CHIP Day 3: 13th May 2010

Mood: Groggy l Music: Lady Gaga- Telephone

Day 3 started off with the first University visit (中国科学技术大学 - University of Science and Technology of China), which the school appeared to have miscommunication. Even though the school did not appeared to be grand and new like NUS, their research facilities were great. We had some culture exchange with the local students, but there wasn't strong interaction since there was a time limitation. So the visit was pretty much just touring around the school compounds, took pictures, and bought some cheap story books. (many of our physic fanatics bought textbook(s)..TEXTBOOKS!!)

After school visitation, it's free and easy time again!!! This time we were released early and we were asked to settle our own dinner!!! Hence, we (me, xinjie, simin, youyou) went to 女人街 to eat the "楼上小龙包", yes the shop name is "楼上". It's 蟹黄小龙包 was delicious and cheap!! XD~ The soup noodles were average, but it's 炒面(粗冬粉) was nice.

女人街 was not the best place to shop, it's overpriced and fewer shops than 步行街. Hence, we went back to 步行街 and I managed to buy a necklace, 2 pairs of shoes, 1 dress!! XD So, if you ever go to 合肥, remember to shop half a day in 步行街 oh!!! (It's a pretty long stretch of street)

CHIP Day 2: 12th May 2010

Mood: Sick l Music: Lady Gaga - Poker Face

Day 2, we left 苏州 early for 合肥. Youyou and I did not have time to have a proper breakfast so we hurriedly grabbed a meat bun and rushed to the bus. Fortunately, there were left over cheesecake and it became our breakfast and snacks.

After a long ride to 合肥, we went to 包公词 and were shocked by the toilet facilities. (A similar picture, I was too aghast to take a picture of the toilet.)


Other than that, the 包公词 was a pretty scenic place. 包公 was my childhood tv drama, so it was pretty interesting to take a look at his waxes and tomb. The tomb was cold and it made one wonders where did the cool air came from. (spooky~)

There were many engraving, pictures on the wall..I didn't have the time to read it though. When we finally reached the tomb chamber, heads up were the lotus-look-alike-ventilation, up ahead was a stone table and the coffin. The coffin was encased in a special-fine wood sponsored by 包公's descendants. After a tour, we headed out to the Pagoda and took photos. And that pretty much ended our guided tour for the day.

After dinner, the whole group of girls with the led of Youyou, 浩浩荡荡 went to 步行街 to shop. We didn't shop much since it was already late after dinner. I only managed to buy a hair clip for 5 Yuan but the rest of the girls managed to buy shoes and clothes!! *envious!!!*

With that, a late night shopping with the girls marked the end of Day 2.

CHIP Day 1: 11th May 2010

Mood: Lethargic l Music: Immediate Music - Catch the falling sky

It's been awhile since I've blogged, ever since Professional Communication stopped I've stopped blogging to focus my attention towards my final semester. Now that the semester ended, I went to China for my graduation trip.

China Immersion Program 2010, initially, I was not anxious or excited about going to china, just feeling very mellow about it. Perhaps China was not my top choice of traveling destination. But when the day finally arrived to depart Singapore, I felt rather anxious as the plane started to take off.

It's been awhile since I last took an airplane..the last time I took a flight was for my poly graduation trip to Macau and I was tense like a taut bow. This airplane to Shanghai? Was worse, I could feel very tremble and rumble of the engines, the change in altitude and direction, etc. What could be worse than a constant tremor in the plane? There were too much tremor for me to handle, at least there was only 1 tremor warning from the Macau flight. The Shanghai flight was constantly on tremor that I felt like fainting so I grasped tightly onto Youyou's hand for support.

One super embarrassing in the flight was when I started talking to the passenger next to me thinking that he's one of our tour members. I didn't realized until youyou told me that he wasn't one of us. Damn..(=///=)

The services of the China Eastern Airline wasn't good, their attitudes towards passengers were rather rude as compared to Singapore Airline. For a 5 hours flight, their services were bearable.

When we finally arrived at Pu Dong Airport, our tour guide led us to 苏州. The temperature in Shanghai was cooling, a nice get away from a hot country like Singapore. We arrived 苏州定园宾馆 in the evening just shy of dinner time. Once we settled down into our beautiful, antique-ambient hotel we went to fill our stomach. The food was average, more of vegetables than meats. The fish was fresh even though the bones were terrifying lots.

After dinner, we headed out to the streets for a late stroll and shopping. Unfortunately, my buddy Youyou (aka 妩媚娘 in the latter days of the trip) couldn't go with us. The whole 33 of us went out together and somehow got separated from each other. I moved in a smaller group with Magdaline, Jovin, Xinjie and Simin through the night market. Took some pictures and bought a pair of len-less spectacle for 7yuan!! After that we went back to the hotel and almost got hit by a motorcycle!!! The people there are so ruthless, aren't afraid of knocking people or cars at all!!! It's really dangerous crossing the road in China if you don't have a Chinese friend leading you across.

After a bad scare from the road, we wandered our way back to the hotel and Youyou's cousins gave me a surprise. Well, not really a surprise..except that there were too many unknown people in my room and was calmed by a delicious cheese cake from 85 Degree~!

After eating cheese cake, we went to rest for the night until in the middle of night, a bunch of noisy Chinese people gathered in the corridors waking everyone up.

And, CHIP officially began.

