Angela

Monuments
>Poem (of Oriental Pearl Tower)

Tall and mighty,
Strong and sturdy.

High above all,
Seems just like a mall.

Amazing view,
which makes you drool.

Boosts the economy,
and beats the rest.

I tried very hard for the poem, but I guess I'm not a poet. :'(

>Postcard ( I did not manage to post one back to Singapore, but I bought one, and this is it.)

Postcard I got showing Shanghai's most famous monuments!

Dear Mum and Dad,

This is my last day here at Shanghai, and I have enjoyed this trip immensely.

I have visited the Oriental Pearl Tower and many other attractions, but this is the most interesting one I have been to. This place seems quite significant, even to the locals, as it is always teeming with people. It is also a very good place as an economy boost as there are many tourists and they usually buy their items there. This would lead to more jobs for people and it would benefit the locals in the end, as they usually do not have enough jobs there. The way it was built also amazes me, as its very structure is intriguing. Although I am leaving Shanghai soon, and the fact that I would miss the city, I miss you guys even more! See you in two days time!

XOXO

your dear child, angela

Cost Of Living
 > Local's satisfaction with the cost of living in China.
Well, as you all might have been very enthusiastic to know, I will be talking about my interview with our bus driver. I asked a few questions, like how much he earned, how much a car costed, how much land costed etc...
He responded with the following: 
[Item & Price]

Bills (Electricity, Heating, Water, Garbage) for 85m2 Apartment

421.74 ¥

Volkswagen Golf 1.4 90 KW Trendline (Or Equivalent New Car)

175,700.00 ¥

Price per Square Meter to Buy Apartment in City Centre	72,815.48 ¥
Price per Square Meter to Buy Apartment Outside of Centre	29,352.62 ¥

 He told us how their salary was low and in total it could not handle their fees if they were to own their own land. Also, he mentioned that the items there were considerably more expensive and people with lower salary have no choice but to get them, as there are no alternatives. Most of the people with landed property, are usually the richer people.
Hence, I can infer how they are forced to purchase more expensive items. Therefore, the cost of living there is high from the perspective of the bus driver.

Education
 > thoughts and observations on behaviour in class and style of learning
The students there are eager to learn.
We attended 4 lessons in total, but I'll be focusing on 2-Music and English.
Music lesson was for one hour. The room had air con and lessons were conducted using technology. They were talking about a symphony, and that the main characteristics were that they had many people to play a piece. The teacher then showed a video-what happens if you give a yoyo to a flamingo? It was fairly interesting and funny. He then proceeded to explain how to pronounce the word "finale"[fee-nah-lay]. He talked about various famous composers such as Mozart, Beethoven and two other composers. He then went on to talk about concert etiquette. The students answered when called, and sometimes even raised their hands. They could joke around and laugh together a lot, even when someone makes a mistake. The people there do not make fun of the person, but instead laugh it off.
I observed that their whiteboard and screen were separate, so the screen did not block any part of the whiteboard. I find that this is very interesting as it is different from Singapore's classroom and they actually thought of saving and giving the teachers more whiteboard space. The way their music teacher taught was actually pretty intriguing and not just whiteboard and marker, but actually using technology, which caught my attention.
For English lesson, the classroom had 9 CCTV surveillance cameras; one at every corner. I found this slightly ridiculous, as it seemed like it meant they did not trust their students, and as if they would use their phones during lessons, or cheat during lessons, and were ready to catch them. An essay there only comprised of 200 words, which compared to Singapore, is very little. Their English was not as good as our Singapore student's, but it was manageable. However, I noticed that sometimes their English teacher would speak in Mandarin to explain some meanings for the words. Also, I would occasionally catch the teacher teaching their students the wrong things. This shows that the teacher is not competent enough, and well, is passing on to her students wrong knowledge. However reluctant the students were to answer the question, they tried their best when called upon, which is something I admire and wish to learn from them.

> The life of a student in China
  The education pricing of a student there was about RMB 2000-3000. As compared to our school fees, it clearly shows how much more expensive it is there. They start school at 7am and end around 6pm, which is nearly 12 hours in school. The average amount of sleep each student gets is 4 hours. The students say that they are very stressed, and they have a lot of homework. When I recount what they told me, I realised how lucky I am to be studying in Singapore, where education is considerably cheaper, and for me, seemingly less stressful. I am grateful to be studying in here and I decided to study harder and make good use of what I have as compared to the students in Shanghai. The students there all learn to attain a good job with a high position, get a good pay and start a family. They dared to dream, and they dreamed big. I admire that about their students. I feel that we as Singaporeans, we are afraid to dream, and DREAM BIG. We take all the safe routes, Not many envision to be a cook. Not many are freelance artists. We are all too afraid that we will fail. However, I believe that "When there's a will, there's a way." If we work hard, and be very motivated, we will be able to achieve what we want. Sure, there will be many setbacks, but in the process, and during all these setbacks, we would learn a lot. Hence, from that day on, I wanted to let myself start to dream big[with a purpose].



DAILY REFLECTIONS DURING OELP xD

OELP Day 1

On that day, we had to arrive at the airport at 7.15am. Despite the early timing, I was still very excited for the trip. With each and every trip that I take, the one thing that excites me the most was the airplane ride. I mean, who wouldn’t be happy to sit on the airplane and watch free entertainment? Well, I was. We, along with our tour guide Mr Markus and our teachers (Mr Lim, Ms Teo and Ms Lee), gathered at Terminal 3 Row 7 and finally checked in as a group. That day, my family members came to send me off. My mother reminded me to “be safe”, “stay with the teachers” and “don’t be naughty”. I said goodbye to my family members, and as a class, we went into the departure hall. Leaving my family and going off for a week with my classmates was a first for me. It certainly made me slightly homesick but nevertheless I still looked forward to a trip that would be fun for me. As we were students, they gave us priority to board the Singapore Airlines plane first. We were greeted by the flight attendants with huge smiles on their faces that brightened my day. Singapore Airlines’ service was good and hence I had a pleasant ride to Shanghai. During the 5 hours of plane ride, I watched many movies like Night in the Museum 3 and Big Hero 6, as I didn’t want to waste the opportunity and sleep. However, I think my words that the plane ride would be fun jinxed the trip. I got so nauseous on the plane ride due to turbulence that I couldn’t eat my food without feeling like puking.

