All good things come to an end and its already the last day of OELP and the last day in Shanghai. We were really disappointed that time had past so quickly and we were going to go back to Singapore tonight but we still cherished and treasured the memories of OELP.
Today, we went to the Qibao Ancient Town and the Shanghai Museum. The Qibao Ancient Town sold a variety of things and we saw many costumes shops in the town. The reason being it was preserve the tradition and culture of the chinese and it is not really common to see this in Singapore or so far in any other places I went. The shops sold a lot of stuff and we even saw a Singapore base shop called Lion Coffee and we immediately went there as it reminded us of Singapore.
OELP Day 6:ShangHai
Today we woke up very early in the morning as we had to travel from Yangzhou to Shanghai which took a very long time. The teachers provided us breakfast in the bus as we had no time for breakfast in the morning. Today we went to Cheng Huang Miao, Shanghai Science and Technology Museum, Oriental Pearl Tower, Tian Zi Fang and Old French Concession. We went to Cheng Huang Miao and there were a lot of goods for sales and many food (XiaoLong Bao, Chou Tofu). It was really crowded with people and thus our group had to stick close otherwise we would be separated.
OELP Day 5: YangZhou
Today is the last day in YangZhou and tomorrow we will be going back to ShangHai. We went to a lot of places today, including the former residence of Zhu Ziqing, Dongguan Street, Slender West lake & 24 Bridges and the local market. The local market sold a huge variety of goods, from food to books to sports equipment and animals. I noticed that there were a lot of dogs and cats sold in the market and they were not properly fed, washed and taken care of. Once, our group spotted a man carrying a monkey, a real life monkey! We also saw a magician selling magic tricks and it was a very different experience of a local market visit than the markets in Singapore.
After visiting the local market, we went to the Slender West Lake and the 24 Bridges. The Slender West Lake was very beautiful with simple yet elegant bridges along the lake and an abundance of flora and fauna. Among all the bridges we visited that day, I personally feel that the 24 Step bridge was the most memorable one of all. We took a picture of all 24 of the girls in our class, each one standing on one of the steps. It was rumored that this bridge was called the 24 step bridge because someone saw 24 beauties standing on the bridge that time.
The former residence of Zhu Ziqing was located in a middle of some houses and it was prserved the chinese government as a historical site. Zhu Ziqing was a famous writer and one of his famous works 背影, which our chinese teacher recommended to us. Our teacher asked us to think about why Zhu Ziqing's former residence was preserved and I thought it was because his house had traditional furniture and his works were famous and could show China's culture and tradition. However, during debrief, I found out that it was because Zhu Ziqing was very loyal to the country and the government wanted the chinese people visiting this place to not forget their chinese roots and remain loyal to China and this benefited the government in China and thus it had some political ties to do with it.
OELP Day 3 & 4: Yangzhou, School Immersion
During these two days, we went to Shu Ren High School and Shu Ren School respectively for a school immersion, to understand more about China's education system and Chinese students school life. We were warmly welcomed by the school and the school's principal. The students were also very friendly and approachable.
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| Their indoors sports hall |
We also played a friendly match with Shu Ren School and there were many interesting events held. Winners each got a cute stuff toy from the school and one thing I noticed from the friendly match was that Shu Ren School did not have a really good school spirit. They cheered only when they won but did not give any support or encouragement when they did not win. This was something that was different from our school. In River Valley High, we cheer for our school, our friends even if they were losing. Even if we lose, we play and cheer like winners, its the attitude that matters, not the result. We also watched the various performances from the school and in return we also performed for them. Hearing the audience applause, we felt that all our efforts in rehearsing and practicing was really worth it. Shu Ren School also gave us the delicacies in YangZhou, Salted Duck Egg. Honestly, this reminded me of the CID lesson when we were given a scenario where our buddies offered us the Virgin boy egg where the egg was boiled with the pee of a virgin boy. I did not really like salted duck egg as it was too salty and everything but I did took a few bites of the egg yolk and tried to hide up the rest with tissue papers.
