JUNIOR KEEPER EXPERIENCE at EDINBURGH ZOO , SCOTLAND

My junior keeper half day experience at Edinburgh zoo was definitely the highlight of my trip to Scotland and my best birthday present from mom and dad. It was scheduled for the 9 of August 2016. I was in the morning {9am-12pm} session. The maximum number per session is 2 plus the parent or adult who only gets to watch only and follow us around.

I was early,very early in fact the zoo was not even open yet.As soon as the door opened we were in and greeted by our zoo keeper Ms. Cheryl-Ann.
I was not alone, I was with another kid named Theo. He too was there for the Junior Keeper experience.

First we were briefed on the rules and regulations. We made sure we had our wellington boots and top that was okay to get dirty.We had an itinerary to follow and a long list of do and don'ts.

The first activity on the list was feeding the Pelicans -Eastern White Pelicans. They are white with pinkish legs and each one has a different colored band around one of their leg. There is a glass panel to keep us at a distance. We had a bucket of fish and we were given gloves. We each took turns throwing the fish to the pelican and each time they caught it another keeper will record it by ticking the colored band on sheet. Pelicans are always fed in the mornings Ms.Cheryl-Ann tells us.

Next on the list was cleaning the Buff Cheeked Gibbon enclosure.An interesting fact that we were told was baby gibbons when they are born are blonde and as the get older the hair will turn black and for females it will turn blonde again when they mature. Only the fur on the cheeks are golden for male and female will have a cap of black hair on their head. Gibbons are very territorial so we had to be sure the enclosure was secured and they can't get in while we changed the hay,swept the floor,cleaned the window and put in fresh cut fruits. I actually enjoyed cleaning out the enclosure.
We had to dip our boots in a special solution to be sure we don't carry in or out any germs from the enclosure and also a new pair of gloves.

Our next stop was a visit to see the three banded armadillo called Rodar, he was so cute and small and when he walks it looks like he is walking with heels as just the tips of his fore claws are touching the ground.We were able to touch it,hold it and feed it larvae. I was a bit nervous at this first but I eventually got the hang of it and enjoyed it.

After our encounter with the armadillo we went to the reptile house where we were introduced to the reptiles-SNAKES. Mom decided not to come along for this. We were able to hold a Taiwan Beauty Snake. It slithered along my arm and it was felt warm. The skin was smooth. It was wrapping itself around the handler and that is because it is trying to keep warm but I think it was wanting lunch.

Next we back to the armadillo enclosure to meet another animal. It was a Tenrec from Madagascar. It looks a lot like a hedgehog but it not even related to the hedgehog family. It is small and has spikes all over its body.It has hook like claws that help to grip and hold.

Our next activity was to make enrichment toy for the MEERKATS. We were given boxes and we had to fill them up with hay and grubs and tiny bits of carrots and apples. This activity is important to encourage meerkat's natural foraging behaviour.  Meerkats are insectivores.

We had to be careful to keep our hands away from them and not attempt to pet them even if they look adorable and cuddly because they are vicious. The meerkats were leaping excitedly at the main cage and while foraging for food. They may be small but they are strong.

The last activity was the highlight. Getting up close and feeding the penguins. There are 3 different species of penguins: King, Gentoo and Rockhopper. 

We were shown how to hand feed the penguins and that we cannot run after them to feed them, they will come to us. We get a bucket of fish and we dip our wellington boots into the special solution  before we go into the enclosure.

I learnt something-penguins are fussy eaters. Not all of them wanted the fish and one wanted to eat from the bucket which it is not allowed to. I found one of the penguins will shake its head as if it was saying 'no thank you' to the fish. 

We hand-fed the penguins by hold the fish at the its head and offer it to the penguins and if the open their beak we shove it in gently and wait to see if it spits it out or swallows. The penguins are 'friendly' and come really close to us although not everyone did. Ms.Cherlyn Ann said that some had just finished molting and the Kings were only interested in swimming. It was the Gentoos that came up to feed. 

At the end we get a certificate, a T-shirt {that we decided to wear immediately} and I made a new friend. It was an awesome experience. Ms. Cheryl Ann was awesome too and very patient and told us many interesting facts about the animals that I actually remember them. I know that one day I will be working at the Edinburgh Zoo as a vet and maybe take some kids on a Keeper's Experience too.

Coco McDonald the Red Squirrel

Meet Coco McDonald,
Lives in Grantown -on- Spey,
Loves coconuts & peanuts,
And likes to tease & play.

Coco is small, reddish brown,
With a bushy tail,
A button nose and big brown chocolate eyes.

Mark builds a wood pile,
Out in the back garden.
Swishing its bushy tail,
Coco scampers around it.

Debbie loves Coco,
As much as she loves her girls Kelly & Hayley.
She spoils her with lots of nuts
and maybe soon even a dare devil trail.

Oh life would not be interesting
Without their fisky little Red Squirrel
Called Coco.

