DAY 10

17^th March 2011

Difficult task:

Today due to the cold weather, we decided to stay in the hotel and order KFC delivery. We soon decide what we want to eat however we have difficulties ordering our meals though phone. Even though the person on the other line was speaking in mandarin however somehow we could understand what she was trying to say and therefore we were unable to tell them the address too.

Learning Point:

The taxis here have bars between the driver and passenger. This is to protect the driver from getting rob or slash from the back.

Day 9

16^th March 2011

Today we only had morning lesson, so we went for shopping at “Bing Jiang Dao” again. The previously I bought a pair of shoe, a bag and 2 top without bargaining cause it was a shopping mall so I thought it wasn’t allowed. However I soon realised that the rest of my friends did. Therefore today I went shopping hoping to get my stuff at a better price. The first item I tried to bargain was an 80 yuan pair of shoe my opening price was 50 yuan not even half the price yet but I was chase out. The second item was a 80 yuan coat, this time I tried to cut it at 60 yuan but the person jack up the price to 6.50 yuan which I agreed however she then increase it to 70 yuan which made me piss off and I left. Twice bargaining and it failed. After that I met up with my friend and we saw that same pair of shoe in another shop but it was price 95 yuan. He then helped me bargain it till 75 yuan. At first the auntie selling it was very firm about the price I wanted to give up and leave however he just sat there and keep persuading. In the end I really manage to buy it at 75 yuan. So bargaining tips: firstly, never give up too easily even though they might look very fierce. Secondly talk to them nicely and softly because they wouldn’t want other customer to hear it and start bargaining with them. Thirdly, combine all the stuff with your friends from that shop, as you can bargain more if more stuff are being bought from that shop. For example, later part of the day, I wanted to buy a top from a shop but the sale person doesn’t want to give me a discount. However I then saw another top I wanted and bought both which save me 60 Yuan in total.

During dinner, we wanted to order a fish however the waiter told my friends that the fish on the menu wouldn’t be enough for us. Which he recommend another kind which is pay according to weight of the fish. However at first they didn’t know and thought that it was 50+ yuan per fish. When they realised that the fish is 50+ Yuan per kg, they wanted to cancel it but they can’t because the waiter had took out the fish to weight, so it is dead. Lesson learned always read the menu or labels carefully before buying.

Day 8

15^th March 2011

Today we had one whole day of Appg. Unknowingly one week had just passed like that and we had to start “chionging” for our Appg. We had to complete it before the 21th March 2011, where we will have our first test on that day.  It seems super scary as days passes very fast and we have to constantly remind ourselves to keep track of our studies besides playing.

During the afternoon, Mr Tan shared with us his trip around Tian Jing. When he was trying to buy a bus card, the woman attending to him was on the phone therefore Mr Tan stood there and waits however she was still talking on the phone for quite awhile. Until, a customer came and she attending to him while holding on to the phone then back to her conversation.  Mr Tan also told us that there are actually bus conductors on buses. Bus conductor is people who stand at the back entrance of the bus. People can pass them the bus fare if they didn’t pay it during the front entrance.

Interesting point today: I saw a lady reading our aloud to herself. Apparently they learn things though reading out aloud to themselves.

During the break we went to have a match of Basketball match with Mr Chua. We had a really good match however I realised later on that I had unknown injuries on my body.

Learning point: Because of the cold weather, injuries can’t be felt until later part of the day. And I realised it’s very easy to get injure in cold weathers. There was once my nails accidently poke my fingers and it just started to bleed.

Day 7

14^th march 2011

The Han Yu lesson today teaches us how Han words are being created. It’s though long time ago where people use drawing to describe things and though these pictures, they slowly created into today’s Han Yu words. Even though Singaporeans are also learning Han Yu which we call it Hua Yu. However there is still a difference between Han Yu and Hua Yu.

The difference is the pronunciation for some words.

For example, for dog, in Han Yu is Quan but in Hau Yu it’s

 pronounce as Gou.

We then continue with the show “Go Du La La Go”. In this show, Du la la has to make a choice between work and relationship. We were then asked between work and family which is more important? Which all of us agreed that Family is more important. As we all feel that money can always be earn back but we only have one family and that is something irreplaceable.

Later in the afternoon there was a famous economic investor promoter came to share with us about China economic. He then asks us what’s the size of Singapore, but, we realise that we are unsure about it. Learning point :  we need to know more of our own country beside study itself.

