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 Reflections for OELP Reflections for 25/5/2014
Today it was exciting siting on the high speed rail for the "first time", actually I rode on it before but I forgot all about it. It really was fast. When we reached He Fei, we had a very bad traffic jam there and I even saw two car accidents in such a short period of time. The traffic in China is far from Singapore, Singapore traffic is very orderly but China's one is just in a mess. Also, the toilets in a restaurant we went to for lunch had no toilet door. The food there was pretty horrible too. However I liked the 三河古镇 tour, it was really very informative and historical. I learnt about the famous people in Anhui who made a difference to China, and I feel that I have learnt a lot. However perhaps we should not move from one place to another so quickly, my feet felt like cramping around the time when the journey ended. I liked the figurines of people that appears sometimes in the wooden stores, because they looked so real I initially thought that they were real people. Their actions also suggested the type of lifestyle they have in the past. The dinner was awesome compared to lunch and the environment is much better.
Reflections for 26/5/2014
Today we went to Hefei No. 45 Middle School and I had a really really nice experience. There were more than 60 students in each class and all of them were really bonded, proactive and friendly. When we walked in, we were greeted with this friendly atmosphere. Their school was really different from ours as they only had three levels, each class had more than 60 people and their level had a lot more classes than us. We had six levels, and each class had around 30 students. Their school did not have a canteen, they had a 2 hour lunch break I which they go home and eat their lunch. I personally think that this is better as it ensures that there is time to eat. Their school normally does not have much CCA activities, but their lessons are until around 7pm. There were bells in their school, which reminds the teachers when to stop the lesson. After each lesson, there will be a little break and everyone will run to their friends and start chatting. When the bell rings again, it means that the next lesson is going to begin and they all settle down. Sometimes over the speaker there will be an exercise that students do by rubbing their nose bridge and temple, etc. This makes them feel a little more energized. The students were also really enthusiastic in lessons. Whenever a teacher asks a question, they will immediately try to compete with each other by answering first. However sadly to say in Singapore, whenever the teacher asks a question, the students won't be so proactive and there will be a long silence and then someone speaks. In worst cases, the questions will not even be answered. The students were also very attentive during their lessons. When I felt like dozing off during the math lesson, all the other students were listening attentively and were even taking notes. Thus I feel that their school is way different from our school. Another thing that was different was the toilets. My teachers recommended us to go and visit the toilets because they were really an "eye-opener".
5 Things I Love About RV 1. Clean toilets 2. Teachers that are not that loud 3. Beautiful architecture 4. Many facilities 5. Classmates that speak English
Reflections for 27/5/2014
Today we went to Anhui Museum. There was a tour guide there to teach us about the exhibitions and I didn't get much of the things she was saying as she said them to fast. However I managed to make some sense of what she was saying and piece them together. She told us about the ancient pots they used to use. We also learnt about the 文房四宝 in Chinese History which were used to write in the olden days. The trip to Anhui Museum was quite fun. Due to the change in plans, we did not go to Hefei No. 45 Middle School again. Instead we went to China Intangible Cultural Heritage Park where I witnessed something that was horrifying. As an animal lover, I was horrified to see animals being forced to fight and getting beaten. I saw roosters fighting, their feathers flying all over the place. It was really terrifying to see animals getting injured just for the entertainment for the audience. Actually, we as the audience were not even entertained, we were more like horrified to see animals being treated and tortured like that.
CSI (Anhui Museum): Colour: Bronze Symbol: Square tiles that look like mazes Image: On the outside of the Anhui Museum Building
Animals Mistreating: I feel sad for these animals. They were just born to fight just for entertainment, they get injured, their feathers fly, they might even get killed just for our entertainment. However to put it frankly we weren't very impressed. During the dog race, one can see that the dog was underweight, which means that they were forced to build up stamina while starving. These animals were really pitiful, they have to train to run everyday. Imagine ourselves being them, not getting enough food, starving but are even forced to run many many meters. Wouldn't you be really sad? Next we went to see the circus and it was just as terrifying. The lions and tigers were getting beaten to do some lame tricks like rolling over and they can't do anything about it. They cannot escape from that hell. Even though I think of it as that way, maybe there's another side to that story. Maybe the people training and torturing those animals didn't want this to happen too, but they cannot quit this job as it's their only way of living. I think I judged these people too impulsively. This also had made me realise the difference between Singapore and China. In Singapore, something like this is against the law but in China it's not.
Reflections for 28/5/2014 Today was the day everyone was anticipating for in the trip. We were going to climb the famous HuangShan. I guess most of the class knew and heard about the beauty of that mountain. When I first received the news and told my mum that our class was going to Anhui, she asked my dad, "isn't HuangShan in Anhui?" My dad answered yes. I was curious too, as in the senior's presentation, they said that they went to climb that mountain. So, I asked my mum what was so special about that mountain. My mum told me that it was one of the most beautiful mountains in China, and possibly the world. She also told me this phrase that people use to describe HuangShan's scenic beauty,"五岳归来不见山, 黄山归来不看岳”. Basically, China has five really beautiful mountains. This phrase says that if you go to those five mountains, then you no longer have the need to see any more mountains. However if you go to HuangShan, you no longer need to see those five mountains. It means that HuangShan is basically the best of the best. When I confirmed that I was going to HuangShan, my mum was actually jealous of me. Thus I was really really excited to see the famous HuangShan everyone loved. The beauty of that mountain didn't let me down. HuangShan was by far the most beautiful mountain I have seen (actually might have been the only mountain I saw, I forgot) and it's scenery at the summit really takes one's breath away. We immediately forgot about the ache in our legs, and everyone must have thought that it was worth it. Seeing the actual HuangShan was nothing like seeing the pictures of it, and one will truly admire the beauty of HuangShan. I wouldn't mind living at the submit and stare at the mountain all day, but the mosquitos there were too irritating. The smooth rocks were really a sight to behold. Our geography teacher should have been there. That was too bad. Anyway, the beauty of HuangShan can neither be described in words nor by pictures. I would recommend everyone I know to go up there. It really takes one's stress away just like that. The air there is really fresh too. I hope that one day, I'll visit that mountain again.
Reflections for 29/5/2014 Today we woke up super early to see the sun rise on the mountain. To say the truth, it wasn't really anything. I mean, the place where we watched the sun rise was really squeezy with all those other tourists and our whole class. To me, it was just like seeing an orange ball in the dark sky. However, climbing that mountain worked me up in a sweat and I was wide awake after a while. I felt that there was no need for a windbreaker as it was rather hot to me. Even though the sunrise was not as beautiful as I had expected it to be, it was still beautiful. (It's a sunrise, so naturally it's really beautiful) once the sun was high up in the sky, we headed back to our hotel to get some sleep. I couldn't sleep, though, so I played in the hotel room. In the later part of the day, we went to 宏村 where we saw many ancient buildings. We also saw people actually living in those buildings their whole lives, shocking. I wouldn't be able to live in that building that is so humid and dusty and stuff. I admire those people. Actually I didn't really learn anything there, I feel that we just kept going through rooms that looks the same as there were glasses and paintings and tables and chairs in each room. Everything looked like a maze. I couldn't understand what the tour guide was saying though. Perhaps it will be a good idea if we hire one that speaks Chinese and one that speaks English or just translates the important things? Because some people like me are really bad at Chinese and just can't understand a single word.
Reflections for 30/5/2014 Today we went to lots of different places. Which is to me, more rooms of paintings and vases and tables and chairs and archways that don't look any different. And like yesterday I didn't understand anything, with the exception of the Tangyue Archways as I researched about it for presentation and the story behind each archway was translated into English on a board beside each archway. It's a good form of praising someone, though. I'd like to have one built for me, but I don't think I did anything really outstanding and helpful in this thirteen and a half years of my life. Oh well, I'm still young. For the nigh lecture, I kind of slept through a good quarter of it. I was really tired running from place to place during the day. However, I am proud to say that I understand quite a bit of the lecture, and I took down notes. What troubles me is that the lecturer keeps saying hard work hard work hard work. Hard work will give you good results. It will get you far. I don't know how many times I've heard this. This is true, but I came to OELP to let go some of my stress. I wanted to relax. However, I feel irritated about hearing this kind of stuff when I want to have fun. I mean, give me a break, I don't want to hear the same thing over and over again, 365 days a year. So I was a little irritated there. The hotel we sleep in was scary. It was circular.😱
Reflections for 1/5/2014 Today we went to shop. I initially thought it will be fun, but it was not as fun as I had expected. I ended up only buying red tea and green tea, but I was nevertheless still quite satisfied. My father told me to buy some tea when I went to Anhui as he was a tea lover. I think he was quite happy with the tea I brought back home. Next, we went to the West Lake. The tour guide said that that place was the place where many love stories were formed, and that you will have a +50% chance of the girl of your dreams excepting your marriage proposal if you proposed there. However, I think it just looks like a normal lake. Maybe I can't appreciate the beauty of the lake. We took a boat ride and the tour guide said that the water was just 1.5m deep. If that were so, I wondered, why do we need life jackets, we could just stand up normally and at least our nose will be above water. The tour guide later answered the question in my head that even though the water was not deep, the mud is deep and could sink. Well, that explains it. After exploring around the area, we hopped on the bus to the airport, ready to go back home. I was torn between feelings of happiness and regret as we approached the airport. I was happy to be able to go home at last, where there were clean toilets and loving parents. But at the same time, I wanted to travel around China again with my friends forever. Living in hotels, having fun, not needing to do homework, forgetting about stress, a carefree time. However we had to go back, and I dreaded the sleepless days of stress and exams ahead of me. On the bright side, shortly after, the December Holidays will be coming when we can totally relax again.
Done by: Shen Yang (16) Daily reflections Daily reflections of baobin 😆
Day 1
First day was kind of tiring, mainly due to the early wakeup time as well as the late check in time in the hotel. Sq flight was extremely good except for the pain in my ear during landing. Struggled for 3h+ sleep and as expected, waked up with extreme sore eyes. The morning breakfast has a variety of food to consume. However, it's most probably to due to the cultural difference to result in my stomach not accepting the food. It seems too oily to me and some simply just doesn't-fit-my-appetite.
The long high speed rail train allowed us to catch back an hour or so of sleep, it was pleasant except for the long time of travel. It was definitely a enriching experience as we got to try visiting the toilet in the train.
After reaching Hefei, we went for a chinese lunch. I hate to say so but the service was terrible, together with the food! For example, soup was served without spoons to consume it.
We visited the 三河古镇 , which looked very traditional to the eye. The souvenirs there seems to be interesting such as wooden swords, crossbow and more. Sadly, it's a pity we're not allowed to purchase any :c I understand the cultural value of keeping such ancient relics, however, the exhibition seems a little bit rundown and unkept. The ventilation was horrible and, stale air together with the immense amount of dust certainly started my flu. I guess you have to sacrifice some for learning ._. It's a back-breaking visit as we spent hours walking around. What a pity most of the stream dried up when we visited ._. Looking on the bright side, it provided a good point of view in photography.
The dinner at the restaurant was a great improvement compared to lunch. I specially liked the yam ball, as it seemed directly out from the steaming oven. The wifi there also allowed for communication with my family back in singapore.
Holiday inn room was splendid, except for the faulty safe we chanced upon. The wifi adapter worked and we have wifi in the room :)
Day 2
Alike to everybody else, visiting hefei school is most probably the exciting part of this trip. I was surprise they treated us with such respect. There is a huge difference in their schools compared to singapore. For example, they emphasize on eye exercise between lesson, I feel this is a very good way to maintain the eye sight of the kids studying. Not only that, they also have 10min breaks in between lesson, this ensures them to not be overly exhausted. I feel that singapore's school should also adopt the alarm system that informs the teachers about the end of periods, this would ensure that the teachers do not eat into the time of the student other subjects.However, their toilets are pretty traumatizing , you can literally smell it blocks away. I enjoyed the company of my buddy who brought me to the streets to enjoy some local delicacy such as 'stinky tofu' and their bubble tea. The haunted house and bumper car ride was also extremely fun.
5 Things I like in RV
-Shorter school hours
-Surroundings
-The auditorium
-The location
-The interconnected building
Day 3 anhui
Starting off with anhui museum, my main takeaway is the different types of bronze objects used by the emperors as well as the building fashion. I feel that they regard their bronze objects such as 'ding' highly, not only every ding seem to be different in their own way, their shape and size seem to get smaller over the years. I was amazed by the detail built in and also the fact that they are still intact currently. The museum did a fantastic job of exhibiting the different ancient relics. For example, there are cross section 3D model on the the different building. I feel that this little feature is cool as it provides a deeper point of view.
Although activities such as chicken fight and dog racing might be acceptable,the circus is simply ridiculous. Most of this probably is the result of singapore's upbringing.In my opinion, they are just abusing the animals just to get them to perform a trick shot. I believe in mutual love and training instead of forcing. I was able to continue watching the show as I have already accepted the cultural differences in china, however some of my classmates seem to be deeply affected by it. At least this proves that us as kids are still capable to feel for another living being. This fact alone touches my heart. As cruel as this show is, it certainly taught me a valuable lesson.
CSI
Colour:Bronze
All the bronze object found in the museum
Symbol:Death
All the animals abused in the circus are close to death
Image: <insert image of both circus and museum >
Day 4 anhui
After a 4h trip, we finally arrived in huangsan! Although the cable car ride is crammed, the view was spectacular. Off we go climbing up thousands of steps to the peak. It was a devastating climb, not only that the road is uneven, the steps are also thin sometimes. At least I'm proud that I managed to reach the peak. The reward given was definitely worth. The view was amazing! It was also a popular spot for couples to leave their 'locks of love' on the top of the mountain. I believe everyone in the class felt accomplished , one thing off my bucket list :>
Day 5 anhui
The sunrise was certainly worth my time and precious sleep. I finally experienced the coldness of the legendary huangsan in the early morning. We were devastated when we thought that we wouldn't be able to witness the sunrise, however the sun did rise and stayed for around 5 good minutes. It was just beautiful, camera aren't capable of capturing such moments.
Hong cun was a beautiful place with beautiful sceneries. Firstly the lake Infront of the whole village was clear and clean. All the water system are filled with spring water from the mountain and is safe to drink. The idea of protecting their houses with a good water system from fire is genius. The 天井 they built to provide water constantly and made sure that it doesn't flood their houses too is simply a engineering breakthrough! I like how the whole village is bonded as one and they treat each other as family. Providing free schooling for all the kids. This is unique to them and I feel it's a really good move. It's a really beautiful place overall
Day 6
we visited the different traditional villages, the main concept of huizhou buildings are the same. Thus I believe it's not necessary to go to multiple villages, the tour guide was simply repeating the same point. It was zehan's birthday, we gave him a birthday surprise. I'm happy that the whole class is willing to celebrate his birthday together with him.
The night lecture was pretty boring, my main takeaway was the information about huizhou merchants.
