Reflections for OELP trip

Initially, I chose to go to the trip because I thought it would be fun to be able to go overseas with my classmates and be able to bond with them better. However, through the CID2 lessons before the trip, I began to have the desire to learn more about China as I have never been there before. I thought it would be an eye-opening experience to be able to observe and learn more about China personally and I decided to step out of my comfort zone and take every opportunity in China to learn more about their culture and their lifestyle. Also, China is economically successful and hence is a large influence to the global market. With deeper knowledge of China, Singapore can work with China to achieve a common goal through communications such as our interaction with Nanjing Bo Le School. Having classmates who are from China themselves, I was even more curious and eager to know more about China’s education system and to be able to make new friends with the students there. A stereotyped student from China, as what I have heard, is someone who participates actively in class and never fails to raise their hand to ask questions in class. I wanted to see for myself if the stereotype was true and wanted to have the chance to ask the students there about their usual lifestyle so I could compare their lifestyle with a typical Singaporean’s.

One situation that had a large impact on me was how willing the students were to interact with all of us. As we were introduced to our buddy, my buddy warmly welcomed me and was very patient in explaining what was happening in a video we were shown. Then when we had to split up to go to the different classrooms to have some bonding time, the students in my buddy’s class were very eager to talk to us and know more about us, and the teachers personally went to each of us to say hello. What impressed me was that they had prepared performances for us even without the prompt of the teachers. They were very eager and took the initiative to participate with us in the game they had planned too. If it was our class, we would probably be very awkward with the foreign students visiting us. One other thing I noticed was that they did not have cliques and the teachers made sure that they include everybody in their lessons so that everybody has a chance to learn. I have learnt more about taking initiative from them and I found much to learn from them, such as acceptance and humility. 

Three people that had taught me more than what could be achieved in class was Isabelle, Gee Kwok and Zi Qian. On Day 3, when Gee Kwok and Zi Qian was late and did not arrive at the assigned area on time, she assured Mr Chua that she would bear full responsibility as the IC of the day by doing 400 push ups by herself. This was the other situation that was memorable. In class, we are unable to show much of our leadership skills but through this learning journey, Isabelle was able to show that she had good leadership qualities. She was responsible and did not blame the two even though they were the one who were late. However, after I heard from Gee Kwok that he and Zi Qian were not feeling well, I felt that they could not be blamed entirely as well, as no one would expect that they would be unwell. Also, I felt that they were sincerely guilty as they had volunteered to do the 400 push ups in place of Isabelle. This initiative to take her place requires courage and I thought that this would be something that we won’t be able to experience in the classroom. In the end, the class decided to do the 400 push ups together and we were able to complete the push ups together easily when we split the number of push ups between the 31 classmates. This was a good way to showcase our teamwork as a class and class responsibility.  I felt that our class was still bonded as one despite all the hardship and arguments among each other. 

When we visited the Nanjing Massacre Memorial Hall on Day 4, one fact that impacted me the most was that the Japanese government still did not to admit to the crime of the massacre, as heard from Mr Chua. This led me to think about many questions. One question I thought of was if the Japanese were still guilty of the crime. In the museum, we saw the testimonies of the Japanese soldiers that they felt very sorry for their actions and hoped that the future generations would not repeat such a crime, so was the government at fault or the Japanese soldiers for committing the crime? One other question that was discussed during our debrief about the museum was if the perspectives of the museum were fair. We thought that the Chinese might feel hate towards the Japanese, but the people who started the museum were Chinese themselves and could have edited some facts and bribe to gain testimonies that can prove that the Japanese were wrong. The Japanese could find it unfair as their side of the story was not heard and tourists might use this museum’s facts against them without a neutral story. The Japanese might feel guilty for their past actions and would make sure such a thing would not happen again, but some might feel proud of how they could dominate over the Chinese would not admit to the crime. Tourists who do not have thorough knowledge would obviously pity the Chinese. With so many questions in mind, this museum still leaves me pondering about the actions of the Japanese government and a reminder to keep a neutral state of thought when visiting such places and in such situations. 

This trip has truly been memorable for me and I have learnt much from it and it has changed me slightly. I have learnt to be more appreciative of whatever I have, and to take more initiative in anything I have done. Through this journey, I have learnt to be more attentive and aware of my surroundings and the needs of my peers, and to be able to understand more about the culture of the Chinese in China. I have learnt to appreciate the cultures, lifestyles and the differences between Singapore and China. After comparing China and Singapore, I finally understand why foreigners that I have talked to speak highly of this little red dot and I think that my pride to be a Singaporean is growing more and more. I have also learnt to be more careful before jumping into conclusions and to be more responsible. This trip, lastly, has allowed me to see another side of the teachers I rarely interact with and had aided me to be able to interact with my class better. I believe that after the next 6 months of lessons together, I would miss this class and the memories we have shared together dearly, and I think my classmates would say the same as we promote to Year 3 next year. 

Reflections on OELP- Day 5&6

For the fifth day of the trip, we went to Suzhou to visit the silk factory there. I felt that it was very interesting to see how silk was made such as the life cycle of the silkworm and the curing process of silk till the production of it. It was fun to see and touch the silkworm to feel that they are soft and squishy, which was totally not what I expected it to be, like tough and rigid. The tour guide also shared that it is very important to be careful not to touch the tip of its tail, as it is very dangerous for the silkworm and can even cause death. I feel that it was significant for us to visit the silk factory as Suzhou is the silk capital of China, thus with the silk factory, it can be preserved.

