Suzeonline,
If you say yuck to Jewely'S love of smoked eel, I had better not say what some Asian people eat. China lost about 50 million people in the great famine so nothing much was wasted then. Funny how some edibles look better if you are hungry. Don't want to ruin your keyboard.

Jewely,
The eels are interesting, thanks for the info. Am told they breed profusely but thousands are devoured enroute to our coast. I guess they stay in your pond as long as the reliability of food overides the breeding urge.

I once could not find the info I wanted on the DIAC site and wrote to them and they sent it. I'd do that before I paid an agent. A couple of other suggestions. Write to the Aus embassay in NZ and apply there or Fly to Christmas Island take a little rental boat out a bit and get picked up. PR visa, no prob. A 90 day holiday on a tropical island would not be too hard to take and you would no doubt qualify as most coming from NZ are refugees, thousands at Bondi/Coogee.

I am very much anti-high immigration, but will relent in your case because you write interesting posts and I think you have a wicked sense of humour. Sense of humour essential to raise all those kids. Sorry for your hubby though

“Fly to Christmas Island take a little rental boat out a bit and get picked up. PR visa, no prob. A 90 day holiday on a tropical island would not be too hard to take and you would no doubt qualify as most coming from NZ are refugees, thousands at Bondi/Coogee.”

Hahaha. My son found the residency forms! While filling his out he discovered his passport has expired. I’ve told him he has to leave the country immediately. It doesn’t look like I can apply because I have no sponsor.

I did once fill out and pay for the Citizenship application. I got to the interview and they said I was rejected for not having residency, they kept my money though.

“Sorry for your hubby though.”

He can add you to his rapidly growing list of those who have conveyed their condolences.

jewely,
Ha, you can't get rid of your own kids that easy. They are too aware these days.

I would sponsor you but I don't think they will accept an old scrubber like me. Best wait till your son is accepted and then he can sponsor you, under family reunion provisions. That is why there is so many young men on the boats from Indonesia.

Or I just thought, if you go to NZ for visit, when you return go straight to immigration at Sydney Airport and apply for asylum there.
A person that fosters all the kids that you do, and keeps eels as pets must need asylum. Its a cynch and we let you out in the community while processing.

Sorry about that Suze, I shouldn’t tell you about my Gourami that I feed slugs and worms to then?

Turns out Banjo that he got a skilled residency application form and I’m not skilled and can’t find just a plain residency form. I don’t get why it is so difficult. I do this every few months then put it in the too hard basket again.

Now why would I want to visit NZ, it’s cold there! All my family are here but useless to me because not in the same state.

Jewely,
Try family reunion, once your son is accepterd and gets his visa.

Bugger paying an agent, don't you know any muslims you can ask how to do it. They have relos that get here all the time, so they would know. Next time you see something in a burka, invite her for coffee and ask her.

I am remembering now! Was it not you who occasionally went out in a burka with nothing underneath, when in the ME. If they only knew? As I said before, you have a wicked sense of humour.

Good Morning Folks,

Well my computer crashed on Friday evening and miraculously came up again this morning so I haven't bee able to post.

Back to the question of Asians. According to World Book Encyclopedia,
most anthropologists in the past, classified all people into three racial groups. According to this three-race theory, everyone belonged to the Caucasoid (white-skinned), Mongoloid (yellow-skinned), or Negroid (black-skinned) race. Many people still think in terms of this classification system. But during the 1900s, many anthropologists rejected it as unscientific. Today, scientists classify all people into 9 or 10 main geographical areas.

According to the three race theory, most people of the countries from the western end of Asia east through India are Caucasoids. Most people east of India are Mongoloids. Small groups of Negroids live in Asia, chiefly on the Malay Peninsula and on such islands as New Guinea, the Philippines, and Sumatra in the south-eastern part of the continent.

The geographical system of racial classification puts most Asians into either the European, Indian, or Asian racial group. The European racial group is similar to the Caucasoid group of the three-race-theory. It includes Arabs, Iranians, Jews, Turks, and most other Asians west of India. Most people of the Indian racial group live in India and Pakistan. These people are Caucasoids according to the three-race-system. The great majority of Asians east of India - Mongoloids in the three-race-system - are Asians according to the geographical system. Members of the Asian racial group include Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, and most peoples of southeastern Asia.

Of course there is the existence of a wide variety of ethnic groups and this is one of the most important features of Asia's population. And Asia has dozens of ethnic groups - both large and small. The members of an ethnic group may be united by the same language, the same religion, a common ancestry, or all of these characteristics. A single country may have several groups. Asia's largest ethnic groups include the Arabs of the south-west, the Hindus of India, and the Chinese of the east.

Now as for Muslims ...

cont'd...