Day 7
We were finally allowed to buy some stuff back to singapore in Tun Xi street. The street seem to be patronized by both locals and foreigner. Luckily stuff sold are quite affordable. Afterwards, the boat trip was exhilarating too, i was amazed how that the deepest the water went was less then 1.5m. I feel the mischievousness of our class when someone played the theme song of 'titanic' as a joke. Well, everyone laughed along. After dinner, it was time to check in at the airport, awaiting our flight back to beloved singapore. There was a bit of panic when we found out the plane was delayed and we had little form of communication back to our parents back at singapore. Zhiyang also gave us a shock when he went missing, only to be found already passed immigration by himself enjoying the food he purchased with the food voucher. Regarding the food voucher provided for compensation of the delay, one could argue that it's a bad thing. For example, one classmate used the food coupon and bought 20 boxes of nuggets, he tried to be a nice person and gave it out to random people. However, he was left with quite a lot unfinished boxes afterwards. It started off as a good deed but ended as a waste of food. The flight back was comfortable, sleeping majority of the time. There we were, back at sinagpore. Reflections on OELP trip in China, Anhui Day 1: This morning, we met up in the dining hall of the hotel for breakfast, where in ate fried rice, bacon and two sausages. Soon after, we took off for our destination, the well-known high speed rail to Hefei, where we will be meeting our buddies there for the first time in their secondary school. We had to wait a long time upon our arrival at the train station, there were many travelers there to be seen. After a while of inactivity at the station, we were soon able to embrace the long anticipated experience of riding on the high speed rail. We spent a good three hours on the train, I heeded the teachers' advice and decided to take a short nap after enjoying some music through my earpiece. Well, that wasn't the end of the itinerary. After alighting the high speed rail, we headed for the bus that took us to visit the cultural sites of Hefei city, 三河古镇. On the way there before we boarded the bus, some of us were threatened with the risk of getting knocked down by cars. The traffic there was really really bad, I feel that it has to be regulated. There, we were greeted with multiple rows of buildings and infrastructure donned with whitewashed walls and black tile roofs, many of which have a slant toward the centre of the roofing. The grandeur of the entire place took my breath away as I ventured on with the rest of the class to immerse ourselves deeper into the culture of the city. We visited 杨振宁旧居, where we learnt more about the history and background of 杨振宁and his contributions to the history of China. We also passed by the 仙姑楼, where I took many pictures of the plague for keepsake and fond memories of the place. Throughout the entire journey, we were greeted warmly by the villagers of Hefei, and a wide array of wonderful souvenirs, consisting of fans, wooden toys and hats. It was a pity that we were not able to purchase those souvenirs, but it was great that we were able to take class on tots on the majestic bridge located there. I truly enjoyed the times I spent with the class here in a foreign place, this is an opportunity to bond together as a class, where we are able to experience things different from our everyday lives as a group. The day ended off with us having dinner at a restaurant, where we ate to our hearts content. All in all, we had a whale of a time in Hefei, in China, I look forward to the days following this memorable one.
Day 2: This morning, all of us set off for our destination, Hefei no. 45 middle school. Upon our arrival, we were greeted warmly with a large group of secondary school students, all faces brightly lit up with smiles plasted on each of their faces. I was feeling rather sleepy then , but when I espied their bright and eager faces beaming down at us, I could not help but feel welcome and energized. After a short briefing at a lecture hall in the school, we were brought up to our respective classes where we would be buddied and in our CID groups, attending lessons with our china friends. Throughout the entire learning experience in the classroom, I noticed many aspects of their school life that differed from ours. Firstly, all lessons, apart from probably English was delivered in the Chinese language, the students' mother tongue. Secondly, there were pockets of free time in between every lesson of the students curriculum, they were allowed to leave and enter the class as freely as they wanted to as long as the teachers had not entered the classroom and started his/ her respective class. Thirdly, the class strength for the class we had lessons with today had a grand total of 62, the number of students in the classroom was almost twice that offers in Singapore, where we had a total of only 34 students in our class. Lastly, the students there were truly enthusiastic during their time in school while most students in Singapore felt restless throughout the periods of lessons during the day. We had physical education lesson with the class, where a group of girls from the class played a game of passing the ball with us. We had a merry time together, thoroughly enjoying each other's company. After that, we had our lunch and returned back to school, where our buddies where assigned to bring us back to their homes. However, my buddy, Andy, said that she was "too ashamed" to bring me back to her home as she said it was in a mess, and offered to being me out for a walk wherever I wanted to go. So I asked my group members if we could walk together, and we all agreed to go for an outing around Hefei together. Unfortunately, Shen yang had already left with her buddy, so Charlotte, Bao Bin and I set off together with our buddies to experience the everyday lives of the people living in that area in Hefei. We walked in a street where there were many stalls selling scrumptious looking food, where our buddies bought us a cup of 臭豆腐to try. It was the first time I've tried this delicacy, and I have to say that it was a really delicious and wonderful experience I've had. Our buddies went on to buy us cups of milk tea each where we savored each and every drop of it as we entered a departmental store. We spent a rather long time in it, window shopping and glancing around at the expensive brands around us. We got bored soon after, and our buddies suggested we spend the rest of our limited time together at the nearby theme park. Our buddies insisted buying the tickets for the haunted house we wanted to try out, Charlotte, Bao Bin, his buddy and I went into the haunted house. The walk truly scared the wits out of me, Charlotte and I screamed our way through the entire time, clasping our hands together for each other's reassurance. Come to think of it, we were the only two of the four in our group who lost our heads in the house. Next up, we tried the bumper cars where all of us went to play. Charlotte's buddy and mine got into a car, Bao Bin and his buddy went into another, and Charlotte and I took one too. We had a whale of a time in the theme park, we enjoyed the time we spent there together as friends thoroughly. Well, that was the climax of the day to me. If I had the opportunity to get to another theme park again, this experience will be one that will be forever etched deeply in my mind, one that will remain here with me forever. As we stepped out of the school compound later that night, I felt that there was much room for improvement in our learning attitudes, and that we should be more appreciative for all the facilities provided for us in our school, and not to forget to cherish the times we have spent together in Hefei that memorable day. 
5 things I like about RV: 1) I like the facilities provided for students in the school, like the well equipped and clean washrooms in RV, the spacious classrooms we have our lessons in, and air conditioned rooms for us to learn in comfort. These facilities help me to learn and concentrate better in class, allowing me to absorb facts the teachers teach us in class easily. With these facilities, I would be able to have a better learning experience in school.
2) I like the class strength we have in each class. The number of students assigned to each class is good, a number good enough to be handled and managed by the teachers easily. Also, we would not have to experience overcrowding in the classrooms, where we have to struggle for personal space we do not have to in RV
3) I like the school timetable here in RV as compared to the one in the school we visited in Hefei. The timetable of the students in Hefei spans throughout the whole day, of course with breaks in between their classes. But in RV, our lessons for the day ends in the afternoon, such that we students will be able to get home as soon as possible to take a short nap, do our homework and refresh ourselves, preparing ourselves sufficiently for the next day.
4) I like the way of communication, the English language the teachers speak with us, a language easier for me to understand in comparison to Chinese.
5) Last but not least, I like the livelihood and the lively spirit on RV, a feeling that cannot be felt in any other school, to me, this is probably what makes our school unique.
Day 3: Recounting an eventful day. Even though this was the worst day during the one-week trip we were going to spend here in Anhui, but it also did me good, it could even almost be referred to as a blessing in disguise. This day made me see the cruel side of life, breaking me out of my tiny shell where I thought this world was a wonderful place. We spent the first part of the day at the Anhui Museum, a must go since we were in the place. It was a rather meaningful tourism attraction to me as Mr Wong made each group research about a different sector of our trip, and I did the part on architecture of the buildings there, so the whole visit to the museum made much sense to me. The museum was a huge one, with many rooms filled with valuable exhibits there for tourists and visitors to see. However, the service there left a really bad impression on me. While we were taking fun shots with a group of girls in our class outside one of the rooms, a worker of the museum walked past and met up with her other companion behind the wall where we were taking our shots. As I was not keen in taking pictures, I hung around at the back of the room where the two workers met, only to hear,"她们该是疯了吧！” I mean, who treats visitors like that? What poor attitude! Soon after, we left the Anhui Museum, a place that I left a deep negative impression on. After that, we spent quite some time on the bus that brought us to China Intangible Cultural Heritage Park. We watched a horrific scene of two nearly featherless chickens fighting each other, till one fell of the stage. It was simply horrifying watching two of the same kind fighting the other so mercilessly for the sake of it's own. Using its beak to try tear bits of the other, I felt nauseous afterwards, and deleted the video I filmed. As the chickens were being changed after the first fight, I couldn't help but feel disgusted by the sight unfolding before me. It was pure evil, forcing roosters to fight for their lives like that. Just throwing them onto the arena, leaving them alone and helpless, fending for their own when it wasn't even their choice in the first place to be in their current state. With their feathers torn off their backs, the stinging blow when the other tries it's best to injure it in any way possible to win the match such that he'll be off the stage soon after, I can never imagine living a life like him. Advancing toward each other on the arena, pushing each other off the stage, and being caged up after staging up a performance for the audience, this life was far too unbearable to be lived. Before things could get any worse, a dog racing competition started, the dogs ran unbelievably fast! Within seconds, they completed their laps around the stadium, one emerging as the winner of the race. Following that was the race for the horses, where people ride on their backs and compete to be the first to reach the finishing line. It was simply amazing watching those horses run at such high speeds, the female rider was the fastest rider among the other three male ones. The worst part of the day draws near, we were led to theatre, it was threateningly dark inside, there where blue spotlights in the centre of the stage where lions were caged in, with performers wielding metal poles and guiding the lions onto heavy looking metal balls they had to balance on. The first lion accomplished this task quickly, but the other lion was struggling to get onto it. The trainers pushed the lions with the metal stick, while the lion grunted and continued struggling with all his might to get onto the ball. This was probably when I broke down. It was far too unbearable to watch these animals forced to entertain us humans watching these poor animals suffer like that. If only these animals had voices to communicate with us, these people had no right to rob these animals of their freedom roaming the wild, forcing them here in enclosed cages to entertain us. A group of friends and I walked right out of the theater, till our teacher told us to come back in to continue watching the human performances. We went back into the theatre, only to be greeted by yet another animal performance after the human ones. This time, a baby bear hot wheeled into the centre of the stage, and this time, our teachers took us out of the theatre. I have to admit that this was truly a horrible and traumatizing experience for me, it was the first time I've seen animals being treated so unfairly with my own eyes. However, now as I look back on that incident that occurred during the day, I realized that this was a valuable lesson for me, a chance for me to fully appreciate my blessed life as a human. As a human, I am able to voice out my thoughts and feelings, and avoid getting trampled upon. From the bottom of my heart, I thank fate that has arranged for me to watch that animal show that day, to broaden my perspective on life. Life, it isn't always as wonderful as it seems.
CSI at the Anhui Museum Colour: Red, it symbolizes the preserved Chinese culture and traditions still alive in the museum of Anhui. This colour is also a favoured colour of the Chinese worldwide, which is why I chose this colour to represent my experience in the Anhui museum.
Symbol: I chose this symbol as there are the Chinese characters of Anhui on the right side of the sculpture, successfully wrapping up all the artifacts in the museum as the provincial area of China, Anhui. This about sums up all the different artifacts I have seen in the museum, that's why I chose this as a symbol.Image: To me, this was the perfect image of the Anhui museum after walking through the different rooms there, this wall is dedicated specially to the explanation of the 文房四宝 in Anhui, a major part in the history of Anhui's development. ---------------------------------------------------------------~~-----------------------------------------------------
Day 4: Today, we went straight up to the well known mountain in China, Huangshan. We took various modes of transport to reach the peak of the towering landform. Firstly, we took the bus midway up the mountain, followed by boarding the cable car and walking up to meet the peak of our destination. It was a really really tedious journey climbing the mountain, we went through many obstacles and difficulties during the journey up. There was a humongous amount of bugs and insects of all kinds that we encountered, but the view up at the peak of the mountain was extremely breathtaking, it was truly a sight for sore eyes. We took many memorable pictures and shots at the top of the mountain, we savored the fruits of our labour. Following that, we headed off in various directions, venturing off on our own as the guide that took us told us to meet and gather at the lobby of the hotel. Me, Linghan, Gwen, Shen Yang, Malvin and Charlotte set off together on our route back to the hotel, it was the climax of the whole expedition up the mountain. We had an extremely great time taking group photos initially, but ended up panicking when we realized we were alone in the wilderness. There wasn't another soul to be seen. We continued walking up the path, taking the flights of steps that led us to nowhere, and blasting multiple songs to boost our morale and confidence, a support for us to go on. Soon after, we found our guide sitting next to a bush and asked her for directions to the hotel, and she gave us the way up. The feeling of dejection in our hearts turned to excitement. We were ecstatic upon seeing her, but we were soon alone once more, on our way to our hotel. We climbed many steep flights of stairs, and we soon grew discouraged as the hotel was nowhere in sight. We gave up entirely after that and sat down on the flights of stairs and listened to the music in peace, and I stood up only when I spotted a tour group. I rushed up to the tour guide and asked her for directions to our hotel, and she gladly pointed to the way we were taking. I turned out we were right after all and we had always been taking the right route. We ran up the steps, squealing in delight when we reached the hotel we were seeking. The venture to the hotel was exhilarating and the feeling of accomplishment was overwhelming. That day was a truly memorable one, I had precious moments spent with friends I was not very close with, and I appreciate all that had happened that day.  Day 5: Today, we woke up at dawn, to precise, at 4.30am just to watch the sunrise. My roommate, my best friend in class Ling Han, were a few minutes late for the meeting time at the hotel lobby so we climbed the mountain up ourselves and gathered with the rest of our class. It was bitingly cold up here on the mountain so early in the morning, I regretted just wearing my jacket up there. But that's not the point. The sunrise seemed to be truly magnificent, the bright ball of a sun was rolling slowly upwards, inching it's way up into the sky as the minutes passed, this was what I imagined as my classmates described it. We stood there for a rather long time, just watching the sunrise. I was right at the back of the crowd, so I didn't get to see the spectacular phenomenon I went up the mountain for. At least I managed to feel the morning breeze and the bird's eye view one could die for up here in Huangshan. During the later part of the day, we were on our way to 宏村, where we walked through old buildings, walking through paths rich with Chinese culture, some buildings were really old, ancient but very well preserved, giving us a good opportunity to learn more about the lifestyles of the people living in 宏村 in the past. From what I've absorbed throughout the entire journey in 宏村, the people living in that area were really superstitious, the structure of their homes, the special ways they place their furniture and decor in their homes had great significance behind them. For example, the houses in 宏村 had at least a 天井 in their homes, to welcome wealth and fortune into their residences. In the halls of their houses, they had ancestral tables set up with grandeur, with a clock and vases beside it, signifying 终生平安。The tables in the hall also had significance to it. When the tables were pulled apart, it symbolizes that the master of the house was not in, when the tables were pulled together, it meant that the master of the house was in. 宏村 was a nice place to live in. I bought a book that gave vivid descriptions of each specialty of the place, so that I could read it when I get back to Singapore. The person who sold me the book claimed that he was the owner of the old house, that he lived in that building. I was momentarily stunned by what he said. He could actually live in such a house! Anyway, this was all the day brought. I enjoyed myself quite well at. 宏村, I gained many interesting facts from this village. 
Day 6: Today was a rather interesting one, although the villages we went to today and yesterday shared some similar characteristics, Xidi village was a much livelier place where the villagers here were much well off. What attracted me most was the lake at the entrance of the village surrounded with various species of flowers and plants. The scene there was picturesque, there were many beautiful shots to be taken there. We visited paifangs there, each one constructed with a different story to it. According to the guide, paifangs were constructed only with the emperor's consent in the past, so very few of such paifangs were constructed there. We went to a residential estate, a place where the officials probably resided in the past, where they worked hard to provide the people there with peaceful, lives where justice was prevailed. There was even a hall dedicated to the Chinese women living in the past, appreciating all they had contributed when they lived. I simply enjoyed looking at those exhibited posters on the walls, each describing a woman's virtue she possessed in the past. As I read them, I realised how brave the women were and how dedicated to the household they were such that they have become important figures in the eyes of others in the past. These women sacrifices much for the well being of others, their loved ones, their selfless traits are deserving of recognition. I truly admire their beauty, the qualities they have. Looking back, I realise how our strong personalities have great impacts on others in society, if we display strong, positive character traits, we will be well received by others as well. We then headed to the lake, where its banks were made up of stones. Picking two up as a keepsake, I trudged forward, feeling the cool breeze that blew past in this hot sunny day. We had loads of fun throwing pebbles into the waters, watching how many times they would bounce on the surface of the water, we were even greeted by a cute little black dog that kept walking around in the stones. I have to say, I only picked up the meager points in this day. There were simply too many cute animals here in China. We spotted many dogs here, we even saw a cute little ting kitten perched on a wooden plank. Looking back on the events of today, I felt utterly remorseful for not paying attention to what the guide was saying, as I was distracted that day. I felt that that day was one if the more important days on the trip that was filled with more important lessons on the Chinese culture in China, but I made a silly mistake by not catching what the guide said. I will never, ever make such a mistake again, robbing myself of the information I ought to absorb on this day of a meaningful trip. 
