Sunday, December 28, 2008
Project Salt '08
now playing:
- Little Wonders - Rob Thomas
I'm back!!!
OK. Fine. Actually I have been back for some time just that I have been VERY lazy to start blogging. Hehs.
So I'm back from Zhangpu, China, where we went to Zhangpu No. 6 Middle School to teach the kids (OK, fine. Not really kids. They're like... 12-15 years old in my class? Somehow they feel really small and adorable to me I have to call them kids though.) I guess its the fact that my class is more Guai Kia (good boys and girls) kinda kids? So we didn't exactly get to know a lot of them very well and get very close to them, although I think many of them got attached to us though as on the last day most of the girls from my class cried, and some of the boys.
So on the first day, we left the airport looking like...
This.
One more cause 1 leaving shot never does any justice.
Here are some of the shots taken inside.
Joy and Mei Ying in a random shot.
I'm unglam in this. (By golly. Did I just employ that word on myself?!)
Just another group shot in there. OK. I seriously do look un-glam in this. Maybe its a good idea to cut my hair.
At the airport there. GROUP SHOT =D
OK. For the rest of my trip. My battery was on/off working. The reason? My sister replaced the camera with low batteries right before I left for my trip. So I didn't get to take lots of pictures D= I shall try to make this a feeling post though and thus I shall post my reflections for the trip so far.
- What are your expectations for this trip and to what extend have they been met so far?
-How to deal with kids. I really had expected kids to like run all around the classroom all the time, but luckily for me and my group our class were quite... Docile? So maybe on how to deal with kids I haven't really learnt much...
-Finding my inner child. I think I really did? Except it wasn't really inner... I've always been... You'll see later on in this post =D.
-Learning how it is to live in a place as rural and laid back as that. I actually did expect something like a kampung or something when I went there? I imagined that toilets were really just holes in the grounds and stuff like that? Well... The place where we stayed was a guest house though, so it is kinda better off I guess... I mean, they were still holes in the ground, but with tiles, walls, and a toilet bowl. Hehs.
-Finding ways to teach others. Somehow I have never been able to teach my sister anything. (Still the case). And I don't think I have really learnt any new ways to teach my sister, cause its not really possible for me to start playing games with her to teach her.- What have you learnt about being a teacher in the pass 2 days.
-It is extremely hard to think of ways to bring the message across to kids. Seriously. Well to me at least. Somehow I find myself struggling to help them understand, or its just simply the language barrier. (Yes, my Chinese is horrid Thank You.)
-Having to handle a group of fun, energetic kids is VERY tiring, but its extremely rewarding when you see them smile and know that they themselves have enjoyed the whole thing as much as you have. This, I find is one of the reasons I love doing SL work. The enjoyment both parties gain out of it. Not the credit or whatever, but the joy we all derive as of it.
-It's not paying.- What are the cultural differences between Singapore and China, and what can you learn fromthem?
-Dark alleys
-Cuter dogs, more fleas.
See what I mean?
-Condition of living for the locals. Its both heartbreaking and heartwarming when we see the living conditions of the students in their hostels and homes. They have to squeeze about 5 people into a room about the size of which we in Singapore have at most 2 people squeeze into. Its heartbreaking to see them having to endure that, and heartwarming to know how fortunate we are in Singapore.
-Learn to appreciate our own stuff back home and luxuries we get.- Evaluate your performance in interacting and teaching the students?
-Somehow, I feel that I have done really badly in the teaching part? Apart from game time and song time, I find myself quite helpless when it comes to teaching the kids... Maybe I should be a nursery teacher eh? I mean, yeah, I can get the kids all excited and stuff while playing a game. But formal lessons are somehow the end of the game for me. Its possibly because of the language barrier again, but somehow I don't think that's it.- What are your strengths and weaknesses you can observe about yourself?
-Language Barrier. Duh.
-Able to get class active and laugh.
-Unable to teach the students more formally.
-Very bad memory.- Share one particularly moving moment for you.
-Honestly speaking, this reflection question was posed before the end of the trip, right before all the crying and stuff. But now that I have seen that, I have a new moment.
There is this one particular student, Li Cong (girl), who kinda attached herself quite a bit to us 5 group of teachers (Zhen Zhen, Wei Ying, Lillian, Joy, Myself), being very hospitable and all. She even got me some cream when she saw I got a cold sore of sorts on the edge of my lips. On the last day itself, she just kinda disappeared and we were all wondering where she was, along with the fact that we had a whole class of kids in front of us half smiling, half crying. This was when I started to go in to start carrying the luggages out to load into the bus. Li Cong then jumped from behind me, in tears and started begging us not to leave. Its really amazing to see how much these kids actually attach themselves to you although its for a mere 10 days. 10 days, which to us will probably not mean a lot. We can all go off for a 10 day camp, and I doubt we'll be in tears when it comes to an end. We can all have teachers from Australia come down to teach us and we probably wouldn't give two hoots about them. These kids however are easily contented with their simple life. In this simple exchange of ours, we have probably touched their lives in more ways than we can imagine, as we have not only been their English teachers, but also their friends. I'm very sure based on this lengthy blog post (so far), I can say for certain they have touched my life just as much, if not much more, than what we have done for them. This is certainly one of the many touching moments, but not one of the most touching. The most touching is kinda private, so I'll just leave that out.
Oh, and regarding finding my inner child. Hehs. I'm a very mood-y person. I think. So you're either finding me when I'm low, or when I'm high, or VERY VERY high.
