WOOHOO! four weeks down and two more to go!! and back I will be in Singapore and see all my dearest!! (family/friends/spiritual family/MANY MANY MORE).. hahaha! oh man. four weeks in China is really something for me and it is so much fun and laughter! I can't believe I'm away from Singapore for almost a month! wow!

DAY 29

basically there's nothing interesting happening today except for the guys managed to complete a game which we took super long to figure out how to win. haha! it was quite a nice bonding session where we do things together, having an aim to achieve something. Although it is a game, nevertheless, it is still something we managed to complete! =)

had PM lesson today. Mainly talked about leadership styles and conflict management. haha! I was like -.- when Mr. Tan talked about it. A little bored for me as I have went through these topics already. I even had my own workshop!! haha! oh well. Its a little different though. The leadership styles being taught this time round is more general. About autocratic, democratic and Laizzes-Faire style. so yea. it much more general than the workshop I gave during TVC'08. =) but still, its something to learn. as for conflict management, I felt it was exactly the same as what Min had in her conflict management workshop for TVC'08. so I was rather half listening and half listening to my music =P but in all, there's still something to learn from it. so yea. because i always believe that there will be something new to learn from even though it is the same thing. since we will notice different things at different times. =D

oh wells. blog about something more interesting. haha! I shall talked about the conditions of the apartment since it is getting a little boring for me to always update about my life over here. since a picture speaks a thousand words, I shall have a many thousand words essay here!

This is how the apartment looks on the first week:



My room.


The living room or we call it the common clothes area.


Jacob's and Zheng wei's room. haha!


And after four weeks, this is the condition:


my room.


cheng teck's room (sorry ah. didnt took his room picture on week 1)


Jacob's and Zheng wei's room. By the way, the half naked guy is Jacob. haha! =P


our common area with Mr. Hardworking + Joker, Cai Guo Yuan.


And tadah! that's me!! I LOVE MY HAIR! WOOT!~

haha! SEE THE DIFFERENCE??!! SO COOL RIGHT??!!

Oh well, it will soon be cleared. Cause I will need to start packing and jumping on my suitcase already. haha! I will soon blog about what I've bought. So yea. haha! LOOK FORWARD TO IT!! =D


REFLECTION OF DAY 29, MONDAY, 22nd SEPTEMBER 2008:

Time: 9:55pm

Today’s Project Management lecture talks about leadership styles, conflict management and also change control. I was a little bored at first as I had been through 2/3 of the lecture’s topics before, which is leadership style and conflict management. However, I decided to be attentive as I thought there would have something additional which I didn’t know that can add value to my knowledge.

Although the content was similar, it sort of reinforced what I have learnt, especially for the part on conflict management. Thinking back, there were many times I didn’t really resolve conflicts but let it hanging as I am one that do not like to settle things that may turn ugly. Being people oriented, I will need to better manage conflicts as it is something unavoidable most of the time. Conflict does not necessary be bad as it helps to build relations if managed correctly.

Remembering what I have observed since Day 1 in China, I notice that people in China are very open in conflict management. Meaning they are very willing to step out to manage an on-going conflict. I once saw two people having a conflict and them managing it to resolve the problems. They tend to adopt a more forceful way of management a conflict which is to try and create a win-lose situation (whereby the position is in a Me-You). Although I don’t prefer this method of management, but somehow this is the way they work over here. If it were to be me, I would not be so “open” in trying to resolve it as I will walk away instead. But still, I admire their courage and boldness to manage a conflict.

In conclusion, I need to learn how to break out of my own comfort zone to deal with conflicts so that things can get going. This will also not affect relationships among people as leaving a conflict does not solve it but prolongs it. Therefore, conflict management skill is something that is important in daily life.

Learning in progress: Adaption to environment

Ok. I shall combine both days and blog them together.. if not I will lose the "stamina" to blog tomorrow. haha!

DAY 27 & 28

Took a SUPER LONG RIDE, which is 6hours, to reach Wudang area. the LONGEST ride ever I've took in my WHOLE LIFE TIME! even traveling in Australia doesn't need a 6hours bus ride! after which, went to a restaurant to have our lunch. the food is pretty nice actually and its better. well, some special guest came to visit our table while we were eating.. haha! it was super interesting.


the restaurant.


we saw this one lady eat SO MUCH food! haha! POWER!


and our SPECIAL guest. guestS i mean. haha!

anyway, after that we head on to the mountain which is not really THAT kind of mountain we see on TV. haha! there's shuttle bus services, etc. anyway, we went to this part called 太子坡 to look see look see. the place is just alright for me.


our tour guide and the place.


reaching the entrance after some flights of steps.


a temple inside.


another entrance to another place. LOL.

oh yea. there was this interesting thing that was inside the place. there's this place that sells envelopes which contains the origin of your own surname. So yea. I bought one and then I closed after the first sentence. haha! reason, ALL IN CHINESE! ahahaha! I cui-ed once I saw the first sentence. Like Guan said, we can go and google translate it. IF that is possible. hahahah!


the surname thing. Looks very interesting.


ANOTHER temple.


