{Merlion}
The Merlion is a mythical creature with the head of a lion and the body of a fish. Regarded as Singapore's national icon, the Merlion was desinged in 1964 for the Singapore Tourist Promotion Board (now known as Singapore Tourism Board). It functioned as the coporate logo of the Tourism Board from 1966 to 1997. One of the most well known Merlion statues in Singapore is a 8 metre tall statue located at Merlion Park, adjacent to One Fullerton at the Marina Bay waterfront. As a symbol representing Singapore, the Merlion features prominently in tourist souvenirs sold locally. But is the Merlion a suitable national icon for our nation? Personally, I feel that no, it is not a suitable national icon fro Singapore. The story of the Merlion is a myth, it was never proven that Sang Nila Utama had actually seen a lion in Singapore. There is not enough substantial evidence to prove it. Based on actual facts, lions do not belong in this part of the world, so where did the 'lion' that Singapore was named after come from? I would say that Sang Nila Utama made a mistake, that he saw a tiger instead of a lion. Thus it means that Singapore was named after a mistake, do we really want to be represented by a mistake?
~RB
~红烛有泪，画屏无声，金钗尚在，芳魂渐远~
{Lifestyle In Singapore}
During this CID lesson, we were told to bring grocery receipts to class,we studied receipts thoroughly and realized that Singaporeans send quite a bit on things that we want and not need. This happens because the standard of living in Sinagpore is
higher and people earn more money each month, thus we can afford to live a more luxurious life. As compared to people living in
poorer countries, this is not observed and they mostly buy needed
necessities. Apart from this, we also calculated the amount of money on average that we spend each day
including transport and food. Personally, I spend up to more that $10 a day. Seriously?! I was shocked when I found out.
What does this show us? This proves that the cost of living in Singapore is very high, that Singapore is an expensive city to live in. Singapore is a developed country, this increasing the cost of living. I realized that our parents actually have a hard time raising us, especially because we live in Singapore, that the financial burden is actually quite heavy. Having a child spending more than $10 a day (aka ME), means that in a year, they would have to spend more than $3650 on me. Furthermore, I have two other siblings. Wow, it actually amounts up to a lot of money! We can ease the financial burden by buying only things we need and not splurging on the things we want, this will also help lower the cost of living in Singapore.
~RB
So if you guys don't already know, my CCA is Floorball. I was first introduced to floorball when I was in Primary 6. My PE teacher taught us the very basics, how to hold the stick, how to pass the ball and the rest of the lesson was for us to play floorball. I remember that time we did not have a goalie so our
 | ||
| Prove of my True Story |
What
makes floorball so special to me? Everytime someone ask me this
question, I will always say, its the team. I can confidently say that
the current floorball team is VERYY bonded. There is no awkwardness in
the team, even between seniors and juniors. I know that I can always go
to my seniors for advice or just to talk to them about my day and they
can always come to me too (probably not for advice but...) The previous
season was a very important one for the C Division. Its is the first
competition for us and we trained especially hard to prepare ourselves
for it. The trainings during last June was really really tough. With
extra physical trainings and long court trainings, I feel that this is
what bonded us the most. Going through the hard times together, crying
together and laughing together (yes laughing, training is not all hell okay). We
motivate each other when we lost the first and second match that we
played, although we couldn't proceed into the top 10, we still tried our
best for the other matches. In the end we won them all. Trying our best
is really what Coach expected of us and I would say we did it.
This
year, the seniors are going to be going for the B Division competition,
leaving us to play with the next batch of Y1s for the C Division
competition. ALL THE BEST FOR COMPETITIONS FBT!
~RB
~良辰美景奈何天，赏心乐事谁家院~
{China}
HI GUYS! Yesterday, our CID lesson
was about China, mostly about the economy of China. The first thing our
teacher, Ms Teo, asked us to do was a word splash for the word ‘ECONOMY’ and we
(the awesomely awesome people) came us with quite a few words. GDP, Inflation,
Taxes, Stocks, Money, Tourism and many others.
My thoughts on China’s economic
growth is that opening up to international trade really helped in its economic
growth, as there are many more opportunities and jobs for people to take up.