Final Reflection

The semester is finally coming to an end, but it seems like only yesterday that the ES2007S class started. Before the class, many of my friends told me this module would be intensive. Indeed, it was intensive in terms of heavy editing and readings. However, there was fun interaction in the class even despite the heavy work load. My actual intention was to learn how to write a better job application letter and resume. But as the lessons progressed, I realized that communication was even more important than having a quality resume or application letter.

This course has allowed me to explore my weaknesses in communicating effectively and improve on it. One of my weaknesses is that I was not effectively bringing my points across during a conversation. One activity that left a strong impression on me was where everyone had to assume different positions. From that activity, I learnt that by standing at different positions, a situation can be viewed differently. Hence, I have learnt to be accepting of other people’s views and comments.

Besides communication, the interactions among my classmates allowed me to notice other people’s positive personality. Learning from others, I was able to empathize more and be positive in every difficult situation. Although the result is not immediately apparent, it is slowly shaping. One of my friend commented that I am now surrounded by a positive vibe.

At the end of the day, I think I have learnt and took much more from this course than any classes I took. Even though the workload was intensive, the learning experience was worth it. There are so much that I learnt from the course that could not be found in the textbook.

I am glad that I took up this module and got to know everyone in my class. Can’t wait to reunite with everyone on the 3rd December Thursday! :D

With all the loves,
Yuanhua

Reflection on Oral Presentation

Final presentation was finally over, it was a huge relief and I felt much lighter on the shoulders already. During the preparation of our PowerPoint slide, we were able to meet to discuss on editing and professionalizing the slides. One of my team greatest strength was being able to raise our honest opinions and accepts criticism. Through the experience, my team became more efficient and critical.

The only weakness I found was that the PowerPoint template was not complementary with its color theme. It appeared well on the computer but when I presented I realized that the color was not coming out nicely with the background. The video was another unforeseen problem where its color turned blue when played.

During my presentation, I realized I was not keeping enough eye contact. The eye contact was always kept at the front row and I was easily distracted when the audience was talking. It made me very conscious of my surrounding and worried that I had said something wrong.

Overall, I think my team had did an excellent job as there was very little data dumping and we were well prepared for the questions. However, I felt that I could formulate a better answer for one of the questions regarding on how to convince the employers to hire more interns or open up opportunity. We had a similar interview question for Professor Hor, but I could not relate well on the spot. One of my weakness is that I tend to panic first and stutter my way through before thinking calmly about the situation.

I think our presentation were very successful as we had clearly presented our main key point even though it was a bumpy ride. Ultimately, I think I am very lucky to work with wonderful teammates, Peiling and Ruth, who complement the team very well.

Intercultural Observation

I began drawing manga characters ever since my fascination with anime and manga (a type of Japanese comic), which started during my secondary school days. Whenever my parents caught me drawing, they would reprimand me and tell me that I should be studying, instead of wasting time doing my drawings. Hence, when I bought my first manga during my secondary school days, I had to do it discreetly and hide it somewhere so that my parents would not find it. Eventually, however, they found out about my manga collection and were tremendously disappointed. Even at the present moment, with manga gaining popularity, my parents still disapproved of me attending cosplay events or buying more manga. Clearly, such hobbies are not encouraged in Singaporean environment.

In contrast, manga, anime and cosplaying are part of Japanese culture. With the constant exposure it became so rooted in their culture that reading and drawing manga is a norm. Even cosplayers are normally seen walking down the streets of Harajuku and Aikihabara (popular districts in Tokyo). Not surprisingly, almost anyone can be a mangaka (comic artist), since all they have to do is to draw and publish their doujinshi (usually a fan book) on their own.

As I looked back and thought about the reasons for my parents’ disapproval, I realized that in Singapore, reading a manga is probably considered as slacking. Likewise, a cosplayer walking down the streets of Orchard Road is labeled as weirdo since it is not commonly seen. I feel that, perhaps the lack of promoting comic production locally causes my parents to think negatively, that there is neither prospect nor future for comic artists. This becomes even more striking when considering that Singapore comic artists have to go through competitions to be awarded a contract with a publisher.

Still, with the upcoming events of anime and comic festival it can be seen that the Singapore society is slowly embracing comic as a form of art. It may take a long while to see the transition, but as an amateur comic artist, I am always optimistic to see the upcoming changes.

[Edited] Personal Statement: Otaku Huahua

Waltz Disney cartoons were the first series of cartoons that I was exposed to but it was the Sailor Moon manga that sparked my interest to develop skills in drawing. I enjoy drawing, especially during my free time. Doing so helps to relieve my stress and being creative also stimulates me to develop my own characters and story. I was inspired to draw when I was in secondary school, even though the market for games and media design was not very developed.

I invested time to improve my skills and build my confidence gradually. In order to keep up-to-date, I force myself to learn Adobe Photoshop and use it to colour my artwork. I had to learn certain drawing techniques from scratch, such as how to find the angle of light and where to shade shadows, entirely through my own effort. It was a slow learning process and only recently was I confident enough to present my artwork to the public.

I strive to improve my skills and will find every opportunity to challenge myself by creating personal web pages to derive satisfaction and recognition. Besides challenges, I collect professionals’ art books as reference and use them to try and perfect my style. Being actively involved in the arts also encourages me to attend art festivals, concerts and seminars, and this allows me to develop positive attitudes towards learning.

Even if the skills of a comic artist are still the infant stage in Singapore, I think it is something unique for me to gain and perfect. It has definitely shaped a distinct character in my style and myself.