Day 7: This will be the last day we spend here in Anhui. The last day. Even though I felt excited to get back home, back to my cosy, comfortable room, reuniting with my soft bed, I could hardly bear leaving those memories I've spent here in the different parts in Anhui with my classmates behind. Unfortunately, this was the ugly fact I had to face, so I've decided to make the very best out of this very last day here with my friends. Last night, Ling Han and I spent the dragon boat festival eating dumplings in our hotel room. Those dumplings were given as a gift to Ling Han by her buddy in Hefei. We boiled the dumplings in the kettle, it was really rather humorous watching her stuff the dumplings into the kettle, boiling it for ten minutes, they were ready to be eaten. We boiled two dumplings, both of different flavours, one salty and the other sweet. We ate the salty one in the washroom of the hotel room, so as not to mess up the bedroom. We later invited Boya and Sinyee up to try out the other dumpling, living our last night here in Anhui together to the fullest. We had a great time together on he hotel room, laughing at each other's remarks and conversations, it was a great last night spent in China. Today, we had time to finally shop at Tunxi ancient street. I was really eager to settle all the shopping I have to do for my family members and my relatives, so that I won't see to appear empty handed when I return to Singapore and meet them. After tasting a cup of green tea, I bought four cans of tea for my parents and grandparents, and headed out on my search for suitable gifts for the others. It was then that it caught my attention. I bought two sets of Chinese 毛笔 for my two sisters, and carried on by buying five beautiful fans for my mother and my four maternal aunts. I also purchased five intricately carved wooden 平安 keychains for my dad and four other maternal uncles for safety as thy drive cars, and bought three sets of five face mask objects for each of my thirteen cousins. As i walked out of the shops, I felt relieved I found great presents for all of them as they were all dearly close to me. Something else caught me eye again. This time, it was an elderly man clad in Chinese robes, writings Chinese poem in calligraphy on a fan. As I approached him, he said one fan have sold for twenty 人民币, and the poem on the back of each fan was written with the name of a person you want hidden among the words. This was the perfect gift for my two younger sisters! I fudge it forty 人民币 and wrote down the names of my two sisters in his notebook and he started writing their personal poems on the fans. After completing his work, he stamped if with his 硬仗, and explained the poem to me. The poems were beautifully written, that I remember even though I've completely forgotten the explanation to each poem. Their names were words hat made up parts of the poems that made the poems significant. By then, a queue had formed and the elderly man got busy. I thanked him and left the table, gathering with the rest of my classmates. I carried big bags of stuff, I looked like Santa Claus in disguise! I bought pastries and cakes on my way tot he meeting place, and soon we were off to our next destination. We went on the west lake cruise where I sat, naturally with Ling Han, on the boat. I love being on boats as I like watching the waters crash against each other, seeing them flowing in all directions. Whenever I look at waters, they always "send me a message" as if they were giving me a hidden message or insight, there was always something I could make up just looking at the water, something knowledgeable and true. Water helps me relate to the problems I face in life, where all my problems drown just seeing the crashing of the waves against the shore, as if they had perished down to the bottom of the sea, never to resurface again. We reached the 岳飞 memorial, the last place we will be before heading to pudong airport. There, I took many photographs, it felt surreal that the body of a famous general was just here, near where I was standing. I was suspicious as to whether the actual body was in the burial or not. It just seemed to good to be true, standing so close to the decayed body of Yuefei. From what I've heard from the guide, the body of Yuefei has been to many places, shifted from here to there since his assassination. That made me even more doubtful about the body in the burial and even if there is a body in it. Anyway, that last day in Anhui was a really well spent one, I took many hilarious pictures of my friends, took many funny videos and memorable photos. I really wish to go on further trips like that with my classmates again, this one has truly enabled me to know and understand them better, it has also helped our class bond over these seven days we spent together. Goodbye!  Reflection of OELP DAY1 OELP DAY 1
-We did not have enough sleep.Sleep was so limited and the fact that I'm not those kind of people who can sleep immediately,I only managed to sleep at 3am.And at 6am,we had to wake up.Thus,me and my roommate missed breakfast.Sleeping on the high speed train to Hefei city allowed me to get some sleep and freshen up.,and then we had to walk around三河古镇 or Sanhe Ancient city.The walk and learning about the culture was quite interesting at times such as learning about Three Rivers is located in Chaohu coast, 40 km from Hefei, because fengle River Hangbu River, a small river running through the three Nanhe named, said that its history can be traced back 2,500 years. Street District, a bustling marketplace color or the contributions of China's heroes and we not only learned history of china,we also saw how the old china streets looked like and understand how fortunate we are.The people living there lived in small tiny houses which was dark and smelly and I felt fortunate to be able to live in such a modernize and clean environment.They had no electricity and most of them sat outside for sunlight and fresh air.I asked the tour guide why they wanted to live in these houses and she told me that some were poor and had no choice and some were just following their family who had passed down this house to every generation.Many were very talented as they ground their own tea leaves or carved wooden toys such as sword.This experience has left me an impression of them
OELP DAY 2: After visiting Hefei no.45 school,I learn to appreciate the environment etc.in RV instead of complaining about things RV doesn't have.5 things I like about RV -The cleanliness of the toilets in our school.Compared to our school toilets,Hefei's one was super smelly -RV spirit -The beauty of our modernized school;our classrooms are all so new but yet China's one was old and the wall's were dirty -There are very little people in one class compared to China's.This is good as this case,it wouldn't be as cramp as China's classroom.And our small number of people in a class make it easier for the teacher to teach us. -The teacher's speak slower here.Unlike China teachers,Singapore teacher speak slowly and patiently Reflection: Today,we visited HeFei no.45 school and after spending an entire day in their school,I have learnt a lot of meaningful stuff.Firstly,when I first entered their school,I saw that their classrooms were very old.I felt guilty as although they have such an old classroom,they still bother to clean it up such as emptying the dustbin the minute one lesson has ended.Whereas for us,we have such a new and modernized classroom but yet we often have to be reminded by teacher to clean our classroom up.Every 40minutes of each lesson,they have 10minutes break where they can rest or play for that short break.I find that our school should have this system to enable us to freshen up for the next lesson to prevent us from dozing off.Their lessons was all in Chinese but I tried my best to understand although I especially could not understand their mathematics lesson.I saw that although they were super noisy and mischievous during break times,but the minute their teacher entered,they all immediately quieten down and listen attentively to the class.During the class,they were all proactive which I was very surprised as everyone was answering the answer.Their toilet was super smelly but they did not seem to mind it.I feel very appreciative to have a clean toilet in our school.When my buddy went out with me to shop,she seemed super determined to learn better English as although I kept asking her to speak Chinese for her own convenience,she spoke to me in English.In the end,She spoke English to me,and I spoke Chinese to her.I think we both learned how to speak in our weaker language more confidently.Me,jing wen,My buddy,Jingwen's buddy,BaoBin and BaoBin's buddy all went to a themepark.We went into a haunted house but my buddy and JingWen's buddy were too scared so they didn't join us.As the rest of us walk,we held hands.The haunted house was super dark and something even touch me.From then on,I started screaming continuously like a mad lady.We also went to the bumper car where me and Jingwen sat together I had a lot of fun bumping into each other.After that,we bought bubble tea and went to buy some snack.My buddy introduces me to the popular food in China.One such was smelly tofu.I enjoyed it pretty much but cried as it was super spicy.While I was struggling with the spice,my buddy just put the whole tofu into her mouth and when I asked her if it was spicy she said no.Since she had introduce me to so many food,I decided to let her try my favorite sweet from Singapore,WONKA NERDS.She pop them into the mouth and became addicted to it.Within a couple of minutes,we finished all the Nerds.I feel that I have learnt a lot from this experience and hope to visit their school again.
 (The school we went to,Hefei no.45 school) (Me and my buddy,Jacqueline)
OELP DAY 3 Today,we went to Anhui Museum and the China intangible cultural heritage programme which I prefer to call the theme park in short.From the Anhui museum, we saw alot of relics from many years ago. one example was the splendid bronze culture that was used for sacrifices, weddings, banquets and meetings.i also learnt the different types of windows, pots that was used in the Ming and Qing dynasty.One of the design of windows used in the Ming dynasty took many years just to carved out the design.We were also taught that the brush of the 毛笔 is made from rat hair,chicken breast hair etc.At the theme park,we were lucky it was a weekday and there weren't anyone there so it was a peaceful trip.Although we were mostly playing,I learnt the most and it was the most enriching lesson I had.At first we went for the animal shows such as fighting roosters show,dog relay.I found that it was animal cruelty to allow roosters to fight among each other.The roosters were being brought up to fight to put up a show because their owners needed money .Their feathers were dropping and I could see injuries.The dog relay was what I felt even more cruel.The dogs firstly were all so skinny and I guess that they were not fed well with food.The dogs were all bony but yet they were being bullied as there was a machine that caught the dogs attention and chased after it.But then,I reflected on the show in my heart and accepted that those people were poor and only did these to make a living.We then walked around to see the types of houses people once lived in and their village food court.However we couldn't go in as it was locked.We were walking around when we heard the circus bell ring.Thats when the tour guide asked us to go and see the show.It was not a show however,it was more like a torture placeThose trainees of the tiger was cruel and heartless.They used metal rods to hit the tigers if they do not obey.Even times when one of the tiger was helpless and just could not climb up the ball to walk on it,those trainees hit them hard.The tigers were very scared of the trainees and at times they showed their animal rights by disobeying their trainees.When the trainees hit the little tiger cub because it was scared and ran away,it jumped.I felt super angry with the trainees as they were showing an act of animal abuse.I felt that they should put themselves into the animal shoes and imagine how they would feel if they were being hit and tortured .That behavior of animal abuse was strictly unaccepted as they can't force an animal to do something through beating.The hula hoop performance not to mention was rusty.They made lots of mistake and look as if they were inexperience and not ready to perform.In the end,we left the circus stadium as the next performance had an animal with a chain that came up.We could not take another show of abusing of animals and we all left.I have learnt that we should treat animals with kindness as they too have feelings.Our teachers and tour guide felt guilty and brought us to the playground to play.I challenged some of my classmates in rock climbing and with determination,I conquered the challenge and was the first girl to complete it.
This two photos were taken outside ANHUI MUSEUM.(I have more but it's poloraid films which I put in my wallet which I lost it)
 These is the horse relay And this is one of the fighting chicken OELP DAY 4
Today,we also transferred to 黄山.We took a cable car up and walked the rest of the journey up the mountain to the hotel we were staying in.The air was cold,fresh but thin and although it was really difficult to breathe,I had a lovely time walking up.There was wind,cold one blowing on my face but the sun was shining down so hot,I didn't even feel cold.The scenery was beautiful.After half an hour of climbing up the stairs,we reached our hotel.We had around 20mins break before we had to meet back at the lobby to start our real walk around the mountain.We could see the other natural mountains from far,trees and rocks.At first I was scared as I'm scared of heights,so when I looked down,I realised we were very high up the mountain.And then I heard one of my friends asked if anyone ever died here?Somebody replied that they fell off the mountain and died.Boy,was I scared.However,I soon overcome this fear with the help of not looking down and ZhiYan's gummies. Wew ere left on our own to take pictures.As we went down the mountain after an hour plus,we kept stopping to take more pictures.Mr Wong had said that whoever wanted to go back could go back to the hotel.Since I was done with taking pictures,I headed down with Malvin first.However,on the way down,there was so many diffent lanes and we got lost.Luckily,we saw a few of the girls from our class and like us,they were lost too.We sticked together and tried to find our back together.With the help of asking many other people of how to get back to our hotel,we found our way back,We were so happy and relieved and felt a sense of accomplishment.In fact,I found that with team spirit in encouraging each other,independence and bravery in keeping calm in times of trouble,we found our way back.Still,we were ahead of the rest of the class and waited patiently for the class.After the whole class had gathered back,we went to have our dinner where we ate and played truth or dare.After an hour or so of exploring,we headed back to the hotel to eat.We did not have any ice breaking that night as the teachers decided to let us get some rest for the following day 4am sun rise.Me and my room mate went to the food shop to get some hot food to eat since it was not yet bedtime.I should say that day was the most enjoyable and relaxing one indeed. The view of a close up mountains which I took from the cable car. The beginning of our walk after our 20mins breakWalking towards our hotel Shaolin up the mountain with Mr wong and Charmaine.Cool kids:)  The group of lost people taking a picture to show their satisfaction after finding their way back
OELP DAY 5 Reflection(5) Today,we woke up at 4am to see the sun rise.I was super excited and couldn't sleep the night before as I had never seen sun rise before.Apparently,the sky was cloudy and dark and to my disappointment the sun rise wasn't as nice and clear as I had expected.But I was still appreciative to be able to go up the mountain to see the sun rise from the mountain view which was such a rare opportunity.After seeing the sun rise,we were dismissed back to the hotel where I went back to sleep.after breakfast,we had a walk up the peak of the mountain.I was practically crawling as the stairs were super steep.But it was all worth it when I could see the scenary. We saw monkeys and even a baby one who was drinking hits mother's breast milk.We also saw an ex Rv student who was now in his 60/70s.Together,we sang the RV school song and at that moment,I felt proud to be an RvianAfter an hour of walking and taking pictures,it was time to go down the mountain.We took the cable car down and the rest of the journey down was by vehicles.While the class took the bus down,me,李老师,Zhiyan and Charmaine took a car down.It was super fast and we reach the bottom of the mountain within 20 minutes.Next,we went to the 南湖书院and a village with cultural history in them.At 南湖书院, we learnt that it had 200 years of history.We were also were showed and told that the ancient classrooms did not have any lamps or lanterns.Instead the children used atural light that came into the classroom to help them study.We were also taught that in the past,when the hat was on the table it meant that the owner was there.From today's trip,I learnt that this place was built according to how the people donated.
 At the village we went to Selfie in the car we had specially to ourselves
This is the peak of the mountain where I struggled to climb up:)
 OELP DAY 6 Today was the most tiring day ever.I felt that everything was really cramp as we visited one place to another without stopping.We visited different villages and to be honest,I didn't like the smell of the village.It had a weird smell like an old and sour smell.At first I was super interested in looking at the villages but as we went to more village,I realise that it practically look alike.Although,they all look alike,each village had its own background.There is one part that I will remember when I visited the village schools and temples.I remember asking why it was so cold inside and all the marble chairs were freezing cold.It was because of the construction material used,Wood.Also because there were open spaces where there was no ceiling on top,it allowed the cold air to enter and hit air to leave like a cycle.I enjoyed going to the lake which was surrounded by stones.There were a few men fishing and there was a turbo power thing.Hungry dogs and chicken ran freely.We also went to the memorial archway where we took jumpshots.Each archway had its own history and building purpose.We visited a place filled with flowers and it was spectacular.It was so beautiful.I saw a caterpillar and a snake too!After a long day of going from one village to another,we still had to head back to a hotel where we had a 2 hours long briefing.Before going for the briefing,we were allowed to check into our hotel to settle down and out our luggages down.Our hotel to our horrors as next to a dark staircase.At first I didn't think much and just walked towards our hotel.However,my roommate, Raphaela just stopped in her tracks with tears running down her cheeks.She was super disturbed and scared of sleeping next to a staircase.I started to freak out too and we repay downstairs to the lobby to change room.However nobody wanted to change room with us. Briefing: The briefing was practically all in Chinese and I was super tired.So the only thing that I had absorbed was the part where the guy told us more about the food we had been eating for the past few days.He introduced to us most if the food and I found out that this food was China's popular food.In the middle of his briefing however,李老师 had called me and Raphaela out.She had kindly helped us change our hotel room to make us more comfortable.I felt really grateful towards her.The rest of the briefing was talking about history of the heroes and famous people of China.I realised that what the guy had say was practically a repeat of what all the guides had once told us for the past few days. OELP DAY 7: Today was the day I had been waiting for.SHOPPING!!!:D We were given only 40mins to shop at Tunxi ancient street.I had a fun time shopping and tasting their local food.I had bought a bag for $19 but with the help of Zhiyan's bargaining,we managed to bring the price down to $11.I realised how stupid I was to just buy stuff without bargaining.The place was small but yet the shops were big.There were so many unique and interesting things that I had never seen before thus 40mins had past in a blink of an eye.We also went on a boat trip across the lake and I had really enjoyed it.The sea breeze was nice and we all took turns to go out to the open space to take pictures.Before we know it,we were on the bus heading to the airport.I was super excited to go back to Singapore as by that time,I was more than home-sick.I had miss my parents,my bed,my room,everything.And I was also sick of crying nearly every night talking to my mom on the phone instead of talking to her face to face.At the airport,our flight was delayed for an hour and we got free coupons.We used them all to buy ice cream.Since my friends had bought a lot,I ate theirs and gave my coupons to the teachers for them to use so as to let them pay lesser money.In the airplane,I slept throughout and I didn't touch my meal.When I open my eyes,we were in Singapore.Although I was happy to go home to my parents,I still miss Anhui.Many of us had bond well together and I will definitely miss the experience of sitting together alone big family talking and laughing and eating.  Oo oo Jack I'm flying ooooo Jack All set to go home:) DONE BY:Charlotte Lim 2E
Reflections for OELP Reflections for 25/5/2014
Today it was exciting siting on the high speed rail for the "first time", actually I rode on it before but I forgot all about it. It really was fast. When we reached He Fei, we had a very bad traffic jam there and I even saw two car accidents in such a short period of time. The traffic in China is far from Singapore, Singapore traffic is very orderly but China's one is just in a mess. Also, the toilets in a restaurant we went to for lunch had no toilet door. The food there was pretty horrible too. However I liked the 三河古镇 tour, it was really very informative and historical. I learnt about the famous people in Anhui who made a difference to China, and I feel that I have learnt a lot. However perhaps we should not move from one place to another so quickly, my feet felt like cramping around the time when the journey ended. I liked the figurines of people that appears sometimes in the wooden stores, because they looked so real I initially thought that they were real people. Their actions also suggested the type of lifestyle they have in the past. The dinner was awesome compared to lunch and the environment is much better.