China often provides cheap manufacturing for products and ships it all around
the world. Therefore more countries are shifting their products to be made in
China then selling the finished product for a higher price allowing them to
earn quite a bit of profit.
But these “Made in China” products
often lack in quality, but you get what you pay for so no complains.However,
this situation benefits both Singapore and China, a win-win situation is
present. Singapore does not have any natural resources and thus rely heavily on
importing products from other countries. China allows products to be imported
to Singapore at a cheap price due to low production cost. China and Singapore
both benefit and thus the relationship between both countries are strong.
I feel that China still has a long
way to go and lots of area to improve to increase its people's standard of
living but for now China has a lot of potential in becoming a rich and
prosperous country with a good economy. *applauds for China*
~RB
~无关风月，只为真心~
{My Tablemates}
This week's post is going to be about my tablemates! These are the awesome people that I spend most of my day at school with, Jordan, Phoebe and Chee Wen. We sit at the backrow and trust me, the school day is never complete without them. These people are so fun-loving and outgoing (sometimes annoying and dangerous). We have been sitting together for quite some time now and I think that I really got to know them quite well.
Let's start
with Phoebe, she claims that she is really 'hardworking' and her CCA is dance.
Honesty she is really outgoing, like super outgoing she is happy pill of the
row and always manages to cheer people up. But she is also very dangerous
(WARNING: KEEP SHARP ITEMS E.G. SCISSORS AWAY FROM THIS PERSON) she seems to
have this fascination with sharp objects that I completely do not understand (I
hate getting cuts and thus DO NOT have any fascination with sharp objects)
Sitting with her can be VERY VERY stressful when you are trying to do your work
and a pair of scissors is swinging beside your ear.
Jordan a.k.a Jordy the Legend or Sotong
(because he is really blur) on the other hand is the most innocent and the
least dangerous, he is really quite a nice person and he is a really passionate
basketballer. With Jordan around, dull moments are made interesting with his
silly antics. He enjoys reading/watching Anime during his free time (always
reading during recess and lunchtime haha) I don't have much to say about Jordan
hahaha maybe I don't know as much about my tablemates as I think I
do.....*oops*.
Lastly, Chee
Wen always praises himself and he can be so AWESOME ! If you ever get to talk
to him you can literally feel his love for himself oozing out of him (okay I
should stop its getting disgusting). Haha, Chee Wen is actually an EXTREMELY good tablemate to have, he has a super high GPA (as high as his socks) and he can
literally answer most of the questions that are thrown at him (most are
sarcastic, but others are really good answers). He has a variety of GREAT nicknames
(I shall not say them as I am a nice person) that are really funny (and
embarrassing). Overall he is a really entertaining person that make sure I
don't fall asleep during the day.
I'm going to
end here because if I continue all their embarrassing moments and deep dark
secrets might be revealed and they will kill me (I'm too young to die....)
P.S All of the praises for Chee Wen was edited by himself
~RB
~一朝相知,终生知己~
{Poverty In Singapore}
To be honest, I haven't gave poverty in Singapore much thought. (feeling guilty about it now....) It is probably because my father is earning a slightly above average income working as a project manager.
I
live a rather comfortable life in my opinion, my parents try their best
to give us (me and my siblings) what we want. If they cannot afford to
get us things it is probably because of the this reason...
My
younger brother has moderate Haemophilia B, which is a hereditary
condition that affects 1 in 50 thousand people.This is a blood clotting
disorder caused by a mutation of the factor IX gene, the blood is unable
to clot fast enough, leading to internal or external bleeding for
prolonged periods of time. In my brother's case, his left knee is a
target joint, thus his left knee will be more prone to bleeding
internally if he falls and hit his knee or if too much impact is put on
the knee (when he runs or jumps to much). Why am I talking about this?
It is because to keep his condition under control, he has to have
injections weekly or when he injures himself, the factor that is used
for the injection is rather expensive, thus my parents have to be
thrifty most of the time in case of any emergency, where my brother
would need large doses of the factor to stop the bleeding.
Because
of this reason, I usually find it hard to ask my parents for money, I
save up my own pocket money and use it when I need it, however, my
parents always make sure that we all have enough pocket money to spend
in school.
