OELP Reflection (SUMIKO)
I chose to go on this
trip to improve myself and to also widen my image of the world outside
Singapore. Being a typical Singaporean kid, when I go overseas to travel, I
do not learn much as I would follow the saying, 上车睡觉下车尿尿 and go back to Singapore only seeing the physical view but not the
insights. I know going on this trip would be different as it is a school trip
that is a good opportunity for me to learn from the other areas of the world.
I had a few aims that I think this trip will help me achieve and also collect
valuable experiences. Firstly, I would like to know the culture of the people
in Hefei and compare it to those in Singapore, which is also our task for the
CID2 program during this trip. We had been informed about the difference in
culture and to be careful about it but I would like to experience the
difference and take note about about the similarities in the differences.
Also being Chinese, it is only right if we learn about our Chinese
counterparts from China from this trip like their education, way of life and
culture. I went on the trip also with a mindset of coming back as a more
independent me as I would have to take care of myself properly for the eight
days with some guidance from the teachers. Personally I have my parents and
grandparents who would take care of everything for me and I can always turn
to them for help when I face minor or major problems, but since they are not
coming with me for the trip, I did feel afraid. I think whatever we can learn from the trip
can also be learnt from reading and research, so I think the reason for the
overseas trip is for us to learn with experience and thus one of my aims to
achieve for this trip is to experience everything I learn, for example about
culture, rather than just listening to the tour guide introduce and explain
the uses of various things we can find, we can look at the physical structure
and understand the rational behind things easier. This also allows me to
remember everything in an easier manner. Not just in the context of learning
but being there experiencing would allow me to learn more about the culture
and the way of life of the locals living in China. Every meal in China is an
experience telling us about the difference of the food there and the food in
Singapore, I believe when we are overseas, every moment is an experience we
should not miss as they contain a lot of learning we can collect as valuable
skills. Lastly, I aim to bond more with the class and to know all the
classmates better, even though this is not the reason why the school is bringing
us on this trip. I think that since we are changing classes next year, OELP
would be a very memorable part of our journey as 1F 2014 and 2F 2015 and we
would not forget each other as we go onto year 3.
Out of many situations that we had faced in China,
there is one that I felt very strongly about, that was during the photo
taking at Tunxi old street. That day we had free time to walk in the street
to do our research and buy some souvenirs and then we were to gather at the
end of the street as a group. When we reached the end of the street and
gathered as a group, we proceeded to queue up in the columns. When we were
waiting for the other groups to arrive, an old man, dressed dirtily, with a
tin on his hand came over. He stretched out the tin at many of us and made
some noises we could not understand, we knew he was begging us for money and
that made me uncomfortable. Afterwards, when we decided to take a class photo
at the end of the street, he was still asking us for money despite being
ignored. When the teachers invited him to move aside as we are taking a
photo, he did not move until our tour guide came over and threw a coin into
the tin and moved him to the corner. This situation made me felt strongly
about it as even though we were reminded to ignore the beggars when we see
them, they seem very pitiful and it would be inhumane for us to ignore them
and not help them even if we could. Even though we were told that if we were
to give one beggar some money, the rest would all come and ask for money. I
think that this is a truth of life that we cannot help everyone and we should
not help beggars as it brings inconveniences for us as well. We also learnt
that beggars are usually scammers and like to target foreigners with their
pitiful appeal. They can be part of an organization or beg money for harmful
uses like drugs. Another reason why I felt strongly about this is because
this situation can only be experienced when we are in China, this is learning
with experience and all the lessons in school are just learning, and this
trip actually ensure us with experience that we could learn more with.
Personally, I think I learnt the most from the tour guides on this trip, as
the tour guides are very well read, prepared for their job. Despite it being
their job to explain why the tourist spots are worthy to be visited, they
explained in a very clear manner. I learnt the most from them based on what
they had taught and also the strengths they have. They knew everything about
the places we have to visit and it is very clear that they had all the
research done for us, so that we can have a easier time understanding what
the guides at various location as we have a basic background knowledge. I
also admire the fact that the tour guides are able to more or less answer questions
posed to them in an instant, without notice beforehand. For example, there
was once when the teachers made us wrote questions down for the local tour
guides to answer and despite not having time to prepare, he could answer our
questions on the point and explain all our doubts. I am also amazed when the
tour guide went over his job scope to explain the buildings and artifacts at
the Hongcun Ancient Village by himself despite it being the guide at the
tourist spot’s job. I think this shows the guide’s enthusiasm to explain
things to us in his manner, which is much clearer to us for us to understand.
