After months of anticipation, I was so excited that on the night before our flight, I could not fall asleep at all. I had travelled without my family before when I was chosen to go to Taiwan with my school mates in Primary 5.
This time, however, it was rather different. My company would be the classmates o have been with for more than a year. We had to prepare a performance for the exchange school, Shu Ren. We also had to research about the places of interest that we would be visiting.
I had hoped to learn about the traditions and culture of China. I also wanted to experience the way of life for the citizens and students. With this in mind, my excitement grew even further.
It was really hard, as we had to meet up during recess and lunch breaks to practice, even resorting to staying back after school and using PE Lessons to do so.
We had to choreograph dance moves, make up standing positions, write scripts for a skit and memorise lyrics. Even though the experience was strenuous and tough, it made us become more bonded as an entire class.
Day 1
Our flight was at 9.50am so we had to reach Changi Airport T3 by 7.30am. Changi Airport is really far from my home in Boon Lay, and my family did not have a car. It would take really long if i took public transport. I had been worrying about the issue but fortunately, my classmate and CID groupmate Kieren agreed to fetch me to Changi Airport, which saved me a lot of time and energy. :)
On the way to Changi Airport, I was a bundle of nerves. I rarely took a plane, and the last time I did so was terrible. I would get horrifying headaches that lasted the entire flight, which made me dread the plane journey to China.
However when we reached Changi Airport and saw our classmates and teachers gathered together, I became much more optimistic about the flight as I knew I would be with close friends, even though my parents were not around. Although i was quite happy about the trip, I did feel a sense of loneliness, especially when I saw my friends with their parents. Mine did not come along to send me off, since it was not very convenient but at that moment I missed them badly. After a phone call to them, i felt more reassured. After we checked in, the excitement flooded me again, and I no longer panicked.
Class photo at Changi Airport
As expected, the flight made my head hurt badly. The turbulence was pretty serious and I couldn't sleep well. It was really cold on the plane, and I ended up falling asleep. After a couple of hours, I woke up with my toes freezing and my headache subsiding. I was sitting next to Jun Jie and Sheng Feng on the flight, and we played a few games which distracted me from the pain. I won Sheng Feng at almost every game of Tetris, which made me rather amused at his expense.
We got off the plane, with my ears blocked and my headache back. The temperature was cooler than Singapore's, and the weather was wonderful. The cool air was nice for a change, and made my head feel better. When we came out of the airport, we were introduced to our tour guide and we boarded the bus that we would be taking for the next 7 days.
The beautiful weather in Shanghai, China
Firstly, we went to have dinner. It was a delicious meal and we tried many of Shanghai's delicacies.
Full of smiles after a pleasant meal
After the meal, we boarded the bus and headed towards the Bund. The Bund is a waterfront area in Shanghai, where mang buildings and architecture is located. Some such buildings are the Oriental Pearl Tower, and the Bank of Taiwan. It is one of the most famous tourist destinations in Shanghai.
When we reached the Bund, what greeted us was a magnificent view. The buildings were lit up with colourful words and images. The water rippled gently, and the wind calmed our hearts. Before I knew it, all of us were enthusiatically snapping photos of the wonderful scenery, wishing to capture the best of photos to remember this place.
We excitedly boarded the cruise. The close up view of the buildings and the cruise journeyw as extremely enjoyable.
View from on board the cruise.
After that, we got off the cruise and prepared to leave. Before doing so, we took many photos again with the scenery.
Class photo with the amazing scenery
Photos with friends :D
A rather failed jumpshot, but extremely memorable one.
We then left the Bund and went back to the hotel to rest.
Day 2
Early morning at 7am, we left Shanghai Holiday Inn for Yangzhou. It was an approximately 4 hours bus ride, and we spent most of the ride sleeping. When we woke up, we were nearing Yangzhou, where we would be living in for 5 full days.
Once we reached Yangzhou, we had our lunch, where we tried Yangzhou's famous dishes, such as Yangzhou fried rice and 狮子头. We then went to Geyuan Garden. It is a beautiful garden, with a long and deep history.
Shortly after we entered Geyuan Garden, it began to drizzle. All of us were startled, and quickly took out umbrellas and ponchos. At this moment, I saw a side of my classmates that I have never seen before. Suddenly, we became more closer packed together, as most of us were sharing umbrellas. Classmates were offering to share umbrellas, or carry bags for each other as they opened their umbrellas. I feel that it was pretty special as we had never done that as a class before.
