Yup. If you are an avid reader of my blog, you'd probably have realised that this is the 301st post that you're reading on my blog! WOOHOO! another milestone. I did 205 posts in total this year. That's more than 1 in 2 days. The most posts appeared in may, 41! That's more than 1 a day. But that's not really amazing cuz a post can be made very simply. Just add a word into your post, and it's considered ONE post. There are a few posts which I'm particularly proud of. So here they are:
Jan: OBS and BACK (coincidentally my 100th post)
Feb: The jing dian one (better known to most as my P6 video)
Mar: Weiqi comp + Penang Trip
Apr: sad
May: change of blogskin
Jun: 在路上
Jul: 台湾中的一个小天堂 - 敦安
Aug: sian
Sep: Birthday! YAY!, sat, Hooray!
Oct: Inter-class soccer, sec 3
Nov: The OIP experience
Dec: My RI experience and new year resolutions, The end of 2007, RICO concert 07
I remember wanting to blog about my blogging experience on my 200th post but it was used up by some emo post. So I guess I shall do it now.
My blogging experience has been a really good one. The blog started out in a really weird fashion. I think my Dad said that if I created a blog, then I could play computer. If not, I would need to do a whole math exercise. Weighing the pros and cons of each, I decided that creating a blog was the more logical option and in no time, I was playing my com game. HAHA. Anyway, Dad didn't say that I must continue updating so I could just leave the blog unupdated! But somehow, I started blogging and I started liking it. It started slowly. I didn't write often although I did write some really long posts and it didn't take long for me to blog much more often. I think my blog posts have matured from those when I first started. It's really enjoyable putting your goals list, things to do list or whatever stuff that you want to rant on (cannot be too "rant-y" though, later get sued...), or simply reflections or maybe a diary post online so that you yourself or many others can read it. Reading my posts in the past has been very exciting cuz it really shows how much I've developed. Anyway, just hope that my "blogging streak" continues. It's 301 now! It's still my first ever blog and I'm proud I have yet to abandon it! Hmm yay!
ok anyway, it's important that I start getting things sorted out cuz it's already 31st Dec. So here are stuff I need to prepare:
1. My file!
2. My bag.
3. My pencilbox.
4. My hair (prepared) lol. just cut it.
5. My books.
AND OF COURSE, PSL STUFF. lots of documents to go through so I guess I shall just stop here and go go through those stuff. Hmm. yup. this should be my last post for the year. So an early happy new year to all you guys out there! and continue visiting my blog for more exciting updates to come!
Patrick
Monday, December 31, 2007
Thursday, December 27, 2007
My RI experience and new year resolutions!
I've spent 3 years in RI now and I guess it's time to reflect back on what I've done and what I should have done. RI's been a wonderful choice for me and I never once did regret my choice of joining this school since orientation day. Sometimes, I did think whether I may be better off in other schools, whether it's HCI, or neighbourhood schools where there is less competition, but I guess after these 3 years, I can safely say that till now, it's been a good choice.
Year 1:
Year 1 was, as usual, the foundational years. It wasn't much, but I guess it was still a really fun and enjoyable year. We started the year with a bang with orientation, all the activities we did, from bishan hike all the way to the star wars night game (forgot the actual name) and of course the station games and war games. It was a really fun way to start my life in RI and although I can't really remember what I did except for maybe a few really memorable scenes, it must have been really fun. Never in primary school have I seen such huge-scale events carried out in school, and by students too! Needless to say, I was really impressed and was even more astounded by the qualities of my SPSL, who was totally amazing.
So that got us going. Afterwards, it was time for us to catch up with the academics. Although looking back now, the workload then seems to be much less, I'm quite sure I didn't feel that way when I was in sec 1. I remember vividly the first presentation I did where I totally SCREWED-UP, and it's true screwing up. haha. Throughout the presentation, I was stuttering and singlish kept coming out every few seconds. I guess I thought it was "the way to present" at that time. I went to the front of class with no script in hand, and erm, well, though it was embarrassing, I've learnt from that horrible experience and improved by leaps and bounds. It was rather hard to score with all the new projects and stuff which I was rather unfamiliar with and I remember hitting a 3.67 for my first term. Not bad, but definitely, there's room for improvement. After all, many of my close friends in my then sec 1 class like Edward, Ying Jie, Rich and Aaron were scoring well above me. So, entered term 3 of year 1. It was one of the most fantastic terms I've ever had. Topping my class in 3 out of the 6 ccts that were packed into term 3, I started chasing up in terms of my grades. The quality of my project work gradually became better and better and I guess it's all to do with improving with every project that you do.
Another big event for year 1 was the Dr. William Tan marathon race. I had no idea who he was at first but after his speech during our assembly, I was really motivated. I see him as someone very similar to Mr. Mac in terms of the speeches they make, the perseverance and strength that they had and the willing to push forth something virtually impossible. It was a really nice experience running with him around the track. Although I can't say I did much, it was still something really big for me given that it was only my first year in RI. I remember that on that day, we had lots of drinks for sale, CDC was selling if I'm not wrong, and we were in charge of stepping on cans to save space. haha. whatever the case, it was a nice experience to be there.
Oh and of course! Year 1 marked the start of my "CCA career". I always love to tell stories about my CCA life cause it's all topsy turvy. I still remember vividly. I knew I wanted to join the choir, Raffles Voices, cause my whole family has been in choir. Thinking that I would definitely enter choir, I put random choices in the rest of my CCA choices in the "CCA choice list". I remember entering Raffles Voices as my first choice and Guitar Ensemble as my second. Another really intersting point is that rugby was actually in one of my choices! haha. and gymnastics too. >< all right, but anyway, it was a Sunday, so Wing Hang, the guy who came for tuition last time, came over to my room and he says, "JOIN CO! IT'S SLACK!" all right. but anyway, i was thinking that since I would definitely get into raffles voices, why not just put CO as my second choice? So I did. And the end result? I forgot to go for the RV auditions and got myself "landed" in RICO. woah. BUT, there was another twist in the story, I decided to have a go in CO for maybe 1 term before quitting it and joining RV, when suddenly I see myself in the most famous or notorious (whichever suits you better) section ever - PERCUSSION. Honestly speaking, I had no idea what "percussion" meant when I first knew I was in that section and I was imagining some random chinese instrument that either looked like an erhu or a dizi (haha. yes. I was dumb then, but so am I now! xD). Well, so as soon as I found out that perc was actually that really cool thing where you use a stick to hit the drum, I decided to give it a shot. Surprisingly, though percussion was so pro then (as compared to now), they were actually lacking people for SYF! So, without even knowing what the instruments were called or even knowing how to hold a stick, I was called up for dazu. haha. Oh yes, it was that experience. All the stares were on me as I walked in from the backstage of the hall (we practiced in the hall last time) and they must have been wondering, what is this idiotic sec 1 doing here for dazu when he doesn't even know how a conductor conducts! Truthfully speaking, I really knew nothing about chinese orchestra, about performing in such a huge group, or even about percussion itself then. But the dazu experiences in sec 1 were just fantastic and made my learning curve so steep that I couldn't believe how fast I was learning. In no time, I had learnt how the conductor conducts, how to play the muyu (my first instrument! YAY!) and even tried out on the timp once for some simple part in feng nian ji. I guess I was regarded as "the pro sec 1" then, but honestly speaking, I wasn't. If anyone had such a wonderful chance to get into dazu after 1 xiaozu, and not even knowing how to hold a drum stick, their learning curve would be much steeper than those who carry on in xiaozu. I guess dazu is really where the application comes in. If I hadn't been in dazu so early, I guess I would be writing about RV life now cause I would have most probably quit CO. Drumming on tables (which we did last time in sec 1 before moving to RJCO room) was certainly much less entertaining than having so many instruments to play with and so many other people and instruments to play with. For that, I have to thank BL for giving me such a wonderful opportunity. I think he's the reason why I'm still in CO. So sec 1 marked my first syf which was really rare cuz many people only get to go for syf when they're sec 2 or higher. I was really noob at that time so I wasn't really sure about our overall standards. I was hoping for a gold but we missed it and instead got a silver. It was rather sad because we were having intensive trainings so often. But I guess it's the experience that counts. I'm still really happy that I got to perform for SYF as a sec 1! Oh and of course, BL was the one who gave me that fantastic opportunity to perform in a hsinghai concert in sec 1 end of year! it was my first time playing for a semi-pro orchestra and it was even more fantastic because i went for the concert after 2 or 3 practices! (but i was only playing the sus. cymbal. haha.) but it was still a nice experience cuz it was the first time (and probably the last) that I played with a semi-pro CO after just learning one year of perc! yay.
And year 1 also marked the start of my "chess club career!" I don't really remember which competitions we went for but I do remember quiping where we got 3rd. Hmm. not bad considering the junior team consisted of all sec 1s (me, hongbo and kengyong if I'm not wrong)... so that must have been a wonderful experience too!
Overall, year 1 in RI was basically an introduction to what was going to come. We were introduced to project work, to Research Education, to CCAs and how we played for the school instead of ourselves now (used to play weiqi on an individual level cuz only 3 people in MSHS knew how to play weiqi...)... And so that was it for sec 1.
Year 2:
Year 2 was an interesting year. Well, actually it was almost like sec 1, just that we had moved to a higher level. First, RE went up to a much higher level. No more rigid surveys and interviews. No more copy and paste from internet. No more guidance from teacher mentors. We were pretty much on our own. We had the most fantastic RE group ever (in my opinion... haha) with Edward, Ying Jie, Aaron Tang and me! That's 2 GPA 4.0s in an RE grp! But anyway, we embarked on some really weird project on lights and spiders (basically how do different colours of lights affect web-spinning behaviours). Like any other RI event, we always left things to the last, procrastination or so they call it... but i thought we did a fantastic job. I remember that SYSF deadline was coming up in a week and our report was still not ready. All the other groups were sort of ready with all their reports done up ready for touch ups and our experiments were still pretty much undone. The spiders apparently didn't really like spinning their webs. Well, to our amazement, it finally did and with the poweress of the RE group, we worked through countless nights, spent hours in school, all the way till 10pm at times, to finish up with the report. Then there was SYSF exhibition which we once again rushed out towards the end. The end result? We got best exhibition and best report for SYSF. It was totally amazing. Even we ourselves were surprised at how far we had gone and how much effort we must have put in after those spiders just refused to spin their webs until a week before. Well, that was certainly not the end. We carried on with YSC and won a gold there. RE congress wasn't so much of a success as our progress was halted during the semi-final stages. But we got ourselves back on our feet and won the gold award once again for the IRS. It was an amazing RE year for me, and I'm sure it was the same for the others. All the countless hours we spent in bishan park catching spiders were fun and enjoyable and the countless hours we spent discussing how best to present our report and our analysis of findings over the phone, over MSN or in school, were totally fantastic. Our group did what I believed to be unachievable and it's all down to our hard work that we've achieved all these. All right, so RE was a major success in year 2.
Then, there was academics! I did wonderfully well here in sem 1, scoring a 3.87 which was well above my expectations. But then, I did terribly in sem 2, causing my humanities grades to drop horribly and I got a 3.73 overall fo that year. That's not a horrendous GPA but I guess it was rather frustrating cause I got 2 79s and 1 78. Well, I guess that's the result if you try to achieve the bare minimum (the 80 mark) which reminds me of what the sec 4 said to us today. but nvm, that will be saved for another post. Well, so academics wise, it wasn't so good, but there were definitely some positive points to take away. I topped the class in the 2 CTs for Science and got highest in LEVEL for Math in Special/Express. It was totally cool cause I would never have thought that I would ever be able to top anything in class, save level, in RI with so many pro people around. But I guess Mrs. Ng was a really good teacher. One of the most fantastic math teachers I've ever got. ok. so that's for academics.
Then, there was CCA. Year 2 was a really "CCA" year with the big events being qiuping, pesta sukan and whompoa for chess club and mediacorp performance, rjco concert, myRIad and rico concert for CO.
Qiuping was great as the junior team (this time me, hongbo and ernest) got the better of dunman to clinch the 2nd place. The senior team too were rather good! Playing with 1 sec 4 (our chairman, shi hao) and 3 sec ONES (yiheng,m alan and zexi), they did their best and managed to clinch 3rd place. Although it was lower than last year's 2nd that we got for the senior section, it was truly amazing as we beat all odds with 2 sec 1s playing in the senior section. Pesta Sukan was another truly amazing experience as we almost beat HCI for the first time ever in the history of SINGAPORE SECONDARY SCHOOL WEIQI. ALMOST. but we didn't. It was really the closest that we've ever gotten. HCI had 18 points, RI 17. It was even more disappointing because hongbo had to lose the last game to a HCI guy by ONE SEED! If not, we would have finished 1st in the team category. Well, not to be. But it was a really good experience. I played very well in this competition, having 5 straight wins (beating 2 HCI players along the way) before losing to one HCI guy who was going to win all 7 games anyway... I won the last game too to finish individual 3rd. I'm not sure whether to be happy or sad because the 2nd position (which went to a HCI person, was the person I beat on the 4th round) but the 4th placing, was Shi Hao (our chairman!) who i very fortunately did not play against (if not I would definitely have lost... The whompoa was great once again! This time I won 6 straight before losing the last round, thereby ending up in 3rd position once again and getting a 3Dan certificate. Hmm... so i did well for chess club.
Then there was CO! CO was a mixed experience for me in year 2 with the addition of DeViL to the perc team. It was not a very nice experience but then again, the events that we had were great. We got to perform in Mediacorp for the first time in our lives together with many actors and actresses and of course the winners of Project Superstar. It was a very nice experience to be there and playing matsuri on television was totally fantastic. And we were the starting and ending performance! woohoo. I think I played timp for the first time then. Hmm... so once again, another achievement! yay! all right, then, there was RJCO concert, which was another good experience. It was then that Raffles djy really started knowing each other. It was fun practicing qin wang with 25 percussionists. I remember being the only RI person to be on the dagu! YAY! ok nvm. >< but anyway, it was a good experience not only because I got to know Raffles djy and some RJCO people and maybe work with RICO alumni like BL but also because it was the first time we were going to perform in ESPLANADE! woah cool. Got myself lost in the amazingly confusing backstage... and it was a truly amazing experience performing in front of such a big audience! Then, there was myRIad, the first ever combined RI musical groups performance. It was a rather big event cause it was the first time we were doing it and also because it was going to be in ESPLANADE (again). haha. but it was once again amazing as we did lao hu in esplanade (COOL!). haha. i remember all the practices when me and lionel kept screwing up. Thanks to Thomas for covering up for all my mistakes which would have sounded rather audible in Esplanade. Then, there was RICO concert! woohoo! RICO concert VOICES OF THE DRAGON 8, totally rocked. I loved all the dazu songs that we played from feng nian ji, taiwan to long, huan xin, dong hai and matsuri. YAY! it was the first time i've performed for a full 2 hr concert so it was a whole new experience once again. It was fun playing cards and talking crap during rehearsals or backstage but it was made even more meaningful because it was going to be the final time that Mr. Yeo conducted us on stage. Dong Hai and Matsuri certainly rocked the audience and it was a fantastic experience. I can still remember during dong hai, thomas, yin kwan, tze ern, BL and I were all discussing how loud we wanted to go. Decision? AS LOUD AS WE CAN! woah. tze ern was relieved he had his ear plugs on. haha. well, that was great too! and of course there were even more small performances like those at Expo or some hospitol (forgot which one) or at some HDB flat or at Toa Payoh... All these were really nice experiences too. The expo one was especially fun because there was a perc ensemble. YAY! and i was leading it! YAY YAY! ok. nvm. but yup, that's all for CO for year 2!
Year 2 also marked the start of my CIP life with THREE large-scale CIP events held. The first was pathlight, which is a school for autistic children. Went there twice. First time was to help them in the sorting out of library books. The second was to carry out an assembly session with them which meant small performances. Then, there was the beach clean-up and newspaper collections. Not really huge CIP events but definitely much more meaningful than going around asking for money as we did in sec 1. It certainly was the foundation stones laid for the CIP events that I would be embarking on for year three.
Year 3:
Year 3's been the most fantastic year of my entire school life. There were just so many huge events going on around me and it was basically the best experiences ever.
First up, OBS! OBS was the first really large-scale camp that I've gone for, the second largest being sec 1's orientation. There was 1 for sec 2s in Malaysian Montage but I had to miss that one because of RE commitments. But well, OBS was both physically and mentally challenging. All the activities we did, from the pitching of tents, hiking, rock climbing, to the kayaking and maybe stealing of waterbottles at the end from other teams. haha. It felt really like an achievement when we finished OBS. It was as if we didn't mind doing unite cheer in the middle of Orchard Road anymore. ok, maybe we would reconsider that but it was really brilliant. We helped each other out in any way possible, cheered together as we hiked for 9 hours straight, ate our rations together and shared the food that we ate when rations ran out (cuz the dumb dog came to steal in on the 3rd night...). lol. but for all the efforts that we've put in, we could really see the results that we achieved. The bonding of the team became really good, we got to know each other so well in 5 days and we can proudly say that we finished OBS. woohoo! OBS was a whole new experience for me. There were lots of first-times whether it's kayaking, rock-climbing, hiking, pitching of tents... But with the help of all my friends, I managed to see it through. I may not have climbed to the top during rock-climbing, I may not have done much during kayaking cuz I wasn't strong enough, I may not have carried the most things during hiking, but it was still truly amazing that I actually dared to try out all these new things. I would never have thought of trying to hike for 9 hrs with such a heavy backpack. I would never have thought that I would try out rock-climbing some day and neither would I have thought that I would try out kayaking. But I've done it all in these 5 days and it made me really proud because Mr. Mac keeps saying, "When was the last time you did something for the first time". I'm also proud that I helped lots of my friends during the way, helping Brian carry the bottles when he got tired, helping Jie Liang when he pitched the tent... It may not have been much help, or it may even have been a case of 越帮越忙, but at least I tried to give a helping hand.
Then, there was Math RA. Math RA was another nice experience. Suddenly, during Math lessons, I found myself flooded with Gifteds and pro scholars who could solve olympiad questions in no time. I found my math far inferior from them and it was as if I was relearning math. It was certainly a major fallback from the top in level I got last year as I started to realise just how much I still had to learn. Though I may still not be as good as the others in Math, Math RA has certainly got me going. I've found more interest in Math than in normal lessons which would sometimes be quite boring going through mundane stuff. I found the learning curve much more steep and once again, although I couldn't absorb everything that was taught, I certainly learnt much more than I would have in normal Math RP lessons. Overall, it's been a very very nice time with this bunch of really smart people.
Then, there was 3B! 3B's been the most fantastic class I've ever been in. Most of the times, I would only have a really close group of friends like Cedrych, Nigel, Ting Fong in P1-4, Dewei, Max, Shihao and Kairen in P5-6, Ying Jie, Edward, Rich and Kejing in sec 1 with the addition of maybe weijie, kejing, jaryl and aaron in sec 2. But in 3B, everyone seems to be so close. Sure, there are still close friends but the not-so-close friends still seem rather close to me. Huiyao, Barry and co. are all very friendly and nice. Then there's Mark, Benyong and co. Then maybe Leonard, Brian and co. and many more but they are all really nice. 2H was really nice with such a big bunch of close friends but I think 3B's been better. The spirit's been burning since the start and inter-class soccer clearly showed just what 3B's made of. Although inter-class soccer's not really a big event, it was truly amazing how the "mugger" 3B class got 4th position. It's all down to the teamwork of the players, their trust and believe in themselves and of course the rest of the class where around 15 people or even more came to cheer them on. That's almost the whole class down at the field! Although we eventually lost in the semi-finals and 3rd/4th placing, it was already a very good achievement for a class which isn't really so sporty.
After which, there's Gang of 6 Pros (Go6P)! Made up of Junsheng, Kenneth, Jerald, Keng Chee, Dennis and me, with the occasional addition of EDWARD from 2H! haha. well, when edward joins, Jerald's not considered a pro so Gang of SIX pros still stands. haha. Hmm... ok. well, this must be the closest friends I've been with, closer than all those mentioned before, even Dewei and Max! haha. It's just amazing cuz we all come from different sec 2 classes and yet we still become such great friends. Junsheng from 2F, Kenneth 2A, Jerald 2C, Keng Chee 2E, Dennis (gifted), me 2H! but Go6P has made 3B an even nicer class for me cuz it makes mundane stuff like recess and lunch, or walks to science block or to PE or even after school times much more interesting. And then, birthdays become much more interesting too and times between lessons also become fun when you get to poke people like keng chee, bitch with jerald, crap with kenneth and junsheng and joke with Dennis! haha. And of course, there will be times where we go out together, whether it's to kBox, to J8, S11 or wherever... It's really fun to have such a great group of wacky friends with you. YEAH! ROCK ON Go6P!
Then, there was the IBN experience in June Hols. June Hols was mostly spent in IBN with Aaron and Ying Jie where we did research work with professional research mentors. It's taught me loads. Not just research techniques or maybe some excel usage but also how to work from 8-6 (sometimes even to 1030. haha. OT.). Then, we also got to know many friends from NUS like Cao Qi, Ji Qing and co. and got to work with the nicest mentor around, Dr. Deng Rensheng! woohoo! haha. it was fun working together with 2 close friends for long periods of the day in the lab, spending time together eating lunch at Ghim Moh or Holland V., spending time together slacking off in the pantry or playing mass pinball games in the labs. That was the fun part. Then, there was the boring parts where we had to look over the experiment conducted in the lab, roll out fibers, glue them, paste them, and do whatever possible to squeeze them into the really small cartridge... ><. ok. maybe that was fun too! haha. Then, we also had times where we had to troubleshoot our own experiments, find out problems regarding it, ways to improve it and stuff... Lab skills were also learnt like pipetting and stuff but yeah. it was overall, fun at times, boring at times but a really good learning experience.
After that, it's the RE experience! RE was fantastic this year for the most fantastic RE group ever once again. Although we lost Edward because we could only form a group of 3, we continued to work hard and achieved brilliant results. We were the only ones to get ourselves RE projects in Astar, we were one of the few groups who made it through the Congress to win the gold award and most of all, we were the only sec 3 RE team to present in the VIP session for RE congress 2007. It was a totally new experience for me once again, presenting our findings in front of a huge crowd with VIPs and well, it was an amazing experience. One I guess i'll never forget. And of course I maintained the A* grades that I've been getting for RE since sec 1 so that's great! I realise my presentation skills have improved tremondously too from the humble beginnings in sec 1. Maybe not as good as Aaron but there's definitely improvement! I guess presentation skills come with experience...
THEN, there was the all-too-amazing taiwan DWEN AN trip. It was TOTALLY BRILLIANT! oh my gosh. i can never over-emphasize this point cuz it was really really really really really fantastic. In a short span of 7 days, we learnt much more than we could have learnt in school. We learnt the taiwan culture, the games they play, the people there and how the spend their lives. We did a HUGE project all by ourselves (teens and maybe a few young adults), working together, striving to deliver the best. We learnt LOADS in terms of communicating methods in big groups, the ability to stand out from a crowd to lead, the ability to speak up from a big group to break a 冷场, and many more... It was really tiring as we worked from 8am-12midnight but it was very fun at the same time. We worked with so many Taiwanese, random people who came together to do something for the community together. We may not be linked. There were people coming from mainland china, us from singapore and most from taiwan. We may have had different likings, we were of different age (although around the same), but we all had a common goal in mind and that was all it took for us to become a team. We worked hard everyday, planning for the big day. We discussed problems, big or small, we solved them, together as a small team and then as the whole big group. We helped other small teams in whatever way possible and our progress was really good. On the day itself, we delivered the best. I myself did my best and I think I really did a wonderful job on my part. All the hard work that we'd put in, it was just so amazing cause we benefited so much from it. We learnt so much from taiwan culture, people to leadership skills, teambuilding activities and communication skills. We had fun together playing card games, 节奏游戏 and bang bang 007. We persevered through adversities, especially in the case of our small group where we faced loads of problems because of our inability to capture the big picture and focused to much on the details. But at the end of the day, it was the most memorable and touching experience that I've ever had, watching the visually impaired chilren have so much fun, watching them as they struggled to walk but continued to smile to us, watching our fellow friends as they did their best to make the children have a fun day. In the end, when we all had to leave and probably never see each other again, it was once again very sad and emotional but I can safely say that we've been the best of friends for 7 days, all of us.
It was a really good academic year for me too! It was the first time I was going to take triple science and SS so it was always going to be hard. But I think I did very well for everything! From Social advocacy, to the history projects, to the Chinese project all the way to all the CCTs and stuff. I'm especially pleased with my CCT results for my math and sciences and SS and all the projects that I've done this year. In the end, I had an overall GPA of 3.87 which was a huge improvement from last year's and it's not as if I'm lucky or anything cuz I got a 79 for history... haix. Still lose to Kenneth due to some freak moderation of physics but nvm. haha. I shall beat him next year then. (: Anyway, great job on academics this year. I think it's been my best academic year since P6 or maybe even the best ever. YAY!
Then, there was the CCAs! Year 3 wasn't really a CCA year. There were much less "CCA stuff" going on but there were still lots! For chess club, there was the yearly, qiuping. Although we lost our pro chairman, Shi Hao, last year, we still did our best and produced the best results since the formation of the chess club. Yup. 2nd in both for junior and senior sections! It was 3rd for junior and 2nd for senior in sec 1. Then, 2nd for junior and 3rd for senior in sec 2. So it's been an improvement this year! Hongbo, Ernest and me (the junior team last year) won the senior 2nd while Yiheng, Zexi and Alan won the junior 2nd. haha. not bad. Although I lost the individual award which I won last year, it was still ok as long as we got the team award that we aimed for. YAY! haha ok. Then, for CO there were 2 major events, SYF and concert. SYF was great. Although we lost our former conductor due to cancer, we got his (our former conductor) student to come conduct us and he's really cool! haha. Lots of people say it's very hard to hire him and I guess we must be very lucky to be able to do so cuz we aren't exactly the best of orchestras. And so, we practiced long and our set piece every week, with me trying to perfect my rolling skills on the timp. It was a rather slack half a year for perc because both songs weren't really "perc" pieces. But we still concentrated on doing well and hoping that we won't screw up on the day itself. I was really afraid that we would get silver again after so many years cuz it would really spell disaster both to the reputation of CO and we were in danger of losing some of the best instructors. On stage, I just tried to concentrate on not screwing up and not dropping the bowl like thing which I was supposed to hit. haha. It was rather hard cuz of my stupid sweaty palms but I did it! I still remember how stressed up I was after long, couldn't smile at all. haha. I was in fact SO stressed up that Mr. Lim (new conductor) came over and pat me on my back while he was walking out. Somehow, that told me that something good would be coming up and WOOHOO! GOLD! although it wasn't really the award we would have craved for, it was still fantastic. A gold award after so many years. My only regrets is that we couldn't get it under Mr. Yeo. It was truly amazing. We were all jumping up and down after the results were announced. I'm not sure why we were soooo happy but I guess Thomas had lots to do with it. He was a really good student conductor for us. He kept adding pressure to us to practice. Even a week b4 the actual SYF day, he was saying,"With this sort of standards, you all can forget about gold. Be prepared to get a bronze. Practice hard and maybe we would get a silver". That probably freaked us out cuz I saw many practicing really hard towards the end. Our improvement was so great during the last few weeks that Mr. Ngoh said that it was either a case of Gold of Gold with Honours. Well, no gwh but I'm still really relieved that we didn't get a silver again. WOOHOO! WE ROCK! RICO ROCKS!
