Day 34: This is home, Truly.

So I successfully managed to stay awake all night long, after packing and repacking my luggage, and then going up the Jiali and Diyanh's room only to see Eliza and Sheila sleeping, then cooking concentrated Milo and Curry-flavoured Instant Noodles.

And here is what happened for the rest of the day.

Cleaned up the room and took some last pictures as keepsakes.

My bed for the past 5 weeks, all cleaned up, almost

My table, and all the scribbles and doodles

The door to my room

All my bags are packed, I'm ready to go

A quick bite at Wuhan TianHe Airport's KFC Outlet before checking-in. Pity the local students couldn't stay longer because the bus we came in is their ride back, and it can't park outside the airport. But I'm sure we'll see them again soon, in 1 years time in Singapore.

Playing with luggage trolleys while waiting for everyone to check-in their luggage

Just before boarding the plane to Guangzhou"Begging" for coins from everyone to see what we can buy

Counting all the coins we got, a nice 15Yuan, but unfortunately we ran out of time to spend them all. So we gave them to the class fund! Haha

Just off the plane, and I'm already busy on the phone haha

All our luggage collected and accounted for, lets go home!

Summary Reflection:
It seems unthinkable how quickly time has passed. Indeed it is as they say, time passes the fastest when you enjoy yourself, and boy did we enjoy ourselves. Arriving in Wuhan with an open mind, I accepted and tried many new things. Before coming, I was worried, for my safety, for my comfort, for my health, and for my finances. But 34 days later, I can safely say that I need not have worried so much, because Wuhan is a really wonderful city that I would love to return to one day.
The first 1 and a half weeks in Wuhan came and went very quickly, but I realized that I had not properly interacted with any of the local students, so I made the extra effort to do so. Now, it is quite unbearable to leave them, but thankfully, the internet will allow us to keep in touch.
Throughout our stay here, many locals have inquired about our background, and when we revealed to them our nationality as Singaporeans, many of them were envious of Singapore's reputation as a clean and green city. Although the Chinese Central Government and the Local Government in Hubei and Wuhan have used many methods to encourage its citizens to be becoem a more gracious society, many of the locals take Singapore and Singaporeans as role models, citing our No Spitting and No Smoking Laws as good examples. Coming here has truly been an eye opener, because I saw first-hand the priority the government gives to protecting the environment, while being told time and again by strangers their opinions of Singapore. Without their admiration for this city-state, I would not be as appreciative of this Singapore, my homeland. Indeed we sometimes need others to show us the kind of state we are in, and the warm-hearted Wuhan people has certainly done that for me.
Now that I am back home in Singapore, I will really miss Wuhan. The climate, the food, the friends I've made, and of course the people I was there with. I thank them all for making these 5 weeks a fantastic and memorable one, and I hope to see them all around campus soon.
See ya round.

Singapore is our homeland; this is where we belong.
We treasure our heritage and take pride in shaping our own unique way of life

For me, the OIP trip can be summarized as: "Opened my eyes, Broadened my mind, Expanded my gut."

Day 33: LAST DAY, LAST BUS, LASTING IMPRESSION

The last day to shop, so I went out together with Houngsheng, Yuchuan, Haoteng, Zhenzhao, Eliza, Sheila, Joanna, Diyanah, Jiali and 3 local students, YangTao, XiaoGang, and ZhengNa. Our first stop was to a food street, Pu Bu Xiang, for lunch first, before crossing the YangTze river by boat to shop.Inside the foodstreet, which we came at night before, was a vastly different scene from our previous visit! All the stores were open and there were lots and lots of food to buy and eat. However, our main motive for coming here today was to eat the TangBao before we go back home tomorrow! So after buying some snacks, we departed and went straight up the street and into the shop for some TangBaos.

After lunch, we headed back to the main shopping belt of JiangHan Street, where everyone went wild with their money, for real, but just not for me. I also finally bought a tote bag for my sister/mother, depending who likes it better. Haha. While having dinner, I took the chance to pass all our membership cards and other discount vouchers to YangTao, who has been with us most of the time.quite impressive/shocking huh?

After shopping and dinner, our large group, which had joined up with Michelle and Nicholas, tried to flag taxis or illegal taxis to try and reach our hostel early. After more than an hour, most of them managed to get one, except three people. Nicholas, Houng Sheng, and I. We walked up and down the street, trying to board a bus, or flag a taxi, or find an illegal taxi. But luck was simply not on our side, as none of the taxis wanted to cross the river to reach our hostel, and we couldn't find any available illegal taxis, and worst of all, we missed the last bus unknowingly.Luckily we managed to reach Yuchuan, who has just gotten off his taxi and told him to take another taxi down to fetch us, and right after that his SIM Card used up his last available balance so he could not be contacted. As luck would have it, we emerged from a MacDonald's outlet just as he stopped, so we managed to head back, although we had to switch taxis because the taxi Yu/chuan came in was low on petrol. Regardless, meet the taxi that delivered us safely back.

