My Little Hideaway......

Woot, finally it's time to return from the BSC here in Beijing. It's been a rather fast final month but suddenly, this last week was very screwed up. Let me tell u why.

Firstly, we had a ridiculously large amount of tests this wk from the various subjects. I don't think I did well for them though, suddenly crammed with all the tests...I'm "HAPPY"

Next, the ppl back in singapore actually ACCUSED us of not accessing their online lessons when some of them and not even up yet. Besides, online lessons are a conducive way to learn sia. I really wonder how long it will take for the sch to realise that the cirriculum in BSC needs some serious modification.

Then, we had our teachers here damn  pissed at us for not  accessing online lessons that are not there. Wad kind of logic is this? Furthermore, the teachers are all in a foul mood for dunno wad and they take it out on US. Only 1 thing to say: Ridiculous.

Anyway, the fact that we are coming back to singapore doesn't change, so at least dat's smth to be hapy about. I think I'm gonna skip sch for the entire 1st wk and then go back for chinese, IHE and chem lessons. Maybe EP3 too if they nid my help...So cya all back in SG real sooooooooooooooooooon!!!!!!

It's been 2 months since I've been here in Beijing and we are now experiencing some really freakingly low temperatures & wind speeds on some days. I think I have grown used to the dry & cold environment here now. It helps me train my ability to remain cold & silent should the need arise. My classmates say I have no life here and I often keep to my novels & laptop but is what hanging out with friends and making a large commotion all day long called having a life? I do not know...I used to think that I was very sociable but maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm not wild enough...or maybe I enjoy the silence of reading and playing...I've given up on MMORPG games...playing those games that are more of a single player one. Maybe I'm juz being emo...Thinking

I think I shall not specify exactly what has happened but rather just briefly highlight what have we been through. Let's see: We've been to Tianjin and have been very warmly welcomed by the reception at Nankai High School over there. Alhought the immersion there is only for a day, yet I feel that it beats a week's immersion in Beijing. At least the students there are more hospitable.

The next thing to state is my work attachment programme in Beijing Keppel Land Industries for 2 weeks, working on the Seasons project. Today is the last day of my work attachment here and I think I have learnt a lot. My job is not very difficult or tough but I'm still laerning a lot about how the engineers work, how they identify defects, repair them and satisfy the customer. I've also learnt more about handling paperwork in an office.

Most memorable event? The 1st sight of snow right here in Beijing. I saw and felt snow for the 1st time in my life! To see a blanket of white around u, to hear and feel the snow crunching under your feet, that is a great feeling if u have never felt it before. I think it was definitely worth the cold. I had a mini- snowball fight during my work attachment. It was fun...

Last nite, the 2 months grp & the Sec 4 scholars left Beijing. It seems that I will be seeing this for many times to come. Sigh, why doI feel so empty?

Hi all again, sry to have left this for so long but have been busy, as expected. I shall just basically run through all the activities that I have encountered since the previous post.

In the 3rd wk, we headed to Xi'an on a 12 hr train. It was an overnight journey & a brand-new experience for me. I must say that it was an uncomfortable journey as the bunk was erm...rather squeezy, with all my luggage fitted tightly in it. Hence, we spent the long nite & arrived at Xi'an train station at 6am. However, we were given a warm welcome by 2 teachers (Mr Ang was so touched, no one has given him a bouquet of flowers b4). We then headed to our HOTEL! Hurray, finally we get to enjoy some luxury. Overall the trip was very enriching & fun (although I did fall sick), not to mention the fact that I made a new friend there.

On the Fri of the 4th wk, the BSC was officially launched. Ministers & principals both attended the event. I was tasked to create a launching video, together with 3 other friends. Collecting all the videos & photos, filtering them, editing the entire video...We rushed out the whole thing in a wk. It sounds crazy but yeah...we sort of did it. The teachers & ministers appeared to be rather satisfied so I guess it was a rather gd job ba!

