KRISTABEL (:

2011-04-03T01:18:00.001-07:00

Day 26

Weather: Cold

Activity: Climbed Great Wall of China, Visit to Tian Ta

Once again, we woke up super early in the morning to start travelling on the road in order not to be caught in the jam. We were slightly “kiasu” today during breakfast and we packed some sandwich from the hotel so that we can eat in case anyone is hungry along the way.

Set off at around 7am and picked our tour guide up on the way. The driver had to rush because in Beijing, there are timings that drivers have to follow to be able to drive on the highway and the timings are determined by the car plate number. Maybe the Singapore government should implement this to smoothen the traffic instead of setting up so many ERP gantries.

After a few hours of bus ride, we finally reached the Great Wall of China! Started climbing up the wall at 9am and we were given 2 hours of free time. The weather was super cold and all of us were hopping around once we alight from the bus. Manage to climb up to the 4^th tower of the great wall. While we were at the starting point, it seems so easy to get from one point to the other, but when we get from one tower to the other, the difficulty level gets higher. So we should not judge a book by its cover.

Had our lunch and continued on our journey back to Tian Jin. It was a 2 and a half hour ride back and there was no toilet break in between. So some of them were so urgent and desperate for toilet that once we reach the hotel, the first thing they did was to rush to the toilet when we reach the hotel.

Went back to the hotel to have a short break and went to school for dinner. After that we met up with Lu Yang and Rau Jie to go to Tian Ta. It cost 80Yuan to go up to the tower, so we did not go up instead we all stay at the surrounding to take photos. All of us walked there so it took us about an hour to reach. Although it was a really long journey, but with everyone around, the journey didn’t seem bored at all, in fact I enjoyed myself a lot.

2011-04-03T00:03:00.001-07:00

Day 25!

Weather: Raining and FREEZING COLD!

Activities: visited the Beijing Olympics stadium (鸟曹), Forbidden City (紫禁城), China national art theater (国家大剧院/巨蛋), 天安门广场，大栅栏，景泰蓝制造场，北京特产购物中心

Judging from the number of places we have visited today, I think all of u can tell how tired all of us were when we reach the hotel. After a whole day of walking, my leg was aching badly by the time we had lunch because once we reach the Forbidden City, we have been walking all the way to our lunch destination because the Forbidden City, national art theater, 天安门广场 and the restaurant for lunch are near each other.

The first place we visited was the Beijing Olympics stadium and it was bigger than I’ve expected. When I was watching the Beijing Olympics opening ceremony on television, I thought it was just a normal stadium like our National Stadium, but I was wrong! It was so big and beautiful. Another thing I found out is that the Olympics swimming complex and acrobat complex was just beside the Bird Nest, and the swimming complex is special in its own ways. Why would I say that? That is because the water from the swimming complex is being purified and used for other purpose such as watering the plants. Not only that, the building is designed in such a way that maximum sunlight is able to reach the complex so that the amount of energy used to generate light for the complex can be lessen. The place was too cold and windy, so we only spend about half an hour there instead of the 1 hour of free time we were given.

We all board the bus and without fail, the driver was smoking on the bus, making the whole bus stink. The funny thing was that there was a “no smoking” sign on the bus. Due to this, we had to stop breathing for a moment when a board the bus.

Started travelling towards the Forbidden City and went to look at all the different buildings the emperor and empress stay, work and study. There are also small animal sculptures on the edge of the buildings, the more sculptures there are, the higher the ranking of the person staying or working in there. An example is that a room that a concubine lives in has 3 sculptures on the edge of the roof but the place where the emperor work has 11 sculptures on it. The Forbidden City was so big that it took us about 2 hours to visit all the places and reach the天安门.

Next we proceed on to the National art theatre to have a look. The building looks like a huge egg so the locals call it the 大巨蛋. On the building, there is a small “lake” surrounding it and the water doesn’t dry up during summer and doesn’t freeze during winter because they always keep the water moving. The theatre is like our esplanade just that it doesn’t have “durian torn” on it.

After the visit, we walked all the way back to 天安门广场 to take some photos before proceeding for lunch. The square is where they conduct their flag raising and lowering ceremony every morning and the time for flag raising and lowering is determined by the time the sun rise and sets, so every morning there would be people waking up early in the morning just to witness the flag raising ceremony.

Continue walking and walking to the restaurant where we are going to have our lunch and finally we get to sit down. All of us grab the chance to sit down as much as possible because after lunch, we would be walking again. The next location was 大栅栏, but we didn’t do much there because we were only given 20 minutes of free time, so most of us spend the 20 minutes in the Starbucks café partly because it was raining too.

Next stop! 景泰蓝制造场. Over there, we get to see how metal vase are being made. The product may seem very simple but the procedures are very complicated and take a lot of patience. After viewing all their end products, we were given some time to buy the things we want and we saw this very interesting heat pack. It is a packed of liquid with a metal chip in it. If you flick the metal chip, the liquid will harden immediately and produce heat. The person said that the pack would cool off within 2 hours and return to its liquid form. All of us were so amazed by it and we bought it at the price of 30Yuan per pack. The next group of people bought it too but the person charged them 20Yuan per pack.

During lunch, Mr Tan told us a story about fairness and unfairness. In life, people want things to be fair because they are afraid that they would be at a loss, just like the incident where we bought the heat pack at a higher rate. We find it unfair because we had to pay more for the same product. However, if we were to put ourselves in the shop owner’s shoes, he is earning lesser by doing so and he is also at a loss. So life is unfair, so instead of thinking about the negative stuff, we should think on the bright side.

It started raining by the time we left the景泰蓝制造场, and that was the first rain that I experience in China. We were all hoping that it would snow. Next, we proceed on to 北京特产购物中心 where they sell lots of local delights and even famous Beijing roast duck. I feel that they are very smart by packing the roasted ducks in air tight bags so that people can bring it back for others to try. People can also keep one at home in case there is a sudden dinner or gathering, they can prepare this dish for the visitors. This way, the visitor would feel that the host has put in lots of effort in preparing while in fact it is just heating up the food.

