OELP Daily Reflections

Day 1,
24th May, Sunday
We finally reached China,the start to our long awaited OELP trip finally began. We had dinner and was fast on our way to the first location. Obviously we were all very excited. The first location was the Song Dynasty City. It was a theme park meant to replicate what was life like in Song  dynasty. We went for the performance, it was truely unlike anything we have seen before, amazing. As the Chinese saying goes  “台上一分鈡，台下十年功” this was their “一分鈡” that they have practice so much for, and it definiely didn't disappoint. But as for learning about Song dynasty, I felt that we needed a lot of explaning from the teachers to understand it, thus a little homework on this subject is definietly needed for someone planning to really learn about this place. With that we went to our first hotel and ended the night.

Day 2,
25th May, Monday
We started off the first day with a visit to Wahaha factory, we read up on it first to have basic knowledge on Wahaha. An employee took us around and told us about the various obstacles the company had and the successes it had achieved. Those successes was definitely because they had smart leaders who knew how to attract buyers like studying the market and also lots of research plus advertising. Despite having already started selling products in South-East Asia, I have never heard of Wahaha in Singapore before, does those stradegies that brought them successes in China, failed here?

Later on we went to Xie Yuda tea plantation and  tea musuem, something I fell in love with in China was definitely... tea.( What/who were you thinking I would say?) I actually didnt like going to the tea plantation cause it was pretty hot and there was not much there other than tea plants and we learnt what kinds of leaf is ready for picking , but i enjoyed the tea musuem a lot more. We got to drink tea which I really enjoyed, we learnt about the different types of tea and where it is from. We ended the day at our second hotel.

Day 3,
26th May, Tuesday
We started the day at the Tunxi Ink Factory, we got to see how ink is made and went through, I learn that ink was not always a hard stick instead it was like play dough before being harden. After that we wen to Cheng Dawei's residence and the abacus musuem. The tour guide at the musuem told us about the life of Cheng Dawei and how we invented calculating using the abacus. There was also a lot of different type of abacus from big one to small ones. We went to his residence also and we saw the living conditions of olden time people.Next we went to Tunxi Ancient Street ,it was interesting to see how much a street from the past have evolved. Although the main structure of the building have not changed, the people and their business have definitely changed to keep up with modern times, like how they are selling more modern things to continue attracting customers to keep them in business, like tradidtional caramel candy with modern desgins. From there we move on to Xidi and Hongcun ancient villages. Both villages were really beautiful which has been preserve. We can see how people lived there and how was their house like. I also remebered seeing the school which people used to go to but now has been preserved. Then we went into a building, it waWhat seems like just a word was a piece of art with deep meaning behind it as explained by out tour guide. If we look closer to the word one half was a human and the other was a fighting monekey, meaning if we are not filial we are just like the monkey. It really reminded me how beautiful chinese caharcters are. We went to ou third hotel and ended the night.

Day 4
27th May, Wednesday
It was day Huang Shan, today was all about Huang Shan. We started with ascent from the  
cable car, it was very misty and we could not see much througout the trip ,but it was cold and I prefer colder temperatures as it was very comfortable. We learnt about the different plants there and after a while we had to go down. We ended the day by going to the last hotel of our trip.

Day 5
28th May, Thursday
I was really excited for today as we could finally see our buddys. First was a visit to Meiling and we saw  how they produces their refrigerators. We were surpised that they told us many other companies buy refridgerators from Meiling and put their name on it. I thought that Meiling was a small brand and have not heard of it in Singapore before, but we realised that well known brands like Panasonic buys from meiling and what we are use to seeing are actually from meiling. Next we went to Shou Chun Middle School, they welcomed us warmly and after that we went to see performances by them, we also saw how patriotic they are through theier performances. We alos performed for them. Then we went to classes with them, it was really stressful as everything was in chinese and it was diffucult understanding, espcially chinese lesson it was really tough.

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.

Merlion as Singapore icon? (Isaac)

Merlion. Its name combines "mer" meaning the sea and "lion". The lion head symbolises the legend of the rediscovery of Singapura, by Sang Nila Utama who sighted a lion when he landed on what is now known as Singapore. The fish tail of the Merlion symbolises the ancient city of Temasek and represents Singapore's humble beginnings as a fishing village.

Indeed the Merlion has deep historical elements, dating back to the start of Singapore and it is uniquely Singapore, but the Merlion as a Singapore icon? I don't think so. Merlion for me has always been always more of a tourist attraction than a Singapore icon. Unlike our chicken rice or Singlish, I do not feel a relation to Merlion and I see it as something that will be pasted on a tourist souvenir to make it sell. Design to make money, similar to what casinos are for.

Unlike the Merlion, stuff like Singlish which many people can relate to on a daily basis would be a better icon. A national icon should not be just be unique, it should be something that all Singaporean can relate to  and identify with. Thus I do not agree that the Merlion should be a national icon.

One child policy (Isaac)

From our last cid lesson,we talked about China's one child policy(terms and conditions apply).Mainly it's about the Chinese government wanting to cut down on China's booming population,by restricting each family to only have one child. We learnt that methods on restricting more children includes going for frequent checkup set in place by the government, I feel that it is kind of taking away their privacy and anyway abortion babies deprive this new life of ever living one which is just plain sad. Having one child also put the burden on that one child to support the whole family. Coming back to Singapore,we are actually facing the opposite problem. Our government is encouraging child birth and setting up schemes which can help families with babies in many different ways,because Singapore is facing a decreasing amount of babies. Another way our government is solving this is by letting in more so called foreign talents,but this will end up with Singapore being a country of foreign talents. Like everything else the government do,maybe they should teach us about having more babies and solving this population problem from young, both countries should maybe learn from each other and help solve each other's problem.

Poverty (Isaac)

During the last CID lesson, 黄老师 taught us about poverty. She started by showing us two pictures,one of a man whose is homeless and all belongings stolen,and then other a women and her baby. No matter how prosperous and rich a country is ,poverty is something which cannot be avoided. The population living in poverty in Singapore increases from 16% to 28% from 2002 to 2013. Poverty means the person lack the mean to satisfy their basic needs,eg food. Its sad that behind a rich and colourful city, lays a population with more than a quarter living in poverty. The rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer. It is shown that Singapore only spends 17% of its GDP on the public while the government of France spends more than half its GDP on its people. Back to the lesson, we were told to give either person a dollar. It was a hard choice but the women with the baby just seems to be the clearer choice to me,as she has a baby. Then we were told their background stories. The man was indeed homeless ,while the women was part of a ring and their money earn through begging will be given to the ring master,a bit like a scamming but in this case, the women is indeed poor. This lesson taught us about poverty and also that we should get a clearer picture before making a judgement on something.

Holidays (Isaac)

While,my holiday has been pretty boring.Its mostly the same everyday.I didn't go overseas :(

For the first month it was mainly cca and children's camp,where i helped out yet. I think we actually have more fun then the children there. It certainly feels better that i have upgraded and helping instead of the one playing. We shouted till our voice is hoarse and my limbs aching.The kids plainly had more energy then us. It was a super tiring experience,but i guess it was worth it as long as the kids had fun.

Camp Helpers

                                                                  Balloon family,all died.


I would say the main highlight of my holiday would be my church camp. I spent 4 days 3 nights there. It was quite a new experience as our phone is taken from us for the most of the camp. Surviving without a phone is actually not that hard. We played a lot of games from literal ice breaking to playing hide and seek at 2 am in the morning.We had a lot of fun. On the third day, it was time to give something back to the community. We went to houses of dialysis patients and helped them cleaned. In the first house, there was a freaking tonne of spiders.(If u know me,I kinda am scared of them.) After cleaning ,we sat there and listen to the old man telling us about how he is forgotten by the society and so on. After cleaning houses, we went to sing Christmas carols to patients in the dialysis centre, some even patients teared up and sang along with us.I really enjoyed my time there. I would definitely do it again if I had the chance

The campers

Find me if u can