Week 3 CID (Chingay Parade 2014)

I was excited for Chingay from the start. I have seen Chingay parade over the years but all were on the television. This year I am honoured to be able to be given a chance to view the whole Chingay performance live. And the experience was totally different from what I have expected.  Dancers were lined up along the performing street dressed in beautiful dresses. It was certainly astonishing. The music totally fits the dance and the atmosphere was "high". I felt like I was involved in part of the Chingay parade together with my peers.  

As this year's theme is "Colours of fabric, one people", the performers there were all dressed in bright and colourful clothing, most of which were holding on to coloured-fabric flags as they welcomed us into the audience area. The MCs tried to engage us to join in by cheering before the performance started as the night was still young. Soon, the performance started. The sky was dark enough for all the light displays then. I like the atmosphere there as I could feel the excitement and the crowd cheering. Performers of different races came to perform together as one in this special 

Chingay performance, even little kids! This is really a time where different races and generations of people can bond together. The next highlight of the performance would be the nicely decorated floral carts for the parade. There are designed by the respective themes. I really like some of them a lot as they are the iconic of Singapore and are done very similarly to the real thing. Moreover, after decorating it with lights, it just looks really nice in the dark. Overall, I feel that the performance was not bad apart from the clarity of the MCs voice and the behavior of some of the audiences that were really frustrating to bear with. Lastly, I feel that we should thank the performers for the great performance as they have put in a lot of time and effort to practice and rehearse for this parade for it to be successful and if I had a chance to do so, I definitely would!

During the live parade, the floats appealed the most to me as every single one of them have a different design, some with people dancing on it while some with people acting out a scene on it. In between the floats, dancers will showcase their slick moves. Near to the end of the show, hit music was being played and most of us stood up and sang along. The parade ended with a spectacular fireworks display. After the parade, I got curious and decided to look up the origin of Chingay and I realised that this parade was used to be only performed by Chinese but now, it has become a unique multiracial performance. 

I felt that somehow the Chingay connected everyone together. Everyone was cheering and dancing together using the pom pom we were given. Even though we do not know each other, students from other classes and even schools were all doing the same thing together. It was really One People. The highlight of the parade for me was the singing. I admit I do not really fancy Mandopop but their voices merged so beautifully that I was literally gazing in awe. This is once again emphasising the theme of the parade. This was my first time watching the Chingay and I was pretty surprised by the floats because there were floats unrelated to Chinese New Year. But because of this, the Chinese New Year atmosphere is almost non-existent. However, the celebrations were overall fun and enjoyable (to the point of us losing our voices)!

This was the first time I have been to CHINGAY , everytime I watch CHINGAY was on my tv , this was the first time I get to experience CHINGAY live . This experience was a very meaningful one for me , through the performance , I get to understand about the cultures of all the religions in singapore . I understand the importantance of singapore being a mutil religion country . without all the religions in singapore , Singapore would not be as vibrant as it was now . This I felt that this was a meaningful experience for me .

The fireworks were great and engaging!

Week 2 CID (Chinese New Year)

As the important traditional Chinese holiday is coming, we can see everyone putting up red decorations as red is the most auspicious colour as believed by the Chinese and also stocking up on festive goodies such as pineapple tarts, love letter, barbecued & almond cookies etc.. Also, there would be an exchange in red packets,  mostly passed out during celebrations from married couples or the elderly to the younger ones in their family. This is as the Chinese believes that the money in the red packets are used to suppress the evil during this period of time. 

Colour: yellow 

Although the auspicious colour to the Chinese is red, we have chosen the colour yellow to represent our thoughts on the upcoming Chinese New Year as the meaning of the colour yellow is uplifting and illuminating, offering hope, happiness, cheerfulness, and fun. We feel that yellow would suit this occasion as it is a joyous occasion celebrated by the Chinese where people go to each other's house to pay their relatives a visit and send their New Year greetings.  Thus, it can briefly describe how we feel when celebrating this occasion with our friends and families :)

Don't you think this smiley face brightens up your day? :D

Symbol

Everyone knows the story behind the zodiac and how each Chinese New Year brings a new animal. So, these isn't much explanation as to why this symbol was chosen. However, have you ever wondered about the cat that was fooled by the dog. That if the cat had completed the race, there would be thirteen animals. (thirteen is an unlucky number) But it would be cool if there was a cat, no? Therefore, we think that this is represents The upcoming Chinese New Year :) 

Image 

This is the picture of the Chinese New Year's decoration of the corridor outside the library. I think that this suits the Chinese New Year theme as well as we can feel the atmosphere of the festive occasion. This picture also tells us that we, the Chinese, makes an effort to decorate the place with festive decorations, which shows how important the spring festival is to the Chinese. 

