exploring shan dong

10th day in Jinan ( 济南 ) and back to singapore! - 14 Nov ( Wednesday )

2007-12-02T08:23:00.000-08:00

10th day in Jinan ( 济南 ) and back to Singapore! - 14 Nov ( Wednesday )

SINGAPORE! Finally it's time to go back Singapore~ I MISS MY FAMILY~ and my bed too.. Early in the morning woke up and got myself ready! We went down for breakfast and went up to our rooms to get our luggage down. Then we set off to the airport~ At Beijing Airport, around 3 something we are supposed to board the plane but unfortunately we can't as the weather wasn't that good. It was raining.. The plane got delayed for about 15-30 minutes ? Then 6 hours of flight again. When we reached Singapore, we can't wait to see our families~ We went to get our luggages and GO HOME~ BYE~

9th day in Jinan ( 济南 ) - 13 Nov ( Tuesday )

2007-12-01T07:53:00.000-08:00

9th day in Jinan ( 济南 ) - 13 Nov ( Tuesday )

Today is .. SHOPPING day ! Yesterday too. Yesterday bought about 15 notebooks. I know it sounds crazy. Today went to Yellow River before going to shopping. At Yellow River, while we are strolling along the river, Miss Kong started to ask us questions on geography. Not everyone was listening to her but only Jonathan, some other sec 3 students and me. I answered correctly almost all her questions! Lucky i got pay attention in class. Then we took some photos and off we go to shopping!!

Lee lian and i walked here and there searching for the things that we wanted to buy. And yes it is! We found it. It's the shoe shop. We both bought the same pair of boots but different colors. Then we went to search something for Zhang jie jie, our tour guide as her birthday was today! I bought a hand made hat for her. Hope she likes it.

After shopping, we went back to our hotel to have our dinner and Mrs Tan and Miss Kong went to have dinner with the principal of the school i think ? At night we had reflection and discuss about our project stuffs and went back to our rooms and pack luggage! GOODNIGHTS~

8th day in LiChengErZhong ( 历城二中 ) - 12 Nov ( Monday )

2007-11-30T07:32:00.000-08:00

8th day in LiChengErZhong ( 历城二中 ) - 12 Nov ( Monday )

Today was our last day in school. First thing in the morning we went to attend mathematics lesson with the students. Then we went for the morning exercise which was running again. After the running we went to music room to learn dance! Was so excited about it. Bu t when it comes to wearing costumes, I became so.. scared. The skirt are so long and heavy. The skirt is so tight and made me hard to breathe! After dancing, we went to learn how to make a Chinese knots. It was quite difficult as it's my first time doing and it's hard to catch up with the students that are teaching me.

I spent almost the whole session doing the same knots with different colors but other people already learnt the other type of knots. Never mind! I continued doing and doing. Then i made one small chinese knot and gave to the girl that teaches me how to do. Although it's nothing special as they themselves knows how to do it and they already have it. But, the one that i gave to her was the nicest among all the others that i made. And it contains my sincerity. So, to me, it's special.

It's time to have lunch! We went to have lunch and set off! To where? SHOPPING of course. At night, before we start our reflection, we celebrated Zhang jie jie birthday. Teacher bought a big cake and we gave her a birthday card which contains all the students and both our teachers wishes to her.

7th day in LiChengErZhong ( 历城二中 ) - 11 Nov ( Sunday )

2007-11-29T05:06:00.000-08:00

7th day in LiChengErZhong ( 历城二中 ) - 11 Nov ( Sunday )

Today we went to school at the same time. We went to attend their English lesson with them! When we went into the room, the first thing that i've noticed was the words that are written on the board. Our school name was written wrongly. It was written as Chan Chee but not Chai Chee. At that moment, I felt like laughing but I didn't. Once the lesson starts, I listen to the teacher attentively. We were told to exchange with each other about our school rules. So we had to write everything in a piece of paper and exchange.
The we were given two topics to choose and write about it. I chose the sentence, " If I were the Headermaster, I would... " They spelled Headmaster as Headermaster. It was really shocking when I got to know that they can't listen to pop music. Nowadays, we teenagers won't stop listening to pop music. But I can't imagine that they can't listen to it. In the afternoon we went to visit the vegetable and strawberry farm. It was big!

After visiting the farms, we went to visit the Shandong Uni and the church nearby. The uni is much much more bigger than us and the church is super nice to me as it's my first time stepping into a church.

6th day at Buddy House - 10 Nov ( Saturday )

2007-11-28T04:44:00.000-08:00

6th day at Buddy House - 10 Nov ( Saturday )

Today is the day that we went back to LiChengErZhong and to my buddy house!! I woke up in the morning and got so excited when i know that I'm going to visit my buddy house! We went to school in the morning as usual and had some activities. When it's lunch time, there's a group of student with teacher came into the canteen. As i was queuing to get my food, Mrs tan called my name and i went to her. She introduced her to me and we went to have lunch together.

