Memories of our times in Wuhan- Shan Mei

Monday, April 6, 2009

WEEK 6: Day FOURTY-ONE (12th April)

Early in the morning, some of us went to the back alley (FOR THE LASY TIME T.T) to buy tea, tau sar pau T.T, and other favorite food T.T

At 10 plus am, we were all headed towards the airport via bus and it will also be the last ride on Wuhan!! I will miss the bumpy roads and the fast and furious bus drivers they have T.T

We sang and had fun in the bus with other china students (Charlotte, Yepp & Journey).

Upon reaching, we took many photos and some of us were so emotional that they cried. The local students were of great help to us when we were in Wuhan or else we might never knew the happenings and stuffs. I miss you guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We took our heavy hearts and boarded the plane towards Guangzhou as well as towards Singapore. We reached Singapore's airport at around 11.15 pm and after around 15 minutes, I am beginning to feel warm and stuffy as it was a sudden changed of temperature from like 10-20 plus degrees to like 30 plus degrees?!?! Everybody were filled with smiles upon seeing our families and all of us definitely miss China and the days spent there will be memories that will forever be etched in our hearts.

After being in Wuhan for 6 weeks, I've learnt to become more independent as I do not have my family members around to take care of me and this trip had been an eye-opener for me. What I experienced here in Wuhan is totally different from Singapore and many of us do learnt things along the way each day. From the different lifestyles to different habits, from different food to different fashion, etc. If there is a chance, I hope Ngee Ann Polytechnic could organize trips to other countries like we've been to Wuhan in order for us students to discover the amazing things that is happening around Mother Earth thus allowing us to learn more as we grow up.

*****

WEEK 6: Day FOURTY (11th April)

We went to Lao Shu Jie today for shopping and didn't know that there was much things to buy. Regretted when we did not bother to shop there the first time we went there some days ago. Bought quite a few skirts =) Some of us then went to eat steamboat which I think it was quite alright I guess but not as nice as Singapore's one. The steamboat there charged by each dish and not by person so I guess it might be more expensive in this way. Next, some of us went Bu Xing Jie again while some of us went to the nearby COMMA where almost all the factory outlet of the sports brand are located. I went to COMMA and bought myself a shirt for my sleeping wear =)

At 5.45 pm, we rushed back to school by taxi because Mr Chong wanted to treat us for dinner =) THANKS MR CHONG FOR THE DINNER!!!! Kind of feel bad that we did not finished all the dishes because it was really alot and we were all so full.

We then rushed to the shopping mall again to buy Ma Ya Tang goodies and came back with loads of boxes. We went to the back alley to buy some biscuits and say goodbye to the cake shop auntie. Our cakes were bought by her and her husband was the one who bake the cakes. I'll definitely miss her T.T The gui ling gao shop is closed too so we guess we shall eat tomorrow morning before our flight. We headed back to our dorms and started packing our stuffs which almost killed most of us >.<

*****

WEEK6: Day THIRTY-EIGHT (9th April) & THIRTY-NINE (10th April)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALAN!!!!!

WOW! SO many birthday peeps around!

It was presentation day today and everybody was tired because most of us did not even sleep a wink. I was nervous.

The presentation turn out quite okay but I realized that I spoke very little for my slides.

HOW CAN!?!?!

It was too late by now so thats it.

It's celebration time! NO MORE LESSONS! NO MORE PRESENTATION! NO MORE TESTS!!!!!

We had lunch at the back alley and went back to our dorms to finished up our final report. In the evening, we went to the shopping mall and ate the food at the back ally there. The fried rice is good! We then went to play pool at the V.I.P room and supposedly wanted to give Alan a birthday surprise cake but it then spoilt by the manger as he told alan that he did not want us to dirty the pool table so must be careful.

AH!!!! !@#$%^&*(

In the end, I did dirty the table but NOT ON PURPOSE ONE!!!! I was eating my cake happily until I walked to the side of the table and when I was scooping the cake to my mouth, suddenly a piece of fruit dropped on the table! WITH CREAM!!!! Then everybody scold me T.T But it was cleaned up in no time with tissue and we all acted as if nothing happened. SORRY!!!! And so i scrambled to the sofa and sat there throughout eating my cake.

