Today's a Sunday! So what more to spend a Sunday than to slack and relax. But, today is a pretty packed day with quite a lot of things to do. The main thing today was the practice session with the students from the guitar club.
Mentioning about the guitar club, I would like to express my thanks and gratitude to them for their help. They really put in a lot of effort and time to assist us in our upcoming performance. They even spent money to rent equipment for us to use that which includes an electric guitar, a bass guitar and two amplifiers for the 2 guitars. As much as I wanted to repay them, they strongly refused. They made a remark saying "As friends, there is no need to be calculative." They also helped us to restring the guitars they lent to us which kept snapping as mentioned in the earlier post.
They made effort and took time off their own personal time to go to the town to try to purchase new guitars when they could not confirm whether they could rent the equipment. Eventually, the equipment was rented and I am deeply grateful to them. In the end all the equipment was provided by the guitar club rather than the school which they initially promised. I am somehow disappointed in this aspect. This really affected our practice as we could not get the required instruments to practice. By telling us that they would try their best while not giving us a definite answer and procrastination would not solve the problem.
The practice session went well and I finally have a bass guitar to play. Finally, with the bass guitar and can figure out the bass notes and construct the bass line for the various songs that we are performing. Many people questioned me on why the need of the bass and many friends even laughed at me, saying that I am being insistent because I want to perform (or show off). Perhaps it is due to the shallow or no music knowledge that they do not understand. The bass plays an important role in all music, regardless whether it is vocal bass as in some one singing or instrumental bass as in the example of me using a bass guitar. The bass provides the beat or tempo and the rhythm of the music and it bridges and binds the rhythm and beats from the other instruments such as the drum set to the melody. in essence, it binds the whole music together. Without bass, a music/song is just like random sounds playing independently at the same time rather than 1 solid music. Being the first day of practice and getting the guitar today, I cannot play the songs perfectly yet. But at least I got almost all the major structures done. I would practice hard and given my musical skills, it should not be too hard for me. Since the guitar club entrusted me to play the bass for their item, I promised them that I will definitely deliver an acceptable bass line for them.
Eventually, I did not do up my tutorial which I wanted to, but with the performance round the corner and the remaining time left to prepare for it, I thought I needed to settle the music and notations as soon as possible. After all, the china student were looking forward to our performance. Therefore, it is apparent that we deliver a solid and well done performance.
I went to bed with the music playing in my mind over and over again. That makes me wonder though, perhaps my parents were right when they said I am musically talented. Come to think of it, I have always been inclined towards music and music always seems to flow through me naturally, such as figuring out the notes and keys of the song whenever I listen to them (carefully). This is something that makes me puzzled to, even I myself cannot understand how I did them. Even unknown songs or genre which I have never heard before can be translated into the respective notes and keys to play on a bass guitar or any instrument I want. May be it is just cause I love music :D
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
I got beaten up by Pandaren Brewmaster
成都我来了! Today is a one day tour of Chendu, the capital of Sichuan.
Here's the highlights:
That of which rises a question. If they are serious about conservation and saving the Pandas, why are things such as cleanliness and well being are not maintained? After all, if the staff here at the conservation lab does not take care of the bears, who will? If there was something I wanted to feedback, I would definitely want to see the bears in better condition.
Okay, so if you thought that was about it for the Panda base, you're wrong. In fact the giant pandas are not the main attraction in my opinion. Have you heard of the Red Panda? It is not surprising is you haven't. Red pandas are a rare species that are only found around the Himalayas Region. The red panda is no where near the size of the typically well known giant panda, they are not even genetically related. They look like raccoons or foxes rather than bearish looking. They have a long tail and they are very agile. In fact the Kungfu master Shifu from the movie Kungfu Panda is actually a red panda. Actually, the original name Panda was referring to them rather than the giant panda. Something interesting and unexpected from the visit, I even asked 云霞, "they have a fox enclosure here?"
