Beijing Trip

2007-01-09T21:19:00.000+08:00

-30 December 2006-

We're leaving for Singapore today!

Home home home~..!

--

We were allowed to sleep later today since there isn't any school,

and our flight is at 3.30 pm.

Well,

or so I thought.

It was around 9 - 10 am we heard Mr Chua yelling in the corridors that it was snowing.

I thought that it was some stupid joke played on us to wake us up.

Since it was said that it'd never snow in Beijing til February.

Hafizah though, jumped out of her bed and jumped on mine.

She tore open the curtains and screamed,

"IT'S SNOWING !! IT'S REALLY SNOWING!! "

I woke up instantly.

Oh My God.

It really was snowing!

The view from outside my window.
Hafizah and I kept singing Christmas songs while staring at the snow.

I took a small walk alone around the neighbourhood..
and it was really lovely to have snow falling like that.

I hurried back to the hostel later because it was almost time for us to gather and board the bus that will be sending us to the airport.

The planes in the snow.

Check-In.

Our many many luggages.

--

Due to the snow/heavy fog,
our flight was delayed for 3 hours.
So we only managed to board the plane at 6.30pm.

It was getting dark by the time we settled on the plane.

--

Singapore at last!

Look at what time we reached Singapore!

It was New Year's Eve already!
Home Sweet Home.

--

Overall,

The Beijing Trip was a blast of an experience.

It was really great to be able to really live like a local,
rather than going to Beijing like a tourist.

To study in a local school and learn the same things as them.
Understanding China's culture and thinking.

I've learnt to be much more independent myself,
I'm glad to have come on this trip.

I really enjoyed myself,
and I'm sure everyone else too.

An eye-opener for sure,
it was really something else.

I'd really recommend the trip to anyone else who'd appreciate it.

Here thanking everyone who made so much effort for this trip to be such a smooth and possible one.
A Big THANK YOU from me..!!

Jessica Sim signing out.

2007-01-09T20:03:00.000+08:00

-29 December 2006-

We'll leave for Singapore tomorrow.

We'll be doing our farewells today,

this 2 weeks has passed by so fast.

It's time for us to leave already.

We have to enjoy this very last day!

--

It's the last day of school at Beijng Finance and Economic School.

We had our very last lesson of Chinese Economy,

then lunch.

We cleared up and it was a little farewell party by the school and students of Class 11 again.

The preparation of our performance.

With Faisal in the lead.

It was the games next..

A last group picture of us and students from Class 11.

Finally, a picture where we can see every single guy that belonged to Class 11.
They're always either separated or hiding somewhere.

We all said our goodbyes,
exchanged gifts and e-mails.
some of us got quite emotional.
We've spent a lot of time in the 2 weeks together,
it can get rather unbearable.

--

A group of us left to Silk Market after.

We separated ourselves,

and I was with Hafizah.

We shopped and bargained, shopped and bargained.

It got pretty exhausting and rest our legs at O' Briens,

a small cafe located outside Silk Market.

Hot chocolate and sandwiches.

It was a very nice moment spent with Hafizah.

Then it was back to more shopping!

--

We had our very last night to pack.

Atiqah and Dyla came over to help Hafizah pack,
she has a lot of stuff!

That's our room.

We packed til pretty late.

But who cares!
We get to sleep late tomorrow!

2007-01-09T19:35:00.000+08:00

-28 December 2006-

It's 2 more days before we're returning to Singapore!

It's getting more and more exciting.

I'll really miss Beijing,

but I wanna go home!

--

It was Chinese Economy class first.

I was still sick,

but I didn't want to miss Chinese Economy.

We have a test on it for goodness sake.

I felt really sick for a period of time in the classroom,

it was so stuffy.

I just felt like vomitting.

I was just waiting for the 10 minutes break the teacher always give in between.

I needed fresh air!

--

It was lunch after,

I was sitting alone when the guys all left for their basketball game.

I felt very comfortable sitting there alone.

All quiet,

watching people.

It's a very nice moment,

people kept asking me why I was seated all alone,

why was I always by myself.

Actually I prefer to be alone,

I'm not un-sociable or anything,

it's just when you're all alone,

you get to enjoy your surroundings more.

Absorb everything.

And I like it.

You seem to miss out on a lot when you're with your friends,

it's because you're trying to fit in,

and you're focusing your full concentration to your friends and their conversation.