Finally, the plane touched down at Shanghai Pudong International Airport (上海浦东国际机场).We left the plane and immediately met our tour guide, Mr Ma, also known as 马先生. On our bus ride to Carrefour家乐佛, he fed us with a lot of information about China.

The view in the bus.

When we reached the supermarket, we had to cross a road to get to it.

Greenery.

Carrefour in China

 That walk across the road shocked us badly, VERY badly. Well, we always assumed that traffic was safe in Shanghai because traffic was really good in Singapore. However, we realized that even crossing roads in China posed as a threat to our lives. When crossing the road, even though it was our right of way, it certainly did not seem so. Cars were driven wildly, and even though you are crossing the road, they can continue to drive into your way, so close to knocking you down. All of us were stunned. Entering the supermarket, as a crowd of students, we parted ways into our CID groups and started to “shop”. We were given a task of things to find out at the supermarket, and we did so quickly. After that, it was free for us to get our things that we wanted to get. My friend and I explored the supermarket and found out many price differences.

Food cost of sausages in China

 Well, one thing that was the most obvious was that the cup noodles in China certainly was very cheap, as compared to Singapore.  What shocked us even more was the poor service of the supermarket. Not only had we need to pay RMB 0.30 for a plastic bag, we also needed to put our items into the plastic bag ourselves. The lady simply threw the bag at our items, and left us to fend for ourselves. That ended our adventures of the Supermarket and we went to our hotel.

Gathering outside the mall

 I was impressed by our hotel. The room was sparkling clean and nice-smelling which suited our taste. We were then asked to go down for debrief immediately after we put our luggage in the room.  Our teachers were merciful that day and simply summarized what we did quickly, before allowing us to rest. I fell into a deep sleep that day, after updating my parents on what I did.

Day 2, Monday 25^th May 2015

Shopping, Visiting and getting souvenirs

I got up automatically that day at 5.30am, thinking it was 8am already and I was late. Well, I couldn’t be blamed for that! The sun had risen and it seemed like morning already! I panicked and got up to brush my teeth before realizing that it was still early.

Window of our room

 I waited for my roommate, Jane, to get up, before going down for breakfast. The food there wasn’t to my liking for it was too oily and salty, and nothing there tasted as good as the food my mother cooks. After breakfast, we went back up to our room to recuperate, before assembling at the lift lobby to explore Shanghai.

On the bus, the road was congested but yet our bus driver uncle still tried his best to bring us to the places we wanted to go on time. While travelling on the bus, I noticed how carefully our bus uncle was driving and wondered why the trip was still so bumpy. I then realized it could be the way the road was shaped. The road was bumpy and uneven as compared to Singapore’s nice smooth roads. I realized how I should appreciate the government’s efforts to make everything go smoothly and take care in everything they do, to make Singapore a better place for us to live in. I noted that Shanghai was full of high-rise buildings too!

Walking up to The Bund

at The Bund

at The Bund

Finally, we arrived at The Bund, 外滩. Even though the sun was glaring and made us squint, the coolness of the weather (25 degree Celsius) made it tolerable. It was considerably cooler as compared to Singapore and it was also very windy. Looking across the river allowed us to spot many of Shanghai’s famous attractions like the Oriental Pearl Tower, 东方明珠塔 and Shanghai World Financial Centre, 上海环球金融中心. Our group took many photos of the beautiful scenery that was shown in all its glory before us.

Walking around Nanjing Road

Following that, we walked to 南京路步行街. Oh well, that walk was certainly loud as cars which passed by us either drove speedily across the road even though it was not their right of way. Many honks could be heard as their drivers attempted to make us pedestrians move quicker. When we arrived at that place, our tour guide explained the meaning of the place and told us to gather back at the same spot by an hour and a half’s time. During his briefing, there was a pitiful-looking old man who was begging for money from us. He hovered around us relentlessly and kept holding out his cup, in an attempt to ask us to give him money. We were petrified. My friends immediately moved out of the way and those who didn’t were stunned still. Although it was not my first time witnessing this act in China, it still was scary for me. Our teachers looked concerned, but could not do anything to stop the beggar. This was when I began to really think about how Singapore can stop this kind of acts, and prevent begging. I realized how important it was to keep law and order in a country in order for it to not have this kind of things happening.  We ignored the beggar and went on with our usual schedule. Walking along the street, we noticed many retail outlets that were part of the international chain like McDonalds, UniQlo, Starbucks, H&M, etc…  

Mcdonalds in China

My group of friends were attracted to this shop selling ice cream, and eventually bought a giant ice cream which cost about RMB 4.50, which, judging by its size, was considerably cheaper in Shanghai as compared to Singapore. Unfortunately for us, the old beggar seemed to have followed us around, for when we turned, we saw him again. My friends were panicking on the spot and I immediately led them away from him.

Confucius Temple

Confucius himself

A building in the temple

Their garden

Some wishes written by people who pray here

  After that, we went to the Confucius temple, 孔夫子庙. This place was certainly an eye opener for me, as it was a bigger version of our temples in Singapore. I believe in Confucius so when I went there, I hoped to be able to study better. The place was quite quiet, and there were guards outside the temple. Hence, it led me to my conclusion, that it was a preserved cultural attraction. Our tour guide went on the explain certain traditions, such as the girls enter from the right door and the guys enter from the left door, while the main door was to remain close as only the gods would use it.