Spring of Life, RICO concert '07, was totally fantastic. haha. Most of you people might have read my reflections already but I still can't over-emphasize how great an achievement it was. All the sponsorship, concert booklets, rehearsals, xiaozus, intensive practices and stuff were just so fun and enjoyable. In the end, the concerts really rocked the audience. The afternoon one was average I guess, but the evening one was really really good! We were all so pro! I think we've done a great job and Mr. Yeo would be very proud of us. Even Mr. Lim was praising us at the end when he himself was THE STAR of the concert! haha. he was really really great. All the fun and joy that we had, I'll never forget.
Then there was OIP '07. It was the first year that they were holding OIP but it was really great. The ChangChun team totally rocked and ChangChun itself with ji da and jiu tai and xi wang all rocked! yay! it was a really nice experience there. I got to learn a lot of things which I probably would never be able to learn in Singapore. I tried out living in the village, I taught a class of 70+ students for the first time in my life, I touched snow, I worked on a huge project in karaoke competition within a limited amount of time... It was all just fantastic. I got to know lots of friends both in Singapore and in Changchun and it was a really great feeling to be out there, far far away from home, with so many great friends. We cheered each other on when we felt down. We helped each other out when it was needed. We played card games together. We worked on projects and lessons together. We suffered in the villages together. But it was all a great experience that I'll never forget. haha. Look out for ChangChun post which I promise WILL be coming up soon enough. haha.
There were actually a lot more stuff that happened in Year 3 like Teacher's Day org comm where we all stayed back till 9+ to prepare for the big day. Then, there was the introduction of DMP which was rather fun because lots of time could be spent mugging or eating at S11 with friends when one had no lessons on! haha. And linear algebra was super fun! But yup... these were all the really MEGA-SIZED events that happened in YEAR THREE!
And Year 3 also marks a new journey that I'll be embarking on - PSL! It really excites me because it's going to be so fun taking a whole class for orientation. I'll try to make the best out of all these and put my best into whatever I do. Hopefully I'll learn some stuff and the sec 1s will be happy! haha. There's still much to prepare so I guess I must get ready. But I'm sure I'll benefit from all these. Tze Ern did ask me to create a goal list for becoming a PSL so I guess I'll do it now.
Goals for myself!
1. Become braver and be able to speak in front of a whole crowd and not stutter. (hope all the training in ChangChun OIP will help! (:)
2. Become less forgetful! haha. this has always been a problem for me. Hope these activities will get me to remember more stuff along the way. It's good memory training. haha. need to memorise where to go, when to go, what to do, what to say... And then all the water breaks, first-aid boxes... (:
3. Make more friends! Whether it's with the PSLs that I still don't know or it's the new sec 1s. Hmm.. (:
4. Train on-the-spot thinking! will have lots of chances for doing this cuz all the stuff aren't exactly detailedly prepared.
5. Become more organized! This should help in communication with the sec 1s as well.
6. HAVE FUN! (:
Goals for sec 1s:
1. Become accustomed to school practices. e.g. cheers, assembly, institution anthem...
2. Know their surroundings! From places to people (students, teachers...)
3. Bond together as a class like 3B or 2H! and hopefully as a batch as well but that's really hard...
4. Know the Rafflesian style of living and be proud of it. haha. sounds so cliched. but i do love it!
5. And of course... HAVE FUN! (:
All right... so i guess that's all for my RI experience! hoping that sec 4 will be even greater! and next up, new year resolutions.
NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS!
1. Academics
2. CO
3. Weiqi
4. CIP! / Interact!
5. RE - SMP + SL?
6. Music!
7. Others
1.1 - Maintain 3.87 GPA!
1.2 - Improve english vocabulary! sigh. i realise i have no synonyms for fantastic or brilliant. HMM!
1.3 - Improve CHINESE! O-levels coming! haha. but chinese is fun!
1.4 - Basically redo what I did this year cuz I think I did a great job. (all the review of lessons and marks and stuff...)
2.1 - Hopefully get pro sec 1s in!
2.2 - Train perc till there are at least 3 who can play impt instruments and 2 for smaller ones.
2.3 - Make concert '08 a stunning success (sponsorship, concert booklet and stage plan) and of course everything else from Raffles Trail, CNY to concert with Mayflower (i think...)
2.4 - Have fun during interaction (hopefully it will take place) and if possible help out in RJCO or RGCO concerts (but probably they won't need help... ):)
3.1 - Achieve double 2nd in qiuping again.
3.2 - Participate in more competitions
3.3 - Hopefully rope in more people to come for training
3.4 - Improve myself! Get to know more stuff.
4.1 - Embark on at least one BIG cip programme like taiwan or OIP this year.
4.2 - Start going for and enjoying INTERACT! and hopefully do my best in it.
4.3 - Become a more helpful, courteous and smiling person! (: Yay!
5.1 - Embark on TWO RE projects like the pro sec 4 this year!
5.2 - Work well for SMP. Learn research techniques and other stuff! do well for YSC!
5.3 - Get and SL project done up and make it good! Hopefully something like taiwan!
5.4 - Do well for RE congress.
6.1 - Continue playing the piano and play whatever I like! (:
6.2 - Continue improving snare! rolls! or doubles or whatever...
6.3 - Play the timp more often. Practice rolls and tuning!
6.4 - Try out drum set. Hmm...
7.1 - Make 3B and Go6P even better!
7.2 - Get some leadership positions and work hard for it! (whether it is in projects or CEC or the new students leaders thing...)
7.3 - Start training pull-ups and running unless I want to fail Napfa. HAIX.
Guess that's all for now. It's another rather long post. ><. haha. shall add on when i think of more new year resolutions. and you can be sure changchun post will be coming soon enough! (:
Patrick
Year 1:
Year 1 was, as usual, the foundational years. It wasn't much, but I guess it was still a really fun and enjoyable year. We started the year with a bang with orientation, all the activities we did, from bishan hike all the way to the star wars night game (forgot the actual name) and of course the station games and war games. It was a really fun way to start my life in RI and although I can't really remember what I did except for maybe a few really memorable scenes, it must have been really fun. Never in primary school have I seen such huge-scale events carried out in school, and by students too! Needless to say, I was really impressed and was even more astounded by the qualities of my SPSL, who was totally amazing.
So that got us going. Afterwards, it was time for us to catch up with the academics. Although looking back now, the workload then seems to be much less, I'm quite sure I didn't feel that way when I was in sec 1. I remember vividly the first presentation I did where I totally SCREWED-UP, and it's true screwing up. haha. Throughout the presentation, I was stuttering and singlish kept coming out every few seconds. I guess I thought it was "the way to present" at that time. I went to the front of class with no script in hand, and erm, well, though it was embarrassing, I've learnt from that horrible experience and improved by leaps and bounds. It was rather hard to score with all the new projects and stuff which I was rather unfamiliar with and I remember hitting a 3.67 for my first term. Not bad, but definitely, there's room for improvement. After all, many of my close friends in my then sec 1 class like Edward, Ying Jie, Rich and Aaron were scoring well above me. So, entered term 3 of year 1. It was one of the most fantastic terms I've ever had. Topping my class in 3 out of the 6 ccts that were packed into term 3, I started chasing up in terms of my grades. The quality of my project work gradually became better and better and I guess it's all to do with improving with every project that you do.
Another big event for year 1 was the Dr. William Tan marathon race. I had no idea who he was at first but after his speech during our assembly, I was really motivated. I see him as someone very similar to Mr. Mac in terms of the speeches they make, the perseverance and strength that they had and the willing to push forth something virtually impossible. It was a really nice experience running with him around the track. Although I can't say I did much, it was still something really big for me given that it was only my first year in RI. I remember that on that day, we had lots of drinks for sale, CDC was selling if I'm not wrong, and we were in charge of stepping on cans to save space. haha. whatever the case, it was a nice experience to be there.
Oh and of course! Year 1 marked the start of my "CCA career". I always love to tell stories about my CCA life cause it's all topsy turvy. I still remember vividly. I knew I wanted to join the choir, Raffles Voices, cause my whole family has been in choir. Thinking that I would definitely enter choir, I put random choices in the rest of my CCA choices in the "CCA choice list". I remember entering Raffles Voices as my first choice and Guitar Ensemble as my second. Another really intersting point is that rugby was actually in one of my choices! haha. and gymnastics too. >< all right, but anyway, it was a Sunday, so Wing Hang, the guy who came for tuition last time, came over to my room and he says, "JOIN CO! IT'S SLACK!" all right. but anyway, i was thinking that since I would definitely get into raffles voices, why not just put CO as my second choice? So I did. And the end result? I forgot to go for the RV auditions and got myself "landed" in RICO. woah. BUT, there was another twist in the story, I decided to have a go in CO for maybe 1 term before quitting it and joining RV, when suddenly I see myself in the most famous or notorious (whichever suits you better) section ever - PERCUSSION. Honestly speaking, I had no idea what "percussion" meant when I first knew I was in that section and I was imagining some random chinese instrument that either looked like an erhu or a dizi (haha. yes. I was dumb then, but so am I now! xD). Well, so as soon as I found out that perc was actually that really cool thing where you use a stick to hit the drum, I decided to give it a shot. Surprisingly, though percussion was so pro then (as compared to now), they were actually lacking people for SYF! So, without even knowing what the instruments were called or even knowing how to hold a stick, I was called up for dazu. haha. Oh yes, it was that experience. All the stares were on me as I walked in from the backstage of the hall (we practiced in the hall last time) and they must have been wondering, what is this idiotic sec 1 doing here for dazu when he doesn't even know how a conductor conducts! Truthfully speaking, I really knew nothing about chinese orchestra, about performing in such a huge group, or even about percussion itself then. But the dazu experiences in sec 1 were just fantastic and made my learning curve so steep that I couldn't believe how fast I was learning. In no time, I had learnt how the conductor conducts, how to play the muyu (my first instrument! YAY!) and even tried out on the timp once for some simple part in feng nian ji. I guess I was regarded as "the pro sec 1" then, but honestly speaking, I wasn't. If anyone had such a wonderful chance to get into dazu after 1 xiaozu, and not even knowing how to hold a drum stick, their learning curve would be much steeper than those who carry on in xiaozu. I guess dazu is really where the application comes in. If I hadn't been in dazu so early, I guess I would be writing about RV life now cause I would have most probably quit CO. Drumming on tables (which we did last time in sec 1 before moving to RJCO room) was certainly much less entertaining than having so many instruments to play with and so many other people and instruments to play with. For that, I have to thank BL for giving me such a wonderful opportunity. I think he's the reason why I'm still in CO. So sec 1 marked my first syf which was really rare cuz many people only get to go for syf when they're sec 2 or higher. I was really noob at that time so I wasn't really sure about our overall standards. I was hoping for a gold but we missed it and instead got a silver. It was rather sad because we were having intensive trainings so often. But I guess it's the experience that counts. I'm still really happy that I got to perform for SYF as a sec 1! Oh and of course, BL was the one who gave me that fantastic opportunity to perform in a hsinghai concert in sec 1 end of year! it was my first time playing for a semi-pro orchestra and it was even more fantastic because i went for the concert after 2 or 3 practices! (but i was only playing the sus. cymbal. haha.) but it was still a nice experience cuz it was the first time (and probably the last) that I played with a semi-pro CO after just learning one year of perc! yay.
And year 1 also marked the start of my "chess club career!" I don't really remember which competitions we went for but I do remember quiping where we got 3rd. Hmm. not bad considering the junior team consisted of all sec 1s (me, hongbo and kengyong if I'm not wrong)... so that must have been a wonderful experience too!
Overall, year 1 in RI was basically an introduction to what was going to come. We were introduced to project work, to Research Education, to CCAs and how we played for the school instead of ourselves now (used to play weiqi on an individual level cuz only 3 people in MSHS knew how to play weiqi...)... And so that was it for sec 1.
Year 2:
Year 2 was an interesting year. Well, actually it was almost like sec 1, just that we had moved to a higher level. First, RE went up to a much higher level. No more rigid surveys and interviews. No more copy and paste from internet. No more guidance from teacher mentors. We were pretty much on our own. We had the most fantastic RE group ever (in my opinion... haha) with Edward, Ying Jie, Aaron Tang and me! That's 2 GPA 4.0s in an RE grp! But anyway, we embarked on some really weird project on lights and spiders (basically how do different colours of lights affect web-spinning behaviours). Like any other RI event, we always left things to the last, procrastination or so they call it... but i thought we did a fantastic job. I remember that SYSF deadline was coming up in a week and our report was still not ready. All the other groups were sort of ready with all their reports done up ready for touch ups and our experiments were still pretty much undone. The spiders apparently didn't really like spinning their webs. Well, to our amazement, it finally did and with the poweress of the RE group, we worked through countless nights, spent hours in school, all the way till 10pm at times, to finish up with the report. Then there was SYSF exhibition which we once again rushed out towards the end. The end result? We got best exhibition and best report for SYSF. It was totally amazing. Even we ourselves were surprised at how far we had gone and how much effort we must have put in after those spiders just refused to spin their webs until a week before. Well, that was certainly not the end. We carried on with YSC and won a gold there. RE congress wasn't so much of a success as our progress was halted during the semi-final stages. But we got ourselves back on our feet and won the gold award once again for the IRS. It was an amazing RE year for me, and I'm sure it was the same for the others. All the countless hours we spent in bishan park catching spiders were fun and enjoyable and the countless hours we spent discussing how best to present our report and our analysis of findings over the phone, over MSN or in school, were totally fantastic. Our group did what I believed to be unachievable and it's all down to our hard work that we've achieved all these. All right, so RE was a major success in year 2.
Then, there was academics! I did wonderfully well here in sem 1, scoring a 3.87 which was well above my expectations. But then, I did terribly in sem 2, causing my humanities grades to drop horribly and I got a 3.73 overall fo that year. That's not a horrendous GPA but I guess it was rather frustrating cause I got 2 79s and 1 78. Well, I guess that's the result if you try to achieve the bare minimum (the 80 mark) which reminds me of what the sec 4 said to us today. but nvm, that will be saved for another post. Well, so academics wise, it wasn't so good, but there were definitely some positive points to take away. I topped the class in the 2 CTs for Science and got highest in LEVEL for Math in Special/Express. It was totally cool cause I would never have thought that I would ever be able to top anything in class, save level, in RI with so many pro people around. But I guess Mrs. Ng was a really good teacher. One of the most fantastic math teachers I've ever got. ok. so that's for academics.
Then, there was CCA. Year 2 was a really "CCA" year with the big events being qiuping, pesta sukan and whompoa for chess club and mediacorp performance, rjco concert, myRIad and rico concert for CO.
Qiuping was great as the junior team (this time me, hongbo and ernest) got the better of dunman to clinch the 2nd place. The senior team too were rather good! Playing with 1 sec 4 (our chairman, shi hao) and 3 sec ONES (yiheng,m alan and zexi), they did their best and managed to clinch 3rd place. Although it was lower than last year's 2nd that we got for the senior section, it was truly amazing as we beat all odds with 2 sec 1s playing in the senior section. Pesta Sukan was another truly amazing experience as we almost beat HCI for the first time ever in the history of SINGAPORE SECONDARY SCHOOL WEIQI. ALMOST. but we didn't. It was really the closest that we've ever gotten. HCI had 18 points, RI 17. It was even more disappointing because hongbo had to lose the last game to a HCI guy by ONE SEED! If not, we would have finished 1st in the team category. Well, not to be. But it was a really good experience. I played very well in this competition, having 5 straight wins (beating 2 HCI players along the way) before losing to one HCI guy who was going to win all 7 games anyway... I won the last game too to finish individual 3rd. I'm not sure whether to be happy or sad because the 2nd position (which went to a HCI person, was the person I beat on the 4th round) but the 4th placing, was Shi Hao (our chairman!) who i very fortunately did not play against (if not I would definitely have lost... The whompoa was great once again! This time I won 6 straight before losing the last round, thereby ending up in 3rd position once again and getting a 3Dan certificate. Hmm... so i did well for chess club.
Then there was CO! CO was a mixed experience for me in year 2 with the addition of DeViL to the perc team. It was not a very nice experience but then again, the events that we had were great. We got to perform in Mediacorp for the first time in our lives together with many actors and actresses and of course the winners of Project Superstar. It was a very nice experience to be there and playing matsuri on television was totally fantastic. And we were the starting and ending performance! woohoo. I think I played timp for the first time then. Hmm... so once again, another achievement! yay! all right, then, there was RJCO concert, which was another good experience. It was then that Raffles djy really started knowing each other. It was fun practicing qin wang with 25 percussionists. I remember being the only RI person to be on the dagu! YAY! ok nvm. >< but anyway, it was a good experience not only because I got to know Raffles djy and some RJCO people and maybe work with RICO alumni like BL but also because it was the first time we were going to perform in ESPLANADE! woah cool. Got myself lost in the amazingly confusing backstage... and it was a truly amazing experience performing in front of such a big audience! Then, there was myRIad, the first ever combined RI musical groups performance. It was a rather big event cause it was the first time we were doing it and also because it was going to be in ESPLANADE (again). haha. but it was once again amazing as we did lao hu in esplanade (COOL!). haha. i remember all the practices when me and lionel kept screwing up. Thanks to Thomas for covering up for all my mistakes which would have sounded rather audible in Esplanade. Then, there was RICO concert! woohoo! RICO concert VOICES OF THE DRAGON 8, totally rocked. I loved all the dazu songs that we played from feng nian ji, taiwan to long, huan xin, dong hai and matsuri. YAY! it was the first time i've performed for a full 2 hr concert so it was a whole new experience once again. It was fun playing cards and talking crap during rehearsals or backstage but it was made even more meaningful because it was going to be the final time that Mr. Yeo conducted us on stage. Dong Hai and Matsuri certainly rocked the audience and it was a fantastic experience. I can still remember during dong hai, thomas, yin kwan, tze ern, BL and I were all discussing how loud we wanted to go. Decision? AS LOUD AS WE CAN! woah. tze ern was relieved he had his ear plugs on. haha. well, that was great too! and of course there were even more small performances like those at Expo or some hospitol (forgot which one) or at some HDB flat or at Toa Payoh... All these were really nice experiences too. The expo one was especially fun because there was a perc ensemble. YAY! and i was leading it! YAY YAY! ok. nvm. but yup, that's all for CO for year 2!
Year 2 also marked the start of my CIP life with THREE large-scale CIP events held. The first was pathlight, which is a school for autistic children. Went there twice. First time was to help them in the sorting out of library books. The second was to carry out an assembly session with them which meant small performances. Then, there was the beach clean-up and newspaper collections. Not really huge CIP events but definitely much more meaningful than going around asking for money as we did in sec 1. It certainly was the foundation stones laid for the CIP events that I would be embarking on for year three.
Year 3:
Year 3's been the most fantastic year of my entire school life. There were just so many huge events going on around me and it was basically the best experiences ever.
First up, OBS! OBS was the first really large-scale camp that I've gone for, the second largest being sec 1's orientation. There was 1 for sec 2s in Malaysian Montage but I had to miss that one because of RE commitments. But well, OBS was both physically and mentally challenging. All the activities we did, from the pitching of tents, hiking, rock climbing, to the kayaking and maybe stealing of waterbottles at the end from other teams. haha. It felt really like an achievement when we finished OBS. It was as if we didn't mind doing unite cheer in the middle of Orchard Road anymore. ok, maybe we would reconsider that but it was really brilliant. We helped each other out in any way possible, cheered together as we hiked for 9 hours straight, ate our rations together and shared the food that we ate when rations ran out (cuz the dumb dog came to steal in on the 3rd night...). lol. but for all the efforts that we've put in, we could really see the results that we achieved. The bonding of the team became really good, we got to know each other so well in 5 days and we can proudly say that we finished OBS. woohoo! OBS was a whole new experience for me. There were lots of first-times whether it's kayaking, rock-climbing, hiking, pitching of tents... But with the help of all my friends, I managed to see it through. I may not have climbed to the top during rock-climbing, I may not have done much during kayaking cuz I wasn't strong enough, I may not have carried the most things during hiking, but it was still truly amazing that I actually dared to try out all these new things. I would never have thought of trying to hike for 9 hrs with such a heavy backpack. I would never have thought that I would try out rock-climbing some day and neither would I have thought that I would try out kayaking. But I've done it all in these 5 days and it made me really proud because Mr. Mac keeps saying, "When was the last time you did something for the first time". I'm also proud that I helped lots of my friends during the way, helping Brian carry the bottles when he got tired, helping Jie Liang when he pitched the tent... It may not have been much help, or it may even have been a case of 越帮越忙, but at least I tried to give a helping hand.
Then, there was Math RA. Math RA was another nice experience. Suddenly, during Math lessons, I found myself flooded with Gifteds and pro scholars who could solve olympiad questions in no time. I found my math far inferior from them and it was as if I was relearning math. It was certainly a major fallback from the top in level I got last year as I started to realise just how much I still had to learn. Though I may still not be as good as the others in Math, Math RA has certainly got me going. I've found more interest in Math than in normal lessons which would sometimes be quite boring going through mundane stuff. I found the learning curve much more steep and once again, although I couldn't absorb everything that was taught, I certainly learnt much more than I would have in normal Math RP lessons. Overall, it's been a very very nice time with this bunch of really smart people.
Then, there was 3B! 3B's been the most fantastic class I've ever been in. Most of the times, I would only have a really close group of friends like Cedrych, Nigel, Ting Fong in P1-4, Dewei, Max, Shihao and Kairen in P5-6, Ying Jie, Edward, Rich and Kejing in sec 1 with the addition of maybe weijie, kejing, jaryl and aaron in sec 2. But in 3B, everyone seems to be so close. Sure, there are still close friends but the not-so-close friends still seem rather close to me. Huiyao, Barry and co. are all very friendly and nice. Then there's Mark, Benyong and co. Then maybe Leonard, Brian and co. and many more but they are all really nice. 2H was really nice with such a big bunch of close friends but I think 3B's been better. The spirit's been burning since the start and inter-class soccer clearly showed just what 3B's made of. Although inter-class soccer's not really a big event, it was truly amazing how the "mugger" 3B class got 4th position. It's all down to the teamwork of the players, their trust and believe in themselves and of course the rest of the class where around 15 people or even more came to cheer them on. That's almost the whole class down at the field! Although we eventually lost in the semi-finals and 3rd/4th placing, it was already a very good achievement for a class which isn't really so sporty.
After which, there's Gang of 6 Pros (Go6P)! Made up of Junsheng, Kenneth, Jerald, Keng Chee, Dennis and me, with the occasional addition of EDWARD from 2H! haha. well, when edward joins, Jerald's not considered a pro so Gang of SIX pros still stands. haha. Hmm... ok. well, this must be the closest friends I've been with, closer than all those mentioned before, even Dewei and Max! haha. It's just amazing cuz we all come from different sec 2 classes and yet we still become such great friends. Junsheng from 2F, Kenneth 2A, Jerald 2C, Keng Chee 2E, Dennis (gifted), me 2H! but Go6P has made 3B an even nicer class for me cuz it makes mundane stuff like recess and lunch, or walks to science block or to PE or even after school times much more interesting. And then, birthdays become much more interesting too and times between lessons also become fun when you get to poke people like keng chee, bitch with jerald, crap with kenneth and junsheng and joke with Dennis! haha. And of course, there will be times where we go out together, whether it's to kBox, to J8, S11 or wherever... It's really fun to have such a great group of wacky friends with you. YEAH! ROCK ON Go6P!
Then, there was the IBN experience in June Hols. June Hols was mostly spent in IBN with Aaron and Ying Jie where we did research work with professional research mentors. It's taught me loads. Not just research techniques or maybe some excel usage but also how to work from 8-6 (sometimes even to 1030. haha. OT.). Then, we also got to know many friends from NUS like Cao Qi, Ji Qing and co. and got to work with the nicest mentor around, Dr. Deng Rensheng! woohoo! haha. it was fun working together with 2 close friends for long periods of the day in the lab, spending time together eating lunch at Ghim Moh or Holland V., spending time together slacking off in the pantry or playing mass pinball games in the labs. That was the fun part. Then, there was the boring parts where we had to look over the experiment conducted in the lab, roll out fibers, glue them, paste them, and do whatever possible to squeeze them into the really small cartridge... ><. ok. maybe that was fun too! haha. Then, we also had times where we had to troubleshoot our own experiments, find out problems regarding it, ways to improve it and stuff... Lab skills were also learnt like pipetting and stuff but yeah. it was overall, fun at times, boring at times but a really good learning experience.
After that, it's the RE experience! RE was fantastic this year for the most fantastic RE group ever once again. Although we lost Edward because we could only form a group of 3, we continued to work hard and achieved brilliant results. We were the only ones to get ourselves RE projects in Astar, we were one of the few groups who made it through the Congress to win the gold award and most of all, we were the only sec 3 RE team to present in the VIP session for RE congress 2007. It was a totally new experience for me once again, presenting our findings in front of a huge crowd with VIPs and well, it was an amazing experience. One I guess i'll never forget. And of course I maintained the A* grades that I've been getting for RE since sec 1 so that's great! I realise my presentation skills have improved tremondously too from the humble beginnings in sec 1. Maybe not as good as Aaron but there's definitely improvement! I guess presentation skills come with experience...
