Look!

Yingwen and me :))

Me with guns, roll of em..hahas

yw touch leg i touch clothes

we three!

an action glads told me to do. :)

smth that students at the sch did to welcome us :))

hw nice!

great wall...look at hw high we were!
2nd

beijing police car

lunch; steamboat that our buddys treated us!

last day at the sch



our beijing packing duck dinner ...hmmmm... :)

Our dinner at restaurant
us and the two tour guides; dan dan and apple

their pool table

kumming lake?


us and kaiting + jeslina :)

the whole grp

beijing friends; alice and carol

beijing subway

tsing hua uni

wen, me n glads

dinner table grp photo! try to act cute hahas

we fight with swords! hahas

second act

duck; 2

my buddy and me

friends we made in sch

we shop n eat bing tang hu lu

tteeetaaa...:))

nite..

us with the chem teacher

Labels: greats, lotes of loves

Woo! finally finished my post for this beijing trip! I will upload beijing photos soon! hahas

Day 5 - 22.nov.07
Its time to say goodbye with our fellow buddies today. I gave them the souvenirs that I bought for them in Singapore; bookmarks and key chains.Right at the start cause gladys told me that her buddy said there's no formal farewell ceremony and exchange of souvenirs as stated in the program list. So I hastily went ard the class to distribute the souvenirs and postcards with little greeting on it to friends I've made in this class :); before the teachers come...

Surprisingly, the English teachers suddenly asked us to give them a talk about school life in Singapore. It came to us so sudden and we were unprepared, so we just start blabbering about it. at least i was :P hahas..

We had quite a rush schedule in school today too! So, we had to hurry and went on to attend paper cutting lesson.Actually, before that, me and gladys silly-ly followed our buddies to their class as we thought we still have lots of time! Then the classmates were taking photos with us. We had so much fun tat we forgt abt the time and ended late for the meeting! then , when me and glads reached the meeting area, no one was ther!! we thought we were lost! and started walking ard aimlessly looking for teachers to ask for directions. All in all, we were atill late for the paper cutting lesson. But still, I learnt that paper cutting is an activity enjoyed by folks of all ages and had quite a long history. We also tried on hands-on activity by doing a paper cutting on the Olympics cartoon characters. I did one on ‘欢欢’. This is one of the activities which I enjoyed most. Perhaps the school can arrange one such program for the students. They would be having fun and would be able to learn something more about Chinese culture.

Then, we went to the front of the fountain to meet our sweet buddies for lunch :))My buddy gave me a present and another of the classmate gave me one too! it came to me quite surprised but, I was touched .AND,they even treat us lunch at a steamboat restaurant! They promised to send us e-mails and letters. I really can’t bear to leave them so fast. Even thought we only know each other for 4 days, but I can say that I had a great time there and I’m really looking forward to their arrival next year!

Oh ya! then we went dinner at a steamboat restaurant! I was so urgent that i had to rush to the toilet! Then, this thing happened which is another point that I'm gonna complain about the general Beijing people, especially the older folks. For example, I went to the public toilet today and an old lady, thought already white haired, just rudely pushed me, like bum me out of her away until I hit the door with a bang. She did not even apologise or care, just gave me a cold look and walk away, like I don’t even exist1 and Beijing people do not wash hands after going to the toilet. This is very unhygienic and I hope that they could change this bad habit for the best.And so uncivilised lah! Piang....




Day 6 - 23.nov.07


It is a cooling day today, not too windy, just right:)

Our first destination is Tsing Hua University. They have very unique architectural buildings there, i wld say. And i saw alot of 柳树 there! Very nice sceneries they have there, It is also one of the best universities in the whole world too!. And, from wat i learnt from the guide, the students there studies very hard sleeps almost at 3m everyday and can hardly get enough sleep. But, they have very nice and cheap cafeteria food. Their food is so much more delicious that PJC’s canteen and café food!Its so much more edible!!!!!

Next, is Summer Palace. It is a place with many crafted artifacts which is best to see it with our own eyes rather then from the internet. Behind each artifacts lies stories linked with the most greedy official in history; He Shen. Summer palace seems to be one of the tourist attractions as it is very crowded.People were squeezing me!! I get so SO pek chek! And then, Beijing people once again, cut queues and push us all away just to get free entrance if they see gaps and opportunities. U see hw they treat tourist like us?!

Dinner at the steamboat restaurant wasn’t very enjoyable as it is very plain, with vegetables, couple of plate of fish and many plates of mutton which I don’t eat.
And I just learnt something today. That is that the reason why Beijing old folks spit is because they regard spitting as cool in the past and it has ever since been their bad habit. In their lingo, it means 拉风. This is also one of the embarrassments of Beijing citizens today from wat the teacher of the school said be4. =S



Day 7 - 24.nov.07


Today was sunny but temperature was lower. Our first stop is the Great Wall of China. I had a tough time climbing it as it was energy consuming and tiring to be going against uneven steps which have different heights; some high, some low and some parts of the path with very steep slopes. we were lucky! cause its not very misty or snowing today. so we can see the surrounding quite clearly!

Along the way, I saw tourists with different features and colours. Perhaps, the Great Wall had such strong mystery that can attract tourists from all around the world. hahas... Since this is so, our coach cannot park there for more than 2 hours, thus we have to hurry and rush.And I noticed that there are a lot of roadside stores selling certificates and some souvenirs and postcards. The sellers seem so desperate to get rid of their goods that they are even willing to cut down the price by half! I wonder why they are behaving that way…

Upon approaching one of the peaks, I looked back and saw very beautiful scenery filled with mountains that make you go ‘WOW!’

Our next destination is the Ming Tombs. It is quite a spacious area for a person’s tomb. I learnt more about the past china’s history, like the place have only 11 emperor’s bodies rather than the full 13. Ad I also got to see many other exquisite gold and bronze artifacts that were used to be buried along with the emperor.

Then we went on to Wang Fu Street. Mostly youngsters and tourists were there. My only interest; the wang fu jing bookstore!! a place where i can shop for my long-waiting chinese story books!!! The bookstore was quite far from our meeting area,its all the way til the end of the street! we hurried there and saw this big tall building! and oh! thats the bookstore! hahas... I bought 5 Chinese storybooks in total! then, At around 9am, the shopkeepers chased us out by shouting in Chinese,’别看了，出去吧!’. it made me so panicked lah!! wa piang they sound so fierce! like we are taking up their precious sleeping time!~ Zz.... This is so different from Singapore where the shops do not closed at such early hours and shopkeepers usually allow people to enter the bookstore.

Beijing people have no nightlife lor. Their shops usually closed around 9-9.30 pm while Singapore have either 24 hrs shops or shops which closed at latest 10-11pm.U walk out to the street at nite , u seldom see anyone except a couple of old people taking their dogs for a walk.



Day 8 - 25.nov.07


It is rather windy today. But it was only freezing cold in the morning. We visited the Forbidden City. On the outside hangs this very big Mao’s huge painting. It was told that whatever angle you are, Mao’s eyes will be following you always looking at you. It is something similar to Mona Lisa.But i wld say that its 心理作用. Its because u think mao is looking at u, thats y u will see his eyes following u lor...

Anyway, artifacts shown on display are gold-plated on the outside but are actually made of bronze. I was told that in the past He Shen made used of the trust that the emperor has on him and fake that these artifacts are made of purely gold.


喜喜 brings good luck to the people.The tour guide told us to touch this 双喜 once. so we touched it and moved on.

The Emperor’s life at the palace seems boring. He would occasionally go out of palace to visit folks and to check on their standard of living. But at the door of the palace, there is a statue of shape of lion and dog which serves to remind the emperor not to forget about the major business still awaiting him at the palace.

For lunch, we made dumplings. It is fun. We took trishaw ride there. It was rather bumpy along the way plus the strong wind that chill us down the bone. But it was this that made the whole trip something memorable. And since this is the first time I am riding on a trishaw, I find it quite pleasant and special. Plus, the driver was super nice! He introduces the place while driving us there and did not demand for tips like what other drivers did.

After lunch, we went shopping at 2 shopping malls. The shopkeepers there were only 16-17 years old. We had lots of fun bargaining for the price of the goods. We were really surprised by how the tour guides bargain for the price. They did it so well!



Day 9 - 26.nov.07


We went to the temple of heaven, which is like a park. Old people who have retired gather there for activities like calligraphy using plain water as the ink, hand made big brush ad the brush and floor as the paper, mass choir which has retirees as volunteers taking part in it and other activities. The uncle was talking to us and I learn from him that the old folks are there almost everyday except on rainy days and that as senior citizens, they get to purchase a package for their entrance into the park at very low price per year. After that, we went to climb this hill where we get to reach the peak and take a good look at the whole of the Palace. The view is really breathtaking! I guess it is also this place that glads and I took a photo wearing this 古装 costume hahas...

Afetr that, we go to the underground city. It is an underground tunnel of more than 18m in depth. Even though it does not smell that pleasant there, we are still able to breathe without difficulty. And I learnt that this tunnel was built by the folks without any mechanical aids or funds by the government. It was build solely as a safe location to protect the folks fro the destruction of war.

Next is the army museum where we get to see all kinds of weapons and machines design for war purpose. From the past where people use walking stick which also act as a gun to the current small and compact gun, old tanks to new and modern tanks.glads, yw and i had fun taking photos at the stairways and with these weapons! hahas..

We went shopping at Xidan again! ahhas the second time:) We get to bargain for price again and had big achievements!



Day 10 - 27.nov.07


It’s the last day we are going to stay at Beijing. And I still see no signs of snow!!! Sad…

After we packed all our belongings, we checked out of the Hotel. Our first stop is the planning exhibition. There, it shows Beijing’s history and system, including the hosting of coming 2008 Olympic Games and the model of the whole of Beijing. An interesting happening is that there is a lot of electricity running through the planning exhibition hall. Such that when we just touch any metallic object, we feel statics and it was so strong that the ‘sizzling’ sound is very loud! Especially yingwen, ' The Beijing 发电场 '. she tounch anything also static, then she told my left hand got the sound lor. then she play not enough toch my right hand, static again! the current so strong lah! Zzz..

Then we went on top the Silk Street for our last minute shopping. And lunch at McDonald’s. We then proceed to the airport. Our tour guides were tearing hard as they can’t bear to see us go. Even thought we were here for only short 10 days, I felt that we had already created a bond, a friendship that we would never forget and never let go. I really hope to meet all the friends that I’ve made from Beijing again. ^o^

Labels: beijing, love lots n lots

Hey guys! I'm back from Beijing trip. I shld say that it is one of the most memorable trip ever! I've been there for around 10 days and I've encountered weird stuff, met new friends as well as gain new experience that I felt would help me somewhere,someday in the future :))

Day 1 - 18.nov.07 Happy birthday GLADYS!

I was apprehensive at first as I've to sit in the plane with schoolmates who I do not really know and are grouped with. But was a tad bit relieved as they seems nice and easy to get along with later on :)

On the plane, I was captivated by the scene that I saw when I looked out of the window! Althought it is not the first time, but I feel really good when I saw clouds, tonnes of them like lumps of soft cotton below me! So, i did what i think u guys would have done which is to take out my camera and start taking photos of it!hahas...:))

I sort of start to have this good feeling about this trip as we are about to land and I saw the vast land of china from the side window of the plane. Once we stepped out of the airport, I was like,’ Woo… It’s so cold! This is Beijing air, smell it! Haha…’ Really excited.

