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.

yang rou chuans are good stuff.

Its been 2 weeks and 3 days since we left Singapore.

Okay, that's a pretty typical starting of a blog post and I'm pretty sure most of us are already very clear about how many days we have before departure.

And that piece of information just leave me feeling rather weird.

The feeling's a combination of excitement and sadness( substitute this word if you can think of a better term 'cause my mind isn't really working well now.)

Excitement because we're going back to Singapore soon and that's where our home is and where we can bathe normally and go out without wearing too many layers and where we can walk on the streets without having to be very afraid of stepping on spits and where we know how to take bus or mrt to wherever we want and not having to spend more than 1 hour to reach a certain place.

Basically, it's because that's where our home is.

Sadness, because of the people here who I'll miss so so so much.
It sucks knowing that once you leave, you won't be coming back here any time soon.
So you won't know when's the next time you'll be seeing them.
Memories will be all that's gonna let me feel better about all this till I get a chance to visit these people again.

Okay, these people.

My homestay family.
They're the nicest people I've met from this trip.
From the day when I met my homestay kid for the first time till now, I've never ever felt being an outsider. They're down-to-earth, good-hearted people.
Every breakfast, lunch, dinner, they would worry that I'm not used to the food here, and would always try to accommodate me. They would always say... " Zui zhong yao jiu shi yao chi bao."
They made me feel like I've a second home in China and for everything that they've done to make sure I'm comfortable, I'm really grateful.

The kids in school.
They're the sweetest people I've met from this trip.
Even though they'd always talk to Kathy instead of me, I still can't help but think that they're extremely warm-hearted and cute.
( i think because i look so fierce they scared to talk to me la. haih.)
School's a place for individuals to get a good start in life.
And we've met many different individuals, from really shy ones who would give you a smile when you walk past them, to really outgoing ones who would wave like 3cm infront of your face and shout " HELLO!".
Just today, after listening to Li Lao Shi's lesson, one sweet boy came and helped to carry my chair back to the staff room for me without saying anything ( we had to carry our own chair to the classroom to listen to the lesson.) and that's just really nice.
One boy even got his own chair for Kathy on our first lesson and sat on a really low stool himself.
The only thing that I don't really understand though, was why some of them think I'm an Indian.

I think this post's getting really long and draggy so I will just end here.

Yi Jie.

Hello!

Dawn has elaborated most of our daily routine school life. It's been a great experience in ShiJiaZhuang. It's so different from what I initially thought it would be. Rural and shabby areas? And the toilets here are DOOR-LESS and it has a strong stench like what Flo has mentioned! Most of us usually won't use the toilets here unless it's really urgent.

Oh, 5 more days! 5 more days and we're all back to sg. Time really flies especially when we're in school. I'll be real happy to be back in sg but still I think I'll kind of miss this place tho.

Also, my homestay family doesn't cook during lunch time. School ends at 12 noon for lunch break and I can't go home for lunch. End up I have to eat at YiJie's house for lunch every weekday. Luckily YiJie's host is very friendly and doesn't mind :)

Also, cycling from my house to school, it takes roughly around 20 mins which I consider it to be far. Flo's and YiJie's house takes only 10 mins. Guess this shall be a new experience for me.

Shall stop here then.

Kathy.

Hello!
Seems like Dawn has already somehow elaborated our 'daily routine' in 四十二中. Homestay is rather flexible as I have the chance to go over to Kathy's place to stay over(: Enjoyable time as I'm able to experience the different way of lives of the host families.

Basically, my host family are staying in a condo. Apparently, it's considered as one of the best residential area in Shijiazhuang. I'm blessed, for this's so much better than the rest of the buildings around. This makes me feel at home. I'm also considered lucky as my host mum will make it a point to provide my daily meals. Though the food's always too oily and sometimes salty, eating home cooked food's better than eating out. (Hygienic）Also, I can always cook my own dishes(:

During the second day in shijiazhuang, my host mum brought me to the hair salon for a hair wash. Quite comfortable; applying shampoo, followed by steaming and massaging. It costs only 5 yuan. The living expenses here's low, as compared to Sg.

