Friday, October 22, 2010 '
Day 34- goodbye my love WUHAN, going back to normal
Time ups. Home sweet home. After 34 days in a foreign country, is time for us to go back to our homeland. Got up early today and do my last minute packing and checking of things. As I am packing, I really feel sad as I am leaving the room that I have slept for 33 days and also Wuhan. After packing, jia li call us to eat our breakfast because they bought food back from the street behind our hostel. That’s so thoughtful of them because they know most of us are busy packing. Eating the street food for the last time, and I will definitely miss the street food when I am back in Singapore. It was around 7.30am when most of us were done with the breakfast and everyone, with their luggage gather at the entrance of our hostel.
heavy luggage of everyone
leaving to take the bus
look at all our big fat luggage
The local students accompany us to the airport and we all appreciate it a lot a lot. They prepare small souvenirs for each of us and gave them personally to us before we leave. When we reach the airport, and after unloading the entire luggage, we really can’t bear to leave and so are they. But, still we have to leave and we bid them goodbye and we promise each other that we will still contact each other through the internet. This is part and parcel of our life that we will go through, we must really learn to handle this and not to be too emotional at times though is really sad.
When we were over at the airport, we had around an hour or so to have a light meal before we board the plane, and so most of us decided to go to KFC at the airport to eat. Even when we are eating our lunch, we sit together and chat together because we want to treasure every moment now. Moreover, we went through thick and thin in these 34 days, this help us to become stronger and a more bonded friendship. However due to time limit, we have to take away because we have got a plane to catch and we went back to our meeting area while we wait for the boarding of the plane. The flight took off at 1.30pm from Wuhan to GuangZhou, during the flight, most of us fell asleep as we are all tired.
we had our lunch together before the flight
Reach guang zhou airport and while waiting for our plane back to Singapore, we shop around the duty free shop to kill time. Some of us are still shopping and buy stuff back for their families and friends. However, some of them take this opportunity to have a short nap. Finally time for us to board the plane back to our homeland, Singapore.
Finally after 4 hours of flight, we reach SINGAPORE. Took some last photos together when we reach the airport and we really will miss each other.
just touch down from the plane
mass photo of us MDE~
my lovely group c that is with me for 5 weeks
On the way back, still thinking of the things that we do and go through in Wuhan. This trip is really a fruitful trip for me and the new friends that I have made, I am really very happy. As for now, everything is back to my normal life, back to leading my life in Singapore and not Wuhan any more.
My reflection
This OIP trip has really helped me a lot. To be honest, I seldom wash clothes myself when I am at home, because most of the washing is done by my mother. However at Wuhan, I have learned to wash my clothes and also learn to take care of myself. The 5 weeks stay in Wuhan has definitely helped me a lot and also allows me to be more independent. The new friends that I have made, we know that we will still meet up despite different course. They have help me and also taken care of me when I am sick.
Of course, not forgetting the place that we visit in wuhan, the attractions of wuhan like the 3 Gorges Dam, the hu bei museum, the east lake, the yellow crane tower and wudang Shan. These places are the place that we visit during weekend and we really enjoy everyone of them. Thank you so much to the tour guide that brings us around to these attractions. In wuhan, I am able to learn and understand their culture and now, I am understand the history of china more. The food that we ate in wuhan, I will always remember the taste deep in my heart.
By staying and living at a foreign country made me realize how fortunate I am to be living in Singapore. I really do know this time that how bless am I as compare to some of the locals in china. i was too pamper in Singapore and I do not realize what is the living condition of many other people. From today onwards, I will have my eyes big to see how beautiful the world is and cherish everything I have now.
Last but not least, the friends from other MDE courses and the locals are all the new friends that I have made during this trip. The laughter and joy that we share is truly in my mind and my heart. I love every single one of them. All that we go through this 5 weeks will be bury deep in my heart and I have never ever regret my decision to sign up to go to Wuhan initially. I really hope that, in the future we will have the chance to go to Wuhan again together. 5th OIP batch ROCKS~. i am also thankful to mr chia and miss Alicia hock for the guidance during this 5 weeks and taking care of us.
