neunzehn-19

26/3/2011

Saturday.

Went to lunch in school with my buddy today. We went back to the “zi char” store on the 2^nd floor of the 综合楼。The girl who helped us with our order recognized me as the only foreign student daring enough to buy her meals from them (their main customers are the local Chinese students), so she gave me a spoon after she remembered me asking for one during the last time I came。 I was amazed that she could actually recognize me and knew the small things I preferred （a spoon with my meal）, even though I didn’t even know her name. After feeling particularly happier that someone actually remembered my preferences, we stumbled upon a graffiti wall at the back of the student dormitories. My buddy told me that she didn’t even knew this was existed, and no one in their right mind would want to walk at the outside of the dormitory buildings (my mind is on the left), hence no one found out about the wall, unless you were also part of the graffiti crew. 

I must say that their thinking is pretty straight for university students. There may be one destination, but there are plenty of routes leading to it. And we should know at least 1 other route, so when the one you use is blocked for some reason, there is another way of getting through instead of staring and being stuck. 

 

After deciding against staying in the school and going back to the hotel, we decided to take a walk down the block to try and get ourselves in the housing district where the nice houses we saw are. When we exited the school, I was quite eager to turn left and go inside. She showed me otherwise, and we ended up walking for 20 minutes down the same block(!), until I saw just how far the distance was. And then we stumbled upon the entrance of the area, we got turned down by the guard, who firmly insisted “no outsiders allowed”, and you needed “permission” to get inside the district. I don’t think the guards in Singapore would have done that. I would have walked right in. 

But my buddy didn’t. She asked for permission from the guard, to respect his authority. I think there’s where the difference lies. She preferred to seek approval for something we were about to do (and got turned down unceremoniously) and there is the power distance gap present. In Singapore, we’re less restricted in our actions and thoughts, and we have greater liberty to express ourselves openly. They have a more “submissive” thinking and prefer to do as they were told. 

She also shared with me that the foreign students in their school have the liberty of having classes starting later for them (830 instead of 800) because they have trouble adjusting to the habit of waking up early for classes. I think the school’s giving in too much to them. In Ngee Ann we would have gotten marked absent for being late, not mention come into class half an hour late 

Life isn’t fair-.-

achtzehn-18

25/3/2011

Visited a winery today. The company is a joint venture between the French and Chinese government as an attempt to introduce wine to the Chinese population. For a place to have its own vineyard, it seems strange to place it in the suburban industrial town. 

When we got off, there was a guide, who showed us around the compound, and explained to us the business of wine making, and the steps and time involved in a 1.4l bottle of red or white liquid that people buy and keep until goodness knows when. Wine does strange things to people, which includes staking your daughter’s marriage on the guess on the origin of wine (Roald Dahl’s “Taste”), and I prefer to steer clear of it.

What I didn’t know was the employee population of a wine factory. There were certainly a lot of people going about, and many looked like students earning extra pocket money during their free time. They didn’t seem mind coming to the wine factory for work. I would have raised a stink about the distance, but they seem to take it all in stride. The factory is deep inside the industrial estate, and the nearest residential area seemed like half an hour away (by private bus), I can only imagine how long they would have to travel each time when they go to work to earn extra pocket money. I hope the company provides worker’s lodgings or private transport. Asking them to commute this distance to work each day seems a little too much for shift work. 

They certainly do not mind going through all that trouble for extra allowance. If it was me, I would pick a place closer to my house although it may have less pay, I spend less time and energy travelling to and fro. 

Even so, china’s sale of alcohol is much more open than Singapore’s, and I keep seeing specialty shops selling imported liquor and cigarettes. I guess these are the more indulgent habits of the Chinese. To smoke and drink, something I do not see any logic in. I prefer sleeping and drawing. 

I hope my dad doesn’t pick up those habits.

siebzehn-17

24/3/2011

I think there must be a mistake

I don’t think I deserve such marks for the APPG theory test 1. I didn’t do the preparation properly. Didn’t do it the way I would have preferred. I got a nasty shock to learn I had an A for the test. I was only expecting a b+ at most, given that I take more time to understand things and do it slowly in class, where everyone seems so far forward in front, ahead of time, and so on. I would also like to be ahead of time. Tired of running after it. 

Final test is less than a week’s time. Mr Chua ran a trial lab test today, and I must say I only know how to do what the question requires. The extra enhancements don’t come to me. And I will think to myself “where do these people see the enhancements for the program? I only see what is required…” 

After deciding to stay back in class for lunch, I decided to visit the laundry shop again today. The boss told me that he found the pockets were coming apart, so he decided to send it back to the shop and to come back tomorrow. I’m amazed at his dedication for taking a simple job (washing my coat) and going to the extent of ironing, which would have cost more in Singapore, but he decided to throw that in for me, free of charge. Well, it showed that if you want something done, the Chinese can do it for you, and they’ll do a pretty good job. 

I’m visiting the laundry shop again, and this time, it’s going to be a wash of all my clothes (so my mother will not have to wash everything when the luggage is unpacked). Besides, they come back all folded, so I can just directly put them inside. Saves the hassle of folding and arranging. 

Organized bonding session in the afternoon. My buddy turned up (skipping class) for it, and I spent my time catching up with her more than enjoying the performances my fellow group members put up. She actually had plans to further her studies in a Singapore university before enrolling in Tianjin technological university, and she asked about the post degree options available. What struck me was that she didn’t mention about her future career path, but preferred to set her sights at a bachelor’s/master’s program, making it easier for her to find a job in the future. Going to work seemed less important than furthering studies. 