Anyway the blog's background is a photo that I captured of the Red Panda. Nice eh? Credits to me :P
The next stop would be Dufu's residence or 杜甫草堂 which means Dufu's straw hut. Dufu is a famous poet from the Tang dynasty and he is known for his poems which often depict the current livelihood of the people. He constantly writes about realistic current affairs and how the people are suffering. Through he writings, we can see that the people were going through a lot of hardship. Dufu himself feels for these people and he himself is a very simple person. The straw hut he lived in shows the simple and basic lifestyle he lived in as he is one who thinks of others before himself. One phrase in his poem that made me look up to him was "If my happiness and blissfulness can be exchanged for the happiness and blissful of others (everyone), I'd rather give it up." For someone who gives his all for others, he really deserves my respect.
The wrath of the weather is driving me crazy. When we reached our next sop which was 武侯祠, I gave up fighting the war with the heat. I went to the souvenir store and choose a beautiful fan to buy and use, I really could not take the heat any more. The fan was painted (actually printed) with the major characters/people from The Three Kingdoms period. People such as 诸葛亮 (Zhuge Liang), 张飞 (Zhang Fei), 刘备 (Liu Bei), 吕布 (Lu Bu) etc. Apart from the various shrines and display of the famous people, its not that interesting. After all, it is a temple.
After dinner, we had some spare time, therefore we walked around the shopping district in Chengdu. To my amazement, the branded goods here are not that cheap as I thought. But before long, we had to stop our window shopping and head to the theatre for the cultural performance. The cultural performance includes many items that are unique to Sichuan, such as the Sichuan opera, Changing Faces, Hand shadows show and the balancing act.
The Sichuan Opera is very similar to opera from the other dialects so it is not something that makes you go "wow!". But the other performances, such as the changing faces, where by the artist swaps masks in a matter of split seconds. This is not simple act as they come up to the audiences and swap faces right in front of their eyes. If that does not
WOW!" you, I think the next item would. The balancing act here is not your typical balancing act. The artist balancing a bowl of filled with oil and a lighted wig crawling under and jumping over benches is no mean feat, a slight mishap would result in burning himself. The audiences are all left in shock and awe. Personally, I was impressed with a puppeteer, whose act require her to carrying the puppet in air (above her height) and operate the puppet throughout the acts such as the opera and changing faces. She is very fluent in her movement and moves tirelessly despite the long duration of the performance. Thumbs up to her man.
After the performance, we boarded the bus and wrapped up the tour. The tour guide bid farewell to us in a sad manner and got off the bus. It was quite a sad moment but all good things come to an end, so do good moments. Well, it was a pleasure to have him as our guide.
That's all for today's long activity. It was an enjoyable one and it is definitely worth the time.
Here's the highlights:
- Panda conservation lab
- 杜甫草堂 (Dufu's Residence)
- 武侯祠 (The Temple of the Marquis of Wu)
- Sichuan opera and cultural performance
The Panda monument given by WWF
Golden Panda Sculpture
That of which rises a question. If they are serious about conservation and saving the Pandas, why are things such as cleanliness and well being are not maintained? After all, if the staff here at the conservation lab does not take care of the bears, who will? If there was something I wanted to feedback, I would definitely want to see the bears in better condition.
Lazy Panda >.>
Lazy Panda #2 ...
Okay these 2 are not pandas ... Subaa and Tom
Do not disturb...
Oops ... Sorry for disturbing.
Finally an awake Panda ...
And another sleeping one .... >.>
This is 云霞, I'm sorry if I look dominating :X
The Red Panda!
They look like foxes and are around the size of a cat ...
They love to climb and run about
they are fast and agile ...
and aggressive if you piss them off.
A group shot before we leave :)
Anyway the blog's background is a photo that I captured of the Red Panda. Nice eh? Credits to me :P
China's fake Coke haha! 我一牛
麻婆豆腐！
汤圆 ... Awesome man!
韭菜饺 ... Mmm ...
The next stop would be Dufu's residence or 杜甫草堂 which means Dufu's straw hut. Dufu is a famous poet from the Tang dynasty and he is known for his poems which often depict the current livelihood of the people. He constantly writes about realistic current affairs and how the people are suffering. Through he writings, we can see that the people were going through a lot of hardship. Dufu himself feels for these people and he himself is a very simple person. The straw hut he lived in shows the simple and basic lifestyle he lived in as he is one who thinks of others before himself. One phrase in his poem that made me look up to him was "If my happiness and blissfulness can be exchanged for the happiness and blissful of others (everyone), I'd rather give it up." For someone who gives his all for others, he really deserves my respect.