In conclusion, wuhan is truly a wonderful place and I love it so much! We remember all the times we get together. Me Nicholas tong bing rui here, sincerely thank everyone that is in this wuhan trip, if is not for all of your, the air will not be fill with so much joy and laughter.
'
Day 33- final shopping, final day
Today is really the final day that we will be staying in Wuhan. Tomorrow we will set off at 8am in the morning. Meaning tonight will be our last night staying in the hostel too! Alright, today wake up early because I still have lots of things to buy for both my family and friends. Decided not to waste any more time and proceed to shopping as soon as possible. I have to help hong sheng group to do filming and after everything, it is almost noon time and I decided to eat lunch before going shopping. Eat lunch with wei ling, agnes, Eudora, michelle and mr chia at lemon restaurant for one last time. =x we may not have the chance to come again.
We went straight to guang gu again with agnes, Edward, michelle. Not to waste any more time, we decided to cab there and once we reach there, went straight to the shopping mall and we buy all the stuff that we need. I bought a full bag of tibits to bring home for friends and family. Went back to bu xing jie because both me and michelle wanted to buy shoes. After reaching the shopping mall, we went to buy shoes and I bought a red vans shoes.
some of us waiting for everyone to come back
Dinner time! Was quite hungry but I still have things to buy. After everyone have come back, we decided to go to ajisen restaurant to have our dinner. However, when we are on the way to the restaurant, we saw wal-mart and everybody decided to buy things from wal-mart to bring home.
The amount of food and tibits we buy, makes people think that we have bought 1 year supply of food back to Singapore. The fact that we buy so much is also because that the food here to cheap as compare to Singapore. Of course how can we let go of this chance. Buy!!!!!!!!!
big bag and small bag
Headed to have our dinner after our shopping spree. The time was late and we have to be back before 1030 because of our curfew, hence I decided to skip dinner because I still have many things to buy. We split up and me, hao teng, zhen zhao and Sheila went to the meterbowe to buy shirts. Finally, with the help of Sheila, I manage to buy 4 shirts, 2 for myself and 2 for my father. Finally after everything, we met up with the rest and went back together.
Disaster strikes. When we are trying to get cab, we split into 2 groups and take because we have a big group, is hard for us to get cab. After waiting cab for so long, finally there is one, however me, hong sheng and yu haw we let zhen zhao and the others to take the cab first because zhen na have to reach hostel as soon as possible. After which, we could not get any cab and 4 public bus of 588 have drive pass us. We decided to take public bus and we waited for so long, we did not see any and we went to check on the information board at the bustop, guess what? We miss the last bus of 588 and meaning we have no bus. We hurry to get a cab, but lady luck is just not on our side. Finally we call yu chuan and ask him to come and pick us up. We went to MacDonald to buy drinks and we went up and luckily we manage to see yu chuan and we board the cab. However, this is not the end, when we board the cab, yu chuan told us the uncle will alight us soon because his car is out of petrol. Nevertheless, he drop us somewhere there are a lot of cab and we manage to get back hostel, finally. What a experience we had on our last night.
My reflection
Coming to the end of our trip, I just can’t bear to leave this place. This place has brought me a lot of fun and joy which is priceless. I am glad that I have come to Wuhan because this place have allow me to learn many new things which even attending lectures or reading from textbook will be able o learn. Getting firsthand experience is always the best and I did that. Today when we are shopping around, some of the local students accompany us no matter where we go. They have always helped us since the day we step into Wuhan and this time during our last day, they accompany us, show us the way and introducing new stuff to us. We sincerely thank the local students for spending so much time with us and bringing us everywhere even if they are busy. I really really appreciate the help of the local students. What they done for us are all in our heart and I believe the fun that we share will forever stay in their heart too! Being able to meet each other is not easy, we must really cherish our friendship together and I also wants to thank the other MDE friends that I known in this trip. This maybe our end of the Wuhan trip, but to me, this marks the start of our everlasting friendships. Once again, thank you so much for the local students that took care of us. Wuhan, is truly a NICE PLACE TO BE.
