31/05/2014 - OELP Day 7 (LAST DAY!😭😭)

Last day of OELP. Time really flies. 

Firstly, we went to Tunxi Ancient Street (屯溪老街) to shop. This was also one of the most anticipated event, especially among the girls. We had 40 minutes of shopping time, but I think in the end we took more than that. 

Tea was one of the famous must-buys in Anhui. Too bad I did not buy any home because I thought my family does not really drink tea. I thought this shopping trip at Tunxi would be quite exciting, but it turned out to be not as fun as I thought it would be. There were nothing much that was of use to me so I did not buy anything, except for a cup of bubble tea to satisfy my crave for it. It did not taste very nice though. 

We took a long bus journey to Hangzhou for lunch and then enjoy a West Lake Cruise nearby the reastaurant. It rained on our way to Hangzhou, but luckily it pretty much stopped when we reached. One of the local Hangzhou dishes we ate was the pork belly (东坡肉). It was one of the most delicious dish I had in China. There was nothing much to see during our West Lake Cruise because everything appeared to be small from our boat. However, we did had fun chatting and joking with one another. 

Scenery outside the boat

In the boat

We also visited the Yue Fei Mausoleum too. 

After that, we took another long bus journey to the airport. There was a rest stop in between for us to go to the toilet or buy some snacks. I was waiting for some of my friends outside the toilet when I was taken aback after seeing the sign above the toilet for the disabled: "Deformed". It was rude and insulting. Definitely did not sound nice too. I do not know if they lacking in vocabulary or something, but I hope they would change the sign soon. 

Finally, we reached the airport for dinner. We were told later that the flight was delayed by 1hr, and some food vouchers were distributed for compensation. I was very full after dinner and did not know what to use the vouchers for. However, I heard from Zhi Yan that we could get some Haagen-Dazs ice cream for dessert. I was quite satisfied to eat it for free as it was quite expensive. 

This marked the end of our OELP trip in China. Although I was quite happy to return home and enjoy the June Holidays, I was also reluctant to leave China. After staying one week in Anhui, I got used to the environment here more or less. Thinking about how much fun we had, I hope time could rewind to the Day 1 of OELP. This OELP trip taught me not only more about the Chinese culture, but also many life lessons. Even though they were simple things like appreciation, it was only being in China that I saw the difference between Singapore and China. I also started to realise how I was fortunate to be born in Singapore. Our class 2E always thought that we were not bonded at all but after one week being together as a class, we all felt that our class have become more close knitted. Some of us made new friends while some of us learn more about one another. OELP really gave me profound lessons.

Even until now, I am missing OELP. 

~ Kitty

30/05/2014 - OELP Day 6

Today was quite a busy and packed day visiting different cultural attractions such as 西递，徽商大宅院, 棠樾牌坊群, etc. 

Most of the things we saw today were memorial archways (牌坊), which were built to commemorate people and their achievements. Most of the building attractions looked the same and I often got confused with one another. 

One of the attractions I liked was the Yuling Dam (渔梁坝). The view of the water body was simply breathtaking to me the moment it came in sight of mine. Although it does not look that great in the pictures, it does look nicer in real life. 

Tonight's dinner was quite special because we celebrated Zehan and Lijie 老师's birthday together and we got to eat cake! Some foreigners dining in the same restaurant also celebrated with us. The cake was delicious. 

Maybe because of the influence of others, I thought the atmosphere of the hotel we stayed in was a bit creepy. Nonetheless, the toilet glass wall looks quite cool to me. 

Transparent wall 😏 Of course there were blinds. 

After dinner, we also had a 2hr Chinese Culture Seminar about Anhui. I thought this was a rather good plan because this lecture covered up and made up for pretty much of the things I did not understand or missed out during our tour at Anhui's attractions. I thought it would be very boring, but actually if you listen attentively and try to understand what the lecturer was trying to say, it was not so bad after all. 

It was the last night here in Anhui. Mr Wong showed us some photos he had taken during the past 6 days. Looking at how much fun we had in these few days, I could not believe time passed so quickly and we almost came to the end of our OELP trip.  How I hope time could rewind. We had a class circle time and it made me think hard about what to do and how to improve our class. We also got to hear how some of our friends feel about the class and some areas of improvement. I thought this get together time was very meaningful and deep as we learnt about how one another felt.

~ Kitty

29/05/2014 - OELP Day 5

Today was the day we were going to catch the sunrise. Waking up early in the morning at 4.30am on Huangshan was definitely extremely cold. I could not stop myself from trembling, even though I wore the windbreaker. My roommate and I missed the morning call and woke up a bit later. When we got to the site to see the sunrise, we saw our classmates as well as other tourists squeezing in the little space. It was quite disappointing as there was no way to get in and we could not see anything. We only could finally see something at all after the sun has completely risen. I thought watching a sunrise would be interesting, watching all those television programmes, but it turned out to be not what I have expected. 

After sunrise, we were told that we could go back to sleep. However, I did not feel like going back to sleep so my friends and I decided to play a while before going back to hotel for breakfast. 

We continued climbing to other lower peaks in Huangshan after breakfast and headed back to the cable car station to ride down the mountain. The cable car we took down the mountain was much smaller and slower. This time, I could finally see the sceneries outside as we were seated. 

We proceeded off for a cultural visit at 宏村 (Hongcun) in Yixian.

There were many painters by the bank of the lake of Hongcun. If only I could draw as well as they do. 

~ Kitty

28/05/2014 - OELP Day 4

Today was the day we were going up to Huangshan which I anticipated most! I believed everybody anticipated this day too. 

Firstly, we boarded the bus to the cable car station at the  Then, we squeezed in a huge cable together with some other 50+ people up the mountain. The ride was quite fun because it was quite fast and the sceneries were breathtaking. However, it was a pity I was too short and everybody was taller than me and I couldn't see those sceneries outside. 

After a 15 minutes ride or so, we finally reached Huangshan! The weather was quite cooling and the air was very fresh. We were told that we still have to walk for 30 minutes to our hotel. One of the things that I observed during our walk to the hotel was that there were workers carrying heavy items like rice or rubbish in two bags which were tied onto a long pole. I later learnt that this was to reduce the pollution on Huangshan to keep the environment as natural as possible. Seeing how hard they worked for us carrying all the items we need and do not need on foot, I realised that we have to appreciate what are given to us. We should not waste rice as they are transported by foot to the restaurant, and any left overs will be transported by foot again down the mountain. It was already difficult for me to climb to our hotel, what more to say for those workers? 

Also, I noticed even the 'dustbins' along the way were unique. 

On the way to our hotel

Upon reaching our hotel, we emptied our bags, we went out again to climb several famous peaks in Huangshan. It was an endless adventure climbing and climbing to the peak of the mountain. It was much much tiring than climbing stairs during PE lessons. There were times that some of us thought that we could not make it, but the others cheered us on and sang songs to distract attention and make it more fun than tiring when climbing up to the peak. It was then I felt that we are 2E. 

After much climbing, we finally reached the second highest peak in Huangshan, 光明顶. 

The view was defintely breathtaking. The sceneries seen in person are much much much more beautiful than what we normally see in pictures. All those climbing was worthwhile after all. 

Today was one of the most relaxing days in China as we had a lot of free time to explore the mountains ourselves or resting in the hotel. Lights off tonight was quite early too because we will be waking up early the next day to witness the sunrise. 

~ Kitty

27/05/2014 - OELP Day 3

Today, we visited the Anhui Museum and learnt more about the Chinese Culture. For example, the Chinese painting 水墨画 that we have learnt during RV Literature. 

C: Bronze

There were a lot of bronze antique here in Anhui Museum. 

S: Bronze Ding

It appeared in one of our CID worksheet. Seeing the real ding made us mouth agape with awe. 

I: Anhui Museum building

Next, we proceeded to a theme park called 中国非物质文化遗产园. At first when we entered the theme park, the impression was not bad, although it seemed empty. After visiting the cultural attractions, the guide took us to watch animals competition. Before the matches start, some of my classmates and I discovered the barn of horses. It was my first time seeing and standing in front of a real horse. I was excited and wondered what kind of performance are awaiting us. 

Horseeee

However, during the first competition between the chickens, all of us were shocked and disappointed with the way they treated the animals there. The chickens were fighting to their deaths, with strips and patches of feathers being ripped off by one another. We could literally see the red flesh of the chickens. They were also extremely skinny, almost like a skeleton. 

After the competition, they were locked back into small cages. 

Next up was racing competitions of horses, dogs and ostriches. Although they do not seemed to be abused, I thought they were really very thin and the owners should feed them more. 

We went around exploring the different cultural sites and caught the circus show in time. Here, we experienced yet another wave of trauma. The first act was tigers performing tricks. It was my first time watching a circus show and I was rather excited when the lights dimmed for the first performance. However, it was just another round of animal abuse. Poor tigers, they were forced to obey and were totally controlled by the trainers; or rather their whacking sticks. Some of our classmates cried at the sight of this behaviour. As we could not stand the cruelty of animal abuse, we left the circus halfway through the show. 

For the remaining time, we played at a playground nearby. 

Although we might complain that animal abuse is cruel and vicious, inhumane actions that are against the laws (in most countries), we should also take time to argue that those people are poor and they only had these animals to make money from. However, I thought instead of hitting the tigers to force some tricks out of them or making chickens fight to death, maybe rewarding them with snacks would be a better idea. This will motivate them to put up a good performance and at the same time, not getting hurt. The audience will also then enjoy the show comfortably. 

Today was also the last day with our Hefei guide and shifu. They were very friendly towards us and were probably the best I had met so far.  

Overall, today was really a meaningful day indeed. 

~ Kitty

26/05/2014 - OELP Day 2

Today, we finally met our buddies in Hefei No. 45 Middle School.  At first, I was extremely excited but worried at the same time because I was afraid that my buddy and I would be very awkward together, especially it was the first meeting. However, my buddy, He Yuwen, was a very cheerful and lively girl who greeted me with wide smiles on her face. Even I was shy, she took the initiative to pick up a conversation with me. During lessons, she explained what the teacher was saying, ensuring that I understood everything. She also introduced some of her classmates to. The students there were very welcoming to us too.

I noticed that their lessons were quite different from us. For example, they do not use calculators during Math lessons at all. At first, when the Math teacher told the class to find the average of some numbers, I was expecting my buddy to take out her calculator. But instead, they mental calculated. I was amazed as in Singapore, we always have our calculators with us. For Chinese lesson, they had to memorise 文言文, which is ancient Chinese passages that looked very difficult to me. On the other hand, many of them could memorise and read out the whole thing very quickly. 

We were dismissed from lessons earlier to interact with our buddies. Some of us went to our buddies' house while the others hang around in school or nearby places. Honestly, I did not expect much. However, I was speechless at the sight of her house. It was much beautiful and big compared to mine. It changed my perspective of the way of life and standard of living of people. 

Part of my buddy's living room

Another thing that I observed was that the people here were very enthusiastic and treated visitors as one of them. My buddy's mother kept asking us if we wanted to eat or drink something. She brought me to nearby places around like stationary shop and bought me some snacks after that. I felt quite embarrassed as they payed for all of our food. 

A stationary shop near her house. The things there were really nice 👍

We gathered back in school after two hours or so. We were disappointed when we found out that our itinerary has changed and we will not be going to Hefei No. 45 Middle School the next day. 

I really enjoyed having lessons and interact with them. I hope there is a chance for me to participate such exchange programmes in the future. By visiting their school, it also taught me to better appreciated and be grateful for what RV provides me with. 

5 THINGS I LIKE ABOUT RV:

1. Beautiful and clean toilets ❤️

    -> RV toilets are much cleaner than the ones in China. The best thing is that every RV toilet cubicle has a door.

2. Beautiful field ❤️

    -> In Hefei, they only had 2 basketball courts. But RV has a huge field with tracks.

3. School uniform ❤️

    -> I have not take much notice about RV uniform, but after several compliments during the trip, I kind of felt so too. Even the Hefei students are envious of our uniquely designed uniform. 

4. Canteen and hostel cafe ❤️

    -> They do not have a cafeteria in school and had to eat their lunch at home or outside school. However in RV, we have not only a canteen that provides us with different delicacies, but also hostel cafe that gives us more food options to choose from. 

5. Classroom ❤️

    -> Our classrooms are much bigger and spacious than Hefei's ones, where they are squeezed together with 60 others. 

~ Kitty

25/05/2014 - OELP Day 1

After staying in Shanghai's hotel for one night upon our midnight arrival in China, we had breakfast buffet in the hotel the next morning. My first meal in China was not so pleasant. The food were oily and did not taste nice at all. 

After breakfast, we proceeded straight to take a 3hr ride from Shanghai to Hefei by high speed rail. This is my first time boarding a high speed rail although I have seen one before in TV programs. It looked kind of cool from the outside. Inside, it is about the same as the plane, just that the high speed rail is narrower and has only 5 seats in a row. I could not really see the scenery outside as I sat at the column nearest to the passageway. 

In the train 😏

Upon getting out of the railway station, we were greeted by the scorching sun. I thought Hefei was cooler than Singapore, but it turned out that there was not much difference. The traffic condition in Hefei was no joke. Vehicles drove around dangerously on vast roads and kept beeping one another. It was really scary when we crossed the road to our travel bus. The drivers were impatiently beeping us and we were afraid they would crash into us any moment. Some of the roads did not have arrows and divisions like Singapore so I thought this might be one of the reasons of why the traffic conditions was messy. 

I was thankful to avoid the sweltering heat in the air-conditioned bus, not to mention how big and luxurious this bus was. Not long after boarding the bus, we witnessed an accident not far away. Many of us were shocked as we seldom witnessed one before. However, within a short period of time, we witnessed another accident not far away. It horrified me because there were so many accidents occurring in Hefei. I thought I have to be more careful when crossing the roads. 

Soon later, we arrived at a restaurant for lunch. The food was not too pleasant too. The environment was very dirty and did not have air-conditions at all. It did not even looked like a restaurant. I did not went to the toilets, but according to many of our classmates, it was extremely dirty with flies all around. I thought I better not go and ruin my appetite. 

After lunch, we proceeded for our first learning journey in 三河古镇 (Sanhe Guzhen). The buildings were like Chinese houses long ago and appears ancient dramas. This place is beautiful. However, the guide sometimes left some of us behind while she continued talking on and on. Not understanding what we were looking at as she rumbles on, I felt kind of bored during this visit at 三河古镇. 

Some sceneries in 三河古镇...

Shops in 三河古镇...

Dinner at a restaurant nearby was definitely much better as compared to the one we had for breakfast and lunch. The appearance of the restaurant was good, and the food tasted better. After that, we headed off to check in our hotel. We ended our day with mini ice breaker games and reflections time. 

Although it was quite a boring and disappointing Day 1 in Hefei, it made me learn more about the environment and life style in China. I guess I have to adapt to it soon. I wonder what adventures and challenges are awaiting us down the week.

~ Kitty

Last Day (Day 7) MingWei

LAST DAY IN CHINA!
It was the last day in China. It was the only day where we got to shop. We were brought to Tunxi Ancient Street to begin our shopping mania. There were things of all kinds there from tea leaves to car models. Everything, nah, there were many cool things there. We were first brought to this tea leaves shop that had asking prices up to 40k yuan. That is absurd, I wonder who will pay so much for tea.I guess the riches would be able to enjoy it with the tea experts not like a normal person that has no understanding of tea . Later on, we were giving 30 minutes free time to shop. Obviously, we overshotted the time xp. There were too many things for us to even finish browsing through. Well, I was one of the last few to actually gather with the class. I blame the shopkeeper not having a large enough plastic bag LOL. I bought some cool stuffs like a motorcycle model, an ancient car model. and lastly a yacht model. They were amazing, and they were pretty cheap, I was able to haggle the price slightly lower ;D. Well definitely, I still paid more than production fee but still cheaper than what people would get it at normal price. These models were beautiful those the motorcycle and car models were rusty, it didn't matter to me. After shopping, I rushed with Zhan Ting to gather with the class. Very soon, we left Tunxi Ancient Street. We also had a slow boat ride at a river later on, it was gently moving. Everyone seemed to be pretty excited to move to the rear of the boat as it was out in the open and we could enjoy the cooling wind and a open view of the surroundings. Soon, it was night time, we were to leave for Singapore.We took a midnight plane which was delayed to approximately 1.30？ We were giving some vouchers to spend and definitely it was all worth, I had nice dessert :D. That was pretty much my trip in China, I certainly had a fun time and hope that that would be more of such OELPs in the future.

~MingWei :D

Day 6 MingWei

2nd Last Day in China. Firstly, we went to Xidi(西递）, it was originally called 西川 because of the water streams flowing through it. It was pretty similar to Hongcun, but one thing that's different is the semi circle tables in the living room of the residences. When the master of the house isn't at home, the semi circle tables would be split to the sides of the living room, however when he's at home, the semi circle tables would join together and form a circle. This allows anyone to know if their master is at home. When the first time i saw it,  I thought it was juz for decoration purposes or just to save space, never to know that it had such meaning behind it. This night, there was a night lecture by a lecturer by a vice principal from a tourism school if I'm not wrong. We addressed him as 胡教授. During his lecture, he covered a lot more than what we have learnt. However, what he said seemed to be too chim for me lol. It was obvious that my chinese standards are not high enough to even understand what he covered. But, at least I understood some parts. However,1 thing that puzzled me is that if he's the vice principal of a tourism school, why would he not know about the population of Singapore.He told us that it was around 3.5 million , and kept repeating that. However, none of us raised any objections when he asked us if it's correct, I was too shy to even say anything and to be honest, as it was late at night around 9 o'clock, I was feeling pretty sleepy. I tried my best to stay awake and listen while taking down notes though.After that, as it was the second last day of our trip, Mr Wong and Ms Ho decided to have circle time. We shared some things about our class, such as cliques, bullies which seemed strange to me lol. Since when was there bullying in our class, if jokingly yes, but in seriousness, no. Well, perhaps I'm not aware of it or I'm part of the bullying(bully/victim) just that I'm not aware.

~MingWei :|

Day 5 MingWei

We woke up in the morning at 4.15 and had to rush down to the lobby to assemble so that we can watch sunrise :D and definitely we saw it. We were told to use the large sweater, whatever u call it. However, I thought that it was enormous, too big for me and I decided to wear my jacket which wasn't even enough to keep me slightly warm. When I stepped out of the hotel, that first step, I was trembling. It was freezing cold, I totally regretted not taking the large sweater which I assume it would keep me much warmer than my useless jacket. However, suffering this little cold is totally worth it as we were able to watch the beautiful sunrise.It was mesmerizing. I never thought i would be able to see a sunrise as close as this. If only my phone didn't spoil at Changi Aiport, I swear I would have at least 100 pictures of it for all of you to see, but sadly 'IF'. We were told to return to hotel or it's pretty much free time for us till breakfast. at 6.30? Some of us were outside the hotel enjoying the morning breeze though it's really cold, but well it's once in a lifetime or maybe not. We were talking,chatting about some stuffs and time flew. Later on, we went to Hongcun. It was started or established by the Wang Family, and majority of the people there were 汪s. The school there was also for the Wangs only. And they were allowed to study for free. Jordan was sick, some of the guys and some girls accompanied him for the 2nd time. We had some fun time and had some photo shots in there.

~MingWei :D

Day 4 MingWei

Today was a pretty simple day, we had our morning and it's time to leave Hefei. We set off to HuangShan！We had a approximately 3.5 hours bus ride to Huangshan. Later on we had to take the cable car up and then begin our hike! The cable car was enormous, not those normal ones you see, it could occupy a lot, I guess more than 100? Idk , I had forgotten. Well, Zhanting, Jeslyn and I was actually playing truth or dare on the cable car and that pretty much the whole cable car ride. And as usual, Yida having the phobia of heights, he stood in the middle of the cable car and closed his eyes. Very soon, we reached the other end of the cable car station. We had to walk around 15 minutes before we reached our hotel. We left our bags and most of our belongings there before we went for our climb to 光明顶. It was the highest peak at Huangshan at around 1840m.It was the 2nd highest peak at Huangshan with Lotus Peak(Lianhua Feng) at 1864m high.Well Zhanting, Yida and I decided to climb the mountain at a faster rate and definitely, we reached there around 30 minutes before the others. We had some free time while we explore 光明顶 before the others xD. Later on, when everyone reached, we had some class photos, guess our class bonded from this climb :D
Yida and I also bought a lock for fun and locked it on the ropes there. I guess it would be cut off before I will be able to go there and see my lock in the future. Later on, we had dinner and we were told that we would be waking up early to watch sunrise tomorrow. We were told that there was a 50% chance that we would be able to see it, which means it was only 50-50. Pray lord that we would be able to watch it or we would have to wake up at 4+ in vain.


~MingWei :D

Day 3 MingWei

Day 3 was gruesome. Horrible. And it left me in pain,ashamed. I'm ashamed to be even typing about this thing but whatever. In the morning, we went to the museum and learnt many things there. HOWEVER, it isn't the main focus of day 3's reflection. It was the 中国非物质文化遗产园 that we went to. Firstly, we had the cock fighting.There were 4 cocks that were fighting in group a and b. They were fighting brutally against each other, where blood could even be seen. Meanwhile, my friends and I were actually excited, trying to guess which one will win. Later on, there was the horse and dog racing. As usual, we did the same thing we did during the cock fighting. We actually neglected the fact that they are actually fighting each other for survival. The dogs are racing for food. We did not consider things happening behind the scene. Who knows if the dogs were starved and the people at the 中国非物质文化遗产园 used a piece of meat as a bait so that the dogs will chase after it and be able to eat it. BUT, only 1 dog, the winner will be able to eat it. So what about the other dogs? Do they starve just because they aren't able to run faster as compared to the other dog? And if they continue losing, will they have no food at all? Will they just starve and die of starvation？ And to the people at 中国非物质文化遗产园， they will just be like okay this dog died, then get another dog to replace them. Where's the compassion? I neglected all these and was just in my world about who's the winner. To be honest, not because of the next show, I do not think that I would be able to reflect and think of all these things that I said just now. And the next show was the circus. A live circus. The first part of this circus show, was the lions and tigers performing. There was 2 Chinese youngsters that were holding metal bars in the arena/stage trying to control and make sure the animals perform. One could evidently see that the animals were not well prepared for the performance as they were not cooperating with the two youngsters. Just because of that, the 2 Chinese men used the thick metal rod to whack the animals. It was obvious that it was animal abuse but what could i do. I felt so helpless. The animals retaliated by growling at the 2 men, the 2 men was also taken aback. 1 of the 2 men also jumped back after the growls. I could not take the show anymore and decided to leave the circus. However, at the beginning, Mr Wong did not allowed my friend and I to leave and told us that we can stay behind and just not watch it. We heeded his advice and closed our eyes. WIthin a minute, some classmates told us that we can leave the circus. There were a few more classmates not being able to take the performance and requested to leave the place. However, after staying outside, I thought would it make a difference if I was watching or not, why not watch the whole thing and understand more about it and see what I can do to help in the future. Then, as I was about to enter the circus, Charmaine came out and told me that there were no more animals performance, and asked me to ask the others to enter the circus. That day was a really bad day, however it actually taught me many things. It taught me to look at a thing with different perspectives etc. Well, the 2 men at the circus may have no choice but to do so. But why? Because they have to survive! Even though, this day wasnt too much of a good day for me, I realised I learnt alot.


CSI
Color : 

The color red represents pain and shame. 
Symbol:

We need to protect the animals, show care and help them.
Picture:

From today, I certainly learnt a lot from the incident at 中国非物质文化遗产园.

~MingWei :(

Day 2 MingWei

Today is the day where we had a different tour guide, it wasn't our previous tour guide-- Jessie, but an unknown man. Tour guide Jessie said that she would want to make friends with her and enjoy the next three days with us. Well she's gone, at least not our tour guide for the next days. We were told that she was sick, but was she? This new tour guide for pretty good, he was informative and loaded us with tons of facts, etc. I didn't fall asleep today, at least that's what I can recall.

Tdy is also the day where we met our China buddies, I had a tall buddy called Liyuan. He is pretty nice and gave me a warm welcome. This guy was always speaking English yet I repeatedly requested him to speak Chinese as he was speaking far more slower than that of what I listen frequently. I wasn't used to it, however, I think my spoken Chinese was so horrible that he wasn't able to understand it thus using English all the time, or he was worried that my Chinese proficiency was not high enough to understand their Chinese. Well, I don't deny that. Firstly, my Chinese sucks(yes,it sucks). Secondly, I'm not used to their accent, which I can't be blamed for that as every country has their own different accents, slangs etc, where it goes our infamous 'Singlish'. But one thing, I don't understand is that why do the Chinese students think that we don't understand Chinese. Do we look non-chinese to them? Or did the school not inform them we are able to converse in mandarin lol. I guess the school wanted us to communicate, have fun with them ourselves. At 合肥45中, I did not dare to enter their toilet as it had an awful stench. I didn't want to even get close to the toilet, till Zehan asked me to accompany him. It was really horrible. Just standing at the staircase outside it, I wanted to puke. After my first step into the toilet, I almost puked, I ran out of the toilet straight away. It was unbearable, that was one of the worst toilets I ever seen, ever entered. I don't understand how the students there were able to survive in that toilet. This led me to a puzzling question--- Why do they not take proper care of toilet hygiene? We had several lessons there and the lesson that I understood best was Math. They were learning about average, mean, etc. After lessons, we were to visit our buddy's home. His mother was ready, outside of school prepared to send us to their home. They live on the 5th floor, his house was pretty simple like every HDB flat one can see in Singapore.  However, one thing about their floor is that they did not build floor panels on it, so it was pretty much like those in Rv corridors. At his home, I played Chinese Chess with him and amazingly, I BEAT HIM IN IT! Not sure if gave chance to me though, but the feeling to win a Chinese student in chess is great. (Not implementing that every Chinese/Chinese students are good in chess). His mother gave me many food like dumpling, yoghurt, etc. Later on, he introduced Ultraman to me lol. I totally have no understanding about Ultraman, and he told me his sister was an avid fan of Ultraman. I had a pleasant time there, however good things always seem not to last long, it was time for me to leave and return to their school to meet with our tourguide and teachers. Sadly, I had to part with him. Well, it was nice to meet him, and I hope that he will pay me a visit in Singapore , and I'll certainly give him  a warm welcome :D


5 things I like about RV
1. Clean Toilets (YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS)
learnt to be grateful to the cleaners in our schools for keeping our toilets so clean compared to 合肥45中.
2. Small Number of students as compared to their classes
They had like 50-65 students in their class and that is really a lot, really A LOT. It would be really hard for the teacher to take care of every single student and make sure all of them understands. OR perhaps I'm underestimating the teachers' power.
3.Shorter lesson time
Their schools end at around 5, and THATS CRAZY. I can die even when school ends at 2.30 usually, and idk how can they survive so long school hours.
4.School Canteen
We need a school canteen to have our meals, however at 合肥45中, there wasn't a school canteen and they were dismissed from school to eat outside and to enter school later on to have lessons. This would be pretty troublesome.
5. School Facilities
As compared to 合肥45 中, RV has much more facilities than them. We have a fitness corner, track , football field,etc. However they only have some basketball courts and a fitness corner that is not properly taken care of. The metal bars have gone rusty.

~Mingwei

Day 1 Mingwei

The first thing i can rmb was that The food was horrible. It was disgusting especially for the first 2 meals of the day. Breakfast had food that were not cooked, corns look pale in color, food look revolting to an extent that I had no choice but to only eat toasts and a drink of orange juice. Lunch was even horrible, they did not serve plates but only a bowl for us to eat around 10 dishes, rice and soup. Best still, only 2 spoons were given for 9 people to drink soup. Their service attitude was bad when our teacher asked for plates and one of the waitress simply asked, "what for"(in Chinese). It was one of the most tormenting eating experiences i ever had. Fortunately, dishes for dinner were slightly better and I was able to eat more. You guys may be thinking that im eating very less, all I can say is I have no appetite to eat them, thus I ate what I think is adequate for myself.I hope this would clarify why im eating much lesser compared to the others.Hopefully, these dishes would change for the better. Not for the dinner, I believe I would be all dead, having no mood to write the reflection now.

We also took the high speed railway train to Hefei in Anhui which was around 3 hours. I've no idea what happened on the train as i was deep asleep as I was exhausted from yesterday getting little sleep.

We also visited the sanheguzhen today, we had to walk for a little over 3 hours which was unbearable due to the glaring sunlight and the warm temperature. My back was totally wet. There were several attractions at the sanheguzhen, for example sunliren residence. There was also the yangzhenning former residence, he is the first  Chinese who got the Nobel award thats related to physics. In the preserved residence, there were also information boards which introduces the renowned people of Anhui.  The preserved buildings dates up to 600years back which is really surprising as they have not been demolished but kept as a tourist attraction.

In a nutshell, it was a terrible day for me and my friends, I guess.

~MingWei

day seven china(last day)

written by jeslyn(6)2E:
we went shopping at the laojie, something that everyone(i think) was excited about. however, as we did not have much time left, we only shopped for forty minutes, just enough time for me to buy some items for my friends and family.

next, we took the boat to another place. we learnt that the river we were on was actually man-made. although the scenery did not seem rather fascinating to me, we still took photos together.

we went to a place that has a statue of yuefei, a general who loved his country, and it also has yuefei's tomb along with his son's.

today, we did not go to alot of places as it was the last day and we mainly travelled a long journey on the bus to the airport. and as we arrived at the airport, i could not help but feel rather sad about the fact that this OELP trip was coming to an end.

throughout the entire OELP trip, i have truly learnt alot, from cultural history to knowing more about the people around me. i made new friends, i gained more knowledge of the history of a part of china, i bonded more with the class. during dinners, my dining table will always be playing games, to eat finish the food, and we are the table that always seem to get about two-three plates of the same dish. but through the many dinners, we know more about each other, we laugh together.

through this seven days of OELP trip, we as a class, we became more bonded as we climbed huangshan together, watched the sunrise together, ate dinner together, took photos together, and most of all, spent quality time laughing along with each other. perhaps, even after this OELP trip has ended, my friends and i will look back to these memories and ask each other," did we really do that?" and the think back to how much fun we had together, as a class.

and i am certainly glad i have been on this educational trip with my class, afterall it made me widen my knowledge of what is around me and the people around me.

PICTURES!:D

day six in china

written by jeslyn(6) 2E:
today, we mainly went to the different villages and went on a cultural visit to shexian. the different villages have different cultural histories in them, with a lot of artifacts and information about the ancestors. one of the villages gave me a deep impression whereby it has seven memorial archways, each of them with different meanings. one of them was about how filial a son was, whereby he was willing to sacrifice for his father and his father was also willing to do so for him, in the end the traitors who saw this let them go. each of this memorial archways with a different story behind them actually made me learn alot.afterwards, we went to a beautiful place nearby with alot of flowers and butterflies with bees.

we also saw the court with bao gong the official who literally represented justice who used to work there.

next, we went to shexian and went to the huishang big house,tangyue, etc. we continued to learn more about the cultural history of shexian and took pictures too.

finally, at night we went for a talk about huizhou and its past and success. i learnt that all these famous people who came from huizhou must have worked really hard to gain success. we also learnt about the spirit of the huizhou people: to be determined in whatever they do. and i feel that we should be as persistent as them to, to not be afraid of all the hardwork we have to do.

for the entire day, we just went on a cultural visit and a talk, although it did not seem very exciting but i felt that i have learnt alot along the way about being determined and how rich in cultural history huizhou was. however, i am starting to feel rather sad about the fact that this OELP trip is about to come to an end.


pictures!:D

day five in china

written by jeslyn(6) 2E:
we had to wake up really early(literally 4am+) to watch something new:sunrise. i have never really seen the sun rise before so i was really excited to see it for the first time in my life.
we had to climb up the stairs, dragging our tired bodies up in the darkness and when we finally reached there, the place was already very crowded as everyone was waiting for the sunrise. i felt rather tired and when i could not see the sunrise, i was so frustrated i actually wanted to sit down and not bother about it but after awhile, i felt that by doing so, isnt it a waste of effort?
hence, i stayed up there with some of my classmates and teachers waiting for the sunrise and when it happened, i felt rather happy that i did not step down and that i had patiently waited for the sunrise. everyone was staring at the sunrise in awe and so was i.

and obviously, i took a lot of pictures of something beautiful i have never seen before.

we continued climbing around after breakfast, looking at the scenery at huangshan and taking pictures before we went back to the tour bus.

next, we went to the 南湖书院and a village with cultural history in them. at the 南湖书院, we learnt that it has 200 years of history, with a lexu hall, and the classrooms that do not have lamps or lanterns as they study by using the natural light. we also learnt that in the past, when the hat is in, the owner is in; when the hat is not there, the owner is also not there.

apparently, the place was built based on people who either donated or put in effort and time to help.

when we went to the village, i saw alot of signs regarding about caring for one another's safety for example, "常念防火经，家家都安宁“ it means that as long as there are precautions taken for sudden fire outbreaks, everyone will be safe.

hence, from today's trip, i learnt that as long as i put in effort in whatever i do, i can learn in the process and i will be able to reap what i sow just like the people who built the place that we visited.

pictures!:D

day four china

written by jeslyn (6) 2E:
we spent most of our day climbing up huangshan and admiring the beautiful scenery. first, we took the cable car up and we climbed up to the hotel for the rest of the journey.
the scenery was literally breathtaking, with all the mountains and the nice setting. we took alot of pictures and my legs were shaking from the phobia of heights and also from climbing too much.

as the we saw the amount of flights of stairs we had to climb, everyone mentally groaned as we climbed up. along the way as i graudally felt rather unwell, i felt the kindness of my classmates, one of them even willing to help to carry my bag.

we also went to see the sunset and at that moment, i felt that i had been missing out alot and i kept taking pictures with my teachers and friends, along the way i made new friends.and of course, monkeys climbing up and blocking us from climbing down from the top.

we did not go to any museums whatsoever, but i felt like ive gained alot and learnt that we should reach out more to nature, go out more often with friends or family and that although this trip was very tiring, ive actually felt quite happy about it.

now for the pictures!:D

day three china

written by jeslyn tan(6) 2E:
firstly, we went to the anhui museum and we saw alot of relics from many years ago. one example was the splendid bronze culture that was used for sacrifices, weddings, banquets and meetings. we also learnt about the memorial archways that were used for landmark, achieving high office, exemplary behaviour and longevity; the different plaques of archways made from the family itself, from the place itself and from the country itself. i learnt alot from this trip to the anhui museum, also learning about the different paintbrushes and things related to it. i learnt that the relics were unique with different meanings, and that it must have been an honour to have a memorial archway for oneself if one were to do something good.

the next place we went to was the theme park that left a huge impact on us. one example was the circus. i felt that it was ok for me to handle as a tiger was made to jump onto a wheel with another tiger in it. however, some of my friends had started crying as they saw the sight before them and it hurts to see them cry hence i brought them out to comfort them. some people came out too, crying about how this was animal abuse. after comforting them, we went back in to watch the performance but we watched silently until the part when a small bear came out did some of my friends start to lose themselves again.

as we went to the playground to play, i felt that i saw a different side of my friends. i saw that they actually cared about what has happening around them and i learnt that although the people in the circus needed to earn money and risked their life by doing so, it was utterly wrong to use the animals for their benefit. i felt disgusted at the same time and was glad to see my friends having such reactions to such actions and if everyone were to stand up and state their opinions, i believe that such a thing would not happen again.

hence, i feel that it is wrong to use animals for their benefit. Do animals not have feelings too? perhaps these people needed money to survive thus they resort to such means.

i also felt that the class had became more bonded, however, this day has been so eventful i did not really take alot of pictures.