OELP personal reflection

在这个七天里，我们2E班去了安徽的不同地方学习。我在这个学习之旅学到了很多东西。我们有一次从上海坐了中国高速铁路到合肥去。上地铁之前，每个人都很兴奋因为这是我们的第一次经验。我们也去了合肥的其中一个学校，“合肥45中” 交流，每个人都有一个伙伴。我的伙伴问我很多关于新加坡的问题，其中一个就是他问我新加坡有什么景点。我的伙伴并没有带我去他的家，反而带我去了他朋友的家。那时，我有点生气因为我以为他一点诚意都没有，最后我才明白原来是他的家离学校太远了。我在他们的学校学到了许多，例如我学会了珍惜我校的厕所因为那边的厕所又臭又肮张，连课室都有尿尿的味道。在这个旅程，我们去了好多地方，如西湖，屯溪老街，黄山和中国非物质文化遗产园等等。在中国非物质文化遗产园里，每个人都目睹了在马戏表演虐待动物的行为，我觉得这是很残忍的但是我明白，那些人为了维持生活，他们必须这样做。我最喜欢去的地方是黄山，因为在黄山山顶的风景真是太美了，每个人都和对方拍了许多张照片做纪念，我们在那里也可以看到日出。在这个学习之旅，我都获益不浅，受益良多。巴士就像我们的第二个 “酒店” 因为我们从一个地方转移到另外一个大多数都使用巴士。由于坐在巴士上的时间很长，我能更深入地了解坐在我旁边的同学。说起实话，对我来说，我们每天吃的食物非常的难吃，除了一些我比较喜欢的菜。从中，我学到了中国和新加坡的不同文化。我觉得在这个旅程最重要的是让这个班更团结，更了解对方。总的来说，这个学习之旅一级棒，希望明年会有多一个学习之旅。

-Malvin

 

My General Reflections for OELP

25/5 Day 1:

Since we landed in Shanghai and our destination was Hefei, we had to take a High speed rail there. The timing for our train was around 9 in the morning; therefore we had to wake up early in the morning to prepare ourselves. Many of us looked dead tired due to the lack of rest the previous day, therefore the majority of us were sleeping on the high speed rail. Since I had gotten the window seat on the high speed rail, I managed to wake up in between naps and observed the view behind the window. The view I saw when we were almost reaching awed me; I have never seen this kind of things in Singapore before. I believe it was a plantation of some sort (not sure about this). Since I was either sleeping or looking out the window, I had forgotten to check if we could have access to Wi-Fi, as the presentation group had mentioned before we embarked on this journey. The ride was quite pleasant; the seats were large and comfortable.

(At the station before departing)

When we were making our way to our bus after getting off the high speed rail, I realized that the weather in Hefei was not really what I had expected it to be, it was actually really warm.

On the bus, we were introduced to our tour guide (unfortunately, I do not remember her name). We explored 三河古镇 together, and I learnt quote a great deal about the people that used to live there, their cultures.

Of the 3 meals we had today, I would have to say I enjoyed dinner the most, by quite a huge margin compared to the previous 2 too. The place we went to for lunch had pretty bad toilets; the door of the girls’ toilet couldn’t even lock. Therefore, the girls who needed the toilet had to unite and hold the toilet doors for one another. Fortunately, the place we went to for dinner had pretty decent food (and toilets, too) Since we had a long day of walking around exploring, we all ate pretty well.

 

26/5 Day 2:

Today, the day we were all awaiting finally came! We were finally going to meet our buddies, whom we’ve been contacting with through email a few days prior. We were all pretty bummed when we were told our time with them has been cut to only 1 day, because of some change in schedule. On the way to their school, 合肥45中, I had mixed feelings about meeting my buddy. I was excited, but at the same time quite nervous. We had lessons with them, and I felt quite bad as I could not really catch onto what the teacher was delivering. The students were all very enthusiastic, unlike the students in Singapore, who all seem quite uninterested. We left the school for lunch, came back for a few more lessons then proceeded to their house.

My buddy bikes home, and therefore she had asked her parents to come fetch me with a bike. Since I was wearing a pinafore, it was quite a difficult task, so I ended up sitting on the back chair of her parent’s bike. The ride was mildly terrifying, since they had to constantly swerve in and out of traffic. At my buddy’s house, their parents were really nice to me and prepared a lot of fruits. I also learnt how to play 五子棋by learning from her parents, and her.

I was actually quite sad that we could only spend one day together. Nevertheless, I had a lot of fun today.

5 things I love about RV and why

1. Clean toilets.

I realized that the school we went to had toilets with no doors, and smell quite bad too. I now appreciate our clean toilets that come with doors.

2. The timetables.

In Hefei 45 Middle School, each period is 40 minutes and they have many periods a day. This can be very stressful as they would have to learn a lot of different things in a day.

3. The size of the classes.

My buddy told me that there are 62 people in the class, nearly twice the size of our class. This means there are more people, and I feel this may be a factor of distraction.

4. School hours.

The students in Hefei 45 Middle School study in the mornings have a 2 hour break to eat and rest, and then have to continue lessons till around 5 or 6. We usually only need to go back at 6 twice a week, because of co-curricular activities. I cannot imagine having to go home at 6 every day and still have homework to complete.

5. Advanced facilities

In RV, we have a lot of facilities that the school in China. We should learn to treasure it.

27/5 Day 3:

We went to the Anhui museum today, and learnt quite a lot of things. I say many ancient things the past people used, and I observed that anything that could stand, was usually on 3 legs. We also learnt more about the 文房四宝, and the 徽笔.

After that, we went to the 中国非物质文化遗产园. When we first entered, we walked by, encountering some chickens placed in cages. While we were all curious about it, we were told not to go near it. We soon went to a nearby “theater” where the chickens were brought to a ring to fight. It was the 斗鸡. Like many others. I was intruded, but later came to a realization that it was actually quite cruel. Due to the fighting and shows they often had to put up, their feathers were dropping and it was a sorry sight to see. Seeing my friend cry after seeing the chickens’ fate, I felt inhumane for thinking it was exciting at the start. We later went to the circus, where the first act was training lions and tigers. The circus people were in an enclosed space with these known to be ferocious animals, I worried for them. The lions refuse to cooperate, therefore the circus people had to keep threatening them into performing by hitting things around them, creating huge “bang” sounds everywhere. With that, the lions started cooperating. While some of my friends left the show due to them thinking it was very cruel. I was tempted to leave, but I thought about “the other perspective” of what was happening. Were the circus people not afraid, were they not human? Did they really want to do this to the animals or were they forced to do this to earn a living? Since they weren’t hitting the animals, I decided to stay, out of what I thought was respect for them. After the animal act, the next 3 involved no animals, and was quite intriguing; they were doing really cool stunts. However, the next act involved a bear, a baby bear.  They circus people pulled on the neck chains of the baby bear, making it let out a grunt. I guess this was too much, half of the class ended up leaving, and I was one of them. The teachers soon got the rest of the class out, where we spent a great deal of time playing on a playground.

