Skype Date to learn about Bougainville

Today Room 9 and Room 13 had a Skype date with Gina and Toby's great uncle Brent. Brent has lived in Bougainville, which is where all the money raised from the 40 hour famine is going this year. Bougainville is a small island not far from Papa New Guina. Lots of people in Room 9 have signed up to do the famine and help children in a country less fortunate than ours. Brent lives in Melbourne now so we started skyping at 11am our time which was 9am his time. It was the first time skyping for some of us and we were amazed at seeing ourselves on the TV. But we also learnt some interesting things about Bougainville.
Bougainville was named after the French explorer that discovered it.
There were a lot of differences we found between NZ and Bougainville. Over in Bougainville all the land is owned by the families and each family gets a block of land. Bougainville is a lot smaller than NZ because it is only the same size as Cape Reigna to Auckland only a tiny part of NZ. They live in bamboo houses and have mini buses to help get around, at school there are toliets but most houses have long drops. School is very different with assemblies starting at 7.15am and studytime going from 6-9pm which makes it a lot longer day than our 9am-3pm school day. There are not many teachers in Bougainville so you are lucky if you get to go to school. But if you are naughty you are kicked out. The weather is really nice in Bougainville and ranges from 20-26 degrees all year round. But there is one thing that is the same as NZ. Bougainville has beautiful beaches. Brent loved his time living in Bougainville and although the people don't have TV's, playstations, computers or ipads they are very happy people who are always smiling.
Here are a few of the things we enjoyed from yesterday;

Oliver learnt that there were lots of different kinds of orchids (a type of flower).
Amelia learnt there aren't many teachers so you are lucky if you go to school and they are poor. I enjoyed skyping to learn more about Bouginville.
Kaylee learnt that he missed his school and he helped people sell stuff. I enjoyed talking to them on skype.
Kayley learnt that the weather is not too cold and not too hot and it is just perfect. I enjoyed skyping and talking to him because we learnt a lot about Bouginville.
Alex learnt about helping other countries. I enjoyed skyping and being able to meet someone new.
Alex S learnt that the houses are made out of bamboo. I enjoyed skyping at school.
Trinity learnt in Bougainville there are volcanoes.
Ella learnt that they eat fish by fishing. I enjoyed him talking about Bougainville.
Gemma learnt that they don't have TV. I liked being able to ask him questions.
Paige learnt they have volcanoes.
Rico learnt that they have a lot of beaches and the volcanoes were really tall. I enjoyed skyping because I learnt a whole lot of stuff about Bouginville.
Eva learnt that they eat fish. I liked hearing what he did in Bougainville.
Christopher learnt that they have volcanoes. I enjoyed him telling us about Bougainville.
Jacob learnt that most people use long drop toliet. I enjoyed learning so much Bougainville.
Gina learnt that everyone in Bouginville are very happy even though they don't have much. I enjoyed getting to see my Great Uncle Brent again.
Saphyre learnt that even though it has very active volcanoes that it can still be a very pretty place. I enjoyed skyping to learn lots about Bougainville.
Filipe learnt there are two volcanoes on Bougainville and that he missed his school. I liked how he answered our questions on skype.
Tawhiao learnt that Brent cried when he left the school he taught at because he really missed his school and he enjoyed living there. And school is different if you misbehave you get kicked out. I enjoyed skyping because you can only see a certain amount of us on the camera.