Live @ Xi-An

2006-09-28T21:42:00.000+08:00

there was another recent article but it wasn't good news. A teacher in a school in the city of Xi'An banged a girl's head onto her table a few times, used some pipe or metal rod and whacked her on the head and when she was unconscious, he told the class he "was taking her to the campus clinic"...

But just then, he flung her out of the window and she dropped to her death at the school grounds. This is one of those horrible news that perpetuates the kind of crazy behaviours which stressed people can demonstrate. I think it's horrid to hear that no one in the class stopped the teacher while he was hitting the student.

Well, i am not sure which school it was...maybe you can check it out on the net.

german student wants to join the army...CHINESE one though!

2006-09-24T20:29:00.000+08:00

hey guys, interesting article I came across...but i lost the newspaper so can't scan in...

anyway, there is this foreigner called Pablo who went to the Terracotta Warriors Pit 1, i think, and he put on the ancient uniform, which consists of helmet, tunic and the shoes bah. There was this picture showing him and he looked exactly alike!!! The thing was, he jumped into the pit with the outfit on, and he just posed like that. Can you believe it? The security ppl had trouble even spotting him but finally, they got him and dragged him out of the pit. Fortunately, he was given a stern warning and released.

Just searched for an online article on this incident, here you go: http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/travel/story.html?id=efd23baa-6f31-4785-a08d-402639c7ae64&k=57959

2006-08-19T22:24:00.000+08:00

hey guys, we start postin all the feelings and recollections about the trip now? yea, as in, write down our comments and heartfelt wishes and all...those who can't post, comment or post a quick reply on the left-hand side where the tagboard is...just anything to add in as there might be details which we've left out...

and perharps, any wishes we wanna give to XiAn counterparts or tkgs gals...may be even some encouragement phrases for upcoming exams and tight sch schedule...anything will do except SPAM.

thx,
gavin

2006-07-29T13:35:00.000+08:00

***NEWS UPDATE!!!

About 30m of a section of the Great Wall in XiAn had collapsed recently. I meant, the side. You see, the Wall was actually undergoing a 398m reconstruction. This 30m section was the middle of the whole planned section for the maintenence.

In detail, the Wall, as many China nationals have cited saying that the Wall in XiAn was similar to a house withstanding many quakes since the dawn of its birth. It was poorly constructed such that bricks were just a cover to hide all the soil and mud that made up almost the whole Wall. Yes, instead of solid rocks. Thus, after resisting so much weather tempers, it has finally given way. Even supporting structures below failed to act as the preventive measures that the ppl thought it would.

According to the officials in charge of the Wall, they commented on how cracks have been appearing at the sides,how the soil quality was bad and that there were even parts of the Wall where there were empty spaces that collects water when rain comes.

(taken from "Zaobao CHINA" 27/4/06, cover pg)

"Reflection: To think when we were up there, I felt rather secure with the
Wall and we even stand at the sides, where it was actually
so dangerous. I thought as it could be trusted as it is made up of strong
stuff as can be seen from exterior, never thought it was soil inside. I wouldn't
have jumped or stamped on the ground. O0ps."
-gavin

i have the article. will upload pic soon to show u the magnitude of the collapse.

just to share, while i was publishing this post, i realised that the date today is 29/7 and that our first post which is the 1st day of our trip was 28/5. it suddenly occured to me that it has been TWO MONTHS already yet the memories stay so fresh, as if etched into my mind already. and yes, we're still hoping for a reunion, to have fun together again.

Epilogue

2006-07-27T19:27:00.000+08:00

Something to Think About

****Sigh****

I'm sure we'll all miss the Xi'an trip. Looking back, I think of all the friends made, all the good times spent there, all the food, all the new experiences, and all the times we made fun of the teachers and I can't help but to wish that we had spent a long, long time there. Sometimes, like right at this point in time when I'm typing on the keyboard, I'll feel lonely and just wish that I could travel back in time and relive the trip as many times as I could. Then I'll come to realise that all earthly things, good or bad, will come to an end. And that we must cherish the times we spent, friends we made, and even teachers made fun of and fights that we all had. Staring blankly at the screen, I'm reliving the times and experiences over there, somewhere far, far away over the horizon. A place called Xi'an, where we not only had an exchange trip, but had a great time.

I'm sure I'll have many dreams about Xi'an.

Final Day ...

2006-06-08T22:13:00.000+08:00

Alright...this is hard to write bacause this is the last day we will be spending in Xi'an. To start...we woke up late..ate breakfast before our final packing. after that... some who packed up quick started to walk to the porch. As we walked..jianda started waving goodbye to everyone.haha The students were somehow stunned and reacted by acting "dao" till finally one of them waved back. The staff(security guards, cleaners) were more spontaneous, waved back and jianda was like going "woohoo! they waved back at me!" well everyone gathered at the porch and took a group picture:
then its students with the local teachers! :
After much persuasion from teachers, we finally got on the coach which drove us to the airport. well...it was a smooth journey and we reached the airport at 11am where we got off and started taking pictures with teachers again....
well at last we got on the plane.....sad..saddened even more when we reached Guangzhou airport..burned our pockets when we bought food. reached singapore airport at 1 am due to DELAYS,TRANSIT! tired as we adapted back to our tropical island, brought out reserves to meet our kins , fell asleep at our home-scented beds...haha..the journey in Xi'an..a memory that would continue to follow us through our own diferent stories where once 29 marists and 4 teachers were in a story...(sounds weird?)