So if any of you still have any doubts,

ask me.

I'd be more than happy to clear your doubt.

but please be sincere about listening.

I'm not required to entertain you.

--

It was Chinese Abacus next.

It was a head exploding lesson.

--

Hafizah, Juz, Dyla and I explored the neighbourhood of our hostel and bought stuff.

I bought wallets for my brothers, and a couple of DVDs.

Another fully conquered day.

2007-01-09T19:17:00.000+08:00

-27 December 2006-

I couldn't sleep for the whole night.

Popped a couple of Panadols,

didn't really help though.

My sore throat was killing me.

And so I went next door to inform Mrs Yeo that I was not able to go to school.

--

I went to have breakfast with the rest,

and Mrs Yeo wanted to bring me and 2 other friends to the nearby hospital for a checkup.

I rested in the room for a while before Mrs Yeo was ready.

It felt like one of the longest journey from our hostel to the hospital.

I was so sick,

my head felt so heavy.

And the cold wind kept blowing in my direction.

--

The hospital was very different,

it doesn't even look like a hospital in the first place.

Apologies for not managing to take any pictures,

I was too sick.

Usually you have to register your particulars and all that for quite a while before you proceed to queueing you,

I can only remember them taking down my name and IC number,

and I could continue to the doctor.

The people there don't care about whether you're the first in line,

they just cut your queue.

If I wasn't that sick,

I'd punch them.

--

It was a confirmed flu.

And the bill came out to be RMB$140.

damn.

was i shocked or what.

spending all my money on stuff that's unneccesary.

I came here to spend money on stuff I wanted!

oh well.

--

I returned back to the hostel to rest the rest of the day.

Think everybody else went to Tianyi to shop.

It was the briefing and back to bed.

A very wasted day indeed.

2007-01-09T18:59:00.000+08:00

-26 December 2006-

Christmas is over.

And it's back to concentrating in school.

Chinese Accounts was first,

Mr Chua claimed that he learnt the most during accounts for all the translation he's been doing.

I agree.

--

It was lunch after that,

and the boys proceeded to the basketball court outside for a friendly match with the students..

No comments on which team was better.
You cannot really blame our guys though,
the students there play basketball everyday during their break!
We could only be their cheerleaders.

You have tried your best guys.

A big group of students crowded around to watch the match.

--

It was a second lesson of Chinese Note-Counting after lunch,

we learnt a new four-finger-four-note method.

We got through the notes faster with our fingers,

although our brains couldn't really follow.

--

We returned back to our hostel after that,

I was starting to have a really bad sore throat.

So I remained in the hostel til it was time for the briefing.

2007-01-09T11:28:00.000+08:00

-25 December 2006-

It's Christmas Day!!

Merry Christmas to all!!

And somewhere in my heart, I was secretly wishing that it'd snow.

I've always wanted to have another white christmas.

Merry Christmas to Mommy, Daddy, Jonathan and Jeremy!

I love and miss you a lot.

--

It's Christmas Day and we're doing Chinese Accounts??

sigh.

I was making a list in class of stuff I needed:

-socks
-lotion
-souveniers
-stuff for myself!

--

It was lunch next.

And Class 11 had a mini Christmas Party for us..

That's Wendy with her saxophone performance.

It's a song performance by students from Clementi Campus.

Musical Chairs were next!

It's down to the final two!
Go Go !!

Congratulations to Kevin from Clementi Campus for winning!

--

We got a gift from the students!
Think it's something for Chinese New Year..

A performance by the girls of Class 11.

It was picture-taking session next!

--

Said our Goodbyes and left to class for Chinese Economy.
We went back to our hostel after that.

I spent the individual time to explore with Singh.
We went to Xidan and I bought Kevin an ashtray,
he was my exchange gift partner.

We then proceeded to Wang Fu Jin,
and Singh brought me to a lot of Olympics shop to look for his stuff.

We returned to the neighbourhood of our hostel for dinner,
and met Viknesh, Ali, Roy and Nicole at the restaurant.

We went back to the hostel for our very own mini Christmas Party..

the present from me to Kevin.

The preparation of the presents..

A surprise for the teachers!

The 3 elves??

There's Mrs. Claus!!

--

It has been another very fulfilling day.

Here wishing everyone a Merry Christmas!

2007-01-09T09:59:00.000+08:00

-24 December 2006-

It's Christmas Eve!