After pool, we went to the KTV there and sang till morning. The system there is abit different as normally in Singapore, we just have to press the remote control towards the screen for selection of words but over here, there's this small system whereby u have to select songs from there which is quite a hazard.

After KTV, we dragged our tired bodies towards the nearby Macdonalds for breakfast and then headed back to our dorms to sleep for about 2 hours.

At 9am, we were awoke by Ian's loud banging on our door and we were all so reluctant to wake up. We had to get going for shopping because we only left 2 more days before we had to go back Singapore.

We first headed to Shi Men Kou(a new place we have not been before) and discovered new food there! Like Gong Po Bing, their own fried banana (Singapore's Goreng Pisah is much nicer lah), etc..

We then headed to Bu Xing Jie where some of us want to get the chopsticks there.

In the evening, we headed back school where we will have a farewell party with the MDE and China students. It was Rocco's birthday as well =) (a local student) HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

We ate cakes, tibits, and chatted with each other. It was then we had KTV session in the classroom! To end off, we had a wild party and most of the LSCT peeps were dancing away!!!!!

*****

WEEK 6: Day THIRTY-SEVEN (8th April)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WEEEE!!!!! I'm 18 already!!!!! One year nearer to death T.T

Had a not surprising "surprised" cake early in the morning at 12am practically (have not sleep yet though) with the peeps here. THANKS GUYS =DDDD

Was wondering whether will I get another cake later in the night like Jin Quan and Jasper's birthday. haha.

Slept till morning 9plus am where we had an hour tutorial lesson and Mr Chong led out the surprised party =.= Probably he thought I knew lah but I did guessed by the way. And the rest blamed him for letting out this surprise though haha!

Did our project for the WHOLE AFTERNOON. (What a birthday day) With the companion of mahjong to keep us awake while doing project halfway.

After which, at 7pm, we had to go to the English Speaking Corner at one of the classrooms where we had to interact with other local students in English. They performed hip hop dance which I initially thought that the locals do not dance because I have not seen hip hoppers around in school. And they proved me wrong! Perhaps it's a minority of people who dance. Guitarists strumming their guitars with all of us singing along. Interaction with the locals then began and they were fascinated with the English and Chinese we spoke. And some of them said that I'm from Guang Dong =.= I AM SINGAPOREAN!!!!!!!!!!!! Made a few friends and they are so willing to play mahjong with us =D They are nice people but too bad we did not know them earlier and we only left with around 3 to 4 days left =( They introduced us more places for shopping nearby WUST which the other local students that we knew earlier did not mention it to us.

It was 9pm already and our stomachs are pushing us to get out of the room and we then proceed to the back alley to eat dinner. I brought my own birthday cake back to the dormitory and started celebrating my birthday with the peeps. They surprised me with a lotus that could opened by itself after being lighted and a bouquet of flowers! It's my first time receiving flowers so I'm quite touched. (Although not given by guys lah, but I still appreciate it even though it was given by my friends of both girls and guys.) I LOVE YOU GUYS!!!! MUACKS!!!!

It was then we had to continue with our project until quite late...

It may be a simple birthday with no activity, but I still appreciate the people who had been there eating my cake which makes me happy =DDDDDDD

*****

WEEK 6: Day THIRTY-SIX (7th April)

A bonding get-together session of high elements with the MDE and the ECE group at a school far away from WUST which took us an hour's ride. I'm not so looking forward to this activity as I AM SO DAMN TIRED due to the Lulin tour and the moment we reached our dormitory, we had to blog for a few days' post and end up sleeping very late. Not only that, we had a project to catch up and it can be quite a rush for all of us.

But the moment we got there, everything changes especially my mood. All of us were form into 4 groups and firstly, we had to give a name as well as design a flag for ourselves. On top of that, we had to give a cheer or a song probably. End up, we changed the lyrics of the "two tigers song" to "two panda and two lion". Quite cute though =pPp

We then had to play a strategy game which everybody had to work together. The game is that we were given newspapers and had to connect all these papers together and form a circle that could fit all of us inside. Just like the shape of a wheel with people inside and we had to imagine walking inside that wheel. We were not given any other materials and just newspapers. Sadly, my team lost but all of us were happy enough as we were all enjoying ourselves and helping one another although we may just got to know each other.

