5 days since term break started.... Havnt finish a single module... x_x
Went for forbidden city by kit yesterday. Its very different fr the last play i watch. the last 1 was more of a dance 1... got more ppl at the stage each time... this time only got a few ppl... I dun tink i can say which is better coz its a different type of play. Well, all i can say is that i tink that this play is worth the price. ^_^
The main characters in the play sung very well. When Kit sung, it reminded me of the time when she sung the song "Jia" a few yrs back... Some of the background music is rather china. Which i tink its well chosen for the play. However, i tink the whole thing could have been better if it had been in chinese... or at least mixed (except for the parts that involve the caucasians, the rest shld be in chinese.) I guess if it had been done tat way, it would have been better coz it is about china (sort of like songs tat are sung in canto sounds better incanto compared to in chinese and some english songs are better in english compared to chinese.)
well, all in all, the whole things was great not 4getting the super on company which stayed up till 3 plus coz aft the play we went tau huey and KTV~~~~
hahahahaha
2days games at minds's.... ^_^
Last week was a super busy week. CA assignment, quiz, FYP!!!
Only realise that I've yet to do my 4011... suppose to send it on sun... totally 4got bt it. Slacked for 3 days!!! *FAINTS*
Thurs nite (Fri to be exact) slept at 4 am coz of FYP. In the end still no progress... *FAINTS*
Aft 4 hrs of sleep was sch till eve then mt zw n hs for din... Already reserve tat nite for the 2 of them long ago. Dine at changing appetite then esplanade listen to wind n chit chat... Its been quite some time since the 3 of us sat n chat lidat... Stayed out till bt 2. Thanks to mr lizard. *Hee* Mr lizard kept reminding us that we were occuping their territory so we decided to head home. ^_^
Hope and i tink Mr Teo had a gd last dinner wit us... The nxt din will b like 1 yr later yeah~~~
Mr Teo left on sat (sunday to be exact coz its a 2am flight...) As expected, the gang want to the airport to send him... Was informed that Mr Teo planted a letter in my cupboard while helping me wit my FYP on thurs... Now i noe why he wanna come over liao... Hey Mr. If u read this, THANKZ!!!!! I very bo sim, u write letter long long i write short short... XS
QY tonned over aft sending the Mr Teo. Lucky HS drive big car she so smart noe we have alot of ppl. Oso super thank her a lot. Mafan her liao. ^_^
Sun... DVD till 4 am... Fang de yu miao chui hua. The shows not bad... But the last few episode a bit xtra. Sorta like they add in to extend the time... *Faints* except fer that, the rest's alright. Rather funny and sweet. Like the male "pig trotter". Tink he's serious yet cute. He's a silent man. But has his cute side. though he dun say a lot of sweet thing coz he's shy, he shows it in the things he do... (miao chui hua give him so many chance n hint him so many time if he like her but he still act blur.This cause miao to be in a delimnma... ) The female "trotter", Miao chui hua is oso very cute. She does a lot of cute stuff like wear the "ninja wear" to tok to Fangde to find out what he thinks. But the cute gurl didn realise that fang have already seen through the disguise but conts to play along wit her. ^_^
Yeah so as many of u guessed, I K-ed the entire drama in 2 days... 1 drama down. A lot more to go... I MUST CONTROL!!!
Mon... After days of ransacking my cupboard, Ive finally found the letter... Realise that I tink too badly of him. Tot he'll plant it btw the pages of the bk so i cannot find. After all Ms chye took like 3 yrs to find the letter hidden in her xmas tree~ In the end, the letter is just at the side of the shelf which i nv use 1. =p
2-day... only study like 3 pg... Super unproductive!!!!
2molo Aristal shall enter FORBIDDEN CITY!!! CY says its gd.... Aristal is filled wit anticipation!!!
Sunday,Sep 10 2006, 03:13:38 PMwkend...
Just finished bathing....
1 more weekend flew past. Did a little reading on fluids. Still have a lot to catch up....
Told a few of them that i'm cutting down on msn. but there'll be an increase in my journ entry.
I guess life is like a scale. when i give sth up i have more time for other things... just like less msn means more journals....
my pics fr fang's bdae aint up yet... my china pics aint up either.... FYP is not optimistic.