Reflections for 26/5/2014
Today we went to Hefei No. 45 Middle School and I had a really really nice experience. There were more than 60 students in each class and all of them were really bonded, proactive and friendly. When we walked in, we were greeted with this friendly atmosphere. Their school was really different from ours as they only had three levels, each class had more than 60 people and their level had a lot more classes than us. We had six levels, and each class had around 30 students. Their school did not have a canteen, they had a 2 hour lunch break I which they go home and eat their lunch. I personally think that this is better as it ensures that there is time to eat. Their school normally does not have much CCA activities, but their lessons are until around 7pm. There were bells in their school, which reminds the teachers when to stop the lesson. After each lesson, there will be a little break and everyone will run to their friends and start chatting. When the bell rings again, it means that the next lesson is going to begin and they all settle down. Sometimes over the speaker there will be an exercise that students do by rubbing their nose bridge and temple, etc. This makes them feel a little more energized. The students were also really enthusiastic in lessons. Whenever a teacher asks a question, they will immediately try to compete with each other by answering first. However sadly to say in Singapore, whenever the teacher asks a question, the students won't be so proactive and there will be a long silence and then someone speaks. In worst cases, the questions will not even be answered. The students were also very attentive during their lessons. When I felt like dozing off during the math lesson, all the other students were listening attentively and were even taking notes. Thus I feel that their school is way different from our school. Another thing that was different was the toilets. My teachers recommended us to go and visit the toilets because they were really an "eye-opener".
5 Things I Love About RV 1. Clean toilets 2. Teachers that are not that loud 3. Beautiful architecture 4. Many facilities 5. Classmates that speak English
Reflections for 27/5/2014
Today we went to Anhui Museum. There was a tour guide there to teach us about the exhibitions and I didn't get much of the things she was saying as she said them to fast. However I managed to make some sense of what she was saying and piece them together. She told us about the ancient pots they used to use. We also learnt about the 文房四宝 in Chinese History which were used to write in the olden days. The trip to Anhui Museum was quite fun. Due to the change in plans, we did not go to Hefei No. 45 Middle School again. Instead we went to China Intangible Cultural Heritage Park where I witnessed something that was horrifying. As an animal lover, I was horrified to see animals being forced to fight and getting beaten. I saw roosters fighting, their feathers flying all over the place. It was really terrifying to see animals getting injured just for the entertainment for the audience. Actually, we as the audience were not even entertained, we were more like horrified to see animals being treated and tortured like that.
CSI (Anhui Museum): Colour: Bronze Symbol: Square tiles that look like mazes Image: On the outside of the Anhui Museum Building
Animals Mistreating: I feel sad for these animals. They were just born to fight just for entertainment, they get injured, their feathers fly, they might even get killed just for our entertainment. However to put it frankly we weren't very impressed. During the dog race, one can see that the dog was underweight, which means that they were forced to build up stamina while starving. These animals were really pitiful, they have to train to run everyday. Imagine ourselves being them, not getting enough food, starving but are even forced to run many many meters. Wouldn't you be really sad? Next we went to see the circus and it was just as terrifying. The lions and tigers were getting beaten to do some lame tricks like rolling over and they can't do anything about it. They cannot escape from that hell. Even though I think of it as that way, maybe there's another side to that story. Maybe the people training and torturing those animals didn't want this to happen too, but they cannot quit this job as it's their only way of living. I think I judged these people too impulsively. This also had made me realise the difference between Singapore and China. In Singapore, something like this is against the law but in China it's not.
Reflections for 28/5/2014 Today was the day everyone was anticipating for in the trip. We were going to climb the famous HuangShan. I guess most of the class knew and heard about the beauty of that mountain. When I first received the news and told my mum that our class was going to Anhui, she asked my dad, "isn't HuangShan in Anhui?" My dad answered yes. I was curious too, as in the senior's presentation, they said that they went to climb that mountain. So, I asked my mum what was so special about that mountain. My mum told me that it was one of the most beautiful mountains in China, and possibly the world. She also told me this phrase that people use to describe HuangShan's scenic beauty,"五岳归来不见山, 黄山归来不看岳”. Basically, China has five really beautiful mountains. This phrase says that if you go to those five mountains, then you no longer have the need to see any more mountains. However if you go to HuangShan, you no longer need to see those five mountains. It means that HuangShan is basically the best of the best. When I confirmed that I was going to HuangShan, my mum was actually jealous of me. Thus I was really really excited to see the famous HuangShan everyone loved. The beauty of that mountain didn't let me down. HuangShan was by far the most beautiful mountain I have seen (actually might have been the only mountain I saw, I forgot) and it's scenery at the summit really takes one's breath away. We immediately forgot about the ache in our legs, and everyone must have thought that it was worth it. Seeing the actual HuangShan was nothing like seeing the pictures of it, and one will truly admire the beauty of HuangShan. I wouldn't mind living at the submit and stare at the mountain all day, but the mosquitos there were too irritating. The smooth rocks were really a sight to behold. Our geography teacher should have been there. That was too bad. Anyway, the beauty of HuangShan can neither be described in words nor by pictures. I would recommend everyone I know to go up there. It really takes one's stress away just like that. The air there is really fresh too. I hope that one day, I'll visit that mountain again.
Reflections for 29/5/2014 Today we woke up super early to see the sun rise on the mountain. To say the truth, it wasn't really anything. I mean, the place where we watched the sun rise was really squeezy with all those other tourists and our whole class. To me, it was just like seeing an orange ball in the dark sky. However, climbing that mountain worked me up in a sweat and I was wide awake after a while. I felt that there was no need for a windbreaker as it was rather hot to me. Even though the sunrise was not as beautiful as I had expected it to be, it was still beautiful. (It's a sunrise, so naturally it's really beautiful) once the sun was high up in the sky, we headed back to our hotel to get some sleep. I couldn't sleep, though, so I played in the hotel room. In the later part of the day, we went to 宏村 where we saw many ancient buildings. We also saw people actually living in those buildings their whole lives, shocking. I wouldn't be able to live in that building that is so humid and dusty and stuff. I admire those people. Actually I didn't really learn anything there, I feel that we just kept going through rooms that looks the same as there were glasses and paintings and tables and chairs in each room. Everything looked like a maze. I couldn't understand what the tour guide was saying though. Perhaps it will be a good idea if we hire one that speaks Chinese and one that speaks English or just translates the important things? Because some people like me are really bad at Chinese and just can't understand a single word.
Reflections for 30/5/2014 Today we went to lots of different places. Which is to me, more rooms of paintings and vases and tables and chairs and archways that don't look any different. And like yesterday I didn't understand anything, with the exception of the Tangyue Archways as I researched about it for presentation and the story behind each archway was translated into English on a board beside each archway. It's a good form of praising someone, though. I'd like to have one built for me, but I don't think I did anything really outstanding and helpful in this thirteen and a half years of my life. Oh well, I'm still young. For the nigh lecture, I kind of slept through a good quarter of it. I was really tired running from place to place during the day. However, I am proud to say that I understand quite a bit of the lecture, and I took down notes. What troubles me is that the lecturer keeps saying hard work hard work hard work. Hard work will give you good results. It will get you far. I don't know how many times I've heard this. This is true, but I came to OELP to let go some of my stress. I wanted to relax. However, I feel irritated about hearing this kind of stuff when I want to have fun. I mean, give me a break, I don't want to hear the same thing over and over again, 365 days a year. So I was a little irritated there. The hotel we sleep in was scary. It was circular.😱
Reflections for 1/5/2014 Today we went to shop. I initially thought it will be fun, but it was not as fun as I had expected. I ended up only buying red tea and green tea, but I was nevertheless still quite satisfied. My father told me to buy some tea when I went to Anhui as he was a tea lover. I think he was quite happy with the tea I brought back home. Next, we went to the West Lake. The tour guide said that that place was the place where many love stories were formed, and that you will have a +50% chance of the girl of your dreams excepting your marriage proposal if you proposed there. However, I think it just looks like a normal lake. Maybe I can't appreciate the beauty of the lake. We took a boat ride and the tour guide said that the water was just 1.5m deep. If that were so, I wondered, why do we need life jackets, we could just stand up normally and at least our nose will be above water. The tour guide later answered the question in my head that even though the water was not deep, the mud is deep and could sink. Well, that explains it. After exploring around the area, we hopped on the bus to the airport, ready to go back home. I was torn between feelings of happiness and regret as we approached the airport. I was happy to be able to go home at last, where there were clean toilets and loving parents. But at the same time, I wanted to travel around China again with my friends forever. Living in hotels, having fun, not needing to do homework, forgetting about stress, a carefree time. However we had to go back, and I dreaded the sleepless days of stress and exams ahead of me. On the bright side, shortly after, the December Holidays will be coming when we can totally relax again.
Done by: Shen Yang (16) Daily reflections Daily reflections of baobin 😆
Day 1
First day was kind of tiring, mainly due to the early wakeup time as well as the late check in time in the hotel. Sq flight was extremely good except for the pain in my ear during landing. Struggled for 3h+ sleep and as expected, waked up with extreme sore eyes. The morning breakfast has a variety of food to consume. However, it's most probably to due to the cultural difference to result in my stomach not accepting the food. It seems too oily to me and some simply just doesn't-fit-my-appetite.
The long high speed rail train allowed us to catch back an hour or so of sleep, it was pleasant except for the long time of travel. It was definitely a enriching experience as we got to try visiting the toilet in the train.
After reaching Hefei, we went for a chinese lunch. I hate to say so but the service was terrible, together with the food! For example, soup was served without spoons to consume it.
We visited the 三河古镇 , which looked very traditional to the eye. The souvenirs there seems to be interesting such as wooden swords, crossbow and more. Sadly, it's a pity we're not allowed to purchase any :c I understand the cultural value of keeping such ancient relics, however, the exhibition seems a little bit rundown and unkept. The ventilation was horrible and, stale air together with the immense amount of dust certainly started my flu. I guess you have to sacrifice some for learning ._. It's a back-breaking visit as we spent hours walking around. What a pity most of the stream dried up when we visited ._. Looking on the bright side, it provided a good point of view in photography.
The dinner at the restaurant was a great improvement compared to lunch. I specially liked the yam ball, as it seemed directly out from the steaming oven. The wifi there also allowed for communication with my family back in singapore.
Holiday inn room was splendid, except for the faulty safe we chanced upon. The wifi adapter worked and we have wifi in the room :)
Day 2
Alike to everybody else, visiting hefei school is most probably the exciting part of this trip. I was surprise they treated us with such respect. There is a huge difference in their schools compared to singapore. For example, they emphasize on eye exercise between lesson, I feel this is a very good way to maintain the eye sight of the kids studying. Not only that, they also have 10min breaks in between lesson, this ensures them to not be overly exhausted. I feel that singapore's school should also adopt the alarm system that informs the teachers about the end of periods, this would ensure that the teachers do not eat into the time of the student other subjects.However, their toilets are pretty traumatizing , you can literally smell it blocks away. I enjoyed the company of my buddy who brought me to the streets to enjoy some local delicacy such as 'stinky tofu' and their bubble tea. The haunted house and bumper car ride was also extremely fun.
5 Things I like in RV
-Shorter school hours
-Surroundings
-The auditorium
-The location
-The interconnected building
Day 3 anhui
Starting off with anhui museum, my main takeaway is the different types of bronze objects used by the emperors as well as the building fashion. I feel that they regard their bronze objects such as 'ding' highly, not only every ding seem to be different in their own way, their shape and size seem to get smaller over the years. I was amazed by the detail built in and also the fact that they are still intact currently. The museum did a fantastic job of exhibiting the different ancient relics. For example, there are cross section 3D model on the the different building. I feel that this little feature is cool as it provides a deeper point of view.
Although activities such as chicken fight and dog racing might be acceptable,the circus is simply ridiculous. Most of this probably is the result of singapore's upbringing.In my opinion, they are just abusing the animals just to get them to perform a trick shot. I believe in mutual love and training instead of forcing. I was able to continue watching the show as I have already accepted the cultural differences in china, however some of my classmates seem to be deeply affected by it. At least this proves that us as kids are still capable to feel for another living being. This fact alone touches my heart. As cruel as this show is, it certainly taught me a valuable lesson.
CSI
Colour:Bronze
All the bronze object found in the museum
Symbol:Death
All the animals abused in the circus are close to death
Image: <insert image of both circus and museum >
Day 4 anhui
After a 4h trip, we finally arrived in huangsan! Although the cable car ride is crammed, the view was spectacular. Off we go climbing up thousands of steps to the peak. It was a devastating climb, not only that the road is uneven, the steps are also thin sometimes. At least I'm proud that I managed to reach the peak. The reward given was definitely worth. The view was amazing! It was also a popular spot for couples to leave their 'locks of love' on the top of the mountain. I believe everyone in the class felt accomplished , one thing off my bucket list :>
Day 5 anhui
The sunrise was certainly worth my time and precious sleep. I finally experienced the coldness of the legendary huangsan in the early morning. We were devastated when we thought that we wouldn't be able to witness the sunrise, however the sun did rise and stayed for around 5 good minutes. It was just beautiful, camera aren't capable of capturing such moments.
Hong cun was a beautiful place with beautiful sceneries. Firstly the lake Infront of the whole village was clear and clean. All the water system are filled with spring water from the mountain and is safe to drink. The idea of protecting their houses with a good water system from fire is genius. The 天井 they built to provide water constantly and made sure that it doesn't flood their houses too is simply a engineering breakthrough! I like how the whole village is bonded as one and they treat each other as family. Providing free schooling for all the kids. This is unique to them and I feel it's a really good move. It's a really beautiful place overall
Day 6
we visited the different traditional villages, the main concept of huizhou buildings are the same. Thus I believe it's not necessary to go to multiple villages, the tour guide was simply repeating the same point. It was zehan's birthday, we gave him a birthday surprise. I'm happy that the whole class is willing to celebrate his birthday together with him.
The night lecture was pretty boring, my main takeaway was the information about huizhou merchants.