CSI

Colour:

 

 

Red is a colour of warning, and I feel that the issue of animal abuse needs to be addressed.

Symbol:

This is a protection, and I believe we need to protect what is important to us. Fom today, I learnt that the country protects its past, by keeping all the ancient artifacts. However, I feel that they should look into the circuses for things like animal abuse. Protect the animals, for they are part of this world too.

Image:

I feel that I have really learnt a lot from today, be it the history of the artifacts or the issue about animal abuse. I have also learnt that just because it isn’t happening in Singapore, doesn’t mean it’s not happening somewhere else. I have been exposed to many things today, mainly those that we don't see happening in Sinagpore. 

 

28/5 Day 4:

Today, we were finally going to go to the most renowned place in Anhui: 黄山! We packed for a one night stay in 黄山, and took a bus to the foot of the mountain, then, we took a cable car. As I was standing near the operating system (near the door), I felt that the cable car was really dangerous. The button for opening the door was just there, without a case or protection over it. Once, someone beside me almost opened the door as she jerked forward and tried to find something to hold onto, almost pressing the button. As I held on to my dear life, we soon reached. After about 20 minutes of walking, we finally reached our hotel. We then rested for a while before setting out to continue climbing. I had to admit, the climb was horrendous for me. Since I had flat feet, my feet started aching about 5 minutes into the climb. Nevertheless, I continued climbing since I have long heard about the breathtaking view up there. I was really relieved when we finally reached the peak, and I felt so proud of myself. I felt a sense of accomplishment, and looking down, I don’t at all regret the tough climb. The climb is tough, but the view is great.

(黄山)

29/5 Day 5:

Today, we gathered at 4.50am to set off, and to see the sunrise. The sun was expected to rise at 5.05am, which is why we had to wake up so early and travel there. It was really difficult to get a good spot to take a picture of the sunrise, but I had to admit, I was really happy to have been able to take some decent photos. We were told by our tour guide later on that we were really lucky to have seen the sunrise, since it was mostly cloudy there. The view, as always, was great, I do not regret it one bit to have woken up so early in the morning.

(Sunrise! Unfortunately photo bombed by someone ): )

 

Later, we had lunch then when down. The cable car down was designed for 8 people, so a few classmates got on together with me. We waved to other passing cable cars and were really elated when they saw us or waved back.

Then, we went to visit 宏村, and looked at the well preserved architecture and buildings. The tour guide explained that the village was laid out to mimic the parts of a cow/bull. People of the village in the past were those with the surname of 汪.

Looking around, I realized that what the tour guide has been saying constantly was true, there were no windows in the houses, only an opening in the ceiling which the Hui people called a 天井. As the people once believed, water was money. Therefore, when it rains, the water should enter your own household like money entering your household. As they said, “肥水不流外人田”.

(天井)

30/5 Day 6:

Today, we went to 西递, another village, similar to 宏村. Unlike 宏村, 西递 had many streams running along the roads and people utilizing the water. There weren’t huge pools and lakes of water, but a small flowing stream that seemed to connect everywhere.

We also visited a few other places like the 徽商大宅院, 徽州古城, etc. The places were fairly similar and all of historical value, therefore we just looked around and let the tour guide do the explaining. It was quite an exhausting day, visiting so many places in one day.

That day, we also had a night lecture. A professor came to explain the cultures, people, food and many other things about Anhui that we didn’t know of. It was a truly enriching session, even though I feel a little bad about our unresponsive behavior during the seminar.

We then had a little fun having good old circle time. J

31/5 Day 7:

Today, the day we have all been waiting for finally came along. Shopping spree! We went to 屯溪老街to shop, and even though we were only given an hour, I bought quite a lot of things, including tea leaves only available from 黄山.

Then, we went lake cruising on 西湖, then proceeded to go to the Yue Fei Mausoleum. There was supposedly a tomb of him, but no one knows for sure. Nonetheless, this showed how much respect the Chinese had for General Yue Fei.

(西湖)

 

(General Yue Fei's tomb)

I had so much fun during this OELP I wish I could go to another soon. Our class has most definitely bonded over the span of seven days, which is in another way very sad, since we will be in different classes next year. However, I really enjoyed myself and the time spent with 2E, exploring everything and everywhere unknown to us. Hopefully, I will get to experience wonderful things like this trip soon!

Zheng Boya

✋ 5bonacci

General Reflection on OELP

Reflection One (25/5)

Today we took the High-speed rail from Shanghai to Hefei in the morning. The trip took roughly 4 hours and most us ended up sleeping. During the ride, I noticed some differences between the train station in China and our MRT stations. Firstly, the tracks are on land and this is probably because of the fact that China has a greater land compared to Singapore. 

We visited 三河古镇，and learned about the history of the places, and the renowned figures that once lived in the area. 

I think it is a very meaningful trip as I learned more about the cultural aspects of the area and also gained knowledge of some of the public figures who contributed greatly to the Chinese history. For example, the first Chinese to win the Nobel Prize, Li Zhen Ning and Sun LiRen, a member of the KMT that contributed greatly to the country.

We spent the entire afternoon touring around 三河古镇 and we got to know the area better and understand the lives of the people living there. After the tour, we went for dinner, and arrived at our hotel. We shared our experience with our classmates in groups during the debrief, played some games and ended the day, returning to our rooms to rest.

Streets of 三河古镇.

 

Reflection Two (26/5)

On the second day of our trip, we visited 45 Hefei Middle School to observe their lessons. I met my buddy, Diana, and was also introduced to her friend, Vicky. We then went into their class, Class 15, to observe their lessons. As we had arrived later, we only took Geography and Physics lesson in the morning, and Politics, Chinese in the afternoon.(which I could not understand at all) After the lessons, we had a weekly meeting, whereby we introduced ourselves and our school, while they introduced their culture to us. After that, I went to my buddy's house.

