School is back in and I'm so un-used to the waking up times every morning compared to the holidays. But the first week of school has been an exciting one, new teachers, new timetable, swimming module and most of all, Youth Week. T-shirts were going for $3.50 a piece but I didn't buy cause' I ran out of money. By the way, I taught that the T-shirt was quite cheap.
CCA has also started and gym competition is coming and since I'm not in the competition, we did conditioning the whole training time. I don't feel like going to CCA tommorow.
The most shocking piece of news in the new term is that our German teacher will be not teaching us for about 1 term to go and teach another Sec 4 class whose teacher went for maternity leave and we'll be getting a new teacher. Moreover, she (our teacher) just found out today. Anyway, tommmorow is MUFTI day where we get to wear our own clothes to school. Yay.
Thursday, June 30, 2005
Friday, June 24, 2005
Thursday, June 23, 2005
Another Holiday
Whee. Just came back from Church Camp in Malacca. Had some fun moments such as the Go-kart racing next to the hotel where I paid 30 ringit for 10 minutes of it where I drove like hell (very fast). Our family also went to a restaurant which Zong Yi's mother recommended and we spent half an hour looking for it but the look was worthwhile as the oyster noodles were delicious (you should go and try that someday). We stayed in Century Mahkota Hotel which the rooms were a little run down but the beds made it seem like home. We spent 4 days and 3 nights there (quite short, really) and we came home yesterday night (my dad drived real slow on the way back). Nice trip.
Thursday, June 16, 2005
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Fascinating Stuff in Japan
A lot of eye openers for me when I went to Japan.
A few things I found out about Japanese life, culture, heritage and technology
A few things I found out about Japanese life, culture, heritage and technology
- Japanese toilets are very clean
- You can wash your bu** when water sprays from the toilet bowl in the toilets when you click a button
- Their GPS system is very impressive
- People do not talk in trains, nor do they use their handphones. They do not even make eye contact
- People there are very friendly
- They really recycle things there (9 rubbish cans each time)
World Expo 2005---愛・地球博
Back home at last after a tiring but exciting week at the Learning Journey to the World Expo 2005 + a little bit of Tokyo. Experienced a lot of memorable moments and so I'll write a brief summary of the trip, day by day.
5th to 6th
left Singapore on an ANA flight (NH902) at 11.35 p.m. and reached Tokyo Narita at about 7 a.m. I managed to get about 2 to 3 hours of sleep on the plane. Went to Sea Life Park the first thing after we touched down where there was the big dome and thousand of fishes inculding b ig tunas inside the park (not the dome). It is a lot like Underwater World in Sentosa but better. Left my bag somewhere until we were about to leave the place.
We then went to Aqua city where we ate our lunch (ate 572 yen ramen) and went to Toys R Us for a while. Saw what I wanted at Toys R Us. The model train which cost about 9000 yen. Didn't get to buy it though, Mr Lim didn't allow us to buy. Some seniors, however went to buy some stuff and claimed that it was for their project work.
After that, we went to Miraikan where there were a lot of techno stuff, including the latest like the Asmino robot, how the Maglev works and the most impressive, the huge suspended globe which was made up from thousands of LCD screens.
We took a short walk to the pier and took a ferry across Tokyo Bay to Hinode Pier and on the way, we went under Rainbow Bridge which is a "staggering" 912 or 913m long.
Our final stop in Tokyo was at a Shabu shabu restaurant in Shibuya where the bean sprouts (tau gay) stank but the meat was nice and after the meal, we took a 3 half hour bus ride to Hamamatsu where we checked in to our hotel, Grand Hamamatsu Hotel at about 10.30p.m. and we went to our "favourite" convinence stall before retring to our hotel rooms.
