General Reflections
Before this trip, I was very excited as I have not been on a trip with my friends before.
Day 1 of OELP
Forbidden Palace was not that great to be honest. We walked, and walked, and walked, and it generally became trudging as all of us were very, very tired and the palace was extremely big. We were super glad to be out of the place. We moved on to Southern Gong and Drum Lane to walk around. Lastly, after dinner, we went to a tea house and listened to 相声. It was quite funny, but towards the end everyone was extremely tired, (especially after such a long day). However, this performance gives me an insight on the entertainment of the people in that area, and how they are performed and what message were they trying to get across to the audience.
Day 3 of OELP
I was very excited about the Great Wall of China, as I had never been there before. We arrived and were immediately awed by the majestic wall. We took a group photo, and it was really funny when a tourist wanted to take a picture with Junna and Peter ;-). It was really quite tiring as the steps were extremely steep. I made it to the first checkpoint (hooray to an unfit person like me with no physical training in my CCA). We encouraged each other a lot, and it was really heartening to see the once so separated 2J helping each other. Also, Megan and I met a Mediacorp star, Suhaimi Yusof. He's extremely kind and funny to take selfies with us. Once we gathered at the foot of the Great Wall, we bought postcards to send back home. Next, we set off towards the Ming Tombs. I thought it would seriously be a tomb but it was an exhibition. After that, we went to the Summer Palace. The place was pretty cool as it was meant for the emperor and his mom to chill there in the hot summer.
We then went to the bird's nest and water cube to take some photos. However, we did not expect a two hour long debrief :(.
Day 4 of OELP
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I feel that the Merlion can be Singapore's national icon. In it's name, mer stands for the sea and lion stands for it's lion head. It represents Singapore being a fishing village by the sea and the legend that Sang Nila Utama saw a lion on Singapura island, which is the old name for Singapore, lion city.
I had watched a video before, and it states that when foreigners come to Singapore, they think of the famous, iconic Merlion first, and so do I. The Merlion has gradually become the national symbol of the Little Red Dot, and these are why I feel that it's true. It is majestic and grand, and most of the tourists remember the Merlion dearly, even when they get back to their home country.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CID presentation
Apparently my group members and I wanted to finish the presentation as soon as possible, thus we went first. All of us were quite nervous and did not meet the expectations. Although it seemed as if I could speak a lot about my picture, Rojak, I did not say a lot, which was kind of disappointing. I think what I spoke about was okay, just with more quantity. My group mates did fairly, we stuttered a lot so I guess we could try rehearsing at home before doing our presentation in class, so as to do better next time and get better grades.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The passing of Mr Lee Kuan Yew
On 23 March, 2015, Singapore lost her great founding leader. Days before his passing, we heard of how Mr Lee's conditions were worsening and probably every Singaporean's hearts were with his family, praying that he may have a speedy recovery. It was that morning when I was heading to school, my mother showed me the news that Mr Lee Kuan Yew had passed away. I was still in disbelief on the ride to school, and my classmates and I talked about his passing sadly.
Mr Lee Kuan Yew was a great man. He built Singapore to what she is today, all if not mostly by himself and his team. He has a lot of leadership qualities which help to make many great contributions to Singapore. Although I'm not a Singaporean, I was really, really heartened to see people paying their last respects at the Parliament House, some at the community centers. Some of them queued for hours under rain or shine without budging just to send Mr Lee Kuan Yew off. I watched some of my friends pay respects on social medias and they were really sincere in their messages. Singapore will continue to be prosperous. Rest in peace, Mr Lee Kuan Yew.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As China's GDP rises steadily, I think it will both help and affect Singapore's economy. China is ranked 2nd in the world in terms of Gross Domestic Products (GDP). Its GDP per capita is 121, showing that China still can grow more as time passes. This shows that China will still grow a lot more economically and may soon overtake the United States of America. As China grows stronger, more products or items from China will be imported to other countries, including Singapore. Thus Singapore's economy will grow too if the items are acceptable and sold. But if China sells the item at a cheaper price then Singapore might suffer a loss.
Since China has a gigantic population, the government could collect lots of taxes from the people. There will also be more workers in the factories and the job would be more efficiently done. However, when it's compared to Singapore, which is nothing but a little red dot on the gigantic map, China seems like a never ending source of supplies and manpower.