We also had the chance to talk to our buddies. They told us about their school life in China and we also asked them about themselves. I found out that the students in China had school from early in the morning until around 5 at night and their school hours are by far longer than us, even without extra curriculum activities and tuition and here us, Singaporeans are already grumbling about long school hours and homework when we do not even have homework as much as theirs. Thus, I feel really blessed to be in Singapore, especially so when I need the toilets in China. Speaking of homework, I found out that they do not have group work and a reason for this might be because there are a lot of people in China so they are trained to be competitive when they are young and that is why they do not believe in teamwork and thus, they do not have group work and projects. Unlike Singapore, we have a lot of group work and projects to encourage us to work together and have team work. During classes, students in China are more eager and more responsive in their classes unlike in Singapore whereby we only answer reluctantly when our teachers call on us. I feel that this is something we should learn from China.
We also ate lunch in their school and the lunch that they served was different from that in Singapore. In fact, students had to queue for their food which was served by the cooks and it was a really healthy meal with no junk food and unhealthy drinks. There were vegetables, bananas, watermelons, rice, soup and dishes which you could choose from a variety of healthy options and I guess this is why students in China grow really tall and healthy.
After the school immersion program, we went to a local bookstore and in the bookstore there were a lot of stuff to be sold, ranging from electronic gadgets, tables and chairs and toys aside from a wide variety of books sold, i.e. textbooks, workbooks in Chinese, storybooks, music books, drawing books, cooking books, medical books. There was also a memoir of the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew. There was even books translated to Japanese and Korean and this should be because Japan and Korean were near China and had many business related ties with China and there would be immigrants from Japan and Korean coming over to do business in China.
OELP Day 2: YangZhou
Today we had to wake up very early in the morning as we would be traveling from Shanghai to Yangzhou. Although I was reluctant to part with the beautiful vibrant city Shanghai, I knew Yangzhou would be just as beautiful as Shanghai. We visited three main places of attraction which were the YangZhou paper cutting museum, Ge Yuan garden and the Grand Canal. We went to Ge Yuan garden. It was said that the garden belonged to a rich merchant who traded salt in YangZhou. As Yangzhou was famous for its culinary and salt is a main ingredient to make delicious food. Thus, a salt merchant could earn a lot of money trading salt. GeYuan garden had a lot of beautiful greenery and traditional furniture and it was really breath-taking.
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| Ge Yuan Garden |
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| Ge Yuan has beautiful greenery |
In YangZhou paper cutting museum, we learnt how to plain boring paper into a piece of detailed artwork. At first, when I saw the picture of the cat I was supposed to cut, I thought to myself that it would not be a trouble for me and I could easily cut a picture of a cat beautifully. Atlas, I was wrong. Paper cutting is not an easy task, it may seem easy but it definitely is not. Paper cutting is one of the three knives famous in Yangzhou. The three knives in Yangzhou are kitchen knives (AKA their culinary skills and delicious food), scissors and nail clippers. Paper cutting is a tradition for many many years and it requires patience and a good scissors and patience. Well, patience is a virtue. I tried patiently cutting each and every small detail of the cat but everytime I would end up cutting off a part of something else. When I finally finished my cat, to my horror, it didn't look one bit like a cat. Paper cutting is not an easy feat and when I saw the finished pieces of works of other skilled cutters, I was really blown away, how did they manage to do it?
Next, we went to the Grand Canal and as it was raining, we hurriedly took out our umbrellas. Those that had umbrellas offered to share umbrellas with each another and the sight of 2I being so bonded made me feel really blessed to be in 2I. We took a boat ride in the Grand Canal and as it was raining, I didn't get to take really good photos of the Grand Canal.
Lastly, we went to the supermarket and we had to compare the prices of goods found in Singapore and Yangzhou and of the things we had in Singapore and they do not have in China. After getting our midnight snacks and stuff, our group found out that imported goods from western countries were more expensive in China then in Singapore. This was because China had a lot of goods made in China and by importing goods that could be found in China to China, there would be more competition for the goods originated from China and it would weaken their economy market. However, a lot of stuff were more cheaper in China and this was because Singapore had to import most of goods overseas as Singapore do not have its own resources, that is why the goods in China are much more cheaper. Things that we could find in China and not Singapore was chewing gum, chinese wines and basically a lot of stuff, they even sold the bed frame in supermarket, a sight not seen in Singapore. Goods that could be found in Singapore and not in China were petrol and milo and from this supermarket trip, we learnt to think beyond just the prices and comparison and to wonder why this is more expensive or why this is cheaper.