After all the walking and shopping, we left the place and head for dinner and one of the restaurants near our hotel. Mr Chua, Thir, Alif and Jia Wei also joined us for dinner. While we were eating, there was a table of people keep staring at us so Mr Tan went forward and started performing some magic. The people there were so happy and excited. From all the small magic tricks Mr Tan performed, I learn that if by doing small little things can make everyone so happy, why not? There is no harm anyway.

In life, we should all give and take so that everyone will be happy J

2011-04-03T00:02:00.001-07:00

Day 24

Weather: quite warm

Activity: Travelling to Beijing, visited Summer Palace and Tian Tan

Woke up super early in the morning and started our journey to Beijing. Maybe because all of us slept quite late last night and woke up too early in the morning, almost everyone was sleeping on the way. After about 2 hours of travelling, we finally reached our first stop which is the Summer Palace. It is a really big and beautiful place.

When we saw the map on how far we are going to walk, we were all so shocked because it looked SUPER FAR! However, as we walk, there are lots of interesting things that caught our attention and the journey didn’t seem that far after all. From this trip, I learnt some Chinese phrase too. One of it is from the small windows with paintings on them. We were curious why every window has different drawings, so the tour guide told us this: 一步一景，一步换景。 In the past, the emperor is very particular on what he see, so he insist that the scene from every window is different, hence resulting in the different drawings on the windows.

We also came across a huge stone called 败家石. It is a gift from the emperor to his mother, but the emperor’s mother believe that it is not a good stone because in order to get the stone into the emperor’s mother’s palace, they had to remove all the doors, so the emperor’s mother feel that the stone broke into their family. The tour guide also mentioned that if you are superstitious, it is better not to take photos of that.

Next we moved on to the art street which is 728m long. On the wall of the street, there are lots of different paintings on the ceiling and pillars of the street. After viewing all the arts, we made our way back to the entrance but on the way, Alif was not feeling well and started vomiting. What surprised me was that the tour guide didn’t seem to care much about it, instead she seemed quite pissed off because all of us are moving very slowly. This might be because their pay is fixed and if we delay, they are not paid for the extra timing, so it is like “no pay OT” to them. So we should speed up our actions for the next few days.

After the summer palace, we also went to the place called Tian Ta. It is a place where the emperor prays for good harvest for his people and fortune to his country. At the place, we saw a group of people who look like Singaporeans but we were not sure, so all of us were staring at each other. The other group started singing the national anthem and that was when we confirmed our thought. Not only are they Singaporeans, they are also Ngee Ann students! Just that they are from Business studies. We took a photo for memory purpose and we headed in different ways. Just a few steps away, we saw their lecturer and she turns out to know who Mr Tan is. We started talking for some time and started heading in different ways because we had a schedule to follow.

Other than all this things, some other observation while on the road. I feel that they have really good business ideas because they even have petrol stations in the middle of the highway, knowing that that is the place prone to jams. Not only petrol stations, there are also people riding on motorbike to sell food because of the jams too.

I feel that Beijing is a really interesting place and hope tomorrow will be even more interesting!

2011-03-30T10:22:00.001-07:00

Day 23!

Weather: quite cooling

Activity: APPG Final Test & Mr Tan’s Birthday celebration!

EVERYTHING SEEMS SO SMOOTH TODAY! Finally get to connect to the VPN and FINALLY APPG is OVER!!! We can finally relax a little and do some SHOPPING! BUT! Not forgetting our IS! Got to start thinking of ideas on how to do the IS project! Just hope that everything would go on smoothly, so would the Beijing trip tomorrow!

Before the test, all of us were so hardworking, sitting down quietly trying to get as much information into our head as possible. While the rest were studying, I went back to the hotel to get something and saw the uncle selling Tianjin Xiao Ma Hua which was something we wanted to buy for a long long time but the uncle was always not there. So when I saw the stall, I quickly went over to buy some. I asked the uncle what was the price and he said half a kilogram cost 9Yuan. Without even thinking about how much how a kilogram would be I just bought it until I saw the amount the uncle was scooping. It was a bag full of the cookie and at that moment, I was so shocked and the first thought was how am I going to finish that. I thought it would be embarrassing if were to tell the uncle that I only wan half of it, so I just took everything.

Initially I thought that only Felicia and I liked the cookie, but surprisingly when I brought it up to class, everyone liked it a lot and they finished half the pack with a short period of time. Don’t know why but I just felt so happy to see all of them eating so happily. Maybe because that helped them relive some of the stress they were facing.

In the evening, we met up with Fu Fong for dinner. Before heading for dinner, she brought us to a concert held in school. That was a really interesting experience because we get to see their concert hall and the difference between their concert hall and Ngee Ann’s convention centre is that Ngee Ann’s CC is a lot bigger! Their concert hall’s seats are of the same level, unlike what we have in Ngee Ann where there is a gradient to the seats. So we should be fortunate of what we have and treasure them!

I also noticed that over here, when we order food like hotplate rice or even glass bottled drinks, they will keep a deposit of 1Yuan with them. Once you return them the hotplate or bottle to them, they would refund the money back to you. Although 1 yuan is nothing to us, but maybe to some of the students I meant a lot. Other than the money issue, it also encourages students to return the plates themselves which is a good habit because the cleaners cleaning up the place would not be so tired.

After that, we went the bakery to collect the HUGE cake we ordered for Mr Tan’s birthday, at the same time taking the opportunity to thank Mr Chua for teaching us APPG. When we saw the box, all of our jaw dropped. It was the biggest cake I’ve ever seen.

