Chlovia

Year 2 Suzhou OELP Name School Class Stream Period of Internationalisation Experience Country of visit Chlovia Guo Ziyi River Valley High School 2G Integrated Programme 20 May to 26 May 2016 China Reflections: Day 1: Today, we left for Suzhou. I chose to go on this OELP trip because it is a chance for me to better understand my roots and also allows me to practice independence and improve my social communication skills. Since we would be overseas for 7 days without our parents, we would have to manage a lot of things by ourselves for example, my mother gave me the opportunity to pack my own luggage for once and I learnt that this was actually a very difficult job, having to pack only what's important and not forgetting any important stuff. The hardest part was to squeeze everything neatly into the luggage. I am very grateful to my mother who packs all of our luggage when we go for vacation. Also, even though my grandparents are from China, they rarely tell us anything about China and I also don't take the initiative to ask them about it so I don't know much about my ancestors. Hence, I hope this trip would allow me to learn more about the Chinese culture and hopefully I'll have more topics to chat with my grandparents about. Upon reaching Suzhou, we headed for this traditionally-themed restaurant for dinner. Before entering the restaurant, there was an arch and stone steps. The corridor leading to the dining area was also dimly lit, giving the feeling of lantern lights. There were also wood furnitures, depicting the insides of a traditional China palace. Even though I am afraid of the dark, I found the dimly lighted corridor to be comforting. At that point, I was thinking “Was this how it feels like to walk around the palace at night in the past? How nice!” I feel that the point of this restaurant having a traditional theme is to attract more customers, especially tourists, because it gives off a different vibe from those typical modern restaurants. Although this is only the first day, it has been quite eventful and I’m already starting to like Suzhou. Also, the surroundings and buildings in Suzhou resembles a developed and non-developed Singapore combined so even though everything is in Chinese, Suzhou does not feel like an unfamiliar place. Day 2: I finally met my buddy! I was actually very excited to meet my buddy, but when we finally reached the school, I was praying that my buddy would be sick because I didn't know what to say and was afraid we would be very awkward. I was also afraid that she would have the ‘emperor syndrome’. When we finally met, I realized she is actually a very friendly person once you get to know her better and not at all self-centered. From her conversations with her family, I could tell they were close-knitted. When I saw their interactions with one another, I was kind of jealous because my family would be using our phones during family outings but my buddy’s family has a rule that they no one is allowed to use their phones on family outings so they have no choice but to interact with one another. Then, after spending half a day with our buddies, we went to the Silk Factory. The class spilled into two groups and my group went to view the galleries first. There, we were taught the different silking methods and the 双面 and 单面画. I was really interested in the 双面画 because both sides have to be neat and look clean of knots. This is extremely difficult because when we were given time to try it out silk sewing ourselves later on, the bottom side was rough and messy even though the top side was neat and clean. There is also another type of 双面画 which have a different image on each side. Although the material they use is thicker, it is still very easy for one needle to go to the other side and potentially ruin the whole image. After this experience, I really appreciate and respect the 60, 70 year old workers there who dedicated years and years of hardwork to produce a beautiful piece of artwork for everyone to admire and this requires patience, commitment and passion. After this, we went to GuanQian Street. It was a very modernized street with brands such as Zara found there. This street almost resembles Orchard Road in Singapore because of its liveliness and modernization. Despite being very modernized, there are still a few traditional shophouses there for example, there was this very old bookstore with dirty walls beside the public toilet. There is also some statues along the streets depicting the females in those days. I think the traditional shophouses left there allows foreigners to have an idea how Chinese live in the past since the houses found in Suzhou are not exactly traditional, they are just dirty and run-down. Day 3: Today we went to the Lion Grove Garden, Mudu Water Town and Shantang Street. The Lion Grove Garden has very intricate and detailed designs on the windows and stone sculptures. 4 windows in particular, had designs of fruits, which have many seeds, on them to show that the more children one has, the more fortune he/she has. I find this interesting because they thought of such a creative way to rely that message and must have spend a lot of time and effort to carve it out. The stone sculptures were also built by the workers ,stone by stone, from the Tai Lake. My group decided to walk through the whole ‘stone maze’ which was located on a lake and I found myself being fascinated by the whole design when we finally finished the whole maze. It was placed so neatly by the workers and it does not have only one route, it has multiple routes leading to different openings on top. There were also no dead ends which meant they put a lot of thinking into it to make sure the routes were not plain and boring but at the same time does not lead one to a dead end. After that we went to