After which was lunch time and we went to the nearby restaurant for their famous fishballs. It's nice but it's just TOO SOFT until I feel that if i eat more, I will puke. Probably i prefer Singapore's fishball which is not that soft but very bouncy and have the Q Q-ness.

After lunch, we went back again and begin our activities.

First stop for my group is where each of us had to fall backwards and the people below will have to catch you. This game is about the trust that you've got in your teammates. With encouragement and faith everyone had with each other, we all had successfully completed it. Next we had to climb the high element where there are two board at the top and we had to jump from one board to another. After which, we had to fall off the board as if we are like committing suicide. I have no problem with the climbing part and the jumping part because I've done many high elements when I was in my secondary school but the jumping part wasn't as pleasant as I thought. I felt as if I was really going to take my life but it was fun! ( I don't know whether am I trying to contradict myself though =Z )

The last event was the rock climbing. I did not go up because practically I am lazy =pPp And I'm wearing my jeans which is tight and uncomfortable for climbing as well as I did it before during my secondary school days too. BUT! Me and other friends were cheering in encouragement for other friends who are climbing up.

Thus, these activities already took up the whole day which made us so tired until we had a very good sleep in the bus. Although we may not really know most of the students there, but we had preserved good attitude to help and encourage one other which made a team works with spirit.

*****

WEEK 5: Day THIRTY-FOUR (5th April) &

WEEK6 :Day THIRTY-FIVE(6th April)

It's our trip to LuLin Resort today and had to wake up as early as 7am.

As usual we sleep in the bus and the road is super bumpy! All of us at the back were having so much fun and soon fell asleep. Upon reaching there around 12 plus pm, we had lunch at the restaurant there and after that, we were brought to our rooms and although it may not be as nice as the one we had at WuDang Mountain, it still had very good facilities.

We then went to see Mei Ren Gu. It's beautiful and it's really not to be missed as Singapore lacks of this kind of attraction. Too bad for our Jin Quan, he fell sick yesterday and had a fever today so he missed this attraction by staying in the hotel room sleeping all alone.

After which, we went to another place where we had to cross the bridge to the other side to see the village life of the locals there.

There were pigs (Mr Chong very scared of that big fat pig that we saw on the way!), chickens, cats, etc. The villagers planted many mushrooms too probably depending on that to earn money. We then came to a lake where many of us started throwing stones into it as if we hadn't thrown stones in the water before. After which, we headed back for dinner.

Although the villagers lived in such a dirty environment, they lead a simple life where they do not yearn for more things because they are already contented with what they have. With their agricultural practices like the mushrooms, they could earn enough to lead their own simple and peaceful life.

After dinner, we dragged Jin Quan out and headed to the nearby campfire where the activities there kept us alive. We started off dancing round the campfire for a warmup. After that, performance of this man from don't know where started to behave abnormally by daring himself with knifes,glass and hot plate. One thing that I think this man is behaving normally is when he performed a song by blowing through a piece of leaf. We then had cha cha dances and lastly, KTV session on the stage. Yi Sheng was sabo by us to sing a song "Yong Qi" by Liang Jing Ru and more and more students started going up the stage to sing. After like 45 minutes, we were asked to stopped as the organizers there wanted to end their day of work. This led us to sing one last song together "Peng You" and then scrambled back to our rooms.

This activity does bond us together although it's just a sing-a-long session but the feeling of the come-together does makes us feel as if we were all together as one. All of us had enjoyed ourselves today =)

The very next day, we were awoken by the banging of door by a teacher and had to dragged our body out at 7am for breakfast. After which, we were brought to climb a mountain. But this mountain was not as tiring as the one we climbed Wudand Mountain.

Saw many interesting things on the way like the jade rocks from like hundreds of years ago, the area which the soldiers had training or something during the Han dynasty, the formation of the camel head rock, etc.

