Highlights of the trip which couldn't be posted due to the lack of internet facilities:

Day 1: 25th of March, 2009 (Wednesday)

Plane experience (Singapore to Shanghai): All nationality, except china nationals are required to take a boarding pass permit to enter and depart from china. On the back of that slip, it states, that foreigners are called ‘aliens’? Perhaps it’s directly translated, but then again, not quite. Anyway, I sat beside Kat and a local Chinese, and was rather apprehensive at first, but, he was really warm and immediately offered help upon realizing that I’ve a problem managing my 7kg hand carry (the compartment is too high!!). And so, we arrived at Shanghai, with a chilling temperature of 8degrees centigrade. It’s really heartwarming to have such warmth & hospitality. Besides the air pressure that undeniably left me with an excruciating headache, all else’s well at least.

Arrival at Shijiazhuang (42 Middle School): First sight, a little different from what we see on the internet, but, the research did help in making ourselves more at ease with the great uncertainty that’s before us. To say we’re apprehensive is an understatement, 9girls, a foreign land, a foreign school. We soon got used to it though. The teachers at the school were really warm, and they brought us to the staff lounge where we were allowed to make phone calls home. Everyone had a minute to talk; I used my hand phone though, roaming's cool! So, we were done, and we sat there waiting for half an hour to await the teachers, as they wanted to bring us around the campus to take a look. What an amazing sight! Tons of bicycles parked together, and the never-ending stares of the locals, as though we were well known celebrities. We probably looked too blur, and uncertain, I guess, our emotions were written all over our faces. The stares were nothing new though; it’s been this way since arriving at the airport.

From 42 Middle School to Dang Jia Zhuang: At around 5.30pm, the child from our home-stay family came to take us home. As the numbers dwindled, from 28, to 9 to 1! We had a group hug and bid our goodbyes reluctantly. School’s to begin at 7:30am the following day, I’d probably reach by 7am though, Si Lin (my home-stay buddy) has exams tomorrow. I’m to turn in at 10pm today, guess, it’ll do me good as well, and the lack of sleep from the plane ride can really take its toil.

Day 2: 26th of March, 2009 (Thursday)

Another 6am routine: Headed to do my daily routines; the brushing of teeth, washing of face and the usage of the toilets, was not able to bathe though. This was not attributed to laziness or part thereof; rather it was due to the lack of heating facilities!! I can only bathe when the sun is bright and sunny, because, apparently, the heater is solar powered, and this is NOT Singapore, so you can’t expect the bright sun to be shining overhead every minute till nightfall, it just doesn’t work that way. In addition, the toilet has a faulty lock and only half frosted glass!! Mr. Wong said that we’ll start missing home on the 10th day, however, many of the girls are already feeling the full impact of missing our homeland, the people, the food, the traffic conditions, the clean air.

Number 42 Middle School: We walked numerous streets down, before reaching the China phone shop, where we purchased local SIM cards. The lengthy journey coupled with a heavy bag, I don’t have to elaborate don’t I? Spent a total of 100 RMB on the SIM card, which was a two-way plan between local calls and Singapore calls. After which, we headed back to school for Chinese lessons. Seeing how the teacher painstakingly teach Chinese with the aid of English words just so that the students can have a better grasp of the subject really warmed my heart, it made me recollect what my secondary 3 Chinese teacher did for me, the way she taught, the way it felt so right, the way it made me strive for the best within me.

怀特：We took a taxi for more than half an hour before reaching Huai Te. The first I saw was Macs & KFC! Oh what great joy! I headed straight for Macs. Fillet-O-Fish!! =D Walked around that a place which looked similar to Seiyu. The stuff there isn’t that bad, besides it being a little steep? Yes, with reference to the price of course. After which, we brought 12 sets of MacDonald’s, for the guys because it was Calvin’s birthday, hence we celebrated with him, with Macs. Sorry that we couldn’t get you a cake, Calvin. = (The 12 sets of MacDonald’s were where Jinnie and I made a joke out of ourselves. A step-by-step run-through of the events that unfolded with relevance to the food is as follow:

- 12 sets of Mac Spicy sets were loaded into this huge carton. (The lady said it would be easier to carry that way.)

- As we walked from one end of the shopping centre to the other, our hands felt wet, we didn’t think much of it, as we thought it was the vapor from the coldness of the drinks.

- We checked the ‘beautiful’ trail we left behind and found something amiss; the ‘water’ on the floor is brown!! It’s coke! (that’s where we pushed the alarm button)

- We put the carton on the floor to check what had happened, to our horror, the caps of the drinks have came off due to the movements as made by us.