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| Lunch in Yangzhou |
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| Dinner in Yangzhou |
OELP Day 1: ShangHai
Today is the day! I was so excited and really really happy. Today was the day where 2I would be going overseas to China! Most of us were unable to sleep the day before due to the anticipation and excitement but we all managed to gather at the airport in time. We took a 5 hour flight from Singapore to China, as I wave goodbye to my family members, I was feeling very excited and anticipated the moment when we finally reached China. Goodbye Singapore, hello China! Finally we landed in China and our tour bus arrived. As we sat in the tour bus, our tour guide began to tell us more about ShangHai and The Bund, which we were going to visit after dinner.
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| Dinner in ShangHai :P Yumm |
After dinner, we went to The Bund. The Bund is a famous waterfront in Shanghai and is regarded as a symbol of Shanghai for a very long time. It is one of the more famous tourist attractions in Shanghai and as we arrived at the Bund, I could see the reason why it was such a famous tourist attraction. Initially, I thought that at night, there would be nothing to see in the Bund. However, I was not expecting such colorful and vibrant city lights that I saw. The Bund looked amazing and totally eye captivating at night. I simply could not resist the wonderful background lined with lit up skyscrapers and gorgeous night sky and quickly snapped a few pictures of the Bund.
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| The Bund |
After we went to the Bund, it was already very late and we had debrief with the teachers. In the hotel meeting room, we were given our hotel keys and our teachers went through some hotel rules and regulations. During the debrief, our teacher also discussed how the Bund contributed to China's economy and how it is similar to Singapore. Lastly, he also asked us to conclude our findings from the Bund. As the Bund was a renowned tourist attraction and tourists from all over the world pay money to come to China to visit the Bund, it served in the tourism industry. Furthermore, there were many high rise buildings of banks and big businesses lining up the HuangPu river in the Bund, and these infrastructures helped build China's economy. Now, I can see how it is similar to Singapore. Like Singapore, the heart of the city is near a river and the economical hub of the city is located along the river. It reminded me of the Singapore River, the magnificent buildings and skyscrapers in both Singapore and Shanghai were so alike, they even had some of the banks located there too. By the time we were dismissed, I was dead tired and we finished our reflections and went to bed.
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| Shanghai is truly beautiful |
Post Trip Reflection:
This is not the first time I went overseas without my family, in fact, this is the second time. The first time was when I was in primary school and had an immersion program in China, Suzhou. Initially, I heard about OELP from my seniors and they said that they had a really memorable time and they really missed OELP. After coming back from China, I can see why. Everyone was really excited as it was the first time the entire class went on a trip to China with our three teachers, Mr Dela Cruz, Mdm Lim and Mr Frankie Chua. We were counting down the days to OELP in anticipation and all of us could hardly wait for the day to come.
Folks In YangZhou:
The Yangzhou dialect (Chinese: 扬州话; pinyin: Yángzhōu huà) of Chinese is representative of Lower Yangtze Mandarine, and is particularly close to the official language of the Ming and Qing courts, which was based on the Nanjing dialect. However, it does differ considerably from modern Standard Chinese, although they are still moderately mutually intelligible.
Dialect has also been used as a tool for regional identity and politics in the Jiangbei and Jiangnan regions. While the city of Yangzhou was the center of trade, flourishing and prosperous, it was considered part of Jiangnan, which was known to be wealthy, even though Yangzhou was north of the Yangzi river. Once Yangzhou's wealth and prosperity were gone, it was then considered to be part of Jiangbei, the "backwater". After Yangzhou was removed from Jiangnan, its residents decided to replace Jianghuai Mandarin, which was the dialect of Yangzhou, with Taihu Wu dialects. In Jiangnan
itself, multiple subdialects of Wu fought for the position of prestige dialect.