Chenghuang Temple District

The Night View of Chenghunag Temple District

  Lastly, we went to Chenghuang Temple District, 城隍庙商业区, which is by far, my most favourite place. Chenghuang Temple District was filled with delicacy shops and souvenir shops. It had developed into the Shanghai’s oldest commercial area which was worth walking around. Walking around, I noticed that the ground had many dog faeces, and many people, both the old and the young, smoke, which made the air quality deterioriate. The hygiene there was horrible and as you walk, you could see people openly spitting on the floor. I learned how their public enforcement was bad, and that people should have public education to let them learn of these things. I bought several souvenirs at a lower price with the help of my friend, Phoebe who was excellent in the art of bargaining. She could make items that were originally RMB 50 become RMB 25 with her persuasion, and that was one thing I definitely want to learn from her. I found out from my other friends that the places they visited sold cheaper stuff, and that disappointed me. Perhaps places which were visited more often would have more expensive stuff to gain profit, or perhaps it was just the difference in the price of their rent.

  All in all, I learned that imported products were more expensive than local products and I felt that perhaps because some of us bought local products, their prices could be bargained with and be made cheaper. Going back to the hotel, we had a short session of debrief before heading back to our room to wash up and sleep.

DAY 3 Tuesday 26^th May

Heritage and Discovering new things

The entrance of the Science Museum before security check

Waiting inside the museum for our briefing

Along the walkway of the museum from exhibit to exhibit

  We went to Shanghai Science and Technology museum today. On our way to the museum, I noted that there were many advertisements pasted on numerous high-rise buildings. It showed that competition between companies of the same calibre was fierce.

"real" animals

   At the Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, I found that a ticket to enter the museum for a child was 30 RMB. Comparing it to Singapore, it was around the same price as our entrance fee to the Science Centre, but many museums in Singapore was free entry for us. I realized how Singapore sort of gives priority to its citizens by giving such exclusive deals. Before entering the museum, we had to go through a security check, like the ones we do at the airport. The security there was pretty tight, and that impressed me, because it shows that China wants the citizens who enter the museum to be safe and also not harm the various “artefacts”.  The museum was jaw-dropping. It was humongous and it had 15 over exhibitions for us to visit, ranging from Animal’s World, Design, Earth and many more. My CID group decided to visit the Animal’s World first. 

Plants

Stepping into the exhibition, it really felt like I was in the world of animals, for I was surrounded by many creatures from all over the world. We climbed “rocks” and it felt like I was really in a forest. Along the way, we met some of our 2D friends and we stopped for a chat. Following that, we continued to play more activities at the Human Body exhibition which gave us many hands on activities for us to do. We could play soccer, cycle or even do boxing. After that, we gathered outside the theatre and went to watch a 4D movie about viruses and bacteria in our body. It was certainly and eye-opener. When the characters felt wind, we felt wind, when the characters sneezed…well… we got sneezed on with droplets of water. The movements of the chair and the characters “jumping” out at you scared me. I disliked these 4D movies as although I know the things happening are not real, I cannot help but react to it. The trip to the museum was a good one and I enjoyed the experience.
  Next, we visited 朱家角古镇. The place was an antique itself. We had our lunch there and before we entered the restaurant, the sight of a beggar filled our eyes again. It set me thinking. Why were there so many beggars? Were they too poor? In Singapore, we have things such as The Pioneers Generation package to aid the elderly and services to waive/lower the fees for our elderly. I thought that China could learn from Singapore and give some priority to their aging population. Walking through the old district, I could see the heritage of China. From old dragon stone statues to the old Chinese rooftops, it clearly showed that Shanghai was still retaining its cultural heritage. An attraction whereby people threw coins into a small hole in the wall to get luck caught my attention. The owner was able to earn money so easily. I mean, who wouldn't want to be lucky? I inferred that people still had their own beliefs and one of them was this.

As our tour guide brought around the area, I saw a tourist dressing in a 古装 and taking shots by the river.

  Lastly, we visited the M50 Art Gallery. This art gallery amazed me a lot. I love art and this was a memorable experience. Shanghai had given money to build up on the aesthetic side of their population. This little art gallery was a collection of many artworks by people in China and several from overseas. There were many art pieces, from portraits to graffiti. I felt that China was looking both at the academic side and the aesthetic side, as they are developing more people who have an interest in art by giving money to build this place. This action tells artists who live in China to step out of their comfort zone and come to a place to nurture their talent. In Singapore, we also do nurture talents like this. We have School Of The Arts, SOTA, Esplanade and many art museums. During our debrief, our teacher mentioned that SOTA might have been strategically located closer to Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts(NAFA) and closer to town so the people in SOTA have easier access to other references or needs.

  Today was a memorable day discovering more of China’s heritage. 

DAY 4 Wednesday 26^th May 2015

History and Development

The entrance

Shanghai's main attractions

Firstly, we went to 上海城市规划馆. Before we entered the museum, we had to go through another security check. This proved that China takes note of the security of their artefacts and museums. The museum showcased many different aspects of Shanghai’s development throughout the years of rich history that she has. There was a female guide that accompanied and brought us around the museum. She spoke clearly and each lengthy description of the various pictures and its meaning was without score. She impressed me a lot because I wouldn't have been able to memorise so many words and utter it without hesitation and mistakes. With her detailed explanation, I was able to understand the history and development of Shanghai. She showed us a video and it showed a place that was originally The Bund and showed us the development and evolution of The Bund. The animation was highly entertaining. 

Display of the entire Shanghai

Zoomed in to some small buildings

On Level 2, there was a gigantic display of the whole of Shanghai. She gave us a brief introduction of the places, as well as used various lighting to make us see the places better. After that, we entered a dome-like shaped place with a video that played all around us. That was really very fascinating, and had me turning heads all around to catch parts of the video. However, it made me really dizzy after that.

Walking to Shanghai Museum

Waiting to enter the museum

The grand stairway up

Old coins of previous dynasties

  Next, we visited the Shanghai Museum. The place was filled with artefacts, paintings, furniture, jades, sculptures, pottery and many others. The place was full of China’s history and heritage. The calligraphy area of the museum showcased calligraphy from different dynasties up to the Qing Dynasty. We can see the differences between each dynasty and what made each and every dynasty different and interesting. There were many brochures which gave detailed explanations on the place, with English, Chinese and Japanese translations. This was a useful part of the museum as not everyone could speak English, hence they gave a Chinese one too. However, what made it intriguing was the fact that out of all the other languages, they chose to print Japanese translated version. I thought that maybe it was because of their link with Japan, but I am still not clear about this.

  Following that, we visited石库门. It is a fusion of the West and the East. I feel that China made the right choice in preserving this particular place as it showcases a lot of the history as we can imagine it. Our tour guide told us that people in the place would lend each other a helping whenever they need help because they were a close-knit family. It sort of resemblance Singapore’s multicultural society whereby we never hesitate to help one another and we live harmoniously together and the warm compassion we have. We also visited the old kitchens they used.

A photo in the museum

 Deeper into the place, we visited the Museum of the First National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, 中共一大会址. In this museum, we got to know how the Communist Party fought for their rights which were similar to what we were learning in Y2 History, just that it was more detailed. 

Xin Tian Di

After that, we shopped at 新天地 which was nearby. It was vintage-looking and the shops in the shopping mall were rather “high-classed”, but I got a book at 25.80 RMB which was SGD $5, much cheaper than what was sold in Singapore. 

  It was an enjoyable day today! (:

DAY 5 Thursday 28^th May 2015

School immersion Day 1

We had to wake up extremely early today because we had to attend school like normal students in Shanghai. 

The School track

A solar panel in the school

The school is called Nanyang Model High School, 南洋中学. The school was rather far away from our hotel, so we had to spend an hour in the bus. I was rather interested to know about the education system in Shanghai and I had several questions that were waiting to be answered by our buddy. When we reached the school, we noticed that the school was HUMONGOUS. It was really colossal. There were many different buildings for different events. The track seemed bigger too. 

Different buildings

The teachers' Staff room

Their classroom

We went to a classroom that was sparkling clean. There were 9 CCTV cameras in the classroom—UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, FRONT, BACK… There was one everywhere!!! It appalled me because it shows as if the school does not trust its students, or simply treated education very seriously. After the end of each period, there would be classical music that played. It reminded me of primary school, and was a good way to tell students it was the end of a lesson. The first class we attended was their Music Lesson.  I personally found it quite interesting as the slides had many animations and instead of dragging the class with lots of slides, the teacher showed many videos instead. We learnt about Mozart, Beethoven, and 2 other musicians. We also learnt how to pronounce finale. However, the way the teacher conducted the lesson still bored me a bit. However, the students there were very proactive and always raised their hands to answer questions. They had a positive attitude and compared to Singapore, whereby none of us chooses to answer, it was better there. After that, we attended a Science lesson that was very interesting! We had hands-on activities for us to feel and to understand. We needed to build a tower with just an A4 paper and nothing else in 20 minutes. Apparently, the tallest tower built by one of our seniors is 75cm. That shocked me. Using and A4 paper to produce such a tall tower is a great feat. My friend, Chun Xuan, and I brainstormed for a long time but did not have enough time to complete our tower, so ours wasn't the tallest. I had high hopes for the lessons conducted the next day.

  We then went to 鲁迅故居. It was a wonderful experience as I knew 鲁迅 was a very good author. However, we were prohibited from talking during the visit, which showed us how protective they were. Hence, it made me conclude that the place was very special and unique.

  After that, we went back to the hotel for a Chinese’s Handicraft lesson. We used rice dough to make a parrot, did some paper cutting stuff and learnt how to tie a Chinese Knot called 中国结. It was certainly a hard task as I couldn’t tie it tightly enough. I had lots of fun then!

DAY 6 Friday 29^th May 2015

School Immersion Day 2

We had another half day of School Immersion today. When we reached the school, the teacher in charge of us told us that when we hear a bell and see a stampede of students running down the hallway, we would be able to follow them in their Mass Exercise.

The field

 Unfortunately, due to rain, it was cancelled. The first lesson we had a PE lesson, which certainly woke us from our stupor. We headed down to the field with our buddies and we had a crazy idea to run 1 round around the track. It was exhilarating but extremely tiring at the same time. It was super pleasant to run in the cold and it felt really good. Our buddies unfortunately didn’t run with us because they didn’t believe we would do it. We were split into 2 big groups and my group was playing catching with a group of girls. We stood round in a circle and the game was like a better and more tiring version of H20. Unfortunately, I was made to run round the circle twice. The first time was horrible. I just kept running and running without stopping and I ended up just jogging after people. The 2^nd time, I was able to at least catch someone and stop running. After the exercise, I was thoroughly exhausted. But the next activity was even more tiring. We had to run away from the ‘fisher’ who was our PE teacher. The people whom she caught would link hands with her as her ‘net’ to catch us. WE RAN AND RAN AND RAN. And I finally gave up and decided to let people catch me. PE lessons there were certainly good to build on our stamina and it was very enjoyable!

