Day 25 – 3rd IS Lesson (Business Etiquette)

I shall proclaim that this IS lesson was the most useful and interesting one compared to the previous 2 that was EXTREMELY informative but uninteresting. I was looking forward to this IS which taught us some global business etiquette and mainly their China method of business dealings. All this knowledge and interpersonal skills would really pose as a great help to us if we ever had to work in China.

Computer Lab.

Nice one! haha! Straightforward way to get students to pay attention.

Lecturer for the day.

The teaching method was also more interactive than the other 2 which uses more of the 2 senses, our eyes & ears.

Lecture Slides.

We were each sitting in front of a monitor which is controlled by the lecturer and thus we each had a copy of the powerpoint slides. This eased the trouble of students having to stick our heads out to look at the screen in front of the classroom (which is what we had always been doing).

So after IS lesson, we headed to the canteen for lunch and back to our hostel for a short rest and back to lessons at 2pm with Mr Loh. Evening run followed by dinner and I’m back to the hostel again~

So here we are packing our bags for 2 day 1 night Wudang Mountain trip tomorrow!

Reflections:

Different teaching methods certainly affects the learning ability of a student. By using active teaching techniques, it helped me maintain my attention to the lesson that was going on. I was able to absorb most of the contents that was taught due to having the powerpoint slides right in front of me, thus allowing me to follow through the class smoothly.

Throughout the years, our government has been trying to come up with new learning & teaching methods in order to bring up the education level in Singapore and to remain competitive in the education sector. From the past rigid way to the present flexible way of learning (learner-centred-learning).

Our government has indeed done a great job in maintaining the education level of Singapore and I believe there would be more to come with the new generation of younger teachers slowly taking over the responsibility of maintaining Singapore’s education system.

xanier!

Day 24 - Lessons

Nothing special happened today. As usual went for my morning run at 11pm. And went for lecture on chapter 5 and had quiz 5. 5 more chapters to go! Should be able to finish BPE by next week =))

After lessons went for my second run of the day at 5.30pm. Not sure if was it due to the drop in my fitness level or the bad weather, I had a little difficulty in breathing for both runs. Hmm… Was quite hazy. But never mind shall push harder tomorrow!

Dinner after run was Canteen 2 馄饨! Never get tired of eating this and today my dear bunk mate, shun qing praise the auntie that her soup base was tasty and… she got more 馄饨 than me! -.- shall praise her tomorrow to get more too heheh! =X

We were told that there was a freshmen performance at the admin block and we are cordially invited to attend. So after our dinner, we decided to take a look. The staging, back drop, size of the event was so grand that I think our ngee ann stage is not even half of it. This event actually shows how much they recognise and welcome their freshmen into the school. The number of audience was so much that from far, they look like an army of ants. It was almost impossible for us to squeeze all the way in. Thus, we only manage to catch a small glimpse of the performance before heading out of school to get my daily ‘dosage’ of bananas!

Night view of WUST Admin block.

Huge group of spectators.

Reflection:

Due to their large population of students, performance and events are greatly supported by other school mates. Unlike Ngee Ann Poly or other schools in Singapore, it is quite difficult to even get your friend to purchase your performance ticket and take the time off to see your final performance. Support is hard to get. Is it due to the high standard of living in singapore that parents are telling their children not to spend money unneccesarily on such stuffs?

Was quite shocked to see the huge number of audience that turned up for just a freshmen performance. I think you would only see this number of audience only for music concert by big super stars. Is it a culture difference whereby our pace of living is different? R

easons that Singapore students will not attend such performance: “I rather spend time playing my computer games”, “no, I have too much work to complete”. A few of my peers over here said the same thing when I asked them if they wanted to watch the performance. And they told me they would have not enough time to finish their assignment if they went for the performance. I think it all voice down to our pace of living that has etched the mindset of “don’t spend time unnecessarily on such stuffs”.

I personally will just purchase the ticket from my friend as a form of support but would only turn up for the performance if I really had the time or had nothing to do. Many of such mindsets that teenagers now possess is mainly due to influence from our parents and the society. ‘Studies is the most important’.

xanier!

Day 23 – Outward Bound.

Gathered early at 8am for our Outward Bound activities. Everyone was quite excited about the activities which we will be doing. Some were don in track pants others in shorts. It has been some time since we did such activities. Since the day we graduated from secondary school, we had not been in touch with such activities.

Our first activity was to create our group theme/flag/costume! Followed by a short skit and finally our 1st activity: ROCK CLIMBING! They gave us 2 of the more difficult ones and sadly none was able to reach the top! But it’s ok because we tried our best!

Clan Flag!

Group Discussion

Master Piece of our hardwork!

Group Photo with Mr Loh.

After 2 hours break: we went back again this time for a simple game of ‘trust fall’ & high elements.

Trust fall really tested our teamwork and the level of trust we had in them. It was quite a pity that not all of us had a chance to try it. Even though I had played this for several times, but each time when I fell backwards, that ‘feeling’ never fails to come. Indescribable. Apologise to those who got injured while supporting me!

Trust Fall.