During a period of prosperity and Imperial favour, the arts of storytelling and painting flourished in Yangzhou. The innovative painter-calligrapher Shitao lived in Yangzhou during the 1680s and again from 1697 until his death in 1707. A later group of painters from that time called the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou are famous throughout China. Famous poets such as Li Bai also lived in Yangzhou.
Li Bai, Famous Poet:
This is one of the many poems Li Bai wrote:Poet Li Bai (c.700–762) wrote in Seeing Meng Haoran off to Yangzhou from Yellow Crane Pavilion:
- At Yellow Crane Pavilion in the west
- My old friend says farewell;
- In the mist and flowers of spring
- He goes down to Yangzhou;
- Lonely sail, distant shadow,
- Vanish in blue emptiness;
- All I see is the great river
- Flowing into the far horizon.
Former President of China Jiang Zemin was born and raised in Yangzhou. His middle school is located right across from the public notary's office in Yangzhou.
Chinese President, Jiang Zemin:
Jiang Zemin was the president of China from 1993-2003 and he worked to improve relations with the United States. He was born in YangZhou, in the Jiangsu province in China and was instrumental in the opening and improving relations with United States.
Is Merlion the best representation of Singapore?
No, I don't think Merlion should be our national icon. Although Merlion is well known in Singapore and it is a place of interest in Singapore. However, not all of the tourists know of Merlion and the legend behind it. The Merlion and its legend are only known among Singaporeans but who knows, maybe in the next fifty years, the future generation would forget entirely about the story of Sang Nila Utama and thus the merlion would not be the best representation of Singapore.Secondly, Merlion only represents Singapore's history and not how Singapore is today. It is unable to represent Singapore economically, militarily, socially and how is the way of living in Singapore. A statue is fixed and so are many more icons, they are rigid and inflexible, unlike Singaporeans.
In fact, I think that there isn't a best and finite representative icon of Singapore. There are many different places of interests in Singapore with many different and unique cultures and traditions in Singapore and Singapore only. And thus, all these things make up Singapore as a whole and that is why Singapore should not be only represented by just one icon as a whole.
Well,
if you would ask me. I would say that what best represents Singapore
would be Singaporeans. What would best describe Singapore would
obviously be the citizens living in Singapore, would it not? If
Singaporeans are refined and well mannered, henceforth you can see that
Singapore as a whole has good well breeding and education. In addition
to that, if Singaporeans are litter bugs, you could tell straight away
that Singapore is not clean and does not have a clean environment.
Just as what we as children do will reflect on our
parents, what Singaporeans do and say will reflect Singapore. Hence I
believe that Singaporeans are the best representation of Singapore.
Reflection of CID on 13/2/2015
Reflect on China's Economic growth and opening up of their country to international trade. Explain the possible implications on Singapore.
There would be more trading with China in Singapore and Singapore would become more dependent on China for trade and there would be less people buying from Singapore as they will be buying from China as it is cheaper. Businessmen in Singapore might also set up their business headquarters in China and there would be less people being offered jobs.
Remembering Lee Kuan Yew
Lee Kuan Yew was a great man of his time and he is the founding father of Singapore. With his wisdom, vision and determination, he has helped shaped Singapore from a then kampung village to a now modernized, harmonious and safe Singapore we live in today. Thank you, Mr Lee Kuan Yew for all the contributions you done for Singapore and your spirit and contributions will always live with us and we will remember your spirit and live on your legacy.Indeed, Lee Kuan Yew has helped Singapore reach a now modern, multiracial and successful Singapore now. But is Singapore in its golden age? Although there are many who say so, I beg to dffer.
Golden age refers to an age where Singapore has peace, prosperity and happiness. Singapore is indeed peaceful with all religions from all cultures getting along peacefully. Singapore is prosperous generally. But happiness, that's not quite right. There are people, still homeless in Singapore, the people camping out in East Coast Park or the homeless rag-and-bone man sleeping in the HDB decks. There are people complaining about the increasing cost of food and housing and with people not having enough to have a roof over their heads. The income gap is widening and the poor are getting poorer while the rich is getting richer.
While in whole, Singapore might be in its golden age. However, when you look closer in detail at every single Singaporean, are they happy, are they prosperous? Do they think that they are living in the golden age of Singapore. I think not.