The 5th wk, we finally had our immersion in 师大二附中. The students here aren't as hospitable as the students in Xi'an. If u do not talk to them, they will simply juz ignore u. The classes here are generally divided into 2 main streams: Art or Science stream. The class I was assigned to was an Art stream class. Science stream students take triple sciences whereas Art students take the Humanities & Politics. I was considered quite lucky. In class, I sat beside this guy whom I managed toget along rather well with. That entire wk, we had immersion there. It was rather boring in overall but at least I now knew how China students attend lessons.

That's all for now. I will post again when I feel like it. Till then, take care all!

P.S. I hope that all of u have gotten the results u want in ur EOY!

Ok now. It's the end of the 2nd week here in Beijing & as I'm leaving for Xi'an tmr, I thought that I better post now.So, to get straight to the point, here's the updates since the previous post:

In the morning of 20 Oct 07, we went to this exhibition which showcases Beijing's image of urbanisation in the future. It was rather enriching as it displayed Beijing's future plans to be a global, cosmopolitan city in the future. We then went to Tiananmen Square (where all tourists would go!). My 1st thought was that it was so WIDE!. U noe, it's 1 thing seeing the Square in pictures, another seeing it personally. Got lots of snapshots there. Finally, in the afternoon, we went to this street called WangfuJing Street. There was a gigantic bookstore there, which sold practically every Chinese modern book. Of course, the stuff there is not cheap......Bought a set of novels there.

The next day, we went to the Beijing zoo. It wasn't really impresive though. Juz the same exhibits that u would see in any other zoos. And I muz say that the pandas disappoint me too. Eh, I would recommand that u dun see the pandas there, it sort of spoils ur impression of them. There was a "Zoo Plaza" next to the zoo too, where u can get clothes, shoes etc, all bargainable.

Every Tuesday here is outing day, so there's no expection on this Tuesday is there? We went to 2 museums, one was the national museum, the other was a war museum. Both were moderately interesting as they showed me once again, the rich history & culture of Beijing, as being China's capital for so long.

A surprise trip the next day found us at Beijing Keppel Land & the Law University of Beijing. As usual, it was the standard learning trip where we had to go & listen. Quite ok lah, at least we skipped lessons. XD

Ok, dat's all folks, I think I'll post again when I come back from Xi'an. Till then, cya.

Hey all, I'm finally in Beijing. The weather here is a drastic difference from that in Singapore. The 1st thing u will notice is (obviously) the decrease in temperature. It's supposed to be nearing the end of autumn here so it's supposed to get colder. So far it has still been ok but today, the weather forecast says that the northern winds from Mongolia have started blowing in to Beijing so I guess I had better put on more clothing then.The weather here is also extremely dry. U can get dehydrated easily if u r not careful.

So far, we have juz settled in the school---The 2nd High School Affliated to Beijing Normal University. The school is rather clean compared to the outdoors. They have an art block, a classroom block, a canteen block, a music block, a science block & a PE block. The students here have some sort of morning mass exercise every morning at 10am. The exercise is rather complicated, more like a mass dance to me. Seems like we have to learn the steps before we can do the exercise properly.

We have been to this place called Jin1 Wu3 Xing1, where the locals go for their shopping. It's like some sort of indoor bazaar over there where u can bargain with the shopkeepers. Try to speak mandarin the Beijing way & u may get a nice bargain, mention that u are a student & the price may fall even further. Take 1 of my friends for example. He wanted to buy a pair of shoes. The shopkeeper wanted 280RMB. He offered 100RMB. The end result? He got those shoes for only 110RMB!!! Actualy every thing here is cheap compared to Singapore but it's fun to bargain because u can't do that in Singapore. XD

We have also been to Beijing Normal University because it's like just opposite the campus. The univesity is HUGE and rather grand too. I took quite a lot of pictures that I stored up in my laptop. From what I saw, the university would be a nice place to study in. Hopefully I can make it there next time...

Lessons will start next week. It's basically orientation now so we are all enjoying the free time that we still have now. I have chosen my electives for arts & PE already. My form teacher (Mr Ang Lai Chiang) appears to be the best out of the group of teachers that we have here so well, I guess I'm lucky. Here's to a hopefully enjoyable term in the BSC!