7th June
The first day of the expo and we went to the Orange Hall in the Global House where we entered the Super High-Vision theatre where they showed us a video clip and they gave us an amulet where we hade to point the solar panel facing some LED panel and I thought that it would be a pain to the ear. We then went to the Mammoth Lab where they showed the real mammoth in a frozen container. We then went for lunch before taking the IMTS and visiting the European Pavillions where we wondered where the German pavillion was unitl we found out that it was at the other side of that long elevated walkway.
We then went to a buffet dinner near our hotel where I ate asparagus and before going back to our hotel rooms, we went to our "friendly" convinence shop.
8th June
The second day of the Expo and we went to the Japanese Pavillion which looked a lot like the Esplanade. We were treated to a lot of fascinating stuff, inculding the big globe where we entered. We then rushed to the German Pavillion where we queued 1 hour for a ride which took us through the history, technology and culture of the German community and I think that we got stuck in the ride for about 5 minutes. There was an exhibition about bionics after the ride in the pavillion. After lunch, we then went to the Circus world which was just a ride with some exhibits before going to the Mitushi-Toshiba pavillion in which we got to star in our own movies because of some advanced technology. We then had dinner which was chanko-nabe (type of stew eaten by sumo wrestlers) where I ate some tau gay which was tasteless and the whole table made a hoo-ha out of it.we had time so we went to a game and CD and DVD shop where I got a DVD for my music teacher. We then went to the convinence stall once again before going back to our hotel rooms.
9th June
The third day and we spent more than half the time in the Expo queueing up for the Hitachi Pavillion, but it was not a boring wait as we played Taiti with Mr Lim and borrowed his Nintendo DS and PSP to play. Mr Jee was there too and he helped us hold the card deck for a while. After queueing up for about 3 hours, it was disappointing to see that it we only spent about a 15 to 20 minutes in the pavillion, but it was a very exciting and eye-opening experience. We then went to the Sinagpore pavillion and I thought that it was not so exciting and there was not and attrctive factors besides the originality and creativity of the stuff and place. We then went for some last-minute shopping before leaving for Nagoya for a BBQ buffet dinner where we spend half of the time there trying to figure out why our food was not being cooked until we found out that the main switch for the gas was not turned on. Then I ate tau gay cooked "specially" by Mr Lim (again). After dinner, we then took a long and tiring bus ride back to Tokyo where we would spend our final 2 days where we would stay in Crowne Plaza Metropoitan in Ikebukuro.
10th June
We splitted up into our Tokyo adventure groups and left the hotel for Tokyo Tower by metro. The morning crowd on the metro was not as crowded as I thought it would be. We reached Tokyo Tower and got a discount to go up to the observation deck of the tower. We went up there and got a panoramic view of the surroundings. We even got to see the view downwards from the observation deck and we took some pictures lying down with our head on the window. It started raining and then we headed to Sony Tower where we saw the latest techonology which were cool and totally awesome. We then went to the top level of the showroom and we played all sorts of Sony's gaming machines there for about an hour. Time was running out so we headed to Asakusa immediately where we ate ramen and curry rice before meeting up again and walking down the long and famous (or historic) Asakusa street where there were a lot of shops selling a lot of historical stuff. we then headed for our Taiko Drum Session where I really enjoyed myself even though my hand ached all over. We then shopped at Asakusa street for some time before going to Akihabara where we could split up into our own groups except for the Sec 1s (which is...ME) who had to follow Mr Lim but I felt that it was good as he knew where all the good places were and he brought us there. Didn't buy anything there, however, as I did not see any good deals. Ate at Mac'donalds before shopping and time and time again, I left my bag there until Mr Lim reminded me. We then took the Metro back to our hotel where we had a mini party which was illegal at the lobby. I felt that we did not have enough time for our own planned activities at the start of the day and we could have spent more time doing what we have planned.