杜甫
诗史堂 (Poem Writing Room in literal translation) :D
工... Err I don't know other 2 :D
another monument for 杜甫
The entrance to 杜甫's straw house
The wrath of the weather is driving me crazy. When we reached our next sop which was 武侯祠, I gave up fighting the war with the heat. I went to the souvenir store and choose a beautiful fan to buy and use, I really could not take the heat any more. The fan was painted (actually printed) with the major characters/people from The Three Kingdoms period. People such as 诸葛亮 (Zhuge Liang), 张飞 (Zhang Fei), 刘备 (Liu Bei), 吕布 (Lu Bu) etc. Apart from the various shrines and display of the famous people, its not that interesting. After all, it is a temple.
武侯祠
明良千古
静远堂
Group shot before souvenir street
Sichuan Opera - The Three Kingdoms
The end
Sichuan dance
Puppet Opera
The Sichuan Opera is very similar to opera from the other dialects so it is not something that makes you go "wow!". But the other performances, such as the changing faces, where by the artist swaps masks in a matter of split seconds. This is not simple act as they come up to the audiences and swap faces right in front of their eyes. If that does not
WOW!" you, I think the next item would. The balancing act here is not your typical balancing act. The artist balancing a bowl of filled with oil and a lighted wig crawling under and jumping over benches is no mean feat, a slight mishap would result in burning himself. The audiences are all left in shock and awe. Personally, I was impressed with a puppeteer, whose act require her to carrying the puppet in air (above her height) and operate the puppet throughout the acts such as the opera and changing faces. She is very fluent in her movement and moves tirelessly despite the long duration of the performance. Thumbs up to her man.
After the performance, we boarded the bus and wrapped up the tour. The tour guide bid farewell to us in a sad manner and got off the bus. It was quite a sad moment but all good things come to an end, so do good moments. Well, it was a pleasure to have him as our guide.
Monday, September 27, 2010
The day with loads of things to blog about
Good morning Sichuan, once again I'm waking up with a very sticky body. And here's the news I got for the morning.
Yahoo! weather: Sichuan, Guanghan. Humidity: 92%.
92!!! That's crazy! It's probably so Humid that if you sneeze it may just remain in the air in liquid form. Okay that's exaggerating haha. Well, I certainly would not be hoping for my laundry to dry.
Oh my god, I just can't believe how I am going to leave through with this kind of climate. I hate warm weathers and what's worst is that the weather is humid! I cannot stand my skin being sticky. I am even more concerned about my face. At such conditions, my face gets oily very easily and that will result in the a pimple boom! Not something I want to have, because it is already bad enough in its current condition. Oh please weather please change. It is already Autumn, you should be cool and dry now, not hot and wet.
Okay, now talk about the module I am taking. As previously mentioned, the module is called System Dynamics and Control or SDC for short. Basically, this module about calculation and analysis on the effect on forces acting on a system dynamically. Simply speaking, it is finding out how forces that act on a system effects it with respect to time. This calculation and analysis encompass both mechanical and electrical systems. The 3 major types we work on are Translational and Rotational Mechanical Systems and Electrical systems.
Translational are basically linear mechanical forces, while rotational are well rotational forces. Eventually, we will work on Mechatronic systems which are system which contain both Mechanical and Electrical component. But that's the later topics. For now, its is just basic Mathematical calculations. Okay I think I should stop here, before it starts to get dry.
Lastly, I would talk about 云霞, she's a student whom the teacher in-charge, 李老师 assigned to help us during our stay here. She is a 3rd and final year student studying Logistics management and is really very helpful to us. I first met her when she was with the girls, helping them with some matters regarding the dormitories. That brings me to other point, our dormitories really have a lot of problems. She has to contact the respective people to help maintain and fix the problems with our rooms, tough job huh?
