OELP reflections - Toh Zhan Ting XD

  Day 1

    (25/05/14)

       Today, it was the first time taking China’s high speed rail and i’m rather looking forward to it and furthermore, we need to take three hours to reach HeFei ( 合肥 ). Before the ride, I was pretty excited, but during the ride, I started to get bored, feeling that “ hours wear on like years ”, I felt like spending these hours in hell. The only thing that interest me or rather fascinate me is the way how high speed rail travels. While riding it, I feel myself floating in the air, this is when i realised the rail is using the concept of “magnetic repulsion”. Time so slowly………………

 

        When we reached HeFei, I was pretty annoyed by the noise pollution by the “cars’ horning”. Not only that, beggars were all around on the streets begging for money. There was one beggar came towards me and snatched away my “cheeseballs” out of a sudden and I was shocked and baffled. This is a scenery which you would never expect to happen in Singapore. Furthermore, cars were everywhere and the way they travel is totally different from Singapore. In Singapore, cars were travelling in orderly manner, but here, they were in total mass, horning at one another as if they were fighting. In Singapore, its the people gets the priority to cross the road first, but here again, maybe it’s the car getting the priority. There was a heavy traffic before we reach our next destination.

          Next, we reached the restaurant for lunch. Since then, our stomach were already moaning in hunger and we thought that the food they had prepared would be delicious. I heard from my fellow classmates that their dishes were horrible, but i don’t think so actually. Maybe, I’m a vegetarian and only eat the vegetables served ?       

       Following that, we went to San He Gu Zhen (三河古镇), I feel that this place was boring and coming here was meaningless. But in order not to let this trip be a wasteful one, I forced myself to pay attention to what the tour guide was introducing. This place is a place where many outstanding people in china's history resides. I learnt about some historical facts about China in the war between the Communist and Rationalist when Sun Li Ren ( 孙立人 ) got shot thirteen bullets and he actually survive ! And to be exact, he had three wives. Yang Zhen Ning ( 杨振宁 ) was one of the few Chinese who had won the Nobel Prize in Physics, which had done the Chinese proud. And what I found out again was, he had two wives. His second wife was forty old younger than him and I was amused that she is willing to marry him. And lastly after this trip, order i didn’t really enjoy myself, but I’ve still had a question to ask: “ Why do these people have more than one wife ? ”

  

 

  

 Day 2

(26/05/14)

 Today, we went to No.45 middle school ( 合肥45)actually i was really afraid to meet my buddy. firstly, i’m afraid that awkwardness would occur. secondly, i heard that i’m going to visit his house after lesson. Once we were outside the school gate, teachers and students started warmly welcoming us. At that moment, all of us feel really really shy and didn’t know what to do like a lost child without teachers’ instructions.  

According to mr wong, the students are the top students in the school and to not to embarrass myself or tarnish our school reputation, i decided to behave myself and shut my “ big mouth “. we were told to find our buddies in their auditorium, and this is when i was lost. i didn’t know how my buddy looked like and only know the name of his. i just sat down there passively and waited for him. Oh no ! most of my friends had found their partner and  settled down except for me……..

     suddenly, a person ‘pop’ out in front my face out of nowhere looking for me. my reaction is like “finally ！after so long！” after that, he brought me to this class where i found it amazing. In singapore,  a class at most can fit thirty four pupils but in china, it can actually fit twice of us which is more than 60 pupils. there is something that i had learnt from them, they were really really proactive and enthusiastic in class, whenever teachers start to ask a question, they would start to chattering, competing with one another, trying to answer her question. Unlike us, when teacher asked a question we sat there like nothing happen as if a wind had just blown past, waiting teacher to call for us. they have the studying attitude, they want to learn more which i’m admire of, as for us, we just trying to slack, not wanting to learn and waiting to go home. i really hoped that our timetable can change like theirs which is to have a ten minute interval break after every lesson, moreover they had a two hours break at 12 o’clock. but this would end up ending school at five o’clock which i’m really glad that school release us at 2o’clock. and the greatest difference between their lesson and ours is their teacher used chinese to teach them while ours used english most of the time. furthermore, they started learning politics in china cat our age but in river valley, we could only learn that in year 4 economics. before class, they will exercise their facial features which would make them more energized.  they had specially prepared a performance for us which i  was very touched by their efforts made for us.  and it i’m very regretful that we had never prepared any stuff for the class.