THEN, there was the all-too-amazing taiwan DWEN AN trip. It was TOTALLY BRILLIANT! oh my gosh. i can never over-emphasize this point cuz it was really really really really really fantastic. In a short span of 7 days, we learnt much more than we could have learnt in school. We learnt the taiwan culture, the games they play, the people there and how the spend their lives. We did a HUGE project all by ourselves (teens and maybe a few young adults), working together, striving to deliver the best. We learnt LOADS in terms of communicating methods in big groups, the ability to stand out from a crowd to lead, the ability to speak up from a big group to break a 冷场, and many more... It was really tiring as we worked from 8am-12midnight but it was very fun at the same time. We worked with so many Taiwanese, random people who came together to do something for the community together. We may not be linked. There were people coming from mainland china, us from singapore and most from taiwan. We may have had different likings, we were of different age (although around the same), but we all had a common goal in mind and that was all it took for us to become a team. We worked hard everyday, planning for the big day. We discussed problems, big or small, we solved them, together as a small team and then as the whole big group. We helped other small teams in whatever way possible and our progress was really good. On the day itself, we delivered the best. I myself did my best and I think I really did a wonderful job on my part. All the hard work that we'd put in, it was just so amazing cause we benefited so much from it. We learnt so much from taiwan culture, people to leadership skills, teambuilding activities and communication skills. We had fun together playing card games, 节奏游戏 and bang bang 007. We persevered through adversities, especially in the case of our small group where we faced loads of problems because of our inability to capture the big picture and focused to much on the details. But at the end of the day, it was the most memorable and touching experience that I've ever had, watching the visually impaired chilren have so much fun, watching them as they struggled to walk but continued to smile to us, watching our fellow friends as they did their best to make the children have a fun day. In the end, when we all had to leave and probably never see each other again, it was once again very sad and emotional but I can safely say that we've been the best of friends for 7 days, all of us.
It was a really good academic year for me too! It was the first time I was going to take triple science and SS so it was always going to be hard. But I think I did very well for everything! From Social advocacy, to the history projects, to the Chinese project all the way to all the CCTs and stuff. I'm especially pleased with my CCT results for my math and sciences and SS and all the projects that I've done this year. In the end, I had an overall GPA of 3.87 which was a huge improvement from last year's and it's not as if I'm lucky or anything cuz I got a 79 for history... haix. Still lose to Kenneth due to some freak moderation of physics but nvm. haha. I shall beat him next year then. (: Anyway, great job on academics this year. I think it's been my best academic year since P6 or maybe even the best ever. YAY!
Then, there was the CCAs! Year 3 wasn't really a CCA year. There were much less "CCA stuff" going on but there were still lots! For chess club, there was the yearly, qiuping. Although we lost our pro chairman, Shi Hao, last year, we still did our best and produced the best results since the formation of the chess club. Yup. 2nd in both for junior and senior sections! It was 3rd for junior and 2nd for senior in sec 1. Then, 2nd for junior and 3rd for senior in sec 2. So it's been an improvement this year! Hongbo, Ernest and me (the junior team last year) won the senior 2nd while Yiheng, Zexi and Alan won the junior 2nd. haha. not bad. Although I lost the individual award which I won last year, it was still ok as long as we got the team award that we aimed for. YAY! haha ok. Then, for CO there were 2 major events, SYF and concert. SYF was great. Although we lost our former conductor due to cancer, we got his (our former conductor) student to come conduct us and he's really cool! haha. Lots of people say it's very hard to hire him and I guess we must be very lucky to be able to do so cuz we aren't exactly the best of orchestras. And so, we practiced long and our set piece every week, with me trying to perfect my rolling skills on the timp. It was a rather slack half a year for perc because both songs weren't really "perc" pieces. But we still concentrated on doing well and hoping that we won't screw up on the day itself. I was really afraid that we would get silver again after so many years cuz it would really spell disaster both to the reputation of CO and we were in danger of losing some of the best instructors. On stage, I just tried to concentrate on not screwing up and not dropping the bowl like thing which I was supposed to hit. haha. It was rather hard cuz of my stupid sweaty palms but I did it! I still remember how stressed up I was after long, couldn't smile at all. haha. I was in fact SO stressed up that Mr. Lim (new conductor) came over and pat me on my back while he was walking out. Somehow, that told me that something good would be coming up and WOOHOO! GOLD! although it wasn't really the award we would have craved for, it was still fantastic. A gold award after so many years. My only regrets is that we couldn't get it under Mr. Yeo. It was truly amazing. We were all jumping up and down after the results were announced. I'm not sure why we were soooo happy but I guess Thomas had lots to do with it. He was a really good student conductor for us. He kept adding pressure to us to practice. Even a week b4 the actual SYF day, he was saying,"With this sort of standards, you all can forget about gold. Be prepared to get a bronze. Practice hard and maybe we would get a silver". That probably freaked us out cuz I saw many practicing really hard towards the end. Our improvement was so great during the last few weeks that Mr. Ngoh said that it was either a case of Gold of Gold with Honours. Well, no gwh but I'm still really relieved that we didn't get a silver again. WOOHOO! WE ROCK! RICO ROCKS!
Spring of Life, RICO concert '07, was totally fantastic. haha. Most of you people might have read my reflections already but I still can't over-emphasize how great an achievement it was. All the sponsorship, concert booklets, rehearsals, xiaozus, intensive practices and stuff were just so fun and enjoyable. In the end, the concerts really rocked the audience. The afternoon one was average I guess, but the evening one was really really good! We were all so pro! I think we've done a great job and Mr. Yeo would be very proud of us. Even Mr. Lim was praising us at the end when he himself was THE STAR of the concert! haha. he was really really great. All the fun and joy that we had, I'll never forget.
Then there was OIP '07. It was the first year that they were holding OIP but it was really great. The ChangChun team totally rocked and ChangChun itself with ji da and jiu tai and xi wang all rocked! yay! it was a really nice experience there. I got to learn a lot of things which I probably would never be able to learn in Singapore. I tried out living in the village, I taught a class of 70+ students for the first time in my life, I touched snow, I worked on a huge project in karaoke competition within a limited amount of time... It was all just fantastic. I got to know lots of friends both in Singapore and in Changchun and it was a really great feeling to be out there, far far away from home, with so many great friends. We cheered each other on when we felt down. We helped each other out when it was needed. We played card games together. We worked on projects and lessons together. We suffered in the villages together. But it was all a great experience that I'll never forget. haha. Look out for ChangChun post which I promise WILL be coming up soon enough. haha.
There were actually a lot more stuff that happened in Year 3 like Teacher's Day org comm where we all stayed back till 9+ to prepare for the big day. Then, there was the introduction of DMP which was rather fun because lots of time could be spent mugging or eating at S11 with friends when one had no lessons on! haha. And linear algebra was super fun! But yup... these were all the really MEGA-SIZED events that happened in YEAR THREE!
And Year 3 also marks a new journey that I'll be embarking on - PSL! It really excites me because it's going to be so fun taking a whole class for orientation. I'll try to make the best out of all these and put my best into whatever I do. Hopefully I'll learn some stuff and the sec 1s will be happy! haha. There's still much to prepare so I guess I must get ready. But I'm sure I'll benefit from all these. Tze Ern did ask me to create a goal list for becoming a PSL so I guess I'll do it now.
Goals for myself!
1. Become braver and be able to speak in front of a whole crowd and not stutter. (hope all the training in ChangChun OIP will help! (:)
2. Become less forgetful! haha. this has always been a problem for me. Hope these activities will get me to remember more stuff along the way. It's good memory training. haha. need to memorise where to go, when to go, what to do, what to say... And then all the water breaks, first-aid boxes... (:
3. Make more friends! Whether it's with the PSLs that I still don't know or it's the new sec 1s. Hmm.. (:
4. Train on-the-spot thinking! will have lots of chances for doing this cuz all the stuff aren't exactly detailedly prepared.
5. Become more organized! This should help in communication with the sec 1s as well.
6. HAVE FUN! (:
Goals for sec 1s:
1. Become accustomed to school practices. e.g. cheers, assembly, institution anthem...
2. Know their surroundings! From places to people (students, teachers...)
3. Bond together as a class like 3B or 2H! and hopefully as a batch as well but that's really hard...
4. Know the Rafflesian style of living and be proud of it. haha. sounds so cliched. but i do love it!
5. And of course... HAVE FUN! (:
All right... so i guess that's all for my RI experience! hoping that sec 4 will be even greater! and next up, new year resolutions.
NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS!
1. Academics
2. CO
3. Weiqi
4. CIP! / Interact!
5. RE - SMP + SL?
6. Music!
7. Others
1.1 - Maintain 3.87 GPA!
1.2 - Improve english vocabulary! sigh. i realise i have no synonyms for fantastic or brilliant. HMM!
1.3 - Improve CHINESE! O-levels coming! haha. but chinese is fun!
1.4 - Basically redo what I did this year cuz I think I did a great job. (all the review of lessons and marks and stuff...)
2.1 - Hopefully get pro sec 1s in!
2.2 - Train perc till there are at least 3 who can play impt instruments and 2 for smaller ones.
2.3 - Make concert '08 a stunning success (sponsorship, concert booklet and stage plan) and of course everything else from Raffles Trail, CNY to concert with Mayflower (i think...)
2.4 - Have fun during interaction (hopefully it will take place) and if possible help out in RJCO or RGCO concerts (but probably they won't need help... ):)
3.1 - Achieve double 2nd in qiuping again.
3.2 - Participate in more competitions
3.3 - Hopefully rope in more people to come for training
3.4 - Improve myself! Get to know more stuff.
4.1 - Embark on at least one BIG cip programme like taiwan or OIP this year.
4.2 - Start going for and enjoying INTERACT! and hopefully do my best in it.
4.3 - Become a more helpful, courteous and smiling person! (: Yay!
5.1 - Embark on TWO RE projects like the pro sec 4 this year!
5.2 - Work well for SMP. Learn research techniques and other stuff! do well for YSC!
5.3 - Get and SL project done up and make it good! Hopefully something like taiwan!
5.4 - Do well for RE congress.
6.1 - Continue playing the piano and play whatever I like! (:
6.2 - Continue improving snare! rolls! or doubles or whatever...
6.3 - Play the timp more often. Practice rolls and tuning!
6.4 - Try out drum set. Hmm...
7.1 - Make 3B and Go6P even better!
7.2 - Get some leadership positions and work hard for it! (whether it is in projects or CEC or the new students leaders thing...)
7.3 - Start training pull-ups and running unless I want to fail Napfa. HAIX.
Guess that's all for now. It's another rather long post. ><. haha. shall add on when i think of more new year resolutions. and you can be sure changchun post will be coming soon enough! (:
Patrick
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
woohoo.
it's been a rather uneventful past few days for me. Well, I guess they were normal days, but given that it was Christmas, it was a bit unusual. Hmm... Shall post on mom's birthday then.
Mom's birthday was on the 23rd of december! YAY! haha... Hmm.. it was quite a simple one for me (maybe cuz i didn't cook ><)... haha. anyway, it was a dinner prepared by Mike and Tam for the whole family. It took them hours to buy the food and cook it while I slacked off (oops! xD). Hmm. well, ok. so here comes the pictures...
The mushroom soup. Hmm. it was supposedly all pure and errr... real? mushrooms at first that were sort of blended... haha. but it's nice. yay.
Salmon with french fries with onion with tomato ++
Chicken! lol the thing i ate.
bread. lol.
mom, dad, tam, mike! woohoo!
mom, dad, me, mike.
the cake!
me, mike, mom, dad, tam. ok i look horrible. ><
mom and dad with the cake.
mom blowing the cake.
ok last pic. mom eating the cake. haha.
Hmm okok. that's all! (:
Patrick
Mom's birthday was on the 23rd of december! YAY! haha... Hmm.. it was quite a simple one for me (maybe cuz i didn't cook ><)... haha. anyway, it was a dinner prepared by Mike and Tam for the whole family. It took them hours to buy the food and cook it while I slacked off (oops! xD). Hmm. well, ok. so here comes the pictures...
The mushroom soup. Hmm. it was supposedly all pure and errr... real? mushrooms at first that were sort of blended... haha. but it's nice. yay.
Salmon with french fries with onion with tomato ++
Chicken! lol the thing i ate.
bread. lol.
mom, dad, tam, mike! woohoo!
mom, dad, me, mike.
the cake!
me, mike, mom, dad, tam. ok i look horrible. ><
mom and dad with the cake.
mom blowing the cake.
ok last pic. mom eating the cake. haha.
Hmm okok. that's all! (:
Patrick
Saturday, December 22, 2007
rico concert
Yay! I feel so pro today! I read 100 pages of hong lou meng! woohoo! (:
Hmm... not sure why.. but i'm still suffering from post-concert syndromes... still miss everything that we had for concert. maybe cuz i keep wondering whether we will have such opportunities ever again! haix.
Hmm uploaded the video that my bro took. haha. it's jia jia le, huan xin and first 2 movements of ji liu. And my bro mostly zoomed in on me... haha. hope u guys don't mind... enjoy the music!
oh and this is the 298th post!
ChangChun post shall be coming soon!
Hmm... not sure why.. but i'm still suffering from post-concert syndromes... still miss everything that we had for concert. maybe cuz i keep wondering whether we will have such opportunities ever again! haix.
Hmm uploaded the video that my bro took. haha. it's jia jia le, huan xin and first 2 movements of ji liu. And my bro mostly zoomed in on me... haha. hope u guys don't mind... enjoy the music!
oh and this is the 298th post!
ChangChun post shall be coming soon!
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
The end of 2007
hi people!
Didn't really want to post so quickly cuz I wanted the RICO concert reflections to be the top most post for a longer time... But well, since Kenneth is my really really really good friend, I shall be nice and do a small post of it...
Kenneth's b'dae was... nice!
But the day didn't start with kenneth's b'dae... it started with the finding of the xiao luo in rjco room... After some tracking down and calling, I realise finally that it had already been returned... mm so no problems there!
Well, so onto Kenneth's b'dae...
Presents we gave!: A pooh bear (grp present!), 2 keychains (1 from dennis and me, 1 from junsheng), a wrapped present (from edward), a card (from KC but since he's so nice he let everyone write on it too!)
Hmm... the birthday party was nice and simple... First up was Golden Compass... An average movie but since Kenneth treated us, I'm not complaining... (: And coincidentally, MR. NGOH (perc teacher) was sitting 1 row in front of me! haha... So after the movie, it was back to Kenneth's house where we played games from card games to polar bear... haha.. polar bear's really fun! Of course, dinner (pizzas~! yay!) and cakes were also served...
Well... that was the not-so-important part...
Kenneth Yong!:
Kenneth is a very very very very nice guy who's rather tall, but still not as tall as me! He's also very funny but at times irritating with his lame jokes (forks! RARH!)... haha... and of course! he's the loudspeaker of the GANG of 6 PROS... Anyway, to make it short and sweet, Kenneth's a nice guy who loves talking! Many thanks to you for being such a great friend, partnering me for so many projects even though I must have been a slacker for most of the work... It's been great having you in 3B class and even greater having you as a close friend! wishing you a really really cool 15th year ahead! Can't wait to be in school with you and the rest again! (:
Hm so that was Kenneth's b'dae party! Wishing you a great year ahead!
then, on tue, it was class party!
yup.. BBQ time!
Class party was ok. It was a rather good one in fact. We had lots of fun bbqing... We had lots of fun playing cards and of course we had fun playing the most in thing in 3B now, lame games! ><
Shu Kiat and Ben Yong! The AMAZING cooks who made delicious chicken wings and satays for all of us! YAY!
Eugene Gan, Barry, Junsheng, Kenneth Yong and Jerald Han in Shu Kiat's empty condo! haha. thanks to shu kiat for making such great arrangements for the class!
Erdong, Vincnt, Shu Jian, Jinghui and the imba Leonard bbqing!
delicious! (:
some really cool marshmallows! lol. looks more like rocks to me! ><
Junsheng, Kenneth, me and Jerald! haha. 4/6 of the Go6P grp! YAY! lol...
Eugene and Jinghui ready for a fight in the pool! haha..
random photo! haha. I FEEL TALL! (:
Final one! Group photo of everyone who turned up for BBQ! Yeah! Everyone looks great here! haha. had to put this one cuz it was the only one with Mrs. Low. She's been a good form teacher and although there were times in which we thought that we would be better off without her teaching us, we do realise in the end that there's always a person behind a bonded class, someone who causes a class to be so united like us and someone who really helped shaped our character, and Mrs. Low is this person. Mrs. Low, you've been a great teacher and a great mentor for all of us! 3B will never forget you! You'll always be remembered as the person who brought 3B'07 to where we are today! YEAH!
and so ends yet another year in RI! 3B'07 has been the most united class I've ever been in and this can be shown in all the activities we do, from interclass soccer to simple stuff like during classes or recess. We've shown the spirit and I firmly believe that 3B'07, though not as mugger as 3C, nor as sporty as most of the other sec3 classes, is the best class in the sec 3 cohort! i hope it will continue to be so in the year to come! Can't wait to see you guys in school! (:
all right, so after that it was.. FRIDAY! Hmm...
Friday was REGISTRATION DAY for RI so it was he first major thing for the new batch of PSLs. It was a rather good one too! We got loads of praises from parents to teachers and it was fun doing ushering at the gate with kenneth! haha. we experienced all kinds of parents, from those who didn't look at us when we were ushering them to those who even waved to us from their car! haha. but most of them were the latter so it was quite nice! then there was he talk with these two parents which was rather fun cuz it was a perfect opportunity for advertising CO and chess! haha... OOPS! anyway, a cat died along the road of the side gate. it was rather horrible and saddening... haix.
But anyway, PSL activities have been getting hectic and it's going to be an even more busy year next year with SL saikang jobs and vice-chair more saikang jobs. but i'm sure it will be rewarding just like this year. Sec 3 has been my best school year so far and this year has been one that's near perfect! Another recap of all the BIG events this year!
1. OBS
2. Math RA
3. 3B'07 with THE spirit! + Interclass soccer!
4. Go6P! yeah!
5. IBNexperience! Astar!
6. RE and the vip sharing sessions!
7. Taiwan Dwen-An Trip!~ yay~!
8. Results! 3.87!
9. Chess club and qiuping!
10. CHINESE ORCHESTRA and SPRING OF LIFE! <3!
11. OIP! CHangCHun~ the rocking team!
12. the beginning of a new journey in PSL!
yup. it's been a great and happening year! of course it's all down to the school, the teachers, my friends and of course my family who've given me so many wonderful opportunities to experience such a wide variety of stuff! I really hope that next year would be just as good, if not even more wonderful!
Patrick
Didn't really want to post so quickly cuz I wanted the RICO concert reflections to be the top most post for a longer time... But well, since Kenneth is my really really really good friend, I shall be nice and do a small post of it...
Kenneth's b'dae was... nice!
But the day didn't start with kenneth's b'dae... it started with the finding of the xiao luo in rjco room... After some tracking down and calling, I realise finally that it had already been returned... mm so no problems there!
Well, so onto Kenneth's b'dae...
Presents we gave!: A pooh bear (grp present!), 2 keychains (1 from dennis and me, 1 from junsheng), a wrapped present (from edward), a card (from KC but since he's so nice he let everyone write on it too!)
Hmm... the birthday party was nice and simple... First up was Golden Compass... An average movie but since Kenneth treated us, I'm not complaining... (: And coincidentally, MR. NGOH (perc teacher) was sitting 1 row in front of me! haha... So after the movie, it was back to Kenneth's house where we played games from card games to polar bear... haha.. polar bear's really fun! Of course, dinner (pizzas~! yay!) and cakes were also served...
Well... that was the not-so-important part...
Kenneth Yong!:
Kenneth is a very very very very nice guy who's rather tall, but still not as tall as me! He's also very funny but at times irritating with his lame jokes (forks! RARH!)... haha... and of course! he's the loudspeaker of the GANG of 6 PROS... Anyway, to make it short and sweet, Kenneth's a nice guy who loves talking! Many thanks to you for being such a great friend, partnering me for so many projects even though I must have been a slacker for most of the work... It's been great having you in 3B class and even greater having you as a close friend! wishing you a really really cool 15th year ahead! Can't wait to be in school with you and the rest again! (:
Hm so that was Kenneth's b'dae party! Wishing you a great year ahead!
then, on tue, it was class party!
yup.. BBQ time!
Class party was ok. It was a rather good one in fact. We had lots of fun bbqing... We had lots of fun playing cards and of course we had fun playing the most in thing in 3B now, lame games! ><
Shu Kiat and Ben Yong! The AMAZING cooks who made delicious chicken wings and satays for all of us! YAY!
Eugene Gan, Barry, Junsheng, Kenneth Yong and Jerald Han in Shu Kiat's empty condo! haha. thanks to shu kiat for making such great arrangements for the class!
Erdong, Vincnt, Shu Jian, Jinghui and the imba Leonard bbqing!
delicious! (:
some really cool marshmallows! lol. looks more like rocks to me! ><
Junsheng, Kenneth, me and Jerald! haha. 4/6 of the Go6P grp! YAY! lol...
Eugene and Jinghui ready for a fight in the pool! haha..
random photo! haha. I FEEL TALL! (:
Final one! Group photo of everyone who turned up for BBQ! Yeah! Everyone looks great here! haha. had to put this one cuz it was the only one with Mrs. Low. She's been a good form teacher and although there were times in which we thought that we would be better off without her teaching us, we do realise in the end that there's always a person behind a bonded class, someone who causes a class to be so united like us and someone who really helped shaped our character, and Mrs. Low is this person. Mrs. Low, you've been a great teacher and a great mentor for all of us! 3B will never forget you! You'll always be remembered as the person who brought 3B'07 to where we are today! YEAH!
and so ends yet another year in RI! 3B'07 has been the most united class I've ever been in and this can be shown in all the activities we do, from interclass soccer to simple stuff like during classes or recess. We've shown the spirit and I firmly believe that 3B'07, though not as mugger as 3C, nor as sporty as most of the other sec3 classes, is the best class in the sec 3 cohort! i hope it will continue to be so in the year to come! Can't wait to see you guys in school! (:
all right, so after that it was.. FRIDAY! Hmm...
Friday was REGISTRATION DAY for RI so it was he first major thing for the new batch of PSLs. It was a rather good one too! We got loads of praises from parents to teachers and it was fun doing ushering at the gate with kenneth! haha. we experienced all kinds of parents, from those who didn't look at us when we were ushering them to those who even waved to us from their car! haha. but most of them were the latter so it was quite nice! then there was he talk with these two parents which was rather fun cuz it was a perfect opportunity for advertising CO and chess! haha... OOPS! anyway, a cat died along the road of the side gate. it was rather horrible and saddening... haix.
But anyway, PSL activities have been getting hectic and it's going to be an even more busy year next year with SL saikang jobs and vice-chair more saikang jobs. but i'm sure it will be rewarding just like this year. Sec 3 has been my best school year so far and this year has been one that's near perfect! Another recap of all the BIG events this year!
1. OBS
2. Math RA
3. 3B'07 with THE spirit! + Interclass soccer!
4. Go6P! yeah!
5. IBNexperience! Astar!
6. RE and the vip sharing sessions!
7. Taiwan Dwen-An Trip!~ yay~!
8. Results! 3.87!
9. Chess club and qiuping!
10. CHINESE ORCHESTRA and SPRING OF LIFE! <3!
11. OIP! CHangCHun~ the rocking team!
12. the beginning of a new journey in PSL!
yup. it's been a great and happening year! of course it's all down to the school, the teachers, my friends and of course my family who've given me so many wonderful opportunities to experience such a wide variety of stuff! I really hope that next year would be just as good, if not even more wonderful!
Patrick
Saturday, December 15, 2007
RICO concert '07
YAY! oh my gosh! we've done it! After 4 months of hard work, 1 month of harder work and 1 day of hardest work, we've made it through. The rehearsals were great and fun, the concert was brilliant, and rico simply rocks. (:
This week has been a totally great week for me! Monday to Thursday was practice after practice but it was neither boring nor tiring. We played cards at any chance we got, we practiced our pieces and tried to perfect them... It was fun! We had fun crashing the cymbals, we had fun polishing the cymbals, we had fun playing lame games (火车火车... ><)... We had great fun seeing BL and WY suanning each other, we entertained ourselves with the 感怀 and the 3 random notes... We had fun suanning those taking the ACCA exams... (kweky:"临时抱佛脚是没用的...")... It was also great to have rico alumni back with us. Bing Liang, Boyi, Ackerley, Ziming, Zongjin, BenAng, Ming Quan, Jason... It was just wonderful. not to mention all those fun times we had eating dinner together, stepping on Jason's shoe, listening to Boyi and his motivational speeches... haha...
It has been a long time since I've been so committed to RICO. I would never have thought of going around with Eugene and Gilbert and go into all the shops in Bras Basah Complex, even some in fu lu shou, chinatown point and random shops to look for sponsors for our concert... I would never have thought that I would actually bother writing down an instrument list and doing stage plan... I would never have thought that I would take a piano part for the concert... But with the support of all these great CO friends, I achieved what I thought I would never have achieved. Renyan may not be here, but his email really got me started. Cytam may have been away, but his speeches to the entire orchestra has been great. And of course, Gilbert and Eugene and all the others...
It's been a totally great experience... the card games we played after practices with Ackerley, Gillian, Fiona, Esther and BL... The fun we had with the synthesizer and how erhu sounds so horrid on it... I'm really very thankful for all these... Somehow, i feel that now that CO has gone back to the original RICO, i will never ever be able to do all these again. How i wish that we were all in the same batch, in the same orchestra, playing music together every week... Hmm... I guess it's impossible. But for these few weeks and especially the last few days, practices and post-practices have been immensely fun. Who can forget the times when BL scolds WY for ending a roll on the timp late? Who can forget the laughs we all had when BL screwed up his solo or when i put a piece of tissue on the snare instead of a pack of tissue? all these will stay as precious memories of my days in RICO, just like how last year's concert did. How I wish we could do this all over again. How I wish concert was a little later and we were still having practices. How I wish I could still be going around looking for sponsors with Eugene and Gilbert.
Concert day itself was fantastic. Rehearsals were entertaining as we were entertained once again by 感怀 and the 3 famous notes that I'll never forget. matinee concert was ok as we did average. There were screw-ups here and there but we all did well. Lionel even said that the matinee concert was really good! the rest times were all used to take photos, talk cock or play cards. We took every single minute that we had and made it count. It was after all the last day that this unique orchestra made up of people from various orchestras would be performing together.
