Birthday Bash. Reb! (Day 9 – Sept 9th)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY REBECCAAAAA!!!

Ok so today is Miss Rebecca’s birthday! And we had a BIGGGG BIRTHDAY BASH for her yesterday night in the hostel. We bought her a MEGA HUGE cake. (Reasons for being mega huge: it is mainly coated with 90% of cream and 10% of sponge cake). Oh we witnessed the whole process of the cake making by the pastry master. He was super skillful with his designing of the cake with the cream and colour gel. It was quite an eye opener because you seldom see the whole process of cake making in Singapore.


So at around 12.15am, we knocked on her room door. After she was out, we sang her a birthday song! All OIP mates were involved. Awwww…. How sweet~~~

Touched face.

Rebbb!

Group Shot.

Yesterday night, many of us were totally exhausted but we persevered till 12.15am just for the birthday bash! Are you touched Miss Rebecca? =D


Right after the cutting of the cake, a CAKE FIGHT occurred!


Finally after everyone was sparkling clean, we took a group shot.

--------------After 5 Hours of Sleep--------------

COLD & ICY.


2nd BPE lesson – 9am


Dragging myself out of the bed was such a difficult task. =X Had too many late nights and I have been in ‘deadly’ mode since the last few days. I need to find time to replenish my sleep! Ok so as usual, got ourselves ready and left for lessons.


The weather today was much colder than yesterday. Wind was very strong and some of us were don with windbreakers etc. This was what made us seemed alien to the China students because all of them were dressed in just T-shirt & Jeans. But never mind about that as long as the weather remains cold and windy for the next few weeks =))


All of us were wearing ‘break-the-wind’ jackets even in the classroom because the window was WIDE open. (& we closed it after a few hours).


Today, Mr Loh went through chapter 2 of BPE followed by quiz 2.

Quiz Paper.

After lessons, lunch in campus Canteen 2.


We went to the 2nd level canteen today and due to the enclosed area, the canteen was filled with oily smog. The oil stench was also terrible. As usual students were all crowding in front of the stalls with no queues.


Settled at a beef noodle stall.


PISSED OFF SESSION.


I actually waited for >20 minutes for just a bowl of noodles while others who ordered later than me had already taken their food and were eating happily. Started to lose my cool when I actually asked the lady who took my order where was my noodle and she just return my question with “ errr… 你刚才叫什么?’ I repeated my order and waited again. Waiting…waiting...waiting… a lot of food were served but none was mine. I seriously flared up. You know china people likes to talk super loudly and the loudest one would always get the order first, thus I walked up to the woman who was cooking and raised my voice. “我的好了没有？！我等很久了你知道吗？！”



None of us understand what she was talking about because of her strong accent. And at last my food came, I somewhat scolded her and walked away. And behind she was scolding me too. So whatever! (*Personal experience, thus some emotional factor was placed in it to express my anger.)



Shun qing met with the same experience as me but because she was too soft spoken, she got scolded instead. (observation: in china, never be soft-spoken. The loudest one will always be the one who win the quarrel. Trust me.)


Going back to our hostel, we suddenly decided to do some ‘room makeover’. Eshlyn mopped the floor, I tidied up the wires and labelled it to prevent tangling and shun qing helped around and took care of our luggages which was placed outside our room. Didn’t know that our room would feel really like our home after it was tidied and clean up. :))) it was really very cosy and warm. Previously, we had to wear our slippers to move around in the room. But now we can walk barefooted even to the cement floor toilet! =D It was our combined effort! Thanks esh and shun for making me feel like home.

A final trio photo in our sparking clean room!

Reflection:

After the birthday bash which was specially created for Rebecca, I realized that friends do matter a lot in our lives. If no one were to take the initiative to plan her birthday, she would be just celebrating her birthday overseas alone. Many a times, things only require some initiative to be taken to make it happen.