By Caitlin A. Smith.

AWFUL AUNTIE( Book Reveiw by Caitlin Smith)

According to Wikipedia, Awful Auntie is the 7th book written by David Walliams or  Mr. Willybums / Mr. Winklebottoms as Raj the newsagent calls him in his letter of complaint.This book,winner of the National Book Awards,was first published in 2014.

The story is set in December,1933.The main characters in this story are Aunt Alberta also known as Awful Auntie, Alberta's pet  Wagner, (the Great Bavarian Mountain Owl ),Young Lady Stella Saxby or Stella for short, Soot ( the ghost of the chimney sweep),Gibbon (the ancient butler) and the so called Detective Strauss.

I found this book not only funny, it is also full of mystery, thrill, suspense, murder and torture. My favourite character is Wagner and although Wagner was portrayed as a ferocious bird, in the end Wagner was the hero. My favourite chapter is "My Bottom! My Bottom!"-it is the chapter where Stella and Soot play tricks on Alberta such as putting ants in her pants and boot polish in her soap. The funniest character is Gibbon the butler because he would do the most silliest and outrageous things such as  mow the carpet, iron the plants, boil your shoes,serve a ball for breakfast, take the rug for a walk and water the sofa. The scariest most suspenseful part in this book for me was when Soot fell into the frozen pond.
I didn't like the part where Aunt Alberta put Stella on the Owl Rack-I did not like reading the way Stella screamed when Alberta turned the handle as it stretched Stella's limbs. That was torture.
There are quite a few illustrations by Tony Ross in this book and my favourites are of Aunt Alberta with Wagner and  of Soot. There is also  an illustration on Stella's family tree and the grounds of Saxby Hall.

Before reading this book, as any child would wish I too was rather eager to be a grown-up, thinking of all the cool things I can do such as drive a car, stay up late, do all the ''cool'' stuff grown -ups get to do. Now I am going to enjoy every minute of my huge imagination,a mind that is open and believes in magic and still be able to have all the fun cool stuff a kid does.

This is book is suitable for children above 8 years old (note: it might be a bit scary so best to get the adults to read it with you too).

My first visit to PIT STOP COMMUNITY CAFE

Saturday night dad and I dug out all the coins from my 'Do Good' coin box. We counted RM67.00 in total. I wanted to use to help someone or an organization. Mom came across a very new venture PIT STOP COMMUNITY CAFE in Jalan Tun HS Lee. Mom said that is was close by to where she used to work.
On Sunday Mother's Day after a lunch of roti chani at Devi's corner we went shopping for some food items. We looked at their list and we decided to get 6 packets of rock sugar,6 packets sago, 12 packets of barley and 10 cans of creamed corn because they only had 10 cans. All these came up to RM66.60. Phew I wanted to buy all these with my money and not have dad or mom top it up.
So we set off on our way. We got a little lost because this place does not have a sign board so mom went out looking and finally she found it. We were actually parked in front of the cafe but because the shutters was only half open mom did not see it.
I first met Ms. Allie who is a full time volunteer at this place. I asked her a lot of questions such as what kinds of food they serve, when do they open, what sorts of people come by and how I a little girl of 8 can help.
Pit Stop Community Cafe has been opened since April and it is a place where ANYONE can get a hot meal from 5.30pm till food finishes from Wednesday to Monday. They are closed on Tuesday because they want to sleep in. You can eat as much as you can and pay whatever you can afford or if you can't pay it is o.k too. They serve about 150-160 people a day. My jaw dropped because that is a lot of people- what a big party!
Soon they will start a program called suspended meal. That means when you buy yourself a meal there you can also pay for a meal or two for someone who will use it on another day.
I also met Ms Joyce. She is the boss of the cafe. She gave me and my parents a tour of the upstairs where they conduct English and Maths classes. There are no tables or chairs. Just a few pillows and very small white board and some books for teaching. They also conduct job skill training so that these poor people can get a job and earn their own money.
Downstairs is where they do the cooking and serve the food. I found the place to be very clean. On the walls of the cafe they are posters of items that are looking for. Such as you can donate RM 9.90 for an URBAN SURVIVAL KIT that will have non woven bag,good morning towel,ziplock bag, minyak angin,plastic comb,mosquito coil, washing detergent (bar) and toilet paper.
While we were there Uncle Tony, Pak Naam were putting together some new stools. Dad helped them and they had a hard time putting together the legs of the tables but once they got the hang of it they managed to fix the other three quickly.
While they were doing that I told some jokes to Ms. Allie. I also spoke to Uncle Tony. He is at the  cafe everyday helping out otherwise he says his mind will go weak. So he keeps active by helping out at the cafe from 2pm onwards. Uncle Tony is a Street Friend that means he is homeless. Uncle Tony was down on his luck and as Miss Allie explained homelessness can happen to anyone.I prefer the term Street Friends to homeless.
So if you want to know more about this place please go visit them at 101 Jalan Tun HS Lee.It is a great opportunity for you to see the cafe and to be aware of the wonderful work being done here to serve the poor and the downtrodden in our community. You can be a donar or a volunteer or stop by  the cafe to have a meal and buy one for a stranger.