2006-06-07T16:47:00.000+08:00

ok

now 2nd last day of our china trip in xian. normal routine lor morning call then i go bathe in the cold water of the morning. today i took a really long time coz i want to remember the water of xian..... lol? then we had our breakfast and boom we are off to shu yuan men. waa i regreted sia i never go the shooping mall with mr goy if not i can buy my branded goods.... but anyway i made my trip to shu yuan men a worthwhile wan. crave three stamps onto white jade lions... i cant believe me good taste... forgive me if i am blowing my own trumpet. then i got 2 scrolls of seasonal painting for my maternal grandmother and some fans for my paternal grandmother... lor ok chee yong sorry if u find this offensive... next time bring the price of the products lower first dun be soooo gan cheong and pay for it.
then in the afternoon we went back to school and well i played the whole of the afternoon with roman daryl glen and alex. ok blahs nothing else more to write and readers i hope u understand the sad feeling of departure. sobbbbbb ok ending now bye.

2006-06-06T12:31:00.000+08:00

ok now day 10 of 12 in china for our xian trip. can i cry? cuz this this the last day we are studying there in their secondary department. suddenly it feels like just yesterday i arrived from the airport and entered Gaoxing no.1 high school. well su yu shuo tian xia mei you bu shan zi yan xi. ok my xian friends i will miss u always. :) haha at least i did not forget to take some pictures... ok now on the gift exchange thingy.... i am sooooo happy sia i got presents fron north south east west ah. total of 4 presents. all from girls somemore. i noe i veri attractive hor? okok just joking. and well after tat dear ms venessa tan gave me a multicoloured crayon( looked more like a long lipsictk with lots of colours actually) and well gave me a title of u noe... satrting with c................a. (guess the word?) ok lah cassanova. ok now let me cry in peace. waaaaaaaaaa

2006-06-05T22:01:00.000+08:00

Today is like any other day. Well, basically the same routine like the other week days. It is just that we had gone to all sightseeing places scheduled. Just to repeat, we woke up at six and met at the lobby 50 minutes later. Then, we had breakfast and some people were late......

Later, we took the bus to the school and ten minutes later, we were in the school, prepared to enter the classroom for lessons. The lessons were basically english, chinese, physics and maths. For me, I feel that the only lesson I enjoyed was english. It could be because the rest of the subjects are conducted in chinese which is not to our liking. As it is the second last day we will be attending lessons in Xi An Gao Xin School, both the students from the school and singapore started exchanging parents as well as take photos to remember the times we are there.

In the afternoon, we had chinese culture lessons on chinese music. We were asked to name the different instruments and it was quite easy for the CO members. Hee hee..... The rest of the lessons were basically preoccupied with eating bubblegum and blowing bubbles. Of course, not to miss the part where Dewei, Reginald and Wai hoong were caught by Mr Chua. Nothing happen to them except spitting the gum out. But did they really spit it out?

(Note by Jose: How could anyone forget the singing?)

（By Jose: Our Singing teacher: For links to singing video, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjzHmFK1u20)

The rest of the day was free and easy. Everyone continued slacking around the place., moving from 1 room to another. Like any other day, we had parties and "gambling dens", not exactly gambling because no money was involved.

Later, we went to sleep, just as usual.

2006-06-04T18:27:00.000+08:00

Muhahahahaha! Today is shopping day. School was replaced by a visit to the famous Bell and Drum Towers, located somewhere right in the middle of the city area. Well, almost many of the sightseeing tourist spots are in the city area of Xi-An. We were introduced to the different bells that the Chinese use for different occasions, different seasons.

(Note by Jose: What? No mention of the city walls?)

Words carved on the walkway of the wall

Next, at the Bell Tower, there was this group of people playing the ancient chinese musical instruments: yang qin, di zi (flute), pi pa, etc. And, at the back, were many bells of two rows. The smaller bells on top, the heavier and bigger ones on the lower row. Two ladies had this wooden rod in which they used to hit the bells: one hitting the above row to get the treble note and one hitting the below to get an occasional bass note. The funny thing was, they played some popular household tunes like Jingle Bell.

(Note by Jose: The Drum Tower was left out! How's that possible?)

The players
For their performance of lao hu mo ya, go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZfwZSTzJIk

Row of Drums at the drum tower

One of the plates at the bottom of the drums

One of the performers at the bell tower
For their songs, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2CZd-Cqr40 and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnABlJW20bI

Later on, we proceeded downstairs to the 'Muslim' street to get our gifts for our friends and relatives. Before i go into the details of the shopping, let me start with what happened earlier in the day. We went into a sightseeing venue (of drum tower) and watched the Chinese Orchestra performance. However, the main focus was on the drums. The prices of the souvenirs sold there were very high. One "pig" cost 35RMB when Mr Goy can buy at some roadside stall for 3 "pigs" at 10RMB.

(Note by Jose: Can anyone read this?)

As noon arrived, we went to a nearby restaurant to have our lunch. The dumplings there tastes great. However, there was so much that we could not finish them all. After lunch, we went to Muslim street to do shopping. We thought that the things there were very cheap till we went to "Shu Yuan Men" 3 days later. However, there were people who got fleeced there and bought things that cost two times the price compared to any other stall.