However, there is a lot of people out there
which situation is far worse than mine, poor people who struggle to make
ends meet, children who quit school to go to work in order for the
family to put food on the table, people who have to worry about their
next meal, who don't even have a roof above their heads. POVERTY such a big word, what does it actually mean? Here's the dictionary definition: the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support; condition of being poor.
Singapore
is often known as a rich, developed country, filled with educated
people, but those who looks past all these, will see a darker side. The poor and needy in our society
struggle with “relative poverty” —simply defined as that their financial
resources fall substantially below what is needed to pay for the
necessities of living in Singapore.
Due to health issues and family circumstances,
they struggle to survive on a day-to-day basis. Moreover, they are
caught in a vicious poverty cycle, with little or no means to make a
better life for themselves. Their children are often not able to do
better than their parents due to lack of access to knowledge and
educational support. For example, the child would quit school to work
and supplement the family’s income, simply trying to put food on the
table.
Sometimes, I see street buskers performing or selling tissue paper at food courts, these people are probably the ones living in poverty, usually the elderly or physically disabled as they are unable to find a job. I think that these people should probably seek help instead of living like a 'begger' (oops no offense I couldn't find a better word) there are social workers in different welfare services that are able to provide help for them to improve their situation, maybe they might even find a job through the welfare association and start to earn a living for themselves.
Well I should end my post here.. In general, I really hope that the poverty situation in Singapore improves so that the people (especially the children and elderly) can lead a better life.
~RB
~既来之，则安之~
{December Holidays}
One of the few interesting things was my cruise trip to Malaysia and Phuket *hooray* I was my first time on a cruise and its really wasn't want I expected it to be. It was really a fulfilling trip and I got time to get away from all the schoolwork that was waiting for me at home despite it being the holidays *sigh*
The view from our staterooms was really beautiful especially during sunrise and sunset. There was plenty of activities to do on the ship, rocking climbing,inline skating,shopping. But the best part was EATING! Food has been paid for (included in the price of the tickets) we can just walk into any cafe or restaurant in the ship and just order the food without 'paying' for it (feels really satisfying :P).
Once we arrived in Phuket, the conditions of the streets shocked me. It rained rather heavily before we arrived therefore the streets were kind of flooded, this made me realize how fortunate I am to be living in Singapore, with good drainage systems and evenly paved roads. Although there was an abundance of puddles of muddy water on the streets, the 'street-side' business were ongoing as if nothing was wrong. This made me do some soul searching, I realized that I haven't been paying much attention to the little things around me such as the roads, it's probably because I have been living in Singapore all my life and haven't been overseas many times, especially to the developing countries, so seeing what I saw in Thailand was a huge surprise (not in the good way).
Thailand and Singapore are not very far apart on the world map but yet the conditions are worlds apart. Phuket is one of the urban areas thus the conditions there are already 'better' than other parts of Thailand. I cannot even imagine what would the living conditions be like for the people living in rural areas....... I really should go overseas more often hehe
Other than this overseas trip, I spent my holidays going to back to school for CCA, we played a few friendly matches with various schools, all of different abilities.The one match that really left a deep impression on me was one that we played with NUS Kent Ridge Hall, the reason? It was because they were a university team (relatively new to the sport but still VERY good) , the first one we ever played with and just before that, we had another friendly with Orchid Park Secondary School. Thus we were exhausted and our spirits were down (because of our loss to Orchid Park), we were not confident of winning at all. But Coach gave us a pep talk before we played and it really boosted our morale.
"Don't overestimate them, just go in, try your best and have fun!" Was one of the many encouragements she gave us. Every time we have a match, I always remind myself not to be complacent and not to underestimate my opponent, but I forgot that overestimating may affect the game as well, this really got me thinking on what I should do. I thought through it and realized that how good the opponent is doesn't matter at all, as long as I focus and do my best, it doesn't matter whether we win or lose. (SO DEEP.... But its true!)
I don't even want to start on the part of my holiday that was spent on homework, arghhh.... So I shall end my post here! Hope you enjoyed reading my horrendously long(but not so long compared to my other groupmates' post) post that I took forever to write :P
~RB
~行道水穷处，坐看云起时~
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