Mudu Water Town where we took a boat to take our Imperial Examinations. We arrived in the middle of the court and there were many officials surrounding the examination area and I felt very stressed and pressurized but at the same time I couldn’t stop laughing because the test came so sudden. I feel that it was also probably very stressful for the younger generations in the past because they had a lot of pressure to do well in the imperial examinations so they can get a position in the government which was highly respected. Mudu Water Town also has many traditional houses admire along the river on the way to the court. The general vibe given off at Mudu Water Town was traditional and comforting. Finally, we went to Shantang Street to enjoy the Pingtan performance as well as some free time to do some shopping. The pingtan performance was performed in a duet and they sang some Chinese songs in Suzhou dialect while playing the Pipa. I was so immersed in the performance that I did not touch my tea at all. Half the time I was trying to pick up a few phrases in Suzhou dialect but I gave up half-way and decided to just enjoy the performance. They had very good control of their voices so it sounded a bit like opera but they were playing the instruments by themselves which amazed me because they could remember exactly how each song is sung and played without scores while I can barely remember all the chords to a simple song like “Happy Birthday”. I am sad Pingtan is receiving less and less attention because it is truly a fascinating performance. Also, unlike Guanqian Street, Shantang Street is a lot more traditional with the whole stretch of road being shophouses. Some shop owners would modernize their shops by displaying cute toys at the windows or playing some modern music. I also got to try chicken feet despite warnings from teachers not to consume any street food. I feel that chicken feet should become a more popular food in Singapore too since we are already consuming things like pig heart, why not include chicken feet too! Day 4: We spent a whole day at Lida Middle School today. Before we attended lessons with our buddies, we got a tour around the school. They have specialized rooms such as Geography Room and History Room, just like us. They also had a library with many tables to allow students to study there. Then we joined our buddies in the classroom and attended their lessons with them. I am not sure whether everyone behaves like this during lesson time since I’m sitting at the first row and I didn’t turn around to observe the rest of the class since it would be awkward. By from what I can observed, students would be attentive, taking down notes that even the teacher did not write on the white board and also actively participating in class by asking questions if they were unsure or answering questions enthusiastically. They were also seated in the exam format which meant hard for whispering and talking among students. Also, their tables had a little hook at the side and two storage area under the table and one under the chair. The hook at the side of table is to place a plastic bag for students to throw their rubbish because according to my buddy, the students in her class always threw their rubbish a distance away from the rubbish bin and when they miss, they just walk away which caused their classroom to be very dirty. Hence, their teacher wanted all of them to have a plastic bag there so they can throw all their rubbish together at the end of the day. I feel that these are something we can learn from them because our teachers would write down most of what she/he is saying on the board and we just copy it down. Either that or our teachers would print out notes for us to refer to. This might cause some of us not to pay attention in class since we already have the notes so we can just study the notes when we get home. The exam format seating arrangement can also help us to focus since it is more difficult to talk to our classmates this way. After every lesson (40 minutes, standardized), they will have a 15 minutes break. During this 15 minutes break, to my horror, the classroom immediately becomes a zoo. Some students would start playing catching along the corridor and in the classroom, others would talk at the top of their lungs even though they are less than 1 meter apart. Few would bang on their table for no reason. This behavior is one we should definitely not learn from especially since our timetable varies from class to class. This behavior would disturb our fellow batchmates and friends from other classes and also the other levels and it is also rude. However, no teachers came and quiet them which surprised me. The next lesson surprised me even more. It seems like the students in my buddy’s class were selective when it comes to paying attention and giving respect to the teacher. The students were talking amongst themselves and it was totally unrelated to the lesson. The teacher seems annoyed but he did not do anything and just continued with his lesson. He entertained only those who wanted to pay attention in class and acted as if the rest of the class were not there. I have two other friends, who were sitting at the back row, told me during this lesson, a few students were throwing a pencil case around. There was no way the teacher did not see that so I wonder why he did not do anything. Although I feel that his actions somewhat not wrong since those who put in effort to learn deserve higher marks than those who don’t, he should have step in and done something because these actions can disturb those who actually want to learn. I am very glad my buddy is not like that. Another thing we can learn from them is to have the materials for the next lesson ready on the table before the teacher comes in. After the previous