High element: Another challenge to me. Actually it was just a simple one which requires us to jump from one plank to another. The distance looked so far from below but when I was up there, it looked even further!!! Hesitated for a moment before I decided to take the leap. Was telling myself: you are already up here and you can’t possibly turn back or just stand here forever, so just jump. Wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be.

High Element.

And this marks the end of our OBS activities.

Group Photo.

Strangely, although today was not as vigorous as I thought it would be, but I was mentally drained. My body was telling me to continue working but my mental was shutting me off. Thus, decided to go with my mind and lights off at 10.45pm (the earliest I slept since day 1).

Reflection:

Such activities never fail to bond people together. If the activities that we participated were even more vigorous and taxing, I believe the level of bonding would be even stronger. When one is thrown into a situation where your fear is tested, the true character of an individual would show. For example some of my teammates backed out even before giving it a try while some others knew they had fear of heights but with the support of other teammates they decided to give it a try to conquer their fear. And I’m proud of those who accomplished something by the end of this student activity.

Once again, I successfully challenged myself but mentally drained. Got to train up my mental!

Mind over body.

xanier!

Day 22 – Coca-Cola Factory! Sizzle sizzle~~

Around noon time, we gathered and set off for our Coca Cola factory visit! Was quite excited about it because I will be witnessing the process of Coca Cola creation! The drink which we had been consuming since young. Around 45 minutes bus ride before reaching. The weather was scorching hot! Weather in Wuhan is so inconsistent.

The previous 2 days was extremely cold and today it is extremely hot. People better take care and drink lots of water =)

Entrance of the Factory.

Superstars.

Ok, so before going into the factory, we were asked to remove all labels besides those which has coca cola name on it on our water bottles. What’s the reason? Hmm… tell me the answer if you know it.

Next, we were brought to a viewing area to have a bird’s eye view of their production line. From washing of the glass bottles till the packing and final distribution of it. Was quite different from what I had expected. Wanted to see and experience more by being physically closer to their production line to have a better view of it.

One of the processes (Mixing)

Exit.

But it’s ok, at least I saw a little of what I had been consuming for the past 18 years. Haha! This factory visit was quite a short one. I suppose they didn’t want to divulge too much of coca cola’s manufacturing secrets to people!

Headed back to school after that and back to the hostel to blog again~

Reflections:

Felt lucky that Singapore isn’t using glass bottles for our current canned drinks. I think it is quite unhygienic to reuse the bottles. Although it might be more environmental friendly but in terms of hygiene I would prefer drinking from cans. It would be quite interesting if I am able to visit the coca cola factory in Singapore after I’m back. I have 100% confidence that it would be totally different from what I see here in China. In terms of hygiene, efficiency, working environment etc. It would be an interesting comparison to be made.

xanier!

Day 21 – Another lesson of IS.

IS Lesson at 9AM. The night before this IS lesson, we were told to be punctual, no slippers and BEHAVE yourselves during lesson! Because…. We are taught by the Dean (something like principal) of this Foreign Language School.

Traditional Thoughts.

History of China.

Lesson today was on Confucianism. Another extremely informative yet ‘keeping awake’ session. The slides were so wordy, Mr Dean was teaching in English so he had to pause -> think through -> form sentences -> say it out.

So the whole pace of the lesson was somewhat slower than usual. He was trying to teach us the whole history of Confucianism within 3 hours… besides teaching us on Confucianism, he actually discussed with us about a feudalism or democratic society.

As a citizen of China himself and a Dean, he actually said something which made me think through for quite awhile. He said that China and Singapore students are very different in terms of the freedom of speech and the impact students’ feedback has to the school. And he thinks the China way of teaching and learning is not good. More would be discussed under my reflection section =)


After lesson, some went to the city to shop while I headed back to the hostel to do some work.

Reflections:

Talking about how the dean actually voiced his opinions on the teaching and learning method of China made me wonder if is he not able to change the mindset and direction of the school or because he thinks that it is impossible to change it. For the very first time, I actually hear negative comments coming out from the well known proud China citizen. China Chinese citizen are well known for how proud they are about their own country. China uses a one way communication while Singapore utilizes a 2 way approach. Be it in government - citizens’ relationship or narrowing down the scope to teacher - students’ relationship. Since the kingdom eras till now, the mindset of feudalism has not really been eliminated. I believe it has already been etched in the minds of China citizens from generation to generation. It would be an extremely challenging task which can only be done by the leader of China.

xanier!

3 Gorges ( Day 18-20)

-DAY 18-

Have been logging on to Npal with hope that results would be out a few hours before 9am. And YES! Finally at my last try at around 5.45am, I saw my results. Disappointing. A warning for me to push even harder for my next semester.

FOCUS.

Gathered at 6.30am. Due to the long bus ride which we would need to be taking, approx 5-6 hours, thus we had to meet real early to make sure that we will reach our destination on time. Many of us took this time to catch some sleep which we sacrificed for doing our blogging and assignment 1 the night before.

