anyway this china immersion trip was fruitful and meaningful. i only wished that it didn't take up so much of my holidays :(
yeah enough crapping now sharing on our experiences. hahahahaha
Day One - 23 May 2008.
We arrived at Shanghai Pudong Airport at approximately 0500 hours. without anything to do, we walked around the airport, both terminals, and went to buy weird stuff. we then met up with william and the teachers, as well as other students, and went to KFC. we stayed there for like a few hours until it was time to go. the flight was delayed but yeah whatever hahahaha. then in the plane, i sat at the front. with william to my left and the in-flight staff to my right. and, since the flight was like delayed, we had lunch even before we took off. that meant that the arrival time was going to be delayed even more. grrrr..
anyway we got off the plane and got our baggage and stuff. so, we proceeded to take a bus to the 東北師範大學 hostel, to put our luggage and pack our 3 day luggage for 延吉, as well as some washing up. since there was insufficient time, i didn't get to take a bath. we had dinner at the hostel and then proceeded to take the overnight train. the train was extremely small and there weren't really any cabins. all there was were 3 beds stacked on top of each other on each side of the wall. also, the passageway was so small that only one person could pass at a time. there wasn't even space to put our legs and we had to sleep with out bags or else people would steal them. yup. then i slept on the top, with wesley below me, and yes he was touching my legs for some unknown reason, which i do not want to know. people were throwing sausages in the middle of the night and somehow one managed to find it's way to mrs ding's bed. she kept it till the next morning.
Day Two - 24 May 2008
we reached the train station at about 0900 hours, then went to weird places to eat horrible breakfast. trust me, it was horrible. then we went to the north korean/russian/chinese border.
we reached the train station at about 0900 hours, then went to weird places to eat horrible breakfast. trust me, it was horrible. then we went to the north korean/russian/chinese border.
we waited like one hour just to gain access to the top of the weird place which what we saw was weird grasslands and russia and north korea and china. thats all. hahahaha and there was our first smelly toilet encounter. sorry i couldn't really upload the pictures i took because i kinda accidentally deleted all my photos -.-
yeah that's the border. sorry it's a little small... hahaha :X blah blah blah i forgot what happened after that day. so im not gonna try to remember it.
Day Three - 25 May 2008
haha today we went up 長白山. the weather there was extremely unpredictable. at the bottom, it was extremely sunny and warm below. however, as we took the 'taxi' up the weather got slightly colder. however, it's still quite normal. it was only until we reached the top, then the weather completely changed. the temperature had dropped to drastic temperatures, not the lowest i've experienced anyway, but still it's really low. then, the unexpected happened. it started hailing. o.O yeah the ice was hard and melted when i tried to grab it. that shows how hot i am. wahahahaha xP anyways, at 長白山, i had a surprise. william had somehow brought a cake all the way from singapore and up the mountain eh. yeah it was supposed to be for me. and it was for me! well simply because my birthday is on 30 May and it so happened to be the only birthday during the whole trip. so yeah, i ate the rock-solid cake up on a freezing, hailing mountain for the first time. yepps so anyway, i somehow celebrated my birthday there. oh yeah, we saw the frozen 天池. sadly, i only caught a glimpse of it.
after that, we went down the mountain and went to the hot springs area. although we wanted to go into the hot springs, we couldn't because many people did not wanna go. sad. anyway we ate hard-boiled eggs, corn and sausages made by hot spring water, and yup they were delicious, maybe except for the corn. ew.
Day Four - 26 May 2008
this was our last day in 延吉, before heading back to 長春. in the morning we set out with all our luggage packed, and went to the Korean Cultural Village. it was really hot that day, at about Singapore's temperature. so, anyway, it was kinda boring, we watched some weird korean dance and traditional singing which hurts my ears. ouch. then wenrui got to try on a dress and guochang wore the traditional korean costume. the pants were too small and couldnt fit guochang, aww... so we watched that and walked around in the blazing hot sun, blah blah. In the afternoon, we had some extra time, so we went shopping. I bought an adidas jacket (yes it's real) from the adidas retail shop. it's really comfortable (: yup and we bought lots of weird stuff there. hahaha.
at night, we headed back to the train station and boarded the train back to 長春. This time, the train was a double decked train and each cabin had 2 by 2 bunk beds. although the ceiling was relatively shorter i feel that it was quite okay. our class got into some trouble with mrs ding our form teacher and made her really angry, which i will not emphasize on.