The evening concert was even better. We rocked the concert hall with all our pieces. for once, our 莱佛士铜像前的遐思 sounded really good. for once, percussion played with such enthusiasm and confidence that has been so lacking since thomas's batch left. for once, the entire orchestra really worked hard together for our late conductor. 青年进行曲 was great as percussion did really well and I'm sure all the other sections did too. I was so glad I didn't screw up my first two notes. The triplets, which were changed from the semiquavers during concert day rehearsal was also really well done by me and i'm sure that's the case for Janice too! (: Everything sounded great and we were on a good start! 家家乐 was also a great job by everyone and it sounded really good. The 木鱼 sounded great and so did the perc solo parts. 划船舞曲 was also good as we improved a lot from the matinee concert. Qi Hang did a great job on the tambourine! (: 欢欣 was great too. It sounded much more lively as compared to the matinee concert. I myself was impressed with our performance. The xylophone played by BL sounded great as usual and I thought my bongo was rather well done. A good job to Wen Qiang as well for his lead in this song. And 莱佛士铜像前的遐思 was really great. The crash cymbal played by Amelia was great and much better than the matinee concert when one of the crashes made a "pop" sound. BL's solo sounded great and so did Esther's. Wenyun did a great job on the timp solos and most of all Ziming and Kweky on the tambourine were fantastic. haha. I'm really impressed how Ziming manges to prac so many pieces that he's playing in only 3 practices of which none were extensive ones. Of course, I was happy with myself for being able to play the middle part correct for once. Although not really perfected, it sounded great. 心贤 was touching according to many cuz I wasn't performing so it must have been a great performance too! 小城故事 and 月亮代表我的心 sounded all right for a sec 1 piece and the singing added variety to our concert, as Ackerley mentioned. 感怀 was great as well! The 3 notes which always sounded awkward sounded all right! And of course the last piece, 激流, was the best. 问天 was great. Ziming and Wenyun were great at the starting parts with their continuous rolling. BL's solo was great. Kweky's vibe was also great! 征海 was fantastic and percussion, after the sectionals under BL, did wonderfully well. Janice and Ziming managed to play through without any major screw ups although this must only have been their first few times playing this song. On my part, I think I did well with the suspended cymbals. The crash went really well as well. Gillian's 木鱼 sounded really good too! Wenyun's timp was once again good and it really seems like BL made a right decision in setting such high standards for us during that sectionals. 游龙戏曲 was great too. No screw-ups anywhere by anyone. 传灯 was the best as we managed to evoke the emotions and almost made BL cry while playing the piece. Kweky's glock sounded really great. Janice and Ziming covered for each other's mistakes for the snare part and so it sounded all right. Wenyun's timp on the 2nd last bar was totally fantastic and we all ended it on a high note. And then, just as we thought that it was time to prepare for 家家乐 as our encore, Mr. Lim tells me to tell everyone that the encore shall be changed to 青年进行曲 while walking off stage after 激流. I was really surprised why he only told me then because I wasn't exactly prepared to shout it out to everyone to tell them what was the encore piece. But later I realized why he did it and was truly amazed by his brilliance. He knew that I had to go back to the percussion section and I was on the right side of the stage (the cello/bass side). So, while I was walking back, I told a few people (like only 1 person from each section), that the encore's changed to 青年进行曲. and such was the brilliance of Mr. Lim as we changed the piece immediately without much movement or disturbance to the going-ons of the concert. So we began the piece and that must have been the best piece I've ever played on stage. Even better than last year's matsuri. I really admire how Mr. Lim can turn an encore which was going to be so boring because it was a repeat of the first piece in to such a nice piece. It was like a totally different song. There was audience involvement. Clapping sounds sounded like roars through the concert hall... And what makes me admire Mr. Lim even more is his ability to stop and start audience involvement so brilliantly. Suddenly, as we entered part E of the song, which was the soft part of the march piece, the roaring sounds of the clapping suddenly stopped. Looking up, I saw Mr. Lim signalling the audience to keep quiet. Then, in part F, the audience started clapping loudly once again and I saw Mr. Lim conducting the audience. Woah. It was totally cool. Then, during the last part of the song when there was a rit. and a change in speed, he signals to the audience to stop once again. And at the 2nd last bar, which was supposed to just be a rest bar with no rit. or anything signalling the change of speed, he stops there and silence fills the air in the concert hall. We wait in suspense for a few more seconds before he finally conducts the last bar and we end on a really high note. It was a brilliant performance by the orchestra, but it was an even more fantastic one by Mr. Lim. No wonder he's such a famous conductor...
And so it was it. The concert ended, the audience's applause was simply deafening. There were shouts of "Patrick" and I really thank my classmates and my brother for supporting me so much. I've not done much for them. And at the end of the day, I think that all of us, from RICO, to RICO alumni, to the RGCO and RJCO people, all the way to the conductor, the teachers, the instructors, the audience... All of us have made this concert such a great success. In my opinion, no concert that I've ever gone for has been more meaningful than this one. We may not be as professional as SCO or CCO or 星海. We may not be the best musical group in RI, and nor do we have the most musically pro people in RICO. But there's a reason why RICO remains to be one of the best when it comes to concerts. RIGE was really fantastic with their concert and I must say their innovation that won them such a great concert. RIMB has a really great conductor and a bonded band, and it was this that made their concert a success. RISE and RV have really pro people in their CCAs and their conductors set really high standards for them and it is this that make their concerts a success. We may not have all this. But I guess it's once again the amount we commit to our concert, the believe in ourselves that we can make it a success and ultimately the sense of pride of this CCA which helped us to make last year's concert and this year's concert a success. Practices from 9am to 3pm were carried out. People stayed back after 3 to practice although it wasn't necessary and was actually against the rules because there were exams from 3-6 at RJC. People went for dinner together to increase our understanding of each other. People go around thick-skinned together to sell tickets and find sponsors. People spend their time and efforts making a video and concert booklet. I guess it's all these and many more which make us stand as one of the musical groups in RI. It is also this that makes us unique as compare to all the other chinese orchestras. I hope this tradition will continue. I hope that a few more Ackerleys, Boyis, Bing Liangs, Ming Quans come to RICO because it is the spirit that these people have that really make RICO successful.
Concert has ended. No more RICO alumni, no more RGCO or RJCO people to help us. It's really up to us now to get ourselves back to where we should be. I really hope that the percussion section of RICO will become the section that we had during this concert...
And so ends yet another chapter of my RICO life. It's my last year and it's coming to an end. I'm not sure whether I'll change my opinions later on, but for now, it seems like me missing out on RV auditions was a good choice. CO's been such a good experience for me, from sec 1 syf to sec 2 voices of the dragon concert all the way to the changing of conductors, the passing away of our former conductor and our most recent Spring of life concert. Not to mention all the small performances along the way we made in hospitals and the experiences I had with various seniors like Zi Ming, Bing Liang all the way to the not-so-likable Darren and Victor. I am thankful that all these have happened because it's really benefited me.
Lastly, I would like to thank this whole lot of people for making this concert such a great success:
Renyan:
You're indisputably the right chairman for rico and I can see how committed you are to this orchestra, giving your all even when you knew from such an early stage that you would never benefit from it.
Cytam:
Your leadership was a bright torch for the tanbo section and all the rest of us as you led the way especially towards the end of our journey.
Jeremy:
You may not be the best player around, but don't worry, cuz i'm not too! But you've shown your passion for this orchestra and together with the other 2 chairmans, you've led the way.
Ms. Lim and Mr. Chong:
It's hard to hold a concert esp. when it comes to SCH, where lots of money problems (esp. with 2 concerts) come in the way. It's been a hard time for you and i hope i haven't made your jobs harder.
Mr. Lim:
Your conducting has inspired me and I'm really thankful that I can be taught by 2 of the best conductors (in my opinion) in Singapore. You're nice but commanding at the same time and I admire you for your ability to think on the spot and execute it without hesitation.
Mr. Ngoh:
Once again, I'm really thankful to be taught by 2 of the best percussion teachers (in my opinion (once again)) in Singapore. Your jokes always makes mundane practices much more lively and I must say I've learnt loads from you.
Gilbert and Eugene:
Thank you for following me to get sponsors. Without you two, I would never have done it. We all went, thick-skinned, to ask for sponsors and exceeded expectations with the $1450 we made from sponsorship. It's not an easy task and I thank you all for that. All the travelling on MRT, calling of each other, eating at random coffee shops... It was really nice to be going around doing such random things with 2 nice friends! Of course, I would also like to thank all the sponsors for sponsoring our concert! (:
Bing Liang:
You've proved time and again that your passion for the orchestra is undying. You've helped us not once, but twice now and the high standards you placed upon us together with your own brilliant perc skills have benefited all of us. Thank you for all the time spent practicing with noobs like me and thank you for all the efforts you spent together with noob sectional leaders like me to create song lists, instrument lists, stage plans... Thank you for helping me with the moving of instruments and another big thank you for being so pro during the concert day itself. You've been a great addition to last year and this year's concert and you'll be dearly missed when you go for army! I really wonder whether you can make it for the august 31st concert next year... haha. but for now, good luck in the future and have fun in army! (:
Ackerley, Gillian, Fiona, Esther:
Thanks for all the fun you added into the mundane practices with all the card games we played. I hope this concert wasn't a waste of time for all of you. Many thanks to Fiona and Esther for being such nice seniors (don't worry, i don't mind shuffling poker cards! (:)... And to Gillian, you've been a great addition to the concert and you definitely look great playing perc instruments, whether it's the timp or the concert bass or the 木鱼。And you sleep very easily too! haha. First time I'm seeing someone who can sleep in such a noisy practice room. I hope you have had fun for the concert like I had, laughing at Wenyun and BL or Wenyun and Amelia for things I'm sure you'll know of... And finally to Ackerley, I've never known you too well but I've always been sure you're a nice person! You've been really nice to me whether it's during card games or during concert hours or even on the lorry back to RJC. Wishing all of you the best of luck in the future and I definitely hope that we can meet some time in the future again.
Zi Ming:
it's the first time i've played side by side with you and it's been a great experience. I've always heard from my seniors that you're pro and indeed you are! And not only are you pro, you're a very nice person too! Thank you for all the motivation you gave me! Without them, I would never have pulled off all my snare rolls. Wishing you all the best in the future too. Hope we can perform together some time again.
Janice:
Thanks for taking time off your busy schedule to come down and helps us out. I'm still unsure whether your job is to count fish, kill fish or to count people but whatever the case, thanks for doubling up all the snare parts. It took me 5 months to learn them and it took you 5 or even less practices. So you've done a great job! Thanks for covering all my screw-ups too. mm... hope to work with you again if possible for syf 2009!
Kweky:
Hmm... so much to say, haha... dunno where to start from. I guess I must say that you're one of the best percussionists i have seen so far, someone in the ranks of Ziming and Bing Liang... You manage to sight read vibe and glock scores that I would never be able to play even if I get the scores for a week. Together with Janice, I must say that you all make one of the best pairs of seniors as can be seen from your juniors whom I must say may be a little noisy at times but are really nice. Lastly, you play the piano and sing really well too! I was really sad that the piano wasn't beside the glock for chuan deng... Hope to work with you too for syf 2009!
Amelia:
You're one of the bravest girls I've seen so far! haha... You took up so many crash parts that even I, Thomas, Yin Kwan and many others fear to take up. Not to say the many people who wouldn't even dare to play a note on the crash. It's been a great time hearing you and wenyun talk crap at the table outside rjco room and an even greater time working with you on the many pieces that we played and of course the stage plan. Hope you have a good time being rgdaji sl!
Wenyun:
haha! you're the person who talks the most! you've brought much joy and laughter to the section during lunch, xiaozu and dazu! Not to mention how pro you are when you play the timp. I've only played the timp for syf 2007 set piece which was simple cuz there was no tuning required. You and Amelia make a really funny pair and adding Xue Ling into the picture makes it even more humorous. And who can forget the fun we all had when you argued with Bing Liang over random things like timp rolls or cymbal polishing. Be nice to your brother k? He's a nice person! Hmm... hope you have a great time in rgdaji too!
Xue Ling:
Hey! haha. For a sec 1 who's rather new to the co scene, you've done a great job for the concert for the few practices that you have had. But most of all, your laughter brings about much joy to the section and it seems like you're the best person to look for once we finish our meal! (: haha. enjoy chinese orchestra because it certainly rocks, especially when you're in perc and have seniors like Amelia and Wenyun!
BOYi:
haha. thanks for all the time you spent with me after practices to talk to me. It's been truly enjoyable. Although I'm still not convinced that I should take bio in jc, I'm quite sure I'll take more notice of composers in the future! You're really one of the nicest persons I've ever seen and one of the most motivational as well!
Kwuan Boon:
You must be the coolest senior I've ever seen! Your jokes are soooooo humorous and you yourself are so humorous! The dinner that we had with all the others was such a nice experience!
Jason:
You've been really fun to be with! haha. all the stepping of shoes from the CCO concert to rehearsals to concert day itself to you trying to act as me (although failing terribly xD) on the streets of rj... It was really enjoyable! You're a very nice person to be with and although 我们有仇, it's been a very fun past few weeks that we've spent together! I never feel bored when I'm with you! At least I can step on some shoes! YAY!
Yee Siang and Angus:
You're a cool and very nice pair! How I wish we could all be in the same section. Hmm... Thanks for all the jokes that we had together. Thanks to Yee Siang especially for chatting with me during boring dazu practices especially during gan huai. You're one of the pro-est people I've seen whether it's in singing, guzheng, erhu, japanese, korean, singing, ticket sales... Hope to get to know you even more next time!
Jun Sean and Shaun:
Thanks for helping me out with all the perc logistics work. It must have been hard on you guys cuz perc has so many instruments and is so confusing but you guys have done a fantastic job!
Qi Hang:
It must have been hard for you. joining COerhu from RISE, you suddenly find yourself stuck with the not-so-fantastic RICOperc section. I hope you've had an enjoyable time here and i must say you've done a brilliant job. In fact, your first rehearsal was the rehearsal on the concert day itself. You've exceeded the expectations of many and you've just become the quickest performer after joining RICO! Hope you carry on to enjoy this CCA and I apologise for all the problems I may have given you.
Bi Ran and Edmund:
You two certainly seem like a pair to me! You all always stay back after practices right till the security guard comes to lock the door and this has been the case ever since I worked with you two for the blazer problem last year and probably even earlier. Hope you all have a nice time in JC and I'll hope to work with you guys again for SYF 2009!
Cheng Hang, Chek Hoe, Li Wei, Zhao Lin, Yi Zuo:
You all had the most mundane of jobs as stage helpers and had the most unfortunate of events as you got your cards confiscated and had to suffer even more scolding after some stepping of flowers occurred... But I must say that you all have done a great job! Hope that you all will continue working hard for the orchestra!
Jie Min:
You're the most humorous concert master I've ever seen on stage and I always laugh when you stand up to tune the orchestra. You're talented in music, whether it is in erhu or gaohu or drum set... haha. and i'll never forget how you describe yourself!
All the others:
From HongBo, Yiheng, Sng Zheng, Shi Heng, to Zongjin, Ben Ang, Joewie, Chang Cheng and all the others that I have yet to mention, you all have made this concert a great success. I really want to thank the whole orchestra for the efforts that we have put in! Together, we've made this concert such a great one and together, we've made Mr. Yeo proud! I must say that we have all done a great job!
3B friends (Keng Chee, Eugene, Huiyao, KENNETH YONG, Junsheng, Dennis Chew), Dewei, Emma, Zhuoyang, Wanen, Xinyi, Qiu Rong:
THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT! haha. Special thanks especially goes out to the 3B team for their spirit that they have shown! I really thank you all for that! You all made the concert an even better one!
and most importantly...
DAD AND MOM AND MIKE:
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR COMING DOWN! YAY! (: You all definitely made the concert a much more meaningful one!
And so it comes to an end. The Spring of Life. RICO concert '07. It rocked SCH on 14th dec 2007 and left us and many others with happy memories of our late conductor. I've really benefited lots from it and certainly had much fun practicing and performing. And I guess it all comes back once again. All good things come to an end but that doesn't mean that there aren't any more good things. There's much to look forward to and I'm sure that with more enthusiasm and commitment, we will be able to scale even greater heights in the times to come. But I'm more than certain that the Spring of Life '07 will always be one of the best memories of my CO life.
Patrick
Post-concert syndromes... ):
This week has been a totally great week for me! Monday to Thursday was practice after practice but it was neither boring nor tiring. We played cards at any chance we got, we practiced our pieces and tried to perfect them... It was fun! We had fun crashing the cymbals, we had fun polishing the cymbals, we had fun playing lame games (火车火车... ><)... We had great fun seeing BL and WY suanning each other, we entertained ourselves with the 感怀 and the 3 random notes... We had fun suanning those taking the ACCA exams... (kweky:"临时抱佛脚是没用的...")... It was also great to have rico alumni back with us. Bing Liang, Boyi, Ackerley, Ziming, Zongjin, BenAng, Ming Quan, Jason... It was just wonderful. not to mention all those fun times we had eating dinner together, stepping on Jason's shoe, listening to Boyi and his motivational speeches... haha...
It has been a long time since I've been so committed to RICO. I would never have thought of going around with Eugene and Gilbert and go into all the shops in Bras Basah Complex, even some in fu lu shou, chinatown point and random shops to look for sponsors for our concert... I would never have thought that I would actually bother writing down an instrument list and doing stage plan... I would never have thought that I would take a piano part for the concert... But with the support of all these great CO friends, I achieved what I thought I would never have achieved. Renyan may not be here, but his email really got me started. Cytam may have been away, but his speeches to the entire orchestra has been great. And of course, Gilbert and Eugene and all the others...
It's been a totally great experience... the card games we played after practices with Ackerley, Gillian, Fiona, Esther and BL... The fun we had with the synthesizer and how erhu sounds so horrid on it... I'm really very thankful for all these... Somehow, i feel that now that CO has gone back to the original RICO, i will never ever be able to do all these again. How i wish that we were all in the same batch, in the same orchestra, playing music together every week... Hmm... I guess it's impossible. But for these few weeks and especially the last few days, practices and post-practices have been immensely fun. Who can forget the times when BL scolds WY for ending a roll on the timp late? Who can forget the laughs we all had when BL screwed up his solo or when i put a piece of tissue on the snare instead of a pack of tissue? all these will stay as precious memories of my days in RICO, just like how last year's concert did. How I wish we could do this all over again. How I wish concert was a little later and we were still having practices. How I wish I could still be going around looking for sponsors with Eugene and Gilbert.
Concert day itself was fantastic. Rehearsals were entertaining as we were entertained once again by 感怀 and the 3 famous notes that I'll never forget. matinee concert was ok as we did average. There were screw-ups here and there but we all did well. Lionel even said that the matinee concert was really good! the rest times were all used to take photos, talk cock or play cards. We took every single minute that we had and made it count. It was after all the last day that this unique orchestra made up of people from various orchestras would be performing together.
The evening concert was even better. We rocked the concert hall with all our pieces. for once, our 莱佛士铜像前的遐思 sounded really good. for once, percussion played with such enthusiasm and confidence that has been so lacking since thomas's batch left. for once, the entire orchestra really worked hard together for our late conductor. 青年进行曲 was great as percussion did really well and I'm sure all the other sections did too. I was so glad I didn't screw up my first two notes. The triplets, which were changed from the semiquavers during concert day rehearsal was also really well done by me and i'm sure that's the case for Janice too! (: Everything sounded great and we were on a good start! 家家乐 was also a great job by everyone and it sounded really good. The 木鱼 sounded great and so did the perc solo parts. 划船舞曲 was also good as we improved a lot from the matinee concert. Qi Hang did a great job on the tambourine! (: 欢欣 was great too. It sounded much more lively as compared to the matinee concert. I myself was impressed with our performance. The xylophone played by BL sounded great as usual and I thought my bongo was rather well done. A good job to Wen Qiang as well for his lead in this song. And 莱佛士铜像前的遐思 was really great. The crash cymbal played by Amelia was great and much better than the matinee concert when one of the crashes made a "pop" sound. BL's solo sounded great and so did Esther's. Wenyun did a great job on the timp solos and most of all Ziming and Kweky on the tambourine were fantastic. haha. I'm really impressed how Ziming manges to prac so many pieces that he's playing in only 3 practices of which none were extensive ones. Of course, I was happy with myself for being able to play the middle part correct for once. Although not really perfected, it sounded great. 心贤 was touching according to many cuz I wasn't performing so it must have been a great performance too! 小城故事 and 月亮代表我的心 sounded all right for a sec 1 piece and the singing added variety to our concert, as Ackerley mentioned. 感怀 was great as well! The 3 notes which always sounded awkward sounded all right! And of course the last piece, 激流, was the best. 问天 was great. Ziming and Wenyun were great at the starting parts with their continuous rolling. BL's solo was great. Kweky's vibe was also great! 征海 was fantastic and percussion, after the sectionals under BL, did wonderfully well. Janice and Ziming managed to play through without any major screw ups although this must only have been their first few times playing this song. On my part, I think I did well with the suspended cymbals. The crash went really well as well. Gillian's 木鱼 sounded really good too! Wenyun's timp was once again good and it really seems like BL made a right decision in setting such high standards for us during that sectionals. 游龙戏曲 was great too. No screw-ups anywhere by anyone. 传灯 was the best as we managed to evoke the emotions and almost made BL cry while playing the piece. Kweky's glock sounded really great. Janice and Ziming covered for each other's mistakes for the snare part and so it sounded all right. Wenyun's timp on the 2nd last bar was totally fantastic and we all ended it on a high note. And then, just as we thought that it was time to prepare for 家家乐 as our encore, Mr. Lim tells me to tell everyone that the encore shall be changed to 青年进行曲 while walking off stage after 激流. I was really surprised why he only told me then because I wasn't exactly prepared to shout it out to everyone to tell them what was the encore piece. But later I realized why he did it and was truly amazed by his brilliance. He knew that I had to go back to the percussion section and I was on the right side of the stage (the cello/bass side). So, while I was walking back, I told a few people (like only 1 person from each section), that the encore's changed to 青年进行曲. and such was the brilliance of Mr. Lim as we changed the piece immediately without much movement or disturbance to the going-ons of the concert. So we began the piece and that must have been the best piece I've ever played on stage. Even better than last year's matsuri. I really admire how Mr. Lim can turn an encore which was going to be so boring because it was a repeat of the first piece in to such a nice piece. It was like a totally different song. There was audience involvement. Clapping sounds sounded like roars through the concert hall... And what makes me admire Mr. Lim even more is his ability to stop and start audience involvement so brilliantly. Suddenly, as we entered part E of the song, which was the soft part of the march piece, the roaring sounds of the clapping suddenly stopped. Looking up, I saw Mr. Lim signalling the audience to keep quiet. Then, in part F, the audience started clapping loudly once again and I saw Mr. Lim conducting the audience. Woah. It was totally cool. Then, during the last part of the song when there was a rit. and a change in speed, he signals to the audience to stop once again. And at the 2nd last bar, which was supposed to just be a rest bar with no rit. or anything signalling the change of speed, he stops there and silence fills the air in the concert hall. We wait in suspense for a few more seconds before he finally conducts the last bar and we end on a really high note. It was a brilliant performance by the orchestra, but it was an even more fantastic one by Mr. Lim. No wonder he's such a famous conductor...
And so it was it. The concert ended, the audience's applause was simply deafening. There were shouts of "Patrick" and I really thank my classmates and my brother for supporting me so much. I've not done much for them. And at the end of the day, I think that all of us, from RICO, to RICO alumni, to the RGCO and RJCO people, all the way to the conductor, the teachers, the instructors, the audience... All of us have made this concert such a great success. In my opinion, no concert that I've ever gone for has been more meaningful than this one. We may not be as professional as SCO or CCO or 星海. We may not be the best musical group in RI, and nor do we have the most musically pro people in RICO. But there's a reason why RICO remains to be one of the best when it comes to concerts. RIGE was really fantastic with their concert and I must say their innovation that won them such a great concert. RIMB has a really great conductor and a bonded band, and it was this that made their concert a success. RISE and RV have really pro people in their CCAs and their conductors set really high standards for them and it is this that make their concerts a success. We may not have all this. But I guess it's once again the amount we commit to our concert, the believe in ourselves that we can make it a success and ultimately the sense of pride of this CCA which helped us to make last year's concert and this year's concert a success. Practices from 9am to 3pm were carried out. People stayed back after 3 to practice although it wasn't necessary and was actually against the rules because there were exams from 3-6 at RJC. People went for dinner together to increase our understanding of each other. People go around thick-skinned together to sell tickets and find sponsors. People spend their time and efforts making a video and concert booklet. I guess it's all these and many more which make us stand as one of the musical groups in RI. It is also this that makes us unique as compare to all the other chinese orchestras. I hope this tradition will continue. I hope that a few more Ackerleys, Boyis, Bing Liangs, Ming Quans come to RICO because it is the spirit that these people have that really make RICO successful.
Concert has ended. No more RICO alumni, no more RGCO or RJCO people to help us. It's really up to us now to get ourselves back to where we should be. I really hope that the percussion section of RICO will become the section that we had during this concert...
And so ends yet another chapter of my RICO life. It's my last year and it's coming to an end. I'm not sure whether I'll change my opinions later on, but for now, it seems like me missing out on RV auditions was a good choice. CO's been such a good experience for me, from sec 1 syf to sec 2 voices of the dragon concert all the way to the changing of conductors, the passing away of our former conductor and our most recent Spring of life concert. Not to mention all the small performances along the way we made in hospitals and the experiences I had with various seniors like Zi Ming, Bing Liang all the way to the not-so-likable Darren and Victor. I am thankful that all these have happened because it's really benefited me.
Lastly, I would like to thank this whole lot of people for making this concert such a great success:
Renyan:
You're indisputably the right chairman for rico and I can see how committed you are to this orchestra, giving your all even when you knew from such an early stage that you would never benefit from it.
Cytam:
Your leadership was a bright torch for the tanbo section and all the rest of us as you led the way especially towards the end of our journey.
Jeremy:
You may not be the best player around, but don't worry, cuz i'm not too! But you've shown your passion for this orchestra and together with the other 2 chairmans, you've led the way.
Ms. Lim and Mr. Chong:
It's hard to hold a concert esp. when it comes to SCH, where lots of money problems (esp. with 2 concerts) come in the way. It's been a hard time for you and i hope i haven't made your jobs harder.
Mr. Lim:
Your conducting has inspired me and I'm really thankful that I can be taught by 2 of the best conductors (in my opinion) in Singapore. You're nice but commanding at the same time and I admire you for your ability to think on the spot and execute it without hesitation.
Mr. Ngoh:
Once again, I'm really thankful to be taught by 2 of the best percussion teachers (in my opinion (once again)) in Singapore. Your jokes always makes mundane practices much more lively and I must say I've learnt loads from you.