The thought of spending Christmas in China is really something else.

I've always spent my Christmas at some boring pot luck at my relatives' house.

and have gotten quite used to it.

It's going to be really different this time.

--

We had to wake up earlier today due to traveling to quite a number of places today.

Let's hurry along and I'll tell you where we've been..

It's a very beautiful morning.

Yeap! It's Tian An Men Square.

A Group Picture @ Tian An Men Square!

We weren't allowed to take pictures inside,
so I had to steal a picture of Mao Zhe Dong.
Shh! Don't tell anyone..

HAHA.
See how smart I am.

NEXT.

Forbidden City was next!

All Hail The Emperor~!!

-Hold on, isn't he fake??

so that was what they were arguing about..

Forbidden City was B-E-A-UTIFUL! (try reading it out loud)

Now you tell me,
am I worthy to be one of the Emperor's wives??

I appreciate his home a lot you know.
At least good enough to be one of his concubines??

My darling husband's throne..
is he handsome or what.

The room where my darling and I love to play..

The great times..

Our garden.

Bye Darling!
I'll be back,
I'm just be over at the Temple of Heaven praying for you..
Love ya!

--

The Temple of Heaven.

Look how beautiful the patterns are.

Imagine how much effort they really put in.

Crazy people eating ice-cream in this weather.

The Royal Family taking a picture.

How exciting!
We found a man-hunt competition held at the Temple of Heaven!

Is it allowed??

The results..

1st - Singh
2nd - Faisal
3rd - Viknesh

Congratulations!

--

We went back to the hostel after a whole day of fun.

And it was our individual time to explore and eat.

Hafizah and I found a Turkish restaurant a few roads away from the hostel.

This dish was so spicy,
my whole mouth went numb!
damn.

We continued to shop around the place for our gift exchange tomorrow.

A big group of them went to Chong's room for a mini Christmas Countdown Party.

I was too tired and went to bed.

2007-01-08T23:19:00.000+08:00

-23 December 2006-

It's the weekend!

We're going to explore more interesting places in China!

It's to the Museum of Chinese Artifacts today,

and I've a new tour guide this time.

very beautiful artifacts.

That's Ali trying to introduce me to an artifact.
No, he's not my tour guide.

That's my tour guide!
His name is Roy.
He taught me a lot along the way.

and that's me!

The whole group of us.

I took a lot of pictures along the way,
but you'd get sick of seeing so many.

--

I was pretty tired after scoping the whole museum,

and spent the rest of my day in the hostel.

A picture-filled day indeed.

2007-01-08T22:57:00.000+08:00

-22 December 2006-

It's Friday!

Meaning we will be doing our skit presentation today.

We all rush to the computer lab after lunch for the final rehearsals.

We're doing a skit and powerpoint presentation on Customer Service.

I get the honor of introducing my group mates first,

and i'm real excited.

We'll be presenting to our class and students from Class 11 of Beijing Finance and Economic School.

that's me!
i look fat here..hmm

my 4 beautiful and lovely group mates!

the other groups with their presentation.

--

I was very proud of our group's performance though!

you can't deny it!

the students from class 11 voted our group as the best!

haha.

--

After returning to the hostel we made plans with Mr Chua and gang for a trip to Xidan.

We took the subway and walked for quite a bit.

Look what we found!..

It's a whole underground shopping plaza!

just us messing around.

We got ourselves kinda lost on the way back,
but we have people who can recognize roads very cleverly in the group.
so we didn't get very lost.

HAHA.

We reached the hostel pretty late and everyone was pretty much waiting for us to start the briefing.

Good Day!

2007-01-08T20:29:00.000+08:00

-21 December 2006-

Today's our first lesson of Chinese Economy.

We're prepared to listen and learn,

as there'll be a test on it.

oh well.

Chinese Calligraphy class was next..

As usual, Mr Chua is the best translator!

--

Hafizah took me on my first trip to Wang Fu Jin!

It was very beautiful.

We had McDonald's after that.

We found my shop along the way!

We saw a stimulator ride on the way back and made a dash for it,

it was so exciting!

We had to hurry back to the hostel for the briefing after that.

Rehearsals for the skit presentation tomorrow were in their final stages.

2007-01-08T19:29:00.000+08:00

-20 December 2006-

Chinese Knots was the first lesson of the day.