  After that, we had an English lesson. I was certain that the Chinese there would be weaker in Chinese, and it was true, though their positive attitude was very commendable. They do not hesitate to speak out and volunteer to answer questions. However, their English there really is weaker as compared to Singapore. Their teacher uses Chinese to explain some of the English words which just shows why people there are not proficient in the language. Also, the teacher often teaches the student wrong grammar/words. Their worksheet was very simple but their students still have difficulties in doing it, but I guess it is not their fault. If I attended their Chinese lesson, I would probably be unable to understand anything too. Their papers are made of recycled materials though, and it shows that China makes an effort to keep them environmentally friendly.

  After that we went to 世博馆 and 世博源. 

The art musuem's unique shape

A painting in the museum

世博馆 had a unique and interesting structure. Our tour guide explained what it resembled and it was extremely windy there. We took a group photo and on the escalator up, the tour guide told us not to hold the handrails which puzzled me a lot. But after that, he told us that many children’s fingers used to be cut off by it. That scared me and I was thankful that he warned us beforehand. The Art Museum is a popular tourist attraction and has many art pieces. 

At世博源, we were allowed to shop and we took many photos then!

 DAY 7 Saturday 30^th May 2015

A Day with our buddies

  In my group, we only had 1 buddy. She was called思岐. She was very friendly and up till today I still keep in touch with her. My buddy gave every one of us a handmade handicraft and that shocked but touched me. She was very very thoughtful.

  Firstly, we went to an area along the Huangpu River. We took a lot of photos and we went to the railway track to do so too. 

We encountered an old railway station and it really looked like and antique and different from what we have in Singapore now. When walking, we met many dogs and found that our buddy, whose English name is Selene, could associate very well with dogs. They seemed to love her and allowed her to touch them.

 We also passed by people who we running a marathon. They looked very tired and one of my group members shouted 加油! To them.

  Next we went shopping. We were brought to a shopping mall and she brought us to eat first. 

one of the shops in the foodcourt

There was a food court that was pretty big. They required you to top up money into a card first, and after you finish eating, you could refund the food. My buddy didn’t want to eat anything but I still offered her some chicken. 

She then brought out to see a small museum but unfortunately it was closed. We took some photos though! She also brought us through the underground subway to move around. It was really large but nevertheless Selene could navigate us around. She then brought us to a bookstore. We walked around and I found out that the English story books there were really expensive. We then quickly bought a rose ice cream for her and us to share before heading back.  We also went to田子坊 and I got most of my souvenirs there. She brought us to the places she would usually go to get good souvenirs. 

Then, we walked for a bit before deciding to go and eat some of Shanghai’s delicacies as we didn’t have a proper lunch. The food was pretty good and the place we sat at was very nice.  After that, it was time to part. Selene went back home and it was rather sad seeing her go. We promised to bring her around Singapore when she comes to Singapore.

  After that, we were allowed to settle our own dinners. The place we went to sold rice sets, fried rice, noodles and many more. It was a cozy place. I ordered a set which had rice and some side dishes. My friend ordered fried rice. Their portions were gigantic! We paid around 8 RMB for each meal but yet the portion they gave was a lot.

 We then went back to the hotel, showered and went for debrief. That night was rather sad as it was our last day in Shanghai. I’m going to miss Shanghai so much :’(

DAY 8 Sunday 31^st May 2015

Last day in Shanghai

Today was a sad day. We loaded our luggage onto the bus and headed to Oriental Pearl Tower, 东方明珠塔.  

Oriental Pearl Tower

Looking down

It is the iconic monument of Shanghai. We had to wait for quite a long time before we could enter the building. To me, each and every national icon has to have unique traits to be called a country’s national icon. I feel that it is fit to be the national icon because of how majestic it is and the bird’s eye view of China that it provides. At the top of the tower, we had a bird’s eye view of the whole of Shanghai. Right below our feet were teeny weeny humans and cars that look like bugs. Like the Merlion, the Oriental Pearl Tower is unique. Its structure of the building has a ball around the tip of the building that makes it look like there is a pearl on the top of the building. Its location at the tip of Lujiazui in the Pudong district by the side of Huangpu River, opposite The Bund makes it a notable landmark. Comparing it to Shanghai’s Financial Centre which we also visited, I find that the Oriental Pearl Tower is a better national icon. It is not only located in the central area, it also is an attraction that is visited by both tourists and citizens.  

Brochures

My CID Group

  After visiting both places and a shopping mall, it was time to go home, to Singapore. 

Waiting at the airport to check in

We shopped around at Pudong International Airport before boarding. I went to one of their convenience store to get Strepsils to soothe my throat, only to find that there was no Strepsils. Instead I had to spend 38 RMB on a Chinese sweet. It was really expensive, but there was no other choice. We boarded the plane, and although I wanted to stay awake, I was too tired to do so.

  It was really enjoyable to go to Shanghai to learn many enriching things. I have learnt a lot and I hope to go there again! J

CID BLOGWORK #10 

Hey guys! So today I'll be having a "look into my personal life" sort of thing. 

If you guys haven't already known, I'm in RV Chorale and thats my greatest pride!

The people in Choir are the loveliest bunch of people you'll ever meet. Ranging from quiet, to loud, to "slaps your butt every time they see you" kind of people, there is a list of never ending differing personalities in the chorale, and they are never cease to amaze me with their quirky acts and those little acts of theirs just make my day.

So just recently, I (AM STILL) was honoured to be able to represent RV and be one of those SYF participants! The process of our hard work and practice sessions were all fruitful on that fateful day 14 April 2015, we got a certificate of DISTINCTION! Of course, it was expected (AHEM AhEM no im not going to jinx it) but the pride and joy that we had was immense.

(I'll post a picture of our pretty faces soon! Today technology is failing me and no I have no idea why they are restricting me from uploading a picture sigh :(( )

Way before SYF, I managed to get into Junior High Council as well!! 

I WAS ON CLOUD NINE WHEN I RECEIVED THAT EMAIL SAYING THAT I GOT IN. 

I put in lots of effort for my interview, and my hard work finally paid off :)) One may say that the student council are just a bunch of "kaypo" people, but the hard work we put in is unimaginable, so don't go off thinking like that. It is a privilege to be in JHC, but it'll never be an easy road, and that's okay! I will beat all the obstacles and get past my Year 2 life, YEAH! 

Oh yeah, and did I mention that I am a Class Chairperson as well? (WINK WINK)

haha that's all for today guys! See you!

Adieu

XOXO Angela XOXO

6.5.15

CID BLOGWORK #9

Cost of Living

HEY GUYS! so we learnt about the cost of living last friday, and here us my lil' reflection!

The cost of living is one of the most important factors in a society as it determines the standard of living and also reflects the affluence of a country. The factors that are usually being looked at include basic cost of living (basic needs) and average salary.

We watched a news clip from Channel News Asia, that was from a few years back. It stated that in Singapore, on the EIU ranking, which aims to give an indication of the relative differences in the cost of living in global cities for expatriates or business travelers, we were ranked as the most expensive city. The data that was used can include international school fees, the best seats at the theatre, fine dining at top restaurants and luxury items. However, they did not count public housing. The implications for Singapore to be the most expensive city in the world, might lead to strong currency, rising inflation and utility costs.

There was this scenario given to us. (I'm not so sure if it was a "What if" scenario or a true one) It was about a Singaporean complaining, no, stating that Singapore was "number 1" at everything and even at our cost of living. He said that the government only knew how to pay themselves money and make Singapore's items so expensive. 

I feel that that statement of his assumed many things. He assumed that it was because of the government that our cost of living is so high. He assumed that the "gah men" exploited our countries resources and that led to us being the most expensive city.

I disagree with his statement. Although it might seem that its true about Singapore's items being too expensive, I feel that we should not try to blame people about it. Everything happens with a reason. If it really comes to a point where it is not reasonable, we should try to give constructive criticism. I feel that when the demand for certain goods go up, and the supply is lacking, there will be a certain increase in prices. It is inevitable. For example, Singapore has the Certificate Of Entitlement (COE) when needing to buy cars. There is a reason why at certain points of time in Singapore, the COE rises. It rises, for us to feel that we would not want to pay so much money for a car. It rises perhaps because Singapore's traffic congestion is intolerable and needs some restrictions in case we are not able to stop buying cars. 

However, I also think that we should and might want to reduce the goods that are more expensive. People who have lower incomes, might not be able to afford them, and hence might lose out, because they are not able to get that essential item. However, at this rate, Singaporeans might have prejudices due to monetary issues. 

In the latest 2014 EIU, the placings are as follows:

1. Singapore

2. Paris

3. Oslo

4. Zurich

5. Sydney

6. Caracas

7. Geneva

8. Melbourne

9. Tokyo 

10. Copenhagen

Although Singapore is indeed still the most expensive place to stay in, I am sure that we will still enjoy our lives livin in Singapore.

That's all from me today! 

Adieu

XOXO ANGElA XOXO

5.5.15

THE MERLION CID BLOGWORK #8

Hello DEAR readers!!!

How was your day? Mine is currently still splendid!! YES!!! LONG WEEKEND COMING UP~

So recently I had a lesson. A lesson on the icons of SIngapore. 

When I first heard of the word "icons", I immediately thought of the Singapore River, the Merlion and Singlish. But leh, i realised ah, that Singlish ah, was an extremely bad idea leh. My teacher shot it down mercilessly :( (WHOOPS SORRY TEACHER NOT PINPOINTING YOU JUST A SIDE STORY) and she provided me with reasons why I thought they were pretty logical and meaningful and hence I erased the thought of Singlish as our National icon from my brain. 

The next possible icon was the Merlion. 

okay so how did the merlion come about?

the first story was this:

There was a sea monster- half lion and half fish, and it made such an impression on the Malay prince, that he renamed the city to Singapura, meaning lion city. 

This story was a bit illogical and all like HOW DID IT APPEAR?? etc..

Okay, the truth is, actually the question was "Merlion as the national icon" or something like that so the idea was not100% original. Honestly, I think that having the Merlion as our national icon is quite a good idea. Since the Merlion is SPECIAL, it is something others don't have ;)) (JOY TO THE WORLD). Although the Merlion may be a mythical creature, and others might think that we are a couple of dreamy people who seem to be living in a myth, I sit on the fence for that point. To be honest, I too will be taken aback if the icon for a country is something that actually makes the country what it is, or like influence the country to become more like what the rumors actually say. However, that is not the case for Singapore. Although the Merlion is not yet our OFFICIAL icon, many other countries have already considered the Merlion to be one iconic monument. They use the Merlion to depict Singapore, and the Merlion is also displayed in cartoons or videos. Using the Merlion as our national icon would bring us profit, as it would attract foreigners and tourists to visit Singapore to see more of the beautiful sea merlion:>:>. 

All in all, i think that having the Merlion as our national icon is not a bad choice, and it is worth trying out, See you guys next post!

<school is sort of tiring me out so I would not be posting so often. SORRY MY DEAR READERS!!!