Gilbert and Eugene:
Thank you for following me to get sponsors. Without you two, I would never have done it. We all went, thick-skinned, to ask for sponsors and exceeded expectations with the $1450 we made from sponsorship. It's not an easy task and I thank you all for that. All the travelling on MRT, calling of each other, eating at random coffee shops... It was really nice to be going around doing such random things with 2 nice friends! Of course, I would also like to thank all the sponsors for sponsoring our concert! (:
Bing Liang:
You've proved time and again that your passion for the orchestra is undying. You've helped us not once, but twice now and the high standards you placed upon us together with your own brilliant perc skills have benefited all of us. Thank you for all the time spent practicing with noobs like me and thank you for all the efforts you spent together with noob sectional leaders like me to create song lists, instrument lists, stage plans... Thank you for helping me with the moving of instruments and another big thank you for being so pro during the concert day itself. You've been a great addition to last year and this year's concert and you'll be dearly missed when you go for army! I really wonder whether you can make it for the august 31st concert next year... haha. but for now, good luck in the future and have fun in army! (:
Ackerley, Gillian, Fiona, Esther:
Thanks for all the fun you added into the mundane practices with all the card games we played. I hope this concert wasn't a waste of time for all of you. Many thanks to Fiona and Esther for being such nice seniors (don't worry, i don't mind shuffling poker cards! (:)... And to Gillian, you've been a great addition to the concert and you definitely look great playing perc instruments, whether it's the timp or the concert bass or the 木鱼。And you sleep very easily too! haha. First time I'm seeing someone who can sleep in such a noisy practice room. I hope you have had fun for the concert like I had, laughing at Wenyun and BL or Wenyun and Amelia for things I'm sure you'll know of... And finally to Ackerley, I've never known you too well but I've always been sure you're a nice person! You've been really nice to me whether it's during card games or during concert hours or even on the lorry back to RJC. Wishing all of you the best of luck in the future and I definitely hope that we can meet some time in the future again.
Zi Ming:
it's the first time i've played side by side with you and it's been a great experience. I've always heard from my seniors that you're pro and indeed you are! And not only are you pro, you're a very nice person too! Thank you for all the motivation you gave me! Without them, I would never have pulled off all my snare rolls. Wishing you all the best in the future too. Hope we can perform together some time again.
Janice:
Thanks for taking time off your busy schedule to come down and helps us out. I'm still unsure whether your job is to count fish, kill fish or to count people but whatever the case, thanks for doubling up all the snare parts. It took me 5 months to learn them and it took you 5 or even less practices. So you've done a great job! Thanks for covering all my screw-ups too. mm... hope to work with you again if possible for syf 2009!
Kweky:
Hmm... so much to say, haha... dunno where to start from. I guess I must say that you're one of the best percussionists i have seen so far, someone in the ranks of Ziming and Bing Liang... You manage to sight read vibe and glock scores that I would never be able to play even if I get the scores for a week. Together with Janice, I must say that you all make one of the best pairs of seniors as can be seen from your juniors whom I must say may be a little noisy at times but are really nice. Lastly, you play the piano and sing really well too! I was really sad that the piano wasn't beside the glock for chuan deng... Hope to work with you too for syf 2009!
Amelia:
You're one of the bravest girls I've seen so far! haha... You took up so many crash parts that even I, Thomas, Yin Kwan and many others fear to take up. Not to say the many people who wouldn't even dare to play a note on the crash. It's been a great time hearing you and wenyun talk crap at the table outside rjco room and an even greater time working with you on the many pieces that we played and of course the stage plan. Hope you have a good time being rgdaji sl!
Wenyun:
haha! you're the person who talks the most! you've brought much joy and laughter to the section during lunch, xiaozu and dazu! Not to mention how pro you are when you play the timp. I've only played the timp for syf 2007 set piece which was simple cuz there was no tuning required. You and Amelia make a really funny pair and adding Xue Ling into the picture makes it even more humorous. And who can forget the fun we all had when you argued with Bing Liang over random things like timp rolls or cymbal polishing. Be nice to your brother k? He's a nice person! Hmm... hope you have a great time in rgdaji too!
Xue Ling:
Hey! haha. For a sec 1 who's rather new to the co scene, you've done a great job for the concert for the few practices that you have had. But most of all, your laughter brings about much joy to the section and it seems like you're the best person to look for once we finish our meal! (: haha. enjoy chinese orchestra because it certainly rocks, especially when you're in perc and have seniors like Amelia and Wenyun!
BOYi:
haha. thanks for all the time you spent with me after practices to talk to me. It's been truly enjoyable. Although I'm still not convinced that I should take bio in jc, I'm quite sure I'll take more notice of composers in the future! You're really one of the nicest persons I've ever seen and one of the most motivational as well!
Kwuan Boon:
You must be the coolest senior I've ever seen! Your jokes are soooooo humorous and you yourself are so humorous! The dinner that we had with all the others was such a nice experience!
Jason:
You've been really fun to be with! haha. all the stepping of shoes from the CCO concert to rehearsals to concert day itself to you trying to act as me (although failing terribly xD) on the streets of rj... It was really enjoyable! You're a very nice person to be with and although 我们有仇, it's been a very fun past few weeks that we've spent together! I never feel bored when I'm with you! At least I can step on some shoes! YAY!
Yee Siang and Angus:
You're a cool and very nice pair! How I wish we could all be in the same section. Hmm... Thanks for all the jokes that we had together. Thanks to Yee Siang especially for chatting with me during boring dazu practices especially during gan huai. You're one of the pro-est people I've seen whether it's in singing, guzheng, erhu, japanese, korean, singing, ticket sales... Hope to get to know you even more next time!
Jun Sean and Shaun:
Thanks for helping me out with all the perc logistics work. It must have been hard on you guys cuz perc has so many instruments and is so confusing but you guys have done a fantastic job!
Qi Hang:
It must have been hard for you. joining COerhu from RISE, you suddenly find yourself stuck with the not-so-fantastic RICOperc section. I hope you've had an enjoyable time here and i must say you've done a brilliant job. In fact, your first rehearsal was the rehearsal on the concert day itself. You've exceeded the expectations of many and you've just become the quickest performer after joining RICO! Hope you carry on to enjoy this CCA and I apologise for all the problems I may have given you.
Bi Ran and Edmund:
You two certainly seem like a pair to me! You all always stay back after practices right till the security guard comes to lock the door and this has been the case ever since I worked with you two for the blazer problem last year and probably even earlier. Hope you all have a nice time in JC and I'll hope to work with you guys again for SYF 2009!
Cheng Hang, Chek Hoe, Li Wei, Zhao Lin, Yi Zuo:
You all had the most mundane of jobs as stage helpers and had the most unfortunate of events as you got your cards confiscated and had to suffer even more scolding after some stepping of flowers occurred... But I must say that you all have done a great job! Hope that you all will continue working hard for the orchestra!
Jie Min:
You're the most humorous concert master I've ever seen on stage and I always laugh when you stand up to tune the orchestra. You're talented in music, whether it is in erhu or gaohu or drum set... haha. and i'll never forget how you describe yourself!
All the others:
From HongBo, Yiheng, Sng Zheng, Shi Heng, to Zongjin, Ben Ang, Joewie, Chang Cheng and all the others that I have yet to mention, you all have made this concert a great success. I really want to thank the whole orchestra for the efforts that we have put in! Together, we've made this concert such a great one and together, we've made Mr. Yeo proud! I must say that we have all done a great job!
3B friends (Keng Chee, Eugene, Huiyao, KENNETH YONG, Junsheng, Dennis Chew), Dewei, Emma, Zhuoyang, Wanen, Xinyi, Qiu Rong:
THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT! haha. Special thanks especially goes out to the 3B team for their spirit that they have shown! I really thank you all for that! You all made the concert an even better one!
and most importantly...
DAD AND MOM AND MIKE:
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR COMING DOWN! YAY! (: You all definitely made the concert a much more meaningful one!
And so it comes to an end. The Spring of Life. RICO concert '07. It rocked SCH on 14th dec 2007 and left us and many others with happy memories of our late conductor. I've really benefited lots from it and certainly had much fun practicing and performing. And I guess it all comes back once again. All good things come to an end but that doesn't mean that there aren't any more good things. There's much to look forward to and I'm sure that with more enthusiasm and commitment, we will be able to scale even greater heights in the times to come. But I'm more than certain that the Spring of Life '07 will always be one of the best memories of my CO life.
Patrick
Post-concert syndromes... ):
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
inspired.
Dear all,
Some of you might be hearing this for the first time - others have known since July. I thought I'd just clear this up once and for all, so that you all don't get all confused and deflated later on.
After so many months of work, the long anticipated concert is about to come to fruition. This is on all accounts our last expression of gratitude to a lost teacher. I am sure all of us appreciate this primary goal fully - let's make this a success for him. This final week of rushed preparations and practices... I haven't seen us work this hard for quite some time.
This much we have achieved. Currently, our efforts seem to have paid off somewhat - latest report from Yee Siang indicates 62% of evening tickets sold - this is a mere 8% away from our goal of 70%! Of course for matinee it's a much more modest 17% - but if we all just ask every single person we know, right now... this should go up by at least 10%. Sponsorship is finally looking positive - a list of potential sponsors has been generated, and people are calling all sorts of companies up. Newspapers and radio stations have been contacted for additional publicity. The concert booklet is about to be final drafted and printed. Logistical arrangements are being settled as we speak. And there's self practice tomorrow, which you must attend, of course. And dazu on saturday, and monday, and tuesday, and wednesday.
We are not a dead orchestra.
And for all that I'd like to thank every single one of you - however small or large a role you have played. Your efforts will not be wasted. You have contributed in all your different ways, and I am extremely thankful for all that. However the school perceives us - we know that we have something good going here. It's this kind of spirit that makes great orchestras. Don't let it die.
And yet, through this all, there have been countless difficulties, as there are always. The concert committee and exco haven't been as smooth-running, efficient, meticulous, detailed, prepared, nor effective as we would have hoped to be. There have been disappointments, conflicts, misunderstandings, complaints.. . every step of the way. Sometimes it seemed as if everything was against us having this concert. Then we recall who we're doing this for, and who we're doing this with. Mr Yeo and RICO. And all that strength and vigour comes back. As discouraged and disillusioned as you may have become with us all, we assure you that we have learnt from every experience thrown at us, and to the best of our abilities corrected the errors that we have inadvertently committed. For all the mistakes that we have made, we cannot blame anyone but ourselves. And we hope that you'll understand how foreign organising a concert is to us, as it is to you. We know our mistakes may have inconvenienced you greatly. We will hold this concert as a more mature and wiser exco and orchestra.
So here it is. I'm leaving tomorrow (the 5th) for New Zealand, and I won't be back until the 19th. I'm missing the concert. As I said, some of you have known this since July. For the rest of you, this might make you jump in your seats and go into shock or loss. Let me assure you that all relevant parties - the teachers, the instructors, the conductor, my section, the exco - have been duly informed, and have already taken steps to ensure that my absence means nothing. I haven't told all of you this - and I know it'll definitely not be any form of boost to your morale.
And at this point I'd like to take a paragraph of this super protracted letter to elaborate. I'll be frank - I cannot begin to describe how guilty I feel. Yes, I've thought through this whole thing over and over again, and I'm full of regret, though I didn't really have a choice. I didn't really choose to leave. Call it what you like - leaving, abandoning, departing, disappearing, ponning, slacking, retiring, shirking, gone... I'll say this once and for all. I have never felt good that I'm leaving. I'll try to have a good holiday, but I don't think the first 10 days will be nice at all. It'll be full of worrying.
And I'm sad.
And for all that I'd like to offer all of you my sincerest apologies.
Whether you guys see it or not - we may seem not to care, but we really really do. This orchestra is (for lack of a better word) owned by every single one of us. We cannot escape that. This orchestra is ours. We are responsible. We sow the seeds, toil endlessly, and reap the benefits.
We are RICO.
In my prolonged absence, the exco (with the exception of Chun Yin until the 11th) will continue to function, as will all SLs and concert committees. I have taken pains to ensure that everything runs as per normal without myself, and I believe I'm leaving the helm of this orchestra to a very dedicated and capable set of leaders. With effect from tomorrow evening, Jeremy is interim chairman, and from the 11th, Chun Yin will take over. Once again I'd like to emphasize that I have full confidence in both of them, and I hope that you will give them your cooperation and faith, as you have by and large given me.
Lastly... I'll be there on the 14th in a different way. Somehow. You'll see. :P
Best of luck for the concert, and see you all soon. I'll miss you all, and I eagerly await news of the concert.
For the last time in a seemingly long time, thank you. Thank you all.
Yours always,
Ren Yan
Some of you might be hearing this for the first time - others have known since July. I thought I'd just clear this up once and for all, so that you all don't get all confused and deflated later on.
After so many months of work, the long anticipated concert is about to come to fruition. This is on all accounts our last expression of gratitude to a lost teacher. I am sure all of us appreciate this primary goal fully - let's make this a success for him. This final week of rushed preparations and practices... I haven't seen us work this hard for quite some time.
This much we have achieved. Currently, our efforts seem to have paid off somewhat - latest report from Yee Siang indicates 62% of evening tickets sold - this is a mere 8% away from our goal of 70%! Of course for matinee it's a much more modest 17% - but if we all just ask every single person we know, right now... this should go up by at least 10%. Sponsorship is finally looking positive - a list of potential sponsors has been generated, and people are calling all sorts of companies up. Newspapers and radio stations have been contacted for additional publicity. The concert booklet is about to be final drafted and printed. Logistical arrangements are being settled as we speak. And there's self practice tomorrow, which you must attend, of course. And dazu on saturday, and monday, and tuesday, and wednesday.
We are not a dead orchestra.
And for all that I'd like to thank every single one of you - however small or large a role you have played. Your efforts will not be wasted. You have contributed in all your different ways, and I am extremely thankful for all that. However the school perceives us - we know that we have something good going here. It's this kind of spirit that makes great orchestras. Don't let it die.
And yet, through this all, there have been countless difficulties, as there are always. The concert committee and exco haven't been as smooth-running, efficient, meticulous, detailed, prepared, nor effective as we would have hoped to be. There have been disappointments, conflicts, misunderstandings, complaints.. . every step of the way. Sometimes it seemed as if everything was against us having this concert. Then we recall who we're doing this for, and who we're doing this with. Mr Yeo and RICO. And all that strength and vigour comes back. As discouraged and disillusioned as you may have become with us all, we assure you that we have learnt from every experience thrown at us, and to the best of our abilities corrected the errors that we have inadvertently committed. For all the mistakes that we have made, we cannot blame anyone but ourselves. And we hope that you'll understand how foreign organising a concert is to us, as it is to you. We know our mistakes may have inconvenienced you greatly. We will hold this concert as a more mature and wiser exco and orchestra.
So here it is. I'm leaving tomorrow (the 5th) for New Zealand, and I won't be back until the 19th. I'm missing the concert. As I said, some of you have known this since July. For the rest of you, this might make you jump in your seats and go into shock or loss. Let me assure you that all relevant parties - the teachers, the instructors, the conductor, my section, the exco - have been duly informed, and have already taken steps to ensure that my absence means nothing. I haven't told all of you this - and I know it'll definitely not be any form of boost to your morale.
And at this point I'd like to take a paragraph of this super protracted letter to elaborate. I'll be frank - I cannot begin to describe how guilty I feel. Yes, I've thought through this whole thing over and over again, and I'm full of regret, though I didn't really have a choice. I didn't really choose to leave. Call it what you like - leaving, abandoning, departing, disappearing, ponning, slacking, retiring, shirking, gone... I'll say this once and for all. I have never felt good that I'm leaving. I'll try to have a good holiday, but I don't think the first 10 days will be nice at all. It'll be full of worrying.
And I'm sad.
And for all that I'd like to offer all of you my sincerest apologies.
Whether you guys see it or not - we may seem not to care, but we really really do. This orchestra is (for lack of a better word) owned by every single one of us. We cannot escape that. This orchestra is ours. We are responsible. We sow the seeds, toil endlessly, and reap the benefits.
We are RICO.
In my prolonged absence, the exco (with the exception of Chun Yin until the 11th) will continue to function, as will all SLs and concert committees. I have taken pains to ensure that everything runs as per normal without myself, and I believe I'm leaving the helm of this orchestra to a very dedicated and capable set of leaders. With effect from tomorrow evening, Jeremy is interim chairman, and from the 11th, Chun Yin will take over. Once again I'd like to emphasize that I have full confidence in both of them, and I hope that you will give them your cooperation and faith, as you have by and large given me.
Lastly... I'll be there on the 14th in a different way. Somehow. You'll see. :P
Best of luck for the concert, and see you all soon. I'll miss you all, and I eagerly await news of the concert.
For the last time in a seemingly long time, thank you. Thank you all.
Yours always,
Ren Yan
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
the OIP experience
The OIP experience:
It was great to spend 2 weeks with 23 more RI friends at ChangChun. The things we experienced, the lessons we learnt, the obstacles we faced, the challenges we met. These were but some of the things we came together as a group to do. ChangChun OIP was a right decision. Somehow, this trip was not as enjoyable as the Taiwan one. Somehow, during the course of this trip, some of us, and sometimes even many of us wondered why we couldn't just be resting in good old Singapore. But somehow, we overcame all these. We may not be of the best quality. We may not all be friends. We may not always agree with each other. But we were indeed a team. A team which suffered in ChangChun. A team which huddled together in the cold in ChangChun. A team which benefited from this trip to ChangChun. Somehow, somewhere, deep in our hearts, we know that we have done the right thing.
Pre-Trip:
The pre-trip meetings indeed helped us to bond as a team. Although I had already known a few friends in the team, it was still important that we knew each other better so that less misunderstandings occur during the trip itself.
The picture we took 3 days before the trip. The best OIP group in my opinion! (:
DAY1:
The trip started well enough. Nothing much happened on the first day. Although we hadn't spent much time together as a team, most of us knew at least a few friends in the team. Somehow, the knowledge of these friends around us meant so much to us as we embarked on a journey we would never have thought of going on. As we checked in our luggages, said our last goodbyes to our parents, boarded the plane and said goodbye to our homeland, we knew not of what to expect. As we got off the plane in Changchun, we knew we were on our way on a journey we would never forget. Hmm.. a few photos taken at the airports...
The briefing at the airport by Mr. Au.
Group photo at changi airport.
The 2E group! Cytam, Eugene Gan, ZhuoYang, Samson, Ben Low!
Zhuoyang, Aaron Tiong, Ben Low.
THE RE GROUP! woohoo. Aaron Tang, Ying Jie, Patrick
Me with the pro ZhuoYang.
Cytam acting cool with Eugene. haha.
and now Cytam acting CUTE with Samson and Eugene. Haha. so cool.
The 2 group leaders. Aaron Tiong and Cytam.
Me and Conan. lol.
10yuan for guessing who this tall but timid guy is. OOPS. i just lost 10 yuan. But that's nothing compared to the 90+ (fake) yuan i gained in the poker games. haha.
We got a warm welcome in ChangChun. The teachers were there at the airport to see us. They even had a large banner. The most unfortunate thing was that they spelt "Raffles" as "Riffles". But who cares. At least we know that they care that we are here.
Here we are! IN CHANGCHUN AIRPORT!
Another angle!
How about another camera? Cytam's camera.
As the Cameraman for the trip, I was wondering what theme I would like to use for the trip. As we walked out of the airport and onto the bus which would be with us for the next two weeks, I decided that the bus would be our theme. Not really the most sophosticated of themes. But I felt that it was going to be the only thing that would really follow us for most of the journey. So I started to take photos on the bus of us. Here were the few we took right after we got on the bus for the first time.
all right. not very clear photo. Joel closes his eyes but...
HE OPENS HIS EYES (a little) THiS TIME! haha. look at graham and conan. wonder what they're trying to do. hahahahaha.
All right. So after we got to the school, we realised that there were even more people there to invite us.
The first time we were in their LT.
Yup. They are the people we would be living with for the next 3 days. Although I didn't really approve of the 1-to-1 homestay and the short span of each homestay, I think I did benefit from it in the end. At least I got to know more friends and I got to experience how different families lived differently. I guess I'll go through all my hosts later on. Shall go through the day events first.
so as i said first day was all right. the plane trip took around 9-10 hrs or even more including the transfer time at Beijing airport. When we reached the school, each one of us had to a short self-introduction before we got to know our hosts and straight away, without even knowing who he was or what character he had, we were off to stay in their homes. Indeed, it was a bit of a shock and all of us didn't know what to do. But I guess this is all for training our 应变能力。 I was really lucky to get a host who was quite nice. In the car, we chatted a bit, got to know each other a bit more and I guess I did fine.
DAY2:
The second day started with... A WALK TO SCHOOL. lol. not really a bad thing. The walk didn't take any longer than 20 minutes. But it was IN THE COLD. All right. So there I was, walking down the streets, feeling soooooo damn cold even after wearing 5 layers of clothing and looking like some fat snowman. But what was even worse was that when we got to school, we realised that we had to immediately give lessons to the sec 2s. I didn't know what to do. We weren't prepared at all. We did discuss some of our lesson plans before hand but we were neither physically nor mentally prepared. We only knew that we had to give English lessons. These students were in a top school and definitely had high expectations of us. Nothing we could do at that time. All we could do was 随机应变。So there we were, Eugene and I, in a classroom, in front of 70 over students, of whom we knew nothing of and there we were, ready to teach them English. Woah. I would never have thought I would be able to do that. But guess what? WE MADE IT! and we made it really great. We played pictionary and alphabet games with them and before we knew it, lesson was over! The students had fun and Eugene and I had much fun too! Immediately, our confidence rose.
Here, in this class, Eugene and I teach for the first time in our lives.
Me in front of a class of 70+.
Yeah. One of the best moments of my life. The sense of achievement. As we walked out of our first class, it was as if we had completed OBS once more. Everyone in the team had positive comments about the lessons. We were confident we could do it. And sure enough. For the second period, we once again pulled it off brilliantly. Yup. It was just fantastic. After that, we returned to the 会议室 where we had lunch. haha. here will be where our base would be for the next 2 weeks...
老师：现在咱们到会议室去一趟。。。
2 weeks later
Eugene: 现在咱们到会议室去一趟。。。
All right. haha. maybe you won't understand what this is. But Eugene was so proud that he learnt the 东北 slang. But what's more important to me is that we have learnt the importance of taking initiative. But that will be discussed later. Firstly, LUNCH.
Ben Yong smiles before eating his lunch. ><
Lunch!~
Lunch again...
Cytam, Zhuoyang, Douglas, Samson, Eugene.
A closer look at what we eat....
Or at another angle?
Have a look at how sad Zhuoyang is before eating his lunch. (or maybe cytam)...
and compare it with how happy Zhuoyang is after eating his lunch. from this, we can conclude that lunch was delicious.
or maybe this picture? haha. Zhuoyang still looks hungry though...
After lunch, YingJie fiddles with his cube.
random photo.
In the afternoon, we set off to 吉林大学 to visit their museum.
Aaron and me on our way there....
Ben Yap and me on our way there....
ZhuoYang and Douglas with their classic smiles.
I don't know whose hand is that but he loses. Zhuoyang's head which resembles a stone wins your scissors. (:
On our way...
Ben Low and whoever that is. lol. Looks wrong.
Boon Tiong. Wonder what he's looking at...
ZhuoYang, Aaron Tiong, Conan braving the cold streets.
Us walking and Ying Jie flying...
walking again...
random scuplture on the way there.
another photo.
and another one. this time an old man.
WOAH. ok. so we finally reach this place.
Another one...
This is how the university looks from the outside.
All right. So this is the museum...
who wants some skulls for dinner?
or maybe some dinosaur?
But we got bored after some time and decided to take group photos!
random.
Oops. Zhongren. Looks like you're tall no more....
Ben Yong and Conan with their typical smiles.
Chen Chen, Marcus and Ben Yong.
Me, Marcus, Ben Yong.
DINOSAUR HEAD! ewww...
The kawaii pose in front of the dinosaur.
All right. taupok time.
The 2 Bens of 3B.
THE RE GROUP! haha.
Another mass taupok.
How about another one?
And when we get bored... lol. too bad Aaron used flash so his face looks ultra white. haha.
Group photo taken right outside the university. woohoo!
Some random sculpture.
Another one.
So we went back school after this visit. Then, it was time for a 读书报告会。 It was quite a good experience as we got to hear how the China people did their presentations. The general impression I got was that the people over there didn't really use computer much and thus didn't really know how to use them. So their presentations were all not very good but their speech was excellent. All of them memorised their speech and it was totally flawless. No awkward pauses anywhere. It was really amazing. haha. rarh. okok... only took one photo though...
mm... another really brilliant thing about the people there is their ability to control chalk. To control a whiteboard marker itself took me quite some time to master. Chalk is to say the leaast 100x harder than that of the marker... firstly, you have to prevent it from breaking... secondly, you have to hear that screaching noise that it produces... rarh. haha...
And dinner followed with my first host.
Here I am. lol.
It was 火锅 time. haha. fantastic. oh my gosh. love!
Delicious!
Vegetables! Behind that is the hotpot.
So that was DAY2! haha. wonderful day!
DAY3:
Day 3 was around the same as day 2. It started with a walk to school once again. And then, it was time to teach MATH! haha. i think eugene and i did a great job... for our inexperience, we still managed to go through the lesson rather well and taught the class sudoku! haha. after the 1st lesson, we decided to teach the next class even more... so we started on logic and paradoxes! woah. ahha. it's cool stuff... i still remember the first thing i learnt in MATH RA! haha. russell's paradoxx! woohoo! (: After that, it was lunch before BASKETBALL! woohoo. first time we were gonna sweat in ChangChun.
Hmm. Can see Marcus, Chen Chen Jun Xiang and Douglas.
Training.
Shooting practice.
And a match.
while others play table tennis instead. yeah.
all right. so after that, we were all wet. drenched. luckily, the next activitiy was a session of presentations so we proceeded to the LT. This time it wasn't a book review session but rather a speech competition. It was once again really amazing to see how everyone memorised their speech and stuff... haha...
one of the presentations.
so anyway, that was that. didn't take much photos that day, but here is dinner!
This is what they call 春饼。It's really nice!
YUMMY! lol.
ok last one. haha.
DAY4:
I guess this was the best day of the trip. Though it was just like day 3 and 4, it was somehow different. We were going to teach a group of students who were underprivileged. These students came from 龙子心希望中学. They were just like any of us. They were studying just like anyone of us. They were having fun during breaks like anyone of us. But somehow, they seemed different. They seemed too good to be true. They were as clever as the students in 吉大附中，but they were nicer in personality. They studied as hard as the students in 吉大附中，but they always had smiles on their faces. They were almost like the perfect beings. It was almost impossible that these were underprivileged students. From the moment we stepped into their classes, we felt a sense of warmth from within. We saw them smiling at us. Somehow, this school was very very special. For one, this school has been graced by 成龙 himself. This school has only been set up for 10 years or maybe only a bit more. But this school has been achieving fantastic results. This very school which holds students who are so unprivileged that their pocket money per week can be as little as 2 yuan. These students are the ones whose parents live so far away that they have no choice but to live in the hostel. Somehow, these situations do not seem to affect these students. Or even if they do, they seem to affect them in a positive way. All these seem to make them know how to value their belongings and to be satisfied with what they have. Maybe that's why they all seem to be so happy when they saw us. Maybe cause we are too blessed and therefore, we never feel anything when other students from other countries come to visit us in RI. Maybe we take all these for granted. Somehow, the welcome that we got in 希望中学 meant so much more than that of 吉大附中 and maybe even much more than that of RI's. When we reached 希望中学，I felt that these underprivileged students were so much better than that of 吉大附中。 Not until I thought about RI ourselves, 3B when the vietnamese students or whoever (i can't even remember what country they are from), that I started to realise that we were no better and actually much worse than those of 吉大附中。Hmm... enough of emo-ing. Bottom-line is must improve! haha. all right, pictures...
On the bus on our way there... Hmm excited faces?
Zhuo Yang and Samson on the bus. looks like Zhuo Yang gives way this time and sits in the inside... haha. Samson looks like some arrogant businessman...
Me, Eugene and Cytam!
Ying Jie looking chao happy.
The guys at the back. From left, Ben Yong, Ben Low, Boon Tiong, Chen Chen with Marcus below.
The class Eugene and I taught! woohoo.
The guy I sat beside for class (chinese lesson). lol. if not for him i almost would have fallen asleep... ALMOST... (:
One of the lessons was some exchange lesson where we all performed something. So here is a song... (forgot what they sang though...)
another performance! (:
another one!
Eugene and I performing HOME and BATCH SONG!
Another photo! haha.
Another photo of the class...
Eye exercises.
our blackboard during lesson time.
And this is Douglas, Zhongren and Marcus's class. Hmm... looks cool!
Hmm.. another photo!
The students!
Another performance.
And another one...
Aaron Tiong and Ernie smiles while Graham eats.
Ying Jie the new giraffe of our team.
People discuss the day's events...
The cute boy who sat beside Eugene in class. This is also their field where they have assembly and basketball and soccer and whatever...
We have lunch there with the students. Yup, so this is what they eat everyday.
Ying Jie's proud moment on stage. (: omgosh man. his chinese rocks.
The school badge printed big like that in our atrium!
A group photo taken right outside xi wang zhong xue. (: This place has indeed taught me loads.
All right so that was for the morning. In the afternoon, we went to visit some meat-producing place and a mosque. Hmm here they are...
The bus photo that we took right after we left 希望中学。
Another one!
SEE! i never bluff you! Here's the meat... lol.
Eugene Gan and Samson looking good in front of the meat.
Looks like the meat-producing company produces rice too! lol. itchy fingers...
Douglas buys 3 sausages from the meat-producing company...
but takes more time opening the sausage than eating it...
and here's the mosque. really unbelievable that 1/5 of muslims reign from China. Hmm... but i guess China also boasts the world's largest population...
Here's where they pray. Oh and one more thing. This is actually the meat company's mosque. Cause most of their employees are muslim. So the company decided to build this for the employees. Hmm...
A group photo taken outside the mosque. The guy in red on the right was our tour guide for the mosque.
oh yes. After that, we went to the hostel to see Aaron who had fallen sick on Thursday (Day 3). He had had drips taken in a hospital which was described to be super run-down. woah. i'm lucky I didn't fall sick. Anyway, here are a few photos we took at the hostel.
We found this really dark corridor which would have been even more dark had I not use flash. haha. Guess who the man in black is...
Here, we sit down on chairs.
haha. so after that, we went back to school. Dinner was at the host's house this time as we ate 火锅again！Although it didn't look very appetizing, it was actually very nice! haha. love! too bad i didn't take photos. haix.
Day5:
This was sightseeing day. So we set off in the morning to 松花湖。Hmm... breakfast first... haha...
egg! haha.
and porridge...
ok so next comes photos of our trip to 松花湖!
On our way there... Hmm... This reminds me of the vanishing point that our art teacher taught us in sec 2.
Ying Jie and Aaron Tiong smile on the bus...
lol. conan and zhongren. omgosh... so sweet... haha!
Graham and Joel...
Jun Xiang and Guodong...
Eugene Gan and Cytam...
Ben YAP!
And a group one...
And a group one sleeping. haha.
ok. And finally, here we are... So first, there is this explanation about how this great dam which can provide 1.25 times 10^x where x is any number higher than 7 (i think) megawatts of electricity per second if all the dams were opened at once and how it was once captured by the japanese... Hmm..
Listening attentively...
And here is where the Japanese capture the dams... The chinese is on the left and the japanese is on the right. I didn't really listen to the elaborations by the tour-guide but the chinese seem to be standing straight and the japanese seem to be bowing down a bit... Hmm... a bit prejudice? lol... not sure myself...
Here are some of the awards that the dam has received. Me and Zhongren posing with them. haha... would feel proud to win all these...
Zhuoyang posing with some people.
Samson's turn.
And Eugene.
And finally... me.
A train moving on solar energy... wonder what it has to do with the dam though.... but solar energy seems like something big in china.... I've been to two hosts house who use solar energy for their heaters... so if there's no sun, too bad... no chance of bathing for you as I found out for one of the days staying with my host...
haha guess what is this... im not telling you...
So this is the lake...
and right there is the dam... wonder what it'll look like when water actually comes rushing down...
Another photo of the lake...
And another photo of the dam.
Graham posing with the dams...
From left: Ying Jie, Samson, Eugene, Graham...
Random group photo that we took...
And here is the inside where all the machines are... Hmm...
Another one...
Me with the dams...
Ernie, me and Ying Jie with the dams...
the 2E team!
Towards the foreground or rather behind the foreground is the dams... so this is basically what is in front of the dams....
Us viewing the lake...
Aaron Tiong, Marcus and Chen Chen... Marcus really looks like some professional construction worker...
Here's what's beside the dam...
Samson, with Eugene and Cytam as his bodyguards, walking round the dam.
Cytam, Eugene, Samson, ZhuoYang, Eugene, Ben Low and me. LOL. I look totally weird...
Group photo in front of the dam... (:
so after that, it was time for lunch. This was going to be our first and last time eating at a restaurant in Chanchun... Hmm...
douglas being funny again! haha.
Group table photo...
Chicken! roar! lol.
Veggie. Conan's favourite (Conan,"ya rite!"). haha.
The table filled with food...
Here's Zhongren trying out some red hot chilli...
to disastrous consequences... and to make it even worse, ying jie says,"Zhongren, quick drink some water!". and Zhongren drinks water, only for the spicyness too spread even further and spell even more disaster...
Zhongren looks as if lightning had struck him! haha...
The aftermath of the catastrophe...
and byap breaks his cup after pouring sprite into a cup that was previously filled with hot water... lol...
Grp table photo with me looking stupid! haha.
So after the dams and lunch, we went to this museum. There were lots of exhibits there. The first one was this one about how an asteroid hit the earth in Changchun. So here it is...
Here are pieces of the asteroids that landed from space...
And this is the biggest one lol... there were actually 3 (i think... lol...) that came down. so this is the biggest one...
Underneath this asteroid, there's lots of money cuz it's believed that this would bring luck to the people... this is because the asteroid landed so near a village yet it did not kill or harm anyone. so this is supposedly very 灵。
And since we are so 吝啬 and do not wish to waste any money on this rock, we merely try to touch it... Hmm... wonder whether it has the same effects...
And this is the asteroid that you need to pay 10yuan to go in to touch. I didn't think it was worth it but these people thought so. haha. so here they are. aaron tiong, aaron tang, cytam, ben low, samson, eugene, zhuoyang, ernie, conan....
another photo...
A closer look at the asteroid...
Aaron Tiong with the asteroid...
Aaron Tiong and Zhuoyang..
Conan...
After that, we went to another exhibition which was something on art sculptures...
Hmm... so here they are... lol...
This silver dragon looks damn cool...
Cytam posing with some cans...
The next exhibit is about this super rich guy who lived in some apartment with 180+ rooms... But as rich guys find out later in their lives, they don't really get too good a treatment...
like when zhuoyang, ben low and chen chen play staring competition with him...
or maybe even me... xD
All right jokes aside... anyway, this is his house... really big... like some palace...
and here are some of his musical instruments... BL played this before and I TRIED learning this before (to no avail)...
More... can see 小钹 and 小锣 here...
This white tree here shows how trees look like when it snows... lol...
Outside, we find this cool statue. So we start posing with him. Mao Zedong.
Another one.
And at the end of the day, we start to emo...
All right that's all for today!
Day6:
Day 6 was an off day so I was supposed to spend my day with the host. Somehow, although we didn't go anywhere except for tuition, I can't seem to forget this day. Anyway, this was also the day I sat their public bus. I must say that it's a war inside the bus. It's like you must be brave enough to protect your own territory or you'll definitely get squashed... Anyway, I went for double English classes. So here's the first one...
This is the teacher... Juliet's her name... Some pro teacher who can speak chinese too... haha.
Here's the second English class. This time, I decide to take photos with the students instead... Hmm...
This is the tuition centre where I had double english classes in...
Anyway, the English classes were ok. It was quite ego-boosting cause everyone was amazed how "great" my English was and that I could actually speak "rather fluent" Chinese. haha. But anyway, between the classes I had to stone for 2 hours in this coffeeshop cause my host had to do his homework. Somehow, stoning didn't seem boring... We had a seat facing this very busy street... So there I was looking at the street and there he was doing his homework... Well... One of the very few times where I could actually sit down and do nothing for so long...
This is what it looks like outside the coffeeshop...
Hmm... and dinner on sunday was nice! yumm... wait... i have one pic of that...
Yumm... haha. i love the gan dou fu (top right) that they make. it's totally delicious!
Yup. so that's all that happened on Sunday...
Day 7:
Day 7 was the day where we would go visit the elderly in some place near the school... So we first set off to the headquarters....
yup. here it is. 长春社区. cool.
inside the headquarters. The meeting room. Quite a small place actually.
The elderly here do lots of creative stuff from making small sculptures...
To dancing... And they actually have a CO too! too bad i didn't take a photo of that. So after visiting the headquarters, it was time for us to proceed to the elderlies' home.
On our way there...
Wondering how to cross the road...
Cytam doing a random pose again. lol. cool.
Anyway, we finally reached the house... Here lived an elderly woman who had so much to share about her experiences during the WW2. The thing I realise about her, though, is that she really looks down on youths. She starts of by asking 你们可知道今天的平安生活得来不易吧？All right. maybe rhetorical question. I'm not sure. But I did feel a bit errmmm... insulted? haha nevermind. learnt a bit there although I couldn't really understand much cause it was all in Chinese...
Later on, we went off to clean up some park which was already sooooo clean that there was no rubbish for us to pick up except leaves... so we set off picking up leaves...
These stuff are actually plants. But they are wrapped by some stuff cause these plants would not be able to stand the upcoming winter... mmm...
Here we started sweeping the leaves....
Eugene sweeping up some leaves...
Our rubbish bag... It would be full of countless leaves and 1 brick in no time...
So this is the park where we did the clean-up...
And this lake of which top layer was already frozen was in the park...
cool pic.
aaron, conan and ben yong acting as if they are REALLY hardworking.
THE LAKE AGAIN!
Zhuoyang trying to become the new harry potter.
Anyway, we got bored half-way so I started taking pictures with friends I made on the way...
Another of my friend... haha. he looks sooooo cute!
After a short period of sweeping, we walked to this place where apparently the japanese buried the chinese during WW2. It was quite scary. no one dared to go near the building. but anyway, group photo...
yup. the building in the bg is the building i'm talking about.
on the right side of the grp photo..
and on the left side!
All right, so after that, we were back to school, eating... Hmm... In the afternoon, we went to visit a library. omgosh. their library is humongous... they have so many books and magazines arranged in so many different rooms and so many self-study areas... woah. how i wish there were so much self-study areas in our libraries... All right, photos...
The roads in ChangChun... Here began a long walk to the library...
The road we jay-walked on. Hmm... quite a looooooong road?
All right so here we are. CHANGCHUN LIBRARY!
Group Photo in front of the ChangChun Library...
After the long walk, everyone starts sleeping in the library....
woah. what's this!
Inside the library. It looks much more spacious than the Singapore ones cuz they have lots of rooms for differnt types of books and magazines and newspapers of stuff. Much better than Singapore's if you ask me.
Another photo of the library.
Tour guide brings us through the library...
All right. so here we are in the library activities room where a Q&A competition was taking place for the elderly.
Since Ying Jie and I don't really understand what's going on because 1. It's all in chinese and 2. It's issues regarding changchun, we decide to take a photo.
The stage...
After that, we went back to school... had dinner at my host's house... no pics though... sigh...
Day 8:
Today was a slack day. Firstly, we went to visit the school compounds of 吉林大学。oh my gosh. it's humongous. To go from one end of the university to the other, one must take at least 20 mins or even more by car. Anyway, we went to visit the chemistry and physics labs and got to eat in one of the university's cafetaria.
The chemistry labs are located in this building.
yup. Here we are, in the labs. Really reminds me of IBN, except that the lights here are a lot dimmer. Hmm...
and who can forget these... Aaron, Ying Jie and me once used all these to clean the insides of the cartridges... (:
Once again, we got bored after a while... Mr. Au too gets a little bored...
Or maybe Ernie and me get bored....
Or maybe Zhongren and Conan?
Zhuoyang tries mixing 2 chemicals together...
Hmm... this chemical tastes nice!
As messy as IBN? haha...
Hmm... saw this in class before... displacement reaction if I'm not wrong... some metal displaces Ag in AgNO3... correct me if im wrong, JERALD HAN! haha....
Some balancing machine...
So, next was the Physics Labs... There wasn't much to see there except this...
SEM machine... Hmm... so the first SEM machine that I actually see is in Changchun...
Since there was nothing much there, I decided to take a photo with the tour guide who happened to be a physics researcher in that physics lab... Hmm...
Slacking time...
Ying Jie acting smart.
So after that, we had lunch in the cafetaria... mmm...
Food 1.
Food 2.
Well, the food wasn't really the most important part.... Why? Cause that day was Eugene's birthday. So, PARTY TIME!
All right. Eugene here with the cake.
haha. Eugene looking a little too overjoyed....
The 2E group photo...
Ben Yong and Eugene...
The 3B group.
Group photo!
Eugene cuts his cake!
So after lunch, we set off for a walk in the university campus... The campus is really nice! haha. if only RI were like that.
Group photo in the university campus...
The road.
A building!
Another one.
Some really nice empty space. WOAH. i just love this kind of places.
Some school song carved on this large thing.
Us walking along.
So after that short walk in the campus, we got ourselves back on the bus and traversed to the emperor's palace.
Saw this right after we entered the palace. lol.
This clock shows the time at which the emperor then escaped this place when he heard that the japanese were coming. 910pm.
nice stairs.
meeting with the japanese after he was brought back to become a 傀儡 emperor.
Where he used to cut his hair. Apparently, the emperor's hair was so important that it would be a sin to drop it on the floor. The barber must have had a hard time.
Bed. where he slept i guess. ><
another bed. ok i forgot who sleeps here. haha.
seats.
the emperor's seat.
the Gods that he worshiped. It was said that he didn't come here to pray often, so the Gods punished him.
errr... dining table (i think). haha.
baby emperor.
meetings with the japanese. it was said that this emperor was heavily influenced by the west and thus, always wore blazers of stuff like that.
random barbie doll.
pool table.
nice pic.
Group photo in front of an ancient car.
The emperor there was sort of tricked by Japanese and was forced to stay inside the palace and become their 傀儡. So, the people planted this tree. reason? the box around the tree looks like a 口 and wood in a mouth means 困! i found this really interesting... Hmm...
This was one of the pics in the museum. On the right is the emperor and on the left is one of his 4 (or was it 5?) wives. Took this pic cuz I thought the lady on the left had some form of resemblance of Mrs. Low. Hmm... haha. what do you think?
Joel looks really excited. ><
On our way back to the bus, Chen Chen gets cold.
all right. so after the visit to the palace, it was time for dinner again. It was totally delicious this time. and guess what? it's 火锅 again! lol...
washing our hands at this basin... so cool! haha...
YAY! FOOD!
and to show you how grand that place is... woah...
all right, so that was day 8!
Day 9:
Somehow, I felt that that day was meant for me. We weren't exactly a group of good singers. No one ever had the experience of performing on stage in front of an audience. And given a morning worth's of prac only? It was near impossible. The karaoke competition wasn't exactly big or anything, but it was new to everyone in the team. The choosing of songs was in itself a difficult task. Everyone had differing opinions on what songs we should sing. I myself wanted to sing 翅膀. After all, it was really the only song which I knew most of the lyrics... However, I decided that making such a decision would be doing unjust to the others... So, I decided, with Cytam, Aaron Tiong and Graham's advice, to split the 21 of us into three groups first. However, I knew that this too would be a hard task. The problem lied in how some of us were the "in" type while others were the "out" type. I'm not sure whether u all understand but i really wanted everyone to go on stage and have a try, at least experience what it is like to perform in front of such a large audience... In the end, I decided, once again with advice from my 3 co-leaders, that we would allow the group to divide itself, meaning that we would appoint leaders and the others would just join the group that they wanted to join... The 1st group which was supposed to be the musicians was more or less settled. The problem lay in the other 2 singing groups. So the leaders were to be "Zhongren, Conan and me" and "Boon Tiong, Ben Yong, Chen Chen". In the end, we split up into our groups and although we weren't really evenly spread, it was the combination I knew we would arrive at although I also believed that this was the best combination. Anyway, with the groups settled, the leaders of the groups started selecting the songs to perform. I left this task to Zhongren and Conan. The songs they chose were songs I had not heard before and neither had our group members. "约定" and "High" were the song names and I spent the entire of tue evening trying to get used to the songs. I had no idea what we were going to do even on the morning of wed and even had the urge to change songs. But given that my co-leaders had chosen them and Graham insisted on our ability to perform the pieces, I decided to go on with it, hoping that it would all turn out fine. So there we were, on wednesday, in the 会议室, with 7 hours left in front of us and with so many things to complete. There, we practiced Home, our group piece, first. With the help of Graham, our music director and Eugene, our co music director, we managed to work out the piece rather well. It was a good start. Then, we made our way to the sports complex. A wrong decision. We thought that all the instruments would be there for us so we could prac singing with the musicians to work out some coordination but it wasn't so. The instruments weren't there. The only things that were there were basketballs and table tennis. We couldn't resist the temptation and started playing. Knowing that it was useless to start prac without the instruments, I joint in the fun. It was not until a whole half an hour later did the instruments come. Precious time gone. It took us another long period to get the instruments up and running. After that, we broke up into our groups to practice our songs. The musicians worked out the chords, while the other 2 groups worked out the singing. I was at a loss of where to start. Sitting in a small circle, Zhongren suggested playing the song once through. I thought it was a good excuse to let me have some time think through what we needed to go through while refreshing our memories of this song. And yup. It was truly amazing as I pulled off what I would never have thought I could have done. In just a short period of time, we settled the singing parts, our line-up during our performance, some simple dynamics and we went through the song with few errors. Happy with our performance, I decided to let the group rest for 5 minutes. Wrong decision once again as the basketballs and table tennis rackets came into play and it was not until a whole long while later that we got started on our second piece, "约定". Using the same technique, we went through the song and got the stuff up. And before long, we were ready to prac with the musicians. Starting with a group sing along beside the keyboard, we started to learn how to coordinate with the musicians and it was truly amazing how we improved by leaps and bounds. Before long, we were up and ready to perform. Although we weren't really that prepared and there was still much room for error, I believed that with the short span of time and lack of quality singers in the whole group (except maybe boon tiong), we had done an amazing job. It was all down to the performance itself. So there we were, the emcees (which also included samson and boon tiong) kicked us off and the songs came up and running. The first few groups set really high standards for us and before long, it was our turn. Getting the microphones ready and lining up in our positions, we were ready to give "约定" our best shot. We started off shakily, not really knowing when to come in and stuff but we gradually got confident and though it wasn't the best of performances, it was still above expectations. After a couple more songs, it was time for the other group, Boon Tiong's group, to perform. They were performing "安静". It was a really great performance with good 台风 and great singing by Boon Tiong. It was simply fantastic. A few songs later, it was our turn again for "High". We started of better this time and it was a rather good performance. Though we couldn't really get our voices high, we could see that the audience were all getting high. And so, it was all down to our group performance. Ernie and I were leading this piece. And guess what? I screwed up big time. Starting the song which we all know of from the chorus, we sang verse 1 twice and the chorus thrice, completely missing out verse 2. It was really nerve-wrecking as I forgot all the lyrics. Somehow, though, we pulled it off and there was great applause from the audience. It was down to the batch song next. It started off bad once again with us springing into the soprano voices and most of us strained our voices to reach the high notes. I really ahve to thank Ernie for being next to me because it was he who pulled it all off and once again, somehow, we pulled it off, ending the karaoke competition on a high note. Although I must say I made lots of mistakes here and there, especially during the performance itself, I was satisfied with how I led the team in such circumstances. However, it was all down to the team once again. It's hard to know how we did it. But somehow, like always, we managed to pull it all off. It was simply fantastic.
Aaron Tiong, me and Graham, the I.C.s for karaoke.
setting up of the instruments.
YAY! we feel confident we can succeed!
Samson and Boon Tiong confirming their scripts with 叶子. haha. ok i'm reminded of all the jokes regarding this. LOL.
Practice time! Graham and Joel looking good on their instruments.
Joel looking good on the drum set.
We practice 约定, crowding around Graham.
The guitarists trying out the pieces.
The 安静 team prac-ing their piece with the pro Graham.
Graham and Eugene prac-ing together.
And it starts at last! So here we were, after one day of practice, ready to show what we really can do.
The emcees kick us off with their powerful lines.
The first few performances set rather high standards for us. Here's 王心凌's 爱你.
another one with candles.
And another one. They seem to take costumes really seriously.
And another one! This one was really good.
And so now it was our turn! WOAH!
约定!
约定 again!
erm and again...
the 安静 team doing what they do best!
And again!
OH NO! ENVY! The 安静 team gets flowers! RARH! haha. ok nvm.
and so that was that. Not an important day, but an opportunity for me to try out some leadership skills. At the end of the day, the applause and the awards (got 特等奖 for home and 一等奖 for the rest) that we got were all well-deserved given our efforts.
ok so dinner for that night.... only 1 photo to show...
饺子！nice stuff!
Day 10:
Day 10 was an all shopping day. Starting the day off was a trip to the famous 重庆路. I wanted to shop for some books, CDs and a jacket. However, the road was something similar to that of the Orchard Road of Singapore and the stuff there were as expensive as that of Singapore's. Therefore, I decided that it would be quite useless to shop here and instead, we just walked around and tadaa. We found ourselves a 4D theatre. LOL! so we got ourselves tics and there we were watching a 4D theatre show. Hmm... pics.
Douglas, Ying Jie and me at the shopping centre.
the theatre!
Douglas, Ying Jie and me outside the theatre.
This time it's Douglas, Aaron and me.
oh yes. saw this along the road. Thought it would be the thing closest to snow that i would see. not true as i would find out soon enough...
Spinning door of a shopping mall...
Me, Douglas and Aaron in front of the mall...
Me with some random statue.
Ying Jie acting strong.
Tall building.
Hmm... yes. so during out trip to 重庆路，I bought a CD and THIS! HAHA! so cute right! yay!
So after that, we went back to school, ate our lunch and started our reflections about the past few events, karaoke, the visit to the elderlies and the visit to 希望中学。 it was really good to be reflecting on such things as it allowed me to really try and sift out the salient points of each event and really learn from it... yup. so that was that. after that, we got off to another famous street in changchun. This time, it was even more exciting that a mere 4D show. while everyone else were busy shopping, the RE team of 2007 was busying themselves with the trip of the century. We ventured where no one else did. It was, to be honest, the most exhilarating moment of the trip... so what was it?
caught sight of this building from the bus... This, according to my second host, was the tallest building in ChangChun... and yup... you guessed it... Aaron, Ying Jie and I just had to get to the top of it...
It took us a rather long walk to get there from where the bus had alighted us. Actually it wasn't really far away, but we took a big detour... But given the brilliant geographical skills of Aaron's (top scorer in Geog 2006 and 2007), and of course the literature skills of Ying Jie's (lit RA 2007) and of course the most brilliant historical skills of mine (3.6 for sec 1-3... lol... ><), we made it! And we made it to the top (after paying 18yuan...). But it was worth it. From up there, we had a great view of the city below us. Unfortunately, no photos could be taken... So we could only take it from below.... so here it is...
The buttons on the lift. there's a 48 there.
yup here it is. 吉塔 is her name!
Me!
Aaron!
Ying Jie!
Yup so that was it for day 10!
Day 11:
Day 11 was D-day for many of us. It was the trip to the villages. 九台 was where it was and 九台五中 was the school name. It was a rather scary thought. i really wondered how it would look like. Many had said that the conditions there would be horrible. Well, it certainly wasn't good...
the school!
pic of samson and the door to a classroom.
The class that Eugene and I taught in jiutai.
Classroom!
The classroom where 九台，吉大 and raffles had combined activities, in which raffles suffered a heavy loss..
Mr. Au acting cool. lol.
The 安静 team doing their stuff again for the 九台 people.
Some balloon game we played. Same as Singapore. Tie balloons around ankles and try to step on other people's.
Douglas with his cute pose... ><
Mr. Au conducting philo lessons for the students.
ok i know this is disgusting but yup. this is what their toilets look like. No flushing system and no place to wash your hands after you do your business. And be careful not to let your pee freeze before they end up in this drain like thing cuz it's REALLY cold. You are sortta peeing in mid air.
me and my 吉大 host in 九台。
some vehicle which carries hay... blocked the bus a few times...
these people ride motorbikes home. looks like there isn't much that you can't do in the villages.
The road home...
Some people take motorcycles home...
Some people walk home...
Goats in the village...
Night in the village...
Another really cool picture.
WOAH! this is super cool.
And this is Aaron's host's house. A lot different from mine though. This looks more urbanized.
The kitchen.
And finally the bed. Mine was a lot different. Too bad I didn't take photos cuz i forgot to bring it to 九台. SIGH.
The toilets. This is actually one of the better ones already...
oh and they were REALLY fascinated by rubik's cubes. as this pic shows. haha. Aaron gave his.
Eugene with random cow.
and in the morning. we set off on the long road to school once again.
some of the scenery on the way there.
So that was basically it. After I returned to my host's house, we went for lanning where i played some bomberman car game. haha. quite fun luh, but kept losing. >< Day 12:
Day 12 was used for MOUNTAIN CLIMBING. woah. 800m mountain for us to climb. ok. 800m may seem short but when you're going uphill, it's not really so short after all. So here we go!
Scenary we took on our way there.
another one.
ok so we reach the foot of the mountain and began our climb up! YEAH! ok no more descriptions here cuz there's really a lot.
AND REST TIME!
Before we continue!
lol. this looks like queueing up.
me getting tired.
AND WE FINALLY MADE IT TO THE TOP! WOOHOO!
nice scenary!
Joel and Graham look down on ChangChun below.
All right. STOP SPAM! haha. ok so next up, we went downhill.
and out next stop was to the old folk's home! so there we went. It wasn't much. We just went to see their living environment and also met them for a few minutes. So ya. here they are...
Samson and Blow posing in front of the old folk's home.
Group photo!
Ben Yong, Marcus, Chen Chen and Boon Tiong in the meeting room.
An elderly in the old folk's home.
Not knowing what to say, we just look on.
All right. i forgot what this was. doesn't look too good though.
A very enthusiastic elderly who was cheering us on! woohoo!
After that, it was lunch time. We had lunch in the cafetaria of the old folk's home.
All right. So with that ended our saturday. we took the bus back to 吉大 and we went back to our host's house for a well-deserved rest. We have all done it. And we've all done a great job. YEAH!
oh and on our way back, took this pic.
Day 13:
Day 13 was day off again. Once again I followed my host. This time for SHOPPING! haha. we went to these underground places very similar to bugis street. It was HUGE, we got lost quite a few times and kept walking in circles. HAIX. but anyway, it was fun. bought some cheap stuff. haha so hope that one of the things i bought is a gift for you! (: Anyway, no pics that day. It was a slack day so ya...
only pic! some really spicy noodles. 麻辣面. Gosh. I sweated in the cold weather while eating this.
Day 14:
Day 14 was our last day at changchun, supposedly. Well, we'll get to that later. Anyway, it was going to be the day which we would enjoy the most. Reason 1: We could sit in for lessons! YAY! woohoo! it was super fun. It reminded me of the 周星驰 show, 逃学威龙. omg. it was totally cool. haha. i was supposed to be in 2.4 but since i was super nice to eugene and chen chen, i switched class with them for 2.2. Good choice too! My first host was in 2.2! So it was damn fun cuz i was sitting two seats away from him. The girl I was sitting beside was very nice too! haha. WOOHOO! anyway, had english lesson first so it was quite boring. They were memorising some lesson so I just wrote with them. Then, it was philo or something like philo lesson and we were doing something on being 宽容. So anyway, the lesson was rather boring but there was this notorious guy in this class sitting near me who kept talking and stuff (most of the times to me or the girl beside me). but anyway, my host asked me whether I wanted to bash him up, and I, without thinking, and without even knowing what i was saying said, "不可以啦，我要宽容！" haha. and my host started laughing. lol. ok anyway after that, it was geography which was once again boring. They were doing something on the water supply in the world and how limited it was. After that, we had lunch at some posh restaurant!
the "big 4" doing their "gay love" lol.
After that, we returned to our classes for interaction! PICS!
YAY! 2.2 rock on! (:
OH! and it was snowing on Day 14. COOL! We were in class when my host suddenly told me that it was snowing. I was like OMGOSH! On the last day, it snows! YES! And we immediately rush out to play snow. lol.
Zhuoyang and Samson in the snow!
Aaron Tang in the snow!
Ernie in the snow!
Graham and Joel in the snow!
Eugene in the snow!
Graham and me in the snow!
Zhuoyang and Samson in the snow!
Zhuoyang, me, Boon Tiong and Zhongren in the snow!
Ms. Chew in the snow!
Aaron Tiong in the snow!
and again! this time with the tree!
Zhongren in the snow!
Eugene Gan in the snow!
Ying Jie in the snow!
Eugene and Ben Low in the snow!
Aaron Tiong and me in the snow!
Aaron Tang, Eugene Gan, Cytam, Samson and Zhuoyang in the snow!
And finally we embarked on our journey to the airport. Our final GROUP BUS PHOTO! YEAH!
Me with random pose.
Graham and Aaron Tiong looking cool.
Group photo in ChangChun airport!
And again!
However, just as we thought that we were going to go back to Singapore finally, there was a sudden turn in events...
FLIGHT DELAYED.
gosh. so we waited in the airport for a long long time...
playing cards...
stretching...
and guess what. we waited till the airport was to close shop (it was a small airport so no planes flew after 12) so flight was cancelled and we had to board the flight on the next day. Well, we went to a university hostel to stay so I guess it was all right.
Day 15:
The Final Day came at last. We woke up, had breakfast, before having some time to play some fun games like...
SNOW FIGHT!
Too bad Byap. YJ strikes first!
or playing cards?
Well, so that was it. We took the bus to the airport and this time there was no delay whatsoever. Before we knew it, we were in Beijing airport. More photos!
YAY! C for Cytam and O for errr... dunno. but anyway, combine them to get CO! YEAH!
and samson and chunyin. samson acting as if he's sooooo tall...
anyway, there was yet another turn of events! We were stoning in Beijing airport, wondering which plane we were supposed to take back to Singapore when Mr. Au suddenly comes rushing in, saying, "QUICK! THE PLANE IS AT 4. IF WE RUSH WE MAY BE ABLE TO TAKE THIS PLANE. THE NEXT FLIGHT IS AT 12!". oh my. It was 3 already and we hadn't even check in. Luckily, Singapore airlines was kind enough to wait for us.
Singapore airlines back home! YAY! OIP was totally cool. anyway, more pics before a short reflection.
Random pictures taken during the trip:
Eugene and I with class 2.4!
Me with YJ's cute host!
Ben Yong's turn!
another one! forgot whose host this is... ><
some girl who does broadcasting in school.
me with some coolio pose by Marcus, Ben Yong, Boon Tiong and Chen Chen.
Me feeling bored in 希望中学.
YAY! CHEN CHEN! ok lame... ><
Let's play a game! Spot Barry or Vincent!
Me, Samson and Ben Low.
Me and Eugene with his long tongue.
Cytam looking cool.
Some child riding a police motorcycle while we were doing park clean up.
The road we jaywalked on...
Random notice we saw in a blackboard in 吉大. The first two lines were there and the last line was added by us. Seemed really special to me cuz im in jiang tuition centre. haha. and i love jiang.
The weather was so cold the water froze. lol.
Me eating some random food.
My hosts!:
Host1:
He was a really nice guy. Quite rich, a bit spoilt but overall very very nice. haha. i thought that he was one of the best hosts. so yay for him and for me. lol. anyway, pics.
he forced me to do it... ><
he forced me once again!
pillow fight?
haha u lose...
Go6P will be familiar with this. haha. brought it to changchun with me.
Cute piggy.
Host2:
Very nice host once again. He's not that rich, lives on the 7th floor with no lifts but he's really really nice to his parents and practically everyone. So yay to him and me once again!
his words are fantastic.
YAY!
That's where he lives...
Host 3:
Much quieter but still all right I guess. Really rich. haha i got a room to myself! Privacy finally!
His cousin.
haha he looks so fierce.
Host 4:
Took a pic with him but it's with ying jie and since he hasn't sent me his photos yet...
Host 5:
Even quieter. haha. but well, he went shopping with me so i guess i can't complain.
Cute baby! haha.
All right. So here ends OIP 2007. It's been a great experience. I'd love to go for one again. We walked through these tortorous days together as a team and I say we've succeeded. It all ends here but the lessons we've learnt are countless.
ChangChun OIP Team '07:
1. Aaron Tiong
2. Cytam
3. Zhongren
4. Conan
5. Graham
6. Joel
7. Ying Jie
8. Aaron Tang
9. Marcus
10. Boon Tiong
11. Ben Yong
12. Chen Chen
13. Ben Low
14. Eugene Gan
15. Samson
16. Zhuoyang
17. Guodong
18. Jun Xiang
19. Douglas
20. Ernie
21. Ben Yap
22. Patrick
23. Mr Dennis Au
24. Ms. Elsa Chew
we've rocked ChangChun with our spirit! we've rocked ChangChun with our bravery! we've rocked ChangChun with our High-ness!
AND THIS IS OUR OIP EXPERIENCE!
Patrick
It was great to spend 2 weeks with 23 more RI friends at ChangChun. The things we experienced, the lessons we learnt, the obstacles we faced, the challenges we met. These were but some of the things we came together as a group to do. ChangChun OIP was a right decision. Somehow, this trip was not as enjoyable as the Taiwan one. Somehow, during the course of this trip, some of us, and sometimes even many of us wondered why we couldn't just be resting in good old Singapore. But somehow, we overcame all these. We may not be of the best quality. We may not all be friends. We may not always agree with each other. But we were indeed a team. A team which suffered in ChangChun. A team which huddled together in the cold in ChangChun. A team which benefited from this trip to ChangChun. Somehow, somewhere, deep in our hearts, we know that we have done the right thing.
Pre-Trip:
The pre-trip meetings indeed helped us to bond as a team. Although I had already known a few friends in the team, it was still important that we knew each other better so that less misunderstandings occur during the trip itself.
The picture we took 3 days before the trip. The best OIP group in my opinion! (:
DAY1:
The trip started well enough. Nothing much happened on the first day. Although we hadn't spent much time together as a team, most of us knew at least a few friends in the team. Somehow, the knowledge of these friends around us meant so much to us as we embarked on a journey we would never have thought of going on. As we checked in our luggages, said our last goodbyes to our parents, boarded the plane and said goodbye to our homeland, we knew not of what to expect. As we got off the plane in Changchun, we knew we were on our way on a journey we would never forget. Hmm.. a few photos taken at the airports...
The briefing at the airport by Mr. Au.
Group photo at changi airport.
The 2E group! Cytam, Eugene Gan, ZhuoYang, Samson, Ben Low!
Zhuoyang, Aaron Tiong, Ben Low.
THE RE GROUP! woohoo. Aaron Tang, Ying Jie, Patrick
Me with the pro ZhuoYang.
Cytam acting cool with Eugene. haha.
and now Cytam acting CUTE with Samson and Eugene. Haha. so cool.
The 2 group leaders. Aaron Tiong and Cytam.
Me and Conan. lol.
10yuan for guessing who this tall but timid guy is. OOPS. i just lost 10 yuan. But that's nothing compared to the 90+ (fake) yuan i gained in the poker games. haha.
We got a warm welcome in ChangChun. The teachers were there at the airport to see us. They even had a large banner. The most unfortunate thing was that they spelt "Raffles" as "Riffles". But who cares. At least we know that they care that we are here.
Here we are! IN CHANGCHUN AIRPORT!
Another angle!
How about another camera? Cytam's camera.
As the Cameraman for the trip, I was wondering what theme I would like to use for the trip. As we walked out of the airport and onto the bus which would be with us for the next two weeks, I decided that the bus would be our theme. Not really the most sophosticated of themes. But I felt that it was going to be the only thing that would really follow us for most of the journey. So I started to take photos on the bus of us. Here were the few we took right after we got on the bus for the first time.
all right. not very clear photo. Joel closes his eyes but...
HE OPENS HIS EYES (a little) THiS TIME! haha. look at graham and conan. wonder what they're trying to do. hahahahaha.
All right. So after we got to the school, we realised that there were even more people there to invite us.
The first time we were in their LT.
Yup. They are the people we would be living with for the next 3 days. Although I didn't really approve of the 1-to-1 homestay and the short span of each homestay, I think I did benefit from it in the end. At least I got to know more friends and I got to experience how different families lived differently. I guess I'll go through all my hosts later on. Shall go through the day events first.
so as i said first day was all right. the plane trip took around 9-10 hrs or even more including the transfer time at Beijing airport. When we reached the school, each one of us had to a short self-introduction before we got to know our hosts and straight away, without even knowing who he was or what character he had, we were off to stay in their homes. Indeed, it was a bit of a shock and all of us didn't know what to do. But I guess this is all for training our 应变能力。 I was really lucky to get a host who was quite nice. In the car, we chatted a bit, got to know each other a bit more and I guess I did fine.
DAY2:
The second day started with... A WALK TO SCHOOL. lol. not really a bad thing. The walk didn't take any longer than 20 minutes. But it was IN THE COLD. All right. So there I was, walking down the streets, feeling soooooo damn cold even after wearing 5 layers of clothing and looking like some fat snowman. But what was even worse was that when we got to school, we realised that we had to immediately give lessons to the sec 2s. I didn't know what to do. We weren't prepared at all. We did discuss some of our lesson plans before hand but we were neither physically nor mentally prepared. We only knew that we had to give English lessons. These students were in a top school and definitely had high expectations of us. Nothing we could do at that time. All we could do was 随机应变。So there we were, Eugene and I, in a classroom, in front of 70 over students, of whom we knew nothing of and there we were, ready to teach them English. Woah. I would never have thought I would be able to do that. But guess what? WE MADE IT! and we made it really great. We played pictionary and alphabet games with them and before we knew it, lesson was over! The students had fun and Eugene and I had much fun too! Immediately, our confidence rose.
Here, in this class, Eugene and I teach for the first time in our lives.
Me in front of a class of 70+.
Yeah. One of the best moments of my life. The sense of achievement. As we walked out of our first class, it was as if we had completed OBS once more. Everyone in the team had positive comments about the lessons. We were confident we could do it. And sure enough. For the second period, we once again pulled it off brilliantly. Yup. It was just fantastic. After that, we returned to the 会议室 where we had lunch. haha. here will be where our base would be for the next 2 weeks...
老师：现在咱们到会议室去一趟。。。
2 weeks later
Eugene: 现在咱们到会议室去一趟。。。
All right. haha. maybe you won't understand what this is. But Eugene was so proud that he learnt the 东北 slang. But what's more important to me is that we have learnt the importance of taking initiative. But that will be discussed later. Firstly, LUNCH.
Ben Yong smiles before eating his lunch. ><
Lunch!~
Lunch again...
Cytam, Zhuoyang, Douglas, Samson, Eugene.
A closer look at what we eat....
Or at another angle?
Have a look at how sad Zhuoyang is before eating his lunch. (or maybe cytam)...
and compare it with how happy Zhuoyang is after eating his lunch. from this, we can conclude that lunch was delicious.
or maybe this picture? haha. Zhuoyang still looks hungry though...
After lunch, YingJie fiddles with his cube.
random photo.
In the afternoon, we set off to 吉林大学 to visit their museum.
Aaron and me on our way there....
Ben Yap and me on our way there....
ZhuoYang and Douglas with their classic smiles.
I don't know whose hand is that but he loses. Zhuoyang's head which resembles a stone wins your scissors. (:
On our way...
Ben Low and whoever that is. lol. Looks wrong.
Boon Tiong. Wonder what he's looking at...
ZhuoYang, Aaron Tiong, Conan braving the cold streets.
Us walking and Ying Jie flying...
walking again...
random scuplture on the way there.
another photo.
and another one. this time an old man.
WOAH. ok. so we finally reach this place.
Another one...
This is how the university looks from the outside.
All right. So this is the museum...
who wants some skulls for dinner?
or maybe some dinosaur?
But we got bored after some time and decided to take group photos!
random.
Oops. Zhongren. Looks like you're tall no more....
Ben Yong and Conan with their typical smiles.
Chen Chen, Marcus and Ben Yong.
Me, Marcus, Ben Yong.
DINOSAUR HEAD! ewww...
The kawaii pose in front of the dinosaur.
All right. taupok time.
The 2 Bens of 3B.
THE RE GROUP! haha.
Another mass taupok.
How about another one?
And when we get bored... lol. too bad Aaron used flash so his face looks ultra white. haha.
Group photo taken right outside the university. woohoo!
Some random sculpture.
Another one.
So we went back school after this visit. Then, it was time for a 读书报告会。 It was quite a good experience as we got to hear how the China people did their presentations. The general impression I got was that the people over there didn't really use computer much and thus didn't really know how to use them. So their presentations were all not very good but their speech was excellent. All of them memorised their speech and it was totally flawless. No awkward pauses anywhere. It was really amazing. haha. rarh. okok... only took one photo though...
mm... another really brilliant thing about the people there is their ability to control chalk. To control a whiteboard marker itself took me quite some time to master. Chalk is to say the leaast 100x harder than that of the marker... firstly, you have to prevent it from breaking... secondly, you have to hear that screaching noise that it produces... rarh. haha...
And dinner followed with my first host.
Here I am. lol.
It was 火锅 time. haha. fantastic. oh my gosh. love!
Delicious!
Vegetables! Behind that is the hotpot.
So that was DAY2! haha. wonderful day!
DAY3:
Day 3 was around the same as day 2. It started with a walk to school once again. And then, it was time to teach MATH! haha. i think eugene and i did a great job... for our inexperience, we still managed to go through the lesson rather well and taught the class sudoku! haha. after the 1st lesson, we decided to teach the next class even more... so we started on logic and paradoxes! woah. ahha. it's cool stuff... i still remember the first thing i learnt in MATH RA! haha. russell's paradoxx! woohoo! (: After that, it was lunch before BASKETBALL! woohoo. first time we were gonna sweat in ChangChun.
Hmm. Can see Marcus, Chen Chen Jun Xiang and Douglas.
Training.
Shooting practice.
And a match.
while others play table tennis instead. yeah.
all right. so after that, we were all wet. drenched. luckily, the next activitiy was a session of presentations so we proceeded to the LT. This time it wasn't a book review session but rather a speech competition. It was once again really amazing to see how everyone memorised their speech and stuff... haha...
one of the presentations.
so anyway, that was that. didn't take much photos that day, but here is dinner!
This is what they call 春饼。It's really nice!
YUMMY! lol.
ok last one. haha.
DAY4:
I guess this was the best day of the trip. Though it was just like day 3 and 4, it was somehow different. We were going to teach a group of students who were underprivileged. These students came from 龙子心希望中学. They were just like any of us. They were studying just like anyone of us. They were having fun during breaks like anyone of us. But somehow, they seemed different. They seemed too good to be true. They were as clever as the students in 吉大附中，but they were nicer in personality. They studied as hard as the students in 吉大附中，but they always had smiles on their faces. They were almost like the perfect beings. It was almost impossible that these were underprivileged students. From the moment we stepped into their classes, we felt a sense of warmth from within. We saw them smiling at us. Somehow, this school was very very special. For one, this school has been graced by 成龙 himself. This school has only been set up for 10 years or maybe only a bit more. But this school has been achieving fantastic results. This very school which holds students who are so unprivileged that their pocket money per week can be as little as 2 yuan. These students are the ones whose parents live so far away that they have no choice but to live in the hostel. Somehow, these situations do not seem to affect these students. Or even if they do, they seem to affect them in a positive way. All these seem to make them know how to value their belongings and to be satisfied with what they have. Maybe that's why they all seem to be so happy when they saw us. Maybe cause we are too blessed and therefore, we never feel anything when other students from other countries come to visit us in RI. Maybe we take all these for granted. Somehow, the welcome that we got in 希望中学 meant so much more than that of 吉大附中 and maybe even much more than that of RI's. When we reached 希望中学，I felt that these underprivileged students were so much better than that of 吉大附中。 Not until I thought about RI ourselves, 3B when the vietnamese students or whoever (i can't even remember what country they are from), that I started to realise that we were no better and actually much worse than those of 吉大附中。Hmm... enough of emo-ing. Bottom-line is must improve! haha. all right, pictures...
On the bus on our way there... Hmm excited faces?
Zhuo Yang and Samson on the bus. looks like Zhuo Yang gives way this time and sits in the inside... haha. Samson looks like some arrogant businessman...
Me, Eugene and Cytam!
Ying Jie looking chao happy.
The guys at the back. From left, Ben Yong, Ben Low, Boon Tiong, Chen Chen with Marcus below.
The class Eugene and I taught! woohoo.
The guy I sat beside for class (chinese lesson). lol. if not for him i almost would have fallen asleep... ALMOST... (:
One of the lessons was some exchange lesson where we all performed something. So here is a song... (forgot what they sang though...)
another performance! (:
another one!
Eugene and I performing HOME and BATCH SONG!
Another photo! haha.
Another photo of the class...
Eye exercises.
our blackboard during lesson time.
And this is Douglas, Zhongren and Marcus's class. Hmm... looks cool!
Hmm.. another photo!
The students!
Another performance.
And another one...
Aaron Tiong and Ernie smiles while Graham eats.
Ying Jie the new giraffe of our team.
People discuss the day's events...
The cute boy who sat beside Eugene in class. This is also their field where they have assembly and basketball and soccer and whatever...
We have lunch there with the students. Yup, so this is what they eat everyday.
Ying Jie's proud moment on stage. (: omgosh man. his chinese rocks.
The school badge printed big like that in our atrium!
A group photo taken right outside xi wang zhong xue. (: This place has indeed taught me loads.
All right so that was for the morning. In the afternoon, we went to visit some meat-producing place and a mosque. Hmm here they are...
The bus photo that we took right after we left 希望中学。
Another one!
SEE! i never bluff you! Here's the meat... lol.
Eugene Gan and Samson looking good in front of the meat.
Looks like the meat-producing company produces rice too! lol. itchy fingers...
Douglas buys 3 sausages from the meat-producing company...
but takes more time opening the sausage than eating it...
and here's the mosque. really unbelievable that 1/5 of muslims reign from China. Hmm... but i guess China also boasts the world's largest population...
Here's where they pray. Oh and one more thing. This is actually the meat company's mosque. Cause most of their employees are muslim. So the company decided to build this for the employees. Hmm...
A group photo taken outside the mosque. The guy in red on the right was our tour guide for the mosque.
oh yes. After that, we went to the hostel to see Aaron who had fallen sick on Thursday (Day 3). He had had drips taken in a hospital which was described to be super run-down. woah. i'm lucky I didn't fall sick. Anyway, here are a few photos we took at the hostel.
We found this really dark corridor which would have been even more dark had I not use flash. haha. Guess who the man in black is...
Here, we sit down on chairs.
haha. so after that, we went back to school. Dinner was at the host's house this time as we ate 火锅again！Although it didn't look very appetizing, it was actually very nice! haha. love! too bad i didn't take photos. haix.
Day5:
This was sightseeing day. So we set off in the morning to 松花湖。Hmm... breakfast first... haha...
egg! haha.
and porridge...
ok so next comes photos of our trip to 松花湖!
On our way there... Hmm... This reminds me of the vanishing point that our art teacher taught us in sec 2.
Ying Jie and Aaron Tiong smile on the bus...
lol. conan and zhongren. omgosh... so sweet... haha!
Graham and Joel...
Jun Xiang and Guodong...
Eugene Gan and Cytam...
Ben YAP!
And a group one...
And a group one sleeping. haha.
ok. And finally, here we are... So first, there is this explanation about how this great dam which can provide 1.25 times 10^x where x is any number higher than 7 (i think) megawatts of electricity per second if all the dams were opened at once and how it was once captured by the japanese... Hmm..
Listening attentively...
And here is where the Japanese capture the dams... The chinese is on the left and the japanese is on the right. I didn't really listen to the elaborations by the tour-guide but the chinese seem to be standing straight and the japanese seem to be bowing down a bit... Hmm... a bit prejudice? lol... not sure myself...
Here are some of the awards that the dam has received. Me and Zhongren posing with them. haha... would feel proud to win all these...
Zhuoyang posing with some people.
Samson's turn.
And Eugene.
And finally... me.
A train moving on solar energy... wonder what it has to do with the dam though.... but solar energy seems like something big in china.... I've been to two hosts house who use solar energy for their heaters... so if there's no sun, too bad... no chance of bathing for you as I found out for one of the days staying with my host...
haha guess what is this... im not telling you...
So this is the lake...
and right there is the dam... wonder what it'll look like when water actually comes rushing down...
Another photo of the lake...
And another photo of the dam.
Graham posing with the dams...
From left: Ying Jie, Samson, Eugene, Graham...
Random group photo that we took...
And here is the inside where all the machines are... Hmm...
Another one...
Me with the dams...
Ernie, me and Ying Jie with the dams...
the 2E team!
Towards the foreground or rather behind the foreground is the dams... so this is basically what is in front of the dams....
Us viewing the lake...
Aaron Tiong, Marcus and Chen Chen... Marcus really looks like some professional construction worker...
Here's what's beside the dam...
Samson, with Eugene and Cytam as his bodyguards, walking round the dam.
Cytam, Eugene, Samson, ZhuoYang, Eugene, Ben Low and me. LOL. I look totally weird...
Group photo in front of the dam... (:
so after that, it was time for lunch. This was going to be our first and last time eating at a restaurant in Chanchun... Hmm...
douglas being funny again! haha.
Group table photo...
Chicken! roar! lol.
Veggie. Conan's favourite (Conan,"ya rite!"). haha.
The table filled with food...
Here's Zhongren trying out some red hot chilli...
to disastrous consequences... and to make it even worse, ying jie says,"Zhongren, quick drink some water!". and Zhongren drinks water, only for the spicyness too spread even further and spell even more disaster...
Zhongren looks as if lightning had struck him! haha...
The aftermath of the catastrophe...
and byap breaks his cup after pouring sprite into a cup that was previously filled with hot water... lol...
Grp table photo with me looking stupid! haha.
So after the dams and lunch, we went to this museum. There were lots of exhibits there. The first one was this one about how an asteroid hit the earth in Changchun. So here it is...
Here are pieces of the asteroids that landed from space...
And this is the biggest one lol... there were actually 3 (i think... lol...) that came down. so this is the biggest one...
Underneath this asteroid, there's lots of money cuz it's believed that this would bring luck to the people... this is because the asteroid landed so near a village yet it did not kill or harm anyone. so this is supposedly very 灵。
And since we are so 吝啬 and do not wish to waste any money on this rock, we merely try to touch it... Hmm... wonder whether it has the same effects...
And this is the asteroid that you need to pay 10yuan to go in to touch. I didn't think it was worth it but these people thought so. haha. so here they are. aaron tiong, aaron tang, cytam, ben low, samson, eugene, zhuoyang, ernie, conan....
another photo...
A closer look at the asteroid...
Aaron Tiong with the asteroid...
Aaron Tiong and Zhuoyang..
Conan...
After that, we went to another exhibition which was something on art sculptures...
Hmm... so here they are... lol...
This silver dragon looks damn cool...
Cytam posing with some cans...
The next exhibit is about this super rich guy who lived in some apartment with 180+ rooms... But as rich guys find out later in their lives, they don't really get too good a treatment...
like when zhuoyang, ben low and chen chen play staring competition with him...
or maybe even me... xD
All right jokes aside... anyway, this is his house... really big... like some palace...
and here are some of his musical instruments... BL played this before and I TRIED learning this before (to no avail)...