For the incident which happened in the school canteen, I really hope that they change this culture of not having a systematic queuing system and not adopt the ‘the loudest one win’ culture. Comparing Singapore’s service and service over here in Wuhan, there is really nothing to complain about service provided in Singapore. We even have campaigns such as GEMS or organizations such as CASE to deal with bad service issue. But over here, there is no such thing as ‘customer is always the biggest’. They wouldn’t mind losing you as a customer which I don’t know why also. And because they don’t have organizations such as CASE to deal with bad service issue, thus this explains why service in China is so bad. So Singaporeans out there: stop complaining about bad service issues or post images or videos on STOMP for bad service. I bet your expectation of a good service will drop drastically after you have experienced it here and returned to Singapore. In the mean time, before they decide to turn systematic and learn the meaning of queuing up, I shall blend in and absorb their culture by talking loudly, not queuing up and talk LOUDER to the people here.

Victor Frankl:
“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”

(Thus, I as an individual alone would not be able to influence the culture of China. By acknowledging this fact, I have no choice but to challenge myself to change to compromise the situation and habits of China citizens. Your level of adaption when you are alone overseas plays a very important part in how fast you are able to accept the culture of the country, be it positive or negative.)

xanier!

1st Quiz after 8 days in Wuhan. (Day 8 - Sept 8th)

~~Cool breeze kissed our cheeks.~~

Today’s morning breeze was fantastic when we went down early in the morning to hang our clothings. :)))

The first time when I reached Wuhan that I experienced nice cooling weather. To be exact it was quite chilly. But I like it! =)

Our morning session IS lesson was cancelled because our China lecturer was on Medical leave. Thus, our first lesson would start at 2PM! But still, I woke up around 7.30am to complete my Flexsim tutorial and to continue on my blogging for you people out there who are reading - hope you are enjoying it so far =))

Had my whole grain bread for breakfast which I bought yesterday night at the bakery shop located in our campus. DELICIOUS!!! =D Singapore sells one loaf of Whole grain bread for approx $6 but it only cost 4.50 RMB (less than $1) here! Shall take that as my staple diet from today onwards. =X The most healthy food which can be found in Wuhan.

Whole grain bread =)

A group of us went for lunch at around 1 PM in the school canteen. Tried 热干面 which our dear Daniel said that it was veryyyy nice. Looks appealing? But…… I didn’t really find it very delicious. The gravy tasted like peanut butter + chilli oil on noodles. My tummy was burning after that. Don’t think I will eat it anymore haha!

After lunch, we went back to our hostel to pick up our bags and off we went for lessons.

Today was the first day that we experienced such cool weather. And after opening the windows in our classroom, WOOSH~ look at An Yu’s hair!

An Yu's hair is flying~~~

Camwhores!

But thanks to the nice weather we were able to study better compared to yesterday. Realized that the weather change is quite drastic. Hope the weather remains cool.

After Mr Loh’s chapter 1 lecture, we took our very first quiz in Wuhan.

Mr Loh making sure we did not talk during the quiz.

Quiz 1

Afterwhich, we had to complete tutorial 1 of Flexsim. I shall not deny the fact that guys are really better in technical stuffs compared to ladies. All the guys completed the tutorial before us.

Ladies are all in the classroom while all the guys were standing outside waiting for us to finish our work. -.-

5.45PM: Went for 2.4km run at WUST track for the first time while the others went to do their own exercises too. We are getting healthier each day =D

2 Bunk mates who went to run too! =)))

Reflection:

Perseverance & determination is the key to success! Actually I was super lazy to go for a run today. But thanks to the others who were so persistant and enthusiastic about exercising, i decided to not think about it and JUST RUN ONLY.

Oh and today was also WUST new intake of freshmen. We thought that university students would not need parents to accompany on the first day of school. But weirdly, most of them had their parents beside them. We normally only see this in primary, secondary and polytechnics but not NTU/NUS. I thought China students were supposedly much more independent than us but surprisingly this was not the case. They even need parents to accompany them for the first day of university. So you people out there should stop calling Singaporean Teenagers as 温室里的小花 (flowers in the greenhouse) which means we are well protected from harsh conditions. Because in Singapore, those foreign students that you see are like what the china students over here see us as. We are thrown into a new environment and we have no choice but to be independent and in this way, many of us actually mature much faster. Uncertainty of the environment indeed forces a person to change and adapt to it.