We hurried back to the hotel and Fu Fong suggested that we go to the buddy café for the celebration so we all headed there first. She talked to the boss and he also agreed to it very quickly. I felt really guilty during the celebration because not only did they loan us the place without any extra charges, we did not order much things from them too. At the same time, we made a mess in the café causing Fu Fong to clean up the mess we made. I wanted to help her clean up but she insists that she will do it and asked me to join the rest.

During the celebration Aijing accidentally hit her head against the edge of the table and all of us panic for a moment. When they asked around to see if anyone have zumbak and no one has it, immediately Chia Chun ran to the pharmacy to buy some medication for head injuries and he ran back. He is a really good friend! Thumbs up!! Hope Aijing will get better and hope Mr Tan enjoyed his advance birthday celebration!

2011-03-30T09:34:00.001-07:00

Day 22

Weather: pretty warm in the afternoon

Activity: APPG Revision

Today was mainly on the APPG revision so we were in school most of the time. The weather was quite good so we decided to play basketball in school during lunch, so some of us went on playing and some went other places.

Some incidents happened what made the teachers quite unhappy because some of our friends went to the salon during lesson time, in the end they came back rather late. Mr Chua was very disappointed because from all his OIP experience, they are the first group of students who missed lesson. Due to this incident, the teachers started getting serious and stressed on the rules and regulations that we had agreed on before leaving for this trip which most of us have forgotten. What the teachers said was right. If they just let the matter go this time, some of us might do it again. Although nothing happened to them this time, but it might not always be so lucky all the time. We have to understand that it is the teachers’ responsibility to make sure that we are all safe in China. I also learnt that when we are out of our comfort zone, not only do we have to look out of ourselves, we also have to look out for others, and take good care of others because when we assume that everything will be alight and we step over the line, we might not only put ourselves in danger, but also the others. We should not pin point anyone for this incident, instead we should all learn from others mistakes and not offend them again.

During the lesson, Mr Chua also shared some learning points with us because some of we worried for the final test tomorrow and I find them very true. When we are in china, APPG is a just a skill that we have to learn and go through, but the most important things that we have to learn here are the life skills that can’t be learn from a book. Not only that, score is not everything. Failing a test doesn’t mean you fail in your life, you cannot be disappointed in yourself and give up everything, instead you pick yourself up and work extra hard to cover up what you missed.

Good luck to everyone taking the final quiz tomorrow!

2011-03-30T09:25:00.000-07:00

Day 21

Weather: Cold

Yesterday we were all busy with the IS project on the wine factory, so I didn’t have the time to blog. Will post the video our group made. Although it is just a 5 minutes video, but the hard work behind it is a lot. Like what the Chinese always say, 台上十分钟, 台下十年功. We faced some problems such as the laptop shutting down before we get to save it, at the same time racing against time.

Today we had a whole day of APPG and I finally cleared all of my doubts. Have to keep practicing so that I would not forget. After the lab test I realize that I am not very good APPG so I must work even harder! 2 more days before the final exam so I should do my very best now!

Went to Zi Yuan Can Ting for dinner today and all the waitress seems to have recognized us because they all seem so happy when we walked in. I also realize that the food in the restaurant seems very cheap to us, but it is rather expensive to the locals. Like what Mr Tan and Mr Chua said, we have to think like how the locals are thinking; their 1yuan is like our 1SGD and we should not always convert to Singapore dollars, thinking that it is very cheap.

So for those who are running low on cash, we should change out mindset and start living a budget life!

2011-03-26T10:11:00.000-07:00

Day 19

Weather: Cooling

Activity: self study, hair salon

Had a good sleep last night and woke up at 10am when we were supposed to meet in the lobby at 9.30am to study for APPG. Felicia and I quickly washed up and went down to study for APPG. Manage to finish lab 6 and start on tutorial 7.

Liu li came to our hotel to meet us for lunch because she said that the food sold in the hostel is very nice so we decided to give it a try. Once we step into the canteen, it felt so familiar and a sense of home. It feels like our ngee ann canteen and the food is really nice too.

After lunch, Felicia, Yi Wen and I went to liu li’s hostel to take a look. The hostel is totally not what I expected. It is like a 5 room flat in Singapore. There are only 2 toilets in an apartment with 11 people sharing. There are 4 different kinds of room in an apartment, 2 of it are shared by four people, 1 shared between two people and 1 room for one person. The room shared by 4 people is smaller than our hotel room and there are 4 people staying in it. In the small room there are 4 double decker beds and each person is entitled to one. The top would be where they will sleep while the bottom is their study table and some shelves for their books.

After looking at the standard of living environment, I feel that we should be grateful that the condition of we are staying in is really good. We should think of the positive things instead of pondering and complaining of what we don’t have.

Headed back to the hotel to study till around 6 and all of us headed to the salon near our hotel. Some of us got new hairstyles. Felicia and Weiling perm their hair, Wee Hong and Yi Wen cut their hair, Rachael and Eugene dyed their hair. At first all of them were worried that after doing our hair all of them would look like people in china but we were all wrong because the outcome were all quite good.

Tomorrow will be another day of mugging! Jiayou!

2011-03-25T08:37:00.000-07:00

Day 18

Weather: cold enough for Felicia and I to be trembling in bed

Activity: APPG lab test, wine factory visit, KTV session with Mr Tan

Early in the morning Felicia and I woke up and started camping at the NPAL website to see our result. As expected, our GPA dropped and both of us got the same GPA.

After washing up, we headed to school for the APPG lab test. Was really disappointed in myself because I did not notice that the teacher’s clock was 10 minutes faster than the normal timing, so I was referring to my own clock and thought I still had lots of time. Due to that, I was too focused on trying to solve the error that occurred and did not pay much attention to the enhancements. In the end, not only do I have errors in my program, I did not do my enhancements.

Next, we went for the Dynasty wine factory visit. The person showed us around the wine factory from how they disinfect the bottles to packaging, followed by how the wine are being made and kept. We also get to taste one of the most expensive wines produced by the company. It is the first time I’ve tasted red wine and XO, all I can say is that I don’t know how to appreciate and taste it. It seems so fragrant when u smell it but when u drink it, it was totally different. When I swallow the wine for the first time, there was a burning feeling down my throat. I wonder why people would like drinking.