At my buddy's house, my buddy showed me her room and brought her pets out to show me. My buddy has two corn snakes that are about 6 months old. After that, my buddy and her friend brought me to a shopping mall near her house, and we walked around the streets near her house before going back to the school to assemble. We exchanged contact numbers with each other before bidding farewell. 

My buddy's snakes

Through this school immersion, I have observed many differences between the schools in Singapore and those in China. The school was much smaller compared to ours, and it had limited facilities. For example, in River Valley, we have a large field, basketball courts, hall, indoor sports hall, auditorium, seminar rooms and science labs. However, the school in China does not have such facilities, apart from a much smaller auditorium and a basketball court. Facilities like science labs allow us to better visualise experiments that are explained in textbooks, and will help us in learning science, however, I couldn't find a single science lab in the school. Apart from that, the toilets in the school were also quite dirty compared to our school. The classrooms were also quite run down and not as good as the classrooms in our school. 

Despite that, there is something that is worth commended and that I feel Singapore students should learn from. The students in China were very active in sharing during lessons, even if they might get the answer wrong. We can almost say that they were fighting to answer. I feel that we should learn from them and be more eager to share during lessons, and not hesitate from answering wrongly. In Singapore, during lesson time, we are very quiet and do not volunteer in class and also quite reluctant to answer questions. Through this experience, I learnt to volunteer more in class, and be more eager in lessons.

After the school immersion, we went for dinner and return to our hotels to rest and prepare for our third day.

5 things I love about RV

1. Toilets

 Clean toilets with cubicles (and there are doors too)

2. Classroom

Better desks and chairs, larger classroom

3. Class size

Smaller class size, teacher can pay more attention on each individual

4. Library

Compared to the school in China, we have a library for us to spend our free time in

5. Shorter school hours

We usually end school at 2-3pm, only on CCA days we end at 6pm. However, China students end at 6pm everyday, and I also see students leaving only at 

7pm!

Reflection Three (27/5)

Anhui Museum

On the third day, we visited the Anhui Museum and learned more about the architecture of China in the past. We saw many bronze and porcelain exhibits that were common usages in the past. There were also models of Hui-style architectures and other ornaments, weapons and plagues. We also entered an exhibition showing the evolution of paper, brush and ink in China.

Paintings in the Museum

Brushes used in the past

After visiting the Anhui Museum, we visited the China Intangible Cultural Heritage Park. It is one of the significant events that I had experienced. Firstly, we toured around the park, taking pictures of the flowers and gardens. After that, we went to watch the horses and dogs race. While going to the stadium, I saw two chickens in cages, which I didn't know the reason why. After that, I found out that they were going to fight against each other until one dies, right in front of our eyes. After watching it for a few minutes, I felt a little bit uncomfortable, and did not finish watching the chickens. After that, we watch the dogs and horses race, and headed to watch the circus. The first act was by the lions, from what I saw, I think the lions were supposed to stand on metal balls and perform all sorts of tricks. What irked me the most in this act was that the trainers were hitting and forcing the lions to do tricks. I ended up sitting outside and did not watch most of the performances. After entering the theatre again, I saw some acts that did not involve animals. However, the next act made me really uncomfortable. Baby bears were pulled out and forced onto platforms to perform tricks. This resulted in the entire class to leave the theatre, and a few were crying. We ended playing in a field until evening.

Picture taken at the Garden

Looking back at what happened at the park, I realised that cruelty towards animals is a serious issue, not just here in China, but also around the world. Everyday, at any part of the world, cruelty towards animals exists, and it has been present for a very long time. The chickens, lions, bears in the park are being tortured so that the people can make a living. However, we have to also consider the people's lives too. These people are probably not very educated, and have to resort to making chickens fight, making animals perform tricks so as to earn a living. Therefore, I also learned to look at both sides of a story. Though there is little that I can do to stop these actions in China, I can start by showing care and concern towards animals in my neighbourhood, and prevent cruelty towards animals in my society, and also spread the ideas to many others. 

CSI

Anhui Museum

Colour:  Gold. Gold is a colour of success and prosperity, which I believe best describes China's past glory

From: www.colourcombos.com

Symbol: Stone Lions. They are known to represent China's power and prestige. The exhibits in the museum shows China's grand past, its power and glory in the past. Thus, the lions, which has the same meaning, is the symbol I chose.

Image: Architecture. This is one of the models of the architectures of China in the past, showing the interior of the architecture and how it looked like as a whole.

CSI

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Park

Colour: Magenta. This colour symbolises universal harmony, a balanced outlook on life and change and transformation, which is suitable in describing what I have learned after visiting the park.

From: www.desidimes.com

Symbol: Exclamation Mark. This is to make people aware of the cruelty to animals that is happening in China.

From: Wikipedia

Image: This is a picture of the chicken, which was going to fight right in front of us. 

Reflection Four (28/5)

Huang Shan

Today, we went to climb the renowned Huang Shan. We took various forms of transport to reach the very peak of this mountain. First, we took the bus up the mountain to the cable car station, then boarded the cable car and finally walking up to meet the peak of the mountain. It was a long journey, and it was also tedious and tiring, but it trained us to be determined and continue. After reaching the peak, we enjoyed the breathtaking scenes and took many photos of it(but we encountered many insects and bugs too). We them tried heading back to the hotel we were staying, but we had no clue on the directions we have to take. After asking some of the tourists, we finally found our way back(and it took almost an hour). This experience taught me to be more determined in doing what I want to do, brave through obstacles to achieve successes.   

Photos of HuangShan

Reflection Five (29/5)

We woke at 4:30 in the morning today to watch the sun rise. After walking for almost forever, we reached our destination, and I was freezing through the entire journey and regretted not bringing a windbreaker. However the view was quite magnificent, but I did not get to take any photos as I forgotten to bring my camera up.

Around mid-noon, we made our way down the mountain, and went on visiting other places in Anhui. We went to 宏村 and had a look on the Hui-style architecture and buildings. The old buildings of 宏村 were quite well maintained, and some had people living in it. We went around looking at some of the interesting things of these old buildings. All the architectures have a few things in common. 