Zheng wei and Guo yuan acting as though they are learning some martial art skill from some master.

and off we go to another place which is called The South Cliff Palace. this has LOTS of steps to take and its pretty nice though. and the place is FFFFOOOOGGGGYYYY like nobody's business. serious. It even feels like raining over there!


the stairs.


picture with the WuDang Mountain label.


this is how FOGGY the place is.


one of the structure inside.

and we came to this palace like place. it was HUGE i tell you. I mean the palace. and the steps too! its like super high per steps. If I use my usual stairs climbing method, I would have fall or trip over for like 0278508458082304805780284 times. -.- well, and we found this interesting thing. it was super hilarious. haha! its the fire extinguisher box like thing. look at how they put the words!


the whole palace.


zheng wei with this burning furnace.


the entrance.


this tai ji shop. that tells u all about tai ji and other weird stuff which I don't understand. haha!


AND THE FIRE EXTINGUISHER!! HAHAHA! Jacob even commented that any foreigners come sure will laugh at this. =P

and off we went to head to hotel as it was already 630 to be. we reached the hotel after dinner and it was already pitch dark. had some time to talked to Joyce and Hui ru before heading back to room to concuss. haha!

RISE and SHINE! woke up and packed. went to have breakfast before heading to the mountain again for mountain climbing. the decision was that we all climb up and take this cable car down. it was a REALLY INTERESTING one! tiring but fulfilling. I think I have climbed 04750477404875070386375574859279567647564652358764725423564786239462379645923649623986492364962394629462364982639462936482634 steps in total for this mountain climbing. Going a total of 9km worth of path and steps to go up a 1.6km mountain.



the stairs.


scenery along the WuDang Mountain.



some places along the way. small shop houses where people can buy some snacks and drinks to rest.

serious speaking, it is really a test of endurance and will power. haha! and I thank this guy from ME that encouraged me all the way. keeping me going all the way. Else I think I rather jump down and die. haha! ok. kidding. I treasure my life. haha! but it seemed like some kind of test. I mean similar to our life. Ups and downs. Tough and easy. So I'm glad I actually completed it and reached the top! =)

here are some of the pictures from the top view:


ME!


Zheng wei


top view.


group photo. COOL! haha!

and after which, we took a cable car down to take the shuttle bus to the entrance of WuDang Mountain. headed to LATE lunch and then back. there's a funny incident whereby the bus drive took a wrong turn to the exit at the expressway. end up he went to U-turn on the expressway which caused a little jam. haha! and a police car came whereby everyone, YES. EVERYONE, even those sleeping, stood up to look out to see what is going to happen. and oh well, the driver wasn't caught. else I could try driving. haha! =P ok la.. so it turns out that we took longer than expected to reach back the University. but its ok. so long we are safe and sound, that's good! haha! oh. FYI. Jacob and I even ran back to the apartment as both of us were urgent to use the toilet. due to the availability of only one usable toilet, both of us...... haha! guess yourself =P

tired weekend but I like it. especially the mountain climbing. although it is like CRAZY and MADNESS, but it really taught me quite a few things. =)


REFLECTION OF DAY 27 & 28, SATURDAY & SUNDAY, 20th - 21st SEPTEMBER 2008:

Time: 1:53pm

At the trip to the WuDang Mountain, I got the chance to speak with 安院长’s son and to know him a little. The chance came upon when both of us were paired up to take the cable car. It was quite a rare chance and I took the opportunity to speak with him.

During the short 25minutes ride, we talked about lots of stuff comparing China and Singapore. We talked about topics ranging from education system to the government system to even personal views on both countries. It was a really fruitful ride and he is actually a person with lots of view on various topics. I was amazed by his knowledge and how he shared his thoughts.

The most impactful topic we talked about is on the government system in China and Singapore. From what I know, China government personnel like to have authority to them and gain full control of their people. From what I was told, China government likes to keep problems away from the citizens or to prevent problems from spreading. And thus, they will try and suppress people who tried to rise up certain issues that were being found. One recent case would be the one about the milk powder issue.

There were actually a few people who found out the problem and raise the issue to the government. However, the government suppressed them by telling them not to talk about the problem anymore. After a long time, the company manufacturing the milk powder found out the problem as well. They wrote in a letter to the government to ask them to reveal the truth as the company does not want their name to be tarnished since it was really not their problem. And once the government announced the problem, the citizens felt slightly better but this gave the government another negative image of wanting to keep issues that people face as a secret. This will also downgrade the government and China as a whole in the eyes of people in other countries.

I’ve learnt that the government needs to be more flexible with their authority power and not hold it to themselves only. This may seem useful for now as they are under the developing stage. However, after some time, people will start to feel unhappy and thus start to form groups that will go against the government. This will then cause a chaos within the country due to unhappiness. In long term, the method is not very useful and may even backfire.

This has made me appreciate Singapore government more as restrictions are given to protect us and make Singapore a better place to stay. Those restrictions are not meant to make our lives poorer. Therefore, I learnt to better understand steps which the government took and know the rationale behind it. This will make us better support the government and make Singapore a better place to live in.

Learning in progress: Culture in China/government system