5 things i love about rv

written by jeslyn from 2E(6):

1.how clean the toilets are

2.the different type of activites done after school

3.the hygiene

4.not alot of students per class

5.able to learn an extra language like malay

why?

-i realised that although the school we went had a better and more vibran atmosphere, they did not know how to speak another language like malay. they also had very few extracurriculum activities. furthermore having so many students was very cram for everyone to study. the toilets there were dirty as compared to our school, hence im grateful for how clean and hygienic RV is.

day two in china

written by jeslyn (6)2E:
today, we went to visit the 合肥45中学 for school immersion lesson observation.we went to the auditorium and met our buddies there. i met my buddy who was called flora and she was rather pretty and friendly. firstly, we were assigned to different classes. my cid group and i were assigned to a class that we did not expect to be so noisy. everyone was having fun and the atmosphere was a total contrast from our class. while waiting for our teachers, our class will normally be rather quiet with the exception of some people talking loudly. here, everyone were just having fun.
the first lesson was maths and the topic was about average. everything was in chinese and it was difficult for me to learn at the start but gradually, with the help of flora,i understood what they were learning. when the teacher asked a question, everyone was shouting out their answers and trying their best to solve the questions. this went on for the rest of the lessons and i realised how different our class were from them(again): when the teacher asked a question, my class would not even bother to raise their hand or shout out the answers as a class, that type of attitude usually led to our teachers feeling rather disappointed. however, when we came here, i was rather shocked at how passionate the entire class of 59 students were about learning and we should really learn from them.
in between the lessons, something different happened. when the next teacher came in, music started playing with a female voice saying something. flora told me that they were doing exercises for their facial muscles to feel relaxed. they also had a period of time to go out and stretch for awhile and talk with their friends.

later that evening, flora brought me to her house that was lovely and we spent the whole evening talking and laughing at her class unglams. her mother even cooked specially for me and her family was very friendly, attempting to strike up a conversation with me in english.

through the dinner with them, i learnt about the chinese slang that they used which i clearly did not understand what they were talking about. before i left, they gave me loquats that they had planted. and when we were getting ready to leave the school, my buddy hugged me as we unwillingly said goodbye to each other.

till now, im still missing her and her friendly family.

but from this day, i learnt alot about different slangs, to be more active about learning, the different type of dinner the chinese eat there and how to communicate and reach out further to different types of people.and i was definitely grateful for how my buddy and her family and the class treated us.

picture time!:D

day one of china

written by jeslyn(6) 2E

day one(25/5):
today, we took the high speed rail from shanghai to Hefei. it was rather fun at the start and it was very fast too. next when we alighted from the train I saw something obscene: a mother pulling down her daughter's pants bringing her daughter to the side and letting her daughter pee there before throwing the used tissue paper onto the puddle. I was horrified and for the journey to the exit, I did not dare to walk near the side. but this horror of inconsiderate people did not stop.

when we went to the toilets in the restaurant, we lost our appetite. the toilet door was not working, one of the tap was not working an to make it worse there were flies everywhere. how could we not lose our appetite? luckily, I did not enter the disgusting toilets but simply standing outside and guarding the toilet main door for my friend was terrifying enough.

next, we went to 三河古镇. one of the most interesting place in  三河古镇 was the 杨振宁旧居. in there, it said that he was the first Chinese to receive the nobel prize award and that in his later part of his life, he had married a woman much younger than him. however, they seemed to truly love each other. from here, I learnt that he must have been a very diligent person, to have been able to receive the nobel prize award and we should learn from him.

we also went to other places etc。刘同兴隆庄，仙姑楼, 二龙街

from today, I learnt that we should be grateful to have such clean toilets in Singapore and that we should be like  杨振宁, never give up and be hardworking.

gallery viewing time!:D

Day 7 in China

Today marks the last day of our trip but the most exciting one because we finally get to go shopping. Although we were allowed to shop, it depended if everyone was on time to leave the hotel. Thank goodness all of us were on time and had our time to shop.

We visited the Tunxi Ancient Street to shop. What we could buy there was their sweet desserts, tea leaves and some souvenirs. We had a total of 40 minutes to shop which most of us felt that it was too little. The street definitely was not very long but some of the shops were relatively big and there were really unique things like paper fans where the guy would make something nice out of your name on the spot. The shop had quite a long queue, therefore we felt that we did not really have enough time.

Next, we went to have our lunch and walked across the street to take the West Lake cruise. The river that the boat was travelling on is a man-made river. The view from the river was not fascinating at all but the breeze definitely is nice. I enjoyed the breeze and saw some nice buildings. 

Alighting from the boat, we went to Yue Fei Mausoleum. There we learnt about Yue Fei who is someone who loves the country a lot and fought for the country. His mother carved something on his back about bring loyal to his country. He is said to be buried now at the Yue Fei Mausoleum and there is a nicely rounded grave at the back of the temple. Although we are not sure if Yue Fei is really buried there but people still give respect to him and pray there.

That was the last stop we went before heading to the airport. It's really saddening to be heading to the airport because it means that the OELP trip has ended. We had our own dinner at the airport and checked in right after. We had quite a lot of time after entering the departure hall and we were given coupons to shop inside. We already had our lunch, so we decided to just get ice cream. Some of our classmates did not use their coupons at all, therefore we decided to bless others by buying the ice cream with the coupon and just giving them out to random strangers.

By chance, I gave an ice cream to an air stewardess who is also taking the same flight as us back to Singapore. On the plane back to Singapore, just before we land, she came to my seat and gave me and my friend a bag of things to thank us for the ice cream. It was unexpected as what I did was just give out ice creams because we had extra coupons. Definitely more blessed to give than receive.

Day 6 in China

Today, we visited villages and villages only. We went to different villages in Anhui like Huishang big house. I feel that the villages we visited, although built and lived by different people, I feel that they are relatively same. The villages that we visited, they all looked alike. Although the villages looked alike, their history was different.

The village that stood out the most and left the deepest impression on me is the one with the memorial archways. Each of these archways have a meaning to each of them and for decoration purposes. Some of these archways are: Bao Can Xiao Memorial Arch, the Kindness arch, the Bao Xiang Xian Shang Shu Memorial Arch etc. The Bao Xiang Xian Shang Shu is a rank in the historical occasions in China.

After visiting all the different villages, we had our dinner and checked into our hotel before having a 2 hours lecture. It was not really a lecture but it was an introduction of Anhui. I learnt more about the history of Anhui, their famous food and famous people. The famous people might not be known to us but it was interesting listening to the stories of these famous people. I loved the food part most because it was interesting to finally find out what we ate for the past 5 days which ones were actually their famous local food.

After the talk, we had a reflection-briefing kind of thing. We sat in a circle and I feel that it made me think harder of what the purpose of this trip was and what we should have taken note in the trip. I was also reminded of what this trip could help our class and of ourselves. I feel that this circle time thing allowed more people to open up.

In conclusion, I felt quite restless for the whole day as we were visiting from villages to villages and even had a 2 hour cultural talk after the tiring "village hopping". Although I was not looking forward to the 2 hour talk at all, I realized that whatever I missed out during the trip itself was covered again, allowing me to realize that if I had paid more attention during the trip itself, I would have known it already.

Day 5 in China

Today, we woke up at 4am just to watch the sunrise. Although it is very hard to see the sunrise during spring season and it was a 50% chance, we were all very lucky to have witnessed it.

We climbed for about 10mins before we settled at a spot to watch the sunrise. Although we woke up at 4am, when we reached the spot, there was already a lot of people in front waiting to watch the sunrise. The sunrise was beautiful and we were allowed to either take a short walk or go back to sleep. I definitely cannot go back to sleep and therefore decided to take a walk myself.

On my way out, I met some of the guys in our class and decided to join them. In the end, we did not take a walk but stayed somewhere where the view was beautiful and played truth or dare. This allowed me to understand the guys better.

After breakfast, we took another walk at Huang Shan before going back to the hotel for lunch and check out. Although it was just a short walk compared to yesterday, I feel that I witnessed from a different angle --- a better view of Huang Shan. 

After that we had lunch and went to a village. We learnt about the history of the village. I find that they are very creative to have a step at the drain so that they are able to squat there and wash their clothes. The reason for the step is also to allow people to pass as their corridor can be quite small.  I also feel that the people at the village is very smart to build their houses such that when one house catches fire, the other does not.

In conclusion, I feel that today was a relaxing day. I feel that we are really lucky to be able to enjoy the beautiful sunrise. Even though we continued to walk around. Huang Shan after breakfast, I still cannot get over the fact that the scenery here is so beautiful and I cannot bare to leave the place. I feel that we should learn from the villagers there and their creativity.

-Zhi Yan

Day 4 in China

Today, we woke up early in the morning at 6am just to travel to Huang Shan. It was a 4 hours trip and it was really boring. Then we had lunch at Huang Shan and the food was really good. We then continued taking the bus up to Huang Shan. 

After alighting from the bus, we took our one day set of clothes and packed it in your luggage and brought it up to Huang Shan. We first took the cable car which took about 50 people and then took a 20mins walk to our hotel. We unpacked our bags and took only what we needed as we should travel light because we will be climbing a lot of steps up and down. 

We walked around Huang Shan and I was amazed by the scenery. It was beautiful and magnificent although the steps were really hard to walk on. The rocks were beautifully shaped and the layers of mountains completed the whole picture. It looked like Chinese paintings which depicts the mountains and waters. We took a lot of pictures there and it was about a 3 hours walk before we went pack to our hotel for dinner.

In conclusion, I feel that I love today the most as I was able to enjoy the beautiful scenery. I love nature, therefore I would not mind walking a whole day till my legs break just enjoying nature. I feel that we should all be glad that we can actually be there to enjoy the scenery and not make a scene because we are there.

-Zhi Yan