1) They all had 天井. Not just in 宏村, the old buildings in China that we have visited all have it in common. Apparently, it is to allow rainwater and snow to enter the house, which the Chinese in the past felt will bring in wealth and luck. Apart from that, it is probably the only place where light can enter the house.

2)The halls in the house have ancestral tables. A vase, clock and a mirror were placed on the table. In chinese, a vase is called 瓶子（píng zi), a clock is called 钟 (zhōng), and a mirror is called a 镜子 (jìng zi). The reason of putting these items is because of a word play. These items form the words 钟声瓶镜，which has similar pronunciation as 终生平静, which means eternal peace in Chinese. Also, some houses have one or two 帽桶 in the house, for the males of the family to out their hats on, so as to signify that the head of the family(male) is present in the house.

Another thing that is interesting about 宏村 is that it is started out by a family named Wang, thus all children whose surname are Wang are able to study for free.

宏村 

Reflection Six(30/5)

Today, we visited 西递, a village that is very similar to 宏村. Most of the infrastructure were similar, but an interesting thing that I have noted is that in 宏村, there were many drains along the roads, so that the people can do their laundry. However, I did not see many in 西递. Through further research, I found out that this was a significant difference, because water is the main feature of 宏村, and it has a good water system that can supply every household with water right in front of their houses. 西递, on the other hand, has streams, which I suppose is where the people collect their water from. 

Later at night, we attended a talk by a professor in the hotel. He explained more on 徽州, and were the people came from, the architectures, food, famous people and many more. The people who lived in 徽州 were mostly refugees from wars and rebellions. The food, 徽菜, has strong flavours and is usually cooked with a lot of oil in it(which explains why we see oil floating on the dishes we ate in Anhui). I have learned more on the history of 徽州, and I felt that it was an enriching experience.

From: Wikepedia

Reflection Seven (31/5)

We started out visiting the Tunxi Ancient Street to buy some souveniers for our family. After shopping for about an hour plus, we went to visit some other attractions. 

Firstly, we took a boat to travel across 西湖, which took about 20mins. 西湖 was about 1.5m deep, according to the tour guide, and there were three stone "statues" to signify the deeper waters(which was only 1.5m deep by the way). After reaching our destination, we walked for a while to reach the Yue Fei Mausoleum (岳王庙). We saw the tomb of Yue Fei and his son Yue Yun. There were statues that were kneeling before the tomb, which I later found out that these people were the ones who caused Yue Fei to be killed. However, it is also rumoured that the tomb of Yue Fei may not contain Yue Fei's body, and even if there is a body, it may not be Yue Fei's. Despite so, we can see the Chinese's admiration towards Yue Fei, which led them to building a temple and mausoleum to commemorate him.

From: Wikipedia

From: Wikipedia

Yue Fei Temple

Through the seven days of this OELP trip, i have learned a lot about China. While researching on Anhui, I had a huge question in my mind. I saw many terms that I did not understand on the internet, and was confused about the differences between Hui-Zhou, AnHui and YiXian. Through the explanations of the tour guide throughout the trip and the talk we attended, I finally found a link between them. Hui-Zhou was a city located in Southern Anhui. Anhui itself is a province named after two of the cities in the southern part of it, Anqing and Huizhou. In Anhui, there is a HuangShan City, and YiXian(or Yi County) is a region in HuangShan city, and Xidi and HongCun is in YiXian itself. This trip broaden my knowledge of Anhui, China, and the people living there. Apart from that, the class really bonded together throughout the trip, and I find myself knowing some of my classmates better, and most of them are classmates that I rarely communicate with in school. The problems we faced throughout the trip really bonded us together as we try to solve them together, and I could actually see my friends putting effort to know each other better. It is really an interesting and fun trip that I would like to join again.

Chan Ling Han

✋5bonacci 

My General Reflections for the OELP trip to Anhui, China

25/5 Day 1: High speed rail from Shanghai to Hefei + Sanhe Guzhen

Today, we took the High-speed rail from Shanghai to Hefei after having breakfast. The trip was 4 hours and everyone was sleeping. I was with 6 of my classmates in another cabin as the tickets are different. After we alighted from the train, we went for lunch, which was a 1-hour ride from the train station. Then, we went to Sanhe Guzhen, a place where there are many ancient things and we get to know more about ancient figures. After the 2 hour exploration of Sanhe Guzhen, we went for dinner. Everyone's legs were tired, and we were relieved when we got onto the bus and had time to rest. After dinner, we went to the hotel and here i am. 

For today's 3 meals, i enjoyed dinner the most :) the food during breakfast was cold, and the food during lunch did not exactly suit my taste. Moreover, the toilets that were at the places we went we all very dirty. There was a classmate who went to the toilet and lost her appetite before she even started eating. During dinner, the teacher who sat with us was hyper and we had fun. The food was nice too :) 

At Sanhe Guzhen, we learnt many things about China's ancient history. When we first when in, there was a introduction about Sanhe Guzhen, it's guide map, and the traffic map. We walked further in and saw dried-up lakes. The tour guide told us that the temperature is very hot and that is why the lakes dried up. We went to various places like: Tongxinglong Firm of Liu, Female Divinity Building, etc...

All in all, i enjoyed myself today and i look forward to the rest of the trip in Anhui, China. 

26/5 Day 2: School (Hefei)

Today, we went to No.45 Hefei Middle School. I met my buddy and her friends, naming Anlina and Regina. We had lessons together and i did not understand what the teacher was talking about. We had geography, physics, politics, and chinese lessons. As we had not learnt what they were going through so the 5 of my group members, including me, were sitting there looking at the teachers as though they were talking greek. The teachers were going through their mock papers and exercises that were homework beforehand so we had nothing to do. After every 40 mins lesson, there is a 10 minute break for us to go to the toilet, walk around the school, or do some eye exercise. Finally, school ended. Me and my classmate rushed to the toilet and we did not dare to go to the toilet during school hours since the toilets in their school had no doors and we were very urgent by the end of school.

My buddy and her friends are very outgoing and they brought me to Regina's house at around 5pm. We watched the cartoon "大耳朵图图" and drank milk while eating fruits like grapes and lychees. The grapes were huge and there were seeds. If there were no seeds i would have liked it more. The fruits are grown by themselves and they were very sweet. The milk that they drink is sour milk, 酸奶, and it is creamy. At first when i drank it i thought it spoiled, but they explained to me that the milk is like that and that is what they usually drink. I'm happy that i learnt a new thing today and i got used to the taste of the milk after awhile. 

