I was once told that one of the most interesting leisure activities is people watching, and I could not agree more. Not knowing from when, I grew a strange hobby to watch people while I had my daily walk along the bridge near my home. That was a lot of fun.
When I was leaning against the balustrade, enjoying the refresh breeze from the surface of the river on the bridge, I watched different kinds of people, young and old, busy or casual. They either turned up regularly or only passed away and never appeared again. Some of them may nod at me after some time, and some just ignored me and went on their way. Some were polite, but some looked snoopy. Some were gorgeous, and some were ordinary. There were important-looking people rushing ahead like buffaloes, paying attention to nothing but their watches. There were some women, brand from head to toe, having nothing to do but telephoning loudly in the streets to other women to hang out for shopping. There were old couples with grey hair and canes appreciating the beautiful sunset, hand in hand. There were also moving stories happening at times, which moved me very much. Here was one of them.
One day, I was sitting on the bench on the bridge with my mother, again watching people. We saw some funny guys as usual and chatted happily. It was a mid-summer dawn just after my university entrance exam. In the golden sun light, we could not help recalling my childhood. My mother said with a smile on her face that when I was a child, I did not do well in school. Thus, sometimes she really got annoyed at me, especially when my final year results came out. I was astonished, since I did not remember even once she had glared me or shouted at me. Then I asked indifferently, “So did you spank the little devil and throw her to the hell of “detention room”?” She continued to smile but did not respond.
Just at that time, we heard a vague cry from distance to nearby. We looked along for the source of sobs and saw a little creature, following a bicycle, which was pushed forward by a young lady, eyes fixed straight towards the front, whom we assumed to be the girl’s mother. The little girl cried louder and louder, muttering, “Mum, mum.” The mother seemed to not care about her at all. At first, the girl was wiping her eyes with both of her hands. Then, after a while, she ran a few steps, stretching one of her hand, to grab the lace-edge of her mother’s skirt, but the mother pulled her hand off her skirt and went on walking. She walked faster and faster and finally, she seemed to be so furious that I saw her bite her lower lip, mount the bicycle and ride away. At the sight of this, the girl burst out a sharp scream and ran after her mother. Of course, she was not able to catch up. The girl continued to run, shouting with tears and hiccoughs, but her mother just speed up as if she wanted to get rid of her daughter as quickly as possible. I was amazed at what I saw, thinking how cruel the mother was, because the girl looked only about seven or eight. I turned to my mother, she appeared thoughtful but made no comments. The girl did not stop running but to shout more sympathetic in vain. Suddenly, she was tripped over her shoe laces and collapsed. I was filled with anger and was about to run to help her. My mother pulled me back, and within a second, the mother ahead dropped her bike and ran back with a worried face. She supported the daughter up with both of her hands and hugged her tightly, with her eyes watering. I turned around to my mother and found that she was beaming at the scene and said, “When the daughter does wrong, no matter what she does, the mother will forgive her.” I turned around, just in time to see the mother put the daughter onto the bike, saying something comforting and mount the bike, riding away in the light of the failing sun.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
My teaching experience in River Valley Primary school
One and a half hours, photography taught, in English, 40 naughty primary school boys to cope with.
Teaching is a no easy task. Now I am quite convinced, well and truly.
This Friday was a huge challenge for me. I took up the Give Program in which participants volunteer to give lessons in some local primary school and middle school. The program lasts for several months and on that day was my first ever lesson. For years I had always been playing the role as a student, been taught by our kind teachers rather than the other way around. I had never got the chance to stand in front of the class for the whole lesson, to take up the responsibility of keeping the order and getting each of them truly engaged. It turned out to be rather tough when it came to large class size of give or take 40, let alone the language I was required to teach in.
I could hardly believe my eyes on seeing more than 40 of them when I entered the classroom, since I was informed previously that my students would be roughly 20 boys who are among the naughtiest. There was no air-con in it. I felt scorchingly hot. Moreover, it was not the kind of tutorial room of which my voice could easily reach every corner; instead, I found it really challenging to pronounce every word loudly and clearly in such a large classroom with all the windows open through which noises came from the outside playground.
I inserted the thumb drive and started my slides of the powerpoint. It seemed to them that I was confident and calm enough to give my lesson whereas meanwhile I was trying hard to get a handle on the situation and appear to be less nervous. Notwithstanding, as time went on I gradually keep to my intended pace and managed to let it go rather smoothly. I practised various discussion work and got them quite engaged by bringing the use of sounds and images into full play.
Zhang Qiong
TO BE CONTINUED...
Teaching is a no easy task. Now I am quite convinced, well and truly.
This Friday was a huge challenge for me. I took up the Give Program in which participants volunteer to give lessons in some local primary school and middle school. The program lasts for several months and on that day was my first ever lesson. For years I had always been playing the role as a student, been taught by our kind teachers rather than the other way around. I had never got the chance to stand in front of the class for the whole lesson, to take up the responsibility of keeping the order and getting each of them truly engaged. It turned out to be rather tough when it came to large class size of give or take 40, let alone the language I was required to teach in.
I could hardly believe my eyes on seeing more than 40 of them when I entered the classroom, since I was informed previously that my students would be roughly 20 boys who are among the naughtiest. There was no air-con in it. I felt scorchingly hot. Moreover, it was not the kind of tutorial room of which my voice could easily reach every corner; instead, I found it really challenging to pronounce every word loudly and clearly in such a large classroom with all the windows open through which noises came from the outside playground.
I inserted the thumb drive and started my slides of the powerpoint. It seemed to them that I was confident and calm enough to give my lesson whereas meanwhile I was trying hard to get a handle on the situation and appear to be less nervous. Notwithstanding, as time went on I gradually keep to my intended pace and managed to let it go rather smoothly. I practised various discussion work and got them quite engaged by bringing the use of sounds and images into full play.
Zhang Qiong
TO BE CONTINUED...
Friday, April 3, 2009
Fear,fear,fear......
In my friends’ eyes, I am a quite brave girl. Seemingly, nothing can make me step back. Reading ghost stories alone at night is one case. Apart from that, I extremely like watching the programs of investigation, especially the investigation of the murder. You can never believe that I am not afraid of dead body. From my point of view, dead body is the most respectful thing in the world since it is the only evidence that indicates that you have ever existed in the world. So what can make me afraid? Actually, there is another me who is lonely and timid and needs solace and protection urgently.
This me always exists when my loved ones suffer from something bad.
There was a time when I was extremely afraid of death. That terrible memory dates back to the November of 2007. My mother got seriously ill and was diagnosed of Brain Tumor. The news was like a thunder destroying the silence of my life. Since my mother was such a healthy woman who kept doing exercise every day, how come did she get brain tumor?
I got stuck in the bog full of fear and dread. Every day, every hour, every minute, every second, what I thought was what if my mother died. I tried my best to drag myself from the negative pole, but in vain. I couldn't prevent myself from thinking about the worst result.
I was afraid that no one would keep me company and listen to my confiding bedside; I was afraid that no one would buy the size of “XXXXL” clothes for me who was too shy to buy clothes myself; I was afraid that no one would give me constructive and explicit advice without any worry that she would get anything from me……
I can still recall the degree of my pain at that time. The painful feeing was like living in deep sea. The sea water was my tears. The high pressure was the illness of my mother. I couldn't hear anything but my sobbing. And I couldn't know what on earth happened above the sea. Every day, I waited suspense for the final result of the operation. God blesses her! The tumor was not malignant. That means she could recover totally. I couldn't be happier when I got the news. From then on, the fear started to die down. Everything came to normal again.
That is my dreadful memory which is full of fear and depression.
Qiu Liyi(Susie)
This me always exists when my loved ones suffer from something bad.
There was a time when I was extremely afraid of death. That terrible memory dates back to the November of 2007. My mother got seriously ill and was diagnosed of Brain Tumor. The news was like a thunder destroying the silence of my life. Since my mother was such a healthy woman who kept doing exercise every day, how come did she get brain tumor?
I got stuck in the bog full of fear and dread. Every day, every hour, every minute, every second, what I thought was what if my mother died. I tried my best to drag myself from the negative pole, but in vain. I couldn't prevent myself from thinking about the worst result.
I was afraid that no one would keep me company and listen to my confiding bedside; I was afraid that no one would buy the size of “XXXXL” clothes for me who was too shy to buy clothes myself; I was afraid that no one would give me constructive and explicit advice without any worry that she would get anything from me……
I can still recall the degree of my pain at that time. The painful feeing was like living in deep sea. The sea water was my tears. The high pressure was the illness of my mother. I couldn't hear anything but my sobbing. And I couldn't know what on earth happened above the sea. Every day, I waited suspense for the final result of the operation. God blesses her! The tumor was not malignant. That means she could recover totally. I couldn't be happier when I got the news. From then on, the fear started to die down. Everything came to normal again.
That is my dreadful memory which is full of fear and depression.
Qiu Liyi(Susie)
Thursday, April 2, 2009
I miss you (Yap)
Last night I had a dream. I dreamed that I went back to China and got together with my classmates in high school.
I think I should tell them: I miss you.
I really had a good time in the dream. It is already more than half a year since we graduated from high school and I have not met them again since the reunite in July, 2008. In my dream we had another reunite. Although we all had changed a lot, we still felt familiar with each other. And I felt that I was still a high school student and we could still study together.
I did not know our friendship was so tight until we separated. As a matter of fact, the students in Shandong province have more pressure in study than any other students in other provinces because we have so many high school students. In our class, the competition was even severe because all of us were chosen from the honor roll in junior middle school. However, during the three years we built up tough friendship. We helped each other in study and life. I took our friendship for granted and did not feel its importance until we separated. Then I knew we were not only classmates but also good friends. After we were admitted to different universities, I really felt very lonely because all the things around me were unacquainted to me. Fortunately, I have so many kind friends, they encouraged me and helped me to adapt to my university life. Then I knew how valuable our friendship was.
Now I am in Singapore, far away from my friends. We keep contact with each other regularly and I am always asked: When will you come back? I know they also miss me and I always feel gratified when asked this question. Actually I do want to go back and meet them. But the fact is that I cannot because of the school system. Even though, I do not care so much. I know that I must work hard and when I go back I can tell them that I have not let them down. They are the motivation for me.
I miss you, my friends. I miss the days when we strived for our dreams and our bright future. The hard but fruitful three years will stay in our memories forever.
Take good care of yourself. You always tell me this.
Please take good care of yourselves. I want to tell you. Wherever we are, our hearts will always stay together and we can strive for our dreams together.
I really miss you, my friends.
I think I should tell them: I miss you.
I really had a good time in the dream. It is already more than half a year since we graduated from high school and I have not met them again since the reunite in July, 2008. In my dream we had another reunite. Although we all had changed a lot, we still felt familiar with each other. And I felt that I was still a high school student and we could still study together.
I did not know our friendship was so tight until we separated. As a matter of fact, the students in Shandong province have more pressure in study than any other students in other provinces because we have so many high school students. In our class, the competition was even severe because all of us were chosen from the honor roll in junior middle school. However, during the three years we built up tough friendship. We helped each other in study and life. I took our friendship for granted and did not feel its importance until we separated. Then I knew we were not only classmates but also good friends. After we were admitted to different universities, I really felt very lonely because all the things around me were unacquainted to me. Fortunately, I have so many kind friends, they encouraged me and helped me to adapt to my university life. Then I knew how valuable our friendship was.
Now I am in Singapore, far away from my friends. We keep contact with each other regularly and I am always asked: When will you come back? I know they also miss me and I always feel gratified when asked this question. Actually I do want to go back and meet them. But the fact is that I cannot because of the school system. Even though, I do not care so much. I know that I must work hard and when I go back I can tell them that I have not let them down. They are the motivation for me.
I miss you, my friends. I miss the days when we strived for our dreams and our bright future. The hard but fruitful three years will stay in our memories forever.
Take good care of yourself. You always tell me this.
Please take good care of yourselves. I want to tell you. Wherever we are, our hearts will always stay together and we can strive for our dreams together.
I really miss you, my friends.
An Unlucky Experience Of My Roommate
One day, Tina came to our dormitory with two thumb drives to copy some movies. She connected one thumb drive to my roommate GAO WENJUAN’s Macbook and the other to another roommate QI QI’s computer. The instant she connected the thumb drive to Qi Qi’s computer, however, the monitor became dark and the computer had no response, according to which, we soon became aware that there must be viruses that were rather strong in Tina’s thumb drive.
Luckily, the process of copying movies on WENJUAN’s Macbook went smoothly. Nevertheless, given that the other thumb drive contained viruses, WENJUAN was quite worried about her Macbook believing that the thumb drive connected to her Macbook also contained viruses and the viruses were in such a great diversity that some of the viruses might even be compatible with Mac Operating System (Mac OS). Having found that the program responded much slower than before, she was determined to do something. So she clicked on security and somehow set a master password to add to the safety of her Macbook.
The next day she switched on her Macbook, she found that she couldn’t log in. So I surfed on the Internet to help her find out the solution. Then we knew that the master password she had set, had 128 digits, thus, this password is called “gold password” and no one would have the patience to figure it out.
After making all the efforts, we had to turn to the Macbook service center for help. Then we knew that the main aim of the master password is to lock extremely important files, therefore, if you don’t have the password in mind, you have no access to the files. So the only way to have access to the computer was to give up the files store in the computer and install the operation system again.
As it is very complicated and difficult to install the Mac OS, WENJUAN had to do it following the guidance give by the service center through the phone. Unfortunately, when it comes to the most crucial part, WENJUAN’s hand phone broke down suddenly. Then she didn’t know how to do with both her hand phone and Macbook.
After this unlucky experience，my friend got to know that be careful with the thumb drive connected to the computer and never set a master password.
Recess Week（YAP）
Today is the last day of our recess week. I still remember at the first day, I was so happy to have such a long holiday. But nine days have passed so quickly. Recalling this period of time, I had a wonderful week.
First event was that we joined some basketball matches. All of our SM3 groups should take part in this game. Our eight groups were divided in to two parts. Each part had four groups and they would have a round robin. Then, only the top two groups of the four could step into the next round of competition. Unfortunately, we lost all the three matches, I liked these games. During every match, I could see all of my team members tried our best. Although our scores were always behind, we didn’t give up, we didn’t lose our confidences. I also thanked a lot to other group members. No matter how bad we had done, they cheered and kept encouraging us. Sometimes the result was not the important thing. What counted was that we held together.
I went to NUS to have a course selection introduction. Many seniors in different majors gave us good speeches and I learnt something from that. However, I thought the introduction was too long. I sat in LT25 from 8am to 5pm. At last I lost my patient and could not pay attention to what the seniors said. Now, I still can not choose an appropriate major. I don’t know what my interest is. I don’t know whether I am smart enough to be good at one course in the future. The day to make a decision is coming, I feel a little confused.
Last Sunday, I had a trip which was arranged by SMU students. We went to Fort Canning Park. It was large peaceful park. All kinds of tropical plants can be found there. Walking along the narrow path in the park, smelling the fresh air, we enjoyed the natural world. Aside from these, tomb of ancient king, frescos, and English buildings also recorded the history of Singapore. The trip was an interesting learning journey.
Most of time, I just stayed in the dormitory. For me that was the most enjoyable thing. I did not need to think about too much things; I don’t need to worry about the homework. I just totally relaxed myself.
Tomorrow, I will devote myself into study again. I like my recess week.
First event was that we joined some basketball matches. All of our SM3 groups should take part in this game. Our eight groups were divided in to two parts. Each part had four groups and they would have a round robin. Then, only the top two groups of the four could step into the next round of competition. Unfortunately, we lost all the three matches, I liked these games. During every match, I could see all of my team members tried our best. Although our scores were always behind, we didn’t give up, we didn’t lose our confidences. I also thanked a lot to other group members. No matter how bad we had done, they cheered and kept encouraging us. Sometimes the result was not the important thing. What counted was that we held together.
I went to NUS to have a course selection introduction. Many seniors in different majors gave us good speeches and I learnt something from that. However, I thought the introduction was too long. I sat in LT25 from 8am to 5pm. At last I lost my patient and could not pay attention to what the seniors said. Now, I still can not choose an appropriate major. I don’t know what my interest is. I don’t know whether I am smart enough to be good at one course in the future. The day to make a decision is coming, I feel a little confused.
Last Sunday, I had a trip which was arranged by SMU students. We went to Fort Canning Park. It was large peaceful park. All kinds of tropical plants can be found there. Walking along the narrow path in the park, smelling the fresh air, we enjoyed the natural world. Aside from these, tomb of ancient king, frescos, and English buildings also recorded the history of Singapore. The trip was an interesting learning journey.
Most of time, I just stayed in the dormitory. For me that was the most enjoyable thing. I did not need to think about too much things; I don’t need to worry about the homework. I just totally relaxed myself.
Tomorrow, I will devote myself into study again. I like my recess week.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Friends (Yap)
Friends
There is an adage in Chinese culture: You can rely on your parents when you are at home, but you can rely on your friends when you are out. I think this adage represents the importance of friends perfectly.
During these years, I have made some confidants, and I treasure our friendship so much. There is another adage in Chinese: A confidant is enough during a person’s life time. And I believe in this. Actually I am a person lacking of the feeling of safety. For this reason, I will never trust a person easily. But when I stay with my confidants, I can set my heart at rest and enjoy the easement. When I am in trouble or in bad mood, I always turn to my confidants to confide my feelings. They understand me well and they can always find ways to make me happy and help me to solve the problems. Sometimes I can be surprised at the tacit understanding between us. It is really fantastic and sometimes we only need an eye contact or a smile to understand each other.
However, sometimes not all the friends we make with are good ones. I think that in this case, the important thing is that we should have the wisdom to distinguish good friends and bad friends. I am gratified that during the years, I have kept a distance from the ones who could be bad friends and had a bad influence on me. But some of my classmates did make bad friends and be influenced by them. I feel so sad for them because they changed a lot and some even neglected their studies.
So, friends are very important in our life, but we should choose the right ones. A real friend is the one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out. I hope you can enjoy yourself with your friends. Enjoy your time with your friehds!
There is an adage in Chinese culture: You can rely on your parents when you are at home, but you can rely on your friends when you are out. I think this adage represents the importance of friends perfectly.
During these years, I have made some confidants, and I treasure our friendship so much. There is another adage in Chinese: A confidant is enough during a person’s life time. And I believe in this. Actually I am a person lacking of the feeling of safety. For this reason, I will never trust a person easily. But when I stay with my confidants, I can set my heart at rest and enjoy the easement. When I am in trouble or in bad mood, I always turn to my confidants to confide my feelings. They understand me well and they can always find ways to make me happy and help me to solve the problems. Sometimes I can be surprised at the tacit understanding between us. It is really fantastic and sometimes we only need an eye contact or a smile to understand each other.
However, sometimes not all the friends we make with are good ones. I think that in this case, the important thing is that we should have the wisdom to distinguish good friends and bad friends. I am gratified that during the years, I have kept a distance from the ones who could be bad friends and had a bad influence on me. But some of my classmates did make bad friends and be influenced by them. I feel so sad for them because they changed a lot and some even neglected their studies.
So, friends are very important in our life, but we should choose the right ones. A real friend is the one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out. I hope you can enjoy yourself with your friends. Enjoy your time with your friehds!
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