The story of "Nian" ( how Chinese New Year came about :D ) 

The legend says, long ago, there was a monster called Nian. It was born to be very ugly and ferocious, which looked like either dragons or unicorns. On the first and the 15th of each lunar month, the monster would come down from the mountains to hunt people. So people were very much afraid of it and locked their doors early before sunset on the days of its coming.

There lived an old wise man in a village. He thought it was the panic in people that made the monster so bold and furious. Thus the old man asked people to organize together and to conquer the monster by means of beating drums and gongs, burning bamboo, and lighting fireworks in purpose of making large noises to threaten the hateful monster. When he told people about the idea, everybody agreed on it.

At a moonless and freezing cold night, the monster, Nian, appeared again. The moment it opened its mouth at people, burst out the frightening noises and fire made by people, and wherever the monster went, it was forced to back off by the terrible noises. The monster couldn't stop running until he fell down with exhaustion. Then people jumped up and killed the evil monster. Savage as the monster was, he lost in the end under the efforts from the cooperation of people.

Since then, people have kept the tradition by beating drums and gongs, and lighting fireworks at the coldest day in winter to drive the imagined monsters away and to celebrate the victory over it. Today, Nian refers to the New Year's day or the Spring Festival. People often say Guo Nian, which means 'live the festival.' Furthermore, Nian also means the year. For an example, the Chinese often greet each other by saying Xin Nian Hao, which means Happy New Year! Xin means new and Hao means good.

After reading this story about the Nian, we find that Chinese New Year is actually a very interesting topic and we would love to find out more on the Chinese culture. We can learn from the old man in the story to stay calm and make choices wisely whenever encountering any problems and not rush to make decisions. We like celebrating Chinese New Year as well as we are not only able to meet up with our relatives, we can also collect angbaos ((red packets)) as children 😏, snack on festive goodies and buy new clothes for the year! 

   

    New Year Goodies! Yum! Roasted Pork, Spring Rolls and sweets! 

Last but not least, wishing everyone a Happy Chinese New Year!! :D 新年快乐! :) 

Week 2 CID (Consolidating your learning)

Over these 3 weeks of CID, I have learnt how to infer from pictures and how not to judge a book by its cover, although inferring from a picture is good, it still cannot replace the information which we have to research on. I have also realized that many things don't look the way it is, you have to research on it and then conclude on it. Only after these steps, then we can be sure about what we think. I have also learnt about the poverty situation in Singapore and many people doesn't know about it. Singapore needs more caring people to help these poor people. People should also understand that they are actually living in comfort and should cherish what they have.

After 3 weeks of CID lessons, I realized that a picture can convey information more efficiently and effectively than words do as long as we observe every single detail of the picture very carefully. Not only do we have to observe, but to think and wonder about what the picture depicts, then we can understand what message the picture is trying to convey to us. Also, we should be aware of our surroundings and be exposed to many different things as possible. If we do so, we would have many opportunities to learn. Just like the topic we have discussed about poverty in Singapore last week; if we are not aware of our surroundings, we would never notice that there are people living in poverty even in our own country. Had we realized earlier, we would be able to help them in many ways to stop famine in iur own country. I really look forward to every CID lesson as it is fun and enjoyable and I certainly hope that I can learn more from the lessons!

Over the three week, i've learnt to look further then what i actually see. Like to look further into the picture and not the surface itself which is why we need to observe and be alert. I just watched Now You See Me recently. Quoting from Daniel Atlas "The closer you look, the lesser you see." As a result, i have learnt to look beyond what i see through my eyes and think deeper... I really enjoy the lessons and the next movie is coming out in 2015!!