- Jinnie left me with the dripping carton and staring eyes and went back to Macs to get plastic bags to tie up the coke cups individually.

- We parked our carton in front of this lady who was selling shoes. She was very nice, upon seeing that we were in need of help, she let us use part of her shop’s space to tie and tidy up the mess that faced us

- After tying the coke cups individually, we lugged the carton back to meet Farhana and Carmen. In the process, we laughed at how embarrassing we were in a foreign land and as expected, this move garnered more stares. What an ‘adventure’!


Day 3: 27th of March, 2009 (Friday)

Sightseeing Destinations: Reached school at 9am to await the leisure bus to take us on a sightseeing tour around ShiJiaZhuang. Some of the places that we went were a temple, a venue which they used to film Hong Lou Meng and of course, this really cool place with goldfish, banana and fried chicken! It opened our eyes to the many tourist destinations that ShiJiaZhuang has, something we can never find in Singapore. It was great to see the girls at 18 Middle School as well; it had been a long time since we last departed from them. All those phone conversations with them and hearing about their living conditions was particularly worrying, so to see that they were doing well, it brought peace to my heart. The location where the filming of Hong Lou Meng took place held a special meaning for me. I once translated Hong Lou Li Cai for Mr. Khaw, which was a fusion of Hong Lou Meng coupled with wealth management. Therefore, after reading all about the Hong Lou Meng story, to see the venue first hand was breath-taking and definitely a place worth going to.

Number 42 Middle School: We woke up bright an early again to reach school by 7.10 only to be notified about an hour later that there are no activities in stored for us, and so we had the whole day of free and easy activities! Being girls, our likely location was to hit the shopping malls!

Xin Tian Di: The cab that I was in took exceptionally long, but, we were still too early as the shop only opens its doors at 10am. From across the street, we saw MacDonald’s, and as you can expect, yes, we headed straight for it, for a warm, nice breakfast. Coffee, egg sandwich and a hash brown was my preferred set meal (: We sat there and chatted, as we waited for time to pass. Surprisingly enough, MacDonald’s have one of the cleanest toilets in Shijiazhuang, it was great! There was a door, toilet rolls, odorless and a toilet bowl (such are not a common sight when one is referring to the local toilets), hence, it was a real blessing that we’ve found such amazing toilets. After which, we headed back for Xin Tian Di where we started our shopping spree. There was a wide variety of choices and we were spoilt for choice. Followed Jinnie into this shop where she purchased a wig, the shop keeper was very nice and very keen to master the English language. It was really nice that us foreigners received such warmth and hospitality here, and they are not afraid to put aside their pride and ask us for guidance with the English language. It was really admirable! Lunch was settled at Pizza Hut, it was fantastic to see such local brands in a foreign land, the food tasted like home, bringing warmth to our hearts as we savoured it. The price was almost equivalent to what we paid back home, or perhaps, slightly more expensive, it is an international brand after all.

Unexpected Call: Midway through shopping, we received an unexpected call from Mr. Dong asking us to return to school. I was fine with the decision; we could always return another day. After all there are plenty of opportunities.

Jinnie’s Home Stay Mum’s Restaurant: We met up with the guys for dinner consisting of 8 dishes. There were 11 of us, and hence we were given a room to dine in. The sounds that were made was resounding, it was loud and clear which was great, the feeling of having companionship is just splendid, cause in a foreign land, all you have are your peers. After which, we proceeded to grab bread for breakfast at a nearby convenience store. It was unusually chilling that night, and for some reason or another, I shivered through that night, quite literally, as my teeth chattered. Jonathan offered me his beanie and scarf upon seeing me shiver, which was a really nice act of kindness and fully exhibits the notion of helping fellow Singaporeans out in a foreign land =D Took a cab with Katherine home. To sum it up, it was a fulfilling day.

Day 4: 28th of March, 2009 (Saturday)

Dinner at Pizza Hut: We headed down for Xin Tian Di with Mrs. Lim in a cab to shop with our PiCC classmates from the respective schools. We walked a few rounds to help Katherine buy presents for her friends and relatives in Singapore. It was quite hilarious as we thought we were getting conned, hence, we asked Jonathan to come in and act as a separate customer. Coupled with his accent, they were taken in a little, I suppose? Anyway, we bought what we wanted and left. Dinner was at Pizza Hut which was great! Shared a meal with Katherine, which consisted of a double cheese pizza, a soup, 2 drinks and chicken wings, it was wonderful! Scrumptious indeed! The girls from 18 Middle School left early as they had to rush back for their bath (stipulated bathing time is from 8 to 9pm).