At the Muslim street, we finally found out the real professional bargainers. The greatest achievement was decreasing the price by 75% (Well, I will not mention who or else he will come killing me). Like what Mrs Tan said, there were students who can get better prices than teachers. Well done to these students.

Well, after the shopping, there were smiles on almost everyone's faces as we board the bus back to school. The rest of the time was "free and easy" and we are allowed to do whatever we want. As usual, those who play cards will continue playing while those having party will continue with their party after shopping for all that is needed. I think i will come to an end here. Bye!

A scene at Muslim street

The Terracotta Warriors/ Shopping

2006-06-03T17:20:00.000+08:00

So today's the terrocotta warriors. Well, no school today (cos it was a Saturday) and most of us were pretty hyped up about going to the famous TERRACOTTA WARRIORS.

The ride was long, but not as long as the ride to the Yellow Emperor's Mausoleum, thank goodness. The thing was, the place was really cold, with a wind howling fiercely around us with the rain threatening to drench us to our skin and give us pneumonia. Okay, I might be exaggerating just a bit. Okay fine, there was a blowing cold wind and a light drizzle. Still, some people who didn't prepare for rain in Xi'an had to buy umbrellas from people on the streets who magically appeared like mushrooms with the rain.

There was this big statue of Qin Shi Huang at the entrance and we all thought that once we entered the place we would immediately reach the exhibits. But noooo. We had to hve a repeat situation; just like at the Yellow Emperor's Mausoleum, we had to walk and walk and walk again. The good thing was that the ground was at least quite level and that there was nature (sort of) to appreciate along the way.

We finally got our guide, and her English was pretty decent (I was told by Mrs. Tan not to say anything criticising). She led us through the whole place and we had almost no difficulty in understanding her. This was not the case however, for poor Mr. Goy's group. Apparently he had so much difficulty in trying to understand his guide that he had to ask her to speak Chinese. As can be expected, the guide got put off by his request and replied that she was trained to speak in English.

I actually received quite a shock when we first entered the place. I had been told by a friend who went to the exchange trip a year ago that it was very big and overwhelming. When I first saw th soldiers, I first thought was, "Wow, it's enclosed! And with air conditioning!" My second thought was, "Wow, I thought it was-----bigger." Third thought now, "Wow, the complete soldiers only occupy less than half of the pit. The rest is occupied by broken pieces." Honestly, I felt quite letdown by the thing. But I cheered up. Anyway, it wasn't everyday that you got to see something so publicised like the terracotta warriors. I took a few pictures in the first pit, two of them with Ms. Tan as the main focus. It was here that we also learned that the reason why there were so little soldiers intact was because when found, almost none of them were intact or with weapons! Apparently the soldiers were destroyed during a peasant rebellions after Qin Shi Huang's death and the peasants supplied themselves with weapons by taking the bronze weapons from the terracotta warriors, after that destroying them! Thus my disappointment dissipated somewhat after finding out these previously unknown to me facts.

We then went to watch a "very good movie" (in the words of the guide) about the history of the terracotta warriors in a theatre which you had to twist and turn your neck to see the film (it was a 360 degrees thing, IMAX, I think they call it). It was pretty interesting, however, the only things you could rest your bottoms on were some pathetically thin raised horizontal metal poles. After the film, which was approximately 15 minutes long, we all went out to see the man who found the terracotta warriors. He was very old already and our guide told us that we were very lucky to have seen him there as he only came "sometimes". However, he looked pitifully accustomed to sitting down and signing books. I'm suspecting that there are some people lying around here. By the way, I bought the book that they were selling, at 120 RMB (I think). Now I sort of regret it, because I think that the money could have been better spent. But oh well, what's done is done. And just for your info, Mrs. Tan-Chin said that our guide seemed pretty pissed off that only I and one other guy bought the book (less income for her I suppose).

The second pit was smaller, and there was less to see. Our guide told us here that this was because they had not excavated the soldiers yet, and that the wooden roof and beams above them had solidified to become rock-like in hardness. It was also here that we saw exhibits of the weapons found and the only intact warrior with even a bit of colour left on him. Apparently the second pit was excavated only after it was enclosed, to help prevent oxidation. Instead of just infantrymen, like the first pit, the second pit consisted mainly of chariots and bowmen, from what the guide said.

The third pit was the least impressive and smallest, yet from what I can remember (very dimly), it was the best preserved pit of all. In this pit there were no sharp weapons and it was mainly representative of a planning room where the generals and officers would strategise.

After viewing the pits, we all went to this building (on the way to the building, Ms. Tan took control over my umbrella because someone else took her umbrella and never returned it. As a result, I had to contend with sharing it with her!!) where we saw chariots made out of gold and silver (?) melded together and which had to be fixed back from thousands of pieces (imagine all the work that the people had to go through!). Some more weapons were also showcased here.

This was the end of the terracotta warriors. After that, we went to this big shopping centre, hypermart, more like it to go and buy stuff to our hearts' content. People bought CDs (so did I) which I believe are original because the packaging is so nice. I also bought the Chinese version of Warcraft 3, which the staff told me was original, but which Mrs. Tan-Chin told me otherwise (SOB). I also bought DVDs which I thought would be okay as they were original (said the staff there). However, Mrs. Tan-Chin told me that I should return it because the Singapore Customs Officers would take them and view them (as they had not been screened by the authorities beforehand) and CHARGE ME FOR THE TIME THEY SPENT WATCHING IT PER HOUR!!!! IN SHORT, I WOULD HAVE TO PAY THEM BECAUSE THEY ARE WATCHING THE SHOWS THAT I BOUGHT!!!!! In the end, I had to return them and I had an incredibly embarrassing time doing it because the staff there didn't understand me and I didn't understand them. As a result, the whole thing got very messed up until Mr. Chai came to my rescue. Even then, I still had some miscommunication problems because I couldn't really understand him either (double SOB). Therefore, I was almost the last person to get on the bus simply because another boy was late, can you imagine how embarrassing that was too?