        After that, i went to my buddy house.  At first, i thought that he is very rich but from what i see, his house was utterly destitute, and from that, i can conclude that “he’s facing poverty”. he shared with me that he do not have any pocket money. even if he does, and it is also from the school. every semester, those students for scored top 400 will get 30RMb from the school as a reward. upon hearing this, i felt ashamed because back in singapore, i would not like to save money, instead spending them carelessly and recklessly without second thought. he kept on sharing his experience with me, some of it were rather interesting while some were really broken-heart. After a long period of time, we walked back to school, although we did not spent much time with each other but when i’m back in hotel, i already started missing him and really regretted never talk to him earlier, but no choice, time cannot be reversed, the only thing now to do is to email him once we were back in singapore.

                5 things i love about RV

1) noise level- sometimes we need peaceful environment to study. Compared to no. 45 middle school, i feel that our school noise level is rather low. during break time or recess, we will not be as rowdy as them making noise disturbing others.

2) Timetable- in Rv we were supposed to be released at 2.45 p.m. but in this school, their timetable are throughout the whole day.

3) Auditorium- Rv auditorium has air-conditioner while in this school they used fan to operate. furthermore, our chair has a much smoother surface cushion compared to theirs.

4) Toilet- RV toilet is much cleaner and smell more “fragrant” than theirs.

5) canteen - Rv has a big canteen while this school does not seems to be having one. they have to return home or have their lunch outside school which is not very convenient.

Day3

(27/05)

       Today, we went to AnHui museum and honestly, I do not really like to visit historical places, learning the past facts. But luckily, there is air-conditioner in this museum, if not i believe i would be dead under the glaring sunlight as if we were in a barbecue pit being barbecued like a roasted pig. Many ancient things like weapons used in the Song dynasty or even earlier were found in this museum and learning more about 文房四宝. Actually, I pitied the bus driver when I saw him wandering around, nothing to do other than waiting for us patiently. However, after visiting the museum, my WORST nightmare were to emerge. We went to the 中国非物质园......        Firstly, we encountered a few chickens struggling and were locked up in a cage individually and we were told not to either get close to them or touched them because we never knows what bacteria the chicken feather might be carrying or what disease they might have been infected. Hence, safety comes first. The first performance held up was 斗鸡 ( Chicken Fight ). There were four chickens were about to fight each other two at a time. They were fighting each other brutally, aggressively, fighting for survival, furthermore, this was a “ bloody war ” which blood was “erupted” whenever they bite or scratch each other. To be honest, my friends and I were very excited and betting with one another which chicken would be knocked down first. Next, there was a horse racing which everybody knew but dog racing, we had never encountered these before, not even on television. And of course, these match were suitable for us to place a bet whether which would come in first. According to one of my friend, he saw one of the horse were being forced to eat a bamboo before the match. Furthermore, the dogs were chasing after or rather baited by a meat controlled by a machine in order for them to complete the race. You never know what is behind the scenes, maybe, these small animals were being tortured by manpower in terms of physical or mental health. For example, the chicken could only rest once the time is up, if not they have to keep on fighting with each other for survival. There was a badly injured chicken were also forced to fight, and his feathers were all gone and only traces of blood can be spotted. To the trainers, if one of the chickens had died, it would not be a big deal to them because they can replace them any time. The only thing they cares about is the standard of the performance. I I had no rights to say anything about them being cruel because i was even more inhuman for thinking it was exciting at the start. Next, we went to the circus. It was animal abuse AGAIN……
          Four tiger had enter a cage together with two men holding metal staff on their hands, making sure that the tigers were performing well. I believe that the tigers had tasted the pain of these iron staff before, if not they were actually known for the kings of the forest, they would not be obeying their trainers’ words at all if they had not been tortured before in the past. Once they stop cooperating with the trainers, they will be badly beaten up by them with the metal staff. I felt so helpless after seeing all these. Such ferocious animals had actually been “controlled” by humans. I could not take it anymore, hence, my friends and I proposed to leave that circus until the end of the show. To be honest, I cried after that. I knew that it’s their culture and the way they earn money by risking their lives trying to torture such animals even if they would be eaten up one day. I learnt that everything had at least two perspectives and we should always learn to view it in different ways. In my opinion, money is the greatest temptation to the trainers. For the sake of money, they even “Yolo-ed” with their lives without considering any consequences. Furthermore, we, as the audience had also given them a chance to perform. Actually without these audience, they would eventually cancel this event because they knew that it will be meaningless performing to “air”. Although today is a bad day,but I had learnt several things.

