BMW car! Here you can see me saying ‘Hello’ to my new friend from the hotel.



We were checked in at the Langham Hotel, in Kowloon (www.hongkong.langhamhotels.com ). The Langham Hotel Group are a British company. Hong Kong was under British control form 1842 until 1997 when it was handed back to China. The hotel is very near to Victoria harbour and the MTR Underground train Station.



It was very warm when we arrived, about 24 degrees Celcius! I had to take off my school jumper, I was so warm and just wear my shirt!!

Our hotel is off the island of Hong Kong so were able to get a ferry across to have our dinner. This is called the Star Ferry. Our hotel is very near the Hong Kong Museum of Art, so we hope to visit it during our stay. We also hope to visit Victoria Peak. This is a mountain overlooking Hong Kong with amazing views of the city and all of it huge sky-scrapers. You get a cable car up the 552 metres to the top.



The Forum starts tomorrow with a Welcome Reception for all the teachers. I’m sure that I will meet lots of interesting teachers and I can’t wait to tell them all about our project on aviation.

We hope that everyone in Kilvemnon is keeping well and we’re sure that you are all really well behaved for Mrs. Pimm and Mrs. Brannigan. Hi to Sarah, Evita, Liz and Mrs. Hayes too!! I will try to write to you all as often as possible. Why don’t you email me on the school address; kilvemnon@yahoo.ie and let me know how your Mid-Term break went?!

Signing off for now,
Love,
Piggley.

Mrs.Brett`s Retirement Party

Photos from the night were taken by Donal O' Brien of Mullinahone Photography. If you would like a copy please contact donalobrien@iolfree.ie or call 052-53601.



Last night we threw a retirement party for Mrs.Brett.We all dropped in the food between 6:00 -6:30 so that the food would be ready for everyone when they came in. After we dropped in the food we went in the church to the mass for Mrs.Brett. It was not all fun and games you know, it was hard work. After the mass we went to the G.A.A hall up the road from the church. When we got there there was lots of people trying to find a seat. The children had to move seat because there were no seats for them to sit at. After everyone had a place to sit the food came out. All of the children got goodie bags. Then the presentations started. Then I went home when the music started. I enjoyed it it was fun. by Smiley





On Sunday the 12th of October Our principal Mrs. Brett retired. We had a party for her and it started with mass at 7:00. There was a choir and 6 servers( 4 from Kilvemnon). I was a server. All our parents and friends came. We all learned 3 new songs. They were 'Man of Calvary', 'Peace will Come' and 'I know a story.' After that we went to the sports centre. There we got something to eat. All the kids got a goodie bag. We met Marie, Sarah and others who are all past pupils. Then there was speeches and gifts. Once we left there was dancing. I really enjoyed it.
By B612.

Mrs. Teckie Brett retires

Today after 32 years of teaching, and 10 years as teaching Principal, Mrs. Teckie Brett retired from Scoil Mhuire Kilvemnon.

It was a very emotional day for both pupils and staff as we said 'Goodbye' to our Principal.



In the morning students, staff and parents made a guard of honour to walk Mrs. Brett into class. At 11am Donal O' Brien, (Mullinahone Photography) came to the school to take some photographs to mark the occasion. Fr. McGrath, Chairman of the Board of Management came to celebrate with us also.

Mrs. Brett has been a guiding light in our school since she started here in 1976. Before that she taught for one year in Mullinahone National School and three years in John of God NS in Kilkenny city.



At lunch time we had a surprise party for Mrs. Brett to thank her for all of her hard work in our school.

On Sunday, the 12th of October a Mass of Thanksgiving will be held in St. Michael's Church, Mullinahone at 7pm, followed by a reception in the Pavillion, Mullinahone, afterwards. All are invited.

Thank you Mrs. Brett for everything! We will miss you!!

Interview with TippFm Radio

Listen to the podcast of an interview Ms. O' Connell did with Tipp FM Radio Station yesterday about our Aviation Project; Flying High, Exploring Aviation.

Click on Posts link at the end of the Player and choose Interview wih TippFM to listen.


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Irish Examiner Report

This article appeared in the Irish Examiner Newspaper on Tuesday the 20th of October.

Radio Interview on Beat 102-103

Today Ms. O Connell was on the morning news on Beat 102 103 Radio Station.
Listen to her two interviews by clicking on the posts link on the bottom right of the Player and selecting Beat Radio Interview 1 and Beat Radio Interview 2.


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Visit to Kilkenny Airport

Do you remember when we visited Kilkenny Airport as guests of Vincent Vaughan?

We have made a podcast of the fun we had to remind you!!

By Lynx.



Click on the Posts Link on the bottom right corner of the Player below. Click on the Visit to Kilkenny Airport link to listen to our podcast.


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Project on Italy

This year the Senior Room will be doing a project on Italy. This is a lesson that they will be undertaking. Why not listen to our podcast? If you have any ideas why not email our students on their email on the right!

Liten to the podcast on the Colesseum by clicking on the posts link on the bottom bar and choosing Colesseum and Gladiators.


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New Junior Infants in our school

We have seven new Junior infants.This is the biggest class in our school. Four of them have brothers/sisters and one of them has a cousin in the school. They all have friends in our school.There are three girls and four boys. Their age range is four to five. We have to say a big Kilvemnon school welcome to all our Junior Infants.They are all really nice.
By B612

We have a new 3rd class in Ms. O' Connell's room. Click on the posts link at the bottom of the player to hear how they felt starting in 3rd class.


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