Teen Life Project Introduction

Hi, my name is Adrian, and I’ll turn fourteen on the twenty-first of January 2007. I’m currently in eighth grade at school. The two electives I take at school are band and Mandarin. I’m Chinese-Malay, but I was born in Brisbane, Australia, and I carry an Australian passport. I lived in Brisbane and Sydney after I was born for about five years before my family and I moved to Tokyo, Japan. I stayed in Japan for four years before moving to Malaysia. My life in Australia was too long ago for me to remember, but I did enjoy Japan. The weather there was excellent, and during fall, all the leaves at the parks would turn orange, red, and yellow. When the cherry blossoms bloomed each year, everyone would have a picnic under the trees for they were truly stunning. I even went to Mt. Fuji and we’d play with the snow there. Where I live now though, you can’t really do or see those sites. I enjoy watching soccer such as the English Premiere League, cricket, and rugby. In the English soccer leagues I’m a Liverpool fan, but in international games, I support Australia. Furthermore, I play the piano and the clarinet, but only because my parents force me to play them. I also play tennis about once a week. During my school holidays I’ve been to quite a few different places such as Maine, New York, France, Thailand, and New Zealand. Each place is different and there’re always exciting things to look at or do.

Life in Malaysia can be extremely fun, but also a tad boring; however it is stressful at times. Usually I get up, go to school, and come back home to do homework and relax. I love spending time with my friends, and I enjoy playing the PlayStation 2. I also use the computer often and am on it for most of the day. I’ll usually chat with my friends over the phone or on an instant messenger like MSN. Life here isn’t that fun or exciting, but once the holidays come, everyone can sit back and enjoy ourselves. Living here most probably isn’t at all like living in Canada, Colombia, or the United States. Most places aren’t within walking distance, and it isn’t that safe to go around alone. Therefore, you can’t just go walk over to a friend’s house. So, to get to most places you have to take a car and be escorted by a parent which makes traveling around even harder. Additionally, it can get pretty hot here, but during the rainy season, it can rain almost everyday which helps drop the temperature.

For this Teen Life Project, an issue that I’d be interested in looking into would be global warming. The reason for this is because global warming is affecting our lives now, and will continue to play an even larger part in it during the future unless it is stopped. Furthermore, it isn’t something that can be stopped over night, and we can never repair the ozone layer so it would be best if we start now. By saving electricity and not leaving things on over night such as a computer, we can reduce the amount of electricity used. Also, people in our country could try to carpool more often when going to the same destination.

Another issue that I wouldn’t mind doing this project on is poverty. This is because there are thousands, if not millions, of children and adults who are dying every year. Many of these people die simply because they can’t get medicine, clean water, or other necessities that we can buy cheaply for them. In addition, it’s not as if those who die of poverty are any different from us. We’re both humans, so why are we sitting back and watching them suffer? There are many things that we can do to help these people such as donating to charity or buying simple medicines. In our school we have activities such as Habitat for Humanity where students from higher grades go to poorer parts of Malaysia to build a house. The materials such as bricks were bought by students in a school charity. This house is for families who can’t afford their own house. There are many other ways to help, but these are a few.

The final issue that I would like to work on is the fact   that in Malaysia, it isn’t that safe to walk around in public alone, especially at night. The main reason why it is unsafe is that there are dangerous people such as thieves and robbers. For instance, if a lady is walking alone near the streets, motorcyclists might ride up to her and snatch her handbag. Therefore, if you let go, you lose all money, credit cards, and other important materials. However, if you hold on, you could be dragged a long way on a rough road. The main point is if you have an expensive car, watch, or anything valuable, it could be stolen from you, and the person or people who stole it from you will sometimes kill or hurt you even if you give them what they want. I hope that the Malaysian government tries to do more about this because it is causing restrictions in the lives of people who live in Malaysia.

So, this is who I am and these are the issues I’d be interested in basing this project on. Hope you learnt some things about me.