第二天。五月二十五号。哇哈哈饮料厂和呈坎茶博物馆、茶园（经济、文化）

第二天早上，我们抵达了哇哈哈饮料厂。在那儿我们有个专业的导游，带我们参观哇哈哈的展览并介绍哇哈哈饮料公司的历史，和在短短十一年发展为中国饮料生产企业的故事。

哇哈哈的生产线

在1987年，哇哈哈创始人宗庆后开始的艰苦的创业历史，第二年，在激烈的市场竞争中站稳了脚跟。现在，哇哈哈已发展成为一家集产品研发 、生产、销售为一体的大型食品饮料企业集团，为中国国最大的饮料生产企业，产量位居世界前列。在中国29个省市自治区建有70个生产基地、170家子公司、拥有员工3万名。

从哇哈哈创始人宗庆后身上，我学到创业精神，在1987年若宗庆后没有创业精神的话，如今就不会有哇哈哈这么大规模的一家饮料生产集团。就是因为有创业精神，宗庆后相信自己能够有一个好的发展，所以才会开办哇哈哈这个饮料生产公司；管理，在是一年的时间里，有许多员工都爱来往往，就是因为宗庆后的管理能力好，才能维持哇哈哈的生产质量和销售业绩，成为现在的哇哈哈。公司的管理能力突出，好让生产、销售有一定的成绩；最后，愿意尝试新事物的精神。不是每一个人都有创业的头脑和能力，但在场时之前，没人知道。宗庆后是个愿意尝试的人。他在成功之前，不知道自己有这个能力，但还是勇敢的创业。创业并不简单，不过，就是因为宗庆后有常识的精神，才能打造出今日的哇哈哈生产集团。尝试过的人，不是每一个都会成功，但没尝试过的人，肯定不会成功。

免费品尝哇哈哈的饮料

过后，我们到的呈坎茶博物馆、茶园。在茶园里，导游介绍给我们本地著名的黄山毛峰茶。这种茶叶，不是每一个地方都能找到的，只有这一代有。到了博物馆，我们有机会参观，不过，最精彩的部分就是品尝茶。我们总共品尝了三种不同的茶：著名的黄山毛峰茶、与众不同的菊花茶、和香浓的红茶。令我印象最深的是菊花茶。我们品尝的菊花茶和外头买的很不一样。这才是珍重的菊花茶。菊花带有淡淡的花香，茶也不会很甜，和外头买的甜菊花茶很不一样。

第二天，就这样结束了。我们今天也学到了很多关于茶的文化，以及哇哈哈饮料生产集团的经济发展。我们本来也是应该到屯溪老街逛一逛的，不过，因为时间的关系，我们得把这个行程该换到隔天。今天一样，回到酒店后就进行了反思和总结今天所学到了东西。第二天较疲累，也许是因为早起，而且参观了许多地方。

第一天。五月二十四号。宋城（中华文化、遗产、历史)

今天是我们即将打飞机到中国开始我们八天的学习之旅。对于这一天，我的新知识在早上十点钟时，我们打飞机到中国。

一到那儿，已经是傍晚了，我们在一件餐馆吃完了晚餐，就到了宋城参观，并看了一场精彩的表演。表演大概有一个小时多长，表演胡，我们就开往第一天的酒店，杭州华越国际酒店，到那儿做第一天的反思和开会。

第一天的反思让我们去思考某些关于中国文化和建筑:

问题一：到宋城参观的旅客们能够真正体验中国文化和建筑的特别吗？

我的看法：我认为不能。因为仅仅在宋城参观，不到一整天的时间，怎么能够了解到中华文化和五千年的中国历史，这是件不可能的事情。不过，在宋城的短短两个小时里，我的确对中华文化和遗产有了一定的了解。宋城里的建筑都是古代是的建筑，一点都没改变。我相信这是因为宋城想要把中华文化介绍给旅客们知道，所以选择保留那些建筑和生活方式，好让旅客们能够吸收更多的中国文化知识。

问题二：在观看宋朝的表演后，有什么问题是你想要请问那些演员和舞蹈者的吗？

我的看法：在为表演苦练的时候，有没有遇到什么困难？

在表演上，他们投机了多少的时间和精力？

在表演的内容里，我发现有一段情景是把水从天花板倒下来，形成雨。在短短的十几秒内，是如何把水清理掉，为下一个情景做准备？

一天得表演这么多次，是疲倦多过满足干吗？

在杭州的第一天就已经体验了许多事情，接下来的七天，我相信我们还会有很多机会去学习更多关于中国的文化、历史、建筑、遗产、教育、经济等。我期待接下来七天的2F。

OELP Reflections (Isaac)

OELP Reflections:

1. Why did you choose to go on this trip? What decisions were made when you chose to go on this trip? What do you hope to learn from this trip?