Day 5: 29th of March, 2009 (Sunday)

Shopping at Pi Fa: It’s the first weekend! Si Lin (my home stay child) decided to bring us to shop at Pi Fa mall; apparently, the place there reminded me of Bras Basah. A very artistically-inclined place, coupled with amazingly cheap books. I wasn’t very interested in the things they sold though, key chains, pens, pencil cases, booklets which no doubt looks cute, but it isn’t my cup of tea. We went to eat at MacDonald, when Mrs. Lim called; informing me that she’d pay a visit to my home stay family.

Walk in the Park: It was still early and decided to head down with Katherine’s home stay family to the park nearby. Oh! What a beautiful sight! The flowers are starting to bloom, the scenic view of vast greenery! The river where locals fish from, the whole atmosphere was really nice and breath-taking! We soon had to leave, sadly; it was a great place, gorgeous scenic view.

Visit from Teachers to My Home Stay House: At 5.45pm, Mrs. Lim, Ms. Heng and Ms. Tan came to my home stay house to pay a visit, with Jinnie and Dawn. She told them my eating habits, way of life which I think was a good idea, it made them realize that though I’m supposed to be fully immersed in the local culture, I’m a Singaporean after all, there are some things which are culturally different and they can’t expect a lot out of me. Before we left, my home stay mum told me that the only expectation she has of me is that I communicate with her daughter in English. That to me, is of course not a problem, I’m more than delighted to do so.

Dinner at a Restaurant Opposite 43 Middle School: I shared a cab down to 43 Middle School with Ms. Heng and Ms. Tan, where we met the guys who brought us to this restaurant opposite their school. They served smelly tou fu, spicy fresh water fish, BBQ chicken wings (this was great, had 3 sticks), coupled with rice, it was a nice dinner. Food wise and companionship wise, good time for us to get together and catch up on what everyone else was doing, with regards to their attachment and their daily life. Jonathan sent me to my home after dinner, (I didn’t feel safe going home alone), great buddy! :D

Day 6: 30th of March, 2009 (Monday)

Number 43 Middle School: I left my hand phone in the cab the night that Jonathan sent me home; hence, I had to make my way down to No. 43 Middle School to retrieve my phone from him. Jinnie accompanied me down and we spent our afternoon there. Dinner at MacDonald: Some of the girls from No. 18 Middle School came over to MacDonald to join the guys for dinner, but, most wasn’t in the best of mood anymore. Timothy went on to join them for lunch, whilst the others stayed in the dormitory. Subsequently, some of us went to join them at MacDonald as well. Ate fillet-o-fish, though, I’ve heard lots of stories about the unhygienic oil used, but, that was the closest taste to home, I had to try it. Jonathan sent me home again for the second consecutive night, I can’t begin to express my gratitude!

Day 7: 31st of March, 2009 (Tuesday)

Home for Dinner: Kat came to my home for dinner, and I had the dish that I found rather appealing, fried eggs and tomatoes, it tasted somewhat like a Singaporean dish.

Scary Walk Home: Kat and I compiled the power point slides which were supposed to be presented to the school, but till date, nothing of such has been spoken of, so I presume, there wouldn’t be a need for a presentation to begin with. I sent Kat halfway home after dinner. The walk home alone at night in a foreign land really tested my guts I must say. Though it is relatively safe, it nonetheless sends shivers down my spine as I think of all the possible mishaps which could befall us, thankfully, we reached home safely! (On the hindsight, we were probably too paranoid, it's a really safe country) :D

Day 9: 2nd of April, 2009 (Thursday)

水上公园：After stoning for the entire morning, the teachers decided to bring us to 水上公园, where the flowers are starting to blossom. Nice sight indeed. We spent our afternoon soaking in the fresh air and looking at the scenic view. There are also theme park activities like ‘go-cart’ rides. Pretty cool actually, to know that one can find such rides in the park. These are things one would never be able to find in Singapore, considering the fact that Singapore has limited space to begin with.

Home for Dinner: I decided to head home for dinner despite having my reservations with regards to the dinner served. Apparently, they love to serve me dishes which I do not eat at all, neither am I an adventurous diner. Well, so, I had hot pot for dinner, there were noodles, vegetables and this queer looking thing. It looked a little like octopus tentacles, with a little bit of hair on it. So, I was told to put it in my mouth and chow down on it, upon swallowing it, I queried, “May I know exactly what am I eating?” The answer was, “Cow’s Stomach”. I went, “OH MY GOSH!” Never in my life had I ate an intestine of another animal, to me it’s just beyond comprehension, almost to the extent of being a taboo in my point of view! I was absolutely grossed out by that encounter and my stomach felt queasy after that. It could well greabe due to the psychological trauma which I encountered upon realizing the truth, but in any case, it’s over, thankfully.