They then brought me back to the school and we bade farewell afterwards. We promised to keep in touch even after i return to Singapore so it was a very heartwarming scene for everyone with their buddies. 

Don't put into the blog post!!!!!  {We then went to a street and we went to buy things from a store, something like our bookstore in Singapore. They asked me to take the things i want and they paid for the things as they said they didnt get any souvenirs for me. I told them that it was okay but they insisted.}

27/5 Day 3: Anhui Museum + Cultural Heritage Park (Hefei)

Today, we went to 2 places. The Anhui Museum where we saw many ancient objects, and the Cultural Heritage Park where we walked around and there was nobody there. 

Firstly, the Anhui Museum. We saw many objects of the ancient times and i learnt about how things evolved when time passes. The ancient objects were very interesting. One thing i found out about the objects were that in every glass box, there will be a beaker in it. I asked my friends and they said that it was a substance to absorb oxygen so that the object will not oxidise and rust.

Next, we went to the Cultural Heritage Park in Hefei. When we reached there, we went to watch a chicken fight, dogs and horses racing. During the chicken fight, 1 of my classmate started crying as she could not stand the abuse of the animals. I was one of those few who went away, not wanting to see the chicken fight as it was very cruel. However, I enjoyed the dogs and horses racing. My friend was jumping up and down after the horse racing ended as she had long wanted to ride a horse. After the horse racing ended, we went to a circus tent to watch stunts being performed by animals. They abused the animals by hitting them when they did not perform the stunts well or refused to perform the stunts. I think that they are very cruel and closed my eyes throughout the whole performance that included animals. The teachers brought our whole class outside halfway throughout the performance as it was too cruel. We then went to a nearby playground to play for awhile.

Today's experience made me realise that not every country and every place is like Singapore, a peaceful place where many laws are enforced, and that illegal actions in Singapore may not be illegal in other countries so we should learn to accept what is happening in other countries and not only think about what they should not do in their countries as every country's laws are different in one way or another. 

28/5 Day 4: Transfer to Huangshan + Huangshan

Today, we had a 4 hours bus ride to Huangshan. Almost everyone was sleeping even though we has just woke up in the morning. I guess they are all very tired. We reached Huangshan in about 5 hours as we stopped halfway at a restaurant for lunch. Then, we continued our journey to Huangshan. When we reached Huangshan, we sat on the cable car and went up to Huangshan's midpoint. Some classmates were scared of heights and did not dare to look outside the windows. 

The cable car ride ended. We went out of the cable car and into the open. The teacher told us that we still had to hike for another 1 hour or so to reach the hotel that we were staying in so that we could put down our bags. My friend cum roommate twisted her ankle and she had to walk very slowly so that the injury does not worsen. Everyone was waiting patiently for her as they could understand that she could not walk as fast as them. They waited midway so that we know which way to go. They slowed down their pace sometimes and took pictures of the scenery up in Huangshan. Finally, we reached the hotel. We checked in, and went up to our hotel rooms. The teachers let my friend stay in the hotel room and rest as she twisted her ankle. Me and my other roommate promised to take pictures and show them to her. 

Then, we continued climbing Huangshan to enjoy the scenery. The climb up was very tiring and the steps seemed endless but I enjoyed it even though we did sweat as the weather was very cooling and the scenery was really very very beautiful that i could not describe it with words. The scene was breathtaking and everyone was taking pictures with cameras and phones. On the way up to the peak, we saw many workers. They were carrying stuff like bedsheets, linens, towels, luggages, groceries, and even rubbish, up and down the mountain, to and fro the hotels. The tour guide told us in the bus that they are transporting these goods to and fro the hotel via manpower as they did not want to pollute the environment in Huangshan. We made way for them as we know that it is not easy for them to do this everyday as a job. 

All in all, I enjoyed myself today. We returned to the hotel with satisfied minds and nice memories. The climb was worth our time and energy. We went back to the hotel, bathed, and immediately slept as it was very tiring and we also need to save up energy for the climb the next day.

29/5 Day 5: Huangshan + Transfer to Yixian, visit Hongcun Ancient Village

Today, the class woke up at 4am in the morning to watch the sunrise, but everyone's morning call was at 4.30am as the people woke us late. We were supposed to gather at 4.40am and i was rushing as i thought that i am the only one that woke up later. My roommates still dont know what is happening and continued sleeping. That is how i ended up climbing Huangshan to watch the sunrise by myself. We went back to the hotel to prepare for the afternoon climb after breakfast. 

Then, we continued exploring Huangshan. My friend insisted to climb with us even though her ankle have not healed entirely. At first, she climbed slowly, but after awhile, she started rushing for who knows why and went in front of us, chasing the rest of the class. We stared at her dumbounded and just continued our slow climb up the mountain. We went back to the hotel at around 10, and had 1.5 hours of rest in the hotel room. We then went down for lunch with our bags and climbed down Huangshan back to the cable car, to ride down to our original spot.

We then had a 1 hour short bus ride to Yixian and we visited the Hongcun Ancient Village. Hongcun Ancient Village is a very nice place, with clean waters, and old houses. Hongcun is shaped like an ox, the animal, with the lakes and drains representing each and every organ of the ox. We learnt many many things from Hongcun, and i think that Hongcun is built in a very careful manner and the person who built it paid attention to the details. 

In conclusion, i enjoyed myself today. My favourite part of the trip so far is still Huangshan and i hope to see more and learn more new things in the next few days before we return to Singapore. 

30/5 Day 6: visit Xidi Ancient Village + Transfer to Tunxi, visit Huishang big house, Huizhou Ancient City - Shexian, and Tangyue + Chinese Culture Seminars

Today, we visited many many places compared to the previous days. The first place that we went, Xidi Ancient Village, is very similar the Hongcun Ancient Village we visited yesterday. The buildings are also very old. We went to Huishang big house, Shexian, and Tangyue too.

I learnt the most from the Seminar held at the hotel at night. After the seminar, we had a class bonding time with the 3 teachers that accompanied us on this trip. We learnt many things from our classmates and our teachers. Most importantly, we bonded more as a class after the bonding time. We learnt to look out for each other more and help each other in need. Most importantly, we should take the initiative to be the change that we want to see in the class. Everyone took away something from both the seminar and the class bonding time that we had. We had an enjoyable time and also learnt to appreciate what we have now so we would not regret in the future.