CID Reflection 7/2/2015
Predict the future scenario of Singapore given the dwindling population growth. Reflect about possible situations that might happen and how Singapore can possibly prepare for them.
FUTURE SCENARIO:
As there is lesser population, more of the younger generation have to bear the cost of expenses of their family. E.g. A family with only one son compared to a family with three sons. The only son will have to bear the expenses of two of his parents and support them whereas the three sons can share the expenses of the two of their parents. Thus, having more children will make them easier to support their parents.
In addition to that, after the older generation retire, there will be lesser young people to step up to their job. This will lead to more jobs being vacant and some companies might not be able to function well.
A lower number of younger generation will lead to Singapore needing to bring in more number of foreigners to Singapore. An increase number of foreigners will lead to more job competitions and housing.
Last but not least, the number of elderly will increase and Singapore have to build more nursing homes as some of their children might not have the means and ability to support them and more fund and services have to be put aside for the elderly.
WHAT SINGAPORE CAN DO?
Singapore can put aside more funds and services for the elderly care and services and build more nursing home and senior care and activities centers. Singapore can also encourage more birth rate by having baby bonuses, subsidies for childcare services and packages as well as paid leave for pregnant woman.
One Child Policy In China
The one child policy in China is a law that states that parents are to have only one child per family otherwise the women would be forced to have an abortion or have to pay a fine.
I think that the one child policy like any other policies have its pros and cons. However, personally I disagree with the one child policy in China.
Let us look at the pros of this one child policy:
- Lower Fertility Rate
- Poverty Eradication
These are the cons of this one child policy:
- Human Rights Violation and Forced Abortion
One such example is the Feng Jianmei case. She was a 23 year old mother who was 7 months pregnant with her second child. Five family planning officials abducted her while her husband was away from work and forcibly aborted her children when she couldn't pay the fine of 40,000 RMB. What left the deepest impression on me was how the government officials forcibly aborted her child. They held her down and restrained her and made her "sign" the abortion consent form by inking her thumb and pressing it forcefully onto the paper and they then injected poisons to the brain of the unborn daughter. How could they? This was definitely a violation against human rights and what they did shows how the one child policy violated the rights of woman.
Feng Jianmei is now still recovering from her trauma and although the government did offer to compensate but did not do so eventually, no amount of money or anything is able to make up for the lost of a child. For a mother, seeing her children born and alive is the best feeling in the world and to have to give birth to her already dead child and feel her die is the worst thing anybody can do to her.
- Social Problems for the generation of one child
would grow up to be a selfish individuals. When they grow up, they might not adjust to the working environment.
- More aging populatiob
POVERTY IN SINGAPORE:
In Singapore, it is unlikely that we will find beggars lining along the streets begging for food. Although Singapore is one of the most wealthiest country in the world, it is also the country with the highest cost of living. Recently, there is a campaign called, "Singaporeans Against Poverty" where it
aims to raise awareness about Singapore. In Singapore, though we seldom see beggars lining up on the streets but about 105000 families rely on $1500 a month. However, they are caught in a vicious poverty cycle, where they do not have enough money for further education and their children quit school and work at a young age to put food on the table and this cycle continues.
I feel that to break the poverty cycle, the government emphasized on education as truly, education is the only way to break the poverty cycle. With education, jobs with higher pay will be much more accessible for educated people than non-educated ones. If the young stop studying to work to put food on the table, there is a high chance that they might be doing the same odd jobs as they did before if they do not upgrade themselves or study further. Nowadays, getting jobs are much more competitive as you have foreign talents coming from over the world fighting for the same jobs with us. In addition to that, they are well educated and that is why to be able to get good jobs with high pay, one definitely must have education.
Reflection On 23/1/2015 CID Lesson
Iconic Photos
Famous, Infamous and Iconic Photos
Vulture Stalking a Child
with 400 comments
In March 1993, photographer Kevin Carter made a trip to southern Sudan, where he took now iconic photo of a vulture preying upon an emaciated Sudanese toddler near the village of Ayod. Carter said he waited about 20 minutes, hoping that the vulture would spread its wings. It didn’t. Carter snapped the haunting photograph and chased the vulture away. (The parents of the girl were busy taking food from the same UN plane Carter took to Ayod).