'
Day 32- the farewell dinner =/
Today is the day that we will have our farewell dinner in the night. In the morning, all of us wake up early because there is a friendly basketball match between us and the local students. Team Singapore: consists of Edward, yu chuan, hong sheng, liang xun, zhen zhao and hao teng. They represent ngee ann poly and also Singapore.=] I was not there because I do not know how to play basketball and I chose not to play also because I do not want to implicate them as I have never really play basketball before. I be the supporter to support them!our team
during the match
discussing team strategy
both our team and the local team
I know is tired even though I did not play because for the local team, they have a lot of substitute’s player and we have only one. Edward and the team were all very tired and I could hear them panting quite obviously when they are resting. In the end, we manage to draw with them and is really a good result when playing basketball match away from home. Well done guys!
Right after the match, all of us headed back to the hostel to have a rest and get ourselves prepared for the farewell dinner in the night. Everyone is tired especially the guys who play basketball. In the noon, most of us are resting and some of them are packing their stuff. We have to be ready by 430pm because we have to be at the restaurant at 530pm. At about 4, everyone started to prepare for the farewell dinner. Everyone is well dress, all the guys wear long sleeves shirt and jeans and most of the girls wear dress. Every knows this is our last mass meeting and everyone wants to look good to leave a good impression for the local students. After everyone is ready, we went to take the bus to the wal-mart shopping centre there as the restaurant is near to wal-mart and we meet everyone at wal-mart and go together as a group.
We reach the buffet restaurant at around 630pm. It’s a very nice decorate restaurant with a nice ambience and it is very huge. There’s a lot of space between tables. After settling the bill, we start to take our food and walk around. The coolest thing that I have never see before is that they have people to go around serving barbeque food their carts and serve to our table, which in Singapore I have never see this kind of service before.
the international buffet restaurant
all the hunks!
me and zhen na
group c family portrait =]
our group photo
all the babes
prize presentation for the lovely students that help us
all of us!
this picture says it all 'GOOD'
Yeap people, today’s farewell dinner is a success and everybody was present. I have a really mix feeling as I am very happy because today we really enjoy the dinner a lot as we have fun chatting together with the local students. During the prize presentation, I was a bit emotional because the local students really help us a lot this time and they are all very friendly and kind. We have to face the truth, we are going back Singapore. Soon, very soon.
My reflection
The basketball match today was a great match play between us and the locals. Both team show great sportsmanship and they respect each other. Though In some parts of the match, they look rather aggressive against each other, but this shows that both sides wants to win the match and they treat this match very importantly which is I feel is a good thing. They play very well and of course we did our very best too!
The second thing is today farewell dinner is a success. 32 days in Wuhan already, beginning to feel this place as my second home. Being able to live with a group of wonderful friends for 34 days is really meaningful. This is something that we cannot be able to feel when we are in Singapore. I seriously hope that I will be able to come back to Wuhan, to visit the places again and also able to see the local students again. Wuhan, I am loving it!
'
Day 31- a day for me to spend my money
Makeover time for me and the rest of them! Yesterday me and yi xian have promise each other to wake up early so that we are able to reach the salon as soon as it opens. However, we delay till 1030am and leave. Our plan is to reach the salon by 930am because today is our free and easy day for us to shop and buy souvenirs back to Singapore. Due to our delay, we could not do our hair early and went to shopping mall to shop before noon. Reach the salon with han hui, yi xian, zhen zhao, hao teng and Joanna. I decided to dye and cut my hair and so we proceed to dye and cut my hair. I like the stylist who make my hair because he gave me a lot of advice and I just find him good.
all of us with our new hair
tada! my new hair
the above two shopping mall are the one that we went
I like my new hair, because simplicity is the best. Though the hair colour I not really what I want, but I am still satisfied with my new hair. After everyone is done with their new hair, its already noon time and we proceed to have our lunch first before going shopping. After we had our lunch, we decide to try out new place and we went to guang gu instead of the usual bu xing jie that we go.
Me, together with Joanna, zhen zhao and hao teng took bus 702 to guang gu. On our way, me and zhen zhao fell asleep and luckily, hao teng and Joanna did not fell asleep but they were busy talking to each other, okay enough of this. By the time we arrive at guang gu, it is already late evening because after we had our lunch today we went to draw money and went back hostel to change and plus the bus ride, that is why we arrive late. Went around and shop and we decided to go to shopping mall of guang gu.
one of the beautiful shopping mall in guang gu
I bought quite a number of stuff at guang gu, for myself, family and friends. Well, we have to rush back to the shopping mall at the wal-mart because zhen zhao has to make reservation for our farewell dinner tomorrow. We cab down to the shopping mall and went to the international buffet restaurant. Luckily the restaurant did not close yet and we found the manager and we told him about it and we made the reservation for tomorrow. I really look forward to tomorrow’s farewell dinner because it would be our last mass gathering with the LSCT students and the local students. After settling everything, it’s already 930. Most of the shop have close and we went around to find places to eat. Finally, we found a restaurant that do not close that early.