Mentioning about the school, it's nothing spectacular. Kind of old and the staff room is in a shabby state. Regarding the washrooms, majority of us will choose not to use them unless it's really urgent. The stench is just extremely unbearable. Furthermore, don't be surprised to see flies swarming around the washroom area in another section, near the staff room.

Well, shall stop here.

Florence Chua.

Hey all! This is Dawn from 42 中 :) This is my first post so far,and here's a quick update. i hope this post can offer u guys a glimpse into the everyday lives of the "homestay people" lol.

Ever since we've started working officially last Monday,we've been reporting to school at about 740 each morning. Some of us walk or cycle to sch,while some take the 公车,like me for example. Cos i stay further away from school,so the bus is the most convenient form of transportation other than the bike. So i don't really have any other choice, since i can't cycle >.< After reaching the school,we'll just stick around in the staffroom,waiting for instructions from the teacher. Most of the time,we'll either be sitting in during classes or marking papers. Oh and yesterday,we just went to a 外教课 whereby there's a Caucasian teaching the students English haha. I think the lesson is quite interesting though. And oh speaking of foreigners in the school, some of us just saw the uh-hem...*drumrolls*.....famous KOREAN guys on the campus yesterday lol. Just in case some of you all are interested to know,so yeah. hahaha. Anyway,back to the topic.

Usually,after leaving for lunch we'll be back in school at around 2. The day usually ends at, latest, around 4/5 plus, then it's time to go back to our homestay place!

So far,i don't have much complaints about the family i'm staying with. Cos they're nice and treat me quite well. i think the food that the mum cooks is also not bad lol.

Okay, i think that's all for now! I hope everyone is enjoying or getting by well enough during our time here in 石家庄! :)

Cheers,
Dawn

Updates

Yessha!

A trip down to Beijing tommorow and that means long weekend again. :D But I'm gonna miss our dorm friends from room 312 and my really funny teachers.

I'm blogging from the office again because I don't have classes now. But one of the teachers, 王老师, in the office is in a really good mood now and he's spamming chinese folk songs in the office. . . so I joined in.

And I let my teachers in on how Hokkien version of 一支小雨伞 sound like. And they seemed damn amused by it. Or maybe it's just how my singing sounds. >: Anyhow, they're quite entertained by me. Despite my disastrous singing, we went on with more spamming of oldies, folk songs and dialect songs in the office.

Talk about cultural exchange.

(My teacher is still singing happily away. . .)

We have to leave in less than a week and my dorm mates and I really really hate to leave this place.. Three weeks is TOOO SHORT!

Honestly, I don't love the place to bits and pieces. We have to go to a common place to get hot water, go to common place to bathe and see each other naked and eat in the canteen with funny-tasting food. We climb five stories to get in and out of the dorm and squat till our legs cramp just to shit. I constantly fear for our lives and our pockets whenever we get on a cab. In crowded places, I hold on to my bag for my dear life just in case there's pick pockets. I can't stand public toilets nor do I stand the smell. The traffic rules are just vulgar and so are some of the mannerism of certain locals I met.

And the suayest crap of all and among everyone who came here I met with a FLASHER on the streets.

To sum it all, it's much more comfortable and safer living Singapore.

But three weeks is not enough to experience and explore the life here. And we met really good people like our dorm friends from room 312 and my teachers who are really funny but really caring and warm.

These really good people we met, are more innocent and true. They enjoy simple things in life and this is something I have yet to experience in Singapore.

Si Hua and I cannot agree more that it is still not the time leave 石家庄 yet, and time doesn't allow us to do so.

SOBS.

By the way, I'm also blogging on behalf of Si Hua because her Chinese Lit Dept teachers don't allow her to use computer. >:

I'll be back to blog soon! Gotta go fill my little empty stomach oraedae!

Be well,
Kat and Si Hua <3

Hey who's falling in love with who! Farhana, who's the new couple in class!