The photograph was sold to The New York Times where it appeared for the first time on March 26, 1993 as ‘metaphor for Africa’s despair’. Practically overnight hundreds of people contacted the newspaper to ask whether the child had survived, leading the newspaper to run an unusual special editor’s note saying the girl had enough strength to walk away from the vulture, but that her ultimate fate was unknown. Journalists in the Sudan were told not to touch the famine victims, because of the risk of transmitting disease, but Carter came under criticism for not helping the girl. “The man adjusting his lens to take just the right frame of her suffering might just as well be a predator, another vulture on the scene,” read one editorial.
Carter eventually won the Pulitzer Prize for this photo, but he couldn’t enjoy it. “I’m really, really sorry I didn’t pick the child up,” he confided in a friend. Consumed with the violence he’d witnessed, and haunted by the questions as to the little girl’s fate, he committed suicide three months later.
(This was found online and not typed by me. Information and picture credits to: https://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/2009/08/12/vulture-stalking-a-child/ )
MY REFLECTION
This was what I found out about the photo we were shown on that day's lesson. When I first saw that photo, I didn't think that the vulture was actually going to prey on the pitiful toddler. My first thoughts were "fed bird but starved human". After researching more about the picture, the story behind this picture was really shocking and horrifying.
To think that, the toddler was starved so much so that the vulture was waiting for her to die before preying on her. Just that thought fills me with dread. For most of us in Singapore, we have never encountered such incidents and probably never ever starved in our whole entire lives. However, that might not be the case for every children in the world. Therefore, compared to them, I feel that Singaporeans are quite blessed and we should be contented with what we have here. I am grateful and thankful that I am born in Singapore and I will cherish what I have now and be satisfied with them.
Carter who won the Pulitzer Prize for this photo, committed suicide three months later after taking the photo. He had confided in a friend, saying that he was really, really sorry that he did not pick the child up. I believed that he must have felt remorseful and was haunted with guilt by what he could not do, I strongly believe that he must have wanted to help the child so bad but he could not help her as they were told not to touch famine victims as there is a risk of transmitting diseases.
Following that, we were shown two pictures of two different beggars. At first, I wanted to help the woman which was carrying a child and was begging for money. That was because I thought that the woman was pitiful and that she could not work due to the fact that she was carrying a baby. Whereas for the man, I thought that since he did not have any babies with him and that he could work and earn money by himself, there was no point in donating money to him.
After looking at the background information of these two beggars, I realized my judgement was wrongly made. The man just needed a phone call as he had really lost all his belongings and items. Whereas the woman was from a syndicate which was meant to cheat people's compassion money and they gave most of the money to the syndicate and left only very little for themselves.
However, I still decided to help the woman instead. I was thinking that since so many people are willing to help the man, I should help the woman. Granted, she might be cheating our compassion money but she does in fact still need our money. If we do not donate to her, she might be scolded by her syndicate or worse still, beaten by them. However, if we donate the money to her, I believe that one day, she will be touched by the compassion of these people and she will be remorseful and guilty for her actions and she might change her ways.
In the society nowadays, people donating to people on the streets know that these people are likely to be cheating their money, but they still donate. Maybe, just maybe or it might be me thinking naively. Maybe, all of us donate not just to donate for the sake of being charitable but hoping that one day those frauds may change their ways.
Our CID teacher told us her past experience. She was overseas and saw children in tents and only having blanket to cover themselves and protect themselves from the cold winter. She wanted to donate money to them but after hearing the shopkeeper's words about them, she found out that they were going to use these money to sniff glue. I feel that while donating to them with a good intention though might be a bad influence to them as they will use these money to buy glue to sniff. However, if we don't donate to them, we can't help them too. I believe that though we can't help them in terms of financial wise maybe education will change them for the better.
We were also shown a story where we only read the first parts of the story. It was about a couple in a sinking ship and when they finally found a float, the man jumped onto the float without hesitation. The woman shouted something to the man before the ship sank. I thought she might say something along the lines of take care of our child because I believed that a mother's love for her child outweighs her hatred or betrayal of her husband. That was what I thought before I read the later part of the story.
When I read that actually the husband had wanted to die together with the wife but he couldn't. His wife had cancer and he had to raise their children. I believed that the husband must have loved his wife very much and that for the sake of their child, he himself went on the float and watched his wife sink into the ocean. How painful that must have been. I was touched by the husband's love for his wife and her daughter and really touched by their parental love for their children.
This CID lesson made me learn a lot of things and made me grateful and blessed for a lot of things that I take for granted. Take for example, my parents love for me, the fact that I will never go hungry and the fact that I have education. I am really grateful for all the things I have now and thankful for the fact that I was born in Singapore.
My December Holidays
My December Holidays was well spent and fun and I have learnt quite a lot of things from the December holidays despite not going overseas.
Mainly, I felt that over the holidays, my teammates and I bonded really well over trainings and sometimes or most of the times, we have afternoon team lunches and stuff. (sometimes with my coach) Our coach is a really outgoing, fun and cute coach, all of us love her very much. Although our coach might be strict at times, she is reasonable, humorous and patient as well.
Over the holidays, we had video logs and many friendly matches with different school and teams and it was very enriching. Our coach organized these friendly games with us for us to better prepare for the competitions that we would be participating in this coming year.
Other than trainings, the school also organized Sports Camp for all athletes in school. It was a 2 day 1 night camp. At first, I thought of making an excuse so as not to go for the Sports Camp as I assumed it would be boring and all. Anyway, I went in the end. I was quite lucky to have my classmate, Sarah with me. She is quite an outspoken and friendly person, I'll say. The teams were split by their different sports so as to let people of different sport bond together. I was in the J3 group. They had groupings of the many different athletes name with qualities that we should learn from. For example, J was Michael Jordan.
I later found out that this Sports Camp was not organised by the school or teachers, it was all by our facilitators. They too had experienced Sports Camp the year back and wanted to help plan Sports Camp 2014 too. They gathered people and started planning on the different games, ice breakers to play. They must have worked really hard to plan this amazing Sports Camp for us, thank you facilitators for their hard work.
During the first day, we watched a movie called "Miracles". The movie was about 2004 American Sports docudrama about the United States men hockey team, led by Coach Herb Brooks that won the Gold medal in the 1980 Winter Olympics. In this movie, teamwork is greatly portrayed. It shows that "Hard work beats talent when talent does not work hard", the once not bonded team eventually emerged as champions because of their team work and team spirit, something that is greatly important and essential to sports player.
We also had the chance to try many different kinds of sports, like basketball, wushu, badminton, volleyball, softball, table tennis, netball, floorball and many more. These activities made me realize the difficulties of what others from different sports face when playing their sport and to make all
sports teams bond as one RV.
The following day, the school invited national players of different sport, mainly, softball, floorball and netball. I was very honored and excited to meet Syazani Ramlee, Kumaresa Pasupathy and his twin Vignesa Pasupathy, floorball players. The twin looked identical except their parting, one of them parts his hair to the left and the other to the right. It was very interesting and exciting to watch them demonstrate their skills on court and they also gave us some tips and tricks on court. Truly, I learnt and lot from them, not just skill wise but also in terms of their determination and their never giving up spirit.
One activity which was really memorable to me was the goal making activity. We were supposed to have goals we wanted to achieve with our CCA members. After making our goals, we were supposed to hold them up with our hands for straight 15 minutes and were supposed to hold our hands straight out. After holding it for around 5 minutes, my arms were sore and tired. That's when we decided to put our hand on each other shoulders to rest. As a team, we managed to complete this fun but tiring activity after all.
I am very grateful and thankful of the school for inviting these special guests and making this Sports Camp such a success. This Sports Camp was a very memorable camping experience in school that I
will never forget.
All in all, December Holiday was really wonderful and enjoyable. Looking back at those memorable time, I couldn't help but wish that I was still in the holidays. *sigh* Oh well, school has already started, no use waiting for holidays to come, might as well study harder for a better GPA.
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