Colour : Red

This colour represent animal abuse.

Symbol

                                              I believe it is time to stop animal abuse

   

Image

 

Animals did nothing wrong so why humans are abusing them.

     Day 4   (28/05)

    Today, it is finally a meaningful day to me. We finally climbed up to HuangShan after so long. We took at least two hours to climb up that mountain and another two climbing down. Although it was very very tiring and I almost felt like giving up, but everything was worth after all.  Firstly, before we even climb, we took a cable car up to the foot of the path where we climbed up. It was the first time i took cable car and I kind of felt insecure when the cable car was travelling. Firstly, it was really really squeezy inside where I almost suffocated. Furthermore, I do not believe such cable car can actually carry thirty people weight which would add up to almost 2000 kilograms. But luckily, no accidents, I thought that the cable car would actually dropped down. Climbing steps were the most tiring stuff, and we have to climb 30 minutes to our hotel. After settling all our belongings in the hotel, we headed to the highest peak of Huangshan, GuangMingDing which is 1840m tall. MingWei, Yida, Zhiyang and me, four of us wanted to “ act cool” or rather “ act pro ”, we decided to run up, competing with one another whether who would reach first. But during this journey, we decided to play truth or dare in order to distract ourselves because it was too exhausting. After 20 minutes, we cannot make it any further, hence, we sat down, resting our feets. Sense of accomplishment, and everything  was not in vain after admiring at the beautiful scenery of HuangShan. Although today was tiring but every hard efforts had been paid off.

                                                                           

Day 5 (29/05)

Today is the day we woke up much earlier than usually for the "Legend Sunrise". It is a 50% chance to see the sunrise in summer and we just "yolo" and go for it. Besides that, we woke up at 4.30a.m. and the temperature was really really low and my body was out of control and started trembling tremendously.  I was really very excited to see the sunrise for          the first time and everybody was very anxious (kiasu), fighting for the best view. We had no        choice to stand behind because we came later than the other tourist. Waited for 15                      minutes and nothing came out, furthermore, I'm FREEZING!!!!!

    

       I was disheartened and started loitering around. Finally, after so long......... the sun had risen and we              saw the Legend Sunrise. Beautiful is just not powerful enough to describe this scenario, suddenly I felt            that everything is worth because seeing this sunrise is like once in a blue moon to me.After that,                      everybody went back to hotel. From this incident, I realized that sometimes you would have to sacrifice        to reach that goal. You must try before you even give up although it might be less than 50%.

 After breakfast, we left HuangShan. This mountain is a place where all of us bonded together, get closed with one another, knowing one another better. This place had lots of wonderful and precious memory, and I believe I would never forget such wonderful and beautiful MOUNTAIN !!! Last but not least, before we leave, we had a class photo.

  We headed to the HongChun after on. Actually everything there is constructed by the 汪 family, for example, the school. In the past they constructed a school for the poors to study. Jordan was sick during that time, and he was quite weak and cannot walk too much. Hence, for the first round he did not follow us, but for the second round, Mr Wong wants him to walk around if not this would be a wasteful trip to him. MingWei and I decided to escort him in case he "break down" anytime. We actually had COMPASSION like the 汪 family.