Then, we crossed the road to get to the carpark for the bus. This is when I realized that people in Beijing do not emphasize on road safety. Cars tend to horn or drive forward when we are walking across the zebra crossing or even during green lights. They seriously need improvements!

After that we went to the hotel (Communication Hotel). The lobby smells like cigarette. They probably do not have a non-smoking area there. After unloading our luggage at the hotel room, we proceed to the World City Complex for our grocery shopping. I realized that there are a lot of staffs in green apron stationing at each section, but none of them are promoting the goods to customer. ‘X-inefficiency’like what we learn in Econs :) The cashiers check big notes like 100 yuan or 50 yuan notes by touching it, like feeling for something. I wonder how they differentiate real and fake notes…hahas



Day 2 - 19.nov.07

Today’s temperature is less than 11c

I suddenly felt very nervous when i first stepped into the school. I wondered what kind of person my buddy is and who will be in the same class as me?! Then, we hastily went to a meeting room to meet our supposed buddy. After this match and meet session, my buddy and I hurried to the assembly ground. Along the way, we chatted for a little while. Her name is 王洁玮。She’s friendly and smiles a lot. I consider myself much more fortunate than the others as my buddy seems really nice to me as compared to the other’s buddy. We communicate well and its kind of fun to be able to attend lessons with her.

• Chemistry lesson
As expected, all information given on chemistry is in Chinese. That includes their assignments and homework. The teacher was teaching the students about the effects of length of tubes on the types of reactions resulted. All was already taught in Secondary 4.rmb? :))

I read my buddy’s textbook and saw a few foreign words which I asked my buddy for its meaning, these are the words:
铵盐 ( ammonium salt)
氨气 (ammonia gas)
硝酸 ( nitric acid )

• Politics (政治)
This sounds very government rite? :) Apparently, this is also one of the subjects which the students dislike the most. Just like how we used to dislike certain subjects hahas =) My buddy was telling me that ‘this is boring’ most of the time! I asked her, what is the mark range for ‘A grade’ their ‘优’, when the teacher mentioned something about them having the need to score well. She told me that their A requires a score of (85-100), 良 (70-84), etc…. Guess we shld count ourselves fortunate since ours only need a score of 70. :S

They have a test this coming Thursday. Once they heard this from the teacher, WA! they have real big reactions; they bang tables and give out loud sounds of unhappiness… Subsequently, when the teacher is distracted by the student’s murmurings, she sort of chastises the student. But after that, it seems like nothing had happen and she smile and laugh with the students.I was quite surprised that she's able to break this stiff atmosphere just with a smile or a joke! She also tries to keep eye contact with them by making the lessons more interactive just by asking questions after she explained certain terms. She also tries to give real life examples to ensure that students understand what she taught.


• English lesson
The teacher is a Chinese-Canadian. He talks about rock and roll music. The past 50’s to 60’s oldies that used to be very popular then by the blacks. He let the students watch some videos abt rock n roll in the past. He also told the students that the blacks are still being discriminated even up til today. He further discussed about the women rights protest. Women regard bra as men. Hence, since they don’t need men for support, they burn their bras to show their unhappiness.This is rather interesting.. I felt.. hahhas.. cause i did not know that women in the past actually did such brave things!

In all, its quite a pleasant trip so far. ^o^ The students just automatically stood up when the teachers asked them questions as we what have heard from our teachers. Only that I realised that they will keep on trying till they have answered correctly; the never-give-up spirit ;) Oh, I made another friend today! She's called 陈娴晶, 洁玮’s buddy.<3



Day 3 - 20.nov.07

As usual, it was freezing cold in the morning. We departed from the Hotel at around 6plus 7 am. Then, we proceed to my buddy’s class for lessons.
We had mathematics as our first lesson of the day. Before that, they had a small test; English listening comprehension. The lesson was on the whole fine. I could comprehend it a little since I had already learnt things about trigonometry. I found out that 求= find as I was looking at their assignment.