Jingting and I just finished marking two stacks of spelling test sheets and uhh it's crazy. My brain is dead now but we're looking forward to going out later ( it's 530pm now lol). Going to get some supplies at the city but waiting for Kat to come back from the singing competition!

Anyway it has been "snowing" for the past few days.. snowing cotton. According to Kat, a cotton factory exploded and there are cotton balls flying all over the city =P Will post up a video of the snow soon!

Till then!

-YY

I went to Bei Jing with some friends and their charges last weekend. It was a warped-ly eventful trip.

For one, you can see couples making out at every turn you make. The highlight of the trip was seeing a *very* old couple beejay-ing near Bei Jing West train station on the way back to Shi Jia Zhuang.

Also, we had The authentic original legendary Peking Duck at Quan Ju De. For those contemplating about making a trip down to He Ping Dian　this weekend just to have a taste of The Duck, here’s some advice: Don’t bother. We had three of The Ducks, just to check for consistency of taste (…and because Jinnie was deliriously celebrating the fulfillment of her 6 year long dream of eating The Duck at The Shop).

Well, at least we can safely conclude that it’s consistently boring tasting.


If I'm allowed to whine here, 20 days is tooooo long for a school trip.

Here's a conversation that I had twice with Carmen, the secret otaku.

Carmen: People here are deprived. Everybody! Even our schoolmates.
Me: Why leh?
Carmen: People here can't even watch porn to fufil their sexual needs.
Me: Hmm, I guess you're right. But there's always the internet what.
Carmen: Do you know how slow the internet loads down here?!! (gives me an incredulous look)Me: Oooh. But I cou- oh hum, nevermind. HAHA! Yes, 20 days is a long time. I heard our classmates are falling in love with each other now.
Carmen: Already say deprived what. I would tell you to watch hentai to get rid of this suckiness, but the internet speed is just so f-king slow, NB!


Argh, though I like my hosts to bits and pieces, but still, I can't wait till next Wednesday　to see someone who can kill this nagging depravity...and to eat Paddlepop, because they don't sell Paddlepop in China. Cheebie.


－　Farhana

Hello it's YY here with pictures as promised! Some of them are from JingTing's camera. Not in any particular order (though i think it's reverse order but not sure cos im too lazy to check). The picture sizes are quite screwed cos blogger doesn't allow the shift key to resize proportionately. Yup so there you go!



One of the buildings in No.18 middle school.


Camwhores in the staffroom.



Walnut that the Chinese student gave me! It's good fro the brains according to them.

Our first go at food from roadside stalls. It's this burger like thing except that it's biscuit instead of bread =/



YY on China streets!

Our department of teachers! Nice ppl!


Memory verse that helped me survive this whole trip(:


That's Nat, LiZi, Kat. LiZi is our Chinese dorm friend who lives on the ground floor.


One of our first local food. Dumplings that we're currently quite sick of.


Kat's first go at Bing Tang Hu Lu! I personally think it's too sweet for my liking.. the rest seem to have no problems with it haha.


The Scandalous pair! JT and Tim! (Though they look more like father and daughter)


It's spring now by the way but these are the winter flowers that shouldn't be there anymore but we saw them in our first week here.


Temples


Temple



Not a very good choice of food..................

One of the first attempts to cross the crazy roads!


JT, SiHua, YY and Kat on the school field!


That was before we landed in ShiJiaZhuang! Look at the gradient it's like photoshopped laaa.


The walk onto the domestic plane!

The three on the left are our Chinese dorm friends! They came over to help us when Si Hua lost her keys to her padlock and all her stuff were locked in the locker.



That's our heroine, the pugilistic leader, Ma Huan!


That's our best sister Tim!


First dinner!

On the plane!


The other day was Qing Ming (it's a public holiday here by the way), and the school brought the students to the war memorial hall in ShiJiaZhuang. The teacher in the middle is Wang Laoshi (our sort of in-charge in the dept)


The students paid their respect to the war hero.



Yup, saddening like our Kranji war memorial.


The dustbin damn cute right! With the hole at the bottom, might as well don't have the dustbin hurhur.

:D



Cao laoshi!