Day 5

12^th march 2011

First Saturday spent in Tian Jing, we went to “Shi Ping Jie” with our China buddies to try the local delicacies here and to have better understanding of their culture and architectures. We then went to “Gu Wen Hua Jie” to shop. It’s a street full with lots of small stalls. We then also realise that the owner of the shops would depend on where you come from before deciding the stuff prices.

For dinner we headed towards pizza hut. The amazing thing is they run out of flour therefore we were unable to order a big pizza.  

Mr Tan also shared with us that he experienced a person laptop being stolen. The poor person called the police over but it wasn’t of much help, this shows us that we must be aware of our surrounding and be careful of our belonging.

Another thing noted, was that there does not have as much dust bin as Singapore. When I wanted to throw my rubbish when I was at the bus stop, I couldn’t find one.

Day 4

11^th march 2011

Today morning we had Jian Bing Guo Zi for breakfast. It’s one of the local delicacies being introduced yesterday by Mrs Kang.  After lesson, Mr Chua passes us his basketball and we play in the school basketball court. Over here the basketball court always seems much crowded, but it’s still very fun and the best part is you won’t sweat.  Afterwards we had a interesting han language lesson, the teacher shows us their culture though a show “Go Duo La La Go”. Though this show its shows that that China people don’t take their job just as work but they put in feelings and hard work into their job. The famous artist brought 2 of his students to show the Chinese knot and the animal word art. He then present the cutting art works himself. This i feel it is a very fruitful lesson because it is very educational as it teaches us a lot about  how  good are the people in  china in keeping their culture as the paper cutting art actually represents of things in their culture . 

Also the animal work art contains very symbolic meaning for different animals drawn as it is drawn to represent someone’s name. By bringing this skill back in Singapore i felt that i have brought some of our lost culture lost by many Singapore Chinese back to live.

Day 3

10^th march 2011

Mrs Kang shows us a power point slide of the different place of interest nearby and good local foods.

She also introduce us their culture. However when she ask us to introduce our culture, we realised that we were unable to show her our Chinese culture,  lucky Thir and Alif introduce some of their culture. For example how they greet each other ect. This is when we realised how unsure we are of our own culture. It’s also partly due to our lack of practice of our culture that slowly we became unsure of it. 

 

Today when i was in the toilet i felt very awkward when there is a lady came in because the partition in the toilet was short. This is an experience i wouldn’t be able to experience in Singapore.

Day 2

9^th march 2011

Today is our first day to the TianJing University. To my amaze, firstly their school is super big just the library alone, is one building itself. Secondly, is i’m able to understand their mandarin. Before coming to TianJing i was still quite worried that i would have trouble communicating with them as my mandarin is very weak. However i was able to interact with my bubby, and they are very friendly people.  They show me the surrounding and shared with me their interest.   Lastly, the toilet over here is very much different from Singapore.  The toilet here don’t have toilet bowl its all in squatting form and its partition are all quite low. Unlike Singapore we can’t flush the tissue paper into the toilet, there will be a bin for us to throw the tissue paper.

Day 1

8^th March 2011

Today i have to wake up super early! Cause we have to gather at the Changi latest 5.30am.  i was suppose to woke up at 3.45am but end up waking up at 4am, however I’m suppose to meet Kris at 4.20am in the van. So i panic and rush down. As i was about to reach the van i realised i couldn’t find my phone.  Then i became more tensed. I search high and low for my phone. At the point of time, my mind kept reprimand myself for being so careless. I was very afraid that i would be the one delaying the flight.  When i found my phone i told myself to never ever let this happen to me ever again. I’m going to kept in mind the importance of the passport wallet and phone is. 

At the airport, i got another shock of my life. Cause people are telling me that i didn’t bring enough clothes for TianJIng. During the transition from Guan Zhou to TianJing, we thought that the boarding gate was at b2 however in the end we realised it wasn’t, and had to rush for the last call. It was a pity that there were 3 receptionist however none of us when to confirm with them.   In the evening, all of us went to a nearby restaurant for supper, I then realised that most of their foods there are serve with vegetable, which sadly it’s what i dislike the most. In Singapore i wouldn’t eat any vegetable at all however when i reach there i am starting to learn to accept vegetable.