After tat, they have a mini-English test on vocabulary. They totally freaked out and panicked a lot. But still, they complete the test quickly. I could see that doing well for English means alot to them even thought they could not understand most of the words and terms.

After English, they have this physical workout at the field where all students and teachers stop lesson to gather at the field for the workout. This is similar to the Singapore’s ester day workout.I took a few videos of it! hahas from the back of course :) Different from Singapore students, the Beijing students do really do these workouts. And from what I saw, they seem to find this normal and familiar with, not something ridiculous to do.And, out of curiosity, I tried doing the workouts too! But, different from them, i think I is 天生同手同脚 :(

Anyway, after the workouts, they have this inter-class tug-of-war competition. The students were really bonded. They showed strong team spirit as they cheered out loud for their fellow classmates. Perhaps we should also include a mini0workout during out school time where all can gather to exercise since we have long school hours. How about that? hahas.. :p

The content of Biology is somewhat similar to what we had learnt in secondary school. Except that they focus on some details which we don’t. Like the details of minerals effect on plant. Their textbook is also much thinner than ours!

As compared to Biology, I guess the students are more interested in physics. They seems to be ore awake and attentive during physics lesson and they are thinking more, As compared to them, we only take 2H2 Science and 1h2 Math. If they were in Singapore, they would be taking 4h2 subjects! can You imagine the whole school filled with 4H2 students?! They have to study real hard and do not have enough sleep during the weekdays, I asked my buddy if they have time to do some window shopping. She gave me a ‘bitter smile plus no’ She told me that during weekdays, they have too many homework to be completed and they could only wait till weekends to shop for items.

I felt so relieve that I'm a Singaporean studying in Singapore!



Day 4 - 21.nov.07

Guys here in China like to hug each other and don’t feel embarrassed touching one another’s butt! To us, this act is a gay-ish or harassment rite?! But here, it’s totally normal! Omg, I can onlt say this our cultural difference.

And today, when the mathematics teacher 'zao-xia', the students, surprisingly, did not laugh at him or make fun of it unlike us. They would have long make a laugh out of it, resulting in the teacher feeling embarrassed. This kind of shows the great amount of respect that the students there gave their teachers. I'm impressed :) hahas..

English lesson was conducted by a Chinese China teacher. To differentiate the choice B and D in the MCQ, she used ‘Bob for choice B and ‘David’ for choice D. At first i was so lost! I was asking around which choice is that since I could not find it on the assignment papaer that the teacher gave us. -_-!!!... ya, I know...Zzz..
But, they spoke English with a slang different from us, they sound more like Americans. And they tend to skip linking words.So, u can't blame me for that... hahas..:))

During PE, we played Taiji Ball game, we learnt Taiji and Taiji with Taiji sword. Even thought I couldn’t coordinate my hands ad legs that well, but I had fun trying to do them and its something enriching and new that I have not tried before in Singapore.I was abit retarded at first hahas!

After that, we went to the pottery factory where we saw how vases are made and the collections of beautiful vases, pottery made. I took some photos there too! hahas.

We then proceed on to dinner at a restaurant that specializes in Beijing packing duck. At first, I thought that the course would include duck skin wrap with cucumber with sauce in circular flour-made pasta like what we had in Singapore. But this Packing duck comes with the meat as well! Still, it’s very delicious.hmmm...yummy!:p

On the way back, during the bus ride back to the Hotel, I saw a few buses passing by. I took a glance at them. cause the journey was real long and slow.. I realised that they have a structure similar to that in Singapore. For example, they have an electronic board on the ceiling that shows the address of the next stop as well as some greetings, of course, all are in Chinese. The passenger seats have mostly one seat. And so far, I have not seen as double-deck bus or long buses there in Beijing! =S

That's all for the first 4 dyas in Beijing :) I'll continue to post more for the rest of the 6 days perhaps a few days later? hahas.. tata :)))

Labels: beijing, lots, love