After the wine factory visit, we went to the KTV again with Mr Tan. Mr Tan can really sing! This time round the room was smaller, almost half the size of the previous room, but the size doesn’t matter, what matters is that everyone had fun which I guess most of us did! :D

2011-03-24T07:44:00.000-07:00

Day 17!

Weather: Super strong wind, cold

Activities: APPG, Interaction with local students!

After much preparation yesterday night, today is the day where we are going to have our presentation! Was really excited about this and my buddy came for the presentation as well! I have not seen her since the first time we met.

Before the presentation, we had our APPG class and we did our trial test. I may have overestimated myself on the speed I have been doing. Given that we only have 1 hour for our lab, I finished the lab test and tried adding on enhancement to the project. However while adding the enhancements, problems started appearing and I was too engross in solving the problems and did not notice what the time was almost up. In the end, I have to remove all the enhancements and let Mr Chua check. So during tomorrow’s actual lab test, I must not offend the same mistake!

We had lunch with Mr Chua and Mr Tan at the restaurant in the international student dormitory. The teachers ordered the food and we did not see the menu so we do not know what kind of restaurant it was. So when the food came, Mr Tan told us that this is a vegetarian restaurant so they do not serve meat, but the imitated meat taste exactly the same as the real meat. We all believed in what they told us until the first dish that consists of meat came. The meat taste not only exactly like chicken, the texture and looks exactly like chicken too. Some of us started doubting what the teachers said until more dishes came than we confirmed our doubts although the teachers still insist that that was a vegetarian restaurant.

The first things that you say to a person or the first impression that you leave for others can make someone determine what kind of person you are. Just like what the teachers did, they told us that that was a vegetarian restaurant so all of us believed in it to the extent that real chicken taste like flour made food to some of us because we are told it is a vegetarian restaurant.

After lunch, we went back to the classroom and started preparing the presentation and arranging the tables and chairs. At the start we were not really prepared so Mr Tan stepped in to somehow keep the local students entertained by performing some magic and doing some self introduction to each other. From the introduction like what I’ve mention is the first few blog post, the local students are all very confident in speaking. When they are asked to introduce themselves, they are able to tell us the story behind their name, introduce their hometown and many more, while for us it’s the usual “Hi, My name is Kristabel”

This shows that we did not improve on that. If there is a chance, all of us should introduce ourselves like how the local students are doing.

During the presentation, Mr Tan helped us a lot by stepping in to add some pointers that we missed out. Overall, the presentation went quite smoothly and all of us had lots of fun during the interaction time.

There is a lab test tomorrow so I shall start revising! Good night!

2011-03-24T05:34:00.000-07:00

Day 16

Weather: cold

Activities: APPG, Economy of china

After our APPG lesson today, Mr Tian Hui came in to our class to speak to us about China’s economy again. Maybe it’s because of yesterday’s ECO city visit, I can understand the things he say on TEDA better.

Mr Tian shared some of his experience working with people from different countries with us and it consists of Singaporeans, Americans, Japanese, Korean and also German.

He started off with Singaporeans and he said that Singapore business man have better understanding of the Chinese culture compared with Americans and other countries, so when companies wants to set up business in China, those holding a higher positions would be either Singaporeans, Taiwanese or from Hong Kong.

Next, he moved on to the Japanese and Koreans. He mentioned that their attitude towards business is very serious however when it comes to drinking with them, it is more relaxed and it is a form of respect to “drink till you are drunk”, like what the Chinese drama always say, 不醉不归. Another thing is that normally they don’t pour the drink for themselves, but they would pour for each other.

For German business man, they are normally more calculative and serious during business. Americans are more relaxed as long as you are serious when it comes to business discussion.

Another thing I learnt is that in order to be able to work in the government sector in china, you have to go through a test which many people fail at and for one position, there could be thousands of people applying for it.

Lastly is the retirement age in china. Over here, they have different retirement age for males and females. Males would retire at the age of 60 while females at the age of 55.

Learn quite a few things from today’s session although I am not interested in economy.

Have to prepare to tomorrow’s interactive session and all of us are doing our part by doing bits of the powerpoint slide to introduce Singapore to the china students tomorrow.

2011-03-22T07:55:00.000-07:00

Day 15

Weather: cold

Activity: APPG TT1 and ECO city tour

Today we had our very first APPG theory test. Maybe because of the environment, it doesn’t feel like a test at all, an because of this, some of us were not really aware of the basic examination rules such as stay in the seat until all papers are collected and accounted for. This is something we have to take note and not do the same thing again for the next test.

After the test, we had our lunch and gathered at the lobby for the ECO city tour. It is a good thing that we had a tour guide along with us, introducing the different places of Tianjin to us along the way. Most of us fell asleep on the bus which was quite rude, but the tour guide did not just stop talking which I think is a good thing because he is very passionate about his job. Everything he said makes me feel that he is very proud of their country and other country isn’t their competitor. The tour guide also made some jokes about Japan and shared with us that some china citizens were happy about what happened to Japan recently which made me feel very upset. Due to the history between china and Japan, some Chinese still remembered and keep the hatred against the Japanese. However, they still send some rescue team over to help them.

Had a great trip to the ECO city and when I saw the Singapore flag flying high in the sky, I felt so proud of Singapore and I had a sense of home. Hope to go back to Singapore soon!

Headed to red candle for dinner and their fish never let me down. It is so fresh that it melts in your mouth. Hope to go back and eat some fish soon!

Off to bed now, good night everyone! J

2011-03-21T06:22:00.001-07:00

Day 14

Weather: Freezing

Activity: APPG, Chinese Philosophy

During today’s Chinese philosophy lesson, I’ve learnt lot of lessons today. I’d like to share some of the things I’ve learnt.