That's Ma2 Hua1 that i'm eating! Quite flour-y and tasteless but crunchy!



I was so bored in the staffroom i started drawing!

Our surprise for Ma Huan's 18th birthday!

That will be all! Think Kat will be posting more stuff up(:

Interesting Stuff for Bored People

I'm quite bored in the office here, so I went to read up on the difference between 北方人 and 南方人．

And I was pretty homesick too, so I went to check out Singapore news. I discovered that Singapore is not sunny at all, in fact, it's pouring like crazy there. Well, I just hope that we'll get some sunniness when we get back! :D

Do check it out when you're free yeah? <:

Kat Says Hi From 十八中 and She's Living Like A Local Already！

Hello everyone!

I don't have morning classes today, so I'm pretty much stucked in the office. I thought this would be a great opportunity to blog now. :D

清明节 is a public holiday in China and we had a pretty long weekend to spent. <:

My weekend is the best one among the 十八中 girls, I think. =X

My teacher-in-charge invited me to 苍岩山，井陉 to 扫墓 with her husband's family. I was a little reluctant to go at first 'cos I thought it might not be safe. But hey, it's a long weekend and a free tour around the mountaineous village - WHY NOT?

So, I joined my teacher for 扫墓. And that was the best experience so far in 石家庄, I tell you!

It's a two hours ride from my school to the village and along the way to the mountains, the scenery is really beautiful. No kidding.

We made it to their village, and I think it's pretty much like a Kampong area. Anyway, their family is very warm and friendly. Be it the Ah Gong, Ah Ma, Aunties, Uncles, kids my age, toddlers blah blah blah, all of them are super friendly and gave me a warm welcome. c:

They brought me to their family cemetry and started 扫墓. It was kind of weird actually, because I'm just an outsider. From what I observed, they actually have to light fire crackers up after the whole ceremony (which includes burning the incense paper and cleaning up of the tombstones).

Call me a sua ku, but I was damn amazed to see fire crackers at such a short distance.

Despite me being an outsider, I sat at the table to have lunch with them. The aunty, my teacher's mother-in-law, prepared tonnes of 饺子. And we had that and 饺子汤 for lunch. 北方菜和南方菜吃起来果然不同．

Anyways, 清明节 is also a day for family to get together. After lunch, they brought me up to their mountain villa. O.o

It happened that the 三叔 bought over the whole mountain and started building villas around the mountain. Right now it's still a private villa. But accordng to my teacher, it will open up to the public in the next few years. :D

My teacher asked me to go 转转, the Third Uncle's son became my guide and brought me up the mountain for a hike. It was really tiring and kind of dangerous.. But the mountain view is BREATH TAKING~!!!!!!

After the hike, we came back for their BBQ session. They were having mutton satays and I do not like and do not eat mutton at all. My teacher persuaded me to try though..

Since I'm already here, WHAT DO I HAVE TO LOSE? Took a bite and it was simply delicious.

The BBQ session consisted of loads of talking and BBQing.

After the BBQ session, they continued a little tour around the mountain villa before heading back to city...

They are really very warm and friendly people. Even though I wasn't even part of the family, they made me feel really comfortable and I felt no distance between them at all. Before I left, they gave me this really yummy 缸炉烧饼 as a gift. I have nothing for them, except a really big hug and handshake to everyone of them.

The rest of my weekend was just exploring 石家庄. And I did some exploration alone just yesterday. I know I'm not supposed to wonder around alone... But Kat is proud to say that she knows how to read their bus routes and survive their crazy traffic. I am already living like a local! 就只差一个自行车！

I really can't put what I saw and experienced that day in words.. But I have the pictures to illustrate my day to you guys.

I'll upload the photos as soon as I can and give you guys a more detailed update on my weekend. :D

Be well everyone and I'll update soon again!

Hosted by JingTing
Edited by YY

Yay-ness! Will be heading towards Beijing in like less than 12 hours time. I had been looking forward to this trip since… erm… Thursday. It was rather an impromtu one and much things are still left unconfirmed. But nonetheless, I still think it will be a fun experience taking the train and going to attractions in Beijing. Plus, of course, tasting their well known 北京烤鸭. =))

Our homestay kids will be joining us for this trip and it’s kind of safe in the sense that there are locals around.