Jade rocks, the camel formation rock.

We then went back to the same place for lunch and headed to the cave.

This cave had been here for a thousand of years and as the tour guide introduced us about the cave as we walked inside, we started to feel as if everything was ridiculous. With just a structure of any rocks inside, they can just say like a "Tortoise love the toad" where a shape of the tortoise head was formed at the top looking now at the shape of the toad formed from below@.@ It was as if like the Singapore's Monkey Tree where they discovered 2 years ago just outside my school and many people flocked the whole area just to pray to this Monkey Tree. Till today, nobody even bothered to go see that tree anymore.

But then, many people come to this cave to see because this place is an attraction location where everything is all preserved still as nicely as before.

After which, we then headed back to school and thats the end of our Lulin tour

*****

what we could have been, 7:18 AM.

Thursday, April 2, 2009

WEEK 5: Day THIRTY-THREE (4th April)

Went to Jiang Han Wu today. Although there are many things to see but there's nothing that catches my eye though. Walked along Lao Shu Jie too which is said that it's the cheapest shopping experience there but when we've walked around 1/4 of it, we've decided to go to the Computer World where Ian and Alan wanted to buy handphones.

It turned out that the Computer World looks like Singapore's Slim Lim. All electronics including laptops, handphones, cameras, etc(you name it!) are sold there. It will be especially boring when a person does not need to buy anything there (like me!) and so some of us went to the nearby Macdonalds to sit around and talk while waiting for the rest. In the end, the guys did not buy any handphone from the shop uncle after like an hour or so.

We then headed back to the school's back alley for dinner and anticipated for the birthday celebration to begin. At around 10plus pm, the birthday boys had their own REAL cakes now. And they were forced to wear their "couple" tee that was bought for them. Many activities were planned after the cake session. First item is Karaoke. Of cuz the birthday boys had to sing! After that was present-searching for them. It was already late like 1pm and so we had to stop our games and stuff and started clicking the cameras away at our rooms' alley. It's an unforgettable birthday experience for them =)

*****

WEEK 5: Day THIRTY-TWO ( 3rd April)

It's super abnormal today as a Friday because we had to be up early for tutorial lessons '-(00)-'

Oh well....

We went shopping after that!!!!!!

Went to Han Zhen Jie where they sell dried food which we do not want to buy by the way, went to the inner side and saw shops selling like undergarments, bedsheets, clothes that we don't wear, etc. So some of us instead left the others and went back to Bu Xing Jie where we still got lots to buy the other day we were there.

Unfortunately, this time round we were there, it seemed that the things weren't as eye catching as compared to the first day we were there. Perhaps it's the second time that we were there and it's boring to see the same old things again. But we had the stupidest shopping ever. We went to MNG(Mango which is an international brand and Singapore does have it almost everywhere) and bought clothes!!!!! And the guys scold us dumb. We then went to a shop which sells SUPER NICE things at a range of reasonable price and spend most of our time there. Bought a jacket there which made me used up all my money for the day.(but still cheaper than my MNG jacket)

We left the place went back to the school's back alley to collect the cakes to smash Jin Quan and Jasper's face when the clock strike 12am.(It's their birthday on the 4th!)

The moment came when it was at 12am where their "cakes" are replaced with muffins and after the birthday song was sang, Hardy and Ian came from behind and smashed the cake on their faces. It's quite unexpected for them and we will continue our birthday surprise on the very next day...

*****

WEEK5: Day THIRTY-ONE (2nd April)

A CHANGE OF BLOG LAYOUT.

For the convience of everyone especially Mr Chong who is unable to read the latest post at the bottom, I will push it to the top which took me quite a long time to rearrange everything.

HAPPY READING!!!!!

It's a day for our common test and definitely everybody's dream to just get it done once and for all and enjoy ourselves for the next few days before we leave China. Our test starts at 1pm and ended at 3pm. Seriously, I really don't know what I will get but I think I will not do well though because most of the theory questions I sure buang but the calculations questions I'm quite confident that I can get at least 70% of them correct. Oh well, it's over! Everybody's free now!!!! YIPPEEEE!!!!!!