1. Set your own goals, don’t feel sad or disappointed because you are unable to be at other people’s standard. This is because everyone has their own abilities.

2. Don’t have to look down or admire other people’s life because everyone has their own way of living.

3. Sometimes, we must think out of the box. Things can be done in many ways instead of the usual ways. Originality J

4. Must know how to identify which one is the reality.

5. As long as it is natural, that is the best. We find the way the locals speak weird, but to them, they feel that the way we speak is weird because it is not natural to them.

6. We should not use our own mindset to change others because everyone has different mindset.

7. When a cup is full, there is no way one can add more water into the cup because it will overflow. Similarly, if our mind is full of our own mindset and thoughts, there would be no room for other people’s suggestions.

Courtesy

1. When meeting each other we must greet. Some people would shake their hands.

2. When walking with elderly, it is a form of courtesy to walk slightly behind them.

3. When sitting, we have to maintain a good posture.

4. When eating, the most respected person would sit facing the door.

5. When using chopsticks don’t use it to point at people and it is rude to use the tip of the chopstick to poke the food.

Hope everyone learn something from today’s lesson too! :D

Day 12

2011-03-19T09:49:00.000-07:00

Weather: Cooling

Place visited: 洋货市场 and 东方之珠KTV.

Met some of the China friends at the lobby today and we headed to the bus stop to take a bus to the subway station. It took us a total of 2 hours to get from our hotel to the洋货市场. On the way to the subway station, we met a very nice guy who stays at the stop we would be alighting, so he offered to bring us around. It was really nice of him being patient and leading us to the destination. Our China buddies also exchange numbers with the guy and also exchange online messenger account.

Personally, I felt he was really nice! Also before he left, he told us not to buy anything from the streets because is very expensive and also will con our money. It’s really rare to have stranger telling us that or rather local people telling us that. The place seems very dangerous as it is filled with foreigners and not locals. We didn’t spent much time there and quickly went back to the hotel before heading to Karaoke!

There were basically 3 major incidents today where one of our friends was almost pick pocketed, the other was lost his wallet. During weekends the bus is always packed with people and, the guy who almost got pick pocketed was on his way up to the bus. Fortunately, he had smacked the hand before anything could happen. What’s appalling is IT was A GIRL. The second incident was he realized he had lost his wallet in the bus. There was nothing much we could do but to contact our lecturer. It was once again appalling to know that they were so quick that he himself didn’t know it. Well perhaps is a learning experience for him and us on really careful with our belonging.

Last part of the day was the blast of going as a group to KTV.Karaoke. It was really big and the building was furbished nicely. It was also great to see China buddies sang English songs with us and doing their part by blending in with us. We also did our part by singing with them and encouraging them too.

We are going to have APPG lesson tomorrow! Due to the hectic schedule, we got to start revising!!!!

2011-03-18T10:00:00.000-07:00

Day 11

Weather: Cooling

Activities: APPG lesson, Tea cultural session, shopping

In the morning Felicia, YiWen, Racheal and I went to school first to get some breakfast. After so many meals in Tianjin, we learn that we have to request for less salt and oil so suit our taste. So when we were ordering our breakfast today, we request for less salt and the shop owner mentioned about the shortage of salt worldwide and we joked that we are helping save salt.

During the APPG lesson, we started on a new chapter. Maybe because I had no time to read before hand, I was totally lost during the lesson, however with the help with Mr Chua and my friends, I manage to clear my doubts and understand the chapter better. I should take some time to read up before the lesson no matter how busy or tired I am such that this kind of situation would not happen again.

After lunch, we took a bus with some of the teachers and students from TUT to a place that sells everything about tea such as tea leaves, tea pots, and many things used in tea making. There were also demonstrations on how tea was made properly. I was looking for the demonstration part of the lesson because Felicia and I bought a packet of tea leave but we do not know the proper way of making the tea so the tea always taste weird when we drink it. During this demonstration, I’ve learnt that when making tea, the first batch of tea should not be drank because it is used for washing the leaves and heating up the tea cups. For subsequent batch of tea, we should not leave the water in the tea leaves for too long because the longer you put, the more bitter it would get. However, every tea has its own way of brewing for the best taste.

I bought a teapot to make the tea we have in the room and I’ve only paid 5 yuan for the teapot which cost 30 yuan. I told the person that I’d like to change to another teapot that was 5 yuan more. There were some misunderstanding and the person at the cashier thought that I’ve already paid for the tea pot, so she only took 5 yuan from me. I felt so guilty and wanted to pay the full amount, but my friends around as me to pay only 5 yuan and leave. I really felt very guilty.

While walking to the bus stop, we saw a group of people looking at us and they were also speaking in English. Mr. Chua went forward to ask if they were Singaporeans and not only are they Singaporeans, they are students from SP, EEE! We thought that Singapore is small, china isn’t very big too! I felt so homely after meeting them because it has been some time since we see any Singaporean besides our group.

The next stop, we went to bing jiang dao again with liu li and Alica and do some shopping. Manage to get the things that I need and I have to start saving up! Spend when we are about to leave!

We were all enjoying ourselves and kind of left the two china buddies out which wasn’t a good thing. Like what Mr. Chua said, we are here to learn about their culture so w should take the initiative to speak to them. We should all try to change this bad habit and not do it again tomorrow.

2011-03-17T08:07:00.000-07:00

Day 10

Weather: cold

Had a day of lesson and we headed to the laundry shop opposite our school to collect some laundry. The shop owner is a very friendly person and he even helped Dean to sew his pants without any extra charge.

After that, we walked down the street trying to look for something to eat for lunch. There was a stall on the roadside selling noodles so we decided to try it out. While waiting for the noodles, there was a puppy running around the place and there was an old man telling the stall owner that he wants to eat dog meat. When we heard that all of us was so shocked but we did not do anything because the man just walked away after the stall owner told the man that he have a heart. A few minutes later, the man came back with two huge dogs and the dogs started chasing after the puppy. I felt so scared and worried that they would harm the puppy but there was nothing I could do. At that moment I was so disappointed with the man and agreed on the saying that people in china eats whatever that is crawling on the ground no matter what they are.