31/5 Day 7: visit Tunxi Ancient Street + Transfer to Hangzhou, visit West Lake cruise and Yue Fei Mausoleum + Transfer to Shanghai Airport & Fly back to Singapore

Today, we visited Tunxi Ancient Street to shop for China goods to bring back to Singapore. I bought some tea as my parents love to drink chinese tea and they drink chinese tea every night before sleeping. I did not buy any snacks as i am scared that they will have spoilt by the time we return to singapore. Everyone bought many many things and went on the bus. The bus ride to Hangzhou that was 2.5 hours, was very squeezy as the things that we bought took up lots of space. Everyone was talking very happily and chatting about what they bought just now. 

We reached Hangzhou, and sat on the West Lake Cruise. That was the second thing that i liked about our China trip and we just sat on the boat and relaxed, with the sea wind blowing in our faces. Even though my hair went haywire, i still enjoyed the ride. However, it was sad that the ride only lasted for 20 minutes. After getting off the boat, we went to visit the Yue Fei Mausoleum and we learnt many things from it.

After that, we had another 5 hours of bus ride to Shanghai Airport. We then had dinner at Shanghai Airport and boarded our flight back to Singapore. Our flight was delayed by more than 1 hour so we were given vouchers to buy anything we want by Singapore Airlines. Moreover, the plane's entertainment system was down so we could not do anything but sleep on the plane.

I learnt alot from this trip and i hope to go on more trips with the class so that we can bond more and learn things together, as a class, as one, united.

5 things i love about RV and why:

1)Toilets 

-- the toilets in No.45 Hefei Middle School does not have doors and is very public. Since going to the toilet and your body parts are privacy, doors should be there so that we can protect ourselves from any outsiders' onlooking. Moreover, the toilets in their school have a main flush so you cannot flush after you pee, the toilets will flush it automatically, so if it is not flushed, it will accumulate and it will smell.

2)Shorter school hours 

-- we have shorter school hours than them and end school earlier than them. However, we have CCA after school and their school ends at the timing where our CCA ends. They then have very less time at home to do homework and have to reach school early in the morning the next day. 

3)Lesser students in a class 

-- they have about 60 students on average in their classes. However, we have only 30 students in average in our classes. I think that the teacher cannot really focus and see who is not that good in his or her studies and is then unable to help them. The teachers' attention is dispersed to 60 over students and have less possibility than our teachers that they will help the students when they need help as they already do not have time after school to stay back. The students then have to seek for help outside school.

4)Facilities

-- we have more facilities in our school, thus, we can have more experience in doing more things, unlike them, which have a limited view of things in a subject. We have more facilities to aid us in our learning and help us complete our work on time.

5)Chances to go overseas for learning

-- my buddy told me that their school does not have overseas experiential trips like ours. I think that we are very blessed and we should feel grateful to what the school can provide for us to learn more things, not only in school, in Singapore, but also overseas, learning about their culture, etc...

~Seow Jia Xuan (15)

✋ 5bonacci

My general reflections for the OELP trip to China, Anhui:

CID reflection Day 1:

In the morning, the breakfast we had was terrible to me because everything taste weird, except for the bread. After breakfast, we took the bus to take the high speed-rail from Shanghai to Hefei. During the high speed-rail trip, it was quite interesting for me as it was my first time on such a train, same to the others. As there was not much to explore in the train and the journey took a long time, most of us fell asleep. Then, we had lunch at a restaurant called “美味厨酒楼”. Almost all the dishes contain vegetables. Some of us do not like the food as it does not taste nice. From this, I learnt the different cultures between Singapore and China. The toilet was the worst because it smells. Following that, we went to a 2 hour exploration of 三河古镇. The tour guide showed us the different places we had to visit and we learnt a lot of things about the past. We went to dinner after that. It was the best meal of the day because the dishes contain more meat than before and it taste better. I am sure everyone liked it very much. After finishing dinner, we went to the hotel that we are going to stay tonight. 

CID reflection Day 2:

The breakfast we had in the morning today was satisfying because the food taste nicer than yesterday's one. Next, we took the bus to a school called 合肥45中. We had lessons with our buddies after we reached there. I totally did not understand the lesson because everything was in Chinese and all the teachers talk too fast. During the break between each lesson, I went to the toilet. Before I even go in, I was horrified by the smell it emits out. The toilet is so smelly that I forced myself not to go in there. After about two lessons, we went out for lunch and went back to the school to have lessons again. When all the lessons have finished, at the end of the day, the class gave us a warm welcome through a performance and singing songs. Their teacher told us to sing a song and we sing "Let it Go". Then, it's dismissal time for their school, it is around 5pm. My buddy brought me around the place near their school and we had lots of fun. I get to know him more personally. 

5 things I love about RV and why:

1. Toilets. The toilets in 合肥45中 are very smelly and dirty. However, the toilets in RV are not smelly, and they are very clean too! I learn to appreciate the toilets we have in RV and I am grateful of how clean the toilet in our school is. 

2. Canteen. The canteen is a place for RVians to eat during recess and lunch time. However, 合肥45中 does not have a canteen and the students have about 2h break time to go and have their lunch outside school. I am very grateful that our school have a canteen and we do not need to waste so much time going outside to eat.

3. The number of students in each classes. In 合肥45中, the average number of students in each class is about 60+. However, in RV, the average number of students in each class is about 30+, that's a great number of difference!!! The fact that their class can squeeze such great number of students is because each table is shared by two people. Even though the table is a bit longer than ours, when I sit beside my buddy for lessons, I can feel how squeezy it is. I am glad that we have enough spaces for everybody in the class. 

4. Better facilities. In 合肥45中, there are very less facilities, not like us in RV. Their fitness corner only have some bars for them to do some exercises, however, the fitness corner in RV has more things for us to do more exercises. 

5. The time spent in school. In RV, the dismissal time is usually 2:30pm, excluding remedial and CCAs. However, the students in 合肥45中 have to go home at around 6. I am shocked when I found out that they have to go home so late, because there would not be enough time for them to do any homework!!! It would be even worse if their home is far away from their school, like my buddy.

