Sunday, August 31, 2008

Day 7




















Was late for the meeting time today with a group of my friends and we got scolded. We have been late for the past 1 or 2 days if i'm not wrong. Felt so sorry for the others. Anyway we took the coach bus to somewhere near the Riverbank park and while the others took a stroll there, Mr Puah, benji, clar, julian and i took a cab from there and went to a nearby church. It seems to me like, after taking cab 2 or 3 times, the local cab drivers doesn't turn on their air-conditioner but just wint down the windows. This is totally different from Singapore.

I wonder if it's because the way we dressed up or something, the people there doesn't seem like they welcome us as some of them stared at us with an unfriendly expression. Overall, the way of worship there, is kind of similar to the methodist churches in Singapore. Before leaving, we were asked to talk to the pastor and the pastor welcomed us with a friendly and polite smile.

Upon leaving, we went to a nearby hawker centre for breakfast and walked all the way back to the Riverbank park. On the way there, we sure seen a lot of interesting things that are different or cannot be found in Singapore.

Something very weird and dangerous in china is their traffic, even though there are zebra-crossing on the road but none drivers care, in fact pedestrians are the one looking out and avoiding incoming cars. What's the point of having zebra-crossing in china?

Upon meeting up with the others, we went to "Bu Xing Jie" whereby we did our shopping once again. It seems like the whole of china is having discounts due to the summer season. Had our lunch together with the whole group of logisticians except a few of them and the restaurant we went is just like the Seoul garden in Singapore. Their services are also much more better than seoul garden as they cooked for us. After lunch we went back to WUST and I had a jog around the school with a group of my peers.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Day 6




















Woke up in the morning again with our nice and friendly Mr Puah waking us up again. Guess it must be tough to make that extra effort just to comes all the way to our room and knock on each of our doors till we open it.
I guess autumn must be coming as this few days have been raining cats and dogs. Got to bring an umbrella where ever I go just in case it rains again.
First programme of the day, Hubei province museum. It sure is interesting to see and to hear what the tour guide had told us though I never really listen everything that she said.

We went on to the Shou Yi Garden Snack Street to have our lunch. The way the food are paid there, are kinda unique. We had to top up a card and use it to pay for our food and the place is just like a normal hawker centre, without air-conditioner, like those in Singapore.

Last programme of the day is YellowCrane Tower where we get to climb a tall tower and check out souvenirs as well as portraits and artifacts related to the past. This was the period whereby we experience the feeling of the coming autumn when the wind blew and it was seriously cold.

I went for a jog with Wei ling and Suelyn upon returning to the dormitory. Sure is refreshing and hope to continue jogging for the rest of the days.

Friday, August 29, 2008

Day 5



On our way to the steel factory visit








Our significant pose 3





My lunch - Egg fried rice


Today was a great day though we had to wake up very early to go for an excursion. This trip really expand my knowledge and expose me to the outside world. It is the first time for majority of us, having the pleasure of looking at a real huge blast furnace and part of the processes. It's a sad thing that we're not allow to take picture there but i guess the memories i had today, will continue to flow in my mind.


Upon returning to WUST, we went to a nearby food store where my 2 malay peers had been going there for lunch. The food were great and cheap and we indeed had a great time there.
Day 4















Everbody too shagged for the continuous & long lecture

Me, ben and julian in the IS lecture
Look just how wordy and detailed the powerpoint slide is!

Today is the earliest day that we need to wake up. Due to shortage of time so yesterday rushed through my journal and ended up having insufficient sleep. Early in the morning we had our very first IS lecture by one of the local lecturer. I was surprise that i'm able to understand and catch every word that she said. Her lecture slides were very detailed but this makes the powerpoint slides very wordy. The whole 4 hours lecture consists of only a 15 min break which made me really tired and sleepy.
I learnt a lot about the culture & history of Hubei, a province of Wuhan. It sure is unbelievable to realize that they have a population of 60.161 million which is so many times more than Singapore. Wuhan is one of the major culture centers in China. The people of Hubei are called nine-headed birds with the saying “In the sky live nine-headed birds. On the earth live cunning Hubei people” This means that Hubei people are very smart and are hard to negotiate terms with them. Another part of the lecture that caught my attention was the part on Emperor Yan(Shengnong). 4000 years ago, Emperor Yan was the first master of Chinese nation and was also the God who invented farming in the mythology of ancient China. He was born in Hubei and known as the farming king.

After the lecture, we went to the canteen to have our lunch. I bought only the vegetables to eat with no rice as there was no meat. It seems like I seriously got a problem adapting to the food there. The whole of morning and afternoon I only had a few spoonful of vegetables. I guess I will slim down in no time haha. I left with a few of my peers to purchase our necessities and went back to my dormitory and discussed with my bunk mates, how we can make our bunk more spacious and clean. Everything turns out great.

After this, I went out again with my bunk mates with a few more people tagging along to search for our shorts and shoes that we have been craving for haha. We were able to cut down the prices by around 50% which I feel it’s worthy to purchase those items. Glad that I finally found what I have been waiting for. Then we separated ourselves again and one group goes to the supermarket to top up our necessities while I accompany two of the girls to check out prices of cameras.