After our sumptuous dinner, was rather late and we have to go back before 10 as the curfew for us is set at 10. We cab back to hostel. Nevertheless, we enjoy a lot today and our next shopping day will be this Saturday and it will be our last day in Wuhan.
My reflection
Today while we are on the bus on our way to guang gu, I took a picture of a piece of empty land. Why I took that picture? The reason is simple; in Singapore you will not be able to find such a big empty land. Singapore is a small country, we have limited land and most of our land are use to build buildings and even if we have empty land, the empty land will also not be as big as the empty land as compare to china. It is the fact that Singapore is a small country, but a small country has its advantage as well. When going to place to place, we could get there in a shorter time. Whereas in china, we will have to take a longer time. Time is precious and to some people, time means money. It’s important to save time because wherever you are, everyday is still 24 hours. With a smaller population, it is also safer for the country and Singapore proved that. I am not saying china is a unsafe country, is just that our government will be more easier to control the country because there is lesser people to control. Yes sometimes I do grumble that Singapore is really a very humid country, but I learn to see things in general and Singapore is one of the very few country that do not have natural disaster. No matter how big your country is, if your country is unsafe, no one will feel safe. I am very glad that I am born in such a safe country and able to lead live safely without the need to worry about earthquake or flood. I will learn to cherish what I have in Singapore and I hope everyone in Singapore does.
Thursday, October 21, 2010 '
Day 30- busy doing hair
Day 30, soon we are all going to go back to Singapore. I really miss this place because I do not know whether in the future I will be able to come back again. Well, today we had our last lesson for project management. I guess everyone will miss this classroom that we study for 30 days. We left the class at around 12 and some of us decided to try out new restaurant since we are leaving Wuhan. We went to this restaurant call good friends. This restaurant that we went to was rather small and the food which they serve was almost the same as the ones we had at happy restaurant and lemon restaurant. All of us who try out the new restaurant still feel that both lemon restaurant and happy restaurant were better.
we went to try some of the street food after our lunch, we bought fried pancake with some sweet sauce on it, the sweet sauce with the crunchy taste match very well and it was delicious. Next, we bought fried dumplings and I bought 10 which is only 2RMB which is 40 cents sing dollar for 10. All the streets food are cheap but yet delicious. Went back to the hostel after buying all the street food and when we are back to our room, most of us wanted to go to the hair salon to do our hair.
we decided to have a rest first and head to the salon later. I do not want to rest much, so me, yu haw, Joanna, hong sheng and zhen zhao went to the salon first. We went to the salon that the local students introduce us and it is near the super market at 建设二路. The salon we are going is call source me and previously yu haw and hong sheng went to cut their hair at the salon before and their feedback was good. So we decided to head to the salon.
we got there and Joanna went to do her hair as she wants to perm, dye and cut. She bought a package and there is some rebate inside and she wanted me to use it as she do not want to waste her money. I decided to use it and this means that I have to come back tomorrow. However, zhen zhao, hao teng and Joanna promise to come back with me tomorrow. The rest arrive at the salon after awhile and they started doing their hair too. Overall, I find that the salon is quite high class and nicely decorate. Though for us, their price is consider cheap but for the locals here, this salon price is consider very expensive already.
before jo make her hair
before yu chuan make his hair
sheila cutting her hair
yu chuan perming his hair
jo after her makeover
edward dyeing his hair
After everybody is done with their hair, it was already 9 plus and we all head back to the hostel. Tomorrow will be my turn to have a makeover. =] okay goodnights everybody!