John Finley:

“Maturity of mind is the capacity to endure uncertainty.”

(Indeed no one likes uncertainty in life. It puts one in a disadvantage position whereby you don’t know what to expect thus no beforehand preparation can be done. But it is this factor which shows your maturity level. The way you deal with uncertainty would show your maturity level. It is either you face it and welcome it with a positive mindset or you become lost and worried not knowing what to do and keep guessing on what would happen next. A mature and immature mind.)

xanier!

Day 5-6 - 绿林

Our very first weekend trip out of school. This time we will be heading for 绿林 and staying over for 2 days 1 night. The bus ride took about 4 hours before we reached the restaurant for lunch.
And next, it was river rafting!

Shun Qing was my partner for river rafting. Was expecting something more challenging and rocky compared to what we went through. It was more for couples whereby you glide through those small rocks and paddle your way through the river. We rafted for about 3 hours.

We were told to take a shower before heading to the next location. And to my GREAT SHOCK when I walked into the bathing area… the ladies were all NAKED! Cubicles with no doors and it felt really really uncomfortable. But what to do, I need a shower. So….. it’s up to your imagination. Some girls didn’t dare to bath in the open, thus they just changed out of their dirty clothings.

The next location we went to was a waterfall which was very famous in 绿林. Snapped a lot of photos because the scenery was just breathtaking.

Everything ended at around 6pm and we headed back to the restaurant for dinner. Rooms were allocated and my room mate for the night was GLORIA! =)

The rooms were not bad. After settling down, we went to watch their local performance. Quite entertaining and there was even a campfire.

Day 6

Woke up at 6am for morning run with Roy! Was quite an exciting run haha! Because we actually went to explore the different areas which no one went to. At first we ran without our camera, but the scenery was very beautiful and I don’t know how to explain it in words. A picture speaks a 1000 words =) So after running, we rushed back to my room to get my camera and we went back to the same place to capture some nice pictures.

After that, I took a quick shower and headed down to the restaurant for breakfast. Today, we would be visiting the ancient lulin south army camp. It holds great significance and long history. It was located 850m above sea level.

And this was the first time I rode a horse and it carried me through the grasses somemore!!! Was a memorable experience which I hope my family was there to experience it too! =))


At about lunch time, we went back to the restaurant to take our final lunch before we board the bus that brings us back to school. Since it was the first time we were out of hostel, most of them were complaining that they missed their rooms and beds. Haah!

Reflection:

Reckless driving. This was the first time that I didn’t know when I might lose my life due to the way the driver manouvered his way through the traffic. Making sharp turns, going against the flow of traffic, driving like there was no brake down the steep mountains etc. We were all appalled by how he drove. Every minute, you could hear his horn because he was trying to get people out of his way. And he was driving at an extremly high speed. I felt relived that I was able to return back to my campus safely. As what my friend said, he couldn’t be so lucky each time. How many times would he be able to avoid oncoming vehicles and to not fall off the edge of the mountains when he was going at such high speed. All I could say was, he was playing with fire. This is another part of their culture. The art of driving. All of the drivers do the same thing. I’m happy that there is tight control of the traffic in singapore. Reckless driving would not be forgiven.

xanier!

1st Lesson + Orientation. (Day 7 – Sept 7th)

Extreme Heat Stroke!

Slept at 4am last night doing up my assignments. But strangely this morning I was still the first to wake up! Hehe. Woke my 2 roommates up after I finished bathing. All of us packed our bags for our first lesson today before setting off for lesson which is located at the other end of the campus.

The weather was crazily blazing hot early in the morning. Just standing still could even generate sweat, moreover we will be climbing up and down the slope for quite a distance. A small bus is provided but none of us took it as it is really SMALL and by the time we reach the top I think our lessons would have already been past by half. So, all of us decided to make our way up to the classroom by walking. By the time we reach our class, we were all sweating profusely. Cleaning ourselves up with tons of tissue paper.

After settling down:

A view of my classroom. See the ladies are sooo attentive! Unlike the guys =X

My class guys are always camera ready eh? Haha!