The puppy was hiding in a small corner of the street where the huge dogs were trying their best to get in. The huge dogs finally got in and I was panicking until I saw the two dogs playing with the puppy. At that moment I understood that don’t judge a person by just what they say. What we hear might not be what we see, what we see might not be what is happening. So never assume because you would be making an ASS out of U and ME.

Tomorrow we will be going for a visit and I’m looking forward to it, hope that I would be able to make great tea after tomorrow’s tea making lesson!

2011-03-16T06:34:00.000-07:00

Day 9

Weather: Cold

Tomorrow will be the 10^th day in Tianjin and I miss my family. L It seems like it was just yesterday when we first reach Tianjin but in fact, its already 10 days.

During today’s APPG lesson, Mr Chua checked my lab 3 and by looking at how he check my work, I realize that I was just doing what the book was asking us to do instead of thinking more in-depth on what can I improve on and the problems that might occur when running the program. I learnt that we should not be complacent when we do things because that is when we make lots of mistakes. Thinking that I’ve completed the lab, I moved on to the next lab instead of improving on the current one. I did not think much on what can be improved until Mr Chua run my program and problems starts to appear. I’d try my best to check my program and make it error free for my next lab!

After lunch, we headed out to Bin Jiang Dao to do some shopping. Some of them bought the formal wear required for the closing ceremony and I manage to get myself a dress. Everything seems so cheap compared to Singapore and it is so tempting to buy all of them, however, we have to control ourselves finically such that we would have enough money for the whole trip.

During dinner, we went to halal restaurant to eat. I realize that in china they actually have very high hygiene standards. The utensils in the restaurants are sterilized and wrapped up in clear plastics. Even in bakeries, the plates used to contain the bread are sterilized. This changed my mind set on the hygiene standards in China.

Enjoyed my day today and looking forward to the APPG lesson tomorrow!

To my encourager:

DRINK MORE WATER TOO!! DON’T GET SICK J

2011-03-15T08:59:00.000-07:00

Day 8

Weather: Cold

Mood: sad

Felt really down today after watching the news in the conditions in Japan last night. Out of a sudden, all this earthquake and tsunami happened without any warning causing so many lives lost and left so many people homeless. I felt so sorry for them but there was nothing I can do. Already feeling very sad, Mr Chua shared with the class about the news on Japan’s nuclear plant have exploded and it might affect not only Japan, it might also affect parts of Asia. My heart totally dropped after knowing this.

Life is really short and I cannot predict what might happen next. So all of us should live like there is no tomorrow, so that we would not have any regrets in life. Japan is such a well developed country but when nature disasters take place, there is nothing much they can do.

We had APPG for the whole day and Mr Lung dropped by our school to check on us. Really thank him for helping us with the do the planning and coordinating, we also have to thank Mr Tan and Mr Chua for taking care of us during this trip. APPG lesson is very interesting because Mr Chua is always trying to cheer us up such that we won’t fall asleep.

After school we went to Vangard supermarket to buy some daily needs and headed to the back street near our hotel to eat our dinner. The street food is nicer than those found in school and the restaurants. Not only that, the shop owners are also more friendly.

Will be having half a day of lesson and will be heading out to do some shopping. Not sure where we are going yet, but I’m looking forward to it.

To my encourager:

Hahahah! I don’t mind!! Don’t take it to heart (:

Everything is fine so no worries (: you have to wear more clothes too alright? Take care!

2011-03-14T07:58:00.000-07:00

Some Photos from this week's trip!

The photos are not in any order! sorry about that :(

on the plane to TianJin!

In the University (:

2011-03-14T07:57:00.001-07:00

Day 7

Weather: Freezing cold

Activities: APPG, Chinese language lesson, China Economic Lesson

Today’s weather was really very cold till my hands actually went numb while walking to school. There was some miscommunication in the morning because Felicia and I were late and by the time we reach the lobby it was already 8.30am. No one was waiting at the lobby and no one called us telling us that they left first so we went round the hotel rooms searching for them because both of our phones have run out of credits. From this experience, I’ve learnt 2 things. First was never to be late and secondly was to do things on the spot and not drag because we know that our phone were low on credits but we did not top it up immediately, hence making us run round the hotel.

After lunch was the Chinese language lesson again. Today we learnt about some of the history of the Chinese words and how it came about. Next we continue watching part of the movie, Go Lala go, and Mr Tan posted a question to us during head count. If one day you are driving on the road and there is a heavy pour down. You saw 3 person, first was an old man dying. Second was your lover and thirdly was someone you owe a favor to. Your car can only take in one person, who would you pick? My answer to this question was that I’d ask the person I owe a favor to drive the old man to the hospital and I’d stay there with my lover so that no one would be left behind.

We also had an economic lesson today by one of the professional in China and he shared with us some information on the china economy. He also talked to us about the ECO City and I’ve cleared my doubts on the place too.

Today’s weather is really very cold and tomorrow would be colder due to some sand storm nearby. Hope the temperature would rise quickly because many people are starting to get sick. Lastly, hope everyone in all the countries is fine after the earthquake and tsunami attacks. L

2011-03-12T07:54:00.000-08:00

Day 5!

Weather: Cooling

Activity: City tour to 古文化街 and 南市食品街

Had a great laugh early in the morning due to some incidents, really love my friends! They never fail to make me laugh no matter how tired they are. Prepared and we headed out for our city tour with one of our china friend, Yang Rui.

We met her at the food street where she showed us around and telling us about the specialty and what are the things that are nice. Everyone bought some food and share around. What surprised me is that by sharing that small amount of food everyone bought, we were all very full.