lesson ended, the students would immediately take out the materials for the next lesson and place them on the table before they started playing. I feel that teachers would appreciate this because the teacher can immediately start the lesson without wasting any unnecessary time. Lunch time finally arrived. I was starving by then. My buddy brought me to the canteen which was 3 stories high. Although the stalls did not state what they were selling and just numbered themselves “1,2,3..”, I surprised how students can remember which stall sells which food. I can barely remember which noodle stall in our school sells which noodles! Sadly, the time for us to leave came. We gave our best for the farewell performance and I must say, no matter how good ours was, Lida students definitely put in more effort into the farewell performance, especially the Chinese dance. I really enjoyed my day in Lida with my buddy. Even though we only met twice and spent less than a day with each other, I like her a lot and I am very glad she ended up as my buddy. Then we went to Chen Ping, a bookstore in Suzhou Industrial Park to make up for the Xinhua bookstore we originally planned to go the next day. This bookstore is very big and not only sells books but also food and fashion. Although I didn’t learn much from this, I had a fun time flipping through a few books and my group also found a nonsensical book and had a good laugh at its content. I feel like this bookstore was less of a learning experience but more of a bonding time with our groups. Day 5: Day 5. We went to learn about Kun Opera, the Suzhou Industrial Park and the Supermarket. We went to the Suzhou Industrial Park (SIP) first. The only thing I knew about SIP is that it is a Singapore-China collaboration. After the visit at the exhibition hall, I learned so much more, especially since I thought SIP was just a small park for us to have a leisure stroll in. I was so proud of how far the project had come, being able to convert a farm, plantation into this industrialized area. After 22 years since the project started, it is still being developed, with many more high-rise buildings on the way! Isn’t it something impressive? They managed to achieve their planned end product and receive the love attention from people. Even I was attracted to this place and was considering whether to move to Suzhou when I grow up but I decided not to since my Chinese isn’t at that level. Then, we went to lean more about Kun Opera. Before, I thought Opera was something for the elders and was not at all interested in it. However, the lady explained it in such a way, I actually couldn’t take my eyes off her short performance. She explained the hand gestures and walking movements and got some of our classmates to try it too. It was hilarious and at the same time I realized how hard the movements were. I personally feel that singing is the hardest part because one needs to have very good control of their voice and being able to reach such high notes requires a lot of training to expand one’s vocal range. She also said that it takes years and years of training to perfect these moves so I feel that these people should be given more recognition seeing how much hardwork was put in before they are allowed on stage. One way to do so is to promote Chinese Opera to youths in Singapore by getting them to watch opera. Perhaps the school could bring each class individually on different days to watch opera? Or maybe they can be some advertisements promoting Chinese operas during the commercial break in between shows. Then at night, we went to the Supermarket near our hotel to learn about the cost of living. We played a game of Bingo to make it more fun. Although our team did not come in first, we learned quite a few things for example, a small container of imported jam was a few ten cents cheaper than the imported jam in Singapore. This however does not show the overall standard of living in China because we are excluding out many other factors. Day 6: We first visited Meiji company and on the way there, I read the article in the Learning Booklet. I learned from the article stated that Meiji produces baby formula but I’ve never seen Meiji baby formula in Singapore. So I wonder, did Meiji also stop selling baby formula in Singapore as well? When we got there, we were shown a clip explaining some of the procedures and milk products Meiji produces. Then one of the workers brought us along this corridor to further explain what they do and we also got a chance to see the workers at work! They also gave us each a Meiji original flavor yoghurt to try! It was so fresh and delicious, one of the best yoghurts I’ve had so far. However, as the article stated that Meiji is losing profit mainly because of the nuclear leak at Fukushima, what have they done to prove to China and gain the trust of the citizens once again? This goodness should be shared throughout China! Of course, the worker did state that they had to modify some of the flavours to suit the taste of the chinese people but this is surely not enough to get back the customers they lost.  Next, we went to the train station to take the high speed rail to get to Shanghai. I feel a little sad because I have grown to love Suzhou and now I have to leaveL. When we were at the platform waiting to board the train, I realized the train is connected to this wire above. Perhaps its to make sure the train doesn’t go off track? Also, one needs a ticket to board the train but the MRT in Singapore just require a tap of the EZ-link card. Inside, there were 4 things very different from the MRT in Singapore. 1.    The seats were like those in the plane, very comfortable and also has a tray and the seat is rotatable and you can push the back down while the MRT train is hard and not comfortable to sleep in 2.    