Met na for din at novena. chicken rice. chat till bt 10.... chat bt quite a bit of stuff... =)
Yesterday was home the whole day watching tv. nite was din wit fang they all. its sort of a bdae celebration for her. Havnt seen them for a while. but its def great to have seen them. sorta missed those days which we were free to chat n enjoy. everyone just have so many things to do nowadaes so many things... they shld increase the no of hrs per day. n i have to say, i realise that a lot of our piorites have changed since ive been back. even my own piorites changed...
2day stay home read a bit of fluid. watch tv. no nap. suprise surprise.
didn go blading this wkend..... nxt sat gotta wk on sat. got zw's farewell bbq on fri. supposed to have been on sat. but i guess wkg is more impt so we changed it to sat.... wish i had more time on hand to mt up with him n hs since hes goin off......
Cant really sleep... Gonna write another journ to update the whole thing...
Like wats on my msn nic... "11 days->3003 qz, 12 days ->4F01 assignment submission, 14 days->4011, 50 days->fyp prog submission N 17 days to FORBIDDEN CITY!!"
Time is goin to be rather tight... Will be cutting down on msn soon. but i guess i'll add more updates in here...
FYP meeting freaked me out. The other guy whos doing a simiar proj is a very hardwkg n smart chinese. Sup says, i really need to buck up. SOBZ*
4005-fluids, havnt made progress since wed... Sad.
no I must cheer up! 2molo ops its 2day gonna go blading! ^_^
Friday,Sep 8 2006, 06:02:14 PMGIP shanghai
Been back for 1 mth n 2 wks...
Havnt written anything since I'm back...
Think i need have a conclusion for my trip...
"5 months have passed so quickly. GIP trip has come to an
end and I am back in Singapore.
School has started and I'm starting to adjust back to this environment but the memories of
shanghai and other parts of china come to me and I never seem to
get tired of recalling the events there.
I can still remember what I told the professor at the
interview when he asked me what was my reason for going to china. I told him
that I wanted to try for GIP US but it was simply too expensive so I decided to
try GIP China
instead. In addition, I wanted to improve my Chinese language standard. Many
Singaporeans are deemed to be bilingual. But I feel that though we are able to
communicate in English and Chinese, we are unable to fully master either.
Hence, I would like to take this opportunity to brush up on my Chinese and
learn about the Chinese culture. I feel that although a person can gain
knowledge of the country’s culture by reading, it will never beat experiencing
it. At the same time, I would like to promote Singapore
to the people there.
I never thought that I would be able to pass the interview
as my friends felt that I was too frank during my interview. Hence, I was very
shocked and excited when I knew I was accepted. I had been busy working and
meeting my friends to bid them farewell during the entire semester break. I
only started to shop the week right before Chinese New Year and started packing
2 days prior to my departure. Everything just passed in a flash. Before I knew
it, I was already in the cabin of the plane, getting ready to fly to shanghai.
Out of a sudden, I felt excited about my trip to shanghai. I was filled with
anticipation. Though I have been overseas with my friends, this trip is going
to be very different. I will be there for one semester this time. And this time
I am going to shanghai on my own. What will be waiting for me? How will my life
be like over there? While my mind was filled with anticipation, the plane rose
into the sky.
After a few hours on the plane, I’ve finally reached my
destination, Shanghai Pudong airport. I have never experienced cold weather and
felt very high when the cold wind blew across my face. We loaded our luggage
onto the coach and headed for the GIP office at Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Park for
briefing. We received an envelop containing our house keys, a map of shanghai,
name cards of the key contacts in shanghai and a booklet containing important
information of shanghai and the place that we will be living for the next 5
months.
After briefing, we finally got to see our apartments. I was
so excited at our new house. Everything looks so new and cool but we were not
able to sit down and relax in the new house. We were just given ample time to
check the things that were given to us. At the next instant, we were at Metro
shopping for our necessities. Everyone was everywhere and every body was
running through the shelves to find things for their house. From pillows,
blankets, bed sheets to pills, handsoup, detergents, mops, brooms, hangers,
plates etc etc. We discussed to check if we missed out any thing and discussed
if we could share some of our things.
By the time I was home, night has already fallen. I was so
tired from shopping. I have tried shopping a whole day for clothes. But
shopping for necessities… Never! And definitely not with so many people. That
very first night, my housemates and I only manage to make our beds…
The heater in my room did not work on the first night and
the temperature dropped drastically in the night. I tried to continue sleeping
but was unable to do so. The cold was unbearable. I dragged myself out of bed,
put on my gloves, winter jacket, and the cotton cap and back undert the blanket i crept.
