Hi! I am Liting. I am in class 2K and my index number is 19. My birthday is 29th January, also the only person in 2K whose birthday is in January. My CCA is Chinese Orchestra and I play the instrument called Zhongruan. Moving on to my hobby, it is drawing. I love to draw living things, like plants and animals. However, I am not really good at drawing humans. I also like to play the piano after I draw pictures. Other than studying in RV, I also attend enrichment classes like art class on Sunday and piano class on Saturday. Hence, even at weekends, I am busy. Many people do not want enrichment classes on the weekends because they want to have free time to play, but I like the enrichment classes as I can learn something new, and also because they are my hobbies. Next, my favourite colour is Green! I know many people thinks that girls should like colours like pink, blue, purple, but Green represent nature. Green is also very friendly to our eyes, when we stare at the phone for too long, look at things which are green, our eyes will feel better. Lastly, my lucky number. It is the number 9. Why? Because my birthday is on twenty-nine! My index number is nineteen. Therefore, I think my lucky number is 9. In conclusion, I look forward to this year's OELP as we get to go to other countries with our classmates to study more about their heritage and history.
Extra in the Ordinary
This picture that I had taken is the ending pose of the drum performance on 16th January 2016. This is an important and memorable day for RV as it celebrates its 60th anniversary.
I am a drummer in the 24 festive drums who perform for RV60. Since November 2015, we had practice almost everyday to learn our score. Each practice is at least 2h to 4h, therefore, we felt very tired after each practice. Even though we need to carry those heavy drums to the field for rehearsal, the moment when I hold the drumsticks and hit the drum to create rhythm is enjoyable. Our coach also provide pizzas and drinks for us after practices and rehearsals. So I am very grateful to have a coach like him. On the actual day, 16th Jan, we wait behind the grandstand before our performance. Some of us were very nervous for the performance so we practice our score without making noise with our drumsticks. When a teacher in charge gave us a cue that we can perform, I felt nervous as we run out to the field from the grandstand, worrying that we might play the score wrongly, or fell, and also excited as it was the first time I am performing drum in such a great event! When we started to play the drum, I keep on reminding myself that I cannot look down and be calm. After we had finished playing the last beat, we did our ending pose and received loud applause from the audience! That time, I really felt very proud of myself that we did it! Even though RV60 is over, I would always remember the times that we prepare for it.
RV60 reflection
RV60 indeed was a very special celebration for our school. Some students may think that RV60 is waste of time, as we have to go for many practices and rehearsals during holiday and the start of Jan to prepare for it. Hence, a lot of students complained about RV60 as it was very tiring. Everyday before RV60, we are released at 1.30pm so as to go for practices in our various performing items at 2pm. The time for us to have our lunch is also shorter compared to usual days. However, it was not really that bad when we prepare for it. In fact, it was quite fun. Although we have to carry drums to the field to practice, the moment when we hit the drum, it is really enjoyable. During the practices, I also made a lot of new friends from different classes. With our teachers' support, we strive to do better after each practice as there are always places for us to improve on. For example, our tempo and some actions can be improved. As what our instructor said, there are always room for improvement, we all put in extra effort to improve our score. Not only the score that we can improve, we should also improve on our attitude towards teachers and our seniors. Sometimes our seniors were very frustrated as we do not pay attention to her when she was speaking, making her have problems to convey her message to everyone when some people was not paying attention, including me. I really regretted that I did not pay attention to her when she was speaking. I think that more people should understand that seniors had more stress than us, hence we should respect them by listening attentively to them. Same should goes to our teachers. By watching other performances form the the backstage after we had performed, as a performer I feel very happy and grateful to have such an opportunity to perform for our alumni and our parents. This performance is very important to us as well as to our school. For a school to become 60 is not simple. Hence, this performance represents the progress that school had made during the last 60 years and also marks a beginning of a new journey to become better in the future years. As a student of RV, performing for such a grand event, I felt very honoured and proud as our peers and I had made RV60 a success and a wonderful celebration to be remembered. This would not be successful without all the the RVians contribute to the celebration in a way or another. I believed that every RVian is very proud of our school as we have uphold the reputation of our school, or even made it better. Being a student of a school with 60 years of heritage and history, we should be proud of it. In conclusion, RV60 is a memory never to be forgetten, the times we overcome our limits to become a better performer, a better student.
Rich=Happy
Being a relative prosperous country, Singapore is not a happy country. I think that there is rarely poverty in Singapore due to a higher standard of living compared to other countries. Due to this factor, many Singaporeans tend to think that they should have even better living conditions, so as to improve their standard of living. This mindset cause many Singaporeans not to be contented to what they already had compared to other poorer countries. They want to get everything they want to, causing them to be unhappy if they did not get what they want. They do not know that they are already very fortunate to live in such a good country, with basic necessities,yet they keep on complaining on what should be better, like public transport and more expensive cars. There is nothing perfect in the world, hence even if things improve, they will not stop complaining as they wanted perfection in everything in Singapore. Hence, I think that being rich does not lead to happiness.