Had lessons after that which ended at around 6pm and some of us headed to the SHOPPING MALL again. Supposedly we had to buy something but in the end, we couldn't find and decided to buy tomorrow and then we ended up eating a restaurant that serves a mixture of ANGMOH and CHINESE food.

It's delicious! With good service and environment, it's worth to try but it can be quite expensive though.

*****

WEEK 5: Day THIRTY (1st April)

WOW! It's another month already that we are in China and most of us are already adapting well to this kind of life here...but I think I still prefer my seated toilet back at home though.

Today we went for a tour at the new campus of WUST just an hour's ride from where we are.

The new campus is SO SO SO big. We were invited welcomely by the students there and we first started off with touring the library where we were introduced on how WUST was set up. We were then brought to tour around the school, places like rooms where the nursing students practiced their skills as well as a biological laboratory where they kept many organs, human beings like babies in tanks to let people see how does our body looks like from the inside. It wasn't pleasant to see all these though @.@

After which, we were brought to a conference room where we had an exchange program there with the local students. Again, we had to present our slides that we presented the other day. During the presentation, I don't feel that kind of tense anymore probably due to a smaller number of people as well as this is the second time that I am presenting the same slides again. We then played games and thus ended off the program. The local students then brought us to their canteen where we had our lunch.

After lunch, they brought us to the lakeside just located in the heart of the school to take a walk as well as taking photo shots.

Thus, we ended off our day trip here at around 2pm and headed back to school to have our lessons T.T

The local students here were nice and friendly, introducing us with many things around the school and most of us were delighted to have know some of them. But I guess we only get to know them for a day and will not get to meet them again.

Take care =)

*****

WEEK 5: TWENTY-NINE (31st March)

Another normal day again and we all slept till the sun is shinning right up to our butts. Some of us went for brunch at the back alley and had lessons. Mr Chong showed us another movie again which is called "Earth". It showed mostly about the animals surviving through their thick and thins and it's quite sad to see some of them being eaten by the carnivores. Particularly, this show is trying to tell us that if we do not decrease our usage of many things that causes carbon dioxide to increase or some other things that causes global warming, the animals like the polar bears do not have any ice to land on, plankton do not increase in cold waters due to the water temperature being increased that causes lesser food for the marine life, lesser waterfalls for the animals,etc.

After the lesson, we headed back to our dormitory and the rest went for pizzahut while me and Li Ying choose to stay in our cosy dorm to study for our upcoming common test on thursday.

GOOD LUCK TO US!!!!!!

*****

WEEK 5: Day TWENTY-EIGHT (30th March)

Lessons per normal during the morning and afternoon with Mr Chong.

Watched another movie called "The other End of the line" which is a romantic movie between an Indian and an American. This movie showed us about the importance of cultures being together and respecting each other's values.

The movie does have some funny parts like the scene where lady's father was frantically trying to find his daughter in U.S and there are touching scenes where the father tried to protect his daughter when she is being called a tramp. But the main point of this movie is about both the Indian lady and the American guy falling in love with each other that had gone through a series of unfortunate events that lead them to be with each other again.

After lessons, we went exploring to the end side of the school which we hardly even go there and stepped into a sort of grand restaurant. We were invited by a row of rooms and the moment we stepped into a room, we were amazed at the outlook of it. It is decorated with yellows and golds. Not only we have a room entirely to ourselves, there are 2 waitress in the room to assist us.

We then ordered some duck meat, egg, pork ribs, vegetables...

And they are superb!!!!!!!!!!! So far the best restaurant we've eaten.

AND THE BEST THING IS, their rice is the thailand royal RICE!!!!!!!

AND IT TASTE LIKE OUR HOME-COOKED RICE!!!!!!!!

Finally we've tasted a nicer, more Q-Q and fragrance rice that reminds us of Singapore taste.We will bring the rest of the peeps as well as Mr Chong there for a feast.Although it may cost a little more expensive than the normal restaurants we've been to, I think it's worth the price and you will want to go back there even more often!!!!!

*****

what we could have been, 7:01 AM.