it's been such a long week

It has been such a long week for me. I don’t think it is because that we had to get up very early in the morning and thus felt sleepy and bored throughout the day, but instead, I think it is because this week is the most enriched week ever since and it is destined to be life changing.
Below is a reflection on my whole week in TJ, serve to record, and may be very boring!

Monday

Get there super early at about 6:40. Take a few shots while other students waited in the school canteen. Later orientation, got our uniform and afterwards, shown around the campus. Not big but compacted.

Meet my buddy. He is thin with dark color skin and small eyes but full of energy and commitment. He couldn’t speak Chinese very well. Actually one of the purposes of his joining in this program is to practice conversational Chinese. Having a buddy who couldn’t speak Chinese well can be both a good thing and bad thing. For the good side, you get to practice English a lot but the effectiveness of communicating in English is a major problem.
I think that is the one of the reason why he spent most of the time talking to his friends. Though from time to time, I felt that I had been ignored but I do not blame anybody but myself as I could not only keep up with their conversation (teasing and joking) but also I was not brave and straigh forward enough to join their conversation.

Even though I couldn’t keep up with their conversation, I do perceive, most of the times, what was happening around me. I appreciated it because it provided essential information in understanding their characteristics and their perception of the world.

Some of the classmates did come forward and talked to me, which made me very happy and thankful. Met a guy who look very much like a Cantonese and in fact his grandparents did come from Guangdong. He could even speak a little bit Cantonese.

Lesson filled out the whole time table of Monday. I could still remember the first class which is GP and the last which is chemistry experiment. My buddy’s team was doing a debate against the TA (Temasek Academy) people on the topic of “homosexual parents should be allow to adopt children”, and on Monday they are preparing for the debate due on Thursday. I could hardly keep up with their discussion as they are all very well prepared and I myself had practically no knowledge about how to set up points and how to rebut. Still

I learn a lot from them. The chemistry experiment is about titration (determination of the concentration of sodium hydroxide solution using hydrated oxalic acid crystals). My buddy demonstrated very good experiment skills while I stood by and watched out. But when we came to calculation, my buddy seemed a bit confused and careless as he rushed to conclusions. I helped him correct some of his mistakes. I don’t know what he would feel about it. Send him a text message to say thank you on the bus home.
Tuesday

I think there was physics lecture in the morning about the measurement of the specific heat of a liquid. The lecturer threw a question at us and I spent exactly the same time getting the answer without a calculator as my buddy with an advanced calculator. What I would like to emphasize here is not how good I was in physics or calculation (actually the digits of my answer were correct but the decimal place was wrong), but rather I see a difference in emphasizing the teaching of calculation skills between china and Singapore or, you may say, other western countries.

During physics tutorial, we performed an experiment using pendulum to determine the gravitational acceleration. Like the chemistry experiment, what I did was just helping out. What I learn was that they really emphasized on getting the correct significant figure and decimal place as well as plotting a good graph.

And also, something happened during math tutorial. They were studying AP and GP and there was one question in their notes stated“ a GP of 2k+1 terms has a common ratio 2, the kth terms is 124, the sum of the series gives 961, find the first term and k”. I told my buddy that since the sum of the series is an odd number, the first term then must also be an odd number and if you divide 124 by 2 for 2 times you get all the answer already. My buddy’s reaction was like a sudden enlightenment. I thought, haha, the Chinese students standard of science subject is really high amongst nations. But why couldn’t China produce world leading scientist? Something must have been missing. Something deeply rooted in the education and not only education but also political system must have prevented it from happening.


I stayed back till about 6 plus that day taking photos of the sports meeting selection. My buddy(in the picture on the left) took part in the 100 meter man and ranked 7th in his group. The first 6 were said to be “track people”. I also took some picture around the campus.

Wednesday

Had my first Chinese class on Wednesday. They are required to describe a person in the class on many aspects such as appearance, action and words etc. Sitting close beside me, my buddy and the “Cantonese guy” bombarded me with questions. Sometimes I had real trouble trying to satisfy myself with the answer giving to them. No way lah, my Chinese really sucks! So does my English!

Also today, I had my first PE class for about 8 mouths. My buddy told me since the school sports event was coming, the PE teacher would teach the students various track or field events. We learn triple jump on that day-fun and easy! Unfortunately I lost my pair of glasses on that class. I remember taking my glasses out when changing clothes but what happen after that I had absolutely no idea. My buddy and his friend tried to help me trace back the route but we found nothing. So sad!

After lunch, my buddy and his friend rushed to the piano and played the song “Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen. They were thinking about forming a band for the school art festival and “Bohemian Rhapsody” was definitely one of their options. My buddy played the song on the piano while his friend and I sang alone. He was so good and it was really amazing to hear the familiar melody flowing out as we sang together. Yesterday once more? I don’t know but it was really a coincidence that we actually loved the same song. Truly wonderful experience! Also I learnt that his friend, to be precise, my classmate (don’t know his name yet or I forgot) played the guitar very well. He has been playing for 8 years! I’ve got a real teacher this time!

