Lion Dance

Last Saturday, I was in Malaysia for it was still during the Chinese New Year when people would go to visit their relatives. So, I was there visiting my relatives and then, when my family and I were done, we decided to go to the nearby shopping center to buy some stuff.
Coincidentally, a lion dance and a dragon dance was about to start so, we decided to watch. However after waiting for what seemed like a few hours, the lion dance was still only in its preparation stages. Soon, the dragon dance started. However, I only managed to get a small chunk of what was happening, for I did not go to the lobby to see what was happening.





Next came the lion dance. This time, I managed to get almost all of the dance, however, the drumming at that time at my distance from the drums was extremely loud. In the video provided below, there are many things happening. The first one shows of the lions dancing and then making the audience try to take an orange out of their mouth. The second one shows of the lion performing what is known as 'cai qing'. It is to bring good luck and fortune to the stall that the lion is performing at. After all that,I had ringing ears for a very long time, despite closing my ears when the people were beating away at the drums. It makes me wonder how come the drummers have no problem coping with all the drumming? Well, I think that they are just used to it.

Sorry,videos are not available as yet. I will try to get them up as soon as possible.

Class Outing

Yesterday, was a holiday that had been declared by our principle. Thus, my class decided that it was day for a class outing, as most of us would probably do nothing at home. So we had a class outing. It would be at a bowling alley in downtown east. And so, at 2pm, most of the class turned up at the bowling alley. Without wasting much time, the class was organized into a few lanes, each containing about six people.
As it approached my turn, I felt very nervous, for I had not bowled for a long time. Sure enough, my skills were not there and I kept bowling into the gutters and not scoring any points at all. I also saw that a few were exceptionally good, scoring over a hundred points or somewhere close. I managed to score about fifty points. After about two hours or two games later, the outing had come to an end. Now, it was time to distribute prizes according to the average scores of each lane. My lane did receive a prize but I was the one who took it home for no one wanted to take it back.
After the outing, another game was being organized and I participated in it. It was also a competition where the group with the higher average score won. As my group had more people than the other, we completed much later than the other group. Also, the other group left for home first, so the few of us were left behind.
Nevertheless, I felt happy that day, knowing that I had already done my best.

Reunion Dinner

Not too long ago, it was a Sunday, and it was Chinese New Year Eve. That meant that most Chinese had to eat something known as a reunion dinner, which is a tradition. For that, my relatives and I went to the Expo ballrooms to eat our reunion dinner. However, the ballroom was not booked by us, but rather by a restaurant. At about 6pm, we started having our dinner, starting off with something that we know as YuSheng. This dish is a fish salad which usually consists of strips of raw fish, mixed with shredded vegetables and a variety of sauces and condiments, among other ingredients. Yusheng is also a symbol of abundance and prosperity. Then, in a celebration, known as lohei,we tossed the ingredients together, while saying auspicious wishes, hoping that the year would start off good. This was the third yusheng that I had over a period of less than five days. I wonder if this will make me any luckier this year. However, the dish had an odd taste to it, and I could not eat so much of it. And so, we continued our dinner until about eight at night, and also, the dinner was a costly four hundred dollars. After that, my family and I stayed up till midnight watching a countdown show. Finally, the year of the ox arrives, HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

The yusheng that I ate...

Touring the Singapore Zoo...

Last Sunday, Chin Wei, his buddy, my buddy and I went to the Singapore Zoo. As they had slept in our respective houses the previous day, there was no need to fetch them from the hostel. Chin Wei's mother fetched us from home to the Zoo. Soon, we were at the Zoo. There, we started taking photos while Chin Wei went to get the tickets for entry. Soon, we entered the Zoo, and looked around for a map so that we could find out the feeding times and the show times. We went to the closest place first, the 'Treetops Trail'. As my buddy saw that animals were somewhat in a place without windows, and animals were free to roam, my buddy commented," Beijing does not have this! All the animals in the zoo are in cages or enclosures, this is the first time I have seen this!" And so, we continued viewing the animals on our way to a restaurant in the zoo for lunch.
After lunch, we started to see animals being fed, and also viewed a show called 'Save the rain forest'. It is about a girl who lives in a rain forest, and one day a rich businessman, who wishes to build a massive shopping complex, asks her for directions to a particular spot on photo that he got from another person. Unaware of what the business man was going to do, the girl leads the man to the spot that he is looking for. he then starts cutting down trees with a chainsaw. The girl realizes what she has done, and in the end, good triumphs over evil and the day is saved.
Here are some pictures from the show...
The businessman

The girl from the rainforest

Some animals in the show...



Finally, we went to see white tigers being fed and then sent my buddies back to the hostel so that they could sleep there.

Exchange program-China

Today, would be the day when a few Chinese Students from Sanfan Middle School in Beijing would arrive. I felt excited at the thought of them coming to visit us. Also,the classroom had an atmosphere filled with excitement.
The bell rings. It is now approaching 10.10am, the time when our Chinese buddies would come to our class as they had arrived this morning. Before long, we saw them around at the field, and me and Chin Wei brought our buddies on a short tour around the school. As we entered the class, I was expecting a warm welcome for the visitors from those in the class. Unfortunately, it was not as I had been expecting. Instead, a small tour specially for them was organized in no time.
The next period,Chinese had been changed to a free period as Mr Chew, our Chinese teacher, had to entertain the remainder of the visitors from China. Thus, Ze Xuan and Zi Xiang decided to try out and test how intelligent the visitors were by giving them questions that they themselves did not know the answers to. Amazingly, the visitors proved that they were good in maths and solved the questions,with little difficulty and also providing the correct answers. We played a few more games, for example,a game that required a big Chinese vocabulary as it requires you to think of a verb or noun that sounds the same or is the same as the last word of the previous noun or verb mentioned. A five second limit is given to all players.
At science lesson, my buddy had much difficulty understanding the teacher as they are used to having lessons taught in Chinese. I tried to translate the lesson but with little avail.
They will be here with us until next Friday, and with such a good start to their trip, I do believe that their trip will be an enjoyable one for them.

All of us in Beijing, China



Me and my buddy at the Beijing 'Water Cube'

Hi.

Hello.