Well, today she came over to our classroom early in the morning to hand us some more guitars for us to use and practice for our upcoming performances. Well supposedly this would be beneficial, until we discovered that the guitars were in bad shape. The strings were out of tune and the strings themselves were already very high in tension. We went ahead with practice and that revealed the already bad strings. With a "twang" sound, that could only mean 1 thing, a snapped string. With 2 guitars down, we are back to square 1 literally. Before much playing, the practice session was scrapped in favour of personal time to settle our own things, since the equipments were in bad shape and we were rather unprepared.
Something I learnt from today is that proper planning is crucial in order to ensure that everything is all as well, taking example from the musical equipment. Okay time for some well deserved sleep.
Yahoo! weather: Sichuan, Guanghan. Humidity: 92%.
92!!! That's crazy! It's probably so Humid that if you sneeze it may just remain in the air in liquid form. Okay that's exaggerating haha. Well, I certainly would not be hoping for my laundry to dry.
Oh my god, I just can't believe how I am going to leave through with this kind of climate. I hate warm weathers and what's worst is that the weather is humid! I cannot stand my skin being sticky. I am even more concerned about my face. At such conditions, my face gets oily very easily and that will result in the a pimple boom! Not something I want to have, because it is already bad enough in its current condition. Oh please weather please change. It is already Autumn, you should be cool and dry now, not hot and wet.
Okay, now talk about the module I am taking. As previously mentioned, the module is called System Dynamics and Control or SDC for short. Basically, this module about calculation and analysis on the effect on forces acting on a system dynamically. Simply speaking, it is finding out how forces that act on a system effects it with respect to time. This calculation and analysis encompass both mechanical and electrical systems. The 3 major types we work on are Translational and Rotational Mechanical Systems and Electrical systems.
Translational are basically linear mechanical forces, while rotational are well rotational forces. Eventually, we will work on Mechatronic systems which are system which contain both Mechanical and Electrical component. But that's the later topics. For now, its is just basic Mathematical calculations. Okay I think I should stop here, before it starts to get dry.
Lastly, I would talk about 云霞, she's a student whom the teacher in-charge, 李老师 assigned to help us during our stay here. She is a 3rd and final year student studying Logistics management and is really very helpful to us. I first met her when she was with the girls, helping them with some matters regarding the dormitories. That brings me to other point, our dormitories really have a lot of problems. She has to contact the respective people to help maintain and fix the problems with our rooms, tough job huh?
Well, today she came over to our classroom early in the morning to hand us some more guitars for us to use and practice for our upcoming performances. Well supposedly this would be beneficial, until we discovered that the guitars were in bad shape. The strings were out of tune and the strings themselves were already very high in tension. We went ahead with practice and that revealed the already bad strings. With a "twang" sound, that could only mean 1 thing, a snapped string. With 2 guitars down, we are back to square 1 literally. Before much playing, the practice session was scrapped in favour of personal time to settle our own things, since the equipments were in bad shape and we were rather unprepared.
Something I learnt from today is that proper planning is crucial in order to ensure that everything is all as well, taking example from the musical equipment. Okay time for some well deserved sleep.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
广汉 here we come!
Okay! Lecture today starts at 9am! That means an extra hour of sleep, though It did not really help much. I was still able to focus and concentrate in class, probably due to the breaks in the between. the lesson was smooth and it was really fruitful.
Lunch was yet again another spicy meal. One thing about Sichuan cuisine is the use of their local peppercorn or 花椒. This peppercorn is not very spicy but I produces a very numb effect on your mouth when you eat it. That's where their famous 麻辣 recipe gets the numbing sensation. After eating the local 麻婆豆腐 here, you can be sure you'll never like to eat it in Singapore again. Its so much more delicious and more spicy here and it's really 麻 (numb in Chinese).
After lunch, it's back to the classroom again for a short tutorial. I really like a felt kid during the tutorial, where you have to follow and copy the teacher's example on the blackboard and do your practice questions (or homework as they call it back in primary school). This really makes me remember those old classic study environments. Personally, it is very enjoying to study under such an environment. Surprisingly, productivity and understanding levels seem to be much higher than the modern whiteboard air-conditioned classroom environment back in Ngee Ann or rather Singapore in general.