After walking around, we headed to the cultural street which is within walking distance from the food street. While walking there, we had to cross quite a number of roads. The drivers here are not like drivers in Singapore. When we are in Singapore and we are crossing a traffic light, cars would stop for sure, however in china, even when the green man is on, motorist would not stop for pedestrian to walk. Not only this, some would just drive pass right in front of you without any warning which is very dangerous. From this, I’ve learnt that different country has different culture. We cannot assume that what happens in Singapore would be the same in china. Instead of complaining and cursing at the motorist, we should be more careful ourselves and get used to this since we would be here for 5 weeks.

When we were at the cultural street, there was this old man who was drawing portal of people so some of us went to get a portal for themselves. While waiting, there were some locals watching the man draw too and they even made comments saying that it doesn’t look like the person at all and they just walked away. If I were the artist, I would feel very disappointed and upset. It is not easy to draw a portal of someone in just 5 minutes especially when the person is a total stranger and you have only seen him/her for the first time, yet he have to face such criticism. We should always think of other’s feelings before we say or make any comments to make sure no one is hurt. Other than all this incidents I still had an enjoyable time at the street. I’ve even bought some gifts for my friends and family!

We headed to 必胜客 for dinner and it was awesome! Some of the food cannot be found in Singapore! We also treated Yang Rui for dinner as an appreciation for sparing her day to bring us around. Thank you Yang Rui! :D

2011-03-11T08:25:00.000-08:00

Day 4

Weather: cooling

Activities: APPG, Chinese language class, Chinese Folk Arts and Culture.

It’s been at least a year since I last had a lesson in Chinese, and today’s lesson brought back lots of memories to me. I think it is the same for the rest too.

During the Chinese language lesson in the afternoon, we were slightly late because we over estimated the time. We were slightly late and the teacher was not very happy about that so we really have to learn our lesson and leave earlier.

The teacher showed us a movie called Go Lala Go! It is a very nice movie with lots of learning points. From the movie I’ve learnt that we have to love what we are doing in order to do it well. In life, we must take things step by step instead of looking for short cuts all the time. We might not always get what we like, but we can always like what we get! J

After the Chinese lesson came the lesson I’ve been looking forward to, the Chinese folk arts and culture lesson where we learn about the traditional art such as paper cutting, Chinese knots and character painting. I’ve not only learnt paper cutting skills from them, I’ve also learnt some life skills from the students. Although they have hearing impair, but they never gave up on studies and they have found their talent in arts. Like what people always say, everyone is born with a talent. I really admire them for not giving up on themselves, instead shining towards their talent and that is something we can learn from them.

Tomorrow will be the city tour and I hope all of us will have lots of fun!!!

2011-03-10T07:17:00.000-08:00

Day 3

Weather: cooling

Activities: APPG lesson, introduction to Tianjin’s culture

Ahn-Nyeong Hah-Seh-Yo! Greetings from Tianjin!! Why Ahn-Nyeong Hah-Seh-Yo? It is because at least 4 locals thought that we were from Korea!

We were all suppose to meet at the lobby at 8 this morning to go to school together, but I think some of us were too tired so they came down slightly later. Once everyone was there, we started making our way to the campus in the cold morning.

After the lesson in the morning, we headed to the student canteen for lunch, however there was some incident that happened there. The group was too big so we have to split into two tables for dinner. The canteen was quite crowded when we enter and there were only two chefs in the kitchen cooking. After ordering, the food for our table was being served faster than the other table, and by the time our table finish eating, it was already 1.15pm. However, the other table still have two more dishes not served yet. Knowing that we are going to be late and it is our first lesson with the Tianjin University teacher, we must not be late for the lesson. Decisions must be made at this point and all of us came to the conclusion of not waiting for the food anymore any head for the lesson because the dishes were soup and steamed fish which were difficult to finish in a short period of time. It is also not practical to bring the food around the school as it will be cold and no one would want to eat it.

After this incident, I feel that more decisions could be made to prevent this from happening like knowing that the canteen is packed, we should order food that could be served quickly. Other than that, our table know that the other table’s food was not being served yet, we could have shared some of the food with them so at least they can eat a little more, but we did not. I learnt that we should not be so self-centred and spare a thought for others as well, especially the Muslim students because they can’t eat everything while we can eat anything. So we should think for them first.

After rushing to the classroom, the teacher faced some technical problems with the laptop and was unable to play some of the videos. Immediately Dean volunteered to borrow the teacher his laptop which I think is very good.

When school ended, we went out of the school to the streets and walk around the night market. All of us look like we didn’t shop for a very long time because everything was so cheap to us and we were all so excited, but we told ourselves to have self control because there is still many days to go.

Mr Chua is already not feeling well so I hope everyone really takes good care of themselves and not fall sick anymore! Take care everyone! :D

2011-03-10T04:04:00.000-08:00

Day 2

Weather: very cold

Activities: getting to know our partners & campus tour

Today we officially started our life in Tianjin! All of us woke up to a chilly morning in and started exploring the surroundings and had our breakfast in McDonalds’. When we are out of our familiar surroundings, we have to prepare ourselves for all sorts of new things, even simple things such as food. We have to understand that different country have different type of taste that they prefer. Something that is very tasty to us may not be nice to the locals in Tianjin. Hence, we should be grateful that at least we have food to eat compared to some other places where people are starving.

After having breakfast, we headed back to the hotel and get ready to go and visit the university and meeting our buddy for this trip. When the students from the university introduce themselves, I can feel that they are very confident in public speaking which is a weakness for most Singaporean students. When a teacher told a student to give a short introduction of himself/herself, most Singaporean students would just say “Hi, I’m Kristabel and I am from Singapore.” However, the students here are able to respond to this simple question easily and with confident which is something we can learn from them about.

