Day 36 - Grand Ocean

Today was allocated as the shopping day!!! Went for a run at 12.30 pm, returned back to hostel for a quick bath before the 10 of us headed for Grand Ocean. Reached at around 2 plus and we went for lunch. Afterwhich, me and anyu went separate ways with the guys and went in search for our stuffs. Was shopping for my own stuff and mainly for my family, relatives & friends. This was the first time that I felt shopping was such a chore.

Had to consider what items to purchase, the value of each, party to receive it, suitability & the main consideration was I WASN’T LEFT WITH MUCH GOLD! Headache, headache! Went around the whole shopping centre from 3pm – 8pm and still didn’t manage to get all my gifts.

Need to take some time off from the next few days to get it again~

And dinner today was MACDONALDS! Had not been eating macs for quite some time in singapore but since I’m here, I shall break my restrictions for once! Hehe. Had a pork burger which tasted so-so. Nothing special about it thus, I still prefer singapore’s macs. Oh and over here, there is chocolate apple pie & yam taro pie. Something special and it tasted nice too =)

My Pork Burger.

Headed back to our hostel and turned in for the night.

Reflections:

Managing your own finance is very important especially when you are overseas alone. As we grow older,our own finances would not longer be handled by our parents. This would also be the time whereby we have to learn how to handle it and use it wisely by categorizing between our needs and wants. Most of the time, many of us would just convert RMB to $ and say that the item is very cheap. But what they didn’t know is by accumulating up all these small amounts, it actually sums up to a huge amount and by the time you realise that, your money have already been used up. Remember that we are spending our parents hard earned money!

xanier!

Day 35 - Self made MDE OUTING!

Woke up early in the morning to prepare for our own self organised MDE OUTING to the Theme Park and Shopping at Hankou! Booked the bus ourselves and had our previous tour guide to bring us to those places. Bus ride was about an hour or so and everyone fell asleep as soon as we got up.

At the place where we alighted, we discovered that their KFC does delivery using bicycles. Thus, their delivery perimeters were quite restricted.

As we headed towards the theme park, we passed by their local hospital (something like Changi General Hospital) but honestly, the standard cannot even be compared to our CGH. We saw patients lying on their beds being placed outside of the MRI room which means they were left on the road while waiting for their turn to take MRI. Was quite shocked at the standard of their hospital. And it was no surprise why epidemic diseases such as H1N1 could spread like wild fire across the whole nation. Because they threw their medical waste just at any corner they could find. And pedestrians like us were walking past it.

At the park, we saw how the elderlys over here lead their daily lifestyle. It was quite interesting because you seldom see this in singapore. Some of them were playing chinese chess, some singing songs and playing Tai Ji etc. It was totally like how you would see it in those Hong Kong dramas.

Entrance to the park.

Calligraphy using water.

After a short walk, we finally reached the theme park. Only went for the roller coaster ride and the mirror maze.

Rollercoaster ride!

Random Shot.

Group shot in the theme park.

Next, we took the MRT service to Hankou for our shopping spree! Their ticket was in the form of a coin and we tap the coin instead of using a card.

Coin tapping system.

At Hankou, we went separate ways to shop for our individual stuffs before gathering back at the meeting point at around 6pm.

After meeting up, we took a boat to the other side of Hankou to have our dinner at the food street before boarding our school bus back to campus!

Reached school around 9.30pm and went back to our hostel for a clean up bath before continuing on our assignment 3 again.

Reflection:

After today’s shopping spree, I realised the benefits of bargaining and learnt some negotiating skills. Thanks to Roy who told me to slash the price by half once you start bargaining, I managed to help anyu get her bag at 60 RMB which cost 120 RMB initially. That was how ridiculous the marked up price was. I believe I could get it at an even lower price. But never mind, it was a good try for the first time. Previously, I only dared to bargain by +-5 RMB. But after today, bargaining is no more a challenge for me! And actually I feel a sense of satisfaction when I successfully reduced it to my desired price. So bargaining and negotiating skills is a must have in our future work life especially when working in China. I believe I would feel weird not being able to bargain back in Singapore. And if you were to bargain, they would ask you to find other shops haha! A great difference in culture.

xanier!

Day 34 - Rest

Nothing happened much today. It was just another Sunday. Slept longer than usual because I can’t seem to replenish my sleep and was very sleepy. We stayed in our hostel to finish up our assignment 2 report which will be due tmr and also did some blogging and assignment 3. At around 5 plus internet got cut off and I realised it was the whole level of our hostel. Because we only paid for 4 weeks of internet connection, thus it got cut off. Afterwhich, they went to pay for another 2 weeks in order for us to continue using it. And this was a sign for me to go for my evening run since there was nothing for me to do without internet connection =)

Reflection:

Just a day off, staying in my room relaxing helps to freshen up my body. I longed for such days which you can just wake up, not bother about everything and just slack throughout the whole day. Just make sure that you push even harder the very next day when reality hits you again. Waking you up and telling you to move on with life.

xanier!

Day 33 - SHOPPING + Red Hair!

With our lecture ending at chapter 10, we are officially free of lessons! And so today, me and some others went to grand ocean for some shopping and to get a new hairstyle =))

Grand Ocean!