After lunch, it's time for us to set off to our buddy house! Suddenly i felt excited and nervous without knowing why. My buddy is called Chen Yu Wei. A very sweet girl. We got into the car and we set off to her house. It took about 10-15 minutes to go her house. Her house is something like HDB flat in Singapore but it's just that the corridor got no lights so it's quite dark although it's in the afternoon where there are sun out there.

When we reached her house, her mother welcomed us warmly and made us feel like we are at home. Awhile later, we went to visit a exhibition of chrysanthemum. Then we went back to her house and watch television. Her mother was preparing the dumplings. We wanted to learn from her but she said that never mind, if we do it will be slower and we are lacked of time. So she prepared everything. Her father served us tea and gave us foods to eat. It's time for dinner and we were starring at all the dishes on the table. It's way too much! There's vegetable, prawn, chicken wing, crab and especially dumplings! Each of us are given a crab! YUMMY~ But one thing is that we don't know how to eat it ? We just kept eating and eating as we didn't want to waste the food that the mother specially made for us. Afina and i told each other that no matter wad, we must at least finish 3 dishes and she just keep stuffing dumplings into my mouth as I'm eating the crab!

It's time to go and we are about to be late. But before we go, her mother were so kind. She gave each of us a box of biscuit that she told us it's the most famous biscuit there. We rushed all the way back to school but unfortunately there's a jam so we didn't make it on time. We reached the school and we took a family photo and they went off. We really really thank them for preparing such a nice meal for us and gave us the gift. I will always remember them and they will always be in my heart.

Then off we go back to hotel ! GOODNIGHTS!

The family photo!

5th day at Qufu - 9 Nov ( Friday )

2007-11-27T01:39:00.000-08:00

5th day at Qufu ( 曲阜 ) - 9 Nov ( Friday )

Last night was staying at Queli Hotel. The room was big and i don't feel secure in there at all. I don't know why. Early in the morning we had our breakfast at the dining place. The breakfast was so nice~ It has a mixture of Western, Chinese and Japanese food! Cool..

After breakfast, we went to visit the Confucius Temple, Mansion and Cemetery. Qufu is the birthplace of Confucius and he's born in Qufu for more than 3,500 years ago. The temple was constructed in 478 B.C., which was the year after Confucius's death. Throughout the 3,000 years, the temple had been built for many times. The Confucius Cemetery is located at the North West of Qufu city. It was built in the year after following Confucius's death and it has been renovated many times since Han dynasty with the increase of Confucius's social status.

We spent the whole morning and afternoon just by visiting Confucius. It's quite tiring because the place is big. But it was a wonderful trip for us as we gained alot of knowledge here!

4th day at TaiShan ( 泰山 ) - 8 Nov ( Thursday )

2007-11-26T19:05:00.000-08:00

4th day at TaiShan (泰山) - 8 Nov ( Thursday )

Yesterday night, we had to pack our hand carry luggage as we are going to have a night at Queli Hotel in Qufu. Today, we went to TaiShan ( 泰山 ) instead of LiChengErZhong as they are having their monthly exam. We took a cable car up to almost the top of TaiShan then we walked all the way up there. Before we reached the top, we saw a big gate named TianJie ( 天街 ). Along the road, on the left was all the shops selling some souvenirs and food.

It really took us alot of time and energy just to walk all the way up.I didn't expect it to be that high when I'm there. So, as I'm walking up, it was pretty tiring for me. When we reached the top of Taishan, the scenery was so nice. As our way down, many of us eventually bought ice cream to eat! After hearing this, you may think that we are crazy/ But we are not! Eating ice cream in a cold weather it's kind of unbelieveble and people there are looking at us eating! And i know what they are thinking. They must be thinking why are we eating ice cream in such a cold weather?

When we went down the mountain Tai, we went for dinner and went to Queli Hotel in Qufu! GOODNIGHTS!

3rd day in LiChengErZhong ( 历城二中 ) - 7 Nov ( Wednesday )

2007-11-25T19:21:00.000-08:00

3rd day in LiChengErZhong ( 历城二中 ) - 7 Nov ( Wednesday )

Another day had passed and it's time to learn more new things. Once we reached the school, we went to the same room again where it's at the 1st floor to learn about Confucius and his teachings. After the lessonn had ended, we went to have morning exercise with them as told by the principal. Everyone was like, " it's cold and we had to run? and it's totally crazy? ". We had no choice but to listen to the principal. So we went to run with them. Run run run.. it's just only 1/2 round and we all are panting and running at our own speed. It's really hard to run there as the air is cold and is hard to breathe. As for me, I managed to follow their speed. It's quite challenging as I've not run for a long time after the physical fitness test in ChaiChee.

After we went for the morning run, we proceeded to the music room as usual. This time we are not going to watch performance but we ourselves had to learn the steps of Wushu.

After learning the Wushu, we went for lunch as usual then we went to a few places. They are the Baotu Spring (趵突泉)(below), QuanCheng Square (泉城广场)(left) and Da Ming Hu (大明湖)(right). These 3 places are the places of interest. Among these 3 places. Da Ming Hu was my favourite place. The reason why I chose Da Ming Hu was beacuse the scenery there is really beautiful. It's a nice place to go. I really enjoyed going to all the 3 places of interest.