I met my partner Hu Qiu Mei and she is a year one student studying in the university. All of them are very friendly, some even initiated to buy some local delights for us to try even when we have rejected them. Although the snack wasn’t really to my liking, I tried by best to eat as much as possible as I find it rude if I were to throw it away in front of them because if I were to put myself in their shoes and think if I were to buy something for my new friends to try but they threw it away after just one bite, I would feel very hurt and that would make me leave a bad impression of them. Hence, I did not do so and I tried to finish as much as possible.

Their campus is a very big place and beautiful, but there are some places that were quite worn down. As compared to Ngee Ann, I feel that we are much more fortunate because no matter where we go in ngee ann, the place is very clean well maintained while in Tianjin university, some of the pavement has huge holes on them, if you did not notice where you were going, you might just fall down very easily, so we should treasure what we have in Ngee Ann more and protect the place well instead of causing damages to it such as vandalizing.

Looking forward to tomorrow! have to wake up early and get ready for our first official lesson! :)

2011-03-09T02:24:00.000-08:00

DAY ONE

Today is the very first day of the trip, everyone gathered at the airport with lots of friends and family members there to send us off. For the first time, I’m leaving my family for over a month and I really don’t bear to leave them in the morning. I told myself not to cry but tears still rolled down by eyes when checking in.

Today’s schedule was manly travelling from Singapore to Guang Zhou and a transit from Guang Zhou to finally arriving at Tianjin airport. Most of us have underestimated the temperature of Tianjin as forecast has shown that the temperature is rising. However it is still very cold compared to our sunny Singapore.

During the transit at Guang zhou, we spent a total of 4 hours at the airport and 2 hours having lunch. Lunch at the airport was a very bad experience as the food was not to our liking. All the food was very oily but I still force myself to eat some as I know that that would be the kind of food I would be expecting from this trip. I cannot always rely on fast food and cup noodles so I have to start somewhere, stepping out of my comfort zone.

After checking in to the airport, all of us happily went to the boarding area, not knowing that we were at the wrong gate until it was 30 minutes after our boarding time and we sense that something was not right. Gary went to ask the personnel at counter if we were at the correct place. As expected, we were really at the wrong gate and all of us started running towards the correct gate with the mindset that we might miss the flight if we slow down so we all helped each other, pulling each other on the way and the faster runners went to the gate to check in first. Lucky we all manage to get up the flight and reach Tianjin safely.

Dinner was awesome compared to the lunch we had. The place where we dine at have the REAL food on display for us too look at and choose from unlike Singapore where there are only pictures and sometimes just the names. However the foods on display are raw food.

The last thing that I would like to talk about was the Hotel. It was way above my expectation and I really love it. Hope all of us will enjoy ourselves here and learn lots of things. Looking forward to the orientation tomorrow! Good night everyone!

From today's experience, we learn that even if we are sure of certain things, we should not only double check but triple check to make sure nothing will go wrong, just like the incident at the airport. We should not or even never assume things because assumptions may not always be correct.

Kristabel

2011-03-05T18:27:00.000-08:00

Individual Learning Plan for Overseas Immersion Program

To: Mr. Tan J.K

Mr. Chua

From: Kristabel Khoo Shi Min

S10056216F

Subject: My Learning Plan

Date: 4^th march 2011

Learning objective

On the 8^th march 2011 a group of 20 students accompanied by 2 lecturers will be leaving our small island of Singapore and start our adventure in the big city Tianjin. During this 5 weeks trip, not only do I want to learn more about the country’s culture, traditions and living lifestyles, I would also like to learn more about myself as this would be my first time leaving my family for more than a month which means that I have to learn to be independent and take good care of not only myself, as well as those around me.

After reading some information on the city, I know that the Tianjin was shared by 9 other countries before it became part of china so lots of villas built by the other countries have an exotic flavour to Tianjin, enhancing the beauty of the entire city. Other than that, similar to Singapore, they have varies type of public transport such as bus, subway, taxi and light rail. I’m looking forward to travel around Tianjin in their transportation systems and experience how life is like in china so when we are back in Singapore, I can have more common topics with my foreign friends and change the negative mindset that some people have against the Chinese.

Focus of Inquiry

Therefore, my focus for this trip is to understand the lifestyle and behaviour of students in Tianjin, as well as their culture and traditions. This is because people always say that students from china are very studious, maybe after understanding their mindset in studies I can learn from them and apply it on my own studies. Not only that, I would also like to make more friends from this trip and from Tianjin University.

Questions for Investigation

Some questions that I would bring along with me for this trip are:

· What motivates them to learn? So that I can find my motivation in learning.

· As students in the university, what do they intend to after they have graduated?

· What do they normally do during their free time?

· What are some of the major events Tianjin has that would involve many people? Such as national day?

· What are their cultures and traditions like?

· What do they think about Singapore?

Hope that I would find the answer to these questions during the trip.

Development of Global Skills

I would like to improve my global skills such as my patience level because I can foresee some communication problems that I might face in Tianjin and being someone who does not like to repeat myself, I must be patient when communicating or helping others in communication. The next skill is the willingness to take initiative because I always feel that others would do a better job than be, so I always choose to step back and I must change this attitude of mine. Lastly, I would like to improve my comfort level with strangers. I hate being in foreign places, however in this trip, I am going to try my best to adapt and improve myself on this.

Leaning Strategies

In order to get the questions stated above answered, I would try to interact more with the students from Tianjin University, as well as observing how people interact with each other in different occasions. Other than that, I will surf the Internet and look for some information regarding Tianjin.

Hope everyone can achieve what you have planned for yourself in this trip! :D

2011-03-05T18:22:00.000-08:00

Two more days before all of us start on our adventure to Tianjin.

Two more days to spend with our loved ones.

Two more days to make sure we got everything we need.

and in two more days, we are on our own.

Hope everyone is ready for this trip!

Lets make this a smooth and fruitful trip with lots of wonderful memories to bring back!

Love,

Kristabel :)

2011-01-02T01:38:00.000-08:00

Hi Everyone!

I'm back to blogging, this time for a reason (:

Hope everyone is doing well, and Happy New Year :D