Chocolate Chiffon Pie

Sonna´s Chocolate Chiffon Pie

For the base:
125g chocolate-coated biscuits ( e.g. chocolate thins), crushed
50g butter, melted

For the filling:
25g dark cooking chocolate
125g packet marshmallows
1/2 cup full milk
250ml cream, whipped
grated chocolate, for sprinkling

1. Grease an 18cm spring-form tin.
2. To make the base, combine the biscuits and butter and press the mixture into the base of the tin.
3. Refrigerate
4. To make the filling, melt the chocolate in a pot over hot water.
5. Gently fold in the marshmallows and add the milk.
6. Blend with a wooden spoon cooking over a low heat until the marshmallows are half melted.
7. Remove from the heat and continue to fold until the mixture is smooth and spongy.
8. Leave to cool.
9. Fold in the whipped cream and pour the mixture over the base.
10.Refrigerate.
11.Just before serving sprinkle with grated chocolate.

Sagrada Familia

Sagrada Familia

The huge monument towers into the sky of Barcelona in Spain. The Sagrada Familia is so spectacular even in its unfinished state. The exterior of the Sagrada Familia is carved with detailed patterns. In 1891 Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi took over as official architect of the Sagrada Familia and made the project as a personal obsession. He had been working on the project for 15 years when he died in a trolley accident on June 10th 1926. The cathedral was left unfinished. Despite controversy over whether the cathedral should remain in its uncompleted form as a monument to the architect but construction began in 1979, closely following Gaudi's original plan. The Sagrada Familia is not expected to be finished till 2026. Construction is not supported by the government. Money from the tickets purchased by tourists is now used to pay for the work.The amount of money used last year for construction was $38,000,000. The Sagrada Familia had been started by the architect Fancisco del Villar in 1882, who had to abandon the project in 1883 and Gaudi took over. When completed the Sagrada Familia will have 18 towers. Only 8 of the 18 towers have been built. The reason why the Sagrada Familia is taking so long to build is because it relies completely on donations and ticket money.

The exterior of the Sagrada Familia.

The interior of the Sagrada Familia.

The Sagrada Familia. You can see the crane from the construction in the background.

The number grid that I saw carved on the exterior of the Sagrada Familia.

All rows, columns and squares add up to 33.

The Electric Car

In room 28 for ALJ we are learning about technology: blessing, beast or burden. We watched a movie called who killed the electric car. This is my review:

Review: Who killed the electric car?

WALT: Describe how advancements in technology occur to meet a need or to solve a problem.

1. What problems does the use of the electric car solve?

It solves the problem of digging for oil in the ground because it uses electricity. It also solves the problem of air pollution because it does not release any fumes into the atmosphere.

2. Who will benefit from the electric car?

Everyone will benefit from the electric car because it is fast and environmentally friendly. It will also decrease the risk of getting lung cancer because it doesn't pollute the air with deadly fumes.

3. What problems are caused by the electric car?

It takes 3 hours to reach full battery and it can only run 100 miles on the full battery. The accessories such as radio and heating run on the electricity and the battery drains quickly. Also you can't travel long distances like from city to city because you may run out of charge.

4. Review on Who killed the electric car?

The electric car was invented in 1996. Electric cars are environmentally friendly and easy to use. People didn't want electric cars because they were expensive and they didn't know much about them. The electric car makers were proving gas car makers wrong. The government goes against electric cars and makes a new hydrogen type of their own. The government also gave General Motors a limited time to speak in court pushing them down. Electric cars were found and were going to be crushed. People were trying to stop the last of the EV1's being crushed. 4000 people were interested in the EV1 and then it went down to 50. People took the electric cars of the road. In the summer of 2004 the last private electric car was taken of the road. General Motors took all the cars and stored them behind a building. They crushed all the EV1's and other electric cars and claimed they were going to recycle and reuse. People then wanted to buy the cars off General Motors. General Motors did not respond to the offers. Now people have never heard of the EV1 or know anyone who owns one. Consumers couldn't see the difference between electric cars and gas cars because people only looked at the price and the features when looking for a new car instead of looking for environmentally friendly cars. In the 20th century, lots of cars were made but barely any of them were electric cars.