Reflections for OELP- Anhui

Toh Zhi Yang(33) 2E

Day1

  Whizzing on a high speed rail from Shanghai to Hefei was a thrilling experience for me. After spending an estimated 3 hours on the ride, we arrived at Hefei. Our stomach was moaning in hunger so we set out for a sumptuous lunch, which turns out to be the otherwise. I was not accustomed to their cuisines, so I didn't ate much but it was a really a eye opener to me, regarding their unique local culinary skills and dishes. After having our lunch, we headed off to Sanhe Guzhen. When we arrived at the destination, I was awed by the beautiful scenery of Sanhe Guzhen, which encompasses its majestic architecture and wonderful residences of famous people in China. We were guided by a tour guide, who told us the long and informative history about each and every residences of Sanhe Guzhen. From our visit to Sanhe Guzhen, we learnt a lot about the Chinese history and how did those people in the past changed China into what is it like today. After that, our eye bags were visible so we decided to check into the hotel, before going for dinner.

Day2

Today, after having plentiful sleep last night, we headed off to Hefei 45 Middle School. When we arrived at the school gate, we were warmly welcomed by the students and teachers there, followed by a group photo. After that, we were led by the students to the school auditorium for the vice principal's short speech to welcome us. Followed by that, we were given a souvenir which was contained in a nice, intricate-designed box. The box contained a opera mask bookmark, and a brief note on the history of it. After that, we were led to their classrooms for lessons. The lessons there were enriching and I learnt more about an interesting topic, which was not included in our syllabus, which was politics. Even though the lesson on politics was quite difficult to understand, but the contents were quite interesting. What was interesting was that at the end of the lesson, there would be a ring and a voice thanking the teacher for teaching the class. I think that it was quite creative and interesting. This ring could thank the teacher for their hard work and also incentivized and made them have the drive to work and teach harder. I think that this ring was quite good and should be included in school, so as to incentivized teacher to work harder as well as notifying the teacher that his or her lessons had reached to an end, so that they would not eat into our break time. After that, my buddy brought me along, to visit the streets of China, and he took me to boat riding and I got a taste of the China's version of fast food near a shopping centre. After spending about two hours with my buddy, I left with the class for dinner to fill our hungry stomachs

5 things I love about RV

1. Toliets

2. Auditorium

3. Location

4. Classroom

5. Shorter school hours

Day3

After a hearty breakfast, we set off to Anhui museum. When we arrived at Anhui museum, I was shocked to see the magnificent museum of Anhui, it definitely did not disappoint my expectations. Its maze- like tile looked alike to a ladyrinth. It's architecture was amazing and it definitely set a good impression for me. When we set foot inside the museum, it was marvelous and we were brought along by a guide who told us information that really widens our knowledge. We learnt about '鼎' and the different versions of it from different dynasties. We also learnt about some of the famous philosophers, like Lao Zi, Zhuang Zi. We also learnt about the deep secrets built within the memorial arches. We also learnt about the history of the four treasures of study. I was awed when I saw brushes of different sizes, like chicken clawed shaped brush and famille-rose-shafted brush with dragon design of Emperor Qianlong. After that, we headed back to the hotel for some sleep.

CSI( Anhui Museum )

Color: Gold

The colour, gold is suitable for describing and conveying the message of prosperity and success that is carried on for generations to generations that created the China today.

Symbol: 鼎

鼎 is chosen to show to that China is a developed nation, that can withstand and uphold their culture, and was able to preserve this national culture heritage site.

Image: Traditional House

This image of traditional house was shown, because of its traditional and elegant designs displayed all around the house.

Day4

After filling our stomach with delicious food, we set off to China Intangible Cultural Heritage Park. When we reach there, the entrance was decorated with beautiful designs and a water fountain to bring in the relaxing atmosphere. When we explored the place, it was quite quiet and there were no other people in the park, so we went to an animal circus. When we watched the circus, what was displayed totally changed my perception of a circus before watching it. Animal cruelty was fully displayed as the circus trainer beat the tigers into to perform an act and they did it repeatedly, not even thinking of the consequences. Animals are also living things, but why are they beating and punishing when they cannot perform an act. As most of us were disturbed by this act, we went out halfway. After that, we went to a large playground, where everyone was challenging themselves to finish the horizontal rock wall, but some of the students were just downcast and did not play at all. After that, we set off for dinner but almost everyone was quite sad, including my friends and group mates sitting around my table. After that, we set off with complete silence in the bus back to hotel.

