Today we took a 3hr ride on the High-speed rail from Shanghai to hefei.From the station,we travelled to Sanhe guzhen.Many things had an affect of my perception of the world and it's society.Just after alighting from the train,an old grandma patted me on my lower back and extended both her hands towards me,with palms faced upwards.She was begging for money!
Even though,I waved my hand telling her that I am not willing,she continued pestering me and I was really scared as I did not know what to do to get her to stop.In the end,I got her off my back when she saw that I was with a group of adults.From this incident,I understand that people prey on those who seem to be more helpless and defenseless against them.I also understand from this incident that not everybody can have the luxury we have in terms of food,water,and other necessities.
During our lunch,I was afraid to even touch the food on the table because of my past experience
With friends from china and the rumours I heard about the strong taste they have.But actually,it was not that bad after all. The food may taste different but once I got kind of accustomed to the taste and I grew to like some of the dishes like the chicken for example.Being adventurous can help us discover new hobbies,interests or favourite food.Being overly precautious,will prevent us from experiencing these things.
When we went to Sanhe guzhen,I was very adamant about touring the place and the trip really did prove my gut feeling was rite.
Today we went to 45 anhui sch. My buddy is a lively guy but shy,totally like me.Stepping in to the classroom was a total shock to me their tables and chairs had parts chipped off and the chair was very uncomfortable.Sitting on that seat made me appreciate the tables and chairs we had at school.Before coming to the school I had always believed that relieving oneself is a private matter and our reproductive organs shld be hidden from the view of others.However,the toilets in the school had no cubicles and the urinals had no partition between them to hide our sexual organs.At first,I tried to hide mine by standing closer to the urinal and using the bottom of my shirt to cover the showing parts.When two guys saw this they laughed.Initially,I was ashamed and shifted my body closer to the urinal,but after reflecting on the incident for a few seconds,I thought,well it they find no shame in exposing themselves in this way why should I?After coming to that conclusion,I stood back and finished my business.
After visiting this school I have also come to appreciate the facilities we have in our sch.
Looking at the sch compound,I I was appalled.The basketball courts had concrete floor and all the baskets had no net.There were 4 courts and a miniature fitness corner at the side in between the only 2 sch buildings in the compound.
5 things I love about RV
Condensed class size and few classes
In china there r 61 students in a class and there r 12 classes for each level
Big sch compound
More space for amenities
Good and advanced facilities
The tables and chairs r more comfortable and more conducive than the ones in China
Toilets wif partitions and cubicles
Privacy is not given at all in the sch in China
Lesser homework
Symbol
Colour grey
Ancient artifacts so all very old like old fols wif grey hair
Image
Norm reflection
First we visited the museum.We saw miniature versions of ancient cities and artifacts
And even learnt the process of Xuan zhi making.The first thing that came to my attention was that a person's name could tell us of accomplishments he or his family attained.With names such as John,Luke and Nigel these days,nothing on their status in society can be inferred.
The second thing that was intriguing was the fact that betrothal was a way to get more power and wealth.These days,we marry solely for love in a mordern society like Singapore.Even if parents do match make they do it for their child's happiness or for the greedy ones,the dowry.The king of wu betrothed his daughter to the king of cai to attain power thru their father-in-law and son-in-law relationship.This is something eye-opening as it is a creative yet brilliant tactic.
After the visit to the museum we went to Baogongci park.We learnt that Baogong wasn't actually the tall,tan and fierce dude you would see in Chinese dramas.He was actually only abt 156/7 cm on height which was quite short even by ancient standards.He was very fair too and had a gentle,introvert side of him.Another lesson I took away from this part of the trip is the amount of respect they gave him.They even built a masouleum for him and touring around his burial site I understand how important justice is to the people.I am inspired from visiting this site to help those in the world that are abused and ignored,whose voices seem to never be heard because I can empathize with their helplessness now.
On the fifth and sixth day of the trip it was mainly spending time exploring huangshan and traveling to and fro.Only in the late afternoon did we visit 3 places.Trekking Huangshan did not seem as easy as I thought it would be.I was fortunate to have my classmates to accompany me otherwise I could have given up very early.I have gained a much more confidence after accomplishing the challenge of climbing to the peak.Now I can proudly said I have conquered a mountain not a hill.Traversing this area opened my eyes to hard blue collar labour.There were many men in their fifties and sixties,even seventies carrying big,heavy packages of things up and down the mountain.The tour guide told us the average weight of the packages each man carried was about a 100kg
!They all looked very defined in terms of muscles too!I was very envious of their definition and muscle mass but then I took a different perspective,these people seemed very tired and strained,if it was me I would hate to do this kind of work for such a meager sum of money.Looking at these people I start to appreciate what the late Mr Lee has done for us.
The sixth day of our trip was not a very good day for me because I was quite sick.As a result I couldn't follow the group on some occasions.Luckily my teachers wanted to go for another round of photography in one of the attractions that day.I learnt on that day that my classmates do not hate me as much as I thought they did because they supported me when my stomach was acting up so that I could see the place .
During the seminar I learnt about some of the signature dishes of anhui and the outstanding people they recognize and pride themselves with.The thing that impressed upon was that they had a tradition of putting utmost importance on education.This was present since hundreds of years ago.This is a trait which makes it more outstanding than many other provinces.
From this trip I have come to have a better understanding of China and anhui in terms of their education system,economy and culture.