Prepared and left at around noon time. Settled our lunch at a Steak House over at Grand Ocean. The price was very reasonable and the standard of the food was also not bad. Compared to Jack’s Place which cost about $30+ it cost only 42 RMB there which is $8++! Hehe!

My beef steak. Deliciousss =))

After lunch, we decided to do something to our hair. Went to the hair salon which our other group mates went to. I was ‘dared’ to straighten my hair, which I eventually did and I also dyed my hair for the very FIRST TIME IN 18 YEARS! =DD costed around $60 for both straightening and dying. The process took almost the whole day (3-4 hours).

And by the time I finished, it was already 5-6pm. Some of the others also permed, dyed and had a hair cut.

Went for some quick shopping before heading down to Pizza Hut to settle our dinner. It was another sumptous meal! I’m declaring bankrupt soon! Haha!

Pizza Hut

While waiting for our van to come, we took some beautiful night view of the city area.

Back at the hostel, everyone was SHOCKED by the colour of my hair. HAHAHAHAH!!! So after bathing, crapped with some of my group mates before turning in for the night. =)

Reflections:

For the very first time in 18 years, I did so much transformation to my hair. I fulfilled another personal dream which is to dye my hair red! Felt that through this trip, I had actually fulfilled quite a number of my own dreams which I didn’t expect. Living alone overseas allow us to really have the freedom of doing things which we like and complete some personal crazy dreams which we would not have done so back in Singapore due to the restrictions from our parents. But there is still a limit to our own freedom and it all speaks about self discipline. Some ‘dares’ can be accepted while some should be rejected. Don’t be affected by peer pressure. Have a mindset of your own and not get affected by what others tell you. And all in all, I was glad that I took up this ‘dare’ to straighten my hair! =D

xanier!

Day 32 - Final Written Test

Had our very last and final written test 2 for our BPE Module!!! YEAAA =DDD

Test Paper & Answer Booklet.

It took around 1 ½ hours and as usual, everyone was scribbling as quickly as possible because there was too much to write. Haha!

So after test, went back to our hostel to put our things down before some of us headed out to the fishball restaurant to give ourselves a hearty treat! =) a form of reward for our effort on the past few assignments and tests.

After lunch, we went back to our hostel to chill for the day~~~

And I went for my evening run alone at the river.

Reflection:

Sometimes a little quiet day off for myself allows me to think through and reflect on my recent happenings or to resolve some problems. Slowing down my own pace of living let me appreciate my surroundings. Having an evening run alone at the quiet river allows me to think through the objectives and purpose of coming for this trip, and also to understand some problems which occurred recently. Many a times when people meet with troubles, they tend to turn to their friends and family for advise. But sometimes, analyzing things personally first would put yourself at a better position to understand your own problem.

xanier!

Day 31 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHINA! 60 Years.

10/01/09

Today marks another age of China’s long history. And thanks to their national day, we had one off day too! For Singapore’s national day, we only have 1 day public holiday. Whereas for china, they have something called the ‘Golden Week’ whereby they have 8 days of public holidays. And this is the period where most of the students head back to their home sweet home.

And today was the day where most of us slept till late morning to replenish our long lost sleep due to assignments etc. Went for a morning jog after waking up and realised that the campus was 鸦雀无声 (not even a single sound). All the students were out of campus.

After my run, I went back to my room to watch a little of China’s national day performance on the net. It was magnificent and a MEGA huge event compared to Singapore’s national day performance. The number of performers in singapore was maybe only 1/3 or even lesser compared to those in China.

Reflection:

Through today’s national day parade, I believe all of us can see how proud the China Citizens are of their own nation. National day holds great significance to their nation as compared to how teenagers in singapore view national day as. While watching their parade, I started missing my homeland. I thought of how Singapore provided us with clean environment, always ready to drink tap water, the food which I always eat, the high security of singapore which does not require me to carry my bag in front when I out shopping in town, etc. I really miss home. Had flash backs of our life in Singapore before we headed for wuhan. I am more than happy and proud to be a Singaporean. Cherish that my fellow people. =)

We, the citizens of Singaporepledge ourselves as one united people,regardless of race, language or religion,to build a democratic society,based on justice and equality,so as to achieve happiness, prosperity andprogress for our nation.

xanier!

Day 30 - IS Lesson + Assignment 2 Presentation

Woke up for IS lesson at 9am by Mr Dean again. Today’s lesson was on Taoism & Buddhism. As I listened, I multi tasked to perfect our assignment 2 powerpoint slides which we will be having presentation on it later on.

Buddhism.

After lessons, we had lunch and continued with our assignment 2 back at the hostel.

Presentation Time!

Another assignment down! Now we are left with one last assignment to go. So we headed back to our room to chill for awhile before I changed into my running attire. And off I went to run at my usual river again~

Headed out for dinner after that! Went out for a short walk to relax before we get our brains filled with our final assignment 3.

Reflections:

The contribution of an individual be it big or small makes a great difference in any group work. without proper communication and sharing of information within the group itself, nothing turns out perfect. Everyone will be doing and trying to perfect their own parts which does not benefit the entire team. This is called the SILO EFFECT in BPE terms. So we have to have synergy in order for the project to be successful!

xanier!