Day5

After eating our last breakfast at Holiday Inn Express Hefei South, we set off to a 4 hour long bus ride to Huangshan. Everyone seem to be a lot cheerful and energetic after yesterday's sleep. On the bus, the back portion of it was quite noisy, and some of them were even playing cards and most importantly, they were laughing together as a class, bonding as a class. After that , our teachers allowed  us to buy some tidbits at a nearby rest station. Everyone was excited and some of them ran to the market and bought a handful of tidbits back to the bus. When we reached Huangshan, we went for a 1 hour trek to our hotel, which was situated near the peak of Huangshan, but after an arduous trekking, we did not have any sweat as the temperature was quite cold, so there was no sweat at all, coming out form our forehead. After that, we filled our stomachs during lunch, but the dishes were not that appealing as Mr Wong had told us earlier, that everything, including all the materials needed for daily lives, food had to be brought up by people, so,the quality of food would not be so good. After that,we went to the various mountain in Huangshan area, for their scenic view. When I set foot upon, it gave me a heveanly feeling, and the mountains below that formed Huangshan Scenic Area, formed a beautiful landscape. After exploring and admiring the scenic view, we transferred to Yixian for an one hour ride.

Day6

We set off to Xidi. The residences there were quite ancient and it was one of China's Cultural Heritage Site. As we explored the Xidi village, I learnt of one type of architecture, which was called'马头墙'. This was set up on the roof of all residences. The purpose of setting up this wall, was to prevent fire from spreading to other residences in case of emergency, when a fire breaks up in the community. From here, we can see that people from the past were quite intelligent from the way they thought of the idea to prevent fire from spreading. When we went into the residences, we noticed that both halves of a table were put on separate side of the living room. The tour guide told us that it was to tell visitors that the breadwinner of the house, who was the master, was not at home. When the master is at home, the halves of the table would be combined to form a complete table, which symbolizes'团圆'. From all the residences we explored, we found that that at every living room,there would be a vase at their ghosted and a mirror at the left side, it symbolizes serenity, which means'平静' in Chinese. From Xidi village, I learnt a lot from the traditional practices reflected in their residences, and what lies behind these, were the long, meaningful history that was preserved for many centuries. After that, we went to Hongchun village, which fully resembles Xidi village. After visiting these two villages, I learnt about the various traditional practices in these two villagers, their customs and it was truly an eye opener to me. Next, we went to Tunxi for a 1 hour ride. We started off by visiting Shexian and Huishang Big House. In Huishang Big House, I saw that the house was very big, lavishly designed with huge lake and several pavilions. The owner of this big house was actually a rich businessman, from the size of the house. After that, we went for dinner. Later at night, we were called upon by our teachers to attend a lecture by a professor. During the 2 hour talk, we learnt a lot about Anhui and it's culture. I was fully immersed in the sea of knowledge during the lecture. During the lecture, I was taught about the deep culture and history which was preserved for many years. Anhui culture had a lot of interesting things which interest me, and led me to widen my horizon of knowledge.

Day7

During the last day of our journey, we went to Tunxi Ancient Street, which was just a 10 minute drive from our hotel. When we were in the ancient street, I bought a lot of local delights and a pair of fans for my mom and myself. After that, we travelled off to Hangzhou for a two and a half hour ride. When we arrived in Hangzhou, we set off to a long,relaxing boat ride in West Lake. After the boat ride, we went to Yue Fei Mausoleum. In Yue Fei Mausoleum, we saw the tomb of Yue Fei and his son, and besides that, the tour guide told us the history of Yue Fei, his hard work put in for China, but in the end, got made to be the scapegoat and died. After visiting the Yue Fei Mausoleum, we rushed off to Shanghai Airport. When we reached the airport after a four hour bus ride, we went to have dinner. After filling our stomachs, we checked in and got a fold voucher and were exhilarated. As most of our stomachs had been filled, some of us only brought ice cream and some finger food. After that, we headed off to Singapore.