So ya, 北京烤鸭！！！=))

－　Ｋａｔｈｅｒｉｎｅ

Another post from me, it's day 10 now and things isn't that bad anymore. I'm starting to not complain and just move on with life. After all, this is no holiday, this is all about work. My supervisor is nice, always giving me work to do so time passes faster. (: Dinner yesterday was unexpectedly exotic, they asked me what kind of food I had in Singapore and I happily responded thinking that I’d get something familiar, apparently, I was wrong. Accordingly, the local Chinese are very particular about the type of food which they partake in, hence, they love to try new dishes, and of course, recommend it to us. I was offered this octopus tentacles, flurry looking thing. They told me that it wasn’t meat, and asked me to put it in my mouth first. It doesn’t taste like anything, except the feeling of chowing down on a rubber band. Upon swallowing it, I went, “alright, now that I’ve swallowed, what is it?” *drum rolls* the response: COW’S STOMACH! I went, O.o WHATTTTTTTTTT!!! Hahaha. Okay, I feel so drama, heading for BeiJing tomorrow. (:

- Vanessa -

Hello all~ it's jingting here! I'm typing this post in the office now (just like YY did). Right now the whole room is empty and some of the teachers have left for a meeting, even taking their chairs with them! YY isn't with me because she wasn't feeling too well, hence she's resting in bed.

Kat and I went to attend 2 consecutive English classes today, and we realised that a lot of emphasis is placed on the theoratical aspect of learning. There was teaching on the use of passive and active voices too. We actually think that more application (reading, hearing, and speaking) of English would help improve their command of the langauge but the teacher told us that only the better students would do so. In truth, reading was how I managed to get by since plain memorising of those theories was just 'sian'.

So speaking of the teachers, the department that YY and I got assigned to is harmonious indeed! They joke with one another, speculate on drama serials, and kept recommending places to go since they don't have much work for us to do. They'd bring us around if it isn't too far off. We had a teacher who even helped to bargain for the price of a cake!! So sweet right :D

The friends we made at the dorm are definitely a lovely bunch too! They gave us some tiny precious possessions yesterday, and we felt so bad having nothing to give in return. Watching them poke fun at each other is pretty amusing too, and one of them even gave SiHua a nickname! It sure is a joy having them around to add colour to our stay here =D

Lunch time starts at 11.40am here (canteen has its operating hours), and it's almost lunch time soon! Some of us will be heading out later with the teachers and students for a Qing Ming Jie event, sort of like a learning journey. Hopefully YY feels good enough to join us! In the meantime, take care everyone!!!

Love
jingting

YO IT'S YY HERE from No.18 middle school! I'm in the office now erm slacking? Haha the teachers in my dept are really nice and friendly, they keep telling us to go out to play and explore China. I've found my favourite pastry here that the teachers insist is called bing(biscuit). The texture is actually more like our polar snacks back home? Hmm. Oh the milk here is YUMM too =D

So far Jingting and i have been to quite a few lessons already. The kids are sweet, enthusiastic and extremely helpful. Oh not to mention courteous like when we walk around the school they actually greet us from afar unlike singaporean kids who turn the other direction upon seeing their teachers :p

Explored a little beyond our school compounds and found a few important places around the area to get some daily stuff. (I'm still quite wary of crossing roads because vehicles come from 360 degrees). The main transportation here is mainly bicycles? They have special sheds enough to house bicycles for all the students and teachers and the bicycle paths are as wide as the road for cars. We took the cab here and like Daryl mentioned it's quite different from those in Singapore because the driver is caged up- there's these bars that separate the back passengers from the front. (Taking cab here is quite a challenge too because we're afraid of being overcharged if the driver finds out we are foreigners so we keep quiet throughout the 40min cab ride :P )

I'm getting quite used to the low temperature here already and the food is alright too. I had this misconception that they eat extremely salty food here but it seems like it's only the school canteen food with salty food :/

Oh yes we made friends with some Chinese students from the dorm and they're a happy cheerful bunch. If there's anything that is making me not miss home that much it's definitely them and my wonderful dorm mates.