Adieu~

XOXO Angela XOXO

29.04.15

<LEE KUAN YEW, A GREAT LEADER INDEED>
When I first heard of the news, on 23 March at around 7.25am, I couldn't say I was devastated. Neither could I say I wasn't affected. Now now, it really wasn't because I was emotion-less or that I was simply too "stone". It was all because of 1 reason. Yeah just 1 reason. I didn't know him. 
People might say, "Oh, LKY has died, we mourn for a great leader." I say that too, but it's just on the surface. Without knowing what he has done, nothing, really, no emotion can come to my mind. Or, it could simply be that-... that I couldn't react? I was really bewildered then. I knew nothing or what he meant to Singapore. Sure, I've heard of him, but I've never seen what he did. I never knew how amazing he was as a person. How devoted he was to his wife. How caring he was as a father. How intelligent he was as a person. How strong he was as a man... until he died. 
It's ironic how we don't feel anything for a person, until they die. ( or maybe it's just me)
It's funny how I only feel emotional about his death now. really. When Singaporeans have gone on and forward with their daily lives, I'm still here thinking. Thinking about how a great man he was. Thinking of how he was Singapore. Thinking of how he left behind a legacy. Thinking of how i wished to do well in life and be a great person like him. Yes, i'm still thinking. You know, in this past week, when I've learnt about what he did( watched many may videos indeed ), I found that "Hey, why didn't I know of this earlier" or "Hey, I wouldn't be here without him" Truly, I'm glad that Mr Lee was around to guide Singapore. I'm in awe of his unwavering passion to lead Singapore in becoming a better place. Thank you Mr Lee. For giving me a home... for giving me a place to feel proud of. for being a visionary. 
Without Mr Lee, we wouldn't be in this "GOLDEN AGE" of ours. We wouldn't have such links we have with others. We wouldn't even be a garden city with many tourists. 
I feel, that in order to keep his legacy, we would have to keep improving ourselves, never stopping. We aren't at the pinnacle of our success yet. We need more manpower (which means more babies *wink wonk*), we need more local talent. Lett's step out of our boundaries(like what mr lee did) and push forward. Strive for excellence, and continue to keep our golden age of Singapore, and not lose it.

I'm extremely proud to say that I'm a Singaporean.
And and it was amazing to stand in the rain for you, Mr Lee.
May you rest in peace and may we continue your legacy//

bye bye dear readers. see you guys in my next post.
//please don't drown in my melancholy//
Adieu!
XOXO ANGELA XOXO
3/4/15

<CID Speech>
Heyy there fellow readers of mine!
(LONG OVERDUE POST UH OH)
Did I ever mention how I had to craft this CID Speech of mine, and read it out to everyone.

 I used this amazingly brilliant photo of Wikipedia (hur hur hur) and then wrote a little factual speech.
Admittedly, I could have put in a little more effort (whoops) and I'm guilty right now for not putting in my 100%(teachers who read this please do not kill me).

So, the time to KILL myself and PRAISE myself is here.

Good points of my speech:
- Well well well I think my pronunciation was pretty good *wink wonk*
- And my volume of speech was really loud. *perks of being in choir since pri school+having debate training* ahahaha
- I THINK I HAD A PRETTY UNIQUE STARTING TO MY SPEECH (grateful to all whom raised their hands for me :'DD) 
BAD POINTS OF MY SPEECH: (uh oh)
-there wasn't enough of personal experience as to how I felt when I was there.
- I also didn't really link my points together as to bring out why I would like this place and how I distinguished this place different and more unique to the others.

Okay so I really liked Alvina's speech and I reckon that I would like to improve and to craft a speech as good as hers that would use the WHOLE of my picture to speak.

ta ta, time to go dear readers!
See you next post!
Adieu~
XOXO
-Angela-
2/4/15

<Extravagant lifestyle? Or maybe not...>

Hey GUYS!
I recently had this CID lesson which talked about the economy and what we often spent on. That was the moment when I realised i lived an extravagant lifestyle. Well... maybe not so much!

When grocery shopping, my family usually buys a few similar items each time. Several examples of such items that would appear on the list are:

- eggs

- pork minced meat

- sausages

- vegetables

- (loads of) fruits 

- soap 

- clothing softener 

-toothpaste

However, at certain times of the year, we would spend on luxury items such as chocolates, or sweets to keep us happy. Furthermore, there would be WATER BILLS, ELECTRICITY BILLS, PHONE BILLS AND CAR BILLS, which would INCREASE our expenditure.

For my personal expenditure, I would spend things on stationery. 

I realised, one day, that I had a habit of buying too many pens, even when I have the necessary colours-red, blue, green and black. I would have to restrain myself to not buy any more pens which were unnecessary. 

The majority of the money spent on would usually be on eggs, soap, meat, vegetables AND our BILLS. Perhaps the most expensive thing whenever I spent money, is my stationery. 

A pen could cost $2.15 or so and I would just buy it without thinking twice, impulsively.

Our cost of living would be quite expensive in total and PER PERSON, it would be around $10 a DAY.

At the end of the lesson, I realised that in Singapore, our cost of living is quite high and we needed to learn how to spend wisely to save money.

Alas, it is time to part again! I hope you gained some knowledge in reading my post, and see you again next week!

Adieu~
XOXO Angela XOXO
26.02.15

<Poverty - Do we truly know what poverty is?>
29-01-15  Hey guys, I'm back!
After my previous CID lesson (btw it's like project work), I realised that my understanding of poverty isn't really accurate. Our (fab) teacher left us with a question to ponder-does Singapore have poverty?
The me BEFORE the lesson would have gone (in my mind, I wouldn't have voiced it out because it wasn't really a politically correct answer) : UH DUHHH! However, the me NOW would hesitate to answer it that way. Am I really thinking correctly? Is my view on poverty accurate? Do I truly understand poverty? My head raced with questions. 
After 6 days of thinking and gathering my thoughts, I finally decided that, Hey! Perhaps some people in Singapore do experience poverty, BUT, my definition of poverty isn't correct!
In order to let me get to that conclusion, I had to fully understand the meaning of poverty.
To me, poverty seemed to mean a lack of basic essentials, or possibly even not having what others have. I reviewed my definition and realised that I might have possibly not thought of the people who were truly poor and did not have anything at all. I revised my definition of poverty. Poverty is when you truly have NOTHING at all-basic essentials: food, water, etc... At the stage of poverty, you might not even think of getting the latest Iphone 6, etc... You'd only think of, how am I going to survive, where can I find food... In the worst case scenario, you might not even have shelter. There was a quote I got from someone - "You only understand the meaning of poor, when it happens to you."
I truly agree with her. To link to back to the main point, I had some more questions.
 As compared to other poorer countries such as Africa, are we able to say that we are experiencing poverty?
No, I don't think so. 

