A Birthday Gift

To be honest, in the terms of housework, I am really a lazy girl.  I had not cook by myself until last Friday midnight since I came to Singapore in December.  No wonder you want to know why I cooked at the midnight on last Friday.  Well, a friend of my dorm mate and I would have her 19^th birthday on last Saturday.  My dorm mate and I had intended to treat her to dinner in a Chongqing hotpot restaurant to celebrate her first birthday in Singapore.  Although we had decided which restaurant we would go to, this girl who would have birthday did not agree to eat outside.  Later, we had another plan to give her a surprise!

In the afternoon on last Friday, my roommate went to the Fair Price near Labrador Lodge to buy foodstuff, such as noodles, coriander, tomatoes, eggs, and chicken stock.  And as a person who had several cooking experiences, I would use these sorts of foodstuff to cook a bowl of noodles for our friend.  In China, according to custom, a bowl of noodles which is called “Chang Shou Mian” is necessary for a birthday.  And the old said “Chang Shou Mian” can bring person who eat it good luck, good health and longevity.  Since we planned to give this bowl of noodles to her at the midnight as a surprising gift, I had to cook at 11 pm.  Due to the lack of pot, I used egg poacher to cook the noodles.  It was really the first time that I used new tool to cook.  What an unforgettable memory it was!

      Fortunately, eventually there were delicious noodles inside the egg poacher.  Having seen her eating the noodles I cooked, I felt joyful too.  Through this little stuff in my life, I really felt that giving the people rose, the hands have lingering fragrance.

Essay 6 :Reflections about the Singapore zoo

Last week, because of the training lesson of service learning, we went to the Singapore zoo.  It’s very lucky to visit the zoo for free.  Traveling there, I saw a completely different zoo with zoos in China.

What the Singapore zoo impressed me most is the way that people interact with animals.  Most animals I see are playing joyfully in a large area.  Compared to the Singapore zoo, zoos in China is more like a prison for animals. Animals are kept in cages or a small room in many Chinese zoos.  They don’t have much space for leisure. Every time I visited these zoos, they seemed sleepy and out of energy.  I can’t help to think that animals are kept there just for the bring tourists enough fun.  On the contrary, the zoo in Singapore is more humanistic.  And animals there seemed not to fear humans. Even though sometimes people just pass by, some animals just stay still and peaceful.  They seem to have a close relationship with people.  I’m happy to see this scene.

The scenes in the movie the rise of ape couldn’t help to come up to my mind.  Apes are treated badly in the animal care center.  At last apes gather together to bid defiance to people's maltreat. I hope in the real world people can take care more about animals and the scene in the movie will never happen in the real world.  

Blog6 Some Random Thoughts about Our Research Project

These days, we all have started our research project. So how’s it going now, fellows? Our group have just finished a draft questionnaire today. A little slower? Indeed, but do not focus on these petty things. As a proverb says, “more haste, less speed”. In fact, we had considered three topics before we made it sure.

Every topic seemed viable at the beginning. But the former two turned out to be ill-considered halfway, after many discussions with our supervisor, Mrs Choo.

The first one aimed at finding the best flight ticket for Chinese students in Singapore to travel or go home. At that time we thought it a good idea because every student here has the same concern about the tickets; maybe some are concerned about the price, some the safety and some the route. So we finished the proposal part and elatedly waited for Mrs Choo’s approval. But after some discussion with Mrs Choo and some careful thinking, we disapproved of it. The reason was simple. It was too superficial. We could only do a survey, then finished. Despite the concern, students can easily their seniors who are from China. The project based on this topic would not be practical or very useful.

Then Mrs Choo gave us a prompt. We could do research about different travelling, such as learning journey, free and easy travel, volunteer vocation etc. Then the aim was changed to find out which manner is the best for different tourist attractions as well as for different students. Unfortunately, our group members could not accept it after mulling, because it was a little difficult for us to handle. None of us was familiar with this area and we could not guarantee most of the students here were interested in this topic. So we changed our battlefield to one more another, and decided to go down this way. Now you may understand why we seem to “move”
slowly.

You may also wonder what the third one is after reading what I said above. Don’t worry; we can surely finish it on time, because we have already known the direction to go to. And when the presentation date comes, you will know the answer!

Blog 6: My visit to the church last Friday

Last Friday is the Good Friday,a public holiday. Our tutor asked whether we would go to the church with her to watch a drama. Since I did not have other plans, I went to see the drama. Ms Lim is so kind that she promised that she would picked us at our hotel. It was also surprising that when we went out, Ms Lim had already waited there. The church is located in the north part of Singapore while we girls live in the south. However, Singapore is so small that it only took us 30minutes to get to the church. I was surprised to find that the church is so modern, for I always think that the church should be have a quaint style.

The drama we watched is very interesting. It is a mobile drama, that is to say we have to go down the path to watch every scene of the drama. Although the actors are not professional, I can feel their devotion to the drama. This also taught me a lesson that no matter you are good at it or not, once you put your heart into it, the audience will feel the glamor you radiate. We do not need any angst, just do it. Of all the nine stations, I like the ninth station. It was a kind of musical drama. I was touched by the beautiful song. I may not understand the meaning of the song , but I can feel the joy when the actors song it.