Over the past three weeks I have learnt how to interpret from photos as photos tell us a thousand words. I have also learnt how to infer points from a photo and found out that there are many different perspective in a photo. Also, I have gained more awareness about the poverty in Singapore. Compared to the poverty in Singapore, the poverty in other countries is much worst.  I realised how lucky we were and that we should cherish what we have and be grateful for it.

For the past few CID lessons, I have learnt about poverty in Singapore and also the other countries. Every country has its own poor and rich people. We were shown pictures on beggars on streets begging for money. Using just a picture, we were told to infer and reflect on what we see. We picked up the skills of observing carefully, especially the minute details that could give us a huge clue. As the skill of observing is still pretty new to us, we were told to observe and describe the school life in River Valley High School. This also encompasses our own opinion towards our school as a student. We were also given a chance to observe some of our classmates and deduce from what they do and by their daily outlook. For example, a student who has dark eye circles and heavy eye bags shows us that he or she sleeps less than 6 hours every night. These CID lessons are certainly very fruitful and meaningful. And I look forward to the CID lessons I will be attending as the week go by.

Week 1 CID (The Observation Challenge)

Time period: Recess (RVHS 58th Anniversary)

A

Facial expressions: Neutral
Behaviour: Talking and eating
Noise level: High
Way people group together: In pairs or large groups

B
Feelings: Happy, hungry
Expressions: Smiling, excited
Body language: Bouncing in excitement

C
There were pillars promoting eating in moderation. It encourages people to eat healthy. The furniture, mainly the canteen tables, are arranged in an orderly manner which allows more tables to be placed and thus the canteen is able to hold larger amounts of people.

D
The smell of prata, noodles and bread (basically food) impresses us the most as it smells delicious and tempts us to eat. (:

E
We think that school life is very hectic and we need more energy to get through the day. As a result, we are hungry. Since, we have no time to talk during lessons, we tend to talk more during recess, resulting in the canteen having a high noise level.


Photo Challenge

A School Spirit

B Happiness

RVHS Anniversary happiness (:

C Fear

The fear of getting to class late...

D Life

Lesson-packed life of a student

Week 1 CID (A Picture Paints a Thousand Words)

Poverty in Singapore

Every country has its own rich and poor citizens. Singapore poverty has grown over the years. From a figure of 16% of the whole population in 2002 to 28% of the whole population in 2013. People living in poverty has earned below $1500 as monthly salary.

Poverty in Singapore mostly affects elderly people which were abandoned by their children, they live in 1-room flats and some even shares a house with his or her friends. These people often pick up cans or card boards to sell in order to make a living. Although Singapore has a lot of professionals and degree holders, there is still a amount of poor people that most Singaporeans do not know of.

However, the Government has been stepping up efforts to support Singaporeans who fall under the category 'living in poverty'. They have appropriate assistance schemes to offer these people. There are also some ares which these people can benefit from having subsidies in housing, healthcare and education,Etc. Programmes are also made for the smaller group who needs extra support.

Looking at the picture, I realise that there are still many poor people around us who need our help and support. The guy in the picture is apparently sleeping on the ground as he has nowhere to live and the bags of stuff beside him must be either food or daily necessities others have donated to him. Although it would be nice if we could help everyone in our country, it would be an impossible task to help each and every person. Still, we can do whatever we can and donate stuff we do not want or clothes that cannot be worn anymore to the poor people instead of throwing them away. We can also do charity by cash, giving just a little sum of money to charity organizations in order to help the poor. If everyone donates a little more here and there, instead of spending money on themselves, the poor would be able to live a happier life.

Also, many people do not realise the poverty situation in Singapore. Many Secondary school students do CIP but most of the time it is just for the sake of doing so that they are able to minus points during 'O' levels or to meet the school requirements. We rarely take time to wonder why we are encouraged to do CIP. Just because we don't see poverty, doesn't mean it is not happening. We should be more exposed to the poverty situation and not do the "easy" CIP. We should go out and experience the situation, not pretend to be poor but have contact with the poorer people, go to the old folks' home, the orphanage, not raise funds for a cause you don't know. Only then are we able to understand the intention of the highly encouraged CIP. 