Next , we proceeded to Shanghai for some free time at a shopping mall which sells fake goods. I did not buy anything as I felt that it was not worth the money for goods that may have defects, or spoil within a few days. Later in the evening, we went to the oriental pearl TV tower where I am very excited about. It was a great place for sightseeing and there was a tallest level of 351m, however it was not the tallest tower in Shanghai. The weather was rainy when we went so there was mist and fog surrounding buildings, so we could not see the buildings very well. Nonetheless, the view was still spectacular from such a great height even with the fog.

On the sixth day, we went to Gongyi Xintiandi for a workshop to paint a face/mask. I learnt that we could not just use any colour to paint the mask. Colours to be avoided are blue and yellow, and the best colour to use is red, and the beard should be painted black in colour. Next, we visited the French concession to observe the design of the building, and it was all very English, unlike other buildings in China. The reason why is that the French had rented a patch of land from China, and it happens to be in Shanghai. Then we went to the book store and Nanjing road for some free time, and I must say I really enjoyed myself during this trip for the things I have learnt, and cleared any misconceptions I had about China before the trip.

Heritage preservation: to keep or not to keep

I feel that the monument that I choose to preserve is the statue of Stanford raffles. I strongly believe that it represents the history of Singapore and how Singapore was chosen as a British port and was colonized by the British which was a major part of Singapores history and without Stanford raffles, singapore probably would not have been where it is today. Thus I feel that's the future generation should learn about this man who changed Singapores future to become a better one and helped Singapore to get to how it is today. Learning about this events of history better allow the future Singaporeans to know their country better and understand it.

Reflections on OELP- Day 3&4

On the third day of the trip, we went to Nanjing Bo Le School for the second day of the school immersion programme. We had the chance to sit through a lesson in class with our buddies. The lesson I sat through was Geography, and the teacher got students to introduce their own countries briefly, such as travel attractions, food, geography on the word map etc. There are many observations I made:

-Students are able to voice out answers, or their own opinion

-Both students and teachers are very encouraging 

-Able to see that no students are distracted 

-Teacher very spontaneous, he rarely stops 

So how are they different from us?

There was not once that the students did not volunteer, apart from being called on by the teacher. This shows that they have great passion for learning. Sometimes, when a student gets a question wrong, I observed that the teacher will not frown or directly tell the students that he/she is wrong, but instead let the student try again, and then explain the answer. Thus, I found that it was very encouraging for students. 

However in RV, there are many times that the teacher have to wait for a few moments before someone eventually volunteers. I would actually prefer to study in Nanjing Bo Le School as of it's learning environment and the attitude of the teachers and students.

Next, we went to Nanjing museum and I felt that it was very interesting to see the artifacts of China, especially the ones during the Qing dynasty, as we studied the history of it during history classes. Another exciting point is that we got to see real dinosaur bones too!

On day 4, we went to the Nanjing massacre memorial hall. There was dim lighting in the museum for the atmosphere is solemn and respectful. Before the trip, my seniors who went before kept telling me how scary it was, and that people were crying after the visit so I thought that it was going to be very gory, but it was not as bad as I expected it to be as pictures were in black and white. To me, it was not that scary or too extreme but it was definitely very sad. I felt that the museum is more biased towards the Chinese people, who were the victims, so I felt that the museum would not be the same if it was to be built in Japan. When it is built in Japan, it would affect people's attitude towards the Japanese, and make them seem less cruel.

Reflections on OELP- Day 1&2

Before the trip, I was expecting it to be a fun and enriching one as we could travel to China physically to learn about their culture, heritage, cost of living, and their way of life. We boarded the plane SQ830 and departed for Shanghai. On the plane, the service provided was commendable as the air stewardess provided warm face towels for passengers to freshen up for the flight. In comparison to other budget airlines, they do not provide such services. Next, it was coincidentally my classmates birthday so the crew members prepared a whole birthday cake for him, sang him a birthday song, and even gave him gifts. It sure was unexpected to me, and I thought that it was very thoughtful of them to prepare a cake specially for him. This shows that they had checked each and every passenger's birthday, or maybe if the information is correct, and thus, I feel that they do take a lot of pride and effort in their work. Therefore, it is because of all these that have contributed to Singapore airlines to be one of the world's best airline.

After landing in Shanghai, we had to take a train to Nanjing. Being on a bullet train for the first time, I was feeling pretty excited, but quite nervous at the same time. Turns out, it wasn't as scary as I expected it to be, it was like riding on a MRT train. However, there was something that affected my impression of the train service. We were too slow to get on so the staff rushed us to board the train. It was understandable as they wanted to be on time and there were others waiting for us too, but we were being shouted at, so I felt that it wasn't very pleasant.

The next morning, we went off to Nanjing BoLe School for the school immersion programme. As expected, both staff and students alike were very friendly and all smiles. While interacting with our buddies, it is awkward at times as sometimes we could not understand each other, so we just laugh it off. 

A few observations I made:

-Their desks are a lot smaller than ours

-Good use of technology (Touch screen projector), convenient for teacher and students to scroll through presentation etc.

-Toilets were very different, there were 2 platforms that we had to stand on, there was a pipe for flushing as well (Group flushing system), instead of individual flushing system