Chingay reflection 2016
The first ever Chingay parade in Singapore took place in 1973 from Jalan Besar to Outram Park. The earliest Chingay parade only involved Chinese to perform for it. However, The parade had became muti-racial in 1977 when Malay and Indian groups joined the performances. I think this is because of the multiracial society in Singapore, hence, different races are involved in this performance so as to enhance the relationship with other races. Not only different races in Singapore are involved in Chingay, there are also performers form other countries involved in this performances so such to build a closer friendship with us.
The purpose for the Chingay parade 2016 is to remember our past, mark a beginning of the first year of the next 50 years and also encourages performers and participant volunteers from different races and country to come together to carry out this spectacular street parade. The theme for this year is " Lights of Legacy, Brighter Singapore 智 慧 灯 海, 璀 璨 新 加 坡". The theme is inspired by the legacy of our Founding Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, and the values demonstrated by our Pioneers such as Racial Harmony and Social Cohesion, Caring Community, Resilience as a Nation, Can-Do Singapore Spirit and Uphold high moral values. Though learning this core values, we can work together as one United people and make Singapore a better place as we head towards SG100.
Even though the purpose of Chingay changes from a celebration of the festival so as to replace the ban of firecrackers into a carnival-like parade which is used to promote racial harmony and friendship with other countries, I think that organisers had achieve their original purpose as the recent parade brings out the mood of the festival which is part of their original purpose. Furthermore, this parade bond people from other races and countries, allow them understand what is teamwork and by working together, they could bring out such a stunning performance.
The first performance is 'VoyageSG100' . There are more than 800 people dressed in shiny blue costumes followed by a float which have the words 'VoyageSG100'. The performers marched into the 'stage' orderly and neatly. I am amazed that how could they marched into the street so neatly while we need a lot of efforts to do the exactly same action neatly for 24 festive drums. After that performance, we gave our loudest applause as they must have put I much more efforts than us so as to put up such an extraordinary scene. The purpose of this performance is for us to remember the milestone that our founding fathers had faced and overcome, we should not take their efforts for building a wonderful homeland for granted. We should improve our country by contributing and put in our efforts so as to build a better country in the future.
Despite of these, I still fully enjoy myself through watching Chingay at the F1 pit building as it allow us to understand the history of Chingay and it also demonstrated our Singapore Spirit. We can feel the sweat and hard work put in by the performers. Even though it is a pity that firecrackers are absent for Chinese New Year, but I think that having such a extaordinary performance is enough to replace the absence of firecrackers, proving the organisers had achieved their original purpose.
The three things I found out are:
-Both China and Singapore reverse their child control measures when they faced the problem of aging population.
-Due to the two child policy in China, there are more males than females as they prefer boys than girls, causing not enough females for males to be married.
-The two child policy in China and the one child policy in Singapore leads parents to have a higher expectation on their child, leading the child to be more stressed in their studies, having a more competitive mindset in school.
The two perceptions I have are:
People will have different point of view towards an issue or problem, hence we should listen to their opinions and not assume that theirs is wrong as it is not the same with us, like the one child policy, it resorts females to abortion and they don't like the policy but the government needed to control the population, they have to implement this policy to control the population.
We need to think of the positive and negative consequences of our actions, for example the one and two child policy, it give the child more stress in their work, studies and a higher tax burden, leading them do not have time to take care of their family.
The question that I have is:
Is there other policies which is better than these two policy so as to satisfy the different point of view from various people?
Chingay reflection 2016
What is Chingay all about? Before I even attend the talk on Chingay and watched the Chingay parade on the on 30 January 2016 at F1 pit building, I thought that Chingay parade is just a normal street performance with not much purpose, a parade with lots of lights, numerous floats and lots of performers.
The word Chingay is equivalent to the Mandarin zhuang yi (妆艺), which means "the art of costume and masquerade" in the Hokkien dialect. Firecrackers is a traditional New Year practice to drive away evil spirits, however, it caused deaths and injuries from fatal explosions in the past, hence, it was banned in Singapore. The absence of traditional firecrackers to celebrate the Lunar New Year caused unhappiness among people and they felt that the ban would result in a much dampened festival mood for the Chinese New Year period. As an alternative, then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew suggested the staging of a Chingay parade similar to those held in Penang.
The first ever Chingay parade in Singapore took place in 1973 from Jalan Besar to Outram Park. The earliest Chingay parade only involved Chinese to perform for it. However, The parade had became muti-racial in 1977 when Malay and Indian groups joined the performances. I think this is because of the multiracial society in Singapore, hence, different races are involved in this performance so as to enhance the relationship with other races. Not only different races in Singapore are involved in Chingay, there are also performers form other countries involved in this performances so such to build a closer friendship with us.
Even though the purpose of Chingay changes from a celebration of the festival so as to replace the ban of firecrackers into a carnival-like parade which is used to promote racial harmony and friendship with other countries, I think that organisers had achieve their original purpose as the recent parade brings out the mood of the festival which is part of their original purpose. Furthermore, this parade bond people from other races and countries, allow them understand what is teamwork and by working together, they could bring out such a stunning performance.
After that opening performance, there are cultural performances put up by various races , such as 'firecraker' dragon dance, 'kampong spirit' Malay dance and Indian dance. Through Chingay, we learnt to respect and appreciate one another's culture and religion, so as to bring people from different backgrounds together, regardless of their race, language and religion, so as to promote racial harmony.
' Friendship all over the world' was to the invite performers from other countries like Japan came to perform in this performance, 'United and Vibrant communtiy' had performances of pole dances, ballet, wushu, Ho la hoops and other dancing performances showing what people in our community will be doing from various ages. The finale 'Lights of Legacy' involved 3,000 performers lighting-up Singapore's city skyline with bright bulb-shaped Sky Lanterns that carries the commitment of the people. Many people are involved to design on the bulb-shapes lanterns. At the ending part of the finale, there are four people with long white dress being pulled up, displaying their beautiful white dress. However, we did not have a good view of the fireworks as it was behind of us, hence we need to turn our heads to watch them.
' Friendship all over the world' was to the invite performers from other countries like Japan came to perform in this performance, 'United and Vibrant communtiy' had performances of pole dances, ballet, wushu, Ho la hoops and other dancing performances showing what people in our community will be doing from various ages. The finale 'Lights of Legacy' involved 3,000 performers lighting-up Singapore's city skyline with bright bulb-shaped Sky Lanterns that carries the commitment of the people. Many people are involved to design on the bulb-shapes lanterns. At the ending part of the finale, there are four people with long white dress being pulled up, displaying their beautiful white dress. However, we did not have a good view of the fireworks as it was behind of us, hence we need to turn our heads to watch them.
Economy-Aging Population
-Both China and Singapore reverse their child control measures when they faced the problem of aging population.
-Due to the two child policy in China, there are more males than females as they prefer boys than girls, causing not enough females for males to be married.
-The two child policy in China and the one child policy in Singapore leads parents to have a higher expectation on their child, leading the child to be more stressed in their studies, having a more competitive mindset in school.
People will have different point of view towards an issue or problem, hence we should listen to their opinions and not assume that theirs is wrong as it is not the same with us, like the one child policy, it resorts females to abortion and they don't like the policy but the government needed to control the population, they have to implement this policy to control the population.
We need to think of the positive and negative consequences of our actions, for example the one and two child policy, it give the child more stress in their work, studies and a higher tax burden, leading them do not have time to take care of their family.
The question that I have is:
Is there other policies which is better than these two policy so as to satisfy the different point of view from various people?
My China Buddy!!!!!
I think that my China Buddy should be the only child due to the One child policy. I am also the only child, hence, I think they would also be less talkative and less sociable just like me. But I am quite excited as I want to find out more about their education system and their study lifestyle. I can still interact with them, as Chinese is my better language, I hope that I can understand what they are talking about as they talk quite fast and have their accent . Nevertheless, I hope that we still can be good friends regardless of our character and have fun during this OELP trip :)
To keep or not to keep
The one site in Singapore which is preserved is the Singapore Botanic Gardens. I agree that Botanic Gardens should be preserved as it has 156 years of history's and it is also honoured as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Singapore's botanic gardens is the only one in the world that opens from 5 a.m. to 12 midnight every day of the year. The Botanic Gardens receives about 4.5 million visitors annually. As a Singaporean, I am proud of Singapore as we had a World heritage site which is recognised by the UNESCO. The government will be proud as well as they had preserved a garden which have a lot of significance to them, also received recognition by the UNESCO. The Tourism Board will also benefit as there are lots of visitors visiting this site. I still could remember that when I was primary 3, we went to Botanic Gardens and managed to climb onto the Botanic Gardens's iconic Tembusu tree and I enjoyed siting on the tree branch. However, we cannot climb on the tree and sit on its branches anymore as the tree is getting old and so as to prevent damage to the tree, we are not allowed to do so. Therefore, I agree that Botanic Gardens should be preserved as it brings us lots of memories, and I think memories should be preserved.
The one site in Singapore which is preserved is the Singapore Botanic Gardens. I agree that Botanic Gardens should be preserved as it has 156 years of history's and it is also honoured as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Singapore's botanic gardens is the only one in the world that opens from 5 a.m. to 12 midnight every day of the year. The Botanic Gardens receives about 4.5 million visitors annually. As a Singaporean, I am proud of Singapore as we had a World heritage site which is recognised by the UNESCO. The government will be proud as well as they had preserved a garden which have a lot of significance to them, also received recognition by the UNESCO. The Tourism Board will also benefit as there are lots of visitors visiting this site. I still could remember that when I was primary 3, we went to Botanic Gardens and managed to climb onto the Botanic Gardens's iconic Tembusu tree and I enjoyed siting on the tree branch. However, we cannot climb on the tree and sit on its branches anymore as the tree is getting old and so as to prevent damage to the tree, we are not allowed to do so. Therefore, I agree that Botanic Gardens should be preserved as it brings us lots of memories, and I think memories should be preserved.
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