Global Warming Podcast

In room 28 for ALJ we have been looking at causes in our world. We used a program called garageband to make podcasts on a cause in the world. My cause is Global Warming. I explored " What causes Global Warming? "Here is my podcast:

Camp

Camp Motutapu 2010 - by Sonna


On the 3rd of May, I walked into the ferry trembling with excitement about going to camp. As we got of the ferry, we started the 6.5 km walk! It was so exhausting, I can´t explain how I felt. That was the only thing, I didn´t like about camp. As soon as we arrived at the entrance sign, a sudden tingling feeling bubbled through my body.

Our first activity was sailing. We were speed sailing when suddenly AHH! we capsized. We continued speed sailing when water started lapping into our sailing boat. The boat was filling with water and within seconds it was like we were sitting in a swimming pool.The boat was getting heavy and we were sinking! Luckily JR (instructor) saved us and took us back to shore in his rescue boat. Our next activity was raft building. We built the raft out bamboo, rope and big black bottles to help us float. We took it down to the beach to test it out. We were in the water when our raft started falling apart! The raft was shaking side to side and everyone was falling off. I was sitting in the middle clinging to the bamboo. SUDDENLY, the raft tipped over and under the water I went. It was time for night time activities. Our night time activity was hall games. We played a game called clothes basket. Matt would yell out items of clothing and we had to bring them to him before the others. It was a tiring day especially from the walk and I was really sleepy.

The next day, I woke up finding out that we had rock climbing. I headed to the rock wall with my group. I buckled my harness, strapped my helmet and was ready to go. I got about halfway on the slab when my muscles were aching and I couldn´t go on any further. I pushed myself to the limit and managed to reach the top of the wall and slap the hi-5. I tried the vertical 1 but only got halfway. Next we had the confidence course. They set up all these activities for us to work as a team. We had this activity were we had to get to the top of the hill. We cant touch the he ground but we could use thse three large discs. Our team got up to the top of the hill and at the end we slid down the discs on the hill. I quickly went back to my dorm to get changed in to my wetsuit for kayaking. We went deep into the water and played a game called water soccer. We played blue kayaks vs. yellow kayaks. There is a tiny soccer all and we had to pass it to five people in our team without the other team getting it and hitting it on Calib´s (instructor) kayak. My arms were exhausted from all the paddling. To end the day we had high ropes. On the cargo net it was me vs. Karen. The istructor was saying Musle vs. Height. Who will win. Up I went, my muscle aching but I kept going on. It was like I was training for the army. Muscle wins! I win! next I did the beam. It was scary. I don´t know why it is scary because I am not afraid of heights. It´s just that you think you might fall even though your attached to the rope. For the night we played spotlight. Crystal and I were hiding in the trees when we say someone coming. He shined his torch all around us. He was about to go when he quickly just shined the torch at us. ¨Well hello there, Sonna¨, said Mr Lawrence. Mr Lawrence was my camp group adult last year. ¨Nice camoflage¨he said as I was wearing all black. I went back to the dorm and had a good nights sleep.