I hit one of my VERY VERY high days when I was there. Together Zhen Zhen and I were the Emcee's for the Christmas Celebration we were having for the kids there on the 2nd last day. So as a warm up to the event, there were some songs playing in the background...
"Na na na na na na na na na na na na na. Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na. I guess I just lost my husband, I don't know where he went..."
Hehs. I just got up, and starting air-guitaring and doing all sorts of whacky stuff, dancing here and there for the kids and stuff. OK, maybe its hard to visualise, but when I get the photos I promise I'll upload them. I didn't bring my DSLR on this trip (cos my Mom doesn't trust me with it D= Hehs.), so the photos are courtesy of my compact camera.
Oh, and on a last note, as mentioned above, to me, doing SL is not about the credits, but for the joy both parties will derive from it. What makes it even better is the fact that you do it with people you enjoy doing stuff with. So, this is a BIG Thank You for all those who have made this Project one of the most enjoyable 10 days of my life. Thank You to...
- Shawn. For everything.
- Melanie. For everything else.
- Ding. Even though that incident happened, I hope there are no hard feelings or anything. I sure haven't' developed any, and I hope you don't either. =D
- Tian Wei. Having gone through NJRC with you, I have to agree with you. This is MUCH better than NJRC. Hehs.
- Zhen Zhen. For being such a wonderful new friend on this trip, for being such a wonderful, as you put it, "Mother" to the kids, and for all of us sticking through this whole thing together.
- Wei Ying. For being such a wonderful friend to me throughout all of this too.
- Ms. Koh. For all the advice(scolding? Oops.), inspiration, and above everything else, for showing us so much care and concern throughout this trip.
- Mr. Wu. Although I think halfway through the trip, you may have gotten this impression that I didn't exactly quite like you (I may get flamed for posting like this), but I would just like to say that I would never outright display my dislike for a teacher unless it was absolute hate. I know you care for us all and sometimes its just a bit for us all to communicate, and I hope in the new year, we can all have a new start.
- Everyone else. For making this such a enjoyable project, no matter how whacky, crazy, stupid, loud, crazy, (did I mention crazy?) I have been throughout all of this.
I shall end this off with lots of cute photos of the kids =D.
This is how crowded the neoprints shop would get. The neoprints shop in the area has probably seen the most business in December when we come along =D.
Me with some of the boys, not really high at that moment, nor was I sad. Remember, this is the moment when we were leaving.
Wei Ying with some of the girls.
Zhen Zhen and I with some more kids =D.
One more of the same shot, except in this one, I turned away, so you can now see Wei Ying's hidden face. =D
Again me and the boys. Its probably cause I'm the only male teacher in my group.
Trying one of those "From the air" shots.
A better shot at that.
Wei Ying with some guys.
Class Photo! I'm being SQUASHED!
Once again!
One with some of the guys again.
This was an attempt at a Jump Shot.
Getting ready for the Jump Shot. Failed. I think.
As the firecrackers were going off behind the bus as we were leaving, as a sign of 一帆风顺(Smooth Sailing)
killed a couple more people at
10:09 pm
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Friday, December 12, 2008
tomorrow~
now playing:
- Watcha Think About That feat. Missy Elliot - Pussycat dolls
OK, this is really stupid.
I did a search on "Bird's Nest" on Wikipedia, and this is what I got.
Beijing National Stadium
Beijing National Stadium (simplified Chinese: 北京国家体育场; traditional Chinese: 北京國家體育場; pinyin: Běijīng Guójiā Tǐyùchǎng), also known as the National Stadium (国家体育场),[4] or colloquially as the "Bird's Nest" (鸟巢), is a stadium in Beijing, China. The stadium was designed for use throughout the 2008 Summer Olympics and Paralympics.
Located in the Olympic Green, the US$423 million stadium is the world's largest steel structure.[5] The design was awarded to a submission from the Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron in April 2003, after a bidding process that included 13 final submissions. The design, which originated from the study of Chinese ceramics, implemented steel....
You mean we don't even have a page on normal Bird's Nest on Wikipedia?!
Anyways, will be off to Xiamen China for about 10 days starting Sunday morning, and I will be seeing my baby cousin Jared tomorrow =D Yay!
killed a couple more people at
9:45 pm
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Thursday, December 04, 2008
ooh
now playing:
- Circus - Britney Spears
I feel like a stalker or something O.O
I just found an old friend's blog, cause I was bored and decided to type random names into google.
I'm too bored. Back to mugginggggg.
killed a couple more people at
4:15 pm
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now playing:
- Me And Mrs Jones - Michael Buble
Idiot: Kor, are you going to eat lunch?
Me: Yes. Why?
Idiot: Don't eat with my friends. They'll feel weird.
Excuse me? I have every right to sit at the dining table to have my lunch anytime I want, Thank You. I have a whole lot of answers I can say to her at this point in time =D
Let me list out all the possible scenarios.
Scenario 1:
Me: Oh really? How weird will they feel if I were to bust your door open now? And then proceed to tell them of all your most embarrassing moments?
Scenario 2:
There will be no speech in this scenario. And plenty of blood.
How tempting...
killed a couple more people at
1:05 pm
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Wednesday, December 03, 2008
prop 8: the musical!
now playing:
- All The Same - The Sick Puppies
See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die
Hehs... Watch this... Not expressing my support for either side, but its really funny haha...
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