Day 10: 3rd of April, 2009 (Friday)

Back to School: We went about our daily routine in school. 7:40a.m arrival followed by 3 and a half hour of either marking assessments, doing assessments or simply, sleeping away. Lunch time at the stall opposite our school was good. We had chicken hamburger for merely 12yuan and an ice-cream cone for 1yuan.

Dinner at Kat’s Host’s House: Katherine and I headed straight for her host’s house after school for dinner. Dinner at Katherine’s house is always scrumptious, it tasted so much like our Singaporean dishes, it later dawned on me that the family is 南方人; hence the style of cooking is similar to our ancestors who came from the same province of China.

Day 11: 4th of April, 2009 (Saturday)

Train Ride to Beijing: A group of 13 of us, including 4 hosts took a train to Beijing. To think I expected the train to be really packed with limited ventilation, however, it was everything I thought it wouldn’t be! There were wide seats, good ventilation and a relaxing atmosphere. Though there was certain chaos when it comes to the boarding of and alighting of the train, but, it was all in all a good and pleasurable experience.

-Vanessa-

It's exactly 9 hours from now, where we'd be boarding the bus to the shijiazhuang airport, yet I'm filled with mixed feelings. For all the time which I've complained about the conditions, for all the time that I've lamented that I want to go back, now that it's all turning into a reality, somehow, I feel a sense of sadness which overwhelm me. It's unexplainable, the warmth that I've experienced, the invaluable lessons learnt, from my teacher, 王老师 and my class, (中二，二十班), it's really sparked off a sense of belonging I have towards this place.

I remember the times where I was in my maiden school, how they constantly remind us that that's our 2nd home, I guess, I can safely say, I've found my 3rd.

Middle School No. 42 had a meeting today, with the host family, the parents and us. It was a session of sharing and how my teacher spoke of me really touched my heart. I can't begin to express the gratitude I have towards her, for teaching me thus much even though she's not obliged to. I've experienced, teaching, counselling, invigilating and marking exam scripts over the course of 3 weeks. It has somehow sparked off the urge in me to take teaching as a future career path.

All in all, it's been an enriching experience of fun and learning, one that I'd never forget.

-Vanessa-

It's YY here! It's our last day here today and i'm not registering that we're leaving this place yet. I'll prolly cry on the place back to Singapore haha. On the flip side, i'm quite glad i'm going back to sunny island, to my land of MILO. Did i mention that i ran out of milo and our best sister Timothy from 43 middle school so nicely surrendered his milo supplies! ILY Tim! Anyways i'm heading straight to Chompchomp after the plane lands (that's if my dad and kor is picking me up). School will start in a week for most of us.. but i heard Design has one more week woohoooo more rest!

By the way we went to Beijing over the weekends and here's my summary:

I went to Beijing without going to the Forbidden City, without climbing the Great Wall, without eating the famous Peking Duck.

HAHA. Okay that's all. Btw the flight details are as follows,
Shanghai to Singapore
China Eastern flight MU545
15th April
8.50pm (2050hr)

See you back at sunny island!

Updates from Si Hua, the snig as they call me

yo~
finally! My turn to touch the ANTIQUE keyboard. If you are still guessing who is this, this is Si Hua from 18 school. Hardly had any chance to blog because shway shway my dept do not allow Nat, Yuwing and me to use the computer. We were always banised to our cold staff room like unwanted baggage and will stay there shivering for the whole day. LOL.

We just came back last night from Beijing. We had a rather hectic schedule there but i must say that we had great fun!! The main attractions that we went were the Forbidden City and Beijing University. YY was commenting that we went to Beijing but did not eat the Peking duck,go to Great wall or the Olympics centre. LOL. Guessed the best experience that we got from Beijing was travelling around using the local transportation; the Metro and the buses. (though i was left behind once when we transfer Metro lines, scary memory!)

About one more day and we will be heading for HOME SWEET HOME! Seriously, compared to the start of the trip, im not that excited to go back already. Hahaha..our local friends are like so cute and enthusiastic! (to my dorm mates: i cant help me if they love me best!Wahhahaa). I cannot believe that in one days time, we will probably not see them ever again. They are the biggest pull factors! However, most of us are like broke now, so i guess we cannot have much of a farewell meal. hais. Last night dinner was only a few strands of noodles and ham because of the big hole in our pockets! The local students were all like laughing at my depressing state!