Reflection:

The final night in Wuhan really did not disappoint, because it gave the three of us such a unique experience no one, not even the local students, could have purposely orchestrated for us. Perhaps it could be the Jay Chou concert that is going tonight too, but whatever the case, we finally achieved something, reaching back at the hostel so late that we had to get someone to open the main doors to the hostel block for us.

Oh well, I must go now, the girls upstairs are rushing me to go up for some party sans sleep. See you back in Singapore!

Day 32: GOLDEN HANShake

It is now Friday, the last weekday of our memorable trip to Wuhan. Around evening time, everyone went out to eat at a local Restaurant together with the LSCT students and our student hosts, as a farewell dinner to show our appreciation for the student hosts' hard work and effort.

The dinner and the restaurant were nice, good food and good ambience, but I felt that it was the company that made it all even better.After a heavy dinner, we gave out some tokens of appreciations to the Student Hosts who have treated us so well the past 5 weeks. And then it was all pictures taking time.Thank you all students from WUST who have hosted us so well! We hope to return the favor when you come over next year!

Reflection:
At the restaurant, where food was served buffet style with servers going round table by table with roast meats, I wondered what kind of charge would they impose on wasted food. So I asked ZhengNa, one of the local students who sat with me. She told me that although the rule is stated clearly on paper, most restaurants do not enforce them, which was why she did not seem at all concerned about all the food left on our table.
In fact, the reason we had so much wastage was because the local students who sat with me were regular patrons, so they knew how to coax and haggle with the servers to give their table more meat and other food. Ingenious, but unfortunately, it resulted in quite a lot of waste.

Regardless, Golden Hans was quite an appropriate setting to thank the local students and to hold a farewell dinner, by giving them a Golden Handshake. (get it? get it?)

Day 31: Free, Free & Easy

Left the hostel later in the day with Houngsheng, Yuchuan, Diyanah, Jiali, Sheila, and Eliza for 江汉路 to do some more shopping. Taking a taxi there to "buy time" was quite a good suggestion, as we reached in barely 25 minutes.

Before shopping, we tried another Chinese fast food restaurant, Dicos, which actually seemed more international than Pala.

After lunch at Dicos, our next stop was at MetersBonwe, where instead of guys waiting for girls to try on clothes, it was a complete reversal! Here's Houngsheng and I trying on one of the many pairs of jeans.

Pardon the socks and store-provided slippers. In the end Yuchuan and Houngsheng both bought a new pair of jeans, and I bought a 'leather' jacket for ￥449. AAARRGGGHHH!!! Heart pain, wallet cry. But anyway, it looked good on me, so thats that.

After walking down the entire stretch in the hot sun, yes it finally stopped raining right when I bought a rain and wind appropriate jacket, we went to Starbucks to cool down and chill. And then we did more shopping inside the mega-departmental store 王府井(Wangfujing) before going to the basement of the shopping center for dinner at the Korean BBQ.

Finally, I have been to all the places everyone else has gone to and raved about. Indeed this Korean BBQ is worth a try, and I also got to try Ddeobokki, or spicy rice cake, which is a type of Korean food I frequently see on TV.

Reflection:

I am truly grateful to have so many opinions with my when I go shopping, because I made the right choice, although not necessarily at the right price. Since we do not have many days left here in Wuhan, we must treasure whatever time we have left, and make the most of it, whether it is by shopping, or just enjoying and making memories with new and old friends.

Day 30: At Last, The Last Lecture

Yes, its been 30 days since we've arrived in Wuhan, at we have completed our Core Module, Project Management. Impossible, we thought, how to manage 6 months in 5 weeks? Well, we did it. Now, all we have to do is mug well for the exam on 1 November. Urgh.

After lecture, everyone went off to do their own activity, and I went with Joanna, Houng Sheng, Nicholas,and Zhen Zhao to 发源地, the hair salon because they Joanna, Nic and Zhenzhao wanted to do things to their hair. After waiting and pondering for very long, Joanna finally decided on the treatments and styling for her hair, and we waited for the others who also wanted to do a makeover to arrive.

After that, Houngsheng, Nic, Michelle, Diyanah, Eudora and I went to 建设7路 to visit the night market. I was quite excited because unlike everyone else, I had never been there before. However, because of the unrelenting rain, the night market was closed! Instead of shopping, all we got were wet shoes and socks from the many puddles and booby-traps.