CID reflection Day 3:

Today, after having breakfast, we went to the Anhui museum. We learnt a lot of things there, for example China's past. After that, we went to 中国非物质文化遗产园. By the time we are there, we went to watch dogs and horses racing, chicken fighting. During the chicken fight, I kind of enjoyed it a lot but what made me frown is that the chicken is too violent. Instead of fighting, they pluck each other's feathers until it's red bloody skin is revealed, it looks very disgusting. Next, we went to see the circus. We saw tigers and bears being tortured just to give a performance for the audience during the circus time. I feel that animals are like humans, they have feelings too, therefore I think what they are doing is wrong and they should stop it. Perhaps we can write letters to the government to ask them to stop these actions against animals, it is simply animal abuse. 

Colour:

Red

It shows the significance and importance of the Anhui museum and it shows the cruelty of the people abusing the animals performing in the circus.

Symbol:

This symbol shows that we need to preserve the Anhui museum and protect the animals from being abuse. 

Image:

This statue was on one of the walls of the Anhui museum. The bright colors of the statue and the carvings show the importance and lavishness of the Anhui museum. There is also an animal that looks like a chameleon carved onto it, which match with what I learnt today: we should not abuse animals. 

CID reflection Day 4:

Today, we had a 4 hour+ bus ride to the famous Huang Shan. The bus driver stop halfway near a supermarket for us to buy something to eat, in case we get hungry in the bus. Then, we took the cable car. On the cable car, I was amazed by the beautiful scenery of Huang Shan. I also learn that some people in our class are afraid of heights. After that, we had to climb for about 1.5 hour to our hotel. Although it was very tiring, we had lots of fun talking and encouraging each other. We get to know each other better too! Sometimes, we stop halfway to take some picture of ourselves taking jump shots. During the climb, we saw a lot of monkeys. There is one lucky woman because the monkey posed beside her and someone took a picture of it!!! All we did today was mostly climbing up and down Huang Shan to view the nice scenery. Furthermore, the cold and nice weather in Huang Shan make the journey up there more enjoyable. I had indeed a great time today. 

CID reflection Day 5:

Yesterday, we stayed in the hotel at Huang Shan. At first, when I went into the room, I was quite sad that there was no air-conditioner, but when we went back at night to sleep after the climb, I was shivering because the natural air in Huang Shan is very cold at night. The only thing that I don't like is that there are many bugs inside, all sorts of bugs. However, they did not disturb me much and I had a good night sleep. We wake up early at around 4:30 a.m. just to see the sunrise. After having breakfast back at the hotel, we went to Huangshan again to climb. Then, we said bye bye to Huang Shan and our next destination is Hongcun. The place is very beautiful. The lake is so clear that you can see the reflection of the building, even yourself when u look into it. Over there, we can see the people selling things we have never seen before. We also learn about the history of that place, for example, the person who built it. 

CID reflection Day 6:

Today, we went to a lot of places. They are 西递, 徽商大宅院, 徽州古城 and 棠樾牌坊群. We learn a lot about their historical backgrounds. All the places we visited are almost the same. They have pictures of old historical people pasted to the walls. I went to take a picture of the pictures on the walls and the guide told me not to do it. There is a reason behind it: the people painted in the pictures were dead ones, if u were to take a picture of it, u will be "cursed". Although the weather is very hot today, we had a fruitful day because we learnt a lot of things. After going to all the places, we were dead tired. However, we had to go to a seminar about Anhui's culture by a professor at the end of the day. I feel that the seminar had gave us a lot of information about Anhui's culture and we all benefit from it. By attending the talk, we get to learn more about the different culture of China.

CID reflection Day 7:

Today is our last day in China, Anhui. We also went to a lot of places today:屯溪老街, 船游西湖 and 岳王庙. As today is our last day, we went shopping at 屯溪老街. We were given limited time, so we went around like crazy people and buy things that we would like to bring back to Singapore. For me, I bought traditional food from different shops to bring back home for my family to have a taste of China. I also bought a 扇子 with my name on it written as a poem. Everybody bought so many things that sitting on the bus is very squeezy because the things that we bought have taken a lot of space. After that, we went to 船游西湖. We sat on a boat for about 20 minutes. Apart from visiting Huang Shan, this is also another part that I like a lot in this trip. All of us get to relax and enjoy the cool breeze while sitting comfortably on the boat, enjoying the scenery. As the boat moves very slowly, it is very stable, so no one is scared. We took the boat to 岳王庙. It was a temple dedicated to 岳飞. At the end of the day at night, we went to the airport and got ready to go back to Singapore. I learnt a lot during this OELP trip. Not only did I learn about the difference of culture between China and Singapore, I also learn more about the people in our class, getting to know them better and bonding with them. I was quite sad at the end of the day because we are going back to Singapore, I really wish there will be another OELP trip next year for us. I really miss it very much even until now.

Malvin (27)

2E

My general reflections for the OELP trip:

Day 1: I think that today was quite tiring. Early in the morning,we took the high speed rail which lasted for around 2 and a half hours. After that,we had lunch and went to 三河古镇. Walking around the 三河古镇 to visit historical sites and learning about the historical figures was tiring as there were quite a few sites for us to visit and the weather was very hot. However, it was still quite meaningful as we learnt a lot about these historical figures and the cultures of 三河. For example, there was the first Chinese who won the Nobel prize and sun Li ren was a member of kmt, who contributed greatly to the country. It was indeed a wonderful experience. Today's experience helped us to learn more about the culture, historical facts and historical figures of 三河. These facts would benefit us a lot as it could help us in comparing Singapore with china. My group's topic is about keeping our friends close. The facts that we have learnt today will help us greatly with this topic as we would be able to figure out in what areas china is doing better than Singapore and how Singapore can learn from china. 

Day 2: today, we visited 合肥45中，and I met my buddy for the first time, and got to know more about her. The school had a different education system from us. Each period lasted for only 40 minutes, and they had a ten minute break in between lessons. I feel that this is quite beneficial to students. I wish that we can have this in our school too. But the toilets in the school compound made me appreciate the toilet cleaners in Singapore. The toilets there were smelly and the cubicles did not have a door, only a wall that was around shoulder height separated each cubicle. It was a horrifying experience. The entrance to the toilet didn't have a door either. I am now so grateful for the much nicer toilets we have in Singapore. On the way to her house, I saw many different things. China's culture and way of life is very different from what it's like in Singapore. My buddy's house is on the sixth floor. While climbing the staircase, I noticed that the steps were full of litter. In comparison to Singapore, the staircases in china were much dirtier. I feel that we should not litter as these litter are unsightly and causes passerby or even ourselves, to feel uncomfortable. Also, I notices that there was a man on the road holding onto a leash on one hand--a monkey, a bowl on the other. The bowl contained some dollar bills. Upon seeing this, I asked by buddy about it. She told me that many people in china catch wild animals and train them to perform in front of crowds to earn money. Such acts are definitely not allowed in Singapore, and I am thankful for it. I feel bad for these animals for they belong to the wilderness and not here within humans reach. 