This 3 weeks was a great learning experience for me and it was also a wonderful chance for us 18 school girls to get closer! (not in the bathing sense though, =p). Living together and surviving through the days with "Sam" and the dorm conditions really bonded us. Hope we girls will continue to meet up after this trip!

Ending off here before my teacher checks on me and realised i have sneaked away, cheers!

*Snig= Snail+Pig
Si Hua

Beijing Trip!

Hello~ Jingting here doing a quick update from 18th school! We went to BeiJing last weekend with the guys from 43rd school, it sure was an eye-opening experience :D Got there via train (not to be confused with the MRT type), I believe it could be a first time for some of us travelling by that mode of transportation too! So we visited places like Forbidden City and the BeiJing University, and also witnessed the flag-raising ceremony at Tian An Men.

Best of all was getting to our destinations using the public transport, their Metro (aka MRT) is pretty quick and it costs 2RMB to get to any stop. The Metro and bus intervals are pretty quick too, it's really similar to Singapore. Oh and also, the starting fare for cabs in BeiJing is 10RMB whereas in ShiJiaZhuang it's half that price. Nonetheless, getting around is pretty convenient with the help of a map :D

Oh and SiHua just came over so I'll pass the computer (and time) over to her :D See what she updates about!

Love
Jingting

Updates about my life at 42 Middle School:
I'm teaching the Secondary 3 level, class 20 which has a class size of about 60 students. Standing in front of the class was undoubtedly nerve-wrecking at first, but, the warmth and enthusiasm as shown by the students gave me the courage to conduct my lesson. A 40-min long lesson which was highly enriching to me. The enrichment does not come from pure knowledge, per se, but rather it's from the experience as a whole, pretty much invalauble and once in a lifetime so to speak. They were somehow very much intrigued by the Malay language, since it is after all Singapore's national language. Of all the things which they wanted to know with relevance to the language, 'I love you' was the most commonly sought word, so I taught them, 'Saya cinta kamu!' HAHA, I love my class!!

Also, I sat in as I watched my supervisor conduct the same lesson for another class, and I've learnt quite abit; how she uses the vocabulary from the textbook and used it in the context of day-to-day living, how she randomly tests students to ensure that each and every student get a good grasp of the topic at hand before moving on. That was definitely a point I could pick up for my next lesson (if any) and of course, peer teaching in TP!

Yi Jie's teacher was very nice to me as well. Upon knowing that I did not have any fruits at home, she thus brought me to the nearby market to purchase some 2.5kg worth of oranges! I left them in my form class as I was locked out of the staff room (we didn't have any keys and the teachers have left for the respective breaks). The next thing I knew, my students took my oranges! haha! I offered it to the rest of the class as well, so all in all, I went home with les than 0.5kg worth of oranges. But it's cool, I'm glad I could offer them something before leaving for HOME!!!!=D

Any idea anyone? (:

-Vanessa-

Xi Hong Shi Chao Ji Dan is awesome too.

I'm in blogging mood now so I'm gonna post again.
So sorry you gotta read my essay-like posts.

Anyway, Kathy and I went to Yi Yuan Supermarket during lunch time today and we got ourselves a few packets of snacks.
And we walked around for awhile and then it was 12pm and we gotta go back home for lunch, so we went to find the payment counter.

We walked here and there and couldn't find it anywhere.

Fancy getting lost in a supermarket.

So we approached this lady and she told us where to walk and her tone sounded like she was amused but because every supermarket here is like Carrefour, you can't blame us for not being able to find where the payment counters are.
So off we went, to find the veryhardtofind counters.
AND.
we forgot to bring our own bags to put our snacks in.
so off our 30cents went, and we got ourselves a very very pretty (not) white plastic bag.
REMEMBER TO BRING YOUR OWN SHOPPING BAG HOR.

Talking about shoppinggggggggg...
Just a few days ago, we went shopping again and we later on realised that there's one shop that we should never have step foot in...

it's a beautiful mistake.

Fancy spending almost all our assets in one shop.

but that shop's got pretty nice stuff.
so it's a beautiful mistake that can't be corrected.

The shopping here in China is rather good, but some of the stuff in shopping malls are actually rather pricey.

Oh and I've also realised that there's a lot of local brands that haven't gone international.
From clothing brands to car brands.

And i noticed that this post is in bits and pieces and i guess its because the blogging bug is dying so i think i'm gonna end abruptly.

so The End.

Yi Jie.