I went on this trip because I felt that it was a once in a lifetime experience and also to learn. It would also be a great time to bond with the class and to make new friends in China. This is a chance that this class will never get again and so I decided for all those factors, to go. It will be a once in a lifetime experience as next year this 2F will not be the same anymore and this is the only chance given to us, this will be a great piece of memory of the class for us to keep. Firstly to bond as a class, this 2F will not ever get another opportunity to go on an overseas trip as a class ever trip, this trip will make us be more independent without our parents and we will be going through thick and thin for 8 days as a class, and I believe this is why we would feel more bonded as a class. I would feel more bonded with my classmates as whatever we do, we do it as a class and whenever I have a probably, my parents will not be there, and the only people I could seek help from is my parents and mostly friends. Secondly making new friends, friendship this is something money cannot buy, this new friends will be someone I will know for life, going to this OELP means I would be paired up with a student there, and I could learn about their tough education system and the way of life of general Chinese people. This school exchange is something that a normal trip to China cannot provide, only a school based trip will allow me to have a chance to sit in their classrooms to listen to their lessons. Thirdly and lastly, to learn, personally I do not appreciate my Chinese background a lot, because of things people associate it with, like being naturally good at Chinese, which I am not good in. Going on this trip will help discover my roots, learn more about my ancestor and know the culture and the way of living of my Chinese ancestors. This could be done through visit to the villages and museums. This could broaden my knowledge about Chinese culture and way of living, we can also compare it to how we are living and appreciate it better or learn how to do thing better. We could also find how two groups of Chinese both from the same roots, yet become so different through the visits to various Iocations on the trip. This could help me as a Chinese, I would appreciate my background more, also I could share the knowledge that I gained to my fellow Chinese friends. I could also learn to become a more independent person and not to rely on my parents. When I decided to go on this trip, I decided to study harder for my Chinese to allow me to communicate better with the people there.

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?

I felt that our tour guide throughout the whole trip taught us a lot and none of it could be achieved in class, particularly the Chinese word for filial piety which is'孝'. When we were at the Hongcun Village we went into this old building was the word '孝' written on a board hung high up. Through our tour guide we learnt that by slicing the word in half, we can see towards the left is a filial man kneeling down, and on the right is a monkey kicking and punching, which is to say if we are not filial like the man on the left, we will just be like the monkey on the left, telling us if we are not filial we are no different from a beast such as the monkey. Chinese characters are truly a work of art derive such things from just a simple word and despite being told by many in Singapore that Chinese characters are works of art, it is nothing like seeing it firsthand. And the ancient people could. It also shows how important the Chinese people viewed being filial and respecting elderly and parents; this is a stark comparison from the western culture we are used to, where parents are treated a lot like friends. Although this western culture may allow for ease of communication and we can share more as we have a much smaller gap, we might forget ourselves and treat them rudely, when in fact they are our parents, the one who brought is to this world and gave us everything. This also made me missed my parents a lot as through this word and what the tour guide was saying, we could easily relate this back to our parents in Singapore who probably are caring for us while we are having fun in China. Having gone for a few days without our parents we will truly understand how important they are and when we get back to Singapore, I will definitely give them the respect they deserved. This is definitely one of the things that have impacted me the most, and I feel that this will not be something we could learn in Singapore as learning about filial piety at that place is a totally different experience from seeing it as an image back in Singapore. Also throughout the trip, our tour guide was the one explaining everything to us, the amount and type of things he had taught is something we cannot learn back in a classroom in Singapore.

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?