That weekend was spent settling the administrative stuff,
grocery shopping and exploring the places near our house and visiting the
places of interest in shanghai. It was busy but enjoyable. At that time, I
thought that the 5 months would be as carefree and fun as this.
It was fun cause it was like a roller coaster. I remember the time the tap connected to our washing machine broke while washing the 1st load, the time i was 'posted' thru the window after our 12 am to 5 am ktv by al and germ cause our door was stuck. and the time which the tap connecting our shower n the normal tap flew out halfway while i was bathing and of coz the time which our dear jul' n bet set off a chilli smoke bomb while frying chilli.... O ya and how could i have forgotten my super salty fried-egg and oyster-sauce mushroom meal and of coz the incident which our dear agent locked himself with another 6 of us (me, nik, jul, wang kai, alvin and jingyi) in the house. WK was so paiseh coz it was nik's 1st visit to their home. The door got jammed and we could not leave the place. We manage to get our dear agent to kick the door open. when we told him to let us get out of the place 1st, he said,"the door is alright see i show u" (translated from chinese) and he slamned the door shut. and we were once again trapped. *faints*
The GIP program consist of wkg and studying. Work was from
8.30 in the morning till 5.30 in the evening from Monday to Thursday. On Friday
and Saturday, I had to go to for Fudan lessons. Initially, life was very
happening and fun. Everyone met up frequently for meals and to meet out after
work. We even had a gathering during Valentine’s.
As time pass, the meetings
got less. But we never fail to make time for enjoyment and traveling. No matter
how busy our lives were, we never fail to take time to explore the rest of
china. During my stay in china, I visited Hangzhou,
Wuxi, Nanjing,
Suzhou, Zhou Zhuang, Chengdu,
Jiu Zhai Gou, HuangLong, Ermei and Leshan. (of coz that meant sacrificing some precious lessons in sch....)
During my trips, I got to learn and understand China.
Unlike Singapore,
China is a vast
country. Hence, the cultures in different parts of china are different.
Shanghai is very
different from other parts of china. Shanghai being china’s economical hub tend
to be more vibrant and fast paced. There are more foreigners in shanghai
compared to other parts of China.
There are also a lot of immigrants from the other provinces. I am very lucky to
be able to be able to stay there as I have learnt a lot from through exposure
with the people there. Many of the immigrants still retain some of their
original country’s culture though some habits have been affected by the
Shanghainese culture. Very often the Chinese immigrants retain the Chinese
accent of the place they originate but adopt the way of life of the Shanghainese.
The people in shanghai are very time-oriented and they tend to be more
aggressive. During peak hour, the metro station at Renming Guangchang will
be filled with crowds rushing to change trains. The people pack the train like the atoms in a solid. But unlike atoms in a solid that has low energy, the people in the train have high super high energy. and thanks to the large amt of energy, being in the train is as gd as being in the oven. I guess that could be why the chinese are have comfortable to have close proximity. In addition, unlike in
many other parts of china, women in shanghai are highly respected. The
buildings and amenities are also much more developed then other parts in china.
It is filled with high rise buildings. The design of the office and shopping
buildings in the city very much resembles those in Singapore.
Though the high rise buildings are very similar to that in Singapore,
the city structure is different from that in Singapore.
Makeshift foodstreets and bazaars can be found within the city. The food in
shanghai though similar to Singapore
(just more oily and salty) is a lot much cheaper than Singapore.
In addition, they also sell more food made of flour. Unlike Singapore,
there are many road side stalls that sell very delicious food such as mutton
satay and bbq squid etc. Like they say, the beautiful is often the dangerous, the delicious is often hazardous. The red tent's yong tau fu is a killer of many of the GIP's stomach.(in case u didn understand, my killer has 2 meanings. 1. 'killer' means tat it's so delicious that it is one of the fav dinner spot for us 2.'killer' means it caused many diahorrea cases. Our dear haoyi sorta got stuck in the bowl for bt 1 wk...)The clothes in shanghai are also cheaper than that in Singapore.
7-pu is a like heaven. I really miss the times when i carried bags of trashbags back. (majiam like some rubbish collector... -_-"). Although food and shopping in china is
cheaper than that in Singapore,
it is still more expensive compared to other parts of china. This is because
the labour cost in shanghai is still higher than that in other parts of china.
My 1st trip round china was to hangzhou wit bet, germ, jing ming, vincent, alvin, chunjie and ben. During the trip, I learnt about the patriotic hero, Yue Fei, and got to see the famous Westlake.