11th June
Last day of the trip and we went around Ikebukuro. Once again we could split up into our own groups except for the Sec 1s who like yesterday, had to follow Mr Lim. We headed to Toys R Us at Sunshine City where I wanted to get my model train wnd I found out that it only cost 2000 yen and so I got it immediately. We then headed to the animate shop across the road where they sold all those little balls and I got a few of them. We finally headed to Tokyu Hands where I got a few star wars figurines for my brother. I wanted to get more stuff there but there was not enough time. We made one final stop at an electronics shop where I bought a second hand Game Boy advance for 3780yen. Whoopee. And so before heading back to our hotel to leave for the airport, we stopped by at a 24 hour shop to get ourselves some packed lunch. We went back to our hotel and left for Narita Airport and we got there early so we spent some time doing our reflections and homework from the trip. We got on to our plane and we made the final flight back to where we belong, Singapore.
6 days have gone by spending my time in Japan. However, these 6 days were spent meaningfully and not a waste as I have learnt a lot of things there, not only from the World Expo but also about the Japanese culture and heritage and I have found out more about myself. I was really impressed about the friendliness of the Japanese and I wish to go back to Japan next time. And as one friend commented to me that you pay to go for learning journeys to do work, I think that you have to do work, but you learn in a fun and interactive way and find out more about other countries and at the same time, enjoy yourself.
Hope everyone had fun during the Learning Journey. I had. Lots of fun.
5th to 6th
left Singapore on an ANA flight (NH902) at 11.35 p.m. and reached Tokyo Narita at about 7 a.m. I managed to get about 2 to 3 hours of sleep on the plane. Went to Sea Life Park the first thing after we touched down where there was the big dome and thousand of fishes inculding b ig tunas inside the park (not the dome). It is a lot like Underwater World in Sentosa but better. Left my bag somewhere until we were about to leave the place.
We then went to Aqua city where we ate our lunch (ate 572 yen ramen) and went to Toys R Us for a while. Saw what I wanted at Toys R Us. The model train which cost about 9000 yen. Didn't get to buy it though, Mr Lim didn't allow us to buy. Some seniors, however went to buy some stuff and claimed that it was for their project work.
After that, we went to Miraikan where there were a lot of techno stuff, including the latest like the Asmino robot, how the Maglev works and the most impressive, the huge suspended globe which was made up from thousands of LCD screens.
We took a short walk to the pier and took a ferry across Tokyo Bay to Hinode Pier and on the way, we went under Rainbow Bridge which is a "staggering" 912 or 913m long.
Our final stop in Tokyo was at a Shabu shabu restaurant in Shibuya where the bean sprouts (tau gay) stank but the meat was nice and after the meal, we took a 3 half hour bus ride to Hamamatsu where we checked in to our hotel, Grand Hamamatsu Hotel at about 10.30p.m. and we went to our "favourite" convinence stall before retring to our hotel rooms.
7th June
The first day of the expo and we went to the Orange Hall in the Global House where we entered the Super High-Vision theatre where they showed us a video clip and they gave us an amulet where we hade to point the solar panel facing some LED panel and I thought that it would be a pain to the ear. We then went to the Mammoth Lab where they showed the real mammoth in a frozen container. We then went for lunch before taking the IMTS and visiting the European Pavillions where we wondered where the German pavillion was unitl we found out that it was at the other side of that long elevated walkway.
We then went to a buffet dinner near our hotel where I ate asparagus and before going back to our hotel rooms, we went to our "friendly" convinence shop.
8th June
The second day of the Expo and we went to the Japanese Pavillion which looked a lot like the Esplanade. We were treated to a lot of fascinating stuff, inculding the big globe where we entered. We then rushed to the German Pavillion where we queued 1 hour for a ride which took us through the history, technology and culture of the German community and I think that we got stuck in the ride for about 5 minutes. There was an exhibition about bionics after the ride in the pavillion. After lunch, we then went to the Circus world which was just a ride with some exhibits before going to the Mitushi-Toshiba pavillion in which we got to star in our own movies because of some advanced technology. We then had dinner which was chanko-nabe (type of stew eaten by sumo wrestlers) where I ate some tau gay which was tasteless and the whole table made a hoo-ha out of it.we had time so we went to a game and CD and DVD shop where I got a DVD for my music teacher. We then went to the convinence stall once again before going back to our hotel rooms.