For a 20 year old to say that, she must be much more mature than the peers in Singapore. Some can’t even decide what do they really want to do with their life and choose to whirl it away in the party. I think having at least a blue print of your life for the next 10 years after graduating from Ngee Ann is bare minimum to get on a suitable career path. I think she had her plan long ago down on paper, and now every bit is coming true,

sechzehn-16

23/3/2011

I decided to study downstairs. Talk about conditioning. For some reason, I thought concentrating on the APPG would block out the thoughts about the cold that were coming to my head. 

I didn’t expect it to work. It did. As I was scribbling the notes, I wasn’t expecting anyone to come. No one in their right mind wants to go downstairs in 0-4 degree Celsius weather to study in the half darkness. I was wrong. Some Chinese guy went down to read what looked like a rather thick book with small font. Never did I think that anybody had the same crazy thoughts as me. The ideas inside my head are not of the regular things. 

This must be the common experience shared by students studying in cold countries. It’s too cold to do anything else, except to sit down and study. Explains why us Singaporean students seem so slack at home, but do well overseas. At home, it’s too comfortable and we tend to be more relaxed and slack more, given that we are familiar with our surroundings and tend to be at ease. However, when put into a new environment, the “flight or fight” mindset takes charge and we end up fighting against the environment and that’s why we tend to do better. Although we may seem to be studying or working in a new place, but the truth is we’re fighting. We’re fighting for our lives, we’re finding ways to adapt and gain acceptance of the new community, and that’s what makes these foreign students so competitive in their studies, why these overseas employees are so hardworking, and why the foreign bosses are toughest. It’s not that we’re cold, aloof or anything like that, it’s just that we have trouble adapting to this environment for now, but we will be alright. 

I shall try to be a better friend to the foreign students in school from now onwards, having understood and experienced being in their position. If this is the pathway to success in the future, so be it. To experience this just to get an overseas university degree, no I don’t mind. I’ll gladly do it. Savor the fight, and the road to the end seems shorter than it was.

funfzehn-15

22/3/2010

Theory test 1 and tour of the ECO city

Theory test 1 today, I came to class armed with nothing. Borrowed a pen and did my test. I hope the results come out well and I don’t fail the test or anything like that. I hope everybody did well, so there is no failure rate in the group.

Moving on

Had an ecocity tour today. The guide who came with us seemed to know much about Singapore, and he was proud of it too! I think Singapore left a very good impression with the locals, and when the shopkeepers and man on the street we interact with learn that we’re from Singapore, they seem even friendlier to us and sometimes offer us discounts. Talk about first impression, we sure do leave a good one.

Even on the bus, when the guide learnt that we never had a proper city tour, he asked the driver to slow down when the highway goes past parts of the city, like the sports stadiums and skyscrapers, allowing us to take photos even on the road. The best part was that the other vehicles on the road didn’t seem to mind and nobody honked at us for blocking their lane. They just simply drove round the bus. In Singapore, if you did that, the driver behind would probably curse and swear. 

That’s a totally different reaction to the same situation. In china, there is a strong idea of community and family, much emphasis is placed on it. In Singapore, such a culture is not so strong, and there is a “me” thing going on, especially in my peers. I think after I return from this trip, my thinking and perception might have changed completely. There is so much in their thinking that we can learn to adapt into ours. I also learn to live less indulgingly, buying what I only need and learning to use things slowly, for the store to buy things isn’t located exactly downstairs, but a walk away. Neither do I have the luxury to tap into the housekeeping fund, nor can I borrow from somebody. 

When the bus pulled outside the welcome centre at the eco city, we saw the flag on top of a flag pole; it felt exceptionally heartwarming to feel that Singaporeans overseas are being remembered. And the flag may not seem significant to them, but it is of great importance to us.

vierzehn-14

21/3/2011

Monday-.- one more day before the common test. We were assigned “weekend homework” of 2 past year’s papers. Sad to say I was in the middle of my 2^nd one. *sighs*

Attended a Chinese philosophy class today. For some reason it felt as though whatever the lecturer spoke about the different forms of thinking sounded like the ideals I learnt as a child. He actually went to the trouble of looking for video clips for us to watch. It spoke a lot about him, how much he took his job seriously and how much he enjoyed it. If it was me, I would just play the videos in class and not do any explanation. I mean, watching a video engages the eyes and ears, and it’s a faster way of getting things inside your head. No, but he still did it anyway, and he was willing to explain it again in case we got stuck somewhere.

Finally found a tailor shop in the school today. When I brought my coat in (dropping buttons), the boss initially mistook me for a local Chinese. She even hazarded a guess that I was from the Fujian province. She was surprised when I told her I was from Singapore, and I do have ancestors in the area. She then told me I didn’t resemble one just by judging the way I conversed with her in mandarin, and sharing with her my aspirations for the future. The shopkeeper was a retired seamstress, and she opened the shop in the school compound in the afternoon, saying that business is slow now, given that people would rather buy new clothes then takes them to the tailors for a repair. I guess china’s going through a phrase of pushing out the old traditions and including new ideas into their culture, 

Maybe I’m just old fashioned, but sometimes I can’t bear to throw my clothes away. The ones I don’t really like come out looking brand new; the ones that I keep wearing look old. And then I can’t bear to throw the ones I like, and the ones that I don’t I can’t toss them out. Argh.