Economy in China will most definitely affect Singapore's, in one way or another.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The family planning policy, known as the one-child policy in the West, is a population control policy of the People's Republic of China. The term "one-child" is inexact as the policy allows many exceptions and ethnic minorities are exempt. In 2007, 36% of China's population was subject to a strict one-child restriction; an additional 53% was allowed to have a second child if the first was a girl. The policy is enforced at the provincial level through fines that are imposed based on the income of the family and other factors. "Population and Family Planning Commissions" exist at every level of government to raise awareness and carry out registration and inspection work.
For personal experience, I am the only child in the family because of this policy. When I was young I would playfully tell my mother I wanted a sibling, but she replied, "There's only one child per family in China."
China is fortunately big in size, however, it is still not enough for the rapidly increasing Chinese population. Thus, China enforced this law, seeming unfair but it's truly considering for the future of China, e.g. land, supplies.
Due to the overflowing population, and many parents want the best for their child, most places in good schools are quickly taken up even before the child enters the actual school. University graduates not even able to find a job of a road cleaner.
When people gave birth to more children, they would have to pay a sum of money. Thus, most people abided by this rule.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Poverty in Singapore reflection
Singapore is one the of wealthiest countries in the world, yet there are still poor families with incomes about S$1300 a month, making it difficult for them to raise their families. Some people live by $5 a day, which for me is possible, but difficult. I wish I could sympathize with the people who are doing so, probably right now.
The government is offering kindergarten fee assistance to more households to help poorer families, as well as transport subsidies to those with disabilities. But the lion's share of spending will go to the older generation.
Although we don't see much beggars on the streets in Singapore, there are 105,000 households earning below $1,500 a month. Hidden they may be, but they are certainly there. I truly hope the government could allocate better jobs to poorer families.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
During the holidays, I travelled back to my hometown in Chongqing, and then travelled to Gulangyu (鼓浪屿) in Xiamen and Mt. Wuyi (武夷山) in Fujian to sightsee. My uncle drove us from country to country. Although it was tiring sitting in a car for a few hours, I enjoyed the views. We then took the train from Zhejiang for 2 days straight back to Chongqing. I completed my homework and took art lessons in Chongqing. I played with my cousin a lot. Because I go back every year, it's quite boring for me. The best part is that I could shop online with my aunt's account. In China, I could not access Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, thus it was even boring than the last few years when I didn't use Instagram and Twitter that much. It shows me that it's kind of difficult for me to leave the social medias.
In conclusion, I had a fairly fruitful holiday as I learnt art, completed my homework and went sightseeing. I hope that I could travel to more countries next time.
Before this trip, I was very excited as I have not been on a trip with my friends before.
Day 1 of OELP
On the first day, we were all very excited as we rarely go on immersion trips as a whole class. We have been looking forward to this trip ever since 2014, when our seniors told us about how good their trip was. After reaching Beijing's airport, we boarded our tour bus to Wangfujing Street. As we travelled there, the tour guide explained to us that the Emperor's relatives (王爷) used to live here, and there was a well (jing) here, hence the name Wangfujing. We were given some time to walk around on our own. My friends and I walked on the road, and marveled at all the shopkeepers shouting their lungs out due to the fierce competition. My friend bought 冰糖葫芦 to try and I always thought it's only sweet on the outer layer and the hawthorn inside would be very sour, but to my surprise, the texture of the 冰糖葫芦 was surprisingly delicious.
I did not buy any souvenirs at Wangfujing Street as I didn't find anything that interested me. However, we noted that there were branded shops at the nearby shopping mall such as Forever 21 and H&M, and they were nearly half Singapore's price. I wanted to shop but meh, I guess I was too lazy. We ate dinner, and checked into the hotel excitedly. We had a debrief (which was honestly mentally draining), we finally got back to our rooms to wash up and rest.
Day 2 of OELP
Day 2, we went to the National Museum first. The paintings and information inside were quite enriching, about how China rose again and again after several defeats, however it was not an interesting experience as the messages were quite boring and we could not understand some of the messages that they were trying to get across. I saw a music score sheet of the Chinese National Anthem, and in my CCA Chinese Orchestra, we use this kind of music sheet, thus I recorded it down and wanted to play the song with my instrument. Next, we went to Tiananmen Square. It was definitely majestic, and it really makes me feel unreal that I was at the capital of China. We took class photos and moved on to Forbidden Palace, after having a scrumptious meal of Beijing Duck (北京烤鸭). Forbidden Palace was not that great to be honest. We walked, and walked, and walked, and it generally became trudging as all of us were very, very tired and the palace was extremely big. We were super glad to be out of the place. We moved on to Southern Gong and Drum Lane to walk around. Lastly, after dinner, we went to a tea house and listened to 相声. It was quite funny, but towards the end everyone was extremely tired, (especially after such a long day). However, this performance gives me an insight on the entertainment of the people in that area, and how they are performed and what message were they trying to get across to the audience.
Day 3 of OELP
I was very excited about the Great Wall of China, as I had never been there before. We arrived and were immediately awed by the majestic wall. We took a group photo, and it was really funny when a tourist wanted to take a picture with Junna and Peter ;-). It was really quite tiring as the steps were extremely steep. I made it to the first checkpoint (hooray to an unfit person like me with no physical training in my CCA). We encouraged each other a lot, and it was really heartening to see the once so separated 2J helping each other. Also, Megan and I met a Mediacorp star, Suhaimi Yusof. He's extremely kind and funny to take selfies with us. Once we gathered at the foot of the Great Wall, we bought postcards to send back home. Next, we set off towards the Ming Tombs. I thought it would seriously be a tomb but it was an exhibition. After that, we went to the Summer Palace. The place was pretty cool as it was meant for the emperor and his mom to chill there in the hot summer.
We then went to the bird's nest and water cube to take some photos. However, we did not expect a two hour long debrief :(.
Day 4 of OELP
Day 4, we rode to Tianjin and our first stop was Ancient Cultural Street. On the way there, we saw many European-styled buildings and our guide Mr Peter explained that foreigners rented the land a long time ago, thus some buildings were built this way. It was actually interesting to see European-styled buildings in China. We walked around the cultural street for a while, had a huge ice-cream cone at 2SGD! Next, we went to an art museum. The guide spoke quite quickly and it seemed like she wanted to get the job done as quickly as possible. Also, we tried printing art pieces. We had to put a large piece of paper on a huge block of inked stone. What an enriching experience for us!
Next, we went to a supermarket to compare the prices of the food to that of in Singapore. When my CID groupmates were looking at the price of a packet of rice, a manager of the supermarket was frowning at us and we felt quite uneasy. He then came and snatched the CID booklet out of my friend's hand, and started browsing through. We stood in discomfort as he finally passed us our booklet back. We found out that we were not allowed to copy down the prices of the items in the supermarket.
At night, we also celebrated Jazz and Vania's birthday!
At night, we also celebrated Jazz and Vania's birthday!
Day 5 of OELP
Finally, we get to go to the school our buddies are in to meet them. We waited in the school library for our buddies to come and I found out that my buddy, like me, loves anime! At least we have a common topic to talk about. However, their lessons started immediately so Vivienne, Sinyee, Vania and I sat awkwardly at the back of class. The first lesson was maths, and surprisingly quite easy to understand. (Later, I understood from my buddy that the math teacher does not normally teach this way - she's always at full speed xD). No wonder we could understand. I noticed that in certain lessons, the pupils were quiet while in another, they joked with the teacher. It was a great difference.
After a few lessons, we had lunch at the teacher's cafeteria. It was looking disastrous, almost like an underground bomb shelter with low ceilings and dimly lit atmosphere. The plates are dents, flies cruising around... What shocked me was that the teachers were already used to all of these.
We then proceeded to have calligraphy lessons. The teacher did not really teach a lot. We just wrote random words on the paper, since when the paper dries, the words fade off. It was quite mesmerising actually. Next, we headed to the gym room for Taiji fan lessons. It was seriously cool as we waved around the fans given to us, doing sharp and smart moves. We were sweating profusely by the end of the lesson. We thanked the teacher, and proceeded back to the library once more for the Guzheng appreciation.The music teacher played beautifully, as she demonstrated Guzheng songs from different parts of China. Some of us even went up to try the Guzheng.
I feel that the Merlion can be Singapore's national icon. In it's name, mer stands for the sea and lion stands for it's lion head. It represents Singapore being a fishing village by the sea and the legend that Sang Nila Utama saw a lion on Singapura island, which is the old name for Singapore, lion city.
