Author: thehungryrunnergirl

Alcatraz

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Alcatraz is a prison where the worst criminals were sent and lived during 1934 to 1963 which is an island located 1.5 miles offshore from San Francisco, California.

5 days ago, me and the family of (kirbyfullyloaded) toured Alcatraz island.

It only took less than 15 minutes to get there from San Francisco bay which was astonishing, because I thought it was too easy to escape! When we get to the island and looked back, it looked very close from the land.

However, most of the prisoners failed to escape when they tried to swim. The reason why was the strength of the water current and cold icy water of San Francisco bay.

When we walked inside of the building, the first thing I saw was the shower room, with the wall painted in white and green, which was very eccentric and realistic to me. It reminded me of the prison from the TV show Prison Break.

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Randoseru

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In Japan, all the kids in grade 1 to 6 have to have the same back-pack, or “ransel” in Dutch (but later it was called “Randoseru” by Japanese), to go to school. It’s our tradition. Some schools provide them for free, but most of them don’t, so parents have to get their child one. It costs about $100-150. It is made of leather, girls have red and boys have black ones.

Ransel has an interesting history. Back in the Edo period (1603-1868), trading between Japan and the Netherlands was prosperous. At that time, the bakufu (the Japanese government) provided the backpacks imported from Netherlands to the Japanese armed forces, so they called it in Dutch, “ransel,” And today, we still have this tradition.

For me, the school supplied me one, and 6 years later it all worn out; leather was peeled off and cotton inside was visible. I remember when I was in kindergarten I wanted the ransel very bad and couldn’t wait to get it!

Monterey Bay Aquarium

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Today, I went to Monterey Bay Aquarium in Monterey with kirbyfullyloaded and her family. Man, everything was so pretty. First, we saw otters playing around, through a glass window. Next we saw a penguin walking on the red carpet right in front of us! AHHHH! That was the cutest thing ever!

Then, we saw a big glass tank full of fish. There were bass, a sun fish, a hammerhead shark, dolphin fish, a sea turtle and sardines.

My favorite was the sea turtle! It was really cute!

The water there comes directly from the Monterey Bay, which is very good for the fish and other sea creatures because the water contains plankton. All the sea animals there are native to Monterey Bay and you can also see the marine life from the deck.

Isn’t that amazing?

Asian population in the U.S

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I see a lot of Asian people (well, including me) in the United States, especially in California. I wondered what percentage of the U.S. population is made up by Asian-Americans.

An Asian-American is a person who has an origin from an Asian country (either combination with additional races, or alone) ; Cambodia, China, Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Phillipines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and India.

According to the U.S census Bureau, they occupy 5.6% of the U.S population in 2010 which is 17.3 million people (3.8 million of Chinese, 3.2 million of Fillipinos, 2.8 million of Asian Indians, 1.7 million of Vietnamese, 1.6 million of Koreans, and 1.3 million of Japanese).

Now, if you take a look at by state…

Even though this picture is from 2000, according to the U.S census Bureau, California still has the highest population of Asians than any other state, which is approximately 5.6 million people.

BECAUSE, CALIFORNIA ROCKS.

Anyway, there are many Asian people in America.

Chocolate

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Mmm… Chocolate is one of my favorite sweets. Once I start eating it, I can’t help myself! I often hear that you can’t get mad having chocolate in your mouth!

In the U.S, Hershey’s, M&Ms, and Mars occupy 2/3 of the chocolate market and U.S consumes more chocolate than any other country and as you know, chocolate is popular all around the world, but not only in the U.S.

The world 5 biggest chocolate factories are…

1. Mars (U.S)
2. Cadbury(U.K)
3. Nestle(Switzerland)
4. Ferrero (Nutella) (Italy)
5. Hershey’s (U.S)

As you can see, major chocolate factories are located in Europe. I had a bite of Finnish chocolate today, “Karl Fazer” that I got from my Finnish friend Anni, it melted in my mouth and I thought that was the best chocolate I’ve ever had!

When you hear the word “chocolate”, you may instantly think that it makes you fat. However, the fact is that chocolate is very beneficial for your health. It lowers your blood pressure and is rich in antioxidants. 40g of chocolate contains about 400mg of it. Antioxidants are very good for you because they prevent protein, fat and DNA from oxidizing. If you lack antioxidants in your body, cells and DNA will be damaged by active oxygen, which makes higher the risk of getting cancer and cardiac disease.

So don’t feel guilty for having chocolate indulge yourself!

My first triathlon

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At 6:45 AM on Sunday, 4 of the members of Tri Ojai and I were at the poolside area of the Ojai Valley School getting ready for a practice triathlon. It was very cold outside; everyone was wearing warm jackets and pants. I couldn’t believe that I had to swim in the outside pool… The athletic director was laughing at me shivering with cold and being afraid of swimming in the pool. MEANIE.

Brief course description: 500 yard swim (outdoor OVS pool), 11 mile bike (into the town of Ojai and back up to campus), and 3 mile run (on Pi, which is our home cross country course, BACKWARDS).

