zehn-10

Finally caught up with all the overdue blogging at last.

But at the expense of my own health.

I’m starting to shiver more often. No, I’m not going to drink, because it will kill me. I already had heartburn after a sip to Choya. I cannot imagine if it’s even more than the 1 sip. 

APPG AGAIN! Today. I need to bring the german book to class soon, so I can read it during the break, whenever I decide to sit in class instead of walking around. 

It’s still cold, even if the sun makes everything look 2 hours later. 

I didn’t feel too good today. I thought I could leave my bag in class and come back to the school after the break for evening classes. I walked back to the hotel and took a nap.

When I woke up, my roommate was already inside and her bag was already on her bed. I remembered mine in class and instantly got up. (Class had changed location) She pointed to my bag lying on the side of the frame. Then I remembered that my bag doesn’t come with a built in wheels and GPS and doesn’t move on its own, it then dawned upon me that she had to carry my very heavy bag all the way back to the room (I presume everybody else went back to take theirs, except me, cause I was sleeping) or maybe somebody did.

She then went out for dinner with the rest of them and came back with a bottle of coke, which one of the guys had bought for me, saying it did wonders with whatever I was down with. ( I still don’t know)

To thank them all I shall treat them to lunch tomorrow. I’m just hoping that they won’t order for the expensive stuff and make me bankrupt.

Oh well, I hope I feel better tomorrow. And even though we may not be close now, but we’re growing closer and taking care of one another. That’s something you can’t get in a short period of time

sieben, acht, neun-7,8,9

3 days of posts here ^.^
I'm trying my best to catch up

14/3/2011

Start of the second week today. APPG lessons are in full steam ahead, with mr chua deciding that we should be hitting the end of chapter 4 by this week. HA. I still can’t get certain chapter 1 terms right, and chapter 4 is halfway of the book already. It’s like building a house. Foundations are very, very important.

That’s all for APPG

IS class. First part is a Chinese class, but nothing too serious, we had an interesting lesson on the history and development of Chinese characters, and Chinese words we see today actually came from the many numerous little drawings found on turtle shells. Even if people didn’t have written form of communication, the little drawings were their way of passing down information from 1 person to another. I think they must have been very good in art. I haven’t got a chance to carve anything, save on turtle shells

The next person who came in was a finance speaker.. He started a talk on the finance and economics of Tianjin, which pretty much knocked out many of us, including me. I don’t mean to be rude, but it’s hard to keep awake when you’re not remotely interested in the topic and scope of the talk. I shall attempt to keep myself occupied or alternatively to commit what I hear to memory.

Made an interesting observation today. There does seem to have foreign students in the school, but I see that there are a few in the arts faculty. And they do seem to dress well, carrying coffee cups and walking around in matching jackets and boots. 

15/3/2011

Extended APPG lesson today. That isn’t the point about the blog today

Contacted my parents in the afternoon today. My voice was shaking really badly when I spoke to them. Everything, everything I loved and worked so hard for was speaking on the phone with me. It felt as though someone pushed the pause button of my life and all of it came rushing back. I thought I had forgotten completely about them. I was wrong, and I’m glad I am. 

My dad texted me in class today, to warn me about the radiation outbreak in the region. I felt like crying when I saw his messages to me (which I haven’t got a chance to open), and he actually texted back! We then proceeded to a have a short conversation until he pulled the plug on it and told me to pay attention in class to “concentrate on your studies, it will open the door to your future”(to quote)

My parents do work hard to earn money to keep the house running in order. And the living expenses are high, so we were taught to lead a simple life without the frills. 

Only “This = Love” by The Script says it so well:

It’s in the face of a mother
As she takes the force of a blow
And its in the hands of the father yeah
As he works his fingers to the bone yeah

If it wasn’t for them, I probably would never have the one in a lifetime chance to come. 

So I shall. 

I shall get an A for the 2 modules.

I will attempt to resume my normal diet, no matter the given circumstances

I shall try my best to make them stop worrying for me (it isn’t very nice)

I will make them proud of me.

And I will be proud of them letting me go

Actually, I already am. Not many are keen to see the children go on a 5 week trip. Let’s just say my parents are slightly more open-minded

16/3/2011

We seem to do nothing but APPG. I need to pick up my German books again (which I brought along), so that it isn’t that hard studying for APPG. When you’re tired of constantly using 1 side of your brain, it’s sometimes good to stretch the other side as well, so that your brain gets a well rounded workout.

Today we had the afternoon off to do whatever we wanted. Some of us went shopping at the shopping district, but my friends and I had taken the liberty to walk around the area, which is a really, really nice area to live in. there is a large variety of food available, there are shops in the area which sell daily necessities, the university is close by, security is good, the transport is quite convenient, it’s also close to the city centre (except that there doesn’t seem to be any subways in the area), and it’s really picturesque. 

I don’t see any reason not to come back. Just that the lack of subway systems could get some getting used to. And the lack of a CD shop too. 

My sister went online again today, this time more about the Japan quake. She tells me that Singapore’s plan to build a nuclear reactor will be put on hold for now. My mother is starting to get worried, for I am the supposedly the “closest” person to the source of radiation. My asthma is still there (but it’s much better now) and she’s afraid that it will affect me in some way due to my weaker lungs.

I understand completely. She’s just trying to keep us together. That hasn’t happened in a long time

6-sechs

I'm a slow writer

13/3/2011

Sunday at last in Tianjin. Usually it’s the day for visiting grandparents in my house, so everybody goes over there for lunch. Everything would most probably remain the way it is, just that I’m not there as well. It’s amazing how one small difference can change everything. 

But it’s these little things that change as much as the people next to us. everything may appear to be the same on the surface. But when the cover’s gone you’d be surprised to find out what lies underneath

Went to a shopping street today. We took a bus from a busstop outside the school, and a 45 min bus ride later, we reached the street, which has great resemblance to singapore’s Chinatown during the Chinese new year period: Very, very crowded. 

I got to admit, I’m not a big fan of shopping, and I prefer to do research before actually buying anything or visiting the shops. But I pretty much enjoyed myself there, given the number of shops which sell rather interesting items. I bought 2 暴力熊s cause I thought they were really, really unique. 

My group decided to do a little detour and we ended up on the food street in the area. The street sold literally nothing except food, and there were a wide variety of food there. After trying many of the food sold, we asked around for directions to get to a mosque a few streets away. 

I was sold on the idea of walking to the mosque, because we had to cut through many of the back lanes and quiet streets to get to it. Walking to the mosque was long, but it provided much insight to the life of ordinary citizens in Tianjin, living in an old estate area and getting on with their own lives. The pace of life seems relaxed and not so stressful, compared to Singapore, where everything has a deadline stamped across it. 

I think that should be the way of life. Slow down your steps to see small achievements you have accomplished, savior the process of hard work, and look forward to the future.

5-funf

Why is this post on saturday doing on a tuesday night?
I owe alot of things, so I'm striking them off one by one

12/3/11

First Saturday spent in Tianjin city. We boarded the bus together, much to the horror of the bus driver, who noticed that there were so many foreigners squeezing themselves up the bus, many of them speaking mandarin with a strange accent and mispronunciations aplenty. 

Taking the bus in Tianjin is very much like in Singapore. There are numerous bus lines, and fares, just that all the signs are in Chinese and I don’t know any of the places the bus drives to. Fortunately, we stay in the city suburbs, and getting around the city will not be a problem, given the many different bus routes that pass through the area.

Our 1^st stop today was the city’s food street. We got off from the bus stop and walked through the city streets to the food street. As we walked through the streets together, curiously there were no people looking at us, unlike in other places, we would have drawn stares all around. I believe the people here are used to seeing foreign students coming to Tianjin to study; some have taken the liberty to guess where we were from. Along the way, the bus passed by a few universities within 30 minutes, showing the number of universities set up in the area.

Tianjin is starting to look like Boston to me. Boston is an American university town, with many of the prestigious Ivy League schools located in the vicinity, whereas Tianjin is a Chinese city with many education avenues and high end research facilities as well, making it a university town with history. I guess there’s where the appeal of studying in Tianjin is. The visitor attractions mostly have something to do with history and culture, which promotes an overall culture for learning, which is beneficial to anybody, even if they’re not caught up with studying. 

So we walked through the food street, sampling the wide variety of food available, eating the popular food along the way. 

Next we walked through the relatively quiet city centre to get to the old street. Some of us had self portraits done by an artist who charged 10 RMB for each one. Not only that, he was pretty fast too!

I’m coming back one day to these places. They are really, really beautiful

*Gasp* it's rubbish

4- vier

I’m a terrible procrastinator. Got caught up watching “Letters from Iwo Jima” last night

But still

11/3/2011

2^nd session of APPG class, as well as IS. My dad told me about his summer school experience when he was in university many years ago, and I’m afraid whatever he told me is exactly happening now. I’m following his advice (like many times before) and just focusing on the modules instead of letting my mind wander to things like shopping, spending and all the deemed normal things to do on vacation.

I’m not normal to begin with.  

This isn’t a vacation. This is life as a foreign student. I don’t mind leading this kind of lifestyle. I guess this is the price you would have to pay if you would want to attain an education overseas. Not that I mind paying it. I would gladly do it. I still like the boundary push.

APPG class. I need more practice. And more practice. It’s like learning a new language to me. I took 4 weeks before understanding the basic COMPRO. I better start at APPG. I only have 3 weeks to learn everything.

Didn’t bring my camera out to class today, there was an art demonstration lesson. The school had an experience master to come into class to demonstrate to us Chinese knot tying and “word painting”(representing each individual Chinese character with drawings of fish, flowers and etc.) I have heard of the master before, but I didn’t expect the university would actually invite him to give us an art lesson. I had learnt some really basic Chinese art before, and it felt like a refresher to me. 

I respect the master a lot. For him to stay dedicated to his craft to such a long period of time require not just patience, it also involves facing rejection and sometimes passion to stay on for so long. Compared to me, where I give up a bit too easily at times, he has certainly mastered the art of dedication. Kudos to people who can do what they want and like for a very long time. 

And then, we were told to head back to classroom after dinner at about 730.

730 came and we were walking through the campus in the dusk. The campus certainly looks different then what it is in the day. The well worn corridors look like straight off a horror movie set, and some of the corridor lights were not even switched on. For the record, I don’t even like horror movies-.- Amazingly some of the classroom lights were still on. Sirs explained to us that there were night classes or study sessions going on, and could we keep our volume down while walking out?

No we can’t. Sorry. 

Night lessons in Singapore are usually linked to evening classes, tuition, but an extension of regular day lessons are unheard of. Not in Tianjin. This shows a lot about their culture, how they pride hard work, education, and they are willing to sacrifice their free time in the evening to do extra study sessions, compared to us Singaporean students, where such things would only occur during the exam preparation period. I am somebody who does that.

My Buddy was texting me all afternoon. I think she’s going to have a hard night study session

drei-3

“Keep you in the dark

When you know they all pretend

Keep you in the dark

And so it all began”

Lessons start today. It feels strange sitting in a classroom in your coats and books. And when mr chua calls out my name in class, everything for a while feels like I’m sitting in the 1H12 lecture group and he catches me for not paying attention. 

Until everything starts to sink it and I find myself looking at the discounted pencil case, discounted backpack, discounted class size and discounted classmates. And I remember that I’m not in Singapore anymore, and the co-op is a few thousand kilometers away. So is the regular girl’s bathroom. I walk in through the freezing corridors towards it. It isn’t as bad as I thought. My record was a squatting toilet w/out the door. You’re not in a position to preen yourself up in front of the mirror. Unless you like standing in front of a dingy mirror and an old sink, go ahead. Maybe it’s these little things that they don’t have that make them adapt to the lack of luxuries in their life. And they do have a lot of fighting spirit and drive, and that makes them so adaptable to their surroundings. 

I still think I lack that spirit of fighting. I still slack about, daydream, blah blah. The mould of a model student does not fit me. 

Compared to these students, I have not achieved anything impressive or worthy of mention. I’m just a Singaporean girl who spent her 17 years quite comfortably. Nothing to be proud of. The only “qualification” to deem it worthy is when it gets mentioned in the newspapers for the right reasons.

We had a lunch break before attending the first IS class module

Topic for IS: Tianjin introduction.

Yes, it’s true. The teacher was kind enough to prepare us a variety of slides regarding almost every aspect of Tianjin. Unfortunately I was already switched off despite her best efforts to engage us in her presentation. 

Until she started to the play the speech that I then started paying attention. I was interested in how the news analyst did his take on the major revolution events that happened thorough out his life. I do enjoy a good story, and I think the best way is to hear a person’s experience of having gone through it, I’m thinking of a way to get my hands on a copy of his speech. Many points he mentioned, coupled with his own experiences, they tell a story not in the books

Not those books were present during the Cultural Revolution. They burned them all. Sometimes I wonder what these people are thinking

1+2

SO! We were all expecting a little something.

8 March

· Fly

To be honest, I’ve been anticipating this trip for a really long time already. I crave for independence, and this is probably the best test/trial I have at my shot at having it 24/7. To me, independence is like food and water; I highly value it. It is also a prize to be earned, slowly but surely. Earning it may be painful and long at times, but it is always worth it. I came for the trip to strike off 2 modules in year 2, spend 3 weeks worrying about my year 1 ones and learn my way around the streets of Tianjin and the workings of independence

I’ll learn. Slowly

9 March

· Realization

I have barely spent 24 hours here to realize my dependence on fruits. Cut, whole, juiced, dried, anything. I still hate them baked. Kills the flavor, vitamins, etc. There doesn’t seem to be any fruits stall around here. All they seem to have are 煎饼s and cigarettes by the boxes (think a dozen).

This air is killing me. I feel like a water plant suspended in the air. The air is very dry and dusty and driving me nuts. Maybe it’s because of my heavy water dependent diet I’m used to (2 cups of warm water before tooth brushing session, snacks replaced by tons of fruits enough to open a fruit store, no soft drinks in the house, food is steamed, seasoning kept to a minimum..) I guess that’s the only thing I’m heavily dependent on-water!!

I don’t mind the cold. It’s just the lack of water I will never catch the hang of. Just where can I get those water purification pills? I’m sick of looking at milky water when I turn on the tap. And I do want to drink water w/out seeing the dust at the top of it. I don’t mind if it’s dirty, cold, warm, whatever, but I do need my water. Tons of it. I don’t think the recommended daily dose of 2 litre is enough for me. I easily cap a 3 or 4.

I’m not a camel. I’m a fish. Hell I need water. Tons of it

Moving onn

Went to the university for the first time today, their campus is pretty big and flat, and there seems to be pretty much everything inside it. Save for the fact that it’s dry and I can’t seem to find any water coolers-.- but the school has pretty interesting art installations and architecture and culture, But it’s too early to make any conclusion yet, and I can’t wait to find a small nook in the middle of the school no one knows about yet.

That’s all that’s stuck in my head for now. The lack of water messes with my ability to blog/write. Sorry.

I write rubbish. How true