More... can see 小钹 and 小锣 here...
This white tree here shows how trees look like when it snows... lol...
Outside, we find this cool statue. So we start posing with him. Mao Zedong.
Another one.
And at the end of the day, we start to emo...
All right that's all for today!
Day6:
Day 6 was an off day so I was supposed to spend my day with the host. Somehow, although we didn't go anywhere except for tuition, I can't seem to forget this day. Anyway, this was also the day I sat their public bus. I must say that it's a war inside the bus. It's like you must be brave enough to protect your own territory or you'll definitely get squashed... Anyway, I went for double English classes. So here's the first one...
This is the teacher... Juliet's her name... Some pro teacher who can speak chinese too... haha.
Here's the second English class. This time, I decide to take photos with the students instead... Hmm...
This is the tuition centre where I had double english classes in...
Anyway, the English classes were ok. It was quite ego-boosting cause everyone was amazed how "great" my English was and that I could actually speak "rather fluent" Chinese. haha. But anyway, between the classes I had to stone for 2 hours in this coffeeshop cause my host had to do his homework. Somehow, stoning didn't seem boring... We had a seat facing this very busy street... So there I was looking at the street and there he was doing his homework... Well... One of the very few times where I could actually sit down and do nothing for so long...
This is what it looks like outside the coffeeshop...
Hmm... and dinner on sunday was nice! yumm... wait... i have one pic of that...
Yumm... haha. i love the gan dou fu (top right) that they make. it's totally delicious!
Yup. so that's all that happened on Sunday...
Day 7:
Day 7 was the day where we would go visit the elderly in some place near the school... So we first set off to the headquarters....
yup. here it is. 长春社区. cool.
inside the headquarters. The meeting room. Quite a small place actually.
The elderly here do lots of creative stuff from making small sculptures...
To dancing... And they actually have a CO too! too bad i didn't take a photo of that. So after visiting the headquarters, it was time for us to proceed to the elderlies' home.
On our way there...
Wondering how to cross the road...
Cytam doing a random pose again. lol. cool.
Anyway, we finally reached the house... Here lived an elderly woman who had so much to share about her experiences during the WW2. The thing I realise about her, though, is that she really looks down on youths. She starts of by asking 你们可知道今天的平安生活得来不易吧？All right. maybe rhetorical question. I'm not sure. But I did feel a bit errmmm... insulted? haha nevermind. learnt a bit there although I couldn't really understand much cause it was all in Chinese...
Later on, we went off to clean up some park which was already sooooo clean that there was no rubbish for us to pick up except leaves... so we set off picking up leaves...
These stuff are actually plants. But they are wrapped by some stuff cause these plants would not be able to stand the upcoming winter... mmm...
Here we started sweeping the leaves....
Eugene sweeping up some leaves...
Our rubbish bag... It would be full of countless leaves and 1 brick in no time...
So this is the park where we did the clean-up...
And this lake of which top layer was already frozen was in the park...
cool pic.
aaron, conan and ben yong acting as if they are REALLY hardworking.
THE LAKE AGAIN!
Zhuoyang trying to become the new harry potter.
Anyway, we got bored half-way so I started taking pictures with friends I made on the way...
Another of my friend... haha. he looks sooooo cute!
After a short period of sweeping, we walked to this place where apparently the japanese buried the chinese during WW2. It was quite scary. no one dared to go near the building. but anyway, group photo...
yup. the building in the bg is the building i'm talking about.
on the right side of the grp photo..
and on the left side!
All right, so after that, we were back to school, eating... Hmm... In the afternoon, we went to visit a library. omgosh. their library is humongous... they have so many books and magazines arranged in so many different rooms and so many self-study areas... woah. how i wish there were so much self-study areas in our libraries... All right, photos...
The roads in ChangChun... Here began a long walk to the library...
The road we jay-walked on. Hmm... quite a looooooong road?
All right so here we are. CHANGCHUN LIBRARY!
Group Photo in front of the ChangChun Library...
After the long walk, everyone starts sleeping in the library....
woah. what's this!
Inside the library. It looks much more spacious than the Singapore ones cuz they have lots of rooms for differnt types of books and magazines and newspapers of stuff. Much better than Singapore's if you ask me.
Another photo of the library.
Tour guide brings us through the library...
All right. so here we are in the library activities room where a Q&A competition was taking place for the elderly.
Since Ying Jie and I don't really understand what's going on because 1. It's all in chinese and 2. It's issues regarding changchun, we decide to take a photo.
The stage...
After that, we went back to school... had dinner at my host's house... no pics though... sigh...
Day 8:
Today was a slack day. Firstly, we went to visit the school compounds of 吉林大学。oh my gosh. it's humongous. To go from one end of the university to the other, one must take at least 20 mins or even more by car. Anyway, we went to visit the chemistry and physics labs and got to eat in one of the university's cafetaria.
The chemistry labs are located in this building.
yup. Here we are, in the labs. Really reminds me of IBN, except that the lights here are a lot dimmer. Hmm...
and who can forget these... Aaron, Ying Jie and me once used all these to clean the insides of the cartridges... (:
Once again, we got bored after a while... Mr. Au too gets a little bored...
Or maybe Ernie and me get bored....
Or maybe Zhongren and Conan?
Zhuoyang tries mixing 2 chemicals together...
Hmm... this chemical tastes nice!
As messy as IBN? haha...
Hmm... saw this in class before... displacement reaction if I'm not wrong... some metal displaces Ag in AgNO3... correct me if im wrong, JERALD HAN! haha....
Some balancing machine...
So, next was the Physics Labs... There wasn't much to see there except this...
SEM machine... Hmm... so the first SEM machine that I actually see is in Changchun...
Since there was nothing much there, I decided to take a photo with the tour guide who happened to be a physics researcher in that physics lab... Hmm...
Slacking time...
Ying Jie acting smart.
So after that, we had lunch in the cafetaria... mmm...
Food 1.
Food 2.
Well, the food wasn't really the most important part.... Why? Cause that day was Eugene's birthday. So, PARTY TIME!
All right. Eugene here with the cake.
haha. Eugene looking a little too overjoyed....
The 2E group photo...
Ben Yong and Eugene...
The 3B group.
Group photo!
Eugene cuts his cake!
So after lunch, we set off for a walk in the university campus... The campus is really nice! haha. if only RI were like that.
Group photo in the university campus...
The road.
A building!
Another one.
Some really nice empty space. WOAH. i just love this kind of places.
Some school song carved on this large thing.
Us walking along.
So after that short walk in the campus, we got ourselves back on the bus and traversed to the emperor's palace.
Saw this right after we entered the palace. lol.
This clock shows the time at which the emperor then escaped this place when he heard that the japanese were coming. 910pm.
nice stairs.
meeting with the japanese after he was brought back to become a 傀儡 emperor.
Where he used to cut his hair. Apparently, the emperor's hair was so important that it would be a sin to drop it on the floor. The barber must have had a hard time.
Bed. where he slept i guess. ><
another bed. ok i forgot who sleeps here. haha.
seats.
the emperor's seat.
the Gods that he worshiped. It was said that he didn't come here to pray often, so the Gods punished him.
errr... dining table (i think). haha.
baby emperor.
meetings with the japanese. it was said that this emperor was heavily influenced by the west and thus, always wore blazers of stuff like that.
random barbie doll.
pool table.
nice pic.
Group photo in front of an ancient car.
The emperor there was sort of tricked by Japanese and was forced to stay inside the palace and become their 傀儡. So, the people planted this tree. reason? the box around the tree looks like a 口 and wood in a mouth means 困! i found this really interesting... Hmm...
This was one of the pics in the museum. On the right is the emperor and on the left is one of his 4 (or was it 5?) wives. Took this pic cuz I thought the lady on the left had some form of resemblance of Mrs. Low. Hmm... haha. what do you think?
Joel looks really excited. ><
On our way back to the bus, Chen Chen gets cold.
all right. so after the visit to the palace, it was time for dinner again. It was totally delicious this time. and guess what? it's 火锅 again! lol...
washing our hands at this basin... so cool! haha...
YAY! FOOD!
and to show you how grand that place is... woah...
all right, so that was day 8!
Day 9:
Somehow, I felt that that day was meant for me. We weren't exactly a group of good singers. No one ever had the experience of performing on stage in front of an audience. And given a morning worth's of prac only? It was near impossible. The karaoke competition wasn't exactly big or anything, but it was new to everyone in the team. The choosing of songs was in itself a difficult task. Everyone had differing opinions on what songs we should sing. I myself wanted to sing 翅膀. After all, it was really the only song which I knew most of the lyrics... However, I decided that making such a decision would be doing unjust to the others... So, I decided, with Cytam, Aaron Tiong and Graham's advice, to split the 21 of us into three groups first. However, I knew that this too would be a hard task. The problem lied in how some of us were the "in" type while others were the "out" type. I'm not sure whether u all understand but i really wanted everyone to go on stage and have a try, at least experience what it is like to perform in front of such a large audience... In the end, I decided, once again with advice from my 3 co-leaders, that we would allow the group to divide itself, meaning that we would appoint leaders and the others would just join the group that they wanted to join... The 1st group which was supposed to be the musicians was more or less settled. The problem lay in the other 2 singing groups. So the leaders were to be "Zhongren, Conan and me" and "Boon Tiong, Ben Yong, Chen Chen". In the end, we split up into our groups and although we weren't really evenly spread, it was the combination I knew we would arrive at although I also believed that this was the best combination. Anyway, with the groups settled, the leaders of the groups started selecting the songs to perform. I left this task to Zhongren and Conan. The songs they chose were songs I had not heard before and neither had our group members. "约定" and "High" were the song names and I spent the entire of tue evening trying to get used to the songs. I had no idea what we were going to do even on the morning of wed and even had the urge to change songs. But given that my co-leaders had chosen them and Graham insisted on our ability to perform the pieces, I decided to go on with it, hoping that it would all turn out fine. So there we were, on wednesday, in the 会议室, with 7 hours left in front of us and with so many things to complete. There, we practiced Home, our group piece, first. With the help of Graham, our music director and Eugene, our co music director, we managed to work out the piece rather well. It was a good start. Then, we made our way to the sports complex. A wrong decision. We thought that all the instruments would be there for us so we could prac singing with the musicians to work out some coordination but it wasn't so. The instruments weren't there. The only things that were there were basketballs and table tennis. We couldn't resist the temptation and started playing. Knowing that it was useless to start prac without the instruments, I joint in the fun. It was not until a whole half an hour later did the instruments come. Precious time gone. It took us another long period to get the instruments up and running. After that, we broke up into our groups to practice our songs. The musicians worked out the chords, while the other 2 groups worked out the singing. I was at a loss of where to start. Sitting in a small circle, Zhongren suggested playing the song once through. I thought it was a good excuse to let me have some time think through what we needed to go through while refreshing our memories of this song. And yup. It was truly amazing as I pulled off what I would never have thought I could have done. In just a short period of time, we settled the singing parts, our line-up during our performance, some simple dynamics and we went through the song with few errors. Happy with our performance, I decided to let the group rest for 5 minutes. Wrong decision once again as the basketballs and table tennis rackets came into play and it was not until a whole long while later that we got started on our second piece, "约定". Using the same technique, we went through the song and got the stuff up. And before long, we were ready to prac with the musicians. Starting with a group sing along beside the keyboard, we started to learn how to coordinate with the musicians and it was truly amazing how we improved by leaps and bounds. Before long, we were up and ready to perform. Although we weren't really that prepared and there was still much room for error, I believed that with the short span of time and lack of quality singers in the whole group (except maybe boon tiong), we had done an amazing job. It was all down to the performance itself. So there we were, the emcees (which also included samson and boon tiong) kicked us off and the songs came up and running. The first few groups set really high standards for us and before long, it was our turn. Getting the microphones ready and lining up in our positions, we were ready to give "约定" our best shot. We started off shakily, not really knowing when to come in and stuff but we gradually got confident and though it wasn't the best of performances, it was still above expectations. After a couple more songs, it was time for the other group, Boon Tiong's group, to perform. They were performing "安静". It was a really great performance with good 台风 and great singing by Boon Tiong. It was simply fantastic. A few songs later, it was our turn again for "High". We started of better this time and it was a rather good performance. Though we couldn't really get our voices high, we could see that the audience were all getting high. And so, it was all down to our group performance. Ernie and I were leading this piece. And guess what? I screwed up big time. Starting the song which we all know of from the chorus, we sang verse 1 twice and the chorus thrice, completely missing out verse 2. It was really nerve-wrecking as I forgot all the lyrics. Somehow, though, we pulled it off and there was great applause from the audience. It was down to the batch song next. It started off bad once again with us springing into the soprano voices and most of us strained our voices to reach the high notes. I really ahve to thank Ernie for being next to me because it was he who pulled it all off and once again, somehow, we pulled it off, ending the karaoke competition on a high note. Although I must say I made lots of mistakes here and there, especially during the performance itself, I was satisfied with how I led the team in such circumstances. However, it was all down to the team once again. It's hard to know how we did it. But somehow, like always, we managed to pull it all off. It was simply fantastic.
Aaron Tiong, me and Graham, the I.C.s for karaoke.
setting up of the instruments.
YAY! we feel confident we can succeed!
Samson and Boon Tiong confirming their scripts with 叶子. haha. ok i'm reminded of all the jokes regarding this. LOL.
Practice time! Graham and Joel looking good on their instruments.
Joel looking good on the drum set.
We practice 约定, crowding around Graham.
The guitarists trying out the pieces.
The 安静 team prac-ing their piece with the pro Graham.
Graham and Eugene prac-ing together.
And it starts at last! So here we were, after one day of practice, ready to show what we really can do.
The emcees kick us off with their powerful lines.
The first few performances set rather high standards for us. Here's 王心凌's 爱你.
another one with candles.
And another one. They seem to take costumes really seriously.
And another one! This one was really good.
And so now it was our turn! WOAH!
约定!
约定 again!
erm and again...
the 安静 team doing what they do best!
And again!
OH NO! ENVY! The 安静 team gets flowers! RARH! haha. ok nvm.
and so that was that. Not an important day, but an opportunity for me to try out some leadership skills. At the end of the day, the applause and the awards (got 特等奖 for home and 一等奖 for the rest) that we got were all well-deserved given our efforts.
ok so dinner for that night.... only 1 photo to show...
饺子！nice stuff!
Day 10:
Day 10 was an all shopping day. Starting the day off was a trip to the famous 重庆路. I wanted to shop for some books, CDs and a jacket. However, the road was something similar to that of the Orchard Road of Singapore and the stuff there were as expensive as that of Singapore's. Therefore, I decided that it would be quite useless to shop here and instead, we just walked around and tadaa. We found ourselves a 4D theatre. LOL! so we got ourselves tics and there we were watching a 4D theatre show. Hmm... pics.
Douglas, Ying Jie and me at the shopping centre.
the theatre!
Douglas, Ying Jie and me outside the theatre.
This time it's Douglas, Aaron and me.
oh yes. saw this along the road. Thought it would be the thing closest to snow that i would see. not true as i would find out soon enough...
Spinning door of a shopping mall...
Me, Douglas and Aaron in front of the mall...
Me with some random statue.
Ying Jie acting strong.
Tall building.
Hmm... yes. so during out trip to 重庆路，I bought a CD and THIS! HAHA! so cute right! yay!
So after that, we went back to school, ate our lunch and started our reflections about the past few events, karaoke, the visit to the elderlies and the visit to 希望中学。 it was really good to be reflecting on such things as it allowed me to really try and sift out the salient points of each event and really learn from it... yup. so that was that. after that, we got off to another famous street in changchun. This time, it was even more exciting that a mere 4D show. while everyone else were busy shopping, the RE team of 2007 was busying themselves with the trip of the century. We ventured where no one else did. It was, to be honest, the most exhilarating moment of the trip... so what was it?
caught sight of this building from the bus... This, according to my second host, was the tallest building in ChangChun... and yup... you guessed it... Aaron, Ying Jie and I just had to get to the top of it...
It took us a rather long walk to get there from where the bus had alighted us. Actually it wasn't really far away, but we took a big detour... But given the brilliant geographical skills of Aaron's (top scorer in Geog 2006 and 2007), and of course the literature skills of Ying Jie's (lit RA 2007) and of course the most brilliant historical skills of mine (3.6 for sec 1-3... lol... ><), we made it! And we made it to the top (after paying 18yuan...). But it was worth it. From up there, we had a great view of the city below us. Unfortunately, no photos could be taken... So we could only take it from below.... so here it is...
The buttons on the lift. there's a 48 there.
yup here it is. 吉塔 is her name!
Me!
Aaron!
Ying Jie!
Yup so that was it for day 10!
Day 11:
Day 11 was D-day for many of us. It was the trip to the villages. 九台 was where it was and 九台五中 was the school name. It was a rather scary thought. i really wondered how it would look like. Many had said that the conditions there would be horrible. Well, it certainly wasn't good...
the school!
pic of samson and the door to a classroom.
The class that Eugene and I taught in jiutai.
Classroom!
The classroom where 九台，吉大 and raffles had combined activities, in which raffles suffered a heavy loss..
Mr. Au acting cool. lol.
The 安静 team doing their stuff again for the 九台 people.
Some balloon game we played. Same as Singapore. Tie balloons around ankles and try to step on other people's.
Douglas with his cute pose... ><
Mr. Au conducting philo lessons for the students.
ok i know this is disgusting but yup. this is what their toilets look like. No flushing system and no place to wash your hands after you do your business. And be careful not to let your pee freeze before they end up in this drain like thing cuz it's REALLY cold. You are sortta peeing in mid air.
me and my 吉大 host in 九台。
some vehicle which carries hay... blocked the bus a few times...
these people ride motorbikes home. looks like there isn't much that you can't do in the villages.
The road home...
Some people take motorcycles home...
Some people walk home...
Goats in the village...
Night in the village...
Another really cool picture.
WOAH! this is super cool.
And this is Aaron's host's house. A lot different from mine though. This looks more urbanized.
The kitchen.
And finally the bed. Mine was a lot different. Too bad I didn't take photos cuz i forgot to bring it to 九台. SIGH.
The toilets. This is actually one of the better ones already...
oh and they were REALLY fascinated by rubik's cubes. as this pic shows. haha. Aaron gave his.
Eugene with random cow.
and in the morning. we set off on the long road to school once again.
some of the scenery on the way there.
So that was basically it. After I returned to my host's house, we went for lanning where i played some bomberman car game. haha. quite fun luh, but kept losing. >< Day 12:
Day 12 was used for MOUNTAIN CLIMBING. woah. 800m mountain for us to climb. ok. 800m may seem short but when you're going uphill, it's not really so short after all. So here we go!
Scenary we took on our way there.
another one.
ok so we reach the foot of the mountain and began our climb up! YEAH! ok no more descriptions here cuz there's really a lot.
AND REST TIME!
Before we continue!
lol. this looks like queueing up.
me getting tired.
AND WE FINALLY MADE IT TO THE TOP! WOOHOO!
nice scenary!
Joel and Graham look down on ChangChun below.
All right. STOP SPAM! haha. ok so next up, we went downhill.
and out next stop was to the old folk's home! so there we went. It wasn't much. We just went to see their living environment and also met them for a few minutes. So ya. here they are...
Samson and Blow posing in front of the old folk's home.
Group photo!
Ben Yong, Marcus, Chen Chen and Boon Tiong in the meeting room.
An elderly in the old folk's home.
Not knowing what to say, we just look on.
All right. i forgot what this was. doesn't look too good though.
A very enthusiastic elderly who was cheering us on! woohoo!
After that, it was lunch time. We had lunch in the cafetaria of the old folk's home.
All right. So with that ended our saturday. we took the bus back to 吉大 and we went back to our host's house for a well-deserved rest. We have all done it. And we've all done a great job. YEAH!
oh and on our way back, took this pic.
Day 13:
Day 13 was day off again. Once again I followed my host. This time for SHOPPING! haha. we went to these underground places very similar to bugis street. It was HUGE, we got lost quite a few times and kept walking in circles. HAIX. but anyway, it was fun. bought some cheap stuff. haha so hope that one of the things i bought is a gift for you! (: Anyway, no pics that day. It was a slack day so ya...
only pic! some really spicy noodles. 麻辣面. Gosh. I sweated in the cold weather while eating this.
Day 14:
Day 14 was our last day at changchun, supposedly. Well, we'll get to that later. Anyway, it was going to be the day which we would enjoy the most. Reason 1: We could sit in for lessons! YAY! woohoo! it was super fun. It reminded me of the 周星驰 show, 逃学威龙. omg. it was totally cool. haha. i was supposed to be in 2.4 but since i was super nice to eugene and chen chen, i switched class with them for 2.2. Good choice too! My first host was in 2.2! So it was damn fun cuz i was sitting two seats away from him. The girl I was sitting beside was very nice too! haha. WOOHOO! anyway, had english lesson first so it was quite boring. They were memorising some lesson so I just wrote with them. Then, it was philo or something like philo lesson and we were doing something on being 宽容. So anyway, the lesson was rather boring but there was this notorious guy in this class sitting near me who kept talking and stuff (most of the times to me or the girl beside me). but anyway, my host asked me whether I wanted to bash him up, and I, without thinking, and without even knowing what i was saying said, "不可以啦，我要宽容！" haha. and my host started laughing. lol. ok anyway after that, it was geography which was once again boring. They were doing something on the water supply in the world and how limited it was. After that, we had lunch at some posh restaurant!
the "big 4" doing their "gay love" lol.
After that, we returned to our classes for interaction! PICS!
YAY! 2.2 rock on! (:
OH! and it was snowing on Day 14. COOL! We were in class when my host suddenly told me that it was snowing. I was like OMGOSH! On the last day, it snows! YES! And we immediately rush out to play snow. lol.
Zhuoyang and Samson in the snow!
Aaron Tang in the snow!
Ernie in the snow!
Graham and Joel in the snow!
Eugene in the snow!
Graham and me in the snow!
Zhuoyang and Samson in the snow!
Zhuoyang, me, Boon Tiong and Zhongren in the snow!
Ms. Chew in the snow!
Aaron Tiong in the snow!
and again! this time with the tree!
Zhongren in the snow!
Eugene Gan in the snow!
Ying Jie in the snow!
Eugene and Ben Low in the snow!
Aaron Tiong and me in the snow!
Aaron Tang, Eugene Gan, Cytam, Samson and Zhuoyang in the snow!
And finally we embarked on our journey to the airport. Our final GROUP BUS PHOTO! YEAH!
Me with random pose.
Graham and Aaron Tiong looking cool.
Group photo in ChangChun airport!
And again!
However, just as we thought that we were going to go back to Singapore finally, there was a sudden turn in events...
FLIGHT DELAYED.
gosh. so we waited in the airport for a long long time...
playing cards...
stretching...
and guess what. we waited till the airport was to close shop (it was a small airport so no planes flew after 12) so flight was cancelled and we had to board the flight on the next day. Well, we went to a university hostel to stay so I guess it was all right.
Day 15:
The Final Day came at last. We woke up, had breakfast, before having some time to play some fun games like...
SNOW FIGHT!
Too bad Byap. YJ strikes first!
or playing cards?
Well, so that was it. We took the bus to the airport and this time there was no delay whatsoever. Before we knew it, we were in Beijing airport. More photos!
YAY! C for Cytam and O for errr... dunno. but anyway, combine them to get CO! YEAH!
and samson and chunyin. samson acting as if he's sooooo tall...
anyway, there was yet another turn of events! We were stoning in Beijing airport, wondering which plane we were supposed to take back to Singapore when Mr. Au suddenly comes rushing in, saying, "QUICK! THE PLANE IS AT 4. IF WE RUSH WE MAY BE ABLE TO TAKE THIS PLANE. THE NEXT FLIGHT IS AT 12!". oh my. It was 3 already and we hadn't even check in. Luckily, Singapore airlines was kind enough to wait for us.
Singapore airlines back home! YAY! OIP was totally cool. anyway, more pics before a short reflection.
Random pictures taken during the trip:
Eugene and I with class 2.4!
Me with YJ's cute host!
Ben Yong's turn!
another one! forgot whose host this is... ><
some girl who does broadcasting in school.
me with some coolio pose by Marcus, Ben Yong, Boon Tiong and Chen Chen.
Me feeling bored in 希望中学.
YAY! CHEN CHEN! ok lame... ><
Let's play a game! Spot Barry or Vincent!
Me, Samson and Ben Low.
Me and Eugene with his long tongue.
Cytam looking cool.
Some child riding a police motorcycle while we were doing park clean up.
The road we jaywalked on...
Random notice we saw in a blackboard in 吉大. The first two lines were there and the last line was added by us. Seemed really special to me cuz im in jiang tuition centre. haha. and i love jiang.
The weather was so cold the water froze. lol.
Me eating some random food.
My hosts!:
Host1:
He was a really nice guy. Quite rich, a bit spoilt but overall very very nice. haha. i thought that he was one of the best hosts. so yay for him and for me. lol. anyway, pics.
he forced me to do it... ><
he forced me once again!
pillow fight?
haha u lose...
Go6P will be familiar with this. haha. brought it to changchun with me.
Cute piggy.
Host2:
Very nice host once again. He's not that rich, lives on the 7th floor with no lifts but he's really really nice to his parents and practically everyone. So yay to him and me once again!
his words are fantastic.
YAY!
That's where he lives...
Host 3:
Much quieter but still all right I guess. Really rich. haha i got a room to myself! Privacy finally!
His cousin.
haha he looks so fierce.
Host 4:
Took a pic with him but it's with ying jie and since he hasn't sent me his photos yet...
Host 5:
Even quieter. haha. but well, he went shopping with me so i guess i can't complain.
Cute baby! haha.
All right. So here ends OIP 2007. It's been a great experience. I'd love to go for one again. We walked through these tortorous days together as a team and I say we've succeeded. It all ends here but the lessons we've learnt are countless.
ChangChun OIP Team '07:
1. Aaron Tiong
2. Cytam
3. Zhongren
4. Conan
5. Graham
6. Joel
7. Ying Jie
8. Aaron Tang
9. Marcus
10. Boon Tiong
11. Ben Yong
12. Chen Chen
13. Ben Low
14. Eugene Gan
15. Samson
16. Zhuoyang
17. Guodong
18. Jun Xiang
19. Douglas
20. Ernie
21. Ben Yap
22. Patrick
23. Mr Dennis Au
24. Ms. Elsa Chew
we've rocked ChangChun with our spirit! we've rocked ChangChun with our bravery! we've rocked ChangChun with our High-ness!
AND THIS IS OUR OIP EXPERIENCE!
Patrick
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