After going back to the hostel, we did the usual stuff. Eat dinner, bathe, have water break in the Mrs. Tan-Chin's room, steal water from her water dispenser because we didn't have one in our rooms, lie down on her bed and watch her TV which we didn't have in our rooms either, and basically relax a lot.

And so marks the end of this very eventful Saturday. I hope that you will come back to view our other posts. Until then, Sayonara!!!!

P.S. the pics and video links will be added later.

2006-06-02T12:19:00.000+08:00

dear diary, our friendly associates, the tkgs peeps, left today morning. many of our schmates, whom some have been harbouring crushes on the people of the opposite sec, dropped a tear or two as we waved towards them, sitting on the unusually spacious coach, unlike before, when us 2 schs used to share that single coach to the other secondary campus for lessons. in all, today was a day of weird feelings: felt as if somethin was missin...sighz.

>>>jian da and natasha! ;)
>>>me and ceri:)

even, during the classes, it was quite boring. as if it was just us, so exposed to the china folks. felt as if we had lost a close companion, whom we have the same experiences to share. however, many of us felt really fortunate to have taken photos with the gals before they left. and, jingyang and I actually made a farewell speech this morning after breakfast!

today, we had physics as usual but I finally understood what the cher was talking about! Haha, after like, 4 days of classes, I FINALLY understood some of the terms they are using: density, volume, mass, etc. And, the best was, during maths, the cher asked me to answer a question on CONGRUENCY, which in Chinese, I thought I was not able to solve their questions but I tried and managed it. HAha, serious, and from then, I was actively participating in their maths lessons...

after school, we took coach back. noticed that the traffic lights had this "countdown to green/red" system where it has a period of staying green/red, so different from Spore's transport system, where you wait and wait, not knowing when you can start to move. I think we need to learn from them in this area. Anyway, someone told me KL used this kinda system too....dunno.

lunch was delicious, though we were somehow conned by the appearance of the soup in the middle of the table. It appears red and seems to us as Red Bean Soup. As usual, I took the first step to taste it. Nah, it was as usual, absolutely bland. This occur very often until next week, when we had a slight change in dishes.

Then, we had our cultural lesson #2: making a Laminated Dried Leaf bookmark. Yes, those which are retailed at bookstores at a high-end price of $2-4 dollars each. They look so very elegant, fine, and exquisitive in the peeling off of the skin's outer cover, leaving the 'skeleton' behind. Well, I'll tell you, that step, though is the hardest as you need to pay attention not to tear the leaf while using a toothbrush to brush those skin fragments away, is actually quite interesting. After brushin the leaf fragments off, we had to put on bleach in order to remove stains and to rid of bacteria that may further decompose the leaf.

Then, we had to dry the leaf after soaking it in bleach solution. Dry it thoroughly and place it in the laminating plastic sheet. Add on some small branches of flowers or put in Beijing Olympics 2008 dolls. Haha, the whole process was rather simple. After all the nitty decorations, compress the whole plastic sheet neatly and put it through the laminating machine and it's done. Finally, cut the desired shape out and hole-punch and string a red ribbon through. That's all! Haha, so simple I did 5!!! Yupz, but when it came to the 3rd, there was no more olympic dolls...replace with well-written wishes. I have two with me now.

Then, the day was boring. Night fell, and we had our stupid (or silly?) water parades and chit-chattin with chers. But, best was, Jian Da and me went touring the school campus again. Haha! Anyway, the caretakers lied to us! Haha, there's still warm water after 9pm! Lol...shh, don't tell anyone!

Kkz, that's all till I remember anything else. Pictures later lah...mrs tan already so fierce, "chui" like mad...sighz.

(PS: we took some pics with the china students in their class that day!)

The Yellow Emperor's Tomb

2006-06-01T20:14:00.000+08:00

So here I am. Sorry everyone for blogging late. Starting now.

I shall skip to the main points of the day after school. However, don't assume that school is not important. We all need it for our studies you know? :P

Poor Ms. Tan and Daryl did not come with us as they were both sick, it was quite a pity, as I could have bugged Ms. Tan the whole day.

Well, we all took a bus to the tomb of the Yellow Emperor, supposed ancestor of the the Chinese people (we were meant to go some other place instead focusing on Buddha, but the teachers changed their minds as they thought that we would be bored out of our skins by that place). The journey was approximately 3 hours long, so we all did something while on the bus (duh). Some were playing cards, some were sleeping, we had a geography lesson from Mr. Goy about the the climate and the land and we even had a time when our two representatives of each school went to say something on the bus (from Maris Stella was Roman while from TKGS was Natasha)!

Roman being embarrassed

Natasha being embarrassed

River view from the bus

So after reaching the place, we all thought that the journey was over. What a nasty surprise we received when we found out that we had to climb up a hill to reach the mausoleum, carrying our heavy bags and lunch packs (poor Nicholas was enslaved by Mrs. Tan-Chin to carry her lunch pack for her). It was twenty minutes before we reached the top (twenty minutes is a lot when walkig uphill and carrying stuff). On the way, Dewei was drinking some chrysanthemum tea in an effort to stop himself from being sick as he didn't feel so well in the morning and was trying to stay in the "Healthy Game" (Mrs. Tan-Chin started it after I fell sick to see who would be the healthiest boy in our group for the whole trip. I should have been allowed to join as it was started since it was started only after I fell sick but nooooooo, Mrs. Tan-Chin had to keep me out.
Score anyway:
Down (sick): Jose, Daryl)

After an exhausting yet scenic walk, we arrived at the peak to eat lunch. It was a very scenic area, with a cool breeze and ancient trees to keep us company (not to mention the people walking around). It was at this point that I found out that trees with the green plates on them were cypress trees that were at least one thousand years old!

One of the trees

Just one of the views along the way

After eating a somewhat 'filling' lunch (hard sandwich, super dry burger and bananas for anyone?), we all waited, talked, and waited for our guide to get us into the place while there was this incessant tolling bell (though calming) somewhere in the background.

The Place

So, just before thinking that we would spend the rest of the day outside of the mausoleum, we were finally ushered into the place without further ado.

The sight that opened up to us was pretty nice, for one thing. There was this shrine set within a clearing with an incense pot burning. There were people kneeling and bowing down in front of the shrine on cushions with joss sticks in their hands, even our guide did the same! Next to the shrine was this big bell which had to be tolled by a thick pole. It had to be tolled in a 3-6-9 order, then the perso would have to rub his hands on the bell. After that, then the person would get a yellow cloth (or maybe the yellow cloth came when you bought joss sticks to offer to the shrine of the Yellow Emperor, I'm not very sure on this) to put around his/her neck and would supposedly receive good luck. Pretty superstitious, if you ask me.

Dion tolling the bell
Me at the shrine

A pic of the shrine alone

The place, note the peacuful atmosphere

video of the place (nature focused), go here:

A video of Roman tolling the bell (the video is cut, so it's not in the 3-6-9 sequence:

Then we went and climbed this small tower with an "auspicious" number of steps, 77 to be exact, (but I forgot whether it was 77 up or down). We climbed to the top just to see that we could touch a tree to be 'granted' with 'good luck'. ARGH! However, there the whole thing was not a total waste; we had a quite a nice view from the top of the tower.

View from the half-way point of the tower

We then took a tram ride down, making me wonder why we didn't take it up in the first place. Reaching the bottom of the hill, we all then entered another place where we had a guided tour which lasted only about 20 minutes, then we were on our own. Inside, we saw a tree that was supposedly planted by the Yellow Emperor himself, which would make it approximately 5000 years old (!), and then saw carvings by famous people such as Mao Zedong (they showed the carving with mistakes made by him and a corrected one next to it!) and Deng Xiaoping. We also saw this tree with a supposedly strange bark with nails or nail-like structures inside it, it was supposedly the only one with this type of bark (note how many times I'm using the word 'supposedly')

Pictures of the Marists on the tram before it went down the hill
Us sitting the tram down the hill (RMB 20, think so...):

The 5000 year-old cypress tree

Total video footage of The Yellow Emperor's Masoleum,

We were then left on our own to walk around and do our own shopping (we had a time limit) and just walk around. It was here where I bought a book about my family name “孔” (I haven't got around to reading it yet, sadly :P) and got cheated. I bought something for 15 yuan when it could have cost 9 yuan! However, I wasn't as unfortunate asa I thought, some poor guy actually paid 40 yuan for the stupid thing (by the way, the offending object was a gold-plated card, bookmark, more like it, with our name and some Chinese words written onto it). Now you can tell all your friends, "I did what every foreigner did in China; get cheated!!!!"

So, after a rather tiring day we all drove home (the hostel. See? Now I'm even starting to think of it as my home away from home!) in the bus and ate dinner. Want a look?

We all then took our shower and went to sleep, but not before talking and getting the caretakers to remind us to sleep (man I'll miss the caretakers, they were strict, but kind and lovely ladies!).

And so marks the end of this day, happy day everyone, and be sure to read our next post!

2006-05-31T20:25:00.000+08:00

us at the entrance...

the signboard? it writes "Da Tang Fu Rong Yuan" lor...

I woke up very early this morning cos excited to go to the "Tang Paradise" thingy.

As usual, we had our daily dose of lessons at Gaoxin again, but this time, was sad to hear the form cher say that tkgs was leaving...tight knot appeared in my heart. Haiz...though we've only like, met each other and ate together and shared the same bus together, I've felt really closer to them, kinda bonding stuff.

One thing different today was my partner sweets and chocolates to school and gave me lots of it. All at different times. Haha, I used it to 'suan' the other ppl. And, she told me tomorrow was a holiday - Children's Day! Haha, she complained that the school was finally having a holiday...cos i found out later that they still have schools on weekends and only have like, 3 major holiday seasons in a year!!! But, felt sad though cos this was the last day we had tkgs "pei" us overcome the boring lessons. Erm, except for Chinese (or Yu Wen) which is really interesting xia! I can't remember clearly but I think today's lesson was on "yao he" or sumthin...forget le...o0ps!

Specially, we had the whole class seeing us to the school gate, thanks to the TKGS gals...think they were returning waves and kisses...??? Dunno leh, only felt real sad. Haha, but I noe the tkgs was "yi yi bu she"...and was like still waving back when bus start engine le. Haiz, so touching...

then we went back to the hostel for lunch and then straight to the "Tang Paradise". Frankly, I don't know the English name for it but, I call it "Tang Garden" personally, because of the amazing architecture, adding on to the whole greenery, which makes me feel as if the site was a garden for the emperor of the Tang Dynasty. Seriously, not kidding, the designers have put together the wonderful magnificent Tang culture into many different parts throughout Tang Paradise. Not forgetting the Tang Poem Valley:

Li Bai, eat your heart out.

(PS: I "couped" Joshua's rice bowl today...ya, the vidcam, so never really take pic...sad, rite? The place so power-packed...)

The whole place is really big, such that you can get lost without the map. Other than a large man-made waterfall, a 'rock valley' of poems carved on rocks and stone sculptures of the poets, there is this 'phoenix' theatre, where we watch, "Dream back to the Tang Dynasty", showcasing the majestic glory of the Tang Dynasty, one of the prosperous dynasties back in ancient China. Well, the show was indeed an eye-opener for me as it presents another side of the Chinese dance or should I say, the arts...very exquisite setting onstage...there's the suspension. However, many of us were already very exhausted so at different times, there were always people dozing off. Hey, I loved the way they jumped and all...haha, I even tried to "mo fang"...;)

Some special art style, pretty cool eh?

We also had time to do some quick shopping - buying of their local products, many handmade or sewn/knitted. There was this place, where Mrs Tan-Chin tried on the old sewing machine. Those you see in ancient chinese dramas...yup, no electricity. Mr. Goy got a very 'beautiful' sandal there...haha! Oh...this place is tryin to present the marketplace then lor...

Ok, based on my experience, I think the most memorable architecture there was this tower that looked like some royal palace (or was it a star-gazing tower?o0ps!). It was very tall, and had a long river that surrounds it (maybe we should call it moat?). It makes the whole place looks very old, ancient, with the Tang ambience. However, I felt that the residential
buildings outside the whole enclosed vicinity destroyed the look.

An ancient looking alleyway

after the lustrous tang paradise, we went to this place to take photo...can't remember the place liaoz...but I helped mr goy take photo with ms tan and kenny...haha, family of 3, so cute!

kk, then on the way back to hostel, Zhang zhu-ren had to drop halfway as he has to go home...the tkgs ppl was like sayin bye-bye, wavin and rushin to get his attention (from the bus?) and when he finally turned facing them, they took photos and waved again...haha, real touching!

then dinner, then went exploring the school wif Jian Da. Ya, the two of us acted like silly fools...we went around the school...they had 4 blocks, one canteen-cum-sports hall and 2 blocks of campuses. the 4 blocks, one for the labs and 3 for the classes, splitted to Gao Zhong 1, 2 and 3...which means JC Yr 1,2,3. Yr 3 block has this extension to the lecture hall and geography room and cultural arts room and science fair exhibition. We found out that the teachers there, on average, was way younger than the chers we had back in spore. Also, the classes are very quiet and there is always a pile of books stacked so damn high on every table that it covers the person sitting behind...wow, makes you wonder...do our JCs have these common sights too? Haha, they are very diligent ppl...but we were lookin out for chio bus...hope you know what I mean. The amazing this was, it was past 7pm then we loiter around the corridor, and the students were like continuously starin at us...but hey, we din make trouble, k? We just peered inside the classes only lor...anyway, they have this blackboard behind....where they deco wif drawings and writings using chalk, proudly establishing their own class noticeboard, which we saw with wonder, was FULL of chinese characters and cute drawings...haha! Back in spore, I think we just print pics out and paste here, paste there can liaoz...lazy pigs xia!

kk that's all lah...I talk so much, later ppl scold me...lol

(PS: THE pics have been added already!)

2006-05-30T21:25:00.000+08:00

Okay, so it's now my turn to blog. Just to clear some stuff first:
1. Yes, my name is Jose. Thank you Joshua for kindly exposing it (joking only, don't take it too hard).
2. No. I was not trying to suffocate myself (6th paragraph from the end of 2nd day), I was sick and had a fever, therefore I was trying to warm myself by covering my whole body with the blanket (you know the cold feeling one gets when they have a fever? That was the logic behind my actions).
Now to get back to the blogging.

Today's a busy day. First we had breakfast (Duh), food's getting a bit repetitive here. After eating as much as we could, we left for school. Yup. here's what it looks like (by the way, this picture was taken on the 6th June, so just know that I might take a few pics from other days just to illustrate a sentence. Don't worry, I'll tell you when I do this, most of the time, the pictures would have been taken on the same day as the blog).
Well, just gonna tell you about our lessons here. Firstly, English was pretty uneventful. Geography was interesting. Their teacher was funny and he was telling us about basins and so on and he brought this big physical map of China to help us visualise what he was talking about better. History was interesting as well. The teacher was telling us about the people who helped to forward China. She was also telling us about how horrible weapons of mass destruction were (glad to know that people in this world care). However, after a while, she wasn't sure how to continue the lesson because she found out that us Singaporean students could not understand quite a bit of the lesson (how embarrasing!). Next came the morning exercises. How do I put this? It's very military camp style, with all of the students going in a rectangular formation on the parade square. Then marching music will come on, and everyone will start doing exercies. Quite fun and graceful. Too bad I don't know how to do it! ;p
Next was our trip to the Shaanxi Museum. At first, we went to this boring "Hall of Mirrors", where mirrors of the past were showcased. I'm sure that anyone, having to walk past perhaps a hundred mirrors spread out over a long corridor would want to faint from boredom, unless he/she were as vain as the evil queen in Snow White (mirrors, mirrors in the showcases, am I the prettiest among all the others' faces?).