The practice race started at 7 AM. I jumped into the pool. My body was freezing and when I started swimming I couldn’t breathe and was just desperately trying to get some air. But after I swam 50 yards, my body got used to the temperature of the water, and I felt warm again.

I got out of the pool and rushed to the transition area to start biking. My body was shivering and wobbling. I got on the bike and it was all down hill for the first 3 or 4 miles. It was a bumpy road; my hands were hurting the whole time, because I had to squeeze the break in order not to crash. The hill on the way back up was a killer, but I liked it anyways. My 11-mile bike ride was quite a journey, but I had a lot of fun.

I set my bike on the rack and started to run. I couldn’t feel my feet at all, my legs felt all weird. I ran down the hill and the worst part started when I hit the bear gate. I ran uphill for 2 miles until I hit the boy’s dorm. But it wasn’t as bad as I’d expected and I liked the feeling of running down hill afterward.


I completed triathlon in 1 hour 19 minutes and 50 seconds. I loved it so much. I think I will get myself into triathlon! I asked my dad if I could get a road bike for Christmas! I would love to bike all winter just to take a break from running and not to burn myself out.

Anyways, I had fun and it was the best way to start my Sunday!

I would like to thank my triathlon coach for letting me have this opportunity.

The End of the Cross Country Season

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Yesterday, the Ojai Valley School cross country team had the last meet, the league final, at Midland. We drove down for about 2 and a half hours.
Also participating were Thacher, Cate, Midland, Dunn, Besant Hill, Laguna Blanca and Providence Hall.

The birls’ race started at 3 and the boys’ at 3:30. We all ran our best and gave everything. The course is very flat and there were tiny hills but I wouldn’t call them hills. I didn’t really like the course because flat courses just give me constant pain and is not fun compared to hilly course.

Me and my roommate are about to run, listening to the instruction and course overview.

Intense,right?

My coach and I were talking about how I should run that course in the bus on the way to Midland. My strategy is always to stay maybe behind 4 or 5 girls and let them lead the race until the very end. It is then that my body tells me, “Now, sprint! It’s time to out run these girls.” The worst thing to do is to rush so I tell myself not to go in front of anyone!

The entire Ojai Valley School cross country team improved a lot and it’s sad that we can’t practice together anymore…

Good times…

I would just like to thank my coach (thebrownguy) for coaching me I couldn’t have won without him!

AWESOME CROSS COUNTRY SEASON!!!

IS IT TRACK SEASON YET?

The Great Barrier Reef

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Look at how pretty this is.

The Great Barrier Reef is 500,000 yeas old, located in the coral reef off the coast of Queensland which is the North Eastern part of Australia. It is the world’s largest reef system. There are more than 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands scattered over 133,000 square miles. In 1981, The Great Barrier Reef was selected as a World Heritage Site.

I have traveled to Fitzroy Island, which is one of the islands of The Great Barrie Reef, when I used to live in Australia. We had to travel by boat for two and a half hours there. It was very windy, and I remember my mom getting sick very badly. I was little so I was just sitting away from her getting confused how to help…

I snorkeled there and the corals and fishes were too pretty… The ocean was light blue, and the sun makes the ocean prettier. The corals had a lot of colors and fishes were hiding between the corals which was fun to watch.

If I get a chance to go there next time, I would definitely scuba dive. I miss Australia so bad…

The cutest animal

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My best friend and I were skyping and talking about what we would like to be if we could be reborn. My friend said she wanted to be a jellyfish because they don’t seem to have anything to be concerned about or to be stressed! I told her that I wanted to be an alpaca; because it was the cutest animal I had ever seen.

Alpacas inhabit at high altitude of 11,500 ft to 16,000ft in South America. It looks like a small llama. They have been domesticated for thousands of years. Alpacas protect themselves from intruders by making sharp, noisy high-pitched bray sound and attack smaller predators by kicking and spitting. Most of them spit at other alpacas, but sometimes they can spit at a human too.

Diet wise, they don’t eat as much as other animals do. The intake of grass and hay, including other vegetation that they eat per day, goes up to 1-2% of their body weight. They also try to chew on almost everything,even an empty bottle.

People in Peru have been using alpaca images in their art; they also use alpaca fiber to make knits. I have an alpaca sweater, and despite of its thinness, it is very comfortable and warm.

Why are they so cute?

Earthquake strikes Turkey

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An earthquake of magnitude 7.3 hit Turkey on the 23rd of October. The death toll is going up, although the initial report is that at least 217 people died.

According to CNN, rescue teams are looking for people who are missing right now. The city of Van, located on the South East near the Iranian border, is suffering the most. According to U.S Geological Survey, the earthquake struck at 1:41PM and at least 350 people were injured. People are still trapped under debris.

Turkey is one of the countries subject to frequent earthquakes. In 1999, an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.6 struck the North Western area and more than 17,000 people died.

I’m hoping the number of victim will be as few as possible.