The scenery was captivating. However, it is a pity that I went there before the
flowers bloom. Else it would have been even more alluring. I remenber the nite which me, bet n germ squeezed in a bed (cant rem it its queen size or was it king....) Halfway thru the nite, the heater went of. DAMN~ it was so cold!!!! Poor bet even got elbowed by me on her face... whahahaha ( apologised to her okie ~! ~!)
The second trip was to zhou zhuang with the ene ppl (consisting me, xingyu, andrew, kevin and yuzhong). Zhou zhuang is a small water village. The architectures there are very unique and theres lotsa bridges there. The place is supposed to be very unique and beautiful. filled with lotsa very china bridges etc but the place is so commercialised till u cant really appreciate the environment.... A pity.
Nxt was a 3 trio trip to suzhou wit bet and xingyu.The people there were very helpful.We were approached by several tourguides to take up their
tour packages. Although we declined their offer, they were very kind to give us
direction to the bustop. The architectures of the places are very unique. They
have small stone bridges and meandering rivers. The setting reminds me of
those in the kunfu shows.
Then it was Nanjing with the ene ppls... I rem there was xingyu, viny, mad, baoyee, andrew, john, shaun and yuzhong. Nanjing is a pretty
developed place. During the trip to Nanjing,
I visited the Confucius temple and the place used to commemorate the people who
died during the Nanjing massacre.
The place was a very solemn place. Looking at the bones showing the brutality
made my heart ache. I cannot imagine the pain and suffering the people endured
during the period of time. How can anyone be so cruel as to commit such acts on
a live person and how can the soldiers be so immoral to rape the fenceless
women. How would they have felt if they family members were raped? How can the
soldiers involve the civilians when they are innocent……..
Daddy and mummy went over in may. Betty and me brought them round. Brought them to xiangyang, chenghuang, massage and xu jia hui and of coz to see my house.
Next it was Wuxi with germ, bet, wangkai, julius, jinyi and alvin and d 2 poly gurls. The highlight was xihu and the hike in the mountain. But i tink the senery didn leave as much impression as the clip shooting our dear officer jinyi searching for the for 5 gurls thats hidden amongst the bush. And of coz our dear camarawomen cum director of the teletubby clip. I guess how fun a place is depends on how u work it to ur favor ba.
Before i went for my finale trip, fang flew over with her family. It was real great to meet her. Brought her and her family round. Eka joined us for 1 nite. it's real get to see her. Havnt seen her so long... Its a pity she couldnt extend her stay.... but at least i got to see her for a while... Brought them to chenghuang to buy the chinese herbs.( a favorite place for the mamas and daddys) =s
Last but not least was my post GIP trip was to Chengdu,
Ermei, Leshan, Jiuzhai gou and Huanglong. I remember getting the tic 2 days before departure and arranging my accomodation and tour the nite before. I remember myself stranded at jingqiao at bt 11. I wondered in circles before finally finding the area rowena stays. Even when i found the area she stays, i could not remember her unit and my phone was dead... In the end, i pressed the bell at every single unit that was lit. Once.... Twice... Three times... finally there was ans.... By then it was 1230. The gurl was too tired and has already fallen asleep. I wash up and went to bed too... Nxt morn, headed to the airport and flew to chengdu.
I went to Ermei and Leshan on my own
before joining another 3 GIP friends from Beijing
to travel to Jiuzhaigou and Huanglong. During that trip, I learnt to take care
of myself and be truly independent. When I travel with my friends, I can always
rely on them for support hence I never really pay much attention in taking care
of my personal belonging and myself. However during the trip to Leshan and
Ermei, I was more alert and careful. In addition to my personal development, I
got to know more locals as I had more interaction with them. I got to know a
few students from the university in Wuhan
who were posted to Szechuan for attachment. During the
bus trip from Chengdu to
Jiuzhaigou, I saw the difference in the toilet between a well developed city
and a remote area. I learnt to appreciate the toilets in shanghai and definately the 1 in sg. Though the amenities in the area wasnt as fantastic, the buddha statue at leshan was really fantastic. Its a pity tough that some of the smaller stautues corroded...Leshan has this gigantic statue and ermei has a very clean (it will be even better if there aint any 1 soaking their shoes inside...), green and clear river. The air there is very fresh (when there aint any smokers around that is...)After the trip at leshan and ermei, i met bayde, joseph and jeff at chengdu to go to 9 zhai. I have to say the long bus ride killed my butt!!!But the undescribleable senery was definately worth it.