However, the poverty situation in other countries compared to Singapore is much worse. Poor Singaporeans live by begging and collecting cardboards and newspaper , however other countries resort to having a syndicate to beg for money when they are not actually disabled yet just act as a disabled person so that others will pity them . However despite being poor in Singapore, we don't resort to cheating people and we live a much better life compared to other countries where people live in muddy streets places that's pitch dark. Despite the difference in the poverty situation, we should always keep in mind that we are very fortunate and should we have the ability and access to help the poor, the answer should always be yes.

Week 0 CID (Introduction-Preparing to see the world)

Person A

During my holidays, I went to S.E.A aquarium. There were a lot of marine animals there. The animal which i liked the most was the dolphin. I learnt a lot about the the dolphin-- the dolphin uses echolocation to travel in the sea and it is a sea mammal. I also learnt about the poisonous jellyfish; they were transparent, so when a light was shone on them, they would take the color of the  light. I bought a dolphin stuffed toy and kept it as a souvenir. This trip was very memorable to me and i would like to go there again.

Person B
My holiday was rather fruitful as I engaged in many activities apart from finishing schoolwork and attending cca sessions, such as meeting up with my friends, going for class gathering and family outings. In December, my family and I went to Hong kong for 7 days. We went to two theme parks and a few other tourist attractions there. What I liked about the trip was the Disneyland theme park as it was gigantic and I loved the Christmas atmosphere created there. Although it might seem quite childish for me to go there since I'm already 13, I still enjoyed myself as there were also rides catered for adults. Secondly, I loved the food there too. Hong Kong is well known for their wanton noodles, polo bun, egg tarts and 'frozen' milk tea. I tried them all! Last but not least, I enjoyed our trip to  the wax museum as well on the 5th day of our trip which was located on the peak. Therefore, we had to take the peak tram in order to reach the peak to visit the museum. In the museum, we saw many wax figures of well known celebrities and even cartoon characters! I learnt about the process of making these wax figures and realised that it is really not easy to make one figure since there are many steps we have to take in order to craft a wax figure which is similar to the actual thing, taking into consideration the features of the object/character. If I had the chance to, I would definitely try creating my own wax figure as it is a cool experience after all. After taking pictures, we rode the tram down, which was quite enjoyable too as it felt like a roller coaster, something I have not seen in Singapore. In conclusion, I felt that I have spent and have really enjoyed all the fun activities I did during the holidays! :)

Person C
The most memorable part of my holidays was definitely the Christmas outreach I did with my church. We basically packed 100 very heavy bags of food and went knocking on doors to distribute them to the needy people of Bukit Merah. That day i finally noticed how fortunate I am. I also learn more about their lives and realised that they were all very lonely despite the fact that each household has at least 2 people living (HDB ruling). The one that struck me hard was a unit on the fifth floor where a son who was half paralysed was taking care of his mother who has dementia. Since none of them work, I was glad that they managed to persevere. I hoped the food packed helped them. I did encounter many problems like I couldn't get the message across  because I do not speak dialect. This has certainly been a learning experience for me.

Person D
The End of Year Holidays were total amazing and awesome. I get to experience things that I have never done before and things that I really would like to do and I got to do it.
The first week of the holidays, I went to Taiwan with my family members. It was not the first time that I have been there, but it was my first time on a holiday there in Taiwan. The last time I went to Taiwan was because I was participating in an international robotics competition.
Taiwan was a place where beautiful sceneries can be found, a walk up the hills was relaxing just by listening to the sounds of nature. Taiwan was also a shop and eat paradise. I get to eat things I have never eaten before and walk long distances like I have never done before.
After coming back to Singapore I was really pleased and honored to be informed that i was chosen to take part in Year 1 Orientation 2014 as a facilitator. I would like to sincerely thank the teachers and Student council who have given me this golden opportunity. That was what I have dreamt of ever since I have stepped into Rv.
During the facilitator trainings I have in the holidays, I had a wonderful time and I am glad to have met a bunch of friends that stayed with me through thick and thin during the trainings. I will never forget the memories we have forged together even if the trainings were conducted only a period of a few days. During these few days many things have happened. Be it happy or sad.

Person E

My holiday I spent most of my days in my home . Everyday I have a routine it's wake up , brush teeth , eat breakfast , play computer watch television and so on it might seen boring at home but actually I travel around the world through the internet and the televison. So that's my holiday hope you enjoyed yours.