My reflection
Unknowingly, we have been here for 30 days. Is never easy to stay in a foreign country because every country has its own culture and different standard of living. Learning how to adapt to a different environment is not easy. When I first step into Wuhan, I was afraid of not getting use to their culture because I have never ever been to china before. But now, I have adapt to their lifestyle and I know what is their culture and I even think of staying here longer if we are allow to do so. I have enjoyed my Wuhan trip during these 30 days. The joy and all that we go through together with my other MDE friends, this precious moment is something that we are not going rewind back to the first day of our Wuhan trip. No matter how much I love this place, I still have to go back to Singapore because Singapore is still my home, my only home. As for now, what I am going to do is to enjoy as much as I could for the rest of the remaining days in Wuhan.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010 '
Day 29- live performance
Its day 29 today. Time really really flies. We left with 5 more days and we will be going back to Singapore. Today started off with our group doing a presentation to Mr Chia in the morning. Mr chia wants to see how much have we done for our work. Met up early with my group mates to do a final touch up for our project. Assigning each other what to present for the presentation later. When it comes to our turn, we went to his room and started our project presentation. Mr chia commented well done for our group and finally we are done with our project for project management. After we are done with our presentation, my group decides to head to the street behind our hostel to get some food. In the end, we ended up going the lemon restaurant and we met Eliza’s group and we join them for our lunch.
Went back to the hostel and prepare for the cultural performance in the night. My group cultural performance is a wayang kulit. It’s a puppet show and we are doing on how Sang Nila Utama founded Singapore and give the name singapura to Singapore. We prepare the props needed for the performance and we practice together a few times before finalizing it. After we are done with our group performance, we split as the girls needs to practice their mass dance, nobody and the guys needs to practice our mass performance of singing two songs.
group A performance, catwalk
group B, traditional games
our group performance, wayang kuilt =]
group E performance, dancing reach out for the skies
group D performance, singing home
our mass performance, singing home
After the performance for all our individual group performance, is down to the guys performance. We will be singing about our ancestor’s story with the song 吃得起苦, and the next song is to everybody in the theatre, the song 关怀方式. the whole performance lasted for about 3 hours and ended after the last performance of us singing home.
My reflection
During the performance today, while waiting for our group turn, I felt nervous but my group mates and other people including my other friends and also some of the local student leaders encourage me and give me support. Another thing is that, initially our group is thinking of changing performance, because it was a bit too complicated. In the end, we still stick with the wayang kuilt and after we finish our performance, we hear applause from everyone and there is even some local students that ask the props from us and ask us how we did it.
This teaches me that one must have confidence in everything we do and we will be able to succeed. One more thing is that I am very proud of the wust students because they can sing and dance very well. We should learn from them because they dare to perform and they are not afraid. I hope next time we can still come back to see them perform and also perform for them. I really enjoy the performance tonight.
'
Day 28- aftermath after the wudang trip
Our last lecture was being push back because mr chia knows that we are all very tired after the wudang mountain. So I woke up late today as I wanted to have more rest. My have a muscles aches at the calf of my leg, was very lucky as some of them have body aches all over.
Well, after our lunch, we went for our afternoon lesson and today lecture was some hands on activity. Miss Alicia hock gave us some paper and paper clips. Guess what? She wants us to build a bridge that can hold as many books as possible!
Every group has to do their bridge out and show to the teachers how many books that our bridge will be able to support. After saying out all our opinions and idea, my group proceed to build the bridge, every of us help to fold the paper and also at the same time think of idea to improve in the bridge.
our group bridge
trying to withstand the weight of the book
Overall, our group manage to only withstand three books. The quantity is not important, is the process of building the bridge as a team and how we as a team came out with the idea and how we help each other throughout. After the lesson, some of us went to the back streets of our hostel to buy some food to eat. We came back after we ate and everyone returns to their room to have a good rests.
hmm.... thinking of what to buy
yummy burger
My reflection
By going through this activity, it test how well our teamwork are and how can we make use of our teamwork to get this complete. Every of us have different ideas and views on how things should be done, so it is important to discuss together and respect each other ideas and from there we will try to combine everyone’s idea if possible.
With this activity, I believe that in the future, when working outside, we will need the same teamwork when working with our colleague. Moreover, It teaches us how the real teamwork is and how it should be done. Regardless of what work we do or what sports we play, I think teamwork is essential and it is needed for most of the things that we do.