Fortunately, the exhibits became much more interesting after that. We saw so many artefacts from many of the dynasties (in chronological order, of course!). We also had a guide. Sadly, I only listened to a bit of what she said because I was too busy taking pictures and as a result was far behind the group at times and had to run to catch up with them. This also resulted in me being erm... reprimanded by Mrs. Tan. Since a picture tells a thousand words, there will be lots of pics here (forgive the blurry ones). I believe it says"____ _____ Pottery Heavenly God"
(can't read the rest, if possible, someone please help me) painted barn You can read it if you are interested and can read Han Zi I looove gold (think Goldmember) I don't need to say anything here Jasper Spade Pottery Jars with Pointed Bottom (don't ask me how it stands)
I don't know what these represent, anyone
with any idea please comment

Giant Stone Lion (don't ask me if it's an artifact) Front View I think the design's quite cool Do I need to explain this? These are seriously wicked weapons It's beautiful, isn't it? They're so tiny, it's a wonder that they
could have been made without machines! Lots of work must have been put into this I overheard another guide saying that in the Tang
Dynasty, beautiful women were supposed to be
round faced, plump and double-chinned!

After the museum, we went to another Gao Xin school (how many do they have? We slept in one, attended school in another, and went to see a performance in yet another!) Well, anyway, it was very interesting, with loads of multi-cultural performances and so on. I also have videos of them, which I am going to upload on youtube to let you guys see them. In the meantime, I'm going to upload pics.

Very cute girls dancing to 1960s style music

to access the video of this, go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KitedBaHQFM

Guzheng Performance (I think the song is Zhan Tai Feng)
For this one, go to:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfSD7clbPww

A musical by the TKGS girls
Link to video:

ghttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkGEkYLnwB8

A Mongolian Style dance (I think)

Link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmtIuUNpDcA

Some boys singing "I Want it That Way"
By the Backstreet Boys

Link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9dAn8B_FMM

Ballet

Link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjKLV-7U8x0

Japanese Dance

Link(warning: video is joined to another one, which means that you will have to watch one videobefore seeing this Japanese dance):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maAdRW2oyYw

Indian Dance

Link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmlwQvx50Y0

Tradtional Chinese Dance

Link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ei8Ut-FQaI

Some boys dancing to a rap song (full of "F" words)

Dancing to a Ricky Martin song, forgive me
for the camerawoman blocking the dancers

Link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEgY1Nzakn4

Everyone getting together for the finale

Link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2BcyjOba0I

However, there is still one video which has not been shown here, it's the korean dance video, and you can reach it at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQu6s_X73uM

and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nb3LCBQ0N4&search=gaoxin%20taekwondo

After everything, we were brought down to the amphitheater to watch a show on the sights of Xi'an. It was interesting at first. But as the show dragged on, everyone was starting to become bored. It was there that we received our very first Gao Xin uniform (show it to you later when I take a pic of it)! As Joshua said in the previous post, it is actually just a T-shirt, but a nice one at that. Then we saw this film on migrating birds for I don't know what. And when we saw birds flying in V-formation, all of the boys started laughing and putting up their hands with fingers in a "V" shape (it's a Maris Stella thing).

So, then we headed back home (the hostel) for dinner (yum yum), and had our baths (did anybody mention that it was communal bathing?) and mixing around. *Phew* That's all for today folks. Come back for tomorrow's blog! See ya!!

2006-05-29T22:55:00.000+08:00

**Mass edit:ppl are hating my abbr , simply unappreciative..haiz...**

CAUTION: long blog

kz, let's start

6am
-alarm rang
-caretakers woke everyone up
---
though so, most ppl woke up earlier than tat
---

6.50am
-met at lobby >> our building outside...w/e u call it
-if im rite, no one was late or whatsoever

7am[+-]
-march to canteen>>with tkgs [not sure]
-gathered to our group and sat down [blehz, i sat beside our teacher ic]
[teacher ic took a while to realize i'm a left-handed]

@dunno wad time
-took a very huge bus to the skool we're gonna go 'study'
-sharing same bus wif tkgs [is that a good ting?]

@dunno wad time+ 15mins
-reached destination [yay?]
-classroom at 3rd storey, to the left, nearest classroom to the stairs.
-Room 304
**one thing to note, onli the sec3s enter this classroom, the sec2s went to another.
---
classroom:
1 aircon
4 fans
sliding windows + curtains
a television
a water dispenser;
all they lack is a computer.
chairs have no backrest, and it is 2 to one table.
seats are according to genders. odd column are females and even are males. due to the fact there were more mshs than tkgs, some seats that are meant for the gals are occupied by the boys.
>>lastly, all home clothes!
kkz back to where i ended
---
@another time
-it seems we're late for lessons. it started almost immediately, we came in.
-1st period >>chinese [yay!] >> i don't realli understand, but wif my meagre knowledge, i managed to understand a little.

