Grace <(")

OELP 2016

In the plane~

Our long awaited OELP has finally come!! It's the 22nd of May - like FINALLY ?! We gathered at Changi Airport Terminal 3 near the group check-in counter and that was where we said our goodbyes to our parents. I could see that they were very worried and anxious of us as they kept spamming taking photographs. However, I do not feel sad and I felt really excited to be able to board the plane with my class and to go to the longest ever school immersion trip I had in my life to China! Upon successfully checking into the airport, we were tasked to gather at a corner and take down the characteristics of Changi Airport. Back then, we were too excited and thus some of us forgot to care for their belongings. Of course, we were chided for that and we learnt that this trip wouldn't be a very easy one for us as many strict demands were required of us.

Our tour guide !

After 6 hours of flight, we arrived at Pudong International Airport. It was already night time at around 6.30pm. We were then introduced to our China tour guide. And to my upmost surprise, he was my tour guide during my trip to China last December too! His nickname is 小俞. We headed for our dinner and to our hotel. Upon arrival at the hotel, the teachers gave us some instructions and we were told to come down straight to do reflections after we placed our belongings in the room. Never in my life did I expect the reflections and debrief to be such a tiring and scary one. The teacher wanted a lot from us and she expected us to think deeply and not just on the surface kind of thing.

We did our reflections for about an hour and a half till 11pm. Through this, we learnt about the differences between both airports we visited and we set our personal goals for this trip. (Trust me, it isn't easy to do this :')) Changi Airport has more art installations and displays as compared to Pudong International Airport. This difference leads to difference impacts. Singapore will be able to attract more tourists due to the vibrance of colours present. The tourists can admire them and spend more of their time at the airport. Perhaps, they may then consider to stop over and purchase some souvenirs at the airport. Hence, having more art installations and displays is important as this can lead to a better economy.

At one of the stopovers

Some types of drinks 

A worker in charge of checking the drink

It's Day 2 and our first destination was Wahaha Company. Wahaha Company is successful today because of the boss, Mr Zou Qing Hou's perseverance. He did not give up in the face of adversities. Back then, they were facing a lot of competitions from around the world. However, he decided that he should create more drinks and to promote their company even further. He even set effective core values and systems that allow the employers to work effectively for the company. He made use of many opportunities to work with other companies and succeeded as time passed. He even thought of unique ways of promoting their products and that was to get celebrities to endorse their drinks.

After that, we were treated drinks made from Wahaha Company. I took the grape juice and I had to admit that it tasted very sweet. Some of us took the yoghurt drink and they too said that it was too sweet. Well, I guess, Wahaha Company prefers manufacturing sweeter drinks. Then, we saw the process of making drinks in Wahaha. The process seemed quite complicated as many steps were involved. Many machines were present, hence the number of workers needed decreased.

Our second destination was to Hangzhou West Lake. It is a UNESCO site, which I have been to last year. Hence, it was rather a familiar sight except that it was colder during that time. From the short visit to there, we saw the beautiful scenery-peaceful lake, hills, trees and a mini bridge. We learnt that having a UNESCO site is indeed not easy as lots of preservation work are required. The place has a history of 1000 years but the infrastructures are still in good condition. This meant that the government did well in preserving the area.

The tea leaves are packaged into the green cylinder cans

Our third destination was to Mei Jia Wu Tea Plantation. I also went there before last year xD. Hence, it is like 'revision' to me when the tour guide told us of the facts about tea leaves. The tour guide there was really funny as he has this funny look when he laugh (in a sense, he is quite creepy). We learnt many facts about Long Jing tea leaves (龙京茶叶). They can help to detox your body and help you to lose weight. They can also help to cleanse our body and drinking it occasionally will benefit our health. Hence, sometimes, we always feel like going to the toilet, because the tea is able to detox the harmful substances in our body. Drinking it can make us fresher and younger in a sense. Most importantly, it doesn't contain any caffeine. After learning the facts, we were being persuaded to buy the tea leaves. However, I did not buy them as I have tons of them at home already.

After visiting 3 places, we headed to our hotel. As usual, after doing all the reflections and debrief, it was already 11pm or so. 

Class photo at Xuanyuan farm with our harvest

It's Day 3! Our first destination was to Xuanyuan farm. I admit I wasn't quite looking forward to it because I don't appreciate plants and I'm afraid of bugs. However, the experience wasn't too bad. We picked green chillis, cucumbers and peaches. The green chillis was used in almost every dish we had for lunch and dinner there. Many of us dislike the taste of it as it has a spicy and sour taste? We ate the cucumbers raw and it is sweeter and juicer than the ones found in Singapore. This might be due to the difference in climate.

Our next destination was to Hongcun Ancient Village. The scenery was beautiful. The reflection of the lake was very clear and the view was amazing. There were also many teenagers drawing and sketching the view there too. When we reached there, we realised that we are supposed to sketch the view there and there would be an artist to grade our piece. I thought that this activity was just a waste of time and that it wasn't important. Hence, I just randomly sketch the surroundings while standing up... (I was the only student that stood up because I did not want to dirty my pants as we had to sit on the ground XD) However, believe it or not, I got a 9 out of 10! Personally, the piece wasn't a well done. It doesn't look nice but it has many details. Hence, this was why the artist decided to grade me a 9. I was very shocked as I laughed at the artist's comment. After the drawing session was over, we proceeded to explore the village. Definitely, we saw many new things and learnt about them. From there, we learnt that they do not have a proper water source from their taps but only from drains and wells. There were around 100 elderlies staying there. I was very very very very shocked when I heard this. I could not imagine living in an area that have many visitors visiting their homes everyday. Furthermore, this place is a UNESCO site. One insight that we learned from there was about their windows. They were built small, so as to prevent burglars from entering their houses. After walking like an eternity, we finally came out of the village and proceeded to Huangshan area! The hotel there was cool because it is huge and it was confusing at the same time as we had to walk a distance from one place to another.

Class photo at Mount Huangshan

 It's Day 4! This is the day where we had only one destination and that is to Mount Huangshan! We had to wake up at 5am on that day if my memory did not fail me. Our tour guide told us that we need to be early as it might rain as the weather forecast said it will have a thunderstorm. Hence, he was worried and provided us with raincoats and boots :). We boarded the bus and proceeded to our destination. Though our hotel is quite near Mount Huangshan already, the bus still had to drive up the mountain and it just kept moving in circles.

However, the journey was worth it as this was the best part of the trip. Because the scenery is really amazing and the journey was very fun. And that was the place where we took the most photos. The weather was quite cooling except that the teacher wanted us to wear our jackets :/. 

Paws of a bear rock

We took the cable car up the mountain and the fog was so heavy that to the extent, we could not even see that the cable car was moving. However, when we got down the cable car, the fog started moving away. We were stunned like vegetables. It was un-un-un-un-un-believable! The scenery was just spectacular man! The beautiful rocks that looked like it was specially crafted by man, the beautiful sky and everything that made up the scenery was totally amazing. We walked up and down stairs and I had to admit that it was not tiring at all except that it was kind of warm as we had to wear the jackets (asked told by the teacher). However, it was dangerous as some of the rocks were uneven and it was near the cliffs. One particular rock that interest me was the rock that looked like the paws of a bear. On the right finger of it, it looks like a human sitting down while fishing. The tour guide told us the stories behind the different rocks and it was really fascinating. We had our lunch there and the lunch wasn't to our tastebuds.

Then, we continued walking up and down the mountain and tiny little raindrops started falling. Luckily, we reached our cable car destination and were prepared to board the bus again! The cable car was a different one from the one we tooled earlier. It looked like a mini bus that is hung on a wire to move. One of the best part of the ride was that the cable car resembled a roller coaster. Our class had a lot of fun shouting and screaming inside it (though there were many other passengers boarding it). This was because at some point of the cable car ride, the cable car increased in speed while descending down.

Bus mate, Jia Ren and I 

After boarding the bus, our tour guide told us how lucky we were because last year's batch came when the fog was heavy and they saw nothing but fog. And it rained only when we board the bus. Hence, we were considered very lucky:). We then proceeded to have our dinner and the journey took us 3-4 hours in the bus. And, that was when my bus mate and I started going crazy taking lots of selfies while laughing at each photograph we took. (We could not laugh loudly because everyone was sleeping and we were sitting just right behind from the teachers xD.)

It's Day 5! Our first destination was to Li Hong Zhang's formal residence. The house was huge and we managed to have few insights from there. The tour guide there introduced and explained some of the special carvings in the house. She mentioned that the calligraphy paintings have long and round strokes, symbolizing peace in the family. Also, she mentioned 4 carvings on a door that looked like the word longevity, which is "寿" in Chinese. The people back then believed that it would bring longevity and happiness to the family as they thought of "五福捧寿".

Next, we went to Meiling company. It was boring there (no offense). We were not shown any cool stuff but only the long processes of making a fridge. Furthermore, the tour guide's words wasn't clear at all. We were quite disappointed but at least we learnt something after our teacher clarified some questions for us to note down. They have some elements that enabled them to have a strong production team and that includes loyalty, sense of belonging, specialized knowledge and staff morale. One way that they make each other feel a sense of belonging was to celebrate each other's birthday. This is common in our school. Some significant progress their company made was in 2015. That was when they created fridges that is mobile-operated and can be operated using the Internet or a remote control. They also won the first prize for producing energy-saving fridges.

look at the words in red!

Then, we went for our lunch and to Hefei Shou Chun Middle School (合肥寿春中学)! We were excited yet nervous at the same time as we had to perform in front of 600 students, which was their secondary one students and that it was our first time visiting their school. When we reached there, we were greeted by the words on their main gate "A very warm welcome to teachers and students from River Valley High School". We saw how the school looked like and I thought that it looked like an ordinary HDB (housing development board) block in Singapore. We saw many colorful paintings outside their classrooms too. When we got down the bus, we also saw that their students were walking orderly in twos to their classrooms with no gaps in between. It was amazing. We were guided to a room where it is used to receive guests. And there we saw students from class 19/20 (I forgot which class) with their teachers. We felt really nervous because after all, we really looked forward to meeting our buddies. However, much to my disappointment, my buddy was not in the room as she belongs to other class:(.

We proceeded to having lessons with them and it was science lesson (if I'm not wrong) first. The science lesson was about scraping the chlorophyll off the leaf to make a bookmark. Trust me, it isn't easy, as it requires lots of patience. We were supposed to use a toothbrush to scrap off the green pigment on the leaf and many of us broke the leaf XD. We were given a new piece again. I worked hard and then got to paint my leaf, hence I successfully created my bookmark... From here, I learned that we must not give up as the light is at the end of the tunnel.

If you look closely, you could see a red colour stage and that was where we performed

Then, it was our time to shine-the performance ö. We had a lot of practices and rehearsals for this  performance and I'm sure that our class had it the worst as our teacher demanded a lot from us. We went to their basketball court to assemble there and watch the poems competition ongoing. I swear my ears were about to go deaf, the students were shouting in the mike and the music were extremely loud. Furthermore, we were seated right in front of the blaring speakers. The poem competition was about their love for China as they kept repeating words like 中国，万里长城 etc.. After half of their competition ended, it was finally our turn to perform... Everything happened in a flash and we were done with it. We done well - I must say. :). Rain started pouring then and our next half of the performance was thus cancelled :(.

After that, we had some lessons and proceeded to the biggest bookshop in Hefei where I did not purchase any items. I regretted as the items sold there were relatively cheaper than Singapore except for some items. 

Big group photo with students from Class 19, their principals and teachers

A China student that assisted us in the lessons

It's Day 6! Happily, we went to the school again. We had English, history, geography, physical education and some activity. The syllabus they had were slightly different from us. Also, they used Chinese language during their lessons except for English. Hence, it was weird for us to listen to Chinese terms when we knew of the English term. Also, some of the lessons were too boring and too difficult for us to understand, hence we almost dozed off a couple of times. One of them was history lesson. Finally, it was physical education but to our disappointment, it was hip hop. When we watch hip hop videos on YouTube, the stunts look so cool but when we tried to attempt a simple stunt, we failed. Hip hop was tough and the instructor got annoyed with us eventually when the boys did not really want to cooperate with him. Nevertheless, honestly speaking, the hip hop lesson was boring. The last lesson we had was sports? The girls had to participate in cheer leading while holding on to the pom-poms which was made out of plastic bag. Whereas, the boy could choose between basketball and badminton. I would say that the cheer leading lesson was interesting and fun as it was much better than having lessons. The teacher guided us through the warm ups and it was more tiring than learning the moves. Then, I met my buddy finally! Our first meet was awkward as all the while, we had just been communicating via email. After a long day, we had a mini break and ate some biscuits the school have prepared. I felt touched by the school's hospitality as the lunch earlier on provided by them was really good too.

Then, we went to a supermarket. It was huge too, just like the bookshop. We were tasked to observe the prices of some items there and we can conclude that items sold in China is cheaper than the ones sold in Singapore. Just then, a China girl came up to us and asked us what we were doing here. Of course, we were surprised. But, later to our realisation that she was a secondary one student from Shou Chun Middle School. She seemed very happy to be able to meet us and she kept talking to us. Awkwardly, we just smiled and asked her if she wanted a picture :). Then, we proceeded on to have a late dinner and back to our hotel. 

With our buddy, Christina (most right)

With our buddy and her mother

It's Day 7 already :'(. Our first destination was to the school again and to meet our buddy and her parents! Her parents were cool people as they brought us to cool places xD? We were brought to a history's museum and then to a place where we could cycle. At the history museum, we learned some China history and their military. However, it was conducted in Chinese and it was really difficult for us to comprehend what the tour guide was saying. I realised that China people likes history as other parents also brought our classmates to there too. After a long tour, we proceeded on to our next destination. However, an unfortunate accident happened. One of our classmates, fell into a pond with her bag and her buddy's mother fell on her too. It was really scary for me to witness such an incident. It felt that time had stopped at that point of time. The weather there was really cold, adding that the wind was strong too. Hence, it was really a traumatic experience for everyone. After the buddies' parents sorted things out, our buddy and her family brought us to a place where we could cycle and enjoy the cool breeze. I saw the price of the rental of the bicycles. It wasn't cheap yet the parents were so generous in spending so much money on three of us. Then, we had our meals. It was western food and they ordered a lot a lot of food. I had to eat my portion of spaghetti and 2 slices of pizza. It was a really full meal.

Our next destination was to the fengyang drums and huangmei opera. The most memorable memory was that that was the place that most of us dozed off at. Why? Because the programme was SO boring and we were lacking lots of sleep. We slept an average of about 4 hours a day I guess. Adding on, I have expected the place to have hands-on activity for us to play drums but the place was literally so small. They asked us to sit on the couches and sofas and this further add on to us being more comfortable and sleepy. Hence, I conclude that I learned nothing much from there. Except that umbrellas are used by men and handkerchiefs and fans are used by women in an opera.

Next, our destination was to Baohe Cultural Park. We learnt of Lord Bao's generosity, fairness and that he was a loving and caring person. He donated rice to the peasants when there was a drought and he gave punishment to those who committed crimes. We could learn from him. The place was huge and I thought that they used a lot of land space to preserve the area. It is about 20,000 square feet. After visiting many places in China, I feel that China has much more preservationists and cultural heritage places as compared to Singapore. This might be due to the huge difference in land space. Land space is needed for commercial, agricultural and many other uses. Hence, having a smaller land space will lead to having a smaller portion of land to preserve the site.

With this fun bunch of people

Changing mask colour performance

Noodle-pulling performance

Finally, we went to Hai Di Lou Restaurant for our dinner. When we reached there, we were served with warm towels and were greeted with a wide variety of dishes. There were two soup bases- one was tomato, the other was normal? As we ate and ate and ate, the waitor helped us to refil the dishes and to help us add in the food into the soup. I would say the service was great? However, what was greater was the chef pulling the noodle in front of us. His skills were superb as one mistake could cause the noodle to break or worst-to fly into someone. The other entertainment shortly came and it was the mask changing into different colours. I could still vividly remember us shouting "好！" when he successfully changed his mask because we were asked to shout this word earlier on in Day 3 at Xuan Yuan farm. It was very fun eating with this bunch of people at the restaurant as this was finally with a different bunch of people as we had fixed people (including a teacher) to eat with. It was less stressful and we could do and say anything under the sky! Our table had even one special memory and that was the apple or peach. (Hehe...)

With that, we ended our dinner happily and went back to our hotel. We did our reflections and debrief for the last time and ended around 11.20pm. Before that, we celebrated 3 of our classmates' birthdays! :)

Sadly, it's the last day but not everything are under our control :). It was also good to end this trip already as it has been quite some time when we left Singapore. I missed my home and the food there. We boarded the bus to the railway station where we took the speed rail to Shanghai. It was my second time taking it. The train travelled 298 km/h (if my memory did not fail me). It was pretty comfortable and the ride was smooth. After finally arriving at Shanghai, we boarded the bus to the airport. I, as the chairperson, then had to read the thank you cards to the bus driver and tour guides. After so long, we finally boarded the plane back to Singapore!

It was really great to be back in Singapore and I would like to thank the people that made this trip so fun and enjoyable!

P.S this whole reflections is not based on the one I had done in China as the reflections done in China was too serious :) - not really the real reason but :) thank you for reading! 

To keep or not to keep

A preserved site I'm going to talk about is the Sembawang Hot Spring. It is the only natural hot spring on our main island. The water is said to be able to heal skin diseases and rheumatism too. 

When Ministry of Defense needed the land for further expansion, perhaps they thought of having more space to train and it will probably be more efficient as it can train more pilots at a time.

Whereas, the public might feel that it is a pity to demolish the hot spring as it is an uncommon infrastructure. And, they might miss the fond memories that they created with their closed ones or family at the hot spring. 

The Ministry of Defense acquired the land for the expansion of the Sembawang Air Base nearby in the late 90s. However, due to the strong petition by the community, they conserved the hot spring. I definitely agree with this decision in conserving the hot spring. This is because it is the only natural hot spring on our main island. Furthermore, having a natural hot spring is something that not every nation could have. Hence, it is rare and we should conserve it. 



Can Singapore afford to be complacent?

Honestly, I think Singapore cannot afford to be complacent. Why is this so? Let's take us getting good grades and being complacent after that as an example. We will be so proud of ourselves and not want to strive for improvement. Our grades will drop as a result and this is the consequence for being complacent. This consequence will be similar if Singapore were to be complacent. Singapore might lose many tourists and the trade with other countries might also suffer a deep blow. Furthermore, Singapore is already a tiny red dot. If Singapore were to be setback, be it in economy, military or others, Singapore will no longer be a country. Hence, I strongly disagree that Singapore can afford to be complacent.

Comparison between before and after interacting with the students in China
Before I interact with the students in China...

I feel that the students, being the only child in the family, will tend to be less socially active and less competitive. This is because without a sibling to talk to, they may not feel so comfortable to start conversations with people. Furthermore, without a sibling, there will not be sibling rivalry and therefore the student will have lesser opportunities to compete with, as  they can only compete with just the friends around them. 




However, after I interact with the students in China...

(To be continued after OELP trip...)


3-2-1 learning reflections




3 things I have found out

-I learnt about tension and its consequences. Tension can be seen in many ways. For example, economical tension, social tension and more. China faced a tension last time and that is its high birth rates. Thus, China implemented the one child policy last time, hoping that it will solve tension. Indeed, the tension of high birth rates is solved because abortions must be carried out if there is a second child in the woman's womb. Furthermore, due to the belief that a boy is useful because he can carry on the family name, abortions are common when the woman is expecting a girl. This causes another tension between on the imbalance of both gender. These consequences are due to the government not considering the long term effects. As you can see from the graph, China is slowly facing an aging population where they are more elderly than the young.

-Apart from China, Singapore had a similar tension too. Singapore implemented a two child policy and this policy worked too well that we are facing low birth rates now. The government tried implementing various policies and schemes to encourage woman to get marriage and give birth. However, there is still a tension present.

-The government implemented the maximum number of children per family at first because they are afraid that the country will have an over population tension or that the family do not have enough resources to support more kids. The picture on the right was used in Singapore in the 1970s to encourage parents to stop at 2 children.

2 perceptions I have gained

-Perhaps, each country has similar tensions, hence it is unavoidable that schemes are similar.

-There are always consequences to everything. To solve a problem, not only do we need to consider the consequences of the short term solution, but we also need to consider the long term ones too.

1 question I may have


-How are we able to know the long term consequences to the solution?

Chingay 2016

This year's theme for Chingay 2016 is "Lights of Legacy, Brighter Singapore" and in Chinese "智慧灯海，璀璨新加坡”. This was my first time attending and viewing the Chingay parade. Thus, I was excited yet curious.

Before the Chingay Parade...
Before the parade, I felt that the purpose of Chingay 2016 was to bring people of different races together to celebrate an event with vibrant colours. This was what I have seen and inferred from the short video shown in the auditorium on 27 January.

The day that we went to the Chingay parade...
On the bus, along the way to the Chingay parade, I saw many different schools in buses. We even exchanged waves excitedly. When we reached the location, classes from the same school were grouped together as the volunteers direct the schools one-by-one to our seating arrangements. Seeing the tired yet enthusiastic volunteers welcoming us, I felt that the volunteers are really wonderful. They came from different races and backgrounds but they worked together as one. Forging out time to be a volunteer from their school, work or retired life, it is definitely not something that everyone wants to do. Some of them directed traffic while some of them are the parade production crews.

Seated in the middle and having one of the highest seats from the ground (60m), we really had a great bird's eye view of everything. The Chingay parade was hosted at the F1 Pit Building and there were front and back views of the performance. 

Below are some photos that I have taken.


This was the grand opening performance. It features 800 people dressed in LED lights. This was from the Youth Association Singapore.












This performance is done by the Japanese community and I guessed they are trying to mimic Star Wars?













This is the POSB squirrel float. It is one of the sponsors of this event.

This float has many lanterns and this segment is about the Japanese culture. 













This performance is done by the Chinese. They are holding fans in their hands as they dance gracefully to the music.













These words "Because We are Different, We Are One" are very meaningful to me because "regardless of race, language or religion, to build a democratic society" from our nation's pledge clearly explains the meaning behind these words. This is our founding late prime minister Mr Lee Kuan Yew's dream that Singapore continues to prosper together as one. 







After the Chingay parade...
After the event, I felt that the purpose was to celebrate the success of Singapore from the past 50 years and to encourage us to strive harder for Singapore. And in the time to come, Singapore will be 100 years old with much more success down the road!


But, this event could not have happened if not for the contributions done by our late founding prime minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew and other founding fathers. This is because without his contributions, we would not be what we are today. We also would not be able to dream so far ahead as to say "Voyage SG100". 

Yes, I think that the organisers have fulfilled the purpose. They have done a great job with the lighting, sequence of the different segments and everything. Every segment consists of many people and it is definitely not easy to coordinate their positions and movements. There are different races' performances and even from other countries too! If my memory doesn't fail me, I remembered children as young as 6 years old participating in the parade. The lightings are also very colourful. The lightings are able to bring out the unique colours of the perfomancers' costumes. And, the loud boomboxes managed to hype up the audience as we use our poms-poms or clappers to dance to the music. Everyone was having a lot of fun as we took pictures of the different segments and even selfies! Lastly, not forgetting the meaningful floats that has short captions on them. All these could not have work out if not for each and every performer's effort.

Going back to the 20th century, firecrackers were banned in 1972 in Singapore. Our founding late prime minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew, then felt that we should have some noise and gaiety to drive away evil spirits. Thus, the Chingay parade was created to compensate for the ban on firecrackers. After the first street parade on 4 February 1973, it was later made an annual festival due to its well received feedback.

Back then, the number of participants was only 2,000 and the parade includes lion dancers, flag bearers, wushu masters, and stilt walkers. However, now there are about 13,000 participants, allowing much more varieties of performances. Furthermore, people from all over the world are invited to perform. I think the growing amount of people wanting to participate in this event is because they feel that they are a part of Singapore and they want to contribute back. 

This is the grand finale float, which has the words "Lights of Legacy, Brighter Singapore". I especially like this picture out of the many pictures that I have taken because it has many colours in it. 3,000 performers were out there as the event was coming to a closure. 

Last but not least, this is a collage of some photos of our happy faces. We indeed had so much fun! 






















I love Singapore and I will definitely do my best in whatever I do. Let's continue the legacy and wisdom left behind our great founding fathers! Majulah Singapura!



Poverty Vs Happiness, does being rich necessarily mean I am happy?

Honestly, I think being poor should not be compared with being happy. A poor person can also feel happy. This is because we could lead a much simpler life, meaning that the meals are cooked at home or the furniture are more simple-looking. All these small little aspects are actually enough to bring oneself a simple joy, instead of a complicated one.

Some of the rich people would probably go for brands, and once a new design comes out, they would go for it. They would then show off to people around them to gain a sense of pride. I don't think one can feel "real happiness" like that. Instead, I feel that "real happiness" is something that is automatically felt and not to purposely do something to gain it. (Above are my thoughts and opinions, no harm intended.)   