This topic does make me ponder, why did Singapore stop using the blackboard in education anyway? I remember I attended blackboard lessons till around primary 5. Subsequent classrooms were fitted with whiteboards. That change really did not affect me back then, but now that I experience the old environment again, it suddenly changes my studying performance. Wonder why is it so.....
Finally, lesson is over!!! Everyone was looking forward to today's post lesson activity. We headed to the nearby city (广汉市) which was about 10-15mins away by public bus. This is the city centre of 广汉 town and its actually quite big with many shop houses resembling the 90s, giving the town a very retro image. Really brings me back to the time when I was still a kid growing up in Singapore.
On the way to 广汉！
Retro town
Singapore 90's look alike don't you think so?
Local Snack store! 米花糖 is a must try!
Cake shop!
Crossing a China road, everyone made it across :D
Enjoying life ... You hardly see such scenes in Singapore nowadays ...
Mooncakes!!
Satay in China!!!
Here it is! Served only in mutton ...
A primary school .. Err in between the shop houses O.o?
Group shot in front of a sports store :O
Chalk on the board
Rise and shine! Crawling out of bed at 8am in the morning with a sticky body is so uncomfortable, seriously you won't want to be in this situation. Well, today is the first day of activity here at Sichuan Aerospace Vocational and Technology College (SAVTC).
I've been here for 2 days only and I am already losing a war against the food here. The spiciness in the food here is CRAZY!? There's like chilli in every food stall I go into! If we were to put a Singapore spicy rating here I bet the typical food here will score 15/10 stars. It's so spicy I could just take a 1.5litre bottle of water with me to every meal. I'm assured to leave the stall with a pair of swollen lips and a head full of sweat. I love eating spicy food but this is madness! I'm so going to combat this spicy food, I love Sichuan Food!!! :D
Okay, back to my origin purpose of coming here. Today is the first lesson of SDC, the module I'm taking for this trip. For those who are wondering, it System Dynamics and Control. I have no idea what this module is about now, so I'll update more about the module later on.
Oh my god!!! The classroom is epic! The environment is totally different and unexpected. THERE'S A CHALKBOARD IN THE CLASS!!! Oh my I haven't seen a blackboard in a decade! 10 years!! This is such a primary school classmate environment. This really got me excited and I immediately felt the motivation to pay attention in class, the knocking and screeching of the chalk when writing.
Well something to highlight for today is lunch. My friends and I went to this muslim stall for lunch and the food turns out to be delicious (with tons of flavouring added that's why). Oh and the family owning the stall is Chinese muslim.
Okay I got tutorial to work on, yes, on the first day of lesson. That's all for today!
I've been here for 2 days only and I am already losing a war against the food here. The spiciness in the food here is CRAZY!? There's like chilli in every food stall I go into! If we were to put a Singapore spicy rating here I bet the typical food here will score 15/10 stars. It's so spicy I could just take a 1.5litre bottle of water with me to every meal. I'm assured to leave the stall with a pair of swollen lips and a head full of sweat. I love eating spicy food but this is madness! I'm so going to combat this spicy food, I love Sichuan Food!!! :D
Okay, back to my origin purpose of coming here. Today is the first lesson of SDC, the module I'm taking for this trip. For those who are wondering, it System Dynamics and Control. I have no idea what this module is about now, so I'll update more about the module later on.
Oh my god!!! The classroom is epic! The environment is totally different and unexpected. THERE'S A CHALKBOARD IN THE CLASS!!! Oh my I haven't seen a blackboard in a decade! 10 years!! This is such a primary school classmate environment. This really got me excited and I immediately felt the motivation to pay attention in class, the knocking and screeching of the chalk when writing.
A chalkboard!!!
The classroom from the front ...
... and the rear. Seems small huh? It's actually very big.
Well something to highlight for today is lunch. My friends and I went to this muslim stall for lunch and the food turns out to be delicious (with tons of flavouring added that's why). Oh and the family owning the stall is Chinese muslim.
Okay I got tutorial to work on, yes, on the first day of lesson. That's all for today!
Sliced Potato Fried Rice <土豆炒饭>
Subaa and her vegetarian Egg Fried Rice <鸡蛋炒面>
Hidayah Azmi and her Mutton Egg Fried Rice <羊肉蛋炒饭>
Cheers :D
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