Day 7
We were finally allowed to buy some stuff back to singapore in Tun Xi street. The street seem to be patronized by both locals and foreigner. Luckily stuff sold are quite affordable. Afterwards, the boat trip was exhilarating too, i was amazed how that the deepest the water went was less then 1.5m. I feel the mischievousness of our class when someone played the theme song of 'titanic' as a joke. Well, everyone laughed along. After dinner, it was time to check in at the airport, awaiting our flight back to beloved singapore. There was a bit of panic when we found out the plane was delayed and we had little form of communication back to our parents back at singapore. Zhiyang also gave us a shock when he went missing, only to be found already passed immigration by himself enjoying the food he purchased with the food voucher. Regarding the food voucher provided for compensation of the delay, one could argue that it's a bad thing. For example, one classmate used the food coupon and bought 20 boxes of nuggets, he tried to be a nice person and gave it out to random people. However, he was left with quite a lot unfinished boxes afterwards. It started off as a good deed but ended as a waste of food. The flight back was comfortable, sleeping majority of the time. There we were, back at sinagpore. Reflections on OELP trip in China, Anhui Day 1: This morning, we met up in the dining hall of the hotel for breakfast, where in ate fried rice, bacon and two sausages. Soon after, we took off for our destination, the well-known high speed rail to Hefei, where we will be meeting our buddies there for the first time in their secondary school. We had to wait a long time upon our arrival at the train station, there were many travelers there to be seen. After a while of inactivity at the station, we were soon able to embrace the long anticipated experience of riding on the high speed rail. We spent a good three hours on the train, I heeded the teachers' advice and decided to take a short nap after enjoying some music through my earpiece. Well, that wasn't the end of the itinerary. After alighting the high speed rail, we headed for the bus that took us to visit the cultural sites of Hefei city, 三河古镇. On the way there before we boarded the bus, some of us were threatened with the risk of getting knocked down by cars. The traffic there was really really bad, I feel that it has to be regulated. There, we were greeted with multiple rows of buildings and infrastructure donned with whitewashed walls and black tile roofs, many of which have a slant toward the centre of the roofing. The grandeur of the entire place took my breath away as I ventured on with the rest of the class to immerse ourselves deeper into the culture of the city. We visited 杨振宁旧居, where we learnt more about the history and background of 杨振宁and his contributions to the history of China. We also passed by the 仙姑楼, where I took many pictures of the plague for keepsake and fond memories of the place. Throughout the entire journey, we were greeted warmly by the villagers of Hefei, and a wide array of wonderful souvenirs, consisting of fans, wooden toys and hats. It was a pity that we were not able to purchase those souvenirs, but it was great that we were able to take class on tots on the majestic bridge located there. I truly enjoyed the times I spent with the class here in a foreign place, this is an opportunity to bond together as a class, where we are able to experience things different from our everyday lives as a group. The day ended off with us having dinner at a restaurant, where we ate to our hearts content. All in all, we had a whale of a time in Hefei, in China, I look forward to the days following this memorable one.
Day 2: This morning, all of us set off for our destination, Hefei no. 45 middle school. Upon our arrival, we were greeted warmly with a large group of secondary school students, all faces brightly lit up with smiles plasted on each of their faces. I was feeling rather sleepy then , but when I espied their bright and eager faces beaming down at us, I could not help but feel welcome and energized. After a short briefing at a lecture hall in the school, we were brought up to our respective classes where we would be buddied and in our CID groups, attending lessons with our china friends. Throughout the entire learning experience in the classroom, I noticed many aspects of their school life that differed from ours. Firstly, all lessons, apart from probably English was delivered in the Chinese language, the students' mother tongue. Secondly, there were pockets of free time in between every lesson of the students curriculum, they were allowed to leave and enter the class as freely as they wanted to as long as the teachers had not entered the classroom and started his/ her respective class. Thirdly, the class strength for the class we had lessons with today had a grand total of 62, the number of students in the classroom was almost twice that offers in Singapore, where we had a total of only 34 students in our class. Lastly, the students there were truly enthusiastic during their time in school while most students in Singapore felt restless throughout the periods of lessons during the day. We had physical education lesson with the class, where a group of girls from the class played a game of passing the ball with us. We had a merry time together, thoroughly enjoying each other's company. After that, we had our lunch and returned back to school, where our buddies where assigned to bring us back to their homes. However, my buddy, Andy, said that she was "too ashamed" to bring me back to her home as she said it was in a mess, and offered to being me out for a walk wherever I wanted to go. So I asked my group members if we could walk together, and we all agreed to go for an outing around Hefei together. Unfortunately, Shen yang had already left with her buddy, so Charlotte, Bao Bin and I set off together with our buddies to experience the everyday lives of the people living in that area in Hefei. We walked in a street where there were many stalls selling scrumptious looking food, where our buddies bought us a cup of 臭豆腐to try. It was the first time I've tried this delicacy, and I have to say that it was a really delicious and wonderful experience I've had. Our buddies went on to buy us cups of milk tea each where we savored each and every drop of it as we entered a departmental store. We spent a rather long time in it, window shopping and glancing around at the expensive brands around us. We got bored soon after, and our buddies suggested we spend the rest of our limited time together at the nearby theme park. Our buddies insisted buying the tickets for the haunted house we wanted to try out, Charlotte, Bao Bin, his buddy and I went into the haunted house. The walk truly scared the wits out of me, Charlotte and I screamed our way through the entire time, clasping our hands together for each other's reassurance. Come to think of it, we were the only two of the four in our group who lost our heads in the house. Next up, we tried the bumper cars where all of us went to play. Charlotte's buddy and mine got into a car, Bao Bin and his buddy went into another, and Charlotte and I took one too. We had a whale of a time in the theme park, we enjoyed the time we spent there together as friends thoroughly. Well, that was the climax of the day to me. If I had the opportunity to get to another theme park again, this experience will be one that will be forever etched deeply in my mind, one that will remain here with me forever. As we stepped out of the school compound later that night, I felt that there was much room for improvement in our learning attitudes, and that we should be more appreciative for all the facilities provided for us in our school, and not to forget to cherish the times we have spent together in Hefei that memorable day.
5 things I like about RV: 1) I like the facilities provided for students in the school, like the well equipped and clean washrooms in RV, the spacious classrooms we have our lessons in, and air conditioned rooms for us to learn in comfort. These facilities help me to learn and concentrate better in class, allowing me to absorb facts the teachers teach us in class easily. With these facilities, I would be able to have a better learning experience in school.
2) I like the class strength we have in each class. The number of students assigned to each class is good, a number good enough to be handled and managed by the teachers easily. Also, we would not have to experience overcrowding in the classrooms, where we have to struggle for personal space we do not have to in RV
3) I like the school timetable here in RV as compared to the one in the school we visited in Hefei. The timetable of the students in Hefei spans throughout the whole day, of course with breaks in between their classes. But in RV, our lessons for the day ends in the afternoon, such that we students will be able to get home as soon as possible to take a short nap, do our homework and refresh ourselves, preparing ourselves sufficiently for the next day.
4) I like the way of communication, the English language the teachers speak with us, a language easier for me to understand in comparison to Chinese.
5) Last but not least, I like the livelihood and the lively spirit on RV, a feeling that cannot be felt in any other school, to me, this is probably what makes our school unique.
Day 3: Recounting an eventful day. Even though this was the worst day during the one-week trip we were going to spend here in Anhui, but it also did me good, it could even almost be referred to as a blessing in disguise. This day made me see the cruel side of life, breaking me out of my tiny shell where I thought this world was a wonderful place. We spent the first part of the day at the Anhui Museum, a must go since we were in the place. It was a rather meaningful tourism attraction to me as Mr Wong made each group research about a different sector of our trip, and I did the part on architecture of the buildings there, so the whole visit to the museum made much sense to me. The museum was a huge one, with many rooms filled with valuable exhibits there for tourists and visitors to see. However, the service there left a really bad impression on me. While we were taking fun shots with a group of girls in our class outside one of the rooms, a worker of the museum walked past and met up with her other companion behind the wall where we were taking our shots. As I was not keen in taking pictures, I hung around at the back of the room where the two workers met, only to hear,"她们该是疯了吧！” I mean, who treats visitors like that? What poor attitude! Soon after, we left the Anhui Museum, a place that I left a deep negative impression on. After that, we spent quite some time on the bus that brought us to China Intangible Cultural Heritage Park. We watched a horrific scene of two nearly featherless chickens fighting each other, till one fell of the stage. It was simply horrifying watching two of the same kind fighting the other so mercilessly for the sake of it's own. Using its beak to try tear bits of the other, I felt nauseous afterwards, and deleted the video I filmed. As the chickens were being changed after the first fight, I couldn't help but feel disgusted by the sight unfolding before me. It was pure evil, forcing roosters to fight for their lives like that. Just throwing them onto the arena, leaving them alone and helpless, fending for their own when it wasn't even their choice in the first place to be in their current state. With their feathers torn off their backs, the stinging blow when the other tries it's best to injure it in any way possible to win the match such that he'll be off the stage soon after, I can never imagine living a life like him. Advancing toward each other on the arena, pushing each other off the stage, and being caged up after staging up a performance for the audience, this life was far too unbearable to be lived. Before things could get any worse, a dog racing competition started, the dogs ran unbelievably fast! Within seconds, they completed their laps around the stadium, one emerging as the winner of the race. Following that was the race for the horses, where people ride on their backs and compete to be the first to reach the finishing line. It was simply amazing watching those horses run at such high speeds, the female rider was the fastest rider among the other three male ones. The worst part of the day draws near, we were led to theatre, it was threateningly dark inside, there where blue spotlights in the centre of the stage where lions were caged in, with performers wielding metal poles and guiding the lions onto heavy looking metal balls they had to balance on. The first lion accomplished this task quickly, but the other lion was struggling to get onto it. The trainers pushed the lions with the metal stick, while the lion grunted and continued struggling with all his might to get onto the ball. This was probably when I broke down. It was far too unbearable to watch these animals forced to entertain us humans watching these poor animals suffer like that. If only these animals had voices to communicate with us, these people had no right to rob these animals of their freedom roaming the wild, forcing them here in enclosed cages to entertain us. A group of friends and I walked right out of the theater, till our teacher told us to come back in to continue watching the human performances. We went back into the theatre, only to be greeted by yet another animal performance after the human ones. This time, a baby bear hot wheeled into the centre of the stage, and this time, our teachers took us out of the theatre. I have to admit that this was truly a horrible and traumatizing experience for me, it was the first time I've seen animals being treated so unfairly with my own eyes. However, now as I look back on that incident that occurred during the day, I realized that this was a valuable lesson for me, a chance for me to fully appreciate my blessed life as a human. As a human, I am able to voice out my thoughts and feelings, and avoid getting trampled upon. From the bottom of my heart, I thank fate that has arranged for me to watch that animal show that day, to broaden my perspective on life. Life, it isn't always as wonderful as it seems.
CSI at the Anhui Museum Colour: Red, it symbolizes the preserved Chinese culture and traditions still alive in the museum of Anhui. This colour is also a favoured colour of the Chinese worldwide, which is why I chose this colour to represent my experience in the Anhui museum.
Symbol: I chose this symbol as there are the Chinese characters of Anhui on the right side of the sculpture, successfully wrapping up all the artifacts in the museum as the provincial area of China, Anhui. This about sums up all the different artifacts I have seen in the museum, that's why I chose this as a symbol.Image: To me, this was the perfect image of the Anhui museum after walking through the different rooms there, this wall is dedicated specially to the explanation of the 文房四宝 in Anhui, a major part in the history of Anhui's development. ---------------------------------------------------------------~~-----------------------------------------------------
Day 4: Today, we went straight up to the well known mountain in China, Huangshan. We took various modes of transport to reach the peak of the towering landform. Firstly, we took the bus midway up the mountain, followed by boarding the cable car and walking up to meet the peak of our destination. It was a really really tedious journey climbing the mountain, we went through many obstacles and difficulties during the journey up. There was a humongous amount of bugs and insects of all kinds that we encountered, but the view up at the peak of the mountain was extremely breathtaking, it was truly a sight for sore eyes. We took many memorable pictures and shots at the top of the mountain, we savored the fruits of our labour. Following that, we headed off in various directions, venturing off on our own as the guide that took us told us to meet and gather at the lobby of the hotel. Me, Linghan, Gwen, Shen Yang, Malvin and Charlotte set off together on our route back to the hotel, it was the climax of the whole expedition up the mountain. We had an extremely great time taking group photos initially, but ended up panicking when we realized we were alone in the wilderness. There wasn't another soul to be seen. We continued walking up the path, taking the flights of steps that led us to nowhere, and blasting multiple songs to boost our morale and confidence, a support for us to go on. Soon after, we found our guide sitting next to a bush and asked her for directions to the hotel, and she gave us the way up. The feeling of dejection in our hearts turned to excitement. We were ecstatic upon seeing her, but we were soon alone once more, on our way to our hotel. We climbed many steep flights of stairs, and we soon grew discouraged as the hotel was nowhere in sight. We gave up entirely after that and sat down on the flights of stairs and listened to the music in peace, and I stood up only when I spotted a tour group. I rushed up to the tour guide and asked her for directions to our hotel, and she gladly pointed to the way we were taking. I turned out we were right after all and we had always been taking the right route. We ran up the steps, squealing in delight when we reached the hotel we were seeking. The venture to the hotel was exhilarating and the feeling of accomplishment was overwhelming. That day was a truly memorable one, I had precious moments spent with friends I was not very close with, and I appreciate all that had happened that day. Day 5: Today, we woke up at dawn, to precise, at 4.30am just to watch the sunrise. My roommate, my best friend in class Ling Han, were a few minutes late for the meeting time at the hotel lobby so we climbed the mountain up ourselves and gathered with the rest of our class. It was bitingly cold up here on the mountain so early in the morning, I regretted just wearing my jacket up there. But that's not the point. The sunrise seemed to be truly magnificent, the bright ball of a sun was rolling slowly upwards, inching it's way up into the sky as the minutes passed, this was what I imagined as my classmates described it. We stood there for a rather long time, just watching the sunrise. I was right at the back of the crowd, so I didn't get to see the spectacular phenomenon I went up the mountain for. At least I managed to feel the morning breeze and the bird's eye view one could die for up here in Huangshan. During the later part of the day, we were on our way to 宏村, where we walked through old buildings, walking through paths rich with Chinese culture, some buildings were really old, ancient but very well preserved, giving us a good opportunity to learn more about the lifestyles of the people living in 宏村 in the past. From what I've absorbed throughout the entire journey in 宏村, the people living in that area were really superstitious, the structure of their homes, the special ways they place their furniture and decor in their homes had great significance behind them. For example, the houses in 宏村 had at least a 天井 in their homes, to welcome wealth and fortune into their residences. In the halls of their houses, they had ancestral tables set up with grandeur, with a clock and vases beside it, signifying 终生平安。The tables in the hall also had significance to it. When the tables were pulled apart, it symbolizes that the master of the house was not in, when the tables were pulled together, it meant that the master of the house was in. 宏村 was a nice place to live in. I bought a book that gave vivid descriptions of each specialty of the place, so that I could read it when I get back to Singapore. The person who sold me the book claimed that he was the owner of the old house, that he lived in that building. I was momentarily stunned by what he said. He could actually live in such a house! Anyway, this was all the day brought. I enjoyed myself quite well at. 宏村, I gained many interesting facts from this village.
Day 6: Today was a rather interesting one, although the villages we went to today and yesterday shared some similar characteristics, Xidi village was a much livelier place where the villagers here were much well off. What attracted me most was the lake at the entrance of the village surrounded with various species of flowers and plants. The scene there was picturesque, there were many beautiful shots to be taken there. We visited paifangs there, each one constructed with a different story to it. According to the guide, paifangs were constructed only with the emperor's consent in the past, so very few of such paifangs were constructed there. We went to a residential estate, a place where the officials probably resided in the past, where they worked hard to provide the people there with peaceful, lives where justice was prevailed. There was even a hall dedicated to the Chinese women living in the past, appreciating all they had contributed when they lived. I simply enjoyed looking at those exhibited posters on the walls, each describing a woman's virtue she possessed in the past. As I read them, I realised how brave the women were and how dedicated to the household they were such that they have become important figures in the eyes of others in the past. These women sacrifices much for the well being of others, their loved ones, their selfless traits are deserving of recognition. I truly admire their beauty, the qualities they have. Looking back, I realise how our strong personalities have great impacts on others in society, if we display strong, positive character traits, we will be well received by others as well. We then headed to the lake, where its banks were made up of stones. Picking two up as a keepsake, I trudged forward, feeling the cool breeze that blew past in this hot sunny day. We had loads of fun throwing pebbles into the waters, watching how many times they would bounce on the surface of the water, we were even greeted by a cute little black dog that kept walking around in the stones. I have to say, I only picked up the meager points in this day. There were simply too many cute animals here in China. We spotted many dogs here, we even saw a cute little ting kitten perched on a wooden plank. Looking back on the events of today, I felt utterly remorseful for not paying attention to what the guide was saying, as I was distracted that day. I felt that that day was one if the more important days on the trip that was filled with more important lessons on the Chinese culture in China, but I made a silly mistake by not catching what the guide said. I will never, ever make such a mistake again, robbing myself of the information I ought to absorb on this day of a meaningful trip.