But every cloud has a silver lining, and indeed I got my silver lining, because although the night market was closed, I finally had to chance to eat at ...

Yeap, ever since going to YEP in March and seeing the restaurant outlets in Xiamen, I have been very curious, especially since I heard that 豪客来, or Houcaller, is a very famous franchise across China. Indeed the food was good, better than the Greenery Cafe I felt, but unfortunately we forgot to use our discount card when paying the bill. How sad.

Reflection:

Perhaps the sky knows that it is our last lesson here in Wuhan, because it has been raining all day long. Although the rain did put a mild dampener on our moods and activities, I think that it will definitely increase my memories of this day. After 5 weeks, the classroom which we had our lectures and practicals in, where we took our written and practical test in, the water dispenser where we all refilled water from, the elevator which we squeezed into every morning, the flights of stairs where we occasionally had to use to avoid being late, and the 5 to 10minutes walk from our hostel to the classroom block, all these memories have become what defined our legacy, in my opinion. The legacy of MDE 5th OIP Batch, running to class in the first week, running up the stairs when the elevator is full and time is running out. I think I will really miss these 'routines' of ours.

Day 29: Wayang Wayang

Its hard to believe, but in a short 29 days, we have finished the project for Project Management. After presenting to Mr Chia in the morning, we went off to polish and rehearse our performance item for tonight's Cultural Performances.

And look at the lecture theater where we will be performing! In front of the entire new Year 1 batch of students at the OEC and the Year 2 batch! Pressure!!!

luckily they provided us with some snacks & sweets to fight out anxiety. heheh

Our performance was a short play about how Singapore got its name, which according to legends originated from when Prince Sang Nila Utama came to Singapore after spotting it across the sea from another island while hunting, and then coming across a majestic beast that they mistook for a lion where they landed near the mouth of the present day Singapore river. thus Sang Nila Utama named our island Singapura, which translates to Lion-City (Singa-Pura).

But I'm sure you are all familiar with the story already. Have a look at some of the other performances.

nobody nobody but you ~

us guys singing ‘吃的起苦’ and ‘关怀方式’, both theme songs from Singaporean dramas

our MDE finale item, singing a Home medley in English and Chinese

And of course, heres a look at my group's amateur wayang kulit production of Sang Nila Utama and the founding of Singapura.

Reflection:

To perform in front of such a big audience takes courage, and to speak impromptu in public takes even greater courage, and I'm glad to say I did both tonight, although my performance allowed me to not show my face. At first, I was really not confident of my performance, mainly because we have all along been the ones behind the screen, so I did not know how the audience would see and feel about our performance. When we finished our performance, one of the local students who had accompanied us in our first week, Xiao Wei, came down to ask me how we did our performance. Initially, I was really surprised, because the whole idea and tools behind the wayang kulit was very simple, so I thought everyone would understand what was going on and how we did it. However, when Xiao Wei told me that she had never seen anything like it before, and that our play and effects looked really good, I too, felt very good. I also explained to her how we did the play and how we animated the shadows. Indeed, this truly feels like a cultural exchange, because we exposed them to a South-East Asian traditional art-form (although ours is really far from the original).

Oh and thank you Yu chuan, Houng sheng and Hao Teng for helping us in our performance!

Day 28: Second last lecture, A Lesson in Teamwork

Our second last lecture for Project Management, and as she promised, we did a short activity instead of listening to a lecture. I really appreciate the effort Ms Hock goes into preparing our lectures, because they are never boring, and especially today's activity: Make a bridge as long as possible and as strong as possible to withstand the weight of several thick books out of PAPER and PAPER-CLIPS ONLY.

At first, we all thought it was impossible, given that we were told that our bridge should be able to span the length without us having to hold down the ends. But after many discussions and brainstorming, we can up with a rough idea and proceeded to make it.

Building and testing, then improving and re-testing

After lecture, it was time for everyone to rush back and complete their projects! But first, we need lunch, so we went to Pala for our lunch.

While deciding what to buy for lunch, I saw the above banner hanging in the kitchen, which means "Pala Makes Hamburgers for the Chinese People" which I thought was quite cool, as hamburgers are a western invention, so seeing a Chinese fast-food chain promoting itself to the Chinese people sounds like a good marketing plan.

Reflection:

Coming back from Mt. Wudang and going through the activity, I have learnt the value of teamwork. If we just stick together and think of ideas, we can come with with solutions to overcome any challenges that may come in our way. Just like how we thought it would be impossible to reach the Golden Summit, and how we thought it was impossible to build such a bridge, we persevered and sought innovative solutions and accomplished our task.