After watching the drama, we were served for some snacks and drinks. There Ms Lim introduced us a woman who is also a Christian. She told us a lot about Jesus. Later we learned that she is a product of NUS, majoring in computer science. She also introduced her husband, who also graduated from SOC in NUS, to us. From that man, I know that university can not only teach us knowledge but also the ability to handle difficulty in our career.

In a word, I think both the drama and the conversation that day teach me a lot of things. I will treasure that.

Blog 6: Attending a Church

       On Good Friday my host family invited my fellow Zhu Xin and me to attend a church. Seeing it as a good opportunity to be exposed to a new culture, I decided to go this time. It turned out to be a fascinating experience and I was deep impressed by the church’s modern facilities, the speakers and the atmosphere.

       The most impressive thing to me was that the church, which I stereotyped as old and ancient, in fact was a quiet modern one. First, the exterior of the building was well designed. The wall was painted pale, with a dark brown slogan” God is Lord” above the bright and broad glass door, which reminded me of some coffee bar. Second, the auditorium was capacious and bright, much newer and more attractive compared to any auditorium in NUS that I had ever been to. Modern instruments and other electronic devices were neatly displayed on the platform, and there were three big screens on the wall to provide best visual effect. Finally, even the toilets were in rather good condition. Besides its cleanness and good ventilation, plants were placed there as a decoration. In short, the church was in very good condition.

       Another thing that amazed me was the speakers that day. There was a young couple and an entrepreneur who delivered their speeches respectively. At first the couple grabbed my attention simply because the female looked sweet and attractive. But later, when they shared their life experience and how God blessed them through their life, I was deep moved by their faith and their harmonious relationship. However, it was the speech of Elim Chew, a distinguished entrepreneur who founded the clothes store 77^th street, that impressed me the most. Not performing well in school when young, Elim Chew had an ambition of becoming a millionaire, which would never come true according to her teachers. Years later, however, the woman eventually achieved her dream. In her speech, she told of how God helped her get over the obstacles on her way to success and it was very impressive. All in all, I was really amazed by the stories of the speakers.

       Apart from the facilities and the speakers, the special atmosphere in the church also left an impression on me. The church started with the orchestra performing some pieces of peaceful songs and people greeting each other around them, which brought along a harmonious and pleasant atmosphere. Moreover, the process involved some interactions between the audience and those who were on the platform, like singing songs together, so that everyone took part. Besides this, The climax of the church was at the end, when all the people stood on their feet and sang melodious songs about God and the auditorium was filled with holly and peaceful air. Briefly, the unique atmosphere of the church impressed me.

       To conclude, this experience of attending the church was a really amazing one, through which I learned more about Singapore’s culture, especially in terms of religion. However, immersed in such a multi-cultural society with vibrant religious influence, we should be cautious about our own beliefs rather than simply give in to any of these religion groups.

Blog 6 Reflections of Titanic

Last Friday, I, with many friends,watched the 3D movie Titanic in Vivocity. It has been my third time to watch it, but every time, I had different reflections. Although I had already known the whole plot, I was still being touched again. After having watched, my mood was down, because I felt very sorry for the miserable experience of the couple of lovers, Jack and Rose. Their selfless love moved me deeply and for me, it was a pity that they did not survive and live happily together.

There are many unforgetable conversations betwwen them. One is that "you jump, I jump". That is true, because they both had chances to survive if they did not stick to stay together, but they both decided to live or die together. From my perspective, the love that is protected by life is the true one. Another sentence is that "It was the luckiest thing in my life to take on this ship and meet you", said Jack to Rose when Jack floated on the freezing cold water. When I heard this sentence, I could not help holding back my tears any more. There was not a single regret in Jack's mind, and it showed the great love. I admire Jack very much, for he did all that a real man should do to his lover. And he even gave the opportunity to survive to his lover without any hesitatiion.

The classical movie also leads to my thinking about love that the true love is really powerful, which even can help people conquer the fear to death.

May the true lovers all over the world could live together happily.

lBlog 6: Titanic, not only about love

After finishing 3D in the vivo city Golden Village yesterday, while many people were moved by the true love between Rose and Jack, what impressed me most is Rose’s determination for her simple but meaningful life.
In the movie, Rose was a girl who loved arts very much, including the paintings of Picasso. However, her fiancé cared about politics; her mother thought about making money; her friends knew nothing but luxuries. All these made Rose regard her rest of life as the most miserable, with diamonds, complicated relationships but no true happiness, kinship and love. She did not realize how desperately he wanted to escape from the so called “upper lives” until she met Jack, whose carefree attitudes towards life reminded her of the thirst from the bottom of her heart. In her life, she needed to be well-dressed, obey complex etiquette, and meet a lot people she did not want to but had to meet because she was born in a noble family but Rose sought for lives in which she could do whatever following her own will. As a result, she fell love with Jack and broke up with her fiancé.
I do not mean to omit their true love; however, what is more important is the pursuit of simple but meaningful lives, which benefit us physically, mentally as well as spiritually. Many sought relief from KTVs, cinemas or even drugs to escape from the stress and the anxiety in modern society, in which we concentrated on how to keep in good relationship with business partners, how to get a job with a higher salary, how to find a spouse with a lot of money. The real aim for living, in contrast, it to be happy, which requires the pursuit of rich spirit.
Finally, I sincerely hope we can find our thirsts and try our best to lead the lives that we really want, as Jack said, make everyday count.