Day 7: This will be the last day we spend here in Anhui. The last day. Even though I felt excited to get back home, back to my cosy, comfortable room, reuniting with my soft bed, I could hardly bear leaving those memories I've spent here in the different parts in Anhui with my classmates behind. Unfortunately, this was the ugly fact I had to face, so I've decided to make the very best out of this very last day here with my friends. Last night, Ling Han and I spent the dragon boat festival eating dumplings in our hotel room. Those dumplings were given as a gift to Ling Han by her buddy in Hefei. We boiled the dumplings in the kettle, it was really rather humorous watching her stuff the dumplings into the kettle, boiling it for ten minutes, they were ready to be eaten. We boiled two dumplings, both of different flavours, one salty and the other sweet. We ate the salty one in the washroom of the hotel room, so as not to mess up the bedroom. We later invited Boya and Sinyee up to try out the other dumpling, living our last night here in Anhui together to the fullest. We had a great time together on he hotel room, laughing at each other's remarks and conversations, it was a great last night spent in China. Today, we had time to finally shop at Tunxi ancient street. I was really eager to settle all the shopping I have to do for my family members and my relatives, so that I won't see to appear empty handed when I return to Singapore and meet them. After tasting a cup of green tea, I bought four cans of tea for my parents and grandparents, and headed out on my search for suitable gifts for the others. It was then that it caught my attention. I bought two sets of Chinese 毛笔 for my two sisters, and carried on by buying five beautiful fans for my mother and my four maternal aunts. I also purchased five intricately carved wooden 平安 keychains for my dad and four other maternal uncles for safety as thy drive cars, and bought three sets of five face mask objects for each of my thirteen cousins. As i walked out of the shops, I felt relieved I found great presents for all of them as they were all dearly close to me. Something else caught me eye again. This time, it was an elderly man clad in Chinese robes, writings Chinese poem in calligraphy on a fan. As I approached him, he said one fan have sold for twenty 人民币, and the poem on the back of each fan was written with the name of a person you want hidden among the words. This was the perfect gift for my two younger sisters! I fudge it forty 人民币 and wrote down the names of my two sisters in his notebook and he started writing their personal poems on the fans. After completing his work, he stamped if with his 硬仗, and explained the poem to me. The poems were beautifully written, that I remember even though I've completely forgotten the explanation to each poem. Their names were words hat made up parts of the poems that made the poems significant. By then, a queue had formed and the elderly man got busy. I thanked him and left the table, gathering with the rest of my classmates. I carried big bags of stuff, I looked like Santa Claus in disguise! I bought pastries and cakes on my way tot he meeting place, and soon we were off to our next destination. We went on the west lake cruise where I sat, naturally with Ling Han, on the boat. I love being on boats as I like watching the waters crash against each other, seeing them flowing in all directions. Whenever I look at waters, they always "send me a message" as if they were giving me a hidden message or insight, there was always something I could make up just looking at the water, something knowledgeable and true. Water helps me relate to the problems I face in life, where all my problems drown just seeing the crashing of the waves against the shore, as if they had perished down to the bottom of the sea, never to resurface again. We reached the 岳飞 memorial, the last place we will be before heading to pudong airport. There, I took many photographs, it felt surreal that the body of a famous general was just here, near where I was standing. I was suspicious as to whether the actual body was in the burial or not. It just seemed to good to be true, standing so close to the decayed body of Yuefei. From what I've heard from the guide, the body of Yuefei has been to many places, shifted from here to there since his assassination. That made me even more doubtful about the body in the burial and even if there is a body in it. Anyway, that last day in Anhui was a really well spent one, I took many hilarious pictures of my friends, took many funny videos and memorable photos. I really wish to go on further trips like that with my classmates again, this one has truly enabled me to know and understand them better, it has also helped our class bond over these seven days we spent together. Goodbye! Reflection of OELP DAY1 OELP DAY 1
-We did not have enough sleep.Sleep was so limited and the fact that I'm not those kind of people who can sleep immediately,I only managed to sleep at 3am.And at 6am,we had to wake up.Thus,me and my roommate missed breakfast.Sleeping on the high speed train to Hefei city allowed me to get some sleep and freshen up.,and then we had to walk around三河古镇 or Sanhe Ancient city.The walk and learning about the culture was quite interesting at times such as learning about Three Rivers is located in Chaohu coast, 40 km from Hefei, because fengle River Hangbu River, a small river running through the three Nanhe named, said that its history can be traced back 2,500 years. Street District, a bustling marketplace color or the contributions of China's heroes and we not only learned history of china,we also saw how the old china streets looked like and understand how fortunate we are.The people living there lived in small tiny houses which was dark and smelly and I felt fortunate to be able to live in such a modernize and clean environment.They had no electricity and most of them sat outside for sunlight and fresh air.I asked the tour guide why they wanted to live in these houses and she told me that some were poor and had no choice and some were just following their family who had passed down this house to every generation.Many were very talented as they ground their own tea leaves or carved wooden toys such as sword.This experience has left me an impression of them
OELP DAY 2: After visiting Hefei no.45 school,I learn to appreciate the environment etc.in RV instead of complaining about things RV doesn't have.5 things I like about RV -The cleanliness of the toilets in our school.Compared to our school toilets,Hefei's one was super smelly -RV spirit -The beauty of our modernized school;our classrooms are all so new but yet China's one was old and the wall's were dirty -There are very little people in one class compared to China's.This is good as this case,it wouldn't be as cramp as China's classroom.And our small number of people in a class make it easier for the teacher to teach us. -The teacher's speak slower here.Unlike China teachers,Singapore teacher speak slowly and patiently Reflection: Today,we visited HeFei no.45 school and after spending an entire day in their school,I have learnt a lot of meaningful stuff.Firstly,when I first entered their school,I saw that their classrooms were very old.I felt guilty as although they have such an old classroom,they still bother to clean it up such as emptying the dustbin the minute one lesson has ended.Whereas for us,we have such a new and modernized classroom but yet we often have to be reminded by teacher to clean our classroom up.Every 40minutes of each lesson,they have 10minutes break where they can rest or play for that short break.I find that our school should have this system to enable us to freshen up for the next lesson to prevent us from dozing off.Their lessons was all in Chinese but I tried my best to understand although I especially could not understand their mathematics lesson.I saw that although they were super noisy and mischievous during break times,but the minute their teacher entered,they all immediately quieten down and listen attentively to the class.During the class,they were all proactive which I was very surprised as everyone was answering the answer.Their toilet was super smelly but they did not seem to mind it.I feel very appreciative to have a clean toilet in our school.When my buddy went out with me to shop,she seemed super determined to learn better English as although I kept asking her to speak Chinese for her own convenience,she spoke to me in English.In the end,She spoke English to me,and I spoke Chinese to her.I think we both learned how to speak in our weaker language more confidently.Me,jing wen,My buddy,Jingwen's buddy,BaoBin and BaoBin's buddy all went to a themepark.We went into a haunted house but my buddy and JingWen's buddy were too scared so they didn't join us.As the rest of us walk,we held hands.The haunted house was super dark and something even touch me.From then on,I started screaming continuously like a mad lady.We also went to the bumper car where me and Jingwen sat together I had a lot of fun bumping into each other.After that,we bought bubble tea and went to buy some snack.My buddy introduces me to the popular food in China.One such was smelly tofu.I enjoyed it pretty much but cried as it was super spicy.While I was struggling with the spice,my buddy just put the whole tofu into her mouth and when I asked her if it was spicy she said no.Since she had introduce me to so many food,I decided to let her try my favorite sweet from Singapore,WONKA NERDS.She pop them into the mouth and became addicted to it.Within a couple of minutes,we finished all the Nerds.I feel that I have learnt a lot from this experience and hope to visit their school again.
(The school we went to,Hefei no.45 school) (Me and my buddy,Jacqueline)
OELP DAY 3 Today,we went to Anhui Museum and the China intangible cultural heritage programme which I prefer to call the theme park in short.From the Anhui museum, we saw alot of relics from many years ago. one example was the splendid bronze culture that was used for sacrifices, weddings, banquets and meetings.i also learnt the different types of windows, pots that was used in the Ming and Qing dynasty.One of the design of windows used in the Ming dynasty took many years just to carved out the design.We were also taught that the brush of the 毛笔 is made from rat hair,chicken breast hair etc.At the theme park,we were lucky it was a weekday and there weren't anyone there so it was a peaceful trip.Although we were mostly playing,I learnt the most and it was the most enriching lesson I had.At first we went for the animal shows such as fighting roosters show,dog relay.I found that it was animal cruelty to allow roosters to fight among each other.The roosters were being brought up to fight to put up a show because their owners needed money .Their feathers were dropping and I could see injuries.The dog relay was what I felt even more cruel.The dogs firstly were all so skinny and I guess that they were not fed well with food.The dogs were all bony but yet they were being bullied as there was a machine that caught the dogs attention and chased after it.But then,I reflected on the show in my heart and accepted that those people were poor and only did these to make a living.We then walked around to see the types of houses people once lived in and their village food court.However we couldn't go in as it was locked.We were walking around when we heard the circus bell ring.Thats when the tour guide asked us to go and see the show.It was not a show however,it was more like a torture placeThose trainees of the tiger was cruel and heartless.They used metal rods to hit the tigers if they do not obey.Even times when one of the tiger was helpless and just could not climb up the ball to walk on it,those trainees hit them hard.The tigers were very scared of the trainees and at times they showed their animal rights by disobeying their trainees.When the trainees hit the little tiger cub because it was scared and ran away,it jumped.I felt super angry with the trainees as they were showing an act of animal abuse.I felt that they should put themselves into the animal shoes and imagine how they would feel if they were being hit and tortured .That behavior of animal abuse was strictly unaccepted as they can't force an animal to do something through beating.The hula hoop performance not to mention was rusty.They made lots of mistake and look as if they were inexperience and not ready to perform.In the end,we left the circus stadium as the next performance had an animal with a chain that came up.We could not take another show of abusing of animals and we all left.I have learnt that we should treat animals with kindness as they too have feelings.Our teachers and tour guide felt guilty and brought us to the playground to play.I challenged some of my classmates in rock climbing and with determination,I conquered the challenge and was the first girl to complete it.
This two photos were taken outside ANHUI MUSEUM.(I have more but it's poloraid films which I put in my wallet which I lost it)
These is the horse relay And this is one of the fighting chicken OELP DAY 4
Today,we also transferred to 黄山.We took a cable car up and walked the rest of the journey up the mountain to the hotel we were staying in.The air was cold,fresh but thin and although it was really difficult to breathe,I had a lovely time walking up.There was wind,cold one blowing on my face but the sun was shining down so hot,I didn't even feel cold.The scenery was beautiful.After half an hour of climbing up the stairs,we reached our hotel.We had around 20mins break before we had to meet back at the lobby to start our real walk around the mountain.We could see the other natural mountains from far,trees and rocks.At first I was scared as I'm scared of heights,so when I looked down,I realised we were very high up the mountain.And then I heard one of my friends asked if anyone ever died here?Somebody replied that they fell off the mountain and died.Boy,was I scared.However,I soon overcome this fear with the help of not looking down and ZhiYan's gummies. Wew ere left on our own to take pictures.As we went down the mountain after an hour plus,we kept stopping to take more pictures.Mr Wong had said that whoever wanted to go back could go back to the hotel.Since I was done with taking pictures,I headed down with Malvin first.However,on the way down,there was so many diffent lanes and we got lost.Luckily,we saw a few of the girls from our class and like us,they were lost too.We sticked together and tried to find our back together.With the help of asking many other people of how to get back to our hotel,we found our way back,We were so happy and relieved and felt a sense of accomplishment.In fact,I found that with team spirit in encouraging each other,independence and bravery in keeping calm in times of trouble,we found our way back.Still,we were ahead of the rest of the class and waited patiently for the class.After the whole class had gathered back,we went to have our dinner where we ate and played truth or dare.After an hour or so of exploring,we headed back to the hotel to eat.We did not have any ice breaking that night as the teachers decided to let us get some rest for the following day 4am sun rise.Me and my room mate went to the food shop to get some hot food to eat since it was not yet bedtime.I should say that day was the most enjoyable and relaxing one indeed. The view of a close up mountains which I took from the cable car. The beginning of our walk after our 20mins breakWalking towards our hotel Shaolin up the mountain with Mr wong and Charmaine.Cool kids:) The group of lost people taking a picture to show their satisfaction after finding their way back
OELP DAY 5 Reflection(5) Today,we woke up at 4am to see the sun rise.I was super excited and couldn't sleep the night before as I had never seen sun rise before.Apparently,the sky was cloudy and dark and to my disappointment the sun rise wasn't as nice and clear as I had expected.But I was still appreciative to be able to go up the mountain to see the sun rise from the mountain view which was such a rare opportunity.After seeing the sun rise,we were dismissed back to the hotel where I went back to sleep.after breakfast,we had a walk up the peak of the mountain.I was practically crawling as the stairs were super steep.But it was all worth it when I could see the scenary. We saw monkeys and even a baby one who was drinking hits mother's breast milk.We also saw an ex Rv student who was now in his 60/70s.Together,we sang the RV school song and at that moment,I felt proud to be an RvianAfter an hour of walking and taking pictures,it was time to go down the mountain.We took the cable car down and the rest of the journey down was by vehicles.While the class took the bus down,me,李老师,Zhiyan and Charmaine took a car down.It was super fast and we reach the bottom of the mountain within 20 minutes.Next,we went to the 南湖书院and a village with cultural history in them.At 南湖书院, we learnt that it had 200 years of history.We were also were showed and told that the ancient classrooms did not have any lamps or lanterns.Instead the children used atural light that came into the classroom to help them study.We were also taught that in the past,when the hat was on the table it meant that the owner was there.From today's trip,I learnt that this place was built according to how the people donated.
At the village we went to Selfie in the car we had specially to ourselves
This is the peak of the mountain where I struggled to climb up:)
OELP DAY 6 Today was the most tiring day ever.I felt that everything was really cramp as we visited one place to another without stopping.We visited different villages and to be honest,I didn't like the smell of the village.It had a weird smell like an old and sour smell.At first I was super interested in looking at the villages but as we went to more village,I realise that it practically look alike.Although,they all look alike,each village had its own background.There is one part that I will remember when I visited the village schools and temples.I remember asking why it was so cold inside and all the marble chairs were freezing cold.It was because of the construction material used,Wood.Also because there were open spaces where there was no ceiling on top,it allowed the cold air to enter and hit air to leave like a cycle.I enjoyed going to the lake which was surrounded by stones.There were a few men fishing and there was a turbo power thing.Hungry dogs and chicken ran freely.We also went to the memorial archway where we took jumpshots.Each archway had its own history and building purpose.We visited a place filled with flowers and it was spectacular.It was so beautiful.I saw a caterpillar and a snake too!After a long day of going from one village to another,we still had to head back to a hotel where we had a 2 hours long briefing.Before going for the briefing,we were allowed to check into our hotel to settle down and out our luggages down.Our hotel to our horrors as next to a dark staircase.At first I didn't think much and just walked towards our hotel.However,my roommate, Raphaela just stopped in her tracks with tears running down her cheeks.She was super disturbed and scared of sleeping next to a staircase.I started to freak out too and we repay downstairs to the lobby to change room.However nobody wanted to change room with us. Briefing: The briefing was practically all in Chinese and I was super tired.So the only thing that I had absorbed was the part where the guy told us more about the food we had been eating for the past few days.He introduced to us most if the food and I found out that this food was China's popular food.In the middle of his briefing however,李老师 had called me and Raphaela out.She had kindly helped us change our hotel room to make us more comfortable.I felt really grateful towards her.The rest of the briefing was talking about history of the heroes and famous people of China.I realised that what the guy had say was practically a repeat of what all the guides had once told us for the past few days. OELP DAY 7: Today was the day I had been waiting for.SHOPPING!!!:D We were given only 40mins to shop at Tunxi ancient street.I had a fun time shopping and tasting their local food.I had bought a bag for $19 but with the help of Zhiyan's bargaining,we managed to bring the price down to $11.I realised how stupid I was to just buy stuff without bargaining.The place was small but yet the shops were big.There were so many unique and interesting things that I had never seen before thus 40mins had past in a blink of an eye.We also went on a boat trip across the lake and I had really enjoyed it.The sea breeze was nice and we all took turns to go out to the open space to take pictures.Before we know it,we were on the bus heading to the airport.I was super excited to go back to Singapore as by that time,I was more than home-sick.I had miss my parents,my bed,my room,everything.And I was also sick of crying nearly every night talking to my mom on the phone instead of talking to her face to face.At the airport,our flight was delayed for an hour and we got free coupons.We used them all to buy ice cream.Since my friends had bought a lot,I ate theirs and gave my coupons to the teachers for them to use so as to let them pay lesser money.In the airplane,I slept throughout and I didn't touch my meal.When I open my eyes,we were in Singapore.Although I was happy to go home to my parents,I still miss Anhui.Many of us had bond well together and I will definitely miss the experience of sitting together alone big family talking and laughing and eating. Oo oo Jack I'm flying ooooo Jack All set to go home:) DONE BY:Charlotte Lim 2E
Our Info
introduction {biography}
"Success is within our reach"
![]() Know Us
Shen Yang:
1) I like kpop, manga, kdrama and anime. My favourite kpop groups are Exo, SNSD, BAP and Infinite. I also enjoy joking around with peeps I'm close with. I love animals. I tend to say "SOOOOOOO CUTEEEEEEE" a lot.