At around 3:30, I followed my friend to a briefing on the Temasek outreach program to Yunnan and Cambodia. Hell a lot of people went to the briefing but I figured that many of them changed their mind after the briefing intimidated by the harsh living conditions—as the teacher had putted “one place got no electricity while the other got no water”. But my buddy was not among those students. He seemed to be determined to go in spite of all that. I was truly impressed by the spirit of those brave Singaporean students including my buddy to explore, to experience and to help, the spirit that was lost among many Chinese students, hopefully not include me!

After the briefing, I went along with my buddy to attend his CCA which is rock climbing!!! Can you believe that I actually climbed! They’ve got all the professional gear, tied me on one end and connected the other end to my buddy (so that I would not fall) and then I started climbing. It was absolutely fantastic experience as you ascend vertically upward against the wall. To do the impossible, the unthinkable help you achieve great satisfaction. Even though I only climb half way up the wall before I can no longer feel my arms – I was simply too tired, I said to myself it was not bad for the first try and you had your skill but you were just not physically strong enough for climbing. In the text message I sent to my buddy later on that day, I told him that I really really enjoyed climbing but I had decided not to come climbing the next time on Friday because I didn’t think I was ready to cope with the sport physically, and then I added maybe I would take on climbing when I got into the university. What a brilliant day!

Thursday

Thursday was just another day. Feel really sleep that I slept almost the whole eco lecture. Hey, it was not because the lecture was boring, ok? In the eco tutorial earlier, I took some time to read their lecture notes and I found it really interesting and useful. We also have eco classes in china but economy is integrated into politics and since the emphasis is on politics, we never went to great depth in the field of economy as the local Singaporean students do. While most of us Chinese students are very good at science subjects, the local Singaporeans have more of an all-round education enriched with art, sports and social activity. I think there are a lot to learn from them.

Lessons ended at four. The class went on to discuss what to do for Martigra (don’t know how to spell out). I think it would be a combination of Halloween and carnival for our class decided to dress up and turn a classroom into a haunted house while selling fish balls outside on that evening. It was such a creative idea, but it would also require a lot of preparation. I told my buddy that I was interested to find out more about their plan, and then he actually invited me to come to the Martigra in May. I replied that there would be a series of exams for me in May, but if I have time I would be sure to come.

Friday

There was nothing new on Friday’s lessons. Read my own math lecture note during math and physics tutorial. Sleep half the chemistry lecture. Still manage to get something out of the lecturer, but certainly not as much as the previous days—I wasn’t paying attention for which I am deeply sorry.

Friday’s class ended at twelve thirty. I had already told my bubby on Thursday that I would like to go to the east coast to take pictures. So say good bye to my buddy at noon and on my way to the east coast. With the help of the ovi map on my cell phone, I managed to find my way there without much difficulty. My eyes lit up as I found there were people skiing on water! Yeah, I arrived at Singapore’s first cable-ski park! Take some nice pictures of course. Gain some experience of taking action shots. Later as I walked on by the beach, I was totally absorbed by the beautiful sceneries—all the coconut trees, park benches, white sandy shore decorated by little sand castles, waves flapping gently on the shore, see breeze coming out of nowhere and oil tanker in the distance. I walked all the way into the park till I got so tired and stopped to rest. There I saw a bicycle rental point -- 5$ for 2 hours of cycling. I said to myself why not have a go since it would be such a pleasure riding on a bicycle while appreciating the beautiful scenery of the east coast. So I paid my rent and again on my way to explore! I never thought that I would go all the way down the road, across the east coast, across changyi airport to reach the end of the road – a check point going out of the island (might lead to Malaysia). Yeah, you wouldn’t know what I felt when I was all alone on a straight road stretching to the limit of your eyesight. It was never-ending and as you ride along, you began to doubt whether you are capable of reaching the end. Yes, the end. All that I wanted, all that still drived me forward despite the thirst and tiredness and the fear of uncertainty was the desire to reach an end. I almost gave up half way. If it weren’t for the kilometer post on the ground, the navigation towel of the airport and the occasional rest place along the way as my reference, I would have given up easily. But I kept on riding and stuck till the end. On the way back, I thought life itself was like this long bike ride -- after endless repetition you finally reach an end. Some people couldn’t handle the loneliness, some couldn’t stand the boredom of endless repetition, and some just don’t want to put in their effort. These people either give up or stop moving forward half way and thus their life is not complete. In order to achieve self-accomplishment or self-realization, you just cannot stop the riding! This is an important self-taught lesson for me, and I hope that you could also benefit from my experience. Still another week ahead, sure that many things will happen in this week, but it will be another story!