Sheryl Mah - OELP reflection

Daily Reflection:

Day 1) 

We reached the airport in the afternoon around 2pm. As we stepped out of the airport, I felt a cool breeze. The weather here was 21 degrees at the moment! It felt so much better than the weather in Singapore as it was 30 degrees in Singapore at that time. The first place we visited was the Bund. This brought back a whole lot of memories as I had visited Shanghai before about 7 years ago, when I was in Primary 1. We were able to admire the amazing yet breathtaking sunset alongside the neatly constructed buildings. At night, we took a boatride to look around the Bund. We enjoyed the sight of the buildings decorated by flashing lights. Everyone was taking pictures without even resting. We learnt that Shanghai has such iconic buildings constructed in the Bund which represent their culture. Each building had a unique reason for their architecture. For example, Shanghai's World Financial Centre, also known as the bottle opener building, was supposed to have a circular hole at its peak instead of the current rectangular one but the Chinese protested that it looked like the Japan rising flag so they decided to change it to the current rectangular shape. It was the first day of our trip, everyone's really excited and could hardly sleep as we were spending time with our close friends. This is also an experience that was new to most of us and we really look forward to the next few days.

 

Day 2) 

When I woke up in the morning, it was entirely sunny however I noticed that the time was only 5am! However in Singapore, the sun only rose at 7+ am. We visited the French Concession in the morning at around 9.30am, we had a short walk around their old street and had a close look at their old houses. We even saw the Fu Lu Shou statues in the fountains and also went to the Shanghai Urban Planning Exhibition Centre where we learnt about the culture, history and development of China. We got to know about their famous buildings by viewing models of them. As a reward for our effort spent in reading and understanding Shanghai's culture, we had our lunch at the well-known Hai Di Lao hot pot restaurant! I must say that the food and service there topped the tables. Their service was remarkable, they took care of every little need we had. Providing us with hair ties to have a comfortable eating experience and glasses cloths in case our glasses got foggy when we are cooking the hot pot. There were just so many positive comments that I can't list them all. After a long 4 hour bus journey, we finally reached Yangzhou. To sum it up, I learnt about both the old and new cultures of Shanghai and also the reasons of success for the Hai Di Lao restaurant. 

Day 3)

We headed to the 治春茶社 for breakfast. We tried out their soup buns. It was an interesting experience for all of us because we have never heard of people using straws to drink soup. Although I burnt my tongue, I won't be able to forget this interesting experience i had. In the afternoon, we headed to the Shou Xi Hu (Slender West Lake) to bask in the nature of their historic park. Just like the Bund, the plants and bridges here also have their own unique history. For example, an easy way to remember the architecture of the zig-zag bridge is to ward of ghosts from entering as they can only move in one direction. As you know, Yangzhou is most well-known for their beautiful ladies. Thus, at night, we watched the 千秋粉黛 performance put up by some musically talented local ladies. They showcased their vocals and gracefulness while promoting their Yangzhou culture and dialect. It was a fun performance as we were also able to witness our male classmates gawking at their beauty. 

Day 4)

Today, we all woke up early to meet our new friends! The ones whom we have been talking to a few weeks ago through mail. We arrived at "扬大附中学校”. It was the first day of our school immersion trip and all of us were really excited for it. Through interaction with our buddies, I found out that most of them weren't our age and they were really friendly and hostile. My buddy kind of had the same personality as me so we became friends straightaway. After one whole day in their school, we found the students here to be really well-disciplined, attentive and respectful. During lessons, they pay 100% attention and sat up straight through the entire history lesson! Our class was the total opposite, after 10 seconds of History, you would find us sleeping already. Not only that, they did not have toilets with seats and proper flushing systems like us, but none of them complained! Usually, if we step into any toilet, we would start complaining straightaway. I feel that we should learn from students of this school. 

Day 5)

It was our second yet last day at this school and I am having loads of fun! Even though my buddy was 2 years older, I grew extremely close with her to the point that we held hands everywhere we went. One of my favourite lessons was the wushu lesson we had. Their teacher was really humorous and taught us wushu in a very comical way. He treated all of us really nice and we bonded alot more through the race games towards the end of the lesson. Other than the wushu lesson, we also had Art in which I exchanged art pieces with the other students and dumpling making sessions. The dumplings we made tasted really plain but fruitful with our efforts. At the end, both of our schools performed for each other as a parting gift and a way to thank their school for this wonderful opportunity. The ending ceremony allowed us to grow closer. As we all know, good times never last long, all friends would have to part eventually. We were leaving their school and our buddies sent us off. I took lots of pictures with them. It was a really sad moment for me because I felt like we had been friends forever due to the amount of time we had bonding with them. I teared up a little when I saw my buddy tearing up as our school bus slowly rode away. My buddy and I are still contacting each other now and we often chat about our worries, I felt really thankful to the school for this opportunity for me to have such a wonderful friend. I learnt about the differences between China and Singapore's education system, China has a longer curriculum time and did not have any after school activities unlike Singapore. I feel that China students have a more stressful life than us Singapore students so we should learn to appreciate and not complain about homework and tests. One of the best part of today was the reward we got for our effort we put in for the mass dance. Our teachers let us shop in the supermarket near by! The tidbits sold there were REALLY CHEAP. The tidbits sold in the China market were slightly different from those in Singapore, so we bought as much as our budget could hold. Today was definitely one of the best days in this trip! 

 

Day 6)

No matter how close friends are, they are always bound to have some conflicts. Being too close with your friends can make you realize their flaws. Today, I experienced alot. My friend started to ignore me and I felt really scared and didn't know what I did wrong. I was really shocked as this never happened so seriously before and I didn't know what to do. Fortunately, my friend found out that it was a misunderstanding and we reconciled. During this trip, many of the cliques in my class started to drift apart. I feel that something like this is unavoidable and a part of life, so we should learn to cherish the fun times we are spending with our friends right now. Let's talk about the places we visited today.This morning, we went to Geyuan garden and Daming temple in which we learnt about the histories of these two places with different religions. The Geyuan garden's architecture had been influenced by Confucianism and the Daming temple's design was by Buddhism. In Geyuan garden, we were given free time so my friend and I decided to climb to the top of the pagoda. We climbed till we were breathless so we decided to crawl up. It was definitely worth the sweat. The view was breathtaking! We could see the whole of the garden and even buildings far away, we even saw Yangzhou's power plants. This visit helped me understand more about the different types of gods which the Chinese worship. This night, the teachers gave us a short talk on appreciating and loving our parents. As the emotional toilet queen I am, I started sobbing but I wasn't alone. I had to constantly lend tissues from my friends, it had already been 6 days since I last saw my parents and I really missed them alot! This trip helped me to cherish our parents and to be grateful for all they have done for us. Today was definitely an unforgettable one!  

Day 7)

It's the last day! I can finally go home and sleep with my beloved toy bears and bolster, I missed the comfort of my bed so much! Today, we took the bullet train from Yangzhou back to Shanghai. It was my second time taking a bullet train. The speed of the bullet train felt almost like we were travelling on air, it was so smooth. We stopped by the Volkswagen company and had a tour around their factory. We learnt the methods they used to make cars in China through a short tram ride. Volkswagen is one of the most successful and well known type of car produced in China. I found out that the workers there are efficient in working and know exactly what they are supposed to do. They treat their job seriously and do their best. This must be one of the reasons as to why Volkswagen is such a well-known brand. Afterwards, it was time to head to the airport. On all of the bus journeys we had today, I slept through all of them. I have no idea why I was so tired, maybe it was because I missed home too much. On our flight back, I chatted with my friend for 2 hours. The feeling of returning back home was so intense that I was no longer in the mood to sleep or watch movies anymore. On the flight, I thought back on the 7 days we spent in China, recalled everything I learnt, remembered all the fun times we had. This experience will be one which I will never forget in my 6 years of life in River Valley!