@another time+ 30~40mins
-it's physics!![w00t! im luving it!]
-i really, really, really don't understand a thing here, i juz copied everything down
--
kkz, it's monday now, so we're having the singing of athem instead of the usual morning exercise >>yes, they sing their national athem once a week, and have exercise for the other days.
>>1st time seeing them in uniform>>totally different from us>> onli wearing a t-shirt on the outside[not a shirt, a t-shirt].

instead of being wif the rest [of our class], sg students stood beside the rostrum
the principal gave an introductory speech which lasted for about 5~10mins. what's worse, we're facing the sun!
---

@another different time
lessons again.
this time, jose disappeared, vanished, vaporised.
he was nowhere to be seen. i sat behind him thus being the first one to notice.
>>great! he's the 1st one to fall sick!

teacher came...it's maths now...
ok...this teacher has 1 unique way of writing...no it's not in a bad way, it's just... really unique.
>>>>forget to mention, the chinese teacher handwriting is soooo beautiful
-he used the whole lesson to explain pythagorean theorem-- now, u won't see that in singapore.

@another different time + 40 mins
last period b4 sg students go off...english!!!
kz...nothing much...played a game of taboo and marists introduced themselves to the whole class.
>>"Have you been to an amusement park?"

@time for lunch
i think i'm not suppose to say this but >> it looks like the food we ate yesterday!!!
we were told we need to perform for the next day
nothing else worth pointing out

kkz now cultural lesson >> clay modelling
we learn what chinese did
-paper cutting
-puppet making
-clay modelling
-paintings
-etc.

finally, hands-on, we play with the clay given
---
i'm the person videoing>> no playing for me [isn't tat sad?]
lots of creative designs...pity i didn't take their pics...sighZ
kkz....1 person made a really good one >> a dog
---
>>after the clay modelling thingie, the rehearsal started...
>>it was decided that we were going to do some taekwondo and singing.
>>not involved, so can't add in those details.

>>reaching back our room, we saw jose trying to kill himself through suffocating >.>
>>then dewei saved him [some what so...]

@5.30pm/6.30pm [not sure]
ok....it's dinner now
i forgot wad were laid on the table, but it was better than breakfast and lunch for sure.
then back our room and write my journal>> i think tat was the onli time i wrote my journal on time...

@ a time i forgot to note
finallyz, we went bathing..
i rather not describe wad happened there.
then, unpacking of stuffz.

@11pm
>>LIGHTS OUT!!
yea, i'm done with the 2nd day!

this is by far the longest i've ever written

{the paragraph below has been edited due to someone wierd demand}
overall, made aquaintances with a few people, sg and cn
spotted a erm....[due to an inpopular demand]...nvm

==PICS FOUND==
Due to some unfavourable circumstances, i need to post pics on this post.

yours unknown,
4rtix

dEstIN@ti0n:-XiAn...imcoming!!!>>>>>>

2006-05-28T22:56:00.000+08:00

Sunday, sunny and windy? dunno...half of our day on the plane but u can say, weather is very good...visibility is like 100%, beautiful horizon and cloudy spectacle...

Reached the airport at 6.30am. Feeling sleepy..teachers were there trying to locate the groups... not really distinguished though. After that , checked in...took the plane. took pictures of views from the plane :

pretty nice ya?

Then from Singapore to Guangzhou airport we took roughly 4 hours.

then TRANSIT!! took like three hours...during transit, we ate there...and the food prices were astronomical.. :

This 草面 costs 48元！nearly S$10! Haha, Gavin ate that for lunch at Guangzhao and was like moaning (i mean, mourning) throughout the 12 days! I think he has developed a phobia for 'grass'...haha!

(PS: a piece of advice, if you're ever transiting at Guangzhao airport, forget about eating there unless you feel richer than the Hiltons! If possible, don't transit there! No wonder Changi Airport won some awards for having economical restaurants and mind you, not ASTRONOMICAL, over-charged 'grass'?!)

Then from Guangzhou we took to Xi An..and Total time: 10hrs! Reached this Xianyang airport...hmm, very empty...we met "she lao shi" (pronounce it as in Snake in chinese)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Finally we reached Gao Xin No.1 High School (International)! it was already 8pm...had dinner (so-so)and speech given by their vice- principal , were informed that Tanjong Katong girls were here!! and went to the dormitory (too bad it isn't a hotel..) to unpack.

Then we had to bathe.. it was a communal bath! no cubicles!! anyway we still bathed. About the teachers here...some are very pretty! That's about it for Day 1...

>>>gavin's room! mine is just beside...Room 208

Hey!!!

2006-05-26T17:20:00.000+08:00

Hey everyone! Sorry for not updating our blog of Xi'an per day we stayed there. Reason being that we could not access our blogs, only edit them, which is not as good as being able to see it after you post it. Therefore, we are now going to start posting them in Singapore as if we had just experienced them on the day itself (at least I am, I'm speaking for everyone in my group in general without their knowing). Well, I hope that everyone who reads this blog would feel like they were on the trip together with us boys (I'm not so sure whether I can reveal what school we're from, I'll have to check with my teacher first). Until then, happy reading!!

(PS: we have altered the days in which we published the posts in order to serve you a much wholesome view of the XiAn trip! Hope you find it better!)

Yours truly,
Redpotato (a.k.a. Jose)