Day Five - 27 May 2008
It was our first day at 東北師範大學, and i only went for lessons only in the morning. i went to make new spectacles heh. well they were cheap, and william helped us bargain. from RMB302 down to RMB178. not bad huh. yup and the school was really nice. hahaha. i was also surprised to find another Singaporean school there. and that school is none other than....Green View Secondary School, G.V.S.S. and i can say, our cat high jacket looks so much nicer than yours. no offence :X hehehe. yupps they stayed at the same hostel as ours and were split in to the classes we were split into. hahahaha
Day Six - 28 May 2008
Today i had my first actual lesson in class. when i first stepped into the classroom 八年四班, i was a little disgusted by the smell of the class. however, i soon got used to it. today was the first time i met my friend 陳, who was the person sitting next to me. hahaha. anyway, the lessons were interesting, and before every lesson, they would, without fail, sing a song. the class was really united and they really knew how to treat their guests (us) well. hahaha. we had PE today, and their PE was really nice, they could do their own activities by themselves, with no teachers supervising. wow. oh yeah and did i mention that there were like, twelve outdoor basketball courts, not including the indoor courts. ahh well i cant really remember what else happened that day. we also went to a weird 'palace' today, it was really small, if im not wrong, it's a puppet palace. GVSS also came, but we didn't really communicate. haha okay.. blahz.
Day Seven - 29 May 2008
Okay today was our third day at school, and lessons started getting boring, especially during lessons which we know, just that we dont understand what the heck the teacher was talking, especially Physics and Chemistry. those weird chinese names for different chemicals, aww it hurts my brain. anyway art lesson was interesting, i never knew how to draw buildings that way before. anyway it was nice. hahaha. oh yeah today we had basketball dribbling competition, we got in third. while dribbling the ball, i accidentally bumped heads with one of the girls from the school, another class, and it really hurts. ouch.
Day Eight - 30 May 2008
ahaha, 30 May, the happy day, as well as the sad day. Today was the last day of our 東北師範大學 immersion program. we had lessons as usual, and exchanged contact informations. hahaha. okay anyway, we sang 童話 before we left and the china students sang with us too! oh yeah, a GVSS girl cried when we were singing, and i have no idea why. anyway, i feel that the immersion should be like...longer, and i bet many of us do. we really have gotten really close and made many friends there, and were reluctant to go. however, well, we just had to go :(
the whole trip we didn't really communicate much with the GVSS people, and they went home on this day. really short trip ehs?
anyway today we went to some sort of national park and went walking in the woods. also, we went for a short 'cruise' around the lake. the breeze was just wonderful. i also took a video of a worm crawling. it was just soooo cute!! gosh.
Day Nine - 31 May 2008
okay today we went to the Changchun Film Studios. hahaha it was quite boring except for the rides. which weren't really considered as real rides. nothing much to write, really, and we went there like the whole day. we also did a little bit of shopping after that but i didnt really buy anything.
Day Ten - 1 June 2008
today we visited the nature museum in the morning, saw lots of fake dinos and butterflies and fake weird stuff. nothing much to write, we went back to the hostel to finish up our packing, had our lunch, then went to the airport. as usual, it was delayed, and we waited like so long. haiz.... why do our flights always delay? yup and we arrived at 上海 in the evening. we had the best dinner of our whole china trip. anyway, just to tell you, shanghai is divided into two segments, 浦東(pudong) and 浦西(puxi). the airport (Shanghai Pudong Airport), as it's name suggests, is situated in Pudong. however, the hotel which the airport had provided us with was at Puxi. so we spent like two hours just to get to the hotel. practically everyone was asleep on the bus, and it was like so so quiet. haha the hotel was nice we slept really tight.
Day Eleven - 2 June 2008
The last day of our trip. We went to some weird place in the morning and saw this miniature Shanghai. it was an excellent piece of art. hahahahaha okay lame. anyway, we went up the oriental pearl tower and saw a fascinating view. it may be a little foggy but still it's a sight to see. hahaha. we went for our last bit of shopping and then had our last dinner in china. then we just went to the airport. yup midnight flight again hahahahaha boring eh.
Day Twelve - 3 June 2008
Home Sweet Home. haha just made it for fun.
Home Sweet Home. haha just made it for fun.