I will definitely study harder like how the Chinese students in China do. To them study is very important and they appreciate the chance to study a lot, especially being  put in a good schools having to pay such expensive school fees. Their usual school dismissal time is 5pm, yet they can study by themselves up to very late at night.  Even their attitudes in class, they copied notes without being told to and simple things like sitting straight or not to hug our bags, they could perform very well. The teachers did not need to take care of this little things and could teach more in the given time. Being Singaporean our school fees are heavily subsidized and cheap, but yet instead of being grateful, I feel that we take that for granted. Although people may say being in a good school like RV is tough, we are nothing compared to our counterpart in China. Also I find that people there are satisfied and appreciate what they have. They may not have the newest of phone or the best of anything, yet I find them satisfied, they also appreciate what they have, through things like cleaning classrooms and their own school toilets without the teachers saying it. Unlike Singaporean students who may want the latest gadgets, bags and stationery. Striving high and being satisfied is two different things, you could aim high yet be satisfied with your current conditions. Our counterpart in China could study harder with lesser things yet why do Singaporeans with so much more and access to so much more resources complain so much more. I find their positive attitudes towards studying very admirable and this will definitely affect how I will view studying in the future. I also admire Chinese people for their patriotism, when we went there, the performances on that day was all about their for their country, I guess it was the main theme for the competition but you could tell from a young age the Chinese people have been taught to love their nation which has given them everything they have now. This is also something Singaporeans could learn too, according to a survey by Mindshare more than half of the people who took it would migrate away from Singaporean if given the chance. To many, Singapore may have a tough education system and the government restricts a lot of things but isn't it this laws and this tough education system what made us so successful and safe? Many Singaporeans are using Singaporean as a place to earn their money and will migrate elsewhere, they do not have the feeling of giving back to this nations and this is why I say we could learn from the Chinese people and how patriotic they are. As the Chinese saying goes, 饮水思源, which means when one drinks water, one must not forget where it comes from; be unforgetful of those who fought to make the present possible for us. This is the country which made it possible to have such comfortable life and we should learn to give back. I learnt to be more appreciative of what this nation given us.

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.

OELP Reflections (WeiNing)

OELP Reflections:

Why did you choose to go on this trip? What decisions were made when you choose to go on this trip? What you hope to learn from this trip?

坦白说，我本来不是很愿意去这个旅行的，因为我觉得这次的旅行很贵，而且我觉得这个旅行实在不值得我父母花千五块。可是，这次的旅行和往来的不一样，我不是和我的父母、家人一块儿去，而是跟着学校、老师，和班上的同学一起去。这是我最终决定要去的原因。这次，是我第一次和学校出国学习，八天的时间，不在父母的保护、照顾和迁就下。我相信这次的学习之旅会是一个很特别的经验，和同学、朋友们一起到中国学习、玩乐。最重要的原因是，我想体验和朋友、学校出国学习的感受和过程。这，是我选择踏上这次学习之旅的重要因素。

我做出的决定有包括我要学习独立，再没有人的保护和照顾下，在没有父母和姐姐的同伴下，我想要通过八天的旅程，学习独立。这不是件容易的事情，毕竟，这是我在十四年里的第一次自己和学习出国学习。我必须再没有人的帮助下，懂得如何整理行李，必须懂得如何好好照顾自己，不让自己生病。

我希望在这次的学习之旅中，学习如何独立，就算只是短短的八天。这不是件容易完成的事情，我在父母的保护和爱戴下都是十四年了，就算我知道八天过后，我还是同样会回到他们的怀抱中，但至少，我能学习到独立。除此之外，我也很想认识到中华文化、他们的生活方式、教育系统、经济发展、中国遗产。必学的还有新加坡和中国各个方面的不同，比如：经济、教育、文化等。这对我将来会有很大的帮助，毕竟，中国是个发展迅速的大国。有了这些必得的知识，会对我们以后和中国的合作有很大的帮助。

我还希望，这次的学习之旅会对我们每一个2F成员留下深刻的印象，同时，我也希望我们这一般，能透过这次的学习之旅，懂得如何变得更有自律、更自我意识。我们从去年就被反映出十个“问题多多”、顽皮捣蛋、学法自律的一般。所以，我更是想要我们能改革换面，让老师、和全年级的人知道，我们班是可以又团结、又有自律的一班。我想要大家知道，我们2F不仅可以玩得很疯，也能很认真地对待每一件事。

我很希望大家能够一起享受这次的之旅，玩的有意义。我要这次的OELP成为一个深刻印象、与众不同的旅程，大家能够在将来记得每一个细节。我要这个旅程成为一个特别的。

What is one situation you came across that you feel strongly about? Who 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 the trip that impacted you the most?