After bumping on the bus for quite some time, it was finally LUNCH time! Came to a city named ‘Yi Chang’ at around 12pm and went to a restaurant for lunch. I must say, this lunch is the best I had ever eaten since the first day in Wuhan. It is the only restaurant that sells STEAMED egg, non-oily vegetables and in overall a more healthy range of food.

Lunch Place.

Steamed Vegetables.

After lunch, another hour of bus ride before we reach 3 gorges. Went around the area using their own tour buses. Moving from one location to another and taking a few more pictures before we head out to 截流纪念园. It was just a simple park with not much in it. After which, we were off again to fill our growling tummies!

Admission Ticket.

Picture at the Park.

Group Photo.

And here comes the real thing! After having our dinner, we are all up and ready to head for the jetty where we will be boarding our cruise. We will be sleeping on the cruise for 2 nights!!! The ticketing area was quite crowded with people and of course smoke-filled.
Waited for quite long before we can actually board the cruise.

Cruise.

The rooms on board was ‘wonderful’. With plenty of smoking, gambling, half naked china men just directly opposite our rooms. Due to our ladies safety, some of us swapped rooms with the guys so that we would have an equal number of guys and girls to protect each other! =))
My room-mate for the next 2 nights is ANYU!!! AGAINNN =DDDD

Meddled with the things in the room for awhile, bathed and settled down straight after that to watch our long lost TELEVISION!!! HAHA!

-DAY 19-

MY DOOR WAS NEARLY BANGED DOWN AT 6AM IN THE MORNING. Our first morning on the cruise. Their morning call was so ‘unique’. At 6am, our tourist went to every door and banged on it till someone went to open the door. They literally bang till the whole door was vibrating and it was not once but 5 times until we made our way down for breakfast. Irritating? Yes, but an effective method to wake tourist up. HAHA! Ok, so we went down for breakfast and a huge discovery! Just one night and we have reached Chongqing, a town which is located quite a distance outside Hubei.

After our breakfast, we alighted at 白帝城 for a short sightseeing.

This is an ancient city which holds a long history and due to the many poems which was specially written for this place, it is also named as the ‘city of poem’.

After walking around for sometime, we headed back to our cruise for lunch followed by free and easy!

CK

Standing at the top of the mountain!

Couldn’t stand the beauty of the mountains just right in outside my window, so we decided to sit on the latch of the cruise to fully enjoy the nice wind and scenic view.

My Legs. Haha!

Roy Fishing!

Headed up to the top deck for an even better view and back to our room again to enjoy the peaceful sea view and breeze. This was a nice time for us to catch back on our sleep since the last week we were all crazily ‘chionging’ our assignments.

Jump Shot at the upper deck.

ME!!!

Anyu's Bed.

Scenery outside our window.

Long nice sleep…

In the afternoon we took another small passenger boat to 神农溪. The journey took almost an hour. So our main objective of going there was to experience river rafting by the locals.

Admission Ticket.

Morning farming was their main occupation and after which afternoon they would take up the job of rafting the boat as their part time job. All the rowers were averagely 40 years old and above but their body is definitely made of steel!

As a rower myself, it was already hard having 20 people pulling their own weight but for these uncles, they only had 5 rowers to a boat and there were 21 of us. This was heartaching. On every pull of their paddle, we can see how strenous this was on the aged bodies of the men.

Strenous.

I would rather exchange positions with them and take over their job while they sit in the raft enjoying the scenery. As what our tour guide told us, in a few decades time, we would not be seeing all this boat men anymore as their standard of living would have increased with their children all pursuing studies or jobs overseas.

Pulling 20+ of us.

The experience of the rafting session was marvellous. Boarded back onto our cruise at around 6pm for our dinner. And it was free and easy again. We were told that our cruise would pass through the water elevator at around 11pm.

Excited!

We would be passing through a total of 5 gates. The process of all 5 would be the same, thus if we were to view all 5 gates it would be from 11pm-5am the next morning. We were told to just view one. It was really a once in a life time experience which I hope that everyone out there would be able to go through. After watching the first 2 gates, I went back to sleep. But at 3.30am & 4.30am, I woke up unknowingly and just nice they were going through other processes which I bet not all were able to see it as they were all sound asleep! WHAHAHA!

Passing Through!

Big Gate.

We went down.

This was how close we were to the wall outside our window.

-DAY 20-

6.30am -> went for breakfast -> back to bunk for final packing of bags -> left the cruise at around 8am. It was raining heavily. Boarded our bus and we were told to grab some snacks on the nearby supermarket as there might be jam due to the heavy rain, thus we would not be stopping over for lunch. And we are back in WUST at about 2pm.
End of the once in the life time experience.

Reflections:

After spending 2 nights on the boat, we had a chance to experience the lifestyle of others and see how simple some of their lifes are. Simple yet fulfilling. I think it is because of their lifestyle thus even until the age of 60+ they are still so healthy. The elderly of singapore is really having a much higher standard of living compared to those over here. It is a right decision for the government to extend the retirement age of Singaporeans so that the elderlys would still lead a fulfilling life and to keep themselves active. By doing so, it helps to keep our citizens healthy.

xanier!