9th June
The third day and we spent more than half the time in the Expo queueing up for the Hitachi Pavillion, but it was not a boring wait as we played Taiti with Mr Lim and borrowed his Nintendo DS and PSP to play. Mr Jee was there too and he helped us hold the card deck for a while. After queueing up for about 3 hours, it was disappointing to see that it we only spent about a 15 to 20 minutes in the pavillion, but it was a very exciting and eye-opening experience. We then went to the Sinagpore pavillion and I thought that it was not so exciting and there was not and attrctive factors besides the originality and creativity of the stuff and place. We then went for some last-minute shopping before leaving for Nagoya for a BBQ buffet dinner where we spend half of the time there trying to figure out why our food was not being cooked until we found out that the main switch for the gas was not turned on. Then I ate tau gay cooked "specially" by Mr Lim (again). After dinner, we then took a long and tiring bus ride back to Tokyo where we would spend our final 2 days where we would stay in Crowne Plaza Metropoitan in Ikebukuro.
10th June
We splitted up into our Tokyo adventure groups and left the hotel for Tokyo Tower by metro. The morning crowd on the metro was not as crowded as I thought it would be. We reached Tokyo Tower and got a discount to go up to the observation deck of the tower. We went up there and got a panoramic view of the surroundings. We even got to see the view downwards from the observation deck and we took some pictures lying down with our head on the window. It started raining and then we headed to Sony Tower where we saw the latest techonology which were cool and totally awesome. We then went to the top level of the showroom and we played all sorts of Sony's gaming machines there for about an hour. Time was running out so we headed to Asakusa immediately where we ate ramen and curry rice before meeting up again and walking down the long and famous (or historic) Asakusa street where there were a lot of shops selling a lot of historical stuff. we then headed for our Taiko Drum Session where I really enjoyed myself even though my hand ached all over. We then shopped at Asakusa street for some time before going to Akihabara where we could split up into our own groups except for the Sec 1s (which is...ME) who had to follow Mr Lim but I felt that it was good as he knew where all the good places were and he brought us there. Didn't buy anything there, however, as I did not see any good deals. Ate at Mac'donalds before shopping and time and time again, I left my bag there until Mr Lim reminded me. We then took the Metro back to our hotel where we had a mini party which was illegal at the lobby. I felt that we did not have enough time for our own planned activities at the start of the day and we could have spent more time doing what we have planned.
11th June
Last day of the trip and we went around Ikebukuro. Once again we could split up into our own groups except for the Sec 1s who like yesterday, had to follow Mr Lim. We headed to Toys R Us at Sunshine City where I wanted to get my model train wnd I found out that it only cost 2000 yen and so I got it immediately. We then headed to the animate shop across the road where they sold all those little balls and I got a few of them. We finally headed to Tokyu Hands where I got a few star wars figurines for my brother. I wanted to get more stuff there but there was not enough time. We made one final stop at an electronics shop where I bought a second hand Game Boy advance for 3780yen. Whoopee. And so before heading back to our hotel to leave for the airport, we stopped by at a 24 hour shop to get ourselves some packed lunch. We went back to our hotel and left for Narita Airport and we got there early so we spent some time doing our reflections and homework from the trip. We got on to our plane and we made the final flight back to where we belong, Singapore.
6 days have gone by spending my time in Japan. However, these 6 days were spent meaningfully and not a waste as I have learnt a lot of things there, not only from the World Expo but also about the Japanese culture and heritage and I have found out more about myself. I was really impressed about the friendliness of the Japanese and I wish to go back to Japan next time. And as one friend commented to me that you pay to go for learning journeys to do work, I think that you have to do work, but you learn in a fun and interactive way and find out more about other countries and at the same time, enjoy yourself.
Hope everyone had fun during the Learning Journey. I had. Lots of fun.
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