--

Then it was off to Silk Street!
our first trip on the Subway!

Silk Street!

To think we all thought that it would really be a street.
Something like Bugis Street or something.

Wrong!

It's a whole shopping centre for you to bargain like hell!

We took the subway back to Wang Fu Jin after that,
and everyone separated themselves.

I returned back to the hostel as I wasn't feeling very well.

2007-01-08T18:48:00.000+08:00

-19 December 2006-

It was breakfast then to school in the sardine-packed van.

Roy and Viknesh squashed in the back with me.

on the way to school..

--

Chinese Accounts lesson was the first,
Followed by Chinese Note-Counting!

--

Me and Hafizah felt tired,
so we just walked around the neighbourhood.

it's very nice to take a walk along the roads around our neighbourhood.

It was off to bed soon enough.

2007-01-08T17:58:00.000+08:00

-18 December 2006 -

It's Monday!

We're going to school for the first time!

Beijing Finance and Economic School..

you really wonder what it's going to be like.

yeap, this is it.

on our way..

It's a welcome message for us!
How sweet.

The Principal's welcome speech.

The students who will be accompanying us along our 2 weeks stay in Beijing.

They even introduced us in front of the whole school during their once-a-year morning assembly!
How cool is that.

It was to our first chinese accounts lesson next.

our classroom for the next 2 weeks.

It was lunch after that,
then Chinese Knots making!

very very complicating..

before.

after!

I DID IT !!

It was back to our hostel after school,

and we did our individual shopping and dinner.

2007-01-08T17:25:00.000+08:00

-17 December 2006-

We woke up to our first breakfast served by the hostel.

The food needs some getting used to for you to accept it.

We then made our way to the Jade Museum.

and i realised my camera's battery was flat,

i was so frustrated that i wasn't able to take pictures.

and so there won't be any pictures in this entry due to my carelessness.

Apologies!

--

The Jade Museum was followed by Lunch at the Copper Factory,

and the people working in the Copper Factory must have a lot of patience!

They sit there for hours just to paint, or fix little copper decorations on the 'art' they're working on.

very very impressive.

There were a lot of ornaments sold at the Copper Factory,

but i didn't buy any.

It's because it's only the 2nd day in Beijing,

i wouldn't want to spend money on something i might see somewhere else cheaper.

yeap.

--

We then proceeded to the Great Wall of China!

It was so beautiful,

I remember myself not believing that i was really at the Great Wall of China,

it's the Great Wall of China for goodness sake!

Climbing up the Great Wall was really exhausting though.

the steps were so high,

and the slopes were so steep!

if you were to stop somewhere in between,

you might just roll back down.

me and my tour guide just kept climbing and climbing,

and we conquered it in the end!

Great sense of achievement.

Now I can proudly say that I've climbed the Great Wall of China.

--

Tired and cold,

we continued to 'Dr. Tea' next.

we were introduced to quite a number of tea.

and the tea really warmed us up.

we even met Mr Pee Pee.

was great to meet him!

he has such a great personality.

--

We returned back to our hostel after that.

And left for our first trip to the Supermarket.

It's very big,

something like Carrefour,

sells everything.

--

It was for us to explore the place on our own next,

we settled at a halal restaurant just along the small road of our hostel.

and found the food sold there cheap and delicious!

it was as if we found gold,

the translation bit on my part was kind of tiring though.

my chinese isn't very good,

and i could only come up with fried rice and 'la mian'.

i felt so useless among the whole group of malay friends with me,

very pathetic.

a very fruitful and tiring day.

2007-01-08T16:44:00.000+08:00

-16 December 2006 -

It's going to be a 2 weeks trip to Beijing!

We have had so many discussions about the trip before,

and now it's finally happening!

my first trip to a faraway country without my parents.

i'll miss my family alot!

and it's going to be very different this time,

i can feel it!

that's a group picture of us at Changi Airport.

the view from where i was seated!
isn't it marvelous!

Bye Bye Singapore !!...

HELLO CHINA~!!

It was freezing cold when we came down from the plane to walk over to a bus that brought us to the airport!

my very first picture taken in China on the bus.

We took a tour bus to our hostel an hour plus away from the airport.

me and my room mate, Hafizah's room!

that's a picture of me, Juz and Hafizah at our very first dinner in China.

we were all pretty exhausted from the trip and fell asleep after that.

it has been a great day!