令我印象最深刻的事件是我们在表演前的前两夜里很努力地在为表演做准备。那两天，可以说是最累的，我们白天要到各个地方学习，晚上要花很长的时间联系和排练。在这两天里，虽然大家都很疲倦了，大家也有很多的不满，但我们都还是咬牙忍住，继续排练。这对我来说十分欣慰，因为我曾经认为2F没有可能会这么努力过，这连天的排练，我感受了大家辛苦。说实话，我承认我们的表演没有比他们的好，比他们的专业。但我很高兴，我可以说我努力过了。能彩排的时间有限，而且在表演的最后两天前，我也能感受得到大家想把最好的呈现给大家。所以，或许我们的表演没有达到老师们的期待，也没能带出我们最好的表现，但我对我们的表演很满意，因为我知道，大家都努力一番了。这是我在这次的学习之旅中，印象最深刻的一件事，最深刻的两夜。

不是一个人，是整个年级的学生让我学到我永远无法在班上学到的事情。表演的同学们都是来自七等班，他们年纪比我们还要小，但表演的品质确实如此的高。面对着每一般的诵读表演，我很佩服这些学生。他们上学的时间比我们长很多，但能挪出时间来为表演准备和排练，表演出如此高水准的表演。这代表他们多么重视这场比赛，为它付出多少努力。我被他们坚持的心理深深感动了。他们站在台上，丝毫没有任何畏惧，能够很顺利地完成表演。可是，对他们最残忍的现实是，这个表演，只能有一个赢者，只有一班能够胜出。为表演努力了这么久，但最终没能拿到冠军，我没能想象他们此刻失望的心情。他们是我在这次旅行中，使我学到了我在班上学不到的事。

            这次的学习之旅，令我印象最深的道理是：我们无论做什么事，一定要专一，认真对待每一件事，如果到达了自己所要的目标，要告诉自己，这不是人生的终点，不能骄傲，这是人生送你的奖品。又或许，结果不是我们所期待的，可是这个努力的过程会与我们共度一生。至少的是，我不会害怕别人的目光，我能坦诚地说，我曾经努力过了。

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?

这个学习之旅后，我我希望能够让自己的时间更有规划性，就像那些合肥寿春中学的学生一样，上课时间已经很长了，回到家还要写作业。这如果没有很好的时间观念，会把学业和身子搞坏。有了更好的时间观念和更好的掌控时间，我相信我才能更好把学业搞好，让各个方面都有一定的成度。同时，透过这次的旅程，我也想要让自己变得更有毅力。我们的表演让我了解到，这世上，只有努力和坚持才能带你迈向成功之道。或许大家会说我们的表演其实没有成功到，但我说，我们的确是成功了。只要我们有努力，我觉得已经算是成功一半了。这件事，让我体会到无论做什么，都要努力一番过后才能说结束，不能半途而废，也不能说放弃就放弃。

从这次的学习之旅，我希望能获得长期改善的地方是我们2F这一班的对学习的态度。我相信大家到寿春中学后，都发现他们中国学生都很卖力的，他们相信只要每天读书、写作业，就能站上顶峰。因为中国人多，竞争也多，唯独有努力读书，考好成绩，才能比别人好。这一点，是我们2F缺乏的。我们对学习没有那种热忱，对学习也不会很拼命。我们上课时也不是每一个人都会很认真，做作业和没有把百分之一百的用心投入在作业里。这一点，我希望能和中国朋友学习，让我们能换个学习态度，长期对学习有更高的目标。

OELP Reflections (Yinn Yi)

OELP Reflections:

I chose to go on this trip as I knew that I would go through many new experiences during these short 8 days. In the past 2 or more months of CID lessons, it had helped me build up knowledge on Anhui’s different culture and their way of living. I knew the differences between Singapore’s and Anhui’s culture but I wanted to first handedly experience it myself. I wanted to try to experience their culture and would thus have more knowledge on the country itself. Learning about the education system in china made me want to learn more about it, and experience having lessons in Chinese. Through this trip, I hope my Chinese would improve and I would be able to speak more fluently in the future. As in Singapore we use English terms to teach math and science, experiencing these terms in Chinese would also be something new for me. I hoped to make more overseas friends and know more about their everyday lives, and would share about my stories and our history to them as well. I decided that I had to be more open and step out of my comfort zone and learn about the differences in our culture and their daily lives in contrast to ours. I hope to learn about the different cultures Anhui has and their history in contrast to ours. I expected that I was going to learn about their unique food and the education system in Anhui. We were going to different companies to learn about how they started up their business and learning from how they succeeded could change my views and attitudes on studying as well.

The first day when we were supposed to go into class to listen to a lesson, I was nervous as I knew that people were going to judge us. I expected total silence and judgmental eyes just staring at us when we walked in but instead there was warm applause that made me feel really welcomed. They had left 5 empty seats in the middle of the class just for us, and our CID group all awkwardly sat down and stared at the worksheet in front of us. The classroom was getting stuffy and the fans were not on for some reason. We were having Chinese lesson in that period and there was a passage on the late Confucius and his sayings. We had no idea what the passage meant, moreover there were so many words that we didn’t even know how to read. We were all lost and confused. The teacher introduced himself and the lesson soon begun. The teacher led the whole class in reading the paragraph once and we tried taking down the pronunciation of words we didn’t know. As there were many paragraphs in the passage, the teacher divided us into different teams and each team was in charge of explaining one paragraph. When we got into groups, two girls came up to me, and started talking to me. Firstly, they introduced themselves and one of them was the Chinese rep of the class. She explained to me that the sentence meant that “you will respect friends after long periods of communication with them” our group only had one sentence to explain, and thus I introduced myself and we started talking soon after. In Singapore when I was in primary school, a lot of overseas schools would visit our primary school and we were often supposed to bring them around and let them experience, after a few times, we were all tired of looking after them and some of us even left the students in the canteen and went to play. I thought that that would happen to me as well in their school. However they approached me and started talking to me immediately and I felt that this school had a warm atmosphere. There was this one girl called WeiQi who moved her chair to sit beside me and guided me throughout the whole Chinese lesson. She explained the terms that she thinks would be hard for me to understand. She helped me throughout the lesson and I was really grateful for that. Without her, I would still be lost during the lesson and would have embarrassed myself in front of the whole class when asked to reply a question. I liked her open personality and quickly we became friends. I felt warm and welcomed, and immediately liked this school. The class ended quickly and after we bowed to the teacher, many people came up to us and gave us different postcards with their contact numbers on it, and asked for mine in return. I didn’t know any one of them, but this simple gesture of wanting to make friends with me showed their openness to other that I once didn’t have. I realized that this was a point that I needed to learn from them. That Chinese class including WeiQi has taught me more than Chinese and Confucius. It taught me a whole new set of values and made me realize that openness and diversity should be one point that I need to impart in my life. On the second day, the first lesson we had was a science chemistry practice. They were using potassium permanganate to test for the presence of vitamin C and different bottled drinks they brought. I learnt later that this was the first time they were having a chemistry lab lesson. I didn’t want to take their chances of having a lab practical and let them do their own practices. WeiQi sat beside me also during this time and automatically let me do the tests but I refused and insisted that they should do it themselves. After class we all gathered outside the multimedia room and took photos, while classmates gave me even more postcards and the class chairperson even gave us bracelets on behalf of the class. I later also learnt that they didn’t want to turn on the fans in class as the fan would make noisy sounds when it is turned on and was afraid that the fan would drop on us. They had their first chemistry practice was also only because we were there.   I felt really touched and sad that it would be my last day in this school. I would miss all the warm smiles that I got and the unconditionally welcoming I got from them. I felt really touched and I wanted to spent more time in the in that school. After the house visit, WeiQi was actually waiting for me at the school gate and passed me China’s 文房四宝 （笔，墨，纸，砚）I tried to refuse and wanted to use the excuse that our teacher previously taught us: Our luggage has not much space left but WeiQi insisted that I should take it and said that she would be sad if I did not bring it home. I was so touched at the moment that I didn’t know what to do. I feel that I have a lot to learn from them about hospitality and I need to be more open to students that visit our school in order for both parties to have a good time.

