Day 3

First Lesson

Today, we had our first introductory lesson in WUST. This core module that we are taking consists of both hard skill and soft skill. Business refers to the way we do things; Process refers to our system thinking, like how we strategise to tackle a problem; Engineering is the planning, design, implementing, act and giving feedbacks on the target problem. Our lesson ended early so we date our volunteers out to bring us around Wuhan.

Have you got the X-Factor???

Zhong Shan Park

We took a public bus there. The public bus here

only cost 2 RMB. The condition of the bus is not bad, with air-con and a television. While on the bus, i realised how inconsiderate some china people are. She was eating a local snack, lotus seed, but after biting off the shell, she throw them on the floor. It was a long journey and when we alight, the whole floor is filled with the fruit shells. We were disgusted. We reached our destination.

Zhong Shan Park is a place of scenery and amusement park. We took a lot of photos there and we enjoyed ourselves a lot all thanks to our student volunteers who are like our tour guide, explaining to us everything and interact with us. Some of us went to try their rides, the roller coaster and Viking ship. It was my first time sitting on a roller coaster although it was rather a small scale compared to Australia Gold Coast. It went a few scary turns i was feeling so giddy. So scary. One thing that struck me so hard in the trip to the park was that the beggars there are so persistent that if u doesn’t give them money, they will follow u and keep asking from everyone in the group. Every time we stopped to discuss something, we will be approached by a few. Also the kids there wear their pants with a hole cut to ease them in urinating and shitting. We spend about 4 hours there and we are all tired and dying to shop. Next, we proceed to a nearby shopping mall to shop.

Public bus ride to Zhong Shan Park

Welcome to Zhong Shan Park:)

Whee...

TEAM A's turn to jump!

Night life

During shopping, we realised that some of the branded stuffs here are more expensive than Singapore. We only managed to shop a little today, we shall continue the next day. After which, we went to have our dinner. During dinner, i realise that the way the Chinese work is very slow, taking their own sweet time to serve the customers. Their customer service level is not there yet. We experience it when we enquire on some things, they were showing us some faces. Also, when lining up for food, the Chinese are very impatient and tend to cut queues a lot. However, one thing to praise is that they are very eco-friendly as they don’t issue plastic bags even though u buy lots of items from the supermarket. In addition, they are allowed to smoke in shopping malls and allowed to have their pets in the shopping mall without being on leash.

Shopping Spree!!

Dinner..Water steam egg..weird :p

Back to hostel

As it was raining, we hail a cab back. Their cabs are very special, there are bars separating the passengers from the driver. And while on the cab, we feel so unsecure as the way their drive is scary and violent. There is like no law in place. In short, one thing to say, the Chinese here will not be able to live without a horn. In addition, the driver can ask us to wait and get off the cab to go buy cigarettes. We were shocked. However, the cab charges here is very cheap.

In conclusion, we have a long and tiring day outside. And from all these sightseeing and city visits, we learn a lot about the culture in China and how they are different from Singapore. Being in their country, we must adapt ourselves there and accept how they live and refrain from criticising.

Day 2

Rise and Shine

There is no lesson today. The breakfast in theircanteen only provide breakfast till 8am but we were a little late. There is no food left by the time we reached thus we have to go have some light street food. We

tried some local snacks; they are cheap and we get to see how hard they work to earn money. Today is our orientation day starting with a welcome ceremony by the hosting University. Followed on is a tour around the campus and to some shopping areas around the campus. The campus is quite empty now as it is their summer holidays and school will start next week for them.

Muslim Canteen..

Welcome ceremony!

Our classroom:)

Free and Easy

We went to the nearby supermarket to get some necessities. We bought some many items but we only spend about 100 RMB. And the most important thing that we buy is BAYGON! OMG we paste cockroaches patches everywhere around the room! For lunch, we had Macdonalds again. We had Macs consecutive for 2 days already. As it was a very hot and hazy day, we went back straight to the hostel to rest after that. It’s free and easy time and own time own target. Some went to get prepaid cards but i choose to go back to take a nap. After which at about evening time, me, Yuting and ChinXiang went for a jog to burn off the fats that we took in from the meals. After exercising, i went back to have a bath and it’s time to wash clothes. I helped my roommates do the laundry and they hang them up after that. I finally understand the pain that my mother go through. All those back aches and soaking her hands in the soap for long hours. MUMMY I LOVE YOU!

Shopping Spree for necessities!

Night

We had fried rice for dinner. It cost only 4 RMB for a huge bowl. It tasted really good. After dinner, we were slacking again waiting to celebrate Willis birthday at 0000am, 27^th August.

Toilet:)

Wash wash..

To our horror, it's a squat bowl!!!

RATIONS!

My "NUAH" spot!

Day 1

Checking In

We are all supposed to meet at 6am to check in our baggage. However, i, being the leader of Group A was late and kept everyone waiting. I feel very sorry as this was due to my brother waking up late and held everyone behind. I am sorry to all lecturers and my schoolmates.

Always, our parents will be the ones helping us to check in and be there to handle all the administrative work. But today, i am all on my own; having to handle everything and on top of that, to fulfil the role of being a group leader. I learnt to be independent.

Can’t bear to leave my loved ones and close friends, I hugged with tears and bid goodbye. This trip allowed me to see the importance of kinship and friendship before i leave. They are the ones we can’t live without.

Wuhan Team

Plane to Guangzhou and transfer ride to Wuhan

Throughout the entire ride, we camwhored a lot with our trip mates. This plane ride was the warmest plane i have ever board. We were all sweating after the long and tiring ride to Guangzhou. After we reached the internal flight transfer airport, we need to collect our baggage and we encounter some held ups as one of our trip mate couldn’t locate her baggage and the other one had his bag damaged by the customs. However, both cases are settled after some time. Someone from Aerospace Technology mistook her baggage for another and the airport refund a new baggage in return for the damaged one.

Next, we have to check in our baggage for the transfer ride and we spent quite some time there. We have to walk to our belt which is super far away and the sky train was not in working order for some reasons. Inside the waiting area we felt so thirsty that we went to browse around the shops selling drinks. Coming to a shock, they are out to “slash” tourists and we hold our thirst till we board the next plane.

In the transfer ride, we were all too tired to camwhore now, everyone collapse into dream

land. Soon we reached Wuhan Airport and we had to be transported manually to the arrival hall due to it being a small internal airport.

Me n my luggage:)

TEAM A!

Way to Wuhan University of Science and Technology

We board a bus ride which took us about an hour to reach our hostel. A student volunteer, who was also a new student in the University, explain to us about the school and will be helping us with what we need when we reach the hostel later. We were all looking forward to our new hostel that we are going to share with our friends. By the time we reach the hostel, it was already very dark. To our horror, the school and the hostel didn’t turn out to be like the photos we had seen over the net. The surrounding areas were lowly lit and look very dirty and scary. Our rooms were on the second level so we had to carry our entire luggage upstairs which was a torture to us as all were overweight. The room was not as nice as expected and it doesn’t look safe as all openings were not securely locked.

With no choice, we had to make do with this place even though we were unsatisfied with the condition. However, we were glad that the student volunteers really give in their best to help us get our room nicely done. To our biggest horror again, there were lots of cockroaches coming out at random times. We kept calling out for the guys to help us catch and we were all screaming.

In conclusion, GIRLS CANT LIVE WITHOUT GUYS!

First dinner at MACS!

Just us:)