Upon returning to my bunk, I asked some of my peers out for dinner and to our surprise, Mr Puah and the other 2 lecturer were in the restaurant also. The place was really crowded and the food served, aren’t as good as I had expected. The rice was so hard to chew and the dishes are either too oily or too spicy especially for the duck!!! Though it was raining cats and dogs but we were able to return to our dormitory safely. This marked the end of the programme of the day.
Day 3
Alarm alone just couldn’t wake all of us up today and thanks to Mr Puah, who went door to door to wake up, we manage to start our lesson on time today. Attending OIP is fun and also tough in a sense that we have to force ourselves to do house chores and stuffs. Early in the morning had to transfer all wet clothes to the outside corridor to dry while Julian was cooking egg for me. Everything was in a rush as we woke up late but still, we’re able to start the lesson on time! Cheers!






















The lesson length was pretty well organized for an overview/introduction to BPE. Remember Mr Puah saying BPE consisting of hard and soft skills and also some of the important pointers like to others, sensible, sharp, shrewd, strategic.This pointers help us to get a better view of BPE as well as what are the areas that we should look for when discussing about BPE. To summarise, we should always think in a systematical way.


























































(Before leaving for Zhong Shan Jie)


After the lecture we went with our host, Li Xuan to “zhong Shan Jie”. We took a bus there since Li Xuan is with us and she knows the way there. From the journey towards our destination, I realised another big differences of our culture. In Singapore, even if the bus isn’t full, there is always a possibility that passengers will not move to the rear until the bus driver shouts. For Wuhan it’s totally different, even if the bus is full, the passengers will still keep squeezing and squeezing which I don’t find why there is a need for that since the bus is seriously packed. Also I happened to notice a young lady which her armpit not shaved LOL. I believe in Singapore, all young ladies would shave their armpit to keep them look pleasant and glam.


















(In Zhong Shan Jie - The 6 pillars of LMGT)
























(In Zhong Shan Jie - Our Significant pose 1)
































(In Zhong Shan Jie - Our Significant pose 2)

Upon reaching the destination, we headed to the nearby park, Zhong Shan gong yuan. The trees and rivers were very nice and these are sights which you cannot find in Singapore. Wuhan indeed have many places of nature unlike Singapore. Something similar about our peoples and the local citizens here will be spitting on the ground.




































(Main pillar of support of the chosen 20, Our light in the dark)


The park was very exciting especially the part whereby there were even Roller Coaster and Viking Ship etc. Quite a number of my peers couldn’t resist the temptation and decided to go for a ride on the roller coaster as well as the Viking ship. We turned one big round back to where we alighted at first and went to the shopping malls. We went to SOGO first and we separated ourselves and continue to shop what each of us wanted to. The shirts and shoes are quite cheap with discounts due to summer season which is ending soon.




















(In SOGO)


Lastly, we took a cab back to WUST in groups of 4, one guy attaching to 3 girls. How fortunate they are hahaha. Though we took different cab but to our surprise, we met each other in a cross section road inside WUST and the price we paid are around the same too. This marked the end of the day.
Day 2
Woke up early in the morning with one of my bunk mate taking pictures of my sleeping position. I went out all my peers searching for breakfast but to our surprise, all foods are sold out by 8am approximately. For Singapore, majority started hunting for their breakfast at around 8 am plus but for China, breakfast foods are mostly sold out by 8am. This shows the difference between our culture.
First programme of the day was the welcome speech by WUST. All the VIP of WUST came down for the welcome speech and this shows just how much they respect/support the school’s collaboration. The speech was delivered in a formal way and this shows that they are really serious. The speech ended in around 20 minutes.
Straight after the speech, Mr Wong told us we will be having a competition with the local students and he will provides us with the balls. I’m seriously looking forward to playing sports at a foreign country. He brought us around the school, showed us where our lesson will be held and after that, to the shopping district. Due to time limit we had to gather and return to our bunk. I ended up having 2 pieces of bread for my breakfast and lunch with Nutella spread. All thanks to Julian for providing me with this.
We met up in the afternoon again to settle our communication problem – buying a “Hi-card” so as to be able to connect to our peers as well as parents. It took us the whole afternoon as we went to a wrong shop in the first place. The workers there do not know anything about using a “Hi-card” for calling globally and we have to go here and there to another shop to solve our doubts. This shown us that in China, even if the workers know nothing, they can still works in a specialized shop. As compared to Singapore, this is something which we seldom find. Every workers hold a minimum criteria in order to work in a specialized shop. However it is still a good thing that the worker was willing to bring us to another shop to solve our doubts though we walk here and there a few times but their perseverance are commendable.
Last programme of the day was to search for potential food for our dinner. My peers and I was able to find some cheap and delicious fried rice sold near our dormitory. Dinner was seriously great.





























WAiting for the others to assemble and go for the welcome speech ceremony






















My dear brother-in-christ and me inside the lecture theatre waiting for the ceremony to begins






















This is taken after the welcome speech ceremony and it is our group's first jumping shot haha




















On the way to purchase our "Hi-card"

























The day/night market




















Look at the amount of smoke coming out from the day/night market. This place is very crowded especially in the night