Glass artwork hangs from above at the entrance
Our tour guide began bringing us around Geyuan Garden, introducing us to many different plants and flowers. He gave us a detailed introduction of each and every piece of architecture. I had the greatest impression on the residential housing in Geyuan Garden. It clearly showed the way of life for people in the past. Each and every brick was of such historical value, and I couldn't help but be memerised by the buildings. They may not have been towering skyscrapers, but it had its own beauty that captured my attention.
After that, we went to the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, where we took a boat to appreciate the beautiful scenery along the canal.
We then went to visit the Chinese Paper Cutting Museum, where we had a hands on experience. It was an excruciating experience for me. I had never been good or skilled woth my hands, so when it came to artwork, I would always be disappointed with my product. I realised that Chinese paper cutting was an extremely tough art, as contrary to my first impression of it. It required much concentration. The paper is extremely thin. Without proper concentration, the paper would tear and the image would not appear. It was also a truly painful process. The scissors was hard to grip on, and the curves was very hard to cut through. Although I did not successfully complete my cutting due to the lack of time, I realised that we should be more respectful towards the people who personally cut these pieces of artwork. It also made me understand why artisans were more highly respected by the society than the rich merchants. They contributed with their hard work beautiful pieces of art, which was a larger contribution than the merchants who would just sell the products of hard work by the people.
Working hard at the art of Paper Cutting :')
After which, we had our dinner and then proceeded to visit a supermarket. It was one the places we looked forward to most. We were extremely excited at the prospects of buying food to eat :D
We were also very interested in the food brands in China. As expected, the moment we entered the supermarket, we saw many varieties of snacks and food products. However, we decided on stay on task and immediately delved into finding out the prices of certain goods for our research. We also kept a lookout on the types of products not found in Singapore and vice versa.
Some examples of goods that could not be found in Singapore are chewing gum. On the other hand, we were unable to find goods such as sushi and drinks like milo. China's supermarkets also sell most stuff, such as cup noodles at a cheaper price than Singapore, since they are manufactured in China. One observation we made after calculations was that a 1L bottle of drinking water was oddly enough cheaper in Singapore.
Day 3
Today was the day we would finally be visiting our immersion school, Shu Ren! We received a warm welcome by the school. They even put up an announcement on a large LED board to welcome us.
Firstly, we went to watch the students' everyday school life. We got the chance to observe them having a Chinese lesson. They were studying a story in their textbook, 散步. For me, i had once read it when I was in primary school. I was shocked that they were reading and studying a story at such a deep Chinese level. I realised that as China citizens, their chinese standard was way better than ours. The students, actively participated in the lesson, raising their hands to answer questions and discussing actively during group discussions. It was very different from the overall mood in our classroom, even though it was similar setting and a normal lesson with the textbook. I felt that we should learn their proactiveness from them and be as hard working as them.
After that, we went for a Physical Education lessonin their school hall, where we participated in a wushu class with the students of Shu Ren. We also performed 立化拳 for them. After which, the students got to mix around and we chattered for a while.
We then got to visit their garden. It was extremely large, about the size of our entire school compound! It was heavily invested in and was very pretty. We walked around the garden and took many photos of the scenery.
Following that, we went back to their school hall for a friendly match in basketball with their school basketball team. We had the guys team, then the girls to compete with each other. Their basketball teams were extremely talented and skilled. Although we were losing, we tried to ignore the exasperation we had and cheered nonstop for our classmates, who were playing hard in the match. In the end, our voices were hoarse, but the chanting never stopped. From cheers to chants, we did them all. As the words 立化加油 reverberated throughout the hall, even the echoes seemed to reflect our never ending support for our friends. Although we did not win, we were happy for the Shu Ren basketball teams. Most importantly, we were proud of our classmates who till the end, never gave up. As they returned from the court, we were patting them on the back, giving them water, thankful for their perseverance and relieved that they were unhurt from the match. As students of River Valley, I was glad that we remembered to uphold these qualities even when in China. At the end, Shu Ren gave our players toys as thanks and we all took a group photo, along with the students of Shu Ren.
After that, we thanked the teachers and principal who gave us such a warm welcome, before leaving for the hotel. At night, we had one final practice for the upcoming performance at Shu Ren the next day. We promised to show our best and not let our hard work in preparing the performances go to waste.
No comments:
Post a Comment