Therefore, this is why I think I learnt the most from the tour guides, both
content wise and attitude wise. One fact that impcted me the most in this trip
was the word ‘孝’ at the Hongcun Ancient Village,
this word which was written by 南宋大理学家朱熹is hung at a very obvious place in one of
the halls in the beautiful village, namely the ‘敬爱堂’, which is a place where three brothers would
go to pay offering to ancestors. This ‘孝’ word is written in a way that amazes me by a
lot, it is written in a very magical way. When looking at the right side of
the Chinese character, you would see a man looking as though he is on his
knees and with his hands interwined before him, which looks like a position
someone would be in, when respecting elders. Whereas, on the left side of the
character, you could actually see something that resembles a monkey kicking,
definitely an act of disrespect. This character ‘孝’ , which means filial in English, was written
in very meaningful manner, if you are filial, you would be like the right
side of the character and if you are not, you will be equivilant to the left
side. I think being filial is very important, as our parents actually
suffered a lot to ensure that all of us have a stable and happy life, we
should not be rude to them but instead respect them and thank them for
raising us, which I believe is a hard task and since this is related to
family, it is very relatable to everyone.
This trip will allow me to think more about what I
have seen and to know more about the world outside of Singapore, we also
figured out the differences between Singapore and China, and also cleared up
misconceptions we have of the people living in China. I believe this trip
have changed my behavior and attitude for the better. For instance I think I
had learnt to be a more knowledgeable, and know the basic of China’s culture,
history and economy, this has made me more interested in the China and
therefore I think that my attitude to China has changed as I am more willing
to learn about them. This trip involves us interacting with the locals in
China, be it the tour guides or the students in their school, and I think
this definitely changed out attitude to the Chinese people, as we had bad
conceptions of them, as mentioned in one lesson when we taught they were loud
and noisy, and even cruel people. The interactions with them made me more
understanding of their behavior and even cleared up the misconceptions I had
of them in the past, judging on newspaper articles, some Chinese tourists we
had seen in Singapore. There are a few long term changes that I hope would
take place like being inquisitive, interested in learning new things. As well
as, I also hope that would become more bold and confident when I meet new
people. I hope that this trip has made me more concern of the happenings of
the world and I hope to be inquisitive in learning all sorts of things, and
be teachable. I also would like to be more confident and not shy about
meeting new friends. There is something I am very regretful about in this
trip and that is not having a proper conversation with my buddy because I was
too shy and felt too awkward when talking to them. I hope that I would be
more confident and talk to new friends as though we are friends for a very
long time, so that I can have more friends and also lesser regrets when
meeting people. There are many things I learnt in China during the few days
that I can apply back to Singapore, for example, I learnt to be more
appreciative about differences between culture, and also be more
understandable about why there are differences and not judge culture people
and get over ‘culture shock’ more quickly. For instance, the toilets in the
school over in China were totally different from what we expected, with no
doors and low sanitary level. Most of the girls, including me, in class were
pretty upset with the toilet, as it is very different and gave us a ‘culture
shock’. We had to use our friends to stand in front of us when we pee, as a
human ‘door’. Afterwards, we realized that the toilets in the school’s toilet
design does not only have disadvantage, but it has its own advantage, which
is to not let students spend too much time in the toilet. This also made me
realize the comfort and security we have in River Valley is something to be
thankful about, even though it does not come along with the advantage. There
is no direct comparison about the toilets that make the one in Singapore
better or worse, therefore I conclude that differences should all be
appreciated. Thus, I learnt that differences should be appreciated and we can
use it in Singapore as we have different races that practice different
cultures and there is no better or worse practices, like Malay having their
wedding at the void deck etcetera.
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