OELP Daily Reflections - Serena Soo (17)

25/5/14 DAY 1

We transferred from Shanghai to Hefei by high-speed rail today. It was an interesting experience as it was my first time on a high-speed rail. It was basically like the MRT in Singapore, but it has assigned seats for each person and there were different seat classes.

When we reached Hefei, we went to Sanhe Guzhen. We saw many of the old buildings from long time ago. The houses there were alot different from the present houses, the were mostly made of wood, however, the present houses in Singapore are mostly made of cement. They do not have electricity in the homes, so they light up lamps or candles when it gets dark. I observed they made a living by selling dried food and homemade things.

I saw some of the many differences between Singapore and China, and I learnt to be more sensitive towards others' differences and culture. Fr example, I realised that the people in China spoke at a louder voice than Singaporeans, and at first, it seemed as though they were arguing, I found out later that it was just their normal tone of voice. I learnt we have to observe before we jump to conclusions, and by being more observant, we can learn and find out much more.

In the high-speed rail:

27/5/14 DAY 2

Today, we went to Hefei 45 High for observation of their lessons. Each of us had a buddy to accompany us for school for the day. My buddy is called Cathy. She was very friendly when I just met her, she even locked her arms in mine and brought me up to her class. I met the classmates in the class, they were really very friendly too and they gave us a warm welcome. It was their between-lessons break and they chatted very loudly. This was one of the many differences I had seen in their class. They had 10-minute breaks in between every 40-minute lesson.

I also observed that they were around 60 students in one classroom, of a size not much bigger than ours, but could fit almost twice the number of people. Even though it is a little squeezy, they enjoyed learning still as much. They also had a two-and-a-half-hour lunch break, which they all went home to have lunch before coming back to the school for lessons.

Their school was much different from ours, but what I found the most interesting and what I look up to them for is their proactiveness. Whenever a teacher asks a question, the students all answer in unison, without having the teacher to ask for volunteers.

After the lessons, they had a little performance put up for us, I could see the amount of effort they put in just to do something for their visitors.

From this trip to their school, I learnt from them proactiveness, that we volunteer whenever a question is asked and even when no questions are asked, we proactively ask questions when in doubt.

At the end of the day, Mr Wong wanted us to reflect on 5 things we love about RV. I started to reflect and that was when I learned that we have to be more apreciativeand not always take things for granted. So, the 5 things I love about RV are firstly, conducive learning environment as we had lesser students to one class than in China. Secondly, many sports-related facilities. Thirdly, clean toilets which we have always taken for granted. Fourthly, the canteen where we buy food to eat. And lastly, lockers to put our things so we can keep them safe and we do not have to bring things to and fro.

Their school:

27/5/14 DAY 3

We went to Anhui Museum early in the morning today. At the museum, there were many historical artifacts such as the daily pots they used for storage of water to the brushes they used for writing a long time ago. The brushes were made of horns of animals and the bristles were taken from the feathers of animals.

There was a section <徽州古建筑>, which means the old buildings in Anhui. In one of the many paintings, there was a painting of 宏村, one of the places we are visiting in the next few days.

After that, we went to the China Intangible Cultural Heritage Park. In the park, there was a mini circus, and we watched a few performances. Afterwards, we proceeded to a large playground which was long-awaited for. It was much different from Singapore's normal playgrounds as they were made of metal and they used tyres to form part of the structures. Our class had a really fun time climing the bouldering wall which is basically like a rock climbing wall, just that you had to climb sideways. Many classmates tried and even the teachers did it too.

All in all, we had quite a enjoyable day.

Painting of Hongcun:

28/5/14 DAY 4

Today, we are going to Huangshan, one of the places I am really excited to go. We are going to take a bus up to Huangshan, then a cable car up, then climb a little bit more to reach the top.

This is my first time taking a cable car, at first I was quite nervous but I realised the ride up was smooth and there was nothing much to worry about. The cable car that we took were thing huge kind which can accomodate many people than just the usual 4 to 5.

When we got down from the cable car, we climbed awhile more before we reached the hotel which we were staying in. We had a break before going out again to continue to climb Huangshan.

During the mountain climbing, some classmates were very tired and other classmates cheered then on and waited for them if they slowed down. I was very happy to see our class being more bonded and many of us took pictures together at the top of the mountains.

Today was a tiring but fun day, I look forward to waking up early in the morning tomorrow to catch the sunrise!

Cable car:

Huangshan:

29/5/14 DAY 5

We woke up early in the morning at 4am today to catch the sunrise. I was very excited as we all heard that it was very beautiful. We stood at the little peaks of the mountain to get a good view and I could say it was real nice as this is my first experience.

We went to explore the Huangshan Scenic Area afterwards, and we took all the pictures we could of Huangshan before we left.

Thereafter, we went to the Hongcun Ancient Village. I learned that it was built for the Wang (汪) family. Also, in the past, according to superstitions, they normally place a mirror on the left, clock in the middle and a vase on the right. It has a meaning of peace for their house. I found this very interesting as I have also seen in in some movies and also Anhui Museum but I had always though it was just a casual way of them to place their things on such a manner. However, I did not know there could be much more behind it.

Sunrise on Huangshan:

Hongcun:

30/5/14 DAY 6

Today, we went to Xidi Village. The houses there were also like the houses in Hongcun. But there was one thing I found quite interesting on one of the houses. There were two semi-circular tables each at a side of the room. When the tables are separated, it shows that the master is not home yet, but when the master is home, the two tables are combined to form a normal circular table for the master to use.

I heard from the tour guide that their windows were made of stone. Each one carved from a tile into beautiful tiles for the windows of the houses.

Afterwards, we went to the Huishang Big House. As the name suggests, it was relatively big and nice.

After dinner, we had a seminar by Professor 胡善风, who is the vice-principal of 黄山学院. He introduced to us about the cultures on Anhui. I learnt alot from this talk, for example, I learnt that there are three aspects in the food in Anhui, it has to be ，重油，重色， 重火候，which means that their food are mostly brightly coloured, which perfectly fits in what we have seen during mealtimes the past few days.

Xidi:

The stone-windows:

31/5/14 DAY 7

Today is the last day we will be in China before heading back to Singapore, so we went the the Tunxi Ancient Street to get some local goods back to Singapore. The tourguide brought us to a shop that sold tea and other local snacks which we could buy.

After that, we went to Hangzhou to take the West Lake Cruise. We had an enjoyable time on the cruise as it was relaxing and I took many photos.

Thereafter, we went to Yue Fei Mausoleum. It was like a temple which people could go to to pray. There was also a 岳飞纪念馆 which is for people to find out more about Yue Fei.

Finally, we are heading to the airport for dinner before taking the flight back to Singapore, I would really this place and the times we spent together in this trip as a class. I hope to go on a trip like this again so our class can bond together and have fun together.

Tunxi Ancient Street:

Westlake cruise:

Yue Fei Mausoleum:

-Serena Soo (17)