Our second day in China. 25/5

On our second day in China, we were lucky enough to be able to experience what it's like to be a worker in the Wahaha company. We visited the Wahaha headquarters and a worker from the Wahaha company took us on a tour around the company, giving us insights on how Wahaha came about and its past. Wahaha started out as a very small store which later on continually grew to become one of China's leading production company. Wahaha's history certainly is a good way to teach everyone lessons on dreaming big and working hard for your dreams, because dreams do come true. And this trip to Wahaha has certainly given me both inpiration and motivation to study hard and try to make a difference in my own life.

The workers were really generous and they let us have a taste of what Wahaha's produce tasted like! 

Now we know one reason why it's so popular!

Afterwards we went to the Tea Plantation. We had the chance to get hands on and pluck some tea leaves directly from the Tea Plantation as well! A great souvenir. The workers told us about the history of how this Tea Plantation came about and why it tastes so good compared to others which gave us more insight. We were once again very lucky to be able to get a free taste of how their famous tea tasted like!

Our 2nd day in China ended and I went to sleep motivated to learn more for the rest of the trip and in hopes of having more fun experiences!

Our first day in China. 24/5

Our journey begins as we board the plane towards China on the morning of the 24th of May. We board the plane in high spirits in hopes of a fun and fruitful trip. 

(Picture taken on the plane trip towards China)

After we have arrived in China, we were brought to a theme park called Song Cheng. Where it showcases the ancient living of China many years ago. We were lucky enough to be able to watch the show put up by many actors and through this adventure in the theme park, it has taught me many things about how Chinese lived in the past and our tour guide has also shared many ancient stories. 

Our first day ended with a great trip to the theme park, marking a great start to our adventure in China!

OELP Reflections (Keefe)

OELP Reflections:

1) Why do you choose to go on this trip? What do you hope to learn from this trip? What decisions were made differently in the trip and has a different result in the end?

I chose to go on this trip mainly because I saw it as a learning opportunity as well as an opportunity to have a better look at other countries’ economy and society, rather than restricting myself to Singapore. I wanted to learn more about China’s rich culture as well as how the people there live mainly the students and working adults. Other small reasons are that I thought it would be a great memory to have as the whole class would be overseas together and there won’t be another chance ever again. Although China is a very big country and its economy and culture cannot be taught in a matter of days, but I still hope to learn more about China’s economy, past present and future, how did it develop and what state is it in now and what are they striving for in the future. At first I thought I had sufficient knowledge about China and that I could share my experiences but soon realized that the tour guides had much more knowledge than me and I found myself listening more than sharing.

2) What is one situation you come across that you feel strongly about? What is one person that you had seen that taught you more than what could be achieved in class? What is one fact that you had learnt during this trip that impacted you the most?

The year ones in ShouChun secondary left a very deep impression on me, although they were a year younger than us but the performance they put out were absolutely stunning. Their performance had no flaws and everything was very well rehearsed, everyone knew what they were doing and nobody was confused about their positions and what they had to say. From this I can see the effort they put in and how much seriousness they put into their rehearsals. This is definitely a learning point for me as well as others. Putting our best into everything we do can certainly bring us far and produce us results, although these results may not be ideal but I think it will still give us a sense of achievement. The tour guide definitely taught me a lot more than what could be taught in class, the ancient love stories, ancient legends, short stories about noble men in the past and many more. Through a short span of a week, the tour guide taught us a lot about China’s culture, past and its specialties. Everything from the food to the landscapes, unique facts about them were provided by the tour guides. I personally found Mt Huangshan most interesting and the tour guides had a lot to talk about it, the trees, the history and other unique facts about it. All these cannot be taught in class and has to be experienced by one to truly understand. The fact that although Chinese students studying in China face a major pressure of a major exam and has to study very hard every single day with hardly a day to rest, they still find time to pursue their hobbies and yet under this pressure they are able to live a happy life. They greeted us with smiles and kept their smiles through the whole program although I know for a fact that when this programme ends, they return to their stressful life of endless studying. Their spirit of never giving up on their studies no matter how tough the journey can get is very admirable and has impacted me to strive for the best and never give up in whatever I decide to do in the future.

3) How would this trip affect your future behaviors and attitudes? What are some long term changes you hope will take place? What did you learn in this trip that you can bring back to Singapore?

This trip made me realize how much harder I need to study in order to keep up with China’s education pace, it is very much faster compared to Singapore. The Chinese students are very disciplined as well and enthusiastic in answering questions posed to them by the teachers. This enthusiasm in their own learning can be applied to us and I will take my studies more seriously. Although their school ends late at 5:30, they still find time to conduct CCAs, their enthusiasm towards their hobbies is admirable as well. I heard a few students play basketball outside with adults as well which I do sometimes do too and I can relate to how passionate they are towards basketball. Through this, my passion for basketball has grown even more and I will strive to do better. I hope that I can adopt their enthusiasm towards learning and their hobbies as well as keep the friendship that we forged in the short span of time. I hope that through this journey it can inspire me to learn more about other country’s history and also other country’s leaders backgrounds. I learnt a lot about Chinese in China’s lifestyle, as well as their history. One point that I can bring back to Singapore is their hard work, everyone in China goes through a tough time as a kid faced with the pressures of education being a very important factor in their lives but they all pulled through it and even achieved great results, pushing China’s economy to great heights. Overall I think one big reason behind China’s success as a country is because of its people’s hard work, never giving up and that is something I want to bring back with me to Singapore and apply it to my life.