There were toilets in the train! 3.    They were selling food in the train!!! 4.    Everyone is seated, no one stands and there were also no reserve/priority seats Of course, the train is air-conditioned and the green scenery was amazing. This high speed train, connecting city to city, allows people living in one city to work in another city without having to travel long hours in the car. They can also rest their eyes after a long day at work. The 30 minutes journey from Suzhou to Shanghai went by so quickly, I barely finished writing day 5’s reflection. The ride was so comfortable, I kind of wished the distance between Shanghai and Suzhou was longer.  By then it was lunch time. After we had our lunch, we excitedly went to a room to learn to make Xiao Long Bao. The chef first demonstrated it to us. He made it seem so easy and effortless, I thought “Why did my parents tell me it was difficult?” When I finally got the chance to do it, I realized why my classmates were struggling. First, it is not easy to roll the dough in a perfect circle and we probably took 5 minutes average each to do that while the chef took less than a minute! Next was the folding part…mine refuse to stick together and when I thought it finally stuck, it would open up again! The tour guide also told us a professionally made xiao long bao would have 13 folds each and the weight of each xiao long bao is around the same. So much consideration and effort put into making a tiny xiao long bao that would be gone in a matter of seconds, I really respect dim sum chefs now. Next we went to the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum. We had a lot of fun there, having our minds blown at illusions. There was one room in particular that caused my group to be so confused yet could not stop laughing. That room was slightly slanted, similar to a sinking ship. Even though we know we aren’t falling, our minds told us exactly that and we soon lost our central of gravity and keep falling. Its so interesting how our minds work like that. We went to many other galleries as well and had a fun time. This museum is definitely more fun and exciting than Singapore Science Center mainly because it has more galleries and more variety of things at one gallery. It is also more nicely decorated and each gallery has its own lighting and vibe. Finally, we went to the famous Oriental Pearl TV Tower. The most memorable part was definitely the transparent floors because some of our classmates were scared of heights while some were very thrilled and excited to step on it, me being the latter one. It was a new experience for me because I thought I would be afraid but turns out it was less scary than I thought, in fact it felt so safe, I didn’t eve thought I would fall. As night fell, we head down to the first floor and entered a museum. That museum was huge! We learned mainly about how the Chinese lived in the past. This museum uses wax figures which made it seem more realistic and memorable which allows me to remember it more clearly and for a longer period of time. It was also dimly lighted which also gave off the “chinese-had-a-hard-life” feel. I feel that dimly lighted museums also allow me to concentrate more on the artifact. Day 7: It’s the last day in China and I’m already experiencing post OELP syndrome even before I leave China. We went to visit Shanghai Volkswagen and even got a tour around the factory in a tramp. It was so fascinating seeing them at work, assembling the cars together. I also never realized how popular Volkswagen was in China, with a total sale of more than 1,400,000 (as of 2015).  I’m curious as to why consumers in China choose Volkswagen over other brands. What does Volkswagen have that attracts customers? Even though I do not have the answer, I feel that it is probably because of the brand’s position in the market. I mean, if the brand is so well-known, doesn’t it feel good to have an item from that brand too? Then we went to Haidilao for lunch to experience their wonderful service. And I must say, they have a pretty good service. The waitress there gave us straws to drink from the cup and she was also very polite and helpful, giving us tips on how to eat steamboat. At the end of the meal, she also came and handed us two bowls of snacks and one bowl of candy. I have not experience this kind of service before in any other restaurants. However, I don’t understand why Haidilao is able to sustain for so long. I don’t think service is the only factor since their food isn’t exactly the best and the purpose of a restaurant is to serve good food. If they are sustaining mainly on service, they wont last long. Hence, I wonder why do customers keep coming back? Its finally time for us to leave China. We went to the airport by Maglev. This train can go up to a speed of 400+km/hr between 9am to 10am. Although I’m pretty disappointed, I am satisfied with 301km/hr. I literally felt like I was floating. It was a once in a life time experience since Singapore does not have one and if I were on family vacation, my family would probably take a taxi to the airport instead of a train. Throughout this whole trip, I feel that my buddy’s family were able to teach me more than what could be achieved in class. Their interactions as a family was shown to be in real life and not through words and videos because those could be staged or said for the sake of being sake and family is a very important part of our life. A close knitted family is especially important to help one get through one’s tough days. This trip made me more interested and appreciate the Chinese culture because before this trip, I thought the Chinese did a lot of boring stuff in the past. I hope that we can have a better relationship with China, not just our government, but our citizens as well.