Lecturer: Mr Joseph Loh~

The first lesson of BPE (Business Process Engineering), we were taught by Mr Joseph Loh the basic usage of Flexsim. Half way through the lecture, Mr Loh had to write notes on the board. But they were still using chalk board.

"I only did this when I was small!"

So he got stunned for a moment before picking up his chalk! Haha =D and this he said: I only did this when I was small. HAHA! So, we were taught how to drag or pull objects around using this software, and forming the most ideal flow of process. After which we were ask to attempt Tutorial 1 which is a step by step tutorial. Must be handed up tomorrow!

My first half way done Flexsim model :)

Was getting real hungry after lessons because NO BREAKFAST = NO ENERGY! Made our way back to hostel to put our stuffs down before heading off to Wanton Stall again for our healthy lunch. 5 RMB for a tummy filling lunch. Went to the super market with some of them after that to stock up their ‘snack bar corner’ in their hostel room.


See how bonded we are now. The whole group of us hogged the Wonton shop!

Pretty Ladies =)

My '吉祥馄饨面' (felt like eating flour because the noodles were too thick =x)

Mini Sprite found in the super market.

1.45 PM:



Campus orientation again. But this time, they will be bringing us to 2 main schools which is the Information Engineering School & School of Life Science.



Information Engineering School:

Dusty chairs are found everywhere in campus. Even in our classroom. (NP's chair is wayyyy better ok! hah)

Seriously, the weather so hot that everyone was vying just to stand in front of the air-con!

School of Life Science:
The school tour ended around 4.30 PM. And we made our way back to our hostel.

Mannequins

Operation Table.

Dislocated jaw? =X

Muscles. Give me that abs!


Yangtze river located near our campus.


2 Jump Shots!

6.30 PM:


A large group of us gathered together for PT (Physical Training) : ) did some running and sprints. Believe many felt a sense of satisfaction because they completed everything and of course burned some fats from the oily stuffs which we consumed during the past week. 36 more PTs to go my dear friends =D

Beautiful legs on the way my friends! =)

(I said Warm down & someone asked me "warm down? isn't it cool down" HAHAHA! )

Group Cheer YO!

Night jump shot.


P.S: Sorry if I was too fierce hehe! ><

Group Photo! See their muscles coming out?! HAHA!

After which I am now sitting here back to being a couch potato, doing my blog post!

Reflection:

If we were to compare the Ngee Ann Poly’s campus and the campus here, in terms of space of course WUST is so much bigger. But in terms of other factors such as facilities, classrooms and distance to travel from point to point, NGEE ANN POLY IS THE BEST! From the pictures I believe you are able to see for yourself how old the classrooms are. They are also poorly maintained.


Another interesting observation is that, today when we were running round the campus, we attracted many weird looks and comments. I did realize that no one runs in the campus except us, but why is this so? They seemed so shocked and fascinated to see us running round the campus in sports attire. Does this show that China people don’t exercise? But strangely, if they do not exercise how do the ladies over here maintain their body figure in tip top condition??? Since day 1, we do not doubt that the ladies here have extremely good figure but we seldom see one that possess athletic features. Most of them were fair, slim and the ladies here NEVER fail to carry an umbrella with them wherever they walk. Interesting eh? But we can actually conclude that China people really don’t exercise especially the ladies.


Through today, we can actually know the importance of adapting to the environment in order for you to be fully immersed in their culture.


Finally, through today’s PT I believe many would feel that even simple exercises such as running could let you ‘feel’ your teammates more through the support to one another. Believe you all will fully understand the meaning of this after 1 ½ months of PT :) ‘when you first joined it is for yourself as an individual, but after a few months it is for your teammates & the team’. Do not give up till you know you have given your all and would end with no regrets. Looking forward to more PT sessions with all of you =)) REST WELL!


ps. drink lots of water.



NPDB:
‘Tough Times don’t last, Tough Man do’.


(Remember in times when you feel like giving up, remind yourself with this sentence. No one person is born a tough man. Experiencing each tough times and pressing on till the end would eventually sculpt a Tough Man in times to come. Believe in yourself and it is not a matter of whether you can or cannot. It is whether you want or don’t want to give the extra effort for that extra mile.)

xanier!