QUIZ ... QUESTION

Quiz: A tree top is 45 degrees from where you are standing. You are standing 40m away from its trunk. How tall is the tree?  

SAY NO TO FIGHTS

SAY NO TO SCHOOL FIGHTS … (Posted this in PLS Facebbok page.)

The media reported yesterday about the fight between two boys schools in Port Moresby.

Later in the evening, Minister James Marape warned students that if students are found to be involved in fights, the school management and board would expel them.

PLS friends in schools must refrain from taking part in fights. Fights and all forms of violence are bad. In the process of students fighting innocent students may be hurt.

I urge all PLS friends who are in school to stay away from all activities that may incite violence. More importantly stay away from students who are involved in all sorts of bad activities – drinking, smoking, cult, etc.    

Some of those people who are the main instigators are not worried about their future – or yours. All they want is to have a good time, and have their own way. They do not really care about anybody.

It is also likely that when fights are investigated, they might find that it all started from some senseless debate about nothing big.

Stay away from fights.

APOLOGIES

APOLOGIES ... I have not been blogging recently because my system has a problem. I will return as soon as I can and post interesting stuff soon.
Merci.

CLOCKING OFF FOR THE WEEK ...

CLOCKING OFF FOR THE WEEK. 

I will be clocking off for the weekend. I wish you all the best.   

Try to stay clear of unnecessary debates and arguments. For others, do speak up if you see something is wrong. But do not break a vase, glass or pot – and do not kick the dog. You know, violence is bad. 

Until Sunday pm, au revoir. Bon week-end.

TWO WEEKS IN NOUMÉA: MEETING OTHER PEOPLE

Photo: The traditional vessels stand out in Port Moselle Marina, Nouméa.

vendredi, août 10, 2012 (Friday, August 10)

Ma mére d’accuieil wants us (Danny and me) to write a card for a friend of hers in USA.

I said: “Fine. Write it in French and we (Danny and I) can translate to English. We can work together to do that.”

I moved to the other class today, one level below the one that I was put in at the start of the week.

Sadly, my new tutor Justine is leaving this weekend for France because her father was sick.

Another student, Florence, will be leaving for France in four weeks.

During the break, I also spoke with another man named Ross.

Ross told me he was from Auckland and worked for in the software industry since the 1960s.

I told him that yesterday (Thursday), I was at the jetty and stepped onto the traditional Maori canoes that were bound for Auckland.

I said the sailors (Maori and other Pacific Islanders) were helpful and allowed me on board one of the canoes where I took some photos and asked them some questions.

I told him they were sailing to Auckland from here. They were in Solomon Islands in July for the Pacific Festival of Arts.

He was interested in what I said.

I later gave him my business card and he wrote down his email address for me.

(We are still in contact. A few weeks later he passed through Paris to go to Brussels and told me how his friends were doing over there.)

After class I walked across the road from CREIPAC to the University of New Caledonia. I later learned that the university had boarded the players from different countries that came to participate in the Pacific Games last year.

WORKER TIP: MAKING THE SWITCH IN CAREERS

A BRICKLAYER BECOMES A MEDICAL DOCTOR …

Some of you in this group are workers. It is possible that you may want to make a switch in careers later. Some may want to do so because what they are doing now is not what they really wanted to do.

Switches are practical when you are young, single and can afford further training – as in going back to school for a year or more.

If you want to make a switch, try to learn something else while you are working where you are now.

There are books and sites on the internet that can help you learn many skills while you wait to make the switch.

When I was doing first year in uni, there was a young man (who was from the same area as me) who would turn up in our dorm in the nights to do his studies and complete his assignments.

He would be dusty all over when he came around with his small bag because during the days he worked as a bricklayer with a construction company.

You see, straight after Grade 10 he went to a technical college and learned the trade.

But there was this desire burning in him to learn more and become a professional in another field.

That was the reason why he worked during the day and studied in the nights.

A few years later, after completing his matriculation studies with UPNG, he came on to study Science.

After the first year, he decided to study Medicine – not Geology or Physics.

When I was in the field teaching for more than six years, I read in the newspaper that the bricklayer had graduated and – at the age of 30 - was now to work as a medical doctor.

A few years later I heard that the man went to US for more studies.

His story is one of many that show that if you really want something enough to sacrifice, you can have it.

STUDENT INFO: HOW DO I BECOME A PILOT IN PNG?

HOW DO I BECOME A PILOT IN PNG? 

A student asked a question like this in another page and this was the reply given by someone who is now flying planes. I got permission from him (Karol Kutan) to post this here.

Hellow. The only avenues that would be available, besides doing it the long way via self sponsorship, would be through the Air Niugini Pilot Cadet Scheme, the PNGDF and the Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF).

Air Niugini's requirements include: A minimum of Grade 12 education with Bs in English, Maths A and Physics. The PNG Defence Force and MAF, I believe, would have similar requirements.

It is also a good idea to have a plan B if things do not fall into place in time.

I was in university when I applied and did not make it through the Air Niugini Cadet scheme the first time. But I never gave up.

By then I had met and spoken to other pilots about getting into aviation and they were all very encouraging.

Bro, your post reminded me of myself and, as a first timer in this page/group, I felt that I have to say something here.

It's all about being committed, hard work, and having the passion.

Bro, back in 2008 I had finished my uni education and whilst my other school mates were landing jobs in the mining and telecommunications industries (no offence) and getting paid, I was learning how to fix aeroplanes with the PNGDF just for work experience.

The Senior Engineering Officer there said to me: "Son, you will have to understand that we're not gonna pay you for that."

I was happy with that. For me, it was the passion I had for aviation. Just to get near an aeroplane and to talk aviation with the engineers and the pilots and learn from them was education.

By then I was leaning towards becoming an aircraft engineer due to my uni degree as well as the interest in aircraft engineering that I had picked up.

I was about to leave my flying dream until one fine Friday afternoon when a PNGDF pilot asked if I wanted to go on a flight with him.

And that flight, (thank you Major) reignited my flying dream. When the Air Niugini ad for Cadet Pilots was out in the papers, one of the army engineers pulled me aside and said: “Son, go for it."

So I did and the rest, as they say, is history. Bro, you have what it takes. Believe in yourself.

Now to say that a pilot is just one and a half years for a certificate is just nothing (as mentioned by someone else in the group) is an insult to us both commercial and military pilots.

It takes hardwork, courage, dedication, commitment and passion to go to flying school and sit for up to fifteen or so exams and to pass them all as well as passing the actual flight test.

And even though we pass out as commercial and military pilots, training is ongoing throughout our career to get it right so that politicians, teachers, engineers can go from point A to B and C in order to move PNG forward.

Even in medevacs, search and rescue and border patrol, pilots (as well as their support crew) are valuable.

Oh and bro, don't forget the good Lord in all your plans.