Okay so, if I am a rich person and I own a landed property, do you think I will be happy? Well, yes, I will indeed be happy because I have the money and I can buy anything I want. However, what can money do? Money cannot buy happiness, money can only let us to purchase items to satisfy our wants. Perhaps, I may be happy in this way.

Like for instance, a recent survey shows that the happiness index of Singapore is not as high as some other setback countries. Even though Singapore is one of the world's most prosperous country, the number of people that are happy is not one of the world's most too. Therefore, I can infer that being rich does not mean being happy.

Being rich or poor does not matter. What matters is whether we are happy, if we are not, then we should make a change to something.

RV60 reflections

Firstly, I would like to touch on the current student sentiments on RV60. Some students felt very relieved after RV60 because they said they could finally concentrate on their schoolwork and not waste time after school to do the necessary rehearsals. Whereas, some students felt sad that RV60 was over because there will no longer be 1.30 dismissals anymore. As for me, honestly, I feel relieve but sad at the same time. I'm not the type of person who love studying but I know I should really focus on school work too if I want to meet my GPA target. After all, we are still studying in a school, therefore our main purpose is to study.

What could have been done better in terms of RV60's celebration? Personally, I feel that some of our mindsets need to change a little, including me. This is because some of us doesn't enjoy rv60 rehearsals, regardless of what they are involved in. This leads us to not put in our fullest effort and cause us to play a fool during the rehearsals. Sometimes, we keep talking away while the instructor is trying to sort things out. We only paid attention when the instructor had to raise his voice and reprimand us. This is definitely not necessary. If we could tell ourselves to enjoy the rehearsals, I'm sure the result could be better.

Why is this celebration important to me and to the school? It is because it allows me to know my school better and to have a deeper understanding of the school's culture. Through this celebration, I'm able to 'possess' the RV spirit and love RV more. This celebration brought the alumnus together, and it is touching for me to see people of different ages coming to grace the celebration. And, some even came with their children. RV has come a long way, I believe a school that is older than Singapore had been through those war times and the main language changes. It is definitely not easy.

Why am I proud of my school? RV is a huge school with many facilities and amenities, which not many schools in Singapore have. Also, I'm proud of my school because we have nice teachers and friends which is our RV spirit.

Extraordinary 

River Valley High School celebrated its 60th anniversary on the 16th of January! This picture features a ballon with the RV60 logo, which was only put up on the 15th of January. This celebration is very grand because there are many different sections and everyone in RV contributed something. We had many practices after school or even during the holidays. Although some practices are very tiring, we definitely gain something after each practice. From the practices we had, not only did we learn the skills, but we also learn how to have teamwork, learn how to care for one another and even make new friends. I'm involved in the wushu mass display, which is the "盾牌刀" and I'm also involved in being the drummer to welcome the Minister of Education, Mr Ng Chee Meng. It is my pleasure to be a drummer as this is my first time. I admit that I'm a very slow learner and always forget what I have learnt from the coaches. If it is not for the coaches' patience and guidance, I will not have the chance to be the drummer nor achieve what I have today. Thank you so much coaches!!! River Valley have come a long way and it has many achievements along the way. The achievements definitely can't exist without the love from our teachers. Even if we face some difficulties in life now, do not worry as without those ups and downs, we can't improve. I believe that River Valley will continue to shine, be it sports and academy if we continue to do our best. I'm proud of my school and I will do my best in whatever I do! 

Self introduction 

Hi! I'm Grace Chew Xinyi from Class 2K. I live in Clementi, 4 MRT stations to Boonlay! My hobby is doing wushu and playing computer games. Wushu is my current CCA. I enjoy doing wushu because it is interesting. Although the trainings are tough at times, it helps me to be a fitter person. Furthermore, I can learn teamwork and other values too.



Comparing academics with sports, I'm better at sports. Why? Because sports doesn't need me to ponder so hard over a question! However, I'm aiming to get a GPA 3.5 this year since I didn't manage to get it last year. My favorite subject is Mathematics because it is one of the easiest subject of them all. Coming up next, it is CID 2!!!!!! CID is not fun, but very fun.. I'm definitely looking forward to this year CID because there is OELP =)! Even though I had been to China and Taiwan with my family before, I feel that the feeling of going overseas will be different with my friends.

Getting bored of my introduction? Then, here's a funny fact. I'm born in 22/02/2002. Oops, sorry, it isn't funny at all... One of my characteristics is that I love to joke around too!