Our teacher showed us this picture that day.

This picture shows a starving child with a vulture preying on her. Yes, it is a HER. Many of us would just go, oh no, poor child, and walk off, forgetting everything about it the next day. It was not the case for the photographer, Kevin Carter, who took the photo. He actually committed suicide. WHAT?! Yes, that was what I thought too. Kevin was being tormented by all the remarks on his photo. People were upset with him-asking him why he didn't save the girl, saying that he was cruel and heartless. But before you judge, did you know that he couldn't touch the child as there was a rule? (The children might be infected with diseases) Did you know he wanted to save the child but cxould only chase the bird away? I didn't too.
When he committed suicide, he left this note, saying:
"I'm really, really sorry. The pain of life overrides the joy to the point that joy does not exist... depressed ... without phone ... money for rent ... money for child support ... money for debts ... money!!! ... I am haunted by the vivid memories of killings and corpses and anger and pain ... of starving or wounded children, of trigger-happy madmen, often police, of killer executioners ... I have gone to join Ken if I am that lucky."
This shows HOW affected he was by the comments.
From this I learnt that I couldn't judge people without any background information, and with every action there is a reason.
To conclude(back to the main point), YES, there might be people in Singapore who experience poverty, but it is NOT as SEVERE as the others in Africa or any other undeveloped country.

This concludes the end of my "essay"(haha no it's only my views) There might be people who disagree, and it's fine with me. This is purely a result of my functioning brain.

Alas, it is time to go. See you all in my next post:D HOHOHO~
Adieu! 
-Angela-

<THE STORY OF MY VACATION>
Hey there!
Before I start on the exciting, adventurous and splendid recreational activities I did over the holidays, here is a small self-introduction! {of your amazing blog post-er right here ;)} 
To start off, I'm known as Angela, but many people call me Gela, Angie, Enthula(just because I'm very enthusiastic during lessons :C), and even to the extent of Gorilla =_=. I'm not particularly tall or short but my weight shall remain a secret. I shall sustain a mysterious persona to keep you interested in my blog posts.
So, time to get started!
I spent the start of my holiday, rotting away in my rat hole. Like all young teens, I had a knack for procrastination. I regretted every single day that I wasted doing practically nothing. How is this exciting, you say? Certainly, this particular part of my holiday is very arduous to read.
It all began, in the middle of November, when I went overseas to Perth. Even before I started sight-seeing in Perth, I had already made a fatal mistake. Being a youthful spirited soul who knew nothing about checking out the weather conditions in Perth, I had blindly listened to my trusty sister, who was a geographer, that it was summer there and we had to wear thin clothes in order to stay cool. Of course, you can already make out the result- it was FREEZING at Perth. I had to survive with a pullover sweater that HARDLY helped me get any warmer.Despite that, I still tried to enjoy my holiday. I was not going to allow some small mistake to affect my entire holiday.
Luckily, as a few days passed, the temperature climbed a little, and at that moment, I TRULY TRULY TRULY appreciated the cold surroundings. Nothing could beat the heat and the poorly functioning air conditioner in making my holiday worse.
HOWEVER, I got up early enough to be able to enjoy the bright and amazing sunrise in Perth. That BRIGHTENED my day immediately. It was not a sight I could see daily in Singapore. I took my time to take cinematic views of the sunrise and the low-lying clouds.
Unfortunately, I was only able to wake up that early at 5am on the first day.
*Fun Fact: THE SUNRISE IN PERTH STARTS OCCURRING AT APPROXIMATELY 5.30am!*

ah~ the beautiful sunrise still reminds me of Perth!

Welcome to Kings Park :D

The seaside~~~

Perth was a slow-paced city. The citizens there woke up at 4/5am and started preparing for work, but closed all shops and stopped work at 5pm! That part was certainly a surprise for me and had a great impact on my holiday as my sister and father often woke up late(my mother and I were the early birds of the family). 
The days I spent in Perth passed quickly. I visited many places of interest, such as the Fremantle Prison, the Fremantle Markets(where I bought many souvenirs from), and went over to a small zoo park for my parents to relieve memories when they were there with my sister 15 years ago. I even got the opportunity to take a photo while holding a koala bear!

I ate this at one of the famous stores near the seaside!

At the Fremantle Market, I got to buy big, juicy and plump mangoes at 7 for AUD$10! It was such a great buy (food certainly was one of the main attractions there:D) I also went to a grand chocolate factory which allowed you to taste choclate! (Just thinking about it makes me salivate!)

Behold, the chocolate galore!

I even fed seagulls with bread, and it was certainly a terrific experience running away from the hovering birds who were eyeing our hands to see if we had anymore food.
Soon, the last day of Perth arrived, and my mood had dropped drastically. I didn't want to leave this place full of wonders to go back to a busy and fast-paced society.
Jokingly, my mother asked me if I would want to study in a university at Perth. At that moment, I had seriously thought of considering it as one of my options. I preferred a slow-paced environment to an action-packed one as of now, as I wanted to enjoy my days fruitfully without just studying all day. I wanted to take my time in doing what I wanted to do, but at the same time, study with proper education.
Ah, but now that I've returned home, I still think, that the phrase "Home Sweet Home" truly applied to me. Nothing could beat the warmth of your home. The next few days I spent at home before school started was full of homework.
Oh my, look at the time now! I ought to go. Good night to all!

Adieu to all my lovely readers.

See you the next post!
-Angela-