 -TRIP REFLECTION

From these 7 days in China, I hope to learn more about the education system and their standard of living in China. I could probably find out these information online but I couldn't really understand what the Internet says despite reading through a few links. I want to understand more about their standard of living because I'm will be facing a bigger world as I grow older and I want to have at least some knowledge about the outside world. 
Also, I want to gain more knowledge about the different places of interest because my ancestors are from China so I feel that I should at least know something about those places. Especially since I've never heard most of these places before. 

One thing that I really look forward to is making our own Xiao long bao because I'm a big fan of it and I've always been curious how they made the skin. Another thing that I look forward to is the Science and Technology Museum because they have a bigger variety of galleries so i would be able to see things that I cannot find in Singapore. I'm also interested in the Kun Opera Museum because my grandparents are a big fan of Operas and since they are from China, Perhaps I would be able to have more things to talk to them about when I learn such things about China and their history. 

As for what I want to achieve as a class, I want the class to become more bonded. Also, from this trip, I want to be able to improve my social and communication skills because I am really bad at starting conversations with new people (aka my buddy) that I meet and I always end up making the conversation awkward.





3-2-1

3 things I found out:

1. Singapore's fertility rate has dropped drastically over the years to 1.2 children per family.

2. China's changed its one child policy to reduce the Little Emperor Syndrome

3. Children born during the one child policy period, which lasted for 35 years, had to work extra hard to feed his family as they had no one to spilt that burden with.

2 perceptions I have gained:

1. The one-child policy was indeed useful to control the rapid growth of population of China, however, the abortions of young women if they exceeded the plan of one childbirth is extremely harmful for their health.

2. Yes, the lesser children you have, the more attention and love each one receives. However, parents can't give them your fullest attention 24/7 as they also have your work to worry and stress about. Hence, siblings are important in this case because one would have someone to rely on throughout the entire life.

1 Question that I have:

Was the one child policy the only way to control over population?

Wealth = Happiness?

