OELP: Day 1 (Transfer to Suzhou)

Schedule:

Proceed to Su Zhou from Shanghai

Visit Singapore Suzhou Industrial Park Logistics Centre


Constance:

Sean:

Today was the actual start to our oelp trip . We went to the singapore industrial park(SIP) . As a whole, I feel that it was a fun and exciting trip as we got to go to various museums to understand more about the SIP. Throughout the visit to the museum, I have learnt that singapore used to have much more shares than china in the SIP project , however, as time passes, the tables have turnt and now it is China that has the upper hand . Also , we went to this school where it's landscape was very big and huge compare with an average singapore school. We went for a short talk , before we were split into 2 groups. One group will be doing drawing while the other group would be doing taiji.  I went with the group doing taiji and realised taiji was not my cup of tea as It was too slow . Following that, we went for a Chinese lesson and I found it very fun as the teacher was humorous and made the class laugh a lot . Unfortunately , the day was a hazy day and many things such as scenery etc couldn't been seen as clearly . Overall , after today I have learnt that the SIP looks something like Singapore , as it was made to look like Singapore . China is getting stronge and stronger day by day and that is why singapore needs to continue to have a good relationship with the Chinese government . To build Singapore's economy , just like how china built hers. With a good relationship , it is easier for trades to occur , benefiting both parties .

Cherlyn:

During the trip to the Suzhou Industrial Park on our first day in Suzhou has gave me a wake up call that I should not be so complacent, thinking with the mind set that Singapore is the top few. This is because the Suzhou that I imagined all old and run down actually had places, the Suzhou Industrial park that was really industrialized, looking just like a replica of Sinagpore which was something unexpected to me. This made me realized how much Su Zhou has industrialized over the years rapidly and that it actually had high rised buildings, similar to our HDB flats and also a clean and green environment. At first the moment when I heard Su Zhou Industrial park, I expected it to be a boring place. A place filled with greenery, swings, just like a normal park except that it has one or two huge industrialized buildings in it. However the trip there really gave me a huge eye opener. This allowed me to understand why it was so beneficial for Singapore to have collaborations with other countries. In the past I used to think that Singapore would be at the disadvantage collaborating with Su Zhou, a town area. However I was wrong, the collaboration was a win win situation, enabling Suzhou to improve itself and at the same time benefiting Singapore as with Suzhou Industrial park being so successful, there would definitely be more successful projects, improving China's economy. This would then benefit Sinagpore as business man who wants to start their businesses in China could use the Suzhou industrial Park as a springboard for further investments. Thus by maintaining good relations with others countries would benefit Sinagpore and us in future.

Yuling:

Shinru:

OELP: Day2 (Suzhou)

Schedule:
School Immersion Programme

Humble's Administrator's Garden

Constance:

Sean:
Today , we went to a school in Suzhou by the name of xinhai experimental high school . At first instance when I stepped in the school , my first impression was , BIG . And I suddenly thought , how many students are inside this school ? Is the space of the school just too big or is it a need for the big space because there are many students? However ,  I realised that the school's land area was just really really really big .  However, there was things that we're similar like in singapore that I spotted ever since I entered the school. In the classrooms , the way the teacher teaches , and the way the tables are arranged are exactly the same as in how it is in singapore ! In my point of view, this just shows that china is starting to learn from a small country like singapore and sip is quite of a success. Through the sip, other than building the relationship between china and singapore, both countries are really learning and benefitting from each other. In xinhai experimental high school, I found that there was a bit of difficulty communicating with my china buddy as their level of the Chinese language was higher than me. At first , they thought I didn't even speak Chinese at all! However , during their English lesson , I spoke English to them and they obviously didn't not understand everything that was coming out from my mouth. From this , I can see how important bilingualism is and why mr lee kuan yew encourages bilingualism to the children of singapore . Having to know more languages is better for you , and people will also respect you more . Bilingualism also helps with business opportunities , therefore bilingualism is important .

Also That day , we went on a visit to the humble administrators garden . And mainly I learnt 3 things. 

1)

Cherlyn:

cid

school

stepping into the school, i was amazed by the big building standing right before my eyes. I was beyond awed by the school and felt a tingle of excitement in mee, my heart palpitating at a rapid speed. This buiding standing right before my eyes is xinhai experiential high school. 

As i stepped in, i noticed that just like the local schools we had in Singapore, trees planted along the pathment in the school, roads welly constructed and the floor and walls of thw school was all spick and span. Then we were led to a room where a video clip on the school was played. In thw whole video clip, it introduced us to the achievements the students had and the type of education system they had in China. i was amazed when i saw the numerous amount of awards the school had and the amount of holistic developments the students had there, i could not help but reflect back on Singapore's education system. Are we still one of the best education system now? Are we losing out? Then it strucked me, we should not be complacent and stop improcibg after a little success, instead we should be humble and learn from others continuously, no matter what, only this way can we constantly improve ourselves for the better and not lose out to others. In our daily lives in Singapore, just how many of us constantly strive to inprove themselves? Definitely not many of us for sure. Just like me, whenever i manage to solve a mathematical problem sum, i would not look through my answers again or even want to revise it again for my tests. The trip to xin hai experiential high school really gave me a wake up call to stop being complacent. Before coming to this school the impression I had on it was a really old looking school with little achievements as the school was located in Su Zhou, a place that I had always thought was undeveloped till I came to China.