Merlion best icon for Singapore? (Keefe)

Merlion consists of " mer " which means sea and " lion " . It's fish body represents Singapore as a fishing village back then and the lion head represents what Singapore was originally called " Singapura " meaning lion city. The merlion is a suitable representative icon of Singapore because it strictly represents Singapore for what it was and is right now, a fishing village and a lion city.

 The merlion has its own roots in our Singapore history as well, there is a famous take on how the " lion " of merlion came about. It was a story about how a prince from Palembang, Sang Nila Utama, encountered a lion on the shores of Singapore. He then named Singapore, Singapura ( " lion city " in Sanskrit ) 

Although many might say that the merlion is not something unique to Singapore so therefore it should not take the status of a national icon. But in my own point of view, a national icon does not have to be unique to the world, it just has to be unique to its country where it can be recognized as a national icon. 

What is the use of a national icon? National icons are used to invoke patriotism, unity by portraying the Nation's goals and history. The merlion is perfect in a sense that it does what it is supposed to do. It invokes patriotism and unity by portraying one of Singapore's goals which is to be adaptable to the World's ever changing economics because the merlion adapts to both land and water, and it reminds Singaporeans of their history as a fishing village which is now a city roaring with success.

Lee Kuan Yew (Keefe)

A golden age can be simplified to simpler terms where it can be understood as a period of time where a certain independent country reaches its peak of economy and has a great development. Behind every successful country there is a great leader, where for Singapore, the leader would be, Mr Lee Kuan Yew.

Singapore can be its own version of a golden age as well, when Singapore was separated, it was nothing but a small fishing village. But in a short matter of years, Singapore being a third world country in the past, jumped the second world country status and achieved the first world status, arguably under the leadership of Mr Lee Kuan Yew.

Even though many countries stated that they would surpass Singapore in terms of their national funds, or economy. For example Malaysia said that they would surpass Singapore by 2020, yet they are at a negative number of -400+billion, where Singapore has a positive number of a few hundred billion. Most likely, Malaysia would not be able to surpass Singapore in a matter of 5 short years, and this just shows how much Singapore has developed under arguably Mr Lee Kuan Yew's leadership.

  

1 Child Policy (Keefe)

During our last CID lesson, we discussed about China's one child policy. China's one child policy states that in China every family can only be entitled to a child, but if it's a girl, the family can have another child. This policy was first implemented to limit China's population growth. But in Singapore's case, Singapore is suffering from a depletion in our birth rates. Which means that Singapore's manpower is decreasing, and Singapore has realized that this is becoming a problem as more foreigners are coming to Singapore. In my opinion, Singapore is getting invaded by foreigners and this is because of the low birth rate. But Singapore has been implementing new bonuses to encourage more births, I think this implementation is a good one because money is quite important in society and Singaporeans would be attracted. Singapore is definitely doing a good job of encouraging new births and I hope the plan continues on successfully.

Holidays + Reflection on poverty (Keefe)

There were 2 major events of my December holidays, the class outing and my multiple facilitator trainings. 

Firstly,

The class outing was really enjoyable although we all got sunburnt but it was a small price to pay for the strengthened bonds and the fun we had. We also lost a frisbee and a soccer ball, unfortunately, it could not be retrieved but the fun we had with them was worth it. This class outing was really successful and i think we should have more of these and if more of us were to be able to make it, each of us would have to spend lesser and it would be more fun!!!!

Secondly,

The facilitator trainings I went through was truly a very valuable experience and the bonds that we made during the trainings are really priceless and how much I appreciate the new friends I made there is really hard to describe using words. We all shared a common goal of making Orientation 2015 a successful one and we all went through the thick and thins of the trainings and the actual thing together just to achieve one goal. I really learnt a lot from the people there and during the actual Orientation, we all realized we were somewhat ready but we were not the best we could be, yet everyone continued trying their best and I really appreciate the other facilitators who went through the trainings with me. The result was obvious :)

Reflection on poverty

Poverty to me is when someone lacks daily needs and has to survive without basic needs like 3 meals a day or showers to keep oneself clean, in a general term, general scarcity.

There is not as much poverty in Singapore as compared to other countries mainly because Singapore does not have too big of population and living in Singapore is not too costly so most people can afford living in Singapore. But poverty is still present in Singapore although it is not common.I believe that life is not fair and that is why some people have to suffer and some of us live a luxurious life, and that we, the people who live comfortably should learn to lend a helping hand when we can and help the people in need. These people might be innocent and were born into a poor family so they did nothing wrong to be suffering and yet some people who do bad things can live luxuriously and that just shows how unfair life can be. So we should always help out people in need whenever we can because I think this is what we should do and what we could do the least is to give them some money and not leave them in the lurch to fend for themselves.