This is a picture that I've taken at Baotu Spring.

2nd day in LiChengErZhong ( 历城二中 ) - 6 Nov (Tuesday)

2007-11-24T12:44:00.000-08:00

2nd day in LiChengErZhong ( 历城二中 ) - 6 Nov (Tuesday)

It's the 2nd day that we went to LiChengErZhong. First thing in the morning, we went to attend a lesson. It's a poetry lesson. The poem that we learn was written by a guy called Wang Wei (王维) and the title of the poem was named as SongYuanErShiAnXi (送元二使安西).

here's the poem,

送元二使安西 - title
王维 - author

渭诚朝雨浥轻尘，
客舍青青柳色新。
劝君更进一杯酒，
西出阳关无故人。

This poem is about a guy named Wang Wei and a friend of his named Yuan Er who is about to leave to a place called An Xi to be a official and it means that Wang Wei did not want Yuan Er to leave and would miss him.

After learning the poem, we went to the music room and watched the students perform. They had prepared Wushu, Dance and Drum for us. It was really awesome. Then we proceeded the meeting room and learn seal carving. It was fun and really very challenging. In the picture, it's my surname (何). It's my first time doing this and it came out not really up to standard but after all I've tried my very best to carve a nice one and have enjoyed myself during the carving. In the picture it seems funny because it's not really a modern type of chinese character. Here is a picture of all our surnames that we carved it ourselves. It's lunch time and we went to had our lunch at their canteen as usual. After eating, we went to attend a pottery workshop where we had to use our creativity to make our own pottery. It wasn't an easy job to do as it requires alot of thinking and imagination. In picture on the left is zhenjie. He is concentrating on his workpiece.
After all our products are done, it will be sent to dry for few days and heat.

1st day in LiChengErZhong ( 历城二中 ) - 5th Nov (monday)

2007-11-23T21:21:00.000-08:00

1st day in LiChengErZhong ( 历城二中 ) - 5th Nov

It's the 1st day that we went to LiChengErZhong ( 历城二中 ) . I was very excited and was looking forward to see their school and meet my buddy!
When we first reached their school, my first impression was "wow" and there's a big long red banner that says welcome Singapore Chai Chee Secondary School teachers and students. Principal and some of the teachers were there to received us. As we gathered near the gate, we started to hear some music and we saw students running out from their classrooms. They organize themselves into rows of 4 and they started to run in an orderly manner.

We all were staring at them wondering how can they run in an so orderly manner without teachers help. I was so impressed by them. Then, we were brought to their meeting room for the welcome ceremony. Teacher planned our seats next to our buddies and we get to interact with our buddies. I was shocked as my buddy greeted me by using English as i thought that she would greet me by using Chinese. Although my buddy talks softly and what she said wasn't clear to me but I tried very hard and at last I understood what she's speaking. She told me alot of things regarding on their schools and things that they always do in school etc.

After the welcome ceremony and the interaction with buddies, we had our lunch and then we were brought to tour around their school. The school was bigger than what I expected. As I was walking down the stairs while getting ready for the tour, I saw this poster being pasted along the wall and I felt that it's really motivative. In fact, every storey has a few different kinds of posters being pasted on the walls. While we are touring around the school, I saw many different buildings with different kinds of posters being pasted on the walls. While we are touring around the school, I saw many different buildings with different names on it and I felt that it's really special to name the buildings with names.

As for this picture below , it's one of the building and it has a name of Hong Yuan Lou (弘远楼).

4th Nov (sunday)

2007-11-20T18:41:00.000-08:00

4th Nov ( Sunday )

It was tiring after the 6 hours of flight from Singapore to Beijing（北京）. After we reached Beijing airport, it was a bit cold but I'm still able to take it. Awhile later, we went to settle our dinner at the airport as we have to wait for few hours in order to check-in and take a domestic flight to Shandong (山东). 5 of my friends and i went to walk around to see whether there is any nice food to eat but walked round and round and round and ended up at the same place.

So we went to a restaurant and looked through the menu and we all ordered something like chicken chop and glass of fruit juice. We waited for few minutes and the waitress served us our drinks and soon served us our food. After finishing our food, we paid for our bills and we were shocked that each of us had to pay 120 RMB for it. At that moment, I thought that it was the most expensive chicken chop that I've eaten. Then we went to meet the others and we went to check-in and took a domestic flight. It was about an hour later then we reached there.

After checking-out and we got our luggage, we were warmly welcomed by the a tour guide and some teachers then we were appointed to a bus to bring us to the hotel that we are staying is at TaoRanShangWuHotel(陶然商务宾馆) and then Goodnight!

This is a picture that I took when we reached Beijing Airport. It's outside the airport. There's some building in it. Saw the blue thing at the right side ? On it, it says Welcome to Beijing.