Day 3: Today, we visited the anhui museum in the morning. In the anhui museum, we saw many objects that were used in the past. One of the objects that piqued my interest was the large "tank" used to store water in the house. I wonder how the people of the past ever managed to transport such fragile and heavy objects to and fro. The miniature models of the palaces in old china fascinated me. It was sculpted so intricately that you could see even the tiniest detail was payed much attention by the sculptors.  After lunch, we watched an animal show. To be honest, I was quite interested to watch the chickens perform at first. However, what happened made me lose my interest in the show altogether was a fierce chicken fight. During the fight, the chicken fought each other, causing their feathers to drop, exposing their bare and red skin. I felt that it was too violent. After that we also watched a circus show. The first part of the circus show was having the tigers perform. But what shocked me was how the staff treated the tigers. They threatened and hit the tigers with a metal rod when the tigers misbehaved or refuse to perform. I felt very upset after that, it was animal abuse after all. I feel that we should do something about this, maybe make the china public more aware of animal abuse and discourage people from watching such performances.

Day 4: Today, we took a four and a half hour bus ride to the famous Huang Shan. The whole bus ride was quite bumpy and it caused discomfort to me. I ended up having motion sickness and felt sick while taking the cable car afterwards. However, the view from the cable car was simply fabulous. At first, I felt very against the idea of having to climb a mountain.  However, afterwards, I thought the climb was worth it. After reaching our hotel on huangshan, we started a two hour plus climb. Although I felt like giving up on the climb many times, I was motivated to continue to climb by my friends. Indeed, I would not have succeeded in climbing so far without my friends, and I am grateful to them. The climb also taught me to persevere, and that without giving, there will be no receiving. In other words, by continuing to climb, without giving in to my tired legs, I received a "gift" and that was to see the beautiful scenery that could only be viewed from the top of the mountain. It was very tiring, but fun at the same time as I saw many beautiful scenes and took many photos. The weather was also quite nice, making the climb a more enjoyable one.

Day 5: Today we woke up at 4:30am to catch the sunrise on the mountains. It was awfully cold in the morning. We had managed to catch the sunrise. It was a beautiful sight. We also climbed the mountains to visit the huangshan scenic areas. We saw many monkeys at the scenic areas. However, the monkeys were not afraid of us humans. In fact, one of them had even posed next to a woman. I thought that she was quite lucky to be able to get so close to the monkey. Perhaps it was because the monkeys were given the freedom to roam, that was why they were not afraid of us. They had known that we would not harm them, that was why they bravely roamed around us. The animals in zoos are held captive, and although they are not treated badly by us, some of them seemed to be convinced that we were not to be trusted. After that, we went to hongcun ancient village. We learnt a lot about the important historical figures of hongcun. Hongcun was established by the wang family. And in the past, all the children with the surname wang could study for free. We also visited the chengzhi hall in hongcun and saw how infrastructures were like in the past. The 马头墙 was one of the unique features of the village that I had remembered. It was fixated on the houses in the village to prevent fire from spreading, since it was easy for houses to catch fire as they were built quite near each other.

Day 6: Today, we visited xidi. To my surprise, I found out that xidi and hongcun are quite similar in terms of culture. The furnitures and it's placing were almost the same for these two villages. However, the villagers in xidi all had the same surname, 胡. But this is not their original surname. The villages had changed their surname to avoid being found. At the end of the day, we had a seminar on anhui's culture. Some of the information shared by the professor were covered by our tour guides. And surprisingly, I had remembered most of the stuff covered. This talk had further enforced my memory of the stuff we had learnt on the trip. I'm glad that we had attended the talk and grateful to the professor for sharing these information with us.

Day 7: Today, we visited the tunxi ancient street. There were many shops on the street and sold many fascinating objects. There were so many shops and we just didn't have enough time to go into many shops and buy stuff. It was like a mad rush shopping. However, I did enjoy it, and bought some food from the shops in the street to bring back home. We also went on a boat at 西湖. Although we only had a short time each to enjoy the cool breeze out on the deck, i cherished every moment of it. It gave me a relaxed feeling. Today was quite a short day, as most of the time was spent on travelling. We had our dinner at the airport, and were given a 130 RMB voucher to spend as the flight was delayed by an hour. Many of us had shared our vouchers and spent it on food. But since we had already eaten, we did not spend much. But some of our classmates thought of a great idea. They spent the remaining of our class's vouchers on meaningful purposes. They bought ice cream and gave it to the people they saw. One of the recipients of the ice cream turned out to be one of the flight attendants of our flight. She had thanked zhi Yan for giving her the ice cream and gave her a token of appreciation. This had thought me that how you treat others, is how others will treat you. It's a double edged sword. By being kind to others, you will in turn receive kindness.

Five things I love about rv and why

1) the toilets. I never thought that the day I would ever feel so grateful for the cleanliness of toilets in Singapore would come by. Having seen the toilet conditions in china, I am now much more appreciative of the toilets in RV and I'm thankful to the cleaners in RV for keeping the toilets in good conditions.

2) not a lot of classes in a day. The china students had much more classes in a day, and I felt that it was too stressful. Although they had lots of break in between, havering a shorter day with comparably less breaks seem better. With half a day left to spent on our own after school, beats having a whole day at school with more breaks.

3) class size is small. I noticed that each class consisted of 60 students on average. The classroom was not very big either. It was kind of cramped inside and having so many students in a class, the teacher pays less attention to the individuals. Some of the teachers can't remember their students's names either.

4)more advance facilities. The schools in china didn't have much facilities and they can't carry out things like sports carnival as well as we can. They did not have a field, individual courts for playing basketball, netball etc. having these facilities in RV, we enjoy pe much better.

5)shorter school hours compared to china schools. Since the students in china have a longer school hour, they don't have much time to do their homework at home, and school starts early the next day too. They also don't get to enjoy cca after school since their school ends almost the same time as our cca ends.

--By Jia Rong