I think this trip changed my point of view on emersion programmes between different schools. I feel that Singaporeans need to have this hospitality in welcoming foreign guests and introducing Singapore’s culture and knowledge to them. We should be well equipped with this knowledge and be prepared to let foreign guests know about our surroundings, people culture. I myself also need to be more hospitable and be more open in welcoming foreigners regardless of their nationality or religion.  I hope that RV would have more foreign students coming to visit us in the future and that we can show them what Singapore is really like. From the performance in school, I was a little disappointed about our performance. During practice and rehearsals, we all sang loudly and wanted to put on a good show. However when we reached there I think we were all scared of the large amount of audience (even though teachers already told us about it) and I don’t think I gave it my best either. I feel that the hospitality and their openness to us really moved all of us that went to their school and I think that I really need to learn from them in this aspect. Coming back from this trip, it not only taught me about culture and history of Anhui, but on how to be a better person in general, to be more proactive and engage more in activities held by the school. I will be more open in school when receiving exchange students and I hope that they will also have a good time and leave a good impression on Singapore next time. During this trip, the guide also showed us a picture of the word 孝. it made me realize that when my parents have always been there for me whenever I need their help, and that they would want me to study hard and have a good future as well. At that time, I realized that I have not showed my gratitude towards my parents, and intend to thank them after I came back from this trip.

OELP Reflections (Yue San)

OELP Reflections:

1) I decided to come along to this trip because it would be an exciting experience, and would let us learn more about China’s culture, which is extremely crucial in this modern age as China is rapidly becoming an expanding country in the global market. This information would be beneficial in the working world to be able to converse with ease with China’s people, as gaining a greater understanding on their society would help greatly. Also, going to Hangzhou will be a real life experience of what it is to live in China, which is completely different from Singapore.

I hope to enjoy myself with my friends at China. Hangzhou is also renowned as a historical area in China, and I would like to understand more about the history of China, as more knowledge is never wasted. Secondly, I hope to pick up some of China’s culture and reapply it if I ever return back to China on a later date. I also hope to learn some of the skills that people in China might be teaching us, like picking tea leaves, drumming, etc. It will be an extremely interesting learning experience as Singapore does not carry out such activities due to many limitations in our country and society. Most importantly, I hope to learn as much as I can from this Hangzhou immersion trip.

2) It was in the Hai Di Lao Hotpot Restaurant when I came across one situation that made me feel strongly about. Chefs were doing a live demonstration of making lamian, when one of them accidentally dropped the dough, rendering it useless. Another staff of Hai Di Lao came towards the chef with a smile, picked up the dough, and gave the chef another one. I was impressed by their attitude, as neither did they blame the chef for making a mistake, they actually gave the chef another chance to rectify it.

One person that taught me more than what could be achieved in class was the mother of the buddy, whose house I went to. She gave her all to making us feel at home anywhere we went, from bringing us to museums cheerfully to catering to our every need, regardless of whether it inconvenienced her. People might say that she was just a good host but she was much more than that to me. She was the epitome of what it meant to face life with a smile, and take it on without complain.

I learnt that China’s people were not the heartless people that I thought they were from all the newspaper reports of food-related scams and more, but actually very friendly people who would aid you in whatever way they could if you had an issue to solve.

3) This trip would affect my future attitude towards China’s people greatly, as I understand their culture and society much more now after this immersion trip. It taught me to not judge a book by its cover, reserve judgment first, and see the full truth for myself. It also taught me that in facing life’s challenges, doing it without complain and with a smile was crucial to solving them, instead of running away from the problem.

I hope that I will learn to empathize with people more, as I saw the Chinese did it with all their heart and soul. I want to understand the Chinese in China more, as I have had a taste of their culture and I want more of it. I learnt many things from this trip, but the most important part of it is to still face everything that comes along your way with a smile.