Then we attended the lessons along with the other students. I was confused when I first entered the classroom as the teacher did nothing to make us feel welcomed so did the students. They treated us like invisible, not asking us for self introductions but just merely asking us to sit at the back of the class while they carried on with their lessons. Not only that, throughout the whole time we spent in the classroom with them, none if them volunteered to share their textbook or worksheet with us and none of them told us what lesson they would be having. All we could do was to sit there and try to figure out what was going on. In addition, when we tried to take the initiative to speak to them, all they replied were just a word or few and after that they would turn their head away and avoid eye contact with us as if we were monsters. 

The time spent in the class with them truly made me realized how important initiative is and communication is. This is because if there is no initiative given by both parties, nothing would happen and the time will just pass by slowly and nothing else. There taking the initiative is really important. In addition, I also learnt that communication between one another is something really important and definitely cannot be missed out in life. This is because without it, nothing would happen and it would be terrible if I had to live my whole life without communicating with another person. The time spent there, really made me realize how important building relationship and communicating is as it had never once crossed my mind that without people around me talking with me and being with me would be horrible. Thus the trip at the xin hai experiential high school really taught me a lot of valuable lessons.

In conclusion, friends or foes, I really cannot tell, perhaps in the near future China would be a competitor of ours, fighting with us for the top education system, perhaps they may improve their economy tremendously, no one will know. However what we can do is to keep them as our close friends, helping one another to improve, sharing our education system and more. For example foreign talents from China or sharing of their culture to us.

Later that day, we also visited the Humble Administrator’s Garden. When i stepped into the humble administrator's garden, i was bewildered and my mouth gaped in awe at the beauty of the garden, totally mesmerized by the greenery that my eyes were glued on. The place was just magnificent. This magnificent place is also the one that allowed me to learnt how superstitious people were back then and how detailed and meticulous they were. This is because they actually built their pathways in a zig-zag form as it was believed that ghosts only walked in a straight line and with those pathways they would be safe during the night. Not only that, due to superstition that dragons symbolized power, they actually had buildings built in the shape of dragon. This also allowed me to see hoe creative people were back then. Not only that, the whole garden was really big and grand with many detailed work and lots of greenery in it. For example, they actually used the technique of Jie Jing and 'borrowed' the scenery of the pagoda such that it could be seen in the humble administrator garden and looked just like it was inside the garden. This showed how detailed the people were to think through so much just to build a home. However one thing that made me ponder on was that just how much hard work did the people in the past put just to built this house. This also made me reflect on how much we had slacked off in our daily life and often complained about the amount of homework we had which was actually quite reasonable. This is because compared to the people in the past who had done much more hardships, for example building this place which definitely is the fruit of their sweat and blood labour they did from scratch. Not only that, for the humble administrator's garden to turn out to be such a beautiful place a lot of planning and designing must have been thought through and these are not a simple feat and requires lots of creativity, skills and knowledge. This made me learnt about the culture and also many valuable lessons and made me realise that I should not give up so easily on little things. 

Yuling:

Shinru:

OELP: Day 3 (Suzhou)

Schedule:


Constance:

Sean:

Cherlyn:

Day 3

School 

It was the second day we would be going to this school, the one that I had an extremely bad impression on the previous day. I crossed my fingers and closed my eyes, making a silent prayer that today would be a better day. 

When we entered the classroom, the students were already their first lesson of the day and apparently we were late for the lesson. We hurried to our seats and Ina few minutes time the lesson was over. The students then all scurried out of the classroom and made their way so we here else. My kind was filled with thousands of question marks, should I follow them? I pondered for a while before deciding to stay put as one of my friends was still in the toilet and has yet to return. However I regretted my decision later on when they disappeared without a trace without saying anything to us, just abandoning us in the classroom all alone. We panic but thankfully we somehow made our way downstairs and figured out that they were gathered in the field for some morning exercise. Yes morning exercise. It sounded really weird to me and I expected no one to actually take it seriously and do it. However when the voice in the speaker started booming, everyone started doing the morning exercises. This, made me realized that as Singaporeans, we had always had the mindset that as long as it is not graded or really compulsory, we would not take it seriously. However this mindset has to change this mindset that does not care about anything must be changed for the better as this way,we would not be able to learn new things as this mindset of us would eventually "kill" us and stop us from achieving our goals. For example, many times when teachers encourage us to go for a workshop that is not necessary but highly encourage, I would also ignore and not care about it as it was simply not compulsory and I just couldn't be bothered to go for the workshop. However now, when I think back, I was being really immature and not thinking much, letting great opportunities just slip by away. 

Later on that day, we had lessons as usual however this time, we took the initiative to talk more with them and we learnt a lot more about them, their CCA, their school timing, their lessons. However the activity that left me the greatest impression was the time where we were given to bond with our buddies at the end of the day. 

I was really nervous then and I felt like butterflies churning inside my stomach as I was worried that nobody would come down for me as I knew practically nobody in class very well yet. I couldn't even remember their names! However my anxiety eased when I saw a familiar looking girl walking down with a post card in her hands. We exchanged our gifts and then we bonded more with each other, finding out about each other likes and dislikes. At first we were both awkward but after a while, we broke the ice and started the ball rolling. 

Through the bonding time I had spent with her, I realized that making a friend may seem easy but it is difficult to make a good friend that you can rely on all the time. This made me cherish the good friends I had around me who stood by me no matter what happens and the one whom I share my joys and woes to. Not only that, from this bonding I learnt that all people no matter Singaporean or China citizens are friendly, it is just based on whether you know the person well or you don't. Thus I found out that I was wrong to jump to conclusions earlier and judge the book just by its cover. Christy, my buddy indeed is kind and friendly to me, she was just shy and not sure on how to strike up a conversation with me at first.

Then later on, we went to the silk factory which sparked many thoughts and feelings out of me.

To be continued...

Yuling:

Shinru: