5 Things I love about RV

1) The equipment we have, such as the gym and the library (which we do have access to).

2) The toilets which are fairly clean.

3) Our classrooms which are much larger in comparison.

4) The canteen and hostel cafe.

5) The staircases which are fairly safe, at least with no one playing ball games there.

-Ong Gee Hun (14)

Day 2 26/05

26/05 Day 2 45 合肥高中

Today, we went to 45 合肥高中 for lessons. We reached there at 9am and left the school for a tour of our buddy's house at 5.30pm. How the lessons were conducted were drastically different from how they were held in Singapore. Each lesson lasted for 40 mins and had a 10 mins break in between lessons. There were a set number of lessons each day, which was 4 in the morning until 12 noon and another 4 in the afternoon after a long break from 12 noon to 2.30pm for lunch. Surprisingly, there was no canteen or such in the school, so all the students without fail went home for lunch. They have no other choice. In my opinion, the system in china of having a short break in between lessons is what I would like to have in school as well. Even of that means that we might be released later at the end of the day. Having such a break would give the students enough time to consolidate what exactly was taught in the previous lesson and sufficiently prepare themselves for the next. They would also be able  to leave their seats and rejuvenate themselves. Unlike in Singapore, with the lessons one after another, at times even 5 hours without a single break, I often find myself tired and restless. Like a worn-out battery, one would not be able to concentrate fully, even if one wants and needs to do so.  Another significant difference between the system in schools would be a time for eye exercises in between lessons. Such an exercise, with the soundtrack broadcasted through the PA system, does not take much time. However, I believe that it does have benefit the students' physical well being in the long term. Something I observed would be that the number of bespectacled students are in the minority. Which is clearly the opposite for the students in our class.

-Ong Gee Hun (14)

Day 1 25/05

25/05 Day 1 三合古镇

Today, l learnt valuable things about China's culture. In my opinion, the Citizens if China puts a great deal of pride in their heritage. Especially so, as compared to Singapore. Families are willing to live in old traditional houses. Which are ancient and might not have the facilities they may need in daily life. Instead of moving to a new, better one. The sole reason being that their ancestors have been living in that house for up to hundreds of years. How many people in Singapore really remember their roots? How many people are really aware of the struggles their ancestors went through? In addition, the extend at which the facilities were preserved amazed. From the traditional shops, to the ancient bridges. All of them reflect the rich history of each and every place. Moreover, with the people who were born and raised here, there are countless legends of certain places and the meaning behind certain names. For example, a traditional bridge being named 三线桥 due to it connecting 3 provinces.  Perhaps there is deep meaning behind the names of certain roads in Singapore. However, is this widely known among the people, especially the younger generation? I guess not. One would not be aware unless sufficient research was done. Such knowledge about one's roots would not known to everyone in Singapore like that on China, Anhui.

-Ong Gee Hun (14)

Day 7

Day 7

Yay we finally got to shop in china but it was a old street(老街). But at least we got to have free time shopping. So the first shop we went to was a shop selling some traditional biscuit and tea leaves. I bought a packet of the biscuit as it tasted really good. Then we went on walking down the street and bought even more food. Then we reached a shop selling fan.  It wasn't any ordinary fan with random pictures on it. We get to write something about us, e.g our name, then the guy will make a poem out of it and write in on the fan. It was really cool and I bought a couple of it. 

Actually there wasn't much to see and buy in the street as every store sells similar things, especially the food, even the price were all the same. So 30min of free time was enough for us to finish shopping and we went onto the bus and took a few hours of bus ride back to the airport. 

That was how our trip in china ended. I've learnt quite a lot about china in this trip and also got to bond as a class. Of course there's conflicts here and there and friendship were ruined in this trip. But I'm sure there's much more we gained from this trip. I felt that the trip was a really fun one even though there were bad times, like the circus, but looking on the bright side, I definitely learnt a real lot from the trip.

-yida :D

Day 6

Day 6

Today we went to some village which also show the life of past people. To be honest I found it kind of boring as we had been to similar place like this for the past few day, like 宏村. 

But something different today was we got to have a lecture. The lecturer was from a hefei university, and he gave us a talk on hefei. He pretty much summed up the whole of our journey these few days. He also went further telling us the life of china and things we didn't get to learn during the trip last few day. The thing is that it was a night lecturer at 9+ and I was abit tired so I couldn't really focus then. Nevertheless, I did learn something from the lecturer.

After the lecture left, the teacher decided that we should have a circle time since it was the last night in china. In the circle time, many of us talk about the trip; what we enjoyed, what we gained etc. it was kind of awkward actually but I didn't really care because I was falling asleep. Then we just went back to our room and I finally get to sleep in peace. 

-yida :)

Day 5

Day 5

We woke up super early at like 5am today to go and watch the sunrise. The tour guide say it's only a 50% chance to see sunrise in this season. Luckily, we got to see it! It was really beautiful, just imagine seeing the sun rise from the angle of a tall mountain. It was really a unforgettable experience. 

We then pack our stuff and left huang Shan. We took the cable car again down the mountain. This time I wasn't that scared as compared to yesterday. I managed to see the awesome scenery when taking the cable car.

After we left huang Shan, we went to a village called 宏村. It was just another village which the people in the past used to live in. We once again learn their lifestyle and nothing much.

Lastly we returned to our hotel and as usual, did our reflection. It was a boring day and I only enjoyed the sunrise and nothing else :(

-yida :)

Day 4

Day 4

Today we went to 黄山. It's a very tall mountain with beautiful scenery. We took the bus and went up the mountain halfway. We stopped halfway to take the cable car. Taking the cable car is a very exciting, and also scary experience for me. In the cable car, we can see very awesome scenery which we don't get to see in our daily life in singapore.  But Why scary? Well, it's because I have height phobia. I've always avoided cable car, and other things like roller coaster, as I was afraid of the height. However, today I finally took the first step to take the cable car. At the very start, I was scared, I didn't dared to look outside at the scenery. However, after the encouragement from the teachers, I tried to peek outside the window, and it was actually really beautiful. I couldn't help but to keep seeing it, and my phobia for height was gone naturally. 

After that we went to climb to the peak of the mountain and we enjoyed the scenery from there. Sad thing is there's lots of weird and disgusting bugs there so I was bothered by it the whole time.

It was a really great day as I learned that phobia is just an imaginary fear, which can be conquered easily as long as we think of it in another way.

-yida :D