One of The Coporal Works of Mercy I learned at Sunday School camp is to Feed the Hungry. Don't judge the Street Friends if you come across one.Treat them as you want others to treat you.
Mom told me THANK YOU as she had the best Mothers Day ever.

HomeSchooling Science Boot Camp

On Wednesday 4/5/2016 I went for a Science Boot Camp for Homeschoolers. It was held at the The Science Bridge Academy at The School in Jaya One. The instructor was Mr. Sam Gibbs but he preferred to be addressed as Uncle Sam.
The boot camp was divided into 4 parts. The first part was Introduction to Science, the second part was all about Physics , the third part was all about Chemistry and the fourth part was all about Biology.
In the introduction Uncle Sam showed us Newtons law of gravity with a few experiments. One was the football hovercraft and the other was the leaf blower and ball.Next we went outside and looked at the sun using Solar sunglasses. Another cool experiment was the UV Beads. Here I learnt how ultraviolet radiation from the sun can damage the skin when exposed to direct sunlight.
In Physics, Uncle Sam showed us microchips and transistors under a microscope and we studied about planet and their moons.
In Chemistry Uncle Sam showed us some flammable and inflammable experiments. My favorite was the Whoosh Bottle experiment. This experiment gives a combustion reaction when alcohol and oxygen is mixed in a bottle and ignited. The whoosh comes from the sound and flames. It was an awesome experiment.
My second favorite experiment was the Elephant toothpaste experiment. We got to see that twice it was so cool.There is soapy bubble foam that shoots out of the mouth of the bottle and hey presto Elephant toothpaste. Later a lighter was shone on the foam and it lit up or glowed which showed the presence of oxygen in the foam.
In Biology we looked at small stuff you can't see with the naked eye under the microscope. Later we went to a planetarium. There we saw close up images of the planets and their moons.
At the end of the boot camp we received a certificate of Participation. I enjoyed the camp very much. I wish we had much more experiments in Chemistry and Biology.
Uncle Sam was very funny and I enjoyed his explanations.

With Mr.Sam Gibbs

GRANDPA's GREAT ESCAPE (Book Review by Caitlin Smith)

This big fat book ( 460 pages) was a gift for my 8th birthday from Aunty Margaret. The author of this  book is David Walliams.The illustrator is Tony Ross who is an author himself.This is my second book by David Walliams. The publisher is Haper Collins Childrens book and released in 2015.

The main characters are a 12 year old boy called Jack and his grandfather Arthur Bunting or Mr.Bumting as Raj the newsagent calls him. Jack's grandfather used to be a RAF pilot who flew the legendary Spitfire during World War II.

I would describe Jack's grandfather as posh because he was always impeccably dressed except for footwear which is a pair of brown checked slippers. That is because Grandpa suffers from dementia and thinks he's in 1940 but actually they are in the year 1983, a time before internet, mobile telephones and computer games. Jack, I would describe him as shy, because he prefers to spend his time in his room assembling his prized collection of model aero planes. The highlight of his week is Sundays where he gets to spend the day with grandpa, sharing his stories as an RAF pilot and in the evening they would sit and watch black and white war movies. Everything was perfect except for grandpa's diabolical dinners.

Grandpa's first escape was when he escaped from his room to the top of the spear on the church tower. His second escape was from Jack's bedroom through the window and later found in the Imperial War Museum. Grandpa's final escape was from Twilight Towers.
Twilight Towers is supposed to be an old folk's home. Instead the old people there are treated as prisoners. I wouldn't want to stay at Twilight Towers or send anyone I love there. A retirement home should be like paradise for old people. There should be good food and drinks,nurses to help the people get around, entertainment such as dancing, music and movies and board games such as checkers and snakes and ladders.

My favorite chapter is chapter 18 - Jiggery Pokery. I read that many times.
The funniest part was when the detectives Beef and Bone questioned Jack and Grandpa.Detectives Beef aka Kimberly and Dective Bone are really hilarious characters and grandpa calls them Gestapo- Hitler's feared secret police force.

I find this book funny and exciting and suitable for children of all ages and adults too.

If you want to know what happens in the end-READ the book. You too will enjoy it.

My drawings of the SPITFIRE

My reference that helped me with my drawing.

Caity Rhymes

THERE WAS A LITTLE NUT TREE.

There was a little nut tree,
In the town square,
Nothing grew on it, not even a pear.
Then I once came there and saw something grand,
There it stood surrounded by gold sand.






HICKORY DICKORY DOCK

Hickory dickory dock,
a beatle ran up the clock.
The clock struck three,
he's late for tea.
Hickory dickory dock.