2) Peeps call me SHENY or HG, which stands for Holy Goat. SHENY came from my email and Holy Goat came from my name. 沈阳 and 神羊.
3) I'm Shen Yang and I'm not from Shen Yang
Bao Bin:
1)I like cycling and basketball
2)Cycling enable me to train my stamina and navigate thru terrains
3)I hate long runs
Charlotte:
1) I love iceskating and first started when I was 6. I am currently at level 12, I enjoy doing end-of-the- year christmas shows with my Canadian and Australian best friends.
2) I desire to be either a performer or an actress when I grow up, as I love applauses and standing in a crowd where the main spotlight is on me. I feel a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction when I please people with my performance.
3) I love babysitting little kids and can get along with them
Kexin:
1) I really like science. I enjoy reading up on the human body besides watching psychological horror movies and reading thriller books during leisure time.
2) My one desire is to enter a medicine school as I aspire to be a doctor. I am a potterhead
3) When I encounter hilarious events, I will laugh until I tear up, and people around me think I'm crazy.
Jing wen:
1) I am really passionate about music and spend my time playing my musical instruments.
2) I love all kinds of performing arts. I find satisfaction in reading books, often finding myself relishing in the contents of intriguing novels
3) I absolutely dislike individual presentations as they are awkward and usually make me giggly
 Our Group Is Called Planet SWEEP
That's All :D
Reflection!:D
reflection page
The Beijing National Stadium, also known as the bird's nest to many, was built for the Beijing Olympics in 2008. The architectural structure, is not only an arena for the opening and closing ceremony along with other sports events, it also symbolizes as a glory to the Chinese. After being thought as lagging behind in many aspects as a country, China is finally able to prove its ability that they are on par with the others, through this well-designed arena and the arena's ability to withstand major shocks as Beijing is one of the most active seismic zones in the world. The arena design is not only able to showcase the country's modern side but also able to incorporate traditional beliefs into it. The circular shape of the stadium represents 'heaven', while the adjacent square form of the National Aquatics Center (Water Cube), is a reflection of the Chinese symbol for Earth. The harmony between heaven and earth is displayed through the design of the infrastructure. Their innovative ability to incorporate modern design and traditional ideals can be a great lesson for all of us.
Wang Kexin (21) 2E
Great Wall Of China
The Great Wall of China is a series of fortifications made of stone, brick, tamped earth, wood, and other materials, generally built along an east-to-west line across the historical northern borders of China in part to protect the Chinese Empire or its states against intrusions by various nomadic groups or military incursions by various warlike peoples or forces. Several walls were being built as early as the 7th century BC; these, later joined together and made bigger and stronger, are now collectively referred to as the Great Wall. Especially famous is the wall built between 220–206 BC by the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang. However, little of that wall remains. Since then, the Great Wall has on and off been rebuilt, maintained, and enhanced; the majority of the existing wall are from the Ming Dynasty.
The Chinese were already familiar with the techniques of wall-building by the time of the Spring and Autumn period between the 8th and 5th centuries BC. During this time and the subsequent Warring States period, the states of Qin, Wei, Zhao, Qi, Yan and Zhongshan all constructed extensive fortifications to defend their own borders. Before the use of bricks, the Great Wall was mainly built from rammed earth, stones, and wood. This is to withstand the attack of small arms such as swords and spears. During the Ming Dynasty, however, bricks were heavily used in many areas of the wall, as were materials such as tiles, lime, and stone. The size and weight of the bricks made them easier to work with than earth and stone, so construction quickened. The Great Wall of China is very spectacular, thus making it a must go to all tourists in China. However, there is a misconception that the Great Wall of China can be seen from space. No matter how big or great it is, we can never see it when in space. Although I personally did not see the Great Wall of China before, I believe that everyone should take a look at it because it has remained since Ancient China and has a lot of historical records. Thus I think that everyone should go and enjoy the view, as I guarantee that it will be a mermorable experience. In fact, the next time I go to China during the holidays with my family, I'll be sure to drop by and take a look at the Great Wall of China😁
Shen Yang (16)
兵马俑 The Terracotta Army, commonly known as the 兵马俑 or the "Terracotta Warriors and Horses", is world renowned collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. It is a form of funerary art buried with the emperor in 210–209 BC and whose purpose was to protect the emperor in his afterlife, it took 11 years to finish this spectacular masterpiece. It is speculated that many buried treasures and sacrificial objects had accompanied the emperor in his afterlife. The figures, dating from around the late third century BC, were discovered in 1974 by local farmers in Lintong District, Xi'an, Shaanxi province. They vary in height according to their roles, the tallest being the generals. These wonders consist of warriors, chariots and horses. It is estimated that in the three pits containing the Terracotta Army were over 8,000 soldiers, 130 chariots with 520 horses and 150 cavalry horses, the majority of which are still buried in the pits near Qin Shi Huang's mausoleum. Other terracotta non-military figures were also found in other pits and they include officials, acrobats, strongmen and musicians. It is believed that these sculptures were made ordered by Qin shi Huang to accompany him on his journey afterlife, after his death. There are four main pits associated with the terracotta army, located about 1.5 km east of the burial mound, approximately 7 metres deep. The army is placed as if to protect the tomb from the east, where all the Qin Emperor's conquered states reside. Pit one, 230 metres long 62 metres wide, contains the main army of more than 6,000 figures of ferocious looking soldiers. It has 11 corridors, most of which are over 3 metres wide, paved with small bricks with a wooden ceiling supported by large beams and posts. This design was similarly used for the tombs of noblemen and would have resembled palace hallways. The wooden ceilings were blanketed with reed mats and layers of clay for waterproofing, and then mounded with more soil making them, when built, about 2 to 3 metres higher than ground level. Pit two has cavalry and infantry units as well as war chariots, thought to represent a military guard. Pit three is the command post, with high-ranking officers and a war chariot. Pit four is empty, seemingly left unfinished by its builders. What confounds people the most about this amazing discovery made by farmers at the east of Xi'an in Shaanxi province in 1974 was the facial variation of the soldiers in the terra cotta army. Examined closely, almost every facial variation of modern Chinese man can be found amongst the warrior figures. Out of great astonishment, some people may guess the artisans practiced divination, by which they could predict the appearance of Chinese people living over 2,000 years later. Every facial expression of each warrior differs, there are no two warriors in the whole army that shares the same feature. To me, I felt greatly amazed and awestruck when I learnt about this incredible architecture hand made, moulded back in the Qin dynasty. It took great work, and much sacrifice to come up with such amazong craftwork, even the minor, little details like the depressions on every soldier's face was carefully handled and made. It would by highly impossible for me to even make a single soldier by myself, I would have messed up terribly even at the start. Thus, I truly admire the craftsmanship of the builders who built this terra cotta army, they inspire me greatly by the determination, hardworking value and perseverance they have put into assembling this majestic burial. In a nutshell, the terra cotta army has become a large part, a major constituent in China's interminable history, it is nearly impossible for one, including me, to miss out on this large, wonderful part of it.
Beijing olympic stadium
The stadium reflects the event played host to both the opening and closing ceremonies of the 29th Olympic Games in 2008 as well as the game's track and field events.the stadium also reflected that extraordinary moment China has been dreaming of for 100 years,to get to host the olympic.The "Bird's Nest" National was designed to embody the Olympic spirit of "fair competition". According to china,It tells people that freedom is possible but needs fairness, courage and strengths.The spectacular Bird's Nest stadium also hail pas the finest arena in the world and the centrepiece of the most expensive Olympics in history, is full of hidden symbolism.
In Chinese mythology, the sun is represented by a circle and the moon by a square, reflected by the shape of the bird's nest and the Water Cube aquatic centre opposite, reinforced when the venues are lit at night, red for the Bird's Nest and blue for the Water Cube.The shapes also echo the Chinese symbols for male and female, and are built either side of the north-south axis road which runs in a perfect straight line for three miles through Beijing, centred on the Forbidden City and china believe that this stadium is designed to last for 100 years and withstand a force eight magnitude earthquakes.I learn that from the way the stadium is built, there is no room for gatecrashing,
Charlotte lim
Tiananmen Car Blaze Reflection(BaoBin)
It was concluded that it was a suicide attack by people from the Uighur group which is known for their 'terrorist' attacks in XinJiang. This incident showed me the inner conflict building up in China for religious differences.This means to China that its at a tipping point and any further incidents would cause a riot or a cold war. We can see that the terrorist purposely targeted the Tiananmen due to its sensitivity in politics and many tourist visits the place. The terrorist know that it would immediately generate a lot of discussion in China as well in overseas news agencies. This brings back the dark history of the location famous for attracting protests.We can learn that religious dispute in a country can deeply affect the welfare and safety of the country negatively, we should put against religious differences and grow as a country instead of having inner conflicts.This rings a bell for the China government to start clearing up the existing hatred circulated China to prevent further incidents.
BaoBin(30)
Our Product!
1)Over the past 3weeks,I learnt many interesting things,and also looking forward to May when we can go for our OELP trip which I feel would help me bond with my class.Anyways back to the subject.The most valuable CID lesson so far was the picture of the vulture and the child.This picture describes how the vulture is waiting for the hungry child to starve till her death.Upon seeing how weak that child is and how skinny she was,it made me feel guilty and sad at the same time.It wasn't her fault that she has to born and to have to starve to death. In the picture, she was crouching on the ground as she is too weak to stand on her feet.This particular picture made me pity her a lot.I also felt guilty as I realised how fortunate I am to be able to have food and shelter everyday,but yet I neglected it as I tend to waste food.I was born into a family to who cares and feed me but that child didn't do any wrong so why isn't she as fortunate as me.It isn't fair that he has to suffer.....
2)I choose the colour red as the colour red in Chinese culture usually means good luck. So like the red packet which is given every Chinese New Year, it is a symbol of good luck in the coming.Red also symbolises enthusiasm,joy,fortune as well as fervor. As depicted in the picture, the borders of the red are darker in colour, which symbolises the past unhappiness I've suffered so far. The brighter shade of red resembles me hoping for a better year coming for me as I await the Chinese New Year.
I chose this symbol as it signifies that good luck as prosperity's is coming in my way.The word 福is turned upside down as it means 到, so I am anticipating eagerly for good luck and prosperity to shower me with wealth of many aspects this coming year.
I chose the picture of an aeroplane as it let me have a feel as if I'm going to soar up in the sky and stand out in the crowd.It lemme remember that I will score with FLYING colours in my upcoming examinations.Charlotte
For the first lesson, we were introduced to CID2. We were supposed to start a blog that we will be using for the upcoming lessons.
For the second lesson, we learnt that a picture paints a thousand words. We were given two pictures of beggars, and were asked that if we had a hundred dollar bill, which beggar would we give. After learning the background of the beggars, I realised that looks can be deceiving. A beggar can carry a baby and ask for money from the people who pity them. I feel that if they have no handicap, they should find a job as I think that working pays more than begging. We also saw a picture of a vulture awaiting a girl's death so that it can devour her once she's dead. From that picture, I began to understand a little about how the outside world is really like. In Singapore, the people closest to beggars I see are the old uncles who sell tissue paper here and there or the people who play instruments, hoping that someone will give some money. I have never seen a beggar really begging in Singapore. Which means that there isn't much poverty in Singapore.
For the third lesson, we were supposed to have done the photo challenge (school spirit, life, fear, happiness) and we presented our photos to the class.
For the Colour, I choose blue as blue signifies peace, unity, loyalty, and confidence. I want my secondary two life to be peaceful and fun.
As for the symbol, I choose the peace sign because once again, I want a peaceful school life with more ups rather than downs. I just hope I can get pass this year without feeling so stressed that I want to die.
As for the picture, I chose new year food and ang bao. This is because that's the two things that we look forward to most on Chinese New Year. I hope I will get a lot of ang bao money and that I will get to eat very delicious food on Chinese New Year.
Looks so delicious😍😍😍
If I get a lot of money and save it, whenever I look at the amount of money in my bank account, I will feel very 爽.
Shen yang (16) 2E
1) During the past three weeks of CID lessons on Monday, I've picked up many meaningful and valuable lessons on life from Mr Wong. So far, we have learnt that for OELP trip, our class will either be heading for Taiwan or China during the OELP trip later in the year, and that during the trip, we have to observe the civilians' culture and their way of life. During the lessons, we have also familiarized ourselves with the expression, "a picture paints a thousand words". Now, I fully understand and appreciate this expression, and how we can actually use it as a guiding factor when we snap shots and pictures in the future, it will help make our pictures more enriching and meaningful in a certain way. People will view our pictures from different perspectives, from different angles, and have multiple views on a particular picture. It usually depends on the attitude and how they view it, positively or negatively. To me, I feel that to get a clearer view of a particular situation, we don't actually have to crane our necks and strain our eyes to fully understand the situation, we can just simply put ourselves in the shoes of the other characters involved in the situation, and view the situation from their perspectives, their point of views. We should all learn to do this, so as to understand the other party's position and mindset during conflicts in the near future, so that we could resolve them amicably and friendly, perhaps even becoming more knowledgeable from the conflict, becoming more open-minded about things in our lives. So, after reading the stories of the characters in the pictures, I've learnt that we have to understand the picture's background and the person's history before coming to a conclusion of that person. That lesson has also taught me not to judge a book by its cover, and that looks can be deceiving. That lesson has already achieved its goal- to understand the importance looking beyond just what is on the surface during reflection. On our last lesson, we had to sharpen our observation skills and observe the people and happenings going around in our school. We also had to do a presentation on the pictures we chose that depicted school spirit, happiness, fear and life to our classmates. To take those shots, we even had to focus on the factual descriptions, process description and emotional descriptions of the people taken in our pictures. I really enjoyed myself while my classmates were presenting their pictures, because I really like meaningful things, and most of their pictures had a story and description that fit those shots perfectly. Lastly, the entire cohort of year twos went on a learning journey to watch the incredible Chingay preview yesterday ( 25th Jan ) to observe and appreciate the performances put up by the performers who spent much time and effort training and preparing for the show. I had a whale of a time yesterday cheering for them with my classmates and teacher and a few supportive seniors, and wallowed in the vast amounts of happiness that day. Personally, I felt that it was a good three weeks spent during the CID lessons taught by our teachers, and I look forward to the upcoming ones. I sincerely believe that all of us would improve in character development from this course and become more patriotic Singaporeans who have various perceptions on things in the future. I express my gratitude to all the teachers who have done so much for us. :)
2)
The colour gold is the perfect colour to describe my feelings, as it is the colour of success, achievement and triumph. Gold is associated with abundance and prosperity, luxury, prestige, value and elegance, and the psychology if this colour, gold, implies affluence, material wealth and extravagance. This bright and cheery colour represents the optimism bubbling inside me, adding a ray of hope for me as I look forward to a smooth and shiny year ahead of me. Good is a magnificent colour, and I wish that my life would be led as well as the way this colour stands out among the others. To me, it is a beacon of light and hope in search of a better life this year, and a chance for me to pour away all of the unhappiness I've experienced before.