Our first activity for day three was the gunwalk. You see the camp used to be a military camp. We went to the camp museum and watched a video on the history of Motutapu. Then we went on a walk up a very steep hill to see the war tunnels. Inside the tunnels it was pitch black. Mr Glogoski saw a whitetail spider! Next we had archery. Now it doesn´t look as easy as you think. The string is very strong so it is hard to pull back the arrow. Also the bow is really heavy and I keep shaking it and I don´t aim properly. Troll (instructor) shot a bullseye! Next we had survivor challenge. I heard that it was the best activity. I did not want to get too muddy but i had no choice when I got to the tyres. The tyres were to far away from each other and I could not reach and when Mr Glogoski got on it went BOING! I just jumped of the tyres and into the mud! When we were going through the tyre tunnel. Mr Glogoski shouted out ¨Girls, DONT LOOK!¨. I didn´t know what was going on. Dion hopped off and soon I saw. Jason´s pants had fallen off! Eww! Well anyways next we had orienteering. They gave us clues and we had to find markers with symbols on them and translate them into a sentence. One clue said ¨ Go to the sign that says ¨Don´t drink water and No Swimming. Why do people always end up here? The marker is hidden at the top of the reason¨. I thought about it for a while. Why do people end up in the pond? From the flying fox! We ran up the hill and found the marker. We came 2nd. The sentence was YOUR FINISHED. Our night activity was the burmatrail. We walk in to the trees at dark and follow a rope. Parents and teachers scare you in ghost masks. They blow whistles and squirt mustard and water at us. It was awesome. I loved it!


Day 4 is eletives day.My first elective was high ropes. We did the flying kiwi. The flying kiwi is like a swing. You are on a rope swinging in the air. It was amazing. I could see the whole camp. Although I felt a bit sick from all that swinging. My second elective was kayaking. We played a game called evolution. First we all start off as eggs. Then we play paper scissor rock with another egg. If you win you become a fish. Then you play against a fish and so on. First you go from egg to fish to penguin to shark to orca to human and the to champion. To become the actual champion you have to stand up in your kayak and say I am the champion without capsizing! I nearly capsized near the rocks but luckily Mr Paki pulled me out. The waves were huge. My third elective was beach bum. Crystal, Connor, me and another boy made a sand turtle. It looked brilliant. For the night we had the camp concert. The parents acts were so funny. Mr Glogoski did a ventriliqusim act and the puppet was Mr Peat in a mask. It was so funny.

Today is day 5. It is a sad day because we are leaving. There are no activities today. Unless you count cleaning as activity. The day was going out okay until I found out that we were cleaning toilets! Now we would start the 6.5 km walk back to Rangitoto and on the ferry. The walk didn´t seem so long this time. The week went past so fast. Time sure flies when you are enjoying yourself. Anyways, I liked camp this year. What am I saying! I liked camp this year? I loved camp this year!!!

A trip you can never imagine!

A trip you can never imagine!

Spain

Last year in November, I went to Spain for two weeks. To get to Spain, it took 30 hours! First we flew from Auckland to Hong Kong, then we flew from Hong Kong to London. After having six hours of rest time in the Air New Zealand koru lounge. From London we flew to Barcelona, Spain.

We arrived in Fira Palace, our hotel. We felt very tired because of the time difference New Zealand is twelve hours ahead of Spain.

The next day we wet to Barcelona Zoo to take a look at the animals. The day after that we went to the science museum called Cosmo Caixa. It also had an indoor tropical rainforest. On the night of my Mum's birthday, we went to the magical fountain. There was a show that happened every night at 8pm. The fountain shines with lights and water and there is music. No one is in charge of the show. It is automatic!

The next day we went to Templo Expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia. A famous monument in Barcelona. The Sagrada Familia was made by the architect Antoni Gaudi. Gaudi died in a trolley accident during the process of building the monument. 1o years later they decided to complete the Sagrada Familia closely following Gaudi's design.

The next day we flew from Barcelona to Valencia, Spain. We stayed in Palacio de Congresso in Eurostar hotel and Novetel hotel. In Valencia we visited the largest aquarium in Europe! In the aquarium we saw a really cool dolphin show.

We also went to a really nice restaurant called Pepe Pica and ate some delicious spanish food. We really enjoyed our trip to Spain. We flew from Valencia to Barcelona to London to Hong Kong then Auckland. We arrived late in the night and went straight to school the next day.

By Sonna

My Novel Podcast on Dark Horses By Heather Cato

In room 28 we used a program called garageband to create podcasts

on the novel we were reading. Here is my podcast which is on

a novel called Dark Horses byHeather Cato: