Trail x2Test! :D choing AHHH!!

28-10-2011

Monday blues HAHAHA!!! SO!!!! Today we are going to continue APPG lessons today with Mr.Chua. Today he required us to do 2 theory final papers personally I found one relatively easy and the other one moderately hard. From my personal point of  view a paper may be easy for someone but it may not be for the other and vice versa. Today during dinner  something interesting happed too we were eating at one of our regular  restaurant in school and  I found a interesting way they use to switch one light which is a rubber string connect to a switch up high on the wall and they used it to on and off the lights by just giving tension to the rubber then make a  “twang” sound by pulling and releasing the string which the vibration and tension triggers the switch interesting eh it’s just like the ceiling fans have back in Singapore. Also although  what im going to say not is not a learning point I find it rather worth telling during dinner at that restaurant  7 of us reached 1^st and ordered  some food shortly after like when the 1^st  few dishes came another group of 4 came surprising thing is they ordered the same dishes too and then after awhile another group came shortly just after the previous group finish ordering  and they ordered the same dish again! The waitress was surprised why was everyone ordering the same thing HAHAA and she had to go to the kitchen and inform the chef to cook another set which im guessing they wanted to cook the same dish together to save time and cost. I find this very similar to what we have in Singapore tze char stalls if they were to have 2 dishes of the same kind though from different customers they would also cook the dish together at a larger portion as this would save time and money .

study study STUDY

26/ 27-3-2011

Today  and Saturday is a self study day as Mr.Chua is out on business though he came back tonight .  I spent today and  satuday on APPG and  on the IS video on our trip at the wine factory.

Refection

Yes! I understand why is my details so short im sorry about this as there isn’t much to write about but! I learnt quite a lot a lot from this 2 days  for example when my letter writer said that im like a cup full of water and I have to empty the cup which means im full of myself and will not take it other peoples suggestions till I stop being full of myself  I realize this is true and I aim to rectify this issue  because I was actually having a hard time with my APPG  programming and when I asked wee hong for help I actually said his answer was wrong and unconventional because I have to be so full of myself and thing im always correct its just some error I did that was wrong but that is not the issue in truth im the on  that is wrong and wee hong was correct once I realize this though he wasn't offended I was ashamed and reminded of the letter my letter writer wrote . so I realized a example of me being full of myself and I hope that im able to change this not so “great” aspect of mine.

Fine winE~

25-3-2011

Hi guys today is APPG Lab test so well its like half a day gone and in the afternoon we actually went to visit the wine factory in Tianjin that produces the brand of wine called dynasty.

The guide brought us around the factory where we were brought around the different sections of the wine factory from the  brewery to the packaging line we also had a session on wine tasting where the guide actually taught us the art of wine tasting . she said that the  better the wine the more solid it is  as in if you put it against a light   the harder  for you to see through the better quality is the wine. By stirring the wine is something called “waking up the wine.” Because the wine is actually stored in the bottle for a long time and it might have set to the bottom and after stirring the wine u actually smell the wine’s fragrance. One useful property of wine that I didn't know is that it actually helps in flu interesting eh? The trip only lasted and hour and a half and then we were back at the hotel but we planned to go KTV again and this time we asked Mr.Tan to come along. 

Refection

Although today is short or not so much educational activity I particularly enjoyed the wine tasting session because I find that  wine tasting is a very useful skill in life as by knowing this skill we can actually learn how to differentiate good win from not so goods one’s or vice versa.Oh and Mr.Tan’s  singing is fabulous haha he sang so well.

Wazzup Singapore , Wazzup China ,LETs be Friends!!!

24-3-2011 

Waddup guys :D today we had APPG in the morning blah blah blah okay maybe not so blah blah we did APPG lab test wait for it…….TRAIL ONLY!!!! hHAHAHAA okay not so bad atleast I think I did okay for it :D (bluffing oneself :P).must be humble okay!!!!

So we had lunch again with Mr Tan and Mr Chua but  at a new restaurant that we had not visited yet we actually  fooled  Felicia into believing the food there is vegetarian  and she only realized  that she was being duped half way through the meal HAhaH!!!! That was so funny :P!!

Okay so todays afternoons IS  was planned by us as its actually a interaction session with our language partners and we decided to introduce them about Singapore for example the tourist attraction, how Singapore got its name, how was the Merlion came to be, our culture/races and last and not least the FOOD!!!!!!!(starting to miss Singapore =.=”).

We started the program by introducing ourselves to the language partners as there’s new comers  and in exchange they introduced themselves . we actually  started the presentations on Singapore’s famous tourist attractions such as sentosa, orchard road ,the Singapore old rail way station ,esplanade, the Ferris wheel and of course last and not least universal studio! We continued the program about the other races in Singapore and the four main races living in Singapore, we actually had Tae to present about the Malay culture and when he came to introduce about a Malia form of martial art called silat he actually presented a showcase of a few Silat moves as he himself is learning it.

We after Tae’s presentation we  also presented about the delicacies in Singapore and due to the fact that the variety of food is too much we actually   only  present  the few delicacies that is really famous such as  hokkien mee, carrot cake , Chilli crab and of course nasi brani and prata. oooo thinking about this is already making me hungry HAHAHA!!!!

 Also to make the program even more interesting Mr.Tan  actually performed quite a few  magic tricks that amazed everyone and it actually help to keep  everyone entertain and kept the atmosphere in the room fun and exciting rather than having downtimes which causes awkwardness .

After the presentations we actually get into groups and talk and tried to get to know one another more and I realize that they are actually very friendly and happy to share with us about their thoughts and opinions about life or  about the presentation that we presented and we actually spent around 2hrs talking and having fun  in the classroom though during the duration few of the students have to go as they have a lesson. One thing I realized today is that  the people doing their job when you say thank you they will always say something to you back polite while back in Singapore its not always the case .Oh oh and tomorrow’s APPG Practical Test … Hope im ready hHAHAwish me luck!!!!.

Reflection

Today I feel that is one of the most fruitful day since our 1^st day  reaching in Tianjin  because the one of the main purpose that we came here was to learn and interact with the people here and learn their culture and today’s interaction with the local students is exactly depicts what we are suppose to be doing here and I hope that more of such session can be organized  as it really teaches us many things in life that we may not know and in return we  also actually give them the opportunity to interact  with us and get to know us better.Today  not only that I will be brining  valuable knowledge that I never know I also  made a new friend in my life

Buisness minded

23-3-2011

Today is Wednesday!!! and its like hell raining on us Mr.Chua went through with us on APPG  chapter 6 and 7 all at once and finished it in like half a day…=.=” omg…… lets hope most of us are able to cope against this giant weight set on us all at once HAHA.But of  course we all listened and tried our best to absorb  or  so called “download information” but some of us at the end the result was “ download error” which means reloading the information again HAHAA>…well we do try to make our lesson intresting because the more fun it is the easier for people to take in information :D

We had lunch today Mr.Tan and Chua at  one of the local food restaurants although the dishes were simple it's a filling meal and we all enjoyed it :D.

So today there’s after IS program  (woah! Why is this week afternoons so pack!HAHA!!!)  Today’s IS lecturer  we had the same economist from the week before to give us a talk  but this time its about doing business in china.

He told us that all his years doing business in china he felt that dealing with Singapore client;s isvery challenging because Singapore clients always try to  get the best of the best deals which makes them have trouble closing the deal  with the Singapore clients. Some of this  priveledges most companies look for  such as  2-3 yrs tax exemption, less custom time because as we know it time is money and when time is delayed the money is delayed and you will earn less. He also shared with us that most companies even western country companies hire Asians or mainly Singaporeans to talk the deal through with them because they know that Asians communicating with china gives them better deals and the easier to seal the deal between the company and china. He also noted that when you are doing business with  different people from different country they have different customs that you have to follow like for example doing business with people from Hong Kong or Taiwan you usually talk business over dinner and they make u drink a lot some even consider getting yourself drunk is a kind of way of telling them that you are “friend”. In Japan they always wear the same dress code to match  both sides as it's a way of saying respect to each other. But  he said what astonishes him most is that US clients are always dress casual while talking business but when they are serious they can really be and a deal may take weeks to get through and many hours. He also mentioned that in some countries such as Italy France  the companies would actually send their lawyers over 1^st to check out the laws and legal issues before really starting the business deals. But with this companies that sends lawyers over they always find it tough to give them the best deals because  privilege such as tax exemption and less custom check time is under the books and is under the table privilege and is not part of any of the law, he shared that all his time dealing with Italian or French representative they are always very dashing and good looking (probably used to charm the opposite sex hahahaha!!!!).

Reflection

Although I do not have plans  or money to start a business in china today’s lesson was a great insight to the art of doing business  and I learnt that in order to  clinch a deal you would actually have to  get as close to your client as possible so that you are able to seal the deal. Also different countries / religions have different customs and it is always best to  follow their customs because  you are earning their respect and when you gain their respect its easier for you to do business with them. Oh  and my secret letter writer today told me im a cup too full and cant take in information hmmm is that true>?? Gotta contemplate about this when I sleep today.

eco-city has Echooooo

22 – 3- 2011

Today is TuesdaY!!!! Ahahah so APPG theory test today eh just as I said yesterday so …. This morning was kinda weird I intended to wake up at 7.30 to study my APPG as the exam is at 10am I woke up and thought ahhh theres still time so I went back to sleep woke up at 8.00am bah theres still time then I woke at 9.14am…..welll get dressed and go for the test ahaha !!! So I have no idea how will I fair in this test but  let’s hope its Goood grades :P (finger crossed.)

Ohh ohhH!!!! I forgot to tell u guys, we are having a tour at the sino eco-city this afternoon.

So at 1.45 we all gathered at the lobby and boarded the bus that will tour us around the Eco-city that is being developed by Singapore.  We were told that the main focus of the development is to make this place a sustainable , renewable place. On the downside we didn't get to visit most of  the places as it is still under construction, and although we went to the  already built places we weren’t allowed to get down the bus as the bus is just touring us along the roads of the places while the tour guide tells us what's the company about.

Reflection

Today although the Eco- City trip was kind of a disappointment as we were having  high expectations such as being  allowed to actually go in and visit some of the factories or buildings but having it end up to be just a bus ride with a commentary. I learnt that china is a  country that will soon overtake the world because  the country not only have  large lands waiting to be developed they also have lots of people that are hungry for knowledge and is always willing to learn new things . Also  during the tour around the eco-city we were told theres like 500 over  companies just in this city which a lot because this 500 companies are all major companies which is im guessing a few times more than what Singapore has and this also explains why china’s economy is blooming like a flower.

confucius says.....

21 – 3 – 2011

Hey guys its Monday!!! Yes and tomorrow is APPG test 1 so fast !!!! OMG!!! Haha  So this morning we had APPG test revision where Mr.Chua went through with us on one of the past year exam papers. The exam paper that we went through wasn't  that difficult but very tricky which tells me that even though you are  confident you will still make mistakes so it is better to check your answers atleast once. We were released for lunch at 11.30am and was to be back at 1.30pm for our IS lesson which the topic is about Chinese philosophies.

The afternoon IS class started by the teacher introducing about a very famous Chinese philosopher called Confucius aka 孔子。 He will be the main topic which we will be discussing about today.One of the few philosophies we learnt was do not compare you life with others because  most people only compare the bad things in their life with  the good things of other peoples life and not the good things in their life.This actually is trying to teach us that in life there’s good and bad things in life.

Confucius also said that all man are born with selfish nature and if the world  doesn't have selfishness the world would be a better world also he once said  when a man if full of his own opinion he wont be able to take in more other peoples opinion its like a tea cup that is full and no one will be able to pour new tea in.

Reflection

Today I realized that  Chinese philosophy is not a boring subject as the meanings is actually derived from stories , after this lesson I also realized why Confucius is such a famous person  and it is because he takes things that happened in everyday life and used them to tell people educate people on how to change themselves to improve on themsleves

Train!!!! chu chu!!

19-3-2011

Hey guys its Saturday!!! We gathered at the lobby at 9am and met with our language partners and mine came yay!!!together took a bus 643 and then a train to tang gu. Apparently train tickets in china are shaped something like casino chips.Also when u enter the platform u tap thechip like u do on a ezlink card weird eh? And when u alight  u drop the coin into the machine weird haha.

After breakfast we headed to the yang huo shi chang to explore . the place mainly sells weapons such as tasers, electrical baton, pocket knifes , butterfly knives and swords. There’s also many shop that sells fishing equipment and astronomy equipments such as telescope and binoculars I even saw night vision goggles hahah!!  But of course we wont be buying such items as it's not what we are looking for a half the items sold there is not allowed to be brought back to Singapore. Oh and the atmosphere around the place gives you the creeps as we are told the most road side stores are with the triads which are usually the people committing the crime. Which means when you pay for something and if the owner noticed u have money you may be a target of being targeted by the triad and to be robbed.

We came back to by train again at around 3pm and something that  I thought that will never happen in my life actually happened . Just as I was  about to board bus 643 I saw a hand on my peripheral vision was about to reach into my pocket I immediately smacked the hand away and board the bus immediately .yea guys I almost got picked pocketed and if im not wrong the lady was a gold haired lady and from what my friend says she might even be local as it is a Caucasian lady. Now I understand why Mr.chua and Mr.Tan always emphasis a lot on being alert of pickpockets.But my friend wasn't that fortunate as his wallet actually got picked and he lost his IC  but not that much money .

Well enough of the  unfortunate incident we actually went to KTV  at night  from 7-9pm with our language partners oh I can tell you it was so much FUN! We sang im guessing at least 40 songs haha!!! But one thing about the place is that its like a maze as its like a saware  insaide a square with many other square we almost got lost haha.

Reflection

Okay so today I learnt that we Singaporeans are actually too “pampered” by the government in Singapore as  the security is so good that we doubt we will ever be pick pocketed so when in other countries we are also laxed and did not really bother about security and after to days incident I  probably changed my mindset and  will be alert when im in a foreign country because  being alert for me today actually help me to not be pick pocketed. Also today I learnt that there are many type of people in the world and I kind off saw the dark side of many people  as we observed around us at the yang huo shi chang.

tea = 茶 :D

18 – 3 –2011

Today is Friday!!! And as I said yesterday today there’s something  cool going on. After this morning’s APPG lesson which is on chapter 5 we met  our language partners at 1.45pm and took a public bus to a place called a tea club where people go there to drink tea. At that place we was actually introduced to the tradition of tea making which is a very interesting knowledge as you guys know how good china is at making tea. We actually had the chance to try out tea brewing by ourselves which was very fun but of course some of us burned our had as the tea was too hot ahaha but its okay because everyone had fun :D  we also learnt that the clay tea pots  actually has the ability to absorb impurities from the tea that is why traditional tea pots are made of clay interesting fact eh? And also when the tea pot absorb impurities they actually change the texture of the cup and color which makes it smoother and even nicer. One important aspect of tea brewing is patience because to make a good cup of tea you have to 1^st clear the 1^st round of tea as it is used to wash the tea leafs and on the second turn then the tea is drinkable.

After the lesson on tea culture we actually  went to bin jiang lu again to shop since its free time, on our way there we actually met students from Singapore Poly which also came over for OIP program.Ahhhh what a small world haha we stopped and actually taked about china and how its living here and also interesting fact is that their teacher leading is also Mr. Chua.  We actually went to the food street to have dinner and we bought many sort of food and we actually came across a kebab store the waiter was a Indian national  his Chinese was perfect which surprised me as his not a local Indian  but from India. We had a few chats with him and we found out that his actually only 600 RMB per month but apparently when the amount is change to India money its like $25000 over at  India which is a lot. We actually asked why did he prefer to work here than Singapore  he said that it’s because  Singapore is more strict and pressurizing but in china its easy and slack.

Reflection

Today I actually learnt that although everytime we see on TV people brewing  Tea seemed so easy it's not as it requires a certain skill to pour and brew a good cup of tea and the art of tea  culture  the main key point is actually patience as u have to do everything in order.Also im sold by the fact that the Indian waiter could actually speak perfect Chinese although his not born in China which really surprised me as his grasp on Chinese is impeccable.One thing I observed today is that China are actually quite social among strangers as they can just be sitting next to each other and they can start a conversation and become almost instantaneously this sort of thing never happens to Singapore  because in Singapore even if your sitting beside a stranger you still would not talk to the person  but in china if u have a common topic  they  always talk to each other and get to know each other.

Time Flies OMG!!!!

17-3-2011

Today is Thursday and its already 11 day’s here and there one very important thing to say  the food here comes in BIG portions and we eat a lot! Gonna wonder how are we gonna survive when we get back to Singapore haha!!

So! Today we had another full day of APPG, Yea well I know u must be asking why is it everyday APPG well guys its kind of like the test is next week so yea it's kind of a rush HAHA. We today covered chapter 4  in class .

During dinner we had it with mr.Chua we ordered like 7 Dishes which in the end cost us around 120yuan  which is like Uh…. ?:D During dinner we actually talk with mr.chua about his life how he came to teach at ngee ann He actually gave us lots of insight into our course and what  choices we can actually choose when we graduate.

Reflection

Although today is another normal day packed  full of APPG tmrw  we are going for some intresting programs which I will be posting  well of course tomorrow!!! Today I pretty much cleared my doubts about  chapter 4 APPG and I gained valuable insight about the world of engineering.

Half-Day!!!

17 – 3 - 2011

Yay !! its Wednesday  and Best of all it's a half-day!!!...well apparently  its half-day for the whole university. This morning we had APPG same as normal where we learn about Chapter 3 and Mr.Chua lectured about not reading our tutorial question’s  and doing it blindly …Oops … I guess haha!! Okay we will improve on that definitely . Okay so as I said we ended at  12pm soo… Guess where we went haha of course! We went Shopping a Bin Jiang Dao again!!! Haha, Well apparently we can bargain there so that’s the reason we went  :P I got myself a Blazer which the store ownder tried to rip me off by selling it at 260yuan but lucky for me I got it at 150yuan in the end ahahah!!!!! I feel so aunty now  ;P by the way China’s Starbuck makes good coffee well personally I think it maybe better than Singapore’s although I think it’s because it so cold that whenever I drink the hot coffee and felt it going down my throat it felt so good. Bing Jiang Dao is actually a road something like orchard road just its longer and more shops to shop and since it's that long there actually trams that brings you from one end to the other which cost around 3 yuan but yes of course you can stop half way during the ride but on the same price. You should have seen the tram ride it was extremely dangerous in my opinion because we are actually driving in a sea of people as there’s no road in Bing Jian Dao street so the tram is always horning and dodging people which scares me as it is putting people around in danger but somehow no one was hurt im guessing probably the people are all used to it haha.

Oh! And when we were coming back from Bing Jiang Dao we took a cabs in groups  god! Getting a cab during  peak hours is near impossible as there’s so many queue cutters and so little available cab’s ,But  of course in the end we got one.

After Dinner we had rolecheck which just past like 1hour ago where everyone shared their thoughts and what they learn today.One hot topic that everyone today was talking about was how the people in china are trying to rip u off and how they bargain to get a better price.

Reflection….

Today I learnt to read my questions thoroughly because im one of the few students that do not  :F also I gained experience on  the skill of bargaining if that’s counted as one haha.Oh oh and tmrw is APPG quiz so wish me Luck!!!!AHAHAHA

Word of day is Chinese!!!

14-3-2011

Today is so cold again! Supposedly it’s because of  strong winds. Today we were supposed  to be in class by 8.30am and I woke up at 8.00am which I was nearly late but luckily the hotel was located near the school so I made it on time.

Morning was APPG where Mr.Chua  went through with us on lab 2b . Personally I feel  that the way he teach is very unique because he has the ability to captivate his student’s with his knowledge and not make the lesson boring.

After lunch, we have a Chinese lecture about Chinese language and were they are derive from. The lecturer started with saying  that in China they call Chinese 汉语 rather  than in Singapore we call Chinese 华文. He also told us that the oldest Chinese language is actually derived from pictures some even resemble simple pictures. For example the Chinese word 木 is actually derived from a picture of a tree. It is said that Chinese language has been around for  more than 5000years and the oldest record of Chinese language is actually found on turtle shells and cow shoulder bones.An interesting note in china they call dog as 犬 but in Singapore we call it  狗. The lecturer  also told us  how Tianjin city got its name Tianjin , In the olden times the king’s surname is Tian and when he want to travel on a boat he have to go to Tianjin from his capital Beijing that is why the city Tianjin is named after him. The lecturer also shared with us the difference between Chinese and English he says that English words are formed using alphabets so if you do not know the word you can pronounce it but you may not know the meaning but for Chinese u may not know how to  say the word but from the way it is written u are maybe able to guess the words meaning.

After a 10 minutes break , we had a Tianjin economist/ investment promoter  called Mr Tian Hui for a talk about Tianjin’s economy. He started on how china started the economy growth in the southern part of china and slowly expand up to the northern part. The reason why Tianjin’s growth is faster is because it is situated near shanghai . He said that Tianjin’s annual export is about 58.67 Billion, Fixed asset investments :335.27 billion and it is said that Tianjin is the most top that grosses the most in china. We are told that Tianjin has 4 main industries Aerospace , Hi-tech , Advance machinery and the Seaport. After he explained  about how this 4 main industries contribute, he shared with us  about the eco-city being built by Singapore .It’s design based on culture, innovation, energy saving and environmental protection. Also one of the three areas are National cartoon industrial Base , scientific park and digital media industrial park  The whole area is planned at around 30 sq km. He also shared with us that Tianjin Beijing Shanghai and Chongqing is directly under the central government while the other 30 provinces is governed by a governor under the central government.

Reflecting….(take mirror)….

Today I feel that I have learnt lots of things  that is very intresting that I have never known like how long have the Chinese language have been around. How do you actually derive the Chinese words meaning although u don’t know what’s the word. i feel that this knowledge is very meaningful and useful because Chinese is what our ancestors used to say and we Chinese is losing the ability to grasp Chinese like our ancestors used to. Also  from the lecture with the economist today made me realize that China is a very strong country and there’s many opportunity out there especially for us engineering students as  theres a very huge industry for people like us.okay this is it for today Thanks for reading!! XD

Exploration!!!

12 – 3 – 2011

Yay , it’s the 1^st weekend  we are spending in china . Today something interesting happened in the morning , someone in our group prank called us as a morning wakeup call …well its kinda hilarious because the person said “这里是幸福贵台，你有人在外面等你 “ . We were suppose to meet at the main lobby at  about 10.30am and when we all gathered the person that prank us was revealed and the most funny thing is that the person prank called Mr.Tan too by accident and the person when he/she heard Mr.Tan voice immediately ended the call. Haha the person that prank call got  pranked instead. Well enough of jokes as we know today is a Saturday which we are going to use the time to explore Tianjin as much as we can. Our 1^st stop is Tianjin’s foodstreet well judging from the street’s name of course we are going to eat there  :D We went to the bus stop near our hotel and found the bus that brings us the Tianjin food street , in the end we took bus 50 which brought us to the foodstreet. The 1^st dishes that we tried was beef noodle’s ,Cold Chinese noodle with vinegar and Cucumber like vegetables , Cold Chinese Horfun with vinegar and Cucumber like vegetables . We also tried beef buns which tastes great but it’s kinda salty. We visited a shop that sells different tea leafs , the lady owner was kind enough to share with us some art of drinking Chinese tea for example she said that the taste of your tea actually depends on the tea of your water when you first added into the tea as the taste varies at different temperature. Also one thing I observed is that the 1^st few cups of freshly brewed tea is always poured away, when asked why does she do that she explained that it is because the few cups of tea being poured away is not fully saturated with the taste of the tea leafs and it will not taste good. While walking around in the food street we  also found a uncle that uses melted sugar to make pictures with it , if im not wrong  the term for it is sugar art.The uncles drawing is perfectly precise which im surprised as his drawed the picture by pouring the sugar from a large spoon. We also bought and tried a kind  of Chinese candy called 龙嘘 I don't  know if I typed it correctly but in English it’s called dragon’s beard . it's a very intresting candy as different  flavors are wrapped in the dragon’s beard.

After eating and shopping  at the foodstreet for like about 3 hours we headed to one of Tianjin’s 古文化街 this is actually a place that sells  antiques items. We  choose to explore this area because it’s a place that  can contain many  things that are being used in ancient times and it can help us to understand more of china’s heritage. One of the 1^st places we went was a sort of mini museum/ store which sells jade , old Chinese wooden furniture. It’s really interesting  because the wooden furniture is hand crafted and  it is crafted in a very detailed way. Which  can tell us the crafter probably dedicated himself in creating such unique  art pieces. On the same building we also came pass a shop that sells antique clocks and radios that you probably cant possibly find them in Singapore anymore. Well of course we did some shopping there and while we were shopping and admiring some of the antique items ( though we cant afford it.) we came across a sketch artiest  drawing a portrait of anyone for the amount of 10 yuan which is roughly 2SGD . A few of us actually had our picture drawn and im one of the few that had our face drawn and on a scale of 1-10 I probably give that guy a 8 . We explored around古文化街 till around 4pm and went to have our dinner.

After a very filling dinner at Pizza Hut which we were so grateful there one in china because we are starting to missed the food in Singapore and this is probably one  the funniest thing I have heard in my life is that when we ordered 6 Pizza’s and when we wanted to order more the waiter actually told us that they have ran out of flour which is a very  funny thing because  if they were to run out flour what’s there to sell.

After dinner its already 7pm and we took a bus across the road came back to our hotel and surprisingly we came back in time for rolecheck and during the rolecheck  Mr.Tand and Chua told us that they went to Beijing today to explore around and they briefed us about safety as it is very important because apparently they  witnessed a theft where someone on their bus had his laptop stolen.

Reflecting…

I feel that today although we were asked to  go around exploring we ended up playing and eating but I felt that today was a very good start because although we played and eat a lot we  actually did learn thing’s through it for example we learnt  what sort of food Tianjin people eat their breakfast ,what are their traditional food and how to make a good cup of tea .while during the古文化街 exploration I realized that china  have many talented people  for example the  sketch artist and the candy art uncle that we met at the foodstreet. This actually taught me why china is improving at such a fast pace in my opinion it's because their country has lots of talents to bring the country forward. Also today’s trip at the古文化街 taught me that china actually valued their countries antique at a very high value  because it tells them how rich their history is to the world .

Chinese learning through movies !!

11-3-2011
Today we started the day with APPG pop QUIZ !!! i gotta admit i didnt really study for it .... sorry Mr.Chua!!! During lunch a group of us went to gary's room and we ordered macdonalds for lunch delivery is only 15mins only fast eh for a country that big . (this is where the fun starts for today) After lunch we had a lesson with a chinese lecturer he actually used a movie to teach us about chinese language and how some people in china are dedicated to their work. The movie shown is called  杜拉拉升取记 . The movie is about a girl whose looking for a work and got a job at a place called DB she started of as a  lowest ranking secetary  earning about 3000 rmb per month from what my lecturer tell us that it's low and u probably cant survive with that ammount  of earning in beijing . Eventhough her pay is low she did things even though it isint part of her work. We watched the show about half hour through it then the lecturer paused and discussed  with us about the  girl's attidude during work as a topic of our language lesson i can say truthfully this is the 1st time in my life  i have never slept in a chinese lesson becaused it is a very intresting lesson. After a 10min break we had another teacher his a master at Chinese paper cutting art he even brought 2 students learning underhim and one of them is hearing disabled. The student drew Mr Tan and Chua 's chinese name using name art which is drawing thier name using fish and birds.He also taught us how to cut paper art using simple methods that he developed which we have never thought of and im appalled that a person is able to cuz such beautiful art without the use of machinery just a pair of scissors and paper.
Today in my opinion is a very knowledgeable because during  the Chinese language lesson the teacher totally changed my mindset about how chinese is taught because the way he teach is very unique and hereally gets the students attention and gets what his trying to teach through to us to me i feel that it is no a very easy thing to do.I think i can adopt the teachers method of teaching to improve my chinese when im back in singapore for example i could watch a chinese show and brainstorm about it.Another thing i learnt from today is that how a hearing impaired china student is able to draw so well even though he has trouble communicating. Also the  Chinese paper cutting  teacher has taught me a very usefull skill which i can bring back to singapore as a skill i have learnt while in china because it is actually a  way to represent chinese culture in the form of art and this type of skill of paper cutting is very well design so that anyone can pick it up.This is also a very good way in keeping the chinese culture because by keeping the culture lively and entertaining they are able to keep the younger generation to be intrested in keeping the culture eventhough influenced by other cultures brought in by other countries.

Today is a cold cold day~

10-3-2011
Okay! thrid day eh still got long before im back in singapore so dont miss me guys! ;P So today one word to describe the weather VERY COLD!!! AHAHHA it's so cold till you can feel it in your bones!!we started our day with the 1st APPG lecture being taught my our one and only Mr.Chua. it was a very good start because what Mr Chua taught us today im able to understand .
After a very heartful lunch,we went to attend our IS lecture conducted by Kang 老师.She introduced us to Tianjins unique food  culture and also the famous places in Tianjin . According to the map Tianjin is around x10 the size of singapore big eh?
Today i learnt several flaws in us chinese singaporeans one for example which was proven was when Kang 老师 finished explaining about Tianjin peoples unique culture she asked us about our culture...i can tell u we are so embarassed because we only follow chinese customs and culture on a basic level and not even strictly while they the people living in Tianjin we can say that they follow customs and culture on a high level and strictly as it is tabooo in their country if they do not .I feel that me as a chinese although being influenced by western and other culture's in singapore we should have at least know our custom and culture welll even if we are not following it, because atleast when people ask us we know how to answer them  unlike today when we were asked to share we ended up stump. which i felt that we dissapointed our older generation of chinese singaporeans and our country as people are looking at us from a point of view that we are representitive from Singapore.
PS: hope you get welll sooon Mr Chua!!!

Meeting new Friends!

09-03-2011
Another new day ooo heeheee!!!Today we had breakfast at macdonald china one meal is only about $3SGD god how cheap is this haha~we  had a  briefing in the morning with our tianjin's university correspondant madam kang and 2 other teachers they introduced us about  tianjin university and also our learning schedule .The classroom we were allocated to study had its whiteboard drawn to a very beutiful welcome sign.we were also told that we will be partnered  with a language partner which will be attached to us for the rest of the duration in tianjin university.
After lunch we went back to the same classroom  and its TIME to meet our  language partners !!!well as we know the very distinct akwardness everyone feldt when we are about to be attached to a person we have never met before.At first  we were asked to choose our partners but  the akwardness was too well its making everyone shy so we have to resort to the "pick a piece of paper with a name on it game". i was attached to a girl named sandy ,Naturely when the partner allocations are done we had a few mins with our language partners throught that few mins we introcudced ourslef and talk about  ourselfs. our language partners also brought us around the university while sharing  more about themselfs and in turn we disscussed many things that  we singaporens do diffrent from them.
Near the end of the day we had dinner with a few of the other language partners as majority of ours including mine have other obligations.
 Today the time i spent with my language partner have been very fruitful because we  exchange many diffrent infromation about our lifestyle,she learnt more about how singaporeans think and in turn im able to understand their  lifestyle in china which is very diffrent .I feel that this knowledge in time is able to be very helpful because as future engineers the market in china is huge being able to understand their mindset and lifestyle helps alot .

Pretend that Airplanes in the night sky like shooting stars....so I siting in a star?:D

08-03-2011
oh~ hi people! haha its time! Sooooo for my frens  u guys know that Im heading to china, tianjin today yea?( being optimistic) Nothing much happened  except the fact i got to sit the window sit ahahhaha my favourite sit! oh oh sumthing  intresting happened tooo my friend tien ying opened a bun on the plant instead of the usual you open the bag and eat it the bun actaully jumped out of the bag and she have to grab it half mid air haha cool eh? oh i just remembered we had a 4hr transit at Guangzhou to Tianjin and transit time is at 3.30pm of cause  the usual procedure then to the departure hall little did we know we were waiting at the wrong departure terminal =.=" it's suppose to be at level 3 but we were waiting at the basement 1.By the time we realised  we are at the wrong place we took a lift squeezing 21people inside haha luckily china's lift is "strong" enough following that is a sprint across the  level 3 floor from one end to the other end .. atleast the planes still there :].Sooooooo when we fianlly reached tianjin we had a bus waiting for us then yada...yada....as we know we  are expecting a the place we are staying is a hostel but  too our great surpise its Mandrin hotel!!! omg yea? well appprently its used for oversea tempoary studentsso how lucky are we eh? well I think its very  :).. ohh also I would like to thank Mr Chua and Tan for the wonder full supper!很好吃!!!
To wrap up events for today, although nothing much intresting happended except jumping buns and a NAPFA test run , i can say that  atleast i learned something today we should not assume things in life welll theres a saying people always say which is " you assume ,who confirm?" because everyone of us actually assumed that we are at the correct departure terminal ending up in the incident. So whenever we assume  sometimes , its better to check/confirm with a person that can give a confident answer.