Sonten represents the divinity, the unity (triangle) expressing itself through the three fundamental Qualities of Being: Love, Intelligence and Power (Love, Light and Strength – the circles), a symbol that stimulates in the human being the awareness of the connection between human and divine. This symbol can also be used for restoring balance and wholeness in case of confusion and emotional instability or in case of negative energetical influences. I wish to gain all three qualities that this symbol has, anticipate for the Chinese New Year and express more love and care for all those around me in this new year to come.
Anticipating the rain to fall, crashing down to the ground for the very last time, so that I'll be able to see the colours of the rainbow once more. Troubles, please be gone as the year passes, because I'm currently hoping and praying for a wonderful year heading toward me to replace you.
In the past three weeks, we had three CID lessons in total. During the first lesson, we formed groups, in which we will be working together for preparation for the OELP trip. We were briefed on what we will be expected at the end of the module, and what we will experience during the trip. The homework that was assigned for us was to set up a group blog, and to post our reflections on how our holidays were spent on it. The next lesson, had much more in content as we were introduced to the beggars of other countries, and was given a scenario of two beggars and who will we choose to help. The teacher also showed us a picture of a starving child on the brink of death while a vulture awaits to eat it. We had to complete a reflection for this lesson, researching on poverty in Singapore, and taking photos of our school life in RV (photo challenge) The third lesson, we had a mini test for our observation skills of our classmates. Our group also presented our Photo Challenge to the class.
The lesson I learnt from this module thus far, was about the poverty of Singapore. If I had not done research on it, I would never realize that there is actually quite a high percentage of Singaporeans under the poverty range, I would also not be aware of some of theirs situations and the government's effort to help them. It was an opportunity for me to know them, and to be grateful for the things he things that I have.
Wang Kexin (21)
2E
I chose the colour maroon as it is the darker shade of red, which is the acknowledged auspicious colour by the Chinese. Red also indicates my excitement for the new year. The darker shade represents the little bit of sadness that I am feeling as I will not be able have a reunion dinner with my brother and other relatives.
This symbol represents a year and the end of it. For the Chinese, the Chinese New Year indicates the end of the previous year and a start of a brand new one, and many often say putting a full stop to the past year. For me, a year is also like a cycle, starting and ending on the same date.
I chose this image because i feel that every year is a journey on a road to discover new things, be it knowledge or others things. The end cannot be seen and you will not know how long it will, what will happen and what will be gained at the end of it. You will only find out when you have the courage to take a step to venture it.
Wang Kexin (21)
2E
During the past three weeks CID lesson. We were first introduced to this new CID lesson plan and settled the administrative stuff. The second lesson was more interesting as we learned about pictures being able to tell a thousand words. The activity was very engaging and I was shocked to see how our perception of a image might horribly stray from the truth. This taught me a valuable lesson such as what we initially perceive is not necessarily the truth. We carried on with the next lesson looking thru friends blogs as they present their assignment to the class.
CHINESE NEW YEARRR!
AngPao are red and they are coming!
Time to receive hong pao money
Traffic jams when traveling back to Malaysia
One may think that there is no poverty or beggars present in Singapore. It is true that there not many who plainly sit and beg for money, but scenes of less fortunate people begging for money by playing musical instruments, selling packets of tissue paper are not unfamiliar. We may often see the elderly or the disabled doing the above to earn a living for themselves, it is a way for them to make ends meet.
Still, they are not the only people who have financial issues here in Singapore. Many others are struggling to provide for their families, trying their hardest to provide enough food for the family, to pay the school fees of their children and their bills. It really is difficult to accept the fact that 26% of us Singaporeans can actually earn less than $1000 a month. However, as compared to some countries, beggars begging for food in Singapore, are counted as little. In certain countries, one can possibly espy beggars lining up the streets or even people dying due to starvation. Governments are aiding these needy by giving them scholarships, or through other mediums, but it definitely is impossible to reach out to the whole group of them. The rest depend on the more well-off to earn money, or earn a living from being street artists, as stated above. We might be unwilling to give our hard-earned wealth to such people in need of ours, some even question their true source of income. I do not think that that is a very sensible thing to do, as it may insult the other party. No one on this planet would choose to stoop so low just to make such cheap money. Some of these people might be con men trying to cheat us of our money, so we should also think twice before doing so in such situations. Such mentality of ours might result in people who are really in need of our money to suffer the inability to buy a meal to stave their hunger. We are all humans, all of the same kind. I feel that all of us should have the heart to lend a helping hand to these less fortunate people, helping them out if it is within our means. One act of kindness could possibly make a difference between life and death of a person. In a nutshell we should open our heart out to these poor people, and express more care and concern toward them.
Holiday reflection Tan Jing Wen (19) 2E
I had quite an enjoyable time during the end-of-year holidays, especially when I was with my family most of the time. This holiday enables me to strengthen my relationships with each family member, spending some quality time with them. To me, family is the most important factor in our life. Without them, life wouldn't probably so fulfilling and wonderful today.
Even though I did not travel overseas during the holidays last year, I had quite an amazing time here in Singapore as we had a lot to do over this period of time. On the 8th November, I sat for my grade 6 ballet examinations and had the same, the highest grade in my class. In December, I took my erhu grading exam ( grade 2 ) with Vesy, Kexin and Jia Rong. During the exam, something really unfortunate happened. I went into the examination room before Vesy did, and greeted the examiner before playing my grading pieces. Halfway through the first piece, I realised that there was this tiny green insect on my left hand and I got quite a shock, I think the examiner noticed me furtively blowing my left hand while playing the piece. Anyway I made a mistake for that piece as I was trying to shake it off my hand but to no avail and it finally came off when I ended the song. I was really annoyed then that that green insect caused me to make a mistake for that piece, but it has also taught me something valuable- not to get easily distracted.
My holidays were more than just examinations, of course, I spent the rest of the time shifting house. From Clementi to Boon Lay, the condominium Summerdale which is right next to my school. I really appreciate all that my family has sacrificed for me, just to let me stay near the school for my own convenience. We spent almost two months packing up and settling down, and I hardly had enough time to do my revision for school. It was really quite a tiring experience for me, but it was an enjoyable and meaningful one as I get to do this with my loves ones. This is my third time shifting house. I guess I'm a really lucky person to get such privileges to have such a nice and warm family, to get to live so near to the school, and one whose parents are able to provide for. During mid November, my sister's friend, Celestina, her sister, my sister and I went to ion orchard for a shopping trip. We headed straight for the cinema to book our tickets which were priced at $7.50 each. After buying our tickets, we headed for TCC to have our lunch. We all laughed and giggled unnecessarily for no good reason at all, and it was rather awkward the entire time. However, we shared stories during our lunch, on our school lives. After having our delectable lunch at TCC, we rushed all the way to Daiso which was at the neighbouring mall to buy some snacks to eat during the movie, before heading back to the cinema to watch The Desolation of Smaug at the cinema. We ended our day on a happy note, waving o each other as we started on our journey home. One of the immensely fun times I had was when my parents' secondary school friends came to our new home for a housewarming gathering, we barbecued with Samson, Samuel, Bryan and Brenton. Even though they were all of the opposite gender, we had a really enjoyable time together. We played games of catch, monkey, and hula hoops together. My dad encouraged me to drink a whole bottle of liquor and I did, and I also had to help my mum's friend to finish her bottle too.Samuel who was fifteen that year, was forced to drink red wine and we all laughed when he did. All in all, we spent the entire night laughing and eating, sharing our life experiences with each other. I really hope to see my new found friends again soon since we got on so well that night. The party ended at 11.50pm that night, I could still remember when the guests left. I felt really bloated and warm after drinking all that liquor, and went straight to bed after clearing up with my family members.
A few days later, we celebrated Christmas with our maternal cousins, all thirteen younger than me, not considering my two younger sisters. We swam in the pool and ate 8 large slices of pizza for lunch, and played numerous exciting games together in the living room. We exchanged Christmas gifts and watched Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters together, and spent much time chatting animatedly and sipping coke even though we gather together every Saturday at our grandparents' house. I love my cousins, especially the younger ones, two of whom are four this year, ten years younger than me. We took many many pictures, and ate log cake during the party. That party was also considered one of my favourite days during the holidays. In a nutshell, my holidays last year was a really interesting one, and I've realised how much my family meant to me. We are just like magnets, forever attracted to each other. Nothing will ever be able to break the strong ties and bonds that bind us together, no matter how strong those forces are. Wherever we are, we could still have so much fun together, feeling the warmth and joy each one can bring. Family is my top priority, as long as we're together, I feel happy and content.
I CID Holidays Reflections:
That December Holidays was one of the worst holidays I ever had. Firstly, I had to go to CCA every Tuesdays n Fridays until mid-November. It's not that I don't like my CCA or anything, it's just that in my primary school we didn't need to go back to school for CCA and it was my first year so I wasn't really used to it. But because of that I had to balance between CCA, homework and fun. In primary school, there wasn't homework during the holidays too. I wish I was back in primary school TT^TT... I didn't go overseas too. I could've gone if I wanted too, but I didn't want to go china because I was scared that I couldn't finish my homework. For many many days I was alone at home because my mum n dad had to work n my bro had to go to school for some random reason which I don't know. I think he's hanging out wif he friends on some days and having CCA on the other days. I didn't go to anywhere nice during the December Holidays except for Gardens by the Bay. But that was a disaster also. It was my fault because I forgot that I had CCA on that day and we were supposed to go somewhere by bus. However I forgot all about it and went to Gardens by the Bay with my family and halfway throughout, I checked my phone and realised that I had ten missed calls from my CCA teacher and my CCA mates. Then i read a message by my teacher saying,"where are you? We r all waiting for u at the foyer. Are u late or something?" Then I remembered that I had to go to CCA n I face palmed. This is all true, by the way. At the next CCA session I got scolded by my teacher for making everyone wait for me. So to sum it up nothing good happened to me during the holidays TT^TT. THE END
Gardens By the Bay:
Shen Yang (16) 2E
CID reflections
My holiday was the same like how it is every year. At the beginning of the holidays I spent most of my time doing all my school homework. At first, I was really frustrated with the amount of homework I had to do, however, after I had completed all my homework, I felt a sense of accomplishment. Best of all, I acquired new knowledge. I spent the second month which was December relaxing, performing and earning some allowances. I was invited to perform at Velocity Ice Skating Christmas show. This was my 4th year into the show. I was really excited and started to busy myself with choosing my music, cutting it, choreographing my own moves, shopping for costume, going for rehearsals and of course not forgetting, counting down to see my Australians and Canadian friends again. The day finally arrived and the most enjoyable part of my holiday began -3 weeks of performances!! I love performing and enjoyed the time when I smiled at the audience and they returned my smile. There are times when I was really tired but I still force a smile on my face and dance in front of the audience and I was rewarded when cute little kids started clapping and dancing along with me. In between shows, I enjoyed playing pranks backstage with my friends.Though they were all in their 20s,they are still very playful and childish which was good. For example,when I was backstage lying on the floor sleeping before my shows,they put ice on my neck to make me jump up. What I found was most memorable was how my friends, Colin and Zara together with me doing daring dance secretly behind the workers back. Though they got suspicious several times and we had to run into hiding behind walls before they caught our act, we still managed to complete our dance dare and capture all these in video. 3 weeks flew past and the night before they flew back to their own countries and I flew to Korea for holiday, we all cried really bad and hugged each other which was a so called 'tradition' every year. My holiday in Korea was great and I learnt a new skill - skiing. By the fifth day in the ski resort, I was skiing like a pro and venture to the intermediate slope. It was pretty funny to see my parents fell and fell as they could not control themselves. We took part in a ski competition too but I didn't win anything...We spent another 4 days shopping in Seoul but I didn't buy much stuff as I found the things pretty expensive. I did eat a lot of food though. I felt really bonded with my family and felt really happy to be able to spend so much time with them. I am really glad that even though this was just another ordinary school holiday, but I felt that this entire two months of holiday was a fulfilling one and I made good use of my time
Our dance dare:)
Skiing in Korea
This Colin Ratushiniak.He was the one that kept throwing ice at me He is a skating celebrity.I miss him a lot
This is Zara Pasfield:)I love her.Her father is a famous skater.I miss her
CID holiday reflection
The year end holidays was surprising longer this time round. I was able to step out of constant studying and spend more times on family. Basically, this holiday was more of FAMILY than STUDY.
For the first two weeks, it's purely spending time with friends, now and then. I didn't touch a single piece of worksheet that two weeks and purely relaxed my mind and body.Closing to the start of November,my grandmother(from my Mum's side) visited Singapore and stayed in our house. Our family,together with our relatives in Singapore went over to the Singapore SEA Aquarium. The experience was splendid! We could view the fishes from enormous aquariums and even had the chance to touch starfishes.
After my grandma went back to Malaysia,we also visited my parents hometown in Malaysia too. The location and surroundings over there definitely isn't excellence compared to Singapore but having a new surroundings such as farms around you is always refreshing. There wasn't anything really special that we did,we just went around touring and went for dinner together with my grandparents.
One of the reason we went back to Malaysia was also the fact that we are celebrating the birthday of my grandmother (Mum's side). It was a huge celebration and almost all of my relatives turned up for it. It was fun having the company of cousins that I normally cannot meet in Singapore.
After the trip, I knew it was time to start my pile of homework, I created a checklist and promised to complete at least 2 assignment per week. Weekdays was probably completing worksheets,house chores and cleaning up. Weekends was reserved for family time :>
There wasn't anything really exciting that we did during the holiday but overall it was amazing that I was able to compensate the time loss spending with my family due to rv's demanding school life. Hopefully 2014 would be a year where I can try and find more time for my family.
BaoBin(30)
CID Holiday Reflections
My December holidays was not as exciting as I hoped it would be, but nonetheless I still had a great time.
For the first few weeks I went to school to complete my Design and Technology project for the competition. The process was enjoyable but the journey from my house to school was really tedious. Summing up the whole journey, it took 2 hours. The results of my project was pretty satisfying.
Initially my family had wanted to go to China but decided not to as I had gone during the June holidays. My parents were not at home in the day so I spent the days alone, doing my homework and practicing my Erhu mainly. Everyday I prepared lunch for myself. From fruits to spaghetti, seaweed soup, noodles to kimchi fried rice. It was fun to cook my own meal but annoying when I had to think up the menu. Yet, I still love cooking. Jiarong came over for a few days to practice erhu together, I improved a lot and was glad to have a companion. On the 6th of December, Jiarong, Jing wen, Vesy and I went to NUS for our grade 2 Erhu examination. The grading went quite smoothly, although I was really nervous and made a mistake during my second piece as my hands were shaking really badly. The whole process was five minutes and my fate was decided after it.
The following days were back to normal. The only activity I had was watching the movie, Frozen, with Yuzhen, Jiarong, Boya and Sinyee. The movie's story line was good, like most of Disney's movie though I enjoyed the songs most as I love musicals. We had a great time together.
The last week was the most anticipated as my brother was finally back from the States, not the 24th. He would only be back for a month so we made use of the time as much as possible. We watched anime, had turkey during Christmas Eve (which was quite disgusting as it tastes like chicken) and watched variety shows and movies. We often joke around, leaving myself defeated. (He is really good with his words). He bought me a pair of rollerblades and we went rollerblading near my house. I had a delightful time but at the same time, I am dejected at the fact that my brother would be leaving after a month to continue his studies. I really wish he would stay a bit longer. Humans are greedy in nature, the more you, give the more one wants. I should be glad that he could spare time to return and I really am.
In all, I had a great time and am looking forward towards the new year ahead.
Wang Kexin(21) 2E
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