After 9 zhai, i went flew back to sh while jos and bayde went to leshan, ermei and szechuan and jeff to tibet...
Back at sh, i received my chopstick sisters sent from sg. They stayed in what germ calls our bangla quarter with bet's fren. The last few days in china were shopping with the chopstick sis's... and its pack n back to sg....
At the nite i left, I had some gifts from 9 zhai for the ppl in the coy. Super cute monkeys and cards made fr myself for the ppl in the coy... But it did not reach them....
On my way to the airport, I realise tat i've sorta gotten use to the place and i cant bear to leave... I miss the times i had... the events that can never take place a 2nd time. the events that have turned into memories that can only be goaded at.... The strips of memories flooded my mind as the plane took off....
After 5 months in shanghai, I realise that though there are
difference in the chinese in the different places, there are also similarities. The chinese tend to be
more comfortable with close body contact. The buses are packed with commuters
during the off peak hours. In addition, the chinese no matter which province
uses chopstick instead of forks and spoons. And the chinese are very good
drinkers and many of them are smokers. And the chinese are def very good at flooding the floor. They'll drop their foam bowls, chopsticks, satay sticks etc onto the floor. and of coz they like to leave some marking (actually i meant spitting) on the floor as they walk... (mayb they are afraid that they'll lose their way like hansel and gretle). I remember my fren's incident that saw a couple smooching half way then they stopped and the guy shot sth onto the floor then they continued smooching.Talking bt the floor reminded me of the ankle height flood at xiangyang. Imagine dark musky water till ur ankle... Lucky i was in slippers and shorts... but still... erm....*faints*
In addition to the things I learnt from my trip, I also
learnt a lot in Fudan.
I was very surprised when I went to Fudan as the compound is
very large compare to ntu. In addition, they had a street with shops selling
food right beside the canteen. In Fudan, I gained a knowledge. I was taught the
history of china, the origins of some of the chinese words, chinese literature
and economy. The students there were kind to show us their living quarters.
When I saw their room, the first thought that came to my mind was that students
in ntu were very lucky as the conditions of the halls in Singapore
were far better than that of the students there. In addition, we also more
privacy as we only had 2 student to a room when they had 4. In addition to
that, the students in the philosophy faculty were also very friendly. They
organize interaction sessions to allow us to interact with students from
different faculties from the school. They also organize trips to visit the
museums in shanghai to allow us to have a better understanding of shanghai.
Before we left, they even organized a farewell session filled with games and
performance. I really miss the farewell and the place….
Apart from things I’ve learnt my trips and Fudan, I made new
friends. I got to know new friends from GIP, from my company and their friends.
I got to know the locals and Singaporeans who were working overseas.I can recall the wkly blading sessions with rowena, weiwen zhijian etc etc at kejiguan. I REALLY MISS TAT SO MUCH!!!!!
I learnt new things from my colleagues in office. By
speaking to my colleagues I manage to improve my chinese. I manage to learn how
to communicate in with the chinese counterpart and the industrial terms in
chinese.
I enjoyed the activities with the other students from GIP. I
can still recall the karaoke session till 5 in the morning and attending
lessons right after….
I can still recall the Sunday which me and my roommate
shifted our bed to the other room so that all four of us can sleep in 1 room
and convert the other room to an activity room. We shifted the beds from our
room to our house mate’s room and shifted the television from the living room
and our housemates cupboard to our room.
I remember the times when my house mates and I were all in
the recreation room and the times in our bed room. I sorta miss the bedroom chats wit bet and jyen's ever energetic voice and not forgetting germ's funny descriptions of all the things at home.
Everything seems like yesterday…
To summarise, I have gained a lot during this trip. I
realise that I gained invaluable knowledge and experience. Some of which are indescribable.
I guess one can only understand it by experiencing it. The experience is more than words can describe. I guess it'll leave a very deep print in my heart....
Now that i'm back for more than a mth and i've surprised to many ppl. I guess its's time to start work... But before i end everything, i guess i have to thank my house mates-bet, germ and jyen in sh, my bestest colleague - Kenny, my 'sister' - rowena, my sup - vincent and hoekiat in my coy - ah hai, stanley, weiwen, wu guibing their frens- robinhood, zhijian, my parents and dear frens tat came over to visit and last but not least my dearest fren, huishan, for her help in sending me home. She volunteered to fetch me and send me back when no 1 else knew the exact date i was comming back. Not even my parents. If it hadnt been for her, i guess i couldnt have surprised my parents and so many many ppl....