Does having more money necessarily means you're happier? In my opinion, the answer is "NO".  Most of those with higher income would spend their riches on a higher grade of the same stuff they already have. For example, a better car, a better television and a better house. If you're unhappy with what you have in life, simply doing more of the same thing would not help (such as buying a better quality of what you already have).  You've got to do something different. If you're happy with what you have in life, money is just an icing on the cake, a means to secure what you have. Take China as an example:

   
The Chinese, although has a lower percentage experiencing well-being than Singaporeans, is much happier. In the end, being rich has nothing to do with money. It has to do with being happy with what you have and not desiring more. Hence, wealth does not always mean happiness.

Chingay Reflection

we went to the F1 Pit Building for the 2016 Chingay Parade rehearsal. There were vibrant floats, performers of different races in their traditional costumes and many more which left a deep impression on me as I initially thought Chingay was a very traditional parade and was meant for the Pioneer generations.  I later on found out that Chingay was actually first mooted by the then-Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew to compensate for the ban on firecrackers, a customary New Year practice to drive away evil spirits with its noise.

The purpose of this year's Chingay is to mark the beginning of a new chapter towards SG100 and is themed "Lights of Legacy, Brighter Singapore, celebrating the legacy and the wisdom of our founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and other founding fathers based on the core values advocated by them and pledging our support to live by it and move forward together towards a brighter Singapore. 

During the segment called “Because We Are Different, We Are One”, we got to see an item presented by the lnter-Religious Organisation and their collaboration with 30 religious groups. We will also saw various Special Effects Dragons including the “Lighted LED Flying Dragon” and the Chinese, Malay and Indian Cultural performances. Also, through the segment “United and Vibrant Community”, we are able to see performances put up by communities from diverse background, showcasing the multicultural society Singapore is and made me appreciate the many different cultures we have in Singapore.

What left the deepest impression on me was the two drummers on each side of the suspended platform. They were sitting on a saddle throughout the entire Chingay performance which must have been pretty uncomfortable. This was shown as the two drummers kept fidgeting as the parade went on. I really admire them because I would have be really scared to even move on the platform yet they were able to move to the beat of the drum and stayed up there the entire time.

Overall, I'm Glad we were given the opportunity to watch the Chingay rehearsals this year as I would not have truly found out the meaning of Chingay if not for this chance. I thoroughly enjoyed the parade that night and if given the opportunity to, I would like to be a fellow performer in Chingay at least once in the years to come. 

✏️✏️✏️
Extraordinary In The Ordinary

This is the school's basketball court. These courts have the sweat of the basketballers from our effort (and the sun), tears of frustration of teammates not being on the same page as us during matches and of course, the joy of having improved skills after so many trainings and so many scoldings from the coach. Although most schools now have indoors basketball courts, RV still has them outside and i think this is what makes us easy to differentiate from other schools' basketball teams : OUR TANLINES

What's extraordinary about these courts is that it is not only a place for RV basketballers to train, it also serves as a carpark. Take last year as example: we were only informed that the Y1s were reporting to school for admin stuff on that day. Soon after, cars after cars started turning into the court to park their cars. As the cars of the students' parents' were usually parked at the school's parking lots or the HDBs nearby, RV actually turned these courts into a carpark and I think this is something special about our basketball courts.

✏️✏️✏️

Self Introduction

hello! I'm chlovia

To begin, I'm not good at socialising and tend to stay with my group of friends. If I were to begin the conversation with a total stranger, just know there's something about you that makes me want to know you.

Secondly, I love most sports with the exception of running and soccer. I really like the feeling of sweat rolling down my back I don't know why. Knowing that I'm exercising and staying healthy makes me happy. One of my life goals is to climb a mountain, whether or not I make it to the top is a separate issue.

I'm very optimistic and energetic. Why look on the dark side and be sad about something when you can think from a more positive point of view, feel happier and produce better results? I also like to laugh a lot because laughing decreases stress and improves my immune system. I just like feeling happy in general!