Cheers to the sunny island,
YY

P.S i promise pictures for my next post, i need to go back to my lappy to arrange them(:

First post from the guys at 43中! I must say that I'm really damn happy cause this is my first time using the internet ever since coming to 石家庄！And its all thanks to my wonderful teacher who took the effort to help find a com for me. =)

So anyway our school is more commonly known as 石家庄外国语学校！Its located on 育才街 which is a super long stretch of road so if you take a cab you've gotta let the driver know exactly where the school is. Its quite different from Singapore because here in China the drivers are 'locked' up in this little metal cage. I think its to protect them from passengers or from getting mugged la. Anyway its been a good experience so far! I think I've bonded with my dorm mates a tremendous load since the first day, especially since I really didn't like them because they CUT OFF OUR WATER SUPPLY! (PICC students will know what I'm talking about.) But yea, I'm actually glad that I'm bunking with them so that's a good thing that came out of this PICC attachment!

Our bunk is pretty decent in my opinion. It has hot water, drinking water and electricity. The bare essentials that I was seriously worried would be lacking. the only bummer is that our electricity keeps tripping. The girls are quite sad i think because they have to go collect water to bath. They've no hot water in the dorm. But their dorm looks very much cleaner and newer!

More about what has happened ever since we've got here. We're all teaching at the primary school which is pretty challenging because the kids here are seemingly never out of energy! I took a video on the first day and when I'm back in Singapore I can post it up and you can hear for yourself how noisy it is here! I couldn't stand it but you get used to it after awhile. Actually there are loads of pictures that we'd love to post up but I can't because I didn't bring my camera cable. So the pictures will have to wait. You can always get it from my FB when we're back in Singapore!

So back to the attachment, Jonathan and I(Daryl) are attached to the Primary 2s, Timothy's to the Primary 5s, Zeyu to the Primary 6s. I can't remember where Jianshun, Erwin Ivan and Calvin are attached to but we're all spread out amongst Primary school. On the first night, the guys decided to go out to eat because the school cafeteria was closed already. We decided to go to this 烧烤 place called 小伟烧烤. I tell you, the food there is really really good and orgasmic! Just the 羊肉串 is good enough to send you into heaven. The guys, mainly Ivan, decided to try the 羊鞭(I think its this bian). We drank lots of beer and seriously I think it was a good start.

Over the weekend, we met up with our girls for the first time. I guess everyone had a good time because we hadn't seen each other for almost a week! And we had lots of stories to share. We went to 正定to visit 隆兴寺 and then 荣国府. I liked the temple visit because of the religious and historical value. I'm the kinda person who's very into history and culture, that's why I wanna go Beijing during the weekend! So far we've been spending the weekend shopping and eating. the food here is damn good and cheap. My group of girls and I went to eat like 饺子，面，包 and lots of other authentic Chinese food and it was only 50yuan for all of us! WTF right?

Oh ya and before I forget, it snowed the other day!!! Like super uber cool. It was my first time seeing falling snow so it was a whole new experience for me. i rushed out in the middle of lessons to play in the snow. So wtf right? But my teacher said it was okay because she knew that we'd never seen snow before. Took pictures in the snow too. The snow was good because it sort of cleared up the pollution, and now we can see the blue skies again. Its quite a rarity to see clear blue skies here because of all the pollution.

Went over to visit the 18中 girls yeaterday. Celebrated Joanna's fake birthday! What a bad April's Fool Day joke la. caught up with the group there and it was very hearrtwarming. I really hope their side allows them to go to Beijing. It would be SO MUCH FUN I swear! the guys are trying to plan the Beijing trip, think it'll have to be next week cause this week might be a little too rushed, but we'll see!

Anyway I've loosely summarised our first week here, in short I think its been a great experience! Will update again when I get the opportunity to.

For now, its Daryl.