I had watched a video before, and it states that when foreigners come to Singapore, they think of the famous, iconic Merlion first, and so do I. The Merlion has gradually become the national symbol of the Little Red Dot, and these are why I feel that it's true. It is majestic and grand, and most of the tourists remember the Merlion dearly, even when they get back to their home country.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CID presentation
Apparently my group members and I wanted to finish the presentation as soon as possible, thus we went first. All of us were quite nervous and did not meet the expectations. Although it seemed as if I could speak a lot about my picture, Rojak, I did not say a lot, which was kind of disappointing. I think what I spoke about was okay, just with more quantity. My group mates did fairly, we stuttered a lot so I guess we could try rehearsing at home before doing our presentation in class, so as to do better next time and get better grades.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On 23 March, 2015, Singapore lost her great founding leader. Days before his passing, we heard of how Mr Lee's conditions were worsening and probably every Singaporean's hearts were with his family, praying that he may have a speedy recovery. It was that morning when I was heading to school, my mother showed me the news that Mr Lee Kuan Yew had passed away. I was still in disbelief on the ride to school, and my classmates and I talked about his passing sadly.
Mr Lee Kuan Yew was a great man. He built Singapore to what she is today, all if not mostly by himself and his team. He has a lot of leadership qualities which help to make many great contributions to Singapore. Although I'm not a Singaporean, I was really, really heartened to see people paying their last respects at the Parliament House, some at the community centers. Some of them queued for hours under rain or shine without budging just to send Mr Lee Kuan Yew off. I watched some of my friends pay respects on social medias and they were really sincere in their messages. Singapore will continue to be prosperous. Rest in peace, Mr Lee Kuan Yew.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As China's GDP rises steadily, I think it will both help and affect Singapore's economy. China is ranked 2nd in the world in terms of Gross Domestic Products (GDP). Its GDP per capita is 121, showing that China still can grow more as time passes. This shows that China will still grow a lot more economically and may soon overtake the United States of America. As China grows stronger, more products or items from China will be imported to other countries, including Singapore. Thus Singapore's economy will grow too if the items are acceptable and sold. But if China sells the item at a cheaper price then Singapore might suffer a loss.
Since China has a gigantic population, the government could collect lots of taxes from the people. There will also be more workers in the factories and the job would be more efficiently done. However, when it's compared to Singapore, which is nothing but a little red dot on the gigantic map, China seems like a never ending source of supplies and manpower.
Economy in China will most definitely affect Singapore's, in one way or another.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The family planning policy, known as the one-child policy in the West, is a population control policy of the People's Republic of China. The term "one-child" is inexact as the policy allows many exceptions and ethnic minorities are exempt. In 2007, 36% of China's population was subject to a strict one-child restriction; an additional 53% was allowed to have a second child if the first was a girl. The policy is enforced at the provincial level through fines that are imposed based on the income of the family and other factors. "Population and Family Planning Commissions" exist at every level of government to raise awareness and carry out registration and inspection work.
For personal experience, I am the only child in the family because of this policy. When I was young I would playfully tell my mother I wanted a sibling, but she replied, "There's only one child per family in China."
China is fortunately big in size, however, it is still not enough for the rapidly increasing Chinese population. Thus, China enforced this law, seeming unfair but it's truly considering for the future of China, e.g. land, supplies.
Due to the overflowing population, and many parents want the best for their child, most places in good schools are quickly taken up even before the child enters the actual school. University graduates not even able to find a job of a road cleaner.
When people gave birth to more children, they would have to pay a sum of money. Thus, most people abided by this rule.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Poverty in Singapore reflection
Singapore is one the of wealthiest countries in the world, yet there are still poor families with incomes about S$1300 a month, making it difficult for them to raise their families. Some people live by $5 a day, which for me is possible, but difficult. I wish I could sympathize with the people who are doing so, probably right now.
The government is offering kindergarten fee assistance to more households to help poorer families, as well as transport subsidies to those with disabilities. But the lion's share of spending will go to the older generation.
Although we don't see much beggars on the streets in Singapore, there are 105,000 households earning below $1,500 a month. Hidden they may be, but they are certainly there. I truly hope the government could allocate better jobs to poorer families.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
During the holidays, I travelled back to my hometown in Chongqing, and then travelled to Gulangyu (鼓浪屿) in Xiamen and Mt. Wuyi (武夷山) in Fujian to sightsee. My uncle drove us from country to country. Although it was tiring sitting in a car for a few hours, I enjoyed the views. We then took the train from Zhejiang for 2 days straight back to Chongqing. I completed my homework and took art lessons in Chongqing. I played with my cousin a lot. Because I go back every year, it's quite boring for me. The best part is that I could shop online with my aunt's account. In China, I could not access Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, thus it was even boring than the last few years when I didn't use Instagram and Twitter that much. It shows me that it's kind of difficult for me to leave the social medias.
In conclusion, I had